Good Bye Coco!

Good bye, Coco! See you in TWELVE days! Good luck with your finals. We loved having you home. Miss you already!

The Mystery of the Missing Christmas DVDs

I am so stumped. Every year I place this adorable basket on our family room coffee table filled with our favorite Christmas DVDs. Every year I put the basket away with the Christmas DVDs remaining in it. This year, the basket is empty! No Christmas DVDs. No "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "Scrooge", "Muppet's Christmas Carol", "Elf", "Miracle on 34th Street", "Home Alone" and my personal favorite, "The Shop Around the Corner". I have looked everywhere! I have unpacked every Christmas box, looked where we keep our other videos, walked around the basement and looked in unsuspected boxes. Do you have any suggestions where I might look? It won't be Christmas without them!

My Boy's Digs

Here is a video to enjoy which gives you a glimpse into the living conditions of My Boy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoxsbYWjs3Q TOUR OF RAFEY APT.

Here is something to be grateful for...

From My Boy this week:

"This week was awesome but also soooo hectic. Pretty much a lot of things that could just go wrong did go wrong but we got through it all. Saturday, Ryan, Esteci, and Clarisa did get baptized but we sure had to fight satan to get that all done. Nothing was going right at all and the whole day it was just pouring rain. Whenever it is raining at all here, people do not leave the house because they think they will die. Everyone was in winter coats all week haha. I had to convince the branch president that we were going to do the baptism. It was probably one of the most stressfull days of my mission, but it all worked out in the end. It didn't help that our cell phone broke, wet shoes, four days without water because the company cut it off, a lotta other problems, but when it was over, I felt a lot more relieved. The baptism was a lot of fun though. I ended up speaking because we didn't have speakers but I enjoyed that part too. Ryan is my favorite out of all of them. He is just a STUD! He gave the closing prayer at church on Sunday! Despite the hard rain, we had a good turnout at church on Sunday. We didn't have 19 investigators but we had double digits again haha. We have so many people going to church these days the house doesn't have room. I bless the sacrament every week though so I always have a good seat for sacrament meeting. "

I don't know about you.....

I don't know about you ....but we are STUFFED!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We express our love and gratitude to all of you who touch our lives so richly! Have a wonderful day!

We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing

"We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

He chastens and hastens his will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.

Sing praises to his name;

He forgets not his own."

~Baker/Kremer,Prayer of Thanksgiving

When I was a student at The Collegiate Schools in Richmond, Virginia, we had a wonderful tradition at Thanksgiving time. The morning before Thanksgiving Day, the entire school and parents gathered at All Saints Church for a Thanksgiving service. I was in the choir and as part of the service, the choir sang the "Prayer of Thanksgiving" every year. I loved the feeling that I had as I sang in this special service. No matter what our religion or creed, we all came together on this day to give thanks.

The Shrine

We have a shrine in our house in honor of My Boy. Our shrine consists of a countdown of how many days until he comes home from his mission. We hit a milestone this week as we have now filled two spires of the temple...only one spire to go! Other items on our shrine are photos of My Boy and all of his companions and photos of My Boy and all the folks he has baptized. There is also a photo of the day he received his call, a photo of him in front of the MTC and a photo of him with his Mission President and the Mission President's wife. We love to stare at The Shrine and require all visitors to visit it also!

Giving Thanks

"I feel a very unusual sensation - if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude" ~Benjamin Disraeli

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings" ~Eric Hoffer

"Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live"~Jackie Windspear

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder"~ G.K. Chesterton

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! And we are so glad! Welcome Home, Coco! Let the party begin!

NINETEEN Investigators???????

This week's email from my My Boy reported him having NINETEEN investigators at church! "The biggest thing that happened this past week was probably the fact that we had 19 investigators at church and in Sacrament meeting. I have never seen or heard of a number so high in the mission. It was pretty incredible and I felt really blessed, hah but at the same time I was mad because I thought we could have had four more people there. It was awesome though now that I think about it." I think nineteen might be a record for the whole church!

Another Favorite Thanksgiving

Another favorite Thanksgiving of mine actually occurred the day after Thanksgiving. Linz and NTG were students at MSU then, and we drove up to see them. We spent such a cozy time with them in their apartment at The Living Center. Christmas music played while we ate m&m's, drank pop, and played games, all while wearing our pajamas. The boys settled on a fierce game of Risk, while the girls enjoyed a little less competition with Rummikub. (actually, there is no competition as Coco always wins!) Good times!

We can have Thanksgiving now....

The Idle Isle candy has arrived! Every Thanksgiving, Auntie Migs sends us a box of Idle Isle candy from the Idle Isle in Brigham City, Utah. Brigham City is the town my mother and Auntie Migs grew up. It was their Thanksgiving tradition to pass around the candy dish filled with Idle Isle candy every Thanksgiving afternoon. Auntie Migs keeps this tradition going and provides us a little touch of Gammy in our holiday. I love that. The Idle Isle was located on Main Street near my Grandfather's ladies apparel store. It not only had great candy, but also served great food and ice cream delights. The candy is hand dipped and the choice of chocolate for our family is always dark chocolate. I didn't know there was such a thing as milk chocolate until I went to college! If you would like to read more about the Idle Isle, please visit their website http://www.idleisle.com/. Thanks, Auntie Migs, for keeping the tradition alive!

My Favorite Thanksgiving...ever!

