Fave Foto Friday--Las Vegas Style

This is what Jespy and Lulu will see this weekend. Word of warning--if you sit in the first few rows--bring protection. That's all I'm saying. I'd see this show again, and again. Have a great time and think of Gramma Decker while there. This blew her mind and she laughed out loud the entire time. We also took her to "O"--Cirque d Soleil--the water show and she clapped and screamed like a kid.

February 2008

Don't Miss the revisions to the blog below.

The Rickster taking the fast way down.--and my take on AI

Kevin's youngest--Ricky--will be two years old on March 8th. We don't really want him to grow up but he has other ideas. Case in point. . . . . . .the following video.


P.S. (10:30 PST) I have just finished watching American Idol via DVR. Watched a 2 hour show in 1 hour!!! Hurray for DVR. I took notes and am fully prepared to discuss, give opinions, nick names, the whole deal. I am not doing it tonight out of respect for those of you who haven't watched it yet. Get to it--tomorrow morning my review will be posted. Normally I am not even interested until we get to the final 12 but after listening to Lululandeelu's podcast last Friday---I'm all over it.

OK people--this is how I see it. Just my opinion. Let's hear what you think.

1. Jasmine/mediocre girl. Nickname—Jasmine shmasmine. Forgettable vote NO
2. Matt –dueling piano guy sang Viva la Vita—performance was OK but not outstanding. Still—I like him. Vote YES
3. Jeanine—bar tender girl/I must be sexy. Very flat vocals Vote NO
4. Nick Mitchell/Norman gentle. Holly Cowabunga. Who the heck is this guy? The judges nailed it. Jerry Lewis Vote NO
5. Allison Irahetta—let’s call her RED. A screamer to be sure. Did OK. Kindof liked her. Vote YES
6. Kris Allen—guitar guy. Sang Man in the Mirror. Undecided on this one.
7. Megan Joy Corkrey I liked her a lot but my retinas were burning from looking at the tattoo. And what the heck was she doing with her arms. Still—Vote YES
8. Matt Breitzhie—welder guy. Nice guy. Boring song. Not impressed Vote NO
9. Jessie Langseth—single mom Fergie wannabe. Sang Better Davis Eyes and did a good job. I liked her. Vote YES
10. Kai Kalama. Me not impressed. Vote NO
11. Mishavonna-madonna-come-onna. Sang Drops of Jupiter. Liked her. Vote YES
12. Adam Lambert—Broadway bound guy. Is he a rocker? Is he a show tune kinda guy? He belted it out pretty good. Liked his voice. His sweetie pie-ness was apparent—you know what I mean. Judges compared him to EDWARD? Undecided.

Valentine's Weekend with Gramma and Papa

Valentine's Day/week is a great holiday for many reasons. It's not complicated, sweets are the main attraction and showing love to each other is fun. We started with Charlie and Liesl on Friday "baking day". I'm not sure why Charlie felt the flashlight was important during this activity--but whatever.

They were very proud of the finished product. Siblings have school parties, preschoolers get to bake with Gramma.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Nick, Bella and Tasha came for a short visit and boy did we have fun. We started with the girls favorite breakfast--bacon, eggs and puff pancakes.

Then all the local cousins arrived for a home made playdough party. Recipe to follow--it's a classic.

Next it was Rusty's Pizza for lunch.

Then to "The Wild Side" for an afternoon of bouncy house fun. The kids had a great time and played hard for a couple of hours. Bella taking a break with her dad.

Last stop--Memzy's for ice cream. It doesn't get much better than that.

Home made Playdough:
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
1 TBl oil
bring to a boil and boil for 2 min.
take off heat and add 2 tsp cream of tartar and food coloring. Mix well
Add 1 cup flour. Stir with wooden spoon. Dump out on to counter/bread board. It will look terrible but as you knead the dough it becomes shiny and smooth.

FAVE FOTO FRIDAY

Clara loves Papa--and he loves her.
Gramma--I just want to play with my toys. I don't have time to smile for the camera. Sheeez.

