New Picture

So my children have been reminding me that I need to update our picture on the wall. I've had multiple offers to take the picture, and finally I decided that since it was only Lee, I and Andrew on Christmas, it would be a good day. It's a little discouraging, the picture doesn't lie, we have new wrinkles and folds everywhere. But Andrew did a great job with what he had to work with.

Inspiration and Impulse

I was so impressed with Brit's food storage. I was inspired! She told me how easy it was to can the carrots. She and Allen got Lee and I a juicer for Christmas. So I went out and bought a 25 lb. bag of carrots to juice and to can. Today I noticed that there were some spots on the carrots, and yes, I needed to get them done. We had been enjoying the carrot juice, now it was time to can them.

I washed carrots. I cut off the ends, put them in jars with a little salt and filled them with water. Then I started the water bath and checked online to see how long they needed to be on. Wait, carrots require a pressure cooker! oh no, what do I do now?

So the carrots look great, but I have 10 jars that need to be refrigerated until they are used or pressurized.

Another false start. Anyone notice that today was Sunday? Sigh. I really should plan these things and not go crazy on Sunday.

December was a busy month, as I'm sure it was for everyone. Lee and I went to Utah for his Dad's birthday and the family Christmas party, and to see Allen, Brit, and their family. Janet and Joe were kind enough to host the party.

Verd is 92 years old! Congratulations, Verd.

Brit with the kids

Taylor with Payton.

Austin.

Allen and his family took us to Temple Square to see the lights.

Taylor made a wish as she threw a coin over her shoulder.

Austin

The temple was stunning with all the lights.

Julia and Clyde opened up the 'W' for us, and were hospitable as always.

To break up the trip on the way back, Lee and I stopped at a small ghost town near Saint George called Silver Reef. It was the only place in the world silver was located in sandstone. The Wells Fargo bank was restored and now contains a museum.

Some of the buildings were in ruins, and I thought it would be great to get the cactus in the foreground. Interesting, when I got near the cactus it was to discover it was made of metal!

instead of going back down to the freeway, we headed uphill for the view.

There was a flat boulder being used for a 'newspaper rock'.

Lee and I being funny!

It is difficult to see, but the view was incredible.

The sunset from the top of the hill.....

We had several compliments on our car. Funny, cars don't mean a lot to Lee or I, we like reliable, inexpensive, easy to maintain cars. So we keep our old Honda's and Toyota's, and started renting cars for vacations to keep the miles down on ours and for reliability. This time we got a fire engine red charger that looked pretty sporty. (we don't get to choose the color) While Lee and I were actually uncomfortable with it, thinking it was a cop magnet, others thought it looked cool.....

Afterward, we went to Saint George for pizza and the 'Painted Pony', a sculpture made of car parts.

The next day we went to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. I've never been there. The bridge was finished the month before, so now all traffic does not have to drive over the dam to get to Arizona. Lee is standing on the dam, with the new bridge behind him.

For this picture we are on the dam facing the lake.

We are standing on the dam facing the bridge

The Henry-Bettilyon Christmas party was the following Saturday. It was pretty crowded, and Madison and Calvin decided to hang out with Grandpa Lee.

We did a condensed nativity, Madison was a GREAT angel, with Dad's help.

Alex was all smiles.

Here are the wisemen presenting the Frankinscense, Myrr, and Gold. Notice Calvin, who found the armor in my dress up wardrobe, and became one of the Roman Guards, including the sword.

Michael got a helmet with a light on it.....he was very excited. Notice the difference in photography? yes, sigh, this one was taken by Andrew.

On Christmas Day, we had a very small group. Andrew indulged us and hung around till after supper, then went to barbque with his dad. Lee and I went on a short walk to a pedestrian bridge recently dedicated.

The end of a very busy season. Merry Christmas!

October

October was an eventful month.

Pumpkins:

As many of you know, I enjoy growing pumpkins. It's been tough trying to beat David's record of over 70 lbs, but I thought since David is on his mission and exempt from growing, I'd have a shot at exceeding his record. So I set out to do just that. The pumpkins started well.....

continued to grow

Here is me hugging my biggest pumpkin-looks good, but is it big enough?

I was excited for the weigh in.

Drumroll please.........

The disappointment was keen.......foiled again! Not even close.

Well, there's always next year!

Mom, Lee and I met my sister, her husband Steve, and three of their kids, Bethany, David, and Emily in Cannonville, Utah for a week. When Lee got off the 15 freeway, he took mom and I up to Cedar Breaks for an overview. Mom and I were congratulating ourselves on bringing our boots, it was soooo cold with snow on the ground. The view was spectacular. Look at Lee wearing sandals!
Our first view of the canyons near Red Canyon-the colors were incredible!

Bryce canyon at sunset.....unbelievable.

Here is Mom, Aunt Terri and her family in front of an overlook where you can see the 100 hands petroglyph.

Climbing on the rocks, there were rocks everywhere!

Lee and I

More of Bryce Canyon......overwhelming.

Mom at an overlook.

The arches were everywhere.....

The colors are incredible....

One of the days we drove the devils backbone road. It is thus named because one of the men working on the road fell to his death while construction was going on. There was one spot where the road dropped off on both sides into deep, rugged canyons. In this picture you can see a small red dot high on the rock. That small dot is Lee!

The colors in the plants were gorgeous as well....we don't get much fall color in San Diego, so it was a real treat to have these colors added to our view.

Even when we were in the desert, there were flowers

We saw slot canyons

And Hoo Doos at the devils garden

More arches

Which the kids climbed on. Here's Emily on top of one of the arches:

The shapes of the rocks were so fantastic. It was like seeing pictures in clouds, only it was rocks you were looking at..

It was wonderful to spend time with Terri and her family.

Grandpa.

It is with deep sadness that we hear of Grandpa Bob's passing. It was a rough year for Grandpa, but he fought a valiant fight. When we went north in May, we were fortunate enough to spend a lunch with he and Phyllis. We love you Grandpa.

I dug through some old photo albums, and came up with a few more pictures. In hindsight, we need to remember to take pictures of the person taking the pictures! It is because of Grandpa Bob that we have so many wonderful pictures of the kids, but we have few of him.

Here he is at my Father's memorial service.

Here he is at Steven's wedding.

At least the photographer got a picture of him in front of the camera!

At Dan's wedding.

At Matt's wedding.

At Melody's wedding.

at Uncle Gary's wedding!

Here he is at steven's Eagle court of honor wearing his original scout shirt!

Here's one of him holding up Andrew's birthday shirt! Yes, Andrew has a scraped up face. Portent of things to come?

Grandpa holding David. What a ragtag group we were!

He was always there for us.

You will be missed.......