A DAY IN THE LIFE OF GRANDMA

Oct 19, 2009

WASHINGTON TRIP

My brother and his family have lived in Washington for 8 years and I have never been up to see them. Lance and I were invited to ride up with my mother and Henry and spend Conference weekend. I'm glad we did. They live in the area where Lance served a mission some 35 years ago. We were able to visit a lot of the areas where he served his mission. Mount Vernon is beautiful and the weather was perfect. A bit steamy from the humidity in the early morning as you can see from this picture. This is the front of the home the morning we loaded up to go site seeing. Thank you Brad and Trudy. We had a great time and it brought back many cherished memories from Lance's mission. I have so many pictures from this trip that it would take eons to post them all so I did just a few.

On our way up to the look out point of "The San-juan Islands" included Puget Sound, Whidbey Island, and more. I had to take pictures of the fungus that grows on everything. It is a sign that the air is very very clean. Anywhere that we saw fungus we knew we were breathing clean air. I could tell. It was so much eaiser to breathe and felt so good.

Ferns grow rampid as does the moss. The ferns were as tall as me.

Early morning haze still lingers in the air, but the view was still breath taking. The many bodies of water went forever and the many islands were incredibly beautiful.

Mom and Henry enjoying themselves.

Deception Pass was interesting. The pass is between Anacortes and Oak Harbor. The tide moves in and also out at the same time which makes a constant swirl.

Some of Puget Sound

Dylan posing just as the sun was going down.

My neice, Nina and nephews Dylan and Jordan

Catching the sun set

Deception Pass State Park. All the water in these pictures are all part of Puget Sound.

Brad and Lance

This is the biggest sea weed I have ever seen..Gross.

We took an hour and a half drive around Whidbey Island and then hoped the fairy back to the Seattle side. This is how many people commute to work everyday or to go shopping. Sometimes the line of cars to load on the fairy is several blocks long. Don't think I would like that commute.

The Mukilteo Fairy
Passing another fairy

The fairy going towards the Seattle side of the island. Cute little light house in the middle of the picture.

Part of LaConnor, one of the boat docks.

The bridge going into LaConnor. This is a view from the park .

We stopped at a park to have some lunch after crossing the bridge on our way to LaConner where Lance served most of his time during his mission. Back then it was mostly Indian reservation, where now it has built up to be a big tourist site with many shops and places to eat. While in the town we found a large oak kitchen table with a leaf for $35 in perfect shape. Since we drove a truck down we couldn't pass it up.

In the city of Sedro'woolley they have a wood carving contest on the 4th of July every year. They have it in town square for all to come and watch. They have around 18 people turn out each year who enter the contest. The carvers start out with a log around 3-4 feet in diameter and at least 8-10 feet tall. Up and down the main street of the town are lined with wood carvings that are incredable. These are just a few....

There are beautiful mureials painted on the sides of buildings

Caught the sun just before setting on our way back from Chuckanut Drive a great day seeing some more sites.

Oct 15, 2009

What-Matters-Most

Sometimes it seems as though my life is out of control. The days are shorter and the list of projects and things to do gets longer. I wake up each morning anticipating all the things that I will do that day. I go to bed that night with the same list thinking "Where did the day go?" I try to simplify my life yet with 5 children, 3 grandchildren, a husband, a job, a church calling, a yard , a home, a dog, an aging mother, and myself, "SIMPLIFY " is not in the equation! With my days getting shorter and my list pretty much staying the same scratching off an item here and there, I scramble around wondering "What am I missing out on?"I am so pre-occupied !
Did I stop to have conversation with my husband? Did I say hello to my boys as they come home from work or ask how their day went? Did I take time to pet the dog and give her any attention? Go to lunch with a friend? Take a walk?
I needed this video. I get so busy that I need something like this to put me back on track and say, "What Matters Most?"

What-Matters-Most

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Sep 27, 2009

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Believing in yourself is the first step to making your dreams come true. Other forces would have us believe that we are who we are and there is nothing we can do about it. Certain people in our lives need to CHANGE before our dreams come true or before we are HAPPY. It's too hard or what's the point? No matter who we are or what circumstances we are in, I believe that we have the capacity to become GREAT individuals.

