Preparing for Christmas

I just spent a fun weekend with Jenny and her girls and other family members doing Christmasy things.  We were able to go to the Nutcracker and then spend a fun evening downtown.  Lots of people had the same idea.  Who thought that we would have to stand in line to get into the Lion House Pantry, not I.  It was fun and very cold seeing the lights.  And now all the guests have gone home and I am sitting here listening to a little Mo Tab along with David Archuletta and really getting into the Christmas mood. I am trying to decide what sort of treats to make my visiting teaching sisters and neighbors.  Which brings me in the mind of other Christmas plans.  Jenny and I were talking this weekend about plans for Christmas.  We started talking about some of the things we wanted to do and menus.  I am going to send out an email so will those who will be coming down for Christmas check out their emails so that we can start making some plans and arrangements.  I told Jenny I would help out with this and send out the info.

Looking forward to the Holidays!

First of November

 I am sure that most of you have received your letter from Nancy in the mail.  I of course have been thinking of her non-stop since I found out.  I was able to find a blog that she and Paul are doing.  I read the story or as much as they have posted and just cried thinking about how scary it must be to go through something like that.  I am also thinking of my sweet Visiting Teacher who is battling bone cancer that has metastacized from her breast cancer.  We visited her on Sunday and found her upbeat but fatigued.  Then a few nights later we were visiting another sister in the ward who's husband is dealing with stomach cancer and having his stomach removed.  He was wretching in the bathroom while we were there.  It was agonizing to hear him.  Then I got the letter from Nancy and now today I am thinking about Mom on her birthday and how she would have been 82 but for the cancer that took her life.   I went to my knees tonight to start my fast and asked the Lord "what's the deal with cancer."   I did not receive an answer.  I do know that in all the suffering and tribulations and loss we are made stronger.  Maybe that is "what's the deal with cancer"  I emailed Nancy and she just called me and we spoke for about an hour.  Considering all that she is going through we were still able to have a laugh and have a good talk.   I added her blog to my blog list.  It is called A Bump in the Road.   I went back to August to read the whole story.  It is quite the journey she has found herself on. 

Today I flew to the John Wayne Airport in O.C. California to join Morgan, Andrew, Zack and the girlies on vacation.  After picking me up at the airport it was planned that we should go to Newport Beach and take in the sights and smells.   And smells there were.  I love the ocean but it always takes me a few minutes to get used to the smell.   We walked along the pier and ate lunch at Ruby's Diner at the very end of the pier.  

At the end of the pier by the diner there were all of these Asian fisherman with their stinky bait.  We decided to tough out the smell and eat outside anyway.  We had a lovely lunch that was only slightly ruined when I discovered bird poop on my shoulder and supposedly my face.  That was a nice surprise.  I thought it was raining, it was raining seagull bird poop.  NICE!

Here is Leah enjoying her lovely caramel malt that she saw on the menu and insisted on having.  It was yummy.  

We enjoyed a fun day on the beach and Morgan got some great pictures that I am sure she will post. 

After leaving Newport Beach we hopped on the Balboa Ferry.  It holds 3 cars and any other pedestrians, cyclists, etc. who want to come aboard.  It was a quick ferry trip but still fun today.  Balboa island is full of fun little beach houses that are probably worth millions.  After that we wound our way to Anaheim to find our hotel.  We had a good taste of some nasty rush hour traffic So.Cal. style.   Andrew was patient and got us safely to our destination.  Tomorrow will be a big day.  It will be our first of 3 days at the Happiest Place on Earth.  

The Blue Belt

Jonas invited me to come to his blue belt presentation on Saturday.  So we headed off to Sandy to see the event.  I had no idea that it was going to be as big or intense as it was.  There are 3 West Winds Karate Schools in the valley and they all came together for the presentation.  Here he is waiting for it to start.

So serious because this is serious business. 

So there was a  black belt leader in the front of the room and he was calling out names of moves and then they had to do them.   As you can see it was a good sized group.   They had already done the lower belt colors so this was orange on up I think.

He did very well.

There were some tense moments for me anyway when the 3 purple belts were asked to do the moves or whatever you call them.  Karate is very cerebral.  Who knew?  It is all about memorization, control and lots of other things too.  So Jonas and the 2 other girls were in the front of the room doing the things as they were called out.  It was a very long set of moves and Buddy was starting to forget some of them.  The older girl had finished and the younger girl had given up and Jonas was still trying to remember and finish his up.  His teacher Mr. Hatch was giving him some reminders but it was so hard for me and others to see him struggle like that in front of everyone.  The amazing thing was that he just kept on going and persevered and ended up finishing it.  Then everyone clapped for him.  I was sweating bullets for him.  I recorded it but can't post it.   I was worried about him actually earning his blue belt.  It was only after when Stacy told me that he had already done his testing and earned his belt and this was just an exhibition type thing.  I wish I would have known that at the time.  It would have been a lot less stressful.

