All I ever wanted...

...is happy children and my children can attest to that. Whenever they ask me what I want for a gift my reply is "happy children" and I mean it. I have a quote on my calendar at home that says..."a mom is only as happy as her saddest child"....and I choose to believe that my children are happy and doing happy things with their lives. I got a chance to Facetime with Traci yesterday and it was fun to see, even though there's a gazillion inches of snow in Bountiful, she's happy and enjoying life with her boys and they all should be especially happy today celebrating Russ' birthday.

Happy Birthday, Russ and thanks for contributing to my daughter's happiness. Eat some cake!!!!
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Speaking of celebrating, Randy and I don't have to look too far to find something to celebrate and I'm not sure what it was yesterday but it felt like a celebration. When he gets off work early, he likes to go out exploring so off we went....riding the light rail (Trax) to downtown Sacramento and not to sound snobby or anything, the crowd was a bit questionable but we made it fine and enjoyed a little window shopping, a great dinner at "Ten22"...shot a few pics then headed back.

A little walk down by the waterfront and trying on hats at a cowboy store....good times. Hope y'all find something to celebrate today.

Been to the movies lately?

I've probably seen more movies in the last 8 months than I have throughout my whole life but I've come to really enjoy most of them. One that has become my favorite is "Lincoln"....I had just read "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and really liked it and learned a lot but I absolutely loved this movie. This is what JoEllen wrote on a recent e-mail to the family:

"We just saw Lincoln, Kyle for the 2nd time. I thought it was a fantastic movie, I hope it wins every award it has been nominated for..
Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln reminded me so much of Scott that I cried through most of it. I just wanted to share these emotions, these memories that have been stirred up in me about what a great man he is. He was deliberate in his words and his actions. He saw the big picture, he had a great eternal perspective. He was jovial and fun loving in a quiet way, not wanting to draw attention to himself. You could see his love and respect for you, or for whomever he was with, through his eyes. He loved to spend time with his kids, and they were his priority. (the harsh relationship with his eldest wasn't true to Scott though).
He was such a great man, and I know I didn't know him for long, not nearly long enough, but I miss him and this movie helped me remember all the greatness that he had in him.
If you haven't seen it yet, you should."

I appreciated that insight and hadn't thought of it but when I was watching the movie, I remembered that Daniel Day Lewis was one of Scott's favorite actors and he actually won the Golden Globe for his performance in this movie. Then, I got to thinking about how much Scott enjoyed his movies in his years of recovering; sometimes he would watch the same movie two or three times in just a matter of a few days. I did a post a few years back that I would like to refer to so click HERE if your are interested in remembering what my children thought were his favorite movies.
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And now, are you all enjoying Downton Abbey? We are, for sure. Not sure why this has caught on but when I was watching an interview with the characters by Katie Curic the other day, one of the actresses said very eloquently that it is just a show about people trying to be good (except Thomas).....but I think we enjoy seeing how another class of people live and I have to say, I enjoy thinking about the history of it and as absurd as it seems to us, it was real....the people seem real to me and I enjoy the writing, the acting, the "soap opera like" story lines, which we all really have a bit of in our lives don't we? Don't really know why, but so enjoying it and I figure they are opening enough story lines to last forever....so "Go Downton".....we're in it for the long haul. Reminds me a bit when the world got hooked on "Dallas".....
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P.S. Not normally my kind of movie but I liked "Jack Reacher"......I'm just sayin'.....

As if....

....exercise and a beautiful day wasn't enough to get us out on our bikes, we've discovered geocaching...about 12 years late. It started around 2000....but there are still treasures out there to be found.

I heard about it a long time ago...thought it sounded weird then Karen and Len have fun doing it and I was wanting to get out with them but Randy and I stumbled on a cache last summer and since then I've been interested so we've been looking into it. I downloaded an app on my phone and today on our bike ride, we tried it out. We found 3 caches....the object is to take something, leave something and then log on to show that you were there. It's pretty exciting....the "find" is reward enough but we had a bag of little goodies to leave a little in each one.  One of the finds was just a little encouragement.....

....the note in the upper left hand side says "..work on improving your exercise routine"....and that's exactly what we are doing, geocaching. It's been a fun day out on the trails.

I can't believe it.....

...my daffodils are sprouting and it's the first week in January......

...and Spencer is turning another year older....where does time go.....and speaking of unbelievable, he ran a marathon (no offense, Spence but I think you were surprised too). Looking forward to many more proud moments. Happy Birthday tomorrow.....eat some cake (and lemon meringue pie). Have a good one. I'll be thinking of life 37 years ago. It was a good day when you came into this world.

Oh, and now that Christmas is over we are all enjoying the wonderful presents we got....I am for sure. My new Canon is tons of fun.....took this picture on the bike trail yesterday and I know I'm gonna be taking a lot more so......

