Stephanie's Birthday and GFL

The fun started when Craig and Diana came on Wednesday.  There was so much to do for the draft and Diana was invaluable.  She made dinner Thursday night and it was so good.  Everyone came and enjoyed themselves. Kind of changing the subject, Diana gave me some pictures to put on my family wall.  It seems families change so much and the "wall" always needs updated.

The major changes are Scott is married and his new family isn't there, and Craig and Diana have two more children not in their picture.  

Friday was another busy day getting ready for Stephanie's surprise party.  I really don't like surprise parties because it is so difficult trying to pull it off.  I almost slipped a couple of times around her and so did Dad.  I think in the end after all of our covert operations, she knew about it.  She had seen a message or something on my phone.  It still turned out really fun.  I was so nervous and there was a lot of anxiety in trying to time everything.  Lynne was coming from Utah and I hoped that she had planned to call Stephanie and get her to go pick her up and bring her and the boys to my house.  We wanted her out before everyone started eating dinner here.  Everyone came for dinner because they were going to help me set up for the party and decorate.  Everything worked out and Lynne called just at the right time for Steph to come and they surprised her by taking her out to dinner.  Steph told me that when Lynne took her out, she thought that was the big surprise so she was some what surprised for her party here.  We had cake, snacks, and drinks; Lynne surprised her by giving Steph a book that everyone wrote about their memories of her in, and we played a new family favorite game called Kubb.  It was lots of fun!

Saturday started with the golf tournament at 7:00 a.m.  Roger loves doing this.  He is in his element and he gets such a kick out of watching everyone play.  I wish I would have gotten there earlier to get pictures of everyone but here is what I did get.

  

We then met over at the church to have pizza and then the GFL Draft began!  During the draft the kids played dress up and acted out plays on the stage.  Some of the kids played basketball and the women not involved with the draft visited.  It gets very serious in the room!  Scott always does such a good job and Lacey really helped him out this year by running the picks on the computer.  It's nice having the help and support of your better half!  :) After cleanup there was a dance off.  Very funny . . .

The Draft is over and all have gone home.  It isn't so much what we do when we are together it is the getting together that is fun.  If we didn't have the draft we would only see each other at weddings and funerals.  Having the draft every year guarantees the fact that we will get together.  I love Rick and Doris and their entire family.  I love that they make such a huge effort to come.  I told them, that I'm always afraid that they are eventually going to say that it isn't worth the trip and they don't want to come any more.  I am just glad  that hasn't happened and they have come every year.  The GFL was started eighteen years ago in 1995.  The families have grown and changed since then but it hasn't gotten old or boring getting together to have fun.  I just want to thank everyone for all they do to bring this all together.

July 18, 2013

Roger has been working hard to get in the baseboard.  It will look so nice when its all done.  It is just one more thing off our check list on our home improvement projects.

 I love working in the yard because I love looking at what the work can produce.  When ever I get a little proud of my yard though, I go and visit someone elses.  It really makes me realize how much more work I have to do.  I was able to go to Texas and see Aunt Yvonne's yard.  It is pretty amazing.   Steve, Jeff, and Lacey and Scott have all done a lot of work in their yards and they look really great! Aunt Joan has a pretty yard.  Sue Patrick's is amazing.  There is also a lot of older sisters in our ward and they have beautiful yards too. It kind of humbles me and maybe one day with a lot more work, I can have one that I can be happy with!

Joelle's baptism and Independence Day!

Joelle was baptized June 29th.  She was also beautiful in her white dress.  I am so proud of these girls making that decision to be baptized.  I love them very much. After her baptism everyone went to Yogartz.

 Can you believe she's eating chocolate in her white dress!

Moving on to some sad news, Aunt Joan called me Monday and told me that Aline had lost their baby.  I am so very sad for her.  They'll hold a memorial Monday July 8th for her.

The fourth was really different this year.  We just had the single kids.  Everyone else had other plans.  Jeff and Jennilynn came after dinner and we were all so glad.  Holidays just aren't as fun without children.  They made me very happy when they showed up!

Update . . . continued

I got busy yesterday and didn't get to finish. So I'm still continuing the update.

Mary was baptized in May and I may as well say that Joelle was just baptized last Saturday.  Mary's was May 11th.  It was a very good day and everyone that lived here in Idaho was there.  We will never stop missing Lynne and Craig's families.  It is getting harder and harder for them to make visits.  Gas prices make it almost impossible to travel.  Also families grow and along with that they get more involved in activities.  That is the way it should be but we miss them.  Anyway, her baptism went really well and she looked so pretty in her white dress.

Scott started a family conference chat on Facebook.  I absolutely love it!  I check it as often as I can to see what the kids are saying.  They are funny and they chat about everything.  It has really helped to stay more involved and in touch with the kids from Utah.

I've been working on a scrapbook of my mother's ancestors.  It was easy to start but lately I keep putting it off and I keep finding other things to do instead of tackling the scrapbook.  It has become very difficult.  I really want to get it done and I don't know why it has become so difficult lately to get to.

