December Items Missed

This is little out of order, but Eliza's birthday is in December and here are some pics from the party.


Opening gifts.



We gave her boots and skittles!






Tallene made her Tinkerbells house for her cake.



Just random, here is how I decorated the new window ledge in the bathroom.

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we did Thanksgiving at our house, again, but this year is was with my side of the family (the Turnbows). My mom is getting new floors so it was just easier.

Mike and I did the Turkey, corn bread stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, and vegtables with homemade yummy ranch dip.Then everyone else brought the rest.

My mom and I made pies the night before together. I made 3 pumpkin, 2 chocolate cream, and 2 marionberry.

The day for the most part was relaxing and fun. We all ate too much.

When we were done eating Tallene, my mom, Kimberly and I all pilled in the car and went to Michael's Crafts for there sale. It was a lot busier then we expected.

We then returned home to eat pie (one of each kind) and play games.

Mike and I then went to bed way to late to get up and be at Walmart by 4:30am. I was able to get most of my shopping done on Saturday!

The Food!

And Family!

I got you Nathan.

Halloween 2009

Halloween this year turned out to be a little different. With Grandma Turnbow’s funereal on Friday I ended up not dressing up like usual for work.

On Friday, after the funereal, Tallene and I decided to take to her kids over to EITC for there community trunk or treat and carnival.

Then Mike and I headed over to draw prizes for the Haven House drawing that Mike was the representative for his work. (A non-profit event that he had been selling tickets for.)

We then met up with the rest of my family at my mom’s house to carve pumpkins. Check out our cool pumpkins.





On Saturday, Tallene and I took the kids trick-or-treating.

We stopped at my mom’s house to show of costumes and see Kimberly all dressed up.

Then it was back to my house for dinner and to watch Halloween movies.

It was great seeing and meeting everyone at the funereal. Everything was very nice.

Memories of Grandma Turnbow

Over the last couple of days I have thought a lot about my Grandma Turnbow and all the things we did together.

As a look back, to me, she was the “story book” Grandma. She was the one that whenever we went her house there was home-made cookies in the cookie jar, she loved to sew and garden, and it was where the family always gathered.

I remember when we sold our house on Crowley. We rented a house across from Grandma and Grandpa. I was not happy to move, but enjoyed being able to walk across the street and visit with them. When Tallene and I started school we made sure that we went and showed Grandma our new outfits before headed off to school.

Sundays were always a favorite day for us kids, because it meant that we were able to go visit Grandparents. Sometimes we would call up our cousins first, then convince our parents that we needed to go see Grandma and Grandpa. It usually worked, even if they knew what we were doing.

I have never sewed much but, Grandma taught me much of what I know. One Christmas Grandma gave Michelle Andrus (Clark) and me both the material to make our own doll blanket. She told us that we could each set up time to come over and she would help teach us how to sew the blanket. I still have my favorite doll wrapped up and put away safe in that blanket.

When I was in Young Women’s for one of my goals I decided to help Grandma with her flowers. That summer I shopped to help pick them out, planted them, and then would come over to help her weed them. Times spent with just her and me were always great.

Grandma and Grandpa always came to all of my band concerts throughout Jr. High and High School. To almost all of our Birthday parties and we had the pleasure of getting to see them and show of our Christmas presents. I enjoyed hearing everything about trips they went on and there experiences in life.

I will always remember the large parties at Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving, the 4th of July breakfast, and the Christmas party.

Here is the obituary that was in the paper, I think it was done very well.

Norene Turnbow, 75, of Ammon, died October 23, 2009 at her home. She was under the care of Hospice Alliance.

She was born May 25, 1934 in Park City, UT to Ira and Stella Mae Rees Tree. She moved to Coalville, UT, and graduated from North Summit High School in 1952.

She married Keith Clem Turnbow on August 14, 1952 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They have lived in Ammon for the past 40 years.

She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She was also a member of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.

Norene was a volunteer Pink Lady at the Idaho Falls Hospital for 20 years, as well as a volunteer at the Idaho Falls Surgical Center.

She enjoyed gardening, sewing, quilting, giving readings, and traveling to visit children and grandchildren.

Mom always had a smile on her face and a kind word for everyone. She set an example of giving, service and faith for her family and friends.

