Our Two Days in Puerto Penasco

This is the first time I have used my iPad to post on this blog, which is why I haven't posted in almost a year. I find it very difficult dealing with the ever changing technology that surrounds me, and instead of being excited about new ways to do things, I am intimidated. But, I am trying this tonight and we'll see how it goes. Last week, Alan and I were invited by some of his flying buds to go to Puerto Penasco, Mexico with them and their wives. These two couples are from Ashton, and Alan and I have known them for a long time. Sam and Stacy Wynn own the furniture and carpet store in town and they are five to six years younger than us. The other couple, Travis and Sabra Hess are much younger and very kind to be willing to spend a few days with people who could be their parents.
We started out about 9:00 a.m. from Mesa, in a minivan they had rented big enough for all of us. We drove down to Maricopa and then continued down toward the U.S./Mexico border. Of course it was really dry and there was a lot of cactus and rocks for scenery.



It is approximately a four hour drive to Puerto Penasco, or what the Arizonans call Rocky Point. It is very easy to get into Mexico, they want all the tourists they can get. Tourism is what drives the economy of this little place. However, as we came into the city, our friends, the Wynns, were surprised to see how deserted and abandoned the place was. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but I do know that our government issued a travel advisory warning U.S. citizens about the dangers of going into Mexico some time in the last ten years. Previously the Wynns had come down occasionally and found the place to be hopping and booming with tourists. This time it felt like we were some of the few tourists in town.

We shopped for some Mexican stuff. You know, T-shirts, bracelets, cactus things, ponchos, etc. we ate the most amazing Mexican seafood tacos and burritos, and ceviche, and drank fresh squeezed lemonade. I think it was probably limeade, but whatever. We drove around the town, outside the tourist areas which was run down, abandoned, and sad looking, with buildings half torn down, or half built and not finished. It looked like the rug had been yanked out from under their economy because there are so few tourists willing to risk venturing across the border. In my mind I had been picturing this lush little seaside city, with green palm trees, red bougainvillea, thatched roofs, adobe walls with vines and hibiscus and lots of mariachi music. Well, it didn't quite lI've up to my expectations. They just don't have the kind of money it takes to keep up those appearances. Luckily, the economy has nothing to do with the fishing and shrimping. This little port had it all going on when it came to seafood. Wow, and amazing! But i will say this, when we ate in the restaurants, I felt like the atmosphere was mostly on par with Ethiopian restaurants.

Our hotel, Penasco del Sol, was great. Alan's and my room was very yellow. It made us look yellow, but it was clean and comfortable. I wasn't afraid to climb in bed for fear of finding dirty sheets or vermin. The pool and outside area was beautiful.


We saw that the tide had gone out so Alan and I walked down to the beach in the dark. The beach was such a long shallow beach that when the tide goes out it goes out very far. We couldn't walk out as far as the water because it rushed away so fast and so far. I could tell there were a lot of sea shells on the beach, but because it was dark we had a hard time seeing them. The next morning we all walked out on the beach and Sabra and I were gathering sea shells left and right.

We had decided the day before that we would go fishing out in the ocean. I thought I would be ok to go because I have finally mastered not getting sick when flying in the plane with Alan.


The ride out to where we would fish was great, but as soon as we stopped and the boat started rocking side to side, I knew it was going to be a long four hours for me. Everyone started fishing except me; I was trying to keep my eyes on the shore and not think about how sick my stomach was. Alan found some anti-nausea medicine in my purse and I took that, but about three minutes later I lost it over the side of the boat. I thought I would be ok then, but about 20 minutes later I again started wretching, and had to throw up again. I felt so gross and weak after that that everyone was alright with going back in to the shore. It really wasn't so bad for everyone else because the fish weren't biting anyway. And now we know why I refuse to go on a cruise and Alan will never ask me to go fishing out on the ocean again after this experience. It just wasn't fun.
When we got back to the shore we waited for my stomach to calm down and then we ate lunch. We ordered a huge seafood platter with huge shrimp, flounder, some other fish I didn't know, rice, salad and vegetables and muchos tortillas. And lots of lemonade. It was perfect to sit al fresco in the sunshine and know my feet were on dry land.

