Score...fail

In digital photography, it's called a "score" when you aim the camera at yourself and take a photo.

On Veterans Day, I tried taking several score shots. They failed. However, I thought they'd give you a good chuckle, even if they are a couple of days late for Veterans Day.

So I present...how not to take a photo of yourself.

Hahahahaha...ugh. I was trying to get a good shot of the shirt.

Have a great day! Love you!!

A Tale of Two Toes

Can you tell which big toenail is getting ready to fall off?

Sigh...yes, the left big toenail is not long for this world. I guess that's what I get for playing hard this summer. Must have banged it too hard (or too long on a downhill hike) on one of the summer's hikes.

Luckily, it doesn't hurt or anything. It just adds to what my friend Liberty calls my "interesting" feet. Haha! I slapped some bright fuchsia nail polish on my toes this morning, and you can hardly tell.

Wrist update - feeling better now that I've been taking it easier with the wrist activities for a couple of days. Makes me hopeful that it's just a sprain and some healing time + physical therapy will mean that I will be back to "good as new" before too long.

Cousin Connection

Marilyn and Wayne stopped by for an hour or so today. It was earlier in the day than we had expected, and they said not to feed them anything, so we just chatted in the house and out in the back yard. Then they were on their way to Ashland, where they will see a play tonight.

Here is the lunch I had planned to make for them. Mark and I enjoyed it as a delicious Father's Day dinner instead. We'll have lots of leftovers!

Salad (with lettuce from the garden), salmon, asparagus, rice, yummy bread.

Good times

I had such a good visit with you! Thank you so much for including me in your lives during a challenging time. I love you!

The True Meaning of Mother's Day

Kendra sent this message along with the photo of Lily:
Happy Birthday and Mother's Day. I hope your card arrived in the mail. Enjoy your company and this picture of Lilly this morning. She was ready for her nap. Love you!

Guard Cats

Here are the neighborhood cats, watching for the mole...

...and waiting, and waiting and waiting...

Kansas Kids

There is a new temple in Kansas City!
Kendra and Chris took all the kids to the open house last week.

Kendra said "It was windy! This was us visiting the temple."

Earlier she sent me a message that said, "Abbi just told me her favorite number is 151 and Charlie said his is 72. No idea why. I just love my kids."

Like Art Linkletter used to say, kids do say the darndest things!

There is more information about the new Kansas City temple here.

Arora Borealis

David sent this wonderful photo.

Arora + Borealis!

And here's Maddy in her Easter dress. It will be so good to see her later this month.

Baby Blanket

Little Anson loves to be cozy and warm. He was fussing until Grandpa wrapped him up in the beautiful crocheted baby blanket.

Bridge Photo - Exclusive!

Mark and I took a load of yard debris to the transfer station today. The traffic wasn't bad at all. And the best thing...we had a primo view of the bridge construction project! Hahaha...

Mark took a couple of photos with his cell phone camera.

I tried to make the photos bigger for you, but now they don't fit all the way. If you click right on the photo, it will show you the whole thing and you'll be able to see more.

You'll be happy to know that our yard debris was all the trimmings from the redwood tree. It now boasts 14' of clearance for your trailer to visit us!

We also helped a new family move into the ward this afternoon - a couple about our age. They mentioned that they also have 9 children between them. They seem very nice and friendly.

This evening I have a broadcast from Salt Lake for the Young Women. Mark and I are also working on thesis (me) and National Boards (Mark). (Actually we're both goofing off on our laptops at the moment but we REALLY ARE going to get busy in just a minute! Promise.)

Lala Reads

Go to this website for a darling video of Olivia reading! (click here)

Anson

A little photo of the new little boy. Came across my cell phone this evening from Eric.

Hi Lilly, Hi Lilly, Hi Lo...

Two new photos of Lilly Last today:

 With this one, Kendra said: "Oh to be one. And teething. Her nose is running and her hair is a mess. And sister put this silly snake on her head. Oh, somebody save me!" (Her shirt says, "I'm on Grandma and Santa's Nice List.")

A little while later, Kendra sent this photo with the caption, "Lilly getting ready to write her first novel." Apparently she lost the snake and someone combed her hair. What a dolly!

I had such a wonderful visit with you. Thank you for all that you did for me! I felt spoiled and pampered, and I love spending time with you. I enjoyed all of it... working on projects, visiting, going for walks, playing dominoes, eating all the delicious food, enjoying the beautiful drive to Spokane.

Here are a couple of new photos that came across the cell phones over the weekend.

 Blake Haynie getting ready for church.

Sam: The Master of Disguise

Audrey: Toothless (she lost her 1st tooth last week)

Naughty Boy

Kendra sent this message to me on my cell phone today, along with the following picture:

"I started to panic a bit because all of a sudden I couldn't find Charlie while we were shopping at Sam's Club. I was pushing the cart and didn't see him! I started searching everywhere...

...then he said, "Here I am, Mommy."

Tables

Oh my - so many wonderful new tables in our home!

 Here's the steel table set up in the kitchen nook area. I love having a craft/project table of my very own! I can set up a (messy) project, and it's not in the way on the dining room table.

 I know you saw a glimpse of the Holman table in my post about reupholstering the chairs, but I wanted to highlight it again. It is so perfect in this corner of the living room.

 Did you notice our beautiful new Portland Temple drawing on the table? And that black shadow box in the background has dried flowers from Craig's memorial service. Too fragile to mail - next time Mark and I make a trip to Shelton, we'll give it to Linda and Maury.

 The typing table...with the typewriter, of course! Now that we don't have grandchildren living here, I can finally bring it out to enjoy. It's set up in the corner of the dining room. I made a cute little tablecloth for it with cherry print fabric and green rickrack.

And I moved some of the vintage family plates to be an arrangement above the typewriter/typing table.

THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU for all the beautiful furniture! I feel like such a lucky girl. This is the way I have hoped to furnish my home for years. I will love and care for these special pieces for many years. Thank you again for sharing them with Mark and me and our family.