A wonderful day with the girls

The boys stayed at Tina's last night.  Trudy took me up to leave our car at the car dealers to have some work done so we left the boys at Tina's for the night.

The next morning Trudy, Cecilia, Stevie and I went to Waldorf so Trudy could shop with the two boys and I would be there when the car was finished.  On the way we stopped and had our hair done.

There is nothing like getting your hair washed, cut and styled to make you feel good.

On the way up to Waldorf there were so many of these beatiful trees.  This I thought was neat because they had planted the trees all along their driveway.

Before we went to Tina's, Trudy, the girls and I did a little shopping.  I spent more than I should have, but I had fun.

We visited at Tina's for awhile and then Trudy went shopping with the two boys and I stayed at Tina's and had a great visit with her.  Both my daughters are so wonderful and good to me (so are my sons).  Then Tina took me to get our car and  I brought Baxter, Ceci and Stevie home.

  

On the way the home we stopped at Rite aide for some presciptions and I handed Ceci my camera so she could take some picures of the parking lot at Foodlion.  I love shopping there because there are so many trees instead of  just blacktop like in Utah.

Stevie in the car

There are trees blooming everywhere.

Ceci taking a picture of herself.  She didn't take a picture of Baxter, I don't know why.

Of course you know that Spring is here when you see Rita's open.  I wonder what Peeps Ice tastes like?

I love this tree, I think it is a weeping cherry.  It was a lot prettier a couple of days ago, but I didn't have my camera.

There are a lot of big trees in our area.  I think Ceci likes them also.  She took a lot of good pictures.  Too many to blog.

When we drive up to our driveway, who is waiting,  Bubbles.  She is quite the dog.

Sorry for such a long blog.  I'm trying out something new.  I like it except I can't find the spelling check.  Tina said she couldn't find it either.  Oh well.

I had a great day.

Another new toy hmmm maybe not a toy

It must be spring!!!!. When they put up this fence we lost some garden space. So we have thought about enlarging the garden. Not as easy as it sounds.

Grandpa and I came home from a doctor's appointment yesterday to find Baxter struggling with a front tine tiller of a friend. Trudy, Baxter, Grandpa and I piled into Trudy's truck and went to True Value in Leonard Town and bought this tiller.

Here Baxter had already finished the garden spot and had tried to open up more area by taking out some grass. You can't see but on the other side of the fence is a tree. The roots are very shallow here and I think you would have to take a ax to them to get rid of them so you could garden. So maybe we will have less garden this year.

I have already started tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and crenshaw and have them in the sun room waiting to have them spout. I guess that is what spring does for you.

I love spring. On the farm I loved to go see the new colts, new little calves with their mothers, watch the alfalfa green up, the grain and the grass turn green. I love the smell of the good earth, the crocus, daffodils and the iris blooming. It starts to warm up and my body warms up also. What a wonderful season of the year!!!!!!

Ford Taurus 2008

You are probably saying have Mom and Dad gone crazy? We drove a Ford Taurus yesterday and liked it but then saw a better deal up in Waldorf. This happens not to be that car though.

This is a limited edition, 22,000 miles on it. It has heated seats, driver seat memory, dual climate controls, little things that I didn't think we would ever have.
I hope we enjoy it as well as we have our other cars. Dad kept the Chrysler so he can experiment on it.

Utah and my mother's funeral

What can I say. It was a time of eating out with family.

Here we are at Sweet Tomatoes. It was my first time there and I enjoyed it. Maybe because I was there with Trudy, Tina and her family.
This was the floral bouquet that my nephew Reza and his sister Jackie put together for the casket.

Meeting up with 1st cousin Sharon that I hadn't seen since Dad's funeral.

My sister Annette and me.

Of course there were many cousins and relatives I hadn't seen for a long time.

My niece Connie. She actually came and did mom's nails.

My sister Linda and her grandson Teague.

My sister Debbie and me.

My sister Barbara.

Sister Annette and Sev.

It was neat being able to get this picture of granddaughter Halley, daughter Tina, and daughter Trudy.

Here we are again eating, this time at Famous Dave's. My two sons, Sid Jr and George with his daughter Hope, and Lincoln were with us.

My dinner broiled Salmon with pineapple BBQ sauce.

Oh sooooo good.

Being able to see brothers and sisters together again.

I haven't seen Hope since last April. We were all at my Mom's house after the funeral. It was one place we could be all together since we were so spread out in the valley.

I think one of the neatest things I did was to be with my daughters, Tina and Trudy, my sister Barbara and her daughter Connie as we were able to dress my mother. I was the only one who had done this before, but what a privilege to do this for my mother. My sister curled my mother's hair and my niece Connie colored my mother's nails.

I would do it again, no questions asked.

