Happy Birthday Curtis

Today is Curtis' 57th birthday! Wow! Time is going by. What an amazing man he is. I just love him! He loves making bread...so he got a new super duper bread machine. Hopefully this one works! It is a Zojirushi brand. We have tried every other kind out there. I think we got the lemons of every brand. His plan for this morning...re-caulk the bathrooms and then go do something. We will probably do lunch or dinner out.

Star Trek

I love the holidays when Curtis has time off work and we can go and do things TOGETHER - especially when either of us is NOT sick or in pain...like last year! So the day after Christmas we decided to go to the Arizona Science Center and see their Star Trek exhibit. Well if you know Curtis...he is a Trekkie! Jason and I both have watched a ton of Star Trek shows and movies with Curtis. So off we went. Boy was it fun. I have to say that the exhibit at the Science Center was probably the best one (at least what I have seen).

So here is a photo taken of Jason and Carter (2), Curtis and Jaren (4), and Sandi standing on the Enterprise in the Transporter Room. Wouldn't it have been cool if I could have beamed to Berlin to see Lisa, or to Reno to see Nick & Serina?!!! Use your imagination!

Here is the Great Captain Curt, First Mate Sandi, and the crew on the Bridge of the Enterprise!
We had so much fun seeing and pretending!

Curtis has all next week off. His birthday is on Tuesday (hint hint). We are doing various day trips around the Phoenix valley ... who knows what is next!

Grandkid Time

I have been enjoying several days of helping Heidi & Jace out by going to their house (while Jace works) and playing with Christian and Haven so Mommy and Noelle can rest. Yesterday was Haley's first day of not having to go to school...but she was sick on the couch all day. Poor thing. We have had fun ... took a day trip to go visit Grandma & Grandpa Gibb (my parents) for a diversion. Haley likes to dress up as Wonder Woman and Christian as Buzz Light Year. They are so funny playing with each other. Sure lots of fun to be with them!

Christmas Parties

Curtis had his work Christmas party last night (Dec 12th) at the Scottsdale Doubletree Hotel. It was very nice. The food was incredible! They had a DJ and we danced only the slow dances until 10:10 pm and then headed home very tired. I love these Christmas parties...where you get to dress up and not think of anything but your wonderful spouse! Tonight we are hosting at our home the Ward Leadership Christmas Dinner/Party. There will be about 10-11 couples coming. Knowing this party is going to happen is what makes the Christmas decorations go up in our house! But...I am ready. Should be fun.

Here is us together at his work party.

Noelle Heidi Larkin is here!!

What an exciting day! Our daughter Heidi gave birth to her number 4 yesterday, little Noelle Heidi Larkin was born 12/12 at 11:22 am weighing in at 7lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long.

Here is a me holding Noelle at the hospital.

Here is Noelle just opening her eyes.

This and That

I have been fighting a cough and runny nose since last Thursday afternoon. When it hit, it hit. Yesterday I spent all day in bed (except for 2 hours). Today I feel pretty good...I might live. In fact...I worked on my Christmas letters and will have them in the mail this afternoon. What a task! It only took me 5 hours!

Good news! Found out if Heidi doesn't go into labor before this Friday, she and Jace report to the hospital at 4:00 a.m. on Friday. So little Noelle will have a 12/12 birthday! Noelle will make #8 grandchild. Can't wait to hold her and love her! Once she gets here, I will be helping Heidi and playing with the other three.

Post Thanksgiving

Serina and Nick flew in from Reno, Nevada. It was nice having them home for 4 days. They enjoyed time with Serina's siblings and their families.



While everyone was here for Thanksgiving, we got a photo of all our kids and their spouses:

Front Row: Serina, Jason, Sandi, Curtis, Heidi, Peter

Back Row-spouses: Nick Haines, Carrie, Jace Larkin, Meggan

I figure with all the babies coming, we will never have a current "Family" photo. So this picture won't change except for the years to our age. I will just change the individual family photos on our wall. Heidi is due anytime now with Noelle.

