Catch Up

A lot has happened over the past few weeks that I want to remember 

so I thought I'd better catch up.

 For Jared's birthday we flew him home for a week. He turned 24 years old! It was so fun to have both of the boys home. Jared and Jacob were apart for five years and its been so fun for me to see what good friends they have become since Jacob came home from his mission. I love it!!

We went up to Seattle one night, had dinner and then went to "Phantom of the Opera."

We spent the night and then attended the Seattle Temple the next morning.

Are these handsome guys or what??

I'm sure most of you have heard about the earthquakes in Nepal. This is Ram and his family whom we grew to love on our last trip to Nepal. They lost their home in the earthquake. We have been in contact with several of our friends there and a couple of them have lost everything!! Our hearts have gone out to them as they live in such a poor economy already. These earthquakes will set them back for years, if ever they do recover from them. We feel so helpless & wish we could fly over there and help in some small way. It almost makes me feel guilty to sleep in my warm bed, drive on nice streets in a nice car, have all the food I want and more! Over 8,000 were killed and millions homeless. They are in tents and the monsoon season is suppose to start in a couple of weeks. Most of their income is from tourism & now that has slowed way down. Ram said he probably won't be working for 3-6 months.

Everyone is cremated there so I'm sure the sites where they do this are extremely busy. This is one of the ones we went to.

One of the things that breaks our heart is many of their century old Stuppas (temples) and buildings came down with the earthquake. We've talked about going over there again, 

but we know it won't be the same.

Many of these old buildings came down.

I was needing a "grandma fix" & since Lindsey's kids are the closest to me I had a crazy idea to drive down there. I drove to my sister's house (Delina) in Spokane and spent the night and then the next morning the two of us drove to Blackfoot, Idaho. I was thinking it was a 12 hour drive, but it was 14!! Every time I got out of the car I felt like I was 80 years old. For some reason my hips were killing me….I think I'm getting arthritis in them. We arrived around 4:00 & Tytyn was out with his dad. It was Tytyn's 5th birthday & he didn't know I was coming. When he came in the door he yelled, "GRANDMA" & ran over and threw his arms around me….then I knew it was worth the 14 hour drive!!

We had so much fun for a couple of days. Lindsey gave Delina and I both a MUCH needed massage. We also went to the zoo with Lindsey's Cub Scouts & the boys, went shopping and just enjoyed visiting. Its been so fun to go to Kristy & Lindsey's homes this past year and see how cute they've decorated them. I'm so glad Delina was able to go with me. We could talk forever:)

Last week Russ and I went on a hike. It was really cloudy at home so we were pleasantly surprise to have such a beautiful day to hike.

Since Jacob has been home he has gotten a lot accomplished around the house. I was a little nervous with him pressure washing the gutters on the house.

As if I haven't been in the car enough Russ and I went back to Spokane on Saturday. Russ is missing his coordinating council meeting this week because we will be out of town, so he attended one in Spokane. I got to spend another night with my sister and attend church with them. Their ward shares the parking lot with the Spokane Temple. They fixed us a delicious dinner and then we drove back Sunday & got home at midnight.

Trent & a couple of the kids arrived Saturday & are staying at the lake until Thursday. We went up tonight and had dinner with them & Russ took them boating.

My cup runneth over:)