A look at September

As so often happens, I get behind on my blog, and have to settle for a few favorite pictures to document exactly what has been taking up my time that I intend to use for blogging.  

This month has been no exception, and I give you a condensed version of September, 2015...

What would Autumn be like without soccer?  I really couldn't tell you, as I have been going to soccer games in the Fall for longer than I can remember!!  Sadly, the light at the end of that tunnel is growing brighter by the year!  The LHS girl's soccer team just celebrated the Seniors as part of their last home game on Saturday.  Seven girls who have played together for at least 4 years, and in the case of a few of them, most of their young lives.  

Ashley, Kristin, Allison and Miranda, Soccer Storm - circa 2004
(Be still my heart!!  How cute are these little girls?)  This year, these girls played teams consisting of several of their current LHS teammates.  How fun would it be to have taken pictures of all of them back then??  One more note - Kristin loved this blue uniform and wore it A LOT!!  She was such a funny duck back then about clothes!!

Kristin, Rylee and Ashley, LHS Soccer Team - 2015
A trio of beautiful girls

Michael, Kian, Ashley and Kristin, Soccer Storm - circa 2008
Hard to believe these kids are all graduating this year!!

Just one of this girl's many talents!!

Beautiful!!

They can't wait to graduate!!!

 More on soccer in a minute, but let's take a break to catch up on more September happenings...

Ashley and Chelsie came to visit and brought their 4 little guys with them!  It was great, and although it went by really fast, it was an unexpected treat to have them come!!  

We...

...went to the park and played...

...rode scooters on the pump track...

...rode scooters on the walking path...

(Carter even got in on that action)

...cheered on Trev at his soccer game...

...felt protected by our resident Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle... 

...and spent a rainy afternoon indoors, which included playing in the teepee the girls played with as children.  I couldn't help snapping a photo of the kids doing the exact thing their moms used to do...

I know I am missing T2 but he chose not to participate

We didn't do too many exciting things, but also managed to have a pizza night, watch the real-life Cinderella movie, find a house for next summer's vacation, and have a few nice chats to boot.  The girls also took advantage of a little nap here and there.  An added perk when Nonna is around. :)  The only bad part about the trip was the fact that Trevor and Kristin were both so busy with soccer, they didn't get to spend much time with our visitors.  Kristin actually skipped school one morning because she had two away games while they were here, and literally only got to spend a few hours with them.  There wasn't much we could do about that, just the way it was.  :(

Elder Dallin H. Oaks came to our Stake Conference this month!  Kristin had the opportunity to help give him his lunch for the trip back up to Spokane!  She came in the house after she got home and said..."Best. Day. Ever!".  That is music to this mama's ear!!  I'm grateful she knows the importance of modern day apostles and prophets, and what a blessing it is to have been in the presence of Elder Oaks!!

Of course, there are a few other things that have been going on this month, unfortunately, no pictures are available, but they are happening nonetheless...

Seminary is in full swing.  I'm getting to know my class, and loving it!  We are studying the Old Testament this year!!  Yikes!  I'm just taking it one day at a time.  And yes, it is still relentless, but I'm also grateful for the calling!!  It is amazing!!

Yoga is still happening, although I took an unintended break in August!  Too much going on.  It feels so good to be back at it!!

And just life in general has been moving along at a pretty fast clip!  I thought it would slow down a bit after school started, but I should have known better!  Silly me.

Kristin had a great final home game.  She assisted on both goals scored by LHS!  She has loved her time as a Lady Bengal!!

Trevor in his game against Moscow.

Another stroll down memory lane...Hayden, Cassidy, Kristin and Alyssa.  Boys and Girls Club soccer, 2006
Especially poignant as Hayden was involved in a fatal helicopter crash this summer.  A tragedy too great for words.

I made posters for each of the Senior girls.  There is glitter from one end of my house to the other, and much in between!  :)

So there is the Reader's Digest version of September.  As you can see, it was a great month!!

Roommate Rendezvous 2014

Roommate Rendezvous 2014  - Sun Valley, Idaho

That was then...

...this is now!!

Talk about a blast from the past!!!  I just spent a few days in Sun Valley, Idaho with my roommates from my Freshman year at BYU!! We all spent part or all of our Freshman year living in Heritage Halls, E. Richards #2110.  Some of us went on to live with each other in other apartments for one or two more years.   

