DETOUR

I have had to do a lot of soul searching lately and I have really had to push myself to go to the temple since Keith passed away. When I was sent to St. George, I figured I would get there, but the weather really did put a damper on my plans--and I was tired and exhausted from putting in 10 hour days. So I made a promise to myself (or maybe a resolution) that if I went again to Dixie, I would go to a session. and what better way that to so some soul searching than in the temple.
For those of you who know me--know that I don't have a lot of luck when it comes to St. George. The First time I went to St. George on my own, I went to the temple, came out and stepped off the curb wrong and broke my foot! The next time I went, all the power went out from Richfield to Mesquite and we were stuck in St. George in the middle of August with no electricity, so we couldn't get gas, and this meant no air conditioning. It was miserable. The next time I went (with Keith, Mom and her friend Kathy, was to my cousin's wedding in Cedar City (not quite St. George, but close enough) and the wedding and precursor to it was just a comedy of errors. The only saving grace was the laughter we had later. I have to say that my cousin divorced this man and married a much better catch the second time around. The next time to Southern Utah was last month--it rained for 9 days in a row, we were nearly evacuated from the motel I was staying in...but it all turned out good.
Fast forward to this week. I left on Wednesday at about noon and arrived at 5:30--dropped off my stuff to the room, changed my clothes and headed for town. I was tired and exhausted and needed some rest--but I am glad I did it. It was peaceful and a pleasant break from everything that has been going on. It has been 10 or so years at least since I have been there. Although I love the historical background and the lovely design and it is one of my favorites--I still have a very deep love for Manti and always will. I think that maybe the church should have left that one as a live session temple, but then they didn't ask for my opinion. The next place I took advantage of for some soul searching and besides the temple, what a beautiful place to soul search. This place is truly ZION! I love Zion National Park. The weather was absolutely spectacular, I had the windows rolled down and some nice music playing in the cd player and I just drove and drove until I had to pay the $25.00 entrance fee (I may have justified paying the $25.00 if there had been at least 4 people in the car but I am cheap these days) and I turned around and headed back to LaVerkin (what a name) to head North for home. I think I got a little of my dad's love for rocks, but I prefer them in picture form than lying around my yard. So here are a few snaps of my trip to Dixie and Zion NP.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Oprah announced today that...are you sitting down for this?...that she has a a half sister! The horror and shock of it all.

Well, I am here to tell you that I have plenty in my family alone, that have step brothers, half brothers and sisters, adopted children, and if you really want me to get into the nitty gritty of it all my mother is:

one of two children (Clair and Gwen..children of Pete and Lucile,)
an only child (raised and adopted by her aunt and uncle (Lois and Al) after her mother's death),
the second child in a family of six (Clair, Gwen, Eileen, Trina, Curly and Buffy-- a step-child to Myrtle (Pete's second wife) and children to Pete),
and then the oldest of nine children: Gwen, Steve,Penny, Barbara, Condalee, Jeff, John, Sally and Sandy!!!

So if Oprah can make a big deal out of being a half sister to Patty What's her name--I have this all on one family line--no kidding. If you don't believe me, I will write it all out for you on paper!!!

This is why I do not watch television. Eat your heart out Oprah! I bet you wish you could claim this family line!!!

I REALLY AM AN IDIOT!

Two Christmas' ago, Keith went all out for me and it was an electronic Christmas. I got a new digital camera, which has since been sent to the camera heaven in the local junk yard. A new computer, which somehow saw it's better days and should be sent to computer heaven, but I haven't had the gumption to do that, besides, my cousin is taking the guts out of it and I will have the hardware in case I need it--why, I don't know, because we got a huge memory bank and transferred it, but I guess it is the fear of "just in case." I also got a portable dvd player that gets used nearly every week by one of the kids when they don't wnat to watch waht one of the others is watching!
But the funniest one is that I got an MP3 player, similar to the one in this picture. I don't know why I wanted it, but I got it and yes, I have never ever used it. .

