Christmas! Bring it on!

Progress on the house:  The tile floors and showers are mostly done.  The paint is done.  We are still waiting for a little rock on the front of the house to be completed, then they can pour the driveway and sidewalks.  We are told we'll be in before Christmas, but I don't believe it.  We have pretty much decided to stay here regardless, so we won't have to move the week of Christmas.

This is Ori at our new house.  This was taken a
 couple of weeks ago, but it could have been taken
yesterday.  Nothing has changed in  this part of the house
 since then :(

Ori in the family room

 Yuna shoveling on the first major snowstorm of this winter--at least she had something to do while her sisters were at school.

Last week I failed to mention that Roy and I ushered in our Christmas holiday by attending the Messiah Sing Along at Abravenel Hall.  We have done this almost every year for the past several years and it is a joyful way to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season because it helps turn our hearts to the true reason we are celebrating--the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We've had a few other events that have helped us usher in the holiday.--We attended the play, "It's a Wonderful life on Thursday evening with Christine and Steve.  It was almost as touching as the movie.

Dinner with Christine and Steve before attending the play, It's a Wonderful Life

 Roy and I were invited to a Christmas party at Mountainland Design (because we're spending a lot of money there).  We didn't have a lot of time because it was also the night of the skating show, but we went right on time--for the food!  And it was worth it.  They had all sorts of small plates--Lobster rolls being our favorite.  They also had shredded short ribs with a slice of gouda on a bun, a scallop dish, a delicious chocolate mousse cake, etc.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  We got to dress up, too.  I wore a dress I haven't worn since our cruise to Antarctica.  There were a couple of pictures taken of us at the event, but I'm not sure how we'll get a hold of them.
After this party, we hurried to the South Davis Recreation Center to get ready for the ice show.  This year I opted to do a number with my grandchildren, which meant I didn't really have to skate much.  I've mentioned all the practices we've had.  The number actually went pretty well, amazingly.  The video is on my Facebook page.  Caitlyn's performance is posted on her Instagram.  Check them out.

Hyeji, Yuna and Doyeon

Ollie, Yuna, Gunnar, Doyeon and Hyeji

Ollie, Gunnar, Doyeon, Hyeji and Yuna

Caitlyn

We've eaten out for dinner this past week way too much.  I can tell when I have a lot of salt.  Book club at China Garden Wednesday night, Sushi Monster with Christine and Steve Thursday night, Friday night at Mountainland Design, and Saturday night we ate at the Bountiful Rec Center for my employee holiday party.  It was catered by Texas Road House.  We were a little late because we took pictures of Caitlyn's Dance group at Little America in Salt Lake (Christy Cunningham's suggestion), so the food wasn't very hot.  The chicken was dry, too.  But it was a free dinner!  After that party we bought pizza's with Caitlyn's employee discount from Papa Murphy's for Sunday dinner.  Most of the family is coming over to eat and this is a way to keep it super easy.  It was only $30 for 5 pizzas.

Caitlyn and friends at the Christmas dance.

 Roy with Weston Stagg, one of the YSAs.
Roy helped out with a YSA service project Saturday morning.
  One of their regular service opportunities is to prepare or
serve food at St. Vincent De Paul's.

This week's sewing project

Happy Thanksgiving.

I am so grateful for my Savior, for my husband, for each of my children, their spouses, and my grandchildren.  I am thankful to live in a beautiful area, in a comfortable and spacious home.  I am thankful for good health, and the ability to do the activities that I love to do.  I have been richly blessed--spiritually, physically and materially.  I hope that I will never be guilty of the sin of ingratitude.

It has been a wonderful week to reflect upon the blessings of my life and to spend time with almost all of my children and grandchildren.

Wednesday, Roy, Caitlyn, and I, met Adrienne, Jieun, Hyeji, Doyeon, Yuna, Gunnar, Ollie and Finn at the ice rink to "practice" for the Christmas show.  I sure hope we can pull this off.  They'll be pretty cute regardless of their performance.

