My 6 weird things or Six weird things about me:
1. I don't have double jointed thumbs but I can lock the first digit of all my fingers, the whole finger is straight except for the end one that is bent.
2. I like my cupboard doors shut. If I'm anywhere and there is an open door or drawer I have to shut it. (OC Behavior?)
3. I like to count things. Telephone poles, panes in windows etc. especially while riding in a car and I'm not driving.
4. I like to read before I go to sleep no matter how late it is.
5. On my caller ID "machine" I have to push the little green button that means someone has called. I don't like to see the constant blinking.
6. I love to make babies smile and laugh. (I guess I'm not so different than most in this last way. It is interesting to see what "adults" go thro' to accomplish this sometimes.)
There I've completed the list. However I'm stopping the tag here. Hope no one minds.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Our Trip Back
We really had fun playing that that night. Duncan finally got up to the third place so he didn't have to give one or two of his best cards away. Since we were to be ready to leave the house by 7:00am the next morning we told the children and Téa goodbye before going to bed. Richard did get up and see us off for which I'm glad because he went down with Ephraim the night before and we didn't get to tell him goodbye then.
It is soooo rewarding as a parent to visit our children and their children in their homes and see how they are teaching their children the gospel and how to walk uprightly before the Lord. I am so thankful we can have that experience. We have experienced it in each of our children's homes. They and their sweethearts are all doing such a good job doing that.
On Monday afternoon Sam & Marta Moore from Scotsdale came to visit us. Sam is my cousin once removed (or in other words my mother's cousin). It had been years and years since I had seen him. I had never met his wife. He is eight or nine months younger than I am. Right in between my sister Bonnie who is sixteen months younger than I am. It was sooo good to see them. I hadn't known that he had been in the Airforce or served in Vietnam. I told him that I always pictured him as I knew him as a young child or teenager. I wouldn't have known him if I'd passed him on the street. Probably he not me either. They were there for two hours and 15 mintues. He brought me some pictures of my family and his family in some of our get togethers. As I was walking out with them to the car, I told them of Elena's reaction to the crucifixion of Jesus. Marta told me that she teaches the Nursery in Primary in their ward and the last week when she was giving the Easter lesson, she mentioned that Jesus was dead. And one three year old boy piped up and said, "Jesus died?" When I told my husband that he said, "They must not have been taught very well." I said, "On the contrary, it is because they have been taught that he and Elena reacted that way. We are always refering to Jesus Christ as the living Christ and to his being alive. In their young minds they aren't able to figure out that He had to die before He could be resurrectied. " I just found that very interesting.
We were picked up by the Super Shuttle there at Richard & Téa's by 7:05am and got to the airport in time to stand in line for an hour to check our luggage before going to the gate,. Because Marta had told me that we could go online and get our boarding pass withing 24 hours of boarding, I was in the aisle A. Karl couldn't get his because he was listed as a senior and they wouldn't give him his without checking to make sure he was over 65. I've decided that since we paid the exact same price for our seats, I wouldn't put him in as a senior next time and we can get both of our boarding passes online. Anyway because I was in aisle A he was able to board with me and we were able to sit together on the back back to SLC.
I forgot to mention that because I was sooo tired the first night we were at Richard's that I didn't unpack my large suitcase until the next morning. Téa had arranged for space and hangers so we could hang up our extra clothes. I had everything I needed for the night in my small carry-on so I didn't even open up my big one until morning. I was glad. I found a piece of paper stating that they had searched my luggage right on top. They had opened my tumbler that had my whey protein drink in it and not put the lid back on securely if at all, and there was 3/4 of it scattered all over my clothes! We had to take everything out and brush it off then shake it off outside. At first I wondered if I would have to wash all of them before I could wear them. But they brushed off nicely. I was really discusted with them tho' I can understand that they randomly check luggage and I can understand why they looked to see what kind of powder that was in there. But I don't understand why they didn't make sure that the lid was back on securely. After we got back to the SLC Airport at 11:50am, I walked up to a security guard and asked him how I could register a complaint. He asked what it was in reference to so I told him what happened. He graciously got me a card with their pubic relations officer's e-mail address on it and told me to e-mail him and explain what happened. I still need to do that.
The shuttle for IF arrived at 1:30 to bring us back here. We arrived at the Fairfield Inn at 5:00 sharp. It is a pleasant way to travel and we couldn't have bought gas and parked the car at the airport for what we paid for for the shuttle for both of us. We will use that again.
Bob Hart met us at the Inn and brought us back home. I had told a woman on the shuttle in Phoenix that we would probably be going back to winter. I didn't realize how right I was until we got home. They had gotten seven inches of snow the day before (Bob measured it on top of his car in the driveway.) and there was still snow from that storm that morning. Altho' most of it had melted by the time we got home, there was still snow over 3/4 of our back yard when we got home.
Karl could tell by Tuesday night that he was coming down with a bad cold. I couldn't tell until Thurday morning. Even then, I wouldn't have traded our experiences of the last week for not getting sick. (We could both understand better why Ephraim and Elena seemed so miserable.) I am so glad that we went.
