The McKinlay Clann News

Pears!

2010-08-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Every year, when I was a young girl, my Mom would can peaches and pears for our large family. I remember her buying 3 bushels of peaches and 2 bushels of pears. She would work all day, and stay up late several nights in a row to get them all done. (How in the world did she do it?) I remember hating pears. They tasted so gritty to me. I would never eat them. But my 8 brothers loved them, so she canned for them. Well, over the years I have learned to like fresh pears. But I have never canned them. This year when the ladies from my church found a great buy on boxes of pears, I decided to buy one and try it out. This is the product of my labors yesterday!
Eleven quarts and fourteen pints. I decided to do pints because with just the two of us we don't eat us much as a big family would. But then I ran out of pints and decided to use my quart jars because I didn't want to buy any more.

Peaches anyone?

We're doing what?

2010-01-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

We are moving again! I know that you all can believe it, but we can't! It certainly wasn't in our plans. But life handed us this opportunity, and here we are moving again.

Last January (2009) Kelly and I were at a Wyeth district meeting in Boise. While we were there eating breakfast one morning, we saw a newsflash on the television saying that Pfizer was buying Wyeth Laboratories, the company that Kelly had worked for about 23 years. There were several other sales representatives there with us, and we were all shocked at what we heard. Only a few minutes later, Jay Lovin, Kelly's District Manager came and confirmed what we had just heard. We had no idea what this news would bring to our year.

We soon found out that no one knew anything. So we waited, and waited, and waited, knowing that something would happen yet not knowing what it would mean for our future employment. About mid-year there was a little news that the closing date would be coming soon, so we all braced ourselves for what might happen. But it didn't. We just kept waiting and waiting while no one could tell us anything.

In October, the transaction finally occurred. The sale of Wyeth to Pfizer was final. They let us know after several days that they were letting all of the south east Idaho reps go. Yikes!! We anticipated the possibility that SOME might be laid off, but ALL! And then word came that they would be rehiring two of the employees for 'Twin Falls' positions. We had high hopes for one of those positions. But it wasn't to be.

In the meantime, we learned that there were several positions throughout the U.S. open to Wyeth Legacy employees. So Kelly started interviewing! Spokane, WA; Lewiston, ID; Medford, OR; Casper, Wy; Portland, OR, Coos Bay, OR. It was a whirlwind! I traveled with him for some of the interviews but not all.

Kelly was offered a position in Coos Bay, Oregon. We were so grateful for the opportunity, even though we knew it would mean a move with lots of adjustments in our life. We are happy to have employment. And we are excited for this new adventure in the beautiful Bay area of Oregon!

Overnighter at Grandma's

2009-01-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we were at Shelley and Brad's house. We had gone to Boise for Kelly's annual review with his company. When we were getting ready to leave on Saturday morning, Noah kept saying "Bapa", "car". I suggested that we could take Noah home with us, because they would be coming over next weekend. Shelley wouldn't have anything to do with that! I said, "Too bad we don't live closer, and we could meet halfway!" That got her to thinking! "Dad, are you working in Twin Falls this week?" Sure enough, we made a plan to take him until Tuesday morning, and then Kelly would meet her in Twin Falls when he went to work there. His bags were packed and we were gone in about ten minutes!

Well, we really enjoyed having him with us. I didn't get any pictures (sorry). My little camera is lost. But that is no excuse to not take them with my big one. Oh well. But I was amazed at how well he did. Shelley was calling every two hours. But he did just fine. He is really starting to talk. He was putting two words together like "Scout, puppy". He started calling me "Mawmaw". It sounded like a long drawn out mama, but definitely different. We worked on "on" and "off" while he was putting lids and handles on buckets in the bathtub. He slept through the night two out of the three nights he was here. I love it how he loves to hold onto my ear when he goes to sleep. What a cutie! I got him an ice cream cone at Keslers. (Just a tiny bump on a cone) and he had the whole thing downed by the time we got home. He seemed to remember being here. When he saw the Beauty and the Beast tea set, he immediately took it out to the living room coffee table and asked for water. He remembered where Kelly's office is downstairs. And when he saw the deer hanging in Kelly's office he called them "puppies".

I think Brad and Shelley had a great little break. They went up to McCall for a night, and stayed at a Lodge by a lake that we visited when Noah was about two weeks old.

I love being a Grandma!

