No More Spontaneous Jaunts to Utah

 I wish I had planned better and just taken two weeks after Thanksgiving and then returned.  Three weeks may have been too long on my immune system.  Ryan says I was a tremendous help.  I'm grateful that he thinks that.  I did not feel as productive as I was hoping for. I suppose I did do at least one productive thing each week I was there. 

The day after I had arrived one of my granddaughters had expressed having missed me while she was at school.

Ryan and Chelsey's youngest was born two days after I arrived. Chelsey had already made arrangements with one of her brothers to take the kids while they were at the hospital.  They did return to take the girls to the school on Monday.  Because I was there the aunt was free to drive each girl without having to load up the car with everybody else (as she has three of her own). 

Once they brought the baby home the kids were much more interested in their baby sister than they were in spending any quality time with grandma.

I did spend a few hours with the two sibs I have living in Utah.  I spent Thanksgiving with Ryan's family and three of her brothers and their families.  It was interesting.

Holiday in St. George

         Roland got off at 5:00 on Tuesday and we met him in the driveway.  Jenna had a carry-on and boarding pass in hand.  We arrived at the airport in just over an hour and Jenna walked through the gate by herself.  I should have taken some pictures but did not even think about it until now.  Thus this is the only picture we have of us in Medford.

 

        The next picture she took was after she arrived in Las Vegas. 

 

I’m guessing that she must have gone out to the curb to meet Randy as she was not aware that Devan was with him until later on the ride toward St. George.  Randy took this picture of Jenna under the Arizona sign as there is a piece of road from Nevada to Utah that goes through the state of Arizona.  I think it is kind of funny as there is no access from Arizona and so if there is an accident on that road even though that part may be in Arizona, the emergency vehicles need to come from Nevada or Utah.  I think for the most part Utah picks up the flack.  But I don’t know for certain.  All three are desert states. 

The next day Randy took her on a tour of Dixie State University where she has also been accepted.  Randy said the campus is ten minutes from where they live.  There seem to be more pictures taken at DSU than SOU but I think she’s leaning toward SOU – having no sales tax to pay in this state is something that excites her. 

This is a view of St. George

    It had been quite a simple Thanksgiving for Randy and Jenna as it had been for Roland and me.  

These are the pictures that Jenna took on the  return home.

 

 

 

 

So Much Post Info . . . So Little Time . . .

           I thought I would be able to create at least one post today, but Roland just informed me that he has the day off.  I suspect that can change as his boss is a flake. We took Jenna to the airport last night and will be returning for her on Friday.  Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving.  That makes for more wait until I am able to sort my thoughts and post something.

          On Friday, the 19^th, we spent the majority of the day in Ashland.  We toured the campus at Southern Oregon University.  I wore myself out.  Jenna ran into one of her friends and made friends with another also majoring in theatre.  Layne will be gone by the time Jenna arrives – unless she chooses to go elsewhere.  Today she will be touring the Dixie State campus only ten minutes away from her brother’s house.

          Parent/Teacher conference had been scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.  We’d gone early on Monday and spent less than 20 minutes to see all five teachers.  She is an amazing student and no one has anything bad to say about her.

          Yesterday I was at the church for a few hours trying to organize our ministering routes.  I had left the house at 9:30 but did not return home until 1:30. Jenna and I took Bonnie for a walk and watched some shorts before we went outside to get in the car after Roland pulled up.  She didn’t get into Utah until after 3:00 am.  I was in bed before nine, I think. 

          Don’t know what the plans are for today or tomorrow.  Roland had suggested that we find a restaurant to eat for our Thanksgiving meal. Perhaps we will do that today instead.  Jenna will be spending it with at least one brother.  I don’t know if she will even be able to visit the other two. 

          Thus if any of these topics might interest you, be sure to tune in.  Hopefully, I will have elaborated more on each paragraph and posted by December 1^st.  Happy Holidays, everyone!

Another Expression of Gratitude

         Over the years Jenna has had many photos taken with Santa.  This one taken in 2010  is my absolute favorite and I don’t even know who took it.  

We had been living in West Valley for only a week and were still not familiar with most of the ward members.  I did not have my camera and someone waiting in line to take pictures of her own children offered to take some pictures from her phone and said she would send them to me. 

It is rare that anybody from my past has taken pictures for me promising to send them and 20 years later I am still waiting knowing fully well that they will never be sent.  But this sister – who was only visiting our ward and not a member of it - took three shots of Jenna and she did send them to me.  For that I will always be grateful.

Roland asked me to send it to him so he could use it for the upcoming Christmas card. 