It is soooo rewarding as a parent to visit our children and their children in their homes and see how they are teaching their children the gospel and how to walk uprightly before the Lord. I am so thankful we can have that experience. We have experienced it in each of our children's homes. They and their sweethearts are all doing such a good job doing that.
On Monday afternoon Sam & Marta Moore from Scotsdale came to visit us. Sam is my cousin once removed (or in other words my mother's cousin). It had been years and years since I had seen him. I had never met his wife. He is eight or nine months younger than I am. Right in between my sister Bonnie who is sixteen months younger than I am. It was sooo good to see them. I hadn't known that he had been in the Airforce or served in Vietnam. I told him that I always pictured him as I knew him as a young child or teenager. I wouldn't have known him if I'd passed him on the street. Probably he not me either. They were there for two hours and 15 mintues. He brought me some pictures of my family and his family in some of our get togethers. As I was walking out with them to the car, I told them of Elena's reaction to the crucifixion of Jesus. Marta told me that she teaches the Nursery in Primary in their ward and the last week when she was giving the Easter lesson, she mentioned that Jesus was dead. And one three year old boy piped up and said, "Jesus died?" When I told my husband that he said, "They must not have been taught very well." I said, "On the contrary, it is because they have been taught that he and Elena reacted that way. We are always refering to Jesus Christ as the living Christ and to his being alive. In their young minds they aren't able to figure out that He had to die before He could be resurrectied. " I just found that very interesting.
We were picked up by the Super Shuttle there at Richard & Téa's by 7:05am and got to the airport in time to stand in line for an hour to check our luggage before going to the gate,. Because Marta had told me that we could go online and get our boarding pass withing 24 hours of boarding, I was in the aisle A. Karl couldn't get his because he was listed as a senior and they wouldn't give him his without checking to make sure he was over 65. I've decided that since we paid the exact same price for our seats, I wouldn't put him in as a senior next time and we can get both of our boarding passes online. Anyway because I was in aisle A he was able to board with me and we were able to sit together on the back back to SLC.
I forgot to mention that because I was sooo tired the first night we were at Richard's that I didn't unpack my large suitcase until the next morning. Téa had arranged for space and hangers so we could hang up our extra clothes. I had everything I needed for the night in my small carry-on so I didn't even open up my big one until morning. I was glad. I found a piece of paper stating that they had searched my luggage right on top. They had opened my tumbler that had my whey protein drink in it and not put the lid back on securely if at all, and there was 3/4 of it scattered all over my clothes! We had to take everything out and brush it off then shake it off outside. At first I wondered if I would have to wash all of them before I could wear them. But they brushed off nicely. I was really discusted with them tho' I can understand that they randomly check luggage and I can understand why they looked to see what kind of powder that was in there. But I don't understand why they didn't make sure that the lid was back on securely. After we got back to the SLC Airport at 11:50am, I walked up to a security guard and asked him how I could register a complaint. He asked what it was in reference to so I told him what happened. He graciously got me a card with their pubic relations officer's e-mail address on it and told me to e-mail him and explain what happened. I still need to do that.
The shuttle for IF arrived at 1:30 to bring us back here. We arrived at the Fairfield Inn at 5:00 sharp. It is a pleasant way to travel and we couldn't have bought gas and parked the car at the airport for what we paid for for the shuttle for both of us. We will use that again.
Bob Hart met us at the Inn and brought us back home. I had told a woman on the shuttle in Phoenix that we would probably be going back to winter. I didn't realize how right I was until we got home. They had gotten seven inches of snow the day before (Bob measured it on top of his car in the driveway.) and there was still snow from that storm that morning. Altho' most of it had melted by the time we got home, there was still snow over 3/4 of our back yard when we got home.
Karl could tell by Tuesday night that he was coming down with a bad cold. I couldn't tell until Thurday morning. Even then, I wouldn't have traded our experiences of the last week for not getting sick. (We could both understand better why Ephraim and Elena seemed so miserable.) I am so glad that we went.