Here is the Cast of Characters (not including me)

Stephanie Reid Nielson - bottom middle, both pictures - We lived in E. Richards, Monterey Apts. and Clover Haus.  She and I were room-roommates in Monterey and Clover Haus.  She left us to get married to her guy, Kirk, in December of that third year.  She now lives in Colorado with her husband and youngest daughter.  Her 4 other children (2 boys, 2 girls) are scattered around the country, including some cute grandchildren.

Salinda Holleman Riebow - bottom right, second picture.  You may be wondering why Salinda isn't in the picture from E. Richards.  Salinda lived with Janette in a different apt. in E. Richards their first semester, then moved into ours for the Winter Semester.  Her RM boyfriend, Mark, came to Provo to take Salinda to Preference and talked her into going back to Florida and to get married!  We only had her for a roomie for one block!!  She, Mark and her youngest daughter live in Florida.  She also has 2 more boys and 2 more girls who are older who live hither and yon, with some of those children also making Salinda a Grandma of some also, very cute, grandkids.  

Boonseon Song Gudmundsen - when you are a teeny little thing, you always get to be on the top of the pyramid.  Of course, in the second picture, we didn't have a very top, so you see her on the top left, because she is still a teeny little thing.  Boonseon was my room-roommate our Freshman year.  She came to BYU fresh from Korea, and as well as having to have me as a roommate, had to learn many new things about her new life in Provo, Utah - a far cry from Taegu, Korea.  Boonseon lived with us the next year in Monterey Apts.   She got a new roommate the next summer when she married her sweetheart, Kevin.  They now are empty-nesters in California.  Her 2 sons and one daughter live in Utah and Texas, including a very cute granddaughter.  (Are you sensing a theme with the grandkids?:)

Janette Wells Lewis (the rendezvous organizer, and provider of our lodging for the weekend.  Thanks, Janette)  - Middle row, right side both pictures.  Janette was with me until I got married.  The last semester in Clover Haus, she and I finally shared a room in the apartment.  Janette went on to serve a mission in Thailand before settling (that is a loose term with her) down in Utah with her husband, David.  Janette still has one daughter at home, and her other 3 girls live in Utah.  She is looking forward to being a grandma some day, to, no doubt, cute grandkids.:)

You may notice the other two girls in the original picture.  Penny Shaner Broderick, second row, next to Janette, was like our mother.  She was a little older than some of us, and seemed to have wisdom beyond her years.  I hoped to find her before the reunion, as I knew where she had lived for many years before college, but my efforts came to naught.  Boonseon put her brain on it after she got home from Sun Valley and found her just like that!  We look forward to meeting up with Penny soon!!!  Michelle Cooper is on the bottom row, left side, and we have no idea where to even begin looking for her.  It would seem our apt. door was a revolving one, as we had 3 other roommates in our first semester in E. Richards as well.  Cindy Fullmer, Jeri (I can't remember her name) and Melvina - aka, I keep my produce under my bed  (I'm not kidding about that.  She was in my room, and we had fruit flies for a few days until she moved to a different place) - all lived with us, but were gone by the end of Fall Semester.

So, back to the weekend.  (That background took a while, sorry about that)

Most of us spent from Saturday afternoon to Tuesday morning together.  Boonseon couldn't come until Sunday evening, and she, Janette, and Salinda all stayed until Wednesday.  That meant that we had all day Monday together, and we packed it in.

Redfish Lake was a beautiful place to spend our precious day together.  We headed out, and took advantage of every minute we had to chat and catch up with each other.  I'm not sure I heard one silent moment on either the hour long drive to the lake or back.  (We know how to use our time efficiently! :)

We hiked, we talked,  we laughed, we ate, we talked, we laughed, we relaxed on a boat ride, still had plenty to say and laughed some more.  And then, after we got back to Ketchum to do a little shopping and eat some yummy gelato, we still weren't done talking or laughing.  And, yes, you guessed it, even during our late dinner (can you say Chicken Cordon Bleu at about 9:30 pm?) and a little roommate trivia game, we still laughed, and talked.  (I would just like to apologize one more time to Salinda for not letting her get a word in edgewise more than a few times that day.  I think Steph would second that with me.)  

There are a few observations I made during the reunion and since I have gotten home.  

