Where did July go??

The first thing we replaced from our accident losses was getting a new camera. How can a family with so many wonderful people in it not have a good camera. The one we had lasted long enough to take a few pictures after the accident that were in the slide show from last month but after we got home...it refused to work at all. Thank goodness for digital cameras and camera memory cards. Another tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father.

The first pictures taken were of Emily, our daughter-in-law, by her husband, Chris and then I took one of my sweetheart sitting in the living room. His head looks better than in the last pictures of him without a cap. Chris and Emily lived with us for two months between their Santa Rosa apartment and the house in Sacramento where they moved for Chris to start school in Sept.

On the 11th of July the four of us went to a premiere showing of Karos Lowder's short film he produced at BYU titled "The Space Between". It was very impressive and he shared his comments about the experience of doing that and how it is being submitted to many film festivals during the next 12 months. He is the son of good friends of ours and he is in the film making degree program at BYU. He is definately up and coming and we can say..."We knew him when."

On July 18th, Richard and I went out to our house in Sacramento to see the Philpott's one last time before their move to Utah. Noelle was very busy priming a room with Abby, and shampooing carpets. John was busy cleaning and fixing things that needed attention so we had the pleasure of babystting our 5 grandchildren. It was a very HOT day in Sacramento (about 108 *) so we stayed indoors where it was air conditioned.

We watched a few of their fun animated movies with them that we hadn't seen yet...and some of us dozed in the process.

We enjoyed playing games with them too. Here I am playing Junior Scrabble with Jenna. We had a good time.

Isaiah had fun showing Papa his musical toy.
It's amazing what toys can do these days!

Starting on the 4th of July and practically every day thereafter, I spent a lot of time talking to car dealers, test driving cars, and researching cars on line to find my "new" used car to replace my van. Well, on the 25th of July we bought this Hyundai Santa Fe. It's a small SUV and rides like a dream so my cakes and flowers will be safe. It has 36,500 miles on it and therefore has 25,000 miles left on the new car warentee. It has a very high customer satisfaction and safety rating so that is good. As you can see, it's a beautiful dark cherry red...my first red car. Hopefully we will have many good years with this one

Pictures from June

Well, here are the long awaited photos of our amazing month of June with all our blessings in tact. Family is the greatest blessing of all and we ended our month with the sealing of our fourth adopted grandchild in the Philpott family at the Sacramento Temple on the 27th of June. Life is Good!!

June is busting out all over!!!

I decided that I will take a lesson from my children...I know they teach me a lot about many things...and I will write my blog about this month and then I will post a slide show as soon as Emily and Chris show me how to put my pictures into a slide show like Rachelle did and has done before on their blog. So here goes the commentary with pictures to come later...

Richard and I had a fantastic vacation to Utah to visit our two sons and their families. One of the reasons we chose this month to go was because we had all the baby gifts to deliver (as well as a bassinet and infant car seat loaned to them by Brook and Dave but residing at our house) that Rachelle and Sprout received at the shower we gave her last month. Also we wanted to go up to Idaho and meet our new daughter-in-law Urasia, her daughter Macie, and George and Urasia's baby girl, our granddaughter, Brooklyn, now 3 months old. What a great family time!!!

We left on Saturday, June 6th and from the time we got into the Sierra Nevada Mountains until we reached Salt Lake City, it was rain showers with very few breaks and only briefly when they happened. I've never seen Nevada so green and actually quite lovely!! We arrived safely and happy to be there. The weather continued the whole time we were in Utah and Idaho with rain, quite heavy many times, everyday. Lots of thunder and lightening too. I guess that's what you get in the spring but people were saying it was quite unusual for that late in the season.

We had a great time in Utah. We relaxed and stayed with Jeff and Rachelle but when they were at school and work, we went over to Dave and Brooks and babysat for Carter...hurray, we loved that....while Dave had his chiropractic appts and had errands to run. It was so much fun! On our own, Richard and I ate lunch at Hires Big H which has been in Utah since the 50's. It was good food and fun atmosphere. We also had to have an Ice Berg Shake cause they are really thick and oh so good. Then we did a trip to...no not BYU this time...Barnes and Noble for Richard to use one of his gift cards.

