Home By the Creekside

Brayden lost his tooth next to his two front teeth a couple weeks ago. He lost the tooth and the tooth fairy forgot to pay him until last week. Then yesterday, he said his tooth on the other side of the two front teeth was loose. I said you must want it out so you can look like a bunny rabbit. He actually said that I was right. He twisted it and twisted that tooth last night. It came out and fell on the floor. It blended in quite well. Then Lyndee found it. She was so proud of herself. The tooth fairy did come last night. We have no more loose teeth from Brayden for awhile, I hope. Now Lyndee that's another story. Her tooth front teeth are loose. I can't wait to see her with her big girl teeth.

Well, I posted on facebook a week or so ago that I wanted (needed) rhurbarb. One sister in church came forward and gave me hers because it was consuming her and she needed to be saved from it. I was happy to oblige. I got about 14 cups from it. Then another sister in church has 6 plants that were very bountiful and said take as much as you want. That gave me about 30 cups and she said I could come back for more which I might because 6 cups of rhubarb barely makes 6 half pint jars. I used the easiest recipe ever for this and then kind of made it my own by adding some different fruits to it as well.  Here is the link to it . Here are my modifications:  6 cups of rhubarb 2 cups of sugar strawberry jello then a handful of strawberries and huckleberries You have to let your rhubarb sit in the sugar. I did it over night. This is so the juices of the rhubarb come out.  Ready to cook over the stove for about 15 minutes until mushy.  I added these fruits in midway thru the rhubarb cook

Tonight we went to a pioneer celebration for our stake. We have never gone before and didn't know what to expect. I figured that we would be in and out. Even though dinner was provided, we went out to Gator Jack's beforehand. We came to the church building. There was this huge circle made with straw bales and then covered with tarp to make a fishing pool. There were some trout in it. Little did I know that they put a whole lot of trout in and then the kids try to catch the fish with their bare hands. Lyndee and Brayden both rolled out their pants and went in. They caught fish but I had them put it back. We didn't bring baggies to put them in. I have video of Lyndee and Brayden separately. Gotta tell you the one of Brayden is a hoot. In this video, he is the screamer. Lyndee was so wet after her plunge. She was such a trooper. Lyn was in the green shirt.                                           Of course, there would be a dunking booth here. Again, I had no idea the kids

Thar she is! This is her first game in two years. We took last year off due to too much flower picking and holding hands with the coach. Here she is coming to us while she is playing to say hi. Lyndee is so tired from all that running. I have no idea if they won or lost but she had a good time. She held hands with a girl mid field. Chit chatted with a boy while they were defenders. All in all, it was a great game.

Can't stop in Albuquerque without checking out Old Town. We had time to kill so we walked around. We didn't buy a thing although I was tempted with a necklace from one of the sidewalk vendors. The kids kept complaining about how hot it was. Poor Lyndee had already had two blisters on the bottom of her feet from clogging camp. I don't remember what this was but we thought it was cool. This is a Catholic church in the old town. I think it was just getting out. We decided to head up to north Alb and check out their temple. I cant believe how dead it was and how no one was walking around. We did see one family having a picnic in the back part of the parking lot. The kids loved the fountain and we walked around the grounds. Another beautiful temple. I think that is the last of it. It took us several day to recover from this little mini trip. We are glad that we went. The kids well, they are just excited to ride on an airplane.

We stayed at the Rode Inn. People in RV take pride in that John Wayne lived out at the 26 Bar Ranch. In the lobby here is picture of him in the 4th of the July parade riding a horse. We thought it was cool. While I was out having dinner with my high school buddies, Clay took the kids around RV and took pictures of them. This is the the Madonna of the Trail. It is a memorial to pioneer mothers. I just can't imagine crossing the plains even with my two kids. It is hard enough taking them to Walmart and anywhere else. After the dinner for the reunion, we went and watched fireworks. I thought they would be lame like ours as they used to be. I was quite impressed. Yup, we are heading home. Well atleast to the airport in Albuquerque. It was about 3 and half hours from RV. This is a natural arch monument. We liked the drive. We especially like driving real slow and watching the prairie dogs. This was a casino and gas station outside of Albuquerque.

We are almost done with our basement. I have to paint some rooms, doors, baseboards, and add a mirror. Here is a little sneak at my hallways on the main floor. Before with my crappy carpet in a high traffic area. After: Laminate that matches my wood flooring. Can you spy the real wood flooring?

I was lame and I didn't take any pictures. This is the only picture that I have and Clay took it with his phone. We had about 90 in our graduating class. Not many showed up.

We toured the high school since last year a small Cessna lost control and crashed into a part of the high school. It was nice to see some changes. The new part is nice but too much of it is wasted on the staff and not enough for the students.  Just my opinion. It was nice to see black and gold and feel the pride to be an Elk. The kids were alittle bored with the tour. We ended up ditching it and leaving early.

Before the reunion stuff in the afternoon on Saturday, we took a drive up to Greer to see how bad the damage was with the Wallow Fire. I was sad to see the ground black and trees that were burnt. However, it is great to still see green. We wanted to do the loop from Sheep's Crossing back around to Big Lake but it was closed. This was the historic Greer lodge that was burnt down before the fire. It was arson. The hill behind charred...:( It makes me sad but I think the firefighters did a great job.

I had my 20 year reunion back home in Eagar, Arizona last weekend. I can't tell you how much I loved being back and wished that I could have stayed longer so the kids could see the parade. We flew into Albuquerque and then drove 3 and half hours to my hometown in the White Mountains.  This picture is of the kids before the flight. Take off! The flight was an hour and half. It was alittle bumpy coming in to Albuquerque. The kids loved it!