Suspended in Time

After over a month in Mobile, I am finally returning home to Opa, riding with Annie to keep her company as she drives with her girls to visit the Utah family. It's been a good visit for me, but I'm ready to go home to my new home in the mountains. We spent last night in Oklahoma, partaking of the gracious hospitality of Dianne and Arin Mitchell and their three children. Their home is on a quiet street that seems far apart from the rest of the world. Last night I had the good night's sleep that I needed and was anticipating, on the sofa in their living room on clean white cotton sheets, covered by two wonderfully warm and worn quilts. This was where I slept last time we made this trip, and it is like lying down in a bed - an unbelievably soft, comfortable, supporting in all the right places bed. My knees always bother me after long rides in the car, but for some reason, that sofa's cushions rise just exactly where my knees bend, giving me relief and comfort. I went immediately to sleep, and awoke refreshed. I am sitting on the ottoman right now, looking out the window onto their little front porch. I really do feel suspended in time. As I look across the quiet street I see a white house with two large dogs lying companiably on the porch. One is a black lab, the other looks from here to be maybe a bull dog of some sort. There is a garden with lots of day lilies, a bird bath, bushes. I bring my eyes closer to where I am sitting, and focus on the Mitchell yard. I love the sycamore tree that shades most of the yard, the swing suspended from it, the portable basketball goal down by the street, which bespeaks the fact that boys live here - both young and old. The porch, which is closest in my view, so close I could touch it, is a place I could sit forever, just drinking in the simple beauty of this place. There are three metal chairs, retro, the kind I remember from Florida visits to my grandparents as a child. They face the white metal glider which is where I would sit, if I lived here. Diane's potted plants add more color and fragrance and simple beauty to the setting. She has a couple of those shephard crooks plant hangers, one of which holds a pot of petunias. Down one step is a pot of hens and chickens, which I haven't seen since my childhood at my Nana's house on another quiet street in the small town of Darien, Wisconsin. This street reminds me of that wonderful place, where I have my first memories, as we lived next door to Nana in a little white house my dad built.

Dianne and Arin have decorated their home to match this gentle country feeling. There are many quilts everywhere, each with a story, from grandmothers and friends. There are found pieces such as the sturdy coffee table that looks like it could have been purchase at a flea market in Metz. The television and components are held by a wonderful piece that says "I was built with love." It is obviously put together from this and that, cream-colored rubbed and worn wood, brown doors with paint genteely cracking - showing through to other layers of paint colors harking back to other incarnations, antiquey-looking glass knobs, a top that looks to me like an old picnic table. So beautiful. There is a love seat, a comfy recliner, that wonderful sofa, beadboard and plaster walls with wainscoting, all painted in different neutral shades. There are whites and beiges everywhere. This whole little house is full of country touches. No, not touches, it is all country. Every single part of this home beckons you to come in, sit down, relax, forget your worries, for there is love here. Thanks, Dianne and Arin, for opening your home to some weary travelers. I would stay here forever if I could!

Game of Tag

Annie, thanks for tagging me. It's been a while since I have blogged, or even been online on my loveable old laptop. I'm at Jake's where there is wi-fi and hooray, I forgot how wonderful it is to do this while sitting comfortably on the sofa. I am very excited at the prospect of our upcoming trip back home to Utah and Opa! So with no further adieu, here we go:


