SIGNS OF SPRING!!!!

The sun is shining and it's warm outside. Probably in the 50's! I am so excited because it is starting to feel like spring. It is also starting to look like spring!!! Look at the picture of the buds on the trees infront of my house. They will soon have little leaves shooting through:-) As I walked outside it was so great to hear the birds singing. Their happy too.
The daffodiles are starting to come through as well...


And the Tulips are peeking through, I went out yesterday and bought some Deer be gone to keep those peskie little guys and gals out of my tulips. I rarely get to enjoy them because the deer love them so much. I saw this Deer be gone last summer and decided it's worth a try. I'll let you know if it works. Doesn't it just put a smile on your face and make you feel so happy inside just thinking that spring is almost here!!!! It's like I just got a new lease on life:-)

Getting Flowers Makes My Day!!

Don't you just love getting flowers!!!! There is something about that surprise knock at the door and when you answer it finding someone with a bouquet of flowers FOR YOU!!!!:-) Every year for quite sometime I can pretty much count on getting flowers once a year. On February 12th I receive a bouquet of flowers from Jeramy and Rebecca on Jeramy's birthday. The card always says... "Happy "BIRTH" day. We love you." I know that it is more from Rebecca then Jeramy because women are just like that. In Rebecca's own words, "Many years ago I read about a man that always make sure that he and/or each of his children always gave their mother flowers on their birthday. After all, who really deserves the celebration? mom is the one that went through all the toil to get you here and is still enjoying the stretch marks you gave her! I loved the concept and each year since then I have tried to follow that tradition by sending flowers to our moms on our birthdays." I love that concept too. And I know it is not the best time of the year to give your mom flowers when it's so close to Valentines day and a time that you pay a premium for flowers. Thanks Jer and Bec I really do appreciate being remembered:-)

I got a second surprise this year because I got a bouquet from Les also. He said, "Well, I know how happy it makes you when you get flowers from Jeramy and I decided I should give you some as well." Ahhh, then he says, "I was at Costco with Steve Buckwalter (his friend at work) and he told me I should get them for you." Oh wasn't that just the most romantic thing to say!!! So Les gave me roses for Valentines Day because Steve told him he should. Thanks Steve:-)

The Golden Girls at BYU March 2, 2011

This was our performance at BYU Wednesday March 2, 2011 when they played New Mexico and got beat! We had a lot of fun and I was reading someone blog that said she did too, heres what she had to say about our performance... "I just got back from the BYU v New Mexico game...devastating...I think that's the right word. We could not make a shot they made everthing they threw up. I hated it. I yelled, screamed, boo-ed, cheered, and bad mouthed refs. Speaking of the refs, that was the poorest display of officating I have ever laid my eyes on. So ridiculous. I hated it. But I didn't hate ALL of my time at the game. The half time show was off the chain!! You see, there is a group of ladies, ages 50-94 who are called JEAN'S GOLDEN GIRLS... they are the BOMB! And if I am not a crazy cat lady when I am old, my new dream is to join their dance crew. An old lady dance crew. (I don't know how I like being called an old lady dance crew! Couldn't she just have said a more mature group of ladies dance team?) Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot! New life dream: Golden Girl!!! I know you can't find me...I'm on the left side, 1st one on the second row. Even though you can't see me I was there and I was having a ball. One of these times maybe I'll be in a spot where you will recognize me. Maybe it's better that you don't:-)

The REAL Cougarettes! Jean's Golden Girls March 2nd 2011

Derek Redmond Video below is AMAZING!!!

This young man is an inspiration to all of us!!!

Derek Redmond-You raise me up version

The 29th on the 29th.

Last Saturday was our 29th Anniversary making it a special one because it was our 29th on January 29th!!! Pretty cool. Les and I were reminiscing at dinner about that day 29 years ago. It was a cold snowy day but such a great day as we celebrated it with our family and friends. I remember that Les was so scared...well can you blame him?!? Here he was taking on a built in family of 4 kids never having had any children of his own. It was little scary for me as well after having had a pretty dysfunctional first marriage. But we took the plunge and here we are 29 years later. I said to Les, "well would you do it again knowing what you know now?" And his answer was, "ABSOLUTELY!" Smart Man!!! And I feel the same way. We've weathered some storms, raised 3 kids, Doug doesn't could because he was pretty much raised. And have 16 grand kids and 5 great grand kids to show for it. And who knows what lies a head of us. Hopefully lots of good things. The family...Doug and his 1st wife Lisa, Les and I, Rodney, Jeramy and Ashlyn. Now it's Doug who has the mustache and beard as well and Les is clean shaven. Rod and Family aren't in this photo:-(

Rod, Raquel and boys, not a recent photo but this is one of my favorite photos of their family.

