Busy, busy, busy and an explanation.

Crazy-busy weekend.  Friday night was our usual card game/night out with our friends.  Except that usually the women win and this time the guys kicked our butts.  But, we gotta let them win sometime or they wouldn't play with us, right?  There's always next week.  Or maybe tonite, actually.

Saturday morning Sam and Meg worked at our Helping Hands project, painting and sort of renovating a Southern Baptist church in Seaside.  I wasn't really up to it yet, but I went to see what was going on.  We know these guys from when we did a joint gospel choir with them.  That was a blast, although a totally different way for us to learn music.  When our highcouncilman, Doug, called to ask for names of people to sing in that choir, he said that we needed people who are cool, who won't try to proselytize, and if they could sing, it would be nice.  It was for a Monterey Bay area gospel music festival that ultimately got cancelled, but it was a great experience and we really had a good time.  Apparently Doug is buddies with the pastor there, so when they were looking for a helping hands project, he asked the pastor if there was anything they could use help with.  I think they were expecting a couple of dozen people, but this was a Stake (a group of congregations, for those of you not familiar with LDS lingo) project.  We had probably 150 people show up.  The Baptists had offered to feed us, but Doug was pretty sure they had no idea what was coming, so he showed up with a boatload of meat for the BBQ they were doing.  They painted inside and out, moved all the pews to clean and oil them while they cleaned the carpet underneath, fixed the steeple, put in some handrails, fixed a broken sliding door, washed all the windows, detailed the chapel, swept and repainted the parking lot and I don't even know what all else. Sam took a ton of pictures, but who knows when I'll see them.

This video was released today, for Calfornia Helping Hands.  This was filmed in San Jose where we used to live and several of our Alum Rock friends are in it.  They asked for people from down here, but I was still recuperating from surgery, so we didn't get to go.

On the way home from Helping Hands, we drove through Pacific Grove because I heard the ice plant on the coast had bloomed.  It was spectacular.  This is just an iphone pic, Sams will be better, I'm sure.

Last night, a photographer friend called and needed help doing portraits for a black-tie Navy Ball at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.  That place is amazing.  It was originally a really posh hotel, built in the 30's I think.  It's really beautiful.  It was interesting to see how the photographer was set up for that....something we've comtemplated...and see what we would do differently and what we thought worked well.  She has some nice equipment, but Sam's camera is one step up from her Canon and he spent a good amount of time trying to sell her his so that he can buy the new one that's out.  It's $3600, which we don't have, and I told him to figure out where it's coming from and he can order it.  The event itself was lovely, everyone all dressed to the nines.  Although there were a few women that we wondered if they'd actually looked in the mirror before they left home.  The dance play list was cracking me up, though, I'm sure all of those songs were out when I was in high school!

A few years ago, our good friends, the Filceks, had to stay with us while Dan transitioned from Air Force to a civilian employee of the Defense Language Institute.  Lysa and I did a great job of tag-teaming dinners etc.  It was nice to have another cook/chauffer/dishwasher around.  When they finally got their apartment, Sam commented that he was gonna miss his other wife.  Me too!  Then, down the road a year or so, with Habitat for Humanity, they built a house next to our friends, the Sawyers.  Really close, like in their front yard.  Then, the family that was living in the other half of Sawyers duplex moved out and Habitat was looking for another family.  Our friend, Salah, ended up getting it.  They have a common parking area, etc, there's a fence around most of it, so we call it The Compound.  We are honorary compound members cuz we're so cool and all.  Heather and Lysa, who both have several special-needs kids, found out that they had kids with the same problems.  They all go to the same charter school, are on the same swim team as Meg, etc.  Salah's Erin, whose kids are just tiny still,  has a degree in child development or psychology or something like that.  ANYWAY....I tell this story, because Heather, Lysa and I joke about being sisterwives.  We parent each others kids, correlate rides to swim team, youth church activities, they make sure all the kids get to whatever specialist, therapist, whatever appointment they need and my job is to take up the slack when they get over scheduled.  I get to hang out with Normie and Zerin, (ages 6 and 4) mostly, which is fun.  Bonus: Meghan gets 10 siblings!

