Thanksgiving day is every day.

In all Things Give Thanks. B I thank my Father in Heaven for his love for me.    Everything I have is a gift from Him.  My husband, my children and grandchildren, my neighbors and my friends. He has made available to me the path of happiness.   He reasons with me and helps me make course corrections. He is patient and understanding with me.   He strengthens my soul.  He enlarges my heart and enlightens my mind. He sent his most beloved son to suffer and die that I would have a way back. I am indebted to him. And I am thankful for that.

Something old, something new, something borrowed something baby boy blue.

My daughter, Lee, is a month away from

baby #2.  I went to the valley for a baby sprinkle

at Heidi's house.  It was sweet.  

These three girls were best friends

from early on through high school.  They

are now all married.  

I was so glad to see Ashley and Hannah

come.  I look at this picture and am still

amazed that Lee is married and having

baby #2.  (I tell people you don't really

know who your children are until they

set out on their own.)  I always envisioned

Lee marrying later in life because she

was too busy exploring.  Not so.

  It is

interesting to see how friends just accept

the changes in their lives.  There is Lee

with a baby in her belly and Hannah

and Ashley are not astounded or

amazed or anything.  This is just life.

I love it.

And this is Kelsey.  She is Lee's

friend.  They are in the same ward

and, obviously, have a lot in common

right now.  

I wished I had taken more pictures.

Especially one of Heidi and Lee.

Heidi put this all together for Lee.

I am so pleased that my girls love

and support each other.

2020 Olympics

My children's children are starting to

get involved in sport activities....baseball,

soccer, softball, volleyball, and gymnastics.

(Abbey is a ballerina.)

David and I always supported sports.

It is what we knew and did as young people.

And we always signed our children up

for the sport of the season.  And they were

good players!  They always made the

teams and overall had starting positions.

Looking back I see good and bad in

that.  Sports take up a lot of time.

Not much time for other development.

Although, team sports teach  a lot of good things.

~discipline

~contributions to the whole

~leadership

~unselfishness

To name a few.

Well, when our children starting

having children we would hear comments

like "they don't have to play ball

if they don't want to", or "we

aren't going to push them..."

Etc.

But as we learned, once you see your

child have some success you are hooked.

You get the gear.

You arrange your life to get them 

where they need to be.  You stay

and watch and you cheer.  

And you love it!

This picture is of Jill's daughter,

Parker(6).  She is on a club gymnastics

team.  She won lst in vault

and 4th all around. 

Way to go, Parks!

I think her parents are hooked!

Friday Night Lights

Night practice.

In a town with no residential street lights and

very few lights on the main street you can't 

help but notice with the football field is lit up.

This was last Thursday.  Blue Ridge was preparing

for the semi-final football game.  It makes me

feel like something is alive and thriving. 

 I don't spend too much time thinking 

that our small town

is too quiet and has no drama.  It is  just that

these practice lights say that something  big(er)

is going to happen.

It is always with mixed feelings that November

arrives when it comes to football.  It is exciting

that it is playoff time but it is sad because it

is almost over for another year.

Fall and football are my favorite.  And we

can always count on Blue Ridge to be there

to the end.

Which brings me to another point.

We went and watched the semi-final,

Blue Ridge vs Snowflake.

David and I thought it would be a

good game.  We even thought that

Snowflake, on a perfect night, might

beat Blue Ridge.  I don't know the final

score because we left in the middle of

the third quarter when BR was ahead

30+ points and Snowflake zip.

More times than not in the last few

years we have been disappointed.

(I probably need to qualify that

statement:  we don't have boys who

play so we got for the entertainment

factor.  What is better than beautiful fall

evenings, purple and gold uniforms, and

good friends to sit by. And a good game to watch.)

The disappointment is the constant drain

of lousy teams.  In the past there were always

tough games with Round Valley and

Snowflake and Show Low and even Winslow. 

 I remember David

coming home from a game in RV, before

the Dome was completed, and he told me

how foggy it was and people were surrounding

the football field because the seating was

taken and the game was great.

  High Drama!

But anymore even the semi-final was a

blow out.  I'm not bragging on Blue Ridge

and I am asking where are the other teams!

I love a good game.  

A final point:  Even Blue Ridge can't draw

a crowd.  When our boys played (Pete graduated

in 1995 and Tim in 2000) it was the place

to be.  People taped blankets down from

red zone to red zone.  

This season I have not seen a filled

stadium.  Not on either side. Kinda sad.

There is one final week.  The championship

game is this Friday in Flagstaff.  Blue Ridge

plays Seton Catholic.  They look tough and

big!  So maybe....just maybe we will

finally get our money's worth!

No matter what 

Good Luck Yellow Jackets!

Pilgrim's Progress

I unearthed this set of Thanksgiving images

today.  I wanted to use them in my preschool

tomorrow.  They are pretty worn out so

I will think it over about using them.  But

I do love them. 

I remember distinctly the

Sunday morning I made these.  For some

reason we weren't in a hurry to get ready

for church.  I knew that the night before

so I gathered my construction paper

and a pen and a pair of scissors.  When

I woke up I just sat up and started

constructing these characters.  My

children would come in and out of

the bedroom but they never whined

for breakfast or whatever.  The idea

of Thanksgiving made all of us feel warm.

