ReMax and the Children's Miracle Network

                On Saturday I went with Roland and Jenna to the big city of Roseburg as Roland wanted to get some more soil and plants to add to our yard and garden. 

 

Jenna at Home Depot

            As we were near Costco, I mentioned to Roland that we ought to get gas.  We also need milk and so picked up some additional items as well.  We also had an opportunity to allow Jenna a thrilling moment that we of course would never have planned for.

            As we were walking toward the Costco entrance, Roland noticed a ReMax balloon out in the parking lot.  It appeared as though it was lifting off the ground and then back again.  Corey and I had actually saved our money for a balloon ride and were majorly disappointed with the results.  The ReMax ride was less costly and all proceeds went to the Children's Miracle Network

blowing bubbles while waiting in line

            She was thrilled.  She had never been in a balloon before - and the fact that it didn't go anywhere except for off the parking lot and back didn't matter.  It was a thrill for her and for the lady that joined her in the basket.  I was talking to her daughter as the balloon was being lifted into the air.  She said that her mother was 82 and it had been on her bucket list to ride in a balloon.  I always think it's cool to see dreams fulfilled - especially when it's an older person

used trucks as tie downs

Jenna climbing out of basket

that smile was so worth it

            In addition to the balloon ride was a booth for face painting (Jenna loves those, but did not participate on Saturday) and some representatives from the Wildlife Safari in Winston.  Unplanned and fun.  I was happy for the moment.

            We learned that the Cockatoo can live 60 years but that it will always act like a 2 year old.  That thing is LOUD - louder than noise from the parachute which was bothering the bird.

             There were cards at both ReMax and Safari.  I had been to Safari before when Corey had visited me in 2015.  He posted his pictures to facebook but not on his blog.  I'd forgotten my camera, and so some of the pictures that Corey took can be seen on this post.

            We added strawberries to our hill and have been watering all over the yard.  Marigolds are looking sad.  We have started to eat the spinach.  Tomatoes and peppers may not be getting enough sun; they don't look as upset as the marigolds, but they are not thriving, either.  I believe they were planned before the beets and spinach.

watermelon seeds planted one side; strawberries on the other

strawberry plants

they don't look as sad in this photo as they did this morning

A Teeny Tiny Taste of Comic Con

            Roland has wanted to take Jenna to Comic Con for several years now - but we can't afford it.  The closest we'd come to it was on Saturday at the Winston Community Center. 

            The Winston Library closed down the same time as all the other libraries in Douglas County.  I had been to four of the 11 libraries, but it wasn't until yesterday that I'd ever been to the Winston Library - housed in the community center.  I should have gone there before.  It is probably the same distance as Canyonville.  I believe that Winston's population is larger than Myrtle Creek, Canyonville and Riddle put together.

            Annette had spent the night, and we took her with us - unfortunately we were not there that long when she got called home.  We ran some errands in Roseburg before returning to Winston for almost an hour and a half.  (Jenna had wanted to stay until 5:00 and Roland wanted to leave at 4:00 - he held out for the final drawings (but not the final which would receive a Harlequin figure)  Jenna was hoping that would be her price, but I was certain Roland wasn't going to stick around until the end.  They both ended up with Avenger comic books the 3rd and 4th editions.

            Jenna had a really great time and wished that Annette could have been with us for the entire event as she probably would have won something, too.

Reminiscing Easter

LaTiesha

        My first Easter dress was yellow and had a fish on the collar.  I had put the dress in my hope chest several years later (I received the hope chest when I was twelve – it may have been at then?) and was able to use the same dress on Jenna at eight or nine months.  Before we moved to Oregon, I had given the dress to my pregnant daughter-in-law that had announced she’d be having a girl (as it turns out, all three of my sons have daughters only – at least thus far) and recently posted to my facebook cover a picture of Jenna, myself, and my granddaughter, Devin, wearing the same “fishy” dress. 

Jenna

        I do remember bits and pieces of different Easters from my childhood. 

Patrick and me - 1970 perhaps

        I don’t know when I got or felt too old for the non-Christian Easter traditions.  I do remember mom had made Easter “baskets” for my brother Patrick and me.  There were two Clorox bottles designed to look like rabbits.  They held our Easter candy.

