Gram and Grandad

Cadence and Michael Harris

2011-04-21T19:35:00.001-07:00

April 9th, 2011 was Cadence (Cady to me and Grandad) and Mike's wedding in the Redwoods! They are now husband and wife and a beautiful wedding it was, several miles east of Mendocino, California, at Mendocino Woodlands Camp. http://www.mendocinowoodlands.org/home.html

Most everyone arrived on Friday evening and located their cabins, their firewood and hugged each other! Everyone was able to attend from our side of the family, including our brothers Howard and Steve, and I think also the Harris side except for some who live back east. What a beautiful forest with pines and redwoods and nice little cabins with fireplaces and plenty of wood and a great big kitchen, dining room and dance hall.

Saturday was the wedding ceremony performed by Erin, Cady's long time friend from Chico and the one who introduced them around five years ago. Erin was amazing, Cadence was beautiful and it is a wonderful memory! It was held in a meadow north-east of the camp surrounded by tall trees, family and friends as you can see by the pictures. We all rang our bells at the designated time and the knot was tied!

It was a great three days of family and friend fun culminating in a most entertaining talent show on Sunday night. There were several goodbyes on Sunday afternoon and night. Then the next morning was the clean-up done by those who stayed. We were out of there with about 20 minutes to spare, at 11am, Monday morning. Dennie and I, Connie and Sherman, Howard, James and Virginia and Cady and Mikey all stayed in Fort Bragg for another couple of days to take in the sites of the beautiful area. James and Virginia were more familiar with the area so they took us here and there and then treated Dennie and me to a Clam Chowder dinner (made by James and Virginia from clams and abalone that James caught) at our trailer at the "seedy" RV park we'd booked sight unseen. The chowder was sure gooooood!! And the trailer park turned out to be okay, although a little scary and we enjoyed two nights there and a nice rain storm the second night. (Also a leak in the trailer which is being fixed.)

We are very grateful that everyone arrived there and returned home safely. We were especially grateful that we ALL could be there, including Dennie's cousins, Connie and Sherman, Paul Jacobsen, his wife Sue, Ruth and her husband, Steve, and Mark Jacobsen. We have recently had the pleasure of getting to know the Jacobsen cousins better and we hope to see them much more in the future! After all these years we've discovered that we have much in common and have a really good time together!

October. Osijek, Croatia

2010-11-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

the candles from all saints day

a building inside the grave yard... but we never figured out what it was.

ghost version of me and elder brown. but elder brown moved so i told him that i was going to crop him out. he was just too excited to be a ghost.

from the park next to the church

artsy picture that i thought looked cool

congrats to dad. i am very proud to have old retired parents now. sounds like the visit with adam was fun. wish i was there to join in on the fun. let me know how the elections go. you know. the props that pass and dont and the seats in the senate and all that jazz. i need to know so i dont waste my time wondering. even though i will all this week. i might just ask president hill tomorrow at zone meeting what the turn out is. halloween is NOT the same here. i think i saw about 6 trick or treaters. lame. and they're all scary things. which is okay. of course. but they arent anything fun. like a racecar driver like me :] the bigger holiday was all saints day and its not really a holiday for anything. they just put candles in the grave yard and it looks cool. its going well. i like elder marchant a lot. of course we're getting to know each other every day. i think this week we're going to start talking in croatian 24/7. he's pretty good with the language too. he has been here in croatia for 9 months i think it is and i have for 8 or something. so he's been here longer but did have that break where he went home for 3 months for the operation. he knows some words that i dont know, but sure isnt used to speaking in croatian this much. even as much as we do right now. but when we start to do it 24/7 i think itll help him and stuff to be a little more comfortable with speaking in croatian. its good exercise. his knee is pretty good. he cant play sports or anything like that, but its healing well i think. sometimes when we walk too much, it swells and hurts the next day. but it sure doesnt affect the work. we can do everything we were doing before. we taught a guy this week named mario but i dont think he's really interested. he's just really interested in finding out the differences between us and the catholics and then he really likes the fact that we're from america. i mean half the people here are interested in that. haha stella is great. we did service this past week but nothing too exciting happened. elder jones still has back problems so he cant do service. so we have to help them out. we're still passing out english fliers for the sign up day which is next monday. so we'll see how many people come and for which classes. im hoping a lot of people show up. im super excited for this transfer and english classes. the fliers look great and we're doing great handing them out. a lot of people sound interested. we have a piano at church. elder jones kinda knows how to play so he plays the most often, but thats probably the hardest part about sundays is the music haha. no one leads music cause its not really needed. but maybe someday in another ward. i used to in rijeka sometimes. but here we dont really need it. when more people come, maybe. there's not a whole lot to tell about this week. we had a couple lessons with people and we went over to lidija's house with alen and little lydia there. that was fun. she's going to make us sarma for elder browns birthday on friday. so im SUPER excited about that :]]] we also had a lesson with alen that went well. we had a lesson with ivana. a lesson with mario. and i think thats it. he became a "new investigator" so im glad for that. i just hope he really is interested and keeps wanting to learn more. i cant wait to come home and celebrate real halloween :] i dont really know what you guys want to hear from me. i always feel like these emails are super duper boring and have nothing to do with missionary work or anything. sorry everyone! i should be better about that. here's a small story. it was all in croatian, but ill type in english of course.

so we were walking to an appointment (that ended up falling through) and we saw a couple older guys standing by some pumpkins. one was carved too.
so we stopped and elder marchant says, "hey thats cool".
they stare at him and say "... what?"
marchant just says "well that pumpkin right there. thats what we do in america and we havent seen one like that here yet"
they give him a weird look and say " we didnt do it. some other boys did it."
elder marchant kinda just says "oh.... well... then thats not cool"
after that we ended up talking to them for quite a while and found out that one of their wives is from england and the kids knew English and had little accents and everything. so it was cool we talked about what we do and everything. its just good for people to understand that we're not jehovah's witnesses or catholics. we need to just get our name out there.

announcement for everyone. i need recipes. i want recipes. but here's a little twist. they cant contain measurement like "1 can of..., 1 packet of..., 1 stick of..." cause they dont exist here. i could figure it out maybe, but still i dont know. some recipes that ive thought of:

any cookies!
breads that are good and easier
cakes or brownies or something
pizza ideas (already have amys famous from cammy, thanks!)
any meals that are fairly easy
anything that is cheap, fast, simple, good, and healthy. if it fits into that category, send :]
ivy, those cookies you made me before i went into the mtc. they're the chocolate ones that are always moist. i LOVE those.

