The view from up here...

...from the top of the stairs, with Grandpa Bailey and Alice. ...from piggyback rides in Grandma Bailey's living room. (Look, we caught Connor on camera!)

...or from another piggyback ride at Uncle Kim's.Do I know these last two girls???

New blogs

Let me introduce two new blogs: Aunt Terry is now up and running with "Terry's World" at tarlady.blogspot.com (Theresa Ann Ryan).

The second blog is done by some women in our ward (myself included), to answer some of the political questions brought up by the current campaign as related to Mormonism. One of the women is a journalism major (Master's degree), and the other is an attorney. I'm the voice of the common person, I guess. I really don't know how I got included, other than having an interest in the topic. www.truthandreason.typepad.com

Check them out!

And the Christmas memories keep rolling...

Brenna and her great-grandpa looking through a seed catalog...Or Brenna enjoying Christmas oranges...
Great-grandpa holding Alastair (who is obviously teething--lots of drool at current time!)
Or catching Catherine playing with Alastair. Funny. Not too many pictures of Connor. That could be because he runs whenever a camera appears.

Or he sticks up his hand to cover his face.

And interestingly, not too many pictures of Great-grandma Bailey. Despite our efforts to order pizza or Chinese food, to make things easier, she was ALWAYS in the kitchen, just whipping up something "easy" like peach cheesecake, or apple pie, or homemade chicken noodle soup.

We've discovered that if you want to spend time with Grandma, help out in the kitchen. She appreciates the help and you get to hear some great stories from her life.

Such as:

The time on her 1st mission when the mission president had exhorted the missionaries to open their mouths in any situation--in the grocery line, on the street, etc. She was being transferred to a new area and had to ride the bus--a couple of hours. So she began talking with the man seated next to her. He wasn't really interested in her gospel message, but she "unloaded" (in her words) and gave him the whole story. When she got off, she thought he looked relieved! End of story? No.

At the next Zone Conference, another set of missionaries

asked her if she had been on the bus on such-and-such date.

Yes, she had.

Well, the woman sitting in FRONT of her had been listening. She looked up the missionaries

and was baptized!

I'm just glad I was helping peel potatoes!

Two weeks ago today...

Yes, we had plenty of snow while we were in Idaho. The normal picture here is of a lovely plum tree with green grass under it. Not so in December!I was just reflecting. Two weeks ago, right about this time of afternoon, we were trying to drive in the lane to the Bailey home. Usually, that quarter mile lane is traversed in a matter of a minute or less. Not so this time! One hour. Yes, one hour! The wind had been blowing, and all that beautiful, powdery, 12 inches of snow started moving around... drifting... filling in the lane. Justin and Darcy barely made it in with their 4-wheel drive an hour earlier. Catherine and Aaron, with 3 unhappy children, had taken 20 minutes, a few hours earlier. Here's Justin, running back to the house for another shovel. And maybe a warmer hat. It was bitterly cold with the wind!
It was a matter of shovel out under the wheels, rock the car backward and forward (with lots of yells, "don't spin the wheels!") and then move forward 10 feet before repeating the actions.

One of the major problems is that the Honda minivan has a low clearance--we were constantly high-centering on the snow drifts, and the chassis has NO place to hook on a towing cable. That would have made it all too easy--Grandpa could have just got the tractor and hauled us through all those drifts. But the owner's manual states: towing is definitely NOT recommended.

Once we made it to the house, Grandpa took the tractor out with a blade, and then later with a snow blower to clear things out. He was up at 4:30 Sunday morning to get it ready for us to go to church at 9 a.m. We were the first out. Stuck again. After 30 minutes of work, we were able to get back to the house, then go in shifts in the 4-wheel drive vehicles. We were only 20 minutes late for church, and we were providing the special musical number (Kevin-piano, Deborah, Elly and Alice on string instruments--it was beautiful!)

We'll always remember this Christmas vacation!

Images of Christmas

Whether putting together a puzzle with Grandma Beth,

gathering with the extended family at Grandma and Grandpa Bailey's,

wearing new Christmas clothing, or

waiting with anticipation for the unwrapping of gifts, Christmas brings such great memories. And Justin, sorry about making it look like you were still sleepy. I'm SURE that wasn't the case, was it?

