A Visit with Annette

Annette is almost one year old. We met her, Paige and Peggy at the Riverfront park in Salem yesterday for a little picnic and to take some pictures of Annette with her birthday present. She has grown so much since we saw her in July--she even tried to take a few steps and was pretty proud of herself about it!!  Priceless!

Dolphins!!!

My granddaughter Kaci and her cousin Olivia (who also calls me Grandma LeAnn) are staying with us. They both love dolphins. I wanted to do a project with them, so we decided we would make some stuffed dolphins. First Warner found a pattern on line at http://nuno-runo.blogspot.com/2010/09/dolphin.html.
Then the girls and I went to Value Village and got two house robes in color that they liked. $.99 each. Then we got to work!
The pattern calls for felt and the seem on the outside, i knew the girls would not be patient enough to do all that hand work so I made the pattern a little larger to allow a seem and room to turn them.
They were nervous to use the sewing machine, but were happy to do the stuffing!
A very fun project and we were happy with the way they turned out. BTW if anyone wants the extra fabric and pattern--come and get it!

Here is a little video of Annette!

Beautiful Jackson Hole, Wy

Just got back from a quick trip to Jackson to check out our newest little granddaughter: Annette Barrus Jackson. As you can see, she is perfect in every way and sooooo tiny! Just 5 pounds! A living doll.
We got to see some bears--CLOSE UP! eating berries up in a bush--notice the red circle around the brown bear. And loved seeing all the beautiful colors of fall and the breathtaking mountains!
Aaron and Joe look like cowboy models! We also took some great family photos of Court, John and Everett.

Happy Fourth of July!

The real reason for this post is not about the fun time we just had visiting Ben and Kristen, & Dylan & Kaci, Jarom and Stephanie, John and Courtenay, going shooting with Ben, John and his brother, attending a practice concert of Ben's country/rock band Sunset Ride (They are great by the way) , going to LeAnn's family reunion at Ophir, Utah (by Tooele), or being blessed to see our newest grandson, (John and Courtenay's) Everett Michael Lance just a few hours after he was born. (he is sure a beautiful boy.) No, this post is about how I spent my fourth of July. I left LeAnn in Taylorsville to take care of Courtenay and Everett....and John for a few weeks. So, at five in the morning on the fourth, I turned on my GPS, put in my Louis L'Amore stories narrated by Willie Nelson CDs, and headed West. I stopped Willie long enough to listen to the special 4th of July presentation of Music and the Spoken Word featuring the MoTabs. It was great....many of my favorite patriotic hymns and of course, The Battle Hymn of The Republic. Awesome. Willie finished narrating just outside of Burns, so I finished up the day listing to General Conference talks from April Conference. So fifteen hours after leaving Taylorsville, I was home....in time to sit with the neighbors for a few minutes and enjoy the fireworks going on around us.

But...I forgot to wear my special patriotic T-shirt Sequoia sent me for Father's Day. Dang!

Anyway, I stopped along the way to photograph a few things..... a few extra patriotic retired farm implements somewhere between Vale and Burns, Oregon and took the scenic route through the Cascades and stopped on top at the Dee Wright Observatory (I love that drive) and took a few shots of Mt. Jefferson....unfortunately the 3 Sisters were covered with clouds so no photos.
Anyway, that was a lot of rambling for just a few measly photos.....

Bruce's Retirement Video

Our good friend and neighbor Bruce Jolley just retired after forty eight and one half years working for the railroad. With the help of Andrew and LeAnn, I made this video for him. Andrew was a big help...I had a sequence in mind for the first verse but he came up with a better idea and we used it....much better than what I had in mind.
The music at the beginning, Wonderland by Night, was a popular instrumental hit the year Bruce joined the railroad.
We played it at a party held in his honor Friday night at the Jolleys. It was fun to see some old friends we haven't seen for a long time.
Here's also a few photos LeAnn took of some of the shoot.

Fun In LasVegas!

Our favorite spot on the "Strip" was the fountain show at the Bellagio Hotel!!
Warner had a trade show in Vegas--so I went with him. We stayed an extra weekend and our Utah and Arizona Kids met us there. We fit a lot of activities into that one week--Take a look!
We got to see a fun Tribute to Elvis Show--Thanks Em and Steve for the the tickets! Another night we got to see the Donny and Marie Show at the Flamingo--they were great!
Emily, Easton and Carly at the Chocolate Factory/ Cactus Garden. We saw some cool lizards!
!Filming the Chris Angel show right outside out Hotel (Luxor)--When the body guard saw me take this pic, he came over and asked me not to take any more!

A view of the Strip from one of the pedestrian overpasses! We did a LOT of walking!!!


After the trade show we moved to the Silverton Lodge (not on the" strip" and our Kids and families joined us. We spent the whole day--and into the night in our cool,poolside cabana.
We had a Poolside Baby Shower for Courtenay!

We spent all day and into the night at the cabana near the pool!

