Aleve and Our Winter Wonderland!

I am sure there are some of you out there who LOVE Aleve!!! Today, I do! Just came in from plowing for the third time. But you have got to know our winter wonderland is so enjoyable (from the window, by the fire, sipping hot chocolate). This is my sister's car which slid off my driveway YESTERDAY and was towed by a tow truck today. You gotta love it and laugh.

But honestly, I don't mind driving the four wheeler with the plow. It is so beautiful here. As you can see, though, we can't get to the BBQ right now. Uh, maybe in about six month. :) In the mean time, anyone for sledding? Come on over!

MCCALL FAMILY REUNION

This weekend my mom got what most mom's want most, I think, all of her children together! My brother, Brent and his wife Lorna drove to McCall to surprise mom and bring her presents for Halloween and her upcoming birthday. The best gift of all was THEM being here. I love my family! Mom was happier than I have seen her in a long time. She giggled and ate chocolate each day and loved every minute of it. Thanks Brent and Lorna for coming. It was fun!

FAMILY REUNION MCCALL

This was a great surprise reunion for MOM!!

REALITY CHECKS (and balances)

There are things in life that matter and there are things that don't. Lately I have let the "don'ts" get in the way of the "do's" sadly. I have been bothered by so many little things and then something happens that makes you realize what is truly important. FAMILY!!

I adore my mom and we have had to put her in an assisted living. It hurts but we know it is all for the best. She is content and that is what is important. Can you believe she is in her 91st year!

Reality check!

One of our grandchildren had a near drowning accident and had to be revived and taken to the hospital. Almost lost him. Reality check!

One of my niece's was robbed in Mexico but she and her little family are ok. Reality check!

Got to go to Weiser 2nd ward with hubby to hear him speak. The gospel is true! LOVE that man! Reality check!

I could go on and on with my "reality checklist" but I won't. Just know I KNOW priesthood power is real and the Savior is my friend.

The End

AND WE LIVE HERE! (STILL)

July 1st we got to go to: Brundage Ski Area (about 20 minutes from the house)
And we got to ride the: Ski Lift
For Free!
And we saw some familiar faces coming down: Amy and kids!!!

The view on the way up.......
The view from the top looking back over the lakes in McCall......

AND WE LIVE HERE! STILL!!!

The "Reunion, BEST DAY"

For a few great pictures go to Amy's blog at amyjoe14.blogspot.com

There is a movie "City Slickers" where three men go on a cattle round-up to 'find' themselves. While riding, one says, "Best Day", meaning what was your best day. Well, the pictures below is a BEST DAY for Clyde and I. Let me explain. On June 19th Clyde turned 60! For his birthday our son John flew his plane up to McCall with his brother Jim to surprise us. Boy, did they?!!! Amy and Dana picked them up from the airport here in McCall and when we came home Friday they were all standing at the corner with streamers, screaming and yelling and jumping up and down. It was incredible. There were a lot of tears and laughter.

We went to dinner, ice cream alley, played games, put up the trampoline, had a hot dog roast at the firepit, played pool, ate, laughed, watched old slides, had birthday cake, opened presents (matching sweatshirts), Jim ran 12 miles for the marathon he is training for, and so much more! Here are just a few pictures we took.

Like I said, BEST DAY for sure. Thanks kids! We love you all so much.

JUST RANDOM THOUGHTS

Thought 1: Ok, so here is the deal. Last Saturday, the 15th we went to a two ward picnic called the "Spring Fling" north of us in Riggins, Idaho at the Fish Hatchery. AND.....I forgot my camera! Hey, I did take my food and my mom and that was good. :-) Anyway, it was our 40th Wedding Anniversary. I know, I know, we are getting a little old. As I remember, though, we were only 12 years old when we got married. (Just a little humor) But we had a wonderful day with the family. Diane and Dave, Amy and family and Dana and family and the rest of the ward family. Actually two wards. (Amy has a few pictures on her blog. amyjoe14@blogspot.com) Afterwards Clyde and I went out to dinner and for a drive that evening. It was great. BUT......I have to tell on Clyde. We exchanged cards and read them out loud to each other. So tender.....until I got to the end of the card he gave me and it said, "To a great couple on their anniversary!" I re-read it and blinked a few times before we both burst into laughter. He said, "I guess I didn't get to the end of the card when I was picking it out." DAH!!!!! We won't forget that. :-)

Thought 2: We have a Robin Red Breast outside our house that we think is trying to commit suicide. Seriously! For three weeks now he will sit on the railing outside then fly into the window, back to the railing, fly into the window, back to the railing (shake it off), fly into the window. On and On and On each day. Surely, if he is trying to get to the other side of the house he would figure out that he COULD fly around the house. Oh well. We will keep tabs and get out the pellet gun one of these days.