My nephew, Nathan Prodromides, taught little Jaren (3 1/2) how to skateboard. Here he is trying out "Grandpa's handmade" skateboard.

You can see Tytan (Peter's oldes) getting a drink out of the pool of water on the patio left over from the Rain! Crazy kids. We did have a lot of fun.

Sunday Afternoon

After such a crazy two weeks, by the time Sunday afternoon came...I was dead! After a simple dinner I laid down for a nap. Well, I woke up 3 hours later! I have no idea what Curtis did. He probably caught up on his journal. But when I came alive we had a great evening. We watched a re-run off our VHS tape of the Star Trek the Next Generation - 2 shows. Those great ones where Data and the gang go back to earth (500 years back in time) to San Francisco and run into Gynun and Mark Twain. It is one of our favorites. Was so fun to watch again. Well, after that we watched Beach Party with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. It was nice just to sit by my husband (very rare) and just enjoy some good viewing.

So much happening

      It seems that for days there is nothing worthy of writing other than...all is well. Then everything happens and there is so much to write, but no time!! So I am going to briefly recap the last 2 weeks.

      On Mon, Nov 10th after I got home from teaching early morning seminary I received a phone call from a neighbor who saw 5 teenagers go into an empty home (foreclosed house). He called the cops and then me (I am the HOA president). I called another board member and we went to meet with the cops because only the day before we had seen a lot of tagging (gang graffiti) near by and thought it could be connected. To make a long story and long day short...2 of the kids were arrested and 3 let go. Because the 3 were let go for the time being...our house was egged the next weekend. Fortunately Curtis saw it at 5:30 a.m. on his way to Bishopric meetings at church. He cleaned up the bulk of it. I cleaned the rest of it before leaving for church so the HOT Arizona sun would not bake it into the garage door and driveway. My garage door now looks beautiful! Needed a bath!

     Then on Thurs, Nov 13, Curtis' parents Melvin & Gloria flew into town for a week. Unfortunately Melvin picked up the BAD flu before arriving and wasn't feeling great and just felt badfor about 5 days eating chicken noodle soup and sprite! But!!! Gloria and I had project. She wanted to complete the christmas shopping for all her Arizona kids, grandkids and grandkids. So we had their wish list, made decisions about what was needed, mapped out the route for the stores and set off on Friday, Nov 14th to see what we could accomplish. Surprisingly we were all done at 1pm. That only took 3 hours!!! A record was set. So we decided to go to lunch. That was fun. Then that afternoon it took us 1 1/2 hours just to wrap everything.

      On Sat, with Curtis home, we all went to IKEA for lunch, then over to Curtis' cousin's home in Gilbert for a visit. Hit Deseret Book in Chandler and then home.

      Sun - We went to Sacrament only..took Melvin home to go back to bed. Gloria and I went to watch Haley and Christian sing in their Primary Sacrament Program in the Sarival Ward. When I got there my Mom and Dad were there, my niece Lisa and her family were there (brief visit, stop on way back home to Utah) so it was Family Reunion on an entire pew. Haley did so well. She knew every word of every song! Christian saw his dad half way through his talk and had to stop and wave at him. Kids are great!

      That evening we had all the kids over for a dessert and visiting with Granny & Farfar. (Farfar

is swedish for Father's father) Here are photos of all the grandkids together on the couch - they are all under the age of 5! These are our kids & spouses who live in Arizona. Heidi's husband was at church meetings and not with her in the middle.

     Through out the week I took Melvin and Gloria to each of our Arizona kids' home so they could see their house and visit with them personally, so that when they are home in Kaysville, they can visualize where these little families are.

      Wed morning I put them on the plane. A great visit with them. They are getting up in age and one never knows if this is their last trip here or not.

      This week in Seminary has been a delight. We have been studying the saviors last week and focusing especially on the Atonement in Gethsemane, Golgotha, and the Ressurection. It truly has helped me more focus on this coming week of Thanksgiving. How much I have to be thankful for in the eternal perspective. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation that gives me the knowledge to implement saving ordinances in my life. For each of you who read this...know how much you have impacted my life and are dear to me. I with you each a wonderful family time together this Thanksgiving!

