I think I miss my eyelashes the most...

There is a quote attributed to Ozzy Osborne: Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.

As I've aged over the past few years, the thing I seem to lament losing the most are my eyelashes. I knew I'd get gray hair and wrinkles and such (though the chicken neck did start sooner than expected), but I never thought about eyelashes. It's a daily struggle especially since my left eyelid has fewer lashes than my right...getting them to balance is a chore. Who knew that mascara would play such an important part of my morning routine.

Anyway, I turned 58 years old yesterday. I had a wonderful day (and a wonderful week) filled with family, friends, and the start of the Christmas season. Thanks everyone for your calls, texts, and messages!

For my birthday, Glen gave me 2 games, Onitama and Azul Stained Glass of Sintra. Too  much fun! I haven't played many Onitama games (similar to chess), but I have lost every one. Yay me. I have a better win record with Azul.

The other day, I started decorating using the bulletin boards that are over the kitchen counter by putting up past years' cards that I had made. I think my card-making skills have improved. As cards come in, I'm replacing mine with them.

a few of these were cards I designed but didn't use, so you may not recognize them

Yesterday, Glen brought over our decorations from storage and the real decorating began. It's still a work in progress, though.

I'm sill working on this as well as the tree

We got to talk to Alex on Tuesday as well as on my birthday. Alex's companion, Elder Sivadon, is the mission's IT specialist and they wound up spending several hours of their p-day fixing phone problems, so Alex didn't have time to call home, but was allowed to on Tuesday instead. And then again on my birthday. It's so weird to think that Andrew, Eric, and Ryan were only allowed to call home on Christmas and on Mother's Day. I'm loving the rule change.

Sounds like Alex and Elder Sivadon have plenty of people to teach and had a great week. Alex is loving the snow (I wonder how long that will last, but glad he likes it now).

Another interesting thing about Alex's area is that the 19 wards they cover includes a Japanese one (Elder Sivadon's name tag is in Japanese and Alex will be getting one in Japanese, too). When they teach someone, though, they use an interpreter.

And once again, they had dinner with a family who then shared a photo with us! Doesn't Alex look good!

I love Elder Sivadon's "Hi Mom!" sign

Thursday night was the annual Christmas party with my friends. This year our talented friend, DonNell, led us in painting a Christmas gnome (she had designed the painting herself!). A few years ago we did this with cardinals. I think we all decided our gnomes came out better (it's easier doing a character than a real creature).

mine

having done the example for us in red, DonNell decided to try out green

Kara's

Terra's

if you look closely you can see footprints of where Jennifer's gnome walked away...

Friday night was Fallon's Annual Christmas Tree Lighting. It was cold, but not too cold. Fireworks followed the tree lighting. It's a great tradition we have here.

6 December 2019

Happy Birthday Hannah and Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Hannah's birthday. Happy Birthday, Hannah! We love you and we miss you!

Hannah and Kaellen went to Oregon for the week. Alex, of course, is on his mission. But, we had Andrew, Heather, Henry, Joy, Ryan, and Angeles all come for Thanksgiving! Because they were traveling in the snow, there was a bit of stress on my part due to the fact that I am a worrier. But they all arrived safely, if not quickly.

Ryan and Angeles came up from San Diego and there was snow in California. They got in at 4 am Wednesday morning, so it was about 13 hour trip instead of a 10.

Andrew had to work Wednesday morning, so couldn't leave Mesa until the afternoon. They wound up spending Wednesday night at my sister's in Vegas (thanks Deni!) and arrived just in time to eat with the family. There were only 27 of us altogether (I believe we've had as many as 40 before) as some family had other places to go. But it was a wonderful feast with wonderful company.

We got to video conference with Alex on Thanksgiving Day. He had just left the training center on Tuesday morning, so this was our first chance to find out where he was assigned. He is in Salt Lake, which is where he wanted to be (he's hoping to see all the Christmas lights Salt Lake is famous for). We don't know much about Alex's companion, but his name is Elder Sivadon and he's from Georgia.

After Alex talked to us, he contacted Hannah, who just happened to be at my parents house, so they all got to have a very brief video conference, too!

Mission assignments are a bit different in Utah than they are in Fallon. In Fallon, a companionship usually covers one or two wards and they serve in one stake usually with several other missionaries. Alex and his companion's area takes in 19 wards from 3 different stakes (Grant, Granite, and Highland) that they don't share with any other missionaries (unless there are Spanish-speaking missionaries maybe), and we believe one of the stakes is where his cousin Megan lives! Andrew's first area in Iowa was where Mindy (Megan's older sister) lived and Andrew and Mindy bumped into each other Andrew's first week in Iowa. Wonder if Alex will bump into Megan. Hope so!

Thursday night, we received an email from the Hut family who Alex had Thanksgiving dinner with, and it had the following photo attached.

Besides eating a ton of delicious food ourselves, we played a ton of wonderful games all weekend.

another left hander! I'm not the only one anymore

enjoying some taco soup on Friday

Besides playing a ton of games, it snowed several times and Henry, Andrew, and Glen played in the snow.

Ryan and Angeles are staying a few more days, but Andrew had to work on Monday, so they had to drive back on Sunday. Luckily they were behind a snowplow between Fallon and Schurz, which was the one part of the trip that might have been dangerous because "chains or snow tires required" on that stretch of 95. They got in around 1:30 this morning in Mesa, making their trip about 16 hours (instead of the 12 that a trip without snow and little kids would have taken).

It was so good to get together! We have so many blessings and have so much to be thankful for.