Groneman Family

Happy Birthday Brigham  CLICK HERE

I'm sure the minute details of my life are not that interesting to most of you folk.  But they probably are to at least mom (maybe buff?) so I'll write them.  We've been crazily moving in over the past 2 days.   Our bathroom is now finished.  the kitchen is finished other than the lack of fridge.  The landlord is absolutely fabulous.  He spent 8 hours here yesterday and today working his tail off.  He HAD a fridge (more than $1000 new) but mis-measured and it doesn't fit.  So now is is getting us a new one.  But we are borrowing a mini-fridge from a ward member so we are surviving.    They are completely gutting our soggy basement and doing it again which will be fabulous.  Landlord also tore out a ton of huge bushes and our sidewalk with the intention of stopping the flooding in our basement.  The house is great.  The one thing I wish I had is more cupboard space.  I'll have to put foods/equipment (...

Throw in your ideas, even if they don't agree with mine.  As Brigham said, it's the media that makes up our minds for us anyway.  I can be persuaded. I've been less than impressed with her because of the pure political blustering she constantly does, but this article on KSL brings it into focus: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=16146886&nid=1013 The race is still early, but I'm leaning towards Mitt Romney for now though he seems like a tried and true, quintessential politician that holds to standard political ways. On the other hand, Ron Paul's views would impress me if he was a little MORE quintessential politician instead of sounding like a kook sometimes.  One of his views that just throws me for a loop is his insistence we legalize marijuana.  Marilyn, you said you heard he was pro abortion but his web site indicates he is definitely opposite of that. Even with some of the things I don't like about him, I could get behind him if he ended up being ...

For some reason this wouldn't post yesterday...so I am trying again today. (My life seems to be like that!) I have been craving a new recipe that Brett and Katie served us a while back: Chicken Tikka Masala. It is an indian dish that is just wonderful! So today was the day. I pulled it up on the family blog (thanks, Brett)...and copied and pasted it into Open Office and printed it from there. So as I am assembling it today, I was concerned right off the bat...it didn't look like it did when they made it for us...and it didn't taste right either. I went over and over the recipe to see if I had missed something...nope, it was all the way it read. Well, about 5 minutes before it was time to serve it and my family was hungry, I looked at the recipe on the computer and for some reason unbeknowst to me, the printer had omitted about 1/3 the recipe. Or maybe I screwed up...it had shown a second page when I did the print preview, but it was only another picture...no words, so I jus...

#1  today I was playing pretend with Lyida.  I was the kid and she was the mom putting me to bed.  Like she does I said "mom, I need a drink of water!!"  She looked around and then came and leaned over and gave me a kiss and I was laying on the bed.  She after the kiss she left a big ol' spit wad on my lips.  Lucky for me: a drink.  I was was laughing to hard to be grossed out.  #2.  Nursery in our new ward is very...different.  There are 5 kids and the 2 nursery leaders who are about 80 years old.  They have been in the nursery for 17 years.  The funny thing about the way they run the nursery is that they color the pictures FOR the kids.  They have all of the coloring pictures pre colored, cut, and today even laminated with the kids names on them.  I guess that is magnifying your calling : )

5 minutes after Steve purchased or hotel rooms for 3 days, our landlord called and said that we could stay at the house.    Of course, the hotel is non-refundable. So we've started moving in.  the problem is that they are still remodeling.  So, we can't put anything in the basement, kitchen, or bathroom (at all).  And anything we put in the living room will be promptly covered in dust.  So we have 1 room piled literally to the ceiling with boxes, and we've attempted to set up our bedrooms.  But we've pretty much completed everything we can do until construction is done which may not be for another week.  Since we have a hotel (that we don't need) we were at least excited to have a fridge there.  but once we checked in they informed us that our room didn't have one (they ran out).  So, it's out to the grocery store or resturant for every single meal.  What a pain!  I just want to have a house/kitchen/bathroom again!

