More From Georgia!

Brittney & I have kept busy doing laundry & more laundry, cleaning, sewing burp
clothes & making cookies. And getting brave enough to venture out for short trips to the grocery store, Barnes & Noble & one morning took a short drive up to Kennesaw mountain Battlefield
Park. It's quite an undertaking to get the three little ones ready & take them out for a shortwhile. Brittney will have her hands full after I leave.

It's been raining here for two days & two nights & more expected for tomorrow. The ground
is just saturated. It looks very winterish & moorish here with all the folliage off the trees.

Kelly says it's real quiet at Home. But he did get out for an afternoon to watch a Pickle Ball
Tournament with Shaun, Lauren, Joyce & Dan. Joyce invited them over for dinner afterwards.
He said the games were very entertaining & he's going to get me a paddle or racket so we
can start practicing together when I get home. It's good excercise!! Lauren was good to
have him over for dinner & I guess they are blessing baby Tatum Meadow Gothard this
sunday & having family members over afterwards. Shucks to bad I can't be in two places
at once, but I'll call for details and maybe someone will put some pictures on the blog!! Well
that's it for now.

Hi From Georgia!

The day finally arrived. Feb 21st for me to board the plane & fly out to Georgia to help Brittney
with her new baby. Earlier that week on Monday, Brittney had called to say they were able to fit her in early & have
the baby induced 4 days before her due date. So we were surprized when she called & said she
was in the hospital & expecting her baby to be born that day. Three hrs. later & another call
& Chris announced that little Madolin Kelly had been born. She weighed 7 lbs. 7 0z., 19 inches
long, born in the late afternoon Georgia time. They said she had lots of black hair, nice coloring
& very cute!! At first I thought she looked more like the Curby-side of the family but now she's
looking more like Brittney. She's a good baby, but she does have a nice set of lungs. Mom &
baby are doing fine.

I managed to drive the kids to Church & back on Sunday without getting lost. You would'nt
believe these roads back here. The name of the road from here to the Church changes three
times & it's only a 15 min. drive. The road winds down & up and around like a cow trail.
Brittney was able to get a good nap & rest while we were at church.

Backtracking abit, I admit I was a bit nervous this time to fly after seeing in the news the
three airplane crashes the weeks before. But I kept telling myself those happened up
north & I was flying in the south of the country. Kelly & I got a little moist-eyed on saying
our good-byes at the airport. Kelly started it! We kinda surprized ourselves. It's been
along time since we've been away from each other for 10 -12 days. But they say absence
makes the heart grow fonder. The flight was a bit eventful. First there was mild turbulence
for 3/4ths of the flight which I'd never experienced before. And the lady behind me got
sick & lost it into a bag. And we had a medical emergency on the plane. A young woman
that sat by me while waiting for our flight had some kind of problem in flight & on our arrival in Georgia we had to sit on the plane & wait for the paramedics to arrive with an ambulance & take her to a hospital. Chris & McCade met me at the airport. They saw me before I saw them.
I was kinda surprized when someone grabbed onto my leg & it was McCade.

Since then Brittney & I have been taking pictures & lovin' this new little one. Friends &
neighbors & relatives have been very kind to bring in dinners, gifts & make visits. It's been
fun getting reaquainted with Brittneys little family & I must say I'd forgotten about the
decibles of noise the little kids can make! Ha! Ha! Will write more later & will have to
post pictures after I get home. I forgot my computer attachment at home.

Our Happy Valentines!

Well this morning I woke up to a sweet smelling aroma & discovered it was a
beautiful bouquet of roses & white lilies & valentine chocolates! And I gave
Kelly a heart-attack with little hearts & Valentine chocolates & card.
Well when you've been married as long
as we have you start to think alike! Look at our cards. Mine to Kelly on the left,
& Kelly's to me on the right!!!! OOh La La! We got an extra hug & kiss for that!
Funny!!! I'll leave the hearts up while I'm gone so Kelly will know I'm thinking of him.
We've been celebrating for sometime now . . . . . . . .
Since I'd wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory for several weeks, we
ended up going up north to the one on Camelback the friday before this. And since it
was a bit expensive because we indulged with cheesecake also, we decided that
would be our Valentine Dinner! Well this friday comes & Kelly offered to go to
our favorite Chinese Restuarant. Sooo I said okayyyy! The Golden Gate has the
best Chinese Food. Then we were planning on going to the Stake Valentines Dance
& entertainment this evening, (Sat.) but I gave Kelly an option of movie or Valentine Dance &
of course he picked movie. So off we went to Sweet Tomatoes & to see Bride Wars
in Ahwatukee, staring Kate Hudson & Anne Hatheway. It was a funny, sad & happy
movie. We enjoyed it! I think Kelly's being generous because he knows I'm leaving next
saturday for Georgia, and will be gone for twelve days helping Brittney when her baby
is born. It's been a long time since we've been away from each other that long. We'll
see how we handle it! . . . . . See you soon Brittney & hope we timed this right!