Christmas Giving--2007

With the theme of "Variety is the Spice of Life," the sibling gift recipients of 2007 were as follows:

Catherine gave to Justin

***

Aaron gave to Elizabeth

***

Justin gave to Ryan

***

Darcie gave to Jamie

***

Ryan gave to Darcie

***

Jamie gave to Aaron

***

Deborah gave to Alice

***

Elizabeth gave to Catherine

and

Alice gave to Deborah

***

We saw varieties of hot chocolate; a gorilla variety of tri-pod (that Elizabeth hasn't stopped playing with yet); a variety of air fresheners for Deborah's car; a variety of Pride & Prejudice Soundtrack (there are so many different ones out there?); and a variety of photos and frames. I'd like to hear what the other gifts were. Aaron, what did you get? Ryan and Jamie, what spicy variety of things did you receive?

***

And, who wants to come up with next year's theme???

Did Someone Mention Snow?

Snow, snow, snow... winter has technically just begun, but snow has been around for quite a while now. Here in Cedar Falls......and on Interstate 80 between Laramie and Rawlins in Wyoming... (and this was before it got scary and Kevin took over driving)...
...at Hoback Junction, near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This part of the journey was SO beautiful!
And the bighorn sheep didn't seem to be bothered by all the snow, though they were feeding near the roadway. It was thrilling to see them!
We were happy to make it to Idaho, safe and sound. The roads were snow-covered the last fourth of the way (about 300 miles). But the Christmas holidays were totally worth it all!

Friday, January 04, 2008

Well, it's over, and I’m looking forward to peace and quiet!

You think I’m talking about the holiday season? No. I’m talking about the Iowa Caucuses. (I’d say Hawkeye Cauckeye, but I’m not sure how to spell that.) When we returned home from vacation, the answering machine was full with political calls. The mail was full of political mailings. The airwaves had back-to-back-to-back political ads. Here in Iowa, we’ve been deluged with politics--the first ads began last January, about 30 days after the last general election. The rest of you should be grateful you don’t have to go through that!

But we do appreciate being able to see the candidates up close. Last night, our county held all our caucuses at one location (which was not nearly big enough). For an hour before the caucus starting time, candidates could speak, and they did. First came Mike Huckabee (huckster is a better term), passing himself off as a conservative, with multiple scriptural references to make sure people remember he is an evangelical Christian. Then came Ron Paul, with his fiery defense of the Constitution, followed by Ann Romney, Mitt’s wife. These were IN PERSON, and Kevin and I were in the third row. Where else could you have national presidential candidates parade by like they were local mayoral candidates??? We also heard from Dr. Hugh Cort, a presidential candidate who either is a nut-case or has a really scary scenario about suitcase-nuclear bombs being smuggled in by illegals. The other candidates had a surrogate to speak for them, except Rudy Guiliani who didn’t do anything.

We were disappointed in the preference tally, and the setback to Mitt Romney. Although not a perfect candidate, we thought he would do a good job as president. After seeing some of the campaigning Huckabee has done, if he became the Republican candidate I’d ALMOST rather vote democratic. The ugly head of religious bigotry has come forth again (I thought that was relegated to the 19th century), and Huckabee is at the front. Even more troubling is that there has been no outcry from the other candidates or the general populace. It will be interesting to see if the Huckster can delude the voters of other states.

* * * * * * * *

An Early December Sampler

Instead of chocolates, I'm sending out some photos of what our first few days of December have been.

Decorations....

Chipping away the ice from the weekend ice storm. It was good that we had afternoon church, because all four of us spent nearly two hours getting the driveway and front sidewalks free of most of the ice. I spent an hour yesterday working on the deck. Since we don't have any ice skates, it was a bit hazardous. One family on the street built a circular igloo (or in my childhood, we would have called it a fort, since it didn't have a roof) with all the chunks of ice from their driveway. School began 2 hours late yesterday morning with the leftover ice, and it is supposed to snow/rain/etc, again tomorrow. I'm getting tired of ice...

