Aggies, A Munchkin, and Ahso, . . . Wunderbar!

How's that for a title? I guess I had better explain.

Roger and I just returned from a three-day trip from Up North,

and boy, did we cram in lots of good stuff!

But before we headed out on Saturday morning, January 24, we had our Aggie Night at Mary and Bob's on Friday night. It was a pizza party and I made kind of an Olive Garden green salad with homemade croutons 

and copy-cat dressing.

We played our traditional Five Crowns card game after dinner, and I was the Grand Champion - again!

I am probably the least-interested-in-winning person every time, and then I win.

My kids will get a kick out of this, because they know that I'm not much of a game player. 

But, okay, I'll admit it,

it's fun to win!

Roger set his iPhone camera on a bookshelf, it counted down, and flash!

Anne, me and Mary

Roger, Bob and Jay

Next morning, we drove to Rick's and arrived in time to see Rick and Josh head to the temple to do the initiatory part of his endowment, then Jodie's mom, Kathie, and dad, Bart, and all Jodie's siblings and their spouses (minus Julie, who stayed home with a sick child), Mindy and Jeff and Roger and I met them to go through a session with Josh, for him to receive his endowment. 

Josh is our first grandchild to turn 18 and receive a mission call.

We are so, so proud of this oh, so very special boy! 

After the session in the Bountiful Temple, Rick treated us all to dinner at The Mandarin Chinese restaurant - most appropriate, since Josh is going to Hong Kong, Mandarin-speaking! 

Ahso - such yummy food!

Roger, Pam, Chris, Stewart, Jennie, Jodie, Josh, Rick, Kathie, Bart, Scott, Becky, Mindy and Jeff

Afterwards, we returned to Rick and Jodie's, where Sadie and Katie were baby-sitting Mindy's and Jennie's kids. Rick and Josh had fun rough-housing with Jack and Addie.

I got some cuddle-Fiona time!

 I am so tickled that my sister, Patty, and her husband, Hal, have returned from their wunderbar LDS mission to East Berlin!  I have missed Sister Time with Patty! On Sunday, they spoke (eloquently) in church, then after the block, they put on a delicious German feast for relatives and friends. 

Don't they look like the Real Deal?

They are the Real Deal in character, devotion and dedication.

We talked and talked, catching up with each other until after 11 PM. Oh, how I love these guys! 
Before we left to drive back to Rick's, we took a quick pic.  
Roger and I hadn't brought a change of clothes.

Patty and Hal are so happy to be back with their grandkids! 

We missed Kay and Ken and Joan and Tom, who were both on vacations with their families. 

(Don't you love John's Mario Batali clogs?)

Monday, we drove to Ogden and had lunch with Lois at her new favorite place, Chuck-O-Rama. 

I have to say that, foodie though I am, there are some very tasty things to eat at this mass-buffet place.  

Lois is so fun to be with and she gets such pleasure out of everything.

Jess did my hair, then we hurried back to Rick's in time to go with Jodie and Katie 

to see Abby in, The Wizard of Oz. 

This is one adorable little Munchkin! 

Abby was a featured soloist in Munchkinland!

Abby was also an Oz-ite.

Pics on stage after the outstanding performance

Jodie made Abby's clever costumes - what a talented daughter-in-law we have!

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Roger are pretty proud of our Miss Abby Dabby!

Tuesday morning, we drove to Mindy's to see her in-progress-basement-being-finished, 

and the Direct TV man came, all of the sheet rock arrived and she was waiting for the inspector, 

so she couldn't slip away for lunch.

Oh, well, maybe we can go out for our birthdays in February when she and Jeff come to St. George 

on President's Day Weekend.

What a fun and cram-packed few days! 

Now it looks like it will be peaceful for awhile, but I'm not holding my breath!

A New Year and a New Call

Ahhhhhhhh!

In January, calm returns.

Peace is restored. 

Serenity. 

I love all of the Holiday action, and from little Fiona's birth through to New Year's, we were in full motion, 

and I loved every moment of it!

But we all need to catch our breath, right?

January has brought the usual more white showing in the days' calendar squares, the usual rounds with colds and coughs and more nights hunkered in around the fireplace.

Pic taken out our back deck January 1 - unusual snow!

But we did have some MAJOR excitement - 

Josh received his mission call to . . .

. . . Da-Da-Da- DA-Da-DA. . . 

. . . HONG KONG, Mandarin speaking.

If anyone can learn Chinese, it is this smart fortune cookie!

(I know, cheesy - I couldn't resist!)

Each sibling, cousin, aunt, uncle, mom and dad had guessed where it would be, 

and Jodie and Rick pin-pointed our guesses on a big map,

and no one got it - not even close, really! 

Josh will leave the first part of June, and he is thrilled!

Our old friends from USU who bought a winter home on our street, Mike and Kathy Cranny, 

took us to lunch at "Painted Pony."  

We love these guys!

Can you stand it?

 Flower Girl, our Miss Adelaide, niece to Jeff's brother, Matt, 

and his new bride, Emily, poses most fetchingly 

in her crowning flower wreath and sparkly shoes.

