The Irish Twins

Life is busy and I get behind posting pictures but wanted to share these.

I spent several days babysitting for these little monkeys...

Little "Lella" is nearly two.

 And "Lolo" is nearly 3

 They are "Irish Twins". Born 11 months apart.
Miss "Lella" was born very preterm and spent many weeks in the NICU, but she is doing so well.
It was discovered earlier this year that she has Cerebral Palsy. Of course we ache about that, but she is a sweet tender little love and I love snuggles from her.
It appears to have affected her legs, she has great movement on her hands and arms, but her legs have been affected.

But thankfully to modern miracles and medicine she should make great strides.  She does and amazing army crawl.
And just a week ago she had Botox injections in her legs. This is to keep her leg muscles from being so spastic and as time goes on the hope is that she will be able to walk.


I didn't get pictures of the two older boys. Krew nearly 10 and Kendrix nearly 8. Happy beautiful little guys that love their baby sisters.

This one is a clone of his dad.

Full of energy!

Krew is such a doting big brother. I love watching how tender he is with his sisters.

I love this family picture of them all.

I need to get the rest of my kids to get family photos done.

Maybe that will be my project when they are around for Thanksgiving.

IT'S TOO "NOISY" OUT THERE

Too much noise.

Internet, TV, News...

Too much.

Too much yelling.

People everywhere causing anxiety,

instilling anger and hatred.

And I am fatigued of it all.

And we don't even have TV.

We have an antennae on the house...

and we get one channel.

And we don't even watch that.

I don't miss it.

I spent the day canning.

I made Spaghetti Sauce and Applesauce. 

I haven't canned for 3 years!

So unlike me.

And for the first time in 34 years...

It was easy to can.

I didn't have to do it outside 

because I have this fabulous gas stove.

And I have this functional kitchen.

It was amazing.

The apples were free from a sweet cousin.

I was able to get 50 pints.

It was therapeutic.

It wasn't noisy.

YOU MIGHT LIVE IN IDAHO IF...

You wake up to this.....

And go to bed to this.....

I love Idaho!

FALL IS MY FAVORITE COLOR!

We took a drive about an hour away through some seriously beautiful country.

I love Fall colors.

I know that winter is just around the corner....

 But for now....

 I love Fall

RANDOM RAMBLIN'

We planted this pear tree this Spring.

Tree is a stretch....more like a twig.

But it grew about 2 dozen pears.

I didn't have the heart to pick off the baby fruit.

Poor branches.

I did pick them a few days ago.

The fires we have had all over the West were horrific.

But the sunsets were amazing.

Thankfully we have had so much rain and it seems that the fires are over.

We got off work early a couple of weeks ago and drove to Salt Lake (4 hour drive) to meet up

with several of Howard's missionary companions.

He served in the London South Mission many many years ago.

His Mission President was Richard Eyre. 

He and his wife Linda have written many books on families.

It was so fun to listen to the stories of their mission experiences. 

President Eyre was only 31 and Linda was only 27 when they were Mission Presidents.

Wow.

It was fun and I'm glad we went.

(Getting home at 2:30 in the morning was less fun.

These cats.

The black one and gray one are brothers. 

We have had them for 14 years.

They adjusted pretty well to the move.

The white one is about 8 years old.

They seem to love it here in the country.

Lots of mice for them to enjoy.

And then there are these two.

These are our oldest grandsons.

Josh is on the right is 17 and Jaren on the left is 16.

They were getting ready for their Homecoming.

How did I get so old?

But dang! They are so cute.

Last week we had 90 degree weather.

This week we are in the 50's and 60's.

We are supposed to get snow.

I guess we won't have Fall this year.

People Chaos

During the eclipse weekend we had soooo many people staying with us.

It was a good test for our new digs of how to handle the crowds, parking and sleeping arrangements and if 4 bathrooms was enough.
Happily I think it turned out ok.

I haven't cooked that much in over 2 years! I tried to have most of the cooking done prior to the weekend. I didn't get off until 6 PM each night so I wanted to make sure that things were ready without much prep.

 It was so fun to wander around and see everyone excited about the eclipse.

 Nate getting comfortable with Leighton on his lap.

 The lawn looked like tent city. It was so fun.

The house just before all the company came....the calm before the storm.

 I love looking out the back porch and seeing these mountains.

 It was fun to see most of the grandkids hanging out on the fence. We are just missing Teddy and Timmy here. Josh and Jaren and Justin are the oldest grandsons, they are so amazing with the younger cousins.

Nate and Sara doing a little selfie...looking good with their eclipse glasses.

 Tara and Matt just enjoying some time together.

 These two cousins....Lexi and Kendrix....they are the best of friends. It is so fun to watch them together.

 Nick and Lynsey with their friend Carla, they came all the way from Denver.

 The oldest of the six grandkids.
Jaren, Lexi, Jessica, Justin, Josh and Krew

 Justin and those freckles! LOVE!

 Teddy and Timmy enjoying a little artwork time.

 Craziness with kids. It is the best.

 Cameron and Guen helping the boys with eclipse activities. Guen took some amazing pictures with her camera. She had a special lens and her photography skills are the best.

Jessica being the best big cousin to Leighton. 

 Big boy cousins "tossing" around Lexi and Krew.

THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE

There aren't words to describe how absolutely amazing the eclipse was.
I'm so thrilled that we were in the path of totality. It was astonishing that even a sliver of the sun peeking through on either side of the moon gave so much light.


We had about 35 people....friends and family that came to stay and enjoy this event. We had tents all over the lawn!

Here are some of the pictures I took.
But most of them were pictures I downloaded from other photographers.

Wow. Just wow.
Prior to actually seeing one, I couldn't figure out what all the hoopla was.
I was irritated by all of the hassle at work, denied vacations, extra overtime, instructions from city leaders to stock up on groceries, gas and water prior to the weekend.
There was expected to be about 100,000 extra people in the area.

But now that I have experienced a total eclipse....I'm hooked. I want to experience another one.
It was surreal.

It was amazing.

The corona was breathtaking.

Totality was perfect. So glad we were in it.

Time lapse
I thought this one was so cool.



And one of the other highlights was having Gigi come out to stay with us.
She is a blog friend I have kept in touch with. I visited her a couple of times in Georgia and this is the first time she has been to our place.
I sort of feel bad for her.
The house was a zoo for the weekend...while I was at work.
But my kids all loved her.

Gigi!!!

And later that evening we had a little gathering of other blog friends that through the years I have followed and met.

Gigi, me, Kimmie and Camille.
Kimmie lives about 10 minutes from me and has the best blog.
Camille is from Utah but married a Rexburg boy.
None of them blog much anymore, but I have loved building these great friendships.

The sun continued its showing off with a fabulous sunset.
Wow.
The whole day was unforgettable.

GENERATIONS

 

Matt was given this Bronco 18 years ago. 

It was old then. 

My dad bought it used. 

He gave it to Matt. 

He sold it to his dad. 

We have had it ever since. 

Today Matt's son gets to drive it. 

He referred to it as a "cool car"

Grandpa is showing him a few quirks. 

I let him drive to the maverick in Ririe. 

All by himself. 

He hasn't stopped grinning.