Cookie Crumbs

Trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia

2012-02-10T12:11:00.002-08:00

Sunday, February, 5, 2012 was Allie's blessing day. Tim and I were so glad to have been able to be in Virginia with Brooke and Andy for this wonderful day. Allie slept all the way through church after she was blessed. Her other grandmother held her during S.M meeting and Sunday School. I got to hold her during Relief Society. We came home for dinner and pictures. Danika fell asleep in the car on the way home. It took a minute to wake up.

Danika, Andy, Allie and Brooke. I must say Allie is a good baby. She coos and smiles all the time. I don't think I heard her cry once. Sisters. Aren't they cute?

Allie was blessed in the same dress Brooke was blessed in. I think that was just yesterday. Okay, not really. It just seems so.

On Friday, February 3, 2012 Tim and I went to visit Mount Vernon. This is where President George Washington lived. It was such a beautiful day. We wore our coats but never felt chilled. I have a greater feeling of respect after visiting the home and surrounding grounds. We were there for several hours and enjoyed every moment.

The front of Mount Vernon.

The back of Mount Vernon facing the Potomoc river.

This is the burial spot of George and Martha Washington. Very reverent.

When we entered the gift shop and restaurant building to get a bite to eat we found this painting of Washington at Valley Forge. As we looked closer we realized it is the origional painting. It's on loan to Mount Vernon.

Touring old town Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Danika loves her grandpa.

...And my beautiful Allie!

Christmas Program

2012-02-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

I am really a slacker. I didn't take very many pictures during the holiday season. But, I did get a couple of pictures of Lana at her school program. The children sang a ton of holiday songs. They did a wonderful job. Of course the cutest child was my little Lana!

The Nutcracker

2012-02-10T11:55:00.001-08:00

Brielle, Kailie, and McKenzie performed in "The Nutcracker" in Salt Lake City for their dance company. During the performance I was taking pictures when the girls were on stage. An usher came and firmly told me that no pictures could be taken during the performance. It was a rule of the theater. OOPS!

Isaak loves his mom! Such a cute little boy.

Welcome baby Allie

2011-11-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

November 6, 2011 I boarded the plane to fly to see Brooke, Andy and Danika. They were awaiting the birth of their new baby. We thought she would be born on Thursday or Friday. If she was born on Friday her birthdate would be 11-11-11. Pretty cool! But, the baby had other plans for her family. She decided to make her appearance on her due date of Tuesday, November 8, 2011. The name they chose for their baby is Allie Dianne. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. This is little Allie. She is beautiful. She is wonderful. Each baby born is a miracle. Allie is no different. I am amazed at each birth of the feelings of gratitude, love, peace, awe and happiness for these little ones.

During the birth Danika and I spent time walking around the hospital grounds. We weren't planning on being at the hospital durig the birthing process. But, while at a doctors appointment Brooke was sent to the hospital for testing to see if she was in labor. She was! Brooke checked in at 3:00 p.m. Allie was born at 6:06 p.m. The day after the birth we took Danika back to the hospital for more bonding time for the sisters.

Danika spet much time wandering around the hospital grounds. I had my camera with me and took hundreds of pictures of Danika doing many things. At one time she picked up a twig and carried it aroun...for hours! She also found a leaf. I found it later. I think she had put it in her pocket. I was getting ready to take another picture and someone came up to us and asked if we wuld like him to take our picture together. Very nice!

The night before I came home we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. We took a few family pictures of the newly expanded family.

Grandkids Party at Chuck-E-Cheese

2011-08-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Tim suggested we take the grandkids to Chuck-E-Cheese before Brooke and Andy move away. The kids love any excuse to get together. We all loved the evening. I just thought I had better blog again and this was a great evening to blog about.

McKenzie and Hayden ate together. The rule was, the kids had to eat a piece of pizza before they got to take tokens and go play.

While waiting for some of the cousins we tried entertaining the rest by taking a few pictures. Luckily the pizza came out of the oven just as the rest got there.

We turned our backs on Danika for just a second and she decided to pour herself a drink of chocolate milk...using the lid as her cup. She spilled just a little.

When I asked Tai and Mike to pose this is what I got. Pretty cute!

Brooke and Danika. Just look at that yummy pizza!

Tim and Kailie. I guess the pizza was very tasty!

Kailie and Lana. What cuties!

Kate, Danika, and Hayden showing off their driving skills. Watch ou

Hayden kind of cheated. You can't tell, but, he is standing on the game to get himself closer to the basket.

The cousins played together so well. Sometimes with one cousin and then sometimes with another. It was so cute.

Cute Kenzie. She posed in front of a camera...a lot.

Hayden flew up so high! He had to pedal as fast as he could to get the contraption to fly high.

Mike and Tim had to try their had at basketball. I don't know who won. I think they were both winners just for being together.

Danika found herself a new pet.

Brielle won a ton of tickets doing "Whack-A-Mole".

Kate and Isaak were way into their racing abilities. Their concentration level was intense. Don't you think so?

Kate got so excited when she discovered how fun the clock ride was.

The men had fun at the party, too. I loved seeing them relax and enjoy the fun.

One final picture before we went to the counter to buy our prizes earned from our tickets. Guess what we bought. Cotton candy!

Back row left to right. Hayden, Lana, Kailie, Rylee, McKenzie
Front row left to right. Isaak, Danika, Brielle and Kate.

Thanks everyone for the party!

Condie Family Reunion 2011

2011-07-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Our annual Condie Family Reunion is over for the year. We had a great time getting to know each other better. We earned tickets to spend for the purchasing of incredible goods brought by each of us. We talked, ate, did skits, sang and had a couple of programs. I think our parents would have been happy with the days we spent together as family.

Sherryl, Sheila and Mike interviewing each other...to get tickets! We played a little sand volleyball. I am not sure who won, but, we had fun laughing at our skills...and we earned more tickets.

Kathie killed me playing tetherball. I thought I was a great player when I was younger. I lost all my tetherball skills over the years...and we earned more tickets.

Here is some fine tuned relaxing skills. Looks comfortable? The first day of the reunion, the hammock was wet from rain...no tickets earned here.

Just goofing off, talking and eating. Did you know "goofing off" takes skills? We didn't earn tickets eating.

Josh, Amanda, Sammy, and Georgia are sharpening their skills to being fine bidders. The best things went to the highest bidder!

We trained some pretty fine "s'more makers". Doesn't this look like a mighty fine crew? S'mores, anyone? Nice skills!

Brooklyn was one of the finest at making and eating the goodies! It takes skills to make this darling face to show the enjoyment? of the goodies.

We had more great learners. Yummy s'mores!

Brynn and Bryton played their violins for us during the program on Friday night. The children all participated in the entertainment.

....and heres only a part of the audience!

Josh really wanted to take part in the program. When it was his turn to perform, he began crying and couldn't tell his parents what he wanted to do.

We had a family sing along. We even sang, "Love At Home." When I was growing up I hated this song. I didn't think there was any love in our home. Little did I know, there was a lot more love than I thought. I truly love my family.

I can't remember what the kids were doing, but it was way cute! Thanks, kids.

And, here we have a skillful reader and sleeper. It is so cute to see little ones go to sleep.

Tim and Conner were our fire starters. They showed incredible amounts of skill to get a nice fire going. Thanks men.

A Sad Good-Bye To A Favorite Place

2011-04-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

It is official. The Ogden Temple has closed it's doors for major renovation. I have heard many stories of what is to be done to the temple. I have heard it will be totally torn down. I heard all but the baptistry will be taken down. I heard just the outer walls will be taken down. I also hear they are building a huge room inside the temple to house all the rumors of what will be done. I guess for the next 2 1/2 to 3 years we will all be in great anticipation to see the final results. Thursday morning I went to the temple to do work for the last time in this very structure. I know other temples are open, you can do the same work, feel the same spirit, enjoy it just the same, but, I still felt a great sadness. I had decided to use my new camera and take some fantastic pictures. I can't say the pictures are fantastic, but, for me, it gave me a chance to spend some extra time on the temple grounds enjoying the feel and taking some pictures to help my memory. Many people had the same idea. I saw so many taking pictures. I saw families strolling around, sitting down and looking and pondering and I saw a woman looking at the temple with her journal in her lap with a pen in her hand.

I think the closing of the temple is hard because the Ogden Temple has been my temple. I have gone there many times for many reasons. It is always a place of quiet, peace, reflection, work, prayer, and acceptance. I am grateful I was able to go Thursday to reflect and say good-bye and to thank some of the temple workers for their service.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying a book. Is this with my husband in a few years? Hopefully we won't be statues.

I love seeing clocks like this one. I want one in my yard! Maybe I need to tell Tim I want one, really bad!

The Ogden temple was known as a work horse temple. For the last couple of years it has been incredibly busy. I don't know how many times I went and had to wait for quite a while to be able to begin my work.

I can't wait for the temple to be finished with it's remodeling job. We'll be off to enjoy other temples while we wait! And so for the next few years...so long. Can't wait until it opens again!

January and February Events

2011-02-12T21:55:00.000-08:00

Hayden went to Chuck-E-Cheese for his birthday. Some of his cousins joined him. Tim and I watched the kids play, too. It was very entertaining.

At our Super Bowl get together Tim won the trophy from Marja. She got to grace the trophy for a whole year. She had to pass it off after the game was over. Marja, you get more and more beautiful every year. When you turn 80 years old you need to begin your beauty pageant tour. You will win Mrs. America...hands down! I would say Miss America, but, you are married!

This year our prediction sheet was a t-shirt that was purchased from Fanzz in the mall. Tim gets to wear this all year long, too! Next year who knows what we'll write our predictions on!

Alex will have his choice of many beautiful women to marry in 20 years. Which one do you think he should pick? We all love Alex and love giving him a rough time. He takes it and is very cute with all the little ones.

Some of the women gathering in the kitchen during the game. It was a very cold January. February began the same way. What is better to do in the cold months than to hibernate and make cookies with some cute little ones? Brielle and Isaak came over one day to make me happy and cook me some cookies. I have to have the traditional cookie baking carry on for several generations. We are well on our way!

One day I got to watch "Despicable Me" with three grandchildren close by keeping me warm.

Here we are goofing off at Rylee's birthday party.

Hayden showed us his dance moves.

Birthday girl, Rylee.

Isaak helped me clean by getting out the vacuum one day, without being asked, and began getting up all the dirt. Danika ran by the cleaner as often as she could! This post is so out of order. But, there it is anyway.

Lana's Dance

2011-02-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

Lana is in a little dance class. I have been able to go see her a couple of times. It is so cute to watch the little girls practice and learn dance steps, tumbling and following instructions. The pictures are way out of order, but, you can see her have a lot of fun.

Lana jumps as high as she can...

this time she has to jump wide...

then she leaps and looks to see if grandma notices...

then she takes a water break and gives her grandmother a smile...

and she does a great kick....

she dances her learned song....

but, before she does any of this she does her warm ups. That includes learning how to do the splits. I remember trying to do that. OUCH!

Service Missionary

2011-02-10T21:10:00.000-08:00

It is now official! I have a new calling. I am a service missionary working in the Bishops' Storehouse! This is such a wonderful thing for me to do. It was really hard for me to commit to anything that would take me away from being with grandchildren and giving up my time. I know it sounds selfish, but, there it is. I love being there with wonderful people and meeting new people every day. Plus, I get to work in a dedicated building, and, I am on a mission without leaving home!

...and, here is the proof. I even get to wear a name badge. Pretty cool, wouldn't you say?

Rylee Turns 10

2011-01-16T20:24:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to Rylee! Hilary makes a mean birthday cake. So yummy!

As soon as we got to Rylee's house I made some people get into a group shot. Tim's mom came with us to wish Rylee a happy birthday.

We had fun eating dinner, playing games, eating cake, dancing, and being real loud! Rylee drew the picture above, Hilary had it framed, and Hayden was excited to show it to me. Rylee can draw quite well. Love the print.

Human pyramid! Dads, Uncles, and Grandpa as the base. Thanks for the support.

Rylee letting me give her a birthday hug.

Rylee letting her uncle, Andrew, lift her up and balance her. Uncle Mike and Grandpa were there to catch her if she fell.

Tim (grandpa) spun her around and around. They are both looking good!