We took a day trip to Las Vegas for car repair, shopping at Primm and Trader Joe's; I led the choir in a lovely arrangement of, "Testimony," for our Branch Conference; and we have loved attending Wayne Brickey's class Wednesday evenings on, The Teachings of Christ. 

I guess some would say, ho hum, yawn,

but we have loved the respite!

Christmas In the Air!

Our daughter, Missy, is a creative genius.

And, even better, she is patient and kind.

Every year, she helps me create our Christmas card,

then she orders it, with her connections, and has it delivered to our door.

How lucky are we?

After our pre-Christmas adventures at Mindy's, in Mesa, and then in Las Vegas,

we finally put up our favorite Christmas decorations.

Earlier in December, we had dinner with our good friends, Jim and Kathy Jensen, 

at "the best Mexican restaurant in St. George - 

Los Lupes in Mesquite!"

We were in Mesa and missed our branch party this year
and we attended the Washington County Board of Realtors Christmas Party dinner at the Hilton 
with Bob and Mary Brady.

The NAI Christmas party was held at the Anasazi Steak House.

As each guest arrived, Mark & company passed out these safety goggles.

They said that they were to protect us from the splattering when we did our own cooking on the hot rocks! 

The NAI owners, the Walters, are real jokesters, 

and the Christmas parties every year are always full of gags and fun!

You'll never guess what I chose to cook - fish!

An inspiring and absolutely beautiful highlight of our Christmas Season every year is hearing, the Keynotes, 

in their Christmas program in the Tabernacle. 

My sister, Kay, has been its director for many years,

and I tell her every time I hear them,

"This is your best program yet!"

And it's true!

I directed our INSTA-CHOIR Christmas program in Sacrament meeting the Sunday before Christmas, 

and Roger and I were thrilled with the participation and the beautiful sound.

We sang arrangements of, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks," "Once in Royal David's City," 
and, "The First Noel," complete with piano, violin and flute. 

Monday morning, we drove up north to Rick and Jodie's to stay with Blakey 
while his family went to Hawaii for a week over Christmas.  

It was a win/win all around.

Blake, in the past, didn't love the sun, the sand and the ocean.

He was happy in his own comfort zone at home with Grandma and Grandpa,

his family could focus on having lots of fun with each other before Josh leaves later this year on his mission, 

and Grandma and Grandpa got to play with Blake and also attend lots of Christmas festivities 

we would have missed down south. 

The night before they left,

we went out for sushi at the Mikado.

First up, the Christmas Eve Party at Grandma Lois's - 

she has had this party at her home ever since our kids were little.

Rog pulled over and took a pic of the Wasatch Mountains 

with the sun on the snow peak on our way to the party.  

The beauty of the Wasatch Front is unsurpassed!

We enjoyed catching up with Roger's siblings, spouses, their kids and grandkids.

We took a quick pic with Grandma in her living room.

We love and adore this amazing woman!

No Stratford Christmas Eve Party is complete without the Nativity acted out by the little kids,
and then, Santa!

Christmas morning, we woke up to this!

Roger shoveled three times throughout the day,

but who doesn't love a white Christmas?

Josh's car, buried!

The roads were really pretty good, and we made it to Mindy and Jeff's by around 10 AM. 

to watch them open some of their presents and have a delicious Christmas brunch. 

Jeff made German pancakes and we had sugar pepper bacon, fresh raspberries, and Martinelli's.

We each had a Christmas cracker on our plates.

Mindy and Jeff really did get The Best Gift this Christmas!

We headed back to Lois's Christmas afternoon for a bone-in ham dinner with ALL the trimmings!

On the night of the 26th,

we drove above Deer Valley to Jerry and Vickie's annual Holiday Party in their beautiful ski home. 

There were 25 of Roger's classmates who attended the prime rib dinner and catch -up gab session. 

This is part of the Lake Powell crew, and they're great people!

Jodie had arranged a baby-sitter for Blake for this night . . .

. . . and for the next afternoon, so we could visit our dear friends, the Woodbury's, in their assisted living home, 

and we were able to visit with Beau and see Kathy. 

That turned out to be less than 48 hours before she passed away.

They are such wonderful people, and it is heart-breaking that she, just one year older than Roger, 

had to go so soon.  

We are so glad that we got to say good-bye. 

We didn't know that is what we were doing, that we were saying good-bye, 
but that is what happened. 

We then drove to Market Street Grill to meet Karleen for lunch.

We had a lot of catching up to do with her.

We both lamented the fact that we had missed our annual Cedar City Shakespeare Festival time together, 

and vowed (God willing) that we wouldn't miss it in 2015.

Rick and Jodie's home was decorated so beautifully.

"SILENT NIGHT 

HOLY NIGHT . . .

. . . .ALL IS CALM

               ALL IS BRIGHT . . .

. . . SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE . . . 

. . . SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE."

Back home in St. George, 

Roger and I celebrated New Year's Eve at Lorin and Kathy's Branch Open House in their lovely home. 

Friends and neighbors, members and non-members alike

( probably over 100 people),

came pouring in to enjoy the delicious food and the great company. 

Roger catching up with cousin and Branch President, Kim Taylor

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Season,

so now, on to 2015!