Wishing You All a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas to all my friends and Family

Little Cash


Me and some of Marty's Family
We enjoyed a nice pizza dinner with Marty and his family.

We will soon be on our way to Seattle. Since we won't be here for Christmas, We want to wish all of my family a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thanksgiving 2009

Randy and His Thanksgiving Feast



Savannah and Grandpa Randy


John and Kathy Enjoying Their Feast

We had a great Thanksgiving. But big feasts do not exactly go with my digestive system. There was so much food and it was all very good. But I could only eat one helping and couldn't even eat any pie afterwards. Charlies makes a good turkey and Tammy makes good stuffing yams. Randy did a lot of the grunt work in the kitchen. He kept everything in order, cleaned up and did most of the dishes. I enjoyed having family over and the great food, but Thanksgiving is kind of wasted on me because I just can't eat all that food!


Tammy's Yams: Yummy

I Am Thankful....

This Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for my health, my security and my family. I have many blessings. I often do not appreciate all that I have. I have a tendency to look at negative other than positive things.

I am thankful that I was raised by loving parents. We didn't have much in the way of material things but we had love and many happy times together. My parents taught me great values and hard work.

I am also thankful for my children. All of them are very successful and responsible people. I could not have asked for better children. I am thankful for my Alex and the hard work and all of the talents he gave us while he was alive. I miss him very much. He was always there for me even though we had our trials. His life was way too short. But he left us with many wonderful memories and things to treasure. He left me with security and I am sorry he had to go through so much only to lose it by an untimely death.

I am thankful for Randy, my husband. He is very special. His life was so much different than mine and I am learning to have understanding of those people who are not just like we are. I am sorry he has so much physical pain to live with every day. He has had pain most of his life. He keeps plugging on and helping me to have a life worth living. I wish I could do more to help him but like it was with my mother, I just can't take all his pain away. Would that I could.

I have a nice warm home, a loving family, food to eat, a nice warm bed, a shower, clothes to wear and fairly good health. There are many in this world who do not enjoy these things. I am truly blessed.

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween at Matt's house. He really goes all out. He has fog machines, bubble machines, graveyards, witches, ghouls, bats, you name it. And great Halloween sound effects and music too. He even dressed his dogs up ant took them Trick or Treating! Randy even dyed his hair green for the occassion!!

Zion's Park

The Great White Throne

We enjoyed a week at Zion's National Park. The park is so beautiful. We took a ride on the shuttle and also ate at the restaurant at the Zion Lodge. We saw a 3-D movie and also went to a movie in Hurricane Utah. We also went to a Chinese buffet with Tammy and Charlie who were in St. George to see a production at the Tuachan Theater. The weather was beautiful at first but a cold front came in later in the week and the wind was miserable.

We really enjoyed our trailer and nice and warm furnace we have in it. We had electricity in the park but no water or sewer. We had to fill up with water at the entrance and we ran out because I needed to wash my hair and take a shower. (I don't like to go out with flat hair) So we had to unhook everything and go fill up again. We were right by a water faucet but the park manager would not even let us hook up a hose and fill up even though it would have taken only 10 minutes or less. Because Randy has a lot of arthritis pain, I think we had better find a park in the future with full hookups because of the work he has to go to. In the government parks in Timpanogos we can come home a couple of times a week so that we can shower at home so this is OK when we camp that way. But when we can't come home for a long time, we really need full hookups. I guess we should have gotten a motorhome to make it easier on Randy. But motorhomes are so expensive unless you get a really old one or buy a really small one.

We would like to winter in a warm place but we would have to leave before the snow flies because if we leave later, the weather is too unpredictable and we might get caught in a bad storm and that would not be good with a trailer. Anyway, it is better just camp close by as it is cheaper as the gas mileage is really bad with the Suburban and trailer. The Suburban isn't too bad when not pulling the trailer.

We met some nice folks in Zion. One couple from Canada who were originally from New Zealand. They were very friendly. It seems folks from other countries are much friendlier than our fellow Americans. We did have a good time despite a few setbacks.

Latest News

I can't believe that it is almost winter already. Time really flies.

