December 2011 - Preferred, Ridgeview, Golden Sun, Jill's for Christmas

We left Sarah's home and headed to stay one night at St. George RV Park in Hurricane, UT, and hopefully, some warmer weather.  Then we went on to a week at Preferred Park in Pahrump, NV.  It is a nice park and a good place to get good prices on buffets at the local casinos!  When we left Preferred, we went to Ridgeview RV Park in Bullhead City, AZ, for three nights. 

We got a really nice spot right on the bluff at Ridgeview. 

Out our big back window we could see the Colorado River and the bright lights of Laughlin, NV.  We could even leave our shades up all the time because there was no one between us and the view!

Our only tom peeper was a little roadrunner.  I think he could see himself in the shade of the window as he perched on our bikes, and he had a nice "visit" with himself.  We enjoyed ourselves there and sold some Scentsy at an open house in the clubhouse while line dancing and a potluck dinner was going on.  Terry helped with the Scentsy and enjoyed the meal, but he didn't join in any of the line dancing.  I was able to do a couple of dances until my leg (still healing from the break five months earlier) said it was enough.  The next day we were on our way to Golden Sun in Apache Junction, AZ.

 We took the picture for our Christmas cards so we could get them sent out.

We got to spend some time with Travis' family, going to a couple of Christmas concerts with Spencer and Nate performing.  One Monday night Spencer entertained us with some guitar playing.  He does a really good job.

Josh got all comfy under the pillows in a big chair.  He is just growing up too fast!

After spending a couple of weeks at Golden Sun, we parked our truck and the Condo at the home of one of Travis' friends and flew to Jill's home in Burns, WY, for Christmas and to stay for Kamber's baptism in January.  I know that some who know Terry are shocked at this because Terry does not fly!  But, with a little help from a prescription from Dr. Howard, he made it just fine!

We had a fun time enjoying some of Jill and Dan's Christmas family traditions.  One is to have a candlelight dinner on Christmas Eve.

Another tradition they started just this year is to read the Christmas Story around the campfire (since they had just gotten a new little campfire pit) on Christmas Eve.  It was kind of cold, but we actually got through the Christmas Story and roasted a few marshmallows before we gave in and went inside.

Kamber left a note for Santa.  She wanted to get a head start on next year!

Santa did find the Clayson house for the first time in Wyoming!  He even left stockings full of goodies for Terry and me.

Boe and Kamber check out their stockings.

Santa had left gerbils for the kids, but they didn't even notice them until they had gone through their stockings.  When they saw them, they were so excited!  They had asked Santa for them, but Jill kept saying they couldn't have them.  Santa won!  Jill told them that if they get out of their cages, the mouse traps would come out and that would be the end of the gerbils.  But, after a few days, I think even Jill thought they were pretty cute!

We spent the next week trying to keep up with Jill's family and all of their sports events, Church activities, and all those things that keep young families busy.  We went bowling on New Year's Eve and even made it through until the new year (except Jill fell asleep for a while on the couch) and saw the "ball" drop.  We have had a really good year and we are looking forward to a great new year in 2012!

Hunting, Sarah's, Jill's, Thanksgiving at Shay's 10/2011 - 11/2011

We got back to Emmett in time to get Terry ready to go hunting in Idaho Falls with our son, Shay.  I stayed home because Heidi and all the kids would be in school all day, so there was not much for me to do.  This is one of the few times Terry and I have been separated in the last five years!  It was pretty tough, but we survived! 

They had quite convoy after they got the 4-wheelers in the pickup and on the trailer, and everything hooked up.

They went hunting up by Mackey, ID, where Heidi's aunt lives.  They park in their yard and have electric hook-ups.  These are some of the hills they hunted.  They got up as far as the snowline.

Shay, coming home off the mountain, with nothing but his rifle attached to his 4-wheeler.  That was about the same story every day.  They saw lots of does, some moose and antelope, but no deer with antlers!  Oh well, they keep saying that they go mostly for the experience of the hunt!  Now they don't have to cut up any game!

After Terry got home from the big hunting trip, we made ready to head out for the season.  We were planning to spend Thanksgiving at Shay's, and since Sarah's husband, Ryan, was going to be in Korea for a couple of weeks in November, we decided to go to Grantsville and park  in Sarah's driveway for a few weeks to be there with her and the kids while Ryan was gone. 

It was lots of fun being being so close to them, and yet having our own home so we weren't under Sarah's feet all of the time.  The kids would pop in and out a lot and we spent quite a bit of time in their home.  Sarah fed us a lot and we had them over to eat a couple of times.  Lindee came over to show us her little pumpkin.

I got the kids started on "looming."  Luke is in the middle of making a stocking hat.  He did a good job.  Jenna made several scarves for herself and some friends.  It was a fun project.

We got to be there for Halloween and helped out with the pumpkin carving.

