We're going home!!!

In July all the family came out to Utah again and we had a great time together. We all went to the Oquihhr Temple open house, had great meals together, went to the water park and also to the Park City Park where we rode the coaster rides, the zip line ride and the bobsled ride. What a fun day we had. Family is the greatest!!!! Here we are waiting for our next coaster ride:

This is the girls on the lift going up to the bobsled ride:

Here is our last night of our mission at the departing dinner. This is us, the Kings and some of the sisters who all went home the same day we did:

Here is our entire departing group taking our last 'crazy' picture before we leave the mission. You can see what a wonderful time we had on our mission. All the rest of our missionaries were as crazy as we are!

This is a picture of Mike and I at our last assignment to work in the Beehive House before we leave our mission. What a blessing our mission was to us. We loved it. We are looking forward to being home again around our friends and family in California.

We were invited to Aarons Ward dinner and we were divided up into groups and had to each come up with a skit. Here we are during out skit. I had to be the one who was always trying to get my picture taken instead of paying attention to our tour guide (Aaron in the background)

Guess whose still around to welcome us home? You're right, the beautiful deer, rabbits, squirrels and or course our little lizard 'lizzie'. We love living in the mountains and seeing the beauty all around us. Our home was kept in great shape and we were back into our comfort zone immediately. I do have to admit that I wasn't sure if some of the furniture was ours or our renters because we'd been gone so long..................maybe it wasn't as important to us as we thought it would be.................we were certainly comfortable and happy without it while we were on our mission. I guess we're all just a little spoiled to be living so comfortably!!!

Well, we're home and guess who we look up and invite over immediately????????? You guessed it..........the ward missionaries. Here's Mike with them. We are taking them to Casa de Paradisio this evening for dinner. They are great missionaries!

Now that we're home we've going ATVing with our friends again. Here are pictures of Mike and I at the lookout tower above Magalia. What a gorgeous site it was. The day was perfect and we had a great time. We went with our friends Jim and Diane Westmoreland and also Bob McPherson. Mike also went out with the 'guys' and they rode aver 50 miles.

I have to say it's fun to be home. We do miss our children and grandchildren we left in Utah though. We'll be going out there again soon to see them.

Summer Fun

July 11, 2009: We just went to the deMik family reunion up Provo Canyon yesterday. There were about 112 family members there, and we knew about 1/10th of them. It was fun to meet others. Greg deMik, Mikes first cousin and his wife Diane organized it all. The Park was beautiful. The weather went from hot and sunny to rainy and back to hot and sunny. We had a great time. Bryan and Heather a the family came. Chris and Amber were camping with her parents so they were't able to make it. Here are some pictures of us at the reunion.

This is a family tree Greg made and then they took a picture of each of us, printed them up, cut them and we each took our own picture and glued it to the tree. It was a great idea.

Every Tuesday and Friday nights we have 'Concert in the Park'. The other night we went and met 2 of our senior couple friends there and had a great time at the concert. It was put on by the air force band and was a tribute to America. We had a great time. Here we are with our friends (l-r) the Griffeths, Us and the Lyons.

Once a month Legacy puts on a music concert where Nana's best friend, Edith plays the piano, the Kazoo Bank plays and we all sing along. Here are some pictures. The first one is Edith on the piano. You should see her fingers fly. She is 88 years old but is very young at heart.

Here is Nana playing the kazoo and then the next picture is the kazoo bank which is made up of residence of Legacy where Nana lives. We had a great time with them that evening.

A Fun Filled Time

IT'S PINEWOOD DERBY TIME!!!

March 2009

We had a great time attending Branden and Haydens Pinewood Derby night. There were about 30 cub scouts there who had all made their cars and were ready to race to the finish!!

Each boy was able to race at least 4 times (once on each of the 4 tracks) for the initial elimination races. It just so happened that Branden and Hayden raced against each other the first time they each raced so here they are both setting their cars up on their assigned tracks.

Here is Branden holding his car. He designed it and of course he parents helped with the cutting etc. He did the painting and assembling. He did a great job.

Hayden also designed and painted and assembled his car. He chose to paint it black and put decals on it. The front was actually cut off a little too thin so after the first race he decided to race it backwards and it did much better with the weight being on the front of the track. He actually came in 1st on one of his races.

Heather is a Den Leader and here she makes her debut picture of the "Den Mom" and her boys. She did a great job calling out all of the place numbers for each track during the whole race.

It's Birthday Time!!!

