The unexpected Christmas tree!

 The Friday after Thanksgiving was a little quiet for us since we didn't get to have company.  After hanging out way too long by ourselves at home we decided to take a drive over Cottonwood Road.  Paul felt fine enough to do that.  As we got up into the trees I noticed some pretty nice looking Pinon trees...ones that were actually shaped like Christmas trees!  There has been a lot of snow up on Cedar Mountain and with Paul not feeling that great I hated to expect him to go up there in the cold to get a Christmas tree, but wanted to get out there pretty soon for one.  (This seemed to be a great opportunity to find one down here instead.  We used to get Pinon trees when our kids were little, but it seemed too be hard to find nice looking ones and we ended up getting a fake tree for a while when they were all such busy teenagers we could never find a time to get out together to get anything.)  We found a road we had never even explored to boot!  So we went up there and started making cairns by the side of the road near possible Christmas tree choices.  We hadn't brought a saw and didn't have a permit on this drive, but decided to look and then come back Saturday morning early to cut one down. 

And that's what we did.  We also did a little hike that turned out not to go to where we thought it would.  So we turned around and went back down and got on with getting our tree.  We found the cutest little one for Grandma too!  This was kind of a sweet little bonus in our otherwise sweet, but sort of messed up holiday time.  

Here's Paul at one of his favorite stores...Lowe's!  

And here's how our tree and Grandma's tree turned out!  

Thanksgiving with a twist

 It was a real bummer when Ross told us that Lerlyn had Covid...the same thing he was unknowingly sharing with us the day he came over for an unannounced visit (practically) and spent the night and all of the next morning with Paul the Tuesday a week before Thanksgiving.  I was pretty upset when he came in coughing and blowing his nose continually.  I even spoke out and said I really didn't want what he had to to ruin our Thanksgiving with our family the next week.  Well, we heard about Lerlyn on the day before Thanksgiving and hurriedly went out and bought Covid tests.  Paul, Bean and I tested, and Paul came up positive!  Jay and Brynn were already on their way down to stay with us for the  holiday.  We called them.  They stopped for dinner and tested to see if Paul had shared it with them the week before when we were up at their house and Paul first started feeling a little sickish (the Friday after Ross had visited us).  Thankfully they were all negative and they ended up staying with Moss and Christie.  Paul doesn't really feel very bad.  We checked with everyone and they all said to go ahead with Thanksgiving at the church with everyone with us sitting at a different table and wearing masks most all of the time except when eating.  (Supe, Beacher, Jem and Koen and Torin are not in the group shot as they had to come a little bit later.)

Grandma had been on us about having Thanksgiving with us, but not able to really stand us as a whole group.  So the answer was to set her up in her own little dining room at the church just down the hall from where we all were.  Then people took turns going in to visit with her...and it worked out wonderfully!  Whew! Glad we got that right.  

The rest of us enjoyed a wonderful time feasting, playing in the other half of the gym - basketball and 9 square, etc. and all of the kids just enjoyed pairing up with other cousins and playing in different rooms around the building.  

After lunch and some time just visiting, most of us took a walk across the street to the university campus and enjoyed the cool sunny weather and getting some exercise before the pie devouring began.  Then it was more time for visiting and some more gym time, kids playing and table games.  The day went too fast and it was time to clean up and say our goodbyes.  It was especially nice to have Ferf's kids - Brynnli and boyfriend Ryan, Kennis (from college in St. Louis) and Tavin (from BYU) and of course Kaebri (home from her mission) there with us.  Ryan had the Ferf's little boys, but let them come over for a while which we were happy about too.  (A fun addition this year was having everyone bring table decorations; so cute and festive! And we love having it at this YSA building with the divided gym!)

It turned out well in spite of the last minute Covid twist. Our house has felt quiet without Jay and Brynn and girls as expected, but we did spend a little time with them on Saturday afternoon outside.

Unfortunately the special birthday dinner for Paul on Friday afternoon at a new amazing Italian restaurant had to go on without us.  A few other people ended up not being able to attend as well.  That was the most disappointing part about all of it.  As of Saturday afternoon Bean and I are still negative thank goodness.  I hope we miss it entirely.  

