OUR FLIGHT HOME FROM UTAH

It was a 'typical' flight....a little bumpy but fairly quick as flights go......about 3 hours and 45 minutes.  And look who was on our same flight.....NATHAN HARRIS!!  He is in Kevin and Lauren's ward and really good friends with them.  They attended Henry's baptism on Saturday.  He was headed to New England for work and went through Baltimore.  How fun was that.

 Flying over the beautiful snow covered ROCKY MOUNTAINS.  Always pretty!

 A person might think they are the only ones flying in the sky until we look out the window and see 'company' with us.  Interesting.

 The sun was SETTING so pretty as we were making our decent into Baltimore.  Very, very pretty.

It was a wonderful week visiting 3 of our children.....but it is good to be home!  :-)

CHILLIN' ON SUNDAY

IN

UTAH......

We started the day by sleeping in since A & G had church at 1:00 p.m.  That was nice....and relaxing.  Here grandpa hangs out with some of the boys.

 And after church we all headed to Mapleton to continue the 'family party'!  It was fun just to hang out......

 and eat and talk and eat some more and have fun....

 and the food really was good....

 The grandkids loved ganging up on grandpa....

 We were able to get a group shot with most of the grandkids....

It was a great ending to a great trip to the west to see half of our kids!!

SATURDAY NIGHT TRIPLE DATE 

WITH THE KIDS....

while the grandkids were being babysat!

It was a very fun date night out for us......just the adults enjoying a dinner at 

CHEESECAKE FACTORY in Salt Lake City.  

Wayne and I had 'won' a gift card from this restaurant when we had our auction at NCFA a few weeks ago.  What better time and place to use it than with the kids.  L to R.....Andy, Wayne, me (Vicki), Kevin, Lauren, Geralyn.

 After dinner we decided to check out a couple of stores just because.....Nordstrom was a good place to start.

 We, of course, went to the APPLE store as well.....always have to go there and check out the cool stuff!!

I bought a new KATE SPADE iPhone case....black and white polka dots with pink trim.  Very cute!

HENRY PHILLIPS ALLGAIER

BAPTISM DAY

November 26, 2011

We were very fortunate to be able to be in Utah for the baptism of Henry.  We flew up from Arizona having spent Thanksgiving with Becky and David.

 It was just our family since it was not a 'stake children's baptism day'.  That was nice for all of us.

 Kevin baptized Henry.  Grandpa Allgaier and Grampy Tamplin were the witnesses.

 We had a LOT of family and friends who joined us.  It was wonderful and a very special spirit was present.

The program consisted of Grandma Tamplin giving the Opening Prayer, Aunt Denise Marion playing the piano and Lauren conducting the music.  Thomas gave a talk on Baptism while Ele gave a talk on Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  Kevin and Jake and Ele sang a special song...."I Am A Child Of God" and did a very, very nice job.  Grandma Allgaier (me) gave the Closing Prayer.  It has been a very special day indeed!!!

THANKSGIVING - 2011

We were really enjoying the day far too much to take too many pictures!  What we got, we got!

 TOM was 'smoked' this year......a new gadget for David and fun for us!

 And I got to make my CORNBREAD STUFFING.......aaahhhhhh, like 'heaven' to me!

 The table was set for the ADULTS with the kids at a different table in a different room....  :-)

And when the day was over, we sat around the FIRE PIT roasting marshmallows and enjoying the cool night Arizona air....a couple of sprinkles came falling down as well!!  A WONDERFUL Thanksgiving indeed!!

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

AROUND

'HIGGINS-VILLE'!!

It has been about 3 years since we have been here to visit Becky and David and the kids here in their home.  It was good to be back and see how things have changed!!  The kids have gotten bigger and some remodeling of the home has taken place.  All FUN!!

The kids eating breakfast at the bar....

 preparing the 'smoker' for the ribs for dinner in the evening.....

 and seriously, those were some of the B-E-S-T ribs we have ever had!!

 The kids love to do crafts and one of Crew's favorite things to do is the 'alphabet' game!!!

 I crocheted some little washcloths for the kids (with the coloring of their choice) and they immediately used them for little blankets for some of their stuffed furry friends.

 Grandpa and Porter did a little 'activity' on the iPad.

 While I baked some cookies for everyone.....and they seemed to be a hit.

 On Wednesday afternoon we took the kids to BUILD-A-BEAR at the mall...........

 Back at home after our little adventure out and about it was time to hang-out in the backyard.  The weather was so perfect for being outside.

 David and Wayne did a little repair job on the switch to the outside lamp in the yard.

 And playing with Crew was a full-time adventure.

 We were going to sit around the fire-pit and have some s'mores but decided there were other things we needed to take care of.

 Becky was loving that her lamp was fixed and 'all better'!!

 Pretty desert flowers in the back yard were just pretty.

We are having a great time visiting here.  And tomorrow is TURKEY DAY.....THANKSGIVING.  It is nice to be back in America for the special holiday this year.

AND THIS JUST IN......

A little book-story reading time before bedtime tonight!!

OFF TO ARIZONA FOR THANKSGIVING!!!

We were looking forward to heading to Becky and David's for Thanksgiving this year....and having a REAL TURKEY dinner!  Today was the day we flew out of town.

 We stopped at a really good crab restaurant in the airport (BWI) and got a couple of CRABCAKES to take on the airplane with us.  It was expensive ($15 per crab cake!!) but it was sure gooooodddd......!!!!

 It was a long BUMPY flight but we finally made it across the US!  Our flying into Phoenix was very pretty.

And now for an enjoyable week with Becky and David and Porter and Claire and Crew!!

OUR NEW DOOR....

to the deck was finally installed this past week!

It was like an 'add-on' to the kitchen renovation.  We had a wait a bit for this to be done because it took about a month to order the door.  Was worth the wait!!

Below.....beginning of construction....

 Below.....during construction.

 Below....after construction.  We LOVE OUR NEW DOOR!

Above....a reminder of what it looked like before the door was installed.  We have so much more light now and it just makes everything seem more 'airy'!

W - O - W

WHAT A PACKED DAY!!!!

It started out with a beautiful SUNRISE as we were driving to the temple for our shift.  This fall has provided us with some of the most gorgeous sunrises and sunsets we have seen in a while!

 After our shift ended, we headed over to Bethesda (about 15 minutes from the temple) to attend a

FINNISH FESTIVAL.  We were ticked to have heard about this so we could go.

 Most of the crowd had thinned out by the time we got there about 1:15 p.m.  That was just fine with us.  

 We still found a few bargains though......have no fear, I found a nice pair of IITALA candleholders.  Love them....and I didn't have to ship them home!

 We had to visit the cafeteria to see what they had.....low of behold, there was a nice variety of authentic FINNISH FOODS!  And delicious too!

 Then it was over to the book store to catch Laurie before she left from her BOOK SIGNING.  How fun to get the FINAL book in her series!  I have loved very much reading these books and will miss not having another one!  GREAT JOB LAURIE!!

 Homeward bound just as the sun was setting.....oh yea.  It was Matthew's birthday party at our home.  Bless his heart......he was having a 'BIKE PARTY' because he got a new bike.

 And it indeed looked like a HUGE SUCCESS.  Happy 5th Birthday Matthew-do!!

Had a great Saturday......speaking again tomorrow in the Walkersville Ward.  I think that makes about 4 wards we have spoken in.  We have surely enjoyed being able to share our mission experience!!