Dave and Kathleen Field

Who knew?

2011-12-02T11:29:00.001-07:00

Way back in August Dave and I took a day trip up to Santa Fe, which is about 45 minutes north of Albuquerque. It's an interesting town. Similar looking to Albuquerque, but a more touristy, artsy and a nicer historic/shopping district.

Here's a picture of the landscape around Albuquerque. The landscape around Santa Fe looks pretty much the same.

After touring their downtown (they were having a big craft fair in the town square), we drove to the Santa Fe Ski Resort just north of Santa Fe. I googled it - the ski area is exactly 57.6 miles north of our house, and 4.2 miles from downtown Santa Fe. Here's a picture of the Santa Fe Ski area

What?!? How can this be? A difference of 4.2 miles? I couldn't believe me eyes - green mountains, trees, scenery - it was beautiful!

I guess we need to get out of Albuquerque and explore New Mexico a little more often.

Fall catchup

2011-11-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

Once again I have waited three months between blog posts, so it's time to play catch up.

August and September fun things:

I mentioned this in my last post, but it does count
as an August Very Big Event - Bekah's 20th birthday!

Celebrated with this awesome Hogwart's cake. Don't even ask.

Forrest's 1st birthday

It took him a while to get excited about his birthday cake, but when he figured it out, he dug right in!

Craft day with Abby and Megan

They each painted a little cardboard purse, and they were very creative, as you can see!

We cheered Jake on at a few more races.

This race was way up in the middle of nowhere in northern Utah.

Rachel and Forrest paid us a visit in Albuquerque,

where (sadly for Jeff's sake but fun for me!) Forrest took his first steps:

October Fun Things

My mom was down in Albuquerque visiting for a few days,

so it was fun to spend some time with her

and Emily's family. (But sadly no pictures)

A (much too quick) visit to New York

to celebrate Dave's dad's 80th birthday.

A pumpkin patch and corn maze visit with Rachel and Forrest,

Bekah, and Abby and Megan:

Also during the October visit to Utah, we went to Jake's race in Indianola, and I helped Nicole paint her kitchen cupboards. I wish I'd taken a picture of Nicole's cabinet project along the way, but I didn't. We'll have to wait to see the final product when Nicole puts a picture up.

And last but not least, my kitchen in Albuquerque is finally done! (Well, still a few little details to go, but it's definitely MUCH, MUCH better!)

Hurray!

Cross country trips, birthdays, grandkids - you name it!

2011-08-09T13:37:00.004-06:00

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything here, so this post is going to be my attempt to remember the whirlwind of the past three months. I'm sure I'll forget lots of important things (when you get to my advanced age, the details start slipping through the cracks), but I'll do my best to capture the highlights. Feel free to go get yourself a snack - this may take a while!

In May, Dave took a job at Presbyterian Health Systems in (drumroll please) Albuquerque, NM! Surprise! I never in a million years would have guessed that we would move to NM, but crazier things have happened, I guess. So we closed down Dave's CPA practice, hired a manager for my stores in Heber, rented our house, split all our belongings up between a little condo in Springville, and a small house in Albuquerque, and took the plunge. Whewww....that's a lot of moving, believe me! If you want to see pictures of our house in Albuquerque, check out my other blog Amenities Design I'll be posting pictures of the scary, (very) depressing before pictures, and the happier after pictures. It's not all done yet, but it's a heck of a lot better! I will be making frequent trips to Utah to keep up with the stores, the kids, and the grandkids. I also plan on making frequent trips to northwest Arkansas to see the attractions there (i.e. Matt's family!)

I flew to Iowa in June (?) to help Rachel, Jeff, and Forrest make their cross-country trek to Utah. Even though it's a long (and mostly boring) drive, it wasn't much of a sacrifice because it meant I get to be a little closer Rachel, Jeff, and this little guy:

I'll bet you'd drive cross-country for that face too, wouldn't you?!

Matt, Amy, and Preston flew to Utah the end of June, and we had fun visiting with them. We were getting close to the date we had to be out of the Heber house by then, so Preston helped Dave with some of the packing:

"Help pia, help!"

In July, Matt and Amy took a trip to Guatemala to visit some of the places Matt had served during his mission. The bonus for us was that we got to have Preston all to ourselves for 10 days! I recruited Bekah to help me, since he loves her so much (well, it's a mutual attraction), so she flew down here to NM as well. We had a great time with Preston - he's full of personality, that boy is! Here are a few of my favorite shots from his visit:

Bekah showed no mercy when it came to the water-gun fights.

A trip to a local spray park, where Preston was obsessed with

getting a little girl's plastic cup for himself to play with.

Box car lovingly created by Bekah, to Preston's exacting specifications.

Bekah getting a ride in the box car.

On our last trip up to Utah, I invited Rachel to bring Forrest swimming, and I picked up Megan and Abby. Bekah was with us as well. We had a great time in the pool, where I quickly learned that it is very difficult to keep your eye on three swimming grandkids at the same time. Megan and Abby slept over afterwards, and we had a fun time watching Disney princess movies and playing Barbies. During the same trip, we also celebrated Rebekah's 20 birthday. What?! How can it be that our little baby is 20 years old and all grown up? Sigh - don't know how that happened, but it sure did! We celebrated with a Harry Potter themed party. I know that this is going to be the butt of jokes for many years to come, but here it is - the Harry Potter House Colors cake. First I'll show you what it's supposed to look like:

Oh sure, it looks easy.

After two attempts, here's my version:

Where was Amy when I needed her?!

Yep. Could not make that darn thing come out for the life of me. Oh well, we had a fun party, and we all had a good laugh over that stupid cake.

Here's the beautiful 20 year old:

Happy Birthday Bekah! We love you!!!

Lots of birthdays to celebrate this summer - Rachel had a birthday in July (which sadly I missed being there for, but I was thinking of her!), and Rob celebrates his birthday today! Happy birthday today, Rob! I will be able to see Forrest celebrate his 1 year birthday, though. Hurray for airplanes!

Oh yes, and we got family pictures taken this summer. It was a lot of fun, and we got some really great shots of everybody. Here's one of my favorites of the kids and kids-in-law

Another one of my favorites

Those leaves were very intriguing.

Okay, there you have at least some of the highlights from the last three months. Hopefully I won't go another three months before my next post - it's too hard to remember!

A trip to the zoo

2011-06-01T20:38:00.002-06:00

Bekah and I went to Hogle Zoo today with Rob, Mindy and the girls. I somehow managed to capture some really cute pictures (total luck, I know!)

Abby in a tortoise shell

Prairie dog hunting

Brave girl!

This one came out so cute!

Look at the cute smile!

Doesn't Megan look so pretty?

Abby taking pictures of the giraffes

Rebekah scratching a bug bite (exciting, I know)

My trip to Arkansas

2011-04-13T13:13:00.001-06:00

I just got back from spending several days in Arkansas with Matt, Amy, and Preston. I had so much fun, and it was great to be with them. Here are some highlights from the trip:

We visited Eureka Springs, a cute little resort town in the Ozarks.

Poor picture, but a pretty place!

Everybody needs a wicker street bike.

Preston holding Flat Stanley (Amy's niece sent him to her - she was supposed to take pictures of Flat Stanley at various points of interest in Arkansas) for a picture with Humpty Dumpty.

Yum.

Christ of the Ozarks. And Flat Stanley.

One day, while Matt and Amy were working on putting together Preston's swingset in the backyard, Preston was busy doing a little work of his own pruning Amy's flowers. And by pruning, I mean carefully cutting off each blossom with his "cut tool".

Another day we visited a "Safari Park", where we got up to see wild animals up close and personal - like this camel. Yes, that's his snout in Matt's driver-side window. All the signs said to keep your windows closed, probably for this very reason.

Emus are extraordinarily ugly animals...or birds...or whatever they are.

And here's poor Flat Stanley having a near fatal encounter with a zebra.

We spent a fair amount of time in the car driving to these fun places, so to keep Preston entertained, I taught him how to take pictures with my camera. These next three shots were taken by Preston.

Here's Preston posing for a shot that Amy took.

On my last day there, we took a trip to a nursery and picked out flowers for Amy's pots on her patio.

It was a great trip - thanks Matt, Amy, and Preston for showing me such a great time! I miss you already!

Who doesn't love Ronald?

