Pre--Halloween

The joys of having your husband involved with the YSA Stake is that you get to have the ward he's involved with over for family night every so often.  Monday night we had at least 30 young singles at our home.   After they ate some pizza, they played a video game called "Rock Band."  Some of the kids played ping pong, and others were playing "Apples to Apples."  We were downstairs with them off and on, but a lot of the time I was upstairs sewing.  I had to wear earplugs!  They all had a ball!

Jennie is supposed to be in Roy's ward, but she goes to the ward
she was in when she lived with Dan.  She joins Roy's ward when it
fun and convenient.

We attended a tri-school Orchestra concert on Tuesday evening.  Each school played a couple of songs, and then they all tried to get on the stage for the final number.  It was attempting the impossible, but they got close, then they played all together, which was also attempting the impossible.  It was also impossible to get a decent picture.

One day this week I drove up to Logan to help Crista out for a couple of hours.  I spent time with her kids and helped her finish Matt's costume.  

Another interesting encounter this week was at Costco.  Roy and I made a late night run (just before they closed).  Roy went to the optical department, and I did the shopping.  As I was finishing up, I looked up and saw Elder Uchtdorf.  He was standing there smiling, so I said, "Oh.  How are you doing?"  He said fine and asked how I was ...then I said, "I barely recognized you with your 'civilian' clothes on."  That was it.  It's kind of weird.  We have apostles and prophets in our midst, but when we run into them, we don't know quite what to say; we don't want to interrupt their private time or be intrusive.  Anyway, we are blessed to live close to so many of our church leaders.

I had a fun evening and a quilt class on paper piecing.  Here is what the project looks like:

The streak is the sun coming in the window.

I think I will make a table runner out of it.  There are 8 sections to sew together to make the star.  I don't know if I'll need 3 or 4 stars for the runner.  It's a fun project, but like everything takes time. 

Roy and I went to our ward trunk or treat.  We don't get to attend ward functions together very often.  I don't know many people in our new ward and Roy knows even fewer.

Trunk or treat selfie!

We spent our Saturday at Grandpa and Grandma Rasband's house running load after load to the DI.  It's good grandma isn't there to see us give away her "valuable" possessions.  Grandpa is aware of what's going on and I think he's just grateful that we're doing the work of going through everything and getting the house ready to sale.  We left Provo right at 4 so we could get home and get ready for the Halloween party (Young Single Adults).  Dad and I even dressed up.

While we were at the YSA Halloween party, Caitlyn was at the Halloween Dance at Bountiful High. 

This time her date did not break anything (different boy), and all went as planned.  They dressed up as characters from Napoleon Dynamite.  So creative.

As Phil said in a recent letter, when we are sharing our "journals" we don't ever put in the negative--I won't either, except to say it was a bit of a hard week due to misplanning, misunderstandings (and lack of communication) as to who had the rights to have a party at the house Saturday night.  

Everyone else in the family were celebrating Halloween as well, with trunk or treats and parties.  

 The Jacksons dressed up as Jurassic Park characters

Little Bo Peep and her sheep

Andy and Elise and Matt and Crista always go all out.

The Rasband girls enjoying the Fall weather.

Ruby and Greta (Princess Sophia and her little witch 

Jennie

Sunday, since Dan was a bachelor for the weekend, he asked us to watch Dojin while he fulfilled his primary calling, so we got to cuddle with Dojin.

What a sweetheart

We finished up the week fulfilling Roy's calling by going to Ward prayer.  

Family and Cedar City

Meanwhile, back in Texas--Elise's ward gave her a baby shower.  It was last week, but I had trouble with pictures so I'm putting the picture in this week's letter.  The fun thing in this picture is that one of her guests was her cousin Jenny.  I remember living in Atlanta and connecting with cousins that I probably wouldn't have known very well if I'd lived in Utah.  It's always fun to have a relative close by.  (We got to know Lynn Winterton, Debbie Bori (Florida), Kurt Gramoll, Dev Sealy, and Roy's Aunt and Uncle, Gloria and Mike Toomey).

Taking advantage of a little down time for Andy (which is rare), they had a staycation in Sugarland over the weekend (maybe 20 minutes away), and enjoyed swimming and playing.

Elise and Jenny at the shower 

Mav and Max having a ball

Do they really need a fire in Houston?  Maybe if they're still
 wet from their swim.

Elise and Beverly

Mav and Max are super exited for the grandparent's to come and visit.  Elise says they have a paper chain to count down the days.  It's probably just as much for Elise, as the baby is scheduled to be induced the day before we arrive.  I'm sure she's counting down the days, too.

We see our Logan family a little more often than our Texas family.  Crista and Matt came down Wednesday night so they could give Ruby her first experience with Lagoon!  She was so excited.

Ruby and Greta, anticipating a fun-filled day!

Roy and Caitlyn and I left on Thursday morning for another Cedar City weekend.  The plays weren't quite as good as their summer line-up, but we still had a good time.

