Happy Birthday Sarah

Happy Birthday Sarah!!
My girl is 25!!! Oh my!


This morning we had a mom and daughter outing. We went to a animated movie called Frozen. It was cute.
On the way home we grabbed combo meals. I behaved myself and got a veggie burger.

This evening 5 of us met at McGraths Restaurant.
At home we had a pretty Bundt cake made by Stefani  and Aaron.
Then Sarah opened a few gifts.

At the restaurant we sang Happy Birthday to her while she had to wear a big fish (hat) on her head.
She won't let me post it. haha.

East Canyon Snowshoe

Snowshoes! (It's been awhile)
Since we weren't allowed up our canyons today without chains or four wheel drive, we went over to East Canyon.

We parked  near the reservoir.

(Want to take a swim?):

Then we started up the road:

We found this trail, three or four summers ago.


It was very peaceful out there.

Sad bench.
As cold as all of this looks, we try not to get overheated when we snowshoe:

Early in the walk we started getting big fluffy snowflakes: 

The snow came down steadily the whole time we were out.

In the end we were pretty wet.
We have got to stop wearing denim!

At home we enjoyed hot showers, dry clothes and hot tomato soup!

Midway Ice Castle

Sarah and her dad and I met Aaron and Stefani at the Dairy Keen in Heber.
Then we went to see the Ice Castle in Midway.


An outside view of the Castle:

Inside the Castle:

It was like being inside a large and elaborate freezer:

Sarah and I aren't pictured but we were there.
In fact, both of us had very cold feet and escaped the Castle a few minutes before the others.

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.