'Tis the season......to trim the tree.

I can hardly believe that it is already time to decorate for Christmas again. Every year it seems to come sooner than the year before. I know that isn't a reality but time goes so fast. The month of November was definitely a new experience, living here in Vegas for the most part (it was 74 degrees today). Larry had knee surgery this month so he has been able to spend quite a bit of time at home and on the road with me. We made a trip to Ogden in the middle of the month so I could complete my coaching visits with the new teachers I work with. We also spent quite a bit of time with my children and grandchildren while there. We even had Thanksgiving dinner--just a week and half early. I really enjoyed having all the kids and grandchildren there. Thanks to all of you for making an effort to be there. Since Garrett came down with chicken pox just before Thanksgiving, that was the only turkey Ryan's family got this year. We spent a very quiet Thanksgiving here in Vegas with me, Larry, Jeff and Steve. Later Larry and I went to see Twilight.
Now one of my long time traditions has been to go shopping on Black Friday. This year was no exception. Larry was a trooper and got up and went shopping with me. I didn't really need anything but I enjoy the hustle and bustle of the biggest shopping day of the year. Call me crazy. We were smart in that we didn't leave the house at 7:00 am--after all the door opening mob scenes.
Then it was time to get out the Christmas tree and get it decorated. We had purchased new ornaments in new colors for the tree so I was pretty excited to see if the vision in my mind would actually match the finished decorating project. I must say, we did a pretty good job. We also revamped the very large wreath that has been adorning the stairway wall each Christmas (and from what I hear, some years even longer). Larry took pictures to share.

Christmas is my very favorite time of year for many reasons. I love giving gifts to my family. I love watching others out shopping for gifts for their loved ones. I love the reason we celebrate the season--the birth of our Savior. I love the memories and traditions of the many past Christmases in my life. I love the smells, the lights, the colors that represent Christmas. And yes, I even love the freshly fallen snow that comes during this season, at least in Ogden.
Even though this may be a little early, I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.

...And he says he doesn't snore.

Sometimes the most logical things turn out to be the most humorous. I had one of those experiences this week. I'll preface this with the fact that Larry had a cold this week. At times it has been a little difficult to breathe while sleeping so he hadn't slept well for a couple nights. Wednesday night I was having a difficult time getting to sleep. I tossed and turned for over an hour. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that Larry was making all sorts of obnoxious noises (snoring noises)(loud snoring noises), and yes, HE WAS SLEEPING. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning I decided that if I was to get any sleep I would have to find another place to lay my poor, tired body. Of all the places in the house that I could have found, (you know, sofas, the extra bedroom) for various reasons, I chose the floor in the closet. After I sprawled out on the floor I decided I was cold so I raised myself to a vertical position again, grabbed a large beach towel that was hanging on the closet door, laid back down and covered up. About that time I heard some talking from somewhere. Hmmm. I sat up, looked into the bedroom and there was Larry. Sitting on the edge of the bed, cell phone up to his ear, listening to ...........phone messages? Mind you. It is still the wee hours of the morning. He had been sound asleep just moments ago. Who gets up at 1:30 a.m. to listen to their messages? The only thing I could think of to say was, "Larry, who are you talking to?" The answer. "I saw my phone blinking so I'm listening to my messages. Why are you in the closet?" my answer. "You were snoring so I came in here to sleep." After I had presented him with my feeble reason we both started laughing. I didn't know any situation at that time of the night, lacking sleep, could be funny. Well, when all was said and done, I had promised that in the future I will wake him up when I hear the snoring and........... no more sleeping on the closet floor.
For another perspective to this story, click here.