More about the Pagent
At about 6:00pm or so some protestors showed up carring signs about "baby-killing women" (because the church does allow a baby to be aborted with rape or incest if it would be too tramatic for the woman to carry it full term and place it for adoption.) And one man had a sign on the front of his T-shirt that Mormons weren't Christians and something about hell on the back. (Téa later observed on the way home that if they could stand their and watch that whole pagent and still think we weren't Christians, then they were not very bright. I agreed.) The pagent people started playing music, songs by the tabernacle choir, etc around 7:00. We were very glad about that because the music was loud enough that it drowned out the protestors. They had a megaphone but a police went over and talked to them and I guess told them they couldn't use it because they didn't. The pagent started at 8:00 just at sundown. It did get cool after sundown so I was glad that I wore knee-high stockings and had a sweater with me. Téa had brought extra clothing for the children too. So we were all toasty warm. The first scene was angels up on the roof blowing long trumpets, it was dark everywhere else. It was very impressive. Then it was a street scene in Jerusalem with a lot o people and noise. A Roman sholdier came out and told the people that it was curfew and they had to go home. So everyone had left except for a man and two or three women. The sholdier walked up to them and said, "You are followers of the Nazarene that was crucified?" And they proudly responded that they were altho' you could tell that they didn't really know what to expect from this soldier. He told them that he had been there when he was crucified and could tell that he was a just man and didn't deserve to die and that he was interested in learning more about him and his teachings. One of the women then said, "Come over here with me and we'll tell you of Jesus. We'll start at the beginning." I pictured their going back to his birth. But like Ammon when he started teaching King Lamonhi in the Book of Mormon, they started with Adam and Eve. They told of Enoch and Isaih who had prophesied ofHis coming. Then they told of His birth and why Mary and Joseph were in Bethleham when they were actually residents of Nazareth. The stage was down in front of the Visitors Center there by the temple. The angels were up on the roof again singing their glad tidings. The shephereds were off to the side herding their sheep. Then the wise men came from the East. The next scene was the boy Jesus teaching in the temple there at Jurusalem during the Feast of the Passover. It depicted John the Baptist teaching the people about the Messiah and how Jesus came to him and was bapitzed. Then it told how he called the twelve apostles who would be with him continuously from that time forth. It had a dance of the ten virgins and how the five foolish had to leave to get more oil and how the bridegroom came while they were gone and only the five wise virgins were able to enter in with him. It depicted how the Sunday before the Feast of the Passover was to start He told one of His deciples to go to a man and find a yound white ass that had never been riden and bring it to him and how he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem with all of the people cheering him and putting down palm fronds for the donkey to walk on as He entered the city. As this was happening the tho't occured to me that the Saducees and Pharacees really did stir up the people against Him just a few days later. If they would have let things be, He would never have been crucified. I also remembered how Nephi learned in one of his visions that the people over there were the only people on the face of the earth to be wicked enough to kill their own God.
The next scene was the feast of the Passover and how Jesus knew that Judas Ischariot would betray him. How he washed their feet and told Judas to leave and go do what he had to do. And how then he institued the sacrament to the other Apostles. He took Peter, James and John with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane and how He suffered as He prayed that the Father would remove the cup from Him. Then came Judas and the Roman sholdiers and He was betrayed with a kiss. As they were taking Him to Ciaphus and then Pontius Pilate, the people on stage where shouting and making a lot of noise. Three-year-old Elena turned to me and said, "What are they doing, Grandma." I said "They are trying to kill Jesus." She said, "They are trying to kill Jesus." After I said, "Yes they are" she said, "Oh, no, Oh no!" I told her to watch closely and he would come alive again. She was very attentive after that. It depicted the women coming to anoint His body with oil, explaining that they didn't have time to do it the day he was crucified because of the beginning of the Sabbath; of how they found the stone rolled away and no one in the tomb; of Peter and John running to the tomb and also finding it empty; of Jesus apearring to Mary. The last scene was up on the roof again with all of the angels and Jesus as He ascended into Heaven. Everything else was dark and he literally rose up above the angels by quite a ways. It was very impressive. When we went to the Black Hills with my in-laws when Richard was seven or eight and he and Kim stayed with Karen & Kent while we were gone, we saw a pagent that depicted the life of Christ. It had real horses, camels and donkeys with beautiful costumes. But there seemed to be something missing. For me anyway. A while later I realized that I couldn't feel the Spirit and that was what was missing. Well, I definitely felt the Spirit that night at the Mesa Temple Easter Pagent. And I was glad that I couldn.
The pagent ended at 9:15pm. We took our time getting back to the car because we knew we would be blocked by all of the other cars leaving since we were parked up by the temple. But that was OK. As the other cars were leaving, Emma, who is five, exclaimed, "Oh, look, Grandma at all the cars leaving and no one is driving them." I chuckled and explained that there was someone driving them for sure but we couldn't see them because it was dark and that kept us from seeing inside the cars. Even after waiting, we were home about an hour after the pagent ended. Téa and I had a very nice gospel discussion of the way home. All of the children, especially Ephraim were so good while we were waiting for the pagent to start and during the pagent. There were thousands of people there.
The next morning, Easter Sunday, we awoke to find that Ephraim and Elena both had fevers and were quite miserable. Téa and Ephraim stayed home from church but the rest of us went. Their meetings don't start until 1:00pm so Elena was feeling better and was able to go. Their ward is sooo large that you have to get there early or not find a seat. We were on the very last row of metal chairs in the overflow. Richard was substituting in Elena's primary class so Karl and I attended Sunday School just the two of us. The teacher reminded me of Brittany. Both the way she looks and her mannerisms. She had asked a young man to read a scripture and told him which one to read. He started reading and she stopped him and repeated the scriture she wanted him to read. He replied, "That's where I'm reading." She got a little flusterd and said, "Oh, it's me that's on the wrong page." That just sounded so Brittany! The teacher was a cute young woman who had been home from her mission only a month or two.
