January 2016

Uncle Lester passed away in January ( dad's older brother) so we went down for the funeral. They have had a lot of snow this winter. The day itself wasn't too bad for January.

 Coming up out of Red Canyon looking toward the Escalante mountain.

 This was the first time I was able to go see dad's headstone. It turned out quite nice. The Escalante mountain was dad's favorite mountain to paint or take pictures of.

 We had to walk into the graveyard. 

With my sisters after the funeral.

Christmas 2015

We had a quiet Christmas this year with just the boys. We were able to skype with the Missouri Grandkids and Joseph read the Polar Express to them before they went to bed. We had our usual tamales Christmas eve.

 Sammy looking for her present.

 Christmas morning we actually didn't get up until 7:00 am. a first for us.

 Opening their gifts.

 In the afternoon the Keyes came and spent the rest of the day with us.

 This was our Christmas dessert. Truffle cake. Yumm!!

Sammy's favorite spot in the winter, by a roaring fire.  She makes up for not having a dog.

We had a nice holiday season.  Although everyone took turns being sick.

Texas here we come

We had a fun week in Texas where the weather was great. We were able to do some fun things with the grandkids. There is a train museum that I wanted to go back to because they had some Salas history there, but since we were there a few years ago that display had been minimized and the history I was looking for wasn't there. I was quite disappointed. The kids enjoyed the trains. I looked for Pecans but there weren't any this year. The drought took its toll.

 Jeff had the day off so he was able to go with us.

 We built their first indoor tent. 

Blowing bubbles in the backyard. While there we had some Texan Barbecue. I had my first fried BBQ burrito. It actually was quite good. We went to Belleview Lake. The kids had fun. Joseph also did projects here as well, including running electricity to the pantry so he could put a light in.  We went to a little musuem in BelleView as well. Stopped at a few antique stores as well.

Trip to Missouri

We were planning a trip to Texas and decided it would only add a few hours more if we swung around to Missouri and then on down to Texas. So we spent a few days in Missouri where Joseph was able to do a few projects that Bill doesn't have time for as well as spending time with the grandkids.

This mighty man helping his grandfather rake leaves.

 We decided to go to Marceline where Walt Disney grew up. There is a little museum there. Unfortunately the museum was closed for the season as well as being Veteran's day.

 The little park in the town.

 The boys still had fun. It was a cold windy day.

We had a picnic at the park and walked main street USA which Disney based the main street of Disney land so this was cool.

Huntsville Marathon

Eric and his friends decided to run a half marathon in September.

 In the final stretch.

 Crossing the finish line.

Eric, Spencer and Mitch.

Congratulations this is a great accomplishment.

Family Reunion 2015

 The family reunion was held at Pine Valley this year.  We camped in individual sights and then spent Saturday at the group sight. As always the reunion went by too fast. It was good to visit with everyone.

We stopped at cove fort on the way down.

 Keith and Harrison while playing Bases

 Ashley and Eric

 4 generations

 Looking out from the tent.

This one had a great time playing in the water and the dirt.

 The girls loved uncle Eric's hamock

 This was her favorite spot

 Mike and Art helping mom.

Mom with her eight children

Girls camp August 2015

Joseph and I had the opportunity to be cooks at our Stake girls camp last summer up at Lake Lyman. It was a lot of hard work. Early morning hours til late at night but it was a great experience and we enjoyed  working with the other cooks and taking care of the girls.

 A nice view of the lake

 Joseph and Richard were able to go fishing. They caught their limit every time. Richard is a master fisherman. He and Karen were the camp missionaries as Lake Lyman the previous three summers, so he knows where the great fishing spots are.

 We fed three hundred people three times a day, plus snacks.

 Preparing breakfast. The theme was based on being on a cruise line ( I'm sure their was a spiritual meaning behind it but we weren't involved in that aspect of camp. Each night they would pull into port and our meals were based on that port (Mexico, Hawaii and Italy).  For Joseph and my aprons I used my sillouette and put an anchor on the hat and the aprons had a steering wheel with an S in the center. 

 We would spend hours preparing the meal and then a half hour of craziness getting everyone fed a hot meal.

Dishes were a constant. The week passed quickly. I learned how to cook spaghetti for a crowd and not have it sticky. How to keep things warm in a cooler. Things that don't work. We made 20 Texas sheet cakes using an assembly line to make them and then  keeping track of four ovens so that they didn't burn.  The girls seemed to think that the kitchen staff were the ones to turn to when they had a need. Joseph had to make a mad dash when a valve broke at the outdoor sinks up by the privys and fix it for the girls as water was spraying everywhere. Richards' gear shift broke on his truck hauling a trailer into the camp. So Joseph had to get underneath the truck everytime to put it into gear manually. The Stake president hauled his trailer home for him so he didn't have to deal with that coming home, especially coming out of the Uinta's.

While the girls were gone on their day hike we took our kayaks out on the lake so we did have a few minutes here and there for ourselves. It was a choice experience being behind the scenes and helping things go smoothly.