So, in the future, should I mention Sisterwives and Compounds, don't be thinking there's something weird going on.  Well, there's plenty of weird stuff, but nothing immoral, illegal or habit-forming.  Except for Salah's cooking, which is REALLY habit forming.

Hahahaha!

So, after yesterday's downer post, I figured we needed a laugh.  Sam was going through his pictures this morning of the Bailey reunion in Idaho a few years ago and found this gem.  I LOVE these girls, and I wish we lived closer.  ( No speeches on how we oughta move to Boise.  Not happenin' any time soon).   Amy looks like she's......I dunno, but she's out of control for sure, lol.  I'm gonna print this pic out and hang it on my fridge next to the crazy Christmas card they sent me a few years ago.  Yes, I still have it, and yes, it still makes me smile.

Ramblings...

Today is just a philosophical post. Lots of "stuff" going on that I feel helpless to do anything about. Not to us, we're mostly fine.

 I got a call today. I don't wanna put any identifiers on the caller, cuz someone would figure it out. Other than it was a "she". This person has had more trials in her life than anyone I know. In fact, when I think back over the last 30 years or so, I can hardly think of time when she didn't have some big "thing" she had to overcome. Today, she was in tears. First time since about ten years ago when she told me that she just wasn't gonna cry about it any more. And, you know me, anyone else cries and I'm a goner. So we cried about the current, seemingly insurmountable, issue. I wished I lived closer so that I could physically be there to help her solve some of the smaller issues. Just about all I can do is let her call and cry whenever she wants, and pray for her and her family. It made me think about why some people have so many more big problems than others. I realize some people bring big problems onto themselves and even though I still feel for them, it doesn't seem senseless. From a gospel perspective, I understand that we are supposed to learn from our trials. But, this person, who seems so much wiser than me in most ways, has WAY more trials in her life than I do. None of them self-inflicted as far as I can see. I have a few, most are not a big deal, some seem so at the time, but in retrospect I think I've had a remarkably easy go of life. I know that God gives more to people who can handle more. And, I suspect they grow more. I'm not brave enough to do an Elder Eyring and pray for a trial. I'll stick with my little trials for now. And keep praying for her burdens to be lightened somehow.

 The other thing I've been thinking about a lot is the issue of taking offense. I'm pretty easy going, I rarely get offended. I get annoyed sometimes, but it passes pretty quickly, because it's just a waste of energy to stay mad. I got better things to do. However, I tend to avoid people that get easily offended, because, frankly, just don't want to worry about it. My closest friends are very frank people, who I am certain would tell me if I did something stupid (if it was important enough to be mad about....I do little stupid things on a regular basis, I'm sure). And, if they ever did something that I took issue with, I could tell them. But, it's NEVER happened. But, what do you do when two people you love are in a snit with each other? Especially family members....how do you plan a family gathering when part of the family isn't speaking to another part? I have to say that Sam's family is pretty good about gathering anyway, and the offended parties all act like it's OK, mostly to keep Mom happy, I suppose. I don't recall when a family feud ruined a Bailey family reunion. Maybe before my time, or I"m just happily oblivious.

 OK, I"m rambling now. I vaguely recall that there was a point when I started, but I seem to have forgotten it. OK, so I'll just quote Elder Uchtdorf: "When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following: Stop it!" I just wanna cross-stitch that and hang it on my wall. Ok, not cross-stitch, I was kidding about that part.

 When Meggie was five, she took 50 cents to school to buy after-school ice cream. During recess, she left it on a picnic table because she was worried about it falling out of her pocket. Of course,someone swiped it. As she was in tears on the way home, she kept asking why someone would take that money when it was hers. I explained that some people might have thought, "ooh.. just found 50 cents" and didn't think that it might belong to someone else. Or someone might have just decided they didn't care that it belonged to someone else, because some people are just not nice. There was silence in the back seat for a bit and then she said, "Mom. Everyone in the world should just be nice all the time!". That's another good one to cross-stitch, if I was into that sort of thing.

