OUCH!!!

So this morning we had a little bit of snow....nothing compared to what we HAD received recently, but enough to make everything slick again. Well....Jim had cleared of the stairs and walkways, but apparently not enough. When Xander and I were heading out for the day, I told Xander, "Hold my hand, it's SLICK, I don't want you to fall." .....Famous last words......because down I went, and I took him WITH me!!!We are both fine....just sore. But when we were half way to daycare, Xander said, "My body hurts." OH! Bad Grandma! I felt so bad. I told him "Grandma's body hurt too!" When we got to daycare, I gave him some Tylenol, so hopefully he will be feeling fine soon. I took some too when I got to work. I wonder if he's going to TRUST Grandma again when she says, "Hold my hand, I don't want you to fall." Hummmmm???

Ranking just below Root Beer

So the other day was Jim's and my anniversary...and as we were getting ready to leave to go out to dinner together, Xander decided he needed to come with us. Denae had ordered Pizza and it was on it's way. So here's how the conversation went...

Denae:"Xander, we are going to have PIZZA!!!"
Xander:"No, I go with Grandma."
Denae:"But we are having Pizza and Root Beer!"
Xander...looks at Denae and asks:"Root Beer?" Then turning to me asks:"You come back?"
Me:"Yes, I will come back."
Xander:"Okay!"

So there you have it. I rank just below Root Beer! But most of us never know just where we stand.

Christmas Magic

A good neighbor of ours has a WONDERFUL Christmas Village that they invite all to come and enjoy. Last night I took all of the grandkids to see it. It was MAGIC! It's so large you can't get it all in one picture, but here is a shot of the main center portion of the village. It has a working train and everything. It's things like this that make this season so magical. It makes my poor little village pale in comparison, but I still enjoy it. Maybe when I "grow up," I can be like Ron. Here the kids are watching the train go by. They LOVED the train!!!

Bailey is checking out the Barn with all of the barnyard animals. It was too cute! She loves animals.

Xander just couldn't get enough of the train's whistle. You just push the little red button right here and the train would sound it's whistle. I think he loved the fact that HE was controling that. You could also change the speed of the train with the controls.

Here are all three of the grandkids looking at the wonderful setting of Harrisville. Even though you can't see their faces, you can just tell they are full of WONDER! Thank you Ron and Pam for sharing such a fun and special magical moment with the kids.

Deck the .... Lawn

It's time to get FESTIVE....so the other day the grandkids and I headed out front to get the Christmas decorations up. I LOVE Christmas lights and all, but I'm not for getting on the roof anymore. And since I'm married to scrooge when it comes to decorating....I get NO HELP to put them up. I've even tried the kids, and THEY don't want to get up there either.

Soooo, I had to go to plan B. I bought the blow up things over the years, so I can STILL have holiday decorations and I don't have to get on the roof to put them up. I'm still sad that I don't have lights on the house, but at least there is some holiday spirit there on the lawn. :D

Now I just have to get the tree up....maybe this weekend.

GRRrrrrrrr

There is nothing in this world that makes one feel more vulnerable than to have ones "stuff" stolen. As I was headed out of the house this morning, I opened my car door and noticed some of my things strewn about the car....not where they belonged. Then I looked around and my car radio was GONE!

It's MY FAULT! I didn't lock the car door, but REALLY...it just feels so wrong! I called the Police, but I KNOW I'm not getting my car radio back....just wanted them to know what is going on in my neighborhood.

The funny thing is...Jim didn't lock his car either, but since his car is an older model, I'm sure they didn't even look in there. And he has a fairly nice radio in there as well. And if they had looked in the camper, there is one there as well. Thankfully they didn't. The Policeman mentioned that there have been quite a few burgleries in about a four block radius from here. I hate to think we HAVE to lock everything up. It really makes me MAD...but yeah....lesson learned.

After the Police left, I got in my car and headed to my original destination, and I was wondering how late I was, so I glanced at the gaping hole where my radio used to be....OH YEAH...that was my CLOCK too! Aaarrrrrrgggggg! Then I kept having the impulse to reach over and turn the radio up....LOL....oh how something so simple becomes a part of the routine.

