I really do have the best son in the world

I always feel so lacking in words when it comes to expressing my feelings about my kids and husband. Samuel Jr. has been in Ames helping Charmaine and Randal get packed up and ready to move back to Tempe for the summer. It has been hot and humid and a ton of work as moving always is. Samuel had been in Ames for 9 days before I got here and he was still so positive and a wonderful support and still working hard still being encouraging and looking out for the needs of everyone else. We have been driving now for two days and he has been nothing but pleasant as he has been driving by himself the huge moving truck and pulling a trailer. He has just amazed me. I just keep thinking, the young women of the world just don't know what they are missing when it comes to Samuel. I am absolutely convince that he will make every bit as good a husband and father as his father has been and I'm sure to his wife, when she discovers him, will think he is perfect too. I just hope for him all the happiness that he truly deserves. Samuel Jr. has been such a support and encouragement to me. I love him and he show unconditional love to me and our family. He is such a good son and man!

A Dash, a Smash, a Crash, a Bash, a Clash and a little Christmas Cash!

Christmas may be over but not at my house. This year has been crazy! I am just now getting myself together and getting things put away and finishing up my after Christmas shopping for next year. For the last 5 days I have been taking care of Jenny's kids as she and Shawn have DASHED off on a Christmas gift cruise. Wow how lucky are they?

Jenny and Shawn Brown on Crazy Night.

The craziness really all started just before Thanksgiving when myself and 4 other women set up the nativities display at the Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors Center in a crazy DASH to the finish line of Thanksgiving. I have been involved in this event for 4 years now and it seems that it is getting easier each year. Still tons of work but definitely worth it. It takes us about 5 days to set it up, the sets are displayed from Thanksgiving until New Years day. Thousands of people come into the visitors center to see them and I so love sharing my nativities this way.

One little vignette in the room of about 100 sets.

Shortly after Thanksgiving Jenny decided to put together a boutique in our barn. What was I thinking? We cleaned and moved stuff for at least 3 weeks before we could use the barn, it too was a ton of work but I think it was a successful BASH for the amount of time she had to advertise. I know I got some cute things and a clean barn in the process.


The Boutique in the Barn BASH was not the only bash of the day, unfortunately the night that Jenny and I were setting up the event, Lacy Jo Brown SMASHED her thumb in the car door hinge. It was quite the sight and she did have to go to the hospital and get it stitched up. The doctor described it as a partial amputation and open fracture. Samuel Jr. is operating on her right now trying to get the last of the dead skin off. I think it will look OK in the long run.

Totally drugged up Lacy Jo.

Then of course there was the Christmas Eve trip we took to the neighbors house to participate in the living nativity that they put on each year. It was great! Samuel and I walked with Chantal and Clarissa and their families up the street all the way to Warner to the Johnson's. (It's only about a mile but in the dark the whole way it seems like a good hike.) The kids got to be in the play we had hot chocolate and treats and then headed home. We got all the way home and as Chantal and family walked up the drive way little Susan tripped and fell head first into their car bumper and CRASHED her head again requiring a trip to the hospital and a few stitches. She will be fine and luckily the injury lines up pretty nicely with the other scar on her forehead.

Mischievous Little Susan.

Well we were not done yet. Samuel was in his usual last of the year push to get out contacts to clients when on his way back from the post office ran broad side into another car. The CLASH was totally his fault and he got out apologizing like crazy. He said the man said no problem, it's Christmas don't worry. Samuel said, "I think I hit Santa."

No picture available of the actual accident, Samuel didn't want any evidence of the event to remain.

The only one left out of the fun is Charmaine, she remained in Ames saving her Christmas CASH. She and family had fun playing in the frozen spender that is Iowa. We really missed them.

These are Charmaine's men on Christmas morning.

So that about brings us to today. We had a few cases of the flu and a few more run in's with the doctor but all in all we did pretty well to be intact, well, and really quite happy. Life is full of challenges and they just don't stop because we are busy and for sure they don't come when it is convenient. But who cares? Life is so sweet and the Lord is really good to us, we love each other, we recover, we bounce back and then we get on with it.

This year we did have an addition of 3 new members to our family, here they are. We only hope that all of you had as much fun as we have, Merry Christmas to all and a Very Happy New Year.

This is Bou Cathryn Baxter in her Holiday best! Clarissa and Logan's baby.

This is Jack Roy Brown, Jenny and Shawn's newest edition.

