GRATITUDE

I am grateful for.....

 

 

an amazing husband that makes his family his first priority, works hard to provide for us and supports me in all I do.

 

 

4 wonderful kids that make me proud and enrich my life every day.

 

 

 

A fantastic son-in-law that adores his wife and children and works hard to care for them and provide them with all they need.

 

 

Two adorable grandchildren that fill my life with delight.

 

 

 

and the sweetest dog on the face of the earth that loves his toy cow.





SNUGGLE HEAVEN

There is nothing in the world better than a lap full of grandbabies!!!  I think I have died and gone to heaven.

We are keeping busy with the usual play dough, reading books, watching the Lion King, and taking walks with the dogs.

With the help of family and friends this grandma has been able to step up her game.  Great Uncle Rick donated some big boxes, my friend Marie Davidson let me borrow a Thomas the Tank train set, a wooden dollhouse fully furnished and inhabited by an Asian family as well as a magnetic "paper" doll, complete with wardrobe.

I have forgotten what it is like to not be able to take a step without stepping on a toy or baby blanket, but I have decided to embrace the chaos!! I only have a short time with them and I am treasuring every minute. 

THE LONG ROAD HOME

I flew down to Salt Lake this last week to meet up with Rachel to help her drive with Evelyn, Douglas and their dog Odie to Seattle, a 14 hour trip.  Chuck and I are babysitting the grandkids (and dog)so that Rachel and Nate can go to Peru for 10 days to visit his parents who are serving a mission in Lima.

Needless to say, it was a very long drive- even the dog complained. However the kiddos did really well, no whining or crying.  Evelyn just kept asking, "where are we going?" Rachel had filled a bag with car friendly activities to keep the kids busy.  Evelyn, who does everything at mach speed played with everything in the bag in the first hour of the trip. Great- only 13 more hours to go!  To her credit she continued to entertain herself for the duration of the trip.  It did get harder after dark when she could no longer see to read, color or put puzzles together.  Rachel had thought ahead to include glow stick necklaces in the bag, but when we opened them up none of them worked (thanks Dollar Store!!!).  So we sang "The Wheels on the bus" for the net 6 hours.

Evelyn is big enough to be in a booster seat these days, which is unfortunate because there is nothing on the side to rest her head against like there is in an infant car seat.  When she fell asleep she would just fall over sideways. Oh, to be a kid again, and be able to sleep anywhere!!

This little guy had to sit on the sunny side of the car the whole way home and never fussed!  During our night time "sing along" we discovered that he loves "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and requested it repeatedly.

Rachel stayed here 2 days helping to get the kids acclimated to Grandma's house before she flew out to meet up with Nate in Atlanta and continue on to Peru.

I am SO excited to have the grandkids over the next 10 days!!! Luckily because this is Thanksgiving week, Chuck and Becca will both be around more than usual to help me keep up with the little rascals.  Even Jared and his girlfriend Yujay have offered to babysit, so that Chuck and I can have a date night!

50 YEARS SINCE CAMELOT

Like most people my age or older, I remember exactly where I was when President Kennedy was shot. It was my generation's version of 9/11 when everyone could tell you exactly what they were doing when they heard the news.

I was in 5th grade at Parkside Elementary School in San Bernardino, California.  The lunch recess had just ended. All the kids had already returned to the classroom, but I was standing outside the door to catch my teacher Miss Alanco who was late coming back to the room to tattle on another kid's lunchtime misdeeds. As she neared, she abruptly told me to get in the room, without giving me a chance to explain myself.  She then proceeded to make the announcement to the class that President Kennedy had be shot.

I got the message from the office that my mother had called and I could leave school early and come home if I was upset. I wasn't upset- just confused.  Surprisingly, I didn't take my mom up on her offer, because no one else was going home early, and I would be too embarrassed to get up and walk out alone.

I remember the next few days the entire family was glued to the TV.  There were a lot of tears and anguish in our home.  There was never a family prouder to be staunch Democrats than ours. My family was enamored with the Kennedys.  My oldest brother Mike was 20 and attending a local junior college and had worked on the Kennedy campaign locally. I can remember him coming home wearing the straw boater with the red, white & blue "Kennedy for President" hat band.

My mother, especially, was heart broken.  She thought JFK was best thing since sliced bread.  When she died at age 90, almost 40 years later I found the newspaper from the day he died in pristine condition.  My guess is that a lot of people saved that edition.

