Hi Ho Its November!

We just got home from Disneyland. It was really fun and beautiful. CHristmas is up and Christmas music was playing and it snew (past tense for snow) after the fireworks. We went on Splash Mountain and stayed dry--compared to last time when we were completely soaked! I think the kids who run that ride take glee in putting the weightier people in the front of the boat. We also saw the haunted mansion Tim Burton style.

October is a blur

Hi again,
Where is Fall? I felt it about 2 weeks ago with the cooler weather and that distinct feeling of change. But where is it now? There are leaves rattling around in the wind an mor than the usual amount of color on a few trees. I miss real Autumn. The intense reds and oranges on the mountains, the fields of lavender and gold flowers, geese flying south.
Yesterday we went to the second anual "symposium on the Family" at church. It was so interesting and I learned quite a bit as well. We should have invited some people. It was that good!
Oh, something exciting! I am getting a new crown! DOesn't sound like much, but I have had a big break in my tooth for a few years now, and am just now finally getting it fixed. It feels weird not to have my tongue scrape against that big jagged tooth!
Something that I am truly excited about is a family home evening party I have planned for tomorrw night. Our friends are all coming over for pulled beef sandwiches, and salads and desserts, yummy! And fun!

Soft tofu soup, Pho and Gram

Yesterday we had a fun time just running around town. We just made some returns and went looking for some oragami paper to make ornaments for Tia's tree. At one point I had misdirected us onto Garfield in Costa Mesa and while my head was looking at the map I told JE that we may run into a dead end soon. I looked out the window and there was a complete waste land complete with tumbleweeds! Funny. So We went to get Soft Tofu Soup and It was sooo yummy! The first thing I have eaten that hasn't left me feeling ill. Oysters and Kimchi! Why is that such a great combo?
Today we went to visit Gram. She looks a bit ragged and overwhelmed. SO sad.

Company, Disneyland and Surgery

Again, busy in strange ways.

Sarah and Rhett and their circus full of kids called Friday to ask if they could come Saturday. So much for our romantic weekend away.

It was fun to see them and their kids. They arrived Saturday night. JE and I spent Saturday cleaning and prepping the house for company. We also got the fireplace almost finished! Hurray! I'd post a photo, but alas, camera is still dead.
Sunday we dinked around with S&R. Dropped off the car they had sold on eBay and then went to Ikea for 5 HOURS!!! They did buy some stuff and it was fun at first. 5 hours is too long to shop in any store! We then went to Crystal Cove State Beach and showed the kids all the little tide pools. They were great that day! We saw lots and lots of anemones and muscles, a couple little fish, bunches of hermit crabs, a few other things I didn't know what to call, and 2 star fish--which I have never seen there before!

We then went out to dinner at cheesecake factory. Sarah really wanted to eat there. It was around 9 pm when we arrived. The kids were utterly wasted. They were all asleep before we finished the meal.

Monday we (minus the working man Johne) went to Disneyland--the happiest place on earth (unless you are kid and very very tired). It was really fun.
(I had a pre op appointment at 9:45 so I had to meet them at the park. I was amazed to not get out of my appointment until after noon!)
We went on the Peter Pan ride, Casey Jr, Haunted Mansion (I had Ian with me--he is the cutest little kid. He was so completely absorbed in the colors and movement. He just sat quiet and bug eyed. Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, somebody's taxi, the crazy 45 minute wait and 30 second roller-coaster in Tune Town. I showed Max and Madeleine all the doorknobs and tricks around ToonTown. They loved it!
We figured out that if you wait to go on the kiddy rides until after the fireworks, there are no lines! I think we went on a few more, we went on more rides than I think I ever went on there before in one day. If that makes sense.

When we got home that night (almost 11) there was a message from Steph asking if it would be alright if she and the kids came to visit! Funny, we are thinking about installing a revolving door so our friends and family can come around any old time. I really enjoy having company. However I had to say, Wait.

I had a little surgery yesterday. I have been very concerned about it being another big deal. That last one was so completely incapacitating that I was really worried about being in a whole lot of pain during the recovery. But alas, that was the only thing I really had to compare it with. This was by scope. It was just to check out what is going on inside, to see if I have excessive scar tissue/endodemetreosis, and why I keep getting pinched on my right side. I have 3 tiny incisions and my uterus never left my body. So though I am a bit bruised and a tiny bit bloody, I am able to get up and move around. The worst part of this is that my diaphram is being pushed up by a whole lot of very painful gas and my neck/ shoulder is out of place, I also have the remains of that draino cocktail to deal with--yikes!

I woke up on the table--at least I think I was on the table. My hands were strapped down. I was trying to take off my mask, I just couldn't get any air. I heard some one say something about should have used a bigger mask. I told them there was no air flowing and they put the mask up to my ear so I could hear it flowing. I couldn't hear it flowing. But they must have put me back to sleep because that is all I remember.

They put me in a recovery room and tried to wake me up. I would come in and out and go right back to sleep. I don't know how long I was there. They had taken off all my monitors and then had to put them all back on again because I couldn't wake up. When the nurse was taping my heart monitor back on I asked if that was my gold star. He laughed.

