quote for the day

Life is Too Short!
Break the Rules, Forgive Quickly.
Kiss Slowly, Love Truly.
Laugh Uncontrollably.
And NEVER Regret Anything
That Made You Smile.
Life May Not Be the Party
We Hoped For,
But While We're Here
We Should Dance.....

my new side kick...

have you ever had someone come into your life (uninvited, of course) and kind of shimmy right into your happenings, whether you wanted them to or not? you really don't want to take them anywhere with you, but you've been "SENTENCED", and told that it would be for your best, if you drag them with you everywhere you go. so you give in and take them with you (even to alaska). and then they whine, because they always have to have a certain "specific" something. so, you go to, and scan a store (you've never stepped foot in before and know where NOTHING is), and can't find it, but you can't leave without it. WHAT A PAIN IN THE PATOOTIE! whine! whine! whine! then when you finally find it, and buy it for them, they keep you awake all night singing and annoying you any and every way they can! but the best is, that they then turn around and tattle on you if you don't do everything just right!
well... let me introduce you to "WILMA".
after i had the PFO closure, i was told i had 'sleep apnea'. i had a couple of sleep studies done, then was 'kindly' introduce to the annoying "WHINING WILMA"! she's NOT that cute (not to mention, she does absolutely NOTHING to enhance MY appearance {just ask don})! she is a royal pain! and... i even had to drag her all the way to alalska with us. (don was a good sport to have a threesome along, and also to have had to haul her all over in the airports). she HAS to have distilled water and we had to look forever before finally finding it in the store in ak.
that first night in ak., i took an ambien, before we went to bed, because we had to get up way early the next morning (and... to be honest, i have a really hard time sharing my pillow with her)! after about an hour of sleep, i woke up to her annoying singing and whistling. there was sooo much moisture in the air, that i had to turn her humidifier waaay down. but it was too late, there was already a river of water in her hose, and she was seriously, drowning me! and... she just wouldn't stop the singing (let me tell you... she does not have that great of voice! especially at that time of the morning!) finally... about 2:15 a.m., i was so, so sick of her! i took off the mask, and literally threw her on the floor! (nice friend, huh!?)
now the killer is ~ she is a little tattle tale! and every time i go back into the doctor, he takes the little computer card out of her back side to download it into my chart, and she TELLS him EVERY single time i misused (or didn't use) her! BUMMER!
i am honestly trying to accept her as part of my life, but i still, reaaally , reaaally, just DON'T like her much at all. (i'd post a picture, but then none of you would like her either!)

HORRORMONE SCREAM !!!

any one that knows me, knows that i LOVE to be warm! I love it when it's 95 to 100 outside. i love to go set out on the patio and just let the sun beat on me. but lately.... one minute i'm freezing to death (yes! even in the middle of the summer ~ if you have ever been in our house you know what i'm talking about), and the next minute, i think my skin is going to melt off! don doesn't know what to do with me. it all started when we were in alaska. we were driving down to 'homer', and we were having this little heated "discussion" about having the air conditioner turned up so high. so he nicely turned it down. i swear, that within five minutes, i was turning it back up on high and opening the windows. i thought i was going to suffocate! and he thought i was loosing it! (not the first time and probably not the last). ever since then, i can be perfectly comfortable (as long as i am warm), then all of the sudden ~ in a blast, the heat turns on and i feel like my skin is melting right off my body (only if it would!). it takes me a little while to cool my thermostat down, then i can be comfortable again.
now i know what women are talking about when they mention HOT FLASHES!!! (i think i would just assume NOT know).
soooo... if you run into some nice old lady who is having HOT FLASHES,
please be nice to her and get out of her way!!!:)

lions and tigers and bears...

okay... maybe NOT lions and tigers, but the bears were for real!

this past weekend, we took a little "family" jaunt to 'island park', just out of yellowstone. instead of staying in a motel, we opted to rent a cabin that we could all stay in together... {you know... the family that plays together, stays together??? (anyway, that's the hope of the mom and dad)}.

this is the cabin we rented

(moose creek lodge)

gramma, siona and kendyl, putting together a 'princess' puzzle.

isley... once again, being mauled.
(she'll be glad when haley has her baby!)

playing games until all hours of the night.

karaoke competition.


who can go to "yellowstone" without going to "old faithful"
gramma, isley and kendyl and tiff with ibert and kj.

elk

'ibert' with his trusy "noclers".

he even had to sleep with them. but he has them turned around, and no one could talk him into looking thru them the right way.

of course, we had to sit and look at this buck for quite sometime
(like we've NEVER seen a buck before!)

we stopped and had lunch in the park.
and let the kids run for a while.

kendyl, siona, and ibert
having fun being together.
(notice the 'noclers' around ibert's neck, and the death grip he has on them.)

i guess we saw some 'monkeys' too!
kamryn and siona thought it was fun doing back bends over the logs.

under this little warming shack, was a grundle of potguts.

the kids (and papa) had sunflower seeds that they were feeding them.
first just one came out. he went back in and then two came out. they went back in, and gathered up the whole crew to come out for lunch.
this was probably one of the biggest highlights of the park for the kids.
they could have stayed there all day, feeding these little fellers.

hunter, trying to make friends.

heyyyy... where did you go?!

buffalo, so close we could kiss them!

artist point
(isn't this a gorgeous picture!)