 Happy Thanksgiving 2022!  I do feel so grateful for so very many blessings 

that I have personally and that we all enjoy as a whole family group.  

Sister Smith (Kaebri) comes home!

 It was a sweet time to see Kaebri arrive at the airport after honorably fulfilling an 18 month mission in the Florida, Jacksonville mission!  We are so proud of her.  I know it wasn't all easy for her with her anxiety issues as well as losing her other Grandma thrown into the mix while she was out.  BUT she DID IT!  WELL DONE SISTER SMITH!  We are happy to have her home and to see what she decides is next for her life.  Her travel buddy was Christie's niece, Madi Smith (also Sis. Smith) from the same mission.  They had some mix-ups on their flights and came in a little later than originally planned which caused some confusion, but it was a big party at the airport with both of them coming in at the same time!  Double celebrating!

November birthdays - Eliza #10, Brynn #38, Zion #9

Another month and more birthdays!  We start November off in a hurry with Eliza's birthday on November 1st!  This is the beginning of the double digits and the beginning of the really growing up years for her.  It's great, but kind of sad too.  Sorry to see the little girl years passing by and the pre-teen, teen years coming when I never know what to get for them anymore!  (Hopefully they don't start being one of those "everything is so boring" type teens either.)  But she's not there yet!  Love you Eliza!  

Happy birthday #38 Brynn!  We couldn't make it up for the day of, but very soon after we did go up to watch Madi perform in her first school play, "Annie"!  She was one of the orphan girls.  She was offered the part of Annie to begin with, but being her first year in middle school and first play she felt just a little too unready to take on such a big role.  At the end, she knew all of Annie's lines and kind of wished she had take the part.  But one of her good friends she made in the play did a really great job and she was happy with her own performance.  Love you Lillywhites!  Glad we got to visit with you a little bit and be part of the love and fun at your home.

 I was so glad I was so prepared for Zion's birthday - found lots of fun things for him that I already had stowed in my present box!  And he liked all of it - the bug light, socks and paper airplane book!  He's at a cute age, #9, and it's fun when they are still easy to please!  Happy birthday Zman!  We love you.  And it was so fun to face time with you while you opened your presents! (Working hard to blow out all of those candles - great cake choice!)

Ironman 70.3...at Bryce Canyon!

 St. George hosted the Ironman World Championship in May, the St. George Marathon in early October and now the Ironman 70.3 Women's/Men's at the end of October...and each time they close down the streets in our neighborhood for the events which culminate just down the hill from our house at the Town Square.  We don't mind the St. George Marathon so much because it's on Gen. Conf. weekend and we just stay home and watch conference.  But these other two are much more as far as closures up here and around the whole downtown area go. They even closed school on Friday because buses could not run.  So we left town Thursday evening after work and went over to Bryce Canyon NP for a little get away.  It was wonderful!  We ate at home and then left and arrived in time for a bit of evening and bedtime.  We stayed at the old Ruby's Inn.  We had a great room.  

Friday morning we slept in and then had the breakfast buffet that came with the room and it was great.  Then we went to the Park Visitor's Center where we watched the Park film and then spent pretty much the whole day driving the view point road and seeing each one and doing a little hike also.  We brought our lunch and ate at one of the view points, in the car, because it was a little too chilly to eat outside.  There was frost on the car windows in the morning and we needed long sleeves and jackets most of the time.  Snow had fallen a week or so ago and made it very pretty.  That night we had the dinner buffet and it was so good that we ate way too much!  Afterwards we sort of laid around feeling full and ended up watching a really good movie on BYU TV and then taking a little inside walk around the facility.

