Keeping up with the Hansen's

Christmas at the Rich's

2012-01-28T23:02:00.002-05:00

Doesn't this just say it all! Brandon just loves Jen and Jen loves Brandon. I am so grateful for the love they share with each other.
We had a fantastic Christmas and hope the new year is wonderful!

Knee-deep in Christmas Preparations

2011-12-10T15:35:00.000-05:00

I'm almost finished with Christmas shopping, I got shots a couple of weeks ago in both knees so I'm walking pretty well, and the house is as decorated as it's going to get. I finished the first major phase of the edit for my next book which will be out in March, so I thought I'd take a minute to share a few pictures taken during the past week. Calton and Alena participated in their first piano recital Thursday night. They've only been taking lessons a couple of months so it's obvious they both have their dad and mom's musical genes.

I usually tend little Jennifer on Tuesday mornings so Mary Jo can help in Brandon's school class. It didn't take her long to find the candy canes.

Miscellaneous

2011-11-02T23:27:00.000-04:00

These are a few pictures that don't seem to fit anywhere inparticular, but I like them. The first one was taken at Cedar Breaks. The next three were taken at Cedar Breaks in July. The potato came from our garden. Boyd thought it looked like some kind of weird bug. Then comes Calton's birthday, followed by the Robinson boys watching a ball game in Mary Jo and Rich's bedroom while everyone else was eating. Finally little Jennifer checking out Mom's camera.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T18:42:00.002-04:00

Grrrrr! A cute little tiger and a motorcross boy! Aren't they cute!

Brandon and soccer

2011-10-10T15:28:00.001-04:00

Rolling over

2011-07-28T15:02:00.001-04:00

Baby Jen can now roll over...one way. This make her happy and then very unhappy. Three more months to go :)

A couple of new pictures

2011-06-14T13:37:00.001-04:00

My last post was an accident. I thought I was posting to my Notes from Jennie's Desk blog instead it appeared here and it took a little while for me torealize that the first time I posted, I'd placed it on the wrong blog. Today I'm just going to post a couple of pictures. You may have seen this one:

She's wearing the little dress I crocheted for Mary Jo to be blessed in.

Here's the second one. It's a picture Boyd took of me and I'm wondering if I should use it for my author
picture in my next book.

Accidental Kidnapping

2011-06-08T22:56:00.001-04:00

I never thought kidnapping could be an accident except when a parent is foolish enough to leave a child alone in a car while she or he dashes inside a house or store for just a moment--- until I got caught up in an unexpected child snatching venture. It happened ten years ago, but a recent invitation to be a guest speaker brought back the memory.

It was a different speaking experience for me. I'm often invited to speak to book clubs, at firesides, and to other book oriented groups, but Tuesday night I spoke at a Spanish Book Club. I don't speak more than a handful of Spanish words and I wasn't sure how much English the club members understood, but I accepted the invitation and there I was. The group was super friendly and their smiles made up for language gaps. And I had a lot of fun.

Why was I invited and why did I accept? The sweet lady who invited me worked with me a few years ago when I worked for the Salt Lake City Library. Occasionally we didn't understand everything the other said, but we had an almost immediate bonding between us. (Her English is much better than my Spanish.) I love that lady! No way could I tell her no. Seeing her again reminded me of an awkward, downright scary experience we shared.

I have Asthma and she has some severe allergies. One day while I was eating my lunch in the library lunchroom, she burst into the room, gasping for breath, and unable to speak other than in frantic gestures. I realized she was having a severe allergic reaction to something, so I grabbed my purse and gave her an allergy antidote I always carry. She was in serious trouble and I knew she needed medical help. I was also aware her two young children were in the library and couldn't be left unattended.

Dashing upstairs I informed the manager I was taking my assistant to an emergency room, grabbed her children and raced back downstairs where I proceeded to load all three into my car for a mad dash to a nearby Instacare. I pulled into the emergency loading and unloading area and told her daughter, Betsy, "Stay with your Mom while I park the car and tell them I'll be right in. "I'll keep Alfredo with me." She looked at me blankly for a moment, then said, "He isn't Alfredo," just before she slammed the car door and followed her mother who was being helped inside the emergency room.

Horrified, I actually looked at the little boy sitting meekly in the backseat. He wasn't Alfredo! I'd grabbed a child I'd never even seen before, but who was about the same size as my friend's five-year-old son and who had been sitting at one of the tables beside her daughter, Betsy.

Unsure what to do, I took his hand and he accompanied me into the emergency room where I filled out some papers and called my friend's husband. My friend was almost unconscious by this time and things were pretty chaotic for awhile. I hoped the boy wouldn't be missed before I could get him back to the library. I'm not sure he understood anything I said to him, but he seemed to know Betsy and stayed close to her, so I concentrated on my friend until a doctor took over.

It all ended well. My friend's husband arrived. Betsy informed me that though the boy wasn't her little brother she was tending him for a neighbor, and her Dad said he would see that he got home safely. Her brother was safe at a friend's house and hadn't even been in the library that day. And yes, my friend, was okay too. I was shaking as I drove back to the library and thought it was a miracle I didn't have a heart attack! An extreme allergy attack is scary enough, but I couldn't believe I'd actually kidnapped a child!

The Spanish Book Club

Baby Jen cooing

2011-06-05T22:52:00.002-04:00

She is a happy baby! We love to hear her cooing!

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T23:34:00.001-04:00

We planned a cookout at Janice and Jason's house for Mothers' Day, but it rained. So the only one that went out was poor Jason who grilled the hamburgers in the rain while the rest of us stayed indoors. He got drenched, but the hamburgers tasted great. We had great fun and I played around with my new camera, mostly taking pictures of my new granddaughter, Jennifer.

