Google maps of old homes...

I was looking at some of my mom and dad's photo albums, and saw the page of their "first home" in Kearns, Utah.  Not the first one they lived in, but the first one they bought (I believe).  My dad had written in the address...here is the picture.

 For fun I decided to Google map the address...and here it is!  Of course it says Salt Lake now instead of Kearns, but it's the same house!  It was so fun to find it!  I cut the picture off too much at the bottom, but it has the same sidewalk and then another patch of grass before the curb.  The brick facing on the front is gone, but you can tell it's the same house.  That was so fun, I decided to try another one...

This is our house in Fort Smith, Arkansas where we lived when I was born (50 years ago!)

When I typed the address in Google maps, it took out the "South" in the address and a house came up, but it didn't look the same.  And you could see the house number on it, and it didn't match.  Of course I know after 50 years the numbers could change...but  it just didn't look anything like this picture I had.  You can move up and down the street on Google maps, and circle around and look across the street (it's quite amazing what you can do on there!) so I moved it to the house next door and ta da!  THIS was my house!  It had a different number for the address but it does say "addresses may not be accurate" and when Dave came and looked at it, he agreed with me it was the right house.

The carport has been enclosed, and I don't think it has siding anymore, but the windows and the roof line are the same, and what verified it for us was the telephone pole behind the house.  It's still there (the tree branches are in the way) and as we moved the Google map camera around to the side of the house, we could see the pole clear as day-transformer and all!  That's my house!  It's a little run down and no flowers or shrubs.  If you look closely, you can see the reflection of the Google maps car in the front window.  We have several pictures by this house...front and back yard...here are a few...

 Me sitting on a blanket in the grass, house behind me...not sure of my age...but I had more hair and am older than these other pictures which were taken on Easter, just a couple of weeks before my sister passed away...I was 5 months old...most of her hair had fallen out by this time...so we were both bald. Doesn't my mom look beautiful?

 These were taken in the back yard...I wish they were in color because me and my sister had matching pink dresses that my Auntie Lew had made for us...I think I must have been pretty heavy due to the look on my brother's face who is holding me!

Anyway, it was very fun looking at the old pictures and then finding the houses on Google Maps.  I put in a couple other addresses of my parents but couldn't find anything...and of course our military addresses, I'm sure the Google maps car isn't allowed on the bases.  But I have a few more I am going to look up.  It is sure fun to look at them...then and now!

Happy Birthday Auntie Bev!

My Auntie does not have a computer, and I know she will never see this, but it's for ME.  My journal of sorts...Auntie Bev is on the left, today is her birthday.  My grandma called Bev her "day-late Valentine."  I learned this as I worked on Auntie's life history last year.  Next to her in the picture is my Auntie Lew.  We are hoping she will start writing her history now that she has seen Bev's.   I already really love my aunties, but working on Bev's history drew me even closer to her.  I learned so much about her and I had to keep calling her with questions and we just had so much fun chatting.  She is my  mom's sister and it was like having a piece of my mom again.  I truly loved all the phone calls and letters we shared.  We also share a love of books...so that is in our conversations a lot.  In this picture I am signing some books I had given her...she insisted that I sign them when I came through her town in the summer of 2011 (when we started her history project).  I love you Auntie Bev...I hope you have a happy birthday (she is now 75 - I know this from her history as well!) and I can't wait until this afternoon when I can call you and we can chat again.  Thank you for letting me type up your history and add tons of pictures and make it a real book.  You are now an "author."  It was a fun project and I loved every minute of it!  Auntie Lew, start writing...

Honeybees and other rememberings...

I have a small project I have been working on...I have been compiling my notes from Stake and General Conferences from all the different little note pads I had them on, into one notebook.  Okay, not a SMALL project, but I did get it done!  My notes started back in 2003, and though I don't have notes from every conference, I have a lot. As well as a few other special firesides, Sacrament meetings, seminary inservices etc.  And now I will continue my note taking in the ONE book until it is full.  I enjoyed reviewing past notes, remembering the talks and the stories (most of them, some I drew blanks on) and I realize I need to go back and look at them more often.  Here are a few that particularly stood out to me recently: 

"Every temple built lessens the power of Satan and builds the power of God."

"Not making a decision is a decision itself."

