A Little Bit of Heaven

Dear Ethyl...
I just wanted to show you how beautiful it is here at our house in Nephi.  We have been having really neat sunsets this summer because of all the fires.  It is beautiful in the evenings. I LOVE to be outside in the summer. It is not long enough for me so I have to enjoy it as much as I can!

This is the flower bed between my house and mom's house.  She is really the yard gooroo.  I actually do as little as posssible to still make things look good. I did NOT get the gardner gene.

Daniel thinks he is a sprinkler.  I love having a little grand dude.  He is a little spoiled since so far he's the only one. This is what makes life fun!

7 Days with DANIEL

Hooray Hooray it's Face Painting Day!

New Perry Shoes.  He says he's a big fan of Perry

Dear Ethyl...
It's been such a fun week with Daniel- without Will.  Daniel stayed with me while Will and Shaun were in Alaska. We had lots of fun!  I LOVE having him here. We played and played.  Here is a list of some of the things we did...
Spagetti and Meatballs 2 times
Pepperoni Pizza 3 times
Pepperoni French Fries 1 time
1 little box of sugar cereal a day for 7 days
Daniel said the first night... We can't eat dinner yet, it's not dark outside ( kudos to Jes  he he)
Bath 1 time (Don't judge me!)
Sleeping with Nana so a bear won't break in the window and eat him  2 times
1960's version Batman & Robin Movie  6 times
Peter pan movie 2 times
School shopping all day with Silvi
1 wedding reception  (Tucker Bush) with Tanner and Hilary
1 movie The Odd Life of Timothy Green  with Jaci
Cheater Chopsticks for Lunch at Pei Wei with Hilary and Silvi
Bike Ride 8 times
Bike Ramp  Too many times to count
Swimming 0 times- He said it was too cold
Berenstein Bears bedtime stories every night

Nana and Daniel are PALS

My favorite guy

 Daniel was sooo good in the car ALL DAY school shopping. Silvi's DS was a life saver in the stores. We had fun with Hilary too!

 I Built Daniel his first bike ramp and he played on it all day for days on end. He wanted to take it home to his house. I told him he could play with it every time he comes.

 We had a picnic on the front porch for dinner one night with his pepperoni pizza

Silvi lost another tooth.  Apparently the tooth fairy thinks she too old to get anything for it...RUDE!


It's kinda Lonely here at Nana's house without Daniel.

Without Daniel- With Will again!
So happy he's home and so sad Daniels gone!

 

This is what I did today after Daniel left and after I cleaned.
I bottled Spagetti sauce... 15 pints.  Then I had to sample it so I would know whether or not I would want to make more.
I made a baked bowtie pasta with turkey, zucchine, spinach, homemade ricotta (fabulous), my sauce and melted cheese.
It passed... I am definitely going to bottle some more.

Oh... 2 cold sores; One  on each side of my mouth. I could name them, but I won't so as to protect the innocent.  he he

I Feel Like Painting!

Dear Ethyl...

 This week I also felt like painting. So I did!  We have been gone so much and running like crazy this summer that I haven't been able to spend much time at home doing the things that make me feel grounded and relaxed, so it was nice to be able to do some projects.  I LOVE to do projects better than almost anything else!

My porch is soooo cute now!

The colors make it feel Happy!

This is a BIG  chalkboard that I painted and will hung in the BARRACKS ( grandkids room)  Will started calling it the Barracks because we have 2 triple bunkbeds in there. Jaci says.. Build it and they will come!
It's getting to be a pretty fun room a little at a time. Daniel and Silvi love it!

I Be Jammin!

Dear Ethyl...
Last weekend I got some peaches from the Barn because they were on sale - Buy 2 boxes get 1 free. So I bottled peaches and made peach jam.  I LOVE canning season! It's a marathon on the days I do it and I'm usually exhausted at the end of the day, but it's a good exhausted! It makes me feel grounded and homey. Sort of like Betty Crocker. It is the epitome of momness. The day before I made my own breakfast sausage and sausage links. I love to cook and do things like that. What's not to love?

PS... This is me 2 weeks after my LASIK surgery. I am really loving not having to wear glasses and my vision is starting to stabilize and the dryness isn't as bad as it was at first.
About 2 months ago the spirit told me to start praying to See With New Eyes.  I don't know why, but I did.
AMAZING things have been happening in my life since then and I'm learning sooo much about myself and my relationships and life in general. I'm understanding things in ways I never have before and I really did physically get new eyes out of the deal also.  I am still continuing to pray for that. Heavenly Father is So Kind!

