New England - Finally!

It took me a while to get all my blogs caught up, but finally I'm ready to post our trip to see Nicki and Mckay. We flew in to JFK late on Thursday night and through phone tag, Nicki found us. We made it safely to their home in Connecticut and crashed. On Friday morning Mckay had to work and Nicki had a couple of classes at school, so Kent and I slept in and just relaxed.

After Nicki got home from school, she thought she would give Kent a good scare and told him she had learned how to take blood that day and she needed to practice on him. She came at him with the needle and we (she and I) had a good laugh while Kent was jumping around on the sofa trying to get away from her. We miss out on Nicki's antics at home!!!

The whole thing was more than Kent could handle. We couldn't talk him into going shopping with us to Stew Leonard's. Did you see that STEW LEONARD'S. I'd seen this place a couple of years ago on the Food Network and when I found out Nicki lives close enough to shop there, I made her promise she would take me. See, there I am in front of Stew Leonard's.

It wasn't quite the rush I thought it would be, but still we had fun. And, it was kind of fun going to a place I've had on my list for awhile!

Friday night (I think, maybe it was Saturday) we went to Nicki and Mckay's favorite Greek restaurant. I've been there before with N&M, and the food didn't disappoint. I love their food.

On sunday we ditched church. Nicki and I wanted to go to church, but the boys begged us to skip it. I felt kind of bad about that, especially since we had just been on the phone with Regan, Kenna and Trevor and told them they should go. Oops! We went apple picking instead!

The apples were so crisp and good fresh from the tree, I think I ate at least three because we had to try each kind of apple we picked. It was kind of a nippy day and even though I had stuffed my tummy with apples, I was still ready for fresh apple cider doughnuts! Best ever and I don't even really like doughnuts! That's all for now. More to come later.

Backing Up Again!

This is why it is important to keep updated on your posts. I have to back track a bit and add a couple of events that we thought were important.

The end of May Nicki was able to come and visit us while McKay dedicated his life to studying for his exam the first week in June. We spent time making pillow covers and curtains for Nicki &

Mckay's apartment.

We also had another "girl party" for those who could come. We had a great time. You will all be spared our "Blue Steel" poses!

In the spring of this year we noticed a bird was building a nest on this thing that is on our front porch. This hangs just outside our laundry room window. A little robin would sit on her nest all the time, and if I went in the laundry room too early or late and turned on the light she would fly away. Also, if we were too loud in the laundry room, like slamming the door that goes out to the garage, she would fly away. So Kenna, especially, made it a point to remind us, daily, not to be too loud or not to turn on the light when it was dark unless we really needed to. Usually when I go into the laundry room in the dark, I do need light, so there were lots of time the mommy bird would fly away. Kenna also got really upset if the dogs happened to go out the front door because they would also scare the bird away. After a lot of weeks of tip-toeing around momma bird, the eggs finally hatched. This is what we got!

Anytime the momma bird would fly away, we'd go over and peek at the baby birds. We were surprised at how quickly they tried to fly out of the nest, like within a couple of weeks. They grew fast and I suppose the nest was crowded as there were three baby birds in there. They would fly to the garden, which is just in front of the porch, but couldn't get all the way back up into the nest, so would perch on the railing. We tried all the time to get close enough to pet the bird and get them to not fear us. I got close enough to touch one of the birds once, but as soon as I put my hand on it, it flew away and that was the last time any of us got close.We thought they were cute, but when Nicki saw these pictures, she thought they were disgusting. We loved our baby birds.

Trevor and Kenna at Youth Conference

This post and the next one are out of order, "oops". Around the end of June, Kenna and Trevor had a chance to go to Youth Conference down in St. George, Ut. It is so beautiful, and hot, down there. The kids were able to go to the St. George Temple and do baptisms the first day there were there -- while they were still clean.

After that, it was camping in the dirt, hiking in 105 degree heat and finding pools to swim in.

Kenna and her friend, Kenzie Gomm - really hot and sweaty!

They saw beautiful scenery, of course.
A little bonding time for the sibs.
They also had and "opportunity" to work in the cannery down there. None of the kids were looking forward to it, yet, as often turns out, they had a great time working and doing some service for others.

