Lots of January birthdays

The January birthdays came to an end with Brenden turning 3 last Friday.  There have been quite a few.  We took care of Eden early at the end of December.  Next was Bryan.  We didn't get to go to a party with him, but we did send him a perfect card I had found ages ago.  "Do you know what Beethoven is doing for your birthday? ...Decomposing!" So appropriate, don't you think?  After that was Afton - another missed party, but then came Brady and we invited ourselves up and enjoyed a very tasty dinner and joined in eating the rocket/angry birds cake which was very creative as well as tasty.  Brady was gone as soon as he opened Legos.  He could hardly tear himself away long enough to eat his cake.  It was a lot of fun and we gave Afton her presents too.  Unfortunately we were in such a rush to get there (after attending two sets of ward conferences that day) that we left the camera behind.  I'm hoping Lou will share some of her pics with us so that I can add them to this post.  Brenden was the final birthday for January.  We did get to go to his party and it was lots of fun too.  The decorating was great with the Cars theme to the max.  All of our local family came along with all of Christie's.  What a fun group of people to party with!  Pizza, pop and a Barrel of M'n'M's cake filled us up.  Kennis was on a lucky streak and won the prize for guessing how many pieces of candy were in the jar and also pulled the right string to open up the pinata and let the candy out.  Brenden got lots of Cars type gifts. We enjoyed the slide show that Christie made that showed such cute pictures of Brenden growing up.  I never thought I would say this, but kereokee (I don't even know how to spell it) is actually fun.  I was amazed by how much the kids, even the babies, loved singing/dancing along.  I don't have any desire to be the up front singer all by myself, but for a group sing, it is a lot of fun.  (Do you think we could do that at a Primary party?) We have lots of little singer/dancers among the younger set.  Brenden was looking a little beat by the time we all left.  Happy Birthday to all of you January birthday people.  WE LOVE YOU ALL!  Wish we could have made it to all of your parties and had a camera in hand.

Want some bubbles?

Afton loves shoes...even ones made of cake!

Another Randall creative cake!

 

Devil's Hole - we found it this time!

Some of the holes had bird and little varmint nests in them.  Some of them just had grand kid varmints in them!

 We had the day off school/work yesterday for MLK day, so we decided to try to find Devil's Hole once more.  Since the Smithereans didn't get to go on our last Grand "Edventure" we invited them to help us find it.  Bean came too which is a good thing since he's such a big help in getting us into some less accessible places.  We made the drive (even crossed the river) with no problems.  Then we started hiking to the area that we thought it would be in after checking it out on Google Earth.  It's not really that big of a formation.  We hunted and hiked and hiked and hunted and were just about to think we would miss it again when Paul spotted it in a place we thought we had already explored.  It's a little bit high and hard to get to, but with Bean down in and Paul on top to assist we made it.  It's a neat formation that makes you wonder how it was formed.  It's also a good place to get out of the wind, which was pretty cool out there.  It has a nice little window to look out of.  Even if we hadn't found it, the kids had a great time trying out all the holes and decided there were some real housing possibilities available.  On the way back Bean, Kaebri and Tasia rode in the back of the truck and Zade was Grandpa's backseat driver.  We gave the ones in the truck bed some fun by lifting the dump up and down a little every now and again.  Don't worry, we had them buckled in with a tie down.  Everyone came back into the cab after we got back to the regular road and we sang  and storied our way to Arctic Circle for some "squirrel cones" on the way home.  It was a fun "edventure" and we are glad that we have finally found the illusive Devil's Hole!  

Tooquerville Falls & Devil's Hole (almost)

We knew we wanted to get out some place on Saturday, but I had to be back by 3:30 for the stake baptism, so we couldn't go too far.  Friday night we stayed up until midnight playing Risk (my very first time) with Bean.  Of course, he killed us, but it did take him several hours.  Since we were up so late, we got kind of late start.  We decided that it had been a long time since we had been to Toquerville Falls.  It is a rough ride, but the falls are so pretty that it's well worth the drive.  I'd sure like to go there in the summer and play in the water when its not quite so cold.

