2014 Wrap-up: Grandchildren, Books, Quilts

The last few months have flown by, and I've had no time to blog. I hope to improve on that in the New Year. I'll wrap up the year right here, in one long post.

In November I took a trip to Seattle to see Debra and her wonderful family. I also had a side trip with my friends Tamara, Karen and Gayle to Cannon Beach while I was there. In the interest of actually getting this information on my blog, I have not taken the time to dig up all my pictures. Instead I'm limiting the pictures to my darling grandchildren (oh, and I'm there too)

Jonathan, Madeleine, Diane, and Diane

Me and Diane

Me and Madeleine

Me and Jonathan

Before my trip to Seattle, I had a new granddaughter added to our family in October. Audrey had another girl, LauraJane. It was a whirlwind delivery - Joseph was in Wendover, and Audrey was here in case she went into labor. She did. I took her to the hospital, where she was measured: dilated to an 8. Then she asked if they could hold off delivery until Joseph got there.
--No problem, how soon would he be there?
--Two hours.
--Hmm, we'll try.
Sure enough, it worked. Joseph walked in, and LauraJane was delivered 12 minutes later. I was blessed to be there for the birth. She is beautiful.

Here's our cute girlie, already half-way grown up!

I managed to get a little quilting in this fall (never enough time!) I made this quilt for LauraJane. In the bottom picture is LauraJane's older sister (by not quite one year), Katherine. She likes the quilt too.

This is my block of the month quilt, finished in September. Ray has claimed it for his own. He loves it.

I made five of these wall hanging/table topper NOEL quilts. Four for my children, and one for my sister for Christmas.  I also made 20 pillowcases for the season for my family.

 All right, now to the books. These are the books I can remember reading: (my apologies that the pictures won't line up properly. I'm giving up trying any longer)

The Harry Potter Series. I started this when they were originally written and got derailed after the second or third book. By the time a new book came out after a year, it was sometimes hard to get to it. Plus trying to remember all the details from the books before after all that time was difficult. So I thought, "sometime I'll read them." That sometime came this autumn. I actually listened to them, and it was the best thing ever. The narrator, Jim Dale was amazing. He really made the books come alive. I found myself exercising longer, and cleaning more often, just to get in some more time listening.

I loved the series! So well crafted. Now I'm going to watch the movies.

My daughters and I read The Willpower Instinct together. McGonigal teaches a 10 week seminar on willpower, and the book is written to follow that same format. We decided to read it over ten weeks, and apply the techniques.

I read all of it. Sort of over ten weeks, and really did try to implement a lot of what she said. It's very good, and I' hope to review it every once in a while and keep improving.











Death Comes to Pemberley is the first P.D. James book I've read. I liked it.

Named of the Dragon is another winner by Susanna Kearsley. I haven't yet met a book of hers I didn't like.

The Bess Crawford mystery series by Charles Todd is my new favorite series.I've finished all the ones written so far. A new one is due out in April. I can't wait. 

Giving Thanks

A blogging friend, Becky, calls this the season of Thanks and Giving. That really struck a chord with me - she put into words exactly how I feel. I love Thanksgiving. It is a peaceful holiday. Mostly I think of being with family and friends, and that's what I'm all about right now. The people in my life.

I love my family and the joy they bring to me. I love being with them more than anything in the world. I love all my extended family. We don't get enough time together.

What is better than a grandchild whose face lights up when they see you, then runs to you shouting, "G'ma!", and gives you a big hug? Not much in the world is better than that. I never had a clue about that special element of love a grandchild brings into our lives. Now I revel in it.

I am thankful for my friends who add joy to my life and fill my bucket with happiness. That is what friends are for. I hope I'm that kind of friend.

Life is good, and I am indeed grateful.

Pictures

I found out the reason my camera wouldn't take good pictures is that the lens had a problem and needs repair. So we are in the process of having it repaired. Meanwhile, Ray found a longer telephoto lens for me on KSL (equivalent to Craig's List). It's a 55-200 mm (the regular lens is 18-105 mm). I took the camera with me to Wendover for the half marathon, and had fun trying out the new lens. 

The result was an overabundance of photos, a mere pittance of which I chose to post here. So you can imagine how many pictures that was.

Austin

Elizabeth

Madeleine

Diane

Matthew

Diane

Diane

Madeleine

Austin

Audrey and Joseph

Audrey and Diane (me)

Audrey and Joseph

Debra

Elizabeth, post orange Powerade

Diane and Debra

Madeleine, Diane, Elizabeth - playing ring-around-the-rosy

Audrey and Diane

Audrey, Diane, Debra