I thought I would use this medium to publish our Christmas letter for this year. I was shocked to see that I had not posted anything since 2011.

It has been an interesting year. We are really counting our blessings this year. Larry and I are in good health and using Weight Watcher's to lose weight and get Larry's Blood Sugar under control. We were inspired to use Weight Watcher's after watching our daughter Kirsten lose 35 lbs. on the program. Last year at this time Larry was recovering from a fall that broke his hip and required him to have surgery and then be in a care center until 2 days before Christmas. It took him about 5 months to recover from that and move on but he is doing very well now.

 Half of our children are now living out of State and BJ and Holly are moving to Hawaii on the 27th of December. Jeff and Misty are living in Puyallup, Washington , Jacob and Nikki are living in Red Wing Minnesota, Maren and Landon are living in Richlands, North Carolina, and Nathan and Sara are living in Converse, Texas. So we have decided we need to get a job with Delta so we can have free flights to visit them all.

 I have been retired since 2010. Presently I am serving a part-time from home mission for the LDS Church in FamilySearch support. I have learned all you need to know to use the new product Family Tree on FamilySearch.org. It has really given me a boost of self esteem to be able to help people with these products. I also work at the local FamilySearch Center and teach classes and I am a Ward Family History Consultant. We did a lot of campaigning for Romney and even went to Las Vegas to stump for him this year.

Larry at a campaign rally in Las Vegas

 Larry retired in September from Discover Card. His health was in jeopardy and so he needed to retire. It helped and he is feeling much better. We are serving a part time LDS Employment Mission at the Layton LDS Employment Center. We work there on Thursdays each week and teach the evening Career Workshop once a month. Larry is also the Ward employment specialist so the two combined keep him busy and he feels grateful having the opportunity to help those in our ward who need employment.

June's dad, Lars Jenkins died this July after a long illness at 90. We have enjoyed going to Lehi each week to help Mom with whatever she needs in the way of housework and errands. June also had two brother-in-laws die this year.  Redge Hermansen in January and Paul Christiansen in December.

Max Gentile

 We were also able to increase our grandchildren to 24 this year with the addition of Maximus Landon Gentile to Maren and Landon's family in June and Myles Kelly Lars Christiansen to Jacob and Nikki's family
 in November.

Ashton, Abbie, Lexie, and Baby Myles

Isaac, David and Sammy for Halloween

 Nathan completed his Master's Degree in Social Work this year but due to the Economy is presently playing Mr. Mom while Sara teaches at a local Charter School. He is also an officer in the National Guard in Texas. They were able to by a new house this year and are enjoying the transition from apartment to home. They were able to come to Utah for a while this summer. It was fun to spend time with them and their 4 children David, Issac, Sam, and Maggie.

Maggie dressed for Halloween

 Michelle lives in Layton and is busy teaching school. Daniel still works for the company that sponsors Resume Rabbit online as a computer engineer. He works from home so they are able to live in Utah even though the company is in California. They are busy keeping their children in several activities. They have four

Michelle and Kallise after a dance recital

children Ethan, Hailee, Jaron, and Kallise. Michelle has had some health problems but keeps working hard. Daniel is in the Tabernacle Choir Bells Choir so he is often on Music and the Spoken Word at this time of year. They are taking their children to Nauvoo this year for their Christmas Present so it is going to be a quiet Christmas this year at our house.

Nikki's deck Garden and the wilderness in their backyard

Ashton and Abbie as Minnesota Vikings

At the National Eagle Center with Lexie, Ashton, and Abbie

 Jacob moved his family to Red Wing Minnesota in July of 2011. He is working for a nuclear energy company, Xcel Energy there. He is also still in the National Guard in Minnesota. Nikki is able to stay home and take care of the children. I was able to go visit them in June and see the area there. It is right by the Mississippi River and they took me to the National Eagle Sanctuary.
It was a beautiful area. Raspberries grow wild! It was fun to see their home and my grandchildren, Lexie, Ashton, and Abby. Nikki was able to have their fourth child Myles in November and everything went fine despite some complications.


Jeff and Misty just recently purchase a new home in Puyallup, Washington. We were excited that they were able to purchase a home. Jeff works for Comcast as a Call Center Manager and Misty is completing her studies in Elementary Education. They have three wonderful children Leah, Matthew and Owen. They were able to visit us this spring and we had a great time with them also.

Kirsten lives in Layton and so I am able to see her family often. She and Jon have a combined family of four. Kennedy, Kyle, Brooke and Taylor. Kirsten works for a couple of companies doing medical transcription. Jon works for Utah Transit Authority as a mechanical supervisor. Kirsten has had

Brooke, Kyle, Kennedy
Kirsten, Jonathan, Taylor

problems with a foot that she just had surgery on and earlier in the year Taylor headbutted her like children do and broke her nose so she had to have surgery on that. Taylor has a heart problem so she will be having surgery in the first part of next year but she is basically a healthy 3 year old right now. Kirsten has taken up selling Avon so she will have something to supplement her income when she is taking care of Taylor after the surgery.

Heather , Ryker and Erick relaxing after Trick or Treating

Erick and Heather are also in Layton. They have one son Ryker who is the light of their lives. Erick graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 but has not been able to secure a job in Mechanical Engineering. He is working for the Civil Engineering firm that he has worked at for several years and preparing to try to enter Law School. He would like to be a patent lawyer. Heather is a stay at home mom with an avid interest in Family History right now. They grew a garden this year and Heather canned many bottles of food for their storage. She made some yummy pickles

At Temple Square with BJ and Holly

BJ and Holly are moving to Hawaii on a leap of faith. He is attached to a Naval Reserve Unit there and has had to go their several times for duty. Holly has gone with him and they love it there. So they decided to move there to finish the last year of BJ's schooling in Computer Science. BJ will be going to the University of Hawaii. Holly has been working as a nurse in Logan to support them but is hoping to find a job in Hawaii. They were able to get things to fall into place in renting their home in Providence so they are hoping that it will continue that way.

Ellie, Gauge and Brinlie on July 4th

 Maren's husband Landon joined the Navy in 2011 and is presently stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. He is working as a medic with the Marines. He pulled some tendons in his ankle early in the year and has spent most of the year trying to recover from that. Finally in August he had surgery to help him heal properly. Maren does hair for people in her garage and is a stay at home mom with 4 kids under 6, Brinlie, Gauge, Ellie, and Max. I was able to go and visit them at the end of June and stay for about 3 weeks. However I was the bearer of ill tidings and got strep while I was there and gave it to all the kids which turned into

Gauge, Ellie, and Brinlie 

pneumonia. They came back to Utah with me after my visit and we were all sick for three more weeks here. I was grateful to be able to stay with them but it was not the trip I had planned. It was fun to see the area they live and see the Atlantic Ocean. They have an amazing neighborhood where they live all military people that take care of each other and we are grateful for that. Brinlie broke her arm in October and had to be sent by ambulance to Chapel Hill about 3 hours away for surgery because of the extent of the break. While they were gone the neighbors took care of things and cleaned their house and had food waiting for them when they returned. I am grateful that Heavenly Father watches over my children when I cannot be there.

At the beach with Ellie and Landon

 Larry and I are grateful for the many blessing we have at this time of year. We are especially grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his church on the earth. We are grateful for this season that reminds us that the purpose for this life is to accept Jesus Christ and his teachings and use those teachings to return to him and overcome our sins and weaknesses. We are grateful for all the friends and family that we have that make our life better and hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Well the rain is really coming down today! It wasn't to bad in Gunnison but iit started when we went to put the flowers out in Mayfield. We are by Nephi now and it is pouring. It is already almost 6:00 p,m, and we have a ways to go. Everything is quiet in the car. BJ is playing Angry Birds on his Ipad. Holly is asleep. Larry is driving and says he doesn't need anything to listen to, so I decided to blog..

I often wish when we make this trip we had more time to stop and see more people. Kimo lives in Mona but, it is always so late when we are passing through. We did get to see most of the people in Karalyn and Redges family. I had a good talk with Marcia Christiansen. Paul has sure changed. He is gaining weight from his medication but he is losing height also. He looks like someone has been trying to pound him together from both ends.

Cutler gave a good talk on the importance of service, based on President Eyring's talk from last conference. It talks about teaching our children to give service. I wonder if I taught my chiildren enough about serving others. Their Bishop taught them to think of keeping the Sabbath day as what life will be like in the Celestial kingdom. He emphasized that we need to like reading the scriptures and attending our meetings if we are going to be happy there. It was a good wake up call to ask the ward members to examne their priorities.

Larry is driving too fast on these wet roads. We just passed a car that ran off the road. I hope that will not be us but at the speed we are going it may.

