Entertaining Grampa
My dad came to visit this weekend with my half sister and two step nephews. We had a lot of fun, although the weekend was quite exhausting--I am just now recovering! We camped at Pine Creek Friday night, then enjoyed Livingston's Summerfest on Saturday (even though it was close to 100 degrees outside). Our nephew Mason caught a really big cutthroat trout in the Lagoon while we took Addie and my sister Erin to the wading pool to cool off. Saturday night we went to a barbecue in Cokedale, then watched movies in Melins' basement (it was so hot at our house). Sunday was a busy day with my teaching two classes and hosting dinner for 10 right after church (crock pot rost and potatoes--delicious!).
While I was cooking, Addie was playing babies with my dad. She brought out a yarn doll that has no facial features. My dad sais, "Addie, where are this baby's eyes?" Addie pointed to her own eye, then thought for a minute. Dad asked her again and she pointed at her bedroom. Intrigued, Dad told her to go get them. Well, turns out she had seen him dump his change into his suitcase earlier, so she went and dug out a penny and brought it to grandpa, happily announcing, "Eyes!" Dad thought this was so clever, he came and told me about it in the kitchen. We laughed, and then I remembered something--when we made snowmen last winter, I would always give her pennies for the eyes. She remembered! What a smartypants.
Since dad left Monday morning, we've mostly been trying to clean up, get laundry done, etc., and stay cool. We are having a terrible heatwave--I can't sleep until it cools off around 1am. We celebrated Dad Melin's birthday (7/22) by giving him a personalized ceramic popcorn bowl decorated with the hand and foot prints of his grandkids. My Young Women went up to camp on Tuesday morning--they'll be there until Friday, and I am going up for the afternoon today. I did meals on wheels this week, too, and Addie is big enough to carry in the drinks now--that was a hit with the ol'folks. I feel bad for them because many of them don't have air conditioning (or even a cooler like we have), so they have to sit there sweltering. I made sure everyone at least had a fan and a beverage when I delivered their lunches. We did get a little tiny rain storm last night and some clouds today, so we'll keep praying for relief!
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Monday, July 14, 2003
My Funny Adeline
It took us a while to understand why, but Addie quite enjoys stashing precious (to a toddler) things in her shirt (she wears undershirts with a snap crotch, so we usually find this stuff perched precariously on the edge of her diapers during a changing). She went on a 250-mile road trip with a glue stick in her shirt. The other day it was mardi gras beads and a rock (she calls rocks "Gwocks," by the way). Last night (actually at 3am), she came and slept in our bed and all I was wearing was a camisole-type top and pj bottoms. She snuggled up to me and tucked her hands right in my cleavage, and went back to sleep. I started to laugh and said to Rich, "Now she has her hands in MY shirt." Then she groggily murmured, "Pocket....pocket...mommy's pocket..."
She is a riot, I'm telling you.
Speaking of exceedingly cute kids, my brother Matt and his wife, Amie announced yesterday that they've got a bun in the oven. That's 2 more cousins (for a total of 14 on my side)---we hope to add to the tally soon. By the way, Matt has been home from his mission to NYC for 1 year and 2 weeks. Just call him Action Jackson.
It took us a while to understand why, but Addie quite enjoys stashing precious (to a toddler) things in her shirt (she wears undershirts with a snap crotch, so we usually find this stuff perched precariously on the edge of her diapers during a changing). She went on a 250-mile road trip with a glue stick in her shirt. The other day it was mardi gras beads and a rock (she calls rocks "Gwocks," by the way). Last night (actually at 3am), she came and slept in our bed and all I was wearing was a camisole-type top and pj bottoms. She snuggled up to me and tucked her hands right in my cleavage, and went back to sleep. I started to laugh and said to Rich, "Now she has her hands in MY shirt." Then she groggily murmured, "Pocket....pocket...mommy's pocket..."
She is a riot, I'm telling you.
Speaking of exceedingly cute kids, my brother Matt and his wife, Amie announced yesterday that they've got a bun in the oven. That's 2 more cousins (for a total of 14 on my side)---we hope to add to the tally soon. By the way, Matt has been home from his mission to NYC for 1 year and 2 weeks. Just call him Action Jackson.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
I am generally insanely annoyed by tv commercials, but there are two that crack me slam up.
1. The Ace Hardware commercial where the cuckoo bird comes out of the clock and rants about the paint color of the living room--"Whataya call this color--Life Without Parole?"
2. The Big Lots commercial with the lady "born without a shopping gene" (which I identify with); I love when she says, "Hi, bliss. I'm Susan." The commercial is silly, but that line kills me.
Addie is also pretty dang funny. She's been playing "cars" with different items, putting her dolls or toys in them and puching them around, making lame attempts at "car noises." She's such a freaking girl--her car noises are hilarious. When she cries, she says "I kwy...I kwy..."
