Give Thanks

Our second Thanksgiving as a married couple,
I decided I was a mature lady of the house (with a 5 month old son to prove it)
and it was time to be a giver and not a taker when it came to holiday dinners;
so I offered to be put in the rotation for Thanksgiving 1978.
I invited my parents, sisters and grandparents to dine at our humble abode.


You are probably expecting this story to lead to some crisis
like burning the turkey or spilling hot gravy on grandpa;
sorry, no.
But that would make a more interesting story.
The dinner went very well, as my selective memory recalls;
here are some photos:

Grandpa Gibbs, Steve, Dad holding Michael-------Grandma Mable, me, mom


I served my mother's scrumptious,

Classic Thanksgiving recipes

. . . . the dinner I still serve today.




This year, I am thankful for:

A Heavenly Father who hears and answers my prayers

The teachings of Jesus Christ

My dear family, near and far

My, and my family's, health

Comfort, safety and freedom

Nature

Art and music

My doggies

Spandex



A few of you kindly asked to see more of my fall decor

Hope you likey

Due to the passing of my dear father in law, Tom,
we will be with our family in California over the holiday.


Here's wishing you

A warm and wonderful Thanksgiving

. . . from our house to yours

One of the Greatest Men I Know

has returned to his Father in Heaven.


Acadian Village in Louisiana - 2006

I guess most people enter marriage with a little fear and trepidation over the in-law situation. I dated my husband for so long that I had plenty of time to get to know Tom & Lois Freeman. I had time to figure out that they were the reason my husband was a good man. They are good people, and being related to them has made my life better.

Tom and Lois fell in love over 61 years ago. She wouldn't marry him unless he was a member of her faith, so he decided to investigate it. Soon after, he was baptized a member of the LDS church and they married in the Temple. Together, they built a very happy life. Materially, they were comfortable, but if a man's wealth is measured in friends, loved ones and laughter, they were rich as kings.

Tom had the one thing I admire more than anything else in a person, true integrity. A man of his word, he did whatever he committed to do. He was an exemplary family patriarch over 5 children, 16 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren. He and Lois were exceptional parents, who produced an exceptional family; and each one of us dearly loves them.

Some of my favorite things about him are:

His laughter
His faith
He honored is wife and taught his sons how to treat their wives.
His love for his country and service in the US Air Force in WWII
He honored his priesthood.
He and Lois served 2 missions for the LDS Church, both in Louisiana
He and Lois were always there for the important events in our life.
He would invite us over and cook his special pancakes

Tom was rarely seen without a Pepsi in hand. Whenever he visited us, he would enlist the help of anyone who could drive to take him down to Tigermart for a Pepsi. From his hospital bed, he sent out for Pepsi. I just can't help but picture him in Heaven, holding a Pepsi.

Our family was lucky enough to travel to Louisiana with him and Lois to see the places they had been and meet people they had befriended. It became increasingly difficult for them to travel, but we were blessed to have them visit us in Texas 4 times. A visit with Tom always had a lot of laughs, lots of stories, lots of love and hugs.

On the trolley in New Orleans - 2006 / Baseball game in Houston

Some of my favorite times were at Summerdale Campground in Fish Camp, CA. It was our Freeman family tradition to go up every 4th of July and get 3 or 4 campsites and fish and hike and visit by the campfire for several days.

Summerdale - circa 1977-1980

We even camped there this summer, with our grand babies.
It was special when Tom and Lois drove up for a visit;
there were 4 generations of Freeman campers.

June 2009

2009- four generations: Michael, Preston, Thomas, Steve

Chloe 1997 / Ella 2005

Tom touched so many lives. My sister, Jennifer, sent me an email expressing her feelings about him. I don't think she will mind if I quote her lovely sentiments:


"Tom gave you a gift. He married a good woman, Lois, and raised a wonderful, righteous son that you would fall in love with and who treats you like a queen. That son has been a wonderful husband and father in your own family, and is the best brother-in-law I could ask for. Steve is the man he is, in many ways because of the man Tom taught him to be. What a wonderful gift Tom has given you, and all of us!"

Tom, you will be missed

. . . till we meet again.

We love you

Thomas Leslie Freeman

December 15, 1924- November 16, 2009

Wonderful Weekend

Mike and Marci came to visit this weekend.
It was so nice to see them and have some special time with our grand babies.
They will be in Florida for Thanksgiving (Marci's brother, Mack and Cheryl are getting married)
so it was nice to get a visit in before Christmas.

Chrissy and Zach came over too.
I love the sound of 3 different conversations while everyone is gathered in the kitchen
.... these are my favorite days. We missed you, Brittany and Ili.

