Hart's Haven

Digging out

2010-01-25T14:00:00.001-08:00

Well on Saturday we spent the day digging out Jim's truck and the walkways. Clearing the tree with the chain saw was the most difficult. Sunday we were able to clear the driveway so that I can get my car out. And today Monday as you can see in the picture we almost got the extra parking space cleared. We are both really tired of digging..........

The Big Storm!

2010-01-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

Well after all our hard work shoveling yesterday this is what we woke up to! Jim opened the back door to get some firewood to start the fire and the snow was about five feet deep.
This is a view out the kitchen window toward the neighbors house. As you can see the snow is about 6 inches from the top of our backyard fence. And the neighbors have about four feet of snow on the roof. I wonder how much it can hold?
This is the sad thing. We lost one of the tops of out trees. The snow load is soooo heavy. This is the walkway to the front door or was the walkway. We were really blessed it was small and didn't hit the garage or house.
Here is the gate on the side of the house to the backyard. Good thing we left it open or it would have been closed until Spring.
Jim started up the snow blower this morning in the garage and he was slowly working his way out to the street. Which I may add is about three feet higher than usual
This is the neighbors house.
Here is Jim finally getting to the street.

Overall we were very blessed not to have a lot more damage here. And we still have plenty of food in the house. Lots of work ahead. Would love to see all of you but I don't think this weekend is good timing. Lots of trees still breaking, lines down and endless shoveling to do. If we can find a place to put the snow.

Love you, Mom

The Wine Garden

2009-08-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here is our yard about three years ago. That's my best guess looking at Caiden. As you can tell the side of our yard had tall shrubs and lots of bushes between us and the neighbor. Also on the side of the yard it had a split rail fence and the dirt sloped down into the neighbors property.

Here is another view taken about two years ago. As you can see the front yard was full of lots of junnipers. There were lots of scary things living under all that stuff. Now there is such a push on having a healthy forest and trees. They are asking everyone to clean up all the overgrown underbrush and thin out the trees to keep the mountain healthy. So Jim decided to finish the front yard area.

What a hugh difference!!!! First we put up a retaining wall between us and the neighbor so that we wouldn't have so much run off and erosion. Then Jim got to work with his railroad ties. He terraced the whole area. It took about two months of hard work. He did hire a helper to assist with the digging. What an incredible job! He calls it the Wine Garden.

We had the Wine Garden opening last weekend. About fourteen of our neighbors and friends attended. We had wine of course and I served shrimp with cocktail sauce, fresh fruit salad, hot artichoke dip, meats and cheeses, spinach dip and a brie wheel. It was a lot of fun. Next time we will have margaritas with a Mexican food theme.

Our really bad day !!!!!!

2009-06-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

We had a hugh storm on Wednesday and the wind was blowing soooo hard.

A tree came down across the street and upon rushing out into the storm we were horrified to find it had landed on a SUV driving on our street.

It was absolutely terrifying to see the tree go down and even though we worked as hard and quickly as we could, our hearts just sunk when we were able to gain access to the vehicle and it was too late.

Dean's Birthday

2009-06-04T19:31:00.001-07:00

Alex was a big help decorating and so good with Dean!!!!!
Here is the Birthday boy! He was having a good time.
He had lots of little friends over including Kiya and Caiden.
He got some really fun toys..........
and enjoyed every bite of his first birthday cake!

Oklahoma and Kansas

2009-06-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time in Oklahoma. We had time to visit with Joyce and Verlin and even had a lesson in bull herding! We now just refer to Verlin as the Bull Whisperer. Then in Kansas we were proud to attend the graduation of Adam, Jim's cousins son. He is a great kid and has a wonderful future in front of him. Then we just spent the next few days visiting and just relaxing. It was great!!!!!

Merrills Funeral

2009-06-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jim's Dad was a wonderful man, we will miss him very much.
Thank you all for attending the funeral it meant the world to Jim and I.

Jim Update

2009-04-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a month now since Jim's surgery. He has had his staples and catheter removed. When we had our doctors visit to have the catheter and staples removed our doctor was not there so an associate doctor saw us. He said that his patients had permission at this time to ride in a car and do whatever they were comfortable with. Soooooo we decided drive down the hill and have breakfast with Uncle Mark and Uncle Steve and see Pam and Jake. While we were down Jim got a call from an old fire department buddy and we joined the gang for dinner. The next day we stopped on the way home to Big Bear for a follow up appointment with Jim's regular doctor. Boy did we get a tongue lashing! Jim was grounded for three more weeks and still can't lift more than ten pounds. But I must say that he is getting a lot better. That is physically, I think that he is really anxious to get to go out in the yard and work on the jeep. It's going to be a very long recovery, much longer than even his heart surgery.
Of course I've been busy taking care of Jim. But also Jim's Dad has taken a turn for the worse. The weekend Jim came home from the hospital Merrill fell and broke his hip. We thought he would bounce back OK but that's not the case. He is doing very poorly. We have put him on Hospice and know that he is more comfortable now. I've been going to see him every other day, mostly to help with feeding him, he is eating very little. At least Jim feels better since he can't go too.
I'll keep you all updated on Jim and Merrill and would really appreciate your prayers for them both.

My visit with the Budd's

2009-04-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

I had a great time visiting Jeff, Wendy, Micah and Kaia. I had to wait until Jim felt better to have the opportunity to visit them and was so excited when I made the flight reservations. It was a short visit but I got to see the new baby and she is adoreable!
Of course here is the new proud big brother and his new baby sister, Micah is a big helper....
Here is Kaia, look at that head of hair! So far she is a good baby and a good eater.
We spent some special time at the park just for Micah. He is full of energy and so smart.
Wendy is amazing! Such a good mom.
Jeff is a big help too. He and Micah spent time reading and building special projects. And by the way Jeff has started his new census job and it sounds interesting.

I had such a god visit. Thanks Jeff and Wendy!

Jim Update

2009-03-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well here he is and doing great!
He is sporting the newest in Post Prostectomy attire.
Gown designed by Aunt Joyce, accessories include urine bag by Bard Pharmaceuticals and matching tote purchased at Stater Bros.. only 99 cents.

Can't wait for Monday when they will remove the catheter and maybe the staples.

My New Grandbaby !!!

2009-03-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new little Kaia! She is just precious.
Born 3-10-2009 (while Jim was in the operating room) She weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 21 inches.
Can't wait to see her ...............

Poor Jim !!!!!

2009-03-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well we made it home from the hospital about 2:00 on Friday. It was a long drive for Jim and a very long day for both of us. He's not supposed to ride in a car for four weeks or lift over ten pounds for six weeks.

In a week and a half we must go back down the hill to have the catheter removed. I wonder how they expect that to happen without riding in a car! He'll be so happy to have that gone, it's no fun to have to carry the bag around everywhere you go. I've been putting it into a cloth shopping bag so that it's easier to carry and doesn't look quite so obvious. We also cut a slit in the side of his sleep jammies so that the tube could go through it. Its too cold for shorts up here. He will also get his 20 staples removed from his belly when we go to the doctor.

Today he was happy to get his hair washed and a shave. After a rest he then got a good bed bath and felt a lot more presentable. That's about all we accomplished but were pleased.

The surgery was a little more difficult than we expected. I hope you will all be patient and we'll come to see everyone as soon as he feels better.