We had a little time to burn, so we went to the museum at the "Depot" in Cedar City.
We were told not to climb in any of the stage coaches except this one, so
we felt like we had to try this one out.  Wow, am I grateful for comfortable cars.

Here we are at Cancun restaurant in Beaver, Utah.  A favorite. And a selfie in the Theater.

The plays for the weekend included, "Shakespeare's Long Lost First Manuscript.  We didn't love it.  In fact, it was almost a waste of the ticket price; Also, a play called The Tavern, that seemed to be written just for the Cedar City venue.  It was a lot of fun and well acted; and finally, A Midsummer Night's Dream.  It, too, was well-acted and fun, but it was LONG.  I thought it was over about 40 minutes before it was over.  We drove home after this play on a Saturday afternoon, which turned out to be good, because about 1/2 way home we heard that Grandpa had been sent to the hospital.  He was having pain in his shoulder.  It wasn't his shoulder or his heart, but they found a blood clot in his lung.  They also thought he might have blood clots elsewhere but didn't test for them as the medication should treat all of them.  We were able to stop and visit and make sure he was being taken care of. 
He'll probably be in the hospital for a few days.  Keep him in your prayers!

Doyeon had a birthday party, which we missed, but we saw some entertaining videos and pictures that depicted a good time for all.

Nick, Effie and Dojin.  The videos showed that NIck had just
as much fun as the kids. 

Cutting the cake with a sword--pretty awesome.

Cake and ice cream everyone?

Even though we had been away for the weekend, we still desired to see our family so we had them to dinner on Sunday.  All of the Davis County residents in the family were able to come.  The kids are always so happy to see each other and mainly stay happy while they are playing, except when someone gets hurt.  They also had quite a few sugary treats which made them happy, too.

Caitlyn played with them in the leaves.  They had a ton of fun--and I had a lot of leaf trails throughout the house.  

Settling down a bit

Ollie, Finn, Doyeon, Hyeji, Gunnar, Yuna and Ori!

Oh, and a side note--the lot next door went up for sale, YAY!  the 650 square foot house on it is 69 years old and it looks terrible.  We figure that nothing could be worse, but we're really hoping for a buyer to put a house there.  It can't be a huge house, but it might fit a reasonable size two story.  

Have a great week!  Love you all!

Reunion

I mentioned last week that Roy and Jennie headed up to the Gorge to bring the trailer home for winterization.  Apparently it was just beautiful up there with the first snowfall.  Cold, too.

Roy always likes to get a picture or two of Grandpa Clyde's bridge

This week included Dr's appointment, a service project with Relief Society, Choir Practice, and other routine things.  We also had cake and ice cream for AJ's birthday.  I tended Ori and Effie while Nick and Sara celebrated their anniversary, and we played Ping Pong with Dan and Jieun when they dropped by Friday evening. 
Caitlyn went with me to the Bountiful temple for the service project because the young women were also doing a service project at the temple.  As we were leaving I told her to head the other way, she asked, "Aren't we going to Temple Square?" I answered that I thought we were supposed to go to the Bountiful temple.  I called the R.S. President and she confirmed.  So, Caitlyn had a great time with the relief society sisters, while the young women were in Salt Lake (I think she may have preferred being with me). 
Saturday, after errands and chores, we were able to attend a violin recital for Caitlyn.  She played four duets with her teacher.  She arranged with her teacher to leave early because Roy and I had a Casper reunion in Orem.  I wasn't sure how excited I was to go, as we don't see Roy's cousins very often, but we had a great time.  He has a couple of cousins that are hilarious.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.  Roy made the pulled pork and he outdid himself.  It was delicious.

Caitlyn to the left of her teacher Emily Rice.  Emily plays for
the Orchestra at Temple Square.  A huge commitment, but she
loves it.  On the left of Caitlyn is Elise Erickson.  She's in our ward.  Her great grandma is
Roy's grandma's sister. 

Caitlyn

Head of table: Laurel Steele, Dianne Fage and her daughter Sabrina Davis,
Shirley Pyper, Mark Pyper, Reed and Elaine McKay

From left:
Fred Fage and his wife, Lindsey (Julie's daughter),
 Julie Berry, David Berry, Lindsey's husband, Robert Steel,
and Nan Theobald

Catharine, Kathleen Carlile, Tom and Elaine Carlile,
Mary Jo and Stephen Carlile

I hope I got all those names right.

Sunday I was in charge of the Relief Society lesson.  It was such a blessing to study for it.  I wanted to share a couple of scriptures that I used in my lesson.  I found these this past week while working on the assignment given to us in April from President Russell M. Nelson.

Alma 33:14
14  Now behold, my brethren, I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?
1 John 5:10  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son.
I also found a couple in 1 John that I really loved.  Look them up:
1 John 4:15 and 1 John 5:5
I loved giving this lesson (Priesthood Leadership in the Church) on prophets and apostles.  My testimony grew of these men as witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

 More pictures from the week:

Crista, Matt, Greta and Ruby.  Family pictures

Greta and Ruby

Nick with Effie and Ori, Also, Jennie.

