AM I HAVING A HOT FLASH ?.....NO I'M JUST IN ARIZONA

Rowan's 1st diaper change from his "Birthday Buddie"

He's thinking "Thanks, I needed that!"

Gramma, Mommy and Rowan.... Look at him checking me out! He loves me, he really loves me!

Mommy put him in an appropriate shirt for the occasion! It says:
"If mommy won't gramma will!"

This morning Tony dropped me off at the airport at around 7AM. I checked my two BIG bags and went to the gate to wait for my plane. I brought my book (Breaking Dawn) and finally got to read! YAY! It's so gooood! I may get lucky and have it read by the time I return. My plane left Boise at 8:35 and arrived in Reno at 8:45! Love those time changes! After a very short layover I boarded again and left Reno at 9:20 to head for Phoenix ! The flight attendant (a male) did stand up
comedy throughout the flight! He was hilarious! Seriously! He could have been on stage! I enjoyed all his jokes and he made the flight very enjoyable!
I arrived at 11:30 and as I was walking to the baggage claim, Jon called me and told me to call him when I got my bags and tell him where I was. (South or North door) It was a very easy airport to maneuver so I had noooo problem! Jon and I loaded up and took off for the apartment and after about 15 minutes of anxiously waiting to see Rowan, we arrived and as we were walking toward the front door, Heather was standing there video taping my arrival! I got initiated right off the bat with a dirty diaper which I was thrilled to change! There's nothing like new baby poop!
I'm having a great time getting acquainted with our newest grandson! Love him to pieces already! It is HOTTER than @!%$ here ! Guess we'll pretty much stay inside!

THE SEPTEMBER THREE TURN THREE !!!

As most of you (who frequent my blog) know, we had 3 grandchildren born in September in 2005! The 3 of them turned three this month. Alivia was 1st to celebrate her big day on September 11th. Here she is sitting on the kitchen table (as only 3 year olds are allowed to do) opening her gifts! Hawkins celebrates turning three on Sunday the 28th but we dropped in on Saturday to wish him a happy birthday. Here he is (sitting still no less, doesn't happen very often) showing off his monkey shirt and saying "cheese" ......can you tell!

Teancum lives in Salt Lake and will be celebrating his turning the big three on Tuesday the 30th. We will not be fortunate enough to celebrate with him but I suspect he will be enjoying a big ole piece of cake just like he is doing here!

As the parents can attest, it's always a treat when an energized three year old lays down to sleep! And sleep they do! It's a rare shot, but we caught them all .......

Close to passing out...............

Passed out........................

and "are you kidding, take the shot cuz I'm ready to get up and go at it again!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALIVIA, HAWKINS AND TEANCUM!

Birthday Booty AND ooohh BABY!!!!

WOW!! What a great day! I didn't even care that I was turning 57! It was soooo worth it! It started off with a bike ride to work. Brrrrrr, it's getting cold in the mornings. After I got to work, Nancy and Suzanne presented me with a Red Velvet cake and a beautiful box and some candles! What a surprise! Mmmmmmmm, was that cake ever good! At lunch, Nancy told me to take the company car and take my cake and package home. (It would have been hard transporting it by bike...LOL) I did and when I got back she said, "Look in the fridge, there is a goodie for you" I was thinking "You already blew my diet with the cake, I don't need anymore goodies".....

I look in the fridge and see this BEAUTIFUL FRUIT BOUQUET.... it came while I was at lunch and it was from Chris and Princess. It was the most delicious bouquet I have ever seen! Nancy told me to take the car again and take it home. As I was leaving the office, I got a call from Jon. As soon as I heard his voice, I knew Heather must be in the hospital. YAY! This baby is going to be born on MY BIRTHDAY! What a great gift! Jon was very mellow and controlled and said calmly ....."Well, it is her 1st baby and so it might be awhile. He may not come until tomorrow."

Yeah, yeah......tell her to start walking the hospital halls!!! LOL ..... I'll wait "IMPATIENTLY"

After work, I go home, get cleaned up and hubby comes home with a dozen red roses! What a sweetheart! Love that romantic man of mine soooooo much! He takes me to "GoodWood BBQ" one of our favorite places to go! We share a yummy bunch of ribs and then ...................... I cheated

They brought me the "BIRTHDAY BROWNIE" (sooooo sinfully delicious..... good thing I have a fruit bouquet waiting for me at home) LOL We decided to go to Seagull Books after dinner and look around and my wonderful husband bought me a picture of the new 1st Presidency and the picture of President George Washington . The one where he is praying beside his horse. It is soooo gorgeous.

