Christmas week

We had a great Christmas with Dane and Kirsten at home with us. But first we spent Christmas Eve with Kydon and Shanna in Atlanta. We had our traditional Jerusalem supper and then enjoyed a little Christmas family night with the children. They were excited and ready for bed early so Santa could come. After that we played games, watched TV and had lots of treats before leaving to pick up Kirsten at midnight at the airport. We drove home and got to bed at 3 a.m. It was really OK, since we got to sleep late on Christmas morning We opened gifts and had friends over for Christmas dinner. The weather was perfect. Warm and nice outside so we enjoyed that too. Kydon, Shanna and kids came the next day, and also Laura flew in from Texas, so we had a chance to get to know her at a little "engagement party" we threw for them and also at a picnic at Flat Rock Park. Sunday Dane got nabbed to give a talk in Sacrament Mtg and the ward enjoyed getting to know them both and congratulate them on their engagement. Monday we all headed back to Atlanta for a day at Upatoi State park and Helen, Georgia. The hike up to Ana Ruby Falls was spectatcular. With all the recent rains the water was higher than its been in a long time. It was a cool, crispy day but still warm enough for us to have a picnic before we hiked. After we enjoyed some shopping around the Bavarian shops of scenic Helen. It was a fun and memorable time to share with Dane and Laura as they are now officially engaged and working towards plans for a wedding. 2009 promises to be a great year!!
(This blog was successfully completed due to help from Kirstens camera, Kydon and Shanna's computer and willingness to help, and Terry's kind and patient tutoring to help me with computer skills. Thanks everyone!! There is hope for me, and "help" is one of my favorite words.

Visiting Portland

Here we are at the Oregon coast. The beach is firm and smooth and easy to walk and run on this time of year. We had lunch at Mo's which is famous for their clam chowder and home made bread. Then we ventured out on Cannon Beach which has this big rock that is really awesome. Rachel said it is the most photographed spot in Oregon. There were all kinds of sealife living on the rocks. We explored and found lots of bright orange and purple starfish that had sparkly looking drops on their backs that looked like silver beads. Also many barnacles, sea anemone, and hermit crabs, as well as other things that we didn't know the names of. It was all fascinating and different than anything I had ever seen before! We stayed at Seaside in a really nice resort with a view of the ocean from the deck. (Thanks to Rachels' parents the Bells who were so nice to let us use time share.) It was chilly and crisp like holiday winter should be, but no rain and wind while we were there, so was a great time for us to go. Erik cooked steaks on the grill that night too, so we were really treated with the best of everything! It was a fun time for us, and we hope to make it a tradition to come to the coast of Oregon.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed the holiday with Kydon, Shanna and kids, Kirsten from Phoenix, and Scott and Camille from Provo. Terry's sister Penny and hubby Daniel Harville were also with us and brought some great appetizers to enjoy before the Thanksgiving feast began. The day was warm and beautiful and made eventful by a hawk that was defending his nest in our neighbor's tree. Many on the street gathered to watch as the hawk hovered around the branches and made sweeping flights from time to time to observe and keep at bay the hyper little squirrel that would have liked to invade the nest. Good entertainment and a chance to visit with the neighbors! We got BBQ at Country's and also visited Warm Springs while we were together, so we were thankful for time spent as a family this year!

How about a picture??? Let's see if I can post one...good luck to me!
OK, after several experiments I got this one. This is a picture of my good friend mary mathis and me visiting senior citizens for our stake RS project. It's blurry...but sometimes I look better that way! We've been visiting all year and have learned a few things. Have also enjoyed making new friends and giving a little service by doing what I do best, namely talking and making music.

Exciting family News!

This week has been busy and exciting with the news that Dane and Laura are engaged! I thought it was pretty cool that Laura wanted to be surprised when she got engaged, and Dane was able to pull it off with his surprise visit to Provo and all the extra touches that go with making the event special. It just goes to show that asking for the right things is a good idea...you get what you want that way and everyone is happy. Congratulations Dane and Laura!
We also had Kydon and the grandchildren here while Shanna took some time to paint the bathroom. We went to Monkey Joe's for a birthday on Friday, Callaway Gardens on Saturday, and Kydon and I helped in the nursery on Sunday. Throw in a little cooking, playing, cleaning and walking, and we managed to stay busy every minute this past week-end. It was fun and we can't wait for Thanksgiving now, when we all get together again. Hope everyone has a great time cooking and getting ready for the Turkey feast. I love the tradition of coming together as families and showing thanks. We have so many blessings to be thankful for....right now I'm grateful for technology that allows us to stay in touch. it means a lot to me!