After church I helped Richard fix dinner; Elena and I sliced the strawberries (a new way with the egg slicer that worked great) and Richard and I had a very nice visit just the two of us. The others were either resting or outside jumping on the trampoline. We had ham, scalloed potatoes, veggies (carrots, cucumbers and olives) and then strawberry shortcake. It was all deliscious. When we first got home the TV was on and there was a show on the History Channel that depicted the life of Christ and His crucifixion and resurrection. It had big name stars in it. We saw the last hour of it. We watched other Easter videos too. It added to the day.
Monday was just a relaxing day. We were going to go to the Science Museum but with Epraim and Elena still sick we just stayed home. That night we, Richard, Téa, Karl and Duncan and I all playled the Great Dalmuti with Téa starting in the middle. The girls watched the Ugly Duckling and the Princess and the Pea DVD's while we played.
The next scene was the feast of the Passover and how Jesus knew that Judas Ischariot would betray him. How he washed their feet and told Judas to leave and go do what he had to do. And how then he institued the sacrament to the other Apostles. He took Peter, James and John with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane and how He suffered as He prayed that the Father would remove the cup from Him. Then came Judas and the Roman sholdiers and He was betrayed with a kiss. As they were taking Him to Ciaphus and then Pontius Pilate, the people on stage where shouting and making a lot of noise. Three-year-old Elena turned to me and said, "What are they doing, Grandma." I said "They are trying to kill Jesus." She said, "They are trying to kill Jesus." After I said, "Yes they are" she said, "Oh, no, Oh no!" I told her to watch closely and he would come alive again. She was very attentive after that. It depicted the women coming to anoint His body with oil, explaining that they didn't have time to do it the day he was crucified because of the beginning of the Sabbath; of how they found the stone rolled away and no one in the tomb; of Peter and John running to the tomb and also finding it empty; of Jesus apearring to Mary. The last scene was up on the roof again with all of the angels and Jesus as He ascended into Heaven. Everything else was dark and he literally rose up above the angels by quite a ways. It was very impressive. When we went to the Black Hills with my in-laws when Richard was seven or eight and he and Kim stayed with Karen & Kent while we were gone, we saw a pagent that depicted the life of Christ. It had real horses, camels and donkeys with beautiful costumes. But there seemed to be something missing. For me anyway. A while later I realized that I couldn't feel the Spirit and that was what was missing. Well, I definitely felt the Spirit that night at the Mesa Temple Easter Pagent. And I was glad that I couldn.
The pagent ended at 9:15pm. We took our time getting back to the car because we knew we would be blocked by all of the other cars leaving since we were parked up by the temple. But that was OK. As the other cars were leaving, Emma, who is five, exclaimed, "Oh, look, Grandma at all the cars leaving and no one is driving them." I chuckled and explained that there was someone driving them for sure but we couldn't see them because it was dark and that kept us from seeing inside the cars. Even after waiting, we were home about an hour after the pagent ended. Téa and I had a very nice gospel discussion of the way home. All of the children, especially Ephraim were so good while we were waiting for the pagent to start and during the pagent. There were thousands of people there.
The next morning, Easter Sunday, we awoke to find that Ephraim and Elena both had fevers and were quite miserable. Téa and Ephraim stayed home from church but the rest of us went. Their meetings don't start until 1:00pm so Elena was feeling better and was able to go. Their ward is sooo large that you have to get there early or not find a seat. We were on the very last row of metal chairs in the overflow. Richard was substituting in Elena's primary class so Karl and I attended Sunday School just the two of us. The teacher reminded me of Brittany. Both the way she looks and her mannerisms. She had asked a young man to read a scripture and told him which one to read. He started reading and she stopped him and repeated the scriture she wanted him to read. He replied, "That's where I'm reading." She got a little flusterd and said, "Oh, it's me that's on the wrong page." That just sounded so Brittany! The teacher was a cute young woman who had been home from her mission only a month or two.
After church I helped Richard fix dinner; Elena and I sliced the strawberries (a new way with the egg slicer that worked great) and Richard and I had a very nice visit just the two of us. The others were either resting or outside jumping on the trampoline. We had ham, scalloed potatoes, veggies (carrots, cucumbers and olives) and then strawberry shortcake. It was all deliscious. When we first got home the TV was on and there was a show on the History Channel that depicted the life of Christ and His crucifixion and resurrection. It had big name stars in it. We saw the last hour of it. We watched other Easter videos too. It added to the day.
Monday was just a relaxing day. We were going to go to the Science Museum but with Epraim and Elena still sick we just stayed home. That night we, Richard, Téa, Karl and Duncan and I all playled the Great Dalmuti with Téa starting in the middle. The girls watched the Ugly Duckling and the Princess and the Pea DVD's while we played.
Our Easter/Phoenix Trip
I really did mean to post our trip two days ago, but I caught the bug that Elena and Ephraim had and so have been taking it easy to quickly get rid of it. I hope I'm over it before too long. I can tell it went up into my left sinus today, but I wouldn't have traded the experience of last week to keep from getting it. I just hope to be completely over it before we fly out to Omaha in two weeks.
