October 18 - 27, 2010

We're all packed up and ready to go to Pocatello, Idaho. Drew's siblings live there, except for one sister who lives in Texas. Drew's brother, Mark, and his wife Patricia, are school teachers, so we need to leave around 1 p.m. as they don't get home until 3:30 p.m. My Mother gets emotional as always when we leave but is comforted by knowing we will be back in a week. We've taken this trip numerous times and is an easy drive, once you get out of the busy interstate traffic. I take pictures of my beloved mountains and the pretty valleys. We stop at a rest stop just inside Idaho. It has been updated since the 1970's when we would make this drive to visit with each other before we were married. Back then it was just two outhouses in a turn out off the highway. Now it is very modern with a visitor's center with lots of information about Idaho and where you can go and things to do. We found a phamplet where they listed all the campsites in Idaho and what was available to see in those areas. It was a cool book to add to our maps and other camping books. We continue traveling to Pocatello until we come to the exit we need to get to Mark's house. As luck would have it, we get stopped by a train crossing. With nothing else to do, Drew starts counting how many cars the train is pulling. Not counting the Engine (the first car) and the caboose (last car), there are 100 cars. It was one long train. The arms go up and we continue on our way, finding Mark's house without much difficulty. They are home and it is good to be stopped.
We get a tour of their house; we had not been there before since they bought it. It is a very nice home. We get to sleep in the basement (fully finished) where there is tons of room and a bathroom across from our room. Their house is made for family gatherings, with the basement totally open and spacious. Our little trailer pales in comparison. I'm glad they have such a wonderful place to live. They were "renting" out the other bedroom in the basement to a young woman who had just moved there and was teaching school. She was looking for an apartment to move into. They had known her for a long time; more family than friend.
We found out that Mark, Patricia, Alicia (daughter) and her husband, Blake are die hard watchers of the TV show, "Biggest Losers". I watched it with them the first week but it just wasn't my type of show. It was funny to watch them and talk about the people on the show. Alicia would always bring over her dog; who barks at everyone and everything. It was funny the way they tried to keep him from barking.
Because Mark and Patricia both taught school, we had the whole day to ourselves. We got access to the Internet and would make use of the basement with the table and chairs. Well, we actually took over the basement and just left all of our junk lying around on the table and in the bedroom.
Drew went with the gang to a high school rival football game. The high school he graduated from was playing the rival high school he had growing up. Does that make sense? Anyway, his team won. I didn't want to go and sit that long, so I had some quiet time alone.
We had some work done on the car, which means more $$. Our nephew owns his own garage, so we had him do the work. He does a good job.
We made sure to go out and get spaceburgers. That is a must when we go to Pocatello. I was introduced to them the first time I went up to Idaho to visit with Drew. They are so yummy. We have a family tradition to always stop and get one when we visit. It is basically a sandwich made with bread that has seasoned meat, cheese and lettuce, then they press it with some type of machine that browns it and makes it round. They have several varieties, but we always get the "regular" ones.
Patricia invited me to go to a beading party. At first I thought she said "beating" party. Alicia was hosting it, and it was being held at the store. I thought that was interesting. I went with them and was surprised to see all the beads they had and was just totally lost. I chose a few things, but I had no clue what I was doing. I was tired and my back was starting to hurt, walking around the table looking at all the beading items. We were making watches but I was still clueless. Babbs, Patricia's good friend helped me out. She took pity on me and picked out the things I needed and helped me to put it together. I actually put it together, she was helping me to see if it looked nice and whether one item worked better than another. With her help I was able to get my watch completed. It turned out really pretty and I'm thinking I might make other bands to change out with the original one. I had a fun night and enjoyed the beading. 
We were able to spend time with his brother Brian and his wife Kim. They invited us over for a meal. It was very good. We then played cards; men against the women and of course the women lost. It's not often we win. We were invited over to Stephanie's (sister) house for dinner. She made a yummy soup, which I got the recipe for. We enjoyed visiting with her.
We enjoyed our time with family but it was time to return to Mom's to finish the trailer and be on our way. We had planned to stay longer, but we didn't know how long it would take us to finish up with the trailer. So we say our goodbyes and head for Utah. The area we are in has lots of volcanic rocks around. You can see several extinct volcano's around the area and lots of lava rocks along the highway. It is only a 3-4 hour drive, we stop once at the rest area just over the Utah border. It's good to get out and stretch my body, especially my legs. We get to Utah around 1 p.m.

