TIME OUT FOR WOMEN AND WEDDING

some of our roses

This is a 2 week blog as we have been traveling.

Sunday we traveled home from our great trip to St. George.  We got there just in time to go to Sunday School and Sacrament meeting.  Elder Garrett gave his homecoming talk.  He has grown so much.  We just love him.  Right after we got home Milt came to visit.  It's the second time since we got home.  It is so good to have him again.  He brought me another painting.  While he was here Scott and Beth and kids came to get a suitcase for their trip to Disneyland.  I guess I reported this in the last blog with our home teachers coming also.  Oh well.
Monday we got things done around here and the boys came to mow the lawn.  While they were mowing Shanelle took Asher to the doctor.  He had some blood drawn and was not a happy camper until he got a toy snake.

Tuesday dad got his favorite trip to the hospital for a colonoscopy  All is well.  We went from there to Spanish Fork for Hailey's soccer game.  Of course I took no pictures.  Sorry.
Wednesday we did 2 more gallons of peaches and a quart of nectarines.  We ran errands to be prepared for me to go to SC.  I leave in the morning.
4:30 came very early but we made in to the airport in time for my flight. I was so glad I stuffed my down blanket in my purse in case of a freezing flight.  It was.  Kristin and the kids met me at the airport.  They are so cute and it was so wonderful just to be with them.  Kristin fixed a yummy chicken and rice dinner and we hurried to Baylie's soccer practice.

 After the practice Kristin took us to the dollar store where the kids bought their dad his birthday presents.  They were so darn cute figuring the very best present that they were sure their dad would love.  They were so excited.  What a great day.
The next day we went to Baylie's school to have lunch.

She is in a very good school which take every precaution to make sure students are safe and in a good environment.
At 5:00 we headed for Time Out for Women.

 We saved a place for Angela and Ruth who were coming from Caswell,

Angela, me, Ruth

 They are special friends of ours from our first area in North Carolina.l  It was so good to see them again.  Delta had flight problems so the presenters were not able to be there.  Brad Wilcox did his talk by Skype.  He is always so good.  Sheri Dew also was a taped talk from Logan's TOFW.   Even though it was not as planned it was terrific.
I was privileged to get to sleep with Baylie 5 nights.  She's a mover.  I loved it.  She woke at morning's light and exclaimed  "Today is daddy's birthday"  She hurried downstairs to inform him what day is was.  They had him open their presents and he made such a great fuss over them.

  We hurried to Time Out again.

                This is Jeicho Road.  They sang some oldies.  David's much better.  Sang lots of numbers.

 We found that all the presenters were also delayed in their flights with Delta.  They got in at 3:00 A.M. after hiring a shuttle from Atlanta to Columbia.   They were tremendous.  They were full of energy, fun and inspiration.  The violinist was amazing.  She is Elder M. Russell Nelson's daughter.  I could have listened to her all day.  We had lunch at Jason's Deli.  I wasn't worried because I had some pills in my purse.  When we got back to the conference I found that I had left the pills at home, thus a brand new skirt from the Deseret Store.  It was a wonderful 2 days with friends ad family.  When Brad was speaking he made mention that I was there with sisters from my mission.  They were thrilled.

I went to church in Columbia.  The choir sang and it was so good.  The primary children sang with the choir.  It set such a strong spirit.
We watched Eph's Rescue that night.  I loved it.  It was some of the stories I knew so well.  He is my great, great grandfather.
Monday, Baylie stayed home from school and went to the zoo with us.  I love the Columbia zoo.

Baylie rock climbing

birds on my hand

probably a sign saying do not feed the squirrels

To see more of the zoo you will need to go to Kristin's blog. We spent the day and then went to Jalen's soccer practice.  He ran non stop, even out of the field and to the park fence.
The next day was Music Makers for Jalen and gymnastics for Baylie.

doing Baylie's hair for school

It was hard to leave because they are so far away but I was anxious to get with Granddad. It was the first time we have been apart for any length of time since our mission, and we missed being together. I flew to Baltimore via a 4 hour layover in Atlanta.  Go figure.  Our flights landed at the same time 4 gates apart.  We got our rental and headed for the hotel.  As we were driving along all of a sudden we looked ahead and there was the DC Temple right in front of us looming above the trees.  It was magnificent.  At 11:00 the people from Caswell arrived.  We visited until midnight.  It was Latyca, Brandon, Brandon's mother and brother, Brad Ruth and Danny and Angela.  Ruth and Angela were the 2 at the Time Out.  We love all of these people.  They are like family as most of the people from Caswell are.
The wedding could have not been better.  Latyca had asked me to be her escort and I was so honored. She was absolutely beautiful and so happy.  She just beamed.  The temple president married them and gave such a good message before the sealing.

