General Conference

As always conference was amazing.  Every speaker has something to share that can touch your very soul.  There is a primary song that says:  "The Spirit whispers this to me and I know that it is true."  I testify to that statement.  It was interesting that after the Sunday afternoon session was over Lynda Ann's family chat started buzzing.  Emmi, Mallory, Abby, Annie, and me all chimed in.  The first text came from Abby. "Anyone have any favorite talks or parts of conference??? I haven't had a chance to watch Saturday sessions but I just finished the Sunday ones."

Lynda Ann wrote:  "I had to sleep today but the one I heard when I was awake for a minute was the Sunday School Presidency guy from Samoa.  Spoke about teaching and loving like Christ.  Loved it.  He was so genuine and from the heart."

Abby:  "He was really good."

Emmi:  "Almost done with Sunday sessions but I liked Elder Cooks talk."

Gam:  "My favorite was Rasband."  I'll add here that he is my favorite Apostle!

Abby:  "I really liked Gilbert and Neil Anderson."

Mallory:  "I really liked Elder Gong and Elder Kearon from Saturday morning."

From there the chat went on to pumpkin cookies and how to make them and the fact that Crumbl has a pumpkin cookie out now and Emmi should go and buy one!  

I LOVE the family chat and am so happy that I'm included in it.  I was happy that the Gertsons were all tuned in to conference and that we each one had our favorite speaker.  I suspect our favorite comes from what we need to hear.  However, whatever Rasband choses to talk on, he will always end up at the top of my favorites.  :-).   Just saying.  I just want to hug him or maybe shake his hand :-)

Picking up Stitching

 It seem for a while that I wasn't interested in stitching and actually thought that maybe my stitching days were over but not so.  I love it so much.  Annie and Mallory got be into the stitching mode again.  Both of them had a project they wanted me to do.  I was happy to do them and now I have the "bug" again.  What will happen to all of these things I have no idea nor do I care.  The point is that I love doing them and seeing them finished and framed.  Who knows, maybe they will bring someone else joy to see one of them on their wall.  I'm thinking of giving one or two to Casey (Mallory's mission companion) but Mallory will have to help me decide.  This is my new project.

I accomplished this much during Saturday and Sunday conference.  Kind of gives you an idea of how long it takes to do such a small part.  This is almost 8 hours worth of work.  But every little bit that gets done makes me anxious to do the next part.  Very addicting and relaxing and most satisfying!

Christmas Exchange

 Four of us got a post from Abby asking if we would like to do a gift exchange kinda thing between the dogs this year?  It would be Brinkley, Sprout, Blue, Truman and Eddie.  Everyone of us responded with an absolute yes.  I think that is such a cute idea.  I did confer with the Sprout and he resounded with an enthusiastic bark (which meant yes).  

Sprout spends a lot of his day hours doing this.  After all a 3 year old needs lots of sleep, right?  Some times (actually quite often) we nap at the same time.  I'll be stitching or reading a book and the next thing I know is Sprout telling me nap time is over and he needs to go out!  And yes, Abby, he probably is a little chubby - but so cute!

And this is his usual pose in the morning when I tell him it is time to get up.  He immediately turn over on his side or back and waits for a tummy rub.  He won't move until Neal or I take care of that routine of his.  Just call him Mr. Spoiled.  Which I firmly attest that he is!

Coined!

Emmi got coined by her CO the other day.  I don't know the details because she didn't tell any.  But getting coined by your CO is a pretty big deal and Emmi would certainly deserve to be acknowledged for all the work she has been doing.  I'll have to add more as I hear more.  But, for now, this is all I have.

Here is a picture of the coin, front and back:

 So proud of this granddaughter!

Fall is in the Air

 Neal talked to Maren about having Brock and Boston come and put the Christmas light on the tree during the nice weather rather than waiting until November when it is usually cold and miserable.  So Maren and Brock showed up Saturday and they had the lights on the tree in less than 2 hours.  So nice to have them do this for Neal.  It makes him so happy to have the tree lit up during the holidays and he just can't do it himself anymore.  Thanks Maren and Brock!

Neal also bought some pumpkins for the front porch.  Sprout had just been groomed so I decided this was a perfect time to take a picture of him by the pumpkin.  He had a hard time staying still but we finally got one.  

Perfect shirt for Lynda Ann!!

Peyton Graduates

 We are so proud of Peyton.  She just graduated from the National Technical College of Cosmetology.  These are the pictures Tucker sent to us.

Funny thing.  I was driving the other day and notice the license plate of the car in front of me.  I smiled and had to snap a quick picture.  I had been thinking about Peyton and how excited I was for her and there was this license right in front of me.  

