And this is how they entertained us

My niece Carly and her 6 children was our entertainment at the end 
of our Easter party. 

(Unfortunately several people had to leave early and didn't get to 
see this part!)

I am in awe by the way their voices come together! 

And I'm also in awe that Carly teaches them a hymn every morning 
before they begin their home school. Or I should say that is part of 
their schooling. 

They all work on a hymn each morning together for about 3 
months. Then they move on to the next one. This is the hymn they 
are currently working on.... 

(As the camera goes around the room you will see their proud Dad in the kitchen.)




Rozier Easter Party 2018 a week early

First the food....

I started baking these beans at 7:30am
(the party started at noon)

Let me pause right here and just say this:

Thank you to my niece McKenzie for taking the pictures!
My camera did not always cooperate. So if people are missing (and 
they are) it's because the pictures were blurry....
not McKenzie's fault!

Back to the party....

We also had....
fresh berries (and another yummy fruit salad from Heidi but she 
wasn't there yet when I took the pictures.)


Chicken pasta salad from Peggy 
(how I wished I weren't gluten free!)


Not sure who bought the french bread, but 
Carly brought the beautiful green salad. 


Robin made our Mom's chicken brown rice salad in the 
background, and Amy made her popular potatoes. 


Katie's strawberry pretzel salad.
I heard several requests that she bring it next year, too.



I told Den he was in charge of roasting the hotdogs.
He googled how to do it, and they came out looking great.
(400' for 10 minutes...he did them for 20 min because we had so many)
I wouldn't know how they tasted however. 



Dream Bars and Brownies and Sugar cookies!


The food was beyond great. Seriously, we ate and ate. 
And I felt sorry for anyone who wasn't with us today.

The mingling and eating...

These two have been brothers in law for 67 years! 
My Uncle Don (my Mom's brother and only living sibling)and my Dad. 

Amy and Susan's daughter, Dawnie.
I was surprised and so excited when Dawnie came through the door. 
We are step sisters! I so wish I could have talked to her more but she needed to leave early. :(


My beautiful sister, Heidi


Macie, Laurynn, and McKenzie


My nephew Jake, Logan, and Carly's husband Enoch.
(Logan still wearing his Grandpa Heasley's shirt. He is very sentimental about him, always will be)


Carly's daughter Calvary. She reminds us of our Mom.


My sister Robin and Dave talking to Carly and our cousin Carolyn.


Uncle Don with my Dad and Grandma Nellie 


Our dear Susan....don't you just love her hair?


The kids were so good about eating on blankets!
They seem to prefer it.


Except these two grandchildren of mine...
they gravitate to the table they have used since they were tiny. 


My sister Robin talking to our Uncle Don.



Then the hunt!
First the hiding of the eggs...

Not sure what's so hard about moving the playhouse. 
I can even do that! :)


Really? Isn't this going above and beyond to hide some eggs?


Then the hunt.....

Amy was in charge of it this year and she had the kids go out in 
stages. In other words, not all at once. Good idea!

 But tt was tough waiting for some.
Look at Mara's sad little face.

Mara went right to the playhouse to look first apparently.


Nash! He was just a newborn last Easter party!


Love this picture of Katie and Nash





Jonas and Jude, Zion in the background



I could tell Harvey was very into it this year.


Really Téa? You needed to climb the tree?


It was a really great party, if I do say so myself.
The older I get, the more these gatherings mean to me. 

We had entertainment too....
more on that next.

The Sabbath can make a difference

Our teacher in our woman's group at church today 
talked about this analogy:

What if you were walking in an open field and people were 
continuing to throw things at you all along the way? 

Now picture walking this same field and people were still throwing 
things at you but nothing touched you.

She compared this to staying unspotted from all the bad things of 
this world. She said the Sabbath can help with this.


I love how this short little video shows the contrast between 6 days 
of the week, and then the difference Sunday can be. 

I can hardly wait for this one.

