Sunday afternoon, we went out to Suzie's for grampas birthday party. 

I love this picture of him!

Suzie and Renae made big pots of soup, I took a big salad and Michelle made rolls and a big chocolate cake.  Suzie made this carrot cake that was amazing!! 

It was good to catch up with Fred's family.  Their grand kids are all so grown up now...because of the age change, Savannah is now getting ready to serve a mission! 

 So glad that Suzie would adjust to have grampas party while my kids were here.  It was wonderful to have them all there for it! 

Grampa turned 93!  I know we are lucky to still have him here.  He fell last week while he was bringing the garbage cans in. He hit his head pretty hard.  He was able to get up and get in the house though.   His neck and back have been hurting quite a bit.  When we went over there on his birthday though, his mind was clear and he seemed pretty good.  Pat on the other hand is not so good. He looks like he has aged 10 years in the past year.  He is really out of it from the medications he is taking.  Breaks my heart to see him going down hill like this. 

 







 

 Thanksgiving was a pretty much perfect day.  Katie's flight came in about 11:30.  I was so glad she could be with us for the weekend.

 

We planned dinner for later in the afternoon, so  we had the whole day to bake and play and just enjoy each others' company.

 

Kelley decided this was a good day to get in the pond to clean out the pump.  It had really got clogged up and was hardly flowing.  Wow it made a huge difference!  While he was in there he caught the big fat fish.  I really can't believe this fish is still alive.  It is so strange looking...his little scales are stretched to tight over it's fat body, it looks like it's going to pop.  It's got to have a tumor or something.  It still gets around just fine though and goes after the food like the other fish.  

 After dinner  we played catch phrase.  What a hoot!  Liv was going to be my partner, but she did so good at it, she ditched me and played on her own.

KC had his friend Kim come over for dinner.  She was really great.  She played with the kids, helped with dinner and clean up and was just fun and easy to be around. 

 

Meg came over to visit for a while on Thanksgiving too. She is a sweet heart....glad to see her moving forward and happy with life.   I'm not sure how, but they ended up leg wrestling.  Camille's still the queen

A few other pics...

Kate did Candace's lashes.  They turned out real pretty.  She did mine when we were in Arizona and I have loved them!  I was afraid I'd look unnatural cause I don't have a lot of lashes and what I have is blond, so this would be a big change.  But she assured me she wouldn't over do, so I went for it.  Kate does a great job. She takes her time and is very careful to make each lash lay the right way.  When I got up to look at them, I was really tickled with the way they turned out.  Now I don't have to wear any mascara!  I love that!

The kids finally got to take a tubby!  (I will post some pictures of the whole bathroom later....it's wonderful!)   

That first night we got home, we thought we'd give it a try.  Hadn't used the jets yet so this was pretty exciting.  Kelley was teasing Olivia telling her she had to say the magic word and snap her fingers to make the jets go. 

Liv loved it cause they made lots of bubbles.  Sam was pretty scared of them and wanted to get out now!  Ha!  He was much happier to race his cars around the edge of the tub.

 I got my hair done on Monday and Camille came up to visit with her too.  She just got engaged and is so happy!  Her ring is amazing! (It was his grandmothers...how special is that?)  Her fiance came into the shop while I was there so I got to visit with him a little too.  He is a great guy.  I'm so very happy for her!

 

 Sunday after church, Olivia and I made snowflakes.  They turned out real pretty!  When we were stringing them together to hang them up, Lizzy and Rose wanted to help. Those dogs are sweet!  They got along real well while they were here.

We hung the snowflakes up in front of the big window so now I have a happy memory every time I look at them! 

Olivia was disappointed there wasn't any snow when we got here.  I had been sending her pictures and telling her about all the snow we had, but by the time we got there, it had all melted.  So they got to play in the leaves instead! 

 We went up to see the lights at Temple Square on Friday.  It was a beautiful night...not too cold ( didn't seem quite right without any snow, but it sure made it pleasant to walk around)

 So neat to see the wonder in the grand-kids faces at this amazing place.

This was on our way back to Utah.  Started out good..playing games, watching movies, but seriously, a kid can only take so many hours strapped into a car seat. 

Liv was so good and helpful with Sam.  She tried to entertain him and help him be happy, but by the time we got to Salt Lake, we all wanted to strangle him.

It's a long old ride...about 12 hours with potty stops.(Liv never has to go  though....she can seriously go all day without peeing!...just like aunt Chewey!)

Anyway, as we were driving, and Sam was screaming, and Camille was on the verge of puking, I thought   "Wow...this is a lot for Camille and Kellen...it's not easy to make this trip with little kids and being pregnant and sick too."  I was really overcome with gratitude that they would make the effort and sacrifices to spend Thanksgiving with our family.  

We took the young women and young men to temple square last night for our combined activity.  It was fun...super stressful, but fun.

The YW were in charge of this one so Stacey, Bonnie and I made Christmas cookies and I got some chocolate milk to go with it. 

We all met in the Joseph Smith building, then went down in the basement ( I didn't know that big room was there!  but it was great to have a place to eat their treats and be warm before we went out to see the lights.)  I was sure glad we had our treats before we went out because when we came back to get our dishes and left overs, that room was packed!  I guess about every other youth group in the city had the same idea!