2011-03-13T20:25:00.000-06:00

Actually, I think Ronald is a little creepy, and I guess Megan does too, because she wouldn't get too close to him during our trip to McDonald's. Bekah was a good sport and climbed around inside the tube slides with Abby and Megan - and she only got stuck once (it was a little too tight a turn for long legs).

Only for die-hard chocoholics

2011-02-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Bekah was home over the weekend, and although I have been behaving myself VERY well and haven't been eating much sugar, I decided that the occasion warranted making a special treat. So we made these little beauties:

We got the recipe here and here and they were deeeeeeeeeliiiciiioussss! Of course, we ended up with way more cupcakes than any of us wanted to eat (well, that's a lie. I wanted to eat all of them, but I was able to exercise a moderate amount of self-control), so our home teachees and visiting teachees got a sugar-high this weekend whether they wanted it or not.

Full moon

2011-02-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

This was the view of the mountains to the east of our house when I was driving home the other night. I just happened to have my camera, so here you go. I thought it was kind of pretty!

Christmas and a cruise

2011-02-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Since we're already almost halfway through February, maybe I should get my Christmas post done. (Before long I'm going to be one of those people who sends out their Christmas cards for Valentine's Day.)

It was so much fun to get the family together - that's always the best part of Christmas for me.

We appreciated Jeff, Rachel, and Forrest coming out to spend time with us. I don't think any of those three got much sleep during the time they were here, but it sure was fun to have them! You can see here how thrilled Forrest was to see us all...

Two weeks after Christmas Dave and I went on our long-awaited cruise. We actually booked the cruise almost a year ago, so yeah, it was a long time coming! We got away from the cold and snow in good old Heber, and took in a little of this:

Yep, it felt good.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-05T14:27:00.001-07:00

This year Nicole made the turkey for our Thanksgiving feast, and I have to say, I believe it was the best turkey I have ever had. She brined it (using Alton Brown's recipe). I think we have a new holiday tradition. Yum!!

Bekah became Abby's new best friend during our time in St. George, and Dave, Jake, and Rob worked on perfecting their motocross skills (the Play Station version).

We also celebrated Megan's 2nd birthday while we were together. Bekah noted a funny moment when, after opening one of her presents, which was a doll that crawls, Mega was trying to get Abby's attention. She was feeding her baby with a toy bottle that Bekah had given her, and she kept saying "Abby babo baba", (babo = baby, and "baba" = bottle) over and over. Try repeating that tongue-twister fast ten times! (Abby was still successful at ignoring her, however!)

I know that Thanksgiving is past, but I just want to say how grateful I am for all of the blessings that I enjoy, and especially for the opportunity to reflect on those blessings during this season of the year.

I am so thankful to have been born to "goodly parents". Thanks, Mom and Dad for being such great examples for me, and for making gospel living such a priority in your lives and in our home as you raised your children. Thank you for your sacrifices in my behalf. I love you!

Thanks to my brothers and sisters for their love, friendship, support and example.

Thanks to Dave for being a supportive and loyal husband, friend, and teacher, and to his parents for their stalwart examples and efforts in raising their family in the gospel.

Thanks to all of my children for living the gospel, loving me, and bringing such great happiness into my life. And thank you (to those who are married) for choosing such beautiful, strong, and faithful spouses. I love you all!

And thanks to my four sweet little grandchildren for the opportunity to be a grandma! I love watching them grow and being a part of their lives.

And most importantly, thanks to my Heavenly Father for giving me all of the above blessings! I'm so grateful to have the gospel in my life and to have a knowledge of the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love Him and hope to grow closer to Him each day. I am so grateful to have the blessings of the temple in my life, and I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me so abundantly.

A day at the races

2010-10-31T13:54:00.000-06:00

As a preface to this post - Dave, Rebekah, and I took a quick trip to New York last weekend to see Dave's parents. It was fun to spend time with them, and they look wonderful! Rachel, Jeff, and Forrest traveled from Iowa to spend the weekend in NY as well, so it was a great time. We loved being together! The only glitch was that we didn't have our camera. I'm very sad about that, but I'll have to rely on Rebekah to give me her photos. I know she got some great pictures. So Rebekah - post your pictures from New York soon, okay?!

In other news, Jake had a race yesterday in Manti, possibly the last one he'll do this season. So we invited Rob, Mindy, and the girls to go, and we had a great day. Jake did great, finishing 3rd. The pictures of Jake were taken by Rob, who is a very talented photographer!

Spooky Treats

2010-10-31T00:42:00.000-06:00

Last time Bekah was home for the weekend, she wanted to make some Halloween cupcakes. The ones in the picture she showed me were really cute. Our interpretation of them was not quite so perfect, but still pretty darn cute!

As luck would have it, we were babysitting Preston that night, so he helped us out, and even decorated his own cupcake.

And Preston's fine work deserves a closeup:

The newest addition

2010-09-26T19:14:00.000-06:00

I spent this past week in Iowa with Rachel and Jeff and little Forrest. It was so fun to get to cuddle and hold Forrest, and equally nice to spend time with Rachel and Jeff. They make a very cute little family! Dave joined us on Friday, and was happy to be able to participate in Forrest's blessing. Here's the happy family on their way to church for the blessing. (See how happy Forrest is to be going to church? He's smiling in his sleep just thinking about it!)

Forrest and mama.

Smiling it up for mama.

What a cutie!

I am so grateful for all of my children and grandchildren. They have brought, and continue to bring so much joy and fulfillment to my life. How very blessed I am!

Baby Forrest

2010-08-29T01:58:00.003-06:00

Rachel and Jeff's baby was born on Tuesday - Forrest Jeffry Brown entered the world at 4:09 p.m. We are so happy for Rachel and Jeff, and we can't wait to go out to Iowa to meet little Forrest in person!

Birthdays and other celebrations

2010-08-10T19:08:00.008-06:00

We celebrated Rebekah's birthday on Saturday with a dinner at our house. She's a big 19 years old now - my how time flies! Happy Birthday Bekah!

And a short 3 days later it was Rob's birthday - Happy Birthday to you too, Rob!

(Not exactly a recent picture!)

And while everyone was up here in Heber, we decided to take in the ever so exciting

Fair Days parade.

Preston spotting something VERY interesting - probably a motorcycle.

They gave out lots of free food - here's Abby with her freeze-pop.

Megan retrieving some goodies thrown from a float.

All-in-all, it was a good day!

I think I'm crazy

2010-07-14T17:28:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted anything forever, so I thought I'd update anyone who may still actually check this thing!

My latest time-consuming venture is getting ready to open up a craft boutique next to my existing store on Main Street in Heber. We're calling it "Bungalow Boutique", and we hope to open up by the middle of August.

So I've been busy contacting crafters, overseeing the build-out of the booths, ordering signage, paper bags, display cases, and on, and on, and on.....

If you know of any Utah crafters who you think might be interested in being in a cute little boutique, give me a holler!

Other than that, things have been moving along as usual. We had a fun trip down to St. George over the 4th of July. I know - WRONG time to go to St. George, but it was fun nevertheless. We are looking forward to a riding/camping trip up in the mountains later this summer. We're also excited for grandbaby #4 (thanks, Rachel!!!) and will make a trek to Iowa when he arrives.

Look at what we found!

2010-05-25T18:38:00.004-06:00

We took a spur-of-the-moment trip down to St. George last weekend to escape Heber's 30 degrees-and-snow forecast. It was lovely down there, of course - about 78 degrees and sunny. Rob and Mindy and the girls ended up coming too. Dave went shooting with Evan and Rob while us girls went to the playground, where Abby and Megan conquered the stegosaurus riding toy.

When we got home, this is what we found in the window well of our basement:

And no, we don't own a cat.

Anybody want a kitty?

Our day.....will come...

2010-05-01T00:59:00.005-06:00

Remember this pretty picture? (How can you not? It's just right there below - mocking me!)

This is what we see every morning when we wake up and look hopefully out the window -

I want to know what happened to spring in Heber?!?

I know spring has sprung in other places, because every time I tell someone what the temperature is here, they respond with "Really?! It's ___ (fill in the blank with any temperature above 65) here and sunny today!"

The locals tell me not to get too discouraged just yet - they all guarantee me that it'll snow at least once in June. Sigh.

Happy May Day!

I'm not exactly Bakerella

2010-04-05T18:08:00.002-06:00

This is a picture of the cupcake pops that Amy and Rebekah helped me make for our recent Ladies' Night Out at the store. Pretty cute, huh?