And this is Gordon Kent Jones at 4 weeks old, he is our biggest new born so far. He belongs to Chantal and Brian.

Filipi

Clarissa blogged about meeting one of the Fab5 the other day in church so I thought that I would blog about who I met in the Temple. It was Filipe from the Biggest Looser. He is such a good looking guy. His wife was with him and she too is beautiful. He is still in good shape and is very friendly. As he walked past me he had to stop for a moment and I said, "Hey aren't you kind of famous?" He said, "Yeah I was on the biggest looser." I said that I knew and that he did a great job representing the church. I also told him that he had been in my house so many times that I felt like he should know me to which he laughed. His cousin Sione is married to Britney Figueroa who used to live down the street from us. They too are a great couple. I love it when good people from the church are in the media in a positive way. We can't get too much positive coverage.

Notice in this picture the Mesa Arizona LDS Temple on the wall.

I C BC

Look who Charmaine and I saw in Ames. Can you believe it? ____(Fill in the blank)____ was in the country showing their country side to all of us. Ye Haw! Just another reason I love Ames. All kinds of family show up there.

Why I love Ames

Last week Samuel and I were in Ames Iowa visiting Charmaine, Randal, Israel and Elijah. We had so much fun. I wrote on my blog about how I loved Ames and my sister Peggy wrote back and asked me why.

(This is the street that Charmaine lives on.)

Well, the obvious, it is were Charmaine lives right now but then also it is just beautiful. We walked everyday and I love looking at the beautiful change that is taking place in the season.

(Tree just starting to change.)

(One of Charmaine's neighbors.)

The last day we were there it was too cold for me to walk so I can't imagine what it will be like in the dead of winter but for the spring, summer and fall it is the place to be. Here are some pictures that illustrate my point.

(This is very typical architecture in Ames, my favorite.)(So many houses have a cute little summer porch too.)

So many things to love about Ames. Charmaine also blogged a few pictures and her's are even better. She is a much better photographer than I. Check it out.

Love to blog

I am just loving my blogs. I just wish more people read my blog about hearts. It is intended to reflect my feelings about love and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I check it everyday and hope to have inspired someone. Please feel free to pass it on if you want. Charmaine made a button link for me so you can use that too. Thanks for your help. By the way I am doing so well with walking. I walked 4.38 miles tonight in just 59 min. I am not loosing any weight but I like the walks. I hope I can keep going. The above picture is one of the green belts where I walk. This is really beautiful and green for Tempe, maybe not for the rest of the world but for here for sure. Love it.

New Blog Baby

I have started a new blog. It is linked to my Hearts button above. I was just really spending so much time updating my hearts page that I thought I should just go ahead and make it a blog. I hope it gets read. I love my pictures of hearts and I love sharing them. I have hundreds. Here they come.

Alaska

OK, I guess I have to write a little about our trip to Alaska. It was great! It was cold and rainy the whole time. Beautiful gray clouds, glaciers in the mountains, ice cold water falls everywhere, salmon in the streams, eagles in the trees, flowers, and best of all good company. We just had so much fun. It just makes me a little sad that it was so quickly over.

Here I am on the zip line and suspension bridge that we did. It was really fun and Samuel and I both got medals for finishing the trip. We didn't know until we were almost done that not everyone makes it to the end. I thought I would be scared but I would do it again in a heart beat!!
It is so strange that the only pictures that I have of Shelly and Dale they are kissing. Oh well, they are in love I guess. Imagine that. This was one of my favorite pictures on the ship. Although it is not Alaska at all, I do love the Caribbean.
This is the back sides of all of us looking at the Salmon in a stream. I don't know why I don't have a picture of the Salmon.
Terry and Connie Starks. They may not be kissing but they too are so cute in love. Terry always calls Connie, "Fox." This is one of my new Alaska friends. He was a little crabby because I was talking to him about dinner being that it was almost dinner time. Unfortunately we did not get to eat any of his kin on this trip. Some of the beautiful flower in Prince Rupert, Canada. I think this is my favorite shot. Sister Heward, (Dale's mother) Shelly and I all huddled under one little umbrella as we rested for a bit in the rain. Loved it!!! I can hardly wait to go again.

Check out my hearts

I have updated my hearts page so check it out. Love ya

How much can one Person love Primary?

