Easter

Here in Idaho Spring Break came at a great time; the week before Easter.  Snow greeted us at the beginning of our free days.  Not quite a spring greeting.

But in typical Boise style, it was almost all gone by the end of the day.  And look what greeted us after the snow melted!  Our yard is exploding with new life. That is the joy of changing seasons, as we experience here.  I never tire of seeing the magic the change of seasons brings.  It reminds me that, like the plants that seem to die in winter, we too will die and awaken to new life one magical day when we leave this mortality.

New life includes ground squirrels (in Idaho language, whistle pigs).  They are running all over the back field.  Layne has begun his war with them, as they invade our yard as well.  He began with a pellet gun and has moved on to gopher bombs.  I think he has cut down on the population but we still spotted some digging in the lawn.  So the battle continues.

As we anticipated a week with Seth and Angelica at home, we tried to plan activities to fill their time and be fun for all of us.  We started by going to see Black Panther.  We loved it!  Layne is not a movie guy so he didn't go, but the kids and I went.  So fun!

We thought it would be fun to take the kids to some of the local sights, so we began by taking them to Idaho City, an old pioneer town that boasts some pioneer Galbraiths.  In spite of all our enthusiasm, they were underwhelmed.  

Here we are in front of the oldest home in Idaho City, built by Galbraiths!  Spelled differently but still a part of our family...somewhere.  There was a decided lack of enthusiasm by the kids.  Can you tell?

They perked up though when we took them out to lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Nothing like food to cheer kids up.  That effort at entertainment didn't work out so well.  So I decided not to take them out sight seeing anymore.  They like food so we went out to eat various things on several of our days.  We spent a day baking.  Cupcakes.  We also spent time shopping which was great for Angelica.  We reviewed the life of Christ every day too; presenting His activities during the last week of His life.  We had movies every night.  That was fun.  I wound my life around those kids for the week.  But now the week is gone and the kids head back to school tomorrow.  

I could say that this next week will be good for relaxing but it wouldn't be true.  Gerald and Frances are coming tomorrow and bringing Frances' parents, the Changs.  So our coming week will be a busy one.  We will take them on the sights we were going to share with the kids.  Maybe they will be more enthusiastic about it...what do you think?

Easter is a wonderful time.  We are spending Easter day watching General Conference.  I'm loving it and the influence it has upon me.  I feel grateful to know that Jesus Christ is a real person who loves me and was willing to dedicate His entire life to the welfare of all of us.  I feel a renewed desire to be better and do better.  It is such a temptation to just let down and relax.  But, while a little of that is OK, I want to use up my life in doing things.  Good things.  I'm trying to talk myself into doing more of that.

James Marries Allejandra

Grandson James told us he was going to marry his sweetheart in February.  But the guest list was very limited.  We gathered from that comment that we may not be able to attend the wedding. But as the time went by James invited us.  I was so happy to be able to share his special day.  Gradually he invited his aunts and uncles as well.  But no children.  They picked a local country club for the wedding and seating was very limited.  I think Allejandra was nervous about having so many Galbraiths attend as she had only her mother, future stepfather and siblings who would attend.  Perhaps she didn't want her family to be so outnumbered.  There are a bunch of us!  But, happily, they would up including we grown-up Galbraiths.

So the kids and Gerald, who was still with us, drove to California Saturday of last week.  We had dinner with Ben and Jessica and kids Saturday evening and went to the wedding on Sunday.  It was so lovely!

Allejandra looked beautiful.  Decorations were red.  Of course I loved that!  Even some of Allejandra's black hair was red.

You can't see the red hair in this picture but it will appear in a later one.  Here are James and Allejandra right after their wedding vows.  Cliff was supposed to marry them but Bishops cannot perform marriages on a Sunday and this was a Sunday wedding.  The man who did perform the ceremony did a great job.  It was a good thing they didn't plan on Cliff.  He was in the hospital

with a seriously infected toe!  As it turns out, Cliff is a full-blown diabetic!  The toe problem brought this out, so, in a way, it was a blessing.  He is home now and recovering.