We're happy too that Sean was able to get his back surgery & all has gone well so far &
Brent starts a new job on Tuesday. That's ocassion to celebrate!! Good luck to you both!!

Valentines Day

My Flower Garden

Well I decided to plant some different kinds of flowers this year. I planted
some red & pink Geraniums. They kind-of remind me of my MOM. She used to
have several of these flower plants in the kitchen window. I also planted some
pink Gerbana flowers. I'm hoping they'll last longer into the warm weather! Funny!
I guess I unknowingly picked Valentine colors, how appropriate for the mo. of Feb.!!

LaVerne said she heard me say I wanted to plant some more rose bushes so she
gave me a bareroot pretty pink rose bush for my birthday. Thank You, LaVerne!

In looking for places to plant it I decided to dig up all the old Aloe Vera plants along the front wall. They had really multiplied. It took plenty of digging to get them all out & it amounted to a 2 ft. high pile of wheelbarrow full!! I saved several Aloe Vera & planted them along the
south fence so as to keep Kelly happy!

In following the planting instructions I had to dig an 18 inch deep hole by 2 & 1/2 ft. wide.
Wow if that wasn't a work out! I must say I got my exercise that day & did a little leaning
on the shovel too! Huff! Puff! Now it's just water, wait & watch grow!! And that's My
Flower Garden experience of late!!

Something Fun & Random!

Ashley recently had a sort-of "What have you done?" list of 99 things posted on her blog.
You were supposed to tally up your score of how many of the things you'd done. Just
something fun & random. Well my score was 52. So I guess I have lived & experienced
a little! There were other things I have done that I thought were kinda equivalent or
sort-of though, instead.

*I did start my own Blog with Ashley's help. Still learning!

* I played snare drums in our High School Band
along with another girl & guy. We even took a Band, Choir & Dance trip to the city of
Chihuahua, Monterey & Mexico Cities. We performed at the Arbolillo (similar to our
BYU), at an American High School for foreign students, & at a Church Stake Center.

* I've climbed the mountain to the Statue of Christ, called "Christ Redeemer" now listed
as one of the new 7 top wonders of the world in Rio De Janiero, Brazil. Drank coconut
juice out of a coconut on the famous Copacabana Beach & walked it's beaches.

* I sang solos in our High School musicals. I was Linda Low in "The Flower Drum Song",
and The Baroness in "The Sound of Music" The Baroness had singing parts in the
stage version.

* I've climbed to the top of the " St. Augustine Lighthouse" at 165 ft. high with 8 flights
of spiral staircase! Huff, Puff, Whew!! St. Augustine, Florida, is the oldest city in the
United States. And been to the top of the "Latino Americana" in Mexico City. (similar
to our Empire State Bldg.)

*Grown some vegetables? I grew a hot-bed of little tomato plants when I was twelve
yrs. old for one of my Beehive class awards. When the plants were sufficiently big, my
dad helped me transplant them to a good size field out on the farm. We had to pick those
huge horrible green worms off them quite often. Had lots of fresh tomatoes and canned
plenty of stewed tomatoes for the family food storage. I remember being quite impressed
with the harvest! Also helped dad hand plant a whole field of corn, watched it grow,
harvested & family canned the corn. Had plenty of fresh corn on the cob also.
Planted a family backyard garden in Sacramento, Calif. Among other vegetables, I
planted a whole row of Zuchinni, not knowing!!!!! Wow! We shared with the whole
neighborhood!! Zuchinni out our ears!

* Hitch hiked with a complete stranger to Pacheco with Ivelen & 2 yr. old Lori, when
the family van broke down at the springs on the first part of trip up the mountains. My Dad
drove back down & fixed the Van & rescued the family.

* Haven't visited the Vatican, but visited several huge old Cathederals in Mexico City
from the Spanish Era.

