Palmdale Visit

I started my California trip (3/8) in Palmdale and the first stop was go to Spencer's house! Deb and Riley were at the gym so Deb told Riley there was a surprise for him at home. I met him at the door and he wanted to know what I brought him! Not exactly the reaction Deb was looking for! bwahahaha... but that's ok... I love my little guy!

The next day we NEEDED a beach day! This time we decided we'd try the Santa Monica Pier. I haven't been there for ages, not since... well, I don't remember when! Spencer chauffeured us in their minivan. And you know what? He drives like a dad... all mature and everything. I was relieved to have him drive. I know I can still drive in LA traffic, but after driving for 9 hours the day before, I was a little road weary.

SPENCER, DEBORAH AND RILEY (WITH SEE'S SUCKERS IN THEIR MOUTHS)

We parked at the Santa Monica Mall (I'm sure there is a better name than that but I don't know what it is... maybe Auntie P knows! Jump in here on the comments and tell us P.) After using the facilities we took a walk down to the pier. I saw a darling *Angry Birds* stocking cap that I would have gotten for Riley (remember- what did I bring him?) but he took one look and gave it the thumbs-down.

We wandered to the end of the pier where we were accosted by Snake-Man! ICK! saw some fishermen and the Amusement Park. They've done a good job of providing fun rides for the littles! I love this shot of Riley looking so pleased with Deb and Spencer in the background.

Next up was the mini *Mali-boomer* (I stole that name from CA Adventure).

Put up your hands, Riley!

And, since we were in the neighborhood (took us 2 hours to travel 13 miles! I'm not joking!) We HAD to stop at Cielito Lindo.

OhMyStinkin'Heck! Do I ever love this place! I told the guys I'd come all the way from Springville, Utah just to eat their taquitos and tomatillo sauce and he gave me extra! YUM! (It makes my mouth water just looking at this lovely mess of greeness!)  But Auntie P scored the biggest deal getting taquitos for Steve AND a pint of sauce for $10!

There are always interesting-sorts down at the beach... it makes me so grateful for my home!

We arrived back in P-dale at dark-thirty so Spencer dropped us off and took his tired-self and tired little family home.

Next day, after some retail therapy with Auntie P, they came back for dinner at P's house. And look what Auntie P had for Riley!! Now we see who the best Grammie is!

My stay in Palmdale was too short this time around... I will have to plan better on my next trip. I'm so grateful for my sister-by-choice and Spencer, Deborah and Riley. It was wonderful to see them all again.

Happiness...

Today's Texture Tuesday challenge is HAPPINESS...

I love that happiness is always MY choice! I love that I've learned that I am responsible for my own happiness. Can others influence the ease of that choice?  Of course they can. But when it is all said and done...

I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!

This is one of those things that adds to my happiness... beautiful, simple roses... growing in Grannie-Annie's garden last June.

texture tuesday facts-
kk-annabelle, blending mode- overlay 100%
kk-lilly, blending mode- multiply 75%
frame- House of 3 (Rhonna Farrer)

Grannie-Annie's Garden

I always love to take a tour in, my sister, Grannie-Annie's garden. Whenever I visit her I am drawn to wander and find all of the delights there are discover.

As I walked out the back door the first thing that caught my attention was this vibrant red-orange rose! Oh my goodness! I just love this color! I couldn't pass up a silhouette shot against the cerulean blue sky. (I feel like I've fallen into my 6-year old crayon box!)



This is one plant but there is so much variety. It just begged me to keep looking at each little blossom.



And look here! This one has yellow stripes!



Even the rosebuds offer much to be admired.



I walked along the shady side of the house and found these beautiful iris in glorious bloom. Iris are some of my favorite flowers. (Let's be honest... many flowers fall into that category)



This one? I don't know if this is from the iris that mom used to have, but it reminds me so much of her iris. I love the purple veins.



I always love a visit to Grannie-Annie (&Wayne's) house... and garden...



(Gordon has commented that once he got grandchildren he didn't have possession of anything anymore... everything belongs to Grammie!)

*Grannie Annie's* Birthday

(Have you ever noticed that it is easier to give advice than take it? Yep, me too. But this time I'm taking my own advice- I'm going to blog about the most recent fun event and then go back and catch up with last weekend! My, that feels so good!)

Today is a special day! Not only is it my sister, Grannie Annie's, birthday, we have two grandchildren who share this day with their great-auntie: Elise, 5, and Riley, 4. What a wonderful coincidence!

My sweet sister Ann aka Grannie Annie is 10 years and 2 months older than me... she was gone from home before I was hardly grown. I've found a great amount of satisfaction in getting to know her better over the years BUT the real blessing came when we moved to Utah just over 6 years ago and now Grannie Annie's house is only a short 2 hour trip. We've been blessed with frequent visits.

