Tagged

I was tagged by my niece, Mykayla. I'm not sure how it works but I'm going to publish this and then all future tags can be referred to this. Here are some things that most people don't know about me.
1. I have freckles on my tummy.
2. I have set off an alarm in the Louvre in Paris
3. My favorite color is green
4, When I was a little girl, I told everyone my favorite color was black. It was really red then but nobody ever chose black and I didn't want black to feel left out.
5. When we lived in Finland, most people in the grocery store would say, "Excuse me" instead of the Finnish word which is "Anteeksi". I felt like I must have "American" written on my forehead.
6. I used to want to be a News Anchor.
7, I liked it when my Dad called me "Princess". I don't like it so much when anyone else calls me that.
8. When I was a teenager, I asked my dad if they had basketball in heaven. I loved it so much, I wasn't interested in going there unless we could play basketball.

We are going up to the cabin again this weekend. Ralph's father is undergoing treatment for stomache cancer and we just found out he and Grandma Kern are going to be there at 2:00 this afternoon. I think lots of people like Island Park. Grandma Kern calls it " a healing place".

Rockin' Memorial Day Weekend

Josie and Blakes' family came up to the cabin in Island Park for Memorial day weekend. Victor Manwaring, Blakes dad came too. It was nice to have everyone there because they helped Ralph put up a rock wall behind the wood stove. I had no idea that Victor had experience in masonry but his help turned out to be invaluable. Hopefully the Manwaring Family was able to squeeze in a little fun too.

Grandpa (Ralph) bought some toys for grandkids to enjoy at the cabin. I think some adults will use them too. Josies kids enjoyed them as well as making their own cars with leftover boxes.

Most of the snow is melted in Island Park. There are lots of big puddles and ponds but the moisture this year is welcome. As we left Monday evening it was raining and snowing in some places again. We saw the first wildflowers. I can see three glacier lilies and two fritillary from my bedroom window. Josie's kids brought me a big bouquet of glacier lillies. They are everywhere. It is amazing how fast the leaves and flowers are growing both here in Rexburg and in Island Park. It is a welcome sight after such a long winter.

Josie and her two boys are staying a couple days while Ralph makes a trip to Boise to do some more research on his summer project. It is nice to have them here. Last night I enjoyed hearing Josie play the piano before going to bed.

Island Park cabin

We spent the weekend at our cabin in Island Park, Idaho. It was an enjoyable, restful time. Ralph enjoyed spending all day Saturday organizing the garage. a day writting and reading and he spent one day fixing pumbing problems on his parent's cabin which was a little less than enjoyable. Plumbing is kind of like wiring. Nobody sees the work that goes into making things work, but if they don't work, then everybody notices.
The snow is melting fast in Island Park and we can see out of our windows. There are puddles of water everywhere. At church on Sunday the youth speaker said something that I hadn't thought of. I had realized that farmers pray for rain for their crops but he mentioned praying for rain to keep the forest fires down. It was enjoyable seeing spring emerge up there. This should be a beautiful wildflower year. Ralph's Mom planted a bunch of daffodil bulbs because the forest critters don't eat those. They were in full bloom and Ralph brought in a bouquet for our dinner table. They were fresh and beatiful three days later when we left.
We are going back up in a couple days for next weekend because Josie and Blake's family is coming up for a few days. Ralph is looking forward to Blake's expertise on some building projects. I am looking forward to a visit from the grandkids.

"Blobbing"

This morning I did my visiting teaching. It is kind of "reverse' visiting teaching because my partner spends most of her time in St.George, Utah in the winter and then lives in Rexburg the rest of the year. The sisters we are assigned to come to my house in the summer instead of us visiting them. The rest of the year I send them a letter and e-mail from Vida, my partner, or call them on the phone. I am grateful for this arrangement because I can feel like I am doing someting in the ward. This morning I told Vida about my new blog and she kept refering to it as a "blob"
Ralph is spending today getting his shop in the back yard cleaned and organized. I am trying to be as excited as Ralph is about his new welder. I am spending my afternoon (as usual) on the couch. Oprah and re-runs of M.A.S.H. get old after awhile so for now I will keep on "blobbing".

Homestead

For my second post (I could get used to this) I asked Ralph to add a picture. This is the place where his great grandfather had a homestead near Preston, Idaho. This summer Ralph has been researching information on homes of the LDS prophets. He is working with some students but enjoyed finding some information on his own family on a solo trip to southeastern Idaho. He thoroughly enjoyed finding the some of the sites of of his own roots. I don't how this will end up - maybe a book or curriculum for a class, but it has been very interesting. While many of the prophets ended up with beautiful and elegant homes, he is focusing on their early lives when their children were young.

I just had a wonderful mother's day weekend! I used to hate Mother's Day. Mother's Day used to remind me of all the things I wasn't doing or being but now I just enjoy it. This year each one of my children sent such thoughtful remembrances and it was nice to have Sara and Jay's family visit. Sara and Jay are just in the "thick" of parenthood with three small children. We took an enjoyable walk Saturday on Rexburg's new Greenbelt and found out it is mostly incomplete and looks mostly like an old train yard but we had a good family time anyway. One pleasant surprise in my life is how much I enjoy being a grandma!
Well so much for my first post on a blog. Thanks to Sara for setting me up. I guess someday I'm going to have to enter the 21st century instead of just being proud I can do word processing and e-mail. I've discovered that one advantage to blogging is that you don't have to do it with the stigma of a wheelchair and you can be the real person you are inside. Beides no one sees the "ugly cry" when you are writing about something touching. All in all, it has been a great weekend of firsts for me including my first pedicure.