He recreated this Norman Rockwell using family photos – though not everybody was able to make the card.  The one brother not in the photo complained about leaving him out.  

I told Roland that he would but have come to think of it as symbolic as Tony and Rochelle are always running late.  They could have easily missed the photographer taking the picture – or maybe they were the one’s taking it.  I had told Roland to put masks on all of our faces.  He obviously didn’t take my suggestion.  Maybe if he had Tony might not have complained.

 I think Roland’s sending out cards is helpful to some of those on the receiving end – especially this year.

Cold to Freezing

 It is colder outside than 

I remember it being the entire 

time we've lived in Oregon.  

I have even been sleeping with 

blankets which is highly unusual. 

I don't use blankets all too often 

except around my feet.  

Jenna has school for the next two days 

but will not be attending seminary at all.  

The students who attend the local high 

school are off for the week and 

thus is seminary.  

She wants things to return to normal.  

Most people do.  

We have an upcoming holiday in the U.S. 

It is called Thanksgiving.

There are many people who will 

spend the holiday with extended 

family members to eat a traditional 

meal that many include turkey, 

sweet potatoes, 

cranberry sauce and 

pumpkin pie among many 

other side dishes.  

Our governor has asked us to limit 

Thanksgiving to only six people this year.  

Though not everyone in the state 

will honor that suggestion, we will.  

There will just be the three of us.  

We won't be having our 

traditional Thanksgiving meal.  

Jenna would like pizza. 

Why not?

Yesterday's Main Meal

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  We had told those we had invited that dinner would be at 4:00.  Except for the turkey, I think everything was ready to eat at 11:00.  Well, most everything.  Roland had not bothered with the rolls or peas until after Chris arrived – which was shortly before 3:00.

Chris is on of Jenna’s friends from school.  The invitation was extended to Chris’ entire family – but Jenna did not communicate that.  Grandma had already taken the turkey out of the freezer to thaw by the time she got word.  And so it was just the four of us.

I remember having had small Thanksgivings before.  Two years ago we had invited a couple.  And there were only five of us with mom on Thanksgiving Day.  We had had our Thanksgiving dinner on a Saturday when Patrick and Sunny were in town.  There were 18 of us.  But on Thursday it was just my mom, Roland, Jenna, Biff and I.  He had known Jeanie at that point, but they weren’t engaged. There is also one Thanksgiving I remember with just my parents and sibs making only six.

Chris eats like a bird.  Could have been a self conscience thing.  Or perhaps he was planning to eat another Thanksgiving dinner with his own family.  When I learned they probably wouldn’t be here (turned out that his mom was sick and wouldn’t have come even if she had planned on it) I had invited two other couples.  With so little notice that I had given each, I really was not surprised that neither one of them showed.

Meanwhile we’ve got tons of leftover food.  No cooking but only reheating for the next several days.  Roland thought he would try something different this year and fixed the turkey the way Gordon Ramsey had suggested.  Needless to say, I was not impressed – especially with the gravy.  That won’t be the gravy I will be using on the leftovers.

I’m grateful that Chris could come and play a game with the family.  I’m grateful that the “storm” forecast for the entire nation seemed to be clean and (although cold) inviting.  At least that is how it was all across Oregon and New York.  Randy said it was cold there.  They didn’t have snow however.  This may have been a good year to come.  I don’t know that we’ll ever see New York.  I’m not holding my breath.

Kayla had sent me a message that they are used to going to St. George for Thanksgiving, but his mom and dad had gone to California to be with their youngest daughter.  Bill’s older sister had invited them for Thanksgiving dinner. Meanwhile they had invited the mother of Bill’s late wife who had recently lost her husband.  She had cancelled at the last minute and they managed to invite themselves back to his sisters.

I wish we could have spent Thanksgiving with my sister and her family.  In the past we have depended on Bill to eat up the leftovers.  I suppose we’ll have to box everything up and send it to him.  LOL.  It is probably cold enough that it would keep.

I hope that whenever and however you celebrate Thanksgiving that you make it a good one.  I hope that you always have a grateful with each day.

Long Weekend

            My head seems to be disconnected from my body.  Pretty much the entire week I didn't remember what I was supposed to be doing. Jenna was off from school, Roland took off work, but I still had school.

            It rained on Wednesday. It was great as we have needed (and continue to need) the moisture. My class instructor was late getting started on the live lecture. When he finally did get to the topic of conversation, I had to leave before he got into the meat of the assignment.

            Jenna and I had hair appointments.  I normally appreciate the feel and look of my new fresh cut hair, but am having problems with not hating it this time around.

