De-junking

It is a big trend now these days.  Make do with less. Clear out, throw away, or donate!  Less is more.  The whole Marie Kondo fad.  Being minimalists.  Information about it is everywhere.  It is not a bad idea, especially when you have lived in the same house for over 20 years.  And when your basement floods when you are in Europe, you have an additional reason to start the whole process.  More about that later as we are boxing up our basement to repaint ad recarpet--a project which will extend far into next year.  Pictures at that time of the before and after.

But one evening, I decided to dejunk my cook book and recipe shelf.  It was a mess and considering I don't really like to cook and cook a small variety of things, it seemed like something I should do.

The Before photo:

The In the middle photo:

The Sentimental Tears-in-my-eyes moments as I held and remember the sweet sisters and YW who gave me recipes when Gary and I got married in 1978.  Now mind you, I haven't used most of these recipes, but the people were important to me--the Lovetts, Masseys, Kathy Gregersen, Cindy Williams, Shelly Stevens, the names go on.  I took photos and sent them to my sister who loved these people, too.  The good people of the Amarillo Ward!  How could I throw them away--but really, I didn't need them. I didn't use them, so after sharing a moment with my sister with photos, I did throw them away.

 I was the MiaMaid leader at the time, but the Beehives gave me a crepe recipe.

So I took the recipes that I actually use and put them in this notebook.  I copied the recipes that I used from the many I had and put them in this book as well.  Then I donate the cookbooks to the DI.

And this is what it looks like now.

If you come to my house, I do still have some cute cookbooks on a basket in my kitchen.  They are the ones I have used when I want to try something new or I just like how they look--I mean who can donate a BYU cookbook?

And then Thanksgiving dinner came and I realized that I had donate the cookbook with the recipe I have used for dressing for many many years.  Couldn't find one that was exactly the same so we branched out this year!  But that is what happens when you de-junk--you discover things you wish that you had kept.  Oh, well, thank heavens for the internet!

Hall Halloween Photos

The great thing about modern conveniences like phones on cameras is I get updated shots of my grandchildren doing different things.

Halloween was no exception.  These are the photos currently on my refrigerator of Halloween.

Jessica and Elessia and family:

Scarlett and James in Oro Valley, AZ:

 Niki, Ava, and Cooper in Tacoma:

Jena as "Anger" from Inside Out:

She is ready to head to work at the Rush on Halloween.
People loved her costume there as well.

Our "costumes":  A tribute to my mom who loved Batman.

We also got to see some of the Halloween fun they had:

Pumpkin carving

 In Tacoma, Ava was not a fan of the pumpkin:

We were able to go trick n treating with Jessica and Elessia's kids around our neighborhood before the annual Hall Chili and Scones at our house.

It was very cold, but fun and they had plenty of candy from a variety of parties over the past week.

The highlight of the season was definitely Jena as Anger.  Their apartment decided to take parts from the Disney movie Inside Out and she chose Anger, which is so funny because she is almost never angry.  We couldn't even get her to make a mad face for the camera.

Here is a photo of five of the six of them in costume for their Ward Halloween party.  It doesn't get better than that!

And so, now these cute photos are preserved in the blog as well as on the refrigerator.

I sent that photo and the one below to Jessica and she said, "Wow, mom, you guys made it on the refrigerator!"  It is true, it is usually filled with pictures of grandkids and Jena these days.

But I do like being reminded of the fun trip we had with Gary's family, too.  Our life is so blessed--just look at our refrigerator.

October Weather

The snow which fell mid-October while the trees still had lots of leaves on them:

Our "Christmas tree" with snow and the fall leaves of the trees to the west in our neighbors yard.  Loved it.

Then fall came back and piles and piles and piles of leaves fell on our patio.....

...our grass....

and the trampoline.

It was beautiful and a ton of work to get the leaves cleaned up for the winter. Mostly not from our one tree, but we do enjoy the trees surrounding our yard during the spring and summer so we can pay the price in the fall, I guess.

The weather was warm during the end of October, but shortly before Halloween the temps dropped again and it was very cold for trick or treating in Utah.

Lagoon or bust!

And it ended up being a bust because the weather was so cold.  We tried to go to Fright-mares on Friday night and we lasted less than two hours.  It was packed with people and freezing--not a good combination.

The tops of the crowds and the beauty of the mountains in fall.

We stopped at Krispy Kremes on the way home and enjoyed some Halloween donuts and hot chocolate.

Fun night despite the cold--Gary and Jena are good company.

Jena and Gary had enjoyed Lagoon throughout the summer with their season passes, but it never worked out for me to join them.  This was the first time I used my season pass (and the last since the season ended the following week.  I guess I was a bit of a party pooper.)  The employee said that I was not the latest person in the season activating their season pass, so I guess there is that!

