Our Thanksgiving Day

Well, this has been a good day all the way around for us.  We began the day by sleeping in.  That's always a great start.  We got up and exercised and began getting ready for guests.  We were delighted to have 3 of my 7 siblings with us, along with my mom and our two sons and their families as guests today. As can be seen in the photos below, we had plenty of good food and good company, and were blessed to talk to many of our posterity on the phone and other wonders of technology to share the day with them.  Among the other activities of the day we availed ourselves of the opportunity for reflection upon our blessings.  Right at the top of the list are our "roots" and our "branches".  What a great heritage we enjoy, and what a bright future we see in our posterity.  Naturally, also at the top of the list is the light of truth that we receive from living prophets, as well as those who have left us the word of God in prior days.  And rounding out the top three major blessings is the great country we live in, with all of it's challenges still the best place on earth.  We hope you had a wonderful day and that we all can live in thanksgiving daily.

 Roses from our little rose garden.

 The Turkeys.

 Melody's Magnificent Rolls.

 The place setting, including special china, utensils, and a guest turkey - made entirely of butter.

 Great sides: green beans, sweet potatoes and stuffing.

The Pies! Chocolate Pecan, Dutch Apple, Blackberry, and Pumpkin.

 The gang in action.

 Mom with half of her kids.

 More of the guests.

And one with the photographer and Chelsea.

What a fun day.

More from October

 We had a wonderful visit with Andy, Saramarie, Adele and Ezra and Emily and Rose.  We spent some great time a home visiting and going on some fun adventures.  Here we are already to head into Fairy Tale Town.

 I took a lot of pictures here but I think this is the only one that has everyone looking forward.  It was so funny trying to keep the little ones in the cheese holes and looking at the camera - I was not very successful at that but it was fun.

 Robin Hood and his merry band

 It is not often we have four of our grandchildren all at the same place at the same time.

These two were so cute on the slide.  I love this video.

 Here we are at the Pumpkin Farm.  I didn't get too many pics here I guess but it was fun.

 Everyone loves to go and see the chickens at Peter and Leigh-Ann's.

 My new ledge that Saramarie helped me decorate

Dad turns the big 60.  Happy Birthday!!!!

Circus Peanuts - YUM!!!!

Quick Update

We had a delightful time tending Chelsea for a few days this past week.  But we also have been busy getting some of the odd projects done.  Here's a brief photo essay.

This first set is of the little performer with her "cane".  It is a cute little shoehorn I bought at IKEA.

 It is coming along, but we still have a lot of base board to install.

 This is the acquisition we made at IKEA.

A nice table for the entry way, with places to deposit shoes.

And, of course, cool shoe horns that double as canes.

 We also now have our gas insert fireplace in place.  Man is it warm.

We also began to clear out the garage so I could uncover the elliptical and get back to exercising.
In addition to this, we have been doing the stuff Peter O. prescribed for us.
I am assuming that this kind of pain is better than the kind that will follow in a few years if we don´t.
We are actually happy to be getting back to getting in shape.

I Love To See The Temple . . . . . Deer

I was asked to come in to the temple this morning to help with some work that needed to be done while it is closed.  I never knew so many people work at the temple on Monday.  Mostly maintenance folks keeping it running well.  There are lessons for all of us I am sure in this, related to maintaining our own temples, those of our spirits, on a regular basis.  A bonus was to arrive early in the morning and see all of the wildlife in the park next to the temple.  Lots and lots of turkeys, some geese, and a few deer.  Here are some photos.

The end of October

Lots happening around here as we moved from October into November.  For starters, one of us passed that all-important milestone marked 60.  It was a pretty calm day, marked by some rain we have been praying for.  My sweetheart took me out to breakfast at IHOP for some yummy pancakes, then it was off to the temple as I was working the "late shift" that day.  I got some nice gifts too, including a compressor and nail gun, and those shown below.

 60 delicious circus peanuts from Uncle Peter.

Yummmmmmmmm!

60 memories of Papi from Rebecca & Family.

By the way, they are all attached to one of my favorite treats - 

Hershey's Nuggets of Dark Chocolate with Almond

Just to show that an old dog can learn new tricks, I used my newly acquired knowledge and skill at laying floors to replace the carpet and tile in the dining room/kitchen area of a family I home teach. Thanks to the expert teaching abilities of Uncle Don, and the added muscle of Bro. Tafua, not to mention the artistic flare of my sweetheart, I did a passable job.

 This shows the color of the floor more accurately.

But this shows better how well it all came together.

And then there was Halloween.  We were blessed to have one little pirate princess staying at our place, so we got to take her around to a few places before she wanted to get back to the pirate cave and count the loot.  We were in no position to argue as it was raining pretty good.

But even though we were not able to be with all of our beautiful grandchildren, the texts were flying with all the news and photos of how they all dressed up.

 "The owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat."

 Now here is an eclectic trio.  Gotta love those boots.

 The fairy princess (George MacDonald would have been pleased with her) and the Cisco Kid.

I suppose that these two could pass for The Princess & Curdie.

And, of course, the family book worm.  Well, the latest edition at least.

And of course one last event of importance . . . . the World Series.

As won by Mr. Bumgarner and the Giants.

GO GIANTS.