JOY! JOY! and more joy

         the joy of celebrating Mark's birthday when he and his family drove in from Minnesota.

                  the joy of having baby Saige in our home for her first Christmas.

the joy of warm days before Christmas to enjoy a day in the park



...and to enjoy a day at the beach just before the weather gets colder

                  the pure joy of running through the water with a grandchild

the joy of loved ones reunited (Walter home from the Carribean!)

                                    the joy of making gingerbread houses

...and seeing Andy and KayLynn celebrate their first Christmas as newly weds

the joy of our traditional Christmas Eve dinner (soup and rolls by candlelight)

the joy of Christmas morning when little ones are there

These are the things that fill my heart with joy as we celebrate the birth of our Savior through whom all  good things come.

and so the Christmas celebrations begin....



We  met at Sharon and Bill's home for the annual party for the children of Maxine and Art. 



Carl and a his Texas siblings (one is in heaven, one is in Pennsylvania, one is in Utah -- for a total of 8 children of Maxine and Art



a few of the cousins (I claim the one on the far left. The rest are nieces and a nephew.)

After Carl gave a presentation on family history, we did our traditional "White Elephant" gift exchange.

Bill is totally thrilled with his "White Elephant" gifts, especially with the hamburger patty maker. He can barbeque those hamburgers in style, wtih his new redneck hat and sunglasses.



the chemist in my kitchen

Yesterday, my favorite chemist had a wonderful birthday suprise for me. He stayed home from church, recovering from a bad cold, and when I came home and walked into the kitchen, the smell was heavenly.
My dear husband had baked a cake from scratch for me. He had never baked anything in his whole life.  A previous attempt at making something had to be thrown out when he used a cup of salt instead of a teaspoon. But, this time, a miracle happened. With the help of a recipe he found online, the cake was edible, and in fact, quite good. He even made a glaze--from scratch-- to go on top.

Besides making this cake, this weekend, my chemist helped with  the rocket science of using a pressure cooker canner. (Steam comes out of a vent as pressure builds up inside and then a little thingy-majiggit on top of the lid starts madly rocking, as the pointer on a guage inches ominously upward -- and all you can imagine is the contents of the canner spewing all over your kitchen and the thingy-majiggit blasting a hole through your ceiling as it takes off for outer space.)
I hadn't used this canner for more than ten years, and was very nervous.  So dear hubby read all the directions, while I made the applesauce. He was in charge of operating the potentially explosive canner, so, as you can see, things turned out great.

This weekend, we also enjoyed the first harvest of broccoli from our garden. I planted it, but my science guy concocted the compost that helped it grow so well.

All this blogging about food has made me hungry.  I think I'll grab a piece of that cake.....

Giving Thanks, Part 2...

Some (ten) of our children and grandchildren were celebrating Thanksgiving in Utah, others (four) were in Minnesota, one was in the Carribean ...
But, thankfully, a few were still in Texas, far away from the snow, and happily gave thanks.
                     

We were very thankful that a few of our precious grandchildren (and children) were here to liven up our empty nest.

 These two pretty princesses posed so sweetly while their brothers were getting boxing lessons from their Uncle TaTa, home from Texas Tech.

 Thanksgiving weekend also marked the 2nd birthday of grandson Colby, whose arrival sent his mother to the hospital on Thanksgiving Day. It was the most exciting Thankgiving ever.

look at this little guy, minutes old, and looking around so alertly.

From sweet baby to sweet little boy in just 2 years!

                                                       
Grandpa had a Thanksgiving surprise for me. He spent some time researching my family line and was able to come up with a Pilgrim ancestor on my side. I've been bragging about his Pilgrim ancestors. Now I can brag about one of my very own (official and solidly researched and documented!). This Pilgrim comes through my 3rd great grandmother, Margaret (Peggy) M. Freeman, the wife of Paul Nye.  I am so thankful to know that my 9th great grandfather is William Brewster.

William Brewster, along with my husband's Pilgrim grandparents, came to America on the Mayflower. He was Patriarch and the ruling Elder of the group and kept them together in good times and bad.  He played a major role in planning and organizing the trip to America and the escape from religious persecution which they suffered in England.  He remained ruling Elder until his death in 1644. We have reason to believe that William took in my husband's grandmother, Mary Chilton, after her father and mother both died soon after landing in America.

 P.S. While researching my "Freeman" ancestors, my husband came up with another surprise. Not only are we husband and wife, but cousins!!!!  We are 7th cousins, 1 time removed. Our common ancestors are our great grandparents -- Edmond Freeman (born 1683 in Sandwich, Mass.) and his wife, Keziah Pressbury (born 1687, Mass.)

Gratitude for the lives of our Pilgrim ancestors

James Chilton and his wife Susanna are the 11th great grandparents of our children, through my husband's mother's line.
 James Chilton and his wife Susanna Furner were Separtists or Pilgrims -- a religious group who were dissenters from the Church of England.  With their three daughters, they fled to Holland. In 1620, James Chilton, his wife, and youngest daughter, Mary, set sail for America on the Mayflower, along with William Bradford and 40 members of the Leiden congregation (there were 102 total passengers ).  At about 64 years old, James Chilton was probably the oldest passenger on the ship.  Chilton's other two known surviving children, 21 year old Ingle, and married 33 year old Isabella, remained behind in Leiden.  Isabella came to Plymouth Colony around 1630, with her children and her husband, Roger Chandler.


