Christmas time is for sharing

Do you believe in Bambi & Thumper? What a photographer that caught these wonderful shots. Animals are usually friends and this just shows that it can be true. Enjoy them on this wintery day of Christmas eve. Merry Christmas to all and may Peace and good will be in your hearts always.

Merry Christmas

May all who read this blog have a very Merry Christmas. My hope is that we can all remember the reason for this season and do whatever we can for those around us. May we reach out to those who have less, may be hungry, cold or feel forgotten. Let us love one another as He loved us. May we pray for our great country of America. That it will be saved from those who are voting to send us under the bus. Meryry Christmas to all, Peace on Earth and Good Will towards all.

My Life

He is the light of my life. Together we have had quite a journey for the past 57 years. Like all journeys it has had hills and valleys, good and bad but mostly good. heartache and happiness. Thsi past few days have really made me appreciate all the wonderful things we have done and accomplished and how much he has sacrificed for me and for our family. He is a hard worker, true, loyal, and honest to a fault. I am grateful for the journey it has been delightful, funny, sad and happy. I am also thankful to see him doing better and recuperating well. Long live the King!!!

It is cold this morning. When we went walking it was 25 degrees. So this is how I feel on a very cold day. I am thankful that the sun comes up each morning to warm the earth and give us new energy. I hope your days are good ones and the sun shines on you today. Or else you can take a nap like this one.

Winter

It is so cold here tonight.about mid thirtys and the wind is howling, not just blowing. It was snowing earlier before sunset up on Pine Vally and it looked like Cedar City area was getting pounded. It was also snow clouds over Kolob and Zion National Park. Whew, I guess winter has come to visit. I sure hope it clears up before Thanksgiving. I am so looking forward to having family come to Ann's Sky Ranch home for dinner on thanksgiving it will be really good to see everyone. It has been quite a long time since seeing some of our family. AND we love you all. More tomorrow. Maybe the wind will stop by morning.

11-10-09

How great it is to wake up and ready to get out of bed and start a fresh new day. It is so pretty and calm this time of day, I love to walk outside and see all those millions of stars. They are brighter in the moornings than any other time, maybe it is because the air is so crisp and clear. also if you listen close you can hear the animals waking up, like chickens, dogs, coyotes, cows, does it sound like I like the country, I do.
On another note I am thankful for mornings and clear head because I think of each of my family and how thankful I am of each one of you. How much I love you and the joy I feel whn I think of happy times with you. May the sun shine on each one today and May the wind be in your faces to blow all your troubles away. You are loved by me.

11-9-09

I want to let those who follow my blog know how thankful I am for each one of you in my life. As we walk in the mornings and catch up on the happenings of the previous day I think about friends and family, each one of you are thought about and appreciated each day. I love reading the blogs I get to follow. What did we do to stay in touch before we had the internet. Snail mail took forever, I think of the times that I had loved ones so far away and we would write to each other to see how each was doing and by the time a letter would arrive whatever was going on was already history. Now I can blog, e-mail, facebook or whatever we choose to stay in touch in just minutes. Thank heaven for the good things in life!! I am so excited for Thanksgiving this year, many of our family will be together and I love, love love the times we can all be together and cherish one another.
Today I am also grateful for each one of my grandchildren, Kalin who plays football and they won their game Saturday and get to go up to Rice Stadium and play this next Friday. way to go Hurricane, the rest of my handsome grandsons and beautiful granddaughters. Kenzie is a princess in a play, a ballerina dancer.
guess I better close for now and tell you about the rest of them in another blog. Love you all this day and always..

11-04-09

Hooray!!! Yesterday I finally got the back yard fully fenced in, what a tiring job..the big benefit is no more pooper scooper for the back lawn, yeah...no more chickens by our bedroom window, no more dog hair on the back patio. Now every one has a place to be. the chickens are in the coop, Eli has the run of the pasture, and he loves that because now he has more access to herd the chickens, and we have a patio we can use and keep clean, and I can refurbish the lawn so it is once again a lawn and not a weed patch. So therefore... I am thankful that I have the strength to accomplish small jobs, like fencing the back yard, and thankful that everyone is now in thier proper place. Have a great day everyone and know I love you.

