2010 Anniversary Trip

Randy, Barbara, Sharla and RalphWe always try to head south in January. This year we stopped in Las Vegas and called on some long time friends. We met Ralph and Sharla back in 1984 when we moved into their neighborhood. Sharla is very bubbly and loves to laugh and have a good time. I loved going to girls camp with her. Ralph is the salt of the earth and will give you the shirt off his back. One time he backtracked halfway to Soldier Summit to rescue us when our truck broke down. Maybe about 50 miles? We've shared good times and sad times too. We went to dinner and then played games, then the men went to bed and Sharla and I stayed up half the night catching up.


The next day we went to see the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Az. Back in 1968 the city of Lake Havasu bought the bridge from London and had it shipped over in pieces and then put it back together.

Here's Randy posing . It was probably the warmest day we had and he didn't need a jacket. I did.

The British flag, the U.S. flag and the Arizona state flag fly over the bridge. We parked on one side and walked across the bridge had lunch and then walked back across. Probably about the only exercise we got all week :).

The plaque saying the bridge opened in 1971. It took 3 years to dismantle, ship and rebuild and cost over 2 million for the project. I think that's what I read anyway. If you want the right facts google.com :0.

Then we headed for Phoenix. This is me posing by a cactus. I like anything that makes me look little :0. I have on 2 long sleeve tops and a fleece lined hoodie and I'm freezing!! Randy didn't and wasn't.

This a restaurant at Tortilla Flats outside of Phoenix. That is real money attached to the wall. Over 100 thousand dollars. We are to cheap to use money as wallpaper. We shared a BBQ Pork sandwich and it was pretty good. We almost always share a meal and find it is usually plenty to satisfy our tummies.

The stall door in the restroom. Too bad I don't really look that good! We left there heading to Flagstaff to spend the night. We made it to Winslow and had dinner at Long John Silvers (not good). Headed out towards Flagstaff and got halfway there and I realized that I left my purse hanging on the back of the chair!! I called the restaurant and they couldn't find it... but we were already headed back so just kept going thinking we would dig through the trash to find it. Five minutes later my phone rang and a man asked if I was Barbara. He then asked if I lost my purse! We met him at the Shell station and he gave me my purse back. Some of my cash was missing but all my ID, credit cards and gift cards and all the other crap a woman keeps in her purse were still there. I was so happy about that that I didn't care about a few dollars. So yes there are still honest people in the world :). We spent the night there and headed for home the next day.

I Love This Guy

This is us on our 25th anniversary. It's been my favorite picture of us ever since. This was also our youngest daughter's wedding reception day. You will notice that Randy actually has some hair in this photo :). You might notice that I look a little different too! I never thought we would still be married, after all Randy used to say that he was going to die when he was 35. Well he didn't. Lucky for me :0.
Here we are today. This may be my new favorite picture of us. Tomorrow, Jan. 25 is our 35th anniversary. Man, are we aging nicely! I think we look pretty good for as old as we are. He has loved me through thick and thin and I must say we both like the thin better :0. Happy Anniversary to Us!! Kaylene says that for our next photo we have to kiss on the lips. GROSS :0

It's Christmas time again!

Usually I love Christmas and way over decorate the house. Now I still love Christmas but this year I just did not have the energy or desire to decorate. After some pressure from Randy and then the guilt feelings we finally got the tree up. I turned the lights on today for probably the third time all season....never here to enjoy them :0. Today I'm listening to all my Christmas CD's while getting everything ready for the big family party tonight.

We love to get together and visit and once in a while play a game or two, but our favorite activity is eating ! being the Holidays we have to have all kinds of goodies to snack on and here is just a few. The rest will be arriving in a few hours.

I love Nativity sets and am the proud owner of 6 different sets. These are two of my favorites. The first one is an Avon set that I bought years ago when my girls were little. They are plastic and pretty much indestructible. The stable I found at Pic n Save for a dollar before it became Big Lots. The grandchildren love being able to play with it.
I love to tole paint and this is one of the nativities I painted. It was actually one of the first things I ever painted too. Obviously the reason I love these two sets is because I am a grandma and I don't have to keep saying "don't touch" ! :) . Mmmm... I can smell the baked potatoes so I best be getting them out of the oven. Tonight it's Prime Rib Roast and twice baked potatoes. Yum!! Can't wait! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Where, oh where, have I been? Really I'm probably just a little lazy and a little tired and haven't had a whole lot to say. Oh and I've been a little busy too :).

Do you wonder what I've been doing? Well I'll tell you anyway. I've been spending quite a bit of time helping this daughter with her precious three. She had to go to work to make ends meet since she has no husband to help her. They are good kids and usually not much trouble. The littlest one up until this week has called her mommy and me mamma. Now he has learned that I am gamma. The kids have been struggling a bit since their dad left them AGAIN! He volunteered to go to Iraq twice and now he has moved to California, about a 10 hour drive from here. Wonder how often he'll make the effort to come see them?

