We got home from our trip where we had traveled from coast-to-coast and I had a meltdown as far as taking pictures and keeping the blog up. So, after a year has passed, I am trying to catch up because I know I will be sorry if I completely leave out a year of our retirement travels, even though we are now kind of repeating ourselves. Thank goodness I was able to borrow pictures from McCormick and our Imlay Family Reunion from others, so I had quite a few pics from them, but now I will just kind of hit the highlights of our 2013/2014 season.
We got home from Idaho Falls on June 2 and had Shay with us. We had met him there with a U-Haul and his family to move them back into their house there. They hadn't been able to sell it and Heidi and the kids planned to live in it the next school year while Shay commuted to Emmett (living in his camp trailer and with Lorrie at our house.!) After Marissa's graduation we came home.
It was so good to have Shay with us for the summer, and Heidi and the kids would come stay for periods of time. In June he helped us put in a 100 amp electrical service down to our big shop and a 50 amp hookup added to our patio RV spot. We couldn't have done it without him! The worst part was having to crawl up in our attic space and string the wires. Shay would come down for a break after being up there for about 15 minutes and you could wring the sweat out of his shirt! I should have taken pictures. They dug a trench and did all the work themselves. When Shay turned on the 50 amp plug, everything snapped, crackled, and popped! But, it only turned out to be a couple of wires touching. It is so nice--we now have four RV electrical hookups. With Shay's trailer and our motorhome plugged in, it still left two more hookups for family when they came in a little early for the Imlay Reunion.
When Sarah & Ryan came in, Luke and JT passed off a cub scout requirement to raise and lower a flag and fold it.
Sarah and the girls, Lindee and Jenna watched from the front steps.
Ryan helped put up our swings we had bought in Mexico. They worked really well, with Jenna, Emily, and Lindee enjoying one of them.
The kids make good use of all of our pavement and Lorrie's riding toys. Luke, Tyson, and JT are racing down the driveway on the wiggle cars and the three-wheel scooter.
After Travis's family arrived, we had a crowd. Nothing better than having a home full of grandkids!
Jenna and Emily thought it was a little more peaceful out in Grandma and Grandpa's motorhome working on their embroidered cards.
All of our kids but Jill came to the Imlay Family Reunion that the Fishers were in charge of in Emmett, and then they all followed us to McCormick except Travis and his family, where Jill and her family joined us. It was so nice having all of our kids and their families with us during those couple of weeks.
After McCormick, we went on up to Cascade and stayed a week at Blue Heron Campground on Cascade Lake where the camp hosts were Ron & Sharon Vickery. We caught a few perch and had a good time. Later on in the month, we went back up with Shay and his family, just for a Saturday of boating and fishing. I was walking down to get in the boat with everyone and my phone rang. It was a member of the Bishopric of our ward in Emmett. He said that the speakers had bailed for talks in Church the next day and wondered if we would be willing to help him out of a bind and talk in Sacrament Meeting. I couldn't believe that Terry finally agreed! We got home about 8:00 that evening and then spent the rest of the night getting talks ready. They were probably two of the best talks we ever gave!
Shay was missing his family so much that we decided to keep him busy! I had been mentioning to Terry for several years that it would sure be nice to use up some of that wasted space in our shop, with a loft. Well, Shay took ahold of the idea and in a couple of days had his supply list and we went to the lumber yard. I think he actually ended up going to Home Depot several times, too. But he had everything figured out, almost down to the last bolt.
Chaz was baptized the end of August so we stopped in LaGrande for a couple of nights on our way to the coast. I know there were pictures taken, but none by me! Shay rode his motorcycle from Emmett to the baptism. The kids thought that was kind of cool. He is letting Chaz, Ryan, and Ryley try it out!
Terry had been giving Sarah a sob story about not having any fresh veggies from her garden, so she had mailed him a box of cucumbers, spaghetti squash, and some other goodies, so Shay strapped the box onto the back of his motorcycle and brought them! I can't believe she mailed all of that to us, but it sure was nice taking fresh veggies from Utah to the coast with us!