Here is all my "Birthday Booty" right down to the left over ribs and beans....LOL! I am so dang spoiled rotton! I got phone calls and well wishes all day from soooo many of you and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I love you all!! AND, the best was a brand new baby grandson (NOT PICTURED) born at 9:47 PM. Little Rowan Brady Larson weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and is 21 inches long. He has a head full of dark hair. Can't wait to see the little guy who skipped his due date so he could share his gramma Verne's birthday with her!

BSU Football Fever

Last Saturday, BSU played Oregon and it broadcast on TV. Stillman and Michelle and the boys came over and watched it with us. TheY ARE HARD CORE......isn't it obvious! A way good picture!

BY THE WAY.....WHAT A GAME!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!

LOVE OUR BRONCO'S....

Pic's of the kid's I don't get to see too often......

On Tuesday the 16th, we had Jason and Traci and family and Jill and the kids come over for hamburgers along with G&G Norton. With Traci working the weekends, we don't get to see them very often so we asked if they could come over for a while. We got some cute pictures of the babies and had a great visit. Deedra and the kids came over and visited with the girls for a while as well. She and Jill can compare notes on having an absent hubby.

Isabel tending to Andrew and Sophia tending to Scotlyn (however I cut the girls out of the picture. Jon and Michelle need to give me some tips on photography. LOL

Scotlyn giving Mommy a big wet kiss!

Scotlyn said "look what I can do" and Andrew was saying..."WOW, that's cool"

Now they are saying "Wow, that took alot of effort, we have to rest".

It was fun to see them. They don't get to see each other very often either so it was nice to share an evening with them.

Wish we'd been HighSchool Sweethearts......but we are now and that's what counts!

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OUR HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

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FRUSTRATING FEW DAYS @ WORK !!!

Why can't I retire???

(Because I like to spend money..... that's why!)

Man, another miserable work week ! Our phones went out Monday afternoon and we didn't realize it. We were able to call out but no calls were coming in. We just thought it was a quiet afternoon (should have known better) but finally a client called our Boise office and the boss immediately started calling our cell phones to see what our problem was! We had Time Warner, Quest and Data Tell out on Tuesday and we were without our computers and our phones for a while but at 2PM we thought we were up and running again. I went home at my usual 4:30 time and Ann called me (AT HOME) and asked why we weren't answering again. I told her they were working at 2 but I was home now so she apologised and called Nancy's cell. Again Wednesday, here comes Time Warner, replaced some more parts and got us up again and then Quest made some adjustments today and so far we are back to the crazy steady stream of phone calls, applicants coming in and the usual drama that happens in this office on a daily basis! I am sooooo looking forward to getting out of here for a few days! I WISH I WAS INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY!

FOR THE LOVE OF BSU FOOTBALL !

Saturday we had fun! We actually didn't have to (well we could have ) but decided not to do any work and we had an enjoyable fun filled day! We slept in (until Princess called with her great news) and then spent the morning on the computer and phone. At noon we went to Qdoba's and ate. Mmmmmm good. We went to Costco, The Blue and Orange Store, the Mall (both Nampa and Boise) and the church book store. Then we went to Jills for a visit before heading to the game! Had a great photo shoot of Scotlyn (which I'll share later) We were running a bit on the late side so after getting off the shuttle we were trying to hurry and my right leg had been feeling a bit sore (right at the bend in my knee) I was going down a few stairs out in the parking lot area, where all the tailgaters are and all of a sudden the ole leg almost buckled. I about fell flat on my face. I grabbed onto Tony and limped the rest of the way, Getting up and down the stairs was rather embarrassing. I looked like Chester from "Gunsmoke"

We made it and has a great time. This was at half time. Stillman and Michelle came over to our area for a short visit.

They always take such cute pictures together! I actually took this one and I was rather impressed. Think I captured the moment pretty well! What do ya say Michelle? Not bad huh?

This picture is for Scott. Mac and Phil are Scott's best friends from High School. They sit directly behind us. I use to have these boys at my home on a regular basis when the kids were growing up. Good kids! They say "HI SCOTT"....

This is Eric! He's Christopher's friend and he sits in front of us! He use to come over regularly as well. He sits in front of us and he says "HI CHRIS"....

