What?!?

We woke up this morning to this. It's only October! This is a far cry from the 80 degree temperatures Tuscon enjoys in October.

Luckily, we were warned well in advance of that a "cold spell" was headed our way so Bill and I (mostly Bill) covered the tomato plants in an effort to get a few more of the 1000 green ones to ripen on the vine.

Only two days earlier, it was a beautiful 75 degree day. Now we have snow, snow! It melted quickly, which is a good thing because we can't find our snow scrapers. A must-have item if we are going to survive a winter here. The warm weather is scheduled to return for a while. I am glad because I am not ready for winter yet.

The children's Halloween costumes will definitely include thermal underwear this year.

Conferences and Me

Living in several different states through the years, I have never been able to attend a church meeting in the Conference Center. This year, I was doubly blessed.
A little background: I have been lucky enough to have a group of really wonderful friends. We go waaaaaay back to junior high and even elementary school. So every year, all of the members of the group are invited to go to dinner and watch the broadcast from some one's stake center. I have always been invited (at least, that's what I choose to believe) but I have never been able to come.

Marianne, Donna, Heather, Me and Laurie. We missed the people who couldn't be there with us.

All those years I sat alone in watching the broadcast I felt a little less lonely knowing that these women were listening to the same messages I was. This year, we were lucky enough to get tickets to attend the broadcast live. So after a great dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, we headed off to Salt Lake to watch the broadcast. We had fantastic seats and sitting with such wonderful people made it even more fun.

Andrew was thrilled to be at such an important event with his dad.

My very smart husband also got us tickets to attend the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference. Because Andrew was baptized one week earlier, he was old enough to attend. The tickets came in packages of six, so we let Andrew invite a friend. He chose our neighbor Isaac.
I brought everyone a notepad and pen. They were given instructions to take notes, draw . . . whatever they wanted as long as they were quiet.

All of us before the session began. We arrived an hour early and got great seats. Unfortunately, the children were ready to leave an hour into the broadcast. Oops. I guess two hours is their limit for a sit-and-be-quiet church meeting.

My plan worked well. The children all said they were glad they went. We had good seats. The children thought it was really cool to be so close to the prophet.

The rain seemed to keep people away. Seats were available for both Saturday sessions.

While we were in Salt Lake City, Ellie and Brianna were at grandma's house, eating lots of good food, coloring, watching t.v. and playing games. We all had a wonderful time. Living in Utah has lot of advantages.

But That's Not All!

Andrew's exciting adventures continued with his very first Cub Scout meeting on Wednesday. He is now a Wolf Scout. We have until Oct. 15th to earn his Bobcat so he can get recognized at his first pack meeting.

The final event on the Week 'O Drew was his baptism and confirmation. Bill preformed the baptism (with running commentary by Brianna) and Grandpa Buddy confirmed him. We will have to see how he adjusts to being a regular kid next week.

Patti's Punkin' Pickin' Party

Brianna and Ali swinging in the back yard

In the midst of the week-long Andrew festivities, we were invited to Aunt Patti's to pick the pumpkins from her pumpkin patch. It was a great day. Not to hot, not to cold. We ate lots of really good food and played in her back yard. Getting good and dirty in the pumpkin patch.


Ali, doing her best racoon impression

We picked the entire patch clean. Patti waned to make sure we got everything so uprooted every plant and left the patch with no plants in it at all.

Erin, Brianna and Ellie gourd washing in the fountain

The children were very fastidious, washing the produce clean in the newly-installed fountain. (Located over the spot where Grandma and Grandpa Lott had their well.)


Brody, riding on one of many wheelbarrow loads of gourds Lee hauled home for Megan.

Everyone left with more than enough pumpkins and gourds to make this the most festive fall we have ever had.


Bud holding Emmy. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

The Celebration Continues . . .

The Drew-fest continued on his actual birthday. He went to the doctor for a check-up and two shots (not his favorite part of the day). Next, he got to go with Grandma and Grandpa on a special date to buy his birthday present. He got to open the rest of his gifts.

THEN he got to get dressed up and go out to a special dinner with just his mom and dad. He picked Thai food. My favorite. After he ate all he possibly could, he wiggled a little and mode room for icecream. It was fun for him to pick everything out and have them freeze it right before his eyes.

All in all a pretty good day.

The Drew-fest

We included this in the party invitations. It could have been the whole invitation, if I had the skill and creativity of certain members of my family, it would have been. But I'm not, so it wasn't.

For a week, our house was all Andrew all the time. He turned 8 years old. Monday, Sept. 22. We began the celebration with a birthday party at the Hardway Ranch the Saturday before his birthday. Grandpa Buddy saddled up the horses and built a bonfire. So a few of Andrew's friends and their parents could have some good old-fashioned fun.

Most of the boys around the fire pit. Andrew is wielding his "fire stick". Notice the other boys are keeping a safe distance. Andrew makes smart friends.

Andrew was delighted to feed his inner pyromaniac. He spent more time in the fire pit than riding horses. Luckily, we had cake and a pinata to distract him . . . for a while.

Caious attacking what was left of the very cool horse pinata I found. It held more candy than I expected. Oops. I sent those boys home full of sugar.


Also the presents kept him busy. I know he loved the gifts, but he was also very happy they were wrapped in flammable materials.

Showing off some of the goods with his friend Ethan.

It was a great time and we are very thankful for Buddy and Grandma for hosting the best party ev-er. I don't think we will be able to top this adventure.

Where's Tanner? On the horse. I'm not sure he ever got off. He could still be there today. In fact, if Grandpa would let him, I sure he would.

Everyone got stinky (smoky) and dirty. We even got rained on a little bit. It was a very memorable day.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but as my dad put it: I did a "crappy" job on the cake. An inside family joke that stems from a cake my brother (Crazy-Uncle-Tony) had when he was little. He was grossed out by it. My boys think it's hilarious. No horse cake is complete without a few droppings.

One Year Older . . .

and wiser too?!? Well . . . probably just older.
Happy Birthday to me!


Bill arranged a surprise party for me at our house. It was great. I got lots of wonderful stuff (including, - but not limited to - a t-shirt from my favorite t.v. show)


Bill made pizza like a man possessed. He says he made 10, they were all gone.


I wish I had taken better photos of the evening. It was a beautiful night and a good time was had by all ( I think.)
Thanks to everyone who came and those who sent well wishes from other parts of the country. I am very lucky to know you and be your friend.