Clorox Easter Bunny

I remember receiving a purple duck for Easter from my grandma one years.  I remember watching home videos taken at my grandma’s house several Easters before that.  I remember Easter hats. I remember dying boiled eggs and searching for them as my parents had hid them the night before (usually in plain sight)

        I don’t remember any specific Easters with Corey or Kayla – though I’m sure I found more joy in watching them than “celebrating” Easter myself.  Somewhere along the way I discovered the true meaning of Easter does not really include eggs or jelly beans.

        Roland related a time about taking the boys to an Easter egg hunt when Randy and Tony were two and three.  Tony would pick up eggs and put them in his basket.  Randy followed close behind and would remove the eggs from Tony’s basket and place them into his own.  He said that Tony never even noticed.

Before Roland and I were married, Tony had asked if we could draw names and make baskets for each other.   A few years later I sent the boys on a treasure hunt with scripture related clues from plastic eggs.  I think they enjoyed it.

        Jenna was eight days old on her first Easter – the day she was supposed to be born.  I dressed her in a green onesie that had a small chick at the top and built in green skirt.  It was too big for her, but I thought it was cute for Easter.

        The day prior I had left Jenna with grandma as Pamprin and Francis had wanted to go to an Easter egg hunt at the Avery and we were allowed a two-four hour visitation so thought we’d take advantage.

        The year Jenna turned three, the young men and young woman created an Easter activity for the primary.  I took several pictures of several of the children hitting at the piñata.

        I remember Roland hiding eggs in the backyard one year and sent her out to find them.  That was before we met Isaac and Paula and Biff and Paula would take Jenna with them on Easter and she would be gone all day.  There is at least one time she and Biff spent Saturday night with the family so that she would be there on Easter Sunday.

back yard in Kearns

at "grandpas" in Taylorsville

Taylorsville

         Before Paula came into our lives, I do remember taking Jenna to an Easter egg hunt one year when Pamprin had stayed overnight. There are several places in Salt Lake that offer Easter egg hunts. I don’t know how we ended up at that particular location in West Valley as we were living in Kearns at the time.  Ironically, we were within walking distance of said location after we had moved to West Valley.

        On the Saturday before Easter, the stake in West Valley offered an activity for the primary – well, I guess families, but it felt like it had been geared more toward the primary. 

This is probably from the youth/primary activity mentioned above

I don't recall Biff and Tony going to stake activities in WV

        Jenna didn’t go on an egg hunt the year she turned eleven.  We had come to Oregon to check out the possibilities of moving to this state.  Easter was two days after her birthday.  We drove the coast and took lots of pictures.  It happened to be Easter day, but we didn’t celebrate the holiday on that particular day.

Tillamook Easter 2015

Pacific City Easter 2015

Newport Easter 2015

Dress was waiting for us when we got home.  Grandma Lucy had made it for her

but not quite accurate on measurements.  It was the only time she wore it.

        Last year Easter fell on Corey’s birthday.  We were still living at the rental, and Jenna had asked if we would hide eggs in the backyard, but it had been raining and so we hid the eggs inside.  They were not the dyed hard boiled eggs that my mom and dad had hid years before but rather plastic eggs with treasures inside; I tried “hiding” them in plain sight.     

Treasure Hunt 2017

        When we were living at the rental, our situation here was still new.  Jenna had more enthusiasm there than she has showed since we had moved to our current house.  The holidays are hard – mostly because she has a very bad case of Peter Pan syndrome and hasn’t accepted the fact that she’s growing up.  She’s not a child anymore.  She hasn’t accepted that she may be too old for Easter egg hunts and other treasures.  If we were in Salt Lake, she would be celebrating with either her cousins or her nieces and brothers. 

cracking eggs

        Overall she really does prefer this rural life compared to the crammed city life in Utah, but each holiday has been a bit harder for her than the last.  She misses family members so much – particularly Anna and Gary.

        She’s made friends at school, but children’s plans don’t always jive with parents plans.  She also has friends who have moved.  She might not admit it, but I think for the most part, outside of school and church activity, she is lonely. She had wanted to go to an activity on Saturday night, but Roland didn’t want to take her, and I can’t see to drive at night.

        The weather was nice on Saturday.  It really felt like a great day for holding outdoor activities.  We did get away from the house – but did not engage in any underage activities.  Yesterday was quite overcast.  There was a thunder shower just after 6:00 pm.  The sun made an appearance at 7:00. It was quite different than Saturday had been.

