Know what I've decided???

that I'm not going to become one of those bloggers who writes tons of posts, gets a book contract, writes the book, becomes famous, and makes the talk show/book signing circuit. And I'm ok with that, for the most part. But I do realize that if I have a blog, I should write in it more than once every six months, so here goes a post! Don't die of shock, but you can keep reading if you want.

I don't know where all the time went but here are some of the things that have happened since my last post, all those months ago:

1)My Number 2 son got (re)married in Minnesota July 3rd-for which occasion my husband got on a plane for the first time in umpteen years

2)5 days later my Number 5 son (child #6) got married in Arizona July 8th

3)Number 5 son and Number 1 son tiled the floors in the master bedroom and the family room

4)We got new furniture in those two rooms

5)Number 5 son joined the Army National Guard

6)My Number 1 grandson started 1st grade

7)I finished piecing my queen sized quilt top

8)Number 5 son went to basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri

9)My daughter, her husband, and their son moved to Mesa from Tucson and now are that much closer to us, and I get to babysit their son when they both have to work, yay!

10)Had the most of the family (including all the grandkids) here for Thanksgiving at which occasion my Number 4 son and his wife announced they were expecting baby #3

11)went with one of my daughters-in-law to the Black Friday fabric sale at Joann's-I'm not going to be doing that again anytime soon-what a madhouse!! Who knew fabric would be so popular??

12)I made 4 fleece blankets for the 4 younger grandkids for Christmas-the oldest one already has a couple that I made him-by attaching satin binding on all four edges of each blanket with a fancy stitch on my sewing machine, plus I got books for each grandchild that matched their blanket

13)Started a Christmas quilt with hand embroidered blocks (http://www.elefantz.com/) and used one of the blocks for a gift for my Number 6 son's Christmas gift, so now I have to make another of those blocks for the quilt.

14)Had a great Christmas, even though I had a cold-my Number 5 son was home from basic training, I got to talk to my Number 6 son who is in the Philippines on his mission, sometime during the day, each of my Arizona kids and their families came over, and I got to remember what Christmas is really about, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

15)Got woken up at midnight on New Year's Eve by fireworks going off in the neighborhood, oh and by a phone call from our Number 2 son in Minnesota (no we didn't stay up late, only made it to about 11, just couldn't stay up any longer)

16)Had a nice but too short visit from my Number 2 son and his wife as they came out to join us for a week before...

17)...I got my husband on a plane again to go to Missouri, with our daughter-in-law, to go to Number 5 son's graduation from basic training-and froze!!! BRRR it was cold there! But so nice to see my son graduate and in his uniform. My husband was disappointed that he didn't get to try out some of the weapons that my son got trained on, but we did see, from the road, some other recruits on the shooting ranges. We also saw the destruction left behind by the tornado that went through the base on New Year's Eve-the destruction was pretty awful.

18)Indexed (for familysearch.indexing.org) 211 records, all on just one batch, in one day-man that was a lot of work! Usually the batches have had no more than 50 records, but not that one.

19)My Number 3 son and his wife and their daughter (my only granddaughter) moved to Mesa and so they are now lots closer to us and all my grandchildren are now within 10 miles of us.

20)My daughter and I went to the Phoenix quilt/craft show on opening day-talk about a madhouse!!! There were so many people that you could hardly move around, let alone see much of anything. Next year, we'll go on a different day and hope that the crowds are less.

21)I finally posted again on my blog! I know, amazing, right?

So that gives you an idea of what has been going on in my life for the last few months. I think I got most of the important things in there. But life marches on whether we remember all of it or not. Bye for now!

It's Been a Busy 2 1/2 Months!

I don't know where to begin! So much has happened since my last post. My parents got called to serve as office missionaries for the Korea Seoul Mission--KOREA?!?!! We thought New Zealand was as far as they would go (that's where they served their last mission) but apparently not. They left about a couple of weeks after my graduation. Speaking of my graduation, my final assignment was accepted and got a good grade and I was able to graduate. But before we headed off to that, my 5th son came home from his mission. Even though I knew that he was doing the Lord's work, it was hard to have him so far away. It was so nice to have him safely home.

Here he is at the airport with various brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews, and niece.

This picture was supposed to have been on my graduation announcement but I never got it made up. It is me with all my grandchildren.