Last night, Alice took part in her school's 5th & 6th grade musical. (Alice is wearing the blue hat on the second row). She also had a small solo on one number. It was fun to watch!

A few notes

A busy week or two, and suddenly I'm way behind on my posts! The October/November time is like that. With our anniversay, birthday, Halloween, stake conference, and all the yard work to tuck things in for the winter, there just hasn't been much extra time.

First, I had to include Kevin from the ward Halloween party. Someone had an afro wig, add a mustache, etc., and voila!

Second, the jack-o-lantern--design by Elizabeth, workmanship--Kevin, pumpkin preparation--Alice and me. A real family affair with a pumpkin that had lots of character.

We had almost 100 trick-or-treaters here on Halloween night. Although it was a chilly night (40 degrees with a north wind), it didn't seem to keep people home. If Halloween had been one night earlier, we would have had 60 degree balmy weather! We would have been able to leave the coats at home.

The girls and I went to a ward member's home Halloween party for an hour, then joined some of their school friends for the last hour of trick-or-treating, in a ritzy area of town. They got king-size candy bars at some of the homes! I haven't seen Elizabeth's stash of candy lately, but I'm sure it is diminishing rapidly. Alice has had a bad cold, and has held off eating her candy, since sugar suppresses the immune system and she wants hers to be as strong as possible. She asked me to put her stash up out of sight so she wouldn't be tempted to indulge.

Then a few days later we had stake conference. Since there was no General Authority or broadcast, the stake presidency had the whole show; Kevin had three talks to prepare. He did well with all of them! For the Sunday session, Elizabeth and Alice, along with another young woman from our ward were asked to provide string music for the prelude. So we worked up a number of hymns and hymn arrangements (I accompanied), and they provided 15 minutes of music. They sounded so nice! Lots of people complimented them after the meeting.

The day before, it was the Young Women's turn to clean the chapel, so we were able to inspire them "we get to make the church look super for all the visitors at stake conference"! And they responded. Elizabeth even got a flower arrangement out of the Relief Society closet to dress up the women's bathroom. It was fun to participate with them in the extra-special cleaning.

So, it was my birthday...

After a leisurely-spent day, doing what I wanted to do rather than what I should do, we went to Black Hawk Park for a picnic. That's where the ward often has their 24th of July event. It was nice that daylight savings hadn't ended, so we still had a bit of sunshine. Still, it was chilly as the sun set. (But there were still mosquitoes out!) After Kentucky Fried Chicken, we went for a walk. There is actually a roadway here--we weren't walking on water, though the river was very high, with lots of overflow in low areas.
Back home, we indulged in my traditional orange cake, this time with chocolate drizzles. It was delicious!
And the maple tree in the back yard has finally turned colors--just in time for my birthday.

Dedicated to Deborah, our Optimist

An Optimist fell ten stories,

And at each window bar
He shouted to friends

and family below...

"Well, I'm all right so far!"

And the amazing thing is, that somehow she always lands safely!

Deborah, are your guardian angels working overtime, helping with all the things you've got going on in your life right now? (Master's studies, teaching, performing, church calling, dating and occasionally sleeping......)

Things we learned last weekend

We learned a few things on our trip last weekend...

...don't forget my overnight case. (A trip over the river and into Wisconsin, to a Walmart, and crisis solved!)

...don't build an all-wood cabin for our home in Idaho. (We had been thinking of doing that). There is NO insulation in the walls--they look beautiful but you can hear people talking in the other rooms even though doors are closed. I had plenty of time to ponder this as I lay awake far into the night. Some of the other guests were a group of women on a husband-less-antique-and-quilt-shopping weekend. They stayed up late talking yet that wasn't keeping me awake. It was the occasional bursts of cackling or exclamation that would come just as I was about to drop off. At that point, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to go to a bed & breakfast again.
If we had a home like that, with visiting grandchildren, if one cried in the night, everyone would hear it.

...take more weekend trips!!

