Grandma Honey's Cranberry Sauce

I think we are all ready for Thanksgiving. I made Grandma Honey's cranberry sauce today. It's my favorite. I thought I would stick the recipe here in case I ever lose the handwritten one. I love how pretty it is.

Jorja sent me this picture after I was in bed. She told me she was going to go adventuring with Sean. I told her to make good choices, which is when I got this picture back. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and checked find my friends. Jorja still wasn't home. Ugh. I texted her and asked if she was still alive. She said she was coming home right then. I know she is a night owl, but I hate it when she stays out this late. I don't think it is safe, and I think the probability of making bad choices increases a lot. Glad she is safe at home now though.

Jorja

Brandon's Home!

Jorja got up early again this morning to go on a hike with Madison. She works with her almost every day, so she is one of the few people Jorja is allowed to hang out with. The two of them had a great time.

Madison & Jorja

Mike took the day off of work. He has been working longer hours now that he works from home. When he drove to work, he had to get home before dark because his headlights don't work right now. Here, he gets carried away and it is 9:00 at night before he realizes it. So, today he took an official day off and spent it filling the dumpster. We got rid of lots of stuff. Even fun stuff like the basketball hoop and the air hockey table. Preston's room looks so big now! It's great! I started going through our filing cabinet and throwing away things we don't need. The bonus was I found some fun gems. Like Grandma Honey's Furby trick list. She LOVED those Furbies. It was adorable. This will take me several days to get through. Hopefully I find some more fun stuff. I did send my brothers a copy of a letter John wrote his first week in the MTC. It was funny.

Brandon came home from his mission today. His 24 months would have been up on July 24, but because of corona, they are sending lots of missionaries home early. His mission was changed to 21 months. We drove by his house and waved to him. I didn't get a picture though. We then went to Chick-Fil-A to see Jorja in her new mask. They had to start wearing them today. Jorja is not a fan.

Jorja

Bear on a bear rug

 Preston and Bear

Eighty-One

Grandma Honey would have been 81 today. Crazy. Mike ordered a giant dumpster in honor of her birthday. It was delivered today. Mike said his mom would love nothing more than for him to throw away lots of stuff. Haha

Sherry brought flowers to her grave. She and Miah stopped by after so they could see Bear. Don't worry, we didn't come closer than 6 feet to them. Except Bear did. He doesn't follow social distancing guidelines very well.

Bear & Jorja

We did get to talk to Stockton today. He was able to have a video lesson with a family of twelve. Stockton said it went so good! He is happy, enjoys his companions, and is trying to figure out the new missionary normal. While I was talking to him the stake president came over and brought them face masks. They have to wear them in the stores and if they go into anyone's house. They are rarely allowed into houses anymore, but sometimes for the sacrament I think.

Stockton, Elder Jenson, Elder Wells

Preston's First Talk

Quackletta ~ Mike is sooooo happy!

Preston gave his first talk in church today and did a fantastic job. Tonight Ashley Jansson texted me this message, "I didn't get a chance to tell Preston what a good job he did today but his talk answered a prayer and some worries I've had on my mind lately so I thank him for his words today." Ahhhh. How sweet is that? Anyway, this is Preston's talk:

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ was crucified, conquered death, and was resurrected. After his resurrection, many witnesses saw his glorious, perfected body. When Christ visited his Apostles after his resurrection, and when he visited the Nephite people on the American continent, he invited them to come and feel the wounds in his hands and feet. Although he had become perfect through the resurrection, he chose to keep these wounds. Why did he do this?

We know that one reason is because these wounds testify of who he is and what he did for each of us. However, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland told us another reason why Christ retained these wounds. He said:

"in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our Lord ... has chosen to retain for the benefit of his disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side --- signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and perfect, ... that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn't love you."

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that if they are obedient, they won't have challenges in life. Or that because someone has had bad things happen to them in life, it must be because they are a bad person. Christ himself shows us that this is not true. In life, sometimes bad things happen to people who are trying their best to do what is right.