Can I just tell you how much I love Primary. I have been teaching now for 3 years. I just love those little guys. Each year when it is time for my class to move on I am sure that I will not be able to love the next group as much as I have loved the current group but each year I love them just as much. Today I took my camera to church and asked each parent if I could take their child's picture and they said yes and so here is my cute class. Every child in my class is active and comes to church each week they are in town. These are all of my kids but one. She is in Idaho for the summer. I am jealous. Aren't they so cute. They are all so smart and range in age from 6 to 8. I told them they could be funny in a picture if they would be serious in one so you can see how happy they are to be serious and just what jokers they are.

Daddy's going Mac!

Everyone we know is going Mac! My father has even been talking about it so the other day on my birthday I asked Daddy if he would like to go to the Apple store and look at Macs with me. He said that he would like to go.

Off to the mall we went. (I bet my father hasn't been to a mall in many years.) I love the Apple store. It is all just right there. We took a long time looking at the computer that we thought would be the best. We asked a lot of questions and played with many of the features and then after about an hour, Samuel came and joined us in the pursuit. It seemed great. After about 2 hours of looking and questioning, Daddy decided to buy one. I am so jealous! Actually I think he decided after about 30 min. but I felt obligated to make him take longer. Anyway Daddy got a Mac, took it home plugged it in and the Internet stared right up. Great!!! Here we go. Well anyway to make a long story short, after a few dozen calls, Daddy and Samuel pulling there hair out and having Terry Starks come over and help with further set up it looks like it is going to be a good situation.

(Daddy pulled out more hair then Samuel did;-)
You may not know this but there is a lot more to switching from a PC to a Mac then just wanting to do it. Daddy really had to face some challenges, go out of his comfort zone and preserver. I hope that it will all be worth it. I will be saving my pennies nickles dollars and dimes until I can afford one myself. But for now, Daddy is the one with a Mac at our house.

My new mantra is this, "all technology that has ever been invented is for the building of the kingdom of God." Whenever I get frustrated in my techno world I just try to remind myself that what I am doing is good and not mischievous and that it will work out if I keep on trying. I love keeping track of my family on line, I love doing genealogy and having the church's site as my home page and I absolutely love preparing my primary lessons on the computer. I have found that I can google anything and that also means "be careful" but what a great resource the computer is. "Keep on clicking!"

Men Hard At Work

So here they are. Daddy, Samuel Sr. and Samuel Jr. hard at work. We have had so many major leaks at our house. I think that this is the eighth one where we have had to dig up pipes and replace them. That pipe that the Samuels are holding is one that was placed next to the pipe stand to stabilize it I guess. The man that we bought this property from did everything big. That pipe that was just strapped to the water pipe, went into the ground about 4 feet and into concrete. He did a good job but the pipe broke anyway.
The water here must have been leaking for quite awhile. The normally very hard ground was really soft and full of water so although it was easy to dig it was very heavy and sticky. Samuel Sr. was planning to fix the problem himself but when we heard that Daddy had been digging to see if he could find the leak I about freaked out. I could just see my father succumbing to the heat and so we all went out and got busy.
The project ended up taking all of us, I guess. Both Samuels diggings and fixiing, me watching and running the occasional errand to Home Depot and of course taking pictures. And Daddy, running back and forth getting what ever tool the men needed and giving much needed advise. Daddy was standing for about an hour and I finally insisted that he sit in the shade on the bridge which he did but not without some protest.
The hole ended up being about a 3 foot square but part of it went down to who knows where. At one point Samuel stepped in the hole and then pulled his foot out. The sound of the water rushing out the hole to some unseen reservoir sounded like a toilet flushing. Daddy and I just looked at each other like "what the heck!" We had a good laugh.
Well all in all, I think it was a good day. I'm sure we saved hundreds of $ doing this project ourselves. No one was hurt or got sick from the heat. We fixed multiple problems and we had a great time visiting with each other. It seems the only time that we can get Daddy to really visit with us is when we have a big problem that needs fixing. We are so blessed to have Daddy living here with us and I am glad that he now has water once again.

New way to comment

I am trying a new way to leave a comment. You do not need to have your own blog account to leave a comment. If you want to leave a comment all you need to do is go under the post that you want to comment on, click on comment, write a comment, sign your name in the name box and then leave me your e-mail and that way I can contact you. Your e-mail address will not appear anywhere but will be forwarded to me. You do not need to leave your URL address but please do if you are new to visiting me and you have a blog. That way I can blog stalk you. This process only works from here on though. It will not work on older post. But please be sure to read my older posts and feel free to visit my kids also. They are so clever and you can get an idea what they are doing. Thanks, Susan

New buttons that I want to share.

