Groneman Family

Buff will be in town and it would be nice to play with the other Utah based family while she's here. Games and food between sessions on Saturday. Who's in?

1. The roundest knight at king Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi. 2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian. 3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still. 4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption. 5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work. 6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery. 7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering. 8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart. 9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie. 10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. 11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it. 12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization. 13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat sa...

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For those of you who just weren't thinking and missed the two hour opening of Survivor Gabon, lucky for you - you can watch it online with limited commercials. I knew you needed this information. Is anyone else watching Survivor but your mom & I? The first person to get voted off really deserved it. The second to get voted off didn't deserve it but was the logical choice.

Last night Benjamin and I were reading Alma 32, and I was doing my best to explain the whole faith is like a seed thing. I thought I was doing pretty well until Benjamin stopped me a couple of verses from the end and said, "Wait, Mom. So what it's saying is that if I have a plant growing inside of me, all I have to do is drink a lot of water?"

Our semi-sporadic in-case-you-care update: 1. Lyida has turned out to be quite the fuss-bucket lately. She doesn't like to do much of anything and cries quite a bit. Everyone seems to have advice on the subject, but nothing seems to work. Hopefully she will grown out of it soon. 2. Steve's school break is over as of today and Steve goes back to school tomorrow. No fun. 3. Kiera now knows all of her shapes, colors, and the letters one through nine (except 4). We are now working on letters. She refers to Lydia as "yidya" and is doing ok without her blankie (we confiscated it earlier this week). Kiera is afraid of snow, sand, bubbles (bubblebath), and new shoes. 4. Life has become quite busy for me trying to keep my toddler entertained while carrying around my crying infant. But this too shall pass. I set up my autumn decor today-- I love fall colors and I miss Utah this time of year!

NOW HEAR THIS!! This is to announce officially, that the Gramps and Grandma Groneman will be spending Christmas with the Dastrups, Nelsons, and Breanna in Albuquerque this year! That is if the Dastrups don't decide to run away first! It will be so fun to share our Christmas this year with 3 of our kids, and all of our Grandkids! Actually, I guess we will be missing out on our newest edition of Chad's and Erica's, but hopefully I get to love on that little dolly before I go south. I am excited for Christmas this year!!! It is gonna be great! It would be even more fun if our boys and their sweet wives could join us, but hey, since they will be with the girls families this year, that means we will get to anticipate enjoying them in Christmas of 2009! Life is GOOD!!!

I love getting letters from Benjamin. The last one was on the back of the envelope. All these sea monsters are scaring me!

Here I am sitting at home feeling sorry for myself that I am not able to be at the Relief Society General Meeting broadcast right now like most women because my husband has been working since before I got up this morning. And he will work all night and into tomorrow morning as well. I feel sorry for Brigham, too, but I feel sorry for him so much that I'm almost used to it. After watching all of the families at Benjamin's soccer game having a good Saturday together while I wrestled Jacob alone and could therefore barely watch the game, I decided to throw myself a big pity party. You are all hereby invited. Gifts are welcome.

Another 300+ mile trip. Click here for the picture album. We had a blast. We started in Panguitch this time and spent nights in different places in cabins/motels. 5 days of fun. It was the most wildlife full ATV trip I've been on. I turned one corner and a Golden Eagle was in the road and took off right in front of me with it's 6 foot wing span. At another spot a Coyote ran out in front of me. Various chipmonks and rabbits tried to commit suicide by playing chicken with me. The wildlife highlight of my trip was when I rounded a turn and came across three black bears in the middle of the road. I slammed on my brakes but luckily they were as scared of me as I was of them and they took off. I quit counting the deer I saw. The scenery was just like Bryce canyon but more remote and only one place had a fence. It was beautiful. We went with some neighbors of ours and with a gal that works for me & her husband. (3 couples). We learned a new card game called Golf which is pretty f...

We were introduced to the niftiest little beach yesterday and we went as a family with some friends. the beach was very small and encompassed by rocks. It had tide pools with creatures in them, and the water was clear so you could see around you. Our friends were snorkeling right off shore and said you could see a few lobster and a sea lion. All sorts of fun things washed up on shore, and since the beach wasn't heavily populated we got to find them: seashells, a coconut, a lobster head, etc.. Kiera wasn't nearly as mad about the sand this time, but she did prefer to hang out on the blanket. She got very upset and concerned when Steve went swimming (I wonder if she would care if I went swimming....probably not... she is always concerned about daddy's safety). Lydia slept in the stroller the entire time so a good time was had by all.

It was a great trip-- even though Jacob had an allergic reaction to something, got a nasty stomach virus, and picked up a cold. We wished we could have stayed longer, but it's nice to be back in our 4 bedroom house again!