Love you all !

Surprise under the Snow!

2009-03-04T08:34:00.000-08:00

We came home to quite the surprise under the melting snow. The snow plow obviously missed the street, but we didn't notice until the snow melted. We were not pleased, but I guess there is nothing we can do about it. Jim will have to repair the railroad ties after he recuperates from the surgery.
Everything will work out........

Our visit to the Budds

2009-03-04T08:22:00.000-08:00

Since we had a change of plans and are unable to visit Jeff and Wendy right after the baby is born we decided to visit last week so that we could join in the celebration of the soon to be baby Budd. We had a great time even though I think we hoped down deep that maybe she would have the baby early while we were there. Micah was wonderful and such a joy to watch, he is getting sooooo big and quite the chatterer. Jeff was winding down his job but took the time to visit. Last, I had the chance to attend Wendy's baby shower and see all the wonderful gifts she received for the new little one.
Doesn't she look great!
Reading time............

Caiden's First Ski Lesson

2009-02-11T19:26:00.003-08:00

Caiden checks out his first skis for class.
We teach him how to put them in the snow standing up when he isn't using them.

His first attempt on one ski.

The whole class is ready to go !!!!!!

Now the other ski ........

Snow plowing, how to stop!

His first run on both skis.
Look how fast I can go, I forgot to stop!

Learning to side step up the hill.

First run down the BIG HILL !!!

An escalator to the top. It sure beats side stepping....

Caiden in position ready for his turn.

The big hill is fun, he can do it by himself.

His final run, look at him go!

Thumbs up for a job well done.

The Hester's Come to Visit

2009-02-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had a great surprise. Jacob, Pam, Alex and Dean came to visit us. We were worried about their trip up the mountain on Friday night, but they arrived safe and sound.

This was Jake and Dean ready to go out sledding.
Pam and Dean getting ready to go. Dean is so adorable and we had a lot of fun.
Alex had a good time too. Here he is upstairs listening to his music. We had time to take a walk and look for icicles, snowball throwing, sliding and even played a dice game in which Alex whipped our tails both games. I want a rematch!
Jake sliding with Dean.
Pam sliding with Dean.
Of course Papa Jim had to teach Dean all about the Jeep. I think he will be driving it in no time.
Dean is adorable and we had a great time.
Papa couldn't go without a quick ride with Dean.
Great times, Hope they come again soon..........

Latest pictures of the grandkids.......

2009-01-31T16:17:00.001-08:00

I stole some pictures taken around Christmas of the grandkids that I loved and wanted to share..

First is Micah up in a tree.......I think that Daddy must have helped him get up there.
This is Dean and Kiya on Christmas morning.......
Here is the crew Caiden, Kiya, Dean and Micah Where's Alex?
Kiya and Caiden opening presents...
Spiderman..... It doesn't get any better!
Kiya at the beach.....

Last stop in Hawaii

2009-01-31T15:56:00.000-08:00

Well I got the first three pictures out of order.....Sorry

This was a school of fish that we saw on our way down to the reef.
Here is Jim getting into the submarine.....
On our last stop we decided to take a submarine tour. It was very exciting!!!! The best of the trip. It was a real submarine and we went down to a depth of 130 feet. It kind of looked like the submarines at Disneyland and we each had our own porthole for viewing the depths.
This was at about 100 feet down we saw lots of fish, coral and ocean bottom not very pretty.
Here is a shark on the reef. This was soooo much fun to truly see under the ocean.
This is a Morey Eel. We also saw some manta rays but I couldn't get a picture.
Last a sunken ship...........
Maui was a wonderful day. We have been here before so after the submarine excursion we went into LaHeina and had some lunch and then went shopping. We found all the grandkids matching outfits and relaxed on the beach remembering last time we were here.

Our Third Stop

2009-01-31T15:44:00.001-08:00

Our third stop was a more rural island. We opted for a day of off-roading. It wasn't quite what we expected. But we did have a relaxing day.

This is a gorgeous view from the top of an old volcanic crater.

In the afternoon we ended up at the beach as usual. It was a gorgeous beach.

Our Second Stop

2009-01-31T15:18:00.001-08:00

We spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was a beautiful place.

It was set up like a tropical theme park. The grounds were lush and tropical. Each of the different sections were one of the eight cultures that make up polynesia. There were historical displays of each culture, such as types of huts they lived in and music and dancing etc...

These pictures display each of the tribes ceremonial costumes and their style of dancing. This was Samoa.
This tribe had face painting and did a tribal war dance.
The different tribes were interesting and we learned alot.

Last but not least we saw demonstrations in building fires and how to climb trees to get coconuts........Hmmmmm Think I'd be ready for Survivor?

Hawaii at Christmas

2009-01-31T14:39:00.003-08:00

First I want to let you that the first two days of our cruise weren't as wonderful and relaxing as the rest. In fact the ocean was soooo rough ( 18-20 foot swells) that I spent Christmas in bed. I didn't even get up to go eat. Then the ocean calmed down and we had a wonderful time.

This is our first stop. It was gorgeous! We took a tour of some of the island and learned the history.
This is one of the interesting trees that live in Hawaii they spread for hundreds of feet. On the beach you can see our ship in the background.

We bought some colorful ponchos to keep dry. In this picture we were getting ready to go down into a lava tube. It was interesting we were walking through water and the lava tube was about 12 feet high and many miles long under the ground. Good thing we took flashlights.
As always Hawaii is full of streams and waterfalls. A truly tropical paradise!

Our BIG storm!

2009-01-31T14:24:00.001-08:00

We came home to quite the storm just before Christmas! It was truly beautiful but Jim had to work soooooo hard shoveling snow so that we could get to the house!

It doesn't get any more beautiful, new white fluffy snow......

Fire Day at Knott's Berry Farm

2008-12-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

We spent the next day at at Knott's Berry Farm with Dave, Melissa, Caiden and Kiya. It was fun seeing how Caiden loved the rides and Kiya was even a good sport on a few she went on. As all years we go to see Snoopy on ice and the two Christmas plays at the little theater. The day we picked turned out perfect because there weren't many people there. Like I said before it was good to spend time with family before Christmas.

Caiden's Christmas Show

2008-12-07T13:49:00.001-08:00

We joined The Bonney's for Caidens Christmas Show. It was really special to remember all the Christmas shows I've been to when my own kids were growing up. It was of course fun. All the Christmas songs like Rudolph, Jingle Bells, felis Navidad and a few more. Caiden was sooo proud!

We did get a chance to visit before the show. This was kind of the only time we will see them before Christmas so we also brought gifts. This is the best picture we got of us and the kids, only Jim has his eyes closed. Don't we look great!

Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri

2008-12-07T13:25:00.001-08:00

We had a great time in Oklahoma. It was a wonderful vacation filled with visiting Jim's family. We stayed with Uncle Verlin and Aunt Joyce first and had a wonderful dinner with all the family. Then we went to Kansas to see Adam in his last High School play. It was super and Adam did a great job in the leading role. Here is a picture of Adam and his parents. He was still in costume and makeup. We all said that he looked like his Aunt Janet.

After leaving Kansas we made a trip to Branson Missouri. What an interesting place. It was like the family version of Las Vegas. While there we saw two shows. A wonderful violinist and a play called Noah. Noah was absolutely amazing, They even used real animals. It was a wonderful break and very restful. We had a smooth trip home and back to reality..