Oh no I have nothing to do...Spit in your shoe and watch it come through

I know your all saying, "What is that all about? Where did that come from?" It was a saying that Les's Grandmother Kiki use to say to them when they were kids. This time of the year really starts to get to me. I don't like the cold. I don't like going out in it, I don't like driving in it. I don't like the inversion. The first of the year, my new years resolution was to be more positive, "Come what may and love it." That's from one of Elder Wirthlin's last talks." I can already see that this is a challenge with me. That doesn't mean if the sun shines I'll love life, if I have a fun friend to go visit or do something with I'll be happy, it really means come what may and love it. I'm not one of those people that I've seen on Oprahs new Channel OWN that wakes up curious and knowing where they're going in life. I have got to change that...if I can figure out how.

I should have stayed in bed!!!

Yes, that is my new car that we've only had for 4 months, and NO, IT WAS NOT MY FAULT Thank goodness!!! I was driving down the road minding my own business, on my way over to help take Mom's Christmas tree down when a lady who had pulled over to the side of the road decided to do a good deed. She saw a man walking with a gas can in his hand and because it was so cold she and her mother decided to see if he needed a ride. She looked in her side mirror and didn't see anything...I must have been in her blind spot. She swung around clipping the right rear side of my car. I could have cried. When Ashlyn, the girls and I went to see David Archuleta at Christmas time a rock hit the windshield and made a chip that I had to repair and now this. I was thinking do I have a target painted on my car. Some days it would pay to just stay in bed.

It's Christmas 2010!!! The Family Christmas Party

Every Christmas Eve we have our family Christmas party. It's always a lot of fun to get together. We have good food and great fun playing games. We decided this year since we had turkey and ham at Thanksgiving and my Mom's Christmas Party we needed to have something different. Ashlyn suggested Mexican or Americanized Mexican food. I made meat and bean burrito's and lime and chili rice. Ashlyn made Chicken Enchaldas and spanish rice, Raquel made salsa and a yummy cake. Deena brought a yummy pumkin roll which we forgot to unwrap until after they were gone. Poor Doug was salivating waiting to have a piece of it. We all really enjoyed the food so much that we almost had to be rolled away from the table. Next we played games and laughed...A LOT! then it was time to open the presents. As you can see from the photo collage the kids had a lot of fun opening their gifts. Hopefully they got what they wanted.

As usual it was a great to be together. That's what Christmas is all about, celebrating with our families and remembering who's birthday we are celebrating. If Jeramy, Rebecca and family could have been here it would have made it PERFECT!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit Motab style.

While Les and I were on our Trip to Iowa this last September, unknown to us Ashlyn put in for tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and David Arculeta Christmas program. She put in for their family and our family hoping to get enough tickets for all of us. Their name was not chosen but my name was!!! I received four tickets to the concert. I told Ashlyn she should just take the tickets since she was the one who applied on line for them. It was decided that it should be girls night out and she and the girls, Keagan, Lily, and I should go. The guys, Dave, Jake and Papa could all stay home and do something else. When we got looking at the date it turned out that it was the same date as my Mom's Christmas Party. Dave had a free stay in a motel from all his traveling with work so he decided the girls should go up the night before. That was such a great idea!! After my Mom's party we rushed home, unloaded the car leaving Les with all the dirty dishes and things to put away. Thank goodness he is such a great guy! We grabbed our things and headed up to Salt Lake City. After checking into our motel and getting settled in we bundled up and headed to Temple Square to see the lights. It was a beautiful, night not to cold just right for seeing the lights. Right at the gait of Temple Square was a bag pipe man playing a beautiful haunting melody.

As you can see I can't take credit for some of these pictures taken on Temple Square but they were so beautiful I just had to share them.