Erica is trying to set up a gmail account today. She sent me an email stating that "egroneman" was taken. I seem to remember reserving that for her before we were married. So, I got in, reset the password, did some other things, and sent her this reply: I thought I had reserved that for you a while back. So I tried to get into it, but I had forgot the password. I went into the "Forgot my password" thing and it asked me for my dog's name. I didn't remember ever selecting that as a question, but I put in " (our dog's name - edited this so some random person won't read this and do exactly what I did)". Done. Password reset. I went into the account and saw a whole bunch of mail, and thought to myself, "Dang. This account is getting a ton of spam." But then I noticed it wasn't spam, and most items had already been read recently. I saw emails from Joey Groneman and Graham Groneman, and realized I had busted into the wro...

I just got the rundown on the phone from both the Nelsons and the Dastrups about their trip to California. The Dastrups are stopped in Flagstaff Arizona for the night, and I know that CK is planning on putting pictures of their trip on the blog soon as she can get to it. It sounds like they had a really good time, in spite of some challenges, which I will leave them to tell ya'll. SO, sounds like Cambrie and Steve plan on going to Albuquerque for Christmas (as long as we are there too). BJ is game, so I am wondering if any of the rest of you young marrieds would be able to join us? I realize that work issue/new baby may be an issue. Cambrie is of the opinion that it is a good time to travel when babies are new cause they sleep the whole trip. I realize that you would have to see what things are like when your baby arrives Erica and Chad, but I am wondering if you and the Brett Groneman family would want to go to Albuquerque for Christmas...and if the Dastrups would move out ...

Just a reminder that Marilyn and I will be putting around the mountains around Panguitch, Hatch, and Bryce Canyon on our ATVs for a few days. Leaving Monday AM returning Friday PM. May the Force be with you. Tuesday and Wednesday we'll be at 435-735-4300 Mountain Ridge Motel. Thursday we'll be at Harold's Place 435-676-2350. I'll have my cell phone with me in case we do get service down there.

Katie and I decided that we're going to try to every now and then spend a little more than usual money on dates and do something that we'll remember. That's what we did yesterday. This may be a little unusual for most of your Friday afternoon/evenings, and for some of you not in a medical or other related profession where you have to take at least an anatomy class, this may be extremely bizarre, but I for one thought it was fascinating. It's called Body Worlds and it's up at the Salt Lake Library right now (actually, a little building next to and probably affiliated with the library) called The Leonardo. The exhibit is the actual bodies of people that have agreed -- presumably before they die -- to donate their dead body to Body Worlds for their method of education and learning for the public and bla bla bla ... you can read about it . If you can stomach such things, it's a fascinating view into how the human body works that you (again, presumably) normall...

Here's a great site to track election polls at a national and state level

This is hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URIypadX3n0

Crab dinner at the Nelsons house.

Church evacuates all missionaries from Bolivia After you finish reading that, you can play with a big spider .

Just a quick note of "something to consider" for Brett/Breanna . I talked to a nurse in the endoscopy dept and she said she loves her job even though people make jokes about it. She works from 5am to 2pm, monday through friday, NEVER is on call, NEVER works holidays or weekends. Sounds like a sweet schedule for a nurse.

So, in a big surprise to both Kim and I last Monday, Kim figured out that he has lost 25 lbs in the last 6 months, without trying to. One wouldn't think that you could drop that much weight without either of us knowing it. The only reason he discovered it was because of the Wii Fit that we have. the little skoogie thing that you stand on for some of the activities, has a scale built into it and it weighed Kim at 240 lbs. Kim thought, "That can't be right...the last time I got on our scales I weighed 265!" So he weighed himself on our scales, and he is at 238. Well, as nice as a surprize as that was, the red flag went up immediately for me. With his family history of cancer , I told him it was time to see a DR, so I called the Dr and Kim made an appt. They did bloodwork, which was fine, and today he went in for a colonoscopy. He did have one polup that the Dr removed, and he also has some Diverticulosis. The Dr sent the polup to the lab to be analized...but ...

I've done it. I had a colonoscopy this morning and have proven unconditionally that, contrary to what Marilyn believes, my head is not up there.

EXCUSE ME, BUT THE NEXT BIG EVENT IN OUR FAMILY COUNTDOWN SHOULD BE CHAD AND ERICA'S BABY'S BIRTH, NOT CHRISTMAS!

