Revamped

Today was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and warm and it was Fast Sunday. I got home from church and I told myself I wasn't going to end my fast until 4pm. So I sat outside and read this month's Ensign magazine, fell asleep for about 45 minutes. I thought I still have about 2 more hours, so I decided to work on my blog. Time just passed very quickly and before I knew it, it was 5pm. I don't know about you, but I was very thankful. Made dinner and enjoyed the rest of this evening tweaking my blog. I have found some great sites that I have fallen in love with. As you can see I love the beach, coast, etc. This new site (see button for abeachcottage) I totally love, I can really relate to Sarah who lives in Australia. I love her taste, simple and clean. Check it out, you may feel the same way. One great thing about working on my blog, I'm not snacking, a great appetite suppressant. Enjoy.

Sisters

I love my sisters so much!
Some of you may know, my sister who is 2 years older than I, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had her FIRST mammogram February 5th, her 2nd mammogram February 9th, biopsied Febuary 11th and diagnosed Febuary 12. Her Mastectomy February 26th.

And through all this,and many Priesthood blessings, prayers, Ward fastings and prayers were heard. She is doing remarkably well and we her family, friends are very hopeful. She feels at peace, and so do I. I believe we are all being comforted. You know it's funny she and I don't always see eye to eye, but as soon as this happened, and if there was anything amiss, it all went out the window and that's because she is MY sister and I love her so much.
My younger sister, Rhonda and I spent the weekend with her after her surgery, Rhonda cooked, I cleaned, it's the best combination. We talked and talked till after 2 am one night. I felt so thankful inside, because I knew if it was the other way around they would be there for me. Sunday was especially sweet, when her husband, my brother-in-law came during church with his Home teaching companion and served us the sacrament. As he blessed the bread, my sweet brother-in-law stopped briefly, over-come with emotion as we all did. I think we all felt so much gratitude for the Priesthood and the blessing that my sister was doing so well and with hardly any pain or discomfort from her surgery. It just makes me feel so appreciative of what we have.

Real Estate

So, yes, as most of you know, we have decided to try and sell our home (ourselves). Don't know what the outcome will be, but it won't hurt for trying. The market is not well right now, in fact, medically speaking it is in ICU on life support. But we are going to give it a try and see what happens. Our plan is to stay here in Placerville. Life it seems, is changing very quickly but then again it seems as though it is happening in slow motion. It's all good. Most importantly is our family. So if anyone knows of someone who is looking to buy here in Good ol Placerville, referrals are greatly appreciated. Here is a link to information on our home. www.3130sacramentostreet.blogspot.com

Regards

P

Out with old, in with the New Year!

David and I don't normally exchange presents. Although I did get him an MP3 this year, Mackenzie helped me by putting some of his favorite music on it and we presented it to him. David and the kids always asks me what I would like and they know my pat answer is: peace and harmony and us just being together. Honestly that's all I want. I have no wants. I have no other joy, than to be with my family. I love us just hanging out and talking and laughing. My adult kids love to tell me things they use to do when they were younger because they know I can't do anything about it. Sometimes I plug my ears and start singing la la la la. Cecelia will want to chime in and share, but then I will warn her kiddingly "hey you still live at home I can still ground you". LOl. Pretty soon she too will leave the nest. But until then I can still enjoy having her home. We thoroughly enjoyed Chloe. She is getting so big. We have found out that she loves men. She was not shy at all when she got reacquainted with David, she climbed right on his lap and settled in. It took a few minutes before you got use to me. It didn't take long. Christmas eve night she allowed me to sing and rock her to sleep. I think I sang Eensy weensy spider and Your are my Sunshine at least 20 times. Grandchildren are Grandparents rewards for not killing their kids. It is all worth it.

White Christmas

If they can't bring Christmas to us, we will bring Christmas to them, and that's what we did. Of course that was the plan anyways. All I wanted for Christmas was to have the whole famly together. We left at 4:15am December 24th- Christmas Eve for our destination, Lehi Utah. We decided to take Hwy 80 instead of the 50 route thru Carson City, and it was actually quicker to my surprise. After an uneventful trek, we rolled into Cheri and Chris's home at 3:15pm. After all hugs and kisses especially to little Chloe, Luke and Maya showed up and some of us got back into the car and ran up to Walmart to do our Christmas eve dinner shopping. I love being with my kids, they are still my kids. They always ask when I come visit, "are you shopping like Grandma Joan?" the answer is yes. They know they can throw anything in the cart and mom will get it. We got enough food for the eve and the next few days along with some other sundries and what nots. We piled back in the car, got back to Cheri's and Luke and I started preparing our dinner. We did it easy, a couple of rotissorie chickens, fixins for a green salad, mash potatoes, potato salad, (Maya likes this salad), fixins for gravy and forgot what else. I brought my homemade fudge from California and some other candy. After dinner it was time for the"Games". Our family loves to play games. The game we played was a new one called "the game of Things". Someone picks a card and reads the statement like: what you think it would be that would keep you out of heaven. Everyone writes an answer and throws it in a bow. There are no wrong answers. They can be outrageous, made up answers or serious ones. What you want to do is write an answer that no one will know it is you. Then someone reads the answers and everyone but the reader tries to guess who wrote what. It can get pretty crazy. My son-in-law later we found out, wrote killing kittens. We never guessed him, because we never thought he would write such a statement. Luke and Maya left to go home late that night and we headed off to bed. Christmas morning was nice because we all took our time getting up, showering and eating breakfast. The most enjoyable part was watching Chloe open her presents.