We had a great time at Temple Square. Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for bed and the next day. The girls were excited thinking about getting to see David Arculeta perform. They got to see him in person when we waited in line to have him sign his book at Deseret Book a year ago. We got up bright and early 5:30 the next morning. Dressed and went down to a great breakfast. Lily let me know that if she didn't get breakfast in the morning she would be grumpy. As we walked out the door to get into the car and drive to the parking center they had set aside for concert goes we discovered it was RAINING!!! Thank goodness we had umbrellas because we had to walk for blocks to get to the convention center. It was a sea of umbrellas but they were quick to get us into the center where it was dry. When we went through security I set off the alarm. It must have been the screw in my toe. That was a first. I haven't set it off in the airport. Inside we found our comfortable seats. All of the sudden the crowd of people to the side of us stood and then everyone started to stand, we could see that the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson had arrived with his wife and was seated in the front of the center. We then watched as they broadcasted The Spoken Word. That was the first time I had been to one of the broadcasts so it was very interesting. Then David Archuleta along with the narrator for the performance Michael York presented a concert. It was amazing!!! David Archuleta is a great young man who seems very sincere and humble. Michael York has such a great narrative voice. He told how the Mormon Tabernacle Choir came to be and it was very impressive and touching. It was a great way to continue in the true spirit of Christmas. We had a great time creating some wonderful Christmas memories together.

Wanlass Family Christmas Party 2010

Saturday December the 18th was my Mom's traditional family Christmas Party. I was in charge this year so I didn't have the time to get around with my camera and get as many pictures as I usually do. This is Grandma Wanlass and the Lindley grand children.
My sister Nancy's grand kids. Front Row left to right: Chance (Holly's and Gene's oldest) Grandma Wanlass, and Cruz (Holly and Gene's youngest) Back row: Beau, Amber, and Erika (Dusty and Carol's kids) We had a good turn out. Lots of great people and lots of good food:-)
This is a picture of Lacey and Olivia. They were so cute as soon as they saw each other it was like, oh someone my size, a friend!!! And they hit it if right from the start:-)

Let's EAT!

Grandma Nancy and Chance.

CRAFT TIME

Chance, Jake and Parker

Jaycee and Mekenna


Reggie and Lily

Lucy and her big brother Boston

PINATA TIME!!

After much effort and many hit's the ole Pinata finally opened up and gave way with it's gifts to the eager little ones below. It was a great party, I think the little cousins enjoy it more then anyone else. They don't have to prepare anything they just have to come ready to have fun and renew aquaintances with their cousin, and run and play.

The Rewards of Being a Grandparent

A week ago Sunday we were invited to Ashlyn and Dave's ward. Jacob turned 12 on the 27th of November the cute little turkey:-) He had been waiting for this day for years! He just couldn't wait to be a Deacon and be able to pass the sacrament as well as collect fast offering. He went with his Dad several times in their old ward when they didn't have enough Deacons to go around. It was great that Dave could ordain him and Grandpa Robb and Papa could both be there in the circle. Dave gave him a great blessing. Then Ashlyn invited us all over for a wonderful Roast dinner. It's so great to see the kids grow up and take on new responsibilities.

The Priesthood holders that Jacob is now a part of.

Proud Mom and Dad!!

The Proud Family and the proud grandparents! Jake is almost as tall as grandma Robb and myself:-)

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

The Storm of the Century

Just a couple of days before Thanksgiving the weather man started reporting that we were expecting the "STORM OF THE CENTURY"!! My friend Linda was here to visit her parents and was leaving to go back to Illinois on Tuesday, the day of the big storm. I told her I would take her to the airport. Her plane wasn't scheduled to depart until 4:00 that afternoon but she wanted me to get there and get back before the storm hit. I picked her up at 10:00 a.m. and we headed into Salt Lake. We stopped and had breakfast, the wind was blowing so hard it nearly blew us over. We enjoyed visiting over breakfast together and then headed to the airport. Linda called to check her flight just before we got there and it said it would be delayed. We were hoping she would be able to make it out. The airport was suppose to be crazy as well with everyone traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday. Linda called me on my way home and as the phone rang I was afraid she was going to say, "Can you come back and get me my plane has been canceled," but instead she said, she got right through the screening and her plane would only be delayed 15 minutes. I went to the store on the way home so I wouldn't have to travel out in the storm. That night Les and I settled in expecting the worse. I got up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning and looked out the window...where was the snow?!?! There was only a little only a little skiff. The big blizzard of the century turned out to be the big fizzle of the century:-) Not that I was sad by any means. This morning however we did wake up to snow. Not the big one, just the usual start of winter. We probably received 2 to 3 inches. Les had to shovel the driveway to get out for his Bishopric meeting this morning. Where was I? Snuggled under the covers of course. Les tried to talk me into coming out and shoveling with him saying, "it would be fun." Oh ya, real fun. Here are a few pictures I took from the window. I didn't even want to venture out this morning, besides I had just done my hair for church:-) Here comes Winter!!!!!