I just found out I can update my blog on my phone! We are traveling to Mayfield and Gunnison today. It is Cutler Frandsen's farewell today in Gunnison. We are going down with BJ and Holly. After the farewell we are going to put flowers on John's grave. We will also put flowers on Aleda and Reed's graves, John's parents.

It has been a busy week. Monday night I got some type of virus that caused diaharea so I stayed home from school. I was feeling somewhat better on Wednesday so I went to school so I wouldn't have to plan for a sub. I didn't feel like eating though so I just drank apple juice until evening. The next day Larry had the same thing and so did Ellie. Maren said that she did not feel good the day I got sick so it was there for all of us.

Maren left early Thursday morning to go Great Lakes to be with Landon. She flew into Milwaukee because it was cheaper. The kids went with Shirley and Evan to California so it has been a quiet week for Larry and I. But we still have Koda with us so we can't get bored. Maren is looking for a place to rent back there so they can be with Landon.

Taylor and Kyle came over on Friday while Kirsten and Jon went to a movie. We ended up watching a couple of movies and when Tayor went to sleep I worked on some school papers that needed recording.

Saturday morning I went to get Michelle's kids to take to their piano lessons while she was at Leadership meeting. Kallise came over and we watched Scooby-do. She sat on my lap and hugged me for a while. It was a fun time to be with her.

After she left I watched movies and worked on school work all day. When Larry came home we made a simple dinner and did some dishes. Then we spent about an hour reading some of the scriptures from Jeremiah for the Sunday School lesson. Larry and I have read the scriptures from the lessons each evening and each morning and the Old Testament is really coming alive for me. I can't believe that I have read it so many times before and not understood what I am understanding now. Isaiah is comming alive for me. I did not realize that the Book of Mormon gave so much clarification to Isaiah and the Doctrine and Covenants as well.

Today was the children's Sacrament meeting presentation. Brinlie had a part, I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus love me because I have a special Grandma." She did a good job. We were late for Sacrament meeting because we were too tired to get up when we should have.

I am concerned about Larry because he has slept most of the day. We got home from church, he took a nap. He went with me to get a recommend, when we got home he took a nap for about 4 hours. Then he went to bed at 8:00 a.m.

Erick and Heather came over tonight. Ryker has really grown. He did not like it here at first because the kids were so wild and excited to see him but he eventually got used to it.

Maren's dog Koda has spent alot of time indoors today because it was raining. He is so huge that it is hard to control him if he has a different idea of what he wants to do.

Well, I made it through the first week of school. I have a motorized scooter that I can drive around school so I can stay off my feet and it helped a lot. I seem to have really good classes so far but time will tell.

Larry and I are delegates to the county convention and the senator from Davis County was just put in as the new lieutenent governor so we have had a lot of phone calls this week from delegates wanting our vote at the county convention on Sept. 12th. Even a few free meals. There are a lot of good candidates so I am having a hard time trying to decide who I want for sure.

Larry is not feeling very well today. He overdid working on the yard yesterday and he forgot to go buy his blood pressure medication last night and he is out. He slept for 12 hours last night and he is in bed sleeping now. He was feeling better earlier today. We went to church and taught our primary class and he did not seem to be feeling bad until about 5:00 p.m.

Maren was up all night with Gauge throwing up. She has had a lot of hard nights lately. I wish I could help her more. She was able to go to sacrament in another ward today and then Shirley tended Guage while she and Landon went and taught their lesson.

Well I was going to try to upload pictures but I think that I will not worry about it tonight.

Today is my birthday. I am 60 years young today. I never thought I would be this age, and it is weird because except for all the physical aches I have I feel the same as I did when I was younger about a lot of things.

Today was the dedication of the Oquirrah Mountain Temple. What a birthday present. I was thrilled that it could be today. They said that the one we attended at 9:00 a.m. was the seventh dedication service. I did not know that they had some previously. We attended at the Stake Center but it was telecast by satilite from the Temple. They had pictures of the temple to view and prelude music playing but when I was doing my hair I lost my glasses on the floor and we could not find them so I decided that I better go without them or we would be late for the 8:30a.m. time they wanted us in our seats. Not being able to read it gave me time to contemplate the music and my relationship with Heavenly Father.

The first speaker was Margaret Liffereth. She looked like an angel to me in the white dress and the light background of the temple, especially with me having no glasses. She started out by talking about her three year old grandson Charlie. She mentioned that her daughter was often telling him that he needed to listen. To this he would ask why. She said that often her daughter would explain why but sometimes when the reason was above his comprhension she would simply say, "Because I am the Mom". She noted that this answer denoted that she loved him and wanted the best for him and his happiness and that she was doing everything she could to help him know how to be happy. Sometimes just like this Mom our parents direct us in ways that we wonder about but if we listen we usually realize it is because they care about us and want us to be happy. The same thing applies with Heavenly Father. Often in the scriptures he tells us to do something but he does not tell us that it is because he loves us and wants our happiness that he is directing us to do the thing he asks. Many time we just have to trust that because we are his children and he wants the best for us he is directing us to do the things that we do. This thought really stuck in my mind. I felt like I needed to share it.

Paul Johnson talked about the road to the temple. He told about how in the early days in Utah the people often had to travel for days or weeks to be married in the temple. He told of how Heber J. Grant traveled to St. George to be married in the temple and how hard it was because the train did not go into southern Utah and they had to travel by carriage over dirt roads to get there. Many people told him to stay home and get married in Salt Lake and then they could be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple when it was finished. Be he had the faith to go to St. George and testified that their were many blessing that came from being married in the temple. And Elder Johnson said his wife died before the Salt Lake temple was finished.

He counseled with the youth to think about the things they are doing that will get them to the temple. We have 13 temples in Utah now and we can get to most of them in a matter of hours or minutes but they still need to think about what they are doing to make it possible to enter the temple when they are twelve for baptisms and later for endowments and prepare their lives for that time. I found myself hoping that my grandchildren are being prepared to want to attend the temple. He talked about the example we as parents can set in making the temple important in our lives and I contemplated whether I had made a sufficient example of temple attendance to give my children the desire they need to keep going.

I honestly can't remember who spoke third. All the talks were good but it has faded already. Maybe they were the one who talked about example because I remember the emphasis of the meeting shifted on the third speaker to focus on adults more. Someone talked about how we cannot make choices to be saved for someone else. God can encourage us to do what is right but he will not take away our agency and Satan cannot take away our agency he can only tempt us. So we are the ones that make the decision that will decide which direction that we go.

Elder Bednar talked about the differences of the temple and the world outside. He gave several contrasts like the peace inside the temple contrasting with the increasing noise in the outside world. He also mentioned several blessings that we will receive if we are faithful in our temple attendence. Unfortuanately I cannot write them now.

President Uchtdorf told of a Samuel Bingham who settled with his wife Martha in the area where the temple district for the Oquirrah Mountain Temple is now. He was a rancher with his brother. They found ore in Bingham canyon and showed it to Brigham Young. BY advised them not to go into mining but to continue to farm the land. They followed his counsel and left the mine for later development. Even thought the canyon was named after them they did not become wealthy financially but reaped spiritual blessings of followning the prophet. President U gave this example talking about the fact that we can all claim the heritage of the pioneers who came to Utah even though we have no pioneer ancestors of our own. Also he pointed out that many ordinary people like me have contributed much to the building up of the kingdom of God on earth.

President Monsongave a beautiful prayer promising many blessings to those who will take the responsiblity to work in the temple and help in the work. I left with a renewed commitment to attend the temple.

President Bednar led the Hosannah shout and gave some good scripture references to document that the Hosannah shout is not unique to this dispensation. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to attend the dedication. One of the speakers challenged us to go home and write in our journals our feelings and thoughts about the dedication so I am trying to fulfull that commitment.

This week I started back to school on the 19th, with the beginning days of set up,. Where I just had surgery a week and a half ago and I am not supposed to be on my feet a lot I rented a scooter for the first month of school to use. It was fun learning how to use it but I am still apprehensive about how much problems it might cause in my classes. But I made it the three days and I am prepared for tomorrow.

Larry's birthday was on Friday and everyone at his work decorated his workstation so he brought some of it home and decorated the house for me, he said, even though it was his birthday. He is so thoughtful. We went to dinner at the Asian Buffet that he likes and then attended another session of the Churches addication Recovery program. Larry and I are excited to maybe do a full time mission in that area. He told the Bishop today that we wanted to apply. We went to bed fairly early after talking to a candidate for Greg Bell's senate seat that was seeking our vote because we are county delegates.

Friday night Erick replaced my faucet in the kitchen that has been leaking for far too long. That was nice to have done and then on Saturday he replaced a lot of door knobs so we can lock the doors to various rooms if we don't want people in them. That was the present we got from he and Heather along with the fact that they are preparing a birthday dinner for the August birthdays and not letting us help. It is nice to have them here. They also organized the party which was a big help with school starting.

