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Advice for the Bride and Groom Board

More Reception Pictures

Labor of Love

My Angela won't brag on herself but I am allowed to.  She took on a project recently to decorate for a wedding of a friend.  For several months she has designed, made, painted, sewed, garage sell shopped,

and created many works of art so that this wedding reception would be stunning.  I want you to know that it was!  On top of all her hard work she had help from Andy and her kids who also caught the spirit of this great event.  I might also add that on top of her wedding reception she made adorable costumes for Caleb and Ava and helped Ellis with his.   I am so proud of her and of her family.  Well done Angela!

Grandparents Day!

I went over to Phoenix for Grandparents Day at Lincoln, Ruth and Jane's school on Friday.  This is the third time that I got to go and I loved it.  It is so fun to see all of the grandparents lining the hallway outside of the school cafeteria and seeing them light up when their grandchild approaches (me included!).  The first year I went, Lincoln's teacher had a little program after lunch.  This year Jane walked into the hallway holding a cute grandpa and grandma cutout with cotton ball hair and a list of things she loved about us.  After lunch we visited the book fair (smart school for doing it when grandparents are on campus) and I bought each of them a book.  It was a fast trip over but a great one. 

Amazing!

Our grandson Lincoln turned 12 last week so we went over to Gilbert to see him being ordained a deacon on Sunday.  What an exceptional experience we had.  Apparently in their ward when the boys turn 12 all the Aaronic priesthood holders come into Primary during senior Primary sharing time..  The Bishop then invited Lincoln to come up and told him that he wanted him to know they were glad that he was joining the boys as a new member of the deacons quorum. All the young men (about 40 ) began to sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth".  I can't even explain how beautiful it was to hear these boys sing to Lincoln.  There were tears shed by many of us as the Spirit was so strong.   I knew that Lincoln would never forget how he felt as he listened to the boys sing.  Afterwards the Bishop said to the Deacons it was time to take Lincoln to his new assignment.  Wow!  What am amazing experience.

Wood Connection

Kim and Marlarie told me about a place in Utah called the Wood Connection and when we visited Bill and family in the summer I made a visit to check it out.  BIG mistake (to my budget)!  I can't wait until I make my next trip.  Here is a school project, a birthday project, and I did a Y for Perry and Ellis for their room which I don't have a picture of.  I also found some really cute letters which I made for Ava.  Fun, fun fun.

Tortes

We had the "empty nesters" tonight for family home evening.  I had three recipes for tortes I have wanted to try for almost a year.  This was the perfect place for that.  I made a Chocolate Pistachio

, Pumpkin Creme, and Cherry Creme torte.  Everyone of them were delicious! 

New Quilts

I just finished four baby quilts.  I'm finding it hard to get material for girl prints but easier to find things for boys.  That has certainly changed from when my kids were tiny. 

Cupcakes Galore!

The Cub Scouts visited the fire station.

  In preparing for it I decided that it would be nice to cook some cupcakes to give the firemen at the station.  I got my cupcake recipes out to decide on what I'd bake.  Bad mistake!  I ended up with six recipes that I had to make.  I have to say several were new recipes that I wanted to try out and every one of them turned out really good.  Anyway by the time I was done I had so many cupcakes I made some for Scott's work and Andy's work as well.  YUM for everyone! 

Back to School

The last few years Scott has allowed me to decorate his area for school.  Last year I did a monkey theme and this year it was elephants.  One of the things I have missed since I retired was fixing up the office and teachers workroom for the beginning of the year.  I appreciate him letting me get some of that need out of my system by decorating for him.  He has moved to a new area which was much smaller but I liked how cozy everything looked when we finished.

Caleb

While Ava was playing soccer Caleb was entertaining grandpa and me with his cute antics! 

Soccer Girl!

Ava is on a soccer team and Grandpa and I were able to enjoy her first game.  She was actually very good and it was fun seeing her take off after that ball each time she was near it.  She started out as a goalie and then went onto the field for some feet only playing!!! 

Language & Culture Belt Loop

The boys are working on earning the belt loop for language and culture this month.  We had a great time talking about other countries and then we sampled some Japanese food to finish out our meeting.  The boys were awesome and had no trouble using the chopsticks and eating some of the food from Japan.  They weren't really excited about the seaweed chips (which smelled very much like fish!) but ate everything else.  These are some of the sweetest boys you will ever get to meet.  I feel honored to be able to work with them.

Seaweed Chips--Dylan tried but wasn't impressed!

Decorated area for the food

We tried origami but they mostly ended up as airplanes!

Chopsticks!!  Brave boys

Back to School Celebration

Ava starts first grade tomorrow.  Last week she and I went to the American Girl store for lunch, shopping, and a visit to the beauty shop for her doll, Carolines new do!  Unfortunately the pictures I took didn't take and I only have one to share.  We had a wonderful time together and I felt honored to spend time with one of my granddaughters.  I wish they all lived close by!

Bedroom Makeover

When I finished fixing our back patio area I started working on redoing the master bedroom and bathroom area.  I am happy with how it turned out.  I never remember to take a picture before I begin but I mostly changed the bedspread and paint color.  The big change was the bathroom vanity.  With my friend Malarie's encouragement I sanded down and repainted the cabinets and then Andy put a new counter-top in for me and replaced the faucets.  I was happy with how everything turned out.  My next big project is redoing the family room carpet and repainting that area and then I am going to tackle my kitchen cabinets!

Down to Business!

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