We Moved....

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Blogaversary...

Wow another year has gone by... it's my blogaversary again.  It started back in 2007 and I am sooo glad I have been able to keep it going (kind of).

I will be the first to admit the past two years have been the hardest.  I think I have been in survival mode.  Just one day at a time, and each day has brought blessings, so blog worthy, but yet again so personal, almost too personal to put into words.

And time, my time has just been devoted to living, not so much blogging about living, hey it takes time to upload photos and have quiet time to post.  

I have filled my quiet time with other really good things.  But I don't want to quit, I still want to blog, it just all about figuring out that balance for me.

Its good, its not perfect, but my heart is joyful and my mind is at peace with it all.

Happy Blogaversary to me!

And a big shout out to my SIL for helping to get me started, and showing me how to keep taking one step in front of the other.

By Small and Simple, great things really do come to pass.

Speaking of growth... A garden update.

Some accidental flowers made it in a side planter, and a few cilantro twigs surviving.

A ball squash plant, great leaves and flowers...

And a glimmer of hope of produce on the horizon.

Strawberries are blooming and putting off one or two strawberries a week, but the squirrels get to them quicker than I can.

Most of the pepper plants survivied, unlike the broccoli which we lost all of those seeds in the heat.

It hasn't taking much effort, just lots and lots and lots of patience.

Only tiny glimpses of peppers.

The flower buds look like they might turn to peppers, but will it happen before the frost?  That is the BIG question.

The tomato plants keep getting bigger, we tied up the ones that grew outside of the cages.   And their is some fruit, but again.... will it grow and turn color before frost.  I suppose there is still time.

I have just been ready.  For a while now.

I can't wait to see what these stripped ones turn out like.

I can say it's going great if you are happy with one cherry tomato a week.  I ate the first red one last week and this one is almost ready with two more behind it that should turn 4-5 days later at this rate.  

A salad it does not make... but they do taste better than anything you can buy in the store.

If you only want a taste.

The watermelon plants are alive, but that's really all I can report.

I started them from seeds too, so they are doing much much better than the broccoli so far!!

Can you say watermelon in December?

For my very first attempt, I am not dissappointed.

If I get anything out of it, it's already better than last year.

The wood chips on top are key, I have not had one weed to pull and it keeps the soil moist so Im not having to water every day even in 100 + heat.  I don't know if that's normal, but its nice for a beginner.

I will keep at it, and maybe by the time the missionary comes home we will have something more to show for it.

Oh yeah, we got his return date August 29th!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!

Beyond excited!!!!!!!!!

Now I gotta get a farmers tan!

This is a big event at my house!!!

The Strong Silent Mysterious Man finished the raised bed.

 

With lots of help from the BFF!!

That's why we call him the BFF.

(That and these two spend more time 

talking on the phone than most girls)

I tried to wait until Mothers day, but I had time off of work this week, so I got a few plants in.

Strawberries

And a couple different kinds of tomatoes.

And I added the burl wood... it's a work in progress, but this was a place to start.

I found some mulch in Black... I almost got kind of excited about mulch!  It just fit me so much better than brown or red.

I'm thinking the front boards should be adorned with some wood burning art....

Feeling a Northwest - y theme!

Thanks Honey for my raised garden bed!!

I love it!!  Next year I'll need two more pleeeese :)

Over the top Excitement!!!

After a long week of wondering why we didn't get an email from Elder Dayley.  And lots and lots of speculation.
And many more conversations telling ourselves, or rather telling MYSELF (let it be known, the strong silent mysterious man always had the faith) that all was well.

I went to work this Monday still waiting for an email.  
So anxious that the battery on my phone had gone from 100% to 38% by Noon.

So at 1pm I leave work, go to the hospital to drop off some pathology for the Doctor and I am inside the hospital when I get this email from the Missionary....

"Are you near a computer with skype"

With all the gump inside me, I hold back a scream!!  Then send a reply... " I WILL BE IN 2 minutes!!!"

