Our Cherry Tree Harvest!

This is a semi-dwarf Bing Cherry tree. We planted it in April or May 2009. It has really gone through a growth spurt.
Can you find my little yellow cherry in there? It's there!
Ahh, there it is! It's trying to ripen. Perhaps dad and I will split that beautiful little cherry will it ripens, that is if the birds don't eat it first!

I was told it took 3 to 5 years for fruit trees to bear fruit. I am sooo excited when I found this one single cherry! I hope next year to find at least a handful!

Cool Shades...real cool!

Kirsten had to have an eye exam today because of a new seizure medication she is taking. She has to go in every 3 months and have her eyes dilated to check the optic nerve and her retina. I took this picture of her when we got home. She was tired and not in a photo op mood! Her eyes will be dilated for a few more hours. Her appt. was one hour long. The actual 'doctor' visit time was only 10 minutes!

One cook chick! :o)

She just needs to be holding a guitar! Ha! Ha! Ha!

She probably looks drugged! She's not; she's just tired! We found out that she is 'near sighted', just like her dad! Her doctor said that the condition of her eyes was very good and everything looked great! I was a little concerned about 'dry eye' but she does not have that.

One interesting thing he told me, and I had never been told this before...always learning something new, she has an extra line of eyelashes which he said is a common trait among trisomy children. He said that is why she has such thick and beautiful eye lashes! Now we know! He said that her lashes were long and that sometimes is also a factor with these children. He said that Kirsten looks very good and complimented me on her 'care'. I said, 'Thank you!' He was surprised to see a trisomy 18 child her age, actually she is an 'adult' being 21.

Happy 4th of July America!

Today is Independence Day - July 4th - America's 235th birthday! Happy Birthday America! At the end of this post I expressed my sentiments of this holiday.

Neil and I and Kirsten went over to David and Angela's house so that dad could cut some of the very tall grass growing in their yard. David and I are very allergic to outside pollen and grass. They were not there when we arrived. Angela's family had holiday plans. That was fine with us. David felt really bad he could not be there with us. We're just glad they had some time off' to enjoy some fun activities. Dad and I did not mind doing 'service' for them that they really needed.

Because of my allergies I worked 'inside'. I worked on the kitchen area. I'll leave it that. Anybody that knows me will know that I have 'busy hands' that like to do 'service' and I enjoyed myself!

Dad working in the yard.

The first half of the pictures are the 'AFTER' results.

He did some weed whacking in the planters.

The gravel and plastic is an area David wants to extend his patio with concrete.
It was over grown in grass and now we can find it!

This area, all the areas, was waist high in grass.

This is behind the house. The fence area is a kennel area. They do not have an outside dog.

Their dog Nala is a little Chihuahua and inside dog. They use the kennel area to store trash cans, etc.

Neil did not get quite up to the trees. This area looks so much nicer!

Inside the kennel, all clean and neat!

Coming around the side of the house.

This send half of pictures are the 'BEFORE' look!

This is inside the kennel area.

The entrance of their driveway.

The plastic and gravel area, overgrown, where David wants to extend a patio.

The planter under the porch. Yes, it's overgrown too.

Coming around the back side of the house. The grass was so tall it was laying down.

Just getting started with cutting the tall grass in the back.

Last Thursday I went over to help David watch Avery as he painted his basement. She opened one eye and took a peek and decided to go back to sleep!

Isn't she just the sweetest little princess?! She's such a little doll!

Today is Independence Day and it means a lot to me. I want to 'thank' our forefathers for their sacrifice in bringing freedom to this country and breaking free from the oppression of England. We also wanted religious freedom. I am so grateful for the beautiful country we live in and for all the freedoms we are privileged to have. I personally had ancestors who came to America on the Mayflower and ancestors who fought for freedom in this country. I get nostalgic every time I see 'Old Glory' waving. She is beautiful! When I drive around throughout our town or the next town I find so few flags flying. It doesn't matter what holiday it is, hardly any flags fly. It pains my heart. We have a flag and I love it and what it stands for...freedom!

Avery and Douglas, Jr. - Two cute cousins!

Douglas and Ashley and Douglas, Jr. -'DC' - came to visit us for a week and it was so wonderful seeing them! This was my very first visit with this grandson! Dad went back for his blessing when he was born. It was early December and cold and not conducive for Kirsten to travel so we stayed home.

Grandpa and DC 'hanging out' while his mom and dad were at a Mariner's game. Ashley says that Doug can hardly wait until DC is old enough to play baseball!

I drove Douglas and Ashley and DC down to Oregon to visit DC's great grandma Valdine. This was on the way back and Kirsten and DC were sleeping.

Great Grandma Valdine and DC checking out DC's heart on her heart board.

DC at our house in the walker watching his mom and I cook dinner.

DC playing with the toys. His mom would sit on the ball and softly bounce him to sleep at night.

We went to David and Angela's on June 12th to bless Avery. This sweet dress was made by my friend Jan Taylor.