Engrish.com makes me laugh, too. If you are surfing around and need a good laugh, that oughtta do it for you.
More later.
1. The Ace Hardware commercial where the cuckoo bird comes out of the clock and rants about the paint color of the living room--"Whataya call this color--Life Without Parole?"
2. The Big Lots commercial with the lady "born without a shopping gene" (which I identify with); I love when she says, "Hi, bliss. I'm Susan." The commercial is silly, but that line kills me.
Addie is also pretty dang funny. She's been playing "cars" with different items, putting her dolls or toys in them and puching them around, making lame attempts at "car noises." She's such a freaking girl--her car noises are hilarious. When she cries, she says "I kwy...I kwy..."
Engrish.com makes me laugh, too. If you are surfing around and need a good laugh, that oughtta do it for you.
More later.
Sunday, July 06, 2003
What a busy week! Last Saturday is the last truly peaceful day we’ve enjoyed, but it’s been a ton-o-fun. Saturday we had a “hobby day”—we did some laundry at mom and dad Melin’s while Rich worked on our log bed and I set up a scrap-booking table in their basement. We also took Addie to swim in the “big pool” at the park. She wore her floaty swimsuit and she was so brave! After a little warming up, she was jumping off the side to us. She is a funny kid—very intense, but very sweet, and much braver than me!
Both last Sunday and this Sunday I taught two lessons at church—the 16-17 year-old Sunday School class (where we study the New Testament—this is an official teaching calling) and the YW lesson (this is temporary until we call a teacher). It was a little stressful getting everything ready, but I think the lessons turned out pretty good. I like teaching, but I hope I can get better at it. I want to be more effective, especially teaching teen-agers, you know?
Last week I completed my goal to finish our family’s 2002 scrapbook by July 1st. I made it, but not without neglecting Addie a little bit—pobre cita! She had to watch a bunch of videos down in Grandma’s basement while I worked on the book on Monday and Tuesday, but we did it. Now we can work on 2003 and hopefully stay pretty caught up.
Last week we also spent our family night (Monday) with the Carter family in our Ward. It was the dad’s 50th birthday and we went and enjoyed a Dutch oven dinner cooked in their beautiful yard. We really enjoyed their company and I am so glad they are in our ward. Their daughters add a lot to our Young Women.
Wednesday (July 2) was the day all the patriotic fervor broke out in Livingston (well, they had a downtown hoe down last Saturday, but we missed that). The Livingston Roundup began that night, and the festivities kicked off with a parade in the afternoon. If you think they’re serious about rodeo in Tucson, you aint seen nothin’. Everything—even the banks—closed at 2pm for the parade at 3pm. Rich went early to stake out a spot on 2nd street (behind our house) at the beginning of the parade route. Then mom and dad Melin and Dad Melin’s brother Mick and his wife Cheryl joined us with little Danny and we had a ball. Addie and Danny enjoyed the sights and sounds (and the Popsicles and the candy thrown to them from the floats).
After the parade we helped mom Melin put together a delicious barbecue dinner at her house for all the company. As we were sitting down to dinner I remembered that I was supposed to be at a Young Women’s activity (at 7:22pm), but then figured they’d be all right without me (they were—oops!). There were beautiful fireworks that night at the end of the rodeo. The grounds are just down the road, so we watched them laying on the futon in Addie’s room (she fell asleep there, but managed to wake up and give a few oo’s and ahh’s).
Thursday I worked hard to get all my Sunday stuff ready (lessons) and clean this house so we’d be ready to camp our on Friday to celebrate Independence Day. Friday morning, we went to our ward’s pancake breakfast (how did that get to be a tradition, I wonder?—it’s a fun one, but makes me go “hmmm”). Then we left for West Yellowstone where we would camp. We followed mom, dad, Angie (Rich’s sister), Davey (her husband), and Danny (their son) in our own car with the tent trailer. We camped at Rainbow Point on Hebgen Lake about 5 miles north of West Yellowstone. We set up camp then went into Yellowstone Park to picnic and watch Old Faithful erupt. We took walks, explored the old lodge, had ice cream, and then headed back to camp to make dinner.
We set up the trailer and our other big tent (you gotta love a tent you can stand up in!) while mom got the coals going to cook us a fabulous chicken and rice Dutch oven dinner. Camp was comfy and dinner was delicious! At dark, we went back into West Yellowstone to watch their great fireworks show and it was well worth the 100-mile drive!
Mom and Dad and Angie’s family slept in the trailer while we stretched out in the tent—Addie and I snuggled up in one bed, Rich was in another (we even set up a night stand and enjoyed a little bedtime reading). We got up around 8am; mom and dad were already cooking breakfast. We got dressed, played some horseshoes, and ate breakfast (eggs, bacon, little smokies, melons, grapes, cinnamon rolls baked in the dutch oven, juice, and milk). We broke camp and headed home at about 10:30am. We were home in time to get all our regular Saturday chores done, plus do my Sunday prep, clean up our camping stuff, and take a short nap. What a wonderful weekend together!