The wedding brought all 5 of our kids together for the first time in a long time.

Here they all are:  Reed, Jessica, Gerald, Audrey, and Ben; our beautiful children.

We had a lovely lunch after the wedding, in the country club.  The room was cozy and beautifully decorated in black and red.  We mixed and mingled and enjoyed it all.

Here are Reed, Dorothy and family.  Scott is in front, also Bruce in the middle and Vincent on the right.  Timmy is behind Vincent.  Don't you love all that red?

Here are all Reed's sons:  James (the groom), Timothy, Vincent, Scott and Bruce in front.

Mr. and Mrs. James Galbraith.

Here you can see Allejandra's red hair.  Love it.  I think they love each other.  What do you think?

After the wedding, we visited with Cliff for a bit.  He looks good.  Sunday evening we all gathered at Audrey and Cliff's.  Even James and Allejandra came.  We had a lovely time with family.  I wish we could always be close.  The kids and Layne and I left early on Monday to drive back home.  Gerald went to the airport to fly home.  I so miss that man.  

It was a short trip but worth the effort made.  Things are back to normal now, with the kids back in school and making some efforts at other activities as well.  Gerald will return next month.  So looking forward to that!

Washington DC

Granddaughter Peyton and her Washington State team won the chance to compete nationally in a program called, "Future Cities".  She and her team designed a model city of the future that would meet the needs of people of all ages and also be efficient and have a positive impact on the environment.  So, over President's Day, they had the chance to travel to Washington DC to compete with teams from many other states as well as China and Canada.  There were 45 teams in all.

Here is Peyton (on the left) and her team of three, with their teacher on the right.

Daughter Jessica went along too, and invited me to join them.  It sounded fun, but I worried a little about traveling alone all across the country.  Most of my travels in recent times involved Layne as well as me.  Its strange how easily I fall into a nervous state when I haven't done something for awhile.  Layne encouraged me to go.  So, last Saturday, in spite of feeling a little nervous, I flew to Washington DC, to meet up with them in their hotel, just a couple of blocks from the Capitol.  I packed light and went standby.  The trip there went perfectly, and I found Jessica at the hotel, in the midst of one of the Future City activities.  It was all so easy and so pleasant.

Here's Jessica and Peyton, in the hotel lobby.

I shared Jessica's room.  When there weren't any Future City activities we were involved with,  Jess and I walked all over the area surrounding the Capitol, visiting galleries and museums.  They were all free!  There were so many wonderful sights, all within close proximity.  Jessica is quite a walker.  I had to work to keep up with her! 

Our favorite place was the Library of Congress.  It was amazing.  Here you see Jessica standing by the balcony that overlooks the main floor.  The architecture was breathtaking and inspiring.  We were awed by it and had a hard time moving on to other places.  But we did move on, taking in all sorts of other sights, over the few days that we were there.

 We circled the Capitol.  Because of the weekend and holiday, the government buildings were closed.  But we were free to walk among them as we wished.  Here's Jessica in front of the Capitol.

Here we are in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  We wandered through other sights as well, some of which were provided by a Future City bus tour.

The Korean War Monument was eye catching and a tender reminder of the price of war.

Here I am in front of part of the Viet Nam War Monument, which lists the names of those killed.  It is very sobering to see.  It has a special meaning to me since Layne was there for a year during the war.

The weather was cool but pleasant most of the time we were there.  But on our last day, Tuesday, it took a turn towards warm, reaching temperatures in the 70s!  I was amazed.  I expected it to be snowy and cold.  What a surprise!  On Tuesday we attended the awards ceremony for Future City.  It was held in one of the ballrooms in the Hotel (Regency).  There was a stage, dramatic lighting and two big screens to offer a better view of the events of the evening to the audience.  

Here is a view of the stage, before the teams entered and filled the seats in front of us.  The competition was fierce; the teams came up with some pretty sophisticated ideas and city models. We watched as the winning teams were chosen.  Peyton's team was not one of them.  But the whole event was fun and beneficial for the kids participating, whether they won top honors or not.  The awards were presented by the sponsoring corporations.  It was impressive.  A huge party for the kids followed, complete with food, face painting, artists drawing portraits, and dancing.  It was loud, crowded and, for the kids, fun.