And this is the end of the game! Another win for BSU! YAY! We sat basking in the warmth of the WIN for a while and I wanted the stands to clear a bit before I tried to descend the stairs. Several people around us were leaving and all of a sudden this older man on my left says "Look at that number!" and he points to the bleacher number right next to me. I look and then look back at him with a perplexed look on my face. He says "You aren't even on your number!" I explain to him that we were late and we sat as close to our spot as we could. We squeezed in as it was and didn't even set up our stadium chairs. He says very rudely.."I'd like some room too!" So Phil who is sitting behind us says in our defense...."They came in late, that's where they had to sit, ya can't tell people 20 chairs down to move over." The man looks at Phil and says "I wasn't talking to you, you're not even in this row!" So Mac starts making comments about how crowded it is in the stadium and that's just the way it is. The man basically left it at that but he left us with a sour taste in our mouth.

SO HAPPY FOR PRINCESS !

My phone rang at 8AM this morning and I bounded out of bed to answer! I actually thought it was going to be Jon, telling me Heather was having her baby. It was not Jon, but it was Good News! Princess called to tell us she is getting baptized. We couldn't be happier! We all support you Princess and are excited to share in this wonderful time for you and Chris! Hugs and Kisses!

AT HEATHER'S REQUEST......

Juicing grapes at midnight Friday

I got 14 quarts of juice, not as good as last year but I'll take what I can get.

Alivia, enjoying her Birthday cake.

Alivia opening her 3rd Birthday Presents!

I was reading some of the comments on my blog and I see that Heather is requesting a new post so she doesn't see the "ugleeee" spider when she opens my site. So here are some pic's of Alivia's birthday celebration last night. We had another busy evening.

Came home from work to wait for the Service Tech from DirecTV. He had to align our dish so we could pick up our HD channels. It got out of wack in the wind storm we had a few weeks ago.

OK, so he comes, does his thing, leaves.....Tony gets home from work, he says we are still not getting all the channels we are suppose to. He calls DirecTV again and the fellow is scheduled to come back. In the meantime, I gather my buckets and head for Kim's to pick my grapes while Tony waits for the washing machine repairman as well as the service tech (again) ..... I pick 10 gallons of grapes, head home and when I get there, the washing repairman is there (luckily, he fixed it so it only cost us $98 as opposed to a new $600 plus) "SMILE"....then I start washing the grapes because the service tech has arrived and we can't go to the party till he leaves. Finally he's done, Tony is happy.... we are now late for the party and we arrive and Livvie is opening her gifts. We stay for cake and ice cream (which we did not need) then make a mad dash to Deedra's to see the new carpet in the new addition. VERY NICE..... now we go home and start on the grape juice. It is somewhere around 9, 9:30...... Tony washes them while I start to process. ( I also did two loads of laundry to try out the fix job and low and behold it works, no problems) After Tony is done washing the grapes, there is really nothing left for him to do so I take pity on him and tell him he can go to bed and I'll finish up. I get my laundry folded and put away and my ironing done while the grapes process. Finally I'm done at 1AM and off to bed.

Oh, I didn't get the pic's in the correct order so I'm blaming it on lack of sleep! he he

WEIRD DAY!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

What a day! I have the creeps now and rightfully so! As you all know I work in rather a dumpy building. We have had our share of spiders and we have set off those bug bombs in the cellar. We wait for a weekend so we don't fumigate ourselves and when we come back in Monday morning, we vacuum up dead bugs! WELL, IT'S TIME TO DO IT AGAIN CUZ TODAY TAKES THE CAKE! A temp came in towards 4 o'clock this afternoon and I got a phone call from Tony about the same time so I left Dennis (AKA, the temp) up front with Nancy and I walked to the back of the building. I'm talking to Tony on the cell and I look down and see the BIGGEST weirdest shaped spider I have ever seen in my entire life....well, maybe not the biggest cuz in my younger days I caught a tarantula in AZ. and brought him back to Montana but that's another story! This one was the creepiest! Seriously! It was shaped so weird and the body was huge! I'M TALKIN HUGE!!! Well, I nearly deffened my dear husband when I shouted for Nancy and told her to bring Dennis with her! He's a big ole macho dude (or so he thinks) with tattoo's all over his arms and hands so I figured he could do the honors of taking this weird lookin spider OUT....as in KILL IT!!!! He comes back and both he and Nancy couldn't believe how big and weird shapped this thing was! Well, he steps on it and low and behold, hundreds of little baby spiders go runnin and so does the big ole mother, who actually didn't look near the previous size when the kids got off her back! You should have seen ole Dennis! It kinda freaked out the dude and his ole foot was stompin and sliding all over that carpet trying to kill momma and all her creepy little offspring! Pretty wild! Now I have these creepy sensations all over and I keep thinking something is crawling on me. Eweeee!

