I can't keep up with the prolific postings! The best thing about this blog though is that not only are we all keeping in touch, but that I can go back... and back... and back and look at all that's going on with the gang.
Happy New Year everybody!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Funny Kristi
Here are some pictures of Kristi being attacked by some Washington Moss. It can sense fear so you have to be careful when you go out in the forest.
All Lucy, all the time.
I have added some more pictures of Lucy to my smugmug site. They are toward the end of the gallery. Here is one of the pics if you are as lazy as Lucy and don't want to click over.
http://crystal-images.smugmug.com/gallery/6906398_DfKeA#P-4-16
Geocaching Adventures
Yesterday we went out geocaching so Crystal could get some rest. We found several caches throughout Puyallup. Here are some pictures of the days fun.
This cache was titled "that was easy". It was a hard find but had an easy button in the cache!
A hazard of almost every cache is the ever present blackberry!! We were poked more than one time looking for a cache.
Parking in the No Parking zone because there was truly no parking anywhere near the cache!!
At the end of the day we took Lucy on her first adventure. We went to the Spanaway Park Fantasy lights. It is hard to get pictures of Christmas lights so I didn't bother. Here is a link to the light show.
http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/pc/abtus/ourorg/parks/flights.htm
It was the greatest light show I have ever driven through. The kids were a little grumpy to start with but were won over by the different displays and the animations done with the lights. Lucy slept through the whole thing. A bargain at $13.00 per carload!!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
One of the Best Ski Days Ever
Grandpa, MaKayla, Gregg and two of MaKayla's friends went skiing yesterday here are some of the pictures.
MaKayla, Gregg and Angela Johnson (MaKayla's Friend) They din't fall this time!
Gregg, Tanner Ricks (Friend of Gregg and MaKayla), Gramps, MaKayla and Anglea
Gregg "Boarding" down the mountain
MaKayla making a smooth turn ... which she made lots of!
Gramps, MaKayla and Gregg ... we had a great time skiing on a beautiful day on fantastic snow.
MaKayla, Gregg and Angela Johnson (MaKayla's Friend) They din't fall this time!
Gregg, Tanner Ricks (Friend of Gregg and MaKayla), Gramps, MaKayla and Anglea
Gregg "Boarding" down the mountain
MaKayla making a smooth turn ... which she made lots of!
Gramps, MaKayla and Gregg ... we had a great time skiing on a beautiful day on fantastic snow.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Point Defiance
We went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium today. Point Defiance is a peninsula in Tacoma and it is very very beautiful there. In addition to the Zoo and Aquarium there are several gardens on the point and lots and lots of natural areas to picnic.
The kids (especially Katie) were very excited to see the Belugas. The aquarium has two of them. When we got there they were being fed so we got to watch them on top of the water. After that we got to watch them from the underwater viewing area.
We also saw some amazing monkeys. At first they were just sitting together relaxing in a hammock by the viewing area. Then ... all of the sudden ... they burst into activity! Their acrobatics were amazing to watch! We were mesmerized for a long long time watching them "fly" around the area. We all wished that we were able to move around like that!
This video is kind of long and it is just monkeys swinging around. We were so enthralled by them!
There was a really neat area that had plants native to the Puget sound. The green one is a barnacle ... wow, amazing!
This is a video of some of the sea creatures of the Puget Sound.
As we were leaving the monkey area we noticed that we were being filmed on a board that said "Look what we spotted at the Zoo today." So we of course started to goof off =). Here are the pictures that the camera caught of us.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sledding in Spokane
We have a nice sledding hill in our yard in Spokane. We have been having lots of fun going down it.
This one is me
This one is Shelby
Christmas in Spokane
We had a great Christmas in Spokane. Liberty was very excited to give everyone her gifts she picked out. We took her to a place that has someone shop with her you tell them how much to spend and who the gifts are for and they come out later with there gifts wrapped and you get to be surprised when you open them. She reminded me a lot of a young Shelby who did not care about anything other than the gift she had made for her grandma.
The photo of us in our PJs thanks mom and remember Weber State; Weber State; Great! Great! Great!
