Coming up and out of the covers finally

Yay. I am finally feeling a little better after the ghost of

yucky grisly cough and fever stopped at our home and decided to park itself in my

chest.  December, December you are quickly passing through.

It's almost Christmas!  From parties to celebrations, to

friendly gatherings I really haven't been a recluse but this last weekend

the gremlins really kicked my butt. I haven't taken too many pictures of our home

all decorated, so that is a must on the list to do.

Northern California winters are not disappointing, today I'm looking out

my window and it is a clear crisp sun shiny day. It was only 26 degrees early this

morning but it has warmed up to a balmy 46 by now.

I am truly thankful for the following that doesn't cost a thing:

Love

Family

babies

friends

our Savior's Love for us

kisses and warm hugs

The Christmas Spirit

♥

"georgie"

Catching up

I haven't posted all month. It's been a busy one and it isn't letting up.

This year I finally did it, I actually ordered Christmas Cards for us.

I pinned  our daughter Cecelia one evening to take some photags of

David and I just in the living room and front porch. Do You know how hard it is

 to get two people not to mention the in house photographer together

to take some shots? It's a miracle on its own. I told David his jeans were fine and

to pull out his Light Blue shirt and not even iron it that's how desperate I was.

I can't remember if he was wearing shoes either. I wore

a sweater that I purchased from Yard saling, yes, $2 bucks, in the bay area, no biggie.

And Ta da! photag!

 

I Took down the pumpkins and dressed our porch simply

for Winter. I have much to be thankful for! When I think about all those

that are less fortunate especially when I see a homeless person, I can't help

to think how thankful I am to have a warm bed, a roof over our heads,

and especially as I get ready to leave for work, I count my blessings to having

a Husband with a good job and medical insurance. I am so thankful for that!

I can't imagine not having those things. I'm also learning acceptance.

Yes acceptance. Every morning I try to listen on the Mormon Channel, (you'll have to check it out), it's a free app on IPhone. Any way, one morning I was listening, I can't remember who it was but they talked about

acceptance. Accepting that you can't change anyone other than yourself. And at my

almost 50 year old self, I'm slowly getting it. And it is actually giving me peace. I do have to remind myself now and then to do this.

 I'm getting into the Christmas mood now and hoping for the best this next
year. I am so thankful for this guy. This weekend we will be
celebrating our 23rd anniversary and I can't imagine not
waking up to his face each morning. 
I love you, David Cole!

"georgie"

Sweet November

Recently David requested that I change our room around. At first I thought

we don't have very many options. Cecelia said it looks better and

and David liked it. It will do. I do like it when the sun comes through.

 Every piece of furniture in this photo except for our bed was

either handed down, like David's grandfather's rocking chair or

bought from a 2nd hand store, yard sale or hand made.  Including, lamp, night table, night stand,

weaved bag, mirror in the corner, etc.

 

So glad it's boot weather!  I was in the store the other day and

they were actually playing Chrismtas music, Nooooooooo!

You should be really proud of me, I actually went through

Pottery Barn and didn't buy one thing, nada, nothing. I couldn't believe it myself.

I did take a lot of pictures for ideas. I kind of felt weird doing it like

I was a spy or something. But no one stopped me and I wasn't the only one.

Not that there's anything wrong with it. But when I see a good idea that I

want to use, why not. Man I love that store!!  I did get to Michael's and

bought some craft  crap,  I mean stuff  that I can make a cheaper version of

Pottery Barn's motiff. Stay tuned to that later.

So see ya'll later

"georgie"

Autumn randomness

               Today's walk around the yard brought

           us beautiful colors, freshly fallen walnuts and

         after our first good rain the leaves were brilliantly

ready for their photo shoot.

Even the leaves that covered some of our flower beds

are beautiful tones of tans and browns.

It is just another witness to me of

our creator's wonderful handiwork.

Happy Tuesday.

"georgie" 

Put her in a pumpkin

                                           Recently we took a drive and went looking for pumpkins.

         Cecelia said, it's not Halloween without  pumpkins. I forget

       that we still have a young adult child in the home, ha!

(She'll kill me for that).

David and Cece Ghosts, Boo!

My pumpkins, Cecelia also picked up some little bitty

orange pumpkins that look like ornaments.

I have never been here for pumpkin season but I think

they are one of the best. I think we'll be back

next year.

The are:  http://www.amadorflowerfarm.com/

We did have a good time, and I love taking rides in the back country, reminds me of

good times when I was young. My dad and mom use to pile us kids in the station wagon

and take a drive in the country and usually we'd find a road side stand selling fruit or nuts and produce.

Sometimes I would get car sick and have to stick my head out the window and

let the wind blow in my face. But I did enjoy it. Them were simpler times.

