Temple with the Family

We went to the St. George temple with the kids when they were here over Christmas Break. We had a wonderful time being all together and doing sealings. The Sealer was wonderful and really made it special for us. Families are Forever!

Christmas Break Fun with the Kids

We spent a fun week with Steve, Danielle, Alexa, Carlton, Lindsey and Andrew. Despite a little snow and colder temps we did lots of activities.
We played four square, went bowling, played laser tag, rode 4-wheelers, went shooting guns, went rock climbing and went through the narrows at Dixie Rock, and played games every night for hours. We also went to the temple one night and did sealings. That was really a great experience to all be together. It was a perfect week with all of our family except Dawson together. Alexa was such a great little girl and kept up with all of the action.

Belated Christmas with the Family

C



Christmas morning we awoke with just Andrew, Dan and I here. We slept in until about 9:00. We opened just a few gifts and then went over to Grandma Flakes and had breakfast egg casserole and opened her gifts to us. She gave us a pretty flower calendar, a puzzle, and each a book that we love. We gave her the 100 year celebration of the Tabernacle Choir CD set and some slippers and a book about Tennessee.
We took her back a plate of ham and potatoes and then we went home to wait for our call from Elder Dawson on his mission in San Jose. He called at 6:00 and we were able to Skype with the kids up North and Dawson.
It was so good to see him and hear his voice, "Well..." He had on a Grinch tie that he had traded a member for. He said that he is starting to get tired of Mexican food but still likes it. :)
He said that all is well and that he is enjoying the mission.

Christmas Eve at the Soup Kitchen 2010

This was our fourth annual Christmas Eve serving up lunch at the Soup Kitchen. We invited ward members and families to help with the project. We served ham, potato casseroles, corn, rolls, salad, drinks and desserts. We served over 200 people, about 150 of them were there for a hot meal and the others were our volunteers.
We provided scarfs that we had bought at Old Navy for $1, mittens and socks that were donated by friends, goody bags of oranges, candy and peanuts, and hygiene kits that were donated by another group. We made sure that everyone left with a gift. Brendan Dalley was our Santa and the Parr's organized a sing along of Christmas Carols. The Dalley family organized youth in the ward to sing, play their instruments and sing primary Christmas songs. The kids from the ward played games with the kids that had come for lunch.
It was a beautiful sunny day and because we had so many volunteers a group of people raked and cleaned up the grounds of the Episcopal Church where the Soup Kitchen is held. Dan and Andrew were a part of that. What a wonderful opportunity to remember the Savior at this time of year by providing service to some of his less fortunate children. We will continue to make this service a part of our family Christmas Traditions.

Christmas Party in Logan

We drove up to Logan on December 21, 2010 to have our annual Christmas party with the Datwyler family. Danielle and Lindsey had flown in on the weekend and were spending the week with their in-laws but they were kind enough to let us share them for the evening. We stopped by Jon's house and traded our car for their van so we could all fit on our ride up to Logan. That allowed us to spend 4 extra hours with our kids. It is so hard to have them both living out of state and only able to see them 3 or 4 times a year.
The weather was awful getting up to Provo but cleared out for the trip to Logan. We got there just in time for the 5:00 pm start. We enjoyed a delicious dinner with many fabulous salads. After dinner we had our traditional talent show. Carlton and Lindsey shared "The top 10 tips for living in a big city" and Alexa performed "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" as representatives for our family talent. There were many other great musical and dance talents shared. Nect we had the traditional Christmas Eve inactment of the Nativity by the Grand kids. Joining them were Andrew and Spencer as Wise Men and Tyson as a shepherd. Katy held Alexa and they made heavenly angels.
A few gifts were opened and shared. Grandma didn't disappoint with fun fleece blankets for the unmarried kids. The married kids got dinner certificates to Olive Garden and the grand kids received new pajamas. Everyone was happy with their gifts.
We played games and enjoyed every minute as usual at Grandmas. We spent the night, had breakfast in the morning then Carlton and Lindsey went out to see Scott's collection of bikes with Dan and Andrew. We drove back to Provo and dropped off the kids. They will visit us for a week after Christmas. We drove back to St. George that evening. A long trip up and back but it really was a nice day with family.