you can send them to me via email or snail mail, up to you. just a note. croatia doesnt have jello. so i cant even make my favorite cake :( and doesnt have dry ice and a couple other things, but its okay. you can still send me recipes :]

ill write more if i can think of more, but usually i dont so i guess this is good for this week. i love you all and thanks for everything!

love
elder jacobsen

2010-10-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

Elder Brown and Me

Translation: "STOP SECTS! we are catholic! we dont want your conversations! thanks"

English class

Zone Conference in Zagreb

Stella and me

me and stella. we're basically best friends now

i just want to let everyone know that i love this work. even though sometimes i think about home and look forward to being back in good old ramona, i still know that this is the most important thing i can be doing right now at this time of my life. im having a great time. ill just let you guys know in case you were wondering... its hard here. its a tough work. thats why they call it missionary WORK. just to give you an idea... we had 1 lesson this last week. that was the spiritual thought in english class. and 2 lessons taught to members. one was just a spiritual thought, but the other was a good lesson with ____. that was really good. but basically that was it. otherwise we were just trying to find people. we talk to around 20-50 people everyday and its very rare to even get a number from someone. but still we keep truckin away. there's not much time. we cant waste our time. i have found out how important this work really is. i am one of the 4 missionaries called here in osijek to preach and teach and baptize people into Christ's church. thats very particular and very special. i have felt the companionship of the holy ghost with us. its a great feeling and only comes when we're obedient and truly ask for it. but the Spirit is so important in this work. without it, its just a couple of 20 year olds trying to convince people to what they believe. we talked a little in zone conference about this but we are put in twos to work. we have companionships. what we need to realize though is that every companionship is basically like a three-some. there's elder brown. me. and the Holy Ghost. thats 3. and we need to be that close in order to work. im so grateful for this work and all these missionaries here in croatia. i love the scriptures. they have all the answers. all the answers we need are found in the scriptures. then if we have questions. there's prayer. its so simple. hard work is how we are able to reap blessings. if we work hard we'll be able to find the people, teach others, and truly feel the Spirit. it might be hard or tedious, but its all worth it in the end.

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
D&C 121:7-8

when we think about it like that, its not so bad. really, this time is short when you compare it with eternity. i know that this message is so important for everyone in this world. i know that we have a prophet who leads and guides this church. Elder L. Tom Perry in the MTC said "no man leads this church! Christ does". its through him that we receive revelation for his own church and i know how important that is now. we are not lost. a general authority in the MTC also said that the Great Apostacy ended with Joseph Smith yes... but the apostacy is still alive and well in the hearts of people. these people are living in an apostacy. they are searching for truth but know not where to find it. we're the ones who need to pull the people out of their personal apostacy. im so happy that im here and that im called by God to be a servant of Christ for the crpatian people. im super excited for this opportunity and i hope that you all can feel this same excitment and urgency. remember, every member a missionary. i love you family. i think about you a lot. the work is hard. people arent listening. their hearts are hardened... but that never stopped paul in the new testament. and it wont stop me either. i love you. have a great week.

love

elder jacobsen

New Baby, Rylee Rebecca Smith

2010-08-09T17:18:00.001-07:00

Rylee Rebecca Smith was born Sunday, August 8th, 2010. She weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces and she is chubby and healthy. Cam said this was the worst labor she'd had the pleasure of experiencing but all is well and she is feeling fine. Rylee had her hearing test today and she passed it.

Isaac, Jaycee, Ammon, Callie and Sheldon are all excited to have a new sister.

August 8th Letter from Ethan

2010-08-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

good morning!

first order of business: got the package on friday! and i loved it. thank you SO much for all that and yeah that was expensive! everyone say that and apparently they were very amazed at how much it was. butthank you and i hope that ill be able to use my trumpet soon for some kind of music thing.

second order of business. recipe for friendship bread! croats would love it! so that would be cool. also could you find out a little about nikola tesla. where he was born and went to school and stuff. whats funny is croatia claims him as his own, but so does serbia, and slovenia. so.... who knows. so if you can find out CITIES. thats the big thing. cause technically he was born in yugoslavia haha. but oh well. its a funny thing. every city here has a nikola tesla street. another thing. camaro pictures. at least on the email. i need just a few to show some people cause its so cool. oh yeah, by the way dad, when i get home we are fixing up the pick up. wou can just sit there and tell me what to do if you want, but i want to fix it up cause it would be really fun to learn about all that stuff and actually do something like that.

a really cool thing that you guys can listen to is a song by a croatian guy. and its really pretty. its by oliver dragojević and the song is called vjerujem u anđele. so if you look that up on youtube it should be there. if not on google you should be able to find something. he's really good.

another thing. every year for zone conference near christmas we have christmas skits. so.... i was thinking. can you send me things like phonetic punctuation, the other victor borge thing i have (with the inflamitory language or something. "threelips". and if anyone has any funny church related skits, they are very welcome. any ideas whatsoever. its nice to have a variety haha.

oh yeah, and for chirstmas i dont really need a whole lot. especially cause i got the package! :] but what i was thinking was a family calendar. the ones that leah always makes. she can just make one more and you guys can send it to me so then ill remember birthdays, ill have a calendar, and ill have great family pictures. that would be really cool.

this week was really weird cause elder brown left for ljubljana and it was just elder anderson and me in osijek. we have some good times though. we had an audit. and it consisted of a lot more than i ever thought. it was a good training experience though and it was a good learning tool. ill definitely respect my bishop and stake more now that im learning more about how it all works. im having a good time. its pretty different here cause we dont have a ward or a stake or anything. its basically the mission president and us the missionaries. thats about it. i mean there are a few members and stuff, but they are very few and not many stay active for a long time. thats a big problem here. the inactive rate. we have about 50 members in osijek. and 2 came to church yesterday. and that was a good sunday... its pretty different...

a lot has happened this week and i dont have a lot of time to email. only about 30 minutes left. okay so heres a story for you.

