An Attitude of Gratitude

  As my years of Empty Nesting fast approach…I am so grateful  I still have a couple of happy helpers.

  Summer usually finds a ride home for Thanksgiving even though she will be on Christmas break from BYU Idaho in three more weeks, not really sure if its to see us or everyone else she ever came in contact with.  But what ever the reason, she is usually good for some dishwashing duty.

Jessica is always anxious for her to come (more clothes to wear), but always just as ready for her leave…must be a sister thing, can’t live with them…can’t live without them! 

This year Calli took on the funeral potatoes, so Jess took on the assignment of the Deviled eggs…did an outstanding job (too bad we forgot them in the refrigerator until dinner was almost over. 

This year we were joined in Thanksgiving festivities by Ron and Paula’s family, and Tony and Brenda’s…and of course Mom and Dad. 

We ate lots of food…

Talked about life and love

made turkeys…ate turkeys…Ate olives off our fingers…

 

spent quality time with a beautiful  granddaughter…

Posed for pictures…

Posed for more pictures…posed for awkward pictures

Looked around an saw lots to be grateful for.

Leaving Kansas…ready or not!

Five years ago Calli and Brendan loaded up a small U-Haul with all their worldly possessions, and my only granddaughter, and moved to Missouri so Brendan could start Chiropractic school.  During that time they added two more children to my cache of grandchildren, acquired a little more furniture, borrowed a boatload of student loans, made some really good friends, moved from Missouri to Kansas, gave me someplace to visit, scrapbook, trick or treat, get my back adjusted, and see what 4 seasons look like.

But the fun is over and its time for life to start, so I flew back to Kansas one more time (although Arlon and I will make one more trip in December for Brendan's graduation).  Helped pack up a lot more stuff than they left Arizona with, and Said Farwell to Kansas, (small sigh) and followed this all the way back to home!

But first things first…MY LAST TRIP TO KANSAS.

Lisa was able to find a cheap flight over from Ohio, so she and Riker came to visit me,via the Potters.  Riker has really grown since their last visit.

He now stares a lot, is fascinated by my fingers, and has a mouthful of teeth.

     They stayed and visited a couple of days, so Calli and I were able to take Lisa to our favorite Kansas Scrapbook store for all day scrapbooking, leaving the kids with a babysitter (one real one, then Brendan) which caused Lisa to shed a few tears at leaving her child with a sitter for the first time.  But with only a few trips back home to make sure he was fine, she persevered and got a taste of the scrapbooking bug.

       After Lisa went home, it  left us Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to  attend Taylors Primary program, finish up any packing Calli had not yet done, eat dinner at their friends the Soubie’s, several times,  Have a melt down as we load up to go…so no last picture of the apartment they lived in for the last little while, visit Wal-Mart, (who will really miss Calli and Brendan's business) buy really cute pajama’s from Wal-Mart, as our parting gift to the store which gave them such enjoyment for so many years.

Buy one last drink and a bag of seeds for the road….load up and drive,

.and drive, and drive, and drive, and drive,

 and drive.  The trip was not without its moments though…can’t be in Kansas without a visit to OZ…

several stops at Micky D’s…

rest stops ,

.

and even a little road rage (There are some really dumb drivers on the road).  But we survived the trip and the Potters are back in Arizona ready to face the reality of life!

See Jessie Swim

Jessica Lewis…Senior, Student Council member, Costa Vida worker, and Swim Captain. 

Juggling all those activities might have made a normal person crazy…good thing she’s not normal!!!

The lovely shirts Jess and Jared Standiferd made for the Breast Cancer lap-a-thon.

Senior Towel…

Senior swim meet.

Go team “Lewis”

Farwell to Swim…4 years, good friends, fun trips, pasta parties, LOTSA Exercise!!!

Fall Break 2010

For Fall break, we flew to Utah, Drove 4 hours to Rexburg, Drove 4 hours back from Rexburg, Waited two days and drove 4 hours back to Rexburg, spent the night and drove 4 hours back to fly out of Utah… so Jessica could renew her sister bonds with Summer…We are the best (senile) parents!!!

When we got into Utah we drove to the temple because it is so beautiful all lit up at night.

  The weather was beautiful!

Checking out The Christus,

The Tabernacle, (Jessica was having flash backs of pictures with Bernerd)

 

and simply being amazed by the beauty and spirit you find on temple grounds.  We managed to sneak into the Conference center just in time for a quick tour before they closed for the night and it still astounds me with its grandeur every time I go in and hear about its  construction and the vision President Hinckley had of the part this building would play in the continuing growth of the Church.

The best part of the trip though was seeing Lindsey, Mike, Amy and Matthew.  They have relocated to Pleasant Grove (staying with Mikes Parents for the time being) to regroup and make really important Life Decisions (like what do I want to be when I grow up).  Lindsey and Amy drove with us to Rexburg (Thanks Mike for watching Mathew)they just felt the need to go on a 8 hour car ride.   It was nice to have the time to visit with each other and of course we had to stop…THE WORLDS GREATEST STORE!!!…on the way.  They had lots of hats for the “little ones” to try on…

and let their inner child out.

(didn’t buy these lovely animals)

but we did buy a nice assortment of candy, nail polish, toothbrush and a bear that tells the entire store of the “Night before Christmas”…If you want it this store has It!

Now we did visit Summer when we got to Rexburg, it was  clearly an emotional reuniting of sisters… just envision the tearful reunion, the the amazing maturity that Summer and Jessica have come to have…NOT!    As always eating is the highlight of all of our trips and the experiences by which we rate them…and SCORE, we let “Maggie” (our GPS) find us a Mexican food place on the way there, which was surprising good,  and a trip to Craigo’s Pizza with Amanda,  Summer’s roommate. and we hit Olive Garden on the was back in to Utah…So the trip was…GREAT!

The next day Mike once again did his fatherly duty and let Lindsey run away with me to the amazing craft stores Utah has to offer (I will not however mention that while Mike was a job interview Matthew fell off a chair and had to get a stich under his chin…oh wait I guess I did mention it )  But he seemed to weather it just fine and what boy can grow up without a scar or two, and it was totally worth it for us to experience Rod Works, Wood connection and Tai Pan without little ones.  When we got back Dad, Lindsey, Mike and Matthew (since he had a new stich and couldn’t get it wet) went to the sports expo that Lindsey had won tickets too. Is this a good time to mention that Lindsey is forever winning things on the radio, if we ever want to win anything we sign Lindsey’s name to it.  While they were gone Amy and I went swimming at the hotel.  I had also planned to hit McDonalds and the Halloween store next door, but she was content to swim and carry out her very imaginative story lines in the pool.

She was a Fish, a mermaid, a princess and a frog.

 

and the nice part about it…all I had to do was say “good Job” every now and then and listen to her tell of her adventures!

 

I am so excited they are a little closer to Arizona.

The next day we made the trek back to Rexburg…boy is it a long drive…and took Summer, Jess, and Amanda (Summers really fun roommate) out for Pizza at Craigos, spent the night and headed back to the Airport and home.  (Oh I almost forgot…also visited Porter Craft store, a must if you ever make it to Rexburg).  Cross that trip off the list…OH WAIT… the adventure is not over…just as we were leaving the airport, we blew out a tire…(and yes I knew the bubble tire in the trunk had never been aired up and the Lord was tired of protecting stupidity)  so Arlon had to call his ever vigilant brother Dennis to drive out and air up the tire that was nice and new and without air.  But the only difference between bad experiences and good experiences…having a camera around to make it a memory so you can laugh about it….after some time has passed.