My husband and I met my parents up in Provo, Utah in mid-April for my graduation from BYU. I felt kind of old compared to most of the rest of those graduating but that just made it more special to me. I didn't know anyone else who was graduating in my college so in the lineup for marching into the Marriott Center I just picked an empty spot between some other people and marched in. As we were making our way to our seats, I noticed that under each seat was a copy of the booklet about graduation and so when we sat down, I reached under my seat and grabbed my copy. While waiting for the rest of the graduates to march in, I glanced at the book, wanting to find my own name inside!, and one of the young guys next to me asked me where I had gotten the book. I told him about noticing them under the seats and picking mine up when we sat down and he said, "Now we know why you are graduating!" I guess having a little more "life experience" then him made the difference! I don't know, but I thought it was funny.

Before the processional and commencement ceremony, the BGS (Bachelor of General Studies--the distance learning degree) department had a luncheon for all of their graduates and the graduates' guests. That was a really nice luncheon where they made a big deal about us graduating and also had a professional photographer take our pictures and they had a big screen where they were posting all the names of those graduating. It was neat to see my name up on the screen! Anyway, after the commencement ceremony, I met up with my husband and parents again and one of my brothers and his family as his youngest daughter was also graduating. It was good to see them.

The next day was the college convocation and it was there that I met a couple of other BGS graduates from my college and it was nice to talk to them about our similar experiences and about the classes that we took. It would have been nice to have been in contact with them while we were all taking the classes but it was nice to talk to them now. After that ceremony, we met up again with my brother and family and all went out to a late lunch/early dinner where another of my brothers joined us. He took the afternoon off of work and drove down from Logan to be there and I really appreciate his doing that. After the meal, he joined my husband and me back at our hotel room and we talked for almost 2 hours. My parents and other brother and family all went up to Salt Lake for another graduation dinner with some of my sister-in-law's family.

When we showed someone this picture, they said that I looked like a typical college graduate with my sunglasses and all!

The next morning my husband and I headed back home. It had been a quick, kind of expensive trip, but I'm really glad that we went. Going through the graduation ceremonies really made it seem real that I had actually gotten my degree.

Three weeks later, my 3rd son graduated from the University of Arizona with his master's degree in architecture so we went down to Tucson to celebrate with him and his family. He's our first child to get an advanced degree so that was exciting. We are proud of him and all our children. Here's our son and his wife after the graduation ceremony. His little daughter was at home with her other grandparents--the ceremony was past her bedtime.

Two weeks after my son's graduation, my oldest grandson graduated from kindergarten! It was fun to see him with his class as they sang songs and recited different poems about what they had been learning.

Here he is marching in with some of his classmates.

And this is him getting his "diploma" from his teacher.

The 3 graduation ceremonies were VERY different from each other but each was special in it's own way and well worth the time spent to attend them.

While all this was going on, we are also in the midst of preparations for 2 weddings in July. The first one, on the 3rd, is that of my 2nd son (his second marriage), his wedding will be in the St. Paul, Minnesota temple so we are flying back there for that. It will be the first time I've been to Minnesota! The other wedding, on the 8th, is that of my 5th son, the one that just returned from his mission to Germany. His girlfriend waited the whole 2 years for him and within 3 weeks of his homecoming, they were engaged. They are getting married here at the Mesa temple so we are more involved in the plans for this wedding but even so, we really haven't had too much to do-one of the perks of being the parents of the groom(s)!

In between all of these goings on, I'm also trying to work on my current quilt. I don't know how some people can finish a quilt in just a month or so, I certainly am NOT one of those people! I have managed to get all the stitch and flip parts done and am now working on sewing some of them to each other and then they will be sewn into the squares. It is a slow process for me but it will get done, eventually. So a lot has gone on and a lot is still to come but I guess that's life. We wouldn't want to be bored!

Wow, it's done!!!

Well, I just now sent off my last assignment for my last class so that I can actually graduate!!!! Whew, I can't believe that I'm done!?>!?! Hopefully, I'll get a passing grade after all that work but for now, I'M DONE!!! It only took 35 years to finish my degree but it is done now. Sorry, that's all I have to post today, but I just had to share my elation! :-)

Lots to Catch Up On

Ok, well it hasn't been quite 3 months since my last post but it has been longer than I thought. Lots has gone on since my last post. We had a wonderful Christmas with all our family here who could be here--all our kids except the 2 on missions but we did get to talk to them on the phone, and my parents were able to be here too. That made quite a houseful, especially since 5 were age 5 or under--all our grandkids. Presents got opened, phone calls made, dinner fixed and eaten--we had two turkeys, one cooked in the oven inside the house and the other smoked outside on the grill. We had to wait a while before we had pie and we had lots of pies to choose from but there was enough for everyone and then some. It was a good few days to have everyone here.

