More moving. I think I'll count up the moves for our family this last year and into 2010...
March 2009 Taya and Kevin
August 2009 Tawna and Nathan
September 2009 Robert
October 2009 Granny and Grumpy
November 2009 Taya and Kevin
January 2010 Jade and Jeff and Summer and Jamie
Wow. Seven moves. Makes me tired just to think about it. Oh yeah, the holidays or should I say Holidaze were in there somewhere too. We are crazy. ‘nuff said.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sweet Music
Long ago and far away Nana and Papa purchased a piano in California. It had once belonged to a cousin of Nana's who was a concert pianist. He actually had 3 pianos. It seems he passed away at a relatively young age and a few years after his passing his mother was selling the pianos. There was a baby grand that had already been purchased, a Kanabe 6 foot grand and a Steinway 9 foot concert grand. Nana and Papa went to see the pianos and decided to buy the 6 foot Kanabe grand. We had a Schnauzer dog named Tina that Nana raised puppies from and those puppies paid for the piano. She always told me that if I would keep playing I would someday inherit the piano. I took lessons for 9 years.
Through the years we moved a lot and never really had a place to put the piano. I had bought an upright piano from Nana's hair stylist, Ethel, when my kids were old enough to take lessons. That little piano has been everywhere. It had originally belonged to Ethel's granny and it only cost me 400.00. That's about all I could afford at the time. Tawna, Taya, Summer, and Jade all learned on that little piano. After we settled down in our home on 32nd Street I asked Nana if I could put the piano in our home there. She wasn't ready to part with it yet, so we continued to use the little piano. When we built our spec home in 2006/07 I made a special place for a big piano. Nana still wasn't ready to part with it. We had some money from a yearly bonus the year we had moved in that home and decided we really wanted a baby grand to enjoy. We intended to sell the piano and the furniture we bought for that house with the house when it sold. It didn't sell. The real estate market went to the bottom as we all know. When we left that home about a year after Nana's passing, we moved in with our Papa. I had professional piano movers come and move the big grand to a bigger room for it in the basement. Summer was going to live in the basement and I knew she would really enjoy playing the piano down there. I moved our baby grand into the piano room on the main level as it was a little smaller and looked good in that room. Meanwhile, Summer got married and now Jade and her family were living in the basement. She enjoyed the piano being a part of her family and now has a child old enough to start taking lessons.
Jade and Jeff just moved into a home of their own and Papa graciously let me have the big grand piano. She is storing it for me in her dining room. She is thrilled to have a piano in her home. It is a very old piano, over 60 years old, so she and her family have promised to take very good care of it. She will have it tuned and start looking for a teacher for both her and Jaxon to start lessons with the next school year. I hope the legacy of piano music will find it's way into Jaxon's heart as well as Jade's. It is one of the best therapies I know of when you are sad, grieving, stressed, even angry. No matter the reason you go to the piano, you always leave the piano in a better state of mind. Unless of course you are learning a new piece and are a little frustrated with the learning curve. All in all, it is a comfort and source of peace most times.
I used to think I was going to have to put a truckload of money into this antique to refurbish it. The man that moved it for me told me it was in excellent condition for it's age. I could do a little cosmetic TLC, have it tuned and be happy for many, many years to come. That set my mind at ease. The cost of totally refurbishing would be as much as a new piano. I don't have that in my budget these days. My little baby grand is still in the piano room at Papa's. I don't know when I'll be in a place I feel I can be stable enough to move it. Time will tell. It is in a good place and we all still go there to see Papa and play the piano there. Summer has our first little granny's piano and we are tuning it for her as her Christmas present. It's time her children learned to play. Taya and Kevin are looking for a piano to start their kids out on and Tawna has Grandma Dorothy's piano in her home.
I still play, Grumpy still enjoys sitting down to play and we are grateful we had parents who sacrificed some of their “extras” so we could learn to play the piano. Blessed are we to have such an opportunity for beautiful music in our homes.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Infamous Family Pictures
Yes, the dreaded huge group shot that we haven't done for over 8 years. And after 8 years our group in considerably larger. As with all family group pictures there is always the scheduling factor. Taya has been attempting to get it all calendered since October. We finally got everyone on the same page for January 16th, 10 am at the Potato Barn. Everyone was to wear jeans, and any combination of red, white and black on the top. Whew! Little did we know that R.B. was going to have some medical issues. He was just out of the hospital on Thursday following a horrible bout with an out of control kidney stone. The stone was too large to pass and was lodged. He underwent a surgical procedure to have it blasted with a laser to break it up into passable pieces. I told him in the hospital that we could forego having him there and I could photoshop him in the pic later, or we could do individual family shots and do the big group later. He was determined to be there. I felt so bad that he was still in so much pain. I was so glad that he soldiered through it. I guess ambivalent feelings are just that. Our pictures only took about an hour (amazing in and of itself considering we were 31 people) so I hope he was able to get some relief when he got home.
