We invited the  guys to come with us to mum and daddy's place this time.  All the out buildings needed to be gone through and we thought they would be better at moving the big stuff around.

Daddy had saved pretty much every tool that he ever owned...and he was the inventor of many new tools too!  We came across several ingenious contraptions...for instance, this long pole with  a metal thing on the end that held a roll of plastic.  What in the world?  Kelley knew what it was for.  He said daddy would put it on the roof of the house when it had snowed a lot,  unroll the plastic, then the snow would slide down the plastic.  Ha!  There were a lot of tools he had made for tanning hides.  The rafters of all of the buildings were full of wood.  Seriously, so much wood!  Then the wood shed...that was just packed with boards and logs.  There was some other cool stuff in there too....The old  wringer washing machine, some skis that daddy had made, and a chicken watering can I remember from when I was a little girl.  Oh I sure do want to have some chickens...I had Kelley take that home just in case some day we can get some!

All us girls had the idea that we could possibly get some money if we traded in all this metal stuff we had seen up in the old garage. There were several crates full of old faucets, pipes, and other stuff.  The men were less excited about the idea.  They said it would take a ton of metal to get enough to make it worth our efforts.  Well we just wanted to see... so we started hauling everything we could find into the back of Dennis's truck.  We didn't have much time though cause the recycle place closed at 11:30.   The men went along with it...I think just to show us we were wrong....and I guess we were.  Kelley and Dennis took all the metal in and came home with about 40 bucks.  We had been looking around while they were gone though and had found a bunch more real heavy stuff...there was the tub Kelley and Rick drug out of mum's bathroom when they remodeled it...that weighs a lot!  and also lots of long pipes that were pretty heavy too. We hadn't even gotten into the garage yet and there were drawers and drawers full of rusty old nails and screws and nuts and bolts out there. 

Anyway, I think the guys were a little bit excited about trading all the stuff we found in next time we get together.

There was a shovel, hoe, or rake in every size for every different place in the yard that needed shoveling, hoeing or raking.

Ok this was a good one. When we dug back behind a bunch of boards and tools in the wood shed, we found a cupboard that had old books, and some kitchen things in it.  Also this crock full of bacon grease!  It must have been in there for 40 years...I think it was from grandma Braeggers house!

There were barrels of wheat...not sure if it was food storage or chicken food.  Mum and daddy were big on being prepared though.  We found lots of big plastic containers full of beans, wheat, and other stuff they had put away for emergency.  When we were cleaning out the garage, we even found a booklet on building a fall out shelter! 

When they finished the wood shed and chicken coop, where Kelley found this awesome tiller, we went out to the van. 

I didn't really know what was in there...I thought maybe just a few milk cans, but it had some interesting stuff in there. 

I'm not sure why daddy had this cubby hole desk...looks like something that should be at the post office.  We found barrels of mixture daddy would fill the planter boxes with for mum to plant her seeds in...old rubber tires, gunny sacks, daddy's old riding mower,lots of milk cans and daddy's old suit case that he took on his mission...it still had the tags on it from Pepeete. 

Then we went in the garage.  There is just so much stuff in there it's overwhelming.  We left the men to go through stuff and the girls went over to Quiznos to get lunch for  everyone.

I felt bad Leslie and Alan couldn't be there  with us.  Alan had just gotten home from having surgery on his knee and wasn't doing very well.  Sure hope he starts feeling better...he has had so many health problems. 

They went through all the drawers and found some really cool stuff.  Daddy had some really unique old tools.  They took turns picking things they wanted, like we have been doing and I think had a good time. 

When we went in there, it looked like they hadn't even made a dent in the stuff though, so we knew it would take another day to get through everything.

I love how daddy had horse shoes hanging everywhere.

We wanted to take a few fish home with us...didn't want to be doing this in November.  After much chasing, we had two in the bucket!

Stopped on the way home for a burger from Maddox.  Excellent!  Then we stopped at the fruit stand across the street to get some peaches.  I couldn't believe they wanted 20 bucks for a half bushel!  I think I would do better to buy a case of them  already bottled from Costco! 

