Wonderful News - a new missionary !!

Today I received a message from this great young man pictured below - Hugo Perez.  He has been called as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He will serve in Curitiba Brazil !  He leaves in January.  I was THRILLED !!  He was texting Landon at the same time, and the three of us were rejoicing together !

He and his family were SO WONDERFUL to Landon while he was serving his mission in Peru (2007-2009).  I corresponded with him via email and Facebook during Landon's mission, and he would keep me updated, and send pictures from time to time.  Here is an example of the blessing he was in my life :)

Now it is HIS TIME and HIS TURN to serve the Lord.  

We are so very proud of him.

Hugo Perez

This picture was taken with Hugo and his family when Landon and I visited them in December of 2009.  They treated us like royalty in their home, and fed us so very well.  It was wonderful to meet them, and thank them for the love they showed my son.   We look forward to the day we can return and visit them once again.

Our Saturday

A little bit of frost on the punkin' this morning :)

We worked over at the property today with Zachary.  It's his 32nd birthday, and he loves to work, and he loves help and company whiles he works.  It was a great day to be with him, working to clean up the opposite side of the creek property.

That's snow on the mountain tops you can see !  It was so cold yesterday.  Glad it warmed up today, so Shawn Prescott's wedding wasn't too cold. 

Thatcher is loving his cowboy boots.  He won't take them off !

We made several big piles, which we will burn on Thanksgiving, with our usual burn pile.   Also cleaned up the Welch Ditch dam (damn ;) mess. 

Chain popped off - watching Zac fix it

Zac and his boys on his birthday - They took the older boys, along with 3 of Treyson's friends to see Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 tonight and we watched Thatcher.

Doesn't it look so much better?  Now we can get a new fence put up, hopefully to keep kids coming over from the other side. 

The new platform Zac built for the zip line.  It is so sturdy.  Even I got up on it, and it didn't wiggle at all (haha). 

Can you say PINK EYE?

Poor Thatcher !

Sent from my Samsung smartphone on AT&T

The BIG ONE that didn't get away.........




Amazing Catch!
24 inches - 3 1/2 pounds !

This is a beautiful rainbow trout, caught on East Canyon Creek at the Property.  He was caught with a spinner.  Zac could see him clearly in the early afternoon light, because the creek was so very low.  He cast the spinner, and drew it right in front of him.  He went for it !  It wasn't a very hard fight, and Zac had him on the bank in no time.  Unfortunately, the "meat"? was nasty and jelly like.  It never would cook up.  Good thing they had two other nice (normal) trout that they were able to eat for dinner :)

Anniversaries we don't like to remember

11 years ago (2002) - Zac and CJ were hit by a drunk driver at the intersection of State and 100 S.  Zac ended up with a punctured lung, broken collarbone, and a cut on his head.  CJ had a ruptured spleen.  They were very very lucky.  They spent a few days in the hospital.  They "accidentally" fell in love, and were married 11 months later :)

Who would have guessed this cutie was going to be our daughter-in-law.  It was a scary night !   I didn't even know she was in the car with Zac, and as I was sitting in the front of the ambulance, I heard them say "Transporting two to McKay Dee" - I was like, "Who else was in the car?"  Turns out it was Christel Jo

When Darrin Dawson called out home that night, Landon answered the phone.  I could tell by the sound of his voice (Landon's) that something was wrong.........  It was a terrible 5-10 minutes while our family drove over to the accident site.  We don't have a good track record with car accidents in our family, and we were expecting the worst.   Oh how grateful we were that things turned out the way they did........

Then the next year (2003) - we ended up in the SAME emergency room, in the SAME room the Christel was in on the SAME day................

Landon appendix had burst, and had been encapsulating inside of his abdominal cavity for about 2 weeks.  When it finally broke free - all heck broke loose.  We had him at home from early Saturday morning, until about 10 am Monday morning.  If Dr. Challburg had sent him home, he probably wouldn't be here today.  Instead he sent him down for an ultrasound at the hospital.  By the time we got there, he couldn't even walk.  Thanks to Shirlee (CJ's mom), we got him right back to radiology.   He was into surgery a couple of hours later.  IT. WAS. BAD.

I will spare you the graphic picture.  This is a few days later after they finally closed him up.  It was a long difficult surgery, and he was in HOBBS for 3 days, and on the strongest antibiotics for over a week.  He ended up staying in the hospital for 10 days, and lost 25 pounds.   Thankfully he has not had any problems or concerns with his bowels and innards since.  Dr. Alder saved him.  We are so blessed to have a happy ending !

