A merry Christmas

Joanna and Ben arrived on Saturday, Dec. 22.  That was our candymaking day.  Rene and Joanna made divinity and fudge.  I had made another batch of fruitcake and some cookies earlier and Joanna and I made our caramels that day.

Sunday, we had a very nice Christmas program at church.  There were quite a few visitors, mostly young people who had grown up here and were now visiting their parents with their own little families.  We enjoyed visiting briefly with Casie and Joseph.

Ben and Shannon and Co. came over for dinner that evening.  Since Sadie was sitting in the high chair, Russell sat on Grandpa's lap.  Grandpa did sneak him some bites of food, but he's still pretty little to eat much.

On Monday, we started on the dinner preparations.  Joanna made two pies, cherry and pumpkin.  We also had sweet potato casserole, turkey and stuffing, potatoes and gravy, a relish plate, rolls, cranberry sauce and our traditional grape drink.  Most of it was homemade, including some of the pickles Rene made this summer. 

Here's the table.  The beautiful centerpiece was sent by Preston's mom, Brenda Franzen.  We have had "crackers" (the English version) for several years now.  One year, we had friends over for dinner and the mom, who is from England, brought crackers and taught us how to use them.  Now they are part of our celebration.

After dinner, we had our traditional FHE, although it was short this year due to the attention spans of a three year old, a one year old and an 8 month old.  After FHE, Shannon gave Sadie and Macey each a present and said they could open it.  (It was their Christmas pj's.)  Sadie cracked us all up by opening hers entirely with her teeth.  The three little ones changed into their Christmas jammies, we took a few pictures and B&S took their girlies home to bed.

 

On Christmas, we got up (not very early) and enjoyed a few gifts.  We skyped with the Franzens and the Manassas Scoresbys.  Then we packed up and went to Stevens Point, where we opened more gifts and enjoyed the day.  We played games several times over the week, sometimes with cheating and sometimes without.

Ben and Shannon came up again on Friday night for dinner.  We enjoyed being together.  Macey watched TV and read books.  Sadie denuded the Christmas tree of candy canes and enjoyed them.

On Saturday morning, Ben and Joanna packed up and went home, despite some snow.  We are so glad they could be here.  Christmas is always better when kids and grandkids are involved.

This December, we have tried two new recipes we'd like to share.  I made some of this soup to take to a new family in the ward and some for us to eat at home:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Chicken-and-Wild-Rice-Soup

I read the comments and did add diced celery, carrots, onion and mushrooms to the butter before making the white sauce.  I also used part skim milk instead of all cream.  I also used a rotisserie chicken; one chicken was enough for a double batch of soup and enough for a meal for Rene and I, too.  It was filling and yummy.

Most of you know that I don't make candy.  That's Rene's forte.  But this year, Sarah told me about this awesome microwave caramel recipe.  So Joanna and I made it.  It turned out perfectly, although we did have some issues with sticking to the waxed paper, but that was our fault, not the recipe's.  Here's the recipe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/microwave-caramels-367414

Yum!

I'll post more later with pictures of our Christmas activities.  But let me say that we are profoundly grateful to be part of wonderful families and to have the best family in the world as our own!

I used to sort of wish that I could pick out our children's spouses for them.  I thought I knew what they needed and that I could do a pretty good job of matchmaking.  I gave that idea up long ago.  The Lord has done a much better job of matchmaking than I ever could and we love our children-in-law and think they are absolutely the best.

It's always fascinating to see how these eternal marriages have come about.  A year ago, Janet was still in the "I'm a fifth wheel" phase.  She had dated a fair amount, but never anyone she was really happy about.  Her roommate and best friend Candace was getting married, changing the dynamics of that relationship.  Janet would be graduating soon and was wondering about what to do in terms of a career or more schooling.  In February, she went to a ward Valentine's Day dance and got to know Jacob better.  Amazing for these reasons--she hates dances, she has a low tolerance for loud or smart-alecky people who tend to dominate those kind of events, and she is not a flirty type of person (none of our girls are).  Their relationship progressed from there to dating, then engagement and marriage on June 30.

We were fortunate enough to meet Jacob in April when we went to graduation.  We only met Tracy a day or two before their wedding and Rene only met Preston the day before those two were married.  So we were thankful for the opportunity to spend time with Janet and Jacob and to get to know Jacob better.