Alena

Esther and Bob

Me holding Jennifer

What a cutie!

Jennifer looking up at Alena

Spencer and Jennifer

Jennifer

Bob. He really isn't asleep; he's texting.

Easter Fun

2011-04-25T16:24:00.000-04:00

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!

2011-04-11T22:35:00.000-04:00

Rich and Mary Jo received a major surprise last Thursday night in the form of a baby girl. She's two months old and beautiful. They thought they were just keeping her overnight, but on Friday they learned they could adopt her. This morning the papers were signed and little Jennifer Kay is now their daughter and my precious granddaughter. It's about time we got another girl around here. Mary Jo took some pictures, but the ones with Boyd and I are terrible of us; Jennifer looks fine. The one of Rich with both kids turned out really well. The computer program she used isn't compatible with mine so I can't enlarge the pictures or remove red eye. I'll post ones I take with my camera soon.

Saturday Morning Conference

2011-04-02T15:58:00.000-04:00

I've always consider being able to watch Saturday morning conference a kind of luxury. Life seems to have a way of interfering much too often, but this morning I was there in front of the TV for the whole thing. I found the announcement of three new temples exciting. The first Fort Collins, Colorado is great. The second, Meridian, Idaho took me by surprise. That's so close to Boise and I find it exciting that there's a need for a second temple that close to the Boise Temple. Manitoba, Canada is a big place; I'll be anxious to learn the exact location of that one.

The speakers were great and I didn't miss President Monson's and President Eyring's emphasis on three areas; temples, service to those in need, and missionary work. I was particularly pleased with a small statement made by President Monson concerning making scooters available to missionaries and members to deliver humanitarian supplies to those in areas who are inaccessible by cars or trucks. I found it satisfying to hear of the work the Church is doing to aid those affected by the severe natural disasters of the past year or two. It also prompted me to tear up the check I've written for Humanitarian Aid and write a bigger one.

Connor's Baptism

2011-03-15T16:57:00.001-04:00

Connor turned eight a few weeks ago and was baptized last Saturday.

Here he is with his Dad.

Ready to get wet.

Connor's new suit. (Sorry about the glare on his glasses.)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-02T17:55:00.001-05:00

I think it's time for a new post. Halloween is long past. So here are some pictures taken on Christmas Eve.

Our annual Christmas grandkids on the stairs photo. Notice Chris's girlfriend Kate is included.

Angel and shepherd.

Mary had a little difficulty with her shawl.

Spencer smiles encouragement to David and Nathan on the guitars.

Kayla didn't feel well, but she was an angel anyway.

Getting that grandkids shot wasn't easy!

Whee! Halloween fun.

2010-11-01T23:07:00.000-04:00

Our host and hostess: Bob and Esther throw a great Halloween party every year for the family.

The annual family photo. You'll notice a few folks are absent, they're the ones who weren't brave enough to don costumes.

Alpine Loop

2010-09-26T20:11:00.004-04:00

Knowing I was sad and having a difficult day yesterday after Vada passed away, Steve and Lezlie took us for a ride around the Alpine Loop and into Heber for dinner. It was a beautiful day and a I took quite a few pictures.

Scales and Tails

2010-09-18T00:26:00.002-04:00

A year ago Lezlie and I took our kids to see Scales and Tails. Here are the results.

All the kids holding a snake.

Brandon and Jayden checking out a tortoise.

Connor with a yellow snake.

May Family Ranch

2010-07-11T16:24:00.002-04:00

May Family Ranch

2010-07-11T16:22:00.002-04:00

May Family Ranch

2010-07-11T16:19:00.002-04:00

May Family Ranch

2010-07-11T16:16:00.002-04:00

Snow Canyon, Utah

2010-05-29T20:38:00.002-04:00

Last week we drove to St George....

Instead of typing this again please go to here.

Soccer

2010-05-15T15:20:00.003-04:00

Aren't they cute in their uniforms? Calton's team is the Orange Fireballs and Alena's team is the Lightning Bolts. They're both getting better at getting in the game and Calton even blocked a goal last week!

Peony Tree

2010-05-14T21:34:00.002-04:00

Our peony tree is spectacular this year, so I decided to share a picture of it with all of you. The regular peonies aren't blooming yet and not all of the buds have opened on the little tree.

2010-04-24T20:58:00.002-04:00

Wes and Ji Yeon Wedding

2010-04-21T11:45:00.002-04:00

Something to stand on. Five inch heels are murder. The rings!

Wes is ready to toss the garter.

Beautiful, happy bride!

Vada and Granddaughter

2010-03-31T23:16:00.001-04:00

Vada sent me some pictures of their early family Easter Egg hunt. I really like this one, so I decided to share.

train robber

2010-03-28T16:17:00.001-04:00

Puma discovered that trains are fun to chase but they do run over your tail.

More Caltonisms

2010-03-22T15:32:00.002-04:00

Calton told me today that if I said that word again, he'd go to his world and never come back. I'm not sure what the word was that I said but it might have been somewhere along the lines of hurry!

Signs of Spring

2010-03-21T19:59:00.000-04:00

St Patricks Day

2010-03-15T17:59:00.000-04:00

We hope everyone has a great St. Paddy's Day.

Caltonism

2010-02-25T23:04:00.002-05:00

This is a direct quote from Calton.
Apparently, you go faster when you run. And then you fall down.

Brandon and Connor both have birthdays...

