Home on the Mesa

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,
       We are really slow getting these out this year, but it’s a good thing we do these yearly Christmas letters, otherwise I’m afraid we would lose contact with some of you. We enjoy hearing from you and catching up on your latest escapades. We hope you are all healthy, wealthy and wise. Maybe two out of the three would suffice.

Instead of a trip this fall, we did some home improvements. We tiled our front entry way, and also poured a new patio and side walk, and we had our garage resided. We hired Rob’s golfing buddy Dave Moore to do the work and we were really pleased with the results. We dyed the cement a reddish color and imprinted the cement so it blends with the flagstone we already had. Once the patio was completed, Janet felt the garden area also needed attention so she planted more flowers, hauled rocks for a border and had Anthony prune the choke-cherry trees. She wants to put in a fire pit on the south of the patio so Steve already has work lined up for next spring.

We raised another big garden this year and it was fairly successful. Steve put in a raspberry and strawberry patch. We are going to focus on producing more fruit and less vegetables. We have several different fruit trees, but because of neglect the harvest was small. Janet also filled all of our bottles again this year; the final 50 were filled with pumpkin!

Janet has been the quilt guild president this year, and has had a lot of added responsibilities. The group has been very pro-active with community service projects: baby blankets for the two hospitals, a quilt camp for youth, quilt tying at Farm Days, made quilts for two fallen officers and another 2 quilts for a Cancer fund raiser and fire victims. Laurie and Brendan stayed in Blanding June 1-4 so Laurie could participate in Quilt Camp with Grandma. We had a lot of fun. The guild meets monthly. Even though they are a wonderful group of ladies to work with, she’s glad the year is about over.

We still run an addiction recovery class for the LDS church and have seen some success. We’ve had fairly good attendance and the group is very supportive of each other. This past summer our ward was dissolved (some say translated) and the members were divided up into three different wards. We were again called to serve as the YSA advisors in the Fifth Ward. The college dorms are in that ward, so we have about 45 young singles to shepherd. We attend the Young Single branch most of the time so we can interact with kids we’re working with. We also help teach the Temple Preparation class there. We’ve been hosting a Sunday dinner, in addition to a game night at least once a month with the kids. We enjoy working with them and hope we are a positive influence in their lives. Often our home is a bed and breakfast for YSA in transit. Steve continues to serve in the Monticello, Utah Temple each Tuesday.

In April we returned to Ganado where we served our mission, to attend the dedication of an addition to the LDS chapel. This doubled the size of the building and it is very nice. There were over 175 in attendance at the dedication. They had a wonderful dinner after the meetings so we were able to see and visit with many of our old friends. It was wonderful visiting with former missionaries and other special friends there. We are hoping Corey and Vanisha will pursue their plans for serving missions. The Lord truly needs valiant servants in the latter days. There is so much wickedness in the world, we all need to “rise and shine forth” if we hope to combat it.

In May we went with a large group of Blanding friends to Branson, Mo. The bus picked us up right in Blanding! That’s the way I like to take trips. No driving, no waiting at airports, and our reservations were taken care of. It took three day to drive to Branson we saw several interesting sights along way. We spent three days in Branson and saw nine different shows. On the return trip we visited the Will Rogers Museum, and also the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. We had excellent accommodations and had a very enjoyable trip.

In June we held our family reunion at Abajo Haven, six miles north of Blanding. It had four real nice cabins so not all of our family had to sleep in tents. Amy and Andrew were in charge of the reunion this year and planned lots of fun activities. We ate good meal, played games, hiked and swam in Recapture Reservoir and at the new Blanding pool. It was great to have all of the family together: 16 adults and 24 grandkids.

Other family highlights this year included: CJ getting his driver’s license; Sage and Daniel were both baptized in July; Jens Quentin was born May; Anthony successfully completed Law School in Dec. and is gearing up for the Bar Exam in March. We also made two trips to Phoenix to visit Quent and Anthony’s families this year, plus family trips up north and to Las Vegas.

In Aug. we went to Blackfoot, Idaho for a Murphy family reunion. It was good seeing many of the Arnold, Keeler and Jensen families there as well and catching up on the news. We also met up with Janet’s classmates at Heisi, and got to go see the Keeler Farm on Antelope. We’re planning our family reunion activity there next summer. In Sept. Janet caught a ride to Tooele and tended Nathan and Tammy’s children so Tammy could join Nathan in Washington D.C. for a few days. Janet had several fun outings with Laurie and Brendan and Autumn and Amy and their kids. She also reconnected with some of her college roommates. That same weekend we attended our missionary reunion and saw both of our mission presidents and their wives, plus many of the senior missionaries we knew in the Arizona Phoenix Mission. Recently all of the missions that reached into the reservation were combined into the Farmington Mission. Four Elders are assigned to Blanding and we’ve been helping them quite a bit.

This year has been one of wonderful highs but also some great sorrows regarding the little boy we hoped Rob and Kathryn could adopt. Travis’s bio- father petitioned the courts for custody earlier this year and even though he missed the deadline for filing, was not married and only worked part time, the judge in Denver still gave temporary custody to Travis’s father on Aug 28th the day he turned one. Travis had been in their family since birth. You can imagine the sadness that was. The judge allowed Rob and Kathryn to visit him every two week, but on Nov. 01, the judge gave permanent custody to Travis’s father. This has been heartbreaking for Rob, Kathryn and Ethan and the rest of us. We pray that he is being cared for and raised with love. But we know it will not be the same quality of life he had with Rob and Kathryn’s family. Kathryn also lost her father this past year, after a valiant fight with pulmonary disease, so there are two big holes in their lives.

We’re still working on several history projects, though Janet got a couple of books published earlier this year. She compiled a history of all of her sewing and quilting projects over a lifetime, as well as a tribute book about Lem Redd. Maybe this winter we’ll have some free time to really concentrate on it. Janet has nearly completed scanning our slide collection (3000+) and is now transcribing her Brother Clint’s letters. I’m working on my life story.

We are very thankful as we reflect on the past 44 years of life together, that God and his gospel have played such an important part in our lives. We are so thankful that our children, are passing on gospel traditions to their children. We know we didn’t do everything right, but we kept trying during those hard years. Without a belief in God, and knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ, the world and its problems would be overwhelming. We truly feel the peace and joy that the gospel brings. We pray that its light is reaching into your life as well.

Love, Steve and Janet Wilcox

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

2011-12-25T09:31:00.000-08:00

It was a little somber this Christmas, not because of those who shared it with us, but because of those who weren't there. We couldn't help but remember last Christmas Eve, sharing it with both Lem Redd and Travis. So there was a big empty spot in our hearts for them. But through the hope we have in Christ, we know that all things can be made whole again. Christmas Eve we had dinner with Lila and Rob's family and a program, and then the next morning Rob's family came over to open presents. This is the quilt I made for Ethan out of his T-shirts.

It was a hard stretch, but I even put Buckaroo colors of orange and black on the back!

What every golfer needs--a golf tie!

Grandpa and his "Seize the Nap" shirt

Gingerbread houses 2011 style

2011-12-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

While we were at Autumn's we kept the energy of Christmas alive, by making Gingerbread houses from scratch. Autumn made the houses using the pattern she gave all of us all last year, then we helped the kids make the houses.

The next week when Anthony and Ashley's family came to visit we repeated the activity, and had a lot of fun trying it on our own. If I'd known how easy it really was, I would have done it with my own kids years ago.

Since they were in transit going and coming to and from Mesa, we ended up giving their houses to our neighbor's children. So nothing went to waste, I'm sure.

We found out that Anthony and Ashley are also expecting a baby in 2012, and in February found out that it too, will be a little girl.

Christmas Announcement -- New baby coming

2011-12-21T07:18:00.000-08:00

A special part of the family Christmas party on Dec. 18 was the announcement from Nathan and Tammy that they are expecting a baby in May. This is the clever poem they shared at the end of the Nativity reenactment the family did.

Twas a night in the Springtime so fresh and so bright,
The snow had all melted to everyone’s delight.
The layette had been washed and folded with care,
In hopes that a little one soon would be there.

Us kids were nestled all snug in our beds,
While visions of summer vacation danced in our heads.
Pa was a sleeping and snoring so loud,
While Ma kept a wondering “Will three be a crowd?”

Then all of a sudden I was woken from sleep,
By that blasted phone and some insensitive creep.
I asked myself who the caller could be,
As the name “Uncle Theron” flashed on caller I.D.

With his favorite question already to ask,
I knew in a moment I was up for the task.
More rapid than Armstrong, Theron’s voice came in clear,
He asked the same question with his usual sneer.

“Now uncle I’ve told you ‘nunya’ time and again,
Nor more asking, my patience is running quite thin.
Be patient with mama and papa too,
They’ll get it together they know what to do!”

I hung up the phone and went back to my bed,
Pulled up the covers and placed a pillow under my head.
I’d just begun REM and started to dream,
When down from the hall I heard my pa scream.

Then all of a sudden I heard mama say,
“Get the car started, our surprise is on the way!”
The bags were all gathered and thrown in the car,
Then off to the clinic; I hope it’s not far.

Dad was a racing with speed to the max,
Mama hollered, “hurry!” Papa said, “just breathe and relax.”
Then on to the birth center before it gets late,
To meet our surprise, she’s due on May 8th.

Merry Christmas Celebrations

2011-12-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

We had a White Christmas in Blanding!

We were also blessed to have good traveling weather the week before Christmas, so were able to whizz up to the Wasatch Front to visit our kids' families up there. We stayed with Chris's family Wed. the 14th and Sun. 18th which we enjoyed very much. I was able to work with Kylee for several hours getting her started on her first quilt. We probably should have practiced "driving" the her new machine a little bit first, but she did pretty well. We were also able to attend her choir program Thurs. morning. See if you can find her!

Pam's Grandma Prevost lost one of her sons tragically that week, so we took time to go visit her as well. Two other friends of ours, Melissa Tatro a former Blanding teacher, and Anita Nez from Cornfield, also lost sons tragically just before Christmas. It is always hard to call and talk about death, but from our experience, we knew how helpful that is, and took time to do it.

We stayed the other days with Autumn, and even got to try out their Wellness Center, and tended for them so they could go celebrate their anniversary on the 16th. The family party on the 18th turned out really fun and Amy and Andrew pulled in some new activities. It was nice to reinact the Nativity Story with so many of the family participating. The adults made a good choir, and the kids did really well, as did the innkeepers with no room!

Of course, the main activity was eating a delicious brunch of waffles and breakfast meats and fruits. Amy and Andrew initiated our "new Belgium waffle maker"..which we are enjoying now.

We played some games with the kids before eating, and then afterwards the children exchanged presents, and were visited by that Jolly Old Man himself.

Visiting and playing basketball were also on the traditional agenda.

Little Buddies Daniel and Gannon

Granddaughters model their pre-christmas fashion accessories, made by Cheri Shumway.

The traditional pinata ended the morning's festivities along with teasing Uncle Scrooge.

Thanksgiving on the Mesa

2011-12-04T12:21:00.000-08:00

Logan the Explorer enjoyed being a mountain goat!

We had a great Thanksgiving with wonderful weather, great visitors, and fun activities. Nathan & Tammy, Rob & Kathryn, and Anthony& Ashley and their families all arrived Wed. night, so we got to do things with them thru Sunday. We had a delicious dinner Thursday, and also invited Brother Larry Dennison to come join us. He was #14 for dinner. He used to go hunting with Steve in the early days, and knows our family pretty well. He's all alone now, and I think he enjoyed being with us. He even stayed and played the games.
Everyone helped with the food prep: Ashley with her signature Corn bread dressing, Tammy with yummy Frog Eye Salad, and Kathryn with delicious white rolls. We had two kinds of turkey which we munched on all weekend. Steve smoked a turkey earlier in the week and we cooked it on Wed. On the last day I made shredded Mexican taco filling with the last of the turkey. I had never fixed left over turkey that way, but it was delicious with some black beans in it and seasoning. It was good both as a burrito and as a taco. It was great not having left-overs, and I appreciated everyone helping to eat up all the things in the fridge before they left.
    I hope you all have been writing in your Gratitude Journals, and keep encouraging each other to do so every day. I'm a firm believer that grateful people are happy people. While I was getting desserts ready, and loading the dishwasher, we had everyone, including Bro. Dennison start their gratitude journal. I've written in ours several times since then. I think pretty much everyone wrote that day, and hopefully, have continued. I don't know if Steve has added any more, however. I hope he sees this and remembers it's a daily habit!

We also played a "hot potato" gratitude game with our stuffed fabric cornicopia veggies and fruits. One of the kids started it by identifying the first letter of the fruit, and said something they were thankful for that started with that lettr, then he tossed it to another person, and it went round and round, until we had saturated the letter with all the blessings we could think of. Once we got through playing, we went back to the table for dessert.
    Later we played several whole group games: The West Wind Blows, Name bopper, Categories, and Chinese writing. Who knew that Anthony could speak Chinese! We had a ton of fun, and laughed a lot. It was good for all of us. It was so fun playing games with the grandkids, and seeing their sense of humor coming through, and making jokes along with their parents. We all need more humor in our lives and less harshness.
    Coyote calling, of course, was one of the activities of the weekend, as well as target practice with the kids (they weren't the targets -- they were shooting too!).