Nick had us over for dinner Sunday evening.  Sara had made a lovely roast with potatoes and carrots.  She had a friend from her mission there as well.  We played "Code Names" for a while and then headed home to get Caitlyn to bed!

Fancy dinner in Logan with Crista

I was able to take Ollie and Doyeon out to lunch for their birthday's this month.  It was Ollie's actual B-day (the 3rd) and he had a crown from pre-school to prove it.  Apparently, he wore it all day!  I took them to Chick Fil-et.  One of the workers was throwing candy at them, I was wondering what was going on.  Then he came over and asked Ollie if it was his birthday and he said it was, so the worker gave him a stuffed cow.  I said, "It's her birthday next week," and he said, "she can have one when she comes back on her birthday." Okay, then.  She didn't seem to mind in the least.  They came over afterwards to play for a couple of hours and had a great time.  Later we went up to the Green's for some yummy Tikka Marsala and cake and ice cream. 

Gunnar, Adrienne, Ollie, Finn, Caitlyn (and if I knew how to edit
myself out of this picture I'd do it)

Wednesday night we took one of Roy's business partners and his wife to "A Tale of Two Cities."  I would've thought I'd read it or at least heard the story.  I knew the beginning and ending lines of the book, but it was pretty unfamiliar to me.  The beginning line, of course, is "It was the best of times it was the worst of times."  the ending: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”  It did make me want to read the book.  

Friday, Roy and I semi-fasted because we were going to an elaborate charity dinner in Logan with Matt and Crista.  Matt's company has hosted this dinner for a couple of years.  Last year they made about $22,000 for CAPSA, a non-profit charity in Logan that helps people that have suffered abuse.  We had been told by Crista that there would be 9 courses.  That made us a little concerned about our diets.  We needn't have worried because most of the courses  had about 2 Tbs. of food on the plate.  It was wonderful, unusual, and tasty food.  We got to see Ruby for a few minutes before we took her to the babysitters, and Greta came along with us.  

Matt had to serve, so he didn't get to eat with us.  There were really more than 9 courses because they didn't count the appetizer, the dessert or the pallet cleansers ( of which there were 3).  About half-way through I told Roy I might need a hamburger after.  Of course, I didn't.  The last dish was short ribs, and there were four small pieces, but I think it was meant to fill everyone up.  I was finally full.  Below are pictures of the courses.  They look bigger than they were.

cotton candy around a piece of pork belly
the cone had goat cheese and veggies.

salad--the middle piece is fennel.  It was really good.

Marlin ceviche (I love ceviche!)

goat cheese with borscht 

Palate cleanser, lime and cucumber sorbet

Greta was the perfect baby

Roy and Catharine

This may have been my favorite.  seared Ahi Tuna

Matt serving our table

Palate cleanser--carbonated melon

Salmon with sobe noodles

Pork loin

Duck (the cherries were brandied--didn't care for them)

Roy's favorite--short ribs.  This is the dish that finally filled us up.

palate cleanser, jello with edible orchid.  Most
people didn't eat the orchid, but we had to try it.  It
tasted exactly like you think it would taste.

Dessert tree.  The desserts weren't that good, but the presentation
was fun.  There was a homemade marshmallow covered in
dark chocolate that was pretty tasty.

Crista with dessert ornament.

Saturday I spent the day at the Rec Center in a Water Aerobics workshop.  It wore me out.  After going to bed very late Friday night, sitting in class and working out for over 2 hours on Saturday, I had a very hard time getting up this morning.  I was glad I did, however, as I love going to church each Sunday and feeling the Spirit, taking the sacrament and renewing my covenants.  We had a great lesson on Prophets in Sunday School and were able to share things that we loved about general conference last weekend.

We were privileged this week to eat dinner at two or our children's homes.  Adrienne's on Ollie's birthday, and last night Jieun and Dan had us over for Bulgulgi (Korean BBQ).  We enjoyed being in their home and playing with the kids.  Dojin was especially entertaining while he was eating.  They have replaced the carpet on their main floor with wood and added a few pieces of furniture and it looks great.

Roy and Jennie left at 4:00 today to go up to Flaming Gorge and retrieve the trailer before it freezes (since it's supposed to snow there tonight, he is making it in the nick of time).
Some pictures from the last couple of weeks:

Ori and Yuna in their trial ballet class. 

She's so sweet, but you'd be surprised how  busy she is
when she's awake!

Last week we had the privilege of babysitting these guys.
Grandpa took them to the hot tub.  That's love! 

Conference Sunday: Ruby and Yuna coloring.

Crista, Jennie and Caitlyn kept a tradition going by
going to Deseret Book on Ladie's night out (Priesthood session)
I stayed home and kept the girls and so they could actually
enjoy themselves.  Jieun and I played some games while they
were gone.

Jieun sent me this picture on the 28th of Sept. and said that this
picture was of the same day in 2013.  I miss my dad.

Dojin loves his food!  Also, he has to feed himself. 

Roy visited his mom in the care center in Payson. 
Some days are better than others.  This was a good day.