Merry Christmas to All!

This year the President of the United States sent a Christmas card that said “Happy Holidays!” Many people in the country thought he should have said some less politically correct and just say Merry Christmas. Before this happened my employer, Terry Dempsey has repeatedly expressed his displeasure of people sending cards that say happy holidays, or season’s greetings. He is of a strong opinion that we are celebrating the birth of Christ and therefore should say Merry Christmas and not try to be politically correct. So, I put my “creative juices” toward creating him a Merry Christmas” card. This is the end result.

My first ice storm~what an awesome sight

We had a rain storm move through Snellville. When I went to work the rain was pouring down and ice was forming on the trees. What an awesome sight...I'm used to having ice form as the snow melts, not freezing as it falls from the sky. The roads didn't get too slick and by about 12 noon it had warmed up and the ice began to melt. Unfortunately the girl in our office had the day off and her power went out. So she ended up coming into work so she could stay warm. Our power did not go out.

My Brothers

This is my brother Dan...The photo was take by my sister Judy when she went to visit him about 2003, in Utah. Dan does construction and is considering retirement. But he's such an active guy I don't think he'll stay retired too long. One cool thing about him is that he took a truck load of things the he and his friends collected and drove them to Mississippi right after hurricane Katrina hit. He's a very generous person, I'm glad he is my brother.

Here is a family photo of Brevan, Kristin & kids. It was taken in Logan, Utah during the summer of 2005. He was there doing an internship with some doctor. They are now back in Connecticut & school...Unless he is on his Christmas trip out West. Brevan is the same age as my son Nick. He seems more like a nephew or friend than brother. One neat thing about him is that he did a 100% turn around in his life when he was 19 years old. He went on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A new Barfuss Tradition?

Well, this year I started a new tradition, I hope. Kaye Baugh made 4 trees out of fabric for me, from my design. There are 24 ornaments out of fabric with rings under them. Here's how it will work if my children want to participate. Each family will send 1 small present to every member in the family. They will mail them so they arrive before November 30th. The family who gets the gifts will then tie them on to their tree on November 30 and hand it up. Then each day throughout the month of December 1 person from each family will open a present from someone who loves them. This will hopefully help us love and appreciate all the good times we have had together and help us focus more on the love at Christmas instead of over spending on presents for each other. If you like the idea please comment in the comments. This year I provided all 24 presents for everyone,I bought too big of presents so I had to modify how to attach them. I think it would be better to make sure the presents were small. Next year if we continue the tradition I will send my 1 present per person and them make up the rest for each family. For example: Max's family will get: sally-4, nick-4, and us-4; equaling 12, I would then send 12 to make it 24. Here is a photo of our tree with the presents (sent by Dad & Kaye). I love the idea and hope you do too!

Christmas is Love!

I attended our Ward Relief Society Christmas Party on Dec 7. It was beautifully decorated with lights strung throughout the entire gym making a false ceiling of Strings of Christmas light that were all white. They had poinsettias every where and trees with lights. We had hor'dervers in the RS room and chatted then moved to the gym for dinner. While we ate dinner we had live piano music played by my friend Irene's daughter. She plays beautifully and it was so awesome to have Christmas music live while we ate. Then we had three sisters who shared their feeling and love for Our Savior Jesus Christ. They were eloquent, moving, and filled with the spirit. As I participated I looked around and realized that in just 9 short months I had become well acquainted with 90% of the Sister in the Ward and feel a great love for each and everyone, individually. LOVE was in abundance! I am blessed to have been here and learned about so very many people who are special to our Father in Heaven and to me! Merry Christmas. Christmas is love!

Christmas music and baking smells are in the air! Christmas decorations and thoughts fill the house with LOVE!

The stockings are hung on the fireplace
The angels and lights are on the tree

The Cards are in the foyer

We are loving talking to all our family members one at a time! We are thankful for all the love you all extend to us. Hope you are feeling the Christmas spirit at your house too!

BIG FAT GREEK THANKSGIVING!

