Mitchell Family: February 2005

This little guy just wanted to visit the Sacred Grove...

Boy Howdy Did We Have a Fun Time with Grammy and Papa Here in Texas!!!

First, let it be known that Len came out as Chinese Checker Champion of the world! We all had a riot playing games with Grammy and Papa for the last two weeks. The kids learned some new games as did Grammy and Papa.

We watched lots of movies! "We need a plan..." (Tremors), "Vigorous..." (the Mask of Zoro), "YESSSSSS!" (Napolean Dynamite), "The Big Dog!" (US Marshalls). We went out to see The Aviator, a movie about the life of Howard Hughs, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Grammy and Debby were able to go to the Stake Women's Conference. It was a two session, Friday night & Saturday morning, affair. They both came back with great stories, insites and information.

Papa and I put together a nice Valentine's Day Surprise for Mom and Debby. We started about 3 weeks ahead of time, brainstorming, making lists and gathering supplies, etc. We made a CD for Mom with 25 of their favorite songs from 1945 through 1955. We made a CD for Debby with 22 Country love songs on it. We put together 3 bunches of very pretty flowers which have lasted the entire two weeks. We also had heart stenciled hot chocolate mugs for each of them, little "luv ya" teddy bears for each and a large candle with "I love you" stenciled ~100 times all over them. We had a couple of "Texas Sized" Valentine's cards for each (measuring about 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide when opened). And, the day wouldn't be complete w/o chocolate... So, we bought fresh strawberries and very rich dipping chocolate and made hand dipped chocolate strawberries! We had a fun day!

We celebrated Carly's 9th birthday on Wednesday as a family and then again on Saturday with a party (see pic's below) It was a blast. Needless to say, we had to have cake and ice cream for both events!

Talk about getting stuff done!!! My "to do" list was almost totally wiped out (except for the fact that with every project we completed, a new "to do" seemed to make its way onto the list...)

We got the annual pm on the lawn mower done
Got the grass mowed and the yard edged
Grammy was instrumental in moving a large bed of bulbs from one location in the yard to another
Grammy weeded a large flower bed area
We got all the flower beds tilled
Grammy "hand painted" the patio furniture
We swabbed the patio deck
Did some touch up painting on the stairs to the deck
Completed the annual pm on the grill and had our first two cook-outs of the year
We fixed the blow dryer cord
Papa lead the way on repairing and replacing all the outside lighting on the house (see pic's and full story below)
Grammy helped get the leather couches cleaned and repaired
We got about 1/2 the garage cleaned!
With Papa's help, finally fixed the dishwasher!!! (I hope....)
Attached the flag pole and hung the flag on the side of the garage
Cleaned the humming bird feeder
Replaced and painted the broken railing on the deck
Got the "weed'n feeding" done
Grammy found the FIRE ANTS!!!
Len de-FIRE ANTED the entire yard
Trimmed all the trees
Developed 3 different methods for cleaning up oxidized brass in preparation for painting
Papa cleaned all the pots and switches in all the intercom system throughout the house
Captured ~5 hours worth of family history video

Most everybody got sick or was otherwise down a couple days. We did not get our whole family to chrurch either of the Sunday's that Grammy and Papa were here.

We ate, and ate, and ate some more... We had fresh home-made bread almost everyday. We Grilled a couple of times (introducing Grammy and Papa to Elgin Sausage!!!) Of course we had the birthday dinners and the Sunday dinners. We ate at Grammy's favorite sandwich shop, Quiznos. We had Italians on the rolls that Grammy and Papa brought from Maine! Talk about WICKED GOOD! We all agreed that getting back on our "regular diet" would be best approached in a gradual fashion verses going "cold turkey"!

Well, to make a long story short, we had a wicked good time with Grammy and Papa here! We are already making plans for their next visit.

Here's Papa and Spencer. Won't be long before Spencer will be seeing "eye to eye" with Papa!

Here's Grammy and Papa enjoying their view from the top row of "stadium seating" at the Texas Mitchell's.

We do things BIG in Texas! Here's Papa and Spencer in front of a mid-sized Texas chain-saw!

Here's Grammy & Papa with Spencer, Carly & Julie.

The Weather Has Been Wicked....... HOT!!!

Well, we couldn't turn down another 80+ degree day, so we did the annual pm on the grill, cleaned the back deck and did a little grocery shopping. We invited the missionaries and had grill on the back deck!! It was wicked good! It was so hot today. I got sunburned while cleaning the grill. We had to put the car a/c on max just to get moderate relief. I wish we were back in Maine right now... NOT!! :-)

Alright! The annual maintenance has been done on the grill and the patio furniture (thanks to Grammy) and we are ready to go!

Here's Grammy getting the "Oh So Sweet" onion ready for our grill.

Here's Grammy, Spencer (barefoot and in shorts...) & the Missionaries enjoying our first grill of the year.

Here's Papa and Carly enjoying a hamburger and some potato salad on the deck.

We celebrated Carly's 9th b-day today. Her actual b-day was Wednesday, but we held the official party today. She had lots of friends come over and they had a great time. Check it out, look below and see for yourself!

Ashley showing us how its done!

Jenna having fun at Carly's 9th b-day party.

Fun and Games at Carly's party

Annie finishing up her cupcake at the party.

Jenna, Julie, Annie, Carly, Cinta, Erin Areana and Ashley at Carly'd 9th b-day party!

Erin hoola hooping it up at the party!

Jenna and Carly happily eating a cupcake at the party.

Cinta, Areana and Erin ejoying a snack at Carly's 9th B-day!!!

Ashley knows how to enjoy a cupcake!

Mom and Dad Mitchell are happy to hear the Hastings are coming to town!!!

Mom and Dad Mitchell heaved a sigh of relief when they heard Mom and Dad Hastings were coming to town! It seems that there is an end to the list of projects Len and Debby have around the house and they want to make sure the Hastings "have fun" too!

Okay, we had these old lamps, falling appart and oxidized like you can't believe. So, on one fine garbage collection day, I passed 4 lamps in someone's pile. I checked them out. They were every bit as oxidzed as mine, but, in much better shape otherwise. So, I plucked them up and have been waiting for the perfect time to clean them up and get them installed. Well, guess what... with Grammy and Papa Mitchell here, the time arrived:-) The result is awsome. Thanks Papa!!!