2 (of my many) problems solved!!

I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear this, my blog reading friend, but I have problems.  Some big and important, some pretty small and stupid.  Some which I just need to take by the horns and fix, and some are totally out of my control.  My job on the last group is to fix my attitude to accept that I don't have any control and find happiness in spite of them.  I know I am no different than anyone else in these declarations of problems, and solutions and non-solutions.  No one gets through life without their share of things to work through or around, or whatever.  

(Stick with me while I digress for a moment)  I was reminded of the importance of feeling gratitude no matter what you are going through just recently.  My good friend lost her child in a tragic accident.  This child also happens to have been one of my seminary students!  He was a smart, handsome, good young man, who loved his life, and the people in it.  To see his life cut short was a shock and as I said before, a tragedy.  My friend spoke at his funeral, and related how the thought came to her (in the form of a recent General Conference talk by Pres. Uchtdorf) about being grateful in any circumstance.  She took note of the magically folded and put away clothes in her dresser, the balanced meals that her kitchen seemed to produce from nowhere, and the texts that came to her phone at just the perfect time. (She voiced it much more eloquently)  Of course, these things were all facilitated by her friends and family, and she was able to, in the midst of her seemingly devastating grief, to recognize the service of others to her and her family.  Is she still grieving her son?  Of course, and most likely will be doing that in some form the rest of her life.  Is she debilitated by it?  Probably at times, but for the most part, she is using her gratitude to carry her through this horribly difficult time.  What a great example to me and to those at the funeral!!  I'm grateful for her!

(Ok, back to the original subject.  Although, after that, my "problems" seem pretty ridiculous, even absurd!!  If I could think of a different term to use, I would.  Maybe as I type it will come to me.)

So, what are these great "problems"?  First of all, I love to buy journals.  I am especially tempted when I go to TJ Maxx and take a peek at their inventory.  They always have something that catches my eye, and I usually succumb.  Now, a girl can only use some many of these, and as I'm not writing very often in a paper journal these days, I can't just keep buying them on a whim or my kids will curse my name for my empty journal collection when I die.  They will have enough things to curse me about.  I don't want my love of journals to be in that category.  So, what to do with this latest one I  bought?  I love it.  A bike?  Hello!  Reminders to enjoy the ride?  Hello!  Love both of those things.   

And, look inside.  Such cute pages.  (The pages rotate between about four or five different patterns.)  I <3 journal.="" nbsp="" p="" this="">

Now to the second dilemma (that's a good substitute for problem).  I love to cook, and I love all the recipe options available on the MANY blogs in the internet!  So many recipes!!  I have my favorites - ourbestbites.com, and smittenkitchen.com, just to name a couple.  Of course, allrecipes.com is a great place to go, and the foodnetwork website and pioneerwoman.com always have something.  Now how is a girl supposed to keep track of the recipes she tries, likes and wants to use again?  I was copying them into a recipe book but that is about full, and obviously redundant.  I don't need to reinvent the wheel here.  

Enter my new journal!  I realized I could make a record of the recipes I want to use again in it.  Great idea right?  But how to keep track of them and find them again?  I numbered the pages and created an alphabetical index at the back of the journal.  Now it doesn't matter if the entries aren't in any order.  I can easily find them as long as I remember to enter the page number they are on in the index.

When I thought of this last week, I couldn't help patting myself on the back for a brilliant idea.  (Now I realize someone has probably already figured this out, and posted it on Pinterest, or something like that, but I am not a very good Pinner and haven't seen anything so am feeling very creative and dilemma solving!  And you can be un-impressed if you choose, but I choose to be excited and a bit giddy about the whole thing.  And of course, grateful...

Meet my siblings

Several years ago, a friend passed away very suddenly.  As I sat at his funeral and heard his sister talking about him as her brother, I was filled with an intense gratitude for the group of people I call my brother and sisters.  This post has been swirling around in my head, and although it is 2 years later, I still feel that same overwhelming feeling about these people.