Camryn Dee

Cam's Selfie - do you know what a "Selfie" is?  It's the new term for a photo you take of yourself.  Now with all of the cell phone cameras, and "self portrait" mode, it's happening more and more !!  So now you know what a "selfie" is...........  I personally think she has the CUTEST selfie :)

We get these awesome letters in the mail every once in awhile :)  It always makes our day !  To answer your question Cam...... 1.  The family is doing great.  2.  The turkey is looking better, although I think he will always have a big limp.  and 3.  Kacey and Landon are going to have their baby girl in January !  

Our weekend so far...........

Friday night we went to a viewing down below, and brought back pizza for the family.   They loved it of course.

Especially SMILEY

Showing off their necklaces they bought in California.  Tagg's is a glass encased scorpion, and Treyson's is a bear tooth.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Ben !

We went to watch Treyson's football game.  Were all set up on the bleachers at the High School, waiting for the team before to finish.  Zac calls, "Where are you guys?"   Apparently we were mixed up.  The game was at the Middle School !  So we packed up and headed on over.  I had the time wrong also, so by the time we got sat down and ready to watch, IT WAS HALFTIME !!  Dangit !

The rain held off, and it was really quite warm.  When they came down to the end where we were sitting........

Thatch spots his dad, and needed a hug :)

There Treyson is - Number 44.  I think this was right after they had made a touchdown.

Tagg said to be sure and put this on the blog :)
Mighty Muscle Man !

Later in the afternoon/evening, we headed to the property to work on a platform for the zipline. 

Tagg dug a worm out of the wet ground with his bare fingers.  He's going to keep him and name him George:)

CJ finally got home from her day of continuing education training in Ogden.  It was a LONG BORING day for her.  She brought Blakeley with her ! 

It's going to be SWEET !

Phone Dump

Here is a pic of Tagg's shoes, which enabled him to get on many rides at Disneyland, that he otherwise wouldn't have been tall enough to ride !!  Yeah !!

I got this in the mail the other day at work -
WOW -  2X honorable, Cool ;)

An invite to a BALL??
The Governor's Gala, no less?

Oh gee - it's only $500 smackaroos ;0)
Like I even have anything remotely acceptable to wear.......
Guess I'll have to pass ;)

They are going to be tearing up the road in front of our house shortly.  They made it from the "Y" (soon to be a "T") to Monday Town today.  It was funny to see everyone wanting to get a little roto-mill (ground up asphalt)  Wilkinson's were there, Dee's Dairy, Clark's Dairy, and other assorted neighbors along the road.  Good thing we got ours from Wardell Brother's last year, or we'd be wanting some too !

Another beautiful sunset tonight.
Maybe we'll get some more rain ?

My mom's spectacular Peach Pie - AWESOME !!

Road Trip

We headed out at 8am, and our first stop was Evanston for what else?  Mickey D's breakfast of course :)  Kept heading east on I-80, over the 3 sisters, and taking the Mountain View exit, traveled south to Manila.

Drove around Manila, searching for THIS house.  I finally asked at a gas station, and they pointed me in the right direction.  Turns out, we would have found it anyway, because it was right on the road to Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Dam.  This is an old church which has been converted to a home, and is owned by one of my friends in Morgan.  Unfortunately we missed them with our impromptu visit.  Some guys working on the roof of the garage told us they were in Vernal.  We probably passed them, as we continued on our trip.

Dad and Mom probably haven't been here for 30-40 years.  We were happy to have them along to share our journey :)

Roger D and Me - he's a great guy to go along with my ideas :)

What a BEAUTIFUL sight.  It kind of reminds me of Lake Powell, with different mountains surrounding it. 

We stopped at the overlook, and Ranger Station for lunch.  A quick bite of sandwich and Pepsi, and we were on our way again. 

I have no recollection of this dam from my childhood memories.  We went to Flaming Gorge a few times, but I don't think I ever saw the dam before.

We continued south to Vernal, and then wrapped back around, Duchesne, Heber City, and on to home.  It was a beautiful sunny day until we reached Heber, and then it started to rain.

After 9 1/2 hours, and 420 miles we arrived home, tired but happy.  It was a great day!  Thanks for going Mom and Dad.

Ben & Lu?  It's your turn next time :)

The Disneyland Crew

Waiting in line - Tagg is being King Kong

This is for Grandpa "D" - look at those gas pumps !!

Aw - Tagg found himself a dog !

Meeting Rapunzel 

The boys got to be Jedi Knights in training,
and Tagg was paired up with Darth Vadar !!
There Tagg is on the blue circle with his back to the camera.
I'm not sure where Treyson is. 

Loving on Woody :)

Walking to the park or in the park, with their morning fix of Jamba Juice.  Don't let Zac's scowl fool you, he's had a great time :)