elder brown went to ljubljana (slovenia) this last week and he got back late friday night. so elder anderson and i had to pick him up fro the train station. especially since he had a huge suitcase and my package which was stinking heavy! so anyway. right before he had to go we started hearing thunder and we looked outside and there was lightning in the clouds going every 2 seconds literally. it was lighting up the entire sky. it was about 9 at night. then wind started blowing like crazy and the rain came soon after. it all came very fast and it was insane. but the best part was that we had to go pick up elder brown from the train station at 9:30. so we were pretty excited cause it was going to be pretty wet outside. ive been stuck in some pretty crazy storms before, but never as bad as this one. i have never seen this much rain or wind in all of my life. let me tell you that right now. so we get in regular p-day clothes cause its not too likely that we're going to stop people on the street and talk to them. and i get my camera so i can get some of the action on film. the sad thing is that i watched the films that i took and they are nothing compared to what it was actually like. they are weak sause (thats what we say here). so we're about a 8 to 10 minutes walk from the train station. not too bad. so me and elder anderson just start running! we ran so stinking fast. we were running full speed all the way to the train station and it took us like 2 or 3 minutes at most. we only stopped once. that was under a little tent thing at a cafe and all the people were inside the tent thing just drinking their little drinks and just laughed and said we were crazy. we just waved and started running again. so we got to the train station and water was just pouring everywhere. we were soaked. literally. everything on my body was wet. my shoes through and through and my garments were soaked in every place. so we waited for him for a while and finally say him getting off the trian> we ran out to grab his stuff for him and he was wearing his entire suit, so he was getting wet. and there was no way to save him from getting wet. at the beginning elder brown was running around to try and avoid getting wet and after about 1 minutes, he was already completely soaked so he just started walking. we had his rolly luggage thing and my package which was crazy heavy too. so we just walked home and got in and we all had to just strip down in the bathroom and throw our clothes in the shower cuase they were so stinking wet. the paper on the package was all wet too but goo thing everything was wrapped in bubble wrap cuase nothing got wet excpet a little bit on the ensigns. but thats okay. they dry. so yeah. it was an exciting night and we all have pictures and films and such so you will all see very soon. ill try to attach some today so you can see how wet we really were.

anyway. i gotta go now. if i think of anything else, ill email again later today. i love you guys and ill email you again more. dont worry.

love

elder jacobsen

The Mission in August, Osijek, Croatia

2010-08-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

Mac and Cheese!! Courtesy of Elder Anderson's mom.

It was raining..... a little

After our adventure of picking up Elder Brown

Elder Brown after our 8 or so minute walk.

Delights from the Weed Patch

2010-07-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Most likely you've seen these weeds in your garden. Purslane.

Sauted with onions, cherry tomatoes and rice. Gooooood!

With salmon and homemade bread.

And the next day in a salad.

greetings from osijek!

2010-07-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

the hunt for the bed

email in croatia is either in a library or just an internet cafe where you buy it by the hour. i am in the latter.

i heard about jace being ap. that is just insane. i heard about his mission over there and its SO different from over here. its strange to think how different our experiences will be when we get home. ill be waiting for bishop francos letter. and yes i wrote back to gery carlson. he should get it this week or next.

by the way there are no wards in croatia. only branches. yesterday we had us 4 missionaries, 3 people who are visitors (but they come every single week without fail and probably wont ever become members), and 0 members. so elder brown gave the opening prayer. i passed the sacrament. elders brown and porter blessed it. elder anderson (current branch president) gave a talk. i gave a talk (almost 20 minutes too). and elder porter gave the closing prayer. there are probably 45 members here in osijek but most are inactive. we have probably 5-8 who randomly actually come.

and yes dad. its very hot here as well. thing is, here its HUMID. like crazy. its around 35-37 degrees celcius daily. and one day i heard it reached 42. woohoo. thats hot. and its darn humid... joj. we have a huge river that goes all along osijek. if you want to look up our apartment, the address is: sjenjak 32, osijek 31000, croatia. something like that. by the way dad, im very impressed and proud of you for getting a gmail address. isnt it just light-years better?

i havent had to sing yet, no mom haha. we dont have anyone to play the piano here. kinda hard. i dont remember if i told you last week but i did sing at zone conference again. a duet with sister nelson. elder lee played. and the first time i saw the music was about 20 mintues before we sang it. so we ran through it twice and then performed it for the zone haha. we did okay though so that is good.

nikola invented that trumpet design. and yes, its VERY strange. its kinda useless for playing. im sure glad trumpets arent made like that haha. he seems to think its pretty revolutionary though. he traveled to france and america to show it to professional musicians and never got anything from it. i kinda feel bad for him, but i dont see anyone buying his idea in the future. thats the only trumpet like it in the world. its his prototype and its the only one. so yep, right now i am in the possesion of the only trumpet like that haha. im pretty bumbed that you still havent sent my trumpet. but its okay. remember, if its crazy expensive, i can probably live without it. just keep that in mind. i did send that package. but it ended up being a lot more expensive than i thought. so just to let you know, it will NOT be there in a week. instead, you will be getting it between 1-2 months from now. so i dont know how that chocolate is going to hold up. its actually not going to be traveling on an airplane. its traveling "brodom" (by means of boat). crazy huh? it seemed weird. but it was way cheaper going by boat rather than zrakoplovom (by means of airplane).

we're not doing any humanitarian things just yet, no. here and there. but not anything like planting trees. and i think the serbian elders are doing fine. dont worry about me. if i get beat up randomly by some drunk guys itll be some good story for when i get home.

and yep. all my pictures are in the package. so be ready for yome un browsing. i love taking pictures with elder brown. he's a lot more fun than my other companion when it comes to taking pictures. i got a shoulder bag that is called "star dragon" and we think its hilarious but its super nice and light and fits everything i need for the day. plus my camera so thats good.

if they ever have a chior thing here its either in karlovac or zagreb. they have the most members present. so ill just have to wait if i want to do any choir things.

we had exchanges with the assitants to the president last thursday and it went great. i really like elders dixon and fowler. they're really good and im excited to see who will be ap after dixon. we'll see in a little over a month.

im trying to take a lot of pictures. you'll have to tell me how im doing with that. ill try to send as many as i can. okay thats a lie. i could send them all probably but it would just take me all stinking day. but anyway, ill try to send a lot so you guys know what its like being here in osijek. it sure in different. culture and looks and everything. ive gotten pretty used to it though.