I just knew I wanted to spend her special day with her! Our mom did such a marvelous job of making the *birthday girl* feel so special! But we all know that when we get to be moms ourselves sometimes birthdays are anything but special!



We arrived about noon and found that Cody and Jake had decorated the house for Grannie Annie's special day. We visited, Ann showed me her birthday gifts including her birthday suit, ahh, dress, we played a couple of hands of Contract and then we were off to go bowling.

That was when Cody whipped out the *birthday-girl* hat!



Cody just kept chortling about Annie's hat! Yeah, yuck it up little girl! Your time will come.



Now, THIS is what I call... well, I'm not sure what to call it! Nice hat, Jake!



After a rousing and energetic game of bowling, Wayne coming out the winner, we headed off to dinner out at Little Wonder Cafe in Richfield. It was a homey little place that served their $5.99 dinner special with more food than I could eat and it was tasty too.



Another birthday girl? Good grief!



I brought down Pig-Pickin' Cake...



Wayne torched it lit the candles...



We sang to the birthday girl and let her eat cake!



What a lovely birthday-day with my sister Annie!

Women's Conference Tradition!

2007 was the first year I attended the BYU Women's Conference. I decided at the last minute to go and loved it so much that now it has become a tradition! (If you'd like to read about prior year's escapades click on the Women's Conference tag at the bottom of the post.)

This year only Ann was able to join me, Rebekah's boys were off on spring break and she couldn't leave them to trek back to Provo to join us =(. We always enjoy these wonderful times of being together.



2008 Ann and Rebekah joined me for the spiritual feast. If you know me, you know that I love trail mix and think that it is just about the perfect snack for most places... not just the trail. That year I made a wonderful goodie bag for each of us including: trail mix (duh), nut bars, water, other miscellaneous snacks and a cute notebook and pen for notes. But the trail mix seems to be the one that takes center stage.  Ann and I were discussing how many times we've been and she figured it out by who provided the trail mix each year!!  We've had quite the fun with our *personality trail mix*.   How can fruit and nuts have a personality? I'm not sure, but they do!

But this year disaster struck! (dun, dun, dun!) I thought I'd closed my trail mix bag after getting out the first handful and found that I hadn't shaken it up to mix it... hmmmm, apparently not. I grabbed hold of the bottom of the bag to give it a good shake... umm, dumped it straight into my WC backpack!! I just sat there and laughed! How could I not? Ann held my zip-lock bag while I scooped it back in.  We were just grateful I hadn't dumped it on the floor of the Marriot Center.



On Thursday evening there are always service projects to participate in. There were numerous stations where literally thousands of sisters worked on various projects. This year we wanted to do the newborn humanitarian kits.

Each newborn kit contains:

* a fleece or flannel receiving blanket
* 4 diapers
* a cotton-knit layette
* 2 bars of soap
* 1 pair of booties or socks
* 1 knit cap
* 4 diaper pins

Can you imagine only having that to clothe your baby? But this is a definite step up from wrapping you baby in newspaper!

We worked in assembly line fashion to put these kits together. Ann and I worked on the end with the blankets, diapers, layette and then stuffing that portion into a large zip-lock bag. I stayed as far away as possible from the soap... it always makes me sneeze!  The next sisters added the remaining items and closed up the zip-lock bag.

Our station completed 720 of the 34,315 humanitarian newborn, hygiene and school kits completed that night! What a blessing of many helping hands!


(CAN YOU SEE THAT MY POOR HAIR MELTED IN A SERIES OF HOT-FLASHES DOING OUR ASSEMBLY LINE?)

We came home exhausted, but happy. We were back up the next morning for the second day of wonderful talks and classes that help us grow and become more like our Savior. I'm already looking forward to next year!

228- Happy Birthday Little Joanie

What a lucky girl I am! I was born to a family that loved me so much that 58 years later I still ride that high! Every body made me feel like I was the best thing that ever happened to our family!



What a rich blessing!

188- Weary Travelers

Camille's other sister arrived today from the east coast! How lucky can a girl be to have all her siblings here for her wedding!

Kristi and baby Jackson started their day at 4:30 EDT! Yikes! Yes... a nap was in order. How precious is this?

187- Sisters

Rebekah and her *daughter-by-choice*, Erica, arrived late Monday night for the big event. And here are my funny daughters putting their heads together... what a blessing to have sisters!!

183- Painting Crew

Auntie P arrived on Wednesday evening ready to help out in any way needed (including knee pads for scrubbing floors. What a gal!) Since all of the little ducks seem to be staying in their row for the wedding we could move on to more mundane things like *helping Camille paint her house*.

