Deer Hollow

January

2012-01-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

January came and went - almost in a blink. We have had an unusual winter without a lot of snow and warmer than normal weather. I miss my photo of the day challenge. Hardly a day goes by when I don't find myself thinking what a great shot that would be. This morning the early morning light on the Wellsvilles was beautiful. I didn't have the time to drive out closer to them for photos but I went up on the hill by the temple to enjoy a few quiet moments.

The one "storm" this month that delivered snow...and not just rain.

See you next year, January.

A Visit to Delta

2012-01-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

Every once in awhile Mark will cover a shift in the ER at the hospital in Delta. I decided to come along for the ride this time - I had never been to Delta before and I thought it sounded like an adventure and a quiet weekend to get some handwork done and to study for a final I have next week.

He wasn't kidding when he told me there was not much to do there and it was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. But I have to say...I sure do LOVE small towns! LOVE them!!

The sun certainly knows how to put on a show here...my cell phone barely captured the

magnificent sunset tonight. The colors were beautiful and it seemed to last forever!

Last night we enjoyed dinner at a nice little Mexican Restaurant - sorry no photos but the people's interaction

was just as great as our meal was. Everyone knows everyone here and going out is such a social experience. It's so much fun to people watch!

Tonight Mark said we had to go to Rancher's Motel/Cafe. It is pretty much the only sit-down

restaurant in town and it is where everyone in town suggests you go for dinner.

Look at that tiny little moon in the sky.

As we were walking in this van caught our eye. Hey, isn't this the guy that was in the news not too long ago? The one who had like 500 reptiles in his house in West Valley?

Mark is very intrigued with this sign and decides he would like one for each of
our cars...maybe it would help keep the RIF-raf away :)

So we are seated, make our selections from the menu and enjoy looking around the cafe. Don't you just love them? Our waitress brought us some warm rolls from the oven - the kind of rolls that are so soft and fluffy but also quite weighty in your hand...oh the love of homemade bread - and two containers full of homemade jam. "Snap" went the camera. "Uh - are you taking photos of your food?" She asks. I humbly answer yes and she throws her laugh out into the room! "Oh, that's awesome!" she says and starts to tell us about a cruise she just recently took with her mother and how she loves taking pictures of her food, too. Then she goes on to tell us about how she has these little toy animals that look just like her cat and dog. She takes them everywhere with her and loves to include them in her photos when she travels. We really got a kick out of her stories. She got in trouble for posing them in a photo when she was in Greece. The officials told absolutely no toys in any photo. Well I almost got thrown in jail one day myself when I snapped a photo in a fancy deli owned by the mafia in Providence RI - (well not exactly but I did run for my life when I got the look and the guy signaled someone in the back!)

Here comes dinner. Special of the night - Ribs. We got the last two portions and boy did they ever pile on the meat. Best $9.99 dinner we have ever seen....and it included a trip to the salad bar!

Well, before we knew it, this cute lady and our new friend, with her awesome tie-dye shirt, on delivered her two little toy animals to our table....and of course I posed them in a photo.

Meet Blitz and Blue

Yes, she just happened to have them in her purse! We got chatting with her again and asked her about the van out front with the reptile rescue signs on it. Sure enough, the owner was there (sitting at the bar when we walked in) and they had just recently moved to Delta. You can read about it here. She told us several crazy stories that he had shared with her earlier and we looked at each other in disbelief. These small towns are awesome!

And if they have homemade pie on the premises...you can bet we usually save a little room for it!

Cococut Cream Pie - a slice divided for two! Thanks cute server lady! You were a delight!

Are you smiling yet? Don't you just love small towns?

Earlier in the day this little place with the flowers painted on the building caught my eye.

Turns out it is a bakery called, "Eat Dessert First"

We had take out from their earlier in the day - two yummy sandwiches

A Rueben and a French Dip.

I love this window and the paint peeling off the bricks. If you look closely at the chalkboard inside it says:

"Grandma always said, Eat Dessert First!" and there is a cute photo of the owners Grandma!

So right before dinner we snagged up a box of yummy treats and took them over to the hospital so all those cute nurses could eat dessert first. (We also brought home a yummy piece of carrot cake for us ;)

Delta is a sweet little place....out in the middle of nowhere.

Brasil

2012-01-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

 Rio De Janiero

In December, we were able to spend 11 beautiful days with Emily in Brasil.  We had such a wonderful trip with her and really enjoyed seeing a small part of this vast a beautiful country.  We loved being in her town of Matao and meeting her friends, visiting the school and spending time with her host family.  It was perfect! Goodbyes weren't easy but we are so proud of her and amazed at her ability to learn this beautiful language and do some really hard things for a 15 year old. She is remarkable!

The Girl from Ipanema!  There she was sitting on the beach of Ipanema and we were finally with her!! What a great reunion it was and fun meeting place!

The brothers having a little fun ;)

 The humidity was not a friend of my hair...for the entire trip.  

I opted out of a lot of photos...

Wow - was it great to hug this girl!

She has passed me up in a height...just by a bit ;)

Each city has it's own design for sidewalk tile - this was in Rio.

Oh, the Favelas.  What an experience. To see such poverty and so much of it!  They have been trying to clean up this area in preparation of the World Cup and The Olympics.  They have built a big gondola over the many hills of the Favelas in Rio, in hopes that it will give the people an easy way down and out for work, etc.  We were amazed at vastness. Families will build a home and when they can afford it build on top of it - rent out the bottom and then repeat...   We are so very blessed.

Population of Rio de Janeiro: 6,211,000
About 1/3 of city’s population lives in favelas
About 700 favela communities within Rio de Janeiro
Growth rate of Rio is about 2.7% per year
Growth rate of favelas in Rio is about 7.5% per year
75% of favela population is black or mulatto

 You can read more here.

Water is a gift and a curse. You can see the blue containers that sit on the top of the houses - that is their water supply. With the high humidity it is so hard to get things dry and this causes all kinds of problems.

Beautiful flowers and people...everywhere!

This is Patrick, is one of Camber's good friends from Logan High. He is doing a super senior year over there and is living and studying in Rio. We go to meet up with him and spend a night together. He has fallen head over heels in love with Brasil and plans to come back and further his education there.

As you can see from the weather - our time in Rio was very "black and white". We would have loved to have seen the sun on the beach and been able to ride up on top of Sugar Loaf...but it was sweet none the less.

The beautiful rich and fertile soil of the farmlands near Ribeirao Preto. The color of the soil is beautiful and so are the endless veiws of the farmland!

Ribeirão Preto: The 9th largest Municipaltiy in Brasil is about 2 hours or so from Emily's town. We flew there from Rio and the Spilla's picked us up and drove us to their home.

The Spilla's took us the Mall - or The Shopping as they refer to it. McDonald's finds its way around, doesn't it?

They treated us to some really great ice cream - they know how to make amazing ice cream in Brasil! We had our fair share, especially in Matao, The fruity flavors are heavenly!

Oh the fresh juice! Nothing like it!!! Absolutely amazing. Did you know the cashew nut has a fruit? The nut is actually the stem of the fruit and Brasilians think we are silly that we eat the stem? Cazu juice - we thought it was one of the very few fruits we tasted that kinda had to grow on you.

This is the trash pick up in front of nearly every home in Emily's town.

Emily's mom (Mai as they say) was the sweetest host and an amazing cook! Her name is Mariza.

I have already forgotten the name of this globe fruit - it is kind of like a gourd and it looks really neat to see them growing on trees!

Meet the Calegher Family! They have been a second family to Emily. They are the sweetest people you will ever meet.

We had lunch at Day By Day one afternoon. It the establishment the Spilla's have lunch at nearly every single day ;) It is a buffet type restaurant where you weigh your plate. They have freshly BBQ meats similar to what you get at Rodizio's here.

Downtown Matao. Note their tiled sidewalks. And people drive like crazy over there. Especially the motorcyles! I will never forget the crazy guys that would speed down the middle of stalled traffic in Sao Paulo. Crazy!!

The lake just a minutes walk from Emily's home.

Meeting the girls that Emily goes to school with. They are such beautiful girls. We so enjoyed our night with them!

When they have the chance to dress up, they do! They love it! And these girls also love their Brasilian shoes! Emily is becoming a collector.

Sao Paulo Temple. Beautiful. We attended Sacrament Meeting at the church right next door. It was a sweet meeting, you don't have understand the language to feel the spirit. And have I mentioned how sweet and beautiful the people of Brasil are? :D

Another lunch in the outside kitchen.

Emily's Pai (dad) was diagnosed with cancer back in October. That kind of news is never fun to get. They had an impromptu Samba dance and it was really good to see him smiling and happy.

This is Julio. He is Emily's Samba instructor. Mark and I got take visit one of their classes and try it out. He is such a great instructor! So great to meet him.

Emily's church. Everywhere you go so see fences and walls in front of homes and buildings.

Emily's Bishop. He stopped by one day on his lunch break. He apologized for not being shaved and in a tie. Oh my. He was a wonderful person! So laid-back, easy going and young!