ill tell you guys the story about our bed. so the lindorfs (the senior couple in charge of finances - dad and mom, you should try to do this. it would probably be super easy for you dad) came to osijek and say that i was sleeping on the floor so sister lindorf said that i need to get a bed. so they told us to start looking around. so we did. problem was, our limit was 800 kuna. which is SUPER cheap. we found a couple for 950 and stuff. but it was super hard even finding places with beds. we had to ask SO many people. we ended up walking down this road to a place called baumax. we thought it COULD have something in it like a bed... turned out NO. it was basically a home depot. but it was so much fun looking for a bed inside and seeing all those manly tools (just to let you know dad, i miss doing all that work with you too). so we bought ice cream cones (at a home depot store thing haha) and left. by the way this baumax was super far away from osijek the town. and we walked all the way there. so we walked back another way just to see if there were more stores. and there was. we found a bed for 750 kuna. woohoo. and when we told the lady we wanted it she thought we were crazy for getting the crappiest bed there. she kept on repeating, so you want the 3 star matress.... with the 2 start frame.... with the cheap slats?..... and then finally we finished and she asked, so do you want any pillows with that? no. how about some sheets? no thanks. blankets? no thanks. a matress pad? nope. haha. she thought we were crazy. so two days ago (sat) we woke up, did studies. or at least started. at about 8:45 our door rang and we answered the little talk button thing and it was the bed. so we got to put it all together just like at ikea and it was cheap wood like at ikea too haha. but it worked out good and now im sleeping on a bed thats more uncomfortable then the floor haha. hard to come by, but its possible. its pretty bad. but hey, i found a feather pillow in the apartment and im using that and its super comfortable. so i like that.

anyway. i better get going. sorry that its not longer. ill try my best next week to write more. i dont really have any great stories to tell. just pictures and such. and the pictures arent any good without telling the entire story behind it.

love you guys!

elder jacobsen

Cruisin' Grand

2010-07-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

This post is Cruisin' Grand with Grandpa's old race car, not the Camaro. Will post the Camaro soon.

Friday, July 16th (Grandaddy's Birthday, incidentally), 2010, we went to the Midget and Sprint Night at Cruisin' Grand, Escondido. Denny spent practically all day, washing the trailer, the car, hooking up lights and just generally getting ready. I drove down in the Audi and picked up the Shelbo kids to babysit (Ally had to work) and we parked on Broadway where it was blocked off. It was nice to sit in the shade (it was around 100 degrees) and not have to worry about the kids getting in the street.

Ollie got a kick out of "driving" the car. Pyke played with her Polly Pockets Princesses. Denny talked to all the old codgers about the good old days!

A Little History

Uncle Gordon Petersen had the race car built in 1932 by Lujie Losovsky (a pretty famous race car builder. Look him up on the internet). Uncle Gordon, who was Grandpa's uncle, Grandma Jacobsen's (Petersen) brother, used it to advertise his shop on Slauson Avenue (Petersen's Garage) in Los Angeles. Grandpa got a job at Petersen's Garage, upon first arriving in the area, from Iowa, in 1934. The car was sold and they lost track of it until Grandpa, or maybe Uncle Gordon, found it and Grandpa bought it back around 1955. On it's maiden run, before he had even painted it, it won the main event!! And it just happened to be Dad's ninth Birthday! What a cool birthday present! Poor Dad (Denny) didn't get to drive the 3/4 Midgets much. I suspect Grandpa didn't really want to share the fun and I'm sure Grandma wasn't crazy about the idea of her little boy driving in the races. But Grandpa sure had a blast!! He retired the car in 1966, then built a new one that he raced for about ten more years.

More of Osijek, Croatia

2010-07-05T13:55:00.001-07:00

if you want to look at pictures of what this side of croatia is like look up the cities. vukovar, đakovo, osijek. you'll probably see some intersting things.

Elder Jacobsen

(Try Google Maps and zoom in close. Click on the little squares and those are pictures that people have submitted to Google Maps.)

Osjiek

2010-07-05T09:52:00.001-07:00

Where are you Ethan??

osijek! here i go!

im in osijek now. its RIGHT by serbia. so during the war it was one of the first cities attacked by serbia (yugoslavia). there are still buildings that have bullet holes all over them. and there are actually some buildings with huge marks where grenades hit and exploded. its really crazy. our apartment complex has bullet holes in the walls. our church has tons on the building (our church is just a part of an apartment building like in rijeka). i was really sad to leave rijeka. maybe ill go back but i have no idea. im with elder brown who is great so far. he's been on his mission for a year and 2 months. so he knows croatian pretty well which is really nice. its going really good and we're getting a lot done even though we've only been together for what? 5 days?

we're starting english class on tuesday. im teaching beginner again with elder brown. i love beginners. so much more fun. and a lot of funny things are said :] in croatian AND english.

okay the mission. here it goes. we have one senior couple in croatia. and they're leaving next month. they will be replaced. so we will have ONE couple. but they just deal with humanitarian things so its kinda different. and we are losing 3 of our sister missionaries. like 4 of our elders. and yeah. its crazy. we have 6 branches in croatia. 7 areas. pula is included in the rijeka branch. but we only have 2 croatian native branch presidents. one in zagreb and one in karlovac. the other 4 are elders. elder davey (rijeka), babcock (zadar), anderson (here), and nitta (varaždin). so yeah. and something you might not know yet. our mission has totally changed. it used to consist of 7 countries. slovenia, croatia, serbia are the 3 that are open. and then maccedonia, montenegro, bosnia, and kosovo were the closed ones. but as of may 12th i think it was, our mission is only slovenia croatia and serbia now. the other 4 are just under a general authority. so yeah. some big changes.

funniest thing ever! so osijek is right next to serbia. and it gets really hot during the summer. and its kinda swampy. the main thing osijek is known for are the mosquitoes here. so what do you think they do to get rid of the mosquitoes? if you said that they fly above the city with an airplane and dump insect poison onto the entire city, you'd be RIGHT! haha. im not sure how often it happens, but a plane will fly overhead and just DUMP stuff on the city. it goes by a few times. ill be getting a video and picture of it very soon trust me. (i can just see mom at the computer covering her mouth and doing that half laugh - half "oh my goodness" thing. the thing she does when she wants to laugh but tries to cover it up with surprise haha)

so yep. thats about it. nothing too big or exciting.

we've been talking to a lot of people and its amazing how much the lord helps when i try to speak croatian. i probably sound like a bumbling fool but when i start talking to members or people on the street they understand and get everything i say. and they're even surprised sometimes when i say im from america. i really like talking to people in croatian and i love being able to communicate. i know that the lord is helping us too cause without his help we'd be so lost. hope you guys are having a great time is california/america/wherever you guys are. ill try to write more often.

elder jacobsen

His companion, Elder Brown,

seems to have had a

little better luck with this guy.

Cady's visit!

2010-06-28T17:28:00.001-07:00

Cady came down from Chico this past week. We sure had fun, Cady. Wish Mikey could have been here too.

Trip to Zion with Best Friends

2010-05-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Our campsite below Sentinel Mountain and beside the Virgin River, just outside the park in Springdale.

