Two Trips...So Much Fun!

We have some dear friends, Ron and Eileen Hallett, that we go to Banff with each year to celebrate their 'Fall' birthdays!

We love the Banff area so it is a fun trip for all of us.

 

It was especial nice this year.

The snow hadn't fallen yet, and it was still so warm and beautiful in the Banff area, with all of the leaves just changing color.

 

 

We stayed in a Condo just overnight, but enjoyed the opportunity of visiting and catching up with eachother's lives.

 

We loved the drive and the wonderful vistas and views of the majestic mounttains, lakes and valleys. It was a quick trip, but well worth it!

 

As our time for travelling is coming to a close as we begin our Temple service for three years, we decided one more trip to our Phoenix home was necessary. We needed to check on the house and do any repairs so we know it is in good shape to continue to rent out for the next while.

Lindsay and James had wanted to go down, so this worked well as we combined our visit and spent several days together there.

It was Ivy's first flight, of course...

 

 

 

But she looked like a seasoned flyer!

She was quite good and loved looking around at everything, and everybody...and they loved her!

 

 

We touched down in Phoenix and it didn't take long to get settled and into the pool.

We had so much fun together playing with Ivy and in the pool.

 

 

 

And when the pool was cold, it was in the tub she went.

 

Mark came downand and spent four of his vacation days with us as well.

It was fun to be there with some of the kids this time.

We enjoyed eating out at a few of his favorite places.

We made them work, as well. Mark and James planted a lemon tree for us in the backyard...we hope it survives. It so cute.

Lindsay is so excited to have lemons in the yard, she wants us to name the tree after her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our visit to church, Linds and James wanted a family picture...Ivy seems to be saying, "OK already, it's hot out here!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James loved playing with Ivy, he is a such a good dad!

The hat was perfect for the occasion! She loved the water, unless it was too cold!

 

 

 

 

We all had fun enjoying some 'down time' in Phoenix.

We enjoyed listening to Conference, relaxing, reading, cooking, eating, swimming, and just having a good time.

 

 

 

We celebrated James 30th birthday. He is getting "up there".

 

What a wonderful gift his little girl is to him!

We wore Ivy out! She pretty well slept the whole way home.

Luckily we were able to get three open seats!

It was a fun, memorable trip.

I hope we can do it with all of the kids and grandkids someday soon!

 

 

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Two Birthdays and Thanksgiving Fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark had his birthday on September 13, and we celebrated his birthday at a little party at the cabin. Wow, a delicious Costco cake...with tons of icing!!

 

He had fun visiting with his best friend, Dave his wife, Christy, and their new little daughter, Alexis. As well as his fun little nieces, Brynn, Mckinley & Brooke.

We had some fun boating and playing around! It's always fun to watch Mark in the water, he is good at skiing, surfing and just 'goofing' around!

Grandma was excited for Ivy's first boat ride! It was a beautiful day and the lake was gorgeous! It will be fun taking Ivy out in the years to come and her mom teaching her how to surf behind the boat!

A few weeks later...our little Byrnnlee, Cam's third daughter turned two on October 8.

She is such a fun loving, active little girl.

We celebrated her birthday on Canadian Thanksgiving, with moustaches that grandpa bought at the dollar store.

 

 

Cam and D and their look of casual indifference!

Cam's almost matches his natural hair color!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooke and Mckinley look like true mafioso! OK...who's our next hit? Ouch!!

 

 

 

Little Colby saying..."Now daddy, this is how you grow a moustache!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lindsay and James look a little like ' Bonnie and Clyde'...where's our next bank robbery.

However, James also has a definite Hitler look about him!

 

 

And Ivy...OK mom and dad, I'll try not to get any milk on my moustache...I promise!!

 

 

 

Grandma and grandpa... With grandma completely grey, and grandpa ready for his driver and his Rolls Royce to meet him outside!

Lindsay created a great Thanksgiving dessert, with all kinds of candies mixed into melted marshamellow, including candied eyes...the kids loved it.

Grandma loved it, too. She even took home the leftovers to share with the ladies in her home. It was so see her be young at heart again!

Mark was thinking, 'Grandma how can you that??'

It all started on a beautiful day, with Brooke and Mckinley having fun in Grandpa's raked leaves. It ended with us, celebrating everything we are thankful for, especially our family! A wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

 

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Long Weekend Family Fun

 

We just had a wonderful long weekend...

Jon and Tiff came up with Ava and Josh on Saturday.

It was so good to see them again...Josh is now 3 and growing up so big....it was his birthday weekend. He loved the hot tub and wanted to keep playing forever!

 

 

 

 

They were excited to go see an outdoor concert at Winston Churchill Square with Disney music on Saturday evening.

Ava dressed up in her best princess dres for the occasion. She looked so cute!

Cam and D came over with Brooke, McKinley, Brynn, and Colby. They had fun together all weekend long.

They coloured outside on the sidewalks...not exactly sure what that's supposed to be!

 

We Had a great BBQ with all the fixings including Taber corn, thanks to Tiff!

Jon and Cam has some 'catching up' to do, so why do it shucking corn.