Norene is survived by her husband Keith Turnbow of Ammon; daughter, Dana Andrus of Peoria, Arizona; son, Gordon Turnbow (Shelley) of Idaho Falls; daughter, Lorraine Glade (Bruce) of Minneapolis, MN; son, Wayne Turnbow (Marilyn) of Centennial, CO; son, Floyd Turnbow (Liz) of Teton, ID; daughter, Susan Howard (Bill) of Tooele, UT; son, Roger Turnbow (Frankie) of Hickory, NC; son, Brian Turnbow (Angela) of Salt Lake City, UT; daughter, Maria Webster (Ray) of Idaho Falls, ID; 29 grandchildren, and 41 great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her son Paul Keith Turnbow.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, October 30, 2009, at the Ammon LDS 10th Ward Chapel 4375 E. Sunnyside Rd with Bishop David Hurst officiating. The family will receive friends from 6-8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 29, 2009 at Coltrin Mortuary, 2100 First St. Idaho Falls, and one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will take place in the Ammon Cemetery, in Ammon, Idaho. Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.coltrinmortuary.com

I was asked once to write down someone I looked up to, my response was my Grandma Turnbow. Even in the last few years of her life, when she was diagnosed with cancer, she never had a bad thing to say. She was strong, loving, and lived life to the fullest.

I will not soon forget the last time I spent with just Grandma and me. On October 13th Tallene and I met at Grandma’s house to dig up the bulbs that we had marked earlier in the year. By the time I arrived, Tallene who forgot what time I was off work, was already done and heading out. I got my flowers from her, went to find Grandpa, and then we headed in the house. I was able to visit with Grandma for about an hour before I had to leave. It was nice to just sit and talk about varies things that were happening.

Grandma Turnbow I Love You and will miss you, but know that I will see you again someday. So I will not say good-bye, just see you soon.

ShineDown and more Concert

On Thursday, September 24th, Krystal and I went to the ShineDown Concert.

In July it was announced that ShineDown would be coming to Blackfoot at the El Rey Event Center. I asked Krystal if she would be interested in going and left it at that. Then I surprised her and gave tickets for us to go on her birthday, Sept 9th.

Along with ShineDown was CAVO, Sick Puppies, and Adelitas Way.

We arrived at the show and both bought a ShineDown t-shirt. Then we went to find a place to stand. The El Rey is standing room only with the stage at one end and the rest open. We were only about 4 rows back and could see great.





The first band was Adelitas Way. I had heard on the radio show Hard Drive with Lou Brutus that they were touring with ShineDown, but nothing was announced so I was not expecting them. They were good and the lead singer Rick DeJesus was not bad to look at either! Their song on the radio is "Invincible" from the self titled album.











Adelitas Way Band members
Rick DeJesus - lead vocals
Chris Iorio - lead guitar
Keith Wallen - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Derek Johnston - bass guitar
Trevor "Tre" Stafford - drums, percussion


The second band was CAVO. Their song "Champagne" and "Let It Go" have been on the radio for a while. I bought the cd before we went and recommend it.














CAVO Band Members:
Chris Hobbs - guitar, backing vocals
Chad La Roy - drums
Brian Smith - bass, backing vocals
Casey Walker - lead vocals



The third band was Sick Puppies. I had heard a few songs before we went. They are a little harder band not my favorite, but still good. During this band some people behind us started really pushing. When I looked back they were just pushing everyone in a circle and it kept pushing us around so I was hard to enjoy the end of the show. After this Krystal and I decided it would better to get out and go farther back so we good enjoy the show.

Sick Puppies Band Members

Shimon Moore - lead vocals, guitar
Emma Anzai - bass, backing vocals
Mark Goodwin - drums

Then SHINEDOWN came on. Their show was awesome!! I had seen them once before at the fair, after that I bought their CD at the time. When their new CD came out I couldn't wait and was excited to see live songs from both. We were not disappointed. The whole show was high energy and I knew all the songs that were played.

Brent reminded me of Ozzy here.

Shinedown Band Members
Brent Smith – vocals (2001 - present)
Zach Myers - guitar (2005 - present)
Barry Kerch - drums (2001 - present)
Eric Bass - bass (2008 - present)

After the show Krystal and I were able to meet and take pics of the opening bands. Check out all my pics on my facebook page.

A Day in Sun and Caves

This last Saturday, Aug 22, Tallene, Mac, their three kids Taylor, Eliza, and Bobby, Krystal, Mike, and I all went to EBR-1 and Craters of the Moon.

We met at Tallene’s house and then drove out to EBR-1. When we arrived we took the guided tour and learned how a Nuclear Reactor is built and what it looks like. A fun fact was that in 1951 the first electricity generated at EBR-I illuminated four light bulbs. Here is a quote from the pamphlet, “On Dec. 20, 1951, EBR-I became the first power plant to produce usable electricity using atomic energy. After that day until decommissioning in 1964, EBR-I generated enough electricity to supply all the power for its own building whenever the reactor operated.”





We then headed to Craters of the Moon to explore. Our first stop was the visitor’s center to get a map and find out how the kids could be Junior Explorers. They were each given a booklet where they had to complete different activities. At this time they were doing a special space explorer program. Our first stop was this large hill that we climbed, “Inferno Cone.” We all started out fine but, by about half way up we were all struggling to get up. The view from up top was nice.


View of the "Spatter Cones" from "Inferno Cone"


Then we headed down and thought we would get a little break before the next stop. It turned out to be about a 2 min car ride. We walked to the “Spatter Cones” where there are two miniature volcanoes that you can look inside.

