A letter from Jacob!! Baking for a care package! Getting ready for a trip!

Well, it's Monday afternoon already!  Ok, the best stuff first!! We got a letter from our Sailor Recruit today and he is doing Fabulously!  We were so happy to hear from him!  

Jacob's letter :) I love that he says "Boot Camp is pretty fun"..REALLY? He's the RCPO (Recruit
Chief Petty Officer)! He is the command of his division..
Awesome Jacob!! Very proud of ourGrandson!

We've had a few changes since the last posting.  We're leaving here on Friday to head for Tennessee by way of Paso Robles, CA!  John and Karen are there so we'll visit them first. We decided since Ken doesn't have any appointments until April now is the time to do it.  Take the Mansion on her first major trip! 

We're planning on being at Ken's brother Don's place somewhere in the first week or so of March.  Jacob graduates on the 13th of March at Great Lakes, IL.  I'll rent a car and head up there.  Ken's sister Diane and her son Jesse will fly in as well as Russell, Lori, Aaron and Allissa.  I'm looking forward to the drive and seeing the country up there!  On the way back hoping to drive Route 66 in Illinois. On a show the other night they showed it and looked like some cute towns. 💗😉 Ken's not going, we can't go to the graduation anyway as they only hand out limited tickets. I figure I don't want to miss the chance of seeing Jacob if only for a few hours or the weekend.  No one knows for sure yet, as he won't have his orders until right before graduation. We can still watch the graduation live on TV! 

Today was a baking day.  I want to get Seth a care package out before we leave so made a few things and then stocking up on Ken's morning treats since I'm not sure yet how the oven works in the Mansion.  I'll be checking it out I'm sure. 

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies..Fudgy Brownies..Applesauce
Oatmeal mini loaves and Ken's Applesauce Oatmeal muffins..

I did text Seth tonight and he wants protein bars..so on the look out tomorrow !! 

Ken ran to DMV to register the Mansion! OUCH! 


On to the Mansion.  Saturday was spent getting rid of stuff I know I don't need anymore.  Trying to use as much plastic stuff rather than glass. I feel really good about how it looks now. Of course I'm sure there will be more things I need, but it felt good to pitch another wheelbarrow load of stuff! 😱😱😰 I've decided less is best! 

Too modern for us..but ready to go!

Huge Shower!

Towels..

It works..not huge but ok!

The stove is too pretty to use!

Huge sink!

You probably can't see but is a pretty light! 

Storage space below the bed..(Dave, this is where the wine will go) LOL..

Sun is setting!

Ken's space outside.. he's filling it up..

Ken got the sway bar on and has taken it for a few test drives, works well.  He's having fun loading up his area of the trailer.  😀

We had our first Happy Hour in it Saturday afternoon and it was so nice..Nice and bright and BIG!! :) 

Sunday was spent getting taxes done for Bryan and Cheryl.  Then got our stuff  done  and emailed to Winnemucca. YAY! Done! 

Monday I was working on this and then nothing would load.. so Ken stated a fire outside. Poor me..Happy Hour..under the stars..

He bar b qued awesome burgers and now it's time for bed. I wanted to see if I could get this done first..Yay..it worked..Good night!!  Carson City  tomorrow to get the Tundra serviced, then Reno for wine, Winco and Sam's Club! An early day!! 

The Mansion is home!

Thanks to my hubby for spoiling me..If it weren't for him I wouldn't have this beautiful new
Mansion...  :) He pushed it for the last month, but I didn't take him seriously ...He meant it! :)

Thursday morning we got ourselves up at 0430.  We visited with friends for awhile online seeing what everyone is up to down in the Arizona desert! Got ourselves dressed and ready for the day. 

Ken and I were at Karen's at 0700.  He was installing a heater/ AC unit in their house.  This one is kind of like you find in a motel.  She's going to visit her hubby for a few weeks in CA and needed some other heat rather than her pellet stove running to protect the plumbing from the cold. 

Karen's new ac/ heater unit...Ken will put trim outside
John will finish up inside 

She had an appointment so I was able to help Ken lift the unit into the hole in the wall.  I went home and made us some breakfast that I took over there.  All done and we were on the road with the Jayco following behind us.  Bittersweet as there are some wonderful memories we've had there! New ones to be made in the Mansion! 

We were early so made a stop a Kohl's..nothing to be had there. Headed over to Western Skies RV and got there about 1350.  Parked and then Spencer took us to our trailer.  He spent a lot of time doing the walk through and answering every question that either of had.  Started with the full outside walk around and then the inside.  Never did we feel rushed, what a great young man! Western Skies is one of the few RV dealers that doesn't charge for the walk through.  They filled both propane tanks and the purchase included an RV battery.  We still need another one, so that will involve a trip to Sam's Club next week. I was so impressed with the walk through that I tipped him. He gratefully accepted with a hug and a wow! He walked us over to the finance office where we met with Melissa. She was wonderful and made that part of it easy.  Funny, buying a trailer involves almost as much paperwork as buying a house! LOL.  

