4-H Quilt Camp June 1-2

 One of my old loves resurrected this weekend, when I got to help teach young girls how to sew in a 4-H setting. That is where I first learned to sew, and I hope the 18 young people we introduced to quilt making, will also find much joy in it.  We had 17 girls and 1 brave young man participate in the camp.  The County 4-H leaders provided some break activities, and also lunch and snacks.  It was a great pairing of resources.

It was especially fun having Laurie come down to share the 2 days with Grandma! Nathan and Tammy brought the kids down Sunday, and we had a couple of play days with them and Ethan and Travis, before the camp began on Wed. We had several one-on-one teaching stations, and several who worked with two kids. Laurie's friend Nizhoni Lacy was also at our work station, and both girls did really well.

It was probably the funnest thing we've done through quilt guild all year; at least for me, and definitely for the girls as well.  What a great feeling of accomplishment they had after completing their first big block.

This is how Laurie's quilt top looked when finished.

Farm Days in the Rain

Steve and I both helped down at the Lyman Farm today. It was pretty cold and wet but we had fun.  Steve helped serve Ice Cream Cones--don't you love those on a cold day!  And I helped teach elementary school kids how to tie quilts.

Hope it's nicer for Autumn's Marathon tomorrow, and the kids' run as well. Good luck!!

I think I've found a ride down to help Quent and Bev this next week. I'm very excited to see the new baby, and get better acquainted with the kids. . Steve will stay and run the AR program Tues., then come down. That next Sunday on the 29th is the dedication of the Ganado chapel addition, which we plan to go to...We are excited to see everyone again both in Phoenix and Ganado.

Nathan and Tammy & kids are coming down on the 29th, and then the kids will stay for a week. I hope they are bringing Kylee as well. Silvia has two granddaughters coming up for a quilt camp we're doing on June 1-2. Each adult is working with two kids, and the USU extension 4-H program is providing lunch and snacks. It should be fun for all. As soon as the younger granddaughters get a bit older, we'll have to run a little family 4-H camp.

Mothers day Messages

Just a quick shout out to all the good mom's in our family--which includes all the wives! I don't know how we ended up being so blessed to have such strength and goodness in our family, but we recognize answers to lots of prayers in this regard. We appreciate all that you mothers do to teach and set good examples for the wonderful children you've been blessed with. It is so wonderful, seeing and hearing how well them are grasping the truths of the gospel, so we know good things are happening at home. Have a wonderful Mother's Day. Quent and Bev should be welcoming a new little one any day now. Due date was yesterday.

Also an update on Travis, in case you haven't heard from Rob and Kathryn. There will be another hearing in Colorado on May 31, which they have been asked to come to. The Denver Lawyer sounds like he is being more pro-active in their regard, and will show the lack of ability on the part of the birth father to be a good parent. As of last week, the bio-father hadn't even complied with the request to supply a DNA test. He also has two other children, and it's doubtful he's taking care of them financially.  In the mean time, the court has ordered an investigation of each home. I'm not sure how much of that has happened.. Anyway, please remember them, as well as the judge, and lawyers in your prayers. We love this little boy, and know he belongs in our family.

Love, Mom

Hey mom,  Happy mothers day.  I hope you are having a good bus ride.  We went to the green house yesterday and Lila asked if I was going to get you anything.  I told her I would, but by the time you get home, It would have died.  I will get you something when you get back.  I just want you to know you are the best mother ever.  Your example to me and our family is the greatest.  You and dad are the reason we all turned out the way we did, so pat yourselves on the back.  We love you sooooo much.  Enjoy Branson, Love Rob, Kathyrn, Ethan and Travis...
   Love, Rob

We hope you have a Happy Mother's Day, hopefully you are able to access the booklet we are sending. but just in case we are sending the poems as well.
    Love Chris, Pam, CJ, Michael, Kylee, Daniel, Hailey, Adam, and Emily.

By CJ:
Well it’s not Grandparent’s Day,
Because it’s the month of May;
At a time that they celebrate mothers.
And for the mom of a parent,
Let’s make it apparent,
How much we appreciate You!!!
Happy Mother’s Day!
==========

By Michael:

There once was a Grandma named Janet,
She went on a ride to a planet,
But when she was there
Someone pulled on her hair,
And then she left the planet!