The Bear is Back!!!!!!!!

2008-09-23T21:32:00.003-07:00

We have been seeing signs that our bear has been back. The first photo is one of the signs we have been finding in the yard. It's called bear scat.

Tonight Jim looked out to see if the raccoon was out eating the food yet and to his surprise the bear was knocking down our bird feeders. We tried so hard to get a picture of him but couldn't figure out how to get our camera to flash in the dark. I called Melissa who made some suggestions that worked really well. Only to our disappointment the bear was now gone. About a half hour later Jim decided to go out and see if he had gotten into the sunflower seed can on the side of the garage. There was the bear just sitting there having a feast. He came back in the house and we both went back out and got the following pictures........ One of us was taking the picture and the other was watching if the bear decided to run at us. It was exciting. But actually the bear didn't care as long as he could keep eating the sunflower seeds........

Pam's Classroom

2008-08-28T15:58:00.001-07:00

Pam called and asked me if I would like to come down this week and help her set up her classroom. Do you think she could have stopped me? I was so excited to see where she would be teaching and how her classroom looked.
Well as usual we had a great time organizing and setting up the room but...I forgot to take pictures. Here are the only ones I got......

It is a great room, very large and almost brand new. I just don't know how she will be able to do labs there. She said there is a possibility of switching with another teacher on certain days or just doing the best she can. I know she will be a good teacher.
Good luck Pam!

Merrill's Birthday Part 3

2008-08-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday was awesome!!!!!!!

We relaxed in the morning at the Bed and Breakfast waiting for all the rest of the bunch to drive up to Big Bear and join us for brunch.
Here we are at Stillwells for brunch. They were very nice to our group and the food was wonderful!
Happy Anniversary Woody and Pam!
Then as a surprise we all headed up to the ski lift! Boy was this daring. It was quite a feat getting some of us up as far as the ski lift.
Here is Merrill being pushed in his walker up the hill. Look at that smile!
Here is his sister Thelma, she needed some help too. She laughed so much I thought she might fall out of her walker.
Everybody got loaded and off we went. It was a beautiful view.
Jim got to take Joyce and Verlin for a quick ride before we headed back down to Lucerne Valley. What a great weekend. Thanks Merrill!

Merrill's Party Part 2

2008-08-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from Saturday. This is the day we actually celebrated Merrill's Birthday.

We started out the day with apple puff pancakes at the Bed and Breakfast. It was lots of fun.

Then it was packing up all the food for the day, cake and ice cream and heading down to Lucerne for a day of visiting and lots of good food and the party.

We had a feast as you can see. Everyone had a great time. I've never heard so many stories.

Birthday time......

Last but not least I helped him with cards and unwrapping gifts. He got lots of presents and was King for the day. It was perfect, I've never seen Merrill smile so much!

Merrill's Birthday Party Part 1

2008-08-28T13:32:00.001-07:00

As you all know we had a birthday party for Jim's Dad. He sure had a great time. On Friday everyone started to arrive. Here are some pictures from the first evening.

This is Debbie and Aunt Wanda
Here are Merrill and his sister Thelma. He is having his 87th birthday and Thelma is 89.
Kevin and Leann visit with Uncle Verlin.
Merten and Jim also catch up with each other while they enjoy the shade in the front yard.
This last picture is Aunt Joyce and Uncle Verlin checking to see if their camera is working.

Summer Flowers in Big Bear

2008-08-01T19:18:00.001-07:00

I took these pictures of the flowers around the house in Big Bear. Aren't they beautiful? I hope that they all look so nice when Jim's family comes to visit in a couple of weeks.

These are the plants that we have behind the garage. It is really a shady area and we were soooo pleased to see so many of the plants come back after winter.
These are coral bells and marigolds near the garage.
The pink and red flowers in the back are dianthus. They love the hot dry weather.
The baskets hanging on the front of the garage are red, white and purple petunias. We put these out around the fourth. They are still doing pretty well.
These are some really strange plants that we put in last year. They are supposed to be native to our area and require very little water. They even came back after winter.

Bonney Pool Party

2008-07-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Dave and Melissa invited us all over for a pool party to celebration the completion of their new beautiful pool. (FINALLY)
We all had a good time especially the kids it was refreshing and definitely gorgeous.

My Visit With The Budd's

2008-07-23T15:08:00.001-07:00

I had a great time seeing Jeff and Wendy's new home. It was all put together when I arrived so we just had fun!
Here are a couple pictures of Micah. He loved playing with my yarn while I was knitting a hat. We had a good time at night in the bath.

Happy Birthday Jeff
On the last evening we had a party for Jeff's birthday. What a wonderful group of friends to share his birthday with. Wendy did a good job planing the party and it was a great success.

Caiden Visits

2008-07-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

Caiden came to stay with us for a few days and boy did we have fun.....
The main reason we had him come stay was to work on his swimming skills, so off to the pool we went each day. He did very well, he was able to dog paddle about 3-4 feet on his own and we tried to work on getting his face in the water. I was just hoping that he would be ready for his new pool.
Other things we did while he was here were, making pine cone bird feeders, the petting zoo, miniature golf and of course many wood projects with grandpa. What a great time!!!!

Am I Bad!

2008-07-23T09:20:00.001-07:00

I'm soooo bad. I haven't blogged for a long time.
Here are a few pictures that I took when Pam came up to Big Bear for Jake's family reunion.
It was lots of fun having them stay at the house!
Here is Alex keeping busy on the computer. Of course he didn't want his picture taken.

Here is baby Dean and Grandpa. Isn't he a cutie!

Like always I wish I had taken time to get more photos but it's hard to enjoy seeing everyone and take pictures too.

Caiden's Promotion Ceremony

2008-06-04T22:16:00.001-07:00

We were so excited to go to Caiden's Promotion Ceremony. It was a lot of fun. First we arrived a little early to see the kids and of course Caiden was so happy to see us he had to show grandpa his room and some new stuff. I got a few minutes to hold Kiya. Boy is she getting big! And so cute, what a happy little baby, she was as good as can be for the entire evening.
We arrived just in time to get good seats for the performance while David checked Caiden in with his class. As the show started the classes filed into the sanctuary singing a christian song with smiles on their faces and all the kids waving to their parents. Caiden had a great big smile on his face when he saw us all in the audience. They sang several songs and then each child was called up to receive their diploma. What a wonderful evening, it brought back such good memories of when my kids were young. They even sang some of the same songs. I am so happy that we were a part of his first performance. Hopefully we will be asked to be a part of many more to come.

