Wonderful Anniversary Day

Yesterday Alan and I celebrated our 35th Wedding Anniversary......but Alan had to work and we didn't get to spend much time together. However, I was able to spend a wonderful day with two of my sons (Jared and Kyle) prior to taking them to the airport. We took the beach bikes down to Santa Monica Beach/Pier....one of my favorite things to do. While they rode the bikes I took a nice walk, walked the pier, and kept my Kindle company. After they returned, Jared and I rode bikes while Kyle sat at the edge of the beach enjoying the wonderful sunshine and view. Jared and I joined him at the beach after riding bikes. The weather was soooooo nice. As we were sitting on the beach enjoying temps around 70 degrees without the usual wind, I was feeling sorry for the people living in the North East who have been innundated with that awful snow storm and freezing temperatures. I love California for its weather and beauty. I would have posted some pics here but I forgot to take my camera with me. Thanks to my sons, I had a memorable 35th Wedding Anniversary, and Alan and I will have a belated celebration later this week.

Universal City Walk

Despite wet drizzley weather, Alan and I went down to Hollywood Universal Studios City Walk today for a quick day trip. We mostly went there to watch "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" at the IMAX Theater. We watched it in 3D. We don't usually travel that far to watch movies, but Alan's staff members gave us a gift card for AMC Theaters and we have Cinemark Theaters in Lancaster. However, we made a fun day out of it. Below is a picture of Alan standing in front of the Hard Rock Cafe.

Here I am standing in front of the huge Christmas tree with the

Theater in the background (to the right). When I saw that

decorated tree, I said to Alan "I hate decorating

Christmas trees, so I'm glad I don't have to decorate that one."

We thought this Billboard right on City Walk really personified Angelinos.

(Click on the photo if you are having trouble reading it)

We also saw people doing "indoor" skydiving, but we were really outside.

I'd never seen this before and found it very entertaining. You wouldn't

catch me doing it, but I sure enjoyed watching it. Maybe you will too.

All in all we had a great day. It was fun just to get away and

spend time together as husband and wife.

Turning Ninety

On November 24th, my mother-in-law, Pearl Stott, turned NINETY years old. She is a pretty private person and doesn't like the "lime light" or to have attention poured her way. However, since turning ninety is a huge milestone, she humored her extended family by allowing us to all celebrate with her. Isn't she beautiful? She is in good health and if she lives as long as her own mother, she will be around for almost another 9 years. We love you Pearl!

Only Alan, Ryan, Cheryl, and I could attend the celebration from our family.

Lovely Ladies -- Three granddaughters getting to know Grandma Pearl a little bit better.

(Karen Susan, and Kim)

It's Official!

Except for having to fight the notoriously crowded L.A. freeway traffic, I had a beautiful trip to the temple this morning. The skies were blue, no wind, and the temperature was perfect (75 degrees). Things got even better once I entered the sacred House of the Lord. I had a 10:00 appointment with a member of the Temple Presidency. He extended an invitation to me to become an Ordinance Worker. Even before I left his office I was set apart to do that glorious work. My shift at the temple will be on Friday mornings at 6 a.m., which means I need to be there at 5:30 a.m. for prayer meeting, which means I need to leave Lancaster at about 4:00 a.m., which means I would need to get up about an hour before that at 3:00 a.m. (unless I have to wash my hair, which takes an extra half hour to blow dry), which means I will have to try to go to bed very early on Thursday evenings. However, I feel that the sacrifices I will have to make will be minimal compared to the blessings that will result as I serve the Lord in the Temple. I start training in January and I'm really looking forward to it. Fortunately, I've made arrangements with a couple of other sisters in our Stake to car-pool with. This will make the trip down and back much more pleasant.

How Do You Spell Relief?

Do you remember the Rolaids commercial that asks "How do you spell relief?" and they spell it R-O-L-A-I-D-S? I have my own way of spelling relief this week. It is: A-N-T-I-B-I-O-T-I-C-S! I'm on my 9th day of being sick. After 7 days of suffering I decided to go see an urgent care doctor (it was the weekend and my Dr.'s office was closed). I was tested for the flu, but it was inconclusive because they said they checked it too early. I didn't know you had to wait longer than a week to test for it, but what do I know? I evidently have bronchitis and a sinus infection. Since starting the antibiotics my fever has been reduced/almost eliminated, my frustratingly killer headaches/sinus pressure is somewhat alleviated, and I'm coughing less (I think). I am definitely still sick, but can finally see the gold at the end of the rainbow. The Dr. thinks I probably caught it on one of my flights either to or from Orlando. He's says that's the worst place to be as far as germs goes because everyone is breathing the same air. Now I wish I'd worn a mask, but who could have known. Word to the wise - stay away from public places as much as possible and wash your hands several times per day. Maybe you can be luckier than I was and avoid this terrible illness. I hope you are feeling well!

