Starting again, but being private and COVID-19

Hello,

It has been a very long time - 8 years to be exact.  Since I felt the need to write down my thoughts and feelings.

I went through some of the un-posted posts.  Pretty interesting stuff, well, actually they were kind of funny.

Anyhoo - it would take quite a bit of time to update the blog with all that has happened in the last 8 or so years.

• We still miss grandma and talk about her all the time
• Dallin and Logan are MARRIED!
• Brenn has been through a very hard road and has finally turned the corner and is doing much better
• Both boys served missions to the UK
• Ken and I are still married and still like and love each other.

I am sure there are lots of other things but for now - that sums it up.

I felt the urge to journal today because something happened for the very first time and it was pretty cool and I want to remember it.

So due to the COVID-19 virus (or the Corona Virus)and the fact that we are all trying to lessen the curve and curb the spread of the virus. On that note, all large gatherings have been discouraged and so the Church has canceled all meetings.  For the first time I can remember we are not meeting with our ward family.  All families have been encouraged to hold Sacrament meeting and each family has been given permission to administer the Sacrament.  Currently, Dallin and Abby are living in our basement, so the 4 of us gathered in the living room to have a short meeting.  We sang a song (Choose the right), Ken said a prayer and then he and Dallin administered the Sacrament.

As we were partaking, I couldn't help but marvel a little about the rapid change in our life.  Last year when introducing the Come Follow Me program, the leaders of the church introduced the Family Centered, Church Supported program.  Explaining how we may be holding church in our homes at some point and BOOM, here we are.

I really made me appreciate a couple of things:

1. Worthy Priesthood holders
2. The fact that all in the home are willing to participate
3. Abby and Dallin's ability to play the piano
4. The Spirit that attended our meeting
5. Bishop Calton's study guide that he shared from the Mission field
6. The feeling of peace that we can do our worship from home

We talked about Looking Beyond the Mark

Elder Quentin L. Cook, Ensign, March 2003 “Today there is a tendency among some of us to ‘look beyond the mark’ rather than to maintain a testimony of gospel basics. We do this when we substitute the philosophies of men for gospel truths, engage in gospel extremism, seek heroic gestures at the expense of daily consecration, or elevate rules over doctrine. Avoiding these behaviors will help us avoid the theological blindness and stumbling that Jacob described. …Whenever we emphasize how to do something without reference to why we do it or what we do, we risk looking beyond the mark. …Those who are committed to following rules without reference to doctrine and principle are particularly susceptible to looking beyond the mark. …When we look beyond the mark, we are looking beyond Christ”

Dallin shared that his testimony is built upon Jesus Christ and His gospel and teachings, that religion is the gathering of people and that while he enjoys that part too, that is not what makes up his testimony.

I talked about building my testimony with Christ as the foundation and not expecting perfection from others, no matter what their calling or standing in the church.  We are all working towards being better people and to keep our eye on our Savior.

Abby shared that she keeps things in perspective, especially in the face of questions from those we love and our friends, by basing her testimony on Christ.

Then we read this quote:

“In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. …When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. …Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith. …And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Lord, I Believe,” April 2013 Gen. Conf.; or Ensign, May 2013).

We then closed with a prayer.

Honestly, this has been a lovely Sunday, I was grateful for the peace that filled our home and the closeness of our family.

Hopefully, we will get Katie and Logan on FaceTime and play Farkle.

Another hard day at the Cole Household

Today we had a very sad (not as sad as Grandma), but hard none the less:

I had to tell Celcee it was her last day to clean my house :(

You may wonder who Celcee was and if I could have figured out how to take a picture without seeming creepy I would have.  Celcee Hernandez has been my house cleaner for the last 6 years.  She does an amazing job (Melee not so much) but anyhoo...

I have said for a long time that I would give up cable before I gave up Celcee, but now that I have a job (a post for another day) and it takes me a week to earn Celcee money for the month - my priorities have apparently changed.

RATS!!!

We will see if it lasts!

Elder Cole and his new suit

Today is Elder Cole's Birthday.  When I opened Facebook looking for a message I saw all of the postings on his wall, it made me cry just a bit.  I sure miss that boy!