Heather was called to Young Women today as a Mia Maid instructor so the Lord has not taught her all that she needed to know there. She just thought she was being released because she moved.

Well, I will write more later.

This has been a very frustrating summer for me. I had two surgeries. The first one was having the bunnions on my feet removed July 29th. I thought that would be a breeze because of the way the Dr. talked about it but it was very painful and I had so many things planned that I felt like a zombie all through July. My feet are finally starting to recover, then last Wednesday I had a bladdar repair and I was anticipating feeling very bad again and I feel relatively normal but I am not supposed to lift anything over 5 lbs. and I need to stay off of my feet. Feeling as good as I do I know that I am going to have a hard time keeping to that restriction. But I am glad that I feel good because school starts for teachers on Wednesday August 19th and so I need to bounce back quickly. No more zombie days for me.

I have been trying to get myself to write a little every night on this blog but generally I remember after I have gone to bed and I am tired. I need to figure something out. There are so many things I would like to record on a daily basis.

Erick and Heather moved in with us last week. They are living in the basement while she does her student teaching. It has been good to have them but I also feel frustrated because she is doing a lot right now with my surgery and I feel like a lazy daisy doing hardly anything.

BJ came down on Friday night and is staying because of Reserve training this weekend. I forgot to tell Erick and Heather he was coming so when they woke up to all the lights on downstairs they freaked out for a minute until they discovered that it was B.J. When he came the house was dark and he just went downstairs then I could not sleep so I got up and was reading in the recliner. He came up later and said that everyone seemed to be waking up. It was a crazy night. He went home tonight but then he and Holly will be down to go to Lagoon for military day tomorrow. They almost have their house in Providence, Utah built and are living with Holly's parents until they can move in there.

Maren and Landon went to California this week to work. Maren being so pregnant has not had a good time sleeping and Guage is not sleeping well either so it has not been the best trip that they have had from reports back. They will be home tomorrow evening.

Michelle and her kids went to Tacoma to visit Jeff and Misty and thier family. Daniel had to stay home and work. She said that it was a great visit but it is a long drive.

Kirsten and Jon had all the kids for two weeks when Kyle came home but now they are back to winter schedule of having the girls on Thursday's and every other weekend. She was excited to find out that her baby was a girl. Everything seems to be going okay but she is swelling a lot. Kyle has been mowing our lawn for us lately and that really helps out.

Jake is working nights right now in Moab so he doesn't have to leave on Sunday like he did before. Lexie starts school tomorrow so they have been busy getting her ready for school. They are thinking about getting a dog lately so we will see.

Jeff and Misty are enjoying cooler weather lately. Misty is having fun taking care of the kids and staying at home. Leah starts school the day after labor day so she has a while yet. Jeff has to wait until January before he gets more personal time off so they are not traveling a lot. The boys are being boys.

Nathan and Sara made it home okay and they are settling in. David decided that he wanted to go to public school so they are going to let him try it. Nathan is looking for something part time and dreaming of moving back to Utah so maybe we could all pray for them that it would work out.

Yesterday was the John Thacker reunion in Kaysville but I could not go because of my surgery. Kathy and Mom gave me a report and said it was fun. They said that Uncle Ralph looked better than he has for a while. They had to move it indoors because of the rain the night before so it was at a church rather than the park.

Erick and Heather went to Seth Jenkins's mission farewell and said it was good. Seth both talked and sang. They had a good time visiting with family after the meeting and came back with a good report.

Grandma Jenkins is feeling better with physical therapy. She said she is feeling more like cooking again. I think that she is trying to please Grandpa too because she said that he did not like some of the food they had on meals on wheels like enchiladas (crazy Grandpa)

We had Aunt Judy here for three weeks in July and had a good visit with her. We went to the Family History Conference at BYU the last week in July and learned some things about how to overcome "brick walls" in family history. Judy went to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and was able to find some information on a "brick wall" they had with a John Wall from Ireland. She was also great to help me with the grandkids that came over. She is really good with kids.

Nathan and Sara and the kids were also here in July and we had a pretty wild house while they were here because the other brothers and sister were here also to visit. We also went to the Michaelson reunion during that time and had a good visit there.

We had bouts of being without water for three days (right after my first surgery)and being without power this summer which made us appreciate the many conveniences that we have but Larry wants to run for Kaysville city council to get something done about the power. Ha,Ha.

Actually, Larry is enjoying not having to go to school and being finished with his MBA. We are contemplating a part time mission but have nothing definite yet. We went to Disneyland the first part of July with Maren and Landon and their kids and it was fun but because I was in a wheelchair definately a pressure on Larry to push me all the time, so we are taking it slow.

Hopefully I will keep my commitment to write more often. If not then you will have what you have.

Well it looks like I am averaging about one post per month. Not a great average but I am hoping to improve. I decided that I would post on my blog before I checked email or facebook.

We had a good 4th of July. Because of my Bunnion surgery on Tuesday we did not go to any parades or stuff in the morning. I tried to keep the ice on my foot until evening when we had a barbecue and several people over including, Maren and Landon and family, Jimmy and Shelley and family, Evan and Shirley; Maren's in-laws; and their son Jared, Michelle and Daniel and their kids and Kirsten and Jon with no family because their kids were all with their ex's. There was tons of food but just as everyone showed up the power went out so we were glad that we were grilling. The power stayed off all evening and came on about 2:30a.m. We joked that the city probaby took the backup generator for the fireworks music. About 9:30 p.m. just before the city fireworks we all went in to get dessert and use bathrooms. At that point we found out that we had very little water pressure and it has not come back. No other neighbors have a problem so we have a plumber coming tomorrow. It was an intereseting 4th but we had a good time and the grandkids had fun with thier fireworks.

I iced my feet only once this morning and then went to church. I iced them when I got back but they are still purple in several places tonight. They actually looked good this morning so I don't know if that is normal or if I overdid. They looked really good this morning.

Michelle and Daniel and the kids, and Maren and Landon and the kids came over tonight and helped us to eat some of the food that was left over from last night. It was good to have them here and talk with them and the kids. Maren and Landon were both realy tired and Landon had a headache. Larry was worried about how it would work out with the water low but we had water stored in the food room so we made punch and washed with that and it worked out.

Larry had his last test on Thursday and it looks like the stomach problem he had was an ulcer. He is takeing stuff for that and seems to be doing okay but he is so self-sacrificing he would not tell me until he was dying. He has been good help with my feet. I felt really stupid because I did not understand from the doctor how painful the first three days would be and I literally had to get other people to help Larry with his test. Michelle took him in and brought him home. Then Maren had to take me and him to the doctor about my foot because he couldn't drive. Erick and Heather helped out with my surgery but Larry ended up coming because he was able to get off work early.

My Mom fell and is slowly recovering. She has an MRI tomorrow to see about a crushed disk. She is still hoping it is something like internal bruising.
She said that my cousin Nancy had a heart attack so I need to call Aunt Marva about that.

Nathan is coming around the 15th of July and Judy, Larry's sister is coming on the 21st. We are going to Disneyland with Maren and Landon and thier kids on Thursday so it will be a busy July.

When I was reading Nikki's blog she mentioned a funny thing Ashton had said and it reminded me of something Brinlie said this week that I thought was cute. She was pulling baby's breath off of a bouquet in my living room. She came and said, "look Grandma roses." I told her that they were not roses they were Baby's Breath and she looked at me and said, "Gauge breath?" Her baby brother is name Gauge for anyone who does not know.

We went to Hailee's dance recital tonight at the Val Browning Center at Weber State. It is always a nice show and Hailee did a good job. She looked very pretty. I took a picture but I am too tired to upload it.

Michelle is very sick with some virus that has settled into her joints and is very painful. If you could remember her in your prayers I am sure she would appreciate it.

I am tired but it feels good. I don't get enought physical exercise and I just worked in the yard for about 4 hours. BJ came and helped with some of the yard and got me started. He also did an oil change on the mower. Kyle came to mow the lawn so I stayed outside with him and it is starting to look better. Erick and Heather have come the last two Thursday's and helped to get things weeded and the sprinklers fixed. And before that Maren and Landon came and helped with the trampoline and the back patio. We may be able to stay in the neighborhood after all. It feels good to have the time and the energy to work in my yard.

Thursday I got my diploma from the University of Utah so I am now offically graduated with my Master's in Educational Psychology!!!!!

