Cute Puppy Play time

Needing a doggie fix, we engaged our friend Connie :) who is the new owner of a Great Pyrenees mix puppy.  She was in SLC visiting for a spring clean up on her rental TIME SHARE and we helped.  Willem was only to happy to share his energy with all of us.  He is only 12 wks old and is looking to be a huge addition to her already full car of dogs.  Thanks Connie.

Finally a visit...

While I was on a job in Price, UT, Sondra brought Wally along for a nice visit.  It wasn't very long, but jam packed with love and good chat.  Thanks for coming to hug me. 

Irish Fest Scottish style

One of Maybell's annual IRISH FESTS was well attended. 

There was so much GREEN and good food too. 

Some even turned GREEN enjoying all that there was offered.

There were old friends too. Too bad you can't see that Penny's tiera was Flashing GREEN.

Dave & Sam keep Maybell pouring a little of the GREEN. 

Good thing there was a few leprechans to do the driving home before Erin Gobraless showed up.

The folks came to Salt Lake City to attend Jay's services.  We are always happy to see them. They enjoyed Jay's visits whenever they were in town.  RIP Jay. We all miss you...

A tribute to a friend - RIP Jay!

It's sad you don't get to say goodbye to a loved one when they die suddenly.  I know God has a hand securely wrapped around us both loving us telling us it is going to be ok. They are at peace now and we will be soon.  Some grieve openly, some grieve silently, some don't grieve at all. Others just love.  I will miss the laughter Jay always had, the twinkle in his eye (as Donna pointed out), his positive attitude abt everything and his friendship.  He would help us get thru some tough times by just being there for us.  He would talk to the drunk when it was needed. He would talk to the deaf when that was necessary too.  We helped him get through some tough times he had to endure.  But most of all - we were friends and we loved each other. 

I remember the time we took him camping/fishing with us to the Grays River area in Wyoming.  One thing about Walt that some know and some don't .  He searches for the unknown when he is out in the fresh air.  Jay drove his own truck that trip and what we failed to plan on was that Jay's little pick up didn't get as many miles to the gallon as our rig did.  We drove over hill and over dale without thinking abt filling up with gas. Why would we, we had enough.  Jay got a little nervous cause he wasn't closing in on EMPTY.  Then we got seperated.  We just thought his little truck couldn't keep up going up the mountain side.  At the top we waited and waited but NO Jay.  Hmmm where did he go.  This was the days before cell phones and he didn't have a CB either.  No way to communicate with him. Ugh.  So we turned around and went back down the mountain looking over the edges to see if he went over the side down down down to the bottom. Whew, were we ever relieve to see him parked on the side of the road heading back down to the main road.  See, he didn't have enough gas to go trapsing all over the hillside looking for us.   Instead of getting mad, Jay just laughed and laughe abt some a...s..o...l...e dragging hither and yon looking for the best fishing hole in the west.  Never did find it that day, but we did find a great friend.  One who will go anywhere, do anything with/for you.  I know you won't have to FEEL - WORRY - STRUGGLE abt anything anymore.    Go ahead and laugh all you want now. It will feel great.  By the way, Happy Birthday today.  RIP friend, We'll miss you, Nana and Pinky.

Feeling the Air

The fresh high desert air of Arco has helped me to feel better, breath better and relax. LOVE IT. Our friends always cook the best food which helps Walt fatten up a bit. Dave & Keri & Walt & I share the same anniversary date. So tonight we went out to dinner at Ken's Club in Mackay, ID. The place even thru in the dessert cause we were celebrating. LOVED it. Cheese cake.
Afterwards, everyone but Walt relaxed the the hot tub scoping out the evening stars. Go figure, I even saw lots. LOVED it.

Winter Wonderland of Walla Walla

After some pretty nerve racking driving conditions

Walt & I arrived in Walla Walla to visit our friends Lynn & Judy. It was snowing when we arrived and it snowed most of the night. We had to shovel out in the morning so the snow plow could clear the street.

It is very cold here but the snow has stopped for the time being. Who was it that asked for a White Christmas? hmmm Oh, yeah, it was me! Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night.

We are driving away...

YEAH - the time is here. Time for visiting family & friends. Time for winter driving conditions. Time for LIVEing, LOVEing and EATing. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everyone and be safe and careful.

Moving along

We are back online after helping Connie move some of her bulkier things.

To this cute farm house. She's added a few touches to make it look like someone is living there. When she first started moving in , things had been neglected for a time....After helping things started to look loved again. On of the jobs was to get the sprinkling system to the flowers and trees up and running again.
Even across the street were trees that need trimming so you could see beyond the corner..

IT's nice to be able to help friends out. We love helping.

Birthday BBQ

Since I was enjoying my actual bday in the country, Keri thru a birthday bash when we got back. The loggers were back in town for the weekend as was Chris. Many friends were there, Mel & Shouanna

Keri's Mom & Dad - Gay & Walt Fisher

The Cabin Crew from Twin Falls

Kids enjoying themselves

of course, that same good looking STUD MUFFIN cooking again....

This time there was a cake, singing and laughter... What more could you ask for!?!! I had it all..