2010-02-20T12:06:00.004-05:00

I do not have any pictures of Connor celbrating his birthday so I will leave that up to Grandma or Lezlie. Brandon turned 6 and Connor 7. Here are a couple of pictures and a video of Brandon opening up a present.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-26T11:37:00.004-05:00

Each Christmas Eve our grandchildren enact the nativity story which this year was read by our oldest grandson, Chris. We eat way too much then open presents from each other and the younger children put on their new pajamas so they're ready to jump into bed as soon as they get home so Santa can come. Our two granddaughters alternate years being Mary or an angel. This year Kayla was Mary and Alena did angel honors.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-19T15:28:00.001-05:00

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! Love Rich, MJ, Brandon, Normie and Puma.

Merry Christmas from the Sperry family

2009-12-12T00:17:00.002-05:00

I'm not doing a Christmas letter this year. Shocking I know. This is as close as I get! Merry Christmas everyone.

Stolen Christmas pt 2

2009-12-01T10:15:00.002-05:00

Stolen Christmas is now available at Amazon!!! It's also eligible for free shipping.

Stolen Christmas

2009-11-16T15:22:00.001-05:00

As some of you know, I have a short story coming out in a Christmas Collection (YAY!) I might even get paid if it makes any money! LOL
If anyone is interested in a fantastic Christmas present that will be cherished for years and years (and years)...you can get it here. http://ldspublisher.blogspot.com/2005/11/pre-order-your-copy-now-buy-now-stolen.html

My story is called Too Old For Santa. It's about a little boy who is too old to believe in Santa but isn't too old for the true magic of Christmas.

Puma

2009-11-13T19:05:00.003-05:00

So with the loss of Taluma we got a kitten. Her name is Puma (cougar). She is so loving, scared of her big brother (Norman) and loves her other big brother (Brandon). Norman is one ticked off cat (we love him anyway). As you can see here she loves her daddy (he loves her too).

2009-11-12T20:35:00.001-05:00

Taluma

2009-11-12T18:23:00.002-05:00

Our wonderful dog Taluma has passed away. We love you and miss you!

Something isn't working

2009-11-06T11:50:00.002-05:00

I suppose this reveals my ignorance of how these things work, but I posted a blog here a few days ago, but it doesn't show as update to the blog in the past month on the link to my other blog. All of the other blogs I link to show every update and this one used to. Those of you with more computer savvy than me, please tell me how to fix this.

Halloween Pictures

2009-11-04T11:54:00.004-05:00

Some of you have already seen these pictures on my other blog. For those of you who haven't, have a good laugh!

A New Addition!

2009-10-09T00:37:00.004-04:00

Rio (short for Oreo) is the new addition to our family. He has a white mark up the middle of his face with black on either side. He - yes he - has been with us for a little over a week. He doesn't seem traumatized that we called him a girl for a while. LOL. He enjoys climbing up legs, constantly commenting, a hug, playing and tuna fish!

PS David had his personal best record in cross country at 22:30. YAY!

Nathan and his football team haven't lost a game yet. They may make it to the playoffs. BRRR!

Chris is snowed under homework, and he found a job. Whew!

Circus time

2009-10-03T17:31:00.001-04:00

So last week we went to the circus. Brandon had a lot of fun (we all did). Looking foreward to going next year.

I PROMISED

2009-09-22T18:43:00.003-04:00

Calton and Brandon caught me taking pictures of them so I promised I'd post the pictures so they could see themselves on the computer.

Belated summer pictures from MarJean

2009-09-20T20:41:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures I should have posted sooner. The first is Ron spreading sunshine. Brianna getting a haircut.

These are Wendy's little girls on Nora's third birthday.

Ed, Darrell and Ed's boys fishing.

Mecco's back to school haircut.

Katie is about to get a hair trim too.

Oops! I already posted this one.

News Flash: BRANDON STARTS KINDERGARTEN

2009-08-27T18:00:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's true. My little baby is all grown up (sniff, sniff) he started kindergarten on tuesday. Here are some pictures.

Looking good!

What a cute little boy!

Got'cha! Lunch after school.

First Day of School

2009-08-25T10:55:00.003-04:00

Here's a shot of Spencer and Alena on their first day of school. They're both sporting their new glasses. Alena only has to wear her glasses to see the board at school. I hope she hasn't lost them. The second picture is the cornerstone choir Jason sang in. He's somewhere in the front row. Calton sang along with the choir from the audience but he used his own unique lyrics.

Vada isn't the only one with a new do

2009-08-22T18:46:00.001-04:00

VADA

2009-08-02T20:17:00.002-04:00

Our cousin Colleen and her daughter sent Vada two hats that look almost like hair, except one is purple. She loves them and posed so I could take a picture of her modeling the blond one. She says she's going to wear it when she leaves the hospital---until it gets too hot.

She's doing much better now that her doctor has taken away two antibiotics that were causing her some serious negative reactions. She's beginning to eat a little bit and is even going for short walks down the hall. Yesterday Chuck and I took her for a long walk. We took along a wheel chair and when she got tired she sat down and Chuck pushed her the rest of the way while I rode herd on her IV tree. We went outside for a few minutes and she was shocked by how hot it is was, but remember she arrived here at the end of June when we were still getting rain and cool weather. If she can eat and keep down what she eats she'll get to go home in a few days. She's in remission now (that's a miracle!), but her drug reaction is seriously interfering with her recovery. She'll have a short time after she gets home to decide whether or not to continue with the treatment and begin a stemcell transplant. This type of leukemia always comes back, usually between two and twelve months after going into remission. She's been so terribly sick and close to death for so long she isn't sure she can face the long transplant procedure and long months away from home.

