December in Arizona

Well, I have decided that Arizona is not the place to spend any time in December for me to have the Christmas Spirit. It's great for my sister and her husband, but it just wasn't the same as the cold, snowy weather of Utah (of which we are having at this moment). After having surgery on my elbow on December 8th, I flew out the next day to Arizona to spend time with my sister and her husband in Tonapah (middle of the desert 100 miles from California). What a vacation. They took excellent care of me, what a pampered life I had (although I found eating with my left hand very difficult). Steve joined us on Wednesday and my other two sisters (one with her husband, the other with her daughter) joined us on Friday. What fun just visiting and playing games and having a little "sisters" Christmas party. I had so much fun, although I had to be icing my elbow all week and it did hurt pretty much the whole time. Steve and I flew home on Sunday. I'm now off of work until January 21 recovering. Steve and I are taking a 4-day cruise with some friends from Long Beach to Encinada my last week of recovery. Steve and I in front of cactus. Looks like summer, although it actually was chilly that morning.Front row: Sisters; Sheryl, Maureen, Karen, and Terri

Back Row: Husbands (on their wife's right hand side); Layne, Jeff, and Steve

Same as before but with my niece, Susan, on the left-hand side of her mother.
Steve helping Jeff with their roof.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was so much fun! I had all my kids at my house this year and I loved it!Every thanksgiving we go bowling with the family and then we go to a movie that night. This is one of my favorite traditions.

Another real fun thing I did was at the last minute at like 11:30 pm. Bethany and I decided to go to Walmart at 1:30 am. We were looking through all the sales in the newspaper and Bethany really wanted a Cricut for Christmas and there was a killer deal for one at Walmart, so we couldn't pass it up. We were at Walmart from about 1:30am and got out at 5:25 am and then hit Shopko, Michaels and Khols. This is another tradition that me and my girls are totally going to do every year. We couldn't believe how much we saved. then off to bed at 7:30 am.

Here we are in the check out line, which we sat in for about 3 hours.

Not much going on here. I'm looking forward to next week to have all the family over for Thanksgiving dinner. The next week we're having a family portrain taken. It will be the first with grandkids. I'm very excited for that. The week after that I'll be having surgery on my arm and will be out of work for 6 weeks. I'm looking forward to the break from work but not making money. Oh well. While I'm not working we're going to redo my work room. I'm very excited about that. It's the only room in the whole house that hasn't had a makeover since we've been here.

You can't see real well, but we had Duke neutered today. See his sad puppy dog eyes!!!

Last week of October

This week has been busy and fun. Steve's birthday came and went. We had 2 separate dinners, Wednesday and Saturday, with our kids, can't get them all together, and never did get with Matthew and his family. We had ice cream and cake on Sunday with Heather, Ike, and Bethany. We got Steve a GPS navigation system. We've wanted one since we used one in North Caroline on our trip with Heather. We're looking forward to not getting lost ever again!!!

After dinner on Wednesday Bethany and I went and bought some material and I made her a vest to go with her pirate's costume for work the next day. Check her block for pictures of that. She was real cute.

Bethany, Ike, Steve, and I went to Odyssey Dance Company's Halloween production of Thriller last night. It was great entertainment.

My mom had double knee surgery this week so I've been trying to do my work while spending time with her also. She's in rehab now and doing well.

Steve and I helped Heather move into her new condo on Monday, well more like Steve and I moved Heather's stuff into her condo on Monday. By the time she got there after work we had moved everything in with the help of a few men from her complex. She's very happy to be in her own place. She's hoping to have a couple girls from work live with her. She's only 10-15 minutes from work. She loves it.

Here's a funny story for the day. On our way home at about 10:30 p.m. I was going east on 4100 South near our home. As most of you know 3600 West has been blocked off for nearly 4 months. It's all paved now but you're not supposed to turn to go northbound on 3600 West off 4100. Well, it was late and I didn't want to go around so I just made the left turn anyway. A few seconds later there were police lights behind me. I pulled over and Steve and I were laughing because we'd both turned there before and never gotten caught. Anyway, it took a couple of minutes for the police officer to come up to the Suburban. I rolled down my window with my license in hand. Here's our conversation, more or less:
Officer: Didn't you see the big no left turn sign back there.
Me: Yeah but I just didn't want to go all the way around again.
Officer: Yeah, this has been a big mess for awhile hasn't it.
Me: Yeah.
Officer: Well, you folks have a good night.
Boy, I sure got away with that one. Steve and I laughed all the way home. We figured it took so long for the officer to come to the Suburban because he was checking our address to see if we had any business being there.

