The Empty Nesters

Camp Cumorah

2011-07-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

On the way to Camp Cumorah, we were able to see the windmill farm. We didn't realize that there are hundreds of them up there - not just the ones you see on the skyline from Ammon. If you haven't driven up there recently - I suggest you do. They are huge and they cover several miles.

Camp Cumorah still has the lake complete with beavers. This picture is taken from the amphitheatre (flag area). The first night there as we were having our flag ceremony, the beavers were having a great time swimming around the lake.

There is now a lodge at the Camp - it is huge! There is a big meeting room, a kitchen and a shower-bathroom area.

This is a view from the lodge.

Camp wouldn't be complete without the Priesthood skit where they have someone else be the arms and they have to feed them which gets all over their face.

It was fun to be at Cumorah. The campsites have been improved. There is running water and electricity in each campsite now. There is a cemented area big enough for 4 picnic tables, and tent pads have been leveled out and surrounded by logs. The camp is bigger now, the roads have been gravelled and camping areas in each site (like a forest service campground). There are probably twice as many camps as there used to be.

Camp wouldn't be complete without certification - fire without matches is always a fun one.

It was fun to camp, but it is good to be home.

Flowers, Flowers, and More Flowers

2011-06-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! The flowers have been great this spring!!!!!

Winter Birthdays

2011-02-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

I am glad my birthday is in the winter. You know - that yukky weather when the sun only shines occasionally, you are tired of staying inside all the time, you are extremely anxious for flowers to bloom even though that will be months away, you are afraid that the ice will never melt and even more afraid that you will slip and fall and maybe break something, you panic when someone in your air space coughs and they really should have stayed home, and you are anxious for green grass.

On my birthday, I went to work wondering what the day would bring. Yes, I did go to work and what did I see before I even made it into my office - my office door was decorated with signs. They were a big advertisement and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my secret - everyone would know. I know who did it and he had better look out come April.
I had lots of well-wishers who just stuck their head in to say "Happy Birthday" and some even brought gifts of cakes, and candies, and flowers.

Thanks to all who made my day special!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010 will be remembered by:

Christmas blankets: I made fleece blankets for all the kids and grandkids. This stack is only half - the Utah half. I had them done and sent them home with Gene when he came up for Thanksgiving. (Thanks Gene) I forgot to take a picture of the second stack, but it was bigger than the first one. Then we had to wrap them all - wow! that was a BIG job. But from the "Thank yous" we received, they are nice to wrap up in and stay warm.

The 12 days of Christmas for the grandkids: We enjoyed finding family history this year and so a couple of the days of Christmas were family history oriented. We also included activities to feel the spirit of the season and others to keep little hands busy while waiting for Santa.

We did manage to set up the Nativity and read the Christmas story. We enjoyed the spirit of the season and the love that always abound this time of year. We received cards and newsletters and enjoyed visits with siblings, children, grandchildren, and friends.

Puzzles: Our family has always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles so when Roseann stayed with us for three weeks, she brought things to keep herself busy. She brought puzzles and we did some of my puzzles, but our favorite was a puzzle of the Nativity. We probably put together 10 puzzles while she was here.

Snowflakes on Christmas Eve. We had Christmas eve dinner at Chris' place and enjoyed a very nice ham dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, veggies, and pie. Afterwards, we all made snow flakes and played the signs game. Had a great time - the Baldwin's are fun to be with!

Family, Family, and more Family

2010-09-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

Aren't families great? We have the best of the best!

1. Family get togethers are always great and when they are in the temple doing baptisms together, it is wonderful - thanks to all who helped with the 130 names we did last week.

2. Family spending the night is always fun. Ken and Roseann (Vic's brother and his wife) spent the night this week and we had a great visit with them.

3. Family birthdays are always fun. I like the look of surprise when they open that special gift you picked out just for them. And having cake and ice cream while we visit is great.

