Christmas Eve 2013

Aaron and Stefani are flying to Texas on Christmas morning.
We unwrapped gifts on Christmas Eve so that we could be together.


Our evening began with a nice meal created by Stefani.

Later we went to the Christmas tree.

Let the fun begin!:

The family gave me a Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet, HD.
They all chipped in on it!

Joe was just as surprised by a new gas grill that was also a family group effort:

I got some very nice things!:

We are blessed.  Merry Christmas everyone!!

Family Christmas Party (2013)

For me it's not Christmas until the family gets together at Mom and Dads house.
As usual many have no way of attending this, but we always get enough to have fun.



Adults:

Dad told stories about our ancestors.
I am proud of our heritage (both sides):

My brothers:

I have nieces and nephews.
Also great nieces and nephews.
A few of them came.
I also have grand children, but they are out of state.

We had our traditional Chinese food dinner. My favorite is the Orange chicken.
There was also a big chocolate cake.
It was super fun to be with everyone.
Sarah missed because she was home with the flu. Poor girl.
Thank you so much Mom and Dad!

Thanksgiving

First of all; Happy Birthday Denise. I see that it is today.


Sue drove from Arizona to our house, with a car load of kids.
She got here Sunday morning after an overnight stop in St. George.
Her husband Ben got here by plane on Wednesday evening.
Aaron and Stefani came up from Provo.



Thanksgiving was on Thursday.
All of us got up early and participated with just over 5000 people in the Human Race. It's a fund raiser for Utah Food Bank.
It was a walk/run.
Aaron ran the 10k. The rest of us ran or walked the 5k (mostly walked).
Sue tended 4 year old Jacob and 2 year old Claire. They waited for us at the finish line.


Here is Bens  fried turkey:

The gang:

On Friday most of us went to the outdoor ice skating rink at the Gallivan Center.
On Saturday morning Aaron and Stefani ran in another race. This one was up at Liberty Park.

Christmas next!

Can't waste a good day

It's a perfect Saturday with blue sky and comfortable temps.
We heard that on Monday it could rain. On Tuesday it may even snow a little.
It was enough to get us moving again.


We spent about 4 hours out on some easy trails:

These pics were taken at the end of our walk.

When we got home I made some wild rose hip tea. It smells like strawberries.

Corner Canyon

The Corner Canyon area is in Draper. Most of the trails through here are super smooth and easy.
I recommend the South side of the canyon. It's the prettiest. There's lots of shade and several bridges.



Here are some of the bridges:

3 deer:

If you want a very pleasant walk with little effort this is a good place.

Autumn

We  tromped up a nearby hill to see Autumn color.
Our actual house is in very boring suburbs, but a brief 10 minute drive gets us to a trail head:

The best things in life are free.
P.S. Columbus Day? I think I support 'Indigenous Peoples Day'  (Now that I've studied history)

A Family Gathering

My sister, Robin, and her husband, Richard, were in town.
They live in California.

Many of us made it to mom and dads house today.
We are a noisy and sociable group:

Someday we will get everyone together!! But this was pretty good.

Big Applesauce Project

It's Fall canning time again.
Step 1: Pick apples off my dads trees on Saturday.
Step two: Get busy canning on Monday morning.
Step three: Take pictures

There are 31 pint jars, and 2 quart jars:

For lunch I had one apple and one bowl of applesauce.

The Tradition Continues

This is part two of our anniversary stuff (#32).
On Thursday we played around in the mountains by Park City.
Today the weather warmed up, so we went on our traditional anniversary picnic up at Solitude.

The only difference this year was that our picnic table was missing.
We improvised by sitting on a disc golf pad.

Out in the field:

It has been an extremely hot summer, so this sudden Fall weather is okay with me.

Next we parked at Solitude resort and walked to Redman Campground which is very peaceful now that it's closed to campers.
We found a  picnic bench in the sun.
Joe took a long rest:

It was all very simple and low key. That's our style.

Married 32 years!!

We have been married for 32 years. We have three grown children (two married) and four grandchildren (all Susans). Anyway, we are doing our anniversary in two parts. Today we played near Park City.
On Saturday we will do our long standing picnic tradition in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The reason we are waiting is we want warm weather when we sit at that picnic table. Today was cold.


We had lunch at the McDonalds at Kimball Junction.
Then we drove to the hills behind Park City.


We did some walking. The leaves are starting to turn color:

We checked out some old mining buildings.
This one is from 1920:

Behind this gateway, we could see a mining car sitting on the tracks:

In 1908 there were many buildings up here.
Maybe this is one that survived from that era? (I have homework to do)

It must have been used for many years.
This is what I found inside:

Hello:

Joe cut some cattails for me.
They are a pretty good substitute for corn stalks at Halloween time:

Watch for my Saturday 'picnic' post.