Spring Break 2011

I can't get my video to upload here on my blog, so you all will have to go to this link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZEwqIqKW58

We had a good time with the kids and grandkids during Spring Break.

This is a private link so if you want anyone else to see it, send the link to them.

Sorry Celynda, that was the only picture I had of you. And also, to those of you who were on the boat with Carolyn as photographer, I didn't get any pic's of you doing your thing. I expect Carolyn to be posting some photo's soon!

Front seat rider? Yeah. Nobody wanted to be by him. He had rolled in cow dung the night before and even though Doug had washed him with our limited water supply, he still um...smelled. Thus, alone up front (by me), and sitting on an old tablecloth as to not infuse my seat with the odor.

Also, a heart was found this past week..... kudos to Kevin!

(Bottom of a hamburger bun. Who the heck ever turns their hamburger upside down to take a bite? Lucky for us Kevin did!)

Sunday game night.

Here's a big shout out to my kids for last nights fun evening. We try to play games each Sunday night after dinner and last night was no exception. We had a few 'guests' with us - Stacy, Jordan and Brandon - an especially big shout out to them for hanging in there with us. And here are the games we played. First of all, Druther's. It is a game where you draw a card, read the scenario and then read the 4 answers on the card. Here are sample questions.... Please click to enlarge..... Each person playing has a set of 1-4 cards...(really 5, but we don't play that way). We all have to guess what the reader chose out of the 4 possible answers and if we match we get points. Our poor guests, unfortunately (maybe fortunately is the right thinking), don't know everyone in our family that well, so it was just a stab in the dark for them. Stacy did pretty well though. Congrats to her. Kevin won. I think he only missed two questions and then he had the nerve to challenge the people on whose question he missed. I think I heard the word liar a few times. Big no-no at the DeWitt home. Especially on Sunday.

Our next game was Blind-mans Bluff. We can not leave the living room area, although with a few extra people we added part of the dining room as part of the playing field. Our big rule is that once you touch you may NOT move your hand to 'feel' the person of whom you're guessing. So wherever your hand lands it must stay there. We forewarned everyone to be sure to use 'shields' in certain body areas if they felt the need to do so. I think everyone was It at least once.

Next we played the thimble game. I know that's not what most of you call it, but it's where we all sit in the living room and the 'It' person picks a subject/object, like a color, shape, movie, cereal, etc., and we have to go around as try NOT to guess it. If you say the item or repeat something that has already been said, you get the water from the thimble thrown in your face. We have tried all different things to hold the water and over the years have come down to a squirt bottle. You can only squirt the guesser one time. Legally. Sometimes our fingers slip and 2 or 3 squirts come out like, in rapid succession. It's crazy.

We also played Signs. Our poor guests. They hung around through all this silliness. True friendship is proven by how long you hang out at the DeWitt game night- Especially NOT knowing half the games we played AND the occasional new DeWitt rule that they might have to learn. So with Signs, we sit around in the living room and each of us has a 'sign' that we have. Doug has the flick off the chin sign, Katy is the gun sign, Shannon, the side of the nose touch, etc. One person is again "IT" and stands in the middle of the circle - covers his eyes counting to 10. During this time one person starts the signage (?). He has to do his sign and then someone else's. The second person has to 'accept' their sign and then do another person's sign. On and on. The person in the middle tries to catch the person with the sign that has not passed it off yet. It is easier to learn by doing than by telling. So if you're ever around our home on a Sunday evening, be ready to learn Signs. Here are a few signs that some of us used.

Jason's, Brandon's, Stacy's, and mine... Kids - are you surprise I found my sign online? Yeah, you all were teasing me, but now you'll have to think twice before you jest.

Lastly, we played Sardines. Indoors. Here, we turn off every light in the house - sometimes we even have to unplug radio's, toasters, any thing that has a soft cast to it. All but one person stands outside and counts to 30. The 'IT' person hides somewhere in the house and then everyone else comes in and, in the dark has to feel around the house for them. When you find the person, you join him in his hiding spot. By the time everyone has found 'IT', you are all smashed together like sardines - thus the name of the game.

Once again, Dad and I thank you for letting us be silly and playing with you when you probably wished we old folks had been in bed by game time. Love you all and missed those not here!

I won't make this a long drawn out blog - but just be warned that one is coming. I have been busy with a few things and have taken a few (hee-hee) pictures along the way, but I think I have had writers block AND I have NOT had success in downloading a few videos and songs. My computer keeps saying that my 'codec' is not allowing me to do what I want to do, so I have been researching and trying everything it has told me to try, but to no avail. So, my dear sweet Geek for Hire girl, Vicki, might be hearing from me real soon. Don't give up on me.

