Good examples

Last night I got a call from a sweet lady in our ward. She said she wanted to make Brother Flint a pie. She said the work he does as ward clerk often goes unnoticed and unappreciated so she wanted to make him a pie to show her appreciation. Sister Poulson's husband died a few years ago. Instead of having a big pity party, she goes about doing good for others. Another lady in our ward , Carla, called the compasionate service leader one day and asked what she could do to help someone. She said she needed something to uplift her spirits. I work in a reading program that relies heavily on volunteers. One lady, Naomi, has been with us for seven years. She comes two mornings a week. On the mornings she isn't with us she goes to a nursing home to volunteer. Because of health problems, she is in pain most of the time, but still does for others. I love the example set by all three of these ladies. I hope I can better follow their examples.

Kenneth

Hi, all. Dad is doing great and really likes where he is. Candy is adjusting pretty well, i think. I'm going to get hime some cork board for his pics, and some silk plants to dress up his apartment. He got a microwave and a few dishes, so he's almost all set up.

Talk at ya later--Kathi

California visit

Last week Bruce and I went to California to visit John and Lynn. We had such a great time. We watched the sunset from the beach which was gorgeous. They have ornage trees and we picked oranges and made fresh ornage juice. That was a treat. We spent Friday evening in the San Diego Temple with John and Lynn because they are workers there. One session we attended was spanish speaking so we had to wear ear phones. It is always a treat to go to the temple. Doug's Becky came with the twins on Friday. They are such cute little girls. We had such nice weather and John and Lynn are such fun people to be with. Hope we can go again sometime. Family is so important.

Farewell Autumn

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was outside getting the yard ready for winter in my short sleeves, and today it is cold and rainy. Guess snow will be here soon. What a nice Fall we have had. I love the Fall time and all that goes with it, but now I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Grandpa's move

This Friday, Bruce moved his dad to Portland. He has been living with us for the past 4 years . His mind is still sharp but he is slowing down. He is now living in a nice Assisted Living Center there. I think it will be a great move for him. He was excited to go and has lots of family there to come see him. Would you believe, he was even allowed to take his dog with him. As long as he has his dog and his computer he'll be happy. They serve three meals a day with a variety on the menu and have house cleaning services. They also have all kinds of activites for him to enjoy. Sounds like a good life to me! Lat night, Bruce took him to his great-great-grandaughter's

baptism there in Portland. We will miss him, but it will be nice to have our house to ourselves. It's been a long time since Bruce and I have been alone in this house.

??????????????

I finally go to all the trouble to get onto your blog and I find that you have not posted anything since Sept. You're adopting my bad habits. Let's get with it.

Amazing technology!

Michelle and Masachi are now living in Japan, but they have had trouble getting television reception. So they purchased a Slingbox and had us put it on our TV down stairs. Bruce then gave Michelle a long number to put in her computer. She called us 2 minutes later to say she was watching KSL news on her computer! The reception goes from the cable box on the TV, to our computer to her computer. So now thay can watch TV on their computer. However when we are watching evening news here it is early in the morning there. She wanted to buy a DVR to put on our TV so she could record shows and watch them at better times. Someone at BEST Buy told us she could do that on Media Play on the computer! We enjoy visiting with them using the Web Cam on our computers. It has made it seem that they are not so far away.Cell phones are also amazing. I talk to Melisa most every morning. Communication sure itsn't like it used to be.

Love the changing seasons

I love the changing of the seasons. Spring has so much symbolism. It reminds me of how life is and the opportunities we have. I think of the Atonement and the new life it offers us. I love to see the flowers come to life again after the long winter of rest. I enjoy summer and watching the garden grow and anticipation all the wonder produce that will come. I love sitting on our patio with the misters on and the warm summer evenings. Now we are in Autumn. The temperatures are so pleasant now. I love all the fresh produce we are enjoying, especially the tomatoes and the herbs. Wayne and Kris have kept us in peaches and now the apples are coming on. We can open our windows now, and enjoy the cooler nights. We don't have to use the air conditioning much, and don't need the furnace on yet. That saves on the pocket book. The only thing about Fall I don't like is that I know what comes next. I don't like being cold. But soon we will be getting ready for the Holidays and all that goes with them. I love sitting by the fire in winter and watching all the new shows. Unfortunately I watch way too much TV. I need to read more books this winter. Come along February I'm anxious to get back outside, so I start with all the garden catalogs and dream of Spring coming. Seems like the winter goes the slowest of the seasons. But before we know it, it will be Spring again. I always thought Summer was my favorite season, but I've decided Fall is. When I think about it, every season has its pros and cons. What is your favorite season?