We then started our four hour drive back to the U.S. It was fun for Alan and I to get out of our comfort zone again. We had a good time with the Wynns and Hesses. It's always good to get to know people better and become better friends. We were pleasantly surprised when later that night Stacy Wynn admitted that she had not been very excited about inviting us along, but she was pleasantly surprised that both Alan and I were good adventurous people and pretty fun to be wit too. She thought we were reserved and quiet, but they soon found out we're just a barrel of laughs.
Well, I'm sorry, I haven't yet been able to figure out how to get the pictures to go with my stories. You'll see fishing pictures, things we bought beach pictures and hotel pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Funeral Potatoes and Cankles

I'm glad to see new posts from Tenny and Whitney today.  I have been thinking I would try and get some blogging done so here I am. 
We're enjoying unseasonably warm weather this past month or so, I know most everyone is.  Yesterday and the day before we had record highs for this part of Idaho.  Eighties!  That's nice and warm for April.  It has been a long long time since we planted our crops on April, but when the weather says "plant", we plant.  Alan has already moved up to Squirrel yesterday doing George's place and are working the ground up at Highland next.  Everything is planted here on the homeplace.  The willow trees in my front yard are starting to leaf out and so are the lilacs.  I mowed the grass today - it was overdue for a mowing, but Alan didn't get the lawn mower started until today.  Something about batteries and spark plugs and the cold winter.  Yeah, I know how that lawn mower feels.  So we are just suddenly doing May things in April and that's OK with me.
Alan and I spend a lot of time with Leah and Lily.  You never know what those two will say if you get in a good conversation with them.  A couple of weeks ago, Alan, Lily and I went over to Howe, Idaho so Alan could finish up some custom planting and so we could bring the trailer and tractor back to Ashton.  Leah couldn't go because she had preschool the next morning.  In the trailer, Lily was bouncing off the walls because she got to have a sleepover in the trailer with grandma and grandpa.  She is such a precocious child.  She loves Alan and has him wound tight around her little finger.  All she had to do is smile and he will give in to most any of her suggestions.  During the night she started whimpering and woke Alan up.  She wouldn't settle down and so he brought her into our bed so she could feel safe.  The next morning, Alan was gone by 6:00 am.  When Lily woke up, I asked her  if she had a bad dream and what it was about.  She said she was hiding from a shark and that it was trying to bite her.  I think that would upset me too.  While we had breakfast, we talked about the baby brother they were going to have.  I asked her what his name was going to be and she said, "Wusso Wamanite!"  For those of you don't know Lily talk, that means Russell Ramanite. His name is really going to be Russell Raymond, but Lily has related Raymond to Lamanite because of all the Bof M scripture reading going on at their house.  So cute! Lily and I got going by about 11:00 a.m. and brought the trailer home and that night Alan got home with the tractor and air drill. 
Leah is not as  consumed with Grandpa as Lily is.  She is an all-around good girl, but seems to have some worry issues.  She's very sensitive.  She rides her bicycle all around the farm, she even stands up and pumps and moves pretty fast.  On Lily's birthday when it was time for the cake and ice cream, Leah shouted, "We're going to have ice cream with our cake, it is our favorite ice cream, it's called Bunny Traps!".  Alan and I cracked up.  Morgan thinks it's funny that Leah calls it Bunny Traps so she won't correct her and tell her it is Bunny Tracks.
  They're getting so big now that Morgan and I can trust them to come and go between our houses.  However, we must be notified that they are coming so we can look out for them.  Yesterday, unbeknownst to me, Leah came over with a note for me from Morgan about borrowing a book, but I didn't hear the doorbell or the knock so Leah went home without getting into the house and was pretty upset, I guess.  Oooops!  Grandma was napping. Today, Morgan sent Lily over by herself and called me to tell me she was at the back door.  I opened the door up and there she was all cute and smiley. 