This month I have enjoyed going out with my girls to see Little Shop of Horrors and eating at Los Hermonos for Tammy's birthday.

This past weekend, we visited Hogle Zoo with John and Kathy and Tammy and family. We are going to Zion's National Park for a week on October 24.

The bad news is that we have to get a new furnace. I have known that we needed one for a long time. Ours is over 31 years old. It is not very efficient. But our house is so old and has been built on to so many times, that they have to do a lot of duct work to make the furnace work like it should. We are also getting vents cleaned. Of course this makes the price even higher. I should have just had the house torn down because it's so old that some things in the house are so outdated and hard to update. Oh, well, we will just keep the house going as long as we can.

I have also had a lot of allergies and sinus problems. It's not the cats, even though they cause a lot of hair and dander and smells. because I only get the problems when the weather changes. We have too many cats but Randy cannot let them any of them go.

Other news is that Randy has carpel tunnel syndrome and is seeing the Dr. tomorrow. We were going to go to Jennifer's for Thanksgiving but we have had to spend too much on the furnace and then, of course we spent a lot getting our new trailer toy. I am not sure if the trip to Zion's will be our last until next spring.

Nice Visit

Yesterday I had a nice visit from Elaine, (my brother Chris' wife: Chris was in NYC), from Kent, WA and her daughter Cassie who is from San Antonio TX. Robin from America Fork, also visited and we all went out to eat at Mimi's. It was really nice to have them visit.

Willard Bay

We took our new toy to Willard Bay and camped for four days. It is a nice campground but too close to the freeway and very noisy. If we keep the vents in our trailer closed, it's not too bad. The water there is really nice and warm. It would be a good place to go for a family reunion. The kids would love to swim there in the warm water. We saw some pelicans there. And the sunset was beautiful.

Our new trailer is so nice. We have queen bed that is comfy. We have a full sized shower and even a shower on the outside to shower off when people need to shower after swimming. It has a microwave and central air and heating. You can set the water heater to electric or gas and fridge as well. You can do this with a flip of a switch. No lighting anything. The stove has an electric start so you don't have to light it. The trailer has a slide out which operates with a flip of a switch and an awning that works that way too. It also came with a flat screen HD TV and DVD player and radio. There are hookups in the bedroom too for a TV. So we can have two TVS.

We went to visit Monica and Jay and then the next day we went to The Golden Spike Monument. We watched a film there on how the railroad came together at Promontory Point. We were going to go see the locomotives but our Suburban would not start. We had to get a jump and we went back to the campground and then it would not start as soon as we turned it off. It had a brand new battery. After we got home, we took it to have the battery checked and it was fine. The only thing we could think of was the battery cables were bad. We took it to Murdock Hyundai and had all new battery cables put in and the oil changes and new belts. But Matt found out that the water pump was failing and so we had to replace it. He also fixed the trailer brakes which were put in wrong by Gene Harvey Chevrolet. All in all, was spent a lot of money getting it fixed. We know that we saved a lot though by having Matt fix it. We do appreciate him. The Suburban works fine now. We are planning a trip to Zion's Park the end of this month.

Our hobby is expensive but it is worth it. Life is good. You only live once.

September Birthdays

Zoe A.K.A. Nikki has a birthday on September 25. I can't believe she is that old
already. I hope she has a wonderful birthday and a wonderful year. I hope she soon starts back to her name of ZOE, I think it's a cuter and more unique name. But whatever her name is for now, it is great to have her as my granddaughter.

The only other September birthdays were my dad, Sept 2nd and my mother, Sept 19th. My dad would be 89 and my mom would be 86. I miss them and wish they could have hung on a little longer to celebrate more birthdays with us.

Our Newest News

This is a 30 Ft 2009 Starcraft Trailer that we are getting from Motor Sportsland. These trailers are made in Twin Falls ID. Here are some photos of the floor plan and the inside. The photos really don't do it justice. I have yet to get a photo of the outside trailer but I will soon.