This week has been a busy week. I had my final presentation in HCI(Human Computer Interacttion) on Wednesday. Then on Thursday we had our final Capstone Presentation for our Project. It is on www.junepresser.com for a while if you are interested. It is a revision of the Utah Center for Reading and Literacy website. If you want to compare the original with the revision it is still up at www.ucrl.utah.edu. I still have one more paper to finish this week. My graduation is on Friday the 8th of May. Larry graduated yesterday. We had a fun day with the graduation and then we met with some family members to eat at Settebellos. I am really proud of Larry and his accomplishments. In the afternoon we went to Abbie's first birthday party. We were late for the food but got in on the presents and Abbie eating her birthday cake.
Larry and I enjoyed sleeping in today because we have 1:00 p.m. church. We had a great fast and testimony meeting. We have just been by ourselves studying and working on projects this afternoon. Erick and Heather came over for a blessing for Erick for school just a few minutes ago. It was good to see them. I talked to Maren for a few minutes and found out they made it back from Las Vegas last night late so the was a relief. They were sad because they could not make it home yesterday.

Well, the Wasatch Front in Utah got a major snow storm today. We had six inches when we woke up. We had to go find our boots because we didn't know where they were. It has been so nice up until last week. A real Indian Summer in the 40's and 50's. But that is now past. Erick and Heather are praying that the storm dumps everything before Friday so that we can travel to Manti in relative safety. And Erick wants it not snowing for pictures.

BJ is here right now and he says that he made several 360 degree turns on his way to Reserve from Logan today with the snow coming down. He feels like he was protected somehow. Holly had to work tonight so he is alone. They had a Christmas party yesterday with Holly's family and BJ took 5 finals this week but is finally finished with this semester at USU.

I finished up my class on Thursday with a final presentation that we had to give to the class. It felt good to get it finished. I now have to finish putting in grades and get the final things finished for Erick's wedding on Saturday. It was midterm this week also and I had to have midterm grades in at the same time I was working on my final project so I felt like all I did was work on something. Plus we are sewing this term and I have to trade classes for the first 4 periods and it is just stressful.

Larry is moning because he always has class. As soon as he finishes one class another one starts. That is how U of Phoenix gets everyone through so fast.

Erick and Heather have everything ready for the wedding. They just came buy to visit with BJ and us.

Yesterday Larry and I went shopping for a few minutes and ended up taking several hours. We found out that you cannot buy black paper portfolios that he needed to get for choir for the Christmas program. Larry went to about 12 stores and they did not have them and one store told us they do not make them any more. I don't know why. I had to get some things for school and that went pretty fast. Then we went to Mervyn's for their going out of business sale. I got a cute purse for $10.00.

Well I just remembered that we forgot Matthews birthday this week with all our stress. So I better go and get something ready to send.

Sara's mom, Gail Roberts, passed away today. Nathan called about 2:30 p.m. our time and said that Sara had just called. I am so relieved for Sara and for Gail but I know that Sara will have a big hole in her life for a while because they have been so close. Gail was one of the best people I know. She had a zest for life and was always fun to be around. I will miss her. We had some good talks and I appreciated her strong testimony of the gospel that will sustain her family now.

I didn't realize that it has been so long since my last post. Larry is feeling better now. He thinks that maybe he had a reaction to the flu shot he got the day before. I know I felt kind of a low grade congestion for about two weeks after mine.

I guess I did not post on the first week in November because we had a family birthday party for the November birthday's which was Kirsten's. We had a good time eating cheesecake and dinner. Everyone was able to come except Jake and Nikki's family. Jake had guard that weekend.

Yesterday we went to a shower hosted by Heather's family for Erick and Heather. The got a lot of groceries and we were able to meet some of Heather's friends and family. I also was able to see their apartment. They finally found one in East Layton. Erick has moved into the apartment until the wedding so they are a little closer. He still needs someone to take his old apartment if you know someone who needs and apartment in Bountiful that is a guy.

Friday I tended Brinlie and Gauge while Maren and Landon went Christmas shopping. Brinlie was not happy when I had to hold Gauge. She kept saying. I love you Grandma, which is her way of saying I need your attention Grandma. Maren and Landon got stuck in traffic along the way home and did not make it until about 11:30 p.m. Erick and Heather came by and I was glad to see them. They helped me with the kids until they came. Larry had gone to bed early not feeling well because he forgot to take his medicines.

School has been hectic the past two weeks. I am teaching the clothing section of CTE Introduction and for that I have to trade to the sewing classroom for the first 4 periods. It is hard for me to stay organized when I am constantly switching back and forth. I don't have a TA this semester but I have a girl that is doing service hours for her church program that comes each day and that has helped some.

Larry switched to a new position in Customer Service at Discover so he is moving up but it really changed our schedule. He now has to be to work at 6:00a.m. every morning so he cannot take me to work. I tried carpooling for a couple of weeks and we were hoping to get the Infinity fixed but it is still not driveable so Landon's dad let me borrow their old Taurus for a few weeks until we can work something out. It is getting me where I need to go but the speedometer, the gas gauge, and the seat belts do not work so it is an adventure everytime I go somewhere in it. It has really helped Larry to be able to go home when he gets off work and not have to wait for me. But we don't see each other as much as we would like now.

Nathan got me to sign up for Facebook a long time ago but I have not done anything with it until the last two weeks. One of the guys in my University Class had everyone send me a friend request in class and several of my friends found me so I am now addicted to Facebook. It is a fun way to know what is going on with people and only have to go to one site.

Last Saturday my family gave Heather a shower and they were able to get some appliances and towels and other things on their registrations so they were excited about that. Also Kathy made the traditional quilt for them that we quilted at the shower. It was a fun time and I appreciate the fact that Kathy is the glue that holds our family together.

We are doing a project for Huntsman Cancer Center for our class project at the University of Utah. We have to design a class for families to help them understand how to deal with chemotherapy. It has been an interesting project.

Jacob is contemplating accepting a new job in two places. Plus he has some military job opportunities. He would like everyone to pray for him that he can have a clear mind and recognize the opportunities that would be best for his family.

Grandpa Jenkins is not feeling very good. He had a problems with his chest and has not been able to get feeling better. He probably could use your prayers also. But he would never tell you that.

Well Erick and Heather just came so we are going to eat cheesecake.

It has been a busy week. Yesterday I went to Relief Society Super Saturday with Maren and we make a vinyl lettering tile with the saying, "Christ is the center of our home, A guest at every meal, A silent listener to every conversation." (I have always liked Michelle's.) Maren made a flower bow for Brinlie's hair and I made a watch with a beaded band. It was fun. Brinlie enjoyed the nursery so much she did not want to go home.

Before that I went to a garage sale that I heard about on the FACS listserve from the state. They were selling fabric that a lady had collected that has now passed away. I bought three boxes full of fabric for my students projects for $115.00. I could not believe that one women had collected so much fabric. Their were two garages full of boxes.

When I got home Larry was not feeling well. He was nauseated and had a headache and said he felt like his eyeballs were going to pop out. I was concerned because of his diabetes and after listening to him I decided to call the doctor and take him in. They did not have lab facilities on Saturday so after checking him out the doctor suggested that I take him to the ER. After 5 hours of tests and two bags of fluids because he was dehydrated, they decided that he had a virus and sent him home. He had a really rough night last night with diarrhea but after being on a liquid diet for 24 hours he is starting to eat the BRAT(Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast) diet and feels a little better.

Needless to say I went to church alone today. It was Tyler Wall's welcome home speech. He just returned from a mission in Bulguria. He said that people are really suspious of the missionaries there and often not really kind so they are trying to show charity to them by serving them so that they can see that we have good intentions. The theme of the meeting today was Charity. He talked about some of the challenges he had and pointed out that he had learned as it says in D&C 82:10,the Lord is bound to help you if you do what he says. One of the things he learned was that he could love his companion no matter what with the Lord's help. He talked about a rainy day that they decided to go out and track even though it meant that they would get soaked. About half way up in the building they were in they found someone who would listen to the message and got excited about it. He felt like it was a blessing for doing what they were supposed to do. He mentioned that he was in a singing group that toured the mission for a while introducing new hymns that had been translated into Bulgarian and what a powerful influence for good music can be in helping others to feel the spirit.

The have a primary song this year in the presentation that really is inspirational, I think. It is called, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" by Sally DeFord.

Rod Page talked for a few minutes and introduced the way he likes to think of Charity. Moroni defines charity as the pure love of Christ. Rod suggested that we think of it as, "Charity is loving like Christ." I thought that was a good idea for implementing Charity in our lives. He also quoted Pres. Hinckley, "Security lies in the virtue of our lives." and "Try a little harder to be a little better."

Last Monday after school, I worked on homework I had for my class. I was working on a document on Google Docs with Jennie Hogle. We had to give a presentation on a chapter in our book about developing Problem Solving lessons. I also had to read an article and then comment online on some questions about the article. Larry was at his class.

