The House of Unexpected Sisters

 

The House of Unexpected Sisters by Alexander McCall Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Number 18 in this delightful series was an especially emotional book. I love Mma Ramatswe and her kindness, patience, clear thinking, and her love for her country and family. I always leave these books uplifted. In this story, Mma Ramatswe is shaken to the core when she learns things about her late father whom she reveres. As usual, it all works out in the end. A great book on which to end my year of reading!

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Elf

I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!  My very favorite Christmas movie that must be watched every year!  It's not too late!  Ya gotta watch this one!  We own it.

Bomba Socks

 I have struggled finding socks that I like.  I have socks that I'm sure are over twenty years old that I still wear because they are comfortable and work for me. They are getting holes.  I have bought many others and just not liked them.  With low -ride athletic socks, or no shows, I had such a hard time with them slipping off my heel.  This was especially a problem when we were on our mission to Japan.  My socks were always slipping into my shoes, making me miserable.  I kept seeing these Bomba socks advertised and decided to give them a try.

These are the athletic bombas.  I ordered a multi-pack of various colors and fell in love with them.  All through the summer months, I wore them every day.  They stay put on my heels, making walking so comfortable.  

I put them on my "Favorite things" list and started writing this post.  This was a few months ago.  

Then I noticed that the navy pair was developing holes.

Bomba socks are expensive AND they are guaranteed. I decided I'd better not write a favorite things post about them if they were going to get holes in them.

 But I contacted the company and sent the above pictures.  Within just a few days I received a whole new set of the athletic socks.  Not just the blue ones, but the whole pack! 

I was so impressed with the customer service and am still impressed with the socks.  They are slightly padded and I love how they feel on my feet, giving them support.  They are definitely back on list of favorite things.  Another thing I love about the company is that they donate socks to homeless shelters- thousands and thousands of them.  

Bomba socks- one of my favorite things!

Standing For Safe Care

 Our good friend, Terri Draper is the Communications director for our local hospital.  She called Ken one evening, in tears.  She asked him to be part of a grass-roots group to advocate for safe care.  In our town, there is a group of what we call Anti-Maskers.  They have held anti-mask rallies, advocating that the government is trying to control us and that masks are a violation of our rights.  As they protest and carry on, the number of COVID cases has dramatically increased and the number of those hospitalized has grown to beyond capacity.  

Terri was calling to ask us to be part of a grass-roots effort to counter the negative effects.  She asked a lot of the prominent people in our community to come to a zoom meeting about it.  We were amazed and impressed with the people there. Terri is a kind, caring woman with much influence in our community.  People responded to her plea.  It is an impressive group, including an area authority 70, a congressman, and other prominent leaders.  She asked Ken to be in charge of the group and keep the effort going.  

Each week Ken meets with Terri via Zoom and they share ideas and plans.  Ken then contacts all in the group and passes on information and encourages them to do their part.

Neither of us are crazy about putting ourselves out there on social media, opening ourselves to rebuttal and criticism, but feel it is the right thing to do.  It is wisdom.

We are seeing some success.  We notice many others willing to express their desire for us to comply with the recommendations of social distancing, hand washing, and mask-wearing.  One prominent local politician who used to be very outspoken against restrictions and mask-wearing has done a complete about- face on the subject, recently publishing an opposite view. 

The hospital produced a powerful video, taking us into the ICU and COVID wards of the hospital and interviewing those on the front lines.  It was very moving to me.  It has had over 185,000 views and thousands of shares.  It can be seen on mine or Ken's wall on Facebook.  We think it has had a powerful impact on people.  It sure did us.  Our friend, Terri, is in the video.

We all need to do all we can to stop the spread of this insidious virus.  We are trying to do our part. 

There You'll Find Me

 

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A wonderful young adult novel, dealing with grief, loss, anorexia, and forgiveness, and even love. I think I would like to try more of her novels.