Upper falls

Lower falls

Both falls

We didn't have much time after that, but we decided to try and find the Devil's Hole that Juge and Lance and the Ferf and Ryan have told us about.  It's out behind Toquerville.  We found it on Google Earth, but unfortunately didn't locate it while we were there and ran out of time looking...another day, another "edventure."  When we got home we looked at the map again and realized that we didn't hunt far enough east in the rocks to find it.  We did see some cool rocks in the vicinity though.  Luckily we got done with all of our outdoor stuff just as the wind hit and we could see the snow starting to fall up by New Harmony and northward.

Cool red rocks and some beautiful views - Zion skyline and some of Kolob Fingers

Eden turns 5 - a little early!

Just look at all of that smoke from only 5 candles.  I think the chocolate teeth are a nice look, don't you?

Sarai was in a happy mood! The couch pillow hats are always good for some entertainment with Grandpa.

Before the Weavers headed back to the frozen north country we had dinner and celebrated Eden's #5!  This is starting to be a traditional event.  That way we get to be there for the singing, blowing and present opening.  I think it's a good tradition.  I think the dot-to-dot book and new crayons were the hit of this years presents.  Happy Birthday Eden!  We love you. 

First post of 2012 - Grand "Edventure" at Kayenta/Hell Hole Canyon

We decided to get out one last time on the school break and take grand kids along with us.  Too bad the Smiths were sick and couldn't join in.  We missed them.  Bean came along and it was a good thing.  We got to the point in the trail where we have always stopped and turned around, but with his help with pulling/pushing people up and finding good routes we went on quite a bit further and enjoyed some pretty sweet scenery including going through some cool rock fall caves.  Since the water was down this time of year, we didn't encounter some of the slick, mossy spots that have stopped us before either.  It was a great day with shirt sleeve weather and blue skies.  The kids, especially Gaige, did great.  We did what is becoming a tradition at the end - stopped by Arctic Circle for some "squirrel cones".  We are helping these kids get the good out of those new walking sticks that Grandpa gave them for Christmas, and in the process they are keeping us in shape!

2011 - the final post of the year

There has been a lot going during the final days of 2011. December birthdays were part of the goings on.  Brynnli, Paul and Gaige did the shared party thing a little late for some and a little early for others. We love them all.  Happy #12, 59 and 6!!!

Next on the agenda - Paul and I went up and saw Ellie in her first dance recital. There was quite a bit of the recital that I would have been OK with missing, but it was worth sitting through to support Ellie in her debut on stage. I'm not sure she was totally thrilled about debuting, but she did it and we were proud of her!

The Friday afternoon before Christmas Christie invited the girls to get together for lunch at Bear Paw and then to go over to her house for manicure/pedicure fun. I also brought along a make it yourself Christmas craft.  We had so much fun at lunch, eating of course, but also playing a fun game that Juge came up with.  We had Christie, Brynn, Weed, Ferf, Juge, me and Grandma.  Wish Lou could have made it. Too bad someone forgot the camera for this activity.  I have a really sweet looking crackle fingernail polish job and some very soft, well-soaked feet too.  Thanks for putting such a fun time together Christie :o)

This is the only picture I got of this activity and it was with my phone.  Notice Christie's beautiful curls.  Brynn showed us how to do that with a flat iron.  Sweet! 

Next is Christmas!  It is so hard to get pictures of all the goings on while so much is going on.  Jay, Brynn, Madi and Supe were here at the house with us for the holiday.  The Weavers were down from the frozen north too.  Everyone came over for Christmas afternoon and the kids put on such a nice nativity program.  They also thrilled Grandma by singing her remakes of some Primary songs...brought tears to the eyes.   After that we all munched on all the good things everyone brought, played games and visited.  Thanks to all of you for putting it all together.  Jay and Brynn gave us all a really nice present...the announcement of #18 grand baby in July.   The holiday continued with more eating, visiting and game playing.  Paul and I made a real haul for Christmas with so many thoughtful gifts from everyone.  Many thanks to everyone for all the gifts and even more for just being the wonderful people that you are.

Juge planned a fun game for the adults to play!

