BACK TO THE 21ST CENTURY!!

I have internet service again!! it has been a long 2 1/2 weeks. Finally I can post house pictures!!

Here are a few, my wireless is acting wierd so I'll post more in an hour or so!

PINCH ME, I'M DREAMING

Well we are finally in our beautiful new house. There are still some things the contractor has to do but we are in and loving it. I had last week off and so was able to get settled all week. I still don't have internet access so haven't been able to post pictures yet but will ASAP. I love waking up and seeing the beautiful trees all around. I love walking out on the deck at night and seeing the stars and the silhouette of the trees. I love having room again. I love having things out of boxes and mostly organized. I love relaxing in my jacuzzi tub. I love clean floors, soft carpet and beautiful wood floors. I LOVE my new house!

Finally, Linds

Here's pictures, finally. Lindsey has been after me to post some. Unfortunately, it was evening and so the pictures aren't as bright as they should be, plus I am a lousy photographer! We are moving in on Saturday, ready or not. I can't wait.

Awwwww, Trinity Lake!

My favorite part of the year, every year, is the time I spend at Trinity Lake. We have been going there for almost 30 years. Trinity Lake speaks volumes to me about memories.
Favorite memories:

1. Chris and his "bee traps"

2. All the kids getting together with the Jones', Blairs' and Berry's and planning talent shows and then performing at the amphitheater.

3. Washing children in big bowls of water.

4. Getting up on Sunday mornings while our neighboring campers were sleeping in and getting our kids ready for church. Standing by the campfire to get warm till the last moment, wearing sweats till we got to the church building and smelling like campfire smoke in church.

5. Lugging water for cooking and cleanup to our camp sites at Tannery. We used to tent camp there. Years later we moved to Pinewood and a trailer and modern conveniences. In the early days I took all 5 children and 2 friends took all their kids and we stayed up for a few weeks. We were asked if we ran a preschool once as we were herding kids onto our boats. How did we do that? And those were in the tent days, no running water on our site!!

6. Going to the dump to see the bears.

7. Dancing to "Mr. Lee"

8. Seeing each child learn to ski and more recently, wakeboard.

9. Watching the kids ride round and round on bikes at Tannery.

10. Milkshakes or ice cream cones at Docker's or Miller's. Ice cream cones at Trinity Alps.

11. The kids begging us not to leave them with Ray (he'd make them clean up the camp site!)

12. Hobo pies

The list could go on and on. What memories do you kids remember that I haven't included?

One of the sweetest things now is the memories that my children's children are creating. The first time this summer that we went up with Kelly and Jody, Ammon was over the top excited. He kept pointing out all the things he remembered, even pointing to the clock in the trailer and said, "and their's our time!" Everything up there is "ours" and he loves it.

This weekend we had Kaden, Alexa and Sienna there and Kaden and Alexa kept talking about all the things they remember too. They wanted us to take them to the park, roast marshmallows, go to the pool and couldn't wait to get on the boat. When I told Kaden we had to go back to McKinleyville tonight, he started crying. That's how I feel when I have to leave too!

Mommy-gramma

That's what Cohen calls me sometimes. I have the two boys this week in McKinleyville while Kelly adjusts to being a new mom again. I am missing out on sleeping in late and not just running out and doing what I want to do at any given moment but other than that it has been a breeze. These two little boys are angels. Cohen goes down for naps and bed easier than any child I've ever seen. He eats continually all morning and loves frozen mini pancakes. He calls them "eggo cookies". He grabbed one the other morning before I could nuke it and loved it. I was lighting the grill to bbq the other night and when I lit the match he started singing "Happy Birthday!" He is seriously adorable.
Ammon sleeps with Lee and I every night. Well actually I slept one miserable night with them and have since opted for the spare bed in Cohen's room. Ammon was asking me why I didn't sleep with him and Lee the next night and then started saying his mommy and daddy sleep together. Then he asked, "Is that so they can get pregnant?" Where did that come from, Kelly? Pretty early sex education!! He is glued to the hip of Lee whenever he is around. He also loves his dog, Harley, and Aunt Alex. He always wants to plan a fun thing to do each day like: Go to the Dollar Store (his favorite) or go to McDonald's to eat (well really just to get the toy in the Happy Meal). We will probably try and go to the Ingomar and swim tomorrow. I asked him if he missed his mom and dad last night and he pouted and said, "yeah". I asked him if he wanted me to take him home and he said, "I'll see them at the lake." We head to the lake on Saturday with Jody and Kelly. Cohen hasn't asked about mommy either. Sorry, Kelly.

