A Beautiful Christmas Project

 I was so touched by this Christmas project that Lynda Ann is working on.  She created a Christmas card with her personal message and sending one out to the Navy moms through out the United States.  What a huge service project to undertake but so meaningful.  Annie said there is at least one or two moms in every state.  These are moms who are on a special face book post that is for just mothers who have a kid in the Navy.  Lynda said there is a lot of communication from all the moms.  Sometimes it is for help, other times it is for support and advice, etc.  Wonderful way to get acquainted without actually meeting face to face.  

Lunch with Mindy

 It has been a long time since Mindy and I went to lunch.  We finally came up with a day to meet.  We met at the Art Garden on 9th East and Vine.  We had a delicious lunch and visited for nearly 2 hours.  After lunch we went into their Curio Shop next store and browsed around in there for a good long time.  Didn't buy anything just enjoyed looking and wandering.  We finally had to head to our home.  It was so fun to be with her and catch up on the kids and our own lives.  We even talked about Jeffrey and how much he is missed.  Shed a few tears off and on as we chatted about life.  

I've been so blessed to have amazing daughter-in-laws and son-in-laws.  Not a lot of mom's can say that.  I freely admit that my children picked the best and I reap the blessings from their excellent choices!  Love them all.  This is a picture of a wombat that we found in the curio shop.  Mindy loves them.  He almost looks real.  Darling picture of Mindy!

Projects

 Every now and again Sally Curtis and I exchange projects that we need each other's help on.  The project she handed to me a couple of weeks ago was not a fun one.  She had started a counted cross stitch of Noah's Ark.  It is done on linen and when you work on linen you have to be ever so careful that you don't miscount the threads.  If you do it throws the whole thing off.  Well, that is exactly what she did and I think she must have become discouraged and just never finished it.  Unpicking counted cross is tedious and miserable!  So she asked me if I could possible figure out where she went wrong and fix it.  I won't go into detail but I will say that I was able to correct her mistakes and finish the project for her.  It isn't something I would ever pick out to do myself so believe me when I say that it was a "project" for me to finish it.  

I was beyond happy to take the last stitch in it and happily give it back to her.  I will say that she in turn helped me finish a baby quilt and also, without my knowledge, when the extra mile and made a teddy bear to go with the quilt.  Cast your bread upon the water and it comes back two fold!  Something like that.  

The back of the quilt is a soft warm fuzzy material.  Sally has a quilting machine so the even quilted around the blocks.

This is the front side of the quilt.  These are embroidered nursery rhymes that Susan did years ago and just found them recently while doing some cleaning.  I ask her for them and had Sally help me figure out how to put them all together into a quilt.

This is the bear that she made to go with the baby quilt.  The arms and legs move.  Sally is amazing and certainly went the extra mile making the bear to go along with the quilt.  The hours put into Noah's Ark stitchery and the quilt and teddy bear probably cancel each other out.  Nice to have good friends.  This quilt and teddy bear will be a surprise for Susan at Christmas.  

Fun Times

 The holidays are always fun.  It is interesting that we go from Halloween (which I don't particularly care for) right into Thanksgiving and then right into Christmas.  I still remember that Lynda Ann had a choice to have Hayley on October 31st or November 1st.  She was adamant about not have a baby on Halloween so she chose November 1st.  Apparently her doctor was going out of town and those were the two dates he gave her.  She wisely chose November 1st.  I bring this up because the Gertsons invited Neal and I to join them at Chili's to celebrate Hayley's birthday.  It was a fun evening and fun to celebrate with Hayley.  

November 1st is also a date that I usually start putting up Christmas decorations along the Thanksgiving ones.  Neal and I had Brock and Boston get our Christmas containers down from the loft when they were here getting the lights on the outside tree.  Fun to go through the buckets and pull out different Christmas decorations that bring back so many memories every year.  Some memories bring tears of sadness for a brief moment and then a smile.  Putting up the Jim Shore nativity (which belonged to Lila Mae) made me long to be with her.  How I miss her.  

The next project was the Christmas Tree.  Neal and I have a tree now that is manageable and much easier for two older people to decorate without having to climb a ladder!  As I was pulling out the decorations I came across this neatly packed Christmas ornament that Abby gave me in 2008.  So fun to still have it and be able to hang in on the tree.  I'm not sure why Mallory's name was scribbled off and Abby's name put on there.  Maybe someone can remember the story behind that.

We decided to put our tree by the big North windows this year.  I didn't have the tree skirt around the bottom because I couldn't find it.  Since then the lost skirt has been found.

We are pretty much all decked out for Christmas and will just be awaiting the celebration of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

Grandchildren!

Neal desperately needed help this Fall getting the Christmas lights up in the outside tree and getting all of his flower pots stored in the garage along with getting the patio furniture bundled up for the winter.  We asked if Brock and Boston could come and help out and boy did they ever help.  What great grandsons and so very helpful.  They work well together.  Kind of fun to watch Brock kind of guiding Boston along with the different projects.  Never a cross word between them and they did so much to help Neal.  Thanks to both the boys for being willing to come and work a few hours on two different days.  The first project was getting the lights strung in the tree by the front porch.  

