PICTURES OF JORJA-2 OR 3 MONTHS TO GRADUATION FROM U OF U

JorJa, Chalice and KayCee at Dance lessons JorJa and Jacob on Wedding Day
JorJa and Jacob in the mountains taking pictures for invitations
Graduation from U of U

Jumping on trampoline
graduation from Taylorsville High School
With Santa and Mrs. Claus
Important members of family on baptism day, Betty (grandmother), Alice (great grandmother), Chalice (sister), Sandy (mother), Charles (Father), Pat (great aunt) Brooke (half sister), in front JorJa and sister KayCee.
2 or 3 months old

JorJa 2 or 3 months old

JORJA BO BURNSIDE MATTSON- DAUGHTER OF CHARLES & SANDY BURNSIDE

This is JorJa on her first Halloween, dressed as a cabbage patch kid, isn't she cute, cute, cute?

She was born on April 21, 1986 at Cottonwood Hospital located in Murray, Utah, and baptised on May 1, 1994. She graduated from Taylorsville High School on June 4, 2004.

JorJa has never been an indoor person, she excels in all outdoor activities, like skiing, cutting the grass, softball, planting flowers & tomatoes, weeding, hiking, sleeping in a tent, etc. etc. and etc. When she was about 12 or 13 years of age, her father would take her on his trips with the Boy Scouts and she would always beat them on the mountains they would climb, or the hikes they would go on, or rowing the rivers. It was always said she was a better scouter than 95 percent of the Scouts.

She has always been extremely aware of other people's needs and been there to lend a helping hand. She just seems to have an inbred desire to help the people that need help. She was the same on her religious affiliations.

She was always a very good student, getting excellent grades, and was especially versatile in any math problems. Although when she was small and first learning her colors, she was what we considered blind as a bat on colors. We often thought she was just doing it all on purpose to get us all so upset that we would keep on continually working with her, even today I am not sure if she was or not. She graduated from Taylorsville High School on June 4, 2004.

On December 29, 2006 she married Jacob Mattson in the Mount Timpanogas Temple in Lehi, Utah. They met while taking some of the same classes at the University of Utah. He was from Vernal, Utah. More on him later.

She will graduate from the U of U on May 2, 2008 in Civil Engineering (following in her grandfather's footsteps). I would love to see her graduate but I'm afraid I will not be able to since it is at the Huntsman Center and all those steps with my oxygen tank and having to park a couple of blocks away and it will take hours and hours to get through all of the graduates, I just don't feel like I am up to it, but my love and best wishes and everything else will be with her. CONGRATULATIONS JORJA.

KAYCEE BURNSIDE (DAUGHTER OF CHARLES & SANDY)

JorJa,Chalice, KayCee at Dance Review
KayCee at 3 years old

KayCee in her Halloween costume at the school parade around
KayCee sitting on Mike and Karen's new motorcycle at Scofield
Graduation cap and gown in the back yard

Kay Cee wanted to be first listed of the grandchildren so here she is. She was born on June 30,1987 at the Cottonwood hospital in Murray, Utah. She was baptised into the L.D.S. church on July 1, 1995, and graduated from High School June 9, 2005 after attending Murray High School. She was always a very good reader and enjoyed reading almost any book, she especially liked the "Harry Potter Books". She along with her sisters took dance (tap, ballet, clogging) lessons when they were younger. KayCee was always a very good student in school getting exceptionally good grades all the way through school. For the last 3 years she has been attending the University of Utah and is majoring in Communication Technology, she will graduate in the spring of 2009. I always believed she didn't have to do any studying, and just recently I found out she really does have to study. She is working for (I think) Deseret Credit Union at the present time although she could change her working skills this summer. Just recently she was honored to be chosen as the winner of the Bonneville International /KSL/ Salt Lake Media group 2008 Rodney H. Miller Scholarship award. This is what she wrote when she was given the news of winning. "It was a great surprise to find I was nominated amongst a very talented group of students. I want to thank everyone involved in the selection process, the scholarship committee and especially Rodney H. Brady and his care for students studying Broadcasting Communications. I also want to thank my Professors and their dedication to further the study of communications. I am grateful to everyone for encouragement offered for my success in this field, for the generous gift to help me stay focused on my senior year of education at the University of Utah." She received a $2300.00 scholarship. I say "HURRAH for KayCee.

LATER: Comes to Frutation

A little more information and then we can get back onto the grandchildren that I have been trying to gather information on for the past couple of days. I still have a bunch more to gather but I at least got some.

