Killing Time in Kilgore

We had our annual Eddins/Smuin campout in August just before school started. This year Seth and Anne Marie were in charge. They chose a pretty spot in Kilgore.

Karen and John showed us a fun trail up to a place called Monument Ridge. There was a whole mountain top full of shale rock of all sizes. Over the years, people have stacked up piles. Some are just that....random piles. But some are very creative and impressive.

There was fishing, bike riding, four-wheeling, motorcycling,

zip-lining,

playing in the creek,

cooking, (Roy and his "garbage can turkey")

and just hanging out. It was a great time!

Catching Up - July

July 4th is always a fun time with the family. The past two years we have gone to Driggs. It has become quite the destination spot for this holiday, and we're not sure we ever want to miss it now.

To add to the already fun and festive hot air balloon launches, the Huntsman Foundation puts on a wonderful and patriotic few days, all for free.

Complete with an air show, BMX racing, bouncy houses, food concessions, concerts,

and Glenn Beck. Loved the symphony music and his speech....very touching and patriotic.

Add some swimming and barbecuing, and you have a perfect holiday celebration!

This year's swimming lessons week was held the 3rd week in July. All the girls and kids came again for lessons at Lava.

There was floating the river, fishing, boating, fluming, and

a day playing at Bear Lake.

August was a busy month, too. Our world was turned upside down when I was made Relief Society president. Then a few weeks later, Roy was put in our ward bishopric as the second counselor. (I think our bishop hates us!) Life has taken on a whole new focus, as we both go to a lot more meetings now, and have challenging things going on all the time. Heck...we don't even know half the members in the ward! So we have our work cut out for us. Roy looks good in his new suit! I told him he was the best looking guy on the stand.
More catching up to come!

Best Friends Forever

I spent three fun-filled days with my BFF's last month in Utah. We decided that on the off years of the family reunion, we would try to get together and spend some quality time.

Day one included picking Brenda up at the SLC airport, having pedicures in Provo, and ending up in Manti for the pageant. All three of them had seen it before when they were in YW, but I had never seen it and it was on my bucket list. The temple was breathtakingly beautiful and the pageant was awesome and well worth the trip. We stayed in Provo that night. I was pretty proud of myself for getting such a great deal on our rooms on Priceline, but I didn't know that it was meant for 2 people only. So when I called to make sure we had 2 queen beds, I was told, "Sorry, but we only have a room with one king bed available, but we can bring in a roll-away." And there's no backing out once you hit the button. So we jokingly talked about who was going to sleep in the middle. (Hope I didn't snore too loud...)

Day two: Shopping at the Provo Town Center all morning, traveling to Park City and making fun necklaces (courtesy of Brendi-Lou) in our motel room. (This time we did have two queens....whew!)

This picture was taken in the mirror without a flash to show the necklaces we made...very pretty!

Day three we pretty much shopped till we dropped....literally! The outlet stores there are pretty amazing. (Glad I had been saving up for awhile.) We saw a movie in the late afternoon, then explored around the town for awhile. I wanted to go down the Alpine Slide, but no one else did. I told them it could be a fun memory. But quite possibly the only memory may have been someone's broken hip!

Said goodbye to Brenda at the airport the next morning, refreshed and satisfied that we had talked about every subject, and been successful at solving all of each others problems!! (Sigh..)

This and That

So glad we finally have summer. It's been a cold and rainy spring and we're so ready for sun! School is out and that means the grandkids can come for visits and stay with grandma and grandpa for a few days at a time. Haddi and Mia came and we did some fun things.

There's a strange little geyser-like spring in Alexander reservoir that we visited one day with Val and Megan's family.


Then there was our 2nd annual trek to CJ Strike Reservoir for three days for crappie fishing. The fish didn't cooperate quite as well as the guys had hoped, but a total of about 140 fish were brought home and put in the freezer. (Great for fish tacos!) I took a book to finish ("Alecia," so good) and quilt squares to cut out. The women had fun exploring and visiting as well.

On my birthday, we met the kids at Heise for a picnic.

