Grandma and Halloween

Well, today I went to visit Grandma. Took she and Kevan some food so they can keep working on the book and had so much fun! 

The whole time I was there, Kevan was on the computer working on a finale to the book.  He has a page that shows all the siblings, children and numbers of grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. The final number will be great and it will be such a great way to get everyone interested in buying the book!

We listened to part of Dad’s missionary farewell and Grandma was so excited to hear it. But several times after we started she kept saying, “now what is this?”  Cute grandma!  She was so thrilled to have Saren and the kids last week after the wedding (she remembered on her own Saren) and of course mentioned several times how thrilled she was to have Kevan working on the book with her. 

She has such a great attitude about dying!  She mentioned several times how glad she will be to join Dean as soon as she gets this history done.  When I said, “Well, we hope you get your wish, but you know it doesn’t always work out that way.”  Smiling, her response was, “so you want to get rid of me?”

Just as I was leaving I asked her about what she wanted to do about something in the future (I can’t even remember exactly what it was) and she pumped her little fist and smiled again saying, “Why don’t I just get out of here!” 

Now I’m home waiting for the Trick-or-treaters and watching the World Series (Dad finally got me hooked)!  Just to show you our eclectic neighborhood, it’s not everyone who gets to have a horse trick or treating:

Oops this little Zayden ducked!  Here he is with his parents (his mom has been lovingly taking care of our horses and his dad made our chimney cover for us) his grandma and MoJo!

We hope that all of Eyrealm had a wonderful Halloween!  Stuff in that candy! 

A BIG Birthday!

With a request for a quiet birthday, Dad/Rick aka Ricky did indeed turn 65!

The weather forecast was NOT good. The high in Park City on the actual birthday was 28 degrees with snow!

 

SO we had fun playing in the leaves at Charity’s house in Provo on the day before.  We were there for a delightful dinner with Stephen and Sandra Covey.  Stephen and Dad almost share a birthday, so it was a birthday dinner and a nice birthday present for us!

Gorgeous leaves at this old home of Hugh B. Brown.

Charity’s cute roommate Dani took some pictures for us!

On the actual day yesterday, we first had a quiet breakfast in bed and then we moved on to old tape recordings which I found in our recent move.

This is about one third of the tapes I found.  What treasures they hold!  I got to hear Dad’s missionary farewell which I had never heard before. It was amazing to hear his voice before I ever knew him 46 years ago! 

We also laughed at the cute British accents of the kids while we were on our mission in London from 1976-79. We remembered our fun times through the kids’ activities, hilarious comments by the kids and Christmas celebrations! 

We found old tapes made by Grampa and Grandma Jacobson who have been gone now for 30 and 15 years respectively.  Fun to have stories about Rick’s dad too who has been gone for about 50 years!

Family trips, funny recordings by the kids that they thought no one would ever hear, missionary farewells and homecomings were abundant! It was a feast for the ears!

With periodic stops to read the “Ten Things We Love About Dad/Grandfather” on the Internet as well as some perfect poems, from our great kids, we were joined for dinner (dad’s favorite part below)

  

by our one and only child close enough to come home for dinner….Charity!

 

You’ll be glad to hear that he can still puff out those candles on his favorite rendition of “Boston Cream Pie”  (Grandma Ruthie special)

All day and night we were treated to grandkids singing on the phone and skype renditions of kids in Halloween costumes as well as those continual lists of “things we love”coming in all day and night.  The last one came in from Noah at 2 a.m. his time!

After a few gifts, Rick/Dad was delighted that they had arranged to have the first game of the World Series AND the opening Jazz game for his birthday!  He was happy about the outcome of the World Series, not a bit happy about the Jazz game. 

This morning was the finale we had the wonderful privilege of attending the SL Temple with Charity. What a treat after reading Truman Madsen’s new book on the temple and spending Monday night with his wonderful wife Ann! 

Thanks to all who contributed to making a grand birthday for an amazing guy! 

Iraqi Women and Visiting Teaching

 

For more info on the fun we had last night with our wonderful new friends from iraq, go to Valuesparenting.blogspot.com.  We had a great time with eight high-ranking, well-educated women from Iraq who are making incredible strides in instituting the Visiting Teaching program in Iraq.  They have realized that the best thing they can do for the future of Iraq is help one family at a time in their neighborhoods.  They are in Utah to learn how to conduct family home evenings and how to teach their children the opposite of hate and revenge. They are very smart and know that education about peace, love and family values are the things that will really make a difference!

It was fun to have Saren and Jared here. They were on their way to Jared’s brother Brian’s daughter’s wedding in Logan this morning.  Saren gave them some great advice and Jared kept the security guys happy (front and center)

Two of these guys were armed. It was so sad to hear that these women are constantly under guard. One of them, whose husband may some day be the prime minister said that she can’t drive by herself because she and her husband need armed guards at all times. She had a son-in-law who was tortured and killed in the violence. The picture above includes those women in the Utah delegation who have been working with these Iraqis for several years. Bless these dear women! 

Are these kids cute enough as they left for the wedding festivities this morning?

I like the kid on the right too!  Can you believe that he’s about to have the “BIG Birthday” next Wednesday? 

Even as we learned about the great “visiting teaching” program these women have instituted in Iraq, I got the opportunity to be with the good women I visit teach this morning for a fun brunch!  Saydi will recognize her dear friend Lindsay Welch Hola who is pregnant with her fourth baby! 

How lucky am I to teach with Heidi Shipp (left) as we visit Karina, Marsha and Lindsay. They are all outstanding women! 