All of the pumpkins turned out great.  Here are Jenna, Luke, Lindee, and JT showing off their masterpieces!

JT got his face all painted up, getting ready for his Dracula costume.  He came over to the Condo to show us.

After they all got dressed in their costumes, Terry and Sarah took them out trick-or-treating.  I stayed home to hand out treats to all of the goblins who came visiting.  It was a fun night!

The kids had a few days off from school in November while Ryan was in Korea, so we loaded them up in Sarah's van and headed to Burns, WY, where Jill and Dan moved to.  We had never been there before.  It is just about 20 miles east of Cheyenne.  This is their back yard.  They bought a 1/2 acre lot and put a modular home and little shed on it.  There is plenty of room for their camp trailer and their trampoline.

This is the front of their home.  Like most roads in Burns, the town road in front of their home is not paved.
It will look really nice when they get some shutters put on the windows, a circle drive put in, and their lot lined with trees.  They need the trees for a wind block because the wind blows so much there!

There was still some snow on the ground when we got there.  The kids had lots of fun playing in it.  Here's Jenna, JT, Kamber, Luke and Boe making snowmen.

The boys were up for a snowball fight, but I don't think the girls thought it would be much fun.

Jill and Sarah out relaxing on the back deck.  There was kind of a wind block and the sun felt good!

Jenna, Kamber, and Lindee all dressed for more fun in the snow.

Some of the kids got sick while we were there, but Terry, JT, and I got to go to Cheyenne to watch Boe compete in a wrestling meet.  Boe took JT and let him set with the team during the meet.  JT thought that was great!

When we got back to Utah, we ended up getting snow.  Sarah kept the driveway clean for us, anxious for Ryan to get home to take over some of the chores!

Jenna, with her new short haircut, made a great snowman.

Jenna hadn't had her hair this short since she was really young.  I think it looks really cute on her.  She looks so grown-up!

Well, Ryan made it home from Korea and Thanksgiving was upon us!  Terry and I headed out for Shay's in Idaho Falls the day before and Sarah and her family got there that night.  We made a stop in Malad City, ID, to see my Dad's brother, Bill.

We hadn't seen Uncle Bill for a lot of years, but he hadn't changed much.  He lived with out family several times when I was just a little girl.  He has never married and lives by himself.  We bought lunch with us and had a great time visiting with him.

He is quite a collector and has a lot of things in his home.  I told him he was a good housekeeper and he told us he had just dusted everything that morning because we were coming!  He had a lot of knicknaks and has quite a collection of old dolls.  He showed us a music box that had belonged to his grandmother (my great-grandmother) and it still works

Uncle Bill has a nice little home and is really proud of it.  He will be 90 years old this September 30 and is  the oldest living relative on my Dad's side of the family.

He has a really nice big back yard.  He takes care of it all by himself, grows a garden, has fruit trees, and has seven cats!  We saw all of them!  We promised Uncle Bill that we would throw him a big birthday party in his back yard in September on his 90th birthday.  He seemed to think that would be a great idea.  It will be a great time! 

We had a great time at Shay's for Thanksgiving.  We took Emily a loom and she also did a good job making some scarves.  And then Marissa got this crazy idea that her ducks, Thelma and Louise, needed sweaters.  So I took some old yarn they had and tried to come up with a "duck sweater." 

 The next day, Marissa put the duck, dressed in the sweater, in a stroller and went out for a walk around the neighborhood.  She had several curious neighbors stop for a look!  How fun!

Before we left Utah to head south, we were able to get a bunch of our extended family together on my Mom's side of the family.  It was so good to see all of them--my cousin Vicky and Ken, Terry and I, my uncle Terry and Nancy, Aunt Eulala, Aunt Anna, and cousin Jo and Merle.  We had a great meal, but not nearly enough time to visit.  We will have to do it again!

We were also able to see our friends, Dutch and Gail, who live in Ogden.  They have land down in Wikieup next to my Mom's old place.  I have known them my whole life.  Dutch went to school with my Dad in Samaria, ID.  It was so good to see them feeling well and doing good. 

This is a picture of the Salt Palace that we would pass each time going home to Sarah's.  I took a picture of it with my phone and had to learn how to get it onto the computer for for BLOG.  So, this was an experiment!  When Sarah and Jill were 17 and 18 years old, we were in Utah and we dropped them off here for a New Year's Eve dance.  It was a little scary doing that because they thought they were more grown-up than I wanted them to me.  But they had a great time and everything went fine.  I always think of that when we pass by here.

We had a fun time getting to spend time with three of our kids and their families, and getting to see extended family and good friends while we were parked at Sarah's.  Thanks to Sarah and Ryan for all of their hospitality.  It was great, but they were probably glad to have their driveway back and their life return to normal as we pulled out and headed south to find some warmth and sunshine!