We drove down to Utah for Presley's blessing.  Joan and Mom drove down from Logan and Lynne's family were there along with Dad and I and some of Diana's family.  It was good.  Presley is such a beautiful baby. Diana made Presley's dress and did a wonderful job.  It looked very vintage.

Roger and I flew to Texas for a mini family reunion.  Nicolle and Cathy weren't there and we all really missed them.  I have mixed feelings about going.  It was so nice to see everyone.  I love my brothers and sisters and it is important for us to see each other once in a while to rekindle family connection.  Its so easy to grow apart as we get more involved with our own families. The trip came to about $1000 though.  I think about the shed I could have had instead, or a new garage door.  I want to re-due my kitchen and it would have gone a long way in fixing it.  Really, all those things are just things though. Money has always been an issue with me. I always want more then I have.  I need to realize that people are more important then money.

 Mom and Samantha

 Everyone at the pool

 Yvonne's grandsons

Samantha, David, and Dan

I haven't mentioned what is happening with Broadmore.  There has been a couple of times I thought Roger was going to quit.  He was so close to doing it.  The owners don't respect him and the Pro and they treat him unfairly most of the time.  He doesn't make enough to support us and this has been going on for twenty-five years.  I have been tired of it for a long time.  I don't know what it will take for Roger to throw in the towel and walk out.  The problem now is, I wonder if he has waited too long.  Can we live on what he could make on lessons?  I don't know.

My friend, Sue Patrick's mother passed away June 16th.  So did Karen Chandler's mother.  I felt bad because I wasn't there for Ilene Wilcox's funeral.  I had everything planned and bought for it, as the Relief Society President but I wasn't there for Sue.  She told me everything went okay though.

Getting Caught up . . . . Again!

I am going to try and get caught up.  I have to go way back to March.  The most important thing that happened was Presley was born.  She was born March 20th.  It was the best time for me for her to come.  I had the next week off for spring break and I was able to go down and help. She had to have Presley by c-section and so her healing time took longer than normal.  Diana did amazingly well though.  She is such a good mom and it pleases me so much that our kids are such good parents.  Presley is a good baby and I was so glad.  I hated to leave when I did but her having a good baby helped me feel better about going.  Her mother came and helped her when I left and Craig is a good helper too.

March and April were really busy at work.  Trying to wrap up reading incentive parties and getting the students involved in spy games, that was the theme last school year.  Next year we are going to outer space and we are leaning toward Star Trek.  It should be fun.  

The second big event was Scott and Lacey's engagement and then marriage.  My mother and sister, Joan and Lynne's family were all here for Easter.  That was exciting and I really enjoyed having everyone.  Then Scott called and asked if he could bring Lacey to dinner.  I didn't want to get my hopes up but I knew he really liked her a lot to want to bring her to dinner.  Lacey brought two of her three children and I liked her from the very start.  She isn't shy, at all, and visited and answered all our questions.  I wonder if Lacey felt like she was in the hot seat with everyone drilling her.  :)  On May 5th, Scott took Lacey out in our back yard and proposed to her.  They wanted to wait until they could be sealed in the temple but they found out it would be longer than they expected for Lacey to get a temple divorce.  They were married May 29th, 2013.  

Journal --

Jennilynn mentioned today that I could use this as my journal and then print it up later.  I have also heard this from Lynne.  I quit posting because it became too difficult to add pictures and make changes.  I think it was because I would always use the Internet Explorer and Blogspot isn't that compatible with it.  It likes Google Chrome.  So, I'll try to convert.  I'll try and use this as a journal so if you don't want to hear about my mundane thoughts and everyday doings then you most certainly won't want to read this when I write.  :)

This year is half way over and I can't believe how fast its going.  I'm kind of glad because that just brings me closer to being released from Relief Society Pres.  I know I'm not suppose to feel this way but this is a really hard calling.  I do love the sisters and amazingly enough, the part of this calling I like the best is visiting in the sisters' homes.  I'm not afraid at all to go knock on an unknown door and make a visit there.  That used to terrify me up until a couple of years ago.

The part of this calling that I dislike the most are the problems that people make up.  Those that are so needy . . . . no, I even don't mind them.  Its when they are demanding and ungrateful with their needs.  Its when the same people who are doing the demanding are the very same ones that can not help out when some one else is in need.

Then on the other hand, there are the same ten sisters in the ward that are asked to do everything.  They will never say no and they are so kind and charitable.  They are the ones that rotate in and out of presidencies in the auxiliaries; Primary, YW, and RS.  These women are one of the things about the calling I love.  I have learned that there are still good hard working people who love the gospel.  They quietly go about doing good works and serving others.  Somewhere someone has instilled in them ideals and qualities that have become part of them.  They, I'm sure don't know they are special they are.

I still have a hard time teaching adults.  I get tongue tied and my mind will go blank, even after studying out what I am going to say.  I am always in my element among the children.

I'm back!

I have tried posting about 5 or 6 times and I couldn't get it to work.  I send feedback messages and Blogger never got back to me.  Finally, a pop up came up and it said that I had to go into to Google Chrome for it to work.  I'M BACK!  I'll start blogging again.