1st We went down to Lincare Oxygen to see about getting (or buying) a new black cover and oxygen regulator (valve which would cost in excess of $100.00) to replace the one we lost, and I asked if one had been turned in (we thought if someone found it and they were honest, they would turn it in to Lincare since their name was on it). She said "no" but those kind of things happen and she gave us a whole new set of everything, (no charge). She didn't even say "don't let it happen again" or "next time be a little more careful" or some such admonition. She just said "have a nice day and keep breathing". I guess they get a whole bunch of things like that happening or they know how frustrating it is for someone on oxygen to get into a situation like that.

On the way down there, we stopped at the Sandwich Place on about 27th South and 3600 West and bought some turkey and avocado sandwiches that were the best sandwiches I have ever had. We had a coupon for them out of the Happenings Book and they close at 3:00 in the afternoon so we had to get them and bring them back home to eat them. The bread was a little different than what I would think, they were huge slices of like home made bread (like a round loaf) with slices of turkey, lots of slices of avocado, tomato slices, lettuce, onion, pickles if you want them, I didn't, and just a slight spread of mayo., maybe I was just hungry but they sure were good. (You probably don't even care if I had anything to eat, but I did.)

Kent took Charlie up to Park City to see the doctor on Tuesday (yesterday) and they said he would have to see the P.A. because Dr. Rosenberg was in VietNam teaching and operating on some patients for a month. He must have a pretty darn good P.A. to be able to handle all his patients for a month. Also he must be a pretty darn good doctor to volunteer for one month to go over there and teach and operate for nothing. He probably charged Tiger Woods a small fortune and that is why he could afford to go over there. By the way they found out Tiger owns a condo up in Park City and has for quite some time. Anyway, he told Charlie he could start putting a little weight on his knee, but Kent said it sure does look nasty, also he said he probably would need a knee replacement in about 4 years, can you imagine him doing this much surgery on his knee and then telling him that? If I was Charlie, I would start looking for a new line of employment, before I would have to go through this much surgery again in such a small amount of time. The doctor had told him originally that it would take about 8 months for his knee to be like it was before. After that, to have only 3 more years and then have to go through all this again and never having any guarantees that I would be able to go on remodeling. Of course that is totally up to him, not my call. Just saying what I think and the fact that he isn't getting any younger and the more time that goes by the harder it is to find a decent job. By the way, just to let you all know, he was always the world's most macho man, never needing any pain pills or Novocain when he had tooth work done or not even wanting anesthetic (he changed his mind about the anesthetic on the surgical table) for this operation. Well, he has been PAIN PILL FRIENDLY since that time. Of course we all knew he would. Why go through that kind of h____when you don't have to. KayCee said he was coming down the stairs this morning and just about fell on the steps. Boy, he surely does not need to fall.

I went to the Relief Society's "Out To Lunch" today over at the Golden China. As usual I had a very nice lunch, just couldn't eat as much as I would have liked. It is such a good place to go. The lunch runs about $7.70 for a senior which is pretty reasonable for that amount of food.

I took our Relief Society and Priesthood manuals over to Kinkos to have them coil-bound while on my way to the restaurant and picked them up on my back back. It is so nice to have them done where we can just open them up and not have to fight to keep them open all the time. It cost about $4.50 each but it is well worth the price.

While at the grocery store on our way back from Lincare, I went in and found some caffeine free black tea and some fresh ginger, I couldn't find any vanilla beans but I bought some vanilla flavored coffee mate creamer and that works just fine, giving it that vanilla flavor, I don't remember how much I put in but maybe a heaping tablespoon, I also added a little more honey since I was using the whipped kind, and it was very good, much like the original I had bought. This way I'm getting some milk in my diet and a lot of honey and sugar, if you need to lose weight don't try it. Kent wasn't terribly impressed with it and said it was too much work for the benefits you get, but then he is that kind of a person who doesn't want to do anything but open a bottle or a can. I think next time I will use about 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of milk since I'm using the coffee mate which is like powdered cream. I also think I will add another tea bag. Oh, my goodness, I'm getting afar off on this recipe bit so will close for now.

I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO GET ON MY BLOG FOR A FEW DAYS

On the last day I was on my blog, I was waiting for the Doctor to call Bob about the condition of his lungs and about Charlie and how he came out with his surgery.

Bob, the doctor finally called a couple of days after he had all of his tests, and told him he should wait at least 6 months to even consider the surgery. It makes me wonder if he will have to have all those tests over again at the end of 6 months to determine if he will be ready at that time.

