Rocky Olsen and Annice Montgomery

used to be an "item" and maybe even a "hot item!" Melinda saw Rocky at a book signing and recognized the name as a person that once was boyfriend to Grandma Annice. She approached him and when she asked him if she knew Annice Montgomery, he, of course, replied that he did. So Melinda had him autograph his book and the autographed copy was then presented to Annice in front of the same crowd that watched me cry when I uncovered by BOSE.

Mark and Jan totally love coming to our "reunions!" They are blown away by the way everyone gets along with each other and how well the kids all play together and how there is no swearing or yelling or smoking or drinking or and the list goes on and on. Thanks to all of you for making them feel welcome and just don't believe all the things that Jan tells about me!

BOSE!!!

Go ahead and pick any adjective that is a synonym to shocked and it will describe the emotions I felt as I unknowingly unwrapped this gift at the family breakfast. This is something I had dreamed of for many, many years, at least 20 of them but other things always came before this. This year the BOSE caught up with me. I immediately came home and started playing some of my old CD's and my first remark was, "Wow, I have never heard that harmony or that instrumental background before!" It makes me wish I had not given so many CD's to DI. So, I guess I will just enjoy the ones I have and learn to make an MP3 file, whatever that is because I was told I could get a lot of music on that kind of file and this BOSE also plays MP3 files. All I can say is "thanks to all of you who had anything to do with it."

More stuff

I have always been partial to a good Parker pen. They are still made but getting harder to find so Annice had to go online to locate this. Just something comfortable to write with and a Parker pen will not bleed through when you write in your scriptures for those of us who still have non electronic scriptures.!

More things

Even a frumpy old man has to shave from time to time and once you try an electric toothbrush you will never go back to brushing your teeth by hand.

Another gift

The picture tells the story. No longer do I have to kneel on my knees or sit on uncomfortable things when the need arises. I also should no longer lose any parts as I can keep them all in the tray. A must for dads who fix things.

What Santa Left Dad and Grandpa; picture one

After four years my work socks were all but worn out. I asked for some new ones, which I got, along with two books. The DVD I really enjoyed and Annice surprised me with a copy. The package you see that says drilling will turn my driver drill set into a right angle driver so it can work in tight places.

Open now, don't wait for Christmas...

were the words spoken by Joanna who just happened to call within 15 seconds of her package arriving. There was stuff for this person and that person and for me there was this great hat that I love. I suggested to her this summer when she was invaded with Chapmans and Nixons that I would like one. Now my ears will be warmer this winter! Joanna...look at the shirt I am wearing and also love because it is long sleeved and warm.

My idea of retirement as I thought it would be...

When I thought about retirement the thought always came to my mind that when I was retired, I could just sit in the house on a cold day and read a book as long as I wanted. Well, today was that day, more or less. It was a cold day and the part of the book I read was fascinating(more later) but the real reason I stayed home was that I had to intercept the flowers Sheldon sent lest they wither and die in the cold outside the door and also when I took the flowers to KK I was asked if the package from Joanna had arrived. Since it had not, I returned home and am currently awaiting its arrival.

Canterbury Tales is a book they read in high school, or at least they did at Layton all the time I was there. Since Meghann is a junior this year she can correct me if this book is not taught. As a student in high school I never read this book despite being available to read since the year 1390. Ron Peterson who taught it in Layton High School loved teaching from the book. Now, as a 68 year old man who is reading the book for the very first time, I can see why. The book is full of great stories that can be used in teaching moments in school, home, or church. Just an example today these verses appeared in the story I was reading. The words were spoken by a married woman to a man who was trying to seduce her. Said she: "What law permits a man, here in life, to seek his pleasure with another man's wife because her body is one he happens to like?" When I read that I thought how I would have liked to supplement those few words when I taught about Joseph and Potipher's wife. Soon I will read the tale of a person condemned to death by a powerful woman lest he discover women really want in life and report his findings to the queen who must agree with his findings. Wow, I am glad I am not that man!

Sheldon's Birthday and an emotional Annice

Why is Annice so emotional when it is Sheldon's birthday? Yes, you guessed it! Sheldon sent his mother flowers on his birthday with a lovely note thanking her for all she has done for him. It should be pointed out that most all of our children have sent mom flowers for this reason or for that reason. All of you who have done that need to know that they move her to tears and the only reason I have not made a blog entry is because I have only learned how to make blog entries recently.

Chester Rhees Chapman...

did not want to go to Temple Square as it was communicated to me. I could not get him to hold my hand nor would he allow me to "watch him" while his mom went to the restroom. But, once I did get him to smile. Thank you for coming Chester.

A few Temple Square Pictures...

It was a cold, windy day after Thanksgiving night when we ventured out to Temple Square. Mom and Dad and Kelly went on Front Runner and the others arrived via driving and Front Runner. After about two hours on Temple Square we were all glad to go home. Our spirits were warmed by the glow and the festivity of the occasion. It was Emma's 8th birthday so she got to ride the train home with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Kelly. The train was literally standing room only as you might suspect.

