WEDDING BELLS!!!!!

Dear Alert Readers!  BIG DOINGS IN OUR FAMILY!!!! Wedding bells are ringing! Can you hear them????? Flowers are ordered. Dresses have been purchased. The road trip honeymoon has been planned and paid for. An apartment is being worked on even as I type this!

One week from today, our grandson Nick will be married/sealed to Emily Pratt. Emily is a lovely young lady the Bowler family has known for several years through Actors' Youth Theater. She and Nick started dating 2-3 weeks after Nick got home from his Mission- and they were engaged shortly after.

Emily is receiving her endowment tomorrow in the Mesa Temple, but Denny and I will not be there. I have an acute case of cellulitis and am "grounded" for several days. %$#&*$#@! So we will miss that particular landmark in Nick and Emily's life . . .

The one good thing about this is that we will be hosting Rory while everyone else is at the Temple. YAY! She's coming about 4:00'sh and will be here until her Mama and Daddy pick her up after the session- and maybe dinner. Ali isn't sure yet if they are going to dinner with the engaged couple and the rest of the family. At any rate, we will have our Bitty Boo for a few hours anyway. She is going to wonder what in the world is going on when I lay down on the couch with my leg up on a pile of blankets and a firm pillow. We're sure she will crawl over and pull herself up by my face and stick her pointer finger right on my glasses!!! Oh boy! Like any little girl, she is entranced by anything shiny. GO FOR THE GOLD, GIRL!

Denny is a fabulous caretaker . . . he really takes good care of me. I have to have a warm compress on my shin 4-6 times a day. Then he washes my "wound" with anti-bacterial solution, applies ointment and then covers it with gauze and paper tape. The cellulitis is getting better, but still itches and burns. OUCH! OH! I also have to keep the foot higher than my heart as much as possible. ** whew **  What a pain the neck . . . uh, I mean shin!

Soooooo excited about the upcoming wedding! Our little family is slowly but surely growing! Welcome, Emily!  We love you!

Farewell for now, Alert Readers!

OUR S.S. CLASS ROCKS!!!!!!

Howdy, Alert Readers!  W.O.W.!!!!!  ARE WE EVER PROUD OF OUR SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS! Yesterday was the first time we turned most of the class over to three of them, as per instructions with the new system of teaching. Weston, Kellee and James each took a topic and led a discussion. They did a great job, each of them!  Kimberlee and Nathan (Hughes- not Cox; he’ll get a chance later) have opportunities in our next class time.

We absolutely LOVE these kids; they are the best! Can’t wait to see them each week.

Last week, I was sick and couldn’t go to Church- so the kids made me a “Get Well Valentine” out of the weekly bulletin. It was so cute! It was Jazlee’s idea. Some of the messages were funny (“I love you more than a redneck loves Nascar!” and “I love your guts”); some were sweet (“I love you and miss you. Please get well fast.”). All of them are precious to me. We * heart * our class!

Let’s see, what’s new in “Roryland”?  Well- now that she has fully mastered “sprint-crawling”, she is working on walking! She will stand for a few seconds now all by herself. She is sidling across the furniture now- sideways from GG to Papa and back along our couch. She belly-laughs! But- she will NOT hold her own bottle!!!!!  We have all tried to get her to take it- but she just pats it with her hands and knows that one of her grown-ups will hold her and feed her. Denny and I even bought her a special short bottle that would be easier to hold- but NO! She’s no dummy, that girl. Why should she feed herself when she knows one of us will do it????  OH! She’s eating baby food really well. We had her here on Saturday, and we fed her one whole container of green beans. She opened her mouth every time the spoon came to her, and she didn’t spill a single drop on her bib! Then- because she kept looking at us and opening her mouth, we fed her a container of carrots!  Again, not a single spill! Her bib, which is usually a disgusting mess after her meal, came off of her completely clean!  ;)   She is growing up just too fast! Papa and I keep talking to her about it, but she just won’t listen! She looks at us with those dark blue eyes and just keeps on growing. We love her so much!!!!!!  I LOVE the look on Papa’s face when Rory lights up and claps her hands when she sees him. Oh, she’s got him right where she wants him!

Uhhhhhhhhh . . . me too, I confess.

Something happened this last day with Rory that hadn’t happened before: I had to leave to take care of a personal matter (ahem!), and Rory CRIED when I left the room!!!!! Later, Papa went out to get the mail, and although Rory could SEE him through the front door (she was bouncing in her jumper), she cried until he came back in. THIS IS NEW. What gives?

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew, Ali and Rory attended Church with us! Before church started, we carried Rory around to show her to our friends in the Ward. EVERYONE who knows us has heard us talk about Rory! She wore her pretty red Christmas dress and head band, and was ADORABLE, smiling and waving her hands. We took her to our SS class for a few minutes, and she was so cute with our kids. We sat her on one end of the big table, and Ali went down to the other end and talked to her. Rory ADORES her Mama, and just GLOWED and giggled. The class loved it. * heart *

Poor Ali had such bad heartburn last week that Andrew finally took her to the Emergency Room. After tests and an MRI, she was diagnosed with gallstones! There was talk of removing the gall bladder, but they wanted to wait for final test results, and Ali felt better,

so she came home to her Mom and Dad’s house. Krissy took Ali to her OWN doctor on Monday, and he suggested that they just wait and see. This pain may never happen again- but Ali is not to eat spicy or greasy foods. NO PIZZA?????????  No way!

