Happy 60th Mom & Dad

I was going to do the same thing earlier but Collette beat me to it, I thought I better post the pictures anyway. Collette you really did a beautiful job paying tribute to these two wonderful parents that we were given, who could ask for better? Here are a few pictures of their 55th Wedding Anniversary, Dad wasn't feeling well that night and he's got a pretty sad look on his face, but I'm sure glad that I got a few snapshots that night.

Who would of thought this would be the last major milestone anniversary they would be celebrating here on earth. I'm sure they are celebrating tonight though.

Love ya chicks,
Shannon

A Wonderful Legacy

I'm sure you've all thought about them today, but Mom and Dad have been on my mind all day. We should have been having a big 60 year anniversary party today. The party on their 50th anniversary was so much fun, and they enjoyed it so much; I wish we could have done it again. The past 10 years have gone by so fast, and it seems like yesterday, but yet it seems like forever since we saw our folks.
Our parents really did leave a wonderful legacy. I love each of my sisters and brothers, their spouses, each and every one of my nieces and nephews, and their spouses and children. I'm not going to give names or numbers for fear of leaving someone out, but Mom and Dad truly have a great posterity. There wasn't one single person they didn't love and adore. They were truly proud of each of us. I'm sure they must just smile each day as they see babies joining our families, children growing up, and each of us growing older by the day.
Randy and I spent last night and today in St. George. (Thanks Blake for letting us use your days at the house.) I was brought to tears more than once as I'd look at their pictures and think of the opportunity of being in the home they loved so much. I know it makes them happy to see us all there. They have given us so much, not only physical things, but sound principles, values, and love. I'm thankful everyday for them.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to be a testimony, but I do love each of you. I know that we can see our beloved mother and father again. I'm going to do all I can to be there with them when the time comes, and I hope you will too. It just wouldn't be heaven if any one of my dear family was missing. Love to you all, Collette

What a Great Day!

Look how happy they are, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Mitchell and baby McKinley!

What an awsome day we had yesterday. These two were so happy and nervous at the same time. They had great things happen yesterday they will always remember. Their sealing was just beautiful. The sealer who was sealing them had made the suggestion that they go forward and multiply and replenish this earth with children and everyone just started to chuckle when he said, "Oh, I see you have already started to do that!" it was really cute. She got along fine through the whole thing, notice she's carrying her shoes, her feet and toes were so swollen from sitting all that time that she couldn't get them back on when it was time to go outside for pictures. Here are a few pictures from the day. We missed all of you, wish you could of joined in on their special day too.

The Whitehouse clan, minus Jacob. Wish he could of joined us. But just think how neat of a day that will be when he gets married, we will all be there.

Uncle Bert and Daneen, Me & Stuart, Kaitlyn & Mike, John & Kira, Rachelle Carling, Pam & Doc Mendenhall in front of the temple, they all came back to the luncheon as well. (Side note: Kaitlyn had told Aunt Afton that when it was time to go to the temple she would send her an invitation, she hadn't forgotten that, so when it was time to send out the invites she said, "I can't forget Uncle Bert".) I thought that was so nice of them to come and support Kaitlyn on such a special day, they told her that Aunt Afton was there with her, as were her other Grandma's and Grandpa's which was so very true.

I love spending time with these two, they both looked just beautiful yesterday all dressed in their white clothing, just like little angels.

This is Kaitlyn and Mikes wedding cake top, it's been in my freezer for a year now, we had a cake topper made for it and we took it to luncheon for a surprise. They were going to cut it that night, it probably had freezer burn! It's the thought that counts, right!
What a great ending to a perfect day.
Love you chicks, Shannon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANNON!

I won't say how many years it is because I am right behind her. But.. I just want to wish this sister a very happy birthday today. Shannon, you have always been such a good big sister to me. It was nice that we were so close in age growing up that I always had a friend to play with and I still do (now it mainly involves shopping and eating). We were such good friends when we were little that I hardly remember fighting with you like most siblings might. In fact, in happened so little, that I do remember one doozy of a fight. We were staying with Collette in Cedar City in her apartment and we must have been homesick which must have caused us to argue. But Collette made everything better by taking us to buy coloring books and crayons. (Shopping always makes everything better) And I still have the blue mark in my leg from the pencil. lol

I am so blessed to have you for a big sister and all my other big sisters. I love you Shannon!