4Wheelin With My Baby

Dear Ethyl...
This has been a really fun week for me. I got somewhat caught up on my housework (Yay) and got to play a  little and project a little.
Will and I went on the 4 wheeler on Saturday.  We packed a picnic lunch and took off for the canyon. We went from the pond up over the mountain to the Old Pinery.  It was fun to have a picnic and just be outside.

Then on Monday after Will got off of work, we packed another picnic and took the 4 wheeler up 4 mile canyon.  It's so nice and the canyons are beautiful. The downside is that my hair gets full of dirt. Other than that it's great! I really like that Will and I have some time to spend together. He can be pretty fun to hang out with and I'm learning to let things go and not argue so much. I think we really like empty nesting!

Daniel at the Falls

                                            Daniel and I went to Bridal Veil Falls on the way home from Vernal.

 We climbed to the top and it was fun! We LOVE to play in the water...
any water at all.  I love walking in rivers and swimming in lakes and splashing in puddles and anything like unto it!  Daniel is just my buddy and we like hanging out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!

August 6th was Lucille Ball's birthday. She was 1 month older than grandma Pay.  We LOVE  I Love Lucy at our house.  We own every episode and watch them a lot. She is just soooo funny!  Plus, I always wanted to live then, when things were a lot simpler and the phone was just a phone and hooked to the wall.
The hair was cute, the clothes were simple, TV was black and white and so were the moral standards! I love 40's music too.
So... This is the first of our annual I Love Lucy birthday party.  Jaci did my hair and hers and I did Silvi's. We all dressed up...even Will dressed up as Ricky and he was pretty cute too.  ( I think that's what we'll be for Halloween too) We went out to eat at a boxcar diner because I realized it was her birthday only 2 days beforehand.  We had fun though.  It would be fun to dress like that all the time, red lipstick and all. Miracle... We even got mom to kind of dress up.  I told her she couldn't come with us unless she did, he he!  Happy Birthday Lucy- We STILL love you!

California or Bust

 This summer Will and I took a motorcycle trip to California.  We stayed in Encinitas. It's a really cute little town with lots of charm.  We stayed in the bottom floor of a house just a couple of blocks from the beach. It was so much fun. We got there on Sunday and went to church, then drove down highway 101 for the rest of the day.  We walked for miles on the beach every morning and collected shells. Will learned how to surf and practiced every day. I boogie boarded which is my all time favorite sport and if I lived in California I would do it EVERY DAY!  I may actually need that much practice because I broke my ribs. I think I figured out how though so next time it won't happen.

 We went to a Dodger's game at Dodger  Stadium.  We got really good seats and sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame with the the entire stadium and that was Amazing! Will had a hot dog and we watched the most patriotic and huge fireworks show I've ever seen from sitting on the outfield. It was on Will's bucket list and so much fun!  We went to Sea World and toured the USS MIDWAY. It was huge! I love history.  I saw it once in Hawaii, but it was active then so you couldn't go on it.  We ate at Anthony's Seafood 2 nights in a row because they have the World's best clam chowder and coconut shrimp. If I lived there I'd buy stock in it!

I took as many pics of me and the vw busses as we could get. Will still has some on his phone. I've decided to collect them because that is my dream car!
On the way home we stopped at THE MAD GREEK in Baker.  They claim to have the world's best Gyro's according to Diner's, Drive-ins and Dives.  They were Really Good, but I'm not sure about the world's best.  I think crown burger is just a little bit better.  It was about 9 when we got there and had been riding in 110 degrees for about 2 hours. It was airconditioned and yummy!  We are planning one more motorcycle trip in Sept. What can we say?  We're hooked!

Zoo Days

 We all went to the zoo early this summer.  Well, not all. Just us in the picture and Jaci's sign. She was still on her mission. We took that sign a lot of places so she wouldn't miss anything. I am such a good mom!  Anyway, we had lots of fun at the zoo, well as much fun as you can have if you're not an animal lover like myself, but it was fun to hang out together!
Silvi and her best friend Savannah caught the 2 frogs that lived in mom's pond. It happened when mom had to drain it because she used wasp killer and tried to spray the little buggers over her pond. 30 min later her fish were starting to freak out and go belly up so she took them out and drained the pond. They all lived. She had 4 fish last year and found out this year she has about 20.  OOPS!

Still Playing Summer Catch-Up

Me and my Ukulele.  Got it for my birthday because I was feeling like I needed to learn something new and was terrible at teaching myself.  I think Jaci's friend Landon said he would give me lessons so I think I will try and start in about 2 weeks. I'll either keep you updated or forget I ever wrote this... we'll see!

