Family Dinners

We went over to Steve and Sue's house on Sunday and had a nice family dinner while Craig was ho me for a visit. They have such a beautiful house and I am amazed by it every time I get to see it. We are going to have a early lunch at our house next Sunday since Joe and Sally are coming for a very short visit. These family dinners are starting to become a regular thing! I had to go to the dentist on Monday to get a another crown. It was horrible. It's bad enough that the drilling totally freaks me out, but to top it off, the dentist cuts my lip with the drill! My jaw was sore for several days and my lip still hurts. I made it through a another week of work and thank goodness it's Friday!!

Grandkids Visit

Orlando and Mark came over to spend the day with me on Saturday. They had fun playing with Ebony. Mark is so much fun. He is so curious about everything. He asks a million questions. It makes you realize how much you take for granted, because you already know it, but for him it is all new. We went to the Spokane Valley mall and went out for lunch with Jessica and then went to the park. It was a fun day.

Easter

We went over to Jamie and Robert's house for a brunch on Easter Sunday. Steve, Sue and Grandma Jean were there too. Jamie and Robert fixed a terrific brunch and we had a very nice time. Yesterday John and I took Orlando his birthday card and gift plus easter baskets for both Orlando and Mark. It is always so special to get to see them. This past week has been pretty rough for me. I have had a migraine all week, work has been busy and stressfull and for two nights I couldn't sleep and got up at 2:30 in the morning. Today I am finally starting to feel better. Last weekend we took our new RV on our first trip. We went to Hood Park on the Snake River in Pasco. We had a nice time and we look forward to more trips in our new RV.

Yes, I'm Back

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I've been very busy working since we got back from Kauai and just haven't had time to prepare all the pictures I've been taking. But finally I have designed a few pages for Christmas. I know, I am way behind! It usually takes me till almost summer to get all the Kauai pictures done and scrapbook pages finished. Work is going great, we are finally open and have two residents!! We still need to hire a couple more LPN's so I won't have to work such long hours. More pages will be coming as soon as I get them done.

We’re finally here, Yea!! We got up at 3:00 AM and got to the airport at 4:45. The flight was delayed until 6:20 but was still scheduled to take off. When it was our turn to check-in we discovered that while we were scheduled to be on that flight, there was still a question as to whether our reservations could be switched from Alaska and American airlines to United Airline. We waited there for 45 minutes while the lady at the ticket counter tried to get it figured out. It was 5:45 when we finally were in the line to go through the security station. It was a good thing the flight was delayed or we might not have made it! It took a long time to de-ice the plane so we didn’t take off until 7:00. But at least we were on our way. Because we were late getting to Denver, we barely had time to eat a sub sandwich and then we were on the next plane to Las Angles which also sat on the runway for a long time because of concerns about landing in LA due to poor visibility. When we got to LA, our next flight was scheduled to leave in 5 minutes! We were in the very back row in the plane and it was torture waiting for everyone to get off the plane. But the stewardess assured us that the plane would wait for us. Fortunately it was just two gates down but when we got there the sign said boarding “closed”, so I thought the doors had closed and we hadn’t made it, but fortunately they were waiting for our flight to get there and they were still boarding, so we got on that plane. We finally arrived in Kauai at 5:30 (7:30 Spokane time). It had been raining so it was very humid but it sure felt good. So yes, we are finally here.
The one good think about our trip being delayed is that we were able to go get the grandkids and spend Christmas Eve with them. We went back to our house so they could open their present and meet Ebony. She didn’t know what to think of them at first, but then wanted to play. Mark says the cutest things. I miss all the cute things that little children do. He asks so many questions. I loved it!! It brings back so many wonderful memories. I sure do miss those days. We went to Grandma’s Christmas Eve party and got pictures of everyone’s family. We ate late (7:30) and at 8:15 they were just getting ready to open gifts. We wanted to get to bed fairly early so we had Mark and Orlando open their gifts from Great-Grandma and then we had to leave to take them home and get home ourselves. It was a great evening with the grandkids. I have a lot of pictures that I would like to post but it will take me some time because I will be on the beach for the next 7 days!!

