Young Womanhood Recognition

Today Mandy and I received our Young Woman Medallions and bee awards.  We both felt inspired to complete the work when we attended the training meeting with Sister Elaine Dalton in August.  The new medallion is on the left, with the bee.  The old one is on the right.  I plan to wear both chains together.

Tyler's Birthday

Tyler turned 13 on his birthday.  His brothers helped him count.

Kirk's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Kirk.  We celebrated with cake, ice cream and presents.  Then the kids decorated Halloween cookies.

Family Picture

The family picture is now up, and the piano area is actually tidy.  I never did get any other walls painted.  I guess that will be a project for another time.

Temple Trip

On Saturday, October 20th, Mike and I took a day trip to the Columbia, South Carolina Temple.  It was a great trip.  On the way home, we noticed the gorgeous fall colors.  I love living in such a beautiful area.

Eireann's 2nd Birthday

Eireann's new baby doll

Birthday cake

Eireann turned 2 years old yesterday.  We had a small party for her.  She wasn't impressed.

Painting the Living Room

I decided it was time to paint the living room, so I took down the pictures, filled in all the nail holes, sanded and cleaned the walls, put on the blue painter's tape, and bought the paint.  Dad helped me move the piano.   I put on 2 coats of Behr's primer and paint in one, and let it dry thoroughly.  I don't think I like the color.  Then, when I tried to take off the painter's tape...you guessed it, the paint came off too.  What a mess.  I won't have a chance to fix it right away, and the living room will be unusable until I'm finished and can put the furniture back  in place.  Sheesh! 

Melba's Headband

I made Melba a flower headband today.  I think it looks pretty good, even if I do say so myself.

BAND!!!

There was a band competition at D-B yesterday.  Brittany's band performed, and I got to watch.  It was so much fun!  They did pretty well.  Here's the first set.  Brittany is on the left, the tall flute player.  Sorry the quality is so poor. I think I need a new camera.

Date Night

Dad, Avery and Mandy on the way in to the theater

Dad and I went on a date.  Yes, a date!  Mandy and Avery came with us to see the musical play Hairspray.  Our friends Leila and Savannah Hubbard were performing.  It was fantastic.  Fun music, great acting, a beautiful day to be out.  The play was at the Jonesborough Repertory Theater in historic Jonesborough, TN.  It was a lot fun.  Our friend, Stacia, was in the combo.  We stopped by the candy store on the way home. Why have we never been to Jonesborough?  I don't know, but I am definitely going back.  It was the first town in Tennessee and at one time was the capital of the State of Franklin.  Very historic.

Kids in a candy store

Avery and Savannah

Leila, Mandy and Avery



Laughing with Leila



 

Courthouse in Jonesborough has a clock tower like in Back to the Future

Leadership Training and Sister Elaine Dalton

On Thursday, Sept. 6th, Mandy and I attended a leadership training meeting in Knoxville, where we were instructed by none other than Sister Elaine Dalton, the Young Women's General President.  It was an inspirational meeting, and I took careful notes.  Now to put it all into practice.

Mandy and me with Sister Elaine Dalton.  It turns out she was my dorm mother at BYU.

FAMILY!!!

The pictures are ready.  Here's one of my favorites.

 

 

 

My beautiful family!

I love this one too.

Michael and Myrthie sitting in a tree...

Let the Reunion Begin

And here we are together...

How Bout a Lil Shortnin Bread?

Are we having too much fun???

Child of God-Cebuano Style

 What could be more perfect?

Duck, Duck, Uh Oh!

Today when we went to visit Melba, Eireann put on a show for us.  She entertained us with summersaults and duck, duck, goose.  Unfortunately for Eireann, the elastic in her shorts gave out.

Going Swimming

Eireann jumping in.

Goofy Goggles.

Eireann squeezing water out of her hair.

We have wonderful friends with a pool, which we got to use today.  We had so much fun.  Avery and Alex practiced jumping in from the side.  Eireann practiced kicking her legs and laying her head back in the water.  She saw Mandy squeeze the water out of her hair, so she tried it.  A good time was had by all.

