Oh where, oh where have I been?

Okay!  So I've been gone a long time.  Life has a way of changing things and it really did.  Of course, Steve broke his neck in January 2011.  Then he had a foot operation in September.  It didn't go well, and he got a staff infection.  He ended up being sick for several months and the operation had to be redone because the infection ruined what was done on the foot.  So, in February this year he had his second operation on the left foot.  Just our luck - it was botched and the foot looked more like a fin than a foot.  We went to another doctor and had a third surgery on the same foot in June.  Six weeks later when they took off the cast we both smiled because it looks kind of like a foot now.  Talk about a nightmare!  Anyway, due to all the mental, emotional and physical stress during this time I have not kept up on my blog!  But here I am now and hopefully I'll be more diligent.

We had our annual family camp out in the first part of August up at Wasatch State Park.  It was hot, but we had quite a bit of fun.  We rented a Seadoo, and a friend brought his boat to share with us.  Here are some pictures:

 A lot of hot air????

 Dillon looks like an up and coming Olympic swimmer, doesn't he?

 Don't you just want to kiss that face?

 Peek-a-boo!

 Ahhhh!  This is the life!

 Sweet Josie!

 Swinging at the swimming hole.

Soaking those sore feet!

The Dead, the Med, the Red - A Dream Come True

It has been my dream for many years to visit the Holy Land. This year we "blew the wad", and took a trip to Jordan, Israel and Egypt in May. It was worth every penny. We had a great time and got to see so many places that we had only heard or read about. We walked where Jesus walked. We saw where He healed the sick and infirm. We visited Gethsemane where He ultimately paid the price for each of us. Now when I hear about those places I will visualize them. I will never be the same. We saw the the Dead Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Nile, and the River Jordan. We saw Petra, Masada, the Pyramids, the Dome of the Rock, the Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, and a hundred other places. Here are a few pictures.




The Mediterranean Sea


The Jordan River

The Red Sea on the night of the full moon.

The Dead Sea


Masada

I'm back again!

Well, life can sure throw you for a loop! Not only did I lose all my pictures on this blog after closing down one of my email accounts (that was associated with the pictures), but Steve fell on the floor in the family room the first part of January and broke his neck in four places. After an operation and spending a few weeks in the hospital and rehab he was able to come home and has been healing ever since. He is doing better, but still has to wear his neck brace and not do anything too strenuous. Of course, he is lucky to have a buff wife who can lift heavy things, move big furniture, paint the house, cook the meals, clean the toilets and nearly anything else you can think of. Actually, I'm glad to be able to help. And I'm most especially grateful that Steve is here. It was a close call! He really is doing well, and we have a trip planned to Israel in May. It is to celebrate our 36th anniversary!

In the meantime, Andrus got engaged to Krissy and their wedding will be the first part of June. We are happy and excited for them. There is to be an open house in our backyard and if the weather would cooperate I would get the yard looking nice for it.

Our family room project is nearly done. The only things left for me to do are touch up on the paint job and stain the window frames - not much, but finding the time to do it is the hard part. It has been horrible living for three months in dust and chaos. Everything was removed from the family room and infiltrated the rest of the home. I couldn't even walk around my kitchen table it was so crowded. The counter tops were always a mess with supplies, rags and tape - whatever was needed for that days activities. Dusting the counter tops was at least a daily chore and sometimes an hourly chore if I had to prepare food. Last Saturday I was able to clean off the dust in the main living area and put some things away for our monthly family meal. It was so nice to have the space open and things put away that I kept walking around the table and looking at it all. It felt good! I must admit that I love the addition - it turned out so nice!

Well, good to be back. I'll post again soon.

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that!

I had to add this picture because it's the first time in 35+ years that Steve has ever unloaded the dishwasher. I wanted it recorded for posterity!

Here it is Christmas time, and we are in the midst of construction. We started our family room construction when it was warm, but since we had to special order our window from Canada to match our other windows we are now into the cold weather. Here is the barrier the guys put up to help keep our house somewhat warm. Actually, this has been a good week because we've been up to the high 40's and low 50's. Hopefully, by the end of this week we should have the barrier down. I'm excited - it's going to be a nice addition.




Holly was baptized on Saturday, Dec. 4th. Jake baptized her and Andrus confirmed her. She's a pretty little girl and what a special event!!!

Andrus & Holly

A Few Summer Highlights

Wow! Where have I been the past several months? Life is busy, you know, especially summer time. We prepared for Andrus returning from his mission which happened on June 24th. Shortly after that Steve, Andrus and I flew back to Canada to see where Andrus served. That's where we spent July. What about August . . . . well, August has come with it's regular summer activity - yard work, garden work, company work and back to yard work again - one eternal round! Next week all the kids will be starting school. Marlisa is moving in today for the weekend while she awaits her new apartment, which is available on Monday. Andrus will be leaving for USU on Monday. It will be back to just us old folks again. We do have a family camp out planned for Bear Lake on August 26 - 29. I'm excited to spend time with all the kids for one last get-together before the summer truly ends. In the meantime, here's a few pictures from the summer.

Wasaga Beach

This is the kid I'm training. Elder Buxton, from Cornish, UT.

The Giant Ski hill here.....Blue "Mountain"

We were walking on the beach on day and look what someone wrote!

Some pictures of the beach.

The Tour of #17