The Night Before Elections...

IT WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE ELECTIONS

Twas the night before elections
And all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down!

I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.

When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys

They had come for my wallet
They wanted my pay
To give to the others
Who had not worked a day!

He divided up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink

He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!

On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On Acorn, On Pelosi'
He screamed at the pairs!

They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!

So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
If you don't want socialism
Get out and vote!!!!

My brother Gary just sent me this election poem in an email. Good stuff. Check out this thought provoking article that appeared in our local paper. It raises come good questions. As I stated on this blog, I fear for our country. It may take off on a course tomorrow from which we can never recover.

Get out and VOTE and afterwards, treat yourself to a KK and a hot chocolate (in keeping with family tradition.)

Oakley rock quarry

I got to go to Rupert his weekend and visit my sister Janet and her husband Dave. I went by myself and had a great time listening to a book on tape while driving. I got to Rupert about 6:00 pm on October 31, just as the little grand kids came trick-or-treating. It was so fun to see them dressed up and excited to visit Grandma Janet and Grandpa Dave. Grandma Janet had frosted sugar cookies all ready for the little tykes.

After a good meal and some visiting, we settled in to watch Disturbia. Yikes. I had a hard time falling asleep, but didn't want to pass up the chance to see a thriller on Halloween night.



The next morning, Jan and I went on a long walk all around the streets of the sprawling metropolis of Rupert. It's always great to see our childhood home, elementary school, library, town square, movie theater and LDS stake center. SO many memories come flooding back. I always feel like I'm going into a time machine when I visit Rupert. Here is a post I did a few months ago giving a shout out to good old Rupert. When we went to church on Sunday, the man at the door who greeted us said to me, "welcome to God's country." I told him a totally agreed with that statement.







We met Cameron's family at the Searle cafe in Oakley for lunch. Our cousin Scott brought his new girlfriend Carol for an adventure to the Oakley rock quarries. Baily and Brody tended the younger Smith grand kids and Nick and Tina, Dustin and DaeLyn came along with us for a great adventure to the quarries.








Four wheel drive was a
requirement! We went to two sites that Cam started mining this year. He got his own business underway this year and it is going well. It's amazing to see how they take the rock out of the mountain. Once it is dug out, a crew of Mexicans come along and pick up the pieces and chisel them into the right size and shape so that the beautiful rock pieces can be used for patios, indoor flooring or many other uses. The Mexican crews stay about six months and it is so interesting to learn about how they quarry the rock and get it ready to be shipped out.





























Here is a picture of Oakley in the distance with an area of rock that hasn't been dug out of the ground yet.














This is what it looks like once it's been dug out and chipped into the right shape and thickness so that it can be loaded on pallets for shipment. There were hundreds of pallets ready to be shipped to buyers all over the world. It was even used by Frank Lloyd Wright in/on one of his buildings.














Our crew enjoying the tour.



















Scott and his darling girlfriend Carol. She was wonderful and it was so nice to meet her. I hope we get to see more of her in the future!














Dave and his sons have enjoyed hunting season again this year. Dave grew his beard until Sunday morning, when he shaved it off. He grows it to celebrate the annual hunt.

























































Dustin and Dae.














Scott and I. I think he enjoyed the day a lot.















Scott and Carol. He is from Malad and she owns her own tent sewing business and a farm.














Nick, Tina and Hendricks.
















On the way home from the quarries, we went through the City of Rocks. I haven't been there for at least 30 years. It was very cool! I've seen enough rocks to last for awhile now. It was an interesting day and very fun to talk to the Smiths while driving around. We came cross two rigs that were broken down and in both cases, the men in our car where able to stop and help them get going again. Cam is funny, very generous and he was a very good host. It was fun to see their home and get the grand tour from Marnie. They have a busy and multi-talented family.



After the day of learning about how to quarry Oakley stone, we went to a great little restaurant in Heyburn to have a soup bowl with great cheesy soup. I also talked to Rick and learned that the Cougars had somehow pulled off a last minute win. We then went to Dustin and Dae's home to have the tour of their new beautiful home. It's wonderful! Little McKynlee was adorable.

Sunday we went to church, visited over breakfast for lunch after church and just had a good time. Jan showed me a new pie crust recipe and I'm excited to use it. You make 20 pie crusts at once and freeze them so they are ready when you need them. I should have taken pictures of her making the crust for my blog! I love visiting Janet and Dave and I appreciate their hospitality and the love they always show me. It was a great weekend!

Home Economics Education

I know, I know. Just hearing those words probably conjures up some sort of impression of a "Susie homemaker" or an easy college major. Not so. It was way harder than let's say......umm, oh, maybe an English major.