The unpredictable weather

As Trudy and I left Halley's place it was such a beautiful morning. Side note: I left my winter coat in Maryland. I said to Trudy it looks like it is snowing in the mountains to the west of us. "No," Trudy says, "it is to warm to snow".

When the funeral was over and we were leaving the church for the cemetery, it was starting to snow and I'll bet it had dropped 20 degrees.

The funeral home had put up this tent with a propane heater that was in back of us and were handing out umbrellas to everyone. They had the chairs covered, they were wet, so we uncovered them and sat on blankets that were there for our use.

My son Sid gave me his heavy coat that he had brought from Oregon.

This is me with my four sisters, Debbie, Barbara, Linda and Annette.

Halley and Ryan with one of the umbrella's they were given.

Trudy wrapped up in a blanket to keep warm. She had left her coat at Halley's. We are standing with the Bishop on left and Brother-in-law Wayne on the right.

Son Sid Jr freezing in his suit because I had his coat.

My son George in the white shirt with the other pall bearers. His coat back at the motel.

Daughter Tina came prepared. Doesn't she look cozy and warm?

Trudy and Me.

Sid Jr and George.

When my dad died in March 3 years ago there was snow on the ground and it was cold. This day was cold and snowy but still a great day. To have family there and know of their love for our mother, grandmother, great grandmother was enough to keep our hearts warm and that is what counts and not the crazy weather that our bodies were enduring.

The RS dinner at Mom's ward

The Relief Society always does a great job with the family dinner after funerals. I always like this time because you renew family acquaintances of family you haven't seen for such a long time.

This is Halley and Chancy who are living out in Utah now. In the middle Mckay.
Then there is Todd's family that live in Idaho.

My sister Linda with some of her family that live in Utah.

Halley with Ryan, and Son-in-law, Lincoln.

It was a great time with great food. What would we do without RS and the sisters of the ward that do the cooking and the service. Everyone's favorite was the funeral potatoes.

Cooking and having fun

When I was in Utah for three weeks I stayed some of the nights with my granddaughter Halley. One of the first things we cooked together was Valentine cookies. They turned out great and were delicious.

Then Halley told me she had some black bananas that her husband thought should be thrown away. She told him no way, that is when her mom made banana bread. We went to the family recipes and found my old recipe and made these two loaves that turned out delicious.

Then my sister Annette had been making sour dough bread so Halley decided that maybe while I was there I could help her make bread for the first time.

This was a recipe off the Western Family yeast packet. Very easy and you can see the loaves raised beautifully.

It also tasted great.

We started at four in the afternoon after Halley had been at school. We had to go shopping to get some of the ingredients but had everything baked by the time Ryan got home from work.

This is Molly, Ryan and Halley's dog. When the bedroom door was open she slept with me. I woke up one morning and Molly's head was on my knees and since my camera was close, walla a picture. She is a Corky and is so much fun, I just love her.

Then at my mothers I decided to take a nap on the couch and Scamp decided to nap with me. Scamp is a Yorky with a tomahawk cut. He just loves my Mom. He sleeps at her side all day long.
When he isn't by her side she is asking where he is.

pictures of my mom

This is a picture of My Mother the first day I was in Murray. My niece Connie is on the left and my granddaughter Halley is on the right.

This is Mom, my sister Barbara and me.

Mom sitting at the table getting ready to eat a good healthy breakfast.
Doesn't she look great. She did want to go to bed to sleep but we kept her up to eat breakfast.

My Mother

I don't know if I can say what is in my heart.

My mother and I never really got along as I was growing up, it was even worse when I was a teenager. I could hardly wait to leave home, which I did when I married my sweetheart my senior year in the Manti Temple.

Several years ago I moved in with my parents to help take care of them and lasted 6 months. Mom was too mean and hard to be with and she treated my dad terrible. My dad had dementia and my mom took care of him for 39 years after his stroke when he was only 50. He has now been gone for 3 years.

Don't get me wrong I love my mother. She used to bake apple pies that she would take to the neighbors. She would go over to Smith's and get their old bananas and come home and make banana bread, mom is allergic to bananas, and take the bread to neighbors and family. She has a big heart and did a lot of things for people in the ward. She always was giving away her grapes, grape juice, grape jelly, apricots and etc.

This trip is different. I am seeing another side of my mother. She has been bedridden for about a year and a half, since my last visit. She has turned nice. I'm seeing her be happy when her daughters, granddaughters and nurses help her. She never complains, she eats everything put before her and is very gracious.

It is very hard to see my mom sleep a lot, wear diapers, slobber when she eats. She is happy, she appreciates each day as it passes. I find I love her more and more and as I write this there are many tears. I am going to miss her when Heavenly Father finally decides to take her home.

I have a firm testimony of the gospel, there is no sting in death because of my Savior. I know this.