Dad's Headstone in Place

Dad's headstone is in place.  It sure looks nice. 

 

We gathered at the cemetery on April 5th, on the anniversary of Dad's death.
Hard to believe it's been a year without him.  I'm glad he is free from his Parkinson's body, and is happy in Heaven.  
Back Row:  Dax, Kacey, Dallin, Devin
Middle Back Row:  Sophie, Abby, Aaron, Erika, Mom, Payson, Carrie, Mark, Jaklynn, Treyson, Roger
Middle Front Row:  Gwen, CJ, Zac, Landon, Bentley, Bexlee, Brightyn
Front Row:  Tagg, Thatcher  (Jaden is taking the picture so I could be in it)

December for me and Rog

I'm still working at the temple, and only worked the first three weeks in December, because the last two weeks fell on Christmas and New Year's Eve, so the temple was closed. 

Roger and I bought some Christmas wreaths and poinsettias to put on the graves at the cemetery.  We used two of the shepherd hooks from the Property to put the wreaths on.  We'll do this every year for Mom and LuAnn. 

Erika gave Mom and I some tickets to see Frozen at the Hale Center theater.  We enjoyed it very much !! 

We met Erika and Eli at Subway in South Salt Lake before the performance, and had lunch.  

We had Roger P. bring in two more loads of dirt, and Travis Naffziger smoothed them out some more.  We put a pallet in place over the box so animals (deer) wouldn't fall in.  We'll get working on the metal grates this spring.  This has been such a mild winter.  I'm afraid we're going to be hurting for water come summer.  

My poor tree didn't get any more decorated than these wonderful ornaments sent from AZ.   

Got my nails done on December 23rd, and could feel a sickness coming on.  I was DOWN AND OUT for almost TWO WEEKS.  Totally spoiled our Christmas.  

Roger delivered all of our gifts, and I just stayed home.  CJ had this quilt made for Roger, what a special present :)  

On the 29th, I still wasn't feeling my best, but we went to see SONG SUNG BLUE at the theater.  We really enjoyed it.  

 

Finishing up May

My dad's sister, Barbara Whittier died, and we spent the rainy Saturday on Memorial Day weekend at her viewing, funeral, graveside, and luncheon.  
She was a good aunt to me.  I always knew she loved me.  I'm so happy she can be back with Uncle Short, and Grandma and Grandpa Dickson again.  She was 97 years old. 

Here are my cousins (Aunt Barbara's kids) with their spouses standing behind them.  
Left to right:  Bret and Margo, Jack and Robyn, Dianne (Jerry has passed away), Dee and Mary Lou, and Dick and Becky.

Bret and Margo live in Cedar City, where he runs/owns the cattle stockyards.  He has been a Stake President (maybe he still is?)  Jack and Robyn are serving a mission in Toronto, Canada, they have lived mostly in Colorado and Nebraska, but will be coming back to make their home in Morgan after their mission.  Diane lives in Hooper, Dee and Mary Lou live in Virginia, he is a veterinarian, and Dick and Becky live in Cache Valley.  Dick works as a sealer in the Logan temple, and Becky is retired from teaching.  

Mom and I have been going to the temple early Tuesday mornings, every other week.  

My Eternal Gravestone venture hasn't proved to be as appealing as I thought it would.  Becky Tonks Rasmussen's family sure loved the one I did for Val.  I think I could get the word out, and actually SHOW it to people, it would prove to be profitable.............but I'm not much of a "marketer".  
The yellow balloons wouldn't stay blown up, they either popped or deflated.  I posted a couple of times on Morgan Mom's but it didn't seem to generate any questions or interest.  

Becky and I got Mom and Lillus together for a nice visit.  Also there were Becky, Adele, and Eric.  We sat in mom's home and chatted for about 30-45 minutes on Sunday.  It was great to see them all again, and get caught up.  

Roger and I rode up to the Porterville Cemetery - beautiful view. 
We also rode up to East Canyon Dam, which is spilling. 

Tagg has started Football Camp already, and the Maroon and White scrimmage is next week ! 