Even this picture of a Home Economics class in 1911 doesn't do much to dispel the stereotype (although it is kind of funny.) After all, how much training does a person need to run a home, cook, clean and tend children? It's easy, right? Certainly not very hard or demanding, correct?

I recently had to defend the rigor of my major to one of my very own children! But considering the majors they have chosen, mine does look kind of light weight comparatively speaking. I decided it was time to educate and share something you may not have known about the best college major out there :)

It was my major of choice and I loved it! I never vacillated or changed my major the entire time I was in college. After taking many cooking and sewing classes in High School from Mrs. Woodward, I decided that I would major in HEE. I started out my freshman year at BYU taking the required classes and I didn't deviate at all. Here is the training and education I got in the process:

• 9 credit hours of Chemistry in preparation for the food science classes (organic and inorganic chemistry) teaching why good nutrition matters chemically to our bodies

a major that consisted of four minors in:

• 13 credit hours in Child Development & Family Relations - classes in child development, achieving success in marriage, family relationships, early childhood education
  
• 12 credits in Clothing and Textiles - classes in flat pattern design and construction, general textiles, selection and care of clothing, tailoring (I made a coat and two wool suits that I took on my mission and I still have them) & children's clothing
  
• 12 credits in Food Science and Nutrition - classes in basic human nutrition, meal management, and the science of food (no food prep classes were included, sadly)
  
• 12 credits in Family Resource Management - classes in household equipment, principles of home management, family money management and family residence management and entertaining (do any of you remember when I lived in the "management house" the semester we got engaged and we had our families meet there for the first time?)

I also had classes in interior design & home health care and nursing for my major, along with 28 credits of secondary education (including student teaching at Lakeridge junior high and Orem High school) learning how to teach the information I learned in the classes above.

In my general education classes I took: Art history, English composition and reading, voice diction and interpretation, American Heritage, Animal Biology, English exposition and writing, microbiology, political science - current affairs, 11 credits of Spanish, 12 credits of religion, and my four PE classes were team handball, tennis, bowling and an ill-fated skiing class (but I did get B+ in it, even if I did break my leg. My teacher really should have given me an A, considering....)

I received a wonderful and useful education. In fact, I think I use the knowledge, practices and information I gained through my education every day of my life. I value my training for it's practical application, as well as knowing that I could support myself and my family some day if I ever needed to do that because of my teaching credentials. Higher education produces so many positive results and applications for life. My education in Home Economics is something I highly value. The major still exists, but now it is called Family and Consumer Sciences and the class load has been cut down dramatically, so that a students can now complete it in four years instead of five. I truly believe that the major helps teach and train people to improve their lives, the lives of their families, and their communities. It's a major that has valuable daily application in keeping families strong, functioning and contributing to society.

Happy Day! Dave was born!

24 years ago today, our son V IV was born. (That's Vernon the 4th to the uninitiated.) After having two daughters, V III was thrilled to have a son. With two older sisters to help take care of him, he was always being held and loved.
Dave was named after Rick's dear friend David C. who was a missionary friend and a early college friend to both of us. Little David was born with a heart murmur and we immediately had to take him to Primary Children's hospital to have his heart tested. After some tests, we were told that our little son would be fine and that his heart defect would heal with time. That has certainly been the case.

Dave was a DARLING baby and we loved having him in our home. He did cry A LOT when he was young and suffered from colic and ear aches. He finally got tubes put in his ears and he was a lot happier after that. Once he stopped crying and was out of pain (what ever was causing it) he turned into the best little baby there ever was.

Dave loved to play and play and play. He could make the coolest little boy noises and that ability was purely innate, since he didn't have older brothers to teach him how to make bomb noises, machine guns, and other assorted boy sounds. He was a pro at making sounds of every variety.

Dave loved to play with stuffed animals, but his favorite toy was his rocking horse. He rode that thing around the world a couple of times, wearing his cowboy hat and cowboy boots.

Dave had some crazy hair. His cowlicks were second to none. His hair was very blond and was hard to comb because it would just stick straight up. Little did we know that it would turn VERY curly as he grew older and turn a nice dark brown color. Dave also had the cutest smile as shown in the photo and the most adorable blue eyes. He was such a sweet little boy and never gave us any trouble.

It was fun to have a little boy in the house. We bought him all the regular little boy things and he immediately took to sports of every variety. He had instant playmates in his older sisters and they all enjoyed playing Legos by the hour.

Dave had a ton of little playmates in the neighborhood. It seems like our home was a magnet for little boys. We'd have herds of them over for hours and hours of playing. With a big park nearby, they enjoyed many hours playing in the sand, swinging and swimming in the pool.

