Happy Spring! Can't begin to describe how nice it is to see green and have sunshine and warmth. This winter stunk. Last winter was our first winter in our house and I found it amazingly beautiful. I loved taking pictures and pretending to be snowed in on a few occassions when I didn't want to go to a meeting or practice.
This winter was just plain miseable. But guess what? Its over and we survived just fine.
I have some great pictures of Natalie all ready for her senior prom. You will have to wait til I learn how to post them. It will be soon.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Fun times at the Lowe Lodge.
This was one of the best (and most tiring) weekends of my life. First of all, since our basement flooded due to ice dams on Jan. 7th, our house has been turned upside down. Our entire storage room moved up to the living room as well as Mandy and Natalie moving up to the den.
It has been a long slow recovery process but we finally got walls painted and as of Friday, the carpet got put in!!!!!
I left work early on Friday to pick up David and Lucy from the airport and Michael and aubree had driven up from Rexburg Thursday night. You can see why i was so excited to get the basement in order. I needed a place to put all these people. Dean and I had made plans months ago to get the married kids back home for a weekend of skiing and fun and this was the weekend. Matt Gotfredson, AKA Matt the neighbor and most recently, Matt the Marine, was in town on leave and pitched in to help us get everything moved back to it's proper home in the basement. David, Michael, Matt, Damon and I had every room back in (semi-) order in about 2 hours.
We had a full day of skiing up at Mt. Spokane on Saturday. The weather was miserable because of fog, wind, snow and very cold but despite that, we all had fun snowboarding and skiing. We got home about 5pm and at a dinner of clam chowder. Everyone was really too tired to do much more than watch movies and go to bed.
We all went to church Sunday morning, then went home to have a pork roast spaghetti dinner to celebrate Dean's birhtday while we had everyone together. We had both sets of grandparents join us. Sadly, the weekend had to end when we put David and Lucy on a plane back to Colorado. I guess it wasn't totally sad because we got to keep Michael and Aubs an extra night.
It felt so good having all the kids together. I realize how very blessed I am to have such sweet, strong, loving kids. They have so much fun with each other.
So, that is my most wonderful weekend!!!!
It has been a long slow recovery process but we finally got walls painted and as of Friday, the carpet got put in!!!!!
I left work early on Friday to pick up David and Lucy from the airport and Michael and aubree had driven up from Rexburg Thursday night. You can see why i was so excited to get the basement in order. I needed a place to put all these people. Dean and I had made plans months ago to get the married kids back home for a weekend of skiing and fun and this was the weekend. Matt Gotfredson, AKA Matt the neighbor and most recently, Matt the Marine, was in town on leave and pitched in to help us get everything moved back to it's proper home in the basement. David, Michael, Matt, Damon and I had every room back in (semi-) order in about 2 hours.
We had a full day of skiing up at Mt. Spokane on Saturday. The weather was miserable because of fog, wind, snow and very cold but despite that, we all had fun snowboarding and skiing. We got home about 5pm and at a dinner of clam chowder. Everyone was really too tired to do much more than watch movies and go to bed.
We all went to church Sunday morning, then went home to have a pork roast spaghetti dinner to celebrate Dean's birhtday while we had everyone together. We had both sets of grandparents join us. Sadly, the weekend had to end when we put David and Lucy on a plane back to Colorado. I guess it wasn't totally sad because we got to keep Michael and Aubs an extra night.
It felt so good having all the kids together. I realize how very blessed I am to have such sweet, strong, loving kids. They have so much fun with each other.
So, that is my most wonderful weekend!!!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
HELLO, I'M HERE!
I have not been a blogger for so long. It was when I was with Betsie before her girls came that she set me up. I only blogged once after I left her. Then I simply forgot passwords. But I have been reading other family members blogs and I love them so much. It really is a great way to feel part of all the lives of sisters, brothers, niece and nephews lives and all the cute babies!
I will catch everyone up a bit.
Last time I wrote, we had just gotten David home from his mission. He wasted no time in pursuit of his long time sweetheart Lucy Giblette. Lucy didn't put up much resistance. We were pleased to attend their wedding September 6th and the recepton at our home. I had my wonderful sisters and nieces all here and they just jumped in and took charg of the food. It was a beautiful event and we are so happy to add another daughter to the family.
Michael and Aubree lived with us for about 10 months and just moved to Rexburg to attend BYUI. Our house just seems sad adn empyt without them. David and Lucy moved to Elizabeth, Colorado to be with her family until they also will move to Rexburg to attend BYUI in June.
Natalie is still attending EWU full time instead of attending East Valley High School. She is doing well and earning both high school and college credits (no cost!). She is applying to attend BYUI as well next fall. Natalie is still working at a day care everyday after school. They love her there and she is considering doing some nannying during the summer.
