Zac's first long email from the Brazil missionary training center

 Zac had the craziest first week I have ever heard of!  He was basically forgotten for a few days.  Here is part of his first email home.



"The first day was the longest of my life.  I got no sleep on the plane, and then when I got to the CTM they kept us busy until that night introducing us to everything.  When I got there they had no idea I was coming.  The first they heard of me was when the person picking missionaries up at the airport told them an extra one arrived.  So I have had two other companions all week.  elder. J,, and elder. P.  What I expected was very different from what actually happened. 

To put some perspective on things James G. arrived at the MTC with 800 other elders and sisters, and Quin V. arrived a week later with 1000 other elders and sisters.  I arrived with two other elders and they both became my companions.  We were it the whole day. 

The week before only one elder arrived from New Zealand elder. O., and a week before him one elder arrived from virginia elder. Smith.  This is what makes up my district.  Other than that between 15 and 30 other elders and sisters arrive from Brazil on Thursdays.  On Sunday I counted all the english speaking missionaries here, there were 19. 

After the first day we were basically forgotten about.  We would show up to things on the schedule, but most of the times no one would show up, so we would go somewhere and study.  We never knew what to do until saturday, when we finally got put on the same schedule as the two other elders in our district who knew what they were doing.  I never met any of the other english speaking missionaries until Sunday.  My Portuguese is coming along faster than I ever thought it could."

21 Aircraft Avenue, Layton Utah, 1982-1987

Aunt Carol, and the current homeowner

When I was in Utah a couple of weeks ago, we went to see the old house where Wayne and I had lived in Layton.  Wayne's grandparents, Earl and Olive Nunn Wixom lived right across the street from us, in a very similar house.

Our little house was 685 sq. ft. upstairs, plus a full unfinished basement, plus a garage that was attached, but there was no doorway in between.

While we were taking pictures of the front of the house, the homeowner came out and talked to us, and was so nice to invite us in for a tour.

The current homeowners have changed it quite a bit.  They have added pop out bay windows in both of the front rooms.  They have changed the garage to a family room which is accessible from the house.

They ripped out the upstairs bathroom and changed my little boys' room into a big bathroom, and added an addition onto the back of the house.

We bought this house in 1982 for $35,000.  It had been built in 1942, and was 40 years old at the time.  We put in a new bathroom, new roof, new furnace, new flooring, new electricity, and didn't make a penny when we sold the house for $35,000 in 1987.  The current owner said she bought it for $41,000 in 1991.

Bountiful Apartment 1981-1982

While I was Utah recently, I went to see the apartment where Wayne and I lived from fall 1981-spring 1982.  Adam was born while we lived here.

We graduated from BYU in April 1981, and moved to an apartment in Layton, Utah for 6 months.  After that, I got a job at Brooks Fabric Store in Bountiful, and the owners owned this apartment right behind the fabric store, and we moved into it.

This is the back of Brooks Fabric Store, which we could see out our side window.  I only worked at the fabric store for a few months until Adam was born.

Last week, I went inside Brooks Fabrics, and I couldn't believe that they hadn't changed a thing (except the fabric for sale) in the whole 31 years since I worked there.  The ugly old linoleum tile floor and the same old wooden fabric racks, same wooden shelves around the walls, it was amazing.  So I guess updating a business isn't necessary, as long as your same old customers keep coming back.  It must be an institution by now, and no one cares what it looks like as long as it keeps stocking the fabric they want.

Zac left on his mission today

 Zac is my fifth son to leave on a mission.  We got to take him to the airport, and miraculously, an LDS Delta airline worker pulled some strings and got us some security passes, and we actually got to go through security with him and wait at the gate for a little while.  We haven't waited with any of our missionary sons since Adam's mission, because he left in August 2001, just before 9-11 changed airport protocol.

Zac left about 5:45 pm on a plane to Atlanta, and from there he is flying all night to Sao Paulo, Brazil.  He will be in the Mission Training Center there for 6 weeks (?), then he will travel to his mission in Florianopolis, Brazil for the rest of the two years.

We are so proud of him, and wish him the best as he learns to speak Portuguese.

