julikkers

Birthday cards this week

2010-01-18T13:32:00.002-06:00

Conrad's birthday was yesterday. I made him a card with a birthday cake in it. The pics are in my phone and I don't know how to get them on the computer because the tiny little card doesn't fit in my computer, and the card adapter doesn't seem to be working.

However, here are a few cards I made for friends with birthdays soon.

Long time, no post

2009-12-18T09:49:00.002-06:00

You've probably all given up on me by now, it's been so long since I blogged. I have been making more cards and stuff so I think I'll get on here more.

It's kind of like a journal, isn't it? Don't write for a long time, feel like I have to catch up.

Anyway, a few pictures. I made a gingerbread house for our church party. I didn't actually get to go to the party because we were in Grand Island, but the house got to go. Since I am terrible at cake decorating (or gingerbread decorating), I made my gingerbread house out of PAPER.

Luna made me a birthday card

2009-09-02T11:32:00.004-05:00

Notice the subliminal message? She was actually trying to write "open".

Last week was my (hmmmf)th birthday, and Luna made me a card. Let's take a look, shall we?

Back to School, Already

2009-08-06T15:26:00.004-05:00

Two of my children are soon back to school. Nathan continues his engineering studies at the University of Utah, and Andrea begins her work at the University of Central Arkansas.

I made them these cards, which also work with the challenge at todays www.365cards.blogspot.com: "Today I challenge you to create a scene on your card. In March, I posted a similar challenge, which was to create a nature scene. This time I'm looking for something indoors. Use stamps, stickers, fussy cutting, whatever you wish as long as it creates a scene."

Well, at the risk of creating a scene, here they are.

Another Day, Another Card

2009-07-22T19:32:00.002-05:00

Today's challenge was to make a card, adding dimension at least two different ways. Here is a card I made for my grandson, for Back to School. It has cuttlebug texture and the backpack is pop-dotted.

Also in the news, we bought a little wading pool for the grandkids and Luna and Dallin enjoyed it this afternoon. Wow, we have an exciting life. Luna is also spending the night with us. She's a sweetie.

365 Cards Challenge: Keep it to yourself Tuesday

2009-07-21T19:43:00.004-05:00

Hi. Today's challenge is to make a sympathy card without the sentiment (words) on the outside. It's hard to see it, but the flower is very lightly chalked with pink petals and a yellow center.

We went and saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. When I read the book it knocked my socks off, and the movie was terrific.

2009-07-20T15:39:00.001-05:00

From 365cards I found this challenge: make a card inspired by "Twilight" (the book and the movie). It must have black base or background and red paper, rhinestones or glitter. The scan doesn't show it very well, but the words are from Doodlebug sugar- coated paper in black.

Blogging with or without photos

2009-07-01T09:55:00.002-05:00

Hello, Everybody.

I've discovered I can upload photos from internet explorer but not from Foxfire. This makes no sense to me whatever, but there ya go.

Here at the Place, as we like to call it, we have been working very hard. The floors are done, the painting is nearly done, and Dave has planted a garden. If I can find his camera, I can put up some pics. Heh heh, I guess I'll do pics tomorrow.

Anyway, in the news today is that I think you should all join facebook. I keep up with Trent and Nathan there, at least somewhat.

Also in the news is that Dave has a new job. He will be starting it next week or the week after. It is in a town about an hour an a half away, but get this: they pay him while he commutes plus they pay him for mileage. With our hybrid car, he will even make money on the way there and back. So we can stay here, in our happy little home.

Now all you kids who never call--that's OK, because I don't really like phones anyway. But I would love to get emails to see how you are all doing.

Love, Love!

IT WORKS IN EXPLORER BUT NOT FOXFIRE!

2009-06-08T19:41:00.001-05:00

Frustrated

2009-06-08T19:37:00.004-05:00

Don't know how to fix image upload button. Have pictures but can't post them. Grrr.