Charlie, he had the knee surgery up at Tosh and the doctor that did the surgery was Rosenberg, his office is up at Park City. Everything went extremely well and he is now recovering at home. He rented one of those ice machines that are on for 30 minutes and then off for 30 minutes. We took some Mexican food up for his lunch yesterday (he loves Mexican) and probably isn't supposed to eat anything that spicy but it was him that was going to suffer if it didn't agree and that is what he said he wanted. He goes back to the doctor on next Tuesday and maybe he will say he can be off that silly machine. It seems like Pat was on it for about a week when she had knee surgery. I read the book he was given, to try and write something intelligent but I only understood about 5% of the book. The other 95% was completely Dutch to me. The only thing I understood was that he can't put any weight on it for 2 weeks and that the same doctor did surgery on Tiger Wood's knee the day before, this is the 3rd time he has done surgery on Tiger Woods. Tiger must have a home up at Park City because that is where his surgery was done. He would have to be pretty close for a couple of weeks.

Charlie and Sandy are the Activities Chairpersons, so last night was their chili and pie night, he couldn't go, in fact he couldn't even make the chili they had to furnish, so Sandy and Jorja and Jacob, KayCee and Chalice had to do it all. Charlie just got to sit there and be cross about the whole affair. Sandy was pleased with the way it all turned out so I guess it turned out OK even if he had some gripe coming, how would you feel if chili was YOUR speciality and someone else HAD to make it for you and you couldn't even watch to see if they were doing it right?

Today, I went on our last Visiting Teaching visit and when I came back, I set my black oxygen tank on the trunk of the Mazda since that is where it goes, is in the trunk, and Kent left a few minutes later to go and deliver some blood drive packets, he didn't pay any attention to the fact that the tank was on the back so I guess it just fell off along the road some where. We haven't found it yet and don't hope to. I didn't have my name on it anywhere so if someone found it they wouldn't have any idea who it belonged to. LATER

JUST A BUNCH OF RAMBLINGS TODAY

Nothing much happened yesterday to me of any consequence so I may not have much to write about. I do want to tell you about my experience with a Chai drink though. After D.U.P. on Monday, I went up to Beans and Brew and bought a Chai drink, I had been told that it was not a coffee drink so I had nothing to worry about as far as caffeine was concerned. I had also been told it was a very fattening drink, which is the thing I was looking for, to put a few pounds on me. The thing I was not looking for was the price, it was very expensive for a small drink. So I came home and looked it up on Google and found it is an East Indian drink made with black tea, well I guess one cup of tea is not going to keep me out of heaven, but, my goodness that cup of tea has 3 tea bags in it, which kept me out of the sleep cycle for the entire night. I really thought it wouldn't be any more than a piece of CHOCOLATE CAKE or a CHOCOLATE COVERED PIECE OF CANDY. Well when you haven't had any caffine in several years, it was enough to make me lay there with my eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling all night long. By the way the drink was very good so I went on the internet to see if I could find something with NO caffeine.

On Google, I found this one, it is made of things you can find in the supermarket, the fellow said it took several tries plus some secrets from a person working for his favorite Oregon local gourmet coffee shop ( could this be S___ B____?)

(4) 1 1/2 in slices fresh ginger (use vegetable peeler)

(1) 2 inch cinnamon stick

(4) whole cloves

(1) heaping demitasse spoon powdered cardamon

(1) 6 inch vanilla bean ( cut into 1 in. pieces)

(1) dash nutmeg

(1) heaping tablespoon sugar

(1/4 ) cup honey

(3) Bigelow Darjeeling Blend tea bags(I'm going to try the non caffeine, I'll let you know)

(2) cups water

(2) cups milk

Bring the 2 cups of water to a boil and then toss in the other ingredients as listed and boil about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add milk and bring back to a boil, then take off heat. Strain through strainer or coffee filters and serve hot or cold with ice. Refrigerate any unused portion.

Yesterday Bob (our Son-in-law, married to Ralynn) went up to the hospital for a bunch of tests to see if he could stand to have some surgery to have the top portion of his lungs removed, I am still waiting by the phone to find out about the results of the tests. The Dr. just hasn't called him yet.

To day Charlie is in the hospital, having surgery on his knee, Kent just barely called and said that the surgery is over and they are on their way home, every thing turned out just fine and he will just have to wait out the period of time to be able to go on with his normal life. I do not know anything more than that so I shall just sign off for now and go get ready to go visiting teaching at about 5:00 p.m.