Hayden playing one of the "Minute To Win It" games. All the kids loved playing the game.

Mike and Bill played a couple of the games, too. Bill won, Mike...well he tried.

The Birthday Girl did a game where you were given a set amount of time to wind a roll of toilet paper around you before the timer went off. Simple game, and way fun!

Rylee playing another game of shooting the soda cans over with a rubber band.

Sara playing "Johnny Applestack". So Sara!

...And the birthday girl blowing out her candles. With 10 on top it only took her three tries to get all the candles out.

Eating cake and ice-cream is so yummy!

Kate loves her cake, too!

But, then again, so do the rest of us. It seems like Bill always gets the job of dishing out the ice-cream. No complaints coming from this mouth!

Doesn't it look like Rylee got to do everything she wanted on her birthday without getting in trouble? I mean really, would you get to eat out of the ice-cream bucket? Actually, I made her pose for the picture.

After eating cake Rylee wanted us to do the spanking machine. Here she goes through it!

Lana and Kenzie got caught telling secrets! Do you want to know what they said? Me too!

Dancing to finish the evening off. Whew! What an eventful birthday. Lots of fun

Brielle had to try one last game. Stack the dice on a tongue depresser. Way to go Brielle.

I love this family! What a great gift to be given.

Saturday is the Day We Get Ready For Sunday

2011-01-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Tai and Mike came over to grab my Tom Tom to use for the week. While here the children begged for pancakes. They didn't want to go out to eat at Cafe Rio. They love pancakes (and so do I.) I asked Kailie to stuff a pancake in her mouth so I could take a silly picture of her. Thanks for complying!

Danika looks properly scared. Why? Because...

...Isaak thought my house was dirty after the pancakes were made and eaten so he went to get the vacuum and started to vacuum my home. What cute kids!

Golden Wedding Anniversary

2011-01-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

January 8, 2011
50 years ago my sister, Sherryl, began her life with Arnold. Their children invited us to share in celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. Sherryl and Arnold began their life with making sacred vows in the Idaho Falls temple. It was a wonderful day and one I am glad I didn't let the threat of a snowstorm get in my way.
When we arrived at Burley we drove first of all to the home I lived in when I was really little. It was in this home I broke my baby sister's crib by pretending I was a horse and I was jumping in it. Quinn was helping me. He was older and should be blamed for it. Right?

Me, Carolyn, Mike, Quinn and Sheila standing in front of a home still being occupied. No one came out and took shots at us or anything! Can you believe 12 people lived in this home?

I had to take a picture of the yummy desserts served at the party.

Handsome hubby and brother-in-law.

Sisters Sheila and Kathie with my nephew Garth and his wife, Misty. Misty is due to deliver her first baby any day.

Carolyn and Jay, and Tim and I drove together to Burley. We had a wonderful visit with them. Thanks for braving the storms with us!

Some of my brothers and sisters and their spouses and one niece and great-great-nephew.

Sherryl and Arnold's original children with their spouses. There is a grandchild or two tucked in to boot!

Sherryl and Arnold enjoying their newest great-grandchild.
Thanks again for inviting us to the party. Have I ever told anyone I love my family? They are wonderful people. I have been so blessed in my life to have these people to support me and to show great examples. Thanks, family!

Grandchildren Bake Cookies and Rolls

2011-01-10T18:44:00.001-08:00

For Christmas I gave Rylee and Kailie matching baking sets. They were so cute I just couldn'g resist. But, with the gift I wanted to help them use them. So, one day I went first to play cooking baking with Rylee. We made chocolate chip cookies. So, Rylee and Lana began the cookies.

They carefully measured, poured, and mixed all the ingredients.

Then you have to wait for a pan of cookies to come out of th oven.

When the cookies come out of the oven it is best to wait a minute or two for the cookies to cool. Then you can eat them. The cookies missing off the paper towel were probably in MY stomache.

Kate enjoyed grabbing a few chocolate chips that didn't make it into the cookies. The evidence is on the chin!

When Hayden gets hungry he just begins by going to the pantry and climbs until he finds what he wants. It wasn't chocolate chip cookies!

Then on to Tai and Mike's home. Kailie began by washing and drying the bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons and such. Then we began the making of the cookies!

Look at how well the cookie dough looks!

Kenzie didn't want to make cookies. She wanted to play the wii instead. She is happy doing it though.

Isaak wanted to help. He gave us a great wink with the mixing of the dough.

Brielle enjoyed the wii, too!

Then I went home and Danika helped me make dinner rolls. It was a full day of baking...and eating. I ate pleanty. Did you know most people gain an average of 5-10 pounds during the holidays? How can that be?

Thanks for the great day, my little grandchildren.

December parties

2011-01-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, 2010, Tim gave me a wonderful camera. It is a camera I could learn to use many ways. It will take me a long while to figure out all of its features. Look at the beautiful pictures it takes!
Jordan and Nikole let me play with the camera on Christmas Day by taking their picture. I will add they are a cute couple!

Tim and I gave each other too many gifts! We had a wonderful morning opening and visiting grandchildren!

Tim got a short nap in the late morning. He didn't know I would be taking his picture. Surprise!

December 11, 2010 was the date we got together for our yearly Condie Christmas party. Can you believe all this wonderful family? I am so blessed to be a member of the family. We ate, did a pinata, blanket toss, Christmas pie, talked, had a wonderful program with the children doing the nativity...It was a wonderful day.

On the 2nd Sunday in December we got together at Hilary and Bill's. Before we all went over to their home, Hilary arranged for a neighbor to come and take a family picture. This is the one I wanted to use for my Christmas letter. I just had too many camera problems and was a little handicapped when it came to getting the picture sent to Walmart to get on a Christmas card.

I know these pictures are all backwards. It has just been too long since I have blogged. I forgot how to do it.

Broken camera!

2010-11-28T18:13:00.000-08:00

How does one post on their blog without a picture? This is so strange. Did you know camera's have a hard time surviving when you drop them not once, but twice. I could baby it along for some time. I went to a program at a school and remembered to take pictures. But, alas, the camera refused to perform. The grandchildren did a fabulous job. Then I went to other programs for other grandchildren. No camera. Then there was Thanksgiving weekend! I missed taking pictures of that. I will survive, though. I will not let this get me down. I will be stronger, bigger (Thanksgiving just got over...bigger is a great word), and better!

UMA Banquet

2010-11-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

Once a year Tim and I are invited to attend a banquet in Salt Lake City called Utah Manufacturers Banquet. We are served a wonderful meal, enjoy entertainment, conversations and at the end of the evening we are given a box full of goodies from people who manufacture things in the state. As you can see we get calculators, tape measurerers, cleaning supplies, paper supplies, treats and just other fun stuff. It is always a treat to come home and dig through the box to see what is inside. It is like an early Christmas gift. So much fun. Maybe some of the stuff should find its way into a Christmas Pie.

Tim and I finished the gift wrap center on Friday. We think it turned out well. It was fun doing it together. What do you think?

Sister's Party

2010-10-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sister's Party, 2010
Sister's Party weekend began by going to the Twin Falls, Idaho LDS temple together. Only about half of us that got together could be there in time for the temple. After going to the temple,we drove to Kathie's home where we ate a great dinner of baked potatoes (potatoes grown in Kathie's garden), stroganoff, fruit salad, green salad, dinner rolls, dessert and enjoyed re-aquainting conversation. We sat up and talked for hours and then I remembered to get out my camera. By this time it was way after midnight. As you can tell by the picture of Misty (below) we were getting tired. Of course Misty is 6 month's pregnant and has every reason to be tired. We got to have 2 pregnant women with us. They were troopers to stay up and talk forever while fighting exhaustion. See, we don't look too bad for 2:00 a.m.

The next morning we made some crafts. We made something to take out with us visiting teaching in December...

Can you see the angel wings on Sheila and Arlene's shoulders? The wings are the glow you see on their shoulders.

Brooke and Danika went up with me.

The mature women in the family. Kathie, Georgia, Becky, Sherryl, Arlene, Carolyn, Dianne and Sheila. This is a picture of women of strength, integrity, wisdom, fun, and incredible love. They are women I look up to.

Kathie ad Cindy doing the other craft. A saying rubbed on to a tile. The saying is by Elder Worthlin, "Come what may, and Love It"

When I got home this afternoon I got two surprises. Tim met me at the door (granted I had a granddaughter and daughter with me) and he made me a gift wrap center! Cool! I was totally surprised! What color(s) do I paint it?

Kailie's baptism

2010-10-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

It was a big day for Tai and Mike's family! Today Kailie was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Congratulations Kailie!

My little Kailie just before going to the church to be baptized. Such a beautiful little girl!

After Kailie came up out of the water her dad picked her up and gave her a big hug. It was a sweet moment. Lana and Rylee were quick to give Kailie a hug after the confermation.

The Parson family from our ward came to share the day with us. Tai babysat the Parson triplets many years ago and now the two girls will babysit Tai's children. Thanks for coming Rachael, Marissa and Alex! Thanks to your dad and mom, too.

Pictures of family and friends gathering to share the joyful day.

Great- grandma Jennings with Hayden doing his best to smile a goofy smile. Cute!

During dinner Kate and Danika didn't want to be bothered with the job of eating. They just wanted to play. So, of course we let them build a bond of friendship. Food came later.

Tai's high school buddy and her two daughters came to the baptism. Good friends are a treasure. Good to see you Cami!

It is always good to see Jay and Carolyn. Sorry I didn't have your fudge, Jay. (Inside joke)

Jason and his children! What a brave and good man to come without his wife, Lindsey (who was working), all by himself.

I found Mickey Mouse in his Halloween costume hiding in my garden. Can you believe he dressed up as a carrot?

Summer End 2010

2010-09-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

My friend, Linda, and I just got done decorating t-shirts. We learned how to doll up t-shirts at Relief Society a week ago and thought we would give it a try. It took us a couple of hours to do it. I am sure someone else could make one quicker. It was fun!

My mother-in-law finally moved closer to us. She only lives 10 minutes away and is able to come visit more often. The grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her children love having her closer. Kate loved snuggling her one day.

Mr. Isaak can now do the winkie! So cute!

Last Sunday I got to teach the Relief Society lesson. For a visual aid I had Hayden pose for this picture to display.

Brielle posed with her grandfather on this picture. The picture goes with a story Elder Hales told last General Conference. It goes like this:

"Several years ago I was reading the newspaper when one of my young grandsons snuggled up to me. As I read, I was delighted to hear his sweet voice chattering in the background. Imagine my surprise when, a few moments later, he pushed himself between me and the paper. Taking my face in his hands and pressing his nose up to mine, he asked, "Grandpa! Are you in there?"

September 12 Jordan and Nikole hosted our monthly get-together. They fixed a wonderful meal. We loved hanging out, laughing, eating, playing, etc...

Brooke and Kaili

Brooke and Danika

Tim and McKenzie

Nikole and Kate

Just a bunch of us gathered around to talk and take pictures.

Hayden...it is tough getting him to let you take pictures of him.

Sara and Kate.

Brielle, Kailie and Andrew. The little kids love being with their Aunts and Uncles and cousins

Rylee and Sara

Darn it! I have the pictures in the wrong order. But this is Hayden the first day of pre-school. He couldn't wait to go! He ran ahead of everyone else. Hilary tried to take some pictures of his big adventure.

Hayden ran by me and kind of slowed down long enough for me to take a quick picture!

I thought Hayden was running to give me a hug and tell me he was excited to see me. That really wasn't the case. Love seeing all the excitement!

Brielle went to pre-school earlier this month also for the first time. She loves it, too! She paused for me to take a few pictures.

Brielle walking on the sidewalk looking way cute!

First day of pre-school! You look so cute, Brielle!

Late night at grandma's. All 9 grandchildren were there. Great memory builder.

Ogden Temple before the update

2010-09-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

I had to take a picture of the Ogden Temple before they close it down for a while and update the entire outside. It will be so beautiful when it is done...but, the temple as it is has a special place in my heart. Tim and I married in the twin temple to this one just a little over 33 years ago and now we live in the Ogden temple districe. I have spent a lot of time in this building and it has become very special to me. I will miss going to this temple while it is closed. I will just have to go to Bountiful, or Logan, or Salt Lake, or Jordan River, or...
Come go with me before it's temporary closure!