Provo and Loma Linda have been dropped from the NASDAQ. Welcome Macomb, Sandy, and Lehi (closest thing to Saratoga Springs)

Thought you may enjoy THIS

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#1-- After our 3 hour drive to St. Louis, we saw our hotel and I pointed out that it was called "Holiday Inn" so that Kiera could read it off of the building when she saw it.  Lydia pointed out "it's called Holiday Inn because we get to GO IN!!"  (..and get out of the car!). #2-- we went to Denny's for dinner the other night.  Their is a nicely illistrated kids menu with pictures of all of the hot dogs, grilled cheese, etc..  Kiera promptly picked out her Mac and Cheese.  but Lydia insisted on having "Mean Soup" (which is what she calls all soups since reading the children's book Mean Soup.  She insisted that that is what she wanted.  I thought she'd probably end up eating my omlet, or Kiera's mac and cheese, but I let her get it (the waitress was looking doubious about it too, pointing out that it is entre-sized).  But, Lydia surprised us all and wanted nothing to do with anyone else's food.  She devoured her Mean Soup.  She kno...

http://goo.gl/maps/ESdQ   is a meteor crater very close to where we camp at Reservation Ridge.  From the road, it's a 1.64 mile hike up a canyon going from 7574 feet to 9928 feet (pretty steep) (Google Earth is cool)  There is no trail.  I wanna do it.  It can't be any worse than hiking to Timp Cave.  Does anyone want to challenge your old man/your dashing groom in this hike sometime this summer?  If you have Google Earth installed and are interested, I can email you a file that lets you see the entire hike with a movable elevation indicator.  I love living in Utah.  People in Ill.....er....NYC eat your heart out.

Most of you have already heard about this, so this is more for Buff's benifit, but you can read it too : ) Me n' the girls arrived in Illinois after our long flights.  Grandma had said goodbye to us in tears (silly grandma, we're not moving to the North Pole!).  And when the girls saw their daddy and ran to him screaming "daddy!!!!"  Steve cried too.  People cry when they say goodbye to K & L, others when they say hello, and I feel like crying on the  plane ride with them! (j/k).  The girls were very excited about the fireflies as we drove.  It DID look quite magical.  We arrived in Macomb at 10:30pm with 2 sleeping ladies.  We slept at a ward member's house (we are not allowed to sleep in our new home until the 28th).  Their house smelled like 1872 (much like all of the houses in Macomb).  We went to church in the morning. The people were VERY different from what I'm used to.  Very poor, backwards, rotting tee...

Yer mom and I have been planning to vacation over the 4th as a just the two of us get away. It's been a while since we've been up to Reservation Ridge, and after discussions with the Thomas familiy, we've picked a course of action and have decided it's time for us to take our vacation there on the Ridge.  I'm taking vacation from July 1st through 9th (yer mom's birthday) and taking our trailer up to Reservation Ridge.  Not where we usually camp but right HERE where you see that little faint road going down into the trees.  One stipulation we have with Saundra/Randy is that no kids/grandkids until July 6th or later.  After that come on up!   We can sit and zap flies, burn hotdogs & marshmallows, pick flowers, and ride ATVs. We'll be leaving our trailer up there for a while and splitting weekends between there and the mountain (where we dunno when we'll have a road and water).   I've got a LOT of work to do to get the t...

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of the Father's in my family a Happy Father's Day! I know that Kim is not my Father but I greatly appreciate him in my life. He is always telling me how much he loves me, which is nice. He is a great provider, great GRAMPS to my grand children, great to keep our things up and running (our microwave no longer sounds like a brake that needs greasing this morning), and I just enjoy our time together. He is my sweetheart, my best friend and the love of my life! And as for my sons and sons in law...what a great group of men! I am still SO GRATEFUL to Heavenly Father for blessing me and my grandchildren with such great dads. In a world that is such a mess, and there is so much evil and temptations out there to drag us down, my g-kids need EVERY advantage they can get especially loving and wise parents to raise them in the gospel and show them in example of how to live their lives righteously so that their children will know how to li...