It was awful trying to move to stand up. I kept getting really nauseated and then got really hot and sweaty. Finally I was able to get dressed and moved into the recliner, and finally out the door and home again. Johne has been taking really good care of me. I love him.

Busy and more busy

So... It has been a very crazy time in my family. I worked for a local pro theater group doing costumes. I was in such a fog from the start. I was originally hired to first hand for Swantje, but because I started to late in the run, I was put on trim. Trim is about the last thing I would trust myself to do, but do I must and so I did! And it turned out great. I just had my head down and stayed busy.

A couple weeks ago met up with Adam and Lexi and the girls. We had a great time. Adam was a participant in the Arts Fair, helping to bead bracelets. We showed up kind of late and hung out. Then went over to Claim Jumper and got our claim jumped! That place has fun food that you pay dearly for!
The Next Day was Gramps celebration of his life ope
nhouse. There were quite a few people there. All have fond memories of Andy. One that Bud Bennett told was of a time when he and Ruthy and Hope and Andy were all out on the back bay in a collapsible boat when the tide went out. Thy "ran out of water" meaning the boat marooned forcing them to stay where they were for an hour our so until they had enough water to move again or else they would have been wading knee deep in mud! Shorty told about playing poker with gramp and using pennies, nickels and dimes as one, five and ten Million dollars.

This Last weekend was General Conference. We watched it all and loved it. We invited a few couples to come over for dinner Saturday. This is a tradition we started with JE's family when we lived in Provo. The men go off to priesthood meeting and the women stay home and cook. I made a pasta dish that was so yummy and so simple! Plus a Caesar Salad. Tiffany made roasted asparagus. And Joy brought drinks and appetizer chocolate cake.

Cindy made a rockin' chocolate cake that I really just wanted to devour the entire thing. But behold Decorum!!!!

So, in order to have company, we had to clean and super clean the house. I admit that after everyone left I had been very negligent in my housekeeping. So I spent Friday cleaning cleaning cleaning! We finally got the house just feeling so so good. It felt so good to show off all our hard work. The fireplace still isn't done yet, but the chandelier is up in the entry! Hurray!

Unfortunately on JE's B-day, I dropped our camera face down in the sand and it has deceased. SO sad! I don't know why all camera's aren't idiot proof/ sand proof.
Today was a very lazy day. Which is nice every once in a while!

Family, funeral, and fun

It's a good thing I spent a little time after Lisa got here to pick up our construction mess.

Dad arrived Wednesday morning. We basically spent the day hanging out waiting for Tia to arrive. Which we did-later. Poor dad can hardly move. His hips are completely gone and because of other health issues, cannot have replacement surgery.

Thursday we all went to the beach and had a great time. The water was very churning and cold, but swim we did. Dad got tumbled by a wave and all Tia saw of him was first the bottoms of his feet, next butt and then shoulders and head. He came up smiling and saying now he knew how clothes in a washing machine feel.

We kept out of the rest of the families way, since dad and Gram are not close. In fact, dad and the rest of his family are not close. Just a whole lot of resentment and pride.

We went out to dinner to our favorite Chinese restaurant. We had Beijing duck, our favorite and some other favorites. It was great and a whole lot of fun.

Lisa and Tia slept in the same room. We got a double height air mattress for dad and he slept in my sewing room.

At night I couldn't sleep so I started baking and making a treasure chest cake as promised for my cousin Adams daughter Paloma. She turned 4 on Saturday. The cutest little girl!

To Friday finally. We drove down to San Marcos and met Adam at the Mortuary. He looked handsome in his suit. The rest of the family arrived shortly and we all stood in the parking lot and talked. Adam met dad for the first time and Tia met Uncle Frank and Linda for the first time. Tia and Adam are both in their 30's.

Extended family was not invited. Hope does not like a large group, even at her wedding it was a very limited party. She and mom do not get along. She is very choosing about who she likes to be part of things and so even Adams wife Lexi and mother were not invited. (This is such a difficult thing to deal with as I am so much the reverse of this. I want everyone to come.)

In attendance of the funeral were: Hope, Aunt Jane and Don, Uncle Frank and Linda, Cousin Adam, my Dad, Tia, Lisa, JohnE, and myself.

As we came in the organ was playing. It was such a morbid and ooky organ tone I almost started laughing. It sounded like something on a scary movie. But as I sat I started to feel really sad. Everyone was crying. The preacher man Eric, who was the chaplain at Andy's passing was the speaker. He gave some simple prayers and then Frank gave the eulogy. Frank also spoke about Gramp's love of food and cooking, about how he gave so freely of himself. Adam spoke about the time that he went across the country with "grump and dump." Dad said his father's eulogy and told some wartime stories about gramp. Gram looked at her watch and made a comment that it didn't happen. (Gram called tonight and thanked me again for all I did. She asked about dad liking to be here, and said that she really enjoyed what dad said. "wasn't that neat?" I told her I could just hear the bedtime stories in those words. She said that it all "must be true.")He also read the poem that starts "pappy mine pappy," to which there was not a dry eye in the house.
I spoke and am not entirely sure what I said. It all kind of tumbled out. I know I said that a lot of prayers were answered by Lisa and my being there at the time of gramps passing. I also talked about coming to visit and ordering pizza and gramp eating 3 pieces. And how when I was 15 he would get up early to pick oranges, and make orange juice for us. Then Eric stood again and closed the service.