Heavenly.

2010-03-31T14:26:00.003-06:00

Any of you who know me very well know that I LOVE homemade mashed potatoes. (That was always my birthday-dinner request.)

I found THE BEST mashed potato recipe recently. It's so good that we have had them on multiple occasions in the week or two since I found the recipe. (Hmm, that could explain why Dave and I are looking a little chubby lately...)

No, this is DEFINITELY not a low-fat, healthy version. But they are just plain yummy.

Try them. You won't be sorry.

Delicious, creamy mashed potatoes

Wishful thinking

2010-03-17T11:57:00.002-06:00

Sigh.

Doesn't that look wonderful?

I can't wait for spring.

Sew, very old one! Sew like the wind!

2010-02-21T13:26:00.013-07:00

I decided that I'm going to get back into sewing - a hobby I enjoyed a long time ago.

I haven't really sewn (except for an occasional item here or there) for quite a few years.
And since most of the subjects that I want to sew for aren't living in my house anymore, I decided that a dress form would be helpful. But the ones you can buy in the fabric stores or online seem really expensive, so after some encouragement from Rachel, I made my own! (Rachel had seen some instructions for making your own dress forms on a couple different sewing blogs).

A roll of brown packing tape and about half an hour later, this is what I ended up with.

Yep, that's Bekah's figure right there. She had fun pretending she was being mummified, and I ended up with a dress form that will hopefully be helpful as I sew for her while she's at school.

So far in my new sewing venture, I've made a dress each for Abby and Megan (no picture), and I've made this shirt for Megan (I've got another one for Abby in process).

Here are a few of my upcoming projects.

In addition to the dress I've started for Bekah, I'm going to sew a dress for Rachel (she's going to pick out the fabric when she's here in a couple of weeks), and one for myself. Then I want to make some curtains and pillows for the house.

That should keep me going for a few weeks.

And it only took me 25 years

2010-01-28T19:30:00.003-07:00

I've been making whole wheat bread for... oh, about 25 years. Sometimes it has turned out pretty well, and many more times not so good.

But thanks to Bekah's roommate's family recipe (which I also saw almost an exact replica of today on another blog), I have finally made a light, soft, fluffy, DELICIOUS loaf of whole wheat bread! Yay!!!

Here's a picture in case you don't believe me.

I guess the secret is adding wheat gluten and dough enhancer. Who knew? (Apparently everybody but me!)

Here's a link to the recipe http://hubpages.com/hub/Perfect-Homemade-Bread

2 posts in 2 days?! Crazy, I know!

2010-01-03T18:19:00.004-07:00

I just wanted to add a little postscript to my earlier post about Christmas. There were two things I wanted to share but didn't there because my post was getting too long, and also because I was too lazy to continue.

First, Bekah's friend Evan came for a visit from Kentucky the week before Christmas. It was fun to have him here and to get to know him better. We went bowling with them, and I'll have to say, we were all pleasantly surprised at our bowling scores! Maybe NOT practicing is the way to go?! Rebekah and Evan did a lot of other fun things too, and had a great time.

Here's a picture of Evan and Bekah (most of the pictures are on Bekah's camera, so she'll have to make her own post to share those):

Second, this video is one Bekah took on Christmas night when the kids and grandkids were here. Even though there were new toys to be played with, Bekah's old doll stroller was the hit of the night. Preston figured out that he fit in the stroller, and Abby figured out that she had a real-live doll to push around. Needless to say, it was very entertaining!

Christmas 2009 - gone already?!

2010-01-01T14:40:00.013-07:00

It's hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone! It was fun to have our kids and grandkids around. Little children and Christmas are a great combination!

We really missed having Rachel and Jeff here, but it was fun to be able to Skype with them and feel like they were almost here.

Santa Train

2009-12-05T17:35:00.003-07:00

Today I took Preston and Abby on the Santa Train (aka the Heber Valley Railroad). They both liked seeing the cows, sheep, and horses out the window of the train.

They were also very excited whenever the train blew its whistle.

Neither one of them seemed to be thrilled with Santa himself though. Preston started crying when Santa leaned over to talk to him, and after Santa had passed us and gone on to the other children, Abby said "Santa is not very nice." When I asked her what she meant, she said "He didn't bring me any presents. He was supposed to bring me a kitchen."

So I guess Santa was a failure.

But they both loved the candy canes.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-28T09:41:00.008-07:00

It was fun to get together over Thanksgiving. We missed having Jeff and Rachel with us, but it was fun to see everyone else and spend some time together.

We are so thankful for our wonderful family! What a blessing families are!

All of our married children went to their in-laws homes for Thanksgiving day. We got together the day after Thanksgiving at our ward building for a Field/Baardson/Jones family gathering.

Here's the whole group:

I need a maid (or a wife)

2009-09-22T17:06:00.002-06:00

Wow, I'm hungry! I would really love to go home from work to a hot and delicious home cooked meal. Wonder what the chances of that happening are?

Labor Day

2009-09-09T15:22:00.014-06:00

On Labor Day Dave, Bekah and I went riding in the mountains at Strawberry Reservoir. It was a beautiful day for a ride, and the scenery up there was amazing! Too bad we forgot to take a camera! Bekah even saw a huge bull moose while she was waiting alongside one of the trails.

In the evening the kids came over for a barbecue.

And this last one was the Saturday before Labor Day. Preston came over to show off his new Halloween Costume. He makes a VERY scary looking dragon, as you can see:

Better than movie stars

2009-08-10T10:59:00.003-06:00

Usually I don't like working on Saturdays at my store. There are so many other things I'd rather be doing. But this Saturday I had two customers come in who made working all those other Saturdays worthwhile.

When we owned the antiques store in Millbrook, we used to get some celebrities stopping in - Mary Tyler Moore, Liam Neeson, some guy from The Doors, whose name I could never remember, Anthony Hopkins, to name a few.

Anyway, my visitors on Saturday here in Heber made all those celebrities pale in comparison.....Elder Jeffrey Holland and his wife Pat paid a visit to my store!! I just about fainted when I looked out the window and saw them coming up the stairs! They were really nice and visited with me for a little while, and bought a couple of lamps.

SIGH.....so much better than movie stars.

Rachel and Jeff's visit

2009-07-29T09:34:00.003-06:00

We had a great time with Rachel and Jeff when they paid us a visit in July. It was so fun to spend time with them. We love them and miss them!

South Dakota trip in a nutshell

2009-07-26T16:59:00.016-06:00

Bekah and I got back last night from our trip to South Dakota for the Allred Family Reunion. We had a great time - here are a few of the highlights:

We drove all day Tuesday to get there (about 15 hours total). We saw a lot of this along the way:

We stayed at a camp owned by the Catholic church. It was a great place!

It was so fun seeing my mom, brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, and nephews:

The traditional marshmallow fight is always a highlight of the week:

Bekah and I did some sightseeing on the way home:

First stop - The Mitchell Corn Palace, America's Destination. All the murals and the decorations on the outside are made of corncobs and cornhusks. Strange, but interesting.

Second stop - the Badlands. Very interesting and even weird. Felt like we were on the moon, or something.

And of course, we couldn't go to South Dakota without stopping at WALL DRUG. Yes, in all capitals - on every one of the 200 billboards we saw across the state. (You can see how happy I am that we finally made it.)

Then it was on to Mt. Rushmore,

Independence Rock,

Martin's Cove,

and finally - home sweet home!

It was a wonderful trip. I loved spending all that time with Bekah and renewing friendships and love with extended family - what a great blessing a good family is! And seeing all those terrific sites! What more could you ask of a vacation? (a little less time behind the wheel perhaps?)

Road Trip!

2009-07-20T12:11:00.002-06:00

Bekah and I are heading off tomorrow for our first ever mother/daughter road trip! Yep, we'll be making the trek from Heber City, UT to Irene, SD for the Allred Family Reunion. (What, you've never heard of Irene, SD?!)

Should be lots of fun, and hopefully we'll get some good pictures of all the exciting things to see along the way (sagebrush, prairie dogs, Mt. Rushmore, Mitchell Corn Palace, etc.)

Oh yeah, it's going to be exciting!!