Another funny story. Bethany spent last weekend in Washington DC with her friend. I called her Sunday morning to check on her flight. She didn't answer. I got a text from her and we went back and forth something like this:
Bethany: I'm in church right now, yeah the singles ward.
Me: Do you have your ring on? (I was trying to be funny)
Bethany: No I have it on silent.
As Steve and I were laughing I was sending this text--I mean your wedding ring.
Just as I sent it I got this text--Quit laughing, I just figured out what you meant.
Me: ROFL (rolling on floor laughing)
When she got back she told me that as soon as she hit the send button she realized what I meant and she started laughing. Her friend asked her what was so funny and she told her she would tell her later. Bethany makes us laugh. Anyway, she had a great time with her friend and wants to go back with Isaac really bad. Check her blog for those pictures as well.

I'm going to try to attach a you-tube link here that Nathan put on of Macy. Hope it works. It's hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZjEMZoIMqE

Me and my granddaughters

Janelle spent some time with us while her parents were on vacation. It was great fun. I love my two granddaughters.

Heather got her condo and is moving in on Monday. She's very excited. Bethany is in Washington DC for a few days to visit a friend who is there on an internship. They're having a great time (not sure how Ike and Maddie are doing without her).

Not much more to say. Check Bethany's blog. She has a life. On Thursday I gave blood, got a flu shot, and voted. Exciting life, huh!!!!

Wedding and Walks

This was a pretty busy end of week of us. On Friday our dear friend Autumn, who has been living in our home for the past year and a half, got married. I miss her already. It was great fun having her and Patrick in our home for the last while. Their wedding in the temple was beautiful as was their reception. Check out Bethany and Ike's blog for pictures of that.

On Saturday, Heather, Isaac and Bethany, and I participated in the Taking Strikes against Breast Cancer walk at Liberty Park. It was a very cold morning but we made it. We had Duke and Maddie with us. Duke didn't take to it very well and Heather ended up carrying him half the way. We have some funny pictures that I'll get up as soon as I figure out how to do it again.

After that we went and participated in a Memory Walk to honor the memories of children who died very young or were stillborn. We did this for Isaac's brother and his wife who had a stillborn son, Baby Mac, this summer. It was a very humbling experience for me. I cannot even imagine the anguish these families have been through. Bethany's blog also has more on that. She is so good to keep up on everything.

We have our granddaughter, Janelle, with us this week while Matthew and Lavern are taking a vacation for their anniversary. We are looking forward to getting to know her better. She has already beat Steve and I in Phase 10. This afternoon we also watched the video Testaments as our Sunday School class today talked of that time in the Book of Mormon and I thought it was a great time to watch the video. I was very happy to see it again, what a powerful message it has.

As always I had a great day with Macy this week. I'm so lucky to have her for a day each week. I just feel bad that Steve and the others don't get to see her as much as I get to. She's a real cutie. At her 6-month checkup her weight was in the 50th percentile and her height in the 90th. Gosh, a tall, skinny girl, go figure!!!!! I told Jessica Macy would be passing her up for sure. Jessica is pretty much resigned to the fact that all her children will probably pass her up in height.

Heather has been approved to buy her condo. She's very excited and hopefully will move in the end of October. She's still hoping to find a room mate.

Bethany will be going to Washington DC next week to go visit a friend for a few days. She's very excited about going there. I know the 2 of them will have a great time. I'll have to get some pictures from her or you can just again check out her blog in a couple of weeks.

Girls gone crazy

The last several weeks Steve and I have been going to Lehi every Wednesday to watch Nathan and Isaac play in a softball league. We always take the dogs and meet Bethany there. These are some pictures we took last week of them. Heather was in the back seat with Maddie and Duke and they were so funny. They love the wind in their faces and Duke has to be wherever Maddie is.

On Saturday night Heather, Bethany, and I had a little girls night. Isaac was in Cedar City with family and Steve had gone to the general Priesthood meeting. Well, for those of you who know us the 3 of us can get pretty crazy. After watching some TV we were watching a movie called Beauty Shop with Queen Latifah. There was a guy in it who had corn rows in his hair and was doing them on women in the beauty shop. Well Bethany decided it would be fun for Heather to do that to her hair. Here are the results.

What fun. We had blankets and pillows all over the floor. I went to bed about 2 a.m. I don't know how long the girls stayed up. The next morning we watched conference and had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch (a Soelberg favorite). Bethany went to the Hinckley's house when Ike got home and Heather and I put together a jigsaw puzzle together while we watched conference. Steve had to work so he missed out (poor guy).

Heather should find out this week about her condo. It's taken longer to hear back from the bank. Hopefully we should hear by Tuesday. Ike and Bethany found out they couldn't move into the basement apartment they had found. They were very disappointed. They're not sure what they are going to do at this point. Ike was made Young Men's President in their ward a couple of weeks ago so they may just stay there for awhile, Bethany just wants a bigger apartment.