Ronna's Blog

Day at Grandma and Grandpa Martineau's

2010-05-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over half way through the month of May and we are still waiting for Cayce and Nick's baby to arrive. I've been sitting here at Dusty's house, syncing, all day every day. I decided to go to Grandma and Grandpa's (Wayne's mom and dad) yesterday. I had a wonderful day. We just sat and visited and ate cheese and Maple nut goodies. Grandma even drover her and I to the Artic Circle and got us a hamburger. We drove by Dallas and Cayce's new house and I showed it to her. It was really a nice day. We talked about a million things. I really do miss them alot. With my parents gone they are really my only link to the "olden" days. I wished we were closer to them. It was fun talking to someone who thinks the same way Wayne and I do. It's kind of cool, because they live only about 5 minutes from Dallas and Cayce. It was a good day

It's time to catch up again

2010-04-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

As usual I'm a little slow. I don't know what happened to me. I used to be on here all the time. It's been since March, so I have a little catching up to do. Porter got baptized. I can't believe he is that big. I'll sub title the pictures and you can tell what has been going on. Another chapter in my life is beginning. I received a new call at Stake Conference yesterday. I am the new 2nd Counselor in the Elma Stake Primary. I am really looking forward to it. It should be so much fun.

Porter got baptized in March.

I sure miss my Arizona kids

The turkey died on Easter morning.

He was too old I think.

I think he just got too fat.

Addie will miss him

Addie modeling some new clothes

Addie and Nevin facing off
I love my babies
Nevin is in California with his dad
and I really miss him.

Addie trying to fill my shoes. Ha Ha

Addie sitting in a tub with her baby

Addie taking care of her baby

Addie modeling the new swimming suit

Addie in the headboard of my new bed

Addie being shut in the headboard

She didn't like that at all

Marley kicking back on her little couch

Marley and her new headbands

Marley being sad.

Isn't she adorable

Easter

Easter again

Marley in the sock drawer

Dallas & Chelsea's wedding

2010-03-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

We are so thrilled that Dallas and Chelsea decided to get married. We love them dearly. Chelsea was a beautiful bride and Dallas was a handsome groom. Marley was also adorable. We love you Dallas, Chelsea and Marley. There are still more pics. I'll post more when I get them.

Dallas, Chelsea & Marley Martineau

Yea

Martineau kids

I love it when we can get them all together

Grandma & Grandpa Martineau

Wayne and Ronna
Kids and spouses

Brandon and Tiffani & kids

and Grandma and Grandpa Martineau

Brandon and Penny

Aunt Cayce and Mallory

Uncle Caleb and Liam

Grandma Ronna and little miss Mallory

The gorgeous cake

The flowers are either fondant cutouts

or painted on. It was so awesome.

Russ, Dusty, Cody and Kobi Evans

Very rare pic of the Barnett clan

Mark, Michelle, Emilie, Aiden & Liam

New baby goat

2010-03-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

Wayne's little farm is growing. It would be okay if we could just keep the chickens alive. We had a few moe assaults and so now we are down to 1 rooster and 3 chickens. They are all happy (because they get to go out now) and so we get pretty much 3 eggs a day. The baby goat is our first baby and we are so excited.

The turkey is still around

He loves being nosy. He just follows everybody around all day long.

Penny hates him, but he's pretty cool

Mama and baby

Baby goat - I think he looks like a llama

Me and the baby goat.

Wayne and the baby

Maggie watching on

Mama making sure he's okay

The bunny just hangs out

This is the dad goat.

His horns are so nasty

The baby and mama resting

Catching Up

2010-03-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't been on for a while again. Sorry. Here are a bunch of catch up pics. We just got back from Dallas and Chelsea's wedding over the weekend, and as soon as I get Tiff's pics I will post them. Everyone is going well. Rich is still working at his mom's place in California, so Ginger and the kids miss him. Penny is getting married (I'm sure you all know that already).

Look at this huge egg

The turkey is still around

We have decided to use him for security

He scares the crap out of everyone

Wayne giving Addie a "piggy back" ride

down the stairs.

Penny quilting

She actually liked it

Our little pregnant Cayce - Isn't she cute

Conol got baptized in January

Conol at the pinewood derby

Proud Grandpa

and his new baby goat (boy)

December 2009

2009-12-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

Here are my pics from December. Tiffani would call it picture overload. Oh well. The kids were here for Thanksgiving and we had lots of fun. It was rainy though. We went to Utah the following week for James's wedding. It was snowy and cold. We came home to really really cold, but it has warmed up some now. December has been busy with our church jobs. Wayne got a new one, he is now a High Councilman. Penny and I are both still in Primary, but they are changing our classes. Ginger and Michelle are both still in Relief Society. We all stay pretty busy. We sure love and miss everyone down south of us. (Everyone is except maybe Dustin)

Elder Hattabaugh just before he was transferred.

We will really miss him.

The wedding cake that Michelle made.

It was so pretty

Aiden's birthday cake. Cool huh

Addie and her favorite Christmas present

Addie and new pig tails.

Emilie and Addie decorated for Christmas

Addie in one of Penny's shirts

Addie reading the newspaper with Grandpa

Addie in her cute little glasses

Cayce, Addie, Penny & Nevin in Utah

Kael, Cayce, Addie, Penny & Nevin in Utah

Russ kicking back after paint the wall to his right

My handsome Caleb - I love his hair

Nevin kissing Marley

Addie and Marley in the dishwasher

Addie & Marley sharing a pop and a bottle

Addie and Marley sharing the pop

Addie and Marley still sharing the pop

Addie and Marley conspirint

Dallas, Chelsea and Marley

Grandma Kay and Marley and Addie

Grandma Kay and Marley

Cayce and Nick and Penny

James and Jennifer Martineau & Cody and Kael

James and Jennifer and Cody

Wayne, Caleb and Dusty

Conol, Kael, Nevin & Addie

Conol, Kael, Nevin and Addie

Grandma Kay & Grandpa Wendell

and the Tejada kids

James and Jennifer in the snow & Brandon

James and Jennifer coming out of the temple

Just Addie - This is for Cayce

2009-11-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

Cayce, you wanted some pics of Addie, so here they are. Actually videos. They are funnier. She is such a hambone. She makes us laugh all the time.

As dad puts it, she swilling down pop

These are all pretty self - explanatory

More Flood Pics

2009-11-24T05:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the last pics from the flood. The water did come up again later when they started draining the Lake up above us. It didn't flood the house, but it did flood the road again and we couldn't get out on Sunday Morning. I have a feeling this is going to be a long winter.

The water finally started receeding around Clyde

Conol and Kael playing in the water

After the 2nd flood instead of Salmon in the yard

We had lots of little moles. Actually they were about

5-6 inches long not including the tale.

Weird looking little creatures.

A pic of Clyde before the water went down.

He was not a happy camper.

He stood in that water all night long.

Poor Clyde

Conol is playing with a big Salmon just under the water.

He loved putting on my rain coat and someone else's

big boots and going out into the deep water.

The Day After - Again Nov 17, 2009

2009-11-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

The water had went down Monday night, but came back up with a vengence by Tuesday morning. It still didn't get into the house, but we were truly surrounded. I took the first pictures about 8:00 in the morning when it got light. We went out a few hours later after it started going down. It's amazing how fast it went down. We never could get out yesterday. The flood level got as high as 17.1 feet and flodding is 16 feet. We can get out today, but it's coming back again tonight. We're bringing all the kids home today, with homework. Ginger will just stay with Michelle for another couple of days. Our lives are never dull. Our bishop just drove out to check on us. He's a nice guy.

The side yard by the garage

Side yard by the garage from a different angle

Out the front door - Check out the dog

The back yard. This took all day to go down

The most famous view out my window. Look at all the water.

The pumphouse. Water was up over the 3rd step going down.

Looking towards the barn

Boards and a log all washed to this gate. Check out the garden area

Checking out the Salmon catch

Moving Clyde back to his house. He started running and Penny lost him. Unfortunately one of the roosters had refused to get into the hen house the night before. Clyde must have been planning that moment for months now. He's a born carnivore I guess. The rooster never had a chance.

Yummy

What!!!!!!

Rear end views of the dog, the turkey, another rooster, & Penny

The chicken pen got wet, but the chickens stayed up

Checking out the goats, They stayed nice and dry

Wayne surveying the place

Flooding pics - Nov 16, 2009

2009-11-16T17:12:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the water is not in the house yet. It came up so fast, and then just kind of quit coming up. It surrounded the house more, but didn't really come up higher. The latest weather bulletin says it crested at 1:00 pm at 17 feet. It is slowly going down now. Thank goodness. I will still be a mess all night. It's supposed to get colder, and that will make it snow in the mountains instead of rain. Good until later when a warm rain comes in and melts it and we get another flood. I guess we just have to learn to deal with it. Next year will be better. All the animals are okay. Maggie and the puppies are having a ball. They have been chasing homeless moles and salmon all day. it's quite funny to watch them. We won't have to feed them the whole time it's flooding. We did have to move Clyde. He should be fine though. Ginger and the kids are all at Michelle's and Wayne, Penny and I are just hanging out. As long as we can keep our electricity and water we will be fine. That's a real blessing. The garage will be the only thing that we will have to do major clean up on. It's dark now, so we really can't see much more until morning. I'll post again and let everyone know what is going on. Dusty wants to know why we get in on all the natural disasters. I don't know Dusty, but wish you were here to help us out. We could play Phase 10 or maybe your dice game. It would keep me occupied and not worrying so much.

Wayne decided to be funny like he was shooting Salmon out the window. They are not good to eat right now anyway. Too bad

At first we didn't have much water in the back. Right after we moved Clyde, the water came up very quickly. Wayne finally moved the white car to the septic hill. When the water got higher it did go into the garage. Penny went in later and said it was about 6 inches deep. It had lots of junk on the floor, and that will be a mess, but we can clean that up.

Clyde's house is to the left of the middle of this pic. He was okay until the water started getting really close. We finally had to move him. He's now out in the rain, but has a hill to climb up on if the water gets really high. He drug poor Penny all through the water when we were moving him.

The pumphouse - Wayne supposedly built it to withstand the water. So far it's holding up fine. They lost their pump house and pressure tank last time so they had no water. They turned off the electricity also. Hopefully we will keep water and electricity both this time.

