Jacob left today! SNOW overnight! Flooring project has begun :))

 The big news of the week is grandson Jacob left this morning on the USS Theodore Roosevelt for waters unknown to us.  He'll be gone 6 to 9 months. To say as grandparents we are incredibly proud of him, would be an understatement. 💙 Jacob, you will be missed and in our thoughts and prayers daily! Love you! 💖

This picture gets me every time 💖 One last hug before he left. Love the ship in the background. 

He was supposed to leave yesterday but because of some kind of a delay Russell, Lori and Allissa got one more day with him until he had to be on ship at 2300. 

Russell, Allissa, Jacob and Lori enjoying a drink on Tuesday night. 

The proud parents and Jacob 💙

This one includes our sweet Allissa 💗

USS Theodore Roosevelt..Aircraft Carrier! One huge ship!

Russell had to register to get on base. 
They pulled up a photo of him from
when he was in the Marine Corps.
He was 18 and he's 45 now..Yes,
they took a new picture. He looks
like such a baby here 💙

When we went to bed last night it was snowing. We didn't really expect much but woke to at least 6 inches with snow drifts at 12..Cold! 

The stock tank really got a lot considering there was 
no water in it at all! 

Since we only get snow a few times a year, we do enjoy it!

The flooring project has begun! One happy girl here! Since Ken decided to do it even happier that we don't have to pay to have it installed 😀😀 We did buy him a 

new circular saw though. LOL. 

We bought 5 boxes to start, which should do the kitchen. 
Goodbye ugly floor that I've hated for almost 5 years. It 
was supposed to be squares and ended up being diamonds. 
Ken told me from the beginning to get a new floor, but since
we paid a pretty penny for it, thought it might grow on me. 
It didn't! LOL. Living room next! 


Right now it's 23 with a feels like 18, thinking this snow will be around a bit! LOL.
 

We've had a fire in the wood stove all day, so it's nice and toasty here! Looks like a trip to Home Depot soon and more flooring. I'm loving it! 

Aaron goes home, saw Jacob for a few minutes..Can AM, grocery shopping, headed to CA this morning

Wednesday morning we all left here about 0700.  Ken had an appointment for the Tundra to get the last 2 steps put on and I was taking Aaron home later.  Aaron and I were in the Patriot where we picked up Ken from Custom Trucks in Carson City.  

From there we headed to Betsy's Big Kitchen in another part of the city.  We all filled our tummies and then headed back to Custom Trucks as they were just finishing up.  Ken headed to Gardnerville to pick up his eye drops from Raleys and Aaron and I headed to Antelope, Ca.  

Nice but smoky drive down I80.  The back up on roadwork wasn't too bad so we got there around 1330.  Jacob and Allissa weren't there but knowing young people didn't really expect them to be :) 

I came out from the bathroom to say good bye to Aaron, when who steps out from around the corner and says, "Hi Grandma!"...Jacob!  Well, a few tears were shed as I hugged him and didn't want to let him go! 💙💙  We enjoyed about 15 minutes of chit chat before saying good bye.  We'll see him Friday evening. 

About two miles from their house, a light went on in the car saying low tire. Uh oh.  I pulled over and sure didn't see a low tire, but after driving a bit I changed my mind and started the drive on I 80 instead of Highway 50.  I figured if I had a problem 80 had more exits and pull offs than 50.  I called Ken to tell him, so if he needed to come he would know.  

I pulled over several times on the way home and didn't notice anything so I arrived home about 1800 or so.  We enjoyed Happy Hour and then dinner.  We called it a night pretty early. Thursday morning Ken found a rivet in my driver's side rear tire so that'll have to be changed out.  

Thursday morning we headed for Reno. The Can AM was ready for pick up! Ken dropped me at Winco which I haven't been since all this virus crap started.  No line outside so  I can shop.  I wouldn't have waited if there was one. Stocked up on everything to the tune of $236.00.  Should last awhile. Much more for the money!

Ken picked up the Can AM while I shopped and let me know when he was in the parking lot.  He came inside and bagged the groceries while I put them on the belt. 

The Can AM was smoking pretty badly, they had let it run after replacing a spark plug and oil but it was just idling so a run in the desert hopefully would make a difference. After we got home and put away all the groceries Ken unloaded it and boy was it smoking!! Ken took off for the BLM and by the time he came home it was perfect once again!  YAY!  We weren't sure what it would cost, but $269.00 out the door not too bad. Would be a lot worse if the smoking hadn't stopped! 

We enjoyed our evening out side and Stacey from next door came over for a bit to visit.  Dinner and a relaxing evening. 