Little sister waiting for it to start.  They have you take off your shoes to walk on the karate matt.  It is super soft and cushy.  I want it in my house. 

Here he has been presented with his new belt.  It looks black but it is really navy blue.  He looks very flushed because he also had to spar with some of the other kids.  They dress up in pads and then kick and punch and you know, fight.  He was trying to spar with the girl that is a foot and half taller than him. So all of that plus the head gear he had to wear made him very sweaty and flushed.

They were asked to take off their old belts and then put on the new one.

I was very proud of him.  He has worked so hard on his karate.  He has plans to be a black belt before he goes on his mission.  You go Buddy Boy!  Apparently now that he is a blue belt he now wears a black uniform instead of white.  That will be cool to see him in that.

The family that got him where he is today.

After an afternoon of karate it was of course craft time.  I like to keep a balance in my life.  I had seen a wreath on Leslie's Pinterest that I wanted to make.  So I whipped this up.  Okay, Hobby Lobby whipped it up and I spray painted a "J" and tied it on with a bow.  I think it looks very cute and I don't think I could have made it for any cheaper than I bought it.   I think it looks very Autumnal.  Looking forward to seeing quite a few of you within the next few days.  I am going to be going to Disneyland with Leah and Lily next week.  Can you think of anything cuter than seeing their little faces when they see Sleeping Beauty's Castle and the Teacups and the Dumbo Ride.  I cannot wait. I wish all of you were going with us.

BTW-  Jonas now has a phone in his bedroom. He has been calling me everynight before bed.  He told me that he was interested in going to Hawaii with me but that he was concerned because he does not know how to speak Hawaiian.  He also asked if it would be alright if he called me in the middle of the night if he wakes up.  I did not give him permission.  He also told me last night to not feel bad if I did not call him every night.   These nightly conversations are most amusing.   I wonder if he will call again tonight.  If not, I will try not to feel bad.

Idaho Visit

I keep waiting for someone else to blog about the weekend in Idaho.  To my knowledge no one has.   I thought I better jump to it.  Of course the whole weekend was planned around Zack coming home from Uruguay.  Whit, Liz and myself decided to meet the Idaho folk at the airport to see Zack as he arrived home.  We did not plan on the plane coming in 15 min. early.  Because it is such a small airport, Shelley warned us that right after he lands we will be seeing him.  We knew we were cutting it close but when the plane landed early we knew we would most likely miss his arrival and that we did.  At least Morgan was there with her lovely sign to greet him.  It was so good to see him even though it was not quite like we had imagined.  He took it all very well.  Eventually we all got there to the airport.  Then it was off to Gringos in Rexburg for lunch, Zack's suggestion.

We had her re-enact his arrival with the sign. 

And here he is!  All grown up with his welcome home balloons.

No he did not lose his knack for making funny faces.

Really home at last.

He had not seen carpet for 2 years.  He was overcome with emotion and needed to embrace the carpet.  It was a touching moment for all of us.

On Friday it was decided that we would pick chokecherries.  Of course it involved a flat bed truck and it almost involved a tractor with a bucket.  Anyway we got a few gallons picked and then Shelley and Liz made it into syrup.  It turned out very lovely.  They added a secret ingredient.  It turns out that 35 year old Danish Dessert makes a good addition to chokecherry syrup and really brings out the cherry flavor.   

Miss Lily snacking on the chokecherries. 

I am not sure why she liked them so much.  They have a huge pit or stone as some people call them and tasted a little bitter and chalky to me. 

Shelley's yard was looking as lovely as every.  Her zinnias were going strong.  I am going to plant zinnias next year and give them a try in my yard.

This picture reminds me of an old black and white movie.

Little poppets in the garden.  They love playing and digging in the garden.

This is the field kitty corner from Shelley's house.  They harvested it on Friday.  Do those mountains in the background look familiar?

The combine hard at work.

Everyone else showed up on Friday night and then it got really crazy.

Maren and Leah enjoying a lovely game of ping pong.  It was cute to see them trying so hard.

Lily winding up for a big swing.

This was a big box that Shelley had in her back yard.  The girls thought it was great fun to play in.

More ping pong

I have to add that Zack came home from his mission and did not appear to feel awkward or out of place.  It just seemed like he had never been gone.  Shelley was concerned about his adjusting.  He seemed to adjust the moment he got back.  It was nice to see.

On Saturday moring Jonas and Gabe woke up and got dressed and hit the farm running.  I saw them from the bedroom window starting there exploring.  This is one of the things they found

.

Don't they look pleased with themselves.

Then it was time to get ready for dinner.  Everyone had an assignment.  These are the corn shuckers or is it huskers. 

These are the huckleberry ice cream makers. 