        Here are some more pictures in no order: 

about two

Breakfast on Saturday, Conference weekend, Jenna's birthday

took her Easter egg hunting on this day.  Next Easter 2010

about three

from Kiddie Kandids year she turned two

spending time with grandma

my mom's last Easter on earth

Easter in Woodbridge Virginia

Before Roland and I married.  Boys with their new cousin.

Don't Tony and Ellen look overjoyed?

Feeding the Mormons

posted 12/10/2016

          Our ward did something different for the Christmas celebration this year.  Instead of the traditional dinner that is normally done, we had a Christmas breakfast.  And the Relief Society wasn’t in charge of fixing any of it.  It was catered!

          Last year, we had it in the Skyhawk room in Myrtle Creek – which seems to be a popular spot for annual events – and not just the cafeteria between the elementary and middle schools.  But this we had our breakfast at the Bible Christian Center in Riddle.  The inside of the facility definitely seems a lot bigger than the outside.  I was impressed.

         

          We had the option of scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage patties, muffins, fruit, and in addition to the drink choices of milk, cran-raspberry juice, orange juice or hot cider.  I used a thick raspberry syrup for my pancakes and it was delicious.

          After an hour, the adults sang 7 different Christmas hymns while the primary went into another room to prepare for the program that was to follow.  Ten, including Jenna (who is not really in primary anymore) returned, dressed as angels.  Hayden was the only boy dressed as an angel.  The other two were dressed to represent Nephi and Samuel, the Lamanite.  The other two girls in primary wore their Church clothes and acted as the narrators.

          Jenna and I both sat at chairs that had stickers beneath.  Our sticker entitled us to take home a star to hang on our tree.

Angel robe and halo

star ornament 

Movies Every Third Wednesday

          Brother Ewell provides a service for the community for Senior citizens and the Food Bank. 

          Every third Wednesday at Roseburg Cinema is a free admission to Senior Citizens (or persons over 50) although encouraged to bring a can of food. 

          I've never been to one until this morning.  Usually I forget - or just haven't gone because it's Jenna's early day. 

          Movie is scheduled for Friday afternoon - except for summer.  The show starts at 10:00 a.m.  but we were told to be there at 9:00.

          So apparently the audience members have a half hour to visit with one another before Bill (or Marilyn) gets up to make announcements and introduce someone in the community and give out free prizes to matching ticket numbers given upon entering the theatre lobby. 

          Roland took the time off to go with me.  I don't know if we'll be going again.  I don't think I will this summer anyway.  Maybe after school starts.  We'll see.

          This month's feature was "Me Before You".  I loved the character that Emilia Clarke portrayed.  Lou Clark (the main character) appeared to have come from a poor background, but had a healthy attitude and happy heart.  I liked that she was happy.

          I understood Sam Claflin's character to a degree, but would have liked to see him be more accepting about changing and not be so bitter about losing what he considered his character and identity. 

          Lou's boyfriend seemed far too involved in himself and she just went along with his desires - until after she tried knew things with Will and made discoveries that she may have never have learned otherwise - even though she didn't agree with some of his choices.  I believe it made her grow even more.

          It had a lot of funny moments - I think possibly more than the tear jerking moments.  But there was definitely tear jerking.

          Overall I thought it was a good movie.  I will see it again someday.  I think Roland was quite grateful that we hadn't had to pay for it.  That is how I feel about his movies.  What a waste of time and money on my part.

          I sent him to the theatre with another ward member when he wanted to see "Batman Vs Superman" - or whatever it was.  Neither Jenna nor I were interested, and apparently no one in Ron's family was interested either.

          One Sunday Ron suggested he and Roland get together again - which seemed to upset Jenna.

          "Don't go see 'Finding Dory' without me!"  I started laughing and kidded with her.

          "Yea, right.  Ron came up to dad and said, 'You know, I really enjoy those kid-vids, but I have two that will always talk throughout the entire movie  and ask questions . and then there's the baby who doesn't even pay attention - so why don't you and I go see "Finding Dory" together and see if we can enjoy it without the kids.'"

          Jenna didn't think my mocking her was at all funny.

          If Ron and Roland go to the movies together, I can guarantee that it will be a movie that neither Jenna nor I would like to see.