We left Friday morning, May 14th, for a short trip to Zion National Park to meet Connie and Sherm. The weather was perfect, the campsite was right next door to the Shermans and we had a wonderful Saturday, Sunday and Monday with them. Saturday we went to Coral Pink Sand Dunes and that was beautiful. Sunday we went to Kolob Canyon, part of Zion at the North end. Also visited the Rockville Cemetary where Dennie and Connie's Great Grandmother, Amy Hansen, is buried.

This is the Sentinel, an Indian face, on Sentinel Mountain, towering above our campsite.

Sadie kind of liked the river, although she won't swim.

Indian Paint Brush.

The Virgin River, not quite as muddy as usual.

This is down the canyon, almost to the "narrows". The narrows was closed because of high water.

The Court of the Patriarchs. (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob)

Such a good girl!!!

Coral Pink Sand Dunes National Park. Look close and you'll see that the wind has blown a little twig all the way around making a circle in the sand.

On the way home, just past the carved-out canyon where the highway goes through.

What a great trip. We're looking forward to more like this after Dennie gets laid off and retires!!! Soon!

My pond garden....

2010-05-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

Almost a year ago, while I was visiting kids and friends in Oregon, by myself, Dennie and Ethan undertook the creation of a pond for me! Although it was a bit more of a job, I think, than they thought it was going to be, it's now a pretty cool garden. I'm landscaping it with “water-wise” plants because of the high cost of water in this area and having fun learning about the drought tolerant plants and buying them locally from the Ramona Garden Club Sale and local nurseries. We've visited the Cuyamaca College Water-wise Garden a couple of times and bought plants there too, and I recently went on the Ramona Garden Club Tour. I think whatever you study and learn about, you end up loving. This is true with drought tolerant gardening! (And I realize roses are not 'water-wise' but I love them and I'm converting some lawn areas to more drought tolerant plants so I can have the rose garden. At least it saves on buying cut flowers!) The pond was crystal clear in the winter and we have eight fish, five Koi and three Goldfish, but now with the warmer temperatures and more sun the water is getting kind of murky again and we're going to have to do a little more research on the problem. Here are some pictures of plants in my pond garden and some birds (I've also become a “birder”) that I've seen since the pond was completed. Most of the pictures are closeups because it's a work in progress and there are still a lot of areas that I don't know what to do with. But I did include one taken from the gate looking at the whole garden, or almost.

Eight weeks later....

2010-02-22T14:07:00.001-08:00

Eight weeks later.... he's now in Rijeka, Croatia. Here's his letter:

so im finallz here in croatia. if you see any mistakes like the one earlier (y and z mixed up) just swith them in your head. im still getting used to it. its really weird.

so its a lot like san fran here. or downtown san diego. its super crowded housewise. and its reallz steep. ill try to send a picture to you all so you can see the view from our balcony. its amazing.

i really love the peopl here. everyone and i mean EVERYONE who invites us in gives us some kind of snack and a drink. the first place we went was to go pay our rent and he gave us really good juice (everyone here has juice) and croatian pancakes (totally danish pancakes) with an apple filling stuff that was SOOOOO good. it was awesome. and then we went into slobodans house and he gave us little waffers and juice. and we went to smirjanas house yesterday and had water and a apple pie-cake thing. it was SO good. i loved it.

we arent teaching a whole lot of people here. but hopefully itll be more. the people here are catholic or jehovahs witness. (i cant fine the apostraphe). wećve been tracting a ton already and we usually just get the doors slammed in our faces. we have onlz been invited inside by ONE guy. he was awesome too. he just wanted to find out who in the world we were and why we came to croatia FROM america haha.

we had church yesterday and we had 12 people there ( not including missionaries!). i had to get up and bear my testimony in croatian. crazy stuff... there are some FUNNY people here. dragan is this older guy who is hilarious haha. and there is a man, ivan, who is really cool too.

i can understand a lot of what people are saying. mostly get it from context. but its so much harder to respond. especially when they direct a certain question toward ME. oh well. im getting better. and a lot of people know a little bit of english so they kinda can help me along. and they of course know croatian so they reallz help me with that. we have english classes every tuesday and thursday. so that will be fun.

when i got here i started unpacking my garment bag suitcase thing. you know what i mean hopefully. anyway... i had all my white shirts in it. my other suit. my 3 suit pants. all my ties. anyway. tons of stuff.... and the whole thing was SOAKED. i dont know how. it must have just been from the connecting flights and it was outside or something. cause it was snowing in ohio and raining in paris. so yeah. it was just plain wet. through and through. a lot of my ties are pretty bad and my suit isnt doing too well. but maybe i just need to get it drycleaned. we will see... ive been wearing the same suit for a week straight now haha.

funny thing. theres music in here (internet cafe) and its all been in english so far. ice ice baby. crazy little thing called love. and a few others. they listen to a lot of english music i guess.

you know that saying that missionaries say about "that wasnt the language i learned in the mtc"? well thats not the same for me. its totally the one i leanred and i understand a ton. just need to learn how to speak it better. so yep.

my comp is elder wood. he is pretty cool. nothing much to say yet.

here are some new things about this keyboard.

€čćšđž. thezćre all in the place of our puncuation (<--- as you can see) haha. the picture that is (hopefully) attached is from our balcony. i have tons more. hope everything is going well back home. elder jacobsen

Leaving....

2010-01-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

We took Ethan to the MTC on December 16th, 2010. It was hard to see him leave but also a joyful event! I love you Ethan. I'm so proud of you. See you in two years....

Thanks for coming with us, Ivy and Owen. You helped to lighten the mood and made it way easier!

Bye, we love you!!!

cousins

2009-11-30T20:15:00.003-08:00

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

This is definately one to remember.

Ethan leaves on December 16th so Cady came up with the idea... lets have a family reunion "farewell" to Ethan!

There's nothing quite like Thanksgiving -- and one with all nine kids and all 24 grandkids and all but one son-in-laws plus Uncle Howard and Uncle Stever is... well, there's nothing quite like it. This morning three families left and tonight two others, leaving one family here, Leah's (and of course Amy and Ally nearby). I wonder when it will hit me that they're gone and we won't ALL be together again for at least two years. I wish we all lived closer.

The cousins played nonstop. The siblings talked and laughed and took pictures. We all cooked for Thanksgiving day and it was wonderful. (A tad hectic... no, it was extremely hectic) Two turkeys, a ham and 20 pounds of potatoes. Ten, or was it 11 homemade pies. Ethan made the rolls!

