A Wee Bit of Blarney

It's away to the Old Country today. Bob flies to Galway, Ireland for 10 days on business. Poor man.

Happy Birthday Bob!

And if the Patriots win tonight, then it'll be his best birthday ever!

Let There Be Lights

Jim-Across-the-Street started at the crack of dawn... the fiend!... but ours were up in record time.

C'mon, Get Happy!

How can you have known me for all these many years... and not known of my obsession?

My Tree

Who says we don't have fall in Southern California? My pear tree has red leaves this year! This is all very exciting. Okay, so it's just a patch, but I'm proud.

What the Cluck?

It seems like Christmas is coming earlier and earlier. Last night the lighting war began and some guy in the next neighborhood has his lights up and on! Jim (across the street) and Bob have always had a friendly rivalry over who gets the job done first, but c'mon! It's not even Thanksgiving yet!

Channeling

Mom? Is that you?

MAJ

As does this one...

Granny Cleaning

I think this speaks for itself...

Signs of November

Dad's paperwhites bloomed this morning! They bloom every year at this time... sometimes they've even bloomed on Thanksgiving morning. The bulbs have really thinned out this year... I think Jose and Jose (yard guys) have done a number on them.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Sue, who's as close to a sister as any friend could get.

(And oh my goodness, who is that adorable puppy sitting right next to her?)

Soooda. S-O-D-A Soooda.

I've come to a conclusion about sodas. After much experimentation and conjecture, thoughtful and not so thoughtful analysis.... I've decided it's not so much the soda itself, but the experience of going out to get one. That, and it makes me happy.

Happy Birthday, Dad

¿Usted habla español?

When Papa was really beginning to slip, he started speaking Spanish. Now, Papa didn't really know Spanish. He was only a boy when he'd taken a few classes, but he started speaking Spanish, full conversations, making absolutely no sense whatsoever. We'd come over to visit... "¡Hola Papa!" Grandma would say, "Oh don't encourage him!" Well, Bob couldn't help himself and would sit down at the kitchen table with Papa and have long conversations with him. Papa enjoyed himself immensely! Seeing Grandma's disquiet, I said to him, "Dad, mom really doesn't like it when you speak Spanish." His reply... in perfect English, "Precisely!"

The Editor

When Papa officially retired from the school district, he returned to the world of editing for a short time, becoming an editor of the Personal Journal. (While at BYU he was editor of The Daily Universe). He was asked to be a model for one of the articles and made the cover! He's wearing one of my favorite outfits. And his eyes... his blue eyes...

Bishop Jack

Shadow Puppy

How can you not fall in love with this beautiful puppy? Isn't she the most precious thing you've ever seen? She's just too cute and so smart. She knows over 200 words and can actually spell 'treat' and 'cheese'! She's also very depressed right now, constantly sighing. She misses 'daddy'. I think she can spell that too. (And do feel free to use this picture for your computer desktop. Shadow won't mind).

Special Memories

Papa's birthday is coming up this next week ~ Saturday, November 10th. I love this picture of him and Carrie taken on one of my favorite Thanksgivings.

And So Much More

We had a great time with Uncle Del. He came on the 30th and left just this morning. We carved pumpkins, he tried to convince us of the merits of buttermilk with a touch of salt and pepper (no thanks), and we introduced him to the world of Stargate. (Here's a picture of him freezing to death watching TV). He and the boys also made some great progress on their special project, which is really going to be something amazing.

.....

Bob leaves tomorrow (Sunday) for Salt Lake City. He'll be there until Friday on business and will be staying with Brent and Carolyn. Shadow is going to have a fit ~ and of course, we'll miss him too! ;)

.....

What are we without a Diet Coke in our hands? There is nothing like a fountain soda. Nothing. McDonalds fed our habit with a summer long 69 cent extra large fountain drink. Bliss. But those days are gone and the price trippled. Which is why we're now in the business of making our own! The kitchen is a total fizzy mad scientist lab right now, but the stuff is great! I'm serious!

Check this out: http://www.sodaclubusa.com/.

100 Pieces of Candy

A day or two before Halloween:

Suzie: Do you think you'll have enough candy?
Diane: Oh yes. We've got 100 pieces.
Suzie: Oh. That's all?
Diane: That's alot!
Suzie: You'd better go get more. I've got like 500 pieces. At least. You've got to count for snitching. And possibly people you know. Like the kid next door. You can't just give them one skimpy piece of candy.

Halloween night.... sounds of doorbells ringing:

Suzie: Did you get more candy?
Dave: No. We've got 100 pieces! And it's KitKats. Everyone loves KitKats.
Suzie: Oh. Well, good luck with that.
Dave: We'll have plenty.
Suzie: If you say so. I've got 500 pieces. At least.

20 minutes later....

Diane: Dave's gone to get more candy.
Suzie: Ha!

Cell phone rings... talking to Diane in my left ear and Dave in my right:

Dave: Well, you're right. I'm on my way to buy more candy.
Diane: He says he hates it when you're right.
Suzie to Dave: Told you so.
Diane: I've had to turn away 25 kids since he's been gone.

Dave returned home with 80 more pieces, and the Hamills ran out of candy again. The Lundbergs had about 350 pieces leftover. At least. Don't tell Dave.