Grandpa went fishing

Last week, my sweetheart went fishing! He has been fishing almost every week since we became established in Utah!! This day he drove up to Big Cottonwood Canyon to fish a stream, unlike the time before, he did NOT fall into the stream! He also did NOT catch any fish! Instead he caught a pumpkin..... floating down the stream was some one's "fruit" from who knows why, so he caught a pumpkin.






Here he is cleaning his catch, he's getting pretty comfortable in the kitchen, I'm hoping he will soon take over the cooking!

Here he is again, amazed that you can actually cook a pumpkin and make it eatable!

Hear to for, he has only carved faces in pumpkins and put a candle inside for Halloween.

The finished product! There was enough for 4 pies, I only made 2 for Thanksgiving and froze enough for 2 more for later! Looks good Huh?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! we couldn't wait for Thanksgiving, we had to try it out and it is delicious!

Soooooo! Y'all come and try out Grandpa's catch!!

See you Thursday!!!

All I want to do is read!

I am feeling lazy this last couple of weeks and all I do is want to read.

This is probably the "best of the bunch", because it's historical fiction and well written. It gives us just a glimpse into the Japanese Internment during WWII. As well, as the culture of the Chinese, and Japanese and the thoughts and feelings of the Americans without making us feel umcomftorable because of the choices our country made.

Ann Perry is always a fun, easy read. This one takes place with Emily on her own, Emily is Charlotte Pitts Sister and they have solved several mysteries together. This leaves Emily on her own to gain a new respect for an Aunt that has moved away from the family. I takes place is a different place as well. I enjoyed Emily coming down to the "common" people learning about the other side of life.

Glenn Beck, like his last Christmas Book "The Christmas Sweater", keep a box of tissue next to your chair. This book tells of love and abuse through 3 generations and comes together in the end to make it "all better".

Last but, not least Richard Paul Evans new Holiday book. "Lost December:. The story of the prodigal son from the son's point of view. I like RPE's books, I can trust them to be "squeaky" clean and still entertaining. I'm looking forward to his next installment of The Walk, so come on April.

We are coming upon the Holidays and I love Christmas Books, I will probably begin one of my favorites Jan Karon's "Shepard's Abiding" very soon. I also enjoy Lloyd C. Douglas "Home for Christmas" and of course President Monson's recommendation Henry Van Dyke's "The Mansion". I like to add a couple of Christmas Books to my shelf each year so I can go back and relax during the holidays with a "feel good read".

Great Grands

Jonathan and Jaci came to stay with us and they brought with them their treasures!
Liam is so cute and really like his Grandpa Pickens!





Miss Emma is so busy, she is "so smart" she now knows right where the toys are!










Proof that we got to hug these cute little ones before they went on to bigger and better things!





Liam is so adorable, rolly polly, and has such a cut walk, I couldn't resist!
Come again Please!!



Auska brought their 2 little ones by the next day and I didn't even get a picture. This Grandma is really slipping! Comes with age I guess.

Sunday Drive

After dinner a couple of week ago we took a "Sunday Drive". It was a beautiful day and we thought we would drive up to Big Cottonwood Canyon and walk around Silver Springs. Well I think the majority of Salt Lake had the same idea. We did take a short walk trying to avoid back pack, strollers, toddlers and busy adults, then drove up a little higher!

I love the mountains and being able to get there in just a few minutes. Didn't get too many pictures just enough to gloat over a lovely day and nice drive!

It is finished!

I started this project in 2008, It's from a book by Eleanor Burns, or "Quilt in a Day". I like Eleanor's methods, you do finish a quilt quickly. However, I also like the dimensional look, so I adopted her sister methods for my flowers. They pop right out at you.
After starting the baskets, they are machine pieced I taught a class in Relief Society, many of the sisters made pillows or wall hangings. I preserved getting my baskets full of flowers. I put it on the quilt frame this last summer and began quilting the baskets, with pansies in the plain triangles. The down side of dimensional flowers is that you can not machine quilt it. So it is finally finished and it looks great on my bed. So, 4 years is not a bad time for me, some projects have taken up to 10 years. I still have the book and some of the tracings for the flowers, I will probably never make it again, anyone interested??

33 years

For our anniversary this year we, with RosaLee and David, it was their anniversary as well, drove to Vernal, Utah.

There are a lot of dinosaurs in Vernal, Utah!! While I'm not really big on dinosaurs, it was a fun trip. I forgot the camera, so used the phone to take pictures.

