Lynda Ann create a special quilt

Lynda has a neighbor who loves Jeeps and knows a lot about how to fix them.  Emmi's Jeep has developed a rather serious problem.  The driver's side door is hanging by a bolt!  They took it to their neighbor and he welded it and apparently has done other 'fix it' jobs on the Jeep.  So Annie wanted to do something special for him to thank him for all he has done.  She created this appliqued quilt and it is amazing.  She sent me this picture of the finished quilt.  I will be anxious to hear what he says when she and Emmi give it to him.

You are amazing Annie!!

Can you tell which one is Neal?

Neal and I were at a study group meeting the other night and Stan Owens pulled out this picture of him, his mother and Neal.  Apparently Stan's mother told him he could invite a friend to go with him for a birthday lunch.  Not sure when the picture was taken during that day.  Stan and Neal were trying to remember where they were but neither one of them could come up with an exact place.
Can you guess which one is Neal?

Just in case you can't tell, Neal is on the left and it appears a little taller than Stan.  That isn't the case now but it was fun to see him taller.  I mentioned it to Stan and he said, "Oh, Neal isn't taller, I'm standing in a hole."  Really?  I don't see a hole.  The ground looks level to me.  Apparently it bothered Stan that Neal was taller.

A cute Peyton moment

I got a text from Tucker telling me that I needed to text Jamie and ask her what Peyton said about me. So, I did and this was the text I got from Jamie.  Peyton, I love you and love your description of how I smell!
And I quote: "She said she loves how you smell.  She said 'I always tried to walk behind Gam because then I get to smell her even more, like when the air pushes behind her."  Is that the best description you've ever heard?
I love my grandchildren!

An incredible and spiritual day

Emmi has been thinking or a long time about going through the temple to take out her own endowments.  It is a big decision for a young adult.  Knowing Emmi, this was decided with a lot of contemplating and prayers.  She chose to go to the new Provo City Center Temple.  Neal and I drove down with Jeff and Annie and picked up Emmi at her apartment.  We were at the temple at 10:30 for all the preliminary things that needed to be done.  Lynda Ann had brought her biological grandparents names and so I did the initiatory work for the two grandmothers while Annie and Emmi were doing other preparations.  The live endowment session began at 12:00.  It was an emotional and spiritual session.  I can't say for sure, but I hope that mother and Annette were allowed to be there.

 Funny story about Jeff.  He said that he had to rent a pair of pants because his old ones didn't fit him.  He rented a pair, went to his locker and changed.  Much to his dismay, the pants he rented didn't fit!  They were a bit too tight.  So he went back to get a bigger pair.  He gets back to his locker and realizes that he put his locker key in his other pants that he had already put in the laundry.  So, he went to the laundry place and had to pull out pants one after the other looking for his locker key.  Thank goodness he finally finds the pants with the key!  Then he and Neal get up to the chapel and realize that they didn't stop to get a name so back down they had to go.  But all was well and we all got on the session in time.

This picture was taken as we were leaving the temple and walking down to the parking garage.  It was so neat to look up and see the angel Moroni majestically atop the temple.

When we got down in the parking garage we were stopped by an ambulance pulling in to a door leading to the lower level of the temple.  We don't know what happened but obviously something serious and an ambulance was needed.
After the session, we were all very hungry so we went to Red Robin and had a delicious dinner before heading home.

All in all it was a wonderful day!  We are so proud and pleased with Emmi's decision and are so grateful that we could be there to be a part of this special day in her life.  We love you Emmi and are happy with the example you are setting for the rest of the grandchildren.

Our final event at the fair

Annie had done some research of the events of the fair and found out that the dairy farmers had an ice cream all you can eat event.  Adults were $2.00 a piece and children were $1.00 a piece for all the ice cream you wanted to eat.  This is a picture as we were getting ready to go in.

 Sitting at the table eating our fill of ice cream.  So much fun.

 Jeff and Emmi entered a ice cream eating contest.  It was so much fun to watch them try and out eat the other contestants.  They didn't win, but Jeff came close!

 Everyone on your mark - ice creams in the air . . . .

 Get set and go . . . . . brain freezes are eminent!

 Jeff held up his finished ice cream just a second behind the guy who won.  It was that close!

Neal and I held hands as we walked out of the fair.  We had a wonderful evening full of great memories and happy thoughts.  Thanks Gertsons for including us in your fun evening.  And thanks to Emmi for getting me started in entering my work in the fair.

P.S.  As I post this it is Tuesday, September 13th.  Jeff Gertson's birthday.  Happy birthday, Jeff.  We love you!!!

Neal meets a friend at the fair

After we left the Fine Arts Building we went into the Art Building and there in the corner was Al Rounds painting.  Neal wandered up and he and Al had a nice conversation while Al continued to paint.  He does water colors and they are beautiful.  We had a hard time getting Neal away from Al.  I think he would have stayed there all evening just watching him paint and visiting with him.  Actually, he almost did.  The rest of us wandered off to see the animals and other exhibits and finally called Neal to join us for the ice cream adventure.

Abby wins big at the fair

Here are pictures of Abby's entries and winning pieces.  She also won a Sweepstakes.  Way to go Abby!

 This one was Best of Show

Great job Abby!

