Happy Thanksgiving!

 We started out the week with the news of two baptisms, one in El Salvador and one in Colorado!  Our son Josh is in white on the left, and our nephew Derek is in white on the right.  What happy news!  I'm sure this makes Grandma and Grandp H just want to burst their buttons!

Josh also told us of a wonderful experience he had with a familia Reyes.  They were preparing for baptism, and it had to be delayed because of a small worthiness issue.  The husband really had a hard time with it, but it turns out that during the week, his son decided to get baptized with them, which might not have happened had it all gone through at the beginning.  Josh truly felt that this was a miracle!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, punctuated by having Joseph home with his friend Jacob from BYU-I, and special live ordinances at the Temple.

Jacob was in the Blue Cast in Nauvoo this summer, and Joseph was in Yellow Cast, so they didn't know each other really well, but at BYU-I, they are in the PMP (pre-missionary program) and have gotten to be fast friends.  They talk about Nauvoo all the time, and the great memories they have from there.

We picked them up Wednesday morning, and everyone was determined that Jacob was going to have an "Idaho Experience", and he was a willing participant!  The first thing they did was go horseback riding on Wednesday evening, and he also milked the cow that night with Joseph.  They played Telestrations that night, and Mary said it was one of the funniest times she's ever had playing it.

On Thanksgiving day, I began cooking early.  I was in charge of the mashed potatoes and gravy, fruit salad, relish trays, pumpkin pie and cheescake.  They all turned out really well!  We went over to our neighbors at around 2 pm.

Norm and Sharon had set a beautiful Thanksgiving table:

Mary, Jesse, Tori, Jacob

Joseph, Logan, Peter, Zoe

Bruce, Lorena, Ann, Shailor

Libby, Emilee, Sharon, Norm

Thanksgiving Table!

During the dinner, we went around the table and expressed something for which we were grateful.  Mine was that I was thankful that Joshua is serving a mission.

I just love this video!  It shows the happiness of the day!

The next day, Friday, Bruce & I went to the Temple for Joseph to complete one of the sacred ordinances that takes place there in preparation for his mission.  It was a wonderful experience to be there with him.  Norm & Sharon, Rachelle & Greg, and Elysia were there with us also.  We sat in the Celestial Room for a long time, and Joseph kept saying, "This is a lot to process.  I have a lot to think about."  And he was so happy and grinning from ear to ear.

After the session, Jesse and the other kids came with a picnic lunch that we ate on the lawn of the chapel next to the Temple.  We had a lot of Thanksgiving leftovers, so it was yummy.  Then we went over to Deseret Book for a couple of hours.  We spent a pretty dime on Christmas presents there!  After that, we went back to the Temple and attended the sealing of Tori to her parents, Norm and Sharon.  Emalie and Logan were able to be in the sealing room also, and it was a beautiful sealing!  And THEN, on top of that, I got to attend the sealing of Jason and His wife Anna.  Jason is the son of our friends Dan & Gale F.  That was also a very touching and wonderful sealing.  So in all, I got to attend THREE live ordinances in the Temple on Friday.  My thought as I walked out of the Temple was, "God is good."  After seeing the joy and the happiness that comes from these sacred ordinances, I felt of God's goodness and mercy.  Everything He does is directed toward blessing our lives.  He is good!

Saturday, I got the chance to give two Foot Zones to some friends from our town.  It was so fun to visit with them and work with this therapeutic modality.  In the afternoon, we put up the Christmas Tree!

We actually set the tree up, put on the lights and the beads all in one day.  The kids say it's never happened before.  Ha ha  Now we still have to get the ornaments up!

An afternoon horseback ride followed.

Joseph, Jesse, Jacob and Mary

We turned Jacob into a real cowboy - with chaps even!

That night, we went and saw "the lights".

Hanging out in the Igloo

On Sunday, right before Joseph left, we had the annual Measuring of the Heights!

Libby tries to sneak in with Jesse's high heels on!

Peter won the contest for growing the most - over 2".  Libby and Mary followed closely behind.

We even added Jacob to the board!

I have so much fun writing these blogs and recording the history of our family.  The Lord has blessed our family in so many ways.  I am so grateful for his tender mercies, not the least of which has been this wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving!