Tuesday I worked on some of the homework again but before we got home Larry and I went to get some of his prescriptions and decided to try and vote early. We went to the Layton Library and the line was completely around the inside of the library. They said it was a 35 minute wait and we decided it was not worth the wait that night. I think it was Tuesday that I was reading my email and got an invitation from Nikki to be her friend on Facebook. I went in to confirm that I would be her friend and ended up spending about a half hour there doing things and chatting with Nathan who was also on line.

Wednesday I had students staying after school until 4:00 p.m. work off their U's for citzenship. Then I had an insurance meeting to attend at the district. Maren and I had talked about going to the YMYW Halloween Carnival that they were sponsoring for the Primary kids but I almost forgot and when I called Maren she was in Salt Lake so we didn't go. I had also talked to Kirsten about going but I could not get hold of her on the phone so I guess that means they decided not to go.

Thursday was my class. Larry went with me. He did not want to drive home even though the traffic has been wonderful ever since Legacy opened. The presentation went okay but I was not feeling estatic about it. Larry got bored and went somewhere else after about two presentations.

Friday I was hoping to work on recording papers but Larry and I were so tired we went to bed at about 8:15 p.m. after eating at Taco Time. I thought I might get something done on Saturday but we already know that did not happen so I am going to have to work harder this week because it is the end of the term.

Nathan just called and said that they have some cute pumpkins on Sara's blog so I guess I will go look at those.

It has been a beautiful weekend in Utah. They call it Indian Summer. It was in the 60's and 70's all weekend and at the end of the week. Today is really a beautiful day.

We had ward conference at church today. They changed one of the counselors in our bishopric and put him in a Stake position so we got a new counselor, Steve Savage. It is interesting because on Fast Sunday his wife told of how they had gone back to Missouri and interviewed for his dream job but he did not feel that he should accept it after praying about it, even though he did not presently like his job. They came back to Kaysville and within a week he was called by a company in Farmington about moving there. It was a job he liked and he was able to switch. I thought it was an amazing story in and of itself but now that he has been called to the bishopric it shows even more that the Lord will support you if you put your trust in him.

The Bishop talked today about being prepared for every NEEDFUL thing. He pointed out several statements by the prophets that have pointed towards what we need to do. He empasized the talk by President Hinckley where he talked about the dream that Joseph interpreted for the Pharoah about the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine. He point out that the Prophet admonishing us to get our houses in order at that time has proved once again that it pays to listen to the Prophet and follow his counsel. He also talked about Providentliving.org and admonished us with the Stake President to go to the website and find one thing that we can work on to get further prepared. I wrote down three quotes from others that he mentioned but I did not get who said them all. Elder Scott asked,"Do you fill your life with good things at the expense of essential things." Choose carefully and try not to choose it all. If we live wisely and providently we will be as safe as in the palm of his hand.

The theme of the conference was D&C 38:30, "I tell you these things because of your prayers; wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." President Heard said that he had read all of the scriptures in the Topical Guide on wisdom and he felt that they basically fell into Three categories. 1. The great and limitless wisdom of our father. 2. The need for us to develop wisdom. 3. How to develop that wisdom. He mentioned that the way to develop wisdom from the scriptures was to Read the Scriptures daily, Pray often daily, ask for wisom in our prayers, and do what we can to draw nearer to the Savior. He will bear us up through all things. I know this is true. I have tried for nearly 20 years now to constantly apply these things in my life and I am not perfect but I have developed wisdom and understanding beyond what I could do on my own. Heavenly Father has helped me to do the things he has asked me to do beyond my capacity and I know he lives and guides the Prophet today.

Obviously it was a good meeting.

Yesterday was a fun day. I had to work at the Family History Center from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Jake and Nikki has asked me to tend Abby while they went to Lagoon. Holly was here while BJ went to reserve so she tended her while I was at the FHC. When I got home she was asleep so I was able to get some homework done for about 2 hours. Holly was taking a test. Erick came over in the afternoon and worked on cleaning out the pond for winter. It was such a nice day that I mentioned that I would have to mow the lawn when Abby left. Holly said she would tend Abby so I went out and mowed while Larry edged and pruned and a few other things. It looks so much better. Maren and the kids came over just as Jake and Nikki were picking up Abby. BJ came home from reserve about the same time. It was a fun half hour when everyone was here.

BJ gave Ashton a Ninja headband from when he was in Asia. Ashton came in saying,"I can't wear this I'm not a guy" We all laughed be cause he is a boy but I think he meant that he wasn't an adult.

Brinlie was sad because we took down the trampoline for the winter. When it was starting to come apart she came over and said, "What you doing?"in a very confused voice. Then she said, "I need to jump" Later she brought me some yellow chrysanthmums she had picked and said,"Look Grandma, sunshine flowers!"

Erick and Heather came over a little later and visited before they went to Kirsten and Jon's for dinner and then they came back after. They were having a ball teasing and playing with Brinlie.

Friday I had off of school because of UEA or Fall break as they call it in Davis District. Larry worked until about 4:00 p.m. I worked most of the day on Homework. I had promised to have Kirsten and their family over for dinner for Brooke's birthday but I ended up taking it to their house because they were working on getting a new roof on the house. Friday they took the old shingles off and then they were working on it yesterday. Jake came up to help for a while so we were able to see him that night also. I was excited because I fixed a roast and it turned out perfectly. Something that would not have happened without my new stove.

BJ and Holly came down on Friday evening and spent some time at Maren and Landon's and then we stayed up late putting on patches on his uniform. He had a new work uniform and he had to put a different rank on his dress blues because he had a rank advancement. It was fun to talk to them but I did not get up early enough on Saturday for what I needed to do.

Thursday I spent part of the day working on my school website. Larry had to work again also. Maren came and got me in the afternoon and I rode with her to the beauty supply in Bountiful so I could stay in the car with the kids, after they fell asleep from riding, while she went in. When we got back I went to Maren's and she painted my fingernails. I tried to call Larry about three times to come and get me on his way home. Finally I decided to let Maren take me home because I did not know when he would come. When I got home he was already home and mopping the kitchen floor. He had his phone on vibrate and couldn't feel it.

Tuesday and Wednesday I stayed home from school with a bad sore throat and aches and chills. When I felt like it I worked on my scope and sequence for Foods and Teenliving. We watched the debate between the presidental candidates Wednesday night also. Larry came down with the same thing on Wednesday so we just rested together. It seemed to pass fairly quickly. Maren said she felt like she had it on Saturday when she came over.

Monday was a good day at school. I felt like a lot got accomplished. I went home earlier than usual after school with Dan McClure because Larry had school. I worked on school and the blog. I think I also worked on reconcilling the check book and trying to figure out where we were there, but I may have worked on that another day this week.

I think I reported what happened on Sunday last week in the last posting but if not it is lost to humanity. I know that some of the kids were over but that is all I remember.

Michelle and Daniel and Jeff and Misty are both taking their families to California this weekend. They are visiting with Marie and vacationing. Maren was going to go but they have decided to go the 28th through the 30th with Landon's family. BJ and Holly had planned to go but they went to Park City to celebrate their 1st Anniversary instead. Erick had thought about going but he is now busy trying to go to school and prepare to get married. He and Heather had their pictures taken on Friday afternoon. Amanda said that they should be posted after Monday and they are not locked so you all can see them sometime this week on her website. Just Google Amanda Hadlock.

I feel very rushed tonight. I have been working on a test for UTIPS, the online testing service that Utah has and I finally have that finished for my class tomorrow. But I started about 4:30p.m. so it took longer than I wanted it to. I had to go in and make a post on the class I took on webpages for the district and now I am here. I wanted to post here because I had some things I wanted to say but I also was hoping to get more of my Scope and Sequence up on my school website for Teenliving and Foods. If you want to see my school website it is at www.davis.k12.ut.us/staff/dpresser/

Brooke had a birthday party at Classic Skating last Saturday so Larry and I went to that. Jake and Nikki were there with their family and a lot of Jon's family. They had rented the Karoke room and the kids enjoyed the singing and laser tag before we left. Larry enjoyed the BYU Football game on big screen the most. They had Pizza and drinks and cake and ice cream complete with Halloween spiders and dracula teeth. My cousin Kimo was there with his family as we got there so it was fun to see him. He has several children who live around here even though he is still in Mona.

Saturday morning we went to part of Ethan and Jaron's soccer games. It was really raining at Ethan's but it wasn't too bad at Jaron's. It started raining and then snowing after that. Sunday morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow. It has dramatically cooled off, too. Today it was really cool at the school because the district does not want to turn the boilers on because it might get hot again (which is what the weatherman was predicting tonight for next weekend.)