A. Attached or Single- Attached for close to 40 years.
B. Best Friend(s)- Opa
C. Cake or Pie- Pie, or maybe cake, how about I love them both!
D. Day of Choice- Sunday
E. Essential Item- My laptop
F. Flavor of Ice Cream- Breyer's butter pecan
G. Gummy Bears or Worms- bears - the little hard ones that came in individual little packets that I used to put in the school lunches way back when in Germany
H. Hometown- Mobile. I love living in Utah, but I am a GRITS (girl raised in the south) and proud of it!
I. Indulgence - my blogs
J. January or July- January
K. Kids- Three handsome sons and three beautiful exemplary daughters. They are my heroes.
L. Last movie I saw in a theater- I think the pre-showing of "Harry Potter- Order of the Phoenix" with my Vasses last July.
M. Musician: John Denver
N. Number of siblings- 2
O. Orange or Apples- Gala apples
P. Phobias or Fears- automobile accidents and snakes
Q. Quote-“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” Desiderius Erasmus
R. Reasons to smile- Opa and the rest of my Utah family members whom I have missed and will soon get to be with again!
S. Season- Autumn
T. Tag - Jo and anyone else who reads this and hasn't been tagged yet.
U. Unknown fact about me- Other than the roach that once crawled in my ear, which I already mentioned in another one of these tag games, there is not very much exciting stuff about me that yall don't already know. I was going to say that I got to sing a line with The Lettermen way back in my days at Mississippi State College for Women in the sixties, but yall probably haven't even heard of them. They were very big way back then. Two of them were LDS.
V. Vegetarian or oppressor of Animals- If I had to choose, I would rather give up meat than veggies, so I guess that would be vegeterian.
W. Worst Habit- Lack of will power
X. X-rays or Ultrasounds- No clue.
Y. Your favorite Food- a crisp salad loaded with all sorts of veggies! Or home-made waffles with maple syrup
Z. Zodiac sign - Virgo

Thank Heavens for Little Girls!

"Is there anything more beautiful, anything that speaks more of divinity than a lovely little girl? I have little great-granddaughters, bright-eyed and beautiful, who sing and smile and touch my heart with thoughts of heaven. When I see them in their innocence, I recall the words of the Lord, "Except ye . . . become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3).

The previous statement is a quote from our late prophet, Gordon B. Hinkley as found in his book "One Bright Shining Hope," which Lynnie sent to me as a Mother's Day gift. The book is quite a treasure, full of precious statements and words of hope. This particular excerpt especially touched my heart, for while I am in Mobile for this month, I have had the opportunity to spend time with my darling Emmertson granddaughters, Taylor, Payton and Hayden. They, as well as Riley and Ashli, bring joy to my heart in so many ways. I love all five of the beautiful young women whom I am blessed to able to call my granddaughters.

So I'm a Sucker for Our Gorgeous Progeny!

Do you think it's okay if I find unexpected pictures of my Vass grandchildren and their gorgeous parents and cyber-lift said pictures to my blog? Oh, I just knew you would understand! Stace and Rich, they say it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission, so with that in mind, forgive me please? I just couldn't help it! Yall are so beautiful! Just had to put these shots out there, kind of bragging to all who read this that you guys belong to me! How cool is that?

The Vass Family at Ashli's 2007 Graduation from Taylorsville HS

Ash and Stace caught being happy!

Happiness is Being Married to Your Best Friend

Our Gang and How They Got Their Names

EDITED: Picture removed due to extreme ugliness!!!!

I really love that Andrea and Liberty have done posts on how they named their children, so I am going to give the official stories on our six. Keep in mind that this is really digging into the past!

Stacey Leigh

When I was a student at Mississippi State College for Women, way back in the sixties, I had a suite-mate whose name was Linda Marie Stacey. All of us on our wing thought it would be really cool to name our first baby girls Stacey Marie. We liked Linda, but we loved her name! So, when I had my little baby girl, I was pleased to be able to name her Stacey. But Jim vetoed Marie as a middle name, wanting to name her after me (my middle name is Leigh). I thought Stacey was an original name, but was very surprised to find many little girls her age named Stacey. When Stacey was just a little thing, I felt so overwhelmed with marriage and motherhood. She seemed to take care of me more than I took care of her. I think she was sent to me for a special purpose, as she is a natural mother and nurturer and has been from the very start. I love you, Stacey.

David Matthew

David has always been my favorite name for a boy. I guess Jim knew that, but right from the start he always said he would never have a son named David. And then he went to flight school and became very good friends with David Dukes, also from Mobile. David asked us if we ever had a son, would we name him David. Yes!!! So, I got my David. I like that David means "beloved." David has always been one of my heart favorites in the Bible. I love the psalms. I am saddened when I think of his first big mistake, Bathsheba, and his second big mistake, Bathsheba's husband. We chose Matthew just because sounds nice with David. I worried when I was pregnant with David that I could never love another child as much as I loved Stacey, but of course I was wrong. I adored that beautiful little blonde boy with the big blue eyes. Now he is 35 and I love him even more. We share so much in our make-up. Jim says my boys take after me and the girls take after him. I think he's right. David, I love you.