Need help with photos

2009-05-29T19:32:00.001-05:00

Hi Fans,

Does anyone know how I can fix my photo button on here?

Actual Progress

2009-05-28T21:18:00.002-05:00

We are making some progress on the house and move, although by the time we're finished we will have probably won the Guinness Book of World Records for Slowest Move. However, we have only two more rooms of wood floors and one small bathroom to tile, and we will have all our flooring done. We've also moved a few loads of stuff from our old house to our new house, including nearly all of our clothes. Now we'll see if we really have enough closet space.

Here are a few cards I've made recently, since I got my craft room up and running again.

Oh, dear. I can't get the blog to let me upload pictures. I'll go look for help and get back to you.

Thanks to my family

2009-05-12T13:23:00.002-05:00

I want to say thanks to my wonderful children, grandchildren, and hubbybubby for making my Mothers' Day wonderful. I loved hearing from all of you.

Nathan sent me the following message, which is especially beautiful.

Subject: I wanna make sure you got Mother's Dayed.

Hello Mom,

I called last night and got your voice on your message system. It was great to hear that much. I'm sorry I couldn't call back a whole bunch of times but I'm really short on money and am conserving my cell phone minutes.

That said, I wanted to write you a note that expresses my feelings so you at least get to hear me say stuff.

Thank you for listening to me when I ramble on about things I like. That really shows patience and love.

Thank you for commiserating with me when I gripe about my problems, even though you've got plenty of your own.

Thank you for being there when I go through bad times as well as good times.

Thank you for making me feel loved and appreciated and secure and welcome all the time.

So thank you for being my mommy.

I love you and wish I could be there.

Soon enough...soon enough...

Love,

Nathan

I've cried this weekend over missing my own mother, about our little Sara being sick, and about the love I get from my family. Some tears are sad, but many are happy.

I got a terrific spiritual uplift from going to church on Sunday. I think it's the combination of great talks and lessons (Dave spoke in Sacrament meeting) and the love I feel from the sisters there. I'm grateful for my family and my church family. :)

I wish I could be there

2009-05-08T21:39:00.001-05:00

Just found our today our little Sara has cystic fibrosis. Please pray for her.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

2009-04-21T12:39:00.002-05:00

We're tired of waiting for our new house to be finished, so we took air mattresses out there and we are sleeping there nights. It's so quiet. Almost spooky. In the daytime we hear lots of birds and cows, but at night they must be asleep.

I've decided I want to install the hard flooring myself, so I'm going to be learning how to do wood floors and laminates. I can hardly wait. We're just waiting (errgh) for the money from the trustee. I've looked and looked and planned and planned and waited and waited. You get the picture.

I found a lot of comfort yesterday by rereading Alma 7:23.

By the way, I'm way behind on birthday cards and cards to the grandkids. So sorry. Things will get better soon.

Love all my dear readers.

I'm not really lost or stolen

2009-04-14T12:56:00.002-05:00

I'm just offline during the move. We have to dig a tunnel or something to get internet at our new house.

The painting is almost done, as it has been for over a month, and soon we hope to start the flooring. This project is taking forever. Not much progress has been happening out there. I wish I'd just done the painting myself; it would be done by now.

The house really wants us to move in soon, and we do too.

We saw ducks on Lake Nataluna yesterday.

2009-03-21T11:53:00.002-05:00

A couple of cards I made this week:

Beautiful Baby

2009-03-21T11:47:00.003-05:00

Take a look at this beautiful baby. This is Trent's little Sara Bentide. And a pic with her mommy and sister and brother (Trent's steps).

And Thursday was our wonderful Aedan's 5th Birthday. We hope he had a terrific birthday! Having grandchildren is the most fun ever.

A New Sara

2009-03-11T15:27:00.002-05:00

Welcome to our newest grandaughter, Sara Bentide, daughter of Trent and Hanne Line. Isn't it fun that she was born on March 11? That is the date of my Grandma's birthday --Sarah Ann Smart Flowers. How neat is that? Hope to have more information to share soon.