Okay, so I've now vented over this mishap and hopefully this will be a warning to others...LOCK UP YOUR CARS. You were probably already doing that...good for you! You can bet I will be from now on! :D I DO have to say one thing though....I am grateful to the theif, because they didn't cut any wires, just unplugged it from the factory plug...so there is a silver lining after all.

Thank You Food Network!

I've mentioned this already....Matt's fondness for the Food Network Channel. Well, he REALLY out did himself tonight. I've decided in my old age, I want to live at Matt's house! :D I'm sure that will be good new to him.....or maybe his siblings.

Oh yeah...back to his latest creation. He made us Creme Brulee'....and it was WONDERFUL! He made it with fresh vanilla bean and even torched the sugar on top. It was heavenly. He continues to amaze and treat the family.

Well Done Matt!
And THIS time, the pictures are ACTUALLY what he made! Lighting up the torchThe sugar starts to brown....Doesn't that look good??? I LOVE the Food Network Channel....and I don't even watch!

Memories...

Since a friend of mine has been giving us "Lessons Learned on the Farm" it has brought back memories from my own childhood. I thought I would write them down, but since I'm a city girl, the lessons are very different from hers.

Food should NOT have names. One time visiting Grandma and Grandpa Garner, someone asked if the "meat" was Old Joe? Old Joe was the steer that HAD been in the field next door. It was, and I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

Knowing that I was my father's "Favorite Daughter". The fact that I was his ONLY daughter really didn't matter. But he was "MY Favorite Father" so it seemed even! :D

Cinnamon Toast tasted MUCH better when sitting on Daddy's lap. (Sheesh, I was spoiled!)

When you are an only child, there is no one else to blame the messes on, because some messes the dog just could NOT make!

If you jumped up and down in JUST the right spot upstairs, it would REALLY rattle the lights downstairs. (Only used when very upset!)

Even though my Dad was NOT the Bank of America, he did seem to buy me lots of the things that I wanted. (Probably the ONLY benefit of being an only child.)

When none of my friends could play it got very lonely.

An all pink bedroom gets old fast.

You can get almost ANYWHERE on the city bus. (I CAN'T believe I did this BY MYSELF at the age of 11 and 12! Sure wouldn't do that today!)

After I joined my "FAKE Family" (this is how I jokingly refer to them,) there were NEW lessons to learn.

Just because there are now OTHER children to blame things on....you still can't always get away with it.

When Mom and Dad would go down to the Bay Area in the winter time, we kids (I now had 1 sister and 2 brothers) would hope they would close the pass so Mom and Dad couldn't make it home and we would have the house to ourselves. It only happened a few times....we LOVED it! But you also have to realize this was up at Lake Tahoe, California, and there were no kids that lived close....so it was JUST US! But we would crank up the music and stay up late.....OH...we were rebels. LOL

After I got married, and with children there were new lessons to be learned.

Just because he is now married, doesnt mean your husband won't still act like a kid.

You don't HAVE to be with your husband 24 hours a day....and yes, he still loves you. (Took me a while with that one.) :I

When the kids were QUIET was the time to check on them....that's usually when they were up to something.

If your child comes in from a brisk spring day and says "It's hot enough out there to start a fire." and YOU say, "No it's not." And THEY say "Well, it's BURNING!" You REALLY need to check this out!

There is nothing more precious than a child sleeping in your arms. :D (grandkids work too!)

If no one will set the table, serving the food directly on the table sure makes an impact. (Although Jim didn't find the humor in it, it STILL makes ME smile.)

It it's within reach....the kids WILL get into it!

If it's hidden up high....it will take the kids LONGER to get into it.

It doesn't matter how hard they promise not too....kids WILL grow up. :(

I know none of these are EARTH SHATTERING revelations....but they are my memories.... I hope you enjoyed reading them. And maybe it will remind you of a few special memories of your own.

Beginning Life as a Bishopric Widow....