Lynne Elizabeth

When I was pregnant with Stacey and David, I knew what the sex would be each time, to such an extent that we didn't pick out alternate sex names. And of course back then we didn't have a way to find out the sex of our baby ahead of time. When I became pregnant with Lynnie, I really thought I was having a boy, so we chose the name Joshua Michael, but just to be safe chose an alternate girl's name. Lynne is the name of Jim's only sister, and my only sister too, actually. We wanted to name our next little girl for Lynne. I just like the way Elizabeth sounded with Lynne, so when our baby turned out to be a little (10 lbs. 2 oz) girl, she was Lynne Elizabeth. Since I have done extensive family history research I have found that my 2d great grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Eells, another was Elizabeth Materne, a great grandmother was Elizabeth Jane, and Jim's 2d great grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Austin. So Lynnie's name has family history significance. We love you, Lynne.

Annie Laurie

When I became pregnant again, I thought that surely this child would be our Joshua Michael, but once again we had a little girl. She was a perfect child - beautiful, the easiest delivery of all my babies, and so sweet and loving. We named her Annie Laurie in honor of Blaine and Clarise Jensen, whose only daughter was Annie Laurie, named after her grandmother. We love Blaine and Clarise. He was our Branch President when we joined the church. He and Clarise are so loved and honored that there are many Annie Laurie's among our friends children, all named in honor of Blaine and Clarise. I am glad we named our little girl Annie Laurie. We called her Laurie instead of both names, but when she started school, teachers called her Annie and she has been Annie ever since! I said once and still am of the opinion that Annie is one of the smartest, funniest and most capable people I know. I wish I were more like her. I love you, Annie.

Joshua Michael

Well, less than two years after Annie was born, we were finally blessed with our Joshua! I always said that he must have needed three older sisters to take care of him, and that's why he took so long to get here. We chose the name Joshua because of the wonderful scripture from the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament - "....As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." We chose the name Michael because that is the name of Jim's brother. Joshua came into this world an athlete, I believe. His greatest moment was when he was old enough to play on a team, and have a coach! I think Josh puzzled the coach, because at age four or so, he was the only child on the team to stand and listen and focus instead of climbing the fence! Joshua has always been a joy to me. He has had my heart since the moment I held him. I love you, Joshua.

Jacob Andrew

When I became pregnant with Jacob, Jim and I knew that if we had a boy, we wanted to have his name go with Joshua. We had Lynnie and Laurie, so we thought it would be nice to have Joshua and _______. We really liked the name Jeremy, but just couldn't imagine a grown man with that name. One day I was reading a story in the Friend magazine to Joshua, and came across the name Jacob. I knew that was the perfect name for our baby! Jim agreed, and the other children agreed. Well, all except Josh, who really wanted us to name our baby Coach. We chose Andrew for his middle name for no other reason than that it sounded nice with Jacob. I really wanted my baby to be a girl, because after five other babies, I was just tired. My girls had all been perfect babies, and my boys had both been little pistols. When I delivered a boy, I was kind of sad at first, but that changed very soon, as little Jacob was the sweetest and best baby any mother could ask for. We all loved him so much, and still do! I love you, Jacob.

More Adventures in Mimi and Opa's Unfinished Basement Home or "Can We Build It? Yes We Can!"

No, this is not the winner of a pie-eating contest! Just Ricky after a marathon spray-painting of our basement home! He did the whole thing in one evening, practically by candle light. Okay, by shop lights..... Thanks, Ricky AND Lynne who did the majority of the primer coat. Yall rock!

We picked up our IKEA kitchen from the warehouse on Wednesday or Thursday. It took both our truck and Lynne's Expedition to accomplish the deed, and we are ever grateful to her for giving us her afternoon to make this happen. And then, boxes boxes everywhere! So we enlisted Dave's help with moving the boxes down to the basement. Again, a major task! What would we do without our children who give of their time and physical labor to help their parents? Our Vasses left for a week at Disney World and graciously offered us their home while they were gone.

We had asked our contractor Carl to give us a price for him and his team to assemble and install our IKEA kitchen. We were excited for that to happen, but unfortunately Carl had a crew member quit, so he was behind on his other jobs and had to hire some new guys who were to do our kitchen. We stopped by the second day to have a look at what we hoped would be our almost finished kitchen and found our workers surrounded by some put together cabinets and in quite a quandary with the IKEA products. They had been working for more than 10 hours already, and had gotten not very far. At an hourly rate, it didn't take us very long to realize that we could not afford to employ these nice men any longer.

