{baby adalaide}

Love this photo!

Her mother's hair

Dad

Love at first sight!

Ten not so tiny toes

Aunt Nessa's toes

Grandma's fingers

Perfect!

{eternal riches}

{gratitude}

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. 

It turns what we have
into enough, and more. 

It turns denial into acceptance, 

chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast,

a house into a home,

a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past,

brings peace for today,

and creates a vision for tomorrow.

- Melody Beattie -

{arrivals & departures}

There are places that serve as heaven's gate in this 
mortal life.

As I waited for my departure flight from Denver to Provo 
on the afternoon of October 25, 2012, I took this picture.

Denver Airport - October 25, 2012

I did not know that my Dad was silently waiting for my return and the arrival of my sister, Carolyn, and my brother, Ray. Suffering from major brain trauma from a fall at home, he lingered in a state of unconsciousness.

Shortly after I took this picture, I received the news that my dad had fallen and he would not recover.

As I silently sobbed with my heart breaking, I prayed for me and my dad - that we would travel safely home to those we love so dearly.

I arrived at Provo Airport and traveled quickly to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center to wait with Dad as family continued to gather.

The next day my Dad finished his mortal journey.  As Robert and I left the hospital, we marveled that this sacred place had seen the arrival of our first child, a daughter, thirty-four years earlier.  That night long ago, my Mom and Dad traveled from Pleasant Grove to see me and meet their newest grandchild.

Elizabeth & Grandma Mary
Salt Lake Airport - 1978

I did not know then that thirty-four years later Dad would be in that same hospital and that Elizabeth would travel from Pleasant Grove to say goodbye to her Grandpa Bezzant.  UVRMC was to serve as heaven's crossroads again as we gathered as seven grown children to express our love and appreciation for a life well lived.  The harvest was in and it was time for Dad to rest for a season.  I know he was met with as much love and anticipation as our sweet Elizabeth was thirty-four years earlier - all a part of the comings and goings of heaven.

Every girl should be so blessed to have a Dad like mine.

{sacrifice}

WWII Memorial - 2012

WWII Memorial - 2012

WWII Memorial - 2012

WWII Memorial - 2012

{my dad}

High School Graduation

You can never really

live anyone else's life,

not even your child's.

The influence you exert

is through your own life,

and what you've become yourself.

- Eleanor Roosevelt -

Picking cherries - 1997

After Apple Picking

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree.

Toward heaven still.

And there's a barrel that I didn't fill

Beside it, and there may be two or three

Apples I didn't pick upon some bough

But I am done with apple-picking now.

- Robert Frost -

{boo to you!}

{a purrfect pair}

It is impossible to keep a straight face 

in the presence of one or more kittens.  

Cynthia E. Varnado

{fruit & limbs}

Bezzant Battlecreek Orchard - Pleasant Grove, Utah

Why not go out on the limb?

That's where the fruit is.

- Mark Twain -

{witches hats}

For one witch hat you'll need:
  
1 Keebler Fudge Stripe cookie with stripes facing down
1 Hershey Kiss, unwrapped
1 piece of shoestring licorice
Frosting, Karo syrup or honey to act as glue

Glue your Kiss on the center of the cookie.  
Tie your licorice in a bow and place it 
where the Kiss meets the cookie.  
You could even embellish with colored frosting.

{candy corn pudding}

A fun variation of 'Ghost Pudding'.

The bottom layer is Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding.

The middle layer is Vanilla Pudding 

with orange food coloring.

The top layer is Cool Whip.

{freedom}

Gettysburg - 2011

Gettysburg - 2011

Sacred Ground - Gettysburg - 2011   

We believe that no government can exist in peace, 

except such laws are framed and held inviolate 

as will secure to each individual 

the free exercise of conscience, 

the right and control of property, 

and the protection of life.

Doctrine & Covenants 134:2

The heavens seemed to weep as we walked
the sites of Gettysburg.

Taken as we passed the rail station where
Lincoln arrived to give his address.

{ghosts}

Inspired by Martha . . . Ghost Pudding

Melt a few chocolate chips in a glass bowl.

 With your fingertip, make ghostly faces

on the INSIDE of your clear plastic/glass cup. 

Fill the cup with vanilla pudding or ice cream.

Top off with whipped cream.

* You could use orange plastic cups and 

make jack-o-lantern faces.

{scones}

It wouldn't be our Orange Dinner without Aunt Kathy's Scones!  I add orange food coloring to the mix before I add the flour when I make it for the Orange Dinner.

{pairs}

Some of my favorite people come in pairs!

Jason, Kelli, Brad & Jensen West

{the tin man}

 Where would Dorothy be without the Tinman?

Unfortunately and just prior to this Halloween, I had broken my tailbone and sprained my wrist when I caught my high heel in a gap on my brother's driveway.  After a VEERRRY LOONGGG ride home from Denver in my dad's Buick and a trip to the ER, I started on the Tinman the next day.  It goes without saying that sewing on silver pleather (and finishing Dorothy & the Cowardly Lion) with a broken tailbone and sprained wrist made for a interesting and memorable Halloween that year.

I've got to admit - one smile from the Tinman made it all worthwhile!  The thing is . . . the Tinman always had a heart!  Who needs a wizard?!?

{dorothy}

As seen at the Smithsonian

 Dorothy (Vanessa squinting because 

she has her dad's sensitive eyes) & Toto.

Pleasant Grove, Utah

{wicked fun}

It was fitting that last year, during October, I was able to see 'Wicked' in a beautiful theater in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, with my sister, Carolyn.

With that in mind, the next few posts will be OZ inspired!

{walls}

Can a woman forget her suckling child,

that she should not have

compassion on the son of her womb?

yea, they may forget,

yet will I not forget thee.

Behold, I have graven thee

upon the palms of my hands;

thy walls are continually

before me.

Isaiah 49:15&16

Stacked Rock Wall - Nashville, Tennessee

{tarantula}

A Fancy Nancy Original - Take a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, black gloves, brown fur, fishing line, red beads for eyes and a little sewing and this is what I came up with for a grandson's request to be a tarantula for Halloween.

Inspired by this found a block from my home.