11-03-09

What a beautiful morning, the moon is so big and bright it almost looks like daylight,I am thankful this morning for telephones that keep us in touch with loved ones far and near. The phone brings us all kinds of news, it makes it so we can stay in touch instantly where ever we are, and just think when I was a teenager we had a phone on a line with nine other people. we would pick up the phone and wait for the operator to say "number please" and when the phone rang you might have several people in on your conversation. How times change. I am so grateful for my family for I have been blessed with beautiful daughters and wonderful handsome sons. Righteous children are a blessing from heaven. How fortunate they are to have great dad to follow. I am blessed, and I am grateful.

10-30-09

Ohhh... it was cold this morning, no wind tho and that was nice. It was only 25 degrees and our breath froze as we walked. I am thankful we could go this morning, we have missed two mornings because of the cold and wind. today it was beautiful outside . The sky was really clear with lots of stars and a big full moon. we have such awesome mornings here in Southern Utah for the most part. I love living here and being so blessed by the beauty of the area. I love my family and we have a great bunch of kids, grandkids, great grandkids, my basket is full and I love them all and am thankful to be so blessed. you'all have a wonderful day.

Paul

I feel so sad today for Becky, Paul and Tanner that are so sad at the passing of Paul's Father. Paul Sr. was a big daddy that loved his family and all those around him. Always full of fun and laughter. No one was a stranger to him for he made them a friend with the first few words and warm hugs that he gave. He was the life of any gathering and could tell stories and jokes for hours.
I am thankful that I had the opportunity to know him, I consider him a big part of our family and look forward to seeing him again one day.
To Paul, Sharon, Amy and the rest of your family our love and prayers are with you as you go through this week. We will be as close as hearts can gather.
To Paul, big daddy of your family, goodby until we meet again. We know you are in the loving arms of our Savior. You are loved, missed and leave a vacancy in our hearts today. Bon voyage Paul Sr...... Thanks for the memories......

Blessings

I am so thankful that when I lay me down at the end of the day, in a warm and comfortable bed, that I can sleep and rest. It is a blessing to have that warm and comfortable bed. I am thankful that I live in America and in the beautiful desert of Southern Utah. I am thankful to be at peace in my heart. I know there are difficult times ahead of us in this country we call home. I also know there is one watching over us to see if we will remain true to Him. I pray we will for our own protection and well being. I am thankful.

10-22-09

I am really thankful the wind is not blowing this morning, it is cool but clear and nice out there. I look forward to our morning walk today. I think we have another mouse in the house. I keep hearing one. I guess I will need to get the Dcon out again. Have a great day to all who may read my blog. I am thinking about you today.

10/20/09 Beautiful morning

What a beautiful morning, it is 60 degrees outside at 4:30 am when we went for our walk the coyotes were howling and the night birds were already waking up for their day. I love living in this beautiful country where you can hear the cows lowing in contentment as they doze, the owls hooting, it puts life into perspective knowing that someone greater than I is in charge of all this . Guess what? it isn't Obama and his fear machines. Makes me love life and my family. I am thankful and content.

10-16-09

Have you ever heard the quiet? I am thankful for it, I can hear what my heart says in the earlly quiet of the morning. Usually I am happy in this quiet, I go outside and look at the sky where the stars look so big and bright and wonder at the order of them always being in their place. I can see the moon in its brightness and I am thankful for the light it gives us on our walks, I am thankful for all the early morning sounds that I get to busy during the day to hear. Like the song of birds waking up to look for their breakfast. they sing to each other. The crow of the roosters signaling it is almost time to wake up. The cows as they are lowing because they are lonely for the calves that have been taken from them. Occasionally I hear the cyotes cry to one another. Morning is a wonderful time of the day with it's quiet, sereneness. I am grateful for thisbeautiful time of the day.