Have a great weekend!

"georgie" 

There is plan

So when Life throws you a curve you must turn to the Lord

every way and every how.

That's why I love it when we get to feast at the table

of our LDS semi-annual conference.

This Fall was no exception. I dvr'd all sessions and

early Saturday evening I started watching

Saturday's sessions. It was soooooooooooooo

good! Scratch that, it was full of awesomeness.
What I love about conference weekend is that I get
to make a big breakfast, on the menu:
Yummy crisp bacon
sunny side eggs
stacks of buttermilk pancakes
with "real" butter and maple syrup
orange juice
hot chocolate
Then sitting down and enjoying
the best show, Sunday's session
of conference.
I always come away teary eyed from how
strong the spirit is when I've listened to
our Prophet Thomas S. Monson his apostles and
members of the Presidency and other leaders.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the knowledge that
we have of the Plan of Salvation. And if any of my non LDS  friends want to know
more: www.mormon.org
I know that Jesus Christ is our elder brother and that he has restored
his church here on earth in these latter days. I know
that the Book of Mormon is true. The Holy Spirit has born witness
to me after reading it that it is true. I know that if anyone wants to
know if the Book of Mormon is true, they must read it and study it out in their mind
and most importantly ask by praying to know for themselves if 
this book is true. I know that no one can convince anyone of it's truthfulness, 
the only way anyone can find out for themselves, is by praying with
a sincere heart and true intent asking Heavenly Father if this book is true. 
This is the only way. 
On a somber note. My dear brother-in-law Dennis this past summer was diagnosed with stage 4 
multimyloma. This is my husband's older brother. What is sad is that his wife is suffering from
early Alzheimer's. This last month we have been going over to their home every free weekend
to help clean out and get rid of stuff  that they needed to have done for some time. My 
brother-in-law has always been the one who takes care of everyone and always 
the optimist. He has always kept a brave face and a happy one at that. 
I admired his positive attitude throughout the years. He is a very young
active 72 year old. Up until this last spring he has always been on a
Basketball team, baseball team, tennis team, and played golf. He
was always physically fit and active. He literally married the girl-next-door. 
Yes, he and Darlene grew up next door to each other, he being 2 years her senior.
They were the perfect fairy tale. He went to college, she went to hers. They 
got married in the Catholic church. They had a boy and girl. Bought a home
in the perfect neighborhood. He got a great job which he was able to 
retire from at the age of 55. He financially planned well, where
they would be able to retire very comfortable. They got
to travel and enjoyed the comforts of a good life. 
Not everything was perfect, and nothing is, but they were healthy 
and they love each other immensely. It wasn't until early summer that he started having
pain in his hip and pelvic bone when he was diagnosed. Each time we see
him, he is not doing well and he has lost weight, he is more tired and
his strength is not what it use to be. Because my sister-in-law cannot remember
things, the driving to doctor's appointments, remembering  to make what
phone calls are on my brother-in-law's shoulders. He pushes himself to keep going.
 We are doing what we 
can to help out.
 This is David's last living relative, their parents and other
brother are both deceased.  Their son who lives out of town does what he can, but unfortunately
their daughter is mentally incapable to care for them. My brother-in-law D knows
that if he wants a blessing from the Elders of our church they will be there. We pray and have fasted
for him and continue to pray for him. I know that he is in the Lord's hands. Years ago
I gave them The Book Of Mormon. I don't know if  he ever read it, but the last time
we visited him, I noticed that it was out in front with some of his other books. Recently he asked
David to tell me "the latter-day saint" to pray for him. I had to laugh but
I  was also touched.  I told David to tell him that we have and that we are. 
I only wish he knew of the great plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. 
Maybe he will allow me to talk about it to him at our next visit. 
I know this has been pretty heavy and I hope you don't mind. But 
I needed to put down my thoughts on this subject for some time. 

"georgie"

p.s. a funny but true, I cut my bangs too short! Ah!

 
 

Oh no, It's Fall ya'll

                    I love it when I check my Face book and see

this surprise. Thanks to my son-in-law and his talents

they take a family picture every fall and here they are

with their three girls. 

I tell my kids when they ask me what I want for Christmas

and I always tell them,  pictures please, I just 

love getting pictures of them, a mother cherishes

these things.... 

 

So after fighting it, I am now excepting that Fall is here.

Don't get me wrong I love Fall, but that just means that

winter is around the corner, and it gets dark earlier

and Christmas is coming and I'm not ready. 

So many projects, so little time. 

Don't know if chalk paint is out now, but I still have a lot to use up

so grab an old picture that you don't mind painting over and

waa laa, framed chalkboard.  The  decorative vine of leaves are

from the Dollar store. Easy peasy.

