busy,busy,busy.......

I have not been able to spend a lot of time posting lately, so just wanted to catch up a bit. Most of you know that Emily is to be married in April, so Laurel, Emm, and I took a quick trip to Oregon for a bridal shower, we had a wonderful time, the trip there was a blast we left Wed.( 4/11 )evening from Vernal and picked up Emm in Salt Lake. I drove to Elko where we stopped for the night. We started out early, and spent the day laughing at silly things, talking, and stopping so we could check out every bathroom between here and there and if there wasn't a "real" bathroom we made one up !! Samuel was a little trooper he had his DVD and mommy brought his fav movies and lots of goodies. We had decided to go through Winnimuccua and over the back roads (that's what I call them) into Lakeview if you have ever been that way you know that there is really nothing out there and at times no cell service, however it was a beautiful spring day and we felt confident!!! Laurel had just started driving and as she had top a small hill I seen off to the right side ahead of us a herd of Elk, I yelled "Stop", there's elk I want to get pictures!! as we got closer my Elk turned into Donkeys or Mules whatever they were they had no antlers!! however, I still wanted to get some pictures, so out of the car I went ,when over on the other side of the road something caught my eye....it was a little baby donkey it had gotten up and was making it's way across the road to it's mommy, well I thought I would get a close up which I did, now the girls are saying to me Mom you need to get back in the car, when I got the idea to feed the poor little things some carrots. Emily decides to bring Samuel out of the car and show Gramma how to feed them the carrots.... they were out even farther than I was however they ( the donkey's) just was not going to eat our carrots, Laurel was the last to make her way out of the car......and you guessed it as soon as she was just past me on her way out to where Emm was standing with Samuel, the mommy donkey let out this scream showed her teeth and continued to make this very LOUD noise. I'm telling you now if I would have had a video cam going we would be making some money!!! Emm turned and was running holding Samuel's hand he was running as fast as his little legs would go, as she was jumping over weeds he was being dragged right through them. (at least twice), now let me back up, donkey yelled first, then Laurel yelled, EMILY RUN GET Samuel , I was standing by the car and Emily was not missing a step and had Samuel safety in the car before Laurel was even half way there. Samuel was wide eyed and watching the donkey, he had a few things to say about it, such as, she scared me!! he didn't cry but was very concerned that she yelled at us, I told him she was telling us not to get any closer to her baby!!! We will be laughing about this for a long time....... I guess I could tell you more about why it took us another 20 to 30 min to get back on the road, however I will leave that alone for now...... and how did those car keys end up in Emily's front pocket???...... We were in Grants Pass around 9:30 that evening it was just beautiful so green and all those trees. All in all a wonderful trip thanks girls for a great road trip, next one Laurel.... we can tease Emily about all the bathroom stops!!! I will post the pic in a day or two.

I start my training for my job on Tuesday then next week it's off to school, oh boy!!...=)

I just need to put this out there I'm going to be a proud mom for a few lines... Zac has been doing so good in school this year, he got all A's (one A+) and one B+ this time around it was a wonderful parent teacher conference thanks Zac!! Keep up the Great work.

Leaving the nest............

