Subway, Swinging, Sizzling and Singing

July 4 (Monday)

Happy 4th of July to all our American friends!

Our day started off with dentist appointments for John, myself and my Mom. Next stop was with our chiropractor, Dr. Sean McLeod. He's LDS, and we had a nice visit with him. His office is right next door to our Stake President's law office, so we stopped by there to say "Hi" to President MacLennan, and give him a brief report on our mission thus far.

Aubrey, Addie, and Rhome wanted to work at Subway, so after lunch, I took them to the back of the store so they could have a Subway experience, prepping, baking, and washing dishes.

Rhome, Aubrey, and Addie making cookies.

Panning Bread...

Aubrey prepping ham 

Addie Prepping Steak

Rhome washing dishes

Nothing like team work...

Future Subway Artists

My computer has been acting up for months, so I finally took it into Best Buy and had them check it over. Hope all the bugs are worked out now.

Molly made her fabulous meatballs and spaghetti for dinner, then we watched some of the home videos that Jasmine had consolidated onto a DVD. Such fun memories!


July 5 (Tuesday)

Happy 40th Birthday, Jasmine! As I reflect back 40 years and recall this delicate little baby girl entering our life, it's hard to imagine all the livin' and lovin' that's happened over the past 40 years. The old cliche, "Where has time gone?" is so fitting.

John had an appointment at radiology. We both had appointments with the optometrist. Mom had another appointment with the denturist. Jane left on a flight back to Victoria. We made a quick trip out to Coaldale to pick up Jasmine's birthday cake, by special order request a raspberry cream cake.

We decided to treat all the kids to "Get Air" a trampoline park.  John made chicken fried steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy for all the kids and Poi Poi for supper, one of the kids favorite meals.

With all the kids fed, all the adults went out for dinner at State and Maine to celebrate Jasmines's birthday. Poi Poi was happy to stay home with the kids since she cannot hear any of the conversation in a noisy restaurant.

July 6 (Wednesday)

The week passed by quickly and already it was time for Rylan's family to leave. The kids had a blast with all their cousins. It's so nice that they moved to Idaho from Arizona. I'm sure we'll see them more often.

Before they left, we all had one last family gathering at the cemetery to pay our respects to Gung Gung (grandpa, my Dad). He's been gone for 26 years already and we all still miss him so much, especially during family gatherings. Also paid our respects to other relatives and friends who have passed on.

My Dad's Gravestone

Melisa had one request from John before her and Sherry leave tomorrow. She wanted some sizzling go ba, Panda's famous dish, stir fry over deep fried rice...sizzle, crackle, and pop! Mmmm good! We rushed off after making the sizzling go ba since we had a party to attend with our empty nester friends and others.

July 7 (Thursday)

Happy Birthday, Cardiff! Taco in a bag for dinner, the first time I have ever experienced this. Again, a special order cake from Coaldale Bakery. Unfortunately, they spelled his name wrong. We all had a good laugh. I don't think Cardiff was too impressed, but he took it in good spirit.

Are you kidding me? CARDIFF!

The appointments continued as John and I had massage appointments. Mom had another appointment to adjust her dentures and we stopped by the audiologist to see if her hearing aids could be adjusted.


July 8 (Friday)

When the Goodman family came last week, Mike just drove them here, then he had to leave the next day. He was just put in as the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric and they were going to sustain him and set him apart that weekend. So the family stayed here and he returned today to pick them up and drive back on Saturday.

Jongee and Diana had gone down to Idaho to go hiking. Jongee has a goal of hiking the tallest trail in each of the 50 states. Completing Idaho checks off his 44th state! They returned today.

It was another beautiful day and we decided to clean the yard. Since Hannah and Mitch have put an offer on a house, so she will not be living in our house any more. I do miss my house and yard, especially during the summer.

We had everyone over for dinner, BBQ salmon and ribs. The girls all wanted to go to Ardene's since they had a clearance sale of 70% off! When we got back, Bari was there. He's become a permanent fixture these past couple weeks. He is a friend of Emmy and Azia from school. The kids love him and have adopted him as "Uncle Bari".

Said our good-byes to Goodman's since they were leaving first thing in the morning. Things are winding down.


July 9 (Saturday)

We took Mom, Jongee and Diana out to lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant before they caught their flight back to Toronto. All the company is gone.

Subway sandwiches for Jongee & Diana for their long trip back to Toronto.

We took a little drive to look around some of the newer subdivisions on the south end of town. Our kids had suggested we move into that area. However, after looking around, I think we'll just stay where we are. Our house is small, but I'm feeling so comfortable in it and I love our neighborhood.

Time to clean house. Went to visit my good friend Rita Berlando. I sure miss this lovely lady.


July 10 (Sunday)

We attended Sacrament meeting in our home ward. Later in the afternoon, we went to visit Aunt Helen. She is looking very frail, but is keeping a positive attitude. She was thrilled when she received news that Uncle Jack (her husband) was being honoured on the wall of fame in the Army Museum.

Jasmine prepared our traditional roast beef dinner. This will probably be the last roast beef we will have until we return in November. The sister missionaries (sorry, I can't remember names) were also there for dinner, then they had a ukulele jam session.

Sunday Sing-a-long with the famous Wayne Burton.

Ukulele jam session - Azia, Sister Missionaries, Emmy

End of another week. 5 weeks gone. Only 1 week left out of our 6 week break. Mixed emotions, leaving home again, but anxious to see my sisters of Pen 3 and all our senior missionary friends.