September Miracle!

On Monday, September 21st, at 4:06 PM our son Jeff and his wife, Rachelle participated in a miracle and became parents for the first time. Their "little son", Lucas Jefferson Mann, was born. He weighed in at 9 lbs 10 oz and was 23 and 1/8 inches long. These are their first family photos!! We are so happy for them.

So fresh from Heaven!!

All bathed and beautiful even down to his little "Mohawk" hairstyle!

Rachelle was so good to keep us feeling a part of it all being so far away. We received pictures on our cell phones so we could see our grandson often. She sent us this one the morning of the 22nd from the hospital after feeding him.He seems quite pleased.

"Sprout", as he was affectionately called before they met him face to face, didn't receive his name until they were ready to leave the hospital on Tuesday. We think they chose a great name for our precious grandson after getting to know him a little.
But I think he will still be called "Sprout" on occasion.

Day 3
His Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Ron were fortunate enough to have been there when he was born and were a great help during those first few days being at home. Grandma Cindy is holding Lucas here and is the reason I have some of these nice pictures from his first 5 days after birth. Thank you Cindy!!
His Uncles, Aunts, and cousins were ready to greet him

as above where Uncle Dave is holding him.

Day 4 "Snug as a bug in a rug"

Day 5... Hello there little bright eyes. It's good to see you.

Rachelle had just fed him and he was so satisfied.
She sent this picture of that contented peaceful look.

Day 5 again...the little sleeping angel.

Sunday morning Rachelle sent this sweet photo saying. "Happy Sunday." It's amazing how a little fellow can change in his appearance so much in one week. We love him so and can hardly wait for November when we are going to Utah to see him in person and touch those cute little cheeks, give him hugs, and shower him with love. The miracles in our family are plentiful.

Weddings of September

On the 12th of September we attended the wedding of Matt Dold.

The wedding was held at the home of a friend of the Dold family high in the hills of the pretty little town of Glen Ellen where they lived when Matt was a toddler.
The ceremony and reception were overlooking this lake on their property. It was a perfect place and the weather cooperated too.Matt patiently waits for his bride to join him.
Ruthie, his cousin, is a bridesmaid.

He watches and waits...

Here comes the beautiful bride, Francesca, on the arm of her Dad who, with his wife, came all the way from Hungary to be there for her.

Friends and family...we are gathered here in the site of God to witness the marriage of Matt and Francesca....

They say their vows....

You may kiss your Bride...

I present to you Mr and Mrs Matt Dold

The garter and bouquet were thrown and Fronie's sister caught the bouquet and a friend of Matt's, that I know from working at the Chiropractic office, caught the garter.

The Bride and Groom share some dances together.
The food was delicious. Some of it was Hungarian traditional food made by Fronie's mom.
Matt and his wife will be going to Hungary with Jan and Greg to have a wedding ceremony over there for her family and friends who live there.
It was a beautiful day and a very special event. We were glad we were there. Matt told us "he was very glad we were there but he wished that Dave, Jeff and Chris could have been there too."
He seemed very happy. We are very happy for him and his beautiful wife.

The week after Matt's wedding I had a wedding cake to do for another young couple. The wedding and reception were out in Sebastopol at "The Vine Hill House". I created this design using her wedding invitation to inspire me. She and her husband and their family were very happy with the way it turned out.

Supurb Beauty of September!!

This post is about the beauty of the nature that has surrounded me this month.
I've started walking regularly again and so I thought I would take my camera along with me one morning. These are some of the natural beauties that delight my senses and uplift me as I walk. The picture above are those gorgeous flowering trees that bloom in Sept all around Santa Rosa. We even have one in the dark pink color growing in our yard. How fun it will be when it gets that big.

As I walk through the Oak trees that are at the far end of the park, I smell them and that fragrance that surrounds me takes me back to my childhood and a park I used to go to in Berkekey called "Live Oak Park". It is an instant memory and a very good one. At the same time I look around and down that path in front of me as I stand under the Oaks is a view of the fence that surrounds our first house in Santa Rosa...the home where we lived when all three of our youngest sons were born.

Then I walk down that path and stand by that fence and look out at the view that we had from our deck in the backyard of the playground over the stream and through the trees. Look familiar... sons??