Nephi is another example of this. Throughout his entire life, Nephi tried his best to be righteous, to obey God's commandments, and to be a good example to the rest of his family. Did things always go right for him? No. They definitely did not. Here are just a few of the bad things that happened to this good person:

• Had to abandon his home and everything he owned
• Fled for his life from Laban's guards
• Mocked by his own family
• Beaten by his brothers multiple times
• His brothers threatened to kill him and their father
• Tied up on a ship (that he had built with his own hands) in a storm
• Chased out of his own land in the new world by his brothers and their followers

Being righteous certainly didn't mean that Nephi's life was easy. Like all of us, he had hard challenges. However, Nephi was blessed with eternal rewards, just like we can be after this life.

Let us realize that hard challenges are just a part of this life and that God will help us overcome them if we ask him for help and do all that we can. I know that we will be blessed if we do.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I was so proud of Preston. He was easy to understand. He is a fantastic speaker. Mike is also awesome. He helped Preston put together his talk. They are a great team.

I finished Marie's stocking today. I love it! It's perfect for her!

Rachel will sew it together into stocking shape, thank goodness! I would mess it up. Mike and Preston had fun playing with the ducks. Quacky Chan was out by himself since Quackletta was sitting on her nest. Preston fed him mealworms.

Quacky Chan & Preston

We met Steve and Shannon down at the cemetery by Grandma Honey's grave. It was so crowded with memorial day being tomorrow. We saw the Liu's while we were there. We were able to visit Grandma & Grandpa Hirschi's, Grandma & Grandpa Smith's, Grandma Honey, Grandma Millburn, and Jessica.

Mike, Steve, Maysen, Weston, Jorja, Preston ~ Walking from the Hirschi graves to Grandma Honey's

 Jorja & Preston

Jorja & Weston ~ these two make me laugh

For some reason, Jorja sent me a picture of Brynlee & Chloee's mom. No idea why.

80 Years Old

Today would be Grandma Honey's 80th birthday. Wow! I can't even imagine. We didn't celebrate her birthday this year like we have in the past. Mike did call his dad and talk to him awhile. We talked with the kids about it, but we didn't get KFC and have a picnic by her grave like we usually do. We should have tried to do that though.

Today started General Conference. I love conference so much! It is so peaceful to listen to the leaders of the church. I started working on a stocking for Marie. I texted Rachel my progress after each session.

1st session

 2nd session

 Priesthood session

Maysen was home with us and Jorja had asked for work off. She did work during the priesthood session though. We were missing Stockton, but it was nice to know he was doing the exact thing we were. I bet he loved Uchdorf's talk today. Missionary work and how members can help. My favorite talk was during the priesthood session. I had been praying hard about two things. One was how I should handle Jorja. Am I parenting right? Am I too overprotective? I had a friend tell me that I should let her fall, but I don't feel good about that. I know she is going to fall, but shouldn't I warn her about the edge of the cliff? The talk I loved was "Where Will This Lead" by President Dallin H. Oaks. It was awesome. I loved how it talked about consciously thinking about the result throughout your life. When he told the story about the squirrel playing on the tree with a dog lurking nearby, I felt like that was an answer to my prayer. Students were watching but none of them warned the squirrel about the dog until it was too late. I feel like Mike and I are the students, but we are frantically waving our hands and shouting at the squirrel warning it about the dog. Anyway, I felt like even though Mike and I might not handle everything with Jorja perfectly, we are on the right path. At least we are trying hard. I'm looking forward to conference tomorrow. My favorite weekend of the year.

Lunch with the Porge

Today Mike's mom would have been 79 years old. Mike and I took Jorja out to a teppanyaki place to mark the occasion. The other kids were invited but did not want to go. In the past we have had a picnic on her tombstone with KFC. It was rainy and the kids were busy so we decided on lunch. Now two weeks later, I can't even remember what the kids did.

The Jazz have been so fun to watch lately. I follow a couple of them on Instagram. I love how often they joke with each other. Ingles put this first post on the Instagram stories. Shortly after Rubio put his post up. I don't know why, but it made me laugh.