I have been doing a lot of thinking and shedding a few tears......ok, A LOT of tears this past week, Emm was busy all weekend going through all of her stuff and packing things up. She took that big step and moved to Salt Lake, she was able to rent a room there and has a nice roommate. She starts her new job on Monday the 9th.
This lead me to ponder about each one of my kids and I starting thinking about when my first child "moved out" this was Bill, our oldest, he left for a mission, on Dec 30,1997. I remember all the tears.
Nathan followed 30 days later he was 18 and had in listed in the Marines Corps. I still remember taking him to the bus station so early in the morning on Jan. 31, 1998, you guessed it........more tears, my husband, I'm sure was wishes for dehydration, however he never said so, He would hold me and tell me everything would be ok!!
Life was good, I still had three children at home that needed me to mother them. Fast forward to June 2004, Laurel, our oldest daughter is 17 and Graduating from high school and looking at a very busy summer. Laurel met her future husband that Fall and I knew it would not be long......(if you want to know that story, Laurel will have to be the one to share). In May of 2005 Laurel married Mosiah Riordan, we could not have been happier,( we love you, Mosiah). Now,there was one thing that I just could not allow Laurel to do, and that was sort through her stuff and pack her things, I mean every time I would see her or she would say, "I need to start packing", I would start crying and say.......please not now you have time!!!!! poor things they were married on a Friday, and had to pack her up like a" thief in the night",while I was returning items from the wedding, sorry Laurel!!!
Here we are, it's our Emily's turn to make that first step into adulthood, how exciting! When she told me about her plans to move to Salt Lake, I of course just thought NO,NO,NO I just cannot do this again ...... why do you want to leave me!! (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) However, Emm unlike Laurel packed her stuff up with me standing in the door way saying...... are you sure?.... I just don't see why?.....stay home and save your money! ....You will miss me?!..... what about this or what about that and so on..........
Emm has met a young man his name is Jordan Jones and her "Facebook status" went from" single" to " in a relationship." We love Jordan ( he passed the test) he took a road trip with us in Dec.08 to Oregon, nothing like a road trip!!!!! He is a wonderful young man we have enjoyed getting to know him.
So far, Emily is the youngest to leave home. (she will be 19 in June)
When she was a baby she had 4 teeth at 4 months, walked at 9 months, she would say things to people and they would look at me and say how old is she??? Always wanting to be one year older.
Emm is number 4 to choose January to step out into the world!!!! I miss her,there is a BIG void in my heart right now, I have learned one thing, they don't go to far, and then there is more of them to love!!! So now I feel better I was able to get this down and only had to stop 3 times to wipe way those tears!!!
I still have Zachary at home to Mother, all 6'3" of him, so tall but still my baby!!! I remember when he was about 6 or 7 he told me he was going to buy a house and live right next to me, he was so cute, that was around the time he brothers were leaving home.

a baby to end the year,...and one to look forward to in June!!!

"2008" was in deed a busy year,we moved to Utah in July and the days have just passed so quickly,here we are at the end of the year.I just wanted to say to all of you that might read this Merry Christmas a few days late!! and a Happy New Year!!! Bill and Cassie had a new baby girl on December 17th her name is Madelyn Brooke,we are so blessed to have a new sweet little spirit come join our family. Looking forward to the new year to begin I have a feeling it will be just as interesting as 2008. We are looking forward to June not that I want to hurry half the year away but we get a new......baby!!! Laurel and Mosiah are expecting their 2nd child so Samuel will be a big brother.We are blessed to be here at this time of our life,to have close family friends around and to be able to have most of our grandchildren around us.

Austin,Seth,Chase and Samuel Christmas Day

Madelyn Brooke 10 days

Cassie,Mosiah,Laurel

so much to do......so little time!

We recently were able to take a quick trip to Salt Lake, I wanted so much to see the Temple grounds with all the lights and displays.Mosiah and Laurel received a call from a good friend who was going to be in SL for the weekend, so they were able to meet up with us for awhile.




the bubbles on the water have lights in them!












Samuel and Uncle Zac



Zac, Norah and Laurel (Laurel demanded a retake she said she took a MOM look picture).


Mosiah, Laurel and Samuel it was so cold, yet we just wanted to see everything we could!


Samuel standing in front of the big Christmas Tree we must have taken 6 or 7 pictures before we got one without someone walking by there were a lot of people.He was so good he just stood there until it worked.

The Riordan Family they are so cute!


Bill,Norah and Zac" The Gunderson Family"
Zac is at 6 foot 1 and half he is the tallest of all of the kids Bill included!

My wonderful husband and I he still looks good after 32yrs!!

So beautiful, loved being there, I loved to see everything all lit up.

