For Cristin.

Cristin; I tried to copy and paste this to an email, but Myway.com would not let me do it. I thought this might be the quickest way to get it to you. Everyone else may disregard this post! Hope this helps. Feel free to change it in any way you see fit. I suspect that the formatting will be all messed up when I post it, go just reorganize the lines, spaces, paragraphs and all as you see fit.

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with
Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him; and when they had
opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and
frankincense, and myrrh.” Matt 2:11

Just as the wise men shared gifts with the Christ child, we wish to share a small gift with you and extend to you our wishes for a joyous Christmas season and a Happy New Year.
As you use these handmade soaps which have been scented with frankincense and myrrh, we hope that you will remember not only the gifts that the wise men shared with the baby Jesus, but also the many precious gifts that the Savior has given to each of us. May this Christmas season bring you joy and happiness as you continue to serve and to follow the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Just out of curiosity, how many of you that read the title to this post started to hum the tune of the song by the same name? My guess would be that most of you did.

At our house, the tree is up, most of the decorations are out, and the curio cabinet is filled with nativity scenes. I just need to get the candles in the windows and we will be all set. (Except for putting things under the tree.) We have another tree downstairs (thanks Nonnie) that we are going to decorate with some of the old wooden ornaments we bought at Zyla's when we lived in NH.

For those who don't know Zyla's, it is a "one of a kind " store. We had an opportunity to return there a couple of years ago, and it was just like we last saw it in the 1980's. Things were all stocked in just the same place they were in 20 years ago, and they will still be there when our grandchildren go there to visit. Zyla's, Smith and Edwards, and Smithfield Implement are all stores that are "one of a kind". Each is different, but has a unique personality of it's own. But I digress. I was talking about Christmas.

We went tonight and saw a wonderful production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" Our grand daughter Danielle was in it, and it was delightful. A fun story which was well performed. Along with the play, we had a visit from her family with pizza, an overnight stay, and a fun visit.

It is now Sunday, and I wanted to post a picture of our actress.

A Month Has Gone By???

I was reminded today that a month has gone by without my posting anything on the blog, so I guess it is time again to write something. I struggle to think of anything worth writing and all that comes to mind is just the ordinary stuff that goes on from day to day. Twenty five or thirty hours at the FHC each week, an occasional trip to the grocery store with my sweetheart, checking out some of the sales in town and other routine things.

We did go buy some things to wrap little bars of soap to give to everyone at the FHC. They look quite nice. Frankincense and myrrh soaps wrapped in netting with a gold ribbon and a little thank you note. We finished 35 or so the other night and only have another 50 to go before the end of the week.



We have been almost full time soaping recently. Last batch was with our son and his family. We made some pretty wild combinations with orange/gardenia, and another batch with red clover tea with red peppermint swirls. They really look and smell great!

We did have a fun evening the other night when we hosted a special Christmas dinner for 60 single senior citizens. It was catered by an old friend of ours that owns a local restaurant. (rather than saying an old friend, i should say a friend of long standing) Everything went well. The dinner was fabulous, everyone had a great time, and they all enjoyed the little resin snowmen we had as gifts for them. We had a lot of help from some wonderful people and when the night was over, we were pleased that things had gone so well.

I guess that the next week will be filled with Christmas preparations. We are looking forward to that.

Is "The End" Really The End?

I just finished reading Book the Thirteenth in "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket. It has been fun reading the series and following the misadventures of the Baudelaire orphans. Some of the books are better than others, but each one has been interesting in it's own unique way. It is a little sad to know that "The End" is the end of the series. There are so many unanswered questions and directions that could and should be pursued. (A word, that in this context means should be followed up or elaborated on.)

But, in the end, I guess that "The End" might really be the end which is an unfortunate event in itself because it was sad for "The End" to end as it ended. I can only hope that in the end, "The End" is not really the end, but might just be the beginning of another book, or series of books which, in the end, would enable us to find out more about the Baudelaire orphans and to find out what happens to them in the end. I would hope in the end, that in the real end, they would find happiness and joy in their lives and in the end, have a happy ending.

