Jensen Family

Today is Mine

2012-02-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

I woke up today with this song in my head so I thought I'd jot it down.

Today is mine, some heart to bless....In sympathy and thoughtfulness.
Our blessed Savior's cross to bear, in toil, in faith, in love and prayer.
Today is mine, of precious use, today is mine.

Today is mine to speak the word. Repeat the story I have heard...
That grows more blessed hour by hour...the message of God's love and power.
Today is mine, of life to tell, today is mine

Today is mine, though quickly gone...for mine no more it passes on.
Oh let me work to do His will...His mission for me to fulfill.
Today is mine, of grace divine, today is mine.

I love the words to this song...it's always been one of my favorites mum taught us. The words have never touched me like they did today though.
I've been feeling unsettled as I see the days ( and my life) going by so quickly and feeling like I'm not accomplishing very much. I think this might be God's gentle reminder that I need to get my act together and do something more with my life. I surely have been blessed with the best of circumstances in my life...being born into a wonderful family and raised by faithful, loving parents that taught me the gospel...finding a great man to share my life and my forever with, being blessed with four beautiful, amazing, delightful children and just living a pretty wonderful life. When I think about it, I'm filled to the top with gratitude to my Heavenly Father. I've been given so much...I know the way to thank Him is to take these words and put them into action...take advantage of every new day and live, love and serve to the best of my ability. I'm grateful for another day to try to do better...Today is Mine!

2012-02-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is a random bunch of pictures from this past week...I can't believe it's Saturday again! I feel like time is going by so fast...I'm pretty sure yesterday was just Monday! ( I heard that's what happens when you get older... dang it! I must be older now!)

Lunch with Candice at Cafe Rio...it's becoming a habit. We try to go other places, but then when we think about it, all we want is the Cafe Rio salad with dressing that I'm pretty sure they put crack in...so we end up going back there.

Poor Sammy has been sick again...Camille took him back to the doctor and found out the tube in his ear has fallen out and he has another ear infection. NOOOOOOOO! I feel so bad for him. He's such a happy, good natured little guy, you'd never know he was sick. ( except for the fact that he keeps Camille up all night)

KC found out that they were coming out with a new translation of the Book of Mormon in Russian. He said the one they used on his mission had some mistakes in it that made it sound odd, so he was excited when he heard about this new one. We went up to the distribution center and they told him they hadn't gotten any of them yet and to check at the main distribution center. So we went over there last week and saw that they had been back ordered. So he ordered one to be sent to our house.

He was pretty happy when it came...it's a leather bound triple combination.

This is him checking it out to see if the proper corrections were made in it. Yes!

He's a great example as he reads everyday from the Book of Mormon.

We have been trying to read together every evening we are all home. I love talking about what we have read and sharing experiences and learning more from each other.

I just feel really grateful for this time we have with KC.

Hi Lizzy

Kelley brought me a beautiful bunch of flowers that sure brightened my day. He's just the best!

Oh I got to do the coolest thing last night. The sister missionaries have been calling on me here and there to drive them around or go visit some people in the ward with them.

They had asked me to go visit a lady who they had been teaching for a little while with them last night. This lady is a catholic and her husband is a less active Mormon.

She was very sweet and welcoming to us and you could tell the sisters had a good relationship with her. We talked for a little while, then she said in her broken English ( her and sister Abarka spoke Spanish mostly) " I have something to tell you...I want to be honest with you" It was just like on the best two years...I was waiting for her to say she wasn't interested in the church, but instead she said " I feel so bad...with everything that's been going on this past week, I didn't have time to read the scriptures you asked me to!" Oh wow, you could see the sisters take a sigh of relief! They were like " Oh it's ok...we can read them together now!" So we took turns reading about Nephi and how he was a great prophet and prophesied of things that would happen if the people did not repent. Then they told her about how we have a prophet today that leads and guides us and receives revelation from our Heavenly Father.

They went on to tell her how Heavenly Father loves us so much, that he gives us a prophet to guide us and warn us so we will know what we need to do to be able to return to Him.

They did a really good job.

Then sister Abarka asked her if she believed the things she had read and what they had taught her. She said yes. Then she told her that if she believed these things, then would she make a commitment to be baptized. She said she was not sure if she was ready. Sister Abarka told her they wouldn't want her to make this commitment unless she was ready.

Then sister Kurtz asked her if she would pray with us before we left. She said yes and gave her prayer in Spanish. I could pick out some of the words, but didn't really need to know what she was saying because the spirit was there. She finished her prayer and when she looked up at us, her cheeks were wet with tears.

Sister Abarka said " Because you asked with a sincere heart, the spirit is bearing witness to you." We all had tears then as she hugged us and thanked us for bringing this gospel to her. They made an appointment to see her again next week and left her with some scriptures to read.

She spoke to sister Abarka in Spanish as we walked to the door, and I saw sister Abarka's face light up. When we got out to the side walk, she just kind of blurted out and squealed "She said she would accept our challenge to be baptized next month!" I don't think the sisters feet touched the ground all the way to the car, as they hugged and thanked Heavenly Father for sending them to this special lady.

Wow, it was pretty amazing to get to be there to witness that special moment.

So, that happened...

2012-02-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

A few things from this last week.

First of all, my adorable grand kids... they got their package!

Yeah! Jammies fit!

Camille took Olivia to register for school next year. I can't believe it...she's going to kindergarten!

They gave her this t-shirt and she is really excited about it! "Grandma! My school has a library and the library is IN the school!" ( She told me that 4 times!) She was really happy about that! Thank you Camille for helping her to love the library!

Her hair is gorgeous! I was thinking about how her hair came in at first... still one of my favorite pictures!

What in the world?...We will be coming right down there to regulate!

Sam's jammies fit too! ( I think they might be on backwards..buttons in the back) He is getting to be such a big boy! Sure am missing those kids!

So a few funny things happened ( funnier now than at the time) Lizzy has been acting kind of strange lately...this picture...not so unusual...she loves to roll around on the grass and dirt and pooh and what ever else is out there. I had to brush her down good before she could come back in the house...then I wished I hadn't let her in...she came down stairs and threw up on the stairs...then came over and threw up on my yarn. ( I had been working on a baby blanket and it was about half done) . It was like watching slow motion and we couldn't do anything to stop it. NO NO NO! Lizzy! but it was too late. How do you wash puke out of yarn?

Saturday was such a nice day, we decided to go over to Willow pond and fish for a bit.

First, I went to a wedding shower for Ryan B's wife. She is really sweet and friendly. It was nice to see a lot of friends from the old ward and get to visit a while. Sure miss the weekly association with them.

Anyway, we went over to the pond and fished for a while. It was sunny, but when the wind blew it was pretty cold, so we didn't stay too long.

It made me anxious for spring and fishing with my boys again.

(I know Kelley says I've been banned from the boat because of a few comments I made ( alright, the only criteria of being nice, necessary or true was the true part, so I probably shouldn't have made the comment about how they didn't really need the fish counter they were considering buying when we were at Pro Bass shop) but I hope he will reconsider when it gets warm enough to go....please? Sorry?

Ok, so another crazy thing happened on Sunday morning. ( I hope these dumb things don't come in threes) I had got up early to get ready for church. I had to put the numbers up for the hymns, so I figured I had to be early enough to do that. Well I was all ready by 8:30 and remembered I was going to make a marinade for the flank steak we were going to have for dinner. I thought I had plenty of time, so I got it all put together except for the tomato sauce. I found a can in the back of the cupboard and went to open it. As soon as I snapped the can opener down, it exploded! It was like something you would see in the movies...it just went everywhere...but mostly on me. All over my face, hair, and my white sweater... ( just realized it was all over the kitchen ceiling this morning!)

I screamed and just stood there dripping tomato sauce for a few seconds, then realized I HAD to be at church in about 10 minutes, so I ran upstairs and tried to clean off my face and hair. I had to wash the front of my hair cause it was just dripping with sauce. And I was scared I was going to get botulism through the pores in my face, so I scrubbed my face down too.

Oh and in the mean time, I had stuck my sweater in the sink and scrubbed all the tomato sauce off...I couldn't really believe it actually came out! Then I threw it in the dryer and turned it on high!

I blow dried my hair and redid my make up. By this time, it was about 10 to 9. I checked my sweater and it was.....almost dry, so I just threw it on and ran out the door.

I think Kelley could tell I was a bit flustered when I walked into the church! He gave me a hug though and we laughed about it. Then brother Binns helped me get the hymn numbers up quick and I plopped into my seat just as bishop got up to conduct.

I felt super self conscious standing up there leading the music though...I was pretty sure there was still tomato sauce on my somewhere. ( I actually found some big splots of it back in my hair when I got home from church Ha!)

Then to top it off, Vicky had asked me if I would substitute for her in Primary. I was like "sure!" Then when I got in there I realized it was the sunbeam class. Usually, I would prefer the sunbeam class, but this class had 9 kids in it and one of them was Colton.

I do love this little boy...you just can't help it! ("Hi Keddy! Hi Keddy!) He is so full of energy though...I really believe he can't stop himself from being naughty. He would not sit on the chair form more than 3 seconds....no exageration. Opening exercises were pretty funny when I look back on it now..at the time, not so much.

There was another little girl that was kind of sick with a runny nose that wanted to sit on my lap the whole time and cried when I tried to put her on a chair, and then there were these twin boys that were quite a handful too...just typical boy. Anyway, there was a good little girl sitting next to me, then Colton was sitting ( not really) next to her. All the sudden, this little girl starts screaming..."Colton hit me!"...Even as she said that, he kept punching her. I tried to grab him to make him stop, but he ran away...so I tried to get up and chase him, but that meant I had to put the runny nose girl down, so then she started crying too. HA! It was wild in there!

The presidency and music leader were trying to help too, but could see I needed some help, so they went and got Andrea to help me.

The regular teacher showed up just before we went to class. Oh man I was glad.

This woman has the patience of Job....totally kind, loving and patient with each of the kids. And so cute with them! She had a whole bag of fun things and games and animals for them to play with. Most all of the kids responded to her and would do what she asked....except Colton and runny nose girl. ( I think she just didn't feel very good)

The teacher had a great system worked out where the helper ( that's me) would give gold fish crackers to any of the kids that were sitting on their chair. They started out really good and would sit on their chair while she gave them the lesson and I quietly passed out the gold fish. Then the twins got a little greedy and jumped up and started yelling " I want 5! I want 5! " Apparently one for each hand was not enough. I tried to explain how they had to be sitting in their chairs in order to get any gold fish. But when the other kids thought the twins were going to get more gold fish than they were, there was a mutiny and they attacked me and the bag of gold fish.

Even the teacher was starting to lose it now, but still gave them the cutest lesson about how Heavenly Father loves them. She is my new hero.

By the time class was over, it was pretty much mass hysteria. The little girl with the runny nose was laying by the door crying " I wan't daddy!' and the rest of the kids were running around the room hitting each other with the stuffed animals the teacher had brought....Not the look your going for when mom and dad come to pick up the kids...but oh well, that's the way it was.

It was funny though cause after church, I was in the hall talking to Carol and Kim and I feel these little arms wrap around my legs. I looked down and it was runny nose girl. I bent down and she gave me a big hug and said "I love you!' I guess that's what gives the teacher the strength and courage to come back and spend two hours wrangling those kids, week after week...just love.

I went home with a doozer of a headache, but a sweet feeling of love in my heart.

2012-02-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

We had another fun day on Saturday.

After chatting about what was going on with the house, ( some new really ridiculous problems....the bank wants Boyd to fix up the out buildings before he can get the loan...like fixing the greenhouse roof, and removing the lead paint on the garage....really? They said if someone should eat the paint off the garage it would be toxic. Ha Ha Ha...is this bank for real? Anyway, Boyd is trying to reason with them and hopefully get things moving forward.) we decided we needed to really finish up in the rooms we have just been kind of moving things around in. So we finished up in the north bedroom upstairs...then went into mums bedroom. That has been our storage room for all the DI stuff and other stuff we didn't want to deal with.

All of the scrap books and picture albums were in there. We divided them up and each took a few home to get the pictures out of the we wanted.

We had set aside mum's floss for another time, so we decided to tackle that. It was pretty funny when we went through each color, then realized after we had picked the bigger pieces, that we were dividing up little pieces of string! Ha! We didn't care! Just fun to be able to spend this time together.

We went out in the back room and cleaned out those cupboards too. Found these cool iron on patterns we had used....probably about 50 years ago! It was neat to find ones that we remembered stitching. This was the first sewing thing I can remember mum teaching me how to do....and probably started my love of stitchery. She would let us pick what ever pattern we wanted (she had a lot of them!) then she would iron it onto the flour sack dish cloths (the best towels!) for us. Then she would get us a hoop, needle and some floss.

I remember her sitting with me, patiently teaching me the different stitches ...back stitch, lazy daisy, french knots, and cross stitch. We made a simple cross stitch picture in Merry Miss class (I was about 11) that said "I will bring the light of the gospel into my home" and mum made it into a pillow for my bed. That probably started my obsession.

Teina made these wonderful reprints for us from some special pictures that were hanging in the house...I know it wasn't easy...they were not in good shape...but the copies turned out great! Thanks so much for doing that for us!

