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.  

Fun at the Lillywhite "hotel"

Jay and Brynn getting a house has taken some of the burden off Juge and Lance as the "up north hotel" when we go up that way.  They've been good to provide us with a place to bed down for the night on a very last minute basis recently.  In the process, we have had a chance to enjoy seeing Madi on her own turf...it's been fun!!!  Thanks, Jay and Brynn, for being such accomodating hosts...good company and good food!

Let's take that hike one more time...

The Saturday after our Halloween bash we got to go on a beautiful hike with the Weavers, Ferf and Koen and Dorothy.  It was the perfect day for a hike.  Eden is an amazing little hiker for her age.  She just kept trekking along.  Noah and Koen did fine too, but had to have a little bit of carrying...Koen took a nap on Paul's head on the way back. Sarai was just chill and cute the whole time in the pilfered plig bonnet (she forgot her regular sun hat). We had our lunch at the top and the kids kept me scared running around too near the edge.  They also had fun throwing rocks in the little pond and hiding in a cave.  Eden carried a Halloween bucket full of this and that all the way up...pretty funny.  When we got back to the stream the kids had a grand time catching moss.  I'm glad the Weavers finally got to take this hike with us.  I think everyone in the family may have been there now.  If not, we'd be happy to go again!

Halloween Party Extraordinaire + Tasia #7

Happy #7 Tasia- we love you!

Thanks to Juge and Moss and Christie, this Halloween Scrooge enjoyed a fun evening.  Everyone contributed something to the effort and it was a blast.  Thanks to all of you.  The party included tasty food (thanks to Brynn for sending cookies even when she wasn't in town to enjoy the fun), pumpkin carving by the men, banner making for the women, slime making for the kids, and games - bingo, cake walk, and Minute to Win It.  That was my favorite.  We tried to knock down card targets with rubber bands, stack golf balls, put together puzzles, order cups by how many pennies were in them, balance a marble on specific holes in an ironing board, and toss a bottled water on a table and have it land bottom down...all with a minute time limit to get the job done.  We also did a quick birthday sing/present opening for Tasia.  I feel bad that more of the pictures didn't turn out.  The lighting was difficult to manage.  Sorry that Ryan and Derek missed the fun.  Thanks again to everyone for a Halloween party extraordinaire!

If you aren't in the picture it's not because you weren't cute.  Picture taking is hard in the house. 

Monster fingers, it's hard to eat in a grape costume, a red-eyed ghost helping her dad, candy corns are not just for eating and pumpkin carving results.

Granny and Gramps Smith - these two really go all out.  Derek even shaved off some of his hair to make it realistic...and right before parent teacher conferences too!

Since I didn't get a good picture of "Thor" aka Zade at the party, Derek was good enough to share one with me.  Looks pretty cute, I mean tough, doesn't he?

Grand Canyon Grand 'Edventure'

Last Friday/Saturday Kaebri and Tasia traveled over to the  South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a "workation" with us.  Paul had done another one of the little water filling stations for the park service and it needed to be washed.  We had a good time listening to Where the Red Fern Grows on the way there and back.  We stopped at Jacob's Lake for cookies and then again at Navajo Bridge so we could look down on the Colorado River. We saw a condor flying by. We were up early on Saturday morning and hiked the new (as of last October) "Trail of Time".  It was really fun, and since we were on Utah time, we were there before it got crowded.  We took pictures of the girls at nearly every stone marker and they tried to make different faces/poses at each.  At the end of the trail the girls got Jr. Ranger packets and we worked on them and then they were sworn in as official Jr. Rangers. After that we rode the shuttle back to our car and then shopped and watched a movie about the Grand Canyon.  We got lunch at the last shopping spot and then headed home. (Grandpa and Grandma learned that eating and shopping can't be a hurry up job!)  It's a pretty long drive, but between the story and the Happy Meal toys the girls did just fine.  I think Kaebri had cheeseburgers for dinner/lunch/dinner.  She's a real fan!  It was a fun trip.  We're thinking that we'll have to start training these grand kids up in the stone trip/vacation tradition as part of "Grand Edventuring".

Jacob's Lake and Navajo Bridge pit stops

Jr. Ranger and shuttle bus fun and making use of some of Grandpa's water filling stations

Random shots here and there.  Below is a shot of the canyon taken through the window of the Desert View Watchtower (also below).  It was our last stop on the way out of the canyon. 

 See next post for our adventures along the Trail of Time.

Trail of Time facts and pictures

The Trail of Time is a 4.56 km (2.83 mile) long geologic timeline. Each meter walked on the timeline trail signifies one million years of Grand Canyon's geologic history. Walking the trail gives you a visceral appreciation for the magnitude of geologic time. Bronze markers mark your location in time; every tenth marker is labeled in millions of year! Along the timeline trail are a series of rocks and exhibits that explain how Grand Canyon and its rock formed.

Portal signs welcome visitors to the exhibit at the entry points to the trail, Yavapai Point and the west end of Grand Canyon Village. The rock column holding up this sign shows Grand Canyon's rock actual layers, brought up from deep in the canyon.

Placed at their "birthdays" along the trail are about 50 samples of Grand Canyon rocks brought to the rim from deep in the canyon. Many show spectacular features, like 1.7-billion-year-old folds, 1.2-billion year-old mud cracks, 800-million-year-old algal reefs, or 270-million-year-old fossils.

Viewing tubes along the trail link times on the timeline to features and rocks down in the canyon. Waysides tied to the timeline explain the key events that lead to formation of Grand Canyon's rocks and the landscape we see today at Grand Canyon.

 Other fun along the trail and the end of the trail markers.  We made it!