Monday, January 12, 2009

Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas pictures

Duane and I went up to Carey mid December and had a nice visit with Mother and Dad. Their home looked very festive. Notice the Nativity Scene on top of the entertainment center. Mother painted all of the figures.

Mother and Dad enjoying their Christmas tree.

Many of the ornaments on the tree are gifts from family and friends that have sentimental meaning for Mother and Dad.







40 years later...

For our 40th wedding anniversary (Nov. 27) Duane surprised me with a trip to the jewelry store, where I got to pick out diamonds to go on my original wedding band. I was so very happy I just had to shed a few tears!! I always said it didn't matter that I didn't have a diamond, and it didn't. But, I am very happy to have one now. It is even sweeter after all these years!!

Finally...a blog update!!

Cute Landon loves to play with the kitchen and talk on the phone.

Alyssa, Abbey, and Emma in Grandpa Duane's corn patch...what a great hiding place!


Mary and Jennifer having a good time!


Duane and Dan in the Holland's back yard just"workin' on the railroad".



These are the Christmas pillow cases I made for all the Grandkids this year (with the help of Julie and her embroidery machine). Emma's was already in the mail when I thought of taking a picture. They were a real hit!..and they were fun to make, too.





Sunday, July 20, 2008

Another trip to Carey

Last Saturday, my sister, Peggy, and I decided to make a quick trip to visit Mother and Dad again. We knew Mother was having a hard time feeling like cooking, etc., so we went back up there so soon after our Family Reunion and their 65th Wedding Anniversary Open House, to cook and clean for them. It was fun even though it was a lot of work, too. Peggy and I laughed and giggled the whole trip (51/2 hours)! We were able to fill my dad's wish for a "good roast, mashed potatoes, and gravy" for Sunday dinner. Peggy and Dad picked the last of the strawberries Saturday night, so we had strawberry shortcake with our Sunday dinner as well.

On Monday, we cooked the whole day, making the family favorites of chicken and broccoli casserole, lasagne, roast with potatoes and carrots, hamburger pie (or shepherds pie), chili, beef stew, calilfornia vegetable soup, split pea soup, plus a little homemade bread. We put everything in microwavable containers and froze it, so all Mom and Dad have to do is decide which meal they want and microwave it for a few minutes. Mother sat in the kitchen with us, and Dad appeared occasionally, so we had a great time visiting and cooking and sampling! It was quite satisfying to look in the freezer and see all those meals (in idividual serving containers) all lined up, labeled, and ready in an instant.

On Tuesday, we did a little cleaning, baked another batch of bread, gave lots of love and departed for Salt Lake. We were able to go to the Twin Falls, Idaho LDS Temple Open House and take a tour on our way through the area. It is really a beautiful temple, and so important to those Saints who have longed for one in their area for so long.

Peggy and I enjoyed being of service to Mother and Dad, and we really enjoyed having some time to visit with family in Carey, and of course, the visiting we did with each other on the trip. We got back to Salt Lake around 7:15 Tuesday evening in plenty of time for Peggy to catch her 9:00 flight back to Phoenix. Thanks Peggy for your love and support and hard work!! Love you tons!

I'm sure we will need to make another trip to help out some more, but it will be fun, and there is nothing we wouldn't do to help our parents because we love them so much!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Hello!

We're finally out here in the blogging world, thanks to Jamie.