I hate Daylight Savings Time

2009-03-08T14:09:00.003-05:00

Hello Family, Friends and Fans,

It's time again for my annual rant and sulk about Daylight Savings Time. Unfortunately, I am too tired to rant in my usual amount of detail. I would, however, like to remind you all that when I run for Emperor of the United States, I will eliminate DST. Thanks for your support.

Our house is getting painted and is starting to look quite beautiful. I'll post pictures later; I have to get them off of Dave's camera.

Here's a card I made for a church sister.

Nearly to the finish line

2009-02-21T14:34:00.003-06:00

We're nearly to the finishes on the house. Next week the painter will begin and then probably the next week the floor coverings and then we can move in. I couldn't sleep last night so I started arranging furniture in my imagination. I am especially excited to put together my craft room there. That's usually the first room I do when I move anywhere.

We had fun yesterday peeling more wallpaper backing off the kitchen walls. It was great to work together on our dream.

I got a book from the library I'm hoping will be helpful. It's about the 150 best non-stressful jobs.

How about a couple of cards I made?

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T16:40:00.002-06:00

I made Dave a Valentine but I haven't given it to him yet so I'm not going to post it. However, I made a card for my brother RO's birthday, and I'll put it up. It will probably get there late.

I still haven't mailed the Valentines to the grandkids yet. For sure, they will be late.

We went out to the new house this morning. The walls upstairs are done, and the ceilings are all textured very nicely. Downstairs walls are done and the texturing of the ceilings was about to begin. We have to decided pretty soon if I am going to do the painting.

Making cards is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do...

2009-02-12T23:27:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I conducted two sessions of card-making classes as an Enrichment activity for Relief Society. We only had three people at the one in the morning, but we still had a good time. We had several more ladies at the evening class, and they all did a great job. It is so fun to see people who say they don't know how to be creative jump in and make an original card. They are so pleased with themselves when they see the pretty things they have made.

Bethany was there in the evening, and she looked so pretty. She claims to struggle with crafting, but we all know better, don't we? Remember the pop-up cards she used to design when she was a little girl? And the miniature kitchen she made me once? She can do anything from crafts to fine art. That's my girl.

I wish I had taken pictures of all the ladies creating. You know what seemed to be the hardest for most of them? Deciding what paper to use!

I got Valentines made for the grandkids. Parent of grandkids, please note: I am so slow lately. The Valentines are all going to be late except for the ones I don't have to mail.

Love you all. Hey, tomorrow is Friday the 13th. Maybe it will be our lucky day.

It's appealing...

2009-02-05T10:47:00.000-06:00

So we went out last night to peel off the paper on on the walls that was left after peeling off the wallpaper. You know, that stuff that doesn't want to come off? We needed to get it off, especially around where the mud guy needs to tape around the new ceiling in the kitchen.

We drove out there, dressed in grubbies and armed with tools and a trash bag. It wasn't until I actually flipped the switch and no lights came on that we remembered the workers had taken down all the light fixtures to put up the new ceilings. Ginko biloba, anyone?

Sigh. We went back this morning and got the job done.

Dry walls get drywall

2009-02-03T16:39:00.000-06:00

We moved a bunch of our storage stuff from our storage unit to the machine shed at our new house. Some of the stuff I have no idea why I am saving. What a bunch of junk we have been paying to store. At least we can store the junk for free now. When it is warmer (it only got up to 12 degrees today) I plan to go through the junk and get rid of a bunch of it. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Our new house is getting drywall last week and this week, now that the place has dried out. It looks a lot nicer with ceilings instead of insulation up top. We met with a painter to get an estimate this morning. I think I have decided on all the colors I want. I mean I think we have decided on all the colors we want. The kitchen was the hardest but I think we're going with pale pineapple and light lilac. We both liked it and so did the paint store lady.

