Thankful #16 - Aunt Virginia

Thankful # 16...

I am not smarter than my scanner, and it scanned the pic as a 8x11, so forgive that.  This is Aunt Virginia and Uncle Lloyd circa 2002.  They are at the park area of the Nauvoo Mormon Temple sealing.  Us non-Mormons got a tour before it was dedicated as sacred and closed to the non-believers.  Evan was about 2 months old, and he toured it in the Baby Bjorn carrier.  My cousin Keith's daughter was about 6, and she was madly in love with tiny baby Evan.  It was pretty cute, as I recall.  She was thrilled to feed him a bottle and hold him.  It was probably one of my first trips with Evan and without Tom.  He worked every.stinkin.Saturday for years!

Thankful # 15 - the Great River Road

Thankful # 15 - the Great River Road

 The part that holds value to me is between Hamilton and Nauvoo, IL.  It is family, Thanksgiving, Christmas, family reunions, cousins, the bakery and fudge on my mom's side of the family.  It is Tastee Freese, the Palmyra pool, the railroad tracks (now gone) behind Grandma & Grandpa's house, sleepovers with Kristy, Susie and Jenny, and the Cabbage Patch Kid that lives on a shelf in my boys' room on my dad's side of the family.

Today, it was Aunt Virginia's visitation and funeral.  Sad, but a blessing as well.

Becky, my sister, and Dave, my brother, gathered at the church.  It's not easy getting the 3 of us together anymore, with our 3 spouses, 8 kids, and 5 jobs across 500 miles.  It was so good to hang together for a bit.  It was a wonderful time to spend with my 4 cousins and their 3 kids.  But they were not real interested in pics at their mom's funeral.  Totally understandable.  They did take a family pic for the annual Christmas card.

Uncle Lloyd's memorial bench outside the Methodist church in Nauvoo.   Virginia had Alzheimers, and had been in a nursing home for several years.  While she was there, Lloyd developed liver cancer and passed away.

. While we were in that neck of the woods, we stopped to see my dad's family an hour south of Nauvoo.  I found Grandma and Grandpa.

 And a kiss left for Howard and Georgia.  Howard and Grandma were siblings.  If I remember correctly, I ended up with a recliner with wooden spindles on the side that was Georgia's.  It would have been my living room recliner when Evan was a baby.  I think my church has (or maybe it's had by now) it.

Marilyn is Howard and Georgia's only daughter.  All three stones are together, so an easy find for those of us who only make cemetery pilgrimages every 5-10 years.

And the cousins, Susan and Kristy.  We are cousins twice removed, I think, but nobody ever told us that.  Their mom and my dad are first cousins.  Jenny was killed in a car crash in May of 1999.  My daughter was going to be named Elizabeth, a middle name she and I both share.  Tom laughed but agreed to it when we were just dating.

I also got to see Jeanne Beth, a first cousin, bud didn't snap any pics of the two of us.  That only leaves Ken in Kentucky as the only first cousin we didn't see that weekend.

I love God's beauty in nature, and while the trees were brown and the sky was gray, it is still some of the prettiest road I have driven.  And the family it represents is priceless.

Thankful # 13 - Produce Co-op

Thankful #13 - the produce co-op.  I am a co-op newbie no more.  And I have eaten some of everything pictured except the mushrooms and cranberries.  The bananas and apples were gone in no time flat.  The pineapple and oranges went into smoothies.  The sweet potatoes, asparagus, brussel sprouts and some carrots got baked with salt, pepper and olive oil.  The cranberries will get cooked next week.  I am working on expanding my food horizons, slowly but surely.

Next order is in early December, then not again til January, but looking forward to those.

Thankful # 12 - Heat

Thankful # 12 - heat from any source.  It turned cold - in the teens, and I am glad to sleep with a furnace on the other side of the bed, and a heated mattress pad so the bed isn't so cold, and the hot water heater that never runs out, and the furnace, and the car seat warmers, and the hot chocolate while watching Flag Football in the cold, and and and...

Thankful #11 - Yard Crew

Thankful for a yard crew.  A neighbor was headed to run errands & drove by while I was working on the yard while it was still warm.  She gave her son a choice of errands or helping me, and he opted to help me.  I was most appreciative.  He mowed/ mulched the whole yard, and only let me buy him a soda.  I knew I would be in deep trouble with Colby if his leaves were gone when my boys came home from the afternoon out, so I raked what was in the driveway into the side yard, and made a smaller pile to play in.  While I was cleaning up around the swingset and the last of the raking, these 5 kiddos came walking down the street. and asked if they could help me.  Well, of course you can, and then you can all play in the leaf pile!

I am thankful for good neighborhood kids who are willing to help.

Thankful #10 - Down Time & Visiting

Thankful # 10...  Down Time & Visiting

Don't ask me what possessed me, but I spent several hours deleting stuff from the computer.  It was kinda fun to go through and remember ancient email threads, and delete them so I could find whatever it was I was looking for.  Sometimes it's the simple things that make me happy.

Scout popcorn was in, so Colby and I had to deliver to the neighborhood.  It drove him crazy, but I thoroughly enjoyed a little gab time while delivering stuff.  And thank you for supporting the local kids.

Thankful Day #9 - Alabama

Thankful #9 was a splurge on tickets to Alabama at the Fabulous Fox, and a night in the city away from the kids.  Ooh, lovely!

 So it's not quite the lights of Broadway, it's still pretty cool!

Yep, Row E behind the Orchestra pit.  On the floor.  The VIP package got us dinner at Powell Hall.  The steak place across the street serves better food, I must say.  It also got us t-shirts, water tumblers, posters, and cloth grocery bags.

  Did I mention 5th row?  Loved them then, love them now.