Red Letter Day for McKade

Today is a Red Letter Day for McKade. He got his Learner's Permit - YIKES! and he got his hair cut. I'm not sure which is more important to him. He was in the school play, Fiddler on the Roof and the director ask that they not cut their hair until the play was over. McKade HATES when his hair gets even remotely long. He thinks it gets in his eyes, tickles his ears and whistles when he rides the 4-wheeler. Of course, the importance of being able to legally drive goes without saying.

Happy 20th Birthday Miranda!!!

Our beatiful "baby girl" is now 20! How did that happen?

By the time a person turns 20 years old, they will and should have left an indelible impression on the people among them. Sometimes it's for good and sometimes it isn't. Parents delight in the child who distinguishes themselves as one of the "good kids". It's a heartache when they don't. I am happy to report that one of those kids that we know has just turned 20 and is still a good kid.

That's not to say that she is perfect, but all around she has been very self-reliant, studious, hard-working, determined, dependable, not a follower, judicious (most of the time--sliding on trays down concrete in the rain and dark was a serious lack of judgment), humorous and "cute".

We are very pleased with Miranda. She has secured our trust in her to make good and righteous decisions. She has come a long way from the pale, frail, white-haired little girl to what she is today. We believe that she has built a very secure foundation that will carry her through all of the difficulties that she might encounter in life. The one trait that needs to be worked on is PATIENCE, but that's a life-long endeavor where we can all do a little better. We love Miranda!!! She is one of our (5) favorite children. We hope she can always be prepared for opportunities when they arrive and seek our Heavenly Father's direction for every decision. (She won't be able to ask any of her earthly family as none of us have any opinions and Miranda isn't known for having opinions of her own. haha) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIRANDA!!! WE LOVE YOU.

As you can tell, someone much better spoken than I wrote that, but it speaks for both your dad and I.

Actual birthday is tomorrow, the 19th. We posted early because we're headed to Idaho.

We hope you have a great day, Miranda!

Thankful Turkey

This turkey doesn't look all that fancy, but it sure brings back some good memories. Back in 1991 when we lived in California, we made these "Thankful Turkeys" for all of the women in the ward. I was the lucky one that got to cut the turkeys out of burlap. I even broke my favorite pair of scissors doing them. Each year we cut out new feathers and have everyone date the feather and write what they are thankful for that year.

It is so much fun to look back at the feathers through the years and see what everyone was thankful for and how our perspectives have changed. We have a lot of the typical things like the Gospel, family, friends, our country and our house. We have some not quite as traditional like the cats and dogs, books, bottles, McKade's place in-between mom and dad in bed. (That has been a few years ago and he probably had help with that one.)

Tonight for FHE we filled out our feathers again. Since we are down to just three of us left at home, we now have to be thankful for a lot more so we don't have a bald turkey. This year we stuck with pretty typical things other than Mike is so very grateful to have finally paid off his student loan and McKade is grateful that he doesn't have to go to school seven days a week. (Today was a hard, tiring day at school.)

We would also like to take this opportunity to say that we are very grateful for each of you, our family and friends!!!

Ghosts in the House???

Or is it just time for a new washer? My trouble started on Monday night when Merridee called and asked if I had noticed that she had put the sheets in the washer. I hadn't noticed because the long trek downstairs required more energy than I had when I got home. She said that she had just started the washer and left the lid up so they could soak all day and not get sour before I put them in the dryer. I promptly thought "I will just deal with that tomorrow." Our washer has been losing water out the bottom just about as fast as it can fill up so I knew that there probably wouldn't be a lot of water left in it. So that was my last thought about the sheets that night.

The next morning as I got out of the shower, I thought I could hear the washer running. Mike had left for work about 45 minutes earlier and McKade was still in bed sound asleep so with a little trepidation I went downstairs to see if I really did hear the washer running. Sure enough, as I got there it had just finished filling up with water. Boy that really got me going. Now who in the heck had started the washer? I knew Mike couldn't possibly have done it, but I called him at work to see just in case. I think he thought I had finally slipped over the edge when I asked if he had started the washer. I checked McKade and he was still asleep. My adrenaline was starting to go pretty good at this point.

I admit I had all kinds of weird thoughts going through my head. Could something have possibly happened to Merridee that I hadn't heard and she didn't want to leave this mortal earth without finishing the laundry? Could this possibly be Caroline, the ghost, that Merridee and Miranda like to talk about? But why in the heck would she care if my laundry was done? Could it possibly be that midget that McKade, Lainee and Mom all think they have seen in our house? No, there wasn't a chair pushed up to the washer.

After about 10 minutes of consternation and puzzlement over who on earth would have started my washer, it finally dawned on me! Probably every time my washer drained to a certain level, it started to refill. What a relief! (Until I get the water bill) A little help with the laundry on occasion would be nice, but I would just as soon do it all by myself as have the help of ghosts.

I know, I know, you are all wondering about my mental state at this point. I guess my only excuse is that Halloween is this week and I have weird, freaky things on my mind.

A Finished Project!!!

I am so exited. I actually finished one of my unfinished projects this weekend. This is one of my block of the month classes from the local quilt store. Now I just have to finish my winter, spring and summer ones plus numerous other unfinished projects. I couldn't wait to get this hung up and then just as soon as I did, I noticed a mistake and no, I wasn't doing it on purpose like the Amish do. So I guess I will have to do a little unpicking and resewing but I may just let it hang for awhile first.

The Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite things is when the stores get in their big piles of pumpkins, so naturally one of my favorite activities is a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. The problem is that the last couple of years we keep getting fewer in number. Miranda's last several years of high school she didn't think it was too cool of an activity and then Michael and Marisa moved too far away to go. This year we were without Merridee and Ben, so that takes a lot of the fun out of it. I am hoping that next year we will start increasing in numbers again. Maybe one of these years Miranda will even decide that it is fun, but about the time that happens, McKade will probably decide that he doesn't want to go.

The Last Rose of Summer

This is what we woke up to this morning. SNOW!!! This poor one last rose was left to brave the weather. I love fall and I am just not ready for winter yet. I guess there will be less work now, because it definitely took care of the garden for this year. Here's one last look at the flowers for this summer.