Another example of how nice people are here in Nebraska--a farmer drove by and noticed all the construction guys' vehicles parked at our new house. He stopped in and asked them if they would like more room to park. They figured it would be nice, and the farmer snowplowed two parking areas for them. The snow removal also made it possible for us to get to the machine shed to put the storage in. We don't even know who the farmer is. He's probably someone who considers himself a neighbor. We had a number of people introduce themselves at the auction the day we bought the house. They would say, "Hi, I'm your neighbor. I just live down the road a couple of miles." One guy lived down the road 10 miles. The people here are good neighbors, even if they are not close neighbors.

Cards I made recently

2009-01-31T18:09:00.000-06:00

I made some cards to send to Grandma Murdock to send out to people. She seemed to really like the idea of having handmade cards.

Here are just a few.

Happy Anniversary...

2009-01-27T10:50:00.001-06:00

to Andrea and Mark. (((((hugs)))))

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

2009-01-26T09:45:00.000-06:00

Today is the birthday of our wonderful grandson, Aaron. He is 8 years old. I didn't take a picture of his birthday cake card before we sent it, so I can't post it.

He is talented, amusing and good looking. We love him very much.

Scout camp

2009-01-25T19:39:00.000-06:00

This weekend the scouts from our ward camped in our new woods. It was pretty cold, so most of them eventually ended up in the house to sleep (we told them beforehand that they could do that).

The scouts want to come back in the spring and build us a fire pit, trails and such.

This week the rebuilding is supposed to begin.

We have been feeling a little low because the house trustee lady was mean to Dave yesterday when he tried to talk to her. They ruined our house and they aren't even sorry. (The trustee and the family of the old people who owned the house.) They hate us and think we're going to take undue advantage of them. We're going to be fair. We just want our house put back into livable condition.

Trustee lady thought we should have had someone just drag out the wet carpets and that's all. She can't seem to understand that the mold would have a) been unhealthy for us and 2) made our house worth less money. She thinks what we had done was a ripoff.

I can't stand the thought that there are people out there who don't like us. Guess I'll just have to deal with it, eh?

Wallpaper gone

2009-01-23T09:35:00.000-06:00

I went out to the place (that's what we call our new house to distinguish between it and our current home) yesterday to make decisions about paint colors and to peel wallpaper. Stanley Steemer pulled off 98% of the wallpaper already, but I wanted to get rid of all the rest before the contractor comes to do the drywall and paint.

First I made final decisions about colors. I'm going to scan them in.

OK, one note. The blues aren't really blue, they are more oceanic. They are actually a little more green than blue. And the pink is tan. The green is prettier in real life. Anyway, a soft tan on most walls, white trim. Accent walls in Living Room and Dining Room are the one that says, "like Shenandoah Valley" on it. The entry is one shade darker.

The green is for my laundry room. It's already that color - Cricut green - and I like it. It amuses me.

The kitchen has me stumped at the moment.

The bathroom has me stumped as well. They didn't tear out the ugly gold floor and the fixtures are blue. They had this wallpaper on it but it's all gone now. It will show you the color of the tub, toilet, and sink. (Please see wallpaper sample, wherever this blog chooses to put it.)

Anyway, after running around taping paint chips here and there on the walls, I decided it was time to finish up that wallpaper. So I pulled and peeled and got it all down. It was mostly in the kitchen. Now my house is wallpaper free. I'm actually kind of thankful for the flood because I wanted all the wallpaper gone and now it is.

We are on our way. We have decided on paint, carpet, and wood floors. We still have to decide on vinyl, dishwasher, and colors for the kitchen. The contractor starts next week. We'll be in before you know it (by which I mean springtime??).

Creativity today

2009-01-20T21:43:00.000-06:00

I made a few cards today. I won't post the one I made Andrea's family yet, so she can be surprised.