We went to the home of Irene Keenum for thanksgiving. When she invited us she said it would be a "Big, fat Greek thanksgiving because her family is from Greek descendants. We arrived at 1:00 and visited and helped make deviled eggs. Then everyone began to arrive. They were all you can imagine, loud, friendly,talkative, loud, happy, and generous. We had enough food to feed and army and guess what...We must have fed an army because there wasn't that much food left over. We enjoyed the traditional turkey, stuffing, potatoes & gravy, pumpkin pie and rolls. But with that we had the southern additions of sweet potato souffle, corn pudding,oreo pie, mandarin salad, and green bean casserole. There were more teenagers there than any other age group and we had fun visiting, laughing and crying because one of the "uncles" was in the hospital and not able to join us. Rick was given strict instructions to take pictures and then ask the names of those he photographed...It proved to big of a task with all the stuff going on. So here are the photos he did take. As I was walking home I found the biggest praying mantis I have ever seen. Like everything else this day- it was part of the big, fat theme. I said a big fat prayer for all that I am blessed with. My family, my home, my friends, my love of the Savior Jesus Christ and my job that is teaching me so many new things. Hope your Thanksgiving was a blessing to you. This one was for me because it is the first in 31 years without my children and other family members I love. I enjoyed being around these BIG FAT GREEK friends!

This has been an interesting week!

Sunday began with Rick and I singing in a Choir who performed for the Lilbun Stake. We did a performance of a Musical about Joseph Smith. The Name is, "My Servant Joseph". It was written by Kenneth Cope (for anyone who is interested in hearing beautiful music.) My favorite was a song called Tiny Hands. It was sung by people portraying Joseph & Emma Smith. They both have VERY professional voices and it was a moving song about losing their twins when they were only days old. I was so happy to be a part of the Church's Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith.

Next some friends came over and invited me to go to the grocery store with them because the store was serving Thanksgiving Dinner free. Can you imagine that, free? Yes sirree, we went and as you stepped in the door they were serving turkey, stuffing, potatoes, pasta, spinach and corn. Then as you walked around the store in each department they were also serving other items, frozen section: ice cream, bakery: rolls, small eclairs, pies & more; dairy section: had hot or cold cider & egg nogg; meat section: little sausages and finally the candy section had Hershey kisses. They have done this every year for at least 13 years (because that is how long my friends have lived here &; they go every year. It was a fun night and they gave away coupons for BIG discounts. I also picked up a coloring page and crayons. Here is the coloring page if you want to print it and have the kids color it. If they send it to me (or any other picture) I will post it on my blog for them to see. That is my contest for the month of December. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, we will be thinking of all our loved ones!

Nick, Jasmine & Isis have their first trunk-or-treat!

Hi Everyone…Nick wrote to me and sent photos? Very Scarey!

This year me, Jasmine and Isis had a fun Halloween. The moon came out and suddenly I turned to jasmine and she was covered with fur! I was getting a little scared when I noticed Isis started growing Fangs, and blood was coming out of his mouth! The ultimate torture came to me when I realized I too was turning into a werewolf!

We had so much fun getting dressed up, Isis was a little scared to at first but then he got into the whole spirit of Halloween. Not many people in Australia celebrate Halloween, or do anything fun, but thankfully a friend from America threw a really fun Trunk-or-treat party.

We had to decorate our trunk (boot) and all the kids invited to the party would come around to each trunk and collect their candy (lollies). There were some real spooky trunks, my favorite was the Horamona’s (a Mauri [people from New Zealand] Family) who had a trunk with a big pot of eyeball soup brewing.

We made a Dinosaur graveyard, Attached is a picture (crappy, I know but I took them just as I was taking the trunk down so I couldn’t re-take the picture…) Kids had to reach into a volcano to get their candy, and I even threw in a vibrator to make the candy shake like and earthquake.

Contest...."Some of my favorite people are nuts!"