Mandy is on the verge of turning 17 in a month. She is a junior at East Valley and works at Subway. She is truly a sandwich artist. She likes her job for the most part. She likes the paycheck the best.
Dean and I are always trying to find new products to boost our bussiness. This fall we started installing a new product to Homescapes. It is permanent holiday lighting. You have it installed on your home and leave it up year round to use for any holiday. It is LED lights so it uses very little energy, matches your homes exterior so during the day or when it it off, you don't even know it is there. We had some great success with sales befor Christmas on homes. Now we are consentrating on hitting the commercial market. We have already installed it on Krispy Kreme donut shop and the downtown Cricket wireless store of Matt's. We are doing a second Cricket store this week and are going to hit all the little Espresso stands. Yes, we still sell vacuums and home theater systems.
Now for the latest drama.... Well, as everyone knows, the winter is on overdrive. One snow storm after another. We are constantly just digging out. That is until Thursday when we got lots of warm wind blowing, melting everthing. For two days it was in the upper 40s and even though our house sits up on the hill, the snow and ice on the roof started melting straight into the basement. Not sure if it was ice dams except that as soon as we shoveled all the snow off the roof, it stopped flooding the basment. Thursday, Mandy got home from school and went downstairs to find most of the carpet wet. I ran home to check it out and was immediately calling insurance and flood restoration companies. Apparently, we were just one of thousands in the same boat (so to speak). Finally got someone out at 7:30 pm to start sucking water out. We hauled everything up from the storage room and things that couldn't be put up off the floor. We had good friends come help. The contractors found the food storage cans very usefull to prop couches, beds, dressers and book cases on. We only really lost one 40 pound bag of wheat. We took it out and spread it by the driveway for the wildlife. This morning there were turkey foot prints everywhere by the wheat. Our loss, their gain (or grain). At this point, we have eight huge fans and 3 dehumidifiers running constantly to try and dry out the drywall and concrete. They had to cut and pull out all the carpet and pad. We haven't had an insurance adjuster make it out yet. (they are a bit busy). We are just praying that we are covered. If it came from the ground, we will be denied. If it came from up above, we are covered. Thats, it.
I promise that I wil do better from now on doing the blog and even figure out how to post pictures. I love seeing all the pictures from Betsie, Juli, Arah, and Toni. I love you all so much and miss those of you who are so far away. Happy New Year!!!!
I will catch everyone up a bit.
Last time I wrote, we had just gotten David home from his mission. He wasted no time in pursuit of his long time sweetheart Lucy Giblette. Lucy didn't put up much resistance. We were pleased to attend their wedding September 6th and the recepton at our home. I had my wonderful sisters and nieces all here and they just jumped in and took charg of the food. It was a beautiful event and we are so happy to add another daughter to the family.
Michael and Aubree lived with us for about 10 months and just moved to Rexburg to attend BYUI. Our house just seems sad adn empyt without them. David and Lucy moved to Elizabeth, Colorado to be with her family until they also will move to Rexburg to attend BYUI in June.
Natalie is still attending EWU full time instead of attending East Valley High School. She is doing well and earning both high school and college credits (no cost!). She is applying to attend BYUI as well next fall. Natalie is still working at a day care everyday after school. They love her there and she is considering doing some nannying during the summer.
Mandy is on the verge of turning 17 in a month. She is a junior at East Valley and works at Subway. She is truly a sandwich artist. She likes her job for the most part. She likes the paycheck the best.
Dean and I are always trying to find new products to boost our bussiness. This fall we started installing a new product to Homescapes. It is permanent holiday lighting. You have it installed on your home and leave it up year round to use for any holiday. It is LED lights so it uses very little energy, matches your homes exterior so during the day or when it it off, you don't even know it is there. We had some great success with sales befor Christmas on homes. Now we are consentrating on hitting the commercial market. We have already installed it on Krispy Kreme donut shop and the downtown Cricket wireless store of Matt's. We are doing a second Cricket store this week and are going to hit all the little Espresso stands. Yes, we still sell vacuums and home theater systems.
Now for the latest drama.... Well, as everyone knows, the winter is on overdrive. One snow storm after another. We are constantly just digging out. That is until Thursday when we got lots of warm wind blowing, melting everthing. For two days it was in the upper 40s and even though our house sits up on the hill, the snow and ice on the roof started melting straight into the basement. Not sure if it was ice dams except that as soon as we shoveled all the snow off the roof, it stopped flooding the basment. Thursday, Mandy got home from school and went downstairs to find most of the carpet wet. I ran home to check it out and was immediately calling insurance and flood restoration companies. Apparently, we were just one of thousands in the same boat (so to speak). Finally got someone out at 7:30 pm to start sucking water out. We hauled everything up from the storage room and things that couldn't be put up off the floor. We had good friends come help. The contractors found the food storage cans very usefull to prop couches, beds, dressers and book cases on. We only really lost one 40 pound bag of wheat. We took it out and spread it by the driveway for the wildlife. This morning there were turkey foot prints everywhere by the wheat. Our loss, their gain (or grain). At this point, we have eight huge fans and 3 dehumidifiers running constantly to try and dry out the drywall and concrete. They had to cut and pull out all the carpet and pad. We haven't had an insurance adjuster make it out yet. (they are a bit busy). We are just praying that we are covered. If it came from the ground, we will be denied. If it came from up above, we are covered. Thats, it.