Everyone should laugh more

This has been a great weekend. October has many birthdays in our family. Thursday we were able to celebrate Carl's birthday at the cemetery with flowers, balloons and a pizza party. Friday we all met at Stacie's house to celebrated birthdays for Stacie (Oct. 2), Carlee (Oct. 16) and Maggie (Oct 6). It is Larry's birthday Tuesday but he wasn't there to celebrate.
Saturday I was able to watch conference before I left to come back to Las Vegas. I was very enthused about Elder Worthlin's talk on finding opportunities to laugh more. I was interested in this talk because in the last nearly 2 years, Larry and I have found many things to laugh about. In fact, sometimes we can hardly catch our breath we are laughing so hard.
Well, today we had the opportunity to laugh again. I even had tears rolling down my face. If you have read Larry's blog, you know he had a bit of an accident today. He fell in the pool. Yes, you heard me. He fell in the pool. Now the pool has been part of his back yard for nearly 15 years. You would think he would know where it juts out for the steps. Not so. We were pulling the pool cover on when he stepped backwards and found nothing but water to put his foot on. As he said, the water parted and he fell in. When I turned to see what was happening I saw his arms were flailing and heard an awkward sound coming from his mouth (not sure if it was a screech or a loud ARGGG). Then he went under. When he popped up I really wasn't sure what to expect. Would he be angry? Was he alright? (Look at me trying to be compassionate.) I was relieved to see him laughing. And then he said it was cold water. I know this unexpected dive took him by surprise but he was certainly good humored about it. We (Jeff, Jack, Larry and I) have laughed all afternoon about it. I'm sure that is one of those things that will keep us laughing for a good long time. I really wish it had somehow been recorded for America's Funniest Home Video's but you will all have to tune in and watch it on the Heaven Video when we all get there.

EEEEEK!!!!

Last night I had been out with my girls and the rest of the Bruce female relatives enjoying dinner and the Women's Conference. After the event was over, I returned home, opened my garage door and pulled in. I grabbed my purse, opened my door, exited, took a step backwards to check the back seat and that's when I screeched. EEEEEEK! Only two inches from my foot was a SNAKE. I leaped from that spot in the garage to the step into the house in just a couple steps, alerting my Keri and Michelle of the impending danger.
Upon closer inspection (I hope you have a visual of three adult women slowly walking along the side of the car to see if the snake was moving), we discovered that the said snake was indeed... dead. Evidently I had run over the slippery little thing when I pulled out of the garage some five hours earlier. How did the thing get in my garage? Did he not know that at least half the people in my family have an extreme dislike for snakes? Oh, and the snake was only about a foot long, but a snake nonetheless.


Thanks to Michelle for providing the picture. She is always so prepared.

Technilogically Challenged!

I'm venting! Can I just say how much I hate being challenged in the photo/computer area? Why is it that my children can download pictures and send them to Costco or Walmart to be printed and I just don't get it. I have been trying for over an hour to get some downloaded pictures of Larry and I off to Costco. For some reason, I just can't figure out where the pictures are that I supposedly downloaded to my desktop. I could have driven clear across town and inserted my flash drive into the machine and had them printed in this amount of time. Oh, maybe not. I DID take the flash drive into Costco a couple days ago and the pictures wouldn't show up on the screen. All my pictures from Scandinavia were there but not the ones I need to get prints of. Hmmmm. I don't feel any smarter about computers and getting pictures printed having vented than I did five minutes ago. I guess I'll turn the computer off and do something that I know I can do.

Who says I don't have compassion?

Recently Larry and I have spent a good amount of time talking and joking about compassion, and maybe my lack of it. I wonder how much compassion a person should have. Is there some kind of a “compassionometer” that we need to be living up to? I understand that I tend not to show compassion as much as many people, especially if compassion is measured by flowery verbage. Don’t get me wrong. I can tear up with the best of them when I hear a story that tugs at my heartstrings. (In fact, for about 35 years my eyes were moist more than they were dry.) I fear I have taught my daughters through my example in this area of non-compassion. I know some of my sons-in-law complain about their respective wives not showing a high level of compassion. Just this week Larry stubbed his toe before he went to work. He hobbled to the sofa, sat there while vocally reaffirming how much pain he was in. Finally he motioned to me with his hand and said, “Come here and give me a hug. I need some compassion.” You guessed it, I just stood there watching him try and figure out what to do with the pain. In my head I was probably thinking something like this: “Well, get your shoes and socks on. You’ll be late for work. And besides, I need to start my WiiFit exercising.” Or maybe, "If you had had your shoes and socks on this wouldn't have happened." In other words, buck up and deal with it. I hope those who know me well do see the compassion and sympathy that I show. And just for the record, Larry tells me I am very compassionate. But we have sure had some good laughs over this topic.

Summer's coming to an end...