Near the end of my walk in and out of the park walkways is a pathway that is another favorite. I love the majesty of the Weeping Willow trees. They have a grace and beauty all their own.

These cuties are some of the Gerbera Daisys that grow on our deck. I love looking at them out of my kitchen window.

This is the Hydrangea plant that my Philpott family gave to me one Mother's Day. I love the color of those flowers. It brings me much happiness. Thank you family.

This cute little succulent plant was a get will gift from the Kitchen family that was waiting for us when we got home from our extended trip to Utah in June. It's "get well" messsage was greatly appreciated and it is blooming again so that it's love extends on.

Light pink roses that bloom profusely on our front path on a bush that my boss gave me for assistants day in 2008 make me smile every day. I love that I planted it and it grew so nicely. I got another one this year that is a dark, dark pink that I have planted across the path from this one. It will be fun to see it's growth too.

I love nature and the way it makes me feel. I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who created all the beauties that surround me. Now it's on to the next phase of nature and all that fall has in store for the senses.

Awesome August!!

The First Saturday in August, our Stake President and good friend, Perry Bingham (front center) came over and told Richard that it was time for him to be released from his 8 years of service on the High Council and I was also being released with him from our 8 years of service as advisers to the Single Adults in our stake. The picture above is his last night with the High Council. It was a hard release as we both loved serving in those capacities but with change comes growth and new opportunities to serve. You will see at the end of this post where we are serving now...

The two weeks surrounding that event were very busy weeks for 4 of our sons. All four of them moved from one place to a new place. Our son John and his wife Noelle and their 5 children moved to Taylorsville Utah from our rental home in Sacramento. He got a really good job there but not until his wife and kids had already moved into their new rental home. That's a leap of Faith which accompanied with the confirmation of the Spirit was exactly what they were supposed to do. They have a lovely home there and are setteling in nicely. Our son Dave and his wife Brook with their son Carter moved from Salt Lake City into the beautiful newly fininshed 3 bedroom basement apartment of the rental home John and Noelle live in. And our son Jeff and his very pregnant wife Rachelle moved from a 2 bdrm upstairs condo to a 3 bdrm downstairs condo in their same building in Salt Lake city. It's wonderful having 3 of our sons and families so close together while Jeff and Dave finish school at U of U. They love being close and having family dinners together at least once a week. Noelle takes care of Carter when Brook is at work and Dave is at school. There's nothing like family!!!
Also the first weekend in August our son Chris and his wife Emily moved from our house in Santa Rosa to our rental home in Sacramento as he started school at ITT for his computer animation degree. Emily is still communting to Sonoma county to work but hopfully she will be able to find a job close to home when the opportunity presents itself. Chris is still looking for work in Sacramento that will fit with his school schedule.
I'm very grateful that we are staying put!!

On the 15th of August we were in Grant's Pass Oregon with Chris and Emily to celcbrate my Dad's 90th Birthday. We had a party for him with his friends from his barbarshop chorus as well as other friends. Dad has a quartet and they entertained us beautifully. You will see a couple of videos of two of their songs at the end of this post. We had a great time spending a couple of days with family. With thoughtful calculation we figured that it had been 17 years since my brother Larry, my sister Joanne, and I had all been together at the same time. We promised not to let it be so long next time.

The week after we got home from Oregon, our granddaughter, Beth and her son Jordan arrived from Austin Texas for a visit. What fun it was to spend some time with them and her Dad Steve Berry too. Jordan is a very busy little guy. He loved burying his little cars in the dirt.

They came to church with us the Sunday they were here and Chris and Emily were here that weekend too so they got to visit with them as well.

The last Saturday of the month, Richard and I went to Sacramento to do Temple work at that beautiful temple. We had been there for the sealing of John and Noelle's children but never been through a session there before. We spent a great day with Chris and Emily there and at their home seeing the fun decorating they have done to make their home their own. Family is where the real Joy of Life abides!!

We did get new callings at the end of the month. I am the new Relief Society President and Richard is the first assistant in the High Priest Group. New opportunities for us both.