In the meantime, Jessica and I took our last walk through the National Mall, enjoying the warm evening and the lighted sights.

It was a wonderful time.  We all flew home Wednesday morning.  My standby flights both had room for me, bringing me home by early afternoon.  I left the warm temperatures of Washington and was received by Boise temperatures in the teens!  Wow, what a contrast.  The people we met and the sights we saw in DC were all a sweet experience.  I so enjoyed spending time with Jessica and having the chance to enjoy activities and conversations.  Once again, I've been blessed.

Gerald and Frances are here visiting.  I love having them here!  They are reconnecting with their kids and Gerald is spending quite a bit of time helping Seth with his online studies.  Gerald is a clear, deep thinker, with dreams and plans to offer his children the best opportunities for happy successful lives.  I admire his vision.  Frances is a lovely girl.  She insists on cooking our dinners and puts out the most delicious Chinese meals.  

After a relatively warm and snow-less winter, it snowed today.  Seth and Gerald spent the last of the day's light building a snow creature and dissolving into a snowball fight.  Can you tell which guy is which?  Just in case you can't Seth is in the foreground, Gerald behind him.

Before my DC trip, we lost one of our kitties.  We've had Audrey's two sister cats for as long as we have been here.  The calico took sick last week.  She struggled to walk, but somehow managed to drag herself to an unknown location, perhaps to die.  We searched and searched for her, but could not find her.  She is gone.  We are all feeling the loss of her.

Planning

It has been pretty quiet around here since I returned home.  The kids are used to me "cracking the whip" with them again.  I have been so worried about "parenting" them right but I'm beginning to relax.  It is an imperfect world after all and that applies to me and that's OK.  Isn't it?  The kids are good and happy to be involved in our world.  They like family time and seem to be pretty uninterested in doing much in the way of activities with friends outside of school.  I'm thinking that will change with a little more time. 

I believe I mentioned that Layne bought me a new stove top for my birthday.  It is installed, and I love it!  He did several other sweet things for me while I was in California.  When I am gone, he seems to get inspired about doing unexpected things that he thinks I will like.  And I do! 

Layne has introduced the idea of getting our house painted this summer.  So my mind is alive with ideas for colors.  I've scoured the neighborhood, looking for inspiration.  I've made copies of the house to color in a variety of ways for us to look at and, hopefully, decide.  I keep thinking about it.  Such possibilities!  Here's a picture of the house as it is now. 

So the coming months will bring three family weddings, and a house to paint. And no doubt a few more things that will come up along the way.  I'm feeling good, so bring it on! 

A Work Errand

Son Reed and wife Dorothy have decided to move to a bigger home.  Dorothy's mother, Linda, is now living with them and they needed space to accommodate her.  So they have decided to sell their home and move into a larger rental.  Dorothy is recovering from Thyroid surgery and is feeling a bit poorly.  So it came to me that I should make a trip to Brentwood to help out. 

Layne made all the arrangements for me to go last Monday.  He listed me for an early stand-by flight and rented a car for me, to be picked up at the airport.  We were up at 3:30 AM to get me to the airport in time for a 6 AM flight.  It went perfectly and I found myself in San Francisco somewhere around 7 AM.  Perfect.  I took the train to the car rental by the airport.  A lovely Polynesian woman named Ali told me that the reservation was for a car at another location.  What?  I would need to take a taxi to the other Hertz location, just up the freeway.  So I took the train back to the terminal and took a taxi.  The driver heard my story with some sympathy and volunteered to wait while I checked out the other location.  It turned out to be a very small facility, with a very limited number of cars.  My reservation was there all right...for noon.  There was not a car to be had before then.  I asked if the reservation could be transferred to the airport location.  I asked if our prepaid reservation could be transferred as well.  Hum.  It's not going to be easy, I was told.  I would need to called the main office to try and arrange it. 