Okay, I'm kidding. But Jim is currently at Bishoprics meeting and I have been thinking about how quickly things change. So far, his calling hasn't been bad for either of us. In fact, I think the blessings have even begun. Yes, he has more meetings, but he seems to have more engery too. I think that is a fair trade. But what I REALLY find interesting is that I now have TWO, count them, TWO callings. I am now the Primary Secretary. No problem....I've done it before and it has benefits. I have a hard time sitting for 3 hours straight, now I don't have to! I have PERMISSION, in fact I'm EXPECTED to roam the halls. AND, I have been called to be the Ward Website Co-ordinator. I'm beginning to worry that every time something comes up that Jim feels I would be good for it, he will suggest my name. LOL Okay, probably not...and I don't see any problems fulfilling both callings. I just found it humorous that I went from basically NO calling to TWO callings within two weeks of Jim being put in the Bishopric.

I Want to WIN!!! Don't you??

Sweet Potato Pie

Sooooo, Matt is at it again...for the last TWO nights he has made a Sweet Potato Pie. I had never had one before, but they are pretty good. Similar to Pumpkin, but not as sweet. Matt continues to surprise me with his cooking. He even made the pie crust. Something I USED to do, until I found Marie Calendar's FROZEN pie crusts....and I LOVE them! But Matt, being the purist...makes his from scratch. The funny part is....he doesn't even use a recipie. So far his cooking has all been edible, and quite good. Wonder what the next creation will be???

Happy 6th Birthday Laira

So Saturday was Laira's 6th's Birthday. We had quite the day planned, but as luck would have it, several of us weren't feeling very well. We HAD planned to go up to Thanksgiving Point to go through the corn maze, but we have postponed it. We DID go shopping and have Birthday cake. While shopping Denae happened to find something she wanted to buy for Xander for Christmas, (since it's NOT his birthday) but Bailey spilled the beans and Xander wanted his gift NOW! There was no consoling him! So Ashley, at Matt's suggestion, wrapped up one of Xander's old Lightning McQueen cars, "Chow" as Xander calls them, and then gave it to him. We figured this would work wonderfully or be a total dud....but we didn't know which it would be. You can see from the picture it worked!!!

He kept saying "My NEW Chow, my NEW Chow!....I LOVE IT!" We were all laughing so hard....unfortunately for him, this is one of those stories he will probably NEVER live down. Ashley mentioned later that she's not buying him Christmas this year...she's just going to wrap up his old stuff. Hummmm, it just might work.

Tribute to an AWESOME Dog!

My heart is heavy as I write this tonight. I am full of sadness and remembrance for a good friend. Kallie, our dog is now gone. She was 12 years old, but in her last few years she was full of pain from arthritis. Then about 6 months ago, we couldn't keep her in the house as she couldn't make it through the night without an accident. This broke my heart as she was the only dog I knew that would get depressed when we would leave on vacation. Our neighbor mentioned every time, how she would just mope around the yard. By leaving her outside, I now knew what that looked like....it was SAD. So to banish her to being an outside dog was hard. Especially when it was raining and she was huddled under the tree, just looking at the house as if to ask "Why?"

But rather than dwell on the last part of her life, I want to remember the good times. She was pretty much MY shadow....which was funny because she was Matt's dog. I guess she didn't know that. When I would cook, she would stand between me and the stove. She was great for cleaning up food that dropped on the floor. She LOVED to catch a frisbee, and she would catch it IN THE AIR! If you said the word frisbee, she would run to the closet and look up. (The frisbee was kept in there on the upper shelf.) I will never be able to look at a frisbee and not think of her.

She loved to sleep on the end of my bed....which was quite something, cause she was a big dog. I basically slept somewhat diagonally in the bed. I can't believe Jim was so tolerant of that. She was also the most obedient dog I've ever had....which has ruined me for ever having another dog. The odds of getting another dog as well behaved are pretty slim.

She could do tricks.....the usual, Shake, High Five, Sit, Lay Down, but she NEVER learned to roll over. And every evening for about 15 minutes or so, she had what I called her "crazy hour". (Yeah, I know the time doesn't fit, but that's what I called it non the less.) She would just be CRAZY, making a playful growling noise, and pawing at the ground as she layed on her side, and then would just paw and wiggle and make noise. It was quite funny, and like I said, she did it pretty much EVERY night.

When the kids or I would run (or walk) around the yard, because of the Border Collie in her, she would try to "herd" us by niping at our heels. She would never hurt us, but she would nearly trip us. And in being my shadow, she would sit right under my feet, and would get caught by the chair when I moved, or stepped on when I didn't notice her. But yet, there she was again, the next time.