SO many more photos and memories.

It was a treat.

Take care, sweet Emily.

Emily and Julio

2012-01-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

Samba Rock - this is the dance they performed in Dec. The real performance is suppose to surface on you tube...but until then they showed us their dance after class one night. Emily will growl at me for sharing this, as it was not a perfect performance...but we LOVED watching them and wow, there are some pretty fancy moves. Imagine them all dressed up and Em in heels. :)

Welcome Little Owen James

2012-01-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

Heaven sent...to a sweet little family!

Owen James Christensen

Weighing in at 8 lbs

January 12, 2012

He is such a handsome little guy. We love everything about him. He is just

perfect. Molly is such a sweet big sister. She calls him Wunna...a cute twist on his

his name. We are so happy everything is going well for baby and mommy.

We got to take Molly home for a couple of nights so dad and mom could

have some quiet time with baby and so she could recover a few more days from her cold.
She was a delight and is so excited to have her little brother here. What a magical & tiring but oh so sweet time for Lindsey and Jake.

xoxo

"O" for Owen...

Molly Turns 2

2012-01-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

Molly, 

We had such a great time celebrating with you! You are at such a fun age and such a delight to be with!

We hope this year will be perfect for you.   It is such a blessing to watch you grow up. We love your little crossed fingers - "I'm 2"  :) You are adorable!

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Papa and Nana

A New Year!

2012-01-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

We had one more week of fun family time before Brady, Danielle, Liam and Elsie had to go back home. We made the most of every day. We always try to get some photos with the great grand parents and you would think it would be easier as the kids get bigger...not so much!

Between the camera/photographer not focusing and the wiggling kiddos it makes for a pretty comical time! But we won't give up on the photo sessions. They are pretty priceless no matter the outcome.

Visiting our neighbors...

Liam you were too fond of the chickens :) They "freaked you out" but you both loved the goats very
much! You saved apple slices to share with them. I think they were pleased.

I'll never have too many hugs or snuggle time with these cute kids!

One night we enjoyed a quiet dinner with the adults

at Element's...but missed Camber who had to work.

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes for breakfast with that pure maple syrup..and yes onemorning we

even had cupcakes for breakfast! It's something you can get away with at Papa and Nana's!

For our New Years Eve Dinner we had Raclette. We LOVE everything about this Swiss meal.

(Ok...the cheese is stinky, VERY stinky but very delicious! How does that work?

And for dessert....Chocolate Fondue!

It was a huge hit with the kids! They loved everything about it.

Here's to bright New Year!

Happy 2012!

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T22:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was just as it should be...full of surprises and wonder in little children's eyes. We had our traditional Egg-McMuffin Breakfast and enjoyed watching the kids play with their toys. It is always extra special when Christmas falls on a Sunday. Mark & I sang with the choir in our Christmas Program. Grandpa and Grandma Firth came up in the afternoon and Jake, Lindsey and Molly came too. We had a wonderful Christmas Dinner of Prime Rib. We had a nice skype chat with Emily and savored the day and evening.

Christmas Morning 2011

Christmas Dinner
Lindsey snapped the photo...Liam and Molly are too busy playing to eat :)

The kids really played very cute together. It was so fun to watch them.

Trying to take a picture of the three of them was another story.

Hey guys...lets all stand together by the Christmas tree for a picture!

This is what we got...

There might be one that worked out ok.

Merry Christmas everyone!

A Blink and it Was Over!

2011-12-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

One of these days our photos will be collected, sorted and neatly organized into posts that will document our last few weeks. In the meantime....there are business deadlines and life to deal with.

baby steps...

The first order of business was to pick out a Christmas tree and string some popcorn!

Liam picked out this nice plumb tree and we got straight to work stringing.

Everyone had their own pattern with the cranberries and corn...and surprisingly no one

poked them self with a needle. We have been stringing popcorn for our tree for many many years.

We did the same in the family I grew up in. A fun tradition!

Liam worked hard until his string was as tall as he was!

Who doesn't love snuggling up in the light of the tree and

sipping on hot chocolate and reading Christmas stories?

******

Dec 23rd was Lindsey's birthday! She has been on bed rest for the past few weeks hoping to give

little brother a few more weeks to get healthy and strong. We borrowed a wheelchair from Dad's

clinic and checked in to a hotel downtown in Salt Lake City. We had a great time seeing the lights

on Temple Square, eating great food and celebrating! It was bitter cold out but no one seemed

to mind too much as we stayed bundled up and enjoyed each others company.

Yes...we actually did prepare a scrumptious Lobster Dinner in our hotel room! We had a full kitchen and it worked out pretty well :) We brought a couple of soups from home (Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Mushroom) along with some Crumb Brother's Bread! What a birthday feast!

We bundled up and headed to Temple Square. We will forever remember the two little girls be-bopping down the blocks of Salt Lake City in their adorable little pink coats and winter beanies.

Magic in the air...lots of people to watch and the energy only found in cities. We listened to instrumental quartets playing on the streets and watched couples and young families go for horse and buggy rides. We warmed up by the fireplace with Hot Fudge Brownies! The perfect ending to sweet day. Happy Birthday, Lindsey - we LOVE you!

Stories...songs and a soak in the tub. We were ready to hit the hay!

In the morning we enjoyed waffles downstairs and packed up for home.

Christmas Eve

A soak in the hot tub...watching for Santa's sleigh

Christmas Dinner is traditionally some kind of seafood. This year Camber suggested Fish Tacos.

They were very tasty! For dessert we added a Brazilian flair in honor of Em...

Peanut Tart. We brought some of the Brazilian cookies home and I did my best to

re-produce Marisa's recipe. It turned out really nice.

Lemon Mousse and Peanut Tart

The excitement is contagious! We read The Night Before Christmas - by Robert Sabuda

a beautiful pop up books that captivates everyone.

Then on to the Nativity Story
Luke 2

Elsie was the sweetest little Mary with her baby Jesus doll.

Brady and Dani had the kids open PJ's and Christmas ornaments.
We loved having Camber home! We had a sweet night together.
(We were certainly missing everyone else in our family!)

Dani played a Christmas song for us on her violin and helped
Liam and Elsie set out a plate of cookies for Santa.

Now wait a minute...Liam promised Santa four
cookies since he had asked for four things!
Guess we will have to replace the one Papa couldn't resist!
(love the carrot snacks for the reindeer :)

Samba Time...And Shoes :)

2011-12-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Emily was invited to perform with her Samba instructor at an event or show.

Tonight is the night and she will be dancing in these cute shoes.

Hopefully there will be photos coming soon of the dancing couple.

She said she feels great about the steps, but is feeling very much like a

"whitey" as she calls herself. She doesn't know how she can possible shake it

like all those Brazilian girls who grew up dancing the Samba.

We think she has it in her!

Good luck, Em!

Mark and I hope to drop into one of her classes for a quick lesson!

Hee Hee! Now that will be something to laugh about!!

She is falling in love with all the pretty Brazilian shoes.....

Uh oh.

Those smiles say it all! Looks like it was successful!
We are hoping for a an encore when we see her very soon!!

***Thank you Luh, for the photos!!***

So Thankful

2011-11-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

Preparations have been underway for several days.

We have family and friends coming over for Thanksgiving dinner :)

A short drive to the local market and soon the mini is overflowing

with good things to eat. Let the feasting begin. We are so blessed.

We enjoyed a houseful of dear family and friends this year. We had three delicious turkeys to choose from and scrumptious sides of all of our favorites. Missing those loved ones who were far away.

Here are a few photos that tell our Thanksgiving story. I was so busy preparing and enjoying that camera didn't get picked up too much. We had 30+ for dinner and most everyone stayed at least one night. We had the best time playing Pictionary Thanksgiving evening. We also had some great "funniest home videos" to share. We all not only had very healthy helpings of delicious food - but our share of laughter as well. Sweet memories to tuck away. The last holiday for awhile with our nephew, Tyler who leaves shortly for his mission in San Antonio. We were truly blessed.

It was so wonderful to have two ovens this year!!

Cute nut cups...remembering our Pilgrim Ancestors, the Whites.

zzzzzzz right where Grandpa and Grandma should be after a lovely meal with family.

And the pies...

Coconut Cream, Pumpkin, Apple, Berry,

Banana, Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake and Lemon Meringue

We deemed Grandma Joan's Berry Pie as the winner.

There was only one small sliver left.

Hey...who got that last piece??

And now our house is very quiet.

We certainly enjoyed having it full to the brim!

The studio was well broken in.

Hope you can come visit soon!!

A Bowl Full of Jelly

2011-11-20T21:52:00.000-08:00

Ahhh...Grape Jelly. I love it and have never made it...until this week!

Mark picked some yummy concord grapes at his parents house last week.

If only you could scratch and sniff the amazing aroma wafting around our house.

mmmmmmmm

eleven eleven eleven

2011-11-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Lunch. We love trying new little eateries. Love it!