=========

By Kylee

Loving caring
Nice helping joyful happy
Cooks lots of good food yum
Best person in the whole big huge wide world
Funny thoughtful peaceful great cook
Works hard every day
Nice friend
My grandma

===========
Grandma Wilcox
Nice, Neat,
Wow, Loving, Amazing,
Always Beautiful,
Making, Gardening, Teaching,
Daring, Excellent!

Great
Ready all times
Amazing
Nice
Daring
Making yummy food
Always beautiful
Wow
Intelligent
Loves each grandchild
Cool
Of the gospel
eXcellent
 
By Daniel:

Great
Really Good
Awesome
Nice
Daniel
Mom
A Super Grandma

=============
By Hailey:

Gardening
Roses
Available for card games
Neat quilts
Doing computer work
Makes really good cake
Always plays with her
Grandchildren
========
By Adam

Question:
What do Grandma’s Do?

Adam’s Answer
  They eat lots of cookies!   (Yup, that's my downfall; homemade cookies!)
They play with their grandchildren

Happy Mothers Day

Had a wonderful Mothers day on the road to Branson...what a gift!  And I didn't even have to talk Steve into it! 

Just a quick shout out to all the good mom's in our family--which includes all the wives! I don't know how we ended up being so blessed to have such strength and goodness in our family, but we recognize answers to lots of prayers in this regard. We appreciate all that you mothers do to teach and set good examples for the wonderful children you've been blessed with. It is so wonderful, seeing and hearing how well they are grasping the truths of the gospel, so we know good things are happening at home. Have a wonderful Mother's Day. Quent and Bev should be welcoming a new little one any day now. Due date was yesterday

Also an update on Travis, in case you haven't heard from Rob and Kathryn. There will be another hearing in Colorado on May 31, which they have been asked to come to. The Denver Lawyer sounds like he is being more pro-active in their regard, and will show the lack of ability on the part of the birth father to be a good parent. As of last week, the bio-father hadn't even complied with the request to supply a DNA test. He also has two other children, and it's doubtful he's taking care of them financially.. In the mean time, the court has ordered an investigation of each home. I'm not sure how much of that has happened.. Anyway, please remember them, as well as the judge, and lawyers in your prayers. We love this little boy, and know he belongs in our family.

Ramirez Family Project

Just recently, I've been communicating with a family I taught on my first mission in Calif in 1966.  The Ramirez family.  Juanita's husband passed away last fall, and Juanita has been so sad and lonely ever since.  My companion, Anna Pearson,  and I put together a memory book about the good times we had with them and their chiquitos when we taught them.  

   I created it on Mixbook and we got it to her for Mother's day, and she was so thrilled.  She's ordered 14 more copies...and had me include a pix of their 50th wedding anniversary in 2008.  This little family has been such a joy to me, so many times.  The gospel is wonderful in that regard.  Those we teach become jewels in our crown and gems in our heart.  We treasure them forever.  

This last photo was the last time we four were together in 1994 in Manti , Utah.  But we'll see them again!

Blanding Stakes Combined

 We have known for several months that we would have stake conference at this time. We were told that the Blanding West Stake would meet at 2:pm. Thur. we received word that we would be meeting with the Blanding Stake at 10:am and the North Chapel would be used as an overflow area with closed circut tv. We knew that Pres. Lemuel Redd was going to be released and they would be putting in a new stake presidency. We also guessed something else was going to happen. We heard different speculations. Today at stake conference combined the Blanding West Stake with the Blanding Stake and then after releasing both stake presidencies, called Michael Redd as the new stake president over Blanding Stake. His counselors are Joe Hurst and Douglas Christensen.

All of the high council in the Blanding West Stake have been released as well as all of the stake officers, but they will continue to function in their callings until the new stake presidency has a chance to reorganize things.

President Lem Redd has been quite sick for over 6 months, and Rob and Kathryn's family has been very concerned about him.  He has pulmonary aerterial hypertension, and none of his meds seem to be helping.  He is such a great guy, and super grandpa, we really feel bad about his condition.