Spencer and Ken

Ken's pass through..he's happy with the large space!

Ken and Spencer getting the Mansion hooked up! 

Once we were done with that it was time to go hook up our new trailer! Spencer met us once again and then showed me how to operate the TV. He helped Ken get it hooked up and then Ken added to my tip :)  Spencer then told me that we were the only ones who had ever tipped him ..really?! When you don't pay for the walk through and a OH so excellent walk through is given..why wouldn't you?! Hopefully he can take his girlfriend to dinner!  He's got a great personality for this job and we hope he does well! On our way out we ran into Dan (the salesman from the show).  He gave me a nice hug..as I hugged him on the way out of the show I was so happy.  What a nice man!!

We have to say we would recommend Western Skies RV in Reno to anyone! Great service all the way around! From Dan the salesman, Scott the finance person at the show, Spencer the walk around person and Melissa the finishing person at the dealership. This was the easiest buy of an RV by far and they seem genuinely happy for us and our purchase! 

Once we left, we were starving after an early breakfast, but it wasn't dark so we munched on a couple of cheese sticks and drove home.  We stopped at Karen's to show off the trailer and she had a fire going out back all by her lonesome.  Happy Hour!  Yes, we got home late and threw together some munchies but it was fun! 

I woke at 0530 this am and started the coffee.  We visited with our friends and then got started as we were heading to Gardnerville to pick up the new antenna Ken ordered.  We've decided to get rid of Direct TV this month as the costs keep going up.  Again, the only thing i'll miss is Pioneer Woman and maybe i can find her elsewhere.  Did some grocery shopping and a few little things for the Mansion. 

Linner at CVI which was delicious! After we got home Ken moved the trailer to the concrete out back so it's ready to be tackled tomorrow :) 

I got Adam's taxes done and filed.  Late this weekend I'll get our stuff together for our CPA in Winnemucca and then I'll work on Bryan and Cheryl's (Turbotax)..LOL.  

Have a great evening...Happy Hour with the Hubby!

Seth Promotes..cleaning the Jayco and Zuchinni Pizza for dinner!

Best news of the week!  Seth got promoted to Private First Class, the next rank in the Marines.  Looks like it was a pretty early ceremony for him and some of the other guys!  Way to go Seth! We are very proud of our Marine😍💙

He got his package Monday also and said everyone loved it! Going to get another ready to send soon! 

Monday we headed to Reno to make sure we had the pink slip in the safety deposit box.  Yes it was there! We headed to Kohl's as they had towels on sale and a girl's gotta have something new for the new trailer, right ladies?! Because it is new I could go crazy with new stuff..but I'm not..(at least I think I'm not)....
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I did order some new pots and pans as mine were pretty bad and some new Pioneer Woman plastic nesting bowls..well, they're a lot lighter than glass, right..( of course I didn't really have glass bowls in the Jayco either) LOL..

Ken's been busy doing what he needs to do getting the Jayco ready to go.  Yesterday afternoon he washed it, and because the weather never got above 30 or so..the water on the concrete turned to ice! He fixed all the little things that needed to be fixed (Remember Doug I told you that's what happens! LOL) ..I spent the day getting everything out of the inside of the trailer and emptying it out! How could that little 19 foot trailer have all that stuff!!! So glad I didn't have to empty something like Rick and Kathy have or Bill and Patsy and many of our friends! UHHHH...Not fun!! 

Yesterday was 6 degrees..today 17 a heat wave!!

Patsy, here's the inside of the Jayco..it worked for us..but I can't wait for the new one!

The counter space..I used to put a large cutting board over the sink to make things

Really?!

Ken added this fold up extension a few years ago..lifesaver!

Bed in the corner..making it sucked...sometimes claustrophobia would set in
for me..

Bathroom was a nice size..no complaints there...

20 foot of living..bye bye..good memories too :(

Wednesday morning found me wide awake at 0230.  Finally about 0440 I fell back to sleep and awoke at 0600! Stuff to be done, so it felt like that was really late! I did get Grandson Adam's taxes done and e filed. Ken got his stuff done inside the trailer and then I did a final mopping. :( ) Mixed feelings...lots of good memories in that trailer! Lot's from this last summer time with the boys!

I made some banana bread and some flourless muffins. I had three zuchinni squash so what else, pizza!  Looks yummy! 

Banana bread left and flourless muffins right :) 

 Zuchinni Pizza before the oven..Ken's on the right mine left..

Time for dinner!!

So we'll see what happens tomorrow, we have a 1400 appointment in Reno to do the walk through and drop off the trailer.  Keep you posted :)) 

Have a great night..time for dinner and wine and a beer!! :) 

Good bye Jayco..Hello Sundace Ultra Lite!

Let's start with today because today was awesome!

For the last month or so Ken has been talking about getting a new trailer. We have the Jayco which works fine for us.  It's a 2015 that we bought brand new. The counter top space sucks and the making the bed sucks because it's in the corner.  When I'm 80 it'll  be a problem  but now it's ok. Anyway, it's been brought up a lot. The Jayco is paid for..no payments. So....

