Easter in the Torrential Rain

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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.