~ Charlie's First Snow ~

Snow?

Out There?

It's Kind Of Cold On My Feet!

Wheeeeee!!!

When Can I Play Again?

OK..... so I used to laugh when people went dog crazy..... I guess I'm one of them now. This was fun to watch this morning.....

~ Introducing.... Charlie ~

Or should the intro say..... "I must be crazy!"

It's So Embarrassing! They're Making Me Wear Pink!! I Didn't Know That This Would Happen If I Chewed Up The Blue Collar!

I Guess It Matches My Pink Eyes and Nose...

Stephanie Thought A Bath Would Be Nice...

What a weird week at the Wood house we've had!! I finally came out of my Pug frenzy from last month. I thought that Pugs were so cute and adorable. I even made some phone calls thinking that a Pug would be such a fun play companion for Cosmo. I took Cosmo to a home here in the neighborhood that had two Pugs. What an awesome and eye opening experience! They would NOT stop barking at him. He hid behind my legs and shook. It was a shrill and nasty little sound. I knew I was cured.

I finally realized that having two dogs was a crazy and insane idea. Yes others had done it and were doing fine. My friend Vicki's dogs play so well with each other but that was just fine. What was I thinking anyway? Besides, we are going to be empty nesters soon. Why should I refill it with dogs? AND THEN........

Stephanie's friend, Meghan, comes over with Charlie. He's a White Boxer. Her father is making her get rid of him because it seems that he likes the neighbor's chickens a little too much, which I find amazing because he is terrified of my cat. According to Meghan, it was either the Humane Society or a bullet. (Yes, he's serious!)

So tomorrow Charlie will become a Charl-it. And hopefully he will follow Stephanie to college this fall? (yeah right...)

Can It Get Any Better Than This Charlie?

Simple Praise....

www.lorenz.com/Med/Sample/10_3346L.mp3

This song will not leave my head!!! We sang this for choir in church on Sunday. It says it all! If you copy and paste this link into a new browser and read these words at the same time you too can have this stuck in your mind.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
For a canvas of colors, for a concert of sound; for the unfolding seasons the earth spinning round.

For the birth of each sunrise, for the sky set ablaze; for these simple gifts, we give simple praise.

Simple praise for the Giver, and thanks to the One who has given us breath and given His Son.

To the Giver of blessings for all of our days, for these simple gifts, we give simple praise.

For the love of a mother, for the touch of a hand. For the deeper emotions we can't understand. For the lessons we learn from the trials we face. For these simple gifts, we give simple praise.

The heart of the giver, the hand of the One from whom every blessing of living has come. For measure has mercy, unlimitless grace. For these simple gifts we give simple grace.

For a canvas of colors, a concert of sound; for the unfolding seasons, the earth spinning round. For the birth of each sunrise, for the sky set ablaze; for these simple gifts, we give simple praise.

Simple praise for the Giver, and thanks to the One, who has given us breath and given His Son.

To the Giver of blessings for all of our days, our days, for these simple gifts, we give simple praise. For these simple gifts, we give simple praise.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And how could I have said it better?

For the love of my family, and good friends......

Love,

Trudy

~ August 15th ~ May I Present, Gary Wood! Happy 50th! We Love You! ~

What a Fun Celebration! Of course Gary hadn't said much through the week and was actually thinking it would be nice if he could slither through it without notice but we all had other plans for him on his day. First of all he was met at work with posters throughout his building and on his cubicle. (Above and below) It made for a fun day though :)

Yes he said I was in trouble when he got home but he really did have some great fun because of it. Of course there are plenty more photos to share. This one is fun because he looks
just like Ryan.

Last night we had two other couples over that we've known the longest in Boise. We've known Jane and Jack since early Foodways/Ore-Ida days and Mike and Gloria through early Hewlett-Packard days. The first time they met each other was at my birthday party in November. (This tells you how often we host parties.) It was fun to get together in a smaller setting and have fun. Later our good friends, Dean and Vicki came over. It was fun to listen to all of the conversations at once.

This is the template that I used for his collage.... it might be easier to see in this format. It really turned out nice.

This is a picture of the actual collage as it came from "Snapfish"....

