Fall Fun with the Grandkids

Maddie Mae turned 6 months in September. She is growing up so fast.

In September Kylie was in a couple of Ice Skating competitions. She is doing really well. In this competition she took second place in her division in Open Style

and First Place in Free Style.

Ryan and Jackson have their birthdays the first part of October.

They had only cousins and uncles and aunts come to the party. One the left side are their cousins from their Dad's side and on the right are the cousins from the Topham side. Hayden is in the middle, and Ryan is by the rocking elephant, barely visible.

I don't know what happened here, but the boys are blowing out their candles on the cake.

The boys playing a game

and the girls join in.

Mid-October Kylie and Kambree had their Halloween skate review.

Kylie's solo was "Welcome to my Nightmare"

Kambree was in a group who skated to "Monster Mash"

Then Kylie's group dance was to "Thriller"

Grandma gave them each a rose, and we all went to dinner afterward.

It is Corn Maze time at Thanksgiving Point. They have a whole area they turn into an amusement area, along with the corn mazes.

Here are Ryan and Jackson in the Princess carriage, while waiting for Hayden to get there.

Here they are in the train,

They had Pig races and the last race the chose adults to cheer for the favorite pig. Jeff was chosen and he has Hayden on his shoulders.

The "Pig Handler" said he had some special imported pigs. He said they were "Chinese Pigs", but they were "Pig"my Goats.

Jeff's prize was shooting a pumpkin from a pumpkin cannon.

Jeff and Paul and Dora went to Las Vegas for the Ragnar Relay. Jeff is on a different team.

I am at Dora's house, watching their kids. I also have Ryan and Jackson, as Marian is working the early morning shift today and tomorrow, and the mid-morning shift yesterday.

Here are the boys and Kambree on the trampoline.

And Kylie with the boys in the sandbox. It is beautiful weather and they are enjoying being outside.

Busy Summer

Right after our Sister's weekend we brought Ryan and Jackson home with us, as Marian was scheduled to work the weekend. On Friday she called me and told me that she had been demoted and was not going to be the manager in Huntington anymore. The gal she replaced and one of the assistant managers had sabotaged her and had been logging complaints at the office and on the customer service line. They did not fire her, but relieved her of her position. Luckily, though, one of the girls at American Fork was quitting, which Marian was able to jump back into a job here. We moved her back home and so now they are back with us and she is back at American Fork. She is looking for something else, though. She probably does not have a chance at another store.
With Stephanie back in Washington, Jennie has need of day care, so I have her little ones 3-5 days a week for the time being. She is looking for a new day care. The one she had Hayden in is going through some changes that she is not pleased with, so does not want to go back there.
And my garden is in full production. I have been freezing vegetables, making pickles, and generally trying to keep up with it.
Here are some dill pickles and "Dilly Beans" that I canned. They are by some Salsa from last year, that soon I will be adding to that supply. I will do some spaghetti sauce too. We use a lot of that around here. The boys love pasta.

Sorry about the spacing on the last post

I thought it would take less space to put the pictures side-by-side, but it just messed up the spacing on the descriptions of the pictures. I will try to re-do it later.

Sisters Weekend/Our Anniversary

The first weekend in August, Paul and I and Virgil and Marie trekked to Blanding to spend time with Gary and Dorine. Every couple of years we have been able to get some time together as sisters and spouses. Brent and Judy have never been able to join us, but we keep hoping.

Gary was the perfect tour guide and took us to see a lot of beautiful and historic sites.
This posting has lots of pictures, but only a small part of what I took.

Paul and me

Virgil and Marie

Dorine and Gary

Marie, Dorine, and me

Paul, Gary, and Virgil

Paul and me, Virgil and Marie, Dorine and Gary

Blanding Arches
A guy who lives about 4 blocks down from Gary and Dorine has made his own arches. There are about a dozen of them. These are the first 2 that you see when you enter his yard.

This wash is just west of Blanding, and these ancient dwellings are midway up the side of the sheer rock wall.

This hill is called Salvation Knoll. The settlers from Bluff were looking for the Blue
mountains, and this is where they got their first glimpse. We walked up the trail and saw the mountain too.

Comb Ridge

Natural Bridges National Monument

Sipapa Bridge

Kachina Bridge Owachome Bridge
We hiked down the trail to sit under
the bridge.













Goosenecks of the San Juan State Park Navajo Twins (in Bluff)

Mexican Hat

Interesting formations. Can you see the

Lady in the Bathtub? (Center of the picture)

On Tuesday morning we headed home. It was our wedding anniversary, and we took our time.
This rock has a home built inside. Outside are various displays of clever workmanship.
Here are my favorites:

Would not want to be on the
bottom of this outhouse The golfer is made from golf clubs!

Mater

The bull is all metal tools and implements welded together

The Jeep is made from license plates. The wheels, seats, bumpers, etc are metal.

Our next stop was Arches. We did not do much hiking.

Arches National Park
Balanced Rock

"The Three Gossips"

Delicate Arch

Sand Dune Arch

Skyline Arch

This next set of pictures is an area called "The Windows"

From here, we headed home. We stopped and had dinner with Marian and brought her boys home for a few days.