My birthday cake card got a mention in the Cricut newsletter, the CHIRP.
(blushing modestly)

Fun with color

2009-01-17T10:47:00.000-06:00

Today is Conrad's birthday. I made him a birthday "cake" filled with money. He's really been interested in penguins lately, so I put a few on his cake. Conrad, if you're reading this, don't look at the picture!

Yesterday we went to the paint store to pick paint colors for our contractor to use on our new house. That was lots of fun. At first I was just going to have them paint all the walls "tender tan" and all the trim white. But then our imaginations got going and we picked out colors for accent walls.

The paint store lady, Diane, suggested I go to diamondvogel.com and try out their virtual painting software. There I uploaded my own pictures and "painted" them whatever colors I wanted. I enjoyed that. We haven't been able to find the perfect color for the kitchen yet. We were thinking (well, Dave was thinking) of an orange sherbet sort of color. But it seems too orange (duh) and neither of us are that fond of orange. I'm tired of blue. I kind of like plum but it is pretty dark.

We get to go pick carpet soon, too. It's going to be like a new house when it's done.

Brrr...

2009-01-15T09:40:00.000-06:00

We went over to the house yesterday to talk to a contractor about doing the drywall work. The house was cold. Ah, the furnace has stopped working. Since it was below zero last night, we knew we couldn't leave it like that. We bought a propane heater to try to keep the house above freezing so that we didn't have a rerun of our whole problem.

We have a heating guy going over today to look at it.

But the good news is, the contractor can start next week to put up our walls.

Progress...

2009-01-12T10:26:00.000-06:00

Today is Ammon's 11th birthday. Do you think he got his letter from Hogwarts?

This is the birthday cake card I made him. I hope he doesn't think the flowers are too girly.

It is a joy and priveledge to be his grandma.

I LOVE YOU AMMON!

Beginning and Middle, but not the End

2009-01-11T10:42:00.000-06:00

I thought it might be fun to show a few before and middle pictures. "Before" pictures are from the open house before we bought the house. "Middle" pictures will show with water, and then some pictures of the removal results.

OK, this isn't really fun. This is kind of depressing. I have to remind myself that when it is done, it will be beautiful.

(I'm not too good at figuring out where the pictures are going to end up when I post. I'll work on that.)

The room with the fireplace is the living room. The mold picture is showing damage above the fireplace. Then there's a picture of the living room with the ceiling and that part of the wall removed.

The other two pictures, the room with the chair, and the very dark picture, are of the dining room. That is the same window in both pictures.

Oy.

We checked up on the new house

2009-01-06T20:02:00.000-06:00

We went over and checked up on the new house and gathered all the curtains to wash. Nearly all of the carpet has been removed, and several sections of drywall. (Well, I guess it was really wetwall now.)

There's still a bunch of mold on the window casings, which will either be blasted away or ripped out, I suppose.

The plumbers were there, as well as a couple of contractors looking over the damaged walls and doors. I think the contractors were working on an estimate. The plumbers were working on the sinks, toilets, and dishwasher. They ended up removing the dishwasher. It's scrap metal now. The leak damaged the pump.

Amazing what a bit of water can do. We're looking at $20,000 to $30,000 worth of damage. My poor house.

At least it can all be fixed (or replaced). I remind myself that it will be nice when it's all fixed. Then we can move in. Yipee!

2009-01-05T10:24:00.000-06:00

Good morning. More news on our house. Our insurance company informed us that not only are we not covered for the damage to the house because we didn't own it when the damage occurred, but they won't issue us a regular policy either. I'm afraid insurance companies have joined with the banks in NOT BEING OUR FRIENDS!

We're still trying to get insurance info from the sellers. Unfortunately, since we closed so late on the house (instead of Nov. 18) they are very hostile towards us.

Ah, well. Anyway, so far the wet, sopping, dripping, moldy carpets have been removed. The plumber has been and said there is no large plumbing damage. All this mess happened from leaks springing in the U traps under the sinks. Amazing.

