Harvest Time

Even though our Rexburg growing season was much shorter than normal, we still enjoyed a bounteous harvest. Tomatoes, beets, beans, cabbage, carrots, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, raspberries, strawberries, apples etc. are all harvested and either frozen, bottled, dried or stored for our enjoyment.

The Rexburg Temple

What a wonderful opportunity I have to play the organ in the Rexburg Temple. It is my turn every Tuesday evening for one hour. That hour is like Heaven to me, playing beautiful hymns in the House of the Lord.

(Brad took this picture on a beautiful stormy evening)

Arg! Home Repairs

This has definitely been our month of home repairs. First we discovered that the frig was leaking when the ceiling in the family room was dripping on Krystle. We had to replace the water hose to the ice and water.

Next, I thought it would be an easy fix to repair the toilet downstairs. I was just going to replace the shims that I put under it a few years ago to help make it level since the cement floor isn't level. Not a simple fix. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong! The inside of the toilet had to be replaced, the seat was broken, the bracket was rusted and broken, the tank leaked, the bolts were rusted so we couldn't get them out....After several trips to the plumbing supply store and many nights working on it, I ended up breaking the whole toilet and had to buy a new one which I installed carefully with shims to make it level!

Next, the kitchen sink was clogged. We used the "snake" several times down about 20 feet and Liquid Plumber to no avail. In the meantime, the bracket that hooked to the drain was corroded and had to be replaced. I finally called the plumber who said, "If the snake didn't work for you, we can't fix it either." I had to call Roto Rooter, who came in with their BIG snake. They had to go down 45 feet and cleared the clog and charged $125 to do it! It works now and I am grateful for indoor plumbing that works!

October 2010 Conference

I loved conference this October. I spend my Sunday's listening to the talks over and over again. What inspiring and timely instruction for the turbulent world that we live in.

My favorite talk was President Monson's on Gratitute:

"A grateful heart . . . comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. My sincere, heartfelt prayer is that we may in our individual lives reflect that marvelous virtue of gratitude. May it permeate our very souls, now and evermore."

This talk was very strong and to the point. When I listened to it the first time I thought, "there is no question what virtue our prophet is advising us to work on." When I read the talk again I counted...he used the words grateful and gratitude 37 times!

We will not soon forget President Packer's talk and his story about the elementary student who thought they could just vote to decide if a kitten was a girl or a boy.

Another favorite:

President Uchtdorf - "We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman."

Jana's family

Jana's family joined us for conference weekend. Here is a family picture of them that we took: Ella, Steve, Brigham, Sophia, David, and little Josette. Also a picture of Josette who is so cute she could seriously be on ads for baby products.

McCall Idaho

We took a weekend break on Labor day and spent it with Jason and Pam and family. We stayed at their beautiful cabin in McCall. We enjoyed the Payette Lake while boating and jet skiing and just playing in the white sand.

We also spend Sunday after church walking along the shore in McCall.

It was exciting to see a deer come within feet of the big picture window of the cabin.

Last is a picture of the handsome family, Jason, Pam, Dillon, Payton, and Isabelle.

Trinidad California

I just had to share this picture that Brad took in Trinidad. It is where we stayed in northern California, which is a sleepy little coastal town with fishing boats galore and a really good seafood restaurant

Redwood Forest

The Redwood Forests have become one of my favorite places to visit in the whole world! They were spectacular in their size and beauty. One author describes the place as "Hush Lush." I felt the same way as we walked many trails through these giants. The large trees and thick undergrowth filtered out any outside noise. It was like we were in a whole different and sacred world. These trees are called ancient giants because some of them are over 1600 years old and many are over 370 feet tall. That is two feet taller than Niagara Falls and the same as a 30 story building. Many trees were over 17 feet in diameter, 52 feet in circumference and weigh well over 1,000,000 pounds. Of course, I couldn't leave until we found the tree that we could drive through.

I now can see why Jason spent most of is P-days while on his mission in that area "visiting the giants."

Sacramento Reception

We traveled to Sacramento California on September 18 to attend Lorna and Ben's reception in his home town. It was a great party featuring a feast of Chinese food and entertainment from a string quartet. The reception was very well attended. The couple and their parents all wore traditional Chinese clothing. We haven't received the pictures from the photographer yet, but we will be sure to share them when we do.