Midlife Tune-Up

2009-01-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

Kelly and I are NOT falling apart. We are just getting our Midlife Tune-ups this year. I had knee surgery about two weeks ago. What the doctor thought was two meniscus tears, was one meniscus tear and some arthritis. Sheesh, I'm too young to have arthritis! The surgery went well. I just had to stay off my feet for a couple days. But I'm up and walking fine again. I'm anxious to get back to my exercise. That will be a few weeks down the road I guess.

A couple of days before Christmas, Kelly was out taking care of Scout, our chocolate Lab. Scout was trying to get away and Kelly went after him and slipped on some ice. He landed on his left shoulder. Ouch! He thought things were slowly getting better, but after a month of not having complete mobility he went and had an MRI. He got the results today, and found out that he does have a tear in his shoulder. He sees the doctor next week, but we are sure that he will be having surgery soon. I will fill everyone in soon.

Two Birthdays in One

2009-01-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

January 10th is a pretty special day for me. Twenty Five years ago today my first little girl, ShelleyAnne was born. (She was my first girl, but she had two older brothers.) What a joy she has been to me all these years. I love it that she is not only my daughter, but one of my very best friends. It is fun to be able to have someone you can talk to almost every day, and never run out of anything to say. So I say Happy Birthday to Shelley!

And....two years ago today, my first grandchild was born. . . my sweet Ellee Kate. How I love this little girl! I didn't know that grandparents loved their grandchildren as much as their own children, but I know that now! Elle has been so much fun for me. I do miss her terribly now that she and her mommy (Kara) and daddy (James) are living in Memphis while her daddy is going to dental school. I love you Elle! Happy Birthday!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed home. But it certainly wasn't empty. We enjoyed having Justin, Tessa, Shelley, Brad, Noah and Megan with us. We also had my brother, Tim's, family join us. Shelley actually came a few days early and helped me, while I enjoyed having Noah here. Here are some photo's of the fun!

Rachel and Taylor peeling the potatoes.

Noah got in trouble. Grandpa sent him to the dog house :(

This is everyone but TT who is taking the picture.

Noah and Aunt Joye

Nanny watched our next door neighbor's father bring his horses and unload his buggy. He absolutely could not contain himself. He HAD to have a ride. After wandering around outside with uncle Kelly for awhile he kindly offered a ride. This is one happy cowboy!

We missed those of you in our family who couldn't make it this year. We love you, and are very thankful for all of you!

Elle, Kara, James and Tennessee

2008-10-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

I spent the first week of October visiting Kara and her sweet family in Tennessee! I had originally hoped to find a decent priced flight between $300-$400, but Shelley clued me in to a promotion where I got a ticket for $150! Yippee - so I bought two! I am going out again in December with Shelley and Noah.

Here is my cute family in Tennessee.

Elle is pulling her funny face!

While we were there we went to the kids museum in Memphis. It was awesome! We took Elle to the Dental Office where she learned all that her daddy is learning in dental school.

She learned how to put teeth in.

She is now professionally qualified to be a dental hygenist!

Her favorite part of the museum was the three year old sized Kroeger's Supermarket.

She had a blast picking out her own food and loading up her very own cart.

It looks so good it's hard to believe it's all plastic.

We had a hard time getting her out of the supermarket without the groceries. She thought she could take them home.

Grammy took her on a Police-Motorcycle ride.

This picture captures the real essence of why Kara wanted to buy this house.
We went to Huey's for lunch.

There's a hole-in-the-wall in downtown Memphis called 'The Barbeque Shop'. Mmm good barbeque! It is tradition that everyone blows a toothpick through their straw to poke it in the ceiling. There are a bagillion toothpicks up there. I got mine in first try!

I made some fun memories with the kids while I was there. Elle had her choice to sleep with Grammy on the blow up matress, or in her own bed. Guess what she chose! (I had fun snuggling with her.)

On one of our long drives I was sitting in the back seat with her. I started dozing off. Every time my eyes would close she would yell out "Grandma!" until I would open them. She didn't care if I was playing with her or not - she just didn't want my eyes to close.

We went to the Memphis Zoo one day (you can see pictures on Kara's blog).

I'm excited to go back in December.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Kelly and I traveled to Boise the last weekend of September. We love visiting our kids! While we were there we went to "The Pumpkin Patch" with little Noah B. It was kind of late, so it was getting dark and the pictures didn't turn out so great. But here they are!