My new goals

2009-06-17T11:41:00.003-06:00

Dave and I work at the Provo temple every Tuesday morning. The women's shifts are organized in 2-month stints. That means that the coordinators for the shift come up with a schedule for each worker that covers the 5-hour shift. My schedule for the past two months has looked like this:

5:00 - 5:20 Prayer meeting
5:45 - 7:30 Follow the 5:50 session
7:30 - 8:00 Work at the veil
8:00 - 9:00 Work in initiatory
9:00 - 10:00 Name issue

I have really loved working in the temple these past 10 months. It has been an awesome and uplifting experience. During the past 10 months, I've had all kinds of different shifts, but this current one has been my favorite. I think it's been my favorite because I have gotten to recognize and meet a lot of the regular patrons who come in faithfully.

These regular patrons are so inspiring to me because they are ALWAYS there! Faithfully. Every single week. I would have to say that about 75 percent of the patrons on the early session are the same every week, and the other 25 percent changes weekly. In initiatory, there are probably 5 or 6 women who I have come to know by name because they are there every single Tuesday. One of them is Sister Gordon. She's just the cutest, sweetest little old lady (and I love her cute curly white hair!). She gives me a huge smile every time she sees me walk into the initiatory booth. I just love seeing her. There are other regulars who I recognize by face. I am inspired every Tuesday when I go to the temple and see these wonderful, faithful women.

Another one of my favorite patrons is Sister Hendricks. Sister Hendricks attends the 9:30 endowment session every Tuesday. She comes during the time I'm working at name issue, so I get to see her there. Her granddaughter brings her and attends the session with her. Sister Hendricks wears a hearing aid, but other than that, she seems perfectly healthy and spry. The other day, after I had helped Sister Hendricks and she was on her way, one of the other works told me that Sister Hendricks is 105 years old! And that she's been coming to the temple faithfully for as long as that worker could remember.

Wow! What an awesome example of enduring to the end in faithfulness! I think it is so inspiring to see these women come to the temple regularly - come snow, rain, good days, bad days (I'm assuming they have them too!) - whatever, they are there.

My goal is to become as faithful as these wonderful women are in their temple attendance.

(P.S. On a side note - my other goal is to live to be (a healthy) 105 years old. If I can do that, it means that I'm not even middle-aged yet!)

Memorial weekend fun

2009-05-25T20:00:00.005-06:00

We had the kids over for dinner on Sunday, and afterwards we took Abby and Megan to the park. The kids all had fun playing on the toys:

(I always knew Nicole would be a good mom)

Motorcycles and marshmallows

2009-05-19T18:56:00.003-06:00

Last weekend Dave, Bekah and I went with Jake and Nicole to the Cherry Creek desert race near Delta. We camped the first night on a VERY dusty pit row, and the next night we moved to a more scenic campsite with more trees and slightly less dust.

Besides cheering Jake on, we enjoyed some riding on the almost endless trails in the area, roasted marshmallows, and just had fun together

Supercross

2009-04-27T11:57:00.003-06:00

On Saturday we attend the Salt Lake Supercross. It was a lot of fun to watch these super-talented riders. I always have to wonder how their mothers feel watching them do triple jumps. I'd say they've earned a few gray hairs!

I know this is a blurry picture, but it was hard to get an action shot with my slow camera. This is a little like "Where's Waldo" - can you see the two riders up in the air? You have to kind of look up in the stands.

Surprise!

2009-04-16T14:57:00.002-06:00

It was a real treat this week to receive surprise visits from some old friends and some family. On Monday, Miriam called to say that she, Shane, Russell, and a friend of Russell's were on their way back to Wyoming after spending Easter weekend with their kids here in Utah. They wanted to know if they could make a quick stop in Heber to see us. I was so excited!

While I was working at the store and watching out the window for the Roberts' arrival, I saw a car pull up outside. Two women got out of the car and started walking to the front door of the store. My first thought was "Oh darn, it's not Miriam and Shane." And while I watched them walk up to the door, I realize that I knew these two! It was Ann and Chelsea Evans (she's now married, but I can't remember her married name) from Hyde Park, NY. They were on their way from Kamas (visiting Louise Hardy) down to Las Vegas where Chelsea has a summer student teaching job.

It was so fun to see Ann and Chelsea and to catch up on their family, as well as get news on other old friends from New York.

Soon after the Evans left, the Roberts came, and we had a lot of fun visiting with them. It was so nice to catch up with Miriam and Shane for a while, and to see how tall Russell has gotten!

That's one really nice thing about living in Utah - so many people have ties here that we get to see old friends and family a little more often than we did in NY. Thanks for stopping by to say hi.

We love you!

A picture's worth a thousand words...

2009-03-29T19:53:00.007-06:00

And this picture is a classic:

Busy weekend

2009-03-02T19:09:00.005-07:00

This was a busy weekend for the Utah Fields. On Friday after the store closed, Bekah, Dave, and I drove down to St. George with Jake and Nicole. Matt, Amy, and Preston had driven down earlier on Thursday. We went to cheer Matt and Jake on in their desert race on Saturday.

They both did very well in the race, and it was fun to watch them. We got a little worried about Jake when he didn't show up after his second lap - we knew it wasn't like him to be so far behind, especially since he had done really well in the first lap. And then when he didn't show up at all.....hmm. Sure enough, he'd had an unfortunate breakdown while going up a rocky two mile climb (he lost the master link on his chain). He unfortunately had to sit around for over an hour until the race was over and the sweepers came through to pick up all the broken bikes and their riders. He was able to finish the race though, because a girl who the sweepers were towing out happened to have an extra master link on her.

Other than that slight problem, it was a fun day! We celebrated Jake's birthday that night with some steaks and an ice cream cake. It was a fun, although quick, trip. Sadly, we didn't get any pictures, but I'm sure Matt and Jake will post some.

On Sunday morning we all got up early and drove back up to Spanish Fork to be with Rob and Mindy for Megan's blessing. Rob gave her a beautiful blessing, and she was a very well-behaved little girl! She looked so cute in the dress that Mindy's mom had made for her. Afterwards the families shared a lunch at Rob and Mindy's house.

Here are a few pictures:

Megan in her pretty little dress

Rob, Mindy and Megan

Preston looking dapper in his argyle vest:

We are so grateful that we can be here to be a part of these special events!

Oh, and this last picture is Abby dancing in Bekah's old ballet costume. She loved it, and she also loved carrying around the picture of Bekah wearing this costume back when she was 4.

Oh yeah....

2009-02-10T15:30:00.002-07:00

This is the pizza I'll be making for Bekah's 18th birthday. I think she's gonna love it.

Yummmy...

2009-01-31T17:41:00.001-07:00

I've been trying a lot of recipes lately from epicurius (based on Amy's recommendation), and I have to tell you - they have been soooo good! Here are a couple of my favorites:

Spicy Garbanzo Bean and Turkey Sausage Soup

It's so good with a little cheese grated on top, a sprinkle of cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream. A few tortilla chips sprinkled on top didn't hurt either.

Here's another one both Dave and I loved:

Slow Cooked Carnitas Tacos

Okay - mine didn't look AT ALL like the picture, but it tasted really good!

This one was super easy (just put the meat in a crockpot in the morning and let it cook all day). It was really flavorful and delicious.

And last but not least....

Warm Chicken Sandwiches

These have mushrooms, spinach, and cheese on them, and they are very, very good.

The one thing that all of these recipes have in common is that they are quick, easy to make, and have 10 or less ingredients - all requirements to make it into the Kathleen Field Recipe Hall of Fame.

Enjoy!

Amenities Blog

2008-12-30T15:02:00.003-07:00

Amenities now has a blog - check it out! (And if you feel so inpsired, I give you permission to put a link to it on your blog as well :) )

http://amenitieshomedecor.blogspot.com/

Can you believe December's almost over?

2008-12-26T18:23:00.010-07:00

Wow, December has flown by! I guess it's because lots of things were going on this month. A few examples: Megan was born, Bekah finished her first semester of college, Rachel and Jeff came to Utah to spend Christmas with us, Matt and Preston both had surgery on their ears, and I had to get ready for Christmas while actually having a job (something that hasn't happened for about 29 years!). Here's some pictures of life this month in the Field family:

Grandbaby #3!