4. Family talents are wonderful. Kyle used is talent recently to help us redo the ceiling in our downstairs bathroom. He also helped us hang a blind in the family room. Thanks Kyle. And I always love to hear Kyle or Missy play the piano.

5. Family cookouts speak for themselves. Steaks cooked outside on the grill and the weather being warm enough to eat on the deck are the BEST!

6. Family emails and text messages and phone calls are the best ever. My heart always beats a little faster when I see the caller I-D says the call is from a family member. Tracking blogs is always great fun and a great way to keep up with pictures - I sometimes get teary-eyed when I read those.

7. Family support and encouragement - being there for each other even if it means having to travel to be there.

Genealogy / Anniversary trip

2010-07-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

We just got back from Utah where we enjoyed a genealogy finding trip. We planned to meet Yvonne in Oxford, but their car overheated and they turned back - maybe another time. Meanwhile, dad and I turned off on the wrong road and were headed back to Oxford the long way. When we got the phone call from Yvonne, we were in Preston (south of Oxford) getting ready to head back North. After the disappointing news that they wouldn't be joining us, we decided to head to Richmond instead of going north to Oxford. We found the museum (which was closed, but they let us in anyway) and we found a beautiful table that Cornelius Traveller made. You can see the top of it in the picture above. It is in a pie shape. (Gene - it really needs to be refinished) We also met Lee Ann Traveller who took us around town and showed us the places that the Traveller's had lived. We tried to find the Olsen home, and took pictures of a few of them, but we aren't sure if they are the correct home. Guess we will have to do a bit more homework. Then we went to the cemetery and took pictures of headstones. Christopher John and Mildred Traveller Olsen (my grandparents), Christopher Marinus and Caroline Olsen, Cornelius Traveller and Francis Hobbs Traveller are all buried there.

Then we went on to Hyrum, Utah (originally Camp Hollow) where Cornelius Traveller and his family came with other settlers in 1860. They built dugouts in the hillside and then Ezra T. Benson (Pres. Benson's father) told them to move 1 mile west for better water and they built a fort to provide protection from the Indians. The fort was 2 1/2 city blocks long - had 38 cabins in it. The back wall of the houses were the fort wall. The creek ran through it to provice water for the gardens, and homes. The fort was on both sides of Main street in Hyrum (which runs East-West and I guess that is unusual as most Main Streets run North and South). We tried to find this monument by going to the museum. We had directions to the museum, but we were on the wrong side of the street and ended up in the City building. We went in to ask for directions and a very nice man told us the museum was across the street. I asked him if he knew where the Camp Hollow monument was and he said he did. He marked it on my map and then said they were going to move it to the original site of the dugouts. Then he said he was on his way that direction and he would show us the way. As we were leaving the building, someone said hello to this kind man "Hello Mayor". So, the Mayor showed us to the monument and then showed us the original site of the dugouts. Wow! what a great man. Then we came back and visited the museum and found out that the immigrants had planted 100 acres of crops for the winter and then dug a canal 21 miles long in 9 days. The interesting thing - the canal was built 4 feet deep, 4 feet wide at the bottom and 9 feet wide at the top. It has just the right amount of drop - meaning it will flow very well and all they had was a spirit level (the old levels with the bubble in them). When they turn the water out of the canal in the fall, it all drains and not even a puddle remains. They built the cabins and the fort at the same time and were ready for winter. The only problem was that the canal didn't provide the water in time to save the crops.

Then we spent the night in Logan and went to the temple on Friday morning. August 3 is our 37th anniversary and we were so close to that day that we felt it would be a great way to celebrate an early anniversary. When we got married in Logan, the sessions had live actors and you went up lots of stairs from room to room. It was remodeled in 1977 and now you stay in one room the whole time. After the session, we walked around the temple and took lots of pictures. This is my favorite. It is taken close to the spot that we took pictures on our wedding day. On our wedding day, I think we took 4 or 5 pictures. I wish we had taken more.

