Sharing Another Wonderful Picture--Who are the children?

Hi Everyone,

I'm excited to share another wonderful photo. Who are the children in the photo?

LYL

Russ

Family History Photo - Who is the young girl in the picture?

Hi Sister,

After reading your words, I still say you have a gift for writing. Maybe you should write your own book. Of course, when you publish your first book, would you autograph one for me?

Back to the topic, I'm sharing a picture with you of someone we both know. Do you know who it is and around what age?

LYL

Russ

She's Here

Wednesday, October 20, 2010. Neil woke me up at 6am to tell me that Kim had just called. She had started labor at 2am, she was now going to have a shower and head on over to the hospital. Neil told her we would get our showers, pack and be on our way in 1 hour, and we were.

Just as we were getting onto Interstate 5, Josh texted and asked if we were headed up north. Yep, we are on our way. A few minutes later he called and said a substitute teacher had been canceled and the secretary called the sub to see if he wanted to come back and sub for Josh. Yeah, he did, so Josh was able to go too. It was meant to be. Josh dedcided to drive up in his own truck just in case she(no offical name yet-Jason picked out the name and is keeping it hush, hush until after she is born)arrives later than 8pm. It is a 2 hour drive to his house. Josh had to work the next day and wanted to get home early enough to get some rest.

We arrived in Grants Pass at 10:45am. Called and let Jason know that we were there. He said that the contractions had stopped and they were at the doctor's office. Kim was having some tests done and then they would be going back to the hospital. Told not to go to the house, so we went to Walmart and bought some diapers. Kim said she could use lots of diapers that she had everything else she needed. After getting the diapers we went to the hospital and signed in, received green stickers to put on to show we could visit Kim that day. The nurse heard Neil checking in and said that Kim was there and she was just getting Kim settled in and would come get us when Kim was ready for visitors. We waited and waited and waited, Josh and Lidia arrived 1 hour after us-got a text from Jason that Kim wanted her mom to come right in when she arrived. Nurse made her wait awhile too. Hospital volunteer said Kim was in intense labor and the doctor was with her giving her an epidural. Nurse told us to go get some lunch and by then Kim should be ready for visitors.

We went to Sonic Burger for lunch. It tasted pretty good. I must have been hungry. Back to the hospital to wait some more. We took turns, 2 people at a time visiting Kim for about 15 minutes each and then letting her be checked out by the nurses every little while and try to let her get some rest. She said she was not tired. The epidural was not working too well for her. She could not lay flat on her back, it made her sick, nausea, dizzy, she even passed out twice. She ended up laying on her side but needed to keep rotating from one side to the other so that the epidural would work. Said this labor is harder than when she had Bailey her first daughter.

While waiting we kept wondering what name Jason had picked out for the baby. After Lidia(Kim's mom) came back from one of her visits she said "I know the name of the baby." What is it we all asked and she replied "Medley". We all said Medley? Where would you get a first name for Medley. We had heard it as a last name for some people-a pro baseball player. We even went onto the computer to see if there were people with the first name Medley, did not find anyone. So she is going to have an unique 1st name. Well come to find out as Neil and I were visiting Kim in walked the doctor and we were introduced to Dr. Medley. So was the baby going to be named after the doctor? No, Lidia and the rest of us had seen the name on the delivery cart and as we walked out the door and really looked at what was written down, realized that it was the doctor's name. This kept us entertained for part of the afternoon.

During the late afternoon and evening we watched the baseball playoffs (Texas vs. New York Yankees, Phillies vs. Giants)between visits. While we were visiting Kim we were watching the Phillies vs Giants and missed the winning homerun. The nurse had just walked in and was telling us the doctor was on the way, Kim was now dialated to a 10, time for the the baby to come. When we turned back to the TV, fireworks were going off. The Giants had won. That's Kim's favorite baseball team.

Went back out to the waiting room. Neil and Josh went out to get pizza. Just as they came back and walked into the waiting room "Rock-A-Bye Baby" music came on over the intercome. Our little granddaughter was here. October 20, 2010 at 9:24pm. Jason texted the baby is here. Still did not give us her name and until we walked into the room later and saw it posted on the board.

