Guess What I Saw

Okay- so this is a little guessing game for the Grandkids-

Guess what I saw on the way to Church last Sunday?

Hints:
It's bigger (much bigger) than a bread box (boy that saying dates me!)

It's animal - have you made a guess yet?

And it rhymes with "loose" (that probably gave it away for you)

I'll share in a couple of days...
Meanwhile, an update.

We celebrated Kaylee's 2nd birthday on the 9th- that was fun- we also celebrated Grandpa Tom's - I made him his favorite cake- German Chocolate!

We've been working on the house- especially Tom- he's been doing alot of cleaning up after the construction workers and helping Tyler finish up the electrical- THANK YOU TYLER SO MUCH!!! It will be nice to have more convenient switches, more lights, and a porch light!

The freezing cold turned back into rain yesterday- then sunny skies- it almost feels like a heat wave (40 degrees!)

Our new community theater is finished and they are having the first production in March. The director asked me to try out- it's "Blythe Spirit" a comedy about a man who's first dead wife comes back and "haunts" him and his second wife. I play Madam Arcati- the psychic that conjures up the first wife. It's a really fun part- I get to act really crazy. It will be exciting to act on the new stage with all the amenities! It even has live audio and video feedback in the green room and dressing rooms!

Last Saturday, we had some of our good friends overnight at the Center- Mike & Phyllis Peterson. We went out to eat, came back and played some games- then on Saturday- Phyllis and I went to our Stake's Geneaology Conference while Tom & Mike went ice fishing. We all had a great time- I learned a lot- and Tom caught 2 fish- which we ate Monday for lunch! t is so nice to have such good friends that we love doing things with.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HONEY

I love this picture of Tom that Kelli took a few years back for his knowledge management website. I can't remember what Kelli said- but it made him laugh and she caught it just right. It's hard to find a picture with a good smile on Tom- because once, someone told him he had an ugly smile and not to show his teeth. And so we are forever trying to get him to do a REAL smile when we take pictures! I love his smile, especially because he gets a twinkle in his eyes. And I see him smile all the time- but you bring out a camera and there it goes- into hiding.

I was going to write something really mushy here- but I don't want to embarrass my easily embarrassed husband (which I probably already did) so I'll try not to make it too mushy... But Tom really has been a blessing in my life. We've overcome a lot together and what impresses me most about him is his willingness to keep learning and growing and trying. The next thing that I am grateful for is his kindness to the underdog, underpriveledged, and ignored. He is always willing to stop and help a stranded motorist, or chat with a lonely widow.

He's not perfect- and sometimes I get really frustrated with him, but he never holds a grudge and always forgives me of my trespasses. He is always willing to do the dishes and take out the garbage, and help with the horses. He supports me in my callings- and is always there to defend me when I get down on myself or second guess a decision I made that didn't turn out quite like I had planned.

Insides and Outsides

Here's a few thousands words in pictures...

Tom clearing the drive at the center after our HUGE snowfall yesterday. See pics below...
Looking across the street at the Museum.

Over 2' of snow...

These 2 pics are of Mt PLeasant main street- it really looks like an old fashioned Christmas here.

The pics below are of the live Nativity that was done in Fountain Green. We took Kyle and Ryan to it. Start down lower if you want to see the pics in order...

Baby Jesus and his family.

We're approaching the manger scene- the 3 Wise men are on the left.

Outside of Ceasar. Note the snowflakes in all the pictures.
The boys waiting for the hay ride to take us to the Nativity.

Arriving at the nativity.

This is our living room wall/hall. That is adobe bricks incase you've never seen any before.

Note the rock wall- Tom's removing the bench that was by the window- we figured we mmight as well clean up all the misc stuff we could while we had the opportunity. Note the rock wall that's now exposed.

The mess in the lower bathroom- no crawl space.

we meet with the adjustor/contractor hopefully today to see what's next and when.

The demolition continues...

This was before they brought the dumpster- they cleaned this up the next day- but just to give you an idea of how much came out- just to start...the dumpster is actually full now.