Then we headed to the caves area. At 1pm there was going to be a guided hike of the caves, so we thought we would see what that was about. The guided tour took us to the easiest cave “Indian Tunnel.” The guide stopped along the trail and gave us some interesting facts and information about the lava, animal, and plant life.





“Indian Tunnel” is the easiest because there was only a short walk where a flash light was needed and it was tall so we didn’t need to duck. After the tour was done we continued to “Beauty Cave.” It was the farthest away but, we were told the next easiest for kids. This cave was a lot smaller and much darker. We then decided to try “Boy Scout Cave” on the way out. This cave was definitely harder but, a lot more fun. It was dark and there was still ice in the cave. When we were the only ones in there we turned off all our lights and boy was it dark. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.





Inside the caves.










Junior Space Rangers (Bobby was asleep).


We then headed to the car to go home. Just outside of IF we stopped by “17 Mile Cave.” When we got close to the cave it smelled smoky. We came across some cold fire pits in the cave but, the further we went the smokier it became. We then decided it was better to leave.

We all headed home to get pizza and end the night with a movie at our house. A fun day to end the summer. Oh, by the way, it was over 95 degrees in the sun and we did a lot of walking. The caves were nice and cool.

August Adventures

So, after the "unfortunate event" Mike and I took a week and a half off to re-group.

First on August 6th, Mike's step dad (Gary)and his mom asked us to go to Island Park to gather wood and ride 4-wheelers at his daughters cabin. On the way up to stopped in Ashton to have brunch. Everyone but me had lunch, I had breakfast.

We arrived at the cabin, walked around and then went for a 4-wheeler ride. We were going to go up to saw tooth, but it looked like we were going to get rained on and decided we better get the wood cut first. Just as we finished it rained and we went inside to relax for a bit. Then headed home.

Enjoy the pics of us playing and working!

Playing

Working







The next day, Friday, we drove to Bozeman, MT for a friend of Mike's wedding. We had calculated we needed to leave by 12:30 to be there in time. We left about that time but, it took us longer than expected to get up there. There was a lot of construction that kept slowing us down. We arrived just in time for the wedding to start. Is was very pretty, set up against the mountains. Because it took us soo much longer to get there than expected we ended up not staying for the dinner and dancing. Too bad, I never get Michel to dance and was looking forward to it.

On Sunday we drove to Mike's sisters house, Megan, in Tremonton and spent the night. We had purchased a new game for the Wii called "Rayman Raving Rabbids." It is advertised as the only game you play with your butt. We took this with us and had fun playing it on Sunday night and Monday morning.

On Monday, August 10th, we left Megan's house and drove to St. George until Wednesday.

We arrived in St. George at around 4pm and checked into our condo. We then went to dinner at Cracker Barrel. I had my favorite the chicken and dumplings. We then went back to the condo and Mike went swimming while I sat in the hot tub. We then picked out our complimentary movie and headed back to watch it.

Views of the condo

One of the swimming pool areas


I would like to take a quick moment here to let everyone know that Monday August 10th was our anniversary. We have been married for nine years. I would like to let Mike know that I am grateful for all his support, love and friendship. We don't always get along or agree with each other all the time, but we have worked through it all and are still together.

Ok, back to St. George. On Tuesday we decided to find try and find this ghost town called Silver Reef. It was a little of a disappointment. First about the only thing there was a museum with things found there, a few old foundations, the graveyard, and the outside of one mine.

I love that the carts say Gold and Turquoise, not Silver!

Abandoned mine, I think they are trying to restore it.

I then suggested that we try and find the Dairy Queen. Now let me explain a few things if you have never been to St. George. We were at an exit closer to SLC and the exit we were staying at was the last exit closest to Las Vegas. We decided to start at the first exit and drove around hoping to find more restaurants down one road, but as we drove further away from the interstate we came to residential areas. We then saw a sign for I-15 and followed it which took us down to the second exit. We decided to get back on the high way and go back to the exit and try the other direction. It was the same, we went a little ways and then it was all residential. We decided to try the second exit and had the same luck. At this exit we passed a Custard Shop and decided to stop. By this time the only thing we had seen was a Cold Stone at the first exit and had been driving around for about an hour. The custard was very good and not as heavy as ice cream is. We then drove back to the condo and sure enough there was the Dairy Queen. Oh well, tried something new.

On Wednesday we drove back to Megan's house and stopped to go out to pizza with them. We arrived a little early and Scott had a "Star Wars Christmas" video that he had been given my a co-worker. For those who don't know Megan loves star wars. It turned out to be twice as long as we were told and it was mostly about the Wookies and Chubacas family, so not much talking. It was very painful to sit through and everyone agreed.

Christopher at dinner.

On Thursday it was back to work. A nice time off to regroup.