Back from PA

We had a wonderful time in Pennsylvania! It is so beautiful and green there with trees everywhere. We got in to the Pittsburgh airport around 11:00 and drove to Mike's aunt and uncle's house. His Mapquest directions took us through some very rural areas and we eventually resorted to using the navigator on my phone.

On Friday we headed to Altoona, PA to see some friends of Mike's (and now friends to Chelsea and me as well). We went to have hot wings at Al's tavern. Yummy. We had so much fun with Joe and Terri and their daughter Brianna.


On Saturday we headed back to Indiana (the town, not the state!) and went to Pete and Dianne's 50th Anniversary. Mike had fun seeing his cousins, aunts and uncles and other relatives. They were all really nice but Chelsea and I didn't know anyone so it was a little boring for us.

We all took a nap later on Saturday and then just hung out with Uncle Bob and Aunt Laura. They are a lot of fun and just great people. Aunt Laura introduced Chelsea and me to Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry floats. Sounds bad, but it was actually pretty good.





On Sunday we headed to Pittsburgh and saw some sights. First we had lunch at Jerome Pettis' Grill. I didn't know who that was but Mike informed me it was some famous Pittsburgh sports person. The food was good and actually reasonably priced.



We headed over to Heinz Field where the Steelers play.







Then we walked along the river to the Carnegie Science Center. We saw lots of cool science things as well as a submarine they had on exhibit. That was fun but it was really geared towards kids below the age of 12.

We headed towards the airport but stopped at the IKEA furniture store to pick up some shelf brackets for Chelsea's room. We had purchased some about a month ago at the store in Draper, UT but needed two more. This saved us a drive down to Draper for just this.

We had plenty of time at the airport so Chelsea decided to look for a pin. She started collecting pins when we went to Europe in 2000. It's an easy and inexpensive way to remember where she's been. She also decided she was going to be a Steeler's fan. She said it was a good Father's Day gift for Mike. :) Of course that meant that she needed to get a Steelers T-shirt. After buying her and Mike more junk we waited for the plane. We had an uneventful trip home and got to our house around midnight. Both Mike and Chelsea had to get up early. Luckily I didn't have to get up for any particular reason.

When I did laundry yesterday I didn't realize that my Garmin Forerunner was in the pile of clothes so it got washed too. Lucky for me I'd seen my friend Carol's blog while the laundry was washing and found out that Costco had the Garmin 301's on sale. So I ordered one and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival. In the meantime I ran today. After about 3 weeks of running sporadically and at low altitudes it was painfully obvious to me that I may very well come in last at the 5K I'm running with my friend Laura on July 4th. No matter, at least I'll be running!

Indiana, Pennsylvania

No, we aren't going to Indiana, the state. We are going to Indiana, PA. It is a small town in Pennsylvania. Thanks for all the prayers. Mary

Finally, an update

As some of you may know I have been rather busy lately and have been unable or unwilling to update my blog. But here goes:

About 3 weeks ago my nieces, Amanda and Jennifer came to visit. We had a great time going to Salt Lake City and hanging around in Ogden. This picture was taken at Rainbow Gardens which is a fun gift shop with a decent restaurant.

Not long after they left my mom called and said my dad was in the hospital with stomach problems and not to worry. Later that evening my sister called and told me the doctors thought Dad had cancer. So I decided I'd better head home to N. Idaho to get the real scoop and be there for my parents. We got the results on the 10th. Definitely lung cancer and most likely stomach cancer. After visiting several doctors we still are unsure about the stomach cancer because the biopsy showed only normal cells but the surgeon feels certain it is cancer based on the results of the CT scan. To be sure, Dad is having a PET scan later this week. That will also tell us if the cancer has spread to other areas.

The doctors say this cancer cannot be cured but can be treated. Dad will start chemotherapy after all the test results are back. In the meantime he has planed a boat trip on the Snake River with his sons, sons-in-law, brother and grandson for the end of this month.

I came home yesterday. I was so happy to see Chelsea, Mike and Scruffy. But my homecoming is short lived because we are leaving tomorrow to go to Indiana, PA for his aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary. We scheduled this before we found out about Dad so we are still going. It should be fun and I've never met any of Mike's relatives, besides Harli (she recently changed the spelling of her name, cute, huh?).

I will, however, be very glad to be home, hopefully for a while. Chelsea and I will be going back to Idaho for my younger brother's 25th anniversary in July and then I will be going back in August for my high school 30 year reunion. And in between all of that I start graduate school. Whew! I thought the summer was supposed to be relaxing. One highlight, though, will be on July 20th, when Eline comes from the Netherlands to visit for 5 weeks. We all miss that girl and really look forward to seeing her again.

Well that's all for now. I'm off to run errands so we'll be ready for our trip tomorrow.

It's about time...

I updated my blog! I did get the not so subtle hints that I needed to update my blog. We've been busy people around here. Chelsea was busy finishing school. She lettered in band and also got a couple of awards for band and marching band. Here she is with her certificates:

Mike and I went to Panguitch and camped with some friends. We went to Bryce Canyon, where we saw some amazing scenery.





























My nieces, Amanda and Jennifer, came to visit and we had lots of fun together. They are both in college, with Amanda finishing her teaching degree this fall and Jennifer just starting on her Social Work degree. What a smart girl! :) Well, actually both of them are. I am so proud of them. I am hoping they can come again soon!



Jennifer is on the left and Amanda is on the right. This was taken at Rainbow Gardens. We went to the Greenery for dinner and they had these cute benches outside.



I am running again. What an amazing experience to be able to run after all my ankle has been through the past 3 1/2 months. Today I ran 31 out of the 44 minutes I was out exercising. I walked the rest, but at a good pace. It won't be long before I'll be running all the time! I plan on running the Cherry Day's 5K on July 4th and the Jon Francis 5K on August 22nd. Maybe a few in between as well. Jon is the youth pastor from our church who died while hiking in the Sawtooth mountains several years ago. He had an amazing effect on Chelsea and on her spiritual growth. The money raised will go towards Luther Heights Bible Camp scholarships and the Jon Francis Foundation.

Mike is busy with work and will start his new job next week. He will be traveling all over the world with this job and he is very excited about it. I will miss him while he is gone, but am very glad that he finally has a job that he loves. Plus he'll probably bring home cool gifts! :)

I have totally slacked on keeping involved with my old internship location this summer. I only have 6 more weeks until I start classes for graduate school and then will get started on my new internship right after that. And I've really accomplished nothing so far except to read a lot and I actually scrapbooked one whole page! I am going through all my scrapbook stuff and getting rid of a lot that I know I won't ever use. I really can't justify buying anything new because I have nowhere to put it.

We didn't get an opportunity to get our garden rototilled this year so we have resorted to container gardening. We have two tomato plants, two sweet pepper and two hot pepper plants, an eggplant plant and parsley, basil and rosemary. Actually this way means a lot less problems with weeds and we won't have too much produce. But I really do hope to have a "real" garden next year.

Okay, that's all for today and I do really plan on trying a little harder to keep this updated. Have a great day!