Time to be thankful –

For loved ones who were able to gather at our house. Emily, Joe, and Noah and Julina, Elise, and Elise’s roommate, Rachel all pulled into town Wednesday evening. The Southerland gang stayed at Steven and Tamara’s house. Julina stayed with Beckie. Rachel stayed in the quilt room and Elise and Tonks occupied the Noah’s Ark room. Kirsti went to San Diego with her roommate Janica. Everyone left for home Sunday. Kirsti hit some snow after St. George so I am especially grateful that she made it back to Provo safely.

For good food – oh my, we had waaaay too much. Emily made a triple batch of puppy chow. It was so huge that she had to use a garbage bag for mixing.

Beckie brought a delicious carmelized onion/apple cream cheese dip and Julina provided gluten-free crackers so I indulged a bit too much of that yummy stuff. I baked gluten-free pecan and apple pies but Beckie also made a flourless chocolate cake and Jason Bell made a gluten-free chocolate cranberry cake and both were like truffles on a plate. Incredibly rich – especially with the whipped cream with sour cream topping that Beckie made.

For 55 great years and still feel pretty fit as a fiddle (or should that be cello?). I got some lovely gifts and Steve and I and some of the kids also pooled our joint birthday moneys and bought a 26” HDTV on Amazon. I guess it is time to join the 21^st century in television technology considering the fact that all our other televisions are at least fifteen years old!

For a lovely Frasier Fir Christmas tree that we got Saturday at a cut-you-own tree farm. Now, the fir is from Michigan but it was the same price as the ones growing and the branches were much prettier. So, for the second year in a row, we opted for an import. However, we still took the hay ride out to the tree-cutting area and back because everything is fun with a three-year-old grandson.

We put it up and decorated it Saturday night. All the other decorations are still in their boxes strewn around the garage. Hopefully they will get put up throughout this week.

For Noah who will always be in my memory this year ringing a brass bell in each hand as he hunts down poor Alfred the cat. And, if brass bells are put way out of his reach, a bell Christmas ornament will do just as nicely.

For the fact that Sadie’s surgery will not cost more than $300.00. Yes, she has a bad hip – I saw the x-ray and it looks terrible – which explains her three-legged limp that got worse the weekend before Thanksgiving. She will go under the knife on Wednesday.

For a fantastic Harry Potter VIIa movie. Saw that on Friday afternoon.

For a new cell phone that I am finally beginning to figure out. The best feature is that I can text with a full keypad. The worst feature is the set of dumb ringtones that I cannot change until I get a memory card.

For a relatively painless family photo taken after our Thursday feast.


For all of you…..

Our trip to the St. Louis Zoo

Steve and I went to St. Louis Friday afternoon to attend an evening temple session. We stayed with Emily and Joe and went again to the 7:30 Saturday morning session. It was really nice to spend so much time in the temple but the real "work" of the weekend was taking Noah and the three Egan kids to the St. Louis Zoo after our session so Joe and Bishop and Annie Egan could attend. We had Elle (age 4), Noah (age 3), Ike (age 2), and Abe (age 4 months) and OH MY did we have an adventure. First of all, because it was a nice day, I was just positive that all the near-by parking was already taken so we parked the Egan's vehicle waaaaaaaay far from the entrance. Thankfully, the Egans had a double stroller (which wouldn't turn on a baseball diamond much less a dime) to help with carting everyone. BUT, before we could even start walking to the zoo entrance, we had to figure out how to get the baby seat out. Only, we forgot that nowadays, baby carriers pop in and out of the car-seat base and so we spent a good ten minutes trying to unbuckle the entire apparatus with endless frustration. Finally, my brain decided to cough up the memory that we only have to detach the carrier – and then we spent another ten minutes trying to figure out how to do THAT! Arg! So, we finally got into the zoo and, with two hours to kill, one would think we would be able to cover quite a bit of territory. Wrong! We saw the bears – which we always see since their habitat is right at the entrance. Steve took the walking kids to see the penguins and then Abe was hungry so we had a snack. Then, while Steve kept Abe, I took the others on the train around the park (you should have seen Noah jump up and down wildly as the train pulled into our station). We started to go see the elephants when we got the call that parents were on their way to pick up. Yea, that is all we did. And, keeping track of Noah and Ike was a full-time job. I did that while Steve tried to steer the un-maneuverable stroller away from curbs and fences. Thankfully, there were no tears, no meltdowns, no accidents, no kidnappings. And I got some cute pictures……