Genealogy

2010-06-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, dad and I are family history consultants. We work at it off and on and I am constantly drawn to David Baldwin, born in 1803 inChenango County, New York. I have found a book on the history of Chenango County and have found other Baldwins who lived in the area at the same time. I am looking for them to see if they tie in to David.
The High Councilman in our Stake, Brother Yerrington, came over this week to teach us more and get us excited about helping others in our ward. As he went through our pedigree, he was teaching us about the Danish customs (he has a degree in Danish and English customs) and it was very fun to learn more. But after he left, I couldn't find the line he was showing us. So last night I was just going through my family tree and trying to find that line. I was going through each name and seeing how far back it went. One line in the Robinson family goes back to the year 1000. That was exciting to find.
Well, then I started looking through dad's lines and one line kept going back farther and farther. It went back farther than 1000 and it was in a line of kings. I was excited as I kept pushing the button to see how far it would go. Well, I started recognizing names from the Bible, like Abraham and Isaac and jacob. And everyone knows that if the line goes that far, it can go all the way to the beginning.
I was amazed as the name Adam - 1st man appeared on my screen. Dad asked me which line I was looking at and I couldn't remember. So I pushed the back arrow a whole bunch of times and it brought me back to the line I started on.
Now is the test - I want to see if you can find this line. Let me know your results.

In-laws

2010-05-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

We learned about Ruth and Naomi today in Sunday School - how Ruth went back to Jerusalem with Naomi and joined her church. What a tribute to Naomi. Her daughter-in-law gave up her traditions and being with her family to join Naomi's family. She not only went with her, but she gleaned the fields so she could care for Naomi. Then Boaz told her to stay with the maidens and have lunch with them. Ruth saved half of her lunch for Naomi. She worked hard to take care of Naomi and listened to Naomi as she gave her advice on marrying Boaz. The customs in those days were such that Boaz married Ruth and their children were actually part of Ruth's 1st husband's family. Ruth gave her firstborn son to Naomi because she didn't have any more sons - they had all died.
I loved my mother-in-law and only had priviledge of knowing her for 5 short years. She was good to me and I wish I could have learned more - hindsite is always better than foresite. She was happy that we had 3 sons before she left this earth. She was a great grandma to our sons. I often wonder about how happy she would have been with our 6 children. Missy often told me that she missed grandma Baldwin - she never knew her. I'm sure that Grandma and Missy were great friends in the heavens above.
I have some wonderful daughter-in-laws & a great son-in-law. I couldn't have chosen better mates for my children. They are the mothers to my grandchildren and are teaching them the right things to do. Briant is so good to Missy and I couldn't have asked for a better son-in-law. Yes, sometimes I am envious that I can't be around them more; but my time now is spent in spoiling my grandchildren. We take opportunities whenever possible to love our children and their families.
I hope is that I chose, as Ruth, to give mom and dad Baldwin the love they deserved. I only wish the same for my children - that I can be a mom to Kat, Chantelle, Julie, Cindy, Briant and Taylor (yes, Taylor is a daughter to me already and her boys are my grandsons). Life is precious and family is the most important thing to me.
I love you all!!!!!!!!!!

The Baldwin Bash

2010-05-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

wow! What a fun week! We spent Thursday evening with Kyle, Kat, and family as they were finishing a bedroom in the basement for Ashley and Katie. The girls were so excited and we had a great visit

Then on Friday we met at our place for a Pot Luck supper. Everyone brought their own meat and a side dish. We had plenty to eat and lots of fun visiting. If we could have changed the weather to WARM, that would have changed the activities to outside fun, but the little girls had fun swinging and the boys had fun on their skateboards.

Anna wore a t-shirt that said "I have a secret, I am going to be a big sister". We are so excited for them.

Saturday, we drove to Jackson. I was very concerned about the snow on the pass; but it was OK. We felt we had gone back a few months to winter. The swim was great and I wished I could have had pictures there as well. We had birthday cake for Gene & Devin, who had birthdays on the 16th and 18th.