Poison Ivy, Tree Down

Living on this much land sure brings its own troubles.

I found poison ivy in our front flower bed.

A big tree fell down onto our lawn, and we have been trying to cut it up with a chainsaw little by little.  We are going to have to pull it with a rope and the tractor to be able to reach more of the branches.

Wayne had to weedwhack all around the perimeter of the fence, but only got it partly done.

My neighbor's workman killed a water moccasin at our pond.

Tree frogs are adhered to our porch railings.

I never thought about any of these things before we moved here.

Wixom keepsakes, part 3

Wayne's parents, Lu and Wickie, lived in Maine for many years while Lu was a park ranger there at Acadia National Park.  Earl and Olive Wixom, and young daughter Carol, came to stay with them every summer (Earl was a high school art teacher, so he had summers off.  It was too hot to make chocolates in those days without airconditioning, so Olive had the summer off too.)

This is a picture of Earl Wixom at the top of the Morgan Tower on Mount Desert Isle (Acadia National Park).  J.P. Morgan originally owned the whole island, and had given some land on Sand Beach to his daughter.  She and her  husband, Mr. Satterlee, built a house, a gardener's cottage, and this stone tower on their property.

Wayne's family liked to visit this tower while they were living in the old Satterlee place.  Later the Park Service tore the tower down.

Here are some great 1950's pitchers which belonged to Olive Wixom.

Aunt Carol has this old rocking chair.  It was brought into an uphostery business where Grandpa Earl Wixom was working, but after it was reupholstered the customer never came back to pick it up.  The business owner sold it to employee Earl for $15.  Carol remembers rocking so hard in it just to make it tip over when she was little.

More Wixom keepsakes

 I was at Wayne's Aunt Carol's house in Layton, Utah, last week, and Carol showed us a lot of  heirlooms from her parents, Earl and Olive Nunn Wixom (Wayne's grandparents.)

This trunk belonged to Olive, and was what she packed her clothing in when she was young.  Carol painted it gold later.

Grandpa Earl Wixom built this dictionary stand, and this big dictionary was always on top of it.  The clock belonged to Olive's sister Ruth.

Mary Ann Markham Nunn

This is Mary Ann Markham Nunn, Olive Nunn Wixom's mother.

When I knew Olive, she was about this age, and resembled her mother a lot, I thought.

Mary Ann Markham was an orphan, her parents both died of a contagious disease so everything they owned was destroyed.  Mary Ann really didn't know very much about her parents so her genealogy is very difficult to do, we have so little information.

After she married, she and her husband and family moved from Nebraska to Idaho in a covered wagon, and then her first husband (Olive's father) died. Mary Ann outlived her husband for many years, and remarried, and lived in Idaho until her death.

Wixom keepsakes and treasures

I was in Layton, Utah, last week and was able to take photos of the heirlooms which had belonged to Olive Nunn Wixom and Earl Partridge Wixom (my husband's grandparents).  We lived across the street from them in Layton from 1982-1987, so I remember many of these possessions very well.  They are now in Wayne's aunt's house.

Olive Nunn Wixom had a handdipped chocolate business for many years, and these were the scales she used to weigh the chocolates for the customers.

Aunt Carol said the scales originally belonged to Frank Adams, who opened the earliest supermarket in Utah.  Olive worked as a checker in his supermarket, and later he gave her space in the store for her to have a glass fronted candy case where she sold her handdipped chocolates.  Frank Adams sold the scales to Olive, and the scales sat on top of the candy case.  She used them the rest of her life, as she moved her chocolate business to various places.  For a long time she ran it from her own basement, and later from her daughter-in-law LaRue's basement.

These scales were originally white, but Earl Wixom painted them gold.

The name of her business was "Frontier Lady Chocolates", and here is one of her boxes.   In front of the box, you can see the paper insert which tells which shape is which flavor.

Olive also worked in the Bluebird Cafe in Logan, Utah, and here is one of their paper bags.