Mop Bucket

Preston had a field trip to the symphony. He looked so handsome in his suit! He said he had a good time except the bus ride. He was on a seat with two other people and they were so loud and liked to push. Preston did not like that at all. On the way home they were told they had to sit in the same seats. That made Preston frustrated.

I spent some of the day looking through old pictures. I wish I had an easier way to get to them. They are fun to see though. I took a picture of a few on my computer and sent them to Jorja. I think this is the last time Grandma Honey ever held Jorja.

Jorja, Grandma Honey and Hunter

 My girls! Jorja and Maysen. LOVE!

 Random picture from Jorja's phone. Katlyn & Jorja. I'm glad they are becoming friends again.

 Scoop and Cori sent us a yummy Valentine package.

 The kids LOVED these!

Mike and I cleaned the temple late tonight. I told myself I would volunteer for the first assignment. It was bathrooms. It wasn't bad. We cleaned the downstairs bathrooms. Although when Mike was bringing the mop bucket to the boys locker room he knocked it over. On carpet. The entire bucket of water was everywhere. I laughed and laughed. We are such good helpers!

CLEP

I checked Stockton out of school to go to SLCC and take a CLEP test. He was just taking a math test in order to get more credits. The last things he needs to do in order to earn his associates when he graduates are: take this test, which he aced, finish humanities, which he is in right now, take math 1050 and English 2010. He will take math 1050 with Chad next semester, and English 2010 he will need to go to SLCC to take that one. He is registered for it though. It is so nice to see the light at the end of this very long tunnel. Stockton is amazing!

We got to the test a bit early, so we stopped for lunch at A&W. I bought a teeny tiny mug. It makes me smile.

Stockton

Grandma Honey died 12 years ago today. Mike brought home KFC. We sat on the floor in our front room. We moved the tables and just ate on the rug. That is what Grandma Honey did for Mike's baptism years and years ago. We ate chicken and talked about her. It was really nice. Jorja was two the last time she saw her, Preston wasn't even born. I sure wish these kids had grandmas!

Grandma Honey ~ 78

I took Stockton and Jorja to do baptisms this morning. Mike works in the baptistry every Thursday, but it is a tight schedule to get the kids there before school. Spring break was a perfect opportunity. Mike took the day off as well, so we had a nice relaxing day at home.

It is Mike's mom's birthday today. Sharen would have been 78 years old. We celebrated by having our trees trimmed. Just kidding, although that would have made Sharen really happy. It looks like our red apple tree was cut in half. The guys spent all day doing the apple and pear tree. They are coming back on Monday to do the green apple tree. I think our neighbors are going to be so happy. The tree hung over the fence and would drop apples into their backyard. They didn't like it, even though the apples are delicious. Hopefully this helps the apple tree last for years and years. Now we just need to get rid of these branches.

Mike and I spent most of the day playing Seafall with Preston. He loves playing games with us. He especially loves games with long, complicated rules. Stockton and Jorja, not so much. We stopped by Sharen's grave and went bowling today. Mike's family used to go bowling all the time. I used Sharen's Snoopy ball. We stopped by KFC on the way home. Another one of Sharen's favorites.

Mike, Jorja, Stockton, Preston

Once we were back, we played Seafall again. We have been letting the kids stay up really late this week. It has so far been such a relaxing, fun Spring break.

Eleven

Grandma Honey died eleven years ago today.  Wow, that's been a long time.  Jorja said, "I thought I was two when she died."  Nope.  Jorja had just turned three.  She was two the last time she saw her though.

I took Stockton to diving.  Yesterday they spent most of it on dry land. He had to be sore today!  Today most of the time was spent in the pool.

Jorja and Hailey managed to get to Bahama Bucks today.  I guess it was free snow cone day.  Mike picked them up on his way home from work. Some boy was hanging out with them.  Mike tried to get details, but Jorja was not forthcoming.  Mike did give him a ride home too.  He told Mike that he doesn't wear seat belts.  Mike said, "Well, you're dumber than you look then."  Seat belts are always used with us!

Grandma Honey's 77

We watched Anne today.  She loved the fact that the kids were home from school today.  She was a bit scared of Stockton when he had his bandage on, but she warmed up to him.  She kept telling me, "Stockton's sick".  Yep, he sure is.

