Benefit Walk

We have a new Thanksgiving tradition. We've done it for four or five years now. My friend, Donna and I go up to the Ogden Regional Hospital where the Nuns that have been there since it was St. Benedicts sponsor a food drive run. Donna and I usually walk in the mornings anyway so we get our dinners under-way and go up to do our little walk. It's only a couple of miles but the runners do about 9. We talk about doing that some year but we would end up walking most of that too and who has the time especially if you are having the whole dinner at your house? It's nice to start the day when you plan to eat more than any other day with a brisk walk and good company. Add to that the fact that your donation is going to a good cause. It was around 40 degrees this year so it was very comfortable. There were a lot of people out to enjoy it. It's a great tradition!

My Oldest Daughter

I've been wanting to do these blogs for a long time but want to do them right so it may take revisions to get some old pictures on. I want to journal/blog about my kids.

Risa was born shortly before my 21st birthday so I was a young mother. I wasn't nervous about being a Mom. I had watched my Mom do it for 20 years. I loved being a Mom. Risa was such a sweet baby and it was so fun to watch her. She was so smart and did the cutest things. When I was pregnant with Braden and she was 3 1/2 she would pretend to take her vitamins and run to the bathroom and spit and cough in the toilet. I asked her what she was doing and she answered she was playing "pregment". When Braden was born she wanted to take over. She helped so much and loved him so much. She always did well in school and was very strong willed. She was 5 when Laynie was born and really started asserting her will. I asked her teachers if they were having problem and they reported that she was obedient and charming. She was pushing my buttons.

Risa always liked cooking and crafts. At 11 years she was learning to fix dinner. She liked learning to make new things. When she started playing the clarinet she did so well and it began our fun life of band concerts, practices and band friends. We moved twice while she was in Junior High. She did so well making new friends and got a great group of friends when we moved into our house here. Her high school years were full of friends, concerts, plays and emotions.

I cried at her graduation because I wasn't ready for this time of our lives to end. She had a good time in college and I was so proud of her for her strong desire to get a degree. When it got stressful and I suggested she drop a class and push her graduation out one semester she informed me in tears "That is not an option". I cried at her college graduation because I was so proud of her for sticking with it. I have been proud of her desire to do what is right and that even when no one was there to tell her what to do she did it on her own.

Risa, I love you!

Quilts

For those three of you that check my blog I had quite a while with nothing for various reasons but here is an update to the quilt squares. I have the borders on although it has taken several trips to the fabric store for more fabric but here they are:

I really like they way they turned out. Now I have to find the matching green that I want on the back of the froggies but the pink is ready to go. I have cute matching stripes for the back of that one. When they are done (after Christmas) I will get some close up shots so you can see how well the rail squares match the little print colors in the focus fabric. I even bought a walking foot for machine quilting.

What I really want to learn now is applique. I just love that.

Mothers

If there is anything everyone can be grateful for it's Mothers. I'm grateful for my Mom and my husbands Mom. I'm grateful to be a mom and for all the moms that I comiserate with every day and the ones that helped me grow up.

My Mom turned 70 this year and does so much. She works at the temple, takes care of and interest in her family, cooks, cleans and helps her neighbors and works hard all summer in her garden and then preserves it all. She has always been willing to serve in church callings and serve the people in her ward. She and my Dad got home from a great mission in Palmyra, New York this year where they met many new friends that they are so close to now. They learned a lot while there even though we missed them being nearby.

I am the third child of seven and learned to work and be frugal and to love music and singing. My Mom has a beautiful voice and I loved hearing her sing while she cleaned and cooked. She taught us how to sew and quilt. I guess I never was much of a late night person cause I would go to bed frustrated with a project and wake up and Mom had stayed up late correcting my mistakes. We have had hours of fun with word games and visiting. I'm so glad to live close to my Mom. Thanks Mom!

