Mid-January update

So, our January has been pretty good for Steve and me. We just got back from spending Friday night and Saturday with Emily and Joe. We, of course, had temple plans for Saturday but we also took our full-size iron bed to be set up in their basement. However, before moving the bed IN, Emily and I had to clean OUT what was already in the basement. Recall that when they moved into “Kate’s house”, it was only to be for about 6 months. SO, anything that was not immediately needed was just set in the basement in a rather haphazard fashion. Fast forward two years and they are still living in the house and will continue for at least a few more years. And, in the meantime, the crazy basement just got crazier. Emily and I rolled up our sleeves yesterday and organized, cleaned, and pitched (I have never broken apart so many cardboard boxes!)for about 3 ½ hours and now there is a place for the bed. Boy, it feels good to clean and organize.

We saw Emily and Noah the weekend before on a little trip to Nauvoo. We arrived Friday night and stayed in a nice two-bedroom condo at the Nauvoo Villas. Noah had just gotten new snow gear (overalls and boots) so he had to try them out the next morning while Steve fixed breakfast. Not a whole lot of snow but enough fell that Thursday to make a snow day in Columbia. Nauvoo, being a bit farther north, had a few more inches on the ground. Thankfully, roads by that time were perfectly clear. While Steve went to a morning temple session, Emily and I took Noah to the family living center in old Nauvoo and had a great time – only one other family was there so we got the personalized treatment. Here is Noah helping to make his very own rope.

Noah's "mai" riding on a lamb at the family living center.

Then, we bundled up and took a wagon ride. Brrrrrrrr!

And, while Emily and I went to the temple, Steve took Noah to the blacksmith shop where they were the only visitors so, of course, Noah got the demonstration horseshoe. After a nice afternoon nap, we all parted ways around 6:00 to return home. We had a wonderful time and will try to make this a winter tradition. We had hoped to see lots of bald eagles along the Mississippi river but Steve and Noah only saw one pair (which is one pair more than I got to see, darn it) Three Januarys ago, on another trip up to Nauvoo, we saw dozens of eagles along the frozen river. It was an amazing sight.

Remember the organ cabinet I blogged about awhile back? On the MLK holiday, I finally got the extra shelf put in and filled them with CDs. All the “pop” music is now downstairs. Our classical CDs have been multiplying over the years and were spilling out of their shelves upstairs so now there is plenty of room for them and even more.

You all know my love for movies and Netflix…. I watched “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” this past week and found it pretty good and a believable scenario. We watched “Super 8” while up in Nauvoo. Also good. Other recently watched DVDs have been super-hero flicks: “Captain America” (liked that one so much I purchased it) and “The Green Lantern” (good – but not so much that I want to buy it). Steve, with his busy calling, just doesn’t have much time to watch all the movies I do but he HAS created a “must-see” collection of uplifting/inspiring movies (from our own collection) to watch throughout the year. Check it out and see if you agree with his picks:

January – Man for All Seasons

February- Groundhog Day

March – Hoosiers

April – Field of Dreams

May- Sound of Music

June – Chariots of Fire

July – Lord of the Rings marathon over 4^th of July holiday

August – Remember the Titans

September – Chronicles of Narnia marathon over Labor Day holiday

October – What Dreams May Come

November – Family Man

December – Scrooge

Finally, the semester has begun at Central Methodist University and my Tuesdays and Thursdays are just swamped now. I still teach the string tech class from 1-2:00 but I now have SEVEN applied music students. I have had to just eliminate all other activities from those days as I go from teaching orchestra at CIS to traveling to CMU and then back home to my private students and then it is dinner and evening commitments. BUT, I am grateful for the work. That is a blessing in this day and age.

Well, on to Sunday dinner……

What??? 2012 already?!?!

Happy New Year, all. We enjoyed a quiet start to 2012 – didn’t stay up until midnight. We drove up to visit the Macon congregation on Sunday and we had our year-in-review plus goals for new-year on the way. I met many of my 2011 new-year goals. Probably the best one was that, over the course of the year, I have lost 10 pounds. I attribute it to the extra 30 minutes of walking I have added to my weekdays. (Steve and I already walk 30 minutes every morning) I have five more pounds to go before my BMI will not read in the “overweight” category. Yahoo!

Our Christmas was relatively quiet, too (except, of course, when the grand kids were here. LOVE their kind of noise, though). Elise made it in from Syracuse and Julina from Lafayette. We missed Kirsti who was with Ryan and all his family in Utah. Ryan’s parents were so great to include several Lambson Christmas traditions into their celebrations. Here are some photos from Christmas day.

mmmmmm, Christmas buffet feast

Noah and Lucy

Steve and I had Christmas lunch with Ruth Marshall at Candlelight

The BEST gift I got for Christmas was a camera. Emily, the photographer, spearheaded the whole thing – all the kids contributed money – and I got a Canon Rebel. Wow, it is fun to be taking pictures like I used to with my Minolta film camera

We had our annual visit to historic St. Charles on the Friday before Christmas. Here is a photo from that event.

CIS is back in session. CMU starts on Tuesday. I have a different responsibility in my stake R.S. calling – I am now over weekday meetings so my duties just ratcheted up a few notches. We have been enjoying some unseasonably spring-like weather the past few weeks. Not good for the farmers and my garden but wonderful for doing things. So, Steve and I got some horse manure yesterday in our truck and shoveled it onto our driveway.

Next week, I get to put it all around our garden and flower beds. Goodie. And, we are trying a new bed situation. The full-size bed we have been sleeping in for almost 30 years is now in the garage and we have two twin beds side-by-side in our bedroom. Steve is such a restless sleeping that hopefully, this will improve both our sleep-patterns. We did all the furniture moving yesterday.

The BEST outcome of this project was that we found Steve’s cell phone. When we moved the bed and the bookcase, there is was. After being missing for three months! Finally, later in the afternoon, we went to see Mission Impossible 4 (which was very good, by the way, but certainly NOT a relaxing movie). Busy day.

remember when

This is a photo of my mom, Florin Young, with Emily (who was known as Emmie in those days) and Juli. It is from June 1979 and taken in Woodbridge, Virginia where we were living at the time. Elise was to have been born by this time but she decided to come in July, long after my parents left to go back to California. We were in Virginia for Steve's military training. He was attending officer basic at Fort Belvoir. In fact, when this photo was shot, he was most likely at the week-long bivouac (fancy word for camping and playing soldier) of which my due-date fell right in the middle.

I was given this photo by my friend, Jamie Kaye, in her Christmas present to me. She also included a note written to her and her mother by my mom. It is dated November 24, 2002 - written six days before she passed away. I love the books she gave me but these two pieces of history are even more special.

Ho Ho Ho

Max and Sadie get into the Christmas spirit!

We were in St. Louis Friday night and Saturday and Noah went to a party where he made this graham cracker house.



Lucy, our little love


Suger cookies we decorated with Noah


Below is a project I finished in November. These are the chairs to Beckie's dining room table that I recovered (finally!)



This looks like a desk but it is actually the cabinet to an old organ. Solid walnut. My go-to repair man, Bob, cut wood for the shelf. Sarah stained it. Voila! A place for plants, CDs, and other stuff in my music studio


Here is Santa's ski slope all set up. Bring back memories, kids????


My birthday presents - the green Adirondack chairs and the outdoor grill


Some other news I forgot to post earlier - Bear Creek Ward has a new bishopric. Larry Jespersen was called and he asked for Ryan Hatcher and Jimmy O'Loughlin for his counselors. They will be so great! Our former bishop, Ladd Egan, took a job in Utah with the CBS station. (he, like Steven, is in broadcasting).