Fall break 2020

 Shannon and the kids made the drive to see us during their Fall break. 

They arrived in the early evening on Tuesday. 

Instead of a meal, the kids agreed to try some of Grandpa's pistachios. 

They liked them. 

Blake did like them, but obviously I did not catch him with a pleased expression.

Thursday morning Shannon and Grandpa had bank business.

I looked out the window and saw a balloon that looked like it was headed to the High School. A week ago Fred and I were out walking and a balloon landed in the high school field. So naturally I assumed the same was happening here. The kids threw on their clothes and shoes and when we stepped out there were three balloons. We headed for the high school only to see that the balloon was no longer coming down. Kind of disappointed, but it was fun to see them.

Thursday night we went to Staheli Farm for their October festival activities.

B was a good brother and ran M around this horsey thing.

Looks like M knows how to shoot a basketball.

Shannon and B went off to do some stuff together so I don't have 

any pictures of that. 

Big swings here.

 

They have animals, but it is not a petting zoo. No Touch!!

Here's a better picture of the kids on the horsey thing.

Friday we went to two new parks that we haven't been to yet.

I didn't take any pictures. 

We ran into Danica (Daly) Francom. She recognized me and Fred.

It was a really nice surprise. We enjoyed a nice visit. She took this selfie.

So Brian is a big fan of the YouTube channel following Winder Towing. It's located in Hurricane just north of us. The kids wanted to go and see if they could meet Matt. Well he wasn't there, but we met the old guy. I can't remember his name. They were equally thrilled to meet him and the dogs. 

The show follows Matt going out to rescue off roaders here in the sand dunes and mountains. I haven't seen this big rig in any of the videos because he is always in his jeep. But this big rig was impressive too.

Here is the famous jeep and dog.

We did good on excitement on this day. Dairy Queen afterwards.

It was a very nice time together. Shannon pretty much does the cooking for us when she comes. I like that! She made a bow tie sausage dish that was yummy and a French Toast breakfast with big fat Texas Toast bread. 

I made homemade ice cream one night too. 

Just a few things

Corinne had these beautiful flowers delivered to my work. 

She tried to send them on my birthday, but the florists didn't cooperate with her.

Two florists canceled the order.

So a couple weeks later, this was a nice surprise.

I've never had flowers sent to me at work. I loved it!!

Here they are at home.

I sent some clothes to Clara. She is growing out of her clothes so I had to make myself shop for her. I bought her 3T size so they are a little big. But cute just the same.

Since I have been having weird foot sensations, I found that sitting in my recliner triggered that. So I suggested trying out the couch. Fred isn't super attached to his recliner, so he was all for it. It is a bit awkward, but we are adjusting and aren't ready to commit either way.

There was a job posting at work that actually looked interesting to me. I applied. We'll see what happens. I'm finally ready to consider a change. 

 

Labor Day Weekend in Phoenix

We drove to Phoenix for the Labor Day weekend.

I packed us a lunch to eat in the car while we drove.

Fred scoped out the eating along the way and it looked no one was offering

dine in. We didn't want to order food and then park somewhere in the 100+ weather.

Eating as we drove proved to make for a much faster arrival.

We arrived in time to go with Evan to his swimming lesson.

His swimming lesson is held in a private facility. I've never seen anything like it before.

Scott grilled us some Kabobs, minus the skewers. Pineapple, peppers and steak. It was very delicious. 

Scott and Jess have a list of home improvement projects. 

Scott and Fred tackled this project. Actually Scott did 99.9% of the work. 

I thought Fred was a great supervisor. He pointed out a few options and Scott made the decision.

I loved watching this process.

On Saturday afternoon, Fred and I drove to Scottsdale to meet Shan and Judy Hubsmith for lunch.

It was great to see them and catch up on what's been going on with our lives since they moved away.

That evening they tackled one more job. A new light fixture over the dining table. 

First meal under their new light fixture.

Here the boys are cooling off while Scott and Fred were working on the lights.

When we first arrived, this was the birthday greeting the family

created for me. The boys helped too.

A very sweet gesture!

Looks like necklace examining time for Evan. The boys seem pretty comfortable with us. They are still young so Fred and I are still navigating how to interact with them. We aren't comfortable being too pushy with them. We sure do like being there and watching everything going on.

We did go swimming on Sunday afternoon. That was fun. 

Jess worked on wedding cake flavors and we got to reap the benefits of that. 

It was a good trip. Comes and goes very quickly.

Birthday Number 63

Once again, I arrived to work to find these beautiful decorations.

It makes me very happy and I feel the love.

Many people take their birthday off from work.

Not me - I kind of love the attention!

Becky brought me these balloons.

Here's the front desk from all angles.

Janie brought me all these cupcakes which I shared.

My good friend John brought me this cake from Nothing But Bundt Cakes.

Red Velvet!!!

These are some of the cards I received.

Becky wanted to take me to lunch on Saturday. When I arrived, I didn't notice Rachel (next to me) sitting in the corner of the waiting area. She finally stepped up to me and then it registered that something was going on.

Rachel and Tina are my good friends from church.

This is Becky and her mom Frankie.

Rachel brought me this beautiful potted plant.

Fred and I went out to Red Lobster for my birthday dinner.

I took Friday off so I could just enjoy being off work to lounge around or get caught up.

Friday morning we headed out to Walmart, Costco and Kohls.

It was so wonderful to shop during the weekday.

Nothing was too crowded. I never get to do that.

My Dad asked if I could come up with something to hide the cords draping from his TV.

I decided to make a wanna be wall hanging.

This is the backside of the wall hanging.

I bought some fabric self adhesive ink sheets to print off some pictures.

It was actually so easy to use and I'm really pleased with the outcome. It didn't really take too long.

It's plenty plain, but I didn't want to make it too busy and have it be distracting to 

what he is watching on TV.

So I had a really wonderful birthday as well as a few more celebrations in the days before and after.

On Monday before my birthday, my good friends Suzy & Jill took me out to Chinese food.

The Monday after my birthday, Fred took be to Red Robin for my free birthday burger.