So that’s the run down. Oh, yeah—we came home to the JOYFUL news that my brother Will and his wife Audrey are expecting a baby in February! Hooray! We went about 5 years straight where there was always a pregnant sister in my family, but there has been nobody pregnant since Dana had Leanne in January! (Of course Rich’s brother Mark’s daughter was born June 18th, but none on my side for a while). This news made me hopeful that our pregnancy tests will come out positive in a few weeks—twin cousins rock! J
More later; Happy Independence Day!
Both last Sunday and this Sunday I taught two lessons at church—the 16-17 year-old Sunday School class (where we study the New Testament—this is an official teaching calling) and the YW lesson (this is temporary until we call a teacher). It was a little stressful getting everything ready, but I think the lessons turned out pretty good. I like teaching, but I hope I can get better at it. I want to be more effective, especially teaching teen-agers, you know?
Last week I completed my goal to finish our family’s 2002 scrapbook by July 1st. I made it, but not without neglecting Addie a little bit—pobre cita! She had to watch a bunch of videos down in Grandma’s basement while I worked on the book on Monday and Tuesday, but we did it. Now we can work on 2003 and hopefully stay pretty caught up.
Last week we also spent our family night (Monday) with the Carter family in our Ward. It was the dad’s 50th birthday and we went and enjoyed a Dutch oven dinner cooked in their beautiful yard. We really enjoyed their company and I am so glad they are in our ward. Their daughters add a lot to our Young Women.
Wednesday (July 2) was the day all the patriotic fervor broke out in Livingston (well, they had a downtown hoe down last Saturday, but we missed that). The Livingston Roundup began that night, and the festivities kicked off with a parade in the afternoon. If you think they’re serious about rodeo in Tucson, you aint seen nothin’. Everything—even the banks—closed at 2pm for the parade at 3pm. Rich went early to stake out a spot on 2nd street (behind our house) at the beginning of the parade route. Then mom and dad Melin and Dad Melin’s brother Mick and his wife Cheryl joined us with little Danny and we had a ball. Addie and Danny enjoyed the sights and sounds (and the Popsicles and the candy thrown to them from the floats).
After the parade we helped mom Melin put together a delicious barbecue dinner at her house for all the company. As we were sitting down to dinner I remembered that I was supposed to be at a Young Women’s activity (at 7:22pm), but then figured they’d be all right without me (they were—oops!). There were beautiful fireworks that night at the end of the rodeo. The grounds are just down the road, so we watched them laying on the futon in Addie’s room (she fell asleep there, but managed to wake up and give a few oo’s and ahh’s).
Thursday I worked hard to get all my Sunday stuff ready (lessons) and clean this house so we’d be ready to camp our on Friday to celebrate Independence Day. Friday morning, we went to our ward’s pancake breakfast (how did that get to be a tradition, I wonder?—it’s a fun one, but makes me go “hmmm”). Then we left for West Yellowstone where we would camp. We followed mom, dad, Angie (Rich’s sister), Davey (her husband), and Danny (their son) in our own car with the tent trailer. We camped at Rainbow Point on Hebgen Lake about 5 miles north of West Yellowstone. We set up camp then went into Yellowstone Park to picnic and watch Old Faithful erupt. We took walks, explored the old lodge, had ice cream, and then headed back to camp to make dinner.
We set up the trailer and our other big tent (you gotta love a tent you can stand up in!) while mom got the coals going to cook us a fabulous chicken and rice Dutch oven dinner. Camp was comfy and dinner was delicious! At dark, we went back into West Yellowstone to watch their great fireworks show and it was well worth the 100-mile drive!
Mom and Dad and Angie’s family slept in the trailer while we stretched out in the tent—Addie and I snuggled up in one bed, Rich was in another (we even set up a night stand and enjoyed a little bedtime reading). We got up around 8am; mom and dad were already cooking breakfast. We got dressed, played some horseshoes, and ate breakfast (eggs, bacon, little smokies, melons, grapes, cinnamon rolls baked in the dutch oven, juice, and milk). We broke camp and headed home at about 10:30am. We were home in time to get all our regular Saturday chores done, plus do my Sunday prep, clean up our camping stuff, and take a short nap. What a wonderful weekend together!
So that’s the run down. Oh, yeah—we came home to the JOYFUL news that my brother Will and his wife Audrey are expecting a baby in February! Hooray! We went about 5 years straight where there was always a pregnant sister in my family, but there has been nobody pregnant since Dana had Leanne in January! (Of course Rich’s brother Mark’s daughter was born June 18th, but none on my side for a while). This news made me hopeful that our pregnancy tests will come out positive in a few weeks—twin cousins rock! J
More later; Happy Independence Day!
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