 

October 8 - 18, 2010

A true stopping place this time. A chance to see family and to stay in one spot for more than three days. The annual Family Halloween Party is on Oct. 15, so we agree to stay that long. Where are we in a hurry to go?
I was able to make a new friend while at my Mother's. Her name is Rebekah and she fits right in with our family. She has four children and my Mother has adopted the entire family. (her husband is military and stationed in CA.) Her kids have never really had grandparents so to speak, so it makes for a wonderful relationship. She keeps on eye on Mom and Mom gets more grandkids to love and someone to visit with. Because we are always too far away to help Mom, it's nice to know there is someone close by to help her. (She lives across the street from her.) There are other family members in town, but they have health issues, jobs or whatever and are not always able to "be" there for Mom. It takes away a lot of the quilt/helpless feelings I have because I'm not close enough to help. So to my friend Rebekah, I thank you.
We were invited to several siblings homes for dinner. It was great not having to do the cooking. Everything tasted wonderful and the company was awesome. Martha has a cat that they raised on a bottle and it is a big cat. It doesn't know it's a cat, it thinks it's a human. I've got a few pictures of it.
Drew got a workout helping one brother-in-law split wood. He figures they split about three cords worth. Don't ask me how much a cord is, as I don't know.
We were able to be present when my niece, Angela, told everyone they were expecting a child. Her Mom thought she was just fooling around with her, as that is just the way she is. So my sister asked Ben, Angela's husband if it were true. Ben said yes, it was. Talk about screaming; but I know that reaction.
Spent money at Wally World; where else! We found rock candy at Macy's and was able to buy some to bring home and share with the grandkids. This reminds me of a funny story with rock candy. A couple of years ago at our family reunion, they had a jar with rock candy and you  had to guess how much was in it. We didn't win of course, but I had a daughter pick some up for us before we left to come home. I had an appointment with my councilor (depression) and I took some in a bag for him. I said to him, "Look at these rocks I got in Utah." He picks up a few of them and asks me if I got them at the store and I said yes. Then he said are they polished? I didn't want to lie to him so I just took one of the rocks and started eating it. He looks at me with a strange look and I tell him they are candy! He starts laughing and calls me a little s**t. I really fooled him. It was funny.
The Halloween party was really fun. Everyone really gets into it and dresses up. We have a meal and then there is voting on costumes, dancing and then the favorite part of getting candy. We just have the kids go around to everyone and they get "treated". I know several came around more than once. There was a good turn out and everyone had a great time.
There were doughnuts left over and so they drop some off at Mom's the next day. After dinner we thought it would be nice to have doughnuts and ice cream. Drew goes downstairs and gets the ice cream. He is nominated to dish it up as Mom and I just don't have the strength to do it. I get three bowls and spoons out, put a doughnut in the bottom of the bowl and wait for Drew to dip up the ice cream. I'm standing there and all of a sudden a spoonful of ice cream goes flying onto the floor. Drew's face is priceless as he looks at the ice cream on the floor and then at me. We start laughing as he picks it up and throws it away. We are laughing so hard. Mom is in the bathroom and is trying to get out to see what is going on that we are laughing so hard. She comes out and we try and tell her between laughing. Drew gets Mom's bowl finished and I take it to her in the living room. As I just get back to the kitchen, another scoop of ice cream comes flying across the room. At this point, I am laughing so hard I have a hard time catching my breath and my back is starting to hurt. It was a really, really funny night and it was a memory maker. At the mention of ice cream, we start laughing.
We make an appointment with my niece to go and see the trailer. I was really disappointed when I saw how small it was. I was expecting bigger, but decided it was just the two of us and we could upgrade later when we could afford it. We told her we'd take it and then waited for her to get it ready. We had plans to go up to Idaho to see Drew's family, so we wanted to get it done quickly.
We pick up the trailer. We are so excited. We get it cleaned up and start packing it with things from the car that we had brought with us. We opened the windows and just sat in it and enjoyed the breeze. Trying to find a place for everything isn't as easy as we had thought. Things keep getting moved around until we find just the right spot. We need some wood to put under the stabilizing jacks, so I go to the patio and start looking in boxes of wood scrapes and find just the right size and amount. I silently thank my Dad (he has passed on) for having just what we needed. In my Dad's shop, Drew found a metal pipe that is just right to put the sway bars up on the trailer. Another, just the right thing at the right time. It's like Dad left them for us; I know they have been there a long time, but who's to say they weren't "revealed" so we could find them? I like to think my Dad is watching out for us all.
We get the trailer registered in Utah. They would only give us a three day pass to get it back to Missouri and we were going to be gone longer than the three days. We could have renewed it at a weigh station as we crossed borders but that would have been a hassle. We wanted to take it up to Idaho with us, but it is not ready, so we leave it at Mom's until we come back.

