Friday, September 7, 2012

Good bye luncheon

 Last friday Andrea, my little party queen,  arranged a good bye luncheon for me.  Several of my good friends met up with us as Zuppas and we spent a good 3 hours chatting and enjoying each others company.

Of course, I forgot to take photos again.  I didn't get a picture of Julene, Dani K, Anita, or Jean.  Val was stuck in traffic, just sitting there with the motor turned off for over an hour.  She decided to just go home after that.  Then Dani couldn't come either because Val was supposed to pick her up.  Bummer.
JaNee took the day of to come.  She is such a wonderful daughter-in-law.  She is always so so nice to me.  

                  Sharon and Trish have been my good friends forever.  Our kids were friends together too.

     I have been blessed with many wonderful friends both old and new.  I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for this great blessing.


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Labor Day 2012


 Our Labor Day began when we all met up with Sara at Kneaders for a delicious breakfast.  The weather was so pleasant and we decided to sit outside to eat.  Kneaders is always packed with people because the food is so good.  So, while people were ordering I went onto the patio and reserved some seats for us.  We had some pleasant conversations and the food was great.  Sara is leaving for Hawaii where she will be living permanently on a farm.  She will be living in a tent and farming.  I certainly wish the best for this darling girl, but personally I would not want to live in a tent.  I'm sure it's going to be a great adventure for her.  I just hope she doesn't get influenced by those who do not have her best interests in mind.  We love Sara so much and have since she was just a beautiful little girl.  She is like one of our own.  I hope that she will be able to decide what she wants to do with her life and pursue it and fulfill her wishes.  She has already spent to years in the Peace Corps. She is a college graduate.  Now she just needs to find her niche.  
 After breakfast everyone got ready to go to this little lake (really just a pond) by our house.  Correas and Brandts along with Sara went there to feed the ducks, go kayaking, and just enjoy the beach.  Brandts brought there kayaks and they all loved it.  Reggie especially had a ball out on the kayak.

 Papa and I stopped by for a few minutes to give Tate and Dani their b'day presents.


Here is the cute little family. They are waiting for Penny to make her arrival.  She is due to make her appearance any day now.  


 After that we drove down to Val's who had invited us to picnic with some of their friends.  Here are some of the kids dancing on the tables.  Isn't that what empty tables are for?
                                                                  Randy barbecuing.
                                                       Val and her friends chatting.


 This float came by and stopped so the future Miss Spanish Fork girls went to get a closer look
 The driver lifted them all up onto the float.  Their little manager got to go on the float too.
                                                                  Papa and Spence
                          Some of the girls couldn't wait to eat and had to take some little samples.
                                                      The guys kicked the ball around.
 After everyone ate, all 3 families went to play a game of baseball.  It was soooooo hot that Papa and I just put our chairs in the shade and watched.  Papa also read aloud to me while I did some knitting.
 After the game we went to Val's house where the kids had to finish their homework.
 Jojo made a snack for her, Kenz, and me which we ate after we played a fun game of croquet.





                                             Then we had an acrobatics/trampoline show.


Ready

                                                                          Set
                                                               Jojo in the air!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Not to be outdone, Kenz has her turn.

                                                              Take One
                                                                Take Two
                                                                  Take Three

I can't seem to catch her in the air.

                                               She did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I got it.
After all of that exercise, everyone came outside.  Val read scriptures to us and we discussed them and then we went inside and played a game for FHE.  It was the end of a very fun day.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Lancaster