MONDAY RAMBLINGS ABOUT SATURDAY, SUNDAY AND MONDAY

I haven't written anything in here about Saturday, Sunday or today so I will just be doing a little brain teasing about same. Saturday morning when I arose from my nice comfy warm bed I realized my one ring was missing, it was my Eterna Gold 18 carat gold ring that I absoluetly love and have worn for years and years. After hunting through my bed and the obvious places, I decided to retrace my steps of Friday night, I had cleaned the bathroom and put a bunch of stuff in the garbage can in the afternoon, not there. Next, was fixing some dinner, we just had left overs and I had cooked some broccoli and cauliflower, both in the same cooking bag. First I looked in the broccoli that I had not used, not there. Next in the bag that I had cooked and we ate out of for dinner and there it was in the bottom of the bag, I sure hope it liked cauliflower and broccoli because it got plenty through the cooking process and eating process and putting the bag back in the fridge for over night.

If someone thinks cleaning the bathroom is a snap for them, for me it is a long drawn out process. I do a little bit and then have to go and sit down and rest for 10 or 15 minutes, it is the same procedure I take in getting dressed or getting ready to go anywhere. I have to judge how long it will take me to do anything and then add about 1/2 hour for sitting to get my breath back. I go into spasms and can't get my breath, it scares me real bad.

Saturday, Don and Joyce came up from Provo to spend the afternoon, then Stirling and Ashley (David's daughter) came out and we sat here and visited for a period of time, then we, Don and Joyce and Kent and I went down to the Golden China for dinner, it was their first time there and they really enjoyed it, said they would return. Of course I always enjoy as I've stated before. From there Don and Joyce went back to Provo and Kent and I came home. I had their Mongolian Stir Fry, all the shrimp I could possibly want, the fried bisquits, lycees, loquats(however you spell them), butterscotch pudding, and a drink and I was stuffed. I didn't even get over to the other table with all the chinese food or to the potato bar or the rice or soup or desserts. I also didn't have any of the meat dishes like the steak or chicken or beef stuff. I just don't think it is fair that I get filled up so fast.

Sunday, I really had to fight with myself as to whether I was going to get out of bed and get ready to go to church or not, it seems like it is so hard to make up my mind whether I can do it or not the first time after a sick spell which I was experiencing right now. Finally I said "Betty, just git your butt out of bed and least try to get ready" which I did and made it just fine. One thing I have learned is I can't shower before church, I have to do it the night before if I am going to be able to get myself ready. It is just too much to do it all that early in the morning. In the afternoon we were invited over to Charlie and Sandy's for dinner (which we generally are) and always enjoy that. We told them we would enjoy tuna fish or peanut butter and jam sandwiches if that was what they were preparing, just to be able to visit with them. We have been going over there for about the last 10 or 12 years, they just consider us two of their family on Sunday at dinner time. Kent and Jacob gave Charlie a blessing because he is going to have his knee operated on this Wednesday (the 16th of April).

Today I went to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers meeting, at 1:00 and came home, don't plan on doing anything tonight except to watch the Jazz play basketball with the Houston Rockets, sure hope the Jazz can win their ball game because I know San Antonio is going to be waiting for them when they go down there on Wednesday, after beating them like we did the last time we played them. Till we meet again. Next time.

THE END TO MY BIRTHDAYS, WHAT WILL NEXT YEAR BRING?

Well, my birthday celebrating lasted just a week, from last Thursday until this Thursday, goodness how can we make them last any longer? Anyway, yesterday I went to a luncheon with some of the ladies from Stone Hollow (exception, Janet Haroldsen) for my birthday. When they called to see where I wanted to go, I said to Ihop and she said what time? My answer 11:30, I meant be out there at 11:30 and she thought I meant pick me up at 11:30, so I went out by myself at 11:15, and just sat there and waited.

While I was waiting this fellow and his wife with a 3 month old baby came over and asked my name and asked if I had served a mission in Malaysia a few years ago, when I told him I had, he said his name was Lunt and he had served a mission there also during that time, I was thinking Kota Kinabalu and he was talking Penang. As my mind was racing trying to figure all the Elders that served in K.K. I just couldn't come up with anything. He asked where we lived and I asked where they lived and all the other proper things to ask and as soon as they left I got my senses back and figued out who it was, boy was I ever sorry that I hadn't figured it all out sooner, I asked if they had ever gone to the Singapore reunions and he said a couple and I told him we had gone to a couple also but not in the last few years.