The first picture was when we first came back from town about 10:30 ish.

The water came up really fast. It all happened mostly within a couple of hours.

It started getting dark about 5:00 so we won't know more until we either get water in the downstairs or wake up and it's receeded.

The big truck that saves people if they need it.

Wayne and his boots. He cut the tops off so he could get them on better.

He neglected to consider that it also made them shorter. (Easier for the water to get into said the Big Bad Wolf)

Flooding!!!!!!!

2009-11-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

I don't have any pics uploaded yet, but we're flooding. It's not in the house yet, but it will be. We are still about15 hours from cresting time, and it's almost in the house. Oh well. Ginger and the kids are all on the other side. We took both little cars into Shelton this morning, and Ginger took Addie and will pick up Conol and Kael from school. Wayne, Penny and I came back after dropping them off and almost didn't make it. It was pretty stressy. We have everything picked up off the floor (mostly) and are just waiting it out. We have food and water upstairs and are pretty much ready. We just moved Clyde because he was about to float. The other dogs are having a ball chasing moles and fish. The goats and chickens should be able to get up in their pens and be okay. What an adventure. I guess we're too old to have this kind of adventure. Keep ya posted.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-09T11:41:00.001-08:00

Cayce says I need to blog more often, so I guess it's time to start again. I just had a busy summer. Here are pics from Halloween. Aiden and Liam were sick so they didn't get to go. The other kids were just all getting better.

Kael, Emilie (a sad Pippi Longstocking) and Conol

Addie is a little purple and black bat (minus the ears)

Penny as Pippi Longstocking

Penny and Jade from work

Penny and Brian (Dead Prom People)

Addie and her favorite cheetos

This is for Dusty

It's Michelle's birthday

2009-10-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

I'm late, but not too late. It is still Michelle's birthday. I have been gone all day long. I did visit Michelle and take her a little flower for her birthday and some stuff to cheer her up and make her feel better. She is still really sick. She was my first baby. Back in the day there was no one in the room with me most of the time. I suffered alone. They called her a Halloween baby, actually a little witch, because she went home on Halloween. She was the first grandbaby on both sides, and so she did get kind of spoiled. I guess it's a good thing that Ginger came along fairly quickly. We loved her even when she was naughty. She did scream and cry most of the first year of her life. Is hould have went insane, but managed to survive. She's never given us a day of trouble, well maybe one or two, but we have certainly enjoyed her being part of our family. Some may think we are disfunctional, but I think we do okay. Love you Michelle

Michelle with her broken arm in Alaska

Michelle with baby Ginger

Ginger and Michelle in the claw foot tub

Michelle and Ginger

Rub a Dub Dub - Two monkeys in a tub

Grandpa Larry, and baby Michelle

Michelle's kids; Emilie, Aiden and Liam

Michelle, Ginger, Brandon & Dusty in Mexico

Michelle and Ginger

Michelle, Ginger and Dusty (Southwest jacket)

Michelle with bangs

1st comes love, then comes marriage
Then comes baby in a baby carriage

Well, Emilie got here in an earlier version

Mark, Michelle, Emilie and Aiden

Mark, Michelle, Emilie, Aiden, & Liam May 2007

Michelle and her funky bangs again

Michelle growing up

Michelle and Ginger going to Prom

Michelle and Emilie

Michelle (looks like Emilie huh)

Michelle's 2nd Christmas in her bean bag chair

Michelle with curly hair

These kids always did their own hair and did a good job

Michelle in her little red wagon (I remember the coat)

Michelle with a top knot

Michelle in her senior picture

Looking kind of forlorn

Michelle graduated from Bear Lake High School

Michelle in pig tails (I loved pig tails. I could do them)

Michelle always loved to pose for pictures

Michelle at about 6 weeks old (This was her 10 percent
of the day that she wasn't crying)

Michelle dressed as a floozy in Bear Lake
They did it every summer. They had a ball

Michelle's first kiss (Sorry Mark)
The lucky boy is Justin Craner

Michelle always had a huge amount of hair. Nice hair though

I just love this picutre

Flu, flu, and more flu (Swine flu?)

2009-10-27T19:55:00.001-07:00

Pretty much everyone has a little bit of the flu. Mark and Michelle and family have had it for the past week, and we all have it this week. It looks like we are all going to survive. How do we really know the difference between the swine flue and regular flu. Ha Ha It has started raining again. We have had one flood about a week and a half ago, and another one will be here by Thursday night. As long as they aren't bad I can live through it. Rich left for California with Nevin to work for his mom for a while. She wants to turn the care home over to someone and Rich is the ony taker so far. Here are some pics of things going on around here. Wayne and I have been doing Lions for the past 5 weekends. I'm ready to be done with all the fund raising. One more weekend and we are done until next spring. Hip Hip Horray Everyone in Utah is doing fine, as well as everyone in Arizona.

Little Miss Marley

Miss Marley again - isn't she adoreable

Miss Marley again in the cupboard

Penny and Brian at Young Adult Halloween party

Penny and Brian at the Puyallup Fair

Penny and Brian at the fair

Conol and Kael ready for Mustache Day

Ginger and Addie reading the mail

Addie in Nevin's car seat. Too bad she can't buckle it

Ginger found Addie, in the dark,

eating chips and dip

after everyone went to bed

Addie loves to squeeze her tiny little bum into

anything that resembles a container

The kids Halloween pumpkins - I love them

Addie at the computer. She does naughty things

to my computer when left alone with it

Conol, Kael & Nevin at the Fair with the clowns

Been REALLY Busy or TOO Tired to Blog

2009-09-10T10:06:00.001-07:00

Haven't blogged in forever. Things have been kind of crazy around here. I guess just normal stuff, but by the time you add a garden, animals, and general babysitting it just gets crazy. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I will try and be better. Between Wayne's church calling, my 2 church callings, and us being in the Lion's Club we are totally busy. I can't believe summer is over, fall is here and winter is coming. It's not the winter I dread, it's just the lots of water that is kind of scary. I am worn out and I think I need a vacation. Enjoy the pics

Kael holding a starfish at Walker Park in Shelton

Emilie with a big starfish at Walker Park

3 starfish in the water

Emilie and a big crab

Someone holding a shell - There were lots of cool ones

Grandpa's favorite picture of Addie. He loves her smile and her teeth

Nevin hiding from Penny under the blanket on her bed

and then he fell asleep

Michelle made the cutest cookies & cupcakes for a baby shower

Michelle became famous and was in the newspaper for baking 3500 cookies for the Lion's Club

The kids at the Wild Animal Park in Squim

Debbie feeding something at the Wild Animal Park

A peacock at the Wild Animal Park

A Bear at the Wild Animal Park (They were so cool))

A deformed horn hippo at the Wild Animal Park

Debbie and Addie at the Wild Animal Park

Penny and Addie stylin in her new clothes from Aunt Debbie

Addie still afraid to walk on her own

She's got it all down pat now. She just runs

Wayne and one of his goats

The goats love to jump up on his back

The chickens just hanging out

The 2 turkeys just getting fat and being lazy.

I think they think they are chickens.

The big white one keeps squeezing into the hole

for the chicken pen and then can't get back out

and we have to open the door so he can get out. Funny critters.

Wayne in the garden. It it much bigger now,

and we have got lots of stuff from it. We were surprised

that is actually really grew.

Maggie and some puppies just hanging out.

A cool waterfall about an hour from our house

Addie climbing on the rocks

Addie in curlers looking in the mirror

Kael and Conol were throwing rocks at a wasp nest

and one went after Kael and bit him on the eye.

He looked like this for a couple of days.

Wayne on his shift at the May Town coffee stop
8pm to 2am. He just wanted to sleep.

Addie got into our nicely counted piles of about $1,000

(Maytown Coffee Stop money)

and fruffed it all over the bed.

She was having a ball throwing it up in the air

when I came back into the room. She thought it was great fun.

Conol and Kael started school on Tuesday. Thank goodness

Wayne put together a plastic shelf and the kids decided it was a

good place to play, so I decided to take a picture.

Ginger is running for the Hood Canal School Board.

I'll be glad when that is over also.

In case you haven't looked at Tiffani's blog.

They finalized the adoptions on the 6 kids in June.

They were sealed on July 3.

They also have a new baby that should be adopted

before the end of the year. She is a full sibling to Amelia, Zach and Caden.

What a group. They are real troupers

Michelle relaxing on a wooden bench that me and her fell in love with. It was actually rather comfortable to sit in.

The kids by a totem pole. There are lots of them up here. We have lots of indian tribes around us.

It's Debbie's Birthday

2009-06-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

Debbie is having her birthday today. I won't say how old she is, but I will say that we are the same age for the next 2o some odd days. That was always fun for us when we were kids. Not many other kids could say they were the same age as one of their siblings. (Of course Louyre and Louse could say that also) Anyway, it was fun for us. Debbie was always my best bud. We lived far away from other people, and we had lots of responsibilities as little kids. We got friends who lived in Shumway when we got a little older, but Debbie and I pretty much remained best friends until we graduated from High School. After that our lives kind of took seperate roads, but we have always been friends. Mom and dad expected lots from Debbie and I. Louyre and Louise came a few years after us, but by then Debbie and I already knew how to do it, so why bother and make Louyre and Louise learn anything. By the time the 3 younger kids got here, it was worse. They actually got waited on. Ha Ha Mom and dad taught all of us kids to love food. I don't know why they couldn't have taught us to love something else like TV (Ha Ha) Anyway, we were always good eaters. Debbie had the hardest time. We are all so very proud of her because of her tremendous weight loss. I am horribly jealous. She looks so good. She has always been a good girl, and we are all jealous of that. She has always made the good and right choices. She has always been the most devoted. I always wished that I could have been as strong as her. I never was, and never will be. I love Debbie very much, and she is still my best "bud" (of course she will have to share that title with Wayne now, because he's my best "bud" also. Happy Birthday Debbie. Debbie never had kids of her own, but Ashley has Debbie's middle name of Diane; Dakota's fir name is actually Debbie, and Adelaide was born on her birthday. That makes it legal for her to claim them as her own.

Our Little Puffy hairdo's

Debbie and I were in different schools this year, but we both had one favorite dress, and so we both got to wear it for our pictures.