April 10, 2009

We were invited up to Roy to attend Shelby's first birthday party. Of course she was oblivious to what was really going on but she enjoyed all the attention she got. She's such an easy going baby and just takes everything in stride. She enjoyed watching as her older sisters helped her unwrap each of her gifts. Both sets of grandparents were there along with Heather and Bryan and the kids, Ambers sister Heather and her husband and kids, sister Emily and several friends of Chris and Amber. They put on a great dinner for everyone and the party was filled with fun, lots of food and tons of laughter!

Here's our sweet little one year old Shelby riding on one of her new toys before she attacked her very own birthday cake. I didn't get a picture of it but I wish I had. She was covered from head to toe in green icing. It did look cute on her though!! Any moms, don't worry, Amber took off her cute birthday dress before they let her have her cake!!

IT'S EASTER TIME
April 2009

The boys school had a "lunch with the family" day at school and so we took the opportunity to go and have lunch with the boys. Ethans class came to the cafeteria first so we had lunch with him. We bought the school lunch, which was an experience in an of itself. Next time I think we'll stop at Burger King on the way and bring it with us. It was fun to see him know exactly what to do and where to go and how to pay for his own lunch. He enjoyed having us there. His mom and brother and sister came also.
About a half an hour later the older classes came in so we sat with Hayden and Branden and Dylan (Richard Lipscombs son) while they ate lunch. It was fun to just be with them and see how things went. It reminded me of how fast I wanted to finish my lunch when I was their age so I could get out to the playground and spend as much time and I could out there before having to back to class. Most kids are still the same way.

Here is what Lexie looked like while she was there at lunch. She has a terrible cold and you can tell just from looking at her eyes. They are so wattery and her nose and cheeks look like they were painted pink.

After our lunch with the boys Ethan class took a spin around the school for their Easter Hat Parade. Here he is showing off his own creation. They next went out to the playground and had their own 1st grade Easter Egg hunt. What a fun 2 hours we had with them.

Here's the family right after 3 hours in church. The kids were tired so it's not the best picture but at least its a picture. Heather invited us for Easter Dinner. It was delicious but we didn't stay too long after because I could tell I was getting a cold and didn't want to be around them too much to expose them.

The Sights in Utah are wonderful!

There are so many fun things to do in Utah and many sights to see. One of those is the rock quarry where the saints came and cut the granite for the Salt Lake Temple. We took quite a few of the sister missionaries up there. It is up in the canyon. We had a gentleman come who is an expert on this quarry and he told us so many interesting stories of how they cut the granite and carried it down to the valley on carts pulled by oxen. It took many days to get each cart load out of the canyon and down to the site of the temple. It's no wonder it took 40 years to build. After listening to the history of the quarry we all walked around the area. I found a rock that I wanted to bring home but it was too big. It actually had the mark on it where they drove the nails to break it apart.

There are many huge boulders where the marks of the nails are still visible. Mike is pointing one of them out. No, this is not the rock I wanted to bring home with me. It was actually about the size of a basketball but it was partially in the ground and we couldn't get it out.

THIS IS THE ROCK I brought home with me!!! That's not too big is it? We had such a great time at the quarry. I made us appreciate the temple even more than we already do to hear stories of the sacrifices the saints made to build it and to bring the qranite down to do it.

Here is the monument marker for the quarry. It at the mouth of the quarry and you walk down a trail to get to the actual quarry. It was a cold day but we had a great time.

Here is one of the underground tunnels we use to walk home if the weather is not good. We usually go down underground just outside the South Visitors Center and walk over to this tunnel that goes under State Street to get us to the other side. It saves us a lot of outdoor walking when it's snowing or raining or extra windy. We come up out of the tunnell in the parking structure of Eagle Gate apartments and walk across the street to our apartment. It makes it very convenient at times.

THIS IS THE PLACE!! We decided to go and visit this site. We had been there many years ago and wanted to be reminded of what it was like. I don't remember it much so it was a good trip to take. It is only about 15-20 minutes away from where we live. It was a fun trip and the weather was great.

I love this monument titled "Journeys End". After crossing the country with a wagon or handcart I think I'd be very thankful to be at the end of the journey too. This is a beautiful depection of a family reaching the end of their journey.

I found this extremely handsome man up at the monument so I decided to take a picture of him so I could keep it with me always!! He only gets better looking with age don't you think!! We had a great day together and a trip that reminded us of the sacrifices that were made to find a place where people could worship as they choose without fear of torture, rape or even death. Its a beautiful place to go to look over the valley too.

