Gather here with Thankful hearts...

I cannot believe November is over! I didn't even do ONE thankful post! So I am going to make up for it now! Here are some things that I am thankful for...(A few of my favorite things!) in no particular order...

I am thankful for this tall sophomore! He has passed up everyone in the family ~ officially now. I cannot believe how he keeps growing! Joel is a spiritual giant too and is a real joy to have in our home. He has good insight and loves learning. One day at church his seminary teacher had brought cookies for anyone that wanted to pass off a scripture mastery. I asked Joel if he got one, and he said no, he didn't do it because he didn't want to do it for the wrong reason! He goes EARLY to early morning seminary to pass them off before class! He fulfils his priesthood responsibilities with dignity and reverence. He is a real gentleman towards me, opens my door and does anything I ask of him. I am thankful Heavenly Father saw fit to send him to us a little later in life, so that we may not be quite so old and boring while he is with us...We knew when we had four children so close together that they would all grow up and leave the house at about the same time, so we are blessed to still have someone at home!

I am thankful for all of our children. They all bring joy and happiness to us in their own ways. Especially when they come to visit us! All of them that live in town were here for Thanksgiving. These pictures are of everyone making "music" with their glasses. Ashley made a great face! It was great fun and they each got creative in their playing... We are grateful to have spent a lovely afternoon with them, and for those that could stay, we watched a Christmas movie. The next day we played our annual Thanksgiving volleyball game with the Stringhams. Not all of our children could be there (and we missed them!) but it is always a fun time and then we had pie afterwards.

Clark had a flaw in his glass so he did some "rap" on his...see my "Gobble 'til you wobble" plate? It was inspiring ~ and we did as it suggested! Lots of yummy food!! I am grateful for employment and the ability to have food in our pantry...

Dave even joined in and played his glass...(I am grateful for my loving and supportive husband!)

Clif started us all off on the musical glasses (he's pictured here in the corner)...love my family!!

I am thankful for grandchildren! These two little boys are a big spot of sunshine in my life! I love seeing pictures of them, talking to them on the phone, and I cannot wait for them to come visit for Christmas! I am grateful for their mommy and daddy too...love my family!

My gratitude list could go on and on...but I will try to wrap it up here and say that I am grateful for Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, who atoned for ME. I am grateful for His restored church upon the earth, for the Priesthood, living prophets and apostles, scriptures, temples and all the ordinances we need to return home again someday.

I am thankful for wonderful family and friends...who are there to help me on every turn...I am thankful for good books that take me to places I will never be able to venture, for hobbies that keep my hands busy and help preserve family memories...I am thankful for this time of year, for the joy it brings and for all that this life has to offer me...with all it's ups and downs, I am eternally grateful to be here!

And the Giveaway winners are...

Congratulations to my first ever "giveaway" winners! Grandmother Fairy and Caleen!! Just give me a call and let me know which tile you want (I have two of each so you can have whichever one you want). This was fun...though I didn't get near enough comments! Thank you for those of you who did play along...you are some of my faithful "followers!" I will have to try this again another time because I blog for comments! Happy Friday!!

Thanksgiving Giveaway...

I have been wanting to do a "giveaway" on my blog for quite some time...so I think I will right NOW. I was in a small craft fair at work and of course didn't sell but one thing, so maybe no one will want these anyway...but here goes... Leave a comment on my blog post between now and Thanksgiving and you will be entered in a drawing for a tile. I have one large one (the Grandma one) and one small one. So there will be TWO winners! I don't think I can ship these...so I hope I get a lot of local comments. hint hint...but of course I would love to have ANY comments. If you are out of state, I will just have to figure a way to get it to you if you win. All the names of "commentors" will be placed in a hat and a non-partisan person in my house (one of the boys!) will pull out the winners the morning after Thanksgiving. I LOVE comments, so please check my blog and comment soon!!! And of course, if you don't win, you can always purchase one from me for a generously discounted price! Oh, and the easel comes with it.