Trevor and his friend, Jackson, at the cannery.
Kenna and some of the other girls - loving the hair nets!

Catching Up . . . Again!

So, I am going to update my blog, starting with where I left off - mid summer. The weekend of July 24th we had our McAffee Family Reunion. It was at the same campground where I went to girl's camp when I was in Mutual - Camp Loristica. Kind of fun to go back there and show my family where all the "excitement" of girl's camp happened for me.

Trevor and Hunter canoeing on the lake/pond. They spent a lot of time in that canoe and loved every minute of it.

On a dare (which is seldom a good idea) Trevor stripped down to his swimsuit and went into the freezing cold pond late on Thursday night. I think a bet from his older cousin, Tucker, was involved. I don't think Tucker came clean on his bet, even though Trevor spent the required one minute in the water. He did not, however, go in naked, as was originally planned!

The older guys spent a lot of time launching water balloons at any one in the canoe. Thankfully, they were terrible shots. But it was still lots of fun tryin'.My dad.
Me & Trevor and Shirlene & Layton. Remember, these are camping pics!
When the kids weren't in the canoe, they were in Carl and Lanell's camper playing cards with their cousins. I think they learned a few things from the cousins (hopefully good things).

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Oh, I've been gone for so long. I don't think it is because I've been so busy (although I have, but no more than usual). So far in June we've celebrated our 24th anniversary and Father's Day. Regan's birthday is coming up on Sunday and mine is on Tuesday. So we will be continuing the celebrating.

Kenna and Trevor are in Zion's Park this week at a Youth Conference. They are going to hike the Narrows tomorrow. It is 105 there today. I hope they are using sunscreen and drinking lots and lots of water.

Regan quit her fabulous job at the hospital where she has worked for the past year and a half in the daycare center. She loves that job, but is starting cosmetology school on Tuesday.

Nicki and McKay are traipsing around jolly old England for the next few days. McKay finished his second year of a big ol' hairy three year test the first weekend in June and celebrated a birthday on June 5th (we are racking up the June birthdays). Nicki will be starting nursing school in August.

Kent is (thankfully) busy with work and not so much golf these days as his favorite course is under 6 feet of water on most of the holes.

I've been busy with gardens (no, this is not mine, but it could be) and slightly busy at work. Could use more clients, but all in due time.

That is a snapshot of our lives. It's all good.

Tuscaloosa

These images from Tuscaloosa are so heartbreaking. Last night Nicki called me. Her former roommate, Rachael, and her husband live in Tuscaloosa where Dan is going to school. They were right in the middle of this tornado and had such a harrowing experience. Apparently they saw the tornado coming, ran into the bathroom and when it was over opened the bathroom door to see their apartment completely gone. They were standing outside. Then Rachael, a nurse, heard someone screaming for help. She found her neighbor just a couple of doors down (or what used to be a couple of doors down) and she was in pretty bad shape. Rachael tried to stabilize her, but she died while Rachael was working on her. Shortly thereafter, Dan and Rachael's hometeachers came and rescued them. Their car was also demolished. This has been such a traumatic experience for this young couple. Please remember them, and all those who are suffering from these destructive tornados in your prayers.

update: watch Rachael's CNN phone interview here:

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2011/04/28/exp.tsr.tornado.survivor.intv.cnn.html

Backscatter vs. "Enhanced" Patdown

I read an article this morning on Dr. Mercola's website. It is very interesting/disturbing. How safe are the backscatter body scanners at the airport? I think we've been sold a bill of goods, again. Consider the fact that Homeland Security Chief, Michael Chertoff is the primary promoter of body scanners and a paid consultant for the companies that sell them. Conflict of interest??? Click here to read the article. It will only take a few minutes. Also, the "We Won't Fly" campaign calls the patdown of minors a "predator-prep" course for minors. Interesting.I don't know how to make this image bigger, but the tiny print reads, "Helping your child understand why he may pose a threat to National Security". I laughed at first and it would be funny if it weren't so ridiculously stupid. For heaven sakes, lets not profile anyone who may look like a terrorist, but let's sexually assault everyone else, including children and grannies. Typical of our government - extreme, extreme, extreme, with no allowance for any kind of common sense!