An Insight

We bought a 2010 Honda Insight hybrid for Sam to commute to work in. We spent more than we wanted to, but we're gonna hope it lives up to the Honda reputation and lasts us at least as long as the Dodge did. But with fewer engines. It's the red car in the front in this pic, if you didn't know. The red car in the back is a Fiat 500, which Sam thought might be fun to try out, since he used to drive one (with four missionaries in it, lol) in Italy. It wasn't as fun as he thought, although Meg and I enjoyed it. Too gutless to make Sam happy, though. The blue car is the dead Dodge. As soon as we strip all the good stuff off of it, it's off to the PickNPull down the street. Know anyone who wants some practically brand new tires for cheap? Or someone who wants to rebuild a Dodge Intrepid engine? Again.

In other news, our loft "tenants" left today after she made us the biggest Dolma feast in the world for dinner last night. Dolma is stuffed cabbage or grape leaves or tomatoes or bell peppers or eggplant or zucchini or any and all of the above. I"m pretty sure I don't need to eat again for at least a week. They were fun to have and we got to try some Armenian and Georgian food (as in the country, Georgia, not the state). We're gonna miss them, we kind of like having live-in friends who will play cards with us whenever. They are off to Las Vegas where he has a job at the airport. A shout out and thanks to Jenny E for helping them stay out of the sketchy parts of town while they were long-distance apartment hunting.

The days are getting longer, it's nearly light when Meg and I leave for seminary at 5:30 am. We're heading into the nicest part of the year here, it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70's this weekend. Did I mention the loft is empty? Someone should come visit before Ry and Sue come the middle of June....which is when the fog rolls back in anyway.

Requiem for a dead Dodge.

We bought a Dodge Intrepid in 2001...it was a year old at the time, had 20K miles on it. Today it has about 185K miles on it. Bought new tires a couple of months ago, a new battery at about the same time, paid the registration fees last week, put $80 gas in it last night.

Today, on Sam's commute to work, it gasped it's last. We've resurrected it twice, it got a new engine (under warranty) at 60K miles, and we rebuilt it three years ago when it threw a rod. I think it's time we performed last rites and maybe have a wake.

But, wouldn't it have been nicer if it died the week BEFORE I bought the tires and battery. Or even YESTERDAY, before we put $80 of gas in it.

And now, we "get" to go car shopping, which I like almost as much as I like going to the dentist.

So, I guess I'll see if I can go back to blogging....

I decided that since I flaked on the Bailey family newsletter, I'd update the blog and we'll see if I can keep up with it for awhile.

So, our latest adventures....

Shortly after New Years, I started getting a funky pain in my side. One evening, after a couple of days, it started getting really bad, so I had Sam take me to the ER. Six hours, an MRI (or was it a CAT scan?), and $10K later, they told me I had a "mass", approximately 15 cm in diameter on my right side, probably connected to an ovary. So, I was scheduled for surgery a couple of weeks later. It turned out to be a very large benign cyst. My sister and Susan were both here, and I had lots of help and thought I was doing great.

THEN, I went to get the staples out. (Yes they used a staple gun on me, lol). That didn't go so well. I'll spare you most of the gory details....only Sam knows them anyway. He was there and I kept telling him I didn't wanna know. Long story short, they said they would let it heal "from the inside out" which I'd never heard of before. So, they taught Sam how to stuff me with gauze every night and told me it would take 2 to 3 months. They also sent me to a "wound care specialist" (not on my insurance, of course. Well, I showed them, and it only took six weeks. It was a long six weeks though, as they wouldn't let me drive or go anywhere but the doctor's. Thank goodness for my friends who made sure Meg had rides to everywhere she needed to go and I had rides to the doctors, etc. We have great friends...we are very blessed.