Here is my Dad's quartet and one of their songs they did. I have been trying to upload a second video but it is taking forever so I think I will cancel it and try and put it in a post by itself so that I can get this one published. My Dad is on the far left and sings high tenor. My video skills are new, so when the picture isn't good...just enjoy the beautiful sound!!!

"May the Road Rise Up to Meet You"

Where did July go??

The first thing we replaced from our accident losses was getting a new camera. How can a family with so many wonderful people in it not have a good camera. The one we had lasted long enough to take a few pictures after the accident that were in the slide show from last month but after we got home...it refused to work at all. Thank goodness for digital cameras and camera memory cards. Another tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father.

The first pictures taken were of Emily, our daughter-in-law, by her husband, Chris and then I took one of my sweetheart sitting in the living room. His head looks better than in the last pictures of him without a cap. Chris and Emily lived with us for two months between their Santa Rosa apartment and the house in Sacramento where they moved for Chris to start school in Sept.

On the 11th of July the four of us went to a premiere showing of Karos Lowder's short film he produced at BYU titled "The Space Between". It was very impressive and he shared his comments about the experience of doing that and how it is being submitted to many film festivals during the next 12 months. He is the son of good friends of ours and he is in the film making degree program at BYU. He is definately up and coming and we can say..."We knew him when."

On July 18th, Richard and I went out to our house in Sacramento to see the Philpott's one last time before their move to Utah. Noelle was very busy priming a room with Abby, and shampooing carpets. John was busy cleaning and fixing things that needed attention so we had the pleasure of babystting our 5 grandchildren. It was a very HOT day in Sacramento (about 108 *) so we stayed indoors where it was air conditioned.

We watched a few of their fun animated movies with them that we hadn't seen yet...and some of us dozed in the process.

We enjoyed playing games with them too. Here I am playing Junior Scrabble with Jenna. We had a good time.

Isaiah had fun showing Papa his musical toy.
It's amazing what toys can do these days!

Starting on the 4th of July and practically every day thereafter, I spent a lot of time talking to car dealers, test driving cars, and researching cars on line to find my "new" used car to replace my van. Well, on the 25th of July we bought this Hyundai Santa Fe. It's a small SUV and rides like a dream so my cakes and flowers will be safe. It has 36,500 miles on it and therefore has 25,000 miles left on the new car warentee. It has a very high customer satisfaction and safety rating so that is good. As you can see, it's a beautiful dark cherry red...my first red car. Hopefully we will have many good years with this one

Pictures from June

Well, here are the long awaited photos of our amazing month of June with all our blessings in tact. Family is the greatest blessing of all and we ended our month with the sealing of our fourth adopted grandchild in the Philpott family at the Sacramento Temple on the 27th of June. Life is Good!!

June is busting out all over!!!

I decided that I will take a lesson from my children...I know they teach me a lot about many things...and I will write my blog about this month and then I will post a slide show as soon as Emily and Chris show me how to put my pictures into a slide show like Rachelle did and has done before on their blog. So here goes the commentary with pictures to come later...

Richard and I had a fantastic vacation to Utah to visit our two sons and their families. One of the reasons we chose this month to go was because we had all the baby gifts to deliver (as well as a bassinet and infant car seat loaned to them by Brook and Dave but residing at our house) that Rachelle and Sprout received at the shower we gave her last month. Also we wanted to go up to Idaho and meet our new daughter-in-law Urasia, her daughter Macie, and George and Urasia's baby girl, our granddaughter, Brooklyn, now 3 months old. What a great family time!!!

We left on Saturday, June 6th and from the time we got into the Sierra Nevada Mountains until we reached Salt Lake City, it was rain showers with very few breaks and only briefly when they happened. I've never seen Nevada so green and actually quite lovely!! We arrived safely and happy to be there. The weather continued the whole time we were in Utah and Idaho with rain, quite heavy many times, everyday. Lots of thunder and lightening too. I guess that's what you get in the spring but people were saying it was quite unusual for that late in the season.

We had a great time in Utah. We relaxed and stayed with Jeff and Rachelle but when they were at school and work, we went over to Dave and Brooks and babysat for Carter...hurray, we loved that....while Dave had his chiropractic appts and had errands to run. It was so much fun! On our own, Richard and I ate lunch at Hires Big H which has been in Utah since the 50's. It was good food and fun atmosphere. We also had to have an Ice Berg Shake cause they are really thick and oh so good. Then we did a trip to...no not BYU this time...Barnes and Noble for Richard to use one of his gift cards.

