Well it's time to update even though there is just not much going on. A few weeks ago our good friend Bernice Castagno had her 88th birthday! I baked a cake and we enjoyed being together. Here's Bernice, me, Rick, and Grandma Fern who is staying at our home this month! I baked Bernice a cake to which I added an 8 and 7 in candles on top. She let me know that this is her 88th b-day NOT her 87th. How did I miss that? My bad. Either way she sure does get around incredibly well for her age. She is a great friend to our family. Only 12 more years 'til the BIG one!!:) Here she's blowing out the candles!

On Friday, Rick and I drove to American Fork to take Kendra to lunch. She had found this cute little place called Dough Boys and Flour Girls. They have great soups and sandwiches and we each had a homebaked dessert. Rick a Cream Puff, Me a Cinnamon Roll, and Ken a Pumpkin Bar. I had actually seen this company at a craft fair last year. What a cute name for a bakery! After lunch we stopped at Mandalyn Academy and Rick got his monthly waxing of the nose and ears. I am sooooo tempted to put the pictures of him on for all to see 'cause it is hilarious but I better not. I still want to be married tomorrow HAHA!

Kendra treated me to a back treatment and a facial (LOVE LOVE THESE)! Afterwards, Rick and I went to Tai Pan, Modern Display, and Costco to get some holiday decorating ideas. I loved the upside down tree at Modern Display! I love the lime green and bright red they used to decorate with. Can you imagine though to actually have an upside down tree? The trees there are a mere 3-4 thousand dollars! Who buys these trees anyway? Drug Dealers? Clearly these things are out of our budget. I just go for the ideas and you know what? Nothin'. I have no knew ideas for this years decor. That's ok. I'll live:)

Oh, I have some way exciting news. For our ward party (I'm the activities chair in our ward----3 years now) we are doing something a bit different. We are having a Christmas in Nauvoo theme and it'll hopefully be a big success but anyhow we are going to have the back part of the cultural hall decorated like an old fahioned town square. I have been thinking I would love to have a couple of old-fashioned store fronts to add to the look and I had no idea where I would find them and for cheap. (Ward Budgets are sometimes slim) Well yea!! I stopped by Hale Theatre and a fellow took me to their warehouse and I found some! He's going to give me 4 facades plus 4 lanterns for 50 bucks. Best deal of the week!

Well for not doing much I sure have rambled on. I am going to try to take my camera with me more often. Especially this week. It's Thanksgiving and we're headed to Vegas!

The Craft Fair

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've blogged. Last week was the craft fair in Vegas. Kendra and I took off on Monday after she got out of school and drove as far as St. George to stay with my sister Deanna. We got to Vegas about 1:00 and went to my other sister Terri's house where the craft show has been for about 6 years. My 2 brothers wives have put the show on for about 9 years and it has grown each year. When we got there I was surprised to see that nearly all the tables were FULL! I knew they were going to be setting up that day but WOW they were nearly done when I got there. This meant that I had to squeeze my stuff into small places. They were trying to make room for me but what do you do when the tables are full? Anyhow, I tried to get at least 1 of each thing that I made on display. The rest went under the tables until people started buying stuff and created more room.
The show didn't actually start until Wed. evening and there was a pretty good turn out. I helped my niece Mandy on the register. It's really fun to see people that I grew up with. Kathy and Vickie (my sis-in-laws) did a great job! It is a whole lot of work to put a show on of that magnitude. I know that with the economy people don't buy as much and that was evident but I still believe it was successful for them. I have no idea how much I sold and how much I am bringing back at Thanksgiving. If there is a lot of C-mas stuff left over I might have a little boutique here at my home like I have done in years past. Otherwise, I can use them as gifts! Oh yeah, I hardly sold any clocks:( My mom (she's so good to me) bought a large one and a small one even though I know she didn't need any. I actually brought all the big ones back home with me 'cause I was worried they would get broken. There so cute! How could anyone not want one. I know the price was steep at $60 and $65. But that's how much I felt they were worth!! Anyhow I enjoyed visiting with family and I always have a good time with Kendra:)
Since Fern has come to stay for the month of November and I left the day she came. I want to thank Ruth, Rick, and Kaitlyn for filling in for me while I was gone. They made this little trip possible! I didn't get home until Friday evening so really it was a blessing that I could make the trip. Can you believe I didn't take one picture?
Now that I'm home it's back to the old riggamarrow. This week is our games and pie night for the adults in our ward. On our sign up sheets I entitled it "Adult Games and Pie Night" Later, as I was looking at it I thought Hmm.. I hope people don't get the wrong idea. Adult games. What could that be? I think it's going to be fun! We had a GREAT crowd there last year. We'll see how it goes. Alrighty then....I'm outta here! This one's for you Teresa!

