My Flyfisherman

When ever we travel, my husband likes to always throw in his fly fishing gear. You just never know when you might be able to leave a meeting early and find a good river to drop a fly in. He loves to fly fish....and he is really good at it. He practices casting in our backyard, he watches videos, he ties his own flies, and he LOVES it!
The thing is, flyfishing is a sport that takes forever to get set up. So while I watch the beautiful trout jump right out of the water......he is getting his waders and vest on.

Then he puts his pole together and strings the line through.....more fish are jumping right behind him!

Then he has to choose a fly to use....this is a science! Depends on what time of day it is and what the Hatch is at this time of year.

Nothing seems to be just what he is looking for in a fly.

So he has to pull out another box of flies....and most of these flies are flies he has tied himself.

Then he has to TIE the fly on the line....and I am getting frustrated! The fish are leaving.

Finally he is in the water.

And just like that! He caught a beauty.

Then, he lets him go.....carefully.

And is back out to do it again. He looks so cute out in the river I can't be too bugged that it always takes him so long to get set up. It is a perfect sport for him to relax and enjoy the outdoors....and I love to just sit and watch him cast. We make a good fishing team.

Bottling Tomatoes

This year our garden produced a lot of tomatoes....all at once. I called my friend Jen, who knows everything about anything related to cooking, and ask her how to bottle them. She wisely suggested that I bring them over to her house Saturday morning and we could bottle them together. While she got things ready I scrubbed the tomatoes.

Then we got the bottles washed. Jen wanted to check her recipe so she ask me to get her Betty Crocker Cookbook down. I just had to laugh!

Have you seen a more "used" cookbook"? Is this how they are supposed to look?

When I got home from Jen's I found my own Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Just like NEW!

Even has vintage 1970's pictures.

And notice the very same page in my book. Mine looks like new! I had to laugh but really it is kinda sad. I think it is so cool to have such a well worn, very used, beloved cookbook like Jen has. My mom had one too. I love the messy cookbook better because it tells a story.

It is a good thing I have a great friend like Jennifer. Isn't she cute bottling away.

Saturday was my lucky day. A fun morning with Jen and a dozen bottles of tomatoes in my pantry. I am going to make this a tradition.

Aloha from Kailua-Kona

This is my friend Terry at her parents home on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kathy and I were able to fly over for a week and stay with her. The 3 of us are lucky enough to work together and have become the best of friends. We had such a BLAST just hanging out and relaxing in Kailua. Every day was an adventure. Terry was our tour guide and knew every inch of the island. She showed us all the great places to eat and shop. Some days we would pack up food and drinks and spend all day at the beach.

Terry has the coolest brother too. Bobby flew over a few days after we did. Kathy and I had fun getting to know him. Bobby took great care of the three of us.

The driveway to their parents house is kinda steep and a little scary to park the cars in. Every night Bobby would park the cars down in the driveway for us. When we would get up in the mornings, the van and car would already be parked up on the road ready for us to head out for the day. We were all very grateful he parked the cars for us and I don't know if I even thanked him for that. Thanks Bobby!

This is the view from the back patio. Her parents home is right on the golf course. Kathy and I about died when we got out of the car and saw this beautiful home that would be ours for the week.

You can see Terry coming up the path. She would get up early every morning and run 6 or 7 miles. Meanwhile, Kathy and I would sleep in until about the time she was done with her run. We created a great schedule. Terry would jog towards town and then call our cell phones when she was at the Lava Java. Then Kathy and I would hop in the car and drive down to meet her. After pancakes we would drive her home. Aren't we such good friends :)

Planning another fun day! If you ever get to Lava Java, get a large Kona Coffee. It is perfect! I brought some back for me and also some for my son-in-law Shawn. He will love his Kona Coffee.

We visited the famous Black Sand Beach

This is where we read about the Legend of the Sea Turtles in Hawaii. The legend says sometimes the turtle would turn into a girl and frolic on the beach and play with the children. At night it would swim back to the ocean keeping watch and always insuring the children's safety. The sea turtle became known as the "Keeper of the Children". Since we are all three school teachers, we felt a real kindred spirit with the sea turtles.

Our spot at Hapuna Beach in the shade. Even so, we poured on the sunscreen!

Kathy and I each had one goal we wanted to do on this trip. Kathy's goal was to see a waterfall and to swim in the river above the falls. My goal was simply to swim with a sea turtle. Just to even see one would have been enough.

We barely finished setting up our chairs when a sea turtle came looking for me! He swam right up to Terry and hit her on the leg! He wanted us to know he was right there! I ran so fast to see it, I about ran over a kid boogie boarding.

On this day, I was able to swim with 3 of the most beautiful, amazing sea turtles all morning long. It was a perfect day, and I had achieved my goal.

The next day Kathy accomplished her goal.

We all cheered as she waded in the stream above the falls.

