I am getting caught up with things. I finally was able to take a picture of the gifts that my DIL in Oklahoma made for me. The black tote bag is the one that she monogramed. Isn't it neat. The little blue bag, she did one afternoon while we were sitting around the house. It is for my Jeep. I love both of them. The black tote has braces in the sides to hold it up. Take the braces out and it collapses and folds up for easy storage.

After spending the night at Roswell, New Mexico, it was back on the road towards Gilbert, Arizona. No, didn't see any UFO's while in Roswell. We made pretty good time, as there was no bad weather to contend with. Our route took us to Ruidoso, New Mexico and then down to Alamogordo. The route then took us through White Sands and up over the mountains to Las Cruces. Here we got onto I10 and headed into Arizona. As we didn't expect to make it to Gilbert that day, we found a park in Willcox, Arizona, home of Rex Allen. I do need to sit down and write up some reviews for a website that features reviews of different rv parks. Next project.

Upon arrival in Gilbert, we went straight to husband's son's driveway. Our plan was to park in their driveway for a few days. The driveway is long enough and we can hook upto water and electricity. It was so nice to be someplace that was nice and warm. Was able to wear either a sweatshirt or tee shirt during the day. Did have to use the heater at night though. This DIL also knows what to get me for Christmas. A gift card to Joann's. I love shopping there. And they have one pretty close. So we made a visit there for yarn. Yes, I picked up more yarn for a sweater for me and sock yarns. I have been wanting to knit socks. I found a pattern on the internet that is for two needles and no double pointed needles. I just can't manage knitting with more than two needles. I have been working on the sweater. Found a nice pattern that I like. After the sweater is done, then it is to socks for me.

After spending four days in the warmth, it was back on the road to the north country. As weather reports were predicting snow for Flagstaff, we decided our best route would be up through Las Vegas. Don't like going through there, but had to due to snow. There was construction on the freeway in Las Vegas and we ended up on a detour through one of the bad sections of Las Vegas. I was not a happy camper until we got away from that area. Back on the freeway, we made some good time. Marshal was wanting to make it at least to Utah before we stopped for the night, but didn't happen. It was dark by the time we arrived in Mesquite, Nevada. Found an rv park at one of the casinos for a cheap price. So parked there for the night. Mainly a asphalt parking lot with hook ups. No wi-fi in the park either.

Our thinking was to get up early enough to make some serious mileage that last day on the road. And we had good weather until we got close to Salt Lake City. About 75 miles south of the city, the snow was coming down. The road was wet, so we were okay. Our thinking was to get home around the middle of the afternoon. Well, the first wreck was south of Salt Lake and that held us up some and put us in the start of the afternoon commute. The next wreck was at Layton, between Salt Lake and Ogden. The back up was like 11 miles long. By this time, the weather had really gotten bad. The roads were slushed covered and slick. And traffic was bad. Took us about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to do like 40 miles!!! We finally got home about 8 pm that night. Both of us were pretty tired. Unloaded what we needed and that was it.

Next morning, we went to the main chore of moving snow. There was about 18 - 20 inches in the yard and about 4 inches on the sidewalks and driveway. A friend moved quite a bit, but we still had some to move. Once the snow job was done, Marshal put the motorhome in the garage and we finished unloading.

Unless we have to make an emergency trip, that motorhome is not moving out of the garage for the rest of the winter.

In a recent trip to California to visit with my DIL's family, Mason came home with this Davy Crockett hat. Doesn't he look cute????????

I have added Christmas Photos to my web albums. It is the Christmas 2008 album. Enjoy.
Mason is a ham when a camera is pointed in his direction. So he scrunches up his face for the camera. He does like to have his picture taken. And Grandma took a few pictures.

I decided to fix a supper for Christmas Eve in our motorhome for us. Went ahead and gave Mason his gifts. He really loved all, especially the police truck that I got him. This is Mason with his Shape Sorter and a football. The colors of the football are red and white. Not orange. Our stay in Hooker was so short. Was able to spend some good time with son and family and especially the grandson.

On Christmas morning, my DIL, Rachel made us breakfast. And it was very good.

I will have to take some pictures of the gift that Rachel made me. One is a tote bag with my monogram on it. She does machine embroidery and is very good at it. The other gift is a small garbage bag for my Jeep. It will hang on the vent. She does good work.