This is daddy when he was 1.

This was a painting Kay Holman did of daddy on his horse. She is a wonderful artist that was a good friend to my parents and still lives just down the street from them.

These are a few of my favorite pictures I got out of the albums mum had put together...

So cute! Love those matching outfits!

She had this great picture of Kelley's mom and dad

This was a good one of daddy's 80th birthday party

This is how I like to remember Christmas

Katie was like a second mother for KC... which formed a bond that has just grown sweeter and stronger over the years.

Candice on her Baptism day....so sweet!

Ha! I was tickled to come across this one...Yes! I was the Providence dairy princess! I still remember how I loved that hot pink dress mum made for me!

Kate with Candice and Denise. They are just a month apart in age and had lots of fun growing up together.

2012-01-25T11:11:00.000-08:00

Just a few thoughts from the past few days...

I've been going through some of the things I brought home from mum's last week. We cleaned out her filing cabinet and each of us took a stack of folders home. Mom was really organized! I hope to be this organized some day, but that would really take some doing!

Anyway, I had a folder that was neatly labeled "Letters". It was full of old letters from friends and family. I spent a lovely afternoon strolling through the past thirty or so years of mum and daddy's life....through the eyes of their friends and loved ones.

It was wonderful and humbling to read the many thank you notes and letters from friends, family, and people I had never heard of....thanking them for acts of kindness or service they had given to them.

They truly touched and influenced so many lives.

Been missing mum a lot lately. It feels like yesterday when she was here with us....it was January 10 when she came down here to live with us, so this time of year brings all those memories back to the surface. ( every time I turn on the tv and The price is right, or Jeopardy is on, I get a pang of lonliness for her) That was a very special time for me.

I've decided I really like the way the Japanese people take care of and honor their elderly family members. I like how they keep their family together with the parents living with their married children.

I love the idea of them not having to be alone when their spouse dies, still feeling like they were needed and loved. They could teach their grandchildren so much and influence their lives for good....not to mention all the joy having children around would bring to them. I wish our culture was more like that.

Don't worry Camille..I'm just sayin...

This was a picture Candice found from about a year and a half ago. Camille and Candice had gone up there with me and we spent a good day with mom. We sang some of the oldies mum had taught us. The girls have learned a few of them and it sure is fun to hear them singing them. Now I can see why mum always wanted us to sing for her.

So glad they had her sweet influence in their lives. Now when they sing, it's like they have a part of their grandma in their hearts that they can carry with them even though she is gone.

This was something we found in the cupboard downstairs...my wedding cake decorations! Wow! That brought back a ton of memories!

I can still picture the cake. ..all done in yellow and peach. Very pretty on our wedding day for the reception in our yard! Then we tried to take it down to Salt Lake for our reception there...oh boy, that didn't work. It had lots of fragile loopy sugar work done on it and that did not survive the drive.

We ( and when I say we, I don't know who did it...probably my mom...I was off in la la land) pieced it back together pretty good and it looked fine for the reception.

I finally got Sam's jammies done....this is what happens when I procrastinate sending them and leave them lying around...Hmmmmm they fit giant panda pretty good...hope they will be big enough for Sam! and also I don't appreciate the needle through crochet kitty's head.

Candice came over Sunday and we finished the puzzle. That was a fun one!

I went to a stake choir practice later that night. We are singing for Stake conference next week. We are singing two really beautiful songs. Our Savior's love and If we will seek the Lord. They are the kind of songs that give you goose bumps when you get to sing them and hear them sung well. Muriel is directing and I sure do love her.

How cute is my sweet Olivia...all ready for church!

We took Candice's cedar chest over to her house and I got this classic shot of her...

She is pretty even when she just rolls out of bed.

Last night, my sweet friends took me out for a birthday dinner. What a fun night! We talked and laughed till they were ready to shut the place down. Sure do love these dear ladies.

2012-01-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

I had the best day with my sisters yesterday.

We had planned on getting together cause Brenda and Leslie had work off for Martin Luther Kings' birthday.

It hasn't snowed all winter, but wouldn't you know our luck...we were supposed to get a pretty good storm that day. I called Brenda to see how the weather was up there and she said it wasn't bad at all. Teina had a different story in Layton...that area always seems to get the worst of any storm. We decided to give it a try ( We've definitely made it up there in worse conditions).

The roads were not too bad till I got to Bountiful...then they were covered with snow and ice. I slowed way down and just crept along. People were flying past me like I was standing still, but I didn't care. There were so many wrecks along that road...and I was listening to the radio talking about how dangerous the roads were, so I just plugged along at about 40 mph.

Then I got to an area where it looked like the road was clear...just some blowing snow, so I sped up to about 50 mph. I was going along pretty good for a minute, then all the sudden, the car just goes sideways. I was in the middle lane, and I slid across the fast lane and onto the shoulder of the road. They had been saying on the radio to not hit your brakes when you start to slide, cause that makes it worse, so I just tried to steer out of it. I had absolutely no control.

Once I hit the far side of the shoulder, the wheels caught and I steered back onto the freeway. I am so thankful there were no cars around me. I would have crashed for sure.

I was pretty freaked out, so I pulled over, calmed myself down and thanked Heavenly Father for not letting me die.

When I picked Teina up, I found out that she and Brad had both been in car accidents this past month. Brad totaled his car, and Teina's front end had been bashed in pretty bad. Sure grateful neither of them were hurt!

My sisters gave me a great birthday party.

They are so good to me, I'm sure lucky to have three wonderful sisters!

We went over to Firehouse pizza for lunch. It was really yummy! After lunch, we came back and cleaned out a few more places in the house. The filing cabinet downstairs had lots of special things in it that grandma had saved...lots of sweet notes, valentines, birthday, and mother's day cards from all the grand kids. It was pretty sweet to look through them.

So grateful for the loving relationship all the kids had with mum and daddy.

Angie had made a special gift for each of us girls and for each of our kids. It was a CD with some of our favorite songs that we sing together on it. She had found some old tapes we had made years ago, and had them transferred to CD. How cool is that?

I listened to it when I got home last night and it sure brought me a lot of pleasure to hear these sweet songs and think about these happy times.

Mum sounded great playing the uke for us and the harmony in some of these songs is so pretty.

Thanks a million Angie... How did you know that's just what we all needed right now? You are so sweet and thoughtful. That's a gift I'll really enjoy and treasure!

I love how she put mum's beautiful begonias on the cover, Perfect!

Yup...thats me. I'm on a CD!

2012-01-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of my sweet family.

Liv said she was decorating Sam.

Princess sleeping....I love how she wears the eye covers...this girl likes her sleep!

Kate sent me some cute pictures she took when they were here at Christmas.

Oh my gosh, I'm going to eat him!

Lizzy has been very needy and clingy lately. I'm not sure whats wrong with her. When we were working on this puzzle, she wanted to climb right on my lap. (She's kind of large and does not fit on my lap, so she had to settle on laying on our feet.)

The other night, I was awake ( as usual) about 2:00. I came down stairs to get a drink and she was laying at the bottom of the stairs. I reached down to pet her as I walked by, she didn't move.

So I went and got a drink and knocked a stack of pans I had washed off the counter into the sink. It made a lot of noise! I looked over there at Lizzy, she didn't even move.

So I went over to her and pet her and told her to wake up. She just laid there really still. Oh my gosh, I thought she was dead! And I had killed her! Earlier that day, I had cleaned out the fridge and had given her some meat. It wasn't really old, probably about a week.

Ok, now I was freaking out. I started shaking her and calling her name. She finally opened one eye and looked at me. She still didn't move.

I ran and got her some water and held it by her mouth. She lifted her head and drank a little, then got up and drank the whole bowl of water.

She seemed ok after that...other than just being real clingy.

Oh man that scared me! She can't ever die! Then I wouldn't be grandma with Lizzy...just plain old grandma.

Lizzy has been about the best dog you could ever ask for. She has kept me company, ( follows me where ever I go in the house, then plops down next to me (will get up and come lick me every once in a while)....She's loved and tolerated Olivia and now Sam, ( she put up with Liv pulling her ears and pulling her feet out from under her when she was little and then riding on her and dressing her up when she got bigger...not to mention being taken for "walks" ( more like drags) when they come to visit. It's funny though, she doesn't ever run away from them...just sits there and takes it.

I can count on one hand the accidents she has had in the house and that was because she was sick. ( When she needs to go, she just comes and gives me this look...then when I say " do you need to go out?" she will just make a bee line for the back door.

When mum was here, she was so sweet with her...she would stay by her where ever she was...laying right on her feet. It's cool how some dogs seem to kind of know what's going on... ( Wiggy, Waggles, Mr. Wiggles, Wiggle waggle...I wish I could remember all the names she called him.)

Lizzy is always there waiting for me when I walk in the back door and acts like she's just real happy to see me! I honestly don't know what I'd do without her.

Candice gave me a neat puzzle for Christmas. It's a picture of Noah's ark...when you look at the picture on the front of the box, it looks normal, but when you put it together, all these weird additions show up. I'll have to take a picture of it when it's done....it's a fun one!

Plus a few projects I've been working on...

Liv's Christmas jammies?

We went shopping together that week she was here and she picked out this ballerina fabric. Hope she likes them!

Giant Panda

Liv was looking through my patterns and said she would really like this panda...or the kitty. I tried to get the panda done while we were driving to Arizona, but it was just too giant. I finished it up about the time we got home, so I'll be mailing him.

I'll send kitty along for the ride.

2012-01-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

We had such a nice time with Katie in California.

The weather was beautiful so we went down to the beach as soon as we got there.

There were a ton of surfers over on the north side of the pier which was kind of unusual. They had been having some huge waves the past few days so it was fun to watch them.

You can't see these very well...this guy caught a bunch of crabs.

KC wandered off and we found him talking to this bunch of Russian guys. They asked him how he knew Russian. He told them he had served an LDS mission there. They said they were baptist. I love that KC tries where ever he is.

It amazes me how the flowers are always blooming...no matter when you go there!

Candice took care of Lizzy ( along with a little help from Faith) while we were gone. I sure appreciate that! I know it was a pain to drive over here every day!

Wish she could have been with us too!

We went to the swap meet Saturday, which is always fun. Got Kelley's dad a salsa chopper.

We were going to go hiking, but decided we could do that in Utah and went to the beach instead.

It was another beautiful day...not as warm, but still comfortable.

Dinner was fun at PF Changs and then Bandara.

Thanks so much for your hospitality Kate! We had a wonderful time!

2012-01-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning our church changed to 9:00 so we had to hustle to get there on time. Olivia was such a good girl! She sat there with Kelley and KC while I led the music.

We left after Sacrament meeting so we could get on our way.

A lot of this went on...I'm afraid I was out too.

Olivia was a real trooper though and didn't complain about the long trip. She is so smart...we were playing the alphabet game and she made up her own version. When she saw something outside that started with that letter, then she would count it...like mountains for M. I didn't realize she knew the letters that words start with. ( until later, we were watching a video in her car called "The letter factory" It really taught the sounds that letters made! I asked her and she said that's where she learned it!)

We decided to stay in Mesquite to break up the trip.

The place was really packed...I guess because of the holiday weekend.

We were walking across the parking lot to the Restaurant at Virgin River and see the doors to the building were propped open and there was water gushing out.

We went around to the other doors and went into the restaurant. They said a pipe had broken. We were about the last ones that were able to eat there because they said they couldn't do anything without water. When we went back to the room, the water didn't work there either. I called the front desk, and they said it was the main water line that had broken and they were working on it.

It's kind of surprising how many times you go to use water. We couldn't flush, so after a while, went to Walmart to use their bathroom! When we got back, the water still was not working. I had wanted to give Olivia a bath, but that wasn't happening. Oh dear, by this time her hair was pretty wild...I hadn't had time to wash it before church, so it was pretty scary! ( I honestly took good care of her Camille!)

We watched tv for a while, then went to bed

Still no water in the morning, so we just packed up and left. (they reduced the price for the room quite a bit, but I thought it should have been a freebie!).

We got to Camille's later in the afternoon. It was really nice there...probably between 70 and 80 the whole time. It felt so good to be warm!

Camille and Kellen's new town home is really nice. They have a cute little back yard so Liv is anxiously waiting for "the dog".

Kelley and Sam equally enjoyed a game of "where's grampa?"

Liv is non stop entertainment for Sam...no wonder he missed her so much!

We went to Scottsdale one day and did some shopping, visited the Pro Bass store, then out to dinner at a fun Mexican restaurant.

We happened to show up on family fun night and they had all these activities for the kids to do. That kept everybody happy while the guys looked around....hard to believe but there is actually some fishing gear they hadn't acquired yet...but they found some!

On my birthday, I woke up feeling a little queasy. Camille had been slaving in the kitchen and had produced a beautiful German pancake. I tried a few bites, then knew it wasn't going to stay down. About the same time, Kellen, who had just taken Olivia to pre-school, called and said Liv had just thrown up in the car. So I figured we must have both caught a flu bug.

Camille, Kellen and Katie had all had it in the past week too so I guess it was my turn.

