Adventures in the North Woods

It was very stressful leaving our home in Utah. PODS messed up and only delivered one unit. The boys from Helping Hands got one loaded and sealed and prepped all the furniture and put it in the garage. We spent the weekend in a hotel and early Monday morning visited PODS and the manager had another unit at our place by 10AM. The boys from Helping Hands came by in the afternoon and packed the second unit. They got a generous tip. We hooked up the rental trailer and left for Dallas. ...it was snowing.

We spent the first night in Green River. The next day was not fun when we stopped for gas in Cuba, NM, I tripped and fell. Just bruises and scrapes but felt like Hulk Hogan had body slammed me. The second night we spent in Tucumcari, NM. The next day we arrived at Holly and Travis' apartment in Dallas and had a good visit with them. After spending the night in Dallas, we drove on to Kansas City for the night. We had Thanksgiving dinner at a Golden Corral in Emporia, Kansas.



The next day we arrive in the Twin Cities. We stayed in an Extended Stay America Hotel for a little over a week. We picked up Joanna's Smart Car. The hotel had a fire at 3AM one morning and then the water was shut off most of the next day. We found another place to stay.


We found an executive condo on a month-to-month rental. Soooo much better. We actually have a stove, frig, dishwasher, washer & dryer and separate bedrooms and baths. Maggie has a leather couch to lounge on and TV with cable. The high speed internet is great. A record snowfall accompanied our move so we haven't been doing much.

The closing date for the house we had made an offer on came and went without bank approval. (Bank of America). We are searching again for a suitable place for two old people to live. On Monday we are going to see two places in Oakdale just a few blocks from the temple. Fannie Mae is giving us problems with the sale of our home in South Jordan because we make too much money and are current with all our payments. They want us to ruin our credit before they will approve the sale of the house. We hope to be in a house of our own (and the bank's) by the end of January.

Another Minneapolis Trip

Went to Minneapolis this week. The Smart Dealer picked us up at the airport and took us to Joanna's new Smart Car. Then we started looking at homes. On Friday we put in an offer on a stand-alone townhome in Maple Grove. It snowed on Saturday morning. It was cold.

Back in Utah

We've been back a month. The house hasn't sold yet. We had a couple drive by tonight and I asked them if they would like to see the house. That's seven showings now. No offers yet. We really love it here but we must go to Minneapolis for a few years. We have a journey planned this week to go to San Diego (well...Chula Vista) to see our newest Granddaughter Lapis Elayna Layton...and her parents Ryan and Dionna, of course. Holly's school has started in Dallas. Andrea and Preston are stuck in Arizona and any rumors to the contrary are unsubstantiated. We haven't heard from Adam and Kristi so I guess all is well.

Back to the Future...

Our time in Tennessee is over. We will be moving back to our home in Utah for a while. We will continue to try to sell the townhome so we can move to Minneapolis. Joanna and I will be working from home and Joanna will commute to Minneapolis when necessary to complete her next project there. We should be back in Utah before August 20th. I won't have time to update for a few weeks.

Saturday Yard Sales Franklin TN

We spent a Saturday morning going to yard sales in Franklin. Joanna got a couple of shirts for granddaughters and we ended up at the Salvation Army store and bought an end table (shabbychic) which I need to glue a part on that came off.

We took a wrong turn and saw this most interesting sculpture. I made a little movie about it. We bought some peaches at a fruit stand and I made peach cobbler.

The next Saturday we went on a yard sale tour but didn't buy anything until we went to a consignment store called "Finders Keepers". We found a little sofa/love seat that was very reasonably priced. The sales lady had to check the invoice because it was a Bassett and she couldn't believe the price. Here's a picture of our Bassett on our Bassett:

Minnesota Trip

We flew to the Twin Cities for our anniversary. We got to meet our Doctors Nussbaum and the staff, viz. Lisa, Char, Deborah, and more. I hooked up a Neatdesk Scanner and showed them how to use it and Joanna worked with the rest of the staff on scheduling. We took a bus tour of the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul and a Mississippi Riverboat tour.

Trip to Reno

In May I went on a trip out west with Maggie. We spent the first night with Allison and David Bryce. They have the cutest family. The next day's journey took us across Iowa, Nebraska and part of Wyoming. We spent the night in Laramie. The next day we got to our home in South Jordan but not without some difficulty. Somewhere along the route, a leaf spring broke on my trailer. I went right to a leaf spring fabricating shop in West Valley City and they had a new spring installed by the next day. We spent a few days in South Jordan. I went to dinner with some friends from Daybreak First Ward and had dinner one night with Peyton and Laurel.