If you are ever in the neighborhood, give Penny Ann's a try!

The Reuben was delish. We shared the sandwich with a side salad so we

would have some room for PIE!

This is Cindy. She is from New York and has slowly coaxed all of her siblings out west. The cafe is named after her sister Penny. It's a family endeavor. The brothers are in the kitchen and her sister-in-law bakes all of the pies. We tried the Banana Cream and a Heavenly Peppermint-fluffy delight with a sweet layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom. Oh my.

It's on Main Street about 1800 South in SLC. It's hard to see as it is adjacent to a big apartment complex. We wondered if it was once a barber shop :) Anyway - Cindy was a delight and we will be back for seconds!!

That was a sweet beginning to our 11.11.11 get-away. We sure had a nice time. Funny that we even need to get away...there are really just the two of us now. But there is something about a new perspective and freshness when you can escape. Even if it is just a few hours south. We chose to spend our weekend celebrating our quirky little love of 11 11 at Sundance. We were falling in love those many years ago when the clock either said 11:11 or 1:11. And we took our fair share of drives and hikes up Provo Canyon. It was just the perfect place. Low key, memory provoking and not too far away.

On our way down we stopped at IKEA for cabinets. We are finally getting the kitchenette up and going in the studio. So exciting!! The little cabinets are awesome! Hopefully we will have some photos later this week. I will tell you that they are that spunky red color we love! Hoping to have it all finished for Thanksgiving.

We stopped in at a Brick Oven Take out. Now that is a place full of crazy fun memories for us! We loved hanging out there with friends back in our dating days. So much fun and laughter...it was the perfect dinner to tote up to our little cottage in the woods.

We woke up and drove up to the Draper Temple.

Quite simple on the outside, but inside it is so beautiful!

The gorgeous dark wood and painted murals.

We had a sweet morning there.

Our little cottage in the woods...We stayed in the north side. Really sweet little place.

Below our simple and tasty lunch.

We opened a fun package form our cute family in Maryland! How thoughful were they?

Goodies from Trader Joes :)

We loved it! Especially the note and art from Liam.

Loved the quilt on our bed! It was made from beautiful crushed velvet. Really pretty and cozy.

The place was filled with antiques! The toilet was awesome! Blogging about a toilet??

I thought the old script inside was very cool. No idea how old it was but we

had never seen nor used one this old.

What a blessing plumbing like this must have been back in the day!

We enjoyed walking around the grounds of Sundance...very pretty. We so love being in the mountains.

As you can see, we carried around our Portuguese Phrases books. We are trying to have some

understanding of very new language before our big trip.

Always thinking of three special little ones and so thrilled to be
getting a tiny one new so very soon!

We enjoyed a dinner by the fireplace at the Foundry Grill and movie in Redford's screening room.

Conspiracy. If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it! We learned things (well, especially me!)

we didn't realize about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Sad story, but very interesting history.

And before you knew it, our sweet get away was over.

11 11 11

Hope you all had a great one!

Birthdays

2011-11-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

 Happy Happy Birthday, Janell.  

Hope this year will find sweet things for you.

We miss you and love you so very much!

Ahh...where are the years going?

We celebrated a day early with Camber

19...wow!

We had lunch at California Pizza -

(Jake left before we took the photo)

then some shopping at the Gateway.

Hope you will have sweet year, too. Hugs!

and Happy Halloween, Em!

We had a quiet holiday this year without you!

Looks like Brazil is treating you well xo

Bunk Beds Completed :)

2011-10-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Papa finished the bunk beds and they are ready for guests.

Now Nana needs to get busy and make some cozy quilts to sleep under.

(excuse the clutter...we are still finding homes for everything)

It's that time of year! Homemade Spudnuts!

Camber came up for the weekend with an agenda:

Make:

Homemade Chili

Spdunuts

Art for my walls!

She was able to check it all off her list.

We got busy up in the studio and Dad took an old canvas from the thrift shop that had

an acrylic painting of trees and a barn and gave it a modern twist.

Davis, Camber & I got busy collaging two canvas pieces

She wanted to mod podge the old papers down and then white wash

them for a cool textured background.

Dad completes his painting and we come up with a cool idea of

writing favorite sayings around and in the shapes...it will be art in progress!

We found on old piece of styrofoam so we cut it up and

made a stamp for her trees.

She finished it off with some color and glued down brightly

colored leaves made from wool. Great work and lots of fun!!

Puppies...Pizza and Cousins

2011-10-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

That's what we found at the Jacklin house on our way home from St. George!

The first order of business was to check in on the chickens and say hello to our friends the horses.

The pizza was delicious! Only best out of this kitchen!
We enjoyed a sweet skype session with Miss Em and shared a lot of
good laughs as we enjoyed her latest update.
Peach dessert came next and then off we went to play with the puppies!

Living life in the moment...

nothing is much sweeter than this.

Century #4

2011-10-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? That's not too shabby for a man who has begun his 5th decade! This time we drove down to red rock of southern Utah. Beautiful! We graciously accepted an invitation to stay in a lovely condo of some sweet friends and really enjoyed our little getaway.

The condo was beautiful and the weather was perfect!

Walk through the courtyard and into the house...where does little goldilocks end up?

That's right...in Papa's bed! And she was quite pleased with herself.

This is where the baby bear really slept....well when she wasn't snuggling

wih her Papa and Nana, that is.

Ballgames, card games and watching Molly kept us all pretty entertained.

A giant tub just perfect for a bubble bath!

One night the guys cooked us a delicious dinner that we enjoyed out on the patio with a cozy fire.

Playing on the Red Rock

Visiting the temple grounds

And the ride!
(Mark will add his thoughts here)

And when it was all over they were still smiling!!
And resting on the bench was a great thing!

Meanwhile Molly was pitter pattering through the fountain.

The clothes came off...

And before long she had lured Papa and Daddy in.
What a great way to cool down.

Last morning...Steak and Eggs
and we were on the road again....

Hillbilly Harvest Hoedown

2011-10-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

Ya'll come out now! Put on yer finest duds and belly up to the table.

Wer havin us a chili cook off and some mighty fine entertainment!

Our chili judges

Some deeelishus deezzert...fresh off the road!

Line dancin...

Funniest jokes you ever heard from the lil ones!

Kenny and Dolly even made a special appearance!

All sorts of lovely folks showed up!

It was real nice.

Makes Me Smile

2011-10-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

I have watched this so many times...I like it as background noise :) I love hearing all the chatter before school is starting and I love hearing Luh speak. I think she has the cutest accent. And of course I love seeing Em...who does NOT like being filmed or photographed. She will not be very happy with me because I posted this, but until I get her latest update I think I will keep this right here :)

Luh is one of the few who speak English in her school. She has been very sweet to Em.

We are looking forward to meeting all of these wonderful people!

Wonderment

2011-10-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

"...something that produces wonder; a marvel" (Websters)

Tonight I was lucky enough to attend The Cache Valley Watercolor Meeting. It was just what I needed. A fresh look at creating and inspiration.

Lester B. Lee was our quest artitst. He talked about creating and the process we go through to create. He reminded us how important the sketch is. It happens to be his favorite part of the painting. It made me think about planning and making sketches for our paintings or projects. It's all about working the little kinks out and having the proper contrast. How much sketching am I doing...planning, pondering and preparing? It's a great foundation for so much!

He then treated us to a demo. In less than 40 minutes he had gone from sketch to finished painting.

Wonderment! Very inspiring.

As I walked out of the library to the car, the glow of
the moon had my complete attention!

I was drawn to the temple.

It was so captivating, I didn't want to leave.

Wonderment...all around us.

(Cell phones sure do come in handy!)

Car Roof Tops...

2011-10-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Car roof tops aren't the best place to place items. Ninety-something% of the time you will leave the item there and drive off. Six weeks ago Davis set his cell phone on the roof of the mini. I had no idea it was there and 20 minutes later I received a phone call at JoAnn's Fabric store...."Mom, I left my phone..." I couldn't believe it was still sitting there. Last week Mark and I left for Salt Lake with my Tablet and cord sitting on the roof of the mini. We were a mile down the road when we heard this whipping noise - it was the cord flapping on the window! Tablet safe and sound. However - I left it at Lindsey's but that would be another story. Once I left my wallet sitting on the back of the bumper on the suburban. After frantic honking and pointing of a passerby driver we pulled over on the freeway to see what the problem was. There was my wallet. We were almost to Salt Lake! This morning, Camber was rushing off to class. She has her hands full with breakfast muffins and her backpack. She places her iphone on the top of the car while she loads things up. BAD idea. As she is humming down Bangerter Highway, a three lane highway, mind you...she watches in her rear view mirror as her phone flies off the roof of the car and explodes behind her. Poor Camber. She has not had the best of luck the last little while. From a bad case of hives to jaw surgery life has been a bit smuggy, if that's a word?? She messaged me on skype and I told her I was going to pray for her and her phone and hopefully something would work out. Sadly, she didn't have insurance on the phone. I begin the grim search of a refurbished phone online...it doesn't look too hopeful. Would you really dare buy one off of ebay??? I don't think I would. Before long I get a message asking me to wish her luck - class was over and she was going back to look, just in case. We believe in miracles. Big and small. We believe in answers to prayers.

