Feeling a little unworthy....

....but pleased, nonetheless, that my daughters would solicit so many of my friends and family to write funeral talks for me on my 60th birthday. But it was just a few years ago that I asked them to write my obituary so I guess they figured I really would like to attend my own funeral which I, in fact, would, and which I, in fact, feel like I did today. I laughed, I cried, I reminisced, and I am truly grateful for my life and the good people that have filled it. Thanks to all that took the time to participate. It has been a great day and I'm sitting down now to read it all again. (I love my beautiful new witch hat given to me by my good friend Cynthia. I love it).

It didn't start out so well. I had a bit of a melt down early this morning as I faced the day and the preparation. Thanks, Lauri for pulling me out of it and Kyle for the reassuring hand on my shoulder to tell me it would all be o.k. It came together great and Lauri and I both realized that the spudnuts need to be their own party, (I think Cynthia would agree. She made most of the dough. Thank you, friend) A little too much in one day....not just too much food, too much going on. It was fun though and Lauri and James did most of the frying. Yes, Lauri...it was my idea, so thank you for going along with it.

As for the rest of the day, it was great. Lots of food, fun and visitors. The table is spread.

As much as I don't like Halloween, I still like my birthday and I would have a hard time making a big deal of it if it was any other day. This has been a great one. Thanks to all that made it that way.

Mason usually wins in the costume department, and his was good but I gotta give it to JoEllen this year. Nanny McPhee to the "t".....

I love my "Super Hero Family" in North Carolina. Good job Traci. Little Max won "Best Costume" at their ward party for his portrayal of Thor. So cute..... I need some pics from my Kentucky family. Bring 'em on.....
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And the winner is......

None other than one of the Original Home Girls....Camie Ence Schwartz. Come on over, Camie and pick out some yarn. You will have a new pair of socks for your cold Provo winter. Congratulations.....

A bird in the hand.....

.........could be very messy or...it's worth two in the bush....or needs to be "let go" but it's good to learn something from it first. Happy Birthday, Professor Kyle Scott Wells. (I'm totally a day early here but thinking of you.) I thought these pictures were very professorish. Have a great day and know that I appreciate you and all you do for me and for our family.

The tradition continues....

.....as both of my families that live in town invited me to participate in the annual "Monday before Halloween" Pumpkin Carving. We used to gather on the back porch and dig in and then line the kids up behind their masterpieces. Messy times but fun times.....

.....and it makes me happy to see my kids do the same with their kids. When I walked through the door, McKay asked "why are we doing this?".....I said "...for posterity".....and isn't that what traditions are all about. The tie that binds us as a family. Sometimes it seems we just go through the motions....but in the end....it's just something we do, so it's important.

Everyone did a mighty fine job. Glad It's not a contest and glad I'm not the judge.

Lauri and James did theirs a week early. Great job guys. Hope you don't mind me sharing.

There's something in this house older than me....

.....well, not really older in years but if 7 years of a dog's life is equal to one human year and a dog's life expectancy is what, about 10 or so years....I read that the life expectancy of a household appliance averages about the same, and I read that Amana put out the first microwave in 1967 (read more HERE if you are interested) and I got a 1980 model so mine being 30 years old, we're looking at 210 "human years" old.....and believe it or not, it's still plugging along; sounding a little old and worn out but can still warm a cup of hot chocolate and heat my Lean Cuisine. Now don't go rushin' out and get me a new one for my birthday. I have one sitting in my garage and as I tried to remove the old one to replace it, the message was clear. It just wasn't ready to go...we couldn't get it out so it's stuck for a while longer. I too, will keep plugging along doing what I do. I know I'm old though 'cause most kids now days don't even know what a typewriter is and they would be astonished to know how we used to produce multiple copies of a document. I hesitate to tell anyone how we used to line however many sheets we wanted produced with carbon paper and then type away and heaven forbid if you made a mistake.....oh the nightmare. I won't get started on "how it used to be" 'cause that's the first indication that "old age" is settin' in so I'll just keep my mouth shut and smile when the kids say "e-mail, are you kiddin' me. That's so ancient".....(wonder if I'll ever get good at texting).

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I digressed a bit there but before I end this post, let me give you a little history of this sweet little (I mean ginormous) microwave oven. We got the house built and had a place for it but ran out of construction loan money when the house was done. Scott announced that the hole would have to be empty for a while...I moaned and groaned and complained enough that he gave in and went up to Wilkinson's and laid down the $300 and made me happy. It's been there ever since as has most of the stuff in this house; however, I have to say, it's the ONLY appliance that has not been replaced so I'm paying homage to my Amana Radarange and knocking on wood that it continues to pump out the electromagnetic waves for a little while longer. When it dies, I'll put it on a shelf down by the 8-track record player and put stuff in it for safe keeping.

