HOWDY TEXAS

A few weeks ago, I went to Texas to visit Heidi and Dan and their new baby Henry. I have never been to Texas so this was a fun trip for me. The best part was to hold little Henry. The weather was a little cold. But we did have a chance to go down to the ocean. We went to this pier that has lots of stores and few rides like a mini-mini amusement park. A lot of the pier was under reconstruction from hurricane Ike. Even with the cold weather I had a great time visiting!!


Here is cute Heidi with little Henry!


Henry is peaking out of his car seat cover-up that Jan Barker made him.
It sure came in handy on those windy days. Isn't he cute?


Cute little baby!!

I couldn't get enough "kisses". Henry was probable ready for me to go home and stop kissing him.

Miracles really do happen- just look, his name is Henry!!

Is It Christmas Yet?? Better Late Than Never!!

Here is a few pictures I took of our house after Christmas with our new camera. My computer is still not working really well so I hope this turns out!!

Technical Difficulties

After a three week trip to Utah in November. We returned home to a very sick computer and two broken cameras. I had big hopes of sharing my Christmas with everyone. But with no camera to take pictures of my beautiful house and a computer that runs in slow motion, what could I do? I can't believe we really lived before there were computers. I am having a hard time.
We did get a new camera after Christmas and I took a few pictures of my house before I took down my decorations. Maybe we will have Christmas pictures in July??? I can't post any pictures on my blog because my computer is too sick. So until I get my "life" up and running, Happy New Year to all and may you always be able to blog!!!(Thanks Rachel for posting my last two blogs.)

Another GrandSON !

Here is newest grand baby. Heidi and Dan had their first child, that doesn't have four legs, the day after Christmas! We can't wait to see you little Henry.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!!

Happy 6th birthday to my cute grandson NOAH!! This is Noah enjoying the Beach when they came to visit us!

ROCK, ROLL AND CRUISE

Ron and I took the "Big Step" and went on our first cruise.

Everyone had always told us how much they LOVED going on cruises. I have been very, very leery of going because I get SO motion sick. I can't even watch some movies without feeling sick. And then there is my HUGE fear of the ocean. Why would I ever go out in the middle of the ocean on a moving boat.

Ron, along with others, convinced me that "the ship is so big, that you will never feel the waves", and besides they have those nifty patches that you can wear just in case. So I agreed to give it a try... We got in our car and drove down to Miami. (A benefit of living in Florida) As soon as we parked the car it started to rain. We got all checked in and found our room. Ron trying to make this a great experience got us a balcony room on the Lido deck, the ninth floor. It was a beautiful room.

Here I am standing on our balcony before we set sail for the Western Caribbean, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios.

Well, needless to say the rain and wind continued. We did our share of rocking and rolling that first night. But I was holding my own and fairing pretty good. Our first stop was Cozumel. We had booked a tour to go see the Mayan ruins. Our boat docked on a little island, so we had to ride a ferry boat for about 45 minuted to the main land of Cozumel. You know I should of got a hint when they passed out "barf" bags as we took our seats. We were sitting on the upper deck (not the very top) in the middle. The waves were so large that everyone sitting by the windows we soaked to the bone. And then the barfing began.... I will spare you all the details but lets just say I am glad Ron did not take pictures of me or the other 400 people loosing their breakfast. It was sooo bad. I staggered off the ferry only to get on an hour long bus ride to the ruins.

Our guide was wonderful and very informative and once we got to the ruins, we had a great time. The clouds had parted for a few hours and we saw some amazing

"Book of Mormon " history.

We ate some great homemade fish tacos at a little restaurant.

It was a good day!!

As they say, "All good thing must end". After our tour. We decided to take our bag with our umbrellas back ship before we went for a swim in the ocean. There was one huge problem...I had to get back on that ferry to get back to the ship. We decided to try the lower deck on the way back and I made it. I didn't loose my lunch. (I think the wind had died down a little too)

As soon as we got on the boat, the heavens opened and the rain came down. So we took a nap instead of swimming. The weather continued to get worse and the ship was so bouncy that I decided that I would never make it the whole week like this. So I took my "sea sick pills" along with the patch I was wearing. The wind was so bad that they closed off all the upper decks on the ship and drained the pools because they had become dangerous wave pools.

Our next stop in the morning was Grand Cayman. We woke up early and had our breakfast just to find out that the coast guard would not let us dock. The water was too rough. So the captain went to the other side of the island to dock. No luck! They announced that because we could not go to Grand Cayman we would have another "fun day" at sea.

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!!

Another day on a boat with no pools, can't watch movies on the outdoor screen because of the rain and wind. Well our choices were 1. Pay to play bingo. 2. Go to the casino 3. Eat with the chance of loosing it later or 4. Take a nap. We picked the nap!! As Ron said, "I have never taken so many naps in my life". I was glad that we a nice room with a view of the big waves. No, really I loved standing outside where the cool breeze could blow on my face.