Wednesday, March 11th we were invited to go to Shaylas birthday dinner. It was a lot of fun. Every year Chris and Amber take the birthday child to dinner at the restaurant of their choice. This time Shayla choose IHOP. We had not been to IHOP since before our mission so it was a great choice. Dad and I actually picked her up at her house so we were able to spend a little time with Jesse, Levi and McKindy too. Shayla was so excited to go. We met Chris, Amber and Shelby there. We had a great time and had the best waiter. As we talked to him throughout the dinner I finally asked if he was from around there and he said "yes" and then he asked where we were from. After telling him we were from California and we were here on a mission to Temple Square he said "I was at the Salt Lake Temple this morning". We mentioned that we had been there too. He said "I thought you looked familiar. Were you at the 9:00AM session?" We said yes and he said that was the session he was in too. What a small world. Here we were in Riverton and of all the restaurants in SLC Shayla choose that one and of all their waiters and waitresses we got him. He was soooo nice and fun. Shayla had a great time with her hot chocolate and milk shakes and pancakes. He made sure she didn't run out of whipping cream on her pancakes too.

Shayla, Chris, Amber and Shelby
Shayla

Grandpa, Shayla, Chris, Grandma, Amber and Shelby

Shayla and Grandpa - what a cute pair!!

Fun With Friends

It's always fun to have friends come and visit us while we're here on our mission. I just thought it would be fun to do a blog on some of those who we have been able to spend time with. When we were up in Park City Sharee and Ed Peterson and their kids came up and we spent a lot of the week with them. Sharee was a missionary in Chico in our ward and we became wonderful friends. We just saw her last Friday when she came to Salt Lake City to attend the temple sealing of Sister Rushton (Hollie Ziegler now) who was her companion when she was in our ward. We were able to go and see her there too alsong with Sister Dawn who was also serving in Chico. What a great reunion. I don't have those pictures yet so I'll have to add it later.

Don and Sue came up and we had a great 3 days together (when we were not working on the square). It was so much fun being together. I can hardly wait for them to come up again.

Diane and Wally Sonntag came and saw us several times. One time was when we were in Park City. We always had so much fun with them. They own a condo in Holiday and have children living in the area so they come out often. We convinced them that Temple Square is a perfect place to serve a mission so they sent in their paper and are now serving here with us. It is so wonderful seeing them on a consistent basis.

Corine and Howard Hurst were already serving a mission here on Temple Square when we arrived. We've always had a special place in our hearts for Patriarch Hurst because he gave 4 of our 5 children their patriarchal blessings. He is so funny and everyone here loves them both so much. They will be leaving this Wednesday after faithfully serving their mission for the last 18 months. Here is a picture of the "Paradise three-some" taken right after Sacrament meeting in the Joseph Smith Building on the second floor outside our chapel. We will miss them so much!

Doug and Sandi Anderson have come out to see us also. What great friends they are! I miss our walks and talks together and all the fun times we've had in Paradise. They are some of the busiest parents I've ever seen as far as constantly traveling to see one child or another. Their children live all over the US and it was great for them to take time to come and see us. I hope they will do it again.

We also had a fun visit from the Mains. They wanted to come out and see all the Christmas lights on Temple Square and the programs that were going on so they called to see if we had room for them. We said "OF COURSE!" It was great fun having them here. Unfortunately I came down with the flu and was in bed for part of the time so I can't say that I was the best of hosts. They were so gracious and understood completely. We'd love to see them again.

Of course our kids, Keith and Lorene Tovey, had to come out here to see "Mom and Dad". They didn't stay as long as we'd like but we had to share them with some of their biological family too. We always laugh a lot when we're together so it was so much fun having them here.

Diane Westmoreland and her friend came and stayed with us for a few days. They wanted to spend a lot of time at the geneological library. We all attended the Pioneer Day parade together and had great seats to see it. It was very hot outside but we still had a great time.

Joe and Kleina Montgomery have stopped by to see us several times. A couple of weeks ago they came by after spend the day at the history library and we went to dinner at the Lyon House Restaurant. We have many years of memories to talk over. It's great having them live here in Utah so we can see them often. The other day the Storms, Eric, Michelle and daughters came by and saw us. We didn't know they were coming so we didn't have a camera to take a picture of them but it was so fun to have them surprise us and stop by. We've also seen the Embletons, Ogdens, Marina Dobbs Shepherd, Denise Peguese, Donovan Platt, The Rich family, Jennifer Hepworth and some of her children, Dan and Sally Penman and Dan Boone and others. We hope that all of you, as our friends, will feel welcome and wanted at any time. Hint, Hint!!!