What a Fun Surprise!

My darling neighbors Zach, Abbie, Sam and Millie came over and sang Happy Birthday to me! (With a yummy cheesecake....I might add!)
What a special family we have living right next door! When they moved in a few years ago, our kids had all been gone for a while...and I had forgotten how wonderful it sounded to have kids outside my kitchen window playing with each other! The first time I heard it again...it made me cry! We were so blessed the day they moved in! Thanks so much for making my day so special! I love YOU!

Happy Birthday Terry Anne!

Hey this is Hal... I just wanted to leave a post for my beautiful wife to let her know how much I love her....We started celebrating Terry Anne's Birthday this morning at 12:30 a.m. by singing Happy Birthday to her right after our movie ended. She is the joy of my life and I love her dearly. She is going to be so amazed that I was able to write this on our blog. Terry you are an amazing Wife, Friend, Mother and Grannie. Our children and our grandchildrens lives have been so blessed just to know you. I know mine has! I love that you love me! Where would I be without you? Wishing you a Happy Birthday Lover and many more! Love, Hal

Happy 40th Brett!

Happy 40th Birthday Brett! We love you and we are so glad you belong to us!

Here is Brett with the hearse his dad brought down for the celebration! I was 40 when Brett married Amy... something just doesn't seem right... Am I THAT OLD? I guess I can just remember that Hal is OLDER! YEAHHH!!

Charging the Human Battery

I found this on my desk at work tonight: I loved it! It is an excerpt from "Charging The Human Battery".

"One choice, just one- can change your life forever. Simply put, your life today is what your choices have made it, but with new choices, you can change directions this very moment. For me that idea alone is highly motivational because it offers tremendous hope, regardless of circumstances, for a better tomorrow.
Your life-changing choice may be to switch careers, to leave an abusive relationship to go back to school, to stop drinking, to adopt a child, to start a business, to lose weight, to start a charity... just to name a few. If you have the courage to do so, you could make any one of those choices, or others today. And you would change your life.
Sometimes it's a different kind of choice. It can be to not quit, to not give up in the face of adversity...We've all been there.
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen received 77 rejections for their idea Chicken Soup for the Soul. They had to make a decision each time...should they throw in the towel and say enough is enough? Or should they keep trying to pursue their dreams? You know the rest of the story. the 78th publisher said "Yes" and they went on to sell over 100 million books.
So never forget that you are only one choice away from changing your life. Do you have the courage to make that choice?

38 Years Together!

Hal was the true romantic today. He rousted me out of bed and said we had to be on the road by 9:00. I hurried and got ready...we headed out and started up 800 North. I still wasn't sure where we were heading... I figured we were going to breakfast...but then he turned toward Provo Canyon. I was really puzzled. Then I thought..."Hmmm Midway, Heber?" Then he turned off at Sundance....and headed up the hill. Sundance... Wow! That's really fun! We have never eaten up there and so I was really surprised! What a fun morning. He had a table by the fire all reserved and we had a really yummy breakfast! For my favorite surprise he gave me our "love story" all typed as he remembers it. That in itself was a huge gift! He has been working on his history for years. But I have never read this part. Now it is my favorite part! He remembered everything...things that I didn't! 6 pages single spaced typing! Wow! It was so awesome!
Thanks for making this day so special Hal! You are something else!

The mountains are so beautiful! Wow!

Good Advice for All of Us!

Hal brought home the following quote by Elder Neal A Maxwell. It is timely and great advice for all of us.

"Ultimate hope and daily grumpiness are not reconcilable. It is ungraceful, unjustified, and unbecoming of us as committed Church members to be constantly grumpy or of woeful contenance. Do we have some moments of misery or some down days? Yes! But the promise is that Christ will "lift thee up" (Moroni 9:25). The disciple can note the depressing signs of the times without being depressed. He can be disappointed in people without being offended at life. Thus it is that ultimate hope, if it does not finally dissolve our daily disappointments, at least puts them in perspective."

Fun in St George!

Last week Dallas and Lizzy invited us down to St George for some sun and warm weather! After all the lousy air and snow...we headed out! It was so fun to go where it was warm and as the guys played golf ...the girls went shopping! On Sunday we went to the temple visitors center after church. The new movies are so amazing! We saw the "Stone Cutter" and "President Hinckley". Then we headed out to take pics and we persuaded Matt to reenact his proposal to Angie! He was a good sport and got right down and did it again!

We found the new Pirate Island Pizza and it was a blast!

Sadie was the Pirate Queen!

Lizzy got herself an older man!