This is a kid sized "hay maze". Noah was leading Grandpa around.

We love it when Megan comes along!

Brad and Shelley posing in the sunset.

And below: it was getting cold, so Megan offered her shawl to Noah. He was such a doll all snuggled up next to Grandpa.

We bought Noah his first pumpkin which he promptly called a "ball" and threw it on the ground.

Below: Shelley had gone to an 80's ball earlier this year and wore this dress - she was taking a picture of Megan wearing it to put on EBay. We decided it was way too cute, and would look good in 2008 as well. Maybe it's just that Meg is such a hottie!

Prelude to Glory

2008-09-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

For anyone that knows me very well, knows that I enjoy reading. But I am pretty picky about what I read. One thing that I enjoy very much is historical novels. I started reading the nine book series, Prelude to Glory, by Ron Carter, about six or seven years ago. And I just finished the last book two days ago. Prelude to Glory is the story of the John Dunson family and friends beginning in about 1775. Living in Boston, they were in the middle of the animosities that started the Revolutionary War. John Dunson, the father of the family became involved as a soldier against the British beginning with 'the shot heard 'round the world'. Dunson's oldest son, Adam and his best friend Billy Weems also were young soldiers at the time. The whole series takes you on a journey with this family as they are involved in 'actual battles' and 'events' that took place in history. It begins with the first battle of the Revolutionary War, through the Constitutional Convention, and to the end of the war of 1812 when the Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key. There are hardships, joys, deaths, marriages, babies, heartaches and more. One thing that I love about historical novels is that they take actual historical events, real people - and the things they said and did, and weave a fictional family into the events. It makes me feel like I have been on a time machine! I have gotten to know the great man, George Washington; Benjamin Franklin, a man born way before his time; and many great patriots that gave everything they had so they could pass on the gift of freedom from tyranny to their posterity. What a tremendous gift they left us! I wonder if many of us even know, or remember, what was done for us just over 200 years ago. They knew that they wouldn't live long enough to enjoy what they had fought for. They literally did what they did for their children and grandchildren that they would never know. Anyway . . . off my soapbox. I loved the books. I thought it was fitting that I would finish them on "Constitution Day". Thanks to our Fathers!

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-09-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my @#th birthday. I decided that I need to make a birthday commitment to write more regularly in my blog. It's kind of like a New Year's resolution. Only it's a New Age resolution. So if I don't write once a week or more, I want to hear about it from YOU!

So my birthday was a very normal day. When you get to be my age, you don't want to remember all day long how old you are. So I just did the regular. Kelly did twist my arm into taking me to dinner, but he insisted that we stay in Blackfoot. So I had basically one of two choices - Rupes or Homestead. So I chose Homestead which was perfectly fine with me.

A few days ago Kelly asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I told him "nothing". He recently let me buy plane tickets to go out to see Kara and Elle pretty soon. And then we bought a gorgeous new desk for my office. I figured that was good enough. But later I remembered that I really needed two new bra's. So I told him that was what I wanted for my birthday. He said, "Okay, but will you pick them out!" Ha! So I did. Anyway, I was going to post a picture of my two new bra's, but I figure that even though a teenager might do that, I'm at a little more "mature" age and that wouldn't be appropriate.

But like a sweet and good husband, he brought me flowers!

Here is my new desk. I love it! I kind of feel bad that I have it and that Kelly doesn't. I told him I would share. But hey, he threw away my last desk when we moved and I need it!

Back to Work!

2008-08-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I've been very lame at blogging. I have a lot that I would like to catch up on, but the first news is this: Kelly is going back to work for Wyeth Labs! For those of you who don't know, last March, Wyeth did a huge corporate downsizing. Kelly's job was eliminated. So we have been jobless and searching for about 5 months. It has been frustrating and trying on us. About a week ago, we learned that his company decided they made too many cuts in Idaho, and they have offered Kelly his position back. We are soooo grateful! He will be starting again on September 3rd. Now he can feel like the rest of his time off is vacation time;).

TAGGED!

2008-06-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

I've never been tagged before. But Shelley tagged me in her post yesterday, and then said that I wouldn't do it. What?!! I'll bet I'm the FIRST to do it.

ONE WORD TAG
1. Where is your cell phone?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Purse
2. Your significant other? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelly
3. Your hair color? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strawberry
4. Your mother? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . Simple
5. Your father? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sick :(
6. Your favorite thing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grandchildren
7. Your dream last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Houses
8. Your favorite drink? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rootbeer
9. Your dream/goal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slender
10. The room you're in? . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . Packing
11. Your hobby? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sewing
12. Your fear? . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Water
13. Where do you want to be in six years? . . . . . . Settled
14. Where were you last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reception
15. What you're not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bored
16. Muffins? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . Banana
17. One of your wish list items? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Travel
18. Where you grew up? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Farmington
19. The last thing you did? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Breakfast
20. What are you wearing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeans
21. Your tv? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Old
22. Your pets? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scout
23. Your computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laptop
24. Your life? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crazy
25. Your mood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concerned
26. Missing someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Noah
27. Your car? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Red
28. Something your not wearing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shoes
29. Favorite store? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DeseretBook
30. Your summer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Home
31. Like someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daughters
32. Your favorite color? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blue
33. When was the last time you laughed?. . . . . . . .Today
34. Last time you cried? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yesterday
35. Who will do this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicolette, Tessa, Aunt Carolyn (you're all tagged)

Trip to Las Vegas

2008-04-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

Quite awhile ago, Kelly bought tickets for us to attend two big shows in Las Vegas. I'm always a little nervous about the shows there being less than appropriate. Kelly promised me that these shows were family rated. So we were very excited to go. Then. . . we had the unexpected news of Kelly's pharmaceutical position being eliminated (heartless corporate America) just days before our trip. Well, we decided to go anyway - a good way to get our mind off of it. Megan was a sweetie. She talked so positive all the way to Vegas. She even read a chapter out of a positive thinking book to us to boost our spirits.

When we arrived on Friday, we checked into the Sahara Hotel on the Strip, and then walked to the Mirage Hotel to see the Cirque du Soleil - Beatles "Love" show. It was phenomenal!
From the moment the curtains were raised, to the very last second of the show there was non-stop action. The props, the costuming, and of course the original Beatles soundtrack were amazing. It helped to recognize the era of the Beatles greatest popularity, the 1960's and early 70's. I think that the people who made up the show must have been on drugs. No, really - it was as psychodelic and off the wall as the lyrics of the Beatles songs. This is a "must see" if you go to Vegas. Actually we've seen two of the Cirque du Soleil shows ("Love" and "O") Best produced shows we've EVER seen - Really!

Next day we let Megan shop a little, and enjoyed the 85 degree weather. Mmmmmm........loved it! We also learned that the best way to get around downtown Las Vegas, is to park your car and buy a $5 a day bus pass and just ride the "Deuce".

That night we went to see the Blue Man Group at Venetian Hotel. We didn't know what to expect. And I can't explain it even after seeing it, but it was a riot! All I can tell you is that it is a group of percussionists painted blue. . . and they will keep your attention riveted all night. They use visual, audio, mental, and tactile perception to keep you going all through the show. Very fun!

It was a nice getaway. I'm glad we had the chance to go before jumping back into finishing our house and looking for employment.

The "Mount Vernon" House

2008-02-13T19:54:00.001-08:00

Kelly and I are now in the process of building a house for the fifth time. Our houses have been named by our children in order to recognize which home we are talking about.

#1 is our "Springville house"

#2 "Gooding" (the only house we didn't build)
#3 "Lovell Lane"
#4 is "323 West" - or "Dixon's"
- (because they bought it from us),
#5 doesn't officially have a name yet because we haven't been away from it for long enough to call it by any name but "home", but it will probably be "338 West" or "Whitmer's".
The last two were both on Porterville Road, so we can't call either the "Porterville" house. The house under construction I am naming the"Mount Vernon" house. Can you guess why?

Kelly has been doing an amazing job as "General Contractor". He keeps the subs in order and cracks the whip so that every day something is happening! He had them deliver our sheet rock today, and I am expecting it to start going up tomorrow.

A few days ago I took several pictures of the "skeleton" because I knew that after the sheet rock goes up it will be a completely different view.

Our "Great Room"/Kitchen Area. Mmmmm.....lots of good cookin', sittin' around the fireplace, and memory makin'!!

Down the hallway to the bedrooms and staircase.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the main floor. I'll post more pictures as the work progresses.