Basically she was the best dog I've EVER had. She was my friend, my shadow, my companion...and I am going to miss her.

I know some who read this will wonder how I can have such feelings for an animal, but I do! They just get totally under my skin and become a part of the family. Not everyone is an animal lover, and that's okay. Just know that I AM an animal lover, and I have lost one that I TRULY LOVED. So I just want to say a few words of farewell to Kallie now.

Dear Kallie,

Thank you for spending your time on earth in our home. I have enjoyed your time with us, and I am going to miss you. You are truly an AWESOME dog and I will cherish our memories.

I am sorry it had to end this way, and I hope you understand it was not an easy decision to make. It was hard on Jim, as well as the rest of the family. I hope you are happy now and free of the pain. Please be watching for me when my time is over here as I want you to be a part of my eternal life. Please be patient however, as I still have things to do here.

With All My Love to a Good Friend
Diana

Master Cheese Maker

Matt has a new hobby of late. He likes to watch the food network channel. Then usually on Sunday afternoons he whips something up for the family to enjoy. There have been many comments of appreciation for Matt's new found interest.

Well, last night he REALLY surprised us. He wanted to make CHEESE! He had purchased all the ingredients...Milk, Citric Acid, and Rennet....and he was ready to go. I was curious, so I stood by to lend him a hand. (Basically, I was his "go-fer") As he proceeded, we found that our kitchen is lacking a thermometer, so he decided that using our "fever" thermometer would do the trick. Sounds good, but the recipie says that you heat the milk and citric acid to 55 degrees. Then at 88 degrees you add the rennet. Well the fever thermometer doesn't even register until 90 degrees, so Matt was making comparisons with the air temp, and figured his hands were about 90 degrees, etc. It made for some pretty funny conversation.

After the rennet is added you heat it up to 100 - 105 degrees and hold it there for 5 to 8 minutes. Well, FINALLY a temperature range we can register! So here we are cooking and waiting, waiting and cooking....but it doesn't seem to be doing what the directions SAY it should be doing. Our cook time is up, and NOPE...not happening. Matt disappears for a while and then comes back and says, "Let's turn it up. It says if you are using store bought milk you may have to cook it at a higher temp." Sure enough, we turn it up and it starts to do it's thing.

Finally we have the finished product. FRESH Mozzerella Cheese. Matt had even purchased the bread to eat with it. MMMmmmm, it was good!

When I walked out of the kitchen last night, I went into the Office, and Matt said, "You'd better not blog about this!" Who ME? Never! LOL I don't have any picture to prove it, but we did it! Who'd of thought, WE could make Cheese?

It's Official...

Okay, I know I didn't say anything after our meeting with the Stake President this week, but it's OFFICIAL now so I can tell you all what happened. Jim has been put in the Bishopric as the 2nd Councilor (sp) [Never could spell this word!] Jim has been overwhelmed all week about this. But I have to say he has just kept moving forward and will just have to take it a day at a time. I am amazed how things all worked out.

Jim had to be ordained a High Priest, so he asked his brother Karl to do it, which he was more than willing to do so. He also contacted his younger brother Max to be there. The time worked out that both were able to be there. In addition, Jim's oldest brother Mel, and his wife are currently in the MTC and they were also able to join us, and Mel ended up ordaining Jim. Then they are off to Orlando Florida to serve their mission. And YES! That is where Bryce is! Soooo, the timing was great to include them in Jim's ordination.

I'm sure this will bring blessings to the family as Jim serves in this calling, and I know with the Lord's help he will be up to the task placed before him. As I mentioned in my testimony today, I am truly grateful to have a husband that is worthy of the call. Now I just wonder how much time he will be way from us....hummmm.

So SMALL in that BIG bed...

