Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. No time tonight to upload pictures, but they will be coming. Hope you all had a wonderful day. Remember to be kind to others, think of others first, treat each other with respect, be responsible, and love the Lord in all you do. We love you all. Mom and Dad

Christmas Greeting and Nutcracker

I am posting this photo of my family Christmas letter to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Most of you who read this have already seen it. But I hope you have a wonderful day on Friday. Everyone stay healthy and remember the Savior. I posted this photo of the program from the presentation of the Nutcracker that Dad and I went to see last night. It was so wonderful. This was put on by a fairly new Ballet school. A young 15 year old in our ward was dancing in it. It was done at a performing arts high school. They did a fabulous job and it was so professionally done. We so enjoyed it. I have only seen it twice before (as a child and several years ago with Linda). Dad has never seen it on stage before.

We love you all. Stay healthy and we will see most of you within the next week or so. Love, Mom

Back Track to Bakersfield

On December 4-5 we went to Bakersfield to babysit J&B's kids while they went on a quick get away to celebrate their anniversary. Following are photos I took there. They are not in the order I took them in, but they certainly represent what we did for two days. It was a fun, if not quick trip and we had a blast being with the kids and grand kids. Enjoy the show!

This is Grandpa watching Looney Tunes videos on the computer with Owen and Liesl. They needed to be introduced to Bugs Bunny! Cutie pie, Clara at the kids indoor soccer games. She was a good trooper about all the hauling around we did that day.

Owen playing goalie in his game. And even though he gave up a couple of goals, he scored the first one for his team and they won! Woohoo, Owen!

Liesl during her game. She, too scored a goal for her team. Woohoo, Liesl. (Her team does not keep score).

Blurry, but good action shot of Owen. We had fun watching the kids play.

We decided to bake a cake. Liesl spent a great amount of time licking the bowl really clean.

We played outside. Owen rode his bike, Liesl rode her scooter and they climbed trees. Clara ran...ready, set, go!

We did get to see Elijah. He and Shawn came over for a quick visit. We saw them the next night at their place, but Elijah was feeling sick, then, so our second visit was short. Loved seeing all of them.

Thought I'd end with this adorable photo of Clara. We were sitting in the kitchen and I was snapping photos over and over. She heard a noise outside and this was her reaction. I clicked at the perfect moment. Love it!

I caught Dad's cold. Dad recovered pretty well, but I had it pretty bad this last week. I, too am finally doing much better and made my first outings today. Glad to feel more human. Hope all of you that read this are doing well. I hope to send an electronic version of my Christmas letter out to more people this week. Love you all. Mom

Has It Been 10 Years?!

Yep! It's been 10 years since our Jay and Becca were sealed in the Los Angeles Temple. What a wonderful blessing to our family this union has been. Thank you for making that wonderful choice. And thank you for bringing three (almost four) wonderful children into your family and consequently our family. We express our love and congratulations from all of us in the family. We love you. Mom and Dad

Whew!

Netta emailed us this photo of their back yard a few days ago! They got this snow over night!!!

I have been so very busy! This is a quick, quick, post. I have so much to catch you all up on, but it will have to wait a few more days. The most exciting news for this post is that J& B called us last night to tell us the results of their ultrasound yesterday. Since they emailed people last night already with their news, they gave us permission to tell the rest of you that they are having a boy!!! Their due date is May 4th. So our next two grandchildren will be boys and cousins born just a couple of months apart. Owen is really excited and Liesl says that it's only fair for Owen to get a brother. Clara tells you that she wants a baby "bruddah". So everyone is happy!

We went up to Bakersfield last weekend to watch the wee ones while J&B went on an anniversary trip. It was fun and quick. More photos and info to follow. We're excited about Christmas and seeing most of you. We will miss Netta and B. and JC and Nikki A LOT!!! I will finish this quick post by promising a longer message with more pix next time. Love you all. Mom

I Love the Temple

This morning I am grateful for my service in the Temple. I had the most marvelous day there yesterday. The member of the Temple Presidency that was conducting our preperation meeting taught us some wonderful things yesterday. I wish I could share them with you all, but let me say this: I learned some amazing things about the Temple ordinances yesterday and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me this wonderful chance to be there and grow and learn. I Love the Temple!!!