I had NO idea they were making a movie about Fred Rogers! 
It comes out in JUNE.




I am a huge fan of his, mostly because of the big influence he had 
on McKay and Tyler growing up!

McKenna actually gave McKay a Mister Rogers t-shirt 
for his birthday this month. 

So I texted and asked if she could take a picture of him wearing it. 
She said that will be easy since he had it on today!


Here are all my past blog posts about Mister Rogers. 

Ever notice how sometimes life goes in an odd sync?

Mister Rogers on Tragedy

They went to sleep angry

I'm Proud of You

What it's like to be 7 1/2

TV and children

I found some more Wonders


5 special things about yesterday

Cami's annual Birthday Ball Party yesterday was 
extra special to me for 5 reasons:


1. Soon after I arrived, Cami spotted me and was just beaming as 
she stood there looking up to me. She makes me feel like the most 
important person ever. AND she is a teenager now....13! 


 

2. I was SO surprised to see my 2 nieces, Lindsay and Whitney at 
the ball party! I had no idea they were even in town. 
(They are the youngest daughters of my brother Richard, and Wendy.


And here's my best attempt to get all 8 of them in one picture...
 Bret, Jay, Kit, Whitney, Lindsay, Leigh, Gard, and Winnie.

I had a hard time keeping Winnie in the frame
(Would you believe Whitney is 6 months pregnant in this picture?)




3. I'm loving Violet's new golden dress, and boots and glasses. And 
I love that her 2nd cousin Winnie is next to her here.



4. My Dad asked Elora who she was. 
And no, he is not losing his memory. 
Elora has changed a lot lately! 
What was Elora's response to her Great Grandpa saying that?
"Puberty is a magical thing."


Just have to say here...
NO ONE in my entire life has said anything about puberty being magical. 
But good for you Elora for thinking so!

5. And one more note here, 
or rather something I noticed, that I never noticed before. 

My niece Whitney resembles my cousin Kristine. 
(Kristine is the daughter of my Dad's sister Ann.)

Can you see it too?

And also, I notice that baby Leigh below,
 looks a lot like my brother Richard. 



Happy Happy Birthday to Cami!

We are all better people because she is in our family! 



She looks like an actress from 1927

I've been keeping this movie on our bedroom dresser 
since Christmas....

My sister Heidi gave it to me. 
I thought, how nice, I will watch this! 

Then the next day I picked it up, and did a double take. 
What??!  

Why does the actress on the cover of this look just like 
our granddaughter Elora!

And seriously, Elora looks more like the actress in person 
than she does in this picture!



So a few days later (this is still December), Elora's parents were 
over playing games with Karen and Tyler, and I showed them!



And no, that look on Erin's face right there was not the moment 
when I showed her the movie cover. 

Instead, Erin pretty much had the look below when I showed her....
(although this was a different day)


And Elora pretty much acted like her look above, when her Mom 
sent her a text of the movie cover.

In other words, Elora could not see the resemblance at all!

The rest of us, are still amazed!


Juliet and Karen

Our 2 year old granddaughter knows what she wants to sing!
(And, yes, Karen is always that patient.)

I like how right after the ABC song, just by Juliet looking at her 
Mom, she can tell what the next song will be. Must be a mother-
daughter thing.


My Mom knows how we feel today

I've been typing up my Mom's old journals. This week I'm on 1980. I think we may be able to relate
what she said, especially today:

April 28, 1980
Daylight Savings yesterday and I am shot. Stayed up too late. 
Richard came by this morning and said he finally understands 
my thoughts on D.S.T. He couldn't get his kids to bed last night 
either!!

And then this one, just because I like it:

Feb 25, 1980
We had a nice FHE about personal prayer. I am really gaining 
a testimony of it. We have to be real dummies not to take 
advantage of such a wonderful source of help and strength.


Our Dinners for February

For some reason I got it in my head to keep track of our 
dinners each month. This has actually proved to be helpful to 
me as I can go back for ideas that I may have otherwise 
forgotten. 

