And we're off...Grand Edventures 2019

We've been a little slow getting started, but finally we had our first Grand Edeventure Date for 2019!

We took Trigg and Eliza to the Children's Jubilee in Cedar City.  We took Sarai and Afton another year and it was so fun that we decided to do a repeat for another pair.  And they had just as much fun I think.  They also had fun in the car going to and from being silly together playing with the trunk access pull down in the back seat.  I'm pretty sure they would have crawled through and ridden in the trunk if we would have let them.  Silly bugs!  As you can see from the pics, there were plenty of fun and enjoyed activities again this year  - some new, some the same - and the concert was better I thought, but still hard for them to sit still in even with the story teller/concert of Peter Pan.   But they got through it and I think they enjoyed parts of it.  

So, we are off and going on another year of fun with the grand kiddies!

President's Day Fun!

We had a lazy, snow morning and then it warmed up in the afternoon!  The Weaver's came down and joined us to visit the annual DSU Art Show where we did the I Spy activities with the kids and chose our favorites.  Then we thought about going to Snow Canyon, but decided to go it on our own and avoid the crowds and cost and visited a pond and 'Cougar Rock' that Supe had taken us to before.  It was lots of fun and the snow and sun! 

Snow Fun!

This is turning into a wet year!  We are still having snow even down here in town and it's after President's day.  We've been enjoying taking in the snow closer to home.  We can just head up to Pine Valley and have done twice already.  Once was for a drive that turned into an evening walk and the other time we prepared and went CC skiing.  Both times were beautiful and delightfully fun!  

Kennis is 15 already!

How crazy is that!  And she got her learner's permit and is practicing to drive!  Where did time go?  She's growing into such an accomplished young lady.  She reminds me so much of her mother with her dedication to achieving her goals, fun personality and just such an amazing person. When things get hard...she just tries harder!  So proud of you Kennis  Happy Birthday Kennis!  We love you!  

Couldn't get the regular blow out the candles pic.  The 'birthday cake' was Oreo Shakes!  

Valentine's Day

Paul gave me a perfect card for Valentine's Day.  He always does!  And I always feel bad when the time comes to put it in the circular file...I can't save them all, can I?  So this year I'm saving it here!  And I'm adding some other Valentine's cuteness from family and school.  I felt loved!  

Weavers liking our funny Valentine's to them!   

The Lillywhites liked theirs too!  The other Lillywhites sent a cute video, but I can't put it on here.  

And I loved this cute note (and chocolates) from a cutie from school!  

And I missed getting our Valentine's letter from my mom and finding one to send her or calling her to say I loved her.  Getting used to someone you love being out of range takes time and brings a tear to your eyes.  

"Our Backyard" - Buena Vista

One of the very best things about where we live is "our backyard".  The part of our backyard that we own is nice, but small, but the part we don't own is much bigger.  Our house it at the top of town.  The area used to be called "sand town".  And rightfully so.  Red dirt, sand and red rock is what it is mostly.  But it is also so beautiful.  And it is a designated part of the the Red Cliffs Reserve.  That means it is protected and no one can build a big fancy house on the cliff behind me.  It is full of desert animals - we've seen desert tortoises, foxes, raccoons, tarantulas, deer, Gila monsters, and of course, lizards and snakes.  And there has actually been a mountain lion up there before (he came further down into the neighborhood and had to be darted and taken away, thank goodness!).  I'm sure there are lots of other critters out there too.  It is so nice to have this little bit of wild land behind us and so available to enjoy via the Owen's Loop Trail which we can access right behind the house.  There's also Brook's pond just a street over with it's ducks that we can visit with the grand kids.  It's a pretty great place to live, and we love it!!!

Afton's baptism and February Family Dinner

These two events just blended right into a wonderful weekend.  Jay and Brynn came down for the baptism and stayed over for dinner.  We missed a few people for the baptism and dinner, but it was still a great time together.  We (Paul, Bean and I) actually missed the main event unfortunately.  The time was changed to accommodate a funeral and crazy me got the new time into my head completely wrong.  We missed the whole thing.  I feel so bad...this is the only one we've missed so far.  I don't think Afton was broken up about it, but I wish I had listened to the nagging little voices (maybe that was the Holy Ghost trying to get through to me) that kept telling me to check the time, text Lou, etc.  I hope I do better at doing that in the future.  But we still had a wonderful time afterwards visiting with everyone and eating delicious dessert breads, etc. at the Randalls.  And then the next day we got to visit more at Moss and Christie's during the Family Dinner.  The Superbowl got mixed up in it unfortunately, but not enough to mess it up.  We are so blessed to have all of us in state and able to get together and enjoy important occasions and just for fun too...unless I mess up on the time!!!

The January birthdays - 2019!

 The Randalls have a rash of birthdays in January - half of the family!  Bryan was first - sorry, no pics.  Afton turned 8 and Brady turned 14!

We caught up with Brenden on the day after he turned 10!  Kai was cracking all of us up!  He was just running around trying to be in the middle of everything.  Such a funny little guy.  Brenden is the best big brother ever even when he wanted to make off with his presents!  

We love all of these wonderful January b-day peeps!

Panaca, Pioche, Boot Hill, etc.

Last Saturday it just felt like time for a little road trip.  The weather had warmed up some and we'd had a beautiful walk on the Red Hill that morning (minus seeing the almost finished new East Stake Center in flames from up there).  We looked at the map to see where we could go close by with just a long afternoon available.  We ended up heading to some stake parks (Echo Canyon and Spring Creek) over in Nevada and seeing some new things and revisiting some old things.  We finished off eating yummy dinner at Marv's in Enterprise.  What a fun day!

Panaca - Bullfrog Pond and unknown arch.

Pioche - Boot Hill  and old mining machinery

Spring Creek State Park and old stone buildings - no pics of Echo Canyon State Park
We saw them pulling out some fish at this lake!

First Rock Trip of 2019!

I like rock trips for quite a few reasons:  we get away from everything and spend time together, we sometimes listen to good books or other audio programs, we eat out and especially I like that I get Jacob Lake's cookies, and I catch up on sleep snoozing in the truck!  And another thing I really enjoy is all of the beautiful and varied scenery along the way.  We went over Friday after school, spent the night in Flagstaff and picked up some Gemstone rock and some for Ross also.  It was a good, uneventful trip.  

I love the old stone buildings at Cameron, the colorful cliffs by Lee's Ferry, and this time of year - the snow at Jacob Lake!  

Then as we start down the mountain from Jacob Lake the view opens up and continues to the cliffs by Colorado City and Pine Valley in the background (covered in snow right now).  These are drive by shots, so the quality isn't great.