We were inside the Joseph Smith building enjoying the music, when this young lady said hello,I knew I should know her it took me a few minutes my memory is...anyways it was Sierra Veek(Backus)with her husband,Matt the last time I saw her she was expecting her second child she now has 5 and the last 2 are twins a boy and a girl !! We were able to visit awhile, they are living in Co. it was nice to catch up and get a picture of her wonderful family.Thanks Guys, nice to see friends from home.


Little story about the cake.......we really wanted writing on the cake so we waited for the cake lady at Wal Mart to return from her break.(when Laurel ordered the cake she didn't want to make that big decision all alone)Back from break, we talked about what we wanted she was very nice and then last minute she ask us what color we wanted purple or green we both said purple! When we got the cake back it was in GREEN I looked at Laurel and said didn't we say PURPLE???It still was very cute, it's things like this that make us question our sanity!!!


Dec.10th Laurel hosted a baby shower for Cassie,we had a wonderful time good food, good cake and lots of BABY GIRL stuff to look at, YES we are getting our first granddaughter!!













Cami, Diane (Cassie neighbor) & Elizabeth they are sister in laws they are both in Cassie's Ward
We all had so much fun Cami, Emm and myself were the only ones there "Not" expecting.Diane just found out that she is prego, Glad I wasn't sitting on the couch.......Cami??


Laurel serving up the punch .
Dec.12th: we had planned a quick trip back home to Oregon,Emm is buying a car there so we had the pleasure of picking up Jordan, her boyfriend in S.L. he is very nice and we really enjoyed getting to know him a little better, nothing like a long road trip!! We had a great time visiting with Maureen and Pete, we were able to get most of the family together at Stephanie's.There just wasn't enough hrs in the day, I stayed up both nights until 3am wrapping gifts and visiting. I really enjoyed going to Ross's ,I really tryed to stay out of Wal Mart but last minute I found myself there. Beverly(sister)Branden and I shopped Sat.Branden was able to get all of his shopping done.

Branden(my oldest grdson) he's 7 to cute.
.We were able to enjoy a dinner with
DeAnn my wonderful daughter (in law) and Nathan my favorite!!! Merry Christmas to you both.
We were able to attend church at Beacon Hill Ward so nice seeing everyone.


We left at 5am Monday morning it was snowing lightly, the closer we got to Medford the heavier it got. We decided to head to Susanville,then on to Reno. 6 hours later......... we were pulling into Susanville I couldn't believe it took us that long.The rest of the trip........... well it was a blurr, I spiked a temp,chills and a SORE,SORE throat. I climbed in the back seat put my coat on next thing I knew we were in Winamucca and it was still snowing,we went as far as Elko.We decided at 11:00pm to call it a night,I think, you are half way to Vernal at that point. (12/16 )We met up with Emm in S.L. where I got in her car and had to get us to Vernal. The roads were pretty clear I just kept remembering what my dear husband, said to me" DON'T" go faster then 45mph ok, so Emm and I started out in the lead. I would find myself at 50/55 and would of course slow down, so now, I'm looking in my mirror to find Bill way back behind me and I thinking he wants me to slow down so I would reduce my speed some more. Next thing I know there are red flashing lights coming up very fast behind ME, I'm being pulled over and I'm thinking I really should have slowed down . The officer came to my window and ask if I knew why he pulled me over ,of course, I had no idea??he told me that I was going 42mph and wanted to know if there was a problem? Seeing our" Oregon" plates, he asked if I was use to driving in the area NO was my reply, he checked everything out,now I'm still confused(cold meds)so Emm tells me Mom you were going to slow! When he came back to the window and told me that I needed to be going at least 65 when the roads are clear I WAS HOLDING UP TRAFFIC he went on to say that the trucks have a hard time at that speed etc etc......thats when I stated that my husband who was behind me WAY behind me and who had just passed us, told me to keep my speed at 35 / 45mph because of ice. He was was nice and said" this was a first for him" he usually has people going 75/80 not 42 . I pulled into the station where Bill was waiting for me,he comes up to my window and says," why were you going so slow "?you would speed up then slow down............all I'm saying is. ... I'll follow him next time!!