The South Fork was running very fast and high...as you can see we were holding tight to the little ones! We also went to see the parking lot at Kelly Canyon where the spring runoff carved a huge crater. Very awesome to see the powers of nature.

And just a little footnote to our kids and friends that are interested....this is the progress on the house finishing project.

A Good Start

"How do you eat an elephant?"

"One bite at a time."
We have a huge "elephant" here. We've lived in our house now for 4 years, and the outside has not been finished. It seemed to be such a huge undertaking that Roy wasn't sure he was up to it anymore. This Spring brought new resolve to get the job done.... and, lo and behold, he even asked for help. (A huge feat, if you know Roy.)

Last weekend four of the kids and their families came to the rescue. Val, Faren, Seth, and Chad worked part of Friday and all day Saturday on roofs, ladders, and planks. Ron and Conner came over to lend a hand, the girls made food, and the kids were good runners. Mother Nature even cooperated and a lot was accomplished.

They got all of the fascia and soffit done on the new part of the house.


They tore all the Tyveck off and removed old siding and black celotex from the old part. Even the sun setting didn't slow them down.
The "elephant" doesn't seem quite so big now. Thanks guys!

Crap Day

There was a time, before I moved from St Anthony, that Taun and I would get together to do craft projects, quilts, scrap booking, etc. on a pretty regular basis. I loved those days. We created a lot of fun things, as well as good memories. Val was still home and he would come home from school and see what we were working on. Instead of "craft days," he started calling them "crap days." Those times have become less and less frequent as time goes by. She moved away, I moved away, her kids started school, she moved again, she got busier and the list goes on.

A while back, Avery mentioned a fun craft project she had seen and I said, "Let's do it!" So we converged on Taun's house in Ririe just before Easter (so nice now that she is in a fairly central location) and had a "Crap Day." We each brought photos that we'd had enlarged. We mounted them on foam board with spray adhesive with the idea of making a wall grouping without frames, lightweight enough to use Velcro for hanging. My plan is to make a genealogy wall of sorts, with old black and whites.

We also made some little grass in pots by using wheat that had been soaking. Taun had a bigger one already and we wanted to do it.

Taun is loving her new Janomi sewing machine. She was at her wits end using mom's old one... it had a mind of it's own most of the time.

Just had to add this priceless picture of the kids holding the baby kitties. Their faces say it all!
Here's to a lot more "Crap Days" in the future!

Go Figure..

As most people know...I am not a fan of eating fish...any fish. I think most of it smells and tastes quite ghastly. The seafood portion of the menu at any restaurant is not my idea of good reading. (Roy claims he has saved a lot of money on me over the years!) We were at a buffet-type restaurant not long ago when I accidentally spooned some crab salad on my plate, and quite literally gagged when it got to my taste buds. And years ago, Robert took us to a seafood place at Seaside, OR, and was thoroughly disgusted when I wouldn't try the seafood. He said, "Mom, this fish is so fresh...it was swimming this morning!" I know, I know...call me crazy. And the irony is more than obvious...I'm married to a fishing fool!! He used to be a "catch and release" fisherman mostly, and when he did bring some home, he would always give it to the widows in the ward, because he didn't necessarily love it either. But lately, he has developed a taste for fish, and he started keeping all the fish he catches in the lakes and reservoirs around here. Living with me, he has discovered that if he wants to eat fish, he better be willing to cook it himself. When Roy was growing up, all they had to do was catch the fish, bring them in the house, throw them in the sink, and his mom would clean them and cook them! (Sorry, honey, one more way I just can't be as good as your mom!)


Anyway, a month or so ago we gave some fish to a friend who made fish tacos with them. Up to that point, whenever I heard about fish tacos I would get a full-body shudder! But when she described them to me, I thought it would be interesting to try. Find the recipe here.

Surprise, Surprise! I liked them! There's something about the cabbage, Pico de Gallo, and spicy ranch dressing that is so good together. (Maybe it's because the fish taste is drowned out by all the good stuff.) Roy still cooks the fish part, but, hey... baby steps, right?