Started Walking Again

I wonder what it is that enables creativity when you walk?  For some reason whenever Laura and I start walking consistently in the mornings, I tend to get new ideas and feel like making things. Dinners for example came directly from Laura.  "Oh, that is easy," "you can do that", "Let's go pick up___ from___". Nice.  I now have a reputation for making good meals.  Really. Me.  Actually it's still a little unreal - but oh so good! Lately I picked up the idea to make a Cat-in-the-hat hat for Girls Camp.  I think they are going to work our great! I couldn't find a pattern so I made one out of newspaper.  I've found the brims to be tricky. It was Laura I went shopping with to find the material - of course.  She always knows the best places to shop! I bought a few too many yards as it turns out, Laura and I aren't the best at math, and circumference and radius, and all those circle things we dreamed up in our thoughts didn't go quite as expected in real time.  Oh well, now I have material to make some Cat-in-the-hat gloves. I'm thinking 3 finger gloves with elastic at the wrist would be just the thing with black shirt, pants, the hat, a red bow-tie (haven't even thought how to make that one yet) and then the gloves would top it off nicely. Thinking, walking, talking, it all goes hand in hand...........

Awesome Activity - River Trip with YMYW

"That was a fun Day!"

Quote from quite a few of the participants.

Four boats ferried about 49 people over to the River house

 Bishop and Bonnie Carter set-up and organized an extremely awesome day for the youth in our ward.  Their daughter (Janelle) and son-in-law have access to a River home on the Delta and allowed us to come and play at their place.

The object of this game was to wiggle the Oreo down your face into your mouth without the aid of your hands.  It is possible!

Some canoes went straight, some back and forth.  Everyone made it though a few trips were much longer than others.

 There were 6 feat of skill to accomplish before lunch - you actually got to earn how many points (pennies) you got for lunch.  Zip-line, Canoe skill, rifle target practice, build a fire, sponge-bob relay, and an Oreo eating contest.

The zip-line was so fantastic!  

Sponge-bob contest - get as much water from one bucket down the hill to the next with the sponge.

Dominic eyes his cookie!

Merit, Caleb, Shannon and Collette

Fire-building - build a fire tall and high enough to burn the string.

Addison on the zipline

After lunch everyone got to pick which activity they wanted to do.  Tubing behind the boats, zip-line, canoe down the river and the rifles were the top picks.  Some went swimming, riding on the merry-go-round and explored the island.

Air-rifle - Dominic got all the targets

Alyssa and Amanda take aim.

Elizabeth, Sam and Whitney fan the flames

Devun power paddle in front, Gavin, Sammy and Mike steers in the back - great crew

Bishop Carter tested out the zip-line on the tallest guy - Michael

 The Bishop got quite a work-out catching the youth so they wouldn't smack into the tree at the end of the line.  I'll bet his back and legs needed a massage.

Sam on the Zipline

Tubing was a hit

Even side-wise and over - it's all fun!

 After staying an extra hour and a half, we all said Good-bye and got ferried back home.

Good-bye to a totally great day.......

Jeffrey's famous Chicken Pesto Sandwiches

We were in luck today!

Jeffrey has perfected the art of truly delicious sandwhiches.  Today he cooked up some chicken breasts with olive oil and spices, sauted up some mushrooms in the same pan, cut up the ciabatta bread and spread pesto on one side and toasted cheese on the other side, sliced up garden fresh tomatoes (from Lindsay Bradburn) and used tiny red leaf lettuce when assembling them all together. I added the fresh fruit Regg Penovich brought on Saturday and we had quite a feast!

Nothing better than vine rippened tomatoes!

The Push Needed

Life is a Balancing Act

Something is always breaking, getting old, or falling apart at our house.  In the beginning we had little children who would snap off hoses, dig up my back lawn, or have water fights jumping through the window and running through the house.  Though there are things that just wear out too.  The battle to keep up with everything is interesting.  Many things wait till it becomes no. 1 on the list.

This fall it's the bathroom/garage.  14 plus years ago we had a fire and had lots of construction done in that part of the house.  Nothing since.  I was bothered by the fact that the Sheetrock was peeling and shredding and it looked like occasionally there was something leaking.  There were ominous signs in the bathroom itself.  With kids going to universities and missions and generally just being expensive, putting off repairs just seemed like it was OK.

We've talked about the downstairs bathroom (we're still in the discussion stage) and Anthony Durst did a quick fix-someday-to-be-done-right-job for us because we had company coming.  This summer was full of Wedding, vacations, camps, and relatives from out of town.  

Then a week or so ago, I looked out the window and saw my friend (who is pregnant with her seventh child) pushing a baby in a stroller and walking with her sister-in-law passing out brochures.  When I walked out to say howdy she mentioned that her husband just finished a big job and was now looking for another and would do painting work, though that isn't his favorite.  

 That was it.  I decided we needed the bathroom done now and my excuse to Jeffrey was that I had a deep concern that someday we would step into the shower and the whole thing would drop into the garage.   I know Jeffrey would really like to have some extra savings for the hundred emergencies that seem to keep coming up. We'll just have to be prudent.

The scary thing is when my concerns happen to be based a little too close to reality.  They did find a continuing leak and had to rip out some crumbly boards that the floor is suppose to rest on.   The fact that this is an old house and bringing it up to code may be just a little more expensive than was expected is just par for the course!

