A Broken Water Pipe, Birthdays Galore, and Then We Ran Away

WHAT A WEEK. Holy Cow. I can't believe all that has happened in just ONE WEEK!! If I didn't keep track of things by taking pictures, and if I didn't write down my life in this blog, I wouldn't remember half of what happened in the last 7 days. It would just be one big blur. (*The fact that I am two days late getting this blog posted speaks rather loudly . . .)

Let's skip to this past weekend. Just for a second. Because that was the best part of the entire week, hands down. Here's a sneak peak.

Okay, now back to the beginning. 

Monday: After we got home from work, Scott and I went out to dinner with our dear friends, Rich and Andrea Garner. 

We met them at Texas Roadhouse and spent about two hours talking and talking and talking. It was fabulous! Then we came home and got ready for bed. :)

Tuesday: I spent the day at the Election Office again, helping up front with the early voters. I took this picture during a quiet moment, just so I could document where I'm working and what I'm doing. 

In the picture above, there is a guy working on some electrical wiring up in the attic, but don't mind him. The blue "X" trail on the floor leads right to where I am most of the time - at that little desk with a laptop computer. As people come in to the office, there is usually a "greeter" who greets them and determines what they are here for. Sometimes I do this job, too. If they need to register to vote, they move on to the little desk shown here. 

I instruct them how to fill out the registration card and what documentation they need. When everything has been double checked, and if they are wanting to vote, they follow the path behind my desk and into the main part of the election office to get a ballot and vote.

One day, a very sweet lady named Dollie McKenzie came to vote. She used to be in our ward years ago, and is an amazing pianist and organist. Well, now she is 95 years old!! She came all the way across town to vote early and didn't even need a cane or anything to walk! Amazing. I took a picture of her waiting out by the exit for her bus to come back and pick her up. She lives at a retirement community and they have a little bus that takes residents on their errands around town. I just thought it was so precious, seeing her sitting there looking out the window. If a 95 year old lady makes it a point to vote, the rest of us should do the same!

And later in the week, a young man came in to vote, wearing this shirt. I asked his permission to take a picture of the shirt only. He happily obliged. I just thought it was a hoot.

Sometimes people come in to vote and they're wearing apparel that is not appropriate while voting is going on in the same building. There is a law saying that it's unlawful to wear something or carry something or speak about anything pertaining to the candidates that are on the ballot.  It's called Electioneering. Even if you are wearing a giant button pinned to your shirt, in favor (or not) of a certain candidate - it has the potential to influence or offend another voter. Therefore, it's not allowed. If you pull up to vote in a car advertising your favorite candidate(s), and if you're there for more than just a few minutes, you cannot remain parked there. You have to park at least 100 feet away from any part of the building where voting is taking place. 

I've been helping the other ladies who volunteer up front with me to recognize things that are electioneering and how to tastefully take care of (and diffuse) the situation. So far I have had to deal with these scenarios:

• An older man came in wearing a bright red hat that said, "Trump 2020" on it. I politely (and with a smile on my face) said, "I'm so sorry, but we can't allow you to wear that hat in here while people are voting." He replied, with a twinkle in his eye, "You mean I can't let everyone know who I'm voting for?" Ultimately, he agreed to leave the hat in his truck and then come in to vote.
• An older man came in to vote, carrying his oxygen pack, and was wearing a protective mask that said Trump 2020 on it, plus a t-shirt that said Make America Great Again. He happened to also be wearing a flannel button down shirt, but it was open at the time. I asked him if he would be willing to button up his shirt to cover up the t-shirt, and if he could also swap out his protective mask for one of our standard blue hospital masks instead. He was very cooperative and did just that.
• A young lady came in wearing a t-shirt with HUGE letters that said Make America Great Again - Trump 2020. She did not have any layering options like the previous gentleman did. But she was willing to duck into the bathroom and turn her shirt inside out in order to vote. She asked if it was okay to turn it back out after she voted because she was on her way to work afterwards. I told her that would be okay. The bathroom was right near the entrance/exit so I figured it would be okay.