Walker's Baptism

 Neal had the opportunity to go back to Hawaii to be a part of the baptism of Walker Maxfield.  Jeff was in Hawaii at the same time so he baptized Walker and Neal confirmed him.  There were lots of people at the baptism - mostly from the YSA ward.  Walker has made lots of friends there and they all came out to support him.  

Walker with the Sister Missionaries

The big day!  All ready to go.

An official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!  So happy for you Walker.  

Great picture of all the people who came out and supported Walker.  Baptized September 13,, 2026

Back to Stitching

 I had a request for a Fall project.  The pattern was even provided for me.  All I had to do was get material and thread.  This project worked up really fast and I love it!  It will be even more incredible when it is framed and ready to hang or sit on a stand.

Love my little hedge hog that is magnetic and I can put my sewing needle on it.  I can't tell you how many needles I have set on my lap and then accidentally dropped and had to find on the floor.  Now they are always safe :-)

Just have the eyes and his collar to put on.  Funny thing, I thought I was finished until I posted this picture!  I need to go look at it and make sure I actually put the finishing touches on Snoopy.

Yup just found the final picture.  Goodness!  I thought I was really slipping!!

Blue, Red or Black?

I guess Tucker is going a bit gray these days and put a little coloring on his hair to keep the Gray from showing too much.  Apparently he picked up the wrong box of hair coloring and ended up with this.  A little too Blue for his liking.  So he went back to the store and tried something else.

 And ended up with this.  OMGOSH!!!  I laughed until I couldn't breathe!

So back to the store for another try and this is what he ended up with.  He said he will wear his hat all the time and hopefully when he gets his hair cut in a couple weeks the black will have settled down.  

Funny chain of events!  Certainly gave me a long laugh for the day.  

Fall is in the Air

 September is the month to get the house all set up with Fall decor.  I don't have a ton of decorations because I've tried to simplify what I put out for each holiday.  And, yes, I totally ignore Halloween.  Never been a holiday that I love and never will be.  That stems clear back when I was little.  Just never like getting into costumes or putting on face stuff.  I can only remember going trick-or-treating one time.  For some reason, just never got into it.  So a pumpkin is probably as close as I get to something that might be Halloween.  Mostly for me it is getting out the Fall dishes along with the Thanksgiving ones.  I love our china cabinet that I can display the fun dishes for each season and holiday.

A new table runner for Fall.

Swiss Days

 Swiss Days is always an annual event.  Started long ago when we would go and meet at Lila Mae's and then off to the town square to walk up and down all the rows and rows of booths.  This year was much the same except we did miss Lila Mae.  But now, we park at Susan's and walk a couple blocks to the square.  This year was a little different.  We ended up taking two cars because we had too many people.  We had Mallory, Casey (Mallory's missionary companion) Hayley and me in one car.  Abby was in town so she and Lynda Ann spent Friday in Logan working with guide dogs and they came Saturday morning from there.  They has a flat tire fiasco that I won't go in to, but because of that and the stupid car rental places they were two hours late getting to Swiss Days.  But we still had a good time.  A few items were purchased by all of us and then we met Susan at Don Pedro's for a delicious lunch.  We were all a little disappointed in the merchandise at the booths.  Not as much holiday stuff as there usually has been in years past.  But we all came away with treasures.

Abby bought this for Lynda Ann for her birthday.  

Taking a break and having the Swiss Days famous scones!

Don Pedros

I drove down to Lehi to have Mallory help me out of a problem that I created.  I'm not going into details, just believe me that Mallory is my 'life savor' when it comes to my computer mishaps!!  I decided it would be easier to just drive there with my lap top than try and have her walk me through trying to fix things.  And, it was.  She got me all straightened out and then we went to the pancake houses for breakfast.  The fun thing is that I got to see what she bought at Swiss Days and how she is decorating her desk.  Starting September 14th she will be working at a new job and from home.  She bought the ceramic flowers and Silly Goose at Swiss Days.  So cute.

First Utah Football Game

 Last weekend was the first Utah football game of the 2026 season.  Neal and Tucker bought season tickets  this year.  Tucker came to our house and he and Neal walked to the bus stop on 13th East.  We took a couple pictures before they left.  Father and son off to watch their Utes!

Mallory and I were going to Swiss Days the next morning and leaving here at 6:30 a.m.  So she came up to spend the night.  She arrived just after the boys had left.  She and I went to The Habit for dinner.  While we were there, Tucker send me this picture.

I showed it to Mallory and she said, "Wouldn't it be funny if we could change everything to blue!"  She thought about it for a minute and said she had an idea.  She went to AI and this is what she created.  OMGOSH!  We laughed and laughed and sent this back to Tucker and to every family member who is a cougar fan.  

Tucker's response:  "Who the F did that?"  Shame on you Tucker!  Hahahaha.  BTW you both look so good in blue!!!!