James and Kelsey Get Married

October 10th 2009, my beautiful niece Kelsey Mattson married James Meno, the handsome, kind, huggable gentleman from Guam. We attended the ceremony at the Wellsville Tabernacle and wish them happiness and love forever! It was a very wonderful day!



This is one of my favorite pictures!

























Alex has a lot of fun

with his cousins

Arianna

Kelsey

Heather






Becky, Chris, Sam, Alison and Dylan at the wedding.

My Last 6 Busy Months

I have been so busy! I have been working with refugees. My family is from Somalia and have lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for over 15 years they lived in a stick and brush hut they made themselves and cooked over a fire outside their "house". It has been a learning experience and an eyeopening experience to see how much we Americans have- we have too much - and I personally have way too much stuff. I have also spearheaded a home-makeover for refugees and we went this past week and transformed a family from Ethiopia's apartment into a more organized homey place. We will be helping another African family in a couple of weeks- these people are so friendly and appreciative. They have never lived in homes like we have and have many life adjustments to make, along with finding a job, learning English, cooking on a stove, eating American food as well many other things we take for granted. But they are so much like us in their love of their families, their sense of humor and their love and interest in others.




Another thing that has been on my mind is our economic state- So I have been working on some perma-culture in my yard- gardening with as many perennial edible plants and not having lawn but growing more veggies. I am excited to try to eat and plan my meals this summer based on what is ripe and ready in the garden. I have planted some new and exotic things- purple peruvian potatos as well as all blue potatos- sweet potatos, kiwi plants several types of currants and gooseberries as well as black raspberries, dew berries and mulberries. I have planted 7 new fruit trees and created a lot more gardens over lawns.


I have gotten ducks and more chickens for eggs as well as slug and bug control.


I am also trying hugelkultur- which is putting down branches and tree trunks and covering it with green compost and straw then some more ready to use compost and planting in that. This is where I have planted potatos and squash. They are not done yet as they require a lot of horse manure, which I keep using in other places. Bruce has made 6-8 trips to the farm for compost and keeps hoping it is his last trip in the pickup for that this year- personally I don't see the end in sight. I never know when to quit.


My family is the most important project I ever work on and that is also never ending- Katie moved into a pool house and that is neat and exciting, Becky gave me another grandson named
Dylan - He is perfect just like his big brother Sam and big sister Alison.

Ben has been busy with scouts and school. Spencer and Joey have also been busy with that. Joey also took Tae Kwan Do. He was very good at it.

Amy is busy with scouts and Dancing and violin.


I have been the Webelos leader as well as the Daisy scout leader and taxi driver to all events. I have not lost a pound and am not a better house keeper but I hope I am a better, kinder and nicer person. I want to be more like my Savior and love my neighbors as well as my family more.


Joey took this self portrait with my phone- He is doing great!


My dad's 80th Birthday party at Sherry's We gave him a talent show!


My snowball bush is in full bloom and very heavy at this moment.
I also was trained and certified as a RADkids instructor her is my first graduating class Joey is in the blue in the middle of the picture.

I've Been Tagged!!!

This should be interesting and a learning experience for me.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Ten years ago I had a 6 month old baby Joe. Ben and Spencer were preschoolers and I had a 1st, 5th, and 9th grader as well as 1 in college.
2. I was busy and overweight.
3. I was head over heels in love with my husband! (still am!)
4. I'm sure I was needing to clean my house and behind on laundry.
5. I was the primary chorister.

5 things on my to-do list for today:

1. Take Ben and Spencer to be in a clinical study.
2. Genealogy.
3. Saturday Cleaning.
4. Taking care of my tagging.
5. Laundry.

5 snacks I eat:

1. Chips and Salsa.
2. Popcorn.
3. Carrots.
4. Ice Cream.
5. Jalapeno Poppers.

5 Things I'd do if I were a millionaire:

1. Travel the world.
2. Fix up my house- carpet, windows, kitchen, wood floor etc...
3. Share - Help people.
4. Get help doing genealogy- hire a professional to get past the rough spots.
5. Get my teeth fixed.

5 places I've lived:

1. Deer River, Minnesota
2. Silver Bay, Minnesota
3. Logan, Utah
4. Green Bay, Wisconsin
5. Farmington, Utah

5 jobs I have had:

1. Paper girl.
2. Waitress at Sugar Hills Ski Resort.
3. Waitress at Mickey's Cafe.
4. Greyhound Bus Company.
5. Pepperidge Farm.

