Packing Up

I'm starting to pack things up we are closing on our house on November 17th, only 17 more days away, we have a lot of work to do, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed today>

Early Morning Selfie of Debbie

Our Little Farrah

Our little Farah is all girl, she loves the frills, Stacy was trying to fix her hair the other day and she was trying to be very patient, her hair has finally grown enough to curl.

Farrah 2 yrs old

Cole's Great Football Season

Noriega kids cheering Cole on, Go Cole!!

Cole had such a great football season this year- they were undefeated, Shar posted some fun pictures of his team on Facebook, we're so proud of him it's been a fun football year for him!!

Highlights of Cole's Football years growing up!

Tasha's Family Pictures

Lincoln & Winston -Thomas Brother's

This is the most adorable picture of Lincoln and Winniston

Tasha took a darling family picture again this year, her photographer does such a great job, love this picture of her family!!

Thomas Family Oct 2016

Our Baby Enzo

Enzo is such a darling little baby boy Stacy stop by Saturday night to visit.  Here is a darling picture of him in the new little Sunday outfit that we bought for him, he's such a sweet little baby boy, hard to believe he's almost 3 months old now.

Enzo Towner 3 months old

I Found Our Lost Rings

The other night I was cleaning out my jewelry box and lo and behold in the bottom drawer of my jewelry box underneath all my Mary Kay receipts are the three rings that I had missed placed or thought was stolen,  we actually claimed them lost on our insurance.  I was so sad when I thought they were lost, there they were!!  So exciting, I don't even remember putting them there.  I totally had have no recollection of placing them in that drawer.  Tasha and I laughed, mother like daughter, she doesn't remember missed placing Craig's trailer keys.  Moving can just be so confusing,  we have had so much moving around going on this past year, moving our kids in and out in the last year.  Shannon and Ryan moved in with us with us last Sept for a month and then we help them move in their new house and then Tasha & Bridger moved from their home in Bountiful August 2015, we helped them move all their things in storage.  The moved in with us Oct 2015 and lived with us 8 months.  We then helped move them in their new home in June 2016.   Stacy and Chad sold their house in June and we help them pack up and move their things out.   Now it's Craig and I's turn to pack up and move out of our house.  We have had four moves in the last year and a half, Tasha and Bridger, Shannon & Ryan, Stacy & Chad.  In the middle of it all helping my mother moving back and forth. and now Craig and I are making a move.  We are getting good at sorting and packing things.  It is hard to remember at times where I put things.  So glad I found our rings!!  Stacy actually found her wedding ring this year too, after two years of being misplaced.

Tasha Stopped By

Our Winniston ready for his sleepover

Tasha just stopped by last night, surprise she found the keys to our trailer, we lost them a couple months ago moving them in their new home, she finally found them in the top of her dresser drawer.  She didn't remember putting there.  Moving is a challenge finding a place for things.  Winnston was so cute last night he wanted to sleep over at grandpa and grandma's house he came with his little bag all packed, so we had a sleepover last night.  He's a little cute pie right now, adore this little grandson.  Tasha brought us some yummy caramels that she made for  Halloween.  Annie is so funny  she had to put the bucket on Craig's head for a hat.   I got a cute picture of them together.  I gave them all my Halloween decoration this year.  I would not be decorating with us moving.  The kids and enjoy them.  Lincoln was all over it.  He loves to decorate for the holidays.  So fun to see their joy!!

Grandpa Symes with a bucket on his head & our Annie

Our Sabbath Day

It has felt so nice to have a day of rest from our packing and sorting.  Our church meetings were so  uplifting, nice to fellowship with the Saints in our ward, after church we went home teaching to the Dixon family, we enjoyed visiting with them, They have been dear friends over the past 7 years.  Rick said a beautiful prayer and blessed us to find where to live that would best serve in our Heavenly Father's kingdom. I so appreciate his prayer, as we are uncertain as to where to live at this time.  I feel drawn to live at our summer home at Bear Lake.  When I got home my visiting teachers came over to visit with me, I told them we would be moving in about two weeks ,they are sad to see us leave we have been in this ward for 12 years, I know that I will miss many of the Saints that we have fellowship with over the years.  It has been a great ward.  It is a new season in our lives and feel it is time to move to a new chapter of our lives.