Say sorry

2009-08-01T14:32:00.003-04:00

In an effort to find all the missing library books (at least all the ones that are due today) I informed the kids that they had to help me look and that they had to clean their rooms. Calton informed me that I was being annoying. I told him to sit in time out until he figured out a better thing to say. So Alena went to tell him that he should say he's sorry. He came to tell me that he was sorry and I asked him if he knew why I sent him to time out. He shook his head. So Alena, the ever helpful sister, told him to say that he needed to tell me that he was sorry he said that I was starting to be annoying. Calton, in typical Calton fashion, shortened the apology and said he was sorry that I was starting to be annoying. Sigh.

More Pictures

2009-07-12T21:34:00.002-04:00

Here are a couple shots from Alena's baptism. The first one is of the whole family before the day. The second is of Alena the day after in her dress at home.

Here are some more vacation shots. There is Double Arch in Arches, Spencer climbing one of the ladders in Mesa Verde, and the last one is of the family in Dinosaur National Monument. We're all leaning up against a dinosaur bone in the rock.

Idaho Weekend

2009-07-06T23:26:00.003-04:00

We had a great time in Idaho this past weekend. We went up for Stormy's wedding. She looked lovely, the room was decorated beautifully, and the food was delicious. It was fun to visit with family. I don't know if I was lazy or just too busy talking, but I didn't take many pictures. This first one is of Stormy and Bentley. The second one is a five generation of MarJean and Darrell, Dudley, Wendy, and Wendy's two little girls.

Sperry Vacation

2009-07-06T09:39:00.002-04:00

Here are a couple shots that Spencer took of Mesa Verde. I haven't loaded the pictures from the other cameras yet. I had to do Spencer's because his memory runs on battery power and I didn't want to lose the shots. The first is Cliff Palace and the second is a long distance shot of one I don't remember the name of. It's not one they let people go to. Could be because of the cliffs. I can't imagine living in a place like this. We had the advantage of nice paved paths and stone steps.

The third shot is Spencer in the hotel.

We took it easy for the 4th because of my pneumonia. (And also because losing Calton in the park last year was just not fun) Jason got a package of fireworks from the store and Spencer lit them. The kids discovered that the flashing lights cast a funny shadow on the garage so Calton and Alena danced in the flickering light while Spencer tried to remind them that the fireworks were in the other direction. Then Spencer noticed how much bigger his shadow was, since he was farthest from the garage, and played the giant trying to crush Calton and Alena. People in our neighborhood are really into the illegal fireworks so we had fireworks going off all around us. Surrounded by my giggling children and the blasts of color, I thought about how grateful I am to live in this country and how glad I am that the owner of the field behind us cut back the weeds so I don't have to worry about fire this year. :)

It's Summer

2009-06-20T13:31:00.005-04:00

We went to Zion National Park and Sand Hollow State Park for our vacation this year.

We traveled with another family with two boys, and stayed in a very beautiful house in Hurricane. (Thank You L's brother)

It rained a little the first day we were there, but after that the weather was wonderful.

There were snakes, deer, lizards (lots), birds, squirrels, tadpoles, chipmunks, red ants (big), big horn sheep, and a huge mean looking insect.

Sand Hollow State Park- We had fun swimming and - sigh - throwing rocks.

Oh weather, you are acting so very strange this year. A friend who babysat my house didn't have to water my plants. It's been nice to have a break from watering the yard this year. My raspberries, strawberries, and peas are so happy. Rainy weather makes me want to curl up with a book.

Speaking of Graduations

2009-06-07T11:06:00.007-04:00

Christopher graduated from the Academy for Math, Engineering and Science last Friday. The graduation was held at the University of Utah and was similar to other graduations only the students and audience were better behaved. There were more student speakers, ten of them, and no long dignatary speakers. The student speakers represented a wide, politically correct, ethnic array with most minorities represented. There was of course the stereotypical self-proclaimed rebel, dressed in jeans and long hair, who gave the same speech every such self-important nut gives at such occasions. There were also some excellent well-prepared speakers and musical numbers by graduating students. These kids (71 of them) had an impressive number of scholarships to their credit. Chris has three!

We went on a tour of the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple yesterday. It's beautiful and we're looking forward to serving there. The wind was so wild while we were in the introductory tent, we were a little nervous, but other than a lot of noise, the tent was fine. The staircases and chandeliers are pretty remarkable. The paintings in the session rooms are nice, but a little dark and I was a little disappointed in the bride's room. The bride's room is nice, but a little more modernistic than I care for. Most of the decor is gold tones with some browns and sage greens. There's a stylized star pattern that appears frequently in glass, mirrors, and the chandeliers. I want to go through again soon.

More graduation...

2009-05-25T23:33:00.002-04:00

So Brandon graduated from pre-school last Wednesday...sniff, sniff, sniff.Brandon and his friend Chelsea. These two even had ice skating classes together.

Waiting for his teacher to call his name.

Yeah!!!!!! It's over. Miss Tammy giving Brandon one last hug (and treat).

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

2009-05-02T11:33:00.003-04:00

I know, I just posted last night, but I didn't mention that MarJean and Darrell just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. They didn't want a big party, but just to go out to dinner with their kids and grandkids. Congratulations! In today's world fifty years is certainly a number to boast about.

Happy Days!

2009-05-01T21:42:00.004-04:00

Boyd and I started off May with a trip to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Sharon, Mary Jo and Brandon went with us. I love that place. The gardens are always beautiful, but the Tulip Festival is incredible. Here's Boyd and me in front of some raised beds of tulips.

Brandon joined the girls and me in front of a showy red and gold bed of tulips.

Mary Jo, Brandon, and Sharon sitting on a bench in the middle of the frangrance garden

A long shot of the gardens. Brandon is having fun rolling down the hill.

The girls and Brandon playing like they are tulips.

MarJean sent me some cute pictures of her little great granddaughters, Nora and Holly.