We went on a hike at Bluff Bench and Recapture Pocket, made a few "Black Friday" trips to Alco! and visited and played table games. We found the can Chris's family hid last Easter with the GPS co-ordinates. It didn't look like anyone had found it yet.

Who are those crazy explorers?

Hiking on the slick rocks above Bluff

The only thing missing was a cook and a kitchen cleanup crew, so I could just goof off too. But my energy has been better lately, so I survived it all. Dad was a huge help running errands, and cooking breakfast.

On Saturday we invited Sister Stubbs' Grandkids, and Charlotta Lacy's kids for the Pinata break. We also played games with them. Some of the older kids didn't get a turn, as it broke before it got to them, but it was still fun. Thanks, Ashley for providing that.

That evening a young man we've been helping with, was baptized, and we both participated in that. He's been coming out to all the YSA activities, and really loves it. We even got him to Institute on Thursday. He came to the YSA branch for the first time today. He has really needed friends his age, and seems really happy to have found a nitche in the gospel.

Anthony and Nathan's families went to church with us, then headed for home after Sac. meeting. Thanks everyone for changing the sheets, and cleaning up so well. We loved having everyone come and all the help you gave. Sometimes I'm so worn out after a big visit, it takes me days to recover, but we did better this time.

Monday we went to the Lowe Family concert in Monticello with Ethan and Kathryn. Rob was headed to Las Vegas for Swat team training. He got back on Friday. So he was gone quite awhile. Ethan was a little sick that night, but seems to have gotten better. The concert was their Branson format, so some people felt it was too long, but I loved it and felt we really got our moneys worth!!

We got snow yesterday, so it really looks like Christmas in Blanding now! We'll we've gotta run--it's break-the-fast at the YSA branch, and we're taking several things for those hungry appetites. Love and kisses, Grandma!

Patio: Before and After

2011-10-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

We spent 20 or so years of wishing our outdoor entertaining area was not only more attractive, but less dangerous, Finally we went ahead this year and hired Dave Moore, a friend of Rob's, to do phase #1 of the rennovation.

We had done several improvements in the past. When we moved to this house in 1973 there were two big elm trees in the back yard. We debarked them, so we could get rid of the source of all the little seedlings they send out in the garden and flower beds. Ringing or debarking kills the food source to trees, and eventually they die. This picture also shows a wire fence around the little Maple tree which Pete and Charlotte Black had planted shortly before we bought this home from them. It is now a large tree.

There was also a big elm tree on the north side that we debarked as well. On the north was a larger maple tree which the Blacks had also planted. The south lawn was planted in grass. I can remember having a sleep out on the south side with the kids a couple of times, and facing TV to the window and opening the panes, so we could watch a movie outside.

One Sunday before we took the elm trees out, Aaron was sick and had stayed home. He was probably 7 or 8 at the time and a big wind storm came in and blew the tree over; fortunately it blew into the closeline and not the house. We were so thankful that it didn't break the window or hurt Aaron in some way. It was scary enough for him as it was.

At one time Steve built a three- tiered strawberry bed about where the pond is now, but it was too shady for the plants to do well.

About 1983 there was a flash flood which washed away the wooden decking out at a marina UNDC was building, and Silvia Stubbs and I went down to the UNDC lumberyard and bought some of the plankings which you can see in the picture above. We used these as "temporary" sidewalks and part of the patio on the south side, and so it remained until this year.
Rob helped me put the flagstone the fall of 2000 prior to Autumn's wedding. Steve put the fishpond in about 2003 before Andrew's reception.
Here is what the patio looked like prior to its face lift the summer or 2011. Pretty hodgepodge.

A few years ago, Steve and I added sand to paint, hoping to create a stucco texture to the west wall of the garage. It looked great for about 2 years, but then it started to flake off as you can see in the picture above. In this year's refurbishing of the patio we also added siding to the garage.

During the two weeks I was in Northern Utah helping the kids, Dave and Virgil Steve did most of the concrete and siding work. Here is what it's like now.

Where once we had wooden walkways we now have a nice red stamped cement sidewalk, which wraps around the corner.

I plan on painting the rest of the back porch cement on the west, to match the side walk. But that may not happen until next spring. They also took out and then repoured the section of the side walk that was jutting up on the south; it had been such a hazzard.

This is how the cement looks now in the patio. As you can see in the picture, they also poured a nice wall on the south where the grill will go. The empty space on the garage wall is for a painting which Steve will do. We're still looking for the perfect scene for him to paint, so if you find a good one, let us know!

The garage looks lots better now, though was taken before the flashing went up on the eaves. We don't have a new window in yet.

Looking west on the Patio.

Our other project this summer included a tiled entry way. We bought the time last December in Farmington, but evidently that the guy who helped us at Home Depot in Dec. didn't compute enough tile for the pattern I wanted. I tried, several plan "B" patterns in the process of trying to make what we had work, but I didn't like any of them.

In July when Anthony and Ashley made a quick visit, we made a flying trip to Corez to try and find some matching tile. At House of Carpets we found lots of free tile in their boneyard, and hauled home about 25 pieces. I did end up using some of them, but the light colors didn't match, so Steve and I made a 2nd trip to Cortez in September, and got a totally different center color, which he liked better. It had more red in it.

Next I got my free tile pieces out and kept moving the them around, and experimenting until, I was able to come up with a Navajo type design, which Virgil was able to replicate.

I think Virgil Steve did an excellent job on it. I'm so happy with the design and color. The center blue tiles were the ones we found in Cortez on the first trip.

Thoughts and reflections on Women's Conference 2011

2011-10-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

Starting with the Women's Gen. Broadcast the week before General Conference, I tried something different and used my laptop to take notes while I listened. I felt I was much more engaged, and gleaned some things useful in my own life, and ideas for our extended family as well. I've always taken notes in the past, but my penmanship is so bad now, I can hardly read it. Too many years typing on the computer!

Women's Broadcast: I especially appreciated Pres. Uchtdorf's talk:
Pres. Uchtdorf: In garden, noticed little flower a forget-me-not. Analogy –using it to teach us what not to forget:

1. Forget not to be patient with yourself –Those you think are perfect , are not! Some expectations are impossible to be met… Enjoy your successes, don’t punish self. Be thankful for small success in your home, church callings,

2. Forget not the difference between good sacrifices, and poor sacrifices; dedicating time for lesson is good, -- hand stitching the scripture on a potholder is foolish, time and energy should be spent on things that matter most.

3. Forget not to be happy now. Charlie & the Chocolate factory: Willie Wonka hit message in chocolates. Yearning to find the “golden ticket.” The candy bar itself, can still be enjoyed, even without the golden ticket--key to happiness. Seek after things that are lovely, good report and praiseworthy. Don’t keep looking for glorious roses, and miss the simple elegance of forget-me-nots. While in pursuit of goals, enjoy beauty and joy in each day

4. Forget not the Why of the gospel: Duties that “must” be done vs. following Christ along the path, a light, a pathway, which illuminates the way: The majesty and power of the gospel is the “Why” we committed to as a foundational part of our lives, and then life is no longer a burden; cast our eyes not on ground, but enjoy the beauty of each day.. Find the joy of the Why. The what and how, marks the way, but the Why of obedience, sanctifies our actions. Magnifies small acts of obedience into concecration

5. Forget not that the Lord loves you. You are not forgotten. No matter how overshadowed you may be fears or worries..He loves you with an infinite love. You are loved by the King, you are daughters of his kingdom. “He made man a little lower than the angels..” He loves you sisters, because you are his children. Allow his love into your life, it can heal any heart, soften any sorrow. You are closer than to heaven than you suppose. Treasure the gift of service, strengthen homes and family. Notice the little things that can bring you joy. Don’t wait for a golden ticket, to be happy.

Julie Beck’s talk

Told of the valiant women of pioneer times who helped in every way possible when others were destitute…[My own gg grandfather Henderson was one of several young men in need in the winter of 1851 when he first came to the Salt Lake Valley. John Taylor's wife took care of 18 young men. Often she sent them out to hunt and they came back with badgers or crows… It was a long, cold winter, yet she did the best she could.] Here is the entry:

[From Heart Throbs of the West, Vol 12: Robert finally located in the home of Brother John Taylor. Here with eighteen other young men, he remained the greater part of the winter. He tells how it was for Sister Taylor to secure enough food to supply the healthy appetites of the nineteen rugged young men who were just becoming accustomed to Utah’s high climate. Each boy would try to secure something to eat during the day. Perchance one would bring home a big, black crow, a badger or something that could be eaten. All hands took part in helping to dress and prepare what came. Sister Taylor was a very capable cook. All conditions considered, it was a very well spent winter; for here he attended his first conference in Zion and eagerly assimilated the wonderful instructions given by the church leaders. ]

Sometimes I think we are really sacrificing to feed and entertain 8-12 young singles a couple of times each month. But Sister Taylor had 19 young singles every day to feed during one whole winter!

She quoted Pres. Monson: Pres. Monson “strive with faith to fulfill—spirit of the law, achieve the miraculous. Sis. Beck added: I hope my granddaughters will accomplish miracles…that will be recognized by the Lord. I am sure our granddaughters have that capability too, and I'm so thankful their parents are following the Proclamation on the Family, and teaching all their children to walk in God's ways.

New Relief Society book aligns in unity worldwide sisters of the gospel: who we are, what we’ll do, what we’ll defend…inspiring examples. We can lead the sisters of the world. Apply principles and patterns of Relief Society.

Sister Allred: Spoke of the establishment of RS in Nauvoo—Apostle Paul, “Greatest of all gifts is Charity"" Vaunted not itself, rejoiceth in truth. These principles have been endorsed throughout world

Pure love of Christ (love as Christ would) List traits, which do I need to work on?
Charity a state of the heart. Charity refines those who practice it…prepares us for the Celestial kingdom…What qualities will help us? Prayer, goodly love, read scriptures daily

Feed my sheep..those in need; compassion for the hungry, sick, Wear the mantle of charity—patience with those letting us down, accepting shortcomings.. Willing to serve when it is not convenient; don’t have to be assigned, it becomes part of our very nature;

Visiting teaching designed to: love, minister, serve others: (What can I do to help ___________?)

Examples: took sister to hospital often, tended child; another taught a sister to read; Chairity is Kind, seeketh not her own…Makes our own difficulties seem less difficult.. “Angles cannot be restrained from being your associates” Small acts of charity have a healing power in lives of others, and in our own lives.
She invited sisters to plea for a desire to be filled with charity..including in "your own family."

Barbara Thomas:

Cleave unto the covenants we have made with the Savior.. She told of cleaning out parents' house, reading their patriarchal blessings. Sisters can find great joy in keeping covenants—examples in new RS book. Baptism covenants: bear one another burdens, mourn with others,
Sisters in Nauvoo anticipated how the temple would bring them out of darkness into the light. We covenant to do and be good. Joy and protection come to those who do this.

Ammon—instruments bringing many others to Christ. “My joy is full.” Even in the face of trials. Couple in Ukraine going to Frieburg temple. 26 hr. ride each way.

When people sift through our belongings will they have a witness of how we kept our covenants? Joy, comfort, peace, protection, help in times of trial..

September Trip to SLC--Began and ended with a Bang

2011-10-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

Sidney, Mike and Caroline Christensen--my chauffeurs

Back in the long ago past when I needed a ride up north, and Dad couldn't go, I'd call KUTA and have them announce I was looking for a ride--and I was always successful, even finding a ride to Idaho a couple of times. Nowadays, it's e-mail and Facebook that I use to hitch a ride, and still find Blanding people so kind and accommodating.

I traveled with the Christensen's this time, and it turned into a 12 hr. ride, starting with a serious blowout on Soldier Summit. Luckily, Mike controlled the car well, and we had room to park on the side, with a good view to the very steep slope and canyon below. We felt very blessed and protected, though inconvenienced. Unluckily, the spare was flat too. Luckily someone stopped and took him down to Helper. Unluckily the canned gas he bought to inflate the spare was defective. Luckily, there was enough air supply to allow us to limp along, back to Price, where they ended up buying four new tires. It was 9 PM by the time we got to Tooele, and Nathan's home.

After a quick crash course on Brendan and Laurie's schedules, eating patterns, homework, house rules, and gizmo-gadget instructions, I was ready to start a very fun week of tending. I walked the kids to school each morning, and also walked them home--not that they needed it, but I wanted to keep on target with my own exercise, and encourage theirs as well. I droveTammy to the airport, and learned the idiosycrancies about their van that morning. Drove up to Autumn's before heading home and helped her a bit on kitchen patrol. Also got some shopping done before I headed back to Tooele. Found some great bargains at the new grocery store in Stansbury Park. Cream of chicken for .59 a can--so got several cases, as well as other food storage items.

That night the kids and I did a major cup-cake decorating project to help Autumn with the bake sale part of the Cub Scout fundraiser Friday. We had a lot of fun creating weird Halloween Ghouls. Shown here: the kids celebrate their accomplishment. We saved about 10 or so for next week when Grandpa and their parents returned.

The next day I started my history project for my brother Clinton. I want him to be remembered as more than a birth and a death date. So decided I needed to do something about it. Over the week, I got all of Dad's letters to him scanned, and about 3 months of Clint's mission letters typed up.