The photo of us in our PJs thanks mom and remember Weber State; Weber State; Great! Great! Great!A video of Liberty singing
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Things I remeber - Marjorie Harris Ward
My memories of wiring the Portage home with electricity by Marjorie Harris Ward as related to my son Doug Ward
In the mid twenties Portage began to catch up with the rest of the world as electricity was wired into our town. Today we jump in a car and drive miles without thinking about it; in my youth we didn’t leave Portage often, as a trip to Malad was considered a big trip. We knew bigger towns like Tremonton had electricity but I don’t remember seeing it before it came to Portage. Our home to that point was lighted with kerosene lamps, ours were better than lots of other homes and Kerosene Lamps gave good light but they could cause fires as one of our lamps did during my youth. I was awakened during the night and I remember calling to my brother Virgil (also known as Virgie but mostly Virg) that the house was on fire and then running around yelling “the house is on fire”. Virg said “Stop bawling and screaming Marjorie and get some more water” which I did. We saved the house but the fire burned the ceiling of the new house as well as a beautiful piece of furniture that contained lots of family records and the family couch. My mother and father were out of town when this happened and they were appreciative that we saved the house. For years afterward mother would say “Marjorie saved our house from the fire”. I do know this that we had waited so long for that new house that if we had lost it in the fire it would have been devastating. We lived in a Log house before building our nice new house and we loved the new house so much. My mother wrote in her history about the new house: “it seemed like a Palace to me”. My mother always made do with what she had but I kept after dad until he built the new house. After all, Dad’s brother, Uncle Bob Harris, had built a beautiful new house; one of the nicest in Portage, so I worked on my dad to build us a nice one too. I guess he finally tired of listening to me because he found a contractor to start ours.
When electricity came to town we were one of the first to install it in our house. We were so excited anticipating electrical power coming to our house. We knew when we got power that that would be the end of having to fill the lamps and cleaning their glass chimneys.
When the time came to wire our house Dad bought me a new pair of bib-overalls (these were the first pair of pants I had ever had … girls wore dresses and bloomers, never long pants) He had asked me to help our cousin and his nephew, Loyal “Loy” Harris, who was a self-made electrician, to pull the wires through the attic in the top of the house. I think I was about 10 or 11 years old. Loy had me pull wire into each room to where a hole had been cut in the top of the ceiling to receive the wire and then he would drop a braided speckled wire into the room where he attached a socket to hold one light bulb at the end of each wire. Every light was switched on and off; right at the light … there were no wall switches. We didn’t have any electrical outlets because we didn’t have any electrical appliances to plug them into. For instance, we continued to heat our “sad irons” (the forerunner of electric irons) on the coal/wood stove long after we had electricity. Later on we bought an electric washing machine. The only part of the machine that was electrified was the agitator, everything else was hand powered. But having the agitator electrified was so much better than the hand agitator we had previously.
Because electricity was new and pretty expensive dad was always after all of us to turn off the lights when we left a room. Because of that I’m still pretty good about turning lights off today. After all, things you learn as a child stay with you the rest of your life.
This is the first of what I hope to be many of Grandma's memories about her life. As we get them all together we will publish her life's story.
Dad
In the mid twenties Portage began to catch up with the rest of the world as electricity was wired into our town. Today we jump in a car and drive miles without thinking about it; in my youth we didn’t leave Portage often, as a trip to Malad was considered a big trip. We knew bigger towns like Tremonton had electricity but I don’t remember seeing it before it came to Portage. Our home to that point was lighted with kerosene lamps, ours were better than lots of other homes and Kerosene Lamps gave good light but they could cause fires as one of our lamps did during my youth. I was awakened during the night and I remember calling to my brother Virgil (also known as Virgie but mostly Virg) that the house was on fire and then running around yelling “the house is on fire”. Virg said “Stop bawling and screaming Marjorie and get some more water” which I did. We saved the house but the fire burned the ceiling of the new house as well as a beautiful piece of furniture that contained lots of family records and the family couch. My mother and father were out of town when this happened and they were appreciative that we saved the house. For years afterward mother would say “Marjorie saved our house from the fire”. I do know this that we had waited so long for that new house that if we had lost it in the fire it would have been devastating. We lived in a Log house before building our nice new house and we loved the new house so much. My mother wrote in her history about the new house: “it seemed like a Palace to me”. My mother always made do with what she had but I kept after dad until he built the new house. After all, Dad’s brother, Uncle Bob Harris, had built a beautiful new house; one of the nicest in Portage, so I worked on my dad to build us a nice one too. I guess he finally tired of listening to me because he found a contractor to start ours.
When electricity came to town we were one of the first to install it in our house. We were so excited anticipating electrical power coming to our house. We knew when we got power that that would be the end of having to fill the lamps and cleaning their glass chimneys.