I sent these pictures to Greg and his response was, "Proof that these boys actually can work!"  I had to laugh at that.  They were a great help!

The second project a week later was getting all the pots off the patio and into the garage.

Thanks to these two great grandchildren we were able to get everything put away, the table and chairs covered, the garage cleaned out and everything ready for the winter months that are sure to come any time now.  It was hard for Neal not to lift but these two boys made it so much easier for him to stand by and give some guidance without doing any lifting that would damage his new shoulder.  Can't thank these boys enough.  Love you both so very much!!!
 

Beautiful Fall Weather

 We finally got the needed moisture for October.  It started raining some time early this morning and continued until well after two o'clock.  It rained a hard a couple of times and drizzled the rest of the time.  Enough that taking Sprout for a walk or going anywhere did not appeal to me.  It was a perfect day for sleeping in and making cookies.  Neal had gone to the temple this morning to substitute for someone and was very happy when he came in and saw the freshly made cookies.

This is Sprout still cozied in this morning at 6:30 while I was getting dressed for the day.  He is usually up on our pillows but I think the cool morning kept him snuggled on the quilt.

It was also a good day to start a new stitching project.  I finally finished the baby announcement and will just put it away for a some day event.  The beads actually went on pretty fast.  I was kind of dreading that part of the project but it turned out to be pretty easy.  

This is my new project that I just started today.  I loved all the furry creatures.  

Of course it needs to be steamed, a name and birthdate and framed.  I thought it was interesting that the name of the pattern picture is Abigail.  

Lots of October Birthdays

 Taylor's is first, then Mallory, Tucker, Lila Mae, Greg and Peyton.  Mallory made the decision to come to our house and spend the night before her birthday.  Saturday morning she dedicated to finishing up her homework and then the two of us headed to American Fork to see if I could find a new temple dress.  (Which was successful and she found a sweater coat that she fell in love with).  The trip was successful for both of us.  We were hungry on the way down so we stopped at Jimmy Johns and got a sandwich to tied us over until dinner that evening.  Jeff, Lynda, Andrew, Hayley and Alex were coming to our house to celebrate Mallory's birthday.  Annie was bring the dinner along with the dessert.  Glad we were invited to the festivities.  

Mallory's favorite characters from Peanuts.  

Friday night while Neal and Tucker went out to spend the evening with Greg watching the Utah game, Mallory and I opted to go to dinner and a show.  We went to Six Days in August.  Excellent show.  We found this restaurant by the Sandy theaters and decided to give it a try.  Delicious food!  

It was a fun weekend with lots going on and lots of activities.  I enjoyed all the visits and all the fun games along with the delicious meals.  Love having the family around.

A Visit From Tucker

 Tucker came in Thursday afternoon.  One of his friends bought him a round trip ticket so he could come for their annual gathering.  This are all of his high school buddies that get together every year.  He said they had a great time reminiscing and catching up on each other's lives and families.  Of course we played some games while he was here.  One was called Play Nine.  I think Tucker one two of the games and I won one.  Neal's stars just weren't line up.

We had such a good time with Tucker here.  I think his visit brought him some clarity as to what his plans for the future look like.  Going through his divorce has been a real struggle for him but he seems to be moving ahead now with some clear plans.  He wants to move back to Utah as soon as he can find a job here.  As he and I talked, it seemed like the right and the best move.  While he was here we had a visit from Maren who had been working continuous shifts and only had a couple hours to visit with her brother.  We also had a visit from Lyndsy who had decided that she was moving to Las Vegas to live with a friend down there for a few months.  It was nice that Tucker was here to see her off.  

Feeding God's Little Creatures

 I went out this morning to feed the squirrels and the birds and couldn't help but think that he not only sees me, but he also created a plan for the adorable squirrels and birds.  As I filled the peanut feeder and the three bird feeders (that the squirrels raid all the time) I had to smile.  I thought that after a busy day of running through the trees it is nice for the squirrels and birds to find a warm comfy tree to rest their little bodies for the night.  If I were a squirrel I'd pick a big tree to nestle in to sleep.  God is so creative, colorful and meticulous.

Feeding my little friends.

Feeding the squirrels takes a bit of acrobatic talent.  The pole itself is long and heavy and gets really heavy with the peanut feeder dangling at the end.  I have to balance on one foot with the other foot on the end of the pole to support the weight.  

October General Conference

 October General Conference weather was about as perfect as it could be.  The gardens surrounding the conference center and the church center certainly glorified the beauty of God's creations.  I love conference.  It was all about peace, unity and having a relationship with Christ who is our foundation for truth and right.  He and He alone can unite our hearts, make wrong things right and heal.  

I trust Him and I trust in the words of His servants, the prophet and all the church leaders.  I am completely 100% all in.

They also announced 17 new temples: