Pears!

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.