June 27, 2012

• June

  I thought I would take a few minutes and add a blog.  I arrived back to Gresham from another quick trip to Idaho/Utah to see my Mom.  I had been planning this trip for quite a while.  I was going to attend a seminar in South Jordon and that was on the 23rd, but that did not work out, but Jenn had made plans to come up for 2-1/2 weeks for a visit and then I was going to drive them home, visit with my Mom and then Shauna was going to ride back with me and visit for a week.  I got Jenn up pretty early, setting a target time to leave at 6:00 AM and we finally got away at 7:00 so that was good.  We drove straight to Richmond with only a brunch stop in La Grande, fuel up in Caldwell, and lunch with Aaron in Boise.

  
  Lunch in Boise @ Red Robin’s with Uncle Aaron

  We arrived in Richmond around 9:00 PM, so it was a good trip.  Jaidyn and Bentley were good travelers, watched a couple of movies and had a couple of naps (I think Jenn did to… have a nap… but the driver didn’t take one!  I think this trip was the longest that the kids had been away from their dad, so the reunion was sweet.  We visited for a while, but I was tried so went to bed

  Saturday morning the plan was to drive to St. Charles, pick up Mom and she was going to ride with me to Bountiful to pick up Shauna, but when I called Mom as I was leaving Preston to go through the Preston Canyon, I called Mom and she told me that her stomach hurt and she did not know if she would be able to go with me or not.  I told her to lay down and I would be there in an hour and we could decide.  I had a good trip through the canyon, beautiful and green this time of year, and arrived in St. Charles at about 9:00.  I found Mom laying down on the living room sofa and she said her stomach still hurt, but wanted to go with me.  I waited around for a while to make sure she was going to be okay.  Dallas’ Brian’s Brenda came over for a short visit.  When they left, Mom said she was felling well enough to go, but as we started through Logan Canyon, also beautiful and green.  But as we drove, I could tell that Mom was not herself and was hurting some, so decided to locate Maxine in Logan and Mom would ride back with her.  We visited some, but I could tell that Mom was uncomfortable.  As I entered Logan I called Maxine (on her way back from a wedding in Provo) and met her at Sam’s where she was doing some shopping.  I felt badly to leave her as we had not had much of a visit yet, but knew it was best.

  They headed back to St. Charles and I stopped and got some curd and headed for Bountiful.  I had called Shauna as we were leaving St. Charles and told her about what time to expect me in Bountiful, but the stop at Sam’s delayed me some.  I had put Annie’s address in the GPS and it took me right to Annie’s.  On the way up to her place, I realized that I was going to be driving right past Lynette (Pugmire) Lieshman’s place, so I drove by but she was not there.  Shauna was sitting under a tree reading a book on her Kindle when I arrived.  She put her things in the Terrain and we headed back home.  Brent and Jan had invited us up to their place for hot dogs, but Jenn called and told me that Golden Corral had jumbo shrimp that night, so I called Brent and asked him if we could come tomorrow instead.  I felt badly as I found out Brent had been sauteing some chicken and had to go ahead and cook it… and I LOVE HIM DEARLY, but the jumbo shrimp won out this time.  I invited Brent and Jan to join us, but they had something going on, so Shauna and I just met Jenn, Taurean and kids and all had a good dinner there at the Golden Corral.  There was lots of good food, but I had Shrimp for an appetizer, then shrimp for the main meal… and then… oh yes, shrimp for desert (I did have a couple of scoops of Aggie Ice Cream for a second desert to top everything off.

  We said our goodbyes to the kids and Shauna and I headed for St. Charles.  When we got there, Mom was sitting in her chair watching her Saturday night TV programs, so Shauna and I took that opportunity to go over and visit with Dallas for a while.  Theresa had made a trip to Utah and had not returned yet.  Dallas was tuckered-out from a hard-day on the farm… in fact I think we woke him up when we went in.  He had the AP Priesthood Manual on his lap and was supposed to be studying a lesson for the next day, but had closed his eyes.  We visited with him for a while and then went in to his living room to say hi to Brian and Brenda and discovered Dallas’ Jennifer had come up from Idaho Falls and we did not even know she was there.  Steve was off doing some scouting or something, so she brought her girl and two of their boys up for a visit.  So if course that delayed out going back to Mom’s as we had to visit with all of that gang for a while.  When we did get back to Mom’s, she was still watching her programs, so we sat and watched them with her.  She was tired, so went to bed before the news.  I stayed up and watched the news to the weather and then went upstairs to my old room.  It was pretty warm up there so I opened windows and rigged up a fan hoping that I could get to sleep.

