Personality on Hold

          I have posted only two of six thoughts on the personality quiz that I took.  Thus I have four to go but will wait before posting the next as today is Jai’s birthday.  We had her spring break.  It was good to have her home.  We played a few games with one another.  Sadly not with the entire family as our house is in disarray and has been for the entire year due to water damage and contractor delays (which really is another post within itself) and thus lack of room. 

Jaime had actually had to resort to sleeping in a bed rather than on the floor which she seems to prefer. No floor space in the room that started out as the office but houses Ally’s possessions.  Jaime will need her own room come summer and it doesn’t appear that the others will be leaving anytime soon.

Jaime spent her last weekend with some friends at a lake house near Reedsport.  She did not return until after three.  Richard and I loaded her up and drove her back to Ashland.  It started snowing before we returned to Myrtle Creek.  Hit a few pockets of snow and slowed traffic on our return in the dark.  I would have suggested to just stop off somewhere for the night but I have a doctor’s appointment in half an hour.

I know at least four people who have birthday's today.  I only went to Jaime's wall for a personal greeting and posted a gif for all four on my wall tagging each of them.  First day of no mask wearing in the Oregon health care (at least for now) 

240 hours

Ten days have pass

since I have last written

lots of driving 

in the car

a lot of miles

a lot of time.

Spring Break

in the car

10 days to

visit three sons

and three sibs

in the car

Lots of driving

We'd gone north 

to drop off Bonnie 

and then the high school

for parent teacher conference 

and then our way 

out of town

First to Layton

to see Biff and

his wife and

daughter

We ask Tony to

bring his family

as well

 

They drive up from

Salt Lake and we

eat breakfast

11 in all

 

And then we go to Rush –

a family fun center with

overpowering loud music and

neon lights 

bowling, bouncy houses,

lazer tag, arcades, rides,

did I mention LOUD

 

I think it is called RUSH because

you are getting the same kind of rush

that you might get from drugs – or

so I assume. 

I have never done drugs. 

No desire.

I was already disoriented from

being in the car. 

I don’t need further add to the cause

 

Did we have dinner?

Or did we part after Rush? 

I can’t remember. 

I didn’t write it down. 

 

More driving.  Pizza. 

Back to hotel for playing games.

I think that was my favorite day.

Taking over the lobby.

Surprise visit from Aunt Julie.

Monday’s drive to Salt Lake

Trolley Square

Valley Fair Mall

Roland likes to shop

Jai and I would have

liked to ride the train

however we did not.

 

We did reminisce at

West Valley Library

before we got back

into the car and drove to

Su Casa.

My sibs had already

reserved a table.

 

I don’t remember Patrick

having been so tall. 

He’s always been tall,

but not that tall. 

Maybe I shrunk.

 

Jenna is freaking that

Kayla’s kids have grown and

are getting taller still. 

She asked them lots of    

questions as Roland and I

continued to visit with

Patrick, Sunny and Kayla. 

 

When Bill arrived I asked

Roland to trade places

with me so I could more

easily visit with my sibs

while he visited with Bill  - 

who separated his boys.

 

That was our entire

activity in Salt Lake before

we went back to the car  

to spend more time

on the road driving

to St. George.

 

We stayed with Randy and

his family for four nights  

On Tuesday Randy took us

to Pioneer Park. 

We climbed rocks. 

It wore me out.

We then went to

Brigham Young’s Winter home.

 

Randy drove us in the

company truck. 

Roland fixed breakfast three

mornings we were there.

We spent a lot of

time in the car or

the truck on the roads to

go out to eat or

shop or explore

It was dry.  Not hot

but dry

 

Jenna had a nose bleed

I don’t know how I lucked out

The air was not very nice

to either one of us.

Jenna and I had cold

cereal on Friday and

Randy and Roland had

hot cereal. 

We left shortly after that.

 

Next on the agenda

was Las Vegas. 

Normal drive is 1.5 – 2 hours

but longer during construction. 

It took us 3.5 hours!

 

We arrived at Corey and

Joh’s who said

we could spend the night.

After we brought everything in

we went back to the car and

drove on the strip to find and

to explore Coca-Cola and

M&M world

 

We drove some more

as we had tickets to

the Omega Mart

Las Vegas is NOT

a fun place to drive

Omega Mart was trippy

 

Drove back to Corey and Joh’s

Jenna stayed up and

talked with Joh while

Roland and I went to bed.

Corey and Joh wished to

sleep in the following day

Roland, Jenna and I

played a few rounds of spades

before we called them

on the phone as we

(well, mostly Roland)

wanted to load up

the car so that we

could be ready to go

after taking them to IHOP

Our final visit

 

 

More drive

We hit every tiny

town in Nevada on

the way home 

in the car mostly

for nearly 2020 miles

2020?

That sounds familiar,

Doesn’t it?

Four Hours With Sick Car: NOT The Greatest Souvenir

            Bill and Kayla had planned on spending spring break with Bill's parents who live in St. George.  Their house gets quite packed with visitors when the entire family comes to visit.  They have five children and I think at least 5X that amount in grandchildren.  Bill had planned on getting the family a trailer tent to add to their comfort of an overly squished house.  But, evidently, Bill's parents either forgot or found another opportunity and booked for a cruise - that same weekend!

          I don't know how long before spring break Kayla had contacted me to see if they could make their spring break getaway with us in Oregon.  What a fantastic birthday gift for Jenna!  I decided to keep it a secret - knowing they would have to leave before her actual birthday but would be spending time with us close enough (Jenna turns 14 today; the family had to leave yesterday)

          Before they come, I have always suggested site-seeing options and cost and so forth.  This time I mentioned the Wild Life Safari - about a ten-minute drive and Enchanted Forest which we had never been to ourselves but had seen signs during our travels.  About two and a half hours north of us.  Didn't think they'd be interested in more driving, but thought it might be fun.