Bryson and Shannon's Wedding

2010-08-24T14:05:00.001-07:00

The new Bryson and Shannon Lanterman making their entrance out of the temple on Friday, August 20, 2010. Cute little couple. Congratulations!

I just had to have the bride turn her back to me and look over her shoulder so I could get a picture of the back of her dress. I love dresses that lace up the back.

One more picture of Bryson and Shannon.

Ashley and April. Mom and sister to Bryson. In case you can't tell, the weather was warm, but not hot. It was perfect! Then to have the beautiful temple there...it was icing on the cake!

I asked Tim to pose for a picture. This is what I got. What a goof! Does that look like a really long tongue!? Great weekend. I ran out of battery power on my camera. We also went to the Newport Beach temple. That is another beautiful temple! Saturday evening we got on a yacht, the Elektra, for a family reception. We were told Ronald Reagan liked using this particular yacht. It was nice.

Education Week 2010

2010-08-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

I spent 3 days going to religion classes at BYU. I go with friends every year, because I wouldn't go by myself. This year it seemed the theme was ENDURE TO THE END. Life has it's challenges and we were given help on seeing how to keep going with faith, happiness and peace.
I just had to take a picture of one of the beautiful flower beds on campus. Maybe I will copy it in a flower bed of my own next year.

My friends at Education Week. Pam and Karey. We just asked a stranger to help us by taking our picture together. Thanks, stranger. After all, are any of us really strangers?

Oh, what do you do in the summer time

2010-07-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

These 3 women are important in my life right now. We get to work in the Stake as the Young Women Presidency. Kerri, Janis, Me, and the president, Lindee. These are women of great strength and have taught me so much. This was taken during youth conference. On Thursday, June 17th we cleaned and painted a park and a pavillion. We also painted a couple of back boards for tennis courts. That evening we had a speaker and nice dinner from Olive Garden. The speaker was great, the food tasted fantastic. I was hungry!

Friday, June 18th the youth and leaders met and rode down on school buses to Manti, Utah to attend the Morman Miracle Pageant. Some of the actors strolled around before the play began so we had another picture taken.

On Wednesdays each week we have a "Wacky Wednesday" to Watch movies with Grandma. If the kids can come it is great. If they can't come it's okay, too. Danika was the last one to leave one week. I turned my back on her to talk to Brooke and when I looked again this is what I saw.

During one of the movies there was a quick song and the kids got up and danced! Fun. You can't do that in a movie theatre!

More dancing, same movie.

Being a grandmother is a full time job! Lots of fun, too. Anyone that is a grandparent knows how fun being a grandmother is.

Tim Jennings First Family Reunion

2010-07-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

It is a first! We have now under our belt a family reunion. It was short and very sweet. We met at 6:00 at our home to cook meats on the barbeque grill. Lots of other foods were prepared and present. The first picture I took was of Hayden. He really doesn't like to get his picture taken. I asked him to smile. Instead of a smile a got a tongue sticking out. After the picture was taken then he smiled.

Just a small sampling of the good food. Salads, chips, dinner rolls, fruit, chips and 7 layer dip...etc. Yummy.

Jordan and Nikole marinaded this hunk of meat and another one just like it. They were more that generous to share with any who wanted to try. I think it was called a London Broil. But, since I don't eat much meat (like none) I didn't pay much attention to what it was called. Open wide!

Cute little girls enjoying their food. Usually when they get together we have a hard time getting them to eat. They want to play more than eat.

Brielle and Hayden chummed around a lot during the day. They are as close as ever. Hayden still doesn't want his picture taken. It is a cute shot anyway.

I made Rylee show me her plate of food. Looks good, Rylee!

Brooke shared Danika's dinner. I think they both enjoyed the grapes.

Andy helped Isaak learn how to climb on my bed. It was way cute to see the uncles and aunts play with all the children during the evening.

Kids are just relaxing on my bed after the big dinner and before the evening of games were to begin! They also tried to watch part of a movie. Not enough time!

Some of the family doing what needs to be done during a reunion. Talking! While we were doing this, Hilary, Bill and Rylee were at the church house setting up games from "Minute to Win It".

Nikole and Jordan! Married a year now! Cute couple.

Andrew and Sara. They are old marrieds now. They have been married 2 whole months!

Andy, Danika and Brooke. Danika is now a walker! Cute family!

Tai and Mike Smith family. We were all waiting to get into the cultural hall. I didn't get a picture of Bill and Hilary's family. I may have to go over to their home when Bill gets home from work and snap a quick picture and blog it later.

Hilary and Bill took all of us around to each of the game stations to explain each game. We all listened so attentively. It worked! All the people knew how to play each game.

Just Noodling Around! Brielle was my game buddy for the night. Each adult got to have a child as their partner. It worked very well! This game was tricky. You had to put 6 ziti noodles on a spaghetti noodle, without the help of your hands. All in a minute. Brielle and I helped each other just a little bit!

Andrew was Hayden's buddy. This game was called something like "Sticky Situation" The object of the game was to bounce a ping-pong ball on the floor and got the ball to land on a peanut butter spread piece of bread.

The object of this challenge was to separate the M&M's into the corresponding colored cups, one at a time, red, orange, yellow, green, blue. In 1 minute. I thought I did it. Then when I looked at the cups I saw I had put some green candies in the blue cup. Oops!

"Johnny Applestack" is the name of this game. Try to get 5 apples to balance on top of each other in 1 minute. The kids only needed to do 3. Brielle did it. Just no picture of it.

I can't remember the name of this one. It was so fun, funny and fun to watch. You put 8 ping-pong balls into an empty Kleenex box, tie it to your waist and jump around, twist, wiggle your bootie, whatever it takes to get the balls out....yup, in a minute.

"Face the Cookie" was the next challenge. You put an oreo cookie on your forehead and with facial muscles only move the cookie down and into your mouth. You had 1 minute to get 3 cookies one at a time into the mouth.

Stacking the cups. You have a minute to get the blue cup back to the top by taking one red cup off at a time, putting it on the bottom. Forcing the blue one back to the top.

Do you know how hard it is to keep 3 ballons airborn at a time for an entire minute? Go try it. We let the little ones do one or two balloons.

Can you tell we are all getting a little bit tired by now? McKenzie tried keeping the balloons up, too!

I caught a quick picture of Lana getting the oreo into her mouth...not quite! Good try!

Everyone got a piece of candy for trying each game. Mike enjoyed his piece of bubble gum. It stuck to his lip after blowing the bubble. Cute, Mike!

Andrew and Sara's Wedding Day

2010-05-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 7, 2010 was a bright, sunny, and special day. This is the day these two people were finally married and became a family. We have loved Sara for a long time and wanted things to work out for the two of them. They had to wait for Andrew to serve his mission and come home and see if they were still compatable. Just look at them...what do you think? They make a wonderful couple. When we were in the temple I was able to look around and see all 5 of my children in the sealing room. It was an overwhelming feeling. It felt like I had waited a long time for the last of my children to find their mate. Again, welcome home, Sara.

We only had 3 of the grandchildren at the temple. Jordan took several pictures of Danika. This looks like she is either blowing kisses or clapping for joy. Take your pick!

This is my favorite picture of Andrew and Sara. I think Andrew's pose is so into Sara and Sara has a soft and sweet smile on her face. They seem to "fit" together or something.

More of Sara and Andrew. Out of hundreds of pictures it was hard to narrow it down to the few I am posting.

I thought this was a great picture. I enjoy the reflection in the glass of the two of them. I am sure you can find symbolism in it. Tell me what it is so I can enjoy it. too.

Set up for the wedding luncheon. So beautiful. The owner of the catering business had to apologize several times to us. They burned the "spring potatoes" and had to serve all the guests mashed potatoes. It tasted just great to me!

Andrew and Sara with all the cute little nieces and nephews. Such a cute pose!

This is all 5 of my birth children. It really looks and feels so empty. I didn't get a picture of all 21 of us. Cute picture, anyway.

The two little grandsons had a hard time keeping the shirts tucked in and a tie around the neck all night. They looked SO cute with shirttails hanging out and ties drooping off the shoulders. I think little boys are so cute this way. They look like...little boys! Full of life!

Just in case you were wondering what Sara wore on her feet to keep herself as comfortable as possible, I will show you! Yup! Smart girl wore slippers of her favorite color. Pink!

Thanks to Jordan and Nikole for taking hundreds of pictures. I really wanted to add more. There are a couple of people who aren't in any of the pictures. Maybe next time I'll do a separate blog of them.

And finally, the new couple coming out of the temple! Congratulations, again!

You Have To Watch These Videos!

2010-05-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here at my computer knowing I really need to get my hair fixed, clean my house, practice the piano, make a menu, etc... and I opened lds.org to see if anything new or interesting was there. I decided to click on to the video "My New Life" and almost turned it off when I saw it was 8 minutes long. I am so grateful I watched it. Stephanie Nielson (I think that's her name) is an incredible example of strength in adversity. I so appreciate her words of wisdom. Then after that I watched "Seek the Higher Ground" by Gene R. Cook. The two videos went hand in hand. Watch them. It will make you think twice about things. At least it did for me.

Long blog,not much to the point

2010-04-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to a Mary Kay make-up demonstration. I only bought one expensive item. It is a collegen anti-aging cream for the face. I thought I would try it for a few weeks to see if I could see a difference. If I don't think there is an improvement I can take it back. So, what do you think? Is there any difference between the top picture and the bottom picture?

Cast your vote. I need to know if I take the product back.

The girls in my family hosted a family shower for Sara. I had someone take my camera during the party to capture the shower in picture. I forgot to check it and get some of the important pictures...like ones of the bride, her mom and grandmother! But, I got this one of Sara and Nikole. Pretty cute girls.

Next Shower: At Sara's sorority bridal shower (I was glad I was invited to it) Andrew and Sara were to answer "How Well Do You Know Your Fiance'" questions. When they got a question wrong they had to pop another piece of bubble gum into their mouths. Sara really had quite a huge blob of gum in her mouth.

We got to make wedding dresses, out of rolls of toilet paper. It was quite difficult for me to be creative. But, look at the dress on the far left as you look at this picture. Now, that one looks good! I thought it won...hands down. Poor Andrew had to wear the dress I made.

Tai ran the Salt Lake City half-marathon. She set a goal to run it in under 2 hours. She did it. And, then was sick the rest of the day. Way to go Tai!

Note: If you have never watched a marathon, you should. It is amazing and humbling to watch those men and women giving it their all to run that many miles! I really fight back tears of emotions watching the runners. Am I just a big bawl baby?

Is it winter, or is it spring? Take your pick. After a few days of warmth we seem to go back to winter. Sun, rain, then snow. All in the same week. I enjoy the slow movement to the hot summer. Break me in slowly to the heat.

My sister, Sheila, graduated from Brigham Young University last Friday. Congratulations, Sheila. I am so excited she set her goal to graduate and did it.

After the graduation ceremony Chanel, Sheila's daughter, had a party to celebrate Sheila's accomplishment. Sheila, you are awesome. I admire you. In case you couldn't tell, your brother's and sister's are all happy for you, too. 7 out of 9 of your siblings were to your party.

Thank you Chanel for hosting this wonderful party.

Conference weekend

2010-04-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

General Conference weekend is just barely over and so is Easter Sunday. I love having the two together. We get tohear a lot about the Savior and Atonement. But my personal favorite quote from conference was from Elder Neil L. Andersen...

TWO MEN CAN DO ANYTHING AS LONG AS ONE OF THEM IS THE LORD!

It was a great talk. I was writing fast and furious as he spoke. But I loved how he counceled us to tell our families the stories of Jesus. That is truly where our strength needs to come from.

Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear,
Things I would ask him to tell me if he were here.
Scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea,
Stories of Jesus, tell them to me.