The other thing I have been spending some time at is one of my favorite places to be.... the candy store :). I am usually there Tues., Thurs night and a Sat. shift and an occasional Fri. night. That hasn't left me a whole lot of time with Randy and so far he's been pretty patient with that. Sometimes he comes to the store and brings me some dinner or just visits when I'm not busy.

The other "event " that has happened recently is my Mother-in-law passed away on November 5th. She was 97 years old! She has spent the last year in a nursing home having to have everything done for her. By the time she died she was a mere skeleton of herself and did not really know who we were. Her hearing and eyesight were pretty much gone and when she did try to talk she was difficult to understand. It was hard to lose her but at the same time it was also good for her to go. She was a very hard worker her whole life. She was an excellent cook....we will miss her pies, rolls and raspberry jam the most. She was very generous with her friends and neighbors, always taking them veggies and fruit from her garden and fruit trees and baked goods from her kitchen. She loved to crochet and all of her children have blankets that she made for them. She also made lots of patchwork quilts and hand stitched them! That is a lost art now, most everyone sews them on sewing machines now. I want to be like her when I grow up. She used to say to my girls "Who loves you?" and they would dutifully reply "Grandma does!" She will be missed.

ZZzzzzzz.....

Oh boy, is this a long week or what? As usual I have been tending Kaylene's kids for her. I have also been working at the candy store every night this week except for Monday. Tonight and tomorrow I get to watch the kids and work at the store again. Luckily I enjoy doing both :). Unluckily it's been a Crappy week for getting some decent sleep! You would think that watching kids and then standing on my feet all evening would wear me out. Not so.


. . . . . . . . . . . . This is how I feel. I wish I could fall asleep as easily as this sweet little guy. I think he's learned that talent from his Poppa who also can fall asleep sitting up!

Fall is Here!

My calendar says yesterday was the first day of autumn. My bones say it happened last week! Fall hits and I start craving homemade soups and stews. So today I had some leftover steak in the fridge and used it to make my mom's stew. It's never as good as what she used to make but it's as good as it gets now a days. Mother never used a recipe, it was just "use a little of this and a handful of that and throw in a...". As a result I cook the same way and when the girls call and say "how do you make...." I now know how my mom felt when I did that :).

So have you ever wondered how people stay married for 34 years? Give a little, take a little, compromise, agree to disagree and patience. What's that got to do with fall and stew you may be wondering. Well I'll tell you.

This is how Randy likes his stew. He is a purist and likes things simple and easy. Hand him a spoon and he's good to go.

Now I like to dig around in the soup pot and get lots of carrots a potato and just a few pieces of meat. I'll take whatever cabbage clings to the veggies, the more the better :0. Then I like to push the meat to the side and mush the veggies together. Then I pour some broth from the stew on and squirt ketchup and sprinkle seasoning salt all over the top. Oh and you should have a slice of bread with butter to mop up all the juices. Hmmm, I may have to go back for seconds! Yes, Randy's does look more appetizing, but mine tastes better!

So as you can see we agree to disagree on how we like our stew. That's how we have managed to stay together all these years.....well one way anyway :).

Cummings Studio Chocolates!

I started a dream job this week. As you may or may not know, but you will know now, :0, is that I LOVE chocolate. This is "my" store. My meaning that this is where I am actually getting paid money to show up and look at, smell and yes even sample chocolate. It's a tough job but someone has to sacrifice and do it :0.

Sure we sell other things besides chocolate, like some really good caramel nut popcorn, caramel apples and some non-chocolate candies.

This is behind the scenes. The back room where we keep the "extra" product. Look at all that yummy chocolate. Heaven, I'm in Heaven!

This is grand opening day. The balloons have pieces of paper in them that tell you what gift you have won. We gave away bags of caramel corn, chocolate covered pretzel sticks, 2 piece and 4 piece boxes of chocolate. We also were out in front of the store offering free samples to everyone who walked or rather tried to walk past the store ;) .

Here I am (in the pink) helping a customer. I'm waiting on the slow credit card machine. The lady standing next to me is Jo...she is one of the owners of this store. Which I suppose makes her my boss. But she is also my friend. I have known her since 1984 when we moved into her neighborhood. Two of her daughters are friends of two of my girls. Ten years ago when the girls were in high school they worked for Jo at the main store in Salt Lake.

So come see us at Cummings Studio Chocolates at Jordan Landing in West Jordan, Utah. we are open Monday thru Saturday, 10 am til 9 pm. I wonder if there will be chocolate in Heaven??