We all packed the night before, for our "sleepover" trip Friday night at Autumns. I picked the kids up right after school, and we got there in time to help cleanup the "creative cake studio" that had been going on all day at the Jeppsons. All of the cousins had fun playing together, and talking instead of sleeping!

These are Autumn's two cakes which were prize winners; they brought in over $50 for the Cubs.

We all had a lot of fun at the Cake Auction, and I donated about $50 to the ward, to feed our sugar addictions. The cake on the left is a delicious cheese cake I won, and the Sunflower cake was bought by Theron. We became well acquainted with Misha (girl in red shirt on the left) who was baptized the next morning. Autumn had fellowshipped her for several months, first inviting her to go to Girls Camp this summer. Then inviting her to church, and then to hear the missionary lessons.

We hadn't planned to go to the baptism, so hadn't brought clothes, so after the auction we made a flying trip to Kohls bargain racks at 9 PM to find something for all 3 of us to wear. So Brendan got an early birthday present.

The next day we went to Misha's baptism, and helped Autumn get the refreshments ready. Theron left Friday for a Mountain Bike race down south. He took 1st place. The baptism was really nice, and her relatives from Idaho came down for it, as well as her parents. We hope she will be an influence for reactivation of many people in her family.

We had an hour or so, to wind down and let Hinckley take a nap before we began the next Sat. activity at Gardner Village. We met Andrew and Amy's family there and had a great time, as we pursued a gaggle of hags dressed as witches. They were scattered all over the Village, so it was pretty fun and a beautiful day.
Once the kids had identified a dozen or so specific witches, on their scavenger sheet, they got a bargain cookie at the bakery.

There were many, many photo ops during the day and the kids had a lot of fun I think.

We finally got back to Tooele about 6 PM. After getting things put away, some supper and the kids to bed, I watched the General RS Women's conference, which Tammy had set to record. It was really the end to a perfect day.

Sun. -Tues. were pretty calm days. I worked on my brother's project, visited most of the intriquing stores in Tooele, got a pedicure, and we played games each evening. I finally beat the kids on Wii bowling. The kids are very good to settle right down after school and do their homework and reading. We had a good time together.

Both Nathan and Tamara flew home on Wed. after having spent a great week together in Washington DC. Dad also drove up on Wed. Thursday we drove to Kaysville and stayed with the Andrew and Amy. Steve even got to eat hot lunch with Madison and enjoyed it very much. I spent most of the day making a wide variety of peace jams: (orange, jalepeno, raspberry mix) and eating as many of the fresh peaches as I could.
On Friday we did a little shopping for the B-B-que Sat., then went to Autumn's. Steve stayed and played with the kids, while I met my BYU college roomates at the Cheesefactory for a great lunch visit. We roomed together my Senior year. Judy (next to me) just got back from Greece in June and lives in Fruit Heights. Ann lives in Payson, and Marsha lives in So. Jordan -- I think.

I rushed home, and the got ready for our mission reunion which was held at the U of U Institute building.

Friday Sept. 20 we attended our mission reunion and saw quite a few of senior couples that we met on our mission. On the way back to Autumn's we listened to the last three minutes of BYU- USU football game which was a pretty exciting comeback for the Y.

Jessica and Paul Ziel's family came down from Idaho and stayed with Autumn as well. They went to a reunion of his law school class, and also went to the game. Autumn watched Audrey for them. We had a good time catching up on their lives. Though we were saddened to learn of the sad death of our cousin, Darrell Marley on Sept. 27. He was 51.

Nathan and Tamara and kids came in for the delicious rib BBQue that Steve fixed, Everyone brought something delicious and we had a fun time visiting, and the kids played. Nathan and Steve went to the Priesthood session, and the Ziels headed back to Idaho.

Saturday we all listened to all sessions of conference. This time I typed my notes onto my lap top which helped me focus, and usually stay awake! On the other hand, the kids had all kinds of fun things to keep them awake: Shown here: Peyton, Matthew, Brendan, Laurie, Hunter, Isaac, and Hinckley and Audrey below.

Anthony brought Logan over Sunday morning early, so she could play with the kids, and after morning conference he came back and visited for a little bit. He's staying in Altamont helping the in-laws during his fall break.

We drove to Provo during the last part of afternoon conference, and helped celebrate Kylee's 11th birthday. We had a good visit with Chris and Pam's family.

Left Monday morning. We got home about 2:30 pm.

The patio is finished, the side walk is poured and they are just finishing up the siding on the garage. It is completely covered so you can't see any of the old wood. Every thing looks real good and we are happy with the work Dave and his crew did. ("ll do a separate blog on that remodel job.)

Can't wait to get some of that yummy Cake!!

Sewing marathon--Quilts on every floor

2011-09-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

I've been doing major sewing for the past 3 weeks on multiple quilts. I finally finished piecing a Quilt for Matt Keeler who got married last August...I almost got it to to him and his wife Karen by their first anniversary!

When I was in SLC last, Autumn and I bought fabric for Arin's Wedding quilt from the Buffalo gang, and I've been working on it for a couple of weeks, but got it delivered to Einerson's today, and we'll get it tied tomorrow. It's pretty bright, but we hope she loves it. It is a pieced nine-patch in African motif prints.

Fallen Officer Quilt. Our guild made the blocks for a fund raiser quilt we are making in memory of Kevin Orr. I've just got the borders to add on, after I make 4 large corner stars, and then the Orrs are going to tie it and take it back to the National Conference in October. The dark blue print has different police badges on it. I'll get a better pix, once I finish it.

Last night I started a baby quilt for Andrea and Tyler...This is the finished cowboy quilt, so he doesn't forget his western roots. Maybe I should have made one with Caterpillar tractors on it--since that is a family motif ! Their first little boy is named Jess Addison.

I was happy to hear that Laurie's quilt qualified for the State Fair, and she entered it last week. We don't know yet how it did. (She got a red ribbon and $6!) This is before we got it quilted and bound.

Court Decision Leaves us Baffled and Sad

2011-08-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today was a sad day for our family, as the Denver court decided to award Travis's biological father temporary custody for the next two months. Rob called at noon, and all of them were crying so much it was hard to understand him. Even the judge said the best home for Travis would be with the Wilcox's but nothing has proven the bio-father unfit. We knew he might be taken away, but had hoped if it happened it would be to Wendy, the birth mother. After a full year of being part of our family it is too sad to think of him leaving us, We are heart broken. We still hope and pray that a door will be opened in some way that Rob and Kathryn can one day adopt him. The final hearing will be Nov. 1.

Rob and Kathryn testified in the afternoon, Rob sent us the following:"Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. The judge still awarded temporary custody to the birth father, and set Nov. 1 for permanent placement. We are still listed as interested parties in the case, so we are not out of the picture. We get to have visits every other weekend for 6 hours. Wendy gets 2 hours, 3 times a week and 4 hours on the weekend. If Nick messes up in the next two months, the judge can change his mind. We have to give Travis up Sunday Aug. 28 at noon in Durango. If anyone wants to see him one more time we will be home Friday evening and Saturday."

Wendy actually went with Rob and Kathryn to see Travis again, and visit with them. She will be central to any case to prove Nick (the bio-father) unfit, as she will have much more interaction with him and Travis during the next two months. She still feels very strongly that Travis should be with Rob and Kathryn and Ethan, So that is encouraging. We haven't given up hope, but yesterday was a very dark and sad day for all of us.

Anthony and Ashley drove up from Mesa Thursday night to be here when they got back. Amy and Andrew's family came down as well, to support them, which was very much appreciated by both Rob and Kathryn.

We received so much strength from friends in our two communities and our extended family who have continued to remember them in their prayers in. We haven't given up hope that something will yet turn the tide in our favor. We pray that Travis will be safe while he is with this other family. We are really worried about his ability to care for this little one-year-old, and can't believe the court would just turn him over with no apparent concern about his welfare.

On Saturday The Redds and Wilcoxes got together to go on a hike,and then later celebrated Travis's birthday. It was a very bitter/sweet day, with this dark cloud hovering of loss over our heads the whole time.

Eating the birthday Cake Ethan made for him

Travis, we love you. You have blessed our lives so much.

Blanding 4th ward Dissolved after 38 years

2011-08-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

We returned home from Idaho on Sun. the 14th in time to attend the 1 PM combined 4,5,6,7 ward special meeting where 4th ward was dissolved and the other three wards absorbed our membership. It was quite a shock, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I love change, and the challenges it brings, so I think we're both up for it. I was the first Relief Society president of 4th ward, 38 years ago. We had 3 little boys, who were really just toddlers, and then Chris was born 6 months after I was called. It was quite a juggling act to pull off, and I only lasted 15 months I think.

We will be in 5th ward, along with about 50 other 4th ward families. The 4th ward attendance today at church really helped fill the chapel. We were also called today to continue with our assignment as Young Adult Advisors in 5th ward. Attended the last two meetings at the YS branch and then hosted a YSA dinner today to honor Tyler Saganey who is leaving in September to serve a mission to the Dominican Republic. He drove up from Kayenta today to see his Blanding friends one last time. There were nine who came to dinner, and we had lots of Steve's delicious produce: corn, new potatoes, cucumbers, melons. Tyler was one of our favorite students last year; he came often to our home and always expressed appreciation for everything we did, and usually offered to help. Once he even made the fry bread for one of our dinners. We know he'll be a great missionary.

After the wards were divided, I remembered I had taken a photo of past bishops. So I submitted the photo to the Panorama and they ran it on the front page this past week. It was taken 5/15/2007. All of these couples are very special friends to us, and we've gone through so much of our life here in Blanding with them and their families. We dearly love each of them.

Sob, Sigh, and Sulk Intervention Party

Because of all of the saddness expressed by some of my friends related to the ward change, I felt prompted to try and remedy at least some of their sorrow, and send this invitation out Aug. 16. It was very impromptu, but I felt inspired to do it, and it turned out swell.

Hey sisters, I think we need one more "Relief" party to counteract all the emotional stress we've been going through since Sunday. So...here's the plan:

A potluck lunch on Thursday---Aug. 18 at noon....

Bring anything you think will make someone feel better--even if it's YOU.

I'll furnish the drinks and some fajita snacks, so bring your best "feel good" dish and come join us. I want to take a photo of as many people as we can round up We'll do that about 12:45.... We may not all be together again for awhile...so please try and come.
Please pass the invite around, as I don't have e-mails for everyone. Especially invite your visiting teaching sisters...this will be your Aug. Visit!!

Twenty-four sisters came and here they are:

About 3 hours before the party I remembered I had this box of Hawaiian decorations, so it was our Aloha party, which can be Hello and Good-bye. Everyone had a chance to share their feelings and express appreciation to one another, and take photos. It was a fun activity I think for everyone. So glad I felt inspired to do it. Steve was a huge help, setting up the shades, since in the middle of the day it is super hot on the patio.

Steve's Garden 2011

2011-08-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

Steve has been as busy as ever with a big garden this year. Andrew sent down raspberry starts for us for my birthday, and dad has put in two rows. We need to figure out a way to keep them cooler, as they like moisture.
Here he is weeding the strawberries. They are doing pretty good. Below them are the squash and cucumbers, and corn. These first pictures were taken Aug. 1 We ate our first corn on the 18th, so it has grown a lot since this pix was taken.

Today, I canned 4 quarts of beans and froze 2 bags of them. Made a batch of jalepeno plum jelly, froze two trays of bell peppers, and ground up peppers, onions, cukes, and cabbage for relish. Dad also did his first ever canning this week. Pickled 3 bottles of okra! What's the highest bid?

Here is the west side of the garden. The early crops: radish, lettuce, etc. are gone. The photo on the left shows his drip system for melons and tomatoes. One little melon was so full of moisture this week, that it burst open Thursday, and we are every bit of it. It was delicious.
Ate several catelope as well.

Onions and peppers are doing really well.
Steve picked some beautiful bell peppers today!

New potatoes for Sunday dinner tomorrow for Tye Sageney

What in the heck is this strange creature, Grandpa found in the garden?

Can you come up with a name for it?

Jason Workman Memorial

2011-08-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

The funeral service for Jason Workman was held in the stake center today. There was a large crowd. Gov. Herbert as well as Elder Webb, a 70 representing the church and several dozen Navy Seals attended the funeral. Bishop Joe Lyman conducted and did a good job. All his brothers, as well as his mother gave moving tributes and memories about his life. One of his close friends in the Seals also gave insights as to the level of danger in his assignments, and how well he had performed in each mission.

It was a fitting tribute to Jason and many of his friends came to pay tribute. After the funeral they asked us to remain in our seats and they took the casket followed by his family outside. They did a 21 gun salute, plus they played taps. Jason will be buried in the Arlington cemetary this coming Friday. He was only 33 years old.

Afterwards they had a lunch for everyone at the armory. Steve stayed to work in the garden but I went down and was able to talk to all the Workmans. I hadn't seen Tim nor Steven for quite some time. All the boys did a great job speaking about their brother. Sister Workman and her sister had some very good messages as well. I was also able to visit with AJ Mexican, Rachelle Shumway, Maureen Olsen. There were quite a few of Jason's friends who came to the funeral: Tate Bennett, Denim Lyman, Cory Halliday, Brad Harris, Jimmy Ray and probably lots I didn't recognize. Ian Nielson also spoke and did an exceptional job. He and Jason served in Pittsburg together.