The drums were set up in the livingroom and Uncle Ethan and Uncle Adam, Justin, Isaac, Ammon and Zed and probably a lot of others, played almost constantly. At least until we'd tell them to quit. Actually they sounded pretty good! It's so neat to have such a musical family.

We had a talent show on Saturday night which was extremely interesting and entertaining. Daniel, your rendition of "Families Can be Together Forever" was my personal favorite! Lots of talent in this family and I can prove it -- we videotaped the whole thing.

On Sunday we all went to Church except for Ally and her kids since she had to work. Most of us sang in a Jacobsen Chorus. We sang "All Creatures of Our God and King", four part harmony. Ethan had a talk. We are all so proud of him. It was a wonderful Sunday and so great to have almost all the family at Church. I know they did it for Ethan. He is so loved in this family.

Here are some pictures.

We thought we might be cat people but we were wrong....

2009-10-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Finally found a home for the "monster cat". Hope Mel doesn't read my blog.

Bustling pond community....

2009-10-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is the fly population at the pond. (Hummingbirds are in the fly category, aren't they?) I've found that things are very beautiful if you look closely. Even flies. The pond has some work to go and I don't know if it'll be finished by the big Thanksgiving bash, but I'm pretty sure we are going to put a fence around it for safety purposes. It "might" be a little tricky to keep track of 24 grandchildren when things get going around here.

The Mission Call is Here !!!!

2009-09-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I know you're all anxiously waiting to hear where the mission call will take Ethan for the next two years of his life! (All two non family members of you, Cheryl and Tom, who might not already know. I don't think I have a lot of "followers".)

Thursday, September 10th, Ethan walked through the front door while 9 Activity Day girls were eating ice cream and Carol White (who teaches them with me) was teaching the lesson around our kitchen table. He looked particularly happy and it soon became evident that he had THE ENVELOPE!!!

Much to the disappointment of the girls and Carol, he had to wait until Kai got there and had also gotten all his siblings on the phone (one on each of our phones, except Amy who was already there). So they were long gone by that time.

Around seven that evening with everyone on the phone to one sibling or another, he opened it. The place where he'll be serving for the next two years will be .........

The Slovenia/Croatic Mission.

He will report on the 16th of December to the MTC in Provo, Utah, to learn to teach the Gospel and learn the Croatian language. To learn to teach the Gospel in the Croatian language, actually!

Different Languages are spoken in most of the six different countries in the mission. The countries are Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

It is difficult to express in words how excited we are. Especially Ethan! He has started finding internet sites to learn Croatian. Here's his latest, Croatian games or something:

http://digitaldialects.com/Croatian.htm

A lot to do before he reports. Warm clothes and shoes made for walkin' to buy. Luggage and all the stuff like alarm clock and electical converter thingy. He has to apply for his passport and visa, get the required immunizations. He's still working at One Stop Equipment Rental, adding to the mission fund. He is also coreographing for his sister's drama class, they're doing Thoroughly Modern Millie (which he was in, the chorus, at BYU) and coaching for the band, high brass, at Ramona High. So he's pretty busy. And he recently recorded with a band here in Ramona playing trumpet. I will put the link for that on here too if I can figure out how, or if it's possible. I love it. It has a '40's sound.

The mission and related matters are about all we're thinking about right now!

We love you, Ethan. You'll make the best missionary. And we'll miss you.

The Mission Call

2009-09-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

We are waiting patiently. For some reason it's hard to wait when you'll be finding out where you're going to be living and working (for the Lord) for the next two years! It's even hard for us who will stay behind.

Ethan has submitted his mission papers and we should find out soon where he'll be going. By soon I mean within the next two weeks. By soon Ethan means any day now and he's checking the mailbox everyday after work. He has imformed us that we're not to get anywhere near the envelope. He has also informed us that he will open it by himself and THEN will make the annoucement to everyone.

Here's a picture of our, soon to be, Missionary. Also a picture of the picture-taking process.

Wildlife Photography, my new career....

2009-08-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, after two encounters this week, of some especially interesting wildlife around our new pond waterfall, I've decided to become a wildlife photographer! I missed the first one, a Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus), sitting at the top of the waterfall, taking a bath. When life settles down a bit I will place my tripod and chair outside in the early morning and I'm sure he'll be back.

I did manage to get a shot (a bit blurry) of our resident Steel-blue Cricket Hunter (Chlorion aerarium). He follows Denny around as he (Denny) works on the sprinkler system and water lines. A little scary since he looks like he could deliver a mean sting, but I think he likes us. His name is "Ol' Blue". (No, he didn't tell us this!).

Here's a picture of the waterfall, minus the bird. Also one of the bug. The pond is coming along quite nicely.

Okay, so "blogger" won't let me add the pictures right now. I'll be back later to do it.

Well, as usual, it was my mistake, not "blogger's". Anyway, here are the pictures.

2009-07-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Here's my son, Adam. Or you might know him as Colter. I love this original song by Coconut, his band. I love the video but don't know who did that.

Music Video for Techno by Coconut from The Heap on Vimeo.

I went on a trip....

2009-07-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you've just got to get away. Even if your best friend (husband), other best friend (Connie), or any of your numerous kids won't go with you! Okay, here's what happened. Josh and Cammy came down with the kids for Josh's brother's wedding and Josh had to get home for work so he flew back, leaving Cammy and kids to visit for a week. I had the bright idea of caravanning with her back home, stopping to visit folks along the way. I guess I thought that either Dennie would somehow nix my trip or find a way to go with me, but I was wrong. I had to drive back all by myself. I had to do all the driving when I'm use to Dennie doing all the driving! (His choice)

Cammy and I had a wonderful time on the way to her house. First stop: Colter's House

The kids loved the long staircase as you can see. We were only there a couple of hours, long enough to find a parking place (Umm, that is not an easy task in San Francisco...) meet neighbor, Betty, and water his little garden on the patio below. Then we (Colter too) were off to Larry's house in Ukiah. He was already there. Heaven's, the road was steep, narrow and winding. (Signs along the way: "Where the heck are we?" "Wimpy car parking" meaning park here and walk the rest of the way! Cam and I both had 4 wheel drive so no problem.) But it was beautiful!!! Rolling hills with oak, manzanita and madrone. We hiked around his 40 acres (well, a little of it) and sat on his deck with the grapes hanging overhead while the kids chased lizards and ate ice cream sandwiches (left over from a wedding that was held at Larry's the week before). We spent the night there and woke up to Colter's "portrait pancakes". See Cammy's!