It's November....great!! Feels like the holiday season with cool Fall days and the prospect of Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner. Today we decided to cut up our Halloween pumpkin and try to make a pie. We made two and they turned out great. They came out of the oven just in time to give one to our home teachers. Hope this works again when we use the frozen pumpkin for Thanksgiving.

more bike building

I thought you might want to see a mess, or what happens in our dining room sometimes.
So here is a picture of the nisiki bike while the rebuild is in progress. The effect is better if you click on the picture for the full size version.


This is Valeni holding the finished bike.
And a little better picture of the finished bike. I hope I can get it boxed and shipped tomorrow as Erik Rachael and family will be moving to their new digs on Friday.

Building a commuter bike for Erik

Well I thought I should give a before picture of what I started with on this bike for Erik's commute to work in Portland. I found this on craig's list in Atlanta. Dane was so kind to drive right over and pick it up for me. He was somewhat surprised at the poor condition, but said ok. He followed my instructions. then the bike sat in his trunk for about 2 or 3 weeks until we were able to connect. When I'm done I will follow up on the build with more pics. The picture is right off of craig's list so it is pretty poor quality. The fellow I got it from said he thought it was a 58 or 60 cm, but turns out to be 62 cm. That's a pretty big bike, just a little smaller than mine. I don't think it will be too big. I started by removing everything, including the paint. It was all chipped up and rusting in spots. The front derailleur was so rusty you couldn't find any chrome on it at all. I will need to replace most of the parts. I kept the brake calipers and levers, but put on new pads and cables. I got rid of the down tube shifters as I don't like them and am putting on stem shifters. Lost the bull horn handle bars and the saddle and seat post. The local bike shop (LBS) let me go through their used stuff to fine most of what I needed there. I had ordered tires off the net about 2 months ago. They have been on back order, but I finally cancelled them. The LBS had the exact same tires I had ordered, so that was nice. I had studied out what I thought would be just the right compromise between fast, safe, comfortable and reliable. Panaracer Pasela 700c x 28. I don't like the look of the gum side walls, but everthing else is good. I have a nice set of Mavic A119 wheels. These are just a little wider than racing wheels. The tires are the smallest that can fit on these wheels.

I forgot to mention the frame is a Nishiki. It is a well known maker of good bikes. The crank will be a bontrager (Trek) 175 mm squar taper, with 53 x 39 shimano chain rings. The front derailler is shimano 600 the rear is Raliegh. It has a 11 x 32 nine speed cassett. The original bike came with a 5 speed. I had to modify things a bit to make this work. The cassett is off my bike as I have noticed I need closer ratio gears when riding with a group. This cassett will make commuting easy as it has a very wide range of gears and no need to match speed with a bunch of speed jockey's. It still has a high gear that will let you pull hard up to about 40 mph if you can or if you find a big hill to go down real fast. The up hill is good too. You can cruise up a hill at 4 or 5 mph if it is in low gear.

I'm almost done with the build. I had to order a couple of cable guides off the net and am now waiting for them to come it. I can't wait to take it for a spin. More later.

Georgia Pears are in season

Yep, Valeni has been talking and found a way to get some Georgia pears. We road up to Cataula, about 12 miles from here, where we picked up a bucket of pears from sister York who's son used to have a crush on Cecilee when they were in MIA here in Columbus. She told us all about her family, you know the regular southern exchange. None of that northern Hi and bye stuff here. When we arrived home Valeni immediately dove into preparing a wonderful pear cobbler. Here you can see what large pears look like and how yummy the cobbler looks, with Ice cream and brown sugar syrup.

The Latest in Landscaping in Columbus

Yes, we have been working on the yard lately. First we need to replace the rotting landscaping timbers around the front of the house. Masonry is more durable so that was what we wanted to do. Valeni and I shopped together and came up with red landscape blocks as our final choice. We were happy with the outcome, but the plants were a mix and not match of the Hinze 57 variety. We were in Orlando at the Whitney Cornwall's wedding at the Temple and saw what some of the plants we had in our yard would look like if done well. We decided to get rid of the offending plants and purchase more of what we learned was Indian Hawthorn. We purchased some fertilizer to help the established plants to hopefully look as good and healthy as the new plants. Here is what it looks like as you approach the front door.