Today is my Brother Clint's birthday. He was born in 1950, and died in 1982. He would have been 61 this year, but was only 32 when he died. I miss him still and wish he were here to share his quirky sense of humor with his neices and nephews.

My brother Lynn's birthday is Aug. 29; he's just 2 years older than Clint. And Nancy...she's at least 20 years younger that any of us! Birthday Sept. 12

County Fair Blue Ribbons

2011-08-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

I delivered four quilts to the county fair just before we headed north on our Idaho trip. All four of them earned blue ribbons, and the Eagle Scout quilt and Aztec Sr. Citizen also got a special Honorable Mention award, thus earning me $23.

Here are the other two:

You Can Go Home Again--Idaho Trip

2011-08-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

August 10-13 we made a quick trip to Idaho, staying with Andrew and Amy on the way up. The big excitement there was Mattea's new little family of ducks, which she bought with her 4th of July sales. That night Amy and I went to "The Help" which was just released, and it was a great movie. Now I need to read the book.

We left early the next morning for Idaho. Our goal was to determine the best site for our reunion next year, and to also go to the farm on Antelope where the Keeler kids grew up.

Our first stop, however, upon getting to Ririe was to visit Betty Anthony. She was my first piano teacher and second mother, as I stayed at their home often during my high school years. I took piano lessons from her for nine years. After she stopping teaching piano, she took up painting and became a very good artist. She's still going strong at 90! She mentioned several times how much she had enjoyed Mom's visits with her. She also asked if Doug and Nancy still played the piano. (She didn't ask about you Lynn, so you're off the hook!) Her daughter Barbara has been my best friend forever, and from them came Anthony's name.

We next visited several of the potential sites for next year's reunion and decided to go with Mountain River Ranch just south of Heise. The preferred dates of June 29-July 1 were available and it was less expensive than the other two sites. We reserved the lodge and 7 cabins. Here are a few photos of the area, but you can also find more info on their site. http://www.mountainriverranch.com/

Lodge kitchen where we can prepare meals, though the deck just outside has both fire pit grill and gas grill.

Deck outside the kitchen door at the lodge

Trip to Antelope Bench and the Keeler Farm

After calling four times to make connection with Niel Brown and failing, the manager of our farm, we finally exercised our faith and drove on up, hoping he had remembered we were coming. It is only 11 miles from Heise. The gate was left open for us and we were able to spend some time driving the "old roads of home" and even visited with Bob Echart the caretaker who lives in our house. He let me go in and take pictures, and also said there wouldn't be a problem with our family doing a reunion activity there next summer, as long as the Rockefellers aren't using it.

We are hoping Doug, Lynn's and Nancy's family can come join us Sunday, July 1 at the farm for a trip down memory lane.

Looking down the hill to our home. All the former buildings (except for the house) were torn down, and an quanset shed put up. Here is what it used to look like:

I was very happy to see so much of the farm under cultivation, mainly barley and alfalfa. The fields looked good. The only sad thing was that some of the coves and swells where Dad had left trees had been cleared, even though they aren't really farmable. According to Doug, it was the Hayes family who did this. They later sold the farm to a Nature Conservancy Organization, whose purpose was to protect the Snake River corridor from development, preserving it for wildlife, returning it somewhat to its pristine state.

The mountains in the background form the corridor the Snake River follows as it makes its way to Ririe.

The front of our home when I was a teen

Front of the house now with a wrap around deck.

On our way back to Heise for a 5:30 appt. with "that old gang of mine" , we stopped at the new scenic turn off along the Snake River. There was also a Vardis Fisher Memorial Plaque there. Some day I'll have to tell you of my run in with Vardis Fisher.

The Snake River is beautiful and seeing it again brought back many happy memories of the times we spent playing and fishing further up the river.

Thursday evening some of Ririe's Class of 1960 got together for pizza at Heise and visiting. It was great. JR pulled it together, even though he had been Huckleberrying all day. Linda and her husband drove clear up from American Falls. Steve and Tom and their wives left before I remembered I had a camera! At least I hadn't left before I remembered!!

We stayed with Barbara and Harry Groom Thurs. night (the first couple on the left) and the next day went to Blackfoot for a Murphy, Keeler, Jensen family reunion. It was at a really nice pavillion and park. Bert and Veloy's families were there. Veloy had just been diagnosed with cancer in her mouth, and was quite concerned about what would be happening.

Bruce came down, as the lone Arnold. He and Doug had a good visit. Nancy was in Illinois helping Andrea with their new baby which arrived the next day I think. Jessica and her cute little kids came early, so we got to visit with them quite a bit before the big crowds came. Della still isn't feeling very well, and she and Doug left early.

Both Sue Del and Marilyn and Dean came, as well as Julie and some of her family. Wayne and Wendell were both there. Talked quite a bit to Wayne's son, Spencer, who had been in Iraq two different times. We left about 4 PM, heading for Autumn's, and when we got to the Malad Summit, the traffic was stopped because of a gas truck accident that blocked both lanes of traffic. At first they were able to send cars via the old highway, until a 2nd diesel truck crashed there also...not a good day for truck drivers!

After waiting for about 1 1/2 hrs. we finally decided to go back to Downey, across to Preston, and Logan and then down. We finally got to Autumn's about 10 PM.

The next morning Steve got up early with Autumn as the official photographer of her triathlon while I stayed and goofed off with the kids. She did very well finishing 1st in her category, and 3rd overall. Afterwards we celebrated by getting pedicures, and shopped for fabric for a quilt for her friend Arin who's getting married in Sept.

We headed to Chris's about 5 PM, and had a fun evening with them celebrating Chris's birthday, and playing games with the family. We also had fun watching Kids History on U-tube. Might be a good idea for a reunion challenge.

Happy 70th to Steve

2011-08-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

Pulled together a little cookout for Steve to celeberate his 70th birthday, on Monday the 8th. Most of our Home Evening group came, plus some other friends. He did a lot of the cooking: doing ribs (on the grill the kids gave him) Dutch oven potatoes, and spicy squash. Ate, talked, and played "Which is the Lie."

Learned a lot of new things about old friends!

Cupcakes formed a 70!

Post Reunion Family Activities

2011-08-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Anthony and Ashley's family were able to stay after the reunion for three more days before they headed home to Mesa. We went to the dinosaur museum;

hiked out to the tepee and tower at West Water; celebrated Sam's birthday with a special cake that his mom decorated.

Had a cookout and played games on Monday with the McFarlands, and went to Voices of San Juan on Wednesday. We enjoyed our pre-and post reunion visits, as well as the actual reunion.

Sage is Baptized, Jens is Blessed

2011-08-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

One special part of our family reunion was participating in two special ordinances in Quentin and Bev's family. Sage Afton was baptised first by her dad, Quentin. He also confirmed her, and then afterwards he blessed Jens Quentin.

Both ordinances were very special with many priesthood holders from both the Wilcoxes, Shumways, and Perkins participating.

Wilcox Tribe Holds Reunion At Abajo Haven

2011-08-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Andrew and Amy and their good planning, we had an awesome time hiking, playing, eating, swimming, laughing, and visiting for a week with our children and grandchildren. There are 40 of us now, so we can make quite a commotion. I loved all the yellow T-shirts--everyone looks like a bright ray of light! Amy and Andrew designed it (with a little help from Bev) and then she had to silk screen every one of those bright shirts! What an effort. Thanks so much.

Quent and Bev's family came the weekend before and stayed with us. We had a family cookout with their family, and then they headed north to Travis's wedding in Salt Lake, but made an extra effort to make it back for the family reunion. It was fun being around Jens, and seeing him taking on his own personality. Brig kept us all entertained as well.

Chasing water rockets and getting wet was lots of fun, especially for Ava, Sage, Quincy and Ethan! We always enjoy having EveLyn and Richard join us in these joint-family cookouts. They are great people.

Autumn and Theron's family came Tuesday evening, so we got to go swimming with them, Dad even went. The kids really liked the new pool and all the fun bells and whistles.

Most of the gang game by Thursday evening when we had our first activities at Abajo Haven. Every family was assigned a meal for the days were were there, and then we did the meals back at the house Sunday. It is so nice not having to worry about fixing food every meal. Thanks everyone for being so well prepared with such good food, and to those who pitched in and helped with set up and clean up.

The kids really liked the new swimming pool and the dual slides!

Abajo Haven was a beautiful small camping area, with comfy cabins. Electricity is by solor, but there were still hot showers and water. Nathan had a brand new tent they got to enjoy. It looked pretty slick to set up. Autum and Theron also tented, and the rest of us had a cabin, except for Chris's family, who stayed at our house.

Mr. Haven took us on a canyon hike Friday morning which we all enjoyed. He showed us how prevalent pottery shards are, and encourage people to not take them...In fact, quite a few are placed on a large rock close to one of the pit houses on his property. He also showed us Boulder House ruin, and the route of the original Blanding ditch, and shared its story. The men working on the ditch camped just a little ways north of the Haven property. These photos show part of the ditch route.

The Blues are in the background

Cutest little Rock Climbers Around!

Amy brought lots of fun crafts to do: decorating buckets, making hats, and designing pet rocks.

Some of the other things we did:

Who can I throw this dirty diaper at?

Mmmmm, love dat fry bread!

Even simple things like sand hills are super fun with your cousins around.

Playing in the Sand! Wayyyyy fun!

WE LOVE A PARADE -- BEST SEATS ON THE ROUTE AT THE MAIN INTERSECTION!

The parade in Monticello on Saturday provided time to visit with friends from the past, play with cousins, run for candy and even get a cool down shower.

King Gannon supervises the craziness!

Can't have a reunion without a Water Fight

Logan loves the mud!

The Cousins had lots of time to play with each other, and get better acquainted. Travis was often the center of attraction, and got to show off his cute personality.

After the parade it was a yummy cookout at Rob and Kathryn's

Some of the Summer Birthday celebrants

July Birthday Kiddos

Our Favorite Smurfs

Time to Swim:

Some of us went over to Recapture and played in the water on the west side, and then on Saturday after the baptism, went swimming again in the new Blanding pool. I had a good visit with Will McFarland while at Recapture, and we invited him and his family over Monday while Anthony and Ashley were still here for a cookout and games.

Sat. Cookout by Chris and Pam

Celebrating birthdays again!

We love those grandkids

But how do you keep them all happy at the same time?

July 4th Quilt Show and 5 K

2011-07-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

After Daniel's baptism July 2, we drove back to Blanding. We hauled back 25 of the State quilt frames in our car. I was home just an hour before going to the Wellness Center to prepare ahead of time, so that the setup would go smoothly that night. I shouldn't have worried so much, as we had about 10 people come to help. Kathy Hurst was there to help with the decisions and questions we had, as I'd never set the whole thing up before. Picture #1 shows the Quilt of Valor which our guild made for the National Guard and presented at the awards program.

We hung about 100 quilts between 8 PM and 10:00 -- that included hauling down the frames for the 2nd floor and setting them up. I was so pleased that it went so fast. Sunday afternoon some of us came back and changed a few things, fixed the labels, and decorated the entrance. It looked lots better by the time we left. Steve brought up our wagon which he had repainted for Toni Lacy who did a patriotic display of a children's parade. He also hauled up flowers on Monday, as well as helped put bring in frames and set them up. We were there 2 hrs. He, along with other husbands and sons, was a huge help. Sun. afternoon Steve helped me put up sandwich boards and signs outside on two corners.

This is what it was looking like by the time we left Sat. night. We had lots of help, and made lots of progress.

Monday, July 4th, I got up at 5 PM, to get ready for the 5 K walk, and get the last things loaded up for the show. Danelle and I started our walk at 6:09, and finished up at 7:03...so I was way happy with how we did.

Went home long enough to water, change, and clean the kitchen then I spent the rest of the day until about 5:30 at the show. Steve saw the parade, and then brought me something to eat. The show turned out great and we had good traffic; it was cool, so who could complain. This is what the entrance looked like:

The quilt I made for CJ was actually the top vote getter, but some of the votes went in Patriotic, and others in traditional, so it affected the final count. But it still took 2nd place in Traditional.

Hailey's Happy Quilt

We had 170 people fill out the Voters choice ballots. It took us forever to count them. Gave cash prizes to 1st place and ribbons for 2nd and 3rd. Hailey's quilt is for her birthday this month. I made it from T-shirts she had collected, and used fusible pellon to stabalize the shirt, and do iron-on prep work.

Navajo Stairs

Purple Posies Griddle Cake

Here some of the other quilts I completed this year that were in the show

Aztec Sr. Citizen

C J does First baptism -- Daniel is Divinely Dunked

2011-07-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

Daniel was baptized July 2 by his big brother C J. Both of them did an amazing job! We were so glad we could be there to see our oldest grandson setting such a good example for all his cousins who will hold the priesthood in the future.

Think of all the good these future leaders can do if they follow the good example of their father and grandfather.

A happy day for all of Chris and Pam's family.

Nathan and Tammy and their children also attended the baptism and social afterwards.

Grandma Tripp, Jessica, and Great Grandma Prevost were also at the baptism. Afterwards we had a celebration pizza lunch at the pavillion by the Stake Center. Then Grandpa and I headed on the long road home..and a busy night getting the quilt show set up...but that's another story.

How thankful we are for the good children we have and the good families they are raising.