 Last week we had a funeral in our ward.  I was asked to bring a funeral potato casserole and so was Morgan.  Alan and I went to the funeral while I had the potatoes cooking in the oven.  After the funeral we hurried home so that I could get the potatoes and return back to the church. Before I went into the house I opened the trunk of my car so I could easily put the casserole in and be on my way.  As I walked into the house I smelled the potatoes cooking and I pulled them out of the oven.  Alan ran upstairs to change into his work clothes.  The potatoes were heavy and I could hear them bubbling as I walked outside with them to the car.  I was just looking around thinking to myself what a beautiful day it was and how green things were getting when CRUNCH and POP and excruciating pain in my ankle, and lurching and stumbling, and literally hanging on to the casserole to keep it from skidding into a big sour cream cheesy mess all over the driveway, all as I was wondering what the heck? and trying not to put any weight on my left foot. Miraculously, and probably because the guardian angel of funeral potatoes was watching my contortions, the potatoes were juggled and then saved about two feet from the ground.  As I got control of my movements and turned back to the car trunk, which I had lurched past, I was starting to black out.  I got the potatoes in the car, shut the trunk and then laid myself down on it.  The pain was so intense I started to black out.  That horrible nauseous feeling was overwhelming me and I thought I was going to fall over so I limped to the car door and as I did I looked and saw a pretty big sized pebble and thought to myself that I had probably set my high heel right down on that blasted thing.  I got in the car, and then I thought, "I can't drive anywhere!  I can't use my leg and I might faint right here."  So I got out of the car and hobbled over to the fence and just about fainted again. I held onto the end of the fence trying to get my eyesight to clear up.  When it did, I hobbled to the house and called for Alan.  The problem was, I was so sick to my stomach, I could hardly make any sound come out of my mouth.  Then I went the rest of the way and into the house.  I worked my way to the bottom of the stairs and laid down on them.  I called for Alan a few more times with no response.  All this time, I was close to fainting.  I had to crawl up the stairs calling for Alan and finally he heard me.  He came running and got me in onto the couch where I proceeded to pull off as many clothes as I could.  For some reason, my clothes were adding to my discomfort and I had to get them off.  So then we got me in onto our bed where I rolled around and writhed in agony.  I really did.  It was the worst pain I had felt in a couple of decades, all centered in my left ankle.  I told Alan he would have to take the potatoes to the church so he left, but luckily he met Morgan outside and told her what had happened so she took the potatoes to the church for me.  Alan came back in to tell me and comfort me.  For several minutes he ran around the house, getting me an ice pack, a cold wet cloth and pillows for propping up my leg, and I cried and rolled around on the bed.  Then he asked if I wanted a blessing.  I said yes, please.  Although I wasn't sick, I certainly was afflicted.  I asked that he would just bless me that the pain would lessen and then I could bear it.  So he got the oil and then anointed and blessed me.  After the blessing he got me a couple of Ibuprofen and I just laid there and cried.  Then to top it off, I started to get the sparkly aura in my eyesight, a sure sign of an upcoming migraine.  I hobbled into the bathroom, took a couple more ibuprofen, and then hobbled back to the bedroom and flopped over on my bed.  I laid there for about 10 more minutes, and then suddenly my ankle stopped hurting like a son of a gun and I could calm down.  I turned over to my side and gratefully thanked Heavenly Father for blessing me so fast and taking away the pain in my ankle.  I saw my iPad and turned on some beautiful soft music and let the medicine dull the pain of my headache.  And then I slept - for two hours.  When I awoke, Morgan and the girls were there and so was the dull ache of the migraine and so was a large cankle.

 ( For those of you unfamiliar with the term this is from the Urban Dictionary:   n. 1) An aesthetically unfortunate physiological condition which leaves its victims with no discernable narrowing of the ankle between the calf and the foot. 2) An ankle which has no discernable narrowing from the calf to the foot worsened by weight gain and improved in appearance only by boots.
  History: The word is derived a combination of the words calf and ankle. Victims of this condition are advised to avoid the following: ankle boots, ankle-strap shoes, anklets, ankle socks, ankle tattoos, high-top shoes, and any other footwear or legwear that might draw attention to the cankle region.Used in a sentence: If I didn't have cankles, I might be able to wear those Prada loafers with my capri pants.)

