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.

My refrigerator door - right now

I've been wanting to do this post for a while, and when I got a new refrigerator magnet from the Dance's today, I took it as a sign that it's time to get 'er done!

I am not the sort of person to have a completely bare fridge door.  I guess I like to be reminded of the good things in my life on a daily basis, and since I can't seem to stay out of the fridge, I like the door to be a big reminder.  So if you will indulge me, I will give you a little tour with short explanations of each item. (Starting at the top left hand corner.)

Yes, that is a picture of two adorable boys with moustaches.  It is a Valentine from Ashley's family.  The caption reads..."I moustache you a question...Will you be my Valentine?"  I'm not sure I will ever be able to take that picture down!  I love it!!!

It seems that the most recently married couple makes a few appearances on my metallic bulletin board.  Allison and Ryan got married last summer, and this is a picture of them right as they came out of the temple.  It is also a reminder that I did something I never thought I would pull off.  I made her dress!  I actually still can't believe that it all worked!

John's mom had a milestone birthday this year, and this is the invitation her daughters made for the surprise party.  I know the party was back in April, but I think this is a beautiful picture of her and I especially love the border of the invitation.  It has all the roles she plays in the family - wife, mother, daughter, etc.  Its really a lovely card.

Ah, Downton Abbey - who knew you would capture our hearts as you have?  You probably can't read the caption of the cartoon, but it shows a woman in tears, with a PBS coffee mug and a Union Jack flag hanging on the wall of her cubicle.  The man says, "Why is she so sad?  And who are Matthew and Lady Sybil?"  The woman walking by says, "If you have to ask, you'll never understand."  If you are asking the same questions, I can only echo the above sentiment.  It's a Downton thing.  

Under the calendar are two magnets which really mean nothing to me other than I really liked them, so I bought them when we were at the BYU Bookstore.  

Having spent the last 4+ years in Relief Society, the next magnet holds special meaning for me.  Hopefully in those years, I honed my Charity skills, and when I call on it, it will not fail me.

Yep, you'll recognize the boys again, this time clean shaven, but hiding behind super hero masks.  This time they are joined by their little brother.  Those pictures are probably over a year old, but I still love them.

Next we come to the reason for this post.  Tucked in an orange Shutterfly envelope was this little cutie!  We love you too, little buddy!!

This is the most unusual wedding picture I have ever seen!  How did he get that high, and how did the photographer capture the shot?  I really, really love this picture!!!

5 Things to Forget Not...a good reminder from President Uchtdorf about our worth as women.  Something that often comes in handy. 

My kids bought me the magnet in the top right corner at Disney World the last time we were there. I love my kids and I love Disney World, so I'm not sure that magnet is going anywhere anytime soon!

The light blue magnets are reminders to be happy and seek joys in life.  They are OLD, and I probably should get them off, but I guess I hope they will spark someone's desire to do either of those things, including me.

I put in another copy of the picture to prevent having to scroll so far to refer to it.  I do what I can to help. :)

The two Korean magnets are from Yoon, a friend of my good friend, Sue.  They hold between them a fortune that reads "Courtesy is contagious."  One of my girls put that fortune up on the fridge after being home from college for a few days.  She no doubt felt we needed a friendly little reminder.

The final magnet is from my dear friend who moved across the country several years ago.  Aside from being a reminder of my friend, it also has wise words for all - "No matter how many cookies you consult, you will find that love is the greatest fortune"  

Of course, my fridge door holds a calendar to help me at least try to remember appts, games, meetings, etc.  It can only do so much though!  :)

And finally, the bottom door holds two drawings by T1.  Again, they are several years old, but they are keepers.  The magnet on the left is from the Bingham Copper Mine, there is also a magnet of one of the Cars characters.  His name slips my mind at the moment.  Another nod to the grandsons.  

Last but not least, there is a magnet that says "Poppins Penguins Catering".  A nod to one of my favorite childhood movies.  My mom bought it for me when we were shopping at Disneyland after Allison's wedding.  (That trip where we stayed across the street from Disneyland, but chose not to actually go to the park.  We know it sounds crazy, but we feel totally justified in our decision!)  The movie means even more to me after seeing "Saving Mr. Banks", which I know isn't totally accurate, but is probably pretty close to the truth of PL Travers' life.  I loved it.

So there you have it.  A long post I know, but just a little slice of my life right now!  As I type this, I realize I don't have anything about my sister missionary.  Hmm, I better rectify that!