Yes, I am really an idiot. I could never get it to work and quite honestly, never took the time to figure it out. And if you are wondering about operating instructions, for some reason, they never came with it. The store told Keith I could come in and he would show me how to download to it, but I never did, and I never did and, well...you get the picture. I finally sat down today and figured it out! Yep--two years and one month later. After all, it is the only thing that isn't broken and seen it's better days. Guess what? I works!!!

Quite honestly, it wasn't that hard, but I guess I just didn't have it in me to figure it out in the past two years.
Here's to some music while I work (if I could ever get a job)!

MILESTONE

Today I turned the big "FIVE--OHHHH"! Yep, that's right.

My Mom sent me a birthday card about some off the things that weren't happening 50 years ago when I was born. ROTARY DIAL vs. CELL PHONEs and then the Cell phone thing was about getting one call from jail--then off to your cell. SURFING was on WAVES and in WATER not looking things up on the internet, computers started out being the size of ginormaous room in a building to something you can carry and put on your lap....blah, blah, blah! I could go on, but unfortuanatley I am 50 and I can't remember where I put that blasted card.

Things happening in 1960: John Kennedy was elected President of the United States, the First Birth Control Pills were released to the public, Alfred Hitchcock's, Psycho, was released in the theaters, the premiere of the Flintstone's, And the Twist was made popular by Chubby Chequer. Aliminum cans were released for the first time, Ben Hur hit the big screen, the first Atomic Bomb was released in the Sahara Desert, and finally the Weather Satellite and Pacemakers were invented.

That was quite the year.

Most days I can remember anything and everything, afterall there is a 30 year old mind trapped in this 50 year old body that on most days (yes it is my fault) feels 75or older.

It has been rumored that 50 is the new 30, so if I punt or at least lift my foot off the ground I can attempt to be at least 40!!! Oh to be forty again (sigh).

But seriously:

I have to be truthful about this day. It has quite possible been on of the most depressing days I have had in awhile. Not to mention the last 4 months. I haven't bawled this hard for weeks. I haven't been this depressed in days.
It has nothing to do with the number of years that I have been around.

All I can say at this very moment is--I can only hope and pray that next year is a much better year than this past year and that 50 brings more joy--or at the very least--a better outlook to the future!

SILENCE IN SEATTLE (NO REALLY!)

I have a great friend that works for an airline company that kindly gave me a buddy pass to go to Seattle (actually Sequim and Port Angeles on Bainbridge Island) to spend Thanksgiving with Keith's family.
I got quite a bit of rest and relaxation and much needed peace an quiet.
I was actually good for me to be with them, although there were only five of us, but they are my favorites!
It was a bit stressful getting out of Long Beach to Seattle because of the "BIG, BIG" storm that shut down the city of Seattle with 3 inches of snow--in Port Angles they had 6!!!
But once I got there--all was well.
We visited the "Twilight" town of Forks for any of you Twilight fans. Personally, I have never read the book, so it was just a drive and few pictures for my niece! But the Washington country is absolutely beautiful--there is no wonder that it is called the Evergreen State!
Our nephew, Bill (Billy for family),is stationed in the Coast Guard there on the CUTTYHUNK--yep it's really true (it's the name of an island off of New Jersey somewhere.)
We spent a few hours at the Coast Guard Station where I got some great pictures--the wind was cold and straight out of Canada--which you can see directly Norht of the Coast Guard Station. If the water weren't so cold, you could probably swim there faster than you can drive because of having to catch the ferry!
I love Seattle--It is one of my favorite cities, however, it is nice to be home!