The kids started playing with the apples in the backyard and decided they wanted to make some apple crisp...but first they had to recruit the adults to help get the good apples down off the tree.

It was so funny watching Jon try batting them down...they would come down, but then get mixed in with the bad ones.

I was laughing so hard, it was like he was trying to smash a piñata!

 

Finally, Lindsay got on James shoulders and started to hand them down to Brooke.

Poor James...he is such a good sport!!

We did end up with some lovely apples from our backyard tree.

Grandpa had fun peeling the apples with Ava, Brooke and McKinley.

They really enjoyed seeing how fast an apple peeler works! Their apple crisp turned out delicious!

Joshie got a really great ice cream cake for his birthday!

He loves tractors and trucks, and he got several for his birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was especially fun letting the kids get to know Ivy a little better, she is getting growing up so fast...-almost three months already!

 

It's a good thing Joshie likes babies because he is going to be a big brother in a few months!

On Monday, we went to Sothgate Mall and did a little shopping and had some lunch. The kids loved visiting the Lego store...and are showing off their treasures. It was a great weekend to be together again!

Mark was away for most of it hiking the West Coast Trail with a few friends. It was a good experience for him...he loved the trail. Doug and I want to go back with him next year!!

 

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A Utah Visit with a Phoenix Side Trip

 

 

Well, it had been over a year since I had seen my family in Utah, so Doug and decided it was time to go down for a visit. And since we are now 'retired', we jumped in our little car and took Hwy 93 all the way to Idaho Falls! Then hwy 15 down to Provo.

 

We took Beans with us...he's good at keeping us awake on those late nights! Lucky bear!!

Our first stop was at Karla's in Provo. It's always so fun to visit her and her family. She had just won the County 'Pig Wrestling' competition the night before we got there!

She had all of her family come for a BBQ..Josh, Justin, Erica, Jace and all of their significant others!!

It was so good to see them all again.

 

We celebrated her oldest son Josh's birthday while we were there...he has two little ones. His little girl Brinlee reminds me so much of Ava, she is sitting on my lap, and his son is in the brown shirt with Josh's wife, Amber. Erica is holding Justin's little boy, Miken.

It was so fun to visit and get 'caught up' with everyone!

This is her youngest son Jace and his girlfriend, Stefanie and Justin's wife, Chelsey...she is a great ball player! We went to their game Thursday night...wow, even Karla played!

 

 

 

Josh and Brian were anxiously looking forward to some of that delicious cake!

Karla just did a major renovation of her kitchen and she did most of the work herself...she really is Superwoman!!

 

 

 

 

 

After our 3 day visit in Provo we drove down to St. George with Arlene and Ron and stayed overnight at Kevin and Joeen's. They had most of their kids and grandkids there, too. We stayed up late into the night visiting and reminiscing. It was so fun to see them all again!

What a blessing it was for me to see and visit with my family. I love them and miss them so much and wished I lived closer...but I'll still keep coming down to visit. And maybe they will come see me!!

 

The next morning we got up and started out on our drive to Phoenix with Arlene and Ron. We saw some beautiful country on our trip, especially the canyons near Lake Powell.

 

 

We really enjoyed our visit to Phoenix...we spent a lot of our time in or near the pool, it was so refreshing!!

We also took time to catch a movie, which we loved...The Hundred Foot Journey.

 

 

 

A highlight of our trip was a session we did at the Mesa Temple. It is such a beautiful Temple, we felt such a sweet feeling there as we did some family history names. We are so grateful for Temples and for Temple work!

We enjoyed a lovely late afternoon boat ride on Lake Pleasant.

We love going out on the lake. It is always so beautiful there, especially as the sun is setting!

And we enjoyed eating out!! We had great visits together, but it seemed the week went by too quickly!

Reluntantly we left Phoenix and travelled back up to Logan. We stayed overnight there, and had a fun visit with K and Jackie and their kids, and Brian and Julie. I just wish I had remembered to take some pictures. We were so glad to see them again!

The next morning it was time to say 'good-bye' to mom and Ron. They have such a beautiful place there, with a lovely English garden.

We had such a good time with them!

Well, it was now time to head home. We decided to take Hwy 89 up through Logan Canyon to Bear Lake and on to Paris Idaho.

We stopped in Paris and toured the tabernacle there, it is beautiful. It was built in 1889 under the direction of Brigham Young.

Doug is with Br. Merrill, our tour guide. He and his wife own a historic home just a block away!

 

Br Merrill and his wife and Sister Rich are the service volunteers here.

Br. Merrill's grandfather worked on the Tabernacle.

Sister Rich, on the left, is a descendant of the Apostle Charles Rich, who lived in Paris Idaho and had 5 wives and 50 children. He now has over 22,000 decendants and each year the Rich family hold a family reunion here and over a thousand show up! Amazing!!

We enjoyed the beautiful drive home and met a man selling Jerky...buffalo, beef and elk. Doug excitedly bought a generous portion, and later realized he got ripped off...but whatever!

We also went up through Jackson Hole, Wyoming and ate at a place called Bubba's...a referral from the Jerky guy. It was great, so that made up for the overpriced Jerky!

 

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