The picture above is of the very nice Brent and Chris, who took longer than we could afford to pay. I had a few minutes of mild panic, realizing that the Corian people were scheduled to come the next morning to measure our countertops. Do you see any countertops in the picture above? Does anyone have a little brown bag? I think I am hyperventilating........

So that evening, Jim phoned Carl and said we would finish the kitchen cabinets ourselves. Can we build it? Yes We Can! So I went on You Tube looking for some videos of maybe cabinets being assembled, and what a surprise! There are a bizillion videos on You Tube which come up when you type in IKEA. Some of them are very nice. Some of them use the naughty words in the their titles. But Jim read all the literature we received from IKEA, and the explanations really are easy to understand, so as Bob the Builder (I mean Mimi and Opa) say, Yes We Can!

Yesterday the laminate (Pergo) was installed in our kitchen and water closet. That's pretty neat. We enjoyed looking at it for about five minutes before we started moving all the cabinets, boxes, table saw, wheelbarrow, etc. into the kitchen, because Monday our carpeting will be installed. Today Opa and I enjoyed (?) our fourth time to install tile! We did three rooms in our home in Mobile (which still hasn't sold) . It really was pretty fun, and I even got some pictures! Check out these next two, which are of our adventures tiling. I did the mudding, Opa did the laying, and we finished it in record time, considering that Opa had to go back to Home Depot for more mud.

So what happens next? As I said, Monday the carpet will be installed, and Brother Peterson will come and put in our Toilet!!!!! Tuesday our appliances will be delivered (after us changing the date three times), and sometime during that time, we hope to finish doing our kitchen. And our closet, also IKEA components. Oh yes, and our bathroom vanity. And Wednesday, we will finally be measured for countertops. Add to that trying to go through our boxes to decide what we will put in a yard sale, and being in charge of the Ward Ice Cream Social and Family Talent Show on Friday evening, which is also our Tyler's birthday, and me leaving for Mobile the following Tuesday, which is also Dave's birthday, and so I'm still sort of hyperventilating. Wish us luck!

addendum: Opa suggests that next time I get Chelsea to write my blog entry for me. Looks like I'm not the only one impressed with Chelsea's writing style!
see http://theparkesfamily.blogspot.com

Apartment Update - Tuesday Morning

Well, folks, it seems that all of a sudden things are happening FAST! Yesterday Lynne and Ricky finished the primer coat of paint in our basement apartment. I cannot believe just have fast those two can paint! We have had some problems with our painting equipment since making the decision to paint the apartment ourselves, rather than hire the job out. We did great the first day with our Wagner Paint Crew Machine. Then day 2 the machine pretty much crashed, leaving us with a big job to do and no way to do it. Yesterday we purchased another Wagner machine, this one an automatic paint roller apparatus, and Lynne went to town with it. I received three phone calls yesterday letting us know that things are moving along quickly: 1) Our bank of lights for over the vanity are ready for pick-up, 2) Our tub surround and shower are ready for installation, and the installers will be here this morning to do that job! and 3) Our kitchen cabinets, etc, are waiting for pickup from the IKEA warehouse in Salt Lake. Also, our Utah contractor, whom we refer to as "Little Carl" (to differentiate him from Carl our Mobile contractor) emailed us yesterday that he and his crew will install our kitchen next Tuesday or Wednesday, which is a giant load of our shoulders. The people from Aspen Co. called to set up a time to come and measure for the countertops. Our flooring is ready for installation..... I will finish priming the wood trim around the doors, then Jim and I will go pick up a rental paint machine from Home Depot as well as our paint, and then this evening or tomorrow we will paint. Here are some

pictures of the apartment, primed and ready for paint.

