Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas. Andrea/Mike, Grandpa Dick and Grandma Joy, Nate/Beth/Spencer/Preston and Brian/Mindi/Jaimee/Brandon all came over for Christmas Eve. We ate a prime rib dinner downstairs in the newly-remodeled basement and had a wonderful time talking, laughing and joking. It was fun to watch Spencer and Preston open gifts from us of dinosaurs and dinosaur train movie; and Jaimee and Brandon open their gifts of a watch, coloring books and tools. All the kids were very excited.

Prior to our Christmas Eve dinner, Andrea and Mike had come over to stay with us for two days. We saw the new movie Avatar with 3D glasses and saw the lights on Temple Square. We also played the usual Settlers and the Great Dalmoody. We had a lot of fun.

Christmas day, all the kids came over again for a visit and we played “Mafia”. It was a lot of fun. Everyone got very involved in the activity. The highlight, of course, was talking to Kaelynn on the phone. She is doing great in Trumbull and has some good ideas to try to invigorate the area. We are so proud of her.

Preston and Jaimee, December 2009

I watched Spencer and Preston this week. They were funny and delightful. After I dropped Spencer at his pre-school, Preston was in the back set of the car. He asked me, “Are two Lightening McQueens the same or different? I said, “The same”. “Very good Grandpa, you’re so smart. Is a Lightening McQueen and a Sally the same or different?” I said, “Different”. “Your right! Good job Grandpa!” There you have it the “same” and “different”.

Jaimee Joy performed, "Roly Poly the Polar Bear" at her dance recital this week. Below is a video of the event--Jaimee is on the far left.

Thanksgiving trip 2009

We visited Mike and Andrea over Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun.

We started out Tuesday morning and drove to Kanab, Utah. On the way we missed a turnoff and a canyon road was closed, so we ended up gonig through Arizona to get to Kanab. This actually turned out to be a good thing because we visited a place called "Pipe Springs". This was an outpost buildt by Mormons called by Brigham Young. They built a fort somewhat like Cove Fort and had a very thriving industry there for a number of years. It was really interesting to take a tour of the fort and learn about the settlement.

Wednesday morning we left Kanab and headed for Arizona. On the way we stopped at a turnaround and took a 1/2 mile hike into some pretty rock formations. We also stopped at Glen canyon dam and took a tour that went deep inside the dam. It was very, very interesting. We got to Mike and Andrea's place that evening and went shopping for Thanksgiving foods.

Thanksgiving day began by making pies and then playing soccer at a local school with lots of other people in the ward. We had fun and afterwards came home to the usual Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards we played Settlers which Mike won (I might add Sandy won a game of Settlers on Wednesday night).

Friday we worked out together and went to a museum/zoo. This museum/zoo was very well done. We saw a raptor show--like Hogle Zoo's show-wild pigs (Javiers), mountain goats, a bear, hummingbirds, etc. The exhibits were very impressive and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. We then went home to homemade turkey soup (made by yours truly) and afterwards a game of Legretto won by Andrea. We then watched a video.

Saturday morning Mike and I played racquetball while Andrea and Mom exercised. They all went shopping while I stayed home. They knew I would be terribly disruptive if I had to shop for longer than a half hour.

On our way home we stopped at Paria Canyon and took a great hike through part of the canyon. We saw a deer carcass and some mountain lion tracks along the floor of the canyon.

Below are some pictures of the trip: 1. The first picture is of Glen Canyon dam looking up from inside the dam. Note the shadow of the bridge across the dam; 2. The third picture is a photograph of a "Javier" or Arizona pig. 3. On the fifth picture that looks just like rocks, can you see the mountain lion? 4. Pictures seven through ten are of Paria Canyon. Can you see the petroglyphs in picture eight?