Is it Spring Yet?

We had sunshine for a couple of days and then back to the winter weather. Yesterday there was hail as big as marbles, 1/2 inch, and it sounded like the roof was taking a beating. I did not check to see if we still had shingles after the storm. The grass was covered. The wind did some damage to the soccer fields and farms around the area. It uprooted trees, destroyed barns, and demolished fences. Today, it is rainy again. I think we are to have a few hours of sun on Friday and then it is back to the stormy weather. We don't mind the rain but we wish there would be one dry day so the lawns can be mowed. Our back lawn was about 12-14 inches tall. We called a professional lawn mowing person and he brought in his riding lawn mower to cut the grass down. Now I need to get out an rake up the cuttings but it has been raining and so windy that I cannot go out. The front yard looks better.

We received our moving date today of when we are moving to the Department of Labor (DOL). Moving day is June 25th. DOL will give us boxes and tape so we can box up our personal things to be moved. They have a moving company coming in on Saturday and will get our things over to DOL about eight blocks down main street. They said they did not want the employees present because having employees there slows down the move. Our offices will be 10 x 12 and I have to reduce. My office for the last many years has been 15 x 14 with three windows, corner office on the fourth floor. Now I will be in a 10 x 12 with one window on the second floor. My view will be the office parking lot and trees. Oh joy! Oh well, I think it will be nice to have a future with the Commission.

Tomorrow evening is the Annual Bitteroot Ward Chili Cookin' Contest. Robb is all excited and has experimented with his chili recipe. Actually, the test one turned out really tasty. Tonight he is testing his cornbread recipe. I hope the turn out for the dinner will be good. I think the ward members will support the event really well. There are two categories for prizes: mild/medium and nuclear furnace. How fun. I have to get award badges, big ones from Zurcher's tomorrow. We also will get prizes, varying sizes of Tums.

oops. Robb wants me to taste the cornbread so I better go try it out. Yum!!

Salt Lake City Marathon

We made a fast trip to SLC this week-end. Robbie and Cynthia ran the half marathon!!! They did well. I felt so proud that they ran and finished. Oh they were hurting all right, but they did it. Robbie now wants to run a full marathon but I don't know if Cynthia will try this again. She was hurting so badly we wanted to cry - - her knee did not cooperate very well. She has done it once and once may be enough. I hope she does it again. I was excited at the notion that I might try a half marathon but I ran only about 20 feet on Saturday and felt exhausted. I was trying to catch up with Robb and Kyle as they were making their way to the finish line to watch Robbie and Cynthia. Robbie ran too fast for us and beat us to the finish line. We all got to cheer Cynthia on as she made the last turn and to the finish.

At the finish line, they each received a medal of participation and then we had their picture taken by a professional photographer. I anticipate they will get the proofs so they can order a photo for their memory books.

The entire family purchased blue t-shirts and had a logo printed on the back. Even Jackson got his t-shirt. It was so cute and we loved doing this. Kyle and Cynthia got a baseball cap for Jackson and he looked quite the spectator as his mother and uncle ran by. It was lots of fun. The logo is a picture of a fish skeleton with "go fish" written on it. We figured we could use them as our fishing shirts after the race was finished.

I am sure we will be attending more race events since Robbie has caught the bug. Tracy was not able to go with us and we sorely missed her. She is really a lot of fun and is always watching out for Robbie. It is cute to see them together. Maybe next year, Tracy will be able to go along. Robb and I drove down with Robbie. We stayed at Tonie's and Kyle, Jackson and Cynthia spent the night at Tonie's. Tonie is going to have a big house when she buys a house because we all like to get together at her house. Tonie had a backyard fire pit and barbecue we used for dinner on Friday night. Of course we all visited. Robb and Tonie were the last to retire, I think as they talked into the wee hours of the morning.