Good Things Utah

Last week I attended the League of Cities conference in Salt Lake with Richard from Wednesday through Saturday. We had such a fun time. We were supposed to stay at Little America, but they messed up on our reservations so they had to move us to the Grand America Hotel (darn!)

It was incredibly nice. While the guys were in their meetings, they had fun things for the partners to do each day. On Wednesday morning we were in the audience of Good Things Utah. What a blast! I told the GTU girls I needed a picture with them to put on our sister blogspot because some of you are such fans. They said I needed to bring you all to the show during the holidays, so let's plan to spend a day in SLC in December and go see the show, shop and eat.

I can't thank Jan enough for staying with Karissa. Sisters are wonderful!

cute puppy

No, we don't have a puppy (you know me better than that). This bloodhound was donated to the Utah County Sheriff's Office by Child Protection Education of America. These dogs are used to track people, whether lost kids or criminals (hopefully, she will only have to find the bad quys).

The guy on the right is the handler and trainer, detective Shawn Radmall. A couple of weeks ago we got a call from one of the sheriffs we know and he said they wanted to come by our house to show us something...the cute little (for now) puppy pictured above. They had a contest for the kids of the Sheriff's Office employees to name her. Several people had suggested she be named after Kiplyn, so they wanted to know if this would be OK with us. Together we decided on the name "Kippy". We felt honored that others are still remembering "our angel".

Great idea!

Kudos to whomever thought of this great idea to have a bolg for the Thomas Chicks! I love you all and miss each of you. What a great way to keep in touch and share our lives with one another!

Blake and I are very busy as always with family, jobs, and every day life. Blake broke his right wrist on August 20th and has been in a splint and then a cast ever since. Good news? The cast comes off earlier than expected (Oct 3rd) and he won't need surgery! Yea!!!!!!! I have had carpel tunnel and tendonitis for the past 6 weeks which requires a hand/wrist brace along with an elbow brace to prohibt a lot of movement while things heal. Next week they may put me in a full arm cast if things aren't any better. Yuck! Blake and I really get some crazy looks and downright stares when we are together. When someone inquires as to what happened, he tells them "she beats me." Then I raise my right arm and say "he started it."

The first week of September just the 2 of us went to Disneyland. It truly is the happiest place on earth. We had so much fun! Being with my best friend everyday was so wonderful! Moving luggage around was a bit of a task given the events of the last paragraph, but we seemed to manage just fine. Thomas Team Work in action!

It is finally fall, a most beautiful time of year. Football is in full swing (Go Cougars!) which we always look forward to. Tomatoes are ripening in the garden, so it must be Salsa Time! We have only made 15 quarts so far this year, much less work than 2 years ago when we made over 200 quarts of salsa and tomatoes! Blake has finally taught me that we don't need to feed the entire ward with our garden.

Blake started a new job at CallTower in June that he really loves. He works on about 10600 South just off the freeway. I am still working for First Utah Bank on 12600 South just off the Bangerter Highway. It is great to have my carpool buddy back again!

Courtney is living and working in Salt Lake. Blake talks to her from time to time, she is really growing up. Their relationship is much better now that she is living away from home. I really enjoy the time we spend with her. We haven't seen or heard much from Chelsea, I guess being a Junior in High School keeps her pretty busy. She works at Macey's Food Store after school and on the weekends. She spent a week in New York with her drama class in June, loving every minute of it. Nic is growing like a weed and becoming quite the young man. He really looks up to Blake and learns more from him that we realize. When we are all in the car together, Blake always gets out first and comes around to open my car door. Always has and most likely always will. When Nic is with us, he opens my door for me. He is really a great kid! He and his dad are really into football this year. (Go Cougars!) They are going to breakfast at the One Man Band in Lehi this Saturday and then to the game afterwards. Guy time for them is awesome! On Oct 3rd they have tickets to the BYU / Utah State game. They are hoping to make a weekend of it and spend the night too.