Saturday morning we slept in some and again enjoyed the buffet and then got an early start on the Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop hike down in among the Hoodoos' in the canyon.  It wasn't crowded at all at the beginning because of our early start.  We had to wear jackets and gloves, but once we got moving we were just fine.  SO VERY BEAUTIFUL!!!  Toward the end it was a bit more crowded, but still great.  After that we headed out and took the scenic route stopping at the Shingle Creek rest stop, one of our favorites, near Orderville, to eat a picnic lunch.  We had to wear jackets, but we sat in the sun and did fine.  Then we headed to Zion NP and did the Narrows hike and met some people from Whales.  We had walked near then on the trail and talked a little and then more on the shuttle.  She had completed the Ironman Women's the day before and there she was out hiking the next day with her husband and kids.  Crazy!  It was a beautiful, but very different, hike in Zion.  It was super crowded there.  We got home after all the hoopla was over and had dinner with Bean.  It was a great, relaxing little trip for Paul and me!!!

Zade and Trigg Kick it in Karate!

 These guys went up to SLC and participated in a big tournament!  Zade earned his black belt.  They both took 2nd place in their divisions and Trigg is also a brown belt now.  I really need to get to some of their things.  They are doing so awesome at this!  Supe proud of these guys!  

Halloween 2022!

 Didn't see anyone in person for Halloween except Jem and his folks, but thankfully we got to see how fun they all dressed up via the family GroupMe site!  

October Birthdays! Jared, Koen & Tasia

 Jay celebrated #46 this month while on an amazing campout at Canyonland NP.  He has such a huge book Wishlist on Amazon that I could not even decide which one to pick...so he got to pick himself and ended up getting a fun game that he could play with Brynn!  Good choice and Happy Birthday Jay!  

Next up is Koen on #14 this year!  He celebrated several times on different days!  Lots of good cakes!  Stance shark socks, Captain Crunch cereal and a new and very sought after candy bar - "Mr. Beast" which is made from milk from grass fed, organic cows filled the bill for him! 

Tasia is up next with the big #18! We went over on the evening of her birthday and had a nice visit.  Got to hear all about her exciting antelope hunt, etc.  

Paragon (Minaret) Canyon with Supe, Beacher and Jem!

 We got one more day of adventure in for Fall Break when Supe, Beacher and Jem let us join them to go to Paragon Canyon.  Supe has been telling us about this and we were so excited for it to work out for us all to get to go finally!  It started with a roller coaster ATV drive out to the very start of the canyon.  They dropped Paul and I off for a short hike to the place in the canyon where the rappels get started.  It was a lot of fun to do the first part and see how the canyon started being carved at the top and then got better and deeper and MORE carved.  We met them at the beginning of the 9 rappels that you do to get down and out the other end of the canyon.  SO COOL!  Or as they say now - "SICK"!  (I don't get that one!)  Supe and Beacher are both great at this sort of stuff and Supe was great at getting it all set up and taken down each time and keeping all of us safe as well.  Jem came down in his kid pack on Supe's back every time.  And wow, what a canyon!!!  It was crazy in both sections to see the wood that had been washed down and had gotten stuck in the top.  Paul and I had to crawl under some in that beginning section and created a cave over the canyon down very low.  It was such a fun time to be with all of them! And in such a beautiful place!  We saw no one else once we left the starting point in the ATV.  (And that ride was better than any roller coaster ride at Lagoon!)  

When we came out at the bottom of the canyon Supe, Beacher and Jem did a short hike up the hill to where the ATV was parked.  Then Paul and I hiked down canyon to meet them at the end where they drove to in the ATV and then hiked down to meet us.  Our river walk/lunch was a beautiful and very interesting one.  When they met us Supe took us on a short hike to see some amazing petroglyphs down there.  Then we all hiked back up to the top and had another crazy/fun ATV ride back to the truck.  We left at 8 am that morning and made it back at about 6 pm.  We didn't really hike that far, probably 5+ miles only, but with the drive out and all of the getting people set up to rappel and all the rest, it made for a full, great day of it.  Jem did so great.  He got a little sad at nap time and after seeing a dead bluebird in the canyon, but he napped (unbelievably) on their ATV ride to the end to the pick up spot and was all sunshine again after that!  And...he got a lot of outdoor potty-training practice during the whole day too!  

(Oh, and just a note:  Beacher is several months pregnant with baby sister - due in December - and was still a pro-rappeler and hiker and ATV rider!)