The Most Adorable Grandkids in the World

2008-05-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

Just in case any of you didn't know, these are my grandkids. They are the most adorable grandkids in the world. Caiden is now 4 and becoming quite the young man. He is always willing to help and is a good big brother to his new sister Kiya. Micah is 2, which is unbelievable because he is so smart, he understands everything you tell him and a real sturdy little tough guy. He is gentle and always ready for adventure. Kiya is now 4 months and can already roll over and I hear is starting to crawl. She won't be left behind for long. Last is our newest Dean. He is adorable and just perfect. This little guy is the apple of his parents eye.
I got to hold him in the hospital the day he was born. Pam and Jake worked hard and did a great job!
Here he is checking out the new world and this huge family he is becoming a part of.
After all the activities of the day Kiya and Dean decide to take a nap.
Grandpa and Kiya. Look at those big smiles, I don't know who is having more fun.
Grandpa, Kiya and Caiden. We are getting ready for the hunt!!!!!!
This was the bug hunt. Caiden is studying bugs at school and has lately wanted to go bug hunting every time I see him. Just a year ago he wouldn't even touch a bug. He's a big boy now!
Micah on the other hand has no fear of the bugs. He likes to watch them and will even touch them and pick them up.
Under the bushes we found rollie pollies and snails. Yes, this is my impression of a snail antenne and all. Micah and his catch. We found isopods, snails, earwigs and worms. What fun we had!
What a great day, it didn't last long enough. I wanted to spend more time with the kids but we all had to go home. It's OK though, I'm already looking forward to the next time we can get together.................

My Three Favorite Things

2008-05-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the tag Wendy..... After some thought this is what I came up with

1. My favorite thing in the whole world is how I feel inside when Jim says, "I Love You" .
I hope that feeling never goes away!

2. Next I love getting together with my family. I love the anticipation of knowing that we are getting together, then spending time with everyone sharing what has been going on in our lives and last getting to give my grandkids a big hug.

3. Last, Spring...... It doesn't get any better than seeing the snow melt and all the new life and plants emerging after the winter. I can't think of any other thing that makes me think of how wonderful and amazing God is!

Well I now bared my soul of my personal thoughts, hope you know me a little better.
Sorry I don't have anyone else to tag......

Jim and his Jeep

2008-05-18T17:35:00.001-07:00

Here is what Jim has been up to. He decided to cut the back of the jeep off so that he could have a tailgate. So he actually took out a saw and cut it all up. Now he is finishing up the tailgate and a box that will be in the back where the back seat used to go so that he can carry all his tools with him. Soon I too will be replaced........

What have I been up to?

2008-05-18T17:24:00.001-07:00

I have found some new hinged boxes that I really love. The first one I found a while ago but has become my favorite.

The rest of these are new. Aren't they cute!

Last but not least Jim bought me a hand held GPS for my birthday and I have been learning to Geo-cache, Its fun!!!! This is a picture of our signature item that we leave in the container when we geo-cache. I have down loaded a couple of sites near the La Habra house so that next time we get together maybe we could all go for a treasure hunt.

Spring is Here

2008-05-18T15:39:00.001-07:00

Well Spring is finally here! Everything is in bloom up here and it is beautiful. Our apple and pear trees are in full bloom and we didn't get a late frost so we should have lots and lots of fruit this year. Here are some pictures of the yard.......

Here are the dianthus back this year and beautiful.

This is the north side of the house and all the new shrubs came back from last year.

These are mountain lilacs they are all down the side of the deck on the north side. They smell really strong. They will only bloom a couple of weeks longer.

These are hostas from last year. They grow really well in all of our shady areas. During the winter the entire plant above ground is gone.

And the final picture is the pansies out in front and in the baskets. We have to plant these each year. Soon it will get too hot for them and we will replace them with marigolds.
I love Spring!

Trip to the Cardiologist

2008-04-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

Today Jim had an appointment with the cardiologist. It was incredible! I got to go in with him while he had a stress echo done of his heart. When he had his heart attack about six years ago there was a little damage to his heart so he has this test almost every year.

First let me tell you that he is doing great! His heart is very strong and healthy and they have started to decrease all the meds that he takes. The doctor says that the tests were incredible.

I was amazed watching the tests. It is an ultra sound like when you are pregnant. I was able to see his heart and all the valves and walls inside and out. They measure the heart walls and valves and amount of blood flow. It was incredible. Last year when I had the same test I couldn't see the screen or ask questions about what was going on. So this was awesome!

El Capitan State Beach

2008-04-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

We spent the week with Nobby and Deanna at El Capitan State Beach. We had a great time. Jim and I spent hours walking along the beach looking at sea creatures. We had great weather, great food and good company.

We also had lots of hiking at this state park. We hiked along a stream that ran to the ocean and found polly wogs. But the best part of the whole campground was the beautiful wild flowers.....

We had a wonderful time camping........

Phil and Jim's Wild Adventures

2008-04-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is why I don't go when Jim goes with the guys......... This is Phil's jeep with he and Jim in it. All they said when they got home was, "Phil and I got stuck today."

Then I saw the pictures..........

Virgin Jeep Trip

2008-03-29T19:11:00.003-07:00

Here are some pictures of our first jeep outing. Jim has been out several times with Phil and has had a great time. On Wednesday Phil called and wanted to go out on a trail called Gold Mountain which is a very mild trail so that the women would go and so that Jim could try out the jeep with all the new stuff on it. We had a good time. There were a few points that I got out and walked......scary!.... but very beautiful. You'll see that in the pictures Jim is alone. We had a good time and I am looking forward to going out again. Jim still needs a skid plate over the gas tank so that the boulders don't rupture the tank.
He is excited to get going on it. He also took out the back seat and is putting in some other equipment. Maybe soon the jeep will be too full for me to fit!

I talk about our friends Phil and Mary a lot now. They have become very dear friends. They have come to dinner several times and Mary and I have been going down the hill on shopping trips several times. She is so much fun, we really get along well.
Anyway they are the two on the left in the last picture. Wish I was as thin as she is!!!!!!!!

I'll blog again soon. Can't wait to see you all........

You asked for pictures!

2008-03-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

I decided to blog about the project I've been working on for so long. This is the wall hanging for Nobby and Deanna. It was a great project! All the badges were sent to me by Deanna, she said that they all hold special sentiment for Nobby. Some are from when he was a boy scout and some are from camps that he has worked hard to keep useable for the future. I enjoyed trying this new type of quilting. It was difficult but I finally got the hang of how to keep the triangles to come out where they were supposed to.

I'll try to get some pictures of the house with all the new flowers as soon as spring is in full bloom up here........

Wow It's been a long time!

2008-03-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I blogged I'm almost embarrassed to post this. We have been fine! The winter has seemed really long this year and both of us kind of got cabin fever this winter.

It seemed really good to spend a couple of weeks down the hill while we worked on the townhome for Pam and Jacob. In fact I must admit it felt REALLY good to be in La Habra for awhile!

Then as you all know we decided to take a cruise and relax. We tried a new Mexico cruise that stopped in Acapulco, Ixtapa and Manzanillo. ( My spelling is probably close) Well we ended up staying on the ship almost the entire trip and boy did we relax, it was awesome. Jim did a lot of reading and I met a needlepointing group on board that I hung out with.

After we arrived home we made a trip to attend Caiden's birthday party and had lots of fun. Kiya is sure getting big!

When we got home that evening it started to snow and we woke up to eight inches of new snow. When will it end!!!!! Hopefully soon. It has been nice and warm since then and the snow is mostly gone in the yard. We began our Spring planting just yesterday and spent the entire day out in the warm sun (60 degrees is warm to us)

I had a great birthday! I was happy to hear from everyone.....

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Pam's shower, Love you Mom

Happy Birthday!

2008-01-21T22:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the world new little Kiya Raven Bonney.

Born January 14, 2008 at 7:59 p.m.

7 pounds 3 ounces, 18 1/2 inches.