Not sure anyone will read this but me, but that's okay.  :)

(But if you decide to keep track of your own dinners, I would 
sure love to see your list!)

Feb 1: (appetizer: carrot sticks), Salmon croquettes, kobacha squash with butter and brown sugar, 
asparagus, baked yukons, grapefruit

Feb 2leftover turkey/veg soup, toast, and grapefruit for Dennis. I had a frozen GF chicken pot 
pie, and a red pepper, carrot, some kidney beans and 5 pecans (somedays just gotta eat what 
sounds good)

Feb 3: Cafe Rio…this time I not only told them to skip the rice but asked for 2 scoops of the 
pinto beans and it was great.

Feb 4: Crockpot Apricot Chicken, Brown Rice, broccoli, Crockpot Acorn Squash

Feb 5: It was neighborhood book club at our house tonight…so all 8 ladies brought a dish to 
share. Chili, and lots of salads, and quiche, and brownies, and Valentine candy. Stacey, Beth, 
Danielle, Cindy, Lora, Kathleen, Vicki, and me. Den fixed himself a plate from our buffet…I was so 
impressed. 


Feb 6: Den ate same dinner i made for another family: Baked Teriyaki Chicken, pilaf, corn, salad, 
and choc chip cookies. (After he packed up and delivered theirs) 
I had lentil soup (that I had saved in the freezer) and some Trader Joe’s Cauliflower. 
Just have to share Den's great packing abilities:




Feb 7: honey roasted red potatoes, turkey burgers, broccoli, acorn squash in crockpot, salad 
leftover from last night, grapefruit…By the way, LOVED those potatoes!!


Feb 8:  Loaded Baked White Sweet Potatoes….I made up this recipe last month, but thanks to 
keeping track, I could remember it plus I could go back and find it. So white sweet potatoes with 
black beans, guac, cooked peas, sautéed mushrooms and red onions, ground turkey meat. 
Sautéed arugula on the side, Grapefruit.

Feb 9: GF fish sticks (I have literally not had these in YEARS, probably decades.) GF Tator Tots, 
bacon strips, peas, cauliflower, Red pepper slices, grapefruit (An odd combo of food but it’s just 
what I felt like eating and Den is always up to anything.)

Verdict on the dinner: Fish Sticks are history forever. Never again. Good thing I had bacon on our
plate. Every once in a while I put bacon on Den’s plate because it makes him so happy. But
tonight, I actually ate a piece myself.
Feb 10: at Denny’s I had that hot plate of salmon, potatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms. Why is it
that Denny’s salmon is wild, but all the other more expensive restaurants only have the farmed
raised salmon? Den had his usual breakfast.
Feb 11: DINNER: Campfire Chicken Foil Packets, AND Lori’s Campfire Potatoes
(don’t put the potatoes in the Chicken Foil Packets if you are going to make the delicious Lori's
Campfire Potatoes. Instead put 3 sliced carrots in instead…not chunks but slices)

Everything cooked in foil on a baking sheet. Done in 45 minutes. (marinated everything earlier in
the day) As the day went on this did not sound good to me. But I went ahead and baked it
anyway. Loved it. Great flavor between the thyme, olive oil, lemon juice and vegetables and
chicken. I hope I don’t forget about this one because it really is an easy to put together earlier in
the day and bake just before dinner time. 
I halved both recipes above. But used a bit more olive oil than 1/2. I thought it would taste
lemony and I wasn’t in the mood for lemon tonight, but it didn’t. 
Feb 12: DINNER: Baked Teriyaki Chicken and pilaf (it makes alot, so we gave 1/2 the chicken and
pilaf to another family), brown rice, broccolini, red and yellow fresh peppers, apple slices
Feb 13: salmon burger, asparagus, white sweet potatoes, green salad with carrots and red
peppers
Feb 14:  Minestrone soup I made that wasn’t all that great. Kind of sad since it was Valentine’s
Day. But the movie we watched at home tonight well made up for it. I can’t remember when we
both loved a movie as much as this one. It was from 2016 called LION. I kept passing the kleenex
to Dennis. He loved it as much as I did. 
Feb 15: Taco Salad (ground turkey, guac, olives, tortilla chips , cheese, salad, cabbage, red
onions) grapefruit
Feb 16: DINNER: Denny’s with 2 little people.
I had the salmon-potato, mushroom, tomato-spinach-broccoli dinner
Den had breakfast, as always.


