Assorted Pictures

Seth wearing his new Christmas tee

Josh taking care of Halloween business

Emme's Look

Another picture of the Honored Doggie and Seth, on Christmas Day

Poking Head Out From Blanket

A little Seth-Elf, From Years Ago

I have been so sleepy lately! Today was the best I've done in a week. Anyway, I've enjoyed your posts and Merry Almost-Christmas! Since I posted, we have had the Gables Christmas party and the staff Christmas party - both were nice. At the first one they had dinner and singers, gifts for the residents (including a Wii and about 30 games) and Santa. Melinda and Danny and kids, and Haley and Dallin and Hunter came, plus Seth (for a bit) and Justin and Kattie and Ben. It was fun having so many of the family there. We go in one dining section together, and the kids run around between bites of food. It's great, because they can't get out the door! I only went to the end of the staff party, which was across the hall from us. They had food and speeches by Mark and a couple of the owners, and they drew numbers for prizes (including big, professionally-framed pictures) and they also could win the chance to pop balloons with even more numbers in them. There were a bunch of the pictures as prizes, because one of the owners has a framing shop and does them. It was cool! Let's see...what else? We got Megan and Brooks a box off (we'd already sent things to Phillip), and we've gotten several nice Christmas cards, including one from M and B, and one from Spencer and Marie and family. I love the photo cards especially. I still have more to finish up and then we're going to Melinda's for family time on Christmas Eve. Seth will go home with us from there for the night, and we'll probably see people some on Christmas Day after church. I love that it's on Sunday this year! I want to see Christmas lights and sing carols too. Since we don't have a kitchen, we aren't baking things as gifts this year. Maybe they'll get 220 to the activities room for an oven some time later. : ) It will be great to just be with the residents, too. Gables really has the spirit of Christmas about it. I'm so glad that we could help the people here, including the employees and the owners. ttyl!! Stay safe! xoxoxo

Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Hellooo! Welcome to our winter palace! Things were magical around here, because Emme and Alaina came to visit on Thursday afternoon for a while. They played with princess dress up dolls and colored and rode Butterscotch and Buttercup (Lainey named her), Butterscotch's stickhorse foal. They also ate lunch here, and we had lots of fun together! Then, on Friday, Emme came for a while, just by herself. It was great to have her by herself 'cause it's just like having a little doll who sits very still on your lap. : ) Friday night Mark and I went to see Moneyball at the downtown theater; we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Brad Pitt inhabit another role so completely. The story is real and therefore fascinating, about General Manager of the Oakland Athletics Billy Beane and his recruiting assistant, and how they changed the game of baseball. Saturday Mark worked on his S.S. lesson all day. He made a slide presentation on the book of Revelation. It clarifies the order of the prophecies and how they are related, plus what is stated in each one. So helpful to see it laid out like that. Seth moved into his new digs, a bedroom apt. in a house that he'll share with two really nice guys, just a couple of blocks away from Ben and Linda's. He came by and saw Leto afterwards, and Leto was very happy to see him, as always. I'm happy for Seth that's he's being so independant. He's growing up! While Mark worked on his lesson, I wrote a letter to Mrs. Cannon, and I honestly can't remember anything else I did. Oh, well! I was happy, and that's fine by me! Hope you are warm and cozy today! xoxoxo

Alex Keeps Everyone On Their Toes!