Assisting and/or Taking Over - Being Involved

            After a successful Relief Society activity that I had inadvertently volunteered to set up, I was called to head the RS activity committee.  What committee???

            I have a few ideas to share, but some require more participation than I have been getting.  Aurelia loves the idea of doing a "Price is Right" activity as we had done in my previous ward.  See here and here hopefully (if there is no screen on the second here, try this one).

            I initially brought it up because Aurelia said that we needed to do an activity on food storage and I thought that was a fun activity - but certainly not one we can pull off with just three participants.  So that will be on hold until September at least.  Meanwhile I gave the suggestion of doing a Patriotic program.

            Several years ago (several) my brother, Corey, was asked to present a program to the RS on patriotic songs.  I don't know if he came up with his own agenda on how to present it, or if it had been suggested to him.  I know that he did his own research.

            It was back in the day before Internet and Google.  Corey used the card catalogue and spent hours upon hours checking out material at the library and recording songs.  With each piece of music he played, he presented a bit of trivia about the song itself. 

Roland wanted to change this to make it
more appealing.  Granted, it's not the
 greatest, but still from his suggestions

            It was a great program and very informative.  I kept the tape that he had put together, but have since then misplaced it.  Unfortunately his notes have been discarded and I have had to come up with my own research - which is not a bad thing. 

            With internet access it should work up faster for me than it did for Corey.  Maybe not.  I am getting input and feedback - but not from the sisters I serve, but rather Roland who is eager to jump in and tackle each project I have created for the benefit of the Relief Society.  He always wants to help with the hand-outs and the activity itself.  Roland's like that.  He wants to be involved. He's assisted in a countless amount of activities on a stake level.

            Last week he was released from his calling as Sunday School teacher and was put in as the assistant to the financial clerk - which only goes to prove that God really does have a sense of humor.  As I have had time to think about it, I truly do believe the calling was inspired and that he will grow from it and perhaps learn how to budget our money and time as well.

            He finally did come up with his own announcement (using the background he had initially suggested)

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

        I have two callings in the ward which I currently attend.  I was pining for a position as an instructor in  Relief Society.  The primary was just a bit quicker about snatching me up for a position.  I had agreed to substitute teach the sunbeams only the week before I was asked to be a teacher for the sunbeam class.

        Emily was not there the first week that I taught, but has been there every week since.  Quite shy at first because she didn't know me.  She was okay if there was another classmate in attendance.  But for the most part it's just been me and Emily.

        She reminds me of my granddaughter, Ester, though I wasn't given the opportunity for spending much time with Ester.  I am reminded of her smile and her great knowledge as I spend time with Emily, who often pretends that she is a horse.

        Before I left Utah, my ward calling was the activities director in Relief Society.  A calling I really wasn't comfortable with as I found it hard to find diverse activities to include all the sisters and felt frustration when the scout leaders or activity leaders did not support the activities in RS because they were serving in their own callings.  I thought that schedules should be alternated one every other month so that they could attend. 

        The last activity that I semi-coordinated, I was unable to attend.  I opted to go to the viewing for my uncle and had told the RS president that I could either help set up or attend the activity.  We opted for my setting up.

        I have asked about the attendance and how  the activity had gone.  I am still waiting for feedback. I don't think it was well attended.  I feel bad as it sounded like it was really fun.  

        I have always enjoyed being on the activities committee.  Just not being head chief.  Right now I am once again serving on the committee and have received a better understanding about why I may have been called to chair up the activities in my last ward.  To utilize the talents I was given in my Utah wards and bring them to Oregon. 

        We have an activity tonight.  I hope we have the same attendance that we had in July.  It was my first activity here and was very well attended.  But the last activity was not.  They don't have to share their building with other wards or be assigned certain days in which all activates fall.  They can spread out all week.  They can leave all of their kitchen utensils in the kitchen and not worry about another ward messing with it.

        In February, we are going to try out the activity that I had advertized for in May and June.  The second counselor in the RS is very excited.  I think it will be a great activity.  I hope that one is well attended. I'm impressed with the sisters who are willing to make the drive.  There is more distance to travel here than back in Salt Lake - where I could literally pass over 30 LDS buildings in the time it takes most of the members just to get to one.

        I like it here.  I am happy in Oregon.  I am happy at our Church.  I am happy to be part of a ward family.  I am happy to breathe clean air.