Beautiful Spring-Sun and Sand

Happy Easter, Beautiful Spring, Wonderful Conference!

Kimber really made out this Easter. New bathing suit, sunglasses, purse and ears. Quite an eye catching outfit as she descended the stairs into the sun and sand at the dunes


She does have a significant other in our group of desert friends. Since they are the only two younger then 13, they tend to hang together. When she hears that we're going to the dunes, she has to go to "her Matthew", age 7. He knows the rules, keeps her safe and we don't have to watch her every minute.


Because of the danger to the little kids (and the big ones) on quads, most of our friends have small, two seater buggies for their younger kids. Here's Kimber, Matt, and Sammy (2) in Matt's sister's buggy. He can't drive it but they have fun sitting in it and being driven by other people.


We were in the desert for Easter, so had our family dinner last week-end. Julie and family came over to enjoy strawberries and waffles and Conference with us. Kimber and Janey played happily for the most part - unless Kimber starting mothering too much. Guess it's the xx chromosome for Kimber and independence for Janey.

We had delicious Honey Baked ham for dinner and all the kids came, plus a couple of other people from church. Just like old times. We hadn't had HB ham for YEARS and it was GOOD!.


Julie, Janey and Kimber enjoying the Conference break.


For those of you still buried in snow, this is next to our front door. They seem to like it there, protected from the sun and wind.


Here are our banks. I find it so amazing that the flowers open huge to the sun. But if it's too windy or not warm enough, even if the sun is shining, they only open partially or not at all. Anyone who doesn't see a Divine hand in Creation needs to examine nature.


We live next door to 400 acre Deer Park Monastery. There are about 30 Vietnamese Buddhist Monks and Nuns that live there full time. On my walks I pass through some of their land. It has a real feel of peace. As it gets warmer and we open the windows, we can faintly hear their bell in the distance. They get up at 5:00 am and begin morning meditation at 5:45. Since they are to the east of us, I've told them that in case of a wildfire I expect that our combined prayers will divert the fire. I feel well protected. This is Don and the Abbott. Those I've met are happy, gentle souls with an air of serenity that isn't found much in the western world.

This Thursday thru Sunday, Tudi was one of the chaperones for Krista's HS choir tour with 50+ kids. One of the stops was San Diego. She called Friday morning and said she had Saturday afternoon free, would I like to join her. Having worked my tail off for the past few weeks, I was ready for a break, so drove down to Seaport Village and Gaslamp. This is four of the choir youth who delighted me with a little singing. They were so good that I drove back this morning to listen at the church they performed in. Awesome!!! Thank you!


Here is a rare picture of Tudi and I together. No offense, but we both seem to be aging. Thank goodness it's happily, with faith, family, health, friends, fun, resources and a little maturity.


Kimber found a box going to Whitehorse and had to try the stuff on, in her bathing suit, in January. Go figure. Actually, in one of Jeni's recent posts, Kara was in a bathing suit. Perhaps it's wishful thinking.


I think it's an age/gender thing, but Kimber has at least four Princess dresses, when one gets dirty she puts another one on . It amazes me that she knows which dress belongs to which princess and readily corrects me if I'm wrong, which I usually am.

I was getting ready for the day when Kimber came in. She went in my closet and shut the door and was very quiet. When I went in, she had put my clothes and shoes over her own. Layering is definitely her style.

Clean up the forever way - being a witch or riding a pony is so much more interesting, but not very effective.

This is how we treat our dinner guests. We had a Ward family with 5 wonderful girls, Jeni's family in 6 years, over for dinner. Desert included whipped cream when Don remembered what he used to do to the kids. Lay them on the floor and squirt WC in their mouth. The trick is to overwhelm them without choking them too badly. Since it meant "legal" WC, they girls were game. This is my MiaMaid YW, a real trooper.

New Year's Desert Trip

Happy New Year to All!! After a hectic December, we were so glad to get away from it all and join our friends and some of our family in the desert. The weather was outstanding, the crowds were light and we just relaxed. aaaahhh.

Our good friends the Brown's have a 40' Diesel Pusher and pull a trailer loaded with two quads, a Jeep Wrangler and wood and water. They had a front tire blow out about 15 miles from where we camp and went over a 30' embankment. Luckily, no one was hurt (their son was on the toilet!) and after the wrecker pulled them out and changed the tire, they were able to join us. Even the slides still worked. Could have been a catastrophe, but they were blessed.

The kids relaxing with all of my bowls and some spoons. They can spend hours digging and creating, kind of like when I was young. Nothing fancy except their imagination.


Kimber found another use for the dune buggy - it moonlights as a jungle gym.


Kimber and Buddy, ready for a ride. She liked going slowly around the valley and for short rides, but the speed and bumps and long desert rides were too much for her.

Kimber found the drawer with all of the cold weather stuff in it. These are very soft polar fleece neck warmers. Other then length, they fit her pretty well.