Since Cheri and Chris were going to his parents for Christmas dinner, David, Mackenzie, Cece and I headed for Luke and Maya's in Park City. We took our leftovers and ate lunch with Luke. Maya was working. He hung out and took it easy. Later after Maya got off work we all walked around Park City, everything was open and stopped into Main St Pizza and had our Christmas dinner. I don't know about you, but I loved it. No cooking, no dishes, just pure enjoyment. It was bustling with business and everyone there was in a festive mood. After dinner we walked up to "Cows" and had sundaes and hot chocolate. I could get use to this.

Brand New Year

A quiet New Years Eve dinner.....

What a Year!

What a year! I don't know if I should say this has been the worst, because I can look back and there have been some doozies(not sure if that's spelled right). But it is one year that won't be forgotten. It's a great time to reflect. January was pretty uneventful because I can't remember it, but then late February and March were two months of great sadness. Losing two dear friends. These losses have completely changed my life in so many ways. I look at our mortality in such a different way then ever before. I have never leaned on my faith as much as this year. I ask myself, are times and challenges coming as much or more? and so close together as before? Because it sure seems this way. On the other hand there have been many highlights and precious moments too. I was talking to someone about challenges and trials, and I said, you'll know when you no longer have them, because you will be dead. Be glad you have them because that means you are alive, you are truly experiencing life. I've always heard the saying, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. It's how you get through those trials and how you handle it. It is the refiners fire. We just can't give up especially on our Heavenly Father. This life is not and will never be easy. But if we are obedient and keep a hold of the iron rod, it will be okay, no matter what happens it will be okay. So there are many things to be grateful for. We could lose everything, I mean everything, home, job, loved ones, but as long as we stay valiant we will see our loved ones once again. The other things will be insignificant. So this is the conversation I had today. I have to remind myself of this too. Family is really what matters! So as I reflect this past year I have come to appreciate my loved ones so much more. I love them very much! 2010 here We come!

To Blog or not to blog?

That is the question. I love Christmas! First of all it's a good excuse to clean out the old and organize. After a good Stake Conference, I came home made dinner, ate and then got in the mood to do some decorating, Christmas stuff of course. So what better way to do this but by playing Christmas music of course. David will start moaning and he'll pretend he doesn't like it, but as soon as he see's the room take on a red, white and green look, he starts singing along with whatever Christmas music is playing and does these weird antics like clapping his hands and mimicking me. I don't mind, I just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm not done yet, I thought I would pace myself. Tonight maybe the tree. I'll add some pics later when I get it just right. This is our 3rd year that David, Cecelia and I are volunteering to serve at the ST Patrick's Community Dinner. I love it because I don't have to cook especially it's just the three of us. Cecelia loves to serve. The first year we did it she said she wanted to have the Homeless people's table. She finds it intriguing, she said she would love to interview them and hear their story. Of course we told her no, but be polite. She is funny that way.

We will start preparing at 12:30pm and then we serve dinner between 1pm - 3pm. Anyone can come and enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner. You can have seconds and you can even take a To-go meal home. The best part, the servers can eat towards the end, and if we want we can even take a To-go meal home. The room is beautifully decorated with round and long tables, just like you would see at a nice restaurant and you treat the people that are assigned to your tables like special guests to a fancy restaurant. We have always had a good experience. By 3:15pm or so, you're done and you can enjoy the rest of your day. I hope those that come to this dinner go away feeling good and had a nice experience. I know that we do.

Thankful

I'm feeling thankful for the simple things, like lately I haven't been in the mood to cook and D has been very patient and eating whatever I have fixed, like Cherrios or nachos or grill cheeses, or has taken it upon himself to make dinner for us. I know this sounds silly, but I am very grateful for this. Another thing, is that he is a great Laundress. In fact he does the laundry better than I. I have come home from a meeting and while watching football he is folding the laundry. Now that's a turn on! (My girls are gagging right now.)Most of all, I love that he can make me laugh, sometimes when its not appropriate, but most times just out of the blue. I love that I can put my cold feet next to his to get warm and he acts like he's annoyed but he really isn't. These few things make me appreciate him so much!