Elder Lunt had come into the mission field at the age of 25, older than most missionaries from somewhere back East or South, he barely made the cut off date which I think is through the age of 25 or before they turn 26. He was an exceptionallly good missionary just a little quiet and reserved. I had no idea he would be living just a couple of miles from us here in Utah. I guess it was just meant to be that I would be there a few minutes early and get to meet them. It sure is a small world.

The ladies that came to my luncheon were; Janet of course, Teri Sheppard, Connie Edholm, Deloras Stiletti, Doris Thompsen and Joyce Pollack. We have had this little birthday luncheon for several years and the person that has the last luncheon is in charge of making arrangements for the next person's birthday. Notifying everyone when and where it will be and bringing the little singing candle we have, I am in charge now of the next one and it will be Teri Sheppard in July, although we talked about having a get together in June just because it is a long time till July. The person that is having the birthday decides on the time and place they would like to go, I would have liked to have gone to the Golden China but I had my family party there and the Relief Society "Out to Lunch " group is going there next week so I thought that would be a little much. I got some really nice gifts and I want to "Thank Them All" profoundly.

I just wanted to let all of you know what the words were to "I'm Gonna Hire A Wino To Decorate Our Home" I had never heard of it before this program and I think they are pretty descriptive. If you object, to reading them , you know where the delete basket is.

WORDS TO "I'M GONNA HIRE A WINO TO DECORATE OUR HOME"

I came crawling home last night, like many nights before:
I finally made it to my feet as she opened up the door.
And she said, "You're not gonna do this any anymore.

She said: I'm gonna' hire a wino to decorate our home,
So you'll feel more at ease here, and you won't have to roam
We'll take out the dining room table, and put a bar along that wall.
And a neon sign, to point the way, to our bathroom down the hall."

She said "Just bring your Friday paycheck, and I'll cash them all right here.
And I'll keep on tap--for all your friends, their favorite kinds of beer.
And for you, I'll always keep in stock, those soft aluminum cans.
And when you're feeling macho, you can crush them like a man."

She said " We'll rip out all the carpet, and put sawdust on the floor,
Serve hard boiled eggs and pretzels, and I won't cook no more.
There'll be Monday night football, on T.V. above the bar.
And a pay phone in the hallway, when your friends can't find their car."

She said "I'm gonna hire a wino to decorate our home,
So you'll feel more at ease here, and you won't have to roam.
We'll take out the dining room table, and put a bar along that wall.
And a neon sign, to point the way, to our bathroom down the hall."

She said "You'll get friendly service , and for added atmosphere.
I'll slip on something sexy, and I'll cut it clear to here.
Then you can slap my bottom, every time time you tell a joke.
Just as long as you keep on tipping, well, I'll laugh until you're broke."

She said"Instead of family quarrels, we'll have a bar room brawl,
When the Ham's bear says it's closing time, you won't have far to crawl.
And when you run out of money, you'll have me to thank.
You can sleep it off until next morning, when I'm putting it in the bank."

She said "I'm gonna' hire a wino, to decorate our home,
So you can feel more at ease here, and you won't have to roam.
When you and your friends get off from work, and have a powerful thirst.
There won't be any reason, why you can't stop off here fiirst."

She said "I'm gonna' hire a wino to decorate our home,
So you'll feel more at ease here, and you won't have to roam.
We'll take out the dining room table, and put a bar along that wall.
And a neon sign, to point the way, to our bathroom down the hall."

"ZEKE SCRATCH AND THE ITCHY SISTERS"

I was going to do my grandchildren today but I couldn't decide whether to go from the oldest to the youngest or to go from the youngest to the oldest or to just mix them all up, so while I was deciding what to do, I just decided not to do any of them. I decided to just go back in time to one of our escapades and this seemed as good as anything. This took place in 1986, and was my one time of being "On Stage". Dennis, Milly's husband was video taping the whole thing.

We did our debut at Gary and Gwen's ward for one of their Relief Society night meetings, they were served dinner and this was the entertainment. I would guess they were not terribly impressed because we closed after that first night's performance and have never been contacted to perform since that time. I really don't think it was the performance they didn't like, it was probably the many writers of the script of the production that they weren't impressed with, when they found out it was written by ourselves.