It was a lazy day in AZ for family there.  They watched Ghost Busters (the original) - Josiah had never seen it.  Swam, ate, and relaxed.

We cooked a hamburger at the property with Mom and Dad, and Zac and CJ and Tagg.  Thatcher was off with friends, Treyson was working (he came at the end).

I understand that Payson had a baseball tournament in Salem.  

 

Little odds and ends - trying to play catch up.

Left over picture from Thanksgiving I think.  Here is Cam with her Arizona family.  All (or many) of the cousins on her dad's side.  Love that cute girl front and center :)

Christmas Gifts for the ward from the Relief Society (TP and hand sanitizer)
As 2020 comes to a close, we may wish to FLUSH all trials of these past few months away.
Hopefully we can remember the lessons we have learned, and most importantly,
that we can rely on the Lord's protection as we strive to HEAR HIM daily. 

We had a visitor at our place

I love to capture memes from the internet and share them. 

Thatcher got braces !!

So many people participated in the Prophets call to flood social media with thankfulness #givethanks, and now we are Lighting the World for the month of December.  Loved to see this post !!!

Roger would say this is TOTALLY TRUE

Special post by CJ that took Morgan Moms Facebook by storm !! 

Love my beautiful Poinsettia that we got through Brightyn's fundraiser for tumbling.  It was used extensively in our Ward's Christmas Devotional which was filmed last Sunday, and will be broadcast on the ward's YOUTUBE channel NEXT Sunday, the 20th. 

I bought The Forgotten Carols, and have been passing it around to anyone who would like to see it.  It is wonderful :) 

Love my little CHRISTmas tree.  Krista Adams built me the box to put it on.  So happy !

Our Relief Society Presidency - Me, Vicki, Jody, & Sara
This is what is looks like in the year 2020

We have sure seen alot of changes in the 3 years we have served.

Councils in Relief Society (once a month, in a circle)
Ministering instead of Visiting Teaching
2 hour block change - Relief Society only 2 times a month
COVID - No Church (March-July)
Social Distancing - get together at the Property
COVID - Sacrament only (July-Oct)
COVID - Zoom RS meetings 2 times a month
What is next !?!?!?

We were able to get together last Sunday (Roger, Gwen, Mark, Carrie, Erika, Aaron and Tiana) with mom and dad and present them with our Christmas present.  It turned out so well. 

Bright finally got her tooth out with a little help from her dad !
She is a BRAVE GIRL !!

After putting it off for weeks (of warm weather), we braved the 19 degree temperature yesterday and got the Christmas decorations up to the cemetery. 

 

Last but not least - Manda texted me this picture.
Apparently the story I told the kids years ago, about Stephen King's story of THE MIST is still freaking her out (haha) - Love you Manda !!! 

A Little bit of THIS.....and a Little bit of THAT.............

A couple of weeks ago we got busy helping to install an outlet (between my parent's two easy chairs).  We had to get down in the crawler to run the line.  

While we were down there, we also ran another heat duct line to the far corner of their bathroom.  This helped add to the warmth near the shower.  Happy early Merry Christmas !! 

In the middle of it all, we fixed tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  There were eight of us there.........   Guess how many sandwiches we went through?   18 !!!  Those boys (and men) are BIG eaters !!  Mom said, should we start with 4-cans of soup............HAHA !  I said 2 1/2 time that Mom :)  

We also got the angel put up near Ambure's grave (and Tonya's and Lance's).  I sure like the way it turned out.  Not bad for  $5 deal on Morgan Mom's.  We took out the lights, and added about 50 zip ties to put it back together.  LOVE IT !

My good friends Lynelle and Sherilee worked on a tree for the Festival of Trees.  One of these day's I'm going to have TWO trees, and do one of them ONLY in Savior related ornaments.  (I have so many already) - I love this. 

Someone sweet in AZ is coming to visit us - one week from today :) 

Had to post this !  Bren was stylin' on Thanksgiving Day :)  

Bex got the throwup BUG a week or so ago........  All day snuggling (and puking) in Mom's arms.  Poor thing.

