GREEN VALLEY UPDATE

 Blossoms cover my patio bush as we continue to enjoy  lovely 75-80 spring weather.  Getting about 2 miles per day as some of you know via phone calls
and helping me with my BBC.  Making good progress on my donation projects for three great charities who really appreciate them.  

My neighborhood friends went out for lunch at La Patio (Mexican restaurant) that has good chicken noodle soup for me and delicious yummy looking meals for them.  I gave them bottles of jam for dessert.  Jeri (on left with me) has already returned to Boise area as she is a real gardener and has to get plants started.  She still raises lots of good stuff to eat and can.  Of course she has Jack to do a lot of the work with her.  Will miss them.

Brook drove down to help remove that dead agave in middle of others - quite a prickly job with all the nasty thorns all over them.  He also did other items on my honey do list and then signed me up for Face Book.   And just to clarify to those of you who might have read the first entry, I did not refer to him as my middle brat, that was all his doing as he's been bugging me for years about getting on board.  He left for a month's vacation on Thur ,    --- er I mean TDY to Texas so I'm I got his help before he left.

I've already found a great recipe thanks to the link to a friend of Katie so we'll give it a chance and see if I can learn how to navigate through the Face Book process.

It was fun to watch Ffiona join Taryn and three other Irish dancers when they joined Joanne Madden and her Emmy winner Irish music ensemble on  the program with the famous Tucson Symphony's tribute to Irish music in AZ.  Here's a prize winning photo of our darling 12 year old - love her new dress  thanks to our professional family seamstress.

Holly has a great new look with a classy new haircut and I love it!!  Thanks for sending me a copy dear daughter for my fridge.   Heard it was snowing again in Providence last week, but Grandma Amy told me that Ryan's really doing a great job on the yard already and has felled dad's infamous "Red Bud" tree to the east of house that turned out to be an apple tree instead.   Guerney's make a big mistake when shipping that but we didn't discover it for three years.

Girls and I did our annual trip to the temple in Mesa this weekend.  We stayed in a nice hotel within walking distance to temple and still had to deal with light rail construction mess on Main street when we  went out to dinner Friday night after they swam in pool.  Gorgeous weather and good drive.  Nice time.



FYI to all of you.  If you want to prevent cavities in your teeth (especially you grandchildren) drink tap water which contains fluoride.  Studies have shown that ever since bottled water has become the rage in consuming water, people are getting 33% more cavities due to lack of the protective fluoride.  Stay away from ditch water and standing lakes where animals drink regularly, ha!  No joke, papa had some old stories about his days wit sheep, remember?    That's might good health message for today.

We are thinking of you Brayden!

Get well Brayden.  We love you!  Glad to see you are in such good spirits in the pictures that your dad posted.  Here's to healing!! xoxo Montana Howells

Guess you will be doing a lot more of this for a while.....

And less of this (you were dancing with Grandma Gloria and Aunt Hollysue)

You haven't changed much, have you?

Taryn and Ffiona Danced with Emmy Winners

This weekend Cherish the Ladies was in Tucson to play with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Taryn danced both shows, Ffiona traded off with another girls and did todays show.  Here is the video of both of them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCYRVsRdOs&feature=youtu.be

I think grandma enjoyed the show!! As well as meeting Joanie Madden and some dancers from Hammerstep, Lord of the Dance and current & former world champions

Brayden's Spleen

Brayden was riding his bike off some legit dirt jumps when he crash and landed pretty hard on the turf.  Katie took him to the ER only to find out he had a 6cm tear (significant) in his spleen, and had to be ambulanced down to Children's hospital in Denver by the critical care unit.  His white blood cell count was 4 times what it normally should be and was a flag that something was wrong.

The spleen can fully rupture and one can bleed out internally with serious consequences.  Lucky for Brayden it did not rupture, and he was in bed rest for three days under close observation by the intensive care unit.

On Saturday he was released, but can't go to school for a week or two, and even after that no recess or gym.  He can't do any physical activity (bikes, trampoline, etc) for 5 weeks, and no contact sports for 12 weeks.  

As you know Brayden loves being outside and running and jumping, but will have to be inside with Legos, movies, and video games.  To most kids this sounds awesome but will be torture for him.  Hopefully we find ways to pass the time that he will enjoy.

GREEN VALLEY UPDATE

Taryn did a fabulous job last night in Marana when she competed for the title of Miss Grand Canyon - Teen.  We were all so proud of her, her talent, her poise and great answer to question on stage (and with judges interviews prior to event).  We were all hoping for the crown, but she was close as first runner up winning gifts and a scholarship.  Ffiona did well also winning two raffle prizes.  You girls rock - Good Going!!!

Congrats also goes to Rebecca for winning the top monetary prize n Amy Johnson's Stampin Up monthly promotion.  Thanks to her sister Holly (who wanted to win) alerted her that she was the lucky one this time.  Rebecca makes cards all through the year so we are so happy for her to come out on top of this contest.  Good Going Gal!

Here are a two lattice topped apple pies that Justin made for the family and a friend at work whose standards in deliciousness were sub par. He's always sharing his baked goods with his workmates.  Good Going Guy!

As I discovered during my last three flights, there really is something positive lately about being an "experienced adult".  I'm now able to board planes without all the hastle from before.  No more taking off shoes, jackets, and in Denver there was a separate line for us "special people" with some wrinkles, capped teeth and non threatening terrorist expressions on the face.  I walked right through without a line, Yahoo!  Good Going TSA!!!!!



I think most of you know I've booked a beautiful two home property in LaJolla, San Diego for 6 Jul - 12 Jul for our fun in the sun family reunion this summer.  Plenty of bedrooms for all, amenities on the grassy grounds, hot tubs, games, close to beach and other attractions for those interested.

It's been in the mid 70's - 80-s here and we finally got about .75 inch of rain a week ago that went on for about 10 hours.  We also really needed it.   Still using up all Zella's poly materials making quilts for needy as fast as I can. Just about have most dresses done for an orphanage in Tucson and visiting and baking for friends and neighbors.