Beware...

...if you go to California to "look at a job" and your husband says, "Should we throw in the bikes?" And you say, "that might be fun..."

You could end up riding 20 miles (YES, I SAID TWENTY MILES!) along the beach bike path.

It actually was a lot of fun.

Even though the job is "on hold." Sigh...

Indiana Jeff

This is how my husband watches "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."



Alone. Because no one left in this house will watch it with him.
Never saw the "ripping out the heart" scene, never want to.


Maddie and I prefer movies like this! (Yes, we're all kinda dorks...)

A New Adventure

Don't you just love Relief Society sisters?

Glenna S. shows us how to make bread at our first "Raiders of the Lost Arts."

One of eight beautifully decorated tables at a Christmas dinner.

Kris B. and Michelle L., the counselors who saved my sanity the first two years of our calling.

Three birthday party celebrations, one tribute to a past president, two "Raiders of the Lost Arts," two "Nights of Music," forty Potluck Luncheons and Recipe Exchanges, seventeen (or more) funerals, haircutting class, photography class, forty play groups, 2 genealogy classes, ribbon embroidery, three Visiting Teaching Conferences, 24 Book Club meetings, 20 "Finish Your Project" get-togethers, three card-makings for Ronald McDonald house, 13 packages sent to a Cambodian Orphanage, three Food Storage/Cooking meetings, 155 72-Hour Kits in a Can, 2 Christmas party dinners, candy-making, dutch oven cooking, ethnic cooking, mexican cooking, important documents class, 3 Women's Conferences, 3 Broadcasts, stake service projects, 42 Ward Councils and PEC's, 40 Presidency Meetings, and at least 1,000,000,000 hours of loving, compassionate service from a whole group of incredibly wonderful women between the ages of 18 and 99 to their sisters and fellow members and neighbors in the Black Canyon Ward.

THAT'S what I should have answered when the Bishop released me as Relief Society president last Wednesday and asked me if any highlights of the past three-and-a-half years came to mind.

I will miss working with the wonderful ladies in my ward.

Now, it's on to a new and exciting adventure--2nd Counselor in the Young Women, where I'm sure I will have similar experiences with a group of wonderful girls ages 12-13! (Including Maddie for the next three months...)

Simple Pleasures

Who needs toys when Grandma S. hangs the laundry out to dry in Mt. Pleasant?

Tacos and Spaghetti

When I left home, that's all I knew how to cook.


These kids will not have that problem.


Amy let them help her make homemade-from-scratch Italian gnocchi Tuesday. (Not only did I not know how to make it, I didn't even know what it WAS till my adventurous-eater children introduced me to it. )


Aubrey love to "roll it to me" on the gnocchi paddle.

Tyler tries his hand at rolling.


I wasn't a big fan of gnocchi at first, but they are starting to grow on me. As Amy says, "It's all about the sauce." These were served with homemade pesto sauce and meat marinara sauce. Yum.

Maddie Starts School

I cannot believe my youngest daughter is an eighth grader.

She is growing up way too fast for my taste. Next year she'll be in high school!

(She probably won't appreciate me posting a photo of her in her dance workout clothes!)

But I am happy to see that she is growing into a beautiful, obedient, happy young woman.

Have I mentioned how incredibly blessed I am?

When the Cat's Away...

Okay, okay. I know most of you would expect the "mouse's play" to be more exciting than this, BUT when MY husband leaves town...yes...gasp...I let the dishes and the clutter on the counter go...and...gulp...I stay up till midnight and ...I...well, I...SEW!

I had some new and exciting quilt magazines and I knew I didn't have time to make a quilt, but...


It doesn't take long to cut a few flannel strips and sew them together.

And it IS my good friend Georgia's surprise baby, Macie's, 2nd birthday today. I thought she might enjoy a new baby and a doll quilt to go with it!


I had six fat quarters of brightly colored flannel and some plain white fabric. I made a tiny little (one-inch squares) four-patch pattern.

Maddie asked, "Mom, how can you make a quilt for Georgia when Georgia [master long-arm machine quilter] does all your quilting for you?" I answered that I knew it was a bit like "taking home-grown tulips to the queen of the Netherlands" but I was doing it anyway.

When Macie looked in her gift bag she got a big smile on her face and said, "It's a baby!" Just the reaction we were hoping for!