Photos from Elder Grose

We got Andrew's camera sd card in the mail this week.  It had 486 photos on it.  Here are some of my favorite for my blog.  For a more detailed account, with his own descriptions, you can go to his blog http://www.roosmission.blogspot.com/.  Although it will be awhile before I will get a chance to put the hundreds of photos and descriptions all on there.

These were all taken on the island of Jeju.  He has since been transferred.

I love how green it is there.

A ridiculous amount of ice cream.

The youth in their ward.

These socks came free with the purchase of Ramen noodles.

What, more ice cream?

At a museum on a prep day.

Jumping for joy?

A map of their area.

Trading jackets.

He sure does an awful lot of jumping.

Another prep day - riding elephants.

Thanksgiving and the Saturday After

This year we went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.  Our only child with us was Alex.  Holly and Ashley's families spent the day with in-laws, Steph and Jared couldn't come from Michigan, and Roo was pretty busy in Korea.

My favorite part of this picture is Dave pestering the kids. Ha!

Traditional after dinner activities included decorating gingerbread houses,

watching football,

and napping.

The next day we put up most of our decorations, including our kitchen tree with the ornaments from our vacations over the last 30 years:

Saturday was the Grose family traditional celebration at Dave's dad's church.

Right after this was taken a basketball landed in "guess who's" plate of food?  Yep, mine.  Why am I not surprised?  I am always complaining that it happens to someone every year.  I guess this year was my turn.  It's what I get for being a whiner, I suppose. hee hee

A week filled with family, food, and much, much gratitude for sure!

Remember November

The day after Halloween I get excited to put out my Thanksgiving decorations.  Two of the local radio stations start playing Christmas songs.  But I refuse to listen just yet.  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Christmas songs.  But c'mon peeps, let's not get too anxious.  The month of gratitude is too important to miss.

The last three years I did a month of Gratitude on my blog, listing things I am thankful for each day of the month.  Although I am not doing that this year I am still a very thankful chick.

Here are some of my favorite gratitude quotes from blogland today:

"What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" - Blogger Andrea

"I find it no accident that we spend a month focusing on gratitude before we are ready to spend a month focusing on the Savior" - Blogger Rachel, via Andrea's blog

"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven" - President Thomas S. Monson, via Andrea's blog again (love that Andrea!)

Pobre de Jud

Last week we celebrated Jud's birthday.  He had to lie on the couch, with his leg elevated, while we sang to him.  He broke his foot while zip lining with the Boy Scouts.  He was on an overnighter with them and they were on a homemade zip line.  He says he was going down it at about 40 miles an hour and the scouts were bouncing it to be funny.  The handle snapped and he slammed to the ground, shattering his foot.

He had surgery this past week.  After a plate, many screws and who knows what else, he is now "on the mend".  We wish him a speedy recovery.

I had James and Logan sleep over here for a couple of nights while Ashley was with Jud in the hospital.  They played with boats in the bathtub until the water was pretty cold.

I bought the dvd "Cars 2" so they would have something to do.  They watched it 3 times the first day.  Oops.

Good thing I'm the grandma and I can get away with stuff like that. haha

They remind me so much of Alex and Andrew at that age.  It took me back, for sure. I loved being a mom, and I love being a grandma.  Life is good.

Love, Love Me Do

In just over a 24 hour period we did the following:

First, Friday afternoon, we drove 4 1/2 from Dave's work in SLC to St George.  We made it in time to eat dinner and then go to a concert at Tuacahn - the Fab Four.  This Beatles imitation group not only looked like the real thing, but sounded like them as well.  They played "live" with no recorded music at all.

It started pouring rain about halfway through the outdoor concert.  Luckily we were prepared, as was the rest of the audience.  No one left the concert.  I was kinda glad to get up and dance with the rest of the audience during "Twist and Shout" to get my blood flowing, though.  Woo hoo!  I LOVED this concert!

The next morning, after a pretty good breakfast, we went to the St George temple.  This is actually the oldest temple our Church owns.  It was finished before the Salt Lake temple was. 

After a snack at Nielsen's Frozen Custard we headed over to Snow Canyon for a little hike.  Just look at that blue sky!  It was an absolutely gorgeous day!

The first part of the hike was through this lava field.

I think this is called Johnson Arch.

I'm a sucker for red rock.  Love it!

Sometimes it's nice to run in to another hiker.  He took a picture of the three of us.

After our hike we had dinner in St. George.  Then drove 5 hours home to find 3 inches of snow on our lawn. Obla dee, obla dah, life goes on, yeah.

Trick or Treating

Look who came ringing our doorbell on Halloween!

I know it was a bit of a hassle for their moms to bring them up at the end of the evening.  But we sure are glad they did!  We missed Olivia.   She was home with daddy, already sleeping for the night.  Next year, Livie!