Merry Christmas

We only had big people for Christmas this year.

We enjoyed it.

It is always fun to have the grands around for Christmas,

but we know that they won't be here every year.

Besides, with these two,

there is no need for more entertainment.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Tickets

I always try to get tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert.

I never get any.  

So this year, I had decided just to go and stand in the stand by line.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a friend ask me if I wanted their tickets.

Okay.

So we went to Salt Lake Friday.  

I'm always taken back by the beauty of this temple.

Callie did not want to miss Sutton Foster.

We are looking pretty happy here.

It was a good show.

You never know when someone is going to offer you a ticket.

Good times.  

Dear Friends

When I had my youngest son, 

this was my girl crew.

It was always a joke.

They all had a grandson that was Richards age and they were friends.

I keep this picture out.

We are timeless.

But today, we lost one.

Virginia will be in my heart forever.

This news has made my heart hurt.

In fact, I can't say it yet.

The power of women friendships is serious stuff.

Thanksgiving and Memories

I go through this every year. 

I am always thinking of a past Thanksgiving 

on Thanksgiving.

This year, it was all about last year.

We went to California and enjoyed a lovely afternoon with my family.

My moms brother Larry and his wife Pat came.

They never come to anything.

To be honest,

at that point, my dad had been sick.

I think they came to see him.

In a twist of fate, Pat died in April.

I'm so happy that we could have a visit.

This year...

Scott E's birthday

Just my two little boys for dinner

And since it was going to be such a small crowd,

I bought new dishes for the occasion.

Notice the napkins...

They were gifted to  us when we were in Pawhuska at the Merc 

as we waited in line.

I love to bring something from summer to the Thanksgiving table.

I hope you had a good one. 

We did.

The perfect day.

Veterans Day

When my dad graduated from High School

he wanted to go to college.

There was no money, and to my knowledge, 

the only other person in his family to go to college 

was his cousin, Mary Christensen.  

So he joined ROTC and went to Utah State.

When he graduated he went to Korea 

where he was the company clerk.

He never talks much about it.

He sent home china from Korea that 

we ate off of every Thanksgiving for most of my life.

I think of him every Veterans Day when we have are

assembly at school.  

It is something I have in common with some of my students.

Our dad's were in the Army.

This year, the kids wanted to salute,

like they do in the military.

They were very good at saluting.

Never Forget

2 Parts

Part 1

In 1963 my family moved to Houston Texas.

My dad took us to the Astrodome and we watched the Astros play.

It was my first experience with major league baseball.

I was fascinated.

It made me love baseball.

I have been waiting for years for them to win a pennant. 

It has been a long wait.

When we got to game 6 and there was no win

We had a rally dinner of hot dogs and frozen lemonade

And waited for a win.

I have been waiting since 1963 and I was so happy for a WIN!

Part 2

What happened to my beautiful Fall?

We had a little snow,

but it is gone now.

Fast Fall Trip

I have wanted to go to Yellowstone all summer.

But summer got away from me.

Now let me tell you,

for whatever reason,

we only go to Yellowstone every 10 years.

It is easy to remember because the first time we went was the year of the fires.

So we are a little early this trip.

I feel blessed that this late in the year, we enjoyed a day of perfect weather.

Also, there were not many people in the park,

and we didn't have any kids with us,

so we saw things we have never seen before.

We got there at 8 am

While waiting for Old Faithful,

we witnessed this geyser.

The way the sun caught it made for a rainbow.

To be honest, Old Faithful was slightly disappointing.  

But I started talking to some tourist from Germany 

and we had very enjoyable visit.

This is my favorite spot and I couldn't remember where to find it.

But we did find it.

It is at Biscuit Basin.  

I love this color.

 The river was incredibly blue.

It had many Canadian Geese swimming in it,

which I enjoyed because I had just read

The Trumpeter Swam, by E.B. White.

Wes didn't really want to take the loop and drive by the lake.

But it was beautiful.

We have never been here when it is cold.

The steam from the geysers was everywhere.

The snow on the mountains just adds to it.

There were a bunch of bison by the river.

They don't show up well.

This one was walking down the road.

At one point his eyeball and mine were at the same level.

The contrast in color was amazing.

The last time we went Yellowstone Grand Canyon,

it was packed.

We were out there looking all by ourselves this trip.

This is the the other side.

I don't think I will ever comprehend how a river carves a canyon.

 For the record, we only live 4 hours from West Yellowstone.

I'm not sure why we only go every 10 years.

But I love it more every time.
What can I say?
I love a National Park.

True Story

I work  in a school that has a 4 day work week.

I will not lie.

It is AwEsOmE !!

We do have to work 1 Friday a month.

Professional Development days.

I hate to complain, but 

it is my blog

#1. Professional Development really means you are going to have meetings where they can find one more thing for you to do.   