We all went to lunch in the neville room at the chateau. Dad sat next to gram and Frank. It was the first time dad and Frank had seen each other in almost 40 years. All in all, things went very smoothly.

Saturday, JE and I took dad to the airport rather early in the morning. Later we all went to Paloma's party. It was so much fun and such a nice park. It was so fun to be there. Adam and Lexi have such nice friends and are such good people themselves. We are lucky to live so close and to have crossed that bridge into friendship.
Later we drove Lisa and Tia to the airport.
JohnE and I went to bed almost immediately and didn't get up until 1 in the afternoon. I am still so tired. It has been quite a roller-coaster.

Gramp

So I woke up this morning after not being able to sleep very well. I had my grandparents on my mind all night long. I just really felt that I needed to go visit. So I asked Lisa if she would mind going down with me. We were just trying to decide if we should call Gram when she called us. We asked if we could come down and she said she would work on getting us in for the chateau Labor Day Picnic. We went and had a great time at the picnic.
When we got back to the room, Andy was on the john and couldn't get up. I don't know if he was ever even conscious while we were there. Hope tried calling everywhere looking for some one to help move him onto the bed. While she was doing that, Lisa and I went in and kept him company. We got him a blanket and covered him and rubbed his back. He was moving his jaw everytime we talked with him and I heard the rasp of his breathing every once in a while. We just kept talking to him. All the while the look in his eyes was just retreating. He was getting further and further away. Hope called the non emergency number for the fire department. I turned to Lisa and said "he's Dying, right here, we can't wait for them." So Lisa and I pick him up and moved him to the bed. We hurriedly arranged him and got him dressed. I closed his eyes and jaw. Hope brought in a clean sheet we put it over him and helped him look a little more dignified. In Honesty I think he died somewhere around the time that we wer moving him. When the firemen came they tried for a while to revive him. Hope was adamant that she had a DNR, but the one she had on her fridge for him wasn't legally binding somehow. So he was innovated for about half an hour. We were all in the livingroom while they worked on gramp in the bedroom. At one point, Gram started to cry, but she is so stoic she said, "there will be lots of time for tears later, right now there are things we need to do."
So, the chaplain came and announced that gramp had passed. He explained that since he had passed at home, he would have to stay there until the coroner came, and then the funeral home could pick him up later. No definite timeline since today was a holiday. We prayed together. Lisa had gone to the health center to find the authentic DNR form. Gram and I talked together a bit while the chaplain went to speak to the paramedics who had arrived with a gurney. As we talked the chaplain came in and said, "Mrs H. There has been a change." Andy's heart had started beating after they had stopped resuscitating him. So they swooshed him off to the hospital and Lisa rode in the ambulance.
I helped Gram collect the things she needed to take to the hospital. I also made the bed, and just kind of did some general straightening things in an attempt to make the room seam just a little less empty. Not much you can do for that.
So I drove to the hospital, Gram led the way. We got there and were escorted back to the internal waiting area where they told us that Gramp was announced dead.
The social worker came in and gram astounded her with her poise and organization. The entire Funeral was organized. All the papers were in order and gram wanted the people who needed to be phoned called right away.
When we got back to the condo, Gram and I sat talking for a few minutes. She really wanted Lisa to stay with her for the night. Lisa is such an easy traveler all she needed was a pair of earplugs.
Nothing seams real yet. I closed his eyes. I heard his last breath, I flushed the toilet for him. Why is this not real???
All I can think to say is that I am so glad I went today to visit my Grandmother and my Grandfather. I am so honored to have been at his passing. I walked on hallowed ground today, with barefeet.

Monday we went on a picnic with the D.s We went down to Laguna Beach and had fun eating together, talking laughing and learning. I learned that
Yesterday, Sunday we went to brunch with Gram. When we got there she seamed almost her usual pleasant self. But after greeting us all and sitting us down she started talking about Gramp and how he gets out of bed and falls out of bed. She had to call the fire department last week to help get him back into bed.
We went to downstairs to brunch and had a great time. Gram is artful at deflecting the how are you's with pointedly asking about the other person. She holds herself together for others by talking about others.
After brunch we went back upstairs and gram said she would just check on gramp. She opened up the double door leading to the master bedroom and saw the bathroom light on. "He's been up" so she opened the bedroom door. The look on her face was hopeless. I asked if he was alright, she said no. I went in to find gramp laying flat on his back, his feet and legs sticking 2' off the end of the bed with his mouth gaping. I thought he had passed on. I went to him and rubbed his arm, it was warm, "hi Gramp, how are you?" He blinked awake and recognized me. "Oh hi, Good to see you," he said. JohnE and Lisa came in, Gram followed. She leaned on the end of the bed and began to cry. She had thought he was dead, too. The three grandkids moved gramp up to a better place in the bed, and gram wanted to let gramp sleep. We all went out, except Lisa who visited and talked with gramp for a while. He recognized her.
We spoke to gram about Adam, our cousin. She was truly fascinated to learn about what he was doing, what we talked about etc. Later she told us that a day or so after the party, gramp woke up and he was completely different. He is usually very non talkative , but he woke up and just started talking for a day and a night he relived memories. As Gram was telling us some of the things he said, she was bawling her eyes out. After his day and night of talking, he now just sleeps, and has a very hard time moving around.
What do I do? I have never had to deal so closely with this sort of thing before. I'm wondering if I should skip work and just go get a hotel room close by. I want to be there for gram. Perhaps until she can get hospice in to help her.

