Air Show

A couple of weeks ago Caitlin, Emily, and I drove up to Hill Air Force base for the air show. When we arrived, the Thunderbirds were doing their show in the air - hard to get pictures of, but very cool.

We took a tour inside a plane - that was fun:

ready for take-off

When the performance in the air was over, we went inside a hangar to see the famous "Tops in Blue" show. Outstanding talent - a carefully selected 30 or so air force people who learn a 1 1/2 hour show with music, singing, and dancing from every type of music from easy listening, to jazz, to country, all kinds. Very impressive, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

It was fun to spend some time with just the girls!

Extreme Makeover!

I feel so blessed. Just want to share something else wonderful that happened recently. On Friday, May 29, Caitlin and Nicia knocked on our bedroom door and informed us that we needed to leave our bedroom immediately.
(A little background: several months ago I had seen pictures of how my niece, Rachel, had redone her bedroom for almost nothing in cost. I had mentioned to my girls that if Rachel could do it, perhaps some time this year I might like to try and do something with my almost unbearable bedroom. But then with the finances getting tighter and tighter, I had put that thought to the back of my mind.)


So because I had mentioned something to them earlier, I thought maybe they were having us leave the room so they could put new bedding on our bed. That was the extent of what I thought might happen. We were obedient, though, and grabbed some clothes and toiletries and headed out of the room. We were not allowed back in all day long!


Jared and Becky came for awhile, and Justin came later in the afternoon. Even Caitlin's boyfriend, Ben, was up there helping them. We heard banging, comotion, and more banging. We just stayed downstairs working in the office, playing Ticket to Ride, etc. Around 11:00 at night, we were finally able to go up and see our surprise, a very unexpected birthday/anniversary present:

The temple picture replaced the ugly big wall-mounted t.v. with the dresser crowded under it

A large treadmill took up this whole corner where the dresser and window are

(it's just a shadow the mirror on the door

is casting on the wall to the right)

The picture of Dave & I is one of our favorites at the beach. The black shadow boxes

on either side will have sand, shells, and my sand dollar collection in them.

I was overcome with emotion.....

All of my adult life, I have never decorated my bedroom, ever. Those of you who have seen my bedroom know how bad it was. This is a project that I know for sure would never have happened if it was left up to me. Closet doors put back up (with knobs too!), treadmill taken out and t.v. taken down (I would have Never have been brave enough to do that!), room painted a gorgeous toasted almond color, new drapes, new pictures on the walls, new bedding.....It's beautiful, and I am in heaven!!!

Without a doubt, I have the most amazing, loving children in the entire world. This was one of the main reasons Nicia had come to visit. Truly this was a labor of love by all that means so much to us and that we will remember forever. It has been such a lift for me. As we were all commenting, our bedroom is a beautiful sanctuary now, and I love to spend time in there now. Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times over to all of our children. We love you all infinity much!!!

Dinner for Two - Just Because

A couple of weeks ago Nicia and Alyssa were here visiting. (which we always love!) One afternoon Dave asked me to go out with him in the late afternoon. Kind of strange, since it wasn't Friday night, but we decided to go geocaching. I was thinking the kids would fix dinner while we were gone, since Caitlin and Ben had said they'd cook one night. We'd been gone about 1 1/2 hours when they called us and said that they had decided to go geocaching too and had found a geocache they wanted us to come and see. I didn't really think too much about it - just thought they had dinner done and decided to kill some time geocaching while we were still out. They told us where to go to meet them - on a road up on the hill overlooking Springville. As we drove along the road, I realized it was going to deadend into a culdesac. As we approached the culdesac, tears filled my eyes as I realized my children had not been geocaching afterall:

There in the middle of the culdesac was a table and two chairs, all set up for Dave and I to enjoy a full fledged homemade Italian dinner, served directly from the Car Trunk Restaurant! It was a beautiful spot overlooking the valley.

Ben, our waiter, served us a delicious chicken fettucinni dinner, complete with salad, amazing green beans, fresh homemade rasberry lemonade, breadsticks, and cheesecake for dessert! (my favorite)

They had music playing from the car, so we danced a little. So romantic!!