Thought 3: We have a beautiful (I thought for a minute or two) Woodpecker, also. STUPID birds! We might have to use something other than a pellet gun to scare this bird off. Hmmm.

Thought 4: My mom is getting worse. Well, she's 90 years old, so I guess she should be. She is starting to get a little fiesty. What? No! I asked her who I was the other day and she shot back with "don't confuse me" Oops. She does still make us laugh.

Thought 5: I miss all my family and friends that don't live here and I'm hoping that some of you will take a trip to Idaho someday.

Well, that's all folks. And next time I will remember my camera. LOVE TO YOU ALL!

Spring Fling Picnic continued

I always post things backwards. I am such a booger, I mean blogger. HA HA! Anyway this is the final post instead of the first so you will just have to go back and check it out. :)

One of the funniest things of the day was when it was time to clean up the toys and things we couldn't find any! What? Where were all the toys? We finally found them piled in the front closet along with many other things. Blake, Spencer, Cody and Brett decided to make their own game of "steal stuff" and little by little "stole stuff" and put it in the closet. The funny thing was, no one saw them. It was so funny! We all laughed pretty hard. But what a great family day. Loved it!!!

continued

SPRING FLING PICNIC......in the living room :)

Every year our two wards have a "Spring Fling" in Riggins (north of us) to celebrate green grass and warm weather. WELL......this year the day of the picnic was canceled due to SNOW! Dana, Amy and I had our food prepared ahead of time so we decided as a family to have a "picnic" in our living room. We moved all the furniture, built a fire to roast hot dogs and the fun began. We played games, took naps, played guitar, and of course ate and ate. It was really fun. The kids had a ball. It was a bit (ha ha) noisy but so worth it.

Our Boys

Let me recount 38 years ago today. Our son, John, was born. Being our first born, we couldn't have been happier. So cute, big brown eyes, brown hair, cute smile and he won our hearts from the beginning. (Even if it was 27 hours of hard labor, but who's counting?!) Then two years later on the same day our second son was born. He also won our hearts. Big Blue eyes, blond hair and the cutest smile ever. (Even if he was three weeks late and weighed over 9lbs!) We couldn't be more blessed for April 17th to roll around and celebrate the birth of our two boys.

Since then we had two girls. One blue eyed, blond and one brown eyed, brown hair. I guess we only had two cookie cutters in this family. We had expected all of our kids to have red hair since Clyde was a carrot red head. Who knew? How blessed our lives have been.

Just want my boys to know how much they are loved and thought about today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS (I mean, men). You have turned into wonderful young men who love the Lord and your families. Love to you both. Mom and Dad

AND WE LIVE HERE!

All in a week's time. The skiing is great and the fishing is great! And we live here.

I stink at blogging! I know that and you know that. So, bear with me as I post just a couple of pictures of the past. Many things have happened and are happening in our lives but it would be impossible to list them or tell them to you without a "couch" session! And...it would take hours. Just know that all is well. We are trying to keep up with our own lives day to day.

When the cencus had to be filled out I was amazed to state the fact that 10 people live in our home! The Jones family lives downstairs in the apartment and mom lives upstairs with us. We LOVE it to be honest. Life isn't easy, but then who really has it easy? I doubt it was meant to be easy. A respite in the difficulties of life occur every so often and always welcomed.

A warm hug to everyone and know we are still alive and kicking. SMILE!

Another Catch Up.....there are a few :)

It's hard to go back to Christmas but I wanted to post a few pictures from the holiday. It was a very different Christmas for us and very special. Clyde and I had Grandma Belnap and Grandpa Dillon for the Holidays. We had to wait until 11am Christmas morning for the "kids" to get up! But what a special time with our parents. We love and admire them for all they are and all they have done for us throughout our lives. BLESS THEM!!!!!

MORE CATCH UP

CATCH UP

Here are a couple of pictures from August when we went to Salt Lake and visited with Sister Dalton (General Young Women's President). She came to our girl's camp and shared so many wonderful things with us and then invited us to visit with her in Salt Lake. She is definately a woman to emulate. I actually attended high school with her and admired her then. She loves everyone and it shows. We were so welcomed by her. What a great experience!