2009 Christmas feeling

Our ward had a Community Nativity display
The whole community was invited to bring nativities and to share music.
It turned out lovely and we had a lot of people come. Of course, Jessica and Sarah both did musical numbers.

Also at this event Jake Hope and a friend, Jack Koonce, who is a professional artist, were asked to paint this nativity. Jack coached Jake who did most of the actual work. It was Lisa Pettit's idea! I think it turned out lovely. It will be used for years to come. In the faces are Jessica Hatch and Thomas.

Grandpa cuddling with Felix

Decorations too. It all brings the Christmas feeling:)

A week with the Walks

Our very good friends came to visit us.  This is Avery and Sully we went on a hike with the dogs.

Kelly, Avery and Haley at the visitor center:)

James and Kelly

Haley, Sully, Jessica and Thomas testing out the new gondolas for the ski lift.  We are at the Sun Valley Lodge.

While the adults went into the temple in Twin Falls, we played out in a vacant field nearby.  We had relays and stroller races to bide our time.  You don't need toys when you have a vacant lot to explore:)

Thanks for coming!  We had fun!  Such helpful guests too:)

60th Celebration

My parents have been married for 60 years now!  They were married Sept 7th 1949 in the Manti Temple in Utah.  I am very proud of this:)

We had a celebration dinner!  It was fun and delicious:)  I love my Mom and Dad!

I was also honored this past weekend to attend the baby blessing of my niece Mary's daughter.  They named her Emelia Ruth!  What a sweet family Mary has!

A trip to Utah and down memory lane

This is the Timpanogos Temple in American Fork Utah.  When our 4 oldest children were in primary they participated in the open house for this temple and sang in the primary choir.  Elise and Jess were able to go with me to the dedication.  We sat in the corner of the second floor.  It was right above  where President Hinckley cemented in the corner stone.  It is a favorite temple to us.

We went to visit and walk around the grounds while we were down in Utah for a family reunion

We have Jake, Sarah, Me, Jess in back, Penny holding Felix, Stacey holding Thomas.

Baby Felix on a stroll at the Temple

It's nature

We have lived in Idaho for a year and a half now.  I have seen many animals here that I didn't see in Washington or Arizona.  Last year during winter we saw a mother moose and her baby running down a road.  This is a bull moose.  We have seen these too.

In our yard we have seen this kind of Yellow Tananger.  This is a male.  The males have brighter colors as most male birds do.  They say it is so they can dazzle the females:)  I would have to agree.  This is beautiful!

I have seen many interesting animals on my way to Twin Falls.  I go there every 2 weeks to do my shopping.  This is a Red Tailed Hawk.

On a Saturday we went out to Redfish Lake and we saw a beautiful Steller's Jay.

Believe it or not I saw a lone Grey Wolf.  It was on my way to Twin Falls of course.

Last summer when my brother Ron and family were here visiting we were driving up Bald Mountain and Wendy spotted a Black Bear.  He was hiding behind a tree close to the road and ran away as fast as he could go.

This is a Golden Eagle and they are common here and there is one on the way to Twin.  It's nest is close to the road and sometimes you can see the baby in it.

The Yellow Headed Blackbird live in the marshy area's we have here.  They are quite a bit larger than the Red Winged Blackbirds.

Here is a Red Winged

Elk are very common.  In fact last year one ran into Brent's brand new company car as he was coming home from work late at night.  Now the car says ox cable:)

Yellow Bellied Marmots are all over the place at Shoshone.  They love the lava flow areas where they can hide in the caves.

This is a flicker.  It is a type of Woodpecker.  Jess and I saw this on a bike ride.

Prairie Dogs are everywhere.

I have seen a Weasel by a train bridge. The bridge is on the way to Ketchum.  I saw this on a bike ride too.

This is the most unusual thing I have seen.  It is a Ringtail Cat.  Also called a Miners Cat.  Miners would make friends with them. They liked the mines because they are dark and cozy.  This is a nocturnal animal.  They are very rarely seen in the day time. It ran across the road in front of me when I was driving home one day from Twin.  I didn't even know what one was.  It was so cute.  It looked like a combination of a cat and a fox.  The colors were so distinct. I had to go home and look it up.  I love to see the wild life here.  It's nature:)

Graduation and Lake Alturas

Brent graduated on May 27th 2009

We are proud as can be!  He will be living with Elise and Brett in Washington while he works for the summer then College in the fall.

from the left we have Thomas, Jessica, Travis in back, Brent Jr., Brent III, me, Jake 

We took a little trip out to Lake Alturas.  It was a beautiful day.  

Jake and Thomas.

Jake on the tree, Penny, me and Thomas.

Easter Weekend visitors

We had a full house for Easter!  10 Easter baskets fit perfectly across the table:)

Our special guests were Kristi and Dave then Grandma Hope and Rob. Penny,Brent and I are also in this picture.  We are behind the Sun Valley Lodge.

Happy Easter to all!

Point Defiance Zoo

This is Sarah!  We love to go to Point Defiance Zoo!  It is our favorite place in Tacoma Washington.  We used to live very close to it.

This puts things in perspective Polar Bear wise:)

The Bengal Tiger! Grrrr

The Arctic Fox

These monkeys have lots of personality!

Craters

We decided to go to Craters of the Moon National Park on Saturday.  When we got there we found the roads into the park were still closed.  You could hike in but it was a 7 mile hike and all the caves were closed anyway.  We decided to drive up the highway and take our own hike on the lava.  It was challenging but fun.  We will go back when the park is open so we can climb in the lava tubes.

Arizona memories

We love living in Hailey Id.  It is beautiful and a wonderful community. This is Brent a Penny skiing Dollar Mt.  There is still quite a bit of snow around here. 

Lovely isn't it?  But right about now at the end of winter we remember other warmer areas we have enjoyed:)

Arizona for instance! Interesting vegetation:)

The beautiful drive up to Mt. Lemon

On top of Mt. Lemon

McCormick Train Park in Phoenix!  That's Jake and Penny on the stage coach.

Swimming every day!

The best thing about it was that we had cute little visitors:)  This is my grandson Thomas.

Bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briney sea:)

Brent took the Young Men in our Ward on a Scuba activity sponsored by the Scouts. They had a really fun time! I think they are hooked..... ar ar ar!

My son Brent!