Dad and LaRue

We just came back from California where we spent a deliriously wonderful time... great weather, green grass everywhere (what's that?)...These are the two people in charge at the ranch...... Doesn't my dad look great for almost 88? LaRue is just lovely, too. They have been married over ten years now.

Waiting for Santa

Now Macy, make sure that Santa has his cookies and milk waiting for him...and carrots for the reindeer...and make sure that Papa or Daddy don't sneak and eat them.

Debbie Anderson Martin--roomie

Here is the latest Martin wedding picture. They are the beautiful people, as you can see. There is a connection here...
Debbie (in the pink floral dress) was my roommate for two years ...(and my first friend) at BYU...the family holding the baby (Greg and Laura Martin) are also friends with Summer and Paul Gunn and Steve and Melissa Fowler. They're all in residency now... Paul and Steve at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, and Greg at TMC in Tucson, Arizona. I smell 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon. Sizzle

(Check out Melissa's blog to see the update on the Gunn's and House's second generation..the Christmas dinner)....

Gunns & Houses

We've been friends since 1972---I met Lezli Walker in the dorms (Q Hall 7th Floor, Deseret Towers---which they've torn down now!) I was even her bridesmaid...with Debbie Anderson...yea! Now we live just a mile apart and have dinner together regularly...here we are 37 years later.....and our kids are both at Mayo Clinic in residency. Any THEY go out to dinner together. What are the odds? BELOW........

Lezli and I are on the front row...she has the black belt, and I have the longest hair. The girl between us, the blonde, is Debbie (Anderson) Martin. That is her in the picture (above) next to Sam....She has 4 sons...and they all married girls who look just like Debbie! I love all the other girls, too ... l-r top: Debbie , DeAnna, Leslie, Maureen, RuthAnn, Diane...l-r bottom: Lezli, Debbie, Anne (me), Debbie... We lived in a big old white house at the bottom of the ramp down from the Maeser Bldg at BYU. The house was once lived in by James E. Talmage. We had a good time there!

Fill'm Santa!

I made these years ago and still LOVE them. Steve's and Kami's and Macy's are upstairs in the sewing room to use as a pattern for Cash's. Stay tuned for the latest creation.....

The Lights

Santa keeps watch.

Our little tree....

These lights on the banister take a long time to put up... but you can see them from the outside through the big window.

I made this reindeer about 25 years ago...it's one of the first things that goes up.

Trampoline danger

Christmas Cookies

I sure love cookies...and my daughter... and her daughter...

Shoot those Cans

Christian sets them up

Fire!

Dayton's lovely daughters Emily and Rebecca

At the Ranch in California

Brad arrives at Dad's house on the cycle...

The shooting practice begins...Grandpa reminds them that there are cows in the field so keep the guns low.

I think he got a cow...

Always texting



Load that pistol...

Students of the Month

This student was voted best costume for Halloween---a cockroach,... and to think I nominated him Student of the Month last month.

This darling was also a Student of the Month from my 2nd period...but as you can see, Jr. High is rough...they throw you in lockers still.

Christmastime book club

Yesterday’s Book Club Evening 12-11-08

Another great gathering of the Ladies of the Night ... well, the Shadow Mountain Book Club. This time we shared Christmas books. Each person brought a few of their best and favorite books --- showing pictures and reading aloud sections while we all munched on appetizers... (just a warm-up for the main dessert event...a chocolate covered custard dish with whipped cream ...Oh My! YUMMY...while being blinded by the dazzling Christmas decorations and appropriate seasonal bling in Kay's house..... ) but, ahem, back to the books...

Here are some great stories for the Christmas Season:

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck, 2008…Most had read it and agreed it required a box of tissues nearby…..I really choked during the part of the symbolic ‘storm’ that the young boy endures on one icy night that happened…or didn’t happen… when he runs away… hummm

A 13-year-old boy is given a Christmas present by his single mother, the only thing she can afford: a sweater, which he scorns, having wanted a bicycle. He crumples the sweater into a ball and throws it on the floor of his room. When his mother dies in a freak car accident, Eddie is sent to live with his grandparents, with only the sweater to remember her by. Orphaned, bitter, angry and alone, Eddie is tormented by dreams of the way he treated his mother, until he meets someone who understands him: a next-door neighbor who may or may not actually exist. With Russell’s help, Eddie is able to come to see the sweater as something that will stay with him for the rest of his life, and ultimately it teaches him that the true meaning of a gift is that it is given with love…….. from Glenn: “I began writing this story with the sole intention of only sharing it with my family. But something happened along the way: The story took over and wrote itself. There were things I had spent years trying (and eventually succeeding) to forget that just spilled out of the end of my pen; stories that I had never intended to share with anyone. Yet now that the story is out, I share it with joy.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, 1995 Picture above......

Other great books:

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry, 1963

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto, 1993

The Giving Chest Dick Van Dyke 2005

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston, 1988

The Santa Claus Book, Alden Perks, 1982

The Christmas Visitor Anneliese Lussert, 1995

12 Days of Christmas (pop-up book) Robert Sabuda

Father and Son, A Nativity Story by Fabian Negrin, 2006

Amahl and the Night Visitor Gian-Carlo Menotti, 1951

The Littlest Angel, Charles Tuzewell, 1946

Next book club meeting will be at Deanna Porter’s house
1911 Shoshone Dr. …. Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009
Book: A Gift From the Sea by Anne Murrow Lindbergh

Many people have read this book … it’s worth a reread.