My Two Dads

I have been blessed with TWO terrific dads. Ok, one got to choose to have me. The other just kind of ended up with me because his son chose to marry me. Any how, the past week I have been answering all kinds of questions for both dads. I love it. It all started when last week nearing up to the mountain man meeting my dad G started calling to see if we were going and what the meeting was about. He was unable to attend but called on Sunday to see how things went. He also asked if we could do lunch on Monday. I won't turn down a lunch date. Saturday morning the comic Red and Rover came out. It was all about eating broccoli. This provoked a call to dad A. He hates broccoli and I have to tease him about it at any chance I get. He talked to me for a bit and then told me "see ya later". That made is son really mad because he never says bye, he just hangs up when he is done talking. Then on Monday Dad A called to have me check on his rebate. The rest of the week has been full of my two DADs calling to check up on Gene and to see if they need to help out in any way. It's great to know they are there and will help out if they are needed. I get to be the lucky one because Gene has not wanted to talk on the phone much this week, so I get to. I count myself as lucky that I got The BEST in- laws. They are always there. Even in the bad times they are willing to listen. I am so LUCKY!!!

Thank goodness for good sports

Today starts National Pancake Week. I was planing the menu and decided it would be a great idea to have pancakes today to start our week of celebrating pancakes off right. Elliot and John were great sports about it also. John came in the kitchen to finish the baccon he was cooking and rolled his eyes and snickered at my HEART shaped pancakes. When Elliot came up to eat he told Elliot he would have to eat heart pancakes because there were no round ones. Elliot agreed and we sat down to dinner. I asked Elliot if he remembered asking for pale face pancakes. He didn't remember that but when he was small he would ask for the "perfect pale face" That was a light colored pancake. He didn't remember but he did admit to liking light pancakes and told us that his mom always told him if he didn't like the color of herpancakes he should try the pancakes her aunt makes. :0) It was a perfect dinner. One of my favorites. I tried to get a picture of the pancakes with the men but they were not into having a photo holding the pancakes. I guess I will have to settle with the memory of eating "HEART" pancakes.

Ode to the Engineers

Happy Engineer week!!! Where would I be with out an engineer? I wouldn't be here. You see my father (Dad) is an engineer. With out him there would be no me. I would not have made it out of the sixth grade with out him.
We were assigned to make a project that could be wind powered and lift weight. The teacher thought about a pound would suffice because we were going to use a blow dryer for the wind power. I took my project ideas home and reviewed them with Gene. He helped me invent a fin that would catch wind and turn a 2x2 board. To that we attached a sting that could wind around the board and lift the weight. Mind you the 2x2 was square. We attached fins to each side (Pop bottles cut in half) and drilled two holes and inserted nails that fit into to coffee cans. We tested the project at home a number of times once it would lift a pound I called it good and took it to school. Gene doesn't worry about looks, it's all about how it works.
My teacher was a bit of a chauvinist. I can't remember his name. Some thing like Mckinnon I think. He didn't think girls were very smart. That really made me mad. He started most of the other projects with small ounce weights. That made me smile because I was sure that mine could do that. When it was my turn I set up my project and told him we should start with the one pound weight. He laughed, and picked up the smallest weight. He turned on the blow dryer and had to duck because the weight was immediately air born and flying toward his head. It hit the black board and took a huge chunk of the green off. I thought it was the funniest thing ever. He then put the pound weight on and it lifted it no sweat. He asked what my dad's occupation was and I told him he was a garbage man. (If you have seen his garage you would agree) When class was over and we were leaving one of the boys that was leaving the class with me called the teacher a dumb ass. He immediately thought it was me and told me I needed to be in his room in the morning with my parent.
I went home and told my parents about it and my mom informed Gene he would be in school with me in the morning. She wasn't going. My dad agreed and we went in and settled everything. When I got my grade on the project I was given a "c". When asked why I was told because I had broken the chalk board. My dad again came to bat for me and got my grade raised.
Now, if I ever require math skills or ideas I call Dad. He can figure out anything. If Dad can't Elliot can. It's great now he lives here. Dinner hour turns into a very interesting topic sometimes.
SO my hat off to any Engineer. I can't do what they do. Happy National Engineer Week!!!

Cute Baby G

Emily came to visit on Suday. We had a blast. Gavin is so cute. He is just figuring out how to crawl. It is so much fun to watch. He perferes to have one foot on the ground and one knee on the ground. Emily and I got to visit with each other. It seems like so much goes on between our visits we have to catch up on a lot of things. Gavin got his Christmas present. Uncle John made him the cutes little ski bum hat. Then Greg and Jill and Kaitlin and Trina her cousin came to visit. We had a good visit. John and Greg spent some time down stairs working on a project and the girls and baby G stayed up stairs. We fixed an appropriate Sunday dinner of baked chicken and enjoyed each others company. It was a lot of fun to have a little get together, impromptue style:)