We took to opportunity to attend the Temple in Utah but took a while to decide which one. We chose to go to the Bountiful Temple and thoroughly enjoyed our session there. At least that morning it wasn't raining so we got some good pictures as we walked about the grounds after the session.

Rachelle, Brook, and I did a mother daughter day at a boutique village just down I15 a ways. We had a great time wandering through the shops and looking at fun creative things. All the shops were in old little houses from the past with a stream and ducks meandering through it all. We spent the most time in the Christmas shop that seemed to be the biggest house too. It was a delightful day.

On Wednesday night I was priviledged to be able to give Carter his bath and enjoyed playing with him and his toys, then get him ready for bed including singing a song and reading a couple of his books to him. I loved every minute of it!! Thank you Brook and Carter for that awesome experience!!

Our "Daughters" took turns and shared making wonderful dinners for us. All our sons are so lucky to have their wives be such good cooks. Then on Thursday...I had the fun of making a Birthday Dinner for Jeff and the family and his two best friends, Ryan and Jonny. It was a fun evening with family and friends. He chose Lasagna, green salad, garlic bread, and brownie sundaes for his birthday dinner.

On Friday, Jeff and Rachelle road with us up to Idaho Falls to see George and his growing family. Urasia is lovely and very sweet. We felt right at home and so welcomed. She is truly a wonderful addition to our family. She has a cute 5 year old daughter, Macie and then of course there is baby Brooklyn. We had such fun getting to know them and reconnecting with Emeric and Seneca (George's great teenagers). We watched movies, talked a lot, ate good food and played "Buttmann". Saturday Brook, Dave and Carter came up from SLC and we all got to meet Urasia's parents who came down for Brooklyn's blessing that was done at the house. The Bishop came over and presided and Richard blessed Brooklyn with the Bishop, George, Dave, and Jeff standing in the circle. George kept and eye on Brooklyn every so often during the blessing and said that she was staring at Richard as he spoke and she was so good! She is really an angel baby. Very happy, well behaved, and so willing to come to others and smile readily. She is definitely a grandparents delight. It was so fun to watch so many of our grandchildren play together and to have time to interact with all of them. I love being a grandma!!

We drove back to SLC Saturday evening so that we could leave Sunday morning. We packed up the car and were on the road by 8:30 AM and it was sunny with no sign of rain...until we got to Nevada.

We got to Elko and stopped for a potty break and to change drivers. On the road again we were just past Carlin and through the tunnel by a couple of miles when there was a HUGE cloudburst and the road became flooded, big time. We were passing a Semi truck and with the flooded road and his wheels adding to it...we started to hydroplane out of control. We spun around and in front of the truck and over the edge of the northern side of the road with the driver's side going over first. We rolled our van one and a quarter times landing on the driver's side for the second time. We both had our seat belts on and never lost consciousness. It was still raining and all the windows on both sides of the van were gone when we stopped. People who were behind us on the road stopped and came to us asking if we were all right. We assured them that we were alive and doing quite well considering the circumstances. They told us that help was on the way.

The volunteer fire department of Carlin and the ambulance arrived first. They took out the remainder of the windshield so we could be reached that way if necessary. However the rear door and window of the van were still in perfect condition...amazing as that sounds so the EMT's came in that way to reach us. I was suspended over Richard hanging from my seat belt and I could see Richard's head bleeding badly. I was concerned but he was talking and said that he didn't feel in any great pain. The EMT's took each of us out on a back board with neck collars on and securely strapped down. I was put in the ambulance and Richard was put on a helicopter to get him to the hospital quicker because of his head wound. The people who witnessed the accident kept telling us they couldn't understand how we didn't get hit by the Semi!! We are certain that it was a miracle and only by the grace and love and protecting arms of a loving Heavenly Father did we survive that ordeal with no broken bones, no internal injuries, no life threatening injuries at all. No words can express how we feel.

