Taking our walks in desert places!

 We usually take our walks every morning.  We get up, almost rain or shine, dark or light, and take a 2-mile walk through the neighborhood.  It's a good walk with a steep hill at the end to make us breathe.  But this last week when we haven't been on such a tight work schedule, we have sometimes put off the walk until later in the day when the sun has come out after some rainy weather.  And sometimes, we have done both walks.  Supe and Beacher invited us on a little hike the other day during the Christmas break.  It was so nice!  It was just a little random trail/and not trail in the Red Cliffs Reserve area north of town.  Jem likes to get out of the pack after a while and climb around a little!

Another day we went out to T-Bone Mesa and enjoyed the wet packed sand after the rains.  

And on this day we went to Snow Canyon!

Christmas fun 2021!

 Our Christmas fun this year started with a little family gathering for a fingerfood dinner and games hosted by Moss and Christie on Christmas Adam.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of this event.  I was too busy enjoying myself.  We ate yummy food and then played Hellsapoppin' and another fun game.  The kids pretty much played upstairs and and adults hung out down stairs after the food part.  We missed Jay and Brynn, and the Weavers and the Randalls were not able to attend with so many things going on this time of year and because the don't live as close and easy to come.  But it was fun with who was there.  Supe took one picture of me and dad looking tired with Jem.  Paul and Bean had just gotten back home from working long hours on Jay and Brynn's fireplace in their new house up north.  I was still recovering from my last chemo gig.  

We had Christmas Eve dinner with Anna Lou, Bean, Ferf (Ryan had the kids), and Bean.  Afterwards we went light looking a little differently.  We just went down to the Town Square and walked around in the beautiful lights they put up there.  That was about all Anna Lou could handle.  Afterwards we came home and tried to find room for our gingerbread dessert.  It was a nice evening.  

For Christmas Day we had Anna Lou and Bean over for breakfast, opened our gifts here, and then went visiting the rest of the family at their houses.  It's a great tradition! We did get to talk to Jay and Brynn on the  phone while we were here at the house.  The kids got us an awesome gift this year - a hot air balloon ride!  (Ellie painted a little painting to show us what we were getting!)

We started at Supe and Beacher's.  It was fun to see Jem enjoying Christmas and his parents enjoying  him enjoying it - the first year he could really get into it!  We got him the craziest singing, ear waving dog toy and it was hilarious watching him figure it out.  He's got it down now and knows how to turn it on and off and change to a new song.  (By the way, all of the grand puppies got dog cookies for Christmas.  Next year I need to remember Molly, the grand cat!)

Next stop was at Moss and Christie's!  They have been such wonderful hosts in their beautiful new house these latest holidays.  We really appreciate them letting us come and enjoy ourselves.  

Next we hurried over to Ferf's.  Ryan has the kids for this Christmas holiday, but we are grateful that he agreed to let them come over and open presents at Ferf's for a little while on Christmas afternoon.  It would have been hard to have had to wait.  It was nice to have Tavin home from his mission and Brynnli down for the  holidays.  Tavin and Kennis played a song they were prepping for church on Sunday and then Gaige and Koen played for us too.  They all did a great job.  

Then we went over to Derek's and kids'. We didn't get there at a time we could talk to Kaebri unfortunately. But we had a nice time.  And we had some great impromptu concerts; Tasia did her piano recital songs that Paul had missed the week before, and Zade played a Christmas song for us on his trumpet.  They were both did a great job.  Zade and Trigg then showed us a karate form that they could do together.  It was cool!  If you look close, Derek is holding his phone with a picture of Kaebri on it!

Then it was time for lunch and a nap!  Anna Lou was very worn out, so we took her home. That's about all she can usually handle. After our little break the Weaver family dropped by.  It was such a nice afternoon that we all went out on the front lawn and opened presents and enjoyed the sun while it lasted.  They had a dinner date at Lance's folks, so we didn't get to hang out too long, but it was very nice.