Angela and I dressed Avery to get ready for her blessing. Avery was hungry and was letting her mommy know it! She did get fed before her blessing. Her grandpa Neil gave her a beautiful blessing. Douglas and David's bishop, Bishop Kimball, were in the circle.
Avery was blessed at home.

Ashley and Angela holding the other's baby. Avery is 1 month old and DC is 6 months old.

Two brothers, Douglas and David, holding the other's baby, Avery and DC.

Douglas and Ashley holding the little cousins, DC and Avery.

I took this picture of DC the first Sunday Douglas and Ashley were here. He reminds me a lot of Bob and Julie's little boy Braxton.

DC loves getting up close to Kirsten.

Kirsten was toying with DC and hanging onto her slinky. She played with it for 5 minutes and then gave it to DC.

DC really enjoyed playing with Kirsten and her toys. Kirsten enjoyed having DC with us! We really enjoyed their visit and now they have left and in a few hours will be back in Georgia! We sure will miss them! ♥

T.D.A.D.??? Do I have it? YES!!!

Yesterday I went to visit David and Angel to see this little cutie pie, Avery. What a doll! She's so tiny and so cute!

My own terminology... T.D.A.D. ... Traffic Driving Anxiety Disorder - or anxiety with heavy traffic on freeways and on and off ramps merging with crazy aggressive drivers!

I grew up in a small town. I've lived in much bigger towns. Driving in and out of big cities, a little unnerving. What makes it worse is today's aggressive drivers who bob in and out of traffic like they were a flea hopping from dog to dog! They are the reason people have accidents. They drive like they are on a speedway and the road belongs to them without any personal regard to other drivers obeying the law.

I read maps great and driving instructions. I just don't like driving in congestion. I am constantly watching for cars all around me. I allow room for merging cars, cars who want to change lanes.

Why am I writing this? So my family will understand why I don't like to drive to the Salt Lake airport, drive through or by Seattle. I went to visit David and Angela in Bothell yesterday. Bothell is north of Seattle. It's 55 miles from our house and takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get there. This was my very first 'solo drive' without dad. I left at 10:00a.m. so it was 'after' work traffic. I got there 1-1/2 hours later. The trafffic was smooth and great. Half way there was a bit of a slow up from an earlier accident. We had a great visit and little Avery was so precious! David and Angela do a wonderful job taking care of their sweet little daughter. Nala, their dog, is adorable with Avery. Whenever Angela is holding Avery, Nala has to be in her lap and is very content with the 'family' situation. Nala is always happy to see me and I love her!

The drive home was also smooth. I left 'before' heavy work traffic. Face it, when you get around Auburn on 167 that traffic is 's-l-o-w' moving from 3:00p.m. on. I made it back in 1 hour 10 minutes. I felt victorious that I made the trip! However after being home half an hour my neck and jaw was tight, I had the beginning of a migraine and my stomach was in knots so I took some B-complex and a couple of Ibuprofen. An hour later I felt fine. Hmmm, I think the next time I make that drive I will 'pre-medicate' myself with B-Complex and Ibuprofen 'before' I leave! :o) Was it worth the drive? Absolutely! What a sweet little baby! :o)

Fantastic Book!!!

I just finished reading this book. It was awesome! I gleaned a lot from it! It's like a commentary on the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1&2) in the New Testament. There were some many golden nuggets of information in there! I copied and (made them small) pasted many into my scriptures as footnotes! :o)

I highly recommend reading it! I'm working on Talmage's next book 'The Articles of Faith' and that is a good read also. My 3rd read by Talmage after I finish the Articles of Faith will be The Great Apostasy. I hope to finish those two by the first of September. I'm also working on other books at the same time. I love increasing my testimony and studying the scriptures. I'm so grateful for the gospel and the scriptures and for our church leaders!

Rethinking bath time...Kirsten's new chair

A few weeks ago Kirsten got really sick and after throwing up needed a bath. She has a bath bench she sits on and this time it was not practical to use. Kirsten had '0' balance for 5 days. It's awkward holding onto her and bathing her at the same time while I'm straddling the side of the tub. (Can you just imagine a cartoon image of that!) We had an interesting bath time that day! For the past few months it has been on my mind that she needs a bath chair. Well, that day arrived sooner than expected! So I hoped on line and below is what we came up with. It was $300+ dollars! Yikes! Any time you need 'special equipment for special needs' they feel it's necessary to jack up the prices! Oh well, not much you can do about it.

This little beauty can lie flat like a bed or straight up like a chair or reclined. It's wonderful!

This is a funny picture but Kirsten didn't want her picture taken. She lets her feet down in the tub but she felt like keeping them up when I took this picture. How does she like her new bath chair? GREAT! At first she wasn't sure about leaning back in it. By the way, I removed the headpiece as she did NOT like it there. She relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed her chair! I don't use it every time because she does like her bath bench too, but when she's not feeling well or not up to sitting up she now has a chair to relax in while bathing. It is a plus for my back too! :o)