Reindeer Games

I'll do a longer post later about our activities this week, but we got a good laugh out of this last night.

The little girls were playing Hide and Seek with Preston at Ben and Shannon's. Preston hid in the pantry all hunched over on the floor. The little girls opened the doors and looked in and didn't see or recognize him. He stayed totally still and they continued their search. After awhile, they went back to the pantry and just stood there staring at him. Nobody said anything for quite awhile, then Lauren piped up "Daddy, are you stuck?" (Okay, maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. And I don't know what's up with Lauren's jeans--she doesn't usually wear them this low.)

Ring Around the Rosie, London Bridge and Duck, Duck, Goose have all been popular this week, too.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

Grandpa with Tanner and Sadie

Happy Birthday, Tracy!

Smiling Uncle Ben and Tanner

Tanner, 3 months old

Silly Afton and Macey playing Pretty, Pretty Princesses

Great Grandma Allred reading to Macey

Wausau Christmas Parade....brrr!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I'm happy for time spent with these cuties:

I'm also grateful that our children are faithful, temple worthy members of the church and are raising our grandchildren to be the same.

I am thankful for my wonderful brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews and their children who have always blessed my life, but especially in the past couple of years.

I cannot even express how grateful I am for my parents and for all that they taught me. I'm thankful that my Mom is also my friend and that we have shared many things in the past and continue to do so. She has always been a source of comfort and support.

I'm thankful for the countless dear friends, new and old, young and older, who have brightened my life and uplifted me in many ways. I especially value the children and young people who think of me. Many of my former seminary students are also my friends and that makes me happy.

I'm thankful for Rene--for the priesthood he holds, for his daily acts of support, for 33 years of married life.

While I'll admit that my understanding is far from perfect, I'm filled with gratitude for the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and our Father and his Son.

Oh yeah, I'm thankful for turkey and pie and a special day to enjoy it all!

Tanner's blessing

We were so grateful to be able to go to Virginia for Tanner's baby blessing. Although it was a very quick trip, spending time with our family is so precious to me. I'm also glad that Tracy's parents could be there. Fortunately for us, our grandchildren all call us Grandpa and Grandma and have other names for their other grandparents. Tracy's parents are called Nana and Papa. Being grandma has been one of the great joys of my life. I'm looking forward to more events just like this!

Keeper

Each month, the power company kindly includes a recipe on one of the many inserts we get in our power bill. For the past six years, I have looked at the recipes and thrown them away. I may have kept one once, but I never made it.

Today, I found one that sounded good. I had all the ingredients at home, so I made it tonight and it was yummy.

Teriyaki-Glazed Pork Medallions


2 t. butter or margarine
1 lb. pork (I used two pork thick pork chops.)
4 T. brown sugar
4 T. orange juice
2 t. soy sauce
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. ginger


Melt margarine in large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cut pork into 1/2" slices. Add pork to skillet and cook until lightly brown and no longer pink. Drain if necessary. In small bowl, combine brown sugar, orange juice, soy sauce, garlic powder and ginger; blend well. Pour over pork, cook and stir until mixture thickens and coats pork. Serve over rice.

And because I don't have a picture of this tasty dinner, I'll post a picture of Macey in her tutu.

Choosing to be happy

One of the things that I've enjoyed most about having adult children is seeing them make righteous choices and work hard at teaching their children the gospel. It makes me happy to read the scriptures with them before bed, or to hear our granddaughters say the blessing. This week, we had the opportunity to go to Virginia to see our newest grandson, Tanner. He is adorable! On Monday night, we had Family Home Evening with Joseph and Tracy and Afton (and Tanner, although he did not participate much.) It had been a day filled with the power struggles and tears that sometimes happen as children learn to exert their independence and test boundaries.

