The Good Times Continue

Since these two cute girls live in Indiana, we don't get to spend much time with them, so we took advantage of their time with us--even got to make cookies with Courtney which has become a tradition when we are together. Meanwhile, Camilla was doing cartwheels across the carpet. That little 8-year-old has more energy than ten gymnasts!

Island Park Reunion

For the first time in three years (and that time was for a funeral), our entire family gathered at a "cabin" in Island Park Idaho. We had four days of non-stop fun, entertainment, and sight-seeing. Having all nine grandchildren together to get re-acquainted was a treat for us old grandparents.

Carrie Michael, Darren, Curtis--some things just never change!

We win--we have the cutest grandkids ever!
Yep, crazy

Camilla, Courtney, Kevin--the girls must be catching all the fish...

Strutting their stuff waiting for Old Faithful to erupt

Wow--what a wonderful place this is

July Update

July was action-packed! We spent the 4th of July going on the Heber Creeper with Curtis, Shandy, Dexter, Carson, and Parker. The boys were awestruck--they were riding a real train!

That evening we joined with Carrie and Sam's neighborhood for safe and sane (ha!) fireworks. Carrie put the little ones in the bed of a pickup in the driveway to keep them out of "harm's way!" Looks like Cameron has already discovered girls...

June Update

During the month of June we traveled to Idaho, to Pat's brother, Paul's, wedding and had an absolutely wonderful time with the wedding group. Then to Washington and Oregon. We were able to visit with Pat's brother, Phil, and his wife Karen. It had been almost forever since we'd been there and hadn't seen their home. They treated us to a delicious dinner. If any of you have ever had the pleasure of enjoying Karen's cooking, you'll understand. Phil has been battling cancer of one form or another for over a year now, and has the best attitude ever.

The end of June we celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary. We share our anniversary with some dear friends, Dennis and Vickey Johnson--same day/same year. Vickey passed away in March of cancer, so on our joint anniversary we took Dennis with us to one of our favorite eating places, Ruby River Steakhouse. We all missed Vickey, but Dennis was a trooper. Here is the young-looking couple...

May Update

Carl's first project after retiring was to order topsoil. Since a whole dumptruck load was the same price as a half load, well, what's a person to do? He ordered a whole load. The remaining two weeks were spent moving that topsoil a wheelbarrow load at a time until he had moved the whole load all by himself. What a guy!

Meanwhile, Pat lent moral support from her favorite deck chair!

It's Official--Carl's Retired!

May 4, 2009--Carl officially retired from Verizon Wireless. To say he is ecstatic would be an understatement! He went out as a rebel. He bought what he refers to as a "retiree shirt" to wear on the last day.

1. Here he is--not at all happy to have to go to work.

2. At his retiree party, he really was happy

3. Here is our retiree, as he comes in the door on his final work day. To quote nephew Nick, "Hoot Katoosh!!!"

Spring Has Sprung

We think it's for sure this time--spring has arrived! That means time for yard clean-up. Carl wanted a handy dandy wagon he saw at Lowe's--he had all kinds of reasons to justify the purchase. You can see from these photos that he has come full circle. Just wish we had a photo of him pulling a wagon as a little boy. There was a big construction waste container down the street so he piled all he could on his wagon and headed down the middle of the street. He was right. The wagon came in handy! Guess it will have to take the place of a pickup for us.

Proof that it's spring...

The Big 65!!

Carl turned 65 on April 23rd, and it couldn't come soon enough for him--he is sooooo ready to be done working so he can do some playing--ha! Pat has a honey-do list that is fairly lengthly.

We celebrated the big milestone on Saturday--went to breakfast at Village Inn, then steak and grilled veggies dinner with Carl as the griller (of course). Dessert was a decadent 6-layer coconut cake from Paula Deen's book (butter required of course). Pat had requested favorite Carl memories from the kids, and (with Carrie's help) put together a memory book of quotes and photos--quite a masterpiece.

Happy guy with his coconut cake--his wish as he blew out the candles was that the next 6 days of work would go by "really fast."