2008-12-02T20:25:00.003-07:00

Yes, Megan has finally arrived! She was born on December 1st around 1:00 p.m. She weighed 9 lb., 13 oz. and was 22 inches long. She has a lot of really dark hair on the back of her head, and even some on the top. She's adorable! Both Mindy and Megan are doing great, and we are so happy that Megan has finally joined us! I was planning on posting some pictures that Dave took at the hospital yesterday, but I managed to erase them from the camera before saving them to my computer. Sad! (So I had to steal this picture from Rob.) Anyway, we are all very happy to welcome Megan to the family!

Now Open!

2008-11-25T18:48:00.003-07:00

Amenities is finally open for business! It look a lot longer than we thought it would take to get up and running, but hey, better late than never, right? Here are a few shots of the interior.

The Grand Opening is the day after Thanksgiving, and the ads come out in the papers tomorrow.

Rob and Matt really were cute children too....honest!

2008-10-05T21:07:00.001-06:00

On Sunday after dinner, Bekah and Nicole wanted to watch old family videos. The problem with our family videos though, is that we didn't even own a video camera until Rob and Matt were firmly entrenched in the awkward, gawky stage...big glasses, pokey hair, missing teeth, etc. Therefore, in all of our videos, Jake, Rachel, and Bekah (when she finally shows up in them) are all cute and adorable, but Rob and Matt are both, well, kind of goofy looking. I believe they are both convinced that they were awkward, ugly children. I keep trying to tell them that they were really adorable when they were that age too, but they don't believe me. So here's the proof.

Here are a few pictures of Matt:

Here are some of Rob:

And a couple of them together:

I rest my case.

Promised Pictures

2008-09-29T18:49:00.000-06:00

About a month ago I said I'd take some pictures of the store with the new sign, etc. Well, I finally did! We finally got the sign up on Saturday, and I think it looks super!

Here's the building with the electric green doors: (please take special note of the lovely stone walkway which Dave labored over in 95 degree weather for many days!)

It's hard to see the doors in that shot, I know, so here's a closeup:

Here's an even closer shot so you can see the fun lettering in the door's window:

And here's a picture of the beautiful bay windows from the inside (I know it's a little dark, sorry!)

And finally, here's the sign out front:

Looking good, don't you think?!

Happenings

2008-09-06T16:53:00.000-06:00

Gosh, it's been a while since I've posted. I guess I've been keeping too busy painting at the store. I'm going to take pictures tomorrow to show all you all the progress we've made so far. It honestly is looking really great! I think my favorite thing on the building right now are the outside doors - I painted them "spring grass green". Actually, it looks a little more like a radioactive lime green, but whatever. I really like them. At least it doesn't look like a house anymore. We're hoping to get the sign up in the next week or so, and that should make a big difference too. Dave also worked really hard on the front walkway - lifting all the stones, cleaning out all the grass and weeds underneath, and placing the stones again, this time with stone dust in between. You'll see how awesome it looks soon when I get the pictures up!

Dave and I took a trip down to St. George this week to bring a trailer load of stuff to the little house we own there. It's getting a little more bearable there now - only about 90 degrees this time! It's going to feel awesome down there this winter when it's 15 degrees here in Heber though! We ran and rode our bikes in the mornings for exercise. There are tons of trails around the neighbor, and they're gorgeous - and some of them are dangerously steep! But it was lots of fun.

Bek's getting used to the life of an independent college student and seems to be doing well. We miss her, but are happy that she's happy!

We attended our first BYU home game, and that was fun. We're looking forward to Saturday's game against UCLA. Should be an interesting one!

Lots of traveling

2008-08-11T19:28:00.001-06:00

We have been quite the travelers since we left New York! Besides the 2,000 some mile trek across country, we have taken numerous jaunts to other areas of the west. Shortly after arriving in Utah, we made a weekend trip up to Billings, Montana for Rachell and Tim's wedding (see my last post). Then a couple of weeks later Dave and I went to Las Vegas for a buyer's market. That was quite an experience - 5.8 MILLION square feet of showroom to attempt to cover in 4 days time. Not possible. But it was a fun and productive trip. We stayed in St. George for the 4 days and drove to Vegas every morning for the market.

Then this past weekend we drove up to Bear Lake for their gigantic Raspberry Days celebration. I am being sarcastic about the gigantic part. It pretty much consisted of a craft fair. But for some reason, it attracts tons of people, so it was really crowded up there. Matt, Amy and Preston, Jake and Nicole, and of course Rebekah, joined us for the weekend. The only disappointment of the weekend was that Rob, Mindy, and Abby were not able to come with us. We missed them! (And OF COURSE we missed you too, Jeff and Rachel!!) But we did have fun and got in some quality riding time. The trails in the mountains above Bear Lake were beautiful!

Never a dull moment

2008-07-26T15:44:00.000-06:00

We certainly have been keeping busy since we arrived here in Utah. We spent the first couple of days getting settled into the house: unpacking, getting cable and internet set up, making sure the mail is being forwarded, figuring out when garbage day is, setting up bank accounts, etc. Lots of fun, all of it!

In addition to all that mundane stuff, we've been meeting with contractors, painters, engineers, electricians, and city council members about getting our little commercial property up and going. That has taken a surprising amount of time! In addition, we've been doing what we can ourselves to fix up the little store I'll be running on Main Street in Heber. Here's a picture of what it looks like today:

It's a cute little building in desperate need of a paint job! (Hence the meetings with painters - none of whom must be very excited about doing it either, since we haven't heard back from any of them.) We would think about doing it ourselves, but it has incredibly ornate millwork which we are not too thrilled about scraping, puttying and painting ourselves. But we have been painting some of the rooms inside, working on the yard, etc.

In other news, we made a quick trip up to the Billings Montana temple last weekend for Rachell Robert's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, and it was lots of fun to visit with family.

Westward Ho!

2008-07-17T19:07:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know we're not really pioneers, but driving over 2,000 miles in a pickup truck makes you kind of feel like one. You feel every bump and pothole - and after about 100 miles, you start to appreciate the joys of airplane travel, or even passenger car travel! But we persevered, and after only five delightful days of driving, we made it to the beautiful Heber valley. Bekah especially had to grin and bear it, as she was relegated to the miniature back seat of the truck as her home for the five-day trek. But she was a trouper, and we made it all the way across country with nary a complaint from her.

We made a quick stop at Niagra Falls because Bekah had never been there, and it seemed a shame to pass up the opportunity when we were so close.

Our trip was made much more enjoyable by a day and a half stop in Davenport, Iowa to visit Jeff and Rachel, who had arrived there just about a week before we got there. We had brought some of our old furniture to help populate their apartment, so after a short time unloading, and another bit of time setting things up, we were free to enjoy some quality visiting time with them. They showed us around Davenport, including Palmer. Here is a picture of Rachel and Rebekah in a little courtyard on the Palmer campus.

Checking out the flooding of the Mississippi River in Davenport - it had pretty much all receded by the time we got there.

Trying out the ice cream at Whitey's in Davenport.

And this is our new "Home Sweet Home" in Heber.

We've had fun seeing Rob, Mindy and Abby; Matt, Amy and Preston; and Jake and Nicole. We look forward to seeing the rest of you when you come to visit us here in Utah!

Wicked! (and a little shopping - a good combination!)

2008-06-29T10:17:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we finally used my birthday present from January, which was tickets to see Wicked on Broadway. We went to Millbrook on Friday, spent the afternoon and evening with Grandma and Grandpa Field, then took the train to NYC from Poughkeepsie on Saturday morning. We walked from Grand Central Station up to 55th Street, where we did a little bargain shopping at a place that a co-worker had told Dave about. They had some fun things! After arranging for our purchases to be shipped to Heber, we walked to Times Square, where we had lunch at Michael Scott's favorite New York pizza joint (aka Sbarro's). Then we went to the Gershwin Theater for the show. And it was awesome - we all loved it! It was definitely worth the six month wait!

Last couple items of business

2008-06-26T16:32:00.000-06:00

As moving day draws closer, we have been taking care of some last minute business like shipping our cars out west.

We figure that Rachel and Jeff probably passed Casper and my car on I-80 today as they headed east to Iowa!

And we've been packing liking crazy. This is how the kitchen cupboards look now...very disappointing for any hungry snackers.

And most important business of all - Bekah is a high school graduate!!!! Yay! Congratulations Bekah - we're very proud of you!

