PRE HALLOWEEN

TUESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2915

We call this PRE HALLOWEEN week!

Grandpa Arthur surprised me this morning with an electric fire place that I told him I wanted for Christmas.  I love it Grandpa, thank you!  I was missing the fireplace in the Palmyra Inn.

Our Hansen grandchildren called this morning and asked if I could drive them to school.  They said they really missed us when they were on Fall Break.  They went to Washington State and they brought me back some sea shells!  Yay!

This great sign is in the entry of the elementary school.  I hope 1000 years from now my grandchildren still like Grandma Gene & Grandpa Arthur.  We love all of our grandchildren with all our hearts.

 Sea shells from the sea shore.

SUNDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2015
Our Grandson Leif had an asthma attack on Wednesday morning.  He looked so good, but his cough was deep and he was wheezing something terrible.  It is hard to watch a child suffer like this.  His treatments helped and the next day he was good...thank you doctors!

"I know I sound like a frog Grandma".

We usually are up before the sun, so don't hear the rooster most mornings.  Today, he made sure I listened as I walked over to my daughters.  It was fun to watch this rooster!

It was quite the weekend around here.  Our daughter, Heather, along with a couple of her friends planned a scavenger Halloween party.  It took them forever to get it organized and ready.  Too much work for this grandma.  But, they had a blast the evening of the party and the guests had fun also.  Oh, to be young again!

 The party started at 6:30 pm and they began arriving at the final destination at 8:30 pm...They were a very noisy group as they shared tales of their adventures!

 Our son and his wife visited us in the afternoon.  I didn't say a word about the party...I was supposto keep it quiet...they were invited.  After they left I told grandpa I didn't say anything about the party.  He said they already know, we were talking about it before you came out of the house to visit!  Oh, this family and secrets...I just don't get it.  I'm the dense grandma.  Ha!

 This is our Bishop and his wife at the Braums ice cream challenge.  No wonder everyone was hyped...that is a lot of ice cream to eat!

 Lily took a selfie on my camera.

 This is the party group before they began the scavenger hunt.  There were quite a lot of people to keep track of.  I was thankful when they all arrived safely at the end of the evening.  I think everyone had a great time.  Halloween is almost here.

I also have to add this picture because Ryan & Sarah went to another party on Saturday night.  They were dressed as Cecil the Lion facing the deadly dentist!  They won Best Costume, Funniest Costume, and Best Dancers!  CONGRATULATIONS RYAN & SARAH!
 HAPPY PRE HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Our son-in-law Mike has a project going.  He is putting water pipe to his chicken coupe and some of the trees.  They are a long way from the house and this will be a lot easier for all to be watered.  The poor man always has such good helpers.  I just had to record this adventure through the eyes of the grandparents.  Mike is working so hard on this project.  He looks so peaceful in this photo.

 These are the helpers he has working with him.  As he put in the pipe, these four helped by jumping over the ditch and chasing each other all around their dad as he is trying to get this project in working order.  You're the man Mike!

Now for the other interesting news this week.
BYU won their football game against Wagner 70-6.  It was fun to watch those players who usually sit on the sidelines get their moment of fame.  Great game sons of Bronco!

We also watched the Utah teams and the Oklahoma teams!

It was homecoming at OSU Cowboy Stadium this weekend too.  I'm sure you all heard about the horrible accident at the parade.  A women who was under alcohol influence drove into the parade crowd and killed 4 people and injured 40 others.   This is a parents worst nightmare.  We feel so badly for the woman who did this and for the victims families.  Such a tragedy.  Our love and prayers go out to each person affected by this sorrowful weekend event.

Today, Sunday, is the Primary program for our OKC 7th Ward Primary.  We are looking forward to the sweet children that will perform.  This program will have more meaning after the events of OSU Homecoming yesterday.  This life is a test and we wonder sometimes at the testing results.  We are praying our grandchildren that are in the program today will feel "The Saviors Love".   I am so thankful for the "Word of Wisdom" that has been taught in our church.  I have experienced so much sorrow watching many of my loved ones go down the alcoholic path.  Grandpa Arthur and I pray that our children and grandchildren can learn from others mistakes and not have to experience this sorrow in their own lives.
 "Follow The Prophet, He Knows The Way".