"Faith is more essential than ability."

"Look at everything through the lens of eternity."

"Are we TV rich and family time poor?"

"Be the master of your time...the things of God matter most."

"Conversion is not a one time event."

I could go on and on...there were so many about temples and their importance, how they could be busier, how we need to attend often to receive light and inspiration...so many beautiful reminders of what is important in my life.  I was also surprised by how many notes I have on talks from Pres. Barrus.  What a wise man he was.  I loved serving in the stake for 5 years and being able to listen to all his talks in each ward conference.  He never gave the same talk twice!  One quote of his I heard recently made me really think about my calling, he said, "Your calling = your ministry."

One talk that really touched me in the last conference was by Elder Ballard...possibly because my dad and grandpa were both beekeepers...and with pinterest now, just a few minutes after the talks are given, people have their quotes done up all fancy to print up!  Here is Elder Ballard's:

He spoke of bees being anxiously engaged, truly converted, and how we need to focus like the honeybees, multiply our efforts.  I loved the talk and I loved looking up these pictures of my Grandpa Brown in his beekeeping apron...And by his old green Chevy truck (which is on display at Capitol Reef National Park if you ever go there) in his bee suit and with his smoker in hand...

 And my dad sharing his love of beekeeping...My Grandpa taught my dad the beekeeping business way back when...and we always had such good honey...It was a sticky mess extracting it, but it was sure tasty!

Boy do I miss that good tasting honey!  Almost as much as I miss my dad and Grandpa!

More Apron fun...

I had so much fun making aprons for my friends' birthdays...another friend had a February birthday so I just had to make her one!  She loves her coffee and she calls her kitchen "Nuri's Cafe" (I have made her things that say that on them) and when I saw this fabric at my most recent Hobby Lobby venture with Linda Saunders, I knew I had to have it for Nuri's apron!  I think it turned out as cute as the others, and she loved it!  It also turns out she loves aprons...I didn't even know that!

 And I finally finished the matching potholders for each of the aprons I made.  I was sick in December and never finished the chicken ones (two pot holders for each apron) and when I tried to finish them later, I just couldn't make them look right!  I cut them out with each apron I made, but just couldn't figure out how to finish them off so that I liked them.  So I gave each apron gift without the pot holders. I finally solicited help from my professional sewing friend Teri Stringham and she saved the day!  I added ric-rac and it was the perfect ending!   So now they all have matching pot holders!  Nuri is the only one who actually got them with her apron though.  Teri brought me some of her ric-rac collection and the red I used was a brand new package, not even opened yet.  It was from Penneys and the price was 13 cents!  She says it came from her mother's collection.  I feel honored to use it!  And it holds up really well!

What project shall I do next?  Dave is going out of town on business again this week so I can spread out my messes...first up will be making cards.  I promised some to Susan Tanner and I will get them done this week!

Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Happy Birthday to my new beautiful daughter-in-law Lindsay!  We hope your day is super special because you deserve it!  How fun to add another birthday to our family calendar...make sure Clif spoils you today!  A package from us should be in your mailbox today.  Love you!

Little David is 5!

I cannot believe this little munchkin is 5 already!  He was just born!  And I was there on that cold January day in Provo...what a wonderful day that was and how happy I was to become a Grandma!  (Even though I am way to young to be a grandma...ha ha).  He is growing up so fast.  Such a sweet boy!  We love you and are so happy you are part of our family!  And yes, he's very fun and a little crazy too...he's smart and handsome and all the things a little boy should be!  He's just right! And he's a good big brother to Jacob too...love you David!  Have a wonderful birthday! XOXO

Clark is 25!

On January 3, Clark turned 25!  We weren't able to get him for dinner until the today, the 7th...his social calendar is quite full!  We will take him when we can...

You would think after 25 years of taking pictures...he wouldn't be surprised when I pull the camera out...ha ha!  He was like, Really?  You're going to take pictures?  So I only took one...at Arbys.  Yes, Clark picked Arbys for his birthday dinner.  It is his favorite!  (I am quite partial to it too)...Of course Joel just had a milkshake...anyway, we did have a good dinner and gave Clark some cash for his gift...that's what kids this age like best, right?  Then we came home and played some cards...and had Clark's favorite birthday cake...

