Thanksgiving project

Annie came up with yet another awesome project for me to make (well for her to make and me to give) to the office support staff at work. It is doughnut holes, frosted on top with chocolate frosting, then dipped into Heath chips with a pretzel in the middle and you have an acorn! Thank you Lynda Ann, for yet again helping me with a craft.

(I have to add, that after I had frosted the top of one doughnut Annie said, 'Mom why don't you let me frost them and you can put the pretzels in the top!" We just laughed and enjoyed our evening together.)

Mallory's flute recital

Part of the recital was that each family of the students had to do a number for the program. Lynda Ann just laughed and decided that they couldn't sing and no one else plays a musical instrument so the opted to do the family chimes. It actually sounded pretty good. Even Andrew played one of the chimes and didn't miss his number, not once.

The Program

Hayley was here too, but some how missed being in the picture.

Mallory, teacher and students.

Mallory, we are so proud of you and your accomplishments. Keep practicing. I expect some day to have a piano, flute concert from your and Jordyn Lyn.

Our first major snowstorm of the year. 11.20.2010

Almost finished!
Bella, unlike Teddy, loved romping around in the snow while Neal and I shoveled the drive way. By the way it was midnight when we went out to do this and by morning we had another 2 or 3 inches!

Mother Nature has a way of making every season unique and beautiful.

Just getting started.

Now come on Jamie and Tucker. Aren't you jealous? Don't you miss the cold and snow?

Hayley's bapism day - Saturday, November 20, 2010

Hayley asked me to speak at her baptism. I was honored to be chosen. I gave her a white bag with items to remind of her baptism day. The white bag reminds us that we are to be clean and pure. Inside the bag a washcloth to remind us that our sins are washed away at baptism. A bottle of water reminding us that Jesus was baptised by immersion and set the example for the rest of us to follow. A bear reminding us that we should help bear other's burdens. A heart to remind us that Jesus Loves us.
The boys doing what boys do best. Love Brock's hat!

Ryan with mom and dad and looking very handsome with his new glasses.

Maren and Lynda Ann

The food ready to be eaten. Of course, on display are Lila Mae's famous rolls. Apparently, Brock went up to Lila Mae and told her that her rolls were delicious!

Hayley and parents.

Those attending. Dan and Jill Thurber with Ainsley and Mia. Ray and Gloria Hintze with Russell. Jeff and Mindy with Maddie, Ryan and Grayson.

Maren with Jaden, Taylor, Brock and Boston. Neal and Jeannine. Lila Mae and Susan and of course, the Gertsons: Jeff, Lynda, Emmi, Mallory, Abby, Hayley and Andrew.

The program went as follows: Gloria Hintze played the music and Gam lead the singing. Gam and Abby gave talks on baptism and the holy ghost and Mallory played a flute solo accompanied by Gloria. Prayers by Neal (Pa) and Raymond (Pa Pa Ray). Witness for the baptism was both grandfathers.

Jeff baptised and confirmed Hayley a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After the baptism we all went over to Lynda Ann's for dinner and visiting. The first big winter storm made an entrance so we scattered out pretty soon after eating. The road around Salt Air was treacherous. We saw roll overs and many accidents. Our travelers were all blessed with safe arrivals to their homes.

It was a beautiful and inspirational day. Gam and Pa are proud of you little Hayley Anne and hope you will remember this day all your life. We LOVE you!

Hayley's birthday cake!

Miss Hayley Anne is 8 years old.

Very busy weekend

Bella snoozing right in the middle of my freshly made bed and perfectly placed pillows!
Emmi showing off her Freshman Basketball Team Jacket. And, oh yes, for anyone reading this blog (especially family) if you want to support her team, she is selling pre-made and shaped cookie dough. Just about any flavor you would want! I think it is $15.00 for a bucket of 48 frozen cookie balls - ready to be popped in the oven.

Saturday morning I had a world wide leadership conference to attend at 9 a.m. That meeting lasted for two hours. It was an excellent meeting. But, I might say that two hours is plenty long. After that amount of time my brain is pretty much saturated!

After the meeting, I ran a couple of errands and got my hair cut and colored. As I was leaving I noticed Dave's wrap (whatever you call the thing that hair stylist put on to protect their clothes), was missing buttons and the hem was coming out and when he put his hand in his pocket, it went right through because the bottom of the pocket had come unstitched. I made Dave give it to me so I could mend it and sew some buttons on it.

When I got home, James and River came over to help Neal fix his computer (yet again) and then Jeff and Annie dropped by for a quick visit. They had been at the zoo. Everyone left about 6:00 and Neal and I headed to Judy and Ron's for our monthly bridge game. Got home about 1:00 a.m. Got up this a.m. at 6:30 and headed to the temple for a special meeting and from their out to Maren's for the Cutler kids primary program. The program was great and Jaden, Taylor and Brock all had speaking parts and did perfect. Brock can't say his S's so he said, "Miling and making others happy." He spoke right into the microphone. Nothing shy about him. After Maren's meeting I had a relief society meeting to attend and then choir practice! We got home about 4:15 and I'm kind of glad tomorrow is Monday. I think I get more rest at work than I do when I'm home!

