The Braces Are OFF!!!

This picture might scare little children, perhaps even some adults, but here it is. Not perfect, but better than I've ever had. Thanks Dr. Webster and staff. (Sign me up when you get the lipo-suction machine.)

Clint, Kaley & Skyler Sealed

Clint, Kaley and Sky-baby were sealed in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple on Sept. 10, 2008. Everything was beautiful.



Skyler has grown so much. Clint and Kaley do a wonderful job keeping him happy. For more pictures of their special day, log onto snapfish.com, enter janetpics@yahoo.com as the ID and then "lookhere" as the password. I figured if you wanted pics, you can download them yourselves or order them from Snapfish.

Family Fun!

Labor Day weekend usually marks the end of summer and the beginning of the fall and winter holidays. This Labor Day, we went to Rockport/Wanship and did some boating with our family. It was fun to see Lindsay and her family, and Aaron and his family. Dean and Joyce provided us with kayaks and G provided the boat and toys. I think everyone had a good time.

After boating, we wandered up the road a bit to Dean's cabin. It is beautiful. The running stream (...can a stream be 20 feet wide? or is it called a river if it is over a few feet?) behind the cabin was gorgeous. G could spend all day walking up and down looking for "holes".

The reason for going north for the weekend, was to view the baby blessing of Savannah Kate. It was a lovely blessing given to her by her father, Josh. I don't have pictures because we left the camera in SLC. Megan and Josh will be super parents and little Savannah will have a wonderful life.

Dean and G discussing fishing holes.
G loves to fish, but doesn't get to often. This was a treat (but only a 20 minute treat).
Aaron & Ethan
J and H kayaking
Ethan, Cody, Lindsay, Ashlyn and Sarah at the lake.
Avery
Issac

Community Tradegy

Another week of sadness! A doctor's office from Cedar City was out doing clinic in a rural area last Friday. They boarded their plane to return home and it crashed, killing all 10 on board. All worked for Dr. Ellsworth. There were several memorials this week. We attended Dr. Ellsworth and his son, Dallin's visitation. G also attended the memorial at the university. Dr. Ellsworth's office is located just beneath us on the 2nd floor. It is such a sad time. Many good people will be missed.

Sometimes, life comes at you hard! This week was a week of happiness and sadness. Happy that Kaley was able to take out her endowments in preparation to be sealed to Clint. Sad that my good friend, Renee's mother passed away. Happy to see old friend, sad for the occassion. Shauna has petition, pleaded and begged for me to not post pictures of us at the funeral (we claim that the flight to California left us bloated and fat looking, when, in reality, IT IS REALITY!) So, in her honor, I leave out pictures of Shauna.
J, Kim Holmes., Dorothy Hatch. and Paul Hatch
Renee's daughter, Caitlyn
Wendy, Mike and Renee
All of Sandy's family....I know she's proud!

Renee is one of "the five". The rest are Shauna, Julie, Connie and myself. We've been good, no, great friends for many, many years. Kim is an honoray member of The Five, having arrived just a little later in our lives. She enjoys all membership privileges too. I had the chance to talk with Connie and Julie to relay the news of Sandy's passing. We are now planning to meet up at Women's Conference in May. Start planning girlfriends! We'll have a blast (not sure we'll attend Women's Conference), but we'll have fun.

My heart ached for Renee. With the passsing of her mother, and other issues, she has a lot on the table right now. My niece, Megan, posted a blog today which seemed to fit perfectly. She borrowed the words from another blogger, who's feelings were tender and perfect.

""...And for my own load, I am grateful. I don't wish to carry it-and
sometimes I even resent it-but I see it is my own, and I will bear it with all
the dignity and faith I can muster. And I can humbly testify that I don't carry
it alone. I recognize that my Savior carries the greater part with me (and He
sweetly sends me help through family and friends too), and I know that yoked
with Him I am able to move through the mud, push up against the dirt and grow."

WOW! (Megan - give thanks to the author for me!)

My Boys Are In High School!!!

Who would have thunk it? A and H are now freshmen at CHS. I quickly do the math and they will be on their missions in no time. In our LDS culture, that is a sign of "manhood". They leave as boys and come back men. Okay, I realize I'm getting way ahead of myself....after all, they are just freshmen, but I'm already dreading mission calls. Mak and Mad also started school. Mak is now in 7th grade, wearing makeup, constantly texting friends on her cell phone, and really into girly things (it is all out of my comfort zone). Mad is in 4th and loving her teacher, friends, etc. Life is good. She is still doing gymnastics.

The past week was hectic with getting kids ready for school and paying public school "fees" (that's another subject matter for another day). A and H tried out for the golf team. H's scores were a little high so he'll have to work a little harder for next year. A was able to get on the 10 man team, however, only the top six go to tournament, so he had to sit out the first tourney. He's hoping to qualify for this week's tourney.

G bought water skis and knee boards. We took them to the lake to give them a try. "Try" is the operative word. The lake was soooo choppy that getting on the knee board was like trying to ride a greased pig. Just when you think you had a handle on it, the dang thing slithered out beneath you and managed to hit ya in the head. The skis were a little better, but after wrestling with the greased pig, I was too beat (not to mention too old) to ski. I think we'll try again when the water is calm. Today, my muscles (every one of them) is crying out in pain. I suppose I need to pace myself and remember I'm not what I use to be (okay, truthfully, I was never super athletic, but in my mind, I am.)

For those who know them... Ted Elwell was married/sealed to a wonderful lady, Laurie. Laurie Bott was in my ward when we first moved to this area. Also, my dear friend Renee Shirley Welker's mother passed away yesterday after suffering from cancer. She was always a fun lady. Another dear friend, Kelli Brown's brother was killed in an auto accident last Sunday. He was a father of three young ones. It is as Charles Dickens described in the opening lines of his A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, … it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Weekend Drive.....

We had a great weekend. First some boating, then on Sunday, G had an idea to take a drive. We went up to Swain's Creek and took some old dirt roads to a lot G saw on EBAY. While the lot didn't prove to be worthy of a bid, the drive was beautiful. We saw so many mama deer with the new "spotted" fawns. Even a red tail hawk clinging to it's "catch" and a beautiful young buck. I forgot how much I love to drive and look at the wildlife. We haven't done very much driving this summer (perhaps it's because gas is so expensive!!!), so this was a real treat for me to be in the mountains watching the animals and scenery.
Mama and her babies (still with spots)
Young buck

H at the Ebay lot.
G and the girls at the lot.
A looking to jump if Dad bids on this lot.

A young buck.

This mountain was hidden, but on the road to the Ebay lot, and on a very rough road, you come around this turn and this beautiful mountain is before you.
The wildflowers were in bloom.

Mak overlooking valley. Zion is about 21 miles south.

Overall, the afternoon was great!