Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Girl that Turned into A Boy, Thanksgiving end other events!

Last week I ended up with just two pictures and had to scrounge to get 2 more, this week that was not a problem ... picture one is of LaVern Crump's Thanksgiving mantel ... we walked Monday, as usual.
 After walking I headed to work where I got my silverware polished for Thanksgiving.

Pictures two and three are of the four girls going to Emily's ultrasound to find out the fifth girl we thought had gone along with us was actually a boy!!  (I am shown with Beckie and Sheila, Sam's mother above)

 
Picture four is of the cemetery, where Ginny and I often walk ... these three matching stones are of the family that built our house ... Ginny, whose husband is a former bishop and I met up with three other women we know, including Denise Ekins, all three of them are the wives of former bishops too. Guess Wives of former Bishops like hanging out at the cemetery.

Picture five was taken on Wednesday, I worked, as usual, and finished up doing this part of this booth as a 'Tea Things' booth.  I love to 'tea' party, and hope others do as well.
 Also while at work I ironed all my napkins for Thanksgiving dinner.




Picture 6 was taken late that night, in fact early the next morning as I set the table for Thanksgiving, and took pictures so I could blog about it, featuring my homemade napkin rings.


Pictures 7 through 11 were taken at our off year Thanksgiving feast.  We had the seven people who live in the house, plus Becca, Brady and Titan, and Darby and Ben.




Pictures 12 and 13 were taken at Trevor and Nell's when we all joined for Pie.  Of course that was only after Dad, Emily, Darby, Becca, Ben and I went to see Breaking Dawn part 2 ... guess I forgot to take a picture of that event.

 
 Pictures 14 and 15 were taken while Emily and I went out to do a little late night 'Black Friday' shopping.  Here she is in line at Best Buy, about 300 back, and no, we didn't get the goodies for which we stood in line ... below is a picture of Emily with Gabe, Briahnna's brother who we ran into later that night.
 
 
Picture 16 is taken of Dad talking to Spencer on the phone on Friday morning finding out about how Spencer meeting Brittney's parents went when he went there for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Talking and texting with his  kids is one of Dad's very favorite things to do.
 
 

Pictures 17 and 18 were taken at Dear Lizzie where I met up with my friend Stacy for their 'pink' Friday sale.  The mannequin above is the one the owner bought from me at Treasures several years ago.  It was my first homemade paper mache mannequin ever.  Its kind of fun to get to see her in different incarnations.  I like the birdbath to the right ... in fact I am thinking of doing this for Christmas this year, since I have the pink ornies AND the old birdbath ... bet you can't wait to see.  After an hour of so at Dear Lizzies we headed down to the Star Mill in Amreican Fork , it will be closing the end of the year, so we wanted to check out the bargains there. 
 
 

Pictures of 19 and 20 represent the fact that Dad was babysitting Titan when I got home from work on Saturday.  He had spent the day getting my tree reinforced for festival of trees, thankfully, set up is tomorrow!  Titan was just as cute as could be ... and we both had a ball playing with him.

 
Picture 21 shows the goodies I finished up and gathered getting ready for Festival of Trees tomorrow  ... its late and I am tired.  Grandpa Carlo was ornery getting to bed, (Thanks Emily and Sam!) and I am just hoping he wakes up happy and is cooperative, as there is so much to be done.
 
Hope your Thanksgiving was lovely.  We love you all!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

A Mundane Week or Not.





 This was just one of those weeks.  Not a whole lot happened, but here it is.  On Monday Beckie had a lot of fun learning about snow, such fascinating things as what it tastes like.  Always fun. 
 
And while she was discovering snow, I was hanging out with Eva in Pleasant Grove, and we were working on our smash books.  Very Fun Stuff!
 
We left Grandpa at Trevor and Nell's for the evening, while Dad and I went to see South Pacific at the Hale Center Theater with the Heuers, which was very nicely done.  Of course we enjoyed our time with the Heuers tremendously, as always. We drove up and got Grandpa after the play, and he was very tired by the time we got him home and to bed around 11:00.
 
On Tuesday I worked on organizing my craft room, which includes bringing up more things from the basement room that will become the nursery for Emily and Sam soon ... I just wish it didn't take so long to find new niches for the stuff I am taking out of there.
 
Next I ran up to Kaysville to see my friend Arlene's new house and to have lunch and catch up with her.  That is always fun.  I also ventured a bit farther north to pick up a sign I had bought from another blogger who lives in Layton.
 
I knew I would be home late, so when Dad brought grandpa home from Nell's, before he headed to the temple for his shift, we had Emily watch him until I got home around 8:00.  Emily had already put him to bed by that time, as she has found he is very hard to get to bed once he gets over tired, and sometimes that is quite early.
 
Also that day, Dad found out that he has a new calling to be the assistant veil coordinator at the temple on Tuesdays now.  He is pretty stoked about that.
 