THEY ARE BACK

This is just for me to vent--and I have been doing a lot of that lately. Especially the past 2 1/2 months, but also a lot this past week!
Kassie and RJ have arrived home and I am done in! I am to old for this full-time mothering.
We once had a patient at Dr. Reiser's office say that being a mother was "SO DAILY" and it was only her first baby! How did other women make it through the day, week or even month. Well, it is daily and in the past eight days, I have had at least one child with me--generally two and sometimes three. I got RJ's mother to come up and watch them for an hour while I went to the grocery store. Isn't that pathetic that one hour seems like a week when you have cabin fever?
I don't really have a lot of patience with children, but I lose my patience a lot more when Austin comes home from school and starts picking fights with Ashlynne and then the crying and whining begin. He listens so well in class and helps the teacher a lot. He also ought to know better than pick a fight with her, because, like Genette (and still like Genette), Ashlynne fights back and can sometimes get the best of him.
I have tried reasoning, bribery, threats, reverse psycology, you name it I have tried it, and still he is ruthless.
Then there is Andrew! Man this kid has really done me in---I really don't remember Austin and Ashlynne being so needy at 2 years old. Maybe because he is the third child that neediness takes over. But he is tough on me and I just want to crawl in a hole somedays without this child--even though I love him. I maintain that he is possessed. He is a little demon. He gets mad, he will head butt you, you tell him no and he will haul off with a nice punch or slap to the face--sometimes he tries to cratch out your eyes--but he is so cute, but at near-fifty he is wearing me out far too fast.
Ashlynne is a little prima-dona. She will sing all the songs, dance all the dances, all while watching herself in the mirror. If she spots lipstick--it has to go on at least ever 2 minutes and she is constanlty checking out the placement of said lipstick in the mirror. I really hasn't helped much in the past week that she now has a "boyfriend", she is much worse when sheknows she is going to see him!!!
Now to Kass and RJ--They cam home, talked to the kids for about 20 minutes, went to their room, started to argue and ignored their children for another 30 minutes, came out to put them to bed and now I can say--it's great to have them home. It is such a peaceful, restful, spiritually enlightening downer when they are home. The sad thing is that it is those three adorable children that suffer and there is no changing them. They are both as stubborn as jack-asses and neither will give in.
So now I have bented and vitched.....I can go to bed in my own bed that I haven't felt in over a week!

BEFORE AND AFTER

Did I mention that I have had these kids for eight days in a row and one or more at my side, or at least in the near vicinity of my side, while their mother and father did a "pseudo honeymoon" in Cabo San Lucas.

Ashlynne's hair did turn out cute, thanks to that adorable 6 year old brother of hers. I actually laughed about it when it happened. I am not so sure mom and dad are going to feel the same. I know her Grandma Cindy was none to happy about the cutting of the locks. FYI: Mom and dad don't know about the damages yet, so this will be very interesting when they arrive home tomorrow night to see the biggest damage of the week--unless of course the house burns down or a tree falls into the house form the wind! Let's just pray that this all doesn't happen!!

Other things that have happened this week are: Andrew threw a heavy toy at me on Monday and bloodied my lip and it was fat for 2 days. Austin wasn't at all happy with me when I told him "NO" the other day when he wanted something---he felt he deserved it because he is Austin and he picked up his plate and threw his food all over the kitchen! (I wonder why I detest sweeping and mopping all the time). Austin and Andrew have both been sick and having all three home during the day yesterday just about did me in! And although Austin was sick with fever, flu symptoms, etc--he certainly didn't act sick!

Ashlynne went on her first official date with the little boy down the street. Andrew is absolutely in love with her and yammers on about her all day to his poor mother, until she finally gives in and gets Ashlynne down to play or takes her with them to the aquarium. They had a great time and he was actually mad at his big brother for talking to her. I told my mother she may have a wedding to attend when she gets home in 7 months!

Andrew's mother and I have been laughing about this for a week--who knew that 4 1/2 years olds could be so enamoured with someone else of that age. He winks at her, fixes his hair for her, is jealous about her--it is so funny!!! I guess I will have to get her to go to church more often if we are planning on a "Temple Wedding". What's the going age these days without having to have parental consent?

there have been other things that have put me over the edge, but these are what stick out right now and that I can think of at 12:00 at night!

Wish me luck that I live through til tomorrow evening! I told Kassie tonight when she talked to the kids on the phone that I was walking out the door as they are coming in. I think I will leaving Dodge as soon as they return--this is just far too much for one near 50 year old to handle!