 - These girls are still the same people I knew 30+ years ago, only better versions of themselves.  Boonseon made a similar observation. She commented that she heard our same voices from all those years ago, but with an added layer of something (maturity may be a stretch for some of us, but maybe she heard they have been added to with our life experiences)

-We have not breezed through these many years apart.  Serious illness?  Yep, breast cancer among other things.  Kids giving us fits?  Yep, at least a few of us have been through that.  Marital stuff - check. Financial troubles including unemployment - check again.  Miscarriages, parents' deaths, other troubles with parents, minor illness? - Yes, yes, yes and yes.  I think its safe to say most of the trial and adversity bases are covered between us.

-Despite the above experiences, we are all still strong in the Gospel.  I realized after I got home, I felt a little like when Ammon and company met Alma the younger while they were out teaching the Lamanites.  Alma 27:16 - 19.  It was a joyful meeting, and he was swallowed up in joy even to exhausting his strength.  I, too, was exhausted with joy (and all that laughing) after being with my long ago friends.  We are all married in the temple, we have tried to raise our kids in righteousness, we all hold temple recommends, and we all are contributing to our wards.  (Two RS Presidents, one RS Counselor, a Sunday School teacher/Temple Worker, and one Seminary Teacher.)  I felt strength from being among these girls and buoyed up by their faith and examples.

-A person cannot make up for stupid mistakes, but they can be grateful for friends with forgiving hearts who still accept the stupid mistake-making person, love said person, and let her move forward with them in rekindling friendships that will surely last many years to come. 

And, yes Janette, I know - Spain.  Just give me a little more time. :)

It was a fantastic few days, worth every second I spent on the road getting there and home.  I love these girls, and being with them reminded me why I love them, and the great influence they were in my life all those years ago.

This is a really long blog post for just one or two days of activities, but like I said, we packed our time, and we had A LOT of catching up to do.  Next time there will only be a year or two to fill each other in on.

We did decide a Roommate book club is a good idea, that the majority of us are Downton Abbey fans, that we need to get together more often, that 30+ years is way to long to have let go by before we got together, but that 30+ years has only enhanced our experience together.  So I say, "Long live E.Richards Rm 2110.  (Ironically, the dorm building we lived in has been razed and replaced with something bigger and better, but the original will always stay in our hearts.)

The following pictures are a little photo diary of the weekend, with more than a few editorial comments and not necessarily in chronological order. 

Enjoy...

Killing time preparing dinner until Boonseon got there.  

You can't appreciate this picture until you think about how big this chair is, and how young we are NOT!  :)

The autumn color was beautiful on the way to Redfish Lake

Notice the matching t-shirts?  Salinda surprised us with a gift bag with these shirts, some orange blossom honey and strawberry preserves from Florida.  They have our names on them, as well as the logo of the school that brought us all together, complete with little cougar paws!  So cute!!

I couldn't resist snapping this.  Something about a stream...I can't stop myself.

Stephanie treated us to lunch at Redfish Lake Lodge.  Yummy food and good company. (you will notice there are two people without pink t-shirts.  Some of Janette's family came up for a few days, and Jael and Brent stayed after everyone else went back to SLC.  They really earned their spots when we needed a group picture.  It would have been too much to ask to set a timer on the camera AND try to get into position.  Someone would have gotten hurt.

The lodge where, in the parking lot, the miracle of the car bumper occurred!   We're pretty sure we heard angels singing!! 

Mt. Heyburn which happens to be named after an Idaho state congressman whose interest did not lie in conserving animals, land, you name it.  We all thought that was a great way to "honor" his legacy!  :)

The weather wasn't conducive to using these, but I loved the color they provided in this shot.

The sun was in the wrong part of the sky to truly get a good shot of the "Gates of Heaven" but you get a general idea.  Beautiful!!  Thanks to Boonseon for treating us to the guided boat tour.

Love the reflection

I didn't get an actual picture of the entrance to the lake.  This will have to do.

Yummy gelato!!  You will notice there are more than one set of legs stretched out.  We went hard all day!  We were ready for a little rest.

Soup weather

Last week Mother Nature threw me a bone and we had several days of really beautiful Fall weather!  Really beautiful!!  

Well, this week we are back to grey, chilly days, which only means one thing!!  Its Soup Weather!!

Tuesday, Kristin had a soccer game, (they won, and Kristin had a great assist on one of the goals!!)  It was deceptively chilly at the game which means I took some time warming up (read - I ate dinner with my fuzzy bathrobe over my clothes!  Its very effective!)