Did you notice the buttons under my header "beautiful things... " and "hearts"? My girls have all been helping me get my blog just the way I want it and so I have been working hard to get it up and going again. Back to the buttons, Charmaine programed them for me and I just love them. Please take a look and enjoy a little glimpse into my life. I have a lot of fun with the talents that my daughters are teaching me and I hope that you will also follow the links of my family members. The girls are so clever and we are also trying hard to get Samuel married. (That's for fun and for real.) Anyway enjoy it all. Be sure to check out my older posts if you have not been on in a while.
Love, Susan

Up date.

I really didn't get to finish my blog for Christmas the way that I wanted to. Just after writing it we all got sick. It started with the general evacuation type flu. That was fun, lost of washing and I'm sure that we will have a terrifily high water bill with all the flushing and baths. Then we all got the cold and aches type flu. For me that was even more fun, I just stayed in bed for 2 days. That started for me on Friday and the next Wednesday was Joyces wedding. Well somehow we got it all done. I just ordered all the food and my wonderful Karen helped a great deal with serving, setting up and running around. It turned out beautiful. Once again, I don't have pictures because my camara is broken. How ever I did get some Christmas pictures of the grandkids from another camera.

Here is a cut picture of the kids putting on the Nativity at our Ollerton Family Christmas Eve eve party. We had about 105 family members in attenance.

Katie and Lacy in a rare quiet moment.

Chantal's children in the pj's that she made, I had to include a picture of Brian by himself because he is alway goofing around and I rarely get such a cute picture of him.

Merry Christmas!

So it really is Christmas time. I just can't believe how quickly this year has speed past. I have had a wonderful year. Samuel and I took all of our children and their spouse on a fun cruise where we spent as much time as possible together. WE had so much fun and I can hardly wait to do it again. Charmaine and Randal moved to Iowa just about 2 week after we returned from the cruise. I wasn't able to drive with them to Iowa so I flew to Iowa at the end of July. I loved being there and getting to know the area and seeing all that Charmaine and Randal are able to enjoy. Iowa is beautiful in the summer. While there we were able to go to Nauvoo and to the Temple. Just driving into Nauvoo life felt different. Sameul and I really love being there. I was able to go back to Iowa in Sept. to help with their new baby also. That was great.

We also have been able to visit Chantal and Brian in San Diego and I love going there, it is so close and the weather is always nice, you know, it never rains in California. (Unless the Earth is rotating.) This past spring we took the whole family to Lego Land and had so much fun. We borrowed Samuel's brother's 12 passenger van and loaded up everyone except Charmaine and her family and then on the way Charmaine's car broke down and we had to add 3 more people to our load. Brian was so kind to drive to Yuma from San Diego and rescue us. This is a pic. of Lacy, Brian and Katie.

The other great event is my life it that I have been called to work in the Temple. I love it! I work 2 days and Samuel works one. We are really enjoy our time there. I am also reading several books about the Temple to help me learn even more. This year I also had the opportunity to be in charge of setting up the nativities at the Mesa Temple Visitors Center. All turned out very nice and I have had the opportunity to go back to the center several times and check on things. I have loved working with the director there and his wife and getting to know the system a little better. We have a wonderful committee there are 3 women and a few volunteers that put it all together.

Jenny and I have been a part of 3 baby showers for Clarissa. Clair and Logan will be having their baby girl soon and then we will be finding out her name that they have kept a big secret. Wow can you believe it my baby is having a baby. The showers were fun and I am glad that they are over and that we had such a nice turn out. My sister Julie and her daughters gave Clair the first shower, then Sandy H. is my ward gave her the second one and then Jenny and I did the third. (My camara is broken so I can't find a single picture.)

Samuel and Samuel Jr. are in business together, that has been a great adventure for them and I sure hope that it will be a big success. Samuel Jr. graduated from college in the spring real estate and so the Sams are now in business with one of my nephews selling commercial property.

Right now besides getting ready for Christmas we are also getting ready for a wedding here at our home. Our long time friend Joyce Jones will be getting married and we are privileged to be able to have this event here on New Years Eve. I think her theme song should be "What are you doing New Years Eve."