Hello! I'm still up tonight, so I thought I'd update my blog before I go to bed. Saturday evening we had our ward's Christmas Chalet, for the whole family. It was pretty basic this year and Melinda got to rest, 'cause she wasn't in charge! Yay for her! Kattie and Ben came too, and Justin had Josh because Ben and Linda were at his work's Christmas dinner. I'll bet that was nice for them. We had a blast having Josh at the dinner. He just sat on his chair like a little man. We had ham and baked potatoes and green beans, after the nice hors d'oeuvres, that is. And then different desserts were offered. I had coconut cake - yummy! For the entertainment, two little boys played the guitar and then the Primary kids dressed up and did the manger scene while they read about the Christmas story. And then Bro. Darrington read a story for us. No Santa this year, but it was nice how the emphasis was on Christ. I liked that. The decor was very simple, too, and they had pamphlets at the tables, written by the General Authorities on Christmas talks. They also had some pages that the kids could get to color or do a dot-to-dot Christmas tree and a quiz about Christmas. It was fun to see how much room our family took up at 2 long tables, even without Ben and Linda. Then, Sunday we had a great testimony meeting. People bore testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ lives and that He and Heavenly Father love us. Melinda and Danny bore their testimonies about their gratitude for finding Alex that a.m. and for all the help they rec'd. What?!! We hadn't heard about it, but apparently when Alex was playing downstairs. somehow he got by them and got out of the house. Tristan then asked what Alex was doing, 'cause he wasn't downstairs. They looked all over and Danny stopped in the church and told the ward council that Alex was missing. They immediately said a prayer and started looking for Alex. Other people joined in, but after a time Danny and Mel called the police. Lo and Behold, the Bolero bowling alley had called the police because a boy showed up there. In the meantime, they let him wear bowling shoes and bowl (wasn't that nice?). So Danny and Melinda were able to get Alex (who still doesn't quite understand that anything was wrong - he was right at home at the Bolero, even though it is down and across 1st St.! Thank Heaven the Sunday traffic is slow that time of day!). So they were very thankful and the people in the ward were very understanding and comforting, besides having been very helpful. When I got up to bear my testimony, I said that we hadn't known Alex was missing, and that if I'd known, I'd have gone straight to the bowling alley. Of course, I was making a joke! After the meeting, lmost everyone had a story of when their kid went missing, including me. I reminded her of how Ben and Justin were lost in the woods in Texas for 5 hours, when they were just 4 and 2. Justin was still in diapers! They had a helicopter and the worker's from Randy's job looking for them, as well as some people from the church. Finally, before dark, a worker found them. Ben was hiding, but Justin ran and the worker saw him. They were about a mile away and had crossed a small creek, and Ben said they were following 'Black Cat,' our cat, and that they walked and walked and climbed big hills and crossed water and so on. Fortunately, Justin still had his pants on. I'd been worried they'd fall down (as they often did) and he'd get scratched up. Of course, that was the least of my worries! I was so thankful to the guy who found the boys. He came to the door holding Justin, with Benjamin by the hand. They got so far away because it was so noisy that day, from the wind in the trees. The kids always played outside (we were a mile from the road), and I'd check them every little bit. That day they decided to wander and they couldn't hear me call for them. Boy, did I go weak in the knees when I couldn't find them! I went and checked all along the creek first, then ran in and called Dale Helfer, my good friend in Henderson, 7 miles away, and Randy. Everyone came on the double. The helicopter was sent from a Henderson clay co. That was very kind of them. Anyway, it's always so frightening when kids go missing! Also, Phillip went to Sister Lindsay's house as a toddler and we couldn't find him. We remember Garve Giancetta helping us that time. I also remember Abby Lloyd disappearing as a toddler for a while. Happy outcomes in both cases. Whew! Monday and Tuesday were quiet, for the most part. Time flies in December! Tonight is book club, and we're to bring our favorite children's Christmas book and something to eat. I think we meet at Mary H.'s home again. And now you're all up-to-date! Wasn't that fun? Hope you're all doing well. Hi, Phillip! We're thinking about you! Love You! xoxoxo

Addendum and Piano

(Photo courtesy of Megan)

On the Softlips offer, it's limit 1 per transaction. You can go in more than once, though, so you could pick up an extra. I want to go, myself! On NestingPlace's blog (see bloglist), they did a favorites link party, and I took notes on the ones I read: One product I actually bought tonight, and I love it! It's Maybelline's Lip Sensations. This lipstick is perfect for giving you really soft lips without glop or smearing. I like it better than any gloss I've tried, yet it's a lipstick. It feels like it's comforting my lips. Also, the colors are great and it's not too expensive, so you could splurge on a couple of them. Other favorites listed (the first by several) was Mrs. Weaver's cleaning and other products, Caress Body Wash in Glowing Touch, Pier 1's jingle bell decorations, La Pen pens, the 7-year pen, and Wonda hooks (they didn't elaborate except to rave about them). Mark bought us Febreeze's holiday-scented air freshener (the dark blue one), and we really, really like it. They're super-pretty too, covered with big snowflakes. Okay, that covers the tips so far. It's really fun to read real people's reviews, basically, of the things we use. Saves a lot of trial and error! Mark put up Christmas lights for me in the craft/computer room. They're soo pretty. And we went to Alex and Melinda's piano recital, which was for Linda's students, so had lots of kids we knew performing. Alex said, "What are you talking about?" over his shoulder as he went to sit down. He played The Lion Sleeps Tonight and one other, short, number, and I thought he did quite well. You could tell he enjoyed it. Melinda played The Music of the Night. It was beautiful! So was she: she dressed the part, with a flowing black velvet cloak and a long black skirt. The grand piano was black, too, and it made such an impression of the Phantom's world. Magical! It felt like there were sparkles in the air when she played. She says she messed up, but she just hesitated a couple of times. I can't believe she's been playing for less than a year! I'm so glad when you all learn things - it's something you build on throughout your lives. I know some of you play piano and sing and dance and ride and so on, besides sewing and reading and gardening and cooking. I think education and classical, uplifting learning is essential to our development. Also, outdoor experiences and learning. The Mountain West is great for much of that. I remember when they held the 2000 Olympics in SLC, and they couldn't believe how many talented volunteers they had who spoke all kinds of languages (from missions) and could do all kinds of things. That's so cool! And that's all I have to say about that! I love you! Hugs and Kisses, xoxoxo

Mikarose Giveaway

Hi! On Home by Heidi she is having a giveaway for a $50 coupon to www.mikarose.com. The main reason I'm posting this is because I want to support Mikarose. Their focus is totally on stylish, modest clothing. So go to Heidi's blog (on my blog list) and enter, if you're interested. She's got pictures and links. I totally love the first top she features (although, ironically, it is skin tight on the model - what's up with that?). As Heidi wrote, "Modest is hottest!" xoxoxo ps Don't miss my last post about Softlips, either...just passing along a great deal!