House

I guess these pictures are almost identical. Oh, well. Rock still goes on the lower sections and dining room outside wall (adjacent to pillar on right), also on lower area of pillars. Today they are blacktopping th driveway. Slowly, but surely...

House Update

The house is now painted on the outside with lights up. Front carport pad is in and stamped. Deck started in back. They should finish sheetrock this week and be ready to paint interior the next week. Hopefully rock will go on this week. What do you think of the colors? Imagine a big black door in front. Oops, after I put the picture in, I realized that I had taken 2 pictures straight on of the house but they aren't on the camera. Will retake one tomorrow.

Tidbits-

I am here in Santa Rosa helping Kelly recover from giving birth to Rylee. Who incidentally, is adorable. The boys have been great-very easy to watch. In fact I took them to Surf's Up a new animated kids movie yesterday. It was Cohen's first movie at the theatre and after about 20 minutes he said, "I want to go home granma". Popcorn, candy, and lemonade convinced him to last the whole movie though. Ammon loved the show and halfway through turned to me and said, "I'm Cody, grandma." Cody is the main character in the movie who is a penguin who surfs. On the way home he told me he had to find a "board". He found one. It's the top to one of those large tupperware type of storage bins. He also had to sleep with his board last night. Of course he is sleeping on an air mattress with me every night. I could feel his board poking me in the middle of the night so I moved it off. A little while later he woke up, looked for it, and replaced it. He throws it on the ground and pretends to surf. He also took it in his bath today. What an imagination!!

Today Cohen locked himself in the bathroom while I was watching them while Kelly was sleeping. I tried for about 20 minutes to get him out so I finally had to wake Kelly up.
She was looking for some tool that I had thrown out. I dug through the garbage and finally found it! Whew!

I didn't realize Santa Rosa could be so hot! Most houses don't have air conditioning so it can get a little stifling. Of course, this has been an unusually hot week. Now, I love hot weather but not without air conditioning. It is a good think it cools down at night so much!

My allergies have been killing me here-way worse than in McKinleyville. I get a runny, itchy nose and itch in the back of my throat but the symptom that is driving me craziest is runny, itchy eyes that I tear into constantly. I have been taking Claritin, Clor-Trimeton, and using allergy eye drops with only minimal relief. I want to go out walking in the evenings but when I have, I really pay the price with sneezing, eyes itching more, etc. It doesn't help that we have to leave the windows open for a breeze either. Any suggestions, anyone??? I may be avoiding Santa Rosa during allergy season unless I find some relief.

We are going to McKinleyville on Friday. Kelly and Jody are coming to and we we will have a birthday party for Ammon on his birthday, Saturday. Then the boys will stay with me while they go home till we meet at the lake the next Friday or Saturday. I can't wait to see my house-the exterior painting is done, they started doing the carport pads and deck in the back and are taping the sheetrock. I am anxious to start going through boxes in my garage and throw out more. Now that it is lake time, the time before I get to move in will go by quicker. In fact the weeks I work will be busy as I try to organize and prepare for moving in!!

WELCOME RYLEE ALEXANDRA EDMONDSON

Rylee was born yesterday, June 14th a little before 4:00. She is absolutely perfect. She has a round, adorable face and long slender fingers and toes. I am loving her already.

Slowly, but surely

Here's the latest picture of our house. I cannot begin to relay the frustration we are having with our carpenter in building it. We should be almost ready to move in now but probably won't be in until August. He is never there and meanwhile interest rates are rising. They started painting the exterior today, hence the left side is painted so you can see the color. They will finish sheetrocking, taping and texturing on the 20th, then comes all the finish stuff. Someday...