On the bright side, we got a lot of sympathy at church yesterday.

Card: dream...reality

2009-01-02T11:05:00.000-06:00

I made this for a friend's birthday. It's actually tri-fold, but I'm just showing the first two pages.

2009-01-01T20:26:00.000-06:00

Mystery solved

2009-01-01T17:15:00.000-06:00

Well, the mystery of the house that wouldn't open has been solved. Dave and I went over this morning and he got one of the back door storm doors open, opened the kitchen door, and discovered an inch of water on the floor. The pipes in the kitchen and bathrooms had burst and leaked. We had an inch upstairs and more than that downstairs, along with rain from the basement ceilings, mold on the carpets, walls, and windows, peeling wallpaper, and bumpy floors. And, of course, all the doors had SWOLLEN SHUT!

Eeek! We called our insurance agent and our friendly local Stanley Steemer, Jeff Holt. Jeff and his two helpers (his sons) came out and evaluated the damage, and we will probably see the insurance guy tomorrow.

So we won't be moving in for a few more weeks.

But we probably will get new carpets and flooring.

Anyway, it's beautiful out there and we are still glad we bought the property.

Second Happiest Day of 2008

2008-12-31T22:47:00.000-06:00

Today was the second day of 2008. We closed on our wonderful acreage at 11:15 this morning. O happy day! We paid our money, signed the papers, and received the key.

Dave had to work at noon, so the rest of us (me, Conrad, Bethany, Luna and Dallin) went out to the property. None of the others had seen the inside of the house before.

Alas, on the way there, Bethany's car stopped and would not go again. We had to arrange to have it taken to a garage. Then we all squished into our car (with skinny Conrad between the two kids in car seats) and proceeded to the property.

We were disappointed that Dave couldn't be there for our first time in the house as the real owners.

Apparently the house was disappointed too, because it wouldn't let us in. No kidding. The key would only turn part way and the front door would not budge, even when persuaded by my hefty heinie. Acch. We all took turns trying, as people do, and then went around to the back.

The back garage door opened with no problem. Yea! But the knob to the door going into the house was broken. We all took turns trying to pick the lock with a variety of objects found in the garage. When that didn't work, Bethany took the pins out of the hinges. Great, we thought. But alas, the door was fitted firmly into the frame and could not be budged. We took turns trying to pry it off the hinges. None worked. We trudged to the car with the kids so they would be warmer. (Outside temperature was 23 degrees F.)

I called the realtor. He said he had used the key just two weeks before to get in and it worked just fine. He called one of the daughters of the former owners and she came with her copies of the keys. She tried the front door. It did exactly the same thing for her as it did for us. Ah, she said, let's try the back doors (they had storm doors that were all locked tight). She opened the garage door and went through all the things we had tried. She called her husband, who suggested she try all the things we had tried.

At long last, we gave up and left. I won't get to go inside my new house until next year.

On the way home, we feared we would run out of gas, as I forgot to fill up before leaving Norfolk. The estimated distance said zero, but we did make it to Battle Creek and got gas. So you see, not everything that could go wrong did.

Yippy Skippy

2008-12-30T20:56:00.000-06:00

Yippy Skippy, the money's here! More later.

2008-12-30T09:50:00.001-06:00

No money yet! I got a call from Arizona yesterday saying I had to sign a paper and fedex it right away. After racing around town I finally caught up with the fedex guy and sent the paper on its way. They tell us today is the day.

Can that paper really reach Arizona by this morning?

I want my money! And a diet coke!

waiting, waiting, waiting

2008-12-29T15:25:00.000-06:00

I'm chewing nails here. I'm waiting for the money for my new house to be wired into my account. The bank wired the money to the title company before 2:00 p.m., the time required by the title company to wire it to us the same day. It hasn't shown up yet in our account. Will we have to wait until tomorrow? This waiting is DRIVING ME CRAZY.

