more photos...fourth posting right now...

It is so fun having I and A......M, Sh, L and D here with us for Christmas this year !!! Thanks..{ it is way fun with a 3 year old and a 9 month old !!}

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Look who came for scones...the elf and reindeer !!!

Jim brought over a gift...we met when Sh .crashed her bike in his driveway YEARS ago !!!

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Scones at grandmas is still a tradition Christmas morning !!

dancing hippo necklace !!

hot wheel racing with L.

Christmas morning

Here we are since 4:55 a.m. when Levi decided it was TIME !!

oops

I was trying to upload the picture I took last night of" I" and "A "at our house...and I lost Picasa...if I knew where it wouldn't be lost...I am so technologically challenged !!! Any way...they are here..My son" I" got up at 4 a.m. yesterday morning and looked online and saw their flight from Vegas to Ontario cancelled...so he re routed them through Chicago into LAX...instead of getting in at 12:40 they got there at about 4:45..but hey, they got here...they left a very long line of people at Dulles trying to change flights but they got the last two tickets to LAX......such smart kids I have !!! Las Vegas airport flew nothing out for a couple of days because they got a goodly amount of snow and couldn't deal with it...Nevada has no snow plows...it never snows there...Life...so tricky !!! Now they are gone somewhere in my car.
For those who know our neighbor Dale K....He is dying of cancer ..It sounds like it is working on closing off his intestines and stomach like happened to dad at the end....he is in the hospital. While on the subject...Duane L.'s mother passed away yesterday. {As in Betty's husband} Other than that.. no problem...have a swell day everyone !!

Hill AFB Museum

During our visit to Utah during the Thanksgiving weekend we visited the Hill AFB Museum. I anticipated seeing some of the planes my father worked on for Douglas Aircraft and Northrop. Unfortunately there was no B-66 Destroyer in their collection. The did have both a T-38 Talon and F-5E Freedom Fighter on display. I was surprised to see an F/A-18 Hornet on display as well since it is a Navy/Marine aircraft. We also found they had penny smashing machines there so we both smashed a penny, and we did one for M of the F-16, which is what her daddy works on.

T-38 Talon (suspended from the ceiling). This trainer aircraft is used by the Air Force to train its pilots. NASA also uses it to train astronauts how to fly.

F-5E Freedom Fighter in Agressor Squadron colors. Known in Vietnam as Skoshi Tiger.

F/A-18 Hornet

My father worked on the propulsion systems of all of these aircraft. He was Senior Engineer for propulsion systems on the YF-17 which became the F/A-18 while working for Northrop.

Thank you J and A for taking us there and for the tour!!

Chino Christmas parade 2008

This is Anastasia and Renee with Don Lugo leadership

I just liked this cool old car

Mike, Gina, Jenna and Gregory

I just liked the cute walking stockings

There's Amy's mom!!

grandma crib

My current favorite framed calendar page.

My favorite Norman Rockwell fabric wallhanging panel.

My new grandma crib I got Saturday at a yardsale for $5.00...[I already had the mattress] it was missing all the hardware of course..but I had all I needed in the garage except for the sliding side's sliding hardware so I just used two L brackets and two existing screw holes to secure the side rail in an up position and put that weaker side to the wall.....nice Simmons crib...even has the model number and date of manufacture on it but I couldn't find any hardware online...but hey..it works !! Oh ya, years ago I got a box of screws ,nuts,bolts,washers, etc..from a friend's neighbor's house that was being evicted and invited her to take anything she wanted. I sorted the screws, nuts, bolts, washers, etc. into old metal lunchboxes that sit on a shelf above my dryer in the garage...they have been EXTREMELY useful over the years and have saved me lots of $$$ !!

christmas decorations

the entry...on the diningroom wall,the dining room window

the fireplace area

the Christmas tree forest on the piano

Hill Airforce base museum

Photos from our fieldtrip to the museum at Hill Airforce base...A, M, J ,and B..

Kitchen wall for Hannah

This is my crazy kitchen wall where I can find all that stuff...thanks to Ikea knife magnetic bars.

Cars eat best

Yesterday was get the car fixed day....the 14 year old Honda I bought a few months ago...with 122 thousand miles on it and a shimmy when you brake[okay, that wasn't happening when I bought it ]........yah, all fixed for 9 hundred something...but I did save a hundred because I helped the owner's wife do a letter and certificate on the computer that they will be sending out ....and he said...take 10% off her bill !!!! this adventure included a major tuneup, new rotors,calipers,brakes and new electric wiring and distributor thingies....merry christmas to me...oh yah.....we ARE having fun now in case you forgot !!! I think they should teach auto mechanics routinely in school...for everyone... instead of some of that other stuff !! My house is decorated for Christmas !! I challange you to get yours done !!