In explanation:  this was the year of the ZOX bracelets for almost every grandchild.  But since Juge is the one who introduced me to them and all of her kids already had one, I did Conscious Step (save the animals) socks for them instead.  ZOX helps build water wells for people in other parts of the world.  So it was a "help save something" Christmas.  All of the adults in the family got Conscious Step socks as well as the Weaver family.  I had fun picking out all of these bracelets and socks for everyone.  

Last of all, and as per tradition, we then drove up to the Randall's to finish off Christmas Day!  They are so nice to let us drop in and eat and party with them.  Ferf, Brynnli and Tavin joined us there too.  We ate lots of yummy things and then the Randall's opened gifts. One special gift was the flute that Lou and Weed both used when they were in band at school.  Weed had it last and Lou had been hoping to get it back, but it had been stored away in a bin and Derek hadn't found it...until just recently.  He sent it with us for Lou and she could still play it after all of these years!  A little gift from Weed to her.  After that we played a very noisy game of Pit and visited some.  Then it was time to head down the hill and call it Christmas because it was going to start snowing.  

Yippee...Here's a picture from Jay and Brynn!  The girls!!!

It was a really wonderful day.  After all the stress that we moms and grandmas feel in the getting ready for it, I am happy to say I feel good about it. And now can relax and enjoy the afterglow of another wonderful Christmas celebrated!

Bean was looking through old pictures the other day and found this picture of Jesus that Weed had drawn.  "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."  Because of that gift we will be with our sweet Weed again!  

Merry Christmas 2021!

Chemo mission accomplished!

 December 17th, 2021 - The amazing chemo nurses sent me off with the bell ringing ceremony today!  At school the kindergartners ring the "wig" bell for reaching" their wildly important goals."  In a month I will find out if I've reached my "wig" if I come out with a clear scan or in cancer lingo a NED (no evidence of disease) and hopefully a good long remission!  Glad to have the chemo step behind me!  Thanks for all your prayers.  I have felt them.  

Gaige #16 -Yippee!

 It was a small celebration with those who could be there for cake - Ferf, Koen, Torin Gaige and Me.  Other celebrating happened at the house in the morning.  Gaige is a pretty amazing guy!  He's smart, super athletic and has such a cute personality to with along with his good looks.  He was so pleased to have gotten his license at last...now if they could only find the keys to the Jetta - oops!  Kennis has misplaced both sets for now.  We just sang and ate cake together.  Still getting used to not doing this with the Borrowman grandparents.  I do miss them.  But we will have to go with it and move forward.  A girl dropped by a present for him while we were there.  And he was looking forward to a church group date that his YW/YM groups were planning - $10 for food to make a meal and gather back together to eat the results!  Sounds like a fun way to start the dating debut!  

Tavin returns from his mission!

Thursday, December 9th, there was a big gathering of Lillywhites and Borrowmans as the St. George Airport so meet Tavin.  He came in about 5:30 pm.  There were many hugs given.  It was hard to take any pictures because of the crush!  But he's here at last.  It's been a very different mission with the Covid pandemic interruptions that first brought him home from the Philippines where he was originally called to serve.  Then we was at home for a while until they deemed it safe to go back out and he went to Tacoma Washington with the possibility that he might be able to go back to the Philippines.  That possibility never materialized, so he seemed happy to just be able to finish up in Washington.  We didn't hear much from him as he mostly just called home and didn't write.  So, we don't know too much about how it was for him.  A sad aside is that while he was out his mom and dad decided to divorce (after several year of counseling and near divorce situations).  They are struggling through the final processes and it makes things quite stressful between the two families.  It's not a great thing to come home to I'm sure.  He seems ready to leave the area and get away to school in Provo probably.  But, it will be nice to have him in town for a little while at least.  Today, December 12th, he gave his talk in sacrament meeting - it was very  nice.  Afterwards we had a Lillywhite family lunch at Ferf's house.  We missed having the Weavers, Derek and kids and Jay and Brynn.  Reasons that couldn't be helped kept them away.  We are so happy Tavin served well and faithfully despite the crazy interruptions and changes from Covid.  Well done Tavin!  

