Thanksgiving

We had a lot of fun at Thanksgiving and lots of family visitors.  This is the children's table during Thanksgiving Dinner with Dallen, Mallory, Andrew, Ashton, Tucker, Evan, Penelope and Scarlett.  It was a crazy weekend with so many grandchildren playing and running about the house.  This may have been the only moment during the whole weekend when they were all setting down and quiet.  We love them.

This is the adults table but we only got some of us in the picture.

Talitha was in charge of Thanksgiving this year.  Everyone brought something.  We had two turkeys and John deep fried one of the turkeys in peanut oil.  It was great.

We even had a little ham (or someone who likes to ham it up anyway).

 You can see some of the plates of food.  Here's Caleb and Amery and Doranda.  There was lots to eat.

Of course we had good music too.  Tucker and Andrew are playing such a fast song their hands are just a blur.

Throughout the weekend there were lots of game and card playing.  A good opportunity to visit.

 We had the game room upstairs with pool, foosball, and the big TV.

 The kids liked watching movies or film clips whenever possible.

Penelope seemed to like showing off her new coat.

Couldn't help another shot of Penelope, catching the sun in her red hair.  She managed to get into a third of the pictures I put up this time.  She was just being extra photogenic.  And I think she does like having her picture taken because she pauses whenever she gets peoples attention as if waiting for people to look at her.

We went to the school playground one day.  Tucker is walking the curb.  He's such a cheerful boy and is always active all the time.

 James on the slide.  He on the other hand is a very cautious and thoughtful and boy.

 Ashton doing tricks on the bars.  He is very skilled and athletic.

And Evan who is getting older now and being more grownup.  He was very helpful with the little kids while on the walk.

1. I'm thankful for my wife most of all.
2. I'm thankful for my children and grandchildren.
3. I'm thankful for my parents.
4. I'm thankful for the gospel and the church.

That about sums it up for me.

Andrew & Mallory Adoption

The big day finally arrived.  Malachi and Layne had their court date for the adoption of Andrew and Mallory.

This is the new family setting in court in front of the judge answering questions.

 Layne, with Andrew, taking the oath of adoption.

 Malachi with Mallory during the court proceedings.

 After the judge ruled yes on the adoption they went out in the hall for some pictures.  Now Andrew and Mallory legally belong to them.  It's official.

 We went outside for some fall pictures .

 We were happy to get to go and see the adoption.  Now they are officially our grandchildren too.  So you could say we have adopted Andrew and Mallory also.  They are part of the family now.

 Here are a few choice photos they we were not able to put on the blog before.  This is Andrew and cousin Tucker having a laser-sword fight.  They are about the same age.

 This is Andrew sitting on his new Grandma's lap at Caleb's court of honor for Eagle Scout.

 This is Andrew with his Auntie Talitha and Uncle John.

 Here is Mallory with Tucker and Bruce.

 At a birthday party.  I think it was for Tucker and Mallory.

 We took Andrew to the race tracks on weekend.

 A favorite thing, whenever they come over to our house, is to immediately check out the ponds.

Halloween costumes.  Buzz Lightyear and Snow White.  We are so happy to welcome Andrew and Mallory into our family.  And we are especially happy for Malachi and Layne.

Fire at our Triplex

We had a fire at our Triplex in Tillicum.

The flames where shooting out the front window by the time the firemen arrived to put it out.  The fire blew out the glass in the window.  Also you can see the gutter was melted.  Fortunately the firemen got it put out before the fire spread to the other two units.

 This is what it used to look like before the fire.

 This is the living room where the fire started.  They had to shoot water in to put it out so there is water damage also.  They pulled down the ceiling too.

This is the kitchen.  We still don't know what started the fire.  Our insurance company is doing an accident investigation.  It will be a while before we can get the place rebuilt.

Caleb Is 18 Now

Caleb had his 18th birthday on October 16th. 

This was a big day for Caleb and the family.  Now Caleb is legally an adult.  He seems all grown up.

We had a party for him.  He seemed to have a good time.  Jacquelyn made him a cake and we even put 18 candles on it.

Mr. Pumpkin Head Man was at the door to greet visitors and we decorated the house in a  Halloween theme.

We had a great meal with tons of Chinese food and lots of dishes to select from.  Jacquelyn was cooking almost all day.  The food was really good.

Here is Caleb's youngest niece, Scarlett.

Another little niece, Penelope.  They sure liked the cake.

Tucker was there too, a nephew of Caleb's.

Another niece and nephew that came to help Caleb celebrate.  They refer to Jacquelyn as the Grandma with a Caleb.

Two missionaries from church joined us for dinner.

We even had a dead ancestor get up from his grave to come join the party.  It is Halloween time.

 Tucker and his little cousin.

