Thanksgiving 2018

I love Thanksgiving.  It is my favorite holiday.  I worked like crazy the week and days before the holiday.  Due to the horrible wildfires burning to the north of us, the air quality in the Sacramento Valley was so poor, school was cancelled for Gil the last two weeks.  To get him out of the apartment, I had him up to the office to volunteer for about three hours Tuesday so we could finish a project and I could take Wednesday off.  Wonderful man.

We started Wednesday with a session at the Sacramento Temple.  The colors this fall have been incredibly vibrant.  Fiery reds and oranges and blinding yellows.  Best of all, when we left, it was raining!!  I honestly have not seen rain in our part of the state since April or May.  It was cold, but kinda nice to be wet.

 My dear brother Adam drove over from Utah to spend the holiday.  He arrived Wednesday afternoon.  We had dinner, then started on the turkey.  It was my first time ever to cook a turkey and I was quite nervous.  Everything we read said to brine, so we did.  It sat over night in the fridge, then cooked the next day.  I don't think I've ever enjoyed turkey more.  It was delicious.

We had one of my friends from work and her friend join us for dinner and it was a good group.  Good food, good company, good friends.

I love Thanksgiving.

Youth Conference

Our ward has amazing youth.  We had a really interesting discussion in class the other day about the struggles they are facing in high school and how they are totally different than my generation and my mother's generation.  It was incredibly eye opening for myself and the other leaders in the room and led to a really good discussion about being spiritually and emotionally self-reliant.  

We had our youth conference this past weekend and it was on the ward level.  We fed the youth a crazy good breakfast in the morning (some even tried my grits, and like them!) then did service for three different single women in the ward.  We raked, weed-eated, took out a dead tree, painted, stacked fire wood for winter... fantastic.  They were treated to In-n-Out for lunch.  Poor California youth... don't know the joys of What-a-Burger....

 We went to the home of another member for the afternoon.  We had some games and activities planned if needed but the majority of the group, in a very organic way, started their own game of chase/tag/capture the flag.  It was really, really good to not see any phones and to see them play and create on their own game and teams without prompting or input from the leaders.  

For those not running like crazy through the olive vineyard on the property, we worked on a puzzle and played a game called "Timeline."  The groups that ended up at the puzzle and game tables were also surprising.  This was another great insight for me, as a leader, to understand these girls I serve.

We ended with dinner, brownies, and a quick devotional.  It was a nice, simple, enjoyable, 1-day event.  Perfect!

Fall in the Forest

I took advantage of our gorgeous fall weather and decided to get a jump on my work load for next summer.  Since the fiscal year started in October, I can actually get stuff done for summer 2019 in October, November, December... as long as the weather holds.

I hate to see the long sunny days of summer shorten, but I absolutely love the colors that start to appear as the days shorten.  We've had a spectacularly colorful fall this year too.  One of my "current Kate looking out for future Kate" jaunts took me to Eagle Rock.  I was conducting an inventory and condition assessment of the improvements (picnic tables, information boards, trails) at this picnic site.

I love being one of the first on the trail in the spring and one of the last in the fall after we've lost leaves.  You can find the trail but because of the leaf litter on the ground it almost feels like you're the only one who's been there.  The fall sun filtering through the leaves was magnificent.

 The last time I inventoried this location I missed four picnic tables, but this time I went in with a bit more information and was able to find all 9 listed as being at this location.  It's a beautiful spot right on the South Fork American River.

 I also check on the status of a bridge that was compromised last year during some heavy winter precipitation events.  It's still in bad shape.  It was added to the project list for next summer.

Hooray for a fall afternoon in the woods.

Trip Home

I was able to take a quick trip to Houston this past weekend for General Conference.  I spent a good amount of time unwinding.  I hadn't realized how tightly wound I was until this past weekend.  Quality time with my folks, a nice visit with Gil's sister and her family, a lovely walk and chat with friends from high school (no picture!!), and what could have easily gone on for another two hours catch-up with these dear wonderful ladies.  

It was a good trip home.  It was also good to get back home to Gil.

Undecided

 Saw this in Albuquerque, NM.  Haven't decided yet how I feel about it, funny or sad.

Clements, California

Labor Day.  A wonderful day.  A day that says I've made it through summer.  A day that says take advantage of me because you've got 30 days of high stress to the end of the fiscal year.  (You think CPAs have it bad at tax season... my hair has started falling out due to stress from the anticipation of the stress that is coming...)