Well, we did it, but we can still change our minds. We just had to go to the RV show yesterday and told ourselves we would not buy, just look. We thought maybe in a year or two we would buy. They had some very good deals on 2009 closeouts. We found a trailer with just the right floor plan that we wanted. We wanted a queen sized bed that you can walk around and a comfortable place to sit when watching TV or reading. Our old trailer is not comfortable at all. And this trailer has a slide out for more room. It also has two very nice reclining chairs as well as a sofa. It has a full sized shower. It has two places to hook up TV's, in the living room and bedroom. A lot of the trailers had bunk beds, which we didn't not want or need. We would rather have more space. This one does not have bunk beds, you can make the sofa into a bed and there is another bed you make from the table. The queen sized bed is in a room of it's own, and that is really nice. The trailer is really easy to set up. You only have to press a switch for the awnings and the slidouts.

I and Randy both have been a little keyed up over the decision to get another trailer. I know some of our kids think we are nuts. But I think we deserve some happiness in our old age. I always wanted to travel and camp when I retired. The old trailer is still good but we want something more comfortable and we camp a lot so it's not like we only use our trailer once or twice a year. We could get another used bigger trailer, but we found out after buying the one we have that some things are not disclosed to you when you buy it. Like the old trailer looked like it had good tires, but they had dry rot and after driving, some of the rubber came off and we had to replace the tires. Also, the toilet leaked and we had to pay to get it fixed.

We had been thinking of a motorhome but we still have a lot of things for the trailer and we have a powerful Suburban to pull it; and this new trailer is so easy to set up. And with a motorhome, we couldn't leave it parked when we wanted to leave the campground, we would have to take it. With the trailer we can unhitch and leave the campsite. And the motorhome we could afford doesn't have any more room than our old trailer.

So we have signed the papers and we pick up the trailer next week. I guess we can still back out. They did give us what I asked for the old trailer but we still didn't get what we paid out it for considering we had to pay for new tires and fix the toilet. We could not gotten anymore selling it with classified ads either I do not believe because it is 24 years old. So if you think we are crazy, remember you only live once and it's only money. I know money can go fast. Randy gives me his whole pension check every month so do not think that I am the one paying everything. He does as well.

We have a lot of things that we can use with the trailer that we could not have used if we had gotten a motorhome. We have a big generator and inverter. When Alex and I were raising our family, we could not afford a lot of things. We did get used RV's but we really had to work hard to pay for them. Kids can't expect to have everything all at once. Someday you may be able to get the things you want. I think we deserve to reap the rewards of raising our families and working hard all our lives.

Days of Summer Coming to an End

Summer camping has come to a close. For Labor Day, we drove to the High Uintah's and all the way up to Mirror Lake. Unfortunately, a lot of the campgrounds were closed in the Uintah's and so we just had to drive around the Day Use areas. Mirror Lake was so crowded that we could not even find a place to park. We did, however, get to look down on the lake from a viewpoint and take a few photos.

Then later in the week, we camped for three days at Deer Creek. They had full hookups there so we got a few more comforts of home. We mainly went there because we had promised John and Kathy we would let them camp one more time for caring for our cats. We had to camp close to home so we could go back to care fr the cats. Usually John and Kathy do that for us but they were with us so we lost our pet sitters.

We went to Heber and ate at Don Pedro's Mexican restaurant. Boy, they give you so much food. Be aware that if you order more than one item, you may find it hard to eat all your meal. The food was good though. Better than Mi Ranchito. So we are done camping for this year. We have a family BBQ planned for the 20th and no other plans for the rest of the year. We thought of going to Zion's Park to camp next month but decided we were just too tired to make another camping trip. We may have to plan something else. We do have a free 2 night hotel stay at several hotel choices throughout the country. We got this from RC Willey when we bought our appliances. As far as Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have no plans as yet. Maybe somebody will invite us. We are going tomorrow to the RV show in Sandy. Randy really wants a new RV but that will have to wait if it even happens at all. We have just put new tires, and bought a new generator for the one we have now. The only problem with the one we have now it that the bed is too small and it is so hard to get in and out of. It's OK for one person, but when we camp, we have no cats and so we like to sleep together.