I thought maybe I could just keep going and get through the day, but I soon realized I needed to stick pretty close to the potty.

I felt pretty sick all day. Camille and Kelley took good care of me and got me whatever I wanted. Finally about 5:00, I tried to drag myself out of bed. Kelley and Camille had made a nice dinner of fajitas. Camille even made me a cake!

They had got me some cute clothes and some new pans ( I might have picked those out)

After dinner, KC started looking a little bit green. A while later, he was puking his guts out too. I felt so bad for him. He threw up all night long.

By morning, I was feeling much better and KC was feeling a little better. We decided to wait till a little later to head to Kate's house ( since she was working anyway) and enjoyed another day with Camilles' family.

2012-01-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

When we decided that we would deliver Katie and Camille's cedar chests, we started throwing the idea around of Olivia staying with us, then we would take her home when we took the chests. I didn't know how she would feel about that cause she is pretty attached to her mommy.

We told her what we were thinking and she said "Oh yes! That would be fun!"

And it was!

We just played all day long. Danced, sang, read books,made cookies, played Barbie, did puzzles and games, played school and chip munks. She has an amazing imagination and can just sit and play by herself too!

She helped out too when Kelley and KC were changing the wax ring on the toilet. That's disgusting! Ha! She's not very squeamish!

KC, Liv and I went to the Muppets movie...very cute!

Played dress up/fashion show with my old jewelery and some random models she found around the house.

She is just a joy to have around. Never whined or complained and was a very good girl! So glad I got to spend this time with her!

Sam got through his surgery just fine, but it sounds like he was missing Olivia.

Camille said he would go looking in all the rooms of the house, then just sit there all sad.

They are very close...Olivia missed him too...and mommy and daddy. She drew pictures for all of them and was excited to talk to her mommy on the phone.

The time went by so quick though...way too fast for me! Before I knew, it was time to take her home.

2012-01-10T07:27:00.000-08:00

Katie had one more day with us and wanted to go to grandma's one last time before the house was sold, so we headed up there. We had been planning on taking a family picture when we were all together and this one was long over due.

Jared had been over that morning lifting weights with KC and agreed to go with us to be our photographer. He is such a good guy....we really appreciated him giving up his day to help us out!

We were looking at the chests daddy brought back from his mission and noticed this inside the lid...

great slogan!

We went to the cemetery to put this wreath on mum and daddy's grave.

Even though it was very cold day, I felt warm and peaceful there, and wanted to linger.

Then we went over to the Bluebird for lunch. I love that place!

Full of memories of many happy times with family.

A pretty special day!

2012-01-09T22:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day!

We decided to just open a few gifts before we went to church.

Liv had only asked for one thing...a pink sparkly bear. I think it was just something she invented in her mind cause there was not one to be found in the stores. Camille and Kellen had looked everywhere... but couldn't find one like she described. On Christmas eve they found this one at Walgreen's! It wasn't sparkly though, so we sprayed it with my sparkle spray. Perfect!

Sam liked the wrapping paper and the candy

Camille and Kellen found this cool antique plainer for Kelley. He thought that was pretty cool.

Scooter!

Fred called and asked if him and Renea could stop by.

They came in with this jewelry box that Kelley had made in high school and given to Renea. Inside it was a pretty necklace Fred had made for Olivia.

He had made some real nice jewelry for all of us. Earrings for all the girls and a ring for KC. He is really talented and has made some beautiful pieces.

That was so sweet and thoughtful of them,,,made Olivia feel really special.

The jewelry box has turned into her treasure chest to keep all her special little things in.

After they left, we had to hurry and get ready for church. I had to go up early cause the choir was practicing before church.

Bishop Blake had asked me to speak on Christmas day about a month before. I had sure spent some sleepless nights worrying about having a decent talk for this special day.

He said it was just going to be me and Bonnie Scharman speaking. It was funny that he asked us to talk cause we had spoken at a women's conference together a few years ago.

When we found out each other was talking, we decided we would compare notes before so we didnt' talk about the same thing.

When I talked to her at the Relief Society party, we had both picked the exact same talk to take our message from! What's the chances of that? It was one from President Eyring about gifts. Ha! I told her I would try to find something different. So I stayed with the same idea of gifts, but changed it to spiritual gifts.

I was unusually calm and able to talk as long as I didn't make eye contact with my family sitting there on the front row. That was definitely a first!...I don't know how they got Kelley to sit on the front row... but there he was. It was pretty wonderful to have them all there to support me!

After church...(they only held sacrament meeting) we went home and I could finally relax and enjoy the rest of the day!

Camille and Candice made the cutest thing for me....all of these fabrics are from grandmas old blouses. I'm going to hang them on the wall in my sewing room. Each of the fabrics brought back a memory of her.

We went over to visit with Kelley's dad for a while.

It felt strange to not be going to mum's....like Christmas wasn't quite right.

I think all the kids were feeling it too.

We sure miss her.

We had a fun night playing games and singing and just enjoying being together.

2012-01-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

A few pictures from Christmas Eve...KC, Kelley and Nelson went up ice fishing...had quite the adventure when ice started crackling and moving. Must have been pretty bad for Kelley to admit he was really scared! Give it a few more weeks to freeze guys!

Got the annual family Christmas eve party going about 4:30. Glad Curtis could join us. He survived the interrogation from Candices' uncles. Ha!

We got a surprise visit from Santa. He was great with all the kids and brought out the kid in all of us!

So Grateful to have Kelley's dad with us.

I was just in heaven with all my girls here!

Lots of good food...everyone helped with dinner so that made it easy for me. What a fun night!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

I've got to break into my Christmas reminiscing to tell about New Years eve.

Liv and I had a fun day playing Chipmunks/house/school. She was always Elenore, cause she was the cute Chipmunk, and I was Jeanette. I was wearing my reading glasses to write some cards while we were playing. Liv stares at me for a long time, then says, " can I try on your glasses?" So she did...and decided that she would much rather be Jeanette, because wearing glasses was cool!

She was wearing an old black pair I had but they kept slipping off her nose. Then she saw these wild pink ones I had and they fit! She would have worn them all day if we didn't tell her they could give her a head ache.

When I was fixing her hair, she said she wanted it to be in a pony tail with a big poof...I guess like Jeanettes'. I tried my best, and she gave her approval saying " it looks just like Jeanettes when she goes like this... then she strikes a pose" She cracks me up!

( oh and this is Liv in the school house/tent we made with my big cutting board) She had it all fixed up with all her favorite things

Then when aunt chewey came over, Liv wrangled us both into playing school ( she was the teacher and still Jeanette chipmunk of course cause she had the glasses on.) That left me to be Elenore and Chewey to be Brittney. And don't forget about the other students...pink sparkly bear and American hair doll, Olivia. She is just really funny and smart and has a great imagination! .

Snuggles and spinning with Aunt Chewey are awesome!

Later, we went out to Northrups for a New Years Eve get together. What a fun night! It was so great to see everyone and have a chance to sit and visit and catch up on each other's lives.

Brenda had made such a nice dinner and we all brought a few things to add to it.

I was glad when Stix and Katie showed up with Amalee. Her and Liv had a fun night playing together. Dan and Brenda have a fun playroom down stairs with all the fixings for a tea party, so these little girls were just in heaven.

Marsha had brought these coolest floating lanterns...just like from the movie "Tangled"

We all went outside to send them off. You just lit this little tray on fire in the bottom of them and as soon as they were filled with the hot air, they just took off up into the air! They floated higher and higher till they just looked like a colored star up in the sky! . Liv and Amalee thought that was about the coolest thing ever.

Sure do love these great friends...

2011-12-31T09:55:00.000-08:00

I don't want to forget the special day I spent with my sisters...December 17. Brenda had invited us to her house for our annual candy making, and birthday celebration....only this year we were missing the guest of honor.
We had a wonderful time together... Brenda's home is so cozy...nestled up in the mountain, the view on every side is just beautiful.. She had made us a lovely lunch and we just thoroughly enjoyed the time talking and laughing together.
After lunch, we exchanged our presents and Brenda got out her ukulele and we sang some of our favorite Christmas songs.
Leslie had given us each a song book that was pretty special. It was one she had gotten from mum's collection that we all had wanted. ( I know she really had to hunt to find us each a copy on the Internet! That was so thoughtful!) It was a book that mum had taught us a bunch of songs out of when we were growing up. They have been some of our favorites...and when we opened them up and started singing, it was like the years just melted away and we were young girls singing together again. There was a great feeling of love there and it was as if mum was right there with us. The tears were flowing, but mostly tears of gratitude for the blessing of having been born and raised with this wonderful family and for the love we share.

2011-12-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

We decided to brave the cold and go up to see the lights at temple square. There were a million people there but it was worth the pain of fighting traffic and parking.

So beautiful!

When Kelley got home Wednesday afternoon, he still had the finishing touches to put on the cedar chests. We had ordered the hardware ( corners, hinges, latches) for them online and arrived on Thursday. Then he had to put the cedar lining in them.

Many hours later...

Voila! They turned out amazing! We were both kind of giddy with excitement to give them to the girls. I picked out some of my favorite embroidered pillowcases that I had inherited from my grandma, and put them in ...along with some dish towels that had been embroidered on too.

I know people don't do hope chests or trousseau's so much anymore, but it felt like the right place for these special things.

It was like a whole new celebration when Kate got here Friday night.

She gave Liv her Christmas present a little early...an American Girl Doll!

Oh my goodness, I don't think Liv has put it down! She just loves it!

Three dolls!

2011-12-31T08:26:00.000-08:00

So we had been planning for Camille's family to arrive at our house a few days before Christmas and then be able to stay for a week or so after the new year.

She called me on the 15th and said they had to change their plans...and they were coming that weekend!

Sam has been having one ear infection after another, so after his last one, they sent them to a specialist and decided he needed tubes put in his ears. They wanted to get the surgery done before the end of the year so they wouldn't have to meet the deductible again, so they planned it for Dec. 29th. That meant they would have to head home right after Christmas.

Anyway, we were thrilled to have them here when ever they could be here!

There were several projects I had been planning on getting done that last week that I just let go. I wanted to spend every minute playing with family...not sitting behind the sewing machine. ( I guess that will teach me not to procrastinate!)

Kelley had to be gone for the first part of that week which was really dumb! Gail had asked him if he would help him do a little job in Elko...and Kelley, not knowing Camille would be coming that early, had committed to do it. It was a job building a small building at a gold mine, so this required taking a mine safety class which took three days! Really bad timing! Anyway, we sure missed him and were so happy when he got home a little earlier than we had thought he would! Sure do love that man and appreciate what he does to provide for our family. I know it was killing him to have to leave just as Camille's family got here.

Liv and Lizzy were very happy to see each other again. Maybe Liv a little more than Lizzy. (It was bitter cold that week before Christmas and no snow, so Liv had to take Lizzy for walks in the house.)

Lizzy mostly liked sitting under Sam's chair waiting for him to drop some food. When Sam figured out how fun it was to feed Lizzy, that's where most of his food went. They got to be good friends. Sam wasn't one bit afraid of Lizzy. She would follow him around, eating up any crumbs he left behind and licking his face occasionally, but it didn't seem to bother Sam.

At night though, Lizzy wanted to be right next to Olivia...laying as close as she could to her bed.

Sam is such a little joy! He is very busy though and really gives Camille a run for her money. Where Olivia was so calm and sweet, he is like a little tornado. Where Olivia is super tidy and keeps track of the tiniest little parts of all of her toys...Sam is more like a small explosion...sending everything flying in all directions.

He is all boy and just wants to go go go! He really keeps Camille running and it shows...Camille has lost a lot of weight...I think from nonstop chasing after him!

Kellen's mom sent a big tub with the twelve days of Christmas for their family. It was really sweet and thoughtful. Olivia was so excited every day to open a new present. Most of them had fun activities for them to do as a family, so that was real nice.

The week went by way too fast!

Lotta Joy

2011-12-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

That's pretty much the only way to describe the last few weeks.

This Christmas season was truly wonderful as we were able to have our whole family with us this year.

Many happy memories were made and are stored safely in my heart.

The next few posts will be from some of my favorite moments.

Every year we like to make a little something for our friends and neighbors for Christmas. It's become a tradition for us that we truly enjoy....to remember those who have touched and blessed our lives the past year.

Kelley spends hours out in the garage cutting out, sanding and staining the wood, then he will bring them inside for me to finish up. ( He usually helps me do that part too! He is such a good painter, I think it drives him crazy to watch me paint!)

Anyway, after all was said and done, ...cut, stained, sanded, painted... the letters needed to be sanded one more time.

I asked KC if he wanted to help me. I had heard him talking to his friends on the phone earlier, but didn't know they were planning anything. He took one look at the gozillion letters sitting there and said "sure!" Then he went in the other room and called his friends back, telling them he had decided to spend the afternoon with his mom instead of shopping with them.

That meant a lot to me!

Rubber Band Man

2011-12-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting these pictures for several months now...Kelley's strangeness must be documented.

Last night at the Relief Society party they wanted us to all get to know each other so they had a list of several questions and we would go around the table and answer the questions...then change tables and do the same with a new group of ladies.

