Primary Activity

Last month the Relief Society Presidency did a primary sharing time. We explained the RS Declaration with props and 3 or 4 sentences. One of the items that I talked about was "Delight in service and good works." I told the kids we would be making hygiene kits for the humanitarian services of the church and asked them to bring bars of soap to contribute. Today we assembled the kits - the kids had lots of fun and couldn't wait to get in line to make another one.

Brandon putting the toothpaste in.

Millie helping Lexi with the soap.

Lexi and her friend.

This little group of kids completed 62 kits in about 20 minutes ( and 15 more that only need soap)! This was the best humanitarian project we have done so far. We are going to try it on a ward level if we can gather enough stuff or get enough donations to buy more.

Lawn mower fun!

The grandkids helped me mow the lawn for the first time this year. I let them drive which ever crazy way they wanted. You can't see it to well, but there are circles and curves and wavey lines every where.

Took me a while to finish it up when they were done, but they were so excited to be the one steering that it was worth it.

May projects - 12 finished super capes with random letters - 10 more ready for letters once someone buys them - 20 crib sheets for a day care - 15 bags of polymer crystal; bagged, tagged and ready to ship.

funneefarm update

Last week we took a run to Salt Lake to see John's VA doctors. They are thinking he might not have Rheumatoid Arthritis after all, but something that is similar to it. They stopped all his RA drugs and he will start on new ones this week. I saw the face doc while we were in SL too. He thinks he can fix my face - the insurance will pay for the necessary stuff, but he thinks I should have almost $9,000 worth of other stuff done too. I said I would rather have a new car - so sorry guys, you will just have to put up with my mug the way it is - but I will give you a ride in my new car.

I did get to visit with Scott (my brother) and Karen and Jenny (my neices) and their families while we were in Salt Lake. What a cute bunch of little ones they have. I wish we could have spent more time with them. I also visited my mom - which is one of the nice things about all these trips to Salt Lake.

On Tuesday (in Cody) John had his rotatar cuff repaired - and a torn cartlidge, and a bone spurs removed, and the joint scraped and smoothed, and frayed edges of something or other trimmed and smoothed. He is pretty miserable - four weeks with a pillow wedge strapped to his arm and at least 12 weeks of physical therapy. sigh But. . . . onward and upward, we will prevail!?!?!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful mother's day. My kids showed up after church and cooked me and awesome dinner! They made chicken alfredo, bread sticks, fruit salad and a yummy green salad. It was so nice - the girls did all the cooking ( I think I heard that some of the guys were in the kitchen too) and then the guys cleaned up while we sat and chatted and watched kids. Four of my kids drove clear from Billings just for the afternoon - that is over 2 hours. John had purchased a willow tree figure called "anniversary" for me. It is a couple sitting on a rock. When I saw it I longed for the figures of 7 little children to place around it to represent my kids. I couldn't wait to get to the store to pick them out. But, my awesome children bought them for me. I was so surprised. It was fun arranging them them on the shelf - they look so cool and reminds me of when they were little.

It makes me smile every time I look at them.

Dry Creek Design Craft Update

I can't believe it has been a whole month since I posted about sewing. I am sure you all dying to know what I have created. I made 13 pairs of booties, two recieving blankets and 10 nighties for the church humanitarian project. For Dry Creek Design I made 4 - Three Little Pig story books, 12 - Mother Goose Story books, 108 pull over bibs - (you should check out the 11 new designs I added), 8 nursing coverups and 14 matching burb cloths.

Earlier in the month I made 6 Bible Quiet Books and 10 Mother Goose Quiet Books. You can't see them very well, but I found some really cute little finger puppets to go in Noah's Ark!


The sad part is - it took me most of the month to do the quiet books and the rest I got done in less than 10 days. The quiet books are very time consuming and it seemed like I kept getting interrupted so it took even longer.

Strawberry Jam

I have been promising John that I would make jam the first time I saw stawberries for $1 a pound and today was the day. I had a hard time finding MCP pectin - Walmart and Albertson's didn't have it, but our little grocery store here in town did. This is about 4 gallons of jam. It took 13 pound of strawberries ($13), 8 packages of pectin ($16), 2 cups of lemon juice (50 cents) and 16 pounds of sugar ($7.50)!! That comes out to $37 or $9.25 a gallon.

I will have to run to town in the morning before paintball to buy more containers to put it in! I think John will share if you wanna come have a taste.

For your viewing pleasure I have included this photo of the center piece I created for the table at the talent show last night. Everyone guessed right away which table I decorated!

It's a Wonderful Life! ! ! !

I was reading back through some of my posts - "pity party" was pretty bad. But even I have bad days. All in all, we have had a wonderful life. We have spent lots of time doing fun things and John was there for so much of the kids growing up that most dads only get to hear about at the end of a long day. Life is not what I thought it would be like at this point in our lives. I thought we would be camping, fishing, visiting places like church history sites, exotic tours and especially visiting our kids. But just because life is not what I expected, it doesn't mean it is not good.

We are so blessed. Most of our children and grandchildren live close enough to visit often and those who don't call and blog to keep us updated. I love our litte valley, the church and our community. I am very busy with my church calling and all that it involves - I love to serve others. I love to sew and my business is growing by leaps and bounds - sometimes it is hard to keep up. I may have to start treating it like a real job!! The paintball can be a pain, but it is nice to be around young people who are so enthusiastic - and they think this old grey haired granny is pretty "cool" I think. I have loved spending time with my respite kids. They sure give me a different perspective on life and what is important. I have a warm home and more than enough to eat, we have enough money for all our needs and to occasionally help our children, I do not live in fear for my safety and I am surrounded by people who love me despite my shortcomings!

Any way, apart from a bad day here and there, LIFE IS WONDERFUL! If there was one thing I could change it would be that John would not be in constant pain. But, if things were not the way they are, I am sure I would have been too busy and distracted to learn the important lessons this life has to offer.

Here are some pictures of some turkeys that visited this old turkey (me) the other day.

Lance left last week. Before he did, I cooked him an awesome dinner of oven fries, steak and mushrooms and a yummy salad - by candlelight I might add. Lance furnished the A&W root beer for our fancy goblets!

We miss you Lance - I haven't gotten on the treadmill and my popcorn bowl has been empty since you left.