Lovin' Fall

Oops! here's a few more pics I wanted to remember from Zion -don't know how to move them. The kids, and Dave loved climbing and sliding down this rock on the Watchman trail.

Below is the really c-c-c-cold water they had fun in.

Hope you had a happy Halloween. We had a lovely time. Let me introduce you to my Big Bad Wolf Ali, Wild Thing Spencer, and BatSam.

The kids were out of school for Nevada Day (Friday, Oct 29) and staff development days (Monday and Tuesday, Nov 1st & 2nd) so we headed to Zion. We had awesome accomodations just outside of Zion at the Cable Mountain Lodge. My little brother Nate does a super job managing it. We bought our food and prepared it in the kitchen in our room which was so nice. We also saw a fun movie at the theater there, and we went swimming in the pool Monday morning. I was nervous because it was freezing (according to us Nevadans), 45 degrees, but the hot tub was so nice and the pool was surprisingly warm as well, 82 degrees. This is the Court of the Partiarchs.
Enjoying frisbee at the Lodge in Zion.
Sam was a bit frustrated that he couldn't always catch the frisbee so he caught a lizard instead.

There were so many animals around. There were about 10 of these big horn sheep on this mountain.

Here a deer is watching Spencer and Sam.

Here Spencer and Sam are watching a deer.

We love Zion especially in the Fall. The weather was just right and there weren't gobs of people, although plenty of Nevadans.;o)

I think we hiked 6 different trails, we tried to take in as much of the awesomeness around us, got in some good laughs, and just loved hanging out with us.

Yippee! Fall has arrived.

"Sole" Sisters Activity

I had such a fun night last night. It was our Relief Society "Sole"Sisters activity. We've lost a lot of ladies who've moved over the last 6 months, but we've recently been gaining lots too -yea! Anyway last night we had a get-to-know-you activity where we were suppose to bring a shoe that somehow represents you and show and tell. I love the ladies in our ward, they're so smart, sassy, fun, talented, and amazing!

Check out these yummy desserts. Pretty clever huh.

"Sole" Sisters

As Relief "Sole"ciety Sisters we're all "laced" together,

I "loafer" thru service, callings, and interests we seek.

We'll "pump" up each other with "toe"tal endeavor,

Won't "boot" out the weary, we'll "wedge" up the weak.



The "platform" of "Sole" Sisters is not to be "sneakers",

Or "converse" about with a "slipper"y tongue.

I'll "stiletto" of grudges, forgive and "hike" on,

I'll cheer, lend an ear, and try to "flat" out be fun!

Spencer

Happy Birthday Spencer!

What a terrific 14 year old! 13 was fun, I can't imagine what 14 holds in store. We love you!

Isn't he so handsome ready for his debut in Symphonic band.

Spencer got to march in the Green Valley High School Homecoming parade. Here he is with his band buddies.

On the field playing some pretty impressive music before the big game.

Disneyland in the Fall

I love Disneyland! So glad we got to go in the beautiful Fall, and I loved that it was almost free -we used our Give a Day Get a Day tickets which covered all but Sammy and I got him a ticket on Craig's list for $30 that I picked up a few days before we left.

We had so much fun running around from ride to ride. This was the 1st time Sammy could go on everything (cept Indiana Jones). He was barely 40" and he was raring and ready.

Sam was chosen to be one of the Jedi's in training.

Spencer was too.

They did so good and were especially brave. Check out the videos at the end. ;o)

I don't think the weather could have been better. We thought Sept. 17th would be the perfect day, so did many others!

Yip, we looove Disneyland!

Summer Ends, Back to School

Here's my cute flour faced kids. This was one of our FHE activities that ended in smiles -yea! We filled a bowl with flour, turned it upside down so it makes a nice flour mound, placed a penny on top, and each person takes a turn slicing away. Whoever makes the penny fall into the flour gets to get it out with their teeth. Needless to say that's what they all wanted to do, plunge into the flour.
This was the first day back to school, Ali's 1st year (6th) at Greenspun Jr. High and Spencer's last (8th). This was them walking home, happy and both feeling very excited about this year.

Sam was excited to go back to playdates with Aiden. This is one of the fun things they did on their "1st day" back.

Before school.

We watched these cute kids. Notice the girls, 18 mo, are twins and this cutie pie is Sam, 3 yrs. It felt like we had 2 sets of twins trying to tell who was who with the girls and then I'd say, "Sam" and both Sams would turn. Their mom was at her Dr. appt. She's having a baby the end of Oct or 1st of Nov -busy.

We love going to the Lied Children's Museum every year at the end of summer with fun friends.

Children's museum

Happy Birthday BatSam!

Unbelievable! He's four and loving every minute of it.

20 Years

On a warm summer day, June 16th 1990, I was married to my sweetheart Dave. Wowee! 20 wonderful years!

In celebration we headed back East to take in some of our church history. We started off in Kirtland, OH.
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It was so beautiful with all the green green grass, trees and flowers.

The missionaries at all the sites were great. This was one of my favorites, Sis. Gray from Enoch, UT, and was in my ward growing up, so was Elder and Sister Whipple (in Palmyra). Then there was Elder and Sister Hanks who are in Dave's parents ward, small world.

This is the Kirtland Temple. I have always been inspired by the faith and devotion of the early saints who gave so much for their beliefs, such as when the sisters who didn't have much gave their beautiful china dishes to be crushed and used for the outside temple walls to make them sparkle. I was sad not to see the sparkle but grateful to see the 1st temple built by the early church members.

I loved this home, the John Johnson home in Hyrum. This was the original home and paint colors. Notice the bright colors, which meant it was a happy home :o)

This was the porch where the prophet Joseph Smith stood and taught about Forgiveness the morning after he was tarred and feathered. -John Johnson home

We drove east for about 3 hours to Niagra Falls. We stayed in a bed and breakfast there with Joe and Virginia. They were great, very nice and very talkative -loved their New York accent (Joe reminded me of Mandelbaum from Seinfeld). I think we gained 5 lbs there, she didn't stop feeding us.

The amazing falls

We took this picture when we went on the Maid of the Mist.

Our favorite activity while we were there was the Cave of the Winds. Notice that top deck, it's called the Hurricane Deck. It was so cool. Also, notice the sign No Smoking :o)

About an hour and a half east was beautiful Palmyra where we spent the last 3 days.

We enjoyed a session at the Palmyra Temple.

This was at the Hill Cumorah. It was a huge monument with the Angel Moroni on top.

This is the set for the the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was incredible.

This is an awesome family, the Mitchells. They used to live just around the corner from us 5 years ago. TJ was our 1st babysitter when we first moved to Henderson, and Sidney, in light blue, was one of Ali's good kindergarten friends. We just happened to run into these guys who obviously are performers in the pageant and did super duper!

That was an incredible experience to see 800 people gathered to share their testimony and sacrifice over 2 weeks of their time and means to perform for us. We went twice.

This was the Erie Canal. Isn't the green so fantastic.

This was the highlight of our trip, The Sacred Grove.

There were a lot of people in Palmyra because of the pageant, but we pretty much avoided them. We went to the Sacred Grove in the evening after the tours were done and most of the people were gone, then we went back first thing the next morning to take the tour with just a few others. When we got done there was a line to the parking lot.
We loved this place because of the wonderful feeling that permeated the whole area. This was where Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ, and the feeling there was undeniable.

This was a magnificent trip. I loved being with my terrific companion of 20 years, holding his hand, talking, being together, doing whatever whenever we wanted, and sharing this experience with Dave. I love him!