Grandmothering

Sunday evening (the day we returned from St. George), I headed down to Magna to Jessica's for a four-day stay with the kids while Jessica and Elessia took a "We survived our first year as parents of twins) trip to California.  They left Sunday night and returned back on Thursday night.  In the middle of that, I managed to keep four children alive by myself and got them where they were suppose to go (except one morning of preschool for Zander which we missed, because it had been a rough night of sleep for him and his two sisters..and me.)

We played with toys, had dance parties with Alexa providing music, we rocked, and READ lots and lots of books. (And I wouldn't care if I never read "The Pout-Face Fish again in my life. They were into that book.)  Occasionally I remembered to take photos to share with Jessica and Elessia.  Here is a sample:

Taking photos of twins is tricky---both looking but one in the dark

 Both in the light but one not looking---Oh, well.  They are cute regardless.

Winding down time for bed---Liam with Carter

After bath time one night----

Alex, Liam, and Carter

Bunk beds are so much fun.....

Liam was so proud because he took this photo and wanted me to send it to Jessica and Elessia. Carter was a book fiend while I was there and since then as well--just like Jessica was although she started when she was about 6 months old.

The cloth measuring tape seemed like a fun thing to play with, but Carter was not in the mood for a photo. 

And one afternoon, I did a real crazy thing and took the four of them by myself to the park.  Not sure what I was thinking about that.  A four-year old, a 2 1/2 year old, and twin one year olds--what could go wrong!

We picked up McDonalds for our picnic lunch and headed to a park I had found nearby but maybe new to them.  They loved it.

It helps if the two one-year olds are confined to the stroller--so that helped with the picnic part of things.

Zander was loving his hamburger and loved the park but I had to keep my eyes on him because he wasn't so great about staying where I could see him--if a bird or something else looked more interesting, he was off to explore.

Liam loved everything about the park.

It was getting windy so Liam kept closing his eyes but wanting a picture.

 They had a great playground which kids of all ages could enjoy.

Liam didn't quite make it to the bathroom which was locked for the summer anyway, but he was willing to tough it out to play on the equipment.  He had fun with the other kids who came to play as well.

Then I let the babies out of the stroller.  They loved the leaves, sand, and the playground equipment, but they didn't go in the same direction as each other.  Fun times-----

Alex showing me a leaf

Carter proud of herself that she got to the slide

The park had this fun wall that was painted with landmarks of the city of West Valley.  I thought it would be a cute back drop for a photo of the four of them.  Zander was not interested and the girls were more interested in the wall not me.  Maybe it will work in a few years from now.

After that big adventure--it was bath time for everyone and lots of sand left behind.

Jessica and Elessia got home about 1:00 am and I headed home so that I could sleep in my own bed and get ready for a few hours at work in the morning.  I am not going to lie--I was tired.  Four kids is hard work and I wondered how I ever managed to do it day to day as a mom.  But as I walked to my car, I also got tears in my eyes about not seeing the kids when they woke up in the morning or being able to do another dance party after nap time.  How sentimental am I! I mean they only live 45 minutes away and I can see them often, but it is different to be caring for them.  So glad that I had this chance to spend this time with them!  It was a pleasure and a blessing to me.

Post scripts:

Funny Things Liam said:

Liam rode the bus to and from school, so he had not been in the van with me and his siblings until we went to McDonalds.  After I buckled four kids in--not an easy task, I got in the drivers seat and started to buckle my seat belt.  Liam said, no, Grandma, that is my mommies' seat belt.  (No concern about me driving the car, just using their seat belt!!??).  We had a bit of a discussion where I reassured him that they would want me to use the seat belt, but it took him a minute to be convinced.  Apparently, Jessica had not prepared Liam for me driving the van AND using the seat belt..

On the way home from the park, I was trying to merge into the left lane as the right lane was ending.  I had lots of space but when I turned on my blinker, a car in the left lane sped up and prevented me from merging in.  Luckily I don't swear (as I pointed out to Jessica and Elessia when I retold them this story.) but I did say to myself, "Really, you can't just let me in?"  (And seriously, there was plenty of space for me to move over without causing this car to slow down at all--he deliberately went faster to not allow me to move in front on him.)  From the back seat, Liam said--in a very compassionate tone--"Grandma, I will always let you in."  How sweet is that!  I will always let you in too, sweet Liam.

And after four days of telling ME that things needed to be done this way or that way, Liam was telling Jessica and Elessia that GRANDMA did it this way or that way!  Four year olds are pretty fun!