cousins

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

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....

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

Bustling pond community....

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 !!!!

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

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....

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.

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....

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

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.)