Joy ~ this is the small tile

This is the large tile (12 inches)

10 years ago...

My brother-in-law and I are both working on the same kind of project...scanning old pictures/negatives. As he or I come across a particular fun one, we email it to each other. He just sent me this fun one from 10 years ago...taken at his home in Modesto (I believe it was for one of his kids' wedding). Aren't we an interesting group of people? December 2000 ~ I love this family! Thanks John for sharing it with me! Happy Scanning!

Parts is parts...

I don't know why I am in a cleaning out and organizing mood (it doesn't strike often, so I am taking advantage of it!)...and yesterday I decided to attack my closet. I came across my box of unfinished porcelain dolls. I started these dolls when we lived in AZ over 13 years ago! I knew the box was in there...haunting me. I should have finished them a long time ago...now I just have all these parts and am not sure how to assemble them! Or what the finished doll is even supposed to look like! I have the bodies sewn, but need to figure out which legs and arms go with which body and which head...anyone want to help? "Sugar Britches" is the doll that is done...the sleepy one sitting there...except I need help fixing her hair. "Bunny" is also assembled but needs her hair and clothes. One of her fingers broke off and I can't find it down in the box. That makes me sad. I'm sure I saved it...but where did I put it??? It's the finger she is sucking on that fits in her mouth (I remember that part!) Anyway, that's my challenge...just thought I'd share...and hopefully encourage people to FINISH projects they start!!

They fit right in with all the other unfinished projects sitting on my table!!

One year older and wiser too...

Yes, I have had another birthday...shout hooray! I am one year older, but don't know about the wiser part! I have been sufficiently "birthdayed" for the year! On Wednesday, the day before my birthday, my dear friend Robin hosted a "Jane Austen" night at her house. Several sweet friends came and endured the movie and the late hour (most of them had been up since the wee hours of the morning!! and others would rather have watched John Wayne or some other action movie!) They were all sweet to come and spend time with me, eat yummy chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream (my favorite! how did they know?!) and they all brought me gifts which wasn't necessary...but very fun! It was a lovely evening!

The next day was my birthday and a national holiday! For some reason, our law firm made us work! (Even though all the courts are closed...oh well). So I went to work and everyone there brought all kinds of yummy foods. There were donuts, cream puffs, eclairs, chocolate cake (do they know me or what?) cherry pastries, cinnamon rolls, and then to look like we would be a little healthy, there was yogurt with granola and different fruits for toppings. We ate all day! It was great! There was so much food...everytime a secretary came into the file room for anthing, we would invite them to eat something...I got lots of birthday wishes and greetings all day long.

I also got about 50 birthday wishes on Facebook...you never realize how many friends you have! The one saving grace of facebook is that it reminds you of everyones birthdays. Love that!

The highlight of the day was on my drive home from work...Amanda called to wish me a happy birthday and said that Little David wanted to talk to me. He got on the phone and said, "Hey Grandma..." I said, "hey David, how are you?" and he proceeded to sing happy birthday to me...all the way through! Belted it out...on pitch I might add...and held out the "Dear Graaaaaaaandmaaaaaaa! Happy birthday to you!" It was precious!! I loved it! Amanda said they'd been practicing it all day! They did some cute pictures on her blog with some signs he colored too, it was very fun!

Lastly...Thursday night Dave arranged for all the kids to come to dinner at Japanese Kitchen!! I told him that was all I wanted, was to have dinner with my family, and that I had been craving Filet Mignon...I got my wish! (and red roses too!). Love that boyfriend of mine!! We had a fun time...here are a few pictures from our evening...

the birthday girl and her boyfriend who made the evening possible...

(I don't look too bad for a 29 year old, right? please agree with me even if you don't really!)

Megan and Ashley our "On time is when I get there" daughter who is always LATE! We waited 20 minutes for her...I was getting so hungry! :) But she finally arrived and we were able to eat! Her beautiful new haircut was the reason...she looks great! Megan is her good friend and we count her as one of our kids...Ashley's friend Mario was there too...