Our Utah Trip to see the Grandkids

2010-04-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

This isn't a grandchild - but the picture turned out really good didn't it Gene?

Sydney is getting cuter every day - she is 12 now. She doesn't like to smile, but I did a fair job of insisting she smile.

Cole is 2 1/2 and doesn't want his picture taken - he was too busy playing.

Anna is on the go every minute - she is so fun to watch. She is learning so many new things that you could write a book a day on what she learns. Devin and Julie work hard to keep up with her.

Tulips are Blooming

2010-02-23T17:21:00.001-08:00

It sure is fun to have tulips blooming in the house in February - thanks to Pam for "planting" them for me.

Cool sunrise!

2010-02-14T05:57:00.000-08:00

As I was driving to Rexburg the first week of February, I saw a unique sunrise. The sun wasn't up yet and there ws a beam of light going straight up. Well, I wished I had a camera and later remembered that I did have one on my cell phone.

Well, on my birthday, I was given the gift of another beautiful sunrise and this time I did take pictures of it. The beam is going straight up again, but not quite as pronounced as the first one I saw. Wow! the beauties of nature. What a loving Heavenly Father we have to give us these beautiful things to see.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

You are not going to believe this - I am actually going to post all the Halloween pictures. We have a great time as a family and our kids are great to support the annual pumpkin carving. We had 2 shifts this year because Missy and Briant were on their way home from Utah on Sunday, so they came on Monday. We all had a great time.

The pictures are loaded, but they will be in haphazard order - so have fun. Make sure you check out Missy's blog to see the jacks from Monday night.

Kat's cake

All the jacks...... in the dark and with the flash on

And with a flash

The Three Musketeers

June activities

2009-07-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

June was busy! The flowers in my yard were incredible! We had lots of rain which put us behind on our garden, but we were able to get our garden in (after the trenches and water lines of May).

We started the month by having a reunion with our kids at the barn. We had so much fun seeing everyone at one time. I agree with Julie that the high spot was when we played hide and seek in the barn. We enjoyed our time together and wished we could be there longer.

We have traveled quite a lot in June. We went to Island Park where Kathy had a staff meeting for Family camp (which will be in August). The wildflowers were great. Usually, we see Island Park camp during the hot summer and it was fun to see it in the spring when the wildflowers were out and blooming. Unfortunately, a lot of my pictures were blurry - I guess I was too close.

Then we received some bad news that Danny Massey (a nephew - son of Vic's sister Loreen) had passed away from a brain tumor. It was sad that the family is still grieving from the passin of Loreen in January 2008. We were not able to get to Loreen's funeral because of illness and weather, so we felt we should be there for Danny's funeral. So we hopped in the car on Wednesday and drove for 8 hours to Walla Walla, WA and drove back after the funeral on Thursday.

I guess we hadn't had enough traveling because we made a trip to Utah on the last weekend of the month for an Olsen family reunion. It was good to see Devin and Gene again - Anna and Cole are both growing up way too fast. It was also good to see Yvonne & Connie and lots of their kids and grandkids. Hopefully, we can keep up that tradition and more of our kids will make it and get to see their cousins again.

An update on the trench - things are almost back to normal. We have inproved on the design of the flower bed in the front - it is now two levels. We planted annuals there for this year. The trench is filled and grass is starting to grow. Life is good!

Good bye to old friends

2009-05-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

We had to say goodbye to our dog, April, this week. She was 16 years old and suffered because she couldn't see well, she couldn't hear well, and she had arthritis. The kids watched as April and her brothers were born. She has been in our family all her life. Her mother, Holly, was a Christmas gift from Pam.

Even though she was old, she still found the energy to get excited when the kids visited. They all loved her and we will miss her.

We also said goodby to our old van - yes we sold it. We traded it to a guy who installed a sprinkler system for us. We had to pitch in a little extra because the van wasn't worth the whole job, but we are excited that the van will have a new home. I'm sure it has potential for many more miles.

