Pumpkin Carving

It is a long standing tradition in the Fager Family to carve pumpkins just before Halloween. The hunt for just the right pumpkin is the first step. It has to have a flat face and be able to stand upright without tipping over. Vance found the perfect ones at Sam's club this year.

Next is to select the desired pattern. (We do cheat and use a 1.99 kit.) I am one that usually goes for the easiest patterns. Vance, Ben and David like the moderate to difficult ones. Vance took my easy one so I could take pictures. Besides that, he is MUCH better than I am at carving.

Then the comes the cleaning out of the pumpkin. I must admit this is the least favorite and messy step for all of us. The cleaner and thinner the inside, the easier it is.

Making the dot-to-dot pattern and carving is next. This is the tricky part and it needs a patient and steady hand. It is too much like sewing for me - following a pattern and directions, plus I want it done in 15 minutes. We turned on church music (it was Sunday) and enjoyed the process. The boys completed their masterpieces in about 1 hour and 30 minutes start to finished. I was the cheerleader and cleaner.

The finished product! Vance carved "Boofus" , David "Prowler", and Ben "The Haunted House"

Karaoke

"Duuuust in the wind" A-mer-i-can Wo-maaan, stay a-way from me -ee"

Ben got the garb for an x-box karaoke game and we have had more fun singing, laughing and competing. Both David and I were laughing so hard we cried watching Vance sing "Start Me Up"

Fager Conference Weekend

This weekend, Ben and I went to Provo to see "the girls" (Jenn, Mel, and Katie), husband and boyfriend. We had a great time! First we went to see Melanie at her office. She's worked for Craig Ainge, a CPA, for the past year and couple months. Ben endured shopping for a baby quilt. Melanie is so cute with her "tummy." Being 6-foot can no longer hide her protruding stomach. Dave affectionately refers to her as fatso.

Next we went to Katie's botany class and literally chased her 70-year old professor around BYU campus as he identified 15 new plants, and quizzed his students on another couple of dozen plants and trees they had previously learned. Her final will consist of knowing the common name, genus, species, and family of 240 plants. She is examining the Dawn Redwood, meta sequioa glypto stoboides genus and species of the taxonaceae family.

We spent Saturday and Sunday watching conference and playing lots in between. Jenn likes to watch conference like I do. It is much easier to clean the house, cook, or do my semi-annual ironing session to stay better focused. Katie likes to take notes on her computer. Saturday afternoon we crowded onto Melanie's couch to watch the 2nd session.

Between the morning and afternoon session on Saturday, Jenn and I went to Spanish Fork Canyon to visit with Richard's parents. It was absolutely gorgeous with beautiful fall colors. They live on a 5-acre lot in a small gated community. These pictures were taken just up the road from Richard's house.

Grandpa's Grape Juice

A fall tradition at Grandma and Grandpa's house is picking grapes and making juice. We all have had the pleasure of tasting the "fruit of the vine" when we go to visit. This year Grandpa (Dad) is recovering from myasthenia gravis and needed help for the mammoth project, that in years past he has done mostly alone. I had no idea the amount of work involved in the process. The picking had to be the hardest step. It took four of us and 13 hours to replace Dad. His home teachers did the lion's share, I only had to pick for 2-1/2 hours to get the juicy ones on the top, how I could have used Dad's long arms to reach across the 5-foot wide arbor. I just kind of sprawled across the top stretching for the beautiful grapes, just beyond reach.

The juicing part was the easiest. Dad was master commander, he sat in his chair and told me step by step what to do. I kept trying to get him to go inside, worried that he might overdo, but he did not miss a bottle.

We all had our duties. Mom unburied and washed the bottles (personally my least favorite task), I washed grapes and ran the steam juicers, and dad unclamped the juice lines and filled the bottles with steaming, hot, 100 % pure juice. It was grand team work. Two 10 hour days and 150 quarts later the job is finished.