While I was stuck in my LaZBoy for two months, I worked on Sam's website. I still have a lot to upload, and our internet is crazy-slow, so it may take a few weeks. But if you want to check it out it's at www.zenfolio.com/sambaileyphotography. I also got much better at the ukulele. And read about a thousand books.

We have friends staying with us for a bit, they had applied for jobs all over the country and didn't want to sign a lease until they knew whether they were staying or going. He was offered a job in Las Vegas, and they'll be leaving next week. I'll miss them, they are fun to have around. She's from Armenia, so we've added Armenian food to our international foods list, it's been fun trying new things.

Meghan is in 9th grade, still homeschooling, which was not in the plan, but that's how it goes. She's trying to decide if she wants to go back to a regular high school or stay in homeschool and do some college courses for high school/college credit at the same time. Monterey Peninsula College offers an AA in graphic arts, which is what she wants to go into. She's also interested in the BYU animation program, but she'll have to get her AA first...I can't afford four years of BYU.

That's life in a nutshell these days. We miss Liz and Mom since they moved to Boise. If we had to live somewhere that we didn't want to, Boise would be on top of our list, just for the family that's there.

Taking a Poll

I haven't written in over a year. Seems like Facebook has taken over my online socializing. Mostly I started reading your blogs and started this one to keep in touch with our vast family. Many of you migrated to Facebook, and we followed. But, not everybody. So...

I'm thinking about writing again, wondering if anyone still reads these, or if we're all exclusively Facebookers now.

Any thoughts??

Hey, it's almost 2011. Weird, eh?

We've survived the holidays so far....

Meghan turned 14 and we still let her live here. :0) Mostly she's a good kid, just going through the "I'm fourteen, so I'm braindead" phase of her life. But, we'll survive it, I'm sure. We didn't have a huge celebration, Ry and Sue were here and we had a party with some friends.

On Christmas Day, we tried, unsuccessfully, to eat ourselves to death. We had a huge Christmas dinner with three other families, we fried two turkeys, smoked one and cooked a huge ham. THEN, as if that wasn't unhealthy enough, we had fried potatoes, fried sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and au gratin potatoes as side dishes. I did make green beans, but really, who wants green beans when there are au gratin potatoes? We're still eating leftovers and we're totally sold on the turkey fryer thing. I don't even LIKE turkey and I thought it was good.

We got family gifts of a Wii and a new television, so mostly Meg got presents under the tree(her brother sort of went overboard). She got a new iPod, so that was the highlight of the day for her, I'm sure. Sam and I put a bow on the TV and he pretended to be surprised when he opened the Wii. Mostly it was nice just all being here together, we miss the kids when they're in AZ.

Last night, my Jordanian friend Salah made us an epic feast of middle eastern food. Amazing yummy food, best thing I ever did was let that guy live here for a bit. Tonight, we took Sue out for her first taste of Thai and had another epic feast. I think I'll stick to lettuce the rest of the week.

Ryan and Sue are on their way home now...... I sure wish they lived closer. Everyone cross your fingers, toes and anything else that he can get into law school in CA somewhere. Otherwise, they might be having my grandbabies in some other state, which would be tragic.

We STILL have extra people here..the plan now is that they will be leaving right after New Years. I hope so...I'm anxious to get my house back.

We're off on a roadtrip tomorrow to ....actually, we don't know...haven't decided. Apple is closed until the 3rd, so Sam is off this week. We're gonna look at a weather forecast and find someplace where it isn't raining.

We are still alive!

I don't have time to really post. It's Christmas, I live on a piano bench. If I could figure out how to play and blog at the same time, we'd be set. Not that that excuses me from the months of silence before that. Anyway, thought we'd let people know that we're still alive out here.

We did halloween. I have pics, but they must be on the other computer. SO....