Friday Night we went with Maren and Landon to their stake's production of "Savior of the World". It was wonderful. I have never been to a stake production that had so much talent. Everyone who sang had such a wonderful voice. Shelly Coray was the music director for the production so that is one reason that Kimo was up this way. They were at the production also. Jimmy was also in the production. They both did a fabulous job. Maren said that Shelley was also involved in the hair design, she is a beautician like Maren. Maren and Landon had to leave a little early because Brinlie had had enough but they got to see most of it.

My class this semester is on Thursday's so I was busy there. Larry came home to work on homework and I went home on the Trax and Frontrunner. It worked out well so I was happy. We are working on a project for the Huntsman Cancer Center to help patients understand their chemotherapy in my class this time so I am getting some experience in the real world of IDET.

Wednesday I had Parent Teacher Conferences. Larry had homework to work on so he came and picked me up after. I should have had them on also on Thursday but I was able to take off for my class and leave notes for the parents on how to contact me. The conferences went well but it was a long day.

Tuesday Larry worked on Homework and I worked on grades for Parent Teacher Conferences so everything would be up to date. I was up quite late getting it all done but felt good that I could face parents with everything caught up.

I have decided that while I am alone on Monday evenings I will do something that will help me keep in contact with my children and grandchildren on Monday evenings. Sometimes lately Maren and Landon have invited me to be with them on Monday's but last Monday I spent the evening finally getting everything ready for Misty's birthday (which was August 28th so there is nothing slow about me.) I also prepared some things for Leah's birthday which was that night, Oct. 6th, but then I didn't get it to the post office until Saturday. I tried to call Leah but no one was answering so they were probably out having fun.

Last Saturday and Sunday was General Conference for the LDS Church. It was really a good conference to listen to and I told you last week that some of the kids came for dinner that evening.

Yesterday was a good day at church. Rigo Gutierrez was one of the speakers. He told how his Mom was converted to the church when she was a young lady in Mexico. She came from a family of about 15, I think he said, and they were very poor. She was the only member of the church in her family and she wanted to go on a mission. The missionaries contacted church headquarters (this was in the 1950's)and a man named John Vernald agreed to support her on her mission. He lived in Garland,Utah. He did not know Rigo's mom and he was not a wealthy man. He worked as a postal worker. After her mission she was able to come to Utah to meet the family and she stayed with them for 2 or 3 years. Finally she went back to Mexico and they lost contact for a few years. Several years later the Vernald's went to Mexico to find her and found her with her husband and young child and pregnant with her second which was Brother Gutierrez. They were not in the best of circumstances so he helped them move into an apartment in a better part of town and paid for them to live there for a year. He also bought the husband the tools he needed to be a mechanic. Many years later they heard that he was dying of cancer so Rigo's mom went up to see him. She also died shortly after that of cancer. I am not sure if Rigo met him then or if there was one more tripp before that. Mr. Vernald showed him a little about how to play the organ. He wrote the words for the Hymn "For Homes of Saints Glad Songs Arise". Rigo sang the song in tribute to this wonderful man whom he described as an "Angel" to their family. It made me realize that we can do more to help others go on missions and to reach their potential.

Brother David Whittaker told about his great-grandfather who was born as the illegitimate son of a upper middle class lady in England. The father was off to war and did not know he had a son until 7 years later. The mother taught him many things but kept him at home in the back yard. She taught him two languages and many more things. He was talented at art and seemed very well educated but he eventually ran away and stowed away on a ship because he felt like he was not wanted because of the stigma of being born illegitimate at that time. He went around the world for several years and then settled in Tahiti for several years and married his first wife there. He eventually ended up in San Francisco and then joined the church and came to Utah. He settled in Centerville and became a farmer with several polygamist wifes. Anyway his son and Dave's dad were farmers. Dave's dad, Olene, owned much of the land that our ward is situated on. He bought the land with his brother and when his brother died he raised not only his own nine children but his brothers 6 as well. He pointed out that through service to others you learn to love others and draw closer to the Lord as well.

The meeting ended with the song "A PoorWayfarring Man of Grief" I noticed as I sang it that each time the person had to sacrifice something for someone else of substantial consequence before the blessing he sought came back to him. I have made a commitment to be of better service to others after listening to this meeting. I love the Lord and want to do all that I can to help others find the happiness of the restored Gospel.

Last night Maren and Landon and kids, and Erick and Heather came came for dinner. Maren had given us a winter squash and so we cooked it and shared it. Larry wanted meatballs so I fixed those with baked potatoes. I made a cherry cobbler with the cherries off our tree. We had a good time visiting and talking and playing "Apples to apples" Heather has her official ring now and it is very pretty.

Well I hope everyone is having a great week. I know this will be a better week for me. There are only three days of school this week. I love school but it is always nice to have some time off.

It has been an eventful month since I last wrote. Larry started not feeling well the first part of September. When he finally went to the doctor it was his Gall Bladder. After several tests, he had it removed on September 18th. Despite what the doctor told us, that he was not to eat meat or spicy foods for several days, we went to a barbecue that we had signed up for before this started. It was wonderful food but Larry paid for it all night long after. He thought he could convince the doctor to let him go back to work on the 23rd but the Doctor would not release him until Oct. 1 so he is starting to feel better. I think the fact that it is now an outpatient surgery gives him the feeling that he should feel fine like he did after some of his tests. He is feeling pretty good the last few days and has a hard time staying down so there are lots of areas of the house that he is cleaning.

We went to Vernal on Friday for Weston Hadlock's wedding to Deanna Schroeder. It was very nice. The wedding was in the Vernal temple and then they had a wedding luncheon at the Glines Stake center after. Annette and Rex had worked hard and their yard was wonderful. They had the reception in their back yard that evening from 5-7:00 p.m. so we were able to drive back home that evening. It was fun to see family and friends in Vernal. I was also excited to find out that they had several things in common like fishing and basketball.

My seventh grade students did the restaurant simulation this week and the 9th grade foods class did the two day lab where they roast vegetable and I make a roast to talk about proper methods of meat defrosting. It is kind of like Thanksgiving dinner. So I had several nights when I was up late trying to get everything done. Then on Thursday I had to get ready for a sub for Friday and Monday because of Weston's wedding and I had signed up for a website class with the district.

Sara has some cute pictures of the boys on her blog. Nathan said that she is not feeling well lately. She has back problems and is tired a lot. Nathan was really tired too.

Michelle is the Primary President in her ward and we went there to see the Children's sacrament meeting presentation. The ward did a nice job and Hailee and Ethan and Jaron knew there parts well. A week ago Saturday both Jake and Nikki and Michelle and Daniel and their families came to visit and pick peaches. We has a good time talking and laughing.

Nikki has a new blog but I forgot the name so I will have to ask her when it is not so late. Abby is really growing. Jake is back working days.

Misty has some great stories on her blog and pictures about their trip to Kansas and a trip to a beautiful waterfall. Leah has started Kindergarten and is going all day.

We went last night and met Heather's mom and dad, Dan and Wendy Farley. We had a good talk and they seem to be really nice people. Heather is going to be a good addition to our family. We do not see Erick anymore. He is busy with work and school and Heather.

BJ is busy with school. He has been frustrated lately but that is all part of school. They were out to Vernal to the wedding so we had some time to be with them. They want us to come to the BYU vs USU game on Friday and of course BJ is cheering for BYU.

Maren and Landon and the kids came over tonight for family home evening. We started tying a quilt that they have been trying to get done for about two years now, so she is related to her mom. Brinlie always wants to see the little seal story on Dad's website so we read that for her. Gauge was in a better mood today over yesterday.

Well, I have stayed up much to late for when I am teaching school but at least I have written something on the Blog.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 60th wedding anniversay by inviting all who could go to go through a temple session with them and then they had a dinner at Kathy church that everyone brought something to but was mostly catered by Kathy. The picture is of those who were there at the temple with them.

We had a good weekend. It was my birthday Saturday and we went to a shower for Weston Hadlock's fiancee Deanna Schroeder. They had a birthday cake for me also and sang happy birthday. Dad and I took time out and went to a open house to see Ray Davidson, a friend of his from when I was little. He used to read a story with so much expression that I still have a soft spot in my heart for him.

Mom and Dad gave Larry and I some money for our birthdays so we went to the Melting Pot Restaurant in Salt Lake City. We spent way too much money for one meal but it was so fun for the two of us to have an intimate dinner of Fondue.

When we got home Maren and Landon came over and gave me a blouse and skirt that they had picked out and Larry a classic movie. It was fun to have them over.

Then Erick and Heather came home and announced that they were planning on getting married on December 20, 2008 in the Manti Temple. We were all so excited because we approve of the match. Erick was lined up with Heather by his step-sister Michelle.

The first picture is a picture of Abby taken on Friday. The second picture is Maren and Guage on his blessing day. The third picture is of Ashton on the trampoline.