The exploding she saw must have been the cover for her phone flying off. This is what she found lying quietly on the dotted white line down the middle of the three lane highway. Well over an hour later.

Can you believe it? I can. Because because miracle happens. Big and small.

The back was totally shattered but the phone was still on and working! The screen on the front doesn't have a scratch on it. She also found the cover and will now look for some place that will do repair work. She counts her blessings and heads off to her first day of work...at Jimmy Johns.

At least for the time being.

BTW...all you fun people out there who visit our blog....

Drop us a comment....our box has been very quiet...we love hearing from you!

And remember...don't place any item on the roof or the bumper of vehicle.

Ever.

Not worth the risk.

Brighton in the Fall

2011-09-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our mission:

To find this lake.

(Photo from Camber 6 weeks earlier)

So on a lovely September morning our cute friends Dave and Stacey picked us up in their oh so cool hippie van and we were off on an adventure.

The drive was absolutley beautiful...and then the van started sending off beeps and flashing her lights. Over heated. Must pull over.

So we took a stroll and came upon a cave...with bad air...not safe to enter...people had lost their lives there? Why wasn't it closed off? Creepy.

Soon she was all cooled down and we were off once again!

The hike was just glorious. The day couldn't have been more beautiful...

except for one small detail. We never saw the lake! It had shriveld up to a swampy puddle.

Ah...maybe next year we can come earlier in the year.

We still enjoyed ourselves and had a lovely picinic lunch together. The boys reminiced about last ski season and how good it would be to be back again. And it's coming...the snow will soon be flying.

The boys reminiced about last ski season and how good it would be to be back again.

And it's coming...the snow will soon be flying.

Thank you Autumn...and beautiful mountains of Brighton.

We loved our time spent with you.

Camber Gets Another Surgery...

2011-09-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

September 22, 2011 Camber had surgery to repair a broken jaw...yep, one more surgery to add to her list. It was a freak accident. Ten days earlier she went to reach for the remote the same time her roomate stood up and her knee caught Camber under her chin and BAM. She said it hurt like crazy but she never thought "oh my...I think that just broke my jaw!" The next day she called to say that she had the worst toothache she has ever had....long story short: The next week she came up to see the dentist and he told her it wasn't her tooth but a her jaw. Both sides of the bottom jaw fractured at the back. The horrible pain was because the fracture was right on the nerve of her tooth. They had to put a plate in with 4 screws on the right side. It will stay unless she is bothered by it. She was a trooper once again. She had an amazing amount of swelling, poor thing. She missed 4 days of school but is now back at it and happily eating food again! She ain't no sissy! She, like all of our children, teaches us many things. She is one positive chick!

Thinking of Em and Sweet Honey!

2011-09-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

This photo is from Emily's ipod...I couldn't up load without making it into a collage.

These two sisters are a riot and they are so happy when they get to chat with each other.

So for the honey harvest this year....

Not a huge harvest this year. We calculate we have about 20 gallons of golden, sweet honey. I think we had over 40 last year. But, that meant a little less work on the spinning day and that was great with us! A few photos to document the day and a funny story to boot!

We use a hot knife to cut the wax cappings off the comb.

Into the spinner they go. Nine frames at a time.

It takes about 20-25 minutes to spin a batch.

And we use to do this all by a hand crank!! Now we can flip a switch!

It's always fun to open up that latch and watch the first flow of the golden honey begin!

When you breath in that amazing smell of the beeswax and sweet honey

...it is heavenly!

Lots of hand washing in between licks! We promise!!

Not a drop of the bee's hard work is wasted. Mark built this little sun oven to

heat the wax cappings. The honey drains to a container below and the wax with be filtered and used for great things, like Jiggy Sticks!

This is the pan that catches the honey the wax...the goop stays above. The wax lifts off the honey easily. We reclaimed over a gallon of honey from the capping wax! I think it is the tastiest of all.

Within 24 short hours we have beautiful, raw honey ready to fill our shelves and tummy's!

Just about forgot the funny story!

Mark had propped open the door from the garage to the house so we could get in and out without the sticky handle mess....AND because this process smells so great that he wanted the whole house to breath it in. Well, I had left a window open up in the studio and those busy little girls find that honey scent almost instantly! I went upstairs to clean up a mess and my studio was swarming with hungry little bees!! It took me oven an hour to get them all scooted out! One by one they were making their way down into the garage. We were wondering where they coming from! Good news is that no one was harmed or stung in the process!

For our harvest dinner we enjoyed almond encrusted trout, veggies au gratin,
mashed sweet potatoes and homemade corn bread with fresh honey!

Wishing you were with us.

Gettysburg/DC Trip

2011-09-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

We sure had a great visit with Brady and Dani and those two adorable children of theirs!! Leisa was lucky enough to celebrate her big 50 and it was sweet! This post will sumarize our trip.

It's a little on the long side...

Liam had helped his mom make a delicious cake and it was on the table waiting for us when we got to their home! It was complete with trick candles and a rockin Nana playmobile figure ;)

The next day the birthday celebration began with a delicious breakfast of crepes!

Mark and Brady picked up Mark's rental bike and we were off to Gettysburg for their much anticipated century ride! That evening we celebrated Nana's birthday with a scrumptious birthday dinner at The Dobbin House Tavern. The food was wonderful and we really enjoyed our time together. They presented her with a stack of wonderful birthday wishes from family and friends.

ooohh...those crab cakes were amazing!

Liam and his chicken bones...isn't he the cutest little four year old? He keeps us smiling.

The Pecan Pie was the best we have ever tasted!

A little time for splashing in the hotel pool and we were ready to hit the hay.

The Ride

Mark and Brady loved every minute of the Gettysburgh Civil War Century ride. After days of torential rain - the clouds parted and the day could not have been more perfect!

tuning up the bikes

all smiles and they are off...across the filed of dreams, as Mark put it :)

The starting point.

The Fair

Meanwhile, Nana, Dani and the kids headed off to York to visit a Pewtar Outlet and and the York County Fair - the oldest Fair in the US. We had a wonderful day!

There were cookies to decorate and gobble up...

The cotton candy was on the top of Liam's wish list.

The petting zoo was wonderful and we played with so many cute animals.

Elsie is smitten with horses.

Up close they are little big big for her :)

The animals were beautiful...the barns smelled of sweet hay.

Little by little the cotton candy bag shrunk down...

As you can see by the look on Liam's face...the dragon roller coaster was not his cup of tea!

The Nemo ride was a much better fit!

and back on the road....

Mark's thoughts:

We began the ride in a sweet little country town and then began the day of climbing. Most of the climbs were along mountain passes lined with trees. We rode in the canopy of trees most of the day except when we would break out into pastoral areas of green rolling hills and farmland. The road pavement was smooth as taffy the whole day. We passed civil war monuments frequently and from the comfort of 21st century bikes considered what it would have been like to march with our muskets in the sun, dust and humidity to the next bloody battlefield. Those thoughts made the ardorous task of climbing 6900 feet emotionally easy. Brady was amazing. He had not ridden much this summer. At one point he said, refering to riding farther than he had all year, "well Sam Gamgee has just left the Shire".

We rode with 1600 other riders, but in actuality rode and hit the rest stops with about 150 others that we leap frogged all day long. Including one grey-haired woman on a mountain bike that kept catching up with us. Her bike was decked out with bell and all. The mantra of the day soon became "whatever we do today we are beating her to the finish".

Riding into Gettysburg was a highlight. We rode into the park and past Confederate Lane, the peach orchard, the wheat field and to the base of Little Roundtop. We then exited the park and circled the back side of Little Roundtop and headed for home. The last 25 miles was rolling hills past rivers, over covered bridges and through beautiful farm land. We rode fast through that section passing many other riders and put a lot of distance between us and the road bike woman.

Seeing our family at the finish made a great day fantastic.

Waiting for our guys...

A few weeks ago, Liam decided Elsie's bangs were way too long and he took matters into his own hands. Not a pretty thing for mom to find. Thankfully he left her adorable curls alone. Hair will grow and she is still the most adorable little girl you will meet. Just as sweet as they come!

We played at the playground until we saw them come flying around the corner! They made it!!

A happy reunion and stories to share and the most delicious ice cream for eveyone!!

Mount Vernon

The fun continued. Long nights chatting, the cat mimicking game on Nana's tablet and a lots of great food! On sunday we drove out to Mount Vernon and enjoyed a beautiful fall day visiting the grounds. Lucky for us there was a reinactment going on commemorating the battle of York.

We really enjoyed the beauty and serenity felt there. It was nice to be reminded our rich history and the amazing people who formed our country. On Monday we were winding down and had to pack our bags to come home. We made a stop at the new Martin Luther King Memorial. What an inspiring place. We discussed our thoughts and made claim to our favorite quotes engraaved along the giant wall. There is so much we can learn from each other. So very much.