Iowa Pics

VISITING IOWA

I went down on June 1st to help Kelly moved and left Santa Rosa on the 4th to go see Kasey and the kids. It was a great trip, love those kids and Kasey so much, but I was not a lot of fun. I was exhausted!! Lesson learned: Don't try to crowd so much into so little time. I had gone to Kaui May 20th, came home and worked HARD 5 days learning a new position which is always more tiring, went and helped Kelly moved and then traveled all day to Iowa. However, I was able to watch a hilarious t-ball game and Kasey was right. Kaden loves it, is extremely competitive and talented. Alexa is pretty oblivious that there is a game going on but she loves to smile and wave. Seriously, she is the funniest child around. I call her my "ditsy diva". She is always talking a million miles an hour and is silly, silly, silly. Sienna is a perfect, beautiful child. I absolutely love how she lays her head on my shoulder everytime I picked her up. Granted, she will do that to anyone but still.... Luckily, they are all coming here this summer when Kasey and Matt go on their beach trip so we will have lots more fun then. I had fun going to Des Moines to the zoo and eating at Cheesecake Factory (ymm!), seeing my nephew Alex and shopping at the outlets (what a good sport and great kid Alex is), and going to the North Liberty parade and just hanging out. I love my Iowa grandkids!!! Pictures to follow.

Kauai Pics

THINGS LEARNED ON THIS VACATION

1. Kauai is NOT spelled Kaui. I have spelled it for wrong ever since I first came here in 1999.
2. Kauai still enchants me. I love that it is so quiet, the beaches are not crowded, and it is so green and lush. It truly looks like I always imagined Hawaii should. A trip to Hawaii, any island is wonderful and fun but Kauai is special. Maybe because it was the first island I went to.
3. Every day at the beach should end with shaved ice. My personal favorite is pina colada and coconut. My favorite place to get it is the Wishing Well in Hanalei and yes, I had one every day.
4. Shaved ice is wonderful, but shaved ice with a snow top is out of this world. We were introduced to snow tops this year. That means you get a topping of sweetened condensed milk. Ymmmm!
5. It's fun to see the boy's heads turn as you walk past them. Of course, this is because I was walking with Alex and Marianna (aka Marz).
6. When you are a mother/wife there is no such thing as a complete vacation. However, I am grateful for a partial one.
7. I never want to go on a vacation again weighting as much as I do now. This is the upper limit!!
8. You can teach an old dog (or woman) new tricks. I got up on a surfboard! Never mind that it was just for 20 or 30 yards or that the waves were tiny-I got up!!!
9. Waking up every day to the sun is delightful. So is wearing shorts every day.
10. Always take a picture of yourself, no matter how bad it is, just to prove you were really there.
11. The last day of vacation always comes no matter how much you wish it away.
12. Vacations are never long enough.

p.s. Pictures to follow when I get home.

Kaui

We got to Kaui yesterday and had a perfect, beautiful day today on Hanalei Beach and then Kee'
Beach. They are beautiful beaches and it is so nice to see the sun and feel the heat. Alex brought her adorable friend Mariana (Marz) and they are so fun to have around. Alex has dark hair, she has blonde and both are so cute!! They are turning a few heads. They are putting in insulation in our house today and siding goes up this week. It will be so fun to see how the house has progressed when we get home!! We picked up granite and ordered wood flooring last weekend. When we get home from Kaui, I work a week, then return to Santa Rosa to help Kelly move, then to Kasey's for a quick, fun visit (Can't wait to see and play with her kids!!). Then I work a week and have a few weeks off for the birth of Rylee. Before you know it, it will be July and we'll be moving in our new house. Can't wait.

GREAT DAY!

Thanks for all your good wishes, posts and phone calls today. I had a great day. First of all the weather was sunny and wonderful and 75 degrees! My sister said my mom ordered the weather for me for my birthday. I got to work in the back with the doctors today and got to do some new things I hadn't done yet and they went well. I am training in Endoscopy to work with the doctors doing the procedures instead of just getting the patients ready for them. There was a yummy chocolate cake at work for me and a couple of presents. I loved the blogs from my girls-made my day. I stopped by and had a quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald's, fries and a Mr. Pibb on the way home. That is really my horrible for me, guilty pleasure. Sick, huh? But today is my birthday and calories don't count today. Took a nap, talked to everyone on the phone and then Lee took me to dinner at Jambalaya. They always have good food. I had salmon but the surprise was it was Blues Jam night and the music was great and it was so fun watching the old ladies dancing and jiving to the music. Then it was home to watch 24. I love birthdays and am so glad we all get one day a year to feel special. I especially like that we can choose to do or not do anything we want because, hey, it's our birthday!!

