Lots of Fun Weekend

Garth and I are still recovering from a weekend of so much fun!  We were so excited to have our family together (minus a few now-and-then).  We used the Fall Break from school to spend this time with family.  It was one of only a few years when we didn't attend any UEA activity.  We had arranged to stay at one of our favorite places, the Staybridge hotel in West Valley City, which has the Grins and Fins swimming pool.  Barrett and his family also stayed there so we had enough swimming passes for everyone.  All of our grandchildren in the same pool at the same time!  So fun!  We then ordered pizza and bread sticks for the whole family and with permission from the hotel manager, we had the dining area for our dinner.  The grandkids were so good and well behaved.  Maybe it was because they were so tired from all their swimming!  They watched the TV while they ate and played together.

Lexi loved playing with the two babies.  Here she is with Isaac.  He is such a fun little guy!

Koy and Kayden watching TV in the hotel dining room while waiting for pizza.

Maxwell, Morgan, and Tyler were anxiously waiting for the food as well.

Grayson was happy with Daddy Dallas holding him. 

Aren't these kids so cute!

The next day my children appeased their mother and went to This Is The Place Heritage Park.  I've wanted to go here ever since my Great-Great-Grandfather's little cabin in Emery was moved to the park.  This turned out to be the perfect time to go.  Because it was just before Halloween, the park was ready with Halloween activities.  Children were encouraged to wear their costumes and given treats at several of the places in the park.

The kids were excited to get their Halloween costumes on!

We got to the park at the perfect time, about 10:00 am.  It was beautiful weather and there weren't many people there yet.  It was a wonderful day!

Lexi kept Grayson entertained while others were off playing games.

Spiderman (aka Maxwell) likes to play the games for candy.  Tyler just like the candy!

Tyler would walk everywhere as long as Grandpa was holding his hand.  Kayden just kept going, encouraging everyone to follow him.

Morgan showed Tyler how to toss into the pumpkins.  Tyler had such fun playing with his cousins.

Everyone was waiting to listen to the old witch tell her stories.  Nicky loved to play with that little duck.......Isaac.

Listening to the witch tell the story.

It must have been a great story!

We finally found our way to the Emery County Cabin.  This cabin was moved from Emery to the park a few years ago. My great-great Grandfather Casper Christensen lived with his family in this cabin.  He was called to be a postman in Emery. Casper was the grandfather of my Grandma Olsen. 

Here I am with my husband and our 8 grandchildren, descendants of Casper Christensen.  This children are six generations away from Casper Christensen.  How time changes what we view as 'acceptable.'  Casper lived in this small cabin with eight children, just as my eight grandchildren.  I can't imagine what that must have been like, but I am sure the family was very thankful for what they had.  When the kids started running back to the street to go to the next place, I was a bit overcome with thankfulness for the sacrifice that Casper Christensen and his wife, Maren, for coming to this country from Denmark, living in Minnesota where 4 of his children were born, then moving to Spring City in San Pete County, later to move to Emery County and establish his home here.  His daughter, Annie married and lived in Emery, welcoming a daughter, Melva to their family.  Melva married Neldon Olsen and moved to Rochester, or 'out on the flat' or the 'blue hill'.  Melva and Meldon had a daughter named Nellie Ann, who is my mother.  These people shaped my live and are a part of who I am today. 