October 7, 2010

We get up and I get a shower before we take off. I find most of my clothes are packed in the car, (under everything) so I decide to put on some pj's that look like clothes as I have no other choice. I declare today will be a pj day. Whose going to see me anyway? We go and partake of the "breakfast" the hotel has. It's free, so we can't complain, especially when they have those BIG Ottis Meyers muffins and mine was chocolate, chocolate chip. The car is loaded and gassed up for the start of our day. We leave Grand Junction, CO, heading to my Mother's. The mountains at the end of town are very colorful. As we get closer to them, it begins to be foggy. It looks pretty awesome. It's just in the little valley because it just disappears when we get up on higher grown. The changing scenery is wonderful to view. So many changes and they just seem to flow from one to the other. I like looking for the trees that have turned for fall. They make a beautiful contrast to those that haven't or don't change. The mountains have a vast array of colors and formations. My thoughts turn to how they were transformed from what they were to what they are now. A lot of wear and tear on them to make pock marks and even arches or caves. We get to see modern day advancements, such as the giant wind turbines (three bladed windmills). Those things are huge. We've passed semis that are carrying one blade, and they are awesome. The road we are on brings us out to what should be the freeway in Spanish Fork, UT, but leads us directly into a detour before we can get on the freeway, where there is construction. We are already making plans to avoid coming back this way when we return to Missouri. We find ourselves getting closer and closer to Mom's. It's so exciting to know that I will be seeing her shortly. It's as exciting as waiting for Christmas morning. I miss our families so much when we are home. Once a year isn't enough to see them. I wish we were advanced enough to have Scotty beam us there. Now THAT would be awesome. I can dream, can't I? Pictures added.

Small Break

Once again I must apologize for my lapse in posting. We have been spending time with our children for Thanksgiving. Our two Navy kids both came home and of course, that's where our time has been spent. JoAnn and John (Navy kids) put their uniforms on and treated us to stories about boot camp, tear gas and other such funny stories. It was so funny to see whose story was the funniest or how well they acted them out. They have some good memories, even though it was hard. Kara came to Alta's midway through the visit and she could see them through the big front room window and thought they were playing charades. It was hard to say goodbye, again, but we know we will see and talk with them again. Now that JoAnn has returned to California and John went to his new assignment; Hawaii, (lucky guy), it's time again to get you updated before we start traveling again. I'm sure one of these days, I'll be caught up and then I won't have anything to write. Oh, well, that's life I guess. lol  I've included some photo's of some of our children being themselves and I wanted to share them with you. Enjoy!