Madeleine makes her debut...yea for #14!

June 1st is another of those "shout for joy" days with Jay and Brynn becoming 1st time parents at last! Madeleine arrived at 11:01 pm on Tuesday, June 1st in Salt Lake City, Utah. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 ozs. and was 21" long. She even has hair! She is a darling baby. We wish she lived closer so we could enjoy her a little more often, but we know she will get plenty of lovin'. Welcome to the family, Madeleine. We are so happy you are here!

Pine Valley dinner with the Randalls

The Randall's treated us to a delicious Dutch oven cooked dinner of fried chicken and potatoes in Pine Valley on Wednesday evening. They were camping out there for a few days. It was so nice to visit with them and the dinner was soooo good. The campground was not crowded and it was just right weather. The kids showed us their personal waterfall, Brady demonstrated his fire building skills (he laid out a perfect log cabin fire for Bryan to light), Ellie hugged us to pieces and it was just a plain good time. I think they were glad they invited us when we showed up with a chocolate pie from Veyo Pies! We also toasted marshmallows over Brady's fire and enjoyed s'mores. The little campers were looking pretty tired after that, so we said our goodbyes and after an evening walk to the Pine Valley lake headed on home. It was a delightful evening. Thanks for inviting us Randalls!

Memorial Day Week End Fun

This is Gordon Lavine's stoneyard - one place we stopped for stone

The fun began with a trip over to Ash Fork for a load of stone. We left Friday morning and made our usual stop at Jacob's Lake for cookies. We lunched in Flagstaff at the mall and then picked up our load. We headed back and stopped in at Jacob's Lake for dinner. The place was very crowded with holiday Grand Canyon sight seers. We drove a few miles out and then took a dirt road and found a really nice campsite. It was pretty cool (there was ice in our water jug in the morning), but we were cozy in our tent and enjoyed a full moon/starry night walk before hitting the sack. In the morning we took another walk to see where we had gone in the dark. It was a beautiful Ponderosa Pine forest and was so cool and beautiful we hated to pack up. We went back to Jacob's Lake for a scrumptious breakfast and then headed home. Unfortunately I forgot the camera and only got a couple of phone pictures before the phone battery died :o(

On Monday we decided to hit the trail up to Mill Flat to see how the big snowfall had affected the area after all the fire damage. It was perfect weather. There is more water than we have ever seen in the stream this year because of the heavy snows. There was one really big avalanche area where the trail has been completely covered up by fallen trees - something caused by the fire/snow combination. We did make it to the top after many stream crossings and had lunch at the campsite which still had a couple of feet of snow. We only met one other group of hikers - Besty Fowler and some friends. After coming down we drove the Pinto road and on up to New Castle reservoir and then back to check out the new camp/picnic grounds at Pine Valley. We stopped off at the Heaton's up in the residence cabins to look at their chimney that needs repairing because heavy snow knocked it down. It was a beautiful day!

The last day of school...for a while...yea!

Wednesday, May 26th, was a combination movie/pajama day along with meeting your new teacher and Jackson's tasty cupcakes. I also got to participate in a mob hugging when Ms. Godfrey invited me up front to celebrate my summer birthday. It was a bitter/sweet day when you are glad/sad to see the kids go for the summer and move on to 1st grade. Today it's back to summer school with the pre-schoolers for 5 weeks.

Supe is home...let the face pulling begin

Take one good looking uncle and add several adorable grandkids and what do you get? This!

Brenden takes a walk with Grandpa and Grandma

The other evening Moss and Christie needed to make it to the temple for their monthly goal. We got to spend the evening with Brenden while they were gone. He wasn't sure about this spending time with the old folks without Mom and Dad right there too, but he didn't cry...just wasn't his usual smiley self. It has been such nice weather of late that we decided a walk was in order. We headed off to the duck pond and then down to the Town Square. Brenden thought the best part was running around in the lazy river. The water was off, but there were still enough puddles to keep him happy. One time he got a little thirsty and thought slurping water out of a puddle in one of the rocks was a good way to quench his thirst...Grandma put the kibosh on that pretty quick. Lots of people thought he was "so cute" and one lady let him pet her "puppy". On the way down we stopped off to ride the horse statues and on the way home we visited the fire truck and rang the gong. Brenden was a good sport, but he was pretty glad to find Mom and Dad back at the house at the end of our walk!