  I slept until about 4:30 and woke up and then could not get back to sleep.  I HATE that.  But I stayed in bed until Mom called worried that we would not get to church (9:00) on time.  I was not planning on going to church and just visiting with Mom because she said several times Saturday evening that she was not feeling well enough to go to church.  But I had plenty of time and we got her up there in time for her to get her seat up near the front.   We stayed for Sacrament meeting.  Saturday night I had found out that Dallas was going to be released as YM President in his ward and might get a new calling and when I had told that to Mom when we got home, that motivated her to get well enough to attend as she was curious to know what their new calling was going to be… but she was disappointed because although he was released, his new call was not announced.

  We went down home after Sacrament meeting.  Mom had taken out a pizza, so I put that in the oven to cook it for lunch.  We had the pizza and some ice cream for desert.  Shauna and I visited with Mom until about 12:30 and then headed to Logan for a dinner with Brent and Jan.  It was sad saying goodbye to Mom as it always is.  She always comments how she appreciates that I come often and wishes that I could stay longer.  She does remember that I come, so that makes my short trips worth it.

  We drove straight to Brent and Jan’s.  Jenn, Taurean and kids joined us.  Brent and Jan’s Jeffrey and Maren were there so we got to visit with them and get caught up with their doins, but they did not stay to eat with us.  Jeffrey and Mauren have moved up from Las Vegas where they have lived for quite a while so Jeffrey could advance his profession, but it sounded like minds are changing and a master’s degree in his profession may not happen.  We will have to stay tuned on that.  We had a lovely dinner and visit with Brent and Jan.  They are always so good to open their house to my family during my visits.  I tell them I would pay them back with good food and company if they would realize that the road goes both ways from Oregon.  Jenn and family went on out to visit Taurean’s folks for a few minutes, Shauna and I visited until Brent had to go to his chorus practice, then we drove back to Richmond.  We spent the evening visiting, but I was tired, knew I had the drive back to Oregon the next day, so I went to bed about 10:30.

  I did sleep somewhat better, but woke up at 6:00 and started to get ready to go.  I had said my goodbyes to Jenn and kids the night before, so I just got Shauna up, put our things in the Terrain and headed out.  Taurean was up, so we were able to visit with him before we left.  On the way through Logan we stopped at Gossner’s and picked up some more curd.  I had forgotten and left the curd I had purchase on Saturday in St. Charles… Mom had got up in the night and put it in her refrigerator and I forgot it.  I also stopped and filled with fuel and we were off.  We drove clear to Boise and had lunch with Aaron again.

  
  I caught this picture as we were eating at Carl Jrs
  My kids and their high-tech toys

  We stopped again at Caldwell to fuel and then only one pit stop all the way back to Gresham.  We arrived in Gresham at about 8:00.  Heather had texted us and said that the kids wanted to see Shauna (they had seen her a couple of weeks ago during Heather and Jay’s quick trip to Utah for Heathers “roommate” get-together), so we drove right over there and spent a few minutes, then went home.  Everything was fine at home.  Cort had spent most of the weekend there a the house with Judy Lynn.  So… that was the weekend, fast and furious (where have we heard that before?).  I was thankful for the opportunity to make the trip home to see my Mom, but also glad to get back home.

  Here are some pictures taken while Jenn and her kids were here:

  
  Cousins on the tramp (Sawyer, Bentley, Finn, Gwen & Quinn) — Finn and Jaidyn giving each other hugs

  
  Bentley having a drink — Jaidyn with some glasses (note they are not on quite right)

  
  Finn and Jaidyn on the little tramp

  
  Family “hanging” Teri Lynn, Jacki, Jenn, Judy Lynn & Randy — Cort going to spend the night

  
  Dinner out at Todd and Jacki’s
  Left:  Teri Lynn, Julie (friend) Jenn, Judy Lynn, Chad & Todd (with back to us)
  Right: Josh w/Reesie, Jacki & Leslie

  
  Bentley on the pony with Finn watching — Todd & Jacki’s Avie

  
  Quinn & Finn — Finn, Jaidyn, Jacki (Julie’s daughter0

  
  Wall Street Pizza
  Bentley, Jenn and Jaidyn (had it!) – Josh & Sawyer

  
  
  Jaidyn getting dressed by herself, Something does not seem quite right!

  
  LOVE raspberry season!  Look at the size of them!
  
  Blueberries getting close.  Ate a few today!
  
  With all the kids here I had trouble with them getting into my garden, so I put a couple of pallets up as gates. 
  Worked for about a day, but at least now they know when they are where they are not supposed to be.

  
  Finished the benches for the picnic table.

  
  Grandpa enjoying his grandchildren
  Jaidyn & Bentley.  Miss them already and it has only been three days!

  
  Glad to have Shauna here with us though.  Will be here all week.
  Shauna with Bentley at Golden Corral on Saturday evening.

  • 11:05 pm
  • 1 Comment