I might say…inseparable.

So we took Hailey and Elora to see Music Man Saturday night. 
They were both looking forward to intermission…so instead of 
going with them, I handed them some money for their treats and 
told them to stay together. 

But if you know me, I couldn't just sit there in the theater, 
waiting for them to return. So unbeknownst to them, 
I followed them and this is what I saw:

(Stay together?? Did I really need to say that?)





Stopping to get a drink of water.


Then I sort of hid a little….
and let them buy their food, and then appeared to get this picture.


When the play was over it was after 10pm 
and they were so tired…. 
(after all, they just returned home from Family Camp that very day!)



But they were able to make it out to the car.


Hailey's Mom would be so happy to know these girls have remained close.
But seriously, I'm certain she does know. 

Nicole and Nate's adventure!

Remember a while back on my blog I wrote about how my Dad gave this letter to all his married grandchildren:


This post is about Nicole and Nate's adventure.


For those who are not as familiar with our family, 
Nicole is the daughter of my brother Scott and his wife Kim….they are at the beginning of this photo.
Scott, Kim, Kate, Nate and Nicole, Tess, Taylor and his finance Natalie.
(Tanner is on his mission in Australia) 

Made my day when Nicole emailed me and asked if I wanted to 
put her adventure on my blog. 
Uh YES I do! Here are her words:

"I can't tell you how many of my friends have asked to be adopted into my family since 
finding out about our "adventure money." I feel so lucky to have such an awesome Grandpa. 
When we first got the letter, we went back and forth between 100 different ideas for our trip 
before finally deciding on Kauai. The whole trip kind of fell into our lap, almost like the 
universe wanted us in Kauai. Everything just worked out so perfect between the letter, Nate 
being able to get that week off work, and our good friends inviting us on to join them on their 
trip this summer. Kind enough to offer us our own house to stay in and car to get around the 
island. Before our trip, I hadn't heard much about Kauai other than it was more rural than the 
other islands, but its beauty was definitely understated. The changes in scenery from the 
white sand beaches to the beautiful, green, lush mountains were so drastic and breath taking

We were able to do and see so much in the 10 days we were there. We went cliff jumping, off
roading, we swam with sea turtles, hiked through the jungle, tubed a mile down an enclosed sugar cane
irrigation tunnel, discovered hidden rope swings, and went running on the most gorgeous beach trail
every morning.


I can't believe I had never heard of the Na Pali Coast prior to planning this trip. For me, it was the
highlight of my trip. It is truly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in person, not even kidding!
Neither pictures nor video do it any justice. The only way to get to the coast is by boat or helicopter, we
went via catamaran and in the process learned a lot of the history of Na Pali, like how the old Hawaiian
Kings are buried there and the legends and folklore of the caves and the waterfalls that line the coast,
the experience made it that much more spectacular.  I'm not gonna lie when we pulled around the
corner to get our first view of it, I got a little teary eyed, it really is that magnificent.  If it's not on your
bucket list, it should be.


Our whole group before tubing through the enclosed irrigation tunnel with glow sticks.  Heather and
her boyfriend, Steve, are two of the nicest souls we know. Plus Heather has the cutest, funniest kids,
they were cracking us up the whole trip.

Fun fact about this spot, lots of scenes from famous TV shows and movies were filmed here, such as
Lost, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, just to name a few.

We had an unbelievable week and are so grateful for the unforgettable memories we were 
able to make thanks to our gracious friends and family! Here is a little video we put together 
from our week:"



Kauai Adventure from nicole on Vimeo.

An odd twist of events

Perhaps no one cares about this but us….
but it's all too odd not to post it.

About 10 days ago as Den and I were driving along he suddenly 
said that perhaps we should look into buying a new freezer. 
Growing up I was taught that you don't buy new appliances until 
the old ones quit working. So it would have been more like me to 
say, "What's wrong with the freezer we have?" 