We have a family of 7 living with us for the moment. Mostly good kids: stinkin' cute 18 month old that gives me a big grin and says "hi" every time he sees me, a 2 year old with epic lungs who uses them fairly regularly (and not in a good way..yeesh), a 4 year male drama queen who makes any fit thrown by Meg over something stupid seem like nothing, an 8 year old who is ALWAYS hungry, and a 10 year old who is in the burp-fart-spit stage of his life. They are relocating here from Minnesota...who could blame them...but things aren't going as smoothly as they'd hoped. It's been a month, I'm ready to have my house back now.

We had Thanksgiving at the beach with three other families. Sam took lots of pictures, but as I haven't actually seen any of them yet..they'll have to wait for another post.

Ry and Sue are coming for Christmas, which we're excited about, of course.

Sam and Meg and I have been passing around colds for a couple of months. Sam's coming off one now, and I think I've got it. Perfect timing since the Stake Christmas program is next Sunday and I have some kind of rehearsal every day this week. I'm going to go find some drugs....

The latest...

So, we're slackers. Haven't blogged in forever. Blew off the family newsletter (not on purpose, however). But, that doesn't mean nothing's happening. Although, if you ask Sam, nothing is. We never do anything or go anywhere.

So, homeschooling is the biggest part of what we do at the moment. Or at least what Meg and I do. She still has a hard time focusing so I spend a lot of time at the kitchen table with her reminding her to "stop watching the cat and do your math", or "quit doodling and finish your English". I get really bored sitting there watching her, but if I start reading or something, then I'm not noticing what she's doing...or not doing. If I clean house, she complains that I'm distracting her. We have fun with the field trips and other activities, but the actual schoolwork is tough. One of our field trips was to the local NBC affiliate station KSBW. It was a great tour, they were all so nice and we got to sit in on the live noon Newscast. Afterwards the anchors answered all the kids crazy questions and let us take a picture on the set.



We've had a few visitors. Andy and Amber came with their kids one weekend when Andy had a wedding to shoot in Carmel. He took Sam off to help/watch him and Amber and I took the kids to the aquarium. At least that's how I remember it....it's been long enough that I couldn't be sure about that, lol. I DO remember waiting for like an HOUR for a pizza in a place that was almost completely empty. I think everyone else had already given up and left. It's always nice to have those guys come visit, Evy and Preston are a blast, and Sam says "baby therapy" is better than drugs. Even if the "babies" are toddlers.

Last spring we made Linus Project blankets for the Disney "Give A Day, Get A Day" promotion and got our "free" tickets to Disneyland. So we went the last weekend in September to Disneyland and Ca Adventure. I say "free" because once we spent $150 on gas, $250 on a hotel, $250 on CA Adventure tickets, $150 on food, it wasn't very "free". We ran into Sam Waite and his girlfriend Indiana in Disneyland...kind of random. CA Adventure was kind of a disappointment, because half the park is closed, but I have to say the California Screamin rollercoaster was AWESOME. I coulda ridden that a dozen times. Only managed twice, though. Disneyland was crazy-crowded and hot, but we managed to get to most of the stuff we really wanted to do. We tried to take it easy a bit that day, but it was a long day. We were there from opening until midnight. The light/water shows at both parks were amazing, totally worth the not-so-free tickets. All in all, it was a nice weekend away from home, which gave Sam a bit of a break. We splurged on a nice hotel, and took it easy. It was DANG hot, (106 in Disneyland, ugh, and 113 the day we drove home), so we headed over to the coast and came home via Santa Barbara. I never saw so many people on Hwy 1 at one time before. Crazy. But, it turned out to be a lovely drive anyway.

The next weekend, my crazy/lovely niece Melissa came from Colorado with her family, so my sister Kate and her family drove up from Lancaster to hang out too. We had a GREAT time, attempting tidepooling when it wasn't a very low tide, hung out in the redwoods, had a beach BBQ. Then, she ran in the San Jose 1/2 marathon. Sam and Meg and I had a blast racing to see how many times we could be there when she ran past. I think we made five. Took a GPS, two maps and some luck, but it was fun. She ran her best time ever and then didn't even seem tired when it was over. She piggy backed her 6 year old about 8 miles to the parking lot. I totally enjoyed getting to know her husband and kids better, and hope they come back soon. It was even more fun with Kate and her family here, too. That's a party we need to repeat regularly.