Gary, (my brother) who was bishop of their ward at the time, was playing The Parson and was the announcer. He also danced in the 3 Little Fishies and the Buzz Around, Buzz Around dances. Millie (my sister in law) danced in the 3 Little Fishies and in the Playmate Song, I did the 3 Litttle Fishies and the Buzz Around , Buzz Around. Gary spun a couple of yarns and of course Zeke (Kent) and two Itchey Sisters (Sister Pat and sister in law Gwen) did a bunch of bantering and did Baby Face and Bob did Bill Gogans Goat. The three of them came out carrying decorated white buckets with a bunch of stuff in, and Pat was saying she had been told she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket and she just wanted to prove she could as she started pulling out sheets of music, a spit-tune, looney- toons, car-toons and a lot of other stuff. I just wish I could remember what else they had in their buckets, I know Kent had a ukulele and he played a tune on that.

We did get to "sorta " perform again when Dennis and Milly had their 25th Anniversary celebration . They were going to renew their wedding vows. Mom and Dad got into the act as well as the rest of us, buying their ridiculous outfits at the thrift stores. Mom had a black hat with a veil that covered one eye. I was the "MADE OF HOUNOR" and had a terrible bright orange lace dress on and huge sloppy sun hat and was carrying a basket (the kind you put in the cemeteries) full of old dead flowers. One of the guests, he worked with Dennis at the Air National Guard, made the statement that these people sure were dressed funny and the worst one was that fellow in the yellow plaid jacket. He was referring to Zeke (Kent).

When Dennis and Millie came down the stairs, with their entourage he knew he had been "had"...??//?/. Gary was the parson again and he read the marriage vows out of a Sears Catalogue. Rob was walking behind them with a shotgun telling them to "git along up there". Dennis had on a jacket that was too small for him and was split up the back and he had his hair combed in "Alfalfa" style. Millie was pretty lucky she could still fit into her wedding gown but it was so wrinkled. Zeke and the Itchey Sisters sang a couple of songs, "The Wedding Waltz" and "I'm Going To Hire A Wino To Decorate My Home". Actually it was a real fun day and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

The whole group doing "The Chicken Dance" with the audience

Milly Daniels doing "Playmate"

Gary & Betty doing "Buzz Around, Buzz Around"

Bob Westbrook with "Instructions"

Gary "Parson The Story Teller"

"Zeke Scratch & The Itchey Sisters" (Kent, Pat & Gwen)

THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY CAKE

I want to mention here that on Sunday, April 6th we went over to Charlies and Sandy's for dinner which we usually do, and Jorja had made me a birthday cake and Jacob had decorated it for me. he had 'Happy Birthday" written on it and a bunch of squigglies around the outside edge. There were the numbers "79" candles on it and it was lit up. I'm certainly glad they didn't try to put 79 candles on it. JorJa burned her fingers on the decorations somehow, I think putting the frosting in the microwave. Anyway I want to thank them for that and let them know how much I appreciate it . Just think, one more year and I will be 80. Now, I must say that is OLD.

Mom totally exausted in hotel room. 72 years old.

Mom in front of a building in Finland

PICTURES WE TOOK, NOT VERY GOOD

In front of one of the castles in Denmark

ONE MORE DAY IN EUROPE- AND IT IS OVER!?!?!?

Our next stop was Brussels, Belgium. We were there just one day and we tried to see as much of it as was possible in the time we had. They have such beautiful lace and it was so inexpensive. I would have loved to buy some but just didn't have the room to carry it or the money to spend on it. This was one of my favorite places I had seen and I vowed to return some day. Well guess what? I will never be able to keep that vow. What with my oxygen 24/7 and a few other things that are wrong with me, but do you know "with the internet the way it is today, I can ALMOST travel, sitting in my desk chair and with the computer on."

We went to Luxembourg and then got on a train to go across France and down into Italy. We planned it this way because we wanted to lay down in a compartment and try to sleep all the way into Florence, Italy. We had planned on going down into Rome but the time we had to spend in Amsterdam told us we just couldn't make it happen so we just went into Florence. We spent one day and night in Florence and then headed back towards Frankfurt, Germany going through Innsbruck, Austria where we spent one night and one in Bern , Switzerland. When we got back to Frankfurt, we took our suitcases out of the train station for the first time, oh my golly, what would we have done with all those big heavy suitcases all over Europe. We could hardly get them from the station to a hotel and to the airport, "THOSE PEOPLE IN BERGEN, NORWAY DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT A GREAT TIP THEY GAVE US" They should make it one of the things they tell all travel bureau's to pass along to the travelers. It is something I would pass along to anyone going to Europe. TRAVEL VERY LIGHT?!?!?

