My blog side gadgets...

I have some side gadgets on my blog that never show up in the printing.  I have decided to include them here.

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." ~Pablo Picasso

"Keep close to Nature's heart...break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." -- John Muir

There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.

Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity for the human spirit!  -- Edward Abbey

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. 
-- Robert Lewis Stevenson

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. -- John Muir

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written. -- Ether 2:12

...all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator. -- Alma 30:44

Love -- Real love stories never have endings.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.

 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Being happy...

doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you decide to see beyond the imperfections.


Little drops of water, little grains of sand...

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.
-- Mother Teresa

Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Noah #11 and Paul #67

Noah got an early birthday present while they were here for a few days after Thanksgiving.  One more of the 4 boys is now 11 - only one more to go!  We celebrated Paul's birthday unexpectedly on the evening of.  We were supposed to be leaving for Havasupai with Supe and Beacher that night, but due to very recent flash flooding damages there along with snow, we decided to skip the trip.  So we made cheesecake and invited who could to come over to celebrate sort of last minute.  It was good!  Happy birthday #67 Paul!

Tavin is off to the Philippines

Monday evening we went over to wish Tavin and early Christmas and farewell.  He liked his present - a portable bidet - which may come in handy where he is going.  The next day December 3rd, his family took him down to Las Vegas to board his flight to head off to the MTC in Manilla, Philippians.  We are going to miss him here, but we are proud of the fine young man he has become and the preparation he has made to be a missionary.  Knowing he's on the Lord's errand will see us through until he comes back.

Happy 45th and other fun stuff!

It is one of the rare times when our anniversary falls not in the middle of the Thanksgiving rush with lots of company happening.  I saw a fun winter special bed and breakfast deal at Zion and decided it would be a fun little get away for our anniversary.  I didn't tell Paul the details until Thursday night and we left Friday afternoon to go up to stay in one of the little cabins.  We took our bikes and had a nice ride before dinner at the Lodge.  It was a very yummy meal of pork chops with prickly pear sauce and other goodness and dessert.  Our little cabin was cute and cozy for the cold night.  

In the morning we had another yummy meal for breakfast and then hiked up to Scout Point getting an early enough start to miss the crowds going up.  I wish I could have braved it and done Angel's Landing, but I'm afraid that it is just not to be for me.  Just too much high and not enough trail for me to be comfortable.  But we went on up a little past Scout Point and got a great high view and also enjoyed seeing one of the park's condors as it did a fly over several times.  I was proud of us for making the hike up and down as it is rated strenuous.  It was beautiful and the day was sunny, clear and cool.  

After we got back down we headed on through the park and over Cedar Mountain where the new snow was beautiful.  We had hoped to get a Christmas tree, but it was just too hard to get off the road without getting stuck.  We stopped in Cedar City for late lunch at Park Place which has very yummy food.  Then we headed home so we could make it to a play, Holiday Inn, with our season tickets.  It was a fun play.  Jay and Brynn and girls arrived that night and we had a good visit with them about their trip to Spain.  

Sunday we had a fun time having biscuits and gravy breakfast with Moss and Christie (who invited us all over) and the Weavers and Jay and Brynn and girls, and Supe and Bean.  After that we all headed to church to hear Tavin give his missionary talk.  He's leaving next week for the Philippines.  He did a great job and afterwards we all gathered at the Borrowman's for dinner with the family from both sides.  That is always a treat.  

Hard to believe we've been married for 45 years!!!  That's a long time and I can't be more thankful for having been blessed to have married Paul.  He is truly my other half and the best thing in my life.  

My phone was dead and pictures are few, but here are some Paul took - with us looking pretty old!!!

 Just a note:  It's the 100 year Centennial of Zion becoming a National Park this year.  

I found this cool poem in an old history of English literature book the other day.  

I thought it was just right for how I feel.  

Fall Break Fun!

