P's (#2)

PROUD moment: Granddaughter, Ashlyn, age 4, is taking PIANO lessons and PROGRESSING very well. The other day she PLAYED "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for me over the phone. She's a very gifted child. Her PRESCHOOL teacher gave her a book of POEMS with something like 385 PAGES in it. Ashlyn's teacher will take her to get ice cream when she is finished reading the whole book.

PEPPERIDGE Farm cookies. We have to make a cookie run now and then. After making a few PIT stops and not finding what we wanted, Brandon called to find out when the Milanos were being PRODUCED. We went the next day to PURCHASE cookies. After that we visited Ron, then went to see the PROGRESS on Kent's new subdivision. Kent and Eric were both there.

Fresh POWDER in the mountains and PLUMMETING temperatures everywhere. PUSH that thermostat up and PILE on the blankets! Snowbird Ski Resort opens tomorrow.

PROUD moment: Grandson Jayse Johnson turned eight years old on Monday, November 3rd. We gave him a new quad (scriptures, not 4x4). We joined the Johnson family at Iggy's for Jayse's birthday dinner. This PICTURE was taken after the baptism at the Mendon Stake Center on November 8, 2008. More PICTURES to be POSTED later.

PROUD PAPA. After three sons, I think Jory is enjoying a little girl.

PROUD Mama, Candace, must have fun dressing PRECIOUS Brooklyn in PRETTY PINK dresses.

Oops, Brooklyn is PROJECTILE PUKING!

I was PLEASED to see Mother at the rest home. She was PRETTY happy, conversant, clean and was entertained by the flash on my camera. We also visited with Aunt Helen. She said it is good to have us back. When we reminded Helen that her birthday is coming up, she reminded me that mine is before hers. I told her that she will be 92. That seemed to really surprise her.

My favorite Thanksgiving PLAQUE. This was a PRESENT from Marilyn several years ago.

PILGRIMS. We are getting ready for Thanksgiving. We will be having dinner here. Wow, six and a half more weeks and it will be Christmas.

PROUD moment. Hailey came home with her report card for the first quarter. It was a PERFECT 4.0! Courtney has a 4.0 GPA for her middle school years. The PLAN is to continue the exceptional work, be the class valedictorian, and get a great scholarship.

PETROL PRICES. Since we have been home the PRICE of a gallon of gas has gone down from $3.35 to $2.33. We are PLEASED even though Jodi has been PAYING under $2/gallon for a while.

PRESIDENT-elect Obama...certainly not my PICK. The POLLS had been making PREDICTIONS for him for winning the PRESIDENTIAL election and for the Democratic PARTY to have POWER in the House and Senate, but I kept wishing for a miracle. We all need to hope and PRAY for the USA!

The Schvaneveldt's home in PROVIDENCE Highlands has the foundation and the workers have been working on the sub-floor PLUMBING. I don't think the basement floor has been POURED yet. Jill and Brandon have been offered the chance to have their house in the PARADE of Homes in June. There would be some PERKS to having their home on display. They haven't decided yet.

The Coles, some of our missionary friends, were PASSING through here a couple of weeks ago. We went to get some ice cream one night and went on a drive in the PICK-UP the next day. It was a PLEASANT fall day. We went up Blacksmith Fork Canyon to Hardware Ranch, then on to Eden, Huntsville and Liberty, checked out POWDER Mountain and headed homeward through South Canyon, making one large circle. We ended up eating lunch in PARADISE. We dropped them back at Deon's dad's home in PROVIDENCE.

My Kindergarten teacher, Ruby Akin, PASSED away a month and 4 days from her 100th birthday. I had such a bad cough I did not attend her services. She was a wonderful PERSON and I really enjoyed visiting her in the PAST few years. For Valentine's Day in 2006 I had solicited valentines from her former students and PUT them in a large Valentine Box I made and PRESENTED to her. She was PRETTY special to me.

P's (#1)

Some of you might be aware of my PROPENSITY for using the letter "P." This POST is much to the Schvaneveldt's dis-PLEASURE I am sure. (I PROVIDED a talk for Jill which she gave in Sacrament Meeting which contained a PLENTIFUL number of P's and I think some of them were PITIFULLY embarrassed.)

PUMPKIN Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are fast becoming my favorites. They are so quick and easy. For a huge batch, mix 2 spice cake mixes, 1 large can of pumpkin and 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Enjoy! I have a funny side-note about these cookies. One of the missionary sisters, who we referred to as Granny Clampett, was sort of a health food nut. She wouldn't eat sweets or ordinary food. One of the concoctions she ate looked like dog POOP or a suet bar with nuts that you'd PUT out for the birds in the winter. But you should have seen her PIG-OUT on these cookies. When I caught her with her 'hand in the cookie jar' she said they were good for you. I figured it was because of the PUMPKIN, but she said it was because they had ginger in them. Ha-ha.