Well one of the questions was to tell something personal and unusual about yourself. I told about my unusual husband.

I guess I should tell how this started....For as long as I can remember, Kelley has been taking the rubber band off the newspaper in the morning and just flinging it anywhere. I would find them all over the place. What does he think? That they just disappear or disintegrate or something?...It must have a connection to his thinking that the clothes he throws on the floor next to the hamper somehow magically just jump in the hamper while he is at work.

Anyway, one day a while back, I had finally had it. I said "Can't you think of something better to do with those rubber bands"?...Do you think I like picking them up every day?"

Well from then on, this is what I wake up to.

And these are only a few of his rubber band-plastic bag...(don't forget about the rainy day newspaper)

creations.

Sometimes they don't even have anything to do with the rubber band. He will just fill my purse with random items....yarn, cans of soup, bananas, you get the idea.

The worst is when I don't notice what he's done till I get to the store and go to get out my wallet and find it securely bound with several rubber bands to my lotion, sunglasses and drink mix. I've got some pretty strange looks from the clerks. I try to explain about Kelley, but then they look at me like I'm even stranger.

Ok this was a good one...the contents of my purse, in newspaper bag, wrapped with duct tape.....one day he got my cafe rio left overs ( that I adore) and wrapped them so tightly with duct tape, I had to cut it open with scissors. He is creative...I gotta hand that to him.

The other night I stayed up pretty late so when I went to bed, I was about half asleep. I laid down and thought my pillow felt pretty hard, but was too tired to do anything about it. I woke up in the middle of the night ( as usual) and was like..what is wrong with my pillow??? So I turn it over and inside the pillowcase were Kelley's dress shoes. Really dear?

I thought he would lose interest in this whole thing, but that doesn't seem to be happening...it's more like a challenge to come up with even more strange things to do with rubber bands now.

He never fails to amaze me (or make me smile.)

Love my grand kids!

2011-12-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

I got to skype with my little sweeties last night. Oh my gosh, I just want to reach through the computer and squeeze them! Missing them so much right now.

Camille keeps me going though with several pictures every day of what they are up to.

It seriously makes my day!

Apparently, Sam is a climber.

I had planned on being in Arizona for Sam's birthday, but due to some really lame planning on my part, it didn't work out.

So I sent Sam his birthday present in the mail. I had been working on this doggie ( and I have to say, taking quite a bit of grief because of the looks of his yet un-attached appendages) for quite a while. I thought he turned out pretty cute. Hope Sam likes him too!

When I was getting the package ready, I was talking to Camille and she was telling me how much Liv liked the movie Puss n boots. Since seeing the movie, she has decided she wants to be a cat.

Camille was telling her about the kitty costume I made when the girls were little, and wondered if we still had it. So I went out and rummaged through the Halloween boxes till I found it.

It was in kind of sad shape...losing it's tail stuffing and parts falling off...so I fixed it up and put it in the box with the other things.

The package got there really fast...only two days, so I was surprised when Camille sent me these pictures. Then Liv called and thanked me for sending it. " I loooooooove it grandma!"

Camille says she hasn't taken if off.

Why wouldn't you wear it to Costco?

So anyway, back to the skyping...we had a bad connection, so they kept breaking up, but we had a few great moments of Liv singing Santa Clause is coming to town, and Sam clapping his hands and waving at me.

Gosh I just want to be with them so much. At church Denise Cox asked me if I had any big plans for Christmas. I seriously just started to cry when I told her how excited I was to have all my family coming home for Christmas. ( I know, I am kind of an emotional wreck right now...also cried when I was talking to Deby about the sister missionaries talks and during the musical number and sacrament hymn...thats not cool when your conducting)

Denise said, Oh do they have to take turns coming to your house for the holidays? and I told her yes...plus my daughter with my grand kids lives in Arizona, so I have sure been missing them all! I miss seeing the joy of Christmas through their eyes....I mean, that's what makes Christmas so wonderful...seeing the wonder and excitement in their faces. I long so much to share these grandma moments with them! She was like "okay psycho..it will be alright". no, she was very kind and gave me a hug and said she understood.

I know someday they will come back to Utah, but for now, well this stinks.

I have been trying to fill that void with other things and reaching out to others surely makes me happy. Maybe the circumstances in my life right now are supposed to be teaching me something...I know I have a lot to learn...( another meltdown moment in Sunday school a few weeks ago when we were reading in Hebrews...This scripture jumped out at me and I knew it was Heavenly Father trying to comfort and instruct me...It says in Hebrews 12:1..."Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." That spoke to me in a way that touched my very soul and shifted my way of thinking.

I've been having the biggest pity party for myself as I look around to see every other grandma enjoying going to see Santa with the grand kids...going to see the Christmas lights... making sugar cookies, decorating the tree and having family get togethers. I'm a good grandma and dang it I want that too! But I think Heavenly Father was telling me to be patient with the race I'm running right now... It gives me hope and a feeling of peace if I think of that scripture when I get to feeling jealous and sad.

So for now...I'm trying to be patient....So grateful for the sweet pictures Camille sends me...(I appreciate them more than she could know!...helps me feel like I'm still connected and kind of there with them)... being able to talk to them on the phone, and skype. I'm looking forward to Christmas time when we can be together!

He set me free...

2011-12-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, we decided to meet again at mums. Brenda talked to Boyd and he wanted to meet with us and have us sign the final sale documents. He came over about noon with his friend ( who is the one who helped Boyd see the possibilities with this home...he has remodeled and restored several older homes)

It was once again a heart wrenching experience for all of us.

After they left, we decided to pick up where we left off in daddy's room.

We took each drawer of the big chest out to the kitchen table so we could clean it out.

Daddy was really very organized and had a place for everything.

This was where he kept any inside tools and replacement parts and batteries and flashlights, extension cords, and stuff like that. We didn't really know what to do with a lot of this stuff...soooooo we set it aside for the men to go through next time. Ha! Once again, we're moving things from one pile to another!

We did make some progress though....got rid of some junk and divided up some other cool stuff.

These stamps were cool...I think they are french. We found some cool old coins too.

Then we cleaned off daddy's desk. He had lots of cool desky things... Old quill pens, paper weights, letter openers, and envelopes. Stirred up a lot of memories of sitting there in the big chair ( it seemed big back then) by his desk and watching daddy plunk away on the old smith corola typewriter.

We found some real treasures in one of the drawers to his desk...besides these fabulous cuff links ( surely a gift from someone who didn't know daddy very well) we found all of his and mum's old watches. Several of them still worked...cause they were the windie kind! I scored on a neat magnifier that lights up...I've been using it about every night since then to read with! Ha! Dang, we even found some electric socks...still in the package. I thought KC would like those!

We were going along pretty well till we found this poem daddy had typed and put in a frame. I had never noticed it there before. Had a small melt down as Brenda read it to us. It sounds just like something daddy would say. Kind of felt like maybe this was a gift mum and daddy were giving us from the other side of the veil to let us know that they are happy and hoping we will be too.

Happy Birthday Grampa!

2011-12-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

I just have a few (not very good) pictures I took at his party. I'm so glad Suzie will open up her beautiful home to throw a party for him every year. It's a time when we get to honor this special man and also see all the Jensen family...and that's quite a treat!

What a diverse bunch of people! Each one has a unique story that has led them on their own path of life. Many years of shared life's experiences... joys and sorrows have brought us close to each other. I feel blessed to be a part of this family.

So grateful for these two and how they put family first. I love how all the kids support and love each other...making the extra effort to stay close and aware of what is going on in each others lives, even through they are so far apart.

Oh I wish this one would have turned out! Getting all these brothers together doesn't happen very often!

I can hardly believe he is 92 years old! He is still very active...can get around really well and serves in the temple every week. He was out doing yard work until the ground was covered with snow. Now he spends time reading and making all kinds of things on his knitting looms. He's done lots of hats, scarves and place mats for all the family.

We didn't get to visit with him very much at the party, so we went over to visit him last night. He is always so happy and grateful for a visit. He is positive and doesn't complain.... but is also very down to earth and honest. I love to talk to him. He always has a good story about something that has happened...either yesterday, or 30 years ago. It amazes me that he can remember events and details so well. Kelley is like that too. I sure wish I was!

Sure am glad that he is still with us....It's just comforting to know that he is there...I know he is ready and longs to be with Maxine again though...

Not yet...please?

Happy Birthday Sam!

2011-12-05T23:24:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it's been one year since this sweet little boy became a very special part of our family.

When Camille was pregnant with Sam, she worried that she wouldn't ever be able to love a new baby as much as she loved Olivia.

I told her not to worry...that God fills a mothers heart with so much love, there is more than enough for each little soul He trusts us with to watch over while we are here on earth...You will see!

I think it took her about two seconds to realized this was true! As soon as he was placed in her arms, the love affair began, and just grows deeper and sweeter every day.

Even when he is eating dirt, he is about the most lovable little guy ever!

Plus...he's just happy and pleasant to be around most all the time!

Olivia has adored him since day one. She never tires of playing with him...even when he was real little and just laid there, she would sing to him and dance around him, trying to make him happy...and he would respond to her like no one else. She could make him laugh before anyone else. All she has to do is walk in the room and he lights up.

He doesn't even mind when she plays dress up with him....well, he tolerates it.

Kelley is such a cute grampa...always wants to hang out with him when ever he can! We can't get enough of this sweet little guy!
I thought being grandma to Livvy was heaven...I don't know where to go from heaven but having Sam too...well, it's even better!
He came into our life and filled up our hearts...

Wish we could be together to celebrate the special day with you.

Sending Birthday hugs and kisses and all my love to you!

2011-11-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

Just had to say a little bit about Wesley's farewell...
Our church time's overlapped, so we were going to miss the last hour of our meetings to get to hear him speak.
Kelley and KC and Candice went over after Sunday school...so glad Candice could spend the day with us....so fun to have her with us for the whole weekend!
Stacey had asked me to help the young women learn this song to sing during her Relief Society lesson next week, and last week when we practiced it, well, they needed a lot more work on it. So I was going to go in there with them for a few minutes, then head over to the other building.
Well those few minutes turned into a half hour...they were really doing pretty well with the song, but it just took that long. So as soon as we got done, I hurried over to their church. When I walked in, they were just finishing singing a musical number, so I thought I had missed his talk. Then to reinforce...KC said...yup you missed it. (ooooh I will get him!) Then this other speaker got up and took till almost 2:00. Then Brett got up there and sang a song I had never heard before. It was really good! Wow! He has a real nice voice! Who knew?
Then after he sat down, Wesley got up there to talk! I was so glad I hadn't missed it! He gave a really good talk...seems like the extra time has helped him be really ready for his mission. He will be a great missionary in Argentina.
We went over to their house after church. It was great to see all the Wrights....they are like second family to us. Also very good to have a chance to sit and visit with all of our dear friends. We laughed a lot, which really felt good...just what I needed. That really topped off the Thanksgiving weekend. I feel so blessed to have all these people in my life.

2011-11-28T10:03:00.000-08:00

Kelley's been working on some fun "projects" out in the garage.

Comes in from the hut completely covered in fine saw dust. ( Can't wait to see what he's done!)

I think his favorite project though is to give me fits. The other night we were making some fudge and I ran out of chocolate chips, so I called Stacey to see if I could borrow some. I was going to send Kelley down there to get them, but he has had a bad cold and I could tell he wasn't feeling very good, so I said never mind, I'll go get them. So I ran down there.

On the way home, as I ran past Jerry's wall, Kelley jumps out from behind it like he's going to grab me. Yes, I wet my pants.

(p.s. thanks for sharing that with our friends at church yesterday...ha! just remember what Karl says...what go round, come round)

These are some projects I've been working on.... hmmm this one is only a year late!

For Emily's new little one....

I walked out the door the other day with these two shoes on. Wow, besides the bladder control problems, I apparently can't see very well either!

Scaring myself.

Love this picture of Sam...surprised? No. Camille said he just really wanted to get out of that jacket. Does not like long sleeves. Gosh I'm missing them a lot. Think it's time for a visit!

2011-11-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

What a nice Thanksgiving....so great to have Katie here with us for a few days!

We.....shopped, baked, played games, ate... (a lot), napped, watched movies, made candy, ate candy, snuggled on couch, crocheted ( is that how you spell it?) shopped some more....yes, we were brave!, visited with friends and family, and before we knew it, it was time for Kate to leave.

The only thing we were missing. (Kellen too!)

And we were sure missing them.

