Cat Walk

A little back story........we have this cat named Nemo. Nemo used to live at the ranch and the students would take him into their cabins and feed him and sleep with him. They were told that if they didn't stop that the kitty would be destroyed. So a few girls brought him to my class and asked me to take him home. Well being the softee that I am I decided I would take him home to live with our other "mouser" cats. The students named him Nemo, because they said he Ne Mo food. So that is how we ended up with Nemo kitty. Boney Chick calls him her "feel better kitty" because I brought him home when she was recovering from her accident.

Back to the original story. Boney Chick, The Caboose and I decided to go for a walk the other night, we each took a dog. We started out and after we had gotten about a block away we noticed Nemo was following us. We walked quite aways, around the block and up the canyon for aways and each time we looked back, there was Nemo following about 3 yards behind. He went on the entire walk with us. He is such a funny kitty!!!

HaPpY BIrTHDaY JoHN WaYNe!!

I have the greatest husband! Today is his 52nd birthday. He is the best. He is a great dad. He is such a hard worker and has always taken such good care of us. He is always helping other people, and taking care of others. He loves his children so much, and would do anything for them. He is my best friend.
Happy Birthday!!

Moab Vaca and a Plethora of Pics

Our trip to Moab started out on Thursday night after everyone got off work. We packed the cars and I mean packed the Cars! They were loaded. Sara, the Sorento was packed to the brim. We were hoping to arrive before dark so we could set up camp while it was light, but as usual we were running on Robinson Stardard Time, and we arrived after dark. We had to be quiet, because we arrived at "Up The Creek Campground", I guess we were up a creek, but I never saw one, and it was actually a campground that someone had set up in their backyard, it was nice with the trees and all, but we were only on street off of Main street, kind of wierd camping right in town, but hey, it was cheap, and that was the name of the game! Here is a pic of our campsite. We set up quickly and went right to bed, because the next day was our river rafting trip down the Colorado river. Now it has to be said that this was all my idea. Two years ago when I was in the Young Womens Presidency we took the Young Women on this same trip and at the time I kept thinking that I wanted my family to experience all the fun and adventure we had. Not to mention, I was feeling like we needed to do some things that would take us out of our comfort zone. Well, I must admit that I was quite nervous, I didn't really tell the fam this, but I started having MAJOR second thoughts about the whole river rafting business.

Friday morning we woke up and had a quick muffin breakfast and dressed in our river rafting finest. We headed out to the pick up point to sign in and meet our guides. I headed into the office to sign up and was greeted by some veeeeery interesting characters. By then my nerves were SHOT! I was introduced to our guides, Justin, who had long dreads, and Colin, who had bed head and smelled like he was picketing the deoderant companies.

We all piled into a little van along with 4 other people, a couple from England and 2 other men. I thought that when we booked a trip we would have it to ourselves, but that wasn't the case.

The drive to the put in spot was about 30 miles, and Colin decided it would be fun to tell off-color jokes on the way up, my family was giving me the "what did you get us into eye" and I was thinking the same thing, but the money was spent and we were on our way. We arrived at the put in spot and we put our life jackets on and watched as the guys put the rafts in the water. We all climbed aboard and the journey was on. It turned out to be a lot of fun, Justin amazingly knew a lot about geology, and botany and the river and he was quite entertaining. We didn't get to get in the water much, because it was too cold, which was a big disappointment, but it was still fun, we got to go through rapids that tickled our tummies and float lazily in other spots. At lunchtime we stopped at a beach and our "lovely" guides made us sandwiches, The Caboose caught a frog and a couple of lizards that we played with. One of the lizards sat on Jane Fonda Chicks shoulder for quite awhile. It was cute. We returned to the rafts to finish the rest of our journey. One of the rapids we went through had rocks that they called the "fangs" two pointed rocks that were quite close together and poked out of the water. Justin told us he was going to take us between the fangs. It was scary looking, but we made it. I wish we could have had pictures of the rafting trip but we were afraid to take our cameras. I want to go again, but when it's warmer so we can swim, and probably with a different company, but all in all, it was really fun!!

That night we went to a Mexican restaurant, it was pretty good and the service was great! We were sooo sunburned!

After eating we went downtown and walked around the shops, then we went back to camp to go to bed, we were exhausted. Mine and John Waynes inflatable mattress kept deflating, and we would end up on the hard ground and it was really uncomfortable, so we would get up and re inflate. Saturday we got up and showered and got ready, the girls got a education and Europeans and how they are not so modest, they came back to camp telling me that there were naked women in the bathroom and "they didn't even wrap a towel around themselves" It was to funny. We spent the day at Arches National Park exploring the arches and hiking up to them, and trying to be creative photographers! The arches were so beautiful and amazing.

That night we went to a museum about all the movies that have been filmed in Moab, it was pretty neat. It was at a ranch that was beautiful, but very expensive to stay at. There was a wedding going on upstairs from the museum in the ballroom, and the band was playing Micheal Jackson, ok, who plays Micheal Jackson at their wedding????

Sunday we got up and went to the Szcewan restaurant for a buffet breakfast, it was sooo yummy! Then we headed off to CanyonLands National Park. It is different from Arches because you are high up and you look down on the formations, and I mean Down, so obviously I stayed back a ways and gasped every time the kids got close to the edge. It was beautiful, but terrifying!

That evening on the way home we stopped at Goblin Valley, this had to be the highlight of the trip, the kids explored the Goblins and then we played hide and seek tag among them, it was so much fun.

We got home tired and late, but it was a great trip!!