The Utah State Fair

This year completed one of my goals in my life.  Ever since I've been entering my counted cross stitch work to the fair, I've secretly hoped that I could win a sweepstakes reward.  Every year I had hopes and every year it didn't happen.  One year I got a runner up for the Sweepstakes but it didn't make it.  This year Neal and I met the Gertsons at the fair.  I asked them how I did and they wouldn't tell me.  I was afraid that I hadn't done very well and they were trying to not get my hopes up.  We entered the Fine Arts building and this is what I saw:  A blue ribbon on my Singing Polly Wolly Doodle All the Day.  I loved doing this project.

 From there we found this one.  I got a second prize - red ribbon - on this one.  I don't know why but will have to look when I pick it up.  There are always comments on the back of the name card that tells you why you didn't get a first.  I might add here, that everyone seems to know who this will be given to except the person that it is going to.  How funny.  Family members just figured it out the minute they looked at it.  In fact one of the Gertsons said, "I know who that is going to."  Just that sure.  And her guess was absolutely correct.

 This next one was a first place for a Christmas stitchery.  I love this one.  It is very quiet and very subtle.  One of my favorites.  Who will get this one.  Don't know yet.  So there was one more to go.  Annie made some comment about they couldn't find the 4th one and we would have to go look for it.  Emmi took my hand and they all carefully led me around to the center of the hall and there to my surprise . . .

 was my family cross stitch with the Sweepstakes ribbon!  I was brought to tears.  This is probably one of the hardest and one of my very favorite stitching projects I've done so far.  It deserved a Sweepstakes Ribbon because it is about my family.  It represents all of us and the journey we have been through and are continuing on.

 I have to say "thank you" to my sister Lila Mae who started me stitching at the young age of 8 years old.  Every summer she would get me doing a project when I stayed with her.  Thanks Lila Mae for your patients in teaching me.  It paid off!!

CJ and Justin in town for the weekend

We were pleasantly surprised with the arrival of CJ and Justin.  I invited them over for dinner on Sunday and they requested that I invite the Gertsons as well.  Everyone got to our home about 3 p.m. and we had a dinner of ham and roast, baked potatoes, carrots, salad, home made rolls, corn on the cob, etc.  It was a fabulous time eating good food and visiting with CJ and Justin and catching up on their lives.  Andrew is hiding behind CJ.

Below, a staged picture.  The camera on the piano set for 30 seconds.  These pictures always seem to turn out great because everyone is relaxed and waiting for the silly flashing light to warn us that we have but seconds to smile.

Brock's Football game

Last Saturday, Neal and I went to see Brock's football game over at Evergreen Jr. High.  It is always fun to watch 9 and 10 year olds playing a complicated game of football.  The coaches are out on the field during the whole game making sure the players are in the position that they should be in and facing the right direction.  It was fun to watch Brock do some tackles.  We enjoyed watching him play.

Display at Fresh Market

I was at the grocery store and spotted this display as I was leaving the store.  This was the Saturday of the BYU/Utah game.  I thought that Neal and Tucker would get a kick out of it.  I kept wondering, where is the BYU display?  Then I remembered I was in Utah territory, not BYU territory.  Dang, should have gone to the grocery store in Provo.  I would love to have seen what the displays were in Provo.  Maybe next year.

Beauty and the Beast

Lynda Ann, Abby, Neal and I got tickets to see Beauty and the Beast at the Hale Center Theater.  David (our hair dresser) played the part of Lumier and it was so fun to see him.  The production was amazing and it was exciting to be invited to go back stage after the production.  We all met at Chili's prior to the show.  Here are some fun pictures of the afternoon event.

 Yup, upside down!  I'm so good at that :-)

What a fun afternoon.  And it just happened to be Lynda Ann's birthday that day!  Happy Birthday Annie!

New chair for my 'new' room

The chair finally arrived from the factory!  Neal and I ran down to RC Willey and picked up the chair and a cedar chest.  We were excited to get it home and in the room where it belonged.  We are close to finishing this project of re-doing the guest bedroom.  I still want to paint the walls and we need to decide what pictures to hang and where.  I've already spend some hours in my new chair reading and stitching.  I love it.

Neal's surprise for me

The other day Neal and I were running some errands.  As we were driving past the Framing House he mentioned that we needed to stop there and pick up something he was having framed.  He wanted to see if it were done.  I couldn't imagine what it might be as all of my finished cross stitch was framed. When the clerk pulled this picture out I was so surprised and very emotional.  This is a drawing that my sister, Annette, did when she took an art class from BYU over 45 years ago.  I've had the drawing forever but didn't know what to do with it.  Somehow, Neal came across it and took it to the framing place and had it matted and framed for posterity.  If you look closely you will see her name at the bottom right hand corner.  I will hang this in my new guest / reading room.  I can look at it and pull out a pocket full of memories of Annette and I growing up together.  Oh how I miss her and love her. Thank you Neal for recognizing the impact this simple drawing has in my life.

New Project

I've finally completed another Christmas sampler and have it at the cleaners getting blocked and ready to be framed.  I finally have four done.  There is a purpose for doing these, but that remains in my head and not be posted on my blog as of yet.  They are fun to do and fun to know that there is an actual purpose behind doing them.  A lot of work with a lot of love!

 This is my next project.  I'm sorry that the silly thing is sidways but as of yet, I've not been able to figure out how to get it going the direction I want.  Ahhh, to be computer savvy!  At 72 that will probably never happen.  So just look at it sideways and you will see clearly what it will look like when I'm finished.