Dec 16...We made it home around 10:30pm and I'm still sick, all I want to do is go to bed and stay there, however we have a baby coming and mommy has to be at the hospital at 6am.

December 17th....
We have a Baby and she is really a" SHE". I was so bummed I didn't get to see her until Friday, yes still sick.I put a few pictures up of her below such a beautiful baby!

Madelyn Brooke Gunderson 12/17/08

she is so small ,you just forget how small newborns are.
I asked Bill & Cassie how do you two have such small babies!
6lbs 10oz 20"

She really is in there,Best Christmas present ever she was due on my B- Day 12/21 however the Dr. didn't want to come in on Sunday!!!!

.......catch up time! These pic were taken Friday after Thanksgiving, Vernal has an annually "Holly ,Days" the town puts on a big festival it's all free and it's really geared for the kids.They had free drawings,free food like cotton candy!they had all kinds of activities, we went over to see all the Christmas trees, that were going to be auctioned, there were some awesome trees.The parade was that evening, boy was it cold.The locals were saying how warm it was, last year it was like snowing and freezing weather the middle of Oct. glad to say there was no snow that weekend.My grandsons Bill & Cassie's 3 boys got to see Santa Clause,Chase was not sure about sitting on Santa lap (he still won't sit on my lap). Samuel went to visit his Grandma Riordan for the Holiday.



Chase was screaming the place down!



Seth was right into this he told Santa what he wanted then when Santa gave him the candy cane he asked for a different color that's my Seth!



Austin was ready with an answer as soon as Santa ask he had it out (hope mom heard)



Some of the Trees, there was a lot there, this is the "Park" where they hold the county fair.




Bill,Zac and Cassie with the boys taking a break.




Bill taking in the sites! After the parade, they had a street blocked off right down town and there were 4 or 5 very very large fire pits that they set up and light, so the kids can roast marsh mellows.
It was interesting there were sticks in these holders at the end of each pit and they had people standing around with bags of marsh mellows. there were chest nuts being roasted, yes on an open fire!! Steph, Cami,and Laurel you all really missed out!!




Austin and Seth on the ride.




Parade, lots of lights was fun!

On Nov.2nd our lives were turned upside down,our neighbors condo caught fire it happened during the dinner hour, so thankful everyone was still up.The fire started in the garage and spread very quickly, our neighbors children had to be dropped from the upstairs window.Our home, at that point was still intact smoke damage through out,however 7:10am the fire broke out again in our attic, so they took off a great portion of our roof,used a chainsaw to open a door way at the top of the stairs, opening it up to the neighbors upstairs.We lost both bathroom,all the floors were burnt and more smoke and now we get to add water,So I just put a few pictures up.

this was the" AM" part of the story!!



Bill,looking through our " NEW "doorway.




This is the down stairs bathroom



this was the floor of the condo(upstairs looking through "new door"




this is looking between condos?




this is a repeat picture below (darn this learning stage)



Bathroom ,now I know I cleaned that shower


NOW HOW DO YOU TURN THESE PICTURES AROUND?? REALLY I WON'T BE SURPRISED WHEN SOMEONE PASSES A BLOG LAW WHERE YOU HAVE TO PASS A TEST BEFORE YOU CAN BLOG!!



Close up of the back of the stove area


below is bathroom mirror causing a reflection
counter top


We where able to get a very nice room at the Riordan Bed & Breakfast the rates were fair and it came with a grandson who give lots of kisses and hugs.We have been blessed with a wonderful daughter and son in law who, I might add has moved me more times in the past 3 years(he is my favorite) Our Bishop, ward family and friends have been wonderful lots of hands helping us and wonderful prayers on our behalf .Our Bishop placed a call to his son who owns some apts and an answer to prayers he had one, it had been in the paper for 2 weeks and not one call.You would have to live here to know how rare that is,homes to rent are hard to find.
We are getting settled and are grateful for the blessings in our lives,family and friends old and new,Thank you.