As usual, I have kept very busy this past month. I took a trip to Ogden to attend workshops for my part time job mentoring new teachers in the district. I may be a little crazy but I really enjoy the interaction with those teachers who are just starting their careers. I remember how frustrating it was for me when I first started teaching so anything I can do to ease their lives a little should be a good thing. I met with all six of the teachers I have been given this year and will meet with them each month when I am back in Ogden. This will give me an opportunity to visit my family while there too.
On a different note, I have finished yet another of my many projects in our house in Vegas. I made valances for the family room windows and updated the fireplace decor. I was pleased with how they turned out. Here are some pictures.


Now, on to the next project. I think painting a bedroom in on the docket since we started taking down the wallpaper border yesterday. Thanks Larry for allowing me to keep working on things in the house. I have to have something to work on.

Summertime, Parties and Family....

Wow! What a busy summer this has been. I have had visitors from Ogden (Michelle, Jeff, Carlee, Kory and Maggie) in June. In July, Spencer came to visit for a week. We had a good time, swimming, shopping, swimming, go cart racing and then swimming some more. Thanks to those who braved the heat and gave me something to do while you were here. (I would have had to look for a big project around the house if you hadn't come to visit.) I flew back to Utah with Spencer and spent a few days there before Larry and Jack joined me on Tuesday, July 22. That week was full of family get-togethers-- first with the Bruce family on the 24th after the parade and then with the Nelson family on the 25th. What fun it was to get together with these good families and visit with each other. I have been so blessed with the love of great families in my life. On Saturday night, my children got together in the name of my upcoming birthday to celebrate by eating great food from Maddox and ice cream cake roll. Sunday afternoon, Larry, Jack and I loaded up the car and headed back to Las Vegas.
Upon arriving, we were greeted by the Sims family (Michelle, Mike and children, and of course Mandy). They had arrived in Vegas on Friday. It has been fun for me to get to know them a little better. While they have been here, the other families that live here in Vegas have also been here so cousins could play together and adults could visit. Which brings me to yesterday. It was my birthday (I know how old I am but I'm pretty sure my Wii Fit thinks I am somewhere between 35 and 40 so I think I will go with that age). Thank you to all my kids who spoiled me last week with a reservation to BYU Education Week and a new set of scriptures. Thanks to Larry for giving me opportunity to shop and/or visit a spa in the near future. And thanks to Larry's kids for making it special for me even though I am away from my family. We had Chicago Style pizza (thanks Michelle, Steve, and Kevin), and a delightful chocolate chip bundt cake from Everything Bundt Cake.

It was SOOOOOO good. Now as I said a few minutes ago, I have been blessed with the love of great families (my own and the Bruce's) and the addition of the Pierce family in my life has been a blessing as well. I hope that will continue for many years to come. Thanks to all my family members for making my life so complete.

IT'S HOT! REALLY HOT!

Wow! It has been a while since my last blog. I have kept pretty busy and haven't found time to blog. That combined with the fact that I often think my blogs seem pretty mundane have kept me from updating for awhile.

Let me begin with the statement that it is REALLY HOT here in Vegas. Last week Michelle, Jeff, Carlee, Kory and Maggie came to stay with us. We kept pretty busy trying different places to eat and shopping at the outlets (at least the girls. The boys went golfing that day). We all really noticed the heat while walking from casino to casino taking in the themes (where was the breeze that was supposed to blow mist from the Bellagio Fountains?). Thank goodness for the swimming pool to cool down in after our sightseeing. With all of the activities we had planned, Maggie was such a great little vacationer. I hardly knew she was with us.

Here's a GREAT BIG THANKS to those who braved the heat and planned a vacation here. We certainly enjoyed the company--and so did Jack. He gets pretty bored listening to Larry's humor (OK, mine too). And now I have a visit from Spencer to look forward to. If anyone has any input as to what fun things I can do with him while in Vegas, let me know. I'm making a list.

Visiting Family and Making Memories.....