Oh, did I mention that BYU won their game handily and Utah lost their game. It was a very nice scenario. I have to report that I text Greg at half time of the Utah, Notre Dame Game and said, "Go ND" (I don't text so that was a lot for me!) He text back and said, "Go the Great Church of Satan!" I laughed and laughed. Nice to have an comrade in the Cougar Camp. This family is out weighed with Utah fans. Sorry your team lost Tucker and Neal. **tee hee**

Emmi made the Freshman Basketball Team!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Emmi giving Peyton (her little shadow) a piggy-back-ride. Emmi called me last night and told me that she had made the Freshman Basketball Team! She was very excited and I was thrilled for her. She has been going to practices every night for the past couple of weeks getting ready for the try-outs and it paid off. Lynda Ann said that when Emmi called her, she acted like she was crying so that Annie would think she hadn't made the team but only teased her mom for a few minutes and then gave her the exciting news. Gam and Pa are very proud of you Emmi and will be anxious to see you play on a high school level. Go Stallions!

I have to add a cute story here. Emmi and her dad were golfing and saw Emmi's coach and assistant coach golfing behind them. They ended up making it a foursome. One time when Emmi had a bad shot one of the coaches said, "Emmi, I can see what your problem is! It is your golf shoes!" (Emmi has golf shoes that are blue and white with a "Y" on them)

Carpet cleaning day

Lynda Ann didn't want her picture taken, but hey, I'm a blogger now and I have a history to maintain!

I desperately needed my bedroom carpet cleaned. Today is Veterans Day and government people get this day off. Annie graciously agreed to come in this morning and help me (she did all the work) clean. Neal and I had most of the furniture moved out of the room so the shampooing went quickly. We did have to trade out the machine half way through because Annie noticed it was spraying water but not sucking it back up. We ran over to Home Depot, got another one and came back and it worked really well. We also cleaned Neal's office and the carpet at the front entrance. Annie and I took the machine back and then went to Red Robin for a quick bite to eat before she had to head back home to pick up the kids from school and then off to work. Thank you Lynda Ann for taking your day to help me! The carpets look great!

I had Lyndsy drop River off on her way to work so that Andrew would have someone to play with while Lynda Ann and I were cleaning carpets. Andrew always remembers the dominos and loves building with them. He and River played with them for a very long time.

When Lynda Ann and I ran over to Home Depot to change out the broken machine, we put Neal in charge of the boys. When we got back, the house was freezing cold because the front door was wide open. We couldn't find the boys anywhere. Annie hunted downstairs while I ran outside looking and calling their names. We asked Neal if he knew where they were and he said that he had been upstairs and thought they were downstairs. We were in a little panic but all was well when Lynda Ann found the two squirts hiding behind the big TV downstairs.

Dinner at Lynda Ann's

Andrew was very proud of his Builder of the Month Award. He told me he got to stand up on the stage in front of the whole student body to get his award.
Navajo tacos with all the trimmings. Neal and I brought lettuce and tomatoes and avocados. Lynda Ann made Navajo scones from scratch. They were delicious! Abby and Mallory made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Yum!

Saturday tending River a.m. / Hayley p.m.

Hayley wanted to have Wendy's for lunch.

River brought his markers with him so we cut a huge piece of butcher paper for him to color on.

These are stamp markers so they have a little picture on one end that you can stamp or you turn it to the other end and you can draw with it.

Pictures of mother nature and some help from humans!

I love the contrast just in this one tree of the vibrant green and the vibrant red.

I took all these pictures while walking Bella early this morning.

Our neighbors grew this ginormous pumpkin and carved it. I loved it.

Now this is Mother Nature in all her glory!

Counted Cross Up Date

I want to keep track of how many months it will take me to finish this counted cross stitch sampler. I posted the starting the first of October and this is how far I am as of the first of November. I probably average an hour a day. I've tried keeping track of time but there are so many interruptions when I stop in the middle and then forget to audit the time that I gave up years ago trying to determine the hours spent stitching. I love it and it is a wonderful way to wind down my day. Another picture will be posted the first of December.

Another walk down memory lane

This is the house I grew up in from the time I was eight. Not much has changed. It looks now almost exactly like it look years ago. New roof, new exterior paint and a driveway on the right side of the home is about all that has changed. It is nice to see that someone is taking good care of it. I had a wonderful childhood. We were dirt poor but I never wanted for anything. There were lots of kids in the neighborhood and we all played together through the summer and went to school together in the winter. One of my fondest memories was playing ball in the corner lot behind our home. Playing in the corner lot taught us good sportsmanship; how to play ball games and how to work as a team and brought our friendships closer to us.

Good sportsmanship is probably a bigger factor in corner-lot playing. We often had to make up our own rules as we went along because of the size of the playing space, and the limited number of players and the time. It was a good place to learn to keep our temper and accept defeat without griping or pouting. While we didn't always follow the rules according to the 'book', we did learn the fundamentals of the game.
There is a song that Perry Como (a singing artist in the 40's and 50's) who made a song famous called "Magic Moments" I love that song and think there should have been a verse in there about the "team" that played ball on the corner lot. I would dedicate the song to Judy Mann, Carol Clegg, Stephen Thompson, Allan Rawlings, Tommy Taylor, Deanne Stewart and Lynn Kennison. Thank you for being a part of my childhood memories.