Packing Things Up

Craig is in denial he doesn't want to do much packing till we know things are final but we are scheduled to close on the 17th of November which is only two weeks away there, is so much that needs to be done I spent all last week sorting our storage closet and organizing all the seasonal decorations packing them up and weeding out what I don't want to keep, we took a DI run Friday getting all the miscellaneous stuff out I don't want to store anymore, than we need to tear down the pool table and load in the truck, we are planning on taking up it to the cabin with our large sectional in the family room, two TVs, our barstools and some miscellaneous lamps things we already wanted to take to the cabin to finish furnishing it, so hopefully were not going to have a lot to store.  Trisha came over Friday and took a lot of Decor stuff off the bookcases I told her she might as will take it to her house so I don't have to pack it up and store it, it'll look really good in her basement she has the same color Decor.  We are making progress is clearing things out.  Craig just didn't want to do a big move until we know the house is really going to close.  It is all continent  on the sell of their home, which is has sold, but they need to close before they can close on our home.  I feel it is going to be a done deal, and I need the time to pack and move things out.  It physically is a lot of work for us and does take time. 

Our Cole

Cole Loves FootBall

We had a great time at Cole's football game Saturday night, it was fun to go to Weber College football stadium and support him, they were undefeated this season, they won all of their games for the competition and took the final trophy, we are so proud of him, he's such a special grandson in our family.   It is fun to see Cole grow up, he's now 15 years old and learning to drive- a fun season in his life, he loves football- go to number 40!!

Packing Things Up

It felt good to be home on Friday after babysitting the kids all week I spent all day Friday scanning pictures that my mom had given me, I brought a big box back this summer and I wanted to get the scanning done before we move, so I can have a winter project to work on and scrapbook them digitally.  I wore myself out scanning, Saturday morning I packed up all my dishes in the kitchen. Just kept out what I only need.  I wanted to start bringing things to the lake and several other things I packed up in anticipation of us staying at the cabin this winter.   We are planning on just packing up all our stuff and storing it in our lower garage at the cabin.  I've got to pack tight and consolidate so I can find things when I want it.  Our appraisal was done on Wednesday for the house, so we're waiting to hear back, it looks like things are on schedule to close on November 18th which is only four weeks away, we have lots to do in the meantime.  We have looked for a home, but I'm just not finding what I want and tired of looking.  I'm fine with living at the Lake for now.

Yeah Trisha and Buck Are Home

They came home a day early- they had to reschedule their flight, so they were home Thursday evening a day earlier.  I had to pick them up at the airport at 10 o'clock that night.   I watch the kids for an entire week, eight days, it feels good to be home and relax a little, not for long, there is lots to do!!

Bridger & Our Natasha's Birthday

 Our son-in-law Bridger is such a fun and energetic son in our family, we greatly appreciate and love him very much- Happy Birthday Bridger

Oct 14th, 2017 Bridger's Birthday

Tasha & Bridger are only 5 days apart in Celebrating their birthday's.  She wanted to go to lunch with her sisters this year.  We all got together for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory by Fashion Place Mall.  Fun time to visit with our five daughters.  Trisha, Sharlena, Tasha, Shannon, Stacy. Grandma Debbie holding Ashtyn, Annie, and Winniston. Tasha turned 29 yrs old.  

Lunch at Cheesecake Factory

Boston's Fun Run

Boston had a fun run at his school, he really wanted his grandma to come and see him, he did such a good job- he ran 47 laps, so proud of him!!

Our Boston in 2nd grade- 7yrs old

Family Night

Monday night Sadie was sick, she had to stay home from school, she had thrown up and not feeling well, so we waited to have family night tonight.  Craig came over and we played uno, we all had a really fun time, we are enjoying spending time with the Burbidge kids, they are so sweet and so darling, Trisha's made it really easy for me, they each have a job chart and they are so good about doing their jobs and taking care of their little brother, they make their bed in the mornings & leave the house clean before going to school, so I've had to do very little.  I've been going back to our house in the day, sorting things and clearing closets out I'm slowly getting through it all and packing our things for moving.

The Thomas Family on Sunday

Tasha & her darling little family, Oct 2017

                                                        I love this picture it is so precious

Sweet Note

Thanks again, so very much for teaching Sunday. You did a beautiful job and I love your fully committed heart!

