Fall Garden Goodies

We are at the end of October and we haven't had a frost. Up until this past week, we've had a pretty dry fall also. However, we are having still having production from the garden.


This is the harvest that I've had this week. The peppers, tomatoes, and green beans are doing really well. We will soon have carrots and beets. I also had the first head of broccoli from the fall crop with more on the way. I still have a few sweet potatoes to dig up and also the jicama to dig up.

The eggplant and a couple of tomatoes are from our greenhouse. I made the best eggplant lasagna with fresh tomato sauce this week!

Time out for Women in Atlanta!

I just got back from Time Out for Women in Atlanta! What a fabulous way to spend a Friday night and Saturday!

This was made possible by the generosity of Rachel to make sure sisters she loved got to have this wonderful experience. Beth flew out from BYU to spend the weekend with us as well. Dave could not resist coming down Friday afternoon to see Beth.

We met up with Rachel and her car full of gals plus Beth at La Madeline's a French restaurant. It was great food!

We had a lot of love and laughter throughout the weekend!

Unfortunately, we got caught up in the horrendous Atlanta traffic which took us 1 1/2 hours to get to the convention center for the evening's performance. We were there to enjoy Michael McLean and Amanda Dickson's humor.

Amanda Dickson is a gal who is on the radio in Salt Lake City. She has a sister living in Greer, SC that Rachel knows from teaching seminary. Rachel got to meet her to talk about her sister! Rachael had a special evening planned after Friday night with letters of affirmation to each of us written by someone who loves us! It was a very spiritual evening full of love.

We heard from many fabulous, faith filled women. This woman is from Sierra Leon and her story is incredible and full of faith.

Here we all are at the end of the day: Ruby Timmons, Tracy Terry, Lynn Hansen, Terry Luc, Der Lor, Beth Venus, Rebecca Isham, Linda Harper and Erin Luc. In front are Paula VanValkenburg, Rachel Venus, Christina Eichhorn, and Melissa Anderson.

Oregon Family

I saved the best for last about our trip to Oregon! Family pictures.


Here is my almost 96 year old father with his children, Mick, Linda, LaDonna and Richard.

The morning after we got there, we went to the Portland Temple. Richard and Michael were ready to go!

LaDonna, Renetta and I were up bright and early. We went through the temple with Mick and Mary, Amy, Tami and Leone who had just been for the first time the month before.

After the temple, we went to visit with Johnny and Leone.

We had Mick with us who spent the night at Rich and Renetta's and we had a lot of fun playing apples to apples. The next day we went to visit dad and met back up with Mary who brought Beth and the boys on their way to Klammath Falls for a trip.

We had Amy and Megan and their families along with Malia Long for a pizza dinner and a night around the campfire.

Amy, her Richard and Annalina were enjoying the evening.

Look how cute little Katherine, Megan's daughter is. I just love those curls! She has to have surgery this week and our prayers are with her.

Oregon Waterfalls!

A wonderful treat for our trip to Oregon was being able to go up the Columbia River Gorge and see the beauty there. I had not been there through the gorge in over 20 years!

Here is the famous Multnomah Falls that is one of the tallest waterfalls in the US (next to Yosemite).

This is Wahkenna Falls.


This is Lotourell Falls. In about a 10 mile length there are probably 5 waterfalls that are all just gorgeous.

It all comes to a climax at Crown point with a beautiful view of the Columbia River gorge looking east toward the fish hatchery and Bonneville Dam.

Richard, Renetta, LaDonna, Michael and I all spent a fun afternoon together as we explored and reveled in nature's beauty.

A beautiful Pacific sunset

After our cloudy stormy dinner at the coast, we noticed some light coming from the west and decided to stop and look one more time at the ocean. We were fortunate to watch the sun sink into the Pacific ocean in the most beautiful sunset!

Oregon beauty, what can I say!

We got back from Oregon on Sunday night late. I always come home with a huge batch of beautiful pictures. During our visit, we were able to get in a quick trip to the beach for dinner. It was beautiful the whole time we were in Oregon, but at the coast it was socked in with a small storm. No worry, it's still beautiful!

The restaurant we ate at was fabulous and overlooked the north end of Depot Bay.

This is the view we watched while we ate.

These were the rock formations in the bay.

We also went to Devil's kitchen to watch the waves go over the rocks. LaDonna had to put on her hat.

Here is a video of the waves crashing over the rocks!

General Conference thoughts

I just love conference weekends. We are able to literally sit back with our feet up, let life slow down and be spiritually fed. This weekend was not exception to that tradition. I took copious notes (it helps me stay focused) and did the seminary jeopardy game that I've done for years when I taught and still share with teachers around the world. Here are a few impressions that stood out to me:

Pres. Monson: We need many more senior couples to plan to serve and prepare now for that day. As circumstances allow and eligible for retirement, make available to leave home and give full time missionary service. (Michael and I have a goal to serve missions during retirement!)

Elder Holland: The sacred value of each one of you is reason there is a plan of salvation. This is about you. . .

Elder Christofferson: A consecrated life is: Purity, work, respect of one's body, service, integrity.

Pres. Uchtdorf: Work on our relationship with ourselves. It seems odd but we do have one. Some people can't get along with themselves. The criticize and belittle themselves all day long. Get to know yourself better. Enjoy God's creations, ponder truths of gospel and what they mean, learn to see yourself as Heavenly Father sees you, as his precious daughter or son with divine potential.

Elder Andersen: Two words signal danger ahead: offended and ashamed.

Elder Scott: You get what you pay for is true of spiritual matters as well, in obedience in faith and diligent application. What you get is the molding of character and growth and capacity.

Pres. Monson: Gratitude is a divine principle and the parent of all other virtues. To live with gratitude in our hearts is to touch heaven.

Elder Lawrence: Nothing good happens late at night.

Elder Arnold: We are free to choose for ourselves but not the consequences of our actions.

Pres. Monson: Take time to read the conference talks for they are deserving of our careful study. Blessing we are able to meet here in this conference center in peace and comfort.

I'm sure I'll have more impressions as I read and study these talks in the next few months!

Garden Sweet Potatoes

On Thursday Ryan helped me dig up one of our beds of sweet potatoes. We have a half a bed in another part of the garden still to do. The potatoes got huge this year and some were the size of loaves of bread! They taste great. I think I am going to try to can some of them that were cut up when we took them out of the ground.

Michael and I also moved our potted plants down into the greenhouse where we want them and strung them up. We planned to put them in the middle area so when it gets cold we can put up some plastic walls and just heat that area. The lettuce, spinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts and cauliflower will do fine in a colder area as long as it doesn't get too much below freezing.

We have our materials to build the hydroponics so that is our next big project.