Alexa Visits Santa Claus

Sweet Alexa isn't sure what to think of her visit to see Santa Claus. She looks pretty terrified!

The Jackson's Get Ready for Christmas

Danielle shared some cute pictures of Alexa. They went out Christmas shopping on black Friday and took a picture of her in the Pillow Pet bin. She is not quite sure what to expect.
They also went to the Portland Zoo and saw the lights and rode the train. Alexa really liked it and kept saying "chuga-chuga-choo-choo".

Andrew Goes to Sadies

Andrew was invited by Brooke Hansen (she asked with a 6 pack of Hansen soda) to go to DHHS Sadie's dance. They had a fun time making shirts and playing Fear Factor during the day date. Andrew and Brooke won but they had to swallow a live fish and put their feet in ice for 20 minutes and other disgusting things. They doubled with three other couples and had a great time.
Andrew had a group date with his Priest Quorum the next week and Andrew asked Brooke to go to that as well. They played games and had a fun time. She brought these pictures to him and a yummy treat to thank his for the dates. High School fun!

Thanksgiving Weekend up North

A few of the Great Grandkids.

The cousins! Too bad three of my kids are missing.

Mom, Dad and my siblings and their spouses.

We went up to Logan for Thanksgiving this year. Luckily we had all of Wednesday off of school this year. A big storm came across the state on Tuesday but had cleared out by the time we left for Logan at 10:00 am. Dan, Andrew and I each drove a little. We couldn't decide where to pull over for lunch and Dad said the 2nd Nephi exit so that's where I pulled off. Lo and behold there was our friends the Saaralainens pulled off at the gas station we pulled into and their hood was up. Shauna has a close connection with the man upstairs so we know that it wasn't just coincidence. Her engine light had come on so she pulled off and was calling her father. Dan checked it out and helped her buy anti freeze (that just happened to be last one of the kind she needed!)

We ordered Wendy's while Dan got her off and on the road again. We followed after and stopped and picked up Spencer, Katy and Tyson, our cousins in Kayesville, and arrived in Logan at 5:45--just in time for one of mom's great dinners. The roads had been clear all until we came down into Wellesville and they were snow packed and slippery.

We went over to my sister, Jill's home later and helped celebrate her birthday. It is nice that we are usually in town to celebrate with her. We had German Chocolate Cake and/or Apple Pie. Let the feasting begin.

I woke up to the sounds of mom putting the turkey in to roast before the sun was up. I layed in bed and counted my many blessings for an hour before getting up to help with the pies and the tables. Bryan and Scott arrived around 10:00 to help with Grandpa's project to cut down a tree in the back yard. Despite the freezing temperatures, all the men and kids went outside to conquer the task. They cut the tree up into firewood and hauled out the twigs and waste. Mission accomplished.

The women completed the cooking in the kitchen and had all of the tables set to perfection. Jill brought in the hot rolls at 1:30 and the Thanksgiving Feast began. The food was all divine. Dan agrees that my mom's cooking is always worth the 6 hour drive North. We were not disappointed today. Dad asked me to give the prayer. I didn't give it much thought but as I started the prayer I immediately became overcome with emotion and had a very hard time finishing. I believe it was because I was missing three of my four children. I know that they are all out doing good things and where they are supposed to be, but I missed them a lot today.

We enjoyed visiting and even doing the many dishes that dinner for 37 provides. We played games, looked at Black Friday ads, and enjoyed Grandmas ward home and leftovers for a dinner snack. Of course there was slush, Carmel popcorn and English toffee as well!

Jill and I braved the cold and went to JoAnn's at 6:00 am to fight the crowds and buy fleece and flannel with hundreds of other crazy women. We got number 50 for the cutting line. Three hours later we walked out of the store have saved $300. with enough fleece for Grandma to make blankets for the unmarried kids. We have other plans for the flannel.