Oh, let me hear how the children
stood round his knee.
I shall imagine his blessings resting on me;
Words full of kindness, deeds full of grace,
All in the love-light of Jesus' face.
Words by: W. H. Parker

caucus meeting...my soap box for the evening

2010-03-23T21:59:00.001-07:00

I wish I had a camera at the meeting I went to tonight. It was truly amazing. Tonight was a Republican party caucus meeting. I have been to several before. Usually when I have attended there is only a handful of people there. As Tim and I drove up to the high school where the meeting was to be held I was impressed to see several cars at the intersection of the road waiting to get into the parking lot. All the high school parking lots were full. Tim and I parked down the street and by a public library. As we got inside the building it was thrilling to see the auditorium 80% filled to capacity. The meeting opened with a prayer asking for divine guidance! Yes! It looked to me like, in most people's hearts we still turn to God! Then we had a boy scout troupe post the flag of the United States of America and then hundreds of people said the "Pledge of Allegiance" together! That was a thrill! Then the Republican Party bi-laws for the state of Utah were read. I challenge all of you who read this to find on the internet a copy of this document. It is wonderful, strong, inspired and easy to understand. We then broke off and went to our individual voting precinct meetings to vote for those we wanted to represent us in the upcoming county and state conventions. It was good to see a meeting of the minds with a whole room of people. The funny event of the evening was when the fire alarms went off in the building and we all looked at each other wondering what we were really suppose to do. We eventually realized it could be a real emergency and exited the building.
Point of this blog post. It is important to be politically involved in any way you can. Be a voting judge, go to caucus meetings, vote, whatever you can do to make your voice heard. Let us make people in Washington, DC know that the majority will be silent no longer! The minority have been given too much voice for too long.
And, God Bless America!

WINNER

2010-03-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

We have a winner, winner, winner! Congratulations, Angie Merx. Yes, I am taking piano lessons and have been doing so since September. I can't play in front of anyone. My piano teacher tells me I have to play for someone (Oh, no!) and I really have a hard time with it. Yet, I know she is right. Tim will obviously be my first audience. Maybe my second audience will be you, my blogging buddies. FYI...piano lessons at an older age is more difficult. I have to practice twice as much as a younger person! But, the upside to it is that I also enjoy it twice as much!

clue #7

2010-03-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

I practice this new adventure for an hour each day and I go to a teacher one day a week. I may not be as SHARP as a tack nor am I FLAT chested.

clue # 6

2010-03-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

I guess you can tell I am nervous to share with anyone what I am doing. It is a much bigger deal to me that it is to anyone else. Big clue...think black and white.

clue #5

2010-03-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

I would love to go back to school and what I am doing will help my brain power to be able to some day do that. I would consider what I am doing on the artistic side.

Clue #4

2010-03-18T10:05:00.001-07:00

No to tennis classes or training for a marathon. Although they are both great ideas! I am thinking of running a half marathon in October. I am not making candies or making quilts for all my grandchildren...another couple of great ideas. But, I find great enjoyment in my new project. Clue: Sit up and take notes!

Hint #3

2010-03-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

Okay. For hint #3 I will tell you I have tried to do this thing about 4 times before in my life. You would think that with trying this other times I would be able to do it well. But, I am a slow person. Maybe this time it will work.

Game part 2

2010-03-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

When I was much younger I was so afraid I would be the woman in the neighborhood who got pregnant at 50 years old. Since that isn't my secret I will pass on hint number 2.

I do this in my home but it could be done many places...around the world!

guesses anyone?

2010-03-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

Okay. I am ready to share a secret. But, in order to share it we are going to play a game. I will give clues and the first person to guess what my secret is will get a prize. The first clue is:

I started this secret in September and only a few people know what it is.

Not much of a clue but I didn't want to give it away the first posting.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day. Even though it isn't until tomorrow I just want everyone to know I know I am one lucky girl. Tim seems to be getting better and better at watching out for my needs and wants. Tonight he took me out to dinner and then took me to the mall. He hates going to the mall to shop. First of all he needed more spikes for his golf shoes. We got those and then he said he would shop with me for as long as I wanted. I must admit I tormented him for a while. Then I made him go to Kohl's. We went to see if we could get him some shorts before the long ones were all gone. After we found him a couple of pairs of shorts we went to the female side of the store and looked at all the racks. He didn't complain once. We bought me several items of clothing. Thanks for shopping with me, Tim. I know it was a sacrifice for you.
That is just one of the things he has done for me recently that has shown care and concern.
Once again, Happy Valentine's day to all of you I love.

Superbowl party with Larsens

2010-02-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

It was Superbowl time last weekend! We always try to get all together for a party and use the excuse of a football game to get together and eat and talk and just hang out. Sara looks really cute all dolled up with blue paint. Go Colts!

Andrew is one of the resident face painters. He had a lot of fun painting faces. Such concentration. Marja wouldn't let us paint her face...after all she was a Saints fan.

Andy looked like he was hiding under a blanket to "nurse" Danika. He was just a little cool and used his baby's blanket. I thought he looked like he was feeding Danika, so I had to take the picture.

Alex (such a cute boy who really needs to one day marry into the family...like 10 years or so from now) found a new way to watch the party. Yup, that is a little kids chair propped on top of his dad with him sitting on it...with all his weight resting on the chair. Ouch!

This is just a little picture of the party gang. We had a lot of fun. Hilary and Bill couldn't come over because of Hayden's birthday and they wanted to do what Hayden wanted to do. Plus Kate and Hayden got tired. If they had gotten into a car they would have fallen asleep. We missed them at the party. Happy Birthday, Hayden.

Thanks for hosting a wonderful party, Tai.

Guess what happened today? Not only is this the day before Valentines Day, but it is the day Andrew officially proposed to Sara to marry him. When do I tell Sara she really doesn't just marry Andrew but she marries the whole family (in a way). I am so glad she told Andrew "yes". We have known Sara for 5-6 years. We appreciate and love her more and more all the time. She is in our hearts and now we can say she is in our family, too. Welcome to the family, Sara.

Andrew and Sara dated for a couple of years in High School. Andrew put out a few of their pictures on the counter. He had Sara come over to our home to feed her and propose to her. I didn't even hide behind a door to watch. Tim and I left for Andrew to be with Sara. It looks like the wedding will be May 7, 2010. We'll keep you posted.

Once again, I love the people our children chose to be their mates. I couldn't have done a better job. Bill, Mike, Andy, Nikole and Sara. Thanks for joining the family. You add a wonderful addition to the family. We love you and appreciate all you do.

He's Home!

2009-12-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

It is official! He has returned! His two best male buddies were at the airport to greet him. They were best friends all through most of grade school until they left on their separate missions. Thanks Aaron and Josh for making it to the airport to help greet Elder Andrew Jennings return! All of the family was able to go greet Andrew as he stepped off the plane. I think I screamed when I saw him. The whole family is finally together again.

Welcome home! The sign at the bottom says, "Merry Christmas, Lurp." He was so tall and skinny when he left. His nickname was Lurp.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all of you. It is a wonderful time of year. Last week Tim and I went to 3 Christmas dinners. Yummy! We went to dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial building to have a private dinner with about 32 people we work with in the Stake. Wednesday evening we went to a party at the church with our friends and neighbors. Yesterday we went to Tim's company party for a wonderful lunch. The restaurant we ate at had huge picture windows where we could look out and watch the snow fall all during the dinner. It was so beautiful. Once again, I want to tell all of you Merry Christmas.

Old Fashioned Game

2009-12-13T22:13:00.001-08:00

When I was a little girl some cousins who were older and wiser came to visit. We were the poor cousins who lived on a farm and didn't have any fancy toys! Okay, they weren't any richer than we were, but, they seemed like it to me. Anyway, they showed us a new game and I loved it and so I waited until now to show it, not to my children, but, to the grandchildren. Instructions on playing the game are as follows. Pack flour into a sloping measuring cup, or tea cup. Invert it onto a plate and place a penny on top. Each player has a knife and slowly cuts away at the flour. When the penny drops off the stack of flour the person who made the penny drop has to dig the penny out of the flour and away from the flour with their nose! Such a fun game! Take a long look before the noses go into the flour. See how cute and clean they all are!

Grandmothers come up with the craziest games. The girls loved it! And here we go! Kailie shows off her floured face!

Get the penny Kailie! You can do it! Next time someone else will have to get the penny!

Looks like Rylee had to get her nose into the flour to get the penny. Each time the penny dropped into the middle of the flour we all broke out in loud yelling. Danika (the 5 month old baby not pictured here) began crying. It wasn't so funny to her

Lana got involved also. Actually we played until they all got to try digging the penny out. Then when they were through we made them cookies to eat. Just kidding. We threw out the flour.

Ta-da! Proof of digging in the flour...with the noses! Thanks girls for the great entertainment. I loved it. Maybe we can play again later.

Jordan's birthday

2009-12-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jordan! It was a great excuse to get together. Tim, Andrew and I are the only ones missing in the picture. I was taking the picture...Tim is at a meeting...Andrew returns on the 22nd of the month. Isn't this a great looking family!? Look closely, the birthday boy is in the center holding a little boy.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

I have done it again! I forgot to rotate the picture before I put it on my posting. I just want to see if you can turn your head and still look intilligent! Yup! You did it! Danika seems to get lost in the pictures of all the grandkids, so, here she is. Isn't she cute, too?

The evening before Thanksgiving we got together for a pie night! Yummy! Life is short. Eat dessert first. After pie I had all the kids come with me into a bedroom to prepare a little skit. It was a little confusing to the kids at first. I told them what to do and then we went out and performed it. We put the song, "The Friendly Beasts" on the CD player and the children acted out the animals, Mary and displayed some pictures. It was short and sweet. The version of the song we used was with Bryan Stokes Mitchell and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is so beautiful.

Just another picture of the children at the end of the skit. Count these little ones...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. These are 9 of the reason I have much to be grateful for! Their parents and my other children are other reasons for much to be grateful for. Then I have my companion and eternal mate, Tim. Wow!

I really have so much to be grateful for. Each day it seems like I get reminded to be grateful. I have so much.

Today though, I want to remind everyone ANDREW COMES HOME IN 18 DAYS! I am down to pure excitement and tears. Every time I think of him coming home and having all of my children together for the first time in almost 4 years I get a little lump in my throat. Don't get me wrong, I love having sons serve missions for our Savior. But, because of Him, I have a family to love, cherish, be grateful for, and learn from. I just realized I lied. I said I got a little lump. Actually it is a huge lump that pushes up and into my tear ducts. Then my nose runs with my eye trouble.

Cruisin' with Ron and Kathie

2009-11-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

Tim and I just got home Sunday evening from a Carribean Cruise. We went with Ron and Kathie and had a great time. We got someone to take a picture in the airport for us! The rest of the pictures are way out of order.

We went to a turtle farm. I love Kathie's face. It mirrors the way I felt when I held the turtle.

Tim just held on and let the turtle flap away. The arms and feet of the turtle hurt and startle you a little.

Tim and Ron showing off their macho image after braving the scary hydro-tube ride. Way to go men!Tim and I before the first formal evening dinner! In case you haven't heard...you are over fed on these cruises.

The group of us on a tour.Same group.Yup! We went to h-e-double toothpicks on our trip. Tim and Ron are even sitting with the devil himself.There was a golf putting tournament on board of the ship. We decided to enter. I will say it has nothing to do with talent. I won the game on the first hole. Lucky shot. I got a medallion even! I won because I was the only one to get a hole in one on the first hole. This road sign just made me laugh every time we went by it. Proof of the golf win. Our towel creature held the medallion.
Tim and I just goofing off on the deck of the ship. I don't know if you can tell, but the decks are wet because we had a lot of rain on the cruise. One of our day trips was cancelled because of rain.
This is how much we wanted to go home. Just read the faces!

Sister's party

2009-10-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was our yearly Sister's Party. All my sisters, neices 18 years old and older, daughters, etc... are invited for an overnighter. Sometimes we do a service project, craft, eat (always), sleep (some), and share our laughter, joys and sorrows. This year we gave a surprise bridal shower for Shanon. I think we totally surprised her. As each gift was opened she told us something she loves about Ben. Then whoever gave her the gift would give some wise advice. Congratulations Shanon. Thanks to all the girls who came!

Arlene made Shanon a levi quilt. Curt helped open it. He was so cute watching the gift opening.

The girl in the pink shirt on the couch just married my nephew, Garth this last summer. It was fun getting to know Misty better.

Today Danika came trick-or-treating to my home a few days early. Isn't she cute?! Happy Halloween Danika!

