Mitch Valko Family

Mitch, Bahia and Khamsin in Bremerton, Washington.  Mitch works at a State Park as a Ranger and Bahia is doing her Nanny business.

See the rain!!!!

Looks like a happy baby!!!!

 

Christmas Card 2021

As you may know I sold my house in Lake Almanor in summer of 2020 (pic 1, top row) because of Aortic Stenosis in my heart and moved to Rancho Bernardo (San Diego).  They had wanted me to have The TAVR procedure on my heart in June 2020 and then September 2020 but I did not do either.   Supposedly I had less than a year to live in June.  

I moved to Orem Treeo Independent Residential in June 2021 and plan to be here until December 2022 pic 4, 2^nd row).  I now belong to Orem lst Ward where we viewed the Nativity Story and had a Ward Breakfast Party today (pic 2, top row). 

Although all my children are in San Diego area, I do have my sister Jeanne on the 3^rd Floor of Treeo and many of her children and grands and great grands live in the area (pic 1, 2^nd row).  Sadie lives with me on the lst floor (pic 5 and 6, bottom row).  My children plus grandchildren visit from time to time.  My granddaughter Sarah is married and living in Pleasant Grove and works nearby so I get to see her and Ethan.  Love that.  I actually love my apartment and am served two meals a day in the dining area.  They have plenty of activities which I am usually too busy doing my own thing to do, but the tenants as well as staff are very nice and there is always someone to talk to when you have the time.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and don’t forget to count your many blessings!!!

 

This was emailed to friends I have emails for, and I mailed out to about 10 or 12 I do not have email addresses for.  I do like connecting at Christmas time.  

Ward Christmas Breakfast, Treeo 2021

Jeanne and I got a ride with Larry Lawson to the Ward Breakfast.  We sat at a front table with others from Treeo.  At 9 AM we were about the only ones there.  Plastic covers were on the round tables but no decorations of any kind.

It soon filled up and on two tables in front was foil tins and other things of food and drink from Kneaders.  They let the old people get in line first.

It was a huge french toast with delicious syrup and strawberries and whipped cream.  It all went deliciously together.  The whole serving of things was very casual.  I got the idea the bishopric was doing all the work and they just asked volunteers to serve.

A very jolly elf (wish I had his picture) was dressed in an amazing costume and had grown his beard out long and curved.  His shoes were handmade and cost $600!!!!  His wife made his outfit, really great.

While the bishopric rolled a bin around and cleaned everything up we sang Christmas carols until the primary children were costumed and on stage.  A narrator presented the story and the children arranged themself.  All very informal, no one cared about lights or junk on the stage but had wonderful costumes.

It was certainly a stress free wonderful Christmas Breakfast for everyone.

First Christmas Card to Arrive, 2021

Christmas card from my dear friend Marion Naylor.  I have known her since our stint in University City  when Linda and Maria were born.  She was such a great example to me of Motherhood and Faithfulness

always.  She is living in Orem also.

It was sent to Linda's house and made me decide I better do a card and fast.  No one knows where I am.

First Christmas Present, 2021

Maria sent a very interesting box of gifts from Amazon.  There is the Santorini Town 1000 piece puzzle of one of the favorite places I traveled to.  Five sox which are so comfy.  Elderberry gummy pills.  Licorice Caramels!!!!  Linen Spray for bed at night.  Hemp cream is supposed to take pain away.  I am trying that out on my leg first and then my left arm which still aches from lifting something too big.  A very nice assortment of things I love!!!  Thanks Maria and Johnny.

 

No Stuffed Nose in the Morning!!!!

 Another gift I got from Ethan was aromatherapy and one of them was Peppermint and it does wonders for my breathing.  My nose is not all dry and stuffed in the morning.  I love it!!!!

Christmas 2020 at my Rancho Bernardo Home and then Hardy Home

On Christmas Eve, Mike, grandchild # 3, came over and we shared a Christmas dinner.  I had bought rib roast but it was not done enough so we had an interesting meal.  But it was all very good  and eventually was all eaten and Michael is always fun company for me.  I really enjoyed our evening together.  We had pecan pie and that was not solid either.  I can't cook anymore!!!  And we forgot to take pictures!!!

  

Matt came over on Christmas Day and drove me to James and Camber's house in Carlsbad around 3 or so and James and Camber had Christmas presents for Matt and I along with their children and then Linda and Gary came over and we had prime rib and everything delicious.  Such wonderful food!!!  

Craig was also there and I sat between Matt and Craig.  Such good looking guys, why did we not take pictures???  It was most interesting when everyone shared about 2020 and how it had affected them, wish we had a tape of that.  It was so interesting and such beautiful thoughts shared.  It was very dark when we came home but Matt was driving so that was ok!!!

The only pictures taken though were these ones Camber took of Kelsi, Lea and I in matching shirts.  They are both so darling, I have to show several shots!!!

 

Christmas Morning at the Masseys!! 2020

Meagan shared Christmas morning with me, everybody happy!!!

I am happy to see the fanciful painting of Meagan in Hong Kong hanging in the background.

 

M & M Virtual Christmas Party, 2020

Maria organized a Christmas Party via Zoom for her family and included me for Tuesday, December 22 at 7 pm and then it was changed to 6 pm and I was not ready.  Through the Elf system we were all assigned people to buy a gift for and someone was going to get one for us.  It was all secret. 

 Unfortunately, the present I got for Bahia was supposed to be there by the day before the party and it wasn't and I was panicky about that trying to track it down before the party started and made all kinds of numerical errors and getting no place and then could not figure out how to get on the Zoom party.  Thanks to Mitch and his extreme patience with me I was soon on the party and it was a lot of fun. 