ibert and hunter playing "who's the quickest" with papa


highlight of our mornings! when the grandkids would come and climb in bed with us.
(you can't see donnie in this picture, because kendyl is sitting on top of him).

we saw this this mama bear, just about as close as we wanted to!
she had two cubs with her.

ibert was DONE! two long days in the car was about as much as the kids could take.
not counting the ride up and then having to drive home on sunday.

we spent two whole days driving thru the park. the kids were so good. in all, we saw 7 bear, deer, elk, wolves, a fox, an eagle, and buffalo. no moose this time. but the scenery was awesome!

we played games into the night and some even ventured out into the hot tub. it was cool and rainy, but beautiful! oh and how could i forget...TERIBITHIA?!!

kj, kamryn, siona and hunter

(kamryn couldn't wait to take them to see teribithia!)

here they are! at TERIBITHIA!???

we had a great time and hope to make this a tradition of a yearly family 'bonding' experience.

pioneer day in fairview

for the 24th we had the whole fam damily down to fairview. this was the very first time that we had ALL of the kids down there at the same time since we bought our lot 5 years ago. we had a great time and the weather was great!
thursday night i rode down with chet and tiff. friday we decided to take the kids down to the pool while we were waiting for everyone else to get there. kendyl was NOT going to go down the slide, so we opted NOT to get the slide passes. ryker could only get in the wading pool, so tiff and i just sat with him.

'ibert', veggin' in the pool



kendyl was very content in the small pool, but chet really wanted her to get in the big pool with him. he coaxed and coaxed. begged and begged.

finally, she said to him, "dad, your'e 31 years old! i'm sure you don't need someone to get in the pool with you!" . but she finally consented and did go with him to the big pool and actually enjoyed it.

when we got back up to camp, jeff, haley and the kids showed up. they put up their tent and we watched a doe nibble on the trees down by the swing. she didn't seem to be bothered by us. the rest of the clan showed up eventually, and got camp all set up.
the next morning, don, chet, tiff, kendyl, ryker, jeff and hunter got up early and went to scofield to fish. (the rest of us were too lazy to get up that early).

the proud fishermen and woman!

we all had fun riding the four wheelers.
"papa and ibert"

give the girls a box of make-up, and look what they can do!
(hours of entertainment!!)

falute and siona


auntie haley was a good sport, being the first make-over model.
falute, haley, kamryn and siona.

nothing like being initiated into the family with four little girls that mall you and then insist on a make-over for you, too. chelsey was a good sport.

kendyl, falute, chelsey, kamryn and siona

we had fun planting wildflower seeds ( i dought that they will grow, but the kids had fun planting them anyway.) we walked down the road and hunter found a butterfly. then of course, for the next hour, we were hunting for butterflies (the other kids, all thought that they needed one, too.)
hunter and ryker were good sports, because when we found one, of course, the girls wouldn't touch them and the boys had to catch them for the girls.

hunter, with his butterfly

looking for butterflies.
mostly we just found a lot of grasshoppers.

and as always, the kids love the swing! they love to be pushed to 'the moon'! kamryn said her favorite, was when grandpa twisted her up and then pushed her after dark.
this is all of them sitting on the bench down by the swing.

kendyl, falute, siona, isley, ryker, kamryn, and hunter.

(next year we will have another one to add to our #'s! someone is going to have to find a place to add another swing. after a while you get tired of hearing "but, it's my turn!".)

saturday afternoon, we had a big fish fry with the halibut that we caught in alaska. the adults enjoyed it, but i think the kids would have just have soon had hot dogs.

the last morning, don took some of the kids, tiff, mel, and sheila to birch creek to play in the water. it poured on them and they were wet, whether they waded thru the water or not.

falute, kendyl and siona

we had a great time sitting around the campfire, making smores (grandpa even broke out the story of "thump drag". at first, i wondered if he had lost his mind, but he changed the ending (i thought hunter was going to pee his pants, he was laughing so hard, and then he got everyone else laughing with his contagious giggle!) and the kids had him repeat the story over and over, until i about lost MY mind! it was fun to have everyone there. it's the pitts to have your kids grow up and have their own lives!

thanks, kids for all making the effort to be there!

updated post

i updated my post.
look at the post before my alaskan post for ryker's birthday post.
(just trying to be organized)

happy birthday siona !

our little 'ona bona' is 4 years old! i can't believe it. it seems like just yesterday, i was with mel when she found out she was pregnant with her. these are a few of my favorite pictures of 'ona'.

coming home from the hospital

with grandma ruth whom she is named after
(i absolutely LOVE this picture)

i think her dad put this bow on her.
(her ears don't usually stick out like that)

she is quite a natural when it comes to gymnastics

running thru the water at 'birch creek'

i took her shopping for her birthday last week. she wanted a "mermaid barbie doll" that changed colors in the bathtub, but kendyl had already got her one, so i had to talk her into something else. she was NOT happy with me. i told her that we couldn't get it because it looked just like kendyl's and they would get them mixed up. she had one hundred and one ways that they would be able to tell them apart. even still when she opened her presents last night, i said "see... now do you know why gramma didn't get you a doll like that?" and she looked at me and said "yes, cause you didn't want to get me one!". i wonder if she will ever forgive me?! anyway, when grandpa asked her where she wanted to go, when we take her to dinner, she told him she wanted to go to "CHIWHAWHAS". so i guess that means we will be taking her to CHIN WHAS.
happy birthday to you 'ona' ! we love you !