After an opening song--"Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes"--we had a little lesson. It was about the fact that we can choose to be happy or we can choose to be sad. Choosing to be happy makes life more fun and peaceful. Minding Mommy and Daddy cheerfully leads to being happy. Choosing otherwise brings sadness. It was a very short lesson; Afton is only three. For the talent portion, Afton showed us how she can bounce on her bouncing ball thingy. We had made chocolate chips cookies earlier while we waited for Daddy to come home. The closing song was "Popcorn". The closing prayer, by Afton, included three mentions of our thankfulness for chocolate chip cookies. It was a sweet, calm family night, although Afton did not appear to be paying more than minimal attention.

Later one that evening, Afton was sitting at the kitchen table doing something. The rest of us were in the living room. Tanner was fussing. Afton loudly announced from the kitchen, "Tanner needs to choose to be happy....like ME!" Hahahahaha....she was obviously paying attention.

More happy, sunny days

Sarah and Brian came to visit. We had a great time. The guys went shooting, Sarah and Brian went canoeing, we hiked around on Rib Mountain. It was fun and too short. The next week, Rene was gone all week and I went to Aberdeen with Emily and Lauren. We had a great time although it was windy and cold at Storybook Land. Forrest treated us all to lunch one day, and Lauren loved him.

A Happy, Sunny Day

We enjoyed the Labor Day Weekend in Minneapolis. We went to the temple, watched BYU and celebrated Lauren's birthday, and on Monday, we went to the Minnesota State Fair. Ben and Joanna went twice!

Ben is eating a pickle covered in cream cheese, wrapped in prosciuto or pastrami. (I'm sure Ben knows, but I can't remember.)

It was a long day, but fun. We ate all kinds of yummy fair food.

My overall take on the fair is that it is more commercial than the Ohio State Fair and less agricultural.

Joanna helped me with this lovely cake for Lauren's birthday. You can tell that by the time we were done, we didn't care what the tusks looked like.

Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah....go Cougars!

We enjoyed a guided tour of William Mitchell Law School. It's a very nice campus.

Judge Lauren

It was a great weekend! Every minute of time we spend together is precious to me.

More fun

Our Minneapolis kids came over for Sadie's blessing. While Emily and Janet were out together, Preston and I took Lauren up to Rib Mountain.

Fun

I'm very grateful that I've been feeling generally well this summer. It has allowed us to do some fun things. Here's one of them:

Before Janet went back to school, we took Macey to the Bay Beach amusement park in Green Bay. Macey's reaction was priceless. The look on her face was great. It was almost like "Hey, I'm driving this thing and I'm doing it all by myself."

Work

It's that time of year...harvest! We've made several trips out to Rene's big garden lately. Corn, beans, zucchini, beets, green peppers are all on. The tomatoes are just starting to come on and we always dig potatoes. Here are some recent pictures. Yes, the top picture of is Ben WORKING!?!! I feel that he's getting ready to take a break, though.

Thrift

Sadly, Janet left today to go back to school. We are extremely thankful that she can attend BYU, but she will be missed a lot around here.

While she was here, she did virtually all of the grocery shopping and cooking and much of the cleaning. When Rene and I are here alone, we don't spend much on food, but we get whatever we want, pretty much regardless of the price. Janet, however, is on her way to being a thrifty shopper and couponer. She is patient enough to wait for the sales and then match her coupons up to what's on sale and has gotten some great deals this summer. She (and some of her sisters) are committed to getting the best deal they can and they do a great job of it without being excessive.

This strategy applies to all of us in a spiritual sense as well. At a special stake conference in May, Elder Ardern counseled all of us to not become casual in our Church service or in our living of the gospel. It's easy to just go with the flow rather than remaining vigilant and committed to our pursuit of righteousness. Janet has set a great example for me this summer, both at the grocery store and spiritually.

Springville Montage

Question: What is that pile of white stuff on the mountains behind Springville? Janet couldn't believe that I never was curious enough to hike up there to see what it was. It looks exactly the same as it did when I was a kid. Also, does anyone know the names of those same mountains--the ones that provide a backdrop to Springville?