New job for me

2008-11-11T19:01:00.000-06:00

Today I started a new job. It's at Walmart! I will be working as a sales associate in the apparel department, mostly in infants, I think.

Today I had orientation and learned policies and procedures all day. Tomorrow I do more computer-based learning plus some time on the floor.

I think it's going to be really fun. The next couple of months are going to be a little trying--a new job and a move and a new church calling. Oh, did I not mention that? I have to leave my beautiful young women and grow up to relief society as second counselor. But it's all goooooood.

Yesterday was Dallin's 2nd birthday and tomorrow is Alex's 4th birthday. Happy birthday to my special little guys.

On our way again

2008-11-02T20:23:00.000-06:00

We're on our way home. The last couple of days were spent with family as we remember Bill. His funeral was very nice.

Had fun visits with Mom and Stacy. Two of Tally's daughters, Mary and Aleisa, entertained Luna with trick-or-treating, rides in a golf cart, and swimming. Luna had a great time at Great Grandma"s house.

Tonight at dinner, Luna looked at me and said, "I'm very important to Grandpa." She's right about that.

Staying the night in Gallup, NM.

2008-10-29T22:25:00.000-05:00

Julie and Dave at the auction soon after winning the bid for our dream property

On a trip

2008-10-29T22:07:00.000-05:00

We're on a trip. It's for a sad reason. Dave's stepdad, Bill, passed away and we are going to Arizona for the funeral.

We started out by visiting our family in Utah. We enjoyed lunch with Bonnie and Jim and R.O. on Monday, went to Bonnie and Jim's house after that and had a nice visit. Since we brought Luna with us, Jeremy brought his younger daughter, Sara, over to play. We all had a great time. Jim has an art show coming up at the first of the year and he showed us some of the prints he is putting in it. Fabulous. Loved 'em.

Monday night we took Nathan and Trent out to dinner and visited with them.

Tuesday we went to IKEA with Nathan. It was the first time we have ever been to IKEA. Amazing amount of stuff and ideas. We had lunch there. Once Luna ran off from Dave and got lost and we looked all over for her. Soon she came rolling up on the lap of a lady in a wheelchair. The lady told us that Luna had asked them where her Grandma and Grandpa were. But when I went to pick her up, Luna said she didn't want to go with us. She liked the nice lady.

Tuesday night we were able to see our handsome grandsons, Ammon , Aaron and Aedan, along with Shana and her husband, Brandon. I was glad to be able to meet Brandon, and it was great to visit with Shana. We've missed her.

The boys have grown so much. Luna loved playing with them and they all laughed and laughed.

This morning we went up Little Cottonwood Canyon with Trent. It was beautiful with the autumn leaves. Love the mountains. Luna wanted to touch the mountains. We stopped at a pretty place so she could look around and touch the mountain. She climbed up on a big rock. She looked at all the little rocks.

As we were driving down the mountain again, Luna said, "But I wanted to touch the mountain." We told her that she had touched the mountain. She replied, "Uh uh, that big rock was in the way!"

Now we're in Cedar City, Utah for the night. Tomorrow we need to get all the way to Mesa. It will be great to see everyone.

What a day!

2008-10-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

Today was the day of the big auction. You remember, the one with the house and 14 acres? We went to the auction, pretty sure we wouldn't have enough money to win the bid.

At 12:30, bidding on the house began. We figured we'd be out of the bidding in about two minutes. I had practiced being disappointed all week long. We decided to try anyway, even if we would get outbid.

But my, oh, my! We got it! We got the house and the 14 acres!!! The trees and the pond (which we are choosing to call a lake)! The machine shed and the garden spot and the woods and the meadows and the quail that live in the front woods and the deer that live in the east woods and the cricut-green laundry room and everything!

We are so excited. I've prayed all along that if it is right for us, to have it all work out. And it is working out. We close on or before November 18. Yippee!

Beautiful Day

2008-10-10T13:50:00.000-05:00

Hi.