Chris reported: Just to let you know CJ did his eagle project yesterday!  We have a little finish painting to do, but everything looks great!  He made a plinko game, bean bag toss, ring toss, tic tac toe, and a fish pond.  We'll send pictures when they are all done.  He got a lot of help from the scouts and ward.  The little kids and I made bean bags at home.  We are grateful the weather held out--we woke up to lots of snow.

Spring time in Blanding

Spring in Blanding reminds me of an old song: First it says it's "come" and then it "goes"...or at least a parody of the song. Today looks beautiful outside, but it was still chilly at 9:30 when we walked. Out crab apple tree is in full bloom..or at least as many blossoms as the wind left yesterday, so we also have a pink petal carpet outside. It is beautiful, but I wish it would last longer.

Spring Sewing Projects

Finished up my 12 year quilt project yesterday...my Aztec Warrior. The center Batik print was purchased at a mercado in Mexico City when we visited the Caziers many lunas ago. I really like it. Also bound two baby quilts, and got borders on two quilts for the guild. Now I'm working on the embellishments and binding on my crazy purple spring quilt. I'll put the other pictures on my quilting blog.

Our guild also got permission last night from the city council to store our display frames for the quilt show at the new wellness center, which is where the show will be held from now on. It will save us $360 a year in rent, plus eliminate having to haul them to the location. Hooray. I've been a lot busier than I expected as guild president this year, but I have awesome officers to help me: Gail Glover, Bobbie Holt, and Sidney Christensen.

Las Vegas trip April 20-24

Viva Las Vegas!   Had a great time for 3 days with Nathan and Tammy and their family.  Saw lots of lights, good food, and great and "spacious buildings".  We went swimming, shopping, the Fremont street experience, and played games.  Got to see Donny and Marie, which was a wonderful family-oriented show--which is hard to find in this city. Tammy and I walked clear back to Circus, Circus afterwards--almost the whole length of the strip.  

On an earlier walk with the kids we met the Men in Blue!  They even took pictures of us!




Ate at the Flamingo and got to see their beautiful gardens. 

That same day we went to see the old Las Vegas fort that the Mormons built, as the first settlers in Sin City.  Brenan and Laurie learned what it would have been to wash clothes in the old days.




On the way home we stayed overnight with the Henke's and had the funnest time catching up on families and also recalling old times when they lived in Blanding.  Steve and I also went to the Art show, and the Quilt show.  

Metaphor stories in our lives

I'm hoping to put together a book of family stories this year, and have quite a few already collected that you've sent. Previous topics included: Memories of Grandparents, vehicle stories, Fathers and Sons outings, Things my mother taught me, Things learned from Dad and Faith promoting experiences.
I'm at this stage of life where I love and appreciate a family story even more than brownies, and would love it if either for mothers day or my birthday you could write a story for me on the topic: Metaphors In my Life I'd love it if your spouse and older children would also send me a story that they learned from.
An example of this would be one I used in the last talks I gave:
I grew up on a dry farm 17 miles from Ririe, Idaho. The last two miles home were up a dirt road, and 1 mile of that road was up a big hill. It was quite a climb to get to the top, and sometimes we had to walk it, if Mom wasn't there to pick us up from the school bus after school. After several years of requests, and proddings by my Dad, Bonneville County finally graded and graveled that 2 mile stretch, so that the school bus could actually come pick us up at our home. After that happened we no longer had to move into Ririe during the winter and its storms.

Each fall my dad would have us help burn off tumble weeds along the road, so they wouldn't hold the snow, and then we would insert study willow poles along one side of the road about every 20 feet. The poles were put there in case a blizzard or heavy snowfall came and we couldn't see the road to drive safely home. We would still know where the edge of the road was by the "protection" poles. I remember driving home many times as a family, hoping Daddy could see the next pole, as the snow and fog were so thick. Were it not for those guidelines, and poles of protection, we would have been in serious trouble, blinded by storms, or hidden dangers when we wouldn't have known where the road was.