I think I mentioned in the last blog that Josh played his guitar non-stop while he was here.  

Tara, the 18-month old daughter of the family that is staying with us, came down and snuggled in with Josh to listen to him play.  Joseph captured the moment.  Having our friends here with us has made me think about how much we're missing not having little children anymore.  We're in an in-between stage where we don't have much interaction with young children, and it's a true loss.

On the other hand, there are many things we can do that would not otherwise be possible, so we are trying to taking full advantage of those opportunities.  And one of those this week was to do a "Harry Potter" marathon in anticipation of the 7th movie coming out.  We started on Tuesday night and watched the first two.  Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked so young!  I didn't get to see the movies because I had to do some shopping, but most everyone else did.  On Wednesday we watched the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth movies.  It lasted until midnight!  That was a lot of fun, as the kids had friends over, and Josh was with us, of course.

 

For Thanksgiving we went over to Paul and Karen's house.  Karen is my 2nd cousin on my Mom's side of the family.  We have become good friends over the years, with Cider Festivals, Thanksgivings, and through the piano teacher's group that I belong to.  The highlight of the day, besides the meal, of course, was the Talent Show.  When we had Thanksgiving with these guys a few years ago, we had an impromptu talent show that inspired my children so much, that I wanted to have it again.  Paul and Karen's children are talented in the extreme, so it's always fun to have a show with them.

Libby played her duet of Ode to Joy and Sakura.  Peter played Libiamo, from La Traviata.

Mary

Mary played a Clementi Sonatina, and Jesse played Consolation, by Franz Listz.  Joseph played his original composition entitled "A Bite of Sunshine".  Josh played the guitar and played "What Child is This" and "Hallelujah" (from the Shrek soundtrack), with Jesse providing backup harmony on the chorus. 

Jesse and Josh

Bruce even sang John Denver's "Rocky Top Tennessee".  I thoroughly enjoyed ever minute!

On Monday night, we had a Family Home Evening where we wrote down a list of what we were thankful for and then read them to the family.  Mary was lucky because she kept writing things down while others were reading their lists, and read hers last, so she had the best list of all!  She was pretty sick on Thursday and Friday, but her fever broke late Friday night, and she was OK after that.  When her fever broke, it was so funny - she was totally out of it.  She sat up on the couch and said, "It's cold. It's cold, it's cold, it's cold!"  I could tell she was not awake.  I got her up and tried to get her to bedroom.  On the way she had to sit down and started talking about swimming.  I started to get a bit nervous and called for Peter to bring some Frankincense, which I put on her head.  That seemed to bring her to her senses somewhat, and I was able to get her to her bed.  She slept well the rest of the night!

On Saturday morning, we got up to a delicious breakfast cooked by Dad!  Thanks Bruce!  We then put up the Christmas tree, which always involves a great deal of commotion.

Josh is sporting a very handsome "cowboy athlete" outfit.

Libby dancing on the tree stand

Mom, Libby, Dad, Joseph and Jesse setting up the tree

Josh (aka Superman, or "Master of the Universe", as he likes to call himself lately)

It's up!

 The tree is not decorated yet.  I wonder how long it will take to get to the actual decorating?!  I started to yesterday, but the first string of lights I plugged in had only half the bulbs working.  Does this frustrate anyone besides me?

After setting up the Christmas tree, we played the rest of the day.  Grandma and Grandpa (Bruce's parents) were here, and they took Bruce and I shopping for awhile.  That is always fun!  Later in the afternoon, we all went to see Harry Potter 7, the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.  One time I looked over and Joseph had Libby curled up in his arms and comforting her during the scary part.  It was cute!  I thought it the movie was well-done, but I sure could have done with a few more happy moments.  But as Bruce said, it was a dark time, and they had to go through some hard things with Voldemort in power. 

Right after Harry Potter, we went to the Forgotten Carols, a musical production by Michael McLeane.   Jesse saw the DVD over at a friend's house, and loved it, so when I saw the tickets for sale, I decided I wanted this to be my present to her for Christmas.  But then I thought of everyone else that would want to go, and I ended up buying for everyone.  We don't do things like that very often because of the expense, so it was fun to go to a nice cultural event with the whole family.  I liked the singing at the end the best.  Even Peter said, "That was cool!" after the last strains of Silent Night died away.