One of my favorite you tube clips is of Detier Uchtdorf's "Create". This is an inspiring clip to me and has made me think I can do better in my life, so...

Yesterday I hibernated in my home and made a rag quilt. I had a fun time doing it and when I was done I noticed all the mistakes I made. It was a good project anyway and I learned a lot. I may even do another one. Next one will be better.

ANDREW

2009-10-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

It is official! Elder Andrew Steven Jennings is returning home from his fabulous mission in Knoxville, Tennessee on December 22, 2009. He will probably speak in church January 10, 2010. We are so excited to be able to see him. His brother, Jordan, hasn't seen him in almost 4 years. I am grateful for the dedicated service of both of these fine young men. It will be great having all 5 children together once again.

57 Days to go...and counting

Conference weekend

2009-10-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

General Conference is a weekend I enjoy for so many reasons. I love hearing from the PROPHET! To make this weekend more special we had five of our grandchildren stay overnight on Saturday evening to spend Sunday morning with us. Sunday morning was dark, rainy and wonderful. When the first 3 girls got up we began making some salads for lunch. They washed their hands first! Then when they were all awake they ran downstairs to find their surprise which was Jordan and Nikole were here. They arrived after they went to sleep.
Conference can be a little too relaxing! Kenzie and her grandfather enjoying a little shut eye. One of them is faking it. Can you tell which one?

This is everyone who was here on Sunday morning. I was there! The evidence is the foot sticking into the picture. Yup. That is my foot. If you look closely you see all the little girls are in skirts. Hilary and Tai made them for this weekend. Rylee and Kailie's skirts match and Kenzie and Lana's match. Brielle's match another cousins' who wasn't in the picture.

Nikole got to hold Danika for a short moment. Two sweet girls. The Aunt and the Baby!

My five little girls. I really do have the cutest little grandchildren. The other four not in the picture are just as loved and wonderful. This is just the easiest, so far to have overnight. They go to sleep easy for me and love each other. Wow. One thing I learned from this weekend. Tell your family often you love them. Tell them again and again. I want it to be known here and now I love them all. I will try to tell them more often in person, too.

Grandchildren and Salsa

2009-09-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a wonderful weekend! Saturday Tim and I went to Logan to visit Jordan and Nikole. Tim and Jordan went golfing and Nikole, her friend, and I went shopping until we were so hungry we thought we would die! We went a little early to Iggy's to get a table for dinner. We had chips, salsa and drinks while waiting for Tim and Jordan. They finally came and we ate a wonderful meal. We watched the beginning of the BYU and Oklahoma game. After dinner we went back to Nikole and Jordan's and watched the rest of the game while playing Five Crowns. After a fabulous football game we had chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate covered cinnamon bears. Yummy! I could have eaten them all! I love both of those items. Thanks Jordan and Nikole! Saturday night I was so tired and yet I couldn't sleep because I thought about what the plans were for Sunday evening...a sleepover with grandchildren, lots of them! Just look at how cute they are! This is just the beginning of the evening! We had cake and ice-cream and then...

made a sign for Andrew letting him know how much we miss him....

took turns holding baby Danika...

and more holding Danika (she got passed around a bunch)...painted fingernails and toenails, decorated cupcakes, played "Don't Eat Pete!", set up the tent, got ready for bed and slept.

The next morning it was breakfast of pancakes, cinnamon rolls, and bacon. After breakfast the little ones did sidewalk chalk. This is Kailie's creation and ...

... this is Rylee's creation. While Kailie and Rylee were playing with chalk, Brielle, McKenzie and Lana made a brew in the wheelbarrow.

Just look how yummy! I think it was to keep the bad people away from the fairies. After that it was showers, more games and lunch. Mom's and dad's came to find their children. Thanks for making two grandparents happy. We love you!

If that wasn't enough, Tim, Brooke, Andy and I made salsa. We went to a pick it yourself farm and got tomatoes, onions and a variety of peppers to make the salsa. I just got it all done. Tim went to bed about an hour ago, Brooke, Andy and Danika went home a couple of hours ago. The house is quiet and I am left with a sense of contentment of seeing family and doing a big project and having it done. Great Labor Day weekend! I hope yours was great, also.

Garden greats

2009-09-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

So, can anyone tell me what is so great about this plate of food? Yes, it is quite a nutritious meal. Yes, it is colorful. It was all grown in our garden! I would like to take a lot of credit for it, but, unfortunately Tim planted the garden. I went out and dug the potatoes and carrots, though! Doesn't that count? The potatoes were scrubbed with a vegetable brush, cut in french fry slices, thrown in a ziplock baggie with a dab of olive oil and Italian dressing. I shook the potatoes to coat them and spread them on a baking sheet. I baked them at 420 degrees for about 20 minutes. Yummy! They taste great coated with Ranch Dressing powder, also. I had a little bit of Friendship Bread to go with the meal, too. Love Friendship Bread! Anyone need a start?

Sunday we went to Idaho for a missionary homecoming. The young man on the left was Andrew's trainer and gave his report home. The missionary on the right was Andrew's companion 7 weeks ago. Andrew thought both of these young men were outstanding to work with. After meeting them I can see why Andrew thought so highly of them. I think Andrew will be released from his mission around December 31, 2009. We'll have fun planning his return and look so forward to that date!

Education Week

2009-08-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

I think when I was a little girl I must have been a very somber child. I have found I don't laugh very easily. I can see and hear funny things and the laughter button forgets to slide through the button hole or something. I smile usually. I am jealous of people who laugh easily, often, and find humor in life. Now, after saying that, I had the funniest and most spiritual week that I have had in a long time.
Three very good friends and I went to education week for 5 wonderful days of instruction on how to make your life better, study scriptures, learn how to make your marriage happier, and hear a whole slew of great stories. I have been telling Tim story after story, quote after quote! I think he wants to tape my mouth shut. Thankfully he lets me ramble on and on and then listens to me tell others the same things I told him earlier. This was my 7th time going to education week and it was by far my favorite. Would you believe we got kicked out of a building for being too loud? These four innocent looking girls? Actually we couldn't get into a class because it was full and we were in the hall talking to other friends we met outside the class who couldn't get in either. And....as things go...we began talking and giggling. A girl came to us and said she couldn't open the door to the class until it was quiet in the hall. "Well, okay then! We'll take our party outside!" It was just fine. We laughed about being kicked out. It makes for a great story. How many people get kicked out of a BYU Education Week class? We can exagerate and say we did.

Linda, Karey and I sitting and waiting for a class to begin. Smile girls!

I think Pam was in another class without us in the first picture. Now you have Pam, Karey and Linda. During classes we learned from the instructors and copied each other notes. You write as fast as you can. A lot of times you can only get part of a quote or a scripture reference and have to lean over and hope they got what you didn't. During the evenings we ate dinner, walked, swam, read, prayed, went over what we learned, figured out the next day, and laughed and laughed and laughed. Thursday evening was the funniest of all. Really, if you didn't know us you would have thought we were drunk we were laughing so hard. While washing off make-up, waiting for the bathroom, packing back up to go home the next day, Pam and I began playing with balloons and making certain anatomy parts a little larger. It was hysterical. I'm sure you had to be there to appreciate it. Thanks friends for being there with me helping me learn, thank you to the many instructors who taught me and have no idea I was even there, thanks Tim for letting me go (I hope you will enjoy being the beneficiary of some of the knowledge) and thanks for the gift of laughter for the week! We truly laughed many times. It felt good!

Bolt, Babes and Boys

2009-08-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 was a day I thought about doing for a long time. I put blankets on all the windows in the family room in the basement a few weeks ago and pondered on movies, treats and food. What to do? I finally asked my daughters to bring their children over last Tuesday for a movie at grandma's house. Brooke even brought Danika so I had all 9 grandchildren in my home at once. I asked Brooke to stay, though. So, we began the movie, Bolt, at 11:00. By 11:30 the kids were restless and STARVING. So we fed them sandwiches, fruit, chips, cookies, juice, etc. I then asked them to pose when they were almost finished. We have Kenzie, Lana, Kailie and Rylee in the first picture.

Kate, Isaak, Brielle and Hayden sat at the "kid's table" because they love being together. They didn't eat much though.

...and Danika ate at her table without any of her cousins beside her, at the moment.

I even got them to pose for one wonderful group picture. Yup! Here is all my grandchildren. Obviously happy to be here! Rylee is holding the baby and not a play doll. Then we started the movie again to finish it up and see how it ends.

Hayden and Brielle had had enough of the movie. They went off to play in another room. They love being together. Sometimes I wonder if they had an extra special relationship in the pre-mortal life. They always want to be together.

Kate (looking older and more mature all the time), Kailie with Danika, and Lana finishing the movie.

Rylee and McKenzie during the last moments. Then upstairs to play with the stickers, paper and crayons for letters to their Uncle Andrew. It was a magical day. The kids were cute, movie was great, food was good, and we had fun just being together. Thanks to the kids and moms for a wonderful afternoon. Let's do it again next summer. I have more ideas for bigger and better!

Thanks Brooke for bringing some of the entertainment (Danika) and staying!

Surprise with no beeps and whistles

2009-07-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

For many years I have wished for and, wanted something for a long, long time. It is something old fashioned and I thought was no longer a hot item on the market. I know you are dying to find out what it is. So just look at the pictures and discover for yourself. Yes, I have wanted a bike. One with no fancy beeps or whistles. If you look closely it has no gears but leg power and coasting power. I have taken it for two spins already today and am going to go for another ride when this posting is finished. This is MY kind of "road bike."There are at least two really cool things about this bike. Number 1 is the color. Look at the cool color! Number 2 is that Tim remembered that I wanted a "no gear shift" bike and, he surprised me with one. Way to go Tim!

It looks like I will have a lot of fun going around and around the block this summer. Anyone want to join me? I am not big into fighting the traffic so I will need to find some safe routes.

There may be a big smile on my face now. Tomorrow may be another day when the unused muscles scream at me for the workout. It will be well worth it. Thanks for the fun toy, Tim.

Take your hats off when the flag goes by...

2009-07-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

Tim and I began our day jogging and running. Literally we went jogging and then drove to the 1st parade to be with Hilary and Bill and their children. Hayden began the parade in the chair (notice his spiffy hat that I think he helped create) and got the bravery quickly to join the pack of people in front to look closely to the parade and grab the candy.

Rylee and Lana look so beautiful in their 4th of July outfits, beads, hats, fingernails, spirit and all.

...and a closer look at those fabulous fingernails. Red, white and blue. I think Rylee's pose makes her look a little teenager-ish, don't you?

Kate let her grandpa hold her quite a bit during the parade. Rylee and Lana made sure she got her share of the candy.

Kate kissed her dad quite a lot. The cutest one I missed. She had her hands on his face as if to pull him in closer. I am always a little late. But this is cute anyway.

Hayden and his loot climbing into his car for family pictures. He is so cute.

Rylee, Lana, Hayden, Kate, Hilary and Bill. What a wonderful family. They have spirit, yes they do, how about you?

I love this picture of the kids and Tim and I. It looks like all those legs are quite white. It really goes with the patriotic color theme, red, WHITE, and blue.

After the first parade we drove quickly (without speeding) to the next city parade. We found Tai and her family just as the parade was beginning. As you can see they have their bags ready for all the fun catching the candy.

Kenzie and Brielle. They were the first to greet us when we got there.

At one point Isaak was on Mike's back in a pack. Some candy was thrown and it hit and landed on Isaak's hand, scaring him. He began crying so we took him off his dad's back and cuddled him. Just don't take his binky!

Kenzie, Brielle and Kailie with their 4th of July shirts. Cute little girls.

I am grateful for those who keep our lives as safe as they can. Thanks!

Kailie and her little friend.

We all need a reminder every once in a while of the sacrifices made by those who have gone before to pave a path. We have so much to be grateful for the pioneers who came to Utah, the men and women who made this country what it is and for those who fight today to keep it that way.

Another reminder of those who keep us safe.

One of the many floats in the parade.

Isaak and his binky.

Tai, Mike and Ike. Cute beads, Ike!

Me and Ike.

I have a heritage with some Scottish blood. I just had to add this to my posting to remind me of where I came from.

Old fashioned fire truck.

At the barbeque on the evening of the fourth. Danika, Brooke and Andy came. Brooke looks a little bit like they feel better.