You can see how this might be very intimidating!! But so far, those that I have had to deal with have been very cooperative. Thank goodness!!

Tuesday afternoon, Amber called me while I was at work. I figured it must be really important or she wouldn't have called me while I was working! It turned out that it was super important!!

She had been downstairs, watching a movie with Abby and Gwen, when she noticed water dripping from the fluorescent light fixture in the family room. The entire fixture was full of water!! Crazy, right?!?

Because Scott and I were both at work and I didn't foresee the ability to come home anytime soon, I had her call my Dad in CA to do a little diagnosing. My Dad is great at figuring things out, even when it's over a video call. They couldn't figure out the root of the problem, but they did get the water turned off. 

As soon as Scott got home, he called our very competent neighbor, Lee Brundage (the same person that built our new front porch this summer), and together they did some detective work in the living room upstairs. Lee's brilliant idea was to investigate through the floor above the issue. This turned out to be a lot less work than what Scott was originally planning to do from underneath in the family room!

First, we had to move all the furniture out of the way at the south end of the room.

Then, we pulled up the carpet and rolled it so that we had about 8 feet of clearance from the south wall to work with.

Did the same thing with pulling up the pad underneath the carpet. Abby was supervising the whole affair.

Lee had a camera that we used to send down into any hole we cut. It was hooked to his cell phone so we could see what the camera was seeing at the same time.

Lee is cutting out the first section of flooring here. 

We found Abby some headphones to wear so the noise of the saw didn't bother her so much.

We could definitely see the water leaking out from somewhere, but we couldn't see where it was coming from yet.

Here, Scott is maneuvering the camera line, while Lee is watching his phone screen for clues.

I took pictures of what his phone was picking up. This picture shows a pipe underneath the floor joist. There is water, but still no sure proof of where the leak is.

They cut two more pieces of flooring out, so they could see the pipeline a little better.

Meanwhile, the water was leaking slowly but steadily from the white light fixture on the ceiling down below, and ker-plopping into the red bowl.

Scott noticed that the wiring in the light fixture was pretty fried. We are very lucky that we didn't have our house burn down! (look closely to the left of the yellow wire caps)

Finally, they determined where the leak was. It was in the hot water line of a pipe that fed into the kitchen. The red pipe section below is the new replacement piece that Lee "just happened" to have in his truck!!

Lee said it appeared to be long lasting damage from a small ding that occurred during the original installation 40 years ago! Over time, it produced a tiny little hole where water could leak out.

By the end of the night, we had fans in place to help dry out the flooring from above. Everything was dry by the morning.

MEANWHILE, I had plans for a young women activity that SAME EVENING here in my house. We were supposed to play games in the living room. Well, that didn't happen, ha ha. So we played outside instead. It was a little chilly outside, but not too bad. And the girls are all such troopers anyway!

We played Twister on the lawn, as well as Clue and Apples to Apples on the back patio. I even won one round of Twister against the girls. How did that happen?? ha ha

After we played Apples to Apples, we played a hide and seek game called Sardines. It is pretty much the opposite of a typical hide and seek scenario. In Sardines, ONE person hides and everyone else tries to find him/her ("It"). As you find whoever is "It", you QUIETLY hide with them until everyone has found "It". The last person to find the hiding spot is now "It". What a fun game! I partnered up with Abby and we held hands to run all over the 3 front yards that were in the designated hiding area. 

And all of this was in ONE DAY!!

Oh! And one more thing. During my lunch break on Tuesday, my boys and I were having a fun conversation - sort of like a fast food face-off. I took some screenshots of some of our conversation because it was so lively, ha ha.

It started off with Benson sending a video about a new burger at Wendy's with a pretzel bun. He wanted either Jacob or Weston to try it and let him know what they thought of it. Benson was practically salivating over it! :)

Wednesday: After work, Scott finished up the living room by cutting some new pieces of wood to lay into place in the floor. 

By the end of the evening, he had everything all put back together! Good as new. :)

Thursday: After work, we all drove up to Rigby to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday a little early. His birthday is on Oct. 18th, but because my mother-in-law needs to have surgery this week, she wanted to celebrate things early while she was still feeling good. Phil will be 89 years old on the 18th!