With Chris graham moving, I don't have a new vt partner for you yet. I will be your partner this month until we can find an adequate replacement:).  Let me know when you are in town and what works!  Thanks! Allise

Teaching Relief Society

Sister Spanger called me last Wednesday at 11 pm to see if I could teach the Relief Society lesson this Sunday.  I told her I'd be more than welcome Craig was actually teaching the same lesson this coming Sunday he had already been listening to the lesson in bed at night and reading things to me at night as I fell asleep on him, so I guess I need to start listening up, I subconsciously had been listening and had the lesson in my mind, I prepared Sunday morning and read through the lesson several times I knew the biblical stories very well from my early days as a little girl, I prayed that I could have the spirit with me and say the things it would touch the sisters hearts.   After teaching the lesson sister Dudley came up to me who serves in the relief society presidency as a counselor and said that that was the best lesson that she had heard in years.  I had several other complements from several of the other sisters,  I'm glad that I was able to reach out to them and touch hearts, our lesson was about our commitment to God and his church on the earth today, building Zion, how committed are we?

Trisha and Buck Leave For Hawaii

Trisha and Buck have left for Hawaii early this morning Craig and I had to get up at 3:30 am in order for him to drive them to the airport, I came to their house to sleep over with the kids and get them off to school,  I will be babysitting them for an entire week, sure hope they have a safe and fun trip, this is their second time to Hawaii this year, they went in the spring for their 15th wedding anniversary, now they're going again with some friends, lucky ducks!!  Trisha is so neat and tidy she keeps such a clean house, it feels so nice, I will enjoy babysitting the kids while their parents are away and spending one-on-one time with them.

Farrah Two Years Old

Happy Birthday our Princess Farrah

     Our little Farrah is now two years, Stacy invited me over for lunch to celebrate her birthday 

Sacrament Meeting

Brother Moffet one of our High Councilmen talked about the teaching the core doctrine of the gospel, saying our prayers is away to express the core doctrine to our family, learning the doctrine of the church will be more effective, in them living the gospel.  The focus in seminary is learning the core doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  What can we do as grandparents to teach the core doctrine?  "Behold, ye have heard the things which I taught before I ascended to my Father; therefore, whoso remembereth these sayings of mine and doeth them, him will I raise up at the last day.  I'm so touched by the message he has shared with us today.  I have found myself saying prayers more deeply in expressing my beliefs of the core doctrine of the gospel message.  Pray I can practice in this effort and become better in my personal and family prayers.

Serving At The Draper Temple

I need to take the time to spiritually prepared for my service in the Draper Temple tonight we only work once a month right now while the temple is being closed for repairs on the windows that were installed in the temple.  I really do enjoy my time at the temple, I love the calm spirit that I feel in the house of the Lord.  We are so very blessed to live so close to a temple only five minutes away I can see it out my bedroom window sitting up on the foothills.  This is one thing I'm really going to miss when we do move being so close to a Temple.

Cleaning Out Closets

I've slowly been cleaning things out in our home in anticipation of us moving, I need to get rid of things I don't want to store.  I don's want to pack anymore than what I really want to keep.  It's a real chore going through things.  Starting to feel like I can breath a little the clutter is getting better, I spent the afternoon cleaning out under the stairs, I had it packed full making room for Tasha when she moved in.  I had moved all of my sewing stuff under there so I've been sorting it all, I'm trying to figure out what to get rid of and what to keep, by bedtime my back was killing me, I could hardly move, I have a pinched nerve, all that bending and squatting is hard on my back, I can see now I need to do a little bit a time packing things up, in order to prepare for us moving, it's just really hard on me physically, it feels good to get things cleaned out under the stairs and organized. The closet looks much better now, not so jam packed.   Now I need to tackle my office!!!  I've been slowly weeding things out, it's just a big chore I've accumulated so much over the years,  I have 40 years of my life photos, family history, files, misc stuff that i just have got to lean out some how.  It is an overwhelming task to me.

Our Autumn Drive

Craig and I took off Thursday afternoon with his Corvette the top down and drove up to the lake. Logan Canyon is so beautiful this time of year, it's a good thing we went up there because our icemaker had melted all the ice and run out onto the floor, it left a lot of water on the floor making a mess it would've been a lot worse with it left sitting on the floor for a long period of time.  I think the power must've been off for a few days in order for the ice to melt in the icemaker, in the future will have to make sure we turn the icemaker off and the water, just to prevent an accident like this, we had  a joyful time together, a quick little trip up to the lake and back.  Craig loves his little sports car!!

Natasha's Family Picture

We took family pictures on the day of the baby Enzo's blessing two weeks ago, the Thomas family picture turned out so darling, little Annie is smiling adorable which has been a challenge to get her to smile in any pictures lately it's a cute picture of their family, love it!!