So, here it is, in honor of Siblings Day.  (I don't know if I am a bad sibling, but even though it has been around for almost 20 years, I haven't ever realized, or paid much attention to it.  And, if my intent is to honor my siblings, I am a week late, which is often how our family rolled when I was young, so really, I would say its about par for the course!  ;)

So, to my 4 siblings, I say, Happy Siblings Day!  I know I wasn't much of a fan of yours when I lived at home.  I was the bossy, oldest sister after all, and didn't give you much reason to be a fan of me. Now, I think you all are the best, and I love each one of you for the wonderful people you have become and the ways you have enriched my life.

Starting at the left and going clockwise - Grandpa Sollenbarger with Jodi, Tony, Grandma Sollenbarger with Solly the dog who did not like kids, Sue-Anne, Me, Dawn

This picture is circa 1976.  That is a guess based on the fact that Jodi and Grandpa Sollenbarger are both in this picture.  Also, it looks like a possible Christmas decoration or two on the wall.  Jodi was born in 1975 and she is obviously not an infant in this picture and Grandpa died in 1978 and I'm pretty sure this picture was taken in Scottsbluff.   Come to think of it, this may be one of the few pictures of Jodi and Grandpa in existence.  Grandpa had cancer, unbeknownst to any of us until right before he died.  I really can't remember how often they were able to visit us around this time. And if you are wondering why I didn't post a picture of just the 5 of us without Grandpa and Grandma, I only have a few, and this one isn't too bad of any of us.  Admit it, you like the pirate face Dawn is making!  ;)

I am almost 4 years older than Dawn, and 13 years older than Jodi.  Dawn, Tony and Sue-Anne are much closer in age to each other.  That made for some strange family dynamics.  For me that meant that Jodi was just starting Kindergarten when I went off to college.  I didn't really get to know her very well.  Dawn and I shared a room off and on through the years, but things didn't gel between us until we both were much older.  (Okay, I'm pretty sure I was the main problem, so when I got older).  As for Tony and Sue-Anne, I was around them a lot, but basically, we weren't very close.  

Now that we have each settled into our own lives, I have had a chance to get to know each one of my sibs, and as I said before, they are wonderful people.

Dawn has 2 lovely daughters, and is a stablizing influence in the lives of her two step-kids.  She and her husband, Mike live in Eastern Washington.  She is a school librarian, excellent cook, animal lover, and has turned me on to several things in my life that I love , two of which are a Prairie Home Companion and the A & E version of Pride and Prejudice .  Although she lives about 2 1/2 hours away, we don't get to see each other very often.  Life gets complicated, you know. :(  It is a real treat when we both have a minute to chat.

Tony has his own computer support business in Denver.  I'm not sure if that is what he would call it.  All I know is that when I am having computer issues, I know I can count on him to help me out.  He is always ready to get tickets to a Denver Rockies game when we are in town, and when Tony eats good food you can tell he is enjoying it.  When I tell people about Tony, I ALWAYS tell them he is one of the kindest people I know.  He is a gentle soul who is so happy to celebrate a great thing in your life, as well as sympathize and/or mourn when things don't turn out as planned.  

Sue-Anne is getting used to being a single mom of her two kids.  She recently moved back to the Denver area, is working full-time and trying to keep her head above water.  In all honesty, she and I aren't as close as I would like to be.  I know the ball is in my court to elevate our relationship to a higher level.  I do know that she and her kids love to have fun.

Jodi and her husband, Vance, live in Denver with their son.  She works in a busy insurance office, and tries to keep her two boys out of trouble ;)  I love to communicate with Jodi, whether by email, text or phone.  When she posts a picture on FB, she always looks gorgeous.  It is kind of hard to believe we are sisters.   Come to think of it, that's how it is whenever she is in a picture.  

The following pictures are from our Dad's 70th birthday party.  It was a surprise, and Dad and Mom were really surprised when Dawn and I came down the stairs after the initial cries of "Surpise" from friends and other family members.   I knew from the moment I got the invitation I wanted to be there, and I'm so glad I went.    

Back row l-r  Tony, Sue-Anne, Dad with Madi in front, Mom, Max
Front row  l-r  Jodi, Lucas, Dawn, Me

And one more, just because I love it when we all smile with our teeth showing.  

Now, we aren't close to being a perfect family.  We have had our moments in the past, and probably will have more, but I can honestly say that with these people in my life I am truly blessed.

And the lack of a FB post doesn't take away from the sincerity of my feelings one little bit!  :)

For the Beauty of the Earth and a little dog sledding...

“Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

-Thornton Wilder

This quote was in my inbox the day before we left for Yellowstone this month.  We went down for our usual snowmobiling trip with Vision Source.  It was fun.  The weather was good, a little foggy to be able to go to Two Top, but we still had fun, were able to snowmobile a lot, and in a new twist, we both got stuck at different points in the day.  

This quote is from "Our Town", a play by Thornton Wilder.  I imagine Emily is saying it as she looks down on her town after she dies.  She realizes how great the earth is, what she had when she was there, and what she is missing now that she has passed on to the other side.

My first thought when I read this is how beautiful and wondrous the earth is.  I can't help but utter a prayer of Thanksgiving when I am out in Nature.  At times I am close to being overcome by the Earth and her MANY facets.  Each beautiful in its own way.  In fact, one of my favorite instagram accounts is usinterior!  Each day I get at least one amazing photo of this place we call Earth, and the diverse beauty of it.  One of the best examples of our gorgeous world is Yellowstone National Park.  Unfortunately, this year, I really didn't get any good pictures, so I stole from my archives for this post.  The great thing about that is the sights are still there, still breathtaking, and barring some volcano or other natural disaster, will be around for a long time.  

The Snow Giants

The falls of the Firehole River - Yellowstone National Park

One of the many geothermic features at Yellowstone National Park

So, yes Emily, Earth is to wonderful for us to realize...in so many ways!!  I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves us so much, He sent His son to create this wonderful planet for us to live on.  Yes, it has its problems, (although, I'd say the majority of those are caused by the inhabitants, and not the planet itself) but, everyday, I am grateful to be here, in such a lovely place to live, to love, and to prove I am up to the challenge of living in such a way so I can return to that same Heavenly Father, whose daughter I am, someday.  That is what life is all about.

Now, on to less weighty matters...

The day after snowmobiling, we got to try dog sledding!  That was a great experience!  Definitely a new one!!  There were two rules.  1 - Hang on.  2 - Don't let go!   You have to hang on because the dogs LOVE to run!  They are bred to run.  As soon as they realize it is almost time to go, they bark, they jump, they whine, they can't contain themselves until they get down to the business of pulling the sled!  So, should the driver not be able to step on the brake, they will take off down the trail!

Well just let me say in my defense that it is really hard to steer the sled, and at one point, I leaned hard into the turn, and thought we were going over!!!  I broke rule #2.  Luckily, our guide, Moffet (is that the greatest name for a sled dog guide?) was in the front of the sled and jumped out, and stopped the sled.  Who knows where John would have ended up otherwise??  I ran fast to catch it, but would have been toast if not for Moffet.

John was a much better driver, to say the least.  I was happy to turn over the proverbial reins when we got back to the start, and he had another successful run with the dogs.  He did not break Rule #1 or Rule #2.  He is a good listener!!

At the helm of the dog sled.  (Do you hear the foreboding music???)

Au revoir, 2014...

Just a quick post about 2014.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  (Since it will be quick, it will probably be incomplete, but oh well.)

The good - Where to start?
-A new grandson - pictures here
-Sister Rietz serving in the California Rancho Cucamonga Mission.  She's 7 months in and going strong.  You can follow her adventure at her blog
-Teaching Seminary.  Who knew I would love it so much?  And love it I do.  I have a great class who show up, stay awake and are a joy to meet with 5 mornings a week - see this post
-Thanksgiving with the family.  see this post
-The first Roommate Rendevous  - see this post
-Many good books - Non-fiction seemed to be my genre this year - here is one I really enjoyed
-Watching my family continue to grow and seeing the great people they are becoming - you'll have to peruse the blog to find examples.  I'm sure I included plenty!  :)

This is just a sample of the good.  So many things to remember and to be grateful for.  I hope I appreciated and will continue to appreciate them enough.

The bad - Luckily not the longest list, but still long enough...
-Too many people we know passed away too soon - here is one story
-We didn't go to Australia - I could list this under "ugly" because it makes me very sad, and the regret       I feel about this is something I have to let go, because I can't change anything.  Lesson learned             though - take the matter into my own hands if I want something badly enough.
-Not enough blog posts, quilting, hiking or bike riding...no posts, just 3 resolutions for 2015!