Getting ready to leave

2008-06-22T08:22:00.000-06:00

Last night the Maughans had a little get-together and invited some friends from the ward to come over and say goodbye to us. It was fun to have a chance to visit with friends before we make our pilgrimage westward. There are so many wonderful people in this ward who we have loved working with and getting to know. We will miss them greatly! We are really hoping that friends and family who travel to Utah will look us up. I have to admit that Dave and I are not the best at staying in touch with people after we move - but we have vowed to do better! And hopefully we'll get a chance to see lots of family and friends as they make their trips to Utah dropping off kids at college, attending weddings, etc.

Yesterday Dave and I spent most of the day packing up our little apartment here. We've been collecting boxes from MVP (and a few from the local liquor store...) and we've got most of those filled. The trick now is to see how much of this stuff we can fit into our trailer! A lot of the things we're taking are things that we are dropping off in Iowa for Jeff and Rachel (if Iowa hasn't floated away by the time we get there!). So now the cupboards are mostly bare and things are looking pretty sparse - in fact, we're down to peanut butter, shortening, and noodles...I'll have to see what culinary delights I can whip up with that ingredient list!

Question Answered

2008-06-10T16:59:00.001-06:00

Okay, my question from my last post about whether summer is ever coming to New York has definitely been answered. It's been 94 degrees and SUPER humid outside for about 4 days running now. So I guess summer has indeed hit NY state! We're supposed to get severe thunderstorms tonight, so maybe that'll cool things down.

But on a positive note, they closed the schools today at 1:00 because it was too hot. So Bekah got a free half-day!

Is summer ever going to get here??

2008-05-23T08:09:00.000-06:00

Well, today it is supposed to get up to 63 whopping degrees! And be really windy, too. This has to be the longest spring on record. It stopped being really cold here in NY about 2 months ago, but it is having a REALLY hard time warming up for any prolonged periods of time. Maybe it's just because we're kind of in limbo here in this little apartment, and I just want to get on with life, or maybe it's the weather, but it seems like summer is taking it's sweet old time getting here!

Last weekend we had a fun trip to Millbrook. We drove down on Saturday afternoon after Bekah's dance class. Our plan was to stop in Millbrook at Dave's folks' house, pick them up, and then go to Amy Brown's wedding reception in Poughkeepsie. Unfortunately, Grandma Field had fallen earlier in the week during a walk down Crescent Lane. Her foot was really hurting, so on Friday afternoon she went to the doctor for x-rays, and they told her it was broken. So they decided they'd better not go to the reception since it would likely involve a lot of standing. So we went on to the reception without them. It was fun to see old friends again - we saw the Wileys, Clarks, Stratfords, Berardis, Browns (of course), Bro. Albrecht, Malcarnes, Bro. Prettyman and his new wife, and probably a bunch of other people I'm forgetting. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. We also attended church in Poughkeepsie on Sunday, and that was fun too. It was almost shocking to me to see what a tiny little ward that is. I guess when we lived there I had gotten used to it being so small. But to see it again after being in a large ward was really kind of surprising.

Anyway, lots of good memories from Millbrook. Oh, and for the kids - Dad and I walked up the driveway to our house in Millbrook, and two things struck us: the hedge in front of the house is HUMONGOUS!!! (she needs to hired Ducky back - or Jake to do some trimming big time), and the huge old tree by the house is practically dead. That is going to be one monster tree trunk to remove - but she'd better do it soon, because one of these days a good old tornado is going to rip through there and leave that old tree sitting right on top of all my hard work!

Trip to Utah

2008-04-23T11:16:00.000-06:00

We just returned from our last trip to Utah before becoming residents there later this summer. We had a great time! Here are some of the highlights:

We got to meet Preston - and what a cutie he is! Amy was very patient with us as we all took turns holding him and getting to know him a little bit. It was wonderful to be there for his blessing, and I thought it was really nice that it was held right at Matt and Amy's house. Everybody was there, and it was a special night.

We had fun getting reacquainted with Abby and trying to convince her that she likes us! I don't think she buys it yet, but I'm sure that will come once we're out there and get to see her more often. She was lots of fun to play with and has grown a ton since we last saw her!

It was really nice to get everybody together a couple times while we were out there. We took the opportunity to have a family photo taken since the family has grown by 6 members since the last time we have a professional shot done. We've already seen the proofs, and they came out nice!

We visited Matt and Jake's motorcycle shop in Orem, and that was fun - they are very ambitious!

We spent an afternoon with Rachel and Bekah at the Nickel Arcade in Orem and sharpened up our arcade skills.

We got some things taken care of at the house, and made some progress with the commercial buildings in Heber were we are hoping to get start on renovations soon.

Most of all, it was nice just to spend time with the family. All in all, it was a great trip!

All the latest

2008-03-25T12:27:00.000-06:00

Well, we have big news in the Field family, and that, of course, is the arrival of Preston Matthew Field, born on March 21, 2008 to Matt and Amy. He's a hefty 9+ pounder, and adorable to boot. We can't wait to meet him in person.

Another milestone...in January Abby turned 1! It's hard to believe that she's not a little tiny baby anymore. But she sure is a cutie, and we're all crazy about her.

In other news - right now I'm working on sewing a prom dress for Rebekah. Here's what it looks like so far.

As you can see, I'm not very far along - in fact, the front is just pinned on, there's not even a back yet! The most interesting part is going to be inventing sleeves, since the pattern doesn't come with them.

And other than that, there's not a whole lots happening here in upstate New York. We are finally getting some sunshine, although it's still pretty chilly out. One of these days I'm hoping we can break out of the 40's!

Man Hugs 101

2008-03-12T08:49:00.000-06:00

Since we have 5 very manly men in our family, I thought that this information on man hugs might be helpful. You know, it's always a parent's responsibility to teach, and I'm trying to do my part. So, you male members of the family, just in case we didn't teach you properly in the art of the man hug while you were living at home, here is some very constructive advice: (be sure to watch the video - it's the best part)

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/03/07/the-mechanics-of-the-man-hug/

Trip to DC

2008-02-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Last week was winter break for Bekah, so we tried to do a few fun things. First Bekah had her cousin Heather come and stay for a few days. They had a fun time hanging out together. They helped host a Veggitales party, and also went bowling for Mutual. After Heather left, we drove down to Washington D.C. It was a good trip, and we had a lot of fun. We saw the White House, the Washington, Lincoln, and WWII Memorials, Arlington National Cemetary, a couple Smithsonians, Mount Vernon, and the Washington D.C. Temple. We also spent a fun evening with Kathie and John Baardson, who are living in D.C. right now. (In case you're wondering about that second picture....that's Dave and I with Albert Einstein.)

Oh, and I can't forget the stop in Scranton, PA, The Electric City, on the way down. I think that was a highlight for Bekah!

A Snazzy New Look

2008-02-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

As a little birthday treat, Bekah and I decided to go to a local salon and get our faces made up professionally. We thought it might be fun to see what someone impartial would do to our faces. I know all of you are fans of The Office, so I think you'll probably remember the episode where Michael decides they should split into pairs and make some good ole fashioned sales calls. Do you remember how Phyllis chooses Karen and then takes her to a beauty salon where they do an ever-so-lovely makeover on them both? In case you forgot, here's a reminder:

Well, I don't think that Bekah and I fared much better than Karen and Phyllis. At the end of the day, we wished that we had just gone out for a REALLY big banana split instead.

Yep. We actually paid money for that.

Livin' it up, Dave Field style

2008-01-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a big weekend here in the Dave Field household. We have two VERY big birthdays this weekend. Actually, one of them is a biggie, the other's not quite as exciting. Dave turned 52 on Saturday, and I hit the big 5-0 tomorrow. As you can imagine, we've been celebrating in high style. Per Dave's request, here's where we went out to dinner on Friday night.

Yep, you read it right - it's Mike's First Prize (and World Famous, I might add) Frankfurters in downtown Schenectady, NY. I'm sure you can imagine the ambiance of such a place. Actually, we just stopped at Mike's on the way home from the Stake YMYW Volleyball tournament. We're doing the real celebrating tomorrow night at a much higher-class establishment.

We loved getting birthday calls from all the kids - it's always a treat to talk to you all! We also got a lovely e-card from Matt and Amy that I thought you might enjoy. I don't know how long it will be available, but hopefully you'll check the blog in time to catch it - it's a real treat! We have some very talented children!

http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/view/icgVEP8wuio6rjKOTc6bNvEk

I remember it more like THIS.....

