Home for a very long time.

Main Street in Farmington

Life in Farmington

I have lived in West Valley most of my life. In fact I lived there for 33 years where all of my children were basically raised in the same neighborhood and mostly in the same house. When they were all gone for a few years the house seemed too large and the yard too much work to take care of on a consistent basis and do much of anything else. Where to live from there was a huge challenge. We considered going south to be closer to some of our children and grandchildren. An employment opportunity came my way in 2006 that kept us in Farmington. It has been a positive move and Garn and I are both enjoying the journey more than we ever thought we would. The fall leaves are beautiful even now in late October and it has been a treat being this close to the mountains where we can view them from a bedroom window. This move has brought us an adventure we weren't expecting in the evening of our life.

Grandma and Preston

He's a Handsome One

Preston

Pics of Preston

Preston is born

September 4 brought more joy into my life as a grandmother and into the Justin Chilcote Family as they added their third boy and 4th child. It always amazes me as to what great joy and awe come when another child is added to our family. Preston Michael Chicote arrived on Friday afternoon. I slept overnight at Justin and Dani's and took Sam, Jackson and Alex to the hospital soon after the baby was born. Anyway, I wanted to post some pictures of our latest so here they are.

Cards, Cards, Cards

Family Vacation

Every year we try to get away for at least few days together to camp, boat or whatever else we can come up with. This year we were given the opportunity to go to Lane and Cheryl's 7 bedroom "cabin" in the mountains. It is about an hour out of Salt Lake so it makes it easy for people to come and go. Mostly all of us stayed for the 3 days although Sean being a new Bishop and feeling very responsible left to attend church in his own ward. His two boys, Ashton and Rylee had scout camp and we missed them. We went on a hike in the mountains, four wheeled up to somewhere not quite near the top of the mountain (this was kind of scary) and played cards, shot guns and played more cards. It was a fairly uneventful trip, as is not always the case. Everyone enjoyed a talent show, girls went to Park City to the outlets for a shopping trip and some of us just stayed at the cabin and cooked and napped. All in all I know that everyone enjoyed each others company and had a great time. Thanks family for being so helpful and fun.

Sean Mackay reciting the pledge of allegiance

My Boys at the Cabin

Bandana Girls

Beauties of America

Some of you may wonder why I am just posting pictures from Yellowstone and Montana on by Blog. I was thinking that I should update my profile picture since the one that I have on the blog is from 2005 so as I was looking for a picture without lots of people in it I also ran across some scenery pictures that we took on our trip last August. I have given thought lately to how blessed I am to live in AMERICA and how much beautiful scenery there is. I don't travel very often anymore (and actually never did too much) so I wanted to post some of the places I have been and I should have also attached an explanation as to why I have done it so many months down the road. I love the beautiful scenery that America has to offer. Even if I can't go all the places I would like I can still see them through pictures and through the eyes of friends and family......

Falls at yellowstone

There is beauty everywhere

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Family on Memorial Day

Memorial Day

This year for memorial day our family decided to meet at the Salt Lake City Cemetery to visit Grandpa and Grandma Chilcote and Uncle Keith and then travel to Brigham City where my Mom and Dad and my daughter is buried. The small children always enjoy talking about their grandparents and Bobbi and asking questions about what a cemetery means. They get the bonus of playing with cousins as well. They also enjoy putting flowers on the graves and then we take pictures together. It was a good day. We had a barbeque at Farmington Crossing afterwards and the grandkids enjoyed a swim. It is always good to spend time with family.

My Country 'Tis of Thee!

I Love America

Harold B. Lee's Quote on America

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple.This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.



I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through. (Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51)

Gold Plates

Writing on Metal plates would be difficult

I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Jacob 4 this past week and had some moments of enlightenment that I felt moved to write about. Verse 1 and 2 read:
1 NOW behold, it came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain;
2 But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon aplates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers—

It struck me hard as I read these scriptures, (they are not a new thought) but for whatever reason it made me think about it being so difficult for the prophets to write their history, their testimonies or their thoughts on plates and know that was the only way they would be preserved for the future generations.

