NOVEMBER-TRIP TO OREGON AND THANKSGIVING FILLED THE MONTH

At lunch with Casey and three of the girls.  Andrea and
the two other girls were in Portland for 'Time Out' session
for women and didn't get back until later that day.

On November 14, I flew to Oregon to babysit Casey and Andrea's girls while they traveled to Florida for a business convention and, of course, a trip to see the new addition to Harry Potter Land at Universal studios. I love being able to be with our granddaughters especially when it meant I could witness Charlotte play Alice in her high school production of Alice in Wonderland. She was amazing and played the part so well that you were totally convinced she was a little girl of about seven. The plot of the play is very strange but the production was beautifully done. The costuming and sets rivaled that of a professional production. In the Spring, the school will be putting on a musical to which we will for sure go if Charlotte gets a part.  

A new addition to the
Westover home - FISH!!!
Three died while Andrea and
Casey were gone.  Oh the
joy of having fish.

Charlotte as Alice - after the performance 

The formal table complete
with goblets.

Andrea and Casey left on Sunday so after church the girls and I fixed Sunday dinner. Casey had bought some sparkling cider drinks so we decided to set a more formal table with place mats and goblets.  The girls were thrilled and thought dinner tasted much better in this formal setting.

The girls enjoying our formal Sunday dinner. The
girls really felt like they were at a fancy restaurant.

I took Lydia out to lunch
 on her early out day

Staying with our granddaughters brought lots of time for me to clean and cook and play with the girls. With Charlotte driving now, and not having to go to play practices every afternoon, the driving schedule was much easier than last April when I came to stay. I didn't have to take the two older girls to seminary or to school so the mornings were much easier. After school, Charlotte would go back and pick up Jillian so I just had to be at the schools for the three younger girls. Saturday, as we waited for their parents to return home, I took all the girls out to lunch at Red Robin.  They loved that restaurant and it was fun to get away with them all for a little outing.

At Red Robin....not the best picture but at least Jillian is smiling in this one.

Once Andrea and Casey got home, the rest of the evening was spent watching videos of their trip. Casey is so good to video most everything they do so the girls can feel like they were right there with them.  It was home first thing Sunday morning...at least to the airport.  I had Andrea take me to the Eugene airport early so she could make her church meeting. I had a three hour wait for my flight home....but I didn't mind as I love to watch people and read a book.

Only in Oregon would you find a whole
Christmas tree completely done in University
of Oregon Ducks decorations

When I returned home, Todd and Kailee
were at our home for Sunday dinner.
  Some time during the evening, Todd and
Paul had to compare the hair of each
of their legs...go figure?

As soon as I returned home I had to start preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. Kailee's whole family was coming up for a total of 23. Todd had purchased the turkeys and asked if I would cook them along with the dressing...no problem.  Kailee's family would bring salads, vegetables, and desserts which meant I needed to do several batches of rolls for the whole group. We also volunteered to do the potatoes and gravy. 

Our typical thanksgiving  breakfast
even with just the two of us.

On Thanksgiving morning, we had our traditional breakfast of scrambled eggs and tea ring and then it was time to put the turkeys in the oven. The day wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be and it was fun to fill our home with lots of people.  (We would have been all alone had Kailee's family not come up)  Dinner was great as were the many pies Kailee's family had made the day before.  After dinner we all played a game which was a fun way to end the day.  We are glad Kailee's family felt comfortable coming up here.  It was a good day.

A pumpkin cheesecake....one of many
desserts brought by the Leavitts

One of two tables set for the
Leavitt crew.

On Saturday of that week, we traveled down to Todd's home for a brunch/shower for Kailee and Todd. Nicole had made some delicious breakfast casseroles and we brought a couple of tea rings and fruit with a caramel dip.  The food was delicious and it was fun to watch Kailee and Todd's excitement as they opened presents for their little Aria due is a few weeks. 

Even at the game, Paul was on
 his new phone. Oh how quick we
get used to this convenience. 

After the shower, Paul and I ran some errands, went to a movie, grabbed a quick bite for dinner and then attended a BYU basketball game. It was a good thing we had decided to make a day of it on the Provo side of the mountain as the canyon road was closed all day due to an accident. As we were driving down the canyon, we saw a tanker truck that had slide across the road, tipped over, and was spilling gasoline onto the road.  We were lucky we came through when we did because the road was closed a short time afterwards. The road finally was opened just as the game concluded so we didn't have to go all the way through Salt Lake and Park City to get home.  We were glad of that.


In November, we also experienced a some of firsts....  We had our first snow storm. We are hoping for a lot more snow this winter so we don't have to worry about water this summer.










Another first was going to the gym...not a first in our lifetime but a first in a long time.  In the summer months, Paul is out in the yard so much that he gets plenty of exercise but now that winter is here, its back to the gym....UGH!!


