I'm still here.

August 2010 Gwendalyn

Well, I just can't seem to keep up with my blog the last few months.
I guess because it's a walking/running blog and I'm not doing my walking/running as much as I use to. (that's probably it - except today I walked 4 miles......:)

Above is a picture I took of our latest grandaughter Gwen. She had a cleft lip, but the surgery in July really changed that.  I'm so glad that she doesn't have to wear the apparatus on her face and the arm restraints anymore.  Her next surgery will be in December.  The Dr. said that she needed more time to heal.  But hopefully, this next surgery will be her last.  They will look at it when she is 5 years old and decide if she needs another surgery.  I'm so glad that they have the technology now to easily fix a child's smile.
I have an uncle that had a cleft lip and was born in the early 50's and he had many, many surgeries for many years.  I've always felt bad about hearing how much he had to go through.

Well, I don't know where to begin in posting about all that has gone on this last month. It's been a busy and fun month. I had the best 51st Birthday.  I went to three lunch parties that week. Two with friends here in Ephrata and one with my parents in Zillah.  I really felt loved and on top of that - my husband gave me the most beautiful flower arrangement and said the sweetest thing ever in a card.  Okay, I guess I'll share it, because I think it's something anyone would appreciate hearing.  It said,   " Everyday I'm thankful for the day that you were born".  wow.....pretty good, huh?!

I also had a great trip to see Staci & Chad's family and then go to Utah BYU Education week for a few days. I loved it. I try to go whenever I can.  I've gone on and off for the last 20 years to it. I have a lot of good memories of going to that and I have lots of notes from all the different classes that I've been to.
Every hour of every day this one week in August - they offer tons of classes.  And the subjects are so diverse.  This year I was into some of the financial classes on Retirement.
 I guess Jay & I need to think of preparing for Retirement.  Yes, we are getting old.  We need to prepare.

I also, took an organizing class and went crazy when I got home with organizing my house.  I'm kind of an OCD type -cleaner person anyways, but I realize that I really love to organize so I'm getting my(our) house into better shape.  Although, it has lead from one thing to another. I'll explain.
We moved the big entertainment system in the living room to another wall and that lead me to clean out everything in that entertainment system and organize it.  Then I decided that all the photo albums need to be in one place (which they weren't) and all the DVD's, CD's and videos need to be organized and it one place.(which they weren't either)..  Well, you can see what I'm saying.  Then I noticed the wall that we took the big mirror off - needed painting. Yep, that's leading to me painting the living room.  And then I decided to put all my piano music (which is a lot) into one place.  So we bought some files for the computer room and I decided to change the whole computer room around.  Oh, you are probably getting bored .....if you are reading this.  I'd better just stop, because you certainly have gotten my point by now.  But to make a long story short........I've just about organized and cleaned every room in our home here.  There's always more to do, but I feel good that I've been able to get a lot done.

Now if I can get back in to my walking/running routine again.  Hopefully, this week!!

Oh! Another reason I was inspired to organize and clean things around here - is that my parents moved to Zillah, Wa. from Toppenish, WA this summer.      I don't know if I've said anything about that.
I was able to go visit them and help with the moving a little bit. They really did clean out and give away a lot of things. They moved into a smaller place, but it is perfect for them and they are closer to my brother and sister that live there.  Which is great.
So it really has been a busy summer.