My oldest daughter, Jaime, has received a promotion to work directly with a judge in the Juvenille Probation System in Salt Lake. She is very excited! She should finish her Masters in May. We are so excited for her. Our grandson Nicholas started Jr. High this fall and is nearly 5'4". Jordan is in the 5th grade like Nic. Both are doing very well. Jeremy and Cari and their 3 little ones are going great. Jeremy just received his Cisco certification that he has been working on for over a year. There are only 2000 or so of these certifications in the world, so he is pretty pumped! Cari just had surgery and is doing very well. Can't wait until my salsa buddy is ready to start up again. CJay started 2nd grade and loves his new school which is really close to the new home they bought last summer. The twins, Audrey and Alexis, started kindergarten this year! Grandpa Blake says they can't cause he isn't ready for that yet. They just laugh at him. Megan and Jeff are doing well. Jeff works for Geneva Rock and is happy he isn't working those 12 hour days anymore. Megan just finished school at CCI and reached her CMAS to receive her certificate for a billing specialist. They are currently living in Ogden and her job is in Pleasant Grove. She is hoping to find something a little bit closer to home.

Our deck is almost finished! Blake has learned to drill, saw, and carry lumber all with his left hand. He definately gave his all for the deck.

Hope everyone is doing well. I am so excited to visit this blog often to stay close to all of you and to share our lives together. It seems since Carol passed on that we don't seem to stay in contact quite as much. I really miss her........she is a marvelous lady! Thank you to whomever set up this blog, you were truly inspired!

Take Care - Love, me and Blake

Silly Sunday Again!

I don't have that many pictures of dad in my computer, but I did run across this one, isn't this so like him? He loved to do anything silly with the grandkids didn't he? This picture was taken on the 24th of July, 2003. I'm sure he wasn't feeling well then, but he still made sure the kids had fun! I miss the giggles he could get out of them. This brings to me to some memories me and Stuart were talking about the other night, we had been talking about the State Fair. Dad would take us to the fair almost every year close to my birthday and on several occasions on my birthday. He would let us rome around the fair grounds and browse at all the junkety junk the vendors would sell, dad was such a sport or were we just spoiled? I remember him buying us all sorts of fun things to play with like, the metal steelies on the frame that would hit back and forth against each other, wow! And how about those fun things I think they called them Clackers, they were those transparent colored balls on the long strings that clacked back and forth. How annoying to him I'm sure, but he let us have all the fun things. We would only let the grandkids get away with this today!! Right. Enjoy the memories. See ya chicks, Shannon

Feels like fall

Listen! the wind is rising, and

the air is wild with leaves,

We have had our summer evenings,

now for Autumn eves!

---Humbert Wolfe

I don't know about you guys but I just love waking up in the mornings and having the crisp fall air blowing through the open windows. I love when fall comes around, I can get the fall decorations out, and make all my favorite fall recipes, yum it's soup weather again. This week I made the easiest Pumpkin Choc. Chip Cookies. I'm sure you all have this recipe but I'll share it with you anyway. Here's something you can do over the weekend.

1-2-3 Pumpkin Cookies

1 (16 oz.) can solid pack pumpkin

1 spice cake mix

1 (6 oz.) bag choc. chips

Mix together all ingredients until well blended. It will be about the consistancy of biscuits. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 oven for 12-15 minutes. I usually double the recipe to make a larger batch.

Hope you all have had a good week, see ya chicks. Shannon

Silly Sunday's

I'm going to try something new, remember these? Looking at these gets me excited for our Girl's get-away in October, it is just around the corner. We had so much fun on this Park City trip. I love the way Jan can always get us laughing at all her funny stories from her work, Mom would laugh so hard she had tears coming down her cheeks. Take a minute and think about all the silly moments we share. My goal is to try and post something silly on Sundays, will you try too? Got food!

What did Annette find?

What will Richard think?

Jan, it's so becoming, I'm sure they'll love it at work!

My baby is 8 months old!

Now I have learned how to do this blog posting thing. . . . I realized. . . I really have nothing to post. So here's a picture of my only child with his father.

Apron's Anyone??

Look how cute these turned out. They are for two special friends of mine for thier birhday's, the apple and pear one is for Sharon and the floral number is for Kaye. I don't know what it is about aprons but I'm in love with them lately. There are so many styles and so many cute fabrics to make them out of and oh yeah don't forget the ric-rac! These would make fun gifts for just about anyone for a birthday, Christmas gift, or any special occasion. Can I help anyone with this? See ya chicks, Love, Shannon