Heavens to Betsy....Where have I been?

I can't believe how long it's been since I've "really" updated this blog. It seems like after Ruby was born I got busy (not just with her, but with lots of things) and I got out of the routine of blogging. I had a dear friend ask me (again) last week when I was going to update. I told her I had to go back to Thanksgiving and catch up. She suggested (Thanks, Susan!) that I just jump back in and maybe update as I go along, so that's what I'm going to do. I'll start with what's recent and here and there I'll toss in a backdated entry. So here goes....
So far this month has been hectic and fun. But I can't think of a month lately that hasn't been!! We have three grandkids with February birthdays, so that means three sleepovers/shopping trips/birthday activities/dinner out with them. The month started out on a high note. Our oldest granddaughter, Eliza, chose to be baptized. That happened on Feb. 6th. She was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church by her dad. What an awesome experience it was to be there to witness this event. She was beautiful and she just glowed that day. She had a sweet smile on her face all day long. She was able to wear the same baptismal suit that I'd made almost 24 years ago for her mother, Erin, to wear. After Erin wore it, her cousins, Emali, Audi (I think), Jodi, Katelin, Kacey and Stephanie all wore it. Now it's starting a new generation. What a legacy for them. She had a beautiful new ivory dress with a sage green sash that she wore, and her mom, Erin, made a cute headband to coordinate with it. Eliza was showered with love, well-wishes and thoughtful gifts on her special day. We look forward to Abigail's baptism next month. I'm sure it will be just as memorable for her.
This weekend started our three-sleepovers-in-one-week week. Abby's started on Friday night. She wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday gift, but as the time got closer, the more afraid she became. She was afraid it was going to hurt. We told it that yes, it would hurt, but just for a minute or two. Then it would be over and she'd have beautiful pierced ears. All the way from her house to the mall, she had a worried, almost sad look on her face. She didn't think she could do it. Just before we got out of the car, I told her that she could choose whether to do it or not, but if she didn't, she would be disappointed in herself the next day and would be sad she hadn't done it. So as we went into the mall, she seemed to cheer up and get excited again. When we arrived at the kiosk where the ear piercers were, she walked right up to the counter and told the sales clerk that she wanted her ears pierced, but that she was a little nervous. The girl said that that was normal, but it would be okay. So we proceeded. She chose her earrings...both to get pierced with and another pair for after her ears had healed. And she got right up in the chair and was eager to get going. After they marked the perfect spot for each earring, the two girls there each pierced one ear at the same time. Abby looked up as me and said, "I did it! I have pierced ears! I did something HARD!" I was so proud of her for being brave and doing something she really wanted, even though it was hard. She wanted to go for ice cream as a treat for being brave, so we went across the street to Cold Stone Creamery. We then went to Deseret Book and she chose what she wanted for her baptismal gift from us, but she has to wait until her special day to receive it. Then she wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. She had a great time there...especially when they brought her the cutest little glass with an ice cream sundae with a candle on top. The waitresses sang Happy Birthday to her and she just beamed. Then on Saturday morning, we met up with her parents and brothers and took a trip (her birthday activity) to Flagstaff to play in the snow. What fun that was! There was a TON of snow and the kids had a blast sliding down the hills on their sleds/discs and throwing snowballs at each other. My mistake of the day was climbing to the top of a slippery hill so I could watch the kids from the top rather than from the bottom and having to dodge the sleds as they sped by. It was a mistake because as I attempted to walk down the slippery slope, I realized that there was only one way down....sliding. After I'd gone a few, unsteady steps with the help of Mark and Brian, I sat on my bottom and slid the rest of the way. I was afraid that I'd fall and get hurt, so I just sat down and away I went. I'm sure that was a sight for all to see! Luckily, I was the one holding the camera, so there was no documentation of the event.
Sunday was my lesson in Relief Society. It went well, I think. The good part was that I got about 30 minutes this time, so I got to actually give all of the material I had prepared. And we even got outo about three minutes early! Yea!
Then on Sunday, some of the kids and grandkids came over for dinner. Abby and Dallin (the birthday kids) got to choose the menu. They chose Hawaiian Haystacks. We had ice cream sundaes for dessert. Mark and I wanted to give the grandkids a Valentine of some sort, but we didn't want it to be sugary candy. So I got some cute fabrics and I made them each a new pillowcase. Ruby got a swaddling blanket from the same material. Then on Sunday night, Dallin spent the night for his birthday sleepover. We watched Snowball Express, which he thoroughly enjoyed. This morning we got up and met his dad and siblings at the dentist for their semi-annual teeth cleaning. Then we took Dallin for the rest of his sleepover activities. We started off at Wal-Mart so he could choose his gift. He got a Nerf rapid-fire rifle. He also chose a Spiderman car that transforms into four different cars and a rubber snake so he can scare his mom (sorry, Kamille!). He got a Hot Wheel car for his brother, Luke. That was thoughtful. Then we went to Red Robin for lunch and to Castle and Coasters for a round of goofy golf. He had a blast playing against Grandpa. And Dallin beat him by one stroke! Then we took him home and got his gun put together and everybody had a chance to test it out. It seems like a fun toy. Mark and I then headed back home after a stop at JoAnn's Fabric, a couple of Savers, and Safeway. We had leftovers for dinner and caught up on some TiVo'd shows....Amazing Race, Undercover Boss and Extreme Home Makeover. Then we watched a bit of the Olympics. I should be in bed by now. Yikes! It's almost midnight and here I sit at the computer. Tomorrow should be a fun day. It's our 37th wedding anniversary. Mark took the day off, so we'll spend the day playing....probably doing a little junkin' and tomorrow night we're going to see The Unsinkable Molly Brown at Broadway Palm. Should be a great day. Nighty, night.