Around the table we had John, Talitha, a missionary, Layne, another missionary, Bob, Doranda and Scarlett.  We had a fun time at Caleb's birthday.  And we are proud of Caleb and all the great things he has done with his life so far.

Utah Trip

We took a trip out to Utah to visit with our son Nathanael and his wife Mary-Anne. It was a lot of fun and we got to stay almost a whole week.

This is a picture of Nathanael and Mary-Anne in front of their new house in Lehi, Utah. They had the house built and just moved in fairly recently. They got to pick out all the options for the house and the paint colors and just recently put in the grass around their house.

One of the best things about the neighborhood where they live is this trail that goes along the South Jordan River right near their house. We went for lots of walks while there, around the neighborhood, and along the trails. We even did some geocaching. This is a shot of the river right from the trail not more than a block from their house.

One day we spent the day up in Salt Lake City. Here's a picture of the church conference center. We took a tour of the roof, which used to be flat but has been turned into a garden. The trees and grass are all real and they are not growing in dirt but in an artificial man made soil that is a lot lighter than dirt.

Here's a shot from the top of the church administrative building. You can see the Salt Lake Temple and behind it the tabernacle where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir use to perform before the convention center. It was real sunny out and the temperatures were in the 80s the whole week we were there. We got to see the place where Nathanael works and his office. He is a prosecutor for the Salt Lake City Prosecutors Office. We ate lunch at the Lion's House which is a historic monument and which I think used to be Brigham Young's home.

One day we went for a big hike. We went early so the sun was not too hot yet. We climbed up Mount Tipanogos. It was steep but the views were fantastic and it was wonderful being outside on a hike. It took about an hour I think. Here's view back down the canyon and you can see the floor of the Salt Lake Valley in the distance.

At the end of the trail is Tipanogos Cave where you can take a tour. The rock's all limestone and water has eroded it out into caves all through the mountains.

Inside were three main caves or chambers. Here's a formation where a stalactite is almost down to the stalagmite which will then be a column.

There were lots of beautiful formations and the pictures don't do them justice. Most of them I had to delete because the camera wasn't doing the flash right.

On a different day we went to the "This Is the Place" monument and park. This is where the Mormon pioneers first came to Salt Lake Valley and Brigham Young said "This Is the Place", which he had seen in a vision so he knew it was where they were to stop and settle.

They had some of the old settler's buildings and cabins and such there so you could tour and see what life was like for the pioneers. This is the inside of an old school building. They also had some people dressed up in pioneer clothes that you could talk too. The blacksmith shop was really interesting.

This is the type of dwelling place that the Indians of the area built and lived in, which was very primitive compared to what the pioneers were building.

We got to pan for gold in the river there. I found these five nuggets in just a short period. Jacquelyn's thinks they must be fools gold. I'm going to show them to John to see what he thinks.

On a different day we went on a scenic drive to see the mountains and the fall colors. We took the Alpine Loop drive. Here's a picture of Bridal Veil Falls coming down the canyon walls.

We also stopped at Cascade Springs which was my favorite. There were these beautiful spring ponds with water coming out of the ground and flowing all into and through them and a boardwalk that you could take to walk around the springs.

The water was crystal clear. Here's a Brown Trout. Cascade Springs is one of the prettiest outdoor spots on Earth.

The highlight of the trip was the chance to attend one of the sessions of General Conference. We got to see the prophet and the apostles and listen to the talks live instead of watching on TV. Here's a picture of the inside of the conference center during conference this session. You can see from the arrow where we were sitting

Here's the four of us in our seats. We got there early. Mary-Anne, Nathanael, Jacquelyn, Doug. It was a lot of fun and something I had been wanting to do for a long time. Both Nathanael and I had never been to one in person.

Here's picture of the pipes from the organ and a children's choir that sang songs during our session.

A shot from our seats. The conference center holds 21,333 people.

It was fun to see all the people too. This shot and the next one are some pictures of the crowds.

Another shot of people.

We had a good time at Conference and learned a lot too from the messages and talks by the church leaders.

Inside were a lot of well-know paintings that depict scenes out of the Book of Mormon. This was of Christ visiting the Nephites on the American Continent after his crucifixion and resurrection.

These two are Helaman and the 2,000 stripling warriors, and Alma doing baptisms in the waters of Mormon.

Here's a favorite of mine, Abinadi in chains testifying to wicked King Noah.

Here is Lehi and Nephi and their family on a boat coming to America after fleeing Jerusalem. Below is Lehi finding the Liahonna in the wilderness.

It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. Thank you Nathanael and Mary-Anne for being such great hosts and for having us over to visit. We got to see a lot of neat stuff but the best part of the visit was getting to spend time with the two of you (and Jackson). And we enjoyed playing cards and watching TV and going for walks with the two of you just as much as any of the sight seeing. It was great to see the two of you doing so well. We all have a lot to be thankful for.