The kids really were great...most tried to stay together, but there was just so many people there it was challenging to keep track of all of them.   We walked around  and took some pictures, then went down to where they do the story of Jesus' birth.  We waited till it started again, then moved right up in front so they could all see it.  It doesn't matter how many times I hear it, with the beautiful music and reverent atmosphere there by the temple, it really touches me.

This is a very special girl.  Mckenzi watches out for her little sister and is so  patient and sweet with her. Last night when I saw her carrying her on her back, it brought me to tears.

 That's her up in the corner.  We were talking after and she told me she has the dream of standing in that same spot with her husband on her wedding day. That took me back to my own wedding day...I remember standing in that very place with Kelley to get our picture taken.  What a wonderful day that was!  The love I felt in that sealing room as I knelt across the alter from my sweetheart...surrounded by family and friends that love us, was incredible.  I remember looking in the huge mirrors that reflect on both sides of the room as our sealer Brother Davies talked about eternal promises and blessings and getting the distinct feeling that this was the right choice.     That is my wish  for each of these girls too... to have the desire and to be worthy to enter and enjoy the blessings of this amazing temple.

Hooray! I'm finally able to get my pictures on here from my trip to Arizona! 

My blog wouldn't let me upload any more pictures, but with the help of family and friends, we figured out how to make it work! 

 

The week before Thanksgiving, I flew to Arizona to be with Camille's family.  Then a few days before Thanksgiving, we drove back to Utah so they could stay with us for a week.  Wow, so many lovely memories were made in those two weeks...these pictures don't do it justice.

This was an interesting lady I noticed while I was in line to board the plane.  I snapped a picture of her so I could quote the sword and the stone with my girls...they all got it..."Silvery voice...long purple hair...la la la la"  (she also had a dream catcher woven into her hair)

When I got on the plane, I was surprised to see my seat was right next to her.

We hit it off right away and chatted the whole flight.  I asked her where she lived and she started telling me about her sacred white buffalo ranch in Oregon.  She said they had ranches in Africa and Australia too.  At first I thought she was a little crazy, then she busted out this photo album with pictures of all of her white buffalos.  She had names for them all and told me cute funny things about each one's personality.   I asked her what they did with them, and she said they collect their fur ( can't shave them..they are sacred) as it falls out and make coats and hats and  things out of it. 

She gave me this card with her favorite buffalo on it...it's name is lucky star.  She said they also rescue white lions and tigers from places in vegas that mistreat them....(they live on the ranch in Africa)   Haaaa!  What a cool lady!

 

It had been cooler than usual in Arizona the past few days...( only high 60's!  oh dear!)  but it felt lovely to me.  I had just left a huge snow storm that left 18 inches on the ground.

Camille bundled up sam to go out.

p.s. Kellen is growing a very nice lawn in the back yard!

I brought a few things for the kids...a pinkliscious scrabble jr game for Liv...she is getting so smart and can sound out words really well.

And a fire truck for Sam.  He loves cars...or anything with wheels!

Camille has been so sick, I know she was feeling like throwing up most of the time...especially at night.  Boy, I sure remember that feeling.  It's pretty much the worst...just knowing there won't be any relief from it for a few more months  makes you want to cry.  I hope it starts to ease up soon.

 One night I watched the kids while Kellen and Camille went shopping.  They came home with all the fixings for three Thanksgiving dinners.  We divided everthing up and got it ready to deliver, then loaded up the kids in the car and went around to some families that needed some help.  Olivia was so excited and thought it was  fun to ring the door bell and run.  I love that they are showing their kids how wonderful it feels to serve others.

We got out Camille's Christmas decorations and put up her tree.  She had a ton of cute ornaments she had bought the last few years on sale after Christmas at Target.  She had a lot...I'm talking Grandma Jensen amounts of ornaments.  The tree looked really cute though when we got them all put on...not too many ornaments at all!

 Sam loved the nativity set and played with it all night.  It was sweet to see how he set it up so reverently.  Sam is NOT gentle with things (he's the slammer!)  but he set each piece in the manger carefully, then just sat and stared at it.  Kids know stuff.

 Saturday morning, we got up early to go garage sale shopping.   We picked up Kellens grandma and grandpa cause they like a good garage sale too.  I think they would have outshopped us if they would have been driving.  There are a lot of garage sales down there!  I think it must be like a hobby or just a weekly activity for them.  And Camille said this was nothing  compared to spring and summer yard sales.  We stopped at one house and as soon as I saw this car, I knew we had to get it for Sam.  It was in perfect shape and looked like new.  The guy came and showed us how it really worked.  Oh boy...it really goes! Camille bargained with them a little bit (she's really good at it....me on the other hand, not so much...I felt bad to offer less...but I guess that's how the pro's do it!)  Anyway, I got it for him for Christmas.  I was seriously giddy thinking about how much he is going to love it. 

Kate came for the weekend.  We all got our nails done and did a little shopping.

We had a real nice weekend together.  We went to Camille's church and the people there were really friendly. We went over to Kellen's folks for dinner which was real nice.  Couldn't stay too long though cause Kate had to get to the airport.  The time with Kate always goes by too quick.  Hate to see her go.