Thanksgiving 2011

We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year. We had our across-the-street neighbors (the Charles) over for the meal and then had dessert at their house. I decided to try brining the turkey this time because I have heard how great they turn out. I am notorious for my dry roast meats, so I figured I could use a little help. I used instructions from Our Best Bites. I am pleased to report that the bird turned out great! Certainly the best I've ever made! I usually steer away from doing a whole bird and just buy a turkey breast, but I'm glad I gave it a shot.

Megan got busy to make place cards for everyone. She used an idea for flower turkeys  I saw on Our Best Bites (again). They were perfect.

The night before, Danika and I tried to make pie crust. I usually buy the pre-made kind because I am TERRIBLE at making good pie crust. This year I was determined to make my own because I had a lesson from a friend who is an excellent pie crust maker. Well, they didn't turn out so well. We followed all the rules, and they still shrunk and looked terrible after blind baking! Grrr. I will keep trying I guess.

Despite our sorry crusts, the fillings were wonderful--coconut cream and lemon chiffon. Shannon made chocolate pecan, and we had a pumpkin pie from Costco. Mmmm...this is making me hungry!

We put Mike to work making the mashed potatoes. He makes some mean mashed taters.

Danika insists on my homemade rolls. One year we assigned them to someone else, and she was bitterly disappointed when they turned out to be store-bought rolls--the HORROR! So she and Megan helped me with making them. We use the recipe from the chef at the Las Vegas Temple. So yummy!

Time to eat!

Never-Ending Construction Projects

We got around to getting a few projects finalized in November. We hired Brian to come and build our mantle and a frame for our wall mounted TV. We also wanted a media cabinet for the basement. So for a few weeks we had more chaotic mess. It was my job to spackle, chalk, and sand the pieces before they were painted. Not my favorite job.

Mantle and TV frame

Basement media center

The mess of painting.

After painting! Now to get the fireplace tiled or rocked...

It's still a mess, but at least it's done!

Road Trips and Aliens and Pumpkins, Oh My!

We drove home from Washington on Monday, Oct. 17th. We caravaned back with my brother Doug and his wife Donna (they drove a U-Haul we rented to bring back the things we got from my mom), and Trevor and Alex, who drove in Trev's car. It was kind of a fun road trip--although extremely long. Trevor is really into the show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri on the Food Network. So when we would make a pit stop, we would stop at a place recommended on the show. I think we gained about 5 pounds in one day! Here are Danika and Brooke in front of a really cool old building in downtown Pendleton, OR next door to the diner where we ate.

  

Danika had the Halloween Dance the Saturday after we got back. It was a girl's choice, and she asked Jason Squire. Their group went as aliens (girls) and astronauts (guys). The girls made the guys NASA t-shirts. Danika burnt Jason's shirt while ironing on the transfer, so Holly Prows had an extra shirt that they gave him after Danika picked him up (this explains his Nike shirt in this picture).

Jason is around 6'5 or taller...not sure!

The whole "spacey" group!

For Halloween, Megan decided she wanted to be a pumpkin. Don't ask me why, but she really, really wanted a pumpkin costume like Rudy on one of the Cosby Show episodes. So I got busy sewing (made my own pattern). I was literally stitching the stem on the hat up to the last minute, but I prevailed! I am MOM, hear me roar! I hope my kids appreciate my ability to produce their heart's desire when they are parents!

Trick-or-treating with Kassidy Webb, Regan Hansen, and Anna Francis.

A pooped pumpkin!

Culling through the loot.

Trixie sporting the pumpkin beret...ooh la la!

Saying Goodbye

October was a busy month. We finally got our sod in--a huge, dirty, exhausting job (about 7000 sq. feet). It was nice to finally not have so much dirt blowing in the house. We majorly underestimated how much we needed (only ordered 4000 sq. feet) due to my poor measuring skills, and Mike being out of town and not able to check my math! Although, in my defense, he estimated we needed about 4000 sq. feet too. I am still nursing a painful tennis elbow from all the raking, lifting and trimming sod edges.

The major event this month was that my mom passed away on the 8th. She had fallen and unknowingly broken her hip. It wasn't discovered until about 5 days later, and by then she had blood clots all up and down her leg. She signed the paperwork not to have surgery, so they just made her comfortable at the hospital (this was Wednesday the 5th). She passed away early on Saturday morning (the 8th). It was a sad time, but also somewhat of a blessing because she didn't suffer for a long time. She wanted to go on her own terms, and she did exactly that--nobody telling her what or how to do it. She was able to make up her own mind.

Of course, being how my mother was, there was no funeral. She was cremated and wanted her ashes scattered. So Chris and Doug decided just to have an open house at her home. Danika, Brooke and I drove to Vancouver, Washington on the 14th and arrived around 9:00 pm. It was really great to see all my siblings and nieces and nephews whom I had not seen for quite a few years. The next day we held the open house. The bishop and his wife, mom's visiting teachers, and my cousin Stan Pace who lives close by came. It was nice, but very informal, and I have to say didn't really feel like there was closure or respect paid to my mom. But, that's how she wanted it, so who can argue?