 

Jacob is the oldest of 10 children.  Strangely enough, some of my siblings know some of Jacob's family, so he came highly recommended.  (In fact, I told my sister and her husband that they might need to recommend us!)  He served in the Washington Seattle mission, spending some of that time in Ferndale, which was part of our ward when we lived in Bellingham.  He is studying landscape architecture, which means that he and Rene have a lot in common.  He plays the piano beautifully, which is always makes a Mom's heart glad.  During that first visit, when we got to know Jacob, one of my favorite moments was when we gathered around the piano and I played and Janet, Jacob, Sarah and Brian sang.  Wonderful!  Jacob understands that Janet is my baby and will always be.  He is not a real nerd (although I started to wonder during the whole "ice cream" vs. "jellybean" discussion) but just enough to fit into this family of nerds.  He loves sports, t-shirts and athletic shorts, making him a perfect fit for Janet.  We have yet to see how he will survive basketball with the Bens, but I have confidence in him.

We are most thankful that Jacob is well grounded in the gospel and that he values family.  We know that he is not perfect, but we have yet to hear of anything as exciting as the Squaw Peak or VEET episodes.  Welcome to our family, Jacob, and here's to many more memories together.

In the meantime, Tracy is a little sad that she has lost her last chance to have someone displace her as the oldest of the siblings.  Don't worry, Trace--we still love you!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a lovely trip to Virginia for Thanksgiving.  I'm so grateful for the health and strength and the resources to be able to travel to see our kids and grandkids.  Here are some highlights:

 Yummy dinner, prepared by J&T.  Here's the turkey a la Alton Brown.  The PPP ratio was also good--5/4.

 Afton, ready to EAT!

 Tanner, not waiting to eat

 After dinner

 Also after dinner (look carefully)

 Next day outing to C&O/Great Falls Park.  Joseph kayaks here.  It was packed.

 Cutest kids at the park

Blogging from then 'til now

 

With some down time over the past few weeks, I have enjoyed going back and rereading our family blogs.  Started in 2007, just before Joanna left on her mission, our blog covers lots of precious family history.  We have added three wonderful sons-in-law since then.  The last two of our own children have graduated from BYU, and we have had graduations from professional schools.  All nine of our beautiful grandchildren have been born since we started the blog and the first pictures of them are priceless.  I hope that some kind of technology will let all these blogs be saved so that our grandchildren can read and enjoy them to help them know us all better.

These posts have chronicled joy and sorrows, silliness and excellent performances, work and play.  There are many trips contained herein--to Memphis, Manassas, Mississippi, Mexico, Minneapolis,  Aberdeen, Alaska, Arizona, Sydney, Sunapee, Great Falls, Ohio, California, Chicago, Texas and, of course, Utah and Idaho and points in between.

There are stories of lessons taught and lessons learned, of service rendered and service accepted, of baptisms and blessings, of sweet family home evenings, of ancestors who have lead the way for us.  We have enjoyed a variety of healthy hobbies--reading, cooking, sewing, crafting, couponing, basketball, football, hiking, kayaking, gardening, running, and ice cream.  The inauguration of the Scoresby Scamper is here.  Will anyone but Preston ever win?  There have also been numerous exhibitions of nerdiness.

We have enjoyed great quotes, clever odes and haikus, and entertaining stories about the past.

We have helped each other with Super Cute Sundays, haircuts, lists,  ideas for parenting and for health.  Remember the cutting of Afton's mullet? These pages are peopled with a motely crew:  Casie, Jodi, Tiger, Coco, Grandma, former seminary students, Candace, Aaron, old friends, new friends and our own special little characters.

I love our blog.  I hope it will continue to allow us to share the mundane and the exciting; the happy and the sad, the new and the old.  And most of all, I hope it will help us to stay close to each other and continue to know each other's hearts.  I love you all!

(Doing this made me ask this question?  Why don't we have a search function on this thing?  It took forever to find all those links.)

 

 Yep, it's that time of the year in Wisconsin.  Before we know it, the "Welcome Hunters" signs, all sponsored by beer companies, will be going up.

 

 Joanna, Ben and Russell came to visit.  Later that week, Sarah and Camille came to visit, too.  As always, I was very thankful to have them all come.  It's always great to be together.