PRETTY leaves on our PEAR trees. These are a bright spot for an otherwise bitter cold and dreary day.

PASTIMES...like reading. We go to the Hyrum Library, Bookmobile, and the Bookmobile Headquarters (PROVIDENCE Library). These are some of the books we are working on right now.

PUZZLES...Sudoku. Each morning in the newspaper there is a PUZZLE. They get PROGRESSIVELY harder each day of the week. I cut it out, stick it on my copier, enlarge it and PRINT two copies, one for me and one for Jill. I did the same when Robin lived here when Andrew was in Iraq. We use our PINK PEARL erasers and PENCILS. I hope it keeps my mind sharp.

PICTURES of our POSTERITY. We added a couple of PRECIOUS little granddaughters while we were serving our mission. My PICTURE wall didn't have enough frames to accommodate the new additions. One of my PROJECTS has been to obtain more PICTURE frames, PAINT them black, staple them with jute in between and PUT them back up. Reed PATCHED the PREVIOUS nail holes. We have room for three more grandkids with the current setup. Anyone PREGNANT? You can tell me, I PROMISE not to reveal any secrets. I do have my PREDICTIONS, however.

PROJECTS such as POWERWASHING the garage, front PORCH and siding have helped with the boredoms. Reed has winterized everything, PAINTED linseed oil on the deck of the 4-wheeler trailer etc.

One day Natalie asked me why I hadn't posted to my blog very much since we returned home from our mission. I told her there really wasn't anything exciting to write about. I hadn't taken pictures and pictureless posts are more boring. Natalie said, "Why don't you write about how fun it is to live with us?" So here are a couple of fun things about having the Schvaneveldt family live with us.

First of all, it is nice to have so many bedtime hugs and kisses. Hailey and Natalie are especially good at this.

We get to help with homework again. Sometimes we are asked our opinion and sometimes our advice is taken. We have a teenager in the house again.

We are getting really good at cutting out 'Boxtops for Education' and stapling them on a redemption form for Natalie.

We don't have to cook every meal, but meal preparation is a challenge. Nothing pleases everyone. We have to get creative. Since some don't like fish, we cooked Tilapia and said it was 'Australian Chicken.' Kaden, who claims to hate fish, poked at it a little and asked why it looked like fish. We told him because 'Australian Chicken' can swim in the ocean. He promptly ate his Tilapia and asked for more. We were eating macaroni salad and each kid picked out something he/she didn't care for. Natalie piled chopped celery on the side of her plate but was otherwise eating and enjoying her macaroni salad. Courtney asked if the meat in the salad was shrimp. When I said that it was, suddenly Natalie wrinkled her nose and had to make a new reject pile of shrimp on her plate. She was fine until it was pointed out what was in the salad. Funny, funny.

It is fun to plan our master suite in the new Schvaneveldt home..ha-ha. We like to go check the progress each day. The footings are in and most of the forms for the foundation are in place.

It is fun to have a little noise in an otherwise quiet old folks home.

Grandma's Goblins

Picture update: I have added Candace's Halloween pictures. I am still waiting for Robin's. Check back later.

Halloween evening around here was a madhouse for a while. There were lots of trick-or-treaters... they seemed to come out of the woodwork. The weather was nice and pleasant. Without early darkness due to the normal return to mountain standard time, everyone basically had an extra hour to be out and around. The kids got lots and lots of candy. They have sorted and counted their haul. I even got Reed to put on an old mask and wig we had in the dress-up bin. That is a first! Reed went across the street and scared Lance and Melissa Houser really good. When Lance screamed it scared Melissa so she was screaming too. Reed was still laughing about it in bed. The Housers came back later to retaliate but we weren't still up. Their efforts weren't wasted, however, because they scared Jill and Brandon. We put in earplugs when we go to bed so we missed all the commotion. Here are some of our family members in costume:

Kimberly

Reed

Brandon

Kaden


Courtney

This is what Courtney wore on Halloween night. I wish I had a picture of the outfit she wore to school that day. She looked really funny.

Natalie


Hailey

Brynlee


Ashley

Jayse

We got the biggest kick out of Riley's outfit. These pictures just don't do justice to what he looked like. Does he look like a 12 year old boy? The hair is his own. Several pictures are posted here to try to capture the essence of this little old lady who came over to visit.



Olivia, Owen and Miles

Olivia

I was the pig again. Maybe it's time to retire this mask.

Candace and Jory

Landon



Tanner



Brooklyn




Mason




I didn't get a picture of Jill all dressed up. I missed having Bryan in costume...he was just his regular self. I hope you all had a

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!