Everyone looked like the beautiful people that they are. I took some candid shots here and there as Aimee was setting up her shots. I didn't quite get all the families as we were chasing kids and having fun talking as all this was going on. Here are some of the “behind the scenes” I did get:
Our photographer Aimee (http://www.pyperjanedesigns.blogspot.com} setting up Taya and Kevin's family.
This was our other unhappy camper for the day. Emersyn did not like anything about picture day. She only wanted to be running around and would head for the busy road. Such a sad little girl. Such a frustrated mom. Kevin finally resorted to the old throw them up in the air to get a smile routine before each shot. It didn't work. Oh well, we have Emersyn being Emersyn in all the family shots. Such is history recorded.
Our “Men in Black”… Jeff, Taylor, Jake, Jaime, and Robert. The little guys are Austin, Aden, Jaxon and Carson.
Getting all our men together for our manly men shot.
Kaitlin being the pillow prop girl.
Tawna and Nathan's family
After all the pics were done…
And now lunch at the infamous Higley Hot Dog. Nathan, Robert, Jeff, and R.B. swear by this place. They do have good hot dogs, chili cheese fries, etc. It was my first time there, Grumpy too. We had fun with Tawna and Nathan, Faith, Chance and Rylee. I think I'll call it “Heart Attack on a Plate”. I have various places around town that are dubbed “Heart Attack in a Sack”, “Heart Attack by the Dozen”, and so on. Good Stuff.
I wish I had gotten a few shots of Summer and Jaime's family, R.B. and Stacie's family, and Jade and Jeff's family. But alas, we all know what confusion and fun these gatherings are. Jade had to jet back to work as she ended up not being to get the day off. Robert took off with R.B. to get him home and to some pain killers fast. Stacie loaded up the kids and headed them to Rylan's football game so he could play that day. Busy families, busy lives. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Everyone looked like the beautiful people that they are. I took some candid shots here and there as Aimee was setting up her shots. I didn't quite get all the families as we were chasing kids and having fun talking as all this was going on. Here are some of the “behind the scenes” I did get:
Our photographer Aimee (http://www.pyperjanedesigns.blogspot.com} setting up Taya and Kevin's family.
This was our other unhappy camper for the day. Emersyn did not like anything about picture day. She only wanted to be running around and would head for the busy road. Such a sad little girl. Such a frustrated mom. Kevin finally resorted to the old throw them up in the air to get a smile routine before each shot. It didn't work. Oh well, we have Emersyn being Emersyn in all the family shots. Such is history recorded.
Our “Men in Black”… Jeff, Taylor, Jake, Jaime, and Robert. The little guys are Austin, Aden, Jaxon and Carson.
Getting all our men together for our manly men shot.
Kaitlin being the pillow prop girl.
Tawna and Nathan's family
After all the pics were done…
And now lunch at the infamous Higley Hot Dog. Nathan, Robert, Jeff, and R.B. swear by this place. They do have good hot dogs, chili cheese fries, etc. It was my first time there, Grumpy too. We had fun with Tawna and Nathan, Faith, Chance and Rylee. I think I'll call it “Heart Attack on a Plate”. I have various places around town that are dubbed “Heart Attack in a Sack”, “Heart Attack by the Dozen”, and so on. Good Stuff.
I wish I had gotten a few shots of Summer and Jaime's family, R.B. and Stacie's family, and Jade and Jeff's family. But alas, we all know what confusion and fun these gatherings are. Jade had to jet back to work as she ended up not being to get the day off. Robert took off with R.B. to get him home and to some pain killers fast. Stacie loaded up the kids and headed them to Rylan's football game so he could play that day. Busy families, busy lives. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Pigs in a Blanket
Oh the memories of Pigs in a Blanket day at the cafeteria. I thought they were the best thing ever for school lunches. We made some at the cabin earlier this month with R.B. and Stacie's kids when they visited. They went over so well I thought I would try it with Jaxon, Ryker and Aden. Jaxon and Ryker both helped, but Aden was glued to his game.
While the blankets were cooking, Grumpy and Jaxon worked on a model Jaxon got for Christmas. I think there are a million pieces. At least.