 

While Sarah was here, both the turkeys and squirrels came to visit, too.  It seems that there are many more black squirrels this year.  It reminds me of this:

 

The Brain: Quiet Pinky, I'm getting ready for tomorrow night.
Pinky: Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night?
The Brain: [Irritated] Guess!
Pinky: Oh, try to take over the world, right.

My Uncle McKay passed away on Oct. 5, my dad's birthday.  He was the last of the brothers in my dad's family.  He was 97 and has been blind for several years, due to macular degeneration.  He was an extraordinary person who loved and served others.  He was immensely creative and talented.  He moved his family to Boulder, Colorado in the early 1950's, becoming a pioneer in the establishment of strong Church units there.

I was able to travel to his funeral with my mom and brother Forrest and his wife, Cathy.  Because I have not been feeling good at all, Ben was kind enough to drive me partway to Aberdeen, where my mom met us.  Forrest had work in Pierre, SD and in Rapid City, so we just tagged along and waited around, then traveled on to Colorado.  I had a great time--it's always so good to be with my family.  Poor Cathy had to endure hours of us reminiscing about our early lives in Springville and Greeley. And believe me, Forrest remembers all the details of everything!  My sisters Miriam and Emily met us there.  Here are some pictures of the trip:

One of the governors of SD

A president (I think it's George Washington)

After picking Emily up at the airport, we drove up to Greeley.  Here's Meeker Jr. High, where Forrest and I both attended school for one year.  It's an apartment building now.

The house we lived in in Greeley. It was much nicer then and seemed much larger, of course.

This is not a very good picture, but here are the mountains to the west of Boulder.  The rock faces are called the "Flatirons."

When we got back to Aberdeen, we enjoyed an evening of playing Boggle and Name that Tune.  I'm thankful to have been able to go.  I had a great time and appreciate more and more the wonderful family to which I belong.

Fall

Macey's dad tells me that she has kind of a thing about fall right now.  She looks out the window to check on if the leaves are "falling."  I had a little discussion about it with her last time I was there.  She might not see fall coming, but here are some signs of it around here.

We think these three trees are all the same variety.  Why one is so red, while one is yellow and one is still green is a mystery.

The darn turkeys....what can I say?  They show up a couple of times a week and annoy me by pecking repeatedly on the family room windows.  I'm afraid they are going to break one!  They don't leave either, until I actually either go outside and scare them away or open a window and yell at them.  I need Sarah to rustle a few of them for me.

And this has nothing to do with fall, but here's a picture of a cute baby.  Ignore how crazy I look.  That's what happens when  you're trying to keep a little guy happy.

"Family love shines brightest on the world's darkest days." Wes Fessler

As our kids were growing up, I never really expected that they would end up living around us.  To marry a worthy spouse in the temple, I knew that they would have to go away from home.  I knew that they and their spouses would be professionals and would need to travel to where their work was, as we had done.  We believe that we were led to Mount Vernon by the Lord and that our kids would have similar experiences.

So, four years ago, when Emily and Preston moved to Wausau to work for a year before law school, we were thrilled to have one of the kids so close.  At the time, I didn't think much about it, except for "Wow!  Are we ever lucky!"  At the end of their year here, as they were preparing to move to Minneapolis, Ben and Shannon were blessed with a wonderful job in Stevens Point, about 30 miles away.  Joanna, who was newly returned from her mission, also moved to Minneapolis and subsequently, married Ben, who was also in law school in Minneapolis.  So we had three married children and their families within a three hour drive.  Wonderful! We also had been very blessed to visit Joseph and Tracy in Virginia often.  Sarah and Brian and Janet, in Provo, were also frequent visitors and visitees.

Two years ago, our family began to experience some very hard trials.  Some psychologists have developed a life stress test, and boy, we've had lots of them during this time.  As I have reflected on the Lord's tender mercies, I'm thankful for this four year window of being close, phyically and emotionally, to our family.  I don't think it was a coincidence.  We have all been blessed with the love, strength, support and encouragement of those we love.  I am happy that our little grandchildren know and love each other and their aunts and uncles.