The glasses were the top of fashion, but ask Debbie, they were a

source of much teasing unfortunately

This picture was barely save in time. I love this picture

I also have a picture that looks similar to this. Mom had a

tendency to do all of our hair the same each year.

Whatever was the easiest.

Never what looked the best.

I made Debbie's dress (thank you) but Ann Shumway get the

credit for her hair. Debbie could never say no and mean it.

Debbie actually posing fo a picture ????

This was about the time she did her surgery.

She is a whole different person now.

Debbie is those fine glasses again

Debbie's senior picture. At least she was smart enough to

keep her glasses on (someone else wasn't) She also

wore a necklace. Maybe they just used me as a experiment.

Debbie has more pictures than all of us, because she got to

take school pictures every year, sometimes twice.

She does always look good though

This is one of my favorite pictures also.

I love the purple dress. Nellie and my kids think it is icky

but me and Debbie like it, and who counts the most.

Debbie in another school picture

At least her newer ones look better than some of the older.

The older were cute though.

Debbie graduating from BYU.

She's the only one to graduate from college.

That's something to be proud of.

She won't agree all the time, because she still

makes less money than pretty much everyone else when

they were working their "other" jobs.

She still did it, even though everyone told her she

could never graduate from BYU because it was TOO HARD

for someone who couldn't see

In Debbie's older years she got brave with animals.

Of course, she probably touched frogs and snakes as a kid also.

She even has a picture with a snake around her neck somewhere.

Debbie always said she was dad's boy and so she had to

act like one, and I'll have to admit that sometimes

she did.

Debbie graduating from High School in 1974

She went from here to Beauty School in Utah where

she spent the next 2 years. She finished that and came home

and earned money to go on a mission. She came home from her

mission (honorably of course) and went back to work to earn

enough money to get her into her first year at BYU, and then

got scholarships after that to keep her there. She should be

really proud of accomplishing all that. None of the rest of us did.

Ask Vance about his time at BYU.

Nellie was better at BYU than Vance, but

she didn't stay for long.

Debbie on her mission in Greensboro, North Carolina

I had 3 kids by the time she got home off her mission.

I know smetimes she thinks she missed out, but kids are

pretty hectic also. Sometimes I feel like I missed out on lots

of stuff also, because I got married and started having kids and

it limited what I could do for many years. It's funny how our choices

define what happens for the rest of our lives. Those choices make

us who we are. I wonder what would have happened to all

of us if we had made a few different choices ???????

What a crazy month

2009-06-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in over a month. Things have been so busy. We have been building a new chiken pen and trying to get our garden planted. Both have been tie consuming. We started taking the old chicken pen apart and letting the chickens free range during the day. First a raccoon came along and got some of them and then the dogs (trying to get them back I'm sure) ended up breaking a few necks. All in all when all was said and done we only have 11 chickens left. It was quite traumatizng. The pen is pretty much finished. The only thing that can still get in is a raccoon, and we'll just have to del with that. We have 4 chickens from last year, 3 bard rocks, 3 black sex links, and on Aurcana (?). The goats have been fine through all this. Teir little horns are getting bigger and pointier. A unicorn would have nothing over them. The turkeys are fine, but we are missing one. He wandered too far away and Maggie and Sam broke his neck also. If they weren't sch good dogs. The scotch broom bloomed and it wasn't so bad until a few days ago. The wind started blowing and blew lots of jnk around. I have been pretty miserable the last few days. The puppies are fine. 2 of them are gone andwe still have 4. Clyde is still on his chain and doing fine. It got really hot here this last week. We have been tryinlg to get gardens planted, but it has been really hot and we couldn't get back out. It's cooled down now, nd so we can. Our tomatoes, radishes, onions, pole beans, cabbages, cauliflower and a few various things are doing fine. The cucumbers have survived, but something ate my yellow squash and pumpkins to the ground. They haven't bugged anything else. We are working outside today, hopefully we will get a lot done. We have 2 more boxes to set up and we are going to plant corn and a few other things. I'll be glas when we see some tomatoes. That iswhat I want the most, tomatoes and green beans. Wayne has really been in bad shape. He applied for diaability about 8 or 9 months ago. He got a phone all on Monday and found outthat he got accepted. It will be a good thing. His knees and feet are pretty trashed. His breathing is horrible. He can't do much any more. This will also put him on medicare, so maybe a steady doctor will help some. We are getting a new bishop tomorrow. That is a good thing. Our poor bishop is pretty old and tired. Wayne calls him a lame duck. He's known for onths that he is going out, an he just kind of quit. Change is always nice. Rich's cousin Ia and his wife Pam and 2 kids, Christian and Priscilla (baby girl) are visiting. They will be here for another couple of days. We are teaching them about years supply and coupon shopping. The kids are almost out of school. I'm not sure how much longer they have, but maybe next week or possibly the next. We are trying to get Cody here for the summer. Maybe it will be good for him. Dusty and russ's garden is doing really well. I'm glad they decided to do that. I missed blogging about Penny and Dusty's birthdays. I owe them a blog. The kids are all fine. Addie is getting big. She is almost walking. Ginger's new job is about the same she says. She can wear normal clothes now, instead of a uniform. She goes to work early, and so she definately doesn't get enough sleep. Rich is getting ready to start school. He picked up his books yesterday. He will still work part time. Penny's job is still going fine. They ahve ct her back to about 24-25 hours a week. She can survive though. I wish the gas prices would go down again. They are just slowly creeping up. Things in general are getting pretty scary. We just need more food. I don't hink e will ever have enough. Prices of everything are going up. The president is a disaster. He is trying o hard to make us a third world country. I don't want to be a third work country. Dad though bush was bad, I won't what he would think of Obama. He is definately not an American, and not there for our best interest. I'll get back into pictures my next blog. Couponing has also been taking up lots of time in my life. We have been saving lots and also building up our food storage. That is a good thing, but it does take lots of time. I almost forgot. Mark and Michelle got all moedout into their new place. They are loving it, and we are loving the extra room. We moved Conol and Kael upstairs to their room. We have finally got most of it put together now. Penny moved intoMark and Michelle's room. We still have lots to do, but because f outside stuff it is taking us a while. We are also going to try and get Debbie up here for a while this summer also. Busy Busy

One of those weeks - Racoons and Dogs

2009-05-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Things got pretty crazy after we got back from Arizona. Mark and Michelle were moving and that didn't help any. On Monday while we were still on our way home, a raccoon got into the chickens. It carried off 3 babies before he was discovered. Sam treed him up a tree and Mark finally found him and shot him. He was huge. Michelle has a picture of him, but I forgot to get it before she left. A couple days later, Clyde got out again and hit the chicken pen. He chewed up all of the big chickens pretty bad. One of them died a few days later. It was pretty devastating. The pen is getting pretty trashed because of Clyde. 2 more baby chickens got out in a hole left by Clyde that we didn't find and Same and Maggie "accidentally" killed them. Our chickens had a really bad week. There are a few nice things though, the remaining big chickens are still laying eggs, and we got 2 little pigmy goats. They are adoreable. The turkeys are doing fine also. We decided that one of them has a bad foot. We don't know if he came with it or what, but he seems to do okay. Mark and Michelle got all moved now and they are doing fine except that Michelle is carless over there. It takes us about 25 minutes to get to her house. Mark should get a work truck in July and then she will have a car. It has been pouring rain for about 4 days now. It is so wet, and there has even been water over the road. I've never seen so much rain. We are trying to get our gardens put in, and it is kind of difficult. Hopefully we will dry up for a few days and we can get them going. We have so much to do, and it seems not enough time in the day.

The 2 baby goats - Jezebel and Jasper (Wayne named them)

The chickens surviving the storms (racoons and dogs)

Wayne loves how they all line up in rows

Penny is trying to teach the puppies to eat dog food. Addie decided that if it was good for the puppies it might be good for her also.

The 6 puppies - they are so cute

Liam Biam fell in the trailer (where he wasn't supposed to be) and cut his head open

Addie chilling out with the kitty

The turkeys are so different from the chickens - they sometimes get all riled up

and fluff their feathers. It's funny, because they look just like big turkeys when they do that

One of the puppies with his eyes open now

Trip to Arizona

2009-04-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Brandon and Tiffani flew us to Arizona on Apr 17. They picked us up at the airport and we went to Louyre's house to see all of the Phoenix gang. It was so good to see everyone. We stayed at Brandon and Tiff's house all week and worked on the Preparedness Fair that was to be on Apr 25. We coupon shopped all week. Tiffani has been getting huge amounts of food with her coupons and has been doing it really cheap. It's a cool thing, it just takes lots of time. We took pictures of her storeroom and it was amazing. The pictures I tooik at the beginning of the week only had part of the food. After shopping all week, but room was literally bulging at the seams, and we had to rearrange and restack lots of stuff. There is literally 90 days plus lots more of some things in the room. It was so amazing. On Friday night we had a brithday party for Wayne and my family came over for a cook out. We had a really good time. They all look so good. Kim's grandbabies are adoreable. The preparedness fair was awesome. The food turned out really good and there was over 75 people who attended. There were also some non members there that the missionaries handed out flyers to. Most of the food was gone when it was over and we talked so much we were all hoarse. Tiffani came home to a sign on her house, because it was her birthday that day. Her and Brandon are pretty anazing with all the kids. It is a really hard job to keep care of all of those kids. It just about wore me out. We had a fun week, and we will miss them. It was nice to get back home to our bed and our little kids here. I missed them. Thanks Brandon and Tiff for a fun (and exhausting week). I guess I should fill in a couple of other bits of news also. Dennie was in a buggy accident (yes buggy) that really broke him up and road rashed him bad. He spent one night in the hospital. He is home and okay, but Nellie said he is pretty sore and grouchy. Our Aunt Betty (Margie's sister and Gary's wife) died last week on Apr 21. She was 73 years old. Because of our flight home on Monday I wasn't able to attend the funeral. I felt bad a bout that. Nellie and Vance both talked. Margie told them that Betty never got over Gary dying, and I would believe that. She was buried by Gary in Taylor. Maybe now she will be at peace in her life.