Grandma-Jeanne time

Noah was here for most of the week. The idea was to help Emily through this mysterious ailment she is suffering through. On Monday night, we met Joe half-way between Columbia and St. Louis (and that would be the Phillips 66 station at the Jonesburg exit) and made a Noah transfer. While he was glad to see us, he was "so sad" most of the ride home until we pulled into our driveway and he shouted "I SEE IT!" (meaning our house) and from then on that night, he was happy - with Sadie, with Trissie, with Alfred, with trains. He went to bed perfectly. Thank goodness. He woke up extra early and sad, but perked up pretty quickly.


Here he is on Tuesday morning where else??? but at the train set downstairs. Can you see Mai checking things out?

Thankfully, Sarah and Beckie and Steven were available to help during the times that I had to teach. Sarah had him from 2:00 until bed-time on Tuesday. Hooray for Aunt Sarah! She also had him all this morning as I had to go to Jefferson City for a R.S. Presidency meeting.

Here he is brushing Alfred.

Beckie took him back to St. Louis with her today at noon because Emily couldn't bear the thought of being without him on his birthday - he turned three today. He "helped me bake and decorate a little train-shaped cake yesterday for him to take back home. We stuck a candle in a muffin for his breakfast. And, of course, we sang "Happy Birthday" to him - more than once. Yesterday, he helped me and my friend, Terri, do some yardwork around the church and below is a photo of the rock he found.

We had stake conference the first weekend of November. It was my first one in over four years where I did not have to worry about the music. That is not to say I was not involved in the music – I sang in the choir that performed for the Sunday session and I have to say it was a most satisfying experience. Because my stake music chair replacement was not called until September, there was not a whole lot of time to put together a stake choir so Claudine invited people she knew could sing and liked to sing and WOW, she came up with an amazing group of singers. I felt like I was singing in University Singers again! Sarah joined me in the choir and we both realized how much we missed being in a top-notch choir. What I did have to worry about was helping with the meal which is always provided for the brethren after stake Priesthood leadership training and before the Saturday evening session. I also helped with food for the meal after the Sunday session for the stake presidency, the stake Relief Society presidency as well as the visiting temple president and mission president and their wives. Such are the duties of the stake Relief Society. Steve had three talks to prepare for Stake Conference. THREE! So, every spare minute he had the two weeks prior was spent working on these talks. I heard two of the three messages and he did a great job. The entire conference was really uplifting.

Civic Orchestra is now working on holiday music. We are accompanying the Columbia Chorale again in excerpts of the Messiah that will be performed in Jesse Hall as part of the MU Concert Series. And, we are working on our own portion of a concert the following week that will feature Russian Christmas music. I have asked to move to the back of the cello section rather than sit second chair. There is a reason I chose to major in Music Education over Cello Performance in college. I really don’t like the pressure of performance. I love sitting back in the third row where I can make a mistake and not feel like everyone hears it. No more knot in my stomach Tuesday nights.

As for what has been occupying my time these past two weeks, I finished Noah’s quiet book. I have entered lots more photos in the family photo album and I have decided to include 2010 pictures and I have almost completed a small photo book of the Austria trip of 2009. So, I have spent and will continue to spend lots of time at the computer. It is enjoyable work and I look forward to sharing the results with everyone. Until then, here is just a sample.....

this is me at the Schonbrun Castle in Vienna, Austria.