The Grand's 65th wedding anniversary

Soooo.... Last night JE and I went to the 65th anniversary party for my Grandparents. What a joyous event. It was a Fiesta with food (by Acapuco's, care of Frank and Linda.) Luscious cake (care of Jane) and decor by yours truly.
Gram looked radiant and her charming youthful self (though perhaps a bit uncharacteristically frazzled.) Gramp was delivered to the event in a wheelchair and looked very pale and fragile, though very much there mentally. They seemed to have a great time. It was a small party with just a few friends and just a few family. The Bennets were there, those neighbors from 40 years ago whose 50th anniversary party we just attended. Frank and Linda flew from Indiana to attend the event, Jane came from Mammoth, Don from Reno, JohnE and I from Orange County.
Frank and Linda put together a family album with lots of family photos including some of my dad I hadn't seen before.
It was amazing. All those years of history. I so love my grandparents and honor them. I am so happy for them and their companionship of sixty-five years.
Gramp will be 91 this September. I found him once on a census, he was just 16. He had not even met Hope at that time. He was still well, vibrant and young. I hate to see him so not well. Worse yet, I hate to see Gram so frazzled. Gram is a person who gets up every morning and makes sure the world is spinning her direction. And if it isn't, she fixes it. She has been keeping Gramp up and going all her life long. Gramp may not be around too much longer, and I worry for Gram. What will she do with herself? Maybe I can persuade her to go on a road trip with me, go to visit Palm Springs, or take her to visit Jane, circumnavigate the globe...

And now for something completely different...
OK, Now I have to talk about dates.
August 3rd, 2006 I met with a new doctor, Dr. Gersh. In February 2005 I had surgery to remove uterine fibroids. Well, they removed over 16 of them. When I met with Dr. Gersh and told her about this, she said, Removing that many fibroids can completely deform the uterus. I was devastated. I had had the surgery to try to make my uterus a much more friendly place for a baby to grow. Well that evening JE's sister Meri, her husband Nate and their new baby Solee came to visit. I was in no mood for company, so I went to the mall and looked for something to wear to Malcolm and Laura's wedding (Malcolm is JohnE's oldest sister's oldest son.) Couldn't find anything, but I had pulled myself together enough by that point that I could start answering my phone again and perhaps work into gathering with family. So we met up with them and went out to dinner. They stayed for a few days, we had a great time at the beach, eating, hanging out at the Irvine Spectrum, etc...
August 5th, 2006 JohnE's mom came. I love his mom, we get along swimmingly. So we had quadruple company! The Simpsons were still with us. They left that Sunday. Monday I took Mom to Long Beach so she could ship her car to Hawaii. She and Dad were leaving to go teach in Hawaii BYU the following week. So we left JE at home sick and drove to Long Beach. When we got home I sewed and I sewed. Thanks to mom's suggestion. It is silly for me to think that I can just walk into a store and buy clothes! I am 6'3"!!! My range on the size spectrum isn't met by even the "tall" category in most catalogs! I made a really great jacket and skirt. It was so therapeutic. I sat for about 8 hours sewing and loved what I made. It fits!!!

August 8, We took off for Utah around 3:30 in the afternoon. JohnE drove, bless his heart, he was still so sick. I think driving helped take his mind off his illness. We spent Wednesday floating around running errands and visiting the Felts and Matt and April. Thursday we went to Malcolm and Laura's wedding. It was nice. It was fun to hang out with family and be together with them. I miss them a lot. Saturday we went boating at Deer Creek Res. It was so much fun. We went on Nate and Meri's boat with some of the Felts. Then we went out for lunch. We had said that we were going to meet at the Simpson and watch a movie outside, but 2 things happened. One, there were microbursts and rain, and two, JE and I stopped at our friend Amy Robinson, the Artist. For quite a while I had been thinking about her and some of the art from her college final show 4-5 years ago. She had made a series of sculptures. They were swan women; large sentinel type swan bodies with female human faces. They were beautiful and terrifying. She also had a cluster of wooden boxes with nests and laying on the straw of each was a small signet with a human baby face. All the faces were different and expressed different emotion. Well, in my thoughts, I wanted one of these little babies, and I knew exactly which one I needed. So we went to see Amy and see if she still had any of her swan babies. We talked and told her what was going on. We sat outside next to her mom's squash heap (a huge pile of squash plants trying to take over the world!) As we talked clouds were forming in the sky and the it started to rain, nothing major, just spotty fat drops. Well the sky was filled with clouds, but on the tree trunk, just above our heads, there was a golden spot of sun. We stood on the logs that surround her fire ring and looked for the streaming finger of light that was creating that tiny dazzle, but when you are that close to the thing, it is impossible to see. Sometimes I guess you have to be an onlooker to the scene to realize how close that Heavenly Finger is. JohnE suggested there was a rainbow around so we started looking for that, too. We found it, between the peach and the walnut tree. Just faint and just a tiny portion of it.

