The Blessing

Today was Meghan's blessing and as usual was followed by a family feast. We went for a scaled down lunch and limited the menu to a variety of salads.

The Basket

Ask any of the children what I am referring to and they will know right away. When Carol and Joe moved, a basket got left behind. Once it arrived at my house it became the perfect place to put the snacks for school lunches,treats after nap, or to kill the munchies till dinner. The babies don't know what it is called but they sure can point and make a sound that clearly indicates what they are wanting. It still has Carol's name on the bottom and she can have it back anytime she comes and gets it. Till then, thanks Aunt Carol!!

Tifton Conference

The last blog is a series of photos from the weekend. I haven't figured out how to caption pics yet so good luck figuring out the people. If I repeated a photo sorry, I lost count of what I was on. Nothing captures the majesty of the day anyway.

Tifton Stake Conference

Yes, you read it right. Pres. Fussell from Douglas, counselors Fields and Sorenson.
Gary Flanders Stake Clerk, Pres. Worthington Exec. Secretary. I don't know the head count but seats were full and at least 100 were counted standing in hallways. Parking was all up and down the road for several blocks. Police gave permission for one lane to be blocked and cars were parked sidewise along that lane. Lots of reorganization to be done. We had family dinner here following. The las6t picture is at the FRONT of the building faceing 24th street, where there are no parking spaces.

Then and Now

I taught seminary three years ago. Since that time Matthew Ruberson has gone on a mission. Ben Anderson left a week or so ago. Allison is married. The others are all following their life path. I can hardly wait to see where this bunch goes. I will have to update as the year goes along because since this pic was taken I already have gained one new student. I guess I should get their permission before I start talking about them to the world.

keeping up with the latest styles

Grandad had been having trouble with his legs and needed easy access to rub the muscle relaxer on them. That is if there was any left in the tube after Gretchen decided to use it for face cream last week. Anyway, He had me order him some shorts to wear. They fit fine but of course he couldn't wear his old white dress shirts with them so he sought out a suitable top. Eileen and Dave had these left from a youth conference in Atlanta and we all thought it was the perfect shirt.

Joanie and Bruce Visit

Sorry no pictures, for which I am truly sorry. We got word they would be arriving on the worst possible day of the year. I had an early morning appointment, the kids all started school, and I started the seminary year also. Dad had a late afternoon appt.
We expected the guests to arrive a little after noon but when Dad and I left at 3:30 no one had arrived. When Dad and I returned THREE HOURS LATER they had not been here very long. I had a screaming headache and was absolutely starving to death.
Eileen and Andrea were my lifesavers that day and they didn't even know the people!!
When Mom got a phone call saying the gang was almost here, she called Eileen to come over to help her entertain until we got home. Eileen had already prepared a taco salad spread to feed everyone.
Christie and her four children came also. Helen and her three were here.Susan entrtained us through dinner with tales from her first day with students back. Shortly after dinner started was when we wondered what was causing Matthew to run through the house pushing everyone out of the way. Then Amelia came sobbing in the other door. Turns out Sammie was in the road and Gretchen wasn't far from it. With all the commotion we adults had lost track for a few minutes of who was in charge. Why the babies left the safety of the swing set area we will never know.
Grandmom and Grandad had come over to eat with us and After dinner all the adults including them, ended up going out to sit by the pool to watch all the children swim. We all slurped shave ice thanks to Dave. Dave and Christie hit it off, she is in the medical field, and talked the whole time like they had known each other forever. Jimmy and Catie showed up in time for shave ice. We finally managed to drag all the kids out of the pool about 9:30. When Bruce threatened to leave one behind, Conner said ok, I am happy here.
The visit was way to short and way to chaotic to really visit. At least we know Christie's family will still be at Eglin for another year and we may all be able to get together again. The most fun part of the evening was Joanie trying to remember who it was that went out to the wedding and Mom trying to remember if she had ever been to Utah. Happy to say with a little prompting both events were made clear.

Change,change, change

Just a typical day at the Seaman main house.

All Eileen wanted was to get Dallin out of their bedroom before school starts. So the girls were going to move to the front room. Eileen figured since all the furniture was out, now would be a good time to rip out the old. old carpet and put the new floors down. So Dave made yet another trip to Costco to pick up flooring. Work progressed fine until rotted wood was discovered and the subfloor all the way through to the outside had to be replaced. The question of who gets the front room still remains undecided. Can you notice the differences between the two pictures?