A quick visit to the Capital and it's almost time to catch our flight home.

We have loved every minute of this trip!

Thanks for the special birthday kids!

Have fun with the rest of the chocolate milk straws! We love you...See ya later!

Lost

2011-09-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Lost: One camera card uploader...can't upload photos without it :( Hoping we find it soon. We recently returned from a wonderful little trip to Washington DC/Gettysburg area. Lots to show and share...one of these days. In the mean time I am busy preparing the studio for Black Sheep Woolens Autumn Open House! Fun stuff! You can check out details here ...minus the pics I took but can't upload...

Anyway. Hope eveyone is enjoying this beautiful autumn. We certainly are!!

Spinning the liquid gold tomorrow :)

A message from Emily...
She has decided to make her blog private.
If you would like to have an invite please send her an email:
emily.firth67@gmail.com
or
leave your email address in a comment on our blog and we'll get them to her.
Thanks...and she says a new post will be coming very soon!

She said :

"The redhead's in my class, the other girl is her friend, and the boy is the French

exchange student that goes to school with the other girl."

hmmm...wonder what they are eating...

Guess we will all stay tuned to see what she has been up to!

She is doing pretty darn good. She is riding the waves of home-sickness and learning how to be one with the Brazilian culture. Day by day she understands more of the language.

We are proud of her courage.

What Was I Thinking?

2011-08-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hi. It's not such great idea to drive off with your garage open when your cute beekeeping husband just harvested 55 frames of honey the night before. It makes for unloading your groceries a little tricky. Just sayin.

So the story goes on.... over 2 hours later....2 nasty bee stings later...he had once again moved each of the 55 frames and dusted off all the bees and had them tucked away safely. It took a lot of smoking and leaf blowing magic to get all those bees out of our garage and back where they belonged. In the short time they were out, the bees managed to rob back three full frames that were uncapped. They had those frames cleaned right up with not a drop left behind. Those were some busy bees.

I decided I better get busy and make some kind of redeeming dinner. I had a roasted chicken and I made this amazing Tangy Pear and Bleu Cheese Salad found here (it has five stars for reason..YUM!) and some delicious Caprese topped bread. It was a lovely meal and Mark was a rock star. No complaints about the bike ride he missed because of my dumb mistake. I love him.

You can see the red above his right eye...the next morning it looked like this:

Molly's Weekend With Papa and Nana

2011-08-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago...where does the time go?? Molly got to spend the weekend with Papa and Nana while her mommy and daddy got to have some quiet time in Midway. We loved every minute of it!
We made a visit to our little zoo and were entertained by the silly monkeys and all the neat birds.

We were so surprised that you wanted to go down the giant slide all by yourself!

Again and again!

Of course Papa followed you up the ladder each time.

You are a joy to watch. The world is a fascinating place to discover.

One of your favorite things to do when you visit our house is go on

a walk to see Joni's goats and chickens.

The chickens were no where to be found.

We were getting ready to go back home and what did you see?

The Chickens!! Yea!!

Chicken talk is the best kind of chatter.

You make the cutest little pucker face and then smack your lips at them.

They hear you and come to see what's up.

You had to do some coaxing to get them to come out of their favorite hiding place!

But soon they were munching on the apples you fed them.

We got down an old tea set that was your mommy's and had a nice little tea party with Bubba.

Thanks for the great weekend, Molly! Come back soon so we can get that crazy hair on the trampoline and laugh with you until our faces hurt. xoxo

Time for A Long Bike Ride

2011-08-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Early start to take advantage of the cooler temps. We wished them luck as they rode off.

We drove over to Mendon to meet them at their lunch break. It was a hot day to be riding but everyone was in good spirits. They were telling us about sore toe nails and crazy cramping muscles...

but the Cache Valley Century is a beautiful ride.

With the temperature in the upper 90's it was nice to have some cloud cover.

Way to go biker guys!!

Friends in Real Life

2011-08-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

Up until this week we were only facebook friends with our adorable niece, Felicity. She lives all the way across the giant pond in England. We were so very happy to finally meet her and spend a little time with her family. She won our hearts over in a matter of seconds. We will miss you three...take care!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Elements and caught up on each others lives.

Felicity approved and enjoyed the walk by the river.

Felicity. A One year old, bright little doll who is dearly loved.

Em Makes the News!

2011-08-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

We love any photo or tidbit of info that we get from the land of Brazil. So this was a real treat! She was interviewed a couple of weeks ago and her friend Lu sent me this link. She told us she had a hard time understanding his English, that's why there are so many splices. Some words don't translate straight across the line. When he asked if she was ashamed she thinks he meant shy. We thought it was funny listening to the opening introduction. It sound like he says, "Emily, an American, stuck in Brazil." The ending is awesome, too. She tells us Brazilian TV is very interesting to say the least. She is definitely having an adventure. We love her and her cute, spunky attitude. She had her first Salsa lesson last night. We are patiently awaiting a blog update. She just spent 10 days visiting family two hours south of her home. Her Brazilian brother and his wife just had a new baby daughter. Her online time has been limited but she assures us that a new post will becoming shortly. Emily is doing well despite the barrier of not being able to communicate as well as she would like to. She is understanding very well. Keep that smile on Em! We love you and so admire your courageous attitude. You inspire us! xo

New Scenery

2011-08-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

New scenery is always wonderful! We just got back from a very relaxing trip to Portland, OR. The trip included time with Janell and Ben, a trip to the coast, a sweet wedding of a beautiful couple, delicious food, hours in a bookstore we love and lots of down time.

 Just what we needed. We took our share of photos.

Voo Doo Donuts...an icon in Portland. The lines goes out the door. We won't say they are our favorite bakery treat ever, but they are tasty and it's fun to be apart of the crowd. Some haul them off by the box full. Some choose one larger than their own head. (See that cute little boy? His mom was going to give him his dollar back if he could eat the entire thing. I don't think he could) And some choose several and enjoy sampling them all outside as they people watch early in the morning.

The Real Mother Goose.
Full of beautiful artisan crafted goodness and eye candy galore

We met Ben for lunch at Kenny and Zukes for the MOST amazing Reuben Sandwich in the Universe. We kid you not.

The little pickle plate was mighty tasty. We will be back for sure.

After poking around Powell's for awhile and riding the Max around town, we headed back to the hotel to wait for our ride to dinner.

What a vacation! Our Portland hosts took us to Nicholas' Restaurant for scrumptious Lebanese food. Such a treat!!

Then it was time to watch the sun set over the pretty city of Portland. We are having a wonderful time

Mount Rainier is there - over there...where?

Far away in the clouds.

The sun went down...

and the moon came up.

(Aren't they cute?)

Weddings are such happy occasions.
Congrats to Samantha & Brandon!

And the trip continues...Lincoln City here we come.

Wonder, beauty and tranquility. Such a gift.

and F U N ... we love the ocean!

So on to dinner, which was amazing and worth every penny spent. Truly. Black Fish in Lincoln City. 

On to the cheese factory - home some of our favorite ice cream and cheddar cheese: Tillamook

The whole factory is fascinating. Do you think Jiggy Stick will ever get to this point? :) The old vintage advertising was a blast to see the ice cream was delicious! Of course we had to poke our heads in the holes...the things you do to get your grandbabies to smile (Hi kiddos!)

Is this post long enough yet, Em?

Back to the coast and enjoying some scenery like this on the way:

Cape Meares Lighthouse and The Octopus Tree.

The Rose Gardens It's much more fun to dance among the roses than just stand there for the camera. Roses of every shade imaginable. You just had to smoosh your face in some of them to soak in the scent. We had the perfect weather, everyday.

Japanese Gardens Very tranquil and zen like. Fun to hear dad talk about his mission memories. We'd love to take a trip there someday.

And how do you end a stay as beautiful as this? Eat sushi and LOTS of it!

Oh yea, our crazy little room in the Crystal Hotel. We stayed here our last night. Crazy history. The McMenamin Brothers are doing very cool things with old buildings. There was a sweet salt water soaking pool in the basement.

***

It's nice to have one more trip documented. Check.

Now to begin sorting through thousands of recovered photos and try to make some order of them all.
Wish me luck.

Give Said the Little Stream

2011-08-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked members around the world to perform a “Day of Service” to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Welfare Program. We did our part in our little neighborhood. The troops rallied early Sat morning for a continental breakfast and briefing. We estimated about 75 wonderful people (that's over 300 man hours!) from the very young to the very mature participated. We moved sand bags, washed windows of at least a dozen homes, pulled out stumps, removed trees, did lots of yard work, sent the youngsters on a service scavenger hunt...and truly enjoyed working with each other on a beautiful summer morning. We shared a lunch together at the end of the project. Happy Birthday Welfare Program! Thank you wonderful neighbors. We love you.