We had a great time and would not trade it for anything, even with the little annoying things that happened we both felt it was a great trip and I am just happy to share it with anyone that reads my blog.

CONTINUEING OUR TRIP TO EUROPE!

The next morning we were off towards Germany, when we arrived in Munich we had to change trains at the railroad station, this is the only place we got separated. When we found each other, we had been standing on opposite sides of a very large sign, not daring to go look for each other in case the other one would come back to that point looking for the other. Of course we missed our train so we had to take a later one to arrive in Amsterdam, Holland, like we were supposed to do. Munich was the only city we were in during the whole trip where I felt a little nervous about being there. It was just the type of people that were hanging around the train station and being on the streets that gave me that nervous feeling.

When we arrived in Amsterdam, we were put into a hotel down town right across the street from the train depot and the rooms were very nice, nice furnishings and good security but it was on top of a teen hang out and the noise that went on all night was just deafening. The next morning we moved further out away from the down town area. While there we went on tours to the Hague, to the Delft China Works factory, to museums and the Red Light District, took a tour ship down the canals and to the Tulip Park (I can't remember the name of it), but I've seen it several times on the inter-net since that time.

As we were going into the railway station to leave, two girls came up behind us and told us that we had something on the back of our coats. We went into the rest room to clean it off and we determined it was a mixture of fish oil and mustard. Mom laid all of her bags down on the counter and proceeded to clean off her coat, when she finished, she went to get her things and her purse was missing. We think it was stolen by the girls that told us about the stuff on the back of our coats. We reported it to the police (the police station was also in the railway station) and they were convinced that it was taken by someone that would be on the train going out of town. Mom had her passport , and all of her travelers cheques in her purse and we couldn't do anything about it until Monday, (this happened on a Friday evening).

"When you get lemons you just have to make lemonade" has always been my motto, so we just made the best of it and went on some tours and saw as much of the city as we could possibly see. We went and bought some wooden shoes and had shipped back home. On Monday morning, we went to the U.S. Embassy to see about her passport and when we got there they told us it had been found along the railroad tracks. Oh my goodness talk about The Lord looking after us. We did have to go to Utrek, a town several miles away to see about getting her travelers cheques refunded. We had to call Kent and have him go down to the bank and get the numbers of them before we could get anything done and then call him back to see what he had found out because her duplicates were also in her purse, which you are never supposed to do have your checks and the duplicates in the same place. After we got back home her purse was sent to her but there was no note as to who sent it and there was nothing in it so we have no idea who sent it or where it was found.

This concludes my entry for today, see you all tomorrow or the next day!?!?!?

MY BIRTHDAY DINNER

My birthday did turn out real nice, I just had a leisurely day all day long receiving several telephone calls and emails wishing me a Happy Birthday and then the family met at Golden China Restuarant at 6:00 for dinner. Those there were Ralynn and Bob, their children Michael, Salina and Maree, Heather and her friend Ryan Smith, Bob's sister Janyce and her little 4 year old granddaughter. Charlie and Sandy were there with KayCee, Chalice her boy friend Blake, Brooke and Matt and their 5 children, Kyle, Kody, Taylor, Aspen and Carter, and Jacob. JorJa was not able to be there as she had a 3 hour class she HAD to be at, but Jacob came and ate dinner real fast as he had to be back to a bishopric meeting (he is the executive secretary) at their ward. Also attending were Dennis and Milly and Gary and Gwen. I received some very nice gifts, which I want to "Thank Everyone" for. We all enjoyed our dinner and are looking forward to next year, same time same place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETTY

This picture was taken a couple of years ago, but I wanted to put a picture of me in here to wish myself A GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I am taking my family out to dinner tonight at the Golden China restuarant, and I will write more about it tommorow, I think everyone is suppose to be there except possibly JorJa (she has a class she has to go to) and Chalice ( she had a softball game she has to play in)

MY TRIP TO EUROPE WITH MY MOTHER--CONTINUED

This is Christian, Mom's cousin, one of the reasons we are in Europe at this time. We stayed several days in Denmark, so Mom could find her two cousins and visit with them. Christian lived up on the 4th floor of an apartment building and there were no elevators , it was just one step at a time to get up there. By the time we reached the 4th floor ,we were exausted. When we got to the door and he answered it Mom just said "Alice from the U.S.A." and he immediately went into the bedroom and took a picture off the wall, a picture that had never been seen by anyone in the United States, in fact it was the ONLY picture that had ever been taken of the whole family. He pointed to a child as if saying "is this you" and she answered "yes". He spoke no English and of course we spoke no Danish so he went into another room and brought out a little dictionary that had the translations in and that was how we communicated for the next couple of hours.