* Been in the Newspaper? Had picture in the paper in Michigan when a drunk driver
hit us from behind going 95 mph! We had gone to Chicago to pick up Kelly's brother
at Heathrow Airport & were on our way home. We were in the passing lane on the freeway
& little 2 yr. old Lori was sleeping in the back of the station wagon (before days of
seatbelts) & she was ejected out the back window, up & over his car & landed in the
medium. The freeway was loaded with semi-trucks. Miraculously she suffered only
bruises & scratches & spent the night in the hospital for observance. She & I both
had a limp for a few days but ok. I was eight mos. pregnant with Julie at the time.
I believe in guardian angels!! Totalled our vehicle!

* I got to shake hands with President David O. McKay when I was 8 yrs. old and
attended the dedication of the Bureau Of Information (visitors center) on the Mesa
Temple grounds with my parents. - I've been in Joseph & Emma Smith's Mansion Home
in Nauvoo.

* I haven't been to Eifel Tower, Lincoln Memorial or Wall of China. But I've been to the
Pyramids near Mexico City twice and been to Maxmillian's & Carlotta's Palace twice.
Attended the Bale Flocorico in Old Spanish Era Theatre, with famous glass curtain brought
over by Maxmillian from the old World. . . . . . . Drank out of the Fountain of Youth
discovered by Ponce De Leon in St. Agustine, Florida. . . . . . Visited the Redwood Forest
& went thru arch in the trunk of a giant Redwood Tree large enough for a small car to
drive thru, in California.

* Been on a speeding Motorcycle? I've been in a motorcycle accident with 2 highschool
friends, Neil Spillsbury & Donna Komp. Was layed up for a week with a badly scraped
knee doing schoolwork from home & limped for several weeks.

* Saw lots of Amish communities in northern Chihuahua, Mexico.

* Gone without sleep for 24 hrs? In Colonia Juarez, Mexico (Mormon Colonies) they
raise alot of fruit orchards & in the wintertime they would have to keep smudge pots
lit and burning so the frost wouldn't freeze the fruit. During that season alot of the guys
would stay up all night tending the pots & miss school the next day to catch up on sleep.
So. . . Virginia Romney & I got permission from our parents to stay up with the guys
one night & have a smudging, visiting, kinda fun working experience with the guys.
And the bonus part of course, miss school the next day to sleep!! Funny thing during
that season we'd have to check our noses in the mornings because they'd get a little
black smudge in the nostrils.

* Held a lamb? I've held & bottle fed lots of baby lambs on the Queen Creek farm.
They use to follow us kids to the school bus stop in the mornings & we'd have
to run them back home & run back to catch the bus. Sometimes we missed the bus!

* Been on a cruise? I haven't been on a long Cruise but I've taken a Speed Boat Ride
up the Iguasu River to the falls & felt it's mists in Brazil. . . . .Been on a Panama City
Bay 2 hr. dinner Cruise twice & been on a Savannah Riverboat dinner cruise in
Savannah, Georgia. Man there rivers are huge back there! There were huge ocean going
vessels going up & down the river loading & hualing cargo for overseas. . . . . I've toured
the U.S.S. Alabama Battleship & the U.S.S. Drum Submarine, it earned 12 battlestars in
World War II. It took 2 1/2 hrs. practically running to see all of the battleship. In
my journal I recorded they baked 550 loaves of bread a day to feed the crew each day.
I was impressed! It's like a small city!
* Seen Niagara Falls? I haven't seen Niagara Falls, but I've been to the Iguasu Falls
in Brazil where Shaun served some of his mission & we visited when we went to pick
him up. It was shear thunderous beauty!! I was mesmerized & the mist felt wonderful!
I could have stayed all day enjoying! They had a little freindly racoon-like animal called
a "Quachi" that wandered the place & would come right up to you to investigate! I had
to have one of those cute little stuffed look-a-likes & carried it home on the plane.

* Toured the Everglades? No, but I've driven over a good part of them. We drove miles
& miles on elevated freeway through Louisiana & Alabama over water & Everglades.
I was amazed!! I wondered how they ever built all that over water & what one does
if the car breaks down???

* Eaten Caviar? No, but I've eaten Rattlesnake at "Rustlers Roost" on South Mountain.
Tates like chicken!!!! I've eaten Calmari & Sushi & "cooked oysters on the shell"! I've eaten
chicken livers at the famous Shuhasqueria Restuarants in Brazil!

Well. . . . that's just to mention a few! So I quess I have lived a little!! I do have some
things I want to do on my " Bucket List" Ta Da! But that's for another day!!!