And some really fun news...Emily has posted on her blog! Full of photos and updates on her first two weeks in Matao. You'll love it...but grab a little snack to enjoy while you read ;) It's a long one! And please don't be shy about leaving her comments - she'll LOVE hearing from you!

Adjusting....

2011-07-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Emily is doing very well. She hasn't found the time to blog just yet. She is taking lots of photos and soaking everything in. We have a great time Skyping - what a blessing that is! She is understanding a lot of what is being said if people speak slow enough. She is reading Portuguese very well. She did Math at school and was very proud of herself. They are just coming back from what would be equivilent from our Winter/Christmas break. School started up Monday. They are all testing so it is a good time for her to watch and listen and get a feel for how things roll. There are 17 kids in her age group. They stay in the same classroom and the teachers rotate. School goes from 7:30 to noon and they take a little food break around nine or ten. She will begin seminary tomorrow and that is held at 6:00pm. She said there will probably be just a few kids. She met the Bishop and his family and the missionaries. One of them is from Utah - Jordan area and he was so happy to speak to an American! One of the first things he asked her was - do you play the piano? Even a little? He will be getting transfered soon (he is the only one who plays) so they would love to have her play in Sacrament Meeting. She isn't sure what she thinks about that but said she better start practicing :)

My favorite part of our visit tonight was when she showed me a big handful of adorable handmade cards and letters. They are all from the cute little girls who attend the school where she is attending. She went around the classes yesterday and met the kids and teachers. She will be helping teach English to the younger children. They are in love with her and are treating her like a celebrity. She said it is crazy how everyone there knows who she is and can't believe they are really meeting her. She doesn't know what to think about it and doesn't know how to deal with all the attention. (I think it is great!) She will do wonderful things there. Most of the cards said cute little things like:

Emily,

You is beautiful!

Love you Honey!

They love to use the word honey. Tonight she asked Mariza what she would like her to call her. Mariza said that was up to you. She chose to call her mae (can't make the correct accent symbol but I believe it is pronounced "my" ~ for mother. Mariza got teary and said how will I ever say goodbye to you? Well, I told Emily that she was going to have to work on that becasue we would be needing her to come home to us! We are very proud of her.

Thanks everyone for your prayers and support.

She Is On Her Way

2011-07-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

She requested Dave's meat, dads homemade bread. After a Cupcake send-off and many hugs and tears she is on her way to a brand new world. The two concerns we had with her traveling alone were her connection in Dallas and wondering how she was going to man-handle her gigantic pieces of heavy luggage through customs in Brazil. We were in line getting her boarding passes and checking her luggage - I asked the lady behind the counter if she was familiar with the Dallas Fort-Worth Airport. She said, yes. The next thing I remember was this sweet girl in line behind us saying, "Hey...I can walk her to her connection! I have a three hour layover and I would love to help!" She must have thought I was a crazy lady because I said, "really?" and turned away to fight back a soon to be erupting volcano of tears. I have been praying for angels to attend her on her journey to Brazil....and here we were standing next to one!

This is the sweet blessing that made all the difference in her airport experience. (In the craziness of the moment, I have forgotten her name.) We watched the two of them chatting happily in line and go through security together. It was nothing like we expected, but everything we could have hoped for.

Em's new friend moved to Europe when she was 21 and lived there for almost 7 years. She will be the perfect person to ease her into International travel. And just look at that smile! She will do great!!

Saying goodbye was hard...but the world should be proud of us, we did it in a very graceful manner. It's so wonderful to have the peaceful feeling we do. It will be very exciting to hear about her travels and share this very exciting journey with her. (And hoping all goes well with her arrival in Brazil)

She plans on blogging about her experience here. We'll link from our sidebar.

* She arrived!! About 4:30 am we got a phone call from Em. She said everything went really well. It was tricky managing her baggage but she made it! They had to check her carry-on because it was a little bit too big. She missed her toothbrush when she got off the plane, but everything was fine. She was seated next to an older lady from Brazil who was so kind and sweet to her. She told me she was very helpful when she was filling out the immigration papers. Alcides and Mariza (her Brazilian parents) were there to greet her with open arms. We didn't think Mariza would be there because she has a daughter-in-law due any minute with a baby. Good Luck, Emily! We can't wait to hear your stories!!

Everything Is Falling Into Place

2011-07-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

The days of planning and preparation are drawing to a close. Last night we began seriously packing the bags. It is so very exciting! Emily has been making lists and organizing her belongings for weeks now. The suitcases are filling up fast! She can check two 70lb bags and take a carry on and one personal item like a purse or back pack.

Jake gave us a tip from his mission days in Fiji. Put the clothes in bags and vaccuum out the air. We had a blast! Instant freeze dried clothes and room to spare! We'll have good memories of our crazy "system" as we laughed and loaded the bags into her suitcase.

This morning I made the girls Raspberry-Nuttella filled crepes. We hear there are no raspberries to be found in Brazil. (She won't lack for amazing fruit, however!) We were chatting about the day and making plans to start checking things off our list. I reminded them that someone had to be here at all times to sign for the highly anticipated delivery of the VISA.

We had no sooner cleared our plates from the table outside when the wonderful Fed Ex man pulled up into our driveway! IT WAS HERE! I was doing my typical happy dance of joy when the doorbell rang. Of course by now I am tearing up with relief and excitement - but also because now it was all very real. She is leaving. I told Em she had to go to the door and sign...I was pulling myself together when I heard the man ask Em, "Did I see someone jumping for joy in there?" I had to go explain myself. He was thrilled to hear our story. He loves his job and expecially loves exciting days like this. He couldn't have been more sweet and enthused for Emily's journey...as we all are. Life is good.

Opening the envelope.

She holds in her hands her passport which includes her student visa.
Good for one year.

Many miles to cover in the next 72 hours.

We are grateful this beautiful summer morning for many things!

What A Ride!

2011-07-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

In no real paticular order...here are some of the things that have been keeping us busy this month!

Kyra, Anda, Natalie, Sabey & Em

Emily's Mia Maid Class

This is Claudia, a sweet lady who was visiting

our neighbors from Brazil.

She was gracious enough to come over many afternoons and help Em

with Portuguese...and Emily helped her with English.

Fast friends.

LTC ~ Sweetest group of young women! Love them!

Camber & Em had some beach time at Hyrum Dam.
I love this photo!

Finding out this really exciting news!!
Congrats to Jake and Lindsey!
Molly will be a wonderful big sister.

Emily had a gum graft on July 7th.

NOT the most fun to experience but she is healing up really well.

Mark & Jake rode the Cache Valley MS Fund Raiser Century.

They loved it!

Emily enjoyed a week (July 11-15)at USU-EFY.
She loved having her cousin Reed and his friend, Tanner
up from Payson to attend...and
her friend Katie! They had a great week!

Over the fourth of July we had the Flinders Family Reunion at Mutual Dell. It was a great time together. Zip-line, Minute-To-Win-It, treasure hunts, kickball, great food and the best company.
We love our family!

Go Aunt Shelley!

Zip-Line Fun!

Minute To Win It

Half Century Celebration!!

2011-07-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

Because he was turning 50... he wanted to start the day out riding 50!

Mark & Jake left early in the morning to ride up Emigration-Strawberry Canyon in Southeast Idaho.

It was a glorious ride even though it was quite an incline...3700 feet.

They had a wonderful time. The canyon was gorgeous and the morning was beautiful!

Looking very happy!

The Thursday before his birthday he found a surprise in one of his exam rooms!

Janell had flown down to surprise him for his birthday! It was so wonderful!

Her other motivation to come down and visit was to spend some time with Emily before she leaves.

We went down to the Farmer's Market and enjoyed looking around and finding some fresh greens for the birthday dinner. These two girls are both unique and beautiful, just like all of our children. For being so far apart in age (about 12 years)...they are also very much alike in many ways. We certainly love our children.

Molly was fast friends with her auntie.

How could you not be?

Soon it was time for the birthday dinner. His short order was ~ everyone make something yummy!
Davis (who was MIA in the photos, wasn't feeling well :( made awesome baked beans. Camber slid through the door from work just in time to use the watermelon baller, Lindsey threw together giant stuffed mushrooms, Janell made our favorite salsa, I marinated chicken to grill for the sandwiches (and homemade granola earlier in the day) and Emily topped it all off with an incredible Chocolate Malt Ice Cream Cake! We eat very well around this place.

Molly's part was to demostrate how to eat corn on the cob...see her eyeing Papa's?

Wait for mom to put the handles in and then lean in for a really good grip.

Smoosh the cob against your face as tight as you can so butter and salt are well applied.

Take a break for some refreshing icewater and go at it again!

It is delicious!
Hurray for summer!!

Happy Birthday to special man we dearly love!!

Hope all your dreams come true.

You certainly help ours become realities :)

The cake was perfectly wonderful, Em!!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

A quiet day to relax and reflect. Just what he needed....

*photo coming*

We are very grateful for the Father's and Grandfather's in our lives. We have some wonderful examples to learn from and follow. So many wondeful men! We have great appreciation for all of them.

