Crazy Video

I was looking at your cousin Debbie's blog and clicked one of her Craft blog links. I wanted to see if there was anything helpful for my Enrichment meeting in two weeks. I found this video. It's about 8 minutes, but it's actually 4 minutes and plays twice. It's quite amazing. Check it out, it you get the time. It's pretty cool. Love, Mom
http://vimeo.com/6555161

Gingerbread Quilt blocks & Fun Interactive Web Sites

This is a photo of my gingerbread men quilt block. There are 9 of us in the exchange. Vallorie Carlson (Brad's Mom) arranged for it a year ago last July. We each make 9 identical blocks and we then exchange 8 of them with each other and keep one for ourselves. Then they will be put together into a quilt with sashing and a pieced border with houses. We all had to use the same background fabric, we all had to have plaid bows (any color) and they all had to be set the same. The fabrics and embellishments were our choices. We all had to put our initials on the block and I have sewn them in white floss on the shirt of the blue boy at the top (not shown in photo). Our first deadline to exchange them was last July, but most had not finished them. Our new deadline is in two weeks and I just finished my 9th block. I am excited to see what others have done. I saw Vallorie's block in progress and it was great. The ladies in my quilt class sure mad a fuss over mine today. They measure 16 inches at present. I got an email from my quilt teacher the other day. I forwarded it to my kids, but thought others who read my blog would enjoy the web site address she put in it. If you go to it, it allows you to "carve" your own pumpkin! So cute and your kids will love it. So Happy Halloween! Here is the web address: http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve%20pumpkin.swf

I also just registered at http://www.nanowrimo.org/. At that site you commit to writing a novel of 50,000 words in the month of November. Aunt Dede told me about it. She and at least Debbie have done it in the past. Of course, it's free writing and you do all the editing later. I actually want to do it with my personal history stories. We'll see. I want to do something to motivate me.

I love you all and will post sooner that a week next time. Mom

Becca's Birthday and Other News

Today is Becca's birthday. We all want to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECCA!" We love you very much. You are a wonderful person. You are a great wife, mother, daughter and sister. We are so glad you married Jason and became a part of our family. Thank you for being who you are. We all love you! Becca with her family, taken the day of Clara's blessing.

At Disneyland...taken in 2008.

Reading to sweet little Clara.

As to other news, as you all know Brad has accepted an offer from a Radiology group in Tulsa, OK. So that is where they will be living after July of next year. They are happy with their decision and are looking forward to this major change in their lives. We are excited for them and are pleased they already know what path their lives will take.

We took Linda to dinner last Monday to celebrate her birthday (which was on the 11th). It was such a nice evening for us. We all love Linda and wish you all could have been with us.

Dad received a calling from the Stake. He will be the Stake Social Services Specialist. It's a calling withing our Stake. he is going to research out all the social services that are available in this area and compile a resource book for bishop's in our Stake. He is already finding it a daunting task. But he will do a good job and a thorough one as he is with everything else he does.

I'm finally feeling like my knee is completely healed. I'm walking 2 1/2 to 3 miles a day. I don't need to take my supplements for inflammation anymore and I'm not doing my knee exercises anymore and it is still feeling good. I am amazed that it took 16 months, though. Oh well, I'm just glad I'm finally there. I did recently have a cortisone shot for my left trigger thumb. It's doing better.

We also have decided to host Thanksgiving here. I'll be speaking to all of you about that individually. We love you all and hope you are all well. Mom

Wonderful Video from YouTube

I really hope this works. I'm going to try to post a link to a video on YouTube. I'm not real experienced at this sort of thing. If it doesn't work, just go to Youtube.com and put Piano Stairs into the search spot. It should come up. It's so cool. I copied and pasted the URL, so I hope that will link you to it. Love Mom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

Catch up and Family Info

Lots of misc things have been going on with everyone, lately. Netta called today and said that JC had his gum surgery today. She said he was a real trouper. Good going, Jason! I find it interesting that three of our kids (Alan, Netta and Shawn) all had receding gums and now both JC and Nikki have the same problem. Check all your kids gums in front of their bottom two front teeth. This is obviously a genetic anomaly. Our kids had gum grafts, but JC had a newer procedure they have developed. They make an incision in his gums and insert a biological material and the gum grows up and over the added material which strengthen the gums and makes them grow higher. It's less painful than the graft from the soft palette our kids went through. Nikki will have her procedure later.