From Hooker, we made the short journey to Boise City, for a visit with friends. And it was a very good visit.

We are now on the road headed to Gilbert, to see Marshal's son and family. Spending the night in Roswell, New Mexico. The UFO capital of the world. Have never spent the night here. Only have been here one time before.

As I get the time and on line will put some pictures on my picture site for all to view.

As ya'll know I was involved in a Secret Santa exchange this Christmas. These pictures show the gifts that I received from my Secret Santa. Her name is Dinah and she does some darn good work.

Here several weeks ago, we decided that we could make a trip for this December. I wanted to spend Christmas with son, DIL, and grandson. Besides I haven't seen them for over a year. And the grandson has really grown. So we made plans to hit the road a few days before Christmas. Head to Oklahoma and spend a few days, then come home by way of Gilbert, Arizona. The closer it came to departure time, the more serious I got about watching the weather. Our plan was to travel between storms and sit out the storms. We did have a couple of days of good weather before we left and we should have left on those days, but alas, we didn't. The day we left, it was snowing, but figured the roads would be wet. Well, for the most point, they were wet with some packed snow. The freeway in Idaho wasn't all that bad, but we hit the Utah state line and the road was worst. The only places they were okay was at Brigham City and Ogden. Going through Weber Canyon, it could have been worst, but mostly with lots of slush. The closer to Evanston, Wyoming we got, the worst the roads got. Decided that we needed gas in Evanston, we left the freeway. We tend to fuel at Flying J's most of the time. Do get a penny a gallon for discount and usually they are easy in and out with the motorhome. But this one in Evanston, is a real pain for any vehicle that has some length to it. To fill up the Jeep, had to block part of the parking in front of the store. In trying to get through town, called the 511 road info number to see how the highways were ahead of us. Well, chain requirements were put into place for the stretch of road called the Three Sisters. This is three long hills east of Evanston. So we went looking for a place to park. Only one rv park that we could find, but it was closed for the season. Found the Walmart and joined the trucks parked there. It took us most of the day to make 150 miles.
Next day, we hit the road after I checked with the road info to make sure the roads were in good shape. Was making some good time, as the road was mainly clear. That is until we got to Green River, Wyoming. The highway sign was saying that the road was closed 66 miles ahead due to wind and snow. So we stopped at the KOA in Rock Springs, Wyoming. We did want to make at least Rawlins, but no way. We only traveled about 1 ½ hour that day. The wind was blowing all day long and it didn't warm up at all.
Third day of travel, wanted to really make some miles to help make up lost time due to the weather. Well, the roads were in good shape and away we went. To date, we had froze water, so were not able to take showers and wanted to find some place nice and warm. Spent the night in Greeley, Colorado with more cold weather.
Come Monday, was hoping for warmer temps, didn't find them. But found more wind. Marshal decided that we were gonna get into Hooker today, no matter what. The roads were in great shape. But we had wind all day long. Depending on what direction we traveled, it was either a cross wind or head wind. When we got to Liberal, was hoping that the wind would be somewhat at our back. Well, that would have worked, that is if the wind had stayed in the right direction, but it turned to the east and Marshal had to fight it from the opposite direction. So we were pretty tired when we finally got to Hooker.
Come Tuesday morning, I headed over to the son's to see the grandson. At first Mason was shy, but once I set up my computer and opened an email with a link to an animated card, he was my new best friend. Mason has really grown over the past year. And he is on the go most of the time. We had some interesting conversations.
Tonight is Christmas Eve. Had supper here at the Motor Home with the kids. Gave them their Christmas gifts. Mason may not understand what is going on, but he does like the gifts. I did take quite a few pictures. Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast as the kids. Will spend the morning with them. They will then go to my son's father's home for Christmas dinner. The weather today has been really nice. It has warmed up and we have been able to take showers.
Our Christmas Day was pretty nice. Spent the morning with grandson, Mason and his parents. The day was really nice weather wise. And of course, Mason was in fine form. We just sat around the motorhome and chilled out. The weather has really been really nice for December in the Oklahoma panhandle.
No pictures of the weather while we were traveling. Too busy watching the roads. At one point, wished I did have the camera and was sitting in my seat. But had to sit on the couch with the pups and only got to watch a coyote try to get some road kill off the road. Marshal could not move over due to traffic and he laid on the horn to get the coyote's attention. Finally at the last minute, the coyote ran off the road. So we managed not to kill any wildlife on our trip.