Here goes: We left the house at apporximately 11:00am on April 12. Bob Hart our neighbor took us and our luggage over to Fairfield Inn on Broadway to catch the shuttle to the SLC airport. We were to arrive by 3:30 and our plane to take off by 5:10 for Sky Harbor Airport at Phoenix. We arrived there at SLC airport about 10 minutes early or so. We got in line to check our luggage. I put the info in the computer and got my boarding pass. Karl had to show his ID to let them know he was truely a senior. By the time we got our boarding passes and went thro' security and to the gate we had a 20-30 minute wait till they started boarding. We were flying Southwest. So no assigned seating. We were both in Aisle C so by the time we got on the plane there were no seats together anywhere. So Karl sat in the seat ahead of me. Both on the isle. By the time we boarded, there was only a ten minute wait till the plane took off. The security line there at SLC was two (that's no exageration) long and seemed to take forever to get thro'. Karl had worn a turquiose necklass and it and his belt buckle set off the alarm at the gate. My total knee didn't even set it off. It does at both IF and Sky Harbor. We arrived at Sky Harbor at 5:40pm. We collected our luggage (really made me appreicate the fact we hadn't taken extra luggage, just our carry-on luggage when we flew down last October. As Karl pulled out the strap to piggy back the smaller pieces to the lager ones, we noticed it was covered with a brown powdery substance. I said, "that hold must be filthy." Karl saidm "It looks like whey protein powder to me." I tho't, "Oh no!" We had to wait for the Super Shuttle about 15-20 minutes to take us to Richard & Téa's. Our driver was originally from Honduras. He said he was there when that category 5 Hurricane it in '98. I remember that one. We got to Richard & Téa's by 7:00. I was glad someone else who knew the way was driving. The children must have been watching because All four of the oldest ones were lined up on the driveway to welcome us before we got parked. Richard was there too. He'd been home from work about 3/4 of an hour or so. It was sooo good to be there and see them. When I got in the house I greeted Téa after gettting a hug form each of the children and Richard and went to find Ephraim. He is such a happy baby. He smiled and smiled at me as soon as I was in the room and started talking to him. Cheanna was kind enough to let us use her room. I was very thankful for that. She has a very nice bed. I went in and got down on the floor with Ephraim and started playing with him. I did "mousey, mousey" with him and he smiled wide. I did this "little piggy went to market" and he laughed out loud. I do the all the way home part up the leg and all the way up the toursle to the chin. Emma was there watching and she'd say, "Do that trick again, Grandma." So I did. He laughed out loud for more than five full minutes. He did alittle the next day too but that was the only times I really heard him laugh out loud. AT first I figured since he did it so readily that he must laugh out loud very easily. I found out differentlly. Richard later said he's very stingy with his giggles and laughs. He really did enjoy my playing with him. (And I thoroughly enjoyed playing with him._After he got sick on Sunday, I was able to make him smile occasionally even tho' he was miserable---if his fever was down. Later on on Monday, I think it was, Ducnan was watching me play with him and asked if I tho't he would remember how I played with him like that. I asked him, "Do you remember my playing with you when you were this age? For I used to play with you just like I'm playing with him." He smiled and said, "No, but I can imagine how it was when you were playing with me by watching you play with Ephraim." I also did "How big is Epraim." He got so he expected that when he grasped both of my thumbs at once. I don't think it would have been many more days and he would lift his arms up himself while grasping my thumbs. My children would do that, almost always having to have hold of my thumbs to do it. Until they got to be 18 months old or so.
The first morning we were there I went with Téa and the children to Buckeye (a small city, "about the size of IF) to her home schooling support group. I'm glad I went. It really opened my eyes as to what they do and what their goals are etc. Afterwards we headed for the Art museum with the other home-schooling support group she belongs to. We got off on the wrong freeway and since the children were hot, (the thermometer in the car reached 101 degrees while we were down town.) thirsty and tired, I told her that if it was all right with her we could just head home. On Friday, Karl and I helped with the home schooling. Karl with the math and I listened to the reading. Altho' Emma is just barely five and two months she is site reading the, no, and, on and maybe other words if I'd found them. Cheanna is a good little reader with much expression. She has the habit of reading words in her mind and skipping them out loud. So I'd make her go back and read the whole thing again. She wasn't very happy with me at times but I told myself that she was there to learn and I wouldn't know what she knew and couldn't help teach her unless I did that. Duncan is an excellant reader too. Reads with much expression as well. I don't know at what level they are reading but I do know that they are reading far above their grade levels of 1st and 3rd grades, respectively. I enjoyed doing that. We had originally planned on going to the temple pagent Friday night but it was cloudy with chance of rain all day and the wind was blowing and getting worse as the day went on. So we decided to go on Saturday. Friday night we played the Great Dalmuti, Karl, Richard, Duncan and I. I played a practice game with Duncan and Cheanna as the others were getting around. Karl helped Cheanna but she decided that that was enough and she would rather watch the Ugly Duckling and Princess and the Pea, that we had taken for them to watch, instead. It was fun. Duncan caught on really fast and seemed to enjoy playing except he was either the lesser or greater peon the whole time. I also spent quite a bit of time there too.
