Happy Thanksgiving

I woke up at 5 a.m. and figured I was awake for the day. I guess early rising is something that happens as you get older.....

As I sit here early and alone it's a nice time to think of all I am grateful for. It would take volumes to list all my blessings. But here are a few that quickly come to mind.

Of course, the first two HUGE blessings I think of are my family and my testimony. They both go hand in hand. How much more my family means to me because I know of the significance of families and I know that we are meant to be together forever. This week as we added one more little baby into our family I just felt as if I had always known her.

One of the biggest blessings of the past year is Dad's surgery and his recovery from his heart problems. I am so grateful that he is still here with us. Both of my parents are the best and I could never express how much I love them.

Another huge blessing was going on a trip to Alaska with Greg's family for Rose's 90th Birthday. What a fun time we had with all of them. We will cherish those memories forever.



I am so grateful for Melissa. She has grown into the most beautiful, strong woman. Her faith always inspires me. She chooses the most amazing friends.

I am grateful for Sister Thomas' talk in the spring broadcast of Stake Conference. It inspired me to get going on my scripture study again. Doing that has brought me great joy. I finished the Book of Mormon and am now studying the Doctrine and Covemants. I've had a renewal of my testimony of both of those books.

I am so grateful that Greg and I have so much fun together. We went snowshoeing several times last winter....to Harriman State Park, to Jackson Lake, and to Taggart Lake. We went to Yellowstone Park in the spring to see the wildlife. We went to Teton Park for an overnight stay. We hiked the Palisades Lake hike in both the spring and fall. We also hiked at Big Elk Creek. We hiked the Coffeepot Trail. We hiked in the Tetons with Melissa. We went to southern Utah with Brenda and Steve. We hiked the Hidden Lakes Trail at Redfish. We also took the Vest boys to Teton Park and Yellowstone. We enjoyed our Redfish Lake Vacation very much. It has been a fun year. I'm sure I missed some activities.



I was grateful for the Razor Ride that I went on with Mike and Jenny in the Frank Church Wilderness area. It was amazing and I sure hope to be able to do it again.

I am so grateful for all the things we were able to accomplish here at home. Painting the outside of the house was a huge project for Greg. I tried painting one weekend and broke out in a rash. The allergy specialist at the University of Utah must be right about my allergy to paint. So, poor Greg had to do most of the work alone. The kids did chip in and help a couple of times which gave us a much needed boost.

How grateful I am for my sweetheart, Greg. I could never say enough good things about him. He is the most unselfish person I know. How I love him.

My little grandchildren bring me so much joy. The Special Days that I was able to have with each of them is something I cherish. My biggest fear is that they are growing up so fast and I am getting so many of them now that I can't spend as much one on one time with them as I would like. But I do my best and try to help out by watching them whenever the kids ask.



I am grateful that we have been able to keep going at work. The economy has certainly changed things there, but my boss has been able to figure out how to bid the jobs to keep us busy. I so much enjoy my work there. I'm grateful for the little bit of added income I am able to bring to our family. I am grateful for my association with good people at work.

I could go on and on. Of course, things are not all rosy. But, it's so nice to try to focus on the good. President Monson had so much wisdom when he counseled us to do that. You could be very scared all the time in this crazy world. But focusing on the good really helps to put things into perspective. For all who read this...I love you and hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving and are able to count your blessings as well.

PS.....How could I forget sweet Ziggy.

A Beautiful Day

Today's blizzard has been a bad one. Even though I hate driving in the snow, I had to get to the hospital to see Amber and Rylee. When I got there at 8:00 this morning, Jason was already there. I didn't expect him to be there so early. He is so in love with little Rylee. It's really fun to watch.  Shortly after I got there the nurse came to take Rylee to see the pediatrician.  So I took off and went to work.

After work I decided to stop back in.  It was nice because everyone was gone and I got to spend some time with Amber alone.  She told me that she had brought a pink blanket that she wanted Rylee to have a photo taken with.  She doesn’t feel up to doing any photography yet, so I was happy to do it.

She is such a beautiful little baby.  I was holding her and I looked over at Amber.  She had tears streaming down her face.  I asked her what was the matter and she said, “I am just so happy.”  For anyone who is a mother, I know you will understand her feelings.  What a good day it has been for me.

Full House

It has been a long week for me.  Getting the stomach flu is never good for me since I have chronic digestive problems.  By yesterday afternoon I was getting really discouraged at feeling rotten.  But then Melissa came home and Heather’s girls came over and it didn’t take long until I was cheered up again.

I am grateful for my girls……

I Haven't Been Diligent

My gratitude posts are getting fewer and farther between. Things have been crazy the past while. Besides a lot to do, the flu took its toll on me for a few days. I'm glad to be almost back to normal.

