Snapshot SaturdayI

Here are two weeks worth of photos.  After our first week back of lots of work this week has been nice and relaxing.  I've loved it!

I'll post more of these later, but here is the beginning of a long day of trenching!

Jacob loves helping in the kitchen!

Free pumpkins!  Yummy!  And it is fun for the littles to wander and pick pumpkins.  

Grandma victory!!!  As everyone in Utah knows Simon doesn't let anyone touch him but mom.  Yay for grandma!  And yay for me!   It was nice to have some help that he would accept.

All free produce.  Pears, apples and pumpkins.  Yummy!

The boys like James' new office at church.  Being the financial clerk should be interesting and definitely a learning experience.

We finally had a fire outside and enjoyed hot dogs and s'mores.  It was a great family home evening!

I invited some friends over for a canning party.  It was a great success!  Yay for canning parties.  It is much more fun to can with others. 

I struggled a little but in the end we got to some pancakes this morning.  Happy Halloween!  

Thanks everyone for texting photos.  I love it, but I wanted to post some as well.  Love you all!

Redneck joy

I love my redneck kids and I love living here!

Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S®4 Active™, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

So Many Photos from our Trip

Well, I just figured I would post a whole bunch of fun pictures with the family.  Given that my little ones wanted my attention all the time I was impressed I got this many.  I just want to thank all of you who helped me along the way.  You may not have noticed or felt that you were helping, but you all helped by welcoming us into your homes, feeding us, playing with us and just being a great family!  Thank you!!!

Now you can enjoy some fun photos!

Simon and Isabelle.  They had their ups and downs but in the end they were friends!

Having a big brother around is always reassuring.  

Hyrum was excited to push Simon and Isabelle.  They were great passengers.

Isabelle enjoyed some yummy food!  What a cutie!

David and all the other littles just love the Bumbo!  Who knew it would make a great toy and booster seat at the table!

Looking at fun pictures while taking pictures.  This little girl loves to have her picture taken.  And she is just as photogenic as her mother.

Hanging out at Jodi's house!  These kids are just too cute!

Lighting candles makes for a cute picture!

Daniel and Joshua are getting ready to blow them all out!

The Walton's enjoyed the soccer game with us!

Even Isabelle made it through the game.  She was quite the trooper!

I only post this because of the great photobomber!  Ella,  You crack me up!

To extend our trip just a little we took Bryce with us.  It was great having him drive the first part of the trip, so I could sleep.  That came in really handy since sleep was not on Hyrum's list of things to do that night.  It was a real life saver!  But then we made the trip in 19 hrs as promised!  We rock!  This picture is just the beginning of a long day of trenching.  It took 10 hours to get it done.  And then right after we finished it broke.  Lots of prayers of thanks going up tonight for helping the trencher make it to the end!

And there you go!  It was a fun trip with a lot of fun people!  Love you all!

Warblings of the Wanderer

It is still Friday somewhere, so I thought I'd share a few of the adventures had with Dad over the last week in China. 

I'm pretty sure I'll get in trouble for sharing this photo, but I couldn't resist. We enjoyed a nice foot massage on our third night, and it was we'll deserved after the walking I put Dad through. Let's just say that we put his daily 2 mile treadmill walk to shame. Everyday. As you can see, the clothes didn't exactly fit... But the pear juice was amazing!

We visited the Summer Palace to round out our week. Located in the far Northwest of the city, it was strangely serene, and had a sense of spiritual. Not something you always experience in China. This picture was taken as we made our way down the back side of Longevity Hill. Dad thinks it has its name because if you make it up, you're bound to live a long time :) The walk down was quiet, with no one passing by. 

We decided that with my long arms, selfie sticks were unnecessary. The background is the temple built high on Longevity Hill. Quite the site. 

Look at that handsome man! I didn't realize Dad was such a people watcher. We sat and people watched for a good ten minutes!

And a sad note to end on... Oh, the air. I've been here when it has been worse. But even this is hard for a Westerner to understand. To give you a reference point, when Salt Lake gets really bad (their red air or don't burn days in the winter), the air quality is around 35-50. Yeah... Will be grateful to go back to my mountains. 

Photo Friday

It's been awhile. Hello Photo Friday! Fancy seeing you here. Long time no see.

This is how I got some canning/preserving done. They loved the fort.

Fire safety day put on by the city. It was a great FHE activity.

The birthday girls got nightgowns from their cousins. 

Vida was soooo scared to get her kindergarten shots. She screamed loud when
 the nurse came in to give the shots. And cried loud afterward.

Stopping by to get a Kolache while out running errands in the morning. We've
made a habit of it. Maybe I should stop?

Trying on her sisters' shoes and loving it.

Family Memories

Elizabeth, Byron and Nephi.  There are two candles so this should be December 22, 2957.

Moving to Utah.  Back when we had to be dressed up to travel.

I am guessing the summer of 1958.  Dog in background is Laddy.

I like these ...

Mom's Birthday Celebration 1980

Calvin, Mom, Roger and Byron around 1959.  Hutchings home in South Jordan.