..I created a new blog just for my pictures. memybikeandmycamera.blogspot.com in case you might be interested. It'll be pretty random.

We're back...

....in Folsom and it's been a blast. Thinking back over the past two weeks, we've been saturated with family and we have loved it. First off though, I was on the road yesterday but my thoughts were with Mandy.....

It was her birthday. For those of you out there in blog land that don't know, Mandy ran a marathon...then had a defibrillator (sp?) put in to keep her heart beating if it decides to stop. We are just glad to have her here as the "heart" of her home and hope she keeps running for lots of years. Speaking of running, Randy and I did a lot of running (actually driving) between our mom's houses but I'm thinking it's one of the things I've enjoyed the most this holiday season is helping my mom and visiting Josephine.....they are both 85 and keep as busy as they can in their aged bodies.....

My mom works at the temple answering phones once a week, still loves making food and taking it to her neighbors and loves visits from her family (I think, at least she makes us feel like she does) and still makes a cake every week for my kids and their kids and anyone else that drops in. She writes birthday cards and letters to hundreds of people a year and loves to hold and watch her great grandchildren whenever she can.

Randy's mom, Josephine loves working on her stitchery and takes walks around her neighborhood every day. This is a piece I bought for her....it's turned into a major project but it is so beautiful and it amazes me that she can stick with it....but she works so fast and loves to finish projects. These two amazing women are an inspiration to me....they thrive on their "routine" and are happy even with their aches and pains. They are an example of "enduring". We were able to take them out to eat a couple of times and we are blessed to have them both in our lives and to learn from them. I have enjoyed my family as well as Randy's as we've had a little time with both through these past two weeks.....

We've had a lot of good times together. Section 105...the Wells families congregate here every Dixie basketball game. Glad I got to enjoy one with them before we left. We got to stop off in Henderson and see Lauri and James....and BTW....check out Lauri's cooking blog. She's at it again. Click HERE for some really good stuff. Happy New Year one and all. May 2013 be the best ever....try to get to Disneyland at least once, more if possible.

My dad woulda been proud....

...as Spencer won the First Annual Polar Bear Plunge last night at Mason's (and I think Spencer wore his swim suit)....in very cold water, I wanna say about 40 degrees.

...and speaking of my dad, it's his birthday today. He would have been 85 and I sure do miss him, and other than the suits looking a bit similar, I think there's a striking resemblance here. Blogger's giving me fits today so I'm going to post this while I can and add more later. I want to say more about my dad.....

He was a good man....wonderful husband, awesome father, amazing grandpa to my kids....he made us laugh and he always smiled. He loved life and loved to play with us. He really would have loved all the crazy things we do these days. We loved our snow trips, jaunts to the farm and his daily visits as he went to or came from working on the farm. I'm so glad my kids have good memories of this good man.....and it's always fun to celebrate on this New Year's Day and remember him......and speaking of celebrations, we had one last night......

....a little ping pong, some good food and the "plunge".....Have a Happy New Year and smile today as you think of my dad.

Ya can't be everywhere....

....and we chose to be in Florida, leaving on Christmas morning and flying across the snowcovered country to sun laden beaches and oh what a good time we had (but just so ya know what we missed out on, the good times of the family at the derby and sledding, check out Spencer's blog wellsweirdos.blogspot.com and it looks like they had a ball).

We stayed in a little apartment on the waterway where the water taxi goes up and down the canal and we were able to catch the taxi one day and see how the other half lives.....some of these yachts cost more than the houses they were parked in front of. Upper left is Randy waiting for the taxi (he got me this great new camera for Christmas that takes wonderful night pics).....

The beach was lots of fun....went there twice and found some great eateries. MaiKai is a Polynesian restaurant that Kyle remembers from his mission that has been owned by a Polynesian family since 1956. We enjoyed ice cream at Jaxson's (worth the wait) and the best shrimp and strawberry shortcake at Bubba Gump's....a little shopping at Los Olas and got off for shopping at one of the stops on the water way.....and of course the zoo where we rented a bike....so fun.

We had a wonderful time hanging out with James, Joslyn, Ella and Ever and Kaila was there also for a few days with us. It's been a wonderful holiday season with family. We got to enjoy the kids seeing Santa before we left so here's a collage of some of my shots......

Check out Penny's blog for some more pictures of our family fun and games......HERE. Happy New Year one and all..........

This is what it's all about.....

Merry Christmas to all......

...and to all a good night.

Is it ever enough?

What do we do with our days? I don't know about you, but some days I just have a tough time getting up and going but usually, if and when I do, I've got plenty to do and never really get it all done....and, oftimes beat myself up a bit.....so I found this little saying on a board at a gift shop and I bought it and hung it on my wall.  It helps me remember to ".....make whatever I do, enough." My late husband used to be a goal setter...he would write stuff down, prioritize it and check it off, but if he didn't get it done, it would just go to the next day's list or even next week's but he plugged along and worked away until he got what he needed to have done, done. Franklin Covey has a system...tried a couple of times to do the day planner thingy, but somehow, I just like this better right now at this time in my life.