 
 

Then on Wednesday, while I was busy doing crafts and working on my craft room some more, Dad was off to visit the Special Primary in our stake, the overseeing of which is one of his assignments as a High Councilman. 
 
 

On Thursday I worked, then after work met Barb, her sister, daughter and Tami, as well as Britney, and other friends of Trina's, who organized the affair, and we all saw the final two Twilight movies, Breaking Dawn numbers one and two. That was a lot of fun, and now Dad is dying to see it.  We hope to hook up with Becca and Emily this week and see it, if we can figure our care for Grandpa.  I am so glad I am married to such a romantic man.
 
 
On Friday I did some junking, while Dad was working, then we met up with Spencer and Brittney at Los Hermanos in Provo for dinner in the evening.  It was Dad's first time to meet her, so that was fun.  She is really a lovely young woman, and we really enjoyed getting to know her better.
 
On Saturday Dad and I headed off to buy stuff to build a shower in the main floor bathroom, as Grandpa now refuses to step into the tub.  Unfortunately they did not have the shower tray shape and size we need, so we will have to order it on-line.  Then we were off searching for the tree to use for the Festival of Trees next week, with no success.  When we got home we worked on cleaning the garage for a while, knowing we have to get Dad's car off the street by December one, which means we have to make room in the garage for one car by then ... alas there is still more to do.
 
That night the Kews picked us and Grandpa up to go and see the new Steven Spielberg movie about Lincoln.  It was really amazing.  Then we ran home and Dad got Grandpa ready and into bed, (We had fed him before the movie) then we all went to dinner.  Of course its always fun to catch up.
Today we had a normal church day, with Dad having meetings all morning and then coming home in between to bath and dress Grandpa for church.  Last week we had a fiasco where grandpa's beard was too long to really shave with his electric razor, meaning after both Dad and I tried to shave him with a blade, to Grandpa's protests and disdain, I ended up using the electric, but it took about 20 minutes to get the job done, roughly.  Dad tried to shave him again today, and lets just say it was a bit like an episode out of Sweeney Todd.  After Dad nicked him badly he applied TP, which grandpa later removed, cause the wound to reopen and bleed all over his white church shirt ... which really distressed him.   Emily came up in time to help out, thankfully as I was indisposed at that moment.  But then I had to leave enough time to help him change his shirt, etc before leaving.  Such a tempest in a teapot, eh?
 
Well, the picture above is one I snapped after I got home from a meeting tonight.  Dad was just worn out, and Grandpa was too grumpy to look at the camera.  He gets moody some times ... anyway, Emily brought the baby up in her new pjs later, and we got to visit and watch the baby play.  Grandpa always enjoys that.
 
So that was our mundane week, although in retrospect it seems I did a lot of partying, hmmm, guess I better rethink the mundane label.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Voting, A Day Trip, and Our Christmas Name Drawing.

On Monday of this week I got to work, to make up for a trade I had made last month.  Dad picked up grandpa from Nell's and beat me home, where we had a quick dinner before heading over to the Kew's house for our Family Home Evening group.
 On Tuesday Dad took off early to vote, arriving a half an hour  before the poles opened, so that he had finished by the time I got there at 10 after 7 with my walking partner.  She and I waited in line for a bit more than an hour to vote.  I spent most of the day listening to election coverage, some in the family room with Aunt Cheryl and some in my room.  Dad brought grandpa home from Nell's and headed off to the temple.
On Wednesday I went to the temple first thing with LaVern, on our normal second walking day.  Then I was off to a normal day of work, as was Dad, leaving Grandpa home with Emily and Beckie.
Thursday I worked again, and took it easy with a book that evening, along with Dad.
On Friday I went with Dad to Cedar City and St. George, as he had some deliveries to make.  We made a day of it, adding lunch at Cafe  Rio, a stop at an antique store, and some time for me in the St. George DI while he did his delivery, etc.

We kind of kicked around waiting to be in Cedar City at 6:30, when Dad's cousin Patrick's wife would be touting her book at a book store there.  They were both surprised to see us, but it was fun to listen to Luisa as she shared info about her book.  Another local author came by and did the same, so it was a lot of fun.  I am shown here with both authors, Luisa is to the left.  Dad is shown above with his cousin Patrick as they had a chance to catch up as well.





On Saturday your crazy Dad ran out in the snow, but only for 6 miles, thank goodness.  Later he went to Orem to winterize the renters' swamp cooler and drain the outside plumbing before helping Andy take a load of stuff to the dump.  We both did some house keeping to get the house ready for the semi monthly family dinner the next day.  That night we met up with our friends Steve and Wendy Coltrin and went to see Wickeder at the Desert Star Play House.  It snowed a lot while we were in the play and we worried about the ride home, but the weather cleared by 106th south, so we went for Mexican in Lehi, near their home there.