This is my Mother-in-law. She just turned 80. She is full of life and vigor. She reared 10 children and Daren was the 6th. She made a teachers salary stretch and taught her children to work and be grateful for what they have. She and her husband have served 5 missions since retirement and both went when they were young. She keeps everything immaculately clean and very organized. She has served in about every calling possible. I had one friend in Cedar City and she said she just wanted to be a primary teacher like Sister Felix. She was the example of what a teacher should be. For her 80th birthday my sister-in-law contacted a friend in Cedar and asked her to have friends of Alenes get letters together to give her on her birthday. She got an influx of cards in the mail and a gift bag of letters from old friends expressing love, appreciation and years of friendship. She taught my husband to be the hard working, caring, giving man that he is and he is a great cleaner! BONUS!

To Moms everywhere, I'm grateful for what you do for us, eachother and the rising generation. We will depend on them. :)

Showing Kindness

I have great visiting teachers. They are so diligent and almost never miss a month. If I'm having a very busy week and they want to come I tell them it might cause more stress to try to be somewhere at a certain time and we just visit on the phone or at church. We talk a while and I feel cared for. They usually stop off a thoughtful gift or greeting anyway. This week has been busy and stressful with Risa in the hospital and still trying to do the other things I do. I got home from the gym this morning and there was a bag on my front porch. This was inside.

The bread was cinnamon apple bread and the note said "Let us know if you "knead" anything". So cute and so thoughtful. Both of these ladies have inactive husbands and they do more and serve willingly in any capacity. I love them so much!

Ungrateful

I'm feeling very ungrateful for not blogging about all I am grateful for. I have so much. Since I have already talked about my husband I'm going to go down the list with my children. Last week we celebrated my Mother-in-laws 80th birthday so I want to talk about mothers too. (Hey, I'm a mother! I can talk about ME! haha) I think I've been more tired than busy but I've added in a few unexpected happenings so my time is short. Yesterday I got home and hardly left my bed at all after dinner. I just watched TV and played on the computer and went to bed early. So when I have time to sit. I'm going to do this right with pictures and that takes time. I am very grateful for everything today.

Teaching an Old Dog new tricks

So maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. Our ward is doing several different groups and one of them is a quilting class. Yeah, I've quilted but this is different. It's patchwork art. It's meticulous and that is something I'm not good at. The plan was for a throw. That's a lot of work and a lot of money for a throw. I didn't want to spend that much money for something I didn't need to clutter my house soooo I opted to do a baby quilt. Since I have no baby (grand) in the foreseeable future I decided I needed to do two types so I had Risa come help me pick out the fabric since it seems she will most likely be first to utilize these creations. The pattern we are working on is the rail fence. It's pretty easy it's just hard not skimping on the steps but these are what I've got so far:

I really liked the pink and brown and the fabric was all meant to be matching so that was the easiest and it's coming together so cute.

BUT, this square goes with cute little froggies with a black background. It was harder to find the fabrics that went with the focus print but I'm loving working with these bright colors. They are so happy!

There are five rail squares and there will be 4 focus print squares. The rails are done now to cut out the focus print squares. Maybe I should get my housework done first. Hmmmm

So the moral of the story is- I'm learning to be patient and take the time necessary to make this turn out right and I seem to have plenty of time. haha

My Man

Since I want to write about things I'm thankful for here is the top of my list!This is my man!

We started dating in High School and he was just so funny and so nice. I compared every other guy I dated to him. He spoils me terribly. For years I never had to put gas in my car cause he did it. (Now he rarely drives my car but still puts gas in it occaisionally) Quite often I come home from work and he's cleaned the kitchen or done the laundry. One Saturday I got home and he had mowed the lawn but there were peaches falling off the tree so he picked up the fallen peaches and bottled them quickly. By the time I got home they were sitting on the counter in bottles. He has an amazing nack for fixing anything. One of Cory's first sentences was "Dad will Fick ix" He can build anything and loves to take on new projects.

This year he took our little laundry room and tiny bathroom and reconstructed the whole thing.

And made this:

He had to move the electrical wiring, water lines, drains, gas lines and dryer vent and even built the cupboards above the washer and built the counter with cupboards and drawers.