I'll Be Back Soon!

The holidays around here were busy, busy. Now I'm working on projects for CHA, but I'll be done by the weekend, so hopefully by next week I'll be back and get caught up here. So sorry.

Merry Christmas!

I couldn't let the day go by without wishing everyone a Merry Christmas....and the opportunity to take the Thanksgiving down from the top post on my blog. I know. Bad blogger. Later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am especially grateful today for family and friends who enrich my life and whose influence impacts my life for the better. Today I attended the funeral of a long-time friend, Maxine Fullmer. She lived such a full, exemplary life. She was loved by all who knew her. I hope someday to be like her.
Happy Thanksgiving! And enjoy your Black Friday shopping.

November in a Nutshell

I'm going to try to play catch-up for the month of November. I went visiting teaching the first week of the month since we knew we'd all be busy as the month progressed. The next day my body decided to be sick. I went to the Dr. who said I was having complications from allergies. So he gave me a few days of prednisone. I don't really like the feelings I have when I take it, but it does take care of allergies and inflammation. I wasn't getting better, though. I was sick on my birthday....which was a real bummer. Mark had taken the day off so we could spend it together, but we ended up spending it together at home. I missed teaching a class on Saturday, which didn't make me happy at all. By Monday, I still wasn't better, so back to the Dr. I went. He gave me another week of prednisone and antibiotic and it seems (finally) to have kicked the junk out of my system.
That week I was sick I managed to make Eliza a pioneer apron. She was in a play that their stake put on and she needed/wanted an apron. Abby had her student of the month assembly that week, too. She's such a sweet girl and such a good student. She's every teacher's dream child. I did drag myself out of bed for a couple of hours to go watch Eliza's play. It was very good and Eliza did a great job. I also missed going to Matthew's Scout-O-Rama that weekend. Man, I don't like being sick!
And the final missed event was teaching Relief Society. Thankfully, Heather Stone stepped in and taught for me.
The next week was Veteran's Day, so we had Matthew and Dallin over for a boys' sleepover. They had a great time together. Obviously, there are huge differences between a girl sleepover and a boy sleepover. Lots of bodily noises and laughing done while the boys were here. Enough said.
Aunt Dovetta went into the hospital that week and spent a few days there. They weren't able to do the procedure they'd hoped to do, but sent her home with medications that are supposed to help somewhat.
We had Ellie's birthday sleepover on Friday night. I say sleepover, but she didn't spend the night. We picked her up and took her shopping for her gift and took her to dinner. She chose to go to Elephant Bar and she LOVED it! It was so much fun to have just Ellie to spend time with and get to know her better and build our bond with her. We took her home to sleep and picked her up the next morning, along with three of her sisters to spend a few more hours. We took them to lunch and had a great time with them. However, we're so not used to having that many kids at one time!!! Yikes!
The week of the 16th was a busy week, too....but aren't they all?? Book group was Tuesday night. We discussed The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck. I loved the book, but some others had mixed reviews. Earlier that day Erin and I made bread....she made bread and I tried out a new roll recipe. What delicious rolls they are! I'll be making them again on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. I got the recipe online from Our Best Bites. If I knew how to link it here, I would, but I don't, so you'll just have to find it on your own. Sorry.
Wednesday was a baby shower for Courtney Overstreet in the ward. She had her baby about six weeks early....but he's doing great.
Thursday last week was Abby's Thanksgiving program at school. The second graders put on a program with speaking parts and singing. It was fun!
On Friday, Erin had youth conference and battled with herself as to what to do with Ruby. She didn't want to have to be away from her for too long at a time, so I went to Youth Conference. Ruby and I spent the whole time in the car. She was so good. She slept the entire time, except when she woke up long enough to eat. Then back to sleep she went. I had planned on walking around, but it was too cold for her. We snuggled in the car and were quite content.
Yesterday Jan and I taught the Zutter class again at Scrap Happy Sisters. We had 9 in the class. It was a fun group and most of them finished their books. We had several requests to teach it again in January....so I guess we will!
Today we went to Erin's ward. They were reorganizing the bishopric (again!) and Brian was put in as first counselor this time. Now we're off to Matthew and Emma's Primary Program. That makes three programs this year. The fun part is that they're all enough different that it's still very interesting and fun to watch the children express their testimonies through spoken word and music.
This week is Thanksgiving, but it doesn't feel much like it. We'll be getting together with Erin's family for Thanksgiving lunch and meeting up with Dan and his family, too, for dessert and fun at a park.
I almost forgot....today is Ellie's birthday. She's four....and I can hardly believe it. It was four years ago that she came home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day! What a memorable day that was. Ellie is such a little mother and organizer. I know it probably annoys her sisters, but it will serve her well as she gets older. Love you, Ellie!