Two years after I graduated from high school, we sold our farm on Antelope Bench to Jim Hayes. He was a good farmer, and knew how to dry farm, but he didn't anticipate the dangers of winter storms. He didn't mark the road back to the house with safety willows, and the second winter they lived there. his wife drove off the road one day, and ended up freezing to death, while trying to walk home.

When Daddy told me that story, he emphasized how you needed to prepare well before the storm came. The reality of the poles' importance really came home to me at that time and I've never forgotten what happened to Mrs. Hayes.

Recently, I was assigned to speak on staying on the path that leads back to Heavenly Father, and thought about the markers, or protection poles God has established to help families return home. These includes things as simple as a willow pole: praying daily, reading scriptures daily, holding Family Home Evening, church attendance, reading your patriarchal blessing, being honest, providing service, charity, and love. They are markers to help us return, and when used in a family setting can help us and our children stay on the road to eternal life.
============

I hope you will contemplate on some of the events of your life or experience and find a gospel application for them, and then share your thoughts in a short story. Andrew had to speak recently also, and used a similar idea with an ice fishing experience he had. I'd like the whole family to participate in this endeavor, so we can build each other up and provide our own teaching metaphors.
Thanks so much for your love and support. WE have the best family ever, and I thank Heavenly father each day, that you turned out so well, despite our mistakes. We are so appreciative your good spouses you married and their valiant efforts to work with you in raising a good family. Your children know the gospel so well, and we pray you will do everything possible to protect them from the adversary...Keep those protection poles close together and show them how to follow the path.

Love, Mom

February Trip North

Dad and I are still hacking and coughing...not a pretty sound. It's been nine days since he got sick, and I'm just a few days behind that. I had planned to go to Moab tomorrow to the quilt show, but I'd be miserable, and probably make everyone else sick, so I'll stay home and try to get better

We did have a pretty good trip north, and got to visit some of the families. Andrew and Amy were down in Moab for the weekend with her parents, celebrating her birthday, so we didn't get to see them. Her dad had some health problems arise, so that kept things interesting for them. Chris and Pam's family were suffering from various ailments, so we didn't stay there, but did stop for a few minutes to drop off the Christmas DVD I'd made.

On the way to Tooele on Thursday, we stopped to visit Virginia and Kermit and got a tour of their new home in Eagle Mt. Kent and Preston are their renters downstairs. We had a good visit with all of them, and Kermit made us Navajo Tacos from scratch...very yummy. We were very blessed with good road conditions both going and returning, even though a storm had been forecast.

We stayed Thurs night with Nathan's family, and had a good visit, played games, and enjoyed good meals with them. I even went to Boot Camp with Tammy on Sat. and was surprised I could almost keep up...except Stetchers walkers are not good to wear for aerobic dance. I was really tired when finished, but it was a good tired.

That experience actually helped me to make a few more healthy changes since I got home. I signed up for Weightwatchers on-line Tues. and also started reading "Sugar Busters"..Both have helped me ax out sugar and refined foods as well as curtail my late night eating. So I'm losing weight again. I'm still not up with Anthony's throw-down weight loss, but I think I will be by Tues. On the new Weighwatchers... vegetables and fruits are 0 points in most cases, so they've become my sweets of choice, instead of Almond Roca (Thanks Quent and Bev for the large economy pack at C'mas. I sure did enjoy floundering on all that sugar!) But now I'm a recovering sugar addict. I'd already stopped cooking with white flour, and grind what ever I need instead. I haven't dared make bread yet, as homemade bread is so tempting, and even though a person can have a slice or so a day, the aroma would be my downfall. I've had to get rid of everything that tempts me.

We stayed Fri. Sat. Sun with Autumn. Initially we had planned to drive home Sun, thinking Andrew and Amy would be going to Blanding, but that didn't come to pass, so we stayed one more night. WE had fun playing Yatzee and Mex. train with the kiddos. Then on Sat. Rob and Kathryn found out her dad was really bad, so they came up and stayed too. We are so thankful that he seems to have made miraculous improvement, and is home now, though we haven't talked to them about how he is doing.

