It will open on Friday

While the rest of you are worrying about and planning costumes, pumpkins, and trick or treating, I am thinking of food again. The great news of my day is: A Cheesecake Factory is opening at the Fashion Place Mall (a mere 10 minutes away) in a short two days. I love this restaurant and have only been able to eat there when on vacation. Beware, my family. I am warning you that all birthdays and special occasions will be celebrated there. If you happen to make it in without me - I highly recommend the salmon and Lemoncello Cream Torte. Here's to upcoming good eats!!!!!!.

I was desperate for a treat

One has to really want a treat to travel 30 miles for it. As you all know, I love bakery frosting and lots of it. My wonderful grocery store, Harmon's, sells it in a tub. What a fabulous find!!! So I gathered up cookies and frosting and headed to Rikki's house. We had a great time eating lunch out and then we frosted cookies with the kids for dessert. The great thing about frosting your own cookies - I can make the frosting as thick as I want. It was a great visit and a great treat.

It was the Best of Times; It was the Worst of Times

I always look forward to conference weekend, especially this conference because of the new callings and sustainings. And conference was outstanding, I am still pondering and thinking of the words of doctrine and testimonies that were born. I feel as if my course needs to be straightened with the council that was given. It saddens me when this first weekend in October is over because now it is on to normal life again.

HOWEVER, this weekend was different. The conference was the best of times. The worst of times can really only be summed up with the photos below. We have suffered water problems in our basement and in particular the north west corner window well since we have lived in our home. Every season we think that we have it fixed only to find out the hard way that we do not. This Friday evening as the rain kept coming and coming, our window started to fill with water. IT was different this time because we could hear a stream of water pouring into the well. We bailed and bailed, then dug, and bailed and bailed, and then dug some more. It was truly a race against time. Oh, did I mention that this is happening at 11:30 pm? We did eventually, after 2 1/2 hours of work, find the source of the problem. We found a joint of the our drain system had broken and the biggest surprise of all that it was placed next to the window well. The good news - we found the problem and it is going to be fixed this week.

So all's well that ends well. We have a solution to our water problem and we had a marvelous conference weekend. Hope your weekend was equally good and that your upcoming week will be fabulous.

It is a new Season

I can see and feel the changes in the air. Last night I added a blanket to the bed and soon will add the electric blanket for added warmth. I know that my children are laughing at me and calling me a "Giff". A term they have made up to say that we are getting old. The changes that I am most glad to feel is that I am doing great. Today, I had my nails done and will have my hair colored and cut later in the week. I will soon feel like I have control of my life again. I am especially glad to be feeling better so that I can work on a very fun project. It is a heritage album I am making of mine and David's four generations. Here are a couple of sample pages so far. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the change of season.

Today was a beautiful day!!

As most of you know, I have been recovering from what I like to call a "maintenance procedure". I have been in bed or on the couch for the past two weeks. The last couple of days I have been feeling much better and started to yearn to be outside, have lunch out, and take a ride in David's truck. We grabbed lunch and then took a fifteen minute drive from our house to Big Cottonwood Canyon. I couldn't help but take a couple of photos and just take in the fresh air. I noticed so many small things today that I usually just skip right over on my way to complete my to do list. However, today I noticed it all in my 45 minute luxury. I loved seeing my hanging flower baskets; I loved hearing my wind chimes in the front tree branches; I loved seeing and waving to the neighborhood kids as they came home from school; I enjoyed putting on sunglasses, sipping on a fountain drink and smiling at my favorite care giver who has been so attentive to me. And to make the day even more perfect, I bought the new Barry Manilow CD. Just call me if you want to borrow it.

Best Birthday Ever

I loved my birthday this year. I have been celebrating for four days straight. It started Thursday with dinner with Joel, Julie, and Maddie at the Olive Garden. They presented me with a new camera from all of my children. It is so wonderful. Thank you, children, for your thoughtfulness and sacrifice. I love it so much. You will be seeing more pictures and pages done now. Will, Kelly and boys had us over for dinner on Friday. We barbecued chicken, corn and asparagus, then feasted on cupcakes from our favorite bakery in American Fork. It is the one that puts the frosting on as thick as the cake is tall. It is fabulous. Saturday was spent with friends. Larry, Lisa, Steven, and Lorri stopped by for a visit and we all decided to take the dirt road over Guardsman Pass into Midway to attend Swiss days. A road trip with these guys is always great. We hurried home to go out with our dear friends, Jim and Connie. We tried a new restaurant downtown and we even dressed up which made it seem like it was a real occasion. The celebrations ended with dinner at Paul and Bree’s house on Sunday evening. Rikki and Seth joined us there. We had stuffed manicotti with all of the trimmings, and a very beautiful birthday cake (Thanks Bree and Nicole, it was outstanding). Abby directed us in Birthday Bingo, which she won and so did Livvy. The celebrations and dinners were all so very fun and appreciated. I would like to say thank you to my children, family members, friends, and the love of my life, David, for making me feel so special this year. I loved the phone calls, sentiments, cards, gifts, and spending time with everyone. I am a very blessed woman to have heard from all my children on my birthday. Thank goodness for "IN" minutes on Verizon so Jessica and Audrey and I could talk so long. Families are what it is all about and I have a very very incredible one.

A Week of Education

I love BYU Education Week. Dad and I have been attending off and on, mostly on, for the last ten years. It is fun to join 25,000 others who are there and to be on the campus of our Alma Mater. Elder Richard G. Scott spoke at the Devotional on Tuesday morning and it is always a blessing and privilege to hear an apostle of God. We have our favorite teachers and our favorite subjects. Of course, we are talking about Joseph Fielding McConkie. He taught three hours every day and we were there for every class. We both feel that our testimonies and knowledge of the gospel have grown and deepened from being able to study with him over the years. .

Education week also means meeting new and old friends. I always look forward to seeing my good friend Barb McKnight. We have known each other for almost 39 years. We became friends when we were both freshman at BYU and living in Bowen Hall. We have so much in common -- purses, jewelry, shoes, loving our families and grandchildren. We have the kind of friendship that we can just pick up from where we left off the previous time we were together. We try to meet every year, attend a class or two together, have lunch, and catch up. It is truly a high point of the week for me.

Dad and I have run into many people this week that we have known throughout our lives. These friends and acquaintances range from old roommates, as mentioned, to neighbors in Connecticut, ward members in Denver and our Stake now. It is always great to see them and talk with them for a few moments. I can only compare my feelings to the Sons of Mosiah when they met Alma again after serving their missions. They were filled with joy to know that their friends were still faithful in their testimonies of Jesus Christ.

It has been a joy to me to be able to meet with friends, attend classes, and have a week of Education.