Anyway...dinner that night was lasagna soup.  This is from the website, Our Best Bites, which is full of really yummy recipes.  It was warm, cheesy and flavorful!  I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta, since I never have ricotta in my fridge, and I didn't add as much sausage as it called for, although John thought it needed more.  I made it a few hours early and put it in the crock pot to keep warm until after the game.  It's a keeper!

Another of my favorite recipes from OBB is black bean soup.  It is deceptively flavorful, although, don't leave out the cilantro - it is a key player.  The other thing I love about this soup is the nutrition information.  Really low cal, low fat,  Winner, winner!!  (Of course, the cheese you add before you eat it isn't included in the fat count!  ;)

One more favorite from OBB is Baked Potato Soup.  Unlike lasagna soup (Trev didn't love the chunks of tomatoes) or black bean soup (truth be told, I am the only one who loves, although I think Amber and Kristin will humor me and eat it), everyone loves this soup!!  What's not to love? Cheese, bacon bits, sour cream!!  Yummy, warm and delicious!!

Soup weather means I get to pull out my imitation Le Crueset pot.  It is an authentic Le Costco.  I know some may scorn the substitution, but its either this or nothing as I am far too frugal (read - cheap) to put out the money for the real thing!!

My favorite soup pot sitting on my favorite toile tablecloth.

Happy Soup Weather from me to you!

October 3rd...the perfect day

Trevor proclaimed 10-3-2013 as the perfect day.  Here is what was going on, and as you will see, several of the events added up to a 13 year-old boy's idea of what a perfect day is...

1 - No School

2- Selling a car

3- Kristin being out of town on a soccer trip

4 - Mountain bike ride

5 - The annual Almond Harvest

Let's address each event to see how it did or didn't contribute to the "perfect day."

1.

There was no school Thursday and Friday because of a Teacher Improvement Day and a crazy thing called October Vacation.  I have a feeling it should truly be named October Hunting Vacation, but that's just me!

I think we can safely put this in the Did Contribute column. 

2.

Thursday we sold the kid car - affectionately known as Jorge, or the Purple Honda.  Sadly, it was beginning to take away from the auto repair budget category, and as a new car is on the horizon for John, it was time to let it go.  John and Trev had a deal worked out that if Trev did the legwork, he could have whatever the car sold for over a certain amount.  Let me just say, Trev did mighty fine for himself.  I think even he was surprised what his take on this deal was!! Ka-ching!!

Kristin, who has always profusely stated her disdain for this car, became surprisingly nostalgic when the sale was close.  (This cracks me up!)  She is in driver's ed, and hadn't had a chance to drive it, so Thursday morning I drove to the fairgrounds parking lot, where she could take it for a spin or two around the parking lot.  I also let Trev "drive" it for about 3 yards.  I couldn't let it go without all of the kids driving it.  Kristin may or may not forgive me for letting Trev do this.  Time will tell!

Again, this was a winner event!

3.

Kristin had a soccer game in Post Falls.  This means she had to leave around 11:30 and didn't get back until about 9:30 pm.  They won!!

Although you might think this would be in the did contribute column, Trev gets pretty lonely with just me, and as I may have mentioned, I only have two kids at home now!!!  (Clearly I am still working through this.)  Also, with Kristin gone, he is minus a target for "younger brother annoying", which he can do pretty well!!

4.

All day long, Trev had been dying to go mountain biking.  He helped with the almonds (see 5) and we had a little free time in the afternoon so we headed out.  I was glad to have a walking opportunity for myself as well.

About 5 miles from our house, on the edge of the river, is a series of trails that are used for hiking, jogging, biking, walking and horseback riding.  There are several different loops marked on the map, with the mileage for each one.  

We choose one, and headed out.  Of course, he left me in his dust (literally and figuratively, it was a very dusty and sandy trail) and I nervously hoped he would take the right turns at the right times.  He did, and save a very sandy spot that he had to walk his bike through, had a great time.  As for myself, I realized what muscle groups I had worked when I got out of bed on Friday!:)

No doubt in my mind that this was the Perfect Day clincher!  He could have done chores all day and then this and the day still would have been out of this world.

One for the win/win column (He got to mountain bike, I got to walk!)

The view from the trail!  The river looks beautiful behind all of the trees.  And look at that blue sky!  Perfect!!

At the end of the trail, there was a hill that others had ridden down before.  Trev toiled and got his bike up there only to look on the other side and see a much easier path to the top!  That sounds like a sacrament meeting talk, doesn't it?
The ride down was scary, but fun!!

