Spooky Witches Everywhere and Grandkids too!!

 

This week was a lot like every week.  Scott's off working while I am getting ready for a party!!  So Monday, I did the important task of transforming commercial orange soda into PARTY pumpkin soda ... my annual Witches Party was to be Friday and I spent much of the week preparing in one way or another.

 

On Tuesday I decorated the garden house for Halloween, mainly because that made for an easy blog post, but also so that you all could go there and feel festive!!    I also spent a lot of the day cleaning house, bathrooms, the fridge, you know the gross stuff.  Cheryl asked if I was just in a cleaning mood, and I said no, I am never in a cleaning mood, but I did have a party coming up and that made me force my own hand, so to speak.  Then Dad, of course, picked up Grandpa from Nell's and brought him home a bit early so that he, Dad, could head off for his shift at the temple.

 

On Wednesday I was off to work, making party poppers for the party while there, while Emily came upstairs to watch Grandpa.  She said that Beckie, 'discovered' this little white chair that day (though I took this picture later in the week) and spent most of the day sitting in it.  I thought that was very sweet.

 

Thursday morning was after the first freeze of the season and Ginny and I, who walk together Tuesdays and Thursdays, found lots of flowers with snow on them.  This Rose was pretty cool, because it had snow and frozen drips on the leaves.

 

I was off to work that day too, leaving Emily in charge of Grandpa.  After work I ran to Lindon to attend the wedding reception of one of our customers who was having a huge tea party theme for her reception.  She had been in the store a lot the previous month collecting tea cups and saucers as she was serving hot chocolate and the guest would be taking home their tea cups as favors.  Of course I saw a blog post in that as well, in fact I published it this morning.

 

Dad was working on projects at 3 different stores in Southern Utah, and spent the night in St. George that night, which was good because I was up most of the night getting things ready for the party.  Of course I especially missed him when I had to crawl into a cold bed at 2 A.M.

 

 

Then Friday was the big day, spooky witches flying in from all over Utah.   I think everyone had a good time.  I had bought a giant plastic cauldron and we got pics 'stirring the witch's brew'.  On the left are the three Best Witches, of course.

On Sunday morning Dad and Grandpa and I all headed north to see our  Grandchildren perform in the Primary Program.  That was so fun, especially since our little boy Trevor also got to be a part of the program, giving a message as a member of the bishopric.  It will be a couple more years before we get to see Titan and Elias doing theirs, but we enjoyed this one a lot.

 Here you get to see Dad wearing Eva's necklace, wasn't she nice to share.  We went by the house afterwards and shared lunch before heading back to our ward for Sunday School, Priesthood Meeting and Primary.

As always it was fun to see the kids antics.  Eva showed us her new bed tent and offered to let me play in there with her.  I told her that if I laid down I would fall asleep and that wouldn't be any fun at all. 

And here I am back at our ward with one of my two sunbeams for the day.  Sometimes I get as many as four or five children, but we just heard that the Stotts are moving, which made us all very sad, and I know that Brooklyn, shown here with me, will definitely miss Elsie, I know I will.

 

So that was our crazy week.  Hope yours was fun and crazy too... and for those who live here, I hope you all enjoy Halloween weather in the 70's, that has got to be a first, so enjoy!

An Antique House Tour, Friend Reunion, Dairy Farm Assignment and Birthday Dinner!

On Monday, I got to meet up with high school friends for lunch in Salt Lake ... which of course also means a day of antique/junk shopping as well.

 Then I dropped by to see our newest two year old to give her her present from Grandma and Grandpa.  I had bought the dress, and teddy bear, then made a matching dress for the teddy bear.  Of course the black and white polkadot is sort of my signature.  Nell told me that when she was shopping with Eva, recently, that she had pointed to a black and white polkadot item and said "Oh look, that is Grandma's favorite color!!"

On Tuesday I drove down to Aurora with Edie, Mike's mom, to see the historic home of a friend of hers.  It was a lot of fun to hear about her childhood and fun stories from her personal history.

Like the fact that her friend Lester, whose house we went to see, had cut off one of her waist length braids, at the shoulder, when she was about 6.  He was 9 and old enough to know better.  Here Edie and Lester are shown with the 'canned ham' trailer he is restoring. We went to lunch afterwards, and  I managed to get home in time to watch Grandpa for the evening while Dad ran off for his normal temple shift.

On Wednesday, after I got home from work, Dad, Grandpa and I were invited down for a quick 'birthday celebration' for Sam.

Thursday, at work, I redid the wall behind the cash register with a sort of Winter cabin theme.  I was really happy with how it turned out, and hope that it will sell my snow shoes, to the far right.  On Friday I was off to the Salt Lake antique show with Wendy and Dorothy, shown to the right.

