Christmas 2008

This is the picture that I received from Cyn and Kyle for Christmas. It is beautiful and there is a little lamb that he is holding. I don't know if it is a boy or girl but I think I will pretend it is a little Navajo girl with a lamb. This is already hanging on my dinning room wall - a place of honor.

Robb got an MP3 player for all his music he likes to take to and from work. He and Robbie were checking out the player this afternoon.

Tonie was home for Christmas. She and I seem to get tired at about 4:00 each afternoon so we come home and take a nap before we begin the evening activities. Then like silly people, we stay up past midnight! We go through the same cycle each day. Oh well, I guess reality will return when I have to get up early to get to work.

We finally purchased a fake Christmas tree. It looks really pretty but the smell of pine is missing even when we have so many candles going. I guess we have to find better candles to get the smell. We did not get our socks out for Santa to fill so he just left piles of items on the couch.

Well, we are enjoying out Christmas break. We have seen the new release, Valkarie, and it is was super good. We are going to see The Day the World Stood Still tomorrow at the IMAX screen. We are trying to have fondu but we cannot find a store open - Duh!! Oh well, we will have fondu before Tonie goes home. Other than watching football games, Myth Busters, and movies on TV, we have not moved around much.

We hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

Thanksgiving

This is Vinney. He is Robbie and Tracy's new little min pin. He is really cute and he loves to visit me and sleep on my shoulder. It reminds me of Chico, the little chihuahua that I grew up with.

For Thanksgiving, we ate dinner with family and had a really enjoyable time. We did not do the turkey so we did not get turkey to bring home. We are cooking our turkey tomorrow for dinner. We hope that Cyn and Kyle will be able to have dinner before they leave to go home to Provo. They came up on Wednesday night for the week-end. It has been fun having them here. Cyn got busy and cleaned her bedroom, packed some of her keepsakes away and we put up new curtains. We are fixing it up as a guest room with her touch of style so when she and Kyle come home, they will have a new decorated bedroom to stay in. We have to keep the doors closed tightly in between visits because Kyle is allergic to cats. We have funky mama and she just keeps on trucking through her teen years.

Robbie and Tracy have been living with us for the last two months. They are anxious to get to a new apartment and are hoping that they will be able to move by the 15th of the month. They will be able to decorate their apartment for Christmas. It will be fun. They will live close to BSU and across town from us. We will put pictures up on the blog when they bring pictures home of their apartment.

Tonie was not able to come home. She stayed in SLC and will be coming for Christmas for a couple of weeks. She is really busy with school and work. We don't hear from her much but do appreciate calls and updates as we get them from her.

As for Robb and I, we are busy working. Robb is getting prepared for the Tax Season. They are building up this month to begin the marathon beginning in January. I guess I won't see him very much for the next five months. After that, we may be able to make some limited trips to visit different places. We want to go to Great Falls, MT to see old familiar sites when Robb was growing up there.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are on the way to Christmas. My how times flies.

Toppenish, WA Trip

We went to Toppenish, Washington, which is about 20 miles south of Yakima. We went there for a wedding. Marge's granddaughter Rose was married in the traditional Yakima tribal ceremony followed by a Hopi ceremony and then followed by a Navajo ceremony. Rose's father is Joseph Sekaquaptewa, Marge's son. This is a picture of the "sisters." Laura, Sarah, Irene, Marge, June, and Marlene Sekaquaptewa. Laura and June are Aunt Florence's daughters. Marlene is Marge's sister in law (Ed's sister).