Sam and Melissa's Keely. They were pretty good friends almost from the start. No surprise there.


Melissa with Keely also. She has two other kids, but they are too fast for this slow photographer. Sam got some good shots, I'm sure.


My sister Kathryne and her baby Zachery. Who spends most of his time smiling this huge.


Here she comes. Still not sure how someone who looks so much like my brother can be so cute. :0)


And there she goes....at Mile 13, sprinting for the finish. Time: 1 hr 42 mins.

General Conference was awesome as usual. I missed part of it that weekend with everyone here, but I'm on my second time through, listening again.

The next week I spent the week playing for the Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel) Choral workshop in Carmel. It's my fourth year, I think. I enjoy it, it's like having 20 grandmas, they are all so sweet, and so many of them come every year. So, it's like a reunion every time. They spend the week learning some choral pieces, then have a concert on Friday. This year was a little shaky (in more ways than one, lol), we had 16 altos, 3 men, and 4 sopranos (the youngest was about 75, the oldest 89). But, it's always fun. I always worry when I say goodbye that someone won't be back next year.

During the Road Scholar week, Sam and I had our 15th anniversary. Since I had a rehearsal that night, we didn't do too much. But we did find a lovely outdoor Mexican bistro in Carmel Valley with live music. We went to dinner, then he came with me to give the poor mens section a boost.

So, all that in the last six weeks or so. But nothing ever happens around here and we never go anywhere. :0)

Cakes and Homeschool Adventures

First of all, in case you didn't hear, we came in third in the 2nd Annual Hunger Games cake decorating contest. If you haven't read the books, there is a main character that is the son of a baker, hence the cake contest. Find last year's contest cakes here, and the subsequent fallout here, here and here. Due to hackers, pirates, etc, the aftermath was very dramatic and highly entertaining. We won that one, which surprised the heck outta me, since I didn't think my cake was the best one. This year's cakes are here and the results are here. We had some stiff competition, and frankly, I'm amazed we did as well as we did. We did have a popular vote also this year, which was won by the best hackers, in this case my niece Sara. I'd post a pic of my cake, so you wouldn't have to follow all the links, but I don't have it for some reason. Must be on Sam's computer.

In homeschool news, we have joined a local group of homeschoolers for field trips, social activities and sports/PE stuff. Yesterday we got to visit the local NBC affiliate, KSBW and watch while they broadcast the noon news. I've got pictures here. I'd upload them for you, too, but for some reason our internet is EXCRUCIATINGLY slow the last couple of days. It was cool, we got to talk to everyone from a producer to an anchor to the weatherman. The kids asked all kinds of questions, and everyone was extraordinarily nice and glad to talk to them.

In older news, our friends, the Filceks, have been building a house for the last 8-9 months with the help of Habitat for Humanity. They finally finished it and Habitat had a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house before they moved in. There was much rejoicing. Yay!!!

A Real Post, with some News and Everything!

I've been putting this off, waiting for time to add pictures.

So, what have we been doing since February? I actually remember very little of it, it all zoomed by so fast. So, I'll start in February and do the best I can.

The beginning of February, I got an email from an old friend, Brian, that had been living in Jordan (the country, not Utah) for several years. While he was there, he had a good friend, a Jordanian, who was a member of the church, named Salah. He was a convert who had been persecuted, thrown in jail, etc, for being a member of the "American" church. They accused him of being a spy, mostly. He also had some great experiences; traveling around Jordan, Syria and Israel, translating for Elder Holland being one of them. He met an LDS girl from Texas....an amazing story in itself...and got married and sealed in the Frankfort temple. (Just before he left to be sealed, he was arrested and they accused him of going to Germany to get more spy training. They let him go just before he was to leave.) Now he's not only a member of the American Church, he's married to an American. Made it very difficult to get work, even though he had a Bachelor's degree...in accounting, I think. So, they decided to move to America. He got a job teaching Arabic at the Defense Language Institute here, but needed a place to stay for about six weeks while he looked for housing and while his wife finished a contract she was working in Texas. Brian emailed me because Salah was having difficulty finding a place he could afford here and he wondered if we could find someone in the ward who could use a little extra cash to rent him a room. I forwarded the email to the Bishop, who then asked Sam at church if we could maybe rent a room to someone for a few weeks. I shoulda known it'd get back to us.