They had lots of fun. Got a few pieces assembled and we had pigs to dip in the condiments of our choices. Some like ketchup, some like nothing, some like thousand island dressing. (me) The dressing is what we got at the cafeteria. Yummm. I know, it's sick, but what do you do when it's such a memory? We had them again at Taya's house last week. I missed the prep part, but came home and ate some.
I hope the kids had as much fun as I did.
While the blankets were cooking, Grumpy and Jaxon worked on a model Jaxon got for Christmas. I think there are a million pieces. At least.
They had lots of fun. Got a few pieces assembled and we had pigs to dip in the condiments of our choices. Some like ketchup, some like nothing, some like thousand island dressing. (me) The dressing is what we got at the cafeteria. Yummm. I know, it's sick, but what do you do when it's such a memory? We had them again at Taya's house last week. I missed the prep part, but came home and ate some.
I hope the kids had as much fun as I did.
Jaxon's Big Day
The Big Eight for Jaxon was in December, but he was baptized in January. It was a really nice day and Jaxon was really excited to get baptized. It was a pretty short meeting as there was only one other boy being baptized that day.
Lots of cousins were there to help celebrate this important day.
Grumpy and I got him a CTR ring that is a band with another band that spins around on it. He thought it was really cool. I hope he can keep it a long time and let it remind him to make good choices.
We can't do anything without eating of course, so off we went to Macaroni Grill. We were really early for our reservation, so wait we did. A long time. All the kids decided to play in the grassy retention basin and being the boy that he is, Jaxon just had to climb the tree.
It was a memory to cherish.
Lots of cousins were there to help celebrate this important day.
Grumpy and I got him a CTR ring that is a band with another band that spins around on it. He thought it was really cool. I hope he can keep it a long time and let it remind him to make good choices.
We can't do anything without eating of course, so off we went to Macaroni Grill. We were really early for our reservation, so wait we did. A long time. All the kids decided to play in the grassy retention basin and being the boy that he is, Jaxon just had to climb the tree.
It was a memory to cherish.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Visitors from the Valley
Yay. Nothing we like better than visitors. R.B. surprised us with a visit this weekend with his four cute kids. Stacie stayed home to get a little R&R of her own. We missed her, but I know at that stage of life I would have killed for a weekend of peace in my own home. Hopefully they will visit again soon and she will come too. R.B. did such a wonderful job taking care of the kids and making sure they were warm enough etc. He is great Daddy. The first order of business was to get them fed. They got here around 11:00 and were starving of course. We went to a little restaurant called Bulk Foods restaurant and store. A local family owns and operates it and they have really good food. As we were looking at the menu to order (this was our first time there) R.B. and I both noticed something very touching on the back side. At the bottom back side was a line that read:
Unemployed, Children, Broke
(and then four items were listed) $1.50.
This is a small town and the downturn in the economy has hit pretty hard here. It was nice to see this family who is struggling themselves reach out to help others in their way. The other nice thing is that for the most part I am sure that their clientele would not take advantage of this unless they really were unemployed, broke or ordering for a child. We ate our fill there and went back to the cabin. As we were thinking of something we could do with the kids, my friend Leigh called. She mentioned they had two sleds we could borrow and that there was a hill not far away that a lot of people used for this fun. We went by and picked up the sleds and went in search of this hill. There were indeed several families there and had made some good runs down the hill. There was a dirt/gravel road at the end of this hill, so we had to “catch” the kids as there was an occasional car or truck coming that way. I, not having any snow appropriate shoes at this time elected to watch from the truck.
Is Carson thinking “Huuuummmmm, do I really want to go again?” Megan, Austin and Rylan getting set to go again. They couldn't get enough.
The kids were having a great time, and kept sledding down and trudging back up the hill for quite a while. When it was finally time to go, there had to be a snow fight by the truck. Had to be. R.B. and Grumpy needed little excuse to join in when the kids starting throwing handfuls of snow at them. “not in the face” was the only real rule. So it began. Went on for a while, and then I thought, I better roll up this window. Did so in the nick of time.
See? I'm no dummy.
Now that the kids were all wet and cold we decided to go to Bison Ranch to explore a little. We were going to feed the horses there some carrots, but when we went to ask permission were told the Ranch horses were gone for the winter and the horses left there were privately owned. They didn't need carrots that day, so we thanked them and left to explore else where. Upon driving around we spotted an Ice Cream Parlor as part of an establishment called “The Coffeehouse”. Ice Cream goes right along with being wet and cold from sledding and snowfighting, right? In we went to get the kids some ice cream. Grumpy and I passed on the treat, but R.B. got them each a cone.