Weekend at the Compound

New baby, no pic yet, new dog, no pics yet. We have been helping out with Nathan and as you can see he isn't too happy unless Jed says "I'll show you the snake" Dave and Eileen had HUGE weekend selling towels( don't know if sales were huge yet) hence Papa doing baby duty. Thanks Aunt Susan for taking the girls this afternoon so I could mop the floor. Ask G-dad about the chicken and the cat! Sorry about the double photo but it doesn't hurt to look twice. Nathan is at the back door now yelling "JED,JED" Maybe I better quit blogging.

Reply to Jennifer's latest "Game"

What a strange creature I sound like based on these topics. Here goes:
1. Homemade yeast products - I like to bake homemade bread. Brenda in Jax gave me a starter once that made the most fabulous bread ever. Once a week I would whip up a batch and use the loaves for french toast with homemade strawberry freezer jam or chewey, melted grill cheese sandwiches. I became semi-famous for this bread.
2. Way back at the beginning of her career Brittany Spears had a good song to dance to. I dance to it by getting down on my back on the floor and spinning around in a circle. I don't know if I was recreating the video or if this was my own move. It is that memory lapsing once again.
3. Fred Flintstone feet - if you saw my photo I posted after the hail storm in April I don't need to say anything else. Sorry Jed, At least you don't have to worry toe nail polish will accentuate the figure flaw.
4. Moles and chin hair. Who doesn't have this problem according to Rachel Ray who did a show on the chin hair removal techniques. I personally still perfer to pluck. And really, what would entertain the small children during church if they could not stare at me and try to remove the skin growths on my face?
5. I don't laugh very easily. Don't know why, just am that way. James is very funny. Dave can be funny. Except for the gorilla imitation, Donald, not so much. (Someone should blog about that). I don't like slapstick or potty humor. I just have to be in the mood to laugh and my life has way to much serious stuff in it.

Summer Vacation

For those who don't know, Jed went to Boy Scout camp and then left almost the next day for a leadership training camp in Huntsville, Al. It was held at the famous "Space Camp" facilities but he wasn't part of that program. If I give out info on how he got to go to this fab place, they put my in a rocket and send me off. I still haven't figured out how to caption pictures but these are some Jed took.Maybe Jed will let us know what is going on in the photos. The great part was staying at the Marriott on the grounds of the Space Museum when Donald and I went to pick him up. Got the room for half price (military discount), just Donald and I, best hotel shower ever, great view, I could go on... We did make it in time to pick up Jed who was more than ready to be in his own bed again.

Bumbo Baby

It is less than three weeks now until Helen's baby pushes Dallin from the spotlight. He is the sweetest baby as evidenced by this picture. Bumbo's are the best invention for babies in a long time though I am sure I could find lots of cool things if I went shopping in those type stores more often. Everyone loves our little guy, Madison Spikes held him all during sacrament on Sunday and he is almost as big as she is. (Well, not quite, I do exaggerate a little)Her grandpa thinks she came all the way back from Missouri to see him but we all know she just wanted to see the baby again.

Random Picture

Walked outside and saw this in the pool. So many things I could say..

Kiddie Corral

When Helen and Ryan started this years garden, the need arose for somewhere to put the little ones while the tilling was going on. At first we were going to drag the playhouse over under the trees right by the garden fence. After a couple of weeks Granddaddy decided that would not do because of the sap dripping off the pine tree. He then began construction on his latest brainstorm. I should explain it doubles as a place to let the bunnies hop around in on occasion. The water bottle is for them, not the two legged creatures. The signs were rescued from Carol's house after she left for Wyoming. We couldn't bear to let that part of her life be lost.

It is coming

I will update with photos soon. I have to get pics of the new kiddie corral to post. It has been exceedingly busy around here, Monday was consumed with blueberries, Tuesday more blueberries. Wednesday primary and Youth parties at compound. Thursday more blueberries and enrichment. Today has been fairly quiet with the young Seaman bunch in Atlanta. I have cleaned carpet trying to remove the mysterious odor that has plagued the front room for a couple of weeks now. Jed is actually out with friends at the movie and I am waiting for him to a) call me to come pick him up or b) him to show up back home. Hey, he just called so more later.