HOUSE UPDATE

The house is moving along. All the siding is up except for a little in the front. Electrical and plumbing are almost finished and they should start doing insulation and sheetrock in the next week or two. I picked out appliances on Saturday and tile and rock for the front of the house. This weekend Lee and I are going to the bay area to pick out granite and hardwood flooring. Ray says he plans to be done about mid July. Can't wait!!!!!

GOINGS

This last weekend I went to a dear friend, Sally Autry's, daughter's wedding in Mt. Shasta. It was a quick trip but so nice to see good friends and enjoy some warm weather. Her daughter, Mirandi, looked beautiful.

In 2 1/2 weeks I am going to Hawaii with Lee, Alex, and her roomie Mariana. We are going to our timeshare in Kaui. I can't wait for beach time, sun and the lazy ambiance of the Hana Lei, one of my favorite spots on the island.

While I was at the wedding, Kelly and Jody and the boys moved to Santa Rosa. I was really glad NOT to have to see them packed up in their vehicles and actually moving. I don't think I could stand to always have that visual picture with me. My daughters are truly some of my best friends and I have been so very, very fortunate to have Kelly live near me for five extra years. It has been great to see her any time, to run to town on the weekends and have the boys over lots. I've been around Jody so much he feels like one of my own. I am trying real hard to just be grateful that they moved so close but it is still really hard to have them be away. I went down there the day after I got back from the wedding and helped her a little. It was nice to realize that the drive is very do-able for me and a very beautiful drive. It was also fun to be in the warmer weather and have so much shopping available. We will have fun going to Marine World with the kids, going out to eat at good places, and going shopping. I am sure I will be going down to Santa Rosa often.

We ran over to Vacaville for a few hours to see Jami and Keal. He is just as beautiful in person as in pictures!! Jami looks great and it was so fun to see her and Keal.

The weekend after we go to Hawaii, Kelly and Jody move into their house so I will be going down to help them get settled. Then I am going to go to Kasey's for a quick trip to watch the kids play t-ball. Then I'll be going down to Santa Rosa for the birth of Rylee. Then I'll be going to the lake the rest of the summer. Lots of goings!

GIRL'S NIGHT OUT

Madison and Kyle are here in town with Kalie and Madison is spending the night with me tonight. She has self proclaimed this as "Girl's Night Out". It is hilarious. Everywhere we go she goes, "Woo-hoo! Girl's Night Out!" We've been to a couple of stores and the clerks crack up at her. We started with the zoo with Kyle, then to the park and dinner at the Brewery with Kyle, Kalie and Grandpa. Then Madison very seriously let her mom know she was infringing on our time and needed to take Kyle home to Nana's so we could get on with girl's night out. We went and got her a chocolate milk shake at McDonald's then to get purple nail polish to do nails. We got to my house and made chocolate chip cookies for grandpa and did nails (I did hers and she did mine. I'll need to take mine off tomorrow!) and watched American Idol. Seriously, it is the funnest thing to have girl's night out with her! I hope she had half as much fun as I did. She is only four but talks like she is 16.

Conversations with Madison:
"I really love my dad. But I don't love him when he says bad words." (I got this clarified. These are all words where he's kidding her about spanking her)

"My mom is going to freak out when she sees my toenails. They are purple!"

"This is my blanket. Sometimes I use it for crying. Sometimes I get in trouble. I'm only four and I know a lot of things but not everything."

"You know what I like to do grandma? I like to have dinner parties and invite boys. I haven't ever done it before but I had a pretend party with my dolls and it was lots of fun."

"Do you know why I wanted to have girl's night out? Because I don't get to spend a lot of time with you."