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Bucking the Sun

 

Bucking the Sun by Ivan Doig
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I guess I have made it clear that I am an Ivan Doig fan. I love his writing. But this one was not my favorite. I’m not sure why. Hmmm. I think it was because I really didn’t like any of the characters in this book. Yes, I think that’s it. You have to at least like someone in the story.
It is set in the 1930’s in Montana during the building of the Fort Peck dam- one of FDR’s New Deal Projects. The main characters are all from a family: parents, three brothers and their wives. The name of the book is thought-provoking and clever. It refers to driving into the sun, but still keeping your focus even though the sun is in your eyes- an experience most have had. We have to keep going, even while bucking the sun. Though the book has historical value, it was not my favorite of Doig’s novels.


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Peter Rabbit

 We watched this quite some time ago, but I can't find that I ever reviewed it.  We both enjoyed it.  It is a cute mix of animation with live actors and is very well done.  We watched it on Netflix DVD.

Do the Dailys

 I missed the original comment by Kelly in our ward, but in a recent Zoom Sunday school lesson, someone quoted her as saying, "Do the Dailys."  That little mantra just really struck a chord with me. Doing the dailys includes praying, reading the scriptures, and whatever else is on your daily list.  Day by day, little by little, we can keep ourselves where we need to be spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.  Each day we can remind ourselves:  Do the dailys. 

The Princes Moved to Salt Lake City

Michelle and Brian have lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for the past six years.  They have loved it there and made many good friends.  They became aware of a job opening in a patent law firm in Sandy, Utah and Brian applied.  He got the job.  That meant relocating their family to Salt Lake City.

  They sold their beautiful home in Las Vegas.  It was on the market for a weekend and they had six offers on it. They went up to search for homes in the Salt Lake area one weekend.  The housing market is crazy in Salt Lake. They made three offers at above asking price, but they were outbid on all three.  They planned to go up again the next weekend, but, in the meantime, a child in Jaron's school class tested positive for COVID and Jaron was asked to quarantine.  So, Michelle stayed home with the kids  and Brian flew up for one day to look at more houses.  He facetimed Michelle as he went through them.  Again, they put offers on three of them, but were outbid on all.  Crazy!  They were named second offer on one or two of them, as I remember.   The next Tuesday, another house in South Jordan came available that looked promising.  Brian's brother Matthew went with their realtor and facetimed them as he walked through the house. They loved it.  There were four offers on it by that night.  Again, they were outbid.  But, they were informed they were second choice on it. The first bidder fell through, giving them the opportunity to buy it.   They had Blake's brother, Brandon who is a building contractor in Salt Lake go and look at the home in South Jordan, especially at the problems mentioned in the inspection.  He gave them the green light.  It is an older home in South Jordan, built in 1993.  It has a huge yard with a basketball court and buried trampoline and shed.  And lots of room for little boys to play and play. Aerial view:

 It needs a new roof, which is being done now. They are repainting most and re-carpeting much of the house.   It is a wonderful rambler with a full basement.  Lots of room-  lots of bedrooms.  And a  beautiful kitchen.  The old owner remodeled the kitchen recently and the main areas of the house have brand new flooring.  So, they are living with Brian's parents for a short time while Brandon oversees the roofing, painting, carpeting, and flooring.  They hope to be in by Christmas.

They will be close to Brian's work,  and his parents and brother live nearby.  Michelle drives the kids to and from school each day, so they are in their new school and won't have to transfer again.  I just had a fun email from Gabbi yesterday, telling me about new friends she has made in her new school.  That makes me happy.

We are happy for them, but feel a sadness that they are further away.  It has been so wonderful to have them close.  How we love this precious family!  

Just as I was finishing up this post, Michelle sent pictures that I thought I should add.  Even though they are not in the home yet, people in their new ward and neighborhood have been so welcoming.  When they go over there, they find treats and welcoming notes left on the doorstep.  This is what they found yesterday.  Someone had come and decorated their door.