Now I have all these wonderful pictures on my phone and I cannot figure out how to get them off the phone and into the computer. Go Figure!

Anyway I liked this dinosaur, he is so colorful and cute.

Out past Jensen, about 10 miles from Vernal, is a big dinosaur "dig". This building has just opened to the public so it was free when we went. And inside this building is "A Wall of Bones" Pictures below.

Very interesting, a lot of Fossils and dinosaur bones exposed in this wall of rock.

After this it was dinner and then we ended up doing a session at the Vernal Temple, guess which activity I enjoyed most??

The trip took all day, we left at 9:00am and didn't get home until 9:00pm.

A fun time was had by all, we do enjoy day trips to learn more about Utah.

P.S. The pictures are from the inter net, my pictures are still in my phone, any advise??

Book Report

I tried to get a picture for you, however, it didn't work!! Sorry!!
But try a little Historical Fiction - even a little Historical Mystery. The book by Stephanie Barron called "A Flaw in the Blood". Takes place in "Victorian" England. A historical account of the death of Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria - a fictional account of some of the Queens thought, problems and how she attempted to handle them. It takes some concentration to sort out all the relationships and mindset of the English Royalty.
I've read it twice, and this time I got more out of it than the last time. It is not a quick read and is not factual but, an enjoyable read just the same. Enjoy!!

Panaca

Last week RosaLee and I took our annual pilgrimage to "ye ole homestead".

Mom's birthday is the end of September so we usually try to go sometime in Sept. to celebrate etc., This year things worked out that we had to go early.

Mom on the front porch of her home in Panaca, Nevada - she ill be 85 on the 21st of this month. She is doing well after a couple of surgeries a couple of years age. She goes out most days - although we made her miss your "lunch with the seniors" one day so instead we went shopping (for fabric of course) and lunch in Caliente.

RosaLee and Bentley, I couldn't have done better if I tried to catch this "interesting" expression. I love being close to my sister and we have a great time doing, and/or conspiring, stuff together!

In Mom's left hand is Pappy, mom's "puppy". Pappy is , I think 5 years old and great company for mom. The other puppy is "Indy" a puppy for Helen. Mom usually goes to Reno and spends the winter with Helen, so Indy will eventually end up in Reno.

The video is for Helen so she can see how cute her puppy is. He is no bigger than a minute, he was a great source of entertainment while were were in Panaca! It was hard to get a picture of this puppy, he is about the same color as mom's carpet - anyway this is as good as it gets!

Cousins Reunion

The first Cousins Reunion - they have certainly grown up haven't they - We got together most years after this first one and then they started to "go their own way". Katie is not in Barcelona, Spain on a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - Melanie has two years to finish her chosen Career, she is going to UVU in Orem, Utah - we tried to get her here last week, but we also understand having to work, maybe next time. See below what the other two are up to!

When the "cousins" get together, we do a project - It will probably be a long time before this happens again. Tasha is off to BYU Idaho and Mandy is preparing for a mission. So, we managed a weekend where they could get together and talk into the night!

Tasha arrived first (Mandy had to work) and made a beautiful wool dress, you need wool in Idaho!

Mandy is working on a "Witches" costume for little sister Emily. Nathan gets to be a "Puppy" this year - we found a cute pattern and Dalmatian fabric on our shopping expedition. Oh yes! We always have to have a shopping expedition!

I love having the girls come and stay - however I end up going to bed first - I think they stayed up and watched a "chick flick" after I retired. Tasha said that next time they get together she thinks we should not do a project, maybe a puzzle with a movie and ice cream. I wonder when "next" time will be.

Where did summer go?

Jemma came to help me do some gardening - see above, that is about all the garding I do and she is a great help!

Jemma likes to "re-arrange" the stitching in my foot stool. Here she is learning some new stitches!

And here she is trying on a "bookmark" - I wonder if I'll ever stitch this piece or if I'll save it for Jemma! And below, Jemma likes to run - and run, she is getting so big - we love having her entertain us in our home. So Jemma whenever you want to come play - let me know.

Days of 47

Couple of "good ole" cowboys went to the Rodeo on the 25th of July!! Doug Ballard is in front of my HH (Gene)! They had a wonderful time! I'll have to suggest Doug more often!! "Ride um Cowboy"!

A Good Time was had by all!