So, work day is over and the plan was to go home, cook dinner for hubby and then send him off to his Stake meetings. I was going to go to Melissa's and she was going to teach me how to make a necklace. I start dinner and decided to do a load of laundry as well. I put a load in and I'm cookin in the kitchen and decide I need something out of the freezer. I go out to the garage and when I come back in. I see my footprints in the hallway. I'm thinking "why can I see my footprints in the carpet?" Then I discover that the washing machine has decided to keep filling and it is overflowing! The bathroom is FULL OF WATER, AND SO IS THE HALLWAY DOWN TO THE KITCHEN!!! After turning it off, I again deffen my husband by screaming his name over and over!
We grab some towels and try to sop up as much as we can and he tells me to go to the garage and get the wet/dry vacumn. I do, but can't find it and then we remember we have lent it to Curtis and Deedra so he sends me trucking down the road to retrieve it while he continues to clean up the mess. We sucked water outta the carpet till 10 PM! SERIOUSLY! Needless, to say, I never made it over to Melissa's!
Tony had unloaded the laundry into a plastic bag and Joyce (bless her heart) let me come over and wash it in her machine. I went over and got it and put it in our dryer when it was done.

You can see the mess! We now have 3 big fans blowing in the hall, the family room off the garage and in the entrance to the kitchen! We both collasped on the couch for a few minutes and Tony says ...."Man, this has been a busy week!" to which I reply...."Yeah, and it ain't over with yet! We are getting our grapes tomorrow night (before Alivia's birthday) and I will be juicing grapes on Saturday morning. Hopefully, I'll get it done so I can enjoy the Bronco game!

Agrhhhhhh......Calgon, take me away! LOL

THE COUPLE THAT CANS TOGETHER....... get's the work done twice as fast!!

The peaches started to ripen so I took them out of the box and layed them out on the table and the island and started sorting through. I was able to bottle 13 quarts on Tuesday night. Tony was busy in the yard so I worked alone. Aren't they beautiful ? Oh and by the way, check out my new hand held Dyson there on the counter. (Try to ignore all the other clutter) It is totally awesome! I am one lucky lady!

I love to see canned peaches. They are such a pretty fruit and I love the color. They are even beautiful in the jar! They kinda clash with all that red...LOL

Tony helped me last night and we were able to do another 26 quarts. We are going to try and finish up tonight. It was fun working together and the work went much faster.....go figure!

I had one mis-hap however. At the very end we somehow ended up with ONE lone jar so I was water bathing it all by it's little lonesome and we had gone upstairs to get ready for bed. All of a sudden Tony said "I smell something burning!" I made a mad dash for the kitchen to find the canner had run out of water. There was a mess in the bottom but luckily not too bad. We boiled some water in the tea kettle and poured it it and then continued to finish the last jar. My house stinks now! We'll be more careful tonight!

PICKIN PEACHES !

Another busy weekend, come and gone!

Friday night we met with a couple we know and had dinner at "Famous Dave's." It's a new BBQ place in Meridian and we wanted to see how it compares with GoodWood. It was good but we both still prefer GoodWood. Just our opinion. We had a great time with Ray and Barb and after dinner, Barb helped us further BLOW our diet's by having us over for Creme Brule. WOW, it was good!

Saturday morning we got up around 9am, ate a quick bite and went and picked up Grandma Norton and we all went to the church orchard and picked peaches. We picked 6 bushels and so now I have my work cut out for me every evening this week.....canning! They were lovely Alberta's and they are delicious! I've been eating fresh peaches for 2 weeks now and I am enjoying them so much! After dropping off peaches at Melissa's and then taking Grandma home, we went home cleaned up and then went shopping. My hubby is awesome! He took me to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought me the hand held Dyson vacuum for my birthday! I love it! I couldn't wait to get home and try it out! Oh, and remember how I said we loved the Creme Brule! Well, he bought me a kit to make it. It came with 4 ramekin's and the little torch to caramelize the brown sugar! He also bought me 4 extra ramekins. And get this..... he bought another Ped Egg and refills for them. I asked why we needed two and he said "His and Hers" LOL Sure do love that man of mine! My Dyson is wonderful! It sucks like no other! LOL It will make it so easy to do the steps now. Love it, love it, love it!

