The new year plan

January 28, 2015 by lbutler ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I love January! In spite of the cold temperatures (although it was almost 70 degrees yesterday) and the snow that takes FOREVER to melt from the street in front of our house, I am invigorated by the invitation of clean calendar pages and pristine to-do lists. I am excited at the thought of 12 whole months spread out in front of me waiting to be filled with whatever I choose.

I’ve googled, pinterested, instagrammed and facebooked looking for my focus for 2015, and I keep coming back to blogging. This is my journal. This is my family history. This is my love. This is my job! I miss writing and documenting my life. And as I read back through previous posts, loving the memories they invoke, I know that this is what I want to do.

I had a rather rude awakening at Sunday dinner one evening several months ago when Peter commented that he hadn’t heard many of our Middle East experiences. Later conversations with Mark confirmed that we have been very negligent in sharing and recording our family history. How did we let that happen? Every kid deserves to know that his dad was held at machine gun point against a bus, and that his mother gave birth to his brother in a hospital where the bathroom lacked even a fundamental toilet seat!

And so I’m committing to getting back in the blogging groove again. I’ll divide my time between this blog and my family history blogs – Butler family and Berrett family. Even though I haven’t been writing, I’ve continued researching and organizing and gathering stories and pictures that I’m anxious to share.

And since those 12 months are almost now just 11, I’d better get busy!

I think we raised 4 only children . . .

August 16, 2013 by lbutler ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Because I want to remember everything about our 40th anniversary celebration

August 13, 2013 by lbutler ♥ 1 Comment

After celebrating 40 years in fine style with the whole family, including a fabulous dinner, Don and I decided to extend the anniversary celebration just a little longer with a get-a-way to our just about favorite campground. Olive Ridge is a Forest Service campground about 10 miles south of Estes Park that my parents discovered I-don’t-know-how-many years ago. The giant rocks, gravelly road, and mountain trees have been host to Berrett family reunions and family camping trips enough times that when I think of camping, I always think of our little tent trailer parked at Olive Ridge.

Arriving early on a Tuesday afternoon, we had our pick of spots. Don backed the trailer in, we leveled it, put out the slides, and felt like we were home!

We walked through the campground and reminisced about the times we’d been there when our kids were younger.

Our kids played on these rocks many times

Very similar to our tent trailer

We love it here!

It rained and even hailed a couple of times, but we loved hearing the rain on the roof while we played Qwirkle.

Chips & salsa, rain on the roof and Qwirkle - a real vacation! — Chips & salsa, rain on the roof and Qwirkle – a real vacation!

We hiked Deer Mountain and biked around Lake Estes.

Twin Sisters peak behind us

The Stanley Hotel across Lake Estes

And every night we had a campfire – because isn’t that what mountain camping is all about?

Phase 10 by the fire brings memories of my mom!

Best vacation we’ve had in a long time!

The Anniversary Dinner – Middle Eastern Style

August 7, 2013 by lbutler ♥ 3 Comments

Just after Don received his Master’s Degree from BYU, we set out on a Middle East adventure by moving to Iran. After three years there, we continued that adventure with seven years in Saudi Arabia before returning to the United States and settling in Greeley. With a child born in each of those countries, and many great experiences involving friends, travels, sights, sounds and smells from that part of the world, we have very fond memories of our time spent there.

So we were delighted when our kids surprised us with an anniversary dinner at Rumi’s House of Kabob right in our very own Greeley. No, it doesn’t look at all middle eastern, but that actually adds to the authenticity of the whole experience. Because why wouldn’t a middle eastern restaurant be housed in an old home on Colorado’s eastern plains?

Rumi's - Greeley, Colorado — Rumi’s – Greeley, Colorado

The kids had reserved a private room upstairs, those windows over the porch, and Nikki and Brittney handled the decorations.

The menu brought back so many memories – nothing is printed to any particular standard in the middle east!

Family style meal we settled on

Menu cover

check out the upside down note about the bread not being gluten free

We started with hummus, which was some of the best we’ve ever eaten. That was followed by a fabulous red lentil soup (recipe, please?) and a traditional salad. When the main course was served, we determined we’d probably ordered way too much food!

Maybe we didn’t each need to order an entree . . .

Rice, lamb, curry, kabob – all delicious

The hummus was delicious

The older grandchildren enjoyed some of the deliciousness

Don and I especially loved the Lamb shank with Kabsa Rice – #3 of the family style choices. The first luscious bite was enough for us to remember that we had eaten that dish at some Saudi weddings we had attended. The smell and taste transported us right back to Dammam. Don was grateful that this time he could eat at the table using a fork instead of on the floor eating with his hand as he had done at the weddings!

Warning – this group shot was done as a panorama and the resulting picture is a little distorted. At least I’m telling myself that it’s the picture . . . But I’m posting it here to remember that we were all together.

After several hours of eating and reminiscing and a very pleasant evening, we remembered that we had the next generation of Butlers who probably needed some parental attention. Those children and the fact that the restaurant had closed moved us reluctantly down the stairs and out the door.