Clark took the day off work just so he could celebrate my birthday! (he works second shift normally). And Joel, always happy to be there even though he doesn't like very many foods.

It got quite smoky while our chef was cooking, but he was funny and entertaining and we all had a good time...

There's Mario in the back, and Maddy (Clif's friend), Clif and Clark enjoying his filet mignon. He knows what's good!!

When the chef found out it was my birthday, he made the fried rice into a heart shape for me...

and then he did the flaming onion trick ~ usually called a volcano ~ but he told me it was my birthday candle...everyone told me I should blow it out....ha ha!

The food was delcious and the evening was delightful. The only thing missing was the rest of the family that are in Georgia...my filet mignon was to die for...I went home stuffed!! And had leftovers to enjoy the next day!!

Here Joel is separating out his chicken from the mushrooms...into his take home box. Dad got all his mushrooms and veggies! Joel DID try the soup and the rice...and lived to tell about it...

Thank you all my family and friends for a wonderful birthday! It was so much fun that next year I will be perfectly happy to celebrate the anniversary of my 29th birthday again...

Recent events...

I am behind in blogging a few of our recent events...so this is a catch up post. The most recent was actually this evening...Court of Honor. Always a treat to be there. Love seeing all the boys in their scout shirts and earning merit badges and rank advancements. Always sorry to see so few parents there. Only four boys tonight had parents there with them. I know people are busy and I am not judging anyone, I just feel bad for the boys. Especially when it is a rank advancement and their mom is not their to get pinned. ANYWAY...it was a nice evening. Joel earned two more merit badges. He is ready to start on his Eagle...we are excited about that!

"Scout Master's minute" with Ryan Budge...he had some boys volunteer to make a pyramid, then talked about foundations and working together...great pyramid don't you think?
Scout Committee Chairman Brother Berndt announcing merit badges...Joel is on the right

Joel second from right for his second merit badge of the evening...he earned rifle shooting and shotgun shooting...lots of boys were shooting this summer! Shawn Olsen (our young men's president) gave an overview of scout camp. It was very entertaining and the boys enjoyed "re-living" the events, especially about the bear that visited camp every night! Then Scout Master Ryan Budge told us what to expect for the coming year and all the things they would be working on...preparing for their summer hike to MT WHITNEY! How exciting! Their work is cut out for them. And speaking of Ryan Budge...

another event was to have the cute little Budge family over for a BBQ and Family Home Evening last night...Dave and Joel hometeach them and we kept thinking how fun it would be to have them over. And we were right! It was fun!

Grant, Nathan and Sarah enjoying their hotdogs. How fun to have little ones at my table!

Sarah trying on her dad's glasses...she is so cute!

Joel made peanut butter balls for refreshments...after our little "thankful" story he passed them around. Everyone seemed to enjoy them!

Aren't they the sweetest little family! We sure had fun having them over. Thanks Budges for making Family Home Evening fun for us!!

And yet another event...on Oct. 30th we had a birthday brunch ~ potluck ~ for our dear friend Robin!

She made us all wear little witch hats...I wonder why? There were others who couldn't be there and we missed them, but we had a great time! Good food and fun friends! Jennifer, Robin, Diane, Me, Teri, Susan, and kneeling in front are Ann and Caleen. And of course Jaden sitting on his mom's lap. Thanks ladies for a wonderful brunch!

Robin and cupcake Stef! We made Robin put on a witch hat for ONE picture. Love these ladies!!

One of Robin's favorite presents...a beautiful vintage fan to use during church! Isn't it pretty? She will make good use of it! I sit on the stand every Sunday and get to see her using it. Happy Birthday Robin! We love you!

39 days....

...until these cute Incredibles arrive for the holidays! I can't wait! Lots to get done between now and then, but once they arrive, my family Christmas fun can truly begin!!! I am very thankful for all of my family...we will ALL be together and that is the best present ever.