Toothless old biddy

2011-11-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

So Thursday, I started having a toothache. It was on the top, so I hoped maybe it was just my sinus's.
Friday was no better...in fact. it was way worse. So I called Dr. L. This answering machine came on saying it was someone named Trish. What? I probably mis-dialed, but took it as a sign that i needed to find a new dentist. So I called Travis to see if he would look at my teeth. He said he is working in a pediatric office now, so he referred me to his buddy Dave. Dave has done some work on Kelley and Katie and they both liked him, so I gave him a call. I told him I was in quite a bit of pain, so he said to come in that afternoon.
They took a bunch of x-rays and poked around in my mouth. Then after a long look at my x-rays, he says...."I have some bad news. Not only is the tooth that hurts probably a goner, but there is one on the bottom that looks really bad too." Really? But that can't be! I brush and floss every day...and for the past week, I haven't eaten hardly any candy!
He said the teeth with the problems had crowns on them that had kind of fallen apart under the crown. How does this happen? ok, aside from me eating waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much candy. Shouldn't they hold up better than that?
He said he couldn't fix it that day, so he sent me home with some pain pills to get me through the weekend, and told me to come in on Tuesday.
So Tuesday, I went back in and he went to work on the tooth on the top that was hurting me. He took off the crown...no wait first he has to deaden the top of my mouth...I really hate that. dang, it hurts getting a shot in the roof of your mouth.
Anyway, after I was good and numb, he took off the crown and started drilling. He said there was a lot of decay but he would try to save the tooth. He drilled and drilled. Then he said, "Well, there isn't much left of that tooth now". He said he could try to build it up with posts and stuff, but he was afraid it wouldn't work out very well in the long run. He said he would rather do an implant there. Implant???? NOOOOOOOOO! I told him about all the trouble I've had with the implant I got from Dr. L. He said that wouldn't happen on the top teeth, because there are no nerves there.
Oh man, I felt like crying. He was really sorry and I think a little afraid to tell me this...
So after we talked a while, I decided to go with the implant. He said he wanted to do a bone graft after he removed the tooth so I would have a strong area for the implant. So he pulled my tooth.
It was.....difficult. By the time he got it out, I had tears running into my ears. It didn't hurt...just so much pressure. I felt like he was pulling my cheek bone out.
After breaking it into pieces, he finally got it out. He cleaned it up and put this bone graft stuff up in the hole it left. Then he sewed it shut.
I will go back in a few months and have him start the implant process.
Not cool.
I had a flash back of standing at the bathroom mirror doing mum's hair. She smiled (showing the missing the tooth (partial) that she kept losing, so we finally just didn't replace it) a big smile and looking at her reflection said in her sweet voice..."You toothless old biddy!"

2011-11-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well, after another wonderful day with my sisters at mum and daddy's place, these are a few treasures I came home with.

Mum didn't do a lot of stitchery like this, so this was pretty neat to find.

Brenda told us that the canyon had been closed on Friday so we didnt' know for sure if we would be able to make it through on Saturday morning. It cleared off though and the snow plows did their job so we sailed right along. Mum got a lot more snow than we did...about 10 inches! Turned the place into the enchanted winter wonderland we all love. Made my heart ache when I thought about this being the last fall-winter season we would spend looking out the kitchen window at this beautiful sight.

We decided to tackle daddy's room. We've been moving everything that we didn't want to deal with in there...and it was about stacked to the ceiling.

We went through the coat rack of mum's old coats and daddy's hats. Daddy had some real nice ones he would wear to church or special occasions.

We went through the beautiful cabinet in there and cleared out all books and nick knacks. There were a few things in there we still couldn't decide what to do with, so we put them in a different pile in that room. Ha! I'm afraid we are going to need till June to get this done!

We found several flower arrangements mum had made that had ended up in that room and divided them all up. These big white flowers were on the dresser upstairs in the room where I would sleep for as long as I can remember.

We found some cool books about Providence and her people. These ladies were my mom's friends and I remember them fondly from church, moms club, and just being neighbors.

There's a big pheasant up there under those trees...really!

\Aaron said the deer have been wandering around the yard already too.

We took more pictures and things off the walls, stirring up a ton of memories of gifts and projects from Birthday's, Christmas's and mother's day's of the past.

This was a favorite one of mine because it described how daddy was with the grand kids to a T.

We found some great old pictures that are real treasures!

This is mum when she was six. So cute!

Bruces band..."The Esquires"

I love this picture of daddy.

And this one of mum and Mittens.

A teen age Bruce

Daddy with his war buddies

His horse "Dusty"

He used to tell us about how he worked for a man on a ranch in Wyoming during the summer and for his pay, the ranch owner let him find a wild horse and keep it. He found "Dusty" and brought him home and tamed him. When he went on his mission, he took him back up to Wyoming and let him go....then when he got home from the war, he went back up and found him and brought him back home and rode him for many more years.

Home...

My grandma and grampa...Elmer and Lena Yost....I didn't get a chance to know her here on this earth...she died when I was one. I've heard so many lovely things about her though...looking forward to meeting her in heaven.

Wow this is a good one. The whole Braegger clan....and this is grandma and grampa Braegger and their kids.

The old Providence elementary school...I can still picture where each of my classes were and my teachers faces.

Another classic...all of us girls as teen-agers!

Dreamy...right? Mom was a beauty!

I'm sure grateful mum and daddy kept all these pictures and things. It makes it a little easier to let go knowing we can always look at these pictures and remember people, places and how our lives were growing up there.

2011-11-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

I saw a quote the other day that got me thinking...

"What if you woke up today with ONLY the things you thanked Heavenly Father for last night?"

I know I'd have my family...they are always at the top of the list of my "thankful for" in my prayers!

Miss them so!

Love having KC back with us!...he brings such a great spirit into our home!

So thankful for Kelley! He's an amazing husband and wonderful father! If I started listing reasons why I'm thankful for him, I'd be here all day.

For my beautiful, loving, supportive, smart, funny, kind hearted girls.

Pretty cool how these amazing girls have grown up to be my very best friends.

They are funny and always make me smile!

So thankful for my family!

Letting go...

2011-11-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

This has been a rough weekend. We knew it was coming, but for me, I guess I had just put it on the back burner...thinking maybe some miracle would happen that would change everything and make this reality go away. But it didn't, the process went forward, and we sold the house.
When things fell through with Mardene, we decided to see what kind of response we would get by putting a for sale sign in front of the house. We put Brenda's phone number on it to call if anyone was interested since she was most available to show it to people. She got a lot of calls and showed the house to several people. There were several that just came up and knocked on the door too. We had asked Faith and Aaron to let them look around a little, then to call Brenda if they were really interested.
There were three sound offers on the house...we went over each one carefully, weighing the pros and cons. A letter from the one we chose, helped us a lot in our decision.
This man told us how he had admired mum and daddy's place for years and was so excited when he saw it go up for sale. He said if he could get it, he would not tear down any of the buildings, but restore them to their original state. He said him and his wife love yard work and gardening and flowers and want to make the yard look like it did years ago. He has a young family and loves the idea of having this beautiful place for them to grow up in.
That kind of sealed the deal for us. Pretty much everything we could have wanted to happen!
So we all agreed to tell him we would accept his offer. ( with a few minor adjustments)
We told him that there was still so much to do in cleaning out the house and out buildings...we were going to need a little time. He was very understanding and said although he would want to start working on the house remodeling, we could have till June 1st to get all the stuff out of the house. Really??? When I told Katie this, she said it was pretty much unheard of to give us this much time.
Truly a tender mercy we have been given.
Saturday morning, we all met again and went over the offer and made an addendum satisfying his and our concerns. Then Brenda said.."well, Boyd needs this offer to give to his bank to go forward with his financing...so are we ready to sign it?" We all just sat there like deer in the headlights.
I think this was the first time it had really seemed real...no backing out, changing our minds, lets think about it some more, or what ifs...It was really happening....and it hurt...a gut wrenching, heart aching hurt.
So we all agreed...(very reluctantly on Teina's part...we had all hoped and wished so much for someone in her family to be able to buy the place) to sign the papers...."You go first...no, you go, awwww I can't, no, you go..." you get the picture. Then the tears. Man this is hard.
After Boyd left, we tried to pull ourselves together to get through the rest of the day.
I took some left-overs from bunko up there for our lunch. So after a beautiful prayer from Leslie, pleading for some peace in our hearts, we ate and then went to work.

I hadn't really said much to my family about it...I've almost felt like I was betraying them by agreeing to sell the place. They love it so much too and have tons of happy memories with grandma and grampa there. Anyway, somehow they knew I was struggling that day and called me with words of love and support. That meant a lot to me.

So grateful for a sweet, thoughtful husband who knows my heart and can always make me feel like everything will be ok and will work out the way it's supposed to. Love him a lot.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my life and the experiences I've had growing up and then with my own family in that beautiful, unique yard and home. Then as we contemplated selling the place, all those feelings and memories have come real close to the surface. They are memories and feelings that are such a big part of me, I never want to lose or forget them.

Lisa wrote some thoughts about selling the house that rung true with me...that while we still had the house, we could resist thinking about the finality of mum and daddy really being gone. Now with the house gone, there was no going back.

The memories really are from being there with mum and daddy and now they are gone, it doesn't feel the same. I still get a peaceful calm feeling when I pull in the driveway, but in the house, you don't feel the loving warmth that would envelope you before when they were there.

As we took down the pictures and things in the living room, well it was just pretty sad. But then the this quote came to me that I've always liked....Don't cry because it's over...smile because it happened."

Very simple but good advice. I'm trying...

2011-11-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

So I got to lead the music in sacrament meeting today for the first time. This has been a long time coming which is fine by me!
Right after we had all the changes with the ward, I got a call from Bonnie Scharman who was in the RS presidency at the time. She asked if I would substitute leading the music in Relief society till they found someone. I was like.. sure I can do that. Then when I got there to do it, the lady playing the piano said she would just as soon lead as play and I said well that will work out just fine cause I do not especially like to lead!   So we traded spots and I thought that was the end of it.   A few weeks later, Tina asked me if I had been in to see the bishop about my new little calling. I said no... Then went home and asked Kelley what was going on. He said he wasn't really sure.
Well that Wednesday night, he told me I was supposed to go see the bishopric.    When I went in, I met with Josh and Bob. They seemed kind of confused as to what my calling was...kind of whispering together, then said "Oh yeah..sister Roth wants you to lead the music in Relief Society. I was like....hmmmmm ok. I can do that.
Well the next Sunday, I thought they would sustain me....they put about 30 other people in callings but not me. I asked Kelley why they didn't put me in. He said " hmmmm I think they might have something else in mind for you.
So the next week, I thought they would have said something to Tina, but when it came time to start RS, there was no one else jumping up to do the job and Tina looked at me and mouthed..."have you been called?" I didn't know what to do, so I just went up there and led the music.
This went on for one more week, then I was told to go see the bishopric again. I went in on Wednesday night and Josh and Bob said they had something different for me...how about leading the music in Sacrament meeting! Oh boy!   Really? I was pretty apprehensive, but said I would do it.
I thought they would put me in that next Sunday, but they didn't. I asked Kelley why they didn't put me in. He said they hadn't had a chance to meet with the present chorister to tell her she was going to be released. So it would be another week. I was totally fine with that!
The next week, they released Merrilee and put me in. After the meeting, she came up to me and gave me a big hug and said she had loved that calling, but was ok with the change. Oh man...I was not feeling so good about that. She has got to be the most poised, perfect, graceful lady I know! When she leads the music, she has this look of serenity and calmness on her face that is just kind of comforting. She looks out over the audience and smiles at everyone, then leads beautifully...hardly ever glancing down at the book. She has had some hard things in her life lately so the bishopric thought they should ease her responsibilities at church.
Anyway, I knew I could never replace her....she has been doing this job since...well lets just say I remember her leading when we were together with this ward 20 years ago!
As I thought of how wonderful she is, I had great fears welling up in my mind.   I thought about how sometimes if I don't know the song very well, ( or even if I do know it!) I get so flustered, I forget what time signature I'm even leading in!   Pretty much the opposite of serenity. Oh dear..
Well then the next week, we had regional conference so I was off the hook for one more week...but today finally rolled around and my number was up.
I had gotten a call from the music chairman with the songs we would be singing and talked to the organist at the stake dinner. She was super nice...and said she would practice with me before church if I was nervous. I told her I would come to church a little early so we could go over them.
Before church today, KC played the songs on the piano so I could practice leading them. He is a peach. I got to church in time to put the song numbers up and to talk with the organist about the songs...she had some good tips for me... I was pretty impressed that the organist could talk to me and play the organ at the same time. She said she plays the organ at the baptistery at the temple every Saturday, so she has gotten pretty good at it! We were able to chat for a bit and found out that we have a lot in common.
As the bishopric came up to sit on the stand, they all wished me luck. Bishop Blake said " all you have to do is get up there and smile and everything will work out" Ok! I can do that!
So I got up there to lead the opening song. Looking out over the congregation while she played the introduction, I saw a sea of friendly faces...I don't know many of them, but when I smiled at them, they smiled back at me! I was instantly put at ease.
Then I looked down at Merrilee Cooke. She was smiling up at me and gave me a thumbs up. I got kind of choked up, but smiled back at her. She is a great lady.
Well I made it through the songs with only a few flub ups. People were really nice to say I had done a good job.
I know it's just an easy calling and I shouldn't be so worried about it, but this is really out of my comfort zone. I don't like being up in front of people...much more comfortable behind the piano. But I guess it will get easier the more I do it.

2011-11-06T08:58:00.000-08:00

A few things from the past few days...

KC an I went over to Willow pond to try a little fishing. It was windy with a new storm headed our way, but that made it pretty warm too. We didn't have any luck fishing but a good time anyway.