Discovery Cove

As part of our recent trip to Orlando, Florida, Alan and I were able to visit Discovery Cove. The day we spent there was arguably one of the funnest days of my life...mostly because I'm such a dolphin lover. We got to snorkel with exotic fish, swim in an amazing lagoon, and play with a dolphin.

Alan and I standing in front of the dolphin lagoon.

Best view I have of the park so you can get a feel for what it is like.


Fun with our dolphin named Mariah.

Mariah giving me a lift

Mariah giving Alan a lift

Up close and personal

Up close and more personal

Some Rays that we were able to swim with

Discovery Cove also has an Aviary with many beautiful birds that will feed from your hand.

One of the waterfalls in the beautiful lagoon

All in all, we had a great time. The weather was perfect so it felt like a perfect day...even a dream come true.

Venice Beach

My wonderful husband took me to the beach today. We love taking our bikes to Venice Beach and then ride them to the Santa Monica Pier. I think it's about 2 miles each way. While biking back from the Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach, we stopped at this skate park to watch the skate boarders risk life and limb. This guy used something we had never seen before. Each foot was on a tiny skateboard of sorts. Looked totally hard to master. His feet aren't strapped on or anything. I wouldn't even know how to get on them both at the same time. It was amazing.

This awesome Hotel is between Venice Beach and Santa Monica Beach. Uh...maybe we should book this place and have our reunion there when it's my turn again (in three years). It is called Hotel Casa Del Mar and is a 5 star Hotel. Wouldn't cost too much, right? I just looked it up and the rooms start at $460/night. Oh well.

Another bad hair day at the beach. I look at other women's hair at the beach and theirs doesn't do what mine does. What's up with that?

Alan's favorite thing to do at the beach...after riding the bikes.

Alan relaxing before heading home.

Extreme Makeover

I love the Los Angeles Temple! We have been attending it for about 32 years. This isn't a view from the front, but rather from the East. You can see Angel Moroni facing the East.

Here is a shot with the temple behind us - taken a couple of weeks ago.

Recently the Visitor's Center got a huge makeover. It was changed dramatically! It is very high tech now and is so beautiful. I love this new Christus as you enter the bldg.

This section made you feel like you were alive when the Savior walked the earth.
So realistic! I loved it!



I think these palm tree pillars are so beautiful.

This is a "kid friendly" section that talks about families.

Money Pit

Two weeks and $1,325 later, we finally have our pool cover fixed. Talk about money pits! Because of the cooler temps at night and not being covered for two weeks, the pool temp dropped from 94 degrees down to 75 degrees. I don't know about you, but that's too cold for me. Now we can't even enjoy the pool again until next summer.....but at least it is fixed.

Back Flippin' in Style

At my nephew Sean's wedding reception in August, his sister-in-law Lindsay did a back flip on the tramp. I told her I would post the video of her doing just that. I've never seen anyone do a back flip in a skirt before. Good stuff.

Goin' To The Getty

Yesterday after attending the Los Angeles Temple, Alan and I went to the Getty Museum. We had been there once before, but we enjoyed it even more this time around.

This was one of my favorite pictures. It's kinda big but I would love it in my house.

Another one of my favorites.

How would you like a bed like this? Doesn't Alan look like he just went to the temple?

This is a view from the back of the Getty.

The Grounds are beautiful. This is a maze (not one you can actually access, though.)

If you look closely, you can see the Los Angeles Temple nestled in the middle of these large Brentwood Bldgs. (Click on image to magnify.)

Stayin' cool in the shade.

I loved these....I don't even know what to call them...

Flowering tree looking things with an iron base.

Here comes the tram to take us back to the parking complex down the mountain.

