Obligatory Summer Post

You know the post.  Sorry I've been gone so long, I won't be back until it cools down and the nerds are back to school.  This is mine.

We've been playing constantly. We go to the lake or the pool any chance we get. The big kids have gone to camp and Anna finished summer school. We are sleep deprived and watching too much TV and a new Netflix DVD everyday. We've had popcorn and watermelon for dinner more times than I care to count.

Nicole and I are leaving for Idaho in approximately 1 hour. It is my Dad's 50th high school reunion. If you live in the Rexburg area, I hope to see you soon!

ttfn
Dedra

A Few Useless Facts Just For You!

• (According to Anna) Boys aren't good singers or funny because they aren't made of good singing or funny bones.
• I am on jury duty this week. I have to call in every day to see if my group is called. The group number in 30. I hope I don't get called. I have big plans this week.
• I am friends with a few law breakers and one or two could easily be felons. You know who you are.
• Nicole and I are going to Idaho on Sunday morning for about 10 days.
• We have to wait until she gets home from girl's camp to leave.
• Nicole and I have been cleaning out closets and going through the clothes. I got rid of 24 pairs of old socks this weekend. Also, after cleaning out my garage, I took a van load of junk to Goodwill. I love throwing stuff away!
• We have pumpkins growing!! They are about the size of a gumball right now, but they are growing! It's so awesome. Hopefully this fall, we won't have to go to the pumpkin patch to buy them.

Note to Self: Weed the pumpkins!

Look how smart that little thing is!

• We didn't use any starts this year for our garden. We have also harvested peas. I'm hoping everything doesn't die while I'm in Idaho.
• There are only 6 pathogens in a dogs rectum. FYI, TMI, YAW {You are welcome}
• If your Good To Go account goes below $4.25 before they do the automatic deposit into your account. which reloads it to $30, you will get a bill in the mail for crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It will cost you $6.25 instead of $4.25. What a racket.
• Anna lost the last of her front teeth on top. She now has 4 empty spaces. 

She's pretty

I hope you don't feel dumber. Merry Monday.

ps, happy birthday to melissa shoop!!

A Case of Secret Identity

There is a common pan, possessed by many homes. It's blue in color and oval in shape. It is typically known as a roaster pan. I too grew up with on of these pans in my home, but I never knew it's real name.  The only time we ever used this pan was when my mom made a treat. We would know this treat was going to be made when mom told one of the kids to 'go get the popcorn pan.'

This is my popcorn pan. My mom bought it for me in when we lived in Grandview, for $3.96 at a thrift store.

You may be asking yourself, "Self, why do they call it a popcorn pan?" It's because this beloved pan is used solely for caramel popcorn. The very best kind. The kind my mom made. The kind we made last night. The kind my kids love and eat way too quickly and then ask for more.

Delicious!

The glass is half full...sometimes.

When I go to a restaurant, I order my water with no ice. If I order a diet Pepsi, I ask for it with no ice. When we all have water, I also ask for a pitcher of water, with no ice. You get the drift, right?

Tonight Ken and I went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. I asked for water with no ice, Ken order soda with no ice. You would not believe the amount of frozen water the accompanied our drinks. It was laughable. It got me to thinking about all the times I've ordered the same drink and all the variety of interpretations that have shown up at my table. For instance:

• If you ask some fast food joints for a soda with no ice, you will get a soda that is only 3/4 of the way full.
• If you ask them why it's not full, they tell you it's pre-programmed to give you a certain amount of drink and they can't help that the ice isn't in there to bring it to the top.
• One time my Mom, Heather and I ate at a Chinese buffet somewhere north of Seattle and they offered milk with the meal. We always take advantage of bottomless milk, because it's expensive! After the waiter filled our 6 ounce drinks twice each, he started only bring glasses half full. I'm not going to lie.  Those drinks were half empty. Here's his tip...fill the glasses to the top.  
• If I order my drink first, and then my kids do, it's 4 drinks ordered with no ice. When Ken orders last, he just asks for a diet soda and the waiter actually asks, 'with ice?' Ken often responds, surprise me.

Okay, so clearly this post is boring and not really informative. But I can write about whatever I want. Today it's cold beverages. Please hold the ice. And fill the cup up to the top please. Gracias!!

This glass is half full, and really funny.

Thoughts in my brain.

I still think about people I was friends with as far back as age 5 or 6. Some of their names are so common, and I wouldn't recognize them in a photo if I searched facebook, but I wonder how they are.

My kids have added songs they like to my spotify playlist. I feel tricked.

Matthew left for scout camp this morning. It's 9:30 in the morning and the house is still quiet.

Our hammock broke last night. I am mourning.

Are you wondering how it happened?

These three are responsible. 