Our lives are moving into a new phase now.  Joanna and Ben moved to Rochester, MN, before Janet's wedding.  This past week, we saw Emily and Preston off to a new, exciting adventure in Boston.  Because of Rene's employment, our home and lives are changing, too.  But I feel that this four year opportunity has given us a great base to stay close.  We will still be together as often as possible.  Thank goodness for technology!  We can Skype everyday if we want (and some of us do!).  As I was hugging and kissing Lauren goodbye, tears were streaming down my face.  She asked me what was wrong and I told her that I was sad because I would miss her.  But when she was settled in her house in Boston, we could call and talk to each other on the computer.  And she said, "Okay, Grandma.  Then you can be happy."  And it's true--then I will be happy.  Right now, I'm thankful that three of my babies are within easy reach.  The rest of you better bar the door, because we'll be coming to visit soon.

What I did on my summer vacation

Okay, not really.  But since the weather has been beautiful lately and because our lives are about to change dramatically, I suggested that we spend this afternoon on a little trip that I've wanted to take for awhile. 

So this afternoon, after lunching with Ben and the girlies, Rene and I jumped in the car and headed off to Hixson, WI.  Hixson is about 90 minutes away toward LaCrosse.  What's in Hixson?  Well, I recently found some genealogical information about a "person of interest" and he ended up living in Hixson.  (It's a long and kind of boring genealogical story; probably the only interested parties are Mom and I.)  Anyway, it was a beautiful drive and we accomplished our genealogical mission quickly and without incident.  Then we had some time to go see this:

Yes, it's an Indian mound.  We are big aficionados of Indian mounds.  One of our most memorable family trips involved lots and LOTS of Indian mounds.  This mound, Silver Mound, is a little bit different.  It is not a burial mound.  It was a quarry for a type of prized quartzite used to make stone tools and arrowheads.  Artifacts from this mound have been found spread across Wisconsin and into other states.

We really wanted to go walk around the mound, but couldn't find any way to access it.  We drove all the way around it, but couldn't ever find a way to get up onto it, although we could see a guy in the far distance walking on it.  (Good thing we have lots of experiences driving fruitlessly around on the sides of mountains.) It is an offical archeological dig and they probably don't want people up there.  But I really wanted to find some arrowheads especially for Tanner, Andrew and Russell.

By the way, since some of you have asked--we went in this.  It is replacing Rene's truck.  Eventually, it will replace the Impala and Rene can get another truck if he wants.

I forgot to mention that Joanna and Ben and Russell came to visit.  We made some awesome Olympics food, including this pizza.  Yes, we dyed the mushrooms blue.  We also made a cake with the leftover filling, buttercream and fondant from Janet's wedding.  It was a patriotic cake with blue stars.  I didn't take a picture.  But it was yummy.   And that's the royal "we".  Joanna did virtually all the work.

Go west, young man!

We're not exactly young, but that's what we did the third week of July.  We decided to drive out to Janet and Jacob's Utah reception for several reasons.  Going out was a fine trip.  We left here on Wednesday and drove to Billings, passing through a monstrous thunderstorm outstide of Minneapolis.  On the way, we reminisced about the many, MANY times we've driven this route before.  In Billings, we picked up some paintings to deliver to a friend, and drove around the temple at dusk.  Miriam, if you're reading this, what is the little building across the access road from the temple to the southwest?  We were thinking maybe a dressing room for workers or for youth doing baptisms.  We wasted a few minutes searching for a secret passageway to get from there to the temple, but never found anything.  But the temple is beautiful.  And if anyone wants pictures of the Billings temple (or any other temples), we know where to get them.

The next day, we drove on to Idaho Falls.  While driving through West Yellowstone, we realized that you could superimpose Wisconsin Dells or any other resort town on the same location with mountains and it would look the same.  Gotta love people who think that's scenic.  We stopped in Rigby to visit Rene's Aunt Fern and then drove to Idaho Falls to visit his Uncle Charles.  We pretty much ignored all the other Scoresbys who we had just seen or would soon see again.  We did stop at the Scoresby Farm Market to buy a few peaches and apricots.  We then drove on to Provo to the Wood hotel.  They have nice accommodations (although no pool) and there is also a major scenic attraction there :)

Friday was Brian's birthday.  He was supposed to be at youth conference, but he was given a reprieve by a member of the bishopric going in his place.  So we went out to lunch and came home to celebrate with cake.

Then it was time to clean up and drive down to Delta for the reception.  The drive was interesting.  We went the back way, through Santaquin and Eureka.  After Eureka, there were many miles of nothingness.  We arrived in Delta in good time and were impressed that it seemed bigger than expected.  Maybe driving through Eureka helped.  Sadly, we didn't have time to see the rock formation of Joseph Smith's face.