Hope you get the drift...no pun intended:-)

Thanksgiving Day!!!

This was the second Thanksgiving since Les and I have been married that I have not had to prepare Thanksgiving dinner! Yahoo!!! We went to Ashlyn's house and had a great time with Dave's family and Rod and Sam. I can't believe I didn't take my camera but my arms were full of food. I didn't have to prepare the whole dinner but I did prepare some of it. Hope ya'all had a great Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for?

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I was reflecting today on what I really am thankful for. With the wind blowing outside and snow on the ground the first thing I thought about was I am so thankful that I have a nice warm home and that it is warm and cozy inside. As I awoke this morning I thought, I am so thankful for a warm comfortable bed. I had a hot bath this morning and it felt so wonderful to just lie there and soak, one of my most favorite place to read is in the bath tub:-) I am so thankful that all I have to do is turn on the tap and out comes hot or cold water with not effort. I thought of Les's nephew who is on a mission in Sierra Leone Africa who has no running water, who lives with rats and other creatures on a daily basis, who in the last 4 months has dropped 23 lbs. I have so much to be thankful for. I flip a switch and have light. I go to the refrigerator or cup board and have food to eat. I live in a country where I am free to come and go as I please, I can go to church and worship as I please. I'm thankful for FREEDOM and the young men and women who put their lives on the line so that I can enjoy that freedom. We must never forget that our freedom comes at a great cost. I have a wonderful family who bring me so much joy. We have our trials and our struggles but those too I am thankful for because they bring me closer to the Savior and my Heavenly Father. I know that through Them we can over come our struggles and become better people. I'm thankful for hair blowers and make up so I don't scare people when I go out in public. I'm thankful for music and for the important part it plays in my life. I grew up with music in my life, with parents who loved music, and a father who had a beautiful tenor voice who sang in church, at funerals, for many occasions. Then in my own home I have enjoyed all kinds of music. Now I have grandchildren who are so gifted with musical talent, music makes this world a much more beautiful place. I'm thankful for this beautiful world and for nature and the changing seasons. I'm thankful for friends, some of which I only get to see on occasion but what great memories I have of our times together. I'm thankful for my life, for the experiences I am blessed with daily. And the older I get the more I am made aware of my health, I am so thankful to be healthy and be able to dance and walk, and all the things I'm able to do. You never really enjoy your health more then when you don't have it, then you realise how important it is to you. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you too reflect on what you are most thankful for. Take a minute in your busy day to just stop and smell the roses or look at a beautiful sunset. We are indeed a blessed people.

We didn't get the expected snow...but we know it's right around the corner!

That snow that the weather man was forecasting never happened...at least not in the valley but from this picture you can see we did get snow in the mountains. We've had beautiful blue skies and the most beautiful fall weather. This weather has really spoiled me and I am not ready for the weather to change. Most of the trees still have their leaves as you can see from this picture. Our aspen trees have been a beautiful yellow and still have a lot of their leaves. And just look at the beautiful clear BLUE SKY! I love this time of the year!
This time of the year has always been my favorite. It brings back childhood memories of walking home from school and hearing the crisp sound of the Autumn leaves crunching below my feet. Of raking up large piles of leaves and then jumping into them. The clean crisp air that seemed to give me energy. It's a time for apples of all colors, and pine nuts, and curling up by the fireplace with a warm fire and a good book. Hot chocolate, carmel popcorn ball, apple crisp, hmmmmmm... I LOVE AUTUMN!
I can't take credit for this photo but I absolutely love it. It was taken by Les's cousin Westley Cottom.