Two weeks after Christmas our 2nd son came back, this time with his girlfriend so that we could meet her. She is really nice and we think she is great. That's a good thing as they just got engaged last week, so we will have a wedding this summer!

Other things that have gone on is that I finished my senior English class and now just have the final capstone class and I'll get my bachelor's degree finally!

Things I've forgotten to include in past posts include that my husband and I participated in the Tour de Tucson in November, he in the 35 miles with our daughter and me in the 66 mile portion. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done! But I finished, even though I had to walk my bike partway up 2 of the hills. I obviously need to practice on hills more. If we do it again this year, I'm going to repeat the 66 mile portion and see if I can't stay on the bike and not have to walk it up the hills again.

I've started a new quilt and cut out all the pieces. The girlfriend of one of my missionary sons figured out that I cut out over 1600 pieces!! Wow, I didn't realize it was that many. Now comes the marking and sewing. But like all the others I've made, it will get done eventually.

I guess that's all for now. Hopefully I'll get photos out soon.

Wow, it has been a while since I wrote anything for my blog. I hadn't realized how long. So life has been pretty busy and I just haven't felt the need to write anything here. Right now I should be doing homework but I'm obviously not doing that. You'd think that with a deadline, I would just get to it but I can't seem to make myself do that. I hate writing papers!!! I have a rough draft written but I need to polish it off and get it sent off so that I can get to the big major paper for this class. Oh well. Anyway, things are otherwise going pretty well around here. We just had a successful Relief Society event last night, one that I was in charge of, since I'm the Enrichment Counselor (I guess that's still my title). We did a La Posada progressive dinner that culminated at the church building where we had a Nativity program. A lot of sisters turned out for our event and I was happy to see so many there. And they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which makes all the hard work worth it. I hope it also reminded them of the real reason for the season, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that He loves us enough that He was willing to come to Earth and give His life for us. What a precious gift for all of us and that makes this time of year so wonderful as we remember that gift.

Well, I guess that's all for the moment as my grandson is anxious to get on the computer. Hopefully I'll post again before 3 months have gone by!

Is Anybody Reading This?

Ok, it has been a while, I hadn't realized how long. But since I don't know if anyone even looks at this blog, it just didn't seem to be a priority to update it. But on the off chance that someone will be reading this blog sometime, I'm posting again.

Well, my oldest grandson is doing ok in school, although he is having a problem with socializing. He hits the other kids when they do things he doesn't like or he pushes them or cuts in line, those kinds of things. The teacher says academically he is doing fine, it is just his interactions with the other kids that needs work. So an incentive plan has been decided upon and it pretty much seems to be helping. He has had more good days than bad so I'd say that is an improvement. Hopefully he will get to the point where the incentives won't be necessary; we are just keeping our fingers crossed. As an aside, I pick him up after school and so once again, I'm walking to the school every day. I thought I was done with this 8 years ago!! Some of the teachers and other parents recognized me, which was nice in a way--it means I made an impression on them, I just hope it was a good one! It also means that I still know some of the teachers who work there, which makes it seem familiar. It just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Our newest grandchild arrived on Aug. 17th and he is a little cutie. I have been going over to help out my daughter-in-law and thus am getting to hold both him and his almost-2-year-old older brother. It's nice to be close enough (location wise) to be able to help out and to be a part of their lives. One thing I've noticed is how much the two little boys look like each other--they are definitely brothers!

Because I've been going over and doing the grandmother thing, I haven't had much chance to work on the new baby's quilt. I worked on it a little this morning and I'm kind of frustrated as the parts are not going together like the pattern says they should. I put it aside to return to tomorrow when maybe I'll figure out what to do to make it work. The pieced border doesn't fit and I was very careful in cutting and sewing but I guess not careful enough. I'm not sure what to do to make it fit.

As far as my classes, I finished the poetry one and started the senior class--a big research paper is the main result of this class. Fun, fun.

Other than those things, life is pretty much the same old same old. Things keep chugging along and I keep adjusting, for the most part. And someday I'll add more pictures to this blog; just don't hold your breath about it though!

Catching Up

Ok, so it has been forever since I posted. I guess I just like reading everyone else's blog and not posting on my own blog. What can I say? Anyway, there has been a lot going on here, mostly sending our youngest son off to the MTC in mid-July. My baby! Anyway, here is a big post about that adventure, starting with our trip up to Provo. (This is excerpted from the letter I sent to Abram-our son on a mission in Germany- about all this.)