The Big 4-5

Well, it's been a big day as I have been crafting ALL day trying to get ready for the craft fair next week in Vegas. I'm making some clocks this year and I'm very happy with the way they turned out:) I've got quite a few projects going on and I'm hoping I can get them all finished by next Tuesday when I leave.

Gary and I are just relaxin' tonight while Rick is at the church. We're watching "Snow White" and I think this show is adorable. I love the music and how it's in time with all the Dwarfs moves. I have to laugh out loud when Dopey swallows the soap. He's so cute!

We celebrated Rick' 45th birthday last Saturday. His birthday was actually the 17th but we were on our vacation so we planned to spend this night with the kids. Here he is with his presents. He got 2 pair of cuff links, 5 new shirts, a pair of shoes, a clock for his office (which I'm returning 'cause I'm going to give him one that I made) and some other stuff. Kendra bought him a tie and a journal and Gary got him a tie pin. I say he did quite well!

We had a BBQ and I had made Rick his favorite cake! Lemon Pudding! He's excited to get at it!

Kendra had to get a picture of her wearing her dad's funny reading glasses.

Straight from the 80's! Happy birthday hunney!

Fall Trip to Pennsylvania

Last week Rick and I took a little trip back east to PA. We left on Saturday the 17th (Rick's B-Day) and flew into Baltimore. We got up on Sunday and found a little branch close by to attend our meetings and then headed up towards Gettysburg. It was a rainy day but after our 2 hour drive the rain had stopped and we were able to enjoy seeing the sights! Here we are at Little Round Top. It's amazing to think about the loss of life that took place here. On the plane ride out we watched the movie "Gettysburg" which was very stirring. I can't even imagine how life would be if the South had won this war. Our government would be very different.
This is the Soldiers Nat'l Monument where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address!
After Gettysburg we drove up to Hershey where we stayed at a B&B called The 1825 Inn. We stayed in the Amish Room. It was decorated with all sorts of Amish stuff. I couldn't resist putting on the outfit:)

The house was built in 1825, thus the name. I love these old houses!

They have such character !

The next day we toured Hershey. I had heard that when you drive into the town you smell chocolate. Nope, not true! We did go to Hershey's chocolate world and got to see how their chocolate is made.

We also went to a chocolate tasters class. I love all kinds. Rick on the other hand does NOT like dark. Here he is sampling a Hershey's Bliss!

Of course, we had to stop at the gift shop to choose some GIANT candy bars for the fam!

Next we drove down into Lancaster County and stayed at another B&B called Hollinger House. That night we drove around the area and were so enthralled at the little Amish buggies going full speed down main streets. They are such an interesting people living simple lives. One of the little towns is called Intercourse. I felt a little funny saying the word like it was something I use everyday but it's not a big deal to the locals.

The next day we were able to take a buggy ride with a Mennonite fellow. He took us to an Amish dairy farm to see how they do things. Mennonites are a branch of the Amish. He told us all about their customs and beliefs. It was very interesting!

An Amish man working his land.

As we were leaving the area we saw a bunch of schoolkids getting out for the day. They were so cute with their little hats and lunch coolers:)

That night we headed into the big city of Philadelphia. We stayed across the river in New Jersey. We got to visit a lot of historic sights. The Liberty Bell.......

... and Independence Hall.

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed! It really is a neat feeling to stand in places of such value.

Great men made great decisions in this very room.

Of course while we were in Philly, we had to get a Philly Steak and Cheese sandwich.

Good Stuff!

This is Elphreths Alley

Just a cute little place where these homes have been for hundreds of years.

You can't go to Philadelphia without stopping at the Museum where Rocky climbed all those steps after his infamous run. Yes, Rick ran to the top of the stairs too. You can't see them in this picture but they are off to the left. After walking 50 miles (or so it felt) this day there was no way I was climbing those stairs. We still had a couple of miles to go to get to dinner and then back to the car.

Overall we had great fall weather and the foliage was absolutely beautiful.

Let's do this again sometime:)