And the last first.....We are going to have new neighbors as they started digging the hole for a new home on the lot next to us.  We will love having a neighbor but the noise and vibrations and dust of the digging is a little nerve racking. The Wrights, a couple in our ward, keep apologizing for the disturbances. It is Teri Wrights parents who are having the home built.  We'll survive.

And that brings us to December with all its craziness......

MISSION REUNION TOPS EVENTS IN OCTOBER

Jacob and RaeAnn at our home
for dinner

On Friday, October 24, we had a mission reunion at our home.  Sixty returned missionaries showed up for dinner and socializing. This all came about after Sister Taylor (RaeAnn) and Elder Stebbing (Jacob) came up to dinner the first week of October.  After dinner we discussed the possibility of having a mission reunion since it would be another year before President and Sister Borders would be home and available to host a reunion.  RaeAnn and Jacob got real excited about the possibility of getting all the Moscow Mission missionaries together so that very night we set a date and decided what the Facebook Event posting should look like.  RaeAnn was in charge of inviting everyone and I was in charge of food and getting the senior couples on board.  With a little effort, all turned out wonderful.  The response was even better than we had imagined it would be so obviously it was a welcomed event.  

So grateful for their help in cutting up
all the vegetables for the haystacks.  
Sister Roper came later and joined in.

Sister Taylor and Sister Miller (Elyssa) and her husband came early to help chopped the vegetables for Hawaiian Haystack which was the fare for the evening.  Rice, chicken, ham, Chinese noodles, pineapple, mandarin oranges, green peppers, tomatoes, cheese, coconut, olives and two sauces were on the counter to choose in building each haystack.  Everyone loved the dinner even though many had to eat it sitting on their laps as we did not have 60 places at the tables for them to sit. Including ourselves, 4 senior couples were able to come.  Their help was so appreciated in bringing parts of the dinner. 

Sister Miller and her husband

Elders Marks and Bass

Elder Crawford

Elders Braun, Davis, and Jewkes

Elder Hoffman drove in from Idaho

After dinner, we called everyone together to explain the one planned activity.  Sister Taylor had everyone break into groups of about 10, go to various room in our home and video tape a message to President and Sister Borders. The beginning of a sentence each was to complete was..."Because of President and Sister Borders I...." Some videos were silly and some very serious but everyone participated and sent their love to the Borders in this way.  We had different kinds of brownies for dessert and then everyone stayed and visited as long as they wanted.  Some were still here at 10:30.  Elder Jewkes (Cache) and Elder Davies (Brandon) had long distances to travel so they spent the night. They watched 'The Coleville Miracle' before turning in for the night.  We had an early breakfast for them as we had to leave for a BYU football game by 10:00.  What a treat this whole experience was for us.  We loved seeing all our missionaries again.  

The whole group - such amazing men and women

Speaking of football....it is in full swing.  We attended three BYU home games this month. This year we splurged and bought season tickets on the 50 yard line in actual seats, not benches. It is a much nicer way to watch football.  Luckily, we won all those games which makes sitting through 4 hours of football much more exciting. BYU basketball started at the end of the month so we attended an exhibition game in the newly renovated Marriot Center. too.  

Other happenings included going to a football game of Jaron's. They lost their game but Jaron played very well.  He has tremendous hands and can catch most anything thrown to him. He reminds me of his Dad, Jon, when he was playing in high school. We enjoy going to our grandson's games as it gives us an opportunity to see them play and also to visit with all of Jon and Mindi's family.  We don't see them as often as we'd like although they do try and come up to Sunday dinner at least once a month.

Pizza makings all ready to be
assembled

Four days after our mission reunion party, we held a pizza party for our Primary class of 18 ten year olds. We had 7 boy and one girls come and they made their own pizzas and then we watched movies.  The boys went down stairs and watched 'Hoosiers' and Eva and myself stayed upstairs and watched '17 Miracles.' Everyone loved their pizzas and seemed to enjoy the movie.  We were sad that the other half of our class either forgot about it or had something else going.  We love our Primary class.

The boys

Eva - the only girls that showed up

Paul all ready for the
trunk and treaters

Dillon loves dinosaurs so guess what his
costume was....no surprise.

At the end of the month, of course, was Halloween.  Our ward held their annual Trunk or Treat in the yard of the Hinckley's. Dinner of soups and breads was served after which all the children went around to the different cars for a treat.  It was well attended and we enjoyed seeing our primary class all dressed up in their costumes. A great way to end a very busy month.