On Saturday, we started home at 3:00 from SLC. We had borrowed Grandpa's caddie to make the drive more pleasant. It normally takes five hours to drive home. But, we had to get speakers for the IPOD so we could listen to music. The radio did not work, according to grandpa. Then we needed to get keys made for the car. Then we needed to gas the car and pick up drinks. Then we needed more snacks and a restroom break from the drinks. Then, the fuse blew and the dashboard went dark with the speedometer stuck clear to the right of the dial. Robb panicked thinking I was going over 85 miles per hour. I panicked because all I could see was "140" but that was in Kilometers. I slowed down immediately and realized that all the dials had stopped working. We went to get fuses. We would not find anything but two fuses that would work. Robbie put the fuses in and then we took off again. We turned on the air conditioner and the fuse blew again. In the process of replacing fuses, the radio suddenly began working. I guess the fuse for the radio had blown and no one had replaced it. We had the radio all the way home and listened to Robbie's IPOD. Then, the air conditioner blew the fuses and again, and we stopped in Burley. We thought we might have to stay overnight in Burley if we did not have power to get home. We stopped at the Checker store and the men in the store came and put a meter on the engine. They found that the alternator was not working. OH NO!! A new alternator was $160.00. Then the other man at Checker said he had worked on a car where the air conditioner fuse also ran the alternator. (I don't know what the are talking about.) Good think Robbie and Robb were talking to them. The put in a new fuse and then checked the alternator again. Miracle of miracles, the alternator was working so long as the fuse was working. We had enough power to get home to Boise if we did not turn on the air conditioner. We took off again and did not stop again until Mountain Home. We had no more problems with the fuses and we did not turn on the air conditioner. We got home at about 11:30ish. That took us eight and one-half hours.

Now Robb has a list of things that need to be repaired or maintained on the Caddie. He will be busy and when we borrow it again, maybe we will not have so many fuse problems.

Today, we went to church but I was so tired I came home and slept most of the afternoon. Because I slept most of the afternoon, I am up now at 11:40ish working on this blog.

With the events from the race and the travels, we are blessed to have a wonderful family that loves one another. We love to get together and I guess that is the way it should be. We are blessed!

Easter Weekend

Hello everyone!!! I watched conference all week-end and am so energized. I feel that I need to get back to work trying to improve how I live my life and follow the Lord's commandments. I loved the talks given. There were so many that I really enjoyed, I can hardly wait until the Ensign comes out so I can study them. To me it was really neat that Conference came on Easter Week-end. How great is that!!

I am back to indexing for the family history cause. I have to read handwritten records and it takes some study to be sure that I am making the correct spellings of names. I feel an obligation to do the best possible but also know that another indexer is doing the same records and there is a third person who will review it all. It helps to know that I am not the only indexer upon which someone's blessings depend upon.

This last month, my "cousin-brother" died. His name is Marshall Plummer, and he was the first Vice President of the Navajo Tribe. Marshall's mother is my aunt, Grandma Nez's sister. He is also my clan brother. I think that is how come he is referred to as my "cousin-brother." I am not really sure but Irene will let me know how this all works. She is really up on all the connections through clans. I have not taken efforts to learn about the clan system, customs, etc., like Irene has done. I just look at a family pedigree chart and think of things in that way. Irene attended the funeral. She said there were so many people and he impacted many lives in his service to the Tribe. I feel good that he fought a good fight. Now he is able to see his mother and father, and relatives that have gone on before him. Marshall's brother is the Branch President who conducted the funeral for Mom Nez. I am sure he will take care of the ordinance work for Marshall. Irene was able to seal Virginia to Mom and Dad Nez. To seal Mom to her parents. I guess I can go on family search and find out who has had their work completed in the family.

Robb and I are doing well considering all the aches and pains, the long hours of working, and trying to keep our heads afloat. Simon, our dog, keeps us so busy, you know.

Robbie and Cynthia are running a half-marathon in SLC on April 17th. We will go down to cheer them on.

Robb is home so I guess I better go. Love you!