Time is flying!

WOW!!! Saturday was Bryce's friends and family birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's...lots of fun...and NOISE...still a little tough with my ear! Tuesday was his real birthday and the family went out for dinner- hard to believe that he's 9 years old! Such a wonderful young man.

Monday was time with the Family Home Evening group and tonight I will go over to Jenny's with the Happy Wanderers for a final get together...and see the movie "RV" with Robin Williams for a happy sendoff...

Tomorrow is Halloween and I will use the time for getting the motorhome ready to drive down to Nate's... about 125 miles... where I will leave it while I am gone this time. Last night I had a great visit with Mandy, Bryan and the kids and took some pictures so I will have an updated one ;-)...finally! Also took some final pix of their new house in the final stages of being built...it's looking great!
Would you believe this is just the beginning...

and now they are coming close...

this is the master bedroom with it's view.
















The green room is Ashlyn's on the second floor.





this stairway goes upstairs from the entry area.






Kitchen in progress, the upstairs hallway, Bryan's little helpers, and the side balcony...


This is looking from the master bedroom into the dressing/bathroom areas. Bryan has all of the tiling completed and grouted now but I didn't get a picture the morning I left...

Only 2 more weeks...

...wow time is really flying! I will be home two weeks from today... Had a great weekend (and part of the week). Jenny and I drove out to Spokane and visited with our friend Barb Smith. It was so much fun...lots of talking and laughing..so much to catch up on...good food, good company...and three grandmas sharing lots of pictures of awesome grandkids!!!

We arrived on Saturday and planned to stay until Tuesday...but Barb needed a new computer and we thought to get started by running out to buy it at 9 PM Monday night. We stayed up until 2 AM getting everything set up and installing programs she needed and transferring data from the old computer. All was working well when we went to bed...unfortunately, when we got up the next morning the computer locked up and kept turning itself on and off and not letting msn messenger sign on. Called and made an appt. to take it in to Circuit City at 1 PM where they would clear out the Vista incompatable programs. Jenny had to be back that day, so we took her out to the airport so she could fly home..ah, to have a family member work for the airlines and fly free...any of my kids want to volunteer???? Anyway, Barb and I worked to try everything to make sure it didn't crash again. Now she has Skype and can see and talk with Kevin while he is in Texas...getting ready to spend a year overseas...We had another fun day together and I left and drove back Wednesday. Would you believe I forgot to take any pix..so now you will have to come to Sweden so we can get pix, Barb!

Yesterday I spent at Bryan's house, painting and learning to set slate tile mopboard in his bathrooms and laundrys. I will return today and continue. I will post some pictures of the inside of their house before I leave...it is really taking shape! It is so fun to enjoy the time with Bryan, Mandy and the kids!!! Bryce and I even got haircuts yesterday when I was there from Mandy- she always does such a great job!

Time in Washington!

I have been keeping very busy here in Washington! Got the motorhome in shape...pressure washed and cleaned out, leaking bathroom faucet replaced, found the electrical short in the ground fault plug-in and replaced it, replaced the chassis battery, replaced all burned out light bulbs, etc. I have even ordered a new RV toilet (porcelin!) which will be delivered in a couple of weeks and Bryan has agreed to help me install it! Spent the first two weeks at Beachwood and now am at Thousand Trails for two weeks before moving back to Beachwood next week. Moving every two weeks is what life is like here in the motorhome! It is great to have all of my things in one place and not have to live out of a suitcase when I am in the states though!

I also have been over to Bryan and Mandy's helping with the inside painting of their new house...it is really beautiful...he is busy doing the trim, etc. around the windows inside and getting ready to lay the slate in the bath rooms and laundry rooms, etc. He set the lower kitchen cabinets in place this last week and they look great! Wow, things are coming close!!!

Bryce and Ashlyn will be coming over for the weekend as Bryan and Mandy will be going to her sister's in Canada for the farewell of Lori's son who is going on a mission. Such an exciting time!

Talked to Elizabeth in Utah the other day and they are now living in their new house in Eagle Mountain and their house in Riverton will be closing this next Wednesday...what a job...moving with 5 small kids and getting settled in a new home with Scott working full time in Sandy. I sometimes forget how is was to have so much energy!!!

I am loving the time spent with friends here. Next weekend three of us will drive to Spokane to visit with our friend Barb Smith who was my first aide when I started the Lifeskills Program for the Lynden School District many years ago and a very dear friend for many years...

Time here is flying fast. I bought my ticket back to Sweden this last week. I will be returning November 6th and returning to the states March 10th...thought I'd spend my birthday this year here in the states. I will stay long enough into April or May to help Mandy out with the new baby...Grandbaby #11! How blessed we are as a family!

Back in the US again!

Wow! Time has flown...here it is a month later and I haven't even written or posted pictures yet...Eimi chewed me out this morning about it. I arrived at Nate and Ashley's on
the 29th of August and stayed for a visit for a couple of days to adjust to the time change, love those kids and grandkids... Hayle's first day at school, Paige riding the four wheeler- what a daring kid!...
and get ready to drive to Utah...then out to Utah to Scott and Liz's to love those kids too. Scott and Elizabeth left that Friday for CA to go to Elizabeth's brother's wedding. Great time with the kids!!! It was Carissa's third birthday that Sunday- what fun. So much excitement during that visit...and so much going on!!!
Trips to the library, shopping, buying a new house (yes, they actually signed a contract on a new house while I was there), and of course...Cafe Rio...not twice, but 3 times. Got their house all ready for sale...but with a market so slow...a little trepidation, but what do you know...they were under contract to sale theirs a couple of weeks after listing!!! I would guess this move was meant to be...their house will be closing only 2 weeks after the one they are buying!!! They are all excited for the new house and being down in Eagle Mountain again, where they had moved from when they moved to Riverton.

Other than a ear infection that progressed to a perforated ear drum, I enjoyed all of the time. My dear friend Jenny flew down to SLC and drove back to Lynden with me which made the trip very enjoyable!

When I arrived in Washington, I went to get into my car and noticed a very strange thing...typical of my luck...out of the hinge side of my driver's door of my car was hanging a snake skin!!! Did get Bryan to tug it out...two pieces about 4 inches came out before it broke off and couldn't be reached. Bryan had to convince me that the snake couldn't have gotten into the car, only into the wheel well...haven't seen it yet, so I hope that he is right and I can stop worrying!!!

I managed to get my motorhome running (thanks to Bryan and my dad...chargers and battery jumpers!) and have taken it to Beachwood in Birch Bay. Spending time cleaning out and fixing up after it sitting for nearly a year. Also having a great time with Bryan, Mandy and the kids!!! How I've missed all of these US kids and grandkids!

It was also wonderful to see the house that Bryan's been working on for the last 2-3 years and know that they should be in it before Bryce's birthday toward the end of October! It is amazing to think that he has done almost all of the building himself!

I have enjoyed seeing all my friends again and spending time with them. The happy wanderers even had a chance to get together at Jenny's and watch the presidential debates...what a difficult decision the US has to make!

On Saturday, Sue, her mom and I were able to go down to the Seattle temple and then return and attend the women's conference at the Stake center. What a great meeting and a chance to see so many people I haven't seen for such a long time!

Here it is Tuesday and I am at Bryan and Mandy's staying with the kids while they went to Seattle to get things for the new house. A great time for me to catch up with the blog, but I will have to add the pictures later...I am using Bryan's computer and will need to get on mine to get the pictures... Hopefully I will keep up better so I don't miss all so many of the interesting things that are happening!