We hope your PRE HALLOWEEN week has passed with less trauma than ours in Oklahoma.  We pray each of you and your family members feels loved and appreciated.  Remember to hug your children today.  We are so thankful for each of you.  May The Lords blessings protect you this next week and always.
Hug's always,
Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Gene
Arthur & Gene

FALL BREAK

WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2015

FALL BREAK

 This afternoon begins Fall Break for all students and teachers in this area!  We are going to travel to Dallas and see our Grandchildren in a play they are performing in.  Our daughter, Heather, just texted us that her family just landed in Seattle Washington where they flew for Fall Break.  Our son, Ryan and his family are headed to Branson this afternoon for Fall Break.   We hope all our Seminary students enjoy some time off as much as we will.  Our lesson, this morning, was on Joseph being sold into Egypt because his brothers were jealous of him.  As we discussed Fall Break with the youth, many of them are traveling and some are just staying home.  It was fun to discuss jealousy when we are actually experiencing it as a class.  We informed them that we all need to be caught up on our reading when we return.  Everyone should have read through Exodus 8 by then.  We hope you parents will encourage reading this weekend!  Better yet, read to your teens from the scriptures.

We gave Luke his birthday, last night, since he is going to be gone when he turns six.  As I drove into their home, I backed into their basketball goal and cracked the base.  All this jelly fluid leaked out that holds the whole thing in place.  Luke's parents bought him a basketball for his birthday.  Yah, I felt dumb...guess I am going to be paying to have a goal post set in cement for this child.  Ha. 

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY LUKE

Grandpa has been spending lots of hours repairing our roof.  He said both of the son's that helped him have complained about being sore.  Grandpa Art is one tough cookie.  He is exhausted from the labor, but he is not sore.  He is very thankful and grateful for that.  He found the cold seam that is causing the leakage...so now he has added lots of waterproofing and is napping while this dries.  The seam between where the wall and the roof meet is where the waterproofing failed.

 Still lots of work to do to waterproof this area and refit the sprinkler that he accidentally broke off with the shovel...ha.  He is the best Grandpa Arthur I know!  Thank's for taking care of our home Grandpa.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 2015
We are having the black top of the driveway sealed sometime today.  Then we are off to Dallas.
My sister Cindy posted this on facebook.  It gave me pause to ponderize my discussions with others.  I so am asking for the gift of patience from our Savior.  I'm very grateful for His Atonement.

I also saw that Emma Smith's personal copy of The Book of Mormon is located in the John Quincy Adams home library.  This book is signed by Joseph Smith and was a gift to Charles Francis Adams.  Joseph had Emma's name engraved on the binding of this book.  I'm sure the story of giving it to Charles would be interesting to know too...guess we can ask when we meet them again.  Adding this to the list of questions for our homecoming!

MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2015
Fall Break was spent in Texas.  We enjoyed the weekend with our son Todd and his family.

The play was great!  Our granddaughter memorized over a hundred lines.  Her brother had about 50 to learn....quite the accomplishment.

We went to eat at this Hula Restaurant that had a volcano and boat chairs.  Todd and his family on the boat chair.

This sign said it all!

There was golf for the family....

 Then there was the BYU vs. Cincinnati game!  BYU won 38-24!  Art and Todd also watched the Oklahoma games and Utah games...

This morning Ryan came over and helped his dad, Grandpa Arthur fill in the hole on our roof.  Now we will see if it works!

Thank you, thank you Ryan!

The finished roof!

We also got the road sealed this weekend...on FALL BREAK.  I think we are now ready for winter.

I picked a few Persimmons to munch on as I write this...most of them were too high in the trees for me to reach.  They sure look pretty when the sun shines on them.

Persimmons popping on the persimmon trees!

We hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
We were able to watch Our Dallas grandchildren in the Primary Program this weekend too.
We feel blessed.   We hope each of you enjoyed a FALL BREAK.
Hug's always,
Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Gene
Arthur and Gene

OCTOBER

TUESDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2015
Last evening we had Home Evening with the Hutto's and Sister Newman.  We had a most delicious supper that Sister Hutto made.  She even baked a pumpkin pie with real whipping cream & we had a stew (Pottage) just like Jacob in the Old Testament made!  Thank you Hutto's for the feast!
We then discussed Elder Cooks Conference talks from the former conferences.  We also discussed all the happenings from this past weekend conference & the new apostles.   We all enjoyed listening last weekend.  Thank's to each of our Savior's spokesmen for their training and teaching.  We felt truly blessed to be together and discuss these teachings last night.
I'm eating the pie that they sent home with us as I write this.  We love Karen Hutto's cooking!

Karen shared some more starts of her own mothers house plant with me.  I had some that I left here on my mission, but they didn't survive, so am getting a second chance to try again!  It is called birdsnest and cleans the oxygen in your home at night!   Thank you Karen.

This morning's Seminary lesson was Abraham obeying The Lord and being willing to "sacrifice his only begotten son, Isaac".  I have known this story since my own primary days.  This morning I felt the pain as experienced by Abraham and Our Heavenly Father as they faced this difficult trust.  I hope the youth understood all the emotions  & symbolism that we discussed today.  We now get to move on to Isaac marrying Rebeca and the journey that leads to their meeting.

Yesterday we got a new pressure tank for our well!  Today our water pumps are being repaired.  We are so grateful and thankful for water in our home!

I got a phone call, early this morning, as we were reading our lesson for tomorrow.  Our Grandson Luke was feeling sick and his mother, Heather, needed help with him as her day is overbooked.

I started by going to their home and taking our Grandson Leif to school.  He took a selfie on our way to school.  He told me he loves school and his teacher and classes!

His mom offered her car for me to take him to school.  As she opened the front door...she found this present.  It seems that one of the children had left an unopened bag of peanut butter crackers in the car.  They are not allowed to eat in their car.  Anyway, the next morning the crackers were opened and there were mouse droppings around the crackers.  Our daughter put mouse traps in her car and woh---la---today she received her first trapping.  We never know!  I chose to drive Leif to school in my own car.

 This is the mouse laying on the bottom of the car when we opened the car door.

As soon as Luke's mother left, Luke, wanted fruit snacks.  He has a puke bowl sitting near him...no way was I cleaning up puke.  I finally let him drink some yogurt.  So far it has stayed down!  He hasn't moved all morning, so he must not feel good.

We slipped over to Ryan's, while Sarah was teaching piano, and had Ryan help Grandpa Arthur give me a blessing before my surgery tomorrow.  Thank you Ryan.  He has a couple interviews lined up for the end of the week.  Our prayers are with you also Ryan.  Love you!

In the evening we attended Lily's talent contest for her 6th grade class.  There was great singing, dancing, commercials and just pure talent.  I sat between Luke and Leif and they sang along with the songs they knew...it was a fun program to see.

THURSDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2015
Yesterday I had my fourth, and hopefully final, surgery on my legs.  Once again I am so thankful for the nursing staff and Doctor Hennebry at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital.   They began by giving me a Flu shot!  They removed all the pheblitis knots I had behind my right knee yesterday.  Again the conversations were great as they did not put me under.  I thought about the movie "Mash".  Dr. Hennebry asked if I was going to teach our Seminary class this morning.  I told him it was Grandpa Arthur's day to teach, but I would be there for support.  All the operating staff began talking about their own beliefs and different scriptures.  It was great.  Then our conversation turned to cars and Dr. said everyone should drive huge pickups as that eliminates road rage, everyone around you moves!  I told them Grandpa Art always drives our Toyota Tacoma pickup as it has the least miles on it.  Dr. Hennebry and a internee began telling different stories they have heard about our kind of pickup and how durable it is.  They said this is the choice of the Taliban warriors, nice.  They are discussing our automobiles while I am shedding blood and veins  on the operating bed.  I think I could find lots of symbolism in the surgery yesterday!  I limped into class with my mummyfied leg today.  Hurrah for Israel!