We always have lots of laughs

...and enjoy good food



I love it when my living room is full of toys and babies.
When I am cleaning after they are gone, I find little toys in odd places, like window sills,
....and it always makes me miss them.

Saturday, Chloe, Papa and I (Meema) had a fun getaway with the babies;
we rode the train at Brackenridge Park,
then strolled around the Japanese Tea Gardens.
It is built in an old limestone quarry, so it is sunken below street level.
Everything ....bridges, walkways, and pagodas ....is built from limestone.
It is a unique San Antonio twist on the classic Tea Garden;
I love the tropical landscape and coy ponds.

Steve's dear father, Tom, is in the hospital.
Steve flew out on Sunday to visit him, knowing it would probably be the last time.
We love Tom very much and our prayers are with him, Lois and the entire family.
Even when they have lived a good, full life,
we are never quite prepared to say goodbye to our loved ones.

It's Like A Whole Other Country

There are some things that a California girl, like me

finds very unique about Texas.

Starting with the title of this post . . . . it's the state slogan



We live amid groves of majestic oak trees

in a beautiful part of Texas

called: The Hill Country



then there is:

the cute Longhorn steer across the street





enthusiastic state pride
exhibited in the omnipresence of enormous Texas flags





uber loyal football fans





the sun neither rises nor sets on the beach





bumper stickers like this





FM 1560 is not a radio station, it's a road (farm to market)

We live on a limestone plain stretching from San Antonio to Dallas;

you can't even plant a tree without blasting.

Gorgeous local stone abounds;

here is our front courtyard and back steps under construction

even the Alamo is made of local limestone




I have also noticed:

the most extraordinary blues skies and cotton clouds I have ever seen

a perfectly normal sounding sentence (no accent, no twang, no drawl) ends with y'all

rain is most properly described as a deluge

earth shaking lightening storms

shorter lines at stores

fabulous BBQ brisket, which, once again, Steve has duplicated . . . . perfectly

I have seen scorpions, 2" cockroaches, 6" centipedes, and a coral snake



stars adorn everything




homes, freeway overpasses, my dog's collar . . . everything







It takes 24 hours to drive to California (we have done it several times)

In the same amount of time, we could drive to New York City,

or Canada,

or Central America

It's an interesting place, this Texas

Young Women in Excellence

Last night we attended a special evening for the Young Women at church

It is an annual event, called Young Women In Excellence,
intended to spotlight each girl's progress on their projects in the eight areas of focus, or

Values:


Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge
Choice & Accountability
Good Works
Integrity
Virtue


The girl's spend 10 hours on a project related to each of these values.
This was Chloe's first project, and I was proud of her for achieving it,
since she has only been in the program since late June.


Chloe chose Choice & Accountability.
She watched all the sessions of General Conference, took notes, then compiled it into a homemade binder.
She wrote her feelings and testimony down to share with the group.

It was a wonderful evening. and I was reminded of how much effort the leaders in the Young Women organization put forth on behalf of our youth. I am so grateful for the cheerful and generous time and effort these spiritual women give in service to Chloe, to me, and to our Father in Heaven.





The guest speaker was a marvelous woman named Sister Golightly. I have met few like her.
She is real people. She is wise.
She is mellow, experienced and humble, with a delightful, self-deprecating humor.
She is true to what she believes and has accepted new challenges, and mastered them.
She inspired, and held rapt, a room full of 12-18 year old girls.

She is 88 years old, and I want to be just like her.

If you are under 50

You may not know what these are.





they are hard to find these days.
I picked these up at a garage sale.
here's a close up of the ancient hardware





They are Pant Drying Forms (or pant stretchers)
You just insert your washed, wet pant,
and hang to dry





insert cute husband

Voila !

perfect creases





no dryer, no iron
saves money, saves the enviornment
to get your own, click here

I am sure they were a favorite of June Cleaver.

they certainly are a favorite of mine.

Shaggy

I go too long between haircuts.
don't know why. always have.
This is what I know for sure:
when the only thing I can do with it is pull it back into a ponytail,
and I have been doing that every day,

for weeks,
it is time to cut it.
Usually it takes some special occasion to make me get it done.
And sure enough, the are holidays here,
so, I got it cut yesterday.
I tried a new hairdresser, which is always scary
but she did a great job
I hi-lighted too.

Feels great.

It is raining today, so the ends are a little frizzed

....special thanks to Chloe & Steve for the photos :)
p.s. Chloe said she didn't see a difference.

whatever.

