Brent and Tasha's Wedding

We enjoyed being able to attend all the events related to Brent and Tasha's wedding. We went to the temple with Tasha on Friday evening before and the lovely dinner the night before the wedding and then the sealing itself on Friday morning and the fun reception Friday night. Brent is such a great guy and we're so happy that he and Tasha are so perfect for each other and we know they will have a great life together.

Here are pictures from the wedding dinner that I stole from Jenny's blog:

Jenny and Trevor

Beautiful daughters: Jenny and Mary

Rich and Janet
(I'll have more to say about this picture in a later post)

Handsome sons: Michael and Trevor

Since Rich is still Bishop he couldn't perform the sealing, but President Brown, the temple president and Rich's mission president did an amazing job.

At the reception they had a photo booth so we took these silly pictures. They also had a band and it was so fun watching everybody dance, the grandkids were especially cute.

And Yet Another Perfect Day of Skiing

I fear that my dear blog readers may tire of my incessant skiing posts. But seriously, today was aaawwwesome! There was 3 inches of new powder that made skiing absolutely amazing! In spite of the fact that I got up at 3:45 am for the temple ~ did I mention the fresh powder? And the views!

I love the dappling of the the sun through the trees

The periwinkle sky!

It's all good

and I'm such a lucky girl to get to ski!
1:37/4.23 miles

Potato Derby

We had a fun Mutual activity: A Potato Derby! Each person was given a potato to carve, decorate and put wheels on and then we raced them on a Pinewood Derby track. The Bishop even ziptied his cell phone to his potato for extra weight. It was fun to see how creative all the youth were with their potatoes.

Another Perfect Day of Skiing

My favorite tree on the Middle Earth trail from the other direction

Can you see the snow glistening in the sunlight?

1:50 hours, 4.26 miles

It's all good

Old Dining Room

When we moved into our home 22 years ago I was so happy that there was a formal dining room and even more excited to purchase the dining room set of my dreams. I had always loved these oak chairs and was so thrilled to have them in my home.



Fast forward 21 years when my husband (who has never had an opinion before) declares that he really doesn't care for our dining room set and would like something more substantial and sturdy. Even though I was thrilled at the thought of purchasing new furniture, I was a little sad that it was time to bid a fond farewell to the dining set of my dreams.

Saturday we bought a new dining room set and it is substantial and sturdy and beautiful and will be a wonderful addition to our home for years to come. In typical furniture buying experience the table will be here tomorrow and the chairs not until the end of the month.

I will post pictures when it's all here and I've had a chance to make some decorating/curtain changes to blend with the new furniture.

Oldest and Youngest

My oldest and youngest children are spending a week together. Michael is in New York with Laura's family this week. They are thirteen and a half years apart; I love how once you become an adult, age doesn't really matter any more. Laura is expecting Baby Sister in March, the same month that Michael will enter the MTC, so she can't come for his farewell. So they are having this week together to bond and make memories before Michael leaves for two years.

Connor, Abby and Andrew are loving having Uncle Michael at their house to play with. The whole family took Michael into the city on Saturday and then Alan took the kids home so that Laura and Michael could go to the Manhattan Temple together. I just love that my oldest and youngest were in the temple together.

And they took this awesome picture of them in front of my favorite: St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City!

Every Member a Custodian

Today was our day to clean the church. Rich and I showed up at 8:30 sharp; some others were supposed to join us, but it turned out that no one else came. So the twos of us cleaned the whole church ourselves. Rich vacuumed and I cleaned bathrooms, (how do you make those darn urinals flush anyway?) and windows and entry ways. It felt good. I just kept thinking, what a privilege to clean God's house.

Visiting Teaching RS Meeting

Wednesday night we had a Visiting Teaching Relief Society Meeting in our ward. It was such a lovely evening! We had yummy soups and breads for dinner with gingerbread cake for dessert with a lemon sauce and cinnamon whipped cream. Delicious!

Around the room were 73 pictures of the front door of each house in our ward. The game was to identify whose door it was ~ "Who's behind the door?" Since our ward became a ward in September 2005 I can't count the number of times I have walked the ward to deliver flyers, or RS newsletters, or YW flyers, or Christmas gifts. I have enjoyed these walks and like to think about the members of our ward as I walk to their door. Well, thanks to all those walks ~ I won and was crowned "Miss A-doorable!"

This picture appeared on facebook while I was still at the meeting

It just happened that I was wearing purple and the crown and ribbon were purple, too. The game was NOT rigged!

I was asked to read my blog post entitled "Why I Love Visiting Teaching."

Thanks for a lovely evening Relief Society!

Second Time to the Cabin

Okay, I promise not to post about every trip to the cabin. But it's still so new and exciting. I came up Thursday with Kathy. We tried to find a place to cross-country ski before it got dark; we got a little time on a meadow with snowmobile trails just at dusk. Friday we went out and went on some snowmobile trails but they were really bumpy. Then we saw the road around the lake and it turned out to be perfect skiing. Friday night more of our kids, nephews, and friends came up. Today Rich and Michael and Todd joined us.

Highlights for me:

Seeing a fox running around the lake

Watching a woodpecker work on a tree

Watching the sunrise and set

Seeing the waxing crescent moon

Seeing Orion clearly in the night sky and Jupiter

Some pictures:

A Most Perfect Day of Skiing

Today was a most perfect day of skiing: snow glistening in the sunshine under a periwinkle sky!

One hour 45 minutes, just over 4 miles

Thanks cjane!

I love this sentence from cjane's blog today:

"I see something really fresh about getting a new age at the same time as a new year. "

And that's why I love having my birthday on December 31st!

2011 Words

My words for the year 2011 are:

Pray

Eat

Love

You may recognize these words from a popular book and movie; I changed the order. I have goals associated with these words, but I will keep them to myself.

A few of you may have seen my original post on my words and goals for 2011. Due to an unkind comment I deleted the original. I realized that I am sometimes too much of an "open book," and apparently I'm not ready to take the mocking that came my way because of that. I hope that my blogging world is a place of encouraging words and uplifting comments and frankly, it rocked me when it wasn't. But I shall go forth and having learned a lesson, I will be a bit less forthcoming. I love reading blogs and writing mine. I have been inspired by the blogs of others, and I hope that my blog might be a positive influence in the lives of those who read it. This blog is a place to record my life and thoughts for my family and friends and future posterity. I want it to be an encouraging and uplifting place because, indeed, I believe that . . .

it's all good