            On Thanksgiving day we went to the Grand Victorian for a potluck combination Thanksgiving dinner/cast party.  I think there were 18-20 people who finally showed up after the designated time.  Roland seemed to know many along with Jenna.  I knew of six - including myself.  For the most part my Thanksgiving was spent in the company of strangers - one in particular who was stranger than the rest.

            I don't know why she showed up at the theatre.  The owner said that it was a private party, but his wife offered to make her a dinner to go even though Roland thought she should stay.  It was in the spirit of Thanksgiving afterall.  But there were two who absolutely did not want her there - and yet she stayed - I think to get warm.  She didn't really eat anything, but just stirred different foods around her plate - and then got up for more as though she had been eating.

           She also tried to engage in conversation by blurting out experiences that weren't even relevant to what others were saying.  Jenna liked her, but the one who sat between Jenna and the intruder was one of those who definitely hadn't wanted her there.  I had moved a chair from the spot where she ended up sitting as it was in the way of those moving from one food table to the next, but Roland had her find another chair for that exact spot.  People kept asking her to move.  I don't think she fully caught on that she was literally in the way.

            The owner had started playing the movie "Sing" but stopped before auditions.  How sad.

            Roland insisted that we go shopping on Black Friday.  Of course my allergies have gone through the roof and I am paying for it today.  Why did I even agree?  I have made it no secret how I feel about shopping - especially at this time of the year.

            We got home to find Jenna in the shed hoping to have all the Christmas decorations set up in the house before we arrived. I opted not to decorate as I learned the missionaries would be coming over to continue teaching Marva and possibly Shelly. Marva called to see if we were still on, and then the missionaries called to reschedule.  Today at 2:00.  It was something we had all agreed upon. 

            Meanwhile Jenna had gotten together with her friend, Marie so that they could practice for the auditions for the Grand Victorian Christmas special.  Marie spent the night.  They laughed and had fun.  This morning they both left the house to continue practicing.  Jenna's initial plans were just to meet up with Roland at the 6:00 try-outs, but was home before noon.

             The missionaries stood us up.  Didn't even bother to make contact until after 6:00.  That's not right.  Meanwhile Shelly and Jenna opened up a gingerbread house and decided they wanted different candy.  Roland took them to the store to pick out what they wanted and Marva and I talked while they were gone.  We ate pie and Roland read a bunch of Christmas stories to us including this one.

            Just after 6:00 Marva drove to the theatre in one car and Roland in another.  She decided she would like to audition as well, but Shelly does not wish to perform on stage.   Usually I tend to feel bloated on the Friday following Thanksgiving, but my stomach did not react until about 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. last night - which I don't understand as I did not eat as much.  They definitely weren't hunger pains.  They were the same kind of pains I would imagine the wolf must have felt after the 7 kids and their mother filled his belly with rocks in this story. 

          Shelly spent the night with us.  We will be meeting her mom at church.

Would You Like to Come for Dinner - Keeping up the (non) Tradition

       The primary had their program yesterday and only one practice.  I didn't understand as it feels so late in the year.  I don't recall there being a primary program this late in the year - not with any of the wards I've been in - including this one.  Last year we had more practice and performed on October 18. 

       This is the first year that Jenna wasn't on the stage as she is no longer in primary.  But as I looked out in the audience, I could see her singing along, and it really made me smile.  I'd have to honestly say that it was my favorite part about having the primary program.  I think the children did quite well for only one practice.

       Growing up, my favorite thing about Thanksgiving was spending it with a different group of people than the year prior as I mentioned here.  The smallest Thanksgivings I can remember included only 5 or 6 people.  Those were: one year with just my family.  My second Thanksgiving in the mission field: our landlady, her son and his wife, and my companion and me.  And my last Thanksgiving with mom mentioned here

       Three of mom's children and their families were able to meet on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  There were just over 20 of us gathered in a room between the kitchen and the cultural hall of my brother's ward.  My mom felt overwhelmed by the tremendous amount of people that were gathered there.  Roland, Jaime and I had only played one game one game and could sense mom's desire to leave.  The theater may not have been as crowded.  We had taken her to see the movie: Brave.  She seemed to enjoy herself as she no longer reacted to a possible crowd of people, but had lost herself in the movie. She said she liked it.

       The most people that I've ever had Thanksgiving with was just over 30.  Peggy Bird lived across the street from my mom.  Her Thanksgiving philosophy was the more people, the better.  It was held in a room by the kitchen of the ward building where her son attended Church.  That was a lot of people.   Several years later, Peggy invited my mom and her children to spend Thanksgiving at her house.  That year all of her married children had committed to spending the holidays with the in-laws, which would have made for a much smaller table otherwise. 

