Fall...like it should be!

We have not had a lot of Fall weather...it's either been very warm or very cold!  But we have some really nice days every now and then, as it was this last week.  The kids wanted to play in a pile of leaves so they went out and raked (neighbor boy Zach did too) with Grandpa and played in the leaves!  Now THIS is what Fall should be like!  They had a blast!

Birthday time again...

I can't believe another year has gone by!  Time sure flies!  My favorite treat of the day was of course Joel's letter...and he sent pictures!  YAY!  I got phone calls and tons of well wishes on facebook...it was a great day!  I went to get some flowers to take out to the cemetery (since it's Veteran's day) and was so sad they didn't have any patriotic bouquets!  What a let down.  So I bought some red and white baby carnations to "get by" with.  When we got to the cemetery, there was hardly a flag in sight!  I thought they put out flags on the veterans' graves, but obviously they don't!  So then I felt bad that I hadn't brought a flag!  Next year I will do it right!!  (I also forgot my scissors to cut the flowers off the right height...oh bother.)  I pulled the pink and coral carnations out and put them on Lori's grave.  Again, next year I will do this RIGHT.  There was a graveside service about to start, not too far away from us.  The coffin was flag draped and there were two big flags at the entrance to the walk way for his or her service.  It brought back a flood of memories.  Love and miss you Dad, and will always be proud to be called an Army Brat!

We got Panda Express on the way home from the cemetery for lunch and even hit DI for a quick look.  Yes, one of the crazy things that I enjoy doing! And Dave was a willing participant...he even suggested it! 

The rest of the day was spent being lazy and just enjoying the day!  We finished off with dinner at Texas Roadhouse (YAY ~ fried pickles!) and it was fun having Amanda and the boys with us.  They are fun dinner companions!  They got me the birthday brownie without the yelling and singing (thankfully!).  Amanda brought me eclairs from Kneaders.  YUM!  Better than birthday cake!  Then Dave and Amanda got me my own fire pit chimney stove...so now we can do s'mores on our back porch!  

I was spoiled today and it was very fun.  Thank you everyone for the birthday love!

Great Aunt Edna...

Today was Great Aunt Edna's funeral... I had learned last week while visiting my aunties that she wasn't doing too well.  On Tuesday I emailed her daughter Jeanine to see if we could come visit.  I had wanted to earlier, but just never made it (isn't that always how it goes?)...turns out, she passed away that day.  I didn't learn of it until Friday and the funeral was Saturday!  I feel so bad that I didn't get to go visit with her again, but how grateful I am that I got to meet her in April of this year and when we moved up here, I went to visit her another time.  She so reminds me of my Grandma (her sister) and I was thrilled to meet her and her daughter.  At the funeral I met the rest of her daughters (her only son had passed away 10 years ago).  She has a huge family!  I am grateful that we live up here now and can attend family functions (even funerals) and I look forward to meeting more of our extended family the longer we live here.  I will definitely be attending the Ellett reunion next summer!  Aunt Edna was the last of 11 children, she was 97.  Here's a portion of the funeral program and our picture from our April visit.  What a glorious reunion is going in heaven right now!  

Edna Shiner Ellett Taylor
(January 16, 1916 - November 5, 2013)

A Legacy of Faith, Work & Charity

Our kind loving mother Edna Ellett Taylor died peacefully November 5, 2013 at her home in Lehi, Utah surrounded by her daughters. Edna was born January 16, 1916 in Fremont, Utah to Joseph Henry and Clara Bell Shiner Ellett. She was the youngest of 11 children.

She married her high school sweetheart Glade W. Taylor, December 22, 1937 in the Salt Lake Temple. They were blessed with five children. They raised their family in Loa, Utah and then served in the Canada Winnipeg Mission. They returned to Provo to be near their family.

She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She diligently served in many callings, including the Provo Temple with her eternal companion.

Edna was a wonderful mother, homemaker, quilt maker and seamstress.