And Again..... Happy 50th Gary :)

Love,

Trudy

~ Belated Happy 50th Dean ~

Oh my..... it's kind of a blur. I would have posted this on the 4th of July when our neighbor and good friend Dean turned 50. It was one of those Fridays where things fly by and best intentions for blogging are put aside. There was a fun family BBQ at a friend's house and the usual 4th of July fun. We were hoping to swim and BBQ Sunday night at home with Dean and Vicki.

On July 5th Dean had his heart attack. By the 9th he was having triple bypass surgery. As I'm sitting here and looking at the calendar, I can't believe that it's the 17th and I'm still speechless and even blogless. There has been a coming together of neighbors and friends that is humbling. And there have been many prayers from many denominations of religion. Thankfully he is home now, but it's going to be a long road back. It's so hard to see anyone go through this. Thank God he is still here.

On a positive note, there is this giant ripple affect. Everyone is not only humbled, but looking inward. Suddenly cholesterol numbers are being discussed and carbohydrate counts and food points and protein versus carbs, etc. It almost makes you want to scream!!! And yes... I've fallen into it to. ARGH!!!! We'll see where this little journey takes all of us....

Merely a month ago you were dancing with your beautiful daughter Julie at her wedding..... as you will be in a few years for Hayden and Jeni.

We Love You Dean!! We're all looking to be fit at 50 with you!!!

~ Laugh Often ~ Love Much ~ Live Well ~

We did all of these this weekend! My face hurts and my sides are sore from the laughter!

Thank you Classmates.com.
We've been looking for Judy for years :)

Kaye Ashcroft Black, Trudy Jones Wood, Judy Woodside,
and Terri Aylward Leach

Dinner at Buddy's- Mmmm!
Terri, Judy, Monty and Kaye, Bob Prestwich and daughter, and Trudy

Kaye Black - Judy Woodside - Terri Leach - Trudy Wood

This is the year we all turned or are turning (sounds a lil' fruity.... ) 50 years old. As a special surprise to Terri from her awesome husband Randy we all met in Salt Lake. I drove to Pocatello Friday morning to pick up Kaye. We got to Salt Lake that afternoon as Judy was getting off of the plane from Phoenix, Arizona. Then Terri's plane came in 15 minutes later from Corvallis, Oregon. We have not been together in at least 28 years. Yup.... there was lots of screaming and laughing and hugging!!! We drove back through Lava and had dinner for old times sake, then on to Pocatello. Judy and Terri haven't been in Pocatello in 29 years.

What a blast we had this weekend!!! Kaye showed us all of the old sites. We ate at Buddy's. We dragged Yellowstone. We laughed until our sides hurt. We were as wild and crazy as we dared to be for our age. It was all good!

This is in tribute to the one who made it happen... I guess you can figure out which toes are which? Or not....

Well I guess some of us did things that may have been a little out of character for their normal selves. There's supposed to be a treble cleff in there.... Yikes!!

Yellow Roses are nice anywhere, anytime...

OK so..... not all of us. This one is a tatoo wannabe. Oh well.

We hugged Kaye and Monty goodbye.... and drove back to Boise for Terri and Judy's flights home on Monday back to Corvallis and Phoenix. It was all over too fast.... and we vowed to do this again. Maybe without the ink though... LOL!!

Friends Forever

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a good summary of the weekend...... these 3 plaques are hanging in my kitchen and I came across them today with fresh eyes:

Love Much
Love as if each day might be your last.
Let love be your foundation for life.
Love without conditions or expectations...
Listen to your heart.

Laugh Often
Go through your days with a smile in your heart
Let you cheeks ache from laughter.
Let your belly tickle from the joy of good chuckle.

Live Well
Live your life knowing that you are writing a story,
one the when retold, will be full of laughter and love.
The story of a life lived well.

Keri Lyn Shosted

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I couldn't have said it better myself.
Amen!

~ Happy Birthday Dear Brent ~

Or is that Dear Brent, Happy Birthday!!! But then it wouldn't sound like a song.....

50 Years Ago With Baby Sister, Trudy. . .

Even More of a Faded Photograph 34ish years ago...
But Not Memory :)

39 Years Ago With A Baby of His Own!
(Photo compliments of Katie, "The Scrapbook Lady" Also pictured below... )

Last Year.. We were in Las Vegas at the Same Time. . .

Another "Stolen" Blog Picture That Has Become One of my Favorites!!!