Addie and Miles meeting for the first time

Brittney and her girls, Ashlyn and Paige

Brittney with Bethany's baby, Addyson and Melanee and Shelbee and Ash lyn

Louyre, Louise and Rob

Brandon and Darin

A group picture. Mom and Dad would have loved these kids

Brandon & Tiff's storeroom thanks to coupon shopping

Brandon & Tiff's storeroom again

Brandon and Tiff's storeroom - canned meat in the back corner

Addie and Miles and Zach in the back

Brandon cooking in the wind

Kim and Addie and Bailey

Nellie, Kim and Michelle

Vance, Chelan, me, and Brandon

Vance and me and Addie

At the Preparedness Fair - Tiffani only paid about $40.00 for this entire table of food.

The firstaid table and pandemic stuff

If was Tiff's 30th birthday. This sign got left on her house. Ha Ha

This is the 72 hour kit table

Nellie, Kim and Debbie and canning table with the Elders

Nellie, Debbie and Kim again

The Car emergency kit

Turkeys and Puppies

2009-04-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Wayne insisted on expanding the chicken family by adding a few turkeys. He and Michelle went out yesterday and bought 5 turkeys. They are pretty cute. I suspect they will be naughtier than the chickens. Maggie also had some puppies the other day. If was funny because she had them inside the old tree. She has 4 boys and 2 girls. We did get them moved into the barn yesterday. At first Maggie was a little distraught, but then she chilled out.

Here are 3 white turkeys. The guy at the feed store said their's got to be 60 pounds last year.

Here are 2 little brown turkeys. They are smaller now, but who know about later.

Maggie and the puppies buried deep inside the tree. This picture is taken from about 3 feet out. She is way inside the tree. Penny went in and pulled the puppies out with a shovel thing.

The is the tree she was in

Just to the right of the middle is a dark spot with a limb coming out of it. The dark spot is the opening that Maggie climbed into. She actually had the puppies on the back side of the tree. It is a pretty cool hidey hole if you ask me. I searched for her for hours the other day before I found her.

Marley and Addie's pictures from March

2009-04-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures that were taken of the two babies, Marley and Adelaide (Addie) when we were all in Utah on March 4. I tried to upload them to my walgreens account but couldn't get the upload to work. So for right now, here they are. They are adoreable. Some are duplicates in black and white, but oh well.

Potty Training Nevin and Liam Biam

2009-04-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

We've all had it, and decided we have to get the 2 boys potty trained. Nevin was happy about it yesterday, but today he refuses to get out of my bed and put underwear on.

The 2 monkeys

Liam Biam

Nevin in his Spidermans

Aiden singing the Darth Vader song - funny

2009-04-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Aiden has learned how to sing the Darth Vader song,

and it is quite entertaining. He keeps looking at the wii game that he wants to be playing

You will need to pause the music at the end of this blog to hear well

Easter in the Torrential Rain

2009-04-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

It poured on us all day. We actually had record rainfall. So easter egg hunting outside was out of the question. We decided to do it in the barn. It was dry in there, but still kind of damp and cold. Easter egg hunting didn't last long needless to say. It was warmer in the house.

Wayne, Sonya Bernal and Cheyanna Balmer. We invited some friends

over to spend Easter with us.

Matt, Penny, Addie and Nevin. Kids don't even like the real eggs anymore, they only like the candy. I loved boiled eggs, we used to hunt the eggs over and over.

Shawn and Savannah Balmer, Tommy (Emilie's friend), Emilie and Wayne

Addie and Wayne and her Easter goodies

Easter babies for little girls are so cute

Hiding eggs in the barn on the stairs (unfinished naturally)

Hiding eggs in the motorcycle

Hiding eggs everywhere

Hiding eggs around and under stuff

Hiding eggs by the chickens

Hiding eggs by Wayne's reloading stuff

Addie licking her plate - sort of

Addie after eating deviled eggs and potato salad

Stake Dinner made from "Year's Supply"

2009-04-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

On Saturday our ward was asked to make the Stake Dinner our of Year's Supply items. We decided to make Navajo Tacos. It was quite and awesome undertaking and I am very glad and grateful that it is over. It was very hard, and our "reputation" was on the line. We were to feed between 275 and 300 people. I'm not sure how many were there, somewhere between 225 and 250 maybe. Anyway, we had lots of extra beans and lots of extra fry breads. We are so grateful to all the women who came and gave their time to help us. They chopped onions (and cried), chopped tomatoes, rolled out fry bread and fried it. Then they helped us serve it all. Everyone loved it. There were a few who wouldn't eat because they didn't like beans or a few other stupid excuses. I feel sorry for them. It was an really good tasing meal made totally out of items you should have in your years supply, can grow in a garden, and make from having farm animals. I am so grateful we had the opportunity to do it. We truly believe times are going to get really hard and we need to be able to eat the food we have stored. I am grateful to my parents and grandmas who taught me how to cook and taught me to make the best of what we had. I still remember me and Debbie making Date Bars one time with no dates. I don't remember how they tasted, but I'm sure we ate them. I remember one time trying to make something that needed brown sugar. We didn't have any. We went to Margie Linn and she didn't have any either. She told us that if we mixed molasses with sugar we could make it. We did that and it worked. We do that all the time now. Grandma Bennett taught me to make Bean and Bacon soup and Grandma Muder taught me to make homemade noodles. I am grateful for that good teachers I had.

The tables set up for the dinner (and Sister Diane Gough)

Michelle and some of the sisters rolling and cooking fry bread. The sisters are Dodie Putvin, Sharon Wilcox, Julie Graham, and Diana Anderson, who is about 6 months pregnant.

Ginger was our Bread maker. She was taking the pictures.

This is the beans. Wayne kept saying to make more. He said we would feel really stupid if we ran out of beans when they were so cheap. We have lots in our freezer now.

My brother Vance, the only boy

2009-04-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's my brother Vance's birthday. If my math is correct he is 47 years old. As a kid we thought only old people got to be 47. I still think of him as a little kid, but he's gone much beyond the little boy I remember. I still remember when he was born. Back then you had to wait until the baby got here to find out if it was a girl or a boy. Mom and dad had been through four pregnancies and had 5 girls. I think dad was a little mortified to think that he, coming from a family of 7 boys, couldn't manage to have a boy. I remember when we were told he was a boy, and how excited everyone was. Of course, he got dad's name. We always used to joke that they tried for one more boy and after Nellie was born decided it was time to quit. Actually mom was never able to get pregnant again after that, and so I would like to think that they loved us kids so much that they were more than willing to have a few more, boys or girls not being a consideration. Anyway, to make a long story short, we all loved Vance. He was spoiled by all of us. He got to do all the special boy things with dad, not to say that us girls didn't learn how to do all of them before Vance got big enough. Now that I look back on it, I don't think dad ever cared that we were girls. He just expected us kids to do whatever he asked. And we usually did. Our parents taught all of us kids how to work, there usually wasn't much differentiation between girls work and boys work. Vance did get to take out more garbages and bring in more wood, and I'm sure he got to milk the cow a time or two. He had a motorcycle, although he did have to get a running start down a hill to get it started. He learned how to shoot guns, that really none of us girls ever did. Maybe because all of us older girls had unknown major eye problems. Vance played sports some, but never really liked them much I don't think. He was pretty little when he was born. I don't remember that he had to stay in the hospital, but maybe. He fell off the wagon wheel couch when he was about 6 months old and broke his upper arm. He got to spend the night in the hospital, because they didn't want to cast it. When mom got back to the hospital the next morning, he was still crying. They already had the cast put on and they send him home that day. Vance was always a good kid. He and some of his "not mentioned" friends did have a little of a wild streak in their later teenage years, but they were all good kids and survived just fine. We always though we kept some of that stuff from our mom, but I don't think we did. She never let on that she knew, but I think she did, and had faith that he would be fine. I really respect Vance as an adult. He always seemed like my little brother until he became my bishop, and then he was an equal and not a "little" anything. I am so grateful that he is my brother, and I love him dearly. I'm glad he chose to come and be in our family.

Vance in May or Jun of 2009. He was so tired. He was being a bishop, doing a handcart trek, working every day and helping us to take car of our sick dad. This is one of my very favorite pictures of Vance. He was tired, but never beaten. He was always there.

Vance riding on a bouncy horse. I still remembe that horse

Vance and Nellie at Dan and Donna's wedding.

Vance and Brecks. He was the bishop by now

Vance in an old walker. I remembe them well, they actually fold up flat

Vance with his cast on. There aren't many pictures of the cast.

Vance at the Provo Temple when he ws in the MTC

What a handsome missionary

Vance rototilling the garden. I was gone when he was a teenager, and never realized about his asthma. I remember him having it, but never how bad. He still suffers from it, but it never stops him from working outside and doing what he needs to do.

Vance at Dan and Donna's wedding. If I recall they were a little stressed over his hair. Dad always kept him buzzed off. He had these nasty cowlicks. A funny thing though, is that he passed those cowlicks onto all of his kids. What a trait to pass down.

Vance & Michelle, Tell, Nicky and Chelan in about 2006

The Muders - this was taken when Nicky graduated from High School

Vance and Michelle on their wedding day. I was living in Alaska at the time and missed his wedding. I'll always regret that. Who would have thought that anyone (Michelle) could have gotten him into a white tuxedo like that.

Vance and Michelle doing dad's nails. Even when he was sick, he like to look good. This reminds me of when Jesus was washing his disciples feet. That was a special time for me when we got to spend dad's last weeks with him, taking care of him, and serving him as he served us.

I'm sure this was someone's idea of a cruel joke. Not really, but you have to admit the hairdos are a little bit much. Us kids hated having our hair done, and so Mom and Marie decided to give us "pixie" cuts. They used to tell us we were so cute. Holy Cow. What a thing to tell a kid when we had no idea of how horritle it really was. Vance was lucky because he was a boy, and Nellie was lucky because she wasn't born yet. Nellie never had to endure our stress.

Dad and Vance and Kimberly

Vance in the rocking chair with a 'seatbelt" and Kimberly

Vance's hair wasn't much better than the "dos" that us girls got

Vance got to ride on a bear. Us girls were jealous, and Vance cried. Go figure

All of us kids with mom. We didn't have many pictures with all of us together.

Vance, it seems to me, was always in a plaid shirt of some sort.

Conol and Kael in Little League

2009-04-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Conol and Kael are in Little League this year. It's a macho thing for Rich I think. He went out and bought them bats and balls and gloves and pants and a bag to carry it all in. We have been doing practices for a month now. I use that term loosely, because it has been raining alot and so the practices were under playground covers. Oh well. They picked up their shits and caps last night. Kael has his first game tonight. Us ladies have relief society, so we will have to forego his first game, but I guess there are plenty more. Wayne has a missionary meeting, but he will probably be done early, so he can go to most of it. I can't believe they are big enough to play little league. It seems like they were just babies. Of course, sometimes they still are.

