Happy Birthday Canyon

Happy Birthday Canyon.  Hope that you have a wonderful day.  I know that you will as there is a special surprise waiting for you when you awake in the morning.

Today we celebrated your day with boating at Mantua and swimming in the lake.  Wasn't it a fun time even when Grandma fell out of the boat into the water.  That was so funny!! We sure had a good laugh when I finally got my leg unhooked and could stand up.

We are so glad that you are our grandson and you do bring so much happiness to our lives.  Thanks for being that extra special boy.  We love you very much.  Have a wonderful day.

Brigham City Temple Groundbreaking

Today July 31, 2010 the groundbreaking for the new Brigham City Temple.  We rose early so we could be part of this historical celebration.  We bathed, dressed in our Sunday best clothes, fixed our hair all pretty and nice and as we walked out the door, we put on our Sunday best behavior.  We walked over to the temple site which is not very far so we did not get tired.

We waited......

and waited...

and lots of other people waited...

and more people across the street waited....

and then finally they broke the ground with gold plated shovels...

marking the beginning of construction ....

for this House of the Lord..

in our beautiful Brigham City.

Honey Rash

Evan got this rash on her body and we are not sure what caused it.  I told Gramps that I thought it was hives and have been treating it with aloe/lidocaine to take the itch away.  Evan is telling us it is honey rash (bee's make honey in their hives) and she is allergic to honey (she has not had any so that is not it either).  I have reviewed everything she has eaten for the last two days and it is nothing that she has not eaten at our house in the past.  I am dumbfounded as to what would have caused this rash.  It is all over her body except for her back.  We are trying to keep her out of the sun thinking that it might be from getting in the sun yesterday. 

Will be glad when Kelly gets home so she can take her to be checked.  This is the first time that one of the kids have had something like this while in my care.  Hope that it does not cause the parents to not let them come back to stay.  That would be sad!!!

Happy Birthday, Brook

Happy Birthday baby girl. 

We thought of you all day long and hoped that your family in AZ was celebrating as hard as your family in Utah was.  We had a big parade and ended the day with a gorgeous array of fireworks just in honor of you. 

Thanks for choosing us as your parents and for being our baby.  You have truly be a joy in our lives and we could not imagine it without you there to keep our spirits high.  Thanks for the beautiful grandchildren that you have given to us.  We love them dearly.

Hope that this coming year is filled with joy and happiness and that all your dreams come true.

Love you tons and tons.

Camping At Hyrum Lake

We just got back from a very fun camping trip to Hyrum Lake State Park.  We played in the water, rode bikes, went for a hike, rode bikes into the lake, caught some fish and had lots of good food.

Thanks Chapmans for going with us.

Here are a few pictures showing just how much fun we had.

Evan, Canyon & Mason playing at the boat ramp

Canyon & Evan playing on the beach by our trailer

Canyon & Evan

Miss Water Princess content playing all by herself

Canyon trying to unstick his fishing line and Wendy getting

here flip flop stuck in the gooy mud

Guys getting hooks and lines ready to cast out

Mason and his catch of the day

Missy Muffet and her tiny fish she caught

Canyon's favorite thing of the camping was

riding his  bike into the water zooming as

fast as he could down the boat ramp

Saying goodbye at the end of the

camping trip.

Brigham City LDS Temple

The bustle about Brigham City is the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Brigham City LDS Temple.  The big day is July 31st.  We are a blessed people to be privilegded to have a temple in our town.  Not only is it in our town, but just two blocks from our home.  We will be able to see the spires from our house as Angel Moroni will stand 18 feet higher than the highest point on the tabernacle.

 I am anxiously awaiting for the temple to start being built as my afternoon walks will include walking past it just to see this holy house of the Lord.

Yes, we are blessed.

Temple Picture

This is the picture that Kelly made for us of the Salt Lake Temple. She finished distressing and glazing the frame yesterday and we hung it up today.   What a gorgeous piece of art and a reminder that Families Are For Time and All Eternity.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!

I sure hope that this day has been special for you.  You have truly brought much joy to my life and the adventure has been wonderful.  Today I want you to know that I love you dearly and thank my Father in Heaven for leading our paths to each other.  You have been a fantastic husband and the world's greatest father and grandfather.  Boy!! are our grandchildren lucky to have you for their grandfather. You are loving and caring and make each of them feel like they are the most important person in your life.  I love you for that!!  Thanks for being the love of my life. 

Happy Birthday Kelson

Dear Kelson,
I know that your birthday was last Friday and YES I have been thinking about you all week.  Thanks for choosing our family to come to.  You have brought many talents with you and hopefully you are developing them to improve your life. 

I remember well the day you finally arrived and as I stood outside of the operating room anticipating your arrival my heart was racing and I could hardly wait for the wailing of a newborn little boy.  Finally that sound came and my heart leaped for joy and then I could hardly wait to hold you in my arms. 