We are so excited our little granddaughter Riley is here. That she is cute, precious, beautiful and healthy. Such a little miracle. Kim is doing so much better after this birth also and feel so blessed that she is doing good too. Big smiles, loves and hugs, lots of picture taking. What a wonderful day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY LANE LIDIA ALLEN!!!!

Monday 7/5 Was A Very Busy & Long Day

Neil let me sleep until 8am. It is going to be a very long day. Originally I was suppose to have the day off, but we have a floorset to do that requires alot of hours and people to get it done. So everyone on staff is going to have to work. I was scheduled to work from 5pm to 1:30am with the possibility of working until 3:30am. So I was not looking forward being up all those hours. Got the day started. Neil gave me a teasing hard time about wasting daylight. He was up and working on cleaning out the garage. Oh my gosh I was in shock. Neil never cleans the garage. I am the one who usually puts everything away. Neil likes to just put everything in the middle and let it pile up. I stopped cleaning it up and wondering when he would decide it needed to be done. I got up and everything was out of the garage and in the driveway. He was going through and deciding if we have not used it in the past 20 years it is time to go. Yeah!!!! I helped him fill up the back of his work truck and our truck. We ended up on my way to work, stopping at his work place and emptying everything into the dumpsters. So long!!! The garage is now neat and organized.



While he was cleaning the garage I worked on cleaning the pool, watering, doing laundry, pulling weeds, picking the plums and apricots off the fruit trees, fixing breakfast(more like brunch) and sweeping and rearranging the patio furniture. I was hot and sweaty the pool looked very inviting. So after Neil finished we took a nice cool dip into the pool. AAHHHH so refreshing.



After swimming ,it was time to get ready for work. I had to go in early. Needed to drop all of the trash from the garage and then go to work, get the keys to our off site storage unit and pick up props for our floorset. After getting the props back to work I was ready for another dip in the pool. It was 101 degrees. Thank goodness there was a nice breeze. Ended up working from 4pm to 3:30am, got home at 4:10am. Believe it or not I was not tired. I ended up staying up until Neil got up. We had a nice little chat about our days and then finally off to bed. After 2 hours of sleeping, what do I do ?I wake up. Why? Noise? Sun in the window? Body alarm saying time to get up? So now I am up and starting my day. Another busy one ahead , cleaning house and maybe taking a nap sometime during the day. It feels like it is going to be another long day.

4th of July Celebrations

It's 4th of July and brought up memories of past 4th of July's. Two weeks ago I noticed all of these firework booths going up around town and this brought up memories of living in San Bernardino and dad would help work in the firework booths for the ward fundraisers. He would bring home some of the fireworks. Uncle Rodney, Auntie Joanne, Jeff, Susie, Denise, Sheldon and Leslie would come over for dinner in the back yard and Dad and Uncle Rodney would set up and set off the fireworks. We would get sparklers to hold and twirl around and around. At first I would always be afraid of getting burned but the facinastion of the sparklers won over the fear.It was so much fun. I remember these round black things that you light up and they would grow like worms. I remember the smell and how much excitement and fun we had and the disappointment when it was over. We always wanted more. After our show in the backyard we would look out over our block wall and watch the fireworks shoot up into the air from the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino and when those were over we would run around to the front yard and watch the ones from the east side of town. We alway wanted to sit up on the roof to watch them but mom and dad said no. We would either set up chairs or sit on the driveway leaning back against the garage door.

There were some years that we would go to Uncle Ward's and Auntie Sigie's for 4th of July. I remember Auntie Sigie making all kinds of food that we would take to a park down the street.
I think one year they were in charge of games and we were trying them out before we went to the park. Most years it was ovecast. We were alway surprised when we got home to find out that we had gotten sunburned. Those sun rays went right through the clouds. We were always excited to go to the beach in the evening to watch the fireworks but some years we were disappointed because the fog had come in and you could not see the fireworks. We still had a lot of fun being able to go to the beach at night.