I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a few...

My brother Rick and his wife Tricia came from Tucson.

My niece Megan hanging out with Danika and Brooke.

 

All the cousins that came: (back row L to R) Jillian (Trevor's fiancee), Trevor, Andrew, Ian, Monica, Danika, Brooke. (front) Megan and Alex.

I had to write my mom's obituary, which wasn't very easy since she was so non-traditional. She wouldn't have wanted an obituary that listed all her church callings and missions, etc. So I just focused on some of the things that people would remember her for.

Audrey Jeanne Arnold Harding Haymore

Audrey Jeanne Arnold Harding Haymore passed away peacefully October 8, 2011 at the age of 89 in Vancouver, WA. Audrey was born in Bad Axe, Michigan on April 17, 1922 to Robert Parks Arnold and Margaret Dora Dye. She lived a busy, vibrant life filled with interesting experiences and people. Over her lifetime she lived in Manhattan, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Tucson and Paradise, UT. She married Douglas C. Harding on October 12, 1943. Their three sons were born in Ann Arbor. Doug preceded Audrey in death in 1962. Audrey moved to Arizona in 1959, where she later met and married F. Lant Haymore on May 19, 1967. They were the parents of one daughter. Lant passed away on March 4, 1994. Audrey was a lifelong learner, creative thinker, talented potter and connoisseur of the arts. She is fondly remembered as an accomplished cook and she enjoyed collecting and preparing new recipes. Anyone who knew Audrey could attest she was a great lover of animals. She was the kind benefactor of dozens of stray cats and wild raccoons, as well as many other creatures. Audrey was a devoted wife and proud mother and grandmother who taught her posterity they could accomplish anything they set their minds to do. Her enthusiastic spirit and zest for life influenced many and will be greatly missed. Audrey is survived by her brother and sister, her four children and two stepchildren. She has 22 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild. An open house for family and friends will be held Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 15212 SE 24th St., Vancouver, WA from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Arrangements by EVERGREEN STAPLES.

I don't love the picture we used for her obit. Oh those 80's glasses! But here are some pictures I love of my mom:

This is Audrey around age 19 or 20. She is looking at some latex dolls her mother cast and made outfits for. These dolls were the predecessors of Barbie.

Mom holding Rick, and Doug (seated) in Ann Arbor.

 

This is my mom seated with Rick, and her 1st husband Doug holding Chris. (Ann Arbor)

Grandma reading to Danika

Grandma and Brooke (Troy is getting attacked by Danika!)

I have a lot more pictures that I found at her house that I need to scan and put onto a photo CD for everyone. I will post more as I scan them, but this one I took at her house when I was there for the services pretty much captures my mom to a tee (the "cat lady")...

Try to Remember the Kind of September...

It didn't take long for school to get into full swing. Megan had several projects in September and early October. First was the assignment to make a 3-D model of a cell. Megan chose to do a plant cell. We tried something new this time around and sewed some clear vinyl together. We filled it with rice and beans (chloroplasts and ribosomes), a big pom pom (nucleus), and little felt pillows (vacuoles). It worked out pretty well and she got a A.

Next came a book report. Megan had to make a diorama depicting an important scene from her book. She read Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass (one of her favorite authors). It is about 3 kids who unwittingly end up at a campsite to watch a solar eclipse and become friends in the process. So Megan wanted to make her scene of the eclipse--thus the sunglasses on the people (you can't really see them in this picture). We found out it is really hard to figure out how to make a sun look like it's being covered by a shadow!

 After that it was time for the 6th grade Egyptian Wax Museum. Megan was supposed to be Wadjet, the cobra goddess. She was a protector of the pharaoh, ready to strike and kill his enemies. We had big plans to make her a cobra headdress out of papier-mache, but as with many big ideas at our house, it didn't happen in time. She had to memorize a part about her goddess and recite it when someone came to her and pushed her "button."She wasn't super excited about this event. I tried to get her to "walk like an Egyptian," but no luck!

 

When she's not doing homework, Megan always is busy finding ways to amuse herself. Here are two examples of her creative boredom busters!

Chin people--always a fun distraction!

Making word art out of our Mags :)

Brooke's Birthday

Brooke turned 15 on September 2nd! At home on Friday we had ice cream cupcakes...

On Saturday Brooke wanted to go to The King's English book shop, so we headed to Salt Lake to check it out...and of course, to buy some books.

Danika and Brooke found this sign amusing.

Brooke picked out Sweetly, by Jackson Pearce (a retelling of Hansel and Gretel)...

and Hourglass, by Myra McEntire.

Here is one we wanted, but put back on the shelf. So many books, so little moo-la! (Hurrah for libraries!)

After a heady hour or so perusing at the book store, Brooke wanted to try Bruges Waffles and Frites, a Belgian place in downtown SLC. Their waffles have little balls of sugar in them--decadent. We felt sick after scarfing our waffles and frites. But they were oh-so-delicious!

Happy 15th Brooke!