A twelve year old and cake mix

The weekend was fairly uneventful. Saturday I went to the Taste of Home Cooking and Trade show with a friend. We enjoyed the day, but we were disappointed with the trade show, not very many vendors. But we did get to do the girly thing and have our toes done by one of the vendors, it's an interesting experience, getting gel toes in a big event center with people walking all around.
I turned in my cookies for the contest, there were quite a few entries, I think about 80, so I wasn't expecting to win or anything. They announced the winner during the Cooking School. Not only didn't I win, but I lost to a 12 year old who made Oreo cookies with a cake mix!! Ugggh, I have that recipe! I was under the impression that you had to make up your own recipe. Now I don't mind losing mind you, but a 12 year old with a cake mix????? Crazy! Anyhow I hope she enjoys her trip for two to the Grand Canyon! :)
We leave in 2 days for our Moab river trip, it should be fun! I just hope the weather is nice and no storms.....I'm not sure what they do if it storms. We've decided to just buy our groceries and food in Moab at the grocery store, I think it will be handier and easier than trying to haul food and keep it cold. We are staying in tents, so thank goodness for my blow up mattress!
The weather is definately starting to change, it's much cooler in the mornings and the sun is different, fall is pretty much here, I'm going to miss summer!

I'd rather have a root canal than deal with you kids!

Sarah Palin Quote of the week:
"You know the difference between a Hockey Mom and a Pit Bull? ......................................................................Lipstick!!"

So, yesterday I had to have a root canal. Ugh!! I stayed at work through 5th period, and left, but the students were driving me crazy!! Whiney, Whiney Wednesday!
One of my friends went down with me and sat for 2 hours while I was being tortured. As I sat in the chair, pretty much upside down, with the whirl of the drill and a STUPID rubber dam in my mouth, I got to thinking: I dont really even know what a root canal is. It sure feels like quite a process and what is the grinding? Ewww and that burning hair smell? Why does he push so hard like he's shoving something up into my jaw? How can I swallow all the spit that has accumulated in my throat? I feel like I'm drowning! Why didn't I look up root canals on the internet before I came? Maybe I don't want to know what he is really doing? Do they teach Dentists in Dental school to ask you so many questions while you have a rubber dam, drill, and 2 sets of hands in your mouth? , Do they really want to know the answers? Do they really think you can answer the questions? I wonder if he checks his nose before each appointment to make sure there are no "bats in the cave"?
They decided to let me watch a movie, maybe he could see the wheels turning? I picked The Bourne Identity, since it was the only movie on the list I haven't seen. They put these big glasses (kind of like the Blind guy on Star Trek, I forget his name) on me and start the movie, it's pretty good and does take my mind off of a little of what is going on in my mouth. I didn't get to see the last about 15 min of the movie, so I guess I will have to watch it to find out what happens.
Todays homework: Look up Root canals on the internet!

Tuesday night I made up a few batches of Elderberry cookies, and I think I've decided on the recipe I will use for the contest. I took pics of the Elderberries, but the cookies got eaten too fast for me to get my camera out, so when I make the batch for the contest I will take pictures and post them.

Elderberry Mania

I've decided that 3 day weekends are perfect!! It seems I can get so much more done, and still have fun! Too bad that I cant have them every week.

We ended up not camping this weekend, we were busy and it was chilly. Saturday I was able to get alot of cleaning and organizing done, it felt really good to do that. I got both freezers organized, which was really needed, and now I can see what I have. It felt like a really productive day.

Sunday at church a couple in our ward gave talks. I loved the one talk that the woman gave, it was on being kind and not judging. She used examples of looking at things from different perspectives. The first one was a situation where a woman ended up having to go somewhere late at night, as she was driving down the road, she saw some teenagers walking and laughing etc, she thought in her head "I can't believe that parents aren't taking more reponsibility for their children, and they are running the streets at night", the next situation was Teenagers in the ward had been up late studying scriptures for something (I can't remember what) and when it was time to go home, the boys decided they better walk the girls home because it was late, on the way they were laughing and talking and a lady in a vehicle came barreling past and they thought "wow! we'd better stay off the sidewalk"......There were more situations and they were so good to think about things from different perspectives. It reminds me of the time when The Jane Fonda Chick and Westing House were little, and they were in elementary school. I used to iron Westing house's jeans and put creases down the front (back when I was a uptight stay at home mom). Westing House's teacher said to The Jane Fonda Chick one day "who puts the creases in your brothers pants"....well when Jane Fonda got home, the story that she told me was that Westing House's teacher said that Westing House's pants were wrinkled. Imagine my dismay, after all the time I spent ironing!! I was so upset! It just shows that your perspective can change the way you feel about someone.

After church John Wayne and I went on an elderberry expidition, we hit the jackpot!! We found so many bushes full of berries! We filled bags and bags, and then had to figure out how to fit them on the 4-wheeler!! Well my lap and arms were full!! And now, I have to clean them.....what was I thinking!!!! So my fingers are permastained!! Well I need to find alot more Elderberry recipes!!

Yesterday, John Wayne and I went and cut a load of wood. It was fun? (well it was hard work) We got a pretty good load. I'm a whimp and have to load the small stuff, but it was nice to use the new truck and it worked really well. I'm a little sore today, but not too bad. I need to go out with him more often, it is a good workout.

I made a cassarole called "Red Neck Cassarole" LOL.this weekend and it turned out really good! Wylee even liked it so....ding, ding, ding, It's a winner! And it's fast and easy Yay for me.

It is Pork and Beans on the bottom, cut up hotdogs next, and then Tator Tots...followed by grated cheese, easy and yummy!

Tonight it's Elderberry cooking, and cleaning, it is going to take me days to stem and clean them!!!

My Stepbud sent some pictures of The Caboose riding a GoKart while we were visiting them in Washington. We went to Derek's brothers house for a barbecue and there is a big backyard/field where they ride the GoKart, The Caboose had a ball. I wish I could figure out how to get the pictures somewhere besides the top of the post!!