We bought it when it was 4 years old and put aproximately 150,000 miles on it. It was a good old van - took us to Wisconsin and back when we picked up Kyle from his mission. It took us to the Oregon coast and Mt. St. Helens for family vacations. And who knows how many activities it took our kids to. After we bought the newer van, the kids drove it - to thier jobs, to mutual, to college. It was reliable and a good van, but we didn't need 3 cars in the family.

2009-05-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER

We had our water line replaced this week. All the flowers you see here are gone. We did dig them up and put them in crates. Then, we gave them a temporary home in the garden in the back yard. They are happy for the time being...

This 2nd picture is of this backhoe digging - it is amazing how they can take a big machine like this and be so gentle. Yes, they dug up all the flowers; but he was careful not to disturb the cement border that Vic put in for me years ago. Count your blessings!!!

The third picture is the after picture. Yes, things are still unsettled. We still have a hole in the yard - the water leak was actually on the City side of the hole. They haven't come to replace their part yet. So we are not back to normal..........

While we were in the mess, we chose to add a daylight basement window. You can see in the picture where the outside water faucet is in conjunction to the window well. So we had him dig over another 5 feet, A-cor (a cement cutting company) cut the hole to the exact dimensions Kyle asked. And yes, we got a visit that night from Kyle, Kat and the girls while Kyle installed the new window.

This last picture is of the new window and window well. It is great - it really makes a big difference in the lighting in our basement. We still have to replace the sheetrock around the window, but we were going to do that anyway because over the years it has gotten wet; but that is a project for another day.

Wow! It's About Time

2009-05-02T12:53:00.001-07:00

Spring is here - snowy one week and warm the next, rain then clouds, then hail. You wonder whether to wear a winter coat or a jacket or no jacket. Here are pictures of the same daffodil just a week apart.

Here are some of the things we have done in the past month:

Vic received his Silver Beaver Award. It is the highest award the Council can give to volunteers. Vic has been in Scouting for 29 years. I had the priviledge to present it to him - I received my Silver Beaver in 2002 and have served the last couple of years as the Silver Beaver Colony President. I have now passed that priviledge on to another.

I got busy sewing - made 4 of my granddaughters spring dresses - they are so cute with little lady bugs around the bottom.

We have also replaced our water heater, paid lots of $'s getting the blue van fixed, and have yet to find a water leak in the front yard.

We are enjoying being Empty Nesters.

Snow Days

2009-01-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

Aren't the trees pretty? The weather has been extremely cold and the frost does amazing things to the trees. Winter is a pretty season and when you dress warm, you don't even get cold.

Vic says you can't complain about the heat and the cold so he only complains about the cold. I don't like the heat and tell him that you can add layers when you are cold, but you can only take off so much when you are hot.

Vic would like to invent a perfect snow - one that doesn't snow on the roads and sidewalks.

The second picture is of the eaves of the house - we have a metal

roof and as the metal warms up, the snow slides down. Then it

freezes before it falls off. Quite unique.

The third picture is the snow after it has fallen off the roof. It falls with a thud that scares you if you don't know what it is. This picture is of our front step - the snow pile is higher than the 2 steps up to the top.

This is Vic and his new snow blower. He is truly happy that he got it for Christmas because he has used it quite a lot this winter. He is blowing the snowpile that fell off the roof into the driveway.

He spends a lot of time cleaning snow. First he cleans the driveway and sidewalks, then the snow plow comes by and he does the end of the drive and the sidewalks again. Then the snow falls off the roof and he is at it again.

Sewing Room updated

2009-01-11T09:09:00.001-08:00

I am so excited! I now have a sewing room. Before now, Vic and I shared a room - it was the office, sewing, craft and whatever else we could scrunch into the room.

When Missy moved out, I adoped her room for a sewing room. I adopted a couple of cupboards from my office remodel at work and needed a few more to complete the room. So a few days after Christmas the new cupboards were installed. I thought that would be my Christmas present for this year.

