Quick Trip to Boise

In August, we traveled to Boise to hear Taylor Morris report his mission in sacrament meeting.  We traveled to Ogden on Friday, then to Boise on Saturday, arriving in the afternoon.  We left Sunday afternoon- traveled to Orem, then got home on Monday by noon so Ken could attend his partner meeting at work.  So, it was a bit of whirlwind trip and we packed lots in.  Idaho be a burnin- or was then.  This is one of the fires we saw.  We thought it was interesting that the clouds accumulated above the smoke.  

We had a pool party and barbecue in Joan and Tom's backyard Saturday evening.  

I love Lucy!  Isn't she cute?

Choo Choo train on the slide

Devin's Sophie

Sara's Zack

Little Leah- the newest addition to the Morris clan

 Sunday, we attended sacrament meeting and heard Taylor and Bishop Tom (better known as Grandpa Tom Tom) speak.  They both did an excellent job and told good Dominican Republic stories. Taylor has grown and matured so much and truly learned to love the people of the Dominican Republic.
 As I was sitting in that meeting, I realized that another wish of my heart could be fulfilled.  My brother, John has been the stake president in Caldwell for ten years and yet I've never heard him speak or act in the capacity of a stake president. He and Cindy and Ami and kids were at Joan's ward, too, but were hurrying away after so John could preside and speak at a ward conference.  I got directions from Cindy and we followed them to the new church building in Caldwell that was built under John's direction.  It was such a joy for me to hear my brother speak and to see and feel the love he has for the members of his stake.  He is a powerful leader and speaker.  I am so grateful we got to be there and hear him.  We hurried back to Boise after to have a fun family meal.  I love when I get to see my cousins and nieces and nephews, and of course, siblings, and to feel the love of family.  It was a great weekend and so worth the long drive.

Joan, Pam, John, and me- my siblings minus my sister, Patty (who is in Germany)

Bishop Tom, Joan, Roger, Pam, John, Cindy, Kay, and Ken (we missed Patty and Hal!)

PS  Pregnant Missy was on a chair taking this picture.  She's awesome.  She only told us we looked stupid once!

Welcome Audrey Elizabeth!

Let's start with the biggest and best news of all!  Kristen and Jared welcomed their fourth child on Labor Day, September 2nd- a beautiful baby girl.  Her name is Audrey Elizabeth.  She weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and was 21 inches long.  I am so excited to go and meet her this weekend.  She is one lucky little girl to get to be part of the Mackrory family.   Thanks to Kristen and Jared sending them, I have some pictures to share:

Meeting baby Audrey for the first time.

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I love this picture as it documents that Audrey was born the day before the 1st day of school. When they came to the hospital to meet Audrey,   Brielle brought her rag curlers for her mom to put in her hair so she could be ready for the first day of 2nd grade.  

When Jacob met her, he wanted to see her feets.  

Nathan meets Audrey

I love this picture of her.  

I think she'll be well watched over by her siblings.  

Audrey is our eighth grandchild.  We now have four granddaughters to match our four grandsons.  Being a grandparent certainly is grand!  

Welcome to the family, Audrey Elizabeth!!

Overwhelmed!

 I'm so behind on this blog.  How will I ever catch up?

 It's overwhelming.   I think I'll just take a nap instead.  

I think this is the busiest time of year for me:  I have to have Keynote Christmas music chosen and ordered, which means I have to have the program written.  I make rehearsal cds and prepare music folders and study score, study score, study score  to be ready for our first rehearsal (which was last week.)  At the same time, because I'm choir director at church, I'm doing about the same thing for ward choir.  I decide the dates we'll sing in church and choose and order or print and copy the music and choose the Christmas music and write a Christmas program . . . . It's just plain busy.  I also restarted teaching voice lessons last week after a summer break with 11 students.   It takes a lot of time to arrange the schedule and prepare the lesson plans, etc.
 It's feeling like I've written this very post before.  I probably did last year, and the year before, and the year before . . . I've been doing all of these things for a lot of years.  Bottom line:  my blog gets neglected.

The time of crisis is past.  I think I'm ready to tackle the blog.  So get ready for a blogathon!
Cheers!