Drove by the new temple being built in Brigham city on the way home...it's so beautiful!

What a nice day!



 This was a weird day fishing...We got up to Strawberry just as the sun was coming up.

 As we drove up to the lake, there was steam rising up off the water that looked really cool.

 But when we got on the boat, it looked nice and clear... no worries!   

Kelley putting some gas in the boat. 

Kelley got on the radio and got hold of Mark.  Him, Grampa and Pat and Kevin had stayed overnight in Marks trailer over at Soldier Creek so they got an early start out fishing. 

We headed over to meet them.

 As soon as we started up the narrows, this is what we ran into.  It was just like driving right into a big cloud.  We got back on the radio and asked Mark if it was like that over on his side.  He said no...clear as a bell.  He suggested going around a different route to get there, but we decided going forward a bit to see if it would clear out.

 That's a cool reflection of the sun on the water....not something you see every day.

 We had to slow down to a crawl and try to keep our bearings by looking to the shoreline.  Some of the time you couldn't even see the front of the boat.  It was creepy.  Kelley kept honking the horn to warn any other boats we were coming, but I'm pretty sure we were the only idiots out there who would  try to go through this fog.

It took us 45 minutes to go through what would usually take about 10...but we made it! 

Man, busting out of that fog into the sun was like waking up from a bad dream. 

Mark and the crew were fishing just around the corner  and it sounded like they had been having pretty good luck, so we caught up with them and fished by them for a few hours.

We were not so lucky.

Then Mark told us about this lure they were using called the wedding band that had worked really good for them (very pretty and sparkly!)...grampa had caught some real big ones with it. 

Soooo, you guys got another one of those you want to share?

Mark gave us one and within a few minutes, Kelley caught one.

Then a few minutes later, I caught one with it....but this time, the line got tangled around the down rigger and it sliced right through the line and we watched the wedding band slip away out of sight.

Oh well, we had a real nice day just enjoying the beautiful scenery and nice warm weather.  The leaves had just started turning and were a vibrant yellow and red.  It never ceases to make my heart swell with gratitude for the splendor and beauty Our Heavenly Father has placed on this earth for us to enjoy.



Forget me not...

I was driving home from mum's Saturday evening, so I didn't get to go to the Relief Society General meeting broadcast.  I saw a few highlights from it on the Internet Sunday morning, then watched the whole thing Sunday night on a re-broadcast.  It was pretty wonderful.
I loved Sister Thompsons talk.  Camille told me I would bawl when she talked about going through her parents things after they passed away.Yup.  She talked about looking through old pictures, documents and keepsakes and learning a little more about what their lives were like.  It's pretty cool to think that they went through all the same things that we are experiencing now...just in a little different way.  Their commitment to do what is right and keep their covenants left a great legacy for us to try to follow.  Made me think about what kind of legacy my kids and grand kids would find when they  will look through things of mine that were precious to me.
I especially enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk. He started talking about the little forget me not flower and my mind drifted off to the song mum taught us as little girls...
When so many pretty flowers, our Father gave a name...
Then came back a little blue eyed one...timidly it came.
And standing at the Father's feet and gazing at His face,
He said with meek and humble voice, yet with a simple grace...
"Oh dear Lord, the name thou gavest me, alas I have forgot."
Then the Father kindly looked at him and said... "Forget me not"
Pres. Uchtdorf went on to give some loving advice that lifted my heart... Don't be so hard on ourselves...none of us are perfect...God doesn't expect us to be.  Choose the better part...don't worry about trying to do EVERYTHING...just choose what is meaningful and do our best....that's all he wants. 
Be grateful for small and simple good things that happen with you and your family.  He related this to the little forget me not...even though they seem small and insignificant, God loves them and notices them.  He knows and loves us and notices when we are trying to do good things, even when no one else does.
I guess that was the best part of his message...a reminder that Heavenly Father loves us and will not forget us or leave us alone.  We are all individually important and special to Him.  All we have to do remember Him. 
Thanks...I needed to hear that right now.

Luau 2011

The Luau this year was pretty awesome....not because of anything we did, but because of the way the ward members rallied to make it a success.