Jacob also mentioned several times that he felt the responsibility which being under God, of magnifying his office with soberness as he was weighed down with anxiety for the welfare of the people. He surely had much more to say that could not be written or at least was not preserved for us to read.

In Chapter 1: verse 2 and 3 we are told:

2 And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should awrite upon bthese plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious; that I should not touch, save it were lightly, concerning the history of this people which are called the people of Nephi.
3 For he said that the history of his people should be engraven upon his aother plates, and that I should bpreserve these plates and hand them down unto my seed, from generation to generation.

I am thinking how effortless it is for me to write, preserve and keep the memories of the important events in my life and those of my family in comparison to the challenge of record keeping that Jacob was faced with. We have at our fingertips the opportunity to write whatever we would like as we see it for the welfare and benefit of our children. We are not limited to writing a “little” as Jacob was limited to. We are afforded every technology and method of preserving our plain and precious writings imaginable. Why, then, I ask myself is it so difficult, yes even akin to suffering to write about the passion and art of living my daily life.

I am wondering and discovering what I think should be preserved. What are the things that I would consider to be most precious so that I would want to preserve them? These scriptures have caused me to dig deep inside myself and think about what I would like to preserve in my library of stories, histories and thoughts. What would I desire to leave for my posterity? What would I write if I had the difficult circumstances that the prophets in the scriptures were faced with? These are questions that I would like to answer for myself.

I would like to find pleasure in writing without the anxiety of feeling like my writing is not good enough, without feeling like I need to write and rewrite my thoughts. My quest continues as I persevere to write my monthly thoughts and stories. Thank goodness we are given innumerable chances to improve and start again.

If I were given a set of metal plates and knew that I had to write my story or my experiences would I be faithful enough to follow through and do it. I don’t have to write on metal plates, neither of copper, gold, iron, lead, silver or tin. I have reams of paper, boxes of pens and a computer and I can make the time to write a few words which I can give my children. I can write just to write, let my thoughts pour out onto the paper without worrying that someone is going to read them or critique them. For now, I will continue to work on freeing up my thoughts, writing as often as I can and being inspired by my writing friends and hoping that somewhere inside of me is a dormant writer.

We love being grandparents

Draper Temple

So many temples in the Rockies!

November of 2008 ReNee and I started going to the Bountiful temple every Wednesday morning. It has been an enriching experience. We continued attending weekly through early April 2009. We added a CES class in September where we were studying the Book of Mormon the first quarter of the year and then a class on the Doctrine and Covenants taught by a wonderful teacher by the name of Jack Hegelsen. I feel I have gleaned so much from this teacher. I am extremely priviledged to be able to attend the temple weekly as well as the CES class. I continue to go to the class and the temple alone while ReNee is home waiting for her twin girls to arrive. It is a bit lonely at times but nonetheless very fulfilling. I have gone to the new Draper temple with Cheryl and we are hopeful of getting together more often. My goal will be to continue my temple attendance weekly as well as continuing to take family names whenever possible. What a priviledge it is to live so close to so many beautiful temples.

Temples are wonderful

Livy

Livy and her grandparents

Life is so full of events weekly that keeping up with them is mind boggling. We had a fun experience a little over a week ago of going to grandparents day with Olivia, who is our youngest sons oldest daughter. She turned seven years old in March. She sang several songs with the first grade about grandparents and then took us back to her classroom where she gave us several pages of her artwork with a wonderful letter that told us how much she loved us. She told us that she wished we didn't have to drive so far and asked when she could sleep-over. Such sweet experiences don't come everday. It was really special.

My fun friend

Gotta Love that girl!

