Last night Mark took Lauren Avondet to Temple Square in Salt Lake City and proposed! He got down on one knee, asked her to marry him, and presented her with a ring.
She said yes, so they are officially engaged! Wa-hoo!
Wherein I report the news
The latest news:
- Brian had surgery before Thanksgiving to repair the hole in his ear canal wall for the second time; the surgery went well but there have been some post-op complications with the incisions that haven’t been very fun for him and have made dancing difficult which is a problem when you have three dance classes in a semester.
- Mark has mono. Ugh! So now we are 2 for 2 with our children and mono; he’s having a tough time getting over it with finishing up the semester and working; Lauren feels lousy, too, so they strongly suspect she has it, too.
- Scott and I attended BYU’s Celebration of Christmas last weekend with all the choirs and Philharmonic Orchestra so we got to see Lauren play violin with the orchestra; we go to this concert every year and just love it because it’s a great beginning to the Christmas season.
- Last Sunday was tree delivery day for me when we deliver large trees purchased at Festival of Trees; that’s the winding-up activity for Festival week and it went off without a hitch.
- We managed to finish the Christmas decorating last Monday before BYU kids came up for dinner so we felt pretty good about that; so festive here!
- Friday was our annual Christmas shopping marathon; the yearly endurance event yielded the majority of our shopping done, so good job for us, although I was completely exhausted by the time we got home late Friday night.
- Scott played a piano duet at his BYU ward Christmas music fireside last night with a student in the ward; he reports that it went great.
- I sang in Alpine’s community choir concert, Joyful Christmas Sounds, last night; I’ve only missed two years that we’ve lived in Alpine and it’s fun to sing with my pals and do Christmas music together.
- And now for the weather report: it’s been snowing steadily since before I got up and it’s a winter wonderland out my window with a full blanket of snow on the ground and on the pines in my backyard; lovely! Glad I don’t have to go out in it…..
Festival of Trees 2012
Monday was Decorating Day for this year’s Festival of Trees and we gathered to put together our tree and the space around it. Our theme this year is “Sugarplum Forest” and we did lots of candy. This was a reference to Paul being in “Hansel and Gretl” when he was in junior high and also to his penchant for stashing candy for future eating. There’s a tree, playhouse, bare branches with glitter and bows, and candy jars. It sold last night at the silent auction and will be going to Jim’s Family Restaurant in West Valley where they will display it and then raffle it off to a lucky customer. As always, our tree is on the east end of aisle C.
The decorators are, L to R standing: me, Janice Carey Greenhalgh, Karen Carey, Renae Tibbitts, in front: Michelle Carey Rapp and Christine Carey Fazulyanov.
Some gratitude stuff
On this Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for:
- the three men in my life who love me no matter what
- Scott’s mad cooking and grilling skills
- my extended family on both sides who are always supportive
- the wonderful, brilliant girls of Natalie’s Book Club who have held me up through thick & thin & everything in between
- the lovely ladies of my neighborhood Lunch Bunch who patiently waited years for me to retire and be able to hang out with them again
- my visiting teacher who anticipates my every need
- my young friend who lets me do a super awesome book club with her and share some of the knowledge I’ve gained over the years
- my church calling that lets me hang out with Primary kids and play the piano
- my lovely mountain home with a gorgeous view out my front window
- a marvelous stretch of Indian Summer so I can enjoy the sun before winter sets in for good
- my garden going dormant so that I can enjoy the wonder of new growth in spring
- books and my ability to read them
- technology-I love it!
50 States Reading Challenge Conquered!
I started this challenge on a whim because I thought it sounded fun and interesting. So during the course of my normal reading, I marked my list if the book I finished took place in a state I needed. This actually worked fine for half the states and then I decided that I wanted to actually finish the challenge. So I looked through books I had around the house that I hadn’t read to see how many I could find that worked for states I needed. This actually got me through 45 states. Then I had to go to the library to search for interesting books for the last five. So I was surprised that I did this challenge without much struggle, which goes to show that I am pretty well-rounded, geographically speaking!
And which books did I give 5 stars? Alabama, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Alabama: Inside Out & Back Again, by Thanhha Lai
Alaska: Black Star, Bright Dawn, by Scott O’Dell
Arizona: Listening Woman, by Tony Hillerman
Arkansas: Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe, by Bette Greene
California: A Time of Troubles, by Pieter Van Raven
Colorado: The Secret School, by Avi
Connecticut: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
Delaware: The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls, by Julie Schumacher
District of Columbia: Talking God, by Tony Hillerman
Florida: Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer L. Holm
Georgia: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, by Beth Hoffman
Hawaii: Under the Blood-Red Sun, by Graham Salisbury
Idaho: Double Jeopardy, by Steve Roos
Illinois: Fair Weather, by Richard Peck
Indiana: A Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel
Iowa: A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley
Kansas: May B., by Caroline Starr Rose
Kentucky: The Coffin Quilt, by Ann Rinaldi
Louisiana: Keepsake Crimes, by Laura Childs
Maine: Like the Willow Tree, by Lois Lowry
Maryland: Stepping on the Cracks, by Mary Downing Hahn
Massachusetts: The Shape of Mercy, by Susan Meissner
Michigan: Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis
Minnesota: The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich
Mississippi: Mississippi Trial, 1955, by Chris Crowe
Missouri: The Shepherd of the Hills, by Harold Bell Wright
Montana: Dancing at the Rascal Fair, by Ivan Doig
Nebraska: Worth, by A. LaFaye
Nevada: Lost December, by Richard Paul Evans
New Hampshire: Nothing But the Truth, by Avi
New Jersey: The Fighting Ground, by Avi
New Mexico: The Fallen Man, by Tony Hillerman
New York: Two Suns in the Sky, by Miriam Bat-Ami
North Carolina: On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith
North Dakota: The Children’s Blizzard, by David Laskin
Ohio: Trouble Don’t Last, by Shelley Pearsall
Oklahoma: True Grit, by Charles Portis
Oregon: The River, by Mary Jane Beaufrand
Pennsylvania: The Wedding Quilt, by Jennifer Chiaverini
Rhode Island: Black Duck, by Janet Taylor Lisle
South Carolina: Death by Darjeeling, by Laura Childs
South Dakota: The Indian Agent, by Dan O’Brien
Tennessee: Eggs in Purgatory, by Laura Childs
Texas: Flygirl, by Sherri L. Smith
Utah: When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka
Vermont: Witness, by Karen Hesse
Virginia: With the Might of Angels, by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Washington: A Turn in the Road, by Debbie Macomber
West Virginia: Miss Julia to the Rescue, by Ann B. Ross
Wisconsin: Ida B. . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World, by Katherine Hannigan
Wyoming: The Traitor, by Laurence Yep
Bonus Book: How the States Got Their Shapes, by Mark Stein