Last Day of September Thoughts!

I think everyone knows I have a display window out in the front of my house.   But I hardly ever see that window!

But the window where I spend the most time is the one by my computer.   After they finished our backyard, I looked out that window and all I could see was bark:( So I went on a hunt with my trusty companion for something to go in that bark that I would enjoy looking at A LOT.  

At a random flower shop up in the foothills on our way home from Calaveras Big Trees,  I found this small bench and it was love at first sight.  Now I have a display bench!  Here is what I see out my window and it will change with the seasons.  

It's almost General Conference and we'll be at one of the sessions!

I reached a huge milestone in Indexing:

I have now Indexed over 20,000 names!

For several months I've been doing WWII Draft registrations and I really enjoyed that.  But then they were done. I started searching for something else that wouldn't be too hard.  As I was scrolling up through the US items, I accidentally clicked on UK. It downloaded "Principal Probate Registry 1858-1957" and I decided to give it a try.  I loved working with all the English names and places and when I indexed someone from Sherwood in Nottingham, I knew I'd found something I wanted to keep doing!

Here's my page where I reached 20,000:

It has been so fun to see the occupations back in the 1870's some of which have included:

Yeoman, Tailor, Seaman, Miner, Butcher, Carriage Master, Merchant, Shoemaker, Schoolmaster, Innkeeper, Chemist, Ironmonger, Pianoforte Tuner, Weaver, Cotton Spinner, and those that seemd to have the most money to probate had their occupation listed as: Gentleman!

Indexing is a great way to keep perspective!

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A couple of months ago I taught a lesson in Relief Society from Sister Oscarson's April Conference talk.  I asked three sisters to prepare ahead with some thoughts on the three areas in her talk. 

After each one spoke, I presented them with an "Oscarson."

(There's a 7" Martinelli's under there!)

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I think this girl deserves an award!

Courtney made this dress with the help of her sewing teacher as a Personal Progress project!

And finally, we are excited for our Autumn in New England and Church History tour which will include the new Priesthood Restoration site!

The End!

(Forgot to post this one from last July!)
We just had to fit in one more thing on our way home from San Francisco with the McClellans: a stop at the Jelly Belly Factory!  We were too late for the tour but the store and tasting area were still open.  Here we are picking flavors to taste:

To make the visit more fun, we gave each girl a Bingo card (thanks to Jeff for the idea!) and they filled them out as we did different activities.  There was a prize at the end if they got a black out!

Here they are with their cards at the end of our visit.

(Sarah--she sent us a Thank You picture!)

Hi! Just wanted to say thank you for letting us come to your house. It was super fun. I loved visiting San Francisco and doing puzzles with you. I can't wait until you come and visit us! (Elizabeth)

"Thank you for letting us come visit.  Thank you for having a lot of activites planned for us and thank you for all the dinners and meals that you prepared. Thank you for all you did for me while we were there: The Amazing Teenager"(Courtney)

The prize was a trip to Jamba Juice and it tasted great on a hot day in July!

Saturday: (With Grandkids!)

We had fun time recently at Castle Park:

(As you can see, it has a large play area with unique things!)

Michael:

(He likes to swing high!)

Amelia:

(She doesn't like her picture taken!)

Kathryn: 

(She was able to hide well because she was wearing black and brown!)

Daniel:

(He had fun on everything even with a cast on his arm!)

Later we had fun with plastic pattern blocks:

(Thanks for the idea from Jeff and Suzie!)

David Turns Six!

Here is the birthday boy!

 After a yummy dinner, he got to open presents.  He was so excited about each thing--it was fun to watch!

He got a new watch, a game,

a card with money in it...

...which he was very excited about!

He got a Geronimo Stilton DVD.  He is going to be Geronimo for Halloween!

And he got a pack of over 20 Magic Treehouse Books!

 Jacob is helping carry some of them!

The girls had fun watching!

 A hug thanking Jacob for the glow-in-the-dark puzzle!

 Had to get a photo of this awesome boy in this awesome T-shirt!

"When I grow up I want to be strong, smart, awesome just like Daddy!

The birthday treat was drumsticks!

Great fun with a special boy!

Tennis, Anyone?!

We had a fun Labor Day picnic at the park!

The kids were interested in trying to play tennis!

So the Dads got on one side and the kids lined up on the other side:

It looked like a tennis camp in progress!

It was a lot of fun for everyone, including the little ones.

That's a badminton racquet!

Afterwards we had KFC!

And then some playing at the park!

Score: 16-Love!