Then we headed on to Cady and Mikey's house in Chico. We definately took the wrong route, not a 'shortcut', but it was pretty. We wound around on the windiest road I've ever been on. Thought we were in the "Twilight Zone" there for a while and were going to spend the eternities winding around.

Got to Cady and Mikey's and the kids had fun playing Monopoly with Mikey on thier oval coffee table. Later Cally set up a "Homie" parade with lots of Mary's (Mother of Jesus), Joseph and a couple of different Popes. She was quite pleased with herself!

Okay, so the blog refuses to add pictures now so i guess I'll add some later. In fact I think I'll quit for now and go watch a few more "24"s with Grandad.

Family Jam

2009-06-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

A little lesson for Ollie from Grandad

Sometimes, not often enough, we get together for a family jam session. Keyboard, guitar, accordian, trumpet, drums, tamburine, cowbell, etc. Actually Cady took a short video and I'll try to put that on here. It's sweet! (Hope that word retains its meaning long enough that my greatgrandkids know what I mean when they read this. If they read this.)

2009-04-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own', or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life - the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one's 'real life' is a phantom of one's own imagination."
- by C. S. Lewis - from a letter to Arthur Greeves, 20 December 1941 -

Kids, kids, kids..... and now silence.

2009-03-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

Isaac and Sheldon Smith, oldest and youngest.

Gram and Grandad with the Smith kids.

Cally

Cally and Ammon on the tire swing.

Cousins learning to knit. Emily and Jaycee.

Saint Patrick's Day. I need to merge these two. But I don't know how!

The TeePee.

The Da Vinci Experience at Balboa Park's Aerospace Museum. This is a bridge that you put together from a bunch of sticks, copying the one in the background. Wasn't easy but they did it!!

The Skinners at the Maritime Museum in San Diego.

Yes, that's a fried Oreo. Daniel's specialty!!!!!!!!!

Emily, planting lettuce. She's a good little gardener!

Gopher hunting!

Cammy and her kids just left this afternoon. I think we're going to be really lonely! Sadie needs "doggie Prozac" or something. She is so funny. We noticed it first when Amy kept her when we went to Provo last time. When we got home I expected to be greeted by this crazy happy dog. She was happy to see us, but not overly. But then we took her home and she went into this depression! Yes, she sulked and skulked around for approximately three days and then she seemed to be alright. Well, we've noticed it since then, when Leah left with her kids and then a little when Ivy left, although the Smiths were already here so not so much. Yesterday Cam took the kid to the beach and Sadie moped around the whole time. Wouldn't eat. She didn't even want to play ball and those of you who know her know that's REALLY something. When they got home she was soooo happy to see them and later went in and started crunching away on her food. So I'm expecting a depressed dog for a while. I'll have to take her over to the Krause's once in a while for her therapy.

So we've had "guests" since the weekend after Christmas, except for right after Leah left, until Ivy got here, a little less than a week later. (Technically, we've had Brian here, a friend of Josh Smith's, since May, I think it was. He got a job in Clairmont and stayed here while trying to sell his house in Montana. He finally, around October, rented it and he and his family are now renting on the west end of Ramona. So our "empty nest" hasn't been empty much, yet.) Ethan will be home the last part of April and then Cady and Mikey will be here a week in mid-May. I must say, we've really enjoyed the kids.

Some highlights.... and I've already written about Leah's visit.... and Disneyland with the Skinners. Other highlights are Daniel getting a job (yeah!), the Maritime Museum and the Da Vinci Experience and the museums at Balboa Park with the Skinner kids. With the Smiths we went to Balboa Park and had a couple of family get-togethers, the first with the Skinners, Shelbos, Krauses and Miles Family (Brian's family). That's 18 kids!!! And a few others, one last Tuesday where the kids built a TeePee in the field with sticks from the tree trimmings pile, with a little corregated tin from the dog kennel roof (which blew off the kennel in the last wind storm).

And many thanks to the Skinners for all the yardwork, garden work, gopher hunting and house cleaning they did during the two months they were here. And Emily for planting the lettuce! (It's growing good. Not big enough to eat yet.) Weeding at the rental house out front with the whole Skinner family was SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I sure do miss them.

The Happiest Place on Earth (one of them....)

2009-02-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Disneyland is pretty happy, alright. Especially when you have five grandkids in tow. And Uncle Howard to pay their way!

The day was perfect; uncrowded, un-hot, un-cold, just perfect.

I, Grammy, even managed to keep up with everyone the whole day, except for the last hour or so when I chilled (literally) on a parkbench on Main Street and waited for everyone.

Popcorn, Rain and Scriptures

2009-02-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

When Skinners, Krauses, Shelbos, (Doug) Skinners get together.....

Owen helps his mom clean the bathroom!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!!!

I smell popcorn popping. It's raining and I can hear it outside this window next to me. It's cozy inside and all the kids are busy. Ivy's gone to the airport to pick up Daniel. He went to Chicago for an interview today. I know they aren't excited about living in Chicago but we discussed the fact that this isn't exactly the best time to be looking for employment and one probably ought to take what one can get. Sure hope the one in Utah pans out before they have to move that far away.

We are enjoying family life with the Skinners. Even though I have good intentions of helping with the homeschooling, seems like I always have something else to do, like cleaning the kitchen or vaccuming. Ivy does a good job, though. Daniel is good to help too, especially with math.

Every night without fail we read the scriptures. I love that. Not even me and Dennie are that disciplined. We each take turns, even the two youngest, with help, and it has a wonderfully calming effect on all of us, right before bedtime. I love it when the Krause kids come over and they all run amock (sp?) through the house. And sometimes Daniel's brother, Doug, and family come over with their four kids and we can only hope that they don't knock the house off it's foundation :)

The Skinners

2009-01-28T07:29:00.000-08:00

Ivy, Daniel and Justin, Ian, Emily, Garrett and Owen are here now. Daniel just got through with his internship at Disney World in Florida and now he's looking for a job. They moved out of their rented home in Florida and trekked accross the US, arriving in Ramona on Monday the 19th. With one week to catch our breath (after the Silva's left) we are now a house full again! It was so much fun seeing the kids for the first time. Justin has grown and, at 13 1/2, he's pretty much the same heighth as his dad. We have really enjoyed having them here. Ivy's homeschooling. Yesterday they went to the Maritime Museum. I'll post some pictures when I get them downloaded from her camera.

Yesterday evening the Krauses came over. The cousins have so much fun together. The noise level was way on up there!

Fun With Twins

2009-01-10T22:16:00.001-08:00

Balboa Park with Babies

2009-01-10T12:22:00.000-08:00

Comtemplating the Koi.