Dave attended OHS pre-school with Mrs. Pella as the teacher. He started Kindergarten at the same school that his sisters attended. He immediately showed that he would be a great student and he learned to read and do math especially well. He played soccer, tee-ball, basketball and rode his bike, roller blades and enjoyed all sorts of games with his friends in the park.

Dave has turned out to be a wonderful man. It's been a pleasure to watch him grow up through the years and make good choices throughout his life. We love him dearly and in some ways, he is a carbon copy of his father, V III. Here are a few more highlights of V IV:

• He attended OES (he especially loved his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Peterson) and then went to the Cherry Hill - ALL program for 5 & 6 grades
• He took piano lessons from Mrs. Butterfield and made decent progress. He's since taken a piano class at BYU and said he wished he would have kept with it as a kid
• Power Rangers and Ghost Busters were some of his favorite toys, along with Legos
• He shared a room with Andy until we moved to our current house, and then he got his own room but had to share a bathroom with Claire.
• He started working at Timp Bookstore when he was 15 years old, wrapping Christmas gifts
• He received his Eagle Scout award when he was 14
• He played football through 9th grade and improved a lot each year
• He started running cross country when he went to high school and kept it up all three years and did very well. He received the academic all-state award his senior year in cross country.
• He went to Boys State and represented his school well
• He graduated from High School with a 4.0 and gave the valedictory address. He got a 33 on the ACT test.
• He received enough AP credit from the classes he took in HS, to start college as a sophomore. He will graduate from BYU in seven semesters this December with a degree in Economics. He could have gone to any university he wanted to, but he chose BYU.
• He was the Sterling Scholar in the Social Sciences at his HS and went all the way to state with his formidable portfolio of academic accomplishments
• He received an academic scholarship to BYU and also received the Robert C. Byrd scholarship for four years
• He graduated from seminary
• He's been on the Wyoming pioneer trek twice, once as a kid, once as a leader after his mission
• He served his mission in the Portugal, Lisbon mission and had a marvelous experience. He was an AP in his final months. He also got to serve on the Azores islands for about six months.
• He met some wonderful young men his freshman year in college and they became fast friends all through college. They were roommates for about three years.
• He worked at the Museum of Art as a security guard while he was a college student and also on the grounds crew mowing lawns. He is now a TA for Econ 110.
  
• He is an avid BYU fan and turns into a different, loud and aggressive person on game day
• He met his current wife Courtney in their student ward. They dated for a year and got married last May in the SLC LDS temple. We love having Courtney in our family. She is a perfect partner for Dave.
• Dave has always been an honorable priesthood holder and fulfilled his responsibilities and callings, being a HT comp to Rick for many years.
• Dave is a kind and gentle man who has a big heart and who is dependable without fail.

We love our little boy Dave and look forward to the future, for we know he will be successful in whatever he puts his mind to accomplish. Happy 24th birthday dear son.

Hair Make Overs

My long time hair dresser Kirby Smith came to our ladies group meeting (we call it the Dust Busters group) last month and did a couple of make-overs of two of our friends. Jil and Marlene volunteered to have Kirby work on them at his salon during the day and then they came the night of the meeting with their new looks. They looked great! It was fun to see them walk in a few minutes late so we could all see their new styles at the same moment.
He also did "on the spot" hair styles on Allie (our hostess) and Susan. He just worked with their hair and styled it in a new way on the spot. It was very fun and interesting to see what he could do. Allie was a great hostess and we got to see her Halloween themed home. To say she has A LOT of Halloween decorations what be a huge understatement. What doesn't she have?
We enjoyed an evening of visiting about hair and we gave Kirby a huge container of fresh farmer's produce as a gift for coming to our group meeting. It was great to have him spend the evening with us. If you want to schedule an appointment with him, call 223-7011. He is at Serenity Salon located at 503 S. Orem Blvd.













































































































































We had a fun evening together and learned some new hair styling tricks for women with "aging hair." He made these great suggestions:

• Use professional products - the ph in cheap shampoo damages and dries out the hair. You can wash your hair every day if you use mild shampoo that doesn't strip the hair of all of it's natural oils, but you have to use quality products
• Use professional color - no grocery store color products. The color will look more natural and will last longer. For women coloring gray, only a permanent color will do.
• Use products to manage dryness. There are many good 'leave in' conditioners that will help dry hair
• Treat thinning hair by taking a good multi-vitamin. He even suggested taking a pre-natal vitamin or at least one that contains all the essential vitamins and minerals. Good nutrition and a good daily vitamin will help thinning hair. Some hair thinning is caused by genetics and there isn't a lot that can be done about it. There are hair products that help hair look fuller and thicker and coloring hair gives it more strength and body.
• If a woman decides to help her hair go grey (if she has been coloring), there are ways to make that happen without looking terrible in the process.