Ayden Tyler Thomas Schaffer

Here is Ayden with his mommy and daddy.
Also a picture of Grandpa Galen. He has waited to hold any baby until he had his first grandchild. Way to go Galen. No one sent me a picture with his Grandma Kim.

Ayden Tyler Thomas Schaffer

We don't have a picture yet but we became great grandparents this afternoon. Nathan & Tamara had their little boy 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 inches long. Tho we aren't quite old enough to be great grandparents we will gladly welcome him.
Grandparents are Kim & Galen Schaffer.
Ayden makes Ron's parents great great grandparents for the first time.
Congrats Nathan & Tamara.

Finally feeling better

I think I finally am feeling good again. After two days of dentist appointments for Kristi & I we were glad to stay home today. Kristi worked on doing some puzzles and enjoying some dill sunflower seeds I found yesterday. She loves sunflower seeds.
Dentist for her wasn't so good. We will have two return visits next month for fillings. Thankfully they are small ones. Hope the weather cooperates for her return visit.
Tomorrow a day of Christmas shopping and she will get to spend the day at Sandy's which she hasn't been to for awhile. I will be able to accomplish more with her at the day care.
Kristi and I don't moved very fast together. Kristi loves to look at all the goodies on the shelves and we make a lot more stops to the restroom.

Landen update

Patrick & Amber found out that their family physician wants Landen to see a peds orthopedic dr. He will go Tuesday and then hopefully the arm will be cast. Both bones did break. Splint has to be worn all the time until he sees the doctor.

Picture of break

Broken Arm

Patrick & Amber came home from a vacation with her family and Landen went to the playroom to play.
He came out crying and after a trip to the ER, a followup that will be today and then return next week for a cast.
I think is was very stressful on Mom & Dad but Landen is doing much better after the sedation and setting it. Hopefully Amber will find out if it was one or two bones. But we are thankful that the break was a clean one.

Laurie

Peggy,
Hope do I get to Laurie's blog. I found her but there is no link.
Also do you have an email?
Thanks
Vicki

Schaffer household

Well I have continued to be sick since Thanksgiving. I am hoping after the trip to the doctor yesterday that an improvement will come.
So thankful to read that Becca, Clint and family made their travels to CA safely and are on another chapter of their lives. Now family will be traveling to CA to visit them and what a nice place to visit compared to th 5* we have here in IL.
A few weeks ago a place had apples bogo free. I couldn't ignore that offer though you don't always know what the future holds. So I got the apples and got sick. I am thankful I only got a total of two bushels. I decided that these would be canned as chunks to eat instead of applesauce. Ron enjoys something cold with his meal so I can switch off between the two. I have a half of bushel left. I have 38 qts of chuck apples and will get about another 8 qts from the last bag. You know things just take longer when you don't feel well. I will be thankful to get that last batch completed.

Sickness

IF your are sick stay home adult or child alike, especially if the are running a fever. Last Sunday I sat near someone that was sick, finding out later that they also had a temp. Well I don't fight illness off that well. Thanksgiving I came down not feeling well but Friday evening I had a fever and can't seem to shake it. I feel so achy, with cold chills and a runny nose. I only pray that Kristi and Ron don't get it.
Please during this time with the flu and H1N1 have consideration for others.

Trips

Well my honey is already thinking of his plans for next year. January may be a busy month for him. He may be heading to Texas for a work team that is going on then. One of the brothers he worked with in Biloxi called him the other night and asked him to go down there the first week of January. They will be in touch as the time nears but he may enjoy some warmer weather while helping out those that lost their homes in a fire this past spring.
He also will be attending a meeting in January for one of the companies we work with. Another training session to hopefully help us during the slow economical times.
Hopefully that trip will be rewarding as I know if he gets to go to Texas it is always rewarding to know that you are helping those in need.
Our prayers are with all the families that were hit with a struggles in the past years. It doesn't have to be a flood, fire or tornado. The struggles can be felt in families that have lost loved ones or are just struggling with problems within the family. May they remember that God is always faithful and though we sometimes forget, he doesn't give us more than we can handle. We just need to remember that God is in control and that we should bring not only our concerns but those many things we are thankful to HIM!
Our prayer that all out there have a safe Thanksgiving and safe travels for those that will be on the road.
May God go with you!

Weather

We are getting more and more rain this fall. The farmers still have a lot of their crops in the field and the weather is dampening our guys at work too. Ground is too wet for them to work with what we have ahead of us.
Our lovely daughter is going to kill her Mother. This morning while I was doing some baking she did one of her famous backbends. Of course I wasn't aware she was doing it until I heard a couple of thuds. The first one was of her hitting her rear on the kitchen floor and the second was of her head hitting the floor. She put herself into a minor focal seizure and then laid there holding her head. If only she would remember what causes the pain.
God has to be watching out for her or she would be doing some serious damage.

Having fun putting together the scrapbook pages to be added to our other vacations. This time we will show the pages instead of doing a video from the computer for others to see. I always enjoying putting the pages together and making a time table of our travels. I have to say I am no where as good as Amber & her Mom does but enjoy it all the same. It is exciting to get the pictures printed and relive the memories of the trip.

Have a very nice visit with Mom Gee.

She had a wonderful supper, baked fish, baked potatoes, pork n beans & boston cream pie, all Yummy!