On Saturday, we went to the First Christian Church's New Life Festival over in Glendale. We left about 11:00am. For four red heads and me who also burns very easily we weren't very wise about taking sunscreen. Téa and I didn't think about it until we were there for awhile. The children had fun hunting plastic Easter Eggs and going to booths that colored Easter Eggs, had a Resurection Egg (this is where they collected the different scriptures that depict the crucifixion and resurrection in the Bible), tie dying and they also had a mechanical swing, large puffed up slides, and a climbing wall. The children really seemed to enjoy it all. We had Ephraim's stoller which after while carted the buckets with the children's treasures in and Eprhaim sat on the ground and played while I sat on a chair and watched the children do many of the different things. I tho't I did quite well tho' because I stood up for more than a hour while the children did their different things. At about 2:30 we left and went to a park where we let the children play and ate some of the sandwich Richard had made and chips and water. We left at about 3:30 to head for Mesa and the pagent. We got there before many others did and had the pick of the parking lot and the seats etc. Richard & Téa spread out two quilts on the hillside and that was our viewing area. We played games with the children and they rolled down the hill. After awhile some friends of theirs from the Madison Ward they used to live in came by and ended up sitting by them. Eprhaim was soooo good that afternoon and evening. I enjoyed playing with him. I was at first kind of concerned about how my back would feel because it had no support but I was able to squirm and lie down and sit up and walk around at will so I did just fine.
Here goes: We left the house at apporximately 11:00am on April 12. Bob Hart our neighbor took us and our luggage over to Fairfield Inn on Broadway to catch the shuttle to the SLC airport. We were to arrive by 3:30 and our plane to take off by 5:10 for Sky Harbor Airport at Phoenix. We arrived there at SLC airport about 10 minutes early or so. We got in line to check our luggage. I put the info in the computer and got my boarding pass. Karl had to show his ID to let them know he was truely a senior. By the time we got our boarding passes and went thro' security and to the gate we had a 20-30 minute wait till they started boarding. We were flying Southwest. So no assigned seating. We were both in Aisle C so by the time we got on the plane there were no seats together anywhere. So Karl sat in the seat ahead of me. Both on the isle. By the time we boarded, there was only a ten minute wait till the plane took off. The security line there at SLC was two (that's no exageration) long and seemed to take forever to get thro'. Karl had worn a turquiose necklass and it and his belt buckle set off the alarm at the gate. My total knee didn't even set it off. It does at both IF and Sky Harbor. We arrived at Sky Harbor at 5:40pm. We collected our luggage (really made me appreicate the fact we hadn't taken extra luggage, just our carry-on luggage when we flew down last October. As Karl pulled out the strap to piggy back the smaller pieces to the lager ones, we noticed it was covered with a brown powdery substance. I said, "that hold must be filthy." Karl saidm "It looks like whey protein powder to me." I tho't, "Oh no!" We had to wait for the Super Shuttle about 15-20 minutes to take us to Richard & Téa's. Our driver was originally from Honduras. He said he was there when that category 5 Hurricane it in '98. I remember that one. We got to Richard & Téa's by 7:00. I was glad someone else who knew the way was driving. The children must have been watching because All four of the oldest ones were lined up on the driveway to welcome us before we got parked. Richard was there too. He'd been home from work about 3/4 of an hour or so. It was sooo good to be there and see them. When I got in the house I greeted Téa after gettting a hug form each of the children and Richard and went to find Ephraim. He is such a happy baby. He smiled and smiled at me as soon as I was in the room and started talking to him. Cheanna was kind enough to let us use her room. I was very thankful for that. She has a very nice bed. I went in and got down on the floor with Ephraim and started playing with him. I did "mousey, mousey" with him and he smiled wide. I did this "little piggy went to market" and he laughed out loud. I do the all the way home part up the leg and all the way up the toursle to the chin. Emma was there watching and she'd say, "Do that trick again, Grandma." So I did. He laughed out loud for more than five full minutes. He did alittle the next day too but that was the only times I really heard him laugh out loud. AT first I figured since he did it so readily that he must laugh out loud very easily. I found out differentlly. Richard later said he's very stingy with his giggles and laughs. He really did enjoy my playing with him. (And I thoroughly enjoyed playing with him._After he got sick on Sunday, I was able to make him smile occasionally even tho' he was miserable---if his fever was down. Later on on Monday, I think it was, Ducnan was watching me play with him and asked if I tho't he would remember how I played with him like that. I asked him, "Do you remember my playing with you when you were this age? For I used to play with you just like I'm playing with him." He smiled and said, "No, but I can imagine how it was when you were playing with me by watching you play with Ephraim." I also did "How big is Epraim." He got so he expected that when he grasped both of my thumbs at once. I don't think it would have been many more days and he would lift his arms up himself while grasping my thumbs. My children would do that, almost always having to have hold of my thumbs to do it. Until they got to be 18 months old or so.