Tuesday July 21st we woke up at 4:30 am to a thunder storm. While my husband was packing everything into the van, our son Ben stood just inside the open garage door looking out at the storm—all the lightning and rain. He put his new camera on video and caught a small violet colored bolt of electricity either coming from the fire hydrant at the end of our driveway or hitting it. It also hit the across the street neighbor's mailbox. He had thought he had seen it happen but wasn't sure so he watched his video frame by frame and sure enough that is what had happened, he showed it to all of us and it was pretty amazing! Luckily it wasn't a big bolt or we all could have been hurt! Dad said there was a lot of electricity in the air as he kept getting shocks when he would touch the doorknobs on the outside doors. We finally got all packed up, said our prayer and our goodbyes and headed out right about 5:20 am in a pouring rain. Joseph made the comment that Arizona just couldn't let him go without showing that he could have lots of rain here, he didn't need to go to the Philippines to get rain! We had rain through the city until we got beyond Anthem and then it petered out and the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. We arrived at the hotel in Provo shortly after 6 our time, unloaded our stuff and then walked to dinner at a restaurant nearby. After dinner we went back to the hotel, sat around for a while and then went to bed.

The big day dawned sunny and bright. We all took turns showering and then went to breakfast. Joseph had no problem eating. We went back to our room and got dressed in Sunday clothes then sat around and read the Ensigns that I had brought along. Finally it was about 40 minutes before Joseph had to report to the MTC so we got all his suitcases back into the van and drove to the MTC. We got to the parking lot that we have always parked in, next to the "missionary field" and were there greeted by a MTC worker who asked if we were dropping off a missionary, we said yes and he then said for us to park anywhere, take all the pictures we wanted and then load back up and head over to the MTC and we would be directed from there. We had thought that we would be unloading Joseph's suitcases in that parking lot, like before, and then just taking Joseph and them over to the MTC but that turned out to not be the case. So we had Joseph unload one suitcase, took a couple of pictures with him and the suitcase, loaded back up in the van and drove over to the MTC. (Several other families were walking over with their missionaries to the MTC and taking pictures by the signs there and in front of the main building but as we have never done that before, we didn't do it this time either.) We got to the MTC entrance driveway and were directed around the building to another worker, who told us to go to number 5. I didn't know what he meant until I looked over to the side and saw cars along the side and there were big numbers up on posts by each car. We got to 5 and there was no way the van would fit there and another worker told us to go to 8, so we did but same problem. We were waved forward by yet another worker (some of them may have been missionaries, I don't know) and two cars left the curb by 11 and 12 so now there was enough room and so we pulled in there, backing up a bit to fit by 11. An elderly worker and 2 elders came forward as we opened the doors and got out. The two elders got Joseph's luggage and told him to say goodbye and then go into the building while they took care of his luggage and then he would come out and they would take him and his luggage to his room. Meanwhile the elderly gentleman asked me my missionary's name, found it on his list and checked it off, wrote something down on a card and gave it to me saying that it had the address to write to my missionary at and then he said you have 30 seconds til we need this space again! 30 SECONDS!?!?!?! I grabbed Joseph in a big hug, cried on his suit, said goodbye and got back into the van. The elderly worker said "We'll take good care of him!" Dad hugged Joseph and said goodbye, climbed into the van himself and we were waved off. I turned around as we drove off to see Joseph walking into the building. That was it for our goodbyes! I don't know if I like this new procedure. The family meeting/orientation may have drawn out the goodbyes but it seemed better to me. Oh well, change is always happening.

Other than that, things are going well as we adjust to less people here at home. Dad and I are trying to keep Joseph's garden growing, at least the herbs as everything else is pretty much dead from the heat. July 2009 was the hottest July on record here in the Phoenix area! The average high was 109.8º. We had 15 days with temps 115 º or above and 27 days with temps 110 º or above and every day in the month was at least 100 º. So it has been mighty warm. Yesterday it got to 111 º and so far today it is 110 º. We are hoping that August won't be the hottest on record but so far it looks like it is trying to be! I've used my solar oven once so far this summer to bake bread but it is just so hot to go outside that it seems to me it kind of defeats the purpose--I get more hot and sweaty making sure the oven is facing the sun than I do baking the bread in the regular oven inside!

Tonight we are going over to meet the teacher night at the school. My oldest grandson, the one who with his father lives with us, will be starting kindergarten on Monday. How time flies! It will be interesting to see how he does.

Lastly we are waiting for grandchild #5 to make his appearance. He isn't due until the end of the month but it doesn't look like he will wait until then. Always something happening around here. I wanted to include a few pictures, but Dad hasn't downloaded them yet so maybe next time, which hopefully won't be too far away!!