The ugly - okay, there really isn't anything to put here unless you want to see a picture of my varicose veins, and really, who wants to see that?  ;)  My life is great, and my family and I are richly blessed.  Sure we have ups and downs, but isn't that what life is all about?

I'm excited to have a new year ahead of me.  I just saw a quote today about how we have 365 pages of a new book to write on.  I'm looking forward to seeing how our story unfolds in 2015.

Happy New Year!!

I give Thanks for...

FAMILY!!

Hands down, the greatest gift a girl could have.  

Here are a few pictures from our weekend in Utah, and a few things that happened that we don't have pictures for.  Just let me say, it was a wild and crazy weekend, we came home ready for a nap, and the drive home was long, but...we wouldn't have done it any different!!  It was a perfect trip spent with people we love.  

(The pictures are out of order, but if I spent time rearranging them, I would decide I don't have time to finish this post, so take it or leave it.)

Saturday evening, we ended up at Temple Square, but really only got to glimpse the Christmas Lights.  This is a good picture though, no?  Four beautiful girls, two cute little boys and the Salt Lake Temple in the background.  We don't even need lights to make this a pretty picture.  (Okay, we could have done with a little better photography, but it is what it is.)  We met up with one of the families Amber has gotten close with on her mission and we got to hear all about her, and what a good missionary she is.  This mama's heart is full!!  

There was a suprise activity for just the girls on Saturday morning.  Can you guess from the picture?  Yep, pedicures at a VERY calming spa!  My birthday/Christmas present!!  It was a treat for sure. My toes have NEVER looked this good!!  Let's hear it for "Bright Lights, Big Color" OPI nail polish.  Although, get a load of that bunion!  Not so good!!

We all went bowling Saturday afternoon.  You can't tell from this picture, but Carter spent the majority of the time VERY sad.  It was loud and chaotic for him, and he DID NOT LIKE IT!!  He finally got a little into the spirit of things after the noisy group next to us left.  He did feel a little better about things if he was in the arcade.  (Go figure:)  

Talmage used the rack to bowl for a while, but then got his groove on, and rolled the ball just like a pro.  It was a happy moment when he got a strike!

Tanner and Benson both benefitted from help.  Benson and Grandpa also got a strike at one point, and there were hugs all around from Benson.  He was a very happy boy and wanted to share the love.  Tanner, as you can see, is very intent about the whole affair.

Ryan, Chelsie and Brandon.  Can you see the football game in the upper left screen?  BYU was playing and we had some distracted bowlers!  :)

Dinner on Saturday night was compliments of Ashley and Brandon.  Tucano's was delicious!  I could have just eaten the from the Salad bar and been satisfied, but the meat was pretty darn good as well!!  Mmm, I can still taste the Garlic Beef.  Carter didn't find much to complain about either!  

Another beautiful shot from the outskirts of Temple Square

Benson loves Nutella for breakfast.  He is also a champ at saying cheese when it is time for a picture!  He doesn't disappoint.

I warned everyone ahead of time that there would be a family picture at some point in the weekend.  We finally snuck one it before Chelsie and Dallin had to leave.  It isn't the perfect set-up, but the people in it are just right, and that is all that counts!!

Dinner prep

Grandpa and the boys with their birthday presents from us.  Note that everyone is calm, and still...

...a few minutes later.  Lesson learned.  They are only good for one picture!  :)

We had two Thanksgivings, the second with the Cleggs at their cabin.  Here is a pick up basketball game after dinner.  Not pictured - John who took a tumble and crashed his head into one of those fence rails.  He took a break after that.  (He was okay, thank goodness)  Also, Talmage was able to get into the action a little after this picture.

Grandpa Clegg kept a few boys busy on the (what is this called?  Four-wheeler?)  It doesn't matter, they loved it!!

There has to bee football on TV after Thanksgiving, preferably while you are eating pie.

These boys knew where the good stuff was!  :)

A few more things that happened that weekend...

-We had our first Thanksgiving dinner with Valerie and Bruce and their family.  It was great to see everyone, and it was nice they were all there together.