Conol and Kael being silly

Conol and Kael acting like friends

Conference and Kids and Animals

2009-04-05T17:17:00.001-07:00

We have just spent the entire weekend watching conference. It was so good. Wayne said this is the best conference ever, and I reminded him that he says that every time. We were spiritually fed all weekend long. Other than that I have been kind of lazy. I have been working on a sharing time, and Wayne has been playing with his chickens. Since Easter is next weekend, and we have stake conference, we will probably be doing things kind of skiddy wampus because of the dinner we will be having to fix. Our conference dinner will be next weekend. I am a little bit nervous about it. We are almost finished making beans. We need to start grinding wheat now. I'll be glad when it is all done.

Addie and her new Easter Dress

She looks so cute doesn't she

Maggie is getting ready to have puppies, so Emilie and I made

a little house for her. She still won't stay in it, but

maybe after the puppies get here.

The new babies are now out in the barn with the big chickens.

They are a little nervous and kind of stay in their own corner

The big chickens are really skiddish of the little ones.
This is the only place where the chickens usually lay eggs.
Yes, they all wait in line to get up in this one little spot and lay their eggs.
(My camera is being kind of funky out in the dark barn)???

We discovered that Addie isn't scared of the vacuum
As a matter of fact she really likes it.
(My camera was being a bit wierd here also)???

April Fools Day

2009-04-02T07:00:00.001-07:00

April Fools. This is what we woke up to yesterday morning. It sort of snowed all morning, but then rained it all off. It was just cold. I don't think I ever got completely warm after being outside during the morning. Another April Fools joke was when Wayne took the baby chickens out to live with the big chickens. The little chicks didn't rule their roost anymore and the big ones really weren't sure what the little ones were. It was kind of funny.

My friend Joyce Matthews

2009-04-01T08:26:00.001-07:00

There was a sister baptized into our ward almost a year ago. I really don't know how old she is, but her mother is 86. Last fall she had a fall in her bathtub and ended up with lots of problems before she was able to get back into her aprtment. She came home before Christmas, but has continued to be under the wweather. They were building some new handicapped apartments in her complex and she was able to get one. Last week we were called and told that she needed to be moved by April 1.. We weren't able to get lots of help, but enough. We were there all day Saturday, and with the help of a few men got about 1/2 of her stuff moved and she did sleep in her new aprtment that night. I went back over on Monday and Tuesday mornings and stayed all day and finally feel good about it being ready for her. Yesterday when I got there we couldn't get her to wake up. We eventually called 911 and she was hauled off to the hospital again. I feel really bad for her. She has about 9 million boxes of yarn and junk that she doesn't want to throw away, and that is all stacked in her bedroom. With the help of a few good sisters, a couple of strong young men, a few husband and wife teams, Wayne, Michelle, and my heros, the missionaries it is pretty much as good as it's going to get right now. I can't forget to thanks Ginger because she took care of all the kids on Saturday while we moved stuff all day in the pouring rain. I am so grateful to have the family that I have, because she doesn't have much. Her mother and step dad live by her, but they couldn't help at all, and her sister lives across the street, but she's in a wheelchair and can't help either. She has kids, but her mother told me that she hasn't seen or heard from them in many years. She doesn't know if they are alive or dead. How sad is that. I have help many peole move in my life, but never been the person who had to put every single thing away for someone. Sometimes we complain about all our relatives, but this experience makes me grateful for every one of my realtives and every one of my friends. I know that they would help me any time I needed help. Hopefully we will get her home in a few days and she can begin to enjoy her new apartment. Wayne was talking to our bishop about it yesterday, and the bishop told him that I really didn't have to put all the stuff away, I could have just left it in piles and piles of boxes. I was proud of Wayn when he told the bishop that I did need to be there, that I did need to finish. I'm pretty sure that my mom and dad would both have disowned me if I hadn't of completely finished the job I started. I am so grateful that they taught me to love unconditionally and they taught me how to work.

Baby Chickens and Hunters Education

2009-03-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

We have 18 new chickens. They were in the house for a while, but then Wayne moved them out to the garage. We read the other night about how they need to be treated just like kids. You talk to them and play with them, and take them on little field trips. Wayne has been taking them out on the lawn and letting them eat worms, etc. They are pretty funny. The other 6 chickens has been kind of skimpy on eggs for about 2 months now, but they are back laying in full force again. I love having the eggs. Now we just need to get a cow and we can have milk. One more thing on our list of things to do before the world blows a gasket. Emilie and Penny completed their hunters education class last week. We did our cooking class at the library this last week also and it went very well. We were supposed to cook stuff from scratch. I made a recipe book that shows you how to cook stuff from scratch. I've been wanting to put one together for years and just never have. Now it is done. Conol and Kael have started in Little League. They have had mostly rain out days and so practices have been at a school under a roof. Hopefully by the time they start games the rain will have slowed down some.

Emilie's Hunters Ed certificate

The chickens in the house in their box
The chickens with their light on and one sunbathing

Addie loves watching the chickens

She would actually touch them if they got on top

of the water and food bottles

Addie playing with her Little Pony

Addie and the family tradition

She knows just what to do

Wayne, Addie, Maggie and the chickens on a field trip

They actually pecked worms out of the ground and ate them.

Sorry, I've been bad and Trip to Utah

2009-03-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I've been bad. I have been home for 2 weeks now and still have never blogged my trip to Utah. I've been busy. Rich and Ginger stayed in Utah until Wednesday and then they left for California and Great Grandma's funeral. The pictures that I am showing at the first are some of their trip. We stayed in Utah until the following Monday. We blessed Marley on Sunday. We had a really nice time. Marley is adoreable. The kids are all doing okay too. Caleb has a snake that we took pictures of with the kids. It was really gross, but the kids thought it was great. The two babies were so funny together. Addie is so skinny and Marley isn't. Chelsea calls her perfect, and she is. She is so adoreable. I couldn't get enough of her. I hated so bad to leave her. She even started liking me. I loved to make her smile and I loved to make her giggle. She is a good little baby. She loves to smile and she loves to giggle. She makes me smile when I think about her. We just really had such a good time. Dusty and Russ both have new jobs sort of. Russ is back working at Hadley Painting and Dusty is working in the bakery at Macey's. Dallas and Caleb are still doing tile. Chelsea is still home with Marley.

Addie and Grandma Chita

Addie and Grandpa Clifford

This next set of pictures is adoreable

Nevin sleeping in the car

Conol sleeping in the car

Addie sleeping in the car (of course with her curlers in)

Kael sleeping in the car

Rich and Kerrynne (Rich's daughter) at the funeral

Rich and the boys in their traditional

Philipino funeral attire

Now we get to Little Miss Marley

She is absolutely adoreable

She looks just like Chesea, but like Chelsea says
she has Dallas's blue eyes and his chin

Sweet little Marley

Marley again

Cayce and Nevin

Cody goofing around

Aunt Dusty and Addie

Aunt Chelsea and Addie

Marley and Addie in the buff (almost)

No one would let me put the bare butt picture on

Aren't they just adoreable

Mommy Chelsea and Marley

Ginger and Marley

Daddy Dallas and Marley

Marley all dressed up

Grandma Ronna and Marley

I don't often take pictures but I couldn't resist

Marley being sweet and perfect

Marley in her blessing dress

Marley

Marley smiling - She has the most gorgeous smile

Chelsea and Marley

Dallas, Chelsea and Marley

Dallas, Chelsea and Marley again

Dallas and Marley

Grandpa and Grandma Martineau and Marley

Clyde in the back of my car (slobbering)

Clyde pulling Wayne in the snow

Addie in the drawer

Addie on my piggy bank shelf Addie playing with piggy banks

Sick Sick Sick and The Grandma

2009-02-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

We have pretty much been sick for the last 2 weeks. We have had fevers, the throw ups, and that other nasty thing also. This along with lots of runny noses. Most everybody has just been feeling yucky. Most of us are getting ready to leave for someplace. Wayne and I were taking Addie and Nevin and going to Utah on Monday for a week. We are going to bless Dallas and Chelsea's baby and just visit for a week. Our plans have changed a little though. Rich's grandma died in California, so they are leaving on Monday also to go do funeral stuff. The last plans were that they are also going to Utah at the beginning of the week and then going over to California. Penny also wants to come, but we'll see. She has work next week. Addie has learned to crawl, and now she is really getting into trouble. She has been sick for about 3 weeks, and is still kind of grumpy. She is getting better, so hopefully she will get back to her normal funny self.

Rub a Dub Dub

3 monkeys in a tub

Conol loosing another front tooth

Addie all dressed up

Liam put on Emilie's glasses

Nevin making his own glasses

Addie going somewhere all dressed up

Poor Aiden after about 2 1/2 hours at the dentist

Nevin with a nose job

Chelsea and Marley

Dallas and Marley

Rich's grandma Leonicia. Everyone always refered to her as "Grandma". This pic was taken in July 2007. She turned 96 years a couple of weeks ago. She was the funniest little lady I ever saw. She was so spunky. I was privileged to spend 10 days with her in 2007 when I went to California to watch Rich and Ginger's kids. She was so funny. Her and Nevin used to fight and fight. He was always stealing her little walker and running off with it. She was sad at times because she missed her husband, and now she is with him again, so she is happy. She had a huge closet full of matched sets of clothes and tons of jewelry. She always wore it. When I first got to California, she came up to me crying. She said she needed to know the address of "this place" so she could call her husband and tell him where to pick her up. She said he had went to the airport to get the girls, but she had been moved to another place and didn't know where it was. She was insistant that I go outside and look up the address. She was having a melancholy moment. One day when I was cooking chicken nuggets for the kids she came in and took one (still frozen) and asked what it was. I told her and said they still needed to cook and she said that was okay, she'd eat it like that. Mind you, she had no teeth. She ate the whole thing. She would usually come in several times in the morning and announce "I work up and now I'm ready for breadfast" She usually ate "breakfast" 3 or 4 times every morning. She used to get up in the middle of the night and take all the clothes out of her closet and fold them on the bed. She never knew, in the morning, how they got on her bed and always denied that she did it. Chita said she used to pick up the kids clothes from around the house and fold them also. When she slept she curled up into a little ball. She was so tiny. I am so grateful that I was able to know her.

