HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Thirty-six years ago, Rod and I were married (sealed) in the Los Angeles Temple (LDS) and it's truly the best decision we ever made!!  Our life together has certainly had LOTS of adventures and amazing experiences, and some have even been extremely difficult.  However, we often say to each, "I'm SO glad we're in this together!!"  Life can be hard, it can also be VERY good!  We are truly grateful to be "in it together!" 

Each year we go out to dinner on our anniversary, and take our "Predictions" notebook with us.  We write down our predictions for the coming year, for ourselves, our children, our country, etc.  And then we look at last year's predictions and see if we got anything right, AND we record all the things that happened that we didn't predict.

A couple of the "non-predictions" for 2015 were our beloved Silverado and her foal dying.  That was awful!  The legalization of Same-Sex Marriage, equally disturbing, but on a very different level.  We are not against equal rights; we are against government declaring changes to what God has established.  

We also broke with tradition this year...by eating at Texas Roadhouse...we usually eat at a Mexican Restaurant.  Next time I'll tell them to "hold the pepper" on my steak, rather than pouring the whole bottle on there...it was cooked really well...just had to wash all the pepper off in my water glass!  Same with the sauteed mushrooms!  Oh well.  Live and learn!

We had gone to a few stores before our dinner...including Deseret Industries where we got a couple of books for $1 each!  We also bought some new towels at Kohls while they were on sale!  We came home and made our own Anniversary dessert of hot fudge sundaes, and had some beautiful flowers and a card dropped off by Nat and Rj...from all of the kids.  

 Another memorable anniversary!!

Christmas 2015

We held our 20th Annual Hunt/Schram Christmas Eve party on the 24th, and it was great!!

There always seems to be SOMETHING we're dealing with, and this year was no different.  Julie was about 10 days post-op after a rather extensive surgery and a difficult recovery.  Yet...she came to the dinner!!  Talk about a trooper!!!

 We held the dinner at Hardison's home next door to us.  We had 25 people there...and all but 3 were adults.

Hardisons had the perfect room for our gathering.  Dave's large recliner chair was perfect for Julie to sit in and was much more comfortable than a regular chair.  I think that's the only reason she was able to stay the whole time.  I was very grateful to Hardison's for their generosity and willingness to host our dinner.

The other's who came were Faith and Devon, Ryan, Holly, Heidi and Michael, & Lydia (Heidi is pregnant and due in June), Rod and I, Kristy, Mil, Hans, Dezmond and Cayman, Nat and Rj, Sharon McPherson, Jackie Coyle, Doris Jones, Roxi Wellhoff, Glen and Norma Hovey, and, of course, Dave and Belinda Hardison.  We missed Harrison and Neldon who both had to work.

The food was good...ham, Elsie's potatoes, pomegranate salad, pretzel salad, apple/banana salad, rolls, tossed salad, and then oatmeal cake with carmel sauce and whipped cream.  Delicious!!

But the program was the best!!
 We dressed up Lydia as Mary (in a linen headdress and a baby)

Dezmond in a beige headdress as Jospeh,


Sticky (the stick horse that gallops and whinnies) which was the donkey that Mary rode.

"Baby Jesus" was placed in the wool-covered carseat (manger), as Rod read parts of Luke 2 while Mary and Joseph and the 

donkey walked in. 

Everyone loved it.  

Nat and I played a violin/piano duet of Away in a Manger

Holly and Heidi sang What Child Is This



Norma Hovey played Silent Night;










Rod played O Come O Come Emmanuel on his flute

and then we all sang several Christmas carols.

Dezmond led with his music stick,  and he also sang a solo of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.   His bowing afterwards was great, too!

 

After the dinner, and cleaning up, the kids and Rod and I went home and opened presents together.   Of course, there were the traditional pj's... 

We got a good laugh when Kristy explained that her gifts were out of her closet and headed to DI, then she decided they would make great gifts!  The really funny thing was when Kristy opened one of my presents, I explained it had been in my closet and was going to DI, but then I thought it might really work for Kristy!!  It was a cool pair of cream and black pants that I just wouldn't wear...Ahhhh, we think alike....and then Amelia and I gave each other the same gift...a Ann Romney cookbook from Deseret Bookstore!!  That was funny too!

Dezmond and Cayman LOVE the marble track we got them for Christmas...and the light sabers that Nat and Rj  got them!!

Rod and I got a new phone system for the house...which I love!  I gave him season tickets for two to Tuacahn; he gave me some beige pants that I really like and some riding gloves.  He also got me some new horse brushes that I really needed!!  Hooray!!

EJ and Lena Patino sent the boys two ceramic fire trucks that are banks...they think they're pretty cool!!

Christmas morning, after opening presents at home with Kristy, we went to Kirchhausen's and had breakfast together, then watched the movie Christmas Eve with Jenny Oaks Baker.  It was a fun and relaxing morning.  Then we headed home and relaxed some more!!!

And to finish things off, Dezmond took Cayman for a Christmas ride in their new Porsche!!!

 

We love making memories to last a lifetime!!

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving Week was wonderful!!!  Dallin and Erika came down from BYU early, and Brandon, Tannya and Nikki and Kate came down early also!  We got some horseback riding in, garden picking, puzzle putting together, cousin time, and Thanksgiving Day, complete with food prep and fun!!