       Last year we drove to McMinnville to spend the holidays with Beth and Graham.  It was a nice to see them again, and of course, the meal was superb.  But the drive was long - not as long as if we'd gone back to Utah.  I think my oldest daughter-in-law was quite miffed that we didn't.  It just hasn't been practical or realistic for us to go back for just a few hours and then have to turn around and return as Roland works on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  I suppose he could ask for it off, but still.

       We had invited Annett's family to break bread with us this year, but as we never got a commitment and Nora is upset with us and doesn't even want Annett talking to Jenna at school, it was down to just Jenna, Roland and I. Jenna suggested we go to Home Town Buffet and would be okay with that, though I suspect she would like to have the association of others.  She missed her brothers and cousins tremendously. So we thought we'd try our hand at the community dinner here  in town.

       Yesterday we had two offers for Thanksgiving.  The first one from Roland's cinema buddy.  I had his daughter in sunbeams last year and his nephew this year.  And so we will be having our Thanksgiving dinner with all of their family.  And perhaps next year we can have dinner with the other family that asked after we had already accepted the other.  It will be good to spend Thanksgiving with two of three of Young Women leaders and help Jenna to feel more comfortable about going to Young Women's rather than primary.

        

Holidays are the Hardest - Missing Traditions

Pie Making

         I can’t find a reference to mom’s traditional pie making event. I suppose it could have started with her children.  I do recall having assisted with pies at least once in my childhood.  Kayla says she remembers a time when it was just her and Corey that did it with mom.  I don’t think I ever viewed it as an actual tradition until Ellen and Kimball were small.

            My mom made a huge assortment of pies on the Wednesday before  Thanksgiving each year.  The grandkids looked forward to assisting with rolling out the dough and filling the pie with whatever they chose. 

            We’d have apple pie, banana cream pies, coconut cream, chocolate cream, cherry, lemon meringue and of course, pumpkin.  More pies were added to the dinner each time new grandkids were added to the family.

            I don’t remember how often my boys had made pies with grandma.  At least twice – and they have fond memories.  And I have pictures of some of the pie making events.  Jaime may have been a baby when some of these were taken.  Neither Jenna nor I recall her ever having had the opportunity to assist with rolling out the dough or wearing an apron.

            It wasn’t long after Jenna was born when mom announced her last year for her annual pie making event.  Each year after that we ate pies that had been made in the bakery department of various stores.

            My boys had just recently commented on how much fun they had had making pies – and then Kayla had posted a message in facebook about the yesteryear tradition.  I got overly sentimental and cried for nearly a half hour.

            I miss the family that I grew up with. I miss so many traditions that we shared at one time.

 Hand Made Nativity

            When I was growing up, I loved “Dip n Drape” dolls.  I remember going with mom to look at pattarns and material for the project.  We settled on a nativity set as it was closed to the holidays.  I remember buying Styrofoam balls and cones and craft sticks and following directions.  I was in high school at the time.

            It was a good first project.  We had it on display just once a year – usually on top of the piano – where the entire thing fit nicely.  And many of the flaws were overlooked – like one wiseman who had the appearance of having a “stuck-up” personality.  And one wiseman who’s arms were heavier than his body – and was giving a present to lean on so that he did not appear as though he was trying to do push-ups.  And the baby Jesus became a permanent part of what Mary held in her arms – though it probably looked like she was dropping him.

            I had intended on making a manger – so that it would appear that she was placing him in.  I had intended to make camels and sheep – though realistically the seven pieces I had took up quite a bit of room both on display and then in storage.

            It boggles my mind that the set has been around since I was in high school – making it roughly thirty-five years old now.  Mom hadn’t taken it out the last few years that she lived at home.  And I took it back before we sold her house. 

Growing up, I never thought of our house as huge.  It was an average sized house.  It had three bedrooms, two baths, living room, kitchen and unfinished basement.

            Over the years my parents put in the money to have half of the basement finished and added a back room addition to the house.  The house included five bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, game room, dining room, laundry room, storage room – not to mention it had an attic. 

            I’ve lived in two houses since I’ve been married.  The two houses combined did not have as much space as the house I grew up in.  So of course there is not nearly as much storage room

         I had put the nativity up last year.  I had to put the wisemen on a different area than the other four pieces.  Roland had suggested that I part with it last year.  I just didn’t have the heart to throw it away – though many of the dolls were beheaded.  I had planned on making it one more round.

We have even less room for it to be displayed than we had last year.  Plus I’ve been cleaning out my shed and either throwing out or donating a lot.  (12 yard bags and counting) but I still couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. 

