Surprise!! Happy Birthday Brian

Thursday, July 2, we celebrated Brian's Birthday. He turned 29 and so you know how old that makes me. We had:
Brian and Mal
Jeff and I
Tony (my one son people dont know I have)
Kevin and Natalie (he served with Brian in the same mission)
Leah and Mike
Natalie and Mike
Sandy and Norm
Heather and MIke
Jake and Jenna
Eric
I think he was a little surprised and probably would have been more suprised if he hadnt seen the Malibu on the other street.
We had a fun time and just so you know Bri I still think you give the best bear hugs EVER!!!!

Moving, Moving, Moving, Moving!!

I think I need to lay down some ground rules for all of our children!
I thoroughly love helping people move and am ok with going to Oregon, to Sandy, to Wendell, to Midvale, to Taylorsville anytime I possibly can. There is nothing more fun than moving into a new home and making it all your own.
BUT not even a month a go I was in Oregon helping Andrea and Rich move some of their stuff to their new home and organizing. Lindsay is the next to move, and bless her heart she has to do it when Jeff and I are playing at the Grand Canyon (so I am feeling bad that I wasnt there to help her) Sorry Linds! Then Jen and Bill decide they are going to move back to Logan, Utah and so I was up helping her for a few days, its not easy with 3 little kids for either her or Andrea. Natalie and Mike decide they are going to move and so I helped Natalie for a few hours last night. Leah and Mike are moving to a new home and she needs some help moving and especially painting because the color NEEDS to BE CHANGED!! (trust Leah and I on that) :) Being 6 months pregnant isnt the easiest thing to have going on when your trying to move and paint. So she will be my next step.
Now mind you I am not complaining, because I seriously love helping my kids (any one of them) Could you guys just possibly spread it over a few YEARS instead of few WEEKS!!! If you think about it you girls must be high maintenance none of the boys think they need to take move!! I guess Dan and Laura moved too, but theirs is fairly easy for them because they just load up the car as full as they can get it and then take off! We are a storage unit right now though for them and linds:)
You all have to admit for 8 of our children 6 of them have moved within the last 6 - 8 weeks. Thats alot of MOVING!! Any chance you all might considering settling down and growing some roots :)
I hope all of you like your new homes or apartments and that things go well for all of you. I feel so blessed that things are going well for all of us, with work, homes and families. We truly are being blessed!! Just so you know I love you all!!

I have to share this cute story with you about helping Jen pack this last weekend. Saturday Bill had taken Riley and Madison over to their Grandma Kings to play while we packed. Little Lily was sleeping so she stayed with us and when she woke up she would just walk around and HELP us pack. She soon got bored with us and SEVERAL times we would find that Lily had gone over to Jen's bar tried her hardest to climb up those tall kitchen chairs and then proceed to climb up on the counter and either crawl her way over to the phone and pretend to talk to that annoying signal you get when its off the receiver or pretend like she was surfing the web! I helped her find Uncle Blake's website so she could at least look at a real website. She is a crack up!

Visitors last weekend

Friday night I had 3 visitors come and stay with me.
Jen and her two girls came down for a girls weekend while Bill and Riley had a father and son weekend.
A few months ago after Natalie moved out Jen brought her kids down to stay and we were trying to get Riley and Madi to sleep in Blake and Natalie's beds so that Jen could possibly get a good nights sleep with just Lily in the room with her. I told Madison that I bought a pretty bedspread just for her and so I went and showed it to her. Well little did I know what impact that would have on her. Apparently she tells her mom that she has 2 beds, one at her house and one at Grandma Chris's. Well Friday night Jen and the girls and I were driving around trying to get them to go to sleep and Madison pipes up from the back and says "Mom I want to go back and sleep in my bed at Grandma's" We arrive back home and Jen puts her to bed and she STAYS THERE ALL NIGHT LONG. When she is at home in Wendell that is something she WONT do.
So I would say she like's Grandma and Grandpa's house and her very own bed!
One more thing all of the grandkids like is Grandma & Grandpa's big tub! As you can see they seem to enjoy it!

Thanks Jen and Madi and Lily for coming to stay!

Elder Andreasen's Zoo Excursion

Blake sent home his memory card a couple of weeks ago, and one video I thought I would post on my blog because it was too funny. Now you can see why missions are such a learning experience :)

My Trip to Oregon

On June 5th after work I climbed aboard a Southwest flight to go stay with Andrea and her family. Last time I was up in Oregon Jessi was just 5 months old and as we all know kids grow up so fast. So it was fun to go see them and to see their new house and help Andrea get a little more settled in. I think we got a maximum of 5 hours one night and the others were less than that.

When I arrived Andrea and Megan decided to leave me sitting at the airport on my luggage and out on the curb because their shopping at IKEA was more important than picking me up!! I still havent forgiven them for that.

Andrea and i stayed up way late going through their new office and going through OLD paperwork that she had kept from when they were first married. I think we were able to get her office more organized and fuctional. I should have taken before and after pictures. We stayed up late another night organizing her pantry so that it was in order and she could see what food storage she could work some more on.