Tummies filled again we went back to the cabin for some down time. R.B. was clever and generous enough to bring a loaner TV with him. He got it set up and working and so the rest of the afternoon looked like this…
Megan preferred listening to TV and drawing. They brought a couple of games, so there was game playing too. I am a total dud when it comes to games. I didn't play them growing up, and don't really enjoy them, so Grumpy is the hero here. He is always happy (and patient enough) to play games with the kids. I love this about him. After a while, he decided to run out some wiggles with them and so they bundled up again and went for a walk to the runway and the lodge/playground up the road a bit. I used this opportunity to run to the little market here and get stuff for some “pigs in a blanket” and s'mores for later that night. The kids rolled their pigs in the croissant blankets and we baked them to perfection. They really liked them and ate them all. That was always my favorite lunch day when I was little.
No hotdogs for R.B. and Grumpy. They had the last of the Italian Sandwiches. I should mention that our refrigerator here freezes everything on the bottom shelf, and in the drawers most of the time. The leftovers from Christmas Eve enjoyed a long life since they were semi frozen most of the time while here. After some more TV time and dinner settled Grumpy went out and started a fire in the fire pit to get ready for s'mores. When there was enough coals, R.B. bundled them up again, and out we went to enjoy sticky marshmallows, and then some delicious s'mores. The kids all told a story or two, even Carson. He had quite the stories to tell. He really likes guns. (pretend of course). What imaginations they all have. After we had consumed enough chocolate and sugar back in the cabin and pajama time. They stayed up a while watching “Hocus Pocus” (? In January?) on one of the cable stations and then it was time for bed. We all stayed up and talked for a while. I felt so bad for R.B. His back was really hurting from something he had done earlier in the week. Loading and unloading toy haulers for the dunes, riding at the dunes, putting up bins of Christmas decorations, who knows? Something didn't go right and his back was really giving him problems. He never complained, but I know how bad that can feel. We eventually all went to bed and I hope got some sleep.
Grumpy made breakfast for the crew Sunday morning and they loaded up to leave. What a fun weekend. I loved seeing them and making a great memory with them. Let's do it again soon.
Unemployed, Children, Broke
(and then four items were listed) $1.50.
This is a small town and the downturn in the economy has hit pretty hard here. It was nice to see this family who is struggling themselves reach out to help others in their way. The other nice thing is that for the most part I am sure that their clientele would not take advantage of this unless they really were unemployed, broke or ordering for a child. We ate our fill there and went back to the cabin. As we were thinking of something we could do with the kids, my friend Leigh called. She mentioned they had two sleds we could borrow and that there was a hill not far away that a lot of people used for this fun. We went by and picked up the sleds and went in search of this hill. There were indeed several families there and had made some good runs down the hill. There was a dirt/gravel road at the end of this hill, so we had to “catch” the kids as there was an occasional car or truck coming that way. I, not having any snow appropriate shoes at this time elected to watch from the truck.
Is Carson thinking “Huuuummmmm, do I really want to go again?” Megan, Austin and Rylan getting set to go again. They couldn't get enough.
The kids were having a great time, and kept sledding down and trudging back up the hill for quite a while. When it was finally time to go, there had to be a snow fight by the truck. Had to be. R.B. and Grumpy needed little excuse to join in when the kids starting throwing handfuls of snow at them. “not in the face” was the only real rule. So it began. Went on for a while, and then I thought, I better roll up this window. Did so in the nick of time.
See? I'm no dummy.
Now that the kids were all wet and cold we decided to go to Bison Ranch to explore a little. We were going to feed the horses there some carrots, but when we went to ask permission were told the Ranch horses were gone for the winter and the horses left there were privately owned. They didn't need carrots that day, so we thanked them and left to explore else where. Upon driving around we spotted an Ice Cream Parlor as part of an establishment called “The Coffeehouse”. Ice Cream goes right along with being wet and cold from sledding and snowfighting, right? In we went to get the kids some ice cream. Grumpy and I passed on the treat, but R.B. got them each a cone.