Wish I had gotten a picture of David too! Sorry Dave!
Isn't she adorable!!!!!!!!!

Snow Storm

2008-01-07T15:48:00.003-08:00

Well we thought that we were going to make it home before the snow on Saturday. Guess we were wrong. We spent about 4 hours shoveling snow on Sunday morning and another three hours on Monday. This is what the house looked like on Monday morning. It was soooo beautiful. Of course you can see the berm of snow next to the truck where the snow plow always pushes it out of the street.
Here is the walkway up to the house. We got about a foot of snow Sunday night.
The trees were so heavy with snow it kind of made a tunnel.
Here is the front deck.
Old Tree beard sure looked wintery.

Melissa's Baby Shower

2008-01-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time at Melissa's baby shower. Here is her cake to welcome Kiya into the family.
Susan and I decorated. This is the table and the chair where Melissa opened her gifts.
Jeannie supplied the feast. It was very good.
Caiden helped Papa Jim to blow up all the balloons. Of course he had to have an orange one of his own first.
Stephanie and Pam with the twins.
Melissa got alot of really nice gifts for the baby. She will be well dressed, especially in pink and lavender.

Caiden even surprised his Mommy with a gift for his little sister. He even signed the card.
Melissa looks great!!! Not to much longer now.

The Budd's Visit After Christmas

2008-01-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness there was still a little bit of snow left because we all had a great time playing in it. Jeff and Wendy stayed from Tuesday until Thursday and Pam came up for the day on Wednesday. They all had a good time. And of course it was wonderful to have them all here!

We went across the street and found a little hill so that Micah could try sliding. He loved it!!!

Here are some pictures of him sliding with everyone, he has such a big smile on his face. He didn't want to stop.

Christmas 2007

2008-01-02T20:16:00.001-08:00

We had a great time on Christmas Day. Here is Micah with his first Christmas gift. I don't think he wanted anything else.
Jim and I received wonderful gifts. I'm holding an ornament with Micah's picture. Jim just got a book about Jeeps you can tell how much he liked it.

Here is a picture of David and Melissa's tree. It was very beautiful!
Caiden really liked his new train table.
David, Melissa and Caiden
Pam with little Kyle ( Melissa's sister's baby) Soon she will have her own!

First Snow and Caiden

2007-12-10T21:36:00.001-08:00

Our first big snow of the winter, the perfect time for a visit with Caiden. He had a ball and so did we.
We had about a foot or a foot and a half of snow and it was absolutely beautiful!!!!

We went to the big slide in Big Bear. Caiden loved it! We slid for a couple of hours and inbetween had hot chocolate.

Caiden's snowman

Papa Jim pushing Caiden down he little hill to snow slide.

Caiden making a snow angel. He didn't quite understand.

Jeep Club Photos

2007-11-25T08:51:00.000-08:00

As you all know recently Jim and I joined the Bear Valley 4X4's. It's a jeep club. Jim has gone out several times with the group now and loves it! I wanted to share some of the pictures of his trail runs. I still can't figure out where the trail is. All I can say is that I don't think I'll be going out anytime to soon.

Supra Ventricular Tachycardia

2007-11-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

All I can say is that it sucks! We were having Thanksgiving dinner with Woody and their family and it happened again. One bite of Pecan pie and bam! As you all know Woody lives with Dad way out in Lucerne Valley so we knew the nearest hospital would be about 45 minutes away. We decided to stop at the local San Bernardino County Fire Station to see if they had a paramedic on duty. Yeah they did! So they hooked me up and converted me right at the station and then off we went to the hospital.

While in transport I asked the paramedic if he knew David Bonney and he did so we chatted for awhile about Fire Departments. Upon arrival at the hospital the doctor who first saw me congratulated the paramedics for a good conversion in the field, The paramedic replied it was easy when the patient diagnosed the problem and knew the med and dosage to convert it.

Then to my embarassment I found out that they had contacted David's chief, who then contacted Davids captain, who then contacted Davids strike team to inform him that I was taken to the hospital in Apple Valley and had to be cardio-converted enroute. ( that means that they had to shock me with the paddles to bring me back into rhythum) All of a sudden his whole engine shows up. Then his Battalion Chief shows up. I've never had so much attention! Unfortunately, David was released from the strike team and told to stay with me. Poor David lost about two thousand dollars in overtime. Sorry Dave and Melissa.

Well as the story goes I'm fine and home again. I'll never name drop in the ambulance again and since they still say this could happen again at any time I don't think my friends will invite me to very many holiday parties anymore.

But I'm OK.........

Early Thanksgiving

2007-11-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

It is so rare and sooooo special when we all have the time to spend the day together. I was so happy to hear all the kids planned on coming up to Big Bear to visit. Even uncle Steve called the day before and decided to come up for the day. Well I figured it was the perfect oportunit to pretend it was Thanksgiving and cook a turkey. We had lots of fun........
This is our resident raccoon who made his appearance for the group.

Caiden and Micah played well together.

Here is the only picture of the family that I got.

Happy Halloween

2007-11-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here we are on Halloween night. David and Caiden showed up early in the morning to spend the day with us, so we of course worked on finishing up Caidens BA (breathing apparatus), then David carved the last pumpkin after we went out to lunch and Caiden took a nap ha-ha. In the afternoon we took out the bolsa wood airplanes and Caiden had a ball. He couldn't throw it very well but thought it was hilarious when it crashed into things or hit someone. We meanwhile made the traditional spiced apple cider and got ready for the troops to arrive. Then we topped it off with Pizza for dinner. Pam and Melissa showed up just in time.

Here is the family minus Pam who offered to take the photo. Thanks Pam!

Here is Caiden helping us to hand out candy.

Jacob arrived in time to help Jim with the spiced cider and hand out candy so we decided to help Caiden with his new puzzles.

Here is the firefighter group three generations.

Micah's Week

2007-10-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

We had such a good time watching Micah!!!!!! We went to the children's discovery museum, Happy Hollow, and really enjoyed getting to know him better. He is a great kid...... We didn't have any problems with him missing his parents (although he was happy to see them when they returned) and we really did have fun.

Adam and the Eagle Scout Award

2007-10-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons we went to Oklahoma during this time was because Jim's cousins son Adam was going to receive his Eagle Scout award. What an honor! We traveled up to Kansas and stayed with Glenn and Galynn. We had a good time. We went to the homecoming football game, boy did that bring back memories. Then the next evening was Adam's homecoming dance. The next day was the Eagle Scout ceremony. We were busy but it was an incredible few days.
Here is Adam and his friend Rebecca on Homecoming night. She was a really sweet girl!

Well here he is His Highness! It was a fantastic ceremony and reception. I'm so glad that we got to go.

Family in Oklahoma

2007-10-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of family that we visited in Oklahoma. We stayed with Uncle Verlin and Aunt Joyce they are so kind and also we had a birthday party for Jim while we were there.
This is Uncle Verlin

Aunt Joyce

Jim and Aunt Wanda

Cousin Janet, Meredith and Emily

This is Uncle Merten and Aunt Joy

Oklahoma

2007-10-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here we are on the farm.... It's great every morning Uncle Verlin takes the gator ( the little vehicle ) out to find the cows. After feeding them this morning we had to separate out two which were limping and run them through the chute to give them injections of antibiotics.