Tucson Desert Museum

Saturday (yesterday) we rode with Jason & Carrie and their little boys, Jaren & Carter to the Tucson Desert Museum. We spent from 10 am to about 2:00 pm there. My sister, Patti, and her daughters Ashley and Lisa - and Lisa's two girls Amber & Kerissa met us there. We had fun walking and walking. Amber would be in major discussion with another visitor to the Desert about how "Snakes don't have teeth because they don't chew their food!" Carter hugged and kissed every coyote and javelina bronze statue! He would caress it and tell it good bye. He loves coyotes!! Jaren and Amber had a great time. They would hold hands walking down the path. Jason had this really nifty picnic table that we set up at the tailgate of his van for lunch. Right in the parking lot (cars could still drive by)! What a great time with family we had.

Halloween Events

We had a lot of fun at our Ward Fall Festival recently. We were able to take three of our grandchildren - Haley, Christian and Haven. Here is the photo of them with the pumpkins! They had dinner with us, went to the activity, and then spent the night. I am posting some photos from evening.

We also had some really cute Ward kids come to Trick-or-Treatat the Bishop's home. Truly fun!

How much Oil is in your Lamp?

I had a wonderful early morning Seminary Class today! In September Susan Wolkow subbed for me while Curtis and I went to Las Vegas. I had her help the class make oil lamps like in the Bible Story "The Ten Virgins". The students took red clay and molded into lamps. During the past month and one week, the students have been earning points (drops of oil) for their lamps. They had to have their scriptures out and open, participate, help others, ask questions, be on time, etc... So today ... they received their oil! It turns out it was also AIMS testing...so some students didn't come. But the ones who did...we lit our lamps. The darker photo was taken about 6:10 a.m. We wanted to do it in the dark so we could see our light shine (Matthew 5:14-19). The other photo was with a flash. Susan came and participated with us...she was taking the photo. Thanks Susan for your help. Our theme in Seminary for the rest of the year as we study the New Testament is "How much Oil do you have in your Lamp?"

Music, Music, Music!!

Curtis and I found this really cool machine online at Heartland America. It takes records (real LP's) and cassette tapes and records them to CD's. I have old 78's that were my tap-dance records when I was little that I had to practice to, probably 70+ records albums that are really great and would be nice to listen to in the car, and lots of Time Life Country Music on cassettes. So the plan was to copy these for our enjoyment and get rid of all the space taken up on these records and cassettes. Well....a friend went to a garage sale and found for $7.00 a entire box of ... no kidding... probably 100+ cassettes of all types of music!!! Well, I am copying cassettes. I put them in and FORTUNATELY it stops when the side is done....because it make take a while before I realize I need to go turn it over! I have listened to The Drifters, Kenny Loggins, Abbott & Castello, World Classic Piano, Sesame Street Anniversary LP, and a variety of others. While doing this I have been catching up on my exercises, reading a variety of magazines so I can pass them on to Jason's doctor office wait room! This has been a very strange day of really doing nothing but relaxing and listening to some very good stuff!

Just read new book

Many of you know that I love Betsy Brannon Green's books. I have all her books and her recent one "Above and Beyond" came in the mail earlier this week. Well, I started it yesterday....couldn't put it down. Read until 9pm. I had to go to sleep so I could get up for seminary. Then I cleaned house and ironed, etc... all morning. So I could read from noon until 4:00 pm! I finished it. Wow! What a great mystery. Since I grew up military I was familiar with some of the Bases she had in the book. Boy did her characters get around the country. I don't want to tell you more about it. But it's great!

