Baby Blessing Time

It was wonderful to gather in Queen Creek with family and friends to help Kinley and Dennis give Jared Willard Letner a name and a blessings. We enjoyed visiting and eating at Kinley and Dennis's home afterward

We Welcome a New Family Member!

IT HAS BEEN A WILD AND CRAZY WEEK. KINLEY GAVE BIRTH TO A BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY! "JARRED WILLARD LETNER". WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SQUEEZE A LITTLE TIME TO COME SPEND WITH THEM AND HOPEFULLY HELP OUT AND SHARE THEIR JOY. WE COOKED,CUDDLED,CLEANED,GAVE A SUN BATH,TOOK KIDS ON A GEOCACHING HIKE,PLAYED IN SOME DELIGHTFUL MUD,AND GOT LOST TRYING TO FIND OUR WAY BACK! A LOT OF GOOD A GPS DOES ME!) FAMILY IS SUCH A JOY.

Then Pealed the Bells More Loud and Deep. . . .

God is not dead, nor does He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. with peace on earth. good will to men." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
We gathered on Christmas Eve for our annual Tamale Dinner. The Ladies gathered earlier in the week and made the tamales. After dinner the younger set put on costumes and acted out the nativity.Theresa directed and Ryan narrated and everyone sang. It was a lovely chaotic evening. It was a crowded inn!!

I love Thanksgiving!!! It is all about being grateful and being with family without commercialism or pressures to buy and impress.
We had a Thanksgiving week that began with the visit of Uncle Bob (Poppy's younger brother). November 24th was a birthday celebration for Grandaughter Eden and Uncle Bob.
Cameron, Ashley and Brooklyn came on Wednesday and were joined by Galen, Abel,and Max and Clint, Liz, Alora, Cougar, and Eden on Thursday. We worked it out so that Galen and Abel could go for a bike ride in the early morning, and those that wanted to go to the movie "New Moon" could. Grammy and Poppy joined us and the feast began at 2:30pm?? Everyone helped and Everyone enjoyed.
Grammy and Poppy made it back before dark. The Crandalls joined us and we played games,and put together the puzzle that we brought from Missouri. It is a painting by Jack E. Dawson entitled "If My People" It is a picture of the Saviour mending a very tattered American Flag. It has hidden pictures in the folds of the flag that represent important events and issues facing our country. The promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the theme of the painting. "If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." I love it!

Veterans Day Shoot Out

Veteran's Day was a beautiful day and Tedd and I decided to spend some time target practicing with our guns at Redington Pass. Morgan Mari and Heather came with us. We were amazed at how many were out shooting! We had to drive a ways to find a spot not occupied by other shooters. We have decided to schedule a shoot out once a month so we can be familiar and proficient with our fire arms.
My only regret that day was that I didn't make it out to the Fountains for their annual salute to the veterans. They always do such a great job of honoring our veterans with displays and flags and speakers. I was very thankful that Galen, Abel, and Max made it and took pictures (of course!) Thanks Galen
I did spend the next afternoon with Grammy and Poppy and they were amazed to see their pictures on Facebook. Thanks again Galen.

Thanks to Galen, the family photographer, we have lovely pictures of our annual Pomegranate Harvest. The Picking, the cutting and squishing is great fun to do with lots of hands helping. The juice gets drank, turned into lovely jellies for gifts, and my favorite is to brew some into pungent vinegar. We are very thankful to Grammy and Granpa Bailey with vision for planting them in the mid-1900's. They would be so pleased to see us enjoying the harvest. It was their desire that posterity would enjoy their efforts for generations AND WE ARE!!!!

Mari and her friends had fun sorting the small and less perfect pomegranates from the large and supple ones to sale. The first day She and her two enterprising young friends Sarah and Amber Curtis set up at the street around 3 pm to catch those going home from school and work. They had great fun and made about $50. They weren't too happy when they found out that they had to split the money up with the landowners who cared for and paid for the harvest. The second day Mari went out to sell she started out by herself thinking that the profit margine would be greater if she had less ways to divide the profit, but she soon discovered the fun was in doing it together with friends. They brought in $62. Then life got too busy and we thought signs would attract customers, but we only brought in $20, so it was the cute girls not people's desire that sells pomegranates.

Now on to jelly and vinegar making.

My 58th Birthday

I had a wonderful 58th birthday! Tedd and I flew to Branson, MO and stayed in a nice room thanks to Grammy and Poppy's time share. Even though it rained two out of the four days we were there and a lot of the leaves had fallen it was beautiful and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We enjoyed dinner and a show on the Branson Belle showboat, took a trip back in time and re-experienced Beattle mania with the show "Living Legends". We thoroughly enjoyed Silver Dollar City with it's folksy artisans and Ozark blue grass music. We then spent a day and a night with my brother, Garry and sister-in-law, Nancy at their beautiful home on the Lake of the Ozarks. We left wanting to return and bring our family and have determined to plan one family adventure a year and one Tedd and Carol Ann trip a year.