I wanted to get all the flower pots in before the storm came so I had KC help me move them into the garage. Look at what we found when we moved the pots!

I brought my hibiscus in before it froze so now it thinks it is summer time again!

Nope....this is what it looked like the next day.

Kelley and I went to a stake dinner Friday night. It was kind of strange. We walked into the gym and felt like we were at someone elses stake function.

We looked around for any familiar faces and after searching, saw a few from the other part of our new ward. I don't know any of them very well yet. Seems like we always stick close to those we know the best and feel comfortable around. I guess that's just human nature. It was good to have a chance to get to know these new people better.

This is the exciting part though...after a nice dinner, they announced that the program was going to be by the Janeen Brady singers! Ha! What a great surprise. She is one of my hero's!

She came out and introduced her choir, the piano player and the gal who would be leading them. I was kind of surprised to see that she had gotten old! Very beautiful still though! I expected to see the Janeen Brady that I remembered from 30 years ago when I was introduced to the Brite tapes.

We had them all and the girls and I can still sing most of the songs from them! The girls grew up with these playing while they followed along in the books at home or while driving in the car.

They each have such a great message that teaches them good stuff about how to get along in life.

There was a virtue taught in each one...gratitude..".when you have a gratitude attitude"..... honesty... "I TOLD THE TRUTH!, dependability ..."I am captain dependable..you can always count on me!", being happy " Oh king daddy I want to be happy!" Work... "do a little work do a little work do a little work Obedience...I'm the little pig with the curly tail! Cleanliness...wash your hair wash your hair..keep it shiny forgiveness and courage. I could go on and on...then there was the Safety kids....where they all learned their phone number to a catchy tune and also that 'sometimes you just have to yell and scream!' and the Body machine...it's super keen and awesome as it can be!

Wow I am really grateful for talented...or in her case gifted people who have helped countless kids learn these truths and ingrained them in their lives.

I had to tell her after the program ( which was really neat...mostly songs that she had written for Christmas) how I admired her and thanked her for sharing her talent and teaching my kids how to behave.

2011-11-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents!

This is the first anniversary they will be celebrating together in heaven.

I know there has been much longing from mum as she awaited patiently the time when they would be together again...she would put daddy's picture right next to her bed where she could lay there and look at him. Sometimes I would walk in her room and find her gazing at his picture with so much love in her eyes...I felt like I was interrupting an intimate moment between them.

I can just imagine their celebration today...probably a lot like they did here on earth only much more glorious! It would involve a stroll through the flower gardens, then inside to sit together with a bowl of popcorn, some butter to dunk it in and a glass of pepsi, and the cross word puzzle to do.

I think that's what kept their marriage so strong...they were happy with the simple things in life...being with family and friends...tending to their garden, serving others. They never criticized or found fault with each other, or with anyone else, but always found the good.

Thank you for teaching me through your example all that I want my marriage to be!

Happy Together Forever!

Halloween

2011-11-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures from Halloween time...

The ward did a trunk or treat party Friday night that was a lot of fun. They had a pot luck dinner, then judged costumes and pumpkins. Then we all went outside for trick or treating.

I had never done one before so was surprised to find out how people go all out to decorate their cars! There was some really cute ones. I found this scary ghost that moved and made scary sounds and hung it in the back of the car. Then I put up a string of ghost lights and had them deeper in the car so it looked like they were floating behind the big ghost. Kind of cool.

I had made about a hundred popcorn balls for the event, but ran out so we had to shut our trunk!

This Red Riding hood-Big bad wolf costume was one I think Katie or Camille used for a daddy daughter party in YW years ago. It was kind of fun cause people couldn't tell who I was...until I was standing next to Kelley. I actually scared a few youngsters and had to take my mask off to show them it was just me.

Candice came over after work on Halloween and we tried to find a costume for her to wear out trick or treating with Curtis and Benny. I didn't remember this tweety being so small! The body part was about for the size of a four year old!

Curtis and Ben came over and had dinner with us before they went out trick or treating. He is a cute little guy with a fun personality.

I made popcorn balls all day...I don't know why it took me so long this year. I ended up with about a hundred again. I thought that would be enough with so many already having gone to the trunk or treat. Nope. The trick or treaters came in droves. Then lots of the moms and dads would come to the door for a popcorn ball too. I ran out about 8:30...and had to give them a handful of Rollo's and Reese's. Ah well...I guess you better show up early if you want a popcorn ball!

I got a call from Judy asking if I was doing popcorn balls this year...her grown kids were taking their kids around and she said they would come over if I was giving them out. Ha ha..I said " sure I am!" I sent a bag of them home for Judy too. She is a peach.

I was sure missing Olivia and Sam this year. The fun of Halloween is watching the excitement and fun of the kids. It was fun to see all the kids who grew up with our kids and now have kids of their own come around trick or treating. It's great that they still come back to this neighborhood. Camille sent me some great pictures of their Halloween fun though. Olivia was Super girl and Sam was Yoda.

Camille did a great job with Sam's costume...I'm so impressed by the way she can just make something like this up with no pattern. So cute! I could just eat him.

Daddy's Tahiti trunk

2011-11-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

All of us girls got together again last Saturday. We decided we needed to step up the going through, cleaning out adventures as we were definitely running out of warm days and there was still some work to be done in the out buildings.

First we had to talk over some more serious matters though. Brenda has been getting a lot of calls from people wanting to look at the house. She has been over several times to show it and there have been three people who have given us serious offers. So now we needed to decided what to do.

One of the offers was from the son of one of mum and daddy's good friends the Flammers. He has four little boys and wanted the big yard for them to play in. He said he was fine with the condition of the house and wouldn't be tearing any of the buildings down. He sounded like the perfect buyer...then he said he would have to sell his house first. ( he also added all these stipulations to the written offer that were kind of dumb and wanted us to pay the closing costs...which brought the price way down.)\

We had another offer from a guy that lived in Providence who is a developer...he offered quite a bit less, but said he had cash. He was kind of rude though sooooo, hes out.

The last guy had come over to look at the house with an older man and Brenda thought it was the older man who was wanting the house. Come to find out, he was just a friend of this guy, who was going to help him with any renovations that needed to be done to the house.

He made a good offer and what really made us all hope he could get the house was this letter he wrote along with his offer. He said he just lives west of mum and has had his eye on the place for years. He said with the help of his friend, they want to restore all the buildings to the best condition they can be.

Since the old house is on the historical registry, he wants to restore that too and have it be a show piece.

This friend of his has done this with several of old homes and historical buildings. He said he loves to do landscaping and yard work and his wife loves flowers. It really sounded like an answer to our prayers.

We had a few questions we wanted to ask him, so Brenda called him to see if he could come over and talk to us. A little later, we were just coming out of the old house and there was this young guy...he looked like he was about 25? walking up the driveway. I went up and met him, and was very surprised to learn that he was the guy who wanted to buy the house! He really seemed young! But as I talked with him, I could see that he knew what he was doing and seemed like a real nice guy.

We asked him about moving the time back when we would have to be out of the house...there is still so much to do, and Faith and Aaron will be there till the middle of December. He was fine with when ever we said...he said he does not have to sell his house right away and will just work on mums place as he lives in his house. He has 3 little kids and was excited about the prospects of a fun yard for them to grow up in.

We told him we would talk some more about it and get back to him.

So with that done, we went over to the old house to go through what was left over there.

There were some fun things...

A ton more old books. Most of them were uncle Boot's. Man I don't know how he ever read so many books!

We found bags with the Easter baskets and some plastic eggs with all of our names and our kids names on them. That sure pulled at my heart....I have so many wonderful memories of Easter growing up and when our kids came along too. Mum and daddy always made it special. Hunting for Easter baskets was always so fun and kind of magical in that huge yard. We would spend hours looking!

Daddy would give hints if we started getting discouraged. There were so many places to hide a basket! When it rained, he would find places that would keep it dry, or in one of the buildings.

We went through all the shelves and cupboard in the tiny kitchen...there are a lot of old records and games and puzzles.

I even ventured down into the cellar. Super creepy. They had a two year supply of toilet paper and a really old stove top and an invention of daddy's we couldn't quite figure out what it was for!

There was a bag of mum's old craft stuff...little pieces of felt, sequins, pompoms, glitter...took me back to the days when mum would do fun little crafts with us...we would rarely get bored or watch tv...she would have us doing mosaics or noodle art or paint by numbers or mod podge or gather flowers and leaves and dry or press them flat and make pictures with them. Wow, how lucky we were to have such a great childhood. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the blessing of being born into such a wonderful family.

We saved daddy's trunks he brought home from Tahiti till the last because we wanted to savor every piece in them. We decided to take them over to the house cause it was really cold in the old house...even with the heaters on, you could see your breath.

We were pretty amazed at the stuff he had brought home from his mission. So many really cool grass skirts decorated with beads and shells. Lots of head dresses made of shells. Really cool embroidery hand work...some with Daddy's name on it and some other tahitian words we were trying to figure out.

This umbrella was about the coolest thing. It was totally hand made and in perfect condition. Lots of handmade bags and purses...

Really pretty necklaces, belts, bracelets...some cool carved wood little pots.

This turtle shell was really neat...I remember we used to have one he brought home that he had made into a light cover in the living room.

This dolly was my treasure. There were lots of coins, bead necklaces and sea shells too...really pretty shells! These trunks had preserved all these things perfectly!

We were wishing daddy would have shown us these things and told us their story before he died. He would let us get out the hula skirts and some fans and shells to take for school reports and other presentations, but most of this stuff, we had never seen before.

I had told KC I wouldn't be late this time because Brenda and Leslie had a stake meeting they were going to that night. We had good intentions, but didn't get on our way till about 7:00.

Gosh I sure do love my sisters and find the hours we are together more precious each time we are together. Soon we will be finished with this sweet task , the home will belong to someone else and this part of our lives will be memory.

We won't have this place to come to to meet, laugh and talk and reminisce about our lives growing up there. I think that is what makes me makes me most sad. I know we have to let go and move on...I'm trying, but my aching heart is telling me it's going to take some time.

Fishing with the Cotners

2011-11-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Kelley had told Will that he would like to take him, his little boy Colton, and his dad up fishing on Tuesday.

All the weather forecasts said it was going to be COLD! But Will had taken the day off work and we didn't know if we'd get another chance to go this year, so we went for it.

I may have mentioned this little boy before...we have babysat him some, and he loves to come over and look at the fish and see Keddy. He is about the cutest kid you ever saw and sweet as can be, but he is the absolute busiest kid I've ever met. He can't sit still for a second and ( I like Colleen's description of a two year old) watching him is like trying to control a blender without a lid! He runs from one thing to the next, he has no fear of anything...which causes some anxiety when he heads straight for the pond.

Anyway, I was a little nervous of having him on the boat....there are lots of poky, sharp things there and I wouldn't be one bit surprised to see him climb right over the edge and jump in.

And you know how guys are....Awwwww, he'll be fine...no worries! The boat had not been child proofed, in fact, there are lures and hooks all over the place... so I was a little bit worried.

He was pretty much mesmerized by all the buttons and knobs and switches on the dashboard of the boat. Kelley held him and let him steer while he was driving the boat. He loved that! He let him push the horn button while we were driving, but then told him not to while we were fishing cause it would scare the fish away. Ha! As if! Colton tried to not push the button, but it was just too much fun!

He wanted to take off his shoes and socks so he could take a nap down under the cabin....that lasted for about 15 seconds. But then he didn't want to put them back on again!

It was REALLY cold. Not so bad when we first got there, but then the wind started to blow and it made it unbearable. The men were all very manly though and powered through it...KC was up on the front of the boat...I don't know how he could stand it. Will's dad said he was used to this kind of weather ( just moved here from Oregon) and stayed outside the whole time..

I was pretty content to just stay inside by the heater, play with Colton and watch my pole from there. ( "Oh Kelley...would you bait my hook...and cast it out....and catch my fish for me?") I got a few good bites, but didn't catch anything. I guess that's the price I paid for fishing from inside the boat!

Kelley and KC caught a few...Will caught one too.

Colton had just gotten potty trained and was doing really well. When he started doing the potty dance, Will asked him if he needed to make bubbles or poop. He said he needed to poop. Oh dear...our potty is only set up to handle pee. Will had put a diaper on him cause he didn't know if he could go all day, so he told him to just go ahead and go in his diaper, then he would change it. Colton really didn't want to and I felt so bad that he had to do that. Finally he said "I'm trying, but it's stuck!" Ha Ha! he is such a funny kid.

Will had brought a whole cooler full of lunch for us all so that was really nice. We stayed most of the day, trying a bunch of different spots, but never had a lot of luck.

There was a big bald eagle sitting on this rock...cant see it very well, but it was cool.

Kelley was taking a fish KC caught off the hook and the fish bit him! Ha! Just what that finger needed!

It was a fun day with their cute family!

2011-10-31T21:08:00.000-07:00

A few more happy memories from the rest of our trip...

We went to this little town called Orange that was not too far from where we were staying. It had lots of antique stores and reminded me of Logan...but not that big. It was fun to look at all the antiques. Camille is pretty good at bartering with people to get a good price. She worked a deal for some neat lamps for Kate's house.