We took to opportunity to attend the Temple in Utah but took a while to decide which one. We chose to go to the Bountiful Temple and thoroughly enjoyed our session there. At least that morning it wasn't raining so we got some good pictures as we walked about the grounds after the session.

Rachelle, Brook, and I did a mother daughter day at a boutique village just down I15 a ways. We had a great time wandering through the shops and looking at fun creative things. All the shops were in old little houses from the past with a stream and ducks meandering through it all. We spent the most time in the Christmas shop that seemed to be the biggest house too. It was a delightful day.

On Wednesday night I was priviledged to be able to give Carter his bath and enjoyed playing with him and his toys, then get him ready for bed including singing a song and reading a couple of his books to him. I loved every minute of it!! Thank you Brook and Carter for that awesome experience!!

Our "Daughters" took turns and shared making wonderful dinners for us. All our sons are so lucky to have their wives be such good cooks. Then on Thursday...I had the fun of making a Birthday Dinner for Jeff and the family and his two best friends, Ryan and Jonny. It was a fun evening with family and friends. He chose Lasagna, green salad, garlic bread, and brownie sundaes for his birthday dinner.

On Friday, Jeff and Rachelle road with us up to Idaho Falls to see George and his growing family. Urasia is lovely and very sweet. We felt right at home and so welcomed. She is truly a wonderful addition to our family. She has a cute 5 year old daughter, Macie and then of course there is baby Brooklyn. We had such fun getting to know them and reconnecting with Emeric and Seneca (George's great teenagers). We watched movies, talked a lot, ate good food and played "Buttmann". Saturday Brook, Dave and Carter came up from SLC and we all got to meet Urasia's parents who came down for Brooklyn's blessing that was done at the house. The Bishop came over and presided and Richard blessed Brooklyn with the Bishop, George, Dave, and Jeff standing in the circle. George kept and eye on Brooklyn every so often during the blessing and said that she was staring at Richard as he spoke and she was so good! She is really an angel baby. Very happy, well behaved, and so willing to come to others and smile readily. She is definitely a grandparents delight. It was so fun to watch so many of our grandchildren play together and to have time to interact with all of them. I love being a grandma!!

We drove back to SLC Saturday evening so that we could leave Sunday morning. We packed up the car and were on the road by 8:30 AM and it was sunny with no sign of rain...until we got to Nevada.

We got to Elko and stopped for a potty break and to change drivers. On the road again we were just past Carlin and through the tunnel by a couple of miles when there was a HUGE cloudburst and the road became flooded, big time. We were passing a Semi truck and with the flooded road and his wheels adding to it...we started to hydroplane out of control. We spun around and in front of the truck and over the edge of the northern side of the road with the driver's side going over first. We rolled our van one and a quarter times landing on the driver's side for the second time. We both had our seat belts on and never lost consciousness. It was still raining and all the windows on both sides of the van were gone when we stopped. People who were behind us on the road stopped and came to us asking if we were all right. We assured them that we were alive and doing quite well considering the circumstances. They told us that help was on the way.

The volunteer fire department of Carlin and the ambulance arrived first. They took out the remainder of the windshield so we could be reached that way if necessary. However the rear door and window of the van were still in perfect condition...amazing as that sounds so the EMT's came in that way to reach us. I was suspended over Richard hanging from my seat belt and I could see Richard's head bleeding badly. I was concerned but he was talking and said that he didn't feel in any great pain. The EMT's took each of us out on a back board with neck collars on and securely strapped down. I was put in the ambulance and Richard was put on a helicopter to get him to the hospital quicker because of his head wound. The people who witnessed the accident kept telling us they couldn't understand how we didn't get hit by the Semi!! We are certain that it was a miracle and only by the grace and love and protecting arms of a loving Heavenly Father did we survive that ordeal with no broken bones, no internal injuries, no life threatening injuries at all. No words can express how we feel.

I was examined and found only to have a few very small cuts and some bruises especially on the right side of my face so I wound up with a "shiner" worthy of a boxer. But I was released from the Elko Hosp and became a passenger for the rest of the traveling.