Amy told me she only had one swan baby left, but that it was mine if I wanted it. It was the one I wanted, the sleeping baby signet. When Amy brought her out on a red velvet cushion (stuffed with straw) and handed her to me, I cried. I hugged and cried, and wept. It was as if the all the tension and disappointment and longing of the past 6 years were finally satiated. JE and I hugged and wept over this fragile sleeping thing. I know now and I knew then, that this is just a piece of art, a bit of clay and that it will never really take the place of having our own children. But I have Hope now, the kind of hope that had been lost along the way. It has been a very difficult road, and not to many sensitive to it. We left and continued our journey.
So we went to the the Simpson and watched Superman Returns with the Fam. It was really great. Fun to be with Family.
Sunday we all went to church with Mom and Dad. They gave their farewell address to their ward. Afterward we went to Mom and Dad's and had a very big family dinner.
That lasted pretty much the rest of the day. It was so nice to see the family. They will surely be missed! I am so glad we can still call them!
So JE and I drove back to CA. Malcolm and Laura dropped by the following Friday. We took them to the Cheesecake Factory and had a great time. Saturday we went to Crystal Cove and the OC Swapp meet. It was great.

August, the dog days

Ok, So we have been incredibly busy and a bit inundated with company and things to do. We did indeed go to the fair and saw the animals there. Lots of interesting stuff. Things that make for great photos. Including "Treeman" Who is an amazing environmental image. We got there fairly early, abut 9 am and left a bit early too. Which was perfect not only did we miss the huge crowds but we got the best weather, slightly overcast and cool which burned off and became stinking hot as we were leaving.
So for JohnE's Birthday we went camping at Crystal Cove. We hiked to the Upper Morro and were the only ones there. It was such a nice camp ground. There were out houses, but we opted out of those, they were pretty dirty and stinky. We hiked up the BFI which we had no idea was the more difficult hike. It was beautiful with ocean views almost the entire way up. We took sandwiches for dinner and Cliff Bars for breakfast so no cooking was involved. It was an interesting place to camp. There is civilization all around you in the form of multimillion dollar homes yet here we were in the wilds, in a tent, and no visible humans! It was fantastic. The only thing I messed up on was not bringing a change of clothes. We sweat so bad on the way up that crazy hill, plus the very low marine layer, we were drenched and cold. But it was super fun none the less.
On Monday we woke up and packed up. I kept teasing JE that we should sneak into crystal cove beach before the ranger got there and go for a swim. He kept asking if we had time to do that before our next destination. Would we be able to go home and change, he had no idea what was going on, it was all a big surprise. So much fun! So when we got to the car and I gave him his birthday pressie, he was so happy and surprised! I filled a basket with bubble gum and swim trunks, and a new beach shirt and sunglasses and a state parks pass, and a state parks map, and beach slippers, and sunscreen. I had packed all the beach gear and a picnic lunch. We spent the entire day at the beach and then went home to a few friends and giant crab legs and a perfectly cooked tritip steak. What a gun and fantastic day!!!

Saturday review

Well, it has been another busy week!
I worked with Ralf and we laughed and laughed. We listened to "KOLA" 89.9 fm which is an oldies station with typically stupid radio commercials. It was never the stuff that was supposed to make us laugh that made us laugh, but the stuff we added, we could have been our own MST3000. It was fun.

On Monday we had family home evening with the D. They are a family in our ward from PacAsia. My little friend, Colleen gave the lesson about faith, as part of her personal progress. She has so much capacity for love and leadership. Afterward each family member bore testimony of the things Colleen had said and what ever else moved them to speak. The Spirit was so beautifully present. Then we had dinner of fried or roasted chicken and vegetables with shrimp. Everything was really nice. We played a game or two and had icecream. It was Andrus, the dad's birthday, we brought one of our favorite games (rumikub) and played. Everyone had such a great time! I was really lucky and got the most supreme set of tiles and so was out by the first third of the game. But the others continued and learned really great strategy.
This all sound so plain and ordinary as I am writing it, but this is no ordinary family. There are 5 kids in all. Dad works two jobs to support his family. His work visa has been outdated for a couple years so the jobs he takes probably just barely enable him to really take care of his family. They are such good, honest, genuine, humble people with so much to offer the community, and it sucks that they live in fear of being deported at any moment. From what I understand, they are standing entirely on their own two feet, with no governent or church assistance.