West Richland WA/Seaside OR/Long Beach WA/LaGrande OR 9/2011

After getting home and stressing out about my Dr appointment (I thought I might get in trouble for walking on my foot so much) I got a clean bill of health.  He even said I could start walking without the boot on and could even ride my bike (he thought I was kind of crazy for that idea) if I was careful and didn't fall on that leg!  Right!  He said I could come back in a month if I had any problems or questions.  Hurray!  We are on the road again--at least for another month.

Seaside RV Park, Seaside OR

Our first stop was in Seaside.  We have been there several times before and it is one of our favorite parks.  Taking it easy first, we did quite a bit of bike riding.  They have a boardwalk along the ocean that is really fun to ride on.  Our friends from Boring OR, Elaine & Larry, have a house in Seaside and they made plans to be there while we were there.  We ate, played games, and went on excursions with them.  Larry and Terry are getting a little close to the water on this cloudy day at Cannon Beach.

We found some little squirrels that were really friendly if you had food in your hand.  They ate out of Elaine's hand.

Terry also befriended a little squirrel by bribing it with food, while a seagull watched, hoping to get a bite.

My brother Ron and his wife and daughter (Kathy & Destiney) came to visit. As you can see, Kathy and I were in the same predicament. She had surgery on her foot a week before I did. So, we would go play a little too hard and walk a little too far at a time, and then get home and put our feet up with ice packs on them! We had lots of fun with them, although the weather was kind of drizzly. We went on a little train ride, saw sea lions, climbed the Astoria Column (well, some of us did--it more than 200 steps high), shopped, and ate.

We even took time to snack and watch a little TV!  We always have a good time when they visit us.

Long Beach RV Park, Seaview WA                                                 

We really like this park.  It is very small, but is within walking distance of the beach. 

The weather was a little cool, and I had a bit of a problem walking on the loose sand.  I told Terry we could drive the pick-up along the beach like a lot of people do, but he was a little leery about doing that. 

We decided to try selling Scentsy at a local craft sale in Ilwacco.  It was fun because it was right on the marina.  We did pretty good, but it ended up being so cold and windy that we all shut down early.  At least we got our sale for that park so we could count the mileage for our taxes.  The little craft sales in the park are more fun because we get a chance to meet and visit with our neighbor RVers.

There is a trail all the way from the park to the beach, but it is pretty sandy.  We found a different one that is down through the trees more and is not used as much.  It was a little easier riding than the other one.  So, off we go for a bike ride.

The dune grass is pretty high in some areas, but there are still lots of spots that we can watch the waves come and go.

Terry found a unique little bench to sit on and rest.  (I actually made him stop and sit on it so I could take a picture!)

The waves were pretty big this day, and noisy.  The roar of them is pretty scary sounding sometimes.  I don't think I would want to be out playing in them!

These porpoises were carved out of a piece of driftwood along the trail.

There are some picnic shelters at the public accesses.  The wind blows most of the time so these give some protection for people using them.  It looks like they are catching the high tide in this picture.

John Day Dam, John Day OR

We ended up leaving to go home from Long Beach instead of going back to Seaside, as we had planned.  We had heard that we could camp just below the John Day Dam at no cost.  Well there is a nice little park right below the dam that is available, but we made plans to meet my brother, Bill, and he was at a gravel pit down a little further, so we went there.
 

Bill surprised us and got there before we did.  He rode his "new" Honda Gold Wing motorcycle on his first ride on the freeway.  He was also anxious to try his luck at fishing there.  He didn't have very good luck fishing, but we enjoyed visiting with him.

We found a really nice place to park the Condo.  Looking out the back and side windows we could see the Columbia River.  It was so nice!

We could watch all of the barges on the river, being pushed by the tugboats.  It would have been fun to stay there for a few day instead of only one night.  That will be another trip.

After feeding Bill dinner, we tried to talk him into spending the night, but in the end he decided to go on home.  I think he just couldn't wait to get back in the seat his his new toy.  It rained on him going home, but he took it slow and made it there safely.

La Grande, OR                                                                                 

We stopped in La Grande at Ryan's home.  The trees had grown a little since we had parked in front of his house so Terry made a few adjustments.  Hope the city didn't mind us trimming their tree a little. 

We got to watch one of Wesley's football teams.  He actually played on the High School field, so that was pretty cool for him.

Wes plays offensive center, and sometimes defense also, for his team.  He does a good job.

To keep Chaz from getting "bored" we told him to run around the track.  I think he ran around it three times before he quit!

Ryley thought she would enter in on the fun, too, but she only made it around once.  I think it may have been due to her jeans that were a little big around the waist and she had to hold them up the whole way!

Chaz was pretty tired when he finished his third lap, but I didn't here anything about him being "bored" after that!

Ryley finished her lap at a pretty slow pace, but she made it.  It was fun seeing Ryan, Lori, and the kids.