When the time came to wire our house Dad bought me a new pair of bib-overalls (these were the first pair of pants I had ever had … girls wore dresses and bloomers, never long pants) He had asked me to help our cousin and his nephew, Loyal “Loy” Harris, who was a self-made electrician, to pull the wires through the attic in the top of the house. I think I was about 10 or 11 years old. Loy had me pull wire into each room to where a hole had been cut in the top of the ceiling to receive the wire and then he would drop a braided speckled wire into the room where he attached a socket to hold one light bulb at the end of each wire. Every light was switched on and off; right at the light … there were no wall switches. We didn’t have any electrical outlets because we didn’t have any electrical appliances to plug them into. For instance, we continued to heat our “sad irons” (the forerunner of electric irons) on the coal/wood stove long after we had electricity. Later on we bought an electric washing machine. The only part of the machine that was electrified was the agitator, everything else was hand powered. But having the agitator electrified was so much better than the hand agitator we had previously.
Because electricity was new and pretty expensive dad was always after all of us to turn off the lights when we left a room. Because of that I’m still pretty good about turning lights off today. After all, things you learn as a child stay with you the rest of your life.
This is the first of what I hope to be many of Grandma's memories about her life. As we get them all together we will publish her life's story.
Dad
Hail, hail the gang's all here
Here are the Anderson kids all dressed up in their Christmas Eve jammies ... Jon got the almond this year and Clay and I found a new (and better) recipe for the rice pudding. It's creamy and delicious, but the best thing about it is that it makes itself in the crock pot while you're busy cooking everything else.
Thanks to "necessity is the mother of invention" + "the mom in this family procrastinates better than ANYONE we know" ... we have a new "funeral potato" recipe. The store was out of hasbrowns late on the afternoon of December 24th so I used "tater tots" instead. Oh how the children moaned and groaned. "MOTHER! you cannot mess with our traditions!" But in the end we all agreed ... them's darn good taters. Jaqui asked if we could PHULEAZE name the new dish "something happier" than funeral potatoes or as Jose translates the name of the dish "potatoes of the dead" .... I'll take suggestions from the crowd.
Thanks to "necessity is the mother of invention" + "the mom in this family procrastinates better than ANYONE we know" ... we have a new "funeral potato" recipe. The store was out of hasbrowns late on the afternoon of December 24th so I used "tater tots" instead. Oh how the children moaned and groaned. "MOTHER! you cannot mess with our traditions!" But in the end we all agreed ... them's darn good taters. Jaqui asked if we could PHULEAZE name the new dish "something happier" than funeral potatoes or as Jose translates the name of the dish "potatoes of the dead" .... I'll take suggestions from the crowd.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Our near death howard experience
Breck and I had brunch this morning with mom and dad and grandma. We had a nice time, and missed all of you. (BTW... I loved my presents from the Original WA Wards!) Mom made sweaters for my "kids" this year, and wow, do they look cute... as soon as I get my camera working again (it malfunctioned last weekend while snowshoeing) I'll post them. (Liberty and Emma will love the Chloe Matilda picture.) Which, while I'm on the subject... You're all welcomed to come visit Chihuahua-land anytime you're near zion. It's much cheaper than those "other" parks further down the 15... and much better than lego-land to be sure.
Anyway, with no photo to share I thought I'd post a story that we discussed today. It involves Idaho, ice, mom's driving and two innocent young men in the back seat minding there own business. I of course was one of the innocents, the other was our friend Howard Fullmer. On Christmas eve Mom shared a story from a book that Howard illustrated called the Chocolate Chip Parable which got us reminiscing Howard and this story.
The rest of this post is taken from my personal blog... you'll note a style change. Here's a photo of Howard from back in the day.
Show people this album by sending them this public link.
Howard and I grew up in the same "neighborhood". I use that term loosely, because our homes were many miles apart, but more on that later... Mom (nor I could) remember all of the details of the 45 seconds in which our “near-death-experience” took place, but combined I'll offer the following explanation:
We lived in the foothills on the outskirts of Idaho Falls, a (then) smallish town in Southeastern Idaho. Our homes were small enclaves surrounded by large (multi-acre) open space farms of wheat or potato crops. Short muddy springs, warm green summers and cold, cold winters. Regardless, one thing was always certain, the wind.
The roads were good, but became treacherous in winter due to the constant wind and freezing temperatures. Weather reports gave two numbers, the temperature and the wind chill factor which indicated how cold it actually felt due to the wind. Because of the brisk wind the snow would drop nearly horizontally with the winds moving it along the ground into ice crust ultimately collecting into large drifts several feet deep. I remember one winter where the drifts were taller than the school buses windows taking us to elementary or junior high.