24 Hours of goodness

Friday after I got off work Paul and I headed up to Bountiful. We arrived around 6 pm and that started our 24 hours crammed full of a variety of good things. Those good things included: Seeing all the folks up that way, seeing Juge and Lance's home remodeling progress, witnessing Noah's fearless antics, getting to hear Eden's cute songs in person, seeing Jay and Brynn's babe's cache of cute things just waiting for her arrival and use, taking a tour of Bean's work, and, most important, being a part of Bean's being ordained and Elder and taking out his endowments. That was a lot to enjoy in the short time we were there, but it was all accomplished and enjoyed. Thanks are due and offered to everyone who helped make it happen - to Juge and Lance for their hospitality, to Jay and Brynn for helping Juge out with lunch, to Lou for making the trip. The only thing that could have improved it was if all of us could have enjoyed it together, but no guilt intended to those who couldn't come. It was just one of those things that couldn't be worked out. We love you all!

Grandma Poulsen comes to St. George!

We had a great time having Grandma Poulsen visit us in St. George via Janet & Tony coming down for a little family reunion the Brooks were having and bringing her along to visit and stay with us for a few days. The good times started out with a visit from Moss, Christie and Brenden. Brenden wasn't quite sure if he wanted to be friendly or not, but by their second visit he was feeding imaginary food he stirred up in a cup to Great Grandma Poulsen. Later that first evening we headed over to the Smith's for a little celebration for Zade's #2 birthday. It was just a small gathering, but we had such a good time celebrating/listening to Grandma's stories of family and days past. Zade was happy with his presents and cake and even sported some chocolate frosting between his toes! Don't ask me how it got there. (We messed up and didn't take a picture of the whole family unfortunately.) On the way home we stopped by Moss and Christie's so Grandma could see their beautiful new home. On Friday we had some time to rest and relax, go out for a Chinese lunch (one of Grandma's favorites) and get some work done on Jay & Brynn's baby's Great Grandma Poulsen/Grandma Lillywhite quilt. Ryan also dropped by to pick up Ferf's forgotten phone and it was fun to have a short visit with him. In the evening Grandma Kurtz came over for dinner and we had a nice visit with the two of them. Bean called and Grandma got a chance to visit with him. Saturday we headed to Pine Valley and got lucky enough to go on a tour of the old chapel. (Shucks - no pictures here.) We stopped in Veyo on the way up and ordered a lemon meringue pie from the pie shop there (another favorite of Grandma's) and picked it up on our way back. Paul's Aunt Kathy and her daughters surprised us with a visit upon our arrival back at the house and it was fun to chat with them for a little while. They were here for a Tuacahn show and a mom/daughter get away. Next we headed over to the Borrowman's to visit. Lou and kids were able to make it down and we just sat around visiting. Grandma enjoyed seeing the farm as well as visiting with everyone. We came home and had dinner and then got to visit with Moss, Christie and Brenden out in the yard with Brenden keeping us entertained for the evening. Sunday morning we had to kiss Grandma goodbye and send her back up to Washington with Janet and Tony via a stop in SLC where she will have a quick visit with the family up there. It was so fun to have her come. She amazes us all with her memory and all her knowledge of so many things. She makes us all feel loved and special with her wonderful way with people. We wish she lived closer, but are so thankful to Janet and Tony for the wonderful home they provide for her and how they take such good care of her. We love you Grandma. Thanks Janet and Tony!