Thomas Family picture 2016

Cole's 15th Birthday

Our Cole Noriega just turned 15 years old today October 7, 2016, Sharlena took him to the drivers DMV today and Cole got his learners permit-wow I can't believe Cole is going to start driving now. He is such a special grandson in our family we love him so very much and he is so handsome.  We met up with him late and took him to his favorite place to eat for dinner with his parents.  We had such a nice visit.

Congrates Cole!!

Ashtyn 3 Months Old

Our baby Ashtyn is now three months old, she is so adorable!!
"Our Beautiful baby girl Ashtyn Nevaeh is 3mon's, can't believe how the time just fly's by. She's has been a dream, I love Being her mommy, I love her so much and I'm so full of gratitude that I get to raise this little girl !! A dream come true!! She has been a pure joy to our family and so fun to watch my boy's fall in love with her, to protect her and take care of her.  This is a lifelong lesson they will take with them into their adulthood in becoming great Daddy's one-day !! Love my family so much."

Ashtyn 3 Months old

Lincoln's Award

Darling Thomas Family at Lincoln's School

Proud mama moment!! " I'll never forget when Lincoln came gone from school to show me his paper he got at school saying he was getting the Principal Pride Award!! "Mom only one kid in my whole class get's chosen and it was me!!" He was so proud of himself!!  We could not be more proud of this good kiddo! He received a medal in front of the whole school today!! We love you Lincoln!!! So lucky he's mine!❤️

We just got home from Lake Powell late last night.  Tasha  invited us first thing this morning to attend an assembly where Lincoln received an award.  He looks so handsome.  Lincoln is attending Lone Peak elementary the same elementary school that Natasha went to growing up, so fun to be there visiting and reminiscing when our little girls attended there.  The year's go by all too fast.  Now we are grandparents watching our grandkids. 

Our Quick Trip To Lake Powell

Chad invited us to come stay on their house boat for the weekend.  The Towner family clan all had to go home early, So Chad called to see if we wanted to come down.  At the last minute we packed up in a day with the Burbidge family and headed south staying through Sunday for conference weekend, so Wednesday was a busy day packing up and getting ready to go.  Shar is babysitting little Farrah.  It was a rush all day getting things ready. We are bringing our new boat, we left Wednesday evening and drove to Kanab,Utah and stopped at a hotel about midnight to rest from our 5 hour drive. Thursday morning we had about an hour and a half drive into Lake Powell, we got onto the lake by about 11am.  Thursday was on the cool side and rained most of the day we saw some beautiful waterfalls coming off the mountains at our beautiful location, fun to be there when it rained.  We had beautiful weather on Friday and Saturday.  The time went by so fast the next thing we know Sunday morning we had to start packing up to come home the weather was cooling off again and would be very cool and rainy on Monday, so we decided to come home.  It was a nice little getaway I hadn't been to Lake Powell since 2011.  The Towner family bought into a beautiful timeshare on their house boat, it is just so fun and huge!!  One of the nicest boats on the lake.  I love the upstairs deck with the kitchen it was so fun to overlook the lake and the mountains, we had a beautiful setting.  Our beach was this red fine powdered sand I wished we could take some to Bear Lake it was so pretty there.  We had a great time spending time with the Burbidge family, Stacy and Chad and their kids, it was a quiet weekend without so much family We had this huge house all to ourselves.  We had more one on one time with the kids. We love our new boat, it's going to be a great partnership.  We have been on the fast track the last couple of weeks, with me driving my mom home to Texas and then coming home and getting ready for the baby blessing, baby sitting kids, then leaving for Lake Powell. It has felt so nice to just relax in a lounge chair and read a good book.  I actually read a whole book while I was there.  I read one of Danielle Steel's books.  I've heard she was a good author but I've never read one of her books, there were several on the houseboat so I picked one from the houseboat selection, it turned out to be a really fun book to read.  It always feels good to be home!!

Karlee & Saydee on our sandy beach at Lake Powell Oct 2016-Karlee is 11 yrs old and Saydee 13 yrs old

Our beautiful view, just breath taking

Babysitting the Towner Kids

Stacy and Chad left Sunday night to go to Lake Powell with the Towner family it was an adult trip on their new houseboat.  I was babysitting Jude,Yael and little Farrah.  I enjoyed my bonding time with the kids they are so darling.  I was feeling tired by Thursday watching them they kept me busy.  The time went by really fast.