#2. I hate meetings

#3. I hate working a 5 day work week.  

There I said it...

We have had to work the last 3 Fridays.

I hope I recover....

Parents

I just finished a wild week getting ready for and having parent teacher conferences.

As a parent, I was not always so happy to go to these things.

Teachers would always say, "You must talk about some interesting things around the dinner table!"

or "They are so good at math, Wes must teach them math all the time."

The reality was, I asked them if they did their homework everyday.

They were smarter than us.

They talked about football or baseball all the time.

And Wes did not have private math lessons with the kids.

Sometimes I would come home from conferences feeling like a failure.

It is a different to sit on the other side of the table.

There was some bad news to deliver, mostly about bad behavior.

There was some good news to deliver, mostly about good behavior.

There was plenty of laughter.

My favorite thing to hear from a parent was that they loved to come to school.

And even better..." They come home singing your songs." or

 "You should hear them sing in the shower."

All in all, I make an effort not to make the parent feel bad.

I always thank them for their hard work and for reading to them. 

Life should be good when you are 5.  

Kinder is the Best!

Fall

I'm not sure when it happened, 

but Fall has arrived in Southern Idaho.

No snow in the Magic Valley,

but you defiantly need a jacket in the mornings

and sometimes all day.

If you know how time passes so fast,

please tell it to slow down.

What do you think of the grey pumpkins?

We also had Homecoming.

To be honest,

it wasn't a bad parade.

Times are a changing.

Memories

Yesterday, I went to a wedding of a friend of my daughters.

I have to admit, that I love these girls.

When we first moved here, they took in my much younger daughter.

She needed a friend and they showed her kindness and love.

Well, this weeding was at St. Edwards in Twin Falls.

This was the last time I was there.

Needless to say, 

it has been a few decades.

This sweet bride was a high school friend of mine.

It brought back many memories.

Funny how life does that.

Crazy Days

Sometimes I can't believe how fast times goes by.

With the Fall coming this week, I wanted to list some of my favorite summer memories.

1.  Water Aerobics at the Rec

I do this every year. 

I love it.

I love my buddies at the pool.

It is a great way to spend 45 minutes of my day.

2.  The Piggly Wiggly.

Holy Moly people

I went to the Piggly Wiggly in North Carolina!

I have wanted to this for a few years.

You know, I read it in a book.

3.  The Sandbox.

We stayed in a little cinder block house on the OBX.

I looked at that sweet little house and

wondered how many storms it had stood through.

-possibly a metaphor for life-

It was a great little place.

I am ready for fall now.  

Labor Day

 I picked blackberries this weekend.

That left me with making jam this morning.

It isn't hard.

It certainly isn't sugar-free.

It seemed like the perfect labor for today.

He is near

I was thinking of this scripture this week:

The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

I love taking care of the flowers in the summer.

I often bring home sad, little, flowers,

but they thrive once they can spread out their roots

and sit in the sun.

I have a soft spot for Gerber Daisy's and this one has bloomed all year.

And here sits my mini rose from Valentines Day.

I love having the flowers.

They attract butterflies and humming birds and they just make me happy.

I feel like I would be missing out if I didn't say something about the eclispe

I was at work.

We were at 97.5%

The thing I found most fascinating was the how much the temperature dropped.

We need the Sun.

-It is impossible to take a selfie wearing these glasses...just saying-

 It turns out that I have a lot of family that also enjoyed the eclipse.

My sister.

Wes

My son and grandson.

People who saw it at 100% described it as a spiritual experience.

Check out this amazing video at Redfish Lake.

(Sorry, you will have to scroll down to it)

I truly felt tender mercies of a loving Heavenly Father

as I experienced it, and heard others talk about their experience.

Weekend in Calgary

As I was driving through Montana I was thinking how I really don't like that my son lives there.

I mean, I'm happy they are there and they are well taken care of,

but who wants to use a passport to be able to see their grand children.

As I was thinking these thoughts, I thought 

You know who understands this, 

My great grandmother.

Her daughter married and moved to Alberta.

To my knowledge, she never saw her again.

I have no doubt that she knows exactly how I feel.

Having said that,

It is always beautiful and we always enjoy it.

There is nothing as sweet as holding a newborn baby.

She was sweet and easy to love.

This means Keith has 4 little girls now!

That is a lot of drama!

I love this picture of all my Canada family.

We love visiting them all when we go there.

One of my favorite parts of driving to Canada is driving through Montana.

Don't get me wrong,

I don't want to drive through in the winter,

but I love this place in the summer.

Next year, I am taking at least 3 days to drive it.

We need to stop and enjoy it.

Get out the kayak.

Have a picnic in the shade.

Take a hike.

Next  year!