- We went to the Museum of Art at BYU and saw an exhibit of costumes from Period movies that was SO COOL!!  Many of my favorite movies were represented - Little Dorritt, Miss Potter, Sense and Sensibility, The Phantom of the Opera, just to name a few.  It was stunning to see the detail and although I got reprimanded, nicely, of course, for taking pictures, I would have snuck a few more if I wasn't afraid of getting reprimanded again.  There was also a quilt display of Pakistani quilts!  Not my style, too much applique, but stunning, none the less!  Really intricate and colorful!  It was a nice bonus.

-We got to see Ryan's parents at his aunt and uncle's house.  It was nice to catch up with the Inkley's even for just a little while.  They had a lot of family in town also, so I think it worked out well for everyone.

-We also visited with Alli and Ryan's second family, Ben and Kelli.  They also welcomed us, fed us, entertained us, and made us feel like family.  Such a nice family.  (I will partner with Kelli any day for Nertz!!:)

-We got to stay with Chelsie and Dallin in their basement apartment for a few nights.  John and Chelsie went to DI and found some chairs for their "new" table.  It was fun to be in their home.

- John and I went to the Bountiful Temple with Ashley and Brandon.  It is always good to be at the temple with your family.  On the way home, we drove by their new home and saw where Brandon will be working.  Its all so good!!

- We had a surprise visit from Joni, Valerie, Alice, and Aunt Susie on Sunday afternoon.  I'm glad Ashley got to see her grandma, and that Grandma got to see the boys.

- The boys got to go to a BYU Basketball game on Saturday night.  They had a great time.  Lucky for Tanner, not so lucky for Dallin, Dallin got called in to the hospital right before dinner, so he not only missed dinner, but also missed the game.  Tanner did get to go, and showed his Cougar spirit by trash talking the other team the whole way out of the Marriott Center!  :)  Dallin hung out with us girls and actually was okay with that, as he was fighting a sinus infection all weekend, and was able to just lay low.

- It was a great weekend!!  I hated to see it end.

Our Father's Love

It is cold here!  That is an understatement, and I know it is way colder other places, but today when I walked with my friend, it was around 10 deg.  BRRR!!  Tuesday, when I was walking with the same friend -who by the way is from Minnesota and has lived in Alaska, therefore can handle the cold - down by the river, we came across this lovely fellow.  Of course, I'm not sure he's a fellow, but I'm just going with to keep things simple.  We passed him heading one way, and my friend pointed him out to me, and when we were heading back, I told her I wanted a picture if he was still there, and amazingly, he still was.  We cracked up because his head is tucked so tightly into his shoulders.  You know there is a long neck all folded up in there.  He is all hunkered down to face the cold.  My friend pointed out that maybe its warmer on the ground than flying in the wind.  Who knows??  

I do know that I love moments like this when I come upon something in nature that is a bit of a surprise, as well as a little out of the ordinary, and I feel loved.  Being in nature reminds me of Heavenly Father's love for us.  He directed Jesus to create this world for us, to live in and to enjoy.  It is a beautiful world.  

Two other things this week have reminded me about how much He loves us.  

Our Relief Society lesson on Sunday was about Visiting Teaching.  That program which gives us a chance to minister to and serve our fellow sisters in the Gospel was instituted in the early days of the Church.  Although its methods have changed over the years (check out Chapter 7 of Daughters of My Kingdom), its purpose is the same.  This program gives us a chance to be the Lord's hands in His absence.  To minister and succor as He did when he was on the earth.

The third thing is the Atonement of Christ.  We have been reading this book,

in book club.  Wow!!!  We only read the first half because it is packed with so much information we had to break it up.  Chapter 15 is where we ended and it is titled, Infinite in Love.  Reading that chapter brought home to me how much Heavenly Father does love us.  His willingness to sacrifice His son, to let him suffer incomprehensible pain and suffering for us in mind-boggling.  As a mother, the thought of losing one of my children is unbearable to think about.  Knowing the love that both of them had - Heavenly Father to let it happen, and Christ to suffer and die for us - makes me want to be the best I can so it is not in vain.  Not taking advantage of the Atonement and repentance seems to be the greatest ingratitude I could show.  Now, having said that, I will continue to make stupid mistakes and be the human that I am, but I guess the test of how much I really believe in and am grateful for the Atonement is in the way I use repentance and make those changes to become better little by little, day by day.