We just arrived home after Gauge Even Gentile's baby blessing. He was blessed by his father Landon. There was a lot of family on either side there for the event. Landon and Maren had a luncheon at Landon's parents for all those that attended. The grilled hamburgers and polish sausage and hot dogs. There was lots of fruit and salads and cake's and treats. It was a fun day for everyone to be together. It was a good day and did not rain but it has been hot. Evan and Shirley's house was air-conditioned so that helped. They had set up several shade maker's outside on the patio so that was nice also.

All of the brothers and sisters that are close here in Utah were there except Jake. Jake had an emergency appendectomy a week ago last Friday and was recovering from that when he became ill this morning and started throwing up. He has been going to his Annual Training at Camp Williams this week and doing light duty but he got sick this morning at Camp Williams and had to come home. Nikki said they thought it was food poisoning. She came up with the kids for the blessing and then went immediately home. She said that Jake is feeling somewhat better and was able to eat something this evening and keep it down.

Holly was not able to come down because she had to work. BJ came down and was having fun with the kids. BJ called this week and was able to get a discount set up for Larry and I on our Verizon account through the school district. I appreciated his willingness to help us with that.

My phone has been a problem this week anyway. A week ago I dropped it in the dish water when I was talking to Kirsten. I got it out immediately and tried to get it dried out and we took the battery out. The next day it worked for a half a day and then it quit for good. Luckily it had insurance on it and I was able to order a new one but they were not able to retrieve any of my data from the phone so I am having to start over on everything. I am hoping that my pictures were saved from my card but I have not looked yet. They do not show on the phone so I am thinking that maybe they were not saved on there. I am learning the hard way that I need to back up data.

I finished up my Master's classes for the summer at the U of U. I was taking website design and Adobe Photoshop and Flash and Fireworks. I still have a lot to learn but I was able to start a website about Grandpa Jenkins's stories that he wrote and told to us as children. It is at www.larsejenkins.com. Grandpa seemed to be please with the beginnings of the website. Brinli and Ashton liked the Flash illustration of "The Little Seal". Brinli came in and asked me to read her the story yesterday and then after I read it she said,"I want to see Grandpa" so she has liked it.

Larry's sister Judy Trolinger was here for a week to visit last week. We went to the Genealogy Conference at BYU for four days. It was fun to have her here and get to know her better. I felt bad because both Larry and I had homework to do somedays to finish up our classes and so Judy studied the things from the conference while we did that. We were able to go to Temple Square one night and out to dinner with Michelle's family and we had most of the family over for dinner on Sunday the 3rd of August and had August birthday's while Judy was here. She got to go with me to Tooele to see Jake in the hospital so she got the tour of part of Utah and the Great Salt Lake.

Nathan and Sara are going to St. Louis, Missouri this week. Sara's brother Matthew is getting married this week and they are going for the wedding. David started school last Thursday so he will miss a week of school.

I went to Herriman and got Ashton on Friday and we went to a primary activity here in Kaysville that I had to go to and then he came home with me and jumped on the tramp and played with the kitty's and fed the fish. We had lunch and then Kyle came over about the time that we were leaving to take him back. He rode with us to pick up Larry from work and then we went to the park in Herriman that Ashton likes. We were able to visit with Jake and Nikki for a while and spend some time with them. Then we met Maren and Landon for dinner in Salt Lake City because the traffic was so bad going into Davis county because of construction.

Michelle and Daniel are home schooling their kids this year. They started school last week. The kids seem to like it and there is a lot of curriculum that is available to work with. They also went to Daniel's Uncle's cabin this weekend on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They are going to Yellowstone Park next weekend so they are getting in a lot of travel.

Jeff and Misty are busy with life. Jeff works everyday while the kids and Misty have explored some of the new parks. They have found a few that they really like. Leah starts kindergarten this fall around September 2nd or 3rd. They are growing up fast.

Kirsten and Jon are still fighting the custody battle with Jon's ex. Kirsten is working two jobs right now so is often stressed. She had a headache for three days last week. She ended up being sick for Stephen and Ashton's wedding. Kyle starts school in two weeks. School starts here on the 25th of August. He was excited Friday because he got the teacher he wanted.

Erick spends all of his time at Heather's or has Heather over here. He said the other night that she was a keeper because she liked onion rings but that is about as serious as he has got with us. He did go to Flaming Gorge with his ward on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He said that he had a good time learning to water ski while he was there but he came home early on Saturday.

I start preparing to teach school next week on the 18th and then like I said school starts on the 25th. The University of Utah starts that week also so I will have class on Thursday of that week. Erick will start then also. Landon has been accepted to Utah Valley University in an online aviation program but I don't know if he has started yet. Larry starts one class as soon as the next one is over. They have homework that they have to complete for the first day of class. A lot of it is online. He is taking a statistics class this time and is not enjoying it but he will survive.

They talked about the blessings of Family Home Evening in church yesterday. I decided that if Larry is gone on Monday's with class and Erick is usually at his ward family home evening that I could spend the time writing in the blog and keeping in contact with other family members.

Erick is actually downstairs watching a movie with a girl that Michelle lined him up with and he has now gone out with three times. He has been busy drawing deck plans in his spare time this week for Kirsten and Jon. They need to rebuild their deck on the back of their house that collapsed this spring. Erick also found a house to rent that is located in Bountiful. He will have two roommates from his ward. He is planning to move out around the 1st of September.

BJ is on his Annual Training somewhere on an island in the Indian ocean right now. He has been gone since the 5th of July. BJ is supposed to be home this Thursday but they are worrying about a tsunami near Singapore that may delay things. Holly is adjusting to a new nursing job.

Maren and Landon just got back from a trip to St. George and Las Vegas for work. She had the kids pictures taken in St. George and will be sending out announcements about Gauge Evan Gentile shortly. I thought she was really together (or crazy) taking a two week old baby on a trip. They let me use Maren's car while they were gone and I was able to get a few more places than usual. I was also able to get my homework done at their house because our computer was in the shop being repaired. They are talking this week about going to Idaho Falls for work. Maren says they stay in nice hotels and Brinlie can swim and play but I am getting old and tired and it sounds like a lot of work to me.

Kirsten and Jon are trying to get their deck rebuilt. They are still fighting a custody battle with Jon's ex-wife over the girls so they are spending a lot of time working on that. They could use your prayers for them. Kirsten is working a second transcription job so I don't know how she finds time for anything but they do like to go to the drive-in in Riverdale with Maren and Landon. They all went to see "Batman" this last weekend and liked it.

Jeff's birthday was last week on Friday. Larry talked to him and he sounded like he was doing well on his job. He took a lot of time off to help Grammy after her surgery so he doesn't have any leave until October he said. They just got back a couple of weeks ago from Kansas where Misty's brother was married around the 4th of July.

Jake and Nikki's new baby Abby is really growing. She has really filled out in the last two month's. They were all sick about a week an a half ago. We had a cousins slumber party at my house for all the cousins over seven years old and Lexie was not able to come because she got sick the morning of the party. They had high fevers. Jake is going on Annual training soon or has already gone. I forgot the dates they told me.

Michelle's family went to Bear Lake last week and had a good time. Michelle and Daniel went to Cayman Islands to celebrate their anniversary this year and left the kids with Daniel's brother and his wife. We had everyone over for June and July birthday's at the beginning of the month and Michelle's was one of them. Last week when they had the shower for Stephen's fiancee they took their kids to the This is the place state park and then Michelle and Hailee came down for the shower for a while.

Nathan called last night and was really tired. He had pulled a 24 hour shift during the week and was still dragging. He and Sara celebrated their wedding anniversary last week by going to "Batman" this weekend also.

Grandma's sister Hilda fell on a family outing and I think they said she ruptured a disk in her back. She will be down for about six weeks. I'm sure she could use our prayers. They said that after she fell she walked down a path from the picnic area they were in. That surprized me.

Weston Hadlock is engaged to a Deanna Schroder or Schrader. If I go back to the email from Annette then I will lose this so I will send you the email. They are getting married on the 26th of September. They are getting married in the Vernal Temple so put that on your calendars now and start planning for it.

Larry's sister Judy is coming up next week and we are going to attend the BYU Genealogy conference the 29th through August 1. We are excited to have her here and will probably have a family dinner so everyone can meet her.

I have been spending a lot of my time on a website I am building for Grandpa Jenkins's stories. Erick and I went down last night and got some pictures from Grandpa and then we got a video from Craig of Grandpa telling the little seal at the family Christmas party last November.

Larry has been really busy with his classes this summer. He stayed home last night so that he could work on his paper for his class tonight. He has a cold but seems to be weathering it pretty well.

We got central air conditioning for the house this summer and it has been a real blessing. Sometimes I get almost too cold.