My love to you all. Mom

You Cannot See the Wind

Southern California change of seasons is a little different. Obviously, we don't have snow, but we do get a Fall-like Autumn. It comes later here, too. The temperature drops, but not too drastically. We put on jackets or sweaters in the evening, but the day temps are mild. It was a fluky 85 degrees on Thanksgiving, but generally in the low 70's. One of our Fall conditions are the Santa Ana Winds. I have to say, I hate them! They dirty the pool and the yard (these pix don't show how bad it can get). They make my allergies worse. (The ones I didn't know I had). They cause the arsonists to come out of the woodwork and set fires. We had one up a few miles behind us just last week. It freaks me out. They leave dust on the windowsills. They cause the planes at John Wayne Airport to take off and land the other way, so I don't hear planes all day. (You'd think this was good, but it reminds me of the few days after 9/11 when the planes were grounded). They are just a pain. And they can last through the winter. The worst ones we ever had were the day Timo was born in Jan of '03. At least these that we have had the last couple of days are pretty mild.

Oh well....you get what you get when you live in anyplace. I will take those winds, the earthquakes, the sunshine, the mild temperatures, the no snow, the beaches, the mountains, the crowds, the freeways....I love it all. I love living here. (I just don't like Santa Ana Winds.)

Talked to Tam this morning. She said Mari is doing better, but still not 100%. R and T gave us permission to tell you that they have chosen a name for the new one. It's Caleb Lewis. J and B will find out in about a week what they are having. We are excited about new grandchildren!

Today is the 30th. I have to say, I did not do well on my Nanowrimo goal of 50,000 words. But I do not feel that I failed. I wrote well over 20,000 words and over 20 stories. It has been a great experience and has taught me a lot about myself. I have enrolled in the Personal History Writing class at my school again for next semester and plan to edit those stories and write more. I loved having a goal to work towards. To other writers...keep trucking!

My final note...it was brought to my attention that I have been putting a lot of personal info on the blog. I am going to start using nicknames and initials where they apply. I also edited the profiles on this blog and changed a few of the settings. I decided not to make the blog password accessible, but I hope that these changes will make things better. Please keep reading and posting comments. I love you all and hope all is well with our entire family. Enjoy the pictures and videos. Love, Mom

Two shots of the pool. It looked so much worse after church yesterday, but Dad skimmed it.

The wind is strong enough to blow over our lawn chairs.

The pile of Fall leaves under the Golden Amber tree.

The pile of Magnolia leaves up against the garage door.

My very dirty windowsill. (I shamefully admit that part of this dirt came from the winds and part from my housecleaning neglect!)


Listen carefully and you can hear me talk and clear my throat. Something I do a lot when the winds blow. You can also hear the wind chimes. They ring regularly during the winds.

The gentle wind chimes. You should hear them when the winds are bad and gusty. They go crazy. Everyone take care. Love you all.

Thanksgiving Weekend

This has been a busy and fun thanksgiving weekend. Thursday was pretty busy for me, so I never actually got to the camera. But we enjoyed a great meal. Linda came and joined us. It was so nice to have her here as well as A and T and family. Mari was struggling some as to her recovery from her tonsillectomy just 6 days before. But she was a trouper and was able to get some food down. A and T and family stayed over for Pie Day. The weather was so nice. The girls played outside with Grandpa a lot. A and T asked me to take some family photos for them. They wanted some new ones, but couldn't afford to go to a studio, so we braved the moodiness of a two year old and set up a photo shoot out back. Posted here are the final results. (After about 3 hours in Photoshop!)The final for the family.This is the one I worked on the most. It wasn't that bad, but I changed Robynn's eyes and and got rid of glasses glare and baby snot. I think it turned out pretty good.

Here's a nice one of the two older girls.

Hard to believe Robynn is getting this old. She is really growing up!

Mari was really not feeling too well, but was a good sport. I did Photoshop out the dark circles under her eyes.

Getting a good shot of this little one was tricky. By the time I got this shot, she had just about had it. I just kept shooting. We all liked this shot after she picked up this Magnolia seed pod. Real sweetie!

The three girls together. You gotta love it!