I've kicked myself a hundred times for not taking any pictures that night.  I was busy, ok?

Anyway, picture a perfectly beautiful, warm night, the yard filled to overflow with people, a ton of great food, and Don Ho singing Island tunes softly in the background.

 KC totally saved the day for me by cooking all the rice.  Last year was a huge rice disaster.  I tried to cook it in the big roaster pans and it turned out all crunchy.  So I was telling KC about it and he said Hatsumi makes rice about every day and it's always perfect.  He said he would get some rice cooking tips from her. Come to find out she has an amazing rice cooker...straight from Japan.  She said we could borrow it, so KC got detailed instructions on how to use it ( since all the dials and buttons were labeled in Japanese)  It made 10 cups so KC made 4 batches and it filled up the two  roaster ovens Karen let me borrow.  It was perfect and sticky...just the way we wanted it!  Thanks Hatsumi and thank you KC!

That reminded me of how great other people were to help us out!  Karen and Vicky had been on the committee last year to help with luau.  They really went all out and did the most fantastic decorations, and table center pieces.  Vicky and Deslie even made a Tiki bar and had the most wonderful drinks for everyone.  It was really a hit.  But this year...well there are no more activities committees and it was way to late in the game to call on anyone to come up with decorations, so we were just going to try to do it ourselves.  Vicky and Deslie were going to be out of town the luau weekend, so the tiki hut was out.  Then when I asked Karen about any left over decorations that we might use, she said she had borrowed them from where she works and that wasn't going to happen this year.  I told her that was fine...not to worry about it.  But if you know Karen, well she won't leave you hanging like that.  She called me the next day and said she was going to do the table covers and some decorations.  She has had a real busy time at work and I know she didn't have time to do this so I asked her to please not worry about it, but the next day, she had it all worked out what she was going to do.   Anyway, she is amazing and would do anything for you...such a neat lady.

The day before the luau was cool and rainy but the forecast was for clearing on Saturday afternoon so we were sure praying for that.  It made it so they couldn't set things up the day before though, so that made Saturday a little more hectic.  The old bishopric was wonderful...Gordon and Dave helped a lot. Dave came over  Friday night to help prepare the meat and helped the next day too.  Gordon helped set up the tables and offered up his extra table and awesome barbecuer.  Several neighbors brought over their pop up tents and barbecuers. 

 Then there was Rick.  He has always been Kelley's right hand man when they cook the meat in the pit.  He helps Kelley get the pit ready, and pretty much anything electrical that needs to happen ( which was a lot this year with the new lights in the pond and rock garden)  What makes him even more extraordinary is the fact that he squeezed in doing all of this for us while he had his own family and extended family to comfort and care for.  Stacey's mom passed away earlier that week.  She has been watching her suffering from Alzheimer's disease for such a long time, it was a relief to them all when she was able to step to the other side of the veil.

Stacey had family coming in from all over for the funeral and they were staying at her house.  I'm just sayin...they had a lot going on, and Rick was still there to help Kelley as much as he could.

 Yard looked nice.  These Zinnias have been slow coming on, but now they are beautiful!

KC mows the back...

 Kelley mows the front....good team work...now Lizzy...no more pooping!
(Acker's were great to have her over for the evening to play with Trey)









Kelley has been working on the hut for a while now...really has it looking good out there! And he left a big spot just for daddy's truck!  We got it in there with Kelley and KC pushing and me steering...HA!  I used to love to drive that old truck!
Anyway, Saturday morning, a bunch of  High Priests from the ward came over with all the tables and chairs and had them set up in no time.  Kelley and I took a break and went out to Nona's funeral.  It was real nice ( beautiful music!) and a great tribute to her.  
 When we got home, KC had all the rice done and Candice was there to help me with the decorations and table covers.  She was a big help to me and somehow makes me feel a little less crazy.

