Ready to shingle

These are the latest pictures of the treehouse. Brian and Paul went Thursday, June 5th to get it ready to shingle. Then we had a barbecue with the Perkindsons!

Tree House

1st picture for last weekend. Dad's original plan was to build a simple log cabin. It has turned into something much more complicated and fun!!
Dad, Justin and Clint

Justin with Grandpa

Grandpa taking a break

Working hard
Benjamin, Jacob, and Tyler

He finished the formers on both sides of the second level before we left Pine last week. Hey, don't you think we should choose a name for the tree house? How about getting some suggestions going and then we could vote on the best one. Here are the latest pictures. Dad came home with a pulled muscle last week but he is going again early Thursday morning. He wants to get it ready to roof the next week because he can't work the week after that because of Youth Conference. Brian is coming home for a few days that week-end to study and take the MCAT. When Dad puts the roof on, he will need extra muscle. He can only work Thursday and Friday because we have a wedding and reception at our house on Saturday. Lisa and Peter are planning to go Memorial Day Week-end so Peter will be there to help with the roof. This week-end the young adults are coming up to do a service project at Camp Lo Mia but they won't be there till Friday Evening. We are doing Supper, Breakfast, and Lunch. It has been a busy week.

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A Really Great Day!

So the latest in our adventurous life is our trip to Ventura for Conference. Dad can't miss any more Sundays because he was gone so long to Uganda so we used conference Sunday to take care of some tax business and repairs. It was really great to be in a congregation for the Solemn Assembly. I hope all of your children got to take part in that event. I forgot that things were done differently when a new President of the Church is sustained. We enjoyed the rest of conference at Camden expect for Priesthood, of course. However, while we were in Ventura, the hills were so green and in bloom that Dad remembered that he thought it would be fun to rent a convertible (cheaper than buying one) and take a drive around Lake Casitas and the countryside. So, we did! A little serendipity. We left at 9:00 a.m., rented the car, bought me a viser to keep my hair out of my eyes and off we went on our adventure. We drove the back way to Ojai, up around Lake Casitas, then the back way to Santa Barbara, then to Solvang where we spent the afternoon. We had a great time. We went on some pretty windy roads back to Fillmore to find a Mexican Restaurant and then finally back to Ventura, arriving at about 9:00 p.m. A long day but we had to get our money's worth on the rental.