Unknown to me, Vic bought me a new serger for Christmas - It now sits in a prime spot in my sewing room amongst all my new cupboards. I went to a class to learn how to use it and am in 7th heaven - it is an air threader (no more tensions either). I am happy!!!!

Ready for Christmas

2008-12-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

Yep! We are finally ready for Christmas!

Chris and Chantelle came and helped us get the tree down out of the top of the garage and then helped us decorate it.

It looks great - we are enjoying it. It is hard to fit a tree into our living room - we have to move the furniture around and then have no space to exercise in the morning (not that I do that every morning anyway). We have lots of memories in the ornaments that we put on the tree. We thought it would be nice to include our children every year in the decorating of the tree. That was really fun.

The bread has been baked and shared with the neighbors - along with raspberry jam. Yes, we even found time to make the jam this summer in between weddings.

Here's wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Halloween

2008-11-02T10:03:00.001-08:00

The annual Pumpkin carving tradition was great! We have the traditional jack-o-lantern by Kathy, the goofy eyes by Vic, a spooky house by Chris, Wolves howling by Chantelle, An Apple a Day (complete with worm) by Mahon, Cindy's whomping willow, Briant's smoker, Missy's toothy smile.

We had a great time, complete with chili and apple crisp.

Fire or not

2008-10-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, October 9, I was invited by Cindy to listen to her 1st place poem as she read it at the Professional Conference. It was in the Hinckley building where I work, So at 11:30 I went downstairs to the appointed room. We were all enjoying the poetry being read, when Bong, Bong, Bong - the fire alarm went off.

Well, needless to say, we all went outside and waited for 15 minutes or so while the smell of burned microwave popcorn was cleared out and the security guys said it was OK to go in.

When, what to my wondering ears did hear; the following Monday, the Bong, Bong, Bong of the fire alarm. I was in my office and I thought "Not again". But I went outside and waited. Well, the fire trucks arrived, the police arrived, the security guys wouldn't let us in the building.

Another false alarm - No - an electrical fire in the computer equipment in the classroom down the hall. And, to my sceptical mind - I wasn't prepared for the real thing. I had left my purse in the building.

Now (it probably will never happen again) I am ready for fire alarms. I will take my purse, turn off my computer (it had reset and didn't want to let me log back on), and I will take those alarms more seriously.

They're All Married

2008-10-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a summer! We now have 6 children, 6 daughter/son-in-laws, 6 grandchildren (almost - when Julie and Devin have their 1st this month.)

Missy & Briant Giles were married on July 11, 2008 in the Idaho Falls Temple, Mahon & Cindy Ray were married on August 22, 2008 in the Rexburg temple, and Chris married Chantelle Johnson on September 20, 2008 in the Rexburg temple.

We traveled to North Carolina on the 6th of September. We stayed with the neighbors and now have new friends. The people in North Carolina are wonderful. Cindy has triplet sisters and brother and they were baptized while we were there. Hurricane Hannah was in full swing while we were there. As we waited in the airplane for a break in the wind, the rain was really pouring. We made our break and headed to Baltimore for a connection - a very turbulent flight.

The next weekend we were in Calgary Canada. We had another great weekend. The people in Canada are great. We were hosted by the Johnson's and enjoyed an afternoon outing going on a hike to Grassi Lake. While hiking, I lost my footing and fell. I hit my face on a tree - it is truly amazing that you can get bruises on your cheek and forehead and not break your glasses.

Chris married Chantelle on the 20 of September. It was raining when we went into the temple. It quit while we were in there and we were able to get some pictures. Then it rained some more and we waited outside the temple. Then we went to the gardens for the luncheon and the rain stayed away until the luncheon was over, then it poured for a while. We set up the reception inside the gazebo (in case of rain) and it never rained the rest of the day. We had a great day.

Now we are officially empty nesters and enjoying it!