Levi and Wendy's little girls.

Nora looking for eggs.

The girls in their make-believe car. Or maybe it's a space ship.

Nora swinging. She's wearing her favorite dress.

DADDY AND JERRY

2009-04-23T23:11:00.006-04:00

Last Monday we made a quick trip to Twin Falls to keep a promise we made to Jerry and Daddy to have Jerry sealed to his parents. Monday night we got together at MarJean and Darrell's place. Of course we ate too much, but we had a great visit. Teresah and Gene came both for the sealing and to see two of Gene's kids graduate from BYU. It was the first most of us had met Gene and he made a favorable impression. He fits right in and is a great guy.

Dave's wife Peggy helped us make the arrangements and I tracked down all of the appropriate paper work. Daddy and Jerry had hoped to live long enough to have their sealing done in the new Twin Falls temple, but they both died before it was completed. We felt it was appropriate to have it done there anyway. The temple is beautiful and all was as satisfying and moving as we had expected.

Afterward we took a few pictures. I took these first two, then I handed my camera to Gene so I could be in a few shots. Being unfamiliar with my camera, he accidently turned on the video feature.

Easter

2009-04-13T20:56:00.004-04:00

We had a great Easter that started off with David and Peggy coming for the weekend. We had a great time with them. We shopped, ate out, commiserated over the Jazz game, and did a lot of talking and laughing. I hope they come again soon.The Easter egg coloring on Saturday had its share of disasters and spills that left my kitchen chairs, floor, and walls drenched in blue and green dye. Fortunately the moms cleaned it up. Easter Sunday went much better with a great Sacrament meeting, followed by a delicious dinner that everyone pitched in to prepare, then the older grandkids hid eggs (filled with coins instead of candy) for the little ones to find. Later David and Nathan played Esther's new guitar. We were all together and had a great time. Following are a few pictures.

MARCH MADNESS

2009-03-23T15:25:00.002-04:00

As near as I can tell March wasn't a great month for anyone in the family's favorite college basketball team, but there's still been some March madness going around. I got a picture of the hawk that has hung around most of the winter eating the other birds that visited our bird feeders. I think it's a Sharp Shin, but I really don't know a lot about hawks.
Brandon did a little mad dance to show off the bandaids on his tummy collected after one of his adventures.

Calton had trouble deciding whether he wanted cake or a cupcake to celebrate Spencer's birthday. Since he'd already had one cupcake he also wasn't sure whether he'd get away with a second one.

Spencer, sandwiched between Mom and Grandma Sperry was happy to receive the second book in a series he's enthused about.

Spencer blowing out his candles while Alena laughs at his efforts.

Moab

2009-03-12T23:20:00.001-04:00

We went to New Mexico a couple of weeks ago and drove through Moab. Here are some cute pics. Delicate Arch.

Balanced Rock

Brandon turns 5!

2009-02-17T16:11:00.003-05:00

Brandon's birthday cake.

Driving his new car.

He had to open the hood and drop the back gate before he drove off. lol.

Happy boy!

Driving his car.

STARTING A SERIES OF NEW CONTESTS

2009-02-06T21:35:00.002-05:00

On my blog, I'm starting a series of contests. Or maybe it's just a continuing contest to clean out some of the piles of books overflowing my book cases. Go here for the contest details. Tell your friends. I really need to clean house, but I can't bear to throw books away, especially good ones.

2009-01-28T22:14:00.002-05:00

What we've been up to!

2009-01-24T20:02:00.001-05:00

The boys went to a parade downtown Salt Lake City to celebrate the University of Utah's football team's great season - 13-0. Thanks Utes!

We went to Hardware Ranch in early January located in Hyrum, Utah. We went to the ranch with some friends, and it was good to see them. The ranch was not as great as I was hoping. It was good - not great. (The drive up to the ranch was fabulous. Wow! It was a gorgeous drive.) The horse-driven sleds go through the herd of elk and they could be seen from the parking lot. There were many people waiting in line to ride on the sleds, and it was very,very cold. The 10 minute ride was right in the middle of the herd, and the animals are massive and majestic. The sled stopped about four or five times so we could take pictures or just gaze at the animals. The guide spoke a little bit about the elk. I was a little too far in the back to hear when the sled was moving. Brrrr.....we picked a really cold day to go.

The visitors center at the Hardware Ranch.

The Christmas lights at Temple Square. Ooooh! Aaaaah!

We "Walked With The Dinosaurs"

2009-01-15T13:32:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the Anderson's and the Rich's "walked with the dinosaurs". This isn't my video, I found it on youtube.com. I forgot my camera but I knew that I would be able to find a clip on the internet. If you haven't seen this show it is really cool!

And one more picture

2009-01-13T23:10:00.002-05:00

These are Ed and Rachel's boys, MarJean and Darrell's grandsons, on a trip into the everglades. They live in Florida. As a family we've certainly gotten spread all over the map.

Winter Pictures

2009-01-13T17:28:00.006-05:00

I loved the pictures Rob and Sharon posted a few days ago. Click on each one to enlarge it to get the whole effect of those great pictures. Over the past few weeks, I've collected a few pictures to share too. I didn't take any of them. I tried to borrow some from Trent and Sarah's blog (They live in Arizona), but it didn't work, so you'll have to visit their cute blog here. The snowy pictures were sent to me by Ralph's son, Jay (lives north of Seattle), and a couple are MarJean's cute great granddaughters who live here in Utah. There's even one of Ruby Ellen and me when she was visiting here from Alaska. The last picture is of my high school friend, Nedra and her husband Roy, taken while they were on their mission. They returned in July.