When it was time for you and Mommy to leave the hospital, you got to come to my house for 10 days as Mommy was not in any condition to take care of you alone.  I got to spoil you and you loved to sleep in my water bed.  I would have to rock the bed all night long or you would fuss and cry.  It was not to fun trying to keep that bed rocking and still try to sleep.  Finally the day came when it was time for you, Mom and Dad to go to your own home and then my heart was heavy cause my house was so quiet and my bed did not have to rock all night long.

I love you Kelson and hope that the world is treating you well.  Take care and hopefully we will get to see you real soon.  I hope that your birthday was extra special because you deserve special days.

Love,
Grandma

One Hour In Brigham City.....

Today my sweet friend was laid to rest in the Brigham City Cemetery and we went to her grave to say goodbye to her.  As we were driving into the cemetery, there was this little girl leaning against a tree crying.  Quickly we looked around and noticed that no one was there except for a man cleaning grass from around a headstone and another man doing the final work on the grave of DeEsta.  We had passed the little girl and Dick suddenly stopped and said that he thought she was lost.  We backed up and the sight was so sad as she stood there with tears running down her face. 

I jumped out of the truck and started to talk with her.  She was seven and from Logan and her name was Bethany Gunther and her Daddy's name was Jake.  They had come for the funeral of her great great grandmother.  She wanted to know if we could take her to the church where her family was cause she knew that they were there and if we would take her she would recognize her Daddy's car.

Being that the world is not safe anymore for some stranger to take a child in their vehicle, I called 911 and told them about this little girl and asked for an officer to come get her.  They asked me to please stay with her until help came which I reassured them I would.  Within just a few minutes an officer came and so gently talked with her and took some information from me.  I told him where the church was that the dinner was being held at and where the grandfather lived.  He put her in his car and buckled her in and we left. 

My heart was aching for this little girl and I wanted to hold her close and let her know that she was safe.  As I was getting into the truck, I had a warm fuzzy feeling and tingled from head to toe.  I know that DeEsta was standing there with Bethany and she was thanking me for taking care of her granddaughter.  Child and parents were reunited thanks to this wonderful officer.

We went on our way and headed to do some shopping at Kent's for a birthday dinner on Thursday.  As I was walking our of Kent's, I looked across the street and there was a car that had crashed into a building, a bumper in the middle of the road and another car sitting in the parking lot without a bumper.  All sorts of officers, ambulance and firetruck were coming.  One officer was the same one that had come to rescue our little friend.  What a busy day he was having.

We went for a short ride on the east side of town and when we were coming down Main Street to go home, lo and behold this same officer was talking with some woman.  She was really not dressed for our summer weather and must have been out in space a little.  She was dressed in a knit hat, a heavy sweater and was pulling two suitcases.  We had seen her earlier a few blocks away when we were washing our truck.

All of this happened in less than one hour.  Sure am glad that we have the officers that we do and thank them for the outstanding job that they do to keep our community safe.

Sweet Dreams...

What a perfect day we had at Grandpa & Grandma's.  Sweet Dreams everyone!!!

This Is The Place Heritage Park

Today we went to This Is The Place Heritage Park and had family day with Kelly, Canyon and Evan.  I have lived in Utah the majority of my life and never visited this fantastic park.  There are so many things to do and see that tells about the early pioneers that settled the Salt Lake Valley.  We only got to participate in a small portion of the events, but had a ball with what we did get to see and do.

This Is the Place Monument

Modern clothing vs. 1800's clothing

Pioneer bonnet

Riding horses

What lucky people we were!!! being on the same street in the park when they had the cannon candy shoot.

Look at the load of candy that these two picked up from the cannon.

Thanks Gramps for letting us use your hat to collect all this candy.  Boy isn't the dentist going to be happy when we go back for our check ups. 

Going for ice cream cones!!!

I think that Evan's nose is growing!!!

Madsen children at the Madsen Furniture Store

My great, great, great, great grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Johnson was the first person to have a saddlery shop in the Salt Lake Valley.  This is a replica of his shop and some of the items that were used in the shop. 

This is a picture of him and his seven wives.  Our family comes through the second wife, Mary Ann Hale.

Canyon ready for a shave and haircut.  Boy!! look at those scissors that this barber wants to use to cut his hair.  Canyon just about was ready to get out of the chair at this point, but was a good sport and let the barber entertain us.

Soaping the face...

Cutting off the whiskers....

Oh boy, almost done...

Let's check the teeth to see if any are loose...

...thinking that one might need pulled with this handy, dandy piece of equipment.

We had so much fun and can hardly wait to go back when Derek gets home.  We plan to spend the entire day as there is just to much to see in half of a day.  We will go early and stay till close!!!

This was a perfect day and ended with watching the fireworks in Brigham City.

Oldie Pictures....

Kelly just had these taken on base last week.

Love these pictures!!!

Little bare feet trying to tell a story...

I want to go shopping...No, no we are

 playing baseball!!!

Canyon get your gun...

Evan wants to go out...

Canyon the Great!!!

Tea party for two...