Excellent Movie! Fireproof

Curtis and I went to see a show that my mom heard about, it is called Fireproof. This is a movie about a firefighter and his wife. He is a hero in the community, but not at home. The struggles they go through and how his Dad dares him to try an experiment for 40 days. He agrees. It is hard, but so worth it. He overcomes a lot, and so does his wife. All the people were couples in the theater except for one man. Good for him...he might learn something to apply in his marriage at home. We cried through it. Action packed, edge of your seat! I challenge anyone who read this blog to PLEASE take your spouse and go see this movie. It is NEW so it will be out for a few more weeks (I hope). It is worth getting a babysitter, or trade babysitting with someone so you and a friend can go. With what we have in our faith and religion, this will only enhance it! Have I said enough about how wonderful this is?!!!! Please email me once you see the movie: nielsonaz@cox.net. Here is the link to see the trailer http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/support.php

Grandma Time with Haley

This morning Haley (my very first grandchild) came to have "Grandma Time". We soaked our fingernails, buffed, painted in layers!!!! and added little stickers and sparklies to those nails. Haley has been trying NOT to eat her fingernails. She has done great...so we manicured! Then we read books while our nails dried. Grandpa loves healthy muffins...so we baked. Here is Haley holding one. They are yummy.

It is so nice to have the grandkids close by. I never dreamt that having this generation would be so special and dear to my heart! Then, when I took her home at noon, little Haven heard my voice and had to come running in and get a hug and kiss! She will be two next month. What a doll. Christian was right behind with showing me the pumpkins daddy carved. Then we had to take a tour of the girls room. Haven's bed was now moved into Haley's so they can prepare for Noelle to arrive in December! How exciting.

What better way to spend the morning!

Dinner at the Melting Pot

Curtis and I decided to take our maried kids out to dinner (the ones who live here in Arizona) last night. We all went to the Melting Pot. What a wonderful time we had. There were 8 of us. I am going to post the photos at the end of this so you can see us all. We visited and rotated seating positions all night to get a chance to try dipping in the three different pots! Was so fun.

Recent Fun

Recently Curtis had a three day trip to Las Vegas and I went with him. While he was in meetings I went to visit some of my friends: Debbie Tidwell and Gerry & Hughleen Smith. We had a great time catching up. On night we went to see Blue Man Group. Here is a photo Curtis took after the show.
We even watched the Bellagio Waters dance for a bit after going to go and visit Steven & Emily Bell. They just got a new house. Sooo cute!

Miracles Never Cease

After having a wonderful visit in Tucson with my dear friend, Beryl, and having lunch with my sister, Patti, and my friend Linda...I had to drive straight to a doctor's appointment. I had a CT scan last week of my lungs...since I don't have Asthma...to be evaluated. Well, the night before the CT scan I had a blessing to take care of the CT and my leg surgery which would have been the day after the CT. So...I saw a pulmonologist. This guy reminded me of a mad scientist! His hair was sticking out all over, he had a funny accent. I asked him where he was from. He said, California! Go figure! He was really nice and listened well. He asked me lots of questions, and read my CT stuff. There is NOTHING there. He then asked me again why I was here. I said my allergist felt you should see me. He told me I was a 53 year young person, very healthy, no problem! I then asked him, "Are you a God fearing man?" (I was being brave!) He looked at me surprised. I was thinking to myself he was going to be crude or something. He said "Yes I am." I then told him I was LDS, a mormon. I had a blessing the night before the CT scan. I said it looks like God took care of whatever the problem was. He then said to me. "I have a surgeon friend who I really admire. He told me once...God is the healer. Doctors just change the bandaid." On that note my appointment was done. I don't have to take any more asthma meds. I can take allergy stuff to help in the rough seasons...other than that I am whole! At this very moment it just dawned on me. We have been studying what it means by being healed by the Savior in Matthew and Mark of the Bible. They are made whole, cleansed. Their sins are forgiven. What a humble feeling for today.