This is one of the easiest ideas, yet, a canning jar and

leaves, just make sure your leaves have soaked a bit in water

or else your gonna have a little bonfire in your jar. 

I have some metal baskets and this is a great way to

display them besides filling them with potatoes or spaghetti  squash

which is how I've been using them. 

I am grateful today for sunshine and a good panini sandwich

all ingredients from our local farmers market such as:

Heirloom tomatoes, white cheddar cheese, basil and good crusty

roasted garlic rosemary bread.  Deliciousness!

Have a great rest of your weekend,

tomorrow is the Sabbath. 

Enjoy!

"georgie"

September morn

We rounded out our vacation with spending it with M & J

in Berkeley. We are getting to know the great eats off of

Shattuck the newest foodie place they took us

made these. Yum!

http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/

Each day they make a different pizza, so check their calendar and that's the one kind they

make the whole day. All ingredients are fresh and organic and  vegetarian.

We also attended the Farmers Market. Grabbed some good whole wheat rye bread

and some white cheddar cheese with a nutty taste, added some heirloom tomatoes

and we were on our way to Tilden Park for an impromptu picnic.

The day before the Farmers market we spent time with Cece at China town and

ate some Chinese and picked up some scarves 5 for $19.99 not bad. So needed

for the winter. I gave one to M for her first day on the job.

Sorry these are not in order, this is back at the farmers market. I took this picture to show the

real serious buyers, like this gal. While picking out some tomatoes, there was

this guy in his Chef jacket, and he was actually buying his produce for

that night's dinner for his restaurant. He told me to come and

check it out. I will next time.

Notice the jacket and vest, yes it was a little cool, and I loved it,

Here I am coping a squat at Berkeley's Marina's park. There you have a great

view of the Golden Gate, or Berkeley town and even the

Oakland Temple.

"georgie"

Part 3 Colorado

              So this is the view looking down to the Lobby 

from the 2nd floor.      

Every night they served Roasted chocolate Marshmallows

for the guests from 4pm -7pm. Unfortunately

we were always away doing something else when they did this.

But I heard they were scrumptious!

David looks kinda funny here for some reason.

Okay, so this was one of the best parts. I have never

indulged myself with getting a facial so since they guys were

playing golf, I thought this was the day. Too make a long story short,

the Spa was gorgeous. You were taken to a room where you received

a locker with a robe, slippers and a towel. Then

you went to the lounge where your Facial Specialist

escorted you to "The room". I had a 60 minute Facial,

I told her I wanted the "works". It was so relaxing, so much

so, I caught myself starting to snore, "whoops"!

I was kind of embarrassed but Jennifer my girl

said, "that's okay, that means you are really

enjoying it".  I guess.

This is me before the Facial. I wanted to document this

momentous occasion. Cuz, it wasn't going to happen

again for a long long time.

This is a view in back of the Hotel, looking up at where the ski runs are. During

the summer months, you can bike or hike up and down.

This is the town of Leadville. It is a small town, but in it's hey day during

the Silver mining era, it was the biggest town 2nd to Denver.

It happens to be the city at the highest elevation in the United States, between

10-14k feet at its highest.

This isn't a very good picture of us, but the dinner was tastelicious. Luke and Maya

joined us one evening at the hotel for dinner. We really had a good time with them.

David wanted his picture taken outside this Bar, he was amused with the sign

and name of it. This is in the town of Leadville. While we were there, David

made a great purchase at the Vintage Milecreek store. He always wanted a

pair of cowboy boots and they had some gently used boots that

fit perfect. When we got home we found out they were made by

Tony Lama a famous Boot maker and his boots

retailed for $243.00 we got them for a steal at $25 bucks.

He was very pleased. I just wanted him to put them on and

walk around the house with a cowboy hat on and his Birthday suit.

(You didn't read that). jk,.

"georgie"

Colorado part 2#

We were off again back to Colorado. Luke was our 3^rd driver, so

It was nice to have him along. We had never been to The Arches National Park, if I did, it

Wasn’t since I was a little girl, so because it was on our way back we decided to go there.

It’s not far off of Hwy 70, about 35 minutes or so. It’s amazing you’re driving along

Out in the middle of no where and then you start seeing the pinks and oranges of rock

Formations way off in the distance and it starts to get exciting.

We entered the park and we couldn’t get enough pictures. The pictures don’t do it justice either.

Each turn we made as we made our way up the side of the mountain, the view just kept on getting better and better. I can’t describe it really well. It was pretty hot but that didn’t

Keep the tourists away. We stopped a long the way at every turn out we could and took

Pictures. It was amazing. David kept on saying, we have to come back, we have to

Come back in the spring  or early fall next year when it’s not too hot and we can

Stay longer to camp.