Why do I forget to load the first pictues last so they will be in order?? Oh Well, never mind.
Last weekend we had Emily, C.J., Nathan and Aunt Loralie and Cousin Melanie come to stay. As you can see we had a great weekend. First we put puzzles together, next we went to a movie to see Cars 2, then of course out to lunch at our favoriate place - for a corn dog. Then we went swimming! I think we wore them out, I know they wore me out!! We love these cute kids - hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Busy, busy Jemma

Jemma and Troy came to Lunch last week, after we went to lunch at Artic Circle, Jemma stayed with me while Dad-Dad went to work for a couple of hours. She is very busy.

Here she is emptying my storag in my foot stool, I had forgotten all that was in it, but now it is cleand out. I said are you "cleaning up" and she said "No, Away" Meening, I guess that she doesn't clean up - she puts away. I sure enjoyed her, we must do it again!!

Fathers Day/ Birthday

Looks like I caught my sweet heart with a funny face. Once in a while Fathers Day and my Birthday land on the same day - it happened this year.

After a down poor, have I mentioned it rains and snows in he mountains? During a rain storm we grilled steaks, in the garage. But no picnic we had dinner inside!!

My 2 "Fathers" and their families came to celebrate with us. I love being close to family, have I mentioned that? I sure not enough! Dinner was wonderful, check out Nicole's blog for the wonderful desert we all enjoyed after grilled steak (my garage still smells great) and all the trimmings.

"The cousins had a fun time together, Jemma likes to play with Emily and the boys and why, oh why are Grandma's toys so much fun? I have more pictures of the kids playing under Grandma's quilt perhaps for another post - I wonder if playing under the quilt will be memories for yet another generation?

The "cleanup crew" Thank you sooooo much ladies, between Stephanie, Nicole, Mandy and Tasha all I had to do was put pots and pans away!! You have no idea how much I appreciate that!!!

And to end the day - after the storm, I caught this terrific sun set - it was almost worth all the rain. Now I understand we are going to be in the 80's the end of this week. So I will get my new Lilac Bush in and perhaps we can have a swim party!!

Thanks to all for the wonderful Birthday Party - I hope all the Fathers enjoyed their day as much as I did!!!

"Decoration" Day Adventure

Many of my ancestors are buried in the Richfield Cemetery! Yesterday, Gene and I met my mom at the cemetery to "decorate" the graves.

Richfield Cemetery is a combination of "Pioneer" and modern head stones, I love to drive into the cemetery and see all the flags flying - there appears to be a flag on every "veteran" grave, and it is beautiful. Richfield comes out in mass to put flowers on the graves of their ancestors - we were no exception yesterday!

Here is my Mom - "Visiting her friends"! The stone to the left is my Dad's, but we had to walk around a couple of block so she could see who was recently buried. She said when she wanted to visit friends she had to come to Richfield Cemetery - she is the last of her generation.

After our chore is finished we usually go to JB's for lunch - Gene and I drove in from the North so didn't notice all the traffic signals were out. We drove to JB's and it was closed we continued to drive through town - no traffic lights - no traffic - everything was closed due to a power outage - the closest place for gas or food was Elsinore. The one place (gas station with snack bar) in Elsinore was so packed we opted to drive into Monroe.

In Monroe we found the Sage Brush Grill, it was very busy and very noisy - a small place, however with little other option we waited and had a delicious lunch - you really must try it. Potato Soup with home made yeast rolls - Country fried steak - I brought half of mine home for lunch today! Check out the web, I guess they are famous and we didn't even know they were there. It may be a favorite place to go when in Sevier Valley.

http://www.sagebrushgrillutah.com/

A good day, good to see Mom, she appears to be doing well - she is walking better and not complaining so much, I may have to do this again next year.

Try this one!

I found this treasure at the library! It takes place on 2 continents - England and Australia. Jumps back and forth between 3 different time periods. Early 20th century to 1975 to 2005. I enjoyed the mental exercise keeping the characters and generations straight in my head. She is, in my opinion, a good writer, I liked her descriptions.
Kate Morton is from England - check out her website www.katemorton.com and listed to her explain how she comes to write some of her books. I have a couple more on order from the library, but am thinking I may want to own this one.

Before the rain!

We went to see the tulips at Thanksgiving Point - it was a beautiful day, we enjoyed the flowers and afterward went to dinner. Jim, Steph and their 3 small muggles went with us, we enjoyed chasing after them and then them chasing after us.

Grandpa found a "tub" of water all the kids found the water and next thing we knew they were wet up to ther knees - glad they didn't dive in.

Arn't they cute little tulips??

Does anyone know what the yellow flower is? It is really beautiful, I would like to try some!

Thanks for letting me "babble" on - I love Utah!!