Temple Wedding

Today was the culmination of our trip to California. This was the driving force that gave us a reason to come. Since we were going to be here for the wedding, we decided we might as well go to Disneyland.

Anyway, today my nephew, Scott Locken married Tristin at the Newport Beach Temple for Time and All Eternity! Somehow we got messed up on the time of the sealing. Both Steve and I heard Kris tell us on Sunday night that the sealing was going to be at 10:30 on Wednesday morning so, we were at the Temple at 10 to be 1/2 hour early. Turns out the sealing was at 10 and we almost missed it. They had already closed the doors, but then the Matron found out we were family and said she was sure President Monson would approve if she opened the door to let us in.  So we were able to attend the sealing after all.

After the sealing, Scotty and Tristin looked in the double mirrors and the sealer talked about all their ancestors. He said some were probably there to share in their day. I felt my mom and dad there. I think they were finally able to "participate" in a family temple sealing. We had them sealed together over a year ago.

After the Temple we got to attend a big family luncheon for the wedding party. We had a lot of fun visiting with family and eating the delicious lunch. Laila got to meet her cousin Layla, daughter of Brian and Wendy Locken. She also met her older cousin Katie, also Brian's daughter. Both Laila's hit it off great and spent as much time together as they could.

After the lunch we went to the beach so the girls could play in the water and dig for sea shells. They got some real beauties. Sorry, no pictures. We left the camera in the car.

We still had a couple hours before the reception so the girls and I went in the hot tub at the motel. Boy, that felt so wonderful. My poor body was pretty stiff and sore from all the walking at Disneyland. The high heals didn't help much today either.

The reception was lots of fun, too. Steve and I even danced a few times. :-)

Well, we are heading to the Redwoods tomorrow. Good night!

Disneyland

On Monday and Tuesday, Cousin Tim and a couple of his friends got us into Disneyland. He works at the Blue Bayou Restaurant in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The weather was perfect even though they predicted rain. The first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean. Kinzley and Audrey didn't like it, but the rest of us loved it. We stayed together most of Monday and went on lots of rides that all the kids could do. Some rides were Autopia, It's a Small World, Carousel, and Haunted Mansion.

Then we split up and Douhet and Kylee took Laila and Alyson on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain while Grandma and Grandpa took the younger kids on Dumbo, Storybook Boat and the Circus Train. It being Thanksgiving week there were LOTS of people there. I'm not sure I have ever seen it so crowded. We used the Fast Pass whenever we could, but still found ourselves standing in long lines. We got a Fast Pass in the afternoon for Indiana Jones and our time was set to 10 PM. Those pases are sure nice, because you can jump toward the front of the line when your time comes up. It was pretty cool. We took turns doing that ride because we wanted to go on it, too and someone had to sit out with the little ones. We got to watch the Fantasmic Water and Light show while Douhet and Kylee went on the ride.

Tuesday found us thereonce again. We ended up splitting up almost from the beginning. Once again Douhet and Kylee took the big girls and Grandma and Grandpa kept the little ones. We had fun visiting the Princess Fantasy Faire and listening to sleeping beauty tell her story. We all repeated several of the same rides we did on Monday. We also got to watch the fantastic Disneyland Christmas Parade. What an awesome event. Even Griffyn loved that!

When the days ended I could hardly walk. Needless to say we slept very well.

California vacation 2010

We started our trip on Saturday around 3pm. This was a surprise for Douhet's kids. We met them at a rest stop just past Salem to tell them where we were going.
Douhet gave each girl a map so they could track their progress. We planned on driving through the night and arriving in Huntington Beach on Sunday morning, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Actually the roads seemed just fine; however, they closed the roads when we got to Yreka so we had to find a motel for the night. We stopped about midnight and tried got on the road again about 7 am. Needless to say that put a damper on our plans for dinner with the family on Sunday. We finally got to Uncle Kris's house by 7:30 pm. It was fun to see everyone, well almost everyone. Douhet and Kylee stayed at the motel, because the kids were spent from being in the car all that time. Steve and I were exhausted so we only stayed about an hour. It was still a great visit.

We had arrived.

Seminary

I am Loving it!  I am also tired; because, I haven't quite got the hang of getting to bed EARLIER yet.  I have a GREAT group of kids and we have wonderful discussions.

This year we are studying Doctrine and Covenants and Church History.  I am so glad we went on the Church History tour a few years ago.  It has truly helped me with my testimony of the Doctrine and Covenants and the mission of Joseph Smith.   

One of the things I love about teaching is how much more I learn.  I have been in a spiritual vacuum for a few years now, because I have not been studying like I should.  I am now absorbing everything like a sponge. 

