New York with Gwen

My honey is home and has been for 8 days. He is very glad that the snow and freezing weather waited to come to New York city until he left. He has been talking regularly to Yasir and Gwen since he got back and there is steady baby steps of improvement everyday. Gwen does remember that he was there but not exactly when or how long he stayed. I thought I would show you some of the pictures he took while he visited. In this picture they are sitting on the couch where Richard slept every night. The papers on the wall behind them tell Gwen about her surgery and has a calendar up there too so she can see how time is passing.

Here her friends have come over and are fixing Quesidillas (sp?) Richard said they were very good!!


They had some crazy "Shower Caps", so Gwen's friend Dawn, Gwen, and her Dad were clowning around with them. I guess that's the only way a shower cap would be worn these days :0)

Here you see Gwen with her Dad on the roof of Yasir's apartment building with New York skyline in the background. It was very cold but a clear and beautiful day.

Gwen is supposed to take at least a 30 minute brisk walk every day so they all walked down by the East River which is just a few blocks from Yasir's apartment. Pretty spectacular scenery surrounding those wonderful people. Notice the skater in the one with Gwen and Yasir. A very common sight in New York.

Lonely in Santa Rosa but busy too!

Well, Richard has been gone since Tuesday morning and he took my camera with him to record his adventure for Gwen as well as us. I will post pictures when he gets home which will be Monday night...Hurray!!! I miss him terribly.

Last weekend was the Nativity Exhibit and we sang in the choir. Dan Earl was very, very pleased with our performance. He said it was the best, most prepared choir he has directed. We were happy to have pleased him and the audience. Here are a few pictures from the exhibit.

This is what people see in the exit foyer as they are leaving.

This is a brand new nativity from Ecuador. I loved it!

This a my all time favorite nativity that has been shown many years. It was purchased on ebay and was made in Italy. To me it shows most realistically what it might have been like the night of the Savior's birth.

This is a close up of the cave and the Holy Family.

Tuesday I got home from the airport and went to the church to "take down" the exhibit and get our nativities. I brought it all home and then began decorating our house for Christmas. I worked for 9 hours and got a lot done.

Wednesday I did some more decorating before work and then after work I put the finishing touches on it in preparation for my part in the ward party on Saturday.

Thursday I drove out to Sacramento to be with Noelle, John, and the grandchildren. What a great day that was. I sat for Jenna and Isaiah while Noelle went Christmas shopping. That was a grandma's delight!! Then we walked to school and picked up the other 3 and walked home. There are few words as sweet to my ears as "GRANDMAAAAA!!!" There was snack time, homework time, dinner time and then bed time. Wow, what a busy household. Good job Philpott family. That night John and I went to a very special Zrii business meeting and I was really glad we took that opportunity. (Thank you, Noelle for sacrificing John to let him go with me. You will be glad he did. :o) I spent the night, thank you Abby for giving up your bed, and then left Friday to come home and go to work.

Friday night, Chris and Em invited me to their ward Christmas dinner and party after work so I went there and really enjoyed that. Then I went to their apartment to watch "Horton Hears a Who". What a great movie. Very entertaining and the animation is fantastic! A fun evening.

Yesterday I finished the decorating, except for the Christmas tree which we don't have yet cause Richard and I will do that together next week. Then I cleaned house and set up for the group of friends coming here for the first course of a progressive dinner. We had a great time and then I went to the two other homes for the rest of the meal. It was a great ward party with way to many scrumptious desserts.

Today was church and then tonight is choir practice and then the Single adult Christmas potluck fireside and program at Pres. Wiseman's home. I don't know if you have been counting but I haven't had to fix but two dinners for myself the whole time my sweetheart has been gone. Like I mentioned, it's been a busy week.

November highs and lows!

November was much more than I bargained for and very busy as formerly noted. As the Philpott family likes to do, we had some real highs and lows this month so that is how this blog will go. Fortunately most of them are Highs!!

The Election was a high because it's finally over and things are changing, some for the better and others for the worse but they are changing and we have to live with the results no matter if they please us or not.