***

About a month ago Emily's life took a turn in a very new direction. That direction happens to be in a far-away land. She was invited by family friends to come study in Brazil! This is the same family that Mark's brother stayed with when he was an excahnge student about 28 years ago. They are wonderful people. Emily was thrilled with the opportunity and so we have hopped aboard this amazing ride and are trying our best to prepare each other for this new and amazing experience she is about to embark on.

In a nutshell, she will be staying in a small town about 4-5 hours north of the Sao Paulo. Matao. She will be attending a private school (K-12). There are about 16 kids her age in this school. She will have the opportunity to help teach English as well as dance. She will be totally immersed in the Portuguese language.

We find it hard to believe that she is bave enough to do this. It is something that we NEVER would have dreamed would be happening. It will be hard for all of us, but hopefully a very rich and wonderful experience as well. We are really impressed with her desire to do something that will be harder than anything she has ever faced before. We have put much prayer and thought into this decision and feel it is a good thing for her to do. I think we will become stronger parents to her through this, which seems like an odd thing to say considering the distance. All of sudden you look at each day in a different way. Big changes...

If all goes well with the visa, she we be boarding the plane at the end of July. She has been working with a friend who is visiting from Brazil and getting a taste for the language. More to come....

Camber's birthday gift to Em was a ticket to a concert...

Ray LaMontagne and Brandi Carlile.

This is a photo of the two of them enjoying themselves very much at the concert Sat night.

We love these beautiful girls.

A Visit to Liam and Elsie's House!

2011-06-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Because, as they say...
A picture is worth a thousand words!
xo

Free picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Diploma In Hand

2011-06-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Graduation week is full of activities and parties. One highlight is Candlelight, held the night before graduation. Teachers are honored, there is a key note speaker and then all he graduates light a candle and walk around campus and listen to students reminisce about memories at Logan High. This year the graduating class decided to purchase a bright yellow bench in honor of their sweet friend and classmate, Jocie Garlick. You can read the sweet tribute here, that Jocie's mom gave. A fitting remembrance to a beautiful girl we all dearly miss. The bench is perfect. Our computer crashed with photos of that night. I have a few I had printed that I scanned in so they are a little grainy. We helped the Garlicks make Jiggy Sticks to hand out to all the graduates...limited edition ~ Grizzly Bear Balm.

Thanks Em, for the festive Lei!

Hugs and well wishes before graduation...

Good friends and great memories...Rayann was Camber's counselor who really helped us out after her ski accident.

Not saying that graduations are boring...but they are long. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Firth for taking the time to come be with us. We loved having you! (We know you were happier than this photo shows ;)

Find Camber. (Big Hint...center aisle fourth row back third one to the left)

See Camber whooping things up?

Look at the two guys looking at her on the left.

She must have really let out a holler!

We love you, Camber! What a wonderful time of life!!

Technical Difficulties

2011-06-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sadly our Mac is going to have to visit the doctor for some time...she will be getting some much needed updated memory and hopefully come back home with lots of fresh new energy and....some of our lost photos recovered. We will be hoping for the best! See you in about a week or so.

Another Whirlwind of a Week

2011-05-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Mother daughter dinner with our graduates. Kristan planned a sweet dinner for the girls and their moms. It was fun to sit around the table and remember the fun times the girls have had together over the years. Davis, Camber and Emily are pretty lucky to have friends that they grew up with. The older kids did an awful lot of moving around during their school days. I guess there are pros and cons to both sides of that coin.

They have certainly grown up into beautiful young women. They have made new friends along their journey and taken different routes - but share those similar roots. Good times, good laughs, good cries, good memories, good luck girls!!

At Kristan and Maria's

Camber's 6th Birthday Party

And now.

It goes by in a blink!

This week I was able to attend International Quilt Market in SLC. It's a hug trade show for the quilting industry. I have more photos here on my Black Sheep Woolens Blog. It was a great experience and very inspiring. Lindsey came with me and Emily was excused from school to watch Molly. We really had a great time and our heads were spinning at the end of 2 1/2 days of soaking it all in. Embroidery was pretty big this spring.

We drank up the sunshine and gorgeous weather.

We enjoyed lunch on Friday at the lovely Cafe Trio.

***

Dressing up for the dance.

Here is the cutest picture of my mom all ready for her 9th grade dance. When Camber was picking out her dress she knew right off she wanted it short and the style she liked reminded me so much of this one my mom wore. I asked Camber to let me take a photo of her at the piano similar to the one my mom is in. It seems that they are both thinking,

"I really don't want my photo taken, thank you very much."

But look how beautiful they are!

Grandma Joan's dress was a light green.

Camber is in blue.

In honor of a dear friend, Camber wore heels. (Thanks for the tip on Sofft, Jenny ;) When I sent her a text post dance her reply was...they weren't too bad actually. So high five to girl who loves her flats.

She choose a pretty periwinkle blue lace and we found a pattern similar to a retro dress on ebay and I got busy stitching. It all went together pretty quick. Lots and lots of ruffles on the crinolin slip.

Molly helped Lindsey paint Camber's toes while Camber put her make up on.

It's always great fun to watch the guy pin or tie on the corsage.

Patrick is a gentleman.

(Who took this blurry photo anyway? oops.)

Their senior ball was a Masaquerade Ball.

Cute couple and good friends.

and PS Molly didn't really like Patrick taking her buddy away...

And to finish out our week, Seminary Graduation.

Good job, Camber!

FYI: That is not a snowy sky, it's a lot of dust from the craziest windstorm we have ever seen here. Last night was actually a little scary listening to all the trees in the neighborhood fall and the howling wind shake the house.

Could Someone Please Slow Down The Clock?

2011-05-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

A very Happy Mother's Day it was! Emily prepared a beautiful breakfast. Individual quiches with ham, cheese, crusty bread croutons and asparagus. For the sweet side she made strawberries with fresh orange cream topping with shaved chocolate. Delightful. We need to get her to share her recipes. One of my favorite lines of the day was when she said, "Mom, is this how you feel every time you serve a delicious meal? I did GOOOD!" Grandpa and Grandma Firth spent the weekend with us and we enjoyed long chats, a movie, cards and lots of laughter.

***

And this cute girl of ours is packing up to move out and venture into the great huge world awaiting her. She and her friends have found this cute little house to rent for the summer. We are very excited for her and wish her the best the world has to offer. We will certainly going to miss her cute mug around our house. Thank heavens she isn't going too far, yet! xo

I loved this photo on their blog-
"Look Mom, I'm a real pirate!"

And the adorable girl with the curls!
She's walking, saying bye-bye and blowing kisses.

Time is sure ticking away quickly!
This past week little Elsie turned one and Liam turned four!
Happy Birthday!! We got to participate via skype :)
Camber's graduation is just around the corner and so is summer.

Happy MAY Day!

2011-05-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

We have a flock of Quail hanging out in our yard this spring. I am hoping they are nesting and getting ready for their little families. The mamma is as plump as can be! They are super fast and I hope one of these times I can snap a photo of this couple together. Cool birds. No licking your lips, Scott.

Our neighborhood is preparing for flooding. This coming Saturday they are hoping to have the entire 20,000 sandbags filled and in place. Hundreds of volunteers have been involved with this service. I will helping in my CERT vest this weekend.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

Mark & I had been hoping to get down to BYU to view the Carl Bloch exhibit for months. We finally made it! What a perfect week to view it - the paintings were spectacular and it is remarkable to think that the people of Denmark would share these alter paintings for an extended time. What a gift. We picked up Lindsey and Molly on the way down and my sister, Shelley met us there. We enjoyed our morning together.

It's a great museum...behind Molly is a giant sculpture made out of books.

Each corner lined up perfectly.

Loved the trees covered in popcorn!

Molly and Papa chased ducks around the parking lot.

We took Mark's mom and dad out for lunch to celebrate Marie's birthday.

Lindsey and Shelley were camera shy that day.

Last Sunday we attended a missionary farewell for a sweet friend of ours.

Megan has now left for the MTC and will be serving in the Independence Missouri Mission.

We are so proud of her and who she is. We loved spending a little time with them and catching up. The only free time Mark had was an early morning breakfast at Angie's...they graciously accepted the offer. We have been friends with the Harrells for neary twenty years! We met them on base in California and they moved to Alaska when we did. We have many happy memories shared with their family.

Best wishes to you, Megan!

Megan, Cathy and Leisa

***

Today we celebrated Easter as well as Davis' 21st birthday. We love you, Davis!

Would you like the recipe for this scrumptious Chocolate Tart? Here is the modified version I made from my friend, Jen's recipe. (Who with her hubby, had Mark & I over along with the Kings for a delicious Lobster Dinner Friday and topped the meal off with this amazing dessert!)

Chocolate Tart

For the crust, combine 7 chocolate graham crackers, 4 T butter cut in small pieces and 2 T of slivered almonds in a food processor. Press into the bottom of a buttered, 10" spring form pan or tart pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes.

