Our California Trip

We had a really nice time in Oxnard, California with Troy and Kori and Colby. We went to Santa Barbara, Long Beach and drove up the Pacific Ocean coast. Drove by Malibu beach. Ate at some really nice places and just really enjoyed ourselves. That was until everyone ended up with the stomach flu. Something must have been going around because it started with Colby and went to Kori then Rog and Troy and I didn't feel well the next day. But other than that it was so nice to see them. Troy is working long hard hours trying to make some good money this summer. Kori stays home and takes care of their son all day and 6 days a week. She's very supportive and loving but I know that has to be hard on her day in and day out. But hopefully it will all be worth it in the end. Here are a few pictures of our stay with them. It was so nice to get away for a few days.

I love this picture of Troy and Colby. Colby loved seeing all of the fishies in the aquariums. Troy is an awesome daddy.

Ok. We have to admit that this was the biggest reason we went to California. Even though we missed Troy and Kori we missed this little stinker even more. I had bought little Colby this summer shirt and it said "Grandpa is my hero" What a good baby he is. Such a joy to have him in our arms again and making him laugh and smile. I can't wait til he comes home in August.

This is where Troy and Kori are staying this summer. They've got a beautiful apartment complex and a nice pool to enjoy. Very comfortable place to stay. They have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Kori, Rog, Colby and I drove to Santa Barbara one day to shop and go to lunch. Troy had to work so we took advantage of the day and enjoyed getting out. Colby is quite the little trooper. Never fussed just went along for the ride. We walked out on this pier and saw lots of ships and beautiful scenery. Thanks for showing us around Kori!!!

While we were at the aquarium in Long Beach we saw this fabulous and fun restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimp so of course we had to go there. We all love sea food and it certainly was the best I've had. Yummy, yummy

This is beautiful Long Beach California down by at the aquarium we visited. This place also is where a lot of the cruise ships dock. We walked around there and took pictures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Kori and Troy are petting the sting rays. You had to be sooo careful to only use two fingers or the worker would scream at you. Of course Troy had to be defiant and try to get them all mad by using his whole hand to rub down the sting rays back!!!

Kori and Troy and I at the aquarium. There are so many species of fish it's crazy. This was the biggest aquarium in the United States.

Papa and I loved spending as much time holding our little grandson Colby. It had been 2 months since we had seen him and he had grown like a weed. Laughing and smiling and trying so hard to talk. What a doll!! We love you Colby!!

Colby woke up from his nap and came out and laid by the pool with us. We didn't get to spend much time by the pool because the second day we were there a little child pooped in the hot tub and so they had to close everything down for a few days. Dang kids..had to mess up my ability to get a tan while in California. hahaha

These next two pictures are of how rog spent most of his trip. He was either sick in bed with the stomach flu or he was so tired he fell asleep anywhere he was. hahaha. j/k actually, he was so relaxed out by the pool that he fell right asleep and snored like a hog. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him. He needed the much needed sleep.

Here's How We Spent Our Weekend

Here we are in a beautiful, shady meadow where we spent Saturday afternoon. We brought our lunch and just relaxed and went on a few rides.

Mike and Teresa Eastman are some new friends of ours. I've known Mike for 20 years or so because he used to deliver UPS to the hospital. He's the one that helped Jared get on with UPS. He invited Me and Rog to go with them to the Trace Atkins concert in Wendover last May and since then we've hung out with them several times. What a blessing they are in our lives because we really have only one married couple friends that we do something with maybe once or twice a year. So we look forward to hanging out with them and having our kids together also.

This picture is Jared, Mike and Rog talking about where to ride the horses. They look pretty serious huh? When they got back Jared had scrapes on his arms, Rog and Mike both had holes in their shirts getting caught on the brush on the mountains.

Rog and Teresa had a mean game of horseshoes. She's quite the horseshoe player too. She beat Rog and Mike. Way to go Teresa!! Oh and the hat that Rog has on was supposed to be the "lucky hat" but it wasn't so lucky. Better luck next time Rog!!

Ok..so here is our plate of food on Saturday night. Mike and Teresa went on an Alaskan fishing trip 2 weeks ago. They brought back a couple hundred pounds of halibut and so they cooked some of that up for us. What a nice treat. We had halibut, corn on the cob, shrimp, salad, cantelope and rolls. Now what more can you ask for up camping? Wow!!!

Here's Teresa and I heading off with the horses. I haven't been on a horse in 20 years or so. I was a little nervous but not like I thought I would have been. She's an experienced rider so she led the way.

You can't tell in the picture but the flowers surrounding Makinley were purple and she looked so pretty in her purple shirt. She was picking the wild flowers to give to her daddy and Papa for fathers day. She's grandmas little sweetheart.

