YES on 8

this is Ann and Keith Cook on the corner with their sign. It was really cool to have them together to let people know about prop 8!!

This is me and Cindy Clement in front of Raley's. Check out the beautiful sunrise behind us!

This is Cathy Christensen and Cindy Clement in front of Raley's. Rock on Girls~!!

OK, so you are not used to seeing me politically active!! The prophet has asked us to support Prop 8 so I am doing my best to follow the prophet. I want my kids and grandkids to know that I do what I am asked and especially from our prophet. Marriage is sacred and should be between one man and one woman and that is what we are fighting for!! I have been getting up early and waving signs in front of Raley's at Horseshoe Bar Road and I80 to get the attention of the drivers. We hear all kinds of wonderful remarks and of course we get a lot of bird flipping and yelling at us to balance things out!! (Where is the tolerance in all of that yelling??) A real eye opener for me. I am just so glad I am not in the bay area waving signs and getting things thrown at me!! Luckily our area is pretty supportive of prop 8. Tuesday we all went down to the capital and attended a rally in support of prop 8 and there were about 600 people on the west steps of the capital for a real revival meeting. A lot of pasters and preachers and all kinds of chanting going on to pump us up for the final week of campaigning! It was really fun to get all excited and stand for truth and righteousness. We were surrounded by a lot of wonderful people of color and boy can they sing with their pastors!! Rock on Sisters!! (wish we could do that!) Anyway, just wanted you to know that I am fighting for the cause and learning a lot about people!! Hopefully good will triumph over evil on this one.

My Halloween Mantel

I thought I would show you what my mantel looks like for Halloween and the Fall Season. When I was in Utah I bought this really cool pumpkin and the letters BOO that you can see. The wreaths are hanging on some metal holders that I also bought in Utah but the wreaths were bought here with Christy helping me pick them out. I like the simple look of it and can live with it until Christmas decorations are put up. I am hosting our Tuesday night temple shift party on Saturday and will be feeding dinner to about 40 people. That will be fun! The weather is supposed to be great (around 80 degrees) so that will help with putting some of the guests out under the back covered patio area. I have the decorations that you are used to seeing around the house like black feather trees with little skeletons hanging on them and other fun things. I looks quite festive!

Fiesta Time at the Sessions!!

This picture has nothing to do with the dinner at the Sessions but I wanted you to see what I get to see every morning!! Cute smiles and giggles!! I put these pictures on this blog and they are in the opposite order that I hoped for! I am still trying to figure all these things out. Anyway, continue on for the feasting fun.

Like I said these are not in order of the day!! After we ate and had some fun putting a video together for the Doolittles, Jay wanted to show us his Halloween costume for this year. I about died when I saw him in his whoopi cushion suit. How funny is this??? And he has some other whoopie cushions that he is holding and a book about the art of the fart. (I think Nic could use that book).

I was asked to bring the desserts for the evening and so I made a stop at divine desserts in Loomis (the cute yellow house) and picked out some yummy desserts for the dinner. They were all as good as they look. Wish Julie was around to figure out how to make some of these things.

Here is the beautiful table that Gwen set for all of us. She really out did herself with her fantastic chicken enchiladas, re fried beans, and spanish rice. Debbie brought a wonderful salad and I had desserts. The entertainment was all Jays doing!!! We really had a GREAT time and I don't think I have laughed so hard in ages~! Thanks Gwen and Jay. We are going to take a couple of months off and start back up in January with the group dinners again. Until then we can only dream of the great dinners to come our way.

Jessie can talk!

One of the highlights of my trip was to visit and speak with Jessie. As all of you know he is now awake from his coma and still struggling to recover the use of his limbs. He is amazing to see and talk with about this accident. It was so great to see him smile and laugh and be so happy. He shows not anger towards his condition or towards anyone. What a wonderful spirit he has to be so positive through this trial in his life. He says he sees mom regularly and still remembers everything that happened while he was in a coma. AMAZING!! While I was there I got to see the whole family including Heather and her darling baby girl Trinity. Heather looks great and is such a good mother. I also got to see Cory for the first time since his return from his mission and he looks great also. Wayne and Laurie are hanging in there and doing the best they can for Jessie at this point in his recovery. Laurie should get an honorary degree in nursing with as much hands on training she has had!! Jessie is eating regular food now and I was honored to feed him some lemon me range pie!! He loved it.
I did get a picture with Wayne and he looks really good!! The choir sounded so wonderful and it is so cool to know that I have a brother that gets to sing with them! I think that the message I got from visiting with Jessie is to be happy always and love each other more. Matt and Val came to visit that evening and brought Lauren and her boyfriend David. I was shocked to see Lauren since she had just had emergency surgery on Friday to have her appendix removed! What a trooper. I guess she really wanted a piece of that Marie Calender pie!!

Snow in the Hills

I told you it snowed!! I couldn't believe it at first because we were just up there and it was warm and lovely. What a difference a day makes.
Kandis took these shots out the window of the car as we were driving. She got a few good ones to show you the snow! Thanks dis.

Utah trip in 3 parts

Kandis and Nic wanted to take pictures at Sundance to show off the beautiful leaves and fall color. We were thinking of going up on Saturday between conference but had some time on Friday after meeting with the loan officer to run up and take pictures. These are just a few of the shots I took. The sun was starting to set and the weather was beautiful. So glad we went on Friday because a storm came through that night and it rained all night and all day Saturday. Even snowed. (pictures to follow)
I had to show that I was really there too!!

One of my favorites showing off the color. I know Jacob and Julia and Josh and Alexis are saying that is nothing compared to where they live!! It was still very pretty.

I decided to take a quick trip to Utah to see Kandis and Nic and help them with their house hunt. It was beautiful weather while I was there and I was so excited to see Jessie (my nephew) who is now awake and talking!! General Conference weekend was raining but the talks and music of general conference were wonderful to hear. I still think they should give more air time to the base section of the mo tab!! (you go Wayne) Anyway here are some pictures of the trip starting with Kandis and Nic at Sundance.

Catching up

On the last Sunday in September we had the gang over for a pot luck dinner again and then decided to play some guitar hero. Jay and Gwen had never played before so they decided to give it a try. We had a great dinner of ribs and fix'ns and had fun reading table topics to discuss. Another fun thing was to call Julie and John in Washington DC and include them in our group of discussions!! It was great talking to them and made it seem like they were sitting at the table with us (I wish!)
Here is Gwen concentrating on the music. You go girl!!
O.K. don't laugh!! I still have my apron on from fixing dinner. You can see I have the proper rocker stance and know how to get down with the music. I actually finished a song for once!! Notice Jay in the background (how can you not??)