Snowbirding #1.

This is what our house looked like as we headed out. 12 degrees. It stayed frozen until we reached St. George, then the ice melted off the truck and trailer.

Our favorite camping place, Valley of Fire. There was even a huge big horn sheep there to greet us.

Next stop Cottonwood Cove on the Colorado River.

A brief stop in Laughlin, just so Steve could see it. Had a great icecream cone.

A Joshua tree forest outside of a desert town, called Searchlight. We are so loving the sun and the warm weather. Our next stop, Phelan and a visit with Mike and Kasey.

Snowbirding #2

We were there to celebrate #10 with Abi. What fun! She is a special grandaughter.

Then we cheered Kade on in his soccer tournament. They lost, but you know, the fun part was watching him play. The name of their team was the Rusty Zombies--orange shirt, and 9 year old boys. Makes sense.

The desert out by Quartzite. What an adventure. Shopping til you drop.

Steve found a few minutes to read a good book.

Next step, checking into our apartment.

Our Christmas Present!

This year for Christmas, we did not exchange presents. Our home remodel was a gift far better than we could even imagine. I wish I could have put a big red bow around our whole house, and around my husband for all his hard work and help. My brother, Kumen also put many long hours building our front porch and roofing our garage. This is a blessing and a whole bunch of dreams coming to life. I now share with you, some of the finished pictures.

Christmas on Temple Square

Hundreds and thousands of lights! It is hard to describe the beauty of it all.

The real beauty and meaning is the Christ Child.

We went with Debbie, Matt and the children. It was a special time to celebrate the Christmas season.

Festival of Trees

Maddie and Jordan with their "crowns".

Each year in Salt Lake a special event is held to raise money for Primary Children's hospital--the Festival of Trees.
Trees are decorated and donated and then people can purchase them and the money goes to the hospital. Most of the trees go for thousand of dollars. There were hundreds.
This tree was especially cute. An Elmo tree. There were so many, you can't really even see them all. There are big trees, and then a whole area of small trees, and then an area of wreaths.
This tree is for Madison. It was all decorated with penguins.
We could have bought this tree and we each would have had our own side. Very fun and creative.

We Are Thankful!

Thanksgiving was spent in San Diego with Mark and Rachelle and their family. We left our home in Grantsville during a huge storm-very strong winds all the way til Hurricane. We were pulling our little 5th wheel with our new truck, and oh, our truck did not like that wind. But we spent the night in Hurricane--took Cheila and Hunter to dinner--Spaghetti Factory with those wonderful bread sticks.
Then it was to Poway and we camped at Dos Picos Park. Very thankful to have arrived safely. Austin, Kylie, and Kendal took turns spending the night with us. We are so thankful for all of our Grandchildren and for their parents.


Austin's birthday was the day before Thanksgiving. Out to breakfast to celebrate. The best pancakes ever.

Then to the Mormon Batallion Visitor Center. An amazing demonstration of the sacrifices and faith these pioneers had. After the presentation, we all panned for gold.

Our nephew, Chase joined us for dinner and also to the Center. He was so willing to dress up like a Batallion soldier--for real he is a Marine, and we are thankful for him.

Kylie and Kendall playing with glow sticks in the 5th wheel.
We ended our trip being so thankful for all the many blessings God has given us--especially family. Thanks

A Mission Blessing!

Steve's new big truck! After months and months of searching and trying to find it, we came upon an add from a couple in Idaho that were leaving to serve a mission in the Phillipines and needed to sell their truck. We went to see it. Fell in love with it! Now it is ours! How did we afford this ? Each month as we served our mision, we were blesed with the ability to put away money into savings. This is our "Mission Truck". A blessing for serving!
For those who want to know what it is--a Dodge, diesel, 250.


This is our big truck next to its little brother. Reminds me of the silly movie, "Twins" with Arnold Swarshnegger and Danny Devito.
We now have a "puller' for our little 5th wheel. Can't wait to go traveling.