I Clutch my phone with one hand and grab the lanyard around my neck with the other to keep it from smacking me in the face and I took off in a FULL SPRINT out of the hospital (apparently it's the one building you can run while wearing scrubs and people get OUT of your way).

I get into the car, and call My Strong Silent Mysterious Man... he is getting ready to leave for a job site, and we have this discussion.

Me:  Jacob just emailed asking if we were near skype.
SSMM:  Are you near  skype?
Me: No, but I am almost there, are you coming?
SSMM:  No, he probably just wants to test for the skype call this weekend.
Me:  It's Monday why would he be doing that so early? I bet something is wrong!
SSMM:  Well go find out what is going on, Im sure it's just about Mothers Day call.
Me:  You should come anyway!
SSMM:  I am working, you can handle this!!

By this time I am at the house.   Rush inside, throw the dogs outside so they don't get in my way.   And sign into skype.  I see Jacob signed on, but I wait for him to call me.

Video call comes in!!!  My heart is beating out of my chest!! 

Elder Dayley:  "Hola!"  

He tells me what time he will be calling on Saturday, we figure out what time that will be in Idaho. 

Then Dad walks through the front door!!

We had a great one minute video chat with him, my heart is still pounding!!!!

He looks exactly the same as the day he left... which means he has put back on all the weight he lost.  Yay!!  And he sounded soooo good.

He did show us a "fungus" he has on his arm, but he is sending the President's wife a photo today so she can confirm it is a common fungus they are getting there, and let him know what kind of medication to be putting on it!!  
"He said I got this in my first area, but just thought I got burned or something".
So hopefully it is very treatable.  Pray, pray, pray!!!

Quite an adrenaline rush, but what a great Monday, after a really long week without a letter from the Missionary, totally makes up for all that worry!!!

Easter Weekend...

We had such a nice weekend.
It started off at the Temple Friday night, we went to seal some ancestors as families for time and all eternity.  Very special.

Saturday we fed the sister missionaries.  Super fun to have Sisters serving in our area now.  I can get missionary hugs!!  So I started cooking and it was making me feel like I used to when we would have family over for Easter lunch.  It was always my favorite holiday to invite family over for.  Well I kept cooking and I got a little carried away, so it was quite a feast, that the two of us will be eating on all week.

And (you better sit down for this announcement) my Strong Silent Mysterious Man put together my raised garden bed!!  I have been waiting for a long time, and the scrap wood he drug home to use has been in the back yard for 3 years now.  I still have to get the dirt in it, I know I shouldn't be too proud just yet, that could take another 3 years, but I hope not.  The funny thing is when he got started on it in the morning, he first layed all the wood out in the area I wanted it placed.  Then came in and took a nap, ha ha ha (I thought it was all over).  Then later in the day he went back out and it took him all of about 10 min. to put it together!  I think the build up was overwhelming for him.  He even kicked the dogs out of the back yard because they were getting in the way.  That's where the mysterious part comes in I suppose?  Or is he just really focused?

At any rate, I have a raised garden bed, or if the dirt never arrives it is about the same size as a coffin (you know if a girl has to make lemonade out of lemons... Pictures will come later, when it looks less like a coffin and more like a raised garden).

Hands Down...

Something fun for Spring...

Uggg... I am so aware that I have old looking hands now.  Loose skin, spots and dry patches... double uggggg.  

I also feel like people are always looking at them at work, because that's what I do waiting to get checked in at the doctors office.... I am watching to see what they are typing in my chart and checking out their hands.  

Since Professional nails are not practical for what I do with my hands, and too expensive to up keep.  And my nails chip and peel and I have a terrible time getting them to grow past finger length.

So I am trying a cheaper version of "do it yourself" to see if I can find a balance and feel a little prettier.

Cause a girl has to "feel" as pretty on the outside as she does on the inside!

So far so good, easy to apply, strong surface I haven't messed up typing and doing laundry.  And there pretty!  I thought they might be a little wild at first, but there growing on me.