Thanksgiving Zoom Call

 On Friday morning, our family all gathered on a Thanksgiving Zoom call.  It was fun to connect with everyone and hear what they are thankful for.

Hinton Family Gratitude Zoom Meeting, November 27, 2020

We are all thankful for our family, the gospel, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, the scriptures.  We asked each member of the family to name something besides those things for which they are thankful. Here are the results:

Gabe (4)- Abigail and Princess Sparks (his two stuffed horses)

Caleb (10)- National Parks, especially the Grand Tetons

Hannah (6)- Everything, earth and space

Lily (9) - Berry (her stuffed bear), Cookies, and Rhythm (this girl loves beating out rhythms)

Shonna- her five senses

Blake- clean drains (he was, as we spoke, cleaning drains at their house)

Kenny (6)- his mom, and later, after Jaron's quip,  he added Perry Grip music

Jaron (9) - Music, except Perry Grip music

Gabbi (11) - my own room, toilet paper, potatoes, reading and writing

William (3) - Cereal

Michelle- to have a home, the service from others (as they have moved)

Brian- to be done driving a 26 ft, very bumpy truck pulling a U-haul trailer

Nathan (13) - Pokemon and Mine Craft

Jacob (10)- Nathan, Pokemon and Mine Craft

Audrey (7) - Christmas, candy, sece (I didn't understand her, so asked her to spell it.  This is how she spelled it.  Mom spelled it squirty squirt in the chat.)

Brielle (15) - E Books

Samuel (4)- Baby (Elisabeth)

Elisabeth (1)- cheerios

Jared- to have a project to work on (he is working on finishing their basement)

Kristen- things that bring peace (running, Unshaken Saints podcast) and things that bring connection (one on one time with her kids)

Grandpa Ken- Health (that my spleen works, a phrase coined by his brother, Don)

Grandma Kay- technology that helps us stay connected

It was a fun Zoom call.  I hope this will become an annual tradition.

Relative Race, Seasons 5 & 6

 Season 5

As promised, we are working our way through the Relative Race seasons.  This one had twin sisters (black shirts), adopted brothers (green shirts,) adopted sisters (red shirts,) and a couple (blue shirts) competing for $50,000.  Day 10- the final day, where the winning team is determined, was very different than previous seasons.  This is a great show, full of the spirit of Elijah. When they meet their relatives, it is such a sweet, happy moment. 

Season 6

This was a fun season.  We liked all of the teams.  They were all couples this time. The black team were a little older than the others and members of our church from Utah. Some of their relative stops were in Utah in towns we know well.  That was fun.  We look forward to season 7, which has been delayed because of COVID.  We watch it on BYUtv.  We  recommend it to all. 

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving certainly was different this year.  Kristen invited us to come to Colorado and spend it with them.  Blake and Shonna always come and spend it with us, but they planned to go to Colorado as well.  But then Covid numbers rose and we all decided we best stay home.  So Ken and I went in pursuit of a turkey breast.  I put it on Walmart pick up orders at two different Walmart stores in town, and both of them said they were out of stock.  We tried Costco, with no luck.  We finally scored one, quite a large one at Harmons.  We were excited about our Thanksgiving meal.  We made apple and pecan pie, cranberry sauce, and yams on Wednesday.  
We got up Thursday and I went to put the turkey in the instapot.  Shonna (she's pretty much an expert on the instapot) coached me through the whole thing.  But our turkey breast was just too big.  

We could get the lid on, but it was definitely over the fill line.  So we decided to use the slow cooker feature on the instapot.  That meant Thanksgiving would be for dinner, not in the early afternoon, as planned.  No problem.  So I put the lid on and trusted it to cook.

I had already started on the rolls, so I finished those, then took a nap.

All afternoon I kept checking the turkey.  It didn't seem to be doing much.  We set the table and waited.

And waited.

And waited.  

