Is Anybody out there???

I just thought I would pose this question to see if there is anyone reading the blogs I write. I got comments from some of my family when I first started doing this and I loved that. It was a connection to you. Now....I write comments to my family bloggers but I haven't had a comment from anyone in months. If my family is reading what I write and has any response...I would love to have you talk to me. What do you think? There is only one member of our family who lives in our city now and they don't always know everything we do nor us them so Comments from all are anxiously awaited. Thanks all, I love you!!!

A Busy, Fun, Spiritual weekend

Friday night we loaded up the back of the van with our old Computer monitor, used batteries, used florescent lights, and old gallon containers of various latex paints and stain and tile adhesive. A odd thing to load in a car you may think...well, you're right but it will make sense in a minute.
Saturday morning we got up, ate, showered and dressed in church clothes. We left the house about 9:45 and headed to the computer recycling place near Sequoia floral. They paid $.05 per pound for old computer/TV components so we picked up a whopping $1.20 for the monitor. We then headed to the dump! We went to the household toxics area and delivered our other stuff which they took gladly. We wonder if they had ever seen people at the dump in Church clothes before? :o) From there we went to the Temple...what a contrast!!

It was a beautiful day and the session was great.
We enjoyed the peace and spirit of being there.
We were there early enough so we had a snack
in the cafeteria and then had time in the chapel
before the session to read and ponder the scriptures. It couldn't have been better. I took some pictures after the session specifically for this blog...enjoy!!


This is the view of Oakland, and the Bay Bridge with the fog rolling in through the Golden Gate Bridge... that's why you can't see it.


After the session we took off for our favorite "after the temple eating place"...the plaza shops and eateries in Emeryville. We normally eat at Fuddruckers but this time we chose a new place called the Buckhorn Grill. Wow!! What fantastic food. We had a Bacon cheddar Tri-tip sandwich on a fresh baked french roll. So good. Then we went to the movies and used our AMC movie gift card we got from Brook and David for Christmas. This is the only AMC theater in the bay area and it took us awhile to find it. We saw WALL*E. We loved it. It is a very unique movie with a darling love story done by Disney's PIXAR. If you haven't seen it we highly recommend it. It was a wonderful day.

Today we had a fantastic Single Adult fireside. My "boss", Dr. Blake Ambridge and his wife Amy spoke on "A Brightness of Hope". They are very good speakers and held the audience in the palm of their hands. We learned a lot and gained great insight as well as sharing in their personal experiences and stories. I'm so glad I was there.

Now we get to prepare for our trip to Utah on Thursday. Yippee!!!!!!!!

The newest grandchildren

Well, we were able to go and meet our 3 new grandchildren on Saturday and Chris and Emily came with us. It was a wonderful day. Those precious little ones make the Philpott family so complete. They are adorable and so friendly. Richard and I were thrilled at the reception we got and he was amazed at the loving the little girls gave him. He ate it up, what Papa wouldn't :o) !! We played "Disney Scene it" with the whole family and had a blast. They liked the gifts we brought all of them. It all seemed so natural. I would post pictures of the new little ones, but that is the privilege of the Philpott family for now. I do have a picture of Richard and I and Abby before we added the rest of the family. Go to their family site to see them. I love doing that daily. Exciting adventures and marvelous blessings.


Other than that we are excited about our upcoming trip to Utah to see our two sons and their families, go to the "Zrii" Rising Star Academy training for our new business (check it out at www.joymann.myzrii.com), and attend education week at BYU. While we are gone, Chris and Emily will be taking care of the house and the flowers. "Thanks, Chris and Emily!!" We will have fun pix and adventures to report when we return. We will be business trained and spiritually fed so "look out world" that is a dangerous combination!!



This is a picture of Carter all dressed up in his Sunday best the Sunday before they left. We miss them but are so happy for all the new adventures taking place in their lives now. I love all the blogs that Brook does to make us feel a part of their lives even though they are in Utah.
Great job Brook! Thank you!!

They are off to Utah!

Well, the Mann family of 3 is off to Utah as I write this. They left at about 5:00 this morning after catching a little sleep here at our house to be safe on the road. For that we are very grateful. I spent all day over at their apartment yesterday taking care of Carter (Yipee!!) for the most part. That included a walk to Howarth park to watch the children play in the jumping water, and ride the merry-go-round. Then we took a walk up the path around part of Lake Ralphine. Carter fell asleep until a dog jumped into the water causing the geese and ducks there to really raise a racket!!