My dad's birthday & My son's birthday

2009-02-13T21:58:00.000-08:00

Brandon was born on February 14, 1979. It was his grandpa Larry's 50th birthday. What a birthday present. His first grandson born on his birthday. We love Brandon and Tiff and their family very much. They have accomplished many things. They are the parents of 10 kids and they are doing a wonderful job. Brandon works very hard and so does Tiff. The kids are a hoot. Happy birthday Brandon.

Brandon right after he was born

Brandon when we lived in Missouri
Brandon when he was a little bigger
Brandon in junior high
Brandon with his dad at 4th of July in Heber
The new house that they bought is across the street.

My dad was born on Feb 14, 1929. After he was born, and when grandma was sleeping, 2 of grandma's sisters decided to name him Larry Valentino. They actually filled out the birth certificate and had it sent in. When grandma found out she hated it and had it officially changed to Larry Vance. I have copies of both birth certificates. He lived in Shumway his whole life. He was born there and he died there. His father passed away when he was only about 5 years old. It was hard on all of them. They had a tough life. He survived and he did it well. He did lots of stuff in his life. He went on a mission, served in the Navy, and did extensive traveling when he and mom were older. He lived a good life and we love him very much. We are sad since he (and mom) have gone, but we know we can see them again. Here are some pictures of him. I have many more, but just picked a few.

Bob and Dad

(This picture was taken right after their dad died)

Dad's mom Inez Perkins Muder

Dad's father Ed Muder

The 7 brothers at Mae's funeral

The Rock house Dad on a field trip Dad loved his yard

Dad on another field trip.

I love this picture

Dad and some of the kids

Dad with the crew in March of 2007 in Hawaii

He was sick, but didn't let us know how bad

Dad in March 2007 in Hawaii

Riding in his sand wheelchair (cool huh)

Dad and Cathy

Dad always loved to have a garden

Dad loved to measure his snow

Dad loved to fish when he was younger

Dad in the Navy somewhere

Dad and Santa

Dad and some of his girls when he was sick

Dad's senior picture

Dad's fish that he caught in Juneau, Alaska

Dad's card when he left on his mission in 1949

The Black Bart Picture (He got it when he worked at Bills Bar) One of dad's campaign cards

Dad's new flag flying at half mast the day he died

One of dad's Black Mesa Ranch signs by a tank in Korea I think

In a barracks somewhere

Dad in his Navy Uniform

New Technological Development

2009-02-11T09:49:00.001-08:00

With Addie crawling (I use that term loosely) it has opened up a whole new world outside of my room, and also a set of stair to the immediate right. So I brought up a gate and put there. She immediately went to it and started crying. How did she know?

The new gate keeps Addie in

The new gate also keeps the other kids out. Ha Ha

Liam was rather traumatized.

Happy Birthday Ginger

2009-02-10T09:16:00.001-08:00

It's Ginger's birthday today. I'll tell you only that she's a year younger than Michelle. Ginger has done a lot of stuff in her life and she has always had fun and been kind of funny too as you can see in some of the pictures. I think old pictures are fun. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Ginger at 3 months old

Ginger at 8 months old

Ginger at 7 months old
Ginger and Michelle in Jun 1979

Ginger and Michelle Jul 1979

Ginger in the toilet July 1979

Ginger in cute pony tails

Ginger with some toy she put together

Ginger with high hair

Ginger with high bangs

Ginger working at Pizza Hut

Ginger in High School

Ginger in high school again

Ginger graduating from Ben Lomond

Ginger reinlisting in the Navy in Hawaii

Ginger on the steel beach (John C. Stennis) 2007
Ginger and Rich getting married in Korea

Rich and Ginger and Conol

Rich, Ginger, Conol and Kael

Rich, Ginger, Conol, Kael, and Nevin

Rich, Ginger, Conol, Kael, Nevin and Adelaide (Maddie Addie)

Happy Birthday Kimberly

2009-02-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today is my sister's Kimberly's birthday. I don't even remember how old she is, it doesn't matter anymore, right. I don't get to see her often anymore and I'm lazy and don't talk to her much either. I wish I was closer, because we used to talk almost every day. I miss that. Things have sure changed since mom and dad are gone. I just want her to know that I love her and hope she forgives me for putting a few of her pictures on my blog. She should be glad I didn't put all of them on. I wish her a happy birthday. Love you

Kim in the old rock house

Isn't she cute

Kim in the old rock house on old chair by old tv

She's too cute

Kim in junior high

Kim maybe in junior high

Kim in high school

Kim about 1976

Kim and Dale - Kim is pregnant with Ashley

Ashley and Lindsay

Little and cute

Ashley and Lindsay

Bigger and gorgeous

Kim and Dale and the girls - Sep 1995

This picture was taken just before mom died

Kim, Dale and Lindsay about 2006

Kim, Dale, Ashley and Lindsay about 2004

Vacation in California

Kim's 1st grandbaby - Kayla

Kim loves her grandbabies

Kim's 2nd grandbaby - Bailey

Taxes, Yard Cleaning & Family Search Synchronizing

2009-02-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

I have pretty much just been working on taxes for the past week. I have almost everyone's finished now. I just have 2 more to go. Yipee. So far everyone is happy with me because they are all getting refunds. When I'm not doing taxes I am working on synchronizing my PAF file. It will still take me another couple of months to finish it, but I guess I am making a dent. I am synching it numerically by 1000's and also alphabetically. I figure if I finish enough chunks out of it, that it will eventually be finished. I'll be glad when it is completely finished. No offence, but it is a family history person's nightmare. Wayne and Mark have been working outside. They are pruning and picking up garbage and tree limbs and burning it all. We have planted 5 new trees. We are going to plant some more in the next couple of weeks. We are also getting ready to get a hugh garden planted. We haven't done it in years, so it will be a good experiment. We are very grateful that we have a perfect climate for gardens. Out winters are mild and it rains lots and lots. Wayne has been collecting seeds. We are also going to get a greenhouse and keep some tomatoes and herbs in it. We are all really excited. Now we need to get canning jars by the gazillions. I've been too busy to even take very many pics of the kids. Besides that, Addie had an accident and has a badly skinned upper lip. Some say she looks like Hitler, I thinks she looks like a mess. She is almost crawling, but mostly drags herself wherever she wants to go. She's going to be a disaster when she does become independently mobile and walking. I can't wait. I'll be better next time.

Me and Addie on our way to church

Addie and her battle scar

Addie and her bunged up lip

Liam and his Potato Head parts

Wayne can't wait to get some goats. I'm afraid this is what it will look like around out house. Plus a few kids mixed in I'm sure. Funny picture huh.

High Priests, Taxes and Fashion statements

2009-01-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

Life seems to go on even when we think it's taking forever. Sometimes I think my life is boring, but it's really not. Wayne had his 2nd High Priest party (He's the High Priest Activity person) last weekend and it was a hit. There were probably about 70 people there. That's pretty good for a ward who has only had 2 parties in the last few years, Relief Society dinners and Ward Christmas parties. Wayne has become a social butterfly. Who would have guessed. I'm starting to work on everybody's taxes again. I have one already done and about 5 or 6 in the process. I hate taxes, but since I can hate them and still do them, then I am elected to do it for everyone. It's always nice when they are all finished, especially if everyone gets a good refund. Wayne and I have started reading scriptures again in the evening. It has been quite fun. We are actually reading stuff that we didn't remember before. It's a lot different that doing it with the kids. The kids around our house have been trying to make a fashion statement, so here goes

The things we do to Achieve "Pretty" or "Handsome"

Addie in her "levis"

Addie in her little "curlers"

Nevin in the latest "Superhero" outfit

Liam in the latest potato head "earings"

Keeping Me Young or Making Me Old

2009-01-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

The grandkids that I live with are either making me old or keeping me young depending on how I feel on any particular day. The baby shows up in my bed about 6:00 am in the morning and that starts my day. Sometimes she cries and wants a bottle, but mostly she lays and talks to me and grandpa. Then she cries and wants her bottle. Eventually the 3 older kids get off to school and then Liam and Nevin wander in. They are funny, they fight, they get hungry, they need their diapers changed. Sometimes I think I'm too old to be doing all of this again, but them they smile at me or do something funny and then I know I'm not too old. I'm very lucky. I have grandkids that I don't see very often, and I miss them terribly. I am very grateful for the ones I do get to see all the time. Some people st church feel sorry for me because I go home to kids, but I think most of them are jealous. Louyre got a new grandbaby this week, Addyson, and I know how much she loves her grandbabies. You just want to eat them up.

Nevin talking on the phone

Grandpa fed Addie graham crackers
Nevin fell alsleep watching NCIS (unthinkable)

Nevin is hiding him and Addie from me

Addie in her stylish outfit

Ginger has so much fun dressing her

Liam in his Mr. Potato Head glasses

33 years - Our anniversary

2009-01-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

Wayne and I are having our 33 wedding anniversary on Jan 17, 2009. I can't believe we have been married that long. It still seems like just yesterday. I remember the 1st time I met him at his home in St. Johns in July of 1975. It was right after he came home from his mission. I was dating his cousin, Eddie Whiting, at th time. Wayne told his sister Tammy later that night that he was going to marry me. I dated Eddie for another month and then we broke up. Wayne called me and we started going out in Aug-Sep of 1975. We were inseperable. Nellie became our chaperone and went with us everywhere. We became engaged around Halloween and had a pretty short engagement. Wayne wanted to get married in December but my mom wanted to wait until the next spring, so they settled on January. We have had a very good marriage. I know that we planned to be married in heaven, and we actually found each other and fell in love here. We are different, but yet so much alike. When we play games we answer all the questions the same way. We can't even play Scategories at all, because we canacel each other out. As a little girl who had never really left Shumway, Arizona, Wayne showed me the world (well his version of it anyway). I have been so many places and done so many things. Actually I have lived in most of the places we have been. Things have been tough at times, but I don't ever regret one second of it. He is my soul mate I will always have to be grateful to Eddie Whiting for introducing us. We actually knew each other as kids, but he was in the other ward and since we didn't go to church much, we didn't really know many kids from the other side of town. I love growing older with him. It's such a nice feeling to be so close to someone that you feel like you are one. That's how I feel about Wayne. We are one. He's my best friendand I dearly love him. I have been doing some reminicing, and got some pics. I have put them here. Hopefully you don't get bored. If you do, then don't finish looking. I never get bored of looking at them. So many things I forget, and it helps me to remember. They make me smile. Some of them make me cry. I guess I am just a romantic. I cry really easy and as much as I love the present I dearly love my past and enjoy going back into it every now and then.