We have had a busy weekend. Yesterday we went to Herriman to see our granddaughter, Lexie, baptized. Erick and I went and Larry had to work. It was a great service. Their were three girls from the ward that were baptized yesterday. BJ was asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. Jacob baptized Lexie and confirmed her. The three girls sang the song, "If the Savior stood beside me". Lexie is normally kind of shy but she sang out beautifully and not shyly. I love that primary song. Today we went down and Jacob blessed Abigail Dawn their new daughter. Nikki's sister's baby Natalie was also blessed at the same meeting. I felt like I should bear my testimony at the meeting even though it was not my ward. I started to say what I thought I should say but ended up saying some things that were dictated by the spirit about the blessings of having a son who is righteous. I sincerely meant it but it came from the spirit and I knew it was what I was supposed to say.

Both days we went to Nikki's Mom and Dad's house for something to eat after. Yesterday they had a barbecue and today they had meat trays with croissants with lots of yummy desserts. They have a lovely house with lots of luxuries. It is really a nice home. They have a good attitude though. I told Brent he had certainly been blessed and he replied, "Yes, I have lots of children and grandchildren."

Last night we went to see Hailee's dance recital. She had two yesterday but we were only able to go to the one in the evening. She did a jazz dance last night. It as a well produced recital with a theme that made it enjoyable to watch.

Maren and Landon were involved in the wedding of one of Landon's friends yesterday. They went to the wedding in the morning at the Salt Lake Temple and then to the wedding luncheon and then Maren was a bridesmaid and Brinlie a flower girl for the reception. Landon was stressed because he had to be dressed up all day. Brinlie ripped her dress so Maren was exhausted by the time the wedding was over.

Holly and BJ have been down staying with us. They went to Nate Cragun's wedding reception last night and had a good time seeing ward members. Then they went to see the new Narnia movie with Kirsten and Jon and Kyle. They were out until about 1:00 a.m. Even though they were able to sleep in today they were tired going to Herriman.

BJ got me a new phone last week. I have been trying to figure out what it will do. I got the VZ navigator that Verizon has for their phones and have had fun playing with it all week. I was suprised to find out yesterday that when you ask for directions to somewhere it functions like a GPS. So I have had great fun programming in where we need to go and watching it work.

Friday was the last day of school for our school. I was there until about 5:00 p.m. trying to finish up grades and fines they had to be in by Saturday so they could print and send out report cards. I still need to go back and finish checking out tomorrow but school is out. They are remodeling our school the next two years so it is going to be interesting how things work out.

Larry has been busy working on a paper that he needs to complete for his class tomorrow. He has to work with a team and each one does part of the report and then someone has to compile it all together. I laugh at him though. When I stay home to work on homework that is all I can focus on. He stayed home on Wednesday to work on his paper and when I got home he had done all the laundry and cleaned the kitchen. I teased him about it once and he said that he has to do something else to help him think. So I always like the days he has to work hard on school.

Erick hauled me around last Saturday and this Saturday too. He is also good to work on the yard and do other things around the house. He went on a date on Friday with a girl from his ward named Amber. They went on a hike up on the Ogden Canyon trails. He is trying to get in more dating with school out.

Kyle left to go to his dad's today for a month. He is getting so grown up for his eleven years. He came over this last week and had a trophy that he got for soccer and he had been to a team party at Jake's over the top.

I have been learning Dreamweaver 8 in my one class and Adobe Photoshop in my other class for school at the U of U this summer. I have classes on Tuesday and Thursday. Normally Larry comes and picks me up and then takes me to my class then I ride home with a classmate. On Tuesday he called me at 4:00 p.m. and said that he was stuck in traffic. I called Erick and Maren but they were committed to doing something with Erick's old friend Lynette. So I went out and got on the bus and rode down to Salt Lake. At that point I was picked up by Larry and got to class only 10 minutes late. On Wednesday I had an appointment at the U of U with a professor and because Larry had stayed home to work on his paper I tried riding the bus to Salt Lake and picking up the TRAX flex train to the U. I was about 50 minutes late for my appointment but I learned alot about TRAX. I then rode the TRAX back to downtown and took the new Frontrunner train to Davis county home. I could do all that for free because I am a student and can get a UTA pass at the U. It was a real adventure. The next day I took the bus and TRAX to the U of U for my class and got there early because I had learned what I needed to know to catch the right busses and trains so I didn't have to wait so long.

It was cold and rainy last weekend but it has gradually warmed up all week and today it was in the 90's part of the day on the car thermometer.

Well I have after lunch coma so I will finish for now.

I hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day.

Nathan called today and said that they were having warm weather and that they had banana peppers, tomatoes, jalapenos, corn, artichokes, and other things growing in pots at their house. The peppers and Tomatoes are getting ripe! I guess that is an advantage of living in the south. David was excited about the plants and that they had rearranged their house and he had a new room. Isaac told me about a "scary movie" they had gone to see. It turned out to be the new Indiana Jones movie that just came out. They had gone to a drive in. Sammie was not feeling very good today.

Maren and Landon, Kirsten and John and Kyle, and BJ and Holly went to the drive in here last night to watch Indiana Jones also so that must have been the thing to do in our family this week. We tended Brinlie and she was showing me the actions to "Popcorn popping on the Apricot tree." She also had a good time with Uncle Erick on the trampoline. She loves to do "Ring around the rosies" on the tramp.

BJ helped me get a new phone called the Flip phone through his work that I can take pictures with that are 3 megapixel. I spent the day yesterday trying to get that going and working on homework and talking to a sales person for air-conditioning. Erick was nice enough to take me around while Larry was at work.

I was really excited because 11 of 28 of my students passed the state foods test. That is the most I have had pass before in about 8 years of teaching. The average for the test is about 37% that pass with 80% or above so I am within the averages for the state.

Larry and Erick worked really hard in the yard and cleaned off the patic yesterday. It looks better but we have so much to do in the yard still. I am excited though because we are further along on our yard this year than we have ever been. It has been a cold rainy week so that has not helped.

Maren and Landon went to Roosevelt today to be with Landon's family and they passed the old house. They said there are 4 or 5 houses built in the field next to the house. She said that they are right over onto the property line so they look like they are almost on the house.

Jake and Nikki have a lot coming up. Lexie gets baptized at 10:00 a.m. on the 31st of May and then the next day they are going to be blessing Abby at 1:00 p.m.. They will have a dinner at Nikki's parents house because Nikki's sister Heather had a baby two weeks before her that is also going to be blessed.

Michelle and Daniel are going to a family party for his family tomorrow. They needed us to babysit Friday, I think to go to the temple, but we had already made plans to go see Paul so I did not get to talk to her kids this week. Hailee has a dance recital or competition coming up on Saturday I know.

Uncle Paul Christiansen got in a car wreck last week and broke his hip and femur. He has been in intensive care. Pauline said that they are also worried about some blood clots on his brain. I'm sure he could use all of our prayers. Larry and I went down on Friday to try to see him but he did not want to see us. Marcia had already left to go home so we talked to her on the phone. The trip was not wasted though because we had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins and had a good talk with them.

Tomorrow is Grandpa Jenkins's family reunion at Jay Neiderhausers in Heber. We are going there and Maren and Landon are meeting us. BJ and Holly are coming down to go with us and Erick is going. I don't know about the others.

They had some great talks today in Sacrament meeting on repentance. The pointed out that unless you have faith in Christ and turn to him you have not truly repented even thought you may have stopped what you are doing. I have found that turning to him for anything always turns out for the best. He is truly there and will answer your prayers if you will just ask.

Well it is past my bedtime. Have a good Memorial Day

This week I was able to catch up on alot of work at school. But last week was a really busy week. Thursday Jacob and Nikki's baby came a month early. She weighed 7 lbs. and 8 oz. and was 19 inches long. They are naming her Abigail Dawn. She is a cute thing. Nikki has some pictures on snapfish.

Last Friday Holly graduated with her associates from Weber in Nursing which apparently is what is an RN now. We went to her graduation on Friday and then went to Salt Lake to see the new baby.

Last Saturday Larry graduated with his Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix culminating 6 years of hard work. A picture of those who where there is attached. That evening Jeff and Misty took us to the Roof restaurant in Salt Lake City to celebrate.

This weekend was Mother's Day. Erick and Maren had organized all the kids to help them get Larry and I a new stove for the kitchen. The one that was there was the stove that was in the house and I have never liked it. The new one has ceramic top and electric clean so I am much happier with it. I really appreciated getting it. It is also the Father's Day present for Larry because he does a lot of cooking also. I attached a picture so those who contributed that are far away could see what they paid for.

Well it is past my bedtime. Maren and Landon just came from their trip to Disneyland this week so I had to stop and now it is too late to write much more.