Adorable. Simply adorable. I need girls to live near me and more one on one time with them.

BABYSITTING

This is how I found Ammon today when I walked in the room with the dress ups. He had put on a few. He was an English policeman, clown doctor I guess. I flew home with the two boys on Thursday. They were quite good actually. It was just tiring for me because I had to be awake and "on" the whole time. I'm used to getting on the plane and reading or napping. They have been great here too. Again I am used to doing my own thing so I get a little tired from no nap and getting up early but all in all it has been fine! Cohen has become my little buddy and that is great by me. He's only asked about his mom in the mornings once. Sorry Kelly. He goes down for his nap and at night without a whimper and is a hilarious mimic of all Ammon does. We all went and got pizza last night and some movies for Ammon to watch because he said "that would be really special". He watched Jungle Book and now has put aside the Ninja Turtle gear and is a panther.

ARIZONA

I love visiting Arizona, the state I grew up in. Especially in the spring. I went for 5 days and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine, eating out at my favorite places and visiting family. I stayed at my sister Julie's and had a great time visiting with her and her family. Lindsey, Alan and Izzy were there staying with Alan's nephews and niece while his sister and brother-in-law were in Sweden. It was great seeing them again and seeing Isobel walking-so cute. I swear she seems more like 15 months old than 11 months. When she first saw me, she came right to me and I felt so special. Unitl I saw her do that to everyone else. Sad to say, I don't think she remembered me, she is just an extremely friendly little girl! I ate at Cafe Rio, Bajio (kind of like Cafe Rio but different and delicious! Went there twice!), and Pei Wei (sister chain to PF Chang's). We went to Nielson's Custards twice and I had the best concoction of frozen custard, raspberries and brownies. Ymmmm! We fixed a turkey dinner on Sunday and Saturday night had a barbeque with all my brothers and their families and dad and Ann. Needless to say, I am sure I gained weight even though Julie and I walked almost every morning. I LOVE the weather in Arizona (except in the middle of summer). We went swimming one day and I got a little color on my white bod and we went shopping several times and I bought some cute tops and capris for this summer. I bought some cute Lucky jeans too. I keep wanting to buy some designer jeans but I have to lose 8 pounds before I will allow myself that pleasure. Anyway it was a great trip. I would have liked to stay a little longer but had to head home with two cute boys to babysit them while Kelly went to meet Jody in Delaware. Ammon got chopsticks at Pei Wei the night before we left and puts them in the back waistband of his shorts and never takes them out. They are his swords. He wore his ninja mask all the way home so everyone on the planes were laughing at him!

THERE'S A NEW BATMAN IN TOWN

Ammon's gone on to other things, namely Ninja Turtles. He's usually Michelangelo or Donatello. He always asks me if I can see his shell. He also packs around 2 swords in the back of his shirt. He is so funny, so into it. He watches Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles and acts out each scene. Now that the cape is not being used, Cohen has adopted it. He runs around with his arms in back yelling, "Batman!" Two adorable boys.

SLOWLY BUT SURELY

Here's the latest pictures of the house as of today. Ray kind of took about 2 weeks off so it has slowed down. I hope he's back on task because I can't wait!

Happy Birthday Julie!!

I am just sneaking this in under the wire. It is still March 29th and that means it is still my sister Julie's birthday. She is an amazing sister!! She does so much service for other people - just like my mom did. She is so loving and kind to everyone that I am sure there are about 10 people who count her as their "best" friend. I love spending time with her, hoping more of her goodness will rub off on me. Unfortunately, she has a rather "slow" sister who wrote 3/28 all day and thought her birthday was tomorrow! She didn't even get a phone call from me today because I planned to call tomorrow. What a dummy! Hope you had a great day, Julie! I love you very, very much!!

