Asher

I needed to finish up my "nativity" series 

so I could post these pictures of our grandson Asher.  

These pictures are so precious to me, 

as we don't get to see him often, or hardly at all.  

This one is my favorite I think.

(It is hard to have a favorite, I love ALL the pictures)

The drool is just too cute.

We sent him this hat.

He's got a lot of cute hats.

He is definitely cuter than the hats.

But, OH BOY, look at him in that snow! 

I love this picture too.

He must have had too much of this nonsense!

Baby blues!

Asher and his dad, Justin.

And his mom Deanna.

She's such a good mama.

Love these faces!

Asher and his Aunt Halley.

The pure joy.

I can't wait to see Halley with her own baby!

A tired little one!

Love it!

Love this picture

My grandbaby and his daddy.  So cute! 

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

On the Hunt

When I was in Utah,

Justin, Halley and Chancy and I decided to find a piece of property

that my husband's father had purchased years ago.

If you've ever seen the show Doomsday Preppers,

I can tell you that Lincoln's dad could have had an episode on that show.

This was his spot for us all to bug-out to in case of emergency.

He spent years preparing for a disaster,

spent tons of money,

and many years preparing.

He did this over 20 years ago, 

he passed away over 20 years ago.

My two sons have always wanted to find this place 

and explore, or even possibly live there.

(mountain man style)

(crazy kids).

We got a map from Lincoln's mom,

and after going down a few dirt roads we finally found the place.

Good thing Lincoln's dad had erected this "gate"

or we may not have found it.

Justin and Chancy are pictured below with the gate.

"The Broken Arrow"

A trailer that they were going to use for shelter.

They leave it open for anyone who may come across it.

It was cleaner than I expected.

Maybe someone has been using it?

A note from Lincoln's father . . . . . . . 

He was really INTO this prep stuff!!!!

People have been digging up his supply caches.

One that surprisingly hasn't been dug up.

Some other things that have been disturbed.

I'd been driving by all these wildflowers.

Some patches of flowers on the roadside were quite dense and really pretty.

I had to get pictures.

A nice view.

It was fun to go exploring with the kids.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.

It started off with my husband and son

making me breakfast.

Not a breakfast they would like,

but a breakfast with me in mind.  

Very nice!

Church was nice,

and when we got home a box of "Shari's Berries"

was sitting on our front porch.

(If you listen to talk radio you've probably heard of these berries)

I, at first, thought Lincoln must have sent it.

NO.

Then I thought, would it be my dad?

NO.

I had a thought, "A Secret Admirer."  ;)

NO.

It was sent by my oldest son Justin.

Ahhhhhh! How sweet.

And what a SURPRISE!

The chocolate covered strawberries

were almost as big as my fist,

and a DOZEN of them!!!

A funny picture!

My men here gave me tulips.

My FAV!

I heard from all of the kids 

and spoke to my mother as well.

A great Day!

Found a peanut

Wow!

Has this summer been busy . . . . . 

so much to do, so much to see, so much to think about!

The biggest news of all 

is that Lincoln and I will be grandparents

early next year.

Some people like to keep this news under a lid

until the first trimester is safely past,

but my son (Justin) never does things as one might think.

And since it is all over Facebook . . . . 

why not paste it on my blog?

Here is the little "peanut," due 24th of  February 2013.

As stated above

Justin never does things as one might think.

On one of his first Christmas's

as a wee boy,

he got several toy trucks as gifts.

What did he do?

He turned them all over and spun their wheels.

He would lay by those trucks for hours

watching those wheels spin.

NOT WHAT I EXPECTED!

and so this big news is the same.

The cart is a little before the horse 

on this announcement (peanut!)

but I'm choosing to be excited!

After all . . . . . 

I'm going to be a 

GRANDMA!

Touchstone Tuesday

I love where we live right now because it is so beautifully green.

We are from Utah.

Utah has it's beauty,

You just need to look at the beauty of Utah with a different kind of "eye"

to find it.

There are certain areas of Utah
where the beauty

just smacks you in the face with all it's majesty.

Our fridge Magnet.  The hike known
as Walter's Wiggles.

