Groneman Family

9 1/2 hour drive home. 1 30 minute stop in Mesquite at McDonalds , 1 other potty-break stop. Thanks to dad's DVD player and my fixed power outlet it wasn't that bad of a drive. It is a GOOD THING we took your dvd player those since mine is apparently non-functional now. Lydia who had abandoned all potty training in Utah came home and immediately went in the potty. Then she did it twice more independently before bedtime and went and told steve when she was done. Apparently, Utah potties are not good enough for Lydia's tinkles. I got home in just enough time to change my clothes and go to work. Good thing my job is more of a break than work. But I just keep thinking of the thousands of things I need to do at home right now....

This is something that is hard to blog about. And it is harder today than it was yesterday. Mom passed on to one heck of a celebration in Heaven (I am sure) 2 1/2 days ago. But I have had my kids and grand kids and sweet husband to distract me from the pain of mom's departure. This is the first time I have really been alone since she died. Katie and Erica...and all of my kids in love...I wish you could have known my real mother. She was an amazing woman. She spent her lifetime loving, teaching serving all those around her. She was fun, and somehow managed to "be there" for those she loved in her life even while being a full time school teacher, Relief Society President, and taking care of her own mother in her old age. Mom was always a rock, and anchor in the storm that I knew I could depend on. And even though in reality she hasn't been taking care of me for a very long time...in fact that role was reversed in the end...she has always been a source of comfo...

Thanksgiving took a far 2nd place to the passing away of my dear mother in law, Oral Haslem.  What a great woman.  Cambrie left California and was able to visit her grandma before she died.  Of course the frail, old and failing body was not what Grandma was for most of her life.  She was a wonderful mother who raised some great kids, including my wife.  When I was trying to court Marilyn, her mother was on my side even before Marilyn was!  She made anyone feel welcome in her home.  I told Marilyn a couple of years ago that going to the mountain was more fun when her parents were there.  Grandpa was always off doodling with something but Grandma would make the mountain fun.  A few weeks back when she was mostly mentally gone and sleeping through most visits, I asked her when we were going to go to the mountain again and she opened her eyes and started talking to me about the mountain.  She loved it.  I can't count the number of water...

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post. From the sounds of it, my mom likely only has a few days to live. Katheryn called from the care center. Mom's breathing is really irratic, shallow and with long gaps between. She is sore all over now, and not just her legs. They have to give her liquid morphine ( in addition to the longer lasting morphine she is now on 24/7) before they try to change the depends, because the liquid morphine gives quick short term relief of pain. But even on both, she cries out in agony to be moved at all. David was with Kathy. He was with his mom when she died a few years ago. He said that what mom is doing tonight is what his mom did, 2-3 days before she died. And I remember, that the day that we had Jack moved to Saundra's (because I was joining Kim on a Sysop trip) he was also in great pain to be moved at all. That was the day before he died. I will go and probably stay the whole day with mom tomorrow. I am sure that mom won't be...

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon; but no promises.  Nelsons had a good Thanksgiving with steve's parents and 1 younger brother (Kyle).  We had dinner about noon.  Kiera had a few bites of beets and that was all because, just like last year, she filled up on junk food before the meal (last year she didn't even eat 1 bite of dinner).  Lydia did better though.  Bev cooked all of the food 100% by herself other than the pumpkin pie that I made.  Too much work I'd say!  Although we had rolls, they were not orange rolls.   But I made some a few weeks ago so it wasn't TOO sad.  After thanksgiving dinner we had a turkey piniata (nothing at all like katie-quality piniatas).  The girls hit it a few times before I gave the bat to Kyle who graciously busted it open.  The girls enjoyed it, but I think they'll like it more next year.  Personally,  I like the tradition more for thanksgiving since Christmas  has en...

Google can help!  http://bit.ly/gwoXCl   Check out step 27 (and 38)

I dunno if you folks in Utah have been listening to the weather reports but they say one of the biggest storms in years is supposed to move in with blizard conditions Tuesday afternoon about 5 to 6pm and stay through Wednesday about noon:  http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=88    They were saying that people shouldn't be out driving during that time at all.  Not only shouldn't people be traveling on the freeway for Thanksgiving, but not even in their towns.  Temperatures are going to be so cold that salt on the roads won't help.   I love my kids.  I don't want to see your heads smashed.  Don't travel during that time, OK?  Should be fine on Thanksgiving day. On another note, you may have heard that Attachmate bought Novell today.  Not a whole lot of news there..they say they will run Novell as a separate business unit and that employees *generally* won't have to move to a new location.  There will be some layoffs but mainly in ...