Then after church on Sunday, we gathered a few of our children and/or their spouses for family dinner.  We had promised some of you English dinner, which is the menu we brought back with us from picking up Trevor in England.  It includes lots of crisp steamed veggies, a pot roast and roasted potatoes.  However, Dad is so into his potato routine that once her had the potatoes cubed and cooked and ready to roast, is started mashing them ... ooops ... they were delicious anyway/  Yeah Dad.

Darby shared pictures of the condo that she is hoping to own soon.  Its exciting to share getting a new home experience with her.  We can hardly wait to see her installed.
It was also fun to have Emily and Becca show off their preggers selves, we just wish Brittany had been here for the picture too!!
 
Well that was it for our week, pretty mundane as weeks go, eh?
 
I am including the names we drew for Christmas gifts so that everyone will have a reference at hand:
Adult Children and Spouses' Drawing - $20
Britt - Janelle
Mike - Brady
Ashley - Spencer
Andy - Brittany
Darby -Ben
Trevor -Briahnna
Nell - Davin
Ben -Becca
Davin -Mike
Bri - Ashley
Emily - Darby
Sam -Trevor
Becca - Sam
Brady -Emily
Spencer -Andy
 
Grandkids' Drawing - $5
Kai  - Titan
Alex - Eleanor
Kim -Eva
Ian -Kai
Zach - Alex
Scott - Kim
Eva - Beckie
Eleanor - Zach
Elias - Ian
Beckie - Scott
Titian - Elias

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Witches and Giraffes and a Birthday ... oh my!

This was a crazy week. I worked on Monday, which made it a tough week since I had a show on Saturday ... Sunday night Dad commented that I had worked 6 of the previous 7 days ... yes it was a crazy week. The hardest thing for me was that Britt and Mike were in town moving the things out of their Salt Lake house as it had sold, and I missed seeing them.  Dad had a chance to get up there and help on Monday, but I didn't  get a chance to see them before they left, alas.

Tuesday was my only day to get ready for the antique show, and I worked hard all day doing that.  That evening, Dad brought Grandpa home from Nell's house before going to the temple, then Grandpa got to go with me to Titan's 2nd birthday celebration in Highland at Becca and Brady's.  Here we see Titan opening his gift from me and Dad.
 




It was really fun to see Becca and Brady's hard work in the redecoration of Titan's room.  Here he is with his cousins on both sides in his play loft ... the whole room was so cute.


It was a Cars theme party, and Becca did a great job working that into the food and decor and even the favors as shown by Scott below.




We even got to meet Spencer's girl friend, Brittney.  She served her mission in BC at the same time Spencer did, and they got reaquainted at conference time at their missionary reunion.  We just hope that we didn't  overwhelm her.














I worked on Wednesday and got to wear my witch costume, which was fun.  After worked I went straight to our ward's trunk or treat where I met up with Grandpa and Dad.  We were pleasantly surprised there to have Davin and Bri and their children come also.  Of course Emily and Sam were there with their baby, which we always love.



The main excitement came when I was trying to take a family picture of Davin's family, and grandpa disappeared ...  fortunately because its cold he just climbed into an unlocked car, again.  So that Brother Smith came over to where Dad was giving out candy at our 'trunk'  and said, "Errr, brother Perkins, your father is sitting in my car and its kind of freaking out my kids."  LOL  well it was Halloween, you are supposed to get a little freaked out, right?
 
Thursday was another work day, and since Dad had taken the seats out of the van the night before (bless his cotton socks) I was able to load up at the shop. When I got home we had movie torture for Cheryl definitely and maybe for Dad too, when we watched 10 Little Indians, an old movie based on an Agatha Christie book. After that Dad helped me finish loading the van with the stuff I'd been packing and saving for the last three months.

 Friday morning I was off at 7:00 A.M. to set up for the show, which took all day.  Saturday I was off to Ogden again and had a rather good show.  Aunt Joyce came by so we got to visit a bit, which is always fun!!  Dad spent the day clearing the garden boxes and mowing (read that vacuuming up leaves) the lawn, and generally getting things put away for winter!
 
On Sunday, Dad was on his own, as I was at the show again, so he stayed home from his meetings with the other ward, and took Grandpa to Fast and Testimony meeting.  Then he had double duty with Beckie and Grandpa during Sunday School, yeah Dad!!
I finished up the sale, loading up everything on my own, and doing all the hauling and organizing the van too, with the exception of having Bruce help me carry the two banquet tables I brought from home.  Dad usually surprises me by coming and helping with take down, but he was busy with Grandpa instead.  It was super nice though, because when I got home he had a nice pot roast dinner all ready for me.  Yummy!!
 
Did I mention that Dad is the most supportive and non-complaining man I know?  How lucky am I to have him not only for this life but for all eternity.  I am so grateful for the blessings of the temple and the fact that we are all sealed together as a family.  The older I get the more I realize how important the sealing powers are, and how happy we can all be together in the eternities. I love you guys.