The first morning we were there I went with Téa and the children to Buckeye (a small city, "about the size of IF) to her home schooling support group. I'm glad I went. It really opened my eyes as to what they do and what their goals are etc. Afterwards we headed for the Art museum with the other home-schooling support group she belongs to. We got off on the wrong freeway and since the children were hot, (the thermometer in the car reached 101 degrees while we were down town.) thirsty and tired, I told her that if it was all right with her we could just head home. On Friday, Karl and I helped with the home schooling. Karl with the math and I listened to the reading. Altho' Emma is just barely five and two months she is site reading the, no, and, on and maybe other words if I'd found them. Cheanna is a good little reader with much expression. She has the habit of reading words in her mind and skipping them out loud. So I'd make her go back and read the whole thing again. She wasn't very happy with me at times but I told myself that she was there to learn and I wouldn't know what she knew and couldn't help teach her unless I did that. Duncan is an excellant reader too. Reads with much expression as well. I don't know at what level they are reading but I do know that they are reading far above their grade levels of 1st and 3rd grades, respectively. I enjoyed doing that. We had originally planned on going to the temple pagent Friday night but it was cloudy with chance of rain all day and the wind was blowing and getting worse as the day went on. So we decided to go on Saturday. Friday night we played the Great Dalmuti, Karl, Richard, Duncan and I. I played a practice game with Duncan and Cheanna as the others were getting around. Karl helped Cheanna but she decided that that was enough and she would rather watch the Ugly Duckling and Princess and the Pea, that we had taken for them to watch, instead. It was fun. Duncan caught on really fast and seemed to enjoy playing except he was either the lesser or greater peon the whole time. I also spent quite a bit of time there too.
On Saturday, we went to the First Christian Church's New Life Festival over in Glendale. We left about 11:00am. For four red heads and me who also burns very easily we weren't very wise about taking sunscreen. Téa and I didn't think about it until we were there for awhile. The children had fun hunting plastic Easter Eggs and going to booths that colored Easter Eggs, had a Resurection Egg (this is where they collected the different scriptures that depict the crucifixion and resurrection in the Bible), tie dying and they also had a mechanical swing, large puffed up slides, and a climbing wall. The children really seemed to enjoy it all. We had Ephraim's stoller which after while carted the buckets with the children's treasures in and Eprhaim sat on the ground and played while I sat on a chair and watched the children do many of the different things. I tho't I did quite well tho' because I stood up for more than a hour while the children did their different things. At about 2:30 we left and went to a park where we let the children play and ate some of the sandwich Richard had made and chips and water. We left at about 3:30 to head for Mesa and the pagent. We got there before many others did and had the pick of the parking lot and the seats etc. Richard & Téa spread out two quilts on the hillside and that was our viewing area. We played games with the children and they rolled down the hill. After awhile some friends of theirs from the Madison Ward they used to live in came by and ended up sitting by them. Eprhaim was soooo good that afternoon and evening. I enjoyed playing with him. I was at first kind of concerned about how my back would feel because it had no support but I was able to squirm and lie down and sit up and walk around at will so I did just fine.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Coming Trip
April 11, 2006
Tomorrow we will fly to Phoenix to visit our youngest son, Richard and his wife, Tea and their children, Duncan, 8, Cheanna, 6 ½, Emma, 5, Elena, 3 and Ephraim, 7 ½ months. We haven’t seen them since last October when we were there for Duncan’s baptism and Ephraim’s blessing. We will also attend the Mesa Temple Easter Pagent while we are there and spend Easter with them. We will be there for six days. We are really looking forward to it.
In 18 days after we get back from Phoenix we fly to Omaha to visit our oldest son, Bryan and his wife Sandy and their children, Chris who will be graduating from high school while we are there, Bryce who is just completing his Sophomore year in high school, Sara who is completing the 8th grade, and Jason their new baby. Jason will be blessed while we are there. Jessica, their oldest daughter will fly in for a few days for Chris’ graduation and Jason’s blessing. She is in at BYU in Provo completing her Sophomore year in college. We haven’t been there since last June. It will be good to be there again. It will be good to see Sandy’s parents also whom we haven’t seen for two years since Jess graduated from high school.
I am so thankful that we have the means to be able to do this. I can’t think of anything else I would rather use our "means" for. I will upddate my blog and tell about each trip when we get back from them.
Tomorrow we will fly to Phoenix to visit our youngest son, Richard and his wife, Tea and their children, Duncan, 8, Cheanna, 6 ½, Emma, 5, Elena, 3 and Ephraim, 7 ½ months. We haven’t seen them since last October when we were there for Duncan’s baptism and Ephraim’s blessing. We will also attend the Mesa Temple Easter Pagent while we are there and spend Easter with them. We will be there for six days. We are really looking forward to it.