What the Home Team Does While The Trekkers Are Away

2011-07-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

After a couple of weeks down time, and garden catch up, I caught a ride up to SLC with Linda Halliday. We left Friday June 24. We had a fun visit, and stopped in Price and had lunch with Rosalie Payne, who donated 2 cases of quilting magazines to our guild. Linda was kind enough to carry them back home for me and we resold them at the Quilt Show on July 4th.

It was nice to have a couple of days with Autumn's family to learn the routine, prior to them leaving on for Wyoming to help their Stake with a youth trek. We even went to the West Valley Days Parade.

The basic routine for the four days was: Up, get dressed, clean room at 7-7:30, eat at 8, walk to school at 8:30. Two of the days, Hinckley and Peyton went with me to do a little shopping. We got seeds and plants to put a garden in, as well as some 4th of July decorations, and reward goodies. Autumn put together a good chart which we used each day, with smiley faces. That helped things go smoothly. It was actually a lot of fun.

Tammy and Laurie and Brendan came over on Tuesday and we had a nice visit while the kids played, and then we had supper together before they left. Peyton picked out a shirt that matched for her and Laurie. The boys got similar shits too, but they weren't so enamoured by them!

Steve drove up on Wed. so he was there to help part of the time, and a Kirby guy came by and cleaned one of the rooms...so that was a great bonus surprise! On Thursday, I did some fabric shopping, and picked up 25 State frames to use in our quilt show. It took me 3 times scheduling before we got together, but it was a straight shot from Autumn's on 3rd W. and 45th. While I was meandering, Steve fixed a delicious meal of B-B-Que Ribs, potatoes, and salads. We also ate a lot of mangos while they were gone, as Autumn had gotten 2 boxes from Bountiful Baskets.

On Friday we drove up to Kaysville to celebrate Gannon's 2nd birthday. Denny and Connie were there as well, and Autumn's gang stopped in on the way up to Bear Lake for the Jeppson Reunion.

Had gourmet hot dogs, fruit, and chips. They kids did water slides, jumped in a castle, and hunted in straw for treasures.

Even grandpa and Leah got in on the hunt.

Of course the main event was blowing out candles multiple times, and opening presents.

Afterwards we headed to Provo for a 2nd set of wonderful Celebrations!

Steve's 2011 Garden

2011-06-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Every year I say I am going to plant a smaller garden. Each year I fill up the whole plot. This spring Janet decided she would like to have some strawberries and raspberries. Andrew and Amy brought me a few raspberry plants the first part of April. Unfortunately, some of them froze so I ordered 75 strawberry plants and 12 raspberry plants from Burgess. It took over a month and one half before they finally arrived. I also ordered 25 raspberry plants from Daisy farms. They were here within a week. Not all of the strawberry plant lived so I sent for the free replacements. We eventually hope to have a good strawberry and raspberry patch.
Even though my garden seems to be later this year the garden it is doing very well. I planted five rows of potatoes on April 07 with the good help of our granddaughter, Madison Wilcox. It took them a month to come up, but they look real good. I have also planted carrots, beets, spinach, radishes, lettuce, cabbage, Swiss chard, okra, onions, and 70 pepper plants of different varieties. I have cucumbers, zucchini, yellow and butternut squash.
I have planted my first two plantings of corn and will plant the third planting in a week. Two of our grandsons, Sam and Ethan, helped me plant the 2nd planting. The first planting is about 10 inches tall. I planted two rows of pole beans and on Monday I will put in the poles for the beans to climb. I put in 50 tomato plants and the tomatoes are setting on, plus I have honey dew, watermelon and cantaloupe that are doing well. The ground where I planted my tomatoes and melons is covered with black plastic and is irrigated by drip system. It takes very little water to water them and there will be no weeds. I appreciate my dad teaching me how to garden and because of his good example, I try to keep my garden weed free.

I receive great satisfaction from my garden and I really enjoy eating the fresh produce. We ate our first radishes this weekend.

Bi-State Excurions

2011-06-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

After a very busy Quilt Camp, and 5 days with four of the grandkids, we headed to Tooele on Friday the June 3to take Lauie and Brendan home. We stoped in Provo to deliver Danny's birthday quilt. Most of the other kids were on Herpes alert....so we didn't stay long. Danny will be baptized July 2 by CJ.

We stayed with Tammy and Nathan that night, and went to Brendan's Soccer game the next morning. Nathan finished up a big research paper for his class the weekend they brought the kids down, so he's down to his last semester of school for his Masters. Tammy and I had a lot to talk about--mainly about healthy food recipes, their new drink blender, and family matters. I'm so busy with projects and service at home, I don't squeeze in many phone calls each week, I'm sorry to say, but I love visiting in person.

Since Steve was headed home Sunday, we left for Autumn's in the afternoon so he would have a little time to play with the Munchkins there...and as you see we did munch.

Amy and her crew of three joined us for a sunny day lunch. Andrew and Amy had just gotten back from seeing Little Mermaid at Tuachan that weekend.

Hinckley has really grown up a lot and is walking all over; Jaxon has turned into quite a jabber box, and, of course, Mattea is still the organizer of fun and games, along with Hunter and Peyton.

Autumn and I and the kids went to the big West Valley Days parade, and shopped a bit--though didn't have much money to squander! We walked Hunter to school each morning, and I learned some of the regime I'll need to follow when I got back to tend the kids the end of June, while Theron and Autumn are trek leaders. Hunter and Peyton have learned to clean up their bedrooms really quite good, which is a big help to their mom

Monday evening we went to see 17 Miracles, which was about the Martin and Willie Handcart companies. It was wonderfully done, with striking cinamatography. Well worth a trip to SLC to see it. I've recommended it to everyone I've seen. Hope it comes to Blanding.

Wed. morning Autumn dropped me off at the airport, and I flew to Phoenix, where Ashley picked me up. I got the ticket for $115 on Delta. It was a quick and easy flight--no nap time. We went bargain hunting at American Discount..and I froze most of my things, 'til we drove home Mon. the 13th. It was fun seeing all the new things the kids were doing. Sam has turned into a terrific reader, and seems to remember everything explained to him.

I went with the kids to their last swimming lesson with cousin Mark as chauffeur, while Ashley went to a Dr. appt. Logan still has a hard time listening to the teacher, but she is fearless when she dashes into the water..

Sammy learned the back stroke, and is getting lots of confidence. By Sat. he was doing flips and dives into Karen's pool!

Anthony is firmly entrenched into his summer schedule which includes a class, and working 150 hrs. for the County attornies, and writing a research paper. I don't think he'll get bored.

After swim lessons Ashley took me over to Quent and Bev's and I got to see the new beautiful baby, Jens Quentin. He was born May 9, just after Mother's Day...so that was a great present. The kids are all really wonderful with him, and are a big help to Bev. Jens looks really healthy and filled out, but we're not sure if he likes chocolate yet as Bev thinks that's why he gets fussy.

We had several joint meals together, the big hit being fresh produce and Mexicano grilled chicken from the hood.

Karen also hosted an early birthday party for Logan Sat. afternoon at their place, and Quent and the kids came over for that. All the kids swam there, chased bubbles, and played with Fudge--the dog, who can catch a toy in mid-air.

Everybody helped blow candles out.

Friday evening, the dad's catered to Grandma's wish, and we went to Yogurt Kingdom to try the multiple choice flavors and toppings. One of my classmate's husband plays there on Fridays. Last time I was down, Sharon took us hiking up to Elephant Butte.

Sunday I was back in Logan's bed, and then late church on Sunday. The air conditioner had gone out, so the last 2 meetings were cancelled...More time for naps!

Ashley had lots of prep and packing getting ready to leave on Monday, as she'll be gone 2 weeks. We ended up taking the Tahoe, and I bought as much fresh fruit as I could fit in, from a little market on our way out of town. Great prices: 2 lbs strawberries for $1; catalope 2/$1; honeydew 3/$1. Colored bell peppers 5/$1.

We had a nice trip back to Blanding; got there about 4 PM and Steve was ready to plant corn with Sam and Ethan. He also took the boys fishing. Rob's family came down and we had ribs and birthday cake for the birthday girls. Steve did a good job of getting everything prepared for the meal, and activities. He even decorated the kitchen and ordered a birthday cake.

I made about 7 batches of strawberry jam that night before I went to bed, so we're stocked back up again. The next morning Dad headed to the temple and we took a long hike up to see the tepee, tower, and pioneer houses out at the Nations of the Four Corners. The kids really had a fun time, and Travis was a good traveler in the stroller. They actually wanted to stay and sleep in the tepee.

After the hike, we drug home...had lunch, and the kids packed up to head to Altamont.

Buff Stuff Goin' On

2011-06-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Theron participated in a Jeppson team relay on June 3-4. Out of 44 teams Theron's team took second place. They got beat by about nine minutes. I guess that's not bad after riding 527 miles. Autumn reported Theron had heat exhaustion during the heat of the day and got really cold riding during the night. He had to stop and put on warmer clothes. This stress made him sick and he was throwing up. Because Theron took first place in the Lotoja the $150. per team member was waved for his whole team. Theron got a fancy tee shirt for being team leader and each of Theron's team members including Theron received a nice watch, so they came out ahead

Theron said the organizer of the race had a word of prayer before the start of the race in Moab. The presentations of the awards will be later this evening, but Theron couldn't stay. When the fellow in charge of the race asked him why he had to get back, Theron told him he had bishop things to do. The fellow said I know what you mean, I'm also a bishop.

A few weeks earlier Autumn ran in the Ogden Marathon and finished ahead of her last marathon time. She reported it was perfect weather, and beautiful, but lots of uphill running.

As of June Autumn has logged in 500 miles of running, and Grandma Janet has over 300 miles walking.

June updates

2011-06-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pix of our fun new swimming pool...at least the part for the bigger kids.

Travis learned how to flirt with girls at the pool yesterday! Ethan, Laurie, and Brendan learned to defend themselves on the log jam/monkey ropes. It was the only beautiful day so far this week. So glad we went then. Steve was at the temple from 8-2:30, enjoying the peace and quiet...!

Today Steve tended the boys, while I did quilt camp with Laurie. He had to do some multi-tasking to survive, but only burned 1 pizza.

Rob and Kathryn got home today. The next hearing on the adoption is on the 21 of June. Their lawyers are forcing the judge to require that previous decisions be complied with, i.e. DNA proof, home evaluation, etc. To \night Laurie and Brendan went to Nizhoni's softball game, and played for a while. Both the girls got a lot done at camp. We had 22 kids, and about 12 leaders. Tomorrow...more of the same, but it will be easier, as they now know how to thread a machine, and the needle, and sew semi-straight! We hope to have the top done before we leave on Friday for Tooele.

More on the court proceedings:
Here is a more detail on what happened at court from Rob: I guess the judge came in with an attitude and wasn't going to hear the case. He had reviewed the past judgements and still had the opinion that LDS family services used fraud to do this adoption. The judge kept telling our attorney to move on. I guess it got real heated and he said he wasn't going to move on until he got the information out.
      Luckily the other attorney had the birth father on the stand and he testified that he went to SLC and met with LDS family services before Travis was born. That kind of self-incriminated himself. He never told anyone that before. If we would have knpwn that at the first, I think it would have been settled by now. The judge did admit that the courts made a mistake and there was no fraud involved.

Mom was right on what the courts ordered. They appointed a G.A.L for Travis. He will do the home study on all 3 families involved. They only problem with that, the next hearing is in 3 weeks, and they won't have time to do the study before then. They said if that's is the case, we will have to have another hearing after this one in 3 weeks. We have to have a DNA test on Travis. They are telling us that we have to go to Colorado Springs before the next court date to do this. Hopefully they can send us the kit and we can do it here.

They next court date is the 21st and 23rd of June. They have it scheduled for 2 days because of all the testimonies that will be presented. So we might have to be back in Denver for a week. We didn't get to go to court on Tuesday. Only our attorneys knew we were there. We were the secret weapon. Hopefully next time we will be able to testify.

Another thing in our favor, because the Birth Father filed the wrong paper work. He filed a allocation of parental responsibility, instead of petition of paternity, we now have rights. The state of Colorado, after having the child in the home for more than 6 months, we can intervene and we now have rights. If this drags on for more that 1 year, the burden now goes to the other side, and they have to show that we are unfit to have Travis. That's why they are trying to rush this case. The judge still wants to do everything required by law, but doesn't want to be the reason this drags on for more than the year.

So as it looks, worse case scenario, They won't terminate the father's rights and they will give him visitation rights. He would have to start paying child support to us, but we will still have custody of him. We wouldn't be able to finalize until his rights are terminated. Our attorney said in past cases like this, the father looses interest after a few months and quits paying. At that point, we could have his rights terminated. So we shall see.
     All and all the hearing went good for us. At least the judge said he needs to start going by state statue instead of skipping around. So our side felt real good about it. They said the birth father's attorney was pretty upset when she left the court house, so the tides are turning. Any questions, give us a call.
    Thanks. Rob and Kathryn.

4-H Quilt Camp June 1-2

2011-06-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

One of my old loves resurrected this weekend, when I got to help teach young girls how to sew in a 4-H setting. That is where I first learned to sew, and I hope the 18 young people we introduced to quilt making, will also find much joy in it. We had 17 girls and 1 brave young man participate in the camp. The County 4-H leaders provided some break activities, and also lunch and snacks. It was a great pairing of resources.

