DEREK'S OTHER BOYS!

Young Men playing the "trust" game in our basement!

Derek is the Young Mens President in his branch in Mt. Juliet, TN. His young men have earned the money for the second year in a row to come to Gatlinburg for a retreat for 3 days. They come by our home the first night for dinner and stay overnight in our basement. They are the "cutest bunch" of boys,(sorry guys, I mean "handsome Young men") so well behaved and well mannered, and we thoroughly enjoyed having them stop by and "make some noise" in our otherwise very quiet "empty nest" home. Derek is a super cool leader to them and really had some fun and challenging activities planned for them to help them increase their testimonies and learn skills they will need as future missionaries!

WOW!!! 32 YEARS!

February 4, 1977!! 32 years is a long time. But, on the other hand, it seems like yesterday that we were driving to the Salt Lake Temple and got a speeding ticket!! 4 children and 6 grandchildren later all I can say is...life is good!! Happy Anniversary to us!

"I THINK I LIKE JANUARY NOW!!!"

Greg made this window for me for Christmas!

My french, country office!

The album I made for my granddaughter for her birthday!

A few of the pages!

Spencer's mission album!

I know most of us dread the cold, dreary days of January. Christmas is over, there are no grandkids around, and it's time to diet and exercise. I have always dreaded January. But this year I feel a little different. I've been spending most of my time cozy and warm at home in my beautiful french, country office just enjoying blogs, scrapbooking, crafting and watching a heck of a lot of Fox News and HGTV. From April through December we spend an awful lot of time away from home at Festivals, Fairs and other events and I am always longing to be home more. Well, I got my wish this January- and although Christmas is over and I miss my grandkids terribly and I don't particularly enjoy trying to stay on a 1200 calorie diet or working out on the elliptical, I really like January now!

"ENRICHMENT LEADER"

Paper sack purse albums

Up Close!

Poster & Invitation

As the newly called enrichment leader in our ward, I have been working on the R.S. birthday party in March. I think we might be the last ward in the church to do the "purse" themed enrichment night, but that is what we have decided to do calling it the "Purse"-suit of Happiness. We will present the theme by talking about how we all have different "purse"-sonalities, we all carry different kinds of "purses" at different times of our lives (back-packs,diaper bags, church calling bags, brief cases, suitcases, etc.) But no matter where we are in life, we need to "purse"-severe, be "purse"-sistent, and continually "purse"-sue happiness as intended by Heavenly Father.
We'll play a "what's in your purse" game, and then make these cute paper sack purse albums that we can give to a special "purse"-son! Thanks too, to my nieces Jenny and Crystal for giving me ideas they used in their ward. I'm tired of purses now!!

JUST ENOUGH!

We got just enough snow today to make it pretty, but not enough to keep me off the roads!!

PAPER BAG ALBUM!

I know they've been around forever, but I just made my first paper bag album. I turned it into a "brag" book for my 6 adorable grandkids!!

FIRST PICTURE FROM ARGENTINA!

Here's the first picture we received from Spencer from Argentina.