Balboa Park

Leah has been here for almost two weeks now with three year old, Gavin, and 9 month olds, Teagan and Beau. What fun! Matt came home last Wednesday from a trip with some friends to Ireland. I've enjoyed playing with the kids and having Leah home.

Yesterday we went to Balboa Park and Matt and Leah went to the IMAX theater. They took Gavin in but he was scared and Leah brought him out after a few minutes then she went back in. Ally came with Pyke and Ollie to help me with the twins and Gavin and it went very well. Five little kids three years and under.... no problem.

Here are some pictures taken there. The fountain right outside the theater and the Koi Pond near the... plant place. I can not remember the word. Arboretum? It's where they have orchids and ferns and all kinds of beautiful flowers and plants. Oh, it's the Botanical Gardens.

Frosty logs and weeds

2008-12-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

It's almost Christmas...

2008-12-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

So it's the 22nd of December. I think this is the first Christmas since I got married that I've not been stressed way beyond human limits. I don't know exactly why but it might have something to do with the fact that I let Dennie make (or forced him to make) some of the major decisions. And then I went with it, without second guessing or reevaluating, like I know way more than he does. I think I'm getting old. I haven't got near the "fight" left in me that I use to. Imagine if I'd done this years ago....

It's raining and you know how I feel about rain. I love it with all my senses. Sight, smell, sound and (to a lesser extent) feel. Hmmm, what else is there? Oh, taste. I guess rainwater tastes good too, but I'm not so sure when it's filtered through the smog and stuff. But the first three for sure. And I guess it makes it even better when you live in Southern California where it goes for years without a drop!!! I'm exaggerating a bit here. It alway rains a little just to tease me. This year it has started early and hard. I don't know what our totals are but I bet they're on up there.

Some pictures of morning frost.

My Photography, My Grandkids

2008-12-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

I love photography. Recently I took some pictures of Pyke and Ollie and today I was messing with them on Digital Image Pro. Here are some black and whites.

The Eastern Idaho Kids

2008-12-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

I went to Idaho while Dennie was working in Salt Lake City, to see the Leah and Erin families. (Same trip to Provo to see Ethan in the Symphonic Orchestra) The weather was great and the kids were cute. Leah went with me to Erin's house. The Erin's kids were a whirlwind of dancing, playing the piano and getting their back stratched. That evening we went to Erin's Releif Society Christmas Dinner where Erin played the piano and sang. She was very good. I don't think I've ever actually heard her sing a solo before. We left all the kids except the twins with Jon. Teagan and Beau are starting to crawl but they stayed put pretty well during the program and we were able to see most of it. Erin's ward is very friendly and made us feel welcome. The food was excellent!

Back to Erin's and then home to Leah's by around 9:30. Spent the night and the next day we met Erin and kids at Erin's in-laws, a five acre place on the west outskirts of Idaho Falls. What a beautiful place. Just what I picture me and Den living on when he retires. I took pictures of Leah and the kids and then headed back to SLC to pick up Dennie and head on down to Provo where Ethan had fixed dinner for us. All my kids beat me at cooking but some really have a talent for it. I think Ethan is one of those. We had pork chops, cooked to perfection, and salad. We then went to a voice recital, a girl Ethan knows from the cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie. It was very entertaining. She sang opera to show tunes to some really clever stuff.

Here are some pictures of the trip.

Thanks, Ethan

2008-12-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

Took a trip to Provo to see Ethan's Symphonic Orchestra concert. A little background is in order here. Back a few years ago, five to be exact, Ethan was in Karl's (our trumpet expert friend) Middle school advanced band. He had invited him to come down to Poway a couple times a week to play with them, Twin Peaks Middle School. It was Karl's last year, he was retiring. Karl had been Ethan's "mentor" for several years... well, ever since he first started taking trumpet lessons when I took him to Karl and he played for him and Karl said he was talented. Anyway, Ethan played with Karl's band in the end of year concert and for the last song Karl played Trumpeter's Lullaby by Leroy Anderson, accompanied by the band. It was truely beautiful and I'm a sucker for beautiful trumpet music and Ethan wanted the music. I looked on Ebay and found it and they were selling that one and another one by Leroy Anderson called Bugler's Holiday. When the music came in the mail (they were old and looked like genuine antiques), I don't remember whether we found a CD with it on it or listened to it on the internet, but we heard Bugler's Holiday and Ethan wanted to learn both of them. He did learn Trumpeter's Lullaby and played it for a Young Artist's Concert that some organization in Ramona puts on yearly, then again for a Church talent show. But Bugler's Holiday was hard, and fast, and seemed quite a bit beyond his abilities. I remember thinking, wondering, if he'd ever be able to do it. I knew he had the talent, even back then I knew it. But would he stick to it long enough to gain that ability? I didn't know.

Well, I'm happy to inform you (whoever's listening, or reading) that he did it, along with two others students, it's a trio, accompanied by the orchestra, at the concert we just went to at BYU, Provo, Utah! They played it as fast as the professionals too. They did a wonderful job and hopefully we will be getting a recording, along with the jazzband concert we missed a couple weeks prior to this one. It's hard to put into words the way I felt hearing this song that five years ago he wanted to play. I am very proud of him for all the years of hard work and practice and it gives me such joy to see him accomplishing things that I knew he could do but wasn't sure he would do.

Thanks, Ethan, for this gift you've given me.

My first blog, Thanksgiving '08

2008-11-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving. My favorite day of the year. Last Thursday was no exception. It was a beautiful sunny day, not that I wouldn't have loved it if it had been rainy.... (Another favorite of mine, rainy days)

We had 17 people for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone brought something and all I had to do is the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and a couple kinds of pies. Pumpkin and lemon (No merangue. Ran out of energy the night before. No pecan because I discovered I didn't have any corn syrup.) Amy brought sour cream apple pie. Lynn and Stan brought Collards and ham hocks, mashed turnips (later we acsertained that they were actually Rutabagas), cornbread with jalapenos, homemade bread and fudge. Ally brought lime and cranberry drink (limes from their tree) and sauted little whole greenbeans. Steve brought the traditional Heavenly Hash in Grandma's old pink bowl, and three kinds of cranberry sauce. He always cooks fresh cranberries and they're my favorite! Howard brought the traditional frozen turkey that we'll cook at Christmas.

The kids were delightful and they ate at a table in the new room, the patio conversion. Amy brought the dogs, Lottie and Steve, to play with Sadie. I think we all had a really good time. I know I did!