It was especially fun having Laurie come down to share the 2 days with Grandma! Nathan and Tammy brought the kids down Sunday, and we had a couple of play days with them and Ethan and Travis, before the camp began on Wed. We had several one-on-one teaching stations, and several who worked with two kids. Laurie's friend Nizhoni Lacy was also at our work station, and both girls did really well.

It was probably the funnest thing we've done through quilt guild all year; at least for me, and definitely for the girls as well. What a great feeling of accomplishment they had after completing their first big block.

This is how Laurie's quilt top looked when finished.

Farm Days in the Rain

2011-05-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Steve and I both helped down at the Lyman Farm today. It was pretty cold and wet but we had fun. Steve helped serve Ice Cream Cones--don't you love those on a cold day! And I helped teach elementary school kids how to tie quilts.

Hope it's nicer for Autumn's Marathon tomorrow, and the kids' run as well. Good luck!!

I think I've found a ride down to help Quent and Bev this next week. I'm very excited to see the new baby, and get better acquainted with the kids. . Steve will stay and run the AR program Tues., then come down. That next Sunday on the 29th is the dedication of the Ganado chapel addition, which we plan to go to...We are excited to see everyone again both in Phoenix and Ganado.

Nathan and Tammy & kids are coming down on the 29th, and then the kids will stay for a week. I hope they are bringing Kylee as well. Silvia has two granddaughters coming up for a quilt camp we're doing on June 1-2. Each adult is working with two kids, and the USU extension 4-H program is providing lunch and snacks. It should be fun for all. As soon as the younger granddaughters get a bit older, we'll have to run a little family 4-H camp.

Mothers day Messages

2011-05-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shout out to all the good mom's in our family--which includes all the wives! I don't know how we ended up being so blessed to have such strength and goodness in our family, but we recognize answers to lots of prayers in this regard. We appreciate all that you mothers do to teach and set good examples for the wonderful children you've been blessed with. It is so wonderful, seeing and hearing how well them are grasping the truths of the gospel, so we know good things are happening at home. Have a wonderful Mother's Day. Quent and Bev should be welcoming a new little one any day now. Due date was yesterday.

Also an update on Travis, in case you haven't heard from Rob and Kathryn. There will be another hearing in Colorado on May 31, which they have been asked to come to. The Denver Lawyer sounds like he is being more pro-active in their regard, and will show the lack of ability on the part of the birth father to be a good parent. As of last week, the bio-father hadn't even complied with the request to supply a DNA test. He also has two other children, and it's doubtful he's taking care of them financially. In the mean time, the court has ordered an investigation of each home. I'm not sure how much of that has happened.. Anyway, please remember them, as well as the judge, and lawyers in your prayers. We love this little boy, and know he belongs in our family.

Love, Mom

Hey mom, Happy mothers day. I hope you are having a good bus ride. We went to the green house yesterday and Lila asked if I was going to get you anything. I told her I would, but by the time you get home, It would have died. I will get you something when you get back. I just want you to know you are the best mother ever. Your example to me and our family is the greatest. You and dad are the reason we all turned out the way we did, so pat yourselves on the back. We love you sooooo much. Enjoy Branson, Love Rob, Kathyrn, Ethan and Travis...
   Love, Rob

We hope you have a Happy Mother's Day, hopefully you are able to access the booklet we are sending. but just in case we are sending the poems as well.
    Love Chris, Pam, CJ, Michael, Kylee, Daniel, Hailey, Adam, and Emily.

By CJ:
Well it’s not Grandparent’s Day,
Because it’s the month of May;
At a time that they celebrate mothers.
And for the mom of a parent,
Let’s make it apparent,
How much we appreciate You!!!
Happy Mother’s Day!
==========

By Michael:

There once was a Grandma named Janet,
She went on a ride to a planet,
But when she was there
Someone pulled on her hair,
And then she left the planet!

=========

By Kylee

Loving caring
Nice helping joyful happy
Cooks lots of good food yum
Best person in the whole big huge wide world
Funny thoughtful peaceful great cook
Works hard every day
Nice friend
My grandma

===========
Grandma Wilcox
Nice, Neat,
Wow, Loving, Amazing,
Always Beautiful,
Making, Gardening, Teaching,
Daring, Excellent!

Great
Ready all times
Amazing
Nice
Daring
Making yummy food
Always beautiful
Wow
Intelligent
Loves each grandchild
Cool
Of the gospel
eXcellent

By Daniel:

Great
Really Good
Awesome
Nice
Daniel
Mom
A Super Grandma

=============
By Hailey:

Gardening
Roses
Available for card games
Neat quilts
Doing computer work
Makes really good cake
Always plays with her
Grandchildren
========
By Adam

Question:
What do Grandma’s Do?

Adam’s Answer
They eat lots of cookies!   (Yup, that's my downfall; homemade cookies!)
They play with their grandchildren

Happy Mothers Day

2011-05-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

Had a wonderful Mothers day on the road to Branson...what a gift! And I didn't even have to talk Steve into it!

Just a quick shout out to all the good mom's in our family--which includes all the wives! I don't know how we ended up being so blessed to have such strength and goodness in our family, but we recognize answers to lots of prayers in this regard. We appreciate all that you mothers do to teach and set good examples for the wonderful children you've been blessed with. It is so wonderful, seeing and hearing how well they are grasping the truths of the gospel, so we know good things are happening at home. Have a wonderful Mother's Day. Quent and Bev should be welcoming a new little one any day now. Due date was yesterday

Also an update on Travis, in case you haven't heard from Rob and Kathryn. There will be another hearing in Colorado on May 31, which they have been asked to come to. The Denver Lawyer sounds like he is being more pro-active in their regard, and will show the lack of ability on the part of the birth father to be a good parent. As of last week, the bio-father hadn't even complied with the request to supply a DNA test. He also has two other children, and it's doubtful he's taking care of them financially.. In the mean time, the court has ordered an investigation of each home. I'm not sure how much of that has happened.. Anyway, please remember them, as well as the judge, and lawyers in your prayers. We love this little boy, and know he belongs in our family.

Ramirez Family Project

2011-05-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Just recently, I've been communicating with a family I taught on my first mission in Calif in 1966. The Ramirez family. Juanita's husband passed away last fall, and Juanita has been so sad and lonely ever since. My companion, Anna Pearson, and I put together a memory book about the good times we had with them and their chiquitos when we taught them.

I created it on Mixbook and we got it to her for Mother's day, and she was so thrilled. She's ordered 14 more copies...and had me include a pix of their 50th wedding anniversary in 2008. This little family has been such a joy to me, so many times. The gospel is wonderful in that regard. Those we teach become jewels in our crown and gems in our heart. We treasure them forever.

This last photo was the last time we four were together in 1994 in Manti , Utah. But we'll see them again!

Blanding Stakes Combined

2011-05-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

We have known for several months that we would have stake conference at this time. We were told that the Blanding West Stake would meet at 2:pm. Thur. we received word that we would be meeting with the Blanding Stake at 10:am and the North Chapel would be used as an overflow area with closed circut tv. We knew that Pres. Lemuel Redd was going to be released and they would be putting in a new stake presidency. We also guessed something else was going to happen. We heard different speculations. Today at stake conference combined the Blanding West Stake with the Blanding Stake and then after releasing both stake presidencies, called Michael Redd as the new stake president over Blanding Stake. His counselors are Joe Hurst and Douglas Christensen.

All of the high council in the Blanding West Stake have been released as well as all of the stake officers, but they will continue to function in their callings until the new stake presidency has a chance to reorganize things.

President Lem Redd has been quite sick for over 6 months, and Rob and Kathryn's family has been very concerned about him. He has pulmonary aerterial hypertension, and none of his meds seem to be helping. He is such a great guy, and super grandpa, we really feel bad about his condition.

Chris reported: Just to let you know CJ did his eagle project yesterday! We have a little finish painting to do, but everything looks great! He made a plinko game, bean bag toss, ring toss, tic tac toe, and a fish pond. We'll send pictures when they are all done. He got a lot of help from the scouts and ward. The little kids and I made bean bags at home. We are grateful the weather held out--we woke up to lots of snow.

Spring time in Blanding

2011-04-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Spring in Blanding reminds me of an old song: First it says it's "come" and then it "goes"...or at least a parody of the song. Today looks beautiful outside, but it was still chilly at 9:30 when we walked. Out crab apple tree is in full bloom..or at least as many blossoms as the wind left yesterday, so we also have a pink petal carpet outside. It is beautiful, but I wish it would last longer.

Spring Sewing Projects

Finished up my 12 year quilt project yesterday...my Aztec Warrior. The center Batik print was purchased at a mercado in Mexico City when we visited the Caziers many lunas ago. I really like it. Also bound two baby quilts, and got borders on two quilts for the guild. Now I'm working on the embellishments and binding on my crazy purple spring quilt. I'll put the other pictures on my quilting blog.

Our guild also got permission last night from the city council to store our display frames for the quilt show at the new wellness center, which is where the show will be held from now on. It will save us $360 a year in rent, plus eliminate having to haul them to the location. Hooray. I've been a lot busier than I expected as guild president this year, but I have awesome officers to help me: Gail Glover, Bobbie Holt, and Sidney Christensen.

Las Vegas trip April 20-24

2011-04-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Viva Las Vegas! Had a great time for 3 days with Nathan and Tammy and their family. Saw lots of lights, good food, and great and "spacious buildings". We went swimming, shopping, the Fremont street experience, and played games. Got to see Donny and Marie, which was a wonderful family-oriented show--which is hard to find in this city. Tammy and I walked clear back to Circus, Circus afterwards--almost the whole length of the strip.

On an earlier walk with the kids we met the Men in Blue! They even took pictures of us!

Ate at the Flamingo and got to see their beautiful gardens.

That same day we went to see the old Las Vegas fort that the Mormons built, as the first settlers in Sin City. Brenan and Laurie learned what it would have been to wash clothes in the old days.

On the way home we stayed overnight with the Henke's and had the funnest time catching up on families and also recalling old times when they lived in Blanding. Steve and I also went to the Art show, and the Quilt show.

Metaphor stories in our lives

2011-04-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping to put together a book of family stories this year, and have quite a few already collected that you've sent. Previous topics included: Memories of Grandparents, vehicle stories, Fathers and Sons outings, Things my mother taught me, Things learned from Dad and Faith promoting experiences.
I'm at this stage of life where I love and appreciate a family story even more than brownies, and would love it if either for mothers day or my birthday you could write a story for me on the topic: Metaphors In my Life I'd love it if your spouse and older children would also send me a story that they learned from.
An example of this would be one I used in the last talks I gave:
I grew up on a dry farm 17 miles from Ririe, Idaho. The last two miles home were up a dirt road, and 1 mile of that road was up a big hill. It was quite a climb to get to the top, and sometimes we had to walk it, if Mom wasn't there to pick us up from the school bus after school. After several years of requests, and proddings by my Dad, Bonneville County finally graded and graveled that 2 mile stretch, so that the school bus could actually come pick us up at our home. After that happened we no longer had to move into Ririe during the winter and its storms.

Each fall my dad would have us help burn off tumble weeds along the road, so they wouldn't hold the snow, and then we would insert study willow poles along one side of the road about every 20 feet. The poles were put there in case a blizzard or heavy snowfall came and we couldn't see the road to drive safely home. We would still know where the edge of the road was by the "protection" poles. I remember driving home many times as a family, hoping Daddy could see the next pole, as the snow and fog were so thick. Were it not for those guidelines, and poles of protection, we would have been in serious trouble, blinded by storms, or hidden dangers when we wouldn't have known where the road was.

Two years after I graduated from high school, we sold our farm on Antelope Bench to Jim Hayes. He was a good farmer, and knew how to dry farm, but he didn't anticipate the dangers of winter storms. He didn't mark the road back to the house with safety willows, and the second winter they lived there. his wife drove off the road one day, and ended up freezing to death, while trying to walk home.

When Daddy told me that story, he emphasized how you needed to prepare well before the storm came. The reality of the poles' importance really came home to me at that time and I've never forgotten what happened to Mrs. Hayes.

Recently, I was assigned to speak on staying on the path that leads back to Heavenly Father, and thought about the markers, or protection poles God has established to help families return home. These includes things as simple as a willow pole: praying daily, reading scriptures daily, holding Family Home Evening, church attendance, reading your patriarchal blessing, being honest, providing service, charity, and love. They are markers to help us return, and when used in a family setting can help us and our children stay on the road to eternal life.
============

I hope you will contemplate on some of the events of your life or experience and find a gospel application for them, and then share your thoughts in a short story. Andrew had to speak recently also, and used a similar idea with an ice fishing experience he had. I'd like the whole family to participate in this endeavor, so we can build each other up and provide our own teaching metaphors.
Thanks so much for your love and support. WE have the best family ever, and I thank Heavenly father each day, that you turned out so well, despite our mistakes. We are so appreciative your good spouses you married and their valiant efforts to work with you in raising a good family. Your children know the gospel so well, and we pray you will do everything possible to protect them from the adversary...Keep those protection poles close together and show them how to follow the path.