I went over to mom's yesterday to be with her while my dad went to the West's to watch BYU tromple all over UCLA. I got to surprize her 3 times in one day with my visit! She was surprized and so pleased to see me when I first arrived, and then I went out in the garden to pick 2 bushels of peaches that needed to be picked ( or else they would drop B4 monday), and then I came back into the yard and she was pleased all over again that I had come to see her, and then I cleaned in the house for awhile and then went back into the garden to pick the raspberries for them, and yes, she was just as thrilled when I came back again that I had come to see her for a visit! They are doing pretty well, all things considered. Mom has been saying since June that she is SURE glad that all that canning is done (she never remembers a time when there was more to do)...one nearly doesn't have the heart to tell her that it is just getting started! Anyone that would like peaches, now is a gre...

Click on these pictures for MORE pictures/movies of Nelsons & Dastrups:

It was clear from almost the beginning that Kim would win the game of Acquire. After coming in 1st *and* 2nd place in the 1st merger, then having the same hotel chain come and go from the board 3 more times, Marilyn, Chad, and Erica were wondering why they even bothered to show up to play.

Cambrie has a list of things she wants on the wishlist . I don't see anything from anyone else. I guess Santa won't be coming to your house this year.....................

GO COUGS!!

"Scan Toaster puts the power of 'miracle toast' into the hands of mere mortals" http://tinyurl.com/5ylkf3

I remember watching the burning tower, the plane hitting the 2nd tower, the confusion as a plane hit the Pentagon and another went down in Pennsylvania. It's one of those days you just never forget. There have been many national tragedy days in my life, much like the day I remember watching the presidential parade in Dallas when President Kennedy was shot. Later, I remember watching his brother celebrate primary elections victories when he was shot and killed in California. I didn't see it at the time, but I remember the day the news reported Martin Luthor King was killed. I remember the tragedy of Apollo 1 when three astronauts were killed. I remember watching live the Challenger shuttle explode, and years later watching news reports of Columbia breaking apart as it tried to reenter the atmosphere. I remember the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. I remember reports of Utah soldier deaths in Viet Nam. I remember the day the US abandoned Saigon & th...

Life as a mommy of 2 is coming together nicely. Kiera is adjusting well to having a baby sister. She wakes up in the morning and asks "baby?" becasue she wants to go see Lydia. She can say Lydia's name now (she can't even say her own name yet). At my sister in law's advice, I am working on getting Lydia on a 3 hour eating schedule. She isn't very happy about it though since she loves to be nursed to sleep. It's funny though, she acts as if she was starving to death and I get her to go to sleep with a pacifier after an hour of her being mad at me and then she will sleep for 2 hours and wake up and not even act hungry. She just think that mommy is suppose to be the pacifier. Bad habbits and only 2 weeks old!

Wanna see something interesting? Search for Cambrie Nelson on Facebook

TEST YOUR COLOR VISION - I scored 48

I'm shocked. Nobody has even mentioned the BYU football game against Washington this past weekend. I listened to it while I was working in the yard so I didn't get to see the spectacular plays and the bad ref calls, but it was exciting to listen to. BYU pulled it out by the skin of their teeth! What a strange bunch of events to give BYU the one point win.

Hilarious to watch! Too bad they got killed!

One more tidbit, as long as we are ripping on stupid things in govt. So I only got a 45 min or so intro to a HUGE problem in California last Sunday. Turns out that the California legislature has already legalized gay marriage in California...but in order for it to be ratified (I think that is the term) it is going to the vote in November. OK, most people are thinking, "that is disgusting, but as long as it doesn't really effect my life...then whatever!" Only the uninformed are in for a really rude awakening if it fails!!! It DOES take away their rights, and freedoms, and will hit them in the wallet big time too! Above is a flyer that they dispersed to the class during the "combined" meeting last Sunday. Even worse is that while most people would oppose anything that would allow the above to happen, the way they have worded the proposition, if they vote against it (which is what you naturally think you would do if you don't want it becoming law), you ...

Well, the "Mothership" has landed back on the home planet and upon assessment of the environment there, has decided that it is favorable to live in. Brett and Katie were here, and just finishing up a nice dinner for us to eat (which was great because Kim had spent the day pulling out the flowering plum tree that had died, and then took it to drop it off and got some compost while he was there and dispersed it around the yard. So he was dead). So yes, my sweetheart telling me how much he missed me and kids making me dinner...I like this planet. I think I will settle here for awhile! Cambrie is probably too busy to mention this in here, so I think I shall. This week we went to the library to get Kiera some more library books. She LOVES books, more than her toys. Well, there was one book about a little boy who bounced on the bed and his dad (just before bedtime) told him that he needed to stop bouncing on the bed or someday his bed was just going to break through the...