Our Cups Runneth Over

This past weekend was General Conference, and as many of you, Jim and I feel so blessed to have been able to partake of the spirit of those meetings. Sunday morning session was especially wonderful, particularly hearing our beloved prophet give his address, and witness the mantle of the prophet on this great man. We love, honor, and sustain President Thomas S. Monson, as well as the other members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was interesting to see Elder Christofferson be sustained as the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, remembering that he was the general authority assigned to Mobile Alabama Stake to reorganize the Stake Presidency in 1998 when Jim was released as president of that stake. Lynne and I served lunch to Elder Christofferson and enjoyed sharing that meal with him. I don't remember what we served, but I do know that the meal ended with Lynne's famous Key Lime Pie, which was delicious as always! I reminded Jim of that occasion, and remembered that many years ago we had the opportunity to have Elder Richard G. Scott in our home for a meal. He was a Regional Representative at the time, just passing through, and we enjoyed his sweet spirit that evening. I remember that he spent time with little Davy, drawing some pictures for him.

I digress, as usual! My intention in this post was to mention something President Monson said in his address Sunday morning that really hit home with me. The texts of the conference addresses are not online as of yet, so I will try to paraphrase as best I can. He mentioned that "our Father in Heaven loves us, each one. Mortality is a period of testing. In order to be tested, we must sometimes face challanges and difficulties. At times there appears to be no light at the tunnels end. No dawn to break the night's darkness. We feel surrounded by disappointment... Is there no balm in Gilead? We are inclined to view our own personal misfortunes through the distorted prism of pessimism. We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone. Turn to Heavenly Father in faith. He will lift you and guide you. He will not always take our afflictions from us, but he will comfort and lead us with love through whatever storm we face." I thought of our challanges and difficulties we have faced over the last few months. Our home in Mobile has been on the market for over a year now. While renovating our home, we placed our trust in a contractor who did not live up to that trust. We have had some setbacks as we try to finish our basement apartment. We have had some health issues. Listening to President Monson, the Spirit bore witness to me of the personal application of President Monson's prophetic message. I know that as we face challanges, Heavenly Father will lift us and guide us.

Jim and I have so many blessings, so much for which to be thankful. The natural man in me sometimes tends to forget all we have been given and to dwell on our problems. I hope that by reflecting on the prophetic messages of conference, I will continue to be lifted up and to always remember that stumbling blocks are only small things. Our blessings so greatly outweigh them. Truly our cups runneth over.

Creative Camera Work!

I am proud to say that our children are some good photographers! Case in point? Check out their blogs... (see sidebar). I decided to change the photo on our title, and when Opa saw me hard at work, he asked for me to use a beautiful photograph that Lynne took on the occasion of a Benham family trip up Provo Canyon last fall. I hope that she doesn't mind, but I went ahead and uploaded the picture and it certainly is lovely. Lynne, we hope you don't mind our borrowing your camera work to enhance our blog..... For other examples of great pictures, check out those featured on the sidebar. Dave took all of the shots of our beautiful Utah scenery, with the exception of the last scenic shot, of a rainbow at Josh and Amanda's wedding. That one was taken by Jacob's sweetheart, Sheree, who is studying photography at University of South Alabama. Opa and I are appreciative of all our children, official and unofficial who share their talents to enhance our blog. We love yall!

Okay, Here Goes!

Andrea tagged me, so here are a few obscure facts about me:

10 Years Ago:

• I was called as Relief Society President for the first time and asked for Andrea as Education Counselor.
  
• I decided to lose weight so to weigh 150 by my 50th birthday, but went overboard with the lack of eating and overexercising, eventually breaking 130 and going into clinical depression. Bad year for me, and all my own fault!
  
• Good stuff was that Riley was born and
  
• Annie married Bryan in the Atlanta Temple. I love that precious family!

On My To-Do List Today:

• Get Opa and me packed up for our time at Days Inn.
  
• Go with Opa to Provo for Utah car tags.
  
• Call Keith's pools in Mobile about getting a new pool liner so our house will sell.
  
• Contact a yard service to make our Mobile yard presentable.
  
• Make Jelly-Surprise muffins (Trent's birthday breakfast request.)
  
• Send out a ward-wide email publicizing our upcoming Ice Cream Social/Family Talent Show.

Before I Die:

• I hope for "No Empty Chairs" at our table.
  
• Serve missions with Opa.