(We beat the 1 in 2 marriages that don't make it)

Wayne and Ronna's engagement picture (Dec 1975)

Wayne and Ronna coming out of the AZ Temple Wayne and Ronna on our wedding day

Our wedding line

I can't even hardly see it anymore to tell who is in it

Wayne and Ronna in our skinnier days

Wayne & Ronna in about 1990

Wayne and Ronna (and Dale and Ginger)

Our 29th anniversary in Jan 2005

Ronna Marie as a baby

Ronna in grade school

Ronna with no pants on (Debbie has a pic like this also)

Ronna with a sexy hair do
Ronna in grade school

Ronna on the black thing (I was the queen of jumping on it)

Ronna in 1970

Ronna's senior pic 1973 (I hate this picture) Ronna in 1975 Melvin Wayne as a baby

Wayne and cowboy boots and a hat

Wayne always smiled

Wayne with his hair combed over (cute huh)
Wayne as a smiling kid

Wayne about 1973 (I see Caleb in this pic)

Wayne abt 1973 also (I see Caleb in this pic also)

Ronna Michelle born 1976

Ginger Renee born 1978

Brandon Wayne born 1979

Dusty Lynelle born 1980

Dallas Wade born 1982

Penny Lyn born 1984

Caleb Brenn born 1986

Cayce Bree born 1988

A really cute pic of all the kids - 1988

I love my babies dearly (and their babies also)

Marley and John Deere and Tammy Mineer

2009-01-12T08:50:00.001-08:00

Caleb emailed me a couple of pictures of the baby Marley last night. They were taken with a phone, so they're not really good, but they're good enough for me. I also have a picture of a puzzle that Penny put together. The puzzle pic is for Tiffani. She'll appreciate it. Everyone is back to work, back to school, and back to their normal life. It's kind of nice to be normal again.

John Deere puzzle

Caleb and Marley in her homemade hat

Chelsea and Marley

A little after thought for me. Just before I got married back in 1975 I was working at Taylor Elementary School as a teacher's aide. I worked with Lane Shumway in special ed. There was a little girl name Tammy Mineer who was in Kindergarten. At 9 months old she had a gun fall over and hit her on the head and caused her to have seizures. She had them all the time. Everytime she had a seizure it would trash her memory. We would have to teach and reteach her all the time. She was such a little trouper and always let us try and teach her over and over. She had long brown hair and was absolutely gorgeous. Her eyes captured me the first time I ever saw her. She made me cry and I dearly loved her. After I got married I saw her a time or two, but not much. The last time I saw her was in Bashes when she was about 14. She was still gorgeous. I read in last weeks paper that she died. She was 39 years old. I have wondered and thought about her so many times over the years. My one regret is that when I was in Taylor I didn't go and try and see her again. My loss. She was such a special little girl. She has a special place in my heart and I will never forget her. Procrastination is such a terrible thing. I am the worst. When I think about it, I can't even remember the names of any of the other kids or what they looked like, but I remember her. I always will be grateful that our paths crossed.

The Day After - It's completely gone

2009-01-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Well it's the day after the flood, and the water is completely gone. I can't believe it. It went down so fast. We were driving last night and Michelle spotted the swan. I have never seen a real swan in the wild before. He was just lazily sitting and going with the current. It was only a few seconds and he was gone around the corner.

This is what it looks like out my window this morning. All the water is gone. I know there is still some up on Skok Valley Road coming over it, but only a few inches I'm sure. When Wayne and I came back home last night about 9:00 we were only in about 6 inches of water in the deep places. We have a lot to do this summer to fix the place up to make us better prepared for when it comes again.

Rainbows at the end of the storm

2009-01-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

Hip Hip Horray, it's over. It's 11 o'clock now and I can't believe how much it has receded since it got daylight. So much water. We were truly lucky. We came so close to getting water in the house again. From Seattle to Portland there were records set for Tues and Wed for rainfall amounts. Between that and our 3 feet of snox it made for lots of water. Some people weren't as lucky as us and got some major flooding again. It was so nice when the sun came up this morning for the 1st time in a couple of weeks. The water in the fields was so awesome looking. It was beautiful. It all amazes me. It's amazing at how the sun can make a person feel better.

Here is what the road looks like right now at 11:00 am

Pretty different from when we looked out the window at 3:00 this morning

The house just north of us

Mark showing how deep the water was on the road
Mark walking out in the water

This was my picture of the rainbow

The llamas look like they are thinking

"What the hell is this all about"

The new dike held very well. Notice it still has snow on it

It may look kind of rinky dinky, but it was built very well

This is Michelle's rainbow

She was pretty proud of it

The road looks so cool with water running from one

side to the other all the way down. Notice the tall grass that is stuck

in the fence. The fences were all fixed and cleaned this last summer and

now they are broken and filled with grass again.

The Morning After

2009-01-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

It's the morning after, and what a night. The water was completely surrounding the house last night, but by daylight it had receded so much. It is now a couple of inches lower on the step, but the majority of the yard is no longer under water, just the side on the east. We knew it was the low side. We have lots of work next summer. Here are some of the first daylight pictures. I attached a video, so we'll see if that works.

Looking out the bathroom window

Another shot out the bathroom window
Looking out my window

This is to the northwest of our house

This is off the front porch

Surrounded by Water in the middle of the night

2009-01-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

Well the water got here. About 1:30 or 2:00 this morning the water surrounded us. Mark woke us up at 2:30 and we went down and flood proffed the house as best as we could. All the cars are up and we're sort of ready. The water was up on the steps of the porch. It is now after 5:00 am and the water is actually down about an inch from the step that it was up over. Hopefully it will keep going down. I guess we will be stuck here long, cause we really can't get out. Ginger and Penny are stuck in town also. Here are a few pics that I took in the dark. They are pretty awesome. The eagle was from yesterday afternoon. He's awesome too. We did lose our phone and internet connection a little bit ago, but it came back so I am trying to get this posted quickly. I'll check back later.

An eagle in a tree - isn't he awesome

water on the front step
Looking out west of the house. It is solid water

Looking south of the house towards the barn

The bushes off the front porch - under water

To the right off the front porch looking towards the pump house

Flood report 3

2009-01-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

It's dark again now, so we can't see what's outside anymore. Darn. At noon Rich and Mark took a drive. They got out in the Bronco, but they took some more pics and it was pretty deep. By the time Ginger got here about 4:00 both roads were closed and it was too deep for her to come through. She is staying in town at some friends in the ward. Penny is going to stay there also, because she can't get home either. I get to spend my first night with the baby. That should be fun. The water is pretty deep and close to the house. The fields all around us are completely under water. We've had pretty much everybody in the ward call checking on us today. It's nice to be wanted. Ha Ha

Mark and Rich leaving today. The water is that close

Maggie and Sam at the water's edge
Rich and Mark coming back
An eagle on a post out of the bathroom window

The bad corner about a mile from our house

The bridge at Bourgalt and Skokomish

Water over Bourgalt Road

The 2 feet mark

He sandbags every time it rains

More eagles

Flood Report 2

2009-01-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

As soon as it got daylight everyone headed out. Mark took the kids out to the bus stop and then decided the road would be too bad when it was time to pick them up, so he brought them back. I guess we will be sort of trapped for a couple of days. I'll keep everybody posted during the day. Ginger is out of the valley, and we're not totally sure if she can get back in this evening.

Wayne getting into rain boots

The water on the road about 8:00 am

Water on the road a few hours later

See the hoses pumping the water from under the house

Water in the fields beyond - That is a solid lake

Water in the road about 10:30

It's the water to the left of the road that has us worried.

When it goes over the road it will start coming into our yard.

Water on the side of the house

Flooding again

2009-01-07T06:38:00.001-08:00

Well we got another floow watch again yesterday. Besides all the snow we have had it has been raining for 2 days and leaving tons of rain and melting all the snow that was here. We have went from snow packed to soppy wet ground. It started flooding at 5:00 am this morning. Ginger got out in the Excursion this morning, but she said the rest of us might have a problem. It is supposed to crest tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. Mark is supposed to take the kids to school, but we'll see what happens. Penny also has to go to work, but I believe Matt is coming to take her. I'll get pics of the flooding when the sun comes up. We're still in our winter mode and it doesn't get light until after 8:00 am and gets dark about 5:00 pm. Here are some pics of the kids that I have been taking.

Grandpa feeding Addie

Addie learning how to eat real food
Grandpa and Addie

Addie loves her grandpa

Addie chewing on her toes

Liam and Mr. Potato Head (eyes)

Conol riding his new bike in the snow (Jan 3)

Nevin eating his cake (don't ask about the pink frosting)

Nevin's cake that he munched on or licked I should say

Addie in a calm mood

Addie and Nevin in the morning

This pics was taken yesterday afternoon (Jan 6)

Poor Addie, Nevin thinks she's a toy

Conol's birthday cake

Addie in the drawer

Debbie's Big Adventure - Well 2 days worth anyway

2009-01-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

Well today is Debbie's last day here. Last year she ended up coming up to a flood. This year it snowed. We only had 2 days of going to see places, because the rest we were pretty much snowed in. (I think she enjoyed that also) Just kicking back and doing nothing but watching Judge Judy. Our only excursions were a one day trip to Astoria, Oregon and a second day trip to Seattle. The trip to Oregon was cloudy and rainy, and the trip to Seattle was colder than the dickens. (Debbie also had a little fall at the Submarine museum and bunged up her knee. She has the worst luck with falling) Anyway, I hope she had a fun Christmas. I feel bad that we didn't get to show her more of the North East, but maybe next year???

The Goonies house in Astoria

The Goonies house again

A purple house in Astoria! Wow!

The school from Kindergarten Cop

A view of the bridge from Washington to Oregon in the fog

A sea lion chilling on a dock in Astoria

The Pizza place from Goonies

A dock in Astoria

Some seagulls hanging out.

