Part 1 & 2 - a saga in 2 parts, scheorry...

PART 1

Well - this hardly does it justice - but this was a small part of my parents garage and it needed to be fixed. You have to know that NO ONE fixes anything at my mom's house - so independent and slightly genetically stubborn. But she trusted Del to come and go through all of dad's old tools and stuff and keep only those things that worked, were not rusted out or dated in the 1950's. Mandy went up to help us out - she's a great help - and horrifically terrified of spiders - of which my parent's garage harbors several venomous delights ranging from 2 inches to 4 inches. The kind that you actually have to listen to the pop of their gigantic bodies and get a towel to wipe off the bottom of your shoe with.... yum. Never the less - no emergency room visits and Mandy survived by lifting up things with caution... Here's our before shot...

...and here would be our after shot. Dad would be happy to know that his garage was in order. We tried to tell him that - but he doesn't even remember that he has a garage, or spiders. One interesting thing we came across was his magic mixtures he would concoct to put into his garden to make mutant vegetables! It was quite a trip down memory lane to see his gifts and talents spread around the garage. Many, many memories lingered there, this garage has them all, and now they are just a little more organized. Anyone need 7,000 assorted nails, nuts and bolt all sorted in jelly jars? Give me a call...

Part 2

We took the Mandachild with us because her hubby Ryan was running in California - He PR'd and came in 8th out of 400 runners - kickin' it well! Anyway she's the child that you can never keep a straight face with - she invented funny. She decided to get up and go out running because Ryan has her training.... to keep up with him, I think he's tired of waiting for her! I don't think the streets of my little hometown was ready for this crazy runner! Just like my town, as she ran down the road, a man went past her on a 4 wheel vehicle, a tractor, and a kid on a unicycle passed her. Yep, you guess it - I lived in a circus tent - and today I brought the clown...

She worked pretty hard, so we decided to feed her. Grandma always has a fire pit ready for the taking and hot dog sticks right by the door. We all stuffed down a couple of dawgs and then washed it down with some Albertson's special soda. (Albertson's closing by the way - sad - Mom won't know how to shop anywhere else...) My hometown is right next to the mountains and it's beautiful and magical there. If you go there - you always find yourself...
Bless Mandy's heart - she's still looking... (:

It was really fun to have her there - we get so little time with her and she was such a hard worker and a delight to be with. Grandma always calls her "My little Barbie" of which Mandy just smiles and says through her teeth - "She always says that mom..." We visited with cousins Erin, Kate, Brandon and Aunt Teri and Uncle Eric. It was hard to leave there and, it was even harder to leave Grandma - we all love her. Del enjoyed the day with his daughter - they laughed and talked all the way there and back in the car. Everyone should have a special needs child. But you can't have ours! Love ya Mandy! (Please press the BYU Law School Voting on their blog)

....seriously folks ... she's not adopted!