Family Stuff

 Hey everyone,

There's a lot happening in and around the family these days.

Diana is due any day now. The midwife says the baby is 'really big' so Diana's hoping he/she comes soon! We get to visit her and Peter next month and can't wait to see them and hold that new precious baby! Plus Adelaide! We're so excited!

We video chatted with them the other day. Adelaide is so articulate I have to keep reminding myself she's only two!

Sharaya and Ally have been exploring this summer. Sharaya always finds the best places. Summer school has started so she's driving busses, as well as doing dispatch. They came over for dinner last weekend and we played Mexican Train afterward. I didn't take a single picture. 😞

She took this of Mount St Helens. It's about 4 hours south of us and erupted back in 1980.

Beth continues to bowl and sing karaoke every week. Plus she works one day a week, and grocery shopping on Thursday. She's still trying to make better choices when she buys food. 

Here she is at work, getting disinfecting wipes to go clean the door handles, push bars, light switches... all those high touch areas around the church.

Hmmm, which orange juice to buy?

All done and heading for the registers.

Chuck and I are doing well. Jobs, yard work, house work, and watching TV fills our days. Course we just got back from Iowa and are planning for Pennsylvania next month! Chuck pulled a muscle in his back last month and was on L&I for a week or two but he's not in pain anymore and is back at work. 

I started to get sick in Iowa, but it was different. Just a cough for the first day or two. Then I had a sore throat for one day. The next morning my throat was fine but I had a stuffy nose. It's been a month and I still have the occasional cough but everything else is gone. I feel fine and am back to work.

We're having warm, sunny weather and that's always nice! Certainly lifts the spirits.

The alarm on my phone keeps going off, I need to go read the Sunday school lesson for this weekend. I'm teaching the kids about Samson. I know the story but I like to write out what I'm going to say so I stay on track and don't leave anything out. I should close and go get that done.

It's always great 'chatting' with you! 'Til next time -

Happy? Fourth

Hello,

The days just fly by and I find myself falling further behind in posting. I hope you all had a good Fourth of July holiday. 

I'm going to vent a little about ours. It was good, but we plan to try something different next year. Chuck and I got our chairs down to our usual intersection at 7am after they blocked off the streets. Got a good spot in the shade. At 9:30 all three of us came back down and settled in to people-watch while we waited for the parade to start. We're just two blocks from the beginning so we get to leave while it's still winding it's way through the streets. It's the perfect spot.

Not long after, a police officer came up and told us all that we would need to move our chairs because that part of the intersection was being used as an emergency exit. It never had been before but okay, we definitely understand. We moved our chairs over closer to the sidewalk, but still got to be 'in the street.' With the intersection now empty, we had a big, clear view toward the start, and of all the participants as they would come down the street!

What we didn't know was that he was going to allow people to stand in the intersection. No chairs allowed. Oh. As it got closer to start time, there were so many people that crowded into that space we could only see directly in front of us.

And there were so many kids! We've been at that spot for many years and have never seen so many. Then we hear a dad ask his kids, "Why are we here?" 

"Candy!!"

"And why are we at the front of the parade?"

"Because they haven't run out of candy!"

"That's right!"

So many of the kids had bags that they would fill, like Halloween. One girl even went out to the street to a parade participant and took the candy right out of her hand! 

It was different.

We had the usual participants:

  Some fun ones:

And a few that made you grateful:

And the horses. They're always a favorite!

But this year I would say 85% of the entries were promotions for local political candidates, or shops, or businesses. It was just one big commercial. 

Plus, in 2020 our town decided to stop doing the big fireworks show so you leave the parade and that's that. We've always loved celebrating July 4th in our town but this year was just meh. 

I did make our usual jello dessert. Diana even made it for Adelaide this year. She called it her 'wibbly wobbly.' 😄

I do want to acknowledge the victims of the Texas floods. My heart goes out to everyone impacted by them. I can only imagine what those families are going through.  

Starting On a Healthier Road

I took Beth to a nutritionist on Monday. We checked in and she filled out the paperwork, then we waited to be called.

Claire (she looked like she was around 30) came out to get us and took us into a private room. She talked with Beth about why it's important to eat healthy, and asked her why she wants to lose weight. She spoke directly with Beth the whole time and Beth answered every question. 

When Beth went dairy free I typed up a list of things that she could eat. It's on her bulletin board and she's starting to make better choices when she shops. 

