Christmas 2014

I have been very remiss about posting on my blog this past year.  It just seems like I always have too many other things to do.  I won't even try to catch up, but rather just post about the past few days, and a couple of highlights from November.

Ron was released as Stake President of the Arlington Stake on November 3, 2014.  He has served as a Stake President for both the Marysville and Arlington Stakes for over 9 1/2 years.  Elder Malm of the First Quorum of Seventy, and Elder Call of the Seventy presided at out Stake Conference when the change took place.  What made everything extra special, is that all of our children were able to come and be there with us.  I can't even remember the last time that we were all together!  Our new Stake President is Trevor Williams, who was Ron's second counselor.

 

 

I've had many people ask me what Ron is doing now.  He has been called by the President of the Washington Everett Mission to be a Church Service Missionary in charge of helping to get the missionaries in the Everett Mission involved in service projects.  He works very closely with the new Initiative Just Serve, and goes out on service projects with the missionaries.  He's really enjoying it a lot.

 

 

While all of our kids were home (for only 2 days!) we had to take some family pictures.  I don't know if our kids like the pictures that much, but they mean a lot to Ron and I.

 

 

 

I supposed that every family has a ham......that would be Jenni.

 

 

 

Our Christmas season started the day after Thanksgiving, when Jenni wanted to go to the local tree farm and cut down a tree.  Their family had come to stay for a few days during Thanksgiving, and we thought that this would be a great activity for the boys.  Preston was the only one that got out and helped us find a tree.....Taylor fell asleep in the car.

 



 

Preston helped grandpa carry the tree back to our truck.

 

 

 

 

On Christmas Eve, Ron and I drove to North Bend to spend the day with the Thomas family.  We made cookies for Santa Claus, and then drove to Snoqualmie Falls for an outing.  Preston had been waiting all week to make these special cookies, so he was very excited to decorate them.

 



 

In front of the Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls, they had a large Christmas tree and a statue of Santa.  Perfect place for a family picture.

 

Preston likes the camera, and loves to pose for pictures.

 



We were getting a bit wet from the spray from the falls, and Taylor was not real happy about that.

 

 

Jenni had put a salmon in their smoker, so we had yummy smoked salmon for dinner.  After dinner we opened a few Christmas gifts.  The one from Taylor to Grandpa gets special mention.......he picked it out ALL by himself, and was very proud of it!    It was a pair of reindeer glasses.  Pretty unique!

 

 

After the gifts were opened, Ron and I got in the truck and started driving to Pendleton to spend several days with my mother.  We got to Pendleton about 10:45 PM, so my mom didn't have to spend Christmas alone.  The day after Christmas we drove up into the mountains, to the Tollgate area to go snowshoeing......just for the fun of it.  There was about 22 inches of snow, which is not a lot, but the trees were covered, and it was absolutely gorgeous!

This is what I call "The Hills of Home...."  the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  It was beautiful as we started up Weston Mountain towards Tollgate.

 

The further up the mountain we went, the more snow there was.

 

The trees almost didn't look real, because they were so perfectly frosted and frozen.

 

 

 

 

It was pretty easy to get around because there wasn't a lot of snow yet.

 

 

We had to get a SnoPark parking pass, at the General Store at Tollgate.  The owner had to quite running his snow plow to come sell us a pass.

 

 

My mom loves the mountains and has always enjoyed getting out in the snow.  We used to go snowmobiling all the time.  I think she's a pretty good sport to go snowshoeing at the age of 86!  I hope that I'm that spry when I get to be her age.

 

 

After a while of snowshoeing, we kept driving over the mountain to the town of Elgin.  It's pretty small, and about 20 miles out of La Grande.  We found a restaurant......it might have been the only one in town.....called "The White Horse Café" and decided to get some lunch.  It didn't look like much on the outside.

 

 

But their food was great!  We all got a "Western Burger", which is a hamburger with sautéed onions, Swiss cheese and bar-b-q sauce. 

 

 

We drove by the Church building there too. Elgin is a part of the La Grande Oregon Stake, which my dad was Stake President of many years ago.

 

 

Sunday we went to Church with mom in Pendleton.  Every single one of their pianists-organists were out of town, so guess who got nailed to play the organ?  I'll give you one guess.  But I survived, even without any organ shoes or my prelude books.  It's called making due with what you have......stocking feet and a hymnbook.  And it was a pipe organ, so that was a different experience.  It's a lot different than an electronic organ that most of the church buildings have.

 

 

 

 The Church building looks the same as ever on the outside, but the inside has been completely remodeled.  The chapel is where the stage used to be, and where the chapel used to be is the Primary Room and the library.

 

We decided to go snowshoeing again on Monday.  It had snowed at least 18 inches, so now there was a total of at least 40 inches.  Most of it was soft powder.  We sank up to over our knees!  That was pretty hard to get around in.....so we didn't last very long.

 

There weren't very many cars on the road, just a few people snowmobiling and a few logging trucks.  Ron was as happy as a clam driving the truck.......he got to put it in 4 Wheel Drive!

 

The snow was absolutely gorgeous.  The trees were super heavy laden with all the fresh snow, and it was so quiet out.  Just a peaceful winter wonderland.

 

 

Just a note to conclude;  I sold my violin (which I've had for over 45 years) to one of my best students.  So now I'm looking for a little nicer violin.  I'm glad it went to a good home, because I know that she will enjoy it and take care of it.

 

I hope that everyone will have joy and happiness in the coming year, with just enough trials to help us grow and become a better person.  I sure love my family!  Thank you for taking the journey through life with me!