Alan and Tammy and the girls came last week so Julliete could have her test. It went well, but they still don't know the results. I will keep you updated on that one.

Jason and Becca are doing okay. Becca is still real tired, but everyone is over their "mouth sore" virus that they had. (I think)

Ryan and Tanja informed us that the family that wants to buy their home have a buyer for the home they are trying to sell. If all goes well (and it looks good), when they sell their home, they will be able to buy R&T's home in Logan. We are pleased and I know they are happy. They celebrated their anniversary on Wednesday, the 14th. Sorry I didn't get a post on about that on Wednesday, but this is a belated Happy Anniversary wish to you. Hope it was a nice day.

These two pictures show a picture of the quilt and the fabric I am going to use for R&T's baby's quilt. I just went nuts when I saw the pattern and knew it would be pretty in the blues and aqua colors. I had a lot of fat quarters and bought the rest on sale at JoAnn's. The larger cuts of fabric I got with coupons and I am really excited to get going on it. I have to finish my gingerbread applique blocks for my quilt exchange with Brad's Mom, Vallorie. There are 9 of us in the exchange and we will be swapping blocks in about a month. Mine are almost done, except for small bits of embellishing. I'll put in photos of that later.

Here's how the fabric breaks down. The stripe will be the backing fabric. The white has a pattern on it that are really small ovals. The one on the left with the round star bursts on it is for the large outer border and the teal batik on the left is for the inner border and binding. All the fat quarters are for the small bits and pieces on the inside of the quilt. I will have tons of these little pieces left over and plan to do something with them later on. (I love these colors!).

It will be a really pretty quilt when it's finished. I also played in Photoshop this weed and printed a really unique picture I created from some leaves I scanned. You'll see that later, too.

To finish off, I am posting this cute video I took of Elijah singing the alphabet song when he was here for conference weekend. It's a cute one.

I send my love to all of you and hope all is well. Love, Mom

Trips and News

This will be a long post...mostly because of all the photos I have put in. I still don't have the posting "put things in backwards" thing down, yet, so this post is backwards from this last weekend backwards to my trip to Milwaukee. Anyway, here goes.

First, a little news about Alan and Tammy. Tammy called and told me that Alan has been able to get a 7th period to teach. This will be most helpful in helping with their tight budget. We're grateful and Tammy says it's an answer to prayers. She is almost completely recovered from her pneumonia. However, Juliette will be undergoing an MRI on her head on Wednesday of this week at CHOC. She has, for some time now, been experiencing episodes of a kind of seizure-like behavior. I've only seen it briefly, so I can't really describe it. They are trying to figure out what is happening. I will keep you all updated when I know things. Please include her in your prayers.

Don't have much news from Ryan and Tanja. Tanja has been feeling the baby kick and is feeling pretty good. Her pregnancy seems to be a healthy one. They have found a female OBGYN who is willing to try a VBAC on her. This same doctor had the exact thing happen to her. A C-section due to a breech birth followed by a VBAC with her next baby. R & T are hopeful.

Jason and Becca are doing okay, but also experiencing some illness. Liesl has had another recurrence of the virus that causes the sores in and around her mouth. (I forget what it is called). It's hard on her and she can't eat for a couple of days. Owen and Clara have had the fever, but not too many of the sores. Clara, as some of you know, bent over to get a ball at her other grandma's house and hit her head on the brick fireplace. She got 3 stitches in her forehead. She is recovering, albeit experiencing a little trauma going through the process.

Netta and Brad and family are adjusting to the newly cold weather. More on my trip to see them below. My visit there was way too fast and the next time I go out I'll stay longer and take Dad with me.

Shawn and Kim came for Conference weekend. It was fun seeing the little firecracker, again. Elijah is doing better and I see potty training in his near future. We all enjoyed watching all the sessions. I was blown away by Elder Holland's talk on Sunday afternoon. It seems that every conference there are one or two really powerful talks. This was no exception. We enjoyed their visit.