The signers of the Mayflower Compact

     
When the Mayflower Compact was drawn up on Nov. 11, 1620, James Chilton was one of the signers.
James died on Dec. 8, 1620, while the Mayflower lay anchored in Provincetown Harbor.  He evidently died of disease, as William Bradford reported that he "dyed in the first infection."  There is no record as to whether he was buried at land or sea. His wife also died during the first winter, "in the first infection."
Chilton's daughter Mary (our childrens' 10th great grandmother), who was left an orphan at Plymouth, survived and later married John Winslow, brother of Edward Winslow. According to tradition, Mary Chilton raced John Alden to the front of the launch that was bringing the Mayflower passengers ashore.  She stepped off the boat and was the first woman to set foot on Plymouth Rock.

A memorial to the Pilgrims who passed away while the Mayflower was harbored in Provincetown.

This memorial lies to the western side of the small park below the Pilrgrim Monument tower. It reads:
     1620...In Memory of the five Mayflower passengers who died at sea
     And while the ship lay in Cape Cod Harbour
     William Butten Nov. 16th 1620
     Edward Thomson Dec. 14th 1620
     Jasper Moore Dec. 16th 1620
     Dorothy Bradford Dec. 17th 1620
     James Chilton Dec. 18th 1620
     James Chilton was the only signer of the Mayflower Compact
     Who died at Cape Cod

  

The Bully

Have you ever had an encounter with a  Bully?  When I was a little girl, there was a bully in my neighborhood, but I refused to be his victim.


1953, Warwick, R.I. -- the Bully and his intended victim (me, age 6)

 Doesn't he look like a little old man in a child's body?  I wasn't too happy about him coming over to play on my swing set. My father is in the background keeping an eye on things because he knew Alan LaMake was a Bully. He was abandoned by his parents,( both he and his brother Jackie) and was raised by his grandparents. The other kids would make fun of him and called him "hare-lip", because he was born with a cleft palate and had a scar on his lip. Nobody liked him very much.
In 2nd grade, he took a liking to me. One day at recess, he told me, in a very threatening manner, that if I didn't hold hands with him on the walk home from school, that he'd follow me, throwing rocks on me the whole way. (In the good old days, little kids would walk home from school, usually with others (along a busy highway), with no parents accompanying them-- and it was almost a mile.)
I shouted back at him, "No! I won't hold hands with you!". He trailed me and my little friends all the way home, but not a single rock was thrown. I guess the Bully really liked me, in his own wierd way.

a bouncy Saturday

The very cool, crisp weather was a treat this weekend -- a great time to celebrate Ava and Laila's birthdays.

I don't know who got more excercise, Evan, or the adults (and kids) scampering in all directions to keep him from falling off the edge.

  He thought our concerns for his safety were very funny.

Sweet Ava is four years old now, and along with  bouncing on a trampoline, she loves princesses, and anything girly.

Laila is the sweetest little sister, and didn't mind sharing the birthday limelight with Ava. She just turned two and wasn't quite sure what all the celebration was about.

She had more important things on her mind, like using her new play cell phone.

some scary things

Grandpa  participated in his first 5K(3.1 mi.) race (our stake fun run) this morning! 

He came in first in the silver fox division!
Even more scary, I participated with him (my 2nd 5K) and won first in the Women's 40+ division.

 Most scary--(more scary than a silver fox and my neck wrinkles) is how this adorable, cute little Texas nephew of mine started out like this ...

and ended up like this!

And ... just when you think you can't take any more scary things, I'll give you more -- my youngest Texas  brother-in-law Stuart as a teenager many years ago.

Now, so you won't have too many nightmares tonight, I'll end this post with a photo (some of our Texas family) that is more funny than scary. (although things might get scary for me after Donna sees this)

Hank, are you having fun yet?  Donna, better keep a good eye on your boy, Eric--and are you still enjoying life in the country? (photo taken 1981. Emily, Amber, Granny, Lauren-- on the left. Eric-- in front)

Happy Halloween!!

October in my backyard

Between our few "cold" spells, we get summer temperatures, so...

                                                    Summer flowers keep blooming.

Flowering shrubs don't know when to quit.

Our lemons and oranges will be ripening soon and showing their true fall colors of yellow and orange.

In the meantime, my fall garden is struggling not to wilt during the hot weather this week ("cold" front coming the end of this week). I've solved the problem of our pesky resident squirrel digging holes in the garden to hide all the pecans he strips from our tree.  Hanging inside the panty hose in my garden is a bar of Irish Spring deodorant soap. Squirrels don't like the smell.

                                       Meanwhile, Grandpa has fun painting the house.

But not as much fun as he had 20 years ago, when he painted our first home. (He is in front of the 2nd story window that Mark fell out of when he was 4 years old, and miraculously survived with just a tiny compression fracture of one of his verebrae in his back. He was supposed to be taking a nap. Instead he unlocked the window, opened it, and sat on the ledge to watch a swimming pool being built next door. He leaned against the screen, and out he flew.)

AAAAAHHH......

We thought we had died and gone to heaven .....

But in reality, we were in a place very close to Heaven .... hill country in Texas

This past weekend we went camping and tubing on the Frio River with 8 of our little river rats (and their parents)

Aiden loved the wildflowers.

Evan loved the river rocks.

The mommies loved cooking on the camp stove.

And Grandpa loved setting up our tent, using his Boy Scout knots (see the clothesline he put up), and using his  radio to pick up some good old timey country western stations coming out of Leakey and Hondo.