Spring Break

Spring Break was last week but things have been so hectic I just haven't had a chance to post about it. I went to Texas/Mississippi to visit family and Jake went to Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland. He had a great time and experienced the old and majestic places of these countries.

The first picture(above) is in Vienna, Austria and is the palace of Marie Theresa. The 2nd picture is the students in Munich in front of one of Hitler's favorite speech making places, You can see Jake's smiling face in the center of the group to the left of the red haired girl. The 3rd picture is a sculpture in the Dachau concentration camp, representing the way the Nazis stacked the bodies. Jake said this was a very solemn place and everyone whispered. The 4th picture is the famous Glockenspeil in Munich. The last picture is Neuschwanstein Castle (taken through a bus window).

This next group of pictures are some of Jake's favorites. The lion sculpture is the Dying Lion of Lucerne and Jake said it was really cool. It is a monument to Swiss soldiers who died in the French revolution. The next two pictures are of the Alps, which I think are magnificent. This last picture is of the McDonald's in Vienna. Jake was impressed with how upscale it seemed to be.

I went off to Mississippi and didn't bring a camera. But I had a great time. My sister Faye, picked me up at the Houston airport and then we drove to Mississippi. We talked and sang Beatles songs and ate pita chips. We met up with Mama at about 7:30pm at the Hollywood casino where Mom had us a room. The wind was blowing so hard that our hair was standing straight up as we got out of the car. We had some dinner and then Faye and I watched "No Country for Old Men" while Mom tried her luck at the games. The movie was really good, but quite chilling. Javier Bardem definitely deserved his Oscar for his performance. The next day we went to the Island View in Gulfport, where we stayed two nights. My sister, Diana, came over and spent time with us and we went to her house for a while. Diana has the most serene and peaceful porch and it is so nice to sit there and rock and look at the water. We sang some hymns and had some good visits. We went back to the Island View and ate. I had some really good fried green tomatoes - yum. The food was really good there. Faye and I watched movies both nights - Charlie Wilson's War (I enjoyed Phillip Seymour Hoffman's performance in that one) and Atonement. Faye liked that one better than I did because she had read the book. We also got to watch the first two installments of John Adams on HBO. I don't have HBO, so I will have to wait until it comes out on DVD to watch the rest of it, but what we saw was really good. Faye and I went back to Texas on Thursday. We got to Denham Springs and ran into stalled traffic because of a wreck, so we pulled off and found an antique village where Faye hit bank on some bells and owls. When we got to Houston, Joey was there. Joey is Faye's son and the first nephew and is just the sweetest and best guy you could ever want to know. We had some dinner from Lupe Tortilla's, and visited with Bob when he came home and then we crashed. We were both tired out. On Friday, Faye treated us to a massage that was awesome. Then we visited with Louise, Layla and Joey at their house. I also got to meet Louise's Mom, Sally, and her sister Michelle and Michelle's daughter Alex and a nephew, Andrew. This was my first meeting with Layla, my great niece, who is two. She is a cutie and we had a lot of fun getting her to tell us things and playing with her toys. This is a picture of the five of us. (If I had only had my curling iron, I wouldn't be quite so scary in this picture). We went home that night and had left overs and Faye and I watched "The Painted Veil" which Diana had recommended. It was a good movie, but we couldn't figure out where the name came from. The next morning, very early, Faye took me to the airport and I was home and walking in my door by noon, at which time I put on my pajamas and went to bed. lol It was a great time away, but as always, it is nice to be home.

Happy Birthday Nate!

My baby boy is 27 years old today. I hope he has the best day ever and knows how much I love him. I am just so very proud of him.

I can't figure out how to make these pictures go where I want them to in this blog so it looks kinda goofy. But that is Nate when he was 4 months old. He was such a chunk. And then that is Nate when he was 25 years old and just graduated from POST. He is the best police officer in Twin Falls and I am not just saying that because I am his Mom.

On Turning 50

I have been 50 years old for over a week now and it's not so bad. I think I had a harder time adjusting to being 40. But 50 has been easy. My family made it very easy by treating me so specially.

On my birthday, February 28th, I went off to work as it was a Thursday, thinking "just one more day and the kids will be here and I will get to see everyone." My students found out it was my birthday so throughout the day I got sincere birthday wishes and some smart aleck 8th grade remarks about how ancient I was. My friends and colleagues brought me gifts which are always fun. Arlinda gave me lottery tickets and I won $25.00. Still, it was a long day and I looked forward to going home. Since the kids were coming home, I had a bit of tidying up to do. I get home and see Laura's car in the driveway. "Oh goody" I think to myself, "She came a day earlier". I walk in and not only Laura but Casey as well yell "Surprise!" They had sneaked into town the night before and stayed with Nate and Megan. After I left for work, they came over, Megan, too and cleaned my house from top to bottom. I was so surprised and so grateful. My girls are just the best. If I had not received another gift, I would have been well pleased to have such a great birthday gift. But, the fun was just beginning!

Curt and I went out to eat that night with the Danzie's. They are good friends from our ward and Jeanette has her birthday on February 29th, so we go out to eat around our birthdays. the girls were exhausted from cleaning the house and then recleaning it after Halle and Carter got through with it, so I got them chinese food from Peking. After Curt and I got home we visited for a while before we all were ready for bed.

Friday, Cody and Josh came and I think they got there about the same time as I got home from work. Curt cooked us all dinner and we had some good visits. We played guitar hero and sat on the couches in the front room. I had to give in a go to bed around 10pm.

Saturday I woke up to the sound of Carter telling the names of everyone in the family picture I have. It is a very sweet way to wake up, he has such a cute voice. We did various things until around 5pm when we all met up at Jaker's. We made the hostess mad at us right off thebat, but after that it was good. :)

After we had ordered, Laura requested some help in the corner of the room and asked me not to look. So, Cody and I chatted while the others helped with the project. When they were done, they asked me to pop some balloons.

So, I did and everytime I popped a balloon, 20 dollar bills fell out! I was stunned! After I got them all popped, I had about $800 dollars! Then Laura tells me that all of my family had pitched it to contribute to "Get Munge a Big Screen TV Fund" I was stunned! I couldn't believe it. So, we ate dinner and then went TV hunting. The girls part was done and the guys stepped up. I have two incredible sons-in-law plus two great sons. Curt and I kinda wandered around, but these guys knew about TVs. Megan too, she knew what kind of resolution to look for and something else that I had no clue about. She had been looking around already so she knew where to go. We tried Walmart first because, after all, they do have the lowest prices. (but I really hate Walmart) and naturally, they didn't have the TV I wanted in stock. So, we went to Best Buy and found a really nice 50 inch TV that everyone agreed was a good buy. Josh told me about getting a HD dvd player to go with it. Nate and Curt and Josh got the manager to knock the price down a bit. The guys loaded it up, took it home , set it up and we all watched it. It is awesome and every time I look at it, I think of all the special people who made it happen and feel so totally undeserving and very grateful for people who love me. I have the best Mama and best sisters and brothers and especially the very best sons and daughters, whether they are born to me or by marriage. So, being 50 has started off great and it will be a birthday I will always remember. :)) And, I must say, I have the most wonderful grandchildren that ever walked the earth. Just look at this picture and dare to tell me I am wrong.