Finally, about 6:00 I could see the turkey just wasn't cooking.  I got out the meat thermometer.  It was at 141 and needed to be at 165.  We decided to take the turkey out of the instapot and put it in on a roasting pan in the oven and cranked up the heat.  I should have done that much earlier.  I just kept thinking it would cook.  Ken did the mashed potatoes and we finished up the rest of the meal.  Finally at about 7:30pm the little pop up thermometer popped.  I documented the time below.

We finally sat down to eat our Thanksgiving meal at almost 8:00 pm.  Never has a Thanksgiving meal tasted better!  Wow!  It was good.  I call it the Aunt Minnie Syndrome.

Aunt Minnie Syndrome

My mother’s Aunt Minnie lived in Salt Lake City.  She was my mom’s aunt, a daughter of Andreas Peterson.  She married Parley P. Pratt’s son, so her name was Minnie Pratt.  So, we are kind of related to Parley P. Pratt.  But anyway, she would invite my parents to come to dinner from Logan.  She would say, “Be there at 5.”  But then wouldn’t serve dinner until 8 or so.  They would be so hungry t hat they thought Aunt Minnie the best cook in the world!  It’s really not a bad strategy.

I got a little cranky the last couple of hours.  We hadn't had lunch and I was hungry.  But, other than that, it was a very nice Thanksgiving !

A Prophet's Challenge to Heal the World

A week before Thanksgiving, our prophet, Russell M. Nelson, challenged us to flood social media with our #Givethanks posts.  

Ken and I took that challenge and posted something we were grateful for each day leading up to Thanksgiving.  I have copied and pasted our posts below.  They are in no particular order.

Ken:

#GiveThanks. I am grateful for a prophet of God living on the earth today and for his timely, wise revelation and counsel. For a couple of months now, Kay and I have been praying that Heavenly Father would help heal the anger and divisiveness in our current society. Now, as we peruse our Facebook newsfeed, we feel that we are seeing the healing we have been praying for. It is so very heartwarming to see all of your incredible posts regarding what you are thankful for. I am thankful for each of you and your goodness and your uplifting posts!

Kay:

I am grateful for a prophet of God. I invite you to listen to his message. #givethanks (I then posted the video of his message)

Kay:

#givethanks I am grateful that Ken and I had the opportunity to serve a mission together to Tsuruoka, Japan. Our mission has become the before and after event of our lives. It changed me. The moment I met these people, I felt complete love for them, and that feeling has never left. This picture was taken on our last Sunday there. Many people came that usually didn't come to church that day to say goodbye and we were overwhelmed with love from them and for them. If I had to sum up that year and a half in a year in a word, that word would be "love."

Kay:

#givethanks. Today I am thankful for my smart phone. When

Kenneth Hinton

and I were dating, we went on a date to see BYU’s computer. It was huge. It filled a big room. It was noisy. People scurried around it, gathering papers it spit out. Now, the phone I hold in my hand does way more than that huge computer could do. I can read my scriptures, listen to and read books, calendar, email, write Facebook posts

text, video chat, take and store pictures, music, store my lists, my thoughts, my dreams, oh, and call people! And a bunch of other stuff, most of which I need a teenager to show me how to do. Today I am grateful for my phone. (I couldn’t take a picture of it because it is my camera, so I googled a picture- another thing it can do!).

Kay:

My people

These are my people. I am so very grateful for my family. I love each one immensely. I am so thankful to know families are forever. #givethanks

Ken:

#givethanks. When I was a young man serving as a missionary amongst my brothers and sisters in the country of Japan, we frequently asked those that we met, whether on the street or at their front doors, what they were most thankful for. I remember being surprised at the consistency of one of their answers—good health. At my young age I took the incredible blessings of good health for granted. I was too naïve to understand what an incredible blessing good health is. Now that I am much older and hopefully a little bit wiser, I see the wisdom of their answer and I agree with that response 100%. I am very, very, very grateful for the relative good health that I and so many of my family and loved ones enjoy.