Dad just took a huge truckload of “stuff” to the lake from the move and I am about to organize the garage…at last. We’re plugging along on the moving process. Soon the end will be in sight…here.  Kolob and Bear Lake still in process!  

Philly and D.C.Follies

 

What fun we had this week, first revisiting history in Philadelphia as we enjoyed a terrific YPO group there and then taking the China Town bus on down to D.C. where we were delighted to find Eli and Julie’s new “digs” and some great stuff there as well!

For details on Philly, see the Valuesparenting blog, but just so you know that we had a LOT of fun, here is Dad cooking his Kobe beef on a hot rock in a beautiful Asian restaurant as well as getting soaking wet in a “noreaster” while also soaking in American History:

Eli and Julie’s place is just absolutely perfect for them…totally modern. The art by Julie and photography by Eli makes you feel as though you’re in a museum!  Eli said he would take pictures and send them today so you can see their perfect apartment! 

Here are “the guys” just outside the “pool room” where you can get free starbuck’s hot chocolate and herbal tea anytime!

Since Dad was totally entrenched in the new Dan Brown novel, much of which surrounds events and symbols at the Capitol, we immediately arranged a tour through the Capitol, which was fascinating for everyone, including Eli who had been an Intern with Orrin Hatch there four years ago and had run a hundred tours through that building himself!  They have built a whole new Visitor’s Center and created fabulous new exhibits!

Of course, the dome held special interest for dad (I guess we have to read the book to appreciate it)!

 

And I especially liked the painting of the pilgrims, since I am reading The Mayflower right at the moment. I also found one of one of the world’s greatest heroes…Raol Wallenberg!  He was a Swedish born diplomat who saved hundreds of thousands of Jews from the gas chambers during the war and it looks as though he was finally executed himself for his efforts.

 

TWINS!

After the Capitol we wandered over to the incredibly beautiful Library of Congress, where the architecture is to die for!  (photos compliments of Eli)

 

 

and quotes to live by:(photos compliments of dad)

We then drove out to McLean in Julie and Eli’s now famous Acura Legend and saw the house.  Dad visited with the renters while Julie, Eli and I shopped at the amazing Tyson’s Corner, which has grown so much that we had no idea where we were when we got there!  Maybe partly because of the rain, it seemed like the craziness of shoppers on Christmas Eve!  I bet there were literally a hundred thousand people in that mall!  We were crammed in there Elbow to Elbow…and Dad actually liked it! 

Next we took Dad home for a nap and Eli, Julie and I had a great time in the East Gallery of the National Gallery with lots of funky modern art and then we drove over to Chinatown, which has become a major yuppy urban center!  We found the most amazing Asian/French restaurant and just reveled in the ambience and fabulous food!

Spicy shrimp roll with crusty tempura

Roasted fig salad with concord grapes

The remains of Dad’s sashimi.  (He too the metro which is just outside Eli and Julie’s apartment to the National Gallery around the corner from the restaurant and joined us later). A great time was had by all! 

What a cool place!  Look at these “wall of roses behind our heads where we were sitting:

Church today was fascinating. What a wild, wonderful, eclectic group of Saints!  We loved meeting Eli and Julie’s fellow members and Dad even got to stand in on setting Eli apart in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency.

We’re now on our way home to organize a multitude of mess as we sort out where to put things in our new house, after the move from the old… and mop the floor, which hasn’t been done since the last guest left the Open House.

Better get it done fast, as we’re entertaining and training 8 women from Iraq on Wednesday night, which will prove to be a once in a lifetime educational experience!  The next morning I am having a brunch there for my visiting teaching ladies!  The fun never stops! 

Empty…almost!

So here are a few pictures of the “after” the hurricane of three heaping truckloads to the DI, and many truckloads divided into “piles to Baliwood, piles to Bear Lake and piles to Kolob,” Our renters were happy to have our leftover furniture…some waiting to be moved and some used for their year and then we decide from there!

How about this for serendipity: Last night as we were showing our new renters the “quirks” of the house, we somehow started talking about their “green” friends when we somehow got to the fact that Jonah and Aja had just driven their “greasel” to their new home in Sequim, when our renter, Darren smiled and said, “i was born in Sequim!”  Weird!  He spent his childhood there.  If you have any questions, we can give you his number you Sequim Eyres!

Here’s a look at what is left and what is gone:

 

We didn’t leave the CD’s, just hadn’t moved them yet.

When Aja saw this fridge she said, “Oh my gosh, your fridge is white!”  Those pictures made it hard to tell!

Don’t worry, we had these carpets cleaned yesterday and they look great!

The cloud room and the downstairs guest room look just the same except we took the cradle and crib out as well as the pram and stored them in the work room.

We were glad for a place to store our bed!  And just look at our new “Office”

The only bad thing about this is that now that we’re moved out, we have to organize all that “stuff” into their new locations. After all the trips to the DI I don’t know how we could have any stuff left….but we do!

Dad was in charge of the garage, the balcony and moving all the stuff.  You can probably guess what he thought was most important…yep…painting the garage floor!  He did it in no time at all (because he’s a professional painter you know) and also painted the bottom of the cabinet and freezer to match!

So it’s goodbye for now! There is a mailbox on the wall outside the den (the wall leading to the garage) where they will deposit our mail and Eric stalled a way to get into the sliding door to the den on the balcony with a key so we’ll be back often…just don’t have to keep that crazy house clean and stock it with food anymore.  Heaven!  We’ll see what happens in a year!