It started out with about 10 but by the time my

camera got its juice going, there were only 2 left.

A submersible thing that went down about 4 miles into the oceanDebbie at the submarine museum

Debbie at the museum still

Nevin and a Mermaid (Merman)

Debbie and Nevin

Nevin by the submarine conning tower thing

Nevin's cut off heads

Some more of Nevins cut off heads

Debbie actually found a pink torpedo

Debbie just walking around

Wayne, Ginger, Nevin and Addie resting

The Ferry we rode on

Seattle skyline

Our car in the ferry

Wayne and Debbie with Seattle skyline

The people on the sidewalk (They are famous) People dress them up in clothes all the time. One of them is in a hula skirt.

The famous elephant on the old road

The troll under the bridge

This was actually taken this summer. We couldn't find a parking space and it was so cold we didn't want to get out to take a new picture, so this one has Cody in it. The troll is an awesome thing. The volkswagon under his hand is real. It was actually in an Elvis Presley movie a long time ago. Mark says he is in "10 Things I Hate About You" also. He was also painted up (graffitied) nice and pretty today

The New Year

2009-01-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Well it is 2009 now. Wow! How time flies. We had a big new years party at our house last night. It was pretty wild. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of kids. It was supposed to rain all night, but instead it snowed again. We have another 3-4 inches. It was just finally getting melted. Oh well. So much has happened in the last couple of years. I don't know if I should look forward to a new year or sort of dread it. I guess I'm pretty much always up for a new adventure, and that's what the new year holds for me I guess.

Addie getting ready for a 6 month checkup

She got 3 shots so she wasn't happy later

Nevin dressed up as a "soder"

Christmas Day

2008-12-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

It still snowed on and off on Christmas day and also warmed up so it melted some. We invited the missionaries, Elder Finlinson and Elder Hair, to eat Christmas dinner with us. It was fun. Dinner was good and the company was good.

It still kills me that the grass is green under the snow

Wayne (with his apron on) and Addie
Elder Hair and Elder Finlinson

Conol is # 1

Addie and adorable butterfly

Emilie and Addie (our 2 little girls)

Christmas Dinner

Deer Roast (It was yummy)

Turkey Tacos (They were also yummy)

Eating dinner

Ginger and Addie

The boys and Addie

They plowed the road finally

Addie learing early

Our newspaper article

Presents and more Presents

2008-12-25T12:34:00.001-08:00

Well, obviously Santa made it. There was a lot of anticipation for Christmas, and it finally arrived. Everyone got lots of stuff and it was a regular zoo for a while, well maybe for more than a while. You gotta love Christmas. I do want to say Merry Christmas and not Happy Holidays. We are Christians and we do celebrate Christmas, not winter holiday. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt and Nevin in the snow

Matt throwing Conol into the snow (multiple times!)
Ginger & Addie & Michelle & Liam waiting for Santa

Rich, Nevin, Conol & Addie waiting for Santa

Liam heading out to play in the snow

Matt tossing Conol in the snow again

Matt opening a present early

Penny opening a present early (yes, it's a puzzle)

The Christmas Tree (Wow)

The kids eating dinner

Mark working on the fire

Impatiently waiting

The kids getting ready

The beginning

Debbie and Addie opening Addie's first present

Ginger opening her quilt

Kids opening presents

More presents

An almost empty tree

Wayne's "sword"

Let it Snow Again or Will Santa Claus make it?

2008-12-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it's snowing again!!! We had between 20 and 24 inches already and it started snowing again last night. We have about 8 more inches now. Michelle went to go to work this morning and got the Titan stuck. When Rich tried to get her out he got the Excursion stuck. It took a couple of hours to get them both out. Our little Deyette Road has no snowplow to clean it off I guess. We're lucky we haven't lost our electricity yet. I had to finally concede and do my Visiting Teaching by phone. Their goodies are still downstairs. They don't have many snowplows here in the Northwest and so you can't get into anyone's houses. (and they can't get out much better). I guess we are having a white christmas at home with our families. I talked to several older sisters this morning and they are all going to be by themselves, because their families can't make it. That is kind of sad, but it will have to be okay. Here are some new pics of what is going on at our house.

Snow on the barn and in the back yard

Snow out my favorite window
Snow on top of the Bronco

Snow on the roof of the house (where Santa will try to get in)

Snow on the unused swingset

Oops! I wonder if Santa is missing a reindeer

Rich's Excusions stuck off the side of the road

The Bronco came to the rescue and got him out

Wayne tring to warm up his feet

Debbie sleeping off some jet lag

Wayne and Adelaide hanging out

The roof over the wood collapsed

Addie in her new thermals

Debbie's here and boy is it snowing

2008-12-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

Debbie arrived here yesterday. We were supposed to pick her up at 11:30 pm. When she got to the airport in Phoenix one leg of her flight was already cancelled, but they got her onto a direct flight that arrived in Seattle at 5:00 pm. That was good for us because we were in the middle of a major snowstorm. The roads were horrible on the way over but much worse on the way back. Our normal 1 and 1/2 hour trip took 3 hours. It was a long and scary trip. The airport was shutting down as we picked her up. Our church was cancelled today because we had over 12 inches of snow. Since this morning we have received about another 6 inches. Yes that is 18 inches of snow, in a place that rarely gets any. We were trying to bring Ginger's little car home because it got left at Wal Mart last night and got it all the way home but as soon as we turned onto Deyette Road it came to an abrupt stop in about 14 inches of snow that had not been plowed. I, yes me, shoveled all the snow out from around the car and Wayne finally got it driven home. I guess we are stuck here until Rich gets home. Michelle went to work, hope she gets home okay. Penny's work called her and told her not to come. It's pretty funny, because there are virtually no snow plows and no one knows how to drive in the snow. We are lucky because we didn't loose our electricity. As long as we can keep that we are all okay. Just a little bit snowed in. The dogs are loving it. We are supposed to get snow off and on all week long. I guess we are going to have a white Christmas this year instead of a wet one like last year. Merry Christmas

Our car when we got up this morning - about 12 inches

Stuck in Ginger's car at the top of the road

The long trip down the road towards the house

Our house is straight at the end of this road

Let it Snow - Let it Snow - Let it Snow

2008-12-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

It started snowing last weekend. It was supposed to snow really bad over the weekend, but it didn't start until Sunday night. The kids missed school on Monday, had a late start (with no morning bus) on Tueaday and no school for the rest of the week. Even Ginger has been home for the last 3 days. Weird huh. Pretty much the entire state of Washington schools have been closed this week. The kids are having fun in the snow. It is pretty cold though. It is getting into the 20's. It hasn't been that cold here since 1990. Just a little note. I noted that the pictures were a little fuzzy. We decided that Nevin got the lens dirty when he was taking pictures with the camera the other day. The camera needed a good cleaning.

Matt pulling Emilie and Conol on his sled

Emilie and colon on the sled
Emilie and Conol on the sled

Emilie making a snow angel

The Escape covered in snow

The kids trying to sled on the hill

Penny and Adelaide

Snow on the tree

The roads were pretty hazerdous

The view out my bedroom window again

Shelton 1st Ward Christmas Party

2008-12-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

We had our Ward Christmas Party the other night, and had lots of fun. The food was great and the entertainment was fun. We have a really fun ward and enjoy it very much. The people are nice and we love them just like our family. What would we do without the gospel in our lives. We would be in trouble.

Addie - Our tiny social butterfly

Addie & Penny & Matt & friends

Wayne and an investigator

He's the new Ward Mission Leader

Emilie (she was Mary)

Conol and Kael were shepherds

Aiden only wanted to be Darth Mall

The Nativity

Santa getting dressed - does he look familiar?

I think he's really cute

Santa sitting in his chair - he's hot - ho ho ho

I think he's a little claustrophobic

Santa and Penny

Santa and Emilie

Santa and Addie and Conol and Ginger

Santa and Biam (Liam)

Santa and Aiden

Santa's sweating and leaving

I still think he's cute

A budding photographer - Nevin's Pics

2008-12-17T18:06:00.000-08:00

Nevin has been trying to learn how to work my camera. He used to not be able to do it, but now he can. He just goes and takes pictures. He even knows how to preview them. Here are a few of them. Maybe some day they will be worth money.

"Things on the floor"

Penny's clothes basket ?
Another clothes basket

A Lock block

Grandma's Puter

Self Image in the mirror

His shoes and toes - notice they are wrong feet

His foot and Addie's hand

A pretty good pictures of Addie

Even she's surprised

Stuff on the counter

Top of a pop bottle

A picture of himself

Marley Jade Martineau #24

2008-12-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

We are so grateful this new baby is here. I haven't been able to see her in person or hold her, but I can tell she is adorable. I can't wait to see and hold her. She makes grandbaby number 24. I am so lucky. Marley makes our 3rd grandbaby born this year. Miles was born the end of May and Adelaide was born the end of June. Cool huh. Grandpa Larry and Grandma Roberta would have loved to see all these new babies. I guess they probably did, before we did. Marley also has Grandpa Wendell and Grandma Kay who are living in Hooper.

Chelsea's tummy was so big

Chelsea in labor

Newborn Marley Jade - 9 pounds and 7 ounces - 20 1/2 inches long

Another newborn picture - check out those legs and arms

Marley Jade Martineau

Marley Jade sleeping

Marley sleeping with a curl on top

Marley sleeping

Marley sleeping mommy's arms

Marley showing off her cute little round face

Marley in the cute little hospital hat

Marley with a Christmas bow in her hair

Dallas and Marley

Dallas kissing Marley

Grandma Chris and Marley

Mommy Chelsea and Marley - Chelsea looks so good

Mommy Chelsea and Marley shortly after birth

My favorite. See how she's looking at Chelsea

Mommy Chelsea and Marley - look at all that hair

Chelsea and Marley again - so cute

Chelsea, Marley and Grandma Chris

Marley Jade is here

2008-12-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

The new baby is here. Marley Jade arrived about an hour ago, 4:59 Utah time. She was a whopping 9 pounds and 7 ounces. She was 20 and 1/2 inches long. She is adorable. This is the first picture that we have. Isn't she cute. Dallas said it was scary for a little while when her shoulders got stuck and they had to have an emergency get her out session. It all worked out fine and she is just fine. Chelsea is feeling good too, Dallas said.