The guy on the left is the bad guy

in England that wouldn't let the

pilgrims worship as they wanted.

The rest are pretty self explanatory.

I used these for family home evening

for quite a while.  And when Tim was 4-5

we were part of a Joy School.  I was

so excited to give the Thanksgiving lesson.

It was a perfect morning and we sat

on the step down into our family room

with the sun shining perfectly behind us.

The boys were so sweet and quiet

and the little Thanksgiving set was perfect.

Things at my house.

 I read this quote the other day:

I get the message and its point but

it is hard to reply other than "just been busy"

when people ask what have I been

doing lately.

I don't like being so busy that I can't remember

what I did yesterday.  Some of that is

certainly age related but REALLY!

YESTERDAY!  

Here are some of my busy moments.

These were taken a couple weeks ago......

as best as I can remember. :)

I finally gathered up all my VHS videos

and took them to St. Vincent's.  It was

incredibly hard to do this.  Yes, I will

replace them with DVD's.  And it

isn't the tapes themselves....it is the

times we watched movies as a family.

The Strawberry Shortcake video sticking

up in the back reminded me of

walking down our hallway and seeing

Tim, who was about 4 at the time,

sitting in front of the TV watching

that video and the blackbirds singing

and bobbing back and worth and

there he was bobbing right along 

with them.

And  While You Were Sleeping was

a favorite that Lee and Heidi and I

watched over and over again

during one summer.

And then Goonies is the second

best pirate movie ever.  It was the

first for years until Pirates of the

Carribean came out.

October Sky is one of the best

movies ever.

Well, anyway, you get my drift.

David had a great Bishop's Youth Discussion

here a couple Sunday evenings ago.  He loves

the youth in our ward and they know it.

Our home isn't the biggest for gatherings but

we love having them come. 

And then there was this past Thursday.  It was a cloudy

cold day.  It was the first cold day for preschool

this fall.  I loved it.  We started our day by

choosing books to look at all cozy in the house.  

I always have something

for them to do while we gather.  But I have

never just set books out and told them to

pick a couple to look at.  They were so happy

and ran to the books.  It was worth a picture.

Books are great on a cold day!

 So if there is any "glory" in my busy

it is the people I once was busy with

or the ones I am busy with now.

I love to look for Rainbows

Our third grandchild was baptized 

last weekend.  It does mean we are

in the middle of the next stage of

our lives.  Our grandchildren are growing

up!  But we love it!  We love

that their parents are teaching them

about the Savior and the importance

of  His ordinances.

I have had  the song When I am Baptized

on my mind since Melanie's baptism.

It makes me cry.

Because I love them and these

words are them.

I like to look for rainbows 

whenever there is rain.

And ponder on the beauty 

of an earth made clean again.

I know when I am baptized

my wrongs are washed away,

And I can be forgiven and 

improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean

as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can

and live with God again.

Courting the Sunshine!

PICNIC TO CELEBRATE MELANIE'S 8TH BIRTHDAY.

Thank you, Mel, for inviting us all

to share in your special day.  It makes us

all happy when good things, like

your baptism, happen.  

It makes the whole stronger.

Family days are Sunshine days.

Aaron and Daisy.

Heidi and Lee.

Tim and Connie

Melanie ~ how did you get to be 8 years old!

Pete

Megan

Abbey

Laine

Mike

Piper

Brittany with her parents, Dan and Terry

Me...in my kingdom of grandchildren.

What's not to love.

I found this thought the other day.

....most mistake the end, and form
a wrong notion of happiness;
and then no wonder that they miss the way;
they choose their own delusions,
and court a shadow.
Matthew Henry

I am grateful and pleased that my
children have chosen a traditional life
of marriage and family.

It is in these things that happiness
is found.
It is where the sun shines.

Elusive Time!!!

Without looking back to make certain,

I think I make a post like this every fall.

This is the 2012 update.

I like all holidays.  I just like the fall ones

best.  I don't do great or special things.  I just

like the feeling of the season(s).  

Halloween is fun.  The colors are fun. It is cozy

inside.  The leaves pile up and make

great outdoor decorations.  And then I

love putting up my decorations in the house.

Then it's gone.  Another one in the bag.

It is hard to let go.  But then I'm not

really holding onto anything.  My best

attempts at stopping time have always

failed.  The consolation is it will come

again.  So for now, goodbye once again,

Halloween.

My daughter, Jill, gave these to me

years ago.  They are the cutest!

I love Halloween books.  

We read all of these at preschool.

                                                

I left these on the table all day.

They finally got put in a box

and packed away.

Jill has nothing on us!

Not all BIG spiders live in Arkansas.

This nasty nasty spider was trying

to set up housekeeping in our

carport.  Ended up living out her

last days in this bottle.

My daughter, Jill, is always 

texting pictures of monster bugs

from Arkansas.  This is proof

that the great state of Arizona

can grow some big ones too.

ouhhhh.....