Freaky Friday

On Friday afternoon, Alan and I decided to take in a matinee movie at the dollar theater. When we got home, I could hear a noise outside that wasn't normal. I looked out the window into the back yard and noticed that the pool cover was open...or so I thought. At first I thought that Cheryl (who has been visiting for a few days) forgot to close the pool cover before heading to the wedding of her H.S. friend in Malibu. Then, I noticed that the pool cover wasn't open, it was sunk. I hurried outside and could hear the pool cover motor grinding away. I told Alan to hurry outside. He turned the key to stop the motor from grinding and we stood there in awe at the freaky thing that had happened in our absence. Evidently, the switch had shorted and had turned itself on, trying to close the cover beyond what it is capable of doing. We don't know how long it was on before we got home, but it was certainly on long enough for much damage to be done. Even the track on the left side of the pool was pulled away from the wall and the pully rope was broken. Now almost the whole cover is under water. We are anticipating that we will have to get a whole new cover and system installed, but we hope that's not the case. We are getting it looked at tomorrow.

Bat Cave

Welcome to my bat cave! I call it by that name because it is where I go to "hang upside down". Since I have lower back problems (scoliosis and disc damage) and spend so much time and money at the chiropractor's office, Alan thought it would be a good idea to get an inversion table. I agreed with him, and recently made the purchase. I use it 1-2 times per day and it seems to help stretch out my spine. I haven't had to go to the chiropractor's office since making the purchse. Yay for that! Besides physically being good for me, I also find that it is a good time to do some meditating, which is good for the soul. Well, I need to run....my bat cave is calling me.

Sun Day Meal

There once was a woman named Joan

Who sat at home all alone

'Cuz the heat outside

Could burn a hide

By the sun penetrating the ozone.

In order to best use the heat,

She decided to cook some meat.

A solar oven she used

It's so easy, she mused

This method cannot be beat!

Simply by cooking outside

The house stayed cool inside.

After cooking a few hours

Using just the sun's powers

"This meal taste's great" she cried!

Cooking in progress. The meal took about 5 hrs. to cook.

The finished product.

You can't see the potatoes & carrots under the chicken,

but they are there and they were delicious.



Our Stake is really into emergency preparedness and since we live in the desert and the sun shines about 90% of the time, using a solar oven makes a lot of sense for us. It doesn't have to be hot outside for the oven to work well. It can be below zero but as long as the sun is shining this oven can be used. I've baked bread and cooked other meals using this method also and I'm confident that it will really come in handy should an emergency arise where we will have no gas or electricity to cook with. If you want to know more about the sun oven, you can go to http://www.sunoven.com/.

Steal or No Steal?

I needed a new watch so I decided to see what I could find on e-bay. My qualifications were that it had to have the time, the date, and a night light. I found a watch that looked rather unique that fit my qualifications, but of course you can't tell if it is quality or not through a photo. For fun I decided to bid on it, knowing the sale would end in about 5 min. The starting price was $0.01. I decided to put my high bid at $5 then I waited until the time expired to see the results. Since nobody else bid on it, I won the bid so I ended up purchasing it for $0.01. That's right, I got it for a penny. Of course I did have to pay for shipping, which turned out to be $12. I didn't think to look where it was being shipped from until after I had bid and paid for the thing. It took a while to get here, but it arrived today and was in good shape. Here are a couple of photos of it -- one on my wrist and the other on the cute little pillow it arrived with.

I'm no fashionista so I think this watch is a steal for one cent plus shipping, but maybe you don't like it much and don't think it's a steal at all. I think the extra battery that came with it makes it a real steal, but you be the judge.....steal or no steal. I'll be waiting for the verdict.

(BTW, if you click on the photo you can get a closer look before you make the judgement call)

Generosity At The Auction

On Friday evening our Ward YW and YM organizations held a fundraiser to help girls earn money for girls camp and the boys earn money for their outings. They sponsored a pot luck dinner and a service auction. Besides services being auctioned off, we were able to take food items to be auctioned off as well. I decided to make some of those delicious red velvet cake balls (thanks, Heather for the recipe). Who would have thought that one dozen of those balls would go for $40, and another dozen went for $35. Our Ward members were very generous in spite of the poor economy.


I also made four loaves of whole wheat bread which each sold for around $20. If I could always get those prices for these goods, I'd go into business for myself.

Alan did his part by auctioning off a service. He offered a teeth whitening session worth about $250, which went for $75.

At final count, the amount of funds raised was around $1,700, which is amazing to me but part of the reason for that is because the Bishop (who is a dentist) found out that a member who had already maxed out on his dental insurance for this year needed a crown and offered that up for auction. It went for $500. It was a fun activity.