• I'm finishing up the book, The Reading Promise. It's about a father read to his daughter everyday from when she was in 4th grade until she left for college. It's causing me guilt. They called their reading  every night 'the streak.' Every time 'the streak' is mentioned in the book, I think of Ray Stevens. Also, if I was going to do this with my kids, I would feel victorious for making it 10 days in a row. This father and daughter read for 3218 days straight, with out missing a night.  The book is good and her vocabulary is vast. A little show-offy.
• I don't like drinking soda from a bottle.
• I don't like drinking anything through a straw.
• Anna's last front tooth is loose. If/when that thing falls out, she will have no front teeth on the top of her mouth. She won't be missing only two teeth. She'll be missing 4. Also, her teeth take for-ev-er to grow back in. Like a year.
• 10:34 now and I've written 5 bullets. I guess there isn't really anything else in my brain.

You Might Be Related to Me If...part three

• You blew your face up in a bbqr. 
• You sat on a hot wood stove. 
• You left your car running all night and it ran out of gas. 
• You leave your car running while you pump gas. 
• You started you car at 3 in the morning so it would be ready to drive by 6 am. 
• (Said car also had to have the front tires on the grass in front of the parking pad, so it wouldn't roll backwards into the trees). 
• You had a few perms...and you're a dude. 
• You know what a paddy whack is.
• If you did this....
• Your bum is too close to the ground and your mother dresses you funny.

Better Than a Fairy Tale

*This post has been edited to add more memories. I guess that's what happens when a post is written in haster.

Once upon a time, Kent and Charlet Anderson moved their family from McMinnville, Oregon to Bremerton, Washington. It was January of 1990. When they pulled into the driveway of their new home, The EQ President of the Bremerton 3rd Ward was waiting in the driveway for them. He introduced himself as Bob Sommer. Throughout the evening, other men showed up and their names were getting all mixed up. One of the little boys referred to Brother Sommer as Brother Bob on accident and his new name was born. Since I was 12 years old, He has been Brother Bob, except for a 5 year sabbatical he took, when we called him Bishop. Brother Bob's wife is Pam.

Pam wasn't there that evening, but we met her the next day at church. She was my Beehive Counselor. Present in every YW class on Sunday and leader of Mutual activities on Wednesday evenings. We did many an FHE with the Sommer's over the years.

We moved from Bremerton when I was 14, to the next town over--Silverdale, but did not lose contact with the Sommers completely.

My senior year we moved to Bremerton and I was elated to learn we were in the Sommer's ward again. Pam was the RS President and Bro Bob, the YM President. My first mutual in the ward, I hugged him and say, 'Hey Brother Bob' and my current YW President told me I could not call him that. Luckily he saved me,  (These kids have known me forever and they can call me that.) and his namesake was preserved.

My Mom served as one of Pam's counselors. When Pam's mom was dying of cancer, I was able to go to their home and help take care of her while Bishop and Pam took a couple of trips.

Before I went to the temple for the first time, Pam bought part of my ceremonial clothing.

Bishop performed the ring ceremony when Ken and I got married and he officiated the funeral of our son, Robert...who was named after Robert Sommer. (Brother Bob.)

We received Christmas cards from them every year and they visited us when we lived in Utah.

In the summer of 2004, I was visiting my parents for a while to help them with festivals. I got sick the second morning of Meeker Days and while my Mom and Heather went to the festival I stayed home and felt like I was going die. My Mom told me to call Pam and ask her to take me to the ER. Pam picked me up within minutes and she didn't just drop me off. She stayed with my for 7 1/2 hours, until my Mom and Dad got there.

When my Mom was dying, Brother Bob is the one who called me because my Dad's phone puttered out that night. (Heather made the called once she had passed.)

Pam was a cancer survivor when I met her. When Mom had cancer, she got it again and beat it. But Cancer is a bonefied A-hole. (offense is a choice.) It beat at her and mom with a vengeance. Three days before Mom died, we were talking on the phone and I was asking about Pam's condition. Mom told me she thought Pam was going to die and we had a good cry over it. As you know, Mom went first.

Three weeks ago, Pam was put on hospice and on July 3, 2013 at 12:48 pm, she lost her final battle with cancer.

I went to Bremerton on July 5th and along with her daughter and one of her best friends, I was able to assist in dressing Pam for burial. She looks so beautiful.

I will also be participating in her service, accompanying her children and grandchildren as they sing one last song for her.

Words cannot express the sadness I am feeling or the joy I have for her.

Her and Bob will live happily ever after.

Dear Pam,

Thank you for loving me and being a friend to my parents. Pinch mom's bum for me and tell her hair looked good short when she left. I love you.

Dedra

At our wedding reception.Not the best photo ever taken. haha

June 1999

YW Young Women
YM Young Men
RS Relief Society
EQ Elder's Quorum
FHE Family Home Evening