She is survived by Sharon (Keith) Stroud, LaVaa, deceased (Vickie Taylor Remund), Trudy (Jack) Nielsen, Clara (Percy) Johnson, Jeanine Taylor, 27 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and 9 great great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, son, parents, six brothers and four sisters.

There will be a viewing at Wing Mortuary, 118 East Main, Lehi, Utah, Friday, November 8, 2013 from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. at the church. Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 9. 2013 at 11:00 a.m. in the Lehi 4th Ward Chapel, 1200 East 900 North. Burial will be at the Loa Cemetery at 4:00 p.m. where we would love to meet with family and friends from Wayne County. Online guest book at wingmortuary.com.

Elder McKinney update...

Got my Monday email!  Joel had another baptism!  They have some more that are "iffy" and the solid ones they are having hard time getting a date because of them traveling for work and being gone a lot.  They woke up to snow on Sunday (two inches!) and walked to church in the snow.  That was a new experience for our California boy!  We didn't get any snow.  Funny huh?  They went to the Jordan River temple on Halloween and Joel thought that was pretty awesome.  And they are in a library using computers where it doesn't work to send pictures in the email, so no pictures this week again.  He promises for next week though!  Transfers are on Wednesday but he feels pretty certain he will stay there.  Guess we will see!  He bore a sweet testimony about the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Yep, another great email Monday!!

How to do a child's haircut...

Stand them on a chair stripped down to their underwear...put a movie on for them with the portable DVD player...and have at it!  Painless and quick!  A successful haircut!  

Birthday week begins...early!

My birthday is coming up, and I like the idea of celebrating birthday "week."  What I wanted to do for my birthday was go to Wayne County and visit my two aunties there.  But in order to do that we had to go on Saturday, so it is a couple of days early for my birthday week...but I will take it!  Dave was my driver and traveling companion. (Thanks honey!) I cannot explain the feelings I get as we drive over the mountain and into Wayne County.  The beautiful red rocks and scenery.  It's where my mom grew up (Bicknell) and where I visited as a child.  I have such fond memories of my grandma's house, and my aunt's house too (she lives in Loa).  All our reunions there and just so many memories!  The nostalgia just sweeps over me and I almost cry with the wonderful feelings of being there.  I wish we would have had time to drive down through Capitol Reef, but not this trip.  My other aunt (who purchased the old family home and remodeled it) now lives in Torrey, so I planned on visiting them both.  We got to Loa first and stopped in to see Aunt Beverly and Uncle Dudley...we chatted for a bit and then drove on to Torrey to visit Aunt Lew and her husband Curtis.  Aunt Bev and Uncle Dudley followed close behind with pizza they had ordered.  We had a nice pizza lunch in Torrey and Aunt Lew had made brownies (with ice cream of course) for dessert.  It was such a lovely day!  I enjoyed visiting with them so much!  Aunt Bev had written a poem a few years ago that I made into a bookmark.  At her request I had printed her some more and brought them for her to sign.  I brought my laminating machine also so we could laminate them on the spot.  She would not look at me when I took the picture of her "autographing" her work...she does not like the camera!  It's a wonderful poem about her "Library in Heaven."  She loves to read so we connect on another level in that respect.  And she writes beautiful poetry.  I typed up her life history last year and now we are trying to get Aunt Lew to get started on hers!  Anyway, it was a lovely day (the weather was perfect!) and I just enjoyed it so much.  There is just something about being there, where my mom loved it so much (it was always HOME for her) and with two of her sisters who she loved so much...it is an emotional feeling that I just can't explain.  We enjoyed our drive back home and will continue with birthday "week" if I can help it!

 Curtis, Lew, Beverly and Dudley

 We lived in Loa for a year while my dad was in Vietnam...I was about 4 years old...this is the house we lived in...today how it looks, and back in the day how it looked when we lived there (that's me in front of it)

 We passed this house in one of the little farming towns...I LOVE these old houses and wish I could have one to just fix up however I wanted...I enjoyed seeing these kinds of homes on our trip...we drove through several tiny communities and I loved picking out all the old homes.  What an enjoyable day!