Fun on Halloween

When we were shopping in Vegas a few days before Halloween, we saw a man put this mask on.  We liked it a lot so we decided to buy it for Frank to wear on Halloween night. Bret and Laura came over for dinner and just as I was going to take a picture of us eating dinner, the trick or treaters came and the sun hadn't even gone down.  So I didn't get a chance to take a picture.  I made sirloin vegetable soup and cornbread.  Something easy to have on a busy Halloween night.

Frank waiting for the kids

Frank had so much fun teasing the kids.  He would ask them what they had in their bags and then reach in and act like he was going to take a treat.  It was so funny watching the kids expressions.  We laughed our heads off. Merritt came later and had a bowl or two of soup and then helped hand out candy.  Bret helped with the handing out of candy too.

The kids came in bunches and it never stopped until 8:30 PM and we closed the house up and turned out the lights and still had a few knocks.  We were all so tired and so I just called out that we were out of candy.  I only had a few hand fulls left out of three huge bags.  The kids couldn't figure out if Frank had a mask on or not.

Some of my Halloween decorations

I had a scary bat hanging on the side wall of our house.  Last year I had it over the dining room window and it scared some of the little ones.  So I put it further away and the kids were too busy looking at Frank and didn't even notice the ugly bat.  Thanks Bret, Laura, and Merritt for all the help.

Another Sad Day

This isn't Dusty but he looked similar  to this horse

Yesterday my daughter Sherry, had to have her horse Dusty put down. Dusty was a Pure Bred Arabian, and came from Wayne Newton's Arabians.  He has been suffering with arthritis and the joints in his legs had big knots on them and just recently caused him to founder.  He could hardly walk around and has steadily gotten worse.  He gave Sherry many days of joy and was feisty and full of life in his younger days. Sherry rode him most of the time until a few years ago. He would stumble with her and she was afraid of getting hurt.  She knew something was wrong and had the vet look at him.  That is when they discovered he had arthritis and Sherry would not be able to ride him any longer.

She has another horse Ami, and Sherry rode her and took Dusty along.  If Sherry didn't take Dusty with her on the rides, he would throw a fit and run up and down the corral until Sherry got back. He couldn't stand to
have Ami out of his sight.  So it is good that he went ahead of her.

After Dusty was gone, Ami was at the gate and was swaying back and forth, until Sherry took her out to brush her and get her ready to be moved to a new pasture.  Sherry said as soon as she got Ami over by the hay stack, and was brushing her, she calmed down.  Sherry thought that Dusty was there to comfort Ami.

Ami has a seven year old mare named Bella who has been in a different pasture and the two of them have been reunited. They were so happy to see each other. I am sure this will help Ami with the loss of her companion, Dusty.

 I didn't think that losing Dusty would affect me so much, but I have lived in Sherry's home a couple of times and have taken care of the horses while Sherry was at work.  When we moved into one of our rentals, Sherry would drop by with the horses on her way back home from a ride.  Ami and Dusty knew that Grandma would have a carrot or an apple for them and they knew the routine of where to stop.  Sherry has had the horses for over seventeen years.  It is so hard to lose pets, so yes I had a good cry yesterday when I heard that Dusty had been put down, and I told Sherry that is why I don't want any pets because it is too hard to lose them.  

Lunch with the Grandkids

Robyn & Braxton arrived and Rozlynn greeted them

Trying to get Braxton warmed up

Aunt Robyn with Roz and Brax

Had a surprise visitor my grandson Shiloh

The family Jamie, Shiloh, Braxton, Rozlynn, Robyn, & Sherry

A couple of Mondays ago, we decided to have a family lunch at the Scoop. I had a wonderful surprise as Shiloh dropped by on his way home to Cedar City.  He had been in Las Vegas.  It was great to see him and catch up on the news in his life.  I don't get to see him very often.

I am feeling a little depressed as Robyn and Eric are moving to Northern California. Eric has transferred to a hospital in Watsonville, California..  I am excited for them and the new chapter in life they are about to experience.  They are moving to a beautiful area and will be close to the ocean. Actually, I am a little jealous as I love the ocean.  I am going to miss seeing them and especially playing with Braxton. Frank and I usually stop by for a visit on the days Frank has to go to his pain management doctor across the street from where Robyn lives now. Thank heavens for the Internet and facebook where I am sure Robyn and Eric will be posting pictures.  It will also give us a new place to visit and explore.  

I have to say that I am proud of my granddaughter Mackenzie as she was crowned the Homecoming Queen last Thursday evening.  Wish I could have been there to see her get the honor.  It makes me sad to know how many things I have missed in my estranged son's family.  Things are pretty much the same, they have nothing to do with me, and I am still trying to figure out what I have done that was so horrible to deserve this.  There is always something said at church, conference, and the Ensign about forgiveness.  Isn't it about time!!!!!  Some day you will know my pain.  I love my family unconditionally.  We all have said and done things that end up biting us in the butt.  I am so grateful for the family that does love me. 

The Story of the Drift Creek Covered Bridge

When we went to Portland to pickup Sherry and Lorri, we saw a sign that said Driftcreek Covered Bridge.  This aroused my curiosity and I told Frank that we needed to check it out before we left Lincoln City.