I would love to take them all to Disney land soon and just have a full day of playing. I wish I could magically make all their emmigration problem just float away, so Andrus could work in the field he is most qualified to fill, and earn the money that he so richly deserves.

Okay, so Tuesday I had YW and we went down to Laguna Beach to clean. We did clean a bit but then ended up down on the beach playing with sand crabs. They are so wierd!!! Just there little antena stick up out of the water and catch the surf. If you reach down in the sand you can pick several in one swoop.
The girls were all standing in a circle discussing why no one brought their swim suits. Marie and Rena and I were all standing in a circle and Marie asked if I was going in. I stood there in Jeans, having just got off work and at first thought, no , we have leather seat in the car and I just couldn't see myself driving home soaked. But as I stood there, I remembered how much as a kid I loved when my leaders did crazy spontaneous stuff. so I found someone to hold my purse and started wading into the tide toward Aley who was already out swimming. When the first big wave hit, I dove beneath it. It was great!!! Such a fun time! By the time we left everyone was soked.

It was Colleen's first time at the Ocean and the look of light and delight that was on her face is something I will alway equate with wonder. She was radiant. I drove her home and that enlightened radiance filled up the car! We sat on the floor mats.

Wednesday I prepared JE's Birthday suprise, but I won't write that yet. You never know who is going to read these things! All I can say is that he has Monday off and that it is going to be one of the best Monday's of his life!!! What fun.

Thursday night we had temple recommend interviews. Our stake presidency is so neat. They are just so fun to talk to. Wholey spiritual.

Later that night, JE went on splits with the Bishopric and had an interesting time. While he was gone I bake a huge 14" cake. Butter cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. We took it to his work Friday. He did not even get a piece, that is how fast it went. (I am not proud or anything!)

Last night I shopped a little for JE's B-day suprise while JE himself bambooed the rest of the hallway. Hurray! Now we just have 2 bedrooms to wood and some tile, some paint and 2 ceiling to scrape!

Today we are going to the county fair. We love to look at the collections of stuff and the animals. Maybe afterward we will stop by the beach for a bathe.

pioneer day, renovations, and rollerderby

So last night we went to our Stake Pioneer Day Celebration and had a really great time. It has been very hot here and that shaved ice sure tasted great! There was this huge thunderhead that rolled in and cooled things off a bit for us, too. It was fun to know so many people from the Trek and be able to introduce them to JohnE. THe food was great!

When we got home we set about finishing that crazy fireplace and the wood in the hallway. It looks so GREAT!!! It needs a second coat of paint and the tile, but the dust is done!!! hurray!!! I have been mopping up the dust today, I can't stand it any more!

I have also been working a lot lately (hence such slow progress on housing detail). It has been really fun. I often think about changing work, but going back to it just makes me love it more. I just need to build my skills and confidence in tailoring. I think I will take a class at the local college. I saw it listed in their catalog.

Oh, yah, this is the real reason I was talking about work! I was in the lunch room friday and Michelle was talking about how she just started doing roller derby. My whole body went ZipZapZing! and I just wanted to have a part in this new league. How fun could that be? Except that they practice Sundays and Tuesdays. Both of which have "prior commitment" stamped on them! Rats! I have been trying to figure out another way I could do this. It would be just plain fun!

dinner and a movie

What a fun couple of nights we have had! Last night we went to see Pirates if the Carribean. I loved it (mostly) until it ended and I realized that (of course) it was just another cog in Disney's money making machine! I hate movies that are just a set up for the next in line (unless it has a litterary reference). But over all, I can forgive the ending's not being able to hold it's own because the costumes and sets and props, and location was so darn great! I am hankerin' to go somewhere beautiful, tropical and nearly deserted. We ate Popcorn and a coke for dinner.
Tonight we visited with great friends over an excellent meal of buffalo roasted with a Santa Cruz rub, garlicy mashed potatoes, and sauteed green beans. We had Swantje's homemade icecream for dessert. She used macadamia nut's from her own tree (blast those squirells straight back to Hell, Girl!) which was a labor of love in it'sself. Everything was to increadibly good, wholesome and prepared with love.

Swantje and Larry are such neat people. Larry is an award winning glider piolot and financial adviser. He has recently grown his own set of mutton chops which he says he will suprise as many people as he knows and then shave off. I personally think he should keep them--how many financial advisors do you know with their own set of mutton chops!!!! Very distinguished.
Swantje loves nature and growing things, and she is a men's tailor. She is just such great fun to work with and to talk with. The two of them just got back from a month long camping-hiking-fishing road trip to SD. We saw photo's tonight, it looks like they had a great time.

I started working again for the opera company--subcontracted out to a choral company. I am working with Christine and Ralf. We have a great time talking and sewing. More black suits! More and more and more black suits!

July 13, 2006

Well, The floor in the living room is done and we are just adding mud to the fireplace which is a slow and laborious job as I have no idea how to do it. But, as requested I have included a photo. The floor is so beautiful and feels really good on the feet. I included a photo of the fireplace last Christmas before the sledgehammer arrived.