I finally got my internet working again. For a long time, I couldn't go to any secure sites or pages I have to log on to. Even Conrad couldn't fix it and I thought I would have to reinstall the whole shebang. But last night I got a new virus program and yipee! I'm good to go again.

The weather has been beautiful here. One way we have been enjoying it is by driving around looking at properties to buy. We have found the perfect acreage! It has 14 gorgeous acres with woods and woods and clearings and a pond that feels like you're up the canyon because it has woodsy cliffs rising on three sides. The other side has a flattened area where we could sit and watch birds.

The house is good, too. Often acreages have old farmhouses, 100 years old, with crumbling plaster. This house is a rambler built in the 1970s, but updated, and has a main-floor laundry room and a partially-finished basement. Great condition, convenient features, extra-large garage and lots of storage are in this house. There is also a large machine shed with parking for our camper van.

Now here is the one drawback. It is going to be sold by auction. We're going to try to buy it, of course, but who knows how much it will go for? We're getting all our ducks (or dollars, actually) in a row, and hoping for the best. The property will be auctioned on October 18. Wish us luck.

I'm working on positive thinking. Here's my mantra: If it's right for us, we'll get it.

The pictures above are the house (the car is not ours) and some of the woods. I think the woodsy one is a view through the trees down to the pond.

I'm going to add some more pictures of Dallin and Luna at Poppy's Pumpkin Patch.

Time to pack and load

2008-09-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

Today we pack up our stuff and head back to Norfolk.

I've been looking at houses for sale in Norfolk on the internet and sometimes I'm ready to ride by one when I remember I'm not there yet. Isn't it interesting how we can be someplace in our minds like that?

My friend Teresa is really glad we're going back. I missed her too.

Another weird thing is that Norfolk feels more like home to me now than Utah does.

I'll always be a Utah girl but I do love Nebraska.

Hi Andrea! Love ya!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

2008-09-26T10:50:00.000-05:00

Well, you know how some weeks are more interesting than others? This is one of those weeks.

First, we made an offer on a house here in Atlantic. It is charming, and large, and beautiful. It's house number is 1823 and we made the offer on 9-23 (1+8-23). We offered 167, 600 (our first apartment's address). They countered with 175,000. We decided to counter counter the next morning.

Well, the next morning, the job fell through.

So, we're going back to Norfolk. I'm sad about the job, but I'm happy about Norfolk.

Somehow I think we're supposed to live in Norfolk. This is the third time this has happened.

So everybody send a positive thought for Dave, please.

But it's all good.

See you in Nebraska!

Vacation to Arkansas

2008-09-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

We made it to Arkansas! It rained most of the way here (leftovers from Ike, I guess), but we had no problems.

Natalie and Alex have grown so much and are as charming and smart and cute and wonderful and delightful as can be.

I discovered I have one reader of my blog. Andrea, are you there?

I posted some pictures, finally. I think I'll work to improve my blog, now that I have a readership.

2008-07-24T16:09:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to see a purpose for this blog. What if I tell my family about it and they can keep up with me this way?

Our big news for today is that Dave got a job in Atlantic, Iowa with a company called Mahle, which makes bushings and bearings for heavy-duty drive chains. He'll be a quality engineer and starts work on Monday, July 28.

So, looks like we're moving to Atlantic. In fact, we're in Atlantic now, looking for a place to live.

It's pretty.

Also, there's a branch of the church here with a brand-new building.

I guess we're off on a new adventure.

What do I want to say, anyway?

2008-06-24T09:12:00.000-05:00

You know what the hardest part of starting a blog is? Starting. What on earth do I want to say, anyway? Even more inhibiting, what would anyone else want to read?

I don't know. But everybody has a blog, right? And actually, I suppose it's a good way to stay in touch, showcase hobbies, and make friends. I'll give it a try.

So hello. If you've come here to look at cards, I'm going to post some. If you've come because you know me, I'll try to entertain. If you got here by accident, sorry.