Wind Storm

Thursday afternoon there was a ferocious wind storm that came from the east.  Tree branches littered the yard.  Then the rain hit.  Mark was without power for over 12 hours.  The rest of us were spared.  Cleanup took a while.  The branches didn't even come from our yard, because they were oak leaves.  I don't know how far they flew to land here.  Like I said, it was a ferocious wind.

Tree branches in the back yard.

Happy Independence Day 2012

Melba, Kayla, and Payge wait for the parade.

Melba and me.  Kayla had painted fireworks on Melba's face.

Dad getting ready to get on the float.

Avery, Eireann, and Mandy at the parade.

We enjoyed a nice 4th of July.  Dad was in the parade.  He's on the far side of the float wearing a big straw hat.  Melba came to see the parade, with Kayla and Payge, two of  her caregivers.  In the afternoon I made hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, and baked beans and took them over to Melba's house.  Payge and Kayla joined us for dinner.  This evening, Dad and I watched the fireworks.  We also got to have Eireann for a few hours while the rest of Mandy's family went to the new Spiderman movie.  She was really tired and slept most of the time.  It was a good day.

CAMP 2012

The whole group in front of the main hall

This year, camp was fantastic.  Probably the best we've ever had.  My new camera card didn't work, so I only got a few pictures.  I wish I had some of Mandy and me getting back into the canoe after being dumped out into the lake.  Priceless...

Look Ma, No Training Wheels!

Two excited kiddies learned to ride their bikes recently, with no training wheels!

Berries!

The berries have ripened and been picked.  Some ended up in jam, others went swimming in cream and sugar.  Yum!

Gabriel's Birthday

 The whole crew at Mark's house for Gabe's birthday

Eireann standing on a shoe trying to see

Getting ready to blow out candles

Presents!

Thursday was Gabe's birthday, so we drove over to Mark's to celebrate the special occasion.  It was nice to see everyone.

Venus Transit 2012

Dad preparing the binoculars

 We watched some of the Venus Transit from our own driveway.  It was pretty cool.  The pictures didn't turn out real well, but you can see the small black dot that is Venus at the top of the sun.  The other lines are tree branches.

Sun projected through binoculars onto posterboard.  Venus is the small black dot at the top.  

 

Happy 42nd Anniversary

Tuesday, June 5th, was our 42nd wedding anniversary.

 We celebrated by taking the car in for an oil change, then getting a loaner car and driving to Red Lobster for lunch.  The loaner was a sporty convertible stick shift.  Because the seats didn't really move, poor dad could barely get his legs in, and I had to put something behind me to sit close enough to reach the pedals.  But, it was fun.  The food was good, too!

Cool Riders Part 2

Avery's first motorcycle ride.

Cool Riders Part 1

The other day, grandpa took Alex and Avery for their first motorcycle rides.  This is Alex.  Blogger won't let me add another video right now, so I'll have to put Avery's on another page.

More Magic

A good time was had by all.

Uncle John the Magician

John works his magic to the delight of Haven and Adelaide.

Brittany's Band Concert

The Volunteer High School's Concert Band had their end of the year concert on Thursday.  Here's a small sample of their performance.  They are right up there with D-B when it comes to musicianship.  Isn't Brittany beautiful? The bottom picture is with band director Josh Light.  He and Moroni were drum majors together in high school.

Singin' in the Rain

Avery performed in her school's first grade program on Thursday.  She is the one in the front with the clear umbrella and yellow raincoat.  The video isn't very clear and keeps trying to adjust the focus, but you can hear what's going on.

Siblings

I don't get to see my siblings very often, so I was excited to make the trip to Utah for Mark's wedding in part because I would see my family.  My brother and sisters and I spent an enjoyable time together. 

Best Buddy-Pal

Crys and I met when we were both new students at Bountiful High School. We became best friends immediately, and never looked back. I got to meet up with her for an afternoon just before Mark's wedding.  We hadn't seen each other in about 15 years, but we picked up right where we left off.  It's wonderful to have such beautiful friendships.

Incoming!

Somehow this post never got published.  It's from way back last summer.  Mark's kids were on the slip 'n slide.  No children were permanently hurt in the making of this video.

Alex's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Alex's birthday at Putt-Putt.  The kids had a ball playing miniature golf, then we had the party.  Mark's family was there, and Melba came too.  I forgot to get a picture of everyone.  Isn't he a cutie?