A Glimpse Into Eternity

During our lifetime we all have moments of clarity when you feel as if you see a moment of eternity. Just recently I was privileged to have one of those moments. It would not be possible to describe my feelings as I watched my daughters walking together in the halls of the Salt Lake Temple. Or seeing many of my other children embrace their sister in the Celestial Room. The moment was truly overwhelming. At this Christmas season, I am so grateful for the gift and blessing of temples and eternal families.

Myself, Ken, Tamara, Marian & Michael

Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed . . . lessens the power of Satan on the earth and increases the power of God and Godliness.
* George Q. Cannon

Sewing Can Be "Sew" Much Fun!

Kimberly and I recently spent a weekend sewing and enjoying every minute of it. For some time, she has been patiently waiting for Grandma to master her new "toy" (serger) so we could sew her skirt together. The pattern was a simple one which made our task much easier and before I knew it, she was modeling her new skirt - lining and all. It was pretty exciting!

With this triumph behind us, we moved on to something that was actually much simpler. Ken has become part of the volunteer emergency team in our area. He keeps an emergency pack in the car at all times which includes 1st aid supplies. His triangular bandages were fraying on the edges so Kimberly agreed to serge around each one. Grandpa was thrilled!

Folding the newly serged bandages
(Yes . . . his bandages are pink!)

And last, but not least, the two of us went digging through my tubs of scrap fabric for pieces big enough to make pillowcases. Our Ward is making fun pillowcases as a humanitarian project. Kimberly became pretty excited and was matching up a pretty large pile of cases and cuffs! Together we cut, serged and ironed seven cases -- 5 for charity, 1 to send Kevin for Christmas and 1 for Kimberly to take home.

Kimberly and the 7 pillowcases

All in all . . . a very productive day!

Thanksgiving Day Fun!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! Great food - great company - and great fun! This year was no exception, although there were a few glitches here and there. For example:

(1) Peeling 30 lbs. of frozen potatoes! (Our home grown potatoes had frozen solid in our shed!) You can't imagine how cold they were! It was like peeling ice cubes!

(2) Making a dozen calls to Linda (who was making her fruit salad at home) for everything that had been forgotten. I think she came and finished her salad at the church just so she didn't have to answer the phone!

(3) Or trying to find a potato masher in the many jumbled drawers.

(4) etc., etc., etc.

(5) And last, but certainly not least . . . trying to figure out who was actually going to eat all the pie! (There were at least 15 or more!)

Regardless, I was reminded yet again how grateful I am for my family! (We missed all you Idahoans who were snowed in!)

Here's a few pictures of the final Jenga challenge!

Lots of love to you all!

Fun With My Grandchildren * Rebekah

Rebekah has been visiting this weekend. At this very moment she is cuddled next to Grandpa watching 101 Dalmatians. As the movie began, Cinderella's sparkling castle appeared with the music that immediately speaks of Disney. Rebekah turned to Grandpa and said quite seriously,

"That's just like the castle where you get married!"

I couldn't help chuckling but the deepest prayer of my heart is that one day each and every one of my grandchildren will get married in one of Heavenly Father's special castles!

Lots of love to you all!

"Grandmacar Red"

From the time I was young, I've heard the phrase "slug bug" (and then the color) when a Volkswagen bug drove by. The object was to notice the car before your friends. I remember playing this game with my friends, hearing my kids play this game with their friends and now I sometimes hear my grandkids play with their friends!

This weekend I discovered a new game has been created by a few of my grandkids. Driving down the freeway together, I heard Kimberly call out "Grandmacar blue", with Alicia looking around quickly to find where the car had gone! At first I was startled, and then to the right was a blue PT Cruiser sailing down the road. I burst out laughing as the realization hit -- my car had become my own personal icon! :-)

So if you find yourself a little bored as you're driving down the highway, feel free to play along!

California . . . Here She Comes!

This sounds a tiny bit familiar! Once again we are facing major changes in our family. It appears twins really do come in pairs in more ways than one! :-) Tamara LeeAnn Rimington has received her mission call to the California, San Bernardino Mission and we couldn't be happier! With her twin brother in the northern Roseville, California Mission, Tammy will head the opposite direction and be serving in the southern part of the state.

We love her very much and know she will be serving where she is needed. We are truly grateful for the gospel and pray she will find those who are seeking the very blessings that we already enjoy!

Here's some fun trivia:
Surprisingly, the timing of this call will make it so they will probably both return in July of 2012!

All Our Ducks in a Row

Recently I've been trying to catch up on printing my pictures. I hesitate to publicly admit that I'm about 2 years behind which means a lot of catching up!

In going through some of the pictures for last summer (2009), I found these pictures from the science museum in New York and they really made me chuckle. Ken is always saying I can never make a decision without getting all my ducks in a row and it looks like I've passed that trait on to at least one of my grandchildren! :-)

Ethan and Addie at the science museum

Summer 2009

Lots of love to you all!

Have a Finger!

As we approach the upcoming Halloween witching hour, Ken has again followed tradition and made his mother's famous fingers. Since he is working in a new department (one that's never had the privilege of fingers), he was pretty excited. They're definitely unique and usually cause quite a reaction in those who are brave enough to eat them. Great fun! :-)

Grandma always loved making fingers. She offered them to anyone who came by to visit. When she worked in the library at church, she even took a plate of fingers to pass around on the Sunday before Halloween. (Is that a little like Ammon and the arms in Mosiah?)

For all the little goblins out there . . . HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


NOTE: For those who would like to give these wonderful treats a try, follow the link to What's Cooking for the recipe.

All Is Safely Gathered In

When summer 2010 began, Ken was determined to have a garden. In spite of a late start, he decided to take his chances and planted corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Plus, he was hopeful our fruit trees and the strawberries he'd planted the year before would have a good crop. Kevin and I weren't very hopeful and gave a few sighs while we tried to patiently help him plant.

Surprisingly, the strawberries took off! We had several shortcake desserts and made several batches of freezer jam. Unfortunately, our fruit trees didn't fare so well. A late freeze hit our area. In fact, we didn't think we'd have any fruit at all. As it turned out, we didn't have many peaches, but what we had were HUGE! And when we finally stripped the tree, I had enough for one batch of jam and seven pretty bottles of peaches!


We laughed as we watched the corn. The old saying, knee high by the 4th of July, definitely didn't apply to our corn which was only a few inches high at that date. I didn't think we'd ever see a single kernel of corn, but not so. We actually harvested several dozen great tasting ears - but they were tiny!

When all was said and done, we had zucchini piled everywhere. (No surprise there!) Plus a small bowl of tomatoes and one basketball-sized Atlantic Giant pumpkin (and a few no larger than golf balls). :-) I guess our biggest surprise was the onions and potatoes. When Kevin was helping Ken plant the potatoes, he asked how we could possibly grow enough potatoes to eat any from the three seed potatoes they were planting. Well, yesterday we harvested about 75 pounds of potatoes! And the onions, which our grandkids have loved pulling up when they were visiting for dinner, made a small pile as well. We'll be enjoying those for many days to come!





So, thanks for all your hard work, Ken!