Best friends

Since these two are home from school without the other kids, they have become best friends. Being best friends also means you are worst enemies, but those times are few and far between.
Here is a picture of them together out in the mountains of North Carolina. It is actually two pictures that I put together, but who's counting?
Thanks to Cheryl Kiss for taking these pictures!

A Man in the Kitchen

I wish I had photo to go with this blog--just picture David in your mind hunched in the corner of the kitchen trying to "hide something". A while back David and I were in the kitchen making dinner together. He was doing the green beans--I usually put a beef bouillon cube and some dried onions in to add some flavor. Well, he was working on that portion of the meal and he was VERY quiet, hunched in a corner, with his back to me--obviously trying to hide something. Well, I of course, wondered what he was up to and went to investigate.

He was definitely trying to hide something. I peeked over his shoulder and saw him busily pulverizing the bouillon cube with a pair of needle nose pliers. I could not stop laughing—throughout the day, I would have the visual image come to my mind of him hunched in the corner! The funniest part was that he was trying to hide—he did say that he wiped them off before he used them!

Christmas vacation

We had a great 3 week vacation out West and loved the snow. Thanks to family for hosting us, and for Terri and Julia letting us use their van and snowmobiles.

When we first arrived. Only 9 inches of snow.

Parker snowmobiling throught the drifts.

More to come...

Gold Gorilla II - May You Rest In Peace

When I was a teenager, I had a gold 1972 Pontiac Grand Ville (grandma car) with a 455 in it. We named it the Gold Gorilla. When we bought our gold Chevy Express earlier this year, the kids dubbed it the Gold Gorilla II. Right before we went on vacation, someone hit Marilyn, forcing her off the road into a large brick mailbox. The impact caused $17,600 in damage, so our insurance totaled the van. No one was hurt (Marilyn said it was like busting through a snowbank), but the person who hit us drove off. Luckily the insurance covered it. We are sad, but will make another trip to Missouri to get the same van, only we have to get a white one because that is all they have left. It is quite the pain to get everything worked out, but we will have many great memories in our new van. Following are some of our grandest memories from the Gold Gorilla II:

1. David taking 13 kids sledding to Roan Mountain
2. Trip to Kirtland, OH for Thankful Halsey Pratt's (PP Pratt's first wife) grave dedication
3. Trips to Savannah, GA to meet Heimdals
4. Trip to Alma, AK for the excavation of PP Pratt's grave
5. 4500 mile trip across US for our July 2008 vacation (including sleeping in the van for 2 nights while David drove)
6. Temple trips, with stops at Denny's and CiCis pizza afterward
7. Mulitple hiking and biking trips.
8. Saving Marilyn and Grace's life in the accident
9. Taking out all the seats and hauling over 7000 lbs of food storage for the ward from the Knoxville cannery (over a number of trips)
10. Getting 10-11 mpg in the city, and 14-16 mpg on the highway. It is well worth it for the room and sanity.

What memories do some of you have?

Christmas Carols, FHE, and Swearing

No better place to learn how to cuss than in Family Home Evening! This is one of those classic stories.

Our Christmas party for church this year has an International theme. There are several people who are bringing food, decor, and sharing Christmas traditions from other countries. We are going to do some German Christmas carols and have been practicing. The kids are all great sports (for the most part) and for FHE we decided to go over the words to the song and try to sing it.

Here are the lyrics:
Still, still, still,
Weil's Kindlein schlafen will.
Die Englein tun schön jubilieren,
Bei dem Kripplein musizieren.
Still, still, still,
Weil's Kindlein schlafen will.


The pronunciation for the "st" is more like an "scht" or "sh" if you can't get all those letters in. Well, we are progressing quite well--David was teaching us how to say the words, we'd repeat, and then eventually sing. We sounded pretty good. Than Michael starts to get confused with the words--(notice there are lots of "scht" sounds. He says, "I don't get this Schitlein stuff" (instead of Kindlein or Kripplein). David and I laughed a bit and went on--until it came up again. "What is this Schitline"--he kept asking and we could not quit laughing. Eliza was the only other one who caught on to his cussing and we were laughing so hard, we couldn't stop. Sweet innocent Michael cussing up a storm about this sweet German Christmas carol.

It was quite the memory. I just hope that we can make it through our performance without losing it.

Carter Family Fold

David here.
The weekend of Nov. 1st, we visited the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia with some friends from work. We have been about ten times and enjoy the music and atmosphere. The band this time, Wayne Henderson and Friends, was the best we have heard, and included an old time piano player. He was great!

Many of you who read this blog have been to Carter Family Fold, but for those who haven't, let me explain a little bit.

The Carter Family, considered the first family of country music (A.P. Carter, Sara Carter, and Maybelle Carter), hails from Southwest Virginia, a beautiful, rugged, and very remote area about 35 minutes north of us.
After the family made it in the music industry, part of them returned to their roots and started a music center. Jeanette and Joe Carter, daughter and son of AP and Sara Carter, and cousin to June Carter Cash, are responsible for getting the family fun music center going.

When we started going about six years ago, it had a much stronger country/cultural feel to it (As an Anthropologist, I love this). The seats were school bus benches, or wood benches set up on logs, with carpet scraps as padding. They recently received a grant and have put in stadium seating, as well as upgrading the equipment, building, and bathrooms.
There is a large area in front of the stage where people get out and dance, flatfoot (clog), or just fake dance (me). The children absolutely love it, and they always like to get some ice cream or popcorn. There are always about 30-40 regulars who have their seats in the front, and dance many of the dances. However, over the years, many of these regulars have passed away, including Jeannette and Joe Carter. This hasn't taken away from the great family atmoshpere, and if you come to visit us, we will be sure to take you out for a night at Carter Family Fold.

For more information: http://www.carterfamilyfold.org/


Playing in the field next to Carter Family Fold. The leaves were just past their peak. We love to go early, play football, and have a picnic.


Family and friends. We had a great time.


Out front. David trying to get into the picture in time.

Going private

We are going to make our blog private within the next day or two, so please let us know if you would like to have access. I will try to invite those of you who comment regularly.
Thanks