Sunday Dinner Birthday Party!

Well, we haven't had enough parties this week--so tonight we celebrated my birthday with the family at our weekly Sunday dinner. I guess Sidney and I could have combined our parties last night, but she needed to have her very own party. Our birthdays are only two days apart, so every year we can celebrate near the same time. If we keep our parties separate, that means more cake for everyone! Tiffany made a tasty cake for the birthday dinner tonight. It was delicious. I had gotten some sugar-free frosting at the store, which she used, and it was pretty funny frosting--very sticky. Camden and Riley enjoyed their cake and ice cream, and Sidney was thrilled to have more cake to dig into. She was shoving it in her mouth with both hands as fast as she could. Sarah, Joel and Eliza called during the festivities and sang Happy Birthday to me. We opened the present that they sent, which the other kids had gone in on, and it was a nativity puzzle carved out of wood. Very unique and different! Thank you everyone! Camden and Riley were very excited about the cards they had made. Very cute! They gave me a fun Christmas book and a nativity bracelet. Very nice! Steven gave me a great holiday shirt. Sidney had fun "trying it on." (She likes to put things on her head as if she is putting it on.) What a fun party! For dinner, we had crock pot roast with potatoes, onions and carrots. Very yummy!

I didn't join Steven at the MTC today. I barely made it to Relief Society in our ward. It took me awhile to get a start on the day since this cold I've had doesn't seem to be getting any better. Steven said Elder Skinner asked, "Where's Sis. Taylor?" Then he felt bad when he heard I wasn't feeling well. It's nice to know when someone notices you're not there.

Tomorrow is Karalie's surgery. Good luck, Karalie! We hope everything goes well and that you can make a speedy recovery.

Happy Birthday Sidney!

Today is Sidney's #1 birthday. To celebrate, Steven, Tiff and I went over to the Barrett's "Ginger House" for a party. Grandpa and Grandma Barrett were there, as well. Uncle Richard couldn't attend because he was working the later shift at the temple today (4-9). But those of us who were there, along with Nate, Lindy, Camden, Riley and Birthday Girl Sidney, had a great time. Lindy had the house decorated in gingerbread fashion, complete with gingerbread smell. It was like we were right inside a real gingerbread house. Sidney wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she liked being the center of attention. For dinner we had salad and chicken pot pie. Yum. Sidney surely loved chowing down on her pie. Camden and Riley were excited about all the presents, which they helped Sidney open after dinner. She got lots of things from the grandparents, parents, sisters, and aunts and uncles. Auntie Sarah and Uncle Joel and Eliza sent a cute outfit all the way from South Carolina. When Sidney opened the present from Uncle Rich, someone said, "It's from Uncle Rich." Riley piped up, "I love Uncle Rich." They missed having him there for the party; Sarah, Joel and Eliza, as well. But Tiffany got to be there for a change. After presents it was time for Sidney's gingerbread cake (actually applesauce cake in the shape of a gingerbread girl). She got to dig in with her hands and enjoy the frosting and cake. At first she wondered if she was actually being allowed to do it. After cake, it was off to bed for the tired birthday girl. But she never got cranky or cross. She was happy the whole time and having fun. We're glad we got to join in the #1 birthday festivities.

What a Fun Trip!

We got back from our trip to South Carolina last night. On Monday, we left Salt Lake at 10:30 a.m. and flew to Cincinnati, then on to Greenville/Spartanburg. When we arrived at 6:30 that evening, Joel, Sarah, Eliza, and Tiffany were there to greet us. (Tiffany had arrived there from Illinois two days before, and we were happy to see her. Steven and Rich hadn't seen her since the end of May when she came home from Mississippi for the Mormon History Conference.) From the airport, we went to Sarah and Joel's house, which took about 45 minutes. What a wonderful home they have! We couldn't believe it, it's so nice. And in such a quiet, beautiful country setting. Sarah and Joel had worked out a good sleeping arrangement for all of us--Steven and me on the futon in the study, Tiff in the sleeping bag on the floor in the study, and Richard on the couch in the living room. That seemed to work pretty well for all of us. Eliza didn't know quite what to think about all the new faces around all of a sudden. But she started smiling for all of us before too long. She is SO cute and has such a big, happy smile. Sarah said she just started pulling herself up and standing in the last few days, so that's all she wanted to do while we were there.