Well, it is finally fall in Snellville, Georgia. I take a walk every morning at 7:00 am. While I am walking I see beautiful leaves and all sorts of nuts falling from trees. I have gather a few and have taken photographs of them. But when I developed the pictures I saw what I thought were ghost faces in the pictures. Then I looked more closely and I saw the faces of some of my favorite people. "A contest," I thought. So here are the rule. Take a look at the photos and decide what kind of nut you are. Then e-mail, call, or write me with your answer. Each person who guesses the right nut will win a prize. Boys will get a comic book and girls will get princess jewelry.
Good luck to all! Hope you fall weather is as lovely as mine!



Possible answers are: acorn, pine nut, hickory nut, pine cone, oak nut, walnut, pecan

Max, Brigitte, Mason Natalie & Sally, Andy, Luke, Lily, Mabel Halloween 2005

I just received photos from by photographer in Utah (Brigitte Ballard-
Barfuss). I love to see the grandkids all dressed up and having fun. This year they went to the work party and here are their cute photos....who is the real Darth Vader?

Humanitarian Opportunities

About three weeks ago Rick and I were able to combine with members of the Lilburn Georgia Stake and assemble 3,650 clean-up kits for those who have been affected by the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast States. We received another opportunity and will be going to help again. The way we receive information (including the Ward Newsletter) is by e-mail from the Ward specialist. This is a copy of the e-mail we received. This time we will help assemble kitchen kits. We feel really blessed to be safe and happy and are very grateful for our opportunities to help. I don't miss my Red Cross opportunities quite so much.

We had fun on Halloween!

We attended the Snellville Ward Halloween Dinner & Trunk or Treat. We had good food, great friends and lots of fun! Rick and I went as Robin Hood and Maid Marion again this year. Here are some photos of cute kids and fun families. We missed having our family Halloween Party and thought to have a party here, but found out that we will be having at least 100 little "trick or treaters" from our neighborhood and decided to forgo the party and feed the little "goblins" who come to our home. Hope you all are happy and well. Love, Pat

The place where I grew up- Sandpoint, Idaho

Today I added a decking company from Sandpoint, Idaho to our magazine's database. It got me thinking about where I grew up. It was a lovely small town and I have LOTS of fun memories at the beach. I "googled" Sandpoint city beach to see if I was remembering it accurately. According to these photos Sandpoint city beach is still as beautiful, if not more so, as I remember. I was a Lifeguard and swimming instructor from the age of 15 to 21. Those were wonderful carefree days. I had lots of sun to keep me happy and lots of water to swim in any time I wanted to. I usually worked from the day after Memorial Day to the Day before Labor Day. School got out the day before Memorial Day and started back up the Day after Labor Day. I could easily swim a mile in about 20 minutes or less. Judy, Dan, Myself, Margaret and Mary all loved spending our summers at the beach. And when any of my Mothers family came from out of town we would all gather in the evening for supper and another swim. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos and can see why the town was called Sandpoint.
In today's Sandpoint they have a "Back to the 50's" week in May. Music, dancing in the streets, and a car show. How 'bout we all save up and go there for the Barfuss Memorial Day Games some year? Max might even remember it, he visited there with Grandma and Grandpa Hazelbaker.

"The red bird is named Jenna," says Natalie

Tonight at 8:50 p.m. in Snellville I got a call from Natalie and she has named the bird Jenna after her friend. She was sitting on Brigitte's lap when Brigitte read her e-mail so they immediately opened the blog and called me. It was soooooooo cute. She said "Hi, Grandma Pat the red bird is named Jenna. That's the name of my friend. And her has a brother named Jake and he is mean." I will have another contest soon, so keep reading and addding your comments. I love you all! Pat

My New Guest

One of the wonderful things about living in our new home is all of the beautiful birds that come to visit. I finally got a picture of a cardinal in our backyard. Look closely at the first photo, maybe you can see the bird on the fence. The second photo is a close up of just the bird. The first grandchild to call me or e-mail me gets to name it. Our other "guests" that have names are:
2 squirrels named Ron & Obelisk;
2 chipmunks named Lisa and Daphne; and
a snake named Mr. Spotty.
What a beautiful world we live in. I am grateful for my guests and the company they provide me on my lonely days.