Weekend Retreat

Something new to do: stay in a bed-and-breakfast. We found one that sounded nice--a cabin setting. I've always liked rustic Americana.

And we had SUNSHINE! Glorious blue skies, vibrant colors of leaves. Not a sign of civilization, either on our side of the Mississippi, or on the Wisconsin side. And I was glad that I had read first, the Red River Girl book, as it gave lots of background for the settling of this area.
It was fun chatting with another couple as we waited for breakfast, which was a huge affair--fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, thick slices of decadent french toast. Good thing we were planning on doing a lot of hiking! (And we weren't hungry until mid-afternoon). Pike's Peak State park was a couple of miles away and the trails and lookouts over the Mississippi River were spectacular. Why haven't we taken the family here before?

(It's less than two hours away).

The morning was chilly; pleasant by noon. And the sunshine felt soooo good! We also visited Effigy Mounds National Monument. It has been 24 years since we last visited here--Ryan was a 1-year-old toddler. We saw a bald eagle flying over the water below us. We saw large V's of migrating birds.

But best of all, was just being with my sweetheart. It is hard to believe we've been married for 30 years--how time flies when you are having fun!

What's with all the rain???

October. Blue skies, autumn leaves, crisp nights and bright days.

Except for this year. We've had twice the rain in the first half of the month that Idaho has had in the last YEAR.

I'm grateful today...

...that Kevin is home tonight! He was able to get on an earlier flight from Chicago to Cedar Rapids than the one he was scheduled to fly on, and as he drove out of the CR airport to come home, he got one of those automated phone calls from the travel agency: the flight he was booked on had been cancelled due to bad weather and the next flight was tomorrow morning. (I'm grateful he is such a savvy traveler!)

...that the rain is supposed to stop tomorrow and the sun is going to shine on Saturday! Kevin and I are going to a bed & breakfast tomorrow night, in Macgregor--a little town on the Mississippi where there are hills and hardwood forests, and maybe the leaves will be at their peak for color! This is our big hurrah for our 30th anniversary.

Time to decorate for Halloween?

Once upon a time, we created "Mitch", who watched over our front porch. That must have been the time that Kevin was in Japan, because we took his jeans, an old shirt, a John Deere hat, and even his gloves and shoes, and stuffed them with leaves--lots of dry leaves!
I won't comment on the costumes (?) Justin, Ryan and Deborah are wearing.... (Justin was still recovering from his broken arm).

Thumb-sucking runs in the family...

Seeing Marta, my granddaughter, with her thumb in her mouth reminded me of her father..

.

You asked for it--you got it!

DEATH BY CHOCOLATE ("DER TOD VOR SCHOKOLADE")

First, the actual recipe:
1 9x13 Pan of brownies, baked
2 pkgs chocolate Mousse, prepared
1 large container Cool Whip
8 Heath Bars, crushed (or a pkg of Brickle Bits)
1 c pecans, chopped
Crumble the brownies and place 1/2 in a large bowl. Spread 1/2 of the mousse over the brownies pieces, then 1/2 of the Cool Whip, then Heath bar pieces then the nuts. Repeat all steps. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Serves 12-15 people. This is fun in a clear-glass bowl, so you can see the layers. I often do it in three layers instead of two.

Now, my reality:

• instead of Mousse, I use instant chocolate pudding.
• I like mini-chocolate chips instead of the Heath Bars, simply because I am more likely to have them on hand.
• I don't usually put the nuts in.

This is probably the Death By Chocolate that you remember. I should have taken a picture of it on Friday night, but wasn't thinking! And I'm not going to make it again just for a photo. My waistline couldn't take that!

I am grateful for...

...laying in my snug, warm bed this morning, listening to rain on the roof. We have such a comfortable home!

...the convenience and swiftness of email so I don't have to worry if Kevin made it safely to France. I wonder how, in centuries past, those wives endured when their husbands went overseas for missions, or war, and didn't have communication for months!

...the ease of photography and how many pictures we have of the children (more now than when Catherine was the baby and we were poor students being careful with our money--and getting slides developed was "expensive".) I think we have more pictures of our grandchildren already than all the pictures of our children!