We didn't want to spend a fortune for some fun over Fall Break from school and found a good option that was in the "budget."  Jay and Brynn were on vacation in Spain with their girls so we went and stayed at their house and visited some fun things in the area around there:  Thanksgiving Point Butterfly Biosphere, statues and gardens, Lagoon,  BYU MOMA and Bean Museum, the art at the Conference Center and at the Church History Museum.  We ate out for dinner and lunch sometimes and just basically relaxed and had a good time.  After riding all of the roller coasters we had time to ride, I laid down in the backseat on the way home to give my poor stomach a rest.  It was a good trip...and then it got cold up there and we were glad to get back to St. George! 

Ahhhtum glory!!!

Oh how I love it when Fall arrives.  The first sign is the cooler morning walks.  Then the evenings walks start to cool off.  And then it arrives and the leaves high up in the mountains then that changing  pretty soon trickles down to the lower elevations.  Fall is GLORIOUS with is perfect weather and bounty of colors!  It is by far my favorite season!  One of my favorite places to see the beginnings of the color change in the mountains is at Aspen Mirror Lake.  It's just a perfect combination of trees and water and little paths.  If I can't make it anywhere else to see it, I love to go there.  This time we had a Saturday afternoon free and made the drive up to Cedar Mountain and as always, it was so worth it!

I love how the sky is in this picture...and the other stuff too!  

Great Basin NP is...GREAT!

After taking the Cedar kids back home we continued up the road quite a ways to Great Basin NP to spend the day enjoying the awesomeness there.  We got there about lunch time and after a picnic in the cool we hiked up the Glacier/Bristle Cone trail.  It was cool and beautiful and even had some patches of new fallen snow in many places. After that we hiked the Alpine Loop trail to see the lakes.  We needed our jackets!!!  I love the rocks and trees and streams and green and everything!  We didn't make it to the Visitor Center or the cave.  We would have needed more time than we had.  As it was we didn't get home until bedtime, but what a wonderful, refreshing day!

Grand edventures for 2019 - mission accomplished!

Friday night we enjoyed a circus event with the final four grand kids we needed to take for a date.  Torin and Noah have been hard to catch - we've tried more than once on  both of them.  We were just waiting for the right thing to do with Sarai and Afton and this seemed like that fun thing.  And it was fun!  Luckily Juge was coming down from Cedar and brought those 3 with her saving us a lot of back and forth driving.  We enjoyed a pizza dinner and then we were off to the Circus with Bean helping by coming along to drive and enjoy it with us.  There were a lot of fun things including orange and white tigers, elephants, dogs and horses.  The juggler was hilarious and the lady who could change clothes in nothing flat was funny and amazing.  The ladies in the silk and other up high events were cool.  The man on the balance wheel was scary and the guy who was shot out of the cannon was crazy!!!  There were lots of little acts beside these too.  I didn't enjoy the huge effort and time spent trying to sell food, rides and toys, but other than that it was a really fun evening.  Afterwards we came home for hot chocolate and donuts (it got a little cool for the second half of the show with the Hurricane wind blowing a bit).  In the morning we took the thee Cedar kids home for their soccer/Saturday activities.  And we are done at last.  We love doing it, but it does get a little hectic sometimes trying to get it all in and work around so many busy schedules.

Finishing up the grand edventure dates for 2019

It's been hard to find a time to get together with some of the grand kids for their dates.  Especially Noah and Gaige.  Lots of busy things in their lives.  We usually take Gaige and Brady together since they are close in age and interests.  Finally got them together - not in the usual more outdoor/active way, but it was a fun evening.  We took them to see The Fighting Preacher - a really excellent movie about Willard and Rebecca Bean's 24 year mission for the Church in Palmyra, New York.  We had fun visiting with Gaige up and back to Cedar and Brady en route to the movie and over french fries and ice cream afterwards!

Spring Creek and over the mountain drive

Paul and I took a beautiful drive up Cedar Mountain to Spring Creek and then over to Spring Creek and over the top of the mountain there where we then drove down to Yankee Meadows through all of the burn area there.  We had a great picnic below Yankee Meadows reservoir and then went back over the top and took a really pretty little hike (without a camera) up the mountain.  Then we headed back down and enjoyed seeing the sheep in the area.  It was a beautiful, get out there some day.