Subway art for Valentine

In our Relief Society in Liberty Ward we made these subway art projects. We had a black frame and tore up pieces of paper and just glued them on in a haphazard pattern. They turned out quite nice. Thanks to Lisa Hunter for all her work on this project.

Violets

I was given a start last year on these violets and this year they have spread and blossomed. They have a wonderful fragrance and are a dainty and beautiful addition to our front planter.

A current Picture of Russell

Malcolm and the Jelly Belly Car

Malcolm and I went to Martinez for some doctor appointments and stopped on our way home at the Jelly Belly factory and had a fun time picking out our favorite flavor of jelly beans. Later we met Russell for dinner at Red Robin's prior to going to Wyatt's wedding reception. We met some old friends and had a nice visit with them during the reception. It was a full day and we were weary when we got home - and crashed!

Window Seats

We have been wanting to have a window seat near our windows to increase our seating area in our living room for family events and finally contracted a contractor to put them in. We will have storage for blankets and pillow and soon I will cover some foam cushions for comfort seating. We are excited and love the way they turned out!

Knee

I met with a new doctor today who did a weight bearing xray on my knee which showed the bone on bone area so I'm on the list to have it done sometime.

iphones

We are trying to keep up with our children, technology wise (not really) We just needed new cell phones so we got a good price and took the plunge. There is quite a learning curve on all the applications, but how fun to be able to read scriptures, bank, read a book, take pictures, email, etc without a huge brief case. It is good for our minds to stretch anyway. We are grateful for all these modern conveniences!

New Years Eve With Grandchildren

Grandpa joining in the fun with New Years Eve Fun!

Calvin trying to wake up

We had four of our Eccles Grandchildren and Brian and Deb's children for New Year Eve and had a grand time. We ate until we popped (ice cream caramel corn, chips, dips, etc. Then the kids played games and watched movies. The goal was to stay up until midnight. Everyone, except Calvin made it so they blew their horns, popped poppers and yelled until he woke up and joined us. What fun and memories for some of our grandchildren New Years Eve 2010. They just screamed the countdown to 2011!

Our Grandchildren Playing Games Before the New Year Comes In

Paige Blowing Her Horn

Rachel Blowing Her Horn

Merry Christmas!

Our Snowbaby collection given to us by our children and friends!

Our eight GREAT children!

This message is for all eight of our children! We love you and want you know what a blessing you have brought into our lives. We have just super memories and still are making them. How fun and enriching it has been to watch our little children grow, learn through the challenges and the wonderful times. We love that you all enjoy each other so much and all the antics when you are together! Thank you for the memories, love and teasured moments with each of you. We cannot imagine life without each one of you and the talents and goodness you have brought into our family. We are blessed beyond measure. Love, Mom and Dad

Christmas Decorations

Our old tree gave up so we got a new slimmer tree to fit our home. We love it. It has its own pot and is very nice. You can click on the pictures to see the details.

This is the Grandkids corner with all of our snowmen. I love it too! They all light up and change colors. The little white snowman have the name of each of our children and us - a gift from Brian and Deb in a past Christmas!

We have our traditional Christmas Village up and lighted between our kitchen and dining room. We really enjoy this display with nativities at each end.

Tree Planting at the Depot

Malcolm has been working with the Sacramento Tree Foundation to beautify our city. This day he was assisting with planting live oak trees at the newly refurbished train depot. It has turned out so nice and will be a very nice addition. The trees will add a needed softness and emphasize the name of our city - Live Oak

Malcolm and Live Oak City Council

Malcolm's final remarks!

Malcolm finished his term on the Live Oak City Council last evening and new council members were sworn in. I am so glad Malcolm was able to serve for the past 18 months with his background in flood control, working with the school on tree planting and other areas, he has been a wonderful asset to the city. We both have enjoyed our association with all the city staff, council, and family members who attend council meetings. We live in a great little city with a rosy future and good things are happening!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Grandkids and Thanksgiving

Kylie and Paige are such great friends and had a joyous time together

Dan's youngest son, Grant was enjoying the last drops of 7-up!