 Unfortunately I was not sharp enough to figure out how to have any pictures of what went on but it was really fun.  We played some games and unwrapped our presents and guessed who bought them and this was the present I got.  It was one that I had chosen.  And they are very fun to wear.  Ethan was my giver!!

 

M & M Christmas, 2020

Maria's Children's names all start with M.  Thus the M & M.

Matt, Maria and Johnny, Bahia and Mitch, Melissa and Ethan, Matt

Melissa and Ethan who feature the gourmet dinners on Instagram!!!

A view of Mitch and Bahia's apartment!!

 Baby is due in March!!!  So excited!!

My Sister Jeanne

Since Covid no one can go into Treeo and visit Jeanne so Julie visited her outside and had these pictures taken in December, 2020.

 

Christmas Card 2020

                                      Merry Christmas 2020

 

Firsts in 2020…

 

·         Longest I ever stayed at one of my children’s home, because of the Coronavirus

·         Most expensive hair cut I ever had, because of the Coronavirus

·         Least I ever ate out, because of the Coronavirus

·         Fewest movies at the theater I have ever seen, because of the Coronavirus

·         Fewest Sundays I have ever attended Church, because of the Coronavirus

·         Least money I have ever spent on gasoline, because of the Coronavirus

 

But because of the Coronavirus, buyers were wanting to move to the mountains and I had equity in my home

And sold it in August and moved into a rental in Rancho Bernardo on September 1^st.

 

And had Thanksgiving at my home with my granddaughter 

Meagan's family.

         

And will have Christmas in my own home this year.

 

And am really enjoying being only 20-30 minutes from my children and ten of my 15 grandchildren and three of my 9 great-grandchildren.

 

And it will be a warm winter in the desert of San Diego, rather than the snow in the mountains at Lake Almanor and though I will miss my friends of 21 years in the mountains, it will be a whole new way of life, closer to family.

 

It is a Wonderful Life…So Thankful for all my blessings of family and the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from 12593 Horado Rd., San Diego, Ca 92128  

A Massey Gingerbread House

 The children did it all themselves!!! 

I have not done one for years, I always thought they were very hard to do!!!

The Little Nisse

Maria sent me a Christmas present in two shipments.  In the first one there was little gnome with a story of his legend.  I put it under the Christmas tree.  

Later Maria and I were talking about the gifts and she asked me if I learned the legend of the little guy.  I said that I hadn't.  She said it was supposed to come in a red box that told his story.  I said it came in a cellophane bag and didn't say anything on it.  She was upset with Amazon for misrepresenting and I believe she wrote a note on their page telling them so.

A few days later I carried some bows I was not using out to the Christmas decoration storage bin and there on top of it was the red box with the story about the The Little Nisse. In my mind I visualized seeing the gnome in the cellophane bag along with a puzzle of Stockholm and a cute little Swedish book about living a balanced life.  I did not see a red box.  It was so real to me.  I must have been so quick to clean up the box stuff the presents had come in I put the red box away for storage until after Christmas to store the little guy in and then totally forgot about it.

This disturbs me a lot because now I know for sure that I cannot trust my memory!!!!  And I will even defend the wrong memory.  I was so sure there was not a red box.  I am officially an old lady who cannot be trusted at all.

 

No Nativity Set

I do not know what happened to my Nativity Set.  I keep thinking of things I thought I brought with me but can't find them????  Anyway I saw this and love it and so replaced the Nativity Thing with this beautiful family.

 

My Doll Collection

For the first time in over 25 years I got out all my dolls...over 26 of them!!

                       I used to have three or four village houses but I only have two left!!!

       Of course I still have all my Shirley Temple dolls which no one can relate to, except me!!!

Cinderella is on the table with Kathy from Germany below.  Kirsten, the American Girl doll from Sweden is by the TV.

             These cute little guys were brought back by Camber from one of her travels.  Just precious.

Of course, Raggedy Ann and Andy.  I made each of the children one so this has to be whose???  Not sure, maybe John's and????

And, of course, my favorite Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which no one relates to but me either.  I remember the paper dolls from when I was five and I would play all over the living room while the my brothers and sisters were at school.

 

My Mauve Christmas Tree

I found the box of old Christmas ornaments from when we had lived in Rancho Bernardo in the late 80s and early 90s and I put them on my tree on the front porch.  I think it looks darling.

 They were mostly handmade and there were a lot of satin fans, too.  Some things I do are really a little weird.

Dinner at Maria and John's Home

Maria invited me over for barbecue with her family.  Bahia and Mitch were not there for Christmas so they had a late Christmas.  They also had the deck about finished and new brickwork and plantings in the front yard.  And Matt has a great place to live while working to help finish the home.  

It is really nice and I should have taken pictures and the barbecue which was done on the new deck plus salad and potatoes from the kitchen was delicious.  We had cookie ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  Have not had that treat in years.

Great fun playing games and unfortunately they had to drive me home because Carlsbad is so far from La Jolla.  Maria drove my car and Matt followed.  So appreciate the service at night.  I did drive over by myself using the phone for directions I now know I turn off of La Jolla Blvd onto a road much closer to Pacific Beach than I realized so I can go either by Garnet into PB or Torrey Pines Rd..through La Jolla.  Strange how all that is not so familiar to me anymore.

Baha and Mitch

Naomi and Matt

Maria and Johnny

Naomi gave Johnny a book about surf boards which he really was enhjoying.