I promise that I wil do better from now on doing the blog and even figure out how to post pictures. I love seeing all the pictures from Betsie, Juli, Arah, and Toni. I love you all so much and miss those of you who are so far away. Happy New Year!!!!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Spring on the farm!
Well, I have been back from Tennessee almost a week. I miss Betsie's boys so much. I am beginning to feel like I have caught up here at work. I had at least 15 repairs waiting for me in the shop and that is only from 5 days. Kathy here at the office did a great job of doing repairs for most of the time. The best part about leaving and coming back home is that everyone said that they missed me and really appreciate me more now. Also, everything turned very green while I was gone. There are no more pockets of snow in the shade of the barn and there are a billion daffodils blooming around the pond. It is breathtaking! Definately a reward for the looooonnngggg cold winter.
I am excited to get the garden all planted this weekend. I started a bunch of seeds in the house about 3 weeks ago and they are ready to go outside. I think I will wait a bit on the tomatoes still. Kind of cold at night. We bought about 10 fruit trees and will get them in this weekend too.
My ultimate goal is to use the 15 acres to be as self sufficient as possible. That means that next year I will maybe get some chickens, maybe a cow or two and who knows what else. Last night I saw two elk up on the ridge. That is really good meat so they better not come on my property if they know what is good for them. I could fill my freezer with pheasant, wild turkeys and dear right now if I wanted. They are everywhere. I am glad my garden has a nice 8' high fence around it.
Mandy and Natalie are counting down the days to the end of the school year. Mandy is more excited about cousin J coming. Natalie has her job back at the daycare now that she is finished with track.
Michael and Aubree are so much fun to have around. Michael is always doing a "project" on the property. He was out building a jump for his Mt. bike on Monday evening. Dean, David and Michael planted 13 quakies down by the spring below the pond. It will be our own little sacred grove.
David flew to Colorado so he could help Lucy drive back to Spokane for the summer. She has a roommate and an apartment near Valley Hospital. She is at our house most of the time though and we really like her being around. She is very comfortable around us as far as we can see. She hasn't been spooked yet.
Well that is about it for now. Thank heavens for sunshine!!!!!!
I am excited to get the garden all planted this weekend. I started a bunch of seeds in the house about 3 weeks ago and they are ready to go outside. I think I will wait a bit on the tomatoes still. Kind of cold at night. We bought about 10 fruit trees and will get them in this weekend too.
My ultimate goal is to use the 15 acres to be as self sufficient as possible. That means that next year I will maybe get some chickens, maybe a cow or two and who knows what else. Last night I saw two elk up on the ridge. That is really good meat so they better not come on my property if they know what is good for them. I could fill my freezer with pheasant, wild turkeys and dear right now if I wanted. They are everywhere. I am glad my garden has a nice 8' high fence around it.
Mandy and Natalie are counting down the days to the end of the school year. Mandy is more excited about cousin J coming. Natalie has her job back at the daycare now that she is finished with track.
Michael and Aubree are so much fun to have around. Michael is always doing a "project" on the property. He was out building a jump for his Mt. bike on Monday evening. Dean, David and Michael planted 13 quakies down by the spring below the pond. It will be our own little sacred grove.
David flew to Colorado so he could help Lucy drive back to Spokane for the summer. She has a roommate and an apartment near Valley Hospital. She is at our house most of the time though and we really like her being around. She is very comfortable around us as far as we can see. She hasn't been spooked yet.
Well that is about it for now. Thank heavens for sunshine!!!!!!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
It is really me this time!
I know that most of you didn't really believe that I. Lori Lowe started a blog. Well, I am feeling quite guilty because to be honest, I didn't. Betsie has lots of time on her hands and while I was chasing Jadon, smooching Josiah and doing the billions of things she usually does around here, she was writing a blog entry for me. She kept telling me that I needed to do this and keep it up because everyone else has one. (Except Ami...hint hint). I realized that since I no longer have a missionary out in the field, I no longer have a weekly outlet for writing or journaling the events of my life.