         I knew if I donated the dolls to the thrift store, the majority (if not all) would get thrown away, and so I put it in the classifieds and someone picked it up less than an hour after I had posted for free.  She didn’t seem to mind the fact that many of the dolls needed to be repaired.   I hope it works for her and that it may be around for a few more years at least.  

  

Christmas Lights

I remember one year going with my sibs and mom to temple square.  It was Christmas night and the weather was really quite awesome.  We had gone downtown to see the lights.

This year the November was nice weather overall.  Cold, but bearable.  Excpet the last day.  It was cold and bleak and actual typical of so many November days that I can remember – although the last few years have seemed to make an exception.

            I was surprised at how warm the weather seemed yesterday – well, in comparison to Sunday.  Jenna and I started out with a beautiful morning.  I had dressed in layers, but had taken the top layer off as I headed back home.

            I had dressed in layers while picking her up.  I had stripped both layers down while waiting for school to end.  Both Jenna and I carried our coats to the bus stop.  But by the time we reached the crossover, we both had our coats back on.  It cools down quite drastically once the earth rotates away from the sun.

            Roland had given me a camera for Christmas last year – only he had given it to me before Thanksgiving so that I could take pictures and get a feel for it before Christmsa.  It was a nice camera.  A red Nikon which I liked a lot – that is until pushing the power button no longer did anything.  

It had died before Roland and I had taken to Jenna to Disneyland at the end of August.  I hadn’t had the camera an entire year.  That was truly upsetting.  

            I was hoping the battery was the problem, but I had the battery tested in addition to another working battery put in my camera.  I was told my best bet was to send it into the manufacturer – which I did.  I never heard back from them.

            The other night he produced another camera meant for Christmas.  This time a Sony W830 – which may take me a while to figure out.  I’ve had Sonys before, and I like them, but they have all died as well.  And I don’t expect this one will last much longer than the Nikon – though I welcome the opportunity to be proven wrong.

            I told Jenna that we should go downtown to see the lights.  December started out with quite pleasant weather and I though since it was so nice that we should go last night. I suggested to Roland that we go see the lights for family home evening.    I would have just taken Jenna on the train if he had not wanted to go. 

            Downtown was crowded with patrons who had come to see the lights and take pictures.  I really don’t have the hang of my camera.  It will be a while.  I did get a few okay pictures – among a bunch of duds.  Thank heaven for Photoshop, huh?

A Hodge-Podge of Family

Our future daughter-in-law has two brothers who are still living.  One lives in Texas where his wife is from.  The other lives in a posh neighborhood at the south and east end of the valley.

Yesterday we went to the posh neighborhood to meet Jeanie’s family and to have Thanksgiving dinner.  Biff had asked us to bring rice pudding – which to be honest with you - I have never had as part of a Thanksgiving dinner before.  Roland tried a new recipe (which was really very good by the way) and I found a container to put it in.

I must admit that I felt out of place offering this pathetic container as we entered their fancy kitchen and saw dozens of dishes that seemed to make the rice pudding even smaller – shrinking with each passing minute until I felt like what we had contributed to the meal had only a cup of runny rice.

 

Jenna played with boys (Jeanie's nephews) while Roland and I visited with various family members.  Not only was there family from Jeanie’s side of the family, but her sister-in-laws as well.  Half siblings, stepsiblings, in-laws, and in-laws of in-laws; we became known as Biff’s parents and sister.

I think Biff, Jeanie and her parents were the last to arrive at the house.  I really hit it off with Jeanie’s mom.  Sweet lady.  She reminded me a lot of Rochelle’s mom (Rochelle being my first daughter-in-law) and Roland said the same thing. Jeanie’s mother does seem to be in better health than both of my daughters-in-law's mothers.  She also seems to be in better health than Jeanie.  I don’t know why, but Jeanie always seems to have aged with each time I see her.

As usual I didn't have room for dessert.  And there were several to choose from. Fortunately Jeanie had made up an extra plate of pumpkin rolls for us to take home.  Her sister-in-law and I visited in front of the tree that never goes up before Thanksgiving, but it's new and was insentive to get her three children to clean the house.

Everybody was scattered.  I counted fourteen adults and four children.  Jenna was playing with Jeanie's niece just before we left.  I don't know that she was ready to go. We had both wanted to play games, but Roland didn't want us to overstay our welcome. 

We drove around some neighborhoods surrounding Jenna's schools to check out what houses were up for sale.  We didn't see a lot for Jenna was getting car sick.  Poor kid always seems to take ill during the Thanksgiving holiday.  After we returned home, Roland insisted that she go and lay down.  We finished the night with watching holiday movies. I finally had dessert.  It is so good.