Tummies filled again we went back to the cabin for some down time. R.B. was clever and generous enough to bring a loaner TV with him. He got it set up and working and so the rest of the afternoon looked like this…
Megan preferred listening to TV and drawing. They brought a couple of games, so there was game playing too. I am a total dud when it comes to games. I didn't play them growing up, and don't really enjoy them, so Grumpy is the hero here. He is always happy (and patient enough) to play games with the kids. I love this about him. After a while, he decided to run out some wiggles with them and so they bundled up again and went for a walk to the runway and the lodge/playground up the road a bit. I used this opportunity to run to the little market here and get stuff for some “pigs in a blanket” and s'mores for later that night. The kids rolled their pigs in the croissant blankets and we baked them to perfection. They really liked them and ate them all. That was always my favorite lunch day when I was little.
No hotdogs for R.B. and Grumpy. They had the last of the Italian Sandwiches. I should mention that our refrigerator here freezes everything on the bottom shelf, and in the drawers most of the time. The leftovers from Christmas Eve enjoyed a long life since they were semi frozen most of the time while here. After some more TV time and dinner settled Grumpy went out and started a fire in the fire pit to get ready for s'mores. When there was enough coals, R.B. bundled them up again, and out we went to enjoy sticky marshmallows, and then some delicious s'mores. The kids all told a story or two, even Carson. He had quite the stories to tell. He really likes guns. (pretend of course). What imaginations they all have. After we had consumed enough chocolate and sugar back in the cabin and pajama time. They stayed up a while watching “Hocus Pocus” (? In January?) on one of the cable stations and then it was time for bed. We all stayed up and talked for a while. I felt so bad for R.B. His back was really hurting from something he had done earlier in the week. Loading and unloading toy haulers for the dunes, riding at the dunes, putting up bins of Christmas decorations, who knows? Something didn't go right and his back was really giving him problems. He never complained, but I know how bad that can feel. We eventually all went to bed and I hope got some sleep.
Grumpy made breakfast for the crew Sunday morning and they loaded up to leave. What a fun weekend. I loved seeing them and making a great memory with them. Let's do it again soon.
New Years Day
Pretty exciting day for us. We were invited to a potluck that began around 11:30 at the hanger apartment of some friends up here. It was nice to meet some of the people who live in the area and get to know them a little bit. We stayed quite a while and then Gumpy flew home with Farrell so he would have some company while he ferried his plane back to the Phoenix area. They immediately got in Farrell's truck and drove back up here. Grumpy made Italian Sandwiches for all of us as Leigh had come over to spend some time with me while the boys were gone. They said goodbye after dinner and we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.
There is a fine line between relaxing and just pure boredom. The line was beginning to blur a bit since we still had no T.V. I was beginning to tire of so much reading. Even though I love to read.
Time to break out the Ben and Jerry's. While in Showlow after seeing “Avatar” we had stopped by a Safeway there and picked up a few things. Among them were a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry's super calorie laden ice cream. We don't get them very often, but sometimes you just gotta have some of the really good stuff. I was a little worried about how to get them home since we were at least 30 minutes away and had no ice chest with us. Not to worry. We put the sack in the bed of the truck and drove home. It was only 28 degrees F and they didn't even begin to thaw by the time we were home. Crazy. We ate our decadent treat and settled in to read until midnight. When it was getting close, Grumpy got up and made our toast of choice this year (since we were out of Eggnog which is our traditional toast)…hot chocolate.
Yum. It was a very quiet night, but that was just fine. We enjoyed each other's company. Grumpy hit the sheets after his hot chocolate and I of course stayed up to read a bit more. Then I decided to work on some blogging, so was up until about 3 am. I get like that once in while. Thus, we ushered in 2010. I'll work on some resolutions sometime…maybe.
There is a fine line between relaxing and just pure boredom. The line was beginning to blur a bit since we still had no T.V. I was beginning to tire of so much reading. Even though I love to read.
Time to break out the Ben and Jerry's. While in Showlow after seeing “Avatar” we had stopped by a Safeway there and picked up a few things. Among them were a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry's super calorie laden ice cream. We don't get them very often, but sometimes you just gotta have some of the really good stuff. I was a little worried about how to get them home since we were at least 30 minutes away and had no ice chest with us. Not to worry. We put the sack in the bed of the truck and drove home. It was only 28 degrees F and they didn't even begin to thaw by the time we were home. Crazy. We ate our decadent treat and settled in to read until midnight. When it was getting close, Grumpy got up and made our toast of choice this year (since we were out of Eggnog which is our traditional toast)…hot chocolate.
Yum. It was a very quiet night, but that was just fine. We enjoyed each other's company. Grumpy hit the sheets after his hot chocolate and I of course stayed up to read a bit more. Then I decided to work on some blogging, so was up until about 3 am. I get like that once in while. Thus, we ushered in 2010. I'll work on some resolutions sometime…maybe.
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