We (Robb and I) left on Saturday morning and traveled to Washington. We enjoyed a nice drive. Irene and Dennis were in Seattle where Irene did a presentationn at a conference. Merrill and Cori were in Seattle so Merrill could help Irene in the presentation. They drove down on Saturday afternoon to Toppenish and we stayed overnight at the Best Western. Saturday night, Joseph (Father of the bride) arrived. On Sunday, we got up and attended the wedding and the dinner after the ceremonies. We then stayed for a "give away" which is where the family of the groom give gifts to the attendees. Irene and Marge got Pendleton blankets. I got two Pendleton pillows. Then they wanted the educators to come to the front so they could receive a gift. Irene and I went up and got shawls - like the kind women wear at the Pow Wows. Irene's is red and black and mine is turquoise and lime green. How appropriate, huh. Robb and I left Toppenish at about 5:00 and drove home. We arrived home at 12:30. Long drive home because I was super tired.

This is the bride and Groom.



On Monday, I stayed home and cleaned our bedroom. Believe it or not, you can see the bedroom floor!!! Monday afternoon, we switched from Dish network to DirecTV. We also have the highest speed internet now available in our neighborhood. Robbie says it is FAST!!

I had to go back to work today and it was tiring. Then to top it off, I got my flu shot. I usually have some reaction, aches and pains. Well, I better get to bed.

Here is my Honey. :)

and here is the Richland, WA temple:

Delayed Post

Hello everyone. I just read the last post and realized that it was written the last of August. It is now the sixth of October. Since August, we have had Bobbie come to live with us, move out to her own apartment and had Robbie and Tracy move in with us. In the meantime, Tonie came home for conference week-end. We had a house full. We were only missing Cyn and Kyle for our family to have been complete. I went to Austin Texas for a conference that lasted five days. It was really fun, I learned, I was again approached to work for the Native American Mediators things involving Environmental concerns, but as usual, I declined. I was also invited to mediate with inter-tribal disputes with a person from Colorado who has contracts to do this. I told her that if I had time, I would like to join in this. Then, I was asked to join with the director of the mediation association for Texas to present at a conference two years from now for ACR. The possibilities are fun to dream about. Leslie Goddard, the Commission Director, told me that she is retiring. She is leaving December 5, 2008. I will be applying for the position of director for the commission to see if I get hired. I do not know if the commissioners will be putting out a call for applications. I just wish I would be asked to become the director. Oh well, if I have to go through the application process, I will. I just returned Friday evening from Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene. I mediated a case, which settled. :) I then had to do an on-sight in Sandpoint to see some parking lots for accessibility. I went up to Schweitzer Ski resort and while coming back down, I took a couple of pictures. I wish I could take better pictures. The large one when blown up show the steeple of an LDS church down in Sandpoint. from Schweitzer ski resort down to Sandpoint. It is nine miles up to the top of the mountain to get to the ski resort. We watched conference over the week-end. It was really nice. We recorded it and chuckled when the new temples were announced. We had a good laugh!! It is so exciting that temples are being built everywhere. I am having a craft day for Relief Society this Saturday. I am excited because of some of the crafts that I can make. I also will have a table for humanitarian efforts. Things such as yarn to make booties, materials for making bibs, painting blocks, making quilt blocks and anything else I can think of to do. Well, I better go to bed.

Grapes a Plenty

The Grapes are on and the birds are getting fat and sassy. We have big birds that have strips on their wings coming to check out the grapes.
We also have tomatoes that Robb planted. They have produced some really good tasting ones. What a blessing it is to be able to grow something that is delicious to eat. My Squash did not do so well. We are going to move our garden spot to under the kitchen and dining room windows. It does not seem that the old garden spot is sunny enough to allow the vegetables to grow. There are trees from the neighbors that shade the garden area. We will see if we can get a bit more produce next summer.