On the river

Way back when I first met John, he told me his family would go water skiing on the Snake River.  Now, I did not go water skiing that often when I was growing up, but the few times I did go, we went on a lake, or a reservoir, but never a river.  The river I was most familiar with was the Platte River, and it was no where near wide enough to ski on, at least not in Nebraska or Colorado where I saw it.
Fast forward a few (ahem) years, and here we are.  Spending our hot summer Fridays or Saturdays, doing just what I couldn't imagine - boating on the Snake River.  I guess technically we are jet skiing, but we have been on boats as well. 

We have a favorite spot to go, and are actually quite put out should someone already be there.  We almost feel like we have rights to the place.  :)  It is perfect for us, as we need a place to set up camp and get to our jet skiis easily when we need to switch drivers/riders/wake boarders/tubers.  Our little rocky beach on the island suits us just fine. 

Trev and Sam being teenage boys

We got a slow start this year, and this past Thursday was our first time this summer.  Kristin was at Girl's Camp, so we beefed up our numbers and invited Trev's friend, Sam who moved away last summer and is visting, to come with us.  Here they are doing funny, teenage boy stuff.  See our set up?  It works for us. We had a nice afternoon, and as it was really, really hot, it was a great way to pass the afternoon, even if it was a bit windier than we like.

Now, you may or may not know this, but our numbers need beefing up because there are fewer and fewer of us coming each year.  And let me tell you, it is weird to not have very many people.  In fact, the four of us have commented that it is very different, and I'm not sure we really like it, but we are making the best of it.

We headed out today, with a contigency plan if someone should (heaven forbid) be in our spot!!  We decided we would load up our stuff, climb on the jet skis and go across the river to one of the small beaches we have seen in years past.  When we got there, we did have to employ our plan, and headed across, found a spot and set up for the afternoon.  Since it was on the other side, it was SHADY!!!  That was great!!  It was also much BUGGIER, and that was not so great, but the bugs we thought were mosquitoes didn't eat us alive, so it was tolerable.  

It was a GREAT day!!  The kids got in some wake boarding, John and I realized we forgot to give the jet ski driving refresher lecture, our dinner was yummy, and we didn't roast in the 100 degree heat.

One of the best parts of the day came toward the end.  We were cruising the shoreline, scoping out other spots on the shady side of the river and we spied a bald eagle sitting on the shore.  He would dip his beak in the water every so often, but otherwise, just sat there taking it all in.  We kept our distance and watched him for a few minutes, wishing we had a camera, and trying to be close, but also staying far enough away that we didn't startle him.  We thought there might be a moment of drama when a few geese paddled by, but they kept their distance also, and the eagle just watched them pass by.  In all our years of being on the river, we have never seen a bald eagle!  A little less exciting, but novel, nonetheless, was seeing a pelican fly over us.  It happened twice today, so we don't know if it was one pelican flying over us twice, or two pelicans each flying over once.  I guess it doesn't matter, but we were happy to see that bird species today.

Trev showing his stuff

And Kristin also

Our two regulars these days

It would seem that dinner was a very solemn event

Snowmen - creepy or otherwise

The other day when we were decorating the tree, Kristin wanted to know where the "creepy snowman" was.  This was the ornament she was talking about.  I knew exactly which one she meant, but as a mom, I don't consider it in the creepy category.      

Now, you may have already guessed that one of my children made this ornament, and you would be right.  It is from 1988, and was made out of bread dough and painted by Ashley, who would have been all of 2 1/2 years old.  This was when we lived in Oregon.  Now, you may or may not know, but the house we lived in in Oregon was OLD!!! (read - poorly insulated)  And you also may or may not know that Oregon is known for its dampish climate.  Those two elements combined did not bode well for our little ornament.  Notice how his stovepipe hat and part of his head are missing?  And the blackish tinge at the top of the hat?  The results of the bad combination I described above.  Luckily, we moved inland, and our climate is much more dry and our house is much better insulated, so no more damage has been incurred.  

This snowman napkin holder was a gift from Trev about 5 or 6 years ago.  He and his dad put it together at a Home Depot workshop.  John loved taking Trev to those, and I think was a little sad when Trev got too old to go.  It was some good father/son bonding time. 

I love this!!  As my kids keep growing, I miss their little selves running around getting all excited about the lights, and the tree and all things Christmas.  I cherish these little keepsakes that remind me of times past.  Christmas has a different feel without little kids.  (Although, I don't think there is much Christmas morning sleeping in yet.)