Once again Aunt Kelly made the trip to our Thanksgiving feast. She also brought gifts for all of the nieces and nephews in a couple of boxes that the parents sorted through and then selected what they wanted. Aunt Kelly really fits in with the crowd and keeps telling me that "you get it honestly" which I take as a compliment because it allows me to know more about our common father.

I need my beauty rest

" Hey, Ryker! This is Griffin. Are you tired also like I am??

"I just want to get some shut-eye"

Perhaps he was unfazed this year but next year he will be in the same position as Griffin and Vivianne. Sleep on little Ryker!

John Travolta and Galen Nixon...

have a lot in common, like gender, height, married to one woman for a long time, and....are you ready for this...being great dancers. I was called upon to preform in a rare guest appearance at the thanksgiving party and came through a "winner" despite some "boos" and "come on, Grandpa, try harder" that permeated my performance. There may be an encore performance, but not for a couple of years.

When someone bites you, it hurts!

Nothing else needs to be said about this picture.

First Thanksgiving on real food

Even though they have been around for two Thanksgiving holidays, you cannot count the first one. Being born on the 17th of November, they were really young back in 2010 but how things have changed this year. Vivianne can stand by herself for small segments of time but Griffin is a little lasy when it comes to wanting to stand. Vivianne has a cry that pierces the whole area of Kiddie Kollege. It reminds me of Grandma Beverly when she raised her voice to be heard. They crawl all over the place, are into toys, love to sit and play with different items in the school and for most of the time yesterday they were being held by this cousin or that cousin. But, here they are enjoying their first real Thanksgiving feast with the original silverware...hands!

Tanner

I love Tanner so much. He does not seem to get caught up much with the crowd or the meal. He is happy for the most part with his Pizza rolls and something to construct. I watched him during the dance contest(thanks to Brian pointing out the fact Tanner was out there) and he was out there moving his body in good time with the group he was with. (More on the dance contest later)Yet, there are times when you see Tanner out with the boys having a good time. I watched him for awhile at the birthday party a week earlier at KK for Kayden and Cordell. Actually, it was a sleepover and while I was there Tanner was running around and playing with the rest of the boys and having a good time. Usually though if I want to find Tanner in a group, I can find him like you see him in these pictures. If Brian and Ann had a dollar for each pizza roll that Tanner has eaten and may continue to eat in his life, they could off all their bills, retire and live in comfort the rest of their life. I love the things that Tanner can remember and cite at a moment's notice.

OMG Mormon Style

Just before Thanksgiving, we decided to add wireless to the school. I am not sure Grandma Beverly would have ever done that but since technology has changed since her time, we went ahead and added. Well, these pictures tell the story. I am not sure how old Grady is but he is in Kiddie Kollege as a child. You can see him with his i-Pad and his little car game. He knows how to turn the i-pad on and operate the game. Kajsa also was intent on her game and music. I watched her little fingers and they knew just how to scan the screen and what buttons to touch. Sheldon sent a message to Liseanne who was in the same room at the same table and there was a constant game of Scrabble going on between those who had wireless devices. Some of the older girls had theirs. You can also see Jeff in the background with his. Mom and I may be the only ones in the room without one! But it was a nice experience to have wireless available. I know they enjoy it at school.

Something new for someone old!

Yes, it has been 45 years of marriage on 11-10-11 which is just one day before 11-11-11. In all the years I have been married to Annice, I really cannot remember anything that I have purchased for her, despite the fact I have purchased things for her on our anniversary. From time to time she has hinted that she would like a new bike for local transportation to an from KK and for general exercise on our rather flat terrain here in West Point. Bikes in November are supposed to be put away for the most part in our part of the United States but I decided to go ahead and get her something really nice. After all, 45 years in a long time and I think I will at least be able to remember purchasing this for her.

Not Just Any Fire...

The six Nixon children I am sure will remember the entertainment stand that was in the television room in Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was broken in some places and was pretty out of date with the shape televisions come today with their long flat screens. It was also taking up a lot of room in what was a pretty small room at best. I thought I could move it out of the house in one piece but when I tried to just move it from the wall I could see it was a heavy piece of furniture and if I could have moved it out of the house, I would have had to take the back door off its hinges and moved the dryer. So, with a crowbar and a hammer I broke it down to much smaller pieces. The parts that had the knobs and slides and rollers I just threw in a little fire in the patio and let them burn while KK was having their Halloween Party. The remainder of the stand will keep us warm this winter as I cut it up into some manageable pieces of wood. Now Vivianne and Griffin will have a nicer place to sleep if I can just convince the ladies in the preschool to keep the TV room a little cleaner. I know I will take some "heat"(no pun intended) for that statement.