Sat. night we went to a theater spoof of Phantom of the Opera with Nathan and Autumn's families. I wasn't sure how the younger kids would do, but they were right on the front row, and were very attentive, and totally following the story. Peyton got the giggles at one point, and kept laughing, which cased some of the cast members to get the giggles too...It was so funny.

We hosted a birthday lunch Wed. for Corey and Tyler Sageny, another YSA from Kayenta and had some of their friends over. That piece of cake cost me 14 pt. out of my 29 allotment!! Never again. Corey turned 23. Tyler turned 19 and is getting ready to go on a mission. His mom came too. so that was fun for us to meet her. Corey's family was here when we got back Monday, bringing him back to school, so we pulled a quick meal to gether for them before they headed home. They are always so appreciative of whatever we do.

Please pray for Corey's father, that he will soften his heart towards the gospel. His mom and sister just recently went to the temple to do baptisms and had a wonderful experience. His dad is a super guy, just needs to admit that religion is good to accept. One of the sisters we worked with in Ganado and her family were on that same baptism trip. She lost her husband in Nov. and has really turned to the gospel for help and comfort. Last Sat. she went again to receive her own endowments. I've been communicating with her quite a big lately, and helped her get some additional garments. There is always some little way we can help when we're open to those promptings. The branch has been averaging about 100 people lately, and hope to get into the new addition March or April. It is really thrilling for us to see what great things are happening there.

Dad worked two temple shifts this week, even though he's had a bad cough...One man told him he was coughing so much he couldn't sleep! Maybe that will be a new position. I know in the Puritan church they had someone walk around with long poles to poke people caught snoozing! I'm reading Pastwatch right now...Orson Scott Card's sci-fi look at history, especially Christopher Colombus. It is really interesting. I've been going to bed at 10 and reading for an hour, so that's another change...except for tonight. I took a long nap this aft. and wasn't tired.
Well, I better head to bed. I hope you're all doing OK...please make healthy choices and keep those precious grandkids well and safe. We love you all.

President Lem Redd Faces More Health Issues

Feb. 20
The past few days have been a roller coaster ride for the Redds. Last night when Rob and Kathryn came back to Autumn's they really were afraid they had said their last good-bye's to Lem, as his lungs just kept filling up with more fluid and he was very weak. The family had left instructions, not to recessitate even. Everyone one was pretty emotional and teary at that point.
Then Sunday arrived: Rob just called a few minutes a go, and said last night the Drs. decided to pull him off the medicine he had been on the past few days, and there has been quite a miraculous improvement. The retention of fluid has gone down, and he was even able to get up and walk around. We are so thankful for this overnight improvement and blessings. Please keep praying for him.

It is snowing like crazy up here, so we won't go home until tomorrow..after it stops.

Love to all of you, and thank you for your faith and prayers in his behalf. Janet
 
Feb. 22:
Rob brought the boys back yesterday, leaving Kathryn with her mom in SLC.  Pres. Redd is down to 50% supplied oxygen...On Sat. it was 100%...we were afraid he wouldn't make it.  So he is making progress.  He has been in the hospital since Feb. 8.  We hope he continues to progress, and heal and will be home soon.

What do you do in the Wintertime?

Though January and February weren't as wintery as last year's snowbound experience, they still provided lots of time for solitary efforts sewing, writing and designing.  My main efforts involved documenting my "life in stitches."  Though it started out as a simple listing of quilts I had made, in an effort to motivate our quilt guild to document their wonderful creations; soon it took on a life of it's own. 
  Fortunately I had already pulled together many of my quilts onto a blog of their own, and someof the leg work was done.  But I soon discovered that what is OK resolution for a web page, can be way inferior to the quality needed in book publishing, and many of the photographs I had to refind, and then rescan at high resolutions.

   After the first two books came back, I realized that my sewing experiences involved much more than just making quilts.  This idea was triggered by a slide I had scanned that showed mom wearing the silk dress I had made for her, and Nancy wearing a gingham dress I'd made, as well as myself wearing one of my favorite hand made dresses.  So the idea for "stitches" expanded dramatically. 

I was surprised at how many pictures I actually had of early sewing from the 50's and 60's, as well as photos of my little boys wearing things I had crocheded, knitted and sewn.