Christmas was quiet in Washington, just us here so we invited the missionaries over for dinner. It was nice to enjoy them in our home. On the 27th we headed for snow country. We enjoyed the 28th through 1st with all of the kids at a cabin in Island Park. No more quiet! We are a loud bunch most of the time. We had a blast in the snow and it just kept coming down! We played games, and ate, and rode snowmobiles, and ate, soaked our bones in the hot tub on the back patio, and ate, went tubing and warmed by the cozy fire, and drank hot chocolate at the end of the day! There is nothing quite like having time with such a great family. Thanks all of you!

Groovy night out

Listen up I'm gonna fill you in. Where were you hangin out Friday night? Well, we were rockin out at a swingin costume party. Check out my new shades! We had a blast! By the by, I have a tip. We used dry ice in our punch; no spikin' it if ya get me. Anyway, if you use warm water to drop the dry ice in, it bubbles like crazy and spreads creepy steam all over the table. We served the punch (root beer) on the side and let the caldrins just keep creepin everybody out. I got some instructions with the dry ice that said you can put dish detergent in the water and some food coloring. This will cause colored bubbles and when they break they have the colored steam in them!!! Let me know if you try it. Have a great Halloween Dudes!!!

Julia Inspires me!

So, I was on the phone with my two Washington girls the other day and we were planning a get together, but we couldn't wait. We were saying how we wanted to see Julie and Julia but our husbands, at least mine, didn't relish the thought of sitting through another chick flick with me. ( We saw Love Happens but he actually lived through it and somewhat enjoyed it) So we decided if we left right now we could meet and make the show. Dumb I know. So I packed my toothbrush and jammies, and jumped in the car at about 2:30 for a girls night out 2 and a half hours down the road. I had a few delays along the way. So.... Later that day... at about 9:00, when I call to tell the girls I am just pulling in to town, I see red flashing lights behind me...nevermind why. So I say, um, I better go. Call ya later. 65 in a 60, whoever heard of that?
Anyway, I got there and we enjoyed Julie and Julia. We were the only ones in the theater, with stale popcorn but we laughed our heads off and it was some good girl time I tell you. So, long story short, Julia Child totally inspired me to cook something wonderful. I look around the place and decided to pick my rhubarb. Which is good because my wonderful husband usually tries to do away with my rhubarb plant about this time of year. If the Roundup doesn't get it the fire will. I think he likes rhubarb at least he says he does but he is always out to get my plant. Don't even ask how the last "burn day" went. I have told some of you about the harrowing experience. I had smoke inhilation and our bushes, right near the house are burned to a crisp. That is all I am going to say. Except that it made me consider if we have enough fire insurance to replace the house. That said. Here is my pie. It's not French, I know but it is goooooood ala mode' so there you have it. Bon Appe'tit

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We just returned from Idaho. Mom passed away July 25th and we had a wonderful funeral and tribute to her amazing life. I am so grateful for the time she gave me and the lessons learned from her throughout my life. Britta and I had a wonderful experience putting together a book on her life. Early morning is my time to contemplate. I felt really prompted one day to take pictures and try to save memories from Mom and Dad's wonderful home. I called Britta and told her my feelings, we began to brainstorm and she felt the same encouragement from her heart. Together we came to the decision to make a book of grandma's life. Britta had interviews she had recorded from the summer she cared for grandma after her stroke and we made a trip to Idaho to take pictures and interview grandma more. Sara was able to go with us on this trip and she has such a special gift of communicating with grandma and her family that it made it extra special to have her with us. We picked grandma up just before her 93rd birthday in March 2009 and we had an opportunity to interview her and aunt Ella together before we left for Utah. They were so cute giggling and chatting about their courtships and childhoods. We made a digital recording of the conversation and then we told Ella goodbye and left for Utah. At Britta's house in Orem we did ongoing interviews and had Mom answer questions; who was in photos and what the circumstances were. We also did a "photo shoot" and got some great pictures of grandma. On this trip we were able to scan many photos from Mom, Carolyn and Jack's albums.