ReNee is and has been an important part of my life. Our beginning started with property management and specifically with the community of Farmington Crossing where we both live. We have woked together, comiserated together, cried toether and laughed and laughed together over the past 3 plus years. She is due wth twin girls next month. I am so excited to be a part of her life, her family and her new babies. We have enjoyed going to the temple, attending continuing education classes, shopping and going to Cafe Rio every Wednesday together for over a year. I love having a young friend and enjoying ReNee's youth and her Kanab mentality! She wrote me the coolest compliment this week so I am going to post it on my blog. Here it is.

"Have I told you how much you mean to me and my family!!!! That you listen to my ridiculous gripes and complaints and still are my friend!!! I am so grateful that you jumped into the crazy world of HOA's.....but more importantly you became my friend and mentor. There are not enough words!!!!"

Thanks for this ReNee - you made my day!

Easter

Wishing you a Happy Easter

HAPPY SPRING AND HAPPY EASTER!

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
There's no such thing as too much candy.
All work and no play can make you a basket case.
A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.
Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.
Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
Some body parts should be floppy.
Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans.
Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.
The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.
To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.
The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.
May the joy of the season fill your heart.
Happy Easter!

Cheryl and me

Beautiful Draper Temple

Afternoon at the temple

I went to a session at the Draper Temple today with my daughter. It was a heart warming experience. I had been to the open house at the temple but going through a session is a whole different experience. You are supposed to have a reservation and we made one for the 12:00 session. We were late, of course but they told us to hurry and we did that. For 10 minutes after that they kept letting people come into the endowment room and the ordinance workers just kept bringing more and more chairs in the room until the people stopped coming. They didn't turn anyone away. When we moved into the next room Cheryl and I sat up front with the Ordinance workers. It was a different view than sitting in the large group below. I loved being in the Draper temple and spending such a wonderful afternoon with my daughter. What a peaceful calming time the temple can be for each of us.

Thought for the Day

LIFE

TIME - Life’s most precious gift.

LOVE – Life’s best feeling.

FRIENDSHIP – Life’s most valuable possession.

Without time all is lost

Without love who cares

Without friendship nothing matters.

TIME, LOVE, FRIENDSHIP

The elements of life.

Unhappy Sam

Our youngest grandchild has a birthday

Sam just turned three on Thursday. I have been taking all grandkids to Barnes and Nobles for an afternoon of reading and buying a book. Well, I decided that Sam was too young to go to the bookstore but thought he would like to buy his own toy, mainly so I could spend some part of his birthday with him. Not the best idea I found out. He was awakened from his nap to find his Grandma and Grandpa ready to have fun with this not so happy 3 year old. Sam just kept saying, "I want my mama". We then picked him up and forced him to go and have some fun anyway. As it was it turned out to be fun and he came out of the grumpy attitude just as soon as mom was out of sight. We headed off to Smith's Marketplace in Lehi. (His mom told us to go there). Sam picked the Matchbook Blaster that came with 6 matchbook cars and a round blaster that pushes the cars out all sides. Actually, he didn't care as much for the cars or the blaster, just pushing the button on the top over and over again. Next year it is off to Barnes and Noble whether he wants to go or not. He is the youngest of our brood and we sure love him.

Jesus being baptized

ABC

Alex being studious

Alex is getting baptized

Saturday, February 28 is the day that Alex is getting baptized. She has been so excited. She is grandchild number 10. The novelty of having another grandchild getting baptized and seeing the enthusiasm for the gospel and her knowledge of the gospel at such a young age just never grows old. When asked if she was fearful for her interview with the Bishop, she replied, "No she was 100% ready and it didn't scare her at all. We are looking forward to being a part of her day. I spent several hours getting an ABC gospel book ready for her. It is a small scrapbook about 26 principles of the gospel starting with each letter of the alphabet. It was good for me to reflect and ponder about many principles that were important to me and brought many questions to mind that I would now like to study and look for answers myself. I hope Alex will do the same and find joy in searching her own answers. She is a special girl and has such great potential. We certainly love her