Emily and Alyssa had fun just playing around the culdesac:

As the sun set, Nicia, our awesome photographer, took more pictures:

The fabulous "Car Trunk Restaurant" crew

Nicia took a few more pictures as the sun went down, and we left our memorable dinner spot to head back to the house. After they had cleaned up the kitchen, the kids left to spend the night at Grandma & Grandpa Bascom's so we could have the house to ourselves for the night. The fabulous dinner wasn't the only surprise they had for us. When we got up to our room, here was what we saw:

Music playing, candles burning all around, rose petals everywhere. So fun, and so romantic! We have the most thoughtful, amazing kids - they thought of everything! And did all of this, just because...... Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you did to help us to share a beautiful evening together. It was much needed, and we appreciate this sweet surprise so much!! We love you all!

¡Hasta luego USA! Hola Argentina!

Bridge at Sunset, Rosario, Argentina

Hola!
Well, tomorrow is the big day for Dave and me. We leave on a plane headed for Buenos Aires at 1:40 in the afternoon and get there the next morning at 7:45. We're so excited and a little nervous at the same time. Tuesday Caitlin will travel with the other missionaries from the mission home in Rosario up to temple in Buenos Aires, which is where we'll be meeting her! :) This is one of the highlights of the trip for me. I've been getting more emotional every day. Just thinking about it brings on the tears! (thanks to the Danes genes)

We plan to take Caitlin to Iguazu Falls, and then travel through her mission area, visiting the wonderful families she grew close to (another highlight for me). We'll have very limited access to the internet, so no blog posts for awhile, but hopefully some great pictures to post when we return home! Bueno adiós a todos nuestros amigos!

A Moment in History

Okay, for those of you who haven't been to our home, you might not understand why this is a big deal to me. But for those of you who have been here and have seen our garage in the past, take a good look because THIS is a moment in history! For the first time since we've moved here, (almost 9 years ago) there is enough space in our garage to park two small cars! Some of the things around the edges will be in an upcoming yard sale, and that will free up more space. I'm getting rid of a small storage unit we've had, to lose a $30/month payment, and will bring a small portion of the business stuff back to the garage and stack neatly, so we won't be able to park two cars for long (still one though). But I just had to show the progress I've been making!

My Sweet Valentines

Just wanted to post a few pics from Valentine's Day. Dave has been gone to Arizona for 3 weeks (still gone), giving 35 presentations in 20 days. It's been an extremely hectic time for him, so I was not expecting anything for Valentine's Day, not even a card. I just figured we'd celebrate when he got back. On Valentine's Day, I received a beautiful card in the mail, and Dave arranged with Andrew to have him make a special delivery to me:

I actually took these pictures several days after Valentine's Day so the petals are starting to curl a little, but they were gorgeous, and it meant a lot to me that even with Dave's very busy schedule, he took time to make sure I was remembered and could feel his love even through the distance. Thank you, sweetheart!

Friday I helped with Emily's classroom Valentine party. Later that night Emily helped me deliver heart cakes to our children who live in Orem and Provo.

Getting ready for the valentine exchange

Emily is "out of uniform" because it was a free dress day for those students with 90% or above on their "good behavior" cards. Way to go!

A sweet valentine from Emily:

Thank you to two of the sweetest people in my life!

Visit With Grandma & Grandpa

Emily and I were privileged to go see Grandma and Grandpa Danes for the weekend. Grandpa had been in the hospital with congestive heart failure, underlying pneumonia, and a mild heart attack. He had been transferred to a rehabilitation center to regain his strength so he could do the basic things to take care of himself. We left early Friday morning and were able to stay until Monday afternoon. When we got there, LaNita and her children were still there at the house, so Emily was able to play with them for a couple of hours before we went to the rehab center.

Allison Vance, Madelyn Vance, Emily, Rosie Vance, Spencer Vance

They did a great job of keeping themselves entertained while we were there at the center.

Grandpa wasn't very happy about having to be in the rehab center and wanted to be home. Needless to say, he was a little grumpy and negative. Emily tried to play the "glad" game with him, but he wasn't too interested. It was sweet because she still remained positive, and she and I were listing things that he could still be glad about, even though he couldn't be at home.

