Isn't this the sweetest little family!  Sometimes my heart just feels like it's gonna bust it's so filled with love for them.  Well my heart is going to have to grow a little bit more cause there's going to be one more to love!  Yup!  Camille is pregnant!  She told me a while ago that they are expecting in June.  She didn't want me to tell anyone till she was a bit farther along and that's been a challenge.  People probably just think I'm goofy cause I walk around with a big grin on my face.  Can't help it.

I'm so happy for them and for all of us to have another precious soul join our family.

 Just a few pictures of their kiddos Camille sends me to keep me going...

They do make some cute kids...I think they should  have at least a half dozen

And a few of my favorite pictures from their last visit...

Can't wait to spend a week with them!  Leaving tomorrow for Arizona!

We had a huge storm come through this last weekend. 

It started out just blowing like crazy...nice try picking up all the leaves that had blown up against the  garage door...that's where they all seem to end up...get them picked up then go outside 20 minutes later and they are right back!  oh well.

Well it stormed all night and we woke up to this Saturday morning...I caught a glimpse of blue sky for the minute before it started snowing again. 

Kelley and KC were out early clearing the walks.

Sure do love those boys.  They don't say anything, but the next day at church about a half dozen people tell me how much they appreciated them shoveling their walks.

Then they got a nice fire going that warmed the whole house up.  How I love a fire in the fireplace! 

 

Mum used to love it when Kelley would start a fire.  She was always so grateful for any little thing.  Miss her.

 We went to do sealings Saturday afternoon and driving down the canal road was so beautiful!

Love Brother Larsen ( our sealer) and just feel grateful for the opportunity to do it.  He talked a little about the eternal blessings and promises in the sealing ceremony...made me happy to think about how wonderful it will be when our whole family can all be together again.

For Young Women's this week, we went to do Baptisms for the dead. 

We had been talking about it for weeks and I think the girls were pretty excited about it.  We made sure everyone had their recommends ready ( Bishop even did a new one that night for one of the girls that couldn't find hers...she was one of the new behives and hadn't been before, so we were all excited for her to have the experience!)

 

Bonnie had called earlier in the week to see if we could reserve a place, but they told her you have to have over 20 people to reserve a spot.  They said if we came on the half hour, we should be able to get in just fine.

So when we got there and went down to the baptistry, and saw the whole room filled, oh the disappointment!  They told us this huge group of young single adults had just come in and it would be at least two hours before we could get in.

We thought about going to a different temple...(how lucky are we to have a choice?) and Bonnie called to see if we could get in at Draper or Ocher Mountain Temple.  They were full too.

So we left, but not without getting a few great shots of these beautiful girls...

 (Weird how the temple looks green in these pictures...my camera somehow did that...I was pretty glad you could see the girls at all...it was pretty dark)

I was thinking while we were standing around the fountain ( it was a lovely warm night...so unusual for Nov 7) how I loved these girls.  They are good girls and are trying to do what is right.  It kills me to listen to them talk about what's going on in school and what they have to face every day.  These times are so different from when I grew up.    We had temptations and there were kids making dumb choices, but they were the minority.  Now it seems like the one's that are trying to do what is right are the minority.  They are ridiculed, and teased and shunned by the "popular kids"

I worry for the future these girls will have to face.

With the results of the election this past week, my faith in the United States of America has been shaken.  I get an overwhelming feeling of ickyness as I watch all the hollywood stars so glib about  the way things turned out...supporting the "womens health...aka right to abortion" legalizing gay marriage, and turning our government into something that sounds communistic.  What incentive do people have to try to do better, if the government is going to take from those that are working hard and trying to make a difference and just give it to those that aren't?  I listened to this lady on the radio who came to the United States from Russsia, and she said the signs we are seeing now are just what she left Russia to get away from.    Seems as though the greatest country in the whole world ( who God promised to protect as long as it is a righteous country) is going right down the crapper.  I had such hope for Mitt to be able to turn things around...to have his example of good values and integrity, hard work and high standards be what we as Americans would want to aspire to. too. ( and I know there are millions out there that do feel this way and wanted it too...I still don't understand  this electoral vote-popular vote thing)

Made me realize that all you can do is just try to do the best you can in your own little space....try to lift and serve those around you and be kind to everyone, no matter what they believe.

ok, I will get down off my soap box now....just had some pretty strong feelings about this.