Heat 3/4 cup heavy cream and 1/4 cup honey just until boiling. Pour over two cups of semi sweet chocolate chips. ( I used a combo of bittersweet, semisweet and milk chocolate I had from Kitchen Kneads) Stir until chocolate is well incorporated. Stir in 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Pour over cookie crust. Chill at least 5 hours. Serve with fresh berries and whipped cream..and a glass of ice cold milk.

Rich and decadent, just as chocolate and a 21st Birthday should be :)

Happy Easter everyone!
Hope your baskets were filled with treats you love!
(Or in our case...jars)

A Peek At The Studio

2011-04-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

But first this...There is an old yellow building, run down and rather dilapidated just a stones throw from our home. Well maybe quite a large throw... But I have always wondered what it was like inside. Did someone really live there? I knew it had originally been an LDS chapel. Well last Saturday I had a chance to take a peek inside. They had a garage sale in the building. I have never seen so many Christmas decorations from one persons collection in my entire life. I couldn't get over how much STUFF there was. I vow to have my possessions in check when I leave this life. Oh my. It was just a scratch in the surface apparently and there may be more garage sales in near future. It sound like they will be demolishing the building and subdividing the land. That will be a good thing. It is heartbreaking for many of the older folks in our neighborhood who's parents and grand parents really sacrificed to build that chapel to see it in such disrepair. This is one reason the LDS church now tears down old buildings rather than sell them.

The fun part of morning was discovering the sweetest retro chartreuse crushed velvet love seat that will soon reside in Em's bedroom! This photo does not do the color justice. I snapped it with my phone camera inside the building. It was pretty dark inside. It has the cutest shape and the tufted back is adorable!! We are looking into replacing the piping with a black & white fabric.

This is in where the chapel would have been.

And here are the ceiling tiles. I am guessing they were added when they

remodeled it. It was a photo studio and a reception hall.

The words read:

Logan Eighth Ward

Erected 1908

I had never noticed it. I love it.

*************

Now for a peek at the Studio...It's very hard to not wait until it is just perfect before I show photos..but alas, it IS a work in progress so I will share it in stages. My kids living out of state are anxious for a peek. The wall color is Stone Grey from Porter Paints. The floor is of course an original. Never to be duplicated again! I will post the steps we took some other day.

I varnished this little table this afternoon. It proudly sits under this little gem of a light! I had a little chandelier high my wish list and Mark kept asking me, are you sure? I was sure. It's perfect. A little bling for beading parties! I loved the black and she isn't too showy. She is just right.

This table was love at first sight! I walked into a consignment shop I have driven by dozens of times and had never stopped. It was a set with a beautiful hutch. Sadly, the hutch just wasn't right for the plans of our room and luckily the owner was willing to split the set. I hope someone finds the hutch and gives it a wonderful home.

I love the grey fabric on these chairs! And the little wings on the backs?! For some crazy reason every time I look at this dining room set it reminds of Hawaii. Maybe the motif is a bit pineapple-like. But it puts a smile on my face. A great table for games or dinner or a wool class!

Where the messy table is will be a nice built in piece that Mark is currently constructing. The far end will be the wool dying kitchen and then through the door is the bathroom...with a shower for overnight stays ;) You can see the shape of the old room as it frames the entrance. It was tiny.

A close up the one of the love seats. Amazing finds. The light color will remind my grandchildren that this is a fun room, but one we will take care of....right....

I found twin red chairs at the Savvy Brother's Consignment shop. They are perfect. I plan to paint a couple of older chairs we have kicking around here...maybe black?? You can see where the bunk beds will go - back behind the love-seat against the wall. A set for each side of the room. The bottom bed will be a double and top a twin. I need to get the quilts going for those!! So much to do but it is a process we are enjoying. It is great to be able to be up in the room now.

Emily has been organizing the wool and it is pretty obvious that I better get busy and dye some more!
Thanks for taking a peek! Hope you can stop by and see it in person soon!

Mid April

2011-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

I remember the year Brady and Danielle were married. May 6, 2005. We had lost about 5 trees in similar storm to the one that took down eight last week. I was fretting that the yard would be empty and brown - similar to what it looks like now. But within a week of their wedding day with the reception to be in our yard, the world started to blossom and wake up from its long winter slumber. The spring green flooded our yard and all was well. Here I caught two deer and two ducks wandering around as if the place was all theirs. We have had a cute little partridge couple strutting around as well. They are too quick for a photo.

The yard is begining to bloom.

AND...this weekend we moved into the studio! What a moment. I love it up there and I can't wait to share it. There is still some finishing work to do around the windows and the wool dying kitchen will take some time to complete, but we are up and running! Mark is working on a built in work area that is turning out beautifully and will start on the bunk beds when it is finished. Next will be the cabinets and desk area so we are months away from completion - but very happy to have this wonderful room to be a work in progress! The remaining siding was delivered on Friday so hopefully this week they will have that up this week. A finished look outside will be wonderful!

Cell phone photos...not the greatest...

There will be more photos to come. Promise.

Aren't these little love seats cute? KSL classifieds.

$145. for BOTH. Awesome Grandma pillows included!

Thank you Carla in Tremonton!!

SpRiNg Break 2011

2011-04-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

Well...not so much "spring" during spring break this year. We did have some good times though.

Camber had a great trip to Moab with friends (and sisters) Erin and Kira. They lucked out and got some great sun...along with and incredible windstorm and snow! She was so happy for the get-away.

We took everyone to The King's Speech. Loved it!

Ate meals out just because...

Did some shopping - who needs spring weather to buy shorts, sunglasses and summer tees?

NOT us!

Emily and I spent one night in SLC with Jake, Linds & Molly. We took Em to to Ikea for her first visit...enjoyed In & Out Burgers, fries and shakes...Sweet Tooth Fairy for cupcakes...Molly time...breakfast at Gourmandise...and more shopping. Is the youngest always spoiled??

We also took care of Harley and enjoyed his spunk!

Mark, Jake & buddies had to bag their trip to St George for the century ride - due to weather!

But he had several days off and was a busy boy down in his wood shop.

He is a talented guy that uses every minute in the day...and many in the night delivering babies!

Things Happen...

2011-04-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

Change is a continuum everywhere and at all times. Change begets change, and so is in perpetual motion.

It's been said that you never step twice into the same river. The flow of water ensures that. It's constantly changing, just as you are. For, like the flowing river, you too are not the same person. Your body is not the same; neither are your thoughts. Physically, you are undergoing constant change. The thoughts that run through your mind, your observations, perceptions, attitude, everything is as fluid as the water's flow. The river is not the same and neither are you. ~Based on Heraclitus' Theory

April 7. 2011 - Heavy wet snow...more than the trees could stand up under. The first loud crack was heard about 9:30 that evening and just like that one large tree snapped in half and took her two sisters down with her. The tops of the branches crashed onto the roof and slowly over the next 5 or 6 hours the trees slid down the back of our house. Around 3:00 am we heard a very loud crack. Mark was up to deliver a baby. That was the sound of three more falling into the the road on the south of our property. It's an uneasy feeling seeing and hearing your world crash down around you. I can't imagine experiencing a devastating earthquake, tsunami or fire.

We fell in love with the wooded landscape...and so many trees! They have been beautiful back drops for many different occasions in our yard and a wonderful source of shade and serenity. They have held lights that twinkled throughout the year, a hammock to lounge in, many a birdie, lost hula hoop or frisbee. Cats have climbed them and birds have nested in them.

What will this change bring to pass? A little more sun and a chance to grow new plants. Choosing a new tree to replace the old. Patience and wonder at nature. But right now its a little hard to look outside.

This photo was taken right after the trees fell.

And what we saw when we woke up Friday morning.

You can see where the first tree snapped and when the other two went down they were uprooted. There is nothing glorious about a box elder tree. They are messy and house the yucky box elder bug. They aren't very strong and have very shallow root systems for their huge height. Nonetheless...they will be missed.

These fell and blocked the road going up the south end of our property. Brian and Brad were so very nice to help us cut them all down. They are great guys with awesome tools and hearts of gold. Brain has such a sense of adventure! It took some discussion to decide how to best take the trees down so the trunks wouldn't crash through the windows.

The two broken trunks you see above are two we purposely took down. They looked unsafe and when Brian just started cutting through the bark they snapped! So scary! There was sooo much tension on them. Very glad they hadn't fallen on anyone!

So thankful no one was hurt and there wasn't serious damage.

And tomorrow is a new day.

A vulture spooked by the sound of the chain saws. Maybe he was thinking he would be getting breakfast with all the excitement going on. I spotted him in our giant tree in the front yard and made a dash to the house for my camera. I had been outside with the photographer from the Herald Joural (Jenn) and she snapped this. He was gone by the time I came back out. Thanks for sharing, Jenn! We love photos of animals who visit Deer Hollow.

The red floor has two coats of polyurethane down and we are hoping to get the baseboards up tomorrow then the final two coats of poly. We should be ready to start moving things into the room in about a week!! We LOVE the floor!