Snow Adventure

It snowed, again.

This morning, looking out the window, I saw huge icicles all along the west side of the fire hall, our neighbor. It reminded me of the winter of 1968-1969 in Washington. We were living in Sandy Hook in the little vacation cabin. The snow was SO deep (at least, that is how I remember it) and icicles hung from the eaves of our house. We took pictures because it was so amazing to us.

So, I dressed myself for a snow adventure. It's much colder here than the winter of my memory (13 balmy degrees as I type), but I remembered that Mom used to put cold cream on our faces for protection. I'm not sure how it compares, but I have some rose-scented body lotion that is pretty thick. That is what is on my face this year. I dressed triple thick in most places, quadruple in a few, including shopping bags on my feet. I think those are the modern-day equivalent of the bread bags of my childhood. Taking my trusty camera in hand, I braved the elements in search of icicles and other winter wonders.

The very first thing I had to do was push the door open against the snow! Then, I kicked more snow out of the way so I could shut the door. My neighbor, Janice, greeted me. She was shoveling her walk. I added the sound of our shovel to hers. It was the only sound.

It was pretty cold, but not windy. I realized that I neglected to protect my lips within the first five seconds! But, it was too late. I was committed.

I walked around Highlander Hall snapping photos, which is extra difficult with 'fat' gloves! Another neighbor was clearing his driveway, but there wasn't much noise.

After perusing the yard, I tromped on down to the park. I think mushing through snow drifts counts as exercise! The road had been plowed, though, so I managed a pretty good pace there. By this time, my face had figured out it was very cold. My lips were dry. I think I could feel them cracking (just kidding).

I wandered the southeast corner of the park looking for photo ops. Snow is beautiful, but it's hard to get much contrast. Nevertheless, I found some things that looked beautiful to me. It was a lovely adventure; very low-key and quiet. I should have made a snow angel!

And it just keeps snowing!

Personal History

So, I've started my personal history by using the prompts at Geneabloggers by Amy Coffin. I created a new blog so all of my entries will be in one place. I'm really enjoying thinking about, and writing in response to the prompts. Feel free to follow along, and join in, if you want!

The End of 2010

After Christmas Eve at Highlander Hall, all other events were relatively dull, but we still had some very enjoyable times.

On Christmas Day, it was extremely quiet at Highlander Hall. For the first time in our lives, there were no little children to get Christmas morning started. We read the Christmas story from the Bible, ate the goodies in our stockings and opened our gifts. A very quiet morning for us.

In the afternoon, we gathered with a few other families at the Far West Temple Site and sang all of the Christmas hymns from the hymnal, as well as "Praise to the Man" to honor the Prophet Joseph Smith, whose birthday was December 23rd. It was cold and windy, but this is a Christmas Day tradition we started in 1995 when we lived just a quarter of a mile from the temple site. We've been there every year but 2009, when the weather prevented anyone from traveling.

We went to Sasha's later for a short birthday party for Keenan. Unbelievably, he is 20 years old! We have no teenagers in our household. Very weird! 

I spent the week after Christmas staying at the Grove's house while their parents were in Michigan looking for a house for their family. Bryan got work there and they will be moving soon. I very much enjoyed the time I got to spend with my grandchildren in their own home. I did have to go to work three days, but we had the other days and the evenings together. We played games, ate good food (and some other), watched 'Pride and Prejudice, and hung out. They are awesome!

On New Year's Eve, the six oldest grandchildren spent the night at Highlander Hall. That would be Tessa, Jacob, Emma, Jolie, Aliyah and Isobel. The oldest four went to a dance at the church, so Aliyah, Isobel, Grandpa and I played games, ate 'junk,' and watched movies. At midnight, in the very frigid outdoors with a stiff wind, we beat on pans and lids and hollered 'Happy New Year' at the top of our lungs. I have no idea how the neighbors feel about this tradition of ours, but we will keep it up as long as we breathe! We were grateful to be indoors for our toast to the New Year. We had sparkling white grape juice this year. It was good!

aftermath

Almost immediately thereafter, I went to pick up the older group. We drove out to Sasha's house to refill the wood-burning furnace and then journeyed back to Highlander Hall. I managed to stay up until 2:30, but I was told most of the rest of the group evaded sleep all night long! Isobel apparently snuck in a two-hour nap. I was so tired the next day, I just marveled at how the teenagers could even pretend to function normally! I managed, in interesting ways, to get everyone home and return to the Grove's until their parents arrived home. It was a long and happy week!