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


High on my list of favorite authors is Elizabeth George Speare. I so appreciate the detailed research she incorporates into her young adult fiction novels. I've read all of her books. I've always said that "The Bronze Bow" is my favorite, but after this reading of this one, I'm inclined to change my mind and say this one is her best.
Kit, the granddaughter of a wealthy man living in Barbados is orphaned, so goes to live in the harsh New England community with her only living relatives- her aunt and her austere Puritan uncle and their two daughters. Set in the 1600's, the book gives great insight into the prejudiced and harsh community common in the early settlements of this country. The reader comes to know each of the characters well and learns to love Kit, Mercy, and Hannah (better known as the witch of blackbird pond.) The book is full of excitement, suspense, drama, and romance, as well as historical insights. No matter your age, if you haven't read this one, it's time, people, it's time!



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Theodore Boone the abduction

Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was surprised to find this Young Adult fiction novel by John Grisham. I've read most of his adult novels, but didn't know he wrote for young adults. This is the second in the Theodore Boone series, though I didn't know that, and didn't feel like I was missing anything because I hadn't read the series in order.
Theodore Boone's best friend, April, is abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night. The book has the classic theme of "the adult professionals can't solve it, but the 13-year-old kid can," which is most appealing to a 13-year old reader! I read a lot of young adult fiction, and this is not on the top of the list of the great books written for that age, but it's an enjoyable read.



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The Last Juror

The Last Juror by John Grisham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There is nothing like a Grisham audio book to get you through a long road trip! It was very well read. I liked Willie Traynor, the main character, who is a young college graduate who moves to a small town in Mississippi in the early 1970's, gets his Grandma to buy the local newspaper, and turns it into a booming success. It's mostly, though about a murder trial and the Last Juror, who is a black woman - the first person of African American descent to ever sit on a jury in that county of Mississippi. She and Willie were good friends, and the reader comes to love her and appreciate her goodness and courage. Though Grisham books often have some inconsistencies (I would think simple editing would catch most of them), I really enjoy reading them, and especially enjoyed this one. I loved the suspense, the story, the themes(different than most of his books), the characters,the mystery, and, as a delightful aside, the descriptions of the food Mrs. Callie would make for Willie. Oh, my! Nothing beats good, ol' Southern cookin' and hospitality. If they don't show the gory murder, I think it would make a marvelous movie!



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My Favorite Things- Wusthof Knife

I have a new favorite knife.  It's this Wusthof  Nakiri knife.  I read about it when the Pioneer Woman was giving one away on her blog.  When I didn't win . . .again . . . I found it online and ordered it.  I figured if the Pioneer Woman loves it, so will I.  I was so right.  It's just a great knife.  It slices through tomatoes like butter- always the true test of a knife.  I found mine on sale at Macy's and it came with this cutting board which I also really love.  I use both almost every day since I got it for Mother's Day in May.  How did I ever live without it???

The Wusthof Nakiri Knife:  One of my favorite things!

Lyman Conrad Gabrielsen Reunion, 2013

Last weekend was the Lyman Conrad and Erma Gabrielsen reunion in Ogden, Utah.  

This is my Grandpa and Grandma:

I'm sure they were so happy to see so many of their posterity together.

About 85 people were in attendance.  

 My cousin, Skip (Alvin, Jr.) and Karleen were our hosts.  They did such a nice job of putting it all together.

 These are the last three left of my parents generation: Aunt Grace (who was married to my Dad's brother, Alvin), Aunt Gary (who was married to my Dad's brother, Ronald), and Aunt Nedra (my Dad's sister)

Leslie and Will Barrowes

Diane and some of her family

Jodie and Mindy's Charlie

Eric and Marcie Bedke

This is Aunt Gary and the youngest attendee, David's daughter Denae and her brand-new baby.  

Of the 20 Cousins, 11 of us were there: Back: Joe, Evan, Diane, Todd, Alex, Eric, Me
Front: Skip, Randee, Pam, and Leslie

I love this picture.

Gathered around the face painter, Teresa

This was my favorite part of the reunion.  A few of us gathered around Aunt Nedra and got her talking about her parents, grandparents, siblings and memories.  I LOVED it!  I would love to spend the day with her.  

Grandpa Ken visiting with Lily and Caleb.  I love this picture.

Aunt Nedra is such a beautiful, classy lady.

Blake and Lily Kay.

Teresa (Evan's wife) was just awesome doing face painting and giltter tattoos on all of the kids.

Lily loved the dessert.  

Thanks, Skip and Karleen and everyone who attended.  It was just a great reunion.  I love being with the Gabrielsen family.  They are a great group of people.  See you in two years!