Looking Back at 2008

2009-01-11T11:59:00.001-05:00

A few pictures from 2008! Gardens and visitors.
Running, running and more running. (Look for the kids in yellow.)
YAY! Congrats on the Eagle!
Rock on Bob, Rock on....
Oh...followers. Huh, they don't even have their real guitars.
Loved the hamburgers! Yum!

Happy New Year

2009-01-08T14:51:00.002-05:00

Well, it's a new year and so far McKayla isn't enjoying it too much. She had an infected tooth on Christmas morning and ended up being on antibiotics all of Christmas vacation. She also had to go to the dentist to have the tooth removed. Luckily, the tooth fairy gave me an advance and we went shopping after her appointment and she picked up a baseball cap and a journal from High School Musical that were on clearance. I like clearance sells. And with in 15 minutes of arriving home from swimming lessons Tuesday night she began to throw up. She is just now trying to keep a little lunch down. Poor kid. Ya know, she had the flu last Christmas.

Jayden and Connor are helping me take care of her. They bring her toys and make sure she's never too bored. And that it's never too quiet.

Sperrys in 2008

2009-01-02T15:36:00.005-05:00

Calton would like to point out that he is Baby Jaguar. He doesn't care that Jaguars weren't exactly plentiful in Bethleham 2000 years ago. I'm just glad that he is a nice baby jaguar.

Since I never got around to doing a Christmas letter - or a New Years letter - or any holiday whatsoever newsletter. I'll just make a quick post - sans the pictures. Pictures take too long to load and there are pictures of all the kids in Mom's post.

Spencer is doing well in school. He is reading on a 7th grade level (he's in 4th grade). He is enjoying his plethora of K'nex. (I'm not enjoying cleaning them up.) He is quite proud of having finished reading the entire Harry Potter series this year.

Alena is also doing well in school. She is also reading at the top of her class. Although she isn't ready for Harry Potter yet. She enjoys reading the rainbow fairies. She got second place for her art submission in the reflections contest for her school. We don't know about the district level yet.

Calton won't start school this year. He has to wait until next year. He is already starting to read. He can read some sight words and is starting to understand the concept of sounding out words. He loves to play with his Leapster2. One of his favorite games is Go Diego Go (which would explain his preoccupation with Baby Jaguar.)

Jason is enjoying his job (usually) and is learning to play the guitar. Sharon gave us a guitar a few months ago and Jason started playing it until Calton broke a string. I took it in and got the string fixed and got a case (so Calton won't be able to break more) for Jason's birthday.

I'm still working on my writing. I have one middle reader that is in the final editing stages. I also had a short story win the LDSPublishers short story readers choice contest. We got the prize a few days ago. It's a book called Brick of Mormon Stories. The kids like the Lego illustrations.

That's about it. We're excited about 2009. Spencer will hit double digits this year. Alena will be getting baptized and Calton will be 5. It will be an exciting year!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-27T17:30:00.004-05:00

Our grandchildren performed their usual Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve. Alena is Mary and Kayla is the angel (she owns a pair of wings). Brandon is Jospeh and Connor is a shepherd; notice Connor's cool shepherd's crook. Spencer is the wise man. Calton is a little gray kitty. I know, the Bible doesn't mention little gray kitties, but Calton's into being a kitty and wanted nothing to do with being a shepherd or a sheep. And Jayden? Jayden is just Jayden. He didn't want to wear a costume.

Spencer has a really authentic Arab costume, his Uncle Rich brought back from Kuwait a few years ago. He didn't appreciate any wise cracks about wearing a dress.

Brandon planted himself atop a Christmas package to explain the shepherd's story.

On Christmas day we all got a huge Christmas surprise--like about twenty inches of snow. We were glad we had our family Christmas dinner and gift exchange on Christmas Eve and didn't have to go out in the snow that day. Actually Steve had to go out in the snow and Boyd went with him to pick up a prescription for McKayla who woke up way too early with a horrible tootheache and swollen jaw. It will be a trip to the dentist for her Monday morning.

The best part of Christmas was all being together on Christmas Eve. Chris read the Christmas story and we all did a little reflecting on the miracle of our Saviour's birth and our love and appreciation for each other.

Preschool Christmas program with Santa

2008-12-19T18:09:00.003-05:00

Brandon (center in green) participated in his preschool's Christmas concert. Here they're singing Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. The children are four and were really cute and exuberant.

The boys were a little nervous about visiting Santa after the program, but McKayla showed them how it's done.

Brandon bravely sat on Santa's lap, but ne never cracked a smile. I think he figured that sitting on Santa's lap was the only way to get a present.

Conner was fine with talking to the old gent, but Jayden said "No way." He finally sat on Mrs. Claus's lap.

Ramses

2008-12-18T20:59:00.003-05:00

Ramses is excited for his first Christmas. Rob is excited about his new Adjudicator Job, Esther is excited she has only two classes left until she graduates May 2009.

Chris gets his Eagle

2008-12-12T18:33:00.006-05:00

Christopher received his Eagle Scout award Wednesday night along with two other young men from his ward. It was an impressive evening with both of Chris's younger brothers, Nathan and David, receiving scouting advancements and participating in the color guard. I was asked to speak about Chris for a few minutes and it wasn't hard to find good things to say about my oldest grandchild. The guest speaker brought an eagle with him. That's one ferocious looking bird. He has the eagle because it was injured and cannot fly well enough to hunt to feed itself. He does programs for the zoo and educational groups with it. All three young men were highly commended by their scoutmasters, their bishop, and their stake president. Each of the new eagle scouts spoke for a few minutes and I was really proud of how thoughtful and polished Chris's remarks were.