On Tuesday morning, Joel and Sarah made some delicious white chocolate bread pudding for breakfast. Yum! Then we got ready for our day's adventure. First, we drove to Clemson's Outdoor Lab, a beautiful nature camp area, and walked around there for awhile. It was a gorgeous fall day to be out in the woods. From there we went to Pendleton, a quaint little town with lots of cute shops and places to explore. In the middle of the town square is Farmers' Hall, where we had a delicious lunch. Sarah told us that is was upstairs in Farmers' Hall where John C. Calhoun, and others, hatched their plan for secession. From Pendleton, we went to Clemson to see the campus. Joel, Sarah, Tiff, Rich, and I took a tour of Fort Hill while Steven walked around outside with Eliza. We loved seeing Fort Hill, which was the home of John C. Calhoun and later his daughter and her husband, Thomas Clemson. It was Thomas Clemson who deeded the land to the state for a university. It's a beautiful setting for a university. After Fort Hill, we skulked around the bookstore for awhile, then went for ice cream at the campus creamery, but it was closed! From there we took a drive past the football stadium and the Calhoun family cemetery, which are right there next to each other on campus. Then we went to Campus Drive where we checked out Clemson gear in some of the stores. By that time we were ready to go home for some dinner--Sarah and Joel fixed some delicious chicken fetticinni alfredo. Then we watched Transformers, which Richard had brought along, before heading to bed.

On Wednesday, we headed off on another adventure. We decided against going to the Biltmore, which would have cost $180 for four of us to get into (Joel and Sarah have annual passes). It would have been fun to see; but, instead, we went to the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, North Carolina. We really enjoyed the tour and seeing how the Sandburgs lived in that old antebellum house, Connemara, located on 240 acres in the North Carolina woods. It was interesting to see their simple yet productive lifestyle. Carl Sandburg was 67 when they moved there, but he continued to write and produced 1/3 of his total writings while living there. His wife operated a goat farm (which is still there today) and raised champion goats. At the home and farm it was very much the way it was on the day he passed away there in 1967. From there we drove to Hendersonville, another quaint town with a cute, historic Main Street. We had lunch there at Mike's on Main, a fun sandwich shop in the old drug store and soda fountain. A few stores away was a bakery where we got cookies for dessert. Then it was a beautiful drive back to Sarah and Joel's through the Blue Ridge mountains, which were so colorful with all the fall leaves. Back at home Joel fixed some cheese pizza and meat pizza, which was just right because we were still kind of full from our late lunch.

Thursday was Happy Thanksgiving day! It was a nice day to relax around home and get ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. We woke up to some cloudiness and rain, which made the woods out back look all misty. That was fun to see. To start the day, I went with Sarah and Joel to the annual flicker ball game which their department has every Thanksgiving. We got there about half-time, which was just enough time for Sarah and Joel to get out there and play a bit. They both played well, and Sarah even injured herself somewhat in a dramatic slide in the mud. She wore her gold and maroon striped socks, which I think took the prize for the funniest-looking socks. Especially with her light green capris. While we were at the game, Steven, Tiff, and Rich kept Eliza entertained there at home. The rest of the day was spent fixing and eating a delicious Thanksgiving feast, which Joel and Sarah prepared while the rest of us kind of relaxed. I remember nodding off to sleep there on the couch (during the Lucy marathon), and the next thing I knew, Voila! It was time to eat. We had yummy turkey breast with a brown sugar glaze, mashed potatoes and gravy, yam souffle, corn, and rolls. Richard made gumdrop turkeys for decorations. The meal was wonderful! Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood and looked at all the cute houses in Sarah and Joel's neighborhood. Later, we had room for dessert: either pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie, apple pie, or all of the above. It was all so good! Then we watched Home Alone before going to bed. What a fun, enjoyable day!