But did Auntie P bring painting clothes? No, not her! That meant we needed to make a Wal-mart run! Dang!! She just wanted to get some huge t-shirt she could paint in and as long as we were there *I* must need a shirt to paint in as well. (See how this works?) So we both spent the outlandish amount of $3.50 for painting shirts.

Now... fast forward a few hours. We've already painted the bunk beds for Kevin's little girls room scored by Grampa Kay at a garage sale and we've moved on to the kitchen, which is a dark red (there is only a very little bit of *wall* that can be painted since it has a tile back splash). I turned around and Auntie P must have chopped her hand off with a table knife because there is RED BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!! Oh, wait... it's just the paint... but it is everywhere, running down her arms, all over the sink... in her hair... you get the picture...



And she still doesn't know how it happened! LOL.

Now I will show you *MY* shirt at the end of the day! Now I ask you... who do you want to paint your house?



That's what I thought!

BTW- Camille states that when Auntie P and I get together we are like a couple of school girls!

120- Spiritually Fed

BYU Women's Conference was yesterday and today. This is my 4th year attending. I always come away so wonderfully fed and spiritually uplifted.

Beautiful tulips on the BYU campus with the Wasatch Mountain range in the background.

I was so impressed with my experience that I emailed my family and told them about the rebroadcast of some of the classes so they wouldn't miss out on all of the wonderfulness. (This year they will be rebroadcast on Thursday, 5/13, 1pm and Friday, 5/14, 1pm)

Then two years ago we started a new tradition; Ann and Rebekah joined me for Women's Conference. It was another wonderful feast, but even more importantly we were able to connect as strong *Caraway* women.

Last year Bek and Ann joined me again... sadly, Camille works (what's up with that?) but we did pull her in for Cafe Rio dinner. To somewhat *make up* for the fact that Camille is left out of Women's Conference-party Rebekah stayed with her in her big apartment those first two years.

We've instituted a few traditions that are a must for our successful WC experience. Towards the top of the list is trail mix (must have munchies to keep up our strength as we trek all over campus.) The first year I provided goodie bags; including trail mix, water bottles, notebooks and snacks.

Last year Rebekah made some *Totally Awesome Trail Mix* with humorous results. Ann took the assignment this year, with delicious results, and look who decided to join us again... my nutty little friend. (Since Rebekah was in a different class I took this photo and texted it to her so she could laugh with us.)



This year we had one little change to the WC tradition, Bek came with a whole SUV-full of her friends from Coarsegold so they all stayed in a local motel but we were able to hook up for some of the classes. (How did I NOT get a photo with her in it?)



We all came together for the closing address which always proves to be the Creme Brulee of the feast. This day was no exception. We always sing several hymns as a 15,000+ sisters choir in preparation for these opening and closing addresses in the Marriot Center. It adds so much to the spirit.

I quote from my journal-

"Elsie is here!
I am sitting between Bek and Ann singing Choose The Right reveling in the beauty of our blended voices and feeling the closeness of family. I thought, "I wish Mom was here!" Immediately I felt that she was there with us. I wrote the above and showed it to Ann and Bek, then none of us could sing! There is an empty chair to Ann's right!"

Interestingly enough during the opening address on Thursday Ann wrote, "What is the mission of the daughters of Elsie Caraway?" I'm so grateful she would come and join us as strong Caraway women!

016- Sisters and Friends

This afternoon I went out on a photo explore (you'll probably be treated to some of those next week). Quite unexpectedly I had company; many neighbors were outside washing cars (what? is he on crack? yikes... it would freeze my fingees off!), some off for a drive, but my favorites first appeared on bicycles, NEW Christmas bicycles! Then I found them walking with DeLoris.

These sweet little sisters live just across the street from DeLoris and didn't want her to walk alone. I joined them and we made a merry party trekking up around the corner and back again.

First they demonstrated their prowess at crab-walking...



But the sweetest part came when they didn't even know anyone was looking and took each others hands walking happily and contentedly towards home.


FRAME- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_BlackFrame FONT- Albemarle Swash, ACTION- DPMoms Perfect Workflow, CoffeeShop Hot Cocoa, TEXTURE Beach glass bokeh 1, non-action edits- Noel Culbertson defog, Kimi pop drama

Sisters are the most wonderful blessing... there is nothing like a sister for really loving and understanding.

I'm so grateful that I have sisters (who prayed for me!) who *walk* with me.

003- Shamrock Blossom

Many years ago (about 1976) I became the proud owner of a Shamrock plant. I love the delicate, almost transparent tri-leaf and dainty white blossoms. The leaves green on top and a reddish-purple underneath. It opens in the light and then closes again in the shade. This funny little plant grows from a bulb-like root that multiplies. I had that same plant until we moved here to Utah but sadly it didn't survive the move.