Love, Mom

February Trip North

2011-02-25T21:42:00.000-08:00

Dad and I are still hacking and coughing...not a pretty sound. It's been nine days since he got sick, and I'm just a few days behind that. I had planned to go to Moab tomorrow to the quilt show, but I'd be miserable, and probably make everyone else sick, so I'll stay home and try to get better

We did have a pretty good trip north, and got to visit some of the families. Andrew and Amy were down in Moab for the weekend with her parents, celebrating her birthday, so we didn't get to see them. Her dad had some health problems arise, so that kept things interesting for them. Chris and Pam's family were suffering from various ailments, so we didn't stay there, but did stop for a few minutes to drop off the Christmas DVD I'd made.

On the way to Tooele on Thursday, we stopped to visit Virginia and Kermit and got a tour of their new home in Eagle Mt. Kent and Preston are their renters downstairs. We had a good visit with all of them, and Kermit made us Navajo Tacos from scratch...very yummy. We were very blessed with good road conditions both going and returning, even though a storm had been forecast.

We stayed Thurs night with Nathan's family, and had a good visit, played games, and enjoyed good meals with them. I even went to Boot Camp with Tammy on Sat. and was surprised I could almost keep up...except Stetchers walkers are not good to wear for aerobic dance. I was really tired when finished, but it was a good tired.

That experience actually helped me to make a few more healthy changes since I got home. I signed up for Weightwatchers on-line Tues. and also started reading "Sugar Busters"..Both have helped me ax out sugar and refined foods as well as curtail my late night eating. So I'm losing weight again. I'm still not up with Anthony's throw-down weight loss, but I think I will be by Tues. On the new Weighwatchers... vegetables and fruits are 0 points in most cases, so they've become my sweets of choice, instead of Almond Roca (Thanks Quent and Bev for the large economy pack at C'mas. I sure did enjoy floundering on all that sugar!) But now I'm a recovering sugar addict. I'd already stopped cooking with white flour, and grind what ever I need instead. I haven't dared make bread yet, as homemade bread is so tempting, and even though a person can have a slice or so a day, the aroma would be my downfall. I've had to get rid of everything that tempts me.

We stayed Fri. Sat. Sun with Autumn. Initially we had planned to drive home Sun, thinking Andrew and Amy would be going to Blanding, but that didn't come to pass, so we stayed one more night. WE had fun playing Yatzee and Mex. train with the kiddos. Then on Sat. Rob and Kathryn found out her dad was really bad, so they came up and stayed too. We are so thankful that he seems to have made miraculous improvement, and is home now, though we haven't talked to them about how he is doing.

Sat. night we went to a theater spoof of Phantom of the Opera with Nathan and Autumn's families. I wasn't sure how the younger kids would do, but they were right on the front row, and were very attentive, and totally following the story. Peyton got the giggles at one point, and kept laughing, which cased some of the cast members to get the giggles too...It was so funny.

We hosted a birthday lunch Wed. for Corey and Tyler Sageny, another YSA from Kayenta and had some of their friends over. That piece of cake cost me 14 pt. out of my 29 allotment!! Never again. Corey turned 23. Tyler turned 19 and is getting ready to go on a mission. His mom came too. so that was fun for us to meet her. Corey's family was here when we got back Monday, bringing him back to school, so we pulled a quick meal to gether for them before they headed home. They are always so appreciative of whatever we do.

Please pray for Corey's father, that he will soften his heart towards the gospel. His mom and sister just recently went to the temple to do baptisms and had a wonderful experience. His dad is a super guy, just needs to admit that religion is good to accept. One of the sisters we worked with in Ganado and her family were on that same baptism trip. She lost her husband in Nov. and has really turned to the gospel for help and comfort. Last Sat. she went again to receive her own endowments. I've been communicating with her quite a big lately, and helped her get some additional garments. There is always some little way we can help when we're open to those promptings. The branch has been averaging about 100 people lately, and hope to get into the new addition March or April. It is really thrilling for us to see what great things are happening there.

Dad worked two temple shifts this week, even though he's had a bad cough...One man told him he was coughing so much he couldn't sleep! Maybe that will be a new position. I know in the Puritan church they had someone walk around with long poles to poke people caught snoozing! I'm reading Pastwatch right now...Orson Scott Card's sci-fi look at history, especially Christopher Colombus. It is really interesting. I've been going to bed at 10 and reading for an hour, so that's another change...except for tonight. I took a long nap this aft. and wasn't tired.
Well, I better head to bed. I hope you're all doing OK...please make healthy choices and keep those precious grandkids well and safe. We love you all.

President Lem Redd Faces More Health Issues

2011-02-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

Feb. 20
The past few days have been a roller coaster ride for the Redds. Last night when Rob and Kathryn came back to Autumn's they really were afraid they had said their last good-bye's to Lem, as his lungs just kept filling up with more fluid and he was very weak. The family had left instructions, not to recessitate even. Everyone one was pretty emotional and teary at that point.
Then Sunday arrived: Rob just called a few minutes a go, and said last night the Drs. decided to pull him off the medicine he had been on the past few days, and there has been quite a miraculous improvement. The retention of fluid has gone down, and he was even able to get up and walk around. We are so thankful for this overnight improvement and blessings. Please keep praying for him.

It is snowing like crazy up here, so we won't go home until tomorrow..after it stops.

Love to all of you, and thank you for your faith and prayers in his behalf. Janet

Feb. 22:
Rob brought the boys back yesterday, leaving Kathryn with her mom in SLC. Pres. Redd is down to 50% supplied oxygen...On Sat. it was 100%...we were afraid he wouldn't make it. So he is making progress. He has been in the hospital since Feb. 8. We hope he continues to progress, and heal and will be home soon.

What do you do in the Wintertime?

2011-02-15T07:59:00.000-08:00

Though January and February weren't as wintery as last year's snowbound experience, they still provided lots of time for solitary efforts sewing, writing and designing. My main efforts involved documenting my "life in stitches." Though it started out as a simple listing of quilts I had made, in an effort to motivate our quilt guild to document their wonderful creations; soon it took on a life of it's own.
Fortunately I had already pulled together many of my quilts onto a blog of their own, and someof the leg work was done. But I soon discovered that what is OK resolution for a web page, can be way inferior to the quality needed in book publishing, and many of the photographs I had to refind, and then rescan at high resolutions.

After the first two books came back, I realized that my sewing experiences involved much more than just making quilts. This idea was triggered by a slide I had scanned that showed mom wearing the silk dress I had made for her, and Nancy wearing a gingham dress I'd made, as well as myself wearing one of my favorite hand made dresses. So the idea for "stitches" expanded dramatically.

I was surprised at how many pictures I actually had of early sewing from the 50's and 60's, as well as photos of my little boys wearing things I had crocheded, knitted and sewn.

Post Christmas Shananigans

2010-12-31T20:04:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas for almost the whole month, which is just the way we like to do it! We had quite a few neighborhood parties, YSA and AR socials. Amazingly we were able to be with all of our family many times between Thanksgiving and New Years, just not at the same time..

For Christmas Eve, we invited Rob's family, Kathyrn's parents, Brother Lovatto, his grandson, and Mary to dinner and a program. It was a wonderful evening, and we were so glad they came. The next day we hosted a soup dinner and games with some of our Home Evening group, plus friends who needed some cheer in their lives.

Home Evening Game Night with Friends

We received lots of wonderful gifts for Christmas, but the one most meaningful was delivered about 10 days before Christmas and we read, and reread it. "T'was the night before Christmas" started with a Wilcox spoof on the tradition poem, and Anthony filled it with lots of humor and allusions to Christmas's past. He and Autumn rallied the rest of their siblings, asking them to write their memories of Christmas, as well as their own family traditions. Autumn added photos and did the layout, and somehow miraculously got it published and to us before Christmas!
We learned a lot in the process of reading our children's stories, some of which we'd known about before, but others were surprises. It was a great memory jogger, and we laughed a lot, and even cried a little as we recalled the hectic Christmases of long ago.

Thank you so much for taking the time

to pull together such a great present.

This book was the inspiration for several

Christmas tricks of our own.

On Christmas Morning as we opened presents with Rob, Kathyrn, Ethan, and Travis, there was one last present which had especially been prepared. We had found out by reading the book, that Rob was sorely disappointed one Christmas when he was about 9 years old, when he didn't get the Nerf Rocket Launcher he wanted..instead Chris received it. Tears were shed, and he even double checked with Mom to make sure she hadn't made a mistake.

Well, Santa made restitution this year, and wrote Rob a note saying that Mrs. Claus had finally cleaned the back room, and found requests from the 1980's which had been lost. Always one to keep his promises, Santa wanted to deliver the goods, even though it was late.

It wasn't quite the same Nerf Rocket launcher of 30 years go, but was happily received.

Merry Late Christmas, Rob.

The other fun thing about Christmas was participating in Ethan's treasure hunt to find his Christmas present. It started in Monticello, Christmas morning, then went to Blanding to Granny and Papa's, then to our home, then back to the Sandbox at Redds. It was quite the treasure hunt, and low and behold--Ethan's Christmas request wasn't "shot down" afterall. He got a single shot .22. He was one excited boy. So he and his dad both had new firearms to shoot. Safety instructions were reemphasized, and the first target practice planned.

Tuesday Dec. 27-30 Nathan and Anthony's families join us for a fun filled week

Dad's Root Beer from Quent and Bev, also a big
summer sausage and Almond Roca

The highlight of Dec. 27th was the gift from the Christmas Story Store.

When we read Nathan's reflections on Christmas's past, we discovered that Tammy didn't have the same appreciation of the movie, The Christmas Story, like most of our kids do. Shortly afterwards, we saw Joel Tate wear ing a Christmas Story Lamp necktie, we knew we needed to get one for Nathan, as he had a special affinity for the crazy movie. In the next few days the idea grew, taking on new dimensions and angles! Until Dad determined to create a replica of box which could feasibly contain the infamous lady's leg lamp. Of course, the cylinder for the leg, only contained the necktie, but it looked like it could possibly hold the leg, and there was even an antique lamp shade with black fringe, albeit, fringed plastic! He even saved the mailing label from the tie, to make it look legit.

Here is the letter Dad composed:

Nathan reads the letter

We were pleased with the effort that you kids made for us on our Christmas book that Autumn put together. It was fun reminiscing about past Christmases. We even learned a few things we hadn’t heard before. We appreciate your contribution. We are glad that you still enjoy watching “The Christmas Story”. We are surprised that Tammy doesn’t share your same enthusiasm and were wondering what we could do to improve this situation. We thought about getting Brendan a BB gun, but that might not help matters.
We also thought getting some genuine bunny pajamas for Laurie, but we are not sure if she would wear them. Finally, I went on line and I discovered the perfect gift -- A real Christmas Story lamp. I’m sure if this lamp is displayed in your front window you will be the envy of all the neighborhood and it will give Tammy a greater appreciation for this classic movie. In this package, you will find a real Christmas Story lamp. Hope you enjoy it and may you use it for many Christmases to come.

Tamara can hardly contain her excitement as she anticipates
the great Leg Lamp in her window!

I had a great video of the reading of the letter, but it was so big blogspot won't accept it. Que Lastima~
It was very fun to see both Nathan and Tammy's reactions.

Everyone was excited to see what was in the box.

The infamous lamp shade in all its tacky glory

Now, what do you suppose is in here?

Sigh, relief! It was only a tie....not a leg

What we really want to know....Did he wear that tie to Church Sunday?!
===========================
Wilcoxes Rock-out with Wii Rock Star

Some day we may rue the day we put guitars
and drums into their hands

This combo above came the closest to real talent

Even Grandma tries to keep up with Ethan (and Elton) on Crocodile Rock
unfortunately, she couldn't see the words very well.

Grandma's Deja vu reality game: Fox and Geese

Back when grandma was a girl in Idaho, we always had a lot of snow, so we filled our free time hours with lots of outdoor games. If we could find enough kids, or coerce our parents to play-- Fox and Geese was the funnest, because it was a running game. Others we played were "Who's the Boss of Bunker's Hill"--where you tried to stay on top of the snow pile, while others tried to push you off. Dad was always best "Boss". The words are so old I can't even find them on Google search, but the taunt went something like this: "I'm the boss of Bunker Hill, I can fight and I can kill." Gruesome I know!

He made us a harness for our dog, Pal, and then he could pull our sleigh. He also made us mini-toboggans which could be used on soft snow, but we had regular sleds for zipping down the hills which surrounded our home on the farm. He also made a large toboggan out of corregated steel, which fit our whole family. It was very heavy to pull up the big hill, and the snow had to be frozen to use it, but it was very fun to do it together as a family.

We also made snow angels, had snow ball fights, built forts, made trails, and all the other fun outdoor things that kids can invent. The winters we lived in Ririe, sometimes Daddy, or another parent would pull us behind a car on our sleighs. We'd all be roped together in one long line I'm sure it would be illegal now, but it was very fun, until a sharp turn would tip someone over. Sneaking off to do that one Sunday afternoon, is the only time I remember being spanked by my mother. In later years we learned to ski, and that became our new passion, especially for Doug and I. Lynn, Clint, and Nancy later took up the craziness as well.

Fox calls "Scatter" and all the geese run from the center when the game begins.

