my Dad

I have been putting off writing this post because I didn't know where to start.

On October 28, my dad passed away.

I've been thinking about what to write that would adequately

describe how I feel about my dad and I think the best thing to do is to share some of the things that I've written in my journal about the things that he loved and some of the memories I have of him. Hopefully, those of you who didn't know him will get to know him from what I share and those of you who did know him will be able to relate and enjoy the same memories...

-my dad gave great hugs and kisses

-my dad was very intelligent

-my dad loved tickling anybody who would jump when he did it...

- my dad was a spiritual giant

-my dad loved ice hockey - playing as a kid and watching as an adult

-my dad loved playing games, his grandkids and the fourth of July

-my dad loved to go out on the quads in the mountains of Utah

- my dad was a great builder of rooms, patios, hope chests - you name it, he built it.

- my dad loved to take my kids out for their first driving lesson in the hills by their home

the list could go on for a long time and probably will in my journal, but for now, this is it. I will miss my dad and all the fun things he would do, but I know that he is okay. How grateful I am for the knowledge that I have of a resurrection and of a life after this one, that I will be with my family forever and knowing that he is with loved ones who have gone on before him. I will be forever grateful to my dad and mom who chose to teach me and guide me and help me to become the person I am. I owe both of them so much...

For several years now, David and Vickie have invited us to go to Hawaii with them at this time of year. They come over for a conference that they are part of and each time we have to say no because of other commitments (school, kids, life in general...). But this year we said yes... Brian is the only one home, but Richard and Nickie were here to keep an eye on things, so off we went to Hawaii! Also, we usually visit Kauai and Oahu, but this trip we went to Maui which was a lot of fun.

When we arrived to Oahu, we got a phone call from my mom letting us know that my dad had passed away. It was a devastating blow to say the least. He had been suffering with Alzheimer's disease for a couple of years and was getting worse, but I didn't know how bad it was till my mom called. The next few days were hard and made our trip a bit different.

As always, the sunsets on Waikiki were amazing and we enjoyed
walking along the beach to watch them each night.

We made plans to visit with Bradley a few times who is in school at BYU Hawaii,
but because we didn't rent a car, he usually came to town to see us.

We had dinner a couple of times and enjoyed Halloween, Hawaiian style...

The funeral for my dad was held on Nov 5, so we flew to Maui, then immediately left the next day for Utah. Several of our children were able to come to the funeral, even Taylor, who was given permission to come.

After the funeral, we flew back to Maui and met up with David and Vickie and had a great time with them.

Black Rock, where we did some snorkeling

along the road to Hana

We arrived in Hana and I guess I was expecting something more, but this is it. A sleepy little Hawaiian town. We bought a t-shirt so everyone would know that we had been there...

This is a place called the Seven Pools and it was beautiful.
We hiked in to the area and found a lot of people swimming and jumping off the rocks.
You can see how big it is by the size of the people.

It took us a while to find this church but we finally found it. love it! It was really cute.

Our favorite place to eat while we were there. Bubba Gump's in Lahaina.
Robert and I ate here three times...

One day we walked down to see some of the other hotels and we found this
one hotel that had a little area where they had these penguins! So cool!

The view from our room. The clouds and the mountains were beautiful!
You can see a rainbow on the mountain on the left.

In the airport on the way home. We will meet up with Larry & Melanie, who have been vacationing on the big Island and will be on the same flight home with us.

On our last day in Maui, we got a call from the airlines telling us that our flight back to the mainland from Oahu would be delayed several hours. We met Larry & Melanie at the airport.

Catherine enjoying the flowers as we walked to the restaurant...

We decided to use the dinner vouchers they gave us and enjoy our last evening on the island.

Catherine was really loving these fish at the restaurant and kept trying to catch them!

We had such a good time with David and Vickie and are happy we were finally able to go to Maui with them!

A Great Time of Year...

I think Fall is officially here! I love this time of year because it's starting to cool down just a touch and I can finally start putting out the decorations.

Brian was in his High School choir concert this week and was chosen to sing the introduction solo for the song entitled, Loch Lomond, which is a Scottish folk song. Some of you might know it better as "You take the high road and I'll take the low road..." We're excited about this because he hasn't been in a choir for several years now. He's in the men's choir, which has 22 young men in it and his director asked him to do the solo. He did an excellent job and it was beautiful!

Taylor has been stationed at the Navy Seal training center in San Diego for the past few months, but he has decided to train to be part of the EOD teams (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and recently received his new assignment. He will be leaving Sunny California for Wintery Great Lakes, Illinois, next week. After 3 weeks there, he will go to Florida for about a year where he will get extensive training on how to diffuse bombs. Robert drove to California to help Taylor pack, and they will drive home. Taylor will spend a few days in Arizona with his family, then will go to Utah to visit friends then he is off to Great Lakes, Illinois.

Life's Changes...

Life is always changing and we have had a lot of changes in our home. A couple of weeks ago we went to California to visit our son, Taylor, who is stationed in San Diego going through the Navy Seal program.

This is the view from the Marriott where we stayed. We had hoped to stay
on base, but there were no available rooms. We enjoyed our stay here a lot.

We took a walk down the boardwalk one day and loved it...

This is the beach where Taylor does his running and workouts. You'll notice a sign that
says to stay out... We are at the end of the public beach and the beginning of Navy property...

This huge big tower is the Dive Tower where he gets a lot of the dive training and instruction

Taylor's training has been extremely strenuous and he is learning a lot. He is in the

phase called "Indoctrination" which is similar to what he will experience in B.U.D.S. training,
which includes beach running and the obstacle course. His marks have been very good.



These are some pictures from the entrance to the base and just a picture of Taylor.
And then of course we had to spend one day at the beach so Taylor could surf...

One of Taylor's friends


It was a good trip and we were glad to see where Taylor is and get a feel for what he is doing.

Last week, Robert and I went to Utah with our son, Benjamin, to get him settled at BYU in Provo, Utah. He will be attending the Fall and Winter semesters there and I think he's ready for it. He will be living in the Heritage Halls area of student housing. Brian is our only child living at home now, although our oldest son, Richard, and his wife Nickie and their two children, Sadie and Mason, have been living with us since May. They have been in Utah since July while Richard does a rotation for Vet School, but will come back here in September. Richard working with one of the horses...

We love having our children and grandchildren here so close and strengthening those ties.

Kimber and Ryan are in New York for about 10 days to visit places that Ryan served on his mission and to see the sites. They will visit Niagara Falls while they are there, see the play "Wicked" and have already seen the Statue of Liberty.

Kelli and her husband recently moved to Alpine where they are renting a house on an acre of land. They should have plenty of room for their family now!

Goals Realized

This has been a very eventful week for our family.

On Sunday, Ben passed his Eagle Board of Review. Ben planned and organized the planting of trees at Barney Park for his Eagle Project. They were much needed for shade near the ball park. Ben is our fifth son to attain the rank of Eagle and we are so pleased that he has chosen to strive for this goal.

On Tuesday, we flew to Utah with Ben and helped him move into his apartment at Heritage Halls, in Provo, where he will be attending Brigham Young University. He will attend for one year before he leaves for his Mission next Fall.

On Thursday, our son, Brian, passed his Eagle Board of Review, making him our sixth and last son to attain the rank of Eagle. Brian organized a Food Drive for the United Food Bank in Mesa.