On Friday it was time to leave for home. The week surely went by fast. Joel fixed some delicious grits (purchased at Farmers' Hall) for breakfast; we took one more walk around the neighborhood, then packed and left for the airport at 12:30 (taking along some turkey sandwiches for the road, or for the air, I guess). Little Eliza was asleep in her car seat, so she didn't even see us go. She probably wondered where we were when she woke up. Tiffany was staying for one more day. (Joel and Sarah got to make lots of trips to the airport for us!) We had a short 37-minute flight to Atlanta, then caught our flight to Salt Lake City from there. That flight was 3 hours and 44 minutes, but it was a good time to read and relax. (One thing I like about flying Delta is that they give you snacks. American and United don't give snacks. You have to buy them. So I like to fly on Delta.) When we arrived in Salt Lake the cold air was quite a shock to our systems after being in the mild South. We caught the Diamond shuttle to pick up our car. A little boy on the shuttle was talking to his mother and said something about the people on the shuttle. He said, "They look angry." His mother said, "They're not angry, just tired." It made me think we better smile, even if we're tired. It was good to get back to Orem, but we surely had a fun trip!

Today Steven, Rich and I went over to the Barretts and watched the BYU vs. Utah game with Lindy and the girls. (Nate was at the game with his dad, who his mom said had to get the doctor's permission before she would let him go.) We took Arby's for lunch and had a fun time with Lindy and the girls. Thank goodness BYU was able to pull out a win in the last minute. Tiffany called during the game to say she had made all her connections and was on the train to Mattoon; she called later to say she had made it home to Charleston safely. She was expecting Sis. Stowell to pick her up at the train station in Mattoon, but Greg picked her up instead. I'm glad we all made it back safe and sound. What a great Thanksgiving vacation we had!

Off to South Carolina

Steven, Richard and I are off to South Carolina tomorrow. We're looking forward to seeing Sarah, Joel, and Eliza along with Tiff who arrived there safely last night. Our plane leaves at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, and we're scheduled to arrive in South Carolina, via Cincinnati, at 6:10 p.m. EST. We'll return on Friday, and Tiff will go back to Charleston on Saturday. It should be a fun time for all. We hope Nate and Lindy and the girls will have a nice Thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma Barrett.

We had a pre-Thanksgiving Sunday dinner tonight with Lindy, Nate and the little girls. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, corn, rolls and pumpkin pie. Steven wasn't home to cut up the turkey (he doesn't like to do it anyway), so I did it. And I say "cut up" because I mangled it pretty well. It still tasted good, though. Lindy brought sugar cookies and different-colored frosting, so she and the girls and Richard had a fun time creating Thanksgiving cookie masterpieces. Sidney said, "I love you, Grandpa" when Lindy told her to, and that's really what she said. She is quite proud of herself when she does big people things. She was rocking in Grandma FT's little rocker and kept clapping for herself because she was so big. Before they left, Riley asked if Grandma could play just one song on the piano that they could dance to. So Grandma played "Praise to the Man" for them to dance to.

Steven and I got to speak in sacrament meeting at the MTC today. The subject was "Gratitude." The branch nearly doubled in size with all the new missionaries that came in last Wednesday. Some of them still seemed a little shell-shocked today. In my talk today I told the missionaries a little story on Steven. Last Tuesday night, the night before all the new missionaries came in, I went to bed after Steven was already asleep. I tried not to wake him, but he kind of woke up anyway, and asked, "Are the new missionaries doing all right?" I said, "Yes, they're fine." He said, "That's good," and went back to sleep. He later said he had been having dreams about all the new missionaries coming in. In Steven's talk he reminded the missionaries that we need to be thankful in all things and let the Lord know we're thankful for His hand in our lives and the opportunities we have to be doing what we are; namely, for the missionaries, to be serving a mission at this time and in this place.

He was a little late coming home this evening because he went to the hospital to see one of the new elders, Elder Mott, who had surgery this morning after shattering his ankle yesterday playing soccer during gym time. It was only his second gym time at the MTC. Things went well during the surgery and he should be recovered well enough in nine weeks to go to Uruguay on schedule.

Well, time to finish packing and go to bed. We hope to have a fun trip tomorrow. Adios for now.