Wow! I look really tired in this video (or maybe old?). Thursday night we had a little scare with Grandpa DeWitt who has been staying with us for a few days. Wednesday night he took a pretty bad fall here in our driveway after walking we had walked Toby around the block. He was in pain Wednesday, but made it through the night and then felt like he needed to get up to Snowflake to see Alan, his doctor. I left here at 7pm and got to Showlow (where the hospital is) around 11:pm. Grandpa's blood pressure was 198/99!! Terribly high!! Alan was a little concerned he might be having heart problems right then. I stayed until 1:30am, then drove into Snowflake to stay at Alan and Linda's home. They weren't sure if dad would need to stay in the hospital, but he didn't and Alan drove him to his home around 3 or 4. All is well now. Dad had a few digestive problems that was wrecking havoc on his whole body and with the fall he went into some kind of 'trauma' or 'shock' thing. Scary to say the least. But he felt fine Friday morning and wanted to get back down to Mesa where he had a granddaughter who was having a birthday party!

Ladybug birthday

Last week, on my birthday, I went to Scottsdale to have a facial. I had bought (or is it boughten?) a Groupon bargain for 3 facials. http://www.groupon.com/subscriptions/new?division_p=phoenix. Check out your own cities specials. Anyway as I came home I needed to run into WalMart for a few items and when I came back outside to my car, guess what I saw?
Yep, a ladybug. Some of you know that I love ladybugs. I have for as long as I can remember and some of you right now are saying - sure, she's just wanting something to write a blog about, which is true, but I wanted to validate myself and my love of ladybugs so I went digging in my old photos. And your in for a treat. I found one of my favorite outfits that my mom had made. Check it out. This picture was taken at my Uncle Sherman's house in July 1970. Now, I found another one taken with my same favorite outfit: This is at Glen Canyon Dam on our way up to Springville, Utah in July 1971. I guess I didn't grow too much that year, but my hair did! Anyway - I can remember taking this picture. We three girls had just had a fight about something and those two were on the same side of the argument so I had to grab Suzie, the dog, to at least feel like someone was on my side of what ever the quarrel had been about. I think Suzie liked me the most anyway- okay 2nd to Mom - but here's a few pictures to show that fact too. Yeah, who's she sitting by? Trudy and I had to share an avocado. Maybe she thought I'd share with her. No, way....That was a delicacy for us!

And wanting to cuddle with?

Who is she closest to in this picture? Yeah, maybe Carrie. But I'm sure she was just in my arms a few minutes before. And here was my #1 activity of all times....Dressing her up and walking her in my dolly stroller. And yes, she would take a drink out of the baby bottle. (I don't see her dressed up her, but believe me, she got it often. (Check out my styling shoes! Shannon would love to have those now!)

Here are a few more 'down memory lane' pictures... My 2 sisters, Trudy, Carrie and me at Springville for Aunt Kathleen's reception. And this one is once again on our way to Utah in1967.

Thanks for all the cute dresses and hairdo's mom!

Sorry everyone. I messed around with the background/template and now I can't get it back to a normal looking blog. HELP Carolyn!! I'll babysit for free one day!

Snowflake doctor trip

I can't believe I'm slackin' on posting - but we are having days that are busier than usual. Last Monday, the 21st, I drove my son Allan up to see Uncle Alan in Snowflake for a doctors visit. He has been complaining about his heart and he's had a serious cough for several weeks. The drive up was turning out more snow-filled than I thought it would be.

Our first glimpse of the snow to come.



Now more.






And lots more. Here was my traveling companion. The coat was up to block the sun.









Down to one lane open and then almost no lanes at all. Crazy. Okay, you Utah folks, I'm from Mesa (although we did live in Flagstaff for 5 years), and my snow driving is not used as much so it was a bit scary for me.
Now, the other thing I need to add is that I don't have very good windshield wiper blades. I had only two spots I could look through when I was following someone and the 'crap-ola' was flinging back on to my car. AND to top it off, my wiper washer fluid ran out about halfway up this mountain, where I stupidly tried to fling some water from my water bottle out onto my windshield. Most of that came back inside our car.
Oh, side note, you HAVE to watch one of our favorite youtube videos called 'Kid History'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80entLldZOg I hope this is the right one. We love it and my kids can quote verbatim the whole movie. Too funny.
It got down to 24 degrees. Cold. And here is a shot of my window once I ran out of wiper fluid and had been 'slushed' a few times by cars. (make sure you make this one big)Once we get to Snowflake, the first thing we do is stop at one of their two gas stations to clear my window and guess what? The little black containers that hold the window washer scrubie thing - the water was FROZEN !! I tried to lift it out of the container and the whole stinking container lifted right off of the beam it was connected to! I wish I'd taken a picture of that - but it was a bit cold standing there.
We finally get to his appointment.









So Allan has his heart checked out and he's fine. (surprised anyone?) But he does have a small extra nerve? clump that fires off at weird times so it makes his heart feel like it flutters a little bit. Now, don't quote me - but after Uncle Alan explained the real medical terms for what it was - this is what registered in my layman's mind and that's how I'm going to describe it to you.
Allan was so worried about her tearing these little tabs off and pulling the hair, mostly on his legs.

We brought Grandpa DeWitt back down to Mesa with us.