I'd shared starts of this Shamrock with family members so last spring I asked Ann if I could have a start back. Sadly, her Shamrock has just died!

So imagine my surprise when Ann and Wayne showed up at my house around St Patrick's day with a beautiful little Shamrock plant? I think I love this one even more!



This summer I found an all purple Shamrock which I mixed in with the green... what a happy spot of color my Shamrock plant is on this winter day.

347- O Holy Night

Today I had a wonderful Sabbath, made better by some extra special things... I got to sing with *my very own sister* in Sacrament meeting today! (But did I think to get a picture of us looking all musical and pretty... nope... I forgot!)



I was scheduled to sing a solo today but when Ann called Saturday afternoon to say their plans had changed, because of our snow storm, and could they spend the night and go to church with us I jumped on the opportunity to sing once again with my sister. We sang "O Holy Night"; one of my favorite Christmas hymns.

The arrangement I have comes from this book of Mom's costing $1 in 1949! After Mom passed away I asked if I could have this small book of music that we sang from and, then later, I sang from with Vivian when we moved back to Greenville after I was married.

One of our favorite things to do when we were growing up was to sing around the piano with Mom playing and the three of us (sisters) singing. It just gives me a warm feeling inside to remember those days. It reminds me of just how lucky I was to be born into a family where there was so much love and big sisters "who prayed for me!"

333- Shaggy Beast 2

Yesterday I posted about my shaggy little beast friend and my striking resemblance. I said that I'd chosen not to take a photo, but since my sister, Sue, asked... here you go...

My best version of shaggy beast taken in the bathroom mirror this morning.



Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of yourself in the mirror with a dSLR camera?



And I had to include an out take...


FRAME- SP_ShabbyBorders1_StraightShabbyBorder, FONT- Georg, Freebooters Script JOURNALING PATH- JSprague_4-squareTemplate BRUSHES- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShotFrameKit, TEXTURE- Soft-Faux-n-Grunge-Bokeh

230- Grannie Annie's House

My sister, Grannie Annie (is that just the cutest moniker?) has lived in the same little town for the last 37+ years. Her little town reminds me of the little town we grew up in; there is just that very rural, easy feel when I go there. I've been visiting her there since 1975. I've landed at her house in happy times and times of greatest distress but it's always the same... I have the feeling that I am going home! There is just a wonderful quality to the light (I think not only physical light, but spiritual light) that resides in their home. Now that we only live 2 hours away I get to see her with greater frequency.


JOURNALING PATH- JSprague_4-squareTemplate BRUSHES- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShotFrameKit, FONT- Felix Titling ACTION (A2D)_Lomo V_2 TEXTURE- Hellfire, experimental_grunge 4

Today we made a little (ugh... not so little with rampant allergies!!) down to her neck of the woods. We took the circuitous route via Black Rock, complete with dirt road, Millard and Minersville (Hwy 257 south from Delta) and ended up at Grannie Annie's just in time for dinner. We had a short 3-hour visit before having to leave for home.

What a blessing to have a sister so close...

120- You Make the Difference

Today was our first day of BYU Womens' Conference. What a wonderful experience. The theme this year is In the Strength of the Lord.



I think the one thing that sticks out most to me are comments made during the opening session by a Sister Webb. She told us about the hymn Now Let Us Rejoice. It was written by W W Phelps just after the Saints had been driven out of Jackson County Missouri in the dead of winter. Imagine... what a difficult time to rejoice!

After she'd talked about the hymn and told us how we were to sing it we did sing it. I was a mess before the first line was even finished! To think of the trials that we all go through and that we are to rejoice... In the Strength of the Lord all things can be met with joy!

Sister Webb told us "You make the difference!" And you know, she's right. With the strength of the Lord we can make the difference

119- Just Girls...

I love traditions... they seem to bring a closer bond to those fun times that we get to spend together! Rebekah flew in today from CA to be here for BYU Womens' Conference. (This is her second year).

Last year Rebekah stayed with Camille in her *big* room... and since Camille just moved to another big room they are repeating the *sleep-over*. I am so glad these girls have each other. Sisters are the best.



One of our favorite traditions is to have dinner (or lunch or whatever!!) at Cafe Rio. It is just the yummiest. It is funny when you have regional restaurants... when I go to CA I can hardly wait for In n Out and Panera Bread.



I'm looking forward to the next few days with Rebekah here. My sister Ann is also coming to join us. Maybe someday Camille will be able to join us for Womens' Conference... but until then we will just enjoy each other.