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