This week has been so nice. I came back to Ogden last week and spent Memorial Day here, had a cookout with the family and celebrated May and June birthdays with them. On Thursday Larry made the drive here to be with us for the weekend. We have had so much fun. We visited Pop's Malt Shop, took my mom to dinner for her birthday, spent time with all of my children, and each of the grandchildren (Hannah, G, and Dylan even spent the night on Friday). Wii Sports was part of our exercise regimen and provided many hours of fun for the family. Thanks to the Boyles! I was also able to attend Maddie's dance recital. What a beautiful little dancer she is becoming. Thanks for inviting me, Maddie. Today we were able to be in attendance at, and participate in, Ellisyn's blessing. What a neat experience that was. Brett did a wonderful job, leaving Ellisyn a big responsibility to be the person that Heavenly Father sent her to become.
Tomorrow morning, very early, Larry and I will be heading back to Vegas to get some very pressing work done in our house there. We have three bedrooms to get in order, i.e. walls and mop boards washed, carpets cleaned, beds moved around and possibly a bedroom painted. Next week Larry is heading to Hawaii to bring his dad back for a couple months. We need to get a room ready for him and since Carlee, Kory, Maggie, Michelle, and Jeff will be coming to visit on the 24th of June, we will need to get the two extra bedrooms upstairs ready for them. I think I always have a plan and things on my list to get accomplished. Oh, and next Thursday I will be coming back to Ogden for a few days while Larry goes to pick up his dad. Does life ever slow down? I hope not. I think I would get bored.

Here's how I spend my days....

I thought I would bring you up to date on the remodeling that we have been doing here in the Las Vegas house. After about a month, we are getting most things back to normal. Carpet was laid on Monday and since then we have been working to get things put back. We still need to hang the pictures, replace the mop boards in the bathroom and find a home for some miscellaneous things. It looks SO nice. Hopefully before I leave for Ogden on Saturday we can have it done and done.

Bedroom/computer
Closet

Now, as I mentioned, I will be traveling to Ogden again this Saturday. Life doesn't seem to slow down for me at all. There are lots of birthdays in the family that we will be celebrating and, of course, Memorial Day. I will be there for eight or nine days and Larry will be joining my next Thursday. I hope to get some yard work done as well as party with the kids and visit parents. It is always hard to uproot and break my schedule every two or three weeks but well worth it. I get to see my children and most importantly, my nine adorable grandchildren. I also love just being home where everything is so familiar and I know where everything is (I am getting to know Las Vegas pretty well though, at least the West end, oh, and, McCarren Airport).
When I get back to Vegas? Yes, you guessed it. I will be starting on another room. We have company coming in June and I need to get three bedrooms ready for that.

Update on the Updating........

In my last blog I mentioned the fact that Larry and I are remodeling the master bedroom and master bathroom. This week we painted the rooms a very warm taupe color. I really love it. However, we are now trying to match tile for the bathroom floor and carpet for the bedroom to the paint. We have finally decided on the tile. Not the one we originally thought we wanted. Now we are facing the carpet dilemma. We have had no less than seven samples of carpet here in the last week and still can't decide. Tonight we were in a local furniture/carpet store and I had about ten samples laying out on the floor with the tile sample and a large size paint sample. Some pieces of carpet seem too dark, others too pink and yet others too yellow. (Side note: the salesman said that watching me decide on a carpet color was more entertaining than gambling.) Did we choose the right paint color? I think we are down to two samples to choose from. We have to make a decision by Saturday so it can be ordered. I will be happy to have the bedroom put back together again. As much work as it has been (and we still have the very big job of tiling to go), I look forward to the next project.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what drives people in the direction of accomplishment. Is it a hereditary part of nature? A learned personality? Or maybe even both? I have pondered this because I seem to always need to accomplish some task. I find it really difficult to just sit back and enjoy a day of doing nothing in particular. I know that my parents were very hard working people. As a matter of fact my mother, at age 79 (almost), still works in her yard and keeps an immaculate house. Even though her health isn't good, spring and fall house cleaning are still a ritual for her.
I suppose I learned that while growing up so that was part of what I did as a young wife and mother. Typically, the work was always done before the play started. As life got more hectic with teaching school and working on additional educational degrees, I found it hard to continue that kind of cleaning even though I didn't let my house get out of hand. I guess what has made me think about this as of late is that since I have been married to Larry and am getting used to a different house with things in different places, I have been doing a great deal of reorganizing, cleaning, de-cluttering to fit my wants, needs, and life style. I'm sure there are those people out there that would be very comfortable just moving into someone else's domain and leaving well enough alone. It sure would be a lot easier that way. I think they call that "sitting around eating Bon Bon's all day."
This week we have taken on a new project. Larry and I are painting the bedroom, putting tile on the floor in the bathroom and having new carpet installed. I love doing these kinds of projects because I can actually see some results. Oftentimes when doing weekly cleaning, I know it is done but no one else actually notices. We got the ceiling painted last Saturday and I am working on the bathroom walls today. The target finish date is sometime around May 16 to have it all done. It has been enjoyable to me to be able to work together on this remodel job.
I have been concerned that Larry will wonder why the hurry on the cleaning and remodeling but like I said, I suppose it is drive for accomplishment coupled with my impatient nature to want to get things done in the quickest time possible so I can move on to another project. Did I just commit to creating more work for myself? Oh well, it will be fun to realize the fruits of my labors. Whether my drive for accomplishment is hereditary or learned, I don't mind work at all.