A sad day around the grandparents' house today. I was going to take Cambrie with me on an ATV trip but instead she took the girls and flew to Illinois. Interesting how I want to say "flew back" to Illinois. I wonder if that is a leftover from pioneer days when traveling East was "going back" to somewhere. Anyway....I've certainly enjoyed having Cambrie & her girls around. I never smile and laugh as much as when there are little ones around. I felt bad I didn't get to see you guys off at the airport, but I had already commited to Ken for the ATV trip. When I got home Marilyn was upset and crying because she misses you and thinking of you so far away made her sad. Maybe one day you'll be reasonably close. We can dream. Every time I see a Disney princess now I think of your girls.  However, in the meantime I can't wait to hear about, and see your adventures in Illinois.  I hope you post the minutia of your lives back there so we can fee...

I was talking with Marilyn & Cambrie yesterday about our planned 2012 Alaska Cruise. When you figure it will cost each family about $3000 and take 9 days of having to take off work and get baby sitters, I'm thinking there may be preferable alternatives. So we got talking about the alternatives. The one that Cambrie liked the best was a trip to Moab. Not the Canyonlands trips of the past, but to Moab itself. Canyoneering, River running, Jet boat on the river, hiking, nice dinners in restaurants, etc. But she says she'd still like to do Alaska too. Another option we discussed was Yellowstone/Jackson. Ya see, I'll spend $3000 one way or the other. If we do the Alaska cruise, I'll spend it just on Marilyn and I. If we do something else, I may be able to spend some of it on you guys. What think ye?

Went with Cambrie and girls to the mountain today. Here are more pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/kgroneman/201106Mountain#

Yup. It is this Sunday is Father's day...and ya'll are invited over to dinner. I realize that with Katie's parents just returning they will not be coming....but please let me know if you will be able to attend for the rest of you all and then we will organize!

Two years old  Two A.M.  We had a middle of the night visitor.  It has been a LONG time since we had a two year old climb in bed between us in the middle of the night.  It happened last night.  Yea, it woke us both up...but it made us both smile.  It was a crisis though when Marilyn laid on Lydia's blankie.

It's hard to beat barbecue'd hamburgers.  That's what we had yesterday.  Num Num.  A great summertime meal, though we didn't have the fresh tomatos or corn.  We DID have fresh radishes from Emmy's garden however! (in the salad) The three girls played in the playhouse, on the swing, on the trampoline.  It's interesting that the girls are enjoying the top part of the playhouse more than they ever have before.   Earlier this year, the kids would play, but not together.  They just kind of tolerated each other.   Now they are *starting* to play together.  At least what one does, the others want to do so it's a flock thing.  It won't be long until they are heading off together arm in arm to get away from the adults and play.  The mesh fence along the back is doing it's job.  We don't have to worry as much about the little ones falling in the stream.  It started out being a cool morning, but by afternoon the t...

The Yahtzee champion of the Universe has been determined.  Friday night it was a duel to the death between Benjamin and Gramps.  Benjamin took an early lead winning three games in a row when Gramps couldn't get the dice to cooperate.  I still think the dice have some loyalty to Benjamin. >:-|  Anyway, Gramps started making a comeback and one game before the last was within striking distance. Alas, it was not to be when Benjamin rolled a Yahtzee with all sixes in the last game of the series.  Gramps' hope for the comeback of all comebacks was dashed.  Benjamin won the title of Yahtzee Champion of the Universe.  All is not lost though.  Gramps will continue to train for the rematch when Yahtzee Champion of the Cosmos will be played later this year.   You just wait Benjamin....you just wait!

Here's some purdy dern cute photos, if you ask me, as requested by Grandma.