Neglect

It was brought to my attention that I've been neglecting my blog....and I have. I will get caught up soon, but in the meantime, I thought I'd let you know that Jan and I are teaching the ABCs of Christmas (star book) at Scrap Happy Sisters on Tuesday, December 15th from 6-9 pm. The structure of the book will be done for you so all you'll have to do is add the words and embellishments. Fun, huh? If you want to see pictures, just scroll down to the last post and there are pictures and a better description. So give Scrap Happy a call and we'll see you on the 15th!!
I'll be back soon, I promise!

Oh, Dear!

It's been a while since I've posted here. Where did the month of October go???
Ok....what have I been doing that's kept me so busy that I didn't blog?
The Young Women (Laurel president to be exact) called and asked me to be on a panel at a YW activity. I was the "grandma" of the group. Aimee Stirling represented a new mother of very young children. Heather Holdaway represented a mother of several children, varying in age, and I was the grandma of the group. We were to talk about experiences we've had as mothers/grandmothers and lessons we've learned through the years. It was fun to do. The girls were very attentive and even asked questions!
The rest of that week was spent grading papers, going to a crop at SHS and plowing through life. They gave me some beautiful flowers as a thank you.

That weekend Mark got sick. He kept feeling worse and worse, and by Sunday he was down. We missed church that week and he was at the Dr. the first thing Monday morning. The Doc. said he couldn't totally rule out H1N1, but he didn't think that's what he had. He thought it was an upper respiratory infection and sinusitis. Mark got a couple of scripts and had instructions that if he wasn't "well" in 48 hours, he was to come right back to the Doc. Luckily, after being off work for three days, he felt good and returned to work. His only complaint at that point is that he was tired. He mostly slept the three days he was off work (and that Sunday). Glad he's better and it wasn't the swine flu.




The next week started with a class at Sun City Grand that Jan and I taught. It's a Christmas Star book. The bones of the book is Bazzill cardstock and it's all hand stitched together to form a star shap when it's open. I had taught Jan how to make it a couple of weeks ago. We decided on the title The ABCs of Christmas, and in order to have enough pages for all of the alphabet, I came up with the idea of stitching in an additional signature page in each star page. Sounds complicated, but it's really not. We used Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper for the inside pages of the book. We then stamped the alphabet using the 7gypsies clear stamp alphabet. I formatted lots of words associated with Christmas and printed them out and we mounted and used them on the pages, too. After it's all glued together, the book opens and looks like a star. You can either leave the rest of the pages blank and just have a beautiful book, or there is room to add pictures to document your family's holiday season. The beauty of it, though, is that when Christmas is over, it folds flat for easy storage. When it's open, it's 6" tall and 12" across.
Tuesday was our monthly book group. It was supposed to be held at our home, but since we didn't know for sure about Mark, Linda graciously let us come to her house. We discussed Jason Wright's latest novel, Recovering Charles. For refreshments, I thought something "southern" would be in order. Since it was pie month at Marie Callendars, we had pecan pie and peach pie. Yum!
Wednesday I went to swap papers with Brian at the school, helped Erin with some Halloween projects she had going and I had my annual blood tests (which all came back as normal!).