Here they are! They are so friendly that when you stop the gator they all wander over to see what's up? The next picture is a very curious one.

Hinged boxes

2007-09-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Uncle Mark just finished making me a shelf for my hinged box collection. Today Jim and I hung it on the wall and I was able to get out all of my hinged boxes and put them on the shelf. It was fun! Just what I wanted and room for about 30 more if I find more that I like. It looks great!

Fire Update

2007-09-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

Good news today. Last night there were about 2300 firefights working on the line to put out the fire. The winds died down, the humidity was up to about 65% and the temperature was down. Really good news!!!! This morning they said that the fire is now 53% contained hooray! Big progress over night due to weather changes and hard work. I think that the valley is going to be OK.
Update on the plane crash. They are calling it a rough unscheduled landing. What happened is during his run a chip light went on and about 20 seconds later the engine failed ( de ja vu ! do you think it might have been those same damn mice building a nest in his air filter hmmmmm) he quickly spotted a deserted field next to the lake, dropped his load and managed to come in off the lake and ditch the plane on shore. What a great job! And we hear he was back up again later that day.

Now for a weather report. IT'S COLD!!!!!!! The past two nights it's been down in the thirties. Flannel sheets and down comforter have been taken out for the winter. No more shorts during the day and out came the sweatshirts. Now for the worst, Jim still wants the windows open all night. This week there is a chance of snow! I guess fall passed in about a week and winter is here. I'm lining up projects for the weeks of being stuck in the house.

Big Bear FIRE !!!!!!

2007-09-17T14:09:00.001-07:00

Well as you all know we have a fire here in Big Bear. I thought you might be interested in some pictures. For the last few days the sky in the valley has been very clear and free of smoke as you can see in the pictures. However today the wind has shifted and the valley is full of smoke. They have evacuated the city of Fawnskin across the lake. We are safe for now however Fawnskin is in danger. We have been out with our jeep alot in the area that is burning. It is old grove forest with lots of fuel Hanna Flat campground where we went with Dave and Melissa is gone.
The first picture is what you see at the end of our street. Behind the valley ridge the whole forest is burning, Thank God it is moving north east.

Here are some more pictures of the ridge where the firemen are making a stand to keep it from entering the valley. This morning we could see flames coming over the ridge.

This is a picture of the big DC10 That they are using to drop flame retardent on the ridge. It delivers 24 thousand gallons per load. We are so fortunate to be able to have the plane working on our fire.

I think this helicopter looks like a grasshopper. As you can see it hovers above the lake and pumps up about 400 gallons of water to drop on the fire. The helicopters were filling up right by the dam and it was an amazing sight.

These two pictures are of a helicopter with a bucket they dip down to the water and then dump it on the fire.

The fire is amazing at night. The whole mountainside glows. We have about 1100 firemen working to contain it. We have been bringing cookies and water to the roadblocks for the firemen. Today just a little while ago one of the small planes that have been dropping fire retardent crashed by the lake. We hear that the pilot was OK and walked away. We are just praying for the safety of the firefighters, animals, and residents of the valley.

Mice, mice, mice and more mice !

2007-09-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well as you all know I took a trip down the hill last week to spend a few days at the LaHabra house to relax by the pool. It was a great mini-vacation ! (They are painting our house in Big Bear) I had dinner with Dave, Melissa and Caiden and snuck in lunch with Pam on Friday as I headed up the mountain to see how the painting was coming along.
As I started up the mountain I noticed my SUV was a little sluggish but as you all know I drive so slow it doesn't really matter. All of a sudden I noticed my engine light start blinking on and off. DARN!!!! This isn't good and no place to pull off the road. My engine light then stayed on constantly and I knew I was in trouble. Thank God I made it to the next turnout because once I stopped the engine it never started again.
I called Jim on my cell phone (once I found a spot where I could get a signal) and he was on the way to my rescue. It was about 105 degrees out and I had to sit up the hillside away from the car in case I needed to call 911 before he got there. It was the only place with a signal and you never know what kind a weirdos could stop.
Well we ended up towing it to the Ford dealership in Redlands and we were off to home.
Monday we got a call from the Ford Dealership and guess what was wrong with my car? MICE DAMN MICE!!!!!!! They had built a nest in my air filter and the nest and all got sucked down into the engine. It is going to be about $500.00 to fix it. This is the second time this has happened. Last time it was Jim's truck that broke on the way to San Jose after the mice had chewed through the wiring and that time it cost us $800.00. Thank God the mice don't come in the house but I'll bet we will be putting out lots of traps in the garage again and you know what I don't feel a bit sorry for them anymore!

OUR Bear Returns

2007-09-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

I guess it isn't so fun or exciting now. The bear has returned. Honestly it's a little scary to walk around outside at night now. I'll try to get another picture.

Mountain Men in Big Bear

2007-09-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today we did something a little different. This weekend in Big Bear (back in the mountain trails) they had a recreation of an 1800's rondezvous camp. I guess back in the pioneer days once a year the mountain men all came out of the mountains to meet in these camps to drink, fight, and trade. They also had competitions of shooting, ax throwing and hunting. It was alot of fun to see the recreation.

Here are some pictures of the camps they set up. All of the people were very informative and friendly. The tents are supposed to be authentic to the time period.

Here is Jim taking a lesson in shooting a black powder gun. They used black gun powder and a lead ball back then.
Jim was really a good shot. He hit the target first try!

Here are some of the women doing woman's work. I don't think I would have done well back then.

This was one of the stores where they would have bought or traded for supplies.

Last but not least here are a couple of characters, actually one of them is a real mountain man who lives up in the mountains near here.

Our First Bear !!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

Pretty scary!
So here's the story..........Tonight about 11:00 pm our TV in the living room started having some lines in the picture. Earlier today the cable guy had been working on both TV's. So Jim got up to go outside and check the TV in the garage to see if it was happening on that one also. When he came out of the garage a bear was in our yard by the front door knocking down the bird feeders about ten feet away from him. They both froze and looked at each other, Jim clapped his hands and out of mutual respect the bear headed down the south side of the garage toward the street and Jim down the north side. When he came into the house he said a bear is outside, I started to laugh thinking he was refering to the wood statue outside the front door. But no he wasn't kidding this time. We watched him go in front of our garage and then into the neighbors yard. I grabbed the camera when I saw him going next door. I tried to get a picture but it isn't a very good one in fact it isn't even worth posting. If you look really close he is the black blob right about in the center between the branches of the tree. No kidding he was BIG!!!

Sad News

2007-08-21T20:16:00.001-07:00

When we got back from vacation we found that our Mama raccoon now only comes with two babies. I guess one didn't make it. Here is an update picture of the babies. They are getting pretty friendly.

Fun On the ship

2007-08-21T19:36:00.001-07:00

Our cruise was AWESOME!!!!! Lots of fun with family and time to visit and explore.
These are pictures of fun on the boat.
Girls day out at the Spa. Massages here we come!

Papa Jim and Caiden have playtime.

Micah at dinner. The kids were great and well behaved.

Papa Jim and Caiden watch as we depart on our journey.

The Budd's on formal night, a handsome group!

Caiden and Micah bonding

All tired out!

The slide was fun.

Our own personal pool, a little small and only 6 inches deep but perfect for the whole gang!

