Halloween 2009

Another wonderful Halloween has come and gone

Candy's eaten and buckets empty

A full year we must wait again for such fun

Oh, wait Santa Claus will appear shortly

Don't let his right hook connect. He has a mean upper-cut as well. Beware the champ.

Every Halloween should start off with a good horse ride.

You can't have Halloween without the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

A Haiku for Emmalee:

Our geisha's the best

No Japanese speaks

Sushi and crayfish won't eat

Nice kimono though

Puttin' in his chaw of tootsie roll.

Like Hannah Montana, Gracee is "POPULAR!" No autographs please!

Isaiah Strikes Again

So, just when I think the boy has outgrown his trouble-making stage he changes my mind.

Tonight I was upstairs helping Elijah clean his room when I hear Emmalee yell "Isaiah!" That is never good. I went down to find that he had dumped a bunch of different spices on the counter and stove top. Amanda says that I have to start asking him why he does these crazy things so someone (more her than me) can get some entertainment out of them.

Me: "Why did you make that mess?"
Isaiah: "It a sugar mess."
Me: "Why did you make a sugar mess?"
Isaiah: "I make dinner. It make Mommy sad?"
Me: "Yes."

Why am I such a mean Mommy to get mad at someone for just trying to make dinner?

Our house now smells like garlic salt. There are worse smells.

I don't have any pictures to show you. I think Emmalee sensed that I wasn't in such a great mood and immediately started cleaning it up. Emmalee says that we now need to go spice shopping.

Pike's Peak--Cog Railway Trip June 09

In June I went up the Cog Railway to the top of Pike's Peak with the new group of international cadets. It's always a good trip, even I feel a little dizzy at the top. The donuts were amazing at 14,210 feet.

A reservoir on the way up.

The view down on Colorado Springs and Kansas.

Another look at the Springs. No Kansas in this photo.

Representing USU where ever I go.

The site of the future platform. (Brett Huyser knows what it's for...)

July Trip to Utah--Grizzly Creek

This is one of our favorite rest areas on I-70. We love to stop here and go for hikes or play in the river. I think Bob likes it more than any of us.

Gracee, posing as always.

Elijah and Gracee showing off their climbing skills.

Isaiah planning his next move.

Emmalee and Dad enjoying the view from the middle of the creek.

Stake Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day Three

On day three of the trek we packed up and loaded the handcarts for the seven mile trip back to the Visitors Center.
The Van Wagoner Family, part of Bishop Lindley's Sub-Company posed for a picture before setting out.

As the persecution mounted, the Saints left Nauvoo for the West. During the same period war broke out between the United States and Mexico. After failing to protect the Constitutional rights of the Saints to worship freely, the federal government had no qualms in going to Brigham Young in an attempt to recruit new soldiers for the war. The Mormon Battalion was formed of 500 men with some women and children. They marched from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California. Upon arrival, each of the Mormon soldiers were responsible for finding their way back to the Salt Lake Valley. For more information on them, please check out this website: http://www.mormonbattalion.com/.

As part of the trek they reenacted the calling out of the men for the Mormon Battalion. We left the women and girls behind with the handcarts. With my military service I qualified to serve as a sergeant.

To help us understand the sacrifices made by the sisters left behind and the pain felt by the brethren who left their families behind, we watched as the women pulled the handcarts up a steep hill. The men lined the hill and watched silently with hats removed. It was difficult to watch Rochelle and the three girls in our family pull the cart. They did an amazing job. It made me reflect on the times that I leave Rochelle at home with our four children. She's wonderful and strong.

Claire (in pink bonnet), a member of our ward, was in our group. Here she is pushing the cart up the hill.

Rochelle's great, great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Panting crossed the plains with the Willie handcart company. She along with her two children Christopher (Rochelle's great, great grandfather) and Jane suffered in the early Winter Storms while stuck at Rocky Ridge fifty miles west of Martin's Cove.

Stake Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day Two

The second day of the trek we picked up our handcarts and started down the trail. We stopped at Dan's Cove for a fireside before heading into Martin's Cove. President Griggs, a counselor in the stake presidency, gave a powerful talk on the spiritual aspect of our undertaking. He encouraged us to seek a spiritual experience while in Martin's Cove. We walked through the cove in silence, each alone with their thoughts. My testimony of sacred places and the power they have was strengthened. It's difficult to comprehend what those Saints experienced while on their journey--such pain and suffering accepted willingly in order to be obedient to the prophet's call.
Rochelle and I with Martin's Cove in the background.

One of the monuments near the crossing of the Sweetwater. As the rescue parties from Salt Lake arrived, they helped get the handcart saints moving again. The Sweetwater was running high and filled with ice. Many of the Saints broke down and wept as they contemplated walking through the water. Three young men in the rescue party stepped forward and carried many of them across the water, each making frequent trips. Each of those three young men later died from complication suffered because of the crossing.

Our handcart as it entered the Sweetwater. Rochelle is behind the handcart with the purple bonnet.

The sunset from the Jackson campground where we stayed for two nights.

Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day One

Rochelle and I were called to participate in our Stake Youth Trek to Martin's Cove as a "Ma and Pa." We had an amazing experience for three days with young men and women from wards throughout the stake. We gathered at the Stake Center at 5am to divide up into families and board the buses for the six hour bus ride.