The metal sculpture on the wooden base has a strange story.  One day Olive and Earl were away from home, and when they got home they discovered that Olive had left the iron on.  The iron had completely melted into this lump of metal.  The great blessing was that their house did not catch fire.

Earl took the lump and mounted it on the wooden base, and wrote the story on the bottom.

I can remember Grandma Wixom showing me this and telling me about it when I was a newlywed.  Her advice was to unplug your iron everytime after you use it.  I have followed her advice the rest of my life.

Earl Partridge Wixom

Sorry this picture is crooked but I didn't have time to take it out of the frame and scan it.  Earl Partridge Wixom was in the military in World War I.  He is my husband's grandfather.

Olive Nunn Wixom at age 17

This is Wayne's grandmother, Olive Nunn Wixom.  I think she is so beautiful in these pictures.  We lived across the street from Wayne's grandparents, Earl and Olive Wixom, when we were young with three little boys.  She was the most wonderful woman, and helped me SO MUCH.

Hailey's Zigzag Quilt

Our 7th grandchild, Hailey, was born in January.  I had just gotten my long arm machine, and I kept trying to practice on junk fabric but I was running out of time, so I just put on Hailey's quilt and started quilting it without much practice ahead of time

 

I had a bit of trouble with the straight lines, but was pleased with all my little leaves.  I gave it to Janette and Seth, and they liked it.

 

(Notice my bright turquoise walls and checkerboard floor in my sewing room.  I love it!)

 

I picked out the bird fabric first, and then chose the zigzag colors to match it.

President Eyring is a witness

During every General Conference, I listen to see if the apostles say, in somewhat veiled language, that they are actual eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ.  I believe with all my heart that these men have actually seen Jesus Christ face to face and  spoken with him.  I think Pres. Eyring's testimony on April 6, 2013 is one of the clearest I have heard. 

"I am a witness of the Resurrection of the Lord as surely as if I had been there in the evening with the two disciples in the house on Emmaus road.

 

I know that He lives as surely as did Joseph Smith when he saw the Father and the Son in the light of a brilliant morning in a grove of trees in Palmyra.

 

This is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Only in the priesthood keys held by President Thomas S. Monson is the power for us to be sealed in families to live forever with our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We will on the Day of Judgment stand before the Savior, face to face. It will be a time of joy for those who have drawn close to Him in His service in this life. It will be a joy to hear the words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”¹⁹ I so testify as a witness of the risen Savior and our Redeemer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/come-unto-me?lang=eng#listen=audio

My desk closet, then and now

 When we found our new house, and saw it for the first time, we saw this big space in the wall of the living room.  It had been the "big screen TV" spot when the house was built in 1996.  Remember when big screen TV's were so huge and thick they had to be placed in spaces like this?

The stagers had put the shelves, and plants to make it look nicer, and had hung a flat screen TV on the wall (which looked ridiculous).

We wondered what to do with the space. We thought about making it into a closet, but then realized it would make a great office for me.

We had a counter top added, and put rolling filing cabinets, and doors on it. I can do my paperwork and computer work right in the living room, but I can shut the doors and it basically looks like a flat wall.  It is one of my favorite things about this house.

Quilt from my childhood

I taught quilting in Hilton Head, SC, and stayed at a lady's house.  She had this appliqued kit quilt from the 1960's, and it looked familiar to me.  I'm going to have my mom and sisters look at it, I think this is the same poppies quilt kit that my mom made for my sisters' double bed around 1964.  If it isn't the same kit, then it is very similar except for the color.

I remember the quilt kit, the fabric had very light blue printed lines all over it, to show where to add the applique and where to hand quilt it.  My mother did two, a quilt with orange and yellow poppies, and one with lavendar/purple flowers.

Adam's birthday!

 October 2007

Dec. 2011

 
2005

We love you, Adam!

Got Water?

Since we have a well, we decided to install this rainwater collection system.  This cistern holds 1500 gallons, and we should be able to water our garden with it all summer.  We put chicken wire all over it and planted jasmine bushes around it, and they should grow up and cover it within a couple of years so it won't be so ugly.

Gabrielle's quilt

Here is the front and back of my granddaughter Gabrielle's quilt, which I made for her last October.