Chai 

Sweet Peyton with her brother

This month, I started Skyping Michael Afrika as his English Speaking partner for the BYU Idaho Pathway program.  Michael was one of our Young Single Adults in Russia. He was baptized while we were there and we became very good friends.  He needed a speaking partner so I agreed to do it for him.  Each week, on Monday at 2 pm (11pm Russian time), we skyped for about 30 minutes.  It was fun to talk with him each week about his studies, his family, and his life in Moscow.  I was sad when he sent me a message saying he had to drop out of pathway and go back to his home in Rwanda, Africa for a while.  I hope everything will be alright for him and that he will be able to continue pathway in the near future.    




October always brings with it General Conference and this conference was uplifting as ever.  We love having a Saturday and Sunday where we can just listen to our prophets and leaders tell us what the Lord would have us hear. Saturday night we invited Guy Blaine to our home to watch the Priesthood session with Paul in our movie theater and then have dinner afterwards.  We just had DeDe's tacos (chili over chips with all the trimmings) but it was easy and good.  We love visiting with Guy.  He loves to golf and had just returned from a trip to Scotland where his main purpose was to golf the courses there.  Fun and uplifting two days.





I have to include something about my broken toe that happened this month.  I was in Day's Grocery store helping a lady lift a heavy sack of flour into her cart. When I was done I turned around just as a store employee was wheeling a huge cart down the aisle. He didn't see me and ran right into my left foot. When I first glanced down at my second toe, it looked like it had been cut in half but there was no blood.  Upon a closer look, I found the toe completely bent over the larger toe next to it. I straightened it out and went about shopping. As the day continued, it got sorer and bigger so I decided to go to the doctor the next day to have it checked out.  After x-rays were taken, it was determined that it was broken. The doctor numbed it and tried to straighten the bone but he couldn't so his advice was to ice it and use lots of pain relievers until it felt better. He said it would take at least 6 weeks to heal. Even now it is tender and almost twice the size of the same toe on the other foot. That's probably what it will be like from now on.  At least I can now get on most of my closed toed shoes.  



October is a month of leaves falling and our yard had plenty of them. Jon and Mindi's children came up one Sunday and became enthralled with the leaves.  Carli and Jaiden took rakes and started piling the leaves up so they could jump on them.  The leaves finally ended up on the trampoline and the children had a ball crushing them while jumping.

Todd teaching Dad how to
use his new phone.  Thanks to Todd
who helped us both purchase
our phones.  

One last note:  Paul has a cell phone!!!! Wonders never cease.  When we found out that we could port our home phone number to a cell phone and then connect our home alarm system to a wireless unit, Paul could finally see the advantage of having a cell phone.  I have been after him forever to get one and now that is a reality.  He has come to find them quite convenient and is continually checking the stock market, emails, and sport scores.  I love him having one.  I thought it would be hard not having a land line but with the speaker phone on we can still talk with our children at the same time. It's a nice update into the 20th century for Paul.  

 Dad is hooked!!!!!!  
                  .......and I'm loving it!!!!!!



.................and thus ends another month.

SEPTEMBER - A MONTH OF MANY PEACHES AND PRAYERS

Dad in therapy before his
relapse that landed him back
in the hospital

This month has been a harder month then most because of the downturn of my Dad's health.  After making some progress in his rehabilitation, his brain started bleeding again and he ended up in the hospital by mid month.  He contacted pneumonia and was not doing well so Saturday, the 12th, I boarded a plane to fly home to Bakersfield. We experienced a tender mercy when trying to book a flight finding the only seat left on a flight from Salt Lake to Phoenix.  Thanks to Todd's expertise in booking flights we were able to get me to Phoenix and then to Bakersfield by noon on Saturday.  

Back in the hospital with Mom
always by his side

I was so grateful I had come as Dad was not doing well at all...mostly sleeping, barely eating, and not able to move his extremities. My heart was breaking as I saw the conditions he was in.  We all felt he would not last too much longer but, much to our surprise, by late afternoon he was telling us where his financial information was kept and what was included in it. He perked up with a smile when I told him Deon was bringing him a chocolate milkshake.  By Sunday, he was more responsive and able to swallow better so eating was a little easier. He was released back to the care center as there was no more the hospital could do for him. At the center, he seemed to perk up a bit more and was much more alert. 

It was quite a shock seeing Dad in this condition
for the first time.  Lots of prayers were being offered.

Deon and Gary and I left Monday morning to meet Paul in St. George. We had planned this trip months ago. In fact, Dad and Mom were suppose to come with us to see the shows at Tuachan. Because we were leaving, I was so grateful that all my brothers found time to come visit during that week. Darrell and Dave and Wanda came in on Monday and stayed till Thursday. Ed and Debbie drove in on Tuesday and stayed till Sunday morning. Don and Dana arrived Wednesday and extended their stay until Tuesday. 

Dad was so thrilled to have all his boys with him. They were such help to Dad as they helped feed him, worked on his physical therapy, and rubbed his jumpy leg to help relax it. 