Jessica ~ Lizzy ~ Angie... hitting every store they could!

Give that man a quarter... Hal is trying to earn some money playing his harmonica on the street corner!

A Ghost Town- Grafton, Utah

We went on a fun adventure last week. Matt and Dallas wanted to go and talk to a "treasure hunter" near the entrance to Zion's. The guy wasn't there and so we went exploring and ran into this great place! Grafton. It is an old "ghost town" in Southern Utah. It was founded in 1858. The first place we found was the old cemetery. The cemetery was all southern Utah red dirt. The graves were all mounded and some had headstones. In 1862 (4 years after it was founded)the town lost 13 citizens from illness, accidents and being killed by Indians. It is a beautiful cemetery and so peaceful. Some of the buildings have been restored. The old church in the collage was used in the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". It is in the scene where Paul Newman is riding the bike with Catherine Ross. The little houses are really charming and you can just imagine real people living there and having their little families. It was so fun! Hal and I adopted the little house we are standing in front of. It is just the "cottage" I want in the back yard! Such a fun adventure! We loved it!

Then it was off to Colorado City... just wanted to check it out! ... Very interesting. Not somewhere I would want to live or even visit! Fun to see...not to stay! (hee hee)

Happy Birthday Matt!

Matt we love you so much! Happy 33rd! You are awfully special to our family! Thanks for all you do for everyone!

Words to Live By

Paul's funeral was today and it was a perfect way to say goodbye to such a great friend. Patty is remarkable and spoke. She gave us Paul's "last lecture". It was beautiful and so uplifting. I hope that I can always remember the feelings I have had this week. I have been impressed that sometimes we don't live every moment of our lives to the fullest. Sometimes we become too involved with things that don't really matter and forget the things that truly matter. I came across these words today and they hit me right in the heart! Enjoy!
Happy Moments: Praise God
Difficult Moments: Seek God
Quiet Moments: Worship God
Painful Moments: Trust God
Every Moment: Thank God

Paul Liston 1956-2009

Paul Liston, A dear friend of ours passed away this past Monday. He was much too young to leave us! He was a neighbor of ours and became a life long friend. Hal and I were blessed to be able to go and say goodbye to him on Monday. It is a moment I will always remember. He fought long and hard to stay here. Paul lived a wonderful life and will be remembered by all who knew him.

I first met Paul as just someone in our ward and then he called me (many years ago) and asked me to come and meet with him at his wood shop. I went down and he offered me a job as his manager -helping him build a new business. He wanted to call it A&P craft and had some great ideas for it. We got busy and he finished the building and we started a great little wood business. We had the most innovative designs in the county and offered classes and all the products needed to complete the projects. Everywhere you would go you could see an A&P project hanging on a door. Our daughter Amy was one of the designers and years later were were at a craft store and one of Amy's exact designs was being offered after having been made in China! (Who Knew?) I was amazed that Paul had the confidence in me to think that I was capable of doing what he had envisioned. He had a lot of faith in me and showed me that I could do more than I thought I could. I loved working there because I could take Lizzy with me and she was only 5 and in kindergarten. Each of the kids in turn worked there and Paul ended up helping support Matt and Jenny on their missions. I don't think anyone will ever know how many kids he helped to get on their missions financially and otherwise. He was an amazing Scout Master. He loved the boys and they loved him.

Hal and I and Dan and Danielle Seegmiller went on many trips with Paul to trade shows. We had some great adventures! An earthquake was the most memorable...when we were staying on the top floor of the Excalibur Hotel! Yikes!

Paul was really scared of Rats...and so of course we would hide little stuffed rats all over the office to scare him... and it did! He would then stash them in my desk and I was startled on more than one occasion. Then everyone that worked there got into it and it was hilarious!

One of my favorite memories was handing him a box one day to give me a bid on while he was on the phone...he immediately opened it and a HUGE spider came up out of it and landed on his hand (it was made to do that!) He was on an important long distance call and it scared him silly! He threw that box and was up on a chair before I knew it! I was trying to calm him down saying "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...It's not real"..but I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. We had lots of fun at work! I don't think he ever forgave me for that one....but it was hilarious!

Paul found the love of his life in Patti! She is one amazing woman. I can't imagine what he would have done without her. She is his rock and his eternal companion. Thanks Patti for all you did for Paul. The one bright spot in all of this is that I know he will have her forever. They just didn't have enough time here.

So many people have called and emailed in the past few days. Everyone loved Paul. He was just one of those people that comes into your life and changes it for the better forever!