It's Called "Francom-ite-ess"

Last night at the wedding dinner for Cousin Michael and his fiancee, Sarah Francom, we found out that Sarah is not really being what we thought was grumpy or mad. During the dinner speeches, they explained that it's just a family trait, which they call "Francom-ite-ess." That's where people think they don't smile and they're being mad or grumpy, but they're really not. Actually, they're happy, they just don't show it. So at the bridal shower the other day, I guess Sarah wasn't really being grumpy or mad, she was just exhibiting "Francom-ite-ess." How was I supposed to know? Last night at the dinner, however, she seemed genuinely happy and she was smiling a lot. There were a lot of family members there from both sides. The dinner was at "Granny's house," which we wondered if it was a restaurant that we hadn't heard about or something. But it was, indeed, at "Granny's" house. She's Sarah's "Granny" and that's all they call her. The dinner, prepared mostly by Aunt Tamera and friends, was delicious--pulled pork, mashed potatoes & gravy, and green beans almondine. For dessert, pumpkin pie. The highlight of the dinner for us was the French bread, served with the appetizer salad, which was all made by Granny, who is French. It was the best thing we have ever tasted! Grandpa T. and Cathy were even able to come, and Grandpa got along pretty well. He said he surely would have felt bad if he had stayed home knowing what he would have missed. Bob and Sandy were there along with Clark and Barbara and David and Tamera's family (except for Kristin who arrived late last night from Texas). So all in all, it was a very nice evening.

Yesterday Karalie called with the news that she has cancer occurrence #4. That's not good news. Just before her upcoming birthday party, too. She'll find out soon how the doctors want to approach everything. We're praying for you, Karalie.

Today Steven and I went over and played with the little girls while Lindy went to the store for a few minutes. Nate has been on a business trip to North Carolina since Thursday, and will come home tonight. So while Lindy was gone, Steven and I played with them in the playroom and enjoyed all the delicious food they prepared for us, Sidney included. There was also some dancing going on. Then we had some hogi sandwiches for lunch before playing outside for a little while. It was a lot of fun.

Now we're just doing some laundry and packing for our trip on Monday. We talked to Tiff on the phone this morning as she was headed to Chicago from Mattoon on the train. She should be in Chicago right now headed for the airport, then off to South Carolina this evening. We hope she has a good trip. We're all excited to see Sarah and Joel and Eliza this week.

Happy Halloween!

Well, this has been a fun Halloween day and evening. Not such a fun day for Richard since he had to have four cavities filled! He's still at work and Steven is at the MTC greeting the new missionaries (six new elders and four new sisters) tonight. After I dropped Rich off in AF this afternoon, I went to Papa Murphey's in PG to pick up a couple of Jack-o-lantern pizzas for dinner. It was pretty wild and crazy there--lots of people had the same idea, and I couldn't order ahead because they weren't answering the phone. I guess they had enough business without taking phone orders! While waiting for the pizzas, I talked to Sarah on the phone. It's sounds like they had fun taking Eliza around the department today. Joel was at his night class and Sarah had had no trick-or-treaters as of that time. I finally got my two pizzas and took them over to the Barretts. I started baking them while Lindy and the girls were over at Grandpa and Grandma Barrett's house. They came home the same time as Nate, so we all had some Jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner. The girls looked cute in their costumes--Camden was a beautiful princess with glow-in-the dark earrings and pink hair, Riley was Snow White with real Snow White (dark) hair, and Sidney was a witch with purple spikey hair. We had cookies that the girls had decorated for our treat. Then they went trick-or-treating. I went with them and Nate for a few houses, then Lindy went with them while I passed out treats, then she and Sidney came home and we passed out some more treats. I talked to Tiff on the phone for a minute and she had just gotten back from their "cemetery tour." It sounded like she was having fun. (We were remembering that last Halloween she and I went to The Myrtles [the most haunted house in America] in St. Francisville, La. The night before Halloween we stayed at Linden in Natchez, MS. We think it is definitely haunted also.)When the little girls got home they had lots of treats! Camden's earrings were glowing in the dark! While there I got to see Eliza on the Agate blog in her lobster costume. What a cute little lobster she was! After it got dark I came home in time to pass out some treats to the neighborhood kids. It's a nice evening to be out--not too cold and it didn't get dark too early since we haven't gone off daylight savings time yet. Well, it seems like the trick-or-treating has slowed down a bit. I think I'll do a couple of things and then head to AF. Steven should be home by the time Rich and I get back. Happy Halloween everyone!