The reception hosted by Jacob's parents was very nice.  There was an abundance of yummy food.  We enjoyed meeting many of their friends and also seeing three of Rene's brothers and their wives who couldn't come to the recent reunion.  I also had a really good time visiting with Dave and Kathleen--in fact, for awhile Kathleen was standing next to me at the end of the reception line talking and shook a few hands as people came through.  I'm glad they could come.  Unfortunately, I took NO pictures that night.  Jacob's mom did, though, and I hope we get to see them.

We drove back to Provo through Nephi and the trip seemed much shorter.

Saturday, we just hung around the Wood's house.  Brian was at youth conference.  We went for a walk on the Provo River Trail, but it was too hot for me.  We had a nice dinner including produce from the garden, cooked and got ready for the next day's company, and watched the Pioneer Day broadcast.  Sure do love that BYUTV!  Rene took several naps.  I held Camille a lot.

Sunday, Camille was blessed at church.  The group included us, Janet and Jacob, Brian's parents and grandparents and his brother Greg.  His other brother's two little kids were sick, so they didn't come.  Brian did a great job with the blessing.  After church, we enjoyed a fabulous meal and visiting (and holding Camille!)  We also played a game of rummy.  I won (I think.)

We left bright and early Monday morning, driving the old tried and true I-80.  It seemed to take forever this time and it was hot--105 degrees in Des Moines. We drove around the Winter Quarters temple at dusk and then stayed in a lovely motel in Council Bluffs.  We headed home the next day, arriving about 5 pm.  We did include a brief rest stop at the Franzen home and were lucky enough to see Joanna and Russell, too.  Lauren was full of silliness, as always, and Andrew and Russell are growing so fast!

We're very thankful that we could make this trip safely.  Our car is getting old, old and it did well.  We are getting older, too, but survived just fine.  I was tired when we got home, though.  But being with the people we love always makes me feel better!

Wow, it's been a busy month since I last posted.  Let's see if I can catch up.

Rene ran in a 10K with Ben and Shannon.  I hung out with the girlies.  We enjoyed the little zoo, although Macey had some kind of weird ideas of what animals should have been there.

Emily and her kids came over and stayed a week.  It was fun to have them around and Emily was a big help with getting ready for the wedding.    Rene took Lauren fishing.  She was interested in the fish, but also a little scared of them.  She was willing to pet them, though.

I rode back to Minnesota with Emily and spent several days with Joanna and Ben.  I supposedly helped them move to Rochester, but in reality, I didn't do much except hold Russell some.  He's cute.  And he's grown amazingly.  Rene was at youth conference.  On Saturday, they drove me halfway home and Ben and the girlies met us halfway and picked me up.  Thanks, y'all!

Lauren came to stay for a weekend.  We weren't sure how we'd do, but she was very good.  We enjoyed her, but we were all very tired by the end of the week.  Macey and Sadie came to spend part of the day on Saturday while Ben and Shannon ran in a half marathon.

Then it was the BIG week of Janet's wedding.  Sarah and Brian arrived on Tuesday.  It was good to have them here and to hold baby Camille.  She's a cutie, too!  (In case you haven't noticed, I believe that our grandkids are the cutest/smartest/possibly strangest in the world.)  They both helped a lot around the house getting ready for the wedding. 

My mom and sister Emily arrived on Wednesday evening.  Emily constructed the beautiful wedding cake and they both helped cook, clean and decorate. 

We went to St. Paul on Friday, where Janet attended the temple for the first time.  It was nice.  Sarah, Emily, Joanna and Joseph were able to be there.  (Everyone else was working or babysitting.)  The whole crew gathered that evening for dinner.

Saturday morning, Janet and Jacob and Rene and I were at the temple at 9 am.  Everything went smoothly and they were sealed at 10 am in front of a packed sealing room.  We so much appreciate everyone who sacrificed much to be there.

Afterwards, we zipped home and with the help of everyone, especially my mom and sisters Emily, Susan and Laura and nieces Hannah and Kristin, got all the setup and decoration done.  The decorations turned out really well, and the yard looked nice, making it a lovely, albeit warm, evening. 

It was a wonderful weekend.  Thank you for your love and support.  Many wishes for love and happiness go to Janet and Jacob.