The happy guy with his memory book

This is how the grandkids spent part of the evening (the other part was tearing around the house having a wonderful time--only a few tears and scrapes)

The evening ended with a hot game of "The Office" trivia game--as I recall Curtis was the winner.

Spring Snow Made Tolerable

After posting the photo of the pussywillow tree in beautiful spring weather last week, here is what is happening now. However, a visit from my pal, Cameron, makes it all tolerable! This is how he likes to be held when his grandma sings the ABC song to him.

Carl and "The Center for Facial Appearances"

("The Center for Facial Appearances" is really the name of the following facility) Yesterday, Carl had his first follow-up appointment to remove stitches and have the contacts removed. He went to the downtown office for the first time (this doctor maintains two offices, one in downtown Salt Lake City and one in Sandy). As we walked into the downtown office, we could plainly see that anyone who is interested in the medical field should go into cosmetic surgery as it was PLUSH--exquisitely decorated with original artwork, statuary, and Persian rugs.

While waiting in the well-appointed waiting area in the comfy overstuffed leather chairs, Carl noticed a restroom and thought that if they are going to be "digging" around in his eyes, he better take advantage of the opportunity. The restroom was as equisitly decorated as the rest of the entire office. After finishing using the facilities, his attention immediately went to making sure no one could tell he had even been in there. After a quick examination of the "rim" he lowered the lid, quickly washed his hands, and departed.

It wasn't long until we were called to follow the perky little assistant down the long corridor to the examining room. The stitches were removed by the physician's helper, as well as the protective contacts, and his eyes quickly felt better. The facial surgeon made his entrance, sat down, and proceeded to tell Carl about his experience under anesthesia during the surgery. Carl said, "yes, I remember waking up during the procedure and hollering, 'I'm awake!' " The doctor said, "yes, I know, we had to turn off the anesthesia because you were so agitated." So Carl asked the doctor: "Was I being a real brat?" He laughed and said, "Well, you were thrashing around, moving your head from side to side, closing your eyes really tight and refusing to open them, and trying to get your hand up to your face to help out. We finally had to turn it off and wake you up so you would hold still, and proceeded with a local with you awake!" As a result of Carl not holding still, he has to go back in in three weeks to complete the procedure of permanently removing eyelashes that grow straight up from the lower lid, rubbbing against the eyeball (a condition he's always had).

It wasn't until on our way home that he happened to put his hands in his lap and felt the rought edges of a zipper. He looked down and realized that his fly was wide open and had been the entire time since using the fancy restroom. He guessed he was so intent on destroying all evidence of his being there, he forgot to zip up! The positive in all this is he can see better and has a wider range of vision.

Day Five...

Day #5, and things are getting scarier all the time. Carl eyes now look like a green hamburger with mustard and ketchup top and bottom! However, out in public he looks mighty fine in his cool sunglasses, so he doesn't scare little kids!

Sickies-Day 4

I (Pat) just figured out we can take photos right from our laptop...I know, you probably all knew that, but we are of the generation that has to learn every little computer thing one at a time!

I had just called Carl tlo the kitchen where I was working on the laptop...he came up behind me with his hand on his foreheard...to see the wonder of the laptop camera. So, here you have him on Day 4! He is still swollen and black and blue; however, if we can look beyond all that we see "one hot stud." (He told me to say that!)

Carl Day 3

Day Three - Friday the 13th. In spite of what you see, Carl is looking a bit better--he can even see now. Since we are both getting cabin fever, our big outing for the afternoon was a short trip around the west side of the valley, then stopping at the new Arctic Circle close to us for a dipped cone! I'll tell ya, life is really exciting around here! On a brighter note, our pussy willow tree in the back yard is telling us spring is right around the corner...

Another Sickie in the House!

This posting is not for faint-of-heart! Carl's upper eyelids had so much excess "stuff" in them that they were pushing his eyelids onto his eyeball, so the doctor recommended surgery. Carl figured since they were messing around with his eyes anyway, he would have them remove the bags under his eyes while they were at it. The result is a bit scary now, but in the end we're hoping for an even more handsome Carl!!

