THE Presidency

Well, as most of you know, I have been released. I just want to say that I was pleased and honored to have worked with these ladies. From left to right.....Stephanie Walker (Steph), Amber Allen, and Karissa Rosen....(ME). We worked hard prayed and studied together and tried to do everything in the best interest of the sisters in our Ward. I feel very close to them and love them very much. Each one is at the right age to be a daughter to me.....but I feel like we are peers too! Thank you for making the last (almost 2) years positive, full of growth and learning and thank you for becoming my friends. I hope we can continue to be close. (We weren't prepared for a picture, but I insisted with or without makeup, hair or ideal circumstances.)

Annual Halloween Party

Look who made an appearance at the Crane Halloween Party.............It is Glinda and Elfaba (sp?)So Wicked!

The Munchkin from OZ did not want to cooperate, but then munchkins hardly ever do.

Grandma Netty caught a night bug. And she sure was a good sport about it all.

Making up for Lost Time

Jillian loved her "painted face" pumpkin prize for the best buggy costume. She looked at it all the rest of the evening.

Little Camille at her first Crane Family Halloween Bash.

Such a Happy Halloween family......Daddy is a Mexican Wrestler and Mommy is a bug catcher. Jill and Camille are little lady bugs that need catching. Maybe later they need wrestling??

Conference, Cabin, Calm, Cool...

What do these words have in common? The weekend of October 5th. Our family was finally able to go to the Cabin. Watching Conference and being up in the mountains with a drizzly morning and a fire in the fireplace. It was as close to heaven as I've been in a long while. The icing on the cake was the fact that we could have Grandma and two of our grandkids with us.....(and their parents) It was serene........

Well, we did have the occasional wrestling match....but we call them love matches. How else do you let other guys know how much you care? All in all those were kept to a minimum.

Taylor Home Cooking Show

A couple of weeks ago we got our hands on some UTAH TOMATOES. We were planning and looking forward to bottling some stewed
tomatoes. As I cleared the decks and laid everything out to begin I couldn't resist taking a picture because it was so colorful and picture
perfect!

Ross became interested and so he learned to sterilize, blanch, skin and chop. The house smelled absolutely delicious.

Halfway done! Some are bottled .....one pan is 1 hour into the stewing process and the other pan is just beginning. This took us almost an entire Saturday. (We did get some yardwork done thanks to some spanish-speaking friends)

This picture was dad's idea. He really enjoys just opening a jar for lunch. It is full of veggies. Tomatoes, celery, onion, summer squash, zuchini and bell pepper. YUM! Shout out to Aunt Melba for the recipe. (I added a couple of secret spices of my own too!)

One of the most rewarding things to do is put the jars on the storage shelves. So Pretty!

Who's The New Girl in Town?

CAMILLE TAYLOR! Not the most intelligent look, but cute nonetheless!

Camille wasn't the only one that was "Blessed"

Here are the stars of the show. Camille looked beautiful, Jeff did a great job, (and kept his cool when Camille didn't) And....last but not least, Alisha did, and does, a lot of work to get to this point. Congratulations to them and thanks to all who came and supported this "blessed" event. We love you all.

Some that came are not pictured here because they had to leave to get to their own meetings. Thank you to Lisa, Ron and Grandma Crane also.

As I was looking at this little crowd, (which barely represents all of us) Between the Petersons and the Taylors and the Cranes etc. We have been so blessed. All these children born in the covenant and everyone who is able, holding the Priesthood....my heart is full.

Liz's Big Day.....no pun intended.

We had a baby shower for Lizzy in preparation for her little boy to come into our family. He is due on his grandpa's (Richard) Birthday. Sept. 29th. The shower was decorated with boy's toys and they were loaded with itty bitty refreshments.

There were finger sandwiches, mini fruit kabobs, little treats in jars and other yummy things. As you can see my sisters did an awesome job ......as usual........ to celebrate the event. I just did what they told me to do.

Here is Lizzy with her two sisters.......Janae and Amelia. Janae is due in February. ......very close to Sarah's due date and a little after Alyson's. Our family is growing by leaps and bounds and it is so much fun. But the best thing of all is how much we truly love each other.

Becoming Brigham

A week ago I had to bring Brigham Young to a Pioneer Celebration @ Sarah's Ward. He came willingly and ready to tell the kids all about the sacrifices of the early Saints.

Chloe appreciated from afar.

This was taken at the end of the process of transforming into Brigham.

Crane family vacation and the 4th!

Here is 1/2 of the reason we are all getting together in Durango. The Crane family vacation was in Durango, Colorado this year and this is mom. Carol Crane. We had all been planning this for over a year and it was finally happening. We camped in cabins, trailers and toy haulers. But with mom and all 7 of her children and as many of their children and grand children as could come we had a grand turn out and a great time was had by all. We sort of took over the campsite, but I don't think the other campers minded much. We gathered together on 3 evenings, Fireside, FHE and potluck night. We were quite a sight but I know that Grandpa was looking down on us and had that silly grin on his face......the one where moisture forms in the outer corners of his eyes............ and he loved every minute of it!

We hoisted our flag to show our patriotism and claimed our cabin for the week.

Sadee and Emma were scouting out the territory for fun.

Chloe was trying out her independence for Independence Day. God Bless America!

Getting a feel for the land.

After we first arrived in Durango we checked out our surroundings and found them to be suitable. The porches were inviting and the rocky river full of cold water was tempting.

Here is Ross and Jenny checking out down below our cabins. Julie and Greg's cabin was next to ours.

Hooray for the U. S. of A

The first night after we arrived in Durango we went down town to watch fireworks. It was really a great show and we all loved feeling patriotic.

The girls shared some of the Compton's pizza with them. (they are so nice.)

We also walked over to the Baskin Robbins for an ice cream cone. You can't get any more Americana than that, I guess.

Oh, what a beautiful morning!

The next morning after we got to Durango was beautiful and clear. The river was running right in front of our porch. It was cool and sunny. A nice break from the Arizona mid-summer heat.

Work for your supper.....

Emma and Sadee got into the spirit of camping out. They helped cook and wash up. Daddy tried to make Sadee believe that part of camping out is helping him into his shoes.

She was a really good sport.