Finding Fall

  Sunday right after church we hurried up the mountain to enjoy a beautiful bit of Fall..

Fall is my favorite season.  

I love the leaves, the smells, the crisp air...everything.  

And here in Vegas  fall is not really FALL

...so we have to head out of town and up the mountain to get a good dose of it.

 Ahhh...so beautiful. 

 I think we'll do it again ...and again...and again.

How my life rolls.

I had my day's plan in order and was efficiently checking them off:

•        Gym-√
•        Plant part of my fall garden-√
•        Find an on-line owner manual for a food processor -√
•        Pay Bills and update Quicken-√

I was just working at the computer when suddenly my day's priorities changed.

 

 A pantry shelf  collapsed and spilled it's guts on the floor .

 The casualties: one jar spaghetti sauce, 1 bottle vinegar, one jar pickled asparagus, one jar of jam and a bunch of dented cans. (it could of been much worse...5 jars of pickled asparagus hit the floor and survived.)

Now instead of working on my original "to-do list" ...I cleaned up a mess, went to the store, fixed and re-enforced shelves and organized a pantry.

Before I'd finished my "new" project I had  a stake meeting to go to . So at 6:30pm I got cleaned up, hurried to my meeting...No meeting at the stake center...hurried to the other building...no meeting there.  Then I realized I had the wrong day.  The meeting was on Tuesday not Thursday.

Moral of the story...don't give "older" folks verbal invitations.  And if your pantry shelve have stupid little plastic brackets...change them.

My weekend

Friday our Stake Relief Society had a women's retreat  at Camp Stimson  on Mt. Charleston.  I debated whether to go or not because part of me just wanted to be home and work on all the projects I have piled up here.
 But the part of me that thought I needed to get out and be social won.
I rode up with a friend, Dorisanne,  in her SUV with two other ladies.  Four women on an overnight camp out can pack a lot of stuff!  When we picked up the last lady I didn't know how we were going to get her large tote and cooler in!   But with the cooler between the two in the back seat and just literally closing the hatch door down on the tote to smash it in we were loaded.

I'm glad I went.  Had a great time.  The food was great (Cafe Rio style salads).  The speaker was inspirational (Sis. Allphin, historical consultant for the movie 17 Miracles, author).  Stayed up to mid-night chatting around the fire.   Was a little chilly in my sleeping bag (oh well).

The next morning all the ladies I rode with decided to leave right after breakfast and not stay for the classes... getting home early sounded good to me and I had my doubts about the classes also so I left with them.  (Of course we did hear later that the classes were amazing.  Really?)

On the way home we spotted yard sale signs.  Lucky I'd put $6.00 in my pocket when I decided to leave my purse home.

First yard sale there was a sturdy little child's table and one sturdy little chair...just what I've been looking for for months...maybe years.  They wanted $8.00 but the guy was okay with the $6.00 in my pocket.

Now how to get it home.  We had packed a little tighter for our journey down the mountain so the space between the two of us in the back seat was available but we had to  hug the doors.

Next Dorisanne found an end table she's been looking for...luckily it was small and fit inside the upside-down table with the chair on top.

Then Stephanie (friend, not DIL) found a coffee table.   Never say die!  We made it fit...in the front seat!

 New project...

Refinish the table when I refinish the child's cupboard and make a moose out of the rocking horse...before Ethnie is old enough to play with them ...or the other grand kids visit.

Hmmm...I wonder which will come first.

Our last evening

 After the  riotous swim  we decided to roast hot dogs over the firepit.

 September 17th and it was just barely cool enough in the evening to make sitting around a fire bearable.

 Hot dogs and marshmallows ...yummy.

 Topped off with a little sparkler fun.

So fun...until Lucia touched the end of the sparkler just as it went out..    But a little fast action...cold water and an aloe vera leaf wrapped on her hand and everyone was as good as new...Almost.

Pool Time

Air temperature high 90°s.   Water temperature 84°.   Perfect.

So we hit the pool almost everyday.

Faster Gramma Faster

Life of a Princess

JUMP!

Look who is swimming

I am sooo done with this swimming.

Crazy

Bathing Beauties

My other Grandkids

 Since my boys are having such a hard time producing boys 

I've decided to adopt a couple of boys

...twins

 Introducing Maximiliano and Emiliano

 It only makes sense to claim them as my own since I claimed their dad as one of my own.

Chad and Trace have been best friends for...well since they were two and we move to Pasco, WA just around the corner from the Shoemake family. 

So Trace and Ely and their cute twins came from California  to visit Chad and Janet while they were here.

A Stroller caravan to and from the park.

Water fights at the park

It was strange and fun to see the boy together now as fathers

taking care of their little ones.  It made my heart happy.

It also made me smile when at times everyone (but me) would be sitting around the table visiting in Spanish...including Violet & Lucia.

Who would have guessed it...34 years ago.

It was a fun 24 hours.

The Zoo

...up close and personal.

Joey was the first to greet us. 

He's 5 months old.

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Mr. Anteater

Can't remember what/who this guy was...but he was so soft and lovable.

This Lemur loved to have his armpits scratched.

Who's checkin' out who?

.
This guy loved checking out strollers.

The Sloth

Janet may look happy but the monkey  took to Janet more than Janet took to him.

Since this guy  couldn't win Janet's affections he made off with the baby wipes and was determined to keep them.

Violet's favorite monkey.

.

When Tayla (one of the Zoo guides and a friend from our ward) kissed the Camel

.

...Violet got brave enough to give it a try!

Who wouldn't want to kiss this mug? 

 So adorable!

We got to feed this guy.

 (It does help to be friends with a couple of the Zoo guides).

'

This little guy ( a cousin to a Bobcat)  will grow to be about 60 lbs.

Kitty Kisses...safer now than later.

Tayla coaxing the Kookaburra to laugh.

Have you ever touched an amaradillo? 

I didn't think so.

This guy will roll totally up in a ball.

This little zoo is outside the little town of Moapa, NV, about 40 miles north of Las Vegas, off on this little dirt road. Quite remote.  But we had so much fun, we'll definitely be going back next time the grandkids are in town.