I went on to Reno, Nevada, and spent the night with Holly and Travis. The next day we loaded up the trailer and my car and started for Dallas. We spent the night in Barstow. Holly and Travis went on to Adam and Kristy's to spend a few days and I went on to Thatcher and stayed with Stella and Lucille. I got to visit Mother in the nursing home a couple of times while I was there. Holly and Travis arrived and we loaded their bed on my VUE. Holly and Travis went on to Dallas and I followed a day or so later. I spent the night in Midland, TX, before going on to Dallas to Holly's and Travis' new apartment. The kids unloaded all their stuff and we went to Sears Outlet and I got them a washer and dryer. (they're paying me for it). After spending the night, I drove on to Nashville.

Rail Excursion

We took a train ride just before Easter. It was the "Easter Bunny Train". The train was full of families with kids and there was a person in a bunny costume that walked through the train and scared all the lilttle kids and made them cry.

I was scared and started to cry too. That was one mean-looking rabbit.

The train went to a little town east of Nashville called Watertown. The townsfolk had set up an Easter Egg hunt for the kids and we walked around the little town square and ate lunch at a little restaurant.

The weather was great and we had a good time.

Trip to Arizona March 2009

Joanna and I flew from Nashville to Phoenix to attend Preston and Andrea's sealing.  Joanna bought Brooke's and Lacie's dresses and accessories for going to the temple and the sealing ceremony.  Joanna got to dress them and tend them before the ceremony.  I got to be a witness.  It was very special.  Preston's parents were there and their Bishop and Stake President and about 40 of their friends from their ward.

We drove to Thatcher for a day to see our Mothers.

  

They are both 94 years-old now.  My mom is in a nursing home.  She says she is happy.  The broken hip and stroke have taken a toll on her health and mental state.  Joanna's mom is still living behind her son Charles but is nearly blind and deaf.  

We stayed a night with Joanna's Aunt Stella who 

is 91 years-old and as spry and sharp as ever.  She just got a new iMac and I fixed it so she could get her gmail with one click and go to the LDS indexing site with one click.  I also arranged for Brian and Cindy Mattice, our tenants, to remodel the bathrooms in the big house.  Brian and his father-in-law will do the labor and when finished, I will buy Cindy a new dishwasher.  The place at the end of Mullins Lane really looks nice and clean.

The travel and connections were smooth and uneventful.  When we got home, Joanna had a cough and sore throat.  Playing with Lacie was fun but came at a cost.  She gave Grandma her cold.  Joanna has been miserable for a week.  The weather was great.  We managed to stay ahead of high winds in north-central Arizona.   The only rain was when we got back to Tennessee.  Maggie was glad to see us.  She stayed at Crossroads Kennel while we were gone.

Children's Benefit Concert at the Ryman

Joanna won a pair of tickets to the annual Children's Benefit Concert at the Ryman Auditorium at her work.  We had front row balcony seats in the middle.  I don't know country singers that well but I think this is Rodney Atkins.  I copied this from his website...he sang the song.  “Cleaning This Gun” is another real-to-life tune about that nervous time when a boy first meets his girlfriend’s father. “I lived this song,” Rodney says. “One of the first times I went courting in high school I was met by a girl’s daddy standing beside the driveway with a .357.”

A female singer in very tight clothing sang a song about being "Knocked Up".  

I forget the name of the two 

guys...one who sings and plays different instruments and the other plays with his microphone stand.  Charlie Daniels put on a good show.  "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", "Star Spangled Banner", etc.  It was all very LOUD!

Reno Trip

The weekend of January 23-25 we flew Southwest to Reno for our daughter Holly's wedding. Holly married Travis Thompson. They will be moving to Dallas this spring so Holly can go to graduate school at Texas Women's College. Our oldest son, Ryan and his fiance Dionna Bradford were able to come to the wedding too. Ryan and Dionna are getting married March 4 in San Diego and we will be flying out for that wedding too. This time we will take more time and stay at the Worldmark Resort Hotel Downtown.

Maggie stayed at the Crossroads Pet Hotel and Spa in Franklin.