Thanks Mike and Emily, Nate and Nikki, Mark and Kate, Pete and Brittney! It was a fabulous meal, a very fitting celebration and an evening we will always remember. Your thoughtfulness has not gone unnoticed!

Butler Family Meet up – 2013

August 5, 2013 by lbutler ♥ 1 Comment

About the beginning of the year, Don and I mentioned that for our 40th anniversary in June, all we really wanted was to have all of our family together. Well, the kids took notice, picked a date that worked for all of us, and early in July made their way by land and by air for a proper Butler family gathering.

Group at dinner — The only group picture – minus the babies who must have been sleeping, Mike who hadn’t yet arrived, and Nikki who was thoughtful enough to document the moment. But it’s the best we’ve got!

While the kids were all making travel plans, Don and I worked on the back yard. Knowing our group is large in number – we total 20 now, and the grandkids span a huge number of years – including two one-year-old toddlers and one 17 year old high school senior with a variety of ages in between, we decided that the back yard had to be the attraction. No house is big enough for all those people – especially one that’s only 2300 square feet with no air conditioning!

We hit up the thrift store on half-price Saturday and found a badminton net for $5.00 and 6 racquets for $.50 each. We felt like we’d hit the jackpot!

Butler Family Park begins to take shape

Head groundskeeper tackles the tree trimming

And during the week we spent hours in the back yard.

Lucy making Grandma giggle

Addy considering gymnastics as her sport

Parker loves a swing

Evening conversation

Grandma Lynn and some of the grands

On a day trip to the mountains we discovered a great multi-generational hiking spot. The Lily Lake trail, which some of our more experienced hikers were afraid would be just another walk in the park, proved to be easy enough for the littles and interesting enough for the bigs. Definitely a hike we’d do again.

Landon

Katie and Lucy

View of Longs Peak from our hike

Other highlights of the week included lots of water, crazy jumping and bouncing, and even a little bit of fire.

Slip and sliding through the wall of water

What? You don’t have a bounce house in your family room?
Thanks to Mark & Kate for supplying the bouncy fun!

Only one old grill was harmed in the making of these s’mores.

And then they all said good bye and took to the road and the sky once again. And we were left with

which cleaned up very quickly and reminded us of the great week we had spent together.

Thanks, kids, for making it happen. It was a celebration 40 years in the making, and you did it up splendidly!

A huge highlight of the week was the anniversary dinner at an authentic Iranian restaurant.
So memorable for us that it deserves a post of its own.

They are fathers

January 31, 2013 by lbutler ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

To Don, Mike, Nate, Mark, and Pete:

Thanks for fulfilling your responsibilities so well.

I love you and the exceptional families you are nurturing.

We are blessed.

He follows his own advice

February 15, 2012 by lbutler ♥ 2 Comments

Every year on February 14, Don surprises me with a hand crafted Valentine. This tradition started in 1973 during our dating years at BYU, and has continued during the last 39 years with very few misses. He writes creative poetry, uses practical objects as symbols for our relationship (think an exercise balance disk to talk about how we balance each other), or leaves a myriad of love notes taped in unexpected places throughout the house.

This year was no different and brought this thoughtful display

which included his genuine observations for a happy marriage.

He writes from experience, and we will be happy forever!

Take heed, men.

May-be it’s a blizzard

May 12, 2011 by lbutler ♥ 2 Comments

Southwest de-icing operation - 12 May 2011

A quick flight from Denver to Omaha by the numbers:

3.5 – hours ahead of departure time that we left home

45 – minutes late boarding the plane

3 – passengers we had to wait for from connecting flight

4.5 – hours we sat on the tarmac waiting for take off

4-6 – inches of snow that fell in hours we sat on the tarmac

3 – planes ahead of us in the de-icing line

1 – number of times we had to be towed back to the gate so the engines could be “air started”

65 – minutes of actual flight time

5 – hours late arriving in Omaha

7– minutes left before the rental car desk closed upon our arrival in Omaha

1 – phone call made to the hotel to get directions in the middle of the night

3:45 – hours after midnight when we crawled into bed

11 – total hours spent making a 500 mile trip

At least we weren’t on the flight to Phoenix!

photo (credit: CBS)

Oh my Bosch!

March 31, 2011 by lbutler ♥ 2 Comments

Today was kitchen day. Bread and cookies were on the baking to-do list.

Fortunately, I have my new favorite kitchen toy – the Bosch.

I just throw it all in – including 11 cups of whole wheat flour – and let that dough hook do its thing.

And in about an hour and a half these four beauties were ready for the oven.

And soon after the bread was done, a giant batch of whole wheat-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies was cooling on the counter.

And that’s why “my Bosch mixer” was #1 on my gratitude list in this
morning’s journal entry.
I love it!

Christmas Jar update

January 18, 2011 by lbutler ♥ 1 Comment

things that make me happy

Category: This is our life