Winter

I love this time of day. . More specifically, I love it when it's been snowing, and then the storm subsides, the clouds break, blue sky appears, and the sun hits the snow covered mountains. : ) It's breathtaking. So beautiful. Gives you the idea that life is good, hope is alive, and many things are still possible. Gives you energy. A recharge, if you will. I love the mountains. They stand as a witness that solidarity, faith and unchanging principles govern the Universe.

Always.

I am so glad that we have the privilege of living here in the tops of the mountains, where joy abounds, optimism prevails, where tradition and faith remain strong. : )

The Holiday Season is upon us, and with Heaven's blessings, it will be a good one. The political angst past and gone, may we unite as a nation, and as a people, and look forward with bright anticipation to remembering Christ Jesus, our Savior and King.

Snow!

It snowed all day today. We woke up this morning, looked out the front window, and saw a whole lotta snow! It's amazing how the seasons change so quickly. . . Sigh. This weekend has been a blur. . .

Yesterday afternoon, we were out in the yard, just pulled in from running some errand. . . Charlie spotted Steve from across the street.

"Hey Steve! Didja vote?" Charlie yelled, grinning.

"Sure I did!" Steve responded, chuckling. Steve walked over, and they chatted for a minute or 2.

"Well, now you can complain!" Charlie grinned. I guess he meant because we didn't vote for the yayhoo who ended up winning.

That's right, Baby! When it all goes flying to h. . e. . double hockey sticks, we'll get to say 'We toldja so."

Pause.

Somehow, that just doesn't seem very comforting. . .

Monday

Okay, my brain has apparently reengaged. I now recall what we did on Monday! Yay!

Mon morning, Charlie and I drove out to WEST West Jordan, to a really nice, peaceful area, where Charlie got measured for his tux. Why does he need a tuxedo, you ask? His brother and sister-in-law are having a big anniversary party in a couple o' weeks, and they've decided to renew their vows! There's so much energy going on over there, I get tired just thinking about it. Anyway, C was lookin' pretty good there, in his black suit with royal blue vest, etc. .  : )

Monday afternoon, we took Clint up to Salt Lake to pick up his class ring. Sigh. That boy is a hoot. Instead of putting drums on the side of the ring, that he played in the symphonic band. . maybe the school mascot. . . he decided to engrave lions on either side. Why, you ask? Something to do with a VIDEO GAME. Seriously? If I had any extra cash, I'd get him a proper ring for Christmas or something. Silly boy.  : )

On the way home we stopped by Target to pick up a couple of things. You know how it goes. . You walk in there, thinking that you are only going to be a few minutes, and about an hour and a half later, you finally drag yourself, and 3 or 4 kids, out of there, the kids still whining about something they'd like to purchase. : ) I found some more fantastic snowflake Christmas plates! Wahoo! Clint filled out an application. We'll see what happens. . .

Monday night, Charlie got the cooking bug, thought he'd up and make meatloaf. Elk meatloaf, actually. . It was really, really good. Charlie used to be a cook down at Brick Oven restaurant in Provo. While there, he learned some skeels. . . : ) He's been talking about trying a new recipe for a couple of weeks now, and this was the night we finally got to experience the magic! Yum, yum, yum! Wow, he cooks, and knows how to swap out a transmission! What a man!  : )

Election Night

Tonight is Tuesday, November 4th, Election Day. We'd heard about the lines at the voting locations. . . Turns out there were none. Of course it was pouring down rain, but we breezed in and breezed out, chatted with some neighbors, visited the kids, and that was it! Pretty painless, actually. All in all, a rather pleasant experience. : ) Except that poor Aleia smashed her finger in the door of her 3rd grade class room. . .  Awww, my baby.

We'll see how it goes with the election. Several of the polls up and down the east coast are closing now. . I am so sick of all the hoop-la. All the silliness, all the fighting. . We're down to the wire, people. It's time to quit messing around, light a fire, get out there and vote! I don't plan to stay up till the wee hours of the morning to see who finally won. . I'm just too exhausted.

Charlie and I ran over to Toys 'R Us today and picked Jeffy up a Speed Racer Helmet. He's been wanting one for a while. . We also attempted to pass out birthday party invites at school, but somehow managed to miss half of the kids. . . We'll try again tomorrow. Laena, of course, has all that under control. . . She's had her invitations printed for weeks. What is it with those girls? 

Halloween!

Wow. It's been a crazy week! Absolutely nuts. So much going on, I could hardly take it all in. Thursday the elementary school had it's annual Halloween parade, where the kids, with their classes, get to walk between chairs set up in a serpentine pattern, showing off their costumes for their Moms and Dads.  : ) It's fun to see all the cute costumes! This year it's down to Aleia and Jefferson, our beautiful angel, and swarthy buccaneer. It's interesting how many of our adult friends have kids the same ages as those two. . 5 and 8. I love the Halloween Parade! It's such a fun tradition!  : )

While we were there, I was surprised to see our neighbor Eliane, a Brazilian gal from down the street, who just had a baby, and who's been in the hospital off and on for the past 4 or 5 months. The complications that gal had to deal with! Placentia previa, where it the placenta blocks the cervix, making it impossible for the baby to be born, then the placenta itself made it's way through her C-section scar and attacked her bladder. I'd never heard of this happening until just last year. And I've had a bit of experience with pregnancy and babies! Anyway, during and after delivery, she had to have a hysterectomy, and lost 8 to 10 pints of blood. Surgery went on for many 9 plus hours, and the doctors almost lost her, more than once. I was soooo glad to see her! She's one of the sweetest, most optimistic people I've ever met. Such energy, and such faith that woman has! She's amazing.

