It's the holiday season and I'm two holidays behind. My life is full of good things. Here are a few pictures of our Halloween party. Unfortunately my batteries died before I could get all the pictures I wanted. We had a lot of good soup and the highlight of the evening was the pumpkin walk and Kevin's family home evening message.
Thanksgiving was another nice day complete with our famous turkeys full of birdseed. This is the second year now we have begun dinner singing "Come Ye Thankful People come". It sets a nice tone for the meal. We especially liked our enlarged table so everyone could sit around it. The men watched football afterward and the women watched "Friendly Persuasion".
Now Christmas it almost here and we have had some nice activities in the month of December. On December 4th, we and possibly everyone else in the county, went to the Festival of Trees. We saw lots of beautiful trees and came home and had pizza for dinner. That night some of our grandchildren had a sleep-over while their parents went to Park city.
Another nice evening was spent visiting a home where the family had a small train that transported people to see Santa's workshop and then took us through a beautiful display of scenes from the life of Christ. We came home and warmed up with chili-cheese baked potatoes and hot chocolate. Last of all, I did two concerts a nursing homes with my singing group. This week promises to be filled with many more nice evenings.

It's Autumn Time

Because I have been so busy canning food from our yard, I was afraid I might miss my favorite season, Autumn. It is my favorite season until spring comes, and then I am undecided. Last week we went to Michigan where I could slow down and just feel and appreciate the glory of autumn. I loved sitting in my daughter's home and watching the red and yellow leaves fall softly and silently to the ground. It seemed almost like it was snowing leaves. Em has the most beautiful maple trees in her yard. There are two big trees in her front yard that turn flame red and cast a rosy glow through the windows of her home. While we were there, we tasted fall. We went to a cider mill and bought apple juice that tasted almost sweeter and fresher than a freshly picked apple. We also enjoyed the warm spicy donuts. I spent time reading a book called "Little Heathens," a book about a farm family living during the depression in Iowa. I loved reading it and learning about how people used to live. Some of it reminded me of my childhood and relatives that I knew growing up.
One of the quotes from the book was this poem:

"O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather.

When I read this book, I felt I was going back in time and experiencing the richness of their lives. I truly enjoyed it.
Em took us to some cemeteries about two hours away from her home. We were able to visit some gravesites of Craig's ancestors. It made them seem more real to us. I loved seeing the pretty farm communities where they lived. While we made notes and took pictures of the headstones, Livy Kay made sketches of them. I was impressed with her patience and her willingness to participate with us and we visited these places. We don't like to have our children so far away, but if Em hadn't moved here, we would never have visited these places. Every experience has it's blessings. We are grateful to we can visit and make these memories together.

I'm finally getting our family campout recorded. We arrived at Heber Valley Camp about 4'oclock. It was just starting to rain. It rained rather for hard for about half and hour, but luckily for us it stopped before it was time to go to the boats. We had a good time at the boats and it was a beautiful evening. The wind was blowing though and I wondered if they were going to have to tow us back to shore. It was hard work paddling against the wind and the waves. I think all the kids loved the sandpile as much as the boats and we lingered there for a while so they could enjoy it. We came back to a dinner of Kentucky fried chicken. It was delicious! Debbie had planned some games for the kids and then we had our campfire program. Unfortunately we had to hold it in the cabin because it was too windy to build a fire. Dad gave a brief devotional message and then he asked everyone to give another name for Jesus. It was nice to listen to all the different names he is known by. The kids did some talents and then we had a closing song and a prayer and made sm'ores in the microwave. Melany had brought her microwave. It really came in handy. The kids went to bed and some of the adults stayed out and looked at the stars. It was very peaceful. We went into bed. The kids didn't settle down immediately. Charity holds the record for being up the latest. Jason had insomnia too, so Melany didn't get much rest. We made sure she got a nap the next day. We rose early the next morning and we cooked pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, bacon. We also had fresh fruit and cold cereal for the kids who wanted it. We took a nice hike and then came back. We grabbed a quick snack and went to the challenge course. The highlight of that was the super swing. I wish I had gotten pictures of it. We came back and had a nice lunch. By then everyone was starting to feel like zombies. Just as we were finishing lunch and wind came up and blew food all over the pavilion. We cleaned and packed up and headed for home. We made some good memories. Our own beds felt extra good that night.

I recently turned 60 years old. It is a sobering age. I feel now like a very dignified matron, or at least I should act like one. Life has passed in the blink of an eye. I feel good about my life. It has been full of many good experiences as well as some hard times. I feel like I have learned a lot and I am getting closer to the person my Heavenly Father wants me to be. I do have some occasional lapses, but I repent quickly and try to get back on track. My family gave me a nice birthday party. I am thankful for all the beautiful tributes given to me. I love you all. Here are some highlights of the party

Here are the Pictures of our marathon digging day. Everyone was so good to come and help us get ready to install the trampoline. I think every one felt a good spirit working together on this project.

I had a good week. I attended my quilter's group, my crochet group, a concert for one of my grandsons, a bishopric dinner and the highlight was a trip to the temple with most of my children in Utah. There aren't words to describe how nice that was. At this time in our lives, we could have no greater blessing. I learned how crochet a baby sweater and I worked on putting my quilt top together. I realized that I had made some errors constructing the blocks. I tried some different solutions and prayed about it. It was tempting to put it aside and think I'll just never be good at quilting. But then I realized that I had to finish it though it wasn't quite perfect. I know I'll do better on the next one and the more I do, the better I'll get. My quilters group helped me to realize that the best quilters never consider one of their quilts to be perfect. The only way for me to get better is to keep trying. Here are some pictures of some of the activities of the week. They include family waiting for the concert to begin. Here is our singer we came to see. His choir sang some of my favorite tunes from Broadway musicals. I forgot to mention I finished my Hawiian quilt block this week and made a wall hanging of it. And last of all, our family in front of the temple, reminding me that Zion is built one family at a time.