2008-01-09T17:25:00.001-07:00

Yes, Rachel is right. I have told her stories about a teacher of mine in grade school who I remember wore a paper dress - at least once. It does seem crazy to me, too. I mean, if you're a teacher of, say 2nd graders, wouldn't you be worried about some little hands grabbing you and tearing your dress off? Or spilling their milk on you during snack time and having your dress melt away? Anyway, I remember that my teacher was young, and (at least I thought), very pretty and stylish. And the dress she wore looked more like this one than the one Rachel posted.

I think this was a fad that we can be happy died away quickly.

Christmas in Utah

2008-01-03T16:48:00.002-07:00

We're back from another fun trip to Utah. We left New York on the Saturday before Christmas. There is no nonstop flight from Albany to Salt Lake City, so we have to have a connection somewhere. Unfortunately, this time we connected through Chicago which, in retrospect, was not a good idea in the winter....three days before Christmas. Needless to say, we did not make our connection in Chicago due to heavy fog there, so we were scrambling for seats on any flight to Salt Lake that day (along with hundreds of other folks!). We did make it on a flight later that night - arriving only 9 hours later than we had planned! Jake and Nicole were kind enough to be flexible, and they picked up us at the airport on Saturday night.

Monday we had a "Girls Day Out", when all the girls in the family (including little Abby!) took a shopping trip to the Park City outlet mall. It was a lot of fun, and we did some great bargain shopping! I have to say, Dave and I reared some highly trained cheapskates - and our married kids wisely chose spouses who are great bargain hunters as well!

We spent Christmas Eve in Heber, and were joined by Matt, Amy, Jeff, and Rachel. It was lots of fun.

Christmas evening the family gathered at our home in Heber, and we enjoyed a Christmas dinner and present exchange. Lots of great socks were given, and the company was lovely too! The highlight of the present exchange probably had to be the "dad" shirts that all the boys in the family received. As you can see by the pictures, they were a great hit. I'm not sure the shirts will ever be worn again, but they were good for some laughs.

Later on that week Dave and I tried cross country skiing up at Sundance. It was very rustic, and very beautiful! The whole family also went snowmobiling out at Strawberry Reservoir. We had a lot of fun - even though it was incredibly cold that day!

The best part of the trip, of course, was catching up with all of the kids - they're all doing great! Rob and Mindy are wonderful parents. Abby is walking around like a pro now, and she was even very tolerant of all of us who wanted to hold her, have her blow kisses at us, and play with her. She's a real cutie! We can hardly wait to add Matt and Amy's little boy to our grandchild collection. It's going to be so much fun to have a little boy to spoil too! Amy makes a very cute pregnant mommy! Jake and Nicole are doing great too - their condo looks cute with all the painting and upgrades they've made. Jeff and Rachel entertained Bekah for an afternoon, and Bekah loved hanging out with them - they're always lots of fun.

In fact, Bekah loves being with her all of her siblings so much that she was very sad to have to leave Utah to come back to the frozen wastelands of New York state. And Dave and I felt pretty much the same way!

Dad's dream come true!

2007-12-09T14:11:00.001-07:00

We recently took the Young Women to see "A Christmas Carol" at Proctor's in Schenectady. It was the musical version, and was very well done. We ended up with one extra adult ticket, so dad got to tag along as our Priesthood protector (a vital component of any trip to downtown Schenectady!) As you all probably know, "A Christmas Carol" is one of dad's favorite musicals. He was very disappointed though that they didn't include "I Hate People" in the Proctor's version. I have included the song at the end of this post for your personal enjoyment!

The funniest part of the whole evening, I thought, was watching the Young Women all rush out during intermission to purchase armloads of candy and soda so that they would make it through the second half of the show.

Back by popular demand....

2007-11-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, we're going to do the Christmas gift exchange again this year like we did last year. Bekah and I performed a completely random pull-the-names-out-of-a-hat routine, and this is the list we came up with:

Rob gives to Rachel
Mindy gives to Nicole
Matt gives to Jake
Amy gives to Rebekah
Jake gives to Matt
Nicole gives to Jeff
Rachel gives to Rob
Jeff gives to Mindy
Rebekah gives to Amy

Also, Dad and I were talking, and we'd love to have everybody get together at some point around Christmas at our house in Heber. Right now we're thinking of possibly getting together on Christmas evening for dinner and the gift exchange. We don't want to make people feel like they have to come on Christmas if they have other plans though, so please let me know what you think. If you'd rather do it the day after Christmas, or something like that, we're flexible!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

2007-11-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

We are officially in the Christmas season now. I know because we made our annual trek to the JCPenney Doorbuster Special this morning. We were lax this morning though - we didn't get there until 8:00 a.m.! We did have a nice Thanksgiving, with all the trimmings. Grandma and Grandpa Field came, and we enjoyed a nice meal. It was fun to visit with them. They are doing great.

We hope you all had a great day. We love you and are thankful that you're part of our family.

Brandon and Julie's Wedding

2007-11-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my trip to Nauvoo for Brandon and Julie's wedding. It was a lovely wedding, and apart from the tediously long 8 hours spent in Quad Cities Airport trying to get on a flight to get home, it was a great trip! I finally made it to Albany, via Atlanta instead of Minneapolis, and only 5 hours later than I was supposed to get here! It was fun to see the Hendrickson family. Brandon and Julie looked very happy, and Todd, Becky, Matt, and Nate all looked great as well. It was fun to see Grandma Allred and Emily Pitts again, and to spend time catching up with all of them. Here are a few pictures.

Lazy Sunday afternoon...

2007-11-11T16:06:00.001-07:00

Today was a nice, quiet Sunday. Dad went to the Hudson Branch Conference, Bek and I stayed in our ward. After dinner we had FHE. It was stimulating, as always. Here's a picture of Bekah when we were finished. She was actually sleeping like that, believe it or not.

In other news....I'll be flying to Nauvoo on Wednesday afternoon. I'm going to Brandon Hendrickson's wedding. Grandma Allred is picking me up at the airport (the Quad Cities airport in Moline, to be exact!) Emily is flying in about the same time as I am. We'll be staying together in Moline that night, then going to Nauvoo on Thursday morning. The wedding is Thursday afternoon, then I fly home Friday morning. Should be a fun little trip!

Pumpkin Carving

2007-10-24T09:53:00.000-06:00

Well, it's definitely fall on the east coast. The leaves are getting really pretty now. For Mutual last night, we had a pumpkin carving contest. We were really focusing on missionary work - it was a "Bring a Friend to Mutual Night". I thought it was a great success! We had 12 YW there, including one girl who has been totally inactive for several years, and we had 5 nonmember friends. The girls had fun carving their pumpkins, and just being together. The downside was that we had those yucky cider doughnuts for dessert. I hate those things! Anyway, here are some pictures from the activity. Bekah brought Carly, and they both had fun.
The winners of the contest received the much coveted prize of googley-eye glasses!

Fun at the local Price Chopper

2007-10-12T06:21:00.001-06:00

Oooooh! Look at my cute Halloween blog! Thanks Bekah, it's adorable! I, of course, don't know how to do a single thing on my blog other than type words. For everything else, I have to get Rebekah's assistance. But that's okay - that's probably the highlight of her day (as you can tell from her latest post!)

I really don't have anything exciting to report, but I will tell you a funny thing that happened the other day. I was at Price Chopper doing some grocery shopping, and I rounded the corner and practically ran into the funniest thing I have ever seen in a grocery store: There was a little old lady (I'm guessing around 70), short and kind of hunched over. She was shuffling along pushing a grocery cart, and (here's the funny part)... she was wearing a blue troll doll wig. Do any of you know what troll dolls are (or were?). They had this stiff, colored hair that stuck straight up. Well, that's what this little old lady was wearing on her head. I wished I'd had my camera with me, because it was hilarious. The funniest part was that she didn't look like she was doing it as a joke - she was all kind of grumpy and cranky looking, and oblivious to the stares from fellow shoppers. I can only hope to be able to have that kind of fun when I'm 70!

Conference Weekend

2007-10-09T06:27:00.000-06:00

We went to Millbrook on Sunday to watch conference with the family and to celebrate Grandpa's birthday (I'm not sure how old he is). It was nice to see Grandma and Grandpa - they're both doing very well, I think. Grandpa got his usual stash of candy for his birthday, which we all liberally partook of! John and Kathie Baardson were there, as were Blaine, Robin, Heather, and Aaron. It was fun to see everyone. The drive down was very pretty. The Taconic Parkway is beautiful anyway, but the leaves are starting to change colors, so it was especially nice. John and Kathie are living in the D.C. area, at least for the next year or so, so we are thinking of planning a trip down there to visit them and to see all the sites. Bekah hasn't been there since she was way little, and of course, doesn't remember much. It would be a fun trip!