As such, our Christmas anticipation is a little different.  We look forward to whoever is coming to spend Christmas with us.  This year, Amber, Allison and Ryan all will be here!  We can't wait for them to come.  Of course, we would love it if the whole clan were here, but the Down Under bunch will definitely not make it home.  And unless Chelsie has the baby in the next week or so, which is pretty unlikely, they will not be making the trip through the pass as well.  No doubt, we'll be using Facetime and/or Skype to share our Christmas experiences with those two families.  Let's hear it for modern technology!!

So, as I am reminded often, I just need to move on, and while I am grateful for these little reminders of their smallness, recognize my kids for the great "big" people they have grown up to be, or in a few cases, are growing up to be.

A Spring re-cap

We have had some beautiful mornings.  Look at that lovely pinkish cast on the  hills of the canyon.

 I love how the sun is illuminating part of the distant hills, and the trees in our yard.

Trev received his Star Scout rank at the last Court of Honor.  I love the tradition of the  saluting the mom with a kiss.  You can tell Trev loves it as well!  ;)

John celebrated his birthday last week.  Here he blows out the candles on his Sour Cream Blueberry Pie.

I finally caught Amber and her partner, Garrett, before their match.  They won!!

Trev talks strategy with his buddy, Sam, before their soccer game.  Whatever they talked about worked.  Trev scored 3 goals and they won, 6 - 0.

Decorating Easter Eggs, big kid style.  Trev and Kristin both tried their hands at blowing  out their eggs.
A big kid note, Amber declined to participate.  :(

Here is one of a couple of penguin eggs Kristin decorated.  She had a theme going.

And now we see the demo of Trev's homemade slingshot in action.  That is an egg in the  launch area.  Not seen - the egg ending up on the deck, Humpty Dumpty style.  Sometimes, your experiments just don't pan out.

It has not been a quiet week in our little town!
Homecoming week is to put it mildly, busy!  Amber has been spending hours of time on it this week - decorating the hall, planning the dance, planning and helping decorate the float!  Then to top it off, she was nominated and selected as one of the Sr. Homecoming Princesses!  Very exciting.  Normally, the girls are escorted by their dads, but John happens to be out of town, so Trev stepped in for him.  He didn't want to, but really bucked up and did a great job!  My mama heart was bursting!! (My pictures are not very good, hoping for one of the other moms to have some better ones, but these will have to suffice for now!)

Trevor received Student of the Month for 7th Grade today!  I got the letter a few days ago letting me know he was a nominee!  He is starting strong!

Kristin  came home and said she felt like a loser!  :)  Not to worry for she scored two goals in her soccer game this week!

Sign me - a mama who is grateful for kids who make her feel like a winner!

Trying to get back in the saddle

My word, it has been a long time, and I have been a slacker.  At this point it seems like its easier to let the whole blog thing go, but there is still a part of me that wants to keep things going, and maybe even step it up a notch.

Fall is falling and the weather is delightfully cooler than the end of August.  The mornings are brisk.  This is a familiar refrain "Can we close up the house?"  I am loving the cross breeze through the living room/kitchen, even if it means putting on a jacket.  Too soon we'll be keeping the doors and windows closed for good.  I say we go with the breeze for as long as we can.

School has started.  I documented the first day of school this year.  Not a usual thing I do, mostly because I don't think about it until its too late!  I did have to get a pix of Amber's outfit since she is so full of school spirit, and I made her shorts for her under a bit of a time crunch due to circumstances beyond my control! GO BENGALS!!! 

Amber, dressed as a Sr. Leader is ready to orient the lowly Sophomores 

Kristin was already bored with 9th Grade before it even started, but Trev was ready to take 7th Grade by storm.  

With the start of school also comes the start of Fall Sports, Homecoming Hall plans, football games and so much more, but let's take a little walk down memory lane, and recall a bit of summer.

Camping in the backyard

The boys came to town to hang out with us while mom and dad went on a fantastic European vacation.    We probably had more fun than they did!  (At least a different kind of fun.)

One night, Trev, T1 and Kristin broke in the new tent by having a backyard camp out.  T1 had a great time so they did it a second night, but didn't have as much fun until Aunt Amber came to sleep with them.  (The shadowy branches were just a little too scary!!)  Here's a funny thing.  The morning after the first camp out, Ash and Brandon called to skype with the boys early in the morning.  The house was really quiet, I hadn't heard a sound, so I assumed they were all still sound asleep in the tent.  We skyped for a bit, but they had to go do something fun like hike up a mountain in Switzerland, or eat gelato in Italy, so we signed off.  Unbeknownst to me, the campers were all downstairs watching a movie because the sun woke them up at 5 am!!!  They slept in a little later the second time, but not much! 