What do you think?  

Too young?

Too wild?

or Pretty, like I payed attention to myself for more then 10 min.?

Priceless...

There are NOT words to describe how much my Strong Silent Mysterious Man did NOT want to get shots required to go to Paraguay!!

I can't tell you how many times since I made the appointment, he asked me how much they hurt?

The nurse was really really good with him, and he even got hit sucker before he got his shots!  Yep, that's what a baby he was being.

Of course I am kind of a pro, I had to under go a series of shots when I started working in healthcare.  It is never fun, but it's really not that big of a deal.  They kept a world map in the hallway and pin where people are traveling... we were the first to put a pin on Paraguay!

He was soooo super proud of himself for getting them done when it was finally over, and this is the brave photo he wants to send to the missionary.

But of course I will send the whole reel, ha ha ha.

Stress prior to getting shots, $Thousands in therapy.

Shots to travel to Paraguay $800 (ouch!)

An opportunity to go to the mission field to pick up our son $Priceless!

Messing with the Missionary...

I don't post much about the missionary here, because we post all of his letters and photos on the mission blog.  It's definitely not because I don't have much to say about him.  Just ask me!

Or not, you might be sorry you asked.

So far, in my Missionary Mom experience most everything I could say about him or this journey has been so very personal that it is hard to just write into words.  

But there have been things that just help us get through from one week to the next.

Here is an example... 

He and his Dad (aka The Strong Silent Mysterious Man) have a teasing relationship.

They tease back and forth relentlessly.

Just a NOTE:  I do NOT like to get caught in the crossfire of these "were just having fun" jabs, because someone always gets hurt!!  Always!!

So last week, when the missionary sent home a photo of him holding a bird, of which he KNOWS I am freaked out by bird feet, they are just weird and gross and their toes face backwards.  So creepy!!  So I laughed so hard at his facial expression in the photo.  

We looked at it all week and just laughed and laughed... it's so Jacob to make us laugh, I think we miss the laughter in our home the most from missing him.  So it's really fun that he can do it with a photo.

So to send a jab back (I don't know? but HE thinks it's funny), his Dad had me take this photo of him and Taylor pretending to imitate his photo.  To me it's just cute the way Taylor is looking at him, like "really Dad, this isn't funny at all and I am NOT a bird". 

Oh the silly things we do to pass the time... I promise we have been doing some really productive things over the past two years too.

I promise!!

What's new...

I can't believe how much time is flying between posts.

I normally have pictures that create the inspiration for a post and I have been super lame at taking photos.

So no blogging has been generated.

But so much is happening, I have to update so I can look back and not feel like life stopped.

So one of the happenings this week, is that our ward was split and a new Caldwell 16th ward was created.

At the time of the announcement everyone who was being moved from their ward into a new ward was released, everyone, all at once.  

So basically all new leadership had to be created in two wards.

That creates allot of buzz. 

And for me, working for one of those Bishops... I knew what kind of pressure that put on him so I was having anxiety pains for him during the  day and worried about the prospects of a new calling for me and Jim.

Well Jim got his call early in the week, he is the new High Priest Group Leader in the new 16th ward.  He was blown away and in shock!

He says its very humbling, but he is also very very excited!  There is a wonderful group of men in our ward to serve with, so that is really exciting to him.

A funny story about the transition... Saturday he read an email from the old presidency that said they would cover things for Sunday.  Then Sunday he was sustained in the calling in opening exercises and they moved to another room and he walked in last, sat down in the only chair left open in the room (the Stake Presidents chair) and everyone was starring at him.  He was looking around the room taking it all in, still in a daze, and someone tells him "your the man".  Meaning he would be conducting the meeting.  He was totally taken off guard, but muffled through it.

Later the Stake Presidency asked him how he was doing as we were leaving the building and he said jokingly, well after I get this wet shirt off, I will be okay.  The Stake Presidency member told him next week it will be a little less wet. 