We learned a few months ago there is a Clements, California.  It's only about an hour away and we decided to head down and see what there was to see.  It's pretty small.  And surprisingly low.  And rather quaint.

The Clements in Clements!

The clock face says "Clements" on it.

 

 The rodeo grounds, home of the Clements Buckaroo!

 

 We saw a home already decorated for Halloween (Or still decorated?  We also passed a church stating "Jesus is the reason for the Season.")  

We bought our lunch at the Clements Market.  The guy at the counter asked to see Gil's ID, and said, "You are a Clements."  Pretty cool.  We ate at some picnic tables next to this lovely mural.

It was a quick trip but perfect for the day.  Now, the haul to the end of the month.

Caught!

Gil is the new financial clerk in our ward.  He still tries to spend as much time as possible in the Family History Center during the second hour of our meetings, but today he was in the Clerks' Office.

And he captured this.

 Our bishop's birthday was this past Friday and the primary kids decorated his door with heart-shaped birthday wishes.  Too cute!

Visit from Sharon

Gil and I decided to venture to a new place a few last weekend.  We didn't like it and instead ended up at Half Moon Bay.  It was beautiful.

On Monday, Sharon, Gil's mom, flew in for a visit.  We ventured into the woods on Tuesday.

She explored a doll museum on Wednesday.

We drove to the coast again on Thursday to Muir Woods to see the California Redwoods.  They were pretty spectacular.

 The tallest trees on earth from a cone the size of an olive.  From small and simple things...

That's my husband.

That's my mother-in-law.

We then explored the Muir Overlook.  It was a beautiful view of the coast.  The marine layer (a.k.a. fog) was kinda thick but still great views.  There were some bunkers built during WWII; Gil jumped in to look around to see what he could see.

Western Fence Lizard

Gil and Sharon on the overlook.

We dropped down to Muir Beach.  That was some painfully cold water.

Sharon flew home on Friday.  It was a nice visit.

Recent Happenings

At work, we love our volunteers.  They do a lot for us like clearing trails and picking up trash.  One volunteer said he would make a new sign for one that is starting to fall apart.  This was the result.

 My coworker's garden is producing.  She brought me the shiniest tomato I had ever seen and the craziest squash I had ever seen.  It's called a tromboncino squash.  It was delicious, as was the tomato.

Gil's cousin and her family came for a visit.  They drove up from southern CA and we drove south a few hours to meet them at Calaveras Big Trees State Park.  We wandered around the giant sequoias and marveled at their size and beauty.

Monday, I had an work assignment at Cody Lake, Gil got off work early, and the whole group followed me up.  We had lunch at the lake and then threw the kids in.  It was short lived when we found a leech!!  Eek!

We've been busy with work and church assignments and haven't adventured or explored too much this summer.  It seems like half the state is on fire at the moment and the other half full of choking smoke from those fires.  We'll see what the fall brings.

Fun with Family Search

I'll admit, I am not usually one for genealogy.  Gil has a calling at the moment as a Family History Consultant and spends Sunday School in the Family History Center helping other members of the ward look up their ancestors.  I will go with him sometimes, but honestly, it's not to do family history work but because I'm not ready for Young Womens and use the time to prepare.  Perhaps it's pretty much the same as sitting in the foyer, but if I get a document indexed, I don't feel too bad.

I heard today that Family Search has a facial recognition program.  If you have pictures of your ancestors attached to their names in your family tree, Family Search will run a facial recognition program to tell you who you get your looks from.  I spent all of Sunday School on this today (instead of prepping for YW, which I desperately needed to do) and loved it.  Here's what I found.  The percentage is how much you look like the person pictured.

Of course, I look most like my parents.  Smidge more from my mom than my dad.

When I first ran the comparison, I hadn't uploaded the pictures of my parents yet and my highest rated was with my maternal grandmother.  She passed away when I was in kindergarten and I don't remember her that well and what I do remember is her being old and sick.  Seeing that I look like her made me feel a little bit closer to her in a small way.

Next, my 3rd great grandmother on my mother's side.

I've always been very proud of my Stander roots.  Glad to see I've got a little bit of John Henry in me.

A nice list of those I got my looks from.  I must admit, we're a good looking group!

Finally, the Family Search app for your phone has a "Find Relatives Around Me" option.  Kind of fun.  The other person needs to have his/her Family Search app open so the app can access his/her tree.  Gil and I found out we are 11th cousins once removed.  Can't wait to do this with other friends.  Very cool.

Have I caught the bug?  I would have to say no.  Is there a little more interest.  Yes.