Friday, Halloween day, the kids were out of school. Teacher work day or some such nonsense. : ) But it was good. . The kidlets were way hyped up. They got to stay home from school and gear up for Halloween! Wahoo! Excitement was in the air, the weather was perfect, and we were ready to go! But of course we had to wait until nightfall. . . Friday morning, I took Eric, Clint, and Tommy over to Albertson's to work on collecting some more donations for Eric's food drive Eagle project. It went well. The manager guy was way nice, and some lady even dropped off an entire cartful of food, just her alone! : ) What a nice gal! Nick and Richard showed up for a while to help out and support Eric. . Such gorgeous weather I haven't seen on Halloween for several years! Cool, clear, and just slightly breezy. It was great!

Of course Lea had to throw a big neighborhood Halloween party Friday afternoon. . She'd made invitations weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. : ) Candy, pinatas, bobbing for apples. . (I think we've been watching a little too much Snoopy.) We had a dozen or so children running around in our yard all afternoon, in and out of the house. . Scary stories, fun little Halloween movies. . All-American holiday tradition! That's what it's all about, Baby! NOT the Hokey Pokey. ; )

Trick or Treating was great, largely because of the aforementioned weather. . Charlie, the bowling pin, led out, and thankfully dealt with our darling little Binky. That little bugger loves his Daddy, and will cooperate for him long before he'll work with me, so this made things a lot easier. We made our way up and down the street, waiting for the 2 yr old straggler, and calling out the the over eager middle sized kids who couldn't seem to keep from running. If only we could figure out how to harness that energy. . .

Later on, after Laena and Diego were had gotten back with Aleia, and Clint was home from work. . Tommy and Eric had wandered in with their spoils, and Charlie had convinced Jeffy to call it a night. . It was bedtime for the kids, and we were on our way! Wahoo! A night out on the town! Charlie picked up his Austrian work buddy Joeshi, (Josef) from his hotel, and we were off to the club. He picked an interesting one this year. . Normally we wouldn't indulge, but you have to keep in mind that Charlie used to be a dancer, and every once in a while he still gets 'the bug'. He went as a bowling ball, still wearing the costume that Cheryl had made for all the office workers. Well, all the office workers . . but one. : ) True to character, I was a cowgirl. Charlie's friend Anoop, from India, showed up after a bit. Charlie and I did a fair amount of dancing.

"I've never danced with a bowling pin before. . ." I commented. Or rather, yelled, because the 'music' was so dang loud.

"I've never danced as a bowling pin before!" He grinned, still shakin' it out on the floor. The place

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was packed.

Bustin' a move is just about Charlie's favorite thing to do. : ) He's pretty good, too. It's fun to watch. We had a good time. Joeshi is a lot of fun. He dressed as a jester. We now have a place to stay if we ever visit Vienna, and we are officially invited to Anoop's wedding in India on December 5th. Personally, I'm thinkin' that New York is gonna be about all we can handle this Holiday Season. The night ended on a good note. . I got to drive a brand new Mustang! Naturally we were the designated drivers. . . : )

I told Charlie that he was a cute bowling pin.

"I bet you say that to all the bowling pins!" was his snappy response. . What a fun guy! : )

Saturday Charlie was actually home. . We spent most of the day recovering, puttering around the house, playing with pictures. . trying to get in a cat-nap. . .

Aleia was gone half the day. . She had her Achievement/Activity Days activity with Sharon Masters, down the street. She's so amazing! All the girls love her! Then she ran off to Lisa Bullard's birthday party, over at Classic Skating, and was gone for the rest of the afternoon. Sunday was interesting. . Our last time in the 'other' building! They're finally done remodeling our normal meeting house. Wahoo! : ) And I actually got to congregate with grownups! The men took over the Primary, so that all us ladies could have a meeting together for once.

This week Charlie's on vacation. I don't really remember yesterday. . . We have another crazy week ahead of us. . . Jeffy's and Laena's birthdays, and then Wednesday night the 4 big kids, with all the Youth, are going downtown to the Conference Center to record the First Night New Year's Eve program, that'll be broadcast to all the LDS Youth, the world over, on December 31st. Pretty cool! : )

Earlier, Charlie walked into the kitchen and asked that age-old question.

"Who's killing bagels . . in the oven here?" He frowned and surveyed the damage.

"Oh! Those are miiiine!" Laena yelped from the other room.

"What'd that bagel ever do to you?" Charlie demanded, slightly annoyed. Laena's notorious for turning on the broiler in the oven, and then leaving and forgetting all about it. : )

And life rolls on. . .