He didn't like the gates the guys with the vinyl had so he decided to build/weld one:

He has such tenacity, he will stay at a project till it's done if it kills him. I thought of going around the house and taking pictures of all the things he has built but it would take to long and I would have to clean all my stuff off of it but he has made our headboard, nightstands, entertainment center, shoe "condo", purse "condo", quilt stand, bathroom vanity, kitchenette, and a whole craft room full of cupboards and counters. and lots more. He has made a student desk for Risa in college and recently a really nice TV stand:

Thanks for 27 great years Honey, I love you!

Change

We were reading scriptures together last night and Daren started. He was reading the header for the first chapter of Mormon in the Book of Mormon. At the end he read: The Three Nephites were taken away - Wickedness, unbelief, sorceries, and witchcraft prevail and Obama was elected President.

Guess what? I like change. I have heard a lot of fear and frustration in this election. I believe the scripture that says "when ye are prepared, ye shall not fear". We have not elected a sadistic dictator and we have people around him that will do the right thing some of the time if for no other reason than to further their own career. I feel amazingly content. I do see this as one more step to the end but we who believe the prophecy that says the constitution of this country will hang by a thread can see the steps we are taking to get there. BRING IT ON.

My feelings today are of gratitude. It's November. I don't especially love fall and I dislike being cold but I refuse to be gloomy when I have so much. I got in a warm shower this morning and all I had to do was turn a knob. (and pay my bill) I got in a comfortable car that took me safely to the gym and pulled back into a garage out of the rain and snow. I slept well in my comfortable bed. I have a pantry full of food and enough dried, frozen and canned food to last us for months. Our bills are payed and we are healthy. We have everything! How dare we complain?

I see young couples that built their second large home and now can't sell their first one and complain that it's the banks fault. For what, their greed? I hear complaints all day, not by the people I see with really crappy lives but by the people who have it all. We live in a free country. If the majority elects someone you don't think is suitable we get to make a choice again in four years or two years for our local people. Can we all be a positive influence rather than negative.

The theme for the day is "Don't worry be happy" I may even take my i-pod to work and play that all day. haha It's a great day, help those around you and smile!!!!

Voting Values

Do I have opinions? Oh Yeah! If you don't want to hear them move on, change sites or turn off your freakin' computer!

My first opinion is that as far as presidential nominees we don't have any great choices. BUT, When it comes to voting we must vote the lesser of the two evils, you might say. You vote according to your own values. I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ. We have a living Prophet to guide us. I have followed the prophets "religiously" although not perfectly. I believe the family is the basic social unit and needs to be preserved as far as we have the power. I believe that abortion is wrong and the founding fathers of our nation expected us to work for what we earn and use our faith and prayers to get the guidance or inspiration to guide us in our decisions. I'm amazed by the young, up and coming professionals that are flaunting signs for someone who wants to instigate socialism. We are a few short steps from communism people! I am certainly not an expert on history or government but it seems that many are thinking socialism is a good idea. Now that I'm middle aged I see that as a major down-fall to my future. For those of us that plan ahead now there are some that want to take the decision making away from us. From what I've seen the government has never been the best at making decisions for us. Which leads me to a great e-mail I got the other day written by Orson Scott Card calling journalists onto the carpet for lying about the whole Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac debacle which allowed people that couldn't afford homes to take risks they couldn't afford to take and putting them in worse financial situations than they were in. Now Bush gets the blame cause he's the one that was around to clean it up. It was started under the Clinton administration and has cycled through feeding on our greed for more till it has almost undone us. We are definitely seeing the "Pride Cycle" in these days.
I have a client that goes to the state Legislature and he says that most of the Representatives are in it for their own causes. I'm also disappointed in our Governor so blast 'em all and start over! However I looked at the Judges up for re-seating and one is a Judge whose courtroom I have sat in on and she is a great Juvenile judge so she stays.
The prophecy about the constitution hanging by a thread looms over us and is closer than ever. I'm just amazed how Satan has gotten hold of the "very elect" in the choices made across the country. God bless us all. One question. How will they redistribute my food storage?