The witches are out.....

...and, it's time to be thinking of that pagan holiday that I have never understood but mostly go along for the ride 'cause it's also my birthday and I have an excuse for the "witch" in me so here we go. I'm gonna be 60.....ouch...that sounds old!!!! However.....not gonna let it get me down, no not me. I'm a good witch this year and it's time for another "sock" giva-away in honor of my birthday and my "almost" 20,000 "log on" to my blog (knowing full well that probably half of them are me) but 20,000 hits nonetheless and I'm lovin' these new little ankle socks I've been making (picture to the right) and want to share them with someone. So, if you want a chance to win a pair of these funky little numbers, (you will choose the yarn) hop over to my knitting blog by clicking HERE and read all about it or just e-mail me at

wells@infowest.com and say hello, or wish me a happy birthday and tell me I don't look that old (c'mon, humor me a little) and I'll put your name in my witches hat and you could be the winner on my big day. A comment will be an entry as well. Oh, by the way we will be celebrating all day (Saturday Oct. 30)....frying donuts, chillin' out in my garage with my usual witches brew so come on by and celebrate my big day with me.

Just a few random thoughts....

....on this October morning and I'm remembering 30 years ago today when I had a baby boy, David Barber Wells but didn't get to keep him. It was a tender time for our family so I'll be remembering him and wondering what he would be doing right now.

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A few years back about this time of year, we were enjoying some elders in our home (probably spending more time here than they should have) and it was fun getting to know them. Recently, I've been cleaning out my junk and yesterday I ran across an old address book; flipping through it I found a home address and phone number for one of those elders that we knew and loved at one time in our lives. I called it and sure enough, his parents still live there and I was able to get Elder Smithson's phone number and, sure enough, he answered. We had a little chat and he gave me his e-mail and promised he would call me back when we could talk longer (he was at work). I'm still waiting. Now I just have to find Elder Hill......where are you "Hamburger".....(Hamburger Hill and Apple Pilling, our stupid nicknames for Elder Hill and Elder Pilling).

This was when Kyle was getting ready to go on his mission and he would go on splits with these guys. Good times......Elder Wayne Hill....where are you?????? I've been in touch with Elder Pilling throughout the years but it's been a while. I need to find him again too.

Road trip today, by George.....

This will mostly be a picture post but there's a couple of things I've gotta tell ya before I get started here...and about this picture. Well, you can imagine what came out of my mouth when I rounded the corner and saw this.....yep...it's George. Oh, well...get a picture then get the #$%^ down......

After being in a bit of a "funk" yesterday (with the help of family and friends I made it through) Kyle convinced me to join his family today on a little road trip to the Grand Canyon and the pictures will tell the rest of the story. What a wonderful day it was and I am so appreciative that they made me get out of my house and out of my pity party.....

It started off with lunch at the Jacob's Lake. Haven't been there in a long time but great food and very family friendly....

Then off to the lodge at the North Rim. We took a couple of little hikes with some awesome views.

Just couldn't resist these two pictures. Matty had a great time today....

....and it was a good day for JoEllen. As she was looking in the back pack for a diaper for Matty, she found her video camera that has been lost for several weeks. Lots of celebrating going on here.....

It's been a fun day. Thanks for dragging me along, family....

....went looking for fall...

....and found a little....enough to put a smile on my face. It's always fun to go up and get the cabin ready to hibernate for the winter and tuck her in for a good season's sleep. We'll do that in the next week or two but just thought I'd head up today to feel the fall air and see what other wonders I could find.

The deer hunt has always been a fun time to gather in Pine Valley and I saw bunches of deer gathering in various places today. Seems like I haven't seen many around this summer but they were plentiful and active this afternoon and seemed quite unaware or unconcerned that I was there.

I got a little "knitting by nature" done today as I basked in the sunny mountain air. Scott used to call this his "mountain time"....and I snatched a bit of that today.

Way to go George. He had a piano recital last night and did a superb job. Looking for great things from this boy.......

One hundred years....