Now it's your turn. I tag the following 5 people:

1. Katie Hunsaker
2. Becky Searle
3. Hailey Radnor
4. Jennifer Zechlin
5. Vanessa Searle

Have you ever had a day like this?

Today is such a busy day... a scout activity after school, a violin recital for Amy, Football practice for Ben, a Soccer game for Spencer, Pack meeting for Joey and then hallelujah pick up Bruce from the airport at 9:30!!! So because the day is so busy after school with no time for regular household chores I have to work really hard now to get ready.
Hurray the laundry is all washed - unfortunately there is no place to sit in the family room as there are clothes to be folded and put away on every couch. The dishes from breakfast are still on the table - it is afternoon now but I am waiting for the dishwasher to finish washing last nights dishes - I forgot to turn it on last night I even got the soap in it.
I went downstairs to find Amy something to wear to her recital ... I walk past the bathroom there are towels on the floor as usual... can't blame the kids there is no towel bar in there... ok, so I have had the remedy for awhile now -no time like the present, plus it will cover up the ugly door.

Ugly door!

I quickly measure the board on the door, cut it, sand it and spray paint it white. I don't wait long enough for the paint to dry so I make a fingerprint on it and also get paint on my fingers. I guess that proves who did it and the paint on me can remind me for hours or days how productive I was. Ok, finally done it looks pretty good... won't my kids think its great!!!...won't my husband be glad I did it instead of asking him!!!.... Wow I'm wonderful!!!

Pride goeth before the fall!

I used the wrong end of the board that I cut. This is too short to fix the problem of the ugly door. It needs to be as long as I carefully measured. It has to go from one side of the door to the other in order to have something to screw it to to be sturdy - I knew all that...

How could I be so dumb?...

Oh well I didn't really have time to do that anyway today- too busy you know.
I know I'll put this on my blog- maybe someone can relate...
Chips and salsa sounds good maybe I'll have some of that too...
I think I'm too busy today to start again I guess I'll just read some blogs.....
maybe when Bruce gets home I'll ask him....

I think I'm too tired to ....

Have you ever had a day like this?
Me too!

Parents Wish

My sister sent me this site in an email I'd like to share it. This makes me think of my dad.
Click here to see the video

My Dad Reino Kolu

My Dad has been at Orchard Cove since February of this year. He is 79 years old born on April 29, 1929. He has had Parkinsons for over 20 years. He now suffers from dementia as well. He always was a hard working man who never missed work. He worked at two papermills, one in Minnesota and one in Oregon. He worked on the Dew Line in 1959. His hobbies were fishing, hunting, gardening, raising sheep, raising kids, and service in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He built 3 homes and could fix anything! Dad was always the friendliest man in any circle. He would shake anyone's hand and talk to them. He had a wonderful way about him and could always put others at ease and make them feel welcome. Dad is a first generation Finnish American. His parents were Hjalmar and Bertha Kolu. He grew up on a farm in Northern Minnesota. His first language was Finnish. His sister's name was Esther. His brother was Eino.

Labor Day

My daughter Becky, her husband Chris, their son Sam, my daughter Amy and I went to see my Dad at Orchard Cove today September 1, 2008. He told us a fun story I have titled

The Great Escape!

Video Transcript:

You know this is the darndest place --

you can lay in that bed right there and you couldn't get out.

You can lay in that bed right there and what?

You can't get out. You're stuck in there.

From there to there and you are that far from the wall

and you can't get at that switch. I escaped once.

You escaped once. Where'd you go?

The office.

Down to the office. Did they bring you back?

Yeah they always bring you back.

(Bold comments are Dad and italicized comments are Sandy, Becky or Chris)

Some times he likes to ignore me this next clip is called-

Don't talk to me!

The Little Boy and the Old Man

by Shel Silverstein

Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."

Said the little old man, "I do that too."

The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."

"I do that too," laughed the little old man.

Said the little boy, "I often cry."

The old man nodded, "So do I."

"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems

Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."

And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.

"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

I love my Dad and want to thank him publicly for the many things he taught me and the great example he has been to me.

Thanks Dad

I Love You

Minnesota Memories

I grew up in Minnesota and spent hours climbing
and playing under giant pine trees.
I used to pretend I lived under the tree.
It could be anything and I could be anywhere I wanted to be.


Pine-skirt memories
Once-upon-a-castle dreams
Found in needle trees