Here we are pictured with our wonderful "sons and daughters" early in the morning.


Rochelle on top of Independence Rock. We tried to find Brigham Young's name carved into the rock, but we ran out of time.

Here I am on top of Independence Rock.

Looking up Devil's Gate. Like Independence Rock, this was an important landmark for the Saints as they crossed the plains.

Rochelle and I both had ancestors cross the plains, in wagons and handcarts. I wonder what they thought as these impressive geological formations appeared in the distance and then slowly grew larger.

April Snow Day

Snow Day in April! In between grading exams I took some time out to put together a small snowman in the backyard with the boys.Emmalee was the architect and project manager for the fortress. It didn't make it much past the second level of snow blocks, but it was quite good for a first attempt.

An hour after this photo was taken the sun came out and our snowman collapsed. It started snowing again awhile later.

The snow is supposed to continue off and on through tomorrow. It should be fun!

Randon Pictures

So, I have been tagged. Sadly, I have been tagged before but haven't done anything about it but today I decided to do something about it. (Peer pressure from Alyssa.)

Anyway, the tag was to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder. Our computer situation is a little complicated. So, I decided to post a couple of random pictures.

The first one is the wild yellow rose bush that used to be in my parents yard. I think they transplanted it when they remodeled their house. I love yellow roses and this is why. This bush was always beautiful and in bloom on my birthday. I always felt like it was a great birthday present. My parents sent me this picture last year for my 30th birthday. It was my favorite present! (Amanda yours was right up there too!)

This picture is my cousin Aleesha and I at our grandma's house. Her mom recently sent this to me. I was lucky enough to have four girl cousins that were about my age! They all lived close together and I lived far away so I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked but I have great memories!

March Birthdays and Visitors

This month we were lucky enough to celebrate two birthdays and have two special visitors! We also got to have two chocolate birthday cakes and lots of fun amazing food including curry. And, all that in the space of one week!

My wonderful sister, Amanda came to visit. That means that she got to do lots of cooking which is fun for her and I got to do less cooking which is fun for me. She also does the dishes without complaining! Does it get any better than that? Her birthday fell during her visit and we were very excited. We were a little late with her birthday present (ethnic cookbooks) and poor Elijah was so concerned. She let us go on a date. We have been very bad at that lately and it was so nice. We think she made a wise choice in her spring break destination. Love you Amanda!

Carlee Ana came to visit too. Her parents (Janalee and Marcelo) decided that they needed to go on a cruise and she decided that she needed to come visit Gracee. We were thrilled. It worked out nice, she was able to fly out with Amanda. Her and Elijah had a great time during the day and when Gracee got home Carlee played with Gracee.

We actually celebrated Isaiah's birthday one day early so Carlee and Amanda could be there. We had beans and rice for dinner. (And curry for the adults!) We also had chocolate (cake) and ice cream. What more could a two year old ask for? The funniest part was him opening his presents with his teeth! His favorite present was the $3 Woody doll that I found on CraigsList.

Carlee Ana
Isn't she sweet? She had been playing very hard that day. We did clean her up a little bit before we sent her home!

Amanda and The Volcano Cake.

My creative friend Callie did a beautiful fondant cake for her son's birthday so I decided that we should try. But instead of beautiful we went for creative. You know all 25-year-olds need a volcano cake!

Amanda and I had a great time making it. The only problem was I was so focused on getting the fondant right that I forgot to frost between the layers. Sorry to everyone who had dry cake!

Isaiah is currently in love with horses (and sheep). We decided that a horse cake would be fun. I think he liked it!

Who opens presents with their mouth? And what made the boy think of that? He did it with every present!

Now the problem with opening presents with your mouth is that there is paper left in your mouth. There was a lot of spitting involved.

Woody!!! As you can see everyone was excited. Before we actually gave

Woody to Isaiah, Elijah kept telling me that he and Isaiah share all their toys. Wishful thinking!

Buzz Lightyear had to come out right away.

Sweet, Sweet Isaiah

or: Why we love Isaiah but we will let you borrow him for a couple of days.

So this is dear sweet Isaiah. Isn't he a cutie. This smile suggests that he could never do anything wrong.

But, it is all just an act. Tuesday after working out I decided that I needed a shower. So, I turned the TV on and put Elijah in charge. Elijah is usually so good about not letting too much trouble occur. He is not a big fan of disorder. After I got out, I noticed that Elijah had turned the TV off and had come upstairs. I went ahead and got dressed. A few minutes later Elijah came in and said, "Mom, you'd better go get your boy, he is into the peanut butter." I knew the peanut butter was on the counter and I assumed that Isaiah had pulled up a chair and was eating peanut butter so I finished getting dressed and then headed downstairs.

This is what I found.

Use your imaginations to guess the amount of the damage. If you look closely you can see gobs of peanut butter on the piano. There was peanut butter on the wood floor, all over the rug, on the leather chair. There was peanut butter on the duck, two horses (with hair) an empty milk jug. It was everywhere. And after I found him I rewarded him with a bath!

We sure do love him!!