Summer Treasure

(left to right: Christian, Anna, Emily, Gabby, Elijah, and Ethan)











Some people look at wealth and gauge it by the looks of your home, mansion, or castle. Here in Happy Valley, there are alot of examples of such wealth. But in the true sense of the word, wealth is in the eye of the beholder.


We've been having a great summer with the visits of our children and their families. The best part is watching them and seeing their interaction, growth, their personalities, and how much they have similar works.

(Klailea, Rykell, and Shae)

So, as a tribute to our entire family, I would like to share some of our greatest blessings.





(George, Grandpa, and Henry)


















(top row: Nicole, Abraham, Grandpa, Erin, Theodore)
(bottom row: Ethan, Gabby, Elijah, Henry, George)










(Theodore, "I stand at the door" and knock)

Elijah's 2nd Birthday & Yard Sailing Treasure

Today was our grandson Elijah's second birthday. This is the fun one with his cousins and family, except for dad who is still in Minot, ND. Next week will be the official one with the rest of his family and relatives. More affectionately called Bun Bun, this little guy is full of energy, sweet and sensitive, and a handsome little guy. With the rest of his family and cousins, they are all great wonderful additions to the family.









Since its his special day, his mommy got him a neat little airplane with little people for opening today.











The other day while taking our irrigation, the kids started to play in the water and had to be hosed off before we would let them back in the house.









Our granddaughter Anna was showing me she could fly also. She would leap from the dinning room to the family room.










From today's yard sailing, this is a picture of some of the treasures. Jo and all of our daughters really love fabric and today's haul was a real treasure. Here they are sorting through the fabric.







Now, if you start them young to appreciate fabric, such as in this picture, then they'll grow up like their mommy and sew and quilt. Here is Emily appreciating the colors and fabric material, all sorted out in one of Grandma's closets.

This must be a sign of a fabric-aholic. Help, is there any therapy or support group for this?

More Summer Magic ??

Our summer has been hot (temperature wise) and the best part has been the visit of our children and their families. It all started in mid May with our dauther Rachel and her family. We kind of got used to having young ones running about in our home again. I think Ipo, got used to it really fast and was very patient with the grand kids.

They help get my gardening started and we had a blast planting all kinds of veggies and herbs.

Planting Time

Then in mid June, we had our daughter Nikki and her children from Minot, ND surprise us followed by our daughter Erin and her boys from Hawaii. It was exciting to see the cousins play together and enjoy each other.

Maintaining the garden

Fun time running in the sprinkler

A week and a half ago, our eldest daughter Leslie and her children came for a visit and we continued to enjoy our posterity in the present. We've been so blessed by all our children and their own families. They all bring us great joy and we are happy to be blessed by their happiness and lives.

Harvesting some produce

Irrigation Fun Time to Cool Off!

Hot Month of July

This month of July has been the hottest we've experienced since moving to Utah. Our airconditioner and evaporator cooler is on almost all the time except for late in the evenings. It's times like this that you wish the beach was nearby. Even though there is Utah Lake here, we're not that desperate to take a plunge.

So, we've been keeping cool by splashing in the irrigation water once a week, running through the sprinkler on days that we're watering the lawn, downing a few popsicles and chomping down on a few ice cream drumsticks, our favorite. It's so tempting to wade through the AF Canyon stream.

Through all of this, our grandchildren who've been visiting haven't complained a bit. The days start out warm in the morning and get toasty hot be late afternoon. We compensate for the hot weather by taking a leasurly stroll throught the supermarkets such as Maceys or Wal Mart to soak up the air conditioning.

Speaking of grandchildren here, we have seven on them visiting, Christian, Anna, Emily from Ephrata, WA. and Ethan, Gabby, Elijah, and baby "Ham" or Abraham, from Minot, ND. For the Minotians, this is very hot hot and uncomnfortable weather. But the great resiliant thing about grandchildren is that they are having fun with their cousins.

To keep busy and the children entertained, they have taken field trips to such places as that "big and spacious building" near Traverse Point (Lehi) aka Cabelas. There they enjoyed seeing the big fish in the tank swimming. If you've never been there, you got to visit one of Cabelas stores. They bring the outdoors indoor.

Yesterday, we took the whole gang to our annual Ward Dell Day up AF Canyon. It was nice to get up in the mountains and enjoy the area there. It's really close by and you get out of the low lands to enjoy the mountains.

We were hung over from lack of sleep because we joined the masses and attended BYU Bookstore's "Harry Potter Night" book release event. On our way to BYU, we passed by Barnes and Noble Bookstore and there were lots of people cued up outside, so you know all these places were doing their best to attract the crowds.

We did have a good time at BYU Bookstore. When it was time to pick up your preordered book, the line snaked around through the bookstore main floor, out the Twilight Zone, past the Lee Library, and on the the JFSB. There was alot of people dressed up in Harry Potter character parts. Our little grandson was dressed up by his mom as Dawby the house elf. Baby "Ham" won 4th place for his category. It was all fun and amusement there.

So this has been a fun hot visit by our grandchildren and their parents.