Puerto Vallarta

2007-08-21T19:24:00.003-07:00

This was our first stop. Pam, Jacob and David went extreme canoping. They had a great time. The rest of us went to El Eden and on a jungle hike. We had fun. It was really humid!
Here are the guys ready to go! Jim loved having the matching hats.

El Eden......This is where they filmed the Predator. It was a beautiful hike!

Matzatlan

2007-08-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

In Mazatlan David, Melissa, Jake and Jeff went deep sea fishing. It didn't go so well. No fish and Jeff couldn't make it to dinner after being on a small boat all day. The rest of us took a cultural tour. It was interesting but not exciting. We saw dancers, cliff divers, a church and spent time on the beach and shopping.
Exploring the ship and posing for pictures. It's a long way down.........

The kids loved the shows. The music and dancing was very entertaining, a bit loud at times but fun.

Our waiters were great!!!!! They danced for us almost every night. I think I even saw Wendy, Caiden and Micah joining in!

Wendy and Micah in the ocean. Micah was always such a trooper and happy.

Cliff Divers SCARY!!!!!

Pam pretending to be Wendy. Will Micah Know?

The beach was beautiful......

Cabo San Lucas

2007-08-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at this port it was very beautiful! Pam, Wendy, Jake and David went snorkeling. Jeff and Melissa took the kids to the beach and Jim and I had a quiet day on ship. We did toast some wine to our last port of a great trip.
Here's to a great vacation!!!!!!

Jeff and Melissa took the boys to the beach. They had a good time drawing in the sand and running in the waves.

Master Caiden Bonney.....What a great kid!!!!

New Residents at the House

2007-07-29T08:44:00.001-07:00

As you all know we have raccoons that visit us. Sometimes they come regularly and sometimes they are ones we have never seen before. Every year we seem to get the same couple raising their young somewhere nearby. During the past couple of weeks we have had a new female visiting raising three babies. She is very friendly and each evening around dusk she comes to eat. At first the babies stayed up in the trees but now they are all coming to the bowls when she thinks it is safe. They are soooooooo cute.

Here is the last little one climbing down the tree for dinner. They look so funny climbing down head first. I didn't know they were such good climbers.

Finally we figured out where they are living. One of our trees on the north side of the house is perfect. About 20 feet up where the branches grow thickest they have found the perfect place to sleep the day away. I don't think that the mama gave birth up there but now that the babies are big enough to climb it is a safe place away from the coyotes during the day.

Budd's Birthday

2007-07-23T19:53:00.001-07:00

Well as of the last minute Jim and I decided to take a trip up to San Jose to celebrate Jeff's birthday. We were surprised to find out it was a party for Micah too. What a great time. We had a picnic in the park with lots of Jeff and Wendy's friends. I got to visit with Kevin and Luanne and Wendy fixed a wonderful feast. Chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs with lots of salads, chips and good stuff to eat. We played volleyball, had a pinata and just plain lots of fun.

These are the cakes Wendy made for the party. Can you tell which one was for Micah? I was going to take a picture of Jeff eating his cake too but didn't think it was as much fun!

Micah was sooooooo tired after all the excitement of eating his cake. Grandpa makes such a good bed.

This was the boys opening their presents.

Here are the two birthday boys busy playing in a tree. What a great party!

Building Bird feeders

2007-07-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Caiden came to stay with us for a few days so I tried something new!
We decided to invite Rachael over to do a craft and make bird feeders!
What fun! Here we are ready to go!

We worked hard spreading each pine cone with peanut butter. Then we rolled it in a bowl of unshelled sunflower seeds.

I think in the end they both ended up just eating the peanut butter........ I think next time I try this craft they should be about 5 or 6 years old.

We hung our bird feeders up in the trees for the birds but none landed to eat it. Then we spied one acrobatic squirrel hanging upside down chowing down on one of the pine cones. The squirrels love them, I hung them lower so that they could reach them from the ground and they are now almost gone. Even the chipmunks steal some seeds here and there.

What a great day, friends and fun.

Wendy's Visit

2007-06-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

We had a good visit.
As you can see the first night we had dinner of mac and cheese then relaxed in the jacuzzi.

So sorry that I didn't get a picture of Pam in her new bikini, She looks great! Good work Pam it gives me hope yet.

Here are a couple of pictures of Micah in his new jungle clothes.

Pam saved the day when we all went to breakfast. She had the best toy ever, a bottle of aspirin. Micah loved it!

Aquarium of the Pacific

2007-06-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to take Caiden somewhere special and went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. We had a good time. We finally convinced Caiden to try to feed the birds. He was doing great until one of the birds bit his finger! He did however touch the creatures in the touch pool. What a good day we saw lots of fish, birds, seals and even a couple 3-D movies.

Restoring an old Fire Truck

2007-06-09T21:27:00.001-07:00

We decided to spend a few days this week down the mountian helping our friend restore an old fire truck donated to the boy scouts. So we asked if Caiden could stay with us and go too.
These are some of the photos taken while they worked on the truck. It was fully functional and will be of good use to the boy scouts. Caiden had a ball and so did Grandpa. Jim also took the opportunity to show Caiden the fire station where he used to work. They both had a fun day.

Family Birthday Party

2007-05-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

The Birthday Party was quite amazing, they said that part of the family would be there. They were right about a hundred people and that was only part of them.
This first picture is Merrill 85, Thelma 88 and Verlin 71, they had a good time visiting and catching up on all the new additions to the family.

This is all of us.

Here is a picture of each of her kids and their families. INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!

Thelmas Birthday

2007-05-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

This week we traveled to Idaho so that Merrill could attend his sister Thelmas 88th birthday party.
He was so excited to see his sis. And she called every day to make sure Merrill was still coming. Their brother Verlin and his wife Joyce were there also to celebrate.
The flight went well on Tuesday and we settled into the hotel room for the evening after going to dinner with Verlin and Joyce. Then Wednesday was the Birthday day. We went to visit Thelma and took her to lunch at a nice restaurant by the snake river.
The first photo is Merrill and Thelma with their walkers. They were two of a kind.

After lunch they brought Thelma a birthday surprise strawberry shortcake. As you can see in the photos who ended up eating it for her.

Then we went back to the hotel so that Merrill could rest for the birthday party in the evening.

Visitors in LaHabra

2007-05-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

The other morning while staying at the La Habra house we had a couple of visitors. They sure are ugly! I hope they didn't come home in my suitcase from Wendy's house.
They weren't afraid of me at all, in fact I thought they were going to come off the fence into the yard.

New Stuff From Big Bear

2007-05-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

I just had to blog my new bedroom furniture. I'm so excited, it looked just like I wanted.

These are my new Kitchen dishes. I think they fit with our rustic mountain cabin.

A Trip to Grandma's House

2007-05-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

It's soooo good to be home!
When I first checked out all our blogs my intention was to post some pictures of the family at the Memorial for my mom. However Wendy beat me to it. Thanks, Wendy.
I guess that I can show you all some pictures of Grandma's house. We worked very hard trying to get it ready to sell. Mark and Jim worked on the deck, Steve painted the entire inside of the house and I cleaned.

Did I say Spring was here?