Of course, there are other things that show me of His love, but in short, I am grateful for these 3 manifestations just in the last 3 days.

I feel loved!!

Christmas is coming...

Wow! I should say Christmas is here, but I do have a few more days before I could actually say that. It really seems like I was just stuffing myself with turkey and all the trimmings, and now I'm wondering just how the next few days will go until the "big day".

We've made it through the Christmas concerts - Trevor and Kristin - School, singing and trumpet respectively; Amber, Kristin and Allison - Christmas Music Fireside, all singing, Allison playing on her harp.

The gingerbread houses - Trevor - school; Allison and Amber - Young Woman Daddy-daughter; everyone - home. You may notice that one of the big gingerbread houses looks like it could cave in at any moment. Apparently there was an engineering problem with that one. Luckily that frosting dries about as hard as cement, so I'm pretty sure its not falling down, but really, who knows?

The Christmas shopping - I'm pretty sure we've never been done this early before.

Allison's birthday - she was 16 going on 17, now she's just 17.

And we got our BYU freshman home safe and sound. I hope she learned a little more about making jello!!

The decorations are up - although, the remodeling really messed up my bannister/garland plan - Hmm, I think I'll get over it. :-) Trevor once again took the proverbial reindeer by the horns and got us started. Who knows when we would have actually gotten down all those boxes without his leadership!!! Our tree top angel recently underwent her own personal makeover and I must say, she is looking mighty fine. I think she definitely has many more Christmases in her future. She was looking pretty shabby and not very angelic.


We've listened to The Chipmunks Christmas just enough times to satisfy those crazy Chipmunks fans among us

We've done the Christmas Baking to make the house really smell yummy and...

The Christmas sewing is all wrapped up. Really, you'd think I'd get it done in October since I know I'm going to do it. I'll have to put that on my to do list next year!!!

Mother Nature even provided us with a few inches of snow - yes, you read it right - SNOW!!! and with very chilly temperatures, I predict a very good chance we'll have a WHITE CHRISTMAS! Now that's something for our neck of the woods. I feel pretty safe playing weatherman here, since I have about the same chance as a professional at getting it right!!!

I am using my "Christmas greetings can be late" card (similar to the "Get out of Jail free" card) this year which means I don't have to do anything about the Christmas letter until our new little bit of heaven makes his grand(son) entrance into the world. 7 days and counting! We are excited, but not quite as excited as Ashley and Brandon, which only seems right I guess. (Although Ashley makes a very cute momma-to-be.) You will be happy to know dreams do not always come true which is so good, since I dreamed the baby's name was Joe Keener Peay the other night. Where in the heck did that come from? I am not a late-night eater, so I can't blame it on something I ate!!!

Well Christmas greetings to all - both near and far! Wouldn't it be fun to get together for Christmas - everyone, and eat and laugh and play games and just enjoy each other? Well, of course we can't do that, but we can be together in spirit, and know that I'm spending Christmas with each of you in my heart.
Each year as I learn more, and my testimony of the Savior grows, Christmas, to me, becomes more genuine and less worldly. I cannot fathom the love that Heavenly Father has for us that He sent His son to earth for us. That although He knew the ending before the beginning even started, He was willing to do that for me and for you! My Christmas wish for each of you is that you will feel the love of the Savior in your lives throughout this Christmas season and always.

My grateful list for this post is as follows...

-Christmas lights - preferably clear
-The snow - Trevor is in heaven
-Karissa's mom's chocolates (YUM)
-My Savior


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Blog Madness/Success

No big news to report this week. But I think blogging has gotten into my psyche. Last night I had a very vivid dream and after the action was over, I dreamed I could put it in my blog!!! And I dreamed about what kind of pictures I could take that would look good on the blog! (That explains the madness part) That has this 40-something techno-rookie a bit worried. Maybe I better take a little break from this blogging thing. Maybe I shouldn't have signed up for Facebook. Maybe I'm finally figuring out this computer stuff because I actually changed my background from one that is not on the regular blogging website and was something I had to cut and paste, and it worked!!! (This is the success part!)

Well, whatever is happening, it is what it is, and even if I do decide to take a break it will be temporary because you can bet your bottom dollar that when our grand baby comes into the world, this blog will be back up and running!!!

