Happy Birthday Rudy

Happy 61st birthday to Rudy aka George aka Albert. We are celebrating at our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Kuna. His "sister" Karen will be joining us. Actually it was her idea, she said that we needed to make a big deal about his birthday because we always make a big deal about our own. She is too funny but she is right also. So expect a picture with a big sombreo soon.


Sometimes it takes big things to realize the little things although I try to stay in the moment of things. But the more I reflect on what happened this week the more gratitude I feel. This is the story about one of Rudy's customer's whose name is Harley. Harley is probably in his 80's and has been a customer for some time now. Harley had purchased an old riding lawn mower from his son, more to help his son out who was in need of money than Harley needed another mower to add to his collection. The mower wouldn't start so Harley brought it to Rudy for a tune up. The mower was repaired and Harley came for it on Monday while Rudy was gone working at his day job. Harley got on the mower and it started right up but it would not go into gear. There was a special lever that had to be pulled out from the back of the mower and it would not come. We decided it would be better to wait for Rudy and so Harley would return at 6 p.m. Shortly after six o'clock, Rudy was home, Harley came to the door and said that he had done something foolish. I thought he was just kidding at first but realized that he was shaken and upset as he continued to tell me that he had tried to load the mower into the back of his full-size pickup truck by himself. He had put his four foot ramps onto the tailgate of his truck and started up the ramps when he was about to crest the tailgate the mower lost speed and balance and Harley fell off the back of the mower. He said he saw the mower above him, said a quick prayer and pushed his feet up in the air to keep the mower from coming down on him. He thinks he then rolled out of the way. Both of his arms were bleeding in about the same spot a couple of inches above his elbows and his left arm had a cut just below the elbow. We cleaned up the blood and bandaged him and made sure he was okay then we went out to see the mower. The two ramps were on the ground and the mower was on top of them. How Harley was not hurt more than a few scraps and bruises I do not know. The fact that he was kept from harm by unseen angels I do not doubt. I saw him in the store today and he said that he was so grateful for our help and told me what a wonderful husband I have. Harley said that he is usually smiling but since last Monday he has had an extra big smile on his face because he really thought "his time" had come.
I am so very grateful that Harley was protected and I am so very grateful to know that it was not luck but the grace of God.

Socks and Jam

There were socks to be made and jam to be cooked!

What a weekend!

First of all it was General Conference which we were looking forward to with great anticipation. And Aunt Cathy and Aunt Caren came for a four day visit. They arrived Friday with boxes of fruit they had picked up at the Yakima fruit stand on there way here. So it became necessary to make jam, ginger peach and pear butter in fact. YUM!

Aunt Caren was teaching Aunt Cathy how to knit socks. It was heard several times, oh no she left the room... now what do I do? :) She got one sock completed and the other one started. Good job!

At the opening of the 177th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the calling of Henry B. Eyring to serve as second counselor in the First Presidency and Quentin L. Cook to serve as an Apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. What a special day to be able to witness these changes!

It has been a busy week since my birthday. It seems like all of a sudden my schedule has gotten really busy. I tend little Blake on Mondays and Fridays for Karl and Tausha almost every week. Tuesday and Wednesday I am either quilting here or somewhere else and I have Cub Scouts Tuesday afternoons. Thursdays are spent in the temple now every week. My shift is from 5:20 a.m. until 10:20 a.m. Then I run errands in Boise if necessary and then home for a much needed nap. So my week goes by fast. I am really enjoying all that I am doing!

Yesterday I was at the quilt shop where I rent the use of their Gammil long arm quilting machine. I was learning a new technique following a printed pattern. Not to sure I like that technique yet. But I am determined to learn all there is to know about machine quilting.

One of the things that Cathy wanted to do, while here on the Island of Kuna, was go to the wool mill in Meridian that Aunt Caren raves about. It was already closed when they arrived on Friday so we went Monday morning when the store opened at 10 a.m. before they left for home again. Aunt Cathy is also collecting Polish Pottery now and so we went shopping Saturday afternoon for some at a cooking supply store in Boise. And oh yes, we went to Tuesday Morning also, of course!

Today I have more jam to make. So good! And I need to bind the quilt from yesterday.

Sorry I didn't get some pictures of our weekend activities. But I do have new pictures of Malia and Mason and Jamie. Too cute!

Birthday Wishes

Today was my birthday (#36 + 20) and it was a wonderful day! I was blessed to speak to almost my entire family today. Thank you all who called! It means so much to me!!!

I spent the majority of the day tending little Blake. He will be 4 months old on the 4th of this month. He is still pretty young and doesn't do much. He is very allert and wants to see everything but he is pretty quiet. Sometimes I get a smile from him but not all the time. So today was really something when Papa (Rudy) brought a happy birthday mylar balloon home for me. Rudy and Blake started to play with it and Blake could not stop giggling. Fortunately his mother, Tausha, was here and so she heard it too. It was soooo funny to listen to him get such a kick out of the balloon flying away from him and then Papa would bring it back down. The joy went on for a good 5 minutes. Tausha was laughing too and said that she had never heard him giggle so. Even great aunt Carolyn heard him laughing too because I was on the phone with her while all the comotion was going on in the background. I grabbed the camera when I got off the phone. Hoping that Blake would giggle again when his dad was home later I sent the balloon home with him and his mom.

What a fun day!!! I love you all so very much!!!