I am also amazed at how strong the spirit is in our classroom.  I know the Spirit is truly the one teaching the class.  So many times things come to my mind during class that I share that is exactly what they need to hear.  I don't always think of those things when I prepare so I know the Spirit is directing the lessons. 

Have I said how much I LOVE seminary?

Things I Am Grateful For

I love living in this time and dispensation when we enjoy so many modern conveniences.  I've always said I would never have survived pioneer days and I firmly believe that.  We have been in "limbo" for a few months while we moved from our old house into our new one.  I can't even begin to compare our "limbo" to what the pioneers had to go through, but I can better appreciate so many things I have taken for granted for so many years. 

• I am grateful for my wonderful bed.  Although we had great accommodations at our interim "home" it was very nice to once again have our own bed.  It is a Temperpedic mattress and I love my bed!
• I am grateful for running water.  We don't have to go to a stream or well or other water source and haul water to our house.  All we have to do is turn a little nob and we get running water.  And it is more than just running water, it is hot and cold.  We don't have to heat our water on the stove before we do the dishes.  We don't have to take a cold bath in the river.  Isn't modern plumbing wonderful?
• I am grateful for a kitchen sink.  We were without a kitchen for about two weeks after we moved in.  We were able to function OK because we had a microwave oven and ate frozen dinners a lot.  We also did our dishes in the bathroom sink.  It is so wonderful now to have a fully functional kitchen and a big kitchen sink.  I love having a working kitchen.
• I am grageful for electricity.  Isn't it wonderful to be able to turn on a switch and get lights or heat or cool or music or TV or any number of things we enjoy that use electricity.
• I am grateful to be close to grandchildren.  We have been very lucky to have all our grandchildren fairly close.  We are able to see them all on a regular basis.  It has been very fun to now have 5 of them right on the same property.  What grandma would pass up hugs from adorable kids everyday?  Alyson has been very helpful.  She comes over everyday and asks what she can do to help.  She has helped lug boxes from our storage unit to the house so we can get unpacked.  She helps Grandpa with any project he is working on.  All the girls have been willing to help us with whatever we need.  In turn they love to play on the wii where there isn't any work to do.
• I'm grateful for adorable little puppies.  They are beginning to play and are so cute!
• I am also very grateful for the beautiful weather we have had recently.   It is so nice to sit outside in the backyard and enjoy our dinner.  We have had several bar-b-ques and enjoyed visiting and just being together.

Life is good and I'm glad I live in this beautiful place and time.

Tender Mercies

Our adventure has begun.  We have been moving pickup loads of boxes for a couple of weeks.  We basically had only our funiture and a few more last minute boxes left.  We had some wonderful help show up on Saturday morning to help us load the U-Haul truck we got.  The hourly weather report showed rain every hour all day long for Saturday.  We figured we would be soaked by the end of a miserable day.

We experienced the tender mercies of a loving Heavenly Father.  There was no rain while we loaded the truck.  We experienced some rain driving to our new home, but then it stopped again when we unloaded the truck.  We we finished unloading the U-Haul and another pickup load  when the heavens opened up and it just dumped buckets down.  I think it rained hard the rest of the day.  All of our belongings remained dry.

We experienced those same tender mercies everytime we had loads to take.  We took two pickup loads over on Friday and again managed to load and unload without any rain even though it rained nearly all day long.

I am grateful for the Tender Mercies of the Lord!

New Adventure

We are on the verge of starting a new adventure in our life.  In just a few short weeks we will be moving to a very rural area.  I've been a "city" girl my whole life.  I've always wanted to give rural life a try and never imagined I would embark upon it in my twilight years, but that is exactly what is happening. 

When I joined the Church nearly 39 years ago I said I wanted my own sacred grove.  When we moved here over 20 years ago I thought I might actually have my spot.  We looked at property a few times, but it never quite worked out.  I had given up on my sacred grove when we moved the last time thinking we would remain in our city house until the kids had to put us in a home.

Well, just before Christmas last year, our oldest son and his wife said we should sell our house and move out to their property with them so we could help him build the 2nd stage of their house.  He then told us that the third stage was separate quarters for us.  He said since he was the oldest he always planned on taking care of us in our twilight years.  We were very touched by that.  As we discussed the proposal we realized that the time is right to do so now, while we are still healthy enough to help build the house.  So we listed our house and figured it would take forever because of the bad housing market.  Needless to say we got an offer and everything is proceeding nicely.  It all happened much faster than we thought and we need to be out in three weeks.

They live on 5 acres in a beautiful wooded area.  One of the first things I realized is I am finally going to have my sacred grove.  We are very excited to be with our son and his wonderful wife and grandchildren too.  We feel strongly about becoming as self sufficient as possible. 

This will be a grand adventure!