And ANOTHER Stolen Picture. . . I'm REALLY Busted Now!!!
Thank You Katie and Kathy?

Another year has flown by and time is speeding up!! What a year it's been! I can't let the day get away from me without total and complete recognition of this 62nd birthday.

His daughter, Katie, (Pictured above) put together a beautiful scrapbook for the Jones Family and asked each of us to write something about each member of our family. I would love to share this with you again today in honor of my brother and friend, Brent.

Excerpt from the "Book of Joneses"

"I remember thinking as a little kid that when I heard the phrase "tall dark and handsome" that was my big brother Brent. When he got married and moved to California I was sad. I remember getting letters in the mail that just said "Hi". It made me feel so important! One of his letters came when I was about 11. It was a fun little letter on the importance of becoming an Aunt. I strutted for weeks!

He has accomplished much in his life and has such a beautiful family. Mom and Dad were always very proud. I have admired that his faith and accomplishments were from his own hard work and study. He never believed anything just on faith. He worked to understand; something I never did enough of. "

I wrote this 6 years ago and it still applies today. Brent, Happy Birthday!!! You are STILL one of my heroes!!

Love Forever,

Trudy

~ Father's Day, 2008 ~

OK... the day is getting by me here and it's taking way too long to get this posted. Anyone that knows me knows that when it comes to Fathers I was blessed with simply the best. That's my view and I'm sure it's correct. I was also blessed to marry a pretty amazing guy that turned out to be "another one of the best".

The first Father's Day after my Dad passed away was probably the hardest one I ever faced. I remember wanting to crawl into a hole, but that couldn't happen. There are still fathers to be honored and celebrated, especially Gary. Each Father's day I stop and reflect again what a great man Dad was.

This past year my kids (almost young adults.... but not yet) have wanted different privileges that we have had to have family discussions about. I was touched and appreciative when Gary used my father as an example of honor and what is "right". Gary's response on some questionable requests has been "Would you think Grandpa would approve of that? If he were sitting right here, what do you think he would say?" And to me it's, "Would this pass the Merlin test?" It is my dear husband, the father of my kids, that uses my Dad as his compass example. For that I am so grateful....


So here's to the fathers in our lives and all that they stand for. It's a hard world right now to raise kids in. It's an honor to know that there are those that will stand up for what's right.

Happy Father's Day......

~And.... Here Comes the Bride - Three of Three ~

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Drew and Julie Visser !

May 31st, 2008

Julie And Drew's First Dance

Julie and her Dad, Dean

Our Good Friends, Dean and Vicki Hess... Parents of the Bride...

Whew..... 3 weddings in three weeks..... young love.... it must be spring ~

Here Comes the Bride - Two of Three!!! ~

Princess Brandie...... Mrs. Stephen Hill...

And what can I say about such a pretty picture? Dear Brandie made Aunt Trudy cry just a little bit. I returned from Georgia Monday afternoon..... it was a very good experience for me to share with my young adult children. I truly found out how amazing they were by watching from the sidelines how they interacted with family that they, in the beginning, didn't really know very well, Although, Stephanie came to Georgia with me in March of 2004 for a previous wedding. She was merely 13 then. This was different. Ryan is 19 and Stephanie is 17. They are the youngest of the Jones family that was there from this generation. Hmmm......

OK there had to be one in here with the three of us....

The wedding was, beautiful!!!! In perfect Jones style. Stephen and Brandie honored their families as well as their friends.

Yeah.... this is the one..... this was part of the candle-lighting ceremony...... It was beautiful.

There was a pause when the DJ announced "the father's dance". Stephen's Dad stepped out and took Brandie's hand. There weren't many dry eyes.

Stephen with his Mom

Anna Marie and Brandie

There was a true blending of families that would take many blogs to document and understand. Just know that this was a marriage that was awesome and weirdly Karmic...... Stephen's family is a joy, as is Stephen. And God is still smiling..... I wish I'd actually taken more pictures..... From left to right is Stephen's Mom and his three Aunts. This was taken at the bridal tea.

Alyssa is almost a professional flower girl... and Natalie is Dave and Cindy's Granddaughter :) ....Beautiful Young Ladies....

And then there are those Joneses..... near and dear to my heart:

Here's to "Happily Ever After"...

And they drove off into the night.....