I'll be the first to admit that I do have a lot of time on my hands right now and I have fun filling my time with things I like to do. I'm even finding some new things to do....I am enjoying my bike and the limitless trails around here. Here's what I'm reading right now.....always love it when the new Ensign comes in the mail.



Here's what we're watching right now.....trying to get caught up before the new season starts in January. Click HERE to read more about it.

I used to oil paint a bit. Never really good at it but when I met Randy I saw this picture and fell in love with it. It's the center of our apartment now.....it's a "paint by number" done by his daughter, Joslyn.....

...so, I remembered that I used to like to do paint by numbers so Randy and I bought a couple one day.....this is what I'm working on.  I'm pretty much getting ready for the old folks home in my future. (I probably shouldn't admit that I'm doing this....but sometimes we need "mindless" hobbies, right?)

I enjoy discovering new places to hang out. Randy introduced me to Danio's Farmer's Market in Roseville. I've never seen anything so huge....it would take several Saturdays to get through it.....

Randy enjoyed trying on hats....saw some way outrageous cowboy boots. This place is amazing. It was a good thing it was cold.....we couldn't stay very long, but we'll be back for sure. I've enjoyed finding new little "dives" on our Friday night dates. It was my turn to choose so I asked Ambyr for some suggestions. We went Hungarian after I read this review...click HERE. The review is really worth reading if you have a minute and it was a very "quaint" place to eat. The review was very accurate.

I was prepared, Randy wasn't so I think I liked it better than him but fun, none the less (there were really only 5 tables and scrunched really close together). It was fun to be invited to a holiday party and it has been fun getting to know Randy's children. Jake and Ambyr and their family invited us over for dinner. We had a good time, enjoying a little "Taboo"....guessing the number of candies in the jar (I missed it by 3, maybe next year)....and some white elephant gifts.

Good food, good company and lots of laughs. I missed my annual Gingerbread House Party hosted by JoEllen (she really does a lot of work getting these put together ahead of time) but the kids had a good time without me. Click HERE to see the cute pictures on Spencer's blog.

I miss my family dearly but I'm so happy to see them enjoying the holidays and our traditions. Change comes to our lives....sometimes whether we are looking for it or not and we adjust. Sometimes tragedy comes to our lives in many forms but we forge on with faith and at this time of year, I'm especially thankful for my testimony of the Savior and His Atonement. It's a comfort that I don't have to do the hard things alone. May we all remember the "reason for the season" and make sure that..."love so easily understands, what you can see is the smallest part; you don't need Christmas in your hands, when you have Christmas in your heart". Merry Christmas...and may most of your days be merry and bright.

A bit o' blogger's block.....

...and I don't know why other than maybe I've moved into the hustle and bustle of the season and it doesn't seem all that exciting to blog it but I'll get back on track and get out 'n about so I'll have something to share. I've been busy getting my Christmas cards out and one cool thing happened last night.....I connected with an old friend on Facebook. I was looking for the Gill's address (some friends that Kyle knew on his mission that we have stayed in contact with until recently and I just got a hankerin' to send them a card and to find out how their little family of 6 kids whose names all start with "t" are doing, so I set out to find them. I did "Dexonline.com"....that didn't work....so I went to Facebook and there he was....good ol' Steve Gill himself so I "friended" him and he accepted and we chatted and then he friended Kyle and so on and so forth...then I find out he and his wife are divorced and he's in a relationship with Randy's niece....(such a small world) then he called me this morning and we had a good chat about life, memories, good times, tough times.....so good to be in touch with old friends. Once a friend, always a friend and if ya meant something to me once, ya still do so my Christmas card list is huge and I do it mostly 'cause I like to hear from everyone. In this day and age of instant communication, the Christmas card is becoming extinct....so I'm doing my best to keep it alive. This is my card in case you didn't get one.....
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Randy and I ventured last week to Folsom Prison.....wanted to look for some cool t-shirts (they do have a museum and gift shop) and it was fun to go in and see the memorabilia and check out the Johnny Cash shrine........

The picture on the left is a ferris wheel built out of toothpicks.....I guess the prisoners have a lot of time on their hands after they put in their day of making license plates. I'm looking in on one of the toughest in the house.....and Randy and I pose at the front gate. It's enough to make you want to obey the law for sure......and speaking of laws, I think there is one that says you have to make at least one batch of fudge during the holidays.

 Well, I did it tonight and Randy got the bowl all clean so now we just need to give a lot away or pace ourselves.........and speaking of pacing...my pace was pretty slow today as we decided to head out on our bikes for Sacramento....a mere 26 miles of trails that runs through this neck of the woods.....