The 4 local missionaries, Vince (their fake dad), 3 young men from their ward, Haley Pierce, Chris & Emily, and Richard (after work), and Scott Hamilton (friend and David's work associate) were all there at various times during the day helping to load the truck that Vince is driving to Utah today. Brook and I switched jobs in the evening cause Carter needed his mom. I finished packing boxes and then Emily and I and Richard worked together on the cleaning as each room became totally vacated of boxes and furniture. It was a long day that ended about 10:30 PM.

Brook is blogging as they travel from her phone which is the neatest thing ever. I'm so grateful for modern technology. Thank you Brook for your travelogue. It makes us feel better seeing and hearing how the trip is going. Check it out family!

A dear friend of ours, Celeste Kitchen, had major surgery this past Monday that had some complications associated with it. In my calling as Compassionate Service leader, I have been updating the sisters in the ward so I've been communicating with her and her husband. It's good to know she is progressing well and hopefully will be able to come home from the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco soon, maybe even tomorrow.

Our Zrii business is in its growing stages and we are looking forward to going to the Royal Star Academy training in Salt Lake City before our time at BYU Education week. It is an exciting business and one that will be successful. Of that I am sure!

We are very excited to be going to Sacramento Tomorrow to meet our new grandchildren!! We love the pictures we have seen and can hardly wait to meet them in person. They make the family in Sacramento complete. We are thrilled for all of them. Abby is finally a big sister in a BIG way.

After Reunion life

Well, in the first place I don't know why my blog is all underlined or how to get rid of it but I will try when I have finished it. We have been busy doing usual things and unusual things too so here goes the adventure.

The weekend after the reunion (okay so now the underlining has gone away...I don't get it but I'm grateful) I had a big wedding floral contract at the Bennett Valley golf course. It took me three days to put all the flowers together as well as working half of Friday. I was really tired and very grateful for Richard's help with the set up as it took two trips over there to do it and I couldn't have done it without him. The bride and her family loved it all... so much in fact that I'm doing her sister's wedding in November.

Over the fourth of July weekend we had a joint garage sale with Brook and Dave and Carter on Friday (the 4th) and Saturday the 5th. We had fun rotating in and out of the house attending to Carter and trying to get a bite to eat when hungry and tending the sale. In the long run it was successful, Brook and Dave made a little over $300 and we made just under $100 but we got some great thing s from them in the process too. The remainder of the stuff we aren't selling on Craig's list went right over to the DI truck in our church parking lot. How very convenient!!

I have also started a new business that I am very excited about. I truly believe that it will be the business that will allow us to retire and serve a mission and be debt free in a short period of time because of the timing and integrity of the business opportunity. It is like nothing else I've seen and it is growing like crazy. I will tell most of you all about it at our family dinner later this month. I know you can hardly wait to hear.

Enjoy the pictures and captions. Please make comments if you think of any...I'm trying to do that more myself cause it's nice to know that someone is reading and hopefully enjoying what is being presented. Sorry I don't blog as often as I was. It is time consuming but I sure love reading all our family blogs. Keep up the good work.Here's Grandpa doing his thing with the nose of his grandson, Carter!!
We finally caught it on film!

This is one of two large arrangements that were placed in a cut out
on the topof these custom made pillars out on the golf course
(9th tee) where thewedding took place.

There were 20 table arrangements at the reception held
in the dinning area of the golf course. This is one of them.

If you look really close you can see a tiny gray bird with a yellow beak
on the string like flower stem of those pink flowers.
There were 5 of them on those little branches eating bugs, I guess,
that were in the little pink flowers.
They were so cute I had to take pictures. I hope you can see him.

This is our garage sale. Only one bike out of three left in this picture.
This is Saturday afternoon when we were about to call it a day.
Dave and Brook are sitting on chairs in the shade at the front
of the garage. The weather was perfect!!

Five Generations!!!

I loved our family reunion!! I had a great time with all of our family and to have that many generations all together at the same time, what a blessing. I hope that everyone else enjoyed their time together. I hope that you enjoy a few pictures from the reunion. It will be fun to get the picture CD. Thanks in advance, Emily.

