And the Holiday Season begins!

It's the most wonderful time of the year . . .

(no pumpkin carving this year - but still a festive Halloween!)

It sounds like an early Christmas carol . . . but no!  It's just that starting with Halloween, it's just one big block of festivities from now until the end of the year.  In fact!  We have a big celebration going on at our house tomorrow because . . .

(drumroll . . .)

❄。 ¨¯`*✲ ´*。. ❄¨¯`*✲。 ❄*´*。 ✲O.

Dustin arrives tomorrow (assuming his flights are not delayed by the closure and cancellation of all the many storm impacted flights of the East Coast) ((crossing our fingers, our toes, our eyes, and our noses . . . well, maybe not our noses . . .))

Yep, Dustin is coming for a visit, Kelsie will be home for the weekend and we have some FUN events planned!

Just a little catching up . . .

(enjoying the new cute little office space :)

So we are in, almost settled, most of the boxes are unpacked, I still have one room to organize quickly tomorrow (the guest room - and we are expecting a GUEST) so I better get up early and get going.

Finally - TODAY, after about 6 weeks since moving in . . . we finally have our REAL internet up and going and it's so nice! And tomorrow - TV . . . we'll feel so excited to have a little TV and internet back in our lives. It's crazy how much your activities, work, communication, finance is tied to these silly computers!

So . . . I"ve had a few complications with my complications . . . my oral surgery of 12 weeks ago has ended up with complications and some of it must be redone . . . Boo!  So sad . . . it will delay the healing for another 6-8 months  - darn it!  Craziest thing . . . . at a routine dental exam they discovered I had a slow growing infection that somehow asymptomatically had destroyed the bone tissue between my top four front teeth and my  nose . . . see I told you it was crazy!   It's resulted in a remodel basically of the front part of my mouth.  (not pretty . . . bone grafts, implants, temporary bridges, soft tissue grafts - see I told you it wasn't pretty .  . .)

I keep telling myself . . . "count your blessings" of which I have many! And "look on the bright side" - because it's so difficult to eat, I've lost about 16 pounds - not bad!  Since I had that much plus a little more to actually lose . . .  :)  I don't really recommend it, and I'm getting a little tired of soup . . . but I'm grateful for modern medicine, some excellent doctors, and the fact that truly it hasn't impacted my life . . . I'm just a busy as ever :)

In fact just loving the fact I can visit these cutest, most adorable grandbabies!  Just returned from Ohio, and in November Norm and I will be traveling to Denver and once again to Ohio!  So grateful for family, the opportunity to visit with them all within 30 days in November!  What a blessing!

(Did I mention that I'm just so crazy about these two?? - OoOoo! I did - yeah . . .)

OOoooOo! And in other news . . .

Norm and I are the newest teachers of the Sunday School class for the 17 year olds.  I'm grateful for an opportunity to serve with my hubby!  We've been so frequently in totally separate wards (almost) these last years . . . so this is a great blessing! And coming in and teaching from 3rd Nephi right now . . . it doesn't get any better than teaching from my absolute favorite scripture verses.

And the 17 year olds . . . they will be missionaries before we know it!

~~xoxoxo~~

That's it for the moment . . . but hang on there's surely more to come :D

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New Townhouse - First Glimpse!

Tumultuous . . . I love the sound of that word as it just rolls off the tongue . . .

as in . .

tumultuous |t(y)oōˈməl ch oōəs; tə-|adjectivemaking a loud, confused noise; uproarious : tumultuous applause.• excited, confused, or disorderly : a tumultuous crowd | figurative a tumultuous personal life.
That just about describes what life has been like for us this year . . .
For those of you who have been paying attention, we started last fall (Autumn 2011) with an attempt to sell our home and downsize to something smaller.  We wanted the ability to more easily visit our children and grandchildren who live in Raleigh NC, Columbus OH and Denver CO.  Less home, space and yard to maintain with just the two of us here (and one big black labradaor retriever), having children who are not able to visit on a frequent basis.
THEN - we decided to take the home off the real estate market and make some home improvements with the New Year (2012) and relist the home for sale in the Spring.  (See FLICKR slideshow for the whole process!)  And THAT is exactly what we did, and it sold and we built a new cute little townhouse for just the two of us and the big black labrador retriever, AND with just enough space that when everyone comes to visit - we can still be quite comfortable!  
And here . . .
is the first glimpse . . .
of the finished product . . .


And finally . . . We are loving it . . . But we sure miss the mowing, the yard trimming, the daily weeding, the raking of the leaves, preparing the garden for winter . . . NOT :D

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The Light . . .

The Light of Christ is the divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things. The Light of Christ influences people for good . . .

Capturing the light . . .

I think that's why I love photography so much, everyone - everywhere has the light of Christ . . . I love it when we can actually see that light . . .