We were driving from Baltimore and suddenly this was right ahead.  WOW!

Married

Runaway Bride

 The Griffins were also there.  They are from our home ward but are serving a mission in the DC Temple.  It was so good to see them so happy.

Brad, Danny, Angela

I have mentioned all but Brandon's mother on left

Granddad did the dinner after and then we left for the airport.  We arrived home at 12:30 midnight.  We were so tired but filled with joy.  I am so grateful for a husband who is worthy to take me to the temple.

Mount Timpanogas  fall time 47 degrees

We had fun going to the BYU game all by ourselves.  We had hot dogs, Cougar Tails and hot chocolate at the game.  The best part was that BYU won.
We ended the week by going to Parer's game at 9:00 Saturday and then Kolton's game and ending with Camden's game.  We love watching them.  Ava was there with Erik's family.  I didn't have my camera so no pictures.  We love each other more every day!

LAST ENTRY  This was on the last page of grandpa's journal.  It's was printed in Brazil[sic] [Basil] Switzerland in the year 1736:
The old true Gospel and the gifts are lost, false doctrines prevail in every land, all we can do is to exhort the people to be just, fear God, and shun evil, and to Pray, Pray, Pray.  Prayers may cause an Angel to visit some Deep and distressed soul.  But I tell you, in less than 100 years, god will have spoken again.  He will restore the old Church again.  I see a little Band of people led by a Prophet and faithful Elder.  They are persecuted, burnt, and murdered, but in a Valley that lies on the shores of a Great Lake-And they will grow and make a beautiful land, rear a Temple of magnificent splendor and possess the Old Priesthood, with apostles, Prophets, Teachers and Deacons.  From every nation shall their true Believers be gathered and then will the almighty speak to the disobedient Nations with thundering, lightening, and destruction such as never was heard of before in history.

The above can be found in the University library in Brazil City, Switzerland.

HALL OF FAME

sky while waiting for the delayed game

Well we were all pretty happy after that long night of a great win for BYU.  Scott and Beth came over for breakfast at 11:00 so we had dinner.  The girls picked up the apples under the trees in the back yard.

Lauryn  the other 2 were too blury

The Jennings went to another ward's sacrament meeting while we went to our YW and priesthood.  The Jennings packed up and we went to our sacrament meeting.  They left while we were gone.  Tiffani cleaned the entire house while we were at church.  Thank you Tiff.  Our meeting was David Wilcox's home coming.  He has grown so much in every way.  It was a good meeting, at least the part we stayed awake for.  We went home teaching on the way home and wouldn't you know our lady at Cove Point is the mother of one of Tiffani's best friends in Vegas, Jennifer Bennion, who is in Tiff's ward in Vegas.  Dad then went with his companion to home teach the Chris Wilcox family.  I love being married to a man who honors his priesthood.
Bought a new camera this week in that I threw dad's under Dave's car and broke it to pieces.  I certainly have a way with cameras.
Ava helped granddad do dried apples.  She stayed with it the entire time.

 She came the next day to taste her work.  Boy can she eat dried apples.
Scott came over and fixed our roof Tuesday.  We lost more than 20 shingles after that horrible storm Saturday.  We'll need a new roof soon.
Got a text from Jeff saying he had shot a doe and a buck.  I teased and asked how could he ever kill Bambi's mom and dad?
Sarah Law and Willy Isom had a great reception in the law's back yard.  It took us 1 and a half hours to get through the line.  Sharon had everything so perfect.  Varlin said to tell everyone "hi".
We got home to find the new rug we had ordered for the dining room on the porch.  It really makes the room cozier.

Before it rained too hard Thursday, we picked the peaches off the tree and the ground and then went inside and pealed and cut 4 gallons to put in the freezer.  It was actually fun. 

 We gathered 2 gallons of apples for Clark's chickens and have another 5 gallons of peaches to give to Shanelle, Bethany and Tiffani.  Love the summer time.  Scott came over and helped granddad give me a blessing.  It feels like my rheumatoid arthritis is coming back and the pain is strong.  I'm sure that now it will get better.  My great grandmother spent the last 20 years in a wheelchair with it so I was getting a little nervous when it didn't go away.  Already it feels much better.  I just can't bend over but that will get better too.  I just needed the help from the priesthood.  