5 Places I've lived:

• Chicago, Illinois
  
• Plainfield, NJ
  
• Mobile AL
  
• Fort Rucker AL
  
• Heidelberg Germany

5 Jobs I've Had:

• Staff Member at Blue Lake Camp
  
• Salesperson at Books and Co
  
• Assistant Manager of Youth Services and Storyteller at Mobile Public Library
• Art and General Music Teacher at Theodore High School
• Art Teacher at Patrick Henry Elementary in Germany

What I Would Do if I Became a Billionaire:

First I would pay my tithing and then I would:

• Buy 2 vacation homes big enough for our extended family to stay in together, one at the beach, one in the mountains

• Get a new car of my own, a Honda or Subaru with automatic and 4-wheel drive
• Provide college money for all grandchildren
• Take all my girls to NYC for a week of sightseeing Broadway shows.
• Go back to Germany with Opa
• Be affluent enough for missions to England and Washington D.C.
• Share

Bad Habits:

• Procrastination
• Overeating
• Talking too much
• Lack of self-control
• Addicted to buying books

Things I Enjoy:

• Spending time with my family
• Singing with Dave
• Watching certain seasonal tv shows (specifically American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance)
• Discussing the gospel of Jesus Christ with Opa
• Listening to talks on the Speeches website

Things You May Not Know About Me:

• I am a direct descendant of William Brewster, head religious guy on the Mayflower
• I have become quite the country music fan
• I can cross and wiggle my eyes at the same time
• I was born in Chicago
• A roach once crawled in my ear

I tag Ashli and Rich, Amanda and anyone else who hasn't been tagged.... Your turn!

No Doubt About It!

Our Father in Heaven loves us, no doubt about it. He knows each of us personally, as individuals, no doubt about it. He delights in showing tender mercies over each of his children:

"And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them." Ether 6:12

When we think about it, we can each think of a time when we have felt the Lord's tender mercies upon us. Little things that help us to know that he knows us. I was reminded of one of those little things today in Testimony meeting, as someone quoted a scripture from D&C 136. If you are familiar with that section, you know that it was given by Brigham Young as he addressed the pioneers as they were in the early days of their trek west. The verse that was quoted was one that I have always felt was put there "just for me." Do you ever feel that way about a scripture? The verse I refer to is verse 28. It reads:

28 If thou art ^amerry, ^bpraise the Lord with singing, with music, with ^cdancing, and with a ^dprayer of praise and ^ethanksgiving.

The first time I read that scripture, I felt overcome, because it literally seems to speak to me. If thou art merry? I am Merry! And what am I supposed to do? Praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, etc. Please don't feel I am making light of this precious coincidence, my name in a scripture about the things I love to do best. I smile every time I read it. A tender mercy for me... no doubt about it!

Things That Make My Heart Sing

Annie just posted about things that make her heart happy. It pretty much touched my heart, so I thought, "Why not?" So without further adieu here is a list of things that make my heart sing. In no particular order.
1. Opa
2. Grandchildren
3. Jacob's phone call each afternoon
4. All of my children.
5. Finding new family members as I research our history
6. Mutti
7. My guitar
8. Seeing beautiful mountains on a daily basis.
9. Driving up Redwood Road and seeing four spires in our neighborhood.
10. Getting emails from friends I love.
11.Gospel discussions with Opa.
12. Aha moments in the scriptures
13. The smell of rain
14. Snow on my face
15. Teaching
16. Quiet moments in my garden as I share a plant with a bee, me weeding or pinching back, the bee gathering pollen.
17. My rollie (roll-around), my favorite seat as I weed or pinch (see 16)
18. Singing
a. in church
b. in the kitchen
c. in the shower
d. while rocking a baby
e. those wonderful folk songs that bring back sweet memories of years gone by
19. Dancing in the kitchen with grandchildren
20. Making muffins for my loved ones
21. John Denver music
22. Eric Carle books
23. Reading aloud to children
24. Smiles on little faces
25. My life

So, what makes your heart sing?