Sep 11, 2009

COCKADOODLEDO

ROOSTERS come in all varieties, colors, an attitude. I thought a rooster was a rooster was a rooster. Oh no, this particular rooster is called a Brahma. This one is my favorite that I've seen so far. My daughter Kimberly and her husband Kent have around 40 chickens and several hens. Lance went up a few weeks ago and helped her put sideing on the chicken coop and designed an awesome star burst above the door...photos later. Anyway, this rooster literally struts his stuff. He is bigger than all the other roosters and he knows it.

Chickens have a pecking order also which I did not know. I'd heard of the pecking order and didn't realize that it is a real thing in the chicken world. I was swinging with Mya watching Kimberly and Lance work on the chicken coop. Watching these birds was so intrigueing especially when it came time to eat and then the pecking order began. The big birds went first eating out of their large round bird feeder that sits on the ground. After a few minutes some of the other smaller chickens wondered over and lined up like they were waiting to buy tickets, one after the other. I noticed one chicken struttin over towards the feeding dish and tried slidding in along side of the fence thinking he was going to pull one over on the rest. As soon as he got to the fence and stretched his long neck to try and snatch some food the other roosters all at once freaked out and pecked at that chicken, sqaulking the entire time and ran him right out of there.
I yelled out "On my gosh, did you see that?" Like it was big news. Lance said, "Yes Debbie that is called the pecking order." I yelled back, "That is just mean." They both laughed at me. I could tell right then and there I would not do well on a farm . Every animal and bird would have to be nice to each other and wait their turn. Not gunna happen obviously. So I just sat on the swing taking pictures of these interesting birds.
I noticed that some would move out of the way when other birds were strutting towards them, and others would squawk and lunge towards them and peck. Yeh, totally an attitude with some of these chickens. I decided to walk over to the the food barrell and get a scoop of their feed and scatter it around on the ground to see what would happen. Well the minute I pulled the scoop out of the barrell (red in color) all chicken and hens started strutting towards me. Interesting how they were so familiar with the red scoop. I mean these are just chickens, how smart can they be? I scattered the feed over the ground and all started eating.
The big Brahma Rooster that I love cocked his head up from clear across the yard and hi-tailed it over to get his share I'm sure. Several of the other chickens immediatly scattered out of his way to give him room to pig out, the big brute!

Off to the side of me I took note of three speckeled Brahma Birds all digging a big hole, dust going everywhere. Then they all in unison wiggeled their plump bodies down into the soft cool earth, totally ignoring all the other chickens and roosters who were scarfing on the feed. They were doing their own thing and keeping to themselves. I asked Kim what was up with these three chickens. She said that they bought them when they were little chicks. They all came from the same litter and have stayed together ever since. How adorable I thought. I watched them for awhile as they keep getting up trying to get comfortable, when the big Brahma Rooster strutted over to the three other Brahma chickens who were working so hard to get their hole big enough so all three could snuggle down together. He thought he was going to get into the action. He started pushing dirt away from their hole with his feet and the three of them stood up and ran him off. I laughed so hard. "I am totally being intertained by a bunch of chickens and roosters!

Most of the laying hens go into the coop to lay their eggs. However there are some who much prefer to lay their eggs in grassy areas around the chicken coop, like under the black berry bushes, or under the apple tree where the grass grows high, or just under a bunch of tall weeds. When I help gather the eggs I always need to check all the other laying areas It is so fun to see the different colors of eggs they lay. The Brahma Hens lay blue and green eggs. The hens that Kim calls her Mrs. Dash hens because they are speckeled with all different colors, lay dark brown and tan eggs. They also gather orange color eggs.

So far I have learned that they have, Brahma, Wyanndotts, Rhoad Island Reds, Red Star, Americana, and Mrs. Dash hens and roosters.

Here are few of the pictures I have taken, most of the Big Brahma Rooster, because he is so cool looking....