Summer Enjoyments

Today is the last Friday of my vacation. It's back to work on Monday. This has been such a pleasant summer. I have enoyed so many fun things about summer. I have enjoyed the morning walks I have taken most every morning this summer. I have enjoyed the pleasant summer days sitting on the patio and listening to the fountain while reading my scriptures, or sitting on the patio with Bruce in the evenings. I have enoyed having family and friends over for BBQs. I have enjoyed watching my gardne grow and now reaping the benifit of the harvest. I have enjoyed all the fun summers foods that are so abundant this time of year such as melons, corn, tomatoes, and of course my herbs. But like all good things, summer must come to an end. But I am ready to go back to work. I'm glad I enjoy my job.

Take a Walk!

I have been walking most mornings this summer. A friend from the ward has been walking with me. We walk about a half hour at 7:30 in the morning. Walking is so rewarding. I really miss it when I don't get my walk in. We walk around the neighborhood and look at others yards. I already know the name of a plant I want to put in my yard. It's called blue butterfly delphenium. Walking is great exercise. Everyone should try it.

Birthday Thanks!

Thanks to all for the cards, lunches and birthday wishes.

B is for basement

Since Michael moved out a couple of month's ago our basement hasn't seen any visitors. But this week, it was put to good use. We enjoyed having John and Lynn in town. They came last week on their way up to Becky's graduation, then stayed over with us on Wednesday through Sunday before going back to California to celebrate Pioneer Day and my birthday. Wednesday, Bruce's brother called and three family members stayed with us Thurday night on their way back to Portland. Also Tami came from Idaho Falls on her way to San Diego. She stayed with us Friday night and flew out Saturday morning. Now that John and Lynn have left, the basement will sit lonely again. We're sure glad we have it when we need it.

Idolmania!

Tuesday, July 15, Kris and I went to the American Idol Tour. It was quite an experience. The top Ten performers from the American Idolshow performed. I have never heard so much screaming and cheering. Sometimes, you could hardly hear the singing. Kkris and I got right into it even though we are grandmas. When David Arceletta sang were squeezed our way up the aisle and got quite close. Of couerse, Arceletta was our favorite, but they all did a good job. Wednesday, John and Lynn's kids stayed at our house for the night. They were on their way to Rexburg to go to Becky's graduation from BYU Idaho. John and Lynn stayed at Kris's house but came over to visist for awhile. It was fun to see them.Tonight I am going to have a BBQ here with the ladies I work with. I love having deadlines because I get things done. My house and my yard are all clean. I'm still tending Michael's kids and they help me alot.

summer break

Today is Friday and my Grandkids have gone to Lagoon with their mother except for Dallin. He was not feeling well so stayed home with me. The kids have been fun to have during this month although this Grandma doesn't have the energy she used to have.. It does take some thinking to try and keep them occupied. I hear the "b" word all the time. They always say "I'm bored what can I do". We have gone to a movie, tennis lessons, swimming, and Grandma's favorite pass time- sitting on the patio with the misters on. Gavin and I have done a lot of playin croquet. He's getting pretty good at it. We also played Mexican Train a couple of afternoons. It is cooler today. a pleasant break from the 97 we had yesterday. This is TGIF for Bruce. He looks forward to the weekends when he has a break from work. My flowers and vegetables are showing the stress from the heat but they still look nice. I haven't had much produce from my garden yet. I think the cool spring, then the extreme heat took its toll on the garden. Oh well, there's always next year. Tonight we are going to dinner with Kris and Wayne and then to their house to play Mexican Train- our usual Friday night out. Tami, thanks for writing. Sorry about all the problems you've been having with your sprinkler system. It was nice to see you. Hope we see you this Sunday when we come to Karen and Byron's reception.

New Author

Ok Kathy, I accepted your invitation to be an author on your blog. So here is my first post.

It was fun to see everyone at your place. I have yard envy. My yard looks terrible right now. We keep having power outages and it messes up my sprinkler system so that it runs at at the wrong time and only for 10 minutes on each zone. I got it set correctly tonight. But my lawn is quite brown right now. I need to get a surge protector for the sprinkler system control. We have probably had six quick power outages in the last month that are just long enough to mess up the clocks and the sprinkler system.

I want to come down and go to the Church History Archives. Isn't that the place you were talking about showing me? I need to get back into doing more family history (sometime).

Last night driving home, Kami and I were treated to a real lightning show. From Blackfoot on we saw some terrific lightning. I'm surprised I didn't hear about any fires. But it was quite the display. Kami was fun to ride home with. She was so excited to get home that she was very pleasant. So we had a nice time.

love Summer!

So far this summer has been nice even tho it was slow getting started. Thanks to the cool weather we had earlier, my flowers are beautiful. My garden was slow getting started, but is doing better now. My basil has taken off now and I even have some peppers growing! Kris and Wayne came out to dinner. We had some yummy grilled chicken and fresh peas from Wayne's garden. (Love that fresh produce?) If anybody wants to come by, I have lots of fresh herbs and will have tons of tomatoes.