Kiera is FOUR !! Happy Birthday to our sweet little Kiera ! We sure with we could be with you today...but I suspect that you will be at Disneyland having a good time with mommy and daddy, after school for dad. I sent you a birthday card last week. I hope it gets to you by today. And I hope you enjoy your present! We sure love our adorable little princess, Kiera!

I have heard quite a bit of talk about this movie being too dark and that there was a nude scene.  Bunk.  I thought this was one of the better Harry Potter movies.  It was intense...the little kid version of HP definitely wasn't there any more.  This was for an adult mind.  It wasn't anywhere close to being as dark as "The Dark Knight"   It showed the battle between good and evil just like the book but you always knew that good was the right side. I asked Marilyn if she liked it.  She said it wasn't nearly as bad as she had been told. She actually liked it.  The "nude scene" was the horicrux trying to convince Ron that Harry and Hermoine were bad.  It showed a fake Harry and Hermoine from shoulders up (bare shoulders) hugging and telling Ron they didn't want him around.  Ron smashed it with his sword.  A nude scene?  Hardly.  You see much worse on TV underware commercials.   It was a good flick.   ...

Be afraid....be VERY affraid.  I'm just sayin.  The 4th is coming right up.....

Would it work better for people to have the party on Saturday the 4th? Brett and Brigham both work the night before, so we couldn't start the party until about 4ish (or would it need to be later, Brett?). Better or worse? Also-- would Emmy be having a birthday party that day?

Hey, fam...it is time to reserve a spot on your calendar for the annual Groneman Family Christmas party !!! Of course, the biggest hurdle to cross in this effort to schedule is to get days off to line up together...no small feat in a family of medical people with non traditional hours of occupation. I have talked to Christa, and we looked at Brett's calendar, and right now, we need to say that it is Friday, Dec 10, just as soon as others can get here after work/school. Brigham as every weekday off that week. Christa suggested perhaps he could trade one of those days to get Saturday off instead (if anyone will cooperate), in which case we could do it Saturday and have more fun (nobody will have to rush home at 6 pm to get little ones down). So kinda hold that day open too until we know for sure. I thought that the foods you call brought for the Halloween party were spectacular! I don't know that we will ever top that...but if everyone brings something, it will be fun and t...

For the past 2 weeks or so, every prayer Kiera says includes "and thank you for Buff to come home soon".  I try to tell her that Buff is not coming home for a year but she doesn't get it.  Then on sunday on the way home she was talking about when Buff comes home (a subject initiated by her)  "When buff comes home from Georgia and takes off her missionary clothes then we can have FIVE people in our family again!"  She talked about how Grandma came and took Buff away in the red car.  (Mean old grandma!)  I tried to explain that buff wasn't in the Nelson family.  All of this is difficult for a munchkin to understand.  Also on the way to church Lydia was talking about Utah and suddenly said "Brett!" (with muscles).  Brett if you were meaning to make an impression or help them remember you, it worked.  I'm working working working.  This week has been long and frustrating.  Trying to keep up with this crazy schedule of ours when i...

Started in Utah waking up at 4:30 am for a flight that left at 7am. Had to change planes in Detroit.  Once I got on the other plane..they said they were having a little problem and it should be fixed in 15 minutes.  30 minutes later they said they had an oil leak in an engine and were waiting for parts.  90 minutes on the plane and they said the first parts didn't work so they were waiting for more parts.  2 hours on the plane and they said anyone that wanted to get off could to walk around.  15 minutes later they said they didn't expect the plane to be fixed until 7pm so everyone had to get off.  Then they told us to go to another terminal to see if we could get on another flight going to Orlando.  Went clear over to the other terminal to be told they found another plane our flight could use that left at 5pm from the original terminal.  Went back over there and finally got off the ground at about 5:30.  I guess I missed the meeting in Florid...