And it was fun to run into Ann Hentzie from the ward in Salt Lake.  She always comes to the antique shows with her brother, they both wear lavender for these occasions, because they are both hunting lavender glass for their respective collections.  I love running into her at these shows.  She used to date Grandpa Carlo and used to tell Dad that she was almost his mother. LOL

On Friday I spent a huge chunk of the day clearing out the van.  Still had some stuff from the Fallow Field Farm sale I did almost a month ago, plus a lot of the stuff I had purchased for resale since.  That is sort of embarrassing to admit.  But Emily's need to borrow the van spurred me on.  When Dad got home we got the seats in as well, since E was taking her Sunday School class to breakfast on Saturday.

 

That night Dad, Grandpa and I all met up with the Heuers and Moes at Sizzler in Orem for a nice long (Two and a half hours) chatty dinner.  We definitely do not get together enough, but it was great to see them all and catch up.

 

Saturday morning Dad was off to the church Dairy Farm to work on clean up and getting everything ready for winter.  He said they ended up with too many volunteers, which is a very rare occurance, so they finished up really quick.  I, meanwhile, had done a bit of garaging before heading to the primary program practice at the church.  Hard to believe I am right back in Primary.  I was in charge of the program last year .... BTW they did a great job!!  That night Dad, Grandpa and I all headed to Salt Lake to see the condo that Darby was going to make an offer on.  Davin and Becca and their families met us there as well.

 

Everyone loved the place, but Darby's bid was not the highest, and she is quite disappointed.  That just means more looking, and its great to see a place that is so affordable with so much space and potential, there will be more to come.

Sunday we had the Primary program, and the chapel was packed with family and grandparents.  It was great to see.  All went well, and I got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society.  Sam taught, and did another amazing job.  He is such a natural teacher ... And when he bore his testimony at the end he had tears in his eyes and his voice broke, though he has denied it.  He tries to play the hard guy, but he definitely has a soft spot when it comes to the gospel.  That night we all got together here to celebrate Sam and Emily's birthdays.  We actually had Nell's favorite, Navajo Tacos, because it was supposed to be her celebration too, but in the end she and Trevor attended a court of honor in their ward instead, and we missed them.

Its always fun seeing the grand kids and aunties and uncles interacting.  Titan and Elias are really becoming friends, and sort of played catch ... still working on that, but it was very cute.  To the right we see Titan practicing baby holding, a skill he will need soon.

All of those who were not on diets enjoyed the traditional Perkins birthday treat, a brownie sundae, including Great Grandpa, it would seem.  He had worn his pocket talker all day at church and seemed to enjoy it, but took it off, forcefully, afterwards.  But he always enjoys when the kids are here, so there was no change that way.

And Elias says "I love coming to Grandma and Grandpa's!  Hurray!!"

Shakespeare, Skeletons, a Seventieth Birthday, and a Rooster on the Roof!

This was definitely a weird week for me.  For one thing, I ended up being sick on Saturday and Sunday, which somehow just seems wrong ... Those are supposed to be party days and rest days, right?

 Monday I worked on invitations for my Witch's party, which is happening later in the month.  Then on Tuesday my friend Wendy, shown to the right, picked me up and we spent a couple of days in Cedar City antiquing and see Les Mis and Hamlet at the Shakespeare Festival.

 

I got home Wednesday evening, and got to spend time with Dad.  He had done his regular temple shift on Tuesday night, leading a session, which I missed.  Emily made that possible by taking care of Grandpa Carlo that evening, since I was gone. Above is shown the large skeleton I got in Cedar City that I dressed up in a girly fashion ... isn't she spooky?

Thursday morning, while walking with Ginny Taylor from the ward, we saw this chicken on the roof of a house.  Made us both smile.  Then I was off to work, and Dad took Cheryl to see Greg Skodis (Aunt Wendi's brother) and was able to get a power of attorney for her, since Greg went to High School with her and knew her, and could sign without any ID, which we don't currently have. 

On Friday I got to babysit for Trevor and Nell, while she photographed a wedding.  They had other care set up, but when the two girls got sick Thursday, they didn't dare take them to a house with other children.  They all seemed fine, and I got to play some games with them, and put on a short version of Little Red Riding Hood.  I got about an hour at DI, which is normally my business for Friday, before picking up Grandpa at Davin's, since Spencer (his normal day care person for Friday) had taken him there before heading to Idaho with Davin to look at a car.  (They spent the night with Britt, which I think they all enjoyed!)

That night Dad and I took Grandpa to Salt Lake where we attended the 70th birthday celebration for my brother Clark, at his daughter, Jill's, house.  We both had a good time visiting with my siblings and hearing good old 'Clark' stories.

 I love the painting above, it is of Jill's two oldest daughters.  I thought it was just charming!!

I was supposed to go to a baby shower on Saturday, but was feeling under the weather, so I snuggled into bed for most of the day. (My symptoms, btw, were not related to those which Eva and Lu had had before I babysat them)  

 

That morning Dad took his Dad and they met up with Darby to look at a condo she is thinking of making an offer on.  Then they went by Cheryl's to see if Dad could find some kind of ID items to help get a state ID card, as we need that to get Cheryl some insurance, and the homeowners association had changed the locks on her condo, there was a notice on the door saying that they had determined it was empty and had done so to 'secure their interests' or something like that.  Crazy! 