Life, ah wonderful life

Have you ever thought about life as being like a three act Play? In alot of ways it really is... How neat is that!
Let me explain what i mean.
Act one: We are in heaven as spirit children of our Heavenly parents, learning how to feel, how to love one another, how to be happy. Then along comes satan and stirs it all up, so God decides to send his children to earth to learn how to live in the garden of Eden, but God wants His children to come back to Him after they have learned how to live on Earth, He also wants the glory for His creation. Satan comes and says to God "let me be over your children and I will bring tham all, every one, back to you but I want the Glory." and so there was a war in Heaven over wether to send satan, or to send God's beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who would give the Glory to His father. 1/3 of the spirits followed satan, and god cast them all out from Heaven with no chance to have a physical body. 2/3 followed Jesus Christ and were given the opportunity to come to earth, get a physical body, learn of God the Father, and someday return again to Him, and have body and spirit re-united after death. To live with Him forever.
Act 2: We were born on earth where we may gow up, learn how to handle relationships, and to learn about our Heavenly Father, and His son Jesus Christ , who is the the Savior and Redeemer of this world. Jesus Christ was born of Heavenly Father and an earthly mother, grew to manhood and taught all who would listen about God The Father and about eternal life. We were given our free agency to choose for ourselves which path we would follow both in pre=mortal life after the war in Heaven, then again here on earth when we were born. And so, we grow up learn about Jesus and how he died on the cross for us to redeem us from this physical death so that we may be resurrected and have our spirits reunited with our bodies. We learn of Temple covenants and what we must do to live with our Heavenly Father, as a family forever.
Act 3: Now we die, and lay our physical bodies down in the earth through burial, to rest for awhile, our spirits go to paradise to learn more. There we are taught that we can be reurrected to unite our bodies with our spirits. If we have become worthy to go to God's temple and make sacred conenants in our earthly life, then we look forward to meeting all of our family and living together as family again in God's presence. There to have spiritul Children of our own. for the scriptures teach us "That as man is, God once was, as God is man may become" God has also promised us that everything He has is ours if we but obey His commandments.
What wonderful promises. And a great three act Play!!!
My point here is I am so grateful for knowledge, it has power to be able to learn, to grow and to be in the light.
Knowledge is light, light is power, power is glory and the Glory of God is intelligence. Very simple. Try it. I Love all of you who follow my meandering blog when I tell it as I feel it.

10-14-09 PM

I have another tidbit that I have been contemplating and the more I think about it I stand in awe. It is that a young boy only 14 years old, ( that is Karter and Tanners age) knew in his heart that the things in the world did not feel quite right to him, he had tried to get answers from those grown-ups around him and none of them had the answers. One morning while reading his scriptures he came across James 1:5 and there he read"if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and abraideth no; and it shall be given him." Can you even imagine one that young going to a grove of trees to pray and ask of God who was right and who was wrong. That God appeared to him to answer his young boy prayer. What God told him was " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him." This young boy knew he had seen god the Eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ. He never faltered on this knowledge to the day he died. To me that is awesome.

Doesn't it just amaze your thinking that a young boy could ask such a significant question of which church was right, then get such an awesome answer from God the eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ, Himself. I stand in the most humble gratitude to this young boy Joseph Smith and his inquiring mind. In his adamant , stalwart knowing that he had seen God with his own eyes, and that he never wavered with the mission given him for his mortal life. I will be eternally grateful for a testimony of this great happening in these last days.

10-14-09

I have been so blessed to have a beautiful home. One that is warm in the winter, cool in the summer, clean and comfortable. This past week B... has been down with the flu, now that he is recovered it has made me think about how comforting it is to have his companionship in our home. He is the warmth at the end of a busy day. He is the one who trims, mows, feeds the animals, grows the fruit for canning, the grapes for juice, and does a myriad of other things in and for our home to make it a home and not a house. I love him and I am so grateful for sharing a home and life with a good and righteous man. I am thankful for all he does to make our life more comfortable, secure, and fun. Thanks honey:-)

10-13-09

I am so thankful for the light. The one on the corner that lights my way in the morning darkness. The tiny light in the hallway if I have to get up at night, it shows me the way. The light of the moon and the stars that are Heaven sent. Most of all I am thankful for my Savior who is the light of the world. He has said"I am the light , the way, and all who follow me shal have eternal life." He is my light , my guide, my Savior and my Redeemer. I shall follow Him and do His will forever. I am thankful for the Light.

10-12-09

I really appreciated the nice warmer weather today. It was cloudy out but warm. So I came home from work and decided to paint the bench out on my front porch, got the paint, the brush, sander, drop clothes, and I went to work. Painted it white to match the railing, looked pretty spiffy when I got through. It is nice to have little honey do's, to do. I am thankful for the honey do's.