How to distill the excitement of our lives down to just a few paragraphs??.....

2007-09-28T18:13:00.000-06:00

Okay, Rachel says it's time for a new post because the last one was boring. SO, this one will be so much more exciting since so many more things are happening now....

Let's see...I'm still working in YW's and liking it (I give my thanks every day that I don't have Rachel's calling!) Dad and I recently went on the stake youth temple trip to Boston and had the pleasure of riding on a school bus for 6 hours. That's when you know you have a testimony! (Why else would you squish your abnormally long legs into seats meant for 8 year olds for 3 hours at a pop?) But the temple experience was really nice, and it was fun to share it with Dave and Bekah. I'm trying to plug forward with my classes. Unlike Rachel, I did not get all my learning taken care of while I was at BYU. Believe me - I wish I had! The assignments are challenging because they require DRAWING. Yes, it's true. I'm supposed to DRAW. Any of my children who grew up being entertained by my stick-figure masterpieces knows that this is quite a stretch for me. And unlike Mindy, I don't seem to be improving much! Dad's finally going skeet shooting tomorrow. He hasn't been for a very long time, so hopefully that'll be fun for him. He's going with our duplex neighbor. (Our neighbors are a cute young couple with an adorable little one-year old name Andreas.) Also tomorrow we're going to go apple picking. The leaves are turning, and it's starting to look really pretty back here. Yay for fall in New York!

Back to the coal mines.....

2007-09-07T07:01:00.001-06:00

Well, we just returned from a veeerrry extended vacation to Utah. Bekah and I were out there for close to a month! Now it's back to New York and work, school, etc. We're trying hard to get back into a routine,but it takes a while. Meanwhile, we did have a great trip! It was so fun to see all of our kids, and to catch up on their lives. I'll mention here some of the highlights of the trip:

Jake and Nicole's wedding
This was, of course, the main reason for our trip out west. We are so happy that Jake found such a wonderful young lady to add to our family (and to our already stellar daughter-in-law collection!). We love Nicole and are so happy to have her as a Field!

Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Getting re-acquainted with baby Abby
Abby's at that stage where she's not sure she's all that fond of strangers. And we're strangers, unfortunately! But we had lots of fun playing with her and trying to get her to like us! She's a real cutie, and it's fun to see how she's grown!

Weekend at Bear Lake
Some of us took a little trip up to Bear Lake for a weekend. While there, we decided to try our hand at wakeboarding. Turns out we have quite the talented family! It was lots of fun. We also did to ATV riding up in the mountains - it was beautiful as always up there, and we got nice and dirty!

Other miscellaneous fun stuff
We also did lots of other fun things, some of which included: helping Amy sew roman shades for her new house (they came out super cute!); spending a day in the neighborhood park in Heber playing with Mindy, Abby, Rachel, and Bekah; going to BYU's opening football game (which they won - go Cougars!); Bekah spent a fun-filled weekend with Jeff and Rachel; visiting with family who came to the wedding; and in general just spending time with family. What could be better!

New digs

2007-08-01T15:07:00.000-06:00

We're pretty much settled in our little duplex. It's not bad - other than the fact that half of our clothes are stored in wardrobe boxes in the basement! Other than that, it's almost a perfect fit! (Well, it would also be nice to have one more shower in the place - Bekah definitely could use a bathroom of her own.) Here are some pictures.

Moving.....again

2007-07-05T07:41:00.000-06:00

Moving day is fast approaching. We've started boxing things up, taken pictures off the walls, packed up knick-knacks. We're at the point now where it doesn't look so much like a home - mostly just a house! Sigh. Oh well, I'm actually really glad to have this contract and to be scaling back. Who wants to spend 4 hours every Saturday mowing the yard, and hours and hours cleaning toilets (5 of them!) and dusting? Not us! So we are happy about downsizing. It just feels kind of awkward in the interim. Not to worry, though! Soon we'll be in our lovely (well, not OURS, really) little duplex with only 2 toilets to clean and a teeny little lawn to mow! Yay!!!

Things to see before leaving the East coast

2007-06-13T10:16:00.000-06:00

We have lived on the east coast for a total of 21 years (man, I was practically a baby when we first came!) It looks like after all those years, our days back east are numbered. There are a lot of things on the east coast that I would really like to see and do before we leave (some of them we've already seen, but they're worth seeing again!) because who knows how much we'll get back out here once we make the trek west? So here's a list of the top ten places I want to visit before we leave.

1. Nantucket and/or Martha's Vineyard (I've heard that fall is the perfect time).
2. Historic sites in Boston.
3. The White House (an official tour this time) and other sites around DC.
4. The Washington DC Temple (for old time's sake).
5. Niagra Falls and the Niagra Parks Botanical gardens.
6. Lots of cute little Vermont villages.
7. The Keene, New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival (and other important historic sites around Keene, such as the birthplace of Jacob Allred Field).
8 Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home).
9. Prince Edward Island (once again!).
10.The coast of Maine.

Now we just have to find enough unencumbered weekends to do some of this stuff. That'll be the trick!

Summertime fun!

2007-06-08T15:49:00.001-06:00

Bekah's favorite time of the year is here again.....swimming time! Yay! The only problem with Bekah and swimming is - that she wants ME to swim with her all the time. And let's be honest here - swimming doesn't rank in the top 10 of my favorite things to do. Unless, of course, it's 95 degrees and humid outside, and I've been working out in the garden, and I'm sweating like a pig. THEN I like swimming. Anyway, Bekah's back in the pool and having fun. Here's a picture of her perfecting her skills.

New family tradition is born!

2007-06-03T15:25:00.000-06:00

Okay, I think we have a new family tradition (or traditions) - and they're called....Klondike Carmel Pretzel Bars!!! They are so yummy! You know how dad always (well, he doesn't do it as much as he used to) would go and get pretzels to dip in his ice cream? Well, someone finally got smart and put pretzels, ice cream, caramel, and chocolate together in one super yummy treat! This may even have the power to rival Chipy Whichys as a Field family favorite. They've been on sale at Price Chopper for the past couple of weeks (you know how we Fields feel about bargains!). So we bought some, (and then some more, and them some more....) and now we're hooked! Go out and try them. And think of us while you savor every delicious morsel!

Almost 4 months later....

2007-06-01T10:57:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are almost four months down the road! I never have been much of a journal writer, but I'm repenting here. (At least for today!) There have been at least a few important things that have happened during that time. Here's a sampling:

1. Rachel married Jeffry Brown on April 28th in the Palmyra Temple. It was a wonderful day, and so nice to share it with so many of our very favorite people! Jeff's a great young man, and we're so happy to have him in the family! (And he may even be getting used to us by now!)

2. Jacob is engaged to Nicole Apgood. They'll be married on August 18th in the Manti Temple. We're excited for them both and are looking forward to adding Nicole to the family. She's a wonderful girl!

3. We loved having everyone home in April for Rachel's wedding. It was fun to introduce Abby (our adorable little grandbaby!) to her great grandparents. Just having the house full of family was so much fun!

4. We've sold our house and are moving temporarily to a rented duplex. Now that will be interesting...

5. I'm still plugging away at school.

Those are a few of the highlights. A pretty exciting 4 months!

Snow, snow, and more snow....

2007-02-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Valentine's Day) we had a lovely snowstorm here in New York. It snowed like crazy all day long, and by the end of the day we had racked up over two feet of snow! Today it's not snowing, but the wind is blowing all that snow from yesterday around, so it's almost as dramatic! When the wind's not whipping around though, it's very pretty.

I'm a grandma!!! (ooh boy......)

2007-02-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

On January 11, 2007 I became a grandma when Abigail Field was born into the world! The thought of being old enough to be a grandma is kind of scary, but actually having a grandchild is so exciting! So I guess I'll forget about the old part, and just enjoy the cute little baby part. Bek and I flew out to see Abby when she was 10 days old, and she's a cutie! We get to go see her on Saturday (for her blessing on Sunday). I'm sure she'll look way bigger.