Becky on her blue YZ250, cut down for her size, in the lead. That's the old plank road behind them that the pioneers built in the late 1800's to get across the desert. The Chocolate mountains are to the east. I can't imagine struggling to climb the mountains, only to reach the peak and see sand until the next mountain range about 70 miles away. The dunes are 90+ miles long and 3-4 miles wide and go into Mexico just below where we are. At the very top of sand in the picture is a faint dark line. That's the incredible border fence that goes for miles.


Becky's new (to her) Weekend Warrior and her boyfriends pit bull. The RV is nice and so is the dog, but I wouldn't have one (the dog that is). He is all muscle.


Tami's boyfriend Jacob's buggy jumping down a hill. Kimber was sitting safely next to me playing in the sand at the top of the hill until they were done having fun. The Border Patrol sits on top of the hill watching just across the valley.

We got home in time to see the Chargers beat the Colts in the playoffs. WooHoo!!!

Took the decorations down. They are so wonderful when I put them up, but after a month, it's so nice to pack them away for another year.

It took until today to catch up in the office and in Young Women's, but now I'm ready to tackle the next huge projects. My friend says I must enjoy being busy, because I create it for myself. I'm not sure about that, but I don't know what I would do if I had nothing to do. I'd probably keep myself busy! Love to all.

Hope everyone's Christmas was Merry and Bright. Ours was fabulous! Lots of family, lots of food, lots of well chosen gifts, all embraced in thanks and joy for our blessings.


Here's our tree before the melee began. Looks pretty nice, huh? It didn't last long.

Janey got an exersaucer and spent a good deal of time laughing and talking from an upright position. I don't remember them when my kids were small, but she sure is loving it.

Kimber was one of the presents under the tree. She was very good, very patient, and very in love with presents and sweets! Tomorrow she returns to reality. Don and I will be leaving for our traditional New Years in the desert.

Joeseph, Julie, Janey, Becky and Bryce hanging out. This is Saturday evening - as wonderful as the holidays are - three days of feasting and fun and it's time for a rest.

Julie and Donnie in our family room, looking into the kitchen
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Don, Kimber, Janey and Tami relaxing.

Sean, Lauren, Courtney and Joseph on Saturday.

A good time was had by all. More later.

With Thanks in 2008

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. We have so much to be grateful for - family, faith, freedom, friends, and food.

We spent five beautiful days in the desert with friends, as we have for the past 8 years. We normally get away once a month, but this time it's been two and a half months, and we could really tell. It is so relaxing to just leave.

Here is some of the gang at the buffet table.


Don and Sean are in the center back in white and grayish. It rained Thurs. morning, and the DARK clouds were gathering in the afternoon. We expected rain at 3:00, our feast time, and it did rain - for about 10 minutes - then cleared up. Hurrah!! We have had to eat in the trailers a couple of years.


Here's our feast table and our "other" family. The Jorgensen group is at the top, Don with his arms outstretched. With Brad (bf), Becky, Carolyn to the his right, and Sean, Donnie, Julie, Joe and Janey to his left. We were so happy they could all make it. It's a 3+ hour drive and they came just for dinner with us. Tami and Kimber went with their friends to a different desert.

Since prices on "toys" are way down, and Becky is an excellent money manager, she was able to buy a 2006, 23' Week-end Warrior trailer/toy hauler and spend a couple of nights. The normal Thanksgiving crowd was a little light, and the dunes were great. Becky and Brad ride motorcycles, Don drives a sand buggy.

I'm back!

Sorry for the long absence. My hard drive crashed in August and when I got it back, it wouldn't recognize the USB ports - so no pictures could be downloaded. But it's fixed - so here we go.

Here's 4 month old (June 28) Janey Heathman in her workout clothes for Halloween. She's a real cutey with a dimple, and oh so strong.

And here's 3 year old (Oct 10) Kimber as the little Mermaid. Always with flowers and a smile. Must be the age. She's either got a princess dress or a very full nylon slip on most of the time.

This is our house from the top of the driveway. It's 3/4 of a mile to our mailbox, with only two houses for almost the entire way.
Don has really enjoyed creating an army of rock sentinels along our driveway. There are so many rocks here, and he has used MANY of them in the landscaping.

This is our view toward the north west. Not much out there. In the valley there are some farms and our next door neighbor has 25 acres of dragon fruit. It's a Vietnamese treat and he's the largest producer in the USA.

This is our view of Escondido to the south east. Note the strong wind blowing the flag, that also blew the big, heavy wooden swing over the bank.

Escondido is much different then living on the coast, but we are really enjoying it. Our ward is small and struggling and we're feeling needed. It finally dropped out of the 80's today - thought winter would never get here.

Have wonderful Thanksgivings where ever you may be, and travel safely wherever you go.

Molly and water

Although Molly was not bred for water, she was bred to be a companion. We usually don't take her on water trips because of the heat (usually over 100), but this time we did. She did GREAT playing in the water and riding on the Jet Ski. At first she looked at me like, "You've got to be kidding!". And tried to jump off a couple of times, but at the end of three days, she was a Pro, and even seemed to enjoy it!

She rode zipped in the back pack with her harness and leash secured to the handlebars. She even went to sleep! At the end, I could turn and go fast, though she didn't like wakes much.

She does look a little scraggly though.

Staying cool and making sure we don't leave without her.