I thought Candice would appreciate this old book.

We went down to Corona del mar for the afternoon. There was a neat beach and little park area where we took these pictures.

We went to Kate's church on Sunday. It was a real good meeting. It was good to see how much Katie is loved by the people in her ward.

We hung out at Kate's house quite a bit. She has fixed her place up really cute!

I'm not sure how he did this, but we turned around and found Sam had gotten out of one side of his shirt. Ha! He is such a busy boy! So sweet and happy though!

Liv and Bolt

We went to the swap meet for a few hours on Saturday. This was a great new addition! A big bouncy play land for the kids!

Chris was in California for a few days too and had picked up Emily and was headed back to Las Vegas. We wanted to see them so we met them at the swap meet. Emily's new little baby was so cute. It was good to get to visit with them...wish we didn't live so far apart.

Man it was hard leave Kate and Camille and her family. We hung out together at the airport for as long as we could, then had to say good bye. The 4 days flew by and were so much fun. Sure am grateful we were able to spend this time together and make some wonderful memories.

Disneyland part 2

2011-10-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Friday was Disneyland day!

Camille had been doing her homework and found a place where we could get tickets for Disneyland and California adventure by buying it from a "business" that buys a 4 day pass, then sells each day to different people. It sounded a little sketchy, but several of her friends had used it before and it worked out ok, so we went for it.

We got there bright and early and got the kids all situated. Camille had borrowed a double stroller and it worked out really well. I had been thinking Olivia could just walk, but that place is soooooo big, there is no way she would have made it. I think we probably walked 10 miles that day!Sam had been up since about 6 so by the time we got there, he was ready for his nap!

How cute are they? They were so good all day long. They gave Olivia a neat button to wear because it was her birthday.

Liv had her face painted like a butterfly...so cute!

We haven't been to Disney land since KC was about 5 so a lot has changed. The small world and the tea cups ride were about the only things that looked the same.

Kellen had done his homework too and found out about getting a "fast pass" As soon as we got there he ran to get one for us for some of the rides that have really long lines. That way, we could go in a different line that went right up to the front! It was awesome! He could get one each hour so that really made it nice!

Olivia did not like the rides that were scary or dark or loud....So after going on thunder mountain, she was pretty wary of any other rides. We found plenty of other rides that were just her speed though, so the day flew by. She especially loved meeting with the princesses. They gave her a cute little tiera and really made her feel special.

Since it was close to Halloween, they were having a Halloween party that night. People started showing up in their costumes about 5 and it was fun just people watching! We headed over to California Adventure for the evening.

They had some fun things over there. A lot of it was shut down because they are redoing it for 2012, but we found some fun rides that were just right for Olivia. There was also an amazing roller coaster. Definitely the best one I've ever been on. Luckily, Kellen had gotten a fast pass for it so we ran right up to the front of the extremely long line. It was so fun, we had to go again!

I think Liv liked the carousel just about as good as anything. Sam did too!

Several people had told me about this show called "World of Color" that they put on over this lake. We had planned on staying for it even though it didn't start till about 9:30. The kids had about had it, but when the show started, they loved it. It was really neat how they showed different parts of favorite Disney movies on a mist of water and had music and lights and water spraying all over to the music.

As we walked from the park, the fireworks started. Nice end to a great day.

We are not huge Disneyland fans...but I have to say, they really have it set up to where you can have a wonderful day there. Even though there are a zillion other people there, ( yes we went on uea weekend!) everything runs along so smoothly and everyone is so nice and helpful there, it really was a lot of fun!

The very best part of it was watching Olivia. She is just a sweet little soul, who is happy with whatever happens. Never complained or whined about the long lines or being tired.

And Sam...well you just couldn't ask for a better little guy. He was happy all day long.

I'm a lucky grandma...want to wrap up this day and keep it in a special place in my heart so when I am missing them so much, I can take it out and remember what a fun day we had.

Disneyland

2011-10-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well the day finally arrived! We had promised Olivia that we would take her to Disney land for her birthday earlier in the summer so it seemed like forever till the day finally arrived that we had planned to go! We were so excited...hadn't seen Camille and her family since the middle of August!

We flew out Thursday morning and met up with Camille and Kellen at the airport. They had already picked up the rental car so we were ready to go! We went over to Fashion Island and had lunch there. Then walked around a bit.

Then we went down to Newport Pier. Got donuts and watched the bubble man.

We had to stop off at the seashell store. Liv picked some pretty shells to take home.

We walked out on the pier and there was a seal just swimming right there below us.

Liv and I took off our shoes and went down in the sand to chase the birds.

Pretty much perfect day!

2011-10-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Katie came home this weekend for Morgan's wedding.

We all went out to her reception at this fancy country club in American Fork. Morgan's dad is the golf pro there. Come to find out the guy Morgan married is the son of one of the guys that own the mortuary that took care of mum in Logan. Really nice people.

Candice and Kate busting a move with MJ

Candice Kate and I went out to the nail shop and got pedicures. Very nice and relaxing!

Sunday after church, we went over to visit grampa. He said if we wanted to, we could go through the rest of Maxine's clothes and take what ever we wanted.

I can't really believe how many clothes she had. That was like her job...shop shop shop! She would have people from the stores call her and tell her when a blouse or some pants she had been looking at had gone on sale. She was on first name basis with all the ladies at Nordstom and the Pendelton store. She was a smart shopper, and would wait it out and keep going back till she got the best deal. She had very expensive taste and only bought the best.

Grampa would follow her around and carry her bags. The bazaars at the malls were the best! She would have loads of neat hand made goods for him to carry...quilts, booties, aprons, slippers. He would end up just finding a good bench and making himself comfortable, then she would come and drop off her finds on his bench, then go back for more.

She would shop all day...usually changing into her slippers about 1:00. I don't know how she did it. I went with her several times, but gave out after a few hours. Kate inherited the shopping gene from grandma. They spent many happy hours together at the mall when she was growing up. Maxine had a special place in her heart for Kate...they are so much alike.

A trip to the mall would include a little bag of toffee or those little chocolate stars, and usually something cute to wear. She always kept the girls in pretty black patent leather shoes too...something we could have never afforded.

Trying on some fun things they found.

That fur coat holds a whole lot of happy dress up memories for all the kids.

We made some fabulous raspberry ice cream Sunday afternoon....probably the best ever.

So good to have Kate here for a few days. It still wrenches my heart every time we have to drop her off at the airport. This hasn't been an easy time for her...this was the friend she has been living with for the past 3 years. I'd give about anything if she could find someone to share her life with. It's a righteous desire...I can't keep from asking...why?

2011-10-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

We had a really good day fishing last Thursday.

The weather was beautiful...a little nippy when the wind would blow...sure glad to have the cabin to get out of the wind...and you CAN fish from inside the cabin! I had to plow KC over one time to get through the doorway to get to my pole in time to catch my fish, but I know he would have done the same thing! This competition is brutal.

KC brought his friend Nelson. He loves to fish too and is also very competitive.

Kelley caught the biggest fish I have seen any of us catch. It was a real doozer.

We saw a huge bald eagle flying around. We said, "wouldn't it be cool if he swooped down and caught a fish like the seagulls do?" Right after we said that, it swooped right down and and caught a fish! Ha! Very cool! It's hard to see in this picture, but it was really big!

We found this great spot where the fish were biting a lot and marked it on the GPS fish finder thing....then just kept going back to that spot. Kelley was on fire...had fish on both poles at the same time a few times! Now that was funny! He would pick one up...reel in a little bit, then think he had lost it and set it down, then the other pole would jump so he would do the same thing, then he had them both going and was trying to reel them both in!

He ended up catching 18...I got 6, KC had 8 and Nelson 10.

Can't believe it's the middle of October and we are still getting some warm, wonderful fishing days in.

Maybe mother nature is trying to redeem herself for the awful cold spring we had!

Love it!

2011-10-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

I got to spend a nice couple of days with my sisters.

We had planned on taking our husbands and finishing up in the garages. So even though it was darn cold, we got busy and got quite a bit done.

We had planned for a dumpster to be delivered so we could clean out some junk, but they set it clear down the street! So the guys hooked a chain to it and drug it where we wanted it! Ha! It was like nails on the chalkboard times 100!

Then the guys loaded up Dennis's truck with all the metal we could find...and there was a lot! I was glad there were 3 of them to get that heavy tub out to the truck! Kelley and Rick had quite the time getting it out of the bathroom and out onto the patio. Soooo heavy and awkward!

We found a few real 'interesting' items... I won't go into details, but just say that Kelley and Dennis played a little trick on Leslie...( it was pretty funny...and after talking to her yesterday, realized that she hadn't even found the item in the back seat of her car till we pointed it out! Ha! She thought it was funny too)

Perfect fit

Teina made a big pot of soup and rolls for us and that really tasted good on that cold day.

There is still so much beauty in the yard...pretty purple bunches of chrysanthemum and the holly hocks are still blooming too. Lilys in the pond are amazingly huge and beautiful...big white blooms with the bright orange fish poking their heads up in the open areas.

While we were sitting there at the table, a big colorful pheasant came strolling by like he owned the place. Faith said the deer have come back already too. It feels like a sanctuary there to me...so peaceful and quiet and still so beautiful.

We called Mardene while we were all together to see what she was thinking about buying the place. She said they had had two other oral surgeons move into the area they lived in so she didn't think they would be able to sell his business right now. She said with the economy the way it is, it might be years before they would be able to retire, so they had to say no.

Oh boy...that was disappointing. We were thinking from the way she talked that that was a pretty sure thing. Now we were back to square one.

We talked again about Teina trying to buy it, but they are not in a position right now to do that either.

We also found out that Faith and Aaron will be moving out after this semester is over. They are going to come home and take some courses online, then go back next fall and live on campus. It's been nice to have them there to keep and eye on things and keep the house looking like it's being lived in.

Sure appreciate them....I think it's been good for everybody.

Just the girls went up on Monday.

We sat down together and chatted about things we needed to do and threw out some different options on what to do with the house. We were hoping maybe Phil and Stacey would want to stay there since her parents were coming home from their mission and they would need to move out of their house.

Brenda was going to ask them. I guess we will put a for sale sign out front and see what happens with that too.

We got to thinking about all the pots in the green house and hated to just throw them away, so we called up to Rudy's to see if their greenhouse could use them. They said yes! So we headed out to the green house to sort them out so they could come pick them up. It was still pretty cold, so I got mums old coat and wore it all day...it still smelled like her and when I put it on, I was warmed all the way through...almost felt like a big hug from her that lasted all day.

I just couldn't really believe how many pots there were....but when you think about it, it was a lifetime of planting seeds and buying little six packs of plants and transplanting into bigger pots, and planting geranium starts to use in the spring.

They would gather seeds from flowers in the fall and keep them in envelopes...then about the end of February, daddy would get the flats ready and mum would plant the little seeds and keep them all warm and happy in the greenhouse. Then when they grew a little, mum would thin them out and put them in bigger pots till they were big enough to plant outside.

Mums sun hat...In some ways it seemed like she could have been in there yesterday...all her trowels, gloves, snipers were right where she left them.

I saw this sign I hadn't really noticed before...one they would have put out to welcome people to the garden show. The different little towns around would have a garden show every year and people would come to see all the different yards and flowers and gardens. Mum and daddy were always involved and won many honors and awards for their beautiful yard.

The roof and much of the glass has broken on the greenhouse and it hardly keeps the rain out anymore...Leslie and I found some pieces of the roof and put them back where they belong...first wind will blow them off again...but for a minute, it has a roof again.

Then we went in the house and went down in the north bedroom downstairs. This is where mum kept all her holiday decorations. It was so fun and really stirred up the memories to dig these things out and reminisce about our memories of the different decorations. We found these old stockings that I don't think have been used since we were teenagers. Let me see, how can I explain this name... veen is a derivative of bean, which was my nick name when I was younger due to the fact that I had the shape of a bean pole. The veen comes from the waah language which was totally made up and ridiculous, but we can all understand and speak it fluently. Mine isn't even the best name...I wish I would have taken a picture of all the stockings! Teina is Twan, or Twano...Brenda is Swan, or Swano and Leslie is Doobee or Dwabs if your speaking waah.
We used to watch Romper room with Miss Julie every day. And every day at the end of the show she would look through her magic mirror and sing this song ...Romper stomper , bomper boo....tell me tell me tell me do...have all my friends had fun at play? OOOOh I can see... ( then she would name off several different names...we would wait on the edge of our little seats for her to mention our names) and they have been very good today! Then she would sing another song about being a doo bee...do be a dooo beeee! If you were a doo bee, you were trying to do what was right. I remember daddy calling Leslie his little doo bee and the name stuck and now even to this day, the name really fits. She is about the sweetest, most genuinely kind person I know...I think a good way to describe her is to say she is without guile...always looks for and finds the good in everyone.

Mum had lots of cute crochet decorations and things given to her...We could just picture who of her club ladies had made each of those things. ...There were lots of little gifts... things that we had never even seen before...some still in the boxes...I don't think she had room to put everything out! She was loved by many...