So, at this point, Pat hobbles around on her cane taking care of her sickie, then lays down on the couch until the next round of eye drops and pain pills are required for him. Ahhh...what would we do without each other!

Here's what is under that white ice pack...

Not Since Her Days of 4-H!

A miracle has occurred--actually it occurred because Carrie now has a son in Cub Scouts, which necessitates the sewing on of many patches! She called this morning and admitted she was ready to tackle sewing, at least in a small way. We brought down Pat's old Singer sewing machine from a basement closet which we purchased when we first moved to Idaho Falls from the home economics department at Bonneville High School in about 1976 ( and it was 3 years old then, so you do the math!). The last time Carrie worked at a sewing machine was when she was in 4-H--probably at about age 9 or 10.

She even remembered most about how to thread the bobbin and needle.

The finished product. She followed this with sewing on a button. Parker was quite amazed that his mom was sewing. He was enthralled with the machine, never having been around one before.

A New Beginning for Two

Pat just achieved a lifelong goal...retirement. Working at LDS Church Security has been a wonderful way to end a working career! So yesterday, March 2, 2009, after a department luncheon, presentation of a beautiful plaque, and hugs and tears, it was on to the next phase of our lives. She admits that the very first thing she did after arriving home from the office was to take a nap! Monday evening, Carrie and Sam brought over a big bouquet of beautiful roses and we all went to dinner at Applebee's!

This morning, March 3, we went to the Social Security Administration offices to get Carl signed up for Social Security benefits--his last day of work for Verizon Wireless will be around May 4. So, our life will take a new turn, and as soon as we can get Pat's knee cooperating we'll be off to have some fun!

This smile is very, very, very genuine!

The Big 30..Shandy's Turn

Lest we totally miss posting in February, we finally took some photos. Life has been rather, shall we say, less than exciting, icky, etc., but things are looking up. Pat is slowly regaining energy and trying to get her gosh-darned right knee to bend. Enough of that...

The gang gathered the day before Shandy's 30th birthday (actual birthday-Feb. 26)to celebrate. The consensus of the group was to order from Cafe Rio, and feed the kids Spaghetti-Os. Curtis-yes Curtis-made Shandy's favorite dessert--great evening with great people! All the little boy cousins had a ball, and it was great watching them together.

Waiting for Shandy to finish her Cafe Rio salad so we can get to dessert!Shandy's youngest brother, David, and Carrie
also waiting for dessert Finally...

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Both Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone since our last post. Let's say it this way..."it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Thanksgiving was great with a houseful of family, including lots of crazy little boys! Then on December 1st, Pat had knee replacement surgery. More on that later.

Here is Carl all decked out in his Eddie Bauer Christmas cold weather finery. And none too soon! On Christmas and the days to follow, we had snow like never before. We should have taken a photo of his brand new snow thrower! Thank goodness he talked Pat into letting him buy it, because it has been in constant use ever since!


Here's what I'm talkin' about...

Pat was confident that four weeks after surgery, she would be back to her normal, busy self---ha! She has been on this machine for hours each day, plus attending physical therapy sessions and doing exercises at home, but........As of this writing, not much progress has been made, so back we go to the surgeon next Tuesday to see if he is going to "manipulate" the knee. It just isn't getting the flexibility, so they may put her under anesthetic, force the knee down, breaking the scar tissue.

Mystery Bird & Renovation

We're accustomed to seeing birds in our back yard, but this one was a surprise. We quickly took a photo through the blinds, and the not-so-clean window obscures the view, but we think it's a hawk of some kind. He quickly disappeared, and we haven't seen him/her since. Pat has wanted an island in the kitchen ever since we moved in, and the job is now complete except mounting the hardware and a final coat of varnish. We are loving it!

Since we were getting granite on the island, we had granite installed in the master bath for a very good price--we're now wishing we had done both bathrooms. Anyway, here are before and after photos of that project:
Before

After