Last night we went with friends Tiffany, Jessica and Robert Barr down to Laguna Beach. It was a fabulous night to swim in the ocean. The water was supremely clear. JohnE saw a leopard shark and I saw a skate and lots of fish. JohnE stepped on a skate or something that gave him a bit of a sting. It wasn't too bad though. We ate Chicken, potatoes and coleslaw--it was all very yummy. It was really fun. It is so nice to have friends to hang out with and be able to call and have conversations with. I love my friends! The Barrs are really great. It is especially nice that JE & Robert have so much in common.

Sunday we drove my Gram up to New Port Beach to the Bennett's 55th wedding anniversary, her old neighbor of 20+ years ago. She had a great time visiting and catching up with quite a number of old friends. It was just so fun to hang out with her. She is such a neat lady, so full of vim! I had been a little worry about being in the car with her for 2 hours and not knowing what to say. But she and I just have so much fun together. I love to chat and laugh with her. I think she gets a bit lonely. Gramp sleeps so much and his mind is starting to slip. I feel so sad for Gram, 86 years old and the care giver to her 90 year old husband. She has been his get up and go all their 65 years together. I am glad they moved into their retirement community. They have a lot of friends there and a bit of a support group. I love to go visiting. She sent me a card recently that said, "We love you two so much." This is not something said lightly with her and I am so honored to be loved by this woman.

I grew up not really knowing my grandparents. The feud between my mother and my father's parents is still thriving. I say, don't involve me, I love you both. The privilege of really knowing my grands started 2 and a half years ago when JohnE got a job here in southern California. At the time they were living in the Meadows. It was fun to visit them there. We've had Christmas with them more in the past few years than with my parents! ( I have includes a photo from Christmas, 2005.) I just have absolutely loved getting to know them. Gram is so supportive and vivacious. Gramp loves funny little party jokes. They love to laugh. I love them.

A Fairly Technical Account of Trek

Well, What an Experience! It was so fun and hard and wonderful. I went to be a helper and was consequently not entirely as completely surrounded by the pushing and pulling with your family handcart pioneer experience. I did walk all but a mile of the trek. We went to Riley Farms further east of here. It is in the beautiful rugged mountain desert region of southern California. Quite a few trees and lots of scrub.

The kids were divided into 3 companies at the Laguna Niguel Stake Center and received a colored bandana to indicate which company they were in. All they were allowed to bring was a change of clothing, clean socks, clean unders, and some amenities which packed into a 5 gallon bucket with a lid (the bucket was brilliant, it is water and dirt proof and also acted as a place to sit during firesides). They also brought sleeping bags and a 1 inch mat if they wanted. Later at a little welcome ceremony divided into families. All were dressed in pioneer garb including aprons, bonnets, hats and good walking shoes. They all boarded busses which whisked them off for an hour and a half ride out to Riley's.

When they arrived they unloaded busses and unloaded really excellently and authentic looking wooden handcarts. There were a Ma and a Pa and a big brother or sister (all adult leaders) for each family and about 6-8 kids in each family. There were four families in each company. Just before the handcarts were completely loaded, the extermination order was read by the governor of Illinois at the time of the saints freeing Nauvoo. Then the Mob showed up with masks and guns, shooting in the air and yelling. So, off we went! We trekked around 4 miles before we stopped for lunch. It was around 3:30 or so. We were all quite hungry. I must say that those turkey wraps were great! Starvation was never a key factor in our trek. I think it gave the kids the opportunity to truly enjoy the experience, not just be miserable! It was already very hot, dusty and dry. As it, was it was tough enough.

So we trekked another 4 miles or so and ended up at Mile High, a beautiful farm house with a grassy field and running water. We made camp on a grassy field, and had dinner, and family time on another sloping lawn. What a pleasant night! So many stars! So many bears in the dumpster, the dogs were going crazy. All that it lacked was fireflies and my True Love (who was home working diligently to get the bamboo flooring in before I got home).

In the Morning we breakfasted, packed up and moved out again. I spent quite a bit of time with the last family in the last company. They had some truly inspiring kids who were not about to let a lousy wheelchair, CP, Spinal Bifida or a set of crutches stand in the way of accomplishing great fetes. I with you could have seen the determination of Joey and Andrew! So I was with them quite a bit on that second day, assisting where I could but mostly just enjoying their company.


The terrain was fairly rugged, lots of ups and down. I think it was more difficult for the carts to go down, so much harder to control the speed and be able to steer.

We really only went a few miles when we were faced with a challenge. The train manager spoke to us about "Hole in the Rock" in southern Utah and the 200 or so missonairies who were called to make a faster easier route from east to west Utah. He discussed having to dismantle their wagons and lower them down a 1200 foot cliff to the bottom and how they carved a road out of stone (JohnE and I have been on that road a few times, down in Escelante). We then were faced with the task of lowering wagons into a 25-30ft trench and getting them back out. A huge line was made of the kids in the company and all the gear was taken out of the carts and passed down the line in and out of the trench. The last company actually had to pass Andrew down and out again ( I am so proud of our kind and willing young men for all the service they rendered!).

