Dinner in a Pumpkin, almost from the Grave

 Someone in the ward had a baby and so we decided to put together one of our favorite recipes from when we were raising our kids, Dinner in a Pumpkin.

We grabbed a couple of the smallest pumpkins from the harvest and ended up having to double the double batch to actually fill both of them.

We kept one and took the other to the family with two littles.  I hope they enjoyed it. They seemed excited when they received it, but we never heard back.  It's not your typical kids meal, but we were hopeful.

Come and Get It!

 

Hello Fresh never fails.  They always have a great recipe and Little Miss and I put together one of their kits for supper.  It turned out really delicious.

Of course, she is more of a pasta girl so if there wasn't enough for five it was okay.  We could just whip up a batch of Alfredo noodles for her.

I love that I get to spend time with the littles.

Donny Osmond in Concert

Good thing Kathy is a party animal or it would never have happened.  I liked Donny as well as the next person, but I like Marie's music better.  I forgot that until we got there.

He puts on a great show, and we enjoyed ourselves.  We stayed overnight and then headed home.  We ate locally a couple of times in a couple of different restaurants.  We didn't see any reason to move the car.  LOL 

We had a fun sister trip.  We need to do it again.

 

Chicken Farmers

 

We have raised few hens this year and then the hens hatched out two or three batches on their own.  The first 2, the second 3 and the third was 9.  Imagine our over excitement when Mama came out with these nine.

Well we pawned of a few chickens and a few roosters but we still had these remaining chicks.  Julie Lovell said she would come get them but they never did.  Before they came we discovered we had 9 roosters.  

After 6 months we had Justin Losee pick them up and give them to the Peruvian neighbors. 

We lost a few hens at the same time so we are now just getting 3 eggs a day.

Learning some basic stitches ...

I really thought big sis was going to be my little seamstress but she didn't have the patience it took for our little learning project.

Little sis on the other hand, stuck right with it, even when I added two more rows.  She wanted to do it, and she saw when it wasn't right.  She learned quickly even if it took two tries.  Her stitches were absolutely perfect.  She will be mending her own stuffed animals before long. 

One proud girl of a job well done.

 

L

 

Starting Neck Therapy

I've been going for a little while but today is my first traction treatment.  I've always "hung" myself from a pully in the sunken room with a rope and a neck brace or, for comfort, a sports bra.  The traction makes a lot of difference.  However, he said I was doing it wrong.  I need to be more about the chin lifting while in traction.  Then my way will work fine.

 

July 24th Celebration and the Hunt Reunion

 

Sterling Turtle Races

 

If you aren't in Delta for the 4th of July, then you want to be in Sterling.

Curt has been putting forth great effort to get close to the family, and went the extra mile getting Izzy flowers for both of the performances we were there for.  It was nice spending the day with extended family.

The kids have talked about how fun the turtle races are and we have to agree.  It was pretty awesome. 

I'm guessing we went home and had Navajo Tacos for lunch because some traditions travel.

Sterling's Gypsie Rose

 What a fabulous production from a small little town.  Izzy did so very well.  I stayed and watched the whole thing the first night, but skipped it the second viewing.  She was truly a star.

Happy Mother's Day, Happy Father's Day

 Candice and J brought us gifts and we sat down and opened them.  

I started by opening a necklace with photos in it.  It was kind of a weird picture of them, as they had something on their lap but it was so small I couldn't tell what it was.

When Grandpa opened his, it took him a moment to figure out and then we both let out screams of joy.  J thought we were weird, but we are so excited to add another little to the family.  

I Need a Little Lucy

One of the best parts of going to see Bria is that she brings out her mending for me every time I go to visit.  I love to be used.  I love to be needed.

One my last trip there, she saw that I had made a few things for Sofie and Pax and asked me if I could please make her a little Lucy.  We looked at patterns and this is the one she decided upon.  I didn't order the pattern because it wasn't just right, but used it as an example.  

I was very pleased with the way it turned out, and so was Bria. She loves her Lucy

 

Talent Show at School - the start of something big

 

Izzy asked the teacher if she could do a solo at the school talent show.  They allowed her to do it, and there were a couple of local scouts in the audience that immediately came up to her wanting her to be a part of the community theater this summer.  She just ate that up.  She has a great little voice.

Jr. Prom

 

I gathered a bunch of dresses from Madelyn to adapt for her Jr. Prom and other dress up dances.  I ended up with about six that we adjusted to be a little more modest.

Doesn't she look gorgeous in her dress.  This one was a duplicate so she can actually keep that one. 

This littles are not so little any more.

Watching the Grands Succeed

I got to join the family and watch a little spring sports and then go to watch the school choir concert.  

How fun it is to be welcomed into their home and their lives and get to see the kids as they successfully navigate their young lives.  

It is pretty rewarding to watch your adult children parent.  They are doing such a great job.  This little family, I spend the most time with, because I am always invited and welcomed, and they are also close enough it's a day's trip.  

I must confess my life is not what I wanted or hoped for, but this part is exactly perfect.  Thank you for including me in your activity and lives.

 

Ben at Box Elder Lacross

We get to spend a couple times each week watching Ben, #90, play Lacross.  That is the only thing good that came from Covid 19.  Our trips have dwindled in the van, but I'm still hopeful.  Until then, we watch from the big screen.
 

Miss Tacy almost didn't make it

 

Kelly came home to find a home health nurse at the door saying Tacy wasn't answering.  They found her on the floor, passed out from lack of nutrition.  He grabbed a rolling stool from the garage and quickly rolled her to the car and then got her to the hospital.

She was pretty hit and miss for a long time.  The worst was when she would come to and think she was in the hospital because she had relapsed again on drugs, when she was being perfect.  Becky made sure, and I think even hung a note on the wall, saying "You didn't do anything wrong!"  

We found great hope after a while, but they didn't fix her completely.  They switched things up and she was able to get some nutrition finally but she is still struggling.  However, sometime along the path, she came back to the Church and seems so much happier and a delight to be around.  We still pray for healing.

 

 

 

Mom, you make me tired!

With patience wearing thin from the pain in my knee, I went downstairs to rest on the couch.  Mom followed me down and asked if I wanted to exercise with her.  Well, heck no, Mom, I don't want to exercise.  So she did it alone and put me to total shame.  She danced around for a while and then dropped down and did her bicycle exercise.  Not too shabby for a 63 year old on the couch and a 93 year old up and exercising. 
 

Cleaning the Headstones in Enterprise Cemetery

 It turned out to be a much harder job than I thought it would be and it took me two days working the full day to get it where I stopped.  

The funny thing is that I showed up just at dark, and parked the van on the outside of the cemetery.  I had planned on going inside and parking the van on the road behind the trees, but they had trimmed them so they no longer hid you from people driving by.  

By the second night, I no longer cared about what people thought and I just left the van where it had been all day long, right next to Dad's grave.  I figured by the time I was done that it would take cleaning an hour every month for a few months.  But mom just hired it done instead.

Rock Hounding with Grandpa

 

Happy Birthday

With lots of the kids traveling this year, I opted to give everyone their birthday gift early, on a non birthday.  I had fun thinking about each grandchild as I made them. I hope they will be useful.