This was our living room...now it's completely gutted. The friendly workers.

Upstair bathroom, hall, and bedroom. Really nice guys doing the work. The man with the mask on the right is from Peru- he served a mission there as well and his family was converted around the time my brother served there- small world! Another side note. The other guy says he may join the LDS Church because the Catholic Church has nothing to offer his family- he's from Mexico City. I told him to call the missionaries- he smiled and said he probably would be soon.

I'll take more pics today- Tyler is coming out to help us rearrange some power (and possibly redesign the downstairs bathroom) while we have the chance and things are torn down to the studs. It also looks like they may have to tear up the kitchen floor to get to some pipes for the plumber- the crawl space isn't big enough- actually, part of it there is no crawl space-WOW WHAT A MESS! I just keep telling myself it will all look like new when they are finished (and then I click my heels together three times ;-)

FLOOD, PESTILENCE, AND .....?

Hopefully not fire...

So, we called our insurance agent- they sent an adjuster out and he felt like there was more than enough damage to make it worth our $500 deductible. They send out a special restoration crew that tests for humidity in the walls and floor, etc. They found plenty-in the living room floor (obviously where the water damage was), but the shocker was in our archway AND upstair the entire bathroom, and they also found moisture in our bedroom. Anyway- long story short- the demolition crew arrived and removed walls, flooring, etc in both bathrooms, upstairs hall, bedroom, and downstairs front entry and living room.

so part of our house is currently being renovated- but that's not all...

We discovered a family of skunks living under our house- basically the kitchen. So Tom has been trapping and "disposing" of them. The last time one let go it's "essense" and the heater sucked it up and sent it through the house! So now the poor house stinks too!

Tom shut the heater off (the workmen have had it on high to dry out the house) and changed the filter, sprayed abunch of deoderizer in it, and it's smelling a TON better. I feel bad for the poor plumber who has to replace all the pipes under the, yup, you guessed it, kitchen. Well, I guess a little bad smell is better than getting sprayed.

Unfortunalety, the skunk smell just attaches itself to everything and after Tom came back to the office, I could smell it there now- and the car... he even threw the clothes he was wearing away-I asked him where he thought he was sleeping that night :-) ... He took a long bath.

I don't even know how to feel at this point-except to find the humor in it all.

The adjustor said that if we have hot water by Christmas they won't pay for a hotel for us to stay in while the center is rented between Christmas and New Years. But even if we do have hot water, there is no where to sleep right now since all the furnishings are moved into the spare bedrooms up stairs and the den downstairs. Not to mention the construction dust, etc.

So we're not sure where we'll be spending New Years...

One good note- the weather has been unseasonably WARM- we have "0" snow on the ground, it was 48 yesterday-this has all helped with the house- but the storms look like they're starting to line up on the west coast- so we may still have a white Christmas.

The Indianola Ward Christmas Party

The Nativity at the party

That's an angel on the rooftop if you can't tell... my camera is not the best.

Well, little did we (the activities committee) know when we started to work on the Christmas Party for the Ward, that this would be our last activity. By now you've all heard that the activities commitees are being done away with in the Church- anyway- we started a couple of months ago preparing for ours.

As I was thinking about what to do, I thought of past Ward parties and what would be more effective. Our Ward is unique in that peple are really spread out- not the typical Utah Ward where one Ward is basically 4 square blocks in a neighborhood. And so it's nice to beable to get together and have time to visit.

We have ALOT of less actives, non-members, etc. that this is the only gathering they come to. I wanted something where the people could all socialize, have a chance to visit and get to know each other better. Also, another concern was the children. I feel like they don't have enough to do & feel involved with at most ward functions and so they just end up running through the halls.
With all this in mind, I researched other Ward Party ideas and let the creative juices flow...talked with the committee and made some suggestions... and wah-lah! Here's what we came up with:

We did a theme on "Christmas in the Olde Towne Square" We had 2 families dress up as carolers and welcome people by singing carols at the entrance to the building.