 This is the third time in the last thirty years I have severly rolled my ankle so that it results in a cankle.  Alan keeps telling me to be careful, to not walk on uneven ground, encouraging me to use an ace bandage, keep it elevated, etc.  Today, Lily and I went outside to help Alan pick up sticks off the lawn so that I could mow, but before I got  very far into it, I stepped off the cement in back into a hidden hole and rolled same ankle yet one more time.  The pain was not as severe, probably because I just went down with it.  I wasn't trying to save funeral potatoes this time.  Anyway, both Lily and Alan had to deal with me this time.  Lily kept saying, It's ok grandma.  It's ok.  Grandma, you ok?  Alan helped me hobble into the sunroom and then he cleaned up the rest of the lawn by himself.  I'm pretty worthless sometimes. As of now, I haven't dared look at my ankle area, for fear I will see an even larger and offensive cankle.

 Hoping it will get better soon so I can fit my ankle into my summer sandals before August.   

First Week of December 2011

     Two days after we came home from Salt Lake, Alan and I headed to Coeur d'Alene Idaho for the yearly Idaho State Farm Bureau meetings.  We got there on Monday just as it was getting dark.  In Northern Idaho it gets dark really early.  Four thirty early.  We were staying at the Coeur d'Alene resort which was right on the lake.  We had a beautiful view from our room but had failed to bring our camera.  Alan took these pictures with his cell phone right after we got to our room. This was the view from our room.  It really was beautiful. 

 There was this large boat dock that went out from the resort hotel.  On the dock they had put up a lot of Christmas lights which came on shortly after we arrived.  So pretty.

 The resort is also the sight of the world's longest floating boardwalk.  The pictures below were taken one day when we decided to take a walk on it.  Looking back across the boat docks to the hotel.

                               

                                   Here you can see about one third of the floating boardwalk.

                                              

                                                 Looking back where we came from.

 Then we got off the boardwallk and hiked up and around this large hill.  It was beautiful.  The weather was pretty good and the water was smooth as glass.  While we were hiking, we saw a water plane take off from the resort. 

 On December 1 we said good bye to Coeur d'Alene and got home to Ashton that night.  Zack had put up the Christmas tree and half the lights were on.  I decided I would have to tackle the whole Christmas tgree project the next day. 

This week I'm trying to get a little Christmas cheer here in Ashton, but since we don't have much snow, it just doesn't feel like the Chistmas Season yet.  Our outside lights are all up, our tree has been decorated for a week, I've made gingerbread cookies and a little gingerbread house, I shopped all day yesterday and limped out of the mall at 6:30 p.m. last night.  You would think that the snow shouldn't matter so much, but it does.  I look out my kitchen window and I see patches of grass and gravel with just a skiff of snow.  We're wondering who has all our snow!
Today Leah and Lily got to come over and spend time with me because their mom and dad needed them to be out of the house (something about wrapping presents and Santa projects).  So I watched for them out my window and soon they came running through the little bit of snow between their house and mine.  Lily had to stop a couple of times to make snow angels.  She sure is funny.  Leah kept waiting for Lily and so they got pretty cold before they got to my house.  They were all bundled up with those cute little blue and white hats that Lizzy knitted for them, pink gloves,boots and scarves.  They made it without any frostbite (it's been below zero here a couple of nights).  We read some books first and they played with the nativity puzzle, and then after a snack of pears and gingerbread cookies, Lily wrapped herself up in my Christmas blanket and fell asleep staring at the Christmas tree and sucking on her arm.
Leah and I got out my Christmas sucker molds and started to make Christmas suckers. As the syrup was bubbling away I looked up in my cupboard for red food coloring (we were doing Santas, poinsettias, and candy canes) and found No Red Food Coloring!  I found several bottles of yellow, blue and green, but no red.  So I poured in some yellow and told Leah we would have to go to the store before we could make more suckers.  I needed to go to town anyway to make a hair appointment and to buy vodka to make vanilla extract.  We poured  amaretto flavoring in the yellow syrup and then poured the syrup into the molds and then we got our coats on and hustled out into the cold.  As we were driving into town Leah asked me if we were going to the grocery store and I said yes, but we had to go to the liquor store first and then we would go to the grocery store.  I didn't feel like I had to explain the liquor store to Leah.  When we got into town I stopped in front of the liquor store, a place I have not been into for years, because the owner started selling liquor in his video rental store.  So Leah and I went in and I asked for cheap vodka, a fifth of cheap Brandy and some R-rated videos cause I was going on a bender.  I just threw in that part about the R rated videos for your enjoyment.   However, I did get Brandy for my Christmas pudding I made on Tuesday.  I paid and the owner and he put my bottles of spirits into a brown paper bag and we left.  I had to pause at the door and see if anyone was coming down the street or on the sidewalks who would see me coming out of the liquor store with a brown paper bag.  Luckily I saw no one and so Leah and I hurried out and jumped in the pick-up and were on our way to the grocery store.  I purchased the red food coloring and then we were once again out in the pick-up and on our way home.  We got out of town and were driving through Marysville when Leah asked in a sweet little voice, "Grandma are we going home?"   I said, "Yes, we're going home to my house. Is that OK?"  And she said, "But Grandma, you didn't go to the Licorice store, you didn't get any licorice."   I just laughed at how cute she was.  All that time in her little head she thought she was going to get to go to the licorice store.  What a sweetie-pie. 
I told her that we had gone to the liquor store and bought some bottles of stuff to make yummy vanilla extract and that we were going home to finish the suckers. It was all good.
Morgan was at my house when we got home.  I made three more batches of suckers.  So I have red amaretto flavored suckers, yellow pina colada and butter rum suckers, green licorice and mint suckers and some dark orange suckers that are cherry flavored.

