Surprise Service

My sisters and I planned to get together and give service to my mom over Memorial Weekend.

Mom's 74th birthday was May 23, the day Brady graduated. I called her and told her that I had been too busy and hadn't sent anything for her birthday yet. I let her know I would get it in the mail and it should arrive by the weekend.

My mom's knees are wearing out as well as her shoulder. It's getting increasingly hard for her to take care of her huge yard and many flower beds.

After a busy graduation week with Brady, we packed and headed to Pocatello on Friday May 25th to surprise my mom.  

We arrived in Pocatello about 6PM. Brady and I rang the doorbell and walked in the house and yelled "SURPRISE!". She was laying on the couch reading a book and the look on her face was priceless.

She was surprised. But, more surprise was coming later that evening when my sister Chris and her husband Kurt arrived (they live in Boise). Chris's son Kevin and his fiance' Kayla arrived just before Chris did (they go to school at BYU Idaho).

Mom knew Kevin was coming, we didn't tell him it was a surprise and not to tell Grandma. But, it turned out to be a good thing she knew company was coming. That way she had a clean house and went grocery shopping and was prepared for additional people that weekend.

The weather did not cooperate at all. It was rainy and cold. But, that didn't stop us. We had work to do and we did it.

We cut out holes in black garbage bags and used them as rain coats. 

 Cindy my sister and her husband Kelly arranged the service project for mom. They ordered a dumpster that arrived on her birthday. They had to tell her that they had something in store for her birthday present so she wouldn't send it back.

Kelly and Cindy help out mom a lot because they live in Pocatello. It's been hard on them to keep up with their jobs, their home, their children, grandchildren and do all the work that needed to be done. However, they are a blessing to mom and have completed many projects she has needed to be done - what a blessing they are.

Cindy also has a hard time with her knee that she injured in a biking accident a year ago and Kelly has terrible allergies.

It was nice to get together and do this project together.

"Many hands make work light"

 This is my sister Chris. She was too cool to wear the stylish fashionable garbage bag too. Chris and Kurt really sacrificed to come and provide service for grandma. They have been busy getting their own yard ready for Kevin and Kayla's upcoming wedding open house.  Even though it was hard to take time off from working in their own yards, they came and gave the service needed for Mom.

 I had a garbage bag on - and I handed the camera to someone for my picture. I thought they got one, but when I transferred the pictures - of course the picture I thought had been taken wasn't on the camera. Darn!

Chris and Kurt were a huge help. They purchased about 70 bags of top soil with steer manure in it and "Preen" to keep new weeds away. Kurt and Keven lifted the bags and spilled out all the top soil and we spread it after all the weeds were out of the flower beds.

I wish I had taken a picture of it all done and the back yard. It looked really nice when everything was done.

They boys also moved some huge rocks in the flower beds from the empty lot next to moms. You can see one of them in the picture above on the bottom right hand side. They moved and placed about 6 huge rocks into the flower beds.

Autumn and Brady worked hard too. When I took this picture the camera was wet and muddy from the dirt on my gloves. There are smudges of dirt on the lens.

Rhonda asked if Brady wanted to stay in Blackfoot with them over the weekend. I told her "NO" and that Autumn needed to come and work with Brady. He wasn't going to get out of helping and giving service to his grandmother.

Autumn came and of course they where connected at the hip working hard together. It made it fun for them to laugh, talk and give service.  They both did a great job!

Even though the weather was bad, we had a great time together.

Both of my brothers were working over the weekend and couldn't help. Lyle showed up for a few minutes and visited. Richard was really really sick and came Saturday and Sunday for the family meals we had together - but it was really draining on him. It was nice to see him, but I sure wished he would have felt better.

Cindy's girls - my nieces (Zoey Michelle, Tracy and Laura) - came for dinner on Sunday at Cindy's and Kelly's house. It was such a fun visit to see them all. Plus I finally saw Tracy's son Jordon and Laura's baby Samantha in person.

I sure love my family!