We were thrilled to have Thanksgiving Dinner up at Hans' and Mil's home.  It was lots easier for me...harder for Mil and Hans.  THANK YOU, KIDS!!!  So the roll call went like this:  Rod and Patrice, Hans, Mil, Dezmond and Cayman, Brandon, Tannya, (Rosie, not born yet!), Nikki and Kate; Kristy, Dallin and Erika; Sean, Rochelle, Bailee and Kennedy, and Dave and Belinda Hardison (our neighbors).

We missed Nat and Rj, who went to Washington on a little trip,..Jaimi and Mike and kids were in Texas.

Patrice Hunt - Conference Center Organ

What a truly amazing experience!!  The only thing that would top this is if I could play for General Conference!!!  *_*

HALLOWEEN HIGHLIGHTS!!!

A couple of days before Halloween, I drew Dezmond a "treasure map" to follow, to help him draw his name.  He asked if it was Pirate Pete's treasure map.  I assured him it was, and my Halloween costume idea was born!!

Cayman just felt TRAPPED!!!

Amelia and I had picked a BUNCH of green beans from the community garden, and she snapped at least half of them, so I decided to bottle them before they dried out.  It didn't take long, and was a perfect way to spend less than an hour before the Trick-or-Treaters started to arrive!

Denzel and Cayman came over, and showed off their costumes!  Amelia was SO creative making Dezmond's robot costume...he loves playing "Ro-bot!" with Grandpa, and he loves the color RED!  It was the ideal costume!!

During one of the rounds of Trick-or-Treaters, a deep male voice asked how I was doing while I handed out the candy.  I kept in "pirate character" as I answered, "Arrrrgghhh!!  I don't know...I can't see you!  Who is it??"  He told me his name, and I squealed as I jumped up to give him a hug!  It was one of Denzel's good friends from high school!!  I invited him in, we talked about him, about Denzel, about life changes, etc., and three hours later, we were saying good-bye!!!  There's some far-reaching things going on here!!!

Miracles Never Cease!!

"Holy Toledo!!" were the words that jumped out of my mouth this morning!!  And that was the understatement of the year!!  Here's why.

A couple of weeks ago some friends were visiting at our home for a few days.  In the course of one of our conversations about the jewelry sales shows they do, I mentioned to EJ about "the only fine piece of jewelry I've ever owned besides my wedding ring" getting lost a few years ago.  It had a safety clasp on it to keep it from accidentally coming undone and falling off, but I had noticed on occasion that the clasp went on the wrong side, bypassing it's safety feature.  And then one day the necklace was gone.  Rod and I looked everywhere.  It wasn't to be found.

A similar thing had happened about 12 years ago.  We looked and looked to no avail.  TWO YEARS later, Rod was digging in the dirt where we sunk our trampoline, and VOILE!!  He found my necklace in the dirt!

Now, you have to understand the background to the necklace.  About 27 years ago, Rod bought me some pearls.  We could not afford them, but he wanted to do something nice for me.  The only problem was, he had spent a lot of money for something I wouldn't wear.  (I wasn't really in to pearls...)  After awhile, I asked if I could return them.  (I also didn't understand the importance of graciously accepting a gift!!)  He said he didn't mind, so I returned the pearls...however, the store wouldn't refund the money, so I was stuck with a piece of jewelry that I didn't feel was helping us be financially responsible.  Over the next couple of days, I looked over the jewelry counter, chose one necklace, then would return it the next day.  And that happened a couple of times.  I was in tears at the jewelry counter, feeling so "temporal" and also a bit "unworthy."  Why would I wear something so fine as any of these necklaces?!?!

And then I spotted something that changed the whole scenario.  There, under the glass, was a beautiful gold necklace, with a script letter "H" on it.  My heart soared as the thought hit me, "Now THAT I could wear, because it will always honor my husband!"  (Since our last name is "Hunt!")  And so, I "bought" that very special necklace, and have worn it more days than I have not worn it...that is until it was lost.  I was so very disappointed when the necklace was lost a second time.  However, with Denzel's death, perspective changes a bit, and the necklace was truly a very temporal thing.

So, I had this not-so-detailed conversation with EJ, and had the thought, "Well, at least Heavenly Father knows where the necklace is."

This morning I was getting cleaned up for the day, and got a little side-tracked getting rid of some of the accumulated bottles of this and that under my cosmetics drawer.  There was old bubble bath, extra bottles of polish remover, old lotion, etc.  I even had TWO jars of jewelry cleaner...for a woman with one wedding ring and no other "cleanable" jewelry!  Sheesh!!  So, I went to throw the "emptier" one in the trash, when the thought came into my mind, "Stop..."  That was weird!!  Why shouldn't I throw the extra cleaner away???  I opened the lid to pour out the liquid, and HOLY TOLEDO!!!!!!  There was my long lost necklace!!!!  I still can't believe it as I write this story!!

Heavenly Father DID truly know where it was.  And I was given the very tender mercy of having this treasured and meaningful, temporal necklace back in my life to honor my husband AND my Heavenly Father.  I am extremely grateful!!