Terry's mom told her about an avocado tree down on the golf course. One night, we walked down to see if we could find it. SCORE! We found beautiful big avocados just hanging there for the picking. These are the ones I picked off the tree. When we walked all the way back to the house we about passed out....well, actually, I about passed out! It was dark, hot and humid, and I was not in as good of shape as Terry and Kathy....plus, I had the heavier load to carry since I risked life and limb to climb on a golf cart to reach 7 avocados. Walking back, we were all laughing so hard it made it hard to go too far without resting. This night ended up being one of our most fun adventures!

We went to the Farmers Market and found these necklaces and rings. When ever we wear them they will remind of us the fun we had together and the memories that we made. It was a trip of a lifetime, and we couldn't have ask for more. Thank you Terry for sharing your family's beautiful home in Kona and all you did for us to make our vacation completely amazing!

I feel so blessed to have these two women as friends.

36 Years Ago

All he said was "Will You" and I cut him off and said YES! We took this picture just minutes after. We wanted to capture this moment. Our beginning.

It was 1974.

I was so completely in love with Richard....he was a dream...and he still is 36 years later.

It was a time of Bell Bottom pants, Denim shirts, Frye boots, Kaftans, Mini skirts and Platform shoes. How funny that all that stuff is in style right now.

We were married in my backyard and I had wild flowers in my hair.

I wanted to be married barefoot but my mom had a fit. Rich took me to J.C. Penney's 2 hours before our wedding and bought me some white sandals to wear....no wonder my mom loved him so much!

It was a perfect day. We couldn't wait to leave on our Honeymoon. We went to Zion for 2 nights and Grand Canyon for 2 nights. We had a deluxe cabin right on the North rim. Then we came home and loaded up an old army tent and went camping for a week at Yankee Meadow up Parowan Canyon. It was our Dream Honeymoon!

We washed up every morning in the creek.

Rich pitching our tent. It took hours to get it all set up.

I loved cooking dinner on our brand new Coleman stove we got for a wedding gift.

We went hiking every day. Can you believe this is a future College President?

Our first little home on Louise Ave in Salt Lake City. We had a huge garden in the backyard. Our dads both had big gardens. I remember being so excited to show off our first garden. My dad was so proud of us he kinda choked up seeing it.

How lucky I am to be your wife. We said we wanted to grow old together and now we are.

I love you Babe!

Payback

This is about friends ~ I love my friends. They are like family...like sisters I never had. I care about them, laugh with them, worry about them, and try to take care of them.

My daughters have friends too. Lots of friends! They make their lives so much more fun.

If you are lucky, like I am, then your friends will be there when you really need them...without ever even having to ask for their help.

Today, this post is about a friend my daughter Erin has. Her name is Shari. She lives by Erin in San Diego and she has 6 kids. Busy, cute mom of SIX kids.

When my daughter Erin was at the hospital fighting for her life, Shari was here in minutes.

She hugged me, cried with me, sat with me and tended Kole while I ran to buy formula.

Later that day, she brought me a Diet Coke. How did she know?

New coloring books and crayons were left on the porch for Ellie and Addie to find.

She picked up a Boppy at Target, in Erin's favorite color green, for her to use to nurse Kole in the hospital. I had mentioned Erin was having a hard time nursing him with all of her stitches.

When I went home and back to my life, she would text me and tell me how Erin was doing. She would reassure me that she was checking on Erin. She made dinner for the family and would stop by often to visit and spend time with Erin.

Today was, in some small way, payback.

I took Erin and Shari to lunch. We went to their favorite place to eat called Sammys.

I hope Shari reads this post and knows that I can never really repay her for all of her help during a most difficult time. I hope she knows how much I appreciate all she did.

Friends ~ how could we do it without them?

Pure Joy

There are times in our lives when you can't believe the Joy one moment can bring. This picture represents one of those moments. My first grandson Kole is in one arm and my best friends sweet baby Janie is in the other. Both babies were a special gift from heaven. Janie's mom, Kathy, had to wait and wait and wait 9 long years before she was able to become a mom. Lots of prayers and tears finally got Janie here for all of us to love. Sweet Kole almost lost his mom when he was just 10 days old. I can't even talk about how much panic I still feel about that whole event. Lots of prayers and tears to save my Erin's life also saved us from a lifetime of heartache.

And now look! Here are these two new mommy's holding each others babies! We will have to have Kole and Janie go on a date someday and we will all take lots of pictures!

Austin is giving Janie a Toast! We all wanted to just hold her and love her....but there is even more Joy!

This day of celebration was actually for my newest little grandson. His name is Drew R. and he is my baby's baby! Oh sweet baby Drew on his blessing day! He gave us all a reason to invite family and friends to celebrate having him in our family.....But even this wasn't all.


My daughter Carly was born right before Christmas and I have always called her my Christmas angel. She announced to our family that she and Shawn are going to be having their own Christmas angel. Their baby is due on Christmas Eve 2010. Having another baby to love on Christmas Eve...now that is Pure Joy!

Wish we could have crashed after the party like Addison did but someone had to clean up the kitchen!

How I picked my header

My sweet granddaughter Addison was at the park yesterday. She picked a dandelion, blew on it, and made a wish. When her mom asked her what she wished for Addison said," That my Grandma and Grandpa Van lived by us in San Diego." Now I will never look at dandelions the same way!