In 18 days after we get back from Phoenix we fly to Omaha to visit our oldest son, Bryan and his wife Sandy and their children, Chris who will be graduating from high school while we are there, Bryce who is just completing his Sophomore year in high school, Sara who is completing the 8th grade, and Jason their new baby. Jason will be blessed while we are there. Jessica, their oldest daughter will fly in for a few days for Chris’ graduation and Jason’s blessing. She is in at BYU in Provo completing her Sophomore year in college. We haven’t been there since last June. It will be good to be there again. It will be good to see Sandy’s parents also whom we haven’t seen for two years since Jess graduated from high school.
I am so thankful that we have the means to be able to do this. I can’t think of anything else I would rather use our "means" for. I will upddate my blog and tell about each trip when we get back from them.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Computers!!
This week I've had a "love/hate relationship" with my computer. It is seven years old and antiquainted and since I'm only semi computer literate it has been harrasing me this week. It has Windows 98 which no longer receives support. It is getting more and more glitches in it all the time. I have already decided to get a new very up-to-date/state-of- the-art computer this summer. But it may not come fast enough to maintain my sanity. When our Kims were here last weekend Kim put on a program so he can get into my computer from his house in Utah and "fix" mine when something goes wrong. At least try to fix it. It is pretty neat. It is weird watching the arrow move around and me not do it. Two weeks ago or so my Outlook from which I get my e-mail started to malfunction. It downloaded the same four e-mails about 20 times or more then a little gray box would pop up and say, "This program has performed an illegal procedure and will be shut down." It got very frustrating. I couldn’t send out e-mails or receive any other than those four. I called Teton Wireless yesterday and spent 45 minutes on the phone with one of their techs and in the end she said, "I’m sorry that I
couldn’t help you because Windows 98 doesn’t have support anymore.." Anyway, it started working last night again only with a litlle envelope that has a letter put in and after the flap closes it, disappears. It’s cute and fun to watch. It wasn’t on there before. I was able to go to my website e-mail with my server and read my e-mail there but things were so different there that it was hard to understand what to do for certain things. Everything was so different. From how to reply to how to send a message to how you delete stuff. It took me hours to finally figure out what I did. And I tho’t I was a fast learner! Anyway, I’m looking forward to this June when I get my new computer. I’ve been saving for it since November since I paid off my new car.
couldn’t help you because Windows 98 doesn’t have support anymore.." Anyway, it started working last night again only with a litlle envelope that has a letter put in and after the flap closes it, disappears. It’s cute and fun to watch. It wasn’t on there before. I was able to go to my website e-mail with my server and read my e-mail there but things were so different there that it was hard to understand what to do for certain things. Everything was so different. From how to reply to how to send a message to how you delete stuff. It took me hours to finally figure out what I did. And I tho’t I was a fast learner! Anyway, I’m looking forward to this June when I get my new computer. I’ve been saving for it since November since I paid off my new car.
Monday, April 03, 2006
I Love General Conference
I do look forward to general conference each six months. I also enjoy the Stake conferences that we have. I learn so much and really feel the Spirit. We didn't get to concentrate a lot on the Saturday sessions because our Kims and their children were up for a sister's wedding. But after we finished with the 10:00 session I'd turn the TV over to KBYU-PBS and watch it again...the same with the 2:00 session. I figure that I got most of it doing it that way. There were some excellant talks on both days. I could feel the Spirit and really enjoyed watching it. I'm so thankful for modern technology that allows for us to sit in our own homes and watch and listen to the message of our prophets. I'm so thankful that President Hinckley has recovered enough that he can go on with what he has to do. He is really a remarkable man. I enjoyed reading his biography by Sheri Dew last year. I could see how the Lord prepared him for his role today at each step of his life. I'm sure he sees it too altho' he probably didn't at the time he was doing some things. I felt relieved yesterday afternoon when he said he hoped we wouldn't take his talk as an obituary. Because I had had that tho't. I'm planning on seeing him again in October.
We found out that our 20th grandchild, and 8th grandson was born last Friday. His name is Jason Karl Robinson. When I looked at the pictures his daddy sent us on the computer, my first tho't was he looks like (his oldest brother) Chris did. Then I tho't Chris was 8 months old before I saw him. And then I realized that he looked alot like his daddy did when he was first born. But then Chris looks like his daddy too. We don't know if this is the last of the grandchildren or not. We have one great granddaughter who is older than the last three grandchildren. They will grow up being close to the same age but be of a different generation. We have 26 progenitors already!
We found out that our 20th grandchild, and 8th grandson was born last Friday. His name is Jason Karl Robinson. When I looked at the pictures his daddy sent us on the computer, my first tho't was he looks like (his oldest brother) Chris did. Then I tho't Chris was 8 months old before I saw him. And then I realized that he looked alot like his daddy did when he was first born. But then Chris looks like his daddy too. We don't know if this is the last of the grandchildren or not. We have one great granddaughter who is older than the last three grandchildren. They will grow up being close to the same age but be of a different generation. We have 26 progenitors already!
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