One afternoon after Christmas Lance put together a nice little hike for those that could make it.  Some of the kids got to try out their new hiking sticks in the process.  We saw petroglyphs, dinosaur tracks and old ruins (Babylon) along with enjoying all the beautiful scenery, water and sand along the river.  It was good to get out in the sun for a while.

The petroglyphs

Actually, we didn't have to hike very much to see what we saw.  Mostly we rode. 

 

Babylon ruins

One of the tracks we saw

The good times continue despite this nasty cold I picked up. Paul, Bean and I went bowling with the Weavers and the Sheffields for Eden's birthday.  She decided that bowling was what she wanted to do.  I haven't been bowling since Lou was a baby and my skills haven't improved any since then. Paul was pro.  It was a lot of fun and I may have to do it again for a date some time.  It can only get better at this point!  Maybe the third time will be "the charm", and I will do a lot better!  (I will add bowling pics when I can get some from Juge.)

Merry Christmas from the Lillywhites 2011

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Thanksgiving activities...

The Thanksgiving holiday was very full this year even though it was "outlaw year" with all of the married kids free to join with their spouse's family.  We had just barely gotten Bean home from his mission and trying to get all of his plunder moved back into the house and get him settled.  Then on Wednesday the 23rd Paul and I celebrated our 37th anniversary.  As usual, things are too hectic about then to do much, so we plan to do something fun and call it our anniversary when it warms up and cash isn't so tight.  We did go out for Chinese for lunch...mmm good!  Later that day Brenden came over and we took him over to feed the ducks.  He's quite the little hiker and doesn't want anyone holding his hand. He can do it himself! He had such a fun time laughing at the ducks and throwing bread more at them than too them!  They were very hungry and more than happy to see us.  He spent the night with us after spending the some time playing with his good buddy/cousin Zade for a while.  It was a bit of a sad day as Moss and Christie spent it at the hospital losing their little baby.  We are so sorry for their loss.  We are also so thankful to have the Gospel to help us cope with all of these hard things that come into our lives.  We were excited for this little one, but we will hope things work out another time. Supe, Bean and Paul and I were the only ones here for the big feast since Grandma had gone to join Lou and Bryan.  Later that day other folks came over for games and the eating of leftovers and pie commenced and was continued for the next few days.

 Friday Supe and Bean treated us and Ferf  and kids to a hiking/climbing excursion to Black Rocks.  Everyone except Koen and me went up the wall at least part of the way. (I used the excuse that it was getting late and would take way too much time for me to get up.  I'll do it another time...promise.) It was a fun outing with perfect weather and so good to get outside for a little while. It was also nice that they had all the gear and know how to help everyone be successful. I don't know how we did it, but we missed getting pictures of Paul altogether. Oops! In the evening there was more eating, visiting and games.

Koen was "fast asleep" atop Grandpa until I offered gum to everyone.  His eyes popped open and he said he wanted some because it would keep him awake!

Supe setting up the climb

Brynnli went first

Tavin and some other guy heading for the top

Bean just about there

Gaige all geared up

Ferf just about there

Koen got hungry and bummed some V8 juice off Bean.  He pronounced "de-li-see-us".  None of the other kids shared that opinion.

Falls Park stop off

Saturday afternoon, despite still being somewhat lame from a turkey bowl injury, we went on a drive and beautiful hike with the Weavers.  We stopped by Falls Park outside Virgin just to take a look and then went up on Smith's Mesa and hiked around in a little canyon with an arch that they had visited over Halloween.  It was pretty cold until we got down into the canyon.  It was amazing that Eden had written her name in the mud on the Halloween hike and it was still there this time.  She thought that was pretty neat.

Other fun around the house

Family - even though I was not as relaxed as I would have liked to have been through the holiday - too busy worrying about my upcoming leadership meeting and getting Bean settled - thanks to all of you for a great Thanksgiving.  You are top on the list of things I am and always will be thankful for. 

Scenery en route to Lava Point dinner date

The other evening we were both itching to get out for an evening.  We grabbed some sandwiches and drove up to Lava Point to eat dinner and see the scenery.  It was really cold when we got there, so we ended up eating in the car, but it was still just a nice get out of the house evening.