  As I was making the last batch of suckers, which was the green mint and licorice flavored suckers, I was also simmering broccoli for some soup.  As we poured in the mint and licorice flavoring it got very stinky in my kitchen.  All I can say is the combination of mint, broccoli, and licorice burned my throat and made Leah start to gag.  However, the suckers by themselves, taste great.  They are lovely to look at and I think they will be fun to eat and share with others.  Leah had three suckers before she went and was planning on taking quite a few home with her before her mother told her the suckers had to stay at my house. 
I said that I made a Christmas pudding.  Yes, I did!   I bought a pudding mold when I was in SLC at Thanksgiving time.   I had got eight persimmons in my bountiful basket on Saturday so I looked up recipes for persimmons and behold, there was a steamed pudding recipe.   I made it on Tuesday and I had a fun time doing it.  I had to simmer the pudding in a pot on a rack for three hours.  It came out perfect and Alan took pictures of it.

  I bought the cheap Brandy to put a little on top of it and light it on fire.  I made some delicious sauce to pour over the pudding and Alan and Zack gathered around as I poured on the liquer and lit the match and touched it to the pudding.  And Voila!  Nothing!  I tried it again and Voila, Nothing!

 What?  That pudding wouldn't light for anything.  I think the cheap Brandy doesn't have enough alcohol.  We were all disappointed, what a let down.  There I was being all Mrs.  Bob Cratchett-y, and everything and we didn't get any bang for our buck.  Alan was determined to light it so he went downstairs and got a blowtorch and it still wouldn't light, although he did crisp up the inside parts.  Zack wanted to pour a little lighter fluid on it and see if that would get some fire going.  I was afraid that the lighter fluid would ruin the delicious taste of my pudding so I vetoed that idea.

                                                      In this picture I'm just irritated.

                                             Cheap Brandy does not a good pudding make.

                                 The brown bag that the Brandy and Vodka came home in. 

  We finally settled on just slicing it, spooning the brandy sauce on top and enjoying the very rich, sweet taste of raisins, walnuts, persimmons, and of course, brandy.   My advice is; IF you're going to go to the trouble of being seen buying liquors for your upcoming holiday events, don't go cheap!  Buy the good stuff!  Not only will your puddings taste sensational, when you light them they will flame with good holiday spirit, and you won't go to bed that night with the  faint sweet aroma of cheap brandy on your breath.
 Burp....   Finally, starting to feel a little more cheery. 