Our computer whiz kids grandchildren found a place in our hall to sit down and play games together - These grandchildren had two days of just having fun and enjoying each other. We love to watch and listen to their enthusiasm! We had five of our children with us...Amanda & Tyler, Dan & Kristina, Mike & Annette, Val and Don, and Brian and Deb with all their children- a total of 14 children. Wednesday evening we had a spaghetti dinner with Dan's, Amanda's and Brian's families. Next morning we all gathered for French toast, bacon and orange juice. Fortunately, everyone helped with dinner and we had turkey and the works. Tyler did mashed potatoes, Mike did snacks, Val did rolls and everyone pitched in to put it all together. Malcolm and I did the turkey & dressing and the day before pies were made. Great day! Thanks to all of our children who came. We also got a wonderful call from Todd. We are so grateful for all of our children and grandchildren and the joy they bring us. They are doing a great work with their families. How blessed we have been this year. Thanks to our Heavenly Father for all we have and greatly appreciate!!

Our last harvest of the season

We have had such fun and success with our garden this year. This picture is the last of our produce ...squash, cauliflower, peppers and our first mandarin oranges. Everything is so delicious

Planting Trees at School

Malcolm has been working with a committee to plant trees at the elementary school that Kael attends. Malcolm met with a tree foundation in Sacramento and helped make arrangements with the school for planting many trees around the school. They got the classes involved too and had a great adventurel! Amanda went over too and got some pictures. Aren't they cute!

Memories of children and grandchildren

I could not resist sharing this cute Family Cartoon. It reminds me of our children and grandchildren when we were trying to discipline. I spent a bit of time on the phone so this made me chuckle!

Most of the time a legend is decreed after one passes on. However, we know that Patsy is a living legend! Just south of Live Oak she is honored with a permanent monument to her greatness. I could say that I used my influence as a city councilperson, but I won't! There is a story here, but for now, enjoy!!

We just spent a couple of busy and fun days going to Apple Hill. We decided to do the trip in two days so we made reservations at a wonderfully nice hotel as well. I felt pampered. We invited our friend Mary McCormick to go with us and she was delighted to join us. We drove up early Wednesday morning and were there when everything opened up. We have a favorite place to buy apples and did our purchase there first, then went to High Hill Ranch and looked at all the shops - especially the Chocolate Factory - yummy. We have a tradition that we each get our own favorites! Then we went on a tour of the rest of the many apple farms and stopped at the one below because of the beautiful display of flowers. After our Apple Hill tour, we stopped in Placerville and had lunch and looked in some shops, stopped at the Hotel and checked in, then had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. We had a leisure ride home! Nice Get-away!

There were just an amazing array of flowers of all colors!

We so enjoyed seeing all the flowers and wondered about how hard it was to get them all watered.

More of the beautiful selections of flowers

This shop had wooden boys with hoses attached to water your yard - very cute

We stopped at the temple so we could see it all lit up at night - What a glorious sight!

Conference Breakfast Cake Tradition

Our breakfast cake baked just a few minutes ago - yummy!

My original 45 year old recipe ( pretty worn and old now) for crunchy coffee cake

For 45 years I have been baking this wonderfully delicious cake during conference sessions on Sunday in October and April. We all love it and some of our children have adopted the same tradition. I found the recipe in the bottom of a pan I purchased when we were first married and did not have many recipe books -
It has been a a fun and memorable time every time I bake it!

McCormick's Cabin

Malcolm and Jack

Mary and Patsy

Wonderful waterfall

Malcolm got up early and got this shot of the mountain at sunrise

Another of Malcolm's great pictures of the trees, mountain and sunrise

Sunrise

One of the many lakes in the area

A picture of the trees looking down the mountain

We just spent 3 days with our friends the McCormick's in the mountains about 2 1/2 hours from home. We just rested, had dinner at some wonderful resorts and had a memorable time visiting with our good friends.One day, Jack and Malcolm went exploring at the lakes and interesting points of interest. My only problem was being carsick going and coming on the winding roads but it was still such a terrific few days that it was worth it all. Their cabin has two bedrooms, 2 baths and a large great room with kitchen and lots of windows to see the gorgeous scenery of trees, birds and peace!