Richard was examined; he received a "$1000" reverse mohawk hair cut, and then his head wound was cleaned and sewn up with 10 stitches for a 4 inch gash on the top of his head; then he was CT scanned. He had some minor cuts on his left arm and big bruises on his legs just below his knees. The Dr. was concerned about a hemotoma on his brain so he felt that he needed a neurologist's attention so he told us we would be flown to SLC. Hurray. We are going back to family and where we came from! After two ambulance rides and one ride in a small "air ambulance" through turbulent weather (the pilot made an incredible landing...so smooth that we couldn't feel a thing...really!!) we arrived at the U of U Medical center. Jeff and Dave and their wives arrived and Jeff and Dave gave their Dad a Priesthood blessing. The Doctors did more scans and kept him over night for observation. After more than 24 hours, and determining that the 3 millimeter hemotoma hadn't grown at all, they released Richard Monday night to join me at Jeff and Rachelle's apartment once more . He hadn't really slept... only little infrequent snoozes the whole time since the accident so he was exhausted and so grateful for a bed to really sleep in for the whole night with no one poking and prodding him. Brook, Dave, and Carter bought Richard a really cute cap to wear to cover his stitched up wound. It's just like one Carter has and they sure look cute together in their caps.

Wednesday, George drove all the way to Elko from Idaho Falls to retrieve our belongings. When he was there, he spoke to the owner of the towing place and he told George that there were three other accidents on Sunday in the same general area of I 80 and they were all fatalities. The wrecked cars were there beside ours. He also told George that we had rolled down a 100 foot or more embankment because his 150 foot cable on his truck was completely extended to pull our car up to the road so he could tow it. A further testimony that we were protected and greatly blessed. George then drove all our stuff to SLC and brought it to us at Jeff and Rachelle's. He had dinner with us and then drove all the way back to Idaho Falls. THANK YOU, GEORGE!! We went through it all and didn't really have to throw away very much...which also is very amazing to us. We washed what needed washing and packed it all very tightly for our flight on Southwest Thursday evening. Some of our stuff was left behind but other family members going out in July will bring us the few things that we left in Utah.

Words cannot express the gratitude and love we feel for our family and all their help and the tender mercies of our loving Heavenly Father through this ordeal. We have been incredibly blessed!! Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and many prayers in our behalf. We have felt them.

We are now home and both of us returned to work Friday. Richard had his stitches removed today. His Dr says everything looks really good. We'll see how his hair grows out, it will be fun to watch and try to keep looking good as I am his hairstylist so I will do my best with the growing process. Rachelle's parents have loaned us a car until we can replace our van with something else. We will see what we come up with and I'll share it on the blog. Enjoy the slide show when I find out how to do it.

The Rest of May!

Jeff and Rachelle came out from Utah for 6 days and Cindy (Rachelle's Mom) and I gave her a baby shower at our house. This is the cake I did for the shower. Rachelle and Jeff love the Beach so we had a beach theme. Cindy and Cazra, Rachelle's sister-in-law, took most of the pictures so the cake was all I got on my camera.

Memorial Day tradition...Breakfast at Armstrong Grove...a very beautiful Redwood forest!

Jeff and Rachelle talking with Bishop Freebairn. Can you see "Sprout"??

A family of Robins built a nest on the arbor over one end of our deck. This is the Dad waiting his turn at the little ones. It's amazing how fast they go from building the nest to babies flown away.

Saturday, May 30, we went on a nature walk through the Bouverie Preserve with a few of the single Adults in our stake. It was a beautiful hike and our guide, Ann~ bottom right, taught us a lot about the things we saw. She was a real delight.

This is a bark house built as the Indians native to our area would build it. See the very large basket in the back...this they used to "cook" ground corn meal in. Imagine, cooking in a basket. They were the best basket makers ever.

A Buckeye tree in full bloom.

Beautiful scenery all around!

A bare tree covered in Spanish moss. Do you know what the "First People" (Indians) used the moss for??? If you want to know, just ask me or make a guess.
It was a wonderful adventure that we thoroughly enjoyed and want to do again.

