This Is My Happy Place, Right Here At Home~

It has been a little over 6 weeks since I have done a blog post. I have missed writing but most of all I have missed reading the posts of bloggers that I follow. I am anxious to get caught up on what you have all been doing. I consider you dear friends and have missed reading your posts. I have learned so much from you all; you are my dear friends. 

It has been a good experience for me to draw back from most of the social media. I have still popped in and out of Face Book to see what is going on in the lives of friends and family. Here is where I find out about my own family. I really prefer the precious phone calls to get an update of family news. However, I have learned that as much as I have missed blogging and reading blogs I have found that I enjoyed the break and was able to get a number of my goals completed. 

Here I am reading a novel; this was very fun! Reading is one of my favorite pastimes. 

Of course, I didn't get to relax and read until after I cleaned my study. This was a huge undertaking. I went through many files that I have kept for over 35 years. I threw away a tons of articles and other misc. items. There were a few precious treasures that I couldn't give up. However, I have found that with the internet I can look up whatever information I need. Therefore, I don't need a lot of files.

Here are two pictures of what the study looked like while I was going through all the files. I was able to make room for what I consider of top import-ants: family histories and genealogy.  Pop over to that site and look up your ancestors; it is so much fun.

Here are the after Pictures of my study. The one thing I loved most was getting the green couch moved out and just a small recliner moved in. My room is very light and bright so it is such a great place to do my reading. 

Note on my wall that my sweet husband arranged the photos of my Great Grandparent's family. The small photo's on each side are my grandparents and my husband's grandparents. I love this wall. 

I am looking forward to replacing my drapes; perhaps this weekend. My study now has so much more room and I am loving it. 

Here is my second favorite thing to do which is play my piano. I haven't had a regular practice time; but I will have soon. I  have a couple of projects left to get done and then I plan to schedule my time each day so I can be more productive. Playing the piano will be a top priority.

Here are some of the activities that I had while on my blog break. 

Click on the pictures if you want to view them larger~

My sweet youngest daughter came with her children for 10 days. We had such a good time. Here are pictures of our Valentine gifts. The roses on the table are from my dearest love. My daughter Tiffani, her two daughters Sarah and Kaitlyn with roses and flowers that her husband Dave sent them. 

On February 15th we had a birthday celebration for our Grandson, Joseph who  turns 16 years old on February 19th  and our Great Granddaughter, Jadyn who turns 5 years old on February 17th. We had a wonderful celebration for both of them. Joseph and Jadyn are in the Upper Left hand picture. Note the adorable Great Granddaughter, Myah in the Bottom Right Hand Corner. We had a total of three of our families here. Our oldest son Sean's family, our third son James's family, and our youngest daughter Tiffani's family. 

Left to Right - William, Sarah, Kaitlyn, Michael and Tiffani~

February 17th, I went with my daughter and her children down to Provo. We first went to a $1.00 movie. We then went down to the Brigham Young University to look around. We first went to the Wilkinson Center. This is a favorite hangout place for students. We spent some time in the gift shop and Tiffani bought each of her children a small gift. We then went for ice cream at the BYU Creamy. After the ice cream cones we headed up by the Provo temple and took a family photo. Tiffani showed her children where Dave and her lived when they were first married. They both graduated from BYU which was awesome. 

On Thursday the 19th of February, Tiffani's family and I went to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. All of our children love to take their families there because there is so much to see and do. We were there for about 5 hours and had such a fantastic time. We went through the huge LDS Conference center, then  temple square, which has the Salt Lake Temple and two visitor centers. The landscaping on temple square is so beautiful. We had lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. They have a great little Cafe there. Afterward we went over to the LDS Church Office Building which houses all of the offices for those that work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. There are many volunteers and missionaries that work around temple square. We had a missionary tour guide take us up to the top of this 28 floor building. The view from there was spectacular. We got a ton of pictures. We then went to Deseret Book which is  just across the street from Temple Square. This is their flagship store. This is a dangerous place for me to go. I can't leave the store without a book or two. We then went to the Airport to pick up Tiffani's husband Dave.  We had such a great day together.

Our Grandson William's birthday was on Saturday, February 21st. We had a fun day with him. William loves Legos so Tiffani had that as a theme for his birthday. She made him a Lego cake; which was cute. He loved all of his gifts and especially a huge Lego set that he got. He turned nine years old.

We also watched the movie; "Meet The Mormons". It was well done and told the story of what Mormon's are like. We are really just normal everyday kind of people with a strong faith in Christ.  

Sunday morning came and Dave and Tiffani headed home. Here is a picture of this beloved family. 

March rolled in with mixed up weather which has been interesting. On Sunday, March 8th we went to Sacrament meeting and then headed up to Heber for Joseph's ordination to become a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. Joseph was ordained a Priest and then a sweet blessing by his father.  In our faith this is a very special occasion. Afterwards, we went over to Sean's home for a celebration dinner. Joseph is the one in the middle of the pictures.The rest of the pictures are of his older brother, Jed's family, his younger brothers,  and his mother Mary. Sean was busy cooking; no picture there. Regretfully not all of the pictures turned out since I was using my phone.

On March 14th we got Joseph and headed up to Idaho Falls to be with James's family. We had dinner that night with his family. Our Grandson, Christian turned 16 years old on Sunday March 15th. He was also ordained to the office of a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. by his father. He received a lovely blessing too.  Joseph was able to be in the circle for this ordination. 

Afterwards, we went back to their home and had a birthday celebration. Top Left Hand Corner is Christian, Upper Middle the two cousins, Christian and Joseph. The Upper Right Hand corner is my dearest Granddaughter, Averi and myself. The center picture is my husband Roger, James, his father in law, Bob, Christian and Joseph. Lower Middle Picture is my daughter in law, Amber, Taylor Jo, myself and Amber's mother, Barbara. After dinner and the birthday celebration we headed home. 

The past 6 weeks have been so busy and fun. Sammy is exhausted. 

off I go to catch up on what you all have been doing. Hugs!