Just a few days after this trip Ella had a stroke. Around June 14th, I was in Utah again, this time for Brian's wedding, we were working hard on the book when we got a call that Mom had broken her hip. I traveled to Idaho Falls and spent as much time as I could with her. I was happy we had finished the time line for the book so I could show her. I was suprised she was not very hopeful when I got to the hospital, she was trying to do her therapy but it was almost overwhelming for her. She didn't seem very interested in the time line. As time progressed, she lost her will, and July 25th she left this life for a better one with her eternal companion. I am so grateful for Britta's work to finish the book. We read to her from it in her final days and will never forget her smiles as she listened to childhood memories she had described during the interviews.

The book, on the life of Leona Josephine Nelson Grover is available for all Leona's progeny to remember her by, in many of her own words and pictures throughout her life. This picture was taken on her last visit to my house in Washington while she loved being outside in the sunshine, walking in the yard, observing the garden and the animals we have. I love you Mom.

Family and Fun on the Fourth!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

USS Abraham Lincoln

What a fantastic day we spent aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Who ever thought we would get to spend a day on an aircraft carrier! Watching the planes take off shivered me timbers. You have to admire those Navy men!!What a great experience to be amongst real men, who put their country first and lend their minds and hands to make it safe for the rest of us.

Thank you James!

Buenas Dias Amigos!!

Guess where we went for

Spring Break?

White sand beach, turqoise water....

Waves to ride....

Beautiful Senioritas!

Mayan Ruins...

Bruce and I took Josh and Meg and ran away to Mexico for a few days of Meg's Spring break and a few days of Josh's. It was a great little get a way to relax and enjoy. This picture is at the Myan ruins at Chicken Pizza, I mean Chiche'n Itza' anyway we are standing near a sacred Cenote or natural well, thought to have been used for human sacrifice... we didn't stay long.

I wish I had time travel machine so I could spend a day amongst the Myans and know how they got a rubber ball through that stone ring on the side of the wall. Ancient basketball??? Seems impossible to me. Nix on the time machine, I'm no good at sports and if you lost the game you were treated to a beheading at the end of the game!!! Yep, that's a head the soldier guy is holding. I think I'll pass on playing that game.

Leapin Lizzards

Some women are drippin' with diamonds / Some women are drippin' with pearls / Lucky me, lucky me, look at what I'm drippin' with / Little girls! This was the story of my life until I got my man cub Josh!! Heather, Sara, Britta, and Meg all loved to hunch down in front of the TV and watch the video of Miss Hannigan making it a hard knock life for the precious little orphan girls in ANNIE. They would giggle to hear her cackle "What are you just standing around here for? You're supposed to clean the bathroom and the kitchen before lunch, my little pig droppings, and if you skip the corners, there will be no lunch...
So when I saw that the musical was coming to town I got the greatest idea since sliced bread, I got tickets to Annie and got on the horn to my granddaughter; Abby to join me.
Abby and I decided to dress up for the occasion and we had a wonderful cultural evening going to the musical. Who could forget Punjab? He didn't appear in the show we saw, but Daddy Warbucks and Grace as well as Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis made the show enjoyable. Abby and I love to play the piano and sing. Abby has a beautiful voice and she is learning the piano too. Thanks Ab for coming all the way over to go with me. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow. You're only a day away. I look forward to more fun with my beautiful grandkids.

Back to the 50's

So here's the tale nightingale; Friday night razzed my berries when we burned rubber to do some hanging with the cats at the stake valentines dance. I don't mean to go ape but it was fat city. Don't have a cow, I don't mean to rattle your cage but daddy O has a pretty classy chassis, I mean, he doesn't exactly have cooties if you get my drift. Well, I'm off to catch some Z's on cloud 9!!

We spent a fabulous weekend at Silvermountain Lodge. We were going to go Christmas day but decided to stay home and go now. It was great, the weather was better and Sara and Tyler were able to meet us there on Saturday. Sara couldn't get in the water so she watched us all get wet! The Snow on Friday was really good. They had gotten 9 inches of fresh powder the night before and the sun kept trying to burn through. It was most fun spending time with eachother and the kids. We used to ski a lot together both before we were married and when the kids were young. We used to teach ski lessons and we taught the girls when they were tiny. Heather and Sara were about 4 when we started them skiing. I remember they both had little purple snow suits! We were just talking about this the other day with Meg, we used a little "wedge" to hold their little ski tips together, thus began a nic name for one of the girls, I won't mention any names ....... edgy wedgy flint. You know who you are. I got down the gondola and back to the condo first so I could get chili ready when the fam got there. We ate and then hit the trail to the roof top hot tubs!
Some of us are great surfers! Again, I will mention no names, except to say everyone but me... That indoor wave is something else. It can rip a swimming suit right off!!! Luckily we all came out unscathed.