I was examined and found only to have a few very small cuts and some bruises especially on the right side of my face so I wound up with a "shiner" worthy of a boxer. But I was released from the Elko Hosp and became a passenger for the rest of the traveling.

Richard was examined; he received a "$1000" reverse mohawk hair cut, and then his head wound was cleaned and sewn up with 10 stitches for a 4 inch gash on the top of his head; then he was CT scanned. He had some minor cuts on his left arm and big bruises on his legs just below his knees. The Dr. was concerned about a hemotoma on his brain so he felt that he needed a neurologist's attention so he told us we would be flown to SLC. Hurray. We are going back to family and where we came from! After two ambulance rides and one ride in a small "air ambulance" through turbulent weather (the pilot made an incredible landing...so smooth that we couldn't feel a thing...really!!) we arrived at the U of U Medical center. Jeff and Dave and their wives arrived and Jeff and Dave gave their Dad a Priesthood blessing. The Doctors did more scans and kept him over night for observation. After more than 24 hours, and determining that the 3 millimeter hemotoma hadn't grown at all, they released Richard Monday night to join me at Jeff and Rachelle's apartment once more . He hadn't really slept... only little infrequent snoozes the whole time since the accident so he was exhausted and so grateful for a bed to really sleep in for the whole night with no one poking and prodding him. Brook, Dave, and Carter bought Richard a really cute cap to wear to cover his stitched up wound. It's just like one Carter has and they sure look cute together in their caps.

Wednesday, George drove all the way to Elko from Idaho Falls to retrieve our belongings. When he was there, he spoke to the owner of the towing place and he told George that there were three other accidents on Sunday in the same general area of I 80 and they were all fatalities. The wrecked cars were there beside ours. He also told George that we had rolled down a 100 foot or more embankment because his 150 foot cable on his truck was completely extended to pull our car up to the road so he could tow it. A further testimony that we were protected and greatly blessed. George then drove all our stuff to SLC and brought it to us at Jeff and Rachelle's. He had dinner with us and then drove all the way back to Idaho Falls. THANK YOU, GEORGE!! We went through it all and didn't really have to throw away very much...which also is very amazing to us. We washed what needed washing and packed it all very tightly for our flight on Southwest Thursday evening. Some of our stuff was left behind but other family members going out in July will bring us the few things that we left in Utah.

Words cannot express the gratitude and love we feel for our family and all their help and the tender mercies of our loving Heavenly Father through this ordeal. We have been incredibly blessed!! Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and many prayers in our behalf. We have felt them.

We are now home and both of us returned to work Friday. Richard had his stitches removed today. His Dr says everything looks really good. We'll see how his hair grows out, it will be fun to watch and try to keep looking good as I am his hairstylist so I will do my best with the growing process. Rachelle's parents have loaned us a car until we can replace our van with something else. We will see what we come up with and I'll share it on the blog. Enjoy the slide show when I find out how to do it.

The Rest of May!

Jeff and Rachelle came out from Utah for 6 days and Cindy (Rachelle's Mom) and I gave her a baby shower at our house. This is the cake I did for the shower. Rachelle and Jeff love the Beach so we had a beach theme. Cindy and Cazra, Rachelle's sister-in-law, took most of the pictures so the cake was all I got on my camera.

Memorial Day tradition...Breakfast at Armstrong Grove...a very beautiful Redwood forest!

Jeff and Rachelle talking with Bishop Freebairn. Can you see "Sprout"??

A family of Robins built a nest on the arbor over one end of our deck. This is the Dad waiting his turn at the little ones. It's amazing how fast they go from building the nest to babies flown away.

Saturday, May 30, we went on a nature walk through the Bouverie Preserve with a few of the single Adults in our stake. It was a beautiful hike and our guide, Ann~ bottom right, taught us a lot about the things we saw. She was a real delight.

This is a bark house built as the Indians native to our area would build it. See the very large basket in the back...this they used to "cook" ground corn meal in. Imagine, cooking in a basket. They were the best basket makers ever.

A Buckeye tree in full bloom.

Beautiful scenery all around!

A bare tree covered in Spanish moss. Do you know what the "First People" (Indians) used the moss for??? If you want to know, just ask me or make a guess.
It was a wonderful adventure that we thoroughly enjoyed and want to do again.