Hot Giants!!

The day is May 16th, a beautiful Saturday afternoon and we were given ticket to the San Francisco Giants game by Richard's boss. We were delighted and then we found out that the weather in Santa Rosa was going to be in the 90's so we were delighted to go to SF where "it's always much cooler"!!

Little did we know that it would be a whopping 89 degrees in San Francisco with little or no sea breezes (notice the flags in the first picture). The Game started at 1:10 PM and our seats were in the sun. We were in for a good time but a hot one.

Randy Johnson, "The Big Unit", was pitching and we were playing the Mets. We tied the game twice but they always seemed to get ahead of us. The final score was 9 to 6 Mets. However, the Giants were the only ones to score a home run! We enjoyed our hot dogs and garlic fries but we didn't like the intense heat. I got quite sunburned on my arms and am now "peeling" because of it. However it was a great date to have together. We have fun no matter who wins.

After the game, we didn't want to get stuck in the big traffic jam leaving the parking lot so we took a nice leasurly walk along McCovey Cove. Here are the ever present seagulls waiting to get into the park and clean up after the fans.

It truly was a gorgeous day as you can see by these pictures Richard took from the car on the way home. San Francisco has a beautiful city scape and of course the Golden Gate Bridge is one of a kind. Hopefully the next time we have an opportunity like this the weather will co-operate and the Giants will win!!

A Fabulous Mother's Day!

Thank you to my wonderful family for making my Mother's Day absolutely delightful!

I called my mom early Sunday morning and talked with her about her choral show the previous night. All went well and my Sister sang a solo of "Fever" which was a show stopper. I love that song and look forward to seeing the DVD when we visit over the 4th of July. I then spoke to my Dad who is recovering from some surgery he had the week before. He sounded great and is doing really well. I'm so grateful for that!

After Church, Richard and I came home and enjoyed a delicious lunch that was prepared by our son Chris and his beautiful wife Emily. It was chicken salad sandwiches on special rolls, fresh fruit salad, Sierra Mist soda with fresh strawberries, and chips (low sodium variety for Dad). Ummm! It makes me hungry just writing about it. They did all the preparation and clean up. I loved it all!! I also love my yummy fragranced hand and body lotion and "4 footed" massager that feels so good even though it doesn't look like it should. Thanks so much Chris and Em, it was all so thoughtful.

After a nice visit with them the greatly anticipated phone calls started. We began with a "skype" call (on the computer where you can see each other and talk too...sci-fi style) with Dave, Brook and Carter. It was so fun to watch Carter's antics as he walked all over the place. Chris and Em got to be a part of the call too and enjoy the adventure. I love modern technology that makes the miles melt. It's the next best thing to being there.

Then I got the remaining wonderful calls from the rest of the family...George, Jeff, Christy and Jason, then John and his kids sang to me on my cell phone voice message when I was on the house phone so I have that saved. So precious. He called me later to have a mom/son talk. It was great having long converstations with all of my children. Thanks family for all your love.

I also got two beautiful cards, one from Christy and the other from Aaron and Jason, two of her sons. That was an added, unexpected treat the two days after Mother's day. Thank you so much.

A few days before Mother's day, I got this beautiful picture of our newest granddaughter, Brooklyn on my cell phone. She is 6 weeks old now and we can hardly wait to see her and hold her in person on the 12th of June when we go to Idaho to visit George and his family.
Look at those eyes! What a doll!

"April in Pictures"

April started out with our trip to New York to see our daughter, Gwen and her boyfriend, Yasir. This picture became a familiar site as the Astor Park Subway station is just to the right of the angular building in the center of this picture. We walked there many times during the week we were there.

I was fascinated with the subways and actually enjoyed riding them.

Our first day of site seeing we took the subway and got off at "Grand Central Station". It was very impressive.

As we came out onto the street and looked up... there, rising above another office building, was the top of the Chrysler building made famous in the first "Ghostbuster Movie" See the gargoyles poking out??