We love you Paul and cherish the memories we have with you! Your time was short but the the time you had you served others and blessed countless lives!

We will love you forever! Terry and Hal

Open what?

What company tells a woman of my age... to open up her computer and start taking parts out to see what is wrong with it? Dell... that's who! I was not happy about this little adventure.

Glactic Greetings!

We just received an interglactic transmission from the Millers who have just completed a mission on the new Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster! They asked Nate to stay on the mission because he ranked 57th in the new pilot program! Great job Dr Miller!

Brett and Amy's new baby!

Brett and Amy just got the cutest puppy ever! They came down to Pl Grove to get him! He is without a doubt the cutest dog I have seen in a long time! I am sure he will be a hit at home! I tried to dognap him...but they caught me! Love you guys!

Who's got my camera?

When I down loaded my pics from going up to the cabin...look what I found! Abby and Trey had a fun old time with my camera! It's so fun when you have a cousin your own age...and one that thinks just like you do! I sure love you two little kids! You made Grandma laugh!

We will miss you!

Levi and Becca headed back to Washington yesterday! We sure loved having you here! It is always better when the WHOLE family is together! We miss you already!

Abby and Audrey!

We are so blessed!

I must admit I am getting a bit tired of driving in the snow... but when I realize that our reservoirs will be plum brimmin' full this year... I feel so grateful! After so many years of LOW water this will be a treat! I am also grateful for a wonderful warm home! I love sitting by the fire and looking out on the snow! Thanks Hal for building me such a beautiful home! I love you!

So Dang Funny!

As we were coming home from Timberlakes last weekend... we thought we were following Becca and Levi... We saw them pulled off the side of the road so we pulled off. I tried to call to see what was wrong and they said they were fine, and almost to Heber. Since we thought we were following Becca.. we started to drive again (too many white cars). Then I realized that it could be Nate and Jen so we turned around to go back and see if they needed help. It was about 5 degrees outside and SO COLD! When we pulled up next to them Jenny yelled "Come and help us!" I couldn't figure out what in the world was wrong because she was laughing! So we ran up to the car and apparently Nate had been trying to get some gum for Oaks. He reached up to turn on the light and hit the button for the sun roof. It opened and about a foot of snow fell in on top of them! Because there was so much snow on the top of the car they were COVERED ! Then when they tried to close the window it would just close and pop right back open! It wouldn't stay closed. Because it was so cold the snow had turned to ice in the tracks of the window almost instantly! They worked for almost an hour to get it to close! When I got to the car... Trey said "Grandma, Why did you leave us?" The little boys were freezing...so I took them in our truck.(All but Preston-he wanted to experience it all!) As soon as they got it to stay closed... the car battery was DEAD! So Levi jumped started them and we were on our way again! I am so grateful for heaters in cars!
Here is the first picture!(I am so disgusting... Quick grab my camera...so I can blog it!)
This first pic is after they had gotten alot of the snow out. It was deep! EVERYWHERE! (Remember there are 2 tiny boys in the back seats crying their hearts out! Luckily it only got Jen and Nate in the front seat!

Here is Jenny...trying to stay warm! Notice the snow in her hair! Becca and Levi came back to help and they got whatever they could use to dig the snow out of the tracks! (Pens and combs)

Here is Nate...digging for all he is worth! Remember...it is 5 degrees or less! They couldn't find their gloves or anything at first!

Then the battery is dead!

Let's jump it... and we are on our way!

Back on the road again! Aren't we grateful for heaters in cars? I think we are really spoiled!

Give Miss Macie a Mike!

Macie kept us all entertained the other night...She got hold of a tiny hourglass from a game...and thought it was a microphone and went to town! She hit the high notes and the low ones! Her vibrato was amazing! She just sang at the top of her lungs and she had all the moves! Who taught her that? She was a riot! Keep it up Miss Macie!

Lindon Legends 1st Year!

Here are the LINDON LEGENDS! We have all been here forever!
I decided it was high time to get us all together and have a visit! We just got two of them home from serving missions!
This group of dear friends have been together since our early married days! We were missing a few others...but we will get them next time! We all moved here as young married couples and raised our families together! We are not all in the same ward anymore...but I still love each of them dearly! Margene on the right is Hal's aunt and Alana's (next to her) mom. Then Diane T and Me and Diane H. Then Diane W and Geri and Danielle and Connie (Geri's daughter). It was so fun to just slow down and visit for a few minutes and get caught up on all of our lives! We figured that between us we have over 100 grandchildren and 20 greats... Good grief! Who knew that Lindon would be such a great place for us to live and love?