So Bailey is a pretty small package for the four year old she is. So when she gets sick things can change rather quickly...which is how she ended up in the hospital this afternoon. She was fine last night, but apparently she wasn't holding anything down this morning. Denae took her to the Doctor this afternoon and low and behold, she was off to the hospital, very dehydrated, and with a low blood sugar level. After a few hours on an IV, and with some clear liquids she's feeling much better and will probably be home tomorrow (Friday). But she looks sooooo little in that big hospital bed.
She likes animals so I took her a stuffed siamese kitty and she was excited. It's amazing how some fabric stuffed with fluff can make a child feel so much better. Denae then told me that just the other day she was asking if she could have her own (real) kitty. We already have two in the house, so we don't need another one, besides, Denae is NOT an animal lover. The girls were lucky to have the gerbils they had for the past few years. So hopefully this stuffed kitty will help her feel better faster AND give her the "kitty" she wanted.


So, getting back to that little girl in that big bed. I am so grateful that we live in a day where we have the technology to treat our little ones when they get sick. They are so precious and fragile. The hospital has made great improvements on how they treat the kids. They had a backpack of activities for her filled with stickers, games and toys which Bailey was putting to good use. Then there was a quilt on the end of her bed that had a note tied to it. Actually it was a poem that basically said the quilt was made with love to comfort her while she was there and that it was a piece of the maker. It was then signed by the maker, which I forget her name, but she had also listed her age, which was 92. This touched me so much to think of this sweet lady of 92 in her home working on this lovely quilt that was there to comfort my granddaughter. This was done through a group called Project Linus. This just all brought to my mind, even with all the bad news in the world, there are still wonderful selfless people in the world to make tough situations easier....even for someone they will never meet. How WONDERFUL!

Everything was fine UNTIL......

So after a nice weekend of General Conference, the phone rings, and the name on the caller ID imediately get's me worried, it's the Stake Executive Secretary. I answer the call and he wants JAMES. "Jim, you would like to speak with JIM? Okay, please hold." I go get him on the phone and hang up....waiting....waiting.... Jim then comes out and asks me if I have anything planned Tuesday or Wednesday evening.....DANG....No. The Stake President would like to meet with us on Tuesday evening at 9PM. MAYBE he just wants to talk to us about our Missionary...yeah...that's probably it....


Then a while later our good friend calls who happens to be on the Stake High Council. So I ask him....."You wouldn't happen to know WHY the Stake President would want to meet with us, do you?"


He replies, "No, no I don't.....and if I did, I couldn't tell you!"


I then say, "So you DO know!" and he laughs! HE LAUGHED!


Then he mentioned that there HAD been some discussion about SOMETHING....and for us to "ENJOY our meeting with the Stake President." Yeah....RIGHT!


So now Jim and I BOTH are nervous about this meeting...we don't know WHO it's for or what it is...but yeah, Tuesday evening at 9PM we will find out! Wish us luck?

Penguins.....

The other day I had to take my car to the shop. I had been there about 3 weeks ago getting my window fixed and we had the shuttle take Ashley, Xander and I up to Day Care and work. This was a NICE shuttle, it had a DVD player in it, and the driver popped in the movie Happy Feet....the one with all the penguins in it.

Well, THIS time, it was a different van, and I noticed it DIDN'T have a DVD player in it. I figured Xander would never know the difference. WRONG!!! As I was putting him in his car seat, he looked up and said, "Where's the Penguins?" I was astonished to think he remembered that from 3 weeks ago! I will never under estimate his memory again!

Come on in....

I mentioned earlier that we have been fixing things up around the house. Well, we needed to sell a few old things....the two year old furnace, the old manual defrost freezer, and Jim mentioned I should sell them on craigslist. Well some co-workers mentioned ksl.com classifieds. I placed both items up for sale in both places and the winner was.....KSL.COM!!! I couldn't believe how well that worked....for FREE!

So I started LOOKING through the adds. Wow, there is cool stuff for sale out there. I almost found a new sliding glass door for the back for $95.00, about 10% of the cost of new, but unfortunately it opened on the wrong side.

I started looking at chairs for the front room not really expecting to find anything that I like....AND that Jim would like. But there it was! Two leather chairs with a leather ottoman AND a fabric loveseat. It was PERFECT for the front room...and all for only $250.00. I showed Jim what I had found and he loved it. Matt was bored so he said he would go get it with me. They were up in Layton....the rejects of a broken home. I was worried about the condition....especially after driving up so far with the truck and trailer (did I mention the truck only gets 10 miles per gallon?) but they were in beautiful shape.