We felt good enough about the outcome here that taking care of the back of the yard seemed do able. Again a trip to the local Home Depot. Kydon and family were at the house when we got back, so he helped unload 125 pavers.

What you see is the result of maybe 2 hours after work on two evenings and about a half day on Saturday. I didn't take any before pictures, so you will have to just remember what messy dirt hole it was. Now I have been working on the other wall. I have some before pics and will post the results at a later day.

Visiting in Atlanta

We took a trip!

Terry and I went to Charleston, S.C. for the Labor Day week-end. We stayed at Quality Suites and enjoyed the pool and complimentary breakfast. We also enjoyed the homes and gardens in the historic area, and visited a rice plantation in the heat of summer. We really empathized with those that worked so hard in the early days! The heat and humidity must have been so hard to live with. We went to church over there before leaving for Atlanta to see Kydon, Shanna , Dane and the kids. The ward was really nice and friendly to us. It was fun to be visitors to Charleston, and we want to go back in the spring when everything is really blooming. It is a great place to visit and has more to see than we had time for. Anyone want to go with us? We're thinking next March should be the right time.

Answering the tag

I just saw Camille's response to that tag from a while back so thought I better take a minute and answer. It's good to give a little personal info now and again. i don't often do that!
8 TV shows I like: I don't usually watch a lot of TV but I can count the Olympics for this month. Loved watching the finals of the men's volleyball. Team USA..yeah!!! I got excited when they won!
Other than that just the news...we don't get all our good channels anymore so not much on TV.
8 restaurants: let's see....I do enjoy eating out when I can. lately it has been Red Lobster (for our anniversary) Country's downtown diner (when Berne and Jan came to visit on Thursday) Chef lee's for the best Chinese food to be found, pizza (I like the cheap ones and the expensive ones) Fuddrucker's (with the stake RS presidency after our temple trip in Atlanta. The southwest burger and onion rings are awesome) the cafeteria at TSYS where I work...i get to eat whatever I want there for lunch everyday. Just one of the perks of the job. Applebee's Ruby Tuesday and Friday's would probably round out the list.
8 things that happened today: exercised by doing Turbo kick and then Body Pump. First time since I started work. it was harder than it used to be! visited for a couple of hours with a friend that needed to talk, I learned a few things. Made frog eye salad, played piano and sang with Terry for FHE. Looked on line for places to visit when we go to Charleston this week-end. Paid a stack of bills...oops, here's another one I missed. Cleaned bathrooms and mopped, watched the amazing rain storm that hit here pretty hard. Talked to Erik on the phone, read blogs like I haven't done for a while.
8 things I love about summer: being outside, riding bike on the riverwalk, wearing light clothes and no jacket, taking little trips, the crepe myrtle trees blooming so beautifully, all the new people that move to the ward each year , eating outside at a restaurant or picnic, going to the beach if possible.
8 things on my wish list: Visiting all my family, having all my family together, spending one on one time with the grandchildren, living close to all my children, did I say visiting all my family, having family reunion here in Columbus and having everyone come, having money to give all my family that could use it, talking to all my family regularly, having all my family love me and call me, oh no, that's more than eight....but my wish list is all about being with family. I really wish I was closer to all of you! (And I believe wishes can come true)

Camille was a beautiful bride! The little flower girls absolutely loved being with her. Hope she will soon post some reception pictures on her blog. We are waiting to see them!!

Here's the picture we got of all of us together at the SLC reception. I like the way Preston is giving Jenna her hairpiece. It was great to be altogether with family!

We had a great time at Hogle Zoo on the day before the wedding. Bryce and Preston were really excited since it was their first time to go to the zoo.

Here's Makayla and me at the SLC reception. She is so cute and sweet!

Dad getting ready to participate with these two young guys in the reverse triathlon at Ft. Benning. He finished the 12 mile bike run at 37 minutes. Their team came in 5th overall with the other guys doing well at the running and swimming. Not bad for a grandpa, and I loved the breakfast and awards ceremony that followed!!