Some of our family went out on our inflatable raft and paddled around Spring Lake where we spent the better part of the Saturday of the reunion. As you can see the geese were not intimidated by the kids or the boat.
Other family members swam or rented peddle boats they used for an hour.









I loved our talent show. The talents of this family far exceeded my expectations. It was absolutely wonderful. Thank you all for sharing. When I have pictures of some of the performances, I will put them here too.

A few of us who were still here on Tuesday went up to the resort where the Texas family stayed to spend their last evening here with them. We had a fabulous dinner of BBQ pork rib steaks, watermelon & cantaloupe, Broccoli Salad, Chips, and Soda. We had ice cream for dessert. Christy did the BBQing and it was delicious!! It was really hot so some of us took advantage of the swimming pool and spa. Then some of us played the “Rock Band” video game complete with drums, guitars, and vocals. Richard and I had a great time watching everyone but forgot to take pictures. Darn that would have been good. Then Christy got out her Kareoke (sp?) machine and Emily, Christy and I tried it. It is much harder than it looks. But it was fun. Ari and her son Dustin and Beth’s friend Erika were also there.













The really hot, triple digit weather waited till the reunion was over which was a great blessing for all of us. We had 5 days of it which is unusual for Santa Rosa/ Sonoma County. To escape the heat and avoid cooking, Richard and I went to a movie last Saturday. We saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal skull. We loved it! It was a crazy, unrealistic, fantasy that was humorous, filled with action and suspense, and highly entertaining. Then we used our gift card and enjoyed a meal at Olive Garden. It was a great day!

This week is back to normal and work. Richard got a new crown in his mouth yesterday, and we’ve been breathing in ashes and smoke the last few days from all the fires burning in northern California. The Air is horrible…worse than LA they say. I’m so grateful that all that came after our reunion and not before.

Memorial Day Week!!

The Saturday before Memorial day we had a super surprise...Chris and Emily had flown to Utah to attend Emily's sisters wedding . That we knew but what we didn't know was that Jeff and Rachelle were driving to Santa Rosa with her grandparents to attend her sister, Becca's, Graduation from High School. They had it all arranged and traded apartments so each of them were the others house sitters. They popped in at our house Saturday night about 9:30 really surprising us. What a great surprise, just like when the Philpotts surprised us on Christmas eve. I love family surprises. Here are some photos from our week.

There is an annual breakfast at Armstrong Grove starting at 8 AM every Memorial Day that we went to last year and loved so we went again. It started with the Dunfords and some of their friends from their ward and has grown. Here is a picture where we are playing "Butt Man" after eating Pancakes, eggs and fruit. Richard is at the back then there is Rachelle, Jeff, Becca, and Cazra (Rachelle's sister-in-law)

Cindy Dunford was keeping her granddaughter, Ava, occupied for a while. Ava was having a great time playing with Grandma's hair.

After Breakfast we all took the hike through the beautiful redwoods to the Amphitheater where they played red light/green light on the benches. That is a Dunford and friends family tradition. I missed out last year due to my broken ankle. How grateful I was to be able to take the beautiful walk this year! On the way back we noticed this enormous redwood tree that had fallen over some time this past year and shed some of it's bark when it landed. You can see how huge it is by the size of Richard next to it. It was quite a sight!

When Jeff and his brothers were little, we took a trip to the redwoods and we have a picture of the 3 of them in this tree. I wanted to get a picture of him there now as an adult and then add his beautiful wife too. Some day we'll get pictures of "Their" children in this tree to complete the cycle!!

Tuesday night, Richard left work early and we took a mid-week trip to the temple. That is something I think we have only done once before in all the years we have been married. It was a good idea and we really enjoyed the fewer people being there as compared to the weekends.
We are going to plan on doing that again.

Tuesday morning, Jeff and Rachelle came over to help me paint our family room. I have wanted to do that for a long time and I was so grateful for the help. It's much more fun doing things like that with family. It turned out really nice and looks very different from the dirty eggshell color it was before. Wednesday morning I did the trim and then Jeff and Rachelle came over and helped me hang the sign that they gave me for Christmas. You can see part of it below but wait till you see it completed. I love it and I look forward to putting up the pictures I have planned to complete the feeling the sign gives. Thank you Jeff and Rachelle for all your help!!