Amber and the girls came, plus Scott and me, Phil and Coy, and our niece, Marissa and her husband, Assan, and baby Azure all came as well.

Coy made the most delicious meal for all of us!! She made a scrumptious meatloaf, along with twice-baked potatoes, kale and pear salad, fresh rolls, and cooked carrots. We were in charge of bringing a dessert. Amber thought cheesecake would be nice, so she picked one up from a local bakery and then added her special touches to it: a brown-sugar and burnt butter frosting, drizzled across the top, then sprinkled with pecans, and a final garnish of drizzled caramel. It was so good!

Because Scott looks a lot like and sounds a lot like his brother Gordon, Azure sometimes wonders if Scott is her Grandpa Gordon. But then, after some careful consideration, realizes that in fact, he is not. But that doesn't mean that she is cold as ice to him, ha ha. She seems to warm up faster to Scott than anyone else. Probably because she misses her real Grandpa so much! 

Here she is, being playful with Scott while eating in her highchair:

After dinner, we all sang Happy Birthday to Grandpa Phil. Click here to watch:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EHkHkJ4gLnJaZfxz5

Before we all left, Scott and Assan helped to give a priesthood blessing to Coy first, then Phil. Coy is having an ablation surgery on her heart tomorrow morning (Tuesday), to correct some issues she's been having. She will be in the hospital around the corner from our house for one night, and then should be able to go home on Wednesday.  Her blessing was full of hope that her surgery would be a success, and that she would be blessed to heal and be stronger because of it.

And Phil has been having a few other issues that he was concerned about, so a priesthood blessing was comforting to him as well. 

Here is Coy, as they were visiting briefly before her blessing.

Mom and son hugged afterwards. Aww, how precious.

Phil, just prior to his priesthood blessing. With Assan and Scott administering to him.

And a nice father/son hug afterward. So sweet.

Friday: Scott and I both left work a little early so that we could get on the road. We drove up to Island Park, Idaho (about 1.5 hours north) to attend a Strong Bonds event that the military puts on annually. It's a marriage retreat that is funded by the Army to strengthen marriages, mainly because the divorce rate is so high among military couples. Deployments and other issues really do put a strain on a relationship, and this is a wonderful blessing to help strengthen and bring understanding to our marriage. 

We've been going to these events once a  year for about 6-7 years now. They are really fun! The chaplains lead the sessions/workshops throughout the weekend, and they sure have a great sense of humor! We laugh and learn, and learn and laugh the whole weekend long.

This is what we saw on our bed when we arrived at the Sawtelle Mountain Resort - 

They really know how to do things at these Strong Bond events!

We went to classes on Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning. Here are some of the things we learned from the power point presentations . . .

Good stuff. We always learn something when we go, even though we've had a wonderful 28 years together!! It's good to reinforce certain things and behaviors, and it has even helped us with parenting issues over the years too!! 

Saturday: Two important birthdays took place on October 10th! Both Kylie and Chelsea celebrated their birthdays and I was able to talk to each of them throughout the day. I had a short video chat with Kylie early in the morning before our classes began. She hadn't slept very well the night before, but was still happy and in good spirits. We had already sent her a package for her birthday - and thankfully it even arrived early. We sent her a fun card game, as well as some snacks and goodies. Kylie is now 18. :)

After we had lunch at the resort, I called Chelsea as we drove to Harriman State Park. She is now 31 years old. She told me that she had hired a personal chef to fix a beautiful dinner for her and some of her friends that evening. She even sent me pictures of the fancy feast!

Lobster rolls, shrimp po' boys, macaroni and cheese, and roasted vegetables. I just wish I were there to eat some of the fixings too!