Georgia and Allen. When my kids were little they called Allen, "Annie", because they couldn't say Allen.

We fought over holding the baby. No blood though. She slept most of the day.

We put up the swimming pool I got for my birthday from Hilary and Bill. It wasn't really hot but, it was warm enough. During the parade there was a wonderful cloud cover keeping the direct sun off. It made the parades perfect...weather wise, and company wise.

Patriotic flag in the form of cheesecake. Thanks, Tai, for making it. Yum

Girls camp

2009-07-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

Who said youth girls camp is only for the young women? I think the leaders in the stake had more fun than they did. This is the six stake leaders who went to bond with the girls and other leaders and to grow closer their Heavenly Father. We laughed, played games, changed sleeping quarters three times, encouraged and grew closer in the 4 fun filled days at camp. I have said it many times, I love working in the young women program...anywhere. Young women are full of fun, strength, energy, hopefulness, spirit and strength. The women in the picture are as follows: Bottom row, me, Lindee (Stake YW President), Janis (1st Coun. in Stake YW), Julie (Stake YW camp director), Fran (stake social director to make us laugh and create), Marilyn (Stake assistant camp director.)

Julie and I rode her topless Jeep to camp and got wind blown. She had to fix her hair as soon as we got there. She said she would do damage if I took her picture. I took it anyway.

Before camp we went to a costume shop (that felt like a lice shop) to look for costumes for our camp skit. We laughed our heads off looking at different items. I haven't seen or felt lice yet, and yet, I just reached up to scratch my head. FYI the skit was fun an had a powerful message for the girls. I think they really loved it. They said they did. We had fun doing it anyway. I was the devil. Does that match my personality or what?

During camp we had one ward leave a day early because 10 out of 16 people were sick. One had to be taken to the hospital by meeting an ambulance at a convenience store at the bottom of the mountain. That was a little scary. Then one by one more girls in that ward got sick. Then the rain began to fall on Thursday. By evening two other wards were rained out and went home. The other 4 wards stuck it. Three found alternate sheltering. Most had damp sleeping bags and tents. Way to go, girls!

Welcome new baby

2009-07-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

These pictures are out of order but, they tell of a wonderful and crazy event anyway. This is Brooke and Andy the day after Danika was born. What a beautiful little family! Welcome to the world sweet, little baby!

Tim and I met at the hospital to see and hold the newest little one to the family. What a little cutie! Tim looks pretty cute, too. He loves being a grandpa.

Rylee and Lana came with me to see and hold Danika. They love her a ton. They had a hard time waiting all day long the day before to see the new baby. She was born after they went to bed the night before.

New dad, Andy holds up the little one for us a few hours after her birth. We are so grateful for a safe delivery...for both Brooke and Danika. Each birth is a miricle.

Andy called to let us know the baby was finally here! Yeah! We had to wait in the waiting area for an hour or so to see the baby and Brooke. While waiting, Jordan and Nikole met us there to wait with us. We got a little crazy with the camera. I look scary. Hope I don't scare any of th grandkids.

Tim played along with us making scary pictures. He doesn't look quite as scary as I do. Tell me, why do men age so much better than women? Their wrinkles don't appear nearly as quickly and they look more distinguished as they age. Go figure!

Jordan and Nikole just got home from their honeymoon to meet us as th hospital. They had a great time and gave us something to do while waiting.

And, finally sweet Nikole. She loves little ones a ton. Thanks for waiting with us at the hospital.

In Memory of Karen

2009-06-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

How do I begin this post? It is a little difficult to do, but, one that needs to be done.
Tim and I met this couple for the first time on June 6, 2009. I told you about them a few postings ago. These two know my son, Elder Andrew Jennings, who is serving in the Knoxville, Tennessee Mission. A few months ago Andrew wrote and told us Keith and Karen were coming here to visit family and would come to see us. They did come and spend a few enjoyable hours. Karen was open and told us she was fighting cancer and had even received chemo twice here while visiting. They told us that they began dating while she was bald, throwing up and fighting against her cancer. For 7 years she has been fighting it. This evening I looked at my caller ID and noticed a phone call from Knoxville, Tennessee. A Sister Clark called and said, "Elder Jennings is just fine but he asked me to call you and ask you a special favor." I called them back and Sister Clark told me that Karen died this morning and Elder Jennings wanted us to send the family some flowers. I was not expecting to hear this. Keith and Karen were still visiting her in this state and taking classes at a local university. Karen looked weak two weeks ago, but, not that weak. In honor of Karen I will write a little of what I learned about her in the small time I got to know her.
My memories of Karen:
A young woman with a lot of love for her husband. (And, he loves her, too!)
She was never a quitter
She didn't expect anyone to wait on her...very independant.
She would share her experiences, good and bad and make you feel comfortable asking about her
health.
She smiled often.
Never complains.
Optimistic.
Intelligent and wanting to learn more.
Beautiful inside and out.
Kind
Loves her family.
She loves her Savior, Jesus Christ and served him happily.
She has a love for music and could play several instruments.
Karen is a wonderful person and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet her. I know she will be missed. I wish her family peace and comfort in the lonely days ahead.

Birthday bash with friends...shopping!

2009-06-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Four choice friends decided to take me shopping and out to lunch for my birthday. We headed out to Park City to the outlet mall. We did a lot of shopping, very little buying and a lot of talking. Thanks, friends. You mean a whole lot to me. Each friend brings something new into my life. These four women are caring, full of wisdom, smart, funny, and teach me many things. Again, thanks, Pam, Kathy, Gloria and Karey!

One of Andrew's high school buddies, co-study partner, and pal around friend just got home today from his mission. Welcome home, Josh. It is great having you home.

Wedding for Jordan and Nikole

2009-06-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

The evening before Jordan and Nikole were married Tim and I tried to help set up. Nikoles family had things well under control. But, it gave me a good chance to take this picture of them the night before the wedding and meet some more of her great relatives.

The next morning we arrived to the temple and watched Jordan and Nikole be sealed for time and all eternity! It was a beautiful ceremony. Nikole is beautiful and Jordan is handsome. I just don't have any more pictures on my camera of them. Look at Hilary or Tai's blog for that. I am so pathetic when it comes to what to take pictures of.

This is a picture of just a few of the incredible people from our family who came to be there for Jordan and Nikole. Far left in the sunglasses is Nancy, Sheila, Kathie, Sherryl, Becky, Marilyn and Arlene. These are all women who have been a great influence in my life. I would not like to live without them. Any one who knows any of them would agree.

Sweet McKenzie giving her grandpa a huge hug. Can a grandparent get too many of these? No!

Cute little cousins playing together out in the sunshine! Kailie, Rylee and Lana. They were just walking around in circles...so cute.

All 8 of Tim and I's grandchildren with their great-grandmother...Tim's mom. They were looking directly into the sun and it was a little difficult. They are darned cute! I submit I have the cutest grandchildren, anywhere.

Brielle spinning and dancing. Do you love the pictures of the Bride and Groom? It took so long for them to get outside, and, somehow I quit taking pictures and expected the photographer to take over. The rest of the day was wonderful. I was told, and I believe it to be true, Friday was the only day it hasn't rained in our area since June 1st. Saturday and today it rained, also. It is a day to remember for many reasons. I am grateful for my children...all of them. They all married people I love and admire. They are giving me these great grandchildren and fabulous husband.

Have a great day!

Zion National Park

2009-06-14T13:30:00.001-07:00

Another quick post without pictures. I was so proud of myself that I remembered to grab my camera to take with us to Zion national Park. I knew we would get great photos and ones people would want to see and comment on. Tim and I left by 10:00 in the morning to get down there early. We ended up stopping often and taking our sweet time getting there. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants in Provo...and stopped about 5 more times. It was fun. Usually we get in the car and get to our destination as quick as possible. When we got to the park we were amazed at the road, mountains, rocks, and everything about the area. Wow! I am going to get great pictures! I got my camera out to take my first picture, I turned on the camera, and then I saw the notice...no card. Can you believe it? But really. Go to Zion National Park. Plan on staying a few days to hike and look. Wow!
It was a great reunion. I love seeing my family, all of them. They are incredible people. The all have their strengths and I look up to them for a variety of reasons.

Concert

2009-06-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pictures with this one. But there is a funny story, does that count? 15 years ago Tim and I ordered CD's from a company. We were getting them free. Somehow we got a CD by an artist we had never heard of. Tim and I looked at it and didn't know what to do with it. It was free so we really didn't want to spend time and money to send it back. A friend came over and I was showing her the CD and I asked her if she had ever heard of him. She said she really liked him and I gave it to her. After all, he is a country western singer. She took it and then Hilary began listening to country. Then we knew who Collin Raye was. I like his music. Later on we bought the CD we gave away. Yesterday I was preparing to go to a family reunion today. I got a phone call from Tim and he asked me if I would like to go to a concert later in the evening. I said that I had too much to do. He then said I should hear who was the singer. Yup, it was Collin Raye, the only singer I would like to go to a concert of. We went and had a fun time.

Tennessee connection

2009-06-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

Andrew wrote in a letter several months ago about some really super people he met in Tennessee, where he is serving his mission. He told us they were coming to Utah for a vacation because they are both from this area. Saturday evening they came for dinner. We think they are great people. He is going to University of Tennessee for his doctorate in math and she teaches grade school music. They are incredible people. She is fighting a form of cancer and treatments aren't going as expected. They dated while she was bald and going through chemo treatments. They loved each other enough to not let anything get in their way of marriage. We are grateful they stopped by and say hello.

Catching up time!

2009-05-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago Brooke did my hair. As she was coloring it we discussed what to do with the length. I showed her some pictures of hair styles and she looked at them. She then shut the magazine cover up and when the coloring process was done she cut away. It has taken a few weeks to get use to short hair.

I was in a hurry to get this picture, that is why it is so blurry. This is the first time my two grandsons played together. It only lasted a few moments. Maybe they will start being pals. Hayden could lead Isaak into some great adventures.

Jordan and Nikole went through several photo albums and loose pictures to find what they wanted to put in their wedding video. I can't wait to see the finished product. Mike and Jordan are doing the video together.

Jordan and Nikole...aren't they cute together? The wedding will be fabulous.

Sunday night we played a fun game with Jordan, Nikole, Tai, and Mike. It is called "Five Crowns." We highly recommend it. Or you can come play it with us! The little girls got a little tired. Brielle climbed up on a dining chair and fell asleep by me. I thought it was so cute.

I climbed under the table to get this last picture. After we took the pictures we moved her to a rocking chair. She slept there all night. It was pretty darn cute!

Wicked with Brooke and Sara

2009-04-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

9 months ago Sara enlightened us on the coming of a new play called, "Wicked". I had heard about the play from her a few years before. I thought it sounded boring. After all, how could it compete with "The Wizard of Oz"? Because I didn't want to appear like I was a stuck in the mud kind of girl I acted all excited to go when Sara offered to get our tickets. She had some wonderful connection through her mom. Brooke and I asked her to get us some since our husbands didn't want to go. So this is our wicked girls night out date. We began by going shopping and walking around. I think we wore out our pregnant shopper.

You tell me...does she look worn out? At this store you can try their foot massager but since she is pregnant they said she couldn't use it. Sara and I browsed the store while Brooke took a 5 minute break.

Then off to dinner! We decided on Olive Garden since it was across the street from the theatre. We had to wait for a few minutes. While waiting for our table our fourth member of our party arrived. Brooke and I shared a meal and Sara and Natalie shared a meal so we could feel guilt free to order desserts! Yummy! For some reason we got one of our desserts free. It's because the head waiter asked Sara if he could have a bite. Without blinking an eye Sara offered him her fork! I guess it was only a test and she passed with flying colors. After dessert we rolled our bodies to Wicked!

Natalie, Brooke and Sara were having fun in this cool chair, so, it became a picture moment.

After the show we got a stranger to take a group shot for us. I loved the show. I think in many ways I liked it better than "Phantom" or "Les Miserables", and you know how good they both are! Sara wouldn't tell us the entire story line and I am glad. I think maybe I liked it so much because I expected nothing and was pleasantly surprised. I sang the songs in my head all night and woke up with them still swirling around. I played them in my car all day today, too. Thanks again, Sara! I would recommend it to anyone.

