Arkansas Vacation

Okay, it's been awhile. I'll start at the first and add some blogs of the later stuff on another day.

Our vacation began with a trip across country dragging our 5th Wheel and boats behind the truck which was loaded with boxes of stuff for Kim. ( We were glad to unload it all after toting it for 3 1/2 weeks throughout our trip.)

We got away late and so only had a brief stopover at our friends house in Texas. On Mother's day we traveled the upper part of Texas, in communication with Eddie and Kathy traveling above us through Okalhoma. Bryce, Kate, and Kimball were flying overhead, landed at Little Rock and drove down to our campground at Lake Greeson, a beautiful, wooded lake that we had all to ourselves for the first week. We all got there within an hour of each other.

The adventure began the next day with our diamond searching. The last five minutes of the second day, Eddie found a beautiful 71 point yellow diamond. Mother Nature formed it perfectly and it is ready for mounting in a ring for Kathy.

Bryce, Kate, and Kimball stayed 4 days, Derek joined us on the way home from his own adventure seeing the space shuttle take off in Florida. Kathy left when he did to visit her sisters in Pittsburgh before leaving for the Marshall Islands today (June 14.) We stayed a total of 12 days in Arkansas before leaving for Texas, and Eddie stayed for 14 days.

Besides diamond searching, we all took our turns on the Kayaks, went on nature walks, (one into a swamp in the diamond park,) Ed and I rode our bikes, got in on a "Diamond Days" celebration where a family sang gospel blue grass music, and we enjoyed several butter pecan ice cream cones at a little shack in Murfreesboro.

First stop on the trail: Gene and Teresa's in Belton, Texas.

First day in Arkansas, 2nd part of our adventure. Camp is set up!

Lake Greeson, Arkansas

Ducks by the lake

Funnel Spiders behind our trailer, after a rainstorm

Spiderweb hanging from a tree. Impressive!

Morning and off to a good start!

At the diamond field.

Troughs where we clean out the dirt!

It's a process!

Kimball gets into the act!

It begins with a shovel of dirt.

After it rained, it got very muddy. The boots helped some.....

I liked the solitude of a mud puddle near the river bed better than the troughs for sifting my dirt. But it was a mucky affair--like making mudpies!

Ed helps with the shoveling.

Which bit of dirt holds a diamond? (Only Eddie knows)

The guys liked to take an extra bucket back to camp to finish off the day in the lake.

There's more to life than digging for diamonds. The boys take out the kayaks!

Tarzan vine in the swamp by the diamond mine.

Nature trail at camp. Eddie's on his unicycle.

Resting on the lush, green trail.

"Arki", the turtle we rescued from the road....

....then released him by the lake, where he hurried into the water,

and we watched him swim to the other side.

Early morning mist on the water.t

Eddie's perfect yellow diamond! Sigh.....This is what the trip was all about!

Is it Happy Easter or Merry Christmas?

It snowed last night. Ed measured up to 8 inches in places in our back yard. We had already taken the plow off the 4-wheeler, so he had to make do with the snow blower.

Will Spring ever come?

A Wonderful General Conference Weekend!

April 2-4, 2010

Conference weekend started out Friday night with our attending our missionary reunion (not Ed's from many years ago, but our's.) It was nice to see our missionary president and his wife. It's been over 18 months since we left our mission. We also saw the Calls, the couple that replaced us, as well as the two American missionaries we got close to on our mission.

Saturday we watched conference while I cleaned the house. When Ed went to the Priesthood session that evening, I had four friends over for a "ladies night out"and we played the card game "golf", ate snacks and visited.

After conference on Sunday, we drove to Salt lake and picked up the Grahl's. Paulo Grahl is over the S&I program in Brazil and is as fine a man as you will ever meet. He is fluent in English and translated for President Benson at the dedication of a Brazilian temple last year without using any notes. He was very intune to our difficulties when we first went on our mission and got us the help we needed.

After picking him and his wife up, we drove to the Call's house in Sandy for dinner. Nata Tobias, S&I coordinator who trained Ed, his wife, daughter, and her husband joined us, as well. It has been a year since we saw them. Their daughter and husband have lived in the US for 7 years attending school. After her baby is born in July, they will return to Brazil.

Randy and Carolyn Johnson, former Belo Horizonte East Mission President (from California)

Debbie and Alan Call, the couple who replaced us.

Eating together: Us, (Ed and Cyndy), the Calls, Stew Higham, missionary in our city when we first got there, another missionary, and Micah Ingalls, a missionary who arrived and served with Elder Higham for a couple of months. When Elder Higham left the city, Elder Ingalls taught Juliana, the young girl that came to our apartment Monday nights for dinner and the missionary lessons. Ed baptized her and Elder Ingalls confirmed her.

Sunday Dinner. Counter clockwise: Ed, Nata Tobias, Paulo Grahl, Culeika Grahl, Debbie Call, Alan Call, Gustavo, Camilla, (Tobias' daughter), Tati Tobias.

Tati and Cyndy--Good friends!

Last Day of March

Hard to believe that the first quarter of the year is over. As Lydia mentioned a couple of weeks ago, "Just think! It will soon be Christmas!" (cough, cough.) And it's snowing outside, too boot! But she is right! I guess I keep thinking Christmas because I've been busy the past couple of weeks sorting through all our Christmas decorations along with those we inherited from Ed's parents' estate. Today I sorted through boxes of candles. I kept some and divided the rest between Amber and Kim. No one else wanted any. I think Christmas is finally behind me.

Ed brought home the beautiful carved wood screen that was purchased in India. We found a place for it in the living room and it adds a nice warmth to the room. He also inherited their carved wrought-iron and glass dining room set. If we had a formal dining room we would keep it, but it's impractical in a kitchen. We will sell it, but it will be hard to part with it because it is an antique from Panama.

I've organized my china closet and am giving some items to the girls. I put all the goblets and teacups in it, both Christmas and everyday, along with our china. It looks crowded, but they are more accessible and in less danger of breakage.

My new Epson scanner arrived and I've now synced it onto the computer. It seems to be working normally. What a relief after the last lemon that I struggled with for three weeks.

Ed and his sister, Cheryl, are plowing into the household belongings of his parents. They need to wade through all of that stuff this next month and then put the house up for sale.

Life is busy but it sure feels good to get better organized.

4 Panal screen from India (only room to display 3 panels.)

Ed's parents' China Cabinet. Table and Chairs are reflected in the mirrors.

Kitchen China Cabinet--organized at last!

Kimball's Easter photo shoot!

A nice Sunday to wear the cashmere wool shawl Eddie brought me from Nepal.

Christmas 1979--Eddie is 5 and Kim is about to turn 9. Photo found at Ed's mom's place.

First Round of Estate Finished

Today I finished the final stage of the packing/giving away to the kids all the Christmas items we received from Ed's parents' estate. It has been a long drawn-out affair. This phase is finally completely finished down to the last ornament. It feels good. Besides what the kids wanted, I am eliminating two very large boxes of items that we will save for Kate's garage sale later this spring.

We stayed up until midnight last night and watched the movie "Angels and Demons." It was a great show and we enjoyed it, even though we paid the price today for such a late bedtime.

I met Kate and Kimball at Target today for Kimball's Easter photos in his new outfit. He looked darling but wasn't too cooperate as he wanted to run around and explore. The pictures came out okay, but we weren't successful in capturing his bright toothy smile.

We went to dinner tonight with two new people who recently moved into our neighborhood. Her name is Cindy, also. I think it is the start of a nice friendship.

We went to Bear Lake last week with my sister Lydia and her husband Ted. It was fun to play games for a couple of days and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Our kitchen has been pretty torn up for a couple of weeks while we sorted through all the Christmas stuff that came out of Ed's parents' estate. We pulled down all the boxes of our Christmas stuff and weeded out a lot of accumulated so-so Christmas items. I found giant clear bins at Shopko and combined some of our decorations with some of their's. These bins were a great "find." I was able to get everything in six bins by ellimating a lot of over-size boxes that used to house miscellaneous items. We can see "at a glance" where things are located.

These bins stack three deep up on the shelves in the garage, and all six bins fit on the shelves designated for Christmas. It's a good feeling to have that sorting behind us.

Hectic weeks

Amber came to visit last week. We spent a nice evening together eating dinner, watching a movie on the computer, and she helped me with the sound affects for this blog. Hope you enjoy the songs while you read:) I forgot to take her picture. Hopefully she got a Utah picture and can email it to me and I'll put in on this blog.

I have spent much of my time these past two weeks trying to get my new scanner, Epson 600 V Photo scanner, working. It just did not work with my new Mac, even though research and numerous calls before purchasing it said that it would. Finally, I got a level II person at Epson. He said my scanner is defective. He owns a 6.5.2 Snow Leopard like mine and this scanner, and it worked like a charm from day one. What a hassle. But hopefully, I can get it replaced soon. Then I can get onto my projects---have lost so much time.

Ed and I went to a 12 stake Family History Fair last Saturday. It was very informative, but somewhat over-whelming.

Have spent time also on KSL.com buying toys for Kimball to play with. He seems more content now and it's fun to have him over.

Kate and I bought him a year pass to the Children's Museum which is loaded with fun things to do for children of all ages. I keep forgetting my camera, but next time, hopefully I'll have some pictures to show.