On Thursday , I picked Abby and Dallin up from school. It was early release for parent/teacher conferences and their usual early release sitter's husband had the swine flu, so I was chosen to spent some time with them. It was fun. I picked them up and they went with me to get my annual flu shot. They enjoyed watching that and were glad it wasn't for them. Then we drove back to Erin's. Eliza called me and invited me to come to her school book fair with her. So Erin and I took seven kids to the book fair. They did well. They each chose a book and we made it out without injury or incident. Libby wanted Dallin to stay and play with her and Abby wanted Eliza to come to my house to play, so we did a bit of a kid swap. They all had a fun time, but Erin was the one left with five kids! I only had two and they were the oldest two. Lucky me! When Mark got home from work, we went back to Erin's to trade back kids and Abby and Dallin went back to the school to meet Brian so Dallin could go to T-ball practice. We put a LOT of miles on the car that day, but it was a good day.
Jan and I met on Friday to put kits together for the Christmas star book. We're going to try selling them already put together and see how that goes.




On Saturday, we left home very early to go watch Matthew and Emma play soccer. As it turned out, both games were at 8 am. Emma scored a goal that day. Matthew played goalie the whole game, and their team won 10-0. Matthew didn't let them score the whole game. Way to go, kids!!!
So after we watched them play, we went to Mimi's for breakfast. It was fun to sit, visit and enjoy one another's company.
Last Sunday, Oct. 25th, it was the Trimble family's Primary Program. So we went to watch. Erin and Brian also decided to bless Ruby that day so that people wouldn't have to come again for the blessing. It was a great day. Ruby was blessed in Mark's christening gown. Mark (and his siblings) were all christened in the Catholic church. They all wore the same gown. When Mark's mother passed away many years ago, Mark got to keep the gown. It is beautiful. When I remembered that we had it, before Ruby was born, we decided to have it cleaned to see if it would hold up for her blessing. Gratefully, it came out beautifully. So Ruby wore her grandpa's dress. That should be something to talk about for a very long time.

Mark was released that day, too, but we weren't in our ward for him to "appreciate" it. He's served for five and a half years on the high council with responsibilities over the Young Women and stake sports. He did a good job and will miss his associations there. Who knows what's next for him??!!!
On Monday this week, Erin and I were back at baking bread. We had a month off after Ruby was born and were both in need of some good, whole wheat bread goodness. It was a little trickier with one more "helper" in the mix, but all in all, we survived and so did the bread. Ellie and Hattie love to snitch bits of the dough before it's baked. It's a wonder we have anything left to bake, though.
On Tuesday, Margaret and I finally went visiting teaching for October. We have the best ladies to visit. I made some pumpkin bread to take to them. It was pretty good, if I do say so.
Also on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was busy putting together the Christmas star books. It's amazing how much time they each take to put together. I spent two days stitching and gluing.
Thursday was also a Christmas star workday, but it was also Libby's party. Erin had an idea to let Libby have a three friends over for a party....just because....to help her feel more important and to learn a few social skills. Two of her friends were able to come and they all had a good time. Erin asked me to come help her with the party to help keep things on track time wise. The girls started with coloring a Halloween picture with glitter crayons. Then we went out back and they each glittered a foam pumpkin. They turned out cute. Then it was back inside where they dipped Nutter Butter cookies in white chocolate and added mini chocolate chips for eyes to make ghosts. They then dipped pretzels in chocolate and sprinkles to make witches wands. Erin cook dinner for the girls. She made mummy wraps (hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough), chips and juice. Then she painted their nails for Halloween....in orange and black. They all had fun and Libby enjoyed being with her friends. She had a goody bag for each of them.




Friday I spent at Jan's again trying to finish up the book project. But it's still not done. Ugh!
Abby's last ice skating lesson was Friday afternoon, so Mark and I went to watch. She still struggles a bit, but she's more confident and is more able to move on the ice.
Saturday morning we went to Eliza's soccer game and later to Dallin's T-ball game. Then it was Halloween. We stayed home and sat outside in the beautiful weather handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters.
Whew! Caught up!