My favorite Thanksgiving ever had to be in 2005 when we celebrated in New York! Is there any better place to celebrate Thanksgiving than the Macy's Parade? It was fabulous! After watching the parade for so many years on television, it was so thrilling to be there in person. Our whole family was there which made it perfect! After the parade, we went back to Big J's and Kage's for a delicious dinner...but don't ask My Boy about the gravy! Then we headed for the Poconos for a fun, relaxing weekend, preceded by a white knuckle icy car ride up the mountains with family members going to the bathroom on the side of the road....and elsewhere.... We topped off our weekend with a walking tour of Manhattan in all its Christmas light splendor! This is a Thanksgiving I definitely want to repeat!

Giving Thanks

"The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more imporverished than these who nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving." H.U. Wesetermayer

"You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink." G.K. Chesterton

"For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are M5

Mothers of Mighty Missionaries Meet Monthly met again this week for pankcakes, french toast and eggs. It was fun to get ideas for Christmas gifts for our missionaries and hear the latest from New York, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, California, Brazil and Dominican Republic. These Naperville boys are doing pretty amazing things! This is a great group of women full of love and gratitude for their wonderful sons.

"We Love Being Missionaries"

An excerpt from My Boy in this week's letter: Every Sunday afternoon we share with Marcos, Morena, and their kids. This last sunday though Morena and the kids left like 10 minutes before we got there to visit some family. At first I didn't think we were going to share anything, but we decided to sit down and just talk to Marcos. He began talking before we prayed or had done anything and talked for like 20 minutes straight. He talked about all of his doubts, how he didn't want to say he would get married to Morena that day in front of the kids, how he wants them to get baptized but he can't right now because of the marriage thing but that he would keep going, and he said a lot of the doubts on his mind that he couldn't share with his whole family there. As he talked I prayed because I knew this was a do or die situation and we had to deliver a nice message to him. From the moment I talked to the moment I left that house, I have never in my life felt the spirit so strong. I spoke to him and met his concerns for about 30 minutes, sharing scriptures, experiences, and my testimony, and when I walked out, I really didn't even remember what I had shared. I felt like it wasn't even me speaking. Marcos's whole demeanor changed. I felt the spirit so strong and I asked him at the end, how he felt. He explained the peace that he felt. I explained to him that it was the spirit and it was God telling him that he needs to do the things that we are teaching him. I told him to always remember that feeling because we are so quick to forget some times. I told him about how with the gift of the holy ghost he could have those feelings always. It was seriously incredible. I felt like I was in the air. It was not me teaching! As we walked out of the house and to our next appointment, I didn't say a word for about 5 minutes, and then I asked my comp, "Did you feel that?" and he said to me, "Yeah Im still thinking about it." It was the most spiritual lesson of my life.

The Countdown begins!

Ten more days until outrageous laughter enters our home again!

Giving Thanks

"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavnely blessings!" - Henry Ward Beecher

"Gratitude is the best attitude" - Author Unknown

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are concious of our treasures" - Thornton Wilder

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily" -Gerald Good

Uh oh....we better get to the gym today!

A very sweet soul gave DTA a box of candy yesterday for a kindness that was rendered at his dental office. We opened them at about 5 PM yesterday. This is what the box looked like this morning...remember, there are only two of us in the house right now! We better get to the gym today!

"It took 15,000 men to take my place," Emma in White Christmas

Last night, I had my first viewing of the season of my very favorite movie, "White Christmas". I used to wait until Thanksgiving, but lately I have started my viewing after Halloween. I will probably watch this movie three or four more times this season...maybe more....I absolutely love it! I could give a one woman reading and musical presentation without script. I have the whole movie memorized as do many members of my family. A plot summary from Google.com says: "After leaving the Army after W.W.II, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, is the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General." Phil Davis, Bob Wallace, The Haynes Sisters and Emma are the best! Don't you just wish they still had restaurants with floor shows? I was clearly born in the wrong era.

Any "Greeks" out there?

As part of my college experience at the University of Utah, I was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority. Last weekend when we were in Utah, we made a stop by the Chi Omega House. This is where I lived from 1974-1977. (my sister and sister-in-law also lived here but at different times) Sorority life played a huge role in my college experience. I lived with such great girls and had a wonderful time living in this house. It was fun to return and peek in the windows and see that the "Petunia Room" was still there!

Some great photos from My Boy this week!

Something I am grateful for....

I am so grateful I am a college graduate! I earned a BA degree in English/Secondary Education with a minor in Educational Systems and Learning Resources (I know...what the heck is that?). And with a Bachelor of Arts degree, I took 25 hours of a foreign language - French! I took a little visit to my alma mater on our trip to Utah last week. It reminded me of how grateful I am for this accomplishment. Even though I do not teach school, I feel like being a college graduate has added a dimension to my life. It's just something that really makes me feel good.

Oh my word! Oh my DELICIOUS word!

Many years ago, DTA's parents spent Christmas with us. DTA's mom came down to see all the Christmas Eve appetizers laid out and exclaimed, "Oh my word! Oh my delicious word!". Well, that's how I felt last night at dinner. Yesterday afternoon I put together a scrumptious chicken pot pie. I steamed carrots, potatoes, onions and asparagus and added those to a cut up rotisserie chicken that I bought at my local market. Usually I add this to a chicken gravy but last night I added it to cream of chicken soup mixed with sour cream and oh my -yummy! Since there are only two of us now, we are having leftovers tonight and I can hardly wait!

We just got back from a lovely trip....

DTA and I spent the weekend in Utah for our nephew, TW's wedding to the lovely JH. We had such a wonderful time being a part of TW's and JH's sealing in the Salt Lake Temple and seeing all of DTA's family. A highlight of the weekend was seeing Coco! She looks so great and is having such a fabulous experience at USU.