I was very happy that my taxi man waited for me.  I decided that I'd get my car at the airport location no matter how it turned out.  So off we went, back to the original location.  Ali took a look at me, now some hour or so later, and said she'd take care of me.  And so she did.  She transferred the money and added a reasonable charge at this more expensive location.  She smoothed it all over.  What a lovely woman!  I got the pick of the budget priced cars.  I picked out a red one, of course, and was finally off to Brentwood. 

An hour and a half later I arrived at Reed and Dorothy's new place.  Its a nice place.  Full of boxes and my lovely family.  Dorothy and I set to work at once, packing up the old place, boxing up various belongings and cleaning as we went.  Here's a shot of Dorothy and Bruce, in the old house.

Dorothy and I worked at both houses all of three days.  Audrey helped out too.  We managed to get just about everything out of the old house and into the new.  In between I enjoyed a little bond or two with my grandsons.  Bruce, 7, read to me and we laughed a lot.  Perhaps that is why he invited me to his basketball practice.  We made a little connection!  Here he is, in the new house.

Timmy is my more elusive grandson, but we had a few sweet exchanges.  Vincent is almost 16 and quite a handsome lad.  He's easy going and undemanding.  He's calm in every circumstance, even when his confused Grandma Linda punches him at unpredictable times.  Here he is.

Grandson James, his lady Alejandra and baby Alex came over most evenings.  James is wonderful with his little son.  Alex is bright-eyed and responsive.  Oh, and adorable.  See for yourself!

I had a great visit with Reed too.  In all, I felt that the trip was a very sweet one.  And exhausting.  I got up at 4:30 AM to come home last Thursday.  But I made that flight also and got back home just after 11:00 AM.  I was so happy to see Layne.  When I'm on a trip and he is home, he just about always does something a little extra.  This time he scrubbed down my old stove top.  And a few other cleaning projects.  The kids seemed to be a little sorry that I was back!  Hum.  It didn't take long to figure out why.  Layne ran a pretty loose ship while I was gone.  More treats and TV; less discipline.  At first I felt kinda bad about it.  But why shouldn't he spoil the kids a little.  They loved it and it turned out to be a sweet bonding experience for all three of them.  So, maybe I can make another trip with no worries about the home fires!

After a two hour nap, I felt almost normal.  The days since my return have been filled with activities and projects.  Its January.  I always want to sort things out at the beginning of a new year.  Then there's my birthday.  I am now 75!  Somehow that feels like a line has been crossed.  It suddenly feels like a pretty old age to be.  How could that have happened so fast?  Mortal time whizzes by while we are not looking.  To celebrate my older age, Layne bought me a new stovetop.  His cleaning job on my old one will hopefully make it useful for someone else.  Today was my first experience using the new stove top.  It was great!  I love it!  And so here stands a 75 years old with a new cooking device.  Pretty fun.  Each of my children gave me a Birthday gift this year.  Did they know I was going to hit this amazing age?  I'm not sure.  But I so enjoyed their sweet sentiments.  I feel celebrated!

Winter Warmth

As I sit here, the sun is shining through the window and there is no sign of snow.  The temperature today is 46 degrees.  It is almost like the beginning of spring!  There has been very little precipitation and what has come is mostly rain.  What an amazing contrast to last winter!

I am finally feeling almost normal.  Almost.  Still not perfectly healthy but definitely getting there.  Our January is full of changes.  Besides a very warm winter, we have lost our wonderful prophet, Thomas Monson.  He has led the Church in love, with emphasis on the importance and joy of relationships.  He was 90 when he passed away earlier this month.  We will miss seeing his face and hearing his words, delivered in his own unique way.  Changes are coming. 

 

On Tuesday a special broadcast from Salt Lake will undoubtedly announce our new prophet.  We anticipate that it will be Elder Nelson.  He is a vibrant 93 years old!

While we are on the subject of changes, our ward has been realigned again.  That is the third time since we moved here 5 years ago.  Today was our first time meeting since the change.  There seemed to be more people than we had before.  Strange, isn't it?  Usually ward changes create smaller units.  We seem to have grown.  Several people I especially love are gone now.  Gone from the ward that is.  A new ward has been formed in the stake.  So, more re-shuffling.  More change. 