When Halley got married back in 2007,
and we traveled to Utah for her reception,

we decided that we needed to take a trip down to southern Utah,

and show our boys The Canyon Lands.
(Why do you wait to do the things you should-a done
while you actually live in a place?!)

The Canyon Lands are
unbelievably BEAUTIFUL!

and in June they are

HOT!
(Unbelievably)

We dealt with temperatures up into the hundreds.

118 degrees Fahrenheit was the highest temp I remember. 

In Vegas (nearby) they were registering temps in the high 120's 

that week. CrAzY hOt!

We all had camelbacks filled with Gaterade

which became warm very fast.  

Warm Gaterade . . . . . 

JOY!
NOT!

Let's just say I was NOT a happy camper!

And YES, we were c.a.m.p.i.n.g  in that heat!
In tents (no a.c.)

The desert is a funny place.

You fry in the daytime and freeze at night . . . . 

seriously!

We have sooooooo many memories of this.

Some good, some bad.

This is the trip where my son broke his back

and I felt responsible . . . . I still feel responsible.

This is the trip where we conquered amazing things.
We hiked amazing trails and reached new heights.

Isn't that the way most things are in life?

We feel more joy because we feel more pain?

the pain makes the joy possible?

I'm just glad the pictures don't show (much)

my complete discomfort with the heat and distress I felt.

It really was a trip to remember!

Forgive all the pictures . . . . there are just too many good ones!

A kind soul (there are lots of kind souls in Utah) took our picture.
It was morning, the beginning of our hike, and heating up fast!

My hubby and sons were so kind to take m.a.n.y breaks for me.  I'm a horrible hiker.  My heart beats so fast
and my head feels like it wants to split open and let the heat out the top of it . . . . . . . .
See?  I'm  still whining after all these years!

Looking down at what we had hiked, and this was JUST the beginning of this hike!

Chancy. at the bottom of  Walter's Wiggles (the one on the fridge magnet)

Looking down on Walter's Wiggles.

Justin and Chancy at the top of Angel's Landing.

Justin, Looking down from Angel's Landing.

At the bottom of a slot Canyon.   Where did  Justin get the energy to continue to act like a billy goat?

I found a good rock to sit on and cool off a bit . . . . . it was nicer at the bottom of this canyon.
(Chancy joined me for a while)

Down another slot canyon.  I didn't go on this hike.  I found a shade tree and took
a much needed rest!

We used Zion's shuttle service.  There was a family on the bus talking about how many states they had visited.
They came up with 9 and were so proud.  Lincoln and I started talking about it, and it would have been easier
for us to list the states we HADN'T visited!!!!!  We just let the family bask in their glory!!

I love this picture . . . . it is now the background of my laptop computer.  Me and my boys!
Bryce Canyon.

So gorgeous!  (no not me!!!)  

Yes, he is gorgeous!!!  This shows the trail we had hiked so far!

It was so hot, that I convinced Lincoln that we needed to take the horse tour around Bryce instead of hiking it all.
A fateful decision.  I can finally look at these pictures and not feel queasy.  See the caps we had on?  We
were warned not to wear them because they spooked the horses when they blow off of your head.  There was not
a breath of a breeze and so we kept them on.

Happy as a clam! (hmmm are clams happy?)

You wouldn't believe it from this "capless" picture than a mini cloud burst stormed through the canyon,
flipped our caps off and spooked the horse that Justin was on which caused the horse to gallop off on the
opposite direction and successfully get rid of its rider.  Poor Justin.  It was the first time he had been on a horse
since he was a toddler and didn't know what to do.

Me handing out the caps . . . . an ambulance ride, an emergency room visit and an x-ray showed that
Justin had broken a small bone in his back.
YIKES . . . . what a journey that started.  He still feels pain from that accident.

Just a picture I like . . . . . I think those were the storm clouds that violently blew in and out of the canyon.

The desolate beauty of Utah. and the beginning of our 35 plus hour trip home.  We were going to visit the
Grand Canyon on this trip, but because of the accident decided to just go home.

 The Joy . . . . . The pain . . . . .

LIFE.