We have snow on the ground!  If it's going to be winter and cold, I like there to be snow!  But I just heard from Bruce that Josh had to turn around and come home from going back to school this afternoon because the roads on the way there are blocked. Well, I can't say I'm very sad about that!

I figured out this astonishing fact this morning: this is likely the last time our family will be together - the eight of us - at Christsmas time without either somebody gone or somebody added to the family.  Here's how it all plays out:

2011 - Josh on a mission
2012 - Josh on a mission
2013 - Joseph on a mission
2014 - Joseph on a mission
2015 - Everybody home!  (But Josh will be 23, and possibly married - so we could have an addition, or he could be at the in-laws!)
2016 - Jesse on a mission
2017 - Jesse on a misison
2018 - Mary on  mission
2019 - Peter on a mission
2020 - Peter on a mission
2021 - Everybody home! (But Josh will be 29 and maybe starting to have their own Christmas?  And Joseph, Jesse and Mary possiby married.  Yikes!!)
2022 - Everybody home!  (The "buts" are an even more likely scenario than the year before)
2023 - Libby on a mission
2024 - Everybody home!

Those are some sobering numbers for me.  I don't know how people can stand it that don't know the Plan of Salvation.  If you are reading this and don't know what I'm talking about, look up the link, but also know that families can be together forever!  (We sang this last night all together at Forgotten Carols).  This brief mortal journey is a sliver in the eternities, and if we make choices that lead us there, our families can be together in the eternities, with glorified, resurrected bodies and infinite possibilities ahead of us.  While we may experience scarcity of time and location on this earth, abundance lies ahead of us and we will be TOGETHER forever someday.

The rest of the Thanksgiving weekend

Sean and Heidi came to visit us again over the weekend, staying Fri and Sat nights.

It was so fun to visit with them, although it was brief. Sean was Elder McQuay at this time last year. He served in our Spanish Branch for 7 1/2 months, and spent Christmas Day with us last year. We feel like he is part of our family, and have been delighted that Heidi has fit right in and made herself a part of our family too!

I've been extremely grateful that during our years in the Spanish Branch, our children had a chance to see some absolutely stellar missionaries come through our branch. They were zone leaders, and they would stay for 6+ months, and they worked very closely with the members, so we knew each one really well by the time they left. Each one - Elders Zarco, Lazara, Marshall, Robinson, McQuay, Pace, Tims, Coello, Cortez (and his companion) - left a great impression on our family!

Last night the children put up the Christmas tree - and they did it all by themselves, as I sat on the couch and nursed a burned finger from the hot oil the scones were cooking in. (It's much better today).I was so impressed they did that by themselves!Jesse has also been spearheading the wrapping of presents, since she went shopping with me early Fri morning and knows what most of the presents are anyway. The thought occurred to me last night that if Jesse is on my side, she is one good cookie to have around, because she just goes at it and gets 'er done.
Josh gets the honor of putting the last branch on at the top. And he doesn't even need a stool!And tonight, for family home evening, Bruce transferred the measurement chart from the old dinosaur one that was all beat up, to a nice wooden board, and we had the annual measuring of the heights.
Bruce even pulled out a level this year to make sure we were right on. Joseph grew the most this year - 4 1/4 inches.
Josh only grew 1 inch and he was perfectly disgusted and said we didn't know how to measure. Ha ha He does still hold the record for the biggest growth spurt in a year (besides the first year) with 4 3/4 inches from 2006 to 2007. So he shouldn't be taking this so badly. I think he thought he would grow more because of his broken leg stimulating growth, but no such luck. That must be something that only happens to the cousins!

I am truly grateful at this Thanksgiving season, for all of our blessings.

Thanksgiving News

These guys sure had fun hunting on Thanksgiving morning. We ate the pheasant at our Thanksgiving dinner and it was tasty! Bruce, Joseph and Peter went with their cousins Joshua W. and Kaleb.

In the meantime, I was preparing dinner,
and Libby was drawing a picture, among other things.

Our meal turned out wonderfully, thank goodness.