We had a picnic at Grandma Honey's grave to celebrate her 77th birthday.  Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Lisa & Nathan came.  Sherry and Xander were there as well.  It was a lot of fun and just nice to be together.  I hate the fact that when the mom dies the family practically disintegrates.  Sharen would hate that this has happened to her family. We weren't here for long, but it was great to do something!

Smith family with Preston in the tree

 Preston

We brought simple flowers that are laying on the grave.  Lisa brought beautiful tulips.  Sherry brought flowers that were cut from bulbs she got from Wynona, Sharen's mom.  That was pretty cool.

Xander, Sherry, Mike, Jorja, Stockton, Steph, Maysen, Lisa

Poor Stockton looks like someone has been playing with his face on a silly app, or he looks like he is wearing a fat suit.  It will be nice when the swelling has gone down, and it will probably feel a lot better too!

Stockton

Honey's Houses

It's gingerbread day!  One thing I love about the holidays is my house always smells like gingerbread.  I had no idea how much I loved that smell.  I asked Mike's family back in July if they could plan on this day for gingerbread.  Why this day?  Mike's mom died 10 years ago today. We didn't focus on her, but I thought it was great the family could be together.  Preston also got baptized one year ago today.  My how time flies!

Ready for gingerbread!

I have a slight obsession with buying gingerbread candy

Audrey came with us to church today.  She stayed at our house afterwords until gingerbread time.  She decorated a house and left after pizza.  She was thrilled Shannon brought vegetarian pizza.

Audrey

I had a great time today.  I love being around Mike's family.  I wish we could get together more often.  His family is so creative.  Each year everyone's houses are completely different.  This year I was prepared for Xander.  He loves to do horror houses.  I stocked up on candy at Halloween for him.  I used red frosting to put his house together, although the frosting didn't turn out blood red....oh well.

Miah, Jorja, Maysen 

 Lisa

 Brandon & Tage

 Weston

 Aimee

 Stockton & Miah

 Maysen

 Steve & Sherry

I didn't get a picture of Tage alone with her finished house, but her house was so adorable!  The google eyes were a big hit this year!

Tage's house

 Preston & Jorja

 Shannon

 Nathan & Lisa

I try and get family and individual pictures every year.  I missed many people this year!  They are slippery!  If I missed them individually, at least I got a family picture of everyone.  I think Erica is the only one who wasn't here who was in town.  Spencer, Connor, Taylor and Michael didn't come of course.  Spencer is at Harvard.  Connor, Taylor and Michael are all on missions.  Two of them will be back next Christmas!  Yay!

Aimee, Nathan, Lisa  

Aimee decorated her house with Nova.  Their house turned out so cute! I don't think I have one picture of Nova though.  For the record, she was there.

Lisa, Aimee, Flying Leo, Melissa

 Lisa & Aimee

 Nathan

 Lisa

 Melissa & Derek

 Derek

 Nice broccoli!

 Melissa made a stable.  Hard to tell, but it was great!!!

 Jacob, Brandon, Weston, Shannon, Steve

 Brandon

 Jacob

 Weston ~ LOVED the monster house!

 Tage, Matt, Miah, Xander, Sherry

 Miah

 Miah & Jorja

 Stephanie, Preston, Jorja

Mike, Maysen, Stockton

 Jorja

 Preston

I didn't get a picture of everyone in my family even!  At least I took a close up of their houses after they went to bed.

Maysen's house

 Stockton's house

 Jorja's house

 I thought the back of her house turned out cute.

 Preston's house.  Looks like he's been taking classes from Xander.

 My kids.  Love it.

 Mike's house

 Stephanie's house

Mike and I stayed up pretty late getting the kitchen put back together. I'm glad we did because it looks great now!  I don't want to put up the candy, because we will just be getting it out again next week.  I hope my scouts can handle it!  This tradition is a lot of work, but I love it.  I also love that my family loves it too.  Tage told me this is her favorite time of the year.  She might just be saying that to make me happy.  If that is the case, it sure worked!