Mary Jo took these pictures; I left my camera sitting on my desk after making a point to charge it earlier that day. Between the low lighting and trying to keep Brandon from chasing his cousins around the room, these didn't turn out too well. Rob took pictures too, but since he had to be in some of the pictures, he didn't get shots of all he would have liked to, but I hope he'll share some of the pictures his took with us.

getting ready for Christmas

2008-12-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

It's the Getting Ready Season

2008-12-04T18:30:00.004-05:00

With the temple closed for cleaning for two weeks, I've been busy getting ready for Christmas, an exercise that sometimes gets a little crazy. Except for a couple of small items, my shopping is done (Thanks Esther and Lezlie for your help), the tree is up, and my house is sort of clean. I bought the stuff today to make fruitcakes and took Boyd's suits to the cleaners, shortened one of my temple dresses, and got one review written. Hopefully I'll get the fruitcakes baked tomorrow, then Saturday will again be devoted to book signings. (1700 South Redwood at 11 and West Jordan at 1) Next week I'll start on cards, then more signings and our ward party. And at some point I've got a ton of wrapping to do. I love Christmas, but sometimes I think I tend to let too much business creep in. I wrote a blog about getting into the Christmas Spirit for another blog I contribute to. You can read it here.

Vada sent me some pictures of her "winter garden." She still has roses blooming and primroses jumping the gun. We got a little snow storm this morning, but it didn't amount to much. I was hoping it would at least clean off the mud the last itty bitty storm plastered all over my windows

In other news, I got new glasses. This picture isn't too great, but it gives you the general idea.

Congratulations Trent on being commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force! What a scholarship!

If any of our extended family would like to post your Christmas letter and a few pictures on this blog send them to me and I'll post them for you. It would be so fun to share our family's year in review.

2008-11-25T22:49:00.002-05:00

Yeah!!!! We are all moved in to our new house!!! We have the fence in the back yard and most of the unpacking done (thanks Dad, Mom and Lezlie). Now we just need everyone to feel better and all will be well.

Shopping Extravaganza

2008-11-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

This blog has nothing to do with politics, the state of the nation, or anything controversial. It doesn't even have anything to do with my cute grandkids or my views on writing. The only bomb shell dropping is the news that there's a fantastic sale going on on E-Bay. Dozens of writers and readers have contributed books, jewelery, editing services, photo sessions, clothes, figurines, and many, many other items to be auctioned off to support the Whitney Awards program. Whitneys you ask? What is that? It's a recognition program designed to award LDS writers for outstanding achievment. Nominations are made by readers. Go here to nominate your favorite LDS novel for an award. You can nominate more than one book, but only nominate a particular book once. It takes five nominations from at least five different people to put an author in the running for an award. Sadly, like everything else the program takes money and this year's sponsors decided to hold an auction to raise funds to run the program. Click on the Whitney icon beside this blog to see what is available and to bid.A complete set of my Bracelet series is one of the offerings, along with a little bracelet featuring the jewels from the series (not real ones of course). That's four books and so far the highest bid is just $30.00.

Chuck and Vada's trip etc.

2008-11-02T18:28:00.005-05:00

Chuck and Vada just returned from another trip to the Oregon coast and brought back some stunning pictures.

We haven't taken any trips lately, but this past week was an awfully busy one with Halloween and both Boyd's and my birthdays. We had a great party at Bob and Esther's house last night. We ate until we were stuffed then while the men watched ball in the office, everyone else played wii in the family room. I forgot to take my camera, but here are a few shots of our ward Halloween carnival and trick or trunk held last Tuesday. By the time Halloween actually rolled around I think the whole novelty of costumes and getting candy had kind of worn off. We had less than a hundred trick or treaters this year.

Mecco and Katie

2008-10-21T13:38:00.003-04:00

MarJean and Darrell's granddaughters Mecco and Katie are spending a lot of time with their grandmother right now while their parents and Grandpa are working long hours to finish up the fall harvest and prepare the ground for spring planting. One of their favorite things to do is go to the nearby park in Buhl to play. Here they're sitting on the tank which is a favorite feature of the park.

Snowing last Saturday

2008-10-19T12:07:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday and Sunday it snowed. This was the first real snow storm for Brandon that he can remember. Yes, it would snow in Maryland but it wasn't the fluffy cool snow we have here in Utah. As soon as we showed him that it was snowing he had to get his coat on and go outside and play. Luma wanted to go out too but she had surgery on her foot and couldn't get the bandage wet (Poor Luma).
Brushing the snow off...
He had fun catching the snow on his tongue even though we told him that the snow was dirty. I guess he thought just the snow on the ground was dirty.

video of Brandon...

Birthday Bash

2008-09-29T19:16:00.004-04:00

Thanks Janice and Jason. The Birthday Bash was a lot of fun. The food was good too. Chris downloaded some of t he pictures taken to my computer, but I couldn't open all of them. These were good though.

Back from D.C.

2008-09-21T19:41:00.004-04:00

We did a little sight=seeing while visiting Rich and Jo. Here are Brandon and Mary Jo on the back porch of Mount Vernon. This is Mary Jo and Brandon standing by the Pentagon memorial bench for the youngest person killed there in that cowardly terrorist attack on 9-11

Boyd took this one with me in it. You can see by the different shade of blocks where the Pentagon was struck. This is Mary Jo, Brandon, and Boyd outside the Mary Sarratt house.

It was a great trip and we had a good time. We brought Brandon back with us and he has talked to mommy and daddy every day by phone. He's gone outside to check on the pumpkins a dozen times each day since he got here. His favorite thing to do inside is swim in Grandma and Papa's big tub.