Things to make you happy

Yesterday we were buying Birthday cards for a few friends and there we were, standing in the card section laughing our heads off. We were trying to read cards to each other but we just couldn't make it through one. We would each have to read the card on our own and pass it to the other. As we picked our card and continued on I said that if I ever felt sad all I needed was a good card read to cheer me up thus came the next BLOG. Here is a list of things we thought of to cheer us up.

play with the dogs
create a project
play with play dough
fly a kite
drive trains with Sky
go sledding
shop
read a book
family night with friends
blog
paint a room in your house
clean house-this only works for Mandy
cook something new
call a friends on the phone
shop for birthday cards
make cookies
go visit mom & dad Garcia
go camping
getting a wave from your nephew in the next car over
play guitar
go on vacation
play rummy
win the card game!!!
knit
croche with Pond
play barbies with Maddi
have a sleep over
find a great deal at the thrift stores
go to lunch durning a hectic day
sharing Charleston Chews with Zack

If you have having a glum day pick something off the list and try it.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I love you all through February,
Not just on Valentine’s Day;
I cherish you when flowers of spring
Appear in the midst of May.

I adore you in the summer,
When the air is filled with heat;
Without you in my life each day,
I wouldn’t be complete.

I treasure you in fall,
When leaves are turning gold;
I loved you when you were younger;
I’ll love you when you’re old.

I prize you in the winter,
When colder days are here;
I love you, love you all the time,
Every minute of the year.

So I’ll give to you this Valentine,
But I want to let you know,
It’s not just today, but always,
That I will love you so.

Mission Farewell

I hope they call me on a mission...

Sunday we got to wake up extra early and travel for two hours, in our Sunday best to be able to listen to my Aunt LaRue and Uncle Ron speak in Sacrament meeting. They got to speak in church before they depart into the Mission field for at least 1 year. OK, so we already know they will be gone for 1 & 1/2 years. They told us that they had already extended their one year call to 1&1/2. We all knew that would happen because that's what history has taught us. History does repeat itself.
It was an enjoyable meeting. Over half of the congregation was related. It was like a family reunion. My dad was especially happy because three of his children that don't attend "regularly" were there with him. It was just like old times. We took up a long pew.
After the meeting we headed out to Bailey Creek to do nothing else than what we do best....PARTY. PARTY:A gathering with close friends and family where the house is so loud you can not hear yourself think. There is always a lot of good food. If you leave hungry it is your own fault. We got to visit with friends and family that we have not seen in a lot of years. Well at least not since the last Mission Uncle Ron and Aunt LaRue went on.
I have to give you a little history on Aunt LaRue. She is my mom's twin sister. We were always told not just twin sister but Mirror Image Twin. One day we were visiting in Soda and my mom and aunt had been in her bedroom. I walked into the bathroom looked up and only saw one "mom" but I wasn't sure if it was "mom" or "aunt". SO I asked "Are you my mother?" Aunt LaRues house was always a great place to go and visit. There was always some adventure waiting to be had. Now going back as a grown up has a different meaning. Not so much an adventure but a nice place to visit and remember the past and make new memories.
Sunday was no different. We visited and enjoyed our time spent there. We will miss them while they are gone but will be awaiting their return so we can yet again journey to Idaho and visit with them. (I just hope when they return their church doesn't start at 9:00am) :)Love you two. Be safe and may God be with you till we meet again.

I hate shopping...

I decided today as I put the same dress on for the 14th time that I HATE SHOPPING!! I know HATE is a strong word but I think I would rather go to the dentist before going to the store. I don't really care what store it is. I don't like it. I think the way to shop is to use the store like a zoo. I would just like to sit at the front of it and watch others come and go. You can find the most interesting people in stores.
While I was in the dressing room at a clothing store, John was doing a great job at finding other things for me to try on. You see, he's used to it. I hate clothes shopping. He has learned that if he gets me in the dressing room and then brings me more stuff to put on I may find something to buy. If I have to walk through all of those clothes I get over whelmed and I leave. Anyway, back to the original story...I guess the sales lady didn't know I was still in the dressing room. She was wondering where all of the dresses I was trying on were going. She sent her co-worker to keep an eye on John to make sure we weren't stealing all of the dresses. I guess maybe we looked like we were trying to create a diversion so we could steal the clothes. Then to complicate matters, the cashier forgot to take the "Alarm Tags" off of someone Else's purchase so as they left the alarm went off the sales associates standing at the back of the store drew straws to see who would have to follow the shoppers out. Meanwhile the HONEST shopper was making her way back into the store to find out why the alarm was going off.
Next we went to Target. A lady wanted to buy the rug that was on the floor as part of the display. There were two chairs and a plant on it so it looked like a foe room. Instead of just moving the damn items off of the rug and putting the rug in her basket she made a huge deal about not having one in stock and needing a sales associate to help her move the stuff off of the rug and help to put it in her basket. Really, maybe you should be buying carpet somewhere they can bring it to your house and install it also. I wonder how she will get it in her house?
Our best store of the day was TJ Maxx. It was fun. Lots to look at and many interesting people. Enough of shopping I guess. We got some great stuff and we also got to take a few things off of the "to do" list!!!