JET LAG

I am just now recovering from my trip to London. I returned over a week a go and my sleep patterns have finally returned to normal. The fact that we switched to daylight savings time the day before we traveled to London could have contributed to this extended jet lag. I hate jet lag. You go somewhere, spend two days getting over the jet lag just in time to come home and experience it all over again. Oh well, it was worth it. We had such a great time with Lindsey, Alan and Isobel. London is always fun and beautiful but the best sight to see of all was Izzy. Izzy eating everyones food all the time, Izzy crawling from room to room and Izzy just smiling. Constantly. What an adorable child!! Everywhere we went people were excited to see Miss Isobel. She is a real charmer. My next trip is in 2 weeks to Arizona to see Lindsey and family again (they are going there to tend a niece and nephew) and also to visit my family. Then in May, Lee, Alex and I are going to Kaui to our timeshare. Looks like jet lag is in my future still.

London with the Phillips!

Happy Birthday Kell Bell!

March 17th is special to me because it is the birthday of my dad and also Kelly. I really wanted her to be born on his birthday so after a big turkey dinner on the 16th ( a Sunday and we ate at Kelly's grandparents in Blue Lake), we decided to go for a long walk down to the fish hatchery. Mind you, I had done little or no exercising the entire pregnancy. So we walked down and back, 3-4 miles total. Then I had a "sliver " of all the pies we made (about six). We went home and I finished off a 1 lb. Nestle Crunch bar. Seriously! About an hour later I didn't feel very well and started having cramps. Was it the walk and food orgy or labor?? Finally when the cramping didn't quit, we headed to the hospital. I was so bummed because it looked like she would be born on the 16th. A couple of hours before midnight my contrations pretty much stopped. They started up again after midnight with the help of Pitocin and Kelly was born on the 17th after all. I did spend quite a bit of the labor over an emesis basin though. Moral: don't eat much if you think you might go into labor-it was horrible to be so sick during it!! We had thought we were going to have a boy and would have named him Nathan Patrick after my dad and had a girl's name of Summer but when she was born on St. Patrick's day we decided she needed an Irish name and so she became Kelly.
Kelly never thought she was younger than her Chris, Kasey or her cousins. She was always a step behind them, always independent and SOOO easy! I remember Kasey was only 6 months old when I found out I was pregnant with the 3rd child and remember bawling all the way home from the doctor's office. I called my mom and she told me that Heavenly Father really wanted me to have this baby now and that it would be a special child. And she was right. I now have a theory that 3rd babies are really special because Heavenly Father knows you are going to be busy. Kelly always was easy, right from the start. We used to say we could leave her at home without a babysitter and she'd do just fine. She's always been so independent and confident. We loved watching her play sports. She was so good - tiny but tough!
The best thing though has been having her live by me since she got married (Thanks Jody-you are wonderful for having come here for these past years). I've seen her almost every day. Every weekend we go to town, we share stories about the boys and hang out together. She's one of my best friends (Kasey, Lindsey and Alex are my other ones but they don't live near me). I guess that I will have to go out and find friends my own age now that she if moving. Happy Birthday Kelly-I love you so much and will miss our almost daily contact so much. You are a wonderful mother, wife and daughter and I love you to pieces!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me share these past few "extra" years with you!

p.s. sorry there are no cute pictures but I am posting from London where we are having a great time with Linds and family. Isobel is bsolutely adorable!!

OFF TO MERRY OL' ENGLAND!

Here's the latest picture of the house with a picture of one of the workers, Ammon. He loves to go out every Saturday with Lee and "work". His work considers getting as dirty as he possibly can. Last week he was walking on all fours (he was a dog) through mud puddles, barking. I wish I had had my camera with me that day. It was unbelievable!

We leave on Monday to go to London and visit Lindsey, Alan and Isobel. I am excited to see their new flat, hang out at the amazing parks in London, see "Wicked" again, and play with Izzy! This will be Lee's first real visit there so it will be fun to help show him around. We are going to the Cotswalds too! I love London so it's always fun to go back there. Cheerio!

THE ROOF IS GOING ON THIS WEEK!

Here is the latest picture!

They still haven't put a roof over my bedroom but things are progressing. At least they will be able to work even if it rains now!

WORK CONTINUES SLOWLY DESPITE RAIN

Here is the latest picture of the outside of the house with most of the trusses up except over the bedroom on the left. The rain continues and is hampering the sped of the work. Darn! I did pick out windows yesterday and got books for picking out the rock for the front so some progress was made. I just want it to go faster. Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day-like when my roof is done so they can work anyway!