Happy 20th Birthday Dallin.

Elder Cole is now in Boston, England.  These are the pictures he sent of his new suit.

and his new shoes!  According to him the American trousers are MASSIVE!!  

Mildred Frances Hamilton Young

Tomorrow is the funeral - it has been a strange two weeks:  lonely...

I am giving her life history and I thought I would share it here for my posterity.

Mildred Frances Hamilton Young, Mother, Grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother was born on the dry lands of eastern Colorado December 9, 1919 near Sligo to Frank and Lillie Hamilton.  She died on November 14, 2011, 3 weeks shy of her 92^nd birthday.

Mildred is preceded in death by her husband, Everette. They were married almost 63 years before his passing.

She is survived by her daughters, Judy and husband Patrick, Janet and husband Dave and Linda and husband Jerry. She has 7 grandchildren, Larry Grubbs, Natalie Collins, Bret Drury, Kelly Naughton, Dean Naughton, Ryan Naughton and myself. She has 18 great grandchildren and 5 great great grandchildren.

She was raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  While attending grade school she would walk 10 blocks to school, home and back for lunch and then home after school, sometimes it was so cold and the wind blowing so hard she would walk backwards so she could breathe.  She graduated from High School in 1938. She often told my children she didn’t have a bike growing up, she had a horse.  She would ride her horse to the roller skating rink, leave him tied up, skate to her hearts content.  When she was done both the dog and the horse were waiting for her and she would just tell the horse to take her home.  And he did.  She loved riding horses and participated in Cheyenne Frontier Days several times. Being an only child she loved living close to all her aunts, uncles and many cousins. She went to work at Woolworths for 15 cents an hour after graduation. On April 6, 1940 she married Everette Young. They were blessed with three daughters, Judy Annie, Janet Kay and Linda Mae.

My grandparents moved to Colorado in 1948 and over the next 49 years lived in Rifle, Grand Valley and Grand Junction. Grandma loved being involved with young people.  Over the years as her girls grew up she was very active with Christian Endeavor, Central High School Mother’s Club and Band parents. She also was a force behind establishing a museum in Grand Junction.

She was a member of the Clifton Christian Church and gave many hours of service to the church.

 

She was a retail clerk in several different businesses including Newberrys, Woolworth, Kress and Keith O’Briens, but she found her niche working as a florist where she could share her creativity through flowers. I remember her doing flowers.  Lots of wedding flowers.  Even in the last few years when Brenn wanted to make boutonnieres you could just put the materials in her hands and they went on automatic.  Her love of nature inspired her flower designing.

 

Grandma loved to travel and was able to visit wonderful places like Alaska, Hawaii, the New England states in the fall and most of all she liked the Hamilton family reunions in Elmo, Missouri where her parents and grandparents were from. After moving to Arizona return visits to Colorado and Wyoming were special for her so she could spend time with Jan, Dave, Bret, Natalie and 2 great grandchildren.

Grandma loved nature whether it was the Colorado mountains, lakes and forests or the ocean. She always reminded us that Arizona was not her cool colorful Colorado. Her favorite season of the year was fall when the trees were bright with color. Grandma loved to share her love of nature with others and often took friends and relatives on rides to enjoy the out of doors with her. Of course she never came back from a trip empty handed. Rocks, wood, moss etc. would follow her home.

My Grandmother was one of the most creative people you can imagine. She made all of the clothes for herself and the girls including prom and wedding dresses. She made cheerleading and twirling outfits not only for her daughters but anyone else who couldn’t sew.  Other projects included satin collars for the  High School chorus, altering band uniforms and toy soldier costumes for a kindergarten class just to mention a few. The list is long and varied.  To say she loved crafts is an understatement. We always had a project to do when we got to her house, plastic snakes to decorate, beads to string, or dolls to dress.  She elaborately decorated her house not only for holidays but just to display her latest craft project. 

Grandma was very good at gathering her family.  We all made trips to be together for Christmas or the summer.   Even tho there were only 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. The travel trailer was always her extra guest room and we loved it when we were old enough to sleep out.  Little kids were given homemade sleeping bags and bedded down in the living room.  She taught us well, we still all gather for holiday dinners.

