My Mom

I've been thinking about my mother alot lately. She passed away three years ago today. She was indeed an elect woman. She bore alot of burdens throughout her life from the death of a three year old child, a husband, another son who passed away before her and raising a large family on almost nothing moneywise. But she never grumbled or lost her faith. Thinking about her has helped me keep going through many days and weeks. I have sometimes found myself upset at Heavenly Father for situations that I have no control over and then I think about my mom and remember seeing her kneel by her bed praying. Her faith never waivered through all her trials. I'm so grateful for her example and her faith. It is really a source of strength for me right now. Mom, I miss you and love you!

He's back!!!

Our favorite thing each year is the return of the red cardinals in our backyard. The brilliant red ones are the males. Both male and females return each year. We always wonder if it is the same ones (not too sure how many years birds live). But every year, they come back. It seems early this year. Makes me wonder is spring is around the corner!!!

Treasured Keepsakes

About two weeks after Christmas, we received a notice from the post office that we had a package there that they were going to send back if we didn't come pick it up. Evidently, the post office had tried to deliver it while we were gone for Christmas but didn't leave a notice. We went and picked it up and found a Christmas gift from Wally and Jeannie. It held treasured keepsakes-



These were a part of a collection of salt and pepper shakers that Rick's mom had collected. Wally and Jeannie decided to share the collection as Christmas presents. Rick was very surprised to recieve them. He remembers the collection sitting in his mom's china cabinet.

Happy Valentines Day

I saw this video tonight by Jeffrey R. Holland on Mormon Messages on You Tube. I think it is a great message for Valentines Day.

http://www.youtube.com/MormonMessages

Have a Happy Valentines Day!

Congratulations!

We have several congratulations to give to family members.


The first one goes to Lacey. She is graduating this week with her Masters of Education from WGU. It has taken a lot of hard work and determination to achieve this goal. What a great success and achievement!

Congratulations, Lacey!!!

Two events happened in December and I didn't get them wrote in our blog.

Joy passed her Cosmetology Boards in December and completed her hours this month. We are excited for her to be done and to have done so great on the boards. Her graduation will be in several months.

Congratulations, Joy!!!

Jason pinned on the rank of Captain in December. We are happy to see the advancements of our children in their lives.

Congratulations, Jason!!!

Memory Makers!

Grandma Pearce

I went into Cabella's yesterday and as I passed by the old fashion candy section, I noticed the above candy. It brought back memories of my Grandma. Whenever, Grandma Pearce came to visit us she usually always had some "pink pepto-bismal candy" (as we called it) or some of the orange circus peanuts to pull out of her purse and give us. She also always had Date Filled Cookies or date pinwheel cookies in her blue cookie jar for us to have when we visited her and Grandpa. As I think of her, I always think about these special treats she gave to us.

My mom - Grandma Prestwich

If you ask my kids what my mom (Grandma Prestwich) always gave them when she visited, they would probably say that she always had lifesavers in her purse. She also would make her cinnamon rolls for them whenever we went to visit or whenever she came to visit us she would whip up a batch of cinnamon rolls. The other thing she did was to make small patchwork quilts for all the grandkids. I've thought alot about this lately and wonder what memory makers I have that I can give to my grandchildren. Alot of our memories from our childhood are from traditions: smells, sights and tastes. MMmmm!!!

The Best Part of Our Christmas!

Although we had a great Christmas at Colonial Williamsburg, I thought that I would list my top three favorite parts of Christmas 2008.

1) Kaitlyn's music program - Jason and Lacey invited us to go to Kaitlyn's first grade music program before Christmas. It was one of our favorite parts of Christmas. It was so fun to hear and see all the little songs. Children make Christmas special. The best part was being able to hear and see Kaitlyn sing. She did great!

2) Being able to talk to all of our children on Christmas day. Thank goodness for cell phones. We loved hearing that they were all having a wonderful Christmas with their in-laws and extended families. What a blessing to know that they each have great and loving in-law families.

3) The third best part of Christmas was being able to see Eric and Joy when we got back from Williamsburg and being able to go to the temple with them and the Kaisers. Being with family is the best part of the holidays. We were grateful for the opportunity that we had to share the holidays and Colonial Williamsburg with Margie.

Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg

Since it was our children's year to spend Christmas with in-laws, we decided to find some place to go that would be fun. Ranae had seen an ad for Colonial Williamsburg and the Colonial Christmas they have there. It sounded like an adventure. Well, after having been there, we must say that it was wonderful. We had a timeshare condo about two miles from Colonial Williamsburg and invited Margie (Ranae's sister) to join us. There was a lot of music concerts to attend and events to see. We even sang Christmas carols around the Community Christmas tree. We know you don't want to hear our travel itinary so we will just show some pics (I only wish I had got a
good picture of the Fife and Drummers but the night time pics didn't turn out very well).


The USS Wisconsin

We stopped at the Norfolk Naval Museum when we flew in and went on board the USS Wisconsin battleship. This ship was used in Desert Storm and is on reserve. It was huge-holds 3,000 military personnel.

Colonial Williamsburg

Typical street scene from Colonial Williamsburg.

Everything is decorated with natural items-no electric lights just candles in the windows.

The British Redcoats before doing a reinactment.




In the Market Street area.

Margie and Ranae with one of the patriot guides.




The Governor's Palace


British governor's lived here until after the Revolutionary War and then others such as Thomas Jefferson lived here. We went to a candlelight concert here Christmas night and one in the Capital Building. They were concerts played on harpsicords, flutes, fifes and violins.

Entering the Governor's Palace for the evening candlelight concert.

