Thanksgiving Program

Today we went to North Pointe Elementary to watch a grand daughter in her Thanksgiving Program.  Maty is such a beautiful young girl and enjoys life.  She puts her all into everything she does.  She enjoys life and it shows.  She's not worried about who she sits next to, if she looks just right, or if you are watching or not.  She just loves everyone and has a wonderful zest for life. She is quick to forgive and wants to be everyone's friend.  She is not one of those young girls that has to have an electronic device in her hand every chance she gets.  She loves to talk with you and listens when you speak.  We love to hear her read out loud; she does it with such expression.   She has wonderful parents that literally spend hours every day parenting.  They do not have cable or satellite TV but they do have the internet.  Michael and Lyssa - you are doing a fantastic job and it shows - keep up the hard work!

Another "New" Year

What am I going to do differently this year? What am I going to be better at? What can I do to improve my quality of life? How do I get motivated to make change? Do I want to make changes for me or someone else? Who is it that I want to please? So much to do and too little motivation. So, I'll start very simple: I will make someone else smile every day - only after I have found something to smile about. Can I do this daily for one year!?! Yup, I can do it. That was easy. You know what makes it so easy? I am married to a wonderful man that makes me smile every morning when I wake up - now the 2nd part is simple - smiles are contagious - you are smiling already. Just look at the picture of "my kids" and that would make anyone smile - they are so wonderful!

Our September Road Trip

Finally - we made it to Nauvoo. We traveled through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and back home to Utah. The picture to the right is the Orphanage my father spent time in in his youth. We saw many historical sights, cornfields, met many interesting people, ate at the world's largest McDonalds, visited Lewis and Clark sights, visited four temples, spent two days in Old Nauvoo, went through the St. Louis Arch, visited grave yards, etc. It was a wonderful trip - approximately 4000 miles. We are so fortunate to be able to travel like this within the United States. This is a wonderful country and we should travel to see more of it - keeping our tourism money home!

What Is "Old Fashioned"?

The other day I was babysitting for one of my children and I decided to make some cookies. I searched and searched and could not find the flour or sugar. So I bagged that idea. A few days later I was mentioning this to one of my other children and they said, "You wouldn't be able to find any flour or sugar at our house either." A few more days went by and I mentioned this to another child and she said, "I have flour and sugar so I guess that makes me "Old Fashioned"!" I mentioned to my neighbor of over 25 years about the flour and sugar question and she replied, "Young people do not cook like we used to." That started me thinking about today's problems of diabetes, obesity, increase of cancers, etc..

Why do TV shows that concentrate on cooking and even a TV Network attract so many viewers? Has cooking become a "spectators sport"? Has the family sit down meals been replaced by taking your fast food and sitting in front of the TV and watching someone cook? Can you believe that the Food Pyramid that was introduced in 1992 and updated in 2005 is too complicated for today's average person to understand!?! The Food Pyramid, as of June 2, 2011, was replaced by "My Plate".

Now, come on people, cooking and eating sensibly should not be an option. I'm not suggesting we go back to grinding our own wheat and stomping on grapes for juice. Can't we at least crack open our own eggs, make our own casseroles, make our oatmeal (not tear open a package and add hot water to a lot of sugar and a few oats), make our own sandwiches, etc.!

Marriah Is On The Way

Marriah Helen should make her debut around May 12. She will be our 15th grandchild - 6th girl. Marti thinks she looks huge - let's compare with a picture of her in May - can't wait. Marti and Bryce are so excited to bring her into the world - they will make excellent parents. Makes me want to dig out old pictures of me when I was pregnant - oh - what a depressing idea.

Aunt Dot

A few weeks ago we traveled to Price to visit my Aunt Dot and Uncle Perry. Perry is my mother's brother. Dot and Perry have been married 52 years. She is a retired elementary school teacher and he is a retired coal miner. They have four children. My mom and dad and Dot and Perry have been very good friends for many years and at one time Perry lived with us along with his two boys, Terry and Jerry - twins. I was so glad we went to visit them. Last week Dot suffered a stroke and is in the hospital just laying in a bed unable to communicate or reason. They are transporting her today down to a nursing home in Price, Pinnacle Nursing Facility. She now has a feeding tube and is in a drug induced sleep most of the time. I have visited her almost every day that she has been in the hospital in Provo and it has given me the opportunity to visit with Perry and many relatives that I have not seen for several weeks. When we visited her yesterday, Marti was with us and I told her that if I ever ended up in a situation like this just please unplug all the tubes and wires and let me go to that better place. Once in a while I listen to the Spirit and I'm so glad I did this time and paid that visit to my Aunt and Uncle.

Traveling, etc.

This past week we have cleaned out several closets and have several to go. We are getting rid of a lot of, well, clutter. Marti and Bryce came over and took some of it - one man's junk is another man's treasure.

Marti went to the doctor and Marriah's heartbeat is very strong and it looks like she's having a pretty big baby. Kristi and I took her shopping in Salt Lake Saturday. Julie and Brooklyn joined us for lunch and we had a great time.

Bill and I will be heading out on another trip to go where it is a little warmer - Nevada and Arizona. We love to visit the "kids" and do a little sight seeing. It's a wonderful life this retirement life - I recommend it highly - the sooner the better. Wish we could take a couple of grandchildren with us, but they are all in school.

I took a week off from quilting - that was hard - so now I get to work on a quilt tomorrow. As soon as I finish this one, I'm going to take the "grandmother" squares I have and start a few heirloom quilts.