Warm Weather is really nice...

This winter in Utah has been SOOO cold and seems to have lasted a very long time. Granted, I did take a trip to Hawaii in January for a week but then I came home to more cold. Well, on March 21, 2008 Larry and I were married at the Lodge in Perry, Utah. It was a very nice occasion and we were very blessed to have all of our children, their spouses, and all 19 grandchildren in attendance along with a few friends.
After the ceremony and dinner, we took four days and went to Jackson, Wyoming. We stayed in the Cowboy Resort Cabins. You guessed it--more cold weather. At least it didn't storm. We saw all kinds of wildlife and some beautiful scenery. On Monday we drove to Rexburg, Idaho and were able to take in a temple session in the new Rexburg Temple on Tuesday. What a beautiful temple that is. I am so glad that we were able to plan that into our trip.
We got back to Pleasant View and two days later Keri had little Ellisyn. What a beautiful little baby she is, and from what I understand, she is a very good baby too. Kudos to Keri and Brett.
The next week I made the trek to Las Vegas to start the next chapter in my life. Larry and I will be living here for the most part but I will be visiting my home and my children and grandchildren in Ogden as often as possible. I am learning my way around Las Vegas pretty well for having only been here a week. I can at least get to the Meadows mall and several strip malls. :) I have been making a few changes in the house for my convenience as well as just a little updating. I am really excited that some of my children have already committed to come and visit us here. I think Spencer is planning on coming here for a few days also. We'll plan some fun things to do while he is here, however, he may just want to spend the days swimming in the pool in the backyard. At any rate, it seems like I have some things to look forward to in the next little while. Oh, and did I mention that it is nice and WARM here? Today it was nearly 85. Pretty nice if you ask me.

Time Heals; It's Time To Move On

I haven't made a post for quite some time. Nearly 6 months to be exact. A great deal has happened since then. Let me see if I can list some of those things:
*Carlee and Kory have added cute little Maggie to their family
*I passed the four year mark of Carl's untimely death
*Christmas came and went
*I made two trips to Las Vegas to Visit Larry
*He made at least two trips here to visit me
*I spent New Years in Las Vegas and the first week in January in Hawaii
*And of course, I have made many visits to the new teachers that I mentor on a weekly basis

As I mentioned above, I have passed the four year mark of Carl's death. Four years ago I wondered what my life would be like living it alone for many years into the future. I was content to accept my lot in life of being without a spouse. After all, my children were very good to me, inviting me to dinner with them, visiting me on Sunday's and helping me with things I couldn't do myself. All of that is fine and good but in the last year, I began to realize that I had been missing a very important aspect of life--that of male companionship and more specifically, someone that knew exactly what I was going through.

I am very happy to announce that after just over a year of dating a wonderful man, Larry Pierce, we are going to be married in March. I have known Larry my entire life but it was after his wife passed away nearly two years ago that we began communicating through emails and then frequent visits. We have so much in common and get along beautifully. We have laughed so hard that tears were streaming down our faces, and we have shared some very solemn times as well. We have enjoyed so many really great times in the past year, one of which was a trip to Hawaii in January. It was there, sitting on the beach watching the waves and the sunset that Larry asked me to be his wife, and presented me with a beautiful ring. We are both very excited about this new chapter in our lives. Yes, there will be some adjustments to my life as well as that of my children. Larry and I will be living in Las Vegas a good share of the time since that is where he is employed. I (we) will still take every possible opportunity to return to Ogden to visit my children, grandchildren, mom and siblings.

I am pretty excited about this new part of my life. I have always thought it would be fun to live in another place and now I will have this opportunity for at least a few years. I know some of my children are a little concerned about about this adventure but I hope they will plan to visit me in Las Vegas when I am not back here in Ogden.
As I stated in the title of this blog, it is time to move on. Thank you Larry for giving me that opportunity!