Today when I was coming home from work I saw three missionaries walking down the road. They ranged from very tall to very short and were walking with the tall one by the road, the middle one in the middle and the short one the furthest away. I thought that they looked so cute and a little dorky. Then I thought, "What a miracle it is that the church can get these young men to make such a sacrifice to go on a mission while they are still teenagers!!" It's just another witness to me that the church is true. It's so brilliant to take young men at this age and teach them to sacrifice their own wishes for something better. What a blessing it is in the lives of all of us that they learn this at such a young age.

Then I read something in Logan's letter that just says how I feel about the church.... " I love this church and the gospel it makes so much sense and feels so right." It has always felt so right to me. I'm so grateful for that.

Sometimes Angels Wear Cowboy Hats and Camouflage

We just returned from a wonderful vacation that we took with two of my favorite people, my sister Brenda and her husband Steve. We are all grandparents now, which means that we can expect to start having those Senior Moments every now and then…..

Greg and I wanted to go to Zion National Park again so we could hike the Zion Narrows (a subject for another blog post). Brenda and Steve wanted to take four wheelers so we could enjoy the wilderness. Mike was so kind and offered to let us take his Razor.

On Saturday morning we drove for about half an hour to a place called the Great American Trail near Kanab which leads into the Escalante/Grand Staircase National Monument. The ranger warned us that this is a wilderness area with no services or cell phone coverage.

Here is a far away view of this area. You can see that there are different levels of mountains, each getting higher in elevation as you go into the area. The Vermillion Cliffs are the red ones in front. This is where we started.

When we got there, Steve asked Greg how much gas he had left from the previous day’s ride. Greg said, “I filled up with gas last night, so I’m full.” Steve got a sick look on his face. His dreaded Senior Moment had happened. He had forgotten to fill up his four wheeler. But, no problem, there was 3/4 tank of gas left. Well we rode a few yards and his gas gauge dropped to 1/2 tank. I’ve never seen such a sick look on his face. Here we had come all this way and hauled these four wheelers out into the wilderness and he didn’t have a full tank.

Well, we chose a route that we thought we could easily accomplish with the amount of gas that he had.

At first we were in the valley….and it was beautiful…..

Then it turned up into the Vermillion Cliffs.

The road got a little “knarly” (as Steve called it) in spots. Of course, those times I was scared to death, but when the road smoothed out, the scenery was gorgeous.

Steve didn’t seem quite his happy self because it was when we got up high that his gas tank started to show 1/4 tank.

We had to devise a route to get back as quick as we could. None of us were too excited about being stranded out here….

Soon we were over the top of the Vermillion Cliffs and could see the white cliffs in the distance……what beauty.

The quick road that we discovered to come back down on was very rough in spots. Sorry I don’t have photos of that. I wasn’t thinking about taking photos at this point. But we made it down. The low dip between the two higher areas is the place where we came down out of the Vermillion Cliffs.

Now we were back on lower ground and only had a few more miles to go. Brenda was navigating using the maps and it looked like we would make it. We were almost there when we reached a gully that had been washed out by a flash flood. Oh no, it would be hard to get across. Being inexperienced riders on a very nice borrowed machine, Greg and I opted to tell Steve that we would not cross it with him and we didn’t want to split up out in the wilderness. He would have to go with us on an alternate route as far as the remaining gas would allow. Of course by now the tank registered empty.

Steve agreed, but said, “Pray for Me!!” We told him that we already had been doing that.

This whole day, we hadn’t seen one other person.

But, wouldn’t you know it. After a little way, we came across a hunter’s camp.

Steve pulled into the camp and told the fellows there his story. They were the most pleasant, smily guys you could meet. They had the strongest southern Utah drawl that I have ever heard. They laughed so hard at Steve’s story and gave us enough gas to get back.

I had wondered how God was going to answer our prayers. It was a wonderful reminder that we are his hands. So many times he answers us with promptings to be in a place where other people can help us, or we can help others. It was very hard for Steve to ask them for help, but he knew that God had answered his prayer and if he didn’t accept that answer he was on his own.

What a great day we had with lots of good lessons learned. I’m sure this will be subject matter for one of Greg’s High Council talks in the future.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

I’m grateful for generous sons-in-law, wonderful sisters and brothers-in-law, beautiful nature, and angels with cowboy hats and camouflage.

Paradise…..

This place is so amazing…..I only have one photo.  We got here about 4 and have rented all our gear for the river hike tomorrow.  We had time for a short walk in Zions before the sun went down.  It should be a blast.  Hope Brenda can do it.  I will try to share a photo or two tomorrow night.  This little laptop works great but the screen is too small for much photo work.

Hope everyone at home is doing ok!!

Anticipation

I’m grateful that we get to go on a trip very soon.  It won’t be long and we’ll be hiking in the Virgin Narrows.  It was our best outing ever and I can’t wait to do it again.

You can see the people in the middle of the photo….It gives you an idea of the immensity of the canyon….It’s an amazing place.