I am beginning to relax in my mothering of Seth and Angelica.  A little bit.  They are naturally good kids so it isn't hard to parent them.  I think I tend to go overboard in my oversight of their device use.  Working with pornography addiction for the past several years has made me painfully aware of its invasion into lives of device users, especially the young.  It seems especially effective at seducing the young and vulnerable.  Thus its tentacles are more and more specialized at reaching them.  It alarms me. 

Seth was asked by some of the kids from his Taiwanese school to send them a picture of him for some sort of recognition of him there.  He had me take a series of pictures and settled on this one.

"Grandma, I'm trying not to look so skinny," he says.  But he is skinny, in spite of all we do to feed him.  Besides, what is wrong with skinny, I'd like to know.  Most of us in the US would like a little more of that.

Post Holidays

I was full of plans for celebrating Christmas with Seth and Angelica.  After all, they have never experienced an American Christmas.  While the area came alive with Christmas, from lights all over to happy shoppers, we tended to languish at home, struggling with the "holiday bug".  And so Christmas was a little underwhelming.  Still, I think the kids enjoyed it.  But it was definitely minimal.  For the last several weeks, sleep has been my ultimate high.  Sad, isn't it?  But today, after 2 1/2 weeks of feeling low, I'm beginning to feel somewhat better.  Yes.  I'll live.  So you may be thinking that I'm a bit of a whiner.  I suppose you would be right to think so.  So I'll end my extended rant now.

The kids decided that they wanted to sleep in the living room in Christmas Eve.  Why not?  So here is Seth, settling in.  Angelica set up her bed on the couch but soon wound up on the floor, next to Seth.

Cliff and Audrey drove to our house a couple of days after Christmas, bringing Rayne and fiance Dominic, and Allegra.  Grandson Chase, Morgan and son Hunter also drove here from Utah.  We had a wonderful time with them.  Celebrating a post Christmas with them was better than Christmas, for reasons already reviewed above.  Here is our second Christmas morning, with the Adams-Hart gang.  Note little Hunter, carrying out his job of putting the wrapping paper in the trash bag.

The kids--Rayne, Chase and partners--had their time here pretty well filled in.  They went shopping, and tubbing in the snow. Here they are, sliding down a nearby hillside.  Dom is leading the pack.  Looks like fun!

Of course, we went to Caldwell to walk through the amazing Christmas light display.  It never fails to impress.  Here are the beautiful lights of Caldwell, Idaho.

 Angelica, posing on one of the bridges.

Allegra, Seth and Cliff, holding Hunter.

 Here most  of us are:  Audrey, Chase, Morgan, Layne, Dom, Rayne, Seth, Angelica, Allegra and Cliff with Hunter.  I took the picture.

In between all the activity, there was time for some frolicking in the snow.  Angelica got a snowball smack in the face!  

I was sad to see everyone go just a few days after they arrived.  Well, everyone except Allegra, who stayed with us.  She spent a week or so with us, waiting for grandson Scott to drive here to pick her up for the drive to Rexburg and the beginning of another semester at BYUI. 

Allegra was a life-saver as she took over much of the cooking and did some fun things with the kids.  I was so happy for it since I was not perky.  Scotty arrived this past Friday night, as planned.  He brought his fiance, Jessica, along as well.  She will be our third Jessica!  She is a lovely girl.  I believe they can be very happy together.  They plan to marry in April.  Wow.  This year three of our grandchildren plan to marry!  I'm amazed that this could be.  Our college kids left Saturday morning and safely deposited at school. 

Scott, Jessica and Allegra, about to leave for school.

 

Layne is at a Church meeting tonight to learn about yet another change in ward boundaries.  That will be three changes in our ward since coming here.  This is a high growth area for sure.  So we will soon have more changes to adjust to.  Change.  I sometimes wonder why it is so hard, since it is impossible to avoid.  What changes await us in 2018 I wonder...