Happy Heart Day

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has never been that big of a deal to me. It is full of lots of expectations from wife's that might be disappointed. I am not one of those because I have no expectations. My grandkids love the day so they can give out their Valentine's to friends. I enjoy sending the younger grandkids Valentines. I think it is another holiday for the businesses to make money. We can feel love all year around and show love and attention to one another without making a lot of fanfare and spending lots of money on the holiday. I have a grandson, Ashton, who is born on Valentine's Day so we celebrate with him each year. Someday his wife will probably hate the fact that Valentine's Day is on his Birthday. He turned 15 this year and is a super good kid. I have a daughter who has a birthday one week after Valentine's Day and then I have 3 Birthday people in March to remember so Valentine's Day just mostly goes by the wayside. I feel alright about that because I feel love for my family and friends all year long. Happy Valentine's Day anyway!

My Sister and Me

My baby sister....

This is my baby sister. She lives in St. George and just had a Birthday. I don't get to see her very often. Recently, I stayed with her for a week-end a couple of months ago and we did lots of fun things. We went to lunch, went garage sale hunting, caught up on our grandkids and kids info and just had a great get together week-end. We went shopping one day and even bought the same blouse. Time passes much too quickly and it does take time to renew and bond friendships and relationships. I admire my sister for all the hard work she does to take care of her family,and also how she takes care of those who are no longer around. She does tons of genealogy. I don't think she knows how to relax. She is going 90 miles an hour all of the time. I will have to work on teaching her that skill. I appreciate her and hope to spend many more fun times with her. This is a picture of us together in our matching blouses.

Farmington Crossing Clubhouse

TGIF

I look forward to Friday most of the time. I usually clean the clubhouse on Thursday or Friday and it is also the end of the week. Garn especially likes Friday because he doesn't have to drive to work for two whole days. We are usually exhausted by Friday night so we get take out food or go out to eat. Brayden, our grandson, works at Subway so we often frequent that establishment and get sandwiches with his family discount. Typically, we will just watch a movie, or as Garn says, I never watch the movie, I listen to the movie because I am always busy doing handwork of some sort or doing a project. What can I say? It keeps me awake and besides Garn is usually dozing so it keeps me company. I don't blame him for being tired. He has a time demanding job and it wears him out. I am looking forward to Spring and Summer. We will be going to St. George in a couple of weeks to get out of the cold and celebrate birthdays with family. I am looking forward to that reprieve.

Dani announces new changes

I've got some great news I am dying to share,
Most of you guessed it- that is not fair!

I sleep all the time, I am sick until noon-
Our 4th little monster will arrive very soon.

Very soon? That's a lie. I am in my 8th week-
But your concern is so great, my secret must leak...

"Big Brother" is Sam- his shirt tells the tale-
Of a Spring & a Summer of his mom as a whale!

Coming to you soon: September 8th, 2009

Grandma news

Hearts

Finally

I haven't published on my blog since September 18. What is with that? What have I been doing? I have no great excuse it just seems if I don't have a specific time to do something then it isn't at the top of the list and "time flies" without priority tasks being done. I once had this fantasy that when you were over 60 you had time to burn. You know boredom sets in and you sit around and think, "whatever should I do today." This has never happened to me yet. I am over 60 and still no days of boredom. My days are filled with a variety of activities and usually more than I could ever even hope to accomplish. I keep asking myself, "am I just slow". I am a listmaker. I have a notebook on my desk and I keep track of things I need to do each day. A friend told me that I should stop making a list of those things that I need to do and make a list of what I did at the end of the day. She said I would never get discouraged if I did that. Well, I might try that today. I see a good side to never having any real "free time" to lounge or just eat bon bons and veg, but sometimes I dream of having that kind of a life. In reality I feel extremely blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life, a safe home to clean, clothes to wash and iron, neighbors who drop by unannounced, children who need me and church service to fill my time. I take a CES class on Wednesday mornings and our instructor told us to think about the one most important word in the English Language. His pick was relationships. I have thought about that a lot since and I think it might be "love" as that encompasses so many facets of life and includes relationships. I feel so thankful to have so much love in my life from and for my family, friends and the wonderful gospel that fills every day.