Our next stop was Jamaica. We had booked a tour to climb a water fall and float down a river. We were able to dock and go with our very nice tour guide to the Dunn's Falls. The weather was a little cool and the water was really cold but we had a good time. Then we floated down a river. We had a fun time. We then decided to go back to the ship to eat lunch because I wasn't sure I trusted to eat anything on shore.

As we got onto the pier the wind and rain came down so hard that I felt like I was getting hit with pellets. I got wetter walking down the pier than I had all day.

Good thing I had my suit on. It was crazy.

We were in for another raining, windy night.

So there you have it, our Rock, Roll and Cruising experience.

The minute we docked back in Miami, I sat up in bed and said "We are home, the rocking has stopped" Over all we had a good time. I think if I ever go again I would go with friends so if you are stuck inside you can play a bigger variety of card games, and I would defiantly go in January or February.

FALL AT THE NATIONAL ZOO

While Catherine and I were in Washington DC, we decided to go the the zoo!

It was a cool, crisp, fall day. Unlike any we have had for a while in Florida. The two of us had a great time looking at all the animals but the highlight of the day was a little boy about two years old. He was gathering arm loads of colored leaves and filling up his umbrella stroller. His mother was so frustrated with him because he could care less about the animals, all he wanted was those leaves. Both Catherine and myself looked at each other and said, "We don't blame him, we love those colored leaves too". Needless to say we gathered beautiful colored leaves and filled our purses with the best ones. (I will have you know our husbands thought we were crazy!) But just so you know we did see all the animals and we even took a few pictures to prove it. This is some kind of bear but I forget what kind.

I just thought he was beautiful.

I took this picture for Corbin, my grandson, who LOVES panda bears.

When I saw this little Llama I instantly thought of Heidi.

She has always loved Llamas

As we were walking down the sidewalk, I looked up and these Orangutans were above us on some cables. It was getting cold so they were heading inside.

We heard this loud noise and couldn't figure out what it was. Then we saw this Tiger in the water playing with a barrel. He was knocking it against the cement trying to steady it so he could climb on top of the barrel.

We had a great time. Colored leaves and all!

No Cameras in the "White House"

Ron's company had a convention in Washington DC the second week of October. I had the great privilege to accompanying him. While Ron was in meetings, I went with my friend Catherine to see all the sights. She had made arrangements to go on a tour of the White House. This entailed a background check and all. They would not let you carry a purse or camera. The only thing we could have was a cell phone and of course our "photo ID". That left us with one problem... No camera for the rest of the day. So the following pictures were all taken on my cell phone. This is the outside of the White House. If you get a chance to take a tour of the inside....skip it.

It is not worth the hassle. (Unless you can get a private tour). You really don't see much.

And then you are left without a camera all day!

Catherine also arranged for a tour of the Capital building. This was a very interesting tour. The inside is very beautiful. I am glad I went on this tour.... wish I had a camera.

This is the celling in the Capital Building. It is all hand painted. It was unbelievable.

This is my favorite Monument in DC. I love this huge statue of Abe Lincoln.

I took this picture for my dad who fought in the Korean War.

This is the Korean War Monument.

My Son The Artist

For those of you that don't know, Ryan is a very talented artist. He has now expanded his talent beyond the paper to painting murals on his walls. Here Ryan is painting a "watermark" design across the top of his bedroom wall.

He freehands all of is work.

This is a painting of a yin yang on one of his bedroom walls.

One day Ryan was spending a lot of time in his room, so I went to check on him. There he was painting again. He said that "this corner needed something". So he began painting a crumbling wall with bamboo growing behind it. This took his several days to finish painting all the little leaves on the bamboo.

One night Ryan couldn't sleep so he painted the bathroom. We woke up to a newly painted bathroom.

What a great gift he has!!

Where did the Hurricane Go?

The buzz on the news was that Tropical Storm Fay was heading right for Florida. It was predicted to hit just South of Tampa. That is right where we live. So, we took the necessary precautions to make sure we would be safe through our first HURRICANE. First I made sure we had lots of food in the house and had fresh batteries for the flashlights. Took down the trampoline and brought inside all our patio stuff. Then there was the task of putting up all the shutters on our house. I had never counted how many windows we have but now I know that we have too many. With lots of help, it only took us seven hours to finish the job. Now all there was left to do was wait.... This is Bryan, he works with Ron. Bryan and his brother, Rob (who works with Ron too) came from work to help us put up the shutters. They worked so hard to help us. Thanks
Even the Missionaries showed up to help us. They really just came by to visit so we put them to work. This is Elder Cheever helping us put the shutters over the kitchen window.
Elder Mounteer is hold the shutter in place while Ron tightens it up.

Both the missionaries were a great help.

After Ryan got home from work at 11:00 p.m. He helped finish up the last sliding door.
This is what the outside of the house looks like all closed up.

Now we live in a dark cave. It is amazing how dark it is when all the windows are covered up. We could hear the wind blowing outside but could not see anything. We finally opened the garage in the morning to let the dog out and to our amazement there was no storm. Just a LITTLE wind and rain. The storm had turned and hit land south of us in Naples. So there you go....If ye are prepared you shall not fear!! Now is the time to get prepared for all the storms in your life.