I love color!

Can I just say how much I love color on walls. I started to paint my master bedroom, yesterday. I have been wanting to do this for a long time...but for many reasons haven't gotten around to it in the past 3 1/2 years. Well, I actually did start to paint it months ago...but didn't care for the color and ended up painting the office that color instead. So, my master bedroom has been adorning the blue painters tape on the trim for way too long.

I decided on a nice tan that is actually named kahki shade and I am very pleased with the color and how it is turning out. I forgot to take a before picture...so here is an in between picture...do you like how I am painting around the bed. I didn't think I was going to make it that far and hadn't moved the bed out from the wall. With the walls painted I know my brass bed is going to bug me even more then it did before...oh the life of a designer...there is always something on my list to replace.

This is the part of the room that is completed....I think it looks great, so much better then WHITE.

Can you say OUCH!

Thursday my work had a little employee mixer with a 2 hour BBQ. They had food, dodgeball and volleyball. So, I decided to play a little volleyball. It was rather warm outside, in the 90's and I sure did get hot. But, hey I didn't have to work so why not play. The thought did cross my mind that I may end up with heatstroke...but I really didn't even think about a sunburn.

No, I did not have sunscreen on. No, I did not learn from my friend Michelle's experience that she wrote about on her blog. No, my neck has not seen the sun for a year! Well, possibly more then that.

Yes, I did end up with heat stroke...and I endured it well as I had to go up to girls camp that evening. Yes, having a migrane headache with girls camp cheers and songs hurts your head. Yes, the smoke from a camp fire increases the discomfort of a headache. Yes, going down winding mountain roads in the middle of the back seat of a van makes you want to throw up when you have heat stroke. Yes, having lobster red skin hurts when you touch it.

Finally, No it will not be likely that I will be tan after the red goes away. I may have more freckles though.

New growth

I have been going into my backyard every day to check the progress of my garden. So far, I have managed to keep everything alive. I have even managed to see new growth! I was very excited to eat my first strawberry. YUMMY. I have one zucchini plant and some peas and beans that have sprouted. Hooray! I didn't mark the rows, so I don't know which is which...I guess I will see once they get larger. I think I am even seeing some onions coming up.

When I was in YW I had the goal to grow a little garden. Mom was a little disappointed in my gardening skills as the weeds didn't get pulled and over took much of my garden. I purchased the black weed material and it seems to be working pretty well. I just really need to figure out how to tack it down.

I am attempting to grow basil...but I think I am feeding the insects more then growing basil. The poor leaves look like swiss cheese with all the holes. I bought some lady bugs, to see if they would eat the bugs. I am not sure if that helped, I haven't seen them around lately. I don't know if they flew over the fence and into the field where there are more insects to eat. The cilantro seems to be doing pretty well though.

What would life be like without tomatoes?

I started to think this morning what would it be like if they don't figure out this problem with the tomatoes. I decided that life as we know it, would be dramatically different when it comes to food. You know how I like to eat food!

Could you imagine eating a hamburger without tomatoes or ketchup? Eating a Subway sandwich with no tomatoes? Eating tortilla chips without salsa? Eating Spaghetti or pizza without tomato sauce? Eating french fries without ketchup or fry sauce? Eating salads with out tomatoes? No tomato soup?

It almost seems that some of these items would not exist if you couldn't use tomatoes. Well, maybe they woud exist, they just wouldn't be taste good. That would be sad!

I hope my 12 tomato plants grow and produce lots of tomatoes! I am glad that I have planted a garden! Too bad there aren't going to be any tomatoes for a while yet. I also planted some peppers and they are starting to produce baby peppers...look how cute it is.

The passing of another amazing person

A couple of weeks ago my grandmother passed away. Not only was she over 90 years old be she was one of the most amazing people and I got to call her "Grandma." It is hard to lose someone in your life that has made a huge impact on who you are. But, the best part of it all is knowing that there was a wonderful, long overdue reunion going on! After losing her husband of 5 years and living for 63 years without him and having her only sibling pass away a couple of years ago, I can only imagine what this homecoming must have been like.

My family after the funeral services. Back: Varon, Nathan, Kim, Marta, James Front: Kristen, Mom, Dad, Annika.

