A New England Thanksgiving

We just returned from a New England Thanksgiving.  We were able to spend time with our friends, Steve and Evelyn Weber, at their home in Clinton, Connecticut.  On Thanksgiving Day we traveled to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.  This is a living history museum that recreates life in rural New England in the early 1800’s.   It was delightful to walk around the village entering the various homes and businesses and be educated by costumed employees on the life of our ancestors.  The experience renewed our gratitude for the hard work and ingenuity of our countrymen and forbearers.  It also strengthened our gratitude for the blessing of inventions that have occurred since the 1830’s that have increased our quality of life.   We were grateful that we did not have to spend the whole day preparing our Thanksgiving meal but could enjoy a feast prepared by others; a first ever for us!

The Village Pond

On the Village Green

The Old School House

Preparing a Thanksgiving Dinner

Beautiful horses but we'll take our car, thankyou.

Before leaving Connecticut today Steve gave us a tour of Yale University.  What a beautiful campus!

In front of the Yale library.

Yale's Crest -- Light and Wisdom

My Wonderful Mom

I am sure I am not alone in saying that it is not easy to put into words the feelings one has for their mother.  They are feelings that grow over a lifetime and continue to develop as the years go by.  Now as a mother and grandmother myself, I now know that one’s mothering skills definitely increase as we mature with age and experience.   I am eternally grateful for my mother and her willingness to work at becoming good at parenting.  I have fond childhood memories of my mother.  Her example of faithfulness to God, her husband, and her family has blessed my life. I am so grateful that she is still here to bless my life, the lives of all my posterity, and the lives of all her know her.  The following are pictures from mom's 80^th B-day party on October 8, 2011 in Cedar Hills, Utah. (My family members who are missing from these pictures are my dad who passed away three years ago, David & Jessica's who live in Arizona with their three children, and Lindsey and Adam's and two daughters who live in Kansas.)

Linda, Mom, Shirley, Janet

Kate & Taylor, Grandma

Dmitri, Don, Grandma, Janey

Steve, Mom, Linda

Shawn, Dennis, Grandma, Janet, Jared, & Jeremy in front

Dallin, Grandma, Whitlie

Louise Hulda Jones Simmons 

Gary, Mom, Cossette

Shilrey, Mom, Stan

Chandra, Grandma, Mark

My brothers laid mom on our laps just for fun.

Mom and Linda

Aubrey, Kylie, Grandma, Camron, Cade, (In front) Makenzie & Cassie