That afternoon Dad went to the BYU football game, which he enjoyed for three quarters of the game. 

 

 

When he got home we met up with Kews to go to Salt Lake for an art film and trendy dinner.  I had slept most of the day, and was feeling a little better.  The dinner was at a place called Plum Ally, and was Asian Fusion, but everything was SOOO hot ... the hanging assorted lanterns, shown above, was the best part.  After dinner we saw a documentary called Looking for Sugarman which had been recommended by the Movie Show guys.  I was still a little out of it and dozed in and out, making it really surreal for me.  The other three all really liked it!

 

Today, I stayed home for sacrament meeting, but they had the practice for the Primary Program, and it was my day to 'teach' so I dragged myself over there.  After church Dad made dinner, and I had mine in bed.  By evening I was feeling a little better, and right now, just after midnight, I feel pretty normal.  Just hoping it lasts, I have a busy week coming up. 



Lunch Out, Book Club, A Painting Party, Conference AND A GRADUATION!!

On Monday, I kept busy with attending my We Can work meeting and luncheon.  We covered notebooks for women in battered women's shelters to use. Dad took Grandpa to Nell's again, but Grandpa is still getting used to being there.  He told Nell that she was a nice lady, but he didn't know her and needed to go ... I guess he still needs more time getting used to things there.

 

On Tuesday, my friend Arlene came down, she is Aunt Shirley's sister with whom I became very close in College, right after high school.  She is very into gardening and had seen my garden house on my Pollyanna blog and wanted to see it in person.  It was great to visit.  We then went to Cafe Rio in Spanish for lunch, after which I ran some errands.  Dad brought grandpa home early, as it was his Temple shift that night.  I got home in time to keep an eye on him for the evening.

 

On Wednesday, I went into work for a half a day, before heading to Kaysville, hitting second hand stores along the way, to attend Darby's graduation as a Pharmacy Tech from Davis Applied Technology Institute.  We were all pretty darn proud of her.  She is doing great and is actually looking at condos to buy.   We all met up for dinner afterwards at a fresh Mex place in Bountiful.

 

Before going to work on Thursday, I spray painted the pot on the shelf above.  I had bought some Sweet Basil the previous week and wanted to grow it in the kitchen window so that I could make the salad shown above to the right.  Yummy!  After work I attended our ward book club which Emily was hosting here at our house.  Afterwards I decoupaged the bird on the flower pot, potted the basil, took pictures of it and then blogged about it ... because that is how I roll.

On Friday the whole day was about Dad, which is a good thing.  Spencer came to watch grandpa and Dad and I took off to attend a session at the Bountiful temple at 10:30 with his Finnish Missionary group, those that were under the same mission president as he.   Afterwards me met at a ward house for lunch and a program.  Of course he loved it!  We didn't leave Bountiful and the reunion until almost four.  Spencer had his mission reunion that night too, so Emily filled the day care gap for Grandpa until I could get home to take over.  Dad was off again to go to the BYU game, and I didn't see him again until late that night.

 

Saturday was conference, and Emily had made arrangements for a painting party at Trevor and Nell's.  I went to some garage sales in Payson, and did some gift shopping at Walmart before heading up there.  By the time I got there, the painting was done.  Dad and Sam were finishing up installing one of the last windows that Trevor and Nell are replacing their old drafty windows with. 

 It was fun for me to see everyone though, look how cute Eva is playing with Adilyn's toes.

Sam Beverage came to help out, as did Nell's sisters Sarah and Alexis.  Here Scott is watching Sarah playing games on her phone.

Everyone enjoyed playing with and holding Adilyn, even Beckie.  It was really fun too, because Beckie is just starting to walk and she demonstrated her wobbly steps, sometimes 10 or 12 in a row.  She is so cautious, its just darling.  We missed seeing Becca and Brady because they ran off to Disneyland, it was a surprise spur of the moment thing for Brady's birthday.

That night Dad took Grandpa and the boys, including Sam, to the priesthood session of conference.  They went for Mexican afterward, as is the tradition.

 

 



On Sunday Emily brought up leftovers from their conference breakfast before I could make a fancy breakfast, so that was perfect.  Grandpa and Dad ate the waffles and aunt Cheryl ate the sausage, and everyone was happy, especially me because I didn't have to cook at all.  We watched both sessions of conference together in the family room, then Grandpa, Dad and I headed up to Trevor and Nell's again for Conference dinner.

 

I love seeing my kids and grands playing together and being good friends.

Nell made meatball subs, and they were a big hit.  I even took some home for Cheryl, and she liked them too, which is no small thing!!

Dad and I spent a quiet evening at home.  Grandpa sat in with Aunt Cheryl watching TV, while Dad and I sat in the living room and read together.  It was very calm and peaceful!