Taylor Creek and beyond...another grand 'edventure'

At the Visitor's Center & Funny faces at the trail head



Shots along the trail

You couldn't have picked a better weather day for hiking. We (Paul, Bonnie, Brynnli, Tavin, Kaebri and Kennis) headed out after lunch to do the Taylor Creek Hike up at Kolob Fingers. Everyone came prepared with packs, water and even extra clothes. This is a great kids' hike. It's 5 miles with a total elevation gain of 450 feet. We went about a quarter of a mile further in to see a really cool waterfall. There are two cabins along the way that are fun to see and then you get to the magnificent Double Arch Alcove. We took some rest/drink/snack stops along the way. We kept having to cross the creek and on the way back we decided to count how many times with everyone picking a number. The total crossings on the way back ended up being 73 with Grandma Lillywhite choosing right on the number. Everyone got very good at rock hopping across the creek and even when we missed it wasn't bad...just cooled your feet off a little. Grandma did cool Kaebri off about up to one knee trying to hoist her onto a rock for a picture at the waterfall, but she dried off pretty well and was a good sport. Everyone did great on the hike. It was lots of fun! Thanks kids, for going hiking with the old people. We love you! Next time we'll have to find a shorter one and include some of the younger set too.

We made it to the end of the hike!
Our tired and dirty feet

"You are an Ironman" and other good times of late

Last week was a good one full of good times. On Wednesday I got to attend Tasia's Dixie College pre-school graduation. She was pretty proud of graduating and was very enthusiastic as they performed songs in a little program for their parents and others attending the big event. She even got to wear a mini cap and gown and walk through the "D" to receive her diploma. Way to go Tasia!

The next good time was attending the Kurt Bestor "Night at the Movies" concert with the Utah Symphony-a journey through the last 85 years of movie music. Using a giant screen, guest vocalists, and his usual concert repartee with the audience, Bestor traced the art of film scoring from its silent piano roots to today's exciting scores. I found a coupon for tickets and it was a very enjoyable evening.

We kept trying to think of a hike to take on Saturday, but decided to stay local to be sure and be here in the evening to attend the best time of the week...Kaebri's baptism and the birthday get together afterwards. It was a very nice baptism and made even nicer by Lenae giving one of the talks and also bearing her testimony. We are so proud of Kaebri! (It was also nice to be able to see Lou and kids for a few hours and so nice of them to make the drive down for the baptism.)

Since we didn't go for a hike on Saturday,we got lots of errands done and still had time left over to head to the Jim Jones exhibit at the St. George Art Museum. We love his paintings of the Grand Canyon and Zion Park and thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit. (Didn't much care for the downstairs watercolor exhibit.)

Then we headed down to watch the first bikers coming in at the Ironman. I wasn't that excited about the whole thing, but hearing Moss talk about all he was doing to take care of the swim part got me excited and then seeing the bikers coming in and just being at the site was really inspiring. One guy had gotten in a bike wreck and I heard that he broke his collar bone. Paul saw him get off his bike and start the running part of the race with his arm all wrapped up with ice and tape. He looked pretty bad. We went down about 10:00 that night to see some of the runners coming in. We didn't see that guy, but did hear that he finished. It was so cool seeing people coming across that finish line knowing how much work they had done to get to that point. I know how tired I feel just doing a 100 mile bike ride that takes me quite a bit of the day. I'm glad we didn't miss it. We need to volunteer to help with it next year. (Every time someone finished the guy on the loudspeaker would announce, "You are an Ironman" along with their time, name and age. We could hear this going on clear up at our house.)

Sunday evening was another good time as Paul,Grandma Kurtz and I headed out to Ferf and Ryan's to see their 4 new little goats. They are adorable. It was fun to see the all the kids at the house interacting together. Koen was so funny trying to catch the little goats wagging tails.

Today we had the bittersweet experience of attending the funeral of Bro. Jay Blake. I didn't know Bro. Blake well, but have watched the great example that he, his wife, and family have set for many years in our ward. He and his wife have raised 9 amazing kids, weathered hard times, kept a wonderful attitude and just endured the race well. They are just plain good people living the gospel. The thing he was most proud of was having had all 6 of his boys receive their Eagle Scout rank and fill missions and that all of his children have been married in the temple. It was a sweet, and inspiring funeral. I hope that when it's all said and done I can do as well as he did.