Well I finally got it framed and upon the wall. It looks great. Thank you so much Matt and Ella for creating such a great picture. Such a good idea. I guess Ella is the one who kept after everyone to get their pictures to her. What a great job. Thank you everyone for making it possible. The guys at the frame shop thought it was a really neat picture and a great idea. What a great family we have.
We have put this group of pictures up on the opposite was wall. It all goes together really nice. I have several frames in the hall and in the family room and kitchen for vertical 4 x 6 snapshots. I also have some for horizontal but more vertical. These are all now so it is relatively easy for me to change the pictures periodically. So I would love some vertical pictures. I can print them myself so you can e-mail or text pictures.

We are enjoying some very pleasant weather but still needing more rain. The trees are blooming along with other flowers. It's a pretty time of year. Anyone up for a visit?

Making progress

I'm so excited. I colored my hair today myself. That is the first time I've been able to do that since I fell and tore my rotator cuff in August. I guess the surgery is finally paying off. It's been a long haul but I feel I'm really making progress. I have a lot of mobility and am mostly working on strengthening now. After so long my muscles are flab.

Thank you so much for all the help you have all given me. It's hard to be on the receiving end but oh so appreciated. I am so grateful for such a wonderful family and good friends.

I continue to learn thru this trial. I have found I really need my Lord's help and guidance. I can't do it alone. And I am learning patience.

Trying to think of something exciting we've done to blog about and that I might include pictures. For Gaylene's birthday she wanted to go see the Nationals ice skating competition at the HP Pavillion here in San Jose (used to be the Arena).

We went to the pairs ice skating short program. They were really good and we had a fun time. Tammy and Gaylene and I went. Dad and Becca and Alyssa joined us before for lunch, then Alyssa and Becca went looking at wedding gowns.

We went to Tracy and Johns in January for Jesse's homecoming. That was really fun but it snowed almost the whole time we were there. Jesse gave a great talk and we were really fortunate they had church. All the other wards in the Stake were cancelled because of the snow but Jesse's bishop knew he had family in town so they went ahead with it. It was fine when we went to church but it snowed all during church and we had a lot of snow to contend with going back to Tracy's. We were glad we weren't driving. Monday I got the flu and had diarrhea so bad and ached all over. I didn't say anything until that night. The next day I slept all morning but felt much better but still had diarrhea. We planned to return home Wed. and went to the airport for our flight at 4:00. I still had diarrhea but was feeling okay. They cancelled our flight. We rescheduled for 8:25. At 8 they cancelled our flight. We rescheduled for 6:50 the next morning. I called Tracy to let her know we were still there but didn't want them to come get us because the roads were so bad and we would have to be there so early in the morning. So it was a night in the airport. I watched as they loaded truck after truck with snow to hall it away. At 12:30 I went to StarBucks for some apple cider. It was really good going down but I still had diarrhea. Anyway it was finally morning and the runways were ice so our flight cancelled. Rescheduled for 3. That was cancelled at 11. This time I told Tracy she could come and get us. We rescheduled for Sat. Tracy got the flu Thursday night so Shannon and I fixed dinner Friday. By this time I was all better and felt great. It was good to get home although we did enjoy our stay with Tracy and family.

We went to the Disney Museum when Julie and Terrell were here after Christmas. It really is for adults Children I think would be bored. I really enjoyed it. We spent three hours there but Gaylene and I want to go back because we didn't get finished. It was a beautiful day and we got some great pictures of the Golden Gate bridge.

I'm recovering still from my rotator cuff surgery. My PT is having me use weights now (1 and 2 pound) I feel I still have a long way to go but I do see improvement. I still can't lift much but I am back to water aerobics which I really enjoy. I did enjoy my walks with dad.

I tried to post some of the ice skating videos but for some reason I couldn't get them to download.

Thanks

Just wanted to thank all those who helped so much to pack everything up so we could get the ceilings done and floor. With my shoulder there is no way we could have done it without you. A special thanks to Jenni and Jared, Gaylene, Tracy, Holly, Shannon, and Mark and also dad. Also to Jenni and Jared for their extra help and for their help in removing the furniture from the kitchen so they could do the floor and then putting it back after the painting was done. Don't know what we would have done without you all. I still have a lot to put back and still some more dusting and cleaning to do. I am trying to go thru things and do some purging while I am putting back. I have been getting tired easier because of the radiation and my shoulder doesn't help but I'm getting there.

I am back to water aerobics and it really feels good. Of course that will end when I have my surgery. But while I can I'll do it. It is amazing how fast the body goes to flab and how slow it returns.

Construction is over

We began construction first by having the popcorn ceiling removed. That was done Aug. 24 to the 27th. I remember because it was the 19th I fell and tore my rotator cuff. I went out of town to the cabin to stamp with my friends. Dad opted to go to the temple and stay in the temple apartment and work at the temple everyday. The abatement company came on Sept 1 to remove 3 layers of vinyl including one with asbestos. That was so nice to get it all out. You can see by the 2nd picture what was left of the floor. Richard came 4 and began work on the 5th. He tore out the brick back splash and began his magic.
The back splash is gone.
The floor is gone. Since I don't have things in the right order we'll just tell you about it but it wasn't done in this order but that doesn't matter.
How about this tile in the entrance hall. It is so beautiful. Richard did a great job. This is what he was so excited to do. Beautiful tile.
Lights, oh wonderful lights. I love the new lights
How about this new back splash. What a difference
New lights in the kitchen
We got all new doors and new wainscoting. Doesn't it look great. Love it.
Well I had a picture of the new tile floor but it doesn't look like it made it. It looks great. Rich didn't have time to paint so we had the same people who did the ceiling come back and paint for us. Since we were going to Utah for our Nauvoo Temple reunion and go to conference they came after we got back. I wanted it done before but there was no way. Anyway it is all done now. I love it. We also got our bathroom painted. It is also blue. The hall is antique white which gives a nice contrast to the white white of the doors and all the trim. We also got crown molding in the living room which we really like. Richard did a great job on everything. Thank you so much Rich and thanks to Mindy and the kids for letting him come for 3 weeks. I think I worked him too hard.