Yesterday, I heard the mailman pull up to our gate. I looked out the window and he was carrying a couple of letters and a package. Well, in that package from my Secret Santa Pal was the above pictures. The wrappings of the packages are really pretty. I love the card. I now have to wait until Christmas Eve to open the packages and see what she sent me.

I am sitting here in my brand new sweater. This is the first time I have used Homespun yarn and I sure do like it. It is nice, soft and warm. I see more sweaters in my future using this yarn. And right now, I am thinking that maybe for Christmas next year, the grandkids may need a hoodie sweater like this.
When I bought the yarn, I thought I was getting just one color, but as I worked the sweater, realized that it is more of a self striping yarn and I really like the results.
I have one skein left of the yarn and am thinking of getting another skein and make a pair of matching socks for me.

Well, I think that I am done with Christmas gifts for this year. This is the last for me to make. But that can change at any minute also. These are potholders. They are made with washcloths and crocheting edging with thread. They are fairly easy to do, just have to remember how to work in order on the edges so that the cloths will lay flat. I won't say who they are for, as that person may be able to see what part of their gift is. Several years ago, I bought one of those large packages of washcloths, like 10 for $2 or something like that. They do make nice potholders to use.

I have finished another Christmas gift. This is a sweater for my guy. His mom drives a pick up, so this should excite him pretty good. Not really my original idea though. A friend on one of my Yahoo groups gave us a link to a sweater that had a tow truck on it. And so I did some looking and figuring out, came up with my own graph for the pickup. And used the sweater pattern in the original link. On my graph paper, the truck looked pretty nice. But it has been so long since I did this type of knitting, my stitches really look bad for the tires and bumpers. I was so out of practice, but went ahead. This sweater is gonna be too big for him right now, but that is all right, he will grow into it.

Another day to fool around on. Well, I should have been doing some work around the house, but had a choice between spending the day at home working or a good part of the day on the ATV up in the hills tooling around. Guess what my choice was??????? LOL

This week we went into the foothills on the east side of town. Been up there before, so knew exactly where we were going. Took the director and our Senior Center and her husband with as she had never been there and his memories of the area are foggy. Mainly the alcoholic fog of teenage years!!!!!!!!!! Heard some good stories. We saw some real pretty country. Dry, but that is to be expected when we haven't had rain for some time. Saw quite a few hunters out looking for elk. Elk Cow season opened up today and goes to November 15th. We didn't see any. At first, it was kind of cold at times. Especially in the canyon where the sun had not made the trip yet. It did warm up later in the day, which was nice.

Only took a couple of pictures today. Bottom one is geese flying south for the winter. Was waiting on Marshal and could hear them for quite some time. It always amazes me how they know where to fly and when. Middle picture is Angel waiting to hit the road. She really loves to ride in her basket. She sits there and watches where we are going. Top picture is the ATVs and two of our riders. Front one in the orange sweatshirt is the director and the man behind her is our friend George. The other two were walking around a building where we stopped for a rest.

This may be the last ride of the season. Depends on the weather.

On my Campground Crafters group, we are involved in a Secret Santa exchange. By the end of November, we to send a card to our secret pal. Well, my Secret Santa Pal sent me this table topper instead of a card. Man, I wish I could quilt like this. I love it. It goes on my kitchen table for the season. Whoever is my Secret Santa pal does good work.

Several days ago, a few people got together and decided to go for a ride on their ATVs. We were asked to go with and decided that we could. Off we went to the mountains west of our home after breakfast. The going was kind of chilly at first, but as the day went on, it did get warmer. The snow in the above picture is from last weekend when we got some snow here at home.

On this trail, we ran into this log across the trail. Did some serious looking at moving the log, and finally decided to go around. No problem for those of us that had four wheel drive, but one member of the group does not have four wheel drive, so he had to be winched up the little hill. Coming back, he was able to climb the hill just fine.