The last week of our vacation, we decided to take a little drive to check out the bridge.  As I walked inside the bridge, I noticed a bench with some papers under a rock.  So I took one and discovered the story of how this bridge was moved and rebuilt on this site. It is kind of long, but I found it very interesting and decided to put it on my blog.

I wondered as I finished the story if the marriage made it through the trial of restoring this bridge.  I hope so. The bridge was well worth the trip to see it, and it became more meaningful after reading the story behind it.

Sorry about the smaller print on the top part, but I couldn't get it to enlarge or make it bolder.

Home At Last

The trip home from Oregon seemed so much longer than when we started our journey.  We were so anxious to get home and sleep in our comfy bed and wanted to see our family and friends.  Sherry, Renee, and Rozlynn came out and spent the night with me.  Rozlynn had really changed, she carries on a conversation and I could understand her.  She is finally potty trained.  

Bret and his family came over to visit and it was great to get to see everyone, except Sierra who was at that time still in Idaho.  She has since come home and I heard is working at Tiffany's Sub & Pie shop in Logandale.  Congratulations Sierra, I am proud of you..

Frank has been working his hind end off.  Getting the yard cleaned up, getting a dead tree pulled out with the help of Bret, and Merritt.  He has been working on getting the shutters painted, and is now working on painting my two outside wooden rockers, and lawn swing.  He took a window out today that needs to be replaced and hopefully we will get a new one ordered in St. George tomorrow. It has been so dang hot and we tell each other how much we miss Lincoln City, and the wonderful cool weather, but just not the house we stayed in.

I have been feeling real lousy, and I guess I will have to go see my doctor to see if we can figure out what is going on with me. I have to force myself to do everything I do. I had to go see my gynecologist Monday as he had tried to call me about my Evan Mist, a hormone spray.  It turns out that the insurance doesn't want to pay for it any more as I am too old to be on it.  The problem is that I have been on hormone replacement for so long, I just can't go cold turkey.  So my doctor is going to work with the insurance company with this theory. I have been gradually going from three sprays to one, so hopefully I can ween myself off from it.  We no longer can work with our doctors as to what treatments and medicines we can have.  The insurance companies rule.  My doctor gave me a sample and said he would call in the prescription.  We will see what happens.  

Below are some pictures of Grandma Sherry and Roz singing Itsy Betsy Spider.  I was singing with them.  Rozlynn has on the hat I bought for her on the Oregon Coast.  She is so dang cute and smart too.  Well this brings me up to date.

Saying Good By to Oregon

We decided to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport before we headed home. Several years ago we stayed in a RV park across the street from the Aquarium and had visited it then.  It is a really nice place to visit.  All kinds of fish, and out door things to see and do.  Below are some of the pictures Frank took.

We decided to leave a few days early and went for one last walk and stopped by our favorite statue.  If you look up the road you can see where people park to visit the over look of the ocean.

Here are some pictures we took of the ocean on that last walk.  Double click on the pictures and see how beautiful they are.

We stopped by our neighbor's home and watched the Raccoons one more time.  The babies grew up in the two months we were there in Oregon.  They were fun to watch.

This is the living area of the little home we stayed in.  If you look close you can see that there are blankets under the cushions of the couch.  It was so uncomfortable to sit on and this made it bearable.  The beds were very uncomfortable too, and we ended spending close to $90 on foam toppers to make them more comfortable.  We decided to leave a few days early as after two months we decided we wanted to leave this uncomfortable place and we were homesick for family, friends, and our comfy home.  I am glad that we did get to rent this place as it was a lucky break as most home owners of the vacation rentals will not rent on long term bases because they can make a lot more money renting out on a daily rate.  We had a wonderful time, and still miss our walks, the ocean, the beautiful scenery, and wonderful cool ocean breeze.

More Vacation Pictures

I have been a blog slacker ever since we got home from OR.  I have been feeling lousy and just haven't had the energy to sit down and blog.  Since it took so long to post photos on my blog from my lap top with a real slow Internet connection, I decided to wait until I got home.

We were going to go to the beach and have a marshmallows roast.  It was way too cold and windy  so we roasted  marshmallow's over the burner on the stove and had our Smores at home  Sherry and Lorri eating them

Sherry and I making Smores

We were fascinated with this tree and found out it is called a Monkey Puzzle Tree.  It has branches that  are very sharp and can cause body damage

Lorri, Sherry, & Me getting ready to head to Portland Airport

We passed this statue every day on our walk to the look out over the ocean and then headed out for our walk.  He points the way to a hotel.  

Winema Church Camp area

We decided to go to a local beach where you can find Sand Dollars.  It is located by a church camp called Camp Winema.  When we got there I had to pee so bad and we couldn't see any public restrooms.  I asked a lady if she knew if there were any in the area.  She invited me back to what they called their cabin, above picture.  She was so nice and friendly, and she and her husband gave us a tour of the home. The whole area is connected to a church that owns Camp Winema.  We hugged each other and I told her she had saved me and that I would do the same for someone in the same situation I was in.
This is a view from the house above, overlooking the camp area.  There is a fresh lake and then the ocean. It was a beautiful site.  We were able to walk the beach known to the locals as Sand Dollar Beach.  We found a few broken sand dollars, and was going to go back and hunt for some more, but we didn't get to return to this beautiful place.  This is a beach that is only known by the locals.