My fall -- turns out I have a lot of damage. I am scheduled for surgery Nov. 2. Please remember me in your prayers. The doctor wasn't sure just how much he'd be able to fix me up.

Storybook Cottages of Carmel

So I got a magazine awhile back, the only time I had heard of the magazine. There was an articles of interest and I tore it out and threw away the magazine. I kind of forgot about it but remembered it in the back of my mind. Then I ran across it again and put it in a place I would remember. Marta wanted to go some place together before she started back teaching and I told her about these houses so we went to Carmel to check them out. I have the article and a map and we went to Carmel.The houses are quite unique. They were built by Hugh Comstock for his wife so she would have someplace for her dolls and are called storybook houses. He was not a builder but just used his imagination and figured it out. He built the Hansel cottage, the Gretel cottage. He built the homes between 1925 and 1930 and built 15 to 20 additional storybook cottages. They are scattered around town and a little east.
We walked to most of the ones on my map. My map only has seven. Some of them no longer remain.
This one is a tea house in downtown Carmel on Delores. You've probably all seen it but didn't know what it was. We had a great time. Wouldn't you love to come to and we could go to Carmel and see these delightful houses.

well it's late coming but I decided it's either now or never so here goes the rest of our cruise.
Here we are in St. Petersburg. We began our tour sightseeing in the city and going on a subway tour. The subway was really beautiful. Then we took a hydrofoil to Peterhof. That is what this picture is. We are standing on a bridge waiting for the fountains to come on. You can see the big fountain in the back and the side fountains are coming on along with the ones at the sides of the river.
They have fountains all over the grounds and it is huge. This is a fountain that goes off when people step on it. People will try to get thru without turning the fountain on but all the time we watched no one could and they got wet.
Here are some off the fountains in front of the palace. This is the palace of Peter the Great.
On our city tour we went into St. Isaac's Cathedral. It was quite amazing. During the war Stalin covered all the walls of the churches and the people were not allowed to worship. They used the building for warehouses and other things. What a shame. The people have been oppressed for so long they still don't smile. They can worship now and they do. We saw many people coming into the churches to pray. Even our guide lit a candle and prayed at one of the churches we went into.
We went to a Folklore show the first night we were there. It was really great. We enjoyed so much hearing the music and watching them dance and sing. They wore very colorful costumes and did a wonderful job.
The next day we toured the Hermitage Museum. Steve you would have loved the art. The Hermitage was the former residence of the Russian monarchs. On display are many famous paintings and sculptures from your famous painters. People love to spend hours in there but it was very hot when we were there and we were glad to leave. The weather is not usually hot there but we managed to be there when it was terribly hot. We were on a private tour, just us and Julie and Terrell. Our guide were take us to the front of the lines so everywhere we went we were able to go pretty fast. We were to spend 3 hours at the Hermitage but spent about 2 1/2. It really was quite exciting to see. The picture above and the one below is the Church of
of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood. It was called such because that is where Nathaniel the Great was assassinated. They never worshiped in this Cathedral but it was a monument to him. The inside was incredible. They had huge mosaics con the walls depicting the life of Christ. They were so fine they looked like paintings. I didn't have as much time to shop as I would have liked in St. Petersburg. I was able to pick up a few things. So much to do. We did have a dinner there with typical Russian food. It was interesting and good. We also had lunch and that was very good. We spent two full days there. Our guide was great.
Tallin, Estonia - This was one of my favorite cities. It was hilly and quite quaint. We were on our own there and did a walking tour. Old Tallin (where we spent our time) is a walled city.

This is a view from on top of the wall. You can see the wall going around the city with the towers sticking up. The view was beautiful and looked out over the Baltic Sea.
A shopping area along the wall.
Our last stop was Amsterdam. The ship docked at Rotterdam and we took the train to Amsterdam a little over an hour. Amsterdam is a city of many canals, flowers and bicycles. We saw bicycles all over.
There were many houseboats of the canals. We did a guided walking tour which was fun because our guide told us all about the city and showed us places we never could have found. Like the flowers were thru and door, down a walkway and opened up to several apartments. After the walking tour we toured the Anne Frank House. It was quite sobering. I'm so glad they have maintained the house and made a museum to remember the Jews and those who helped them. Then we went on a boat on one of many of the canals.
When we got back to Rottenburg they told us they were mad at us for leaving and going to Amsterdam but they would forgive and give us a tour of their city as well. This was the bus driver and his helper. That was quite fun. She was delightful. These are some cray buildings built on a bridge over the road. She pointed out some crazy statues and said what she thought of them. Rottenburg was completely destroyed during the was so it is a very modern city. It has the largest sea port in Europe. Amsterdam was occupied but not destroyed.

All in all we had a marvelous trip. We weather might have been a little hot at the beginning but it was great. Our ship was great and very comfortable and we just had a great time.