Conference and Wedding

What a fun day. First we listened to Conference in the morning. I'm not sure which was my favorite, but I am looking forward to my Conference Ensign so I can review them all. I do love to listen to President Monson, Eyring and Uchtdorf especially. For our afternoon festivities, we were invited to a family wedding held downtown at CenterStage. So ended up having to put on nylons : ) Anyway, put on this springy pink dress and a fabulous pair of pink pumps with an ankle strap and open toes. John and I headed downtown. About the time we got to Spokane Falls Blvd, the hail was falling so quickly (about 1 inch accumulation in 5 minutes) and hard (thought the car would have scratches). Well, we parked the car a few blocks from the location as we did not want to pay for parking and street parking is free on Sundays. We were jumping puddles and generally trying not to get too soaked. We had never been inside CenterStage. It has great old architecture so was a perfect setting for the 20's themed wedding. The men had black pinstripe suits and the bride wore a cream dress that was just plain elegant. Many of John's siblings were there (of the 13, 8 made it) so they took some pictures afterwards. The best part of the afternoon was when my honey asked me to dance. I initially was a little shy (we had not danced in public for years), but did end up saying yes. How terribly romantic... we should do that more often!! Anyway, congrats to the bride and groom (Caryn and Joseph).

Easter Week

Let me start by saying, on Sunday March 16th, I was lamenting to my husband of how much I had to do this week and how little time I had to get it all done. But our Bishop had just challenged us to a Media Fast, so our family decided to get on board and cut out TV watching. Audrey thought we were sending her to the lions, so we modified it "a bit" and said no TV until 8pm each night (her bedtime is 9pm). So on Monday night, Audrey did not turn on the TV and did not mention the lack. However, I went upstairs and John has the TV on?! He said, "But it is 8pm!" and I told him that was for Audrey (the kid) not us (the adults). So he reluctantly turned the TV off and started to read. Here is my laundry list of things I was doing: Thursday VT Conference, Friday Easter gathering / dinner at mom's (to include candy outing and a potluck item), Saturday Ward Pinewood Derby (to include potluck item), Sunday play for choir for two numbers, play for Primary during Sacrament, play for Primary during middle hour, play for special musical number in Relief Society during third hour and, oh by the way, TEACH the Relief Society lesson!! This was on top of working 40 hours at Safeway and the usual cleaning, cooking, etc, and having my mother-in-law over for Easter Dinner right after church - we made all the food except dessert. Well, guess what? I was twiddling my thumbs by Saturday because I had gotten it all done, with time to spare, and a feeling of totally relaxation all week. I could have sworn that my days were 30 hours long each day, and all because I took the counsel of our wonderful Bishop Creagh. And so was able to tune into the rest of the blessings the rest of the week. By the way, my lesson was from President Eyring's talk "O Remember, Remember" urging us to find ways to recognize and remember God's kindness. What a testimony this week was! PS - Snow still, thus the picture of the flower being a trooper...

Visiting Teacher Conference

What a fun evening! Our Relief Society had their Visiting Teaching Conference with a Hawaiian Theme. They had 3 mini classes (Arah Kunz, Patty Creagh, Bev Jones), with treats at each, and then a final speaker (Mary Fox). Afterwards, Paula Ward gave us a lesson on hula dancing. Glad I went - and guess who my new VT'er is? Mary Fox. She came over just a few days later and was a joy to visit with. Her daughter is the cutest little sweetie pie. Jessie is also still my Visiting Teacher, she now just gets a partner - yeah for both of us!

Valentine's Party

We decided to have some friends over to celebrate the "love" month! We invited Jon and Keelyn Gordon, Bob and Kathy Thompson and Ethan and Sandy Dexter. We got out our china and served Chicken Dijon, salad and steamed beans. Each of the couples were instructed to bring their favorite dessert - so we got cookies, cheesecake and a chocolate almond torte. Yummy food and fun company. We shared our "how we got together" stories and brought out our wedding photos. Fun, fun, fun!!

Lacey Project

I showed John that I have a blog... Anyway, he wanted to have the link to his Lacey project posted here.

http://www.punkinhead.org/

You can go there to see how he is progressing with the remodel / renovation of our house on Lacey.

Funeral

I think the heaviest snowfall this winter happened today. Many schools have been closed in the last week, so the roads were crazy, slippery, and many folks were not able to make it to the funeral. However, there were others that braved the weather to make it. My two bosses from work came (thanks Craig and Brian). Also, three others came from Safeway (thanks Bill, Lori and Becky who came all the way from Newport). Yes, I know my sister came all that way too, but it truly meant a lot that a friend of mine came who had never even met my dad. Jessie, my buddy from the last 30+ years sang at the funeral (thanks Jessie!) She has known my family since she came to our house in Kindergarten for a carrot farm tour. She thought it was unfair that I got to get off the bus at the carrot farm and she had to go back to the school. Then in 3rd grade, she became a regular fixture at our house after school (along with her sister Melissa) as they waited for their mom to get off work. Don Sanborn gave the eulogy and did a wonderful job. His wife, Julie, played the piano. Pauline Quick played the organ. Uncle Keith Steele gave the closing remarks. Dad's sister Lenora and husband Skip came over from Bellingham to be there. It was a wonderful service. Afterward we headed to the cemetary in the snow. Thankfully Bob Thompson offered to drive us in his truck as our car would never have made it up the snowy (and unplowed) roads to Orchard Prairie Cemetary. This day as well as the days preceeding and following have truly shown me the loving hands of God as many have shared their kindness with me and my family.

My Dad

My daddy passed away on Thursday, 1/24/08 around 2:15pm. He was an awesome dad who taught me a lot over the years. It has been hard to loose him. He had health problems throughout his life (polio and related complications later in life), but he was tough up until the end. He called his own ambulance on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning around midnight. Was able to walk himself out to the ambulance before he crashed. He never regained consciousness. Funeral is planned for Tuesday, January 29th.