Lots to see along the way and we stopped for a bit at the fish hatchery and tried to see some spawning but not the right time of year....but lots of guys fishing, geese sunning and lightning fast bikers passing us along the way. It was a beautiful day for a ride.....and, just so ya know, we only made it about 5 miles then stopped for lunch and shopping then caught the light rail back to our car. A good time was had by all.....I'm going to see if the fudge has set yet then heading out to the treadmill and the hot tub.....see ya.

Molly's first white dress.....

....the same one worn by her mother just 29 short years ago.

It was her blessing day today and we all ventured down to Henderson to support Lauri and her family.
The dress was as beautiful today as it was back then as little Molly was held in the arms of her father, grandfather and uncles.....to be given a name and a blessing. James did a great job....Lauri did too. I'm so very well-pleased with both of them and their sweet testimonies.

This has been a week of family and the cousins have had a chance to get to know their newest additions to the cousin's club.....Harry and Molly have both had their turns at being passed around.

....and the parties just appear out of nowhere. Kyle texted everyone...."tacos at our house at 5".....I think he forgot to send one to JoEllen but she was a good sport about it all. Kyle had some friends from China visiting the college and invited them over to the chaos but they seemed to enjoy it.

When we blog, life just seems to be one big party, fun and games all the time. We joked that we should start blogging about the "mundane"....so, just so you know, there's a leak in my kitchen faucet and the downstairs toilet,  my garage door is broken, I just had to pay my taxes and I'm broke, Mandy had to have some heart surgery, (she's doing fine)....I'm tired as heck (and I get ornery when I'm sleep deprived), every once in a while there's a little misunderstanding between loved ones (mostly because we become sleep deprived) .....but I'm surrounded by my loving family and every once in a while, a party breaks out so it makes it all worth it.....

I think Harry has the right idea....just sleep through the tuff stuff and wake up when the party starts....

Bring on the crazy....

...and I figure I can handle anything for a few hours so we gathered, once again for a "mini camp" version of Crazy Grandma Camp....totally spontaneous. When ya gotta watch a few kids (Mandy is in the hospital)...it's just easier to bring along a cousin or two or three or four or eleven....ranging in age from 3 to 12.....and I do pretty much let them go crazy for the whole two or three hours.

Oh, I try to organize, and we kinda got an obstacle course going, a dance contest, a little bit of food and lots of treats....but mostly just loud. I always try to start with a "pow-wow" where I try to talk to them a bit....this time about family traditions. Our first Wells Family Tradition started just 40 years ago on the steps of our Logan apartment when we declared it BLT day.....just because that was what we were eating for lunch and we wanted to start somewhere. So Happy BLT Day to my family....I love these crazy kids!!!!

What goes up....

....must come down and as I was hiking to the top of the volcano on Thanksgiving morning, I  realized just that, and found myself wondering how it was going to happen but I kept going, knowing I wanted to see inside the volcano. After seeing it all of my life coming to and from Pine Valley and knowing I would probably never do it, I actually did and glad I didn't chicken out. (I hiked the trail around the back side while the young 'uns climbed up the face). Coming down was far worse than climbing up. We all made it....some better than others. Most of the party took the speedy way down...I myself, figured I was safer going down the same way I came up but it was mostly on my butt.....and even tho' I ruined a pair of pants, it was worth it.

I'm thankful for my family that invites me to tag along, for my health that allows me to tag along, and the beautiful weather and scenery that makes it pleasant to tag along.....for the beauty of the earth I truly am grateful.

For years I paid the price...

....the 80 smackeroos it cost me to procure a season pass but as of today and a mere 10 bucks, I can enter any National Park for the rest of my life....for "free ninety nine..."

On the way up, we visited the old ghost town of Grafton and explored the old buildings and Randy especially enjoyed the old farm equipment. Our little "couple of hour" trip turned into the whole day as we ventured on up through the tunnel to Mt. Carmel Junction where we dined at a little "hole in the wall" diner where the sign said "Good Food, Good Price" but we were greeted by the girl at the cash register with..."um....if you can finish in 30 min. we can seat you. We have a bus of 60 people coming in." We assured her that we would eat quickly and we enjoyed the food and the price. Then on over the mountain to Duck Creek and on down the freeway home....oh, my...it was a picture perfect day. Happy Thanksgiving......grateful people are happy people.

Happy Birthday today...

....to the mother of this cute family. JoEllen joined our family back in 1997 when she took Kyle off our hands and she has done amazing things with him....supported him in all his moves, his educational pursuits, his athletic trainings, his business successes and failures, and been a high-profile mom in the kid's school, in her church callings and is basically a good, good person and fun to be around and always makes things happen.

Happy Birthday....you certainly are loved. Have a good one and eat some cake today.