November

 

We had our primary program and I decided that the day wasn't already stressful enough so I made the kids do their hair extra nice and took nice pictures of them. The program turned out beautifully and I was so grateful to have it over with! The spirit that comes when children sing about Jesus is incredible though and I am so grateful I get to hear it every week! 

My great great Aunt Lucille passed away earlier this month. She was my grandfathers aunt and was an amazing, strong and beautiful woman. She was in her 90s and loved her family so so much! Here is her obituary: 1928 ~ 2022 

Our loving aunt, Lucille Zaelit, peacefully passed away on October 23, 2022, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Lucille was a retired U.S. Foreign Service staff officer. 

She was born on October 21, 1928, in Salt Lake City, Utah, daughter of Michael and Sophia Zaelit. 

Lucille graduated from West High School, at the young age of 16, received her BA at the University of Utah, and worked on her Master's Degree at UCLA, in Los Angeles. Also, while living in Los Angeles she worked for two couturieres and an advertising agency. In 1956, she moved to Washington, DC to work in the Department of State until 1960 when she transferred to the US Foreign Service, at which time she had her first assignment overseas at the American Embassy San Salvador, El Salvador. Her subsequent tours of duty were at the American Embassies in New Delhi, India, Copenhagen, Denmark, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Canberra, Australia, London, England, US Liaison Office, Peking, China, US NATO Office, Brussels, Belgium, and US Consulate General, Hong Kong. After her tours in Malaysia and London she served assignments in the State Department in Washington, D.C. 

Her life was filled with many, many wonderful experiences, and adventures. Lucille worked with numerous distinguished people, Ambassadors, Consuls General, and even George H. W. Bush, before he was president. She enjoyed and loved being with her family, and they loved being with her. She will be truly missed. 

Lucille is preceded in death by her parents and nine siblings, Joe (Virginia), Lou (Florence), Ernest, Adele (Lester), Emily, Marie (Dilver), Tom (Rachel), Edna, John (Margie). She is survived by many nieces and nephews. We would also like to thank all the caregivers who provided care for Lucille, this past year. 

Aunt Lucille never married and she cared for all her nieces and nephews as her own. Some of my favorite memories are visiting her in her fancy condo in the American Towers and having her share stories of her travels around the world. My dad would help her figure out her computer and hang endless pictures for her. Then we would go eat at the Olive Garden where she would wear red lipstick, drink black coffee, and order spaghetti with two Italian Sausages. She would always send the leftovers home with my dad. She loved fancy things and took my sister and I on a few shopping sprees at the mall. Those were always so fun! She also loved taking my kids to Janie and Jack and buying them darling things!

Sean and I attended the Rosary and Celebration of Life. Neither of us had been to a Rosary before and it was interesting. Lots of prayers about the mysteries of the universe and asking Mother Mary to intercede for us. Sean couldn't get off work to attend the funeral so I met my parents up there. It was a full mass at the Cathedral of the Madeliene. It was incredibly beautiful! And although I attended a few funeral Masses as a little girl, this was the first one in English. I felt the Spirit there and was so grateful to see how many similar things we believe. 

After the funeral and grave service, we went to my cousin Tom's house. It was a nice day to remember a wonderful lady. My Dad was asked to be a Pall Bearer. Aunt Lucille wanted to be cremated and the urn they chose for her fit her personality perfectly!  From left to right in the picture is Joe Zaelit, Matt Zaelit, Raymond Zaelit, and Tom Zaelit.

I wish Brett's head wasn't hiding!

We got to see Lexi as an extra in Studio C. 

Lizzie has started doing an art challenge each night before getting to sleep. She loves us to come up with fun ideas. This was a dentist brushing a crocodiles teeth. 

She takes it very seriously!

Oreo inherited another toy from Winston.

Pirate has come back to life lately. He moves and eats and poops and it is so fun! I even caught him drinking water for the first time ever!

Brett is on the student council at school and they made these great signs to hang around the school. 

Some of the photos from the celebration of life. This one has my grandpa in it and we think it was at the Salt Lake. 

We think this is Grandpa's twin brother Ron with Aunt Lucille. 

Alana had a birthday party the Saturday before her birthday. She wanted a donut theme. We had a great time painting donuts, playing pin the sprinkle on the donut, playing pass the parcel, having eating contests with donuts, playing twister, opening presents, eating cake and donuts. 

I went to watch Brett do his belt test and it was so fun to watch both Brett and Sean! 

Lizzie thinks its very fun to make laundry piles! 

Alana really really wanted a doll horse for her birthday. She was very excited. She also got Roller Blades which she is doing so great at. Lizzie got her an alligator with babies in its tummy and Brett got her a playdoh kitchen toy. 

We went to Noodles and Company for dinner and tried out chopsticks. 

We went to my parents house after we had dinner because they wanted to give Alana her gifts too. My mom had gotten costumes for the pets! 

I love these bows Grandma and Grandpa got her. 

We went to the Zaelit's for Thanksgiving dinner. The kids were excited to play trains with the chairs. 

The girls loved helping set the table:

All the Utah Peterson's came and we had a great time. 

I think Lemon thought Pirate was a rock, usually she is petrified of him! 

The kids wanted to check out black Friday so we went to the mall. It was crazy! We did find Christmas dresses and a blazer for the kids!