A bunch of KC's friends came over and ate, then a guy that looked really familiar walked up to me with KC.  He said " I am Elder Rudd...KC's companion in Russia!"  KC had sent pictures of the two of them...now he was going to school down at the Y.  KC really thought the world of him and it sounded like the feeling was mutual.  I was so glad he had come.
The BYU-Utah game was on that night, so we took the big screen outside and hooked up the cable to it.  We had said that we would be showing it, so people came dressed to support their favorite team.  After dinner, a lot stayed to watch the game.  It made it fun to watch while everyone cleaned up.  People were really great to stay and help get everything put away too.  After everyone left, Kelley and I finished up the dishes and collapsed on the couch to watch the end of the game.  Utah beat BYU by about 40 points.  A great finish to a very good day. 

A few weeks ago,  we went up to Swiss days with Stacey and Rick. 

Swiss Days always makes me feel a little bit sad because that means summer is over.

I don't feel like I've really had a summer this year...not quite sure what happened to it.  Just  a strange year. 

Swiss Day's was fun though.  I love all the fall crafts and cute things.  There were so many people  though, you could hardly move.  Kelley and Rick were amazingly patient and didn't even make that face like...' hurrrrrrrrrry up!  We're dying here!'  And it was really hot too!   Such good guys!  I loved listening to the yodelers...they were  amazing!  I always wished I could have brought mum up there to watch the show they put on.  She would have loved it!

We saw lots of cute things and got a few new ideas for pictures to make.

I only bought one thing....a new picture done by Greg Olsen of Jesus holding two children.  What caught my eye was that the kids looked just like Olivia and Sam.

Even got Greg to sign it. 

After we had our fill of Swiss days...(pie and ice cream to top it off), we headed up to Strawberry.  It was a beautiful evening.  We found a neat place to camp, built a nice fire and had a good dinner with big gooey roasted marshmallows for dessert.

It was great to just be able to sit around the fire and visit and laugh with these good friends.

It was kind of cold in the night, and we woke up to find everything wet with dew. There was a big cloud that seemed to be sitting right upon us which made it kind of eerie cleaning up and taking off.

We fished for a few hours in the morning but didn't do a lot of catching.  Stacey was the lucky one!

 What a fun weekend! 

I love technology

We have had a near tragedy here...not really though when you compare to peoples real tragedy's...just a bad scare I guess you could call it.

I was scanning some pictures of family....some real good ones I got last time we were all together at mums.( which by the way seems like a century ago...I miss my sisters!) 

Anyway, all the sudden the screen goes white and there is this warning message that says there is some kind of overload on the usb port and my computer needs to shut down.  So I let it shut down ( like I could do anything about it) let it rest for a little while, then tried to start it up again.

First of all the mouse wouldn't work, so I tried the keyboard...nothing. 

All I could get was the blue start up screen.   I tried every trick I knew (both of them) but got the same results. 

So I called Candice...she is my computer guru...can usually walk me through any problems and get things going again.  She tried all the basics, then said she would come over and look at it.

She said Joe is quite the whiz on the computer...even builds his own so she would bring him with her.

He came over and looked the situation over.  He said my usb port was definitely broken, and my hard drive possibly fried.  He thought from the warning, that maybe there had been a power surge. ( what are my surge protectors doing???)  That was very bad news.  I cried a little.

Mostly just mad at myself for not saving all my pictures and important documents somewhere else.

I thought of all the things that have happened since 2007 and the gozillion pictures I had saved that told the story of my family's life for those 4 years.  I cried a little more.

I asked Joe what he recommended and he told us about a place where he knew the people and that they would be fair with me.

In the mean time,  I realized how much we depend on this amazing technology! 

We are in the process of changing health insurance..."We'll send your policy out and you can look at it online..." nope.

" Paula...didn't you get my email I sent you about the luau?"  nope.

"I'll get that recipe off the....wait no I won't!"

"I've got this great picture of Stacey's mom from her blog I can use...nope."

 K.C. ... "I kind of need to do my home work..."

"Need to pay that bill....ahhhhh"

Kelley..."need to get info from bishopric meeting"...(sent via email)

"I'll put that flyer together for the luau to put in Sunday's program"...nope...(this was the worst disaster..had to hand write luau invitation and draw my own palm tree.  Wow!  How did we ever survive before computers?)