Back from St. George

Karalie and I got back from St. George yesterday about 6:00. We had quite the weekend in St. George! While there, I tried to do a post from the FT's computer, but it wouldn't let me do it. So I realized I'd have to wait until I got home. The weather was just beautiful all weekend. Karalie and I had a good trip down to St. George on Friday. We left about 10:45 and stopped for lunch in Fillmore at the drive-in cafe and had tasty rueben sandwiches. Then we stopped at the cheese factory in Beaver for ice cream, of course. Oops! I just remembered that I left my cheese curd in the fridge at the FT's! We got to St. George about 3:00. Kevin and Wendy were already there. Kevin had brought down a nice TV table from Shopko for the new TV that Grandma wanted to get, so he started putting that together. Grandma announced at some point that the new TV would be Dick's since she had decided to "give" it to him. That explains why he was so adamant about what kind of TV they would get. Grandpa wanted the 32" Sylvania from K-Mart and Kevin wanted to get a 37" Vizio from Costco for $20 more. Grandpa was insisting on the Sylvania because he didn't want some "no-name" TV in the house! Needless to say, things were a little tense around there on Friday night. I went and picked up some pizza and salad from the Pizza Factory for dinner (a margarita pizza) and everyone seemed to enjoy that. Later, while I was talking to Mom as she lay in bed, I asked why she thought she had to "give" the TV to Dick since she was the one who wanted to get a new TV in the first place and she was buying it with her money. She said she thought that if she "gave" it to Dick then he would feel better about her buying it. I told her that it was just complicating everything, that if she wanted a new TV she could get one and as long as Kevin was doing all the labor, then it should be her TV and go with the house; and, of course, it would be for the use of both her and Dick, but she didn't have to "give" it to him. I could just see his kids coming to "claim" their Dad's TV at some future date. Not a pretty sight. Mom said I was "scolding" her and that she could give the TV to Dick if she wanted to. So I just thought "whatever." I got up the next morning and went for a nice fall walk and enjoyed the cool, crisp, fresh morning air of St. George. I let out a few "grrrrrrs" and giant sighs while I was walking along, but I was thinking it's really none of my business what Mom wants to do. When I got back to the house, everyone was sitting around eating breakfast, wondering where I had gone. The first thing Mom said was, "After breakfast, Kevin is going to go to Costco to get a 37" VIZIO for ME." I just said, "That's great," and wondered what brought about her change of mind. I could only imagine what Mom told Dick I said to her. Karalie later told me that Mom told her I had "scolded" her, and Karalie had said to Mom, "Actually, what Diane said is right. You can buy yourself a TV and have it here for both of you to use without having to 'give' it to Dick." So Kevin and Dick went to pick up the TV. Actually, Kevin went with Dick to get a board for their bed and Kevin said they'd get the TV while they were out. So, they got the board and the TV and Kevin got everything set up before we went to Auntie Reah's party at 1:00. The party was wonderful. That's really what we went to St. George for anyway. Auntie Reah looked beautiful and there were lots of people there. It was fun to see all the cousins and aunts and uncles. Plus, there were a lot of people there from Uncle Bill's (Reah's second husband) family. A lot of the condo people came, too, so there were probably about 100 people there in the clubhouse. "The girls" had fixed sandwiches and veggies to eat, plus there were two yummy birthday cakes. Everyone sat around and visited and had a good time. Lots of people said how nice Mom looked with her hair done and wearing her pretty new top. I had tried to get her to walk over to the clubhouse on such a nice day, and she said, "Don't you try to talk me out of riding in my wheelchair!" That's when I decided it's probably a good thing that Mom and I don't live any closer because she would think that I was always on her case about something. After the party, I went and did a little grocery shopping and picked up some beef pies from Croshaw's for dinner. When I got back, Mom was in the living room watching TV with Kara and Wendy. Dick was in their room on the bed, watching the TV in there. They had switched places! Mom seemed to be enjoying the new TV. So that evening, we ate the meat pies for dinner (they were soooooooo good), then Kevin and I went over to Reah's to visit with her and Cousin Susie for awhile. Then we came home, and Kara and I watched the World Series on the new TV before going to bed. (Alas! The Rockies just didn't do well in the World Series! They ended up getting swept by the Red Sox last night.) The next morning, Kevin and I went to the 9:00 church at the Morningside 1st Ward. (A big Polynesian man who bore his testimony talked about having their little grandson there with them for awhile. He said his grandson was trying his patience. He said, "When I was growing up in Hawaii, we didn't have 'time out,' we had 'knock out'.") After Church, Kevin and I went back to the FT's to get ready to leave. Just as I thought we were about ready to leave, we got involved in some rearranging for Mom and Dick there in the living room. Dick seemed to finally be warming up to the idea of the TV even though it wasn't "his" and not the one he wanted; or, maybe he was just glad that we were going to be on our way. Anyway, he was being nice when we left. We got away a little later than we thought we were going to, that's why we didn't arrive in Orem until 6:00. Steven and Richard and Lindy and the girls were all enjoying a nice dinner which Lindy had prepared and brought over. Thank you Lindy! The little girls were eating their dinner and being so cute. Sidney gave Karalie a good growl as she went out the door to go home to SLC. I ate my dinner and then talked to Sarah and Tiffany on the phone. We were glad to hear that all was well with the Agates in South Caroline and that things had gone well for Tiff with her Dudley presentation and that she had had fun in Springfield with Greg on Saturday. It was quite the weekend for everyone!