One difficulty we ran into was how to move all the bottles downstairs. Dad was not in shape to move them, neither was Mom; my back hurt so bad that one more heavy load would be miserable. With some creative problem solving, Dad came up with a solution. Any one watching would have laughed, but it worked. We decided the garage would be the storage spot. The transporting vehicle, a wheelbarrow and two orange crate boxes. Dad sat on the porch leaning against posts for support and handed the bottles to me. I, kneeling on my knees to avoid bending, loaded bottles into the boxes, pushed the wheelbarrow to the side door, sat on the floor and unloaded the 22-bottles per load. By that time Dad would be resting, lying on the cement; He'd push himself up and we'd start over.

I will forever treasure the opportunity to harvest grapes and spend time learning not only about grapes, but the fortitude of my parents. From now on I will not only savor every drop of grape juice but the memories that go along with it.

About Vance and Diane

Vance and I are doing great. Here is a picture that was published in this month's issue of Modern Healthcare Fifteen years ago, Vance was selected as one of the nations "Up and Comers" of hospital administration/health care. They did a follow-up article about what Up and Comers are doing today. This picture was actually taken to be posted on the hall of fame at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. He is on the hospital board. It is something he was invited to do for a 5-year term.

Life at Rosetta Homes is stabilizing. He almost has the company in the black, which is quite a feat considering they were losing hundreds of thousands 2 years ago. He is doing more traveling than I like, but not near what he use to.

His current calling is on the high council. He works with YM and YW presidencies and is on the farm committee. This best part about his assignment is he gets to come to our ward on Sundays and to girl's camp with me! He speaks once a month in various wards throughout the stake.

One of the reasons we are meant to be in Idaho Falls is for Vance's family. His parents are aging and Vance spends extra moments helping them and his sisters. Mom Fager is losing her vision and Dad Fager is 90 years old. He fixes sprinklers, doors, fences, takes them to doctor appointments and shopping, stays with dad when his mom is away, to mention a few of the tasks. I complain too much, but Vance is always willing to help and likes doing so; it's one of my favorite things about him. Here he his preparing their fence and porch for a new paint job which he and David will be doing this week. The next picture he is trimming his dad's neck.

I know I don't look as good as Vance in his picture, but this will have to do. I am staying extremely busy with writing menus, my new callings, and doing the home making thing. I am finishing an 8-week new summer menu. therapuetic diets, and shopping lists for 2 multi-unit assisted living companies. To be honest it has been a pain, but I was asked to do it and it gives me another tool to be able to sell if I need to. Before I'm finished, I'll probably fix the old one I did 4 years ago to the same format I just developed. I get better each time as I learn more about the industry and what works and what doesn't.

I was released from my calling from Young Women's when the ward split a month or so ago. It's been a great thing and I enjoyed working with some pretty awesome girls, but I was ready after serving there 11 of the last 14 years. I am now one of three ward organists, which I thoroughly enjoy and a family history consultant, which I like even more and am having so much fun.

This summer I really enjoyed my flower and vegetable gardens. I took a couple of pictures, even though they are both past their prime. The more temperate summer weather (notice I said summer and NOT winter) makes for beautiful flower gardens. Here are my petunias, the boys tease me about how I feel about my flowers, but it's been fun babying them. It all started from just a couple of little plants. Vance also made me a cage for my beans and peas, patterned after Mom and Dad's contraption. I never understood the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and the bean seed growing into the sky until I planted pole beans. If Vance had made the cage 12 feet high, the beans would have cli

mbed up and produced even more. As you all know, I love green beans and it has been a great feast this summer.

A couple of favorites for me and then I am through. I love walking and I love catching up on what is happening in Jenn, Melanie, and Katie's lives while they are in Provo. So I combine the two. I plug in an earpiece (which is on the fritz, so I have to hold the phone, the earpiece, and my mouth just so for it to work) and walk and talk. You'd think we run out of things to talk about, but we never do.

This is my favorite room in my house, which I get to spend more time in now that I play the organ. I always have to figure out the figuring for the hymns and the correct tempo. I have been accused of playing the hy

mns too fast, but I can't help it. Although, this last Sunday, it was all I could do to stay with the chorister (a new calling for her too) on the opening

song, "The Day Dawn is Breaking." It was actually too fun, usually I pushing the chorister not to drag!!