Some of the sights we saw were 4 deer on a hillside watching us. There were hunters out as it is deer season in this part of the country. If you go to the link on the right that says My Pictures, you can see more pictures of our day. Several pictures show a couple stacks of logs that a logging company has been logging on the mountain. When I first saw the stacks, I was thinking maybe small stacks, but when we got to them, they were like 15 feet high and a good 50 feet long. Lots of logs!!!!

After lunch, we took to the trail and ended up at a dead end, so had to turn around. Which is all right. We did see lots of trails we can do some other day.

Angel had a darn good time riding in her basket. She loves going for these rides.

It is a good possibility that this is the last ride for the season as winter is here. Although if the weather holds, we could go out again.

Well, it has been cooling off here in southeast Idaho. This is me, Angel and a friend George out on the side of one of our many mountains today. What happened. Well, the gang would go out 4 wheeling on their ATVs and I would be left behind, as I didn't have one. I do prefer my Jeep for serious 4 wheeling though. Finally told Marshal that he needed to buy me an ATV so I could join the rest. So Tuesday, we went shopping. Was able to bring the new playtoy home on Thursday. And today was the first day that we were able to get out and do some trail running. The weather has been wet since Friday night. Which is all right, we are really dry and have been experiencing a drought for several years. We did run into some mud holes, which I did hit at a fast rate of speed. But most of the road was either close to dry or mud. At several points, I did have mud balls flying in all directions.

I do have to get me some more equipment before our next trip out. Mainly a helmet, a bavaclava and some thermal underwear. Once we got off the mountain and into the wind, it turned colder. Angel just buried herself down in her blanket in the basket.

They put me in the lead and let me take them any place. And I know no place that I won't go, unless there is not a ATV trail. That way we can see more country.

Hopefully we will get out next Saturday, but it is deer season, so may not go out.

This is one of many pictures that I took from our recent trip. Click on http://picasaweb.google.co/loutuller and it will take you to my albums with Google. There you will find more pictures from this trip. Plus other trips and memories.

We have spent all summer home this year due to doctor appointments and gas prices. So we were finally able to get away for Marshal to do some fishing and me just to get away. We decided to go to Cub River south of Preston, Idaho for several days. There is a National Forest campground there and in previous years, some darn good fishing. Marshal decided on Saturday the 13th for us to hit the road on the 14th. So I had one day to get the stuff into the motorhome. I was pushed for time, but as we was not gonna be in a hurry the next day to hit the road, I was able to get what we needed loaded.

Was able to make the 52 mile trip just fine with no problems. Arriving on a Sunday, figured that most of the campground would be empty. And that is how we found the campground. Most everyone had already left, leaving very few still there. And most of them left after our arrival.

The weather was pretty good, even though it is autumn. The nights did get cold, but having enough bedding on the bed helped. Plus a good furnace in the motorhome. Days were really nice. Layering clothes was the best way to dress for the days.

The leaves on the oak trees were shades of reddish orange and a lot of them have changed. The aspen were just beginning to change to yellow. And very few aspen were even starting to change. But there still lots of colors. The willows along the river were just also starting to change to yellow. I am sure that the rest of the month will see more drastic changes.

On Monday, Marshal told me that I could take the ATV and go riding while either he was fishing or resting. So I opted to take it while he was resting and go for a ride. Also, Angel wanted to do some riding. We had seen a new trail the Forest Service had graded by the river and up over the mountain. So guess where I went??? Yuppers, away Angel and I went with the camera for pictures. The trail would have made a good Jeep trail if it had been wide enough. If I manage to go more than 5 miles an hour in spots, I was making good time. Most of the time it was much slower than that. And in several places, I had to go down to low gear and 4 wheel drive to get through the bad places. I was in seventh heaven to be able to do some 4 wheeling!!! We both had a good time doing it. After a couple of hours, I was just guessing the time, I figured that we better head back to the motorhome. We could have kept going on the trail, but decided that Marshal might be freaking out if we were gone too long. But I made the decision that when we go back to Cub River, we will do more exploring on those trails. Didn't see any wildlife, unless you count the cattle.

Marshal fished most of the time, but he only managed to catch 3 fish for two days. Always before, he would catch his limit for the day. There just wasn't any fish to catch. I think that it had been fished pretty hard that weekend and that most of the fish were gone.