Grammy was the best example of service I know.  She routinely knew all of her neighbors and helped with what ever she could.  Whether they were elderly and needed to be watched over, or younger and needed mentoring.  I distinctly remember the night her mother died, Kelly, Dean and I were visiting and we all went up to the nursing home visit with Great Gma.  As were loading up the car out she came with about 10 plates of sliced peaches and tomatoes.  As we walked thru the care center she stopped at each door and delivered the plates, each containing whatever that person liked.  I know she didn’t think she was doing anything special but I know each of those patients greatly appreciated it.

 

I also blame her for my penchant for volunteering to help at school.  She was such a willing soul to help out with whatever was needed.

 

My Grandparents moved to Mesa in 1997 where they could be closer to family as their health began to decline. The last 6 3/4 years she lived with my family and me. She has been a very special part of our family life.

I have often told people she was the perfect Grandma, wooden spoon and all.  She always had time for us.  We played cards, go fish, rummy and Uno.  We had bowling in the hall and tents set up in the backyard.  Always candy in the candy dish and cookies in the cookie jar.  She came to our sports, performances or whatever we were involved with.  She always made us things, dolls out of dish soap bottles, sweatshirts with applique and glitter paint, always glitter paint.  Green for me and Purple for Kelly, no matter what!  It was always a treat to be able to spend the night at her house, except for Ryan.  We would pop some corn and watch a movie on the TV.  Then settle in with the specially made sleeping bags to sleep on the floor.  She hooked us on All My Children at a very young age.  Mostly she was just always there, steady and loving.  I knew without a shadow of a doubt she loved me and she loved God.  She personified the good Christian Woman and I hope I can be just a little bit more like her.  I love you Grandma.

A very hard blog post....

This has been a very hard but sweet week. My grandmother(Grammy) isn't doing very well. That is an understatement, she is very close to dying. She has been in a coma for a couple of days and I don't think she will be on this earth much longer.

I always said I would be sad for me but happy for her. She wants to see her husband and parents. Her beloved aunts and uncles and cousins, even if they did call her mild red with a ton of ham. She was a red head named Mildred Hamilton, kids are nothing if not creative.

I am happy for her, I wish she didn't have to struggle so hard.

But I am sad for me. For the last (almost) seven years she has been a big consideration in my life. Have I fed the Grammy? Is she safe? Is she content? Is she lonely? Does she need to go potty? Especially these last six months when I couldn't leave her alone, ok wouldn't, but it was better for her.

What am I going to do without her?

I am never alone. Which is good because I am not much of a loner. I always figured if Ken goes first I will have to get a roommate because I am just not a solitary person. I always have someone to tell me if my shoes match. Or to keep me company. She was always cheerful and full of mischief. I find myself thinking about the future and feeling very off balance.

My dogs are going to be crazy. They are never alone either and do not handle that well.

I guess I just want to say,

"Be seeing you and be sure to watch out for us until we meet again. Love you."

PS:  I wrote this last night before bed and didn't post because the spell check is gone on my Ipad and well, I cannot spell worth beans!

This morning my wonderful Grammy passed away and I will miss her more than words can express.  I know my Heavenly Father has a plan and I count myself blessed that I have that knowledge of where she is and that family is eternal.

Negative comments

My bestie Jen is having a blogaversary (3 years) and is hosting a giveaway.  Click on over and sign up!

I have to admit, I have never had a negative comment either but felt it my duty to be her first!  I do wonder if people will defend her or laugh....

I know she will laugh!

But really, I read a few blogs everyday - sorry but I cannot keep up with ALL the great ones out there everyday.  I know that some of the really popular ones no longer allow comments because of the negative ones.  I want to know why you would purposely read a blog you don't agree with and then skewer that person with nasty, mean words?  Why would you waste your precious time?  And why, oh why would you think the blogger would care?