In the final end, I would like to say thank you to Lisa and Emily, Cristin and Matthew for introducing me to this series of delightful books and loaning many of them to me. The end!

So You Think I Should Blog???

We have had some visitors at the house recently, namely some of our adult children and some of their children. One common question I get is "when are you going to make another entry in your blog?" You mean.... once I start, I have to keep doing it????

Well, for those who have been asking, I decided to make another brief entry. It is a little difficult for me to just post thoughts and feelings without knowing where they are going. Let me mention just a few things that have been happening. Working at the Family History Center (about 20 - 25 hours each week). Getting the yard all trimmed and cleaned up so we can be ready for the snow. Making about 50 pounds of soap. (alone and with help) Doing a little woodworking (is that voodvorking?) Being with Regan and Vanessa on their special day. That was really a treat! Trying to keep up with reports and business for the mine. Closing out one of the mining companies. Working on some "secret projects" that are coming due in the next couple of months. Enjoying visits from CJ, D,E, & M (Thanks ALL for coming for a couple of days. And all that other "stuff".

Now, can I rest and not blog for another month? (JK) If you enjoy hearing from me just a fraction of how much I (and mom) enjoy hearing from you, I guess it is well worth the effort.

This coming week will be fun. There will be a local family history fair, and I am giving the keynote talk. "Family History is Fun" is the topic. I have received a number of ideas that I will incorporate into the talk (Thanks Matthew) I will try to post some pictures of the displays that mom and I created for the Center that will be on display. In researching some ideas, I found some old epitaphs from tombstones. "I told you I was sick" and another, "she said that her feet were killing her". or, "Here lies the body of Johnathan Blake.... Stepped on the gas instead of the brake." If you want to have a fun family history experience, visit an old cemetery and read the tombstones.

Well, enough for now. See you next month ;)

Thanks for the Blogging Lesson !

It's simple when you know how

Two of my daughters gave me blogging lessons today. I hope this will help me in entering a few things and maybe even getting a picture posted. The fun thing about this right now is that I am not typing anything. I am just speaking and letting my speech recognition program do the typing for me.

Before I check to see if this will actually be put in in my blog. I think I'll try to add a couple of pictures. These are two pictures that we took while returning home from a quick trip to our mining property in Millard County, Utah. The sun was just setting, and we enjoyed watching a spectacular sunset. We also noticed in the eastern sky something that was a total surprise. I had been familiar with, what are called crepuscular rays. These are rays of light and dark sky that diverge from the point where the sun is setting. But these rays were in the eastern sky. Exactly 180° from the setting sun. For some reason it had never occurred to me that crepuscular rays could be seen in the eastern sky when the sun was setting in the west. With a little internet research, I learned that the rays that are in opposition to the sun are called anti-crepuscular rays. The mystery was solved. Hopefully, you can see the faint light and dark rays in the photograph. So much for your meteorological lesson of the day.

Now let's see if I can get pictures up. Well the pictures are up - at the top - not at the bottom where I expected them to be. But, hey, it's a start ! The anticrepuscular rays (I love that name) are at the end of the white line in the road, if you just continue it on to the mountains. Can you find them?

Thanks to my son, the pics are now where they belong. At the bottom. I think I'm through for the night. Bonne nuit.

Ginger Cookies

Ginger Cookies

I just posted a recipe for ginger cookies, but it went to the "comments" department. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about computers, but this blogging business has some new little twists to it. Hopefully any of you who want to make cookies will be able to find the recipe. Please take care to not make the mistake I made in Maryland. One time we put in butter for six batches but were only making three or four. That makes really greasy cookies until you put in a little more flour.

Next I hope to be able to figure out how to make links, add pictures and do all of the fancy things everyone else is doing with their blogs. I may need to call on some of you to teach me a few tricks.

What have I gotten myself into?