Mom's Birthday

Yesterday was my mother's 80th birthday. This picture of her was taken at her confirmation in 1944. I have always thought she had an oriental look and in this picture it really comes through. Her ancestors came from Russia (they were Volga Germans) who lived in a small village raided many time by tribes of Mongolian soldiers. It would be interesting to know if one of those soldiers could be an ancestor. : )

This picture was taken a few years ago at my nephew's wedding in Denver.

Last weekend we had an open house to celebrate her birthday. She doesn't like being the center of attention and had warned us for the past year that she didn't want any big to-do for her birthday, but while Brenda and I were on the cruise, my sister Jennie and my neices planned a celebration. Mom wasn't happy about it at first, but she ended up having a great time. A lot of her old friends showed up as well as a large number of family members.

Mom's four kids and their spouses.

Ken, Bill, me, Brenda, Mom, Jim, Jennie and Dan.

Mom and Jim, her favorite and only son.

My granddaughter Taylor was mom's first great-grandchild. We took a four generation picture when she was little so we wanted another one with her all grown up. This is Taylor, my daughter Cami, Mom and me.

Whew! what a busy month

When the weather finally settled down and decided it was time to be summer, we loaded up the trailer and headed to the Big Horns. Tanner didn't want to miss out on a camping trip so he went with us. The guys spent most of their time fishing so I just lounged around and read a book.

They may have brought me along to cook, as I did plenty of that too.

This is one of my favorite spots on the mountain. It's the south fork of the Tongue River and it's a beautiful hike up the river.

We camped at the Sibley Lake campground, there were a few other trailers parked there, but for the most part it was nice and peaceful.





Ken and Tanner fished while I hiked and took pictures. They caught a few fish, but threw them back (thank goodness). Not a fan of trout.

While we were driving down the highway I spotted this moose off the side of the road, but by the time we got stopped he was partially hidden by the brush.

The day after our camping trip we started painting our house. I shouldn't say "we" as I didn't even touch a paintbrush. Ken hired Wendy, Colette, Cami and Tanner to help him. Before you all think I was just being a prima donna I was at work while they were painting. I'm working 10 hour days now so I had a good excuse not to help. They all worked their tails off and had it done in two and a half days. Taylor got the job of watching all the little kids while their moms were painting. We made sure she was paid well too.



When I got home from work, rather than put on my painting clothes I offered to relieve Taylor and watch the little kids and get a meal on the table for the painters. Watching six kids under the age of 8 and making dinner for 18 people kept me pretty busy too.

When all the kids are together there is always one who gets feeling a little left out. This was Caelen's moment. She got over it quickly and they all had their "poor me" moment.

Talen is usually off by herself making messes or getting into things she shouldn't be into, but here she's entertaining herself with one of the nets we bought at the dollar store. These nets have been used to catch crayfish at the lake and butterflies in the yard. They're a popular item at our house and of course, been the cause of a few fights because we only have a few of them. For a buck each, I could probably spring for a few more.

While I was on the deck playing with Luke the kids decided to climb the tree. Trey was climbing with one flip flop on and still managed to make it up pretty high. Lexie and Kenzie didn't have any shoes and they didn't get too far. High enough that they were squealing for help to get down.

Luke loved being outside, watching the kids play.

It was a busy week, but the house looks great, the girls and Tanner made a little money and I didn't have to climb the scaffolding or get covered in paint.

Sometimes it really pays to have a big family.

Viva Las Vegas

Last weekend I flew to Vegas with my sisters, Brenda and Jennie. We had talked about this trip for over a year and tuthfully, I didn't think we would ever do it. Six weeks ago I called them and said we are doing it, I got us booked and we found out we could spend three days, 24/7, together and get along (even with my snoring). Jennie probably realized that her two older sisters really are a lot older than she is. After walking up and down the strip all day Friday, Brenda had 3 or 4 blisters and I did something to my foot and was hobbling around like the old lady I am quickly becoming, but Jennie was like the energizer bunny, she just kept going and going.

My pictures are in random order because I have a miserable cold and I just don't feel like taking the time to organize them.

The Venetian Hotel and Casino was our favorite. It was absolutely beautiful and of course, we took the gondola ride through the canals of Venice. This was all inside the building, a lot of the casinos have the sky painted to make you seem like you're outside, but this one was the most realistic.

The picture above is the world's largest chocolate fountain. There are 2,100 pounds of melted dark, milk and white chocolate pouring through at a rate of 120 quarts per minute. The whole shop was full of beautiful chocolate creations and it smelled yummy. The shop was inside the Bellagio Hotel.

If you ever watch Oprah (or the movie of the same name) you will know about frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity. This Vegas shop just opened last month and we couldn't resist trying one. It was good, but I have heard that people stand in line for hours at the NYC store to get one, I wouldn't ever do that.

We ate at the most expensive buffet in Vegas--Bellagio's-- it was good, but I wouldn't pay that much for a buffet ever again. I mean really... can you eat $45 dollars worth of food at a buffet? This is my desert plate so you can see I tried to get my money's worth there.
While we were waiting in the line to get in I looked up and Jason Alexander (George Costanza, for all you Seinfeld fans) walked right by me. That was our only star sighting.

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel. We had planned to go to the top but never made it.

This is the pool area at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I would love to stay there sometime. It has an Asian tropical theme and is really beautiful.

This Jacuzzi tub became my favorite thing in Vegas. Sitting in a tub of hot, bubbling water relaxed my muscles enough that I could go hard the next day. We stayed at Caesar's Palace and received a room upgrade when we checked in so we had a much more luxurious room than what we paid for. Thank you Caesar's Palace!