We went to Erik's sophomore football game.  They won 50-0.  We're going to quit going if that can't score more than that.  He's a great coach.

It was fun to take a short trip to St. George.  We did some shopping Friday and went out to dinner.  (We didn't know that there was a big bash for Coach Arsalanian.  They had our Timpview e-mail)  Saturday we went to the Hall of Fame Luncheon and everyone asked where their captain was the night before.  They said it was nice because they could tell stories about him and he wouldn't be there to tell it right.  He was thrilled that he was missed.  The luncheon was very nice and Coach asked George to give a short speech.  He did a great job in such a short time.  Men told him they didn't know he was such an orator.

 It was great for him to be with the guys he had teamed with just 50 year ago.  The team was chosen to the Hall of Fame because they are the only team in the history of Dixie College who went the entire season undefeated.  What stories they can tell.  That evening they were honored at the half time of the Dixie football game.  They named the field the Sark Arsalanian Football Field.  He is a great man and is still so with it at 90 years old.  Tiff and Dave and family met us at the game.  The minute they got there is was delayed by 2 hours because of the lightning storm.  That's 3 games in a row where they were present and the games were delayed.  BYU at Virginia, BYU vs Texas and now Dixie.  We told them they were no longer invited to games we were involved with.  When the team went out on the field at half time Granddad took Cameron with him.  He was so excited he just beamed. 

 They left after the half time and we got to our motel at 11:15 P.M.  What a wonderful day and evening.  The only problem was that we had taken several boxes of produce from our peach tree and garden to Tiffani and in the confusion of the delay we forgot to give them to them.  What a bummer.

Today, Sunday, Scott and Bethany and Co. came to visit and lo and behold they brought me a Mary Poppins umbrella with the real parrot handle.  The home teachers were there so I couldn't even cry. 

 What memories that umbrella has for me.  My mother read me all of the Mary Poppins books when I was not little but young, probably 5th grade. I love that memory of my mother reading to me.  What a wonderful mother I was blessed to have.  I have been so blessed all my life with good families surrounding me.  Life is good.  Thanks you Ava and Bethany and your men.

I love this great man I am married to who is so supportive of everything I do.

Tues. Nov 13th  We left Evan's at 10;00 A.M. & started on our way to Conference.  After going 2 mi. we stoped at a friends by the name of (blank)until after dinner.  We then went on and after traveling until night & being refused 6 times we got to stay with a family by the nae of J.O. Neighbors, where we were treated very friendly.

LABORING ON LABOR DAY

We love fast Sundays.  They seem to set the mood for the whole month.   We love the opportunity to think about our blessings and how blessed were are to have the family we do.  They are great.  After church I fixed a huge steak dinner with all the extras.  We hurried so we could get to Erik's on time for his birthday dessert only to find it was a wonderful dinner.  We ate that too.  We love those chicken things Shanelle and Bethany make.  Shenelle had such a great dinner for Erik.  She always plans things so well.  I can't remember when his varsity game was but I love this picture of him.  He's a great coach.   I may have already blogged it but they beat Timpview.  We sat on the PG side.

For Labor Day we went to get wood again.  Erik's family came this time.  It was us and the boys and their families.  We had such a great time.  No one got hurt.  We worked so hard but the time went by faster because we had an extra man to help.  We loaded 3 pickups and 2 trailers.  The kids played in a huge mud puddle in the middle of the road.

Ava  Lily   Camden

Asher

Ava

Dianne split the wood with the splitter.  That machine is amazing.  Everyone had something to do.  It was just so much fun working together.

wood hauling?

Oops!

Get us outta here!

Two heads are better than one.

We were finished by lunch time and had a picnic.  Scott and Bethany left after lunch as did we but Erik's family went with Clark to the swimmin' hole and played in the water.  They said it was cold but fun. 

Picture taken after Scott's family left----sorry.
We love doing things with our family.  They get along so well.  We were just too tired so we went home and unloaded our truck and trailer by ourselves. 

