My Sunday Six on 11/9/08

Hello again everyone. I've had so much to smile about in the past two weeks that my cheeks are sore from grinning.

As most of you know John and I have been visiting our son and his family. Today's Sunday Six is a mini review of our trip so it is long. (If you get bored just look at the pictures.) I plan to give you even more detail about our visit to David's in a future post...so be forewarned!!!

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#1 I am thankful that we are retired and can travel ...smile..smile...

Here we are, bags in hand, heading out the door. (on a school day no less)

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It is wonderful that we can take off any time we want to go and visit family. This was not the case when we were both teaching. There are some weeks that a teacher can not take off no matter what is going on. There were many times that we had to miss family events just because we could not be away from school that week (Like my grandson Jordan's graduation).

There were many times that I went to school when I was almost too sick to hold my head up because I could not have a sub do my job that day. What a blessing to be retired and able to fill our days with whatever we want.

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I am happy that we could fly to visit David and his family.

Actually flying is rather a pain these days. Did you know that American Airlines charges $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second? ... and you almost have to check one bag because there are so many restrictions on what you can take in your carry on bag.....

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all of that aside...it was great being able to go from our door to our son's house in just over 11 hours travel time (that includes the waiting times we spent in airports) instead of the 3 1/2 or 4 days it would take us to drive to see them....

Yes in deed....Air travel makes me smile.

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#2. I'm thankful for the warm welcome we always get.

We feel so blessed that each of our children and their spouses make us feel welcome in their homes. Thank you Marla for your sweet hospitality. Gracee and Emma greeted us with not 1 but 6 welcome cards.

Did we feel loved or what!

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3. I am thankful we could enjoy the Fall weather and scenery.

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(We don't get much of either of those in So. CA.)

We had so much fun going with David's family to pick out pumpkins.

(By the way, in case any of you are wondering what our David looked like at age 3 take a look at little Davey. He is the spitting image of his dad. In fact we showed the kids some pictures of David at that age and they all thought it was pictures of little Davey....Davey is a David carbon copy for sure.)

After each child found just the right pumpkin (which took quite a while...it is not easy picking the perfect pumpkin when there are so many to look at)...we enjoyed a great meal at the farm's country restaurant.

We enjoyed sight seeing in the beautiful country side.This is the road from David's home to the kid's school.
The Fall leaves were so pretty.
' We went on walks and soaked in the gorgeous views.

Can you see John turning around to see what happened to me, his walking partner? I stopped for a minute to take pictures of the scenery. I was clicking away and didn't realize that John was so far ahead of me. When I caught up to him he said "Getting blog pictures,huh?" Yep I was.

This is our Dave, Marla and the kids


The kids adore their dad. (So do I.)

Of course these last 3 pictures were my favorite Fall scenes.

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#4. I'm thankful that I enjoy sewing and can teach my grand-daughters.

I was happy that I got to see Emma and Gracee in the Easter dresses I made them last spring. I had seen pictures of the girls in their dresses but this was the first time I got to see them in person. Lynell brought Lonica's dress too so the 3 girls could dress alike for church. That made me smile....

...but not as much as teaching Emma how to sew.

Emma called me before we left CA. and asked me if I would teach her to sew while I was visiting.

What a pleasure for me to teach this sweet grand-daughter a skill that has brought me so much joy in life.

Emma loves to sew and she has a real knack for it.

She made 4 pillows that spell her name, a dress and purse for her doll and a Christmas present for her mom while I was there. Almost every day she would run home as fast as she could from the school bus stop so we could start sewing.

Davey also appreciates his sister's sewing creations.


#5. I'm thankful that Erin and Lynell could join us.

Emma knew that both sets of grandparents were coming from CA for her 8th birthday and baptism but she did not know that two of her aunts were coming from Utah.

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The kids were so surprised when Erin knocked on the door. (notice John was taking video from the other side. If you want to see it go to Erin's blog)

Lynell gets a big hug of welcome from her little brother.
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I was really smiling that I got to visit with Erin and Patrick and Lynell and Lonica as well as Dave and his family. We also really enjoyed visiting with Marla's mom and dad. We all had a great time together. It was 99% perfect....the only thing we lacked to make it 100% perfect was Mindy. We missed having her there and wished that she could have made the trip from CA. and been there with us.

#6. I am thankful that we could be there for Emma's baptism.

Of course this was the whole reason for our trip.

Our sweet Emma was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints last Sunday evening. I thought she looked like an angel in the confirmation dress I made her. (I was so glad that it fit. It is not easy sewing long distance.) She is a merry little Mormon if I ever saw one.

We had a lovely baptism service at the church attended by family and many friends. Lynell and Erin gave beautiful talks and Emma sang a heart touching solo. It was a wonderful occasion that will always have a special place in my heart.

You can see why I have had so much to smile about. I do not take these blessings for granted. I have dear friends that do not get to have these kinds of experiences. I know that their hearts long to do so. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for these blessings. I am so grateful.

I hope that you have had lots to smile about too. Please leave me a note and let me know how you are doing. Hugs, Lura

P.S. Several of you have mentioned that you like my Sunday Six sign. I will be glad to make and email a personalized one to you if you would like me to. Just leave me a comment on this post and I will send you one.