Visiting Alex

We had a great visit with Alex and his family this weekend. It was fun to see how he has enlarged his patio and added beautiful stone steps down to his Japanese Garden. He also showed us the Rosetta Stone program he us using to learn Japanese. We would like to visit Japan and perhaps live their for a while.



On Saturday, we went for a drive into the mountains to see the beautiful fall color. At the summit we looked down over the mountain into the huge Kennecott Copper mine. We also stopped in the woods to take pictures of the kids in the leaves. They tried to catch the leaves as they fell. Lanette loved running through the crunchy leaves. They all collected handfuls of bright leaves in all colors to take home.

Alex and Lanette made us many delicious healthy meals. It 's always fun to eat at their house! I should have taken picture of the food because it always looks so beautiful.

We played some games, danced a little DDR, and watched a movie. On Sunday we went to church with them. This kids showed off their reading skills. Aedin is reading, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." A pretty thick book for a 7 yr-old. Little 4 yr-old Windrey was sounding out beginner books, and she can also sound out almost any word in the scriptures! Aedin told me that she recently sounded out the work, "covenant." He was quite proud of her. They are both very good readers.

Lanette said that recently Aedin has been sizing girls up as future wives. Lanette was telling one parent about it, and he said, "No, Aedin needs to marry one of my girls." A pretty nice compliment.

Sun Valley and Stanley

Greg and I went to Sun Valley last week for his Optometry convention. I hiked while he went to classes as usual! :) After a false start on a trail I found uninteresting, I discovered a nice trail through the pine trees along a rushing stream in a narrow valley. I hiked several miles until the trail became very steep and very narrow along a steep drop off. At several points the stream went through tunnels of ice! The snow from last year was still there, covered with branches and pine needles from a landslide.

After Greg's last class, we drove to Stanley, which is just north of Red Fish Lake. We lodged there right on the river. We ate our dinner on the balcony just a few feet from the river and with a majestic view of the Sawtooth Mountains. SO relaxing! We watched Canada geese swimming and eating the marsh grass along the river. We also watched a hawk as it spent quite a while hovering over the river then diving to try to catch fish. There was also a cowboy on the distant hillside riding a horse to check on his cows. We had good binoculars so it was fun to watch all the different things going on!

The next day we went to Red Fish Lake and Greg was able to get into a motor boat from the dock. The water was almost like glass it was so calm. We went slowly all around the lake enjoying the water, the wonderful views of the craggy mountains, and the fresh piney smelly air. At the end of the lake are two little waterfalls. I got out of the boat and climbed up the bank to the waterfalls. I just sat on a log right in the middle of the falls and enjoyed the spray and just felt happy. It was wonderful. It was huckleberry season and I ate a few berries. Then I collected a handful of them and brought them to Greg, who stayed in the boat. The sun was very hot, but the breeze from the water make it very pleasant. It was a heavenly day. I will remember it during the cold days of winter.

It was good to have a few days to relax. Usually, I feel like I am in a hamster wheel - running like crazy all the time! LOL! Someday things will slow down I suppose.

Greg will go in for surgery to get his permanent hip on Thursday. He is doing great and we hope he will recover quickly. He has a really good doctor.

I have been researching a healthy diet for Greg since he came home from the hospital. We both agreed that we don't want him back on the drugs he was taking for his arthritis, since they were the cause of his infection. So I studied what foods to eat to manage inflammation. We are eating a lot of vegetables and fruits, lots of fish, nuts, and lean meats, and avoiding starchy foods and sugar. We have both noticed a difference in how we feel. Greg no long feels sleepy in the afternoons, and we have lots of energy. His arthritis is manageable and my allergies are better too!

Flat Chris

My nephew, Chris, sent a little flat version of himself to us for a little adventure. Here is his journal.

What I Did For Spring Break

2011

By Flat Chris

Tuesday April 5^th

I got to Aunt Joyce’s house in Pocatello in Idaho. She was happy to see me! Uncle Greg and Cousin Glen and Sarah and Logan and Lucas were happy to see me too. Sarah is Glen’s wife. Logan is almost two. Lucas is a baby.

We ate a yummy chicken dinner and potatoes. Did you know potatoes grow in Idaho?

Some of the potatoes get really big!

I was tired after my long trip. It was nice to sleep in my soft warm bed. Good-night!

Wednesday April 6^th

Uncle Greg is an eye doctor.

Today he gave me an eye check up.

My eyes were okay, I didn’t need glasses.

There was a rodeo in town. Three bulls ran away and ran through the town! The cowboys rode their horses after them. The bulls ran to a park. The cowboys threw their lassos to catch the bulls. They put the bulls on a truck. Then they took them back to the rodeo.

Thursday April 7^th

Cousin Glen goes to college. Today I went with him! He is learning about electronics. Glen showed me the robot bug he is making. The robot has six legs. Can you see its eyes?

Glen makes the computer tell the robot how to walk.

This is R2D2!

Friday April 8^th

It was cold today, and it snowed! Idaho is up high in the mountains so it snows a lot.

It was fun building a snowman.

I tried snowboarding too. I only fell down five times!

The snow melted in the afternoon. Then we went to the library and a fountain. The fountain isn’t running yet because it’s too cold.

The fountain is salmon jumping. Aunt Joyce told me that baby salmon go down the Salmon River to the ocean. They grow up in the ocean. When they are big, they swim back up the river to lay their eggs. They have to jump up waterfalls!

Did you know there was a huge flood in Pocatello 14 thousand years ago?

This stone tells about it.

Here I am at the library. I like to read!

Tomorrow we are going on a trip!

Saturday April 9^th

Today we went to Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. It was a long drive. It was cold and snowy there.

Yellowstone has geysers. Water goes down in the ground. The magma under the ground makes the water hot. Then the hot water shoots out the geyser. This geyser is very loud. It sounds like a train chugging along.

Sometimes the water bubbles up and makes mud pots! They make a funny sound like, “Blub, blub, blub.” I saw buffalo and elk too.

It was a really fun day. We got home really late. I fell asleep in the car.

Sunday April 10^th

After church, we went to see an old lava flow. There are lots of volcanoes in Idaho, but they don’t erupt anymore.

This kind of lava is called aa lava. That’s because when you walk on it with bare feet you say, “Aa! Aa! Aa! Ouch!

Aunt Joyce gave me some obsidian lava. It’s shiny and very sharp on the edges. People used to make arrow heads with it.

Monday April 11^th

Glen and his family are going to Salt Lake City in Utah, and Las Vegas, Nevada, and I am going with them!

I said goodbye to Aunt Joyce and Uncle Greg and they gave me a hug and a kiss. I sat next to Logan and Lucas in the car and made them laugh.

We stayed with Glen’s brother, Alex. Here I am with Lanette, and Alex, and baby Cedar.

Aedin was having a birthday party. He is seven. Aunt Joyce sent him a compass, a kite, and some games. Glen and Sarah gave him a fun book about Dinosaurs.

His dad and mom gave him a big inflated ball you could get inside! I tried it, it was fun!

Winrey and I are in the ball. You can crawl inside the ball and make it roll! It makes your hair stick up!

Wednesday April 13^th

Yesterday we drove all day to get to Las Vegas.

Now we are here! Glen is at a Tech Fair. He will see lots of robots and computers.

It’s hot in Las Vegas, so we got to go swimming! I am having so much fun, but I miss you. This is the last day of my trip. I will be coming home tomorrow.

See you soon!

Love,

Flat Chris