More party photos

Christmas Party

Our Christmas party went really well. Jessica and Josh and his family didn't come, but the rest of the kids, Jamie and Robert and Janelle's boyfriend Bryce was there. Also Mom and Norm and my uncle Gene. We had some great snack food, including Janelle's famous 7-layer dip, which was the favorite. It was a lot of fun watching everyone open their presents. I wish the grandkids could of been here. I was looking forward to watching them open their gifts. I miss those days when the kids were young and Christmas morning was filled with all of their excitement. John was especially intertaining, giving us a preview of how the evenings will go in Kauai. I didn't get too much sleep that night however, between his loud snoring and dealing with Ebony's barking, I was up most of the night.

Record Snowfall!!

Wow, Thursday was amazing! John and I were both fortunate because we didn't have to go to work. So I spent the day cleaning house and he was out trying to clear the driveway of snow. Jessica spent the night Wednesday, so she could get to work on Thursday. But there was so much snow that she didn't have to go to work either. They actually closed the mall at 1:30 in the afternoon. Friday I tried to go to work, but the parking lot had not been plowed yet and the snow was about two feet deep. John had driven me to work so we parked at a business down the street and walked in. I didn't realize how difficult it is to walk in so much snow. I made sure everything was set up correctly while I was gone on my trip and then John and I went to the mall and I got my hair cut. I made the mistake of going to a cheap place and got a terrible haircut. Now I will have to spend more to get it fixed.

Wow, it has been a long time since I have written anything. Last week was a very busy week at my new job. We helped move in all the furniture, pictures, plants and decoration for the whole building. It was amazing how much was accomplished in five days. The building looks so nice now. I am happy with my office, I have two beautiful pictures on my wall and a cool clock. There is still a lot to do to get ready before the first residents move in however.
Today is a special day because it is Joshua's birthday. It's hard to believe that he is 27 today. I still remember how excited I was to finally have a baby. I had wanted children for so long. I never wanted a career, I just wanted to be a mom. Those first days right after he was born was so special, it was just the two of us. I had such grand plans to be the best mom there ever was. I guess I didn't achieve my goal since Joshua won't speak to me now. I just don't know how I could of done any better. Anyway Happy Birthday Joshua!!!

Thursday was my last day at Fairfield Good Samaritan. I'm excited about my new job, but will miss everyone at Fairfield. I've been doing a good job at working out these past two weeks but so far have lost no weight. I guess the older you get the easier it is to gain and harder to lose it! I got some good pictures of the kids all dressed up for Halloween. Janelle and her boyfriend Bryce went to a Halloween party and lets just say the evening didn't end well. I didn't get to see my grandkids but at least I got copies of the pictures of them in costume. I got pictures of Jamie and Robert also and as soon as Jessica wakes up, their will probably be pictures of her evening also.

My Birthday

I haven't written yet about my wonderful birthday weekend because it takes me so long to get the pictures I take ready for publication. John, Janelle and I went out Friday to Outback and had a very nice dinner. The carrot cake was delicious!! We couldn't get Saturday night to work for the kids so we just stayed home and Sunday we were supposed to go out for lunch with the kids but Justin had to work and Jessica took off for Seattle suddenly, so it was just John and I and Jason and Janelle. We had a nice lunch at Applebees. Then Sunday evening I got to go out again with John's family and Janelle and Justin. So a lot of celebrating. Janelle got me a beautiful necklace and left me a wonderful message. Jason gave me a beautiful music box/jewelry box. The things my children give to me are so precious to me. Janelle's boyfriend Bryce gave me three beautiful roses and my new boss at my new job sent me the beautiful boquet of flowers.
So I had a wonderful birthday!!!