Yup - still going strong :)

The Morgan County Christmas Party - Sandy's Fine Foods catered it, and it was YUMMY ~   Who's that in the red on the left with the stylin' red earrings from Ivory and Birch !!??  

One day, later in the afternoon, Zac and CJ and boys got stuck in Ogden shopping.  It was Grandma Gwen to the rescue (Grandpa Roger was sick with the stomach bug),.  I still have it !   Fed those noisy goats like a CHAMP !!

I was lucky enough to get to help with the West Porterville Ward food drive.  This was organized in a matter of days, and you cannot believe the response !!  You know many of us have willingly set a few (many) can of food on our porch for a food drive.  I myself, have never been on the other end of things.............WOW  that is alot of works, unbagging, distributing to families identified only by Family #1, #2, and so forth......., and don't forget delivering.  It was so fulfilling to help, and I was the lucky recipient to deliver one of the deliveries myself.  So so appreciative and tears were shed !   It was wonderful. 

Our Bright little Grandaughter :)

This sweetie came to our home last Saturday afternoon for a sleepover.  See that smile?  That is Brightyn, 99% of the time.   She came with me after Payson's basketball game in Kaysville.  I had a few stops to make at stores, and she was a trooper !  The Deseret Industries was our first stop, and boy did we make a haul.  We picked up an elephant for Tenzin's grave, and first thing we did when we got back to Morgan, was make the trek to the cemetery.  We spent a little time there, and she ran around from grave to grave, picking up flowers and placing them back in place.  It was beautiful warm and sunny. 

Sprucing up Grandpa Ben's gravesite.

Then we headed up to Grandma D's, looking for Grandpa Roger who was mowing up leaves.  It was here that she changed into her new PJ's from the DI.  She had come away with me from the basketball game so quick, that she didn't have any to wear overnight, so she picked some out.  She LOVED them.  They became her attire for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  

She had to try out Thatcher's new "hanging bed"

Then of course we had Tagg and Thatcher come over to help us make pizza.  They each made their own in pie tins, and we made two big ones also.  The kids are totally hands-on with this, and they love it.  I hope when they are grown, this is one of the things they remember about coming to our house.  

YUM!!!




Bright can Dance !  And she's a pro with ALEXA.  "Alexa, play this song, and Alexa, play that song"  Then we'd listen and sing along, and dance............  so much fun !!

Sunday morning bedhead, after sleeping on the family room floor with Brightyn in her "fort"
I was so tired, that I lay down beside her at 7:30pm (8:30 after we turned the clocks back).  She was watching Happy Feet, and I promptly fell asleep.  I guess she did too, shortly after me, and Grandpa Roger sat there in his chair, and finally turned off the TV much later and went to bed. 

Bright had BED HEAD too !

We went to see the goats in the barnyard

And Miss Piggy too.............who you can't really see in the shadows of the morning sunlight.  She loves to be stroked behind her ears, which is the only soft spot on her hard, prickly, scaley body. 

Then it was on to the chicken coop, where we were able to CATCH a chicken to hold.  This girl loves animals SO much !!

A swing on the tire completed our outside adventure

It was back in the house, where she proceeded to crack and cook - 4 green eggs.
She's a pro !!  We added cheese, and she ate them ALL UP !!

She loves her ketchup

This was my attempt at her hair for church.  I have NO little girl ribbons or elastics , so we used her left over bobby pins from the day before, and some craft ribbon (haha) *Note to self, GET SOME !
She hopped in our new shower, because the big whirlpool tub is gone.  This was her first time, and she was a little nervous, but I adjusted the spray way down low, and put the seat down, and she ended up standing in there for a long time, just basking in the warm water.  She loved it. 

At church we went to Primary, and she was chosen as one of the kids to play a matching game, then we went to her Primary Class, and cousin Ridge was in there too.  I think she enjoyed it, but for sure wanted me by her side, which I was happy to do.  I mean, who likes to be alone in a new place?  Not me ! 

Bright loves to draw, and write.  Can you believe she did this ALL BY HERSELF at 5 years old ?
I am humbled and amazed.  Little Children are truly so sweet and innocent.
Cmandis = Commandments