I also found out that her wedding date is set for next September 10, 2021. Chelsea and Garret will be married locally in Denver, in a friend's back yard. I'm looking forward to meeting her adoptive mother for the first time and also to seeing Chelsea on her special day. :)

We arrived shortly thereafter at Harriman State Park, where we had made a reservation to do a trail ride on horseback at Dry Ridge Outfitters. We happily moseyed on the backs of our horses for about 2 1/2 hours. It was dreamy. :)

Here are a couple of trail videos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yUtcxL9LeC9DKxuM9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ey4pEq2gp4Ay7yXx7 (this one shows Angus grabbing a quick bite as we walk along ha ha)

My horse was named Angus. I thought it was a boy the whole time based on a name like that. But I learned near the end of our trail ride that Angus is a GIRL!! She was a good horse, but was a snacker. Any chance she could get to reach down and grab a mouthful of dry grass, she would try!

The view at the top of the ridge, with Silver Lake in the distance. We were up around 8000 feet here.

Scott's horse was named Tommy. Our guide said that if she ever needed the most dependable and responsible horse, she would always choose Tommy. 

I sure love this guy! 

Back at the corral . . . and it even seemed that our horses were friends too. :)

Once we got back to the resort, they fed us dinner and then we had one more class session to attend before calling it a night. 

This was the restaurant called Connie's where they fed us our dinners. It was right across the parking lot from the Sawtelle Mountain Resort. They always served huge portions and it was really delicious! 

At last, it was bedtime. We were very tired, but happy.

Sunday: Following yet another tummy-enlarging meal for breakfast, we had 2 final hours of class to attend before our release. I really enjoy what we learn at these events. I just wish that I had a comfier chair to sit in. With my short legs, it's always hard to find a comfortable fit that doesn't bother my lower back because I can't plant my feet flat on the floor. :)

We checked out of the hotel at 11:00 a.m. and drove 25 minutes north to visit Yellowstone National Park. It was SO COLD!! It had rained overnight in some areas, but up in the Park, they got snow during the night. The wind was blowing pretty fiercely, so the 30 degrees felt more like 18-20 degrees whenever we got out of the car. 

But it was so beautiful!

In between the west entrance and Madison Junction

Gibbon Falls

Artist Paintpots

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

These gorgeous blue skies are just about to change . . . in about 5 minutes  . . .

Here's a video of the paint pots in action:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/H6SKwun1eu1BoJCv6

By the time we got down off the ridge overlooking the paint pots, it began to HAIL on us! 

I took a video:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hZjMkQJCQXer7wqKA

We saw a numerous herd of buffalo right next to the road about a mile before we got to Madison  Junction, but we weren't able to capture any video of them. We had been crawling along for about 30-40 minutes, not really knowing why. Then, suddenly, we came around a corner and there were two park rangers next to their trucks with flashing lights. They were waving their hands to keep the traffic moving and it all happened so fast that we didn't get to capture any pictures or videos.

But after we visited the paint pots, we saw this lone guy, trotting along the side of the road. 

Click here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jste8q58pFKoK7yX6

And not 2 minutes later, as I was eating animal crackers, I found a match!

Snow seemed to follow us from that point on. Every time we stopped to hop out to see something, the snow would catch up to us within minutes!

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

We just barely had enough time to get a picture . . .

Before the snow caught up once again . . .

This was the view across from the Upper Falls - picture us standing at the top of the waterfall in a minute . . .

We drove over to the other side of the canyon, and there it was! 

Here is a video of the majestic and thunderous water flowing over the falls:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hqRg8twnfKHeTbM48

Time for some ginormous leftover chicken from Connie's the night before . . . isn't this so dainty?

And then we saw our buddy from earlier, still trudging along in the snow. Not sure where he was going, but he seemed to know.

And just before we left the Park, we saw the same herd of buffalo (from earlier) out in the meadow, munching grass. We stopped to get a picture, but they were quite a ways off. I could only zoom in so much on my phone.

And then the beauty and splendor came to an end. We needed to drive back down to Idaho Falls and get home. It was a little over 2 hours to get home, and we made it safely around 6:00 p.m.

What a day! What a weekend! What a week! SO.MUCH.STUFF. I'm really grateful that we could run away and spend some time together. And I'm really grateful that we have so many beautiful places in this world. Spending time in nature really helps to clear the head and calm the soul.