Long Time, No Blog

Well, March is almost over and it looks like I am a major blogging slacker. No posts in February, none in March, so far. I guess I've been busy, but there's no way I can catch everyone up on all our comings and goings, so I will just take it from here, with apologies. Opa and I are almost in our new basement home here at Chez Benham. We have seen the progress through framing, insulation, drywalling, drywall finishing, and now we are ready to paint. We had planned to use the painters our contractor suggested, but at the eleventh hour decided to do the job ourselves! No worries, because we have painted before, we have a very cool paint sprayer, and are just doing a one color job. If it looks just too weird we can always do a contrasting trim later. As for right now, the doors are in, our carpet and flooring has been ordered, as well as our appliances, our cultured marble should be installed this next week, our IKEA kitchen and closet components are awaiting pickup, so all is going along according to plan, except maybe a little bit later than we had thought. We wanted to be in the apartment by Tuesday 1 April, but we will probably be at least a week before all is in place for our move. Irene, Ricky's Mom, is arriving Monday from Mobile for a week's visit with her grandchildren and Lynne and Ricky. We have reserved a room at Days Inn in Lehi for the duration of Irene's stay, so things won't be so crowded.

Here are some pictures of our apartment at this point in time. We hope to prime this afternoon and paint on Monday. Or not.

This shot is from the staircase going down to our apartment. Notice the interesting corners, doorways, etc. Out here it is business as usual to have curved corners and edges, etc. I like it, I like it!!!

The doorway to the left goes into our bedroom. We had originally had plans for double doors there, but changed our minds. (We do that a lot....) The doorway to the right goes into our main living area. Check out my windowseat! I have always wanted one of those, though not necessarily in the kitchen, but I will take it where I can get it!

Here is a closer shot of the window seat. Out the window you can see the not very pretty window well, which is a basement fixture I plan to fix up. I'm thinking maybe a mini-mural of the flowers in my garden in Mobile. What do you think? Opa and I are planning to plant herbs in there, conveniently located for impromptu snippings for cooking.

This shot is from our bedroom looking through the bathroom door and into the closet. We had planned to have our washer/dryer in the closet, but found that there just wasn't space. So it is going to be in the storage room just next to the closet, which will be almost as convenient as our original plan.

This next shot looks into our main area, where we will have our dining room table just to the right, and a sitting area in front of the window, where we can look out onto our patio. I hope to plant the niches in the rock wall with Johnny-jump-ups and maybe some other flowering plants that enjoy the shade.

So there you have a small pictorial status report on our new apartment. Opa and I are very excited about this little home we are making for ourselves, and will ever be grateful to Lynne and Ricky for the generous sharing of their home with us since last November, and even more so for the donating of their very needed storage space so that we will have a nice place to park ourselves between the church missions we hope to spend the rest of our lives serving. Our plan is to submit our paperwork just as soon as our house in Mobile sells. We just switched realtors, and hopefully something good will come of that very soon!

A Video Tribute to Our Beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Isn't it beautiful? This wreath is on the Benham front door, and it shows just a smidgen of the snow that is piled all around us. We had a real live blizzard earlier today, and it is snow, snow, snow everywhere! Will we ever get tired of the beauty of it? We hope not!

Give Me the Track Ball

Or to quote Opa, "What a time we live in!" Opa has always wanted to hook up his computer to the television screen. To me that would be "going down in technology" to something like WebTV. But today he finally did it. In our little temporary quarters in the Benham home we now have a computer hooked up to our television. It's very cool, actually. The only problem is such a small one..... While Opa lays up on the bed watching his computer screen, the keyboard and trackball are on the floor in front of the tv. Of course Gavin noticed those two items first thing, and discovered that he could remove the big shiny red ball out of the track ball, and bang it on the keyboard and it makes a really cool noise. He is walking all over the place now, and as soon as he toddled into our room, he made a bee-line for that track ball. He is so cute and happy that we don't want to have to fuss at him, so when his little back was turned, Opa hid the track ball behind the bed. Of course when we wanted to turn off the music to take a nap, no track ball. Hence, "Hand me the track ball" is our new cue to changing the sound, screen, and all things technological in Mimi and Opa's room. Bless Gavin's little heart!

By tomorrow this small inconvenience will have "gone the way of the great white buffalo" because Opa has ordered a wireless keyboard with the mouse attached to it. But for now, we will continue to hide the track ball.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

A Classic American hymn, which happens to be Mimi's favorite, sung by the Choirs of Brigham Young University,
along with gorgeous slides of Utah's natural beauty.

Our Restauranteurs

Last night Opa and I had the pleasure of enjoying dinner at Pine American Restaurant in Murray, where Dave is the very able manager. Gail Goodwin, a friend of Grandma Jeannie met us there for dinner. The conversation was pleasant, the food exceptional and the best treat of the night was that Dave sat with us while we ate. We had a table in front of a blazing warm fire in a beautiful see-through fireplace.