 We have been home for a week now, but I haven't even been up to blogging because I have been sick with the most awful cough of my life.  I have had a sore throat, congestions, wheezing, and coughing up a lung.  I did go to the Dr and he wasn't sure if it was allergies or something else.  Anyway he gave me an antibiotic which I have been taking.  I am feeling much better but not well yet.  My lungs have been pretty bad and the Dr said that I have a lot of wheezing in both upper and lower parts of both lungs.  He gave me a cough syrup which cost $32.00 dollars.  I about fainted.  Then he also prescribed an inhaler.  That was almost $50.00.  I just couldn't buy that, so they are holding it for me.  If I'm not better completely in a couple of days, I will go and get it.  It just doesn't seem right that when you are young and working and feeling well, you have the best insurance.  Then you retire and get sick and have medicare and your coverage is horrible.  Then we're facing Obamacare which is the worse, most awful plan.  I usually do not get politically heated up, but let's face it. Who in their right mind would want to elect Obama again?   Let's look at his track record.  And yet, he and Romney are neck in neck.  I just hope that the public will make the right decision for our nation and vote for Romney.  Ok there's my political rant.
On to more pleasant things.  We sadly left Anna and her family and drove on over to Lancaster. We first went to our old friends the Ferraris.  I cannot believe that Chuck is 87 years old.  He is so spry and sharp and looking good.  He is still teaching math at the college every morning.  Judy is doing well too although she is having a few health challenges.  We had such a fun visit with them.  We talked about old times, played games, Judy and I went to Walgreens where I got a Shingles shot and she got the flu shot (HaHa real fun), and we had a very pleasant time together.   After dinner they were invited to a wedding reception and invited us along since we would know so many of the guests.  We did go and had  a blast.  We saw so many people that we hadn't seen in years.  It was wonderful.  Sister Young, the gal who got married remembered us right away.  She had been Stake Primary Pres and I knew her a little bit from mtgs and she remembered me from that too.  She also immediately recognized John from serving as Stake Patriarch.  I was surprised because we just barely knew each other, but it was sure nice.  I was having so much time talking with first one person and then the next, that I totally forgot to take a single picture.

The next day we went to Daisy's family reunion.  Since we know almost all of her family really well I was happy to go when she invited us.  It was so nice to see some people that we know an  d haven't seen for years.  
 Theron and his wife Charlotte, Daisy's sister, live in Maryland.  They came out with their daughter Cherise and her baby.  They are doing really well.  The "boys" Daisy's brothers are not doing so well.  They are having a really hard time.  I feel so badly for them.  Things seem to be getting a little bit better, so hopefully little by little things will go back to normal.
 Sally and Norm, Daisy's brother, were our dear friends before we even met Daisy.  We haven't seen them for years and years.  It was so wonderful to spend some time with them.  They are doing great.  They lived in Texas for quite a few years and now are back living in Temecula.  Jeremy is Natalie R's son.
 Valerie is Natalie's daughter.  I kept the photos because they were in them.
                                                Here's a great photo of Sally and Norm.
 Can't believe how big Dom is.  He has applied to the Marine's and will be going in very soon.  Yeslin is his little fiance.
 Usually when we go to Lancaster we stay with Daisy, but because she has so many relatives visiting and staying with her this time we stayed with Kyle, her son, and his wife AnneMarie.  They always invite us over and this time we took them up on it.  They were so nice and so hospitable to us.  When we first got to their apt, Kyle opened the fridge and told us that they went to the farmers market and got all of this lovely fruit.  "I know Bro. Arhets loves fruits so we got this.  Eat all you want."  Next he went to one of the cupboards and pointed out the ibuprofen, honey, vitamins, etc and again invited us to  take whatever we needed.  They showed us the bedroom and Kyle said that they put up a little step stool just for me because the bed is up so high.  We laughed and AnneMarie said that it was because I was vertically challenged.  I reminded them that I was really "tall" and we had a good little laugh again.  We enjoyed visiting with them and appreciate how welcoming they were.

 Here's Sarah with her new baby Jayden who will be 1 in a couple of weeks.  It was my first time meeting him.
  Natalie is planning to move to Arkansas.  We'll see if she actually does.  She is looking really good.
Kyle with John in Daisy's kitchen.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Daisy.  We were celebrating her birthday this evening and I only got 3 pictures.  I need to stop chatting with people and start doing better at photo taking.