I found an easier way of making orange rolls.  You make them exactly like you would regular rolls except add the sugar/orange mixture to the butter before cutting into circles and folding over.  I for one am not a fan of washing all of those muffin tins.  They are prettier in the muffin tins, but they taste great this way too. 

Hi Family, So, most of you know that we have put an offer on a new house (still waiting on it to be accepted, but we're confident it will be). All of this opportunity of moving to a new home is contingent on our selling our townhome (or getting renters, which we really prefer not to do since we already have a rental property) in 30 days from when the offer is accepted--so the timer hasn't officially started yet but it will soon. We have had 2 people walk through our townhouse, and we have received one extremely low offer. We counter offered, and they then counteroffered a tiny bit higher offer from their original offer. Essentially, we are done with these buyers. It makes me extremely nervous to let them go when the market could slow to an even more crawl than what it is when the snow/cold comes. But we are walking by faith. That's where the prayers come in. We NEED to sell this place, and we need to sell it fast. We don't want to give it away, but we want to be fai...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQJ1k2HMoRU

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486655/     What a cool movie!  I thought it was great.  Your mom liked it too.  It's about old England and a wall in a field that separates this world from another fantasy world.  Three stories mesh.  First, a boy who has one parent from each world goes on a quest to find a fallen star to bring to the girl he wants to marry...only the fallen star turns out to be a girl.....long story.  The other story is about the king of the fantasy world dying and his sons competing to see who will get the throne...they too must find the fallen star.  The third is a bunch of witches that in order to stay young, must ALSO find the fallen star. It has Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, Clair Danes, and a bunch of other people.  We've got it and it's definitely fun to watch.  The checkout book is next to all the movies in the laundry room.

The perfect dress for church when a high councilman is speaking.  Would probably also work good for things like Opera and Ballet, etc.  Elegant yet functional.

First, I got BJ's snail mail today. She gave me her new address which is: 4315 Lexington Road Apt 6-C Athens Georgia, 30605-2545 So now you can all write her plenty! So we usually have our Sunday dinner for the fam each month on the Second Sunday. However, I just talked to Christa, and that is her mother in law's birthday and she will be hosting Brigham's family up there on that day. So we are looking for another day. Yes, I realize that it is Thanksgiving in a few weeks, but I am thinking it would be fun to get together before that. Brett and Brigham can you compare notes and see if there is a day somewhere that you both have off . Chad starts his new job on Monday, but I think it is just a standard 8-5 job with weekends off right Chad? Saturdays work too you know. I suggested this Sunday, but today both Ty and Jacob are sick with fevers...hopefully be gone by Sunday, but one never knows. IF they are better by Sunday, does that work for the rest of ya?

I'm so excited about the holiday season!  I'm ready to sloberate through New Years!  I hope it snows all winter.  And who is it that wants to eat turkey instead of ham?!?  Huh?!?

The Thanksgiving feast this year will be at 3:30-4ish. Sounds like that works for everyone. And that, in and of itself, is something to be thankful for! And before I forget to ask: Did everyone (but Dastrups, evidently) vote to have ham this year? Christa and I think it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the Turkey. We CAN to both, so don't panic people. But I would like to know what your preference would be. Kim and I will provide Turkey, Ham, gravy, Pies (and I wouldn't cry buckets if someone wants to take over pies-I hate making crusts, but it would have to be our traditional recipes or Kim will likely boycott the whole thing!) Christa -Sweet Potatoes and Stuffing Chad and Erica-Mashed Potatoes and Fruit something or other Brett and Katie-ROLLS! Maybe a few Orange rolls even? :) and Veggie Tray If you choose to take over pies, I will provide the pie apples (bottled) and take over one of your assigned dishes. If anyone has a traditional thing on their side of the famil...

With regards to constitutional changes, initiatives, etc. my advice would be to never vote FOR something that changes the status quo unless you really understand the issue.  Too many times changes have been voted for that end up having unintended consequences.  Don't vote for changing something just because someone else is, or you have heard one compelling side of the story.  The voter information pamphlet that comes out in this state is a good starting point to understand all sides of the issues.   If you don't feel you understand it, I would suggest voting against it.  If you understand it and want the change, vote for it.

Here's one I think you'd like:  http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/4575216

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13103515        Ewww!

Can be seen HERE .  Looks like all three boys were into the Halloween spirit.  Jacob looks like he's enjoying it as much as Ty.