This is a picture of Grandpa just a few days after he was moved to the rehabilitation floor in St. Al's. He is still there as of today and probably will be there for another few days. He is not progressing as rapidly as he wants and as the doctors hoped. I am not sure if he will be able to return to the farm or whether he will need to have an attendant from now one. We spent Saturday evening with him to watch the Boise State game against Idaho State University. Boise State beat ISU very soundly but it was fun to get into BSU football again. Unfortunately we do not get BYU football. We wish we were able to get that so we can watch those games also. Grandpa was wearing his BSU t-shirt yesterday so he could be in the game spirit. It was quite fun. Brad and Linda brought him an art tablet and colored pencils so he spent some time just drawing. He also has a word search book and 24 piece puzzles of a farm and the race car from Cars. He just needs things to keep his mind busy because he keeps wanting to escape the hospital. In fact, they have an alarm on him and they have him secured in bed with a belt so he cannot get out of bed by himself. He is a fall risk and they do not want him to fall and reinjure himself. When assistance comes, he is able to get out of bed and take a walk with his walker or ride around in this wheelchair.

I better go. I hope your Sunday as a wonderfun as mine.

Apricots and the birds

Well, this week has been full of work, running here and there, and work. This pciture was taken when Dad came to visit us for about two hours while Scott and SAndy went to a wedding reception. Grandpa was staying with Scott. He enjoyed the apricots. Robb has dried lots of apricots and then we left some on the tree for the birds. They had already eaten some of the ones on the top branches.

On August 19, 2008, Bobby Jo came to live with us for the semester. She is here to attend Boise State University as a freshman. She was able to register for her classes over the last two days. I think she is tired of trying to schedule her classes, etc., walking here and there, and basically going through the normal hassles at the beginning of a semester. She is taking medical terminology, into to health studies, biology, American Sign Language, and I think one other class. I can't remember. She got her student ID card and rode the city bus home today. BSU students get to ride the city bus free. The bus stops at the end of the block from us. We cleaned out my sewing stuff from Tonie's room so Bobby could have a room for herself. I emptied Cyn's dresser and night stand so Bobby could use that. I think she might be set. Bobby Jo wants to get a laptop computer so we probably will not need to get a computer stand. She has been using my computer and that seems to work just fine.

We made cookies and cream ice cream tonight to take to the back to school ice cream social tomorrow with our ward. Every year our ward and a back to school ice cream social and an end of the school year picnic. The bishop wanted to have homemade ice cream so we obliged. We will see how many people made homemade ice cream tomorrow when we get to the park for the treats. Bobby will go with us and will get to meet the members of the ward.

This Sunday, Robb and I will be attending the dedicatory service for the Twin Falls temple. It is really nice to be able to participate in the service. I still need to get white hankies for Robb and I.

This last week, Grandpa went into the hospital on Monday because he had hematomas on both sides of his brain and the blood needed to be drained. He went into surgery on Tuesday and had drains in his head for a day. He is doing better and getting very antsy to get out of bed and get home. The doctors do not know how much of his memory loss will return or if he will regain some of his balance. When talking to him last evening, he was still having delusions, talking about a wheelbarrow, and other things. It reminded me of when Robb and I went to visit Grandpa Johnson when he was in the nursing home. Robb and I went on a buggy ride with Grandpa Johnson at that time. Dad Fisher is declining in health, more steadily since the family reunion.

Well, I better get to bed because I have to work Friday. Can you believe it!! oh well, I have taken too many hours of vacation so I guess I better work some hours this pay period. Talk to you later.

July is gone

We made it through July. Robb had his birthday, Tonie had her birthday and Robbie had his birthday.

We went to the Twin Falls Temple open house on July 26th, and we enjoyed the tour. The driving back and forth was not so good. Robb ended up in bed for two days because his back hurt so badly. I of course live with pain but it did not increase because of the trip. I think I do better with trips than does Robb anyway. here are a couple of pictures.

The next event is Robb's and My anniversary. We want to do something but cannot decide what to do. I think we may wait until the week-end to do a day trip to Stanley or Cascade or something. We don't know yet and Robb is hesitant to drive very far. He does not want to be laid up again. We probably will go to Idaho City, which is about 35-40 miles into the mountains. We want to try some fishing so we may need to get our licenses and poles. Robbie is fishing a lot so maybe he can point us in the right direction. My mouth is watering already for trout.