Feb 17:   turkey burgers, honey roasted potatoes (see Feb 7th), sautéed arugula, kobacha 
squash, grapefruit….I don’t know if I was just overly hungry or what, but this dinner was excellent. 
Den loved it too. Right smack in the middle of it we found out we were missing Violet’s 7 year old 
birthday party! We thought it was TOMORROW night, since that is her actual birthday. So we 
hurried and got dressed, wrapped her doll stroller up, and flew out the door. We made it ½ hour 
late. Everyone was so forgiving. When we got back 90 minutes later we finished our dinner.

Feb 18:  crockpot apricot chicken, brown rice, zucchini swirls, leftover kobacha squash, grapefruit

Feb 19:  Cafe Rio….As we were going through the line the girl rings me up then looks at Dennis 
and says, “Vegan right?” And he said no, not anymore. Then I said, “I can’t believe you 
remembered he was vegan last summer.” So I go get us a table while Den asks her, “So tell me, 
how did you remember that?” And she said, “You remember the ones who are really nice to 
you.” I was happy someone thinks we are nice…even the cute little checker girl at Cafe Rio.

Feb 20  Boy Scout dinner baked in oven (turkey burger, carrots, yukons, japanese white potatoes, 
red peppers, purple cabbage…green salad

Feb 21  Crockpot Salsa verde chicken over brown rice, corn, grapefruit

Feb 22:  cod, white sweet potato, peas, green salad with romaine, parsley, carrots, purple 
cabbage, celery. Grapefruit

Feb 23: Turkey soup: ground turkey, fresh parsley, broccoli, yellow pepper, red pepper, red 
onion, 2 carrots, celery,. Then we topped it with brown rice and sautéed mushrooms.

Feb 24: I had leftover turkey/vegetable soup from last night. But the 3 grand girls plus Dennis 
had Trader Joes mini tacos, corn and fresh cut up apples. Chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The 
dinner made them all happy so I guess it was okay :) Cami also had a banana and an extra apple 
plus the tacos and corn and THREE choc chip cookies and she was asking for more! She was extra 
hungry!

Feb 25:  Big Taco salad (ground turkey, dark lettuce, kidney beans, carrots, purple cabbage,
tortilla chips, olive oil, dairy less ranch…ate half of it before going home teaching with Dennis,
and the rest afterwards. 
Feb 26: out to Sequoia Sandwich…I thought it would be easier to just go out tonight since we
were gone alot today. But right before we were to leave I got SO hungry that I ate some yogurt,
pecans, a smoothie, steamed cauliflower and broccoli dipped in hummus, and then half a can of
green beans. Den kept laughing at all I was eating but I couldn’t help it. When hunger hits me it
hits hard. So I hardly touched the salad and potato I ordered. (I served it to Dennis the next day
for lunch.) He had a bowl of chili at Sequoia. He’s so simple and easy. And I’m so not.
Feb 27: Easy Baked Chicken, Brown Rice, Butternut Squash, Broccoli, orange cauliflower,
grapefruit
Feb 28: salmon croquettes, asparagus, leftover butternut squash, Japanese sweet potatoes
Dinner Out this month: 5 times

For a few days I actually kept track of everything I ate all day long, 
but that was crazy. I eat way too much and way too often to write 
all that down. 

We are already eating our way through March. 



Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...