Baby, It's cold Outside! (So I'm staying in)

October has been cold, rainy and blustery and sometimes between all that we have had a few clear but cold days.  For the past few weeks, Alan has been working on pulling off our old metal roof and putting on a new one - one that hopefully won't leak.  Ever since we moved into this house, and before that, the roof leaked causing those huge unsightly stains on the ceiling, and ruining furniture from dripping water.  Now, our new roof with the new underlining, will keep our roof and ceiling drip free.
This morning, at 6:45 (Saturday), I picked up my Bountiful Basket that I ordered on Tuesday.  In it I found, two cabbages, one Romaine lettuce, eight pale pink tomatoes, two nice long cucumbers, three pomegranates, eight Gala apples, a large bag of fresh green beans, a quart of strawberries, a pint of mushrooms, an eggplant, two zuchinnis, four avocados, four onions, one garlic, a bunch of basil, a bunch of parsley, and I can't remember anymore.  I appreciate getting nice vegetables this time of year.  However, I could have done without the cabbage, as I have two sitting outside and a half of one in my refrigerator already.  I need to make me some of that delicious coleslaw I made at harvest time.  Everybody kept telling me how good it was.  Yep, I guess I need to do that today.  And I didn't need the onions either.  I have a potato basket full of onions that I cleared out of my garden weeks ago and they won't store very well, so I have to use them fast.  Anyone need any onions?
The past few days I have been in a mood that I get every fall that goes on through December,  I want to make things, it doesn't matter if I'm cooking or sewing,  I just want to do something.creative. So, I gathered most of my soon to be gone roses and brought them inside.  They look like early July roses don't they?  And the white ones are so fragrant they really gave the frontroom a smell of a floral shop.

It was great to see everyone on Tuesday night when they got home from California.   While they had been gone I crocheted this cute little poncho for Leah but when I tried it on Lily I think it fit a little better,  I will make another one for Leah.

The pom poms are so cute, but I didn't make them very well.  Yesterday when Lily came over I saw that she had already removed one from the tie.  She had it in her pocket, I think her mom put it in there to save so I could put it back on.  Later, after her nap I found little pieces of it on the floor upstairs where she had been napping.  She went to  sleep with it in her hand and for some reason decided to pick it a part when she woke up.  If you didn't know already, Lily is a picker.  Darn it, I need to know how mom used to make those hard little pom poms with a fork.  Yes, I said a fork.

On Wednesday this week, Leah and Morgan had Preschool at their house, so Lily got to come over in the morning and be with me for a few hours. I decided to make sugar cookies with her help.  She wasn't very helpful when it came to mixing the dough, but she was great at rolling and cutting out the shapes.  What a little baker!

As you can see, she had dough and flour all the way up to her elbows.  I should have put an apron on her, but I wasn't thinking.  she was very bossy and would push my hand away when i tried to help.  She would say, " No, Gama, my do it!"  She was pretty good, but don't be fooled, I made most of those cookies.  She got a little tired after the cookie cutting process and wandered off to have a nap, and then Leah came with her mom and they helped bake and decorate the cookies.
 Leah also wanted to be in charge of her own space and decorating.  She was determined to squeeze little dots of black, orange and yellow on to her little cookies that she had frosted all by herself.  She did very well with her strong little hands. 

Then Lily woke up and we showed her the newly decorated cookies. 

 We had a lot of fun, and we produced many delightful and tasty halloween cookies.  On Thursday, Morgan brought the girls over to carve their pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns.  I was not involved in the carving; it wears me out.

Instead while they were carving I made hard butterscotch suckers. They aren't as fast as I remember, in fact my suckers took longer than the jack-o-lanterns. But no knives or slimy goop was involved, just sugar, flavoring and a lot of checking the thermometer.

                                                                My finished product!

                                                                 Their finished product!

Tonight Morgan, Andrew and Zack are all going to Rigby to a Halloween party given by Andrew's sister Lisa and her husband Bryan. Zack is going as Indiana Jones and actually has a very good costume.  I'm not sure what Morgan and Andrew are going as.  Our ward Primary program is tomorrow and we are all happily anticipating Leah's first moment at the microphone.  She is to say, "We should all feast upon the words of Jesus Christ."  There was a practice yesterday and Morgan said she did very well, and has the highest sweetest voice of anyone in the primary.  That's because she is the youngest one in the primary.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A HAPPY AND SPOOKY HALLOWEEN!