          They did not wish to drive the distance - which turned out to be a huge blessing for all of us.  I don't know if Bill took a picture of their back window after it had blown out - not even the entire window - just a large hole giving the appearance that it had been broken into - which hadn't been the case.  None in the car understood what had happened, but the glass had shattered as they were driving less than ten-miles an hour.

This, of course, is only a rough crop combining to demonstrate

          There hadn't been room for all eight of us in the van, and so Roland and Kayla and I were in our car; all five of our children (Bill is included in that number. He is the only one of the five who can legally drive) were in the van.  I decided I should go to Roseburg with Bill and sent Jenna and Kayla's oldest two with Roland and Kayla and I went with Bill to Roseburg to see if we could get the glass repaired, but there was not the right size in stock and so an appointment had to be made for Monday morning.

          Yesterday was their last day, and I gave Jenna the option of staying home, but she did not wish to break her record of perfect attendance, plus I think she was getting frustrated with some of the behavior that the children had displayed over the last four days.  Maybe not . . . Roland had said she had wanted to participate in more sophisticated activities that had been above their social levels.

          So Jenna returned to school and Roland returned to work.  Jenna talked Bill into taking her to school and he learned his car battery had died.  Because the back window covered only by cardboard boxes flattened out registered the van door was open, the overhead light had remained on until the battery needed to be recharged.  By then Jenna had missed the bus and so Bill borrowed our car to take her and then got lost on his return.

          As Jenna was at school, I decided that we would have enough room in our car for 5 people and so  I had planned on keeping the level of noise down by taking Kayla and children to the park and library for story time and then another park for a picnic.  Bill would be spending his day at the auto glass and then the mechanics.  But he truly does have the most positive attitude when things go awry.  He took his cell phone to keep himself entertained and seemed to be okay with it.

          Kayla was cold.  It appeared to me that Anna felt cold also - though the playground was definitely more inviting and therefore more important than staying warm.  I took the three-year-old to the library where he not only put together a few puzzles but talked about each piece as he put it in.  I think he's really an old man in a little person's body.  Gosh, he is smart!

          After story time we left Myrtle Creek and I took them to the park in Riddle - which they really seemed to enjoy, but poor Kayla was still freezing and actually I was too.  We were out a shorter time than I had anticipated, but fortunately for Roland, he had done the majority of what work was required of him, but still had hours left on the clock.

          Bill had returned from the glass repair and visited with Roland a bit before going to our mechanic's to get a service - only temporary at that.  Once again, parts would have to be special ordered and would not arrive until this Thursday but the kids return to school on Wednesday.  So they are now driving on a temporary repair job.  They made it to Burns, Oregon last night but still have the longest leg of their trip ahead of them still.  I pray they arrive in Utah safe and sound and that their car's problems have been left behind in Oregon.

Just a Few Thoughts to tie Us Over until my Next Post

          There is no topic for

discussion this week. 

No assignment to turn in.  It is

the final week and all I

have to do is one assessment. 

Worked out great as Jenna

is off school this week for

spring break.  Her spring break is

twice as long as

any of her friends in Utah.

Yesterday, Jenna helped set

up for my primary class. 

Roland came in and insisted

the temperature felt nice.  Nice? 

It was too warm.  I could not

open the window and so

covered the vent with

hymn books (as they were

 all I could find) Later the

primary president

nearly praised me for

my clever act.

I went to the instructors'

class.  I don't remember ever

having laughed so much in

that class before.  It felt

nice to share that laughter with

those others who attended.

I haven't been sleeping well.  I

look like a football player with

dark marks under my eyes - though

they're not really that dark.  I guess

I look more like a ghoul. 

Roland still has his

stupid cough.  Be Gone Already!

I may take the assessment either

Wednesday or Thursday.  I

probably ought to study for

it, but first I am going to return

to my bed and take a nap.

Later.

The Highway to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions

     There are some months when I seem to be full of ideas and others when my mind is a blank - or I'm just not motivated.  My blog posts become feast or famine (at least in my mind) but unfortunately some of my ideas don't get written out - or they just don't seem so important once I see them on screen.  Or else I just haven't come up with the right words STILL

            I often experience times of frustration - like when I hit a key that somehow changes the placement - and I feel helpless at not being able to change it back. On January 21, I posted an entry called "Judge not " I don't know what buttons I pushed to bring it to March 13 - but there you have it . . . again.  And yet, maybe somebody needed that post to land at the top because perhaps there is some hidden message that might speak to them that maybe they wouldn't have waded through otherwise.  I'm rationalizing . . .

         We came out to Oregon on spring break last year.  I thought we would take this year's spring break to return to Utah for a visit.  But our finances upset that plan.
          We should be in Utah right now.  The plan was to leave Oregon yesterday and arrive in Utah today.   Roland never did ask for the time off.  On the bright side, we won't be spending Easter traveling in the car (we wouldn't have been able to spend it in Utah)

          I had chosen March 19 to March 28  as Jenna is off from school.  Instead of spending time with family members,  Jenna and I will be packing boxes in hopes that we will seriously be closing on our house this week (or maybe right after she returns to school)  Roland  wants to be ready to go the day that we close.  I think we can take our time,   however.  We have yet to give our thirty day notice to those that we rent from.

        Not looking forward to moving again.  But I am looking forward to taking a bath (the house we are in does not have a tub) and a few other perks that we may have.  Mostly hoping that we can see a lower cost in living.  Then perhaps we can save up some money and return to Utah for a visit.