Harley all grown up!

Today's entry is about one of our family friends, Harley Christensen. We met him when he as about 3 years old. He would ride up and down the sidewalk between his house and our house on Sundays. We would say "Hi" and smile and he would just growl and give us a scowl. As we got acquainted he came over often to play board game on Sundays with us. He and his mother, Shelley became great friends. They moved right next door to us and we even went on a family vacation together to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We went river rafting , slept in Lois Dewey's cabin, hiking, visiting around the campfire, and had barrels of fun. They even joined us for our Barfuss Memorial Day games one year. Then they bought a home and moved across town and we didn't see them so often. Shelley just sent me this photo and I can see that he has grown into a nice young man. He is a Senior in High School and from what I hear he is quite the ladies man! The photo is of Homecoming dance 2005.

The a-maze-ing Isis!

Last Halloween just about the whole family was at my home for our annual Halloween party. The only person missing was Nick. This year Rick and I will be spending it without our family. What an awesome opportunity to have memories with new friends. But I am really missing the excitement I feel when I plan for fun with the family. So I decided to write about a special little boy in our family, Isis! It took him a long time to learn to walk because of being ill most of his life. But what a fighter! And what a marvelously HAPPY person! Nick and Jasmine sent us some photos of Isis in June 2005. They showed him walking around the construction of their new home. He looks so healthy and like he can go where ever he wants to now. I have cutout some of the pictures and put them on a maze. I am soooo proud of him! He is truely a miracle in our family's life.

My cute granddaughters!

All three of my "Little princesses" love to dance and wear dress-ups! Often you can see them as Snow White, Cinderella, or as a Fairy Princess. I can hardly wait to see how the will look for Halloween 2005. This picture is me just playing around with my Photo Program. As you can see I am an amateur. But aren't they cute?

Mason finally has a pet!

Hi everyone, The last time I called Max's and spoke with Mason he told me he finally had a pet! It is a cockatiel named "Kitty" of all things, and she is a female. Mason explained how Kitty can ride on his shoulder and sit on his finger. Mason is soooooo happy. He laughed and laughed when he told me that he put Kitty on the table while he and Natalie were eating breakfast. Kitty walked over and pooped on Natalie's napkin and then got up on the edge of Mason's cereal bowl and pooped his his cereal. Mason just laughed and laughed and so did I. What a silly Kitty and what a silly Mason. Here is a photo of Mason taken in July by Brigitte and in September I have added a cockatiel from the internet. Hey, Mason & Brigitte is this what Kitty looks like. Thanks, Daddy Max for buying the pet and making Mason so happy. And yes, Natalie is happy too!

Hello from the Bowman's

Pat and Rick,

Hope all is well with you in Atlanta. We just wanted to thank Rick once again for taking in our caravan and feeding us dinner on our trip through Atlanta. We really did enjoy our visit and it was great to be able to see your home. Rick fired up the grill even with the rain, and fixed us a great chocolate cake.

Well we knew we wouldn't be back on the east coast so we wanted to make a stop to say hi. We miss having you around and the kids still talk about the time Rick took us to the drag races.

All is well with us. We got back to Logan and was hoping to catch up with you Pat before you had to leave, however we didn't get the chance.

Since returning we have the kids in school and have still been working on our lawn. We were all stressing out about getting a lawn in this summer. Now we are just taking our time and putting it in the way we will like it and not just rushing it. We got all our fence posts in last week and will be putting in around 500' of edging, similar to curbing but it is burried to prevent the grass from rooting under it.

We took the kids to Lagoon last week for Ashley and Whitney's birthday. While there we decided try the Sky Coaster where they drop you 150' from a bungie. That was quiet an adrenaline rush.

Justin received the priesthood in June and we will be going to the priesthood session of conference this Saturday.