The kids are so happy when Papa will load them on the 4wheeler and take them for a nice ride. All smiles!!!

This area we went to which is called Tucker has a lot of fun 4 wheeler trails to go on. We'll be going back here for sure!!!

I adore this picture of Jared snuggling with Makinley. On Saturday we took the horses and 4 wheeler up to a nice, shady meadow area to ride and have a picnic. It was so peaceful and cool. Jared laid down under the tree and Makinley wanted to lay with him. How sweet is that. She sure loves her daddy.

Kristi and the girls are enjoying a little rest. They brought up their tent trailer and spent the weekend with us too. There's nothing better than having all your kids with you and sharing these fun times.

Shana brought a friend of hers to come and spend some time camping and riding horses. Shana has always had a love for them so she had a great time. Mike spends his life around horses so they enjoyed a few rides up in the mountains.

Here are Brayden and Mike getting ready to take off on another ride. Brayden was a pro. Always riding by his self. He's on Moon and Mike is on Maverick. Mike was so patient and kind with all the grandkids. Always taking them on rides and teaching them how to be the boss on the horse.

Three of my little sweethearts were riding on Goldie. Daxton is a horse lover from day one. Gentry didn't want to get off and cried when she had to and Makinley just loved riding and riding too. I was so impressed that they were not one bit afraid of the horses.

Honoring our Loved Ones

Decorating graves has always been a tradition in my life for as long as I can remember. As a child we visited my grandparents graves in Morgan, Utah. We made a whole day of it by decorating the graves and taking a picnic to Como. Kind of a resort in Morgan. We swam with our cousins and just had a nice day. This is a picture of me at my parents grave in the East Lawn Memorial. I miss them so much and I'm glad I can carry on the tradition with my children and now my grandchildren. We pay our respects to those that we love and miss.

The Orem City Cemetery had a beautiful service in the morning of Memorial Day. The weather was rainy but it didn't stop people from coming. In the next picture they had a Black Hawk helicopter fly in that had an Orem City Paramedic that is in the Service. They were there to honor all the veterans. The kids got a big kick out of that watching the helicopter fly in and blow us away. What a hair raising experience and an honor it was to see all of this in honor of our service men and women who have sacraficed their lives for our country.

Here's a picture of Rog and Brayden and Daxton decorating their father and mother and great grandfather and great grandmas graves on Memorial Day 2008. The cemetery looked so beautiful. I'm so happy that the boys enjoyed going with us.

It was so crazy. One day when I was looking for my good friend, Margaret Clays headstone in the Provo Cemetery I came across my Grandpa and Grandma Lee's grave. They are my fathers parents. I maybe visited their grave a few times when I was a small child so I was so happy to have found these. My grandfather passed away when I was just a small child so I never really knew him. They are just a few steps away from my friends grave so now I can visit theirs at the same time.

Russell E. Lee was my fathers brother. He passed away in 1945. I wasn't born when he was alive but I remember my father talking about him. He is burried close to my friend Margaret Clay in the Provo Cemetery.

Dan Carly's headstone is right next to my parents at the East Lawn Memorial. Danny was my brotherinlaw. Married to my sister Geri. He died of cancer in 2000.

My Aunt Mildred passed away in 2004. She was my moms sister and she's burried just a few yards away from my parents. My Uncle Milt will be burried by her side when he passes away. I have such fond memories of the Johnson family. We were always together on holidays etc. Aunt Mildred was a very elegant and beautiful woman.

My very special friend Margaret(Peggy) Clay passed away in 2005. I worked with Peggy for about 17 years at the hospital. She was like a second mother to me and I loved her very much. She was such an icon at our hospital. Each year I take flowers to her grave which is at the Provo City Cemetery.

A Lazy Sunday Evening

Rog and I love having all the kids come over on Sunday afternoon. Most Sundays I prepare a nice meal for everyone. We love having the closeness that we share and having the kids be able to come over any time. On this Sunday Troy and Kori and Colby are living in Calif. and Brayden and Daxton were visiting their other grandparents and we miss them all so much.
I remember when we'd go and visit Grandpa and Grandma P and grandpa would always ask why we had to leave so soon. Well, now we understand why. We always hate when our children and grandchildren leave us. We love this relaxing time in the back yard together.

We finally got Gentry to smile for the camera. She's always got the rosiest cheeks and she looks identical to how Shana looked when she was little. She's Grandmas sweetheart.

Kristi loves coming over to visit. Jareds always ready to go but she always wants to stay longer. We sure love when they come to visit us.