My Day in Tucson

This morning I drove down to Tucson REALLY early. I have been visiting my sister, Patti, and her family. I helped Nathan and Ashley with their DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) papers. They like me to help me...their papers usually win $$ when I do. Then I went to see my long dear friend, Angie Sampson. She and her husband moved back into their original home they bought when they got married 38 years ago. (They had been renting it out). We had a great visit. One thing with Angie, you do a lot of laughing! How fun that was. For two hours we had a great time. We hadn't seen each other since my 50th Murder Mystery birthday party! Once back at Patti's we had a lovely "haystack dinner". Then I helped Ashley put together a fun game for Beehives at Mutual for this Wednesday night. We put together the Sacramental Prayers into word strips so the girls can have a game to see which group can actually learn them first. So we tried it out for Family Home Evening as our game. Was totally fun...plus we learned the words! What an amazing experience it was as we disected it to understand it better.

The roads and freeways around here are totally MESSED up. ADOT is having a hayday in Arizona. Every road is ripped up! But oh how I miss this beautiful area of the state. Too bad there isn't a temple here...we could then move back.

High Anxiety at the Doctor's Office

Yesterday after teaching early morning seminary, coming home and having a quick breakfast, my mom picked me up at 8:00 a.m. to drive me to my newest doctor - a vein/vascular doctor. My appointment was at 9:00 a.m. or so I thought. The office staff was suppose to tell me that my appointment was switched to 11:00 a.m.! We had two hours to sit and wait. Fortunately while sitting there visiting, a gentleman (wainting for his wife) overheard my "missionary moment" discussion with my mom. He asked me "Which ward are you in?" I asked back, "Are you a Mormon?" He said yes. He is Bishop Moody of one of the retirement wards up in Sun City, Arizona! So for the next three hours (that's right, an hour past my appointment time) the three of us visited and shared crazy stories! He told how his ward is the opposite of our ward. Everyone there is OLD. He is dealing with one or two deaths a week, 80 widows, 32 widowers, 100 inactives, and can only visit between 9am and 4pm because people are in bed asleep after 6pm! His ward a "field trip" to the mortuary near by...so they can plan for their future. We died laughing!

About 12:15 pm out walks his wife. I see a bandaid over her inner elbow. I asked her in a panic sort of way..."Did they draw blood on you?" She answered calmly, "No, I.V. It is routine in case of an emergency." Well...if any of you know me and needles, I said "No one told me about an I.V.!" Then the nurse was sitting by my side and making sure my info was correct. I said, "Do I have to have an IV?" She said, "Yes, it is routine." I started to cry.

Well, after I was dressed in a paper gown!! for my vein closure (in my left calf) ... she stuck her head in the door and said...."I spoke with the other nurse and doctor...we decided...you don't need an IV." I thanked Heavenly Father immediately! Now...to make it through the episode!

This was crazy. I laid on a gurney like table. The doctor scrubbed my left leg. While they were holding my leg in the air, the nurse said "You have the most beautiful leg we have ever seen in this office!" Now...this doctor's office is in Sun City...average age ... 85! So you figure that one. They draped me in all kinds of surgery wrap and fortunately raised the part by my chin up in the air so I couldn't watch!

What happened was basically this...sonogram my leg until he found the vein that was not working properly (basically blood flowing wrong direction). Then take a shot needle and numb up the area with 3-5 injections of lanocaine ... it worked! Then make a small cut, insert a probe (while still using the sonogram to see where he is going with it) and travel down to the vein, puncture the vein and then insert a wire thing into the probe and radiowave (like microwave) the vein in 4 one-quarter turns every one minute. Then back it out. He was going to do my other bad vein, but it was on the outside of my calf...too many nerves...could be damaged.

Now came the clean up the leg part and put on a compression hose up to my thigh.
The entire time I was on the table I was stiff as a board. Trying not to move and Scared stiff. I was thinking...yesterday the doctor asked if I would like some Valium (sp?) so I wouldn't be nervous today. I didn't want to mess with drugs. Maybe it would have been a good thing!

Mom and I didn't get home until 4:01 pm.

I am doing great today. I just have to wear this stocking on my left leg for 4 weeks! I'll be glad to remove it...reminds me "I am injured!"