 We were so proud that we could do it all by ourselves but didn't get dinner until 8:30.  Thank goodness for Cafe Rio.   We fell into bed feeling very satisfied that we could do such a hard day's work.
We took Lucy for a $150.00 car wash.  She was so dirty and hadn't been cleaned thoroughly since we left for our mission.  They shampooed the seats and carpets and cleaned every little crack and cranny.  She looks brand new.
We went to see Kolton play soccer at 7:00 P.M.  Erik is his coach. and is so positive with the young boys.  I love to hear his comments to them.
The 4th was Clark,  Lauryn and  Clara's birthdays.  We are so happy to have them in our family.  

Clark came into this world filling us with happiness.  He was always a happy little soul once he learned to sleep more than 45 minutes at a time.  He loved to sit in a little leather chair while Kristin who was just 16 months older would "read" him stories.  He loved being a cowboy and living in Blanding.  He loves his family with his sweet wife and 6 children.  He called me on the phone one time and when I asked what he wanted he said, "I just wanted you to know I love being a father."  He is a great example of a worthy priesthood holder and patriarch in his home.  We love and honor you, Clark. 

Lauryn Dora came into the world full of curiosity.  She was so tiny but was aware of things around her.  I was able to stay with the twins for 6 weeks and Lauryn slept in bed with me because she got up so often and Tiffani needed some rest.  She has been fun from the very beginning.  She is very smart and loves to help her mother.  She is now in kindergarten and learning something new every day.  She loves to have her own space when needed.  She is so blessed to have a constant friend in her twin sister.  She always makes us smile.  We love her so much.  This picture is when she climbed out of a kiva at Mesa Verde National Park.

Clara Camille came into this world so quiet and calm.  She seldom cried and when she did it was so quietly.  When she woke up she would wait for her mother to be ready, to eat.  She was so patient.  She loves to play with others ad is a great friend.  She loves everything, especially horses. She loved the Bayles reunion because she got to ride a big horse.  She loves being a girl and playing with others.  She is a good friend, especially with her sister, Lauryn.  She is in kindergarten finally and loves the social life.  We love you Clara.
When we went to get our temple recommend the Stake President told Granddad that men are still talking to him about Granddad's talk in priesthood meeting.  He said he had never had so many comments on a talk.  He always does a good job.  We love getting our recommends renewed.  There is a great Spirit when you bear testimony of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Jennings family came for the Texas game on Friday.  They got here at 12:30 A.M.  
We let everyone sleep in in the morning.  We even slept in.  We went to Kolton's game at 1:00 so the kids could play with their cousins.  We went home, ate and got ready for the big game.   Everyone was certain BYU would get killed by Texas.  No sooner did we all get in the car than it started pouring down rain.  The wind then came up and never have we been in such a storm in Provo.  Maybe not anywhere.  We got to our parking lot and just waited for the storm to abate.  Well, it didn't.  They finally delayed the game so we went home to wait it out.  On our way home we saw so much flooding.  Everywhere we went roads were covered with water and homes were having water run into their homes. he The rain by itself might not have been so bad but the wind was fierce.  Trees went down and many homes were flooded.  Vernon Law had damage and Hilda Gamette's home had water pouring through her basement windows.  The Rollins who live around the corner had 7 feet in their basement.  We pray for rain here but we must have prayed a little too much.
After nearly 2 hours we went back to the game as we learned the teams were warming up.  The game was wet but so much fun.  Cameron never moved a muscle he was so in tune with the game and the twins surprised me by being so interested in what was going on with the game.  Bethany and Scott got there a little late in that their dog got out and a neighbor called and they had to go back home to get her in.  Erik came with Kolton who was also very in tune with the game.  It was just a fu evening and was not cold at all even after the rain.  The best part of the game was that the Cougars killed Texas.  They did whatever they wanted and just put on a great show.  Many were surprised but not Cameron.  He was for the Cougs all along.
It was after 11:00 when the game got over so we headed for pizza and a winning treat.  We all fell into bed after midnight.  What a great night.  I would have taken some pictures but when I got into the car I somehow threw my purse under the car and my glasses and camera got broken.  How do I always manage to do something like that?  At least my companion still loves me.

Friday, Oct. 26th  We arose in good time & left Bro. Wilmerth's at 8 o'clock A.M. and started back for N.C.   After walking until 2 o'clock we got to the Maury P.O. where we got our mail.  We then walked about a mile farther to a friends by the name of J.S. Evans where we stayed & spent the night.
Tues. Oct. 30th We stayed at Bro. Meal's all forenoon & took a bath.  In the afternoon we walked 10 miles to Spray & spent the night with Bro. U.S. Grant.