I mean, of course we could survive...( actually stop wasting a lot of time on mindless fluff) but it sure helps out a lot too !  All of this incredible information that is right at our fingertips...it's quite mind boggling when you thing about how easy and wonderful it has made our lives...the fact that we can stay in touch with friends and family near and far away so easily is quite marvelous.

Anywho...So I take the computer to this place and told him what had happened.  He gave me a little hope and said maybe the hard drive would be savable or they could possible retrieve the information from it.  I wanted to kiss him.

Then the next day, he calls me and says he has taken it apart, and when that usb port was disabled, the windows came up just fine...so the problem was only in that port!  Hooooray!

He said if we were ok with only having one port in the front that worked, he would just make it so that broken one didn't mess with the computer anymore and we could come pick it up! 

What a relief!  I am buying an external hard drive today to put all my important stuff on! 

Ahhh the computer.. it  can be the most wonderful helpful thing, but then turn around and be the most frustrating aggravating,  kick it and throw it at the wall thing ever! but I love it.  Glad to have it back.

Newport 2011

 Soooooo, I'm a little bit behind...oh well it was fun to look at these pictures again and remember what a fun time we had!

Spaghetti Factory...always fun! 

We double dog dared KC to eat every one's ice cream... ( he got kind of skinny on his mission...need to fatten him up!)  He did it!

 After a huge hassle with our condo this year...(Realtor from Villa Rentals calls a month before we are supposed to be going and says the owner of place we were supposed to be staying has had a death in their family and need that condo for people to stay in that week...I'm not sure how he planned on that a month before it happened!   Ha!  Anyway, he said they were trying to find another place for us to stay.  He calls me a little later and says they have a place clear down on 28th street.  Not cool.  I told him we wanted to be closer to our friends that were coming the same time.  He said he would get back to me on that. I kept bugging him about it  but he didn't call me till a day before we were supposed to leave.  He said he couldn't find anything else so we would have to stay down on 28th street.  I said "Don't you ever deal with any other realtor's?"  cause I had been looking on the Internet and saw several that were down closer to the pier that were with other  realtor's.  He said he would check and called me right back and said they found one through Associated Realtor's that was on the bay side, but on 19th street.  I looked at it on the Internet and it was super nice!  We had a beautiful view of the bay and a nice little beach there too. Even though we had some anxious moments, it turned out to be pretty awesome!   I appreciate them working things out for us.)

 Come to find out Sam likes sand...not to play in, to eat.

 Girls all went out to dinner at new mexican restaurant...Las Fajitas...We decided this was our new favorite place!  Katie got tickets for the guys to go to the LA Angels baseball game...so we all had a fun night.

 Ice cream from Jane's corn dog...I think I gained about 5 pounds in a week.  Decided life is too short to worry about it.  Ha!

 I was wishing I had a decent camera when I took this picture...( been taking pictures with dumb phone camera cause my cord to import pictures from my real camera to computer isn't working!  oh no!)  anyway, it was the coolest moon you ever saw.  trust me.

 One day Dan rented an electric boat and came over and gave us a ride.  What a hoot!  We went all over the bay.  The seals were funny to watch....they hop up on these boats to sun themselves and when you drive by, they just look at you like... "what????"  People had put poky things around the edge of their boats to keep the seals off, but it wasn't working!

 Ok, this was kind of funny.  The first day we were on the beach, KC got a bad sunburn on his chest.( bad sunscreen application or just the fact that he was reeeeeealy white!)  Anyway, that's not funny at all!  We got some aloe vera and he was putting some on that morning before we went on the boat.  As soon as he put it on, he started itching...then he was going crazy with itching...but he couldn't scratch it because he was sun burnt so bad!   I think he must have had a reaction to the lanicane in it. 

 Well Camille busts out the benedryl....hmmmm this is bad... better take two!    He does so gladly...then slowly slips into a zombie state. 

 He was funny! 

 Saw some cool stuff...John Wayne's home

 Katie came down every night after work,  then took Thursday and Friday off!  So fun to spend that time with her!

 Just doesn't get any better than this...when I go to my happy place....this is where I am.

 Fun night at El Torrito

Happy Anniversary!  You bet it was!