Thankful

I got busy after Halloween and made this quilt 

 

 



Then I headed off to Seattle a week earlier that usual to meet our newest Grandbaby. Juniper Ava

 

 

Isn't she Gorgeous!

It was so fun to meet her and spend some time helping.

 

 

We had a good time with  the other kids too.

 

An unusual snack

having fun

Somebody is about ready to start piano lessons.   She picked up the basics very quickly!

Electronics win though.

 Aren't they beautiful!

So beautiful!

 

 This was the only photo I took of Thanksgiving Dinner.  I was delighted with how my little pumpkins turned out!  Dinner was delicious and Jaela did the pie crusts herself with Pop pop supervising.
 Uncle Jeff and his son have a business making these wooden puzzles and crafts.  They are Wonderful and were thoroughly enjoyed.

 

 We got the Christmas decorations up and then we built a gingerbread house.

The artists were very successful

 Elena and Aaron invited us to experience this Thai shave ice cream dessert with them and Geneva and John.  It was delicious, different and so much fun!

 We loved our visit.  It was a real treat to meet darling Juniper and be able to help Geneva, but it was also nice to get home to our own bed. 

We were out shopping and found this curiosity. It's a topsy turvy world.

One delight this year is that we get Elena and Aaron and family here.  Aaron's work sent him to Scottsdale to work for three whole months.  We are delighted!

Mom didn't like that she had curlers in her hair but I just had to take this photo anyway.

 We even got to do a gingerbread house at their new apartment.

 Then we had Ben's 6th birthday

The birthday cup cake Eevee turned out well.

We had some sad news though.  My brother Steven died.  He had a heart attack while working on his boat up in Anacortes.  It was a shock to us all and was very hard for Samantha, Barb and Janet.  Rather than a traditional funeral, they had a party in his honor.  I was glad to be able to go and remember fun times with him.  Alicia and Todd were able to be there.

Hard for Mom too. 

 

 We will miss my little brother. We are grateful for his beautiful addition to our family.

We love you Samantha

Fall Fun

Part of our trip to Utah included a visit with our Wells family.  We sure do love and enjoy them.

 

 We made a quick trip to Las Vegas to meet up with this young man and go to the temple with him and his fiancé.  Then went back for the wedding the end of October.  He is finding out why our young men won't stand next to Rod for a photo.  It was a delightful trip.

They had a beautiful wedding!

 Rod has been very much enjoying our missionaries ...the ones serving in our ward.  He has gotten very close to several of them.  He has sponsored several P-days, usually racquet ball and breakfast or hikes.  One of the current pair is district leader who wanted to do some team building and leadership activities so Rod obliged.  They were so well received that he was asked to do them for some of the other missionaries in the area.  Whenever dinner doesn't work out, they come here.  It has been a real blessing.  Rod derives great satisfaction from these relationships too.  He just needs to be around young people.
He has also been taking his watercolor painting class and enjoying it greatly.  He is improving a lot too.

 I continue to enjoy my ceramics classes and am producing some work I really like.

The leaves that I used for this platter are from my squash plants.

We are so blessed to be able to pursue our interests and grow in experience.  What a rich life we enjoy!