He lived in the same apartment as he had been born in and it had the same furniture, wallpaper, pictures on the walls, doilies on the couches, vases on the shelves, everything was the same as the picture we had of him as a boy with his mother and father. Talk about going back in time. He had been married but had no children and his wife had died several years before. The only relative he had was his wife's niece who came to see him and bring groceries every few days. He told us she could understand English.

When we got home Mom wrote to him and asked if he would have his niece get a copy made of the picture he had shown us and have her send it to us and we would be happy to send any costs that were incurred. A few weeks later the picture came and it was the original picture in the original frame. She had writtten a note and said he was so old he would not have any use for it, so he wanted us to have the picture, we both shed tears over that one. Of course we had many copies made and gave to all of the families.

While in Copenhagen we saw many castles and went to Trafalgar Square. This is a combination between a theme park and state fair park. It is very large and every night during the summer they would have fireworks. Our hotel was right on the main highway of the city and every car that went by was honking just like crazy. We found out later that was the thing Danes do--just honk their way into the sunset.

The next morning we were off to Aarhus, Denmark which is quite a long way from Copenhagen. This is where Mom's other cousin was living. We did take a little side trip to see the Hans Christian Anderson Museum which we enjoyed. I do not remember the cousin's name so I will just refer to him as the cousin. When we got to the train station in Aarhus we called him and we could not understand him and he could not understand us so we stopped a fellow that was going by and asked if he understood both English and Danish, when he said yes we asked him if he would translate a message to her cousin and he said he would. We were told what bus to get on and where to get off and he would be at the bus stop to meet us and that his grandson would be there to translate for us.

When we arrived at their home, his wife insisted we stay for dinner. She prepared what we found out later was a real treat for them. It was a hambuger patty with a sunny side up fried egg on top ( I have never liked sunny side up fried eggs). Oh well, when in Rome do as the Romans do. I made the best of it and ate like I was enjoying it. We enjoyed our visit with them and after a couple of hours they took us back to our hotel.

This was the picture that we had never known existed, back row Anna, Marie, Carrie, Middle row Peter and Henrietta, front row, Lewis, Alice (Mom) Devonia

The park with all of the fat naked people in it, strange what they see as art

MY TRIP TO EUROPE WITH MY MOTHER CONTINUED

This is my passport picture, just thought some of you might wonder what I looked like at that time. Well, back to the doings. Another thing I should let you all know right up front is that when we had a day or half of a day, we would take those bus tours and see whatever we could along the way, in Norway we saw the Fjords and museums and where Greig spent his time writing all the beautiful music he wrote. In Sweden we saw the parks where all the big fat naked people's statutes were, I walked through it but Mom stayed on the bus as she had turned her ankle that morning and it was hurting so she didn't feel like walking. When we got on the ship between Stockholm and Helsinki, we found out it was an overnight trip and the great huge room where there were cots or fold down chairs for us to sleep on had been fumigated for bedbugs or cockroaches or something, so we just had to look for some other place to rest our weary bones.

As we were wandering through out the ship we ran across two couches that had 3 college age boys sitting on them, and we stopped and asked if they had the couches reserved for the night and they said yes, but we could make a deal with them if we wanted to. The deal was, if we would watch their backpacs and not let anything happen to them while they went to the dance and games and stuff they were all doing, we could sleep on their couches and they would sleep on the floor when they got through. Oh, happy happy day we were more than happy to make that kind of a deal! We found out the one boy was from California and he was a retuned missionary and was going to B.Y.U. Another boy was from California and going to medical school at the U of U and the third was a student at another college getting an engineering degree.

The next morning we offered to buy them breakfast for their generosity but they totally declined. We told them then "when you get back into school next year, call us and we will invite you to a Sunday dinner", of course we never heard from them again. Over the years, I've thought fondly of them on occasion.

While we were on the boat, we found out if we had gotten visas while here in the U.S.A. we could have gone from Helsinki to Russia for a few days, and I thought that would have been nice. When we were ready to get off the ship coming back from Helsinki, we just got on the train that was on the bottom of the ship and just rode it into Copenhagen, Denmark. That was really neat. We spent about 4 or 5 days in Copenhagen and that will be my next entry so come back, won't you?