MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas everyone. I'm posting a link to a great video and song that can be downloaded. I send my wishes for a wonderful holiday, and don't forget to remember Christ and how truly blessed we are because He lives! Here's the link. The website is appropriately called: Joy to Everyone

For all you singers out there .....

Ok, so I don't usually recommend television shows, but I have been watching a show this week that has been so much fun. It's called "The Sing-off," and it's on Mon. & Wed. nights on NBC (or whenever you want to stream it with that magical internet connection). It's a singing competition of a cappella groups, which sounds kind of dull, but it's not because they are so good! So check it out if you're in the mood for something entertaining ... especially you singers out there. I think it only runs for a couple of weeks.

Fireworks in the Winter???

Pocatello has a really fun annual tradition. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving they hold "Christmas in the Night Time Skies" at the fairgrounds close to my house. They have bonfires, serve chili and hot dogs, and have a firework show. The cost of admission is a wrapped toy that the Salvation Army distributes to kids for Christmas. It's a pretty cool idea, and even more amazing to watch fireworks in the sky when it is freezing cold outside and the ground is covered with snow. I love it! I can see the fireworks from my house, so this year I watched them from my window, all warm and toasty inside. The temperature was in the single digits outside! I took some pictures - not very good ones because they were through the window - but it might give you the idea, and anyway what's a blog post without a picture!!!

Of Birthdays and Other Things ...

It's Chuck's birthday today, and I'm feeling a bit reflective. Sometimes I wonder if they still celebrate birthdays in Heaven. After all, it is a pretty significant event to be born into this earth life. So ... Happy Birthday to Chuck, whatever he's doing in Heaven today!!!

I also wanted to post some pictures of a trip I took in October to a great little Bed and Breakfast in Leavenworth, Washington. It was the place that Chuck and I used to go whenever we wanted an escape from life and a great, relaxing mountain get-a-way, so it holds a lot of good memories for me. I was pretty nervous going, not knowing if it would be a relaxing, healing sort of trip or a lonely disaster. Thankfully, it turned out to be a sweet, peaceful, healing experience where I met many kind, generous people, relaxed, and rejuvenated my spirit. I did shed some tears, but also enjoyed wonderful memories of our time together there. And it turned out to be quite empowering as I conquered my first trip alone, driving, flying, renting a car, etc ... and learned that I could actually enjoy doing it. So here is Run of the River in the fall.

The fall decorations were great. There were pumpkins and these scarecrow guys everywhere, even lining the driveway up to the B & B.

When I wasn't inside by my toasty warm fireplace, I was relaxing on the deck off of my room looking at this beautiful scenery, feeding birds, watching Canadian Geese fly by in formation, watching the deer come up the creek and onto the grass, or just listening to the serene sounds of nature. Ahhhhhh!

And finally, a nice couple took a picture of me by my scarecrow friend that was sitting below my deck. Who says I wasn't with someone!

Honoring All Veterans

Gotta Love the Changing Seasons!

This first picture was taken off my deck on Friday when it was a balmy 70 degrees. The next was taken today as I am still waiting for the temperature to go above 30.

Yep, gotta love the change of seasons in Idaho. So in keeping with the family tradition of the first snowfall, Christmas music accompanied me while I did my washing and cleaning this morning. And yes, it did include some Amy Grant. Now tonight when it gets dark early (thanks to daylight savings time), and I have my pajamas on and the fire going .....which Christmas movie should I watch???

The great thing about this is that for a day, the dread of oncoming winter has left me and been replaced with the joy of the season. Ahhhhhhhh

Halloween Fun

Last weekend Shauna, Devin & Kristine and the kids came up here for a visit. It was a lot of fun going to a ward carnival, seeing those cute little grand kids dressed up in their costumes, and carrying on the tradition of making doughnuts!!! This year we even had some glazed doughnuts thanks to Devin finding the recipe online with his fancy new ipod! Sadly, in the busyness of it all, we didn't take any pictures of the kids in their costumes (except on Shauna's cell phone). Katelynne was a cute black and green witch, Alexa was a Care Bear in a costume made by Devin and Kristine, and Russell was the cutest little Yoda you've ever seen, walking along with his short little legs. If I am able to find a way to get the pictures from my phone to this blog, you will see them later, but for now, (you'll have to forgive me Devin & Kristine) I'm going to post pictures from last year because they were so cute then too ..... and because that's what proud grandmas do!

New Blog

Well, I've created a blog. I guess I had to see what the rest of the world was experiencing. I don't know what I'm doing yet, and we'll see if this is something that takes, as the "happenings" of my life are a little unpredictable still. But there you have it. I am an official blogger.