We walked several blocks, passing by huge buildings and famous streets. Notice the reflection of the surrounding buildings in the glass office building? Pretty cool!!

Our next stop was the New York Public Library where another very famous scene from the first Ghostbuster movie was filmed. I have inside shots on my phone as they wouldn't allow flash inside. It was very impressive!! We learned that the first New York phone "book" was one page and had 16 names on it.

After the Library, we headed over to time Square. I was surprised to see how small it really is. On New Year's eve, it seems much bigger.

A couple days later we took the Subway and went down town to the Empire State Building. The weather was quite cold and overcast but we got some pictures anyway.

In this one notice the gold tops of a few of the buildings. It's a strange phenominom when you are up that high...the buildings you are looking at look big and tall but the site is familiar because of movies and pictures you've seen so you don't really feel as high as you are. There is nothing else even close to you to really compare your height. But when you get back down to the street and look back up of where you have been and the size of the buildings around you...then you realize just how far up you were.

The Chrysler building is in the center of this picture with the East river on the right.

A nice man offered to take a picture of all of us and we gratefully accepted.

Saturday, Richard and I went with Yasir to get their t-shirts and "bibs" for their Central Park race the next day. We walked to the building where we picked them up and this was a very old, impressive church nestled amoung the tall apartment buildings. I thought it was quite a contradiction of old and new.

We then walked down the side of Central Park and saw neighborhoods like this one on the side streets. Yasir said the the house on the right is a single dwelling and right by Central Park. Can you imagine the value of that home?? Really beautiful buildings as you can see. We walked many, many blocks that day and saw the edge of Central Park complete with Break dancers at the south end doing their thing. Gwen was home practicing for her "gig".

That night we went out to dinner at the best Italian restaurant we have ever been to called "The Three of Cups". Great food and company!!

Sunday was their 4K race through Central Park. We enjoyed looking around a little but after our very long walk the day before, we just sat and watched people. It was fun. After the race we ate bagels, apples and juice. Then walked through the park a little. Pretty scenery!!

On our way back to the subway, we walked along Park Ave. and saw many amazing, fancy apartment buildings.

Sunday Afternoon, Richard and I took a walk along the East River enjoying the view of the city.

Just a we were ready to turn around and go back to the apt. I went to the end of a walkway and discovered to my delight a view of the Statue of Liberty. Because of bad weather...this is the closest we got to her. Next trip for sure we'll go see her up close!!

Sunday night was Gwen's Gig at the "Scratcher Inn & Pub". She and LisaBelle were "back-up singers" for Elaine. It was fantastic music and fun atmosphere. Very Irish!!!! Elaine is from Ireland as is the owner and the performer that sang before her.

This is a self portrait taken by Gwen of the four of us on what we thought was our last day there but because of bad weather we were there a extra day which was frustrating but pleasant to have an extra day with them.

The day after we got home, Dave, Brook, and Carter arrived for their vacation in Cali. We celebrated Carter's first Birthday with a party held at our house. We had a wonderful time!!

Carter's special Birthday cake made by Grandma, of course!!

One of his favorite things to do was play drums on my bowl wrapped with foil. As you can see, he's really getting into it.

Kathleen and Mark came to celebrate with us too. Here is Richard with their almost 1 year old, Lucas.

I don't know what setting my camera was mistakenly on but I really like this Easter Morning Picture of Dave swinging Carter. It's got a cool effect to it.

The following weekend was Lucas's 1st Birthday Party at Mark and Kathleen's house. It was very warm so Lucas had a hat on to keep from getting too much sun.

He really likes spatulas so Kathleen let him serve his own little birthday cake with one. He had a great time. His brother, Joshua, was right there to help him make a mess.

The last event of the month for me was making this wedding cake. It is a first time cake for me because it is very different from any other cake I have ever made...it is a fake cake. It's made with Styrofoam circles that have Fondant over them. The Mother of the bride did that part then I did the decorating with royal icing that drys VERY Hard and added the ribbon and pearls. This cake traveled all the way to Utah and they served sheet cakes to the guests. I'll be anxious to hear how it all went when I next see the bride's mom.
On to a new month and more exciting family events.