The best part of the meal was the fresh apple cider. It's called liquid gold around these parts!

I took a long nap after dinner, and Bruce went horseback riding with Gary and Heidi, and then Peter and Kaleb. They took Lady, Mackee and Strawberry and Bruce said they all did great. We are still in the process of training them, so the more they go out the better, and we talk about "how they did" after every ride.

Later in the evening we watched Get Smart (very funny movie), and played games with Stephen and Kendra and family when they came over. We played categories, and this crazy board game where they made me jump from five feet off the ground blindfolded, and a "Famous Name" game. Despite family members getting a little too competitive (smile here), we had a really fun evening.

Well, Peter just came in to tell me the horses are ready, so I gotta go ride. Wahoo!

Programs and Preludes

Mary finished her map of South America on Monday made out of play dough of every color. This uncluttered our fridge considerably, as Mary had put each color of play dough in a big bowl and stuffed the bowls all through the refrigerator. Gotta love it!

This is Libby at her 1st grade music program. It was titled The Turkeys vs. The Eagles. Libby was an Eagle, and her line was, "Listen here you turkey birds!" I love her innocence and willingness in this picture. "Unless you become as a little child.." comes to mind.

On Wednesday night we went with Jesse to Young Women in Excellence. The program involved all of the Laurels speaking about one of the YW values, and as they talked about it, they put together a fruit pizza, with each value color being represented by a piece of fruit (the frosting - white, blackberries - purple, pineapple - yellow, strawberries - red, blueberries - blue, etc.) It was so creative! It was a great program, and I think Jesse got some good ideas for projects she wants to do. She got to go to Twilight yesterday, and then came home and re-read the book (for the third time) in seven hours. She is a FAST reader, without loosing anything on the comprehension end.

Josh also had a program this week for an Honor Choir that he was in. The choir was composed of students that tried out and then came together for two evenings and two days of workshops with a special conductor and then a performance. It was a great concert and they sang beautifully. I thought what a treat it was for him to perform with enough male voices!

We re-scheduled Joshua's Eagle Court of Honor! It will be Saturday, January 3, 2009 (wow I wrote 2009!) at 6:00 pm at our chapel. You are all formally invited. :)

Peter got the most pieces of candy at his Den meeting for having his uniform, his book, and his tin can ready to make his drum. He's a good Cub Scouter! You have to know that I had nothing to do with this - he did that totally on his own.

The discussion around the dinner table tonight was about the resources our family had to offer others (our ward in particular) in times of need, besides money - which we don't have. It was really interesting to hear their answers. One of my answers was that we are a family of faith, with cheerfulness and optimism.

I recently saw this quote by Brigham Young, and I don't think these are exact words, but it something like this, "The riches of this people lie not in our assets, but in our ingenuity and industry."

I told about our friend Lane, who was inspired to organize a group of men to work for three hours to move two jack-knifed trailers off a mountain road and in the process, opened up a way for an ambulance to get by to go and rescue somebody higher up on the mountain who had fallen and broken his leg. Lane didn't know this at the time, but that somebody was Dave, his dear friend and next-door neighbor who had had a horse step on his leg and shatter his ankle, and cause a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula. Having already laid in the snow for seven hours on the mountain, if the ambulance had not gotten there when it did, Dave might not have made it through (this is a whole other story of miracles). Lane used ingenuity and industry to get those trailers moved, and quite possibly saved Dave's life.

As a side note, Lane said of the whole group of men standing around waiting for the tow trucks to come (which never did), only about half stepped up to help. The other half just stood on the side and made negative comments. An interesting parallel to the mathematics of the ten virgins, no?

I really took a lot of short-cuts on this story - there is more to it, so if you ever want to know, ask me (or Lane or Dave).

Finally, I am highly recommending you read this blog - Mormon Soprano. It has a video clip of Elder Neal A. Mawell's Devotional Talk in 1978. It is absolutely fascinating to hear him describe our day in such detail. You've just got to hear it - and even better, follow the link to the actual talk and read it. I found it amazing.

Also, I recommend this blog as well entitled Article VI. It's especially interesting in light of Elder Maxwell's words!

Have a good week everybody!