A good portion of that afternoon was taken up with singing and pioneer games. They had pistols, tomahawk throwing, 2 man log saw, archery, and Beth and I were in charge of slingshot. We hung balloons on tree limbs and the kids slung acorns and rocks to knock off, hit or pop the balloons. We gave points for each hit. We later headed out again and set up camp in an orchard. We had beans with little smokies for dinner. Porter Rockwell found our camp and at the beginning of his address told us that he needed to secure the area because the Prophet was on his way but that he had seen Three Fingered Stu around these parts. One of the audience asked if that was what we had eaten for dinner. Very Funny!
Well, Joseph Smith did indeed come and quietly entered from the back of the audience and quietly asked people he passed how they were doing, and told them how glad he was they could be here. It was very effective and very sweet. He spoke for a short time on his life and hardships and trials, but also of endurance and commitment. It was really well played. The actor looked remarkably like Joseph. Then we divided into companies and the stake leaders spoke to us about some of the miracles of the pioneers and the pie in the road. We then went to bed. I shared my tent with the stake YW leaders and we stayed up and talked and laughed. Fun! I had a really great time getting to know them! I do not envy them their callings!

In the morning, each family woke to find one of their family members had passed away in the night (this is figurative!) Either the big brother or the Pa were taken to a "Better Place" So We had a little memorial Service, sang some songs remembered the "Dead" ( the funny thing is that when the families were told, the common questions asked immediately following was, Where did they go? and What time is Breakfast?) So the families pulled carts together for a very short time and were stopped by a short visitation from Brigham Young reading his letter to the saints regarding the Mormon Battalion. Also the General who accepted the offer of 500 able bodied men to serve the US army in the Mexican war. So the Men were lined up and the women sang their song from the Youth Temple Jubilee--Farewell sweet soldier, to which the men sang their part back and the women sang again then anxiously left to pull carts. We pulled for roughly 15 minutes just down the road to where the women learned other pioneering tasks, like making butter, quilting, weaving, etc. Then was the time for the real women's trek. I was on a cart with 3 girls and a Ma. We went up some fairly steep hills, and down for a very long stretch, maybe a mile and a half total. We were so Awesome! But we really had a hard time controlling on the downhill. Suddenly a stream of men appeared and found their families and helped the women down the remainder of the hill. We rested and snacked on trailmix and Beef Jerky, and Gatorade. We had a very big climb ahead of us--"The Widow Maker."

I wish the world could see into this scene, and not just my very small scope. The widow maker is a very long, very steep hill; perhaps a mile or so. I have talked very little of all the service and kindnesses I witnessed, but if there were a place to discuss this, this is it. From the first company to reach the top, the bulk of the men ran back down that hill again and again to help the next family to reach the top. Sometimes there were so many hands on the carts and ropes, there was no room for all willing to push or pull. When the family arrived at a certain place on the mountain, the stake President stopped them, thanked those who had helped and told them that it was now the family's responsibility to make it the rest of the way on their own--probably half a mile, very steep terrain. Well, we pushed off, pulled off and just at the point we all were having a very difficult time, those who had passed on earlier in the day appeared as angelic help and pushed that family up the hill. ("I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats!")

Then the Stake President spoke to us as a congregation in the barn. He spoke about the faith of our forebears in Jesus' Atonement.

When we reached the top of the hill, we looked out on the "Promised Land!" What a beautiful site, to look out at the cultivated fields and the beautiful buildings. To be part of such an effort!

Later that night we had a Ho-Down in the barn with live music and reels. The kids had a great time! Then was family time and bed (for some).

In the morning we had family devotional, breakfast, and then a "solo experience." Each person was given a little booklet with quotes, scriptures, and poinient questions. The sorts of things to bring your into the companionship of the Holy Ghost and discover how to improve and be more Christlike. It was perhaps the richest part of the trek. Then the families each had testimony meetings. There was a lot of tears and gratitude.

We lunched, had a group picture with the carts and then loaded into busses again. When I got home, I found my true love just finishing the floor!!! I don't know which I was more excited about, seeing him or having the floor done!

And you know what is even more exciting? I have had zero calls for work all summer and then the day I get back, Ba-Da-Bing I have had 3 calls!!!

July 4, 2006--Pre Trek

A bit of a wacky Independance day. We are drywalling a fireplace and putting bamboo flooring into the livingroom. At the same time I am trying to get ready for a pioneer trek I was just asked to be part of yesterday. I am so excited to go, having never been able to take part in one previously. A bit nervous too, with the heat. so today I sit in airconditioned comfort with my power machine sewing a bonnet and apron, trying to pack, and also trying to be as useful to Johne as I can be. (Funny how in our day we have to pack up the car and drive a bunch of miles to get to the spot where we bungle out of the car and push handcarts in the sun!) I hope we at least can get to a fireworks show! Happy July 4th!