My grandmother is the oldest person that they know of to hike to the Timpanogas caves and go through the tour. She did this right before her 89th birthday. This was a dream that she had always had but, never had taken the opportunity to go before then. Today I was going through some stuff in my "to scrapbook pile." I came across a letter that she wrote to me on her typewriter a week after the reunion and we went to the caves. In her letter she said , "Ther is no end of weeds in my yard, so I can keep busy for the rest of the summer. And I can dream of my dream come true -- getting to go to the caves on Mount Timpanogas. I have wanted to do that for many years and now I have been there. Thank you very much for making my dream come true." I wish that I had a picture to post of her hiking.

My grandmother was amazing at geneology, she could pretty much get everyone related that she spoke with. She practically taught everyone in her region of Idaho. She was always working in her yard and it looked immaculate. She attended every ward function, funeral, missionary farewell & homecoming in town. She was faithful in her church service. She was kind and loving to all that she met. She was an awesome cook: fried chicken, carrot cake, peanut butter cookies, plum jam, apple sauce. Yum!

My grandma's house is so full of wonderful memories! It was difficult to drive up to the house and not see grandma standing in the kitchen window waiting for me to arrive. It didn't take long for the tears to start flowing. And they just didn't seem to stop. I decided that I was the designate water feature for this event. I would stop crying and I would see someone else cry and I would start all over again. It is a good thing I don't drink water, I would have flooded McCammon!

It was definately strange to be at grandma's without her! But, we did manage to come away with some memories like we always do at grandma's. Especially when it comes to the toilet. I did come to realize how conveniant it is to having a toilet in your house. While we were staying there we had some toilet issues. We were not able to use the toilet due to what we thought was a septic tank issue. So we had to make bathroom trips to the local truck stop or church. We also used the showers at the church by the baptismal font.

Here are some of the many things at grandma's house that bring back a flood of memories. Playing school at grandma's house with the chalk board. We would play for hours!

I loved to look at the Mirror and hair brush that grandpa had given to grandma. I could just imagine how she treasured these beautiful items.

The many letters that she would send that she had typed on her typewriter...even a couple of years ago.

Running outside to count the train cars as the it went by the house. And you can't forget the train whistle waking you up in the middle of the night.

Laying on the chaise lounge reading a good book and feeling the sun filtering through the window.

Grandma's antique phone that is probably the first edition dial phones. It is still in use today.

The little blue fences in grandma's yard...one of these I will commision an artist to paint this. It is so picturesque to me.

Grandma, thanks for all the wonderful years of memories. Thank you for being such a strong woman in the gospel. Thank you for teaching us how to work, love, have courage and faith. Thank you for teaching my mom how to be a great mom! Thank you for writing me letters and emails. Thank you for being YOU! I love you Grandma R!

Day 9 On top of Europe

Today was our last day in Europe. How the time has gone by! We decided that we were going to go to the tallest train station in Europe, which was on top of the Alps. We were going up to the Jungfrau Mountain which would be covered in snow.

We headed out that morning on a very scenic drive. We drove through Lucerne, the mountains and to Interlaken.

Marta and I by one of the many lakes that we passed on our drive.

It was so beautiful with lakes, waterfalls and green foilage every where. This was in Grindelwald there were many homes in this mountain valley.

We caught a train that took us from Grindelwald to Kliene Scheidegg where there is a ski resort. There was plenty of snow at the resort. The sun was shining and it was fairly warm. We ate lunch outside while we waited for the next cog train to take us the rest of the way to the top of the mountain.

We stopped at two lookout points on our way up the mountain. It was definately getting colder the higher up we went. We were able to see glaciers from the lookout points. We noticed that people coming down from the mountain on the trains were really sleepy. Something about the high altitude and altitude sickness. I guess some people were even throwing up at the top...Heather said she saw someone.

While up on the mountain we went outside and decided to not stay long as it was super cold! We walked through the ice palace which was part of a glacier, did some browsing through the shops and almost missed the last train down the mountain. Yeah running through the tunnels at 12,000 plus feet kind of takes your breath away! I think we made it through most of the areas up there...but, not quite sure. It was quite amazing to see the glaciers and all the snow. I have never seen an actual glacier. I wish that it had been less cloudy so we could have seen the panaramic views better.

You may use this link to see some panaramic shots of from the jungfrau. http://www.panoramaphoto.ch/jungfrau/

On our way back to our country retreat we stopped in Bern where the temple is. We walked around and took photos there. It is a very beautiful location!

This was a very fun trip and I was glad that I was able to share it with my family-Kristen, Marta, James, Kailey, Reilyn and Kedrick. I am also glad that my good friend Heather was able to come with us. Thanks Heather for introducing us to your friends Jenni and Justin.