We are going Thursday morning to Las Vegas to see Parker and Lark's new baby that we haven't seen yet. Hopefully, we will be able to help Parker get some painting done on his new house. We will come back Saturday so we can be in church on Sunday.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Happy Anniversary to us! We almost remembered this time. I recently read a post by one of my friends on her anniversary and I thought it was pretty sad that I hadn't mentioned ours and paid the kind of tribute to my wonderful husband that she had. But wait, it isn't too late! I should say it was a momentous occasion but it was actually almost forgotten. We have been living a very hectic schedule for the last couple of months getting ready for a family reunion at our home in the mountains. After taking care of young adult ward activities on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays and working half a week, we head for the mountains every Thursday morning to work on "the treehouse". I use that "we" quite figuratively. The "we" for me is bringing food and water and occasionally helping to lift or carry. Paul, on the other hand, gets up at 6:30 and usually begins work by 7:00 a.m. and stopping only briefly for lunch, works until dark or about 7:30 and then spends an hour putting things away. So that has been our life for the last 3 months. We try to cram everything that consitutes our life in the first part of the week and then work as fast as we can in the mountains to do everything possible there. One of these busy day, when it had been pouring rain all morning while Paul worked, I brought him a snack and he said "Happy Anniversary" and gave me a kiss. We had both almost missed it again. It seems to be a habit of ours to get so busy living life to the fullest that we forget to stop and remember how we got started. So we sat together for a few minutes in the treehouse, listening to the rain and talked about our life and how blessed we feel to still have each other and our wonderful children and grandchildren. I have recently had a reminder of how truly blessed I am to have Paul and have a renewed sense of my love for him. I feel pretty lucky. He is my renaissance man. His talents are unlimited and I think he can do just about anything which sometimes drives him crazy because I just take it for granted that he can find a solution to any obstacle. Besides painting beautiful pictures, doing the plans for our home, building our cabin, creating our wondeful treehouse, he can fix anything--or at least will try to fix anthing. He reads everything wonderful, useful and inspiring instead of watching sports, or anything for that matter, on t.v. All of our married life, he has read before going to bed. His self-discipline even inspires me from time to time to try to get more directed in my life but I'm afraid self-discipline so far has not been catching. He has always taken such good care of me to the point that I'm pretty spoiled. I don't mow the lawn or wash my car or worry about repairs. He even packs the car for vacations. What I recognized when I married him was that he was good to the bone. I never had to wonder when it came to honesty or integrity if he would do the right thing. It was as if there wasn't any other possible way of doing things. I have to fight with my self from time to time. I've never seen him waver. I came from a family that was taught to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do. He just does the right thing because it is naturally the thing he wants to do and it is actually for him, the only choice. He teaches me to look at the world and experience what I thought I knew with a whole new perpective. He has taught me to appreciate clouds and the beauty of the desert. I even experience music in a whole new way. I love music and love to sing but he loves music and experiences it different than I ever would have without him. He loves many different kinds of music. He gathers together collections and always has music on when he works or relaxes. When some people go to the mountains, they take a movie to watch. We build and fire and sit on the couch, read, and listen to music. Now that is true appreciation of music. He is always reaching out to help in unlikely ways. Sometimes I feel like we are the tortoise and the hare. When I have a big project that pushes me, I get it done and then I want to vegitate and be lazy for a while. He marks his course and follows it, working steadily all day, every day, until he accomplishes his tasks. He will cross the finish line without me and I can only hope he wants to help me across when the time comes. I'll be furiously trying to finish up in stops and starts but won't have worked steadily and I'll find myself without enough time to finish without his help. I'll just have to hope I add enough warmth and color to his life that he wants to reach out and lift me across. One really well-kept secret is that his sense of humor is alive and well. You just have to be really quick to catch it. He surprises me all the time. He would not like this post but since he never reads my posts, I don't have to worry. He is my Renaissance Man and I've decided to keep him.
Posted by Joanne The Fillmore Family at 7:21 PM 0 comments
January 2009 June 2008 Home

Here are some pictures of Easter

Dad is trying to find time to go work on the playhouse in Pine but he will need some help for a couple of week-ends. Let us know when people are available. We will be home the next week-end and then we leave the next Wednesday evening for a trip to Utah to see Grandma, and go to graduation for Jill and Kyle and then back home again Saturday so we can be at church on Sunday. At the end of May we have a 3 day youth conference in Prescott.

Here are a few pictures of our new addition! Parker and Lark welcomed Miriam Lindsey Fillmore on Sunday March 2 at 7:50 pm. She was just like her older sister at 5 lbs. 15 oz. 18 3/4 inches long and has lots of long dark hair. She looks a lot like Afton did when she was a baby. Congratulations Parker and Lark!

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First Day of School at Hermosa Vista

Okay I have been a little jealous of all of the cute blogs and pictures that everyone adds but it is just too overwhelming to try. I barely even take pictures. But, today I got back some pictures of Eliza and my kids first day of school and thought I would try to put some on the blog. We'll see if it works. I probably have talked to most of you but my kids are going to Hermosa Vista with Lisa's kids and love being in the same school as cousins. It has also been fun living at Grandma and Grandpas. I get a little stressed when they start fighting or crying but Clara wants to live here forever and she comes in and says, "I'm going to go bug Grandma" and that she does. I think the tight quarters have been hard on the immune system as we are running rampant with sickness and Did you know that their basement is infested with mosquitos? I think I have about 20 bites right now. Maybe they bought them so that we would be encouraged not to stay too long??? Anyway, Eliza is great (not a super good baby) but great and we are still in search of the perfect home.

Sweet Baby Eliza

This is the Eliza we see a lot of the time.