Christmas with the Lillywhites - early!

Jay and Brynn were wonderful hosts as usual.  We stopped in to spend the night on our way up to Park City for Paul's knee surgery.  And, since they can't come down after Christmas with Jay getting his wisdom teeth out the, we decided to bring our Christmas to them early.  They brought theirs to us during the Thanksgiving fun.  They brought us wonderful stuff like homemade fudge and a new State Park's pass, along with a fun handmade Christmas decoration by Brynn a new set of unsticky Rook cards.  They also gave Paul his birthday - an Outback gift card that we used for b-day/anniversary dinner feasting.  Thanks so much!  It was fun to open presents with them up there too!  A few too many surgeries for the normal holiday routine this year for either of us.  

L to R - We met Ella the bunny this time and she got involved by trying to eat gift bags, Jay and Brynn, Tahlia, Essie, Paul and Bonnie with Tahlia and Madi and Madi.  

Happy 40th Anniversary!

As usual, we didn't celebrate our anniversary too much on the very day...November 23rd fell on a Sunday.  We did make time amid the Thanksgiving, Christmas, pre-surgery rush to spend some time together remembering and having fun together.  The evening of the 23rd we decided a good way to remember a wonderful 40 years together would be to look back through pictures from the very beginning.  It was such a fun activity and made us realize what a wonderful 40 years it has been!  We also took time to go out to dinner one evening - kind of a Paul's birthday/anniversary feast thanks to a gift card from one of the kids.  We knew that after Paul's knee surgery he wouldn't be feeling all that great for celebrating, so we planned ahead and went up to a generous friend's cabin at Pine Valley on the Friday/Saturday before the surgery.  Lots of stress from work nearly caused us to cancel, but we were so glad we didn't . It was wonderful. We had such fun spending time together in such a beautiful place.  We walked, we biked, we ate good food, we relaxed!  So thankful for Paul.  He is such a loving, giving, unselfish, makes my life wonderful man!  Of course there have been challenges, but facing them together has made them doable.  So thankful for the blessing of eternal marriage.  

December birthdays!

We have quite a few December birthdays in this family.  First we celebrated Brynnli's #15.  She was a really good sport when one of her presents came in a bacon scented dryer sheets box.  She did seem happy to find that the box actually contained some cash instead!  It is amazing that sweet Brynnli, our first grandchild is already a beautiful 15 year old.  Sort of hate seeing them grow up and coming to that age of so many important life decisions.  But we also love to see them becoming wonderful grown ups making good decisions and developing their character and talents. Keep on being awesome Brynnli.  We love you!

Next in the line up were Paul and Gaige.  We had to do Gaige a little early before Paul's surgery, but I don't think that was a problem for him!  Happy # 62 and #9.  We love you guys!

And we can't forget our Noah boy.  He turned a handsome #6!  It was fun to go up and celebrate with them in Cedar with the Sheffield grandparents.  Noah was excited about his light sabers, Legos and the treasure hunt for his new bike!  Happy birthday Noah.  We love you!   Joel also has a December birthday. The day after Christmas he will be 1, but they have decided that they will celebrate it in April or May I think.

Thanksgiving 2014 - expansion to the church

The time has finally arrived.  We have come to the point where we thought it was time for a bigger venue to enjoy our Thanksgiving feast.  It was hard to take it out of the house, but I think we all pretty much agreed that it was a good thing with a few improvements for the next session in 2016! We had great food and a great time.  We had to leave a bit earlier than we might have liked for another big family to come in, so we did go back to the house for our pie.  It was a fun, and very filling day of it! Of all of the things I am thankful for, this bunch of people is the very top thing on the list along with the blessing of a forever family!  We missed Supe and Beacher, but they were off getting to know a different part of the family!  

Started the day off with a ride on West Canyon Road at Snow Canyon - beautiful and a chance to
pre-burn some of those calories?  

Bryan and Gaige, Derek and Essie, Sarai and Zion, Juge, Brenden and Christie.  