I do read NieNie - she was a member of our stake when she was hurt in a plane crash and a few months before that a friend of ours was in a similar crash too.  So it interests me.  I do not read it to judge her - seat belts caused a huge comment storm due to a picture of her children in the car without them - but I have to admit to being fascinated by the people who felt it necessary to correct her without being asked.

I rarely comment on a blog of someone I do not know (except Sue, but I know you!) unless they ask a specific question and my wisdom and input will change their entire life.  I rarely get comments from people I do not know, well, except some fun spam.

Maybe I am not interesting enough to hold the attention of those who do not already know and love me....
But I mostly figure they are like me and don't want to seem totally creepy.

Do you ever leave a negative comment?  I want to know why? and where?!

Halloween...

I am not a fan of Halloween.

Nary a decoration in sight this year - sad I know!

I cannot really put my finger on WHY I don's like it,

I just don't.

I really thought I would be past the ole making of the costumes but

Brenn had a specific want and she was trying to do it and needed help.

So....

Tah Dah!!!

The pictures don't do it justice!

Logan went to a party on Saturday night and hadn't dressed up, when he and his friends arrived at the party everyone else had a costume so they improvised.  Logan took off his shirt and was an Abercrombie model....not sure I like that!  He is so very proud of his abs and pecs, almost too proud!

Wrestling practice starts today - I think Logan will be very tired when he gets home.

It is starting......

If you give a mouse a cookie...

Or, If you buy a new TV,
then you have to have something to put it on,
then you have to shop until you drop to find a cabinet,
then you have to hang it from the wall,
then you have to figure out how to hook up your Tivo,
then you have to figure out how to hook up your stereo,
and your DVD player, and your Wii.
Then you have to refigure the wall art,
then you steal from other walls and have to redo them too.
Then you frantically call your bestie,
interrupt her bedtime routine with her kiddies,
to help you, reassure you, and generally make you feel better.
Lastly you have to figure out how to run your new TV.

Times 2!!

I wonder if it was worth it?

Funniest sign on the way home!

In Kanab. Late Sunday night.  We had to stop and eat.  Where else would you find Steak, Ribs, Burgers and VEGAN??

October Break

It has been 2 weeks since October break and I am just now recovering!!  We went to Utah for my nieces wedding.  The original plan was to go up on Wednesday, help where we could and enjoy the time up there, but Ben Kjar and the Kingdom Klub invited the Mountain View wrestling team to a 3 day camp starting on Monday.  So we left on Sunday, Brenn, Logan and I.  We had a great trip up considering it was snowing on Saturday!  The fall colors were beautiful!!

Before we left we had to bid good-bye to our sweet Jeff Moore who would be entering the MTC on the following Wednesday and we wouldn't get to say good-bye.  My plan was to be ready to leave by 8am, shoot over to his house and catch him before 8:30am church.  Silly me!  I thought especially since Ken was staying to work and fly out on Wednesday we would be able to get out without a hitch.  Unfortunately I did not count on a sleepy daughter and son!  So by the time we left it was more like 8:15 and I knew Jeff would be at church.  Luckily Logan has a motto, "Never be embarrassed" and he is really good at following this motto.  So dressed in our traveling clothes (stretchy black pants and a t-shirt) we drove to the church and sent Logan in to find Jeff and bring him out to us.  Mission accomplished and we departed for the land northward.

It was lovely to sleep in on Monday morning and just sort of relax until noon, especially since my MIL and I stayed up talking until 2am.  I am not great at that kind of thing but it was to be a foreshadow of the next 7 days!

I wish I would have taken a few pictures of Heber City Utah.  What a beautiful place!  My in-laws have a gorgeous house there and it was so nice to stay.  We went to lunch with the parents of the bride at the restaurant where the reception was being held.  Really nice place but not real convenient to decorate because they were open for business all day Saturday and time was limited between the wedding and the reception. Thankfully they did agree we could put up lights anytime that week.

