Tegan Takes the Gold!!

Congratulations to Tegan for taking Grand Sweepstakes Winner at the Neola Elementary History Fair with her project "The Invention and Innovation of the Phonograph". We are very proud of her and all the work she put into her project. She did a lot of research and had a very colorful board, which I'm sure caught the eye of the judges, as well as her knowledgeable presentation. She will go on to district competition next week, so stay tuned . . .

Here's one late night before the fair!

Here are some pictures taken a while back that I thought were cute. Cole loves feeding the horses apples and isn't afraid to put them right in their mouth. Thank heavens we have nice horses that don't bite! (at least not on purpose)
I think Uncle Shug was trying to get him to do something "silly"
Okay, this kind of starts off the home remodeling project we are in the middle of right now. Tyler, Jackie, and Cole came and stayed a couple of days and Cole loved running around in the big empty bedroom. He was hiding behind the curtains and would run out laughing. After a few times his face started getting black and we are going what the? I am so embarrassed - the curtains were so dusty they were rubbing off on his little face. He couldn't figure out why we were laughing so hard at him. He looked like a little chimney sweep!
We began by bumping out the bedroom and bathroom upstairs to extend over the balcony, which is no more!
This is a before of the exotic 70's bathroom. That wallpaper may come back - not so sure about the zigzag carpet!
This is an in-progress picture of the same space.
Hallelujah, we finally got the stone on the wall in the family room! You can get a lot done faster when you decide to NOT do it yourself!
Here's a few more of little Cole. Jackie and Tyler let me kidnap him for a few days and we had a lot of fun at McDonald's, grocery shopping, four-wheeling and sledding, eating, cuddling, reading stories, etc., etc. He is such a good little guy and so polite. Thank so much for sharing your sweet little guy with us - we love it!



We truly love having the grandkids and miss Jackson, Josh and Tyce so much. I am planning a little trip out east the end of this month, so I can't wait to see them all!

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF SUMMER 2009

This is going to be a big catch up post since I haven't posted anything since July! And since it has been so long I forgot to upload the earliest pictures last, so the pictures are out of chronological order :( Well most of my life has been out of order lately, hence the long time since posts. Since July we have added a new grandchild, lost a dear mother and grandmother, moved our daughter-in-law and three children in with us for a few weeks, had back surgery, done some home renovations, not to mention the routine things that go with work, family, church, and just living day to day. It has definitely been an interesting summer and one certainly worth journaling, but I feel I have really come up short this time. Hopefully these pictures will help tell the story a little of what we have experienced. There have been some very good times with the trials and I am so thankful to my family for their love and support while I have been laid up for so long.

I began to have pain in my leg the end of June and was diagnosed with a herniated disc in July. I was in constant pain, especially while sitting, for over two months while we tried epidural injections and physical therapy before having a successful surgery the end of September. I have learned to appreciate little things like sitting at the computer, going to a movie, driving a car, playing with my grandkids on the floor, going to the temple, riding horses with Tegan, etc. However, everything is going well now and I am grateful to good doctors and a patient family who have helped me stay focused on what really matters in life! THEM!

As I said, the pictures start with the most recent, which was a fun day spent at the corn maze with Jackie and Cole. Cole loved the corn bin, feeding the goats, riding the tractor train, picking out a pumpkin and navigating the maze. He is such a good little guy and is happy doing whatever is happening at the moment!

Look what we found amongst the melons at Costco!

At the Bees game on July 24th

It was so great having Christine home for a while this summer. Her and Tegan kept each other good company!

Christine helped Parker do a presentation on Japan for Tegan's class

Tegan had a very successful year in 4-H with her horse Sundance. They are quite the pair!

This little guy was one of the highlights of our summer. Tyce Parker Morrill was born July 31st at the Uintah Basin Medical Center. He weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz. It was such a blessing to have Parker and Jenn here for the summer before moving to Washington D.C. I can't express how much I miss them all.

This was also another addition to our family this summer! Tegan's little Lillie Joy has been a lot of fun, though I forgot how much energy a puppy has and how much they like to chew on EVERYTHING!

After I inserted these pictures it is kind of hard to say this was a sad day, the day of mom's funeral. Everyone seems to be having too good of a time. We are very happy that mom is happy now. She died at the age of 94, having endured faithfully to the very end. (more detailed blog to follow)

These are the brave runners of the Neola 4th of July half marathon. Tyler did exceptionally well placing in the men's division. Jackie and dad also did very well. I admire anyone to cross the finish line still standing!

These little guys were literally my saviors this summer. They would help keep my mind off the pain and had such a capacity to love that has truly left a void in my life since they have been gone. We had such fun throwing rocks in the pond, playing Uno, going fishing, reading stories. They were always good sports and such good little guys, always ready with a hug.

Of course, if Uncle Shane was around you better watch out!

Josh found this little lace glove in Tegan's drawer and seriously wore it ALL the time. Here they are doing their own version of Michael Jackson "THriller"!

One of their most favorite things to do was fill the balloons with helium and let them go. Little things would make their day!

This was on one of the trips up to the cabin. I miss my little cuddle buddies!

I love this picture of Parker and the boys walking back to the cabin after fishing in the pond!

Dad and Tegan tying on a lure. I'm so blessed with such a great family!

Yes, this summer had it's ups and downs, but the ups were pretty darn good and the downs weren't so bad, so overall I cannot complain. I think I am one of the luckiest people in the world to have such a wonderful family who loves being together and looks out after each other. I couldn't have made it without all of you!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Well it has been 31 years of a wonderful life with my wonderful husband! We have six amazing kids and three even more amazing grandchildren! There have definitely been more good times than bad times and we are more in love than ever! For the last few years we have taken turns planning our anniversary "get-away". This year was Bart's turn and he planned a great trip to Flaming Gorge and a raft trip down the Green River. We stayed at Red Canyon Lodge. The following morning we got up and went to breakfast at Flaming Gorge Restaurant. We were leaving the restaurant and Bart asked me to drive, which is a little nontypical, but as I was going to get in the driver's side I heard "Hi Grandma". In the black van parked next to us was Parker, Christine, Tegan, Jackson, and Josh. I was sooo surprised! At first I thought how sweet to drive so far to come see us. Then I realized Bart was in on it and they were going on the raft trip with us. I was elated! How fun would this be. Anyway, we were blessed with the perfect day on the river and the little boys had a ball. They were very good the whole way. At one point Joshy got a little tired and wanted to go back! We explained we could only go one way on the river! Following are some pix of the great couple of days:

This is a view at one of the Red Canyon overlooks

This is the view from the front porch of our little cabin at Red Canyon Lodge. When we first pulled up there was a deer right in front!

This is in front of the dam (duh). A guy on a Harley was kind enough to take this!

The crew at the end of the rafting adventure

Getting ready to go
We are on our way. Notice Josh helping with the oar!

Stopped a couple of times to do a little fishing

On one stop Jackson happened to fall into the only cactus on the trail! We should have stayed in the boat!

Joshy enjoying some cookies, mostly the frosting!

More fishing

The cute girls

Tegan and her famous snake grass necklaces - Jackson really wanted one!

Of course we had to throw a few rocks into the river