Jimmy and the Snail Shell

If you know me, you know I enjoy watching my fish.  I know, how much energy do you expell watching your fish in your fish tank.  Maybe that's just one reason I enjoy it.  I can sit and do nothing but watch.  One day, I saw our Beta fish, Jimmy come swimming out of our Discovery Bay Snail Shell.  I guess he had used it as his own personal bedroom for the night. 

 

 

 

It's not something you get to see everyday!

Introducing our Wheat Grinder

 

Last year for Christmas, Dan and I bought ourselves an electric wheat grinder.  On March 9th I got it out of the box and for the very first time, I ground up wheat to use for bread.  It worked wonderfully and will be a much appreciated addition to our home.

African Violets - Springtime and Granma Thomas



When I saw these at the store I just had to get a couple.  They remind me so much of Granma Thomas.  She loved Aftican Violet and had lots of them in her house.  She used to put them by the big living room window where they got lots of north sunlight.  She used to break off a leaf and give me a start of hers.  In fact, I actually took several of her starts when we moved to Oregon.  Right now, I have to have mine facing west sunlight at least until it gets too hot.  Anyway, yeah for Springtime and Granma Thomas' Aftrican Violets!

A Night at West Yellowstone

One weekend Dan had a hanchoring to spend a night in West Yellowstone so he got on-line and made a reservation at the Wyndum-World Mark resort.  I had Monday off of school since it was Martin Luther King Day.  On Sunday, Jan. 19th we had some company from Arizona come over to spend the day with us.  They were the grandparents and an Uncle and Aunt of  Whitney's new husband Grant.  They were all so sweet it felt like they were family. They went to church and had dinner with us before we took them the 2 blocks to the airport at 7:00 that evening. 
Afterwards, Dan and I loaded up the car and headed north.  It was about 2 hours later and we go there. We were both so tired that we went straight to bed and slept till morning. 




We soaked a little in the hot tub before packing up to drive back home. 
We hadn't eaten since dinner the day before so we found a little Deli on our way out of town and stopped to have a bite to eat.  It was really good and it gave us a little more time together before getting home.

We got home in the early afternoon and that gave me time to get ready to go back to school the next morning.

Most of all, it gave us both a nice break from Idaho Falls and a little extra time for just us!

Cleaning Out the Storage Room and other Sundry Chores

While the Ellsworths, etc were outside cutting concrete and digging holes, I decided to be somewhat productive as well.  Before I quit the pharmacy I had used my discount card and much of my savings to stockpile our family food, etc. storage.  I filled the family room with all kinds of food, toilet paper, oil, flour, sugar, etc, etc.  It had remained on the family room floor for several months just waiting for me to clean out and rearrange the storage room which was such a mess that there was no room for anything else. 
Well, I was going to change that this very day.  However, before I went downstairs, I got out the windex and the rags and cleaned off the back door windows.  It was such a beautiful day outside I wanted some of that delicious sunshine to come right in and warm up the house. 

 

Then I went downstairs and started in the storage room.  

I took out the quilts and saved the ones that were saveable.  I washed and dried them on the clothesline in the backyard.  I rearranged and organized and before too long I had room for almost all the items in the family room. 

 

With Alisha's help we got things moved in and put away; all except the flour and sugar.  We have another plan for them but that will take cleaning out the garage before they can be moved.  Maybe sometime this summer????

 

 

We even found a new home for our wheat grinder.  That makes me excited to grind wheat.

 

It felt so good to have some order to things that I decided to actually put up the wonderful pictures that the kids had given us for Christmas.  Seth and Ali gave us the Love plaque for Christmas two years ago and we'd kept it upstairs for a year.  Elizabeth and James gave us the Lake Powell Family Reunion puzzle for Christmas this year so I put them both on the family room wall.  I like how they look together with our other hangings.  Don't you?

Alisha's Birthday, Christmas, Valentines Day, and Easter Dress

You know how sometimes you decide to do something and then it takes FOREVER to actually get it done?  Well, that's the story of Alisha's Birthday, Christmas, Valentines Day and Easter dress.
It really all started almost a year ago when Alisha told me she'd like a new dress for her birthday.  I was excited to know what it was she'd like, so of course I said, "Let's do it!" 
She came up with an idea of what she'd like it to look like and in a few weeks we went and got the fabric for it.  We walked in the store and within just a few minutes we had exactly what she had wanted.  It was all so easy! 
That bag of fabric sat on my sewing table for quite a while - way past her birthday in August.  Finally somewhere around Oct. we drew up a pattern and cut out the fabric.  We even made great progress and fitted the bodice to her.  I was so pleased.  We were on a roll. 
However, the fitted bodice and cut out skirt sat on my sewing table for another while.  I had great hopes of finishing it for her for Christmas, but..... we were going to spend Christmas in Las Vegas and there was so much to get done.  We just didn't have a spare minute :-(
After Christmas, I thought how nice it would be if she had a new dress for Valentines Day but tears again because between one thing and another or rather one excuse or another the dress remained on the sewing table.  Mind you, Alisha was very patient and never expressed regret that it wasn't done.  She is just too good sometimes.
Finally, mid March we got the dress parts back out and refitted the bodice, remeasured the skirt and put all the pieces together and Alisha got a new Easter dress.  She loves it and it looks really good on her. 

Alisha's New Window

As part of becoming a Certified Family Home we needed to put in an egress window in the basement so she had a 2nd exit incase of fire.  She will eventually move into the bigger room as her bedroom so we arranged to put in a large window at the north end of the house.  We contacted Blake Ellsworth since he is a concrete cutter and he actually put the project all together for us.  He hired a man from the Spanish branch who had recently put in an egress window in his own home.  Blake said he had done a great job at home and thought he'd do a good job for us, too.  We also hired to young men in our ward, Chet Ellsworth and Nate Gunderson to do the shoveling for the hole.  It was quite a project!
Blake cut the cement from the sidewalk so the boys could dig the hole and then they all came over one Saturday.  Bernardo checked out what we needed and then left to return when the hole was cut and ready for his work and the boys started digging.  It was quite a job and they dug all day long.  Blake went with us to Lowes to get the lumber and supplies and then we all took a break for lunch.

 
 

 

By the end of the day, we had a large hole at the side of the house and a HUGE pile of dirt beside it.

 

 

Within the week, Blake had cut the hole in the side of the house and Bernardo had put the window in. 

It was long after that when they had the window in.  Dan and I got a large window well and Blake put it in place.  Bernardo finished off the inside and waaalaaa; Alisha has a new window in her new bedroom.

 

Alisha and the Cookie Monster

Alisha has tried to keep us in cookies this spring.  She's made batch after batch but somehow they keep disappearing.  She and I both think there's a Cookie Monster in our house?????

 

CPR at it's Best!

I had to take a CPR class for the Certified Family Home requirements, so on March 11, I attended the class.  I had to perform CPR on this gentleman and try as I might I could not get him breathing again.  However, I did pass the class and we are now a Certified Family Home!  YEAH!!  I'll have to repeat the class again next year and I'm sure that same gentleman will be in need of help.  Maybe, next year????

 

Pancakes for Breakfast

It's not unusual to have pancakes for breakfast but how often do we put frosting on top instead of butter and syrup.  I had so much frosting left from the wedding cake that Dan and Alisha enjoyed a little bit (or a lot) on top of their breakfast.  Oh well, at least it wasn't "No, no cake for breakfast!"
Just frosting.