I had promised Austin and Redden that if they would help babysit Jessi that I would take them to see a movie while we were up there. We went and saw the movie "UP". If you havent seen it, its a must. We didnt see the 3-D movie, but I hear that is the one that you need to see. We all loved it, I dont know how much Andrea actually saw because she was busy keeping Jessi quiet.

Now it comes the time to brag! If you havent heard little Jessi is a "MAMA's GIRL" and she doesnt much care for anyone that is not her mother. I am proud to say that Jessi and I are BFF's. She even cried when I left her in a room. I think her adoration for me came in close to a tie with her mother or at least a very tight
2nd.

We got to watch Redden play a little league game and I was quite proud of him and well he does. He got a great hit over 2nd base and made some good plays on 1st base.

Richard even took a few hours out of his busy schedule to play a card game with us. I know he is a sore loser and so I think that is why they didnt explain the rules to the game until over half way through, was so that I wouldnt have a change at winning. NOT COOL RICHARD!!

Here are some pics of my time up in Oregon.
Thanks, for letting me come and stay. Even though we didnt get much sleep I still had a good time.


Isnt she just adorable!!!

Our Trip to the Grand Canyon

Jeff and I had decided that because he is traveling so much that we should go on a short road trip and since I have never been to the Grand Canyon we thought we would go there.
Jeff suprised me with different places to stay. The first night we stayed in Kanab at this Bed and Breakfast place. It was a nice big room and decorated very nice. It had a huge jacuzzi tub.(that is something that I just love, give me some peace and quiet and a jacuzzi tub and thats relaxation). The very thing that I enjoyed the most Jeff was distraut about. You see Jeff doesnt take baths he only showers. This nice jacuzzi tub had a hose with a head but it rested on the faucet because there was no place to have a shower. The picture below was basically how the tub looked. If you look closely you can see the hose draped over the faucet.

So the dilema was, how does Jeff take a shower? He said it would be great if he was a midget but seeing how he isnt it wouldnt work. So after thinking about what to do he begged me to be the human shower holder. So as Jeff showers away I am the shower head holder. Trust me if I could have taken a picture of it I would have!!! But I will leave the visual to you!
This is the place that we stayed at in Kanab:

We left on Saturday morning for the Grand Canyon and stopped at various places to take pictures. One of the very first places we learned about several different plants or trees that the indians used to heal certain ailments. As some of you might know Jeff is fond of vaseline. Believe it or not I found a tree that I think I might plant in the back yard that has sap that is very similar to VASELINE. That way jeff wont have to buy any more:

We also stopped and bought me a bracelet at one of the stands that the Indians were selling their wares. They had some pretty cool stuff.
The following are some shots of different places that we stopped and this first picture is of the look out tower that was built back in 1932.

This next shot was of a damn that we came to. If you look closely on the bottom left corner there are little boats that look pretty dang small from that far up. I have to admit it kind of freaked me out going across the bridge.

Here are some more shots!

Here are a couple of other shots:
Jeff found a couple of new friends

Then to top off the trip I found something that made me take a flash back to over 20 years ago. I use to make fun of my dad by waving with 4 fingers like the little Anderson Lumber Man did on the side of all their trucks. Jeff and I were driving through Hurricane and saw this parked out in a empty lot:

We had alot of fun and thanks to Jeff's boss we had a really nice steak dinner in Williams, Arizona. We unfolded napkins in the Circle K parking lot and to the surprise to you all, as you can see even though both Jeff and I got close to the edge of the canyon neither one of us pushed each other over!

In all seriousness we had a great time, we visited Colorado City(that was interesting)and alot of talking and driving it was so good to get away, thanks Jeffie McGriddle for taking me to see the Grand Canyon. With you traveling so much it was nice to get away for a few days!! Thanks Hon!

My Trip to Wendell

Last weekend Jeff was already up in Idaho and so I drove up and we met in Twin Falls and went to dinner with Jenni & Bill and their family. We had a really good time. This was the first time that I have seen Riley, Madison, and Lily out tearing up the rode on their motorcyle and fourwheeler. It was the cutest thing ever. Take a look!

March 1st was Landry's Blessing

March 1st I traveled up to Idaho to attend Landry Timothy Crane's baby blessing. It was fun to see a few old friends and be able to catch up with things that were going on in their lives.


The Saturday before Landry's blessing my older brother thought it would be fun to have all of us go bowling! Funny thing is he wouldnt pose for the camera so we could have fun memories of the family outing.

Time to Catch Up

Well since my last post of the Holidays lots of things have happened. The first and perhaps the one that took so much of my time in January and part of February was a Postgrad meeting in Park City.
It took a lot of my time and attention, but it seemed to go off without any hitches. We had 167 paying attendees that came from all over the United States and 3 other countries. I was hoping that during the week long conference that I would have more time to kick back and enjoy the resort, but it was quite draining.

Here are some pics of the meeting.

Home for the Holidays!

This year that phrase brings a new and deeper meaning than ever before.