10-12-09

I am so thankful for beautiful starry skies in the early morning, thankful for good friends to go walking with before dawn, thankful for living in this place called Zion. It is so beautiful. We saw a skunk this morning on our walk, Eli saw it too and started after it. when I told him "NO" he turned around and looked at me like "what you want me to come back?" I whistled at him so he turned around and did come back to me. SOOOO I am thankful he did not take on the skunk, and I did not have to bath him in tomatoe juice.. small trivia to be thankful for, but I am.

10-11-09 PRAYER & FASTING

We just read on Becky's blog that Paul's Father is facing a very serious battle in the fact that they just determined that Paul Sr. (father) has been diagnosed with three cancerous tumers that are wrapped around his spine. this is the latest in the cancer saga for him.
Today and always I am thankful for the gospel principles of fasting and prayer. I know they work and that our Heavenly Father watches out for each of us.
Therefore, I am asking everyone who may follow, read or chance upon my blog to join us in fasting and prayers for Paul's dad.
Especially I want to invite my immediate family members to unite for Becky and Paul in support for them with your prayers for Paul's dad. Miracles can happen when we all fast and pray together. We are family, one of us needs this extra love and support. Please let you voices be heard in this serious need. Love to all of you, always

TODAY'S GRATITUDE 10/10/09

I HAVE BEEN DOING ALOT OF THINKING ABOUT LIFE and the abundance that I have. I am so thankful for a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I am thanful for a young farm boy who knew that he had seen God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ. He never waivered in knowing that. I am thanful that we have a living Prophet on the earth today. When we know the truth we shall not fear. We only need to prepare for the peace that will be here whe our Savior comes again. so therefore, I and grateful for my knowledge and testimony that Christ lives, that our Father in Heaven lives and loves me. He knows what I need and who I am. He is abundant in all He does for me. I am the daughter of a King.

GRATITUDE

I have been thinking of all the things I am thankful for and I rhought it was a good time to have a gratitude blog for awhile.
I am truly thankful for my wonderful Family. Husband, Children, In-law Children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. I love them all, dearly.

FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records

FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records 

FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records

Kiowa, ahhh, Beautiful Kiowa

Booner Sadie



Tessie

Ann & Sizzle

The Ranch from down in the field when we went walking

This is the ranch from the air, we are right above it....

WD373, pappy & Ann

Tried to get this guy to fan for you,,,,no luck

Dad was scared of this stuffed lion...

This one is a lazy real one next to his cave....

We also stopped at this neat rock shop, Ann got a mountain of information on rocks, polishing, hunting them etc. The pic was out in front with their collection of horns.

Mesa Verde, Ann & Dad.

Mesa Verde

Four corners, four states at once...

Four corners marker..

Th Ranch in Kiowa, Colorado

It is always so peaceful and nice for us to be able to spend time at Ann & Bruces ranch in Kiowa, we had amny adventures there this summer. We wnet on walks with Ann & "the family" Booner, Tessie, & Sadie, sometimes Clarence would come with us but always stayed at a distance. You will see them in the pictures. Then there was the walk with the turkeys, when I was taking pictures of the hens the old tom got jealous and came after me, whew, I thought he was going to eat me for dinner...LOL

Ann & I went out one morning to take pictures of the widlflowers that were so abundant and beautiful there. We also got pictures of a curious horse, some alpaca's, and a mother deer with two new baby fawns. (see pictures) Then Ann took us up, up and away in her blue airplane, we flew over her ranch and looked at it from the sky, beautiful is a good word so is awesome, reall neat flight. we were very fortunate that after being delighted for a week Ann planned a very unique trip home to Utah and stayed here at her Sky Ranch home for a week. We traveled all down through the state of Colorado on the scenic byways, it was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed it immensely. We saw Colorado Springs in a rainy mist, it raineddown through the mountains then we came to a beautiful town of Pagosa Springs where we had lunch overlooking the hot springs and a beautiful castle. we saw people come out of the springs and go into the freezing river to cool off then back into the hot springs again. We then journyed down to Mesa Verde National Park to spend a few hours seeing how ancient Idians built their homes in arches in the mountainside, it looked like it would have been impossible to live there, but they did, probably spent their whole live living in those places.then on to the four corners area (see pic's) ann & dad were in four states at once. It was hot dry and windy there. Only the indians that had their lirrle shops set up wanted to stay there. Along the hiway we found an indian roadside stand selling pottery and Ann & I got us some really beautiful, authentic indian pottery. then on home to Hurricane. We had a really good time over the two weeks.