You may have heard or read that the U.S. Government is expected to take over Freddie Mac and Fannie May, the two mortgage giants (who own 50% of the mortgages in our country). Who is going to pay for this? You and me. Yes, it's us who will pay for the irresponsibility of the so many people in our country who took out risky mortgages. Most of them probably had responsible friends & neighbors who warned them that the loan was risky, but that advice went unheeded. It's possible that some people didn't receive any warning, being swindled by a mortgage agent who specifically did not tell them about the risks. I still think that person has a lot of responsibility, because surely they understand that $x,000,000 is a lot of money, and they are expected to pay it back. If they don't understand it, they should take the contract to someone who does and can explain it to them. If the mortgage agent falsely explained it to them, that mortgage agent has some responsibility...

We had our ultrasound yesterday and were shocked to learn that we are having yet another boy! I was so surprised! I would have bet money that it was a girl. That's why we are counselled not to bet, I guess. I spent yesterday mourning the cute girl clothes that I was dreaming of buying, but today I have finally accepted the fact that there was no mistake, and now I am very excited for our little boy. I'm bummed that my kids will be the odd men out yet again when it comes to Groneman cousins, but maybe we'll be lucky and Lydia or Baby G. will turn out to be a tomboy. In the meantime, what am I going to do with all of this testosterone in the house???

Thoughts on J O H N M c C A I N . I watched his speech last night. It was a really good "feel good" speech and though he didn't spend a lot of time on plans and issues, he did touch high level on some and did an excellent job. I've often not agreed with his positions (and neither have a lot of conservative Republicans as he votes a little more liberal than the average Republican). He spent some time saying people should be able to choose the school for their children...sounded a lot like the voucher program I'm so set against for various reasons that I won't get into. Too bad we don't hear specifics of all these plans he has. Anyway, it was a very patriotic speech, one that Obama couldn't have given. I thought it was brilliant how he didn't get into a "bash Obama" mode like Palin did. He said a lot of problems these days can be attributed to interparty bickering, which I totally agree with, and he vowed to end it. I liked his s...

So, I am sitting in a pretty fun meeting: Facebook. We're working on getting EFY up and running with Facebook (an application, or whatever). Anyway, not sure if any of you are on there, but I am now--for work, I guess, or whatever. Nice to get paid to find people from my past...

Did any of you see Palin's speech last night? She gets it. She's not perfect, but she gets it. She ripped the Democratic ticket quite a bit, but mainly she demonstrated that she knows what is going on in the average American Family, and she knows how to solve it, and has demonstrated that she can with Alaska. She's my favorite candidate for the white house.

Happy Birthday Benjamin !!! YOU ARE 5 years old !!! I can't hardly believe it! I will bet you are out having some fun with your mom right now! You will have to tell us what you did! We sure love you! Hope you are having a great day and that you love all your presents from people who love you! Wish we could spend this happy day with you too! We love you!

Pictures are in Picasa. Check em out.

BBrrrrrrrrr! Folks, you need to do what you can to help warm up the climate. It seems there is good reason this past winter, and now this summer have been cooler than in the previous few years. Read all about it here . And it has more potential to do us harm than the previous years of global warming because we depend on agriculture. Here it is...September 2nd, almost 11:00 am and it's 53 degrees outside. Very interesting article if you have the time to read it. I've read other articles before that attribute recent global warming more to sunspots than to human elements.

251 Kim Groneman 1 2 1 1 5 1 1 1 2 1 3.0932% 504 Steven Nelson 1 6 1 2 3 1 1 4 1 1 858 Christa Dastrup 1 1 6 13 2 1 1 4 2 2 1170 Cambrie Nelson UR 1 4 1 5 1 1 1 2 1 1260 Erica Groneman 1 16 2 22 1 1 1 1 3 1 1437 Chad Groneman UR 1 5 1 8 1 1 1 2 1 Chad is the least common this month. ENTER FOR SEPTEMBER HERE

When yer mom left, I went to the mountain and tried to finish up some jobs there. I finished the water system repairs and filled in the big hole in the ground (ugh!) I took out the window on Grandma's trailer and took it down, but being a holiday weekend, no glass places were open. I'll find one later...I put plywood up in the hole. I did take down the door to the shop and rebuild it with all new wood (Snow REALLY caused damage this past winter). Because I do 95% of the work at the mountain, Grandpa gave us title to their big trailer so it's ours after they die. Ryan came up with about 5 other couples & kids. He told me " Do you know how lucky we are to have this place? I'm going to start using it more !" They did a hamburger BBQ, rode ATVs, and did zip line. Erica could use it for young women (idea). Erica & Chad came over this morning and played Wii. They were huffing and puffing by the time they left. I'm supposed to go meet Brett at...