There's something to look forward to!

Grateful thoughts

- the final two doors are painted
- 9 days until Chelsie comes home (Its not too late to make your Thanksgiving reservations, Brandon and Ashley)
- a little Christmas shopping done thanks to a spontaneous mall trip with John (that really should have made the blog. It was his idea to go shopping!!!)
- the new blog background!!

The latest goings on

Now that we've fallen back, I've got an extra hour to update this blog.:-) Can't we leave it as is? (The time I mean)
Allison was "Pretty in Pink" when she was all dressed up for Homecoming. Her date, Taylor, in the white suspenders, and she got together with 4 other couples and ate pizza, danced (a little), played games (lots of laughs) and watched "Prom Date" (scary!). A great time was had by all.

October means Halloween and Halloween means carving pumpkins. We invited our friends, the Papworths for dinner and pumpkin fun. They were good sports and got their hands slimy and gooey along with the rest of us. They were rewarded with a jack-o-lantern of their own to set on their porch for Halloween night.




Of course, Halloween also means costumes and trunk-or-treating. Kristin decided to try her hand at crutches and was a poor accident victim. Trevor was in heaven dressed like an army man ready for action. Amber was a super-hero girl, just along for the fun.Thanks to friends who are moving, we are now able to play ping pong just like the Chinese Olympians. (Okay, so by that I mean, we have a place to hit the ball over the net and return it. Not necessarily as fast as the Chinese do it, but we have the capability should we so desire. :-) They didn't want to move their ping pong table, and we had a spot for it, so after much maneuvering and a few scratches on the new walls and ceiling (darn) we have a ping pong table in the game room. Very fun!!! We challenge you to a match, or better yet to get an aerobic workout playing "Around the World". Whoo, that will get you winded!

Finally, my grateful list for the past few weeks -

-Indian summer days when I can go on long bike rides with friends.
-good medical care available to those who need it
-my sewing machine
-my washing machine (I was reminded several times last week that wash used to be done on
wringer washing machines)
-Beautiful sunsets

A day on the soccer pitch

Saturday was a lovely day in the valley which was good since we had 3 soccer games all in a row to cheer for. Amber had one more in Pullman later in the afternoon, but we sent her up with the coach for that one. Her team lost the first game, won the second.


Trevor tried his hands at goalie this week. He also played offense and scored at least a few times. He did think goalie was pretty cool. He is just so glad to play. Any day on the field is a good day for him.

Kristin played against 3 of her good friends in her game. She and Alyssa were battling for the ball and Alyssa went down, landed on her elbow and went to the Dr. office to get x-rays to see how badly she injured it. Kristin felt bad, but only let it show after the game. It didn't matter to her that the opposing team's goalie was a girl she has played soccer with since Kindergarten. No...she felt no remorse as she sent the ball into the goal multiple times. No one can say she is not a competitor. None the less, Kristin's team creamed the opposition, but all were still friends at the end of the day.

Amber was also the star of the day. She is into the second year of teenagerhood. Who knew she'd turn 14 so soon? Grandma and Grandpa Rietz came over for the day to watch all the soccer games and to celebrate her big day. We didn't have to pull out the fire extinguisher for the ice cream cake, but in a few years...well, we'll have to keep that option open.


Trevor couldn't wait to get the house in the Halloween spirit, and wasn't done after he and the two younger sisters decorated inside. No sooner had he walked into the house after school today, and he was ready to put together the scarecrow. With little help from anyone else, he stuffed and assembled our rag tag friend. He had a little help bringing the pumpkins up from the garden, but he washed them all himself and arranged them on the porch. If we are not in the Halloween spirit around here, no one can blame it on Trevor. He made sure we have no excuse to forget the next big holiday. Nice work, buddy!

Don't know who to vote for, don't know what the next economic crisis will be, but I do know that Fall is here and that means lots of yummy food!!! So Life is Good!!!

Here is my gratitude list -

- Bro. Jackson - our former home teacher who was faithful about coming and made sure we didn't ever want for anything he could do for us. He passed away yesterday after a long battle with health problems that never could be solved.

- The foods of Fall - see above

- My hairdresser, Pam - she has a gift

- General Conference - Elder Haight's reminder to laugh will stick with me for a long time.