It's not like this is the first time we've done this. We are so blessed to have this place at all, that we don't mind sharing the "wealth". However, the whole Arab guy thing had me worried, which is why we didn't offer in the first place. I have friends who have been at DLI with Arabic men and they were all kind of worried about it, so I worried about it. But Brian, who I trust, said this Salah was like a brother to him. So, we agreed.

He got here on President's Day. Within a few minutes, I was no longer worried. He was a lovely, charming young man. We did tell him that he looked more like a Scot than an Arab, lol. After a couple of days, we were telling him that we wouldn't even take him to LOOK at housing that wasn't in our ward. Because, after all, THIS is the true ward. When his wife came a few weeks later, my friends and I worried about whether we were going to like her, because we decided we'd hate it if she wasn't as cool as Salah. But when Erin and their little boy Laith got here, we were just as hooked on them. He's cooked us some amazing middle eastern food, and they really feel like family now. Salah and I like to swap recipes. I teach him to make teriyaki stir fry, he's going to teach me to make hummus. REALLY good hummus. :0) This is Salah, Erin and Laith, making blankets with us for Project Linus to earn free Disneyland tickets.



In April, we went to Arizona for the wedding of our best friends' daughter, Stacy. It was great to see our friends again, it had been a couple of years. But, even greater was how happy Stacy was. It was hot, of course, it's hot everywhere but here, I think. We had a lovely lunch with my niece Emily, and her family, and Sam's cousin Vickie and her family, and my brother and HIS family, and my nephew Kevin and his family....etc etc etc. Started out a small party, ended up a big one. But it was great to see them all. Especially since Emily and her family moved to Tennessee shortly thereafter, and we're not likely to see them as often now.

In May we went on the Bailey family cruise to Alaska. We went with five of Sam's siblings and their spouses and his mom on a Holland America cruise to Glacier Bay, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria BC. It was a lot of fun, but it always is to hang out with Sam's family. Doesn't matter where we go. We had fun going to La Bufadora a couple of years ago, so it was a cinch that we'd have fun in Alaska. We took Meghan on this trip, her first cruise. She loved the entire cruising thing. We ate too much, laughed a lot and saw some beautiful country. I'd love to go back.



On the way up there, we stopped in Portland to visit with our old friends, the Dolenc's and many, many Coopers. We went to the Portland Zoo with Dolenc's on Saturday and then spent Sunday visiting with all the Cooper kids and their kids.






Having shot all our money on that trip, we haven't been too far since. Ryan and Susan came out for the 4th of July, and brought my nephew Kevin and his wife Emily and their baby. We had a good time visiting with them, and doing the touristy stuff.


Then, towards the end of July, I had a couple of friends come that I hadn't seen in at least 20 years...maybe longer. I was nice to see that we all still like each other and we took up like 20 years hadn't even happened. We're planning to get together again in September. Neither of them live all that far away, it's funny that we all ended up as close as we did, we knew each other in Utah so long ago.

We did go to Bakersfield for a few days this month, to work on Lizzie's movie. That was fun, although the heat reminded me why I live here. Ugh, it was really hot. We usually avoid Bakersfield and anywhere else that hot for the summer months. But, watching them do their movie thing was interesting and fun and Sam had a bit part as a preacher.

Now, homeschool has started again. Meg is in 8th grade and I'm hoping to send her to High School next year. I've told her that she's not getting away with as much this year, I'm going to work her harder than last year to get her ready for a high school load. It's taking more of my time than last year, but that's OK, there's a time and season for everything. I'll clean the house next year.