But instead, to my very frugal husband who does not like to buy 
anything….I said, "Yes, let's do it!" This surprised him and even 
more so when I said, "Let's go look at some tonight." Den started 
back tracking a little…."well it was just a thought….." 

Then I started pointing out that even though we had the freezer for 
about 7 years the new ones are probably more energy efficient. 
Den shot back with, "7 years?? You already had that freezer 
when I married you nearly 16 years ago." 

That couldn't possibly be true. I did buy a freezer the week after 
Bill died in 1996, but I was sure that one had quit working, and 
Den and I bought another one sometime around 2007.

I explained to Dennis that I always kept track of 
when I defrosted it and it starts in 2007
(you can't see it but there is a 2007 in pencil under the 2008)


 (And just so you'll know if you happen to notice "the week Alex died" ….he was our cat.)

So this freezer was either bought on Nov 30, 1996 (I had notes of it 
in my daytimer) or we bought it around 2007. Den insisted he was 
right. I thought I was. 


It became a mystery. I wanted to know…..did we have this freezer 
for 17 years?  Or did we only have it for about 7? 



I contacted General Electric….they told me if I could locate the 
serial number on it they could tell us the year it was made. We 
hunted everywhere possible on that freezer and there was NO 
serial number on it anywhere! 



Nevertheless, we bought the new freezer and it was delivered 
yesterday. We kept both freezers plugged in over night….the old 
one FULL of food, and the new one getting cold enough to use.



Next morning, I started little by little transferring food from the 
old freezer into the new one. Well guess what? A few hours into 
this the old freezer died. Suddenly and totally gone. 
I mean, what are the chances of that?? 

It had been working great for 17….or 7 years. If we hadn't bought 
the freezer when we did, today we would 
have lost all our food in that old (or not so old) freezer. 
It's 105' today and probably hotter in our garage. 
That food would have melted and gone bad within hours. 


But guess what else happened? 
After we got the last of the food out of the old freezer….
Den kept looking it over, still trying to find that serial number! 
He even looked under the bottom shelf of the door…



 No serial number there either, but guess what he did find… 
This:

Notice the date. I looked at it and said, "You mean that has been 
stuck to the bottom of those shelves since March of 1997? That 
is too weird." 

Then Den adds, "The date is 1997."  

Then it clicked with me, "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. This proves 
you were right! No serial number, but now we know for sure 
this was the original freezer I bought at the end of 1996! 
Mystery is solved!"

Who would have thought….the old freezer dies the very day after 
the new freezer arrives. And then the label on the old Costco roll 
package proved how old the freezer truly was. 



I wanted to write this for our posterity.
They will know we truly lived.
And we had a freezer.


A great reminder

I saw this in our paper this morning. 
This happened to us TWICE while I was raising our boys, 
and both times their Dad was able to save them. 
(however they didn't go unconscious, but did quit breathing)

I've taken CPR at least 3 times, but reading exactly what this 
Officer did, makes it so plain and simple. 
Kids are forever putting things in their mouths. 

Can you imagine the relief those parents felt after 
waiting outside their home for help to arrive!



Scenes from last week

After Amy and Logan returned from 3 days of this:

I do lots of praying while they are gone, I do admit.




They were home less than 15 minutes 
when they picked the twins up from our house…..



...and drove to Cambria to spend the night with Uncle Scott and 
Aunt Kim, and then next morning got up @5am 
and drove to Santa Barbara where several of their kids 
were just completing a week of EFY (Especially For Youth)



The three sibs, Chandler, Kylie, and Laurynn

They picked up more than just their kids but I'm not sure how 
many or who….but for sure, cousin Kaidy.

How's this for a brother sister picture?  
I quite like it. Chandler and Kylie. Looking hot. Literally.


Or how about this one? Does Kylie not look like a model for a 
shampoo commercial? I think she'd get the job. Shhh don't tell her. 




And then there's this one. COW she says. I asked her what that 
meant. "Crush of the week." Am I the only one who didn't know this?

She will probably never see him again. She couldn't even remember where he lives. 