My hope comes from girls like these that will stand up for what they know is right, even if they are put down and left out of the popular crowd because of it.  They will be the leaders and the heros for the future generations.

 Last Saturday I was able to go to the new Brigham City Temple with my sisters. 

What a wonderful day!

We met at Maddox and had some lunch, (so yummy!  I love that place!) then had to hustle over to the temple because our appointment was for  2:00.  Brenda had made an appointment for us and hurried ahead to let them know we were coming.  (If you don't get there a half hour early, they will give your spot to someone else!  Temple is very small!  There is only one endowment room and it is small!)

 

 It was sure beautiful!  I was amazed how they made the grounds look like they had been like that forever...big trees (Brenda said they had apples on the trees earlier!) and so many pretty flowers and shrubs.   It was immaculately groomed and landscaped. 

 I loved how they had used the peach blossom all through out the temple...the carpets, windows, hand rails and paintings.  The whole temple was just filled with light...it poured in from the windows and threw little rainbow prisms all over the room. 

It was a beautiful session...a few unusual things happened that reminded me of the importance of the sacred covenants that are made there.  It's pretty amazing how you can learn something new and new things are opened up in your mind every time you go.  So grateful to live where we are surrounded with beautiful temples and for the freedom and ability we have to go when ever we choose. 

 Kelley has been working every day on the project upstairs.  It  has really been such a huge job!  Putting this tile in was not easy. 

We came across this Travertine at a place called Bedrosians. After looking in about every tile shop in  Salt Lake, we went in there just to kind of look around in their showroom because we thought their stuff would be way too pricey.  We were both loving the look of this tile, but knew we couldn't pay that much for it.  Then this nice sales lady came up to us and noticed what we were looking at.  She said " hey you should go look in our back room...we have one just like that that doesn't have the sealer on it and it's really reasonably priced"

So we went in the back room (this place is HUGE!) and were tickled to find enough to do the bathroom. 

 

When we were in their huge back storage area, we saw these huge slabs of granite.  We walked around looking at each of them and I was just in awe. Each one was a magnificent piece of art!  I was struck once again with the thought of how truly amazing our world is... all of this beauty...(the colors and designs were breath taking)  is just hidden down under the ground or deep in the mountain side, waiting for us to find like a buried treasure.  It made me think of how much fun our Heavenly Father, Jesus, and Michael must have had when they were creating our beautiful world...and to think of the pleasure they must get out of seeing us enjoy and appreciate this gift they have given us.

 Anyway...Kelley and KC hauled all of this tile upstairs  (seriously so heavy...I had a hard time lifting one)  and put it in the closet room so we could pick each piece out as Kelley was ready to lay it.  They each have such a beautiful random design on it...with veins and swirls and different colors, you had to kind of pick through them to make a pattern flow.  That was my job! And I enjoyed it very much! 

 We found a trim that matched the tile really well and Kelley used it around the pretty window and in the shower.  It turned out really nice!

 My sweetie is truly amazing...

This was such a big job, and a very involved process... but the tile is finished!  It just needs to be sealed....I'll take some pics....

 A few random pictures from last week...

The chickens are so funny...every time they get out of the coop, they head right for the raspberry bushes. They just gobble the leaves right up...doesn't seem very tasty, but they love it!

They are really big now...especially the yellow chickens and are giving us between 7 and 10 eggs a day!  It still amazes me that we can go out there and find these perfect brown eggs waiting for us each day!  I am enjoying everything about these chickens!

 Haaaaa!  This gal wasn't about to move so Katie had to reach under her to fetch the eggs.

 We had been hearing about a big storm coming in last week...supposed to  freeze everything good.  There were still quite a few tomato's growing that weren't ripe, so we picked them all and set them downstairs to ripen.  Then we pulled up the rest of the garden. 

There were quite a few red tomato's too, so  I went up to Rancho market and bought a bunch of peppers so we could can one last batch of salsa.

 So grateful for KC ...makes my heart happy to see him and Kelley working together.  He's a good kid.  Always willing to help with what ever we're doing. 

Him and Kelley are going to finish the last space over at the  shop in west valley.  They have finally rented it out to SOS staffing  (woohooo!) and they want it built specifically for their business. 

 We were hustling to get all the garden pulled up and everything in...then just as we finished cleaning the mud off our boots, the snow started coming down.  Felt good to have that job done and be able to watch the snow from inside the warm house.