Christmas Blessing

Little Connor is home and doing well. What a wonderful Christmas blessing to have him born safe and sound. I have to say I was worried with all of the concerns for mom and baby but he is truly beautiful. Sara is a wonderful warm and caring mom, Tyler is a great daddy, he is protective of his new little boy. Our family is all so thankful to have Connor and Sara doing so well. I can't wait to get him in my arms and cuddle him. We may have to brave more stormy weather and even rain on top of all this snow.

Sara called Wednesday Dec. 17th and said she was on her way to the hospital. There was a blizzard brewing and eventually brought almost 3 feet of snow! Bruce and I put new snow tires on the car and headed out. We were plowing snow by the time we got to the hospital in Spokane. Even making it up the hill was a challenge, the roads were filling with snow and we could hardly even see!! It continued to snow until parked cars were totally covered!!
Little Connor was born Thursday evening and he is the cutest little guy ever. It was so wonderful to be there with Sara. Connor has a ton of hair and he is so so sweet. They all stayed in the hospital until Christmas. We came home Saturday and now we are watching the weather to see when we can go back to see him.

Winter Fun

Bruce and Josh got busy putting up the Christmas lights before the snow storm. They did a great job. We enjoyed a lucious prime rib dinner Christmas eve with snow falling outside. Christmas was fun with just Josh and Meg here with us. We had a blast 'jammin' with Guitar Hero World Tour and playing games with some friends. We also got the WII Fit so look forward to our body make-overs!

Only in the West

So, today I was wrapping a present at my dining room table and I looked up, out my front window when I saw three HUGE Bison running down the road in front of my house. Yes, I said Bison, like buffalo.
So, I pretty much panicked. Several of our neighbors have horses, one has goats and the neighbor two houses down raises buffalo. He trains cutting horses and uses them when they are young and then they keep them for the meat. So the last ones they got are well fed and very "healthy". So I see these three bad boys running past my house and I ran all over my house looking for my neighbor's phone number. Before I could find it I saw him running down the road along with another neighbor and a dog. I went out to see if I could help, although a little reluctant to try to herd buffalo. So I call from the middle of the road "can I help?" she yells "Clear the road" so I turn and run for my house, just as the dog turns the buffalo around and YIPES they are running full bore straight down the road in my direction. I was not a great help watching from behind my screen door as they ran back in to their yard. I guess someone borrowed a tractor and left the gate open so the buffs went on a field trip... past my house. I didn't get a picture of the incident, so I walked down to their pature to take a picture.

Ladies night out!

Heather, Meg and I met up and went to Twilight. We all loved it, althought the whole running thing with Bella on Edward's back was a little cheesy!! We all went to Spokane for a baby shower for Sara. Britta flew in and we stayed two nights just having a great time catching up. Sara is on bedrest now and I am trying to go to Spokane as much as I can. Her Drs are monitoring her BP and hoping all will go well.
She couldn't travel to Utah for Thanksgiving, Heather didn't make it either. The rest of us had turkey with Britta and Baby Jane was blessed on Sunday.

Flint Family Reunion 2008

This summer for our family reunion we went to Driggs. We had such a great time. We picked up Grandma Grover on the way. We all stayed at the cabin where grandma lounged inside on the big pine bed and the rest of us camped outside. The joke was on grandma when she woke up to find a bed full of grandkids. Next morning was a trip to Jackson and the kids drove the horse drawn covered wagons. It was pretty scary when the real live Indians attacked. A trip to the Valley is never complete without an adventure to Darby Canyon and a scream down the big slide. Caleb flew like lightning and creamed out in the sawdust, but like a man he came up with a smile. A few of us scouted out the huckleberries, all we found was a big black bear. The weekend wound down with a big BBQ and all the great grandparents joined in. We ate homemade peach ice cream that was the best in the world til we couldn't hold anymore and laughed til we cried.

Making Peach Ice Cream the old fashioned way is the best!

The kids really got in on the work, and Avery loved eating it off of Grandpa's spoon!

Fall is such a great time of year. The garden has gone now but the shelves are full of salsa, raspberry jam, tomatoe basil soup and peaches. Sara and I made apple pie filling one day with some apples she got in Spokane and a few of the ones from our very own trees!!