Response to Susan, my biggest fan

(I have had complications with my computer for a couple of months.  Here is the reply I wrote to Susan a long time ago.)

Dear Susan,

Every day I kick myself for not having written a book or created any patterns to purchase. I'm sorry, I don't have anything for you to buy. Maybe some other books could help you.

I have followed other precision-impaired quilters for years. Some of my favorite examples are Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran and Keiko Goke. If you ever have a chance to buy any books written by them, you will enjoy their styles of quilting too.

 

I just remembered another book which I think you would really love. It is called "Sunday Morning Quilts" by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison, copyright 2012. It is still in quilt stores now, or you can order it online, probably from Amazon.com. (I really should have written this book, I am mad that Nyberg and Arkison beat me to it.)

Here are the book titles by the other quilters that I recommended:

Collaborative Quilting by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, copyright 2006.

Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again, by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, copyright 2009.

And I'm so sorry, there are too many things going on in my life right now to do private lessons. Honestly, you would be the first one I would choose to be my student. Thanks for all your kind words.

 

Doll blanket for Tessa

We babysat Tessa for a couple of days after Hailey was born.  Tessa kept wrapping Tara's old doll in a huge blanket, so I let her pick out whatever fabric she wanted (she picked fabric with birds on it) and I put yellow flannel on the back and sewed her a doll blanket in about 15 minutes.

Email from a fan of mine

This is the best fan mail I ever received.  I don't know this lady, she emailed me out of the blue.  The email was entitled,  "My first fan letter at age 70."

I just found you. Tomorrow you are teaching a class at thimble pleasures. I am crying bitter tears because I can not afford to take the class.

I want to tell you that I have fallen in love with your designs, and am over the moon that they are not straight.

I have tried everything for years, and I simply can not cut or sew straight. I have piles and piles and piles of fabric and am frozen, unable to start any project knowing it will wind up in the trash because I just can not do it.

Please tell me you have a book, patterns, notes, anything that I could purchase so that I can learn your

method. I'm pretty good reading instructions.

I am trying to reinvent myself, as feb 1 will mark the one year anniversary of the death of my husband of almost 50 years.

Now it is me, and my fabric and my thread and my need to create.

I'm so sorry that circumstances have made it impossible for me to attend your class tomorrow. I can only hope that I will be able to manage it in the future.

I think what you do is genius…. it absolutely positively speaks directly to me. How wonderful for you that you found "your" true self.

thank you from a fan

Susan L.

 

Wow!  That makes me feel appreciated.

I'm no good at the long arm

I started quilting Hailey's baby quilt on  my  long arm machine, and boy, am I humbled!  I can't make it do anything!  I am a complete novice!  Even though I have quilted award winning quilts on my home sewing machine, the long arm is a whole different animal, and I have NO SKILLS which transfer.  It is depressing.  I am looking to attend the big long arm quilting convention in Salt Lake City in May (HMQS)  so I can learn the basics.




And I am posting this link for my sons Seth, who is a tinkerer, and for Adam, who is interested in 3-D printers.  I think they would appreciate knowing about the artificial hand made for a fingerless 5-year-old boy.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/07/5-year-old-without-fingers-receives-custom-robohand-made-using-3d-printer-and-150-in-parts/

Write down phone numbers

I had a dream the other night, I was lost and I did not have my cell phone and couldn't call anyone because I didn't know anyone's phone number.

I woke up and realized this is really a problem in real life, not just in dreams. My brother lost his cell phone and he was in real trouble, he didn't know any of the phone numbers he needed.

 I want to encourage you all to write down all your most important numbers and put a hard copy of them into your glove compartment in your car, in your purse, in your wallet, at your workplace, etc.

 There may come a time when your cell phone is lost or stolen or out of power, and you will be very thankful you have phone numbers so you can make a phone call on someone else's phone.





I loved this story of how the Seattle gun buy-back program became a huge gun show, with people buying guns from the people in line for MORE than the  government was going to pay them.  Free enterprise lives!

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/backfire-seattle-gun-buyback-turns-into-gun-show_01292013