Hope all is well with the both of you.

Love the Bowmans

My amazing grandson, Luke!

I telephoned Logan today and spoke to Sally and her children. She is spending time each day for "school". Today Lily could identify 6 different letters, when show them, Mable could say apple when shown a picture of one and she could tell me what a kitty says and a doggy says. But Luke, what an amazing little boy. Sally has taught him the notes on the piano. She can write several notes in a line and he can play anything she writes. Both on the temble clef and the bass clef. He played for me while I listened on the speaker phone. He has also written a song about dolfins. Luke is just five years old and can add and subtract in his head and can read just about anything. Sally writes a sentence on a piece of paper and Luke reads it then illustrates it. Yes, Grandma is proud of her Grandchildren! Well, I'd betteer say good-bye, I am writing this on work time!

Today is my sister Judy's Birthday! Isn't she cute for a grandma?
Also, today I taught the Relief Society Lesson on "The Courage to Live Righteously." I used Max as an example: When he was working as a server at Sizzler he reported ALL of his tips...so when it came time for the auditors and IRS to see if things were okay Max felt peaceful. Of course he never got a paycheck because he was honest in reporting his tips! Here is a cute picture Max and Mason when they came to visit in June. Mason looks so like his dad when Max was 5, like father like son the photo shows. I hope Mason can pick up Max's honestly trait too! He probably will because his parents are great teachers.

Wow! Of all the wonderful things I have been a part of in my life, I NEVER thought I would have my picture in a magazine....well, maybe as a Teacher, Red Cross Worker, or Poet....but never in my wildest imagine as a Magazine Subscription Manager. I was introduced in the latest issue of Professional Deck Builder Magazine as you can see in the attachment! I truly am blessed with many interesting activities in my life. I hope you find it interesting to!

Welcome to my new way of communicating!

Hello, everyone. I have been working on this and hope you enjoy reading about me & mine. I hope to add something each week, so you can know what is going on with me and my family. Please feel free to add comments and send me your website if you want me to create a link for you. Here are some pictures that my daughter-in-law, Brigitte (Max's wife) is displaying in Logan. They are 16x 14 prints (I believe that is what she told me). Rick and I are doing well, healthy and happy. We miss our Grandchildren and spending time with all our family, but we have made friends and like the warm climate. Hope you are well and happy too!

Hello everyone,

I am back from 2 1/2 weeks in Utah taking care my daughter Sally and her 3 children ages Luke 4, Lily 3, and Mabel 1. It was a busy time...I was "on" 24 x 7. Her husband Andy was on a business trip in Okalahoma. I worked my fingers to the bone, but did get to see some old friends and have lunch with them. It does feel good to be home in my own bed and with my friend Rick. I am back at work and busy adding names to the subscription base. I just wanted to take a few minutes out of my day and say hello to the ones I love. Thanks for being such good friends to me and for all you do to brighten my days.

Love you, Pat

I'll be out of touch

Hi family & friends. I have the opportunity to go to Logan, Utah and take care of my daughter Sally and her 3 children. I'll be a "24X7 grandma" due to Sally recovering from meningitis and her husband, Andy going on a business trip. The rewars will be great, lots of hugs & kisses. If you have any spare time give Rick a call because I'll be leaving him behind and he could use your support. Love until next time. Pat

Sally's home from the hospital!

Hello everyone! Sally is home and on her way to recovery. I'm so happy!
Here is a cute photo of her and family.

Nick Barfuss Portfolio 2004

Nick Barfuss Portfolio 2004What an awesome collection of Illustration and design. Check this out!

Goodbye Family!

Max & family just left today after a 7 day visit....I'm not so ooooooooo homesick now just homesick! We had a great time visiting Savanna, Georgia and we got to see Hilton Head and Max's old stomping grounds from about 10 years ago. The best part for me were the hugs & kisses and the day at the ocean, I love water so much! We should have looked for a place here that has water and maybe I'd feel more at home.