There has been an RV show going on at Reno Events Center..so why not go look? Right? We had nothing else we wanted to do today! 

We looked at a couple that I have to admit I liked. One had the outdoor kitchen, but you had  a bed  you had to put down every day...nope.. But then I walked into this one! 

Our new 22 foot Sundace Lite!! 

OMG..and I was trying to be the tough one..nope we're not buying today..nope don't like the bed..nope the bathroom isn't good..nope it's too big..nope! Well, this one stole my heart!! 


We looked at some smaller ones inside..nothing matched this one!! Ken wanted 20 feet this one is 22 feet(he  said..well that's not a deal killer ) what  happened to my husband!! ..we didn't want slide out..this has one on the dinette so weight wasn't bad..the overall weight is lighter than our Jayco..how do you beat that!!

Ken checking out the information

Ok... a walkaround bed!

That Kitchen sold me!!! The countertop is amazing

So here we go! This will probably be our last new trailer..but what a trailer!  They took the Jayco sight unseen..and that gave us a good down payment. We'll take it Thursday  when we pick up the new one!! I'm so excited!!! So is Ken, but in a guy way! 

Can't wait until Thursday to pick it up! 

The last couple of days we've been at home.. We did get Jacob's mailing address so I'm sending 3 a day as I know he's getting tons of letters!  I made reservations for his graduation in Great Lakes :) He got to call home today and Russell said he's doing awesome! He's a squad leader!  Today I  found out that our nephew Jesse wants to attend even though we can't attend the actual graduation...how awesome is that!

Seth got his first tattoo, thinking it won't be his last :0 He's doing well waiting for school to start. The Marines are keeping him busy :)

Life is moving on It's way too quickly in my opinion.. Happy hour happened with  me and hubby... he's gone to bed as last night he was up until 0230..I was befoe 0100.. A good time was had by all over at Karen's house.

Good night Everyone!

Ken's appointment :) Getting things done around the house

Good Wednesday afternoon!

Where is this year going?! It's almost February.  We've had a good few days since we got home.  Monday we headed over early to Reno for Ken's glaucoma appointment.  All good news his pressures were 16 and 17! Yay! The eye drop is working! Last appointment the bad eye was 23 and now 17.  He goes back the end of July.  

Eric and Christina gave us this pic of Seth and a few others for Christmas.
Gets me every time I look at it.  Ken hung it today
(well, he hung it before but it didn't stay.) The picture is straight.think my
camera was crooked!

After that we headed over to Total Wine and then to Winco to get some groceries. We ran by Lowe's for a couple of shower heads too.  We thought we'd go ahead and drive over to Minden and hit up Carson Valley Inn as we hadn't been there in awhile.  There were hardly any cars in the parking lot..gee what's up with that. They had a buffet going in one of the rooms downstairs, but turns out they're changing out their kitchen appliances so Katie's was closed. Darn, they re open the 1st.  Now what? Back to Carson and Betsy's Big Kitchen. There just aren't too many choices that we like, but what we like we really like. :) 

We had a beautiful sunset..Karen captured it..

Lisa was there and took really good care of us as usual.  Then we headed home. Unloaded groceries and then just took it easy as the day was done. :)😊

Tuesday we were basically home.  I pulled apart my kitchen and got rid of a wheelbarrow full of stuff I don't need.  It was to the point my cabinets were such a mess I didn't even know what I had and didn't.  Put some new tupperware like stuff in that I bought at Black Friday   Once that mess was cleaned up I ran to the post office to get a mailing box for Seth's stuff.  

Ken took John's trailer and went and got some wood for Karen for the fire pit.  He moved the cab over to the concrete. I checked it out and it looks ready to go. 

Today, (Wednesday) was a baking day for Seth. I got some cookies done and packed :) Ken worked most of the day outside finding plenty of stuff to do along with a load to the dump.  We don't pay for garbage so about once every 6 weeks or so he'll take 6 garbage cans to the local dump for $10.00.  We're hoping that doesn't change but we're hearing rumors. 

Part of Ken's work today, burning tumbleweeds that have
gotten carried off by the wind

In a few minutes they're gone

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

Double Chocolate Chip

Still writing letters and hoping we get Jacob's address soon. Seems longer to me than 2 weeks but it really hasn't been long over that. I remember Seth's took about 2 weeks to get. Hurry up and wait! 

It's been 20 years since I've done care packages. When Russell was on float I used to send them once a week but that was 20 years ago.  I think I did pretty good at filling every nook and cranny in Seth's. Hopefully he likes it too! I'll mail it in the am before getting my hair cut finally! 

Before the final finishing..

Every nook and cranny filled!

Ken's going to bar b q some burgers in a bit and I've got some oven fried potatoes to go with them. I was going to do zucchini fries or broccoli tots, but I'm thinking I'm too lazy now! Oh well. 

Adam and his friend Lexie from Oregon

Adam and Lexie went Cross Country skiing a
week or so ago..Of course he liked it !

Have a good night.  Happy Hour soon!