Even though we had been blessed with about 4 inches of rain the week before Christmas, there had been no snow, and it was about 45 degrees in the day. Then The Perfect Snow Storm arrived in Blanding Dec. 27-28 after Christmas, putting down about 2 feet of soft fluffy snow. It didn't pack very well for the Fox and Geese course, so Anthony revved up the snow blower that Chris had given us, and made the best circle and cross cuts I'd ever played on.

The running course is a circle with pie wedges radiating out. The center is the Fox's den where the captured "geese" must go, until they are saved by being tagged by a "free goose". There are also two safety pens where the geese can run to to avoid being tagged. To make it more exciting two foxes can be selected. After they wear out, a new fox is chosen, until everyone has a turn at being foxy. It is great fun. This may be my last time to play, and it was so fun, with no injuries!! I think we had three generations of us playing, 9 altogether..which was a great size for the game.

Friday was a beautiful cold day, perfect for playing outside--for a little while at least.

Aren't they cute little geese?

Hmmm, how do we save Laurie from these two big foxes?

Ethan's Birthday Dec. 30th at the Redds

Christmas Cheer When Family's Near

2010-12-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

We were home from Phoenix about 3 days when we left on an equally wonderful trip north to see our kids in the Wasatch Front. Here are some of the pictures from that trip.

Michael with his "stuffed" house!

High demand on Gingerbread real estate

Like Father, like son.

Autumn pre-made all the shapes for gingerbread houses, plus gave everyone cutters and a recipe which can be used for future house projects. Everyone brought lots of decorations, and the kids jumped right in and created some wondrous creations.

Some more smiley grandkids with their final projects. Brendan and Laurie finished theirs in record time.

Peyton loved all phases of this project!

Haily with her "neat" little house

While the Gingerbread houses were hardening, we ate at the famous Wilcox Pasta Bar.

Next on the docket was some great family entertainment: Laurie and Brendan provided

a cheery duet welcoming in the Season.

Rob shows that he can even play and sing sideways--one of our favorites from The Forgotten Carols by Michael McClean. Rob introduced us to this album shortly after he came home from his mission, and it's been a part of Christmas ever since.

Chris and Pam's Christmas Choir

Mattea tells one of the best jokes of the night. (Who's your favorite...?)

Next came the Victory Arch, where parents heralded the success of each child, and we all celebrated their successes.

Ethan Jess Wilcox

Hailey and Peyton

It's so good being me!!
We hope everyone felt this way.

Danny and Hunter ready to be recognized

Every one needs a victory arch once-in-a-while!

Grandma presented CJ with a quilt for finishing up his Eagle Scout Award (almost), and challenged the other grandsons to set that as a goal in scouting .

He knows if you've been good or bad....so....

Some how or other, Santa found out where we were and came to check on everyone's list.

Travis, however, was not impressed and Ethan's request was temporarily "shot down."

Presents for all "good little boys and girls" and all of our Grandkids are "good".

Musical present exchange

But the Best Presents of 2010 were Travis, Emily, and Hinckley

Christmas letter 2010

2010-12-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010

Dear family and friends,

We have Valley of the Gods in Utah; in Greece they have

a mount of the Gods on the Acropolis

It’s a good thing we write these yearly updates, or we wouldn’t know what we’ve been doing or why we’re so tired! We are both enjoying good health and are very thankful we can still climb, and hike and remember how to get back home!

This past summer Steve was called as an ordinance worker at the Monticello Temple. He works Tues. mornings. This fits our schedule nicely because we still teach the LDS Family Service Addiction Recovery class on Tues. nights. This allows us time to travel to see family.

We continue to work with the Young Singles in our ward and have had some fun times with them. We try to have a couple of activities each month: usually a game night and Sunday dinner. In November we hosted a donut making activity for Veterans Day. Had about 24 YSA making and delivering donuts to 50+ families. The veterans really appreciated this gesture.

Steve raised another big garden this year and we had lots of produce to give away, can and store. Janet does a monthly column for our local paper on provident living. http://providentponderings.blogspot.com/

She was recently elected the president of the local sewing guild for next year. She made several quilts this year; one of them was a difficult lone star Eagle Scout quilt for our oldest grandson. She also filled up all of our empty fruit jars. Her new specialty is Jalapeño jam, and green tomato raspberry jam.

Kathyrn and Travis, Pam and Emily, Autumn and Hinckley

There were three new grandchildren born in 2010:
Emily Hope born March 3, Hinckley William born March 26, and Travis Robert born August 28.

We now have 23 grandchildren with one more on the way. We love all these wonderful children and are so pleased with the good parenting that goes on in their homes.

Here’s a brief update of what each family is doing:

Rob and Kathryn - Rob still works for the Sheriff’s Office; Kathryn works part time for a law office in Monticello. Ethan will turn nine this month and they are in the process of adopting a baby boy that was born on Aug. 28. Travis is very adorable and looks so much like Ethan.

Nathan and Tamara live in Toole and have a lovely home which they continue to make improvements on. Nathan works at Dugway as a civilian. They are kept busy keeping up with Laurie and Brendan and all of their activities: academics, dancing, cub scouts, & soccer. They are very active in their new ward and provide much service there.

Chris and Pam- added Emily Hope to their family March 3, so they now have seven children. CJ, Michael, Kylee, Dan, Hailey, Adam and Emily. He works for BYU, as well as his own business. He is Scout Master and is super busy. Pam is the family activity/ homework manager, and cook. We always enjoy going there to play games with the kids.

Quentin and Bev- are now in a larger new home in Gilbert. Quentin still works for Avnet. They have three adorable girls: Quincy, Sage, Ava and one handsome boy, Brig. They will be adding an addition to their family next May. They have callings in the Young Womens and Elders Quorum.

Anthony and Ashley have two kids Sam and Logan. Anthony is half way through law in Phoenix and is doing exceptionally well. He was invited to serve on the Law Review Board this semester. They live in Mesa. Ashley is Primary President and Anthony teaches gospel doctrine SS class.

Autumn and Theron are still in West Valley City and have 3 cute kids: Hunter, Peyton and Hinckley. Theron applied for a different job this fall, and when his boss found out about it, they offered him a promotion to entice him to stay—which he did. It’s nice to be appreciated. He is also bishop of their ward. Autumn holds the home front down. They both continue to compete in bike and running races.

Andrew and Amy also have 3 children: Madison, Jaxon and Gannon. Andrew works for Workforce Services as a fraud investigator and Amy teaches CNA classes in Davis County. They are very busy keeping up with 3 busy little kids.

Year in Review

Had a huge snowy winter last year and hibernated for 4 months! Snow levels were half way up our kitchen windows and didn’t melt until April—just like Idaho!!

Janet worked on Hole-in-the-Rock history sites and profile stories for the two Blanding stakes, preparatory to youth treks last summer. We both participated in the west side trek in June. It was a great experience. If you haven’t read The Undaunted by Gerald Lund, be sure to do so. It is about our part of the world. Learn more at: http://wmmeanderings.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Janet’s next big spring project was producing a DVD show and web site for her 50th Ririe High class reunion in May, which we attended in Idaho Falls. See at: http://sites.google.com/site/rhs50years/

Everyone had fun reliving the events and music of the 50’s. We also visited her Idaho siblings. Doug and Della, and Nancy and Bruce and also got to attend the Rexburg temple for the first time. It was a wonderful trip though short.

The annual Welsh Festival was in Malad about a month later and we met up with Nancy and the Westenskows. One of our cousins from Wales Aled Betts was a presenter there. We visited with relatives from the 3 families of Jonah Evans, our ggg grandfather from Wales, and also with the Talbot family in Malad, who are Thomas relatives.

We hosted the extended Wilcox family reunion at the Blue Mountain Guest Ranch in June. All of our kids and grandchildren were there plus some of Steve’s siblings and their families. Autumn organized the activities and meals and kept the kiddos busy. It was beautiful and green and everyone seemed to have a good time. Face painting, scavenger hunt, Madagascar night, and family jeopardy were all part of the fun. Our friend Diane even came over from Colorado for it. Pictures of the reunion can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jwilcox42/BlueMountainReunion#

The first part of Oct. was our Mission reunion and we saw many dear friends again. We stayed for General Conference, then left the next day for a 14 day Mediterranean Cruise. We flew to Milan, Italy and toured Milan, Verona and Venice. We stayed over night in Venice and then boarded the ship. We visited Egypt, Israel, Greece, Croatia and Italy staying each night on the ship. There were about 300 in our LDS tour group; at each port we were bussed to the different places. It was an amazing experience. Shows of our trip can be viewed at

http://www.photodex.com/share/jwilcox

We were on the road again for Thanksgiving visiting our two families in Phoenix. We had a very good dinner and enjoyed playing games, golfing, visiting a high school friend, and surviving a 10 hr. Black Friday marathon! Thanks, Ashley for the memories.

Arizona Cousins: Ava, Logan, Sage, Quincy, Brig, and Sammy

We came back to Blanding and spent two days madly wrapping presents then traveled to SLC for an early Christmas party up north with five of our kids and their families. Autumn organized it and we all had a wonderful evening. One of the highlights of the evening was making gingerbread houses. Autumn spend many hours baking gingerbread kits and the kids got to put them together and decorate them with icing and candy. We also had lots of good food to eat.

We did a Victory arch for all the grandkids to celebrate their good works. Their parents told of their accomplishments and the rest of us cheered and gave high fives.
We then presented CJ’s with his Eagle scout quilt and encouraged the rest of the boys to work towards earning that award.

We’re now on the final countdown to Christmas, and it has been way busy. Just in the past 3 days we had a neighborhood party at our home, helped with a funeral, attended our ward party with 3 neighbor kids, went to a baptism of a neighbor and hosted a dinner for her, attended a 50th Anniversary party, fixed dinner for 8 young singles Sunday. Whew, I'm tired tonight. Nice to have a day of rest!

This week I’m just going to kick back, be lazy and read a book, and watch a few Christmas specials – that is if I get this letter done and sent. (Please write and tell us what you’re doing.)

It is our 43rd wedding anniversary this month. The years have really flown and we’ve been so blessed with good kids, who are still making changes and moving forward. We feel our Saviors love, and are learning to listen more attentively to the Holy Ghost. It has made a difference in our lives, and I hope it does in yours too.

Have a Very Merry Christmas and an Inspirational New Year.

Love, Steve and Janet Wilcox

Church Callings and Service

2010-11-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

We were called in April 2009 to begin an LDS Addiction Recovery Program in Blanding, and we have faithfully done that every week since beginning in June of 2009. The only time we missed was last winter when a snow storm stopped travel into the church.

We designed the flyers, wrote press releases, and letters to bishops to introduce the class, as well as posting flyers all over town, and providing smaller flyers for Bishops to use. We follow the 12 step program the Church designed which puts Jesus Christ center front in the recovery program. Steve has faithfully prepared a short inspiring message each week, and also runs the meeting. We have a wonderful facilitator, Ben Haws, who is a tremendous help to us in the meetings.

We had about 5 or 6 come the first meeting, and once in a while only had 1 or two attend, but no matter the size, it has always been worth it. Most recently, winter 2010-2011, we've had larger groups come. Twice we've had a social: a cookout last summer where they invited a friend to come, and once right after Christmas, but usually we just follow the program.
One change we did make after going through the program the first time, was to have a short discussion of the step, so that everyone understood the terminology, and concept. That change has seemed to help a lot of people. That was a suggestion Rob made, which came from one of his drug court charges.
We've learned to have a lot of empathy for those struggling through their addictions, and have also discovered some things we need to work on ourselves. We pray each week, that we can say the right things that will help someone at the meeting.

Fellowshipping Fun and Service

We've tried hard since we've been home from our mission to be good neighbors, to fellowship non-members or inactive people, and visit new move-ins to ward, and also kids in the dorm. This could actually be a full time job! I'm sure we do at least 2-3 visits each week, which if often taking soup, or a meal to someone. Sister Beeson is one of our regular visits, but we also check on the Lobatos often.

Mary's baptism done by Bishop Carroll

It has been quite thrilling to see Lee's niece, Mary, accept the gospel and invite us to be part of that process. We planned a neighborhood cookout with them last summer, and she was a super help in contacting people, bringing food, and helping cleanup. She is a pearl in disguise. We were so thrilled to see the gospel come into her life and to be part of her baptism. It continues to be a blessing to see the changes wrought by the light of Christ.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Since there's not much to do in Blanding sometimes, we often invite neighbors and friends over to play games, or for soup suppers. We really miss the Baptist minister, Don Camp, and his wife, Rene who were such good neighbors. We became good friends with them over the past year. Some of the other special memory events we orchestrated this past year included the following:

Virginia's visit to Blanding summer 2010 and the old gang!
Steve helped me fix a crepe brunch and we had a wonderful visit.
Tates came over the night before along with Stephanie, so two good visits resulted.

A good-bye cookout for Elaine and Chris Johnson, prior to their move to Cedar City.

Former friend Melissa Tatro and her two grandsons. Steve and Pam Bronson
helped us pull together friends from the past for a cookout while she was here.

Whenever any of the family comes down, naturally we pull together a cookout, or dinner along with Rob's family and have a party. There's always some occasion to celebrate if you look for it, and that is one of the things I love to do, and Steve is always a super help in orchestrating all the things that need to be done. He's also turned into a great b-b-que chef!

You'll know we've really gotten old, once we stop having parties!