My two adorable granddaughters Makinley and Gentry love being outside and playing with our dogs. Makinley loves having her picture taken but Gentry has something about not liking being in front of a camera. It's hard to get her to smile. Even so, they are such cuties.

Our family loves sitting in our back yard under our big beautiful maple tree. The weather was so beautiful today. It was so nice and relaxing to visit with Shana, Jared and Kristi and their girls.

I Got Tagged By Kori

How long have you been married? 30 years and 10 months
How old is your spouse?A sexy 51
Who eats more? Of course I do that's why I look the way I do. Rog eats like a bird.
Who said I love you first? Oh wow that's too long ago to remember that one. haha
Who is taller? Rog is. I believe he's 5'10" and I"m 5'5.5"
Who sings better? Oh trust me I do. Just ask him. haha..
Who is smarter? Definitely him
Who controls the T.V. remote? Well we have two t.v.'s but he's usually on the big screen one.
Whose temper is worse? Depends on what we're arguing about.
Who does the laundry? I do mostly but he likes to help out on the Saturday that I'm working.
Who does the dishes? We both do and I appreciate it a lot!!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do because he said the mattress was bad on that side.
Who cooks dinner? I do mostly but he comes up with some concoctions sometimes.
Who is more stubborn? We both are when it comes to certain things. He'd say I was though.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? He is because I'm always right. Just ask him.
Whose parents do you see the most? Neither, they're both passed on.
Who has more friends? For sure that's me.
Who has more siblings? We each have the same number.
Who wears the pants in the family? That's me : )

Now I tag Kayleen, Elaine and Michelle

A Saturday Well Spent

Here we are taking a break from the hard days work.





I spent half the time helping with washing windows and the other half helping Rog with the bushes. We accomplished so much today. What a good feeling. It's nice to have the kids help since we're getting kinda old. Ha Ha.


Thanks to Shana and Brayden and Daxton for helping us. It would have taken us a lot longer without them. So much appreciated.



Shana helped a ton by washing the windows on the outside and inside. We all spent the Saturday working together and it was great fun. Not one complaint (except that the ladder was too heavy for Shana to carry haha). And yet her old mama could do it. :)

This is a project that Roger has wanted to do for quite some time. I just haven't been able to bring myself to part with these bushes until today though. They've added privacy to our home and they also were bushes that had been planted there when my mom bought our home 32 years ago so I guess it was a sentimenal thing. But I finally tired of them and agreed to have them pulled out. Everyone worked so hard to remove them and it was a real hot day today so we were all sweating. Shana is in the background doing the windows.

Brayden and Daxton got their clothes on at 8 a.m. and went outside ready to start pulling out the bushes. What troopers they were. They thought that was so cool seeing them uprooted.

Papa and Daxton are carefully replacing the dirt on our new plant. It's supposed to get about 5' tall with spiral looking flowers on it. I can't wait to see it when it's matured.

Here's what it looks like so far. We haven't gotten all of the flowers and plants we want yet but we'll get them in soon. Daxton is helping Papa dig a big hole for one of the plants.

Brayden and Daxton spent all day helping us with washing windows and pulling out the shrubs and planting the new ones. They each earned some money for doing it and now can go and buy themselves something fun. They were such hard workers and never complained. They just pitched in and spent all day outside helping.

Happy Mothers Day Mom

I frequently look at this picture to remind me of how my mom looked and felt in her better days before she passed away. She was such a beautiful person. Full of charity and love for her fellow man. You could always count on her to help you out with anything. I remember when I was first married and we had little money. My mom used to go to Bingo once a week at Riverside Country club. She won a 20$ bingo and she gave me the money. She said I needed it more than she did which was true of course but it's a gesture I will always remember. I remember her always taking dinner to a needy friend or ward member. The way she took care of and loved my dad while he was so ill was also something I will always remember. I remember how lonely she was after he passed away. She wrote such beautiful poetry of how much she loved and missed him. My mom had many talents. She was an artist, she wrote poetry, wonderful cook. I"m so lucky to have a beautiful painting that she painted of her mother, my Grandma, hanging in my spare bedroom. I"ve always said that would be one of the first things I would grab if we ever had a fire. I treasure anything of her.

On this Mothers Day, as always, I grieve for her, I long to hug her, I would love to have her sit down with my children and grandchildren and have her listen to their stories. I will once again go and visit her grave and pay tribute to my beautiful mother.

I want to tell my beautiful daughter Shana and my two adorable daughtersinlaw that I love them all so dearly. I"m so proud of each one and the great mothers that they have become. I always knew they would. I look up to them and respect them for the hard job that "mothering" is.

Happy Mothers Day to all of you wonderful moms. I love you all also.