It was so nice to see green bushes, trees and blooming flowers. After our long hard winter I am sick of everything looking brown and dead.

In preparation for the highlight of our trip, Elton John's Red Piano Concert, Brenda and Jennie went shopping for some Elton glasses.

You'll have to wait for part 2 of our Vegas adventure tomorrow, right now my head is pounding, my nose is stuffy and it's time for a nap.

Mom's Birthday Party

Today is my mom's 79th birthday ( I can get away with telling her age because she doesn't read my blog). When my son was little he called her his Chinese grandma. Looking at this picture, taken when she was 15 years old, she does kind of have an Asian look. Her ancestry however, is German and Norwegian. Ken and I picked up Colette and the kids and went to Lovell for the weekend to help her celebrate. Kim and her family decided to join us and drove down Saturday.

Gourmet jelly belly's are mom's favorite candy and she usually gets one of these huge jars each year. She keeps the jar hidden, but I bet they still don't last very long. I inherited my sweet tooth from both my parents. My sister Jennie had us all to her house for dinner Saturday night. There were 30 of us packed in her house. Jen is pretty easy going and she just goes with the flow. I would have been completely stressed with that many people in my house.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are becoming mainstays at our family parties. All the children, young and old like to pretend they can sing. Tanner is taking his turn at the mike, accompanied by Madison on the drums and Nathan on the guitar.

Madison is singing here and Ken is anxiously waiting for his turn.

Kim has alway been a wannabe rock star. Colette and Kirsten are the members of the band. Tanner is probably thinking that he could sing it a lot better than his mom.

Of course baby Luke always attracts a crowd. We had a fun, but noisy weekend.

Surviving Chucky Cheese

When Colette told me she was going to have Caelen's birthday party at Chucky Cheese, the memories of going there with my own children (back then it was called Showbiz Pizza) flashed through my mind and I instantly felt a headache coming on. For those of you lucky enough not to know about Chucky Cheese, it is an over-priced pizzeria, a child's fantasy land and a parent's living hell.

The cost of the party sounded do-able to Colette as there were only six kids invited. Of course, those six kids had parents who attended, and there were grandparents and a couple of friends who didn't want to miss this adventure and suddenly the cost of the party is 2 1/2 times the original price. I thought Colette was going to go into shock when she got the total bill.

The original cost of the party included two one-topping pizzas, 6 children's drinks, a small cake and twenty tokens per child. Using those tokens in the game room is where the real fun begins, along with grandma's headache.

Walking into the game room, you're suddenly bombarded by the sound of screaming kids, laughing kids, crying kids and they are everywhere, you can't take a step without running into one of them. Add to that the ding, ding, ding of the games, the pounding of "bop the gopher on the head" game, and well.......you get the picture.

Surprisingly, I handled the noise and confusion much better than I did thirty years ago. Maybe I'm developing more patience in my old age.

Here's to 40 more!

My darling husband commented that he was hoping for 40 more years of wedded bliss which got me thinking that I'm not sure I want to be married to a 100 year old man! I would be happy with at least 30 more years though. For a couple of kids who had no business getting married at ages 20 and 18, we managed to beat the odds and stay married a lot longer than anyone would have guessed.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Our wedding picture.

Okay, that's not really our wedding picture. Our wedding picture is even worse and I can't even find it now. This was a picture we had taken in high school at a school carnival many, many years ago.



And to those that mentioned that the 40th anniversary is the "ruby" anniversary, this is what Ken bought me on our cruise without either of us even knowing about the "ruby" thing.

(P.S. to Brenda) I got the desk after the marathon fishing trip.

Birthdays, Birthdays and more birthdays

I almost let this month get by without mentioning the guys in my life who have birthdays this month.

Tanner was our firstborn grandson and was the most mellow, laid-back baby you ever saw. His personality hasn't changed much. He's just a very easy going kid. Tanner loves sports and participates in football, baseball and wrestling. He also likes golf and is a die-hard fisherman. Tanner is a sweet boy (he probably won't appreciate me saying that) but he really is a sweetheart. Tanner turned 15 on the 15th.






Tucker was born two years and 6 days after his older brother. Tanner and Tucker are good friends as well as brothers. Tuck is the responsible, level headed child of the family. We used to tease him that he was 12 going of 40. However, he has also has a great sense of humor and I love to listen to him giggle, especially when he's getting a kick out of something corny his grandpa has done. He's very athletic and is an intense player in whatever he does. Tucker turned 13 on the 22nd. His most endearing quality, to his grandpa at least, is that he loves the Denver Broncos.


We inherited Tristan when Cami married Wes and he's a keeper. When Tristan was little he reminded me of a colt running around. His spindly legs where always in motion, flying in all directions. Tristan is smart and also loves sports. He is also extremely affectionate and loving.



Tristan will be 11 on the 29th.

Last, but certainly not least, is Ken. He is patient, loving and has put up with my sarcastic and sometimes, sharp tongue for over forty years. Ken loves golfing, fishing, the Denver Broncos and his family. He is a super grandpa.

Happy Birthday to all these great guys! (and to Empress Bee--four birthdays and not one piece of cake! Can you believe that?)

Baby Shower

Colette, our youngest daughter, is expecting her second child in about 6 weeks. It's a boy and we are so excited. The last 4 grandchildren have been girls and we love them to pieces, but it's time for some testosterone around here. Her best friend from high school hosted a baby shower for her on Satuday and she got a lot of great stuff. Her grandma, aunt, two cousins and their 3 children came up from Wyoming so we had a houseful of girls. Ken felt a little outnumbered. Saturday night we had a family dinner with 13 females and 2 guys. See why we're so excited for another boy in our family. I only got a few pictures because my camera battery died. :) So typical.