Swift September

All month long, I have been thinking that there wasn't as much going on as there had been in previous months. Boy was I wrong! September just flew by so quickly that I wasn't paying attention until now. We had some special birthdays, family parties, Temple service, Dad had some live sealings, and I had a visit to the doctor. It was a full and satisfying month. Our September birthdays were: Lillian, turning 14, Rebecca, Shadrach turning 13, Tony, and Docker turning 11. Mary and Tyson also celebrated their 7th (?) anniversary in September.







September began with Lillian's 14th birthday. She had a party/cookout at her house, complete with her usual pumpkin birthday pie! What a treat! There was swimming as well as good food, and silly games that I still haven't figured out.
























We canned chicken early this month. Dad & I and Rebecca and Mary each canned a batch. It is sooo good. We have been using ours. We already need to can some more!
















We had a day-trip lake party on Labor Day, where the Mesa families and the Safford families met for boating, skiing and swimming fun. I already blogged about it, and put in a lot of pictures, so for this blog I just selected random pictures that had a lot of people in them, not even checking to see that I had a picture of everyone. We had a terrific time and everyone wants to do it again next year.














































































We celebrated Rebecca's big four oh on the 8th, with lunch and her favorite...white Safeway cake, with white frosting. The girls got her just a little piece of it, just enough so she was happy, but not enough to make her sick. We really enjoyed being together.
















One of the highlights of September was the blessing of our little Maya Susanna in Mexico. I already blogged this, of course, thinking that I wouldn't have to put in so many pictures, but I still put in too many. We had a great time,visiting with Thomas and Jenn's family and eating Mexican food, but we especially enjoyed seeing and catching up with our little Mexican grandchildren, whom we have missed so much. They are coming here soon, though, so maybe we'll get to see more of them for a while.



















































While we were in Mesa, before our plane left, Harrison and I took Bridger to his football practice. But Soren got in as much practice as Bridger did!

































Safford Middle School is providing laptops to their students this year...for a nominal fee, of course. Here, Lillian and Rylie are doing their homework on their school laptops. The 7th graders got Dells and the 8th graders got Apples.








We had a joint FHE/apple(the kind you eat) party on the 20th. We bribed everyone with the promise of sandwiches(Rachel made delicious chicken salad with our bottled chicken) and caramel apples, and then had them pick the apples themselves! We had a lot of apples on our tree this year and we picked enough that night to send a bag home with every family and take several around to neighbors. It was a lot of work for those who actually got in the tree to do the picking, and we really appreciated their efforts. This picture of Brianna, who actually picked quite a few, was taken just before she fell out of the tree into Polly's arms. Polly just happened to be standing right where Brianna fell, and thinking fast, opened her arms and caught her, preventing, I'm sure, major injuries.
































































































YUMMM!














Afterwards, the kids went over to our lot across the street and hit the soft, or bird-pecked, or worm-eaten apples with golf clubs, baseball bats and tennis racquets...probably the most fun they had all night!














I pulled this picture off of Nathan's letter to Joshua. Hannah is making bread and Bethany is distancing herself from the bread making by showing that she is talking on the phone...so typical of both of them! Joshua has been made a trainer, and we are so proud of him. It is probably the most important calling for a missionary, I think, because the trainer sets the tone for his greenie, that carries him through his whole mission. Dad and I sure appreciate our good trainers, two Elders who taught us, encouraged us and helped us get started.












It was my turn to host the Relief Society "lunch and conversation" activity, so we had it on Thursday, just before we went down to Jesse's reception. Rachel came over and helped me "cute up" our back yard. It really looked nice and we had a lot of compliments on it. Not many came, but the ones who did were impressed. Their kids loved the gator, of course, but kept running into the house and flowers with it.





















After the Relief Society party, we rushed down to Mesa to go to Jesse and Ali's reception. Sorry the pictures are blurry, but my camera's battery ran out and I was taking them with a phone in low light. Anyway, you can see a little of what what was like and who was there. We sat with Grandma and Grandpa and Lisa and Donna and Milo. Jeremy and Erika were also there, and the baby Erika is holding is Sara's. The decorations were beautiful and the food was varied and plentiful. The bride and groom were beautiful and looked very happy.



































Rachel and I went to the Women's broadcast together last Saturday, and met Rebecca there. It was so nice to have someone to eat with and sit with. Mary and Allison attended the one in Thatcher. It was a wonderful meeting. I especially enjoyed President Monson's remarks about not judging others.
Joel and Steph and their boys came by before the broadcast. They came because Steph participated in a homecoming concert and to see her folks. Their boys helped us pick some of the last of the apples...can you find Levi in the tree? Docker was there too, as well as Stetson, Levi and Crew, but, of course, I don't have a picture of him.

















On the last day of this fast-flying month, Docker's birthday, by the way, Dad and I went to Tucson to see Dr. Katz, an orthopedic surgeon recommended by so many of his Temple friends, and one of mine (Cathy Konopnicki). He took x-rays and determined that my knee did, indeed, need surgery, so I am scheduled for January 5, 2011. I wanted to wait until after Esther's surgery and after Christmas and after the reunion, so January is perfect, and then I can just have my shift coordinators at the Temple not put me in that quarter's rotation. Anyway, this illustration is rough, of course, and doesn't show the whole picture, as I'm sure Thomas and Erika and Shauna all realized right away, but it gives you a general idea. The cartilage pad between the top and bottom bones is missing. Among other things, he will put a pad between my bones, which at this time are just rubbing together, causing pain. Thankfully, my left knee, which has been hurting some, too, is fine. He said it is probably hurting because I put more stress on it, trying to baby my right knee. But I was really glad to hear that and think that maybe I won't have to have both knees done.
Now we are looking forward to General Conference in a couple of days...a good note on which to end September, right?