P.S. On December 30th, I received an email from Family History Expos informing me that I had been selected to be a presenter at their expo in St. George, Utah, in February! I am thrilled beyond words to get to be a part of a large-scale genealogy event. More on that, later...

What More Can I Say?

Christmas Eve at Highlander Hall. We had a retro theme. I think the pictures speak for themselves :)

It was a very Merry Christmas! Need I say more?

Jumpin' Jack Flash, Music and the Moon

Wow! December was a long month!
On the 15th, Kizzie and Andy moved into their new house in Cameron. Some of us helped. She has blogged about it, so I'm not going to go into great detail; but, we're all thrilled for them. And, it is really nice to have them so close.
I do have a crazy Jack sequence to share from a couple of days later. He and Kizzie came over to wait for Avery to be out of pre-school. Keenan made a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor. Jack jumped repeatedly into the air from the toy drawers onto the pile. He was in heaven! He is WILD!
 

Jumpin' Jack Flash!

 Several of our grandchildren take piano nearby. Every Christmas, their teacher holds a recital at The Village, a retirement/nursing home in Cameron. Their performance was on the 20th this year, and all but four of the performers were ours!

 

If this post isn't long enough, the total lunar eclipse was the next morning. So, I set my alarm for 1:45 a.m. and went outside in the cold with my camera and tri-pod. I posted this picture on Facebook, but I want it in my blog for the record. The whole experience was awesome for me, and surprisingly spiritual. I sat alone under the canopy of heaven. I watched the moon re-emerge into the 'light' of night. I saw stars falling. I searched for, and found, my old friends Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Pleiades, Orion, and others. And, I got a fantastic (in my opinion) photo of the eclipse.

Thanks for bearing with me!

So, This is Christmas!

It seems that the Christmas Spirit eluded me after Thanksgiving. But, on December 9th, I attended Avery's pre-school Christmas open house. Sarah and some of her children were there, too. It was delightful! Avery is a ham ;D

The very next day, Sarah and I took a bunch (11) of the grandchildren to see an amateur performance of The Nutcracker in Liberty. It was quite the event. Even though Sarah bought the tickets well in advance, they had no assigned seats for our group. So, they set up chairs in the horizontal aisle between two sections of the theater seating. Some of the smaller children had to stretch to see, but it was still very fun for them to watch the dancers. Afterward, we all went to CiCi's Pizza for lunch. All-you-can-eat is the way to go with this hungry, active crew. It was a memorable and positive experience, but we're all for the professional ballet in Kansas City next year!

Tessa, Nathan, Claire, Elisabeth, Sarah, Isobel, Jolie, Emma, Aliyah, Sarah Lou, Rebekah & Emilie

The day after that, we had our Far West Ward Christmas Party in the evening at the church building. Kevin & Sarah and their children were the family chosen to stage a mock night together at home discussing the Christmas Story. Sarah and Kevin each sang a solo (yes, I said Kevin!), the family sang songs together, and Tessa and Emma sang a duet. It was a watery-eye night for me!
The audience sat on blankets and was served Jerusalem-style food. It was a nice evening for all.

After this inundation of Christmas activities, there was no way to avoid the Christmas Spirit, even if I wanted to. God bless us, every one!

Korean Hanbok

In December, on a day with unusually mild weather, I got to have a special photo shoot with Kristina and her daughters. They were dressed in their traditional Korean hanboks. The timing had to be right because the hanboks won't fit the little girls much longer. Oh! They all looked beautiful! Here are some of the pictures from that day.