Monson

William and I had a wonderful trip to visit Monson,Wills and Bailey. He is so fun to hold and cuddle. He is a very good baby. Here are a few pictures:

Monson must really love his Grandpa Jolley. He sure slept soundly while Grandpa was holding him.

Food, food, food

Since my "episode" last summer I have made a few changes in my eating habits. I have been asked, "So, what DO you eat?" And I have been told, "There isn't any food in the house!" We do eat and there is food here. The biggest food group reduction has been dairy. Cheese has left the house (I do eat it when it is served to me at other places) and my milk is saved for putting on my cereal. We finally finished of the dozen eggs I bought last Thanksgiving. I now buy eggs in a 6-pack. The biggest increase is in fresh fruit and vegetables. We are using the food storage but we are trying to get it down to "storage for 2".

Here is the breakfast that your Dad makes for us a few times a week. It is oatmeal with cinnamon and our home dried apples and raisins. Not pictured is the banana, grapefruit or juice. I still have bran on the mornings I am in a hurry. We have eggs about once a month as noted above.


This is the meal that started this posting. As I filled my plate I thought "This would make Dr. Fuhrman happy". Dr Sarah suggested reading Dr Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live" to get a new perspective. I was a bit discouraged when I read the book because many of the principles were already a part of our lifestyle. I have tried to focus on a few changes, tweeking as I like to think of the changes, that I could live with. This is baked salmon with garlic, lemon and sliced scallions; Calrose rice; green beans with crispy scallions (very yummy). I try to eat salmon at least once a week. Again the fruit isn't in the picture. It was fresh pineapple with this meal. We now try to have our main meal in the middle of the day. It works with Dad's schedule and the empty nest.


Supper is usually a salad or a little bit of leftovers. We have been having some fun things on our salads. Pictured here is romaine lettuce, baby spinach, grated carrots, sliced celery, sliced purple onion, craisins, sunflower seeds, olives, and a few croutons. My daily dose of almonds are on the side. Again, the fruit is missing from the picture. We do eat my bottle fruit along with the fresh.

The good news is, drum roll, as of last week's blood test my cholesterol is DOWN and is in NORMAL range. I will continue with the dietary changes to keep me in the normal range but hopefully I will still improve my cholesterol (normal is very broad).

Christmas

This picture accidentally got deleted so "insert" below.
We started off the Christmas activities with a cool spin around the ice rink. Eliza tried the skates on but they were very large. This was the extent of her skating for the day.

Charlie looked great on the ice.

Wills had a great time -- too bad I only got his back side on this spin.

I even tried a little turn after my knees quit shaking.

Eliza showed us how she colors in her coloring book with her big crayons.

The Koozers hosted the Christmas Eve activities. Unfortunately my camera and I didn't do very well on the inside-night shots. But here are a few blurry pictures.

Dinner was great and it was followed by a magic show.

Pam Mann shared a great presentation on the many gifts that we enjoy. Robin, Charlie and Eliza were the gift of our ancestors and pioneers.

Here are those that served missions (plus a couple of extras). The gifts of Sharing the Gospel.

Wills tried to "Trap" us. Here it is after the fact. Bailey and I tried for a little bit then Kristine just went for it and got through.

Eliza tried her best to enjoy the gift exchange but she wasn't feeling very well. She did put on her new jacket, slippers and hair accessories. I accidentally deleted the picture with Robin, Charlie and Eliza. It's at the beginning of this post.

Here are Bailey, Kristine and Wills.

Charlie got some cold cereal and opened it then left it by the tree. I was sitting in the front room and watched Eliza help herself to the Froot Loops.

Eliza was sick and just wasn't herself. Here she is trying to smile for the camera.

Great Home Teachers

Our home teachers take great care of us. They clear the snow away from the front of the house. Here is Lance taking care of the neighborhood! We sure appreciate it.

Saturday in the Sticks

Wills and William wanted to do a little target practice. We forgot targets and earplugs but we still succeeded! Wills did a little dumpster diving and we got started.

Wills is sporting the new (to Dad) holster and pistol.

Bailey feels so protected by her man.

Ouch, that's loud.

Bailey looks great in Dad's coat.

William is sneaking up on the target.

After the target practice we did a mock Christmas tree cutting experience. We just drove up on the mountain, pulled off the road, walked a few feet and took this picture. No, we didn't cut down the tree nor did we have doughnuts and hot chocolate.

We then drove up to the Red Canyon overlook for the sunset. We saw some deer and some big horned sheep walked right up to the truck. We had dinner at the lodge where we did have hot chocolate.

Boys will be Boys

Boys just need to wrestle. Bailey and I just stayed out of the way.

Black Friday

Here we are in line at Walmart. We were sort of successful. I didn't get my computer but we all found a few things. Beverly won--she stayed home and still got everything on her list!

Thanksgiving Day

Here we are visiting with the Manns on ooVoo. It is so fun to see each other. (Richard needs some Dramamine.)



The table before.....



And now the pie!

Kristine and Keaton had an intense chess game.

The annual Risk Game!

And the winner is......

Happy Birthday, Kristine

Here is the birthday girl wearing her birthday crown that she got at preschool that day. Kristine is in her last year of her teens. Have a great year!


Here are the RACKSMs minus M. M did show up later with her fiancee.