The pueblo picture is a miniture that Mom made, she has lots of minitures as she does quilting also. The items are beautiful.

Kristi & Mom in the living room, I told her maybe she should of sat on Kristi's lap.

Also got to meet the new puppies since our last visit in 2001, Chase and Amber. These two babies were very friendly, tho they aren't really babies anymore. Chase is quite large.

Our trip started on October 30th where we flew to Las Vegas and drove down to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. On the 31st I dropped Ron & Gerry off to start their hike down. Kristi and I then drove down to Wickenburg AZ to see Mom and then to Peoria for our night of sleep (what is that)? Kristi did not do very well most nights. Nov 1st we went to eat early at Denny's then on to visit a friend of my Mothers and then we met my brother Greg for a yummy lunch at Red Lobster. I am really thankful for our new GPS system, Kristi doesn't help much for directions. We left and went back to see Greg's daughter Tiff and her daughter Breanna. We visited with Greg at his house for awhile before we got back on the road to drive to Flagstaff for the night. Nov 2nd we left early and drove to Zion's National Park to meet up with Patrick, Amber, Alyssa & Landen. We arrived there after a lovely but long drive and got a phone call from my wonderful husband. The phone call was from the bottom of the Grand Canyon and between two short calls ($50.) total I found out I need to head back to the south rim to pick them up the next morning. The kids and I were able to have supper and breakfast together and some down time. I left them at the park at 10:30 and we were headed back to Flagstaff for the night. Wednesday morning we left a little later than normal but made it to the canyon about the same time Ron & Gerry made it out of the canyon. A pit stop for the restroom and we were in the car driving again. I finally found them at the Bright Angel Lodge.
They both got up at a good time in the morning so we had the day to relax for them to eat and drink all they wanted.
Accomodations at the Best Western Squire Inn were really nice but staying at the lodging near the canyon is much more expensive.
We were up and on the road the next morning to head back to Vegas to stay the night and fly home on Friday.
We stopped for breakfast Thursday morning in Williams at Goldie's Route 66 restaurant where Ron and the guys ate breakfast on their March 2008 trip. The atmosphere and food were wonderful. The guys continued to fill their stomaches as they were very hungry after hiking the canyon.
We were able to see the work completed on the new road that will bypass the Hoover Dam. They stop all the vehicles before crossing and doing search of some.
Arrived early in Vegas so Kristi & I stayed at the hotel while Ron & Gerry returned the car. We just walked to another hotel to eat that evening.
We made it to Midway and landed but it took two attempts and not much runway left when we came to a stop.
Enjoyed the trip and Ron is looking forward to doing his rim to rim as he wasn't able to this time. His mind is also thinking upon the mountains of Colorado.

Ater the Hike @ Mather's Point

The new bridge that will bypass Hoover Dam.

One last look at the two of the hikers that hadn't shaved. The didn't look any worse for the wear but they sure looked as tho they'd been roughing it for awhile.

Great job Ron & Gerry!

Glad to have you home!

Beautiful view of Zion's Canyon mountains and the sunset on the mountains was spectacular.

The picture of Patrick, Amber, & Kristi is just outside the back of the lodge we stayed in.

We had lovely weather.

Meeting up with the kids

Though we had a short visit with Patrick, Amber, Alyssa & Landen we made good use of our time. Ron called shortly after we arrived and told me that they would be traveling up the south rim instead of the north. Kristi & I were able to visit and have supper and breakfast with the kids. Made some good memories but like always very hard to say goodbye.

Kristi was in front of Zion's Lodge located in the park. I thought this was where our reservations were but I was wrong. We headed out the west side of the park to a Best Western Zion's Park Inn.

Greg & Kristi

Greg treated Kristi & I to lunch at Red Lobster, YUMMY!

We stopped to see Tiff and then on to his house before heading back north to Flagstaff. Bro you looked great. Hope it isn't another 4 years before we see you.

I wish it was you that sent the two Harley guys to check on me. I still can't figure out what they were doing. Any way Kristi & I made it safe from Wickenburg and the Grand Canyon to visit.

Tiff & Breanna

Tiff wasn't feeling the best when this was taken but she and Breanna both looked great.

What a beautiful sunrise in the canyon. This is one of the breath taking views you can experience while in the bottom of the canyon

Morning of Grand Canyon Hike

Ron & Gerry are getting ready for their big day of hiking down to Bright Angel Trail. Their trip starts October 31st Gerry's birthday and ends on November 4th.

I just love pictures of old buildings I thought of Tricia & Gary's cabin when I saw these. It is not that their cabin looks like this at all but she has some old rustic pictures on the walls

Canning

Picked up 6 bushels of apples to do applesauce for our family, 3 bushel for Dutch & Kelli and 2 for one of my sister-in-laws. In 2-1/2 days I got our 6 bushels completed for a total of 105 quarts. Seems like an accomplishement once done.
Worked with Dutch & Kelli here at the house on theirs but only did two and they got 35qts. One bushel is being saved for Kelli to make apple pie filling, cinnamon apples & vanilla bean apples, Yummy.
Will make one more trip to Arthur to pick up some items & left and get some apples for eating. Their acorn & speghetti squash is yummy too!
Can't wait to help Amber with her's too.

Crop Duster

Schaffer Family