.....is a pretty long time so I think it deserves a CELEBRATION and that's what we've been doing all week. Here's just a few things we've done yesterday and today and I'm very, very tired but wanted to get this posted before I fall asleep because I really would like to express my gratitude for the rich history of not only this school, but all that came before it to make it into what it is today. I've been enlightened this day by the many speakers and through this celebration and have a greater understanding and appreciation for the people that have made education happen in our area throughout the years. I made up my mind to attend all the events if at all possible and soak it up because I don't think I'll be around to celebrate 200 and as they say, the centennial really is a "once in a lifetime" event. I attended the queen contest on Tuesday, the Alumni Assembly yesterday, the alumni openhouse last night where we hooked up with Darla Helske and had a grand reunion. She and her husband Matte hosted Kyle the summer of 1991 in their home in Finland and we had a lot of fun meeting her kids that were with her and getting caught up on their family. Then to the midnight 5K....no, I didn't run it but I could have but I would have been dead. It was fun to watch though but then up early for the breakfast then the Founders Day Assembly where I met up with Phyllis as she and Steve are the Grand Marshalls for the parade and Steve is the speaker at the banquet.

A few pics of the gang at the parade. One hundred and two (that's 102) entries in this parade in honor of the centennial. It was one longggggg parade but fun. That's Kyle and Kenny Miller on the Alumni Board float. The kids got enough candy to hand out on Halloween....oh, wait, we're not going to be here on Halloween.

Then to the Alumni House for a rockin' tailgate party with free food (if you could get it, there were so many there). The kids always have fun at these carnivals and President Nadauld loves to throw carnivals. I think this is about the 3rd one since school started.

Then across the street for the football game...beautiful new turf but it didn't make a difference. We lost......

Next, we headed over to the Alumni Banquet where Steve Snow was the speaker. Good food and good company. Darla joined us here along with my attorney, Rick Erickson and his wife Sharon, Mom and Eldene. This was the happenin' table to be seated at for sure.

...and then to the dance where Kyle and JoEllen tripped the lights fantastic (weird phrase) and guess who showed up....

Wow, someone really pulled some strings to get these guys here and they sounded like the real thing. I'm tired just telling you about this week-end but one last thing before I hang it up......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MASON.....(let me end with a dentist joke)....What time is it when you go to the dentist? Answer: 2:30....(get it....tooth...hurty....). I'm assuming no one has made it this far on this post so it doesn't matter how corny I'm getting right now 'cause I'm dang tired. Nite, nite....and HURRAH for Dixie.

My boys of October....

.....and this is really a "birthday" month in our family and I've actually realized I can write anything I want about Mason because he just looks at the pictures on my blog so here I go. Mason's starts us out on October 10....and I won't go into details but I'm mighty glad he's here as he had a pretty rough start. Then David was born on October 20 and we didn't get to keep him then Kyle was born on October 28 and he was the first and will tell you horror stories of our "trial and error" method of parenting through the years but I've come to depend on him a lot since clear back to 1985. One thing I'm sure all my boys came out of this with is their dad's determination and dedication to education (that was a mouthful) and their caring hearts. Oh, I almost forgot....my birthday is this month too.....don't want anyone forgettin' that.

I thought it was interesting that I was able to find so many pictures with these two together. I especially like the baseball one. That was the year we had a trip to Boston planned when Mason's baseball team took state and had to travel to Ely or somewhere exotic to play and we left Kyle home to go with him (lest you think we're cruel, Kyle had just gotten home from Finland and didn't care to travel any more) but I think it must have been good bonding time for the two of them. They pretty much look inseparable, don't they????? Notice how Kyle is always on the left. What's up with that????? Anything to do with "First Child/Middle Child" stuff...ya think????

Soup's on...

....and I got some wonderful Lehi tomatoes yesterday, the really squishy ones that make a dark, red soup because they are almost over-ripe. It's been nice having the smell in my house today.

Just waiting for more tomatoes to show up at my doorstep. Maybe I'll go lookin' tomorrow. Mason, where are the ones you promised me????? I'm waiting.

Here's page 11 from Mrs. Ludwig's cookbook in case anyone out there wants to make their own. I just do the juice (usually double the recipe) and put it in jars and then steam them. If you want to thicken the juice later with the roux, that's fine but we just usually eat it out of the jar (heated with cheese or noodles, sometimes but mostly I just drink it like juice....yum).

Another marathon has come and gone....

....and it was a hard one. Hot, hot, hot....and when we didn't need coats at 7:00 a.m. at the Mayor's Walk, I knew the runners would be in trouble but they all made it and Kyle once again did a fine job, I think about 4.40 or so, not sure but I'll make the correction later.
The Mayor's Walk starts at 7:00, starting at Bluff Street Park and ending at Vernon Worthern Park. I had a little photo op along the way. Ya gotta love our poem recitin' song singin' Mayor Dan.

So the routine goes like this....we do the Mayor's Walk then head back up to watch runners at our usual spot....

.....then as soon as we see Kyle, we head down to the finish line and watch Kyle cross and then we take pictures of all the pain and triumph then head home to watch conference. There you have it....the first Saturday of every October.