I did adopt a few new snow people to add to our family. These will be extra special to me though. How many Christmas's did we have the light up sparkly snowman and woman on top of the TV? As long as I can remember.

Found a few things I had made for mum and daddy for Christmas too. It was nice to think about the many years of love, and happy Christmas days we have shared.

We found a box up on the shelf in the closet. It had Bruce's name on top. It was filled with special things from his life. Baby book, journals, pictures he had taken...then the front page newspaper article with his picture and a picture of what was left of the plane him and Mike Earl were flying in.
Wow, that brought back a flood of memories and feelings from that terrible time. I was only 12 years old, but remember it like it was yesterday. So many tears, so much heart ache for my parents.
There was a whole box full of notes and cards from friends and family giving their condolences. His funeral was recorded on reel to reel. I brought it home in hopes of having Larry transfer it to cd for us.

When I think of Christmas at home, I remember the gold tinsel around the mantle and the crochet door hangers...the gold sparkly candle holder and the jingle bells that used to hang on the front door that made it sound like Santa was coming every time you opened and shut it. All these things and so much more filled our minds and hearts all day... before we knew it, it was 6:30! And we still needed to load everything up and clean up! We didn't get on our way till almost dark.
We stopped at Aunt Sherry's to see if she had any grapes...we didn't really think she would, but there was enough for us each to get a half bucket full. Sherry's health isn't that good anymore either. She carries around an oxygen tank with her now. Kind of weird to see these family members who always seemed so strong and sturdy getting old. But then I guess I'm getting older right along with them!
Anyway, we had a wonderful day together...love my sisters!

2011-10-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

You know how I said that I liked everything about the fall...well I need to make one exception. I do NOT like the cold!

This is the weather in Utah... Wednesday...warm and windy...Probably about 80 or so. Thursday, its snowing. Blahhhhhhhhh

That's not dandruff

All the flowers are blooming so pretty right now...the zinnias are at their peak...snap dragons have come back for round two and are blooming again..and my inpatients are so cute...me and the flowers....we're a bit late getting going, but still want a little more summertime!

It was good weather for wrapping up in a blanket on the couch and finishing some projects I've been working on.

This was my conversation ( well, text messaging) with Camille a few weeks ago...

Me: Is there something special Olivia would like for her birthday?

Camille: A pony

Me: Hmmmm, might be hard to find a box big enough to mail it in.

Camille: Ok then, an elephant.

Me: Elephants are messy.

Camille: Ok then,...a zebra.

Ha! I couldn't find a zebra pattern I liked, and she already has an elephant, so I went for the pony!

I hope she likes it!

Serendipity

2011-10-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

I liked this quote from Linda and Richard Eyre that was in an article in the mormon times this morning in their column titled "Why serendipity is better than control"
"In actual fact, we have control of a tiny island of things around which swirls a huge sea of uncontrollably and unpredictability, and our challenge is not to control this ocean, but to see it's beauty and appreciate it's waves and currents.
I've been having some real icky feelings lately and when I read this article, a light went on in my head and I understand now why I've been feeling the way I had.
I was afraid I was slipping into depression...can't sleep, feelings of dread and paranoia, loneliness,overwhelming sadness, crying anytime. I know you wouldnt' think anything was wrong...on the outside, I try to put on my happy face and keep doing all the things that I normally do, but on the inside I'm screaming "what is wrong with me?"
I usually downplay my feelings and try to not let things get to me, or at least not let it show. ( I know, I know...one of these days, I'm going to explode!)
Everyone has their ups and downs and I would normally get over any bad feelings in a day or two, and be just fine, but this had been consuming me for several weeks.
Last weekend I was feeling especially sad...missing my mom a lot, thinking about how we used to always go up there to work in her yard and watch conference with her. I was missing my girls and my grand kids.
Saturday afternoon, we were watching conference and I was texting Camille. We talked about how we were both wishing we could be watching together.  Then she sent me one that made me stop and think. She said " Are you snuggling on the couch with Dad and KC?" I said "Yes! Lizzy too."  She wrote back..."lucky." Duh! I am lucky, and so blessed! I have so many wonderful things in my life!
She always helps me look at things in a positive way. I was sitting there feeling so sorry for myself because things were not the way I wanted them to be, and I hadn't even acknowledged the wonderful blessing of having my amazing son and dear husband sitting right there next to me.   How many women were watching conference alone because their husbands and children aren't interested...or maybe they don't have anyone to watch it with at all.
Anyway, since then, I've been trying to look at things differently...and I'm feeling better.
Then when I read this article, well it explained a lot. ( I'm not really crazy!) It talks about how we sometimes want to control everything going on around us...family, friends, and the circumstances we are placed in...we plan, make lists, goals, and when things don't go the way we had planned or wanted, we get frustrated, sad, feel out of control and like a failure. ( my disclaimer...I am not a control freak...I don't try to control anything but my own little life...that's all I can handle!  So this is a surprising discovery for me! I think being unable to control just a few things in my life ( they are really important things to me!),makes me let these bad feelings creep into my heart.)
He tells the fable about three princes who go out in search of their fortune. None of them finds a fortune, but all of them, through their awareness and perception, find things that are better than a fortune...love, truth and opportunities to serve. They are able to make these discoveries because they notice things that other people miss, and thus find unexpected joys and opportunities...He calls this serendipity..."A state of mind whereby a person, through awareness, and sensitivity frequently finds something better than that which he was seeking."
He goes on to say that we control very little, and God controls all. His gifts are all around us, along with his opportunities and incredible beauties, and we just need the awareness and spiritual sensitivity to see them. He said we need to ask for God to guide us and inspire us so we can find and rejoice in serendipity more than in control.
I think instead of dwelling on the things I want to be different in my life right now, I will embrace the many wonderful blessings I have been given and seek out the true fortunes...love, truth, and opportunities to serve.

Welcome home!

2011-10-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

I just found this bunch of pictures from my "real camera" that I had not been able to put on the computer cause I thought my cord to download them was broken...but really it was my computer that was broken! Ha! So I plugged it into a different usb port and there they were! I was so happy! I thought they were lost forever! That was the long way to say "here's some cool pictures from KC's welcome home party."

Kelley was still tweaking the pond to get it to circulate properly.

This was a pretty rare and awesome event...to have all of Kelley's brothers together!

KC's good friends Hatsumi and Bryan

Can't begin to express how much the love and support we have felt from family and friends while KC was in the mission field and now that he has returned home have meant to us!
We are truly blessed to have these good people in our lives.

Classic family flapping

Can he get any cuter? I don't think so! I had the most wonderful time with their family here with us! Didn't want it to end!

Fall days...

2011-10-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

I sure do love the fall...everything about it... the autumn colors, the warm days and cool evenings,
harvesting, sharing and canning fruits and vegetables from the garden, General Conference, getting out my fall- Halloween decorations, the smell of the house after canning apples, driving though the canyon to see the beautiful bright colored leaves, and making comfort foods like breads, pies and soups.
A few things from the past few days... Sunday after watching conference, ( I will have to do another post for conference...so many great talks!) we went up to the cemetery to put some flowers on Maxines grave for her birthday. I picked a big bunch of zinnias..they are really pretty right now. I think she would like them.
KC's friend Tiffany spent the afternoon with us. It was a real nice day.

Merrilee had brought over a big bag of apples the other day so I decided to make some applesauce. It sure is a lot of work for what you end up with! Oh well, it's wonderful applesauce and Sam loves it!

Candice came over after work to help me get my fall decorations out. It was way funner having her there! The other day, KC helped me organize all my containers of decorations that were up on the shelf. It was quite the project! And climbing up on that shelf is KC's favorite thing to do....wait a minute, I guess it's his least favorite thing to do....but he always does it without complaining. It's gotten to be a joke how much he dislikes getting up there. His head smacks into the ceiling you get your clothes all dirty and you get slivers from the shelf. Sooooo this was going to solve all the problems! Kelley has built me some fabulous new shelves in the garage that I can reach! so KC handed all the containers down to me and I went through each one...got rid of some old junk I hadn't used since 1982, and after sorting and reorganizing, everything that I want to get into fit right on the new shelves! After tidying up and moving some things around in the garage, we were able to fit mine and KC's car in there! We haven't fit two cars in there for quite some time! Wow!
Kelley and KC brought the pumpkins we grew out front to set on the porch. They are pretty nice ones...but can't compete with the Burns pumpkins. Brad is in a pumpkin growing club ... they must give them steroids or something cause they are freaky huge! Like the kind you enter in the Thanksgiving point big pumpkin contest and win! pumpkin envy.

Candice's upstairs bathroom has some real problems...the worst being the floor. Today, Kelley and KC and I went up there to put some new tile in.
It's the tiniest bathroom you've ever seen...can pretty much only fit one person in there at a time unless the other one is in the tub.
They worked hard all day while I sat on Candice's bed and crocheted on a project I'm trying to get done. Ha! Hey I offered to help but there was sure not room for me in that bathroom too!

Mesha laid right on my feet. She's a sweet dog. I felt bad for her cause her hair covered her eyes so I pulled it up in a pony tail. Sorry Candice...I used your comb. She must not have liked it that much...she pawed at it till it came out. Ha!

The floor turned out real nice. It's amazing what a difference it made! Just have to go back tomorrow and put the grout in.

2011-09-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

We invited the guys to come with us to mum and daddy's place this time. All the out buildings needed to be gone through and we thought they would be better at moving the big stuff around.

Daddy had saved pretty much every tool that he ever owned...and he was the inventor of many new tools too! We came across several ingenious contraptions...for instance, this long pole with a metal thing on the end that held a roll of plastic. What in the world? Kelley knew what it was for. He said daddy would put it on the roof of the house when it had snowed a lot, unroll the plastic, then the snow would slide down the plastic. Ha! There were a lot of tools he had made for tanning hides. The rafters of all of the buildings were full of wood. Seriously, so much wood! Then the wood shed...that was just packed with boards and logs. There was some other cool stuff in there too....The old wringer washing machine, some skis that daddy had made, and a chicken watering can I remember from when I was a little girl. Oh I sure do want to have some chickens...I had Kelley take that home just in case some day we can get some!

All us girls had the idea that we could possibly get some money if we traded in all this metal stuff we had seen up in the old garage. There were several crates full of old faucets, pipes, and other stuff. The men were less excited about the idea. They said it would take a ton of metal to get enough to make it worth our efforts. Well we just wanted to see... so we started hauling everything we could find into the back of Dennis's truck. We didn't have much time though cause the recycle place closed at 11:30. The men went along with it...I think just to show us we were wrong....and I guess we were. Kelley and Dennis took all the metal in and came home with about 40 bucks. We had been looking around while they were gone though and had found a bunch more real heavy stuff...there was the tub Kelley and Rick drug out of mum's bathroom when they remodeled it...that weighs a lot! and also lots of long pipes that were pretty heavy too. We hadn't even gotten into the garage yet and there were drawers and drawers full of rusty old nails and screws and nuts and bolts out there.

Anyway, I think the guys were a little bit excited about trading all the stuff we found in next time we get together.

There was a shovel, hoe, or rake in every size for every different place in the yard that needed shoveling, hoeing or raking.

Ok this was a good one. When we dug back behind a bunch of boards and tools in the wood shed, we found a cupboard that had old books, and some kitchen things in it. Also this crock full of bacon grease! It must have been in there for 40 years...I think it was from grandma Braeggers house!

There were barrels of wheat...not sure if it was food storage or chicken food. Mum and daddy were big on being prepared though. We found lots of big plastic containers full of beans, wheat, and other stuff they had put away for emergency. When we were cleaning out the garage, we even found a booklet on building a fall out shelter!

When they finished the wood shed and chicken coop, where Kelley found this awesome tiller, we went out to the van.

I didn't really know what was in there...I thought maybe just a few milk cans, but it had some interesting stuff in there.

I'm not sure why daddy had this cubby hole desk...looks like something that should be at the post office. We found barrels of mixture daddy would fill the planter boxes with for mum to plant her seeds in...old rubber tires, gunny sacks, daddy's old riding mower,lots of milk cans and daddy's old suit case that he took on his mission...it still had the tags on it from Pepeete.

Then we went in the garage. There is just so much stuff in there it's overwhelming. We left the men to go through stuff and the girls went over to Quiznos to get lunch for everyone.

I felt bad Leslie and Alan couldn't be there with us. Alan had just gotten home from having surgery on his knee and wasn't doing very well. Sure hope he starts feeling better...he has had so many health problems.

They went through all the drawers and found some really cool stuff. Daddy had some really unique old tools. They took turns picking things they wanted, like we have been doing and I think had a good time.

When we went in there, it looked like they hadn't even made a dent in the stuff though, so we knew it would take another day to get through everything.

I love how daddy had horse shoes hanging everywhere.

We wanted to take a few fish home with us...didn't want to be doing this in November. After much chasing, we had two in the bucket!

Stopped on the way home for a burger from Maddox. Excellent! Then we stopped at the fruit stand across the street to get some peaches. I couldn't believe they wanted 20 bucks for a half bushel! I think I would do better to buy a case of them already bottled from Costco!

Drove by the new temple being built in Brigham city on the way home...it's so beautiful!

What a nice day!