I made a broccoli bacon salad to take to Lori and Russells Friday. They are hosting a Welcome Home Party before Jacob heads to Italy at the end of next week.  We got a room in Rocklin for Friday night and will head home Saturday.  

The Mansion is ready to be picked up Monday morning at 0900.  Now we are trying to decide where we want to go! I'm leaning toward Bear Lake State Park, Utah/Idaho border.  We were headed there earlier in the summer, but temps were cool and we'd like to do some kayaking.  

So here we are Friday morning and thought I'd get a blog posted as I'm sure the next one will have pictures.  Because of all the smoke this morning, internet and posting pictures just isn't cooperating. We are really socked in from the fires in CA!  Pictures will have to wait.  

Best get a move on as the morning is flying!  Have a great one!  

Waiting to see Jacob! We're in Pensacola. We bought a new truck.

I hate it when this happens!! How could I get so far behind?! So let me recap to the best of my ability LOL..

Thursday morning Ken and I headed for the Social Security office in Columbia, TN.  We both needed new cards, Don had told us it was easy and no line in Columbia.  We were also going to visit Kroeger and a few other places.  One of those places being Roberts Toyota.  Ken has been putting away what was equivalent to our old truck payment since the truck was paid off, nearing a year a half.  He knew he wanted a new truck down the road.  Well, that road ended on Thursday. LOL.  Donnie the salesman was wonderful, we got the deal we wanted and they did us really fair on the trade in.  This was by far the easiest deal we've ever made! Roberts Toyota offers a life time power train warranty for as long as we own the vehicle good anywhere in the US.  So we left there proud new owners of a vehicle we hadn't seen yet as they had to get it from Clarksville, TN. 

They sent us home in a loaner car.  We were starving, so we stopped at La Fuentes Mexican at about 1600.  Then to a nice evening at Don and Dana's. 

Friday morning we ALL found ourselves glued to the TV as Don live streamed Jacob's graduation from Boot Camp!!  It was such a wonderful event, except that no audience was allowed.  You could see the disappointment in the new Sailors faces, but they powered through.  We did get to see quite a bit of Jacob and for that we were glad.  

My sister's grandson Owen (5) wanted to see the picture of Jacob holding the sword, He told her that wasn't Jacob because he wasn't smiling :)  

Jacob leading his division! 

That's our Sailor in the front! 

So Proud of this young man!

Once it was over we then left to go change out the stuff in Tundra #1 to put it in Tundra #2.  We were there a couple of hours and then Donnie showed us the bells and whistles on our new truck.  To say Ken is a Happy Camper would be an understatement :) 

Ken's new pride and joy!

Making it his own, had to move pipe rack and utility box..

Then to Kroeger to pick up the stuff we didn't get the day before.  We saw the parking lot was packed.  We loaded our stuff and then over to the check out.  NOPE not happening.  We put it all back and left.  Never have I seen so many people in that store, all panic buying! We drove by Walmart and another Kroeger, not happening today. 

We  left Don's house yesterday (Saturday) a little before 0700.  Once we arrived in the town of Athens AL we stopped at Walmart a little before 0800. The parking lot was packed, shelves were empty.  Amazing the people that were there!  We went for beer and wine, since states are so different in their liquor laws.  We probably looked like we were hoarding beer and wine :) LOL.  Back on the road for another hour or so, then we stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Haven't been to one in years, it was delicious!  We figured it would hold us until dinner.  As it turns out it ended up holding us till breakfast this am! 

We got to the hotel around 1600. Russell and family were over in Mobile, AL doing the battleship park tour.  They stopped on the way back and had linner.  If we were smart we would gone to eat then, we're not that bright apparently.  

Once they got back we all went down to the lobby and enjoyed the evening along with another set of Sailors parents. We enjoyed the evening a little too much.  So nice though to spend time with our family anytime/anywhere we can get it.  

Originally we thought Jacob would fly in on Saturday and we'd get to spend a few hour with him then and all day Sunday, a base liberty.  Well, not to be as now because of the Coronavirus scare the military has locked down bases. I won't comment on how we feel about this.  Long story short, we are all hoping to get a few minutes with him as he flies in from Great Lakes and heads for the Pensacola Naval Air Station for training. We'll take what we can get at this point. 

Russ and family will head for New Orleans after dinner as they have an early flight in the am.  Ken and I are here until tomorrow morning, when we'll head back to Don's.  We've got to start our route home this week.  How time flies! 

Happy Birthday to my brother in law Shawn..unfortunately he's celebrating alone in a care center to regain his strength after spending almost a month in the hospital after surgery complications.  The care center won't let anyone visit or bring food :(  Hopefully he'll be out soon and can celebrate then!

Have a great day!