This week in seminary we buried Sarah and Abraham, married Isaac to Rebeca.  They had twins, Esau and Jacob.  Jacob stole the birthright from Esau...anyway that is what Esau claims...we know Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of pottage.  Now we are waiting to see if Esau follows through with his threat to kill Jacob.  There are great stories in The Old Testament.  These scripture stories are never dull!   We hope you are reading your scriptures each day.  If not, look at the great stories you could be ponderizing!
We hadn't had enough of doctors this week so went to Dr. Legako for our yearly physicals.  Thanks Dr. Legako & the Canyon Park staff we hope we don't get to visit your office for at least another year!  They gave Grandpa Arthur a flu shot and both of us got a pneumonia shot.
SUNDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2015
Well, we both slept great, last evening BYU beat BCU 45-38.  Utes beat Cal 30-24.  Grandpa Arthur really enjoyed watching football all afternoon and evening.  Thanks to the two Utah teams he felt it was a really good day! Our Oklahoma teams Tex beat OU 24-17 and OSU beat WVU 33-26 in overtime.   I must say the sons of Bronco gave us a few scares...we hope Mangum's leg heals quickly.  Go BYU!  Hurrah for OKLAHOMA!  Next time OU...

Grandpa Arthur has been digging up the roof of the cave.  We tried to hire someone to come and fix this leak in our storage room, but no one wanted to take the time from other building projects, and chose not to attempt this "small task"...so we are on our own.  Our son-in-law Michael came and helped for a couple of hours early Saturday before he had to take his sons to soccer games.  Tomorrow our son Ryan is going to help his dad.  Hopefully they can get this problem fixed before the winter snows leak in.  Isn't life fun?  Meanwhile our son, Ryan, is interviewing and applying for his own employment....when it rains it pours.  Grandpa say's he can feel the pull in every muscle he has...ouch!

You are doing great Grandpa Arthur...you can fix this!

"Standing on the corner of Bushman Cave"

Mikes dog thought she needed a treat after watching the men work so hard.  Ha!  Grandma Gene took pity on this sorrowful face and gave her some biscuits.

Because the men were working away on the roof, I decided to bring in some of our potted plants for the winter.  The weather has been so lovely, but I know it can change overnight around here, so thought I might get a bit prepared.

I found Kermit the frog in one of the plants...I put him back out on the lawn.

So this evening we had the grandchildren and their parents, who live here, over for dinner after church.  Everything is sticky now..Ha!  This is our younger son Ryan and his family.  Sarah made us a pumpkin desert that was so yummy!  Thank you Sarah!

All the grandchildren followed Grandpa Arthur out on the porch...so we adults did too.

Such a great group of half of our grandchildren.  We love these seven to pieces!

Ryan and Sarah are good to play games with the older three.  They love their game time with their Aunt and Uncle and parents.

 Luke is having a birthday on the 15th of this coming week.  Happy Birthday Luke.

Leif and Luke rolling down their Grandparents hill.

MONDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2015
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ABIGAIL!  She is one of our Seminary students and she turns 15 today!  This is the day we talked about Jesus giving Jacob a new name "Israel". Now we move on to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Grandpa Arthur is already out working on the roof...so I am pondering the beginning of a new week.
I did several arbitrations in the indexing program this week.   Our lives are filled with blessings.  To those who have gone before us, we thank each of you and ask for your prayers.  To those who are here with us, let's find joy in our journey and let's stay on the old ship Zion.  To those whose arrival we anticipate, may you arrive clothed in the armor of righteousness, and arrive in loving homes with a father and mother to help you become your best.
"To Dream The Impossible Dream"
This is our Quest!
"The Abrahamic Covenant"
May each of you comfort your family and remember to hug your children, even when your arms are too weary, and tell them they are loved!  We send hug's to each of you as we all strive for peace, and hope and joy on this highway to the stars.
Hug's always,
Grandpa Arthur & Grandma Gene
Arthur & Gene