Paul - Happy #69!

 All Paul wanted for his bday was a trip…to get a load of stone in AZ! We had fun eating out with our favorite breakfast at Cracker Barrel and Navajo Tacos at the Cameron Trading Post for lunch. And seeing the lights in Flagstaff on our evening walk! And we got our load of rock of course. And back at home the kids brought gifts and we all ate Paul’s favorite cheesecake! Oh how I love this wonderful, loving, hardworking, forgiving, sharing, kind, funny, helpful man. He is always there for me. He's my best friend and the love of my life. He's with me in good times and and in hard times.

Catching up!

I've gotten a little behind!  But can't forget these fun things!  I'm so glad that cancer or not, I'm still able to work.  I don't know what I'd do without my job.  Yah, some things, like interventions, are not my favorite thing, but for the most part, I really do enjoy it. This year we have a dream class.  We have 18 kids who had older siblings in the class and their parents requested to have our teacher.  She puts her heart and soul into it.  These are great kids.  Out of our 23, we only have two who are a bit of a challenge which is so great.  Last year we had some very tough kids.  We went to Staheli Farm for our first field trip in a very long time.  The kids had so much fun!  

Halloween came and Jem was so funny with his little blue head.  He was based on some cartoon character.  Eliza turned 9!  She's such a cutie.  And Fall came along with a walk in Pine Valley just to get out of the house.  

One afternoon the Weavers invited us to go on a bike ride up West Canyon road in Snow Canyon.  I felt happy that I could still ride it even after 4 Chemos.  I wasn't fast, but I did make it.  It was a fun ride.  And I had time for a walk on the Red Hill another day when we got out early for PTC from school.  Getting out really help me feel good.  

Another afternoon Paul and I walked Hell Hole Canyon - another of our favorite walks.  The geology of this little canyon amazing us every time we go.  

Paul and Bean made a beautiful fireplace and chimney for Supe and Beacher!  Jem and Auri got in on the action here and there doing forklift supervision and rock chip removal.  

Zion turned 8...and we didn't get to go, but Juge sent his excited pictures! Sarai had a singing recital via Zoom.  She sang well and looked so cute!  Tasia had a piano recital...sorry no pics.  It was in the chapel.

Paul's back has been super bad lately.  He's going to have to have some nerves cauterized to cut the pain.  Our salvation is to take walks to get out a little bit.  Getting old is not much fun sometimes.  We have really had to curtail our outdoor adventures because of our health issues this year.   We love to take the walk between Brookside and Baker Dam...in any season.  

Brady and Ellie cracked us up with this picture they sent from when they took their gift certificate swim at the Homestead Crater.

I feel bad that the only picture I took on Thanksgiving was this one.  We had kind of a different year.  It was the kids year to go to their inl-aws, but Christie's parents are on a mission so they were nice enough to invite us and Bean, Supe (Beacher had to work) and Ferf and kids to join them for Thanksgiving at their house.  Ferf is getting a divorce, so she had no in-laws to go to this year either.  G'ma Kurtz had company, so that left me, Paul and Bean home to ourselves.  We had a great meal, good hanging out and took a walk afterward to see the new Red Cliffs Temple in process of being build behind their house.  I have to say that it wasn't my best day.  I was dealing with some bad after Chemo effects and didn't really feel to great, but still, it was a nice way to spend the day.  A funny thing happened while we were walking over to the temple.  Kennis jumped a ditch thinking she was going to land in a good spot...which ended up with her burried up to her knees stuck in the mud.  We finally got her and her shoes out.  She was very muddy with giant globs on both feet.  She was laughing, so we could all laugh with her!  

The Saturday after Thanksgiving the Randalls invited us and the Borrowmans to go Christmas tree harvesting with them on Cedar Mountain.  There was almost NO snow.  This is the same place we got stuck last year!  We all got trees and then enjoyed hot chocolate in the sunshine.  We almost didn't need our coats.  We need rain and snow so badly!  But it did make getting trees much more comfortable and easy than when it's knee deep snow.  It was a fun time.