An Evening at the "Empty Sea"

Steven and I had a nice evening at the "Empty Sea" (MTC) last night. We had beef soup and mandarin chicken salad for dinner (pretty good, actually) and visited with Bro. and Sis. Rampton while we ate (he used to be one of Steven's counselors in the branch presidency). Then we went to the devotional where Sis. Cheryl C. Lant, Primary general president, was the featured speaker. Her husband, Pres. John Lant (president of Branch 3 at the MTC), also spoke. He spoke about how we should not only read the Book of Mormon, but we should know the Book of Mormon. He told of a missionary in their branch who was having trouble with the language and Pres. Lant asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon. The elder said he hadn't. So Pres. Lant challenged him to read the Book of Mormon, which he did. And it changed his life. Pres. Lant said the Holy Ghost descended upon him; he became more obedient, the language came more easily--he was a changed missionary. He said, "The Book of Mormon will change your heart." Sis. Lant spoke to the missionaries about using the scriptures in their teaching. She said, "The scriptures give validity and authority to what you are teaching." She also encouraged the missionaries to involve the children of the families they are teaching because children can receive a witness to the truth for themselves. She reminded them that many times, children will lead the way for their families.

After the devotional, Dad and I met with the elders in District C in their district meeting to hear their testimonies and their thoughts about the devotional. Elder Pulu told about how when he was a young boy he didn't talk very much. He stuttered and couldn't use very many words. Then his mother gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read it. He didn't want to at first; but he did, eventually, and it helped him be able to speak better. I like being in the district meetings and feeling the spirit that is there with the missionaries. I left a bit early to go to American Fork, so I didn't get to hear from all of them.

I had a fun time over at Nate and Lindy's in the afternoon with Riley and Sidney while Camden and Lindy went to the dentist. Camden had on her red polka dot skirt and looked so cute. Sidney was asleep and Riley was at her friend's house but came home before too long. We read Halloween stories and played a matching card game until Sidney woke up. Sidney always acts surprised to see Gramma when she wakes up, but she was so cute and we had fun until Lindy and Camden came home. Camden had three cavities. Oh. Oh.

Well, it's about time to head over to Lindy's to help with Sidney while she has Riley's pre-school this morning. Maybe Sid and I will go for a walk if it's not too cold. That's always fun. Then this afternoon I'll go to Curves before heading to AF with Rich. Steven isn't getting new missionaries tonight so he gets to be home this evening. That will be nice.

I hope things go well for Tiffany's presentation in her Museum class today and that Sarah and Joel and Eliza have a nice day in South Carolina