So enjoy these photos. I took many more, but you can only spend so much time downloading them into the blog. BTW...I invited you all to join the blog as authors.(Except Kim who has done it already). Please register with Google (remember your passwords) and start posting on the blog. We would all like to read and see things about each other. Love to you all, Mom

As to our tradition, we went out to dinner after Priesthood session. This time we went to Ruby's This photo was taken there.

Also at Ruby's. Elijah did okay for a little boy who was tired and ready for bed.

Elijah would have stayed outside for their whole stay. Here he is out front. Sweetie.

Following are pictures from the Larkin Reunion.

We tried to take group pictures at the reunion, but it was hit and miss. I missed Nancy and Greg's family and both Hannah and Ethan were in the car when I got this photo of Eugene, Noreen an Joseph's family. The great grandkids are hitting their teens!

Janet and Larry and family. Next to Kevin is his new wife. Danielle is in front on the left. She is 20 years old and a student at USU, but looks so much younger. Cozette's new daughter is two months old.

Karen and her girls. They had family there, but this was all I got together. They are all as happy and kind as they have always been.

Uncle Glenn conducting Family Home Evening. We had a trivia contest. It was very enlightening as to memories of Grandma and Grandpa. This next photo shows the b-day cake we had in celebrating Grandma's 100th birthday which was August 2nd. So hard to believe.

Dad forgot to pack a jacket. He said he wasn't that cold, but he looks like he's a little chilly here standing by the fire during our campfire. We enjoyed smores and the siblings and spouses told about an experience about grandma and grandpa that really changed them. It was wonderful.

The fabulous five!

After we left the reunion, we drove to the Provo area and spent 3 days visiting with my siblings. We stayed at Aunt Dede's home. They were so kind to us and we greatly enjoyed our stay. We (my family) were not all together in one spot. Ria has been quite sick and could not join us at the resturant. (I failed to get a photo there. It was the only time we spent with Darrin and Jill). But this is a photo I took with the timer on the camera of the four of us. It's been 2 1/2 years since we were together and it may be another year before it happens again.

These next few pictures are from my trip to Milwaukee to watch JC and Nikki while their parents went to a job interview in Iowa. I spent a lot of my time sewing for Nikki's American girl doll, reading "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites", and driving them here and there. (Playground, McDonalds, etc). It was fun and the weather cooperated. Following is a photo of their duplex. The place has two identical apartments which are mirrors of each other. Their's is on the left, next to the garage (which they share). The landlord lives on the right.

The photo above is JC an Nikki eating icecream cones at McDonalds. Notice, we don't even have jackets on.

However, this photo was taken on Sunday, before I flew home on Monday. We had driven to Lake Michigan to let Grandma see it. It was a little cooler and that is reflected in the photo and what we are wearing. There is a breeze that comes off the lake.

Last one...The building in the background is the Museum of Modern Art. It's really unusual.

I'm kind of glad my traveling is at an end for awhile. I've got a lot that I want to get back to. So I will end this long post. Hope all is well for all of you. I love you.

Crazy Busy and Annoying Encounter

I have been so busy, I have been unable to post much. I have so much to tell about my two trips and videos and photos of both trips, but that is one of the busy things. So this is a quick blog to tell you I promise to go back and update you on my trips. (Milwaukee and Utah).

I will tell you quickly about a real annoying thing that happened to me on Tuesday. We flew in from Utah, in the evening and had been home an hour (Just enough time to check mail and phone messages) when the phone rang. It was my "high maintanence" friend, Louanne. She had run out of gas on her way to the bishop's office and was in a no-stopping area. At her request, Lyle and I went with our gas can full of gas and drove the mile or so to bail her out. While we were standing on the side of the road, someone drove by and threw a cup full of Coke and ice at me. I hit my arm and really hurt! None of us actually saw them throw it and there were 3 cars going by, so even though Dad raced off after them, he wasn't even sure which one did it. He actually didn't know which car it was so we have no recorse to press charges. I am amazed at how stupid and uncaring some people are. I'm just grateful it didn't hit my face.

Shawn and Kim are coming later today to watch Conference with us. More news later. Love you all, Mom