After "playing" with the new furniture I decided I needed a new table for the room. Back to ksl.com again and there it was....and again Jim loved it. This one was only in Murray AND it fit in the Civic, so that wasn't so bad. After a few throw pillows and candles, my front room is actually INVITING as Jim put it. So, come on over and see for yourself. I love it! Now if someone will just keep me away from ksl.com for a while....

View from the front door

View from the family room

Kids Keeps Things Interesting

Can I just say, Kids are funny. I know that isn't a very profound statement, but they never seem to stop amazing me at what they do. You would think the second time around that I would have seen it all, but NOPE! Not the case. Just yesterday, Xander was singing along with something on TV. He was singing "I'm the map, I'm the map...." from Dora the Explorer, when Ashley looked over and saw he had the house phone up to his ear. She took the phone from him and hung it up. It rang back....there was no one there, so she hung it up again. Several seconds later, the phone rang back again, and Caller ID said "Provo City Center". So Ashley answered the phone, and the caller said, "This is the 911 Operator, Is everything okay there?" All Ashley could think of is that Xander was singing "I'm the map, I'm the map" to the Operator. The Operator decided to cancel the Police Officer that was enroute to the house after Ashley's explaination that her 2 year old had the phone....Oh REALLY? I can honestly say none of MY kids ever called 911....that I KNOW of....hummmmm.

Beauty and the Beast & a Night on the Town

Denae had a wonderful idea last night....to take the kids to the Live performance of Beauty and the Beast at the Theater in Downtown Provo. After much discussion of where to eat, we decided to eat there at the theater due to time contraints. It was going to be Jim and I, Denae and her girls, and Xander....but after the tickets were purchase, but (thankfully) before we left, Jim got sick....puky sick...and ended up staying home. Too bad, it was a good show and pretty good food. Here are the kids in front of the theater....waiting for the doors to open.
Eating here was the BEST decision we have made in quite a while. That gave us FRONT ROW seats for the play. Notice that Laira's feet almost touch the stage. Infact during the play at one point....(the SCARY part) there are wolves and they scared Xander, he JUMPED when they showed up right beside us, then he looked at the wolf that was still creeping closer, and then said "Hi Wolf!" as he waved at it. It was hilarious.
Bailey and Laira with Belle after the play...they were soooo excited to meet her.
Xander in Denae's arms....reluctantly meeting the Beast. I didn't capture it in the picture, but he had a death grip on Denae, but he let go long enough to wave at the Beast and say "Hi, Beast!" Denae mentioned that this might be his way of facing his fears...Just say Hi!

Simple Things Can Make Me Happy!

Jim and I have been getting some maintenance done on the house this year. We spent some of our tax return earlier this year on new vinyl windows, then we reroofed part of the house where we had a leak and FINALLY....we replaced the front door! What a difference it has made in the look of the house. I love it! It just brings some class to the look of the house. Now all I need are new shutters....but that is totally cosmetic. Everything else has been to fix problems or become more engergy efficient. When you can see daylight around the edges of the door, and there is water leaking when it rains....yep....time to fix things up! Oh, and we had to replace the water heater that was leaking...and the front spigot outside....sheesh....it never ends...does it?

But boy that door looks nice!

Proud Mom Moment

Many of you may have heard of the plane crash in Arizona that seriously hurt a Provo native and her husband. Well, today my daughter Denae, coordinated a fundraiser event that earned quite a bit of money for the family. She's been interviewed by The Daily Herald, and at least one TV news crew was there to record the event. I am very proud of Denae and her efforts to help this friend from High School. Now she is talking about holding a benefits concert with Mindy Gledhill and Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. This is GREAT!

Camping with the Grandkids

On Friday, July 25th, Jim and I took ALL the grandkids up camping "in the camper car" in Mapleton Canyon. We had a wonderful time in the "forest" and playing in the dirt and rocks. It's amazing how facinating this stuff can be.

Breakfast with Grandpa

Dirty Hands


Time to clean up.

Let the Blogging Begin....

I guess I will jump in with both feet here. Many people in the family have been blogging for a while, and I guess it's time for me to join in. I'm not much of a writer, but I can type, so I guess this is the best way for me to save special memories for my family. Sooooo, let's get started!