We handed out "money" as people came in- even the kids, to spend inside the cultural hall, which we turned into a town square with a Christmas "marketplace" where they could choose what traditional foods and treats they wanted to buy- there was even a "toy store" where their money could buy an old fashioned toy (a top, a spinner, wooden bead bracelet). Some of the different foods we offered were:

Tamales ( Mexican tradition), a cabbage & potato soup (German), Christmas Porridge (rice pudding from Denmark) Dutch treats (YM), sweeet breads (Ginger, pumpkin, & cranberry), pies (what ever the High Preists brought), cookies (Elder's), Wassail (the bishopric served), candies the young women made, and popcorn.

The gym was PACKED! We had people there I had never seen before- and lots of people that weren't even members! You can see the Primary's booth, decorated in the background with giant nutcrackers

The highlight of the evening was the Primary children's two songs, the YMYW did a line dance to Rockin' around the christmas Tree, and then, my personal favorite, the Bishopric sang Silent Night while the Bishop played his guitar. It was beautiful.Sorry my camera shoots dark with the lights down low- Tom's on the right of the Bishop.

I really want to thank my wonderful committee- they all worked so hard to make this happen and I think it was a huge success- the kids LOVED the night- so many parents told me their kids thought it was the best party. And it was so nice to have the kids involved, first "shopping" at all the booths, and then singing their songs. It was fun for the kids- we let them walk under the arch to come into the gym.

Here is a picture diary of the preparation for the evening.The YM/YW learned the line dance at a combined activity in November. Thanks Audrey for coming up with the dance and teaching it to them!The Relief Society ladies made tamales a few days before the party- that was fun to learn how to make them! And boy were they good.

Jerri & Ricky try to decide how to paint the arch.
Here's our "brick maker" a sponge and paint- After the first time I used gloves! Our shop at the center turned into a "construction zone" as we painted cardboard I had been collecting at the local Sears appliance center in Ephraim. They were so great to save it for me every week.Matt & Kami Walker from the committee were so great to help!

Committee members included: Matt & Kami Walker, Heather Pinegar, Dave & Janice Taylor, Jennifer Rigby, Jodi Taufer, Ricky Butrum, and myself- They all worked so hard to make this happen- I wish I had pictures of all of them to post!

Tom & I went up in the mountains and cut down 2 trees to use for the evening- we later sold them to ward members for angel tree money.

Making the soup the day of the party. Thanks to Liza, Tammy, Janice, & Georgia!

Starting to set up the town. Almost done...Tom checks out the entry way under our "clock tower" It was his idea to put the christmas tree in the window of the "building"- I think it looks great! We hung mistletoe at the arch and took pictures of families and couples at the party. Thanks again to all the organizations and committee members that helped make this year's party a great one!

One last note- all the painted cardboard will get used again as it's new home is our town's newly renovated theater with a huge basement for prop storage!

Thanksgiving-now the rest of the story...

So Tom went to the ranch huse after everyone left last night to feed/check on things. He had left the upstairs tub dripping so the pipe wouldn't freeze in these sub-zero temperatures. We had the heat in the house turned up to 40- last year we didn't have any problem when we weren't there with anything freezing at that temp. BUT- when he walked in the door, water was dripping throught the ceiling of the living room. He went upstairs to discover the DRAIN had frozen and the tub was overflowing! So he bucketed water out of the tub through the window to outside.

He turned the heat upto 70. When we got there this morning, even the pipes were froze! In a 70 degree house! So Tom also built a big fire in the insert.

We then headed down the road to where the pasture is I'm keeping a few horses in. A neighbor had pasture that needed to be eaten down and there is a ditch that runs through it for water- so the ponies and Frankie have been there since October. Anyway- we needed to break the ice in the ditch so they could drink. This time I took some buckets and bucketed some water out for the horses, to see how thirsty they were. They were thirsty- I don't think they had drank since the day before. We left them with 2 full buckets of water and a large hole they can drink out of at least until tonight when it freezes again.