Daydreams and Reality: January 2012

Jan 31, 2012

Thanksgiving 2011: Dinner and cookies....

Thanksgiving; what can I say, except it is a whole lot of work and a lot of family fun. We had a housefull again this year. Three of Kenneth's kids where here with their families....that made 8 adults and 9 children for dinner. The star of the night was our 24 pound turkey. It took three men to lift the bird out of the baking pan and onto a platter!

While adults slaved away in the kitchen three cousins were having fun. Here are Matthew, Ethan and Joshua who were caught on camera while watching a movie!

I believe dinners should be special events...memorable...a dining experience..not just a meal. I found various quotes on gratitude and thanksgiving and put them around the table. Candle light was created with assorted glass containers filled with wheat and topped off with a candle.

After dinner we all told what we were grateful for and took turns reading the quotes. It helped me remember that gratitude is more important than wants!

I made place-cards for everyone.

In Arizona it is warm enough to have dinner on the patio. Here we are after filling our plates and getting ready to devour our meal.

Karley loooovvees her papa!

A little candle light after the sun has set.

The next day was cookie making day with Alyssa, Ethan, Karley and Haley!

Haley really enjoyed her cookie!

Yum-O!

We might as well all have one! This was so much fun with the kids!

Jan 28, 2012

November 2011: A baby shower for Courtney...

Just before Thanksgiving we had a shower for Courtney at my house. Everything for Carson's room is about sports. So I made a cake to celebrate.

Ashley made this cute "B" for Carson's room.

Courtney got lots of night gifts....Carson won't need clothes for a long time!

The proud parents-to-be!

November 2011: A dam, vegas and two temples....

Our friends, Ron and Jill, invited us to go with them on a temple trip. Jill is one of the first friends I had in Arizona. Before Kenneth and I met face-to-face he had me call and talk to Jill. Kenneth had home taught them for years and Jill was one who could confirm that Kenneth was NOT the Texas-chainsaw-massacre guy...she could confirm that he was truly the wonderful man he presented himself to be....and that he really did his home teaching!

Us, somewhere near the Arizona/Nevada border. What a view!

The Hoover Dam...we spent several hours there. What an engineering marvel.

This is the new bridge that crosses over the river. It has only been open for a little over a year.

This is picture doesn't do justice to how high up this bridge really is. We walked all the way across. I think it was about a quarter of a mile across...maybe even more.

A view of the Hoover Dam from the bridge.

Our first stop was Las Vegas....Sin City. After cooking dinner in our condo we drove down to the "Strip." It was flashy and showy, but has ZERO appeal to me. In fact, I didn't like being there. Talk about a worldly place?...this is it!

The next morning we headed across town to the Las Vegas Temple. What a contrast to the Strip. Holiness and worldliness only miles apart.

Ron and Jill outside the Las Vegas Temple.

We drove onto St George, Utah where we spent the second night. The next morning we attended the temple at 6:30 am. Much to our surprise Kenneth's nephew, Travis, was in the same session. How random. He had been at our house two weeks earlier. Our trip to go the second night to St George was a last minute decision so we did not let Travis know we would be there. We knew we would not have time to visit with him. It was great to see him.

Brigham Young's summer home in St George.

On our drive home we drove through Jacob's Lake in northern Arizona and found beautiful wintry scenes! We covered a lot of ground in three days and it was so worth it!

October 2011: Flagstaff and Lowell Observatory...

We left home on Halloween morning for Flagstaff. It is about a 3 hour drive north of us. It was a perfect fall day. Our destination was Lowell Observatory. This is historic place is actually where the planet Pluto was discovered. It is a research institution founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell. After dark there were telescopes and tour guides helping you with observing various objects. We saw Jupiter and four of its moon. Amazing! Every time we do stargazing my testimony of Heavenly Father's creations is expanded and deepened. We spent a few days in the Flagstaff area and stayed in a friend's cabin. What a great little getaway.

For more information you can go to their website:

http://www.lowell.edu/

As we were walking around I heard a woodpecker...

and here he is.

This is the actual telescope used by Percival Lowell.

Looking down onto Flagstaff.

The burial tomb of Percival Lowell.

September 2011: Camping again....

We had had a few stressful weeks and on the spur of the minute decided that an overnight in the desert would be just the thing we needed. We were out the door in a couple hours. Kenneth made a quick trip to WalMart and came home with this "luxury" item for me! I was actually really happy he bought this....really happy!!!

Getting the telescope ready for the night.

Absolutely beautiful scenery as the sun goes down!

Jan 27, 2012

New birthday tradition...

Within the next two months Kenneth and I will have 22 grandchildren. Only half of them live near us. It will be a challenge to have a relationship with each of them, especially the ones that we aren't able to see very often. With that in mind, as each child has a birthday we will do a personal interview with each of them. Obviously the littlest ones will have their questions answered by their parents. The results of the interview and a current picture will be posted on this blog. We will also make a cute copy of the interview and send it to the parents to keep forever. This will be a great way for aunts, uncles and cousins to get to know each other.

We plan to continue this process until....well...until we are too old to blog!

So here's the first birthday for 2012.

Anya is the princess for the day.....

Anya Addison just turned four years old.

Today she spent the afternoon with Grandpa and me. I told her for her birthday she got to be Princess for the day. She was excited and even wore her princess dress from Halloween. There was a little tiara to go with the special occasion.

I picked her up and she was ready to go.