As to these two videos. While we were playing games on Friday, we kept Juliette occupied by letting her play with Mari's jello. Alan was trying to get her attention by singing to her. It appears she's looking at him, but she actually was not. The goodbye while still she was keeping her eyes on her jello is what makes them cute. Enjoy them both.

Our love to all of you. Mom

Renetta's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Netta! We love you and hope you have had a great day. (I'm posting at 7:00). We are so grateful you are our daughter. Being born so close to Thanksgiving makes us even more grateful every year. You are a good woman, a good wife, a good mom and a good daughter. Thank you for being you!Netta and family (with JC's friend) at the Angel game last May.

This photo was taken the day before they moved to Milwaukee. :(

All our love, kiddo. Happy b-day!

Renetta and Brad's Anniversary

Totally forgot to put his in my earlier post, so here it is. Today is Brad and Renetta's anniversary. So HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you. We hope it has been a nice day. We're so glad that you two are married and a part of our family. We love you much!

Disney Date Night

"Greetings from California"
Lyle and I decided to go to Disneyland for our date night last night. We ate dinner in California Adventure at that place called the Farmer's Market. We had their California Wraps. Tasty. We encountered this little cat while we were eating. He was very friendly, but didn't like being touched much. We speculated who he belonged to and how he got in and out of the park.

The parks were both decorated for the holidays. It was really beautiful. And the weather was nice, albeit cold. This shot was taken from Paradise Pier.

We decided to ride a few rides. This photo proves that we rode California Screamin'. Dad looked to the side while we went through the loop and said it was awesome. (I closed my eyes!)

Our "cage-mates" on the Ferris Wheel were kind enough to take our picture. It's a gorgeous view from the top at night.

The view of the Ferris Wheel from the waiting line. Cool, huh?

I took this photo of Dad in front of Soaring Over California. We both love this ride and take it every time we come into CA.

After that we left California Adventure we walked over to Disneyland. This is in front of the big Christmas tree in the front plaza. You get what you can when someone else takes your picture. With any night shot, you have to hold the camera real still. This shot is a little blurry.

When we came into Disneyland, it was around 9:00 and people were already sitting down for the fireworks. They also had closed off the castle for the fireworks. It was so beautiful, though, that we made our way over there and I attempted to take pictures. This is the least blurry of the bunch. It was gorgeous, though.

We made our way over to Indiana Jones, but the standby line was too long. They were showing Fantasmic, though, so we squeezed in behind a lot of other people. I didn't see a lot, but held my Flip video camera up and recorded most of it. We were not close (we were up on the bridge) so the videos are only so-so, but it was fun, anyway. After that, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean where there was no line. It was good to sit down. We ended the evening with a walk back over to the castle and I took this video. Enjoy. We sure did...and it only cost us the price of a quick dinner. Love it!

Mari Update and Writing

Mari did well in her surgery today. She was pretty woozy when she headed home, but doing okay. The pain had not hit, cause she was still on the anesthesia from the surgery. Tammy said she was sleeping when I called a little while ago. It's a pretty miserable and painful proceedure to endure. We're glad all is well and she'll be fine in a few more days.
I am up to 18,000 words. I know that doesn't sound like a lot to you Nanowrimo writers who are nearing closer o 50,000, but for me that's a lot. I have written 18 individual stories so far this month. The more I write stories of my memories, the more I remember. It's been interesting to go though this process. Thanks for your words of encouragement fellow writers.
Looking forward to Thanksgiving. We will miss all of you who won't be here.
Love you all. Mom

Mari's Tonsilectomy

Mari is having her tonsils out tomorrow morning. I know she is feeling quite anxious about it so if you could all include her in your prayers tonight, that would be great. She misses a lot of school because of throat infections and other illness. So this should help. Robynn had hers out last year and she has been sick a lot less.
I took this picture just a couple of weeks ago on the day of the girl's Primary program. Aren't the piggy tails cute? FYI...for those not in our immediate family, Mari is on the left, then Robynn, who is holding Juliette. We love you Mari. Hopefully you'll be well enough to eat a little turkey next week!

WORDS!!!