Other news is that we got a new microwave (our old one quit.) and washer and dryer. They all work so much better than the old ones. We might have to get a new furnace. So there is always so much money that we have to spend. I wish we could stop spending for a while. I have also had some problems with somebody using my MasterCard number and so I had to deal with that. Other than that, we are just enjoying the cooler days of Fall. We wish all our family a wonderful Fall season.

The Bed

Yesterday we spent part of the day putting in a new bed frame for the queen sized bed. This bed has a Tempurpedic mattress on it with a memory foam topper which makes it even more comfortable. The old wooden frame made a lot of creaking sounds and was almost ready to break.

I just love my bed. When I stay at hotels, none of those beds can compare. Even the beds in the 4 star hotels. And some of the beds in the hotels are so bad that my back acts up for a week after sleeping in them.

I know many people do not like memory foam, but for me it is just wonderful. I never have a backache in the morning like I used to before I got my memory foam mattress. And I use Egyptian cotton sheets and it is pure heaven. I feel like I am sleeping on a cloud. When I first got the mattress, it was not what I expected. It was hard and didn't conform to my body. Then I found out that it had been put on upside down. The people who delivered it put it on that way, but it was really fault of the factory because they had marked the wrong side for being the side that was supposed to be down. After putting it on right, the bed now does everything it is supposed to do.

Randy does not like the bed because he says it's too hot and he sticks to the sheets. However, he sweats in any bed he sleeps in. The main problem he has with the bed is that when all the cats get in bed with him and me, it is so crowded because of the cats that he can't even turn around. So he sleeps in the double bed next to my bed. He refuses to not let the cats sleep outside of the bedroom and it's true, he has spoiled them so much that if he tried to get them to sleep elsewhere, they would really yowl all night and keep us both awake.

The cats have always been his family and there is no changing that now. The only cat that ever sleeps on my bed is Gimli and once in a while Sonny does. But his cats always have to sleep wherever he does. They have separation anxiey LOL. I wonder what it would be like if we had kids that wanted to sleep all night with him, he would probably let them LOL. He has a really soft heart but he is not teaching the cats any manners. It's very hard to teach old cats new tricks and old men as well. LOL

Santa Rosa CA, Napa Valley

Randy and Me at the Beach

Me at the Beach

Judy and Bob at the Beach

The Schoolhouse in Bodega Bay


The Catholic Church in Bodega Bay

After leaving Reno NV, we traveled on to Santa Rosa CA. Santa Rosa is located in the beautiful Napa Valley just north east of San Francisco. We visited with Judy Vance who is a friend of Randy. Judy used to live in Scottsdale AZ. While in Santa Rosa, we visited the Charles Schultz museum. We learned more about Charles and his cartoons as well as other cartoonists. The first night we were in Santa Rosa, we attended the play of Oliver. The cast did a very good job, especially the actor who played Fagan.

The next day Judy and her boyfriend Bob took us all around the Napa Valley. I have never seen so many beautiful vineyards. They were everywhere. There was not a weed in any of them. There were wineries and wine tasting in almost every vineyard. Words alone cannot describe the beauty of the Napa Valley. We also stopped by a lake and enjoyed a picnic.

The following day, we went to Bodega Bay in Sonoma county where Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS was filmed. We saw the old schoolhouse there and the Catholic Church. We traveled on down to the ocean on highway one. It was such a beautiful day with a pretty blue sky. We walked the beach and enjoyed watching the surf pound against the rocks and sand. We gathered sea shells. We continued driving along the coast and ate at a beautiful resort restaurant right on the ocean. It was pricey but the beautiful view was worth it. Then we traveled down the Russian River and enjoyed frozen yogurt in a little store along the route. We went back to Judy's and enjoyed a porterhouse steak dinner she prepared.

On the way home, we traveled through Yosemite National Park. We had to to take a different route and could not see the entire park because there was a huge fire in that part of the park. What we did see was just breathtaking. We saw huge rocks, trees and lakes. We spent that night in Tonapah NV and enjoyed an old mining town atmosphere.

The next day, we headed home through Ely NV. We had a wonderful time.

Me by the Vineyards in Napa Valley



The wineries at Napa Valley

Judy, Randy and me at Napa Valley

At the Charles Schultz Museum