Where the Wild Things Are...in West Point

I looked out my patio door and what did I see? Two wild turkeys between Bringhurst and me! It is too bad they did not show up a couple of weeks closer to Thanksgiving. But then I would have had to kill them and pluck them. It is better to buy them in a store! On my first mission to Chile we bought a live turkey for Thanksgiving. Since we had maid service back in those days we just took it home to the maid and told her we wanted turkey for dinner. The most vivid part of the story is the fact we had to carry the turkey home. The guy in the stall simply tied him up by the feet and we walked home all the way with a wild turkey pooping, trying to fly away, and making turkey sounds. Now if you have read this far you need to know that the neighbor to the north of Bringhurst's house has the birds and this is not the first time they have escaped.

OMGG!! Mormon Style

Oh my golly gee. Look what I discovered just a few minutes ago in the basement. The pumpkin walk has not even happened yet and there are Chrsitmas decorations out. My wife gives new meaning to multi-tasking.

Liseanne's were real!

Liseanne has caught( now dead) some mice this year in her house. I am not sure if she has caught them all. These represent the spirits of those she has caught and disposed of. If our spiritual bodies look like our physical bodies, who can deny what I just said!

Long live the Queen!

Here is the queen of the pumpkin walk carvers; queen because she is the oldest of the family of carvers and her parents were the king and queen until they passed away. (I wonder if they do such things as pumpkin carving in heaven?) Anyway, the last few days in October the room downstairs becomes a production factory. Pumpkins are brought up from KK and then mom sets down armed with her tools which remind me of a surgeon, her pumpkins, her magazines and patterns, her garbage can and most importantly, her drop cloth or pumpkin skirt and then she starts carving. Sometimes she will remember that she has to come to bed so she can get up the next morning. I usually kiss her good night and say, "don't stay up too late." She replies, "I won't" and when I ask her the next morning what time she got to bed it is usually around 11:30 or after, especially during pumpkin carving time. Today is Wednesday and I will not see her Wednesday night, nor Thursday night, nor Friday night, nor Saturday night until very late. Am I complaining? No! She is happy and excited and is doing what she likes to do and is developing her talents. What do I do on those evenings you ask? If the Yankees are in the World Series I am usually watching those games but this year I am not sure what I will be doing.

Most of you are aware that you can buy pumpkin seeds in the store that are treated and sealed in a little packet like sunflower seeds. These however have no preservatives and the only additives are a little sea salt, Worcestershire sause and some olive oil or some butter. Before they are roasted they are slimy, gooey, and slippery. Some recipes call for cleaning the seeds off but in the Nixon household we just use them as they come from the pumpkin. We use two cups of seeds to one half teaspoon of Worcestershire sause and one teaspoon of salt, along with a teaspoon of oil or melted butter. You add all that to the raw pumpkin guts and mix it all together and then spread the seeds on a cookie sheet and cook at 250 for a couple of hours. Every thirty minutes or so, you have to move the seeds around and stir them a little so they toast evenly. After about two hours you remove them from the pan and store them in a container or better yet, leave them out and they disappear fast. The ones I finished last night at 10:30 are now down at KK for the teachers to enjoy. I will have to make some more today and also try a caramelized version.

The end of a busy day for me!

My final project for the day will be to fix a nice dinner for my wife who has been working most all of the day at KK! Actually she took some time off and went to Kneaders for lunch with some of her temple friends so what I fix will be anti climatic. However, we will have a microwaved sweet potato, a hamburger patty cooked on the George Foreman grill the Gregory family gave us when we were in Buffalo, a nice fresh salad and some homemade bread. For dessert we will have one of our favorites...a frozen banana milkshake. Sorry, no picture for this post.

A warmer sewing room...

Our house was constructed without any insulation in the wall cavities so sometimes you can feel the cold seep into the house via osmosis. I insulated the "girl's room when it was a "playroom"which was many years ago so that room is the only one that has insulation on an outside wall. Well, now the sewing room has insulation between all the studs. It was a project that took me two or three hours to measure, cut, and make another trip to the store because I did not trust my instincts and buy two rolls at first. The bottom like is that we now have insulation in the sewing room. The entire cost was less than $25.00. With the left over pieces I shoved them above the ceiling into some areas where the heat in the sewing room would escape. Not only will the room be much warmer, but it is also tons quieter.

A 15 minute project that took me

just 15 minutes! I was in total shock and awe of my electrical capabilities as I purchased two new hall lights to take the place of the light fixtures that have been in our house since 1966. They still worked but were just...old. They were older than I who also has been in this house since 1970 and who is also old! So, I decided to replace them since the new lights were only 5 dollars each at Lowe's. I brought them home and went to work. It was as simple as taking down the old fixtures and connecting the two new wires of the fixtures to the wires in the ceiling and that was it. I was totally in shock at how easy it was and how everything all fit together so well. Usually my fifteen minute projects take much more time. Mike Allred would be envious of my electrical capabilities on this project