Now I am almost done with this entry and I have to say I got the idea from my friend Shelly to just post my pictures on my blog and just send a short message to my friends with my Christmas letter to read my blog and look at pictures. I hope that you have all enjoyed the blog and I hope that if you are a blogger that you will invite me to yours. I look forward to seeing you all and I hope you the most wonderful Christmas and New Year ever.

Love you all, Susan

Memories of Me from You.

I have seem this on a few other blog sites and I love this idea. Right a memory of me or me and Samuel in the comments of this blog. I will read them and share in you memories. I hope they will be fun and fond. I am hoping that my friend Bonnie will do this so I can write about "the cookie."
Here’s how you play: 1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! 2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

What is with all those pillows?

The other day Clarissa and Logan were over and I asked Clarissa to help my make my bed. I usually sleep in a little later then Samuel because I have a very bad habit of waking up at 3 or 4 am and then I can't get back to sleep until 5 or 6. Anyway while Clair was helping me make my bed Logan came in a gave a little laugh. I said what is so funny and he said, "Why do girls like so many pillows on the bed?" I said, "I know it is sick but we all do it." Then I added the fact that we also have a little cat pillow that I got many years ago and just love and the I have to put it on the bed also. I told Logan and Clair how every night Daddy goes in to our room and turns down the bed and for some reason he started putting the kitty in different funny positions on my side of the bed. Every night I look forward to seeing what Samuel has done with the cat. Sometimes I have to look kind of hard because the cat is hidden under the covers or in my night stand or on the head board of our bed. Samuel is so fun! Well to show just how clever he is, the other night I came in and my kitty was reading the scriptures with my glasses on. (I just had to take a picture and share) Samuel always makes me laugh and so each night when I go to bed I look forward to a good laugh, reading the scriptures have prayer and sweet dreams next to my BFF. Life is good.

What a storm!

Last night we had an incredible storm! My mother in law called me to say that she and Daddy were outside on their back porch to watch the storm come in and it looked like Tempe was having a light show. The weather reported over 10,000 lightning strike in an hour. Samuel and I went outside for a while to watch and listen and seriously the thunder didn't stop for hours. It was one continual roll of thunder for as long as we listened. The weather also reported that some areas of the valley received over 1.48 inches of rain (Officially, the National Weather Service reported 5.48 inches year total at Sky Harbor International Airport. Last year, 0.74" fell for the entire monsoon season.) and had wind gusts of 100 miles per hour in Tempe. I got up this morning to survey the damages and to my surprise it wasn't too bad. We usually have a down limb or two or parts of the barn missing, but this time it was only the shade for the area right outside my father's house that was downed. The rain was seriously so unusual that I called my father to ask him if he was OK out in his house by himself. It sounded like it was raining baseballs. Every once in a while I would open the door and look to see if it was hail but I couldn't see any and then too at those time I would look at the trees and there would be absolutely no movement in them. It was crazy! But after the storm we have been blessed with a most beautiful sun rise. I tried to capture a picture, I don't know if it will translate but here I have tried. I checked the weather report for today and it looks like we are going to have humidity around 77% and a high around 101. Crazy! I sure hope that all of our family and friends that live out of town have a wonderful day, I know that I will.

The Queen say this...

This is a completely random e-mail. Samuel and I went to a Diamond Backs game tonight and we had so much fun. Jenny and Shawn went with us and she took lots of pictures but with her camera so I don't have any pictures yet. Any way I came home and started looking at blogs and enjoying reading them and looking at pictures and thought that I would go and look at some of my pictures on my computer. I love to take pictures of everything but especially I am family famous for taking pictures of hearts. So I looked in my heart folder and along with my hearts is a picture of my make-up sponge. I squeeze out my Mary Kay make-up onto a sponge and then apply liberally. It has actually been 2 years ago that I took this picture and I can't even remember if I have already sent it to everyone but when I saw it I got such a chuckle remembering it again. The resulting squeeze on the sponge was completely random. No kidding! I looked at it and thought, 'Oh my goodness something must be wrong with my toe' you know, like I was getting a warning or something (Peggy knows what I'm talking about). So I look down at my toe half expecting to find a big bug or death written all over it and then to my great astonishment..... nothing was there. Just a funny random message on my make-up sponge, nothing else, but believe me when I say it was truly random and so legible. Queen Susabelle says this, 'Random acts of kindness begin with just one 'toe' pointed in the right direction. How is that for philosophy to begin your day on?