Kay:

For the first few years of our marriage, we didn’t own a clothes dryer. When we finally got one, I was so grateful, I vowed I would thank my Heavenly Father for it every day. I have not kept that vow, but I do remember and thank Him from time to time. When we were in Japan, we taught English classes. In November, the subject of a lesson was “gratitude.” We went around the circle, each of us naming something for which we are grateful. When it got to me, remembering my vow, I said, “My clothes dryer.” They all looked puzzled and one of them said, “What is that?” I was deeply humbled and felt oh, so grateful for something that I take for granted. I haven’t remembered that gratitude every day, but I do today. I am grateful for my clothes dryer. #givethanks

Ken:

#GiveThanks. I am grateful for a prophet of God living on the earth today and for his timely, wise revelation and counsel. For a couple of months now, Kay and I have been praying that Heavenly Father would help heal the anger and divisiveness in our current society. Now, as we peruse our Facebook newsfeed, we feel that we are seeing the healing we have been praying for. It is so very heartwarming to see all of your incredible posts regarding what you are thankful for. I am thankful for each of you and your goodness and your uplifting posts!

Kay:

#givethanks. I was blessed to inherit my mom’s piano. Playing it during these last months has brought me so much joy and comfort. I am grateful for music.

Ken:

#GiveThanks. I am thankful for good friends. I have been blessed with good friends, both male and female, for my entire life. You have influenced me for good and given me courage and inspiration to be more like our elder brother, Jesus Christ.

Because Kay and I understood the importance of good friends in our lives, we cast unnumbered prayers heavenward, pleading that God would bless our young daughters with the kind of good friends we have been blessed with. Those prayers have been answered for most of their lives.

I thank God every morning for the wonderful friends he has given me and my loved ones.

It seems to me that friends come in many varieties. Some friends are short term-entering our lives, enriching us, and then leaving us way too soon. Other friends bless our lives for longer periods, some for literally decades. The relationship developed with some friends is relatively shallow, but still a blessing. The relationship developed with others is so deep and dear that they become almost as a brother or sister. 

I cannot properly express in words the gratitude I hold in my heart for the many, many dear friends that have enriched my life. Thank you to each of you who have crossed my life’s path and have blessed me with your friendship. I treasure it more than I think you know.

Kay:

#givethanks I am grateful for our three beautiful daughters. They are kind, caring, and fun. They are wonderful wives and mothers (Kristen has six children, Shonna and Michelle each have four.) They love each other fiercely and would do anything for each other. They honor us and treat us like a king and queen. Because of the promise in the ten commandments, I tell them they had better expect to live very long lives as they truly honor us. I am very grateful for Kristen, Shonna, and Michelle.

Ken:

#GiveThanks. Another couple of God’s creations which brighten my days and inspire feelings of gladness and gratitude in me are the vibrant colors of autumn foliage, and the resplendent colors of sunrises and sunsets. Our Heavenly Father creates eye-popping works of art for us almost daily. However, I fear that I/we take them for granted too much, simply because they are given to us so frequently. I am grateful for God‘s love for each of us, and for his many beautiful creations. I am thankful for His hand in our daily lives. I do not own a nice camera. Nor am I a talented cameraman like a couple of my brothers and so many of you, my friends. Thus, these pictures were simply taken on my iPhone’s camera as I have gone on one of my daily walks. I am sorry that I was not able to capture the full vibrancy of God’s magnificent creations.

Ken:

#GiveThanks. I am forever grateful for God‘s wonderful creations. I have a particular affinity for his avian creations. He is able to take colors that I have always considered to be dull, common, and perhaps even boring, and put them on one of his avifauna creations, making a truly magnificent, gorgeous work of art. I am also very grateful to be blessed with a caring brother (Don) who shares my same interest, but has the skill-set to capture beautiful images of these creatures with his camera, and he shares them with me, enriching my life even further. These beautiful creatures are a daily reminder to me that we have a loving, caring, and watchful father in heaven.

