March madness

just when I think that things in the home are coming together we discover a leak, UGH!. Lucky for me ,I have super man living with me,He can fix anyrhing. SO thus begins the month long redo of our kitchen floor.

it is also tree triming time and guess who climbs the ladder to trim, at almost 81, your are right JIM.  Here he is with Cade who, I made sure spotted him. We have 4 fruit trees and this needs to happen every year to get a good yield on our trees and keep them healthy.

Heres my part of the home, well, only with the professional eye of Jan. This is preparing for our St Pattys day dinner group just before we started tearing up the kitchen. We had a potatoe bar and got to learn and share our love with our neighbors.

March is Andrews birthday and he picked a great place in Orem where we tasted yummy Japanese cuisine. We are so proud of Andrew and his goal of finishing his studies. We love you so much!

My new job, since finishing ouir BYU Pathway Worldwide in NIgeria is going to the BU FAmily hisorty library and coping videos for the family. here is a little piece from VAleries family home movies

Izaak had a 4th grade presentation just before switching schools. I learned all about Utah history. I just loed being there are sharing time with the youngest of our grandkids

And Kallie wond firest pla oce again in her solo dance compeittion. It is going to be fun to see where her talents take her. SHe is a mature danaer with a great stage presence and I love seeing her skills, fixiblitiy and creativitiy

 

up date on our Lindon temple

the Morrison cousins got together ALWAYS great to share our stories from dys of old . The updates of missions for Elaine and grandkids  and comparing our similar genes  strengths. and last our new aging updates.

A little God wink, Again , after many years, coming out of a temple I see Trenna,a student with our first Pathway class in 2017. She has graduated wit her degree in family history and has applied for a great job. We are excited for her and the progress she and all of our students have made in Pathway. We love to see the progress of all of our family and friends as we all help each other  along the way

clean up, catch up, finish up

Here is the view from our bedroom.,it is our loft, this is the library, is now being converted into Jims office, It used to hold my gramdma stuff, teaching stuff, extra stuff, gifts. 

this is one end up in the loft.. These are my parents chairs and a thrifted chest. This will be Jims office as soon as he can downsize his stuff. I have worked so hard going up and down the stairs that I got pantar fascitis in my right ( operated) leg. UGH. But, I have really downsized, more that 50%. This is to help the kids when I pass and help me finish my personal history and help Jim. The big plan is preparing for the future, if we ever need someone to stay in the basement.

here is the other side of the loft and the stugg I still need to go through. the light on the right side comes from the kitchen.

and here arre my organized files!! woohoo. now my office is the sunroom

view of my morning walk in Lindon, 

we took Lenore to the temple fo her 87th birthday. It was a miracle that it all worked out. SHe had canceled,saying she didnt feel good and the nshe shows up at our driveway just as we were pulling out, We loved our time together and Lenore remembered her father and his service, It was a very special afrternoon.

still winter here, This is Provo City temple which we love attending also,,, waiting for the Lindon temple to be finished.

Kallie performed in Mary Poppins at the Covey city, right next to the Provo City temple

During this month we are saddened by the passing of our cousin Ralph Morrison. Here are some of the cousins who attended the funeral and supported Dian. 

As a reminder for me to keep cleaning and getting ruid of stuff. We never know when our time will be. We continue to serve in BYU PATHWAY WORLDWIDE Nigeria, with only 2 weeks left. It is a sad but happy time as we have continued to serve since being called right after ending our Phladelphia family history mission in 2016. We look forward to new ways to serve

 

FLorida in January

As told by Jims brother Tim, this is a must do shot when  coming to Orlando, here we are at Disney Spring, a very fun out door mall, We celebrated Ritas birthday. She really saved the day by making a phone call on Jims phone at just the right time that our lyft driver was in her car wonderinf what to do with an extra cell phone!! so we got Jims cell phone back  and had a great tine sharing family fun and food

REALLY exciting for me was having our oldest grandson from Derek be our Disney trip guide AND see him run 48 miles in the 5k, 10k,, 1/2 and full marathon all around the park. One event each day, llwhich Derek ,Missy and Jake all completed, AND they got to see the park while doing it!!

here we are getting ready for the roller coaster ride, which both JIm and I felt more veritgo after, Jim even got a bag to get sick in after, But it did have Chris Prat and the cute raccon. We wont be doing that one ever again !!

Epcot.. England, LOVED

here is our fav ride, I took my walker for safety and to get in lines faster! and carry all our coats and food. It turned out to be a little cold in the mornings which made it great for the runners

Animal Kingdon! so now I dont have to go to Africa!

Missy and Layla

Izaak and his green buddie

enjoying the sun

now we dont need to go to Asia either

of course we loved Europe where Jim served his mission

AND FRANCE and the food. We had a great time

 

ENDING 2024

We are looking forward to a new year, a fresh start, a healthy additude in mind, body and spirit AND we pray for you our  family and friends also get off to a great new year.

this is our ANNUAL CHRISTmas card which took some qucik moving to finally get it off. The photo was a selfie at Val's and it was the one that Jim liked the best, The poem starting with Dashing through the year came to my mind while trying to get myself back to walking  and certainly not dashing. I entered the holiday season without alot of hope but as each day came more and more tiny little miracles happened. We got to see A Christmas  Carol when Layla nd Missy could not go as she was recoperating from her surgery. ANd then the hockey game worked out as everyone had a fun friend to share it with. We had delicous food at Larkins, and so much more yumm food that now we need to focus more no protein ans less about treats

Here we are celebrating with Jan and Jaron and 3 of our 4 great grands!! woohoo!

more yummy food and family

here is lour youngest great, Margot, Seths little girl

Karina and Dan and family CHristmas card

Shelley and Heber minus Elder Anderson

At the :Utah Hockey game

The OREM  temple

Celebrating with Nikki and Darlys family mius Elder Anderson and Emma who is off tho college

And ringing in the NEW YEAR with Dave and Carol.  We had  great holiday fun with our friends and family, We pray that we can contiue to heal in all our many needed ways 

 

Thanksgiving Gathering

we gather together to give thanks for the many blessings of the year. We got to travel and be healthy, most of the time. Valeries preschool closed for the week for precautions of illness spreading but we took advantage of the time to serve in other ways. 

Men at work

kids playing in first snow

clowning around

going to serve in downtown Detroit

enjoying adult yummy food

no fear, we had plenty of help

me and Kade

Eriks birthday party

Jims favorite thing,, serving

we all, mostly dresse warm, helping at the Light the World 

still sporting the walker , just for protection

joy of being together!!!I just love the spirit in the Mercado home .We love being there. Thanksgiving over and celebrating the birth of Jesus. I especially loved helping the new missionaries who have taken on the opportunity to learn French while on their mission , to work with Friends from French speaking areas who have come to America, (Haiti and Africians, sorry not from France) But, it was thrilling to find the french words and the spirit of missionary work yet again.