Dad was being himself and having fun on the picnic. We enjoyed going to Montana to help Genalee celebrate her Birthday. I think she is around 29??? We did enjoy the time up there and the trip was awesome as far as the scenery goes, a beautiful drive. We drove up through Yellowstone and back down through Montana and Idaho. Great trip!

Genalee & Jason having a fun moment.

Genalee and Jason were having fun on the picnic, picture did turn out really good. This is in the pine Creek picnic grounds near Paradise valley in Montana.

Genalee & AH

Here is a picture of G & A H when we went on a picnic.

Grandma's new kitchen backsplash

More of Sunday at Zion

Where does time go and how did we manage to get so old...

Becky and mom, watch out the sands of time run down to your legs.

Spike and Dobie are not sure they liked the water, it was running fast and it was very cold. Brrrr

Sunday in Zion with Becky & Dad

Becky came to Hurricane to bring Tanner up so he could spend a few days with his Dad. We took her to Zion for Dinner and here are some of the neat photos we took while up there.

We had lunch at Oscar's, delicious ham,swiss and pineapple sandwiches with sweet potatoe fries, mmmmyummmmyum.

Becky on the river walk with the two dogs, (you can't see the dogs in this photo)

Dad and Becky at the river just taking a rest.

Here is Grandpa and some of his faithful followers. If you can't have family you have these kinds of faithful friends. (Just kidding) Genalee enjoyed taking these pictures of Dad, Eli the dog, & Sammi the cat. All just out scouting the fruit trees to see if Spring brought us any fruit.

The Grass is Growing

Barry & family have planted about an acre of new lawn out at Ann & Bruce's home here in Hurricane. Here is a picture taken this evening to show you how it is growing. Also pictures of the patio and yard.

Ann's New Baby Birds

Ann has two baby birds in the nest on her front porch of her Hurricane Home.

We decided to take a picture before they flew away, and we wanted to see what kind they were. So we got the ladder out of the garage, climbed up to the nest, (which is on top of her front porch light) and was really sad to find that one of the fledgelings had died when it was only a few days old. the other one is big and healthy, will probably fly away within the next week. SOOOOO here is a picture of Ann's baby bird. It is a baby fan tailed pidgeon.

It has been so very long since I updated this blog. I really enjoy reading other family blogs yet I have been too laid back about my own.I guess it is time I let a little bit of me out for the rest of you to read about.
I have been spending my time making a very special Temple Quilt for a very special son's birthday that is coming up on Friday Feb. 20th. It is now all done and I have taken it to my friend so she can do the binding on it for me. I really hope he likes it, it really is an odd present for a man. I am doing one of these for each of my children and still have a few more to go.
I also spent a week in Kiowa at Ann & Bruce's home. I really enjoyed it, it ws fun to take the roads less traveled, go to the Mexican place for a neice Birthday dinner, go shopping and even the best part of going flying with Ann in her airplane. It was a bit windy so we went back to the airport but we did get to fly around the valley and over the Sleepy Turtle Ranch. Then that Sunday there was a light plane crash that took the life of a 53 year old Father. I crashed about 5-10 miles from Ann's place and I know it was unsettling for Ann, I hope she feels better about it by now. we also watched the Super Bowl on sunday and ate ourselfs into oblivian. The Pita's and the dip were very good, so was the soup, the fruit and all the other goodies.
So now I am back home and it has been either raining or snowing almost every day since I came home. Bernell & I braved the weather, bundled up and went for a long walk in the windy cold night air. It was refreshing and I was glad to get home where it was warm.
Valentines Day came and went and it is not all it is hyped up to be. when I love someone I love them all the time not just one day per year in February. With that said I love you all dearly, I will try to keep up more often on this blog.