Just Thinking

Laura is off to Rexburg to drop off her daughter for school.  So Lisa and I have been walking in the morning and she had a great topic I haven't been able to let go.  On one of her daughters applications for a job as a sign language interpreter it asked if a person was deaf all of their life, would they be "restored" with hearing or without in the resurrection ?  (At least I think that was the gist of it.)  I think they wanted to know how the applicant felt about "disabilities" etc.
I've come to the conclusion that we are all "deaf" and blind and don't have all the senses that we could possibly want in this life. Adam and company lived many more years than we do - why?  Because the ozone layer was thicker, mutant genes, environmental damage etc. etc. So if we get "restored"will we have the abilities that we were suppose to have from heaven, but because of factors beyond our control (and some in our control) our lives are limited to what is now available?  Let's even go back to Adam and Eve's bodies before they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.  Marvelous bodies that were cut short to one of the Lord's days.  If there is a restoration we shouldn't expect a limited earthly body but a glorified one.  I wonder what that is - impervious to illness would be a good start.  Could we hear what an elephant hears or a whale?  Without a veil could we see further, brighter with more colors? Could we feel more from our heart and minds? Would communication of all senses be better?  Maybe mind to mind.
My answer to this question would be yes, hearing would be restored in a much broader fashion to ALL of us who are deaf to some extent or another in this world.

Last of Summer

Rachel and I went Camping Carter Style!
That means a tri-tip dinner, with Cesar salad, baked potatoes, watermelon (cooled in artesia water) and homemade cookies all courtesy of Bonnie.  We had a delicious Spaghetti dinner the next night!
She is a great cook and wonderful hostess.

Disneyland style ride, bumpy, fast, slightly dangerous.  They are strapped in so they won't hit the roof with their heads going over bumps.  We are on our way to beautiful blue Sterling Lake.  It is clear, has fish and very inviting.

Wild flowers abounded everywhere.  Spring is still around in the high mountains as the snow didn't leave until very late.  Lots of colors and variety.  Very nice.

This is really a gorgeous place.  It was hard to decide if I wanted to go swimming more or boating.  So I just waded a minute to feel the water temperature.  It wasn't bad.  Very clear and interesting.

The Bishop pointed out the interesting fact that these trees find a way to grow right out of rocks.  Where do they get the nutrition they need?  Is there really enough dirt in a crack to feed a tree?

I went exploring around the Carter's camp and found this bird nest on an old stump.  I really can't picture a bird building a nest there, so I speculated that the Websters or one of the other Carter grandchildren had put it there.

This is Carter Camping - hot running water for showers, flushing toilets, AC and heat, comfortable beds, ovens, stove, refrigerator, a gas grill outside, 3 ATV's - one a buggy for six, campfire, zip-line and play structure.  Awesome!!

 Bishop Ken Carter showed Rachel how to fish and she caught four!  Luckily for her he was nice enough to bait the hook, net the fish, pull the hook out and touch all the fish.  None were big enough to bring home, but just right to have fun!

We got to be on top of the World, so Rachel is doing some Mountain Silhouettes .

We read all the historical facts as we toured around and this is the famous Rainbow Bridge which has appeared in different movies.  In 2007 a bear got stuck at the top of this arch and had to be tranquilized to get him down.

This is Bonnie and Bishop Ken Carter - a very generous, patient, and nice couple.  The showed us a really wonderful time and showed us wonderful adventures around Cisco Grove, California.

Donner Lake from the top

It was so beautiful everywhere we looked and the Bishop was so nice to stop when I wanted to take more pictures.

This was a comfortable nice place to live and then when it was time to go home, the Bishop rode the ATVs up on an especially put down carpet for storage until next week!

When the freeway came in many businesses that were on Highway 40 closed.  This fireplace was in one of the ruins found in Cisco Grove near where the Carters live.

We walked down a path until we got to this melted snow pool of water - yes it was freezing cold, but clear and inviting.  In fact two dog came up the trail on their own, jumped into the pool, then trotted back down the path to their car.

Laura at Work Again

Laura is really a Pro

at creating a beautiful show with food.  She works so hard to give people what they want at parties, weddings, graduations, and backyard swim parties.  Last Saturday she started out around 8 am loading up her van and taking things to the church.  The culture hall was already decorated by Stephanie, friends and their families from the night before for Stephanie's daughter Christina and Daniel's reception. 

Chocolate and maroon - imaginative colors 

Laura made sure the food for the luncheon was set up and ready to go and then worked on the reception when the line for lunch started.

Laura really doesn't like a camera anywhere near her - good thing we're friends

Laura making the salad

Setting up for reception started while lunch was on

Lots of good food

 The only downfall came with the chocolate fountain.  Despite reading carefully the directions and following them, it didn't work until someone gave the tip that Crisco would make it run smoothly.  The package said to just use the chocolate pieces warmed up.  Nope, 10 minutes after adding Crisco it finally worked.  Very messy, but lots of people said they liked it.

Abby and Pam trying to make the chocolate flow

I think the whole day turned out really well and it was so nice to see the last of Stephanie's girls married.  There was a picture of David her son on the stage because he is in Australia on his mission right now.  I've never seen Christina so happy.   It was really an awesome day.