2007-03-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

I guess I was mistaken. We got home from our trip just in time for it to start snowing. This is what Caiden woke up to. He had a ball. We didn't! So far we have gotten almost a foot of snow. Caiden was a good helper with the snow clean-up , but since he has a little bit of a cold he had to come in and play. Oh and by the way while I was writing this blog Caiden mixed the play-doh colors. I think I have more patience as a grandparent I told him it was OK.

The Train Ride

2007-03-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well the day started off a little shakey. It was foggy, drizzling and cold! We drove all the way to Santa Cruz and almost turned back home. How could we disappoint Caiden so much. We waitied until the second train and it cleared up a little bit. It was still cold. But we had fun. Jacob and Pam showed up to go with us. We rode the train, played in the little station and had lunch. Caiden had a great time, and I think Micah slept almost the whole trip. The trees were beautiful.

Our visit with the Budd's

2007-03-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful visit. I really needed to spend time with my family after loosing grandma. I had lunch with David and Melissa on Wednesday when we picked up Caiden. It was fun to catch up and hear how excited they were about going on vacation. Then on Friday off to see Jeff and Wendy. Another surprise, Jacob and Pam showed up for the weekend too. On Saturday they joined us for the train ride and on Sunday Pam came to visit. Here are some fun times in the backyard. We raced, kicked balls, had a picnic and enjoyed family time.

Grandpa sure got a kick out of Micah dressing like him in his overalls.

Spring is here !!!!!

2007-03-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Snow only a week ago and now spring is here! We spent most of the morning outside cleaning up the yard. It looks really good. Most of our plants are sprouting and have little green shoots all around the base. That means spring has arrived.

Even the birds are back in mass. The first picture shows a woodpecker eating the suet. Then the next photo is just of the house finches. Sometimes there are about fifty out there.

The weather is so warm that we will probably go for a long trash walk this afternoon. It's surprising how much trash is around after the snow melts.

What do you do when it snows?

2007-03-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Well as you can see it doesn't bother Q at all to be stuck in the house. Of course he has chosen Jim's foot stool as his favorite spot.

I have spent my time finishing some sewing projects. I had about ten soft books to finish. Here are some pictures. I also made some new pillows for the fifth wheel trailer. They turned out pretty good.

Jim likes to watch old movies.

Snow!!!!! Finally

2007-02-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well winter finally came up here. The last few months have been really cold but we have had very little snow. Today we woke up to about 6 inches of snow and it snowed all day. It didn't get very deep but everything looks sooooo beautiful! We are supposed to get more tonight.
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Of course snow means work. We needed to go out to do some errands today and that meant about two hours of clearing snow. Not much fun being cold and have to work so hard. At least we won't have ice under the new snow tonight.

Here is a picture of my new treadmill. It is wonderful, I've been using it everyday only about 2 miles. I have to take it very slow to make sure I don't have any more weird things go on with my heart. (Of course everyday is only 4 times so far)

By the way I have no idea why that text line came up in my blog?

Nothing New!

2007-02-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry we haven't posted in awhile, nothing has been going on. We drove down the mountain earlier this week to go to a meeting. But after we got all the way down we were notified that the meeting was next month. Let's see, we went to see the Shanghi Acrobats Wednesday night. It was pretty good. Saturday we went to a birthday party for Woody's grandson. And we have been looking at a new home. It's nice but we aren't sure if it is worth it financially.
So there is the info, no pictures.
Love you all

Wood Delivery

2007-02-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well I bet you all think that retirement means not having to get up in the morning and no work. Well sometimes we work really hard like on wood delivery day. It's been really cold this winter, not much snow but really cold. The lowest was -2 degrees. We had to have a second load of wood delivered to heat the house. Here are some pictures. It's my job to load the wood into the wheelbarrow and push it to the backyard and dump it, then Jim's job is to stack in the wood rack. It's a lot of work!

Sewing Spree

2007-02-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

Well for the past few days I've been trying to do a little sewing. My first project was to finish a pair of pajamas pants that I had cut out for Caiden. Unfortunately I cut them out so long ago that they will now be for Micah! I didn't post a photo because I just mailed them to Wendy and want them to be a surprise.
Next I unfortunately opened my big mouth and offered to make some cabbage patch doll clothes for Woody's granddaughter Rebekah. The idea was wonderful but it took me almost 12 hours to make the following little outfit! I think it will just have to wait until I have my own granddaughter.
I thought at least it came out cute!

Today we spent all day down at Jim's Dad's house because the well was leaking. It was very interesting to see them replace the pipes. (The pump was still good!) Where the well is at the house water can be reached 157 feet under ground but what surprised me is that the water source is 97 feet deep. Who would think all that water is under the desert.

Confession of a Chocoholic

2007-02-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Today I had some chocolate! I hope it doesn't kill me.
But it was sooooooooo good!

Quartzsite 2

2007-01-30T18:42:00.000-08:00

Here is Jim cooking dinner outside, he had a ball with all of his gadgets. Next are the indian petroglyphs we found while we went hiking in the wildlife refuge. One day we went into town to go to the flea markets, they were never ending. On the last day we went to a place called Desert Bar. Actually its a bar about 10 miles off on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. We had lunch and listened to the music. It was a fun week and the last evening we had this beautiful sunset.

Quartzsite

2007-01-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from our first camping trip. It was our friend Nobby's birthday and we fixed him apple puff pancakes, sausage and champagne for breakfast the first morning and of course he had to wear the birthday hat! We went geo-caching for the first time, it was fun! That is Jim and Nobby finding the stash in the middle of the desert. The next photo is dinner the second night cooked in a dutch oven in the fire. Last was our neighbors who were all para-sailers. They were exciting to watch take off and land.

Update

2007-01-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

Well if you all haven't heard yet, I went to the cardiologist this week and he said that so far everything looks fine with my heart. I have to go back on Tuesday for a stress test (I get to lie on my back and peddle a bicycle while hooked up to a 12 lead EKG) sounds like fun! The doctor looked at my EKG from the ER room and said that I must have a really strong heart to be able to tolerate 240 beats per minute for over an hour. I guess that's good? Still the verdict so far is no caffeine or chocolate, how will I survive! I'm beginning to like the taste of water again (who said that?)
Wednesday we leave for Quartzite (That's somewhere in Arizona). Our first trip with the trailer. It should be lots of fun!
You can reach us on Jim's cell if needed.
Love you all!

The Budd's Visit for their Anniversary

2007-01-15T19:43:00.000-08:00

What a great surprise for Wendy........ Great job Jeff!!!!!!!!
Jim and I loved taking care of Micah on Thursday. We had a little separation anxiety when Jeff and Wendy first left but after that Micah was great!
On Friday we all took turns holding him at lunch then off went all the girls to the spa. I think that I look about ten years younger....at least I was glowing.

What a great time we had, we enjoy it so much when all the kids get together......
Love you all!

The Bonney's Visit

2007-01-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had a big surprise when David, Melissa and Caiden came to visit.
We had a nice dinner out on Saturday. Sunday it was up early for apple puff pancakes thanks to Jim. Then out to do some snow sliding. Caiden had a blast! We found a nice small slide just up the street. Thank goodness we had a guardian angel keeping us from sliding into the trees and bushes. We then had a snowball fight and back to the house for hot chocolate. We had a great time!!!!!!border="0" alt="" />

I'm Back

2007-01-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

THANKS MELISSA!!!!!!
She figued out how I could blog again.
I'll be blogging again soon.....

Love you all.