In my Easter Bonnet

2009-04-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Easter. A day to celebrate for many reasons. Obviously the most important reason is for the life, death, resurrection and atonement of Jesus Christ. But, on a more personal note, a day to spend with family. If you don't know, Jordan is marrying Nikole Clements on June 19. She is sitting here with her future sister-in-laws and cousin, Angela. It was so cute seeing the girls together!

Here we have all the males in the family (except Andrew who is in Tennessee still). Isaak was almost asleep in his dad's arms so we had all the guys gather around him. We had to just about tackle Hayden to get in some pictures. Pictures are so dumb when he has cousins to play with!

Kailie and Rylee! So cute together! They love being together...

...and being goofy!

Then Kenzie decided to join in on the fun play time in front of the camera!

All of the granddaughters in one spot...for a short moment. Kate didn't want to get her picture taken too much. She wanted to wander!

Angela came up for a few hours. Angela is my niece and is almost like a sister to Hilary, Tai, and Brooke. She is a beautiful, kind, loving, smart, sweet, etc. girl. The little girls wanted her to hold her all the time. Kenzie was watching for her to arrive! She was so glad to have her come. Thanks for coming Angela. Come again, soon!

I made the couples pose for pictures. Hilary and Bill. They have a wonderful sense of humor. They know how to laugh, play games and see humor in the craziest situations.

Jordan and Nikole...the engaged couple. Nikole is a cutie! Hope she likes being in the family as much as we enjoy having her. When they are around I feel at peace. That sounds boring, and they are full of life and fun, but, there is still a wonderful sense of peacefulness. Welcome to the family Nikole. Good job Jordan!

Tai and Mike...cute couple. They actually don't seem to mind hanging around with us. We love talking to them and playing games with them. We are game playing folk...anyone want to play Phase 10?

Brooke and Andy...Fabulous couple. They are expecting their first baby in June. They look cute as an expectant couple. They stayed later than anyone else last evening and played a game with Tim and I.

It was a wonderful day. I have been given so much. I have been extremely blessed with a grand family, handsome husband, warm home, food, the gospel, health, brothers and sisters (in-laws, also) and more than you would want to read about.

Hope you have a great day and week. Until I write again...God be with you.

March 25 fun

2009-03-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up to it snowing! We shouldn't be surprised, but, I thought it would make a great blog posting. Brooke spent the night with us because her husband was out of town. So, this is how we spent our cold early spring day

We HAD to have hot chocolate for breakfast to warm our little souls. So hot chocolate and friendship bread it was. It was way yummy I may add.

After warming our tummies we attacked my hair. Brooke colored it. Before she colored it I put on one of Tim's shirts. I didn't want coloring to stain any of my clothes! I will also add, I do appreciate make-up. Obviously I don't have any on. Well, after the coloring of the hair I was off to the shower. After washing my hair in the shower Brooke trimmed my hair.

But, while we were working on my hair we watched this movie. We laughed at all the great spots. I highly recommend this movie!

Also, before the shower, while waiting for my hair to process, we made cookies!

What a shocker.

All ready to go to our next adventure...shopping! We went to the distribution center for some needed underclothing for the pregnant one...

And then off to the mall where we found this darling dress for Brooke. So cute!

After that, we went home, to her doctors appointment, and home again, for dinner. Brooke left to go the airport to pick up her husband. Thanks for the fun day, Brooke.

Basketball and new movie

2009-03-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Tim and I went to Las Vegas to watch basketball, basketball and more basketball. BYU did okay and the University of Utah men's and women team both won the tournament. That was exciting. A friend and I did a little shopping. The highlight of the shopping was talking to a girl who was raised in yugoslavia and we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. That was really cool.

This is where we ate dinner for two evenings in a row. We walked from the Mack arena to eat here. It was a good walk to get there, to get the kinks out of our legs and move.

Last night I had most of my granddaughters in my home for a moment. They all sat on the couch to watch a new movie. It was Barbie's "Thumbelina." It was a really cute movie. I had to take a picture of all the little girls lined up on the couch. Just take a look!

I'm Back!!!

2009-03-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's Day (I know it was almost a month ago) Tai and I made fruit flower arrangements. I would never have done it without her, but, here is the one I made for Tim. It turned out okay. I would maybe even do it again. To the side you can see candy, that is what Tim gave me for Valentine's Day. I am happy to report I haven't even eaten them all...yet. They are soooo good. Come over and I may even share! Remind me I hid them in the food storage section of my house so I would maybe forget easier that I had them.

Saturday Tim and I played with Rylee, Lana, Kate, and Hayden. We had so much fun! Hilary brought over sack lunches for them to eat. We made it into a family room floor picnic. Then we colored, played hide-and-seek, read, played basketball, and did a little hula-hoop. We had a blast!

When they went home Tim and I turned to each other and voiced the opinion it was a great visit...very successful.

A moving and super bowl blog post

2009-02-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

It is official! Tai, Mike, and their wonderful children bought their own home and moved out. The girls got into the action and helped carry items out to vehicles to move to their new home. So, you see two pictures of moving day.

Do you have any idea how many times we carried boxes up the stairs and out to the trucks? I don't either, but it was a great work out.

Yesterday was the Super Bowl, which, in and of itself isn't a big deal to me, excepting, our great friends come and watch it with us every year. It makes it so much fun! We laugh at some of the commercials and scratch our heads at others. This year's game was a close one. You didn't know until the final play who would win. A couple of weeks ago Tim learned there would be a three-D commercial during the game. He brought home these lovely 3-D glasses. I couldn't wait to try them.

Brooke and Andy look smashing, don't you think?

My friend, Marja is such a good sport. We are so blessed to have this family as friends. They add so much life to a party. We had time to catch up on family events, ate a little, and had fun just having them in our home. They all have infectious laughs. We love you and so appreciate all you do for our family!

Final group shot of the super bowl bandits!

2009-02-02T10:41:00.001-08:00

Happy birthday,Tim!

2009-01-19T18:03:00.000-08:00

Oh, what fun it is to bowl in a family room, not an alley! Tim gave the family a Wii for Christmas. We have had so much fun with it so far. We box, bowl, curl, play tennis, baseball, shuffleboard and Wii fit. We love getting up and doing something active in the evenings instead of being a couch potato. The Wii fit was given to Tim for his birthday a couple of days ago. Happy Birthday, Tim.

On Tim's birthday everyone who could came over for cake and ice-cream. The two babies were on Tai's lap looking at each other's binkeys and snuggling up to each other. They are so cute!

For those who don't have Brooke's Blog, she is expecting a baby girl in June.

I hope everyone's holidays were wonderful!

2009-01-07T18:47:00.001-08:00

No pictures, sorry! But today was a fun day. Brooke came over here and cut and colored both Tai 's hair and mine. She did a super job. Tonight Andy and Brooke went to the doctor to see is she is having a girl or boy. You need to call her and ask. I won't give it away.
I tried to take several pictures of Tai with the hair color on her head. My camera appeared to be broken. Tonight, though, I thought of re-taping it together (because it did get dropped in November) and it works just fine! Maybe tomorrow we will take pictures of the new hair do's.
Have a good day!

2008-12-27T23:08:00.001-08:00

A couple of days before Christmas we needed something for Isaak to do to keep him busy and happy. We took off his shirt, put him in the high chair and gave him his first whole chocolate chip cookie. He loved it and it looked like he ate the whole thing! Then a few days later I dug in the high chair to clean it really good and I found half of the cookie.

Christmas Eve Tai and Hilary got their families together and Tim, Jordan and I crashed it. The Christmas Eve party consisted of dinner, pin the nose on Rudolph, frost sugar cookies, treasure hunt, Christmas Pie (this is not the kind of pie you eat but a family Christmas tradition), pinata and kids laughing, screaming and having a great time. This is Jordan holding Hayden and Brielle.

Everyone opened up a Christmas Eve present. Can you guess? It's pajamas! This is Lana and Hayden in theirs just before leaving. Hilary refused to put hers on. Go figure!

Kailie loves to color! Christmas Eve was no exception. She colored one in her new coloring book before going to bed.

And last but not least...It is almost time to undecorate the house. I don't feel like it has been up long enough and I haven't heard Christmas music enough. I may have to listen to the music a little longer. In the evenings I loved turning off all the overhead lights and turn on the tree lights, mantle lights, kitchen counter lights and front room lights. It was a lot of soft lights illuminating the home. So pretty! Again, thanks to a wonderful friend for her help.

2008-12-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to any who choose to read my blog today. Today is the day I am cleaning and preparing for another marvelous Christmas Day! It is a gift and an honor to know who Jesus Christ is. He is our Savior and Redeemer. He is there for me and you. Now I am sounding preachy and that isn't my intent. So here is a story I love and I want to share it with you. I hope you love stories as much as I do!

The Interview
A man passed away, was resurrected, and was waiting in a room to be interviewed. Another man was ahead of him. The door opened, the first man entered, and the door closed. The man on the outside could hear the conversation on the other side of the door. The interviewer began: "I would like you to tell me what you think of Jesus Christ."
"Well, He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. He lived 33 years or so, spending the last three in His ministry organizing His church, choosing His apostles to direct it, giving the Gospel to direct our lives."
The interviewer stopped him and said, "Yes, that's all true, but I want you to tell me what you think of Christ."
"Well, He was tortured and crucified that we might have eternal life. Three days later He was resurrected that we might return to our Heavenly Father."
"Yes, that is true, but tell me what you think of Jesus Christ."
The man paused, a little perplexed now, and then continued: "Well, he retoreed the gospel in its fullness to the earth through Joseph Smith. He reorganized His church, gave us temples wherein we might do work to redeem our dead. He gave us family prayer and family home evening where we might unite with our families. He gave us the priesthood to heal the sick and personal ordinances for our salvation and exaltation."
The interviewer again stopped him and said, "Thank you. All of what you have said to me is true." The man was then invited to leave the room. After he left, the door opened and the second man entered. As he approached the interviewer, his eyes opened wide. He fell upon his knees and cried, "My Lord, My God."
-Author Unknown

May we all know Him. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. I love the decorations. I love the gift giving. I love singing in the Ward Choir. Going back to the decorations, I am not a top decorator. So this year I asked a special friend to come to my home and help me put some of my decorations together. She just took what I have and place it together in more organized manner. I feel like my home has a more peaceful atmosphere. Thanks, Donna!
So this is what she did to the piano! You can't tell but there are lights woven into the decorations. At night it looks so soft, warm and beautiful.

Donna took some pictures and plaques and arranged them on my wall. I love it!

Brooke graduated from Beauty School Saturday, December 20, 2008. I am so proud of her accomplishments. She has been doing my hair for a little over a year. She has worked extra hard to get done. She put in many long days. First working at the credit union and then going to school in the evenings. Whew!

Brooke's dad wanted to give her flowers at graduation. I was proud of him for thinking of doing it. Way to go Tim! And again, way to go Brooke! After the short ceremony all of my family (except Andrew because he is still on his mission) and all of Andy's family came over to our home for a little lunch. It was a great day and a great reason to celebrate.

Once again, way to go Brooke!

2008-12-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a while since I have blogged. It hasn't been because I haven't done anything, it is just because I don't take pictures when I should. Plus, I have been busy doing Christmas things. Yesterday Kailie and Jordan snuggled into the couch. I couldn't resist taking pictures of them. Kailie wasn't asleep in this picture but she really did go to sleep a couple of minutes after this was taken. It is good to have Jordan home for the Christmas!

Saturday was the annual family Christmas party for my brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, children, etc. Our travelling to Alaska family came and stayed overnight. Ron and Kathie allowed us to take pictures of them with Brielle, Kenzie and Kailie. This morning Kailie asked me where that girl who stayed overnight was. Was she home? She was looking for Kathie. One of these first days I will have to learn how to scan pictures into the computer to blog about. I would love putting in family pictures of Tim's family and my family. They are pretty important people to me.