I think that even after surviving the horror of WWII our nation really experienced a loss of innocence that day.

His death really seemed to start an avalanche of disastrous events that, while at times has slowed down, has never really stopped.

HUMANELY HELPING

 

I am still struggling with the decision when or if to start my dog business back up. I certainly need to keep busy, and I do love to walk the dogs. Besides the money comes in handy.  It isn't a lot, but it does help with the kids college expenses, and it bought Becca the car she got as her graduation present.

But the thought of building back up a clientele from ground zero is daunting. I keep coming up with reasons not to start just yet, if I do start at all:
1)I can't do it in November because I am babysitting the grandkids for 10 days, plus traveling back and forth to Utah to pick them up and take them back.
2) I can't do it in December because we will be gone a week over Christmas, and it is such a busy month anyway.
3) I can't do it in January because Chuck and I are going to Hawaii for a week. Since Sam is on a mission and Jared is going to school full time and working full time, there is no one to cover my dog route while I am out of town.

If I do start it back up, it needs to be a time when I can commit fully to it.

So in the meantime, what do I do with myself?

Perfect solution: volunteer at the Seattle Humane Society which just happens to be 5 minutes from my house.

I attended the necessary orientation for volunteers last month, which was an overview of all the different volunteer positions available. There are literally HUNDREDS of different ways to help out.  They ask for at least a six month commitment.  A lot of the jobs that I would like to do you need to commit to a specific weekly time slot at a specific task.  I can't quite commit to that yet because of my travel schedule. So right now I am helping out with administrative duties where I am just kind of on call.  I went in on Wednesday for 3 hours to help get a newsletter mailing out. It was fun, and I got to meet a lot of new people.  Plus I got my own volunteer badge on a lanyard!! I guess that makes me official!

WEBBED FEET

Water fowl are not the only animals with webbed feet.

Retrievers, also have webbing between their toes to make them efficient swimmers.

Dunn is a swimming machine.  There is no wasted effort.  He takes it very seriously.  No frolicking, no splashing, he just calmly wades into the water and goes, with a purpose- retrieving.  He doesn't swim for fun, he doesn't swim to cool off.  He won't even get in the water until he sees the splash that means something has fallen in the water that needs to be brought to shore at which point he becomes a dog on a mission. No temperature too cold, no current too strong, no distance too far can deter him from his goal.

EVELYN ROSE

I have been thrifting lately (visiting thrift stores and consignment shops). In the process I have been able to find new stores that I didn't know even existed, like the one above.

Evelyn Rose is a high end women's consignment shop in Redmond.  While "high end" is not usually what I am searching for, considering it carries my grand daughter's name, I had to go check it out.

It is a very small store (truly a "boutique") and I am sure the owner thought I was nuts when she saw me standing on the sidewalk out front taking pictures of her storefront. 

I went inside to explain myself.  I told her I was fascinated with her shop because it was my grand daughter's name.  I asked how she had come up with it, was it her name as well?  She said it was the middle names of her own two daughters.

Serendipity? A happy coincidence?  I think so.

FAST FRIENDS

Last week Dunn and I had the pleasure of walking with an old friend.  Oban is a Border Collie that used to be in my pack.  His owners were busier than usual and asked if I could come by a couple of days and take him out on walks with us.  It was so much fun to see him again. Having a high-energy dog around perks every one up, we all have to take it up a notch to keep up.

We went to the Sky Mountain area of Cougar Mountain Regional Park.

There are 27 miles of trails, yet the trail head is 5 minutes away from my house. This time of year the trails are still dry, mostly covered with fallen leaves.

Dunn is very camouflaged among the leaves, sometimes at a distance he is hard to find. Oban's black and white makes him much easier to see.

 

 

On this particular day we traveled "Fred's Railroad Trail".  This area was a hotbed of coal mining activity in the 1800's and apparently Fred decided he wanted to build a small gauge railroad to help with mining logistics.  He cleared a trail through the woods, but never installed the tracks.  His cleared trail leads to an elevated "saddle" between 3 mountain peaks with a stream that runs through it.  It is a nice place to pause and let the dogs get a drink, and me to catch my breath before venturing off to one of the peaks for the view.

FALL FELL

All over our sports court......

In some places they blew into drifts which were deep

Dunn and I enjoyed playing in them.....

Dunn enjoyed the soft bed they made....

 

 

The crunchy leaves are fun to walk and play in, but I will miss the glory of fall colors.