LIVEing LOVEing and EATing

City Girl celebrates Bday Country Style

Over the years I've spent so many bdays out camping with my family. At one point (I think it was my 16th bday) I silently wished I could have been born in a month when school was in so I could have my friends celebrate with me. I was at an age that I wanted more than just family around. When I met Walt he took me to places where there even less people around - the back country. Ugh at first. As time when on (and I grew up just a little), I looked forward to going out to the outback. Over the years I have celebrated with friends and family in the city, by myself in the city and with Walt in the outback.

This year was with friends in the outback. We were on the Big Smokey Creek in south central Idaho with friends Dave & Dusty Garner and Patrick & Christina Wartina.

Patrick, David & Dusty are loggers that were starting their current job near the Big Smokey Creek area. We missed having Keri Garner along to celebrate the beauty, but someone had to stay behind and mind the lumber yard. We missed having her there. We went with them to check out their current timber sale. It was perfect weather and even better friendship. There wasn't a cake , the only gift was someone else doing the cooking (Thanks David & Chris), but it was perfect.

Chris took Walt & I on our tour of the area where we saw lots of unique flowers,old trees,wildlife,

and miles and miles of priestine waters. It was hot enough that Chris & I got our feet wet but being that it is glacier waters, it was too cold other than to dip in and get out.

It was amazing to me how many butterflies were swarming around. They were beautiful.

The other flying things were mosquitos galore. We tried all kinds of dif repellants, but each one had different effects on each of us. No one was safe from the pests.

Met the Sibs

One of the things we did while being in Arco was visit with Dean's brother Dennis and their sister Becky. It was work party rather than a social call, but it ended up being a great visit.

Family's Reunite

On Jun 28th our friends Lynn & Judy were in town for a family reunion on Lynn's side held in a park on the highest point on the Bountiful Bench. It was the first time that all of Lynn's kids and grandkids were together in YEARS. It was nice to see Lynn reunite with his cousins (here he is with one of them - Gary Glissmeyer), his aunt and their families. The weather was perfect, the food yummy and the conversations interesting. Since we've been a part of their family since before Kandy was born, it just felt natural to go to the reunion with them. One of the momentos the family put together was a book on the Grandparents (Arthur and Lucinda Richards) and had it displayed there as well as many others. The books were published thru Heritagemakers. What a great idea for everyone.
Lynn drove down from Walla Walla, WA in their new 2007 Chevy 1500 PU. He met Judy at our house. She flew in from Alabama where she had been visiting her son Aaron & his wife Heather and their children Elijah and Savanah.
Kandy came over for a visit to see her parents before heading to the family reunion. It was good to see dear friends again. I miss them.

There yesterday, Here Today

The past few weeks have had me working out of town in Montana remodeling a couple of grocery stores. While I was away, we got the news abt one of our friends being in a fatal car accident. When I got back from my job, I paused long enough at home to pick up Walt and hi tail it out of SLC towards Arco to be with our friends for a few days. Kaziah (kuh zye' uh) was only 16 young years, but seriously had lived life to its fullest before her job here on Earth was done. We'll sure miss her. I'm thankful my employers are compassionate enough to let me have the time off to be there for Z'z family.

It's a small world

Yesterday Colleen & I went to the Jordan River Water Conservancy park to see what trees looked like in different stages of growth. While there we ran into a previous coworker from REI. Barbara Christmas-Chapman with her hubby Jeff and one of their 3 sons were there also looking at trees, bushes etc in various stages of growth for their yard. It's been years since I've seen them and Wow are they ever looking good. Good to see you Barb.

Treasures and Friends

Saturday we went out with the U's again. They take us places that we might have thought of going to right then. First was to the Star Mill Antique's in American Fork. It's been a long time since we've been there but always a nice trip. It always amazes me to see things that I have used in my life time at an ANTIQUE store. Does that make me ANTIGQUE or just UNIQUE? Both probably.
After that we stopped off at Cabela's for some more serious browsing. That in itself should be a whole day trip. But since we had an evening with TRUDY to go to, we had to cut our trip to sports Heaven short.

Our evening with Trudy included Margie and her husband Dick. Our small little party was perfect company catching up on old times and current ones too. In the pics =Donna in the green Tneck, Trudy in the pink top, Karen in the turq and Margie on the right. Thanks Trudy for the pizza.

Thanksblessings

I am very thankful for the many blessings I have in my life such as the eyes to see the sunrise and... the sunsets.

I am thankful for the friends I have made over the years. These are some from Arco, Id where we are for the Thanksgiving weekend. (r-l) Kendra, Karen, Shouanna, Keri & Kaziah. These are the bestest friends ever. No matter how long it is between visits, we can just pick up as if we'd seen each other just a few mins ago.

This is Walt & Mel. Mel is Shouanna's husband. Together they own the Mountain Man Trading Post in Arco. It's a cute little country store that sells gifts, ice cream, pizzas and sandwiches. The have a few Native American items that between fresh local fruit and vegetables is what they started out selling. They have become great friends.

The Garner's, where we are staying, use a wood stove to heat their home. Here Walt is doing his part to fuel the fires to keep his skinny bod warm.

A down side of Arco is the temps can get really really COLD. Last night it got down to 10F. BURRRR The windows even froze over. Thanksblessing for the wood stove.