One "high" was a big wedding floral contract that was a lot of work but with many gorgeous flowers. I loved the colors the bride chose (Dusty rose, burgundy, and ivory) and the romantic feeling she wanted in the arrangements. It was truly a delight making her happy and being surrounded with all those flowers for three days while I worked with them. I was afraid that I would run out of flowers at one point but it turned out to be just right with a few to spare and the bride was very happy with the results...she said they were, "perfect". I also did the flowers on the cake that was made by my neighbor and good friend, Jan Dold. Here are some pictures of them, see what you think.


The Bride's bouquet.













The large church arrangement, there were two.








Another "high" was the Single Adult T-giving dinner and movie night we had at the institute on the 22nd. The food was great and the attendance was about 32 which is extremely good for a movie night. I think we always need to serve food if we want more people to come. Everyone enjoys a meal with friends, especially if your single. We ate and then watched the movie, "August Rush". If you haven't seen it, give it a try. It was our second time seeing it and we enjoyed it twice. Be sure and have some Kleenex ready at the end. Here's a picture of our feast and friends.

Then there was a huge "LOW" that has effected all of our family. Gwen (this picture of her and Yasir was taken fall of 2007) told us about her brain tumor that was growing rapidly between her brain and her skull causing the loss of her sight in one of her eyes and the need for speedy neurosurgery. Through the stress of finding a very good surgeon and getting it covered on her insurance, she finally had the surgery two days before Thanksgiving and everything went well for the 7 and a half hour procedure. Her sight has been restored (a high) and she came through the surgery really well (a high) but her short term memory is temporarily "out of order" and that is a" big LOW" and a tremendous concern for all of us who love her so much. They expect a full recovery but we have to have patience and wait! How grateful we are for such a big family on both sides, her wonderful loving Yasir, and so many amazing friends in New York. They have all gone the extra mile to help her in her trials. Thank you to her sisters who have gone out there and helped so much and of course her mom, Daisy for all you are doing to support and help your daughter. We thank all of you for pulling together and loving her and us. Richard is able to go out there this coming week to be with her and help in any way he can thanks to the generosity of our immediate family. Words cannot adequately express our gratitude for this marvelous gift of love and joining us with all your fasting and prayers in her behalf.

Thanksgiving brought us a big "HIGH" with the addition of one more grandchild in the Philpott family... sweet Isaiah (2 and a half) and the youngest brother of the other three new grandchildren. Because of his timely arrival, they canceled their planned trip to Utah and stayed here giving us the opportunity to go out there and be the grandparents fixing the feast they provided and playing with the children. It was a wonderful day full of activity!! We colored in coloring books (aah the smell of crayons), watched movies played charades (I was a turtle and Dad was Cinderella), played outside, and the two youngest girls, Emma and Jenna, each made me a beautiful bracelet. We were happy to be there and share in this fantastic day of gratitude. Our family has so much to be grateful for.

Another "High": starting back in October and through November in with all the other activities, Richard and I were also practicing with the Stake Nativity Choir with Dan Earl. As always it has been a thrill. The exhibit is this weekend starting yesterday and going through Monday. The Choir performances are tonight, Saturday, and two tomorrow. We love it and consider it a huge part of the Christmas season. The Spirit is there so strong there. I was working in the set up all this past week and it is beautiful with many new nativities and my personal favorites as well.

My final personal "high" to begin the season and to look my best for the holidays, I got a perm and a haircut Thursday as my hair was getting really straggly and hard to make it look as good as I like because my hair is thinning out and most of the curl was gone from my perm in June. I am grateful for the money from my wedding flowers to be able to do that. It feels much better and I've gotten very nice comments from friends and people at work.

Hope you enjoy the fun "hustle and bustle" preparing for Christmas. Just remember to keep the reason for the season in your heart and mind to bring you peace and happiness as you sing those beautiful/fun songs and wrap those gifts of love.

Busy, Busy BUSY!!

This is just a short note letting you all know that I look at your blogs daily and love you all. I haven't had time to do a good blog with pictures and all, for a month now. It is the Stake Nativity Festival time and I've been busy with that, working my longer hours and trying to get the Christmas/ Birthday shopping completed so that you will get the gifts in time. Then trying to figure out Dad's trip to NY and haveing wonderful holidays thrown into the mix...whew, just writing about it makes me feel tired!! So I have pictures and I will blog but probably not until Saturday, unless we go and get our tree that day and I start putting up decorations... I promise I will get to it in the next 3 days. Till then.....