We had a nice, quiet Valentine’s Day. Denny had a teeth-cleaning appointment at 11:00, then came home to pick me up and we went shopping, then to lunch at PF Chang’s (YUM!), then stopped by to visit our Rory and Ali- then stopped by Kristin’s for a short visit. We gave her a bag full of Valentine candy, and she gave us TWO DOZEN of her wonderful chocolate chip cookies!  BOY! Did we ever score on that deal! Can we do that again, Krissy? Puleeeeze???? We went home after our travelings, took a nap and then spent the evening together watching a movie. I LOVE my Valentine!!!!!!  S + D = eternity!

Not much more to be said- so, farewell for now, Alert Readers. Maybe Rory will write next time. I’ll check with her. Love to all!!!!!!

I'M AFRAID OF MY SHOES!!!!!

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013

Hi Alert Readers! I’m afraid of my shoes. YEP! That’s what I said: “my shoes”.  Let me explain: I need shoes that I can just slip on. We bought four pairs of shoes without backs. They are like tennis shoes you just slip into. So far, so good. However, as I have been wearing these shoes for more than two years, they are no longer tight to my feet. Well, I have CHRONIC VERTIGO. Any little thing can trip me up and make me fall flat. A couple of months ago, I turned around to pick something off the counter in the kitchen, and –SPLATTTT!- fell down hard, hitting my head on a kitchen chair. OUCH!  My SHOE had come very loose and tripped me!  Soooooo, I am afraid of my shoes. I am now wandering around the house barefooted rather than take a chance! What’s worse: a bad fall or a scorpion sting?

SAS SHOES is having a sale!!!!!!  Denny brought me a flyer announcing a sale on “spring shoes”. We are going to check it out to see if we can get me some “safe shoes” to wear around the house and to movies, etc. Yes, SAS shoes are dumpy-frumpy, but they are NOT scary!  ;)

Rory is crawling! What a big girl she is! Now she wants to be down on the ground ALL THE TIME. If we pick her up for a cuddle, she puts up with it for about a second and a half- then she’s pushing away, trying to get down. On the days that we have her, she entertains herself on the floor for at least two hours at a stretch. We strew her toys around the room and she just crawls to and fro, to and fro, playing with each one. Papa sits on the ground with her sometimes, and she LOVES that!  She catches sight of him, and sprints off towards him as quickly as she can crawl. Then she climbs on and around him for a while- but then, OFF SHE GOES! –back to her toys. We get the biggest kick out of watching her. She still absolutely LOVES her bouncer, and will bounce for an hour, giggling and laughing. And she still enjoys her Exersaucer- at least the one at our house. She evidently doesn’t use the ones at her own home or at Grandma and Grandpa Bowler’s home anymore.  But she still plays here. It might be because Papa and GG are sitting right there, watching her and talking to her- so she isn’t at all alone.  (?) 

I was so excited last month!  The Stake Relief Society called to ask me to fill in for a speaker at our Stake RS Conference last Saturday. The original speaker had to cancel, and Stake President Toone recommended ME! I don’t know how he even knew that I LOVE to give talks! Anyway, my topic was “Women in the Scriptures”. I loved it!  I worked very hard doing some research and deciding who to talk about. Finally, I decided to discuss the Woman With the Issue of Blood, the Samaritan Woman at the Well, Mary Fielding Smith, and Kristin! The principle in each section was “trusting in God”. I was told that there would be a TON of women attending my part, so they put me in the chapel. Well . . . it was quite disappointing, because I only had about 35-40 sisters in both sessions. I had been told there would be at least 100. But- the sisters in this Stake do not know me and have never heard me speak- so I don’t blame them for going to a presentation they were sure would be good. I hope that I will be given MORE opportunities. We’ll see . . .

The Temple was closed for two weeks- this is vacation time for the Temple workers. I –of course- caught a bad cold/flu and was sick the ENTIRE time! Denny took me to Urgent Care when it was clear that I wasn’t getting better. The doctor there gave me some meds, and I did begin to feel better. YAY!  Being sick is the worst! We were able to return to our service at the Temple when it opened this week.

We finally saw “Les Miserables”!  WOW! WHAT. A. MOVIE.  !!!!!  It was hard not to sing along with the actors, but we refrained. We have seen the stage production five times- LOVE IT!  And the movie was excellent. We were so happy to see Colm Wilkinson (the original Jean Valjean) in it. That’s how it should have been! He played the Priest.

Nick is getting married in 26 days!  We went to Emily’s shower on Thursday night. She is such a lovely young lady. We gave Nicky and Emily $1,000 towards the wedding (just like we did for Ali and Andrew), and they used it to make arrangements for their honeymoon. They are taking a road trip up the coast in California. COOL!  We offered to help with the driving, but for some reason, they weren’t interested!

Pop Turley is engaged!!!!!  We are sooooooo happy for him!  He was absolutely the BEST thing to happen to our Mom. He took such loving care of her for so long, until she passed away. He deserves to have years and years of joy. We love him and are delighted with this news!  They are hoping for a wedding in mid-March.

Gotta go. I’ve got dishes that need to be put away. They are kinda glaring at me!  So, farewell until next time!!!!! Love ya!