Dan and Andrew went cross country skiing with Scott and I had a nap and got ready and just relaxed. Later Dan and I did a little more shopping.

That evening we watched the Jazz beat the LA Lakers and I made three fleece blankets while I watched. Dan, Andrew and Grandpa replaced the faucet in the kitchen, took a load to the dump and helped scrape off Julie's front steps.

We got up Saturday morning and got all packed up ready to go when Shauna called and said that Alyse needed a ride to SLC and we took her we could have three tickets to the BYU vs U or U game. Those are hard tickets to come by and we hadn't been to a BYU game yet this year so we said that we were in! We picked up Alyse and had a nice visit with the Boyce family. We stopped and looked at a job for Dan and made a quick stop at Smith and Edwards. We could have spent half a day there but time didn't allow. We met Timo and Alyse's friend at Smith's and rode the trax up to the game. It was slow getting in the gate and we entered a sea of red dressed serious Ute fans. Of course our seats were smack dab in the middle of them all. Hey, but we were on the 50 yard line but up near the top. We had gone to a game of this rivelry at this stadium before and knew about kind of keeping to ourselves among the Utah fans. :)

Neither team played very well and there was a controversial call and BYU led the whole way but in true BYU Utah rivalry form the Utes pulled out in front by one point in the last few minutes and BYU had their game winning punt blocked and thus the Utes won. BYU squeaked it out last year so I guess they are even. Actually, I was ok with them losing since we were surrounded by all of those Ute fans! They were happy and we were happy to get out alive.

We stopped by and saw Julie and RC Willey in Murry and then grabbed Taco Bell and headed home. We got in at 10:30 just in time to watch the game highlights on Sports Beat. It was a great weekend. I have much to be thankful for.

**The moral of the story is: when you help someone out, good things always come back to you!

Dawson at Thanksgiving in Hollister

Jeanne Merrell, from the Hollister 1st ward, had our missionary boys in for round one of Thanksgiving dinner. She sent us an email with this pictures.

**Note: If you ever have the missionaries in for dinner, take their pictures, get their parents email and send the picture. It is so appreciated by parents of the missionaries.

Andrew is inducted into the National Honor Society

With Brock Johnson above and Hannah Anderson below.

Andrew was inducted tonight into the Desert Hill High School National Honor Society. He received two nice letters of recommendation and had to write a short essay. Of course he has to have good grades and also needs to perform service hours.
In a speech the kids were told that education is the great equalizer. It doesn't matter who your daddy is and how much money he has. Our prophet has also counseled us to "Get all of the Education that you can." Andrew is on his way to being a successful, educated young man.
CoNgRAtUlaTioNS!

Halloween 2010

We went Four Wheeling on Halloween afternoon out in Warner Valley. It was just Andrew, Dan and I. It was a beautiful day and fun to be able to escape and just be 15 minutes away from our home but feel like we are somewhere far away. Good day.
We attended a neighborhood party at the Peacock's home on Friday night. On Saturday we had our annual "Halloweanie" Party at the Hughes home in our neighborhood before the Trick or Treating began. Brandy came over and helped me hand our candy to the little neighborhood kids as the Trick or Treated from house to house.

Danielle and Alexa Visit October 2010

Danielle and our little grand daughter Alexa flew in from Portland to visit us over our Fall break. Steve had to stay behind and attend school. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed some beautiful Fall weather.
We spent a day at the St. George splash pad and enjoyed having my niece, Angie and her kids Rylee and Sadie join us. We also went Four wheeling up Browse canyon on the back of Pine Valley and saw all of the beautiful Fall leaves. On Monday we went with Dan and Andrew to work up at Duck Creek Campground where the boys poured cement pads and we watched and enjoyed the mountains.
It was so great to have them here and enjoy a little time together before we will get to see them at Christmas time. We sure love our little Alexa! Danielle and Steve are such great parents and are doing a great job raising our sweet little Grand daughter.