Inspiration

Something happened to me when Chloe was born.

I was inspired by her perfection (in fact, Perfection is my nickname for her)

and compelled to capture it.

I picked up a camera and started taking pictures.

That was 12 years ago; long before the digital age.

Steve bought me a Cannon EOS, I loved it.
I took rolls and rolls of color photos;
hauled them over to Costco,
then anxiously awaited their development.
Photo pick-up day was always exciting.
I spent a small fortune on photos in those days.


Then my older children, who had all taken photography in high school,
got me interested in black and whites.

I converted my windowless utility room into a dark room
and when there wasn't a pile of laundry to wash,
I would develop photos for hours.

I LOVED IT.

I took portraits of my loved ones;
herding them out to the back yard to catch the perfect morning light.
With my white bed sheet hanging as a backdrop, I would shoot away
.....then head for the utility room.



They don't scan perfectly, but you get the idea

. . . these are a few of my favorites:






















I no longer develop my own photos.

I have a new love.

His name is Digital Cannon EOS


Photography, in the digital age is instant art!





It is so cool that I can take a self portrait






and 5 minutes later,

it can look like this:







or this







or any of these

Instant Andy Warhol






I love it all!

I Like Fashion

Years ago, I took one of those tests to identify my fashion style

I was the "The Classic" type

no big surprise there

clean classic lines, neutral colors, no prints, that's me

ruffles are a rarity in my closet




Each season, I invest in 2-3 trendy items to update my wardrobe

For Fall/Winter 2009


I like,

but won't be wearing:


over the knee boots

they usually look like Pretty Woman,
but this looks great




single sleeve dress
if you want one, I saw one at Steinmart





leather pants
that ship has sailed





boots with chains
biker babe





a fur stole
too Cruella deVil





I will be wearing



shoulder pads
just a matter of dusting off a couple of old favorites I kept





leather everything
she looks fab





leather gloves, always loved them

short booties, just bought some

monochromatic



some color
green is my favorite





tailored blazers



sophisticated layers of grey and black
so chic






some sparkle and shine for daywear,
maybe a scarf, we'll see



Chrissy recently picked out this little number for me;

She knows my style perfectly.

It is a $400. Michael Kors jacket

She got it for $4.99, at the thrift store

I love it.

It looks like we are heading back to more classic tailoring

I'm thrilled!

Cars

Yesterday, Chloe was watching Hannah Montana.

In this episode,

the family surprised their grandmother with a brand new car.

However, Grandma's reaction wasn't what they expected.

She did not like the new car.

Grandma liked her old car.

She explained that her old car had taken her children to ball practice, dance lessons and church, and the stains on the upholstery held sweet memories of family vacations and drive-in movies.


She said her old car was, in fact, a member of the family

"......and we don't get rid of members of the family."



It got me thinking about the cars Steve & I have owned and how many memories are attached to them. I guess I feel the same way Grandma does, because we keep our family cars until they die. In 32 years, we have owned just three.



When we were engaged, Steve owned a brown Ford Pinto.

It died

Right in the middle of the intersection of Gettysburg and Fresno Street.

It made the loudest noise I ever heard;

Steve said a bad word.



1976




Into marriage, I brought a couch, 2 chairs, and a yellow VW bug.

With his Pinto gone, Steve brought a guitar and amp


1977 - Leaving the Oakland Temple for our honeymoon




We both needed a car for work, so Steve bought this sweet ride:

1964 Ford Falcon Wagon

We got offers on it every time we drove it.

I'm not kidding. Did you see the rims?



1977 - We called it "La Bamba"





When Michael was six months old, we bought our first family car, an

Oldsmobile station wagon.

Eventually, we filled it with babies.

A diesel, that lasted 10 years, it was great for trips!


1978 - Look closely, Steve is putting shoes on a cute little pair of feet




Steve loved his Chevy Pick-up and we loved camping!


1987 - Off to Lewiston Lake with my parents (their car on the right)




My dream car was a VOLVO 240GL and we got one in 1987.

WE LOVED THAT CAR! and drove it for 16 years.

It was sad the day she died.


The sunroof came in handy on "Show & Tell" day.




When Mike and Brit were old enough to drive, we got a
1971 Karmann Ghia.
It was a fun family project reupholstering and painting it.


Very cute.

Not very safe.





1995





These are the vehicles that currently serve us well:

2009




This was my Grandpa Gibbs' FORD Pick-up




Grandpa bought it brand new in 1964

It was passed down to my father, and now, to me.

We get offers on it every time we take it out.

It is, in fact, a member of the family


"......... and we don't get rid of members of the family."