We went into the town of Moab and got gas and our driver Luke made a

Courtesy stop for me so I could go into some of the shops. It is a tradition that

I get David a baseball cap when we’re we visit a new place, and I wanted to

Definitely get him one from here. Besides it was Moab. I also have to google

Every town we have interest in and read all about it’s history, geography, climate etc.

It’s very fascinating to me, I know I’m weird about that.

I’m never disappointed when reading the rich history of the different places that

We visit. Even if the town is so small that it seems insignificant. There is always some

Little nugget of interest in the town.

We didn’t stay too long because we wanted to get to Avon before dark.

Maya was waiting for us and it was really good to see her and also be out of the car.

The next morning we were off again to spend the day in Aspen. I have never been.

But first we checked into our hotel room. The Park Hyatt at Beaver Creek Resort, it is a

Four start hotel in the middle of Beaver Creek, Avon, Colorado. Maya works there and

So lucky us we got the family discount, over 50% off, such a break!  In the high season rooms can go

For $1100 a night, even in the low season, the low season about $300 a night.

For us it was , wait for it, wait for it, $90 a night!

We felt very fortunate.

Aspen is about an hour and 45 minutes away from Avon but it’s a gorgeous drive.

The weather temperature gets to the lower to mid 70’s in the summer, just perfect.

We got to Aspen and it didn’t disappoint. Lot’s of high end stores, like Gucci, Prada, Ralph Lauren

Etc. We went into a couple of them and of course walked didn’t purchase anything, I can’t believe some people will pay $400-$1300 or more for a purse or a shirt for that matter.

 The pictures just don't do them justice. You just have to be there

to appreciate the beautiful colors of the rock and formations. 

David, so wants to go back there when we have more time.

 Such a good looking couple, our hosts

son, Luke and daughter-in-law, Maya.

 Our beautiful daughter-in-law Maya and I  resting in between

the hard job of shopping.

 Us in the Arches. 

 Luke and Maya found a bargain at Ralph Lauren, if you can believe it,

they were having the summer sales. 

We had so much fun window shopping and browsing around in

Aspen. It's very walkable, I think I like it best during this time of the year

verses in the winter.

 We had a delicious lunch in Aspen, at a place called Pacifica. 

I had the Tuna Nicoise salad and David had Fish Tacos. Luke and Maya

joined us for lunch, the weather was just gorgeous.

This girl doesn't wear Prada. Hmm. I never went in it but they had a beautiful 

window front.  
More on our trip, stay tuned....

"georgie"

Colorado, Utah, oh my.

We took off early Saturday morning, 4am to be exact

and a way we flew to the Rocky Mountain mile high state of Colorado, this was  our

first leg of our trip, we met up with our son, it was so good to see him and 

breathe the the fresh mountain air of  Avon. Avon sits right next to Vail, Colorado.

We all jumped in the car and away we were off again headed for Lehi, Utah. 

Yes call us crazy, but this was the plan. 6 1/2 hours later

we were playing and kissing our granddaughters, especially

our youngest, little Stephanie.  I can't tell you how much

I love my grandchildren. I know that all Grandparents feel the same way about their own, so they

know what I'm talking about. But there is something that is embedded

in my heart that  when I think about them it makes my heart

just swell with love, joy. It is unexplainable. 

Chris, our son-in-law gave a moving blessing to little Stephanie, Sunday

and it was the highlight of  our trip. 

I am so thankful to have a great son-in-law in Chris who is a worthy Priesthood  holder

who takes such good care of our daughter Cheri and his little family.  They make a 

good team. When we get together there are always games to play and long conversations

unfortunately the visit was going to be a short one, and  so we tried to fill each minute

packed with enjoying each other's company.

I hate good bye's. I told Cheri,  I know I'm biased, but I do have the most

cutest and most adorable grandchildren, we gave them lots of kisses and hugs and

blown kisses as we drove away, sniff, sniff.  

Until our next visit. 

"georgie"

Her 7th

She's seven! Our oldest granddaughter turned 7, I can't believe how big she is 

getting. She is kind, she is lovable, she is always happy and positive. 

She is thoughtful and caring. She is helpful and has lots of energy,

so much so that her mom involves her with activities like

soccer, which she really loved last year. This summer she started

ballet. She seems to like it so far. 

She has always loved dressing up, she loves loves Princesses from 
all the fairy tales, hence her Birthday cake here. This year
she has gotten into the "Brat" dolls. We fell in love with her
the day she was born. We love her so very much!
Happy Birthday dear Tacie!