So when we get home, he takes off his suit jacket and his shirt is literally soaked!!  I thought he was just joking, but nope, he was wet to the bone with nervous sweaty yuk!!!

Poor guy, but he is busy busy busy already, he used to come home and enjoy some quiet tv and dinner... this week the tv has not been on, and our phone has not stopped, it's all good and he will be a great leader.

But life has changed at our house for sure :)

Someones world is upside down...

Thursday morning when my brother left, Jim also left to go to a work conference in Portland.

Well you guessed it, someone's world was turned upside down as they lost their newest best friend and their ROCK all in the same moment!

So I'll admit, as much as I LOVE some "me" time, I am missing him too.  But he comes home today so my heart will at least be up righted soon.   Surprisingly I got to only one craft project, but ran out of time for the rest of the me things on my list I wanted to to do while he was gone... like

Bubble bath's

Chick Flicks

Couponing

Cleaning out his closet

Painting a room

Design my raised garden beds I want him to build

Treat the wood furniture

Scrapbook mission photos

Mail letters to all the missionaries serving from our ward and a few of the missionaries friends

Clean the leather furniture

Create cards to send for family birthdays this year its Feb and I have already missed a schlew of bdays, but I still have hope to catch up.

But mostly because I was so busy... yesterday after work I got a call from Mr. Bremmeyer and he was flying I use "fly" because he doesn't do anything except at mach speed... through Boise on his way home from visiting in Arizona and invited me to dinner.

It was so fun to get to see him.  When ever he calls us on his way through Boise, I just had it in my mind I was special and he made time to stop just to see me... but come to find out, there were two other couples in Boise he invited.  He knows someone everywhere and everyone seems to know who he is.  A great man with the biggest heart ever, he gives and gives of himself and it's most always devoted to the elderly.

A very great way to live.

I got home later, finished up my VT reporting and was too tired to go to the church to get it in the computer.  

So I am up early this morning, scrapped the plans to lay in bed and be lazy and sleep in... my internal clock is just not going to me stay down that long, so why fight it.

So I am off to finish my reports and then back home to pull out all the scrapping supplies and spread out on the dining room table to create mission photo magic! 

I hope.

Brother time!!!

My Brother Ralph got to come work in Oregon this week, only about 30 minutes from our house.

So I got some Brother Time!!

Yay!

He came bearing gifts... an entire suitcase full!

5 new bamboo socks my SIL made for me, I got some new ones to replace the old ones with holes in em... and I wear them to work all the time, so I picked colors to match my scrubs.  

There is a couple missing from the photo, I will post my custom BSU socks later :)

They are the softes nicest socks!  If you want your own, and matching dress or t-shirt or jacket... go check out her new website! www.pandastreasures.com

 She us so super talented and has some neat clothing!

I can't wait to pick out a few rayon skirts and dresses to wear in Paraguay!  Light and flowing and cool... just what i will need :)

Also, this package from Mom... so far so good. Only 7 more days until we can open it!

And the rest of the suitcase was FULL of clothes my Mom has shrunk out of!  Yay Mom, I am so proud of you for getting so healthy!!

And what a bonus for me getting all your nice clothes!

But only for a short interum, cause I am shrinking too!  Yay me for getting my healthy self back too!

Last night Ralph, or more fondly known around our house as "Uncle Ralph" (even when Jacob is not here)...

stayed the night at our house.  We had yummy taco's for dinner and played Farkle, which he had tremendous beginners luck the first two hands.  

And just watch the progressing of the love affair Taylor now has with him.

cautious but close...

to very quickly can't get enough of "Uncle Ralph"

She is IN LOVE... you can see it in her eyes!!

After sleeping in the same bed with him all night, she still couldn't get enough this morning.

It was so fun to have him for even a short time!

Thanks for sharing him Panda!!  We missed you!

It will be a rough couple of days, but they will survive... goodbyes are just really really hard.