So then I had to hightail it up to north Salt Lake to give the wrestlers a ride to a BBQ and then they were wrestling at UVU.  So Brenn and I took the opportunity to shop a little for the wedding and for shoes for Sonja.  She had bought a great dress but didn't have time to find the shoes and since she was in Hawaii (such a tough life) we bought her 4 pairs of shoes to choose from.  She ended up keeping 3 of them, I'm just sayin'....  We found a great fabric store, I could have spent MONEY in there but we were trying to stay focused and since we were not quite sure what the Bride wanted and we had a meeting with her that evening AND the next day was senior day and if we brought our senior we got a 10% discount we decided to wait.  We rushed back to Heber, needless to say the fabric store is exactly the farthest point from Heber either go through Salt Lake or Provo either way it was the same distance and time.

We meet with the Bride and she has a list of detail stuff she wanted to do but didn't have time for, she and her parents work full time, actually Shelley is a teacher so she works more than full time and Mike is trying to sell solar power to Hawaii and he works WAY more than full time and Michelle, the Bride, works lots and then is in the throws of love so she has no time either.  But Brenn and I had lots of time so we were happy to do the projects.

I will not detail out the rest of the week because it was just lots of work and LOTS of fun!  Sonja came Wednesday night and baked cakes like a maniac for 2 days, 42 cake mixes and made me feel lazy going to bed at 2am.  Not a single night did I go to bed any earlier, but we sure enjoyed being together and having fun creating Michelle's vision.

My List:
16 white pumpkins for the family dinner - burlap underneath with a scarf to make the pumpkin pop.
Signs for the reception
2 30ft curtians - one to block of the business part of the resturaunt and one to frame the doors.
3 wooden signs to point the way
Dessert favors for the family dinner
help set up and take down the reception.

Results:

Lights

Sonja made this wedding cake plus 4 decorative cakes and 4 cakes to serve to the guests.
4 different flavors too!

I will leave you will some pictures of the wedding - Ken and I missed all of them because his mom, Kathy, was really sick and we took her home pretty fast after the wedding.

Shelley and Michelle

Mike and Michelle

Bridesmaids

Sisters

Can you pick Brenn's "white like flour" leg?  Hard to believe they are cousins
and I have the darkest skin and she is the palest girl!

Ed and Nate - I think Ed is getting passed up by his grandsons!  He's not short either.

Lauren and Spencer

Sonja and Mike

The Ginger

Handsome!

Kate

Tyse

Rylee

Jason and Scott

Avery

Marrawge...

I found this and I love that it is celebrating something I think is important.  It encourages me to see things like this featured on the Yahoo info bar.  I think good values are mocked by the media, good things are portrayed as naive or old fashioned, out of date and I was glad to see such a great video.  Not to mention what a sweetie the guy is!

Enjoy!

Recipes

I am not much of a cook....wish I liked it better.

I have been looking a Pinterest* lately and it seems like I am drawn to the food and the recipes.

I find this weird!

But I did stumble across someone who made no bake cookies and used half Nutella, half peanut butter.  I love the no bake cookies and since I found out I am sensitive to peanuts they have been on the DO NOT EAT or you will have a headache the size of Australia list.  Thanks to Pinterest* I started to crave them like I do a good cold Ding Dong.  So I thought I would try it.

a food photographer I am not!!

Yummy!  They turned out pretty well and although  they lack the lovely peanut taste and the texture is really smooth but they are really good and healthy too!  Whole grains baby!!

My Recipe (which means I got it from my mom!)

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

2 cups Sugar                   1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup butter                             1t vanilla

4t cocoa powder                   3 cups dry oatmeal

1/2 cup milk                                          . 

Combine the first column in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil on Med high heat, stirring to prevent burning.  Boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add the second column.  Stir to combine and drop about 1 tablespoon per cookie or so on wax paper to cool.  Fight over who gets to clean out the pan!

As a kid I got many a mouth burns because I couldn't wait for them to cool before eating!

As I try more of the recipes I will blog about the best ones (or worst) as I go.

*Warning:  Pinterest is addicting and time stealing!  

Homecoming 2011

Logans first date and what a lovely date she was!!

They went to the Lake for the day date and then the mom's hosted a dinner and then on to the dance!

Lis and Logan

New person

We have a new person living at our house:

It was her 21st Birthday too:

I am not too sure I have gotten used to the new do but she looks good!