After enjoying delicious sour-dough bread and butter, we chose a light meal of soups and salads. Jim was pleased with the Onion Soup made with Sourdough Toast and Aged Gruyère cheese. Gail and I both enjoyed our Arugula Salad with Balsamic Roasted Beets, Pine Nuts, Shaved Fennel, Grilled Red Onions and Parmesan Cheese, to which we both requested salmon to be served on the side. We also shared some delicious butternut squash soup. The meal was topped off with Butterscotch Creme Brulee with sliced strawberries. Such a treat!

David can be proud of his restaurant which was named best new restaurant of the year by Salt Lake Magazine. Good eats and good times!

Josh, our other restaurant manager son, very ably manages 350 Main Brasserie in Park City. I'm sure he is very busy this week as Sundance Film Festival is in full swing. 350 Main is a favorite gathering spot during this yearly event in Park City.
Opa and I have enjoyed a meal or two at Josh's place in the past and look forward to visiting him there soon.

The food at 350 Main is just too good, and the ambiance is very fine. Josh, who is a Sommelier, welcomes family and friends whenever they have time to drop by.

350 Main Brasserie was named best restaurant in Park City by the Salt Lake Magazine last year.

Christmas Eve Josh and 350 Main hosted Katherine Heigl, her fiance, family and friends for a rehearsal party prior to their wedding. That was fun to hear about!

We are proud of our restaurant-managing sons and love to be part of their lives.
As I said before, Good Times and Good Eats!

A Slice of Life in Utah County

There are some things that make life here in Utah County especially unique and wonderful. We experienced a few of them this past week. The first one has to do with temples.

When Jim and I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1972, there were no temples even remotely close to our home at Fort Rucker, Alabama. When we made plans to go to the temple to be sealed together as a family, we had to drive to Manti, Utah, which was our temple district at the time.

We were happy when the Washington D.C. temple was dedicated in the fall of 1974. In order to serve in the temple, we would drive 18 hours and spend several days there.

When we PCS'd to Permasens, Germany, we were excited to be able to attend the temple in Berne, Switzerland, only a four hour drive away.

Back at Fort Rucker three years later, we were able to attend the new Atlanta Temple, five hours away.

Once again in Germany, we were only an hour and a half from the new Frankfurt Temple, where we were called as temple workers.

When we retired from the Army five years later, we found ourselves in Mobile, where eventually we had the opportunity to be part of the new Birmingham Temple district, only five hours away.

And then we moved to Utah..... From our new home we live about 20 minutes from our temple in American Fork.







We look forward to the day in the not to distant future, when the Oquirrh Mountain Temple will be our nearest temple, only fifteen minutes away from our home in Saratoga Springs.





So last Thursday evening I went to the temple with my new friend, Mary Bucklew. We planned to attend the 7:00 session, and left in plenty of time. When we arrived at the temple, we found ourselves having to park on the very back row, as the parking lot was completely full. When we got into the temple, there was a line to get into the chapel to wait for the session. Needless to say, we had to wait in the chapel for the 7:30 session, and even that one was full, so we finally were able to get into the 8:00 session, sitting in the very last row. The endowment rooms each hold 100 people, I think (I actually counted the seats while waiting for the session to start.), so there were at least 300 people in the temple Thursday evening, trying to get into a session. What a blessing to be a part of all this! I am anxious to attend the temple again in the near future, and hopefully I will be able to, despite the fact that I lost my recommend as soon as I showed it at the desk upon entering! I should have a new one by the end of this weekend.

Note to self: Don't put off writing in this blog next time... I have forgotten all my cool "slice of Utah County" stuff I was going to write about!

Opa, Mimi, and Grandchildren

Justin was baptised last Saturday evening, and Stacey took the opportunity to take a picture of Opa and me with our precious grandchildren. They are, from left: Brant B - 6, Payton E - 7, Taylor E - 8, Chris V - 13, Ashli V - 18, Justin V - 8, Andrew V - 15, Lance B - 3, Trent B - 11, Tyler V - 11, Riley B - 9, Gavin B (sitting on Opa) - 11 months, and Hayden E (with Mimi) - 4.

Be sure and click on the picture for a close-up of these darling grandchildren of ours.