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS......HAPPY DECEMBER EVERYONE !!!...........it is Monday night December 1st.....we just got home from our 5 days of Utah adventures !!! We had a great trip and saw LOTS of relatives...our two eldest sons and youngest daughter and their spouses and children...we all had Thanksgiving together at N and A's home..{This is also where we stayed in the N office suite...}.We saw my brother G and his wife C and T and her 2 children..then their daughter C came home from work..so we saw her too...C is recovering from knee surgery too{Aunt M had her knee replaced...C had her scraped or some such gross thing...inside..}. We went to an open house at my sister R's home for her and G's 30th wedding anniversary...and there saw all their children and spouses and kids...also my mom and Aunt M.. along with my sister H and her husband R who just moved to Utah from Virginia...we saw my cousins Raymond , his wife Michelle and OK and aunt Iris..
We had dinner and played games Sunday with my sister H and R and their 7 children...in their new home...very nice 3 level home with a green belt behind them..and right on the golf course for R !! We took my mom with us...and on the way back we stopped and walked through temple square to see the lights...I liked the conference center lights better this year.
We went up to South Ogden one day and went to the air force museum with our daughter A and her husband J and grand daughter M...There are some HUGE planes in this world !!......we enjoyed being with them in their apartment and on the military base too..
We visited our son S and his wife A and M and J at their house...nice color they painted the living room...a shade of calming green....the kids were not happy campers that day but it was fun trying to win them over. A is skinny like S again !! Good trick 2 kids later !!
I did a lousy job of remembering to take pictures.. You get a boring written blog...oh well...we had a fun time of it all !!

Thanksgiving

We had our first Thanksgiving dinner tonight. We left home bright and early (rather dark and early) and arrived in Orem ta 4:00 pm. It rained until just before we got to Fillmore. Dry after that. We were invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with N & A at A's parent's home. It was good but too many children running around without restraints. Next Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Will not be a Thanksgiving meal critic!

Happy Thanksgiving to family and friends!!!

monday morning

Today we can see the hills again...yesterday the air was just white and you couldn't see much of anything. The Chino Valley school district is closed today..probably because Ayala High School was an evacuation center for 500 last night...Diamond Bar high school was one too, along with the new civic center...remember how my friend Sandy W. was burned out like 10 years ago in Carbon Canyon??? They rebuilt..yah..that whole area burned/and /or was evacuated yesterday again...it will be interesting to see what happened..I heard in Diamond Bar one of the first places that burned was the water pumping station, so there was no water pressure...the air is MUCH better today already. I suspect things are doing better..[plus the news attention has moved to the fires in Sylmar.] Have a SWELL day ya'all

So, things did not go as planned...all mom's kids came in this weekend for a sealing session that didn't happen because mom

was stuck in the hospital . Her dialysis tube was clogged again and they had to put a catheter in her chest to do dialysis now. Sat. night she finally got home and their family was all together...we had a nice dinner of enchiladas, rice and beans....Eddie was at the Winter nationals all day in Pomona..but got back in time for left overs. LIFE...WHAT HAPPENS WHILE YOU MAKE OTHER PLANS .

California's Burning UP!

Saturday, November 15. 60 Freeway westbound. The smoke is rising from the Triangle Complex fire burning Corona-Yorba Linda-Brea. Last night it moved into Chino Hills and by midday Diamond Bar. Air quality is not so good, worse than a smog day. We were on our way to Grandma Grumpy's for dinner. She was back home from her enforced stay at the hospital. It took us two hours from Chino to Pico Rivera because the 91 freeway was closed and the 60 was backed up big time. We took surface streets mostly and they were a little better. The two scooper planes were flying from the reservoir in San Dimas to fight the fires. That is one of them as it was flying over us back to the reservoir for more water.

Where's Waldo ?

The YMYW had a Where's Waldo activity at the shoppes at Chino Hills this evening...11 of us were to be found ...Dampa and I individually...here we are at our best...thanks Ed for the loan of the shirt and the stuffing idea !! Shop owners were worried and Security was activated...our bag lady was detained for questioning and explained the situation..after that, one shopkeeeper was out on the sidewalk and as I walked by.. again.. he said..Waldo ? I said yes..the kids were in groups of 4 with an adult each. They had to find us and ask if we were waldo..and collect a colored card..after about 45 minutes they were given clues..it was fun freaking some of those kids out !![and the bishop ]

would you recognize your father ??
How about that old lady ?

As we were leaving we saw my daughter-in-law's sister Shannon sitting at a table and we stopped to say Hi..she didn't have a clue who we were and why we were talking to her...even after we told her..she still thinks we are wierd, I am sure !! Hey.. it was fun, cheap, thrills !!
See...we sorta have a life !!