end of May

Memorial Day in Granddad and Judith's backyard. That moment when Granddad starts to tell jokes.  Ben winces, Mary looks incredulous.

MacDuff looks embarrassed.

 I'm grateful for memories of times spent together in this place, times when we use to arrive from far away, and times when I've watched them walk ahead of me, making a the path from our house to theirs, past the apple tree, and Grace Bullock's roses, and waving at anyone driving by because they are family now too.

The last week of school followed.  Caitlin and her good friend Ava enjoyed their end of the year field trip.

Mary and her friend Sage made green goo for the third grade sale.

 Ben modeled his metals class creation.

pioneer day 2012

 Pioneer Day Olivia asked me, so nicely, if we could go somewhere out of town to celebrate.  She agreed to a picnic at Mirror Lake.  We took a trip there in the summer of 2010 with Grandma Julia and Grandpa Bob.  I still think it is the most beautiful place in Utah.

 Something about this picture of Grant reminds me of his Great-grandpa Alden. Maybe it is the Maine-like backdrop of pine trees and big clouds.

 Here's a link to our 2010 visit. The kids have grown so much.

 I think my polar bears were the only kids swimming.  I didn't anticipate how cold it would  be there.  I forgot that the kids had played in some residual snow in July 2010.

thanksgiving 2011

Wednesday evening, I was grateful to spend time with Sam in the kitchen. I was making stuffing and pear and jello salad. He was working on his Twin Peaks Cherry Pie.  Wednesday day we took care of two kids with cavities at the dentist, lost lots of time at Wal-mart, something else there must have been as well, I felt tired and discouraged by the end of the day.  I prayed that I could know just one thing I could do to make the kids' life better. I prayed to understand what is life about anyway. What is just one thing that makes life worthwhile.  So the answer came the next day, as answers do in small ways. 

Cousins.

We were excited and grateful to see Raines cousins we haven't seen for a while,

and  Grandma Julia and Great-Grandma Hammond who was visiting from Arizona. There were so many cousins Grandma Julia decided to hold dinner at the church. Grandma Martha came with us too.  Then some of the kids came back to our house with a few of the Mangum cousins, and Bethany and Ben went to the Mangum house to spend time with Alex and Samantha and accompany Kayla to a midnight Black Friday laptop run.  Friday we all met up again at Trafalga in Lehi. Another chance to use our Pass of All Passes.

Grant and William played miniature golf with Sam.

blessing day

Sunday October 9, we drove up to attend church with Aunt Judy and family, and Grandma Julia. It was blessing day for the kids' new cousin Desiree.

Judy made us a delicious spaghetti dinner. We brought french bread and dessert.  Sam has such a passion for bread.  I really hope he can serve a mission in Italy. The Italians would love his appreciation for food.

The kids love spending time with their cousins.

Olivia never looks happier than when she is with an animal.

As we drove away I reminded the kids that we should be grateful that we had a perfect day with the cousins instead of getting stuck with a flat tire or broken brakes in the mountains.  I had decided to take the scenic route to Magna, through Heber.  Definitely not the short cut.  The van started wigging out as we drove down the pass just out of Park City.  I pulled over and crept along the side of the road and prayed and told the kids to pray and imagined that the van just needed a mental massage, just to get it's central nervous system reset.  After several miles the brakes stopped shuttering and haven't given me any trouble since.  I guess I won't be commuting to Park City. 

september weekend

The second weekend in September we had nothing to do.  That was a great feeling. So Saturday morning we made pancakes, which smelled wonderful, like nothing to do.

This was Friday, September 9.  I had the day off from Friday clinic so I was finally able to schedule the movers' arrival.  They were delivering our stuff from China.

Here's Friday afternoon.  We were walking home from the movie theatre.  Sam paid for the four of us to go to see Contagion with some of the money he earned cleaning up after our hometeacher's enormous dogs. Contagion is now my favorite movie.  I have a passion for pathology.

Saturday morning after pancakes I tried to get the kids to help me clean up the part of the house that surrounds the over one hundred boxes that are now sitting unopened in our living room and downstairs in the family room that is also Kyle's bedroom.  I had some limited success. The boxes could be there indefinitely at this rate.

Saturday night, more comfort food.  Chicken curry casserole and chocolate chip cookies for my primary class.  I really need to open those boxes so I can find the casserole dish.

Marie's dog came to visit.

Sunday afternoon, William was too hungry to wait for the barbecue at Granddad's house.

Bethany and McDuff.

Judith and Sophie.

sophie's first birthday

I was grateful that Sophie's first birthday fell on a Saturday, and a special one too.  It was also Olivia's baptism day.  We were miraculously all dressed by ten-thirty. We met Jeremy and Judy's family and Grandma Julia at the Stake center. 

Olivia and Granddad.

Olivia asked Sam and Ben to give talks.  The kids and I sang "When I am baptised"  and Judith played the piano.  I was grateful that our new friends and neighbors, the Cazier family were there too.

Olivia and her cousin Julia.

After the baptism we drove to my favorite place in the canyon, Vivian Park. 

William, Grant, and cousin Mylee

Sophie's cousins Rachel and Bo.

Sophie and Bo.

Grandma Martha.

Grandma Julia, Sam, and Sophie.

Grant.