It's a happy birthday blog

2008-09-17T21:22:00.002-04:00

Everyone is invited to my house Sep 28 for cake and ice cream! We're celebrating Nate, MJ, Calton, and my birthday. If I missed anyone I'm super sorry. I'm wracking my brain and I can't come up with anyone else. I already have some dairy/wheat free italian ice for Dad and Sharon. There will be normal icecream too. I'll bake a cake or buy one. We can watch a movie. We have a new tv. It's not as big as Mom and Dad's but the room is big enough to fit everyone!

Post a reply if you can or can't come. I'll call those of you who don't reply. I know where you live and I know your phone numbers. You can't escape. Wha ha ha ha

September so far......

2008-09-14T12:07:00.005-04:00

Go Utes!

So many books to read, so little time......

lessons

spiders

flowers

more flowers

homework & school

Expensive!

Cross Country Meets

I love September. Okay not the, achoooo! cold, but everything else. Sharon

COLORADO

2008-09-05T19:18:00.006-04:00

Esther, Carmen and I went to Colorado over Labor Day. We went to the Taste of Colorado, Denver Zoo, Rockies Baseball Game, and Nine Inch Nails Concert at Red Rocks. Plus another pic of Ramses and Bob.

Newlyweds Dance

2008-09-02T21:14:00.002-04:00

2008-09-02T12:27:00.002-04:00

I won Farworld from another blog! Ha ha ha!
http://leafingthroughlife.blogspot.com

We're Back

2008-09-02T12:24:00.004-04:00

We had a great time this weekend. We traveled to Corvallis, Montana for Ralph and Jean's wedding. The trip up was long, but a lot of fun. Five couples of us stayed at the same motel and it was neat to be able to visit and eat meals together. We discovered a great little cafe across the street (The Coffee Cup). The food was great and the prices reasonable and they even gave us almost exclusive use of a small room where we could be seated together. We did a lot of wandering around and discovering our old houses and favorite haunts from our childhood on Saturday including a visit to the Daly mansion. The mansion is a 45 room house built by Marcus Daly a wealthy mining, timber, and horse racing millionaire during the late 1800s and early 1900s. His granddaughter, a Hungarian countess, was the last owner of the mansion though she didn't actually live in it and died about fifty years ago. The house now belongs to a trust. As children we dreamed of being allowed inside, so it was especially rewarding for us to finally do so. We had a wiener roast at Doug's place the night before the wedding too, which was a fun opportunity to all be together.

Dave and Peggy, Boyd and I went to Church Sunday morning nice and early so that Peggy could practice the piano for the wedding. It was satisfying to visit the Corvallis Ward's pretty new church. We were there many years ago, the day the Corvallis Branch was organized in fact, and it was neat to see so many members where there was such a small handful of us then. The ward members were very gracious and welcoming to us.

The wedding was held at the Methodist Church and the pastor there was very pleasant and kind and the building was lovely. The ceremony and reception that followed were organized by Ralph and Jean's children and they did a great job. I was highly impressed at the reception by how well Ralph and Jean dance. Doug and his daughters are pretty great too. I even danced for about two seconds with Ralph! lol

After the reception was over Peggy and I went for a walk through several streets in Hamilton until we came to a park with a river walk. It was beautiful, peaceful, and we loved it.

We left Hamilton in a heavy rainstorm which turned to snow as we drove up the mountain.

More pictures are posted on my blog: www.notesfromjenniesdesk.blogspot.com

I goofed

2008-09-01T23:31:00.002-04:00

I posted the pictures and story about Ralph and Jean's wedding on my blog (notes from Jennie's desk instead of on this blog) I'll try to fix it tomorrow, but if I don't get it done just go to my blog. www.notesfromjenniesdesk.blogspot.com

2008-08-31T21:02:00.006-04:00

We went to the Bingham Copper pit\mine yesterday and watched the short movie and walked through the museum. It was really neat.

I don't know how (and am not going to worry about figuring out 'cause it really doesn't matter) to change the order of the picures. This is a picture of Cove Fort in central Utah. We took that tour in late July. It was very interesting and way better than I thought it was going to be!

Back view of the copper mine-nearly to Tooele.

Did you know those dump trucks are as big as a house? And each tire costs $25,000 and each truck has six of them? Wow! It was windy too; Jayden is hiding on my shoulder. We heard a big boom, looked over the side and saw dust billowing up, they had just blown up another area! Then we drove through the canyon and looked at the pit from the back. Cool.

Tilghman Island, Maryland

2008-08-27T10:29:00.002-04:00

Over the weekend we went to Tilghman Island, Maryland. We had a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures of our trip.Brandon and Kaitlyn.
The pier in the backyard.
The sunset.

LAST FLING BEFORE SCHOOL

2008-08-25T16:07:00.003-04:00

School starts in Granite District today so Saturday night Steve and Lezlie had a cookout to wrap up the summer before the kids have to hit the books again. Of course, Spencer and Alena are already back in school and have been for almost a month, but they're in a different school district. Both the Hansen and Anderson clans showed up to sample Steve's cooking on his fancy big grill. It was great! There was corn and salads, homemade ice cream and brownies too. All in all a great party. Here's a few shots I took. My battery died early on so pictures of Chris, David, and Nathan and of Steve cooking didn't turn out.

Grandma's garden

2008-08-19T19:07:00.003-04:00

Heres a picture of Brandon's pumpkin that is growing in Grandma's garden. I'm trying really hard to keep the bugs from eating it. Boyd took this picture of our hibiscus. There's a closeup shot of it on my web page.

Frank Church Wilderness Area

2008-08-19T15:44:00.002-04:00

Vada sent some pictures to go with their excursion to the Frank Church Wilderness area. Mary Jo, that's where we went horseback riding on our trip to Mack's Inn.