Morgan and Les made superb scones.

And I made lovely peach and raspberry cobblers.  Then I forgot that I made them and was worried about what we were going to have for dessert.   I was a bit touched in the head I guess.

And these are the trouble makers.  Actually they were very well behaved and had a great time enjoying the freedom that can be had on the farm. 

I had a wonderful 4 days in Idaho.  It was so fun to be on the farm during harvest time. Shelley took great care of us and fed us well.   It was so fun to have so many of us there together and it was great to have Zack back with us.   He gave a wonderful talk in church and the musical number that Liz, Jenny, Whit and Les did was beautiful.  I said that it felt like he had not been gone at all, but really the testimony and truths that he shared could only have come after 2 years of serving the Lord.  Zack it is great to have you back.

Labor Day Weekend

So to celebrate the end of a really good, fun Summer we wanted to have one more bang.  So we had another weekend with daily events.  We did not go camping this year but instead had a camp out on Friday night in Josh and Stacy's backyard.  I forgot my camera so Stacy should be blogging about the convenient campout.  It was really fun although a little chillier than I expected.   Sunday we celebrated Whitney's birthday a few days early. 

Whitney requested Strawberry Cake.  I used the recipe that Shelley blogged on Valentines Day.  My frosting ended up a little chunkier with the strawberry bits.  It was very moist and tasty

We had a nice Sunday Dinner after we all got home from our various church meetings.   Whitney even got her very own treasure hunt at her 26th birthday party courtesy of Maren.  I bet she did not plan on that happening.   

Kelsie came home for the weekend and brought her new pet.  I am not sure what she was thinking but she and her roommate bought a little bunny.  Stacy is worried that she will soon be owning said bunny.  His name is Shenanigans.  I think Kelsie has started her first 2 weeks with a big college shenanigan. 

Sunday evening we did a bit of Dance 2 Wii game or whatever it is called.  What an enjoyable workout.  It makes me kind of want to get a Wii so I could buy it. 

Then on Monday Stacy decided we should picnic at Silver Lake.  It is located at Brighton.  So we drove up the canyon with about half of Salt Lake Valley to spend a few hours in the mountains.  We took homemade fried chicken and potato salad and other picnic fixings.  It reminded me of the days of our Huntington Canyon picnics where Mom would fry up chicken for us.  It was fun to do.  I have not done fried chicken for years.  Jonas said he loved it. 

Essie found her a bag of chips and got comfy. 

We had to wait for a picnic table to open up because it was so crowded.  This was the wavy table next to our normal table. 

Whitney brought along a friend named Helaman.  I am not sure what he thought of our picnic but he seemed to enjoy himself. 

Jonas and Gabe take their posing very seriously as you can tell.

There is a boardwalk around Silver Lake that goes all around the lake.  It is about a mile walk.   A few of the family members decided it would be nice to run a race around the lake.  This was the starting line.  I believe Noah won the race. 

The rest of us decided to take a leisure walk around the lake so we could take nice pretty pictures of the scenery.  Or that was my excuse for not running.  That and I was lame for the weekend due to a foot wart removal incident gone bad.  At least it was a better excuse than Josh's shower slipping, knee twisting incident that left him also lame and unable to attend the picnic.  He missed out.  Here is the marshy area of the lake.

It does look like a silver lake does it not?

We stopped on the trail for a few photo ops.   When the racers took off, Jonas, Gabe and Maren took off after them.   We did not see them again for sometime.  We were a little concerned but just kept on walking since the trail is in a circle we thought if there was an issue we would run into them. 

Because it has been such a wet year it is still amazingly green.  This does not look like Utah does it.  Well it is.

Then we saw a small moose.  I had to have Les take this picture because she is taller than me and really zoom in.  It was after we saw the moose that I heard a little high pitched voice and knew that we had finally run into Maren.  Apparently Jonas had asked Arden to take Maren off of his hands so he could run fast with Gabe.  Good thing Jonas didn't just leave her behind and good thing Arden was around to help out.

I guess Maren also takes her posing seriously.  She wanted to get a picture on this big rock because she had seen other children doing it. 

So serious.

Not so serious.

Esme was so dirty that she had dirt streaks from her tear tracks down her face.  Not sure what she was so upset about.

But she was not sad for long. 

After the walk around the lake we were rewarded with Rebecca's yummy chocolate zuchinni cake and mini candy bars.  We had to eat them out of the back of the van because our picnic table was being used by someone else at that time. 

I think everyone enjoyed the day.  It was a very fun Labor Day weekend and was so nice to have an extra day off of work.  I only work 2 days this week because I am heading TO  IDAHO TO SEE AN AMAZING MISSIONARY THAT I HAVE NOT SEEN FOR 2 YEARS!!!  Hope to see many of you there.  It is going to be great!