Support Our Berries!

RAMBO of the RASPBERRIES!!

One to dig and one to supervise the digging!
Warner and Andrew had a "ceremony" after each section was finished and they placed the copper post caps!

Warner designed and built this structure for our Raspberries--They have been kind of running wild the past few years and he wanted to "corral them". These three wooden structures will have support wires running between them to help the berry canes stay up. Andrew was a big help digging the holes. He and Dad had a good time installing them.

General Conference

I am looking forward to listening to General Conference--always very uplifting to me. I also love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! Can't wait!
I also love the talk by Elder Holland about the Book of Mormon--if you have not heard it--take a listen--and then pass it on to others.
Happy Easter!!

Warner's Monster Cookies!

This is for Emily...and anyone else who wants to make some very yummy cookies. This makes a HUGE batch so you can cut it in half if you want to. There is no flour in this recipe--so don't think that I just forgot to write it down.
I wish I had a photo to add so Em, when you make them post a picture!


Warner's Monster Cookies

1 pound (4 sticks) margarine (or butter)
4 cups white sugar
4 1/2 cups (one 2 pound bag) brown sugar

CREAM TOGETHER TILL LIGHT AND FLUFFY

THEN ADD:
12 eggs (beaten)
3 pounds( 6 cups) peanut butter
1 Tablespoon corn syrup
8 teaspoons baking soda

MIX TOGETHER AND THEN ADD THE REST OF THE INGREDIENTS--BY THIS TIME THERE IS TOO MUCH TO FIT IN THE MIXER SO YOU MUST MIX THE REST BY HAND!

18 cups "old fashioned"oats
1 pound (4 cups) chocolate chips
1 pound plain M&M's (optional)
2 cups nuts (optional)
4 cups Rice Krispies cereal (optional--use for part of the oats)
2 cups coconut (optional)

uSE AND ICE-CREAM SCOOP AND PLACE ON A COOKIE SHEET--I SMASH THEM DOWN A LITTLE BIT. BAKE AT 350 FOR 8-12 MINUTES. DO NOT OVER BAKE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We had a wonderful trip to Utah for Christmas--it was so fun to spend time with our family. We went sledding, roller skating, seeing the lights at Temple Square, seeing the production "Savior of the World" (fabulous). went to Pirate Island for pizza and fun, had a hot wheels tournament, a nativity play and tons of fun watching the grandkids. We also played "Rock band" and I was pretty good!

New Career for Cleatus!!

Warner was asked to be the AUCTIONEER at the RS Service Auction! He went as Cleatus, he told jokes and did some poems and was a real entertainer. He wanted to wear his Cleatus teeth, but he couldn't talk very fast with them in. I got this super silly picture of him--it looks like he has had too much to drink! I promise he hadn't--just had a silly look on his face. It was a fun night and I won cooking from Yolie N. so on Saturday, she is bringing us some authentic Philipino food! Yumm! I hope you enjoy these pictures of Warner, he really did do an awesome job!

Beautiful Tree of the Day Contest!!

I love the Fall. Several years ago I started my own "Most Beautiful Tree of the Day" contest. Here is how it works: When I first start noticing the colors are changing about the first or second week in September, I watch for outstanding fall-colored trees. Each day I pick my favorite for that day. Once a tree has been picked as "The Most Beautiful Tree of the Day", it can not enter the contest again. Sometimes I take the long way home so I can see some neighborhood that has not had a chance to participate. This year I have added two new categories, like the couples category--two trees that look especially beautiful together---and the bush category-- too short to compete with the trees, but beautiful in their own way. Here is my winner for today--it is in the Silke Field parking lot---one of my favorite places to find beautiful trees!

Sweet Summer

Here we are at the end of the Summer and I wanted to share some of my favorite things!
I loved the smell of the Lilies--they were amazing.

This is a new hydrangea that I planted last Fall (from Grocery Outlet) and it lived! It has doubled in size and doing great.
My favorite thing to do on a Summer morning is to go to the BLUEBERRY patch! I love to feel the sun on my back, smell the dill and basil as I pass them and see the beautiful, healthy blueberry bushes that we planted several years ago. They are beautiful and the berries are so easy to pick and there are so many of them--I love it!
We were inspired to plant them after our friend Sharon Arnold gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting about following the advice of others who had been successful(following the Prophet, reading scriptures etc). She said that she had learned that in order to grow successful blueberries, you need to dig a hole 3 or 4 cubic feet and fill it with peat moss, then after planted, put a thick layer of saw dust over the whole row. When the blossoms come the first year, you have to pick them all off, the second year you pick half of them off. I always think of this story when I am out there picking the berries--( Thank You Sharon).


I usually get at least a gallon of berries three times a week during July and August. That does not count the ones I eat while I am out there!

So today I went out and only got one quart of berries--I guess Summer is on it's way out and it will soon be time for Fall.
We have some SWEET SUMMER memories! ( and a whole lot of berries in the freezer!)