Here's some info so you know a ballpark of what it will cost to do the Alaska cruise.  I checked on the Royal Caribbean site (my favorite cruise line) http://www.royalcaribbean.com   and for the absolute cheapest room on the cheapest dates it's $599 per person.  (May 11th..there are other dates available) Keep in mind they will charge for two people whether there is only one or two.  Silly to advertise that way, I know.  So that's $1,200 plus tax per couple for the cruise. We would need to fly to Vancouver BC on the 11th and fly home from Anchorage on the 18th.  On travelocity.com the cheapest flights I can find that work for those days are $718/person.  That makes the cheapest possible total of about $2,640 per couple.  That's no shore excursions, no souvenirs, no cabin upgrades so you have a window.   My guess is we'll be spending close to $3,000/couple minimum.

A lot has happened since the Nelsons' arrival.  A lot of playing in the playhouse, trampoline, and swinging in the back yard.  I put a mesh fence along the back to keep little tykes from falling in the stream which is running pretty high right now.  It's working fairly well except Ty keeps trying his best to find a way around it.  Saturday we went to the Dastrup abode and went to WHEELER HISTORIC FARM with everyone but Chad (sick) and Brigham (working) and Buff (mission).  I thought the best part was when the little ones were looking out the window of the tree house and grandma would jump up from under the tree house and scare them.  It was hilarious.  Ty got to sit on a John Deer and he was in heaven.  We saw turkeys and rabbits and a little tiny goat with a little tiny horn.  Sunday the family came over for dinner..we had pizza... Chad was still sick so that arm of the family didn't make it.  Brigham was still working and Buff was sti...

I'm making Chinese Chicken Salad (Krueger version) for dinner tonight. Anyone who would like to join us is welcome. Just let me know. We'll have FHE after. (We'll plan on eating around 5-ish.) Oh, and if you come, feel free to bring a kite, since it is a blustery day. :)

Chad and I like to try out new restaurants, especially little local "mom and pop" shops. The other day we noticed Sean's Smokehouse BBQ near the Walmart here in Saratoga Springs, so we decided to check it out for dinner tonight. If we were to describe it in one word: "Hits the spot." Very yummy and well priced (especially for a BBQ place). The total for all three of us (Emmy had a corn dog and fries) was $20.62. Chad ordered the pork sandwich and sweet potato fries. They have a whole bunch of homemade sauces to pour on top. He tried a really hot one and loved it (sorry, we can't remember the name of it). I had the Buffalo Ranch wings---YUM! I had BBQ Beans on the side--another YUM. I haven't had beans like them. One of the owners (Sean) was out greeting all the guests going from table to table, and he gave us some noodle salad to try (good, but not what we were in the mood for). He said they make everything from scratch. No canned beans at all. The BBQ ...

So, I am wondering what will work best for the family to get together this weekend...Sunday would be my preferrance, but Sat works too. Can everyone come this Sunday for an afternoon of fun, cousins and food? If not, does Sat work? Waiting on feedback, and then we will organize food. Thanks ya'll! Let the party begin!

My guess is you've heard of the Nelson's woes. Today the truck picks up their stuff and they will drive half way to Utah. Tomorrow (Friday) they will arrive at the parental units' house sometime before 3pm. PARTY! Except for Stevo who has the unenviable task of now trying to find a place to store their stuff and/or find a new place to rent since the lady in their new ward they were going to rent from was a total lie mouth who's word isn't worth 2 cents. [grrrrr!] Come over on Sunday and hear from the Nelson's themselves about how this lady is costing them around $2000 because the internet at the place she was moving to isn't fast enough so she is going back on her word and not letting them move in. [grrrrr!]  I hope she feels REAL guilty whenever she gets mail in her mailbox for them since they've already had their mail forwarded there.  Yea, the scriptures say we should forgive.   I'm not that religious.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_giv...

Time for everyone to go in and update their entries on the gift wish list over there