Valentine's Day came early at our house

I looked out the window this morning and thought, "What the heck is all over our front porch"? I opened the door and this is what I find. . . . . . .

Our wonderful, sweet, funny, kind, generous young women left us a heart attack last night complete with brownies!!!!

Can you guess what we had for breakfast? Yup. Thanks so much to our ward young women for their thoughtfulness. You guys are AWESOME!!!

Hurray for Gramma Decker--We love you!!!!!

So here's why Cris and I went to Rexburg last week:
1) We wanted to see Gramma Decker with our own eyes and make sure she was OK.
2) We wanted to help Patty and Howard in some way.

Get your scrolling finger ready and enjoy the ride. . . . . . . . .

Gramma Decker is feeling much better and getting stronger every day. She took a really big hit with her surgery/illness and for the first time--didn't land on her feet very fast. She was on antibiotics and compazine (for nausea) for over 3 weeks. Come on--that's just torture!! It took all the life out of her and she was basically a small, cute, zombie trying to hold on. She still managed to talk on her cell phone--she wasn't complete dead. Once she finished the meds, she began to perk up a bit. She is still very weak and eats like a bird, but every couple of hours she gets up and does the loop around the house with her walker.
Jack and Janice decided to come from Boise to Rexburg and visit Gramma and us on their way to SLC. It was really good to see them.

Can I tell you how cold it was in Rexburg? Yah--that's how cold it was.

This is our rental car in the driveway. Yes, folks, that's how much snow is in their front yard.

My sister, Patty, is in charge of the costume shop at BYU-Idaho and it's a really sweet set-up. She designs, runs a crew of seamstresses and manages hundreds of costumes. It's a state of the art facility. This is her office.

This is just ONE of the isles of costumes. Each section holds period costumes, etc. and can be moved back and forth etc. via a button. Hard to explain but really cool.

The new Rexburg Temple at night. Really beautiful.

OK--don't' be scared--this is a picture of my mom's perforated ulcer at the beginning of the small intestine. Left picture, red spot. Cool isn't it.

Don't' be grossed out. These are about 1/4 of the gall stones found in her gall bladder. Not the source of her problems but they took them out anyway. I put my hand there for scale. Patty thought we should make her a bracelet out of those rocks. Not a good idea.

To summarize; We had a great time. We're really glad we made the trip. Traveling can be challenging with our circumstances but we did well. The worst part was the drive home from LAX last night. Took 4 hours instead of the usual 1 hr 45 min. Pouring rain, stop and go traffic most of the way. Nightmare.

Again, we are so very grateful to Patty and Howard for their loving care for Gramma Decker. Howard gets up a couple of times each night to check on her and take care of her needs. Not many son-in-laws would do that. Patty makes her life happy and comfortable. We never know how much time we will have with our loved ones and must count each day as a blessing.

I love you Mom.

Greetings from Rexburg, Idaho

That's right people. Cris and I are in Rexburg visiting my sick mommy. If you remember long ago posts--she's the 86 year old with the hot legs and cheerful personality. This will be a short post as I'm a little busy taking care of her and Cris and freezing my tush off here in winter wonderland. When I get home I'll post pictures so you'll believe me when I say--it's cold up here.

My mom had surgery a month ago and it really hit her hard. She seems to be recovering but it's very slow. I had to come see her and make sure she was OK cuz I love her. Cris came too because he also loves her--and because can't live without me--pun intended. Traveling with a wheelchair person has it's perks people. You get to pre-board, pick your seat, people open doors for you, help you--stuff like that. Every thing has gone well.

Sorry I missed Jespy--but there will be other trips--not to worry. Maybe Memzy could post the picture I sent from my Iphone of the rental car and snow in the driveway? Hmmm? I couldn't seem to make it happen as my tech support is too far away.

I HAVE been reading all posts from my Iphone and have enjoyed staying in the loop. Admit it-we're all addicted to blogging.
Over and out.