These are my talking signs that I made.  I know it's hard to believe, but sometimes Will and I have a really hard time saying what we really mean until its a full-fledged confrontation.  So... I thought these would help. Besides, I don't always know what I'm feeling or what I want so it's nice to be able to look at these, pick one out, then hold it up!  Easy peasy Lemon Squeezy!

Ok... This is pretty scary I know, but the great hair is leftovers from I love Lucy's birthday and I had to send this pic to my kids. It's the day after my LASIK surgery and these are the frog eyes I had to wear to bed for 5 days. Adorable aren't they! The surgery was a teeny bit freaky and slightly traumatic but I was a trooper!  It's now 2 weeks later and my vision still changes from day to day and each eye takes a turn not cooperating. It's getting better every day though. I still feel like I'm wearing dried out contact lenses most of the time, but I know that will get better too. I did run a red light driving at dusk. I just didn't see it and scared mom. he he
That was kinda fun.

Will did his yearly Nephi biathalon and won this year.  His spin classes and crossfit have definitely helped. He beat his last year's time by 7 minutes.  He wants to try to take another 4 min. off by next year. I'll bet he can do it too!  Isn't he cute!!

Daniel and Silvi have been spending LOTS of time in the pool this summer!  We put up a little privacy fence in our driveway so we can swim without all of the neighbors watching all the time. It's been so much fun!  Daniel and Silvi are both fish and Daniel has taught himself how to swim. As long as he wears a face mask he can do anything.  We got glowsticks one night and filled the pool up with them and they swam in the dark. They thought that was great fun!  Mom's pond is right next to it though so you can't be afraid of wasps.

Speaking of wasps... Daniel got stung on the lip by one. It was over on the playground though. If you look really close, he is not making a face...that is his actual lip size.  He was very brave through the whole thing though.  I was a Je's house for a week and then he came to stay with us for about 9 days. We had a lot of fun.  He's coming to stay again this week when papa and shaun go fishing in Alaska.  It's our last big time together this summer. Then he starts preschool and Jes starts babysitting and I work Thurs & Fridays.

I Love Summer!

Dear Ethyl...
This is the very first post on my blog!  For beginners,  Dear Ethyl started from Jaci's mission when I was writing to her everyday.  We LOVE I Love Lucy and so I started sending my letters, Dear Ethyl, and I was Lucy. I also loved the idea of writing to someone. When I write TO someone I am always looking out during the day for funny things to tell them, therefore I enjoy my life more and I enjoy writing about it.

Sooo, I have been to California with Will for 9 days on a Fantastic Motorcycle trip.  We stayed in Encinitas in the bottom floor of someone's house. Will learned to surf and did a great job. I boogie boarded which is my absolutely all-time FAVORITE sport! And... I broke my ribs, the little baby one at the bottom of my right side. 1 1/2 mos later it's doing pretty good! We went to Sea World, toured the USS midway, ate at Anthony's 2 times, which has the BEST clam chowder in the world!!!, played at the beach, gathered shells and had a FABULOUS time! I froze... I know...SHOCKER! We stopped at the Mad Greek in Baker on the way home and it was super good too.  Oh, and we went to a Dodger's game at Dodger stadium, which is in the hood, and sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame with the whole stadium and sat on the outfield and watched the BEST patriotic fireworks show I've ever seen on the 4th of July.  It was Sooo much Fun!!!

Then I went to Jes's for 5 days while Will took the boys to Scout camp above Vernal. Then she and Daniel came down here for a week. Daniel was so much fun this time. We swam every day he was here.  He is a fish! He wears a mask so no water gets in his nose and he has NO FEAR!  He's even taught himself how to swim. He says he want to live in Nana's world forever!  Who wouldn't?!! We read stories every day and just had a great time!  Shaun told him he couldn't swim on Sunday so he put his mask on, filled a 5 gallon bucket with water and started dunking his head...So Funny! We took pics, video'd and then gave in.  Silvi played with him the whole time. She is still so good with him!

Yesterday I had LASIK surgery. I prayed to be calm and surprisingly I was...not usual for me.  It was freaky and unnerving, but didn't last very long , thankfully!  It was super painful for about 3 hours after, then the pain eased some for 3 hours, then got pretty uncomfortable for the rest of the night. But guess what?
I CAN SEE!!!! It's like looking through cloudy contacts a little right now, but I can read and it will improve every day. I've worn glasses since I was 5. I've never been able to see. I am writing this with no glasses; not even reading glasses. IT'S A MIRACLE! About 2 mos ago Heavenly Father whispered to pray to See with new eyes. A lot of things have changed in my life since then and it led to this surgery.  Somehow I feel like the change in my vision is going to change my perceptions and how I see life, people, relationships and everything. I feel like there's a lot more to it than just being able to see without glasses and I'm excited to keep growing spiritually.