At any rate, T1 loved it, and we know Brandon is glad that we introduced him to camping out.  What a great family activity!  :)

The Applesauce Factory

Every summer, for a day or so, our home transforms into an applesauce factory. I didn't realize this until this summer, when Trevor informed me that when he has children, he'll be able to tell them he worked in an applesauce factory. As his mother, I'm happy I could supply this opportunity for him. I'm sure it will look well on a future resume. :-)

Since a factory is always a fascinating place, I thought I would give you a brief tour of our little operation.
Here is a sample of the raw materials. This year, most of our product was supplied from our very own yard. Our trees were full, and somehow the worms didn't find most of them. It was a lovely crop. We did have a few supplied from our friend's tree, but the lion's share were home-grown.







Here is the washing portion of the factory. Here my hard working employee is cleaning the apples in warm, soapy water before the next stage of the process. I particularly like his two-handed technique to really make sure all the apples are cleaned just right, ready to be transported to...







...the chopping block. Here another dutiful worker is quartering the apples. You may notice the peels and cores are still intact. I do try to make things easy on my employees, and this is just one way to lighten their load.








Step 4 entails boiling until the apples are just soft enough to grind up. It doesn't take long, and then the apples are ready to move on.









The final step in our factory is a two-man job. You can see that for the most part, my employees are happy to be employed. The apples are spooned into the hopper and then pressed through the handy-dandy kitchen aid attachment, no fancy name necessary, and out comes the delicious applesauce. A little additional sugar makes it not too tart, not too sweet.

The applesauce is then sealed into freezer bags, a la seal-a-meal, and frozen for later use. Voila!!!


You can see the applesauce factory is an efficient way to use the bounty of nature. I think I can speak for all the staff from my applesauce factory when I say, we don't love making the applesauce, but we really love eating it.

Just let me say...

we are not cat people.

We have never been cat people, and never plan to be. But, 5 little furry kittens found us the other day and adopted us. They came into our yard, and no amount of milk on the other side of the fence could convince them to go back to their original home. Although, the milk they got on our side of the fence (against this mom's admonition) could have something to do with why they thought they had found a new home!

The second day, we put them in a box with a note explaining that we are not cat people and Kristin tearfully marched them over to the neighbors. When I went to check on them a few hours later, confident that if the neighbors hadn't found them, that their mama would, or at the very least, that they would crawl out of the box. But...when I went to check on them a few hours later, there they were, all curled up around each other!!! Not one had attempted escape! Now, I was in tears!!! Again, let me say, "we are not cat people", but apparently, we can be moved by kittens.

The third day, we began to find homes for them. At least we made calls to find homes for them. There were a few hopeful options, and by the 4th day, one kitty had found a new home (I believe his/her name was Tiger. We are still not clear on any of the little buggers' genders.) Day 4 also brought good news that we had a home for them if we can just keep them for a week. We've already had them 4 days, what is a few more?

Day 6 found one more kitten with a new home thanks to a posting on a large company's website here in town (not sure of the kitten's name, I think it was Salt and yes there is a Pepper). So on Day 7, we are confident that we can hang on for 4 more days until the remaining 3 have a home.
Again...we are not cat people, but these kittens are pretty darn cute!!!

(There is one more gray one who is not in the picture.)

Carving Pumpkins

When your kids can carve their own pumpkins with a minimum of assistance, you know they are growing up. Of course, the mama of this group has mixed feelings about this situation. There is a feeling of relief that I don't have to stick my hand inside a cold, wet, stringy pumpkin to clean it out, (well, in the end I had to help Trev a bit with that), yet on the other hand a twinge of remorse at yet another signal that my kids are becoming less and less dependent on me. Of course, they are still very happy for me to feed them, and do their laundry, and take them where they need to go, etc. But little moments like this are those I really thought I would never experience as a mom of six children who always seem to need something.

But, here they are, in living color - scraping, carving, drilling, shaping. All by themselves.
Trevor still needed me a little. :-)

Kristin did just fine thank you very much.

You may notice the extra big smile on Amber's face! That's because she is October's Student of the Month for 9th Grade!!! Woo Hoo!