Then it was off to the beach to play a lot before going home. 


I don't know where Logan and Amy get their energy 
with no break in between all these trips.

However….someone did find Logan taking a nap in the car.
He's always been able to sleep anywhere.



Kaidy and Kylie
Their very last year of EFY!


Why can't we have blue sky like this in Clovis? 
I'd just like to know.

Next stop…Family Camp! 
I hope someone takes lots of pictures for Grandma Honey!

PS  Thank you Kylie for all the pictures. :)


Katie's shower!

I was so disappointed tonight…
I forgot my camera and I was at a very wonderful baby shower.

My nephew Jake's wife, Katie. Their baby is due in just 4 weeks. 

I missed pictures of all her little nieces huddled around her while she opened her gifts.

 The extra little camera I had in my purse 
didn't do justice to all the great looking food. 




But I did get to hang out in the kids' section for a bit.



 I was able to grab a shot of Amy, 
Carly and my sister Peggy (Jake's mom)

 Always love seeing Katie's Grandma Betty. 
I've known her since I was a very little girl. 

We are all waiting to see if Katie's baby will look like a Cleveland 
or a Kennington. Katie and I decided tonight that with such 
dominate features on both sides of that family, it will be either or. 

Congratulations Katie and Jake. I can hardly wait to see your son. 

I was appalled

So we are trying to replace our freezer in the garage. We figure the 
newer models are more efficient, etc. So we go to Sears last night 
and Den immediately found one he liked.


I told the salesman the only problem is I wish it had more 
removable shelves on the door. 

He said, "That is no problem at all."

"Oh, you mean you can give us a few more?"

"Sure. After you get the freezer delivered just call our service 
department and tell them one or two of the shelves broke and they 
will send you more."

I know my mouth sort of dropped as I was thinking of what to say 
next.  Den pipes up, "We're not going to lie." and then I added, "I 
couldn't sleep at night if we did something like that."

And you know what the sales man did at that point? Nothing! He 
just went on talking about something else.

From that moment on I didn't believe a word he told us about 
anything. We said we would think about the freezer, and left.

We came home and found that exact freezer on line from Sears for 
$68. cheaper, plus free delivery. We don't need that salesman 
anyway.

And the helpers came

 Tyler and Karen moved into their very first home over the 
weekend, in Vancouver, Washington! About 15 minutes away 
from McKay and McKenna.



 See that man on the far left? That's Jay. He is married to Karen's 
mother and he came all the way from Texas to help
Karen and Tyler paint and move into their home. 
(I even heard he pulled a couple all-nighters!)
 Not only that but he was so kind to send me pictures, updates and 
videos since we are a million miles away in California.

My thanks also to Karen's mom 
who is there helping with everything.
I am so so grateful she is there.

And you know what else made me so happy but not surprised? 
Many people Karen and Tyler never even met, arrived on the scene 
to help. They were from their new ward at church. Working all 
together, they all unloaded that truck in less than 15 minutes!
What peace it gives this Grandma Honey, who lives so far away, 
that the church is there waiting for them. Ready made friends 
where ever they move to, where ever they go. 


Gorgeous greenery from their new back yard!


Richie picking and eating blueberries right out their back door. 


 I'm hearing reports that this little guy, Leo, 
is having a great time exploring new territory.




The happy family the day they moved in, along with their realtor. 

 Doesn't this look like such a sweet home to walk into?
I can hardly wait to see it all in real life! Soon, soon. 

Questions that could save a marriage

Téa felt lost and alone without her Jonas last night, (he was visiting a friend) ..so, I put her in bed with
me. I wasn't ready to go to sleep as early so I started going through the May's issue of Reader's Digest
which has been right by my bed….since April.

After reading a few articles, I found a golden one! I wish I had read this when my kids were little and
especially when they were in grade school. For one thing, I'd never thought before that when you ask
kids how school was that day, they really don't know. Or that our friends don't know how they are
either.

This article is too good not to include it all.









Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...