The Giving Machine

The Giving Machines came to Old Town, San Diego this year, so when

sign-ups to help man them came around, we wanted to take a turn!

Signed up for an early Christmas morning shift and it turned out to be a great way to begin our Christmas day! We decided that we want to continue doing Christmas morning service next year, too!

Seven different charities were represented in The Giving Machine with items available for donation ranging from hot meals and baby items to warms blankets and chickens!

We three got matching Santa hats for fun.

Meeting people from all over the world while doing our service-Turkey, Greece, Ireland, China, Korea, etc. was fun and interesting.
After a person bought something to donate, they got to hold a corresponding poster of their donation and get their picture taken!  Fun!

 

Apple Butter

Haven't made apple butter in a few years, so made a batch to give away.  The apple peeler peels, cores and slices the apples-super easy!

A potful of apples cooks down to less than half a pot of apple butter.

There is actually no butter in apple butter, only apples, sugars and spices.

Ready to gift!

 

Costco Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving helps me remember all the many blessings Heavenly Father has given to me and my family---I want to thank him! I feel deep gratitude to HF for his Plan of Happiness, at the center of which, is Jesus Christ and his atonement. I am again reading, The Infinite Atonement (Tad McAllister) in an attempt to better my understanding of the most significant event (in all history, anywhere).  I am so very grateful to HF for my family.  HF helps me to be aware of just how much they mean to me. 

Tom eating Steaksgiving dinner.

 

                                                                                         

Kimo wasn't home for Thanksgiving-missed him!

Most of our Thanksgiving meal came from Costco this year, namely steak and mashed potatoes. Go, Costco!

                 

Costco worker all into Thanksgiving!

 

A Week Off From Work?

We had a stovetop fire in our kitchen a long while back which was...

Traumatic! (at least for me!)

I guess it's taken this long to get over the feelings associated with that fire.

And after washing and painting just about everything on our upper floor, 

we just weren't in any big hurry to finish the job. 

This week Tom decided he wanted to replace those cabinet doors that were damaged.  This is no small endeavor, since he actually makes the cabinets himself, so he took the whole week off to get the work done

Pretty cherry wood

Lots of pieces to keep track of-Tom wrote on the back of each piece.

Our itty-bitty garage was up to the job

Tom's garage stool

Beautiful!

Trim work

Seven doors!

You do such good work, Honey!

Emi and I ate lunch without Tom and this was my fortune!

Tom is a Hunk

The sun was shining on the side of Tom's face today, making him look extra handsome.  I was struck by the white line of sunshine along his jawline and as I described it to him, told him I wanted to take a picture.

(He is used to my taking pictures of him all the time.)  

 

He may not say it, but I know he likes the attention
and I like his dimples! Let's just face it, I like him all the way around!

Columbus Day Off

Tom had Columbus Day off so we ate a nice sushi lunch then walked it off up at the lighthouse.  Perfect weather here lately, not too cool, not too hot.  

I love it!

Front of lighthouse

Back

 The colors of the foliage here is beautiful-so many shades of green and brown.

Nice walking with Tom and Emi

USS Theodore Roosevelt off in the distance

Believe the sign, we've seen 'em!

Shadow and light

I always draw faces on my sushi pics to send to Kimo.

These boots have been sitting on a curb on base for a couple of months now.  I think they're hoping the person who lost them will pick them up!
Every week when we go to the base, we look out for them to see if they are still there.

Tom was nice enough to model the hat I crocheted while
watching general conference.  

 

Thankful for the Missionaries

Hurricane Helene and Willing Volunteers

Hurricane Helene has devastated many families, displacing many from their homes and leaving whole communities in need of urgent assistance.  

My stepdad is one of the luckier ones.  Yes, his power/water have both been cut, but no trees hit his house nor has it received any flood water damage.   

Still, volunteers have stepped up to help him, offering food, water, cell phone charging and help cleaning up debris. I reached out to the Facebook page of the Mission closest to my step-dad's place, asking for help for him and the Stake President's wife and two of their kids answered the call! Wow! 

Thank you Sister Jones and family!

A few of the downed trees

All cleared!
Wonderful!
So grateful!

Flat

Got a flat tire (obviously)!  I haven't changed a flat tire in a loooooog time, so I thought it would be good to see if I could still do it. So, with a quick read thru of the car manual, a couple of phone calls to Tom and some help from Emi, the tire got changed. The hardest part was lifting the tire back up and lining it up with the studs-Heavy!  Should've taken a picture of our dirty hands, Emi and I got dirty!

Update: Nail minus its head found as the likely cause of flat tire.

Needed new tires, so this flat prompted us to get 'em!

 

Change

After serving three years as Stake Primary President, I got released this past Sunday.  Initially, I had very mixed feelings about being released, but with just a little bit of time, I found that I could look back on this calling with happiness and gratitude to Heavenly Father for allowing me to serve!

(I like being creative and this calling gave me the chance to exercise my creativity to benefit the children.)

I now look forward to serving with Tom and Emi in a new calling out at the FamilySearch Center for the next couple of years!