Let the feasting begin!  Eden and Madi, Ellie, Brady, Koen, Trigg and Zade, Ferf,, Torin, Ryan, Kennis, Gaige and Tasia, Kennis, Brenden, Tahlia, Sarai, Brynnli, Tavin and Kaebri.

The feast line up, Eliza and Christie, Essie, Zion.

Fun in the gym, Supe and Beacher, Ahh - time for pie! 
Below - We had our little feast at school on Tuesday.  The kids gobbled it right up!  I am also thankful for the great people and kids that I work with.  

Tavin and Brynnli played at the Santa's Workshop and some of us got to go down and listen to their beautiful music.  We also had a fun day at the park during the Thanksgiving break. It was such nice weather!

Zion, Moss and Eliza, Jay, Brynn and Tahlia in the background

Paul, Madi and Eden, Tahlia and Sarai, Kennis and Gaige, Madi, Eden, Sarai, Gaige, Noah and Sienna, a Sheffield cousin

Happy Birthday Zion #1!

His birthday kind of got lost and put off in all of the Thanksgiving rush, but that evening we finally took a minute to sing and celebrate!  ZP is such a cute little guy!  He seemed pleased with his plunder, late or not!  We love you ZP!

An awesome event with Leo and Crystal Boren

Wednesday we had the privilege to attend Leo and Crystal Boren's sealing to each other and to their little son, Dash Awesome Boren!  It was so wonderful to see two people who have been through some tough times come to this point.  Crystal's other children got to be there to witness the special event.  Such a cute family.  Such a wonderful day!

Grand babysitting "edventures" with Trigg and Zade

Weed and Derek went on a little business/pleasure trip and Zade and Trigg camped out at our house. We had some grand "edventures".  Other than Trigg's carseat blues, it was good time!  

The duck pond is always a fun place to visit.  They were very hungry as usual!

Puzzles, Legos, Play Dough, etc.  

We visited the Red Hill Narrows for a snack and a little hike after school one day.  Another day we visited the Red Cliffs Reserve center.  

Sand fun at Snow Canyon.  Nice ladies brought their horses over to say, "Hi".  

The Children's Museum is a fun spot!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Saturday night after the Plein Air event we went over to wish Ryan a happy birthday and had delicious red velvet cake.  He tricked me out of getting the usual unflattering blowhard picture.  Happy birthday Ryan!  We love you.  

Plein Air with Tasia and Kennis

Each year Zion Park has a Plein Air Art Invitational.  Paul went up to several of the demos during the week.  Saturday we took Tasia and Kennis up with us. It was a beautiful fall day and it was fun to see so many beautiful paintings coming to life as the artists painted out on the lawn in front of the lodge.  

We started out at the Nature Center which had been transformed into an art gallery for the day with paintings by the participating artists on display.  We met Roland Lee on the way in and then got to watch him and lots of other artists painting up at the lodge later in the day.  The girls also tried their hand at painting.  It's harder than it looks!

One artist we were watching told the girls that he needed a little break and put them to work putting in some green some in some green near the bottom of his painting.  Later on we went back to view the finished product which was very beautiful.  

Riding the shuttle and walking the trail from the lodge to the Grotto were both fun activities.

After we were finished watching the painting we rode up to the Temple of Sinawava and then walked the trail up to the start of the Narrows.  The girls braved the very cold water...for a little while!

Then we got the car and drove through the tunnel and did a little hike on the east side of the park.  The water was a bit warmer there.  

We saw some wildlife during the day including white tailed deer (no pics), a flock of turkeys on the Grotto trail, a Great Blue Heron in the Narrows and a couple of Rocky Mountain Sheep on the east side.  

Baptisms with Tavin and Brynnli

Had a fun evening with Brynnli and Tavin taking some family names to the baptist where Paul was able to do the baptisms.  Thanks to Jay for finding them and to Brynnli and Tavin for doing their work.