 Oreo ice cream cake!  Everyone said it was good...I didn't have any, doing the no-sugar (well, mostly no sugar!) thing and all...it was fun spending some time with him.  We missed Ashley who had to work...next party...definitely planning it around Ashley's schedule!  Her new job at the hospital she works all different shifts so it's hard to coordinate...but we will do it!  Anyway, happy birthday Clark!  We love you tons!

Seems like just yesterday you looked like this...XOXO!

New Year, new projects...

It's a new year!  Time to start some new projects!  First we had to do our last puzzle that we got for Christmas.  This one was HARD!  It took us a lot longer than normal!  It is an Eric Dowdle print and it's called Utah in Winter...lots of detail and lots of blue hues...crazy shaped pieces too.  We couldn't even put the border together first like we usually do.  We started building the buildings, and then adding on...we had the puzzle almost half done before we finally got all the border pieces figured out.  It was crazy!  Whew!  We got it done though.  Joel came and helped that last few days, and when I got home from work one day, he had it finished!

 Now on to some less difficult tasks...there are a few birthdays in January I just have to make something for...so I decided to make some more of the "flirty" aprons like I made for Christmas.  They are pretty quick and easy and turn out so cute!  This cupcake one is for Donna ~ my bosom friend!  Love you cupcake!

 This one is for my new daughter-in-law and I just did it in the peacock colors, hoping she would like it since those were the colors she had for the wedding.  Love you Lindsay!

 And my sweet friend Ann who doesn't like to craft (but she does sew!), I thought I would make these cute birthday blocks decoration for her.  They are out of 2x4s and quick and easy to do.  I have a couple more sets almost done...I like them, and I hope Ann does too.  Thanks for being such a good friend Ann, love you!

There will be many more projects to work on this year...and I am off to a rocking start! 

Back to my projects!!

New Year's Day 2013 ~ Too Quiet!

New Year's Day...Dave and I drove Amanda and the boys to the airport in San Jose.  It was hard to say goodbye. I tried to get a good picture of the boys, but they were too fixated with this "helicopter" security camera... We are sure sorry for the long day of travel they have ahead of them...wish we could apparate like they do in Harry Potter!  Be there in an instant!  As we watched and waited for them to go through the security line, the boys kept yelling and waving to us..."Bye Grandpa!  Bye Grandma!  I love you!"  Other passengers in line thought it was cute.  We of course loved it!  

 We came back home after seeing them off...and the house is just too, too quiet!  We already miss them!  But thanks to Joel and his new camera, he took some cute pictures of them one day so we will look at them often in between texting, calling, and video chatting to help fill the void...thank goodness for modern technology and the ability to communicate across the country!  Here are just a few of the many cute pictures he took!

 I love this look on Jacob's face!

 And of course they had to take a break from "posed" picture taking and enjoy the park and Ashley's doggies!

 Aren't they beautiful?  Love and miss our Georgia kids!  

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year! 2012 is gone...

We sure had fun playing games while the Georgia kids were here...this was one evening playing Uno Attack...you never know how many cards that machine is going to give you!  The boys liked to push the button for us...

 You can't tell by Joel's face...but this is a very fun game, much more exciting than regular Uno...

 And New Year's Eve...we played Wii Bowling!  I helped Jacob "throw" his first ball and he was being all wiggly and holding the controller funny, but he got a strike!  His second turn he did it again!  He didn't last very long playing, but it was fun...

 David was a good player too...it was fun.  Amanda finished packing for their trip home on while we played our game.  Probably not a typical New Year's Eve in most peoples' books...but we had a good time!    And of course we had good food and treats to enjoy all evening long...

 After the boys went to bed...we watched "Newsies" ~ on of my favorite musicals ~ and the girls did their nails.  Ashley has all the gear to do gel nails and she does a good job!  She taught Amanda the skills too and they both have lovely nails now that last a long time! 

I cannot believe 2012 is OVER!  It has been a big year in a lot of ways...we have been so blessed and are so grateful that we have a new year now to look forward to and hope for more blessings and happiness in our lives.  We love our family and it has been very fun having "most" of them here for the holidays. We miss Clif and Lindsay but know they are getting settled in at their new apartment and being ready for another semester of school to begin.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!