Sunday morning Kathie, Ron, Tim and I went to Salt Lake City to attend "Music and the Spoken Word" on temple square. I had no idea the special treat that was in store for us. Not only did we get to see the program but they did almost the entire concert that had been prepared and performed the week previous. The guest performers this year were Brian Stokes Mitchell and Edward K. Herrmann. They were fabulous! I believe I will buy the CD next year when it becomes available. Pres. Monson and Pres. Uchtdorf were in attendance along with their wives. After the performance there were plaques given to them for them to remember being there performing on temple square. It makes me wonder if they have any idea how important Pres. Monson is. He is a prophet of God! He is the most important person on the face of this earth at this time! When Pres. Monson walked in I felt a thrill run through me. It was an honor to stand on my feet to welcome him into the room. Anyway, it was a wonderful program. Kathie and Ron's daughters are the ones who arranged for the tickets to be able to attend. Thank-you Tammy and Cindy!

2008-12-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged by Ashley! I won't tag anyone else because everyone I could tag has probably already been tagged.

Actually, I just found a picture I thought was cute and have been waiting for a chance to use. So, here was my chance. I think this was taken last fall. Several of us went to Red Robin to eat lunch on a Saturday and Andrew and I posed for our picture to be taken. Not long after this picture was taken Andrew entered into the Mission Training Center to begin serving his mission. Ah, still a little over a year to go! We miss you Andrew and are proud of the wonderful service you are doing.

Thanksgiving Day laugh

2008-11-28T22:39:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday was a big holiday. A day to give thanks and ponder on the wonderful things of life. Right? Well I started off the day going for my normal jog with my husband and friend and her husband. The men went on ahead of us in the car to the trail head and to begin their walk. My friend and I followed by jogging to the trail to catch up with them. A couple of miles into the jog a chunk of cement jumped up and tripped me. Yup! Down I went. I am a little scratched up and bruised but I finished my jog anyway. After all I had razzleberry pie to look forward to later on that afternoon. After the jog I went home and showered, dressed (no one would want to see me naked), and began cooking. I threw a razzleberry pie into the oven. After a while I went down to the church to welcome guests for dinner and fun. A few hours after I was at the church I remembered I had a pie in the oven! Oops. My razzleberry pie was burned. I was so disappointed. I may have to cook another one another day this weekend. I still got stuffed on Thanksgiving Day. It was a great dinner and I thank all the family who helped cook and clean up. I thought the kitchen looked better than when we arrived as we were exiting the building.
Last night we poured over the ads to see if anything was worth getting up early to go buy. I decided to sleep in a little bit. A little bit was 7:30. I washed my face, threw on sweats, combed my hair, brushed my teeth and took off. I got most of my Christmas shopping done! Now for the wrapping and decorating of the house. It has been a busy weekend. My only regret is that I feel like I didn't spend enough time thinking and noticing things I am grateful for and should be grateful for. Luckily, I can do this every day of my life! So, today I am grateful for repentance and each day is a new one to start fresh with a new unwritten page.

Grateful for the family unit

2008-11-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today I am grateful for the family unit. As a whole we have had our ups and downs. Times I have been made to wonder what on earth I was thinking when I signed up to be a mom. I have felt like a total failure and then the next day it all changes. I would never dream how much I love my children. In case you are wondering, yes, they are the examples and I am the one who is blessed to have them set great examples. I have been plopped into the middle of this family so I could grow and learn. Thank-you Tim, all 5 children, 3 son-in-laws, and 8 1/6 children. Today I am GRATEFUL FOR THE FAMILY UNIT! For more, look at the next 4 blog postings done today.

2008-11-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

The Family Home Evening lesson for the week. You can't see the baby but he is there. Look how enthralled they all look! If you only knew. I got the one moment captured on film when they were all looking at the film strip!

Family Home Evening

2008-11-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

I bombarded a cute little family while they were trying to have a special Family Home Evening. I asked this little family to give me a goofy face. Great job! Thanks.

Thanksgiving week

2008-11-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

Great-grandma with 4 cute little children.

2008-11-25T18:55:00.000-08:00

I went to Lana's program for Thanksgiving today. When we got back to her home I talked the whole family into letting me take some family pictures. I asked them to act crazy for this one. Great job! Hayden, Hilary, Lana, Kate, Rylee, and Bill.

Tim drying apples

2008-11-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

This is my wonderful husband. We love dried apples. Unfortunately I hate doing the job. Tim will go pick up the apples from a fruit stand by his office, buy the pineapple juice and slave away peeling, cutting, sugaring, placing the apples on the trays. All without a complaint. Tim works hard at his job, works hard at loving me, works hard at his golf skills, works hard at keeping me away from my friend Clarence ( clearance) , works hard at keeping this family afloat. I have always been grateful to have him to walk through time and eternity with. When we got married I was amazed someone as great as him would actually pick me! Today I am grateful for Tim.

Grateful for Kailie

2008-11-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

Today was Kailie's day to have a "date with grandma." She pretty much said what she wanted us to do together and since it was easy and she had it all planned out I said, "Okay let's do it." We left her family behind and went to the trail where I go walking every morning. We went on about a mile walk, looked at the plants and birds. She talked to me the entire time. Ask her what rose hips are next time you see her. And it has nothing to do with anatomy. It is part of a plant. After our walk we went to the park to play on the big toy until we got cold. At the park the buffalo asked us to let Kailie sit on it. Click! Then we came home to make pumpkin cookies. Today I am grateful for Kailie! Thanks for a fun date!

2008-11-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

I know I didn't blog what I was thankful for yesterday and I am a slacker, but, in this picture there are two things I am thankful for. A washing machine and clothes dryer! Oh, Yes! I remember when I was quite young we had a washing machine but no dryer. My mom would hang the clothes out to dry. I am not sure how clean they were by hanging out in the farm "fresh" air and with children running through them with their farm fingers. I don't remember my mom ever complaining. Maybe that's because she was grateful to just have a washing machine! I can't imagine how much time is saved by having these two modern conveniences in my home! Today I am grateful to have a washing machine and dryer!

Cars

2008-11-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today I got to spend several hours withMcKenzie for her "date with grandma." We went to the store with Tai and then went our own way. We went to McDonalds to eat ice-cream and french fries. Then we came home and made sugar cookies. I froze most of them for Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time getting flour all over each one of us. I got to say why I am grateful for Kenzie a few blogs back. Today I thought I would say I am grateful for vehicles to get us from point A to point B. It is so nice to put a key into it and drive to wherever you need to be. So that is what I am grateful for today...Cars!

2008-11-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

I am thankful today for Rylee. She is my oldest granddaughter. Today I needed to go to a baby shower and I wanted someone to go with me. She was happy to go with me. She had to go shopping with grandpa and I before going to the shower. We wandered all over the store and she didn't beg for anything or told us she was bored or anything. After we dropped her grandpa off at home, we went on to the shower and she put her headphones on and sang all the way to the party! She is always happy to see me and makes me feel like I am cared for by her. She is a cutie! Today I am thankful for Rylee!

2008-11-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

Today, I am grateful for temples that are around the world. A little over 31 years ago I married the man of my dreams in the Prove, Utah temple. I have never regretted it. We have been able to see and be in many temples in the United States. I can't think of any outside of the U.S. we have been able to visit. The temples around the world are like Heavenly Father's crown jewels. I love the temples, the peace they offer, the warmth I feel when I step inside and all it offers. Today, I am thankful for TEMPLES!

2008-11-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

Today I am am thankful for this young man. He lives away from us now and will be gone for 1 more year. I miss him like crazy and I am so grateful for the wonderful things he is doing. He is serving a 2 year mission teaching people about Jesus Christ. He will grow in his spiritual strength in ways that would be impossible for me to teach him in thousands of years. Andrew (that's his name) has many talents, gifts, and other abilities that he will share with others. His nieces and nephews miss him and want him home, his brothers and sisters want him home, his dad wants him home, his friends want him home, and yet, he is where we really want him to be. But when he gets to his release date we will all be at the airport to bombard him with hugs and kisses and questions. I will not want to let him go out of my sight for several days. Today I am grateful for Andrew!

Grateful for Sheila

2008-11-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for a sister who is also a great friend and example. She is smart, beautiful, kind, talented, and beats me at raquetball. She is my sister, Sheila. We grew up in a very small town to very poor parents who took good care of us and taught us the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a great family to support us and I am grateful for them, also. Sheila drove an hour today to spend the day with me and help me make invitations for a party. We had lunch and played raquetball together. I am sure I will be a little stiff in the arms tomorrow.
Today I am grateful for Sheila!

2008-11-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

Today I got to spend a few hours with another person I am thankful for, Brielle. She stayed home with me (I had to beg her to) while her mom and sisters were busy. While they were gone we made cookies, did laundry, read books, watched Mulan and went and bought a personal pizza. I am thankful for Brielle because she tells me "I love you, grandma" even when no one prompts her to. She does many cute things and says the most wonderful things. She is just like having a warm fuzzy around all the time!

We made her a cookie in the shape of the letter "B" for Brielle. She nibbled on it for a moment and then we put it in a baggie for her to carry around for several hours. I don't know about you, but how do you nibble on a cookie and carry it around for hours? A cookie in my hand last for about 2 seconds. I really could learn this nibble lesson from her.

2008-11-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

Today I am grateful for my grandson, Hayden. This morning I picked him up for "time alone with grandma." We went to the store and picked up some boots and searched for some rain puddles. Isn't he cute?

I took a ton of pictures and on this one you can see the splashes. He really got into it. After splashing around in the rain and puddles we went for french fries and a drink. He snuggled up on my lap as he ate. He is a darling little boy who shows a lot of excitement, laughter, and playful enthusiasm for life.

Today I am grateful for Hayden!

2008-11-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

I am grateful today for an opportunity to go to church and worship as I feel is right. It sets me up for the remaining week. I remember back to the days it was so difficult to sit through a meeting at church the whole way. I spent more time out in the hall with children who had the wiggles, giggles and need to be loud. But, I always knew it was the right thing to do. Yes, today I am so grateful for church and ALL it encompasses! Which is a ton! Anything good in my life comes directly and indirectly from it.

2008-11-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

Today I am grateful for my bed! I enjoy crawling into a warm bed on a cold winter night. I love to sleep and hopefully wake up refreshed and ready to face a new day! Anyone else love to sleep?

2008-11-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

Today I am grateful for two little girls. These two. Aren't they cute? They are both special to me for different reasons and some same reasons. The same reasons are that they are my granddaughters and they love me and treat me well. They love to be with me and this love they show warms my heart.
I am grateful for Lana for many reasons. A couple of the reasons are that she makes me laugh and she has a ton of enthusiasm. I can ask her to laugh at just about any given moment and she can laugh sincerely for me. I have always wanted to have that quality. She has a lot of energy to get things done and she is happy doing the things. I love you, Lana. I thank Heavenly Father he sent you into my life!
I am grateful today for Kenzie. There have been several times I have just wanted to sit quietly and watch a movie with a child or two with them snuggled up to me. McKenzie has done this with me. She is very affectionate and will hug me whenever I ask. She is fun to watch create people to play with in her mind. She loves to play with her sisters, too! I am grateful Heavenly Father sent McKenzie into my life!
I am grateful today for McKenzie and Lana. You are beautiful girls inside and out!

I am thankful for electricity

2008-11-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

With this electricity you can turn on a magnificent light like this one, also! Would you like this light in your home? You're right, it wouldn't fit in mine either. But it looks great where it is?

2008-11-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

I Today I am grateful for electricity! Usually I am the most grateful for this modern convenience when the electricity is out because of a rainstorm or some other power outage. Do you realize how often we use it? I mean really, we just automatically turn on a light, an oven, a computer, blow hair dry, etc... It is a miricle. I don't understand how electricity travels and how does a picture come across a television screen, how can a voice carry across the world, etc...It's a miricle!

2008-11-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

As small as it seems, I am thankful for this beautiful view. It is on the road leading to my home and neighborhood. I am at the top of a hill looking eastward. Yesterday was wet with snow and rain. Since I like rain and snow I enjoy this view looking towards the mountain. In the summer you look down the hill at the flowers and beautiful lawns and yards and the mountains as a huge backdrop.

When I wake up in the mornings this is what I see out my bedroom window. You can't see it but the mountains rise up, and up and up. Way cool! I am thankful, therefore, for the views I see in my neighborhood!

Just out of curiosity, does this scene look familiar to anyone else? I know what it looks like to me, I am just wondering if anyone else thinks the same thing. Respond if it looks familiar, and why and where!