Christmas Season

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas, my favorite time of year. The cold weather last week helped us decide that snow would be better than cold. It was freezing, below zero weather. Not so bad if you can stay inside all day, but with my luck, I had morning recess duty. Monday was cold, but tolerable. It was a different story for the rest of the week. We asked the students to stay in, but they got all upset because they wanted to play in the little bit of snow outside. I reminded them about that "cold" day in October when it was 30 degrees and they were crying because they wanted to stay inside for recess. Why is an October 30 colder than a December -2 with snow? Could it be the snow that makes a difference? Go figure!
We were lucky to have Tammy's children here for the weekend last week. So they got to enjoy the snow and cold with us. Lexi went to school with me on Monday, but the boys stayed home with Grandpa and played in the snow until their little fingers were frozen. But they were so happy to be able to play outside all they wanted. We hated to see them go back home with their mom on Tuesday, but all fun things must come to an end, and we got back into the swing of our "usual."
The Labrum Christmas party was scheduled for Saturday up in Lewiston. At first we were planning on taking up Tammy's children because she had to work. But they were asked to attend a party for the Make-A-Wish foundation, so they stayed in Salt Lake for that. I am sure they had a great time, and it was ok to not worry about them as we drove.
Nancy also had to work, and with Tyler just getting his casts on his feet, he stayed home with his dad. Nicky was just moving in to a new apartment so she stayed to put her things away and make her new home. So it was just Garth and I on our trip to Cache Valley.
What a trip it was!We left here at 5:00 am and stopped at the Market Express to get a bite of food. It was there we discovered that Garth had left his wallet home on the bed. So we turned around and headed back home, all the time wondering just why we were experiencing this. Are we to NOT be somewhere at a certain time? Are we SUPPOSED to be somewhere at another time? Is this causing us to avoid something bad, or so we can do something good? I looked at the clock as we passed the large Nielsen Construction building; it said 5:55. We drove home and came back with now problems as all and reached the Nielsen Construction building at 6:55. We will never know we if avoided an accident by this hour delay. But it brings comfort to know believe that for whatever reason, we were still safe.
We stopped at Nancy's for just a minute (bathroom break!), then got to Nicky's in time to help with the last load of junk (yes, we move some that might be labeled as junk). We saw her new apartment, then headed to Lewiston.
The roads in Salt Lake were fine, once we got to 2-15 and Legacy because of freeway closures in North Salt Lake. But Ogden was a different story. They were really bad, so Garth tells me. Guess what I was doing? Sleeping, of course. Sardine Canyon was not pretty, but we have driven in worse. We decided to take the back highway through the smaller towns to avoid the traffic lights. That might have slowed us down because the roads had not been plowed. We slid a little bit, even in 4-wheel drive, but arrived as Santa was leaving. Thank goodness we didn't have little kids who missed the most important part of the day.
We enjoyed our visit with the family members who were there. I had a nice visit with my neice, Charla, whom I haven't seen in a long time. She was there with her husband and two children, her dad (Garth's brother, Lee) and his wife. They were the only people from outside Cache Valley except for us. Garth said he was determined to show everyone that we could make it up there. I think the others turned around in Ogden, but then, they don't have 4-wheel drive like we had.
We went home through Logan, which saved us some time. The snow was still coming down really hard, and the canyon was slow. But once we hit the freeway everything was fine. We stopped at Nicky's to make sure she was ok. She didn't have any heat because the furnace has to be replaced, but there is a gas fireplace that put off some heat, so she will be fine. We headed home, worried that Spanish Fork Canyon might be difficult. We were happily surprised to find it was not snowing there yet. We arrived home to just a few flakes starting to fall. We went to bed about 10:00 with a light snow falling.
But when we got up we found this:





It is wet, heavy, deep snow! A beautiful Christmas season. The roads to the church had not been plowed when I went for choir practice, so I was breaking a trail through 10 inches of fluff. But then I had to return home because I forgot my reading glasses and couldn't see the music. My feet were freezing because no one thinks to scrape a trail up to the sidewalk, so you have to walk in the piles of snow to step over to the sidewalks.
We came home after Sacrament Meeting because Garth needed to get to the school to start scraping. If it doesn't get done before it freezes more, or lays more down, he will never get it off for school. He is so dedicated to making it safe for the faculty and students. I hope they appreciate the time he puts in for them. I know it would be easier to just stay home near the warmth of the fireplace, because that is where I will be.
For now, we will just enjoy this beautiful snow.