Lorna and Ben's Wedding

Lorna and Ben Bryce were married in the Rexburg Temple on August 28. It was a wonderful ceremony. A brunch was hosted by Ben's parents after the ceremony and the reception was held in our back yard that evening. The rain stopped just in the nick of time for us to set up. It was a beautiful evening. We had teal and yellow pom poms and Chinese lanterns hanging from wires overhead and nice table centerpieces that the girls made to add to the decor. We served home made cupcakes and vegetables/fruits and popsicles (Lorna's favorite). Lorna will post the pictures on her face book as soon as we get them. You can also keep up with Lorna and Ben on their blog: http://thelivesoflornaandbenjaminbryce.blogspot.com/

New Teeter Totter

We have a new addition to our playground equipment in the backyard...it is a teeter totter!

Brad and I made it from a kit and it has had plenty of usage already this summer. It is very heavy duty as you can see here...me, Madeline, Charlotte, Cohen and Kambri on one side and Justin and Abigail on the other! (those are Brad's shoes as he is lying on the grass to take the picture)

Visiting John in Wyoming

John worked at the Absaroka Mountain Lodge for 4 months this summer. It was located 12 miles east of the northeast entrance of Yellowstone Park. The closest town was Cody, Wyoming, 40 miles away. He stayed there for the summer and worked at cleaning cabins, serving at the restaurant, tending the fire at the nightly campfires, cooked meals on the trail rides and helped some with the horses.
Brad and I spent a weekend there in July. The lodge and rustic cabins were nestled in a beautiful canyon with sharp, rocky mountain peaks all around in interesting shapes.
Yes, I did ride a horse…first time in about 30 years. And YES, I was scared to death on the entire trail ride. I much prefer a ride with two wheels and one that I have control of.
We had a great time, did some fishing, played miniature golf, went to Cody and toured the Buffalo Bill Museum which was amazing and huge especially for a small western town like Cody. We also attended the famous Cody Rodeo which runs nightly for 90 consecutive nights every summer!

Julie's Wedding

Julie and Zach were married on June 29 at a beautiful ceremony in the Salt Lake City Temple. A Wedding Celebration was held in our backyard, the night before where we ate crab, shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob, and red potatoes. (Thanks to Brad's amazing cooking) We listened to jazz music and visited with dear family and friends who came to celebrate with us. The decor was unique with colorful fabrics, India wedding tents, pillows, rugs and low-style seating with trays of hors d'oeuvres consisting of bagettes, cheese, and grapes scattered throughout. The highlight of the evening was the release of hundreds of butterflies provided by Zach's mother who raises them. You can see lots of pictures of the event by going to Julie's face book page. You can also keep track of them as they live and go to school in Laie Hawaii by going to their blog page: http://animateappetites.blogspot.com/

Update

I haven't had time to post in here over the past couple of weeks or more. We have been busy. Two weeks ago we went to Glacier National Park and to Canada to the Hawke Family Reunion in Jaffray, BC. This past week we were hosting a wonderful couple from Germany. They left at 1:30 this morning and I am finally getting a chance to write in here. We had a good time up in the Park and Canada. There were a lot of things that we did. The dance festival went very well and we all had a good time. Lorna was a dance teacher for the German team to help them learn the opener and closer. The team was from northern Germany close to the Baltic Sea.

I am doing something different for the pictures. I have a web site where I can post pictures now and I am setting up albums to post the different pictures from our trips and events. Keep checking back for additional pictures and new albums. I am trying to put the best of the best pictures in those albums. I am starting out with pictures of the grandchildren. I am trying to get pictures from all of them but I am trying to add the best and right now. It is not even between the grandkids as you can see, so don't be hurt or upset if your child doesn't have as many as others. It is a work in progress and I will be continually adding and deleting pictures as I go through the over 20,000 pictures we have in our photoshop. I will also be adding albums for events such as the dance festival, the trip to Glacier, Canada, New York and so forth. So keep on watching as I try to put the very best of our pictures on the web site. If you want to critique the pictures let me know for better or worse. I want feedback.

I will try to keep you up to date in the blog but will probably not post any more pictures.

In case you were wondering I had a really good day in a water park taking pictures of David Dalby. I thought they turned out pretty good. That is why there are so many of him in there right now.

The link is in the blog but in case you want it it is - reedfmly.photoshop.com.

The Deck is Finally Finished

We finally finished the railing on the deck making it officially complete. There may be a couple of things that need to be done with it but we will see. We also put on a storm door on our bedroom so we can have it open in the evenings. It think it will also add some light. Deborah (aka the Energizer Bunny) helped with most of the work in between all of her other yard projects during the day. Next on our list is to build a patio with pavers out in that corner. After that I want to plant a herb garden there and make it look nice.

The other night we had some really pretty colors in the sky so I took some pictures. I have include a few of my picture here. I hope everyone is doing well. I still need to get Washington DC picture in here. When I have a free night I will do that. I also need to get some pictures of our newly rearranged basement with the new furniture and television. It looks pretty nice now.