  

Doyeon

Catharine

Catharine and Gunnar

Catharine, Ollie, Hyeji and Caitlyn

Caitlyn at work--You can see why they
put her on register all the time--she gets tips!

There are no skating pictures of Gunnar and Yuna because they didn't stay on the ice long enough.

This year, I was able to enjoy turkey prepared by Roy on three separate occasions.  He cooked the first turkey for work, and left me some of the turkey and dressing before he left.  I made soup out of the carcus that night.  He made the 2nd turkey for the YSA ward's family night.  This time without worrying about dressing, but it was still delicious.  And of course, the third turkey was for Thanksgiving.  He makes a great turkey dinner.  Thanks to everyone for all your contributions to the meal (Dan & Jieun--mashed potatoes, Adrienne and AJ--rolls, and Crista, green bean casserole. Roy made the turkey and dressing, and I made my famous pomegranate salad.  Pies were made by Costco).

Thanksgiving morning we took a walk with Crista, Matt, Ruby, and Nick and Ori.  We usually try to take a little hike, but decided a walk would be fine since our trail had snow on it and all our winter gear was in storage.  We  certainly thought that our house would be done before we had to unpack it.  Unfortunately, we were wrong.  We now have a few boxes in our current home to be unpacked for winter use.

Walking with Nick and Sara, Ori and Effie

Catharine and Roy

Effie is such a happy baby

Ruby, chillin' on the couch while staying with us for Thanksgiving

The holiday weekend culminated with a trip to the train store with Grandpa Roy.  Grandma Catharine stayed home to get her house in some semblance of order.  I think they all had a good time.

AJ, Nick and. Finn at the train store

Yuna, Santa, Gunnar and Ollie

Nick, Adrienne, Finn, Ori

Caitlyn, Ruby, Yuna, Matt

Hyeji, Gunnar

Ori

Ruby

Ruby, Hyeji, Finn

Nick, Ori

AJ, Finn, Nick and Ori

Gunnar, Hyeji, Ollie

For some reason the picture of my finished quilt is sideways--but, you get the idea.  I finished the quilt top this past week.  I don't have any idea how many hours I put into it, or how much I spent.  I kept the receipts, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to know the answer.  Now to get it quilted.   

A Normal Week for a change

I was able to spend a little time with grandchildren this week.  Tuesday, Gunnar, Ollie, Hyeji, Doyeon, Yuna and Finn came over.  All but Finn were there to  practice for the ice skating Christmas show.  We wanted to work it out on land, since it's so much harder on skates, but...we were wrong.  It was so much harder on land because there was nothing to slow them down or contain them.  We went through the number a couple of times (joke), and then they had a good time with their cousins.
Wednesday I spent time with the boys again when I tended them while Adrienne went to an eye appointment.  I went to their house--it's amazing how much more settled they are when I tend them there vs. at my house.  Then, Saturday morning I got to spend about 1 1/2 hours with Ori and Effie while Nick went to the chiropractor.  Sara was at a ball game with her dad and brothers and Nick was on kid duty.  He's still recovering from his surgery, so he's a pretty good sport.  I enjoyed doing puzzles with Ori and holding Effie.

Monday I attended Daughters of the Utah Pioneers or DUP.  My mom used to do this.  I find I enjoy it--even though I'm the youngest of the attendees by quite a few years.  It's good to be reminded of what our wonderful forefathers went through so that we could live where we live and have the Gospel in our lives.

There were a few frustrations with the house this week.  One--the tile in the Master bath was almost completely done, until the builder realized he hadn't put in the electric heat in the floor that was in the plan.  All that tile had to be ripped out (we checked this afternoon and it's been ripped out) and re-done.  There were some other, even more major, mistakes, but we worked them out.  The outside of the house is pretty close to being done.  I'll try and take a picture this evening.

Beginnings of a back yard.  This is where the fire-pit will will be.  The hole for
the trampoline is ready.  Some sprinkler pipes have been laid.  We didn't
get as great a head start on the yard as we hoped because the outside of the house
hasn't been done enough until recently.  This picture was taken yesterday while the sun was
still out.