Hello Again

Here it is July so thought I would put a quick note on here about our lives.
The hot summer days are alive and well in Georgia, so we are trying to do most our work in the mornings and stay cool inside in the afternoons. Today I had a great experience helping the LaGrange branch feed the missionaries at their zone conference. All our units in the stake take a turn doing this, and we in stake RS supervise, so I have had the chance to work with the units several times when they come to the stake center and I love being able to. Today we had wonderful southern pulled pork sandwiches, seasoned just right with Cajun seasonings, corn on the cob, macaroni pasta salad, and huge brownies for dessert. Zak Attabery, whose Mom actually did all the food and then sent it with him to serve, cut those brownies, and they were big!! We all had fun with the Elders too, and requested they sing "The Star Spangled Banner" for us as they wanted to thank us with a song. They sounded amazingly good. they are great young men and being around them is a Joy. We all need to remember not to lose our missionary spirit!!
I have a few piano students so taught some lessons today. Tomorrow I am planning to go with my friend Annette to the temple since she goes every Wednesday and always appreciates someone to accompany her. The temple closes for its annual cleaning for the next two weeks, so this is my chance to go! I love the temple and recommend it to everyone.
Terry is thinking about a family history conference he is setting up for the Fall. He is a great husband, father and grandfather, and we are enjoying time together at this season of our lives.
He's just home from work with some things in his hand he got from the auto parts. he's good at keeping up with maintaining the car and truck. We really like our 2003 Toyota Corolla. We drive it a lot and get good gas mileage, so we are doing OK.
Bye for now and I'll try and get him to help me post some pictures.

This beautiful cake was made by Shanna for the reception in Georgia. How did she find the time to do it?? Shanna is a good example of pure determination and desire to share her talents. She has a lot going on, but still manages to do it all! Thanks Shanna, you are amazi ng!

We had a happy celebration of Scott and Camille's wedding. Friends helped decorate at the stake center. Aunt Bonnie came from Arkansas and did so much to help us get the food together. Dane acted as MC for the evening and introduced the couple as well as announcing the evening's program. Camille's friend Lauren Miller played the piano and sang for us. it was great! Thanks to everyone who supported us at both weddings. It was wonderful to be together with all of you!

Just checking in....

Hi everyone,
Have been looking at some of your pages this morning and enjoying the chance to read about your lives. This is a great way to stay in touch, and I hope to do more with it. Thanks for the good examples!
Terry and I are back to being just the two of us since Dane left for school yesterday. It's been wonderful having him here for the past couple of weeks. We enjoyed the trip to SLC for Camille's wedding so much. It was exciting and memorable and couldn't have been better for us!! Camille and Scott planned everything so well, we hardly had any work to do and got to just enjoy our time at the temple and reception out there. What a joy to be in the Salt Lake temple and to see our beautiful daughter marry such a wonderful young man as Scott. They seem so right for each other too, so we are very happy for them and for us. Having all our kids there was also very special to us, and the reception that the Jensen's helped Camille with was great. My favorite part was the lunch after the wedding at Old Spaghetti Factory and the video that showed Scott and Camille growing up. Like Berne said, "your child's life passes before your eyes." That is emotional but also helps you gain perspective about just how short a time we have with our children to teach them and enjoy them, and then before you know it they are off on their own. Thanks to everyone who came, sent cards and gifts, and shared this time with us. The greatest joys in life happen when families come together, I know that is true!!
Back to Dane, he started school this morning at Georgia Tech and if all goes well he will graduate in a year. He's living with Kydon and Shanna and wouldn't want it any other way. I'm so glad
this worked out. He was able to buy a car in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl last week (that's a good story you can ask more about) and also has sold a motorcycle already to get money for school. He is remarkable and we know he will go far in life.
Terry is preparing to ride bike in a triathlon coming up in a few weeks. He works hard everyday to support us and to keep up with his church callings. He is assigned as the high councilment to Phenix City as well as working on the Family History work in our stake. He painted both the bathrooms here before the wedding guests came to stay, and always has something to do with the car and truck or regular fixing up going on around here. I am currently getting ready for seminary graduation. I went to Auburn this morning to visit the class and also meet about details of Sunday's program. I also stay busy with stake RS. We go to Lanett on Sunday to do some training, so there is always something to think about. I'm trying to get to the gym for Step aerobics and Body Pump several times a week, and i walk with two good friends most mornings, which is great motivation to get through the day.
This can't be too long so will stop for now. I promise to get some pictures posted soon. Remind me!! Love you all and write a comment so i can know who reads this...please. Thanks, Valeni

Hello!

Just setting up a blog!