Kind of reminds me of a favorite song . . .
from a famous Utah songwriter whom we actually had the privilege of buying an ice cream cone for, once upon a time (but that is another story :)

I believe there's a light that shines in ev'ryone;
I believe it's the light of the world.
I believe there's a voice that whispers there's a choice;
And our joy will come from choosing what is right
And always seeking His light

That shines in one and all,
And lifts us when we fall,
And answers when we call.


Celebrating the Light that shines in ev'ryone
Celebrating the Light of the world.
And we all can rejoice when our heart makes the choice
To reflect the joy and keep it shining bright


By Celebrating the Light
And our joy will burn bright
When we follow His light.
Celebrating the Light.

-- Michael McLean

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The Best Camera . . .

I have people ask me frequently . . .

"What is the BEST camera?"

Well, personally I'm a Sony girl, which is rather unusual, but I agree with Andrew Harvey that the best camera is . . .

"The one that you have with you"!

It's amazing how good a cell phone can be (mine is a Samsung Galaxy s3) when you have to use a cellphone because you have nothing else with you!  (In fact - if you HAVE a Samsung s3, you can read a cool tutorial on how to take better photos!)

The reason I bring this up is because we spent the last weekend "out of town" in Park City, Utah.  It was glorious fall weather!  It was quite late when we arrived Friday evening and we couldn't see a thing . . . so I was amazed to awaken early and see this out my window . . . which I snapped with my cell phone.




I'm also really impressed with the contrast and exposure in this next photo taken a few minutes later.  This photo also includes Norm sitting in the foreground.  I like how it picks up the shadows and still exposes for the scenery outside the window.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't have accomplished this with my big fancy camera :)




While we were out and about town, we had lunch here . . .

Davanza's pizza - a very unique place, notice all the cans stacked to the ceilings on the walls.  And guess what?  The can's aren't attached to the wall, so they claim that everyone once in a while, they ALL com tumbling down :)





After lunch, I couldn't resist snapping the next two photos of historical Park City . . .








Once upon a time I used to visit a very dear older couple and we would sit on the front porch of the yellow home and visit.  Burnis Watt's used to be my boss once upon a time when I worked for the State Office of Education.  He was a wonderful man, always had a twinkle in his eye, and as far as I knew - always skied every winter on the mountains behind his home until he passed away at the age of 87.  He maintained a beautiful historic home on Park Av in Park City.

Much to my surprise, since I lost contact with Mr. Watts many years ago, the city bought the home in 1997 and it is now a fancy saloon.  You can read more about at the HIgh West Distiller website.

But I remember the days when we used to sit on the front porch, have a nice visit and watch the world go by.

And . . .
 Oh yes, for certain, the best camera is the one you have with you :)

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Just Because . . .

Just because . . .

We are in the midst of a move after creating (I call it creating because now that I'm seeing the finished project, I realize that we were totally creating an atmosphere and home special for our circumstances, wishes and desires at this time in our life) a new home . . .

And in the midst of unpacking and trying to organize chaos . . .

And just because we are "off celebrating" our 32nd anniversary which occurred amidst all the madness . . .

I am referring you to my previous

General Conference 
(Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

posts!  Where you will find the to-die-for cinnamon roll recipe . . . all my warm snuggly conference memories and expectations . . .

Of General Conference and Cinnamon Rolls (2011)

Autumn Ramblings of General Conference (2010)

I must admit we are experiencing a different kind of General Conference this year than ever before.  Usually the days arrive with the gathering of family all around.  This year I know that Cory & Sara will be watching with darling baby Jonathan from Denver, CO . . . Karianne & Greg will be watching with toddler baby Addison from Columbus, OH and Dustin and Cami with be watching while cuddling with the grandkitties,  princesses Her Highness Lexie and Her Royal Highness Princess Sophie all the way across the country in Raleigh, NC!

And what about Kelsie!??

  Yes, she gets to come from college for the weekend to our little anniversary retreat to watch the conference with her mom and dad, we feel so blessed to have her! (Funny story - she says, "Won't I be intruding on your together, anniversary celebration"?  To which we replied, "right now everyday is a together day!  And a day of celebration - so please come"!)

(And she did . . . and we shopped :)
((And she brought - Mint Oreo Cake Balls - sooooo yummy!  I think we have us a new General Conference tradition!!)

So  . . . while the conference food will be totally different this year, (sadly no cinnamon rolls-to-die-for) we have the same snuggly blankets and pj's, and more importantly . . . the Spirit will be the same, no matter where you partake.  We are looking forward to hearing the special messages prepared for the earth today from the Prophets of the Lord here on the earth in this the latter days.

For more information or to watch online, you can click this link - or the photo below.

October 2012 General Conference







Oh my goodness . . . it turned into a post after all . . .

So from our scattered family to yours - enjoy this special season of the year :D

(I just may have snagged these cute photos from the FB pages, blog posts and Google+ sites of all these adorable people!) Loves!!!

ME

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