The incident in question happened on one of these cold windy winter days. I can't remember where we were going to (or from, or back to). I don't think I was yet driving... There are so many possible scenarios here as Howard and I were both involved in scouting, Cedar Badge, order of the arrow... oh, and I took piano from his neighbor. Regardless, Mom and I can’t remember exactly why Howard was with us on that particular day... my guess was it had something to do to an uncontrollable desire to be among us (we get that so often).
Howard and I were sitting unbuckled (as was then the custom) in the back seat Mom was driving our two-toned late model 4x4 Chevy suburban along Marbrisa Lane, heading south toward our house. The road dips, lifts and curves along the edge of the foothills. The suburban had been doing quite well up to this point on the icy roads, but just before our home is long steep decent with a slight left curve at the bottom of the hill which has a steep (10 or more foot) drop-off on one side. There were also large lava boulders surrounding a culvert at the bottom of the drop off which drained Marbrisa and nearby Skidmore Lane (which meets nearby).
Knowing the road well mom slowed down considerably before reaching the hill. Nearly instantly as we started down the hill she knew we were in trouble. The heavy vehicle started to slide off course. She made a correction and the vehicle began to fishtail. She continued to fishtail nearly leaving the road several times, all the while gaining momentum. The bottom of the hill, and the embankment loomed. As we got to the bottom of the hill the vehicle edged closer and closer to the side of the road. As we reached the curve we all could see were we were headed…although I don’t personally remember if I thought it was heaven or hell at the time, more likely the later (I was a teenager afterall). At the worst possible moment the vehicle slid off the road and went over the edge of what felt like a cliff… but also in that instant the vehicle did a final fishtail pushing the heavy engine and front of the vehicle over the edge first, followed by the passenger compartment. Because of this “lucky” event, the vehicle simply rolled on all four wheels down the bank, narrowly missing the large rocks, and finally came to a non-climatic stop in a small drift of snow at the bottom.
For what seemed like minutes we all sat there stunned. I don’t remember a word being spoken although, knowing my mother, I’m sure she quickly turned to make sure that Howard and I were still alive and well, which we were, other than perhaps an excess amount of adrenaline running through our veins.
A neighbor’s son (he was about 20 years old who lived a few hundred feet away from the bottom of the hill) came running to the scene. He’d seen the whole drama unfold except for the final few moments. Mom said he was as white as a sheet. He was as surprised as we were that we weren’t in a steaming crumbled up pile at the bottom.
After looking the occupants over, he inspected the vehicle and suggested that mom could simply drive the Suburban down the culvert, back up a smaller embankment, around a few homes and get back on the road. Which she did.
Howard’s dad was our insurance guy at the time… it was really good to have someone credible in the car at the time to collaborate our story.
In the end… there was no damage to the vehicle or the occupants, just a story to tell throughout life. The moral of the story is… of course; don’t drive on icy roads in Idaho unless you have the son of your insurance man sitting in the back seat.
Anyway, with no photo to share I thought I'd post a story that we discussed today. It involves Idaho, ice, mom's driving and two innocent young men in the back seat minding there own business. I of course was one of the innocents, the other was our friend Howard Fullmer. On Christmas eve Mom shared a story from a book that Howard illustrated called the Chocolate Chip Parable which got us reminiscing Howard and this story.
The rest of this post is taken from my personal blog... you'll note a style change. Here's a photo of Howard from back in the day.
Show people this album by sending them this public link.
Howard and I grew up in the same "neighborhood". I use that term loosely, because our homes were many miles apart, but more on that later... Mom (nor I could) remember all of the details of the 45 seconds in which our “near-death-experience” took place, but combined I'll offer the following explanation:
We lived in the foothills on the outskirts of Idaho Falls, a (then) smallish town in Southeastern Idaho. Our homes were small enclaves surrounded by large (multi-acre) open space farms of wheat or potato crops. Short muddy springs, warm green summers and cold, cold winters. Regardless, one thing was always certain, the wind.
The roads were good, but became treacherous in winter due to the constant wind and freezing temperatures. Weather reports gave two numbers, the temperature and the wind chill factor which indicated how cold it actually felt due to the wind. Because of the brisk wind the snow would drop nearly horizontally with the winds moving it along the ground into ice crust ultimately collecting into large drifts several feet deep. I remember one winter where the drifts were taller than the school buses windows taking us to elementary or junior high.
