August Wrap Up

 Well, not much else happened in August.  Overall it was a decent month and I continue to try to live a good and kind life and serve.  I was able to read some great conference talks and I did keep up with the Sunday School lessons but I have to confess that I didn't attend much of the SS classes.  Sometimes it is just too painful on my tailbone to set through both hours of church.  

I did get to go help clean the church and I haven't done that before so it was really nice to participate in that.

Ambur continues to work so hard and she fills in any extra expenditures that arise.  I have said it so many times and will continue to say many many more times, she is truly a blessing from Heaven for me.  She is giving and kind and even when she is tired and sore from her own work, she comes home and helps me because I may have had a bad day or she can tell I am particularly emotional and she just listens.  I am so grateful for her.

No speaking at all to Blaine this month.  It is very difficult to know what the right course of action is.  I don't even feel like there is any problem to move forward from but I know that the longer he allows it to go on, the worse it will get.  I put his name on the prayer roll as well as mine and Ambur's so that somehow we can start new.

I am blessed and love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and love the knowledge the gospel brings to my life.  When I rely on my Heavenly Father for decisions, I am much happier.

August Family Dinner/Reunion

Tomorrow would be the date for our Family dinner for August, but I moved it to today (Saturday) because it is the Gappmayer family reunion in Payson (West Mountain) Utah and so that is where Ambur and I are headed this morning.  We won't get to enjoy the whole time but we should be there before they start eating at 10:00.

We arrived at about 9:30 but the eating had already begun and so had much game playing.  The first thing we saw was the horse and buggy.  I think this is a favorite thing for the kids.

The food was great.  Biscuits, ham and eggs, good bread, sweets, pancakes and lots of it.  We got our food and then sat at a table with Jeanette, Malissa, Chris, Sheri, Kaitlyn and we had a great time visiting.  I love to just hear what is going on with them all.

It seems like everyone got up about the same time and started cleaning up and playing games.  I went off with my camera to take some pictures.  I think my eyes are not seeing things quite the way they used to, I have a hard time getting great pictures.

This is my nephew Ben's family dog.  She kept bringing her ball over and dropping it by Gimlet.  Of course Gimlet just stared at her because she was working and because she can't play with balls (doesn't really even know what one is).  But she sure did try to get her to play.  She was sweet and just kept going after the ball that Norman just kept throwing for her.

JoDee asked us if we would like to see Mandy's "petting" zoo.  She doesn't really have a zoo, but she sure has some beautiful animals, and of course I wanted to go and see it. She was showing us her horses and I immediately loved this little one.  Just so beautiful and friendly. She has some really beautiful horses and it was such fun to see them all.  I was told all the names, but can't really remember them all.

We also got to see her cows and her two day old puppies.  This was really fun.

I love this plant.  The picture doesn't do justice for the color of the plant.  It is just beautiful.  Of course I can't remember the name now, but I will find one here and I am going to try to plant it in a pot.  Amanda told me that the hummingbirds love it.  I hope I can grow it here.

After a wonderful visit we headed for home.  We have plans for later tonight (more to come on that in another post) and we plan to go home get a nap and then go to that.  Even though we weren't real hungry we decided to stop and get something to eat on the way.  There were some beautiful sunflowers which Ambur loves so we snapped a couple of pictures.

We really had a lot of fun and it was just a great day visiting and enjoying a lovely day.  I am so blessed with a loving family.  I haven't always been appreciative of how important my siblings and their families are.  I wasn't really around them much as I was raising my children and missed out on some really valuable memories.  I am grateful for every opportunity that comes to me where I can get to know them and their children a little more.  So many tender mercies in life and I am grateful for them all.