 

It was good to be all together is this trying moment.
Darrell and Dave left just before Deon and I arrived back
from St. George.

I returned from St. George, on Thursday, with Deon and Gary.  With the boys taking care of Dad's needs, my goal was to help Mom a little. I cleaned out her refrigerator which was full of spoiled food items as she hadn't cooked anything for almost a month. The refrigerator was the last thing on her mind. Debbie and I also cleaned out her freezer.  Mom was right there with us to tell us what she wanted to keep and what was too old.  We threw out lots of old meats and freezer items so now her freezer is organized and things are easily accessible.  I even put a chart on the door to show what was in the refrigerator so she can mark off things as she uses them. The rest of the days were spent with Don and Ed at the care center with Dad and Mom. I was so grateful I was able to spend this time with Dad. It was healing for me to see him in his present state and to easily accept Heavenly Father's will for him. On the Sunday afternoon, before I left for Deon's home in LA, Sam and Don gave Dad a blessing. It was a beautiful blessing reminding him of the need to endure to the end no matter what. He was also blessed with whatever his most heartfelt desire was - continuing life or returning home to Heavenly Father. As I kissed him good bye, I told him to try to get better but that it was also OK if he wanted to go back home to Mom, who passed away when I was 21, some 49 years ago. Such sweet sadness.

Whitney's children just before
Beauty and the Beast

Our trip to St. George was bitter sweet. It was good to be there Deon and Gary like we had done so many times before our missions. It was sad that Mom and Dad, who have always joined us in the past, could not be there with us. We relaxed around the pool, went to the temple, and, in the evenings, enjoyed the shows... at least the ones that were not rained out.  
Beauty and the Beast was on Monday when a big thunder storm passed through. The show had to be stopped during the first half so we did not get to see it in its entirety.  'Sister Act' and 'When you Wish' were on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and were wonderful, as always. We invited Whitney Bennett to use the extra tickets so on Monday she brought Riley who was totally enthralled with the production until the rains came. Luckily, we were able to arrange for them to see the whole show the following Tuesday evening. For the other two shows, both Whitney and Allen were able to join us.  It was great to be with them and witness their excitement at being able to see the shows. They thoroughly enjoyed them as did we. On Thursday, I said goodbye to Paul who drove back to Heber, while Deon and Gary drove me back to Bakersfield. 

Waiting for one of the shows

Other happenings of the month included peaches.  We bought 6 boxes of Elberta peaches and spent several days canning 28 quarts and 28 pints.  We also froze several bags of frozen fruit cocktail and slush. Nothing's better then peach slush and cocktail.  We've missed fresh peaches for the past 3 years. We alerted Todd and Kailee that peaches were about off for the season so they wanted us to buy several boxes for them, which we did.  On the following Monday, we took them down to them and helped peel and freeze most of them.  We did plain peaches for smoothies, some fruit cocktail, and some for slush.  The sad thing though.....a few days later their freezer got unplugged by some painters and they lost the majority of their peaches. A $400 compensation eased some of the pain but the peaches will be missed by them for sure.  

Paul and I also spent a few days at Todd and Kailee's new home weeding their backyard.  The barked areas were over run with weeds so we decided to get rid of most of them before the landscaper came to redo the yard. It was appreciated by Todd and Kailee as it allowed them to see the potential of the yard. There were lots of great plants in and among the weeds and the landscaper would not have weeded as carefully as we did to save them.

Sweet and beautiful Sasha

Just before leaving for Bakersfield, we had the privilege of meeting Sasha Uskova, one of our Russian friends for breakfast. Sasha was our YSA president and we came to regard her as a special friend.  When she came to America in March we were unable to see her so we were glad we could arrange a time to meet this time. We picked her up in the late morning and took her to Mimi's Cafe. It was good food but the company was even better.  We love Sasha and have missed her very much.  We were so glad we could spend a couple of hours with her, catching up on her life and news of some of the young singles.


We also had the opportunity of taking Taylor out for a birthday dinner.  He is 18 now so this may be the last time we are able to celebrate his birthday with him.  He could be away to college or on a mission by his next birthday.  He is such a great kid and it was wonderful to visit with him for a couple of hours.  We took him to Winger's, at his request, and enjoyed the dinner and the company.  

The last weekend of the month was crazy, especially the last Sunday.  During the week before, I had been baking different kinds of bar cookies for refreshments. They were to be served at a regional single adult fireside for which we were responsible for on Sunday night. Sunday, we had an early morning meeting, the primary program, and our primary lesson to teach.  After church, Jon and MIndi and their family came to dinner and then we had the fireside.  Busy busy!!!  Everything came about without a hitch and at the end of the day we were tired but grateful to be apart of it all.