Ken:

I started this week’s gratitude posts by expressing my gratitude for Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I feel it only fitting that I end my week’s postings of gratitude by once again expressing my gratitude for each of them, as well as our heavenly mother. God made himself known to me from an early age, answering my childhood prayers and speaking tenderly to my soul. I am thankful for the peace, guidance, and joy that my knowledge of Him & them brings to my daily life. As I have gained experience in this life, I have been blessed to come to know my Savior better and better. I pray that when I meet him face-to-face, I might be worthy to receive His loving, welcoming embrace.

Sedona, Arizona

 November 6-13th, we went on a little getaway to Sedona, Arizona.  We got a steal on a condo trade and thought that would relieve our cabin fever to get away for a few days.

The drive down there through the Navajo Indian reservation was stark desert, but beautiful.

It got a lot prettier as we approached Sedona.

While there, our routine was that each morning Ken would go on one of the many hikes available in the area.  I loved staying in the condo doing my thing: blogging, family history work, indexing, reading, etc.  In the afternoon, we would go to the pool.  The temperature was cool and the water cold, so we usually had it to ourselves. No one else was dumb enough to get in a cold pool! It was absolute heaven for me to get back in the pool, cold or not.  That is my chosen form of exercise, but, because of COVID, I haven't been going to my health club to get in the pool.  Man, I miss it.  In the evening, we usually got take out from a local restaurant. We had pizza, Indian food, and went to the same Mexican restaurant twice.  Ken grilled twice.

Following are some pictures Ken took on his hikes:

The Sedona area is beautiful.

We stayed in a little casita.  It was only 400 square feet.  It was about the size of the little apartment we lived in in Japan.

Each casita had a nice deck, but it was a little cold to use it.  This is the front of the casita.

Very close to our casita was this beautiful hot tub.  Even if others were there, it was easy to stay socially distant from them.

Ken grilled chicken one night.

This is the pool we went to each day.  People were often in the hot tub, but rarely in the pool.  It was too cold.  It took great courage to get in.

After getting lots of steps in the pool, we would relax in the beautiful hot tub.

We decided to splurge one evening and eat at the restaurant on the property.  They had a lot of outdoor seating with stand heaters.  We got there early (5-6pm) for the early bird specials.  They were busy, but seated us at a table outside.  We had looked at a menu on the wall, and kind of knew what we wanted.  We sat there for 45 minutes.  They brought us bread and water, but otherwise ignored us.  Finally, Ken went and reminded them of our presence.  We then got a waiter.  We never did get a menu.  We just ordered from what we had seen.  It got dark and cold and really miserable.  The food was only mediocre and got cold really fast.  So our most expensive meal was our least desirable one!  We made the best of it, but we wouldn't go back.

More scenery:

This was taken from our deck one morning.  I heard them before I saw them!

We took a beautiful drive and walk in a state park.

This house was built right on the hill.  There is no access except by a pully.  I don't know if you can see it, but people are being lowered down the cliff in white box.  How on earth did they build this?

There was still some fall foliage in this beautiful park.

The light on the mountain beyond was just perfect.

It was right after we took this picture that I took a tumble.  I was looking up (and you can see why!) instead of down and stepped on a walnut and twisted my ankle and went right down.  That is the fourth time I've done that in the last few years, and twice it has been caused by a nut!  I was blessed to not be badly hurt.  I skinned my hand, elbow, and one knee, but the elbow and knee were through my clothing, so didn't get dirty and both healed nicely.  The knee took awhile, but it's fine now.

Aren't these pictures beautiful?

On the way home, we stopped to go out on the pedestrian bridge over the Colorado river at Marble Canyon and take a few shots.

It was a bright, sunny day!

Now we get to the highlight of the trip!  On the way down, and on the way home, we stopped at Jacob's Lake Inn.  They make the best milkshakes and homemade cookies.  We had a late "lunch," consuming a milkshake and a cookie.  Our parents weren't there to stop us!

This is a smores cookie and is probably the best cookie I have ever eaten.  

So there you have it!  Our getaway to Sedona, Arizona!