After meeting Neil we started going to Charlie's cabin up in Warner Valley near Lake Almador. It was so nice to be in the mountains. Feel the fresh air, hear the wind in the trees, fish, relax and even to see the parade in town.

Now that the kids are all grown up we now sit on our front porch and watch our neighbors set off their fireworks and think about the wonderful times we have had in the past.

Sunday @ Sheri's

While Neil was busy working at Jason and Kim's I went up to visit Sheri. She only lives 45 minutes away. We had a great time. I miss the times we used to spent with one another when I worked for Claire's. That was one of the best perks of the job. I don't get to she her and her family very often now. We were talking and figured out that I had not been to their house since February of 2009. Way to long. We have got to make a point of seeing each more often.

When I got there Sheri gave me a tour of her back yard. Mom, Terry and her had pulled out a lot of weeds, blackberry bushes, ivy and added some new planters, flowers, a board walkway,

solar light and a privacy fence. It is turning out really nice. We sat at her table under the umbrella with a new breeze and talked about her time with mom while she was there. We talked about out memories of Dad and Wendy and how much we miss them and the special times we had with them. Got a tour of the house. They got some new carpet, Sheri redecorated Donovan's old room. It turned out really nice. Terry got an aquarium for Father's Day from Donovan and Sheri was pointing out the frogs and the names she had given them. We took a walk across the street to the Mexican restuarant and had some chips, salsa and a chicken tostada. It was really tasty (yum-yum). We sat there for a while sharing all kinds of memories and really enjoying one another's company. Went back to the house and went through some gardening magazines and pool accessory catalogs. Sheri wants to get some solar panels so she can have her pool heated and use it more often. It is hot at my house during the summer, so my pool stays warm all summer. Sheri tried to get a hold of Katie when I got there but there was no answer. I was getting ready to leave and guess who drives up? KATIE :) I was so glad to be able to see her and give her a hug. She was having a hectic day and needed a break. She unloaded what was going on, then she was on her way to her Auntie Devon's in Roseburg. I left at the same time. I really enjoyed my drive. Everything is beautiful. Lots of green meadows, green trees, wild flowers blooming everywhere. Saw a buck running across a meadow then stopping and eating, some fawns on the side of the road.

Got back to Jason and Kim's at 5pm. The Neil and Kim were in the living room watching Bailey play. Jason was at his dad's dumping the dirt they had dug up for the pathway(3inches deep,

4 feet wide and 15 long approx). There was a lot of dirt. When he got back the guys unloaded the extra sand behind the fence in their backyard. Neil took a shower and then we took off for home.

Stopped at Josh's and left him his new phone we had got him on Saturday and a tool box that

was in Jason's and Kim's new truck that they did not want. I drove all the way home. We got home around 10:30pm. It was a 107 degrees in Redding so I am pretty sure it was close to that at our house. Our house was hot, hot, hot. We turned on the A/C full blast to cool it down quick.

It was comfortable by the time we went to bed. It was a very nice day. A very long day. :)

Weekend @ Jason and Kim's

On Friday June 25, 2010 Neil and I went up to help Jason and Kim put in another brick walkway on the south side which is at the back of the house. Last week Neil went up and helped put in a pathway on the west side of the house. They did a beautiful job. This weekend they started on Saturday morning at 7am and did not finish until 5:30pm on Sunday. They did a really beautiful job. While they were working on Saturday I spent time with Kim and Bailey.

Bailey is really growing up and changing from visit to visit. She is now running every where. Kim got her some pink croc's on Friday and she loves wearing them all the time. We watched her play in her little swimming pool. The water was very cold but she did not seem to mind. She started with just putting her feet in and then finally sat in the water. She had a lot of fun putting on her pretty pink sunglasses and being a cool girl. She is so full of energy always doing something. We got her a trampoline last week and she enjoys boucing. She is still not comfortable bouncing in the middle; she stays close to the edge and hangs onto the net to give her some stability and bounces away and she laughs as she does it . It is so fun to watch and enjoy her happiness.