Wrapping Up the Year - 2018

We had a very special treat this Christmas.  We stayed the night at Marc and Brittney's and were able to watch the kids open Santa presents Christmas morning.  I love Christmas with little children; they are fun and excited.

Kacy received two pair of ballet slippers; the sparkle in her eye was worth every penny of the shoes.  Kacy also received a life size Unicorn- how did Santa get that stuffed in his bag; it's a miracle. Tyce got lots of medical equipment so he could be a veterinarian.  Ali Jo went retro this year with an instamatic camera - the old polaroid we used to have and Mason was enamored with the new (retro) Nintendo game console.  Who would have thought pacman and Mario brothers would be back in our lives.

After opening all the presents, we left and traveled to Curt and Melanee's where Adrian and Todd had come to have Christmas.  When you have teenagers, it doesn't matter where you are, Santa will find you.

Cameron got a new stereo for his car and grandpa mentored his on how to install it.  This is a most precious picture of Theron watching as Cameron connects wires together.



Taylor got a lathe and he and his man ponytail are turning some pieces of wood.







Merry Christmas to everyone in our family.  With Love.

WHAT!!!! Marc is 39 years old - can't be

December 25th brings Christmas and our most precious Christmas present - Marc's birthday.  The mission is finished, we can go home, oh wait, we can go to our kids' homes for the holidays.

Marc's birthday is celebrated on December 24th because we want him to know he has a special day.  This year he is 39; which means 39 years ago I had labor pains all day on the 24th, wrapped presents during labor pains and went to the hospital about midnight and had our precious little Marc at 6:00 am.  He was three weeks early and not expected.  Two people so closely related (Theron's dad, Neal and our son Marc) born on the same day; who would have thought this could be; especially Christmas babies.  It was great.

I love this picture.  I haven't seen this sock in a lot of years.  We brought Marc home from the hospital in this little sock.  He fit all the way to the bottom and snuggled into the toe.  After that first Christmas, we couldn't find enough stuff to fill it.

 There is always lots of help lighting the candles.

Happy Birthday, Marc!!!

Ali's Dance Recital and the Spendlove Christmas Party

Sometimes things just work out.  The annual Spendlove Christmas party was on December 15th in Henefer, so we were planning a trip north.  It just so happened that Ali had a dance recital the night before and we had scored Tabernacle Choir Christmas Program tickets.  Yup, it was a win, win, win weekend.

Ali is so cute and so grown up lately.  She is wearing a little makeup and has got the dance moves down.  So wonderful to see her grow up and be graceful, as I was always a clutz.  Love her feisty spirit.

Rodney and Misty were in charge of the family party this year and we had hamburgers and hot dogs with potato salad, etc.  It was a great turnout.  My dad parked his walker and we all had to go over to him to say hi.  Mom had just had a melanoma taken off her face above her eye and she was sporting stitches and a black eye.  Dustin's wife is pregnant with a fourth child, this will be the newest of the great grandchildren.  Janeil was not there because she just had a hip replacement (the third one) and did not want to fall or be pushed by little kids.  Heather came down from Ricks and attended; that was a neat surprise.  Denzil is well his typical self.  We are all growing older and I hope we continue this tradition it is the one time when we can all get together and just be ourselves.

 We played Christmas bingo and all the kids love this; especially the unique dollar gifts that are given.

It's a good time of year - Merry Christmas.

Thanksgiving 2018

Last year, because the house was new and we wanted a family celebration of the house, we had everyone for Thanksgiving.  This year - we had 5 - Curt, Mel and the triplets.  It was fun.  There were six little hands a helping, three curious souls a looking, and three little chatter boxes speaking.

 After everyone left, we filled out an application for government assistance to restore the Christmas village.  It brought so much fun to our place to see how carefully they looked at the lights, handled the trees and skaters and how curious they were about it all.

Everyone liked the whipping cream; who cares about the pie underneath.

 The weather was too cold to heat the pool so we had to swim in the indoor pool and use the hot tub at the clubhouse.  It's not nearly as fun as our own pool.

The highlight was Temple lights at the St George Temple.  New pjs for the kids and a night out walking in brisk air, but NO snow.

We were also glad to see the Marc and Brittney carried on the had tradition - great Indian feathers.  It was a family Thanksgiving this year.

A Week Off - A Trip to Moab

It has been almost 18 months that we have served at the St George FamilySearch Center - we will end this mission in December.  After being called to be assistant directors, Theron set out to make our schedule make sense and give us a little breather now and then.  We work a week of nights, a week of days that include Saturday, and a week off.  On this week off, Oct. 22 - 27, we were able to spend some great time with friends in Moab - dry camping in the trailer and riding the RZR.

Look at this view.  Zions is over the ridge someplace.

 The climb and then sitting on top of the world.

Yea, it was a little chilly but what fun.

This is a hidden arch that can't be seen from any other vantage point.

Rich and Wendy Poll, Monfredi's, Simonsens, and three other couples (those friends of Steve's that we commandeered from the Heber Valley mission) all gathered in Moab.

The rides were fantastic - one to the country outside of Moab ending at Tusher Tunnel, the ride called Poison Spider and the ride over the Lion's Back trail.  It's hard to describe the joy of seeing the gorgeous scenery and at the same time be scarred to death looking down the side of a razor back ridge.  These were some challenging rides and Theron loved every minute of it.  I am so glad he understands the dynamics of driving this machine; things could have gone south in a hurry on some of the climbs.  Guess that's why he had the sign put on the back window -- Hang on I want to try something!

I've got to load this page with pictures, because I just can't describe the rocks, cliffs, and vistas.