So, family and friends, this is really me, writing my blog entry tonight. Betsie is already in bed and because I am still on Spokane time, I thought I would write a few things. I have to say that it has been a totally awesome treat for me to be in Bartlett, Tennesee. I have fallen deeply in love with little Josiah. He lays in my arms and stares deep into my eyes with his enormous blue eyes. He came to me the moment I walked through the door on Tuesday morning and has been my little shadow ever since. Jadon didn't take long to allow me to help him but as of this morning was still calling me 'people' to his mom. He is sweet and smart but is not trusting that his mom is going to be around when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap so he stays very close to her most of the time. When his daddy comes home, there isn't another soul he'd rather be with. I have been able to load the boys up in the stroller every evening since I have come and take them on about a mile loop around the neighborhood. This afternoon there were thunder storms and tornado warnings in the area so I was afraid I wouldn't get the walk. I think Heavenly Father knew that we needed our evening walk and there was about a 40 minute break in the weather so we headed out. What a great walk we had. We blasted through puddles and splashed and laughed. It was the best walk ever. Within minutes of our return home, the sky opened up and poured again. Jadon finally had a real normal birthday with both his parents here. He was very proud of his bulldozer cake he helped me make this morning. We had leftover pound cake and decorations so he created a big catapillar bug. We were both a mess when we finished but what fun it was.
So far Betsie is behaving herself and staying down most of the time. Yesterday she jumped up and hauled Jadon off to his room for time out. I felt like putting her in time out for lifting him. Fortunately, she hasn't had any labor. I really have mixed feelings. I want the babies to stay put until they are completely ready. On the other hand, I am only here until the 10th and I want to meet them so bad. Of course, I will wish for them to make it as long as possible. I know I will meet them some time.
What I have learned being here....... Betsie and Josh are excellent parents. They have a great routine with their children and that gives these little guys such security. They are so good to each other. I know Betsie got a good man in Josh.
I have learned that I am going to be such an awesome grandma. This has been good practice for me and I think I can play in the sandbox with the best of them. (This is not a hint Aubree and Michael) Just stating a fact. I have learned that Tennesee is a nice place. I saw a magnolia tree on my walk. There are birds that sing differently than Spokane birds. People here are very nice and greet you as you walk by. Betsie and Josh have an outstanding ward that has jumped in and provided love and care.
I have also learned some new recipes. Two different soups, and Josh taught me how to make Stromboli. Yum Yum Yum. So, this has already been a great experience for me. I think my family has learned that I am not so neccessary either. They are getting along great without me. So, that is about it. Hope everyone is well and happy. Love, Lori
So, family and friends, this is really me, writing my blog entry tonight. Betsie is already in bed and because I am still on Spokane time, I thought I would write a few things. I have to say that it has been a totally awesome treat for me to be in Bartlett, Tennesee. I have fallen deeply in love with little Josiah. He lays in my arms and stares deep into my eyes with his enormous blue eyes. He came to me the moment I walked through the door on Tuesday morning and has been my little shadow ever since. Jadon didn't take long to allow me to help him but as of this morning was still calling me 'people' to his mom. He is sweet and smart but is not trusting that his mom is going to be around when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap so he stays very close to her most of the time. When his daddy comes home, there isn't another soul he'd rather be with. I have been able to load the boys up in the stroller every evening since I have come and take them on about a mile loop around the neighborhood. This afternoon there were thunder storms and tornado warnings in the area so I was afraid I wouldn't get the walk. I think Heavenly Father knew that we needed our evening walk and there was about a 40 minute break in the weather so we headed out. What a great walk we had. We blasted through puddles and splashed and laughed. It was the best walk ever. Within minutes of our return home, the sky opened up and poured again. Jadon finally had a real normal birthday with both his parents here. He was very proud of his bulldozer cake he helped me make this morning. We had leftover pound cake and decorations so he created a big catapillar bug. We were both a mess when we finished but what fun it was.
So far Betsie is behaving herself and staying down most of the time. Yesterday she jumped up and hauled Jadon off to his room for time out. I felt like putting her in time out for lifting him. Fortunately, she hasn't had any labor. I really have mixed feelings. I want the babies to stay put until they are completely ready. On the other hand, I am only here until the 10th and I want to meet them so bad. Of course, I will wish for them to make it as long as possible. I know I will meet them some time.
What I have learned being here....... Betsie and Josh are excellent parents. They have a great routine with their children and that gives these little guys such security. They are so good to each other. I know Betsie got a good man in Josh.
I have learned that I am going to be such an awesome grandma. This has been good practice for me and I think I can play in the sandbox with the best of them. (This is not a hint Aubree and Michael) Just stating a fact. I have learned that Tennesee is a nice place. I saw a magnolia tree on my walk. There are birds that sing differently than Spokane birds. People here are very nice and greet you as you walk by. Betsie and Josh have an outstanding ward that has jumped in and provided love and care.
I have also learned some new recipes. Two different soups, and Josh taught me how to make Stromboli. Yum Yum Yum. So, this has already been a great experience for me. I think my family has learned that I am not so neccessary either. They are getting along great without me. So, that is about it. Hope everyone is well and happy. Love, Lori
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