One thing Claire gave her was a list of what each food offered: protein, carbs, good fats, and how eating them together is better. Plus portion control, what to do if she's still hungry after she eats... things that sound better coming from someone other than your mom. 

We were in there for over an hour and Beth seemed to be pretty excited about it. On our way home we stopped at the grocery store for just a few things and one thing I grabbed was an apple. Beth asked me about the pears and when I pointed to them she said, "No, not that."

"Those are pears Beth. What were you thinking about?"

"They're like apples."

I pointed across the aisle and asked if she wanted a peach or nectarine? 

"Yes. A nectarine."

She had to use two hands to put the twist tie on, but she was excited about buying a nectarine! 

Tonight we did our weekly shopping. It was kind of weird, do you have a regular routine when you go grocery shopping? The Safeway we go to has two entrances and I had to put a letter into the blue mailbox that's on the other side of the parking lot, so we went in the other door, and started our shopping at the other end of the store. We started on the deli side instead of the produce, went down the aisles from the other direction, we saw the store from a whole new perspective! It was like we'd never been there before!

We loaded everything in the back of the car and after we got in she tells me, "I did not buy my licorice." (She usually buys two pounds every week.) "What?! Beth that's fantastic! That was a great choice!" And I gave her a high-five.

Here we are on the road to a healthier lifestyle!

Family, The Best Front Porch, and a Surprise!

Hi everyone,

We just got back from a family reunion in Iowa. My sister flew from San Diego to our house, then we all flew into St Louis, MO and drove 2.5 hours to our Airbnb. We had such a great time but the only souvenir I brought back was a cold.

We stayed in the small town of Hamilton, Illinois which was right across the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa. My grandma grew up in Keokuk, and the reunion was about 45 minutes north of there, in the tiny town of Salem, Iowa where a lot of our family live.

The house we stayed in overlooked the Mississippi, and the Keokuk Locks. Deb and I spent a lot of time out on that porch.

The weather was hot - in the upper 90's and the humidity, oh my word! It was hard to be outside in the mid-afternoon. We were so thankful the reunion was in the Community center. It was a smaller group than the two previous times we've been there but it was so good to reconnect with everyone. 

So many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews I didn't know I had!

A few weeks ago one of my nieces sent me photo of a huge mural they had just completed so Deb and I just had to get our pictures taken in front of it!

We went out for breakfast one of the days we were there. Hawkeyes Restaurant is one of the best restaurants in Keokuk. We eat there every time we go!

We got to see the house where our grandma Neota lived for a short time. This house was standing in the early 1900's and people still live in it today! Being a 'west coaster' my whole life where things are newer, this just blows me away.

My grandma was the second of seven, and her mom died two weeks after giving birth to her youngest brother. Her dad couldn't take care of them so he put the baby up for adoption, and her aunt (her mom's sister) took in the kids and cared for them for quite a few months. But she had kids of her own and realized she wasn't going to be able to keep them long-term. It broke her heart to give them up but they went to live at White's Institute.

The article says it was a home "for orphaned children to receive a religious education." My grandma and her siblings are on the far left. (Someone put check marks on the photo.)

These are photos of my grandma and her brothers and sisters, taken at the Institute. My grandma is the one in the dark dress.

In this photo my grandma is on the far left.

She rarely talked about her childhood. I knew she grew up in an 'orphanage' but that was all. I can only imagine what it was like for her.

After they grew up, three of them went to California, including my grandma and they didn't see each other for many years. Of those that stayed in Iowa, the oldest sister married and had 4 kids, but died fairly young. One of the other sisters married that man and became step-mom to her sister's kids.

It's a story filled with tragedy but also a deep love for one another.

And this picture? The lady in the gray sweater is the daughter of the baby that was put up for adoption. The woman in green is the wife of that baby's brother. They're in-laws but Betty and Margaret act more like sisters. What a treasure to spend time with them each year.

The day after the reunion we went to Margaret's to sit out on their back porch, then she and her daughter showed us around town.

Our last night there, Deb and I were sitting on the front porch watching the sunset when she noticed something out in the grass.

Fireflies!! I've never seen fireflies before! We called Chuck and Beth out and we sat on that porch for over an hour just watching them. It was incredible! I was able to get a few videos too. (I've never been able to get videos to play on Blogger but I may try to post one later.) It was amazing! We don't have them out here so this was quite a surprise. I loved it! It was a perfect way to end our trip to the midwest!