This picture was taken at about 5:30 pm--it was getting dark so it's not very good.

Caitlyn played in a recital Tuesday night and did a great job.

Caitlyn is also getting promoted to Trainer at Papa Murphey's.  This comes with a raise!  I'm happy that she likes her job and that they recognize what a great worker she is.  We are still worried about her with her jaw problems.  She seems to be in pain quite a lot.  Her physical therapist would like her to get more sleep (she and the Dr. are worried she's not sleeping well because they feel her jaw is placed so far back that it probably makes her tongue interfere with her breathing).  If the PT had her way, Caitlyn would quit work, skating and violin, but we don't want her to completely quit life.  She will most likely give up skating after the Christmas show.  Keep her in your prayers.

And that's about it for this week.  Pretty boring.  But, house problems aside, I kind of like my boring routine, and it gets interrupted a lot, so it's nice when I can just be home to skate, sew, and catch up on things.

Election week, charity dinner, and a funeral

This has been an interesting week.  Is there anyone reading this who could have predicted the outcome of the election?  We were not presented with the best options this time around, but if Donald Trump can choose the right people to be around him, we might be okay for the next four years.  Hopefully some of the bad things that Obama did can be set right, and some good things can happen for our country.

Thursday evening Roy and I had an opportunity to meet Crista and Matt in Logan and attend a charity dinner that Malouf (Matt's company) was hosting at their beautiful, new building.  I have to say, I have never sat on a heated toilet seat before, and it was delightful :)  I even heard a lady say, "I'm going to go sit on that hot toilet seat again."  We had a great time--mostly because of the company, but the dinner was absolutely fabulous.  Especially the appetizers: bacon wrapped shrimp, dates stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped with bacon, loaded baked potato fritters, mushrooms-tempura style, all sorts of cheeses, fruit, etc.  It would have been easy to enjoy the evening if nothing further had been offered.

Salad with butternut squash

Roy and Crista had the trout

This was my beef dish--with leek, mushrooms and
pureed califlower 

This was a tomato soup with burnt orange peel and
sun-dried tomatoes and buttermilk.  It was good
but maybe a flavored a little too strongly.

Saturday was Alan's funeral.  It was a fitting tribute to a good man who left us too early.  These types of events often bring loved ones together and Saturday was no different.  Bruce and Barb were there with all of their kids; Glenn and Rosilene, Jed and kids, Emily, Taylor and Ila; Dave's entire family, of course, minus only John Norton and two of Jenny's kids; Nan and Bruce, and John, Sierra, Eve and Lilly, Rachel, Walker, Benton, and Laura (and Rob), Roy and I and Dan and Family, and all of Christine's family (minus Jacob).  I am sure grandpa and grandma and other loved ones were in attendance.
The speakers were: Kellie Nelson, Adam Cook, Alan's brother, Cynthia, and the Stake President--I may be missing one.  Here is Alan's obituary
My pictures at the funeral weren't very good.

Christine, Ben, Eliza, James, Amelia and Peter

Becky, Bruce, Nan, Barb and Adam

Family news:
Nick had surgery on Thursday and is still recovering.
Caitlyn had her staples removed.
Catharine practiced for the Christmas Ice Skating Show with Gunnar, Ollie, Hyeji, Doyeon and Yuna. Hopefully we can pull it off.
Ollie informed me I was old.
Roy's chickens are getting bigger--almost outgrowing the bin in the garage.

Sierra, John, Jieun, Dan, Hyeji and Catharine

Cook Siblings (I need to wear more flattering clothes
or not stand on the end next time)

Hyeji and Yuna at Grandma and Grandpa Cook's grave

Steve, Nathanael and Whitney

Hyeji, Doyeon and Yuna

Catharine, Jieun and Dan

Jenny Norton and daughter (Brooklyn?) and son William

Je

Christensen family

Jed and baby

Bruce Cook Family

Cook Cousins