I am very behind in my NANOWRIMO writing. I'm really not sure I will catch up or even make the 50,000 word goal, but I have picked up a bit in my writing in the last few days. (I went a week without writing a word!) Anyway, I am at 15,500 words. Yahh!!! I have written 16 stories just this month. Remember...I am writing personal history stories, not a novel. I should have at least 30,000 or more words written at this point, but I'm happy with my results so far. It's been interesting plowing through memories. I've been talking to my sisters to help jog my memory.
I had a good day at the temple today. And Dad made it to Utah and back safe and sound. We love you all. Mom

Family News Update

A few things to tell you all. Sorry, no photos for today.

Tammy was washing dishes yesterday morning and put her hand into a glass when it shattered in her left hand (her dominant hand). She got two bad cuts on her thumb and index finger. Off to the hospital they went. She had 5 stitches in her thumb and 2 in her finger. They thought there might have been glass still in the wound, so they took and x-ray to be sure. No glass. She is recovering fine, although awkwardly.

Nikki went in about a week ago to have her gum surgery. That went well for her, but upon checking JC's gums from his surgery, the Dr. said they weren't healing properly. So he had to redo some of Jason's. He was a little unhappy to have to do it twice, but they are both doing better now that more time has gone by.

Becca and Tanja are doing well...baby-wise. Both are feeling well. Becca is still a little tired, but is now in her second trimester. Tanja and Ryan are still kicking around names, but haven't chosen one, yet. Jason and Becca haven't even brought names up, yet. But they both have lots of time left to decide. We're glad our prayers for both of them are being answered every day.

Shawn reports that Elijah's newest phrase that he uses all the time is: "I have a clever idea." How cute is that? He also woke up from his nap the other day and said, "I think I'll have snack, now". Funny boy.

My enrichment meeting went very well last Wednesday. I am glad it's done, however. We had 46 women there. That's about 10 more than I thought would come and a good turnout for our ward. Ideas for our Christmas one is swimming in my head!

A friend of your Dad's that he worked with for many years at Fleetwood passed away last week. He was LDS and he worked directly under your Dad a long time. He had cancer, but died of pneumonia while in treatment. Dad is flying to Utah tonight to go to his funeral tomorrow. He's staying with Glenn and Karen tonight. He'll be back tomorrow night. His name was Kent Wentsel. He retired from Fleetwood about 3-4 years ago.

Our love to all of you and to those in the extended family that read this blog.

Veteran's Day and Writing

Grandpa Barney in his Army Uniform: This will be quick post. I have whole lot of stuff to do for Enrichment mtg tonight. I just wanted to honor Grandpa's service in World War II. None of us will ever know how horrible that was for him. I am grateful for him and the others like him who have fought for our country. (From the beginning until now).

I have taken a few days off of writing for Nanowrimo to get ready for Enrichment Mtg. I hope to get back to it, soon. I'm not sure I will be able to get my 50,000 words, but I am going to write more this month. I have about 10,000 words written so far.

I love you all. Mom

Tanja's Birthday

Happy birthday to Tanja! Today is your birthday. We are so grateful you are a part of our family. We love you. thank you for being you. Thank you for being a good wife to Ryan and a good mother to your two wonderful boys (2 1/2 boys). We hope you enjoy your special day.
The rest of you enjoy these pictures from their visit here last March. Tanja and Andrew at D-land.

Where did that goofy guy come from???

Andrew has changed a lot in the last 8 months!

Spinning in the teacups.

I appears that Tanja carried Andrew around a lot at D-land. Guess that's what mothers do.

We love you Tanja. Happy, happy, happy birthday!

Thanks to My Children

After a very interesting conversation with a friend yesterday, I feel the need to let my children and grandchildren know how very much I appreciate them. Thank you for being loving and kind to Dad and me.My friend's neighbor is a widow with only one child, a daughter age 48. Her friend is legally blind and needs lots of help. Her daughter treats her so badly and won't do anything for her. She is unkind and belligerent to her mother, and acts angry and annoyed when her mother asks her to do anything for her. I am aware of other people whose children do not treat them with any respect or love. I am just so grateful that you are not like that. I'm so glad that I know I could ask any of you for help and you would give it to us. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for your testimonies and for living the Gospel. I love you all. Mom

Writing and writing

Remember Nanowrimo? I have written about 4200 words in two days. It's obvious this is a huge goal (to write 50,000 words in a month), but I'm still going to try. I hope I get faster at it! Hope everyone had a fun Halloween. Wish we could have seen you all in person. Love you all. Mom

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