The first night after visiting Dad, Mom and I were pretty tired and hungry, so we stopped at a wonderful restaurant there in Kuna and split a steak dinner special. It was perfect and really hit the spot!

Saturday I woke up to a flat tire on my car, and called AAA. They weren't able to help me, though, because my car has special lugnuts so no one can steal a tire! He didn't have the right lugnut wrench to help me, so I had him pump up the tire and went to Les Schwab where I got two new tires. (I was told they were about the only people in the area with the special wrench I needed.) It all worked out okay. I should mention that about 1 1/2 hours before I got to Kuna the car started shaking at the steering wheel. I knew I didn't have a flat tire and wasn't sure what was wrong. I just kept praying as I drove and was able to get there. It was a blessing I didn't get stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire, because most likely no one would have been able to help me without the special lugnut tool! We grabbed a bite to eat at Wendy's and strolled through Sam's Club while we were out, and spent the afternoon/evening with Dad.

In addition to helping my mother and visiting my dad, one of my main reasons for going up there was go give my dad a project I had been working on for him. When we were there at Thanksgiving time, he had asked me to put 2 songs his mother had composed, down on paper in note form, since the songs were only in his head. I videotaped him singing the songs and brought the video home. I got busy with the holidays and sending Jordan off on his mission, so it was after Jordan left before I started working on the songs. After hearing about his health, I felt a great urgency to complete the songs for him. I was able to find a computer program that allowed me put the notes onto sheet music and add an accompaniment to the melody my father had sung. The songs are both about a young man going off to war; one leaving his sweetheart, and in the other song, announcing to his mom that he is joining the marines.

Saturday evening I presented him with the songs.

Grandpa Danes checking out the sheet music for his mother's songs

We went down to the dining room where there was a piano, and I was able to play the songs for him. He corrected a note that was wrong, and we made sure the accompaniment sounded the way he thought it should. I asked him to sing with me, but he said he didn't feel like it. I asked him again and let him know how much it would mean to me if he would sing with me. He did join in, and so did Grandma and Emily. It was a special moment to have all of us singing the songs that my grandmother had sung to my dad for so many years, and to have the words and music down on sheet music.

I have a few corrections to make, and Dad wants to get it copywrighted, and then we can, with permission, make copies for family members. I'm grateful I had the opportunity to do this for my Dad and that now the songs will be there to pass on to his posterity.

Just a few more sweet pictures from our visit:

I'm grateful to hear that Grandpa is cooperating more with the nurses at the rehab center and making progress. I know my parents' time is short here, especially with their health conditions. I treasure every moment I am able to be with them. It was a wonderful visit!!

Blessings from Heaven

I'm sad to say that this year, for the first time in about 15 years, I didn't have a garden. I decided ahead of time that I was going to focus on some other things in my life, namely organization and getting in shape, and chose to make my vegetable garden a lower priority. Well as soon as I did that, of course the garden never happened. Now that it's harvest time, I've been a little disappointed that I can't walk out my back door and pick some produce. I've already decided that next year my garden will take a higher priority, even if it's just a couple of tomato plants! It took going without a garden to realize it's something I enjoy, and it gives me many opportunities to teach Emily. I just need to make sure I've got my ducks in a row next spring!

But for now I've been reflecting back on the past several months, and how the Lord has continued to bless us. One way has been through the produce we've received. Throughout the summer I have canned peaches, peach jam, tomatoes, grape juice (27 quarts), frozen green peppers, and was given every bit of the produce, including fresh green beans. And tonight my in-laws just brought us apples and a pumpkin for Emily! Thank you Mom & Dad Bascom!! With the economy the way it is and grocery prices skyrocketing, it's really been a blessing to receive all this produce. People who usually don't ever contact me, let me know about produce they had.

The fruits of my labor last Thurs. & Friday:

whole wheat bread, diced green peppers, tomatoes, grape juice

Last but not least, I am so blessed to have a wonderful mom who took time out of her very busy schedule to teach me how to do all these things as I was growing up! Thank you, Mom!