Wonderful, Wonderful, Weekend

What can I say that would reflect what a great weekend we had? It was the best time in years. We both truly loved every minute of the time we spent together.
Thanksgiving started out with an early wake-up call (really just the usual time of 4:30), then off to SLC by 6:00. Since I have medicine I need to take with food, we drove through Price to get a breakfast muffin at McDonalds, only to find out they were closed for the day. We drove on the Helper and stopped at Walkers there and got something to eat on the drive. The canyon ride was fine, so fine I slept as usual. We got to Nicky's right at 9:00 as planned. We drove on down to the Little American, found a parking spot in the garage, and went up the elevator. As we stepped off the elevator we found we were right at the end of the line for the buffet, so we just stayed right there. Have a fun conversation with a man from Sandy who was in line for his family, just his wife, brother and sister-in-law. He said it was an "off year" for all their children, so this is their usual way of celebrating on the off years. They have done this buffet for several years and wouldn't do it any other way.
Garth "sat" in the paying line while Nicky and I kept our spot in the buffet line. The time seemed to pass by quickly. At 10:00 the paying line opened, Garth was toward the front so he got through and came to wait with us. Within a few minutes Barrett, Chantel, her mom, and the kids were there. You have never seen two kids so excited to see Grandpa! They were so full of hugs and kisses and just couldn't get enough of us. It was so fun.
Before we knew it we were being ushered in to the dining hall. It was fabulous! This was our first time there, but not for Barrett and Chantel. So they told us the rope and how to behave. There were hundreds of tables set up in all the meeting rooms and the grand ballroom. The desserts were lined up in the hallway between the meeting rooms (rooms we have been in during Garth's USEA years). There were desserts of every kind.
We were given a table for 8 in the ballroom, right next to the salads, fruits, and vegetables. What a spread! The vegetables were to die for, and salads of every kind. There was thinly sliced salmon, rolls, sliced squashes, flavored tomatoes, cheeses, shrimp, more flavors than you can imagine. And that was just the first table!
Right in the middle of everything was a table with "kid food": pizza, spaghetti, mac'n'cheese, everything a kid would love.


The main table had all kinds of turkey, fish, crabs, ham, potatoes,stuffing (not Stove Top), roasts, everything you can imagine. It was gourmet to the max! We ate and ate, and then ate some more. As soon as you emptied a plate (and sometimes before), the plate was picked up and you could go get more. They didn't rush us out so they could use our table, but I was starting to feel a little bit guilty thinking of all those people out there waiting for someone to get done so they could start their dinner.
We then went to the dessert area and had to get pumpkin pie. Morgan had to have chocolate, and Max loved everything.
We had a fun time visiting with everyone, especially the kids. They were well-behaved and had a great time. Max cried when he thought we were all leaving and wouldn't see each other again. When he found out we were going to be together the next day, he was alright with that.
We had invited anyone who wanted to come to the hotel to go swimming. Tammy took us up on it,and brought pumpkin pie for everyone to eat. We decided to keep the kids with us for the night because Tammy and Josh both had to go to work early. So we got the fun of having them with us for the night. They went with us the next morning until Tammy got off from work. We then headed down to Nancy's.
Nancy had a place all picked out for us to have pictures taken. I know it was supposed to be a secret, but I am the one who said we needed family pictures, so I was told that there was a plan for the kids to be together to get pictures taken. It turned out great! The setting was perfect and the kids were so cute! It was wonderful for Garth and I to have a chance to be with all the kids. The only one we were missing was Josh, who had to work.






We returned to Nancy's, ate more food, visited, watched the kids play, then headed back to the swimming pool. Tyler loved to laugh at everything Morgan did in the pool. He was so excited to see her jumping into her dad's arms. He loves the pool so much! It was fun to see him get so excited. The kids all seemed to have a wonderful time. The adults all got tired.
This was a great weekend for us, the perfect start to the holidays. Thanks so much everyone!