5.

Every year, the almond tree is laden with fruit, and in order to get the high stuff, we have to hit the branches with a long pole.  As Trev was the only other body available (see no. 3),  he was chosen by default to help me.  This is not a great job.  This year was especially hard because a lot of the nuts had already fallen and we had to search through the ground cover to find them.  He was ready to be done then, but there were still nuts on the tree.  We spread out sheets and beat the tree, and then collected the nuts.  Not great fun, but its done and now the nuts are spread out to dry a little.  They are still in their soft, sticky hulls, and I have found that letting them dry a day or two makes the removal of the hulls easier.  

This was definitely a "did not" make the day perfect, but again, see no. 4.

There you have it, the elements that make up a perfect day for a teenage boy.

Day 10 - GBE

Well, we knew it would happen, I just really thought it would take me a little longer, but it's happened, and I'm going to just keep moving forward.  So in that spirit, here is Day 9...

You may just think this is a blurry photo, but if you look closely you will see that raindrops are making it look that way!  The weather all week has been muggy!  Hot and muggy.  Tuesday it rained, and it was still a little hot, but the sun was hidden by the clouds, and it was nice.  Sadly, by the time I walked out of the grocery store, the sun was out, and the rain was gone.

Yesterday, Amber and I traveled to Walla Walla for some desperately needed dental work, and were entertained the whole way home by a very cool lightning storm.  Then in the middle of the night, it rained again.  (The Walla Walla trip is my excuse for skipping my blog yesterday.  I was very tired and had a killer headache by the time we got home, and I completely forgot about doing it!  Darn!!

That brings us to today, and this is what it did all morning.  Lovely, steady rain!!  My windows were open, there was a breeze going through my house, and I even pulled on a sweatshirt as I felt a little chilled.  "Mmm..Fall is falling", I thought to myself!!

But like many good things, it was only temporary, and by noon, it was warming up again, and I was peeling off my sweatshirt, and the sun came out for most of the afternoon.  "Shoot", I thought to myself, "so much for Fall!!"

The sun was hidden by clouds all through Kristin's soccer game, which was not only nice for the players, but the spectators as well.  But as I type, we are back to heavy, hot air.  It was good while it lasted.

A day on the soccer pitch

Saturday was a lovely day in the valley which was good since we had 3 soccer games all in a row to cheer for. Amber had one more in Pullman later in the afternoon, but we sent her up with the coach for that one. Her team lost the first game, won the second.


Trevor tried his hands at goalie this week. He also played offense and scored at least a few times. He did think goalie was pretty cool. He is just so glad to play. Any day on the field is a good day for him.

Kristin played against 3 of her good friends in her game. She and Alyssa were battling for the ball and Alyssa went down, landed on her elbow and went to the Dr. office to get x-rays to see how badly she injured it. Kristin felt bad, but only let it show after the game. It didn't matter to her that the opposing team's goalie was a girl she has played soccer with since Kindergarten. No...she felt no remorse as she sent the ball into the goal multiple times. No one can say she is not a competitor. None the less, Kristin's team creamed the opposition, but all were still friends at the end of the day.

Amber was also the star of the day. She is into the second year of teenagerhood. Who knew she'd turn 14 so soon? Grandma and Grandpa Rietz came over for the day to watch all the soccer games and to celebrate her big day. We didn't have to pull out the fire extinguisher for the ice cream cake, but in a few years...well, we'll have to keep that option open.


Trevor couldn't wait to get the house in the Halloween spirit, and wasn't done after he and the two younger sisters decorated inside. No sooner had he walked into the house after school today, and he was ready to put together the scarecrow. With little help from anyone else, he stuffed and assembled our rag tag friend. He had a little help bringing the pumpkins up from the garden, but he washed them all himself and arranged them on the porch. If we are not in the Halloween spirit around here, no one can blame it on Trevor. He made sure we have no excuse to forget the next big holiday. Nice work, buddy!

Don't know who to vote for, don't know what the next economic crisis will be, but I do know that Fall is here and that means lots of yummy food!!! So Life is Good!!!

Here is my gratitude list -

- Bro. Jackson - our former home teacher who was faithful about coming and made sure we didn't ever want for anything he could do for us. He passed away yesterday after a long battle with health problems that never could be solved.

- The foods of Fall - see above

- My hairdresser, Pam - she has a gift

- General Conference - Elder Haight's reminder to laugh will stick with me for a long time.