We did some discussing on Monday night about staying longer. Decided that it really wasn't worth it as he wasn't catching fish. So decided to leave the next morning and go to Deep Creek reservoir close to home. After arriving at Deep Creek, really couldn't find a place that we could even get the motorhome close to level. So went onto Devil Creek. Found one site that could work, but since we were so close to home, just came home a day early.

At least we did get away for a couple of days. Can't wait until we get away again, even though it may be next spring.

One of my ongoing projects is making a set of books with the alphabet, numbers, colors, and a busy book for the two youngest grandchildren and one of the great grandsons. So far I have finished up with the alphabet books and now am working on the number books. I am doing the books with plastic canvas and yarn. They are pretty durable books. Each page is pretty simple and can take some time in stitching, but they can work up quickly if I don't have to put them down. And on our recent trip, I took this particular book with me to work on. I had completed all the pages and was working on the bag that holds the book.
What I will do is give two books to the first granddaughter that turns 3 next August and the great grandson will turn 3 in November. They will then receive the last two books in the set at Christmas time. So this takes care of their birthdays and Christmas for next year.

I made a set of the books for one granddaughter several years ago for her 3rd birthday and the following Christmas or vice versa. She loved them.

Here awhile back this pattern was a free daily pattern at Annie's Attic. I fell in love with the pattern started thinking about how this would make a perfect birthday gift for one of the granddaughters. I am sure she will fall in love with it. And the colors will go perfectly in her bedroom. I do believe that if she can keep her little sister's hands off of it, I will have to make one for her also. I used double strands and it went quickly. I didn't have to have it ready until March of next year, so that is one birthday down for next year.

Yes, another project done with. I have all this left over lavender thread in my stash and decided that I wanted to work a pineapple doily with it. So here it is. This doily was designed by Priscilla Hewitt and is a free pattern on the internet. I love pineapple doilies and had made quite a few over the years. I have a plastic storage crate that is almost empty. I have a few doilies in there for gifts when needed. My thoughts are to fill this crate with all kinds of doilies. That way I would have lots of gifts when needed or to use through out the house.

I have been told that my great grandmother would be proud of my work. Well, she is a hero of mine. She lived to be 93 years old. And she crocheted with thread until her death, even though she had trouble seeing. For my marriage to my first husband, she crocheted a thread edging on a towel. Which I do have in my cedar chest to hand down to my son. Most times she would make her great grandchildren tired just trying to keep up with her. She was 16 when she had my grandmother and was bringing children into this world for the next 28 years. There for awhile, she and my grandmother were having children the same years, just months apart. And my great grandmother took care of my father's family when my grandmother couldn't. So she helped to raise my dad's family.

Marshal came to me today and says, he and a friend are headed to the mountains on the ATVs. And was I staying at home???? He finally decided that maybe he better find out if I wanted to go with. Good thing!!! So we went after the friend, loaded up Angel in the basket and off we went. Marshal decided that he wanted to go to a small place south of us called Cherry Cheek. At one time there was a small community there, but as time has gone by, most residents have moved to town or some place else. There is an old cemetery still there and he wanted to visit the cemetery. We both like checking out the old tombstones. And I make sure that I have my camera with, so that if a name stands out, or a possible genealogical connection, I have the picture.

We wanted to go down the frontage road along side the freeway to Cherry Creek. Well, that didn't work out, as we found a very locked gate. So backtracked several miles to Two Mile Canyon road and headed back over the mountain. We have been on Two Mile Canyon several times in the past and it is a nice drive. From Two Mile Canyon, we took the Ridge Road to the turn off for Mud Springs, Cold Springs and Cherry Cheek. Having never been down that road, I went slow. Good thing. In several spots it was rough, even for the ATV. Finally after going back over the mountain, we arrived at the Cherry Creek cemetery. Saw some interesting tombstones that were quite old. One, not real sure on this one, but the man was buried with a wife on each side. Possible that he had both of those wives at the same time.

While at the cemetery, I took these pictures of Angel in the basket. The blanket is for padding and to help keep the wind out of her face, if she would use it for that. Plus we are able to put our water and the camera in there with her.

After being gone for several hours, we finally got back home. It was an enjoyable ride.