Catching up-Oct-Nov

Sean, Janey and Julie at Kimbers BDay party. That's "snow" in the backgound. Tami's BF drives the Zamboni at the local ice rink on Sat mornings, loaded the ice onto Don's trailer and dumped it on his grass. Instant, imported "snow". The kids had a blast.
Happy 4th birthday Kimber. Anything pink, purple or princess.
Happy Thanksgiving from Imperial sand dunes. Julie and Janey on Kimbers 50cc motorbike.

Kimber and Janey enjoying the sun. Thursday and Friday were wonderful. Saturday we got a nor'easter, the wind came in and there was snow on the trip home.
Our little girl Becky who can ride with the best of them. She goes most week-ends and rides with the guys - and keeps up. Glad I'm not there to worry.
Kimber and Janey enjoying Don's pre-Halloween pumpkin.

Chicken Little

We are happy to report that after 19 days, Don got his 27 staples out yesterday and is finally mending nicely. He got a nasty infection that they watched carefully (almost daily). Thank goodness for strong antibiotics .... that are rarely fatal (in the description). On the 5th day it began hurting so much that we rented a wheelchair. Today is the first day that he has gone back to crutches for short jaunts out. His foot still needs to be elevated most of the time. Tomorrow he is going to try driving. Doctors said he'll be ready for keeping up with the Peterson's in July. Hooray!!!

Relaxing in the sun.


Tuesday was Julie's birthday, so Donnie got her a chicken. Since she and Joe can't have pets in their apartment, he agreed to keep the chicken and give her the eggs. What a Bro!


You can run, but you can't hide. Kimber enjoyed chasing the chicken. It would find what it thought was a good hiding place and there she was. Unfortunately, the flowers took most of the beating, much to Don's chagrin.


Janey actually liked the cage better then the chicken. It has a thin, metal bottom that makes a lot of noise when stomped on just right. There were even sufficient hand holds for her to move all around. Kimber was intent on putting the poor thing to bed, and Janey was willing to share the space.


I'm not sure if she thinks she's a parrot or is trying to get away from small hands. Friendly little thing.


Riding a skateboard! That morning she was safely in her cage at the feed store, now look at her. Wonder if we could win on Funniest Home Videos.



Molly and Sandy taking it easy in Don's Flintstone house. Sandy likes to lay in the dirt there to keep cool. Down side is she brings it in the house.

The Fall

Don has been driving tractors all of his life, so when it came time to mow the weeds in our field he rented one with 5' mower behind it and went to work. He is very good and got almost the whole field cleared in one evening. Looks like a real farmer doesn't he?


Well, I went for a walk the next morning and he started finishing the field, but then he moved on to mowing the weeds on the side of our steep, windy road. About 1/4 mile from our house, the brakes gave out and the tractor started speeding toward a 3oo' drop. So Don jumped off.

As he jumped he caught the steering wheel so the tractor turned into the side of the hill, but it also ran over his foot. He walked the 1/4 mile home bleeding the whole way, Tami picked me up from my walk and the ER put 27 staples into his foot, 7 into his head and bandaged the rest of his wounds. We feel VERY blessed it wasn't worse.

He's mending nicely, very bored and feels like he was hit by a truck. I gently remind him that at his age, he's not supposed to jump from a moving vehicle onto asphalt. What an adventure!

What started out as a working Mother's Day (house, Kimber, church) , which I will admit had me reconsidering my attitude, turned out to be incredible. When Don and I got home from our 2-5 church at 5:30, Donnie and Sean were grilling gourmet hamburgers with jalapenos, jack cheese and bacon cooked into the patty. Yummy. They were about a pound a piece. With corn on the cob and watermelon. Delish! The girls cleaned up and I got a call from Jeni. So nice.

The counter was FILLED with the most beautiful roses, tulips and sunflowers. I still feel like I'm living in a florist shop and loving it.





The following are from Becky's birthday on May 3rd. Two dinners in two weeks. We used to have Sunday dinner every week, but with such a late church schedule and us living up here, I've been slacking, so this was nice.

Tami, Becky, Brad (Becky's BF) and Sean.


Donnie, his friend Nicole, Julie, (Janey is hidden), Joe, Kimber and Tami
This is where I walk almost every day. Our house is the first house at the top, left of the valley with the white trailer . The brass rounded roof is the monastery meditation hall. I've started carrying a "snake" stick. It has a hook on the end so that I can fling the snake away. Yeah, right. This is rattlesnack country. Today a well fed coyote that looked like a wolf crossed about 25' in front of me. I'm thinking, yea, I can take him on - Not. I ALWAYS have Sandy with me and she told that coyote to leave and not come back. And he did. She is Donnie's fantastic Australian cattledog that didn't go with him when he moved out, partly at my request,

We planted a garden a couple of weeks ago. I remember "Train up a child in the way (she) should go" so that's what we're doing. So far it works, some of the time. That's a dragon fruit plant behind her. Our strawberries are already bearing more then we can eat, and we're feeding the rabbits and grasshoppers with some of the rest of it.


Lest you think we're not really red-necks - Sean's engine blew up so he got one from the junk yard and is putting it in - in our driveway. Actually I'm quite impressed and proud of him. Looks like a bunch of wires and hoses to me.

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.