The incident in question happened on one of these cold windy winter days. I can't remember where we were going to (or from, or back to). I don't think I was yet driving... There are so many possible scenarios here as Howard and I were both involved in scouting, Cedar Badge, order of the arrow... oh, and I took piano from his neighbor. Regardless, Mom and I can’t remember exactly why Howard was with us on that particular day... my guess was it had something to do to an uncontrollable desire to be among us (we get that so often).
Howard and I were sitting unbuckled (as was then the custom) in the back seat Mom was driving our two-toned late model 4x4 Chevy suburban along Marbrisa Lane, heading south toward our house. The road dips, lifts and curves along the edge of the foothills. The suburban had been doing quite well up to this point on the icy roads, but just before our home is long steep decent with a slight left curve at the bottom of the hill which has a steep (10 or more foot) drop-off on one side. There were also large lava boulders surrounding a culvert at the bottom of the drop off which drained Marbrisa and nearby Skidmore Lane (which meets nearby).
Knowing the road well mom slowed down considerably before reaching the hill. Nearly instantly as we started down the hill she knew we were in trouble. The heavy vehicle started to slide off course. She made a correction and the vehicle began to fishtail. She continued to fishtail nearly leaving the road several times, all the while gaining momentum. The bottom of the hill, and the embankment loomed. As we got to the bottom of the hill the vehicle edged closer and closer to the side of the road. As we reached the curve we all could see were we were headed…although I don’t personally remember if I thought it was heaven or hell at the time, more likely the later (I was a teenager afterall). At the worst possible moment the vehicle slid off the road and went over the edge of what felt like a cliff… but also in that instant the vehicle did a final fishtail pushing the heavy engine and front of the vehicle over the edge first, followed by the passenger compartment. Because of this “lucky” event, the vehicle simply rolled on all four wheels down the bank, narrowly missing the large rocks, and finally came to a non-climatic stop in a small drift of snow at the bottom.
For what seemed like minutes we all sat there stunned. I don’t remember a word being spoken although, knowing my mother, I’m sure she quickly turned to make sure that Howard and I were still alive and well, which we were, other than perhaps an excess amount of adrenaline running through our veins.
A neighbor’s son (he was about 20 years old who lived a few hundred feet away from the bottom of the hill) came running to the scene. He’d seen the whole drama unfold except for the final few moments. Mom said he was as white as a sheet. He was as surprised as we were that we weren’t in a steaming crumbled up pile at the bottom.
After looking the occupants over, he inspected the vehicle and suggested that mom could simply drive the Suburban down the culvert, back up a smaller embankment, around a few homes and get back on the road. Which she did.
Howard’s dad was our insurance guy at the time… it was really good to have someone credible in the car at the time to collaborate our story.
In the end… there was no damage to the vehicle or the occupants, just a story to tell throughout life. The moral of the story is… of course; don’t drive on icy roads in Idaho unless you have the son of your insurance man sitting in the back seat.
Christmas Eve festivities
Pre-Christmas Eve sillyness
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Opening Christmas Eve Pajamas
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Eating the rice pudding ... Guess who got the almond!!!
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Having fun in our matching pajamas!
Winterfest 2008
***** the video wouldn't load in the hospital. We actually made the video in between contractions during the early stage of labor!******
As you may know we have had a LOT of snow up here on our side of washington. We have had fun playing in the snow, shoveling the driveway, making snow castles, enjoying hot chocolate and of course sledding!! I put this video together so you can see some of the pictures along with a familiar tune.
Hope everyone is doing great!!
As you may know we have had a LOT of snow up here on our side of washington. We have had fun playing in the snow, shoveling the driveway, making snow castles, enjoying hot chocolate and of course sledding!! I put this video together so you can see some of the pictures along with a familiar tune.
Hope everyone is doing great!!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Its raining its snowing its ... Slushing?
I went out to get some breakfast this morning (nothing in the hospital cafeterial looked good) and I have to report on the weirdest weather phenomenon that I have seen. It is slushing outside. Not raining, not snowing but actually dropping slush. It is almost freezing here so our snow is still on the ground. Odds are pretty good that we will still have some white stuff on the ground tomorrow.
In honor of Lucy's 7-11 birthweight we are having a slushy day here in western washington! I wonder what kinds of flavors I can get with this slushy?
In honor of Lucy's 7-11 birthweight we are having a slushy day here in western washington! I wonder what kinds of flavors I can get with this slushy?
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Pictures of Lu
Here are some long awaited (ok she is only 6 hours old) of the baby. More to come later. I am having trouble uploading pictures here at the hospital so this will have to do.
Mom asked about the spelling of her name. It is spelled Lucy LaRee.
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