Jamestown Settlement and Historic Park

Jamestown was the first English settlement in America. The historic area had the actual remains of the church built by settlers. The settlement and ships pictured below were recreated to show what it was like.

Agecroft Hall
We went to Richmond to see Agecroft Hall - a manor dismantled in England and brought over in ships in 1925 to be rebuilt along the James River. The uniqueness of Agecroft is that it was originally owned in 1300 by the Prestwich family (Ranae's ancestors).

Yorktown
This is where the last Revolutionary war was fought.


We missed having our children and their families with us at Christmas time but did enjoy having Margie with us and being able to enjoy a Christmas where it was centered on Christ, the simple things in life, and the freedoms we enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Kaitlyn!

Today is our granddaughter, Kaitlyn's 7th birthday. What a beautiful, bright and smart granddaughter! She has brought alot of happiness to Grandpa and Grandma with her "I love yous!" and her special ways of saying "Hi!". We love her very much and hope she has a great day.

I am Thankful for....

Thanksgiving gives us time to ponder on what is important in our lives and what we are thankful for. I am so thankful for my family. To me nothing in life is more important than family.

I am so thankful for my eternal companion, Rick, for the thirty-three years we have been together, for his patience, love, his hard work ethic and even his great humor! He is my best friend!

I am thankful for our children: Jason, Matthew, Stephanie and Eric. Even though they are grown they are the most important blessings in my life and have brought me more happiness than I could ever imagine. We love you!

I am thankful for each of their spouses: Lacey, Katie, Brett and Joy. I am so thankful that their parents raised such caring and loving children. They have been a blessing in our family and I want each of them to especially know that Rick and I love and care for them very deeply.

I am thankful for our eight grandchildren and the little spirit to arrive in June. They give Rick and I a reason to life. Each one is so precious and a blessing from Heavenly Father. I now know why they say that grandchildren are god's gift for raising our own children.


Lastly, I am thankful for my own parents and siblings. I never knew my father and someday I look forward to being able to get to know him. What a wonderful plan we have been given, that we may each have a family here on earth and be sealed together forever. Nothing in life means more to me. Family is the essense of our life here.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at Matthew's home in Colorado. We had so much fun. Eric, Joy, Stephanie and her boys came, also. We missed Jason, Lacey and their family and Brett and wished they could have been there. We hadn't seen Stephanie, Noah and Cooper since July. The boys have grown so much. It was fun to see Cooper walking and Noah talking so much. Matthew and Katie's little ones (Carter and Keegan) have also changed so much. They just love to smile and coo and be talked to. We are so excited for Eric and Joy and their little spirit that will be arriving in June. We waited until Friday to have Thanksgiving dinner. It was great! The turkey was cooked in a big electric roaster and was very moist (loved it, Matthew). We watched the Nebraska-Colorado game on Friday! (Yes, there was a little excited cheering going on from Eric and Joy!) The girls (Stephanie, Katie, Joy and myself) went to Twilight the movie and left the guys home to babysit. Great movie and fun time being with just the girls. The guys had their time on Saturday- they went to an Avalanche game! Eric has waited for a belated Eagle Scout gift from Mom and Dad for eight years-a long time in coming! They had a great time. My sister-in-law, Gail, my neices Jami and Jennifer, their husbands and kids, and my nephew, Brady, came up on Saturday. Brady, Chad and Nathan went to the game with our guys. The girls and kids went out to dinner and then to the outlet mall. I must say that it was a busy fun-filled time. We loved it all except for the drive home. We didn't leave until 3:30 on Sunday afternoon and ended up in a snowstorm between Denver and Colorado Springs. It took us 3 1/2 hours to go forty miles. So by 7:00 p.m., we pulled over and stayed at a motel at the outlet mall by Denver and waited until Monday to drive the rest of the way home. I'm starting to think Denver and I don't mix...I keep getting stuck there overnight!

Here are some of the pics I took of our Thanksgiving weekend:

Matthew and Keegan Carter

Watching the Nebraska Game!

Saturday extended family get together!

Cooper and his binky with Eric

Noah in thought!

Grandpa and Cooper

Colorado winter-Monday south of Denver

My Gingerbread Lighthouse

I decided to do a gingerbread house for the Mormon Trail Center this year. The theme is Christmas Around the World. At first, I was going to do some little houses but that didn't work out. I then came up with the idea to do a lighthouse. I have decorated a little house before but the gingerbread was already made and in the shape of a house. This time I made the gingerbread. Quite the experience. Rick told me after I had the walls up of the lighthouse (no frosting on it yet) that it looked like the Tower of Babel. I was a little concerned but I must say it didn't turn out too bad.

A Military Flashback!

A couple of days ago, Rick had made the bed and I was giving him a bad time about not standing the pillows more upright. Well, I walked out of the room and when I walked back in Rick says, "They're standing at attention!" I looked over and this is what I saw........

It made me smile all day thinking about the pillows at attention!!! I just love my hubby's sense of humor.

Fall Colors

Looking out across the street from our house.

It is great to see the changing of colors. Sometimes winter hits before the leaves can change their color. Nebraska is seeing alot of color this fall. (I don't think the blog does justice to the color, though). The colors are really vivid.

Nebraska City

Nebraska City Lied Lodge Walk

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today is Katie, our daughter-in-laws, birthday. Her and Matthew have been married for five years. We were so thrilled for them that they had two little boys this year. Katie is a great daughter-in-law and a wonderful wife to our son. She is becoming such a great mom. I know her boys will love her very much. We want to wish you Happy Birthday from Rick and Ranae.

We love you!