Saturday night we drove to Bruneau with mom and dad Norton and attended Cassandra Neider's wedding. It was fun. A real cowboy wedding! Tony was impressed with the "GoodWood" meal that followed! LOL. We got home a little after 10PM.

Sunday was nice. Tony was up early for his early Stake meetings. I went to church at 9AM and my Primary class was out of control! They tested my patience to the max. I had to get after 2 of them in particular and one of them said to me "You just slipped to the bottom of my list, and believe me.....it's a long list!" It was actually pretty funny and I told her "that was rich, I'll remember that and use it sometime." Fun girls but some days they are over the top!

We had a great phone conversation with Chris and Princess when I got home and it was so good to hear from them. They are doing great! Chris is on days now so they are enjoying time together! We had a nice lunch and a nice relaxing afternoon catching up on sleep. Sunday evening we were invited over to Stillman and Michelle's to play games. We had a wonderful peach cobbler, some popcorn and watermelon. We played games and then left around 8:30. We were on our bikes and wanted to leave before it got too dark.

Now it's back to work and on to another busy week. We'll be canning as the peaches ripen so it could be a few jars every night. They will be worth the time and trouble! Busy hands, keeps me outta trouble!

4 things... I've been Tagged !!!

4 things about me....

4 things I like about my husband!
1. He is always complimentary
2. We laugh together everyday!!
3. He NEVER says unkind things.
5. He is always willing to help me with my work.

4 movies I would watch more than once.
1. Last of the Mohican's
2. Sabrina
3. Harry Potter Series
4. Twilight....(I'm sure I will)

4 TV shows I watch....
1. Walker, Texas Ranger (husbands favorite, I basically watch and make derogatory comments ) LOL
2. Anything on Hallmark ie: Matlock, Murder She Wrote, Perry Mason etc
3. ESPN Sports (Mostly cuz hubby has it on.....constantly)
4. Fox news..... I'd watch more but don't seem to find the time

4 Places I've Been....
1. Hawaii
2. Canada
3. New York
4. Washington DC

4 Places I Would Like To Go...
1. Australia
2. Nauvoo
3. Visit kids not living here
4. Home

4 People Who Email Me Regularly

1. Heather

2. Dave (my brother)
3. Donna (my sister)
4. Nancy

4 Things I Would Like To Eat....
1. I'm dieting, everything sounds good!
2. Mexican
3. Italian
4. Chocolate

4 Things I'm Looking Forward To In The Coming Year...
1. Birth of Rowan Larson (Heather & Jon's baby)
2. Trip to AZ to see Rowan
3. Find out what Deedra is having on the 21st of this month
4. Birth of Deedra's baby in February

4 People I Tag.....
1. Jill
2. Alivia
3. Tammy
4. Deedra

ACTUAL LABOR DAY....WORK BUT FUN!

Today (Monday) was the actual Labor Day. We slept in till 9:30 !!! That's really late for me and Tony! After eating some breakfast we loaded up the tools and headed for Curtis and Deedra's to help with the plugs and switches in the new addition. Deedra wanted to put on a switch so she could show us that she has helped with the work. She already painted, cooked for the help, watched the kids, cleaned off the paint dust throughout her house........like she has to prove something! LOL She's a mother! We already know she works like crazy!

Curtis, Colby and Seth put up the can lights and the covers on the surround system wires and the ceiling fans. Nephi was telling them how to do it all! LOL

Here is my dear sweet hubby, hooking up all the plugs and switches. I followed him around and put the covers on after he was finished.

No, Nicky isn't strangling Garrett! She was trying to get him to pose like she loves to do.

She put grapes in her cheeks and said "Gramma, take my picture"..... She looked like a little gopher! It was fun helping the kids and the addition is looking fantastic! Not much longer and they'll be enjoying all that extra space.

After we left their house in the afternoon, we went home and cleaned up and went to a BBQ at the Bostroms. (a family in the ward) They had invited several families over and we had a good visit and some good food. Afterwards we followed the Francis's home and they gave us several peaches off their tree as well as a dozen corn on the cob. Mmmmmmm, can't wait till dinner tomorrow night! Anyway, twas a busy but fun day!