Twas a week before Christmas and all through our house,
not a creature was stirring we'd all headed north.

We had a baptism and blessing and things to attend,
Even Lindsay was planning her trip from Bend.

Jen and with her kids were the first to arrive,
with an older sister checking on every hour of drive.

Then it was I who arrived on a flight from Southwest
and grateful for Rich to give his 4 wheel drive such a test.

Brian and Mal headed north in their new car
because of the storm it took more time to travel that far.

Natalie then boarded a flight that was soon coming our way
she stopped in Boise and found Bill too, on his way.

Saturday arrived and Redden's baptism day,
The weather was terrible but most found their way.

We all got dressed up and ready to go
We hoped that we'd all make it through the deep fallen snow.

We arrived at the church and had a wonderful time
but soon learned that Mother nature was not being kind.

So we decided it was best if we blessed the new babe
because the chance to leave would soon possibly fade.

We gathered at Andreas for food and some fun
and realized we're staying when the forcast was done.

The weatherman relayed some bad news to us all
We will all have to hunker down for a very long haul.

It was snowing and blowing on I-84
We were going nowhere and must stay indoor

We had 19 of us in that Turner household
We soon realized this would be a story often retold.

For most I am sure that it was a challenge to bear
but for Grandma Chris it was a chance I hold dear.

You see the grandchildren are not often together
Now you can see why I was so glad for this weather.

Children were running around and around
and people were sleeping all over the ground

Andrea learned from what prophets had said
What food should be saved so that your family is fed.

Bless her heart for her efforts and listening close
We all had plenty to eat be it her fruit or pintos.

Our dear Jenni was busy with her scissors a clipping
She had people lined up for their turn at her snipping

We waited and waited for news from that man
hoping he would tell us we could continue our plan.

The news was announced early Tuesday morn
As the news came to me i was really quite torn.

It was time to pack up and to head out the door
We first must buy chains from the old tire store.

A special thanks must be given to Brian, my son
Your putting on snowchains i am sure wasnt fun.

We sprang to our cars to be on our way
You see I-84 had verily opened that day.

But a tear came to my eye as we drove out of sight

Merry Christmas to my children I'll miss you alright!

It's an Early Christmas!

Today I came home from work to find a box from Sydney, Australia. Inside it had Cadbury Chocolate, a McDonalds card I sent him but it wont work there, a bag of tim tams, some Milo (the drink you drink when doing the infamous Tim Tam Slam), A surprise for a nephew, and my most favorite, another MEMORY CARD! I just had to post one of his videos to see if you think he's getting an accent.

I am gearing up to be the #1 Aunt once again.

My little sister and her husband and their son Bridger, had the stork deliver a new addition to their family.
I think his name will be Landry and he weighed 6lbs 6 oz and about 19" long
I cant tell if he looks like KC or if he has some Painter shining through.
Isnt he adorable??

Thanksgiving in Idaho

First off I want to say thanks to Mom for letting us come up for Thanksgiving! Its always fun to go back home. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with all the expected dishes.
I have to give two thumbs up to Janiece and her two girls for making the cutest place settings I've seen! Home made cornucopias! She took sugar cones and steamed them so they would get soft and then they formed then into the shape of cornucopias and then put candy corn and also the little pumpkins that are also made out of the same kind of candy. Take a look at these! Arent they cute?




We played Rummy, Blackjack, Texas Hold 'em (I took Brad to the cleaners on this game!, and Apples to Apples. We laughed so hard that I think my little sister and I may have wet our pants. I blame mine on my age and she blames hers on being 8 1/2 months pregnant. We all stayed up and talked till wee hours of the morning. We had a race getting our PJ's on with Grandma Wilm and had more fun than you can imagine.
Here are some pics of times during the holiday weekend.







Thanks to Mom, Brent, Janiece, Dan, Laura, Jeff, Bailey, McKell, Quade. Thanksgiving dinner was awesome. Thanks to Brad, Kim, Hayden, Kylee, Natalie, Cari, KC, Bridger for joining us later in the day to have fun.

My nieces and nephews are great, I got lots of hugs, and back rubs and even pictures drawn for me. I hate to break it to you Cari and Chuck, I still think I am the favorite AUNT!!

Girl's Night Out!

First off I just want to tell Natalie and Mallory thank you for taking me along to see Twilight! I finally caught a glimpse of how people got so attached to Harry Potter movies and couldnt wait for the next one to come out. I am still not sure how they got 122 minutes of a movie to feel like it lasted 22 minutes but they did.
Although when we headed up to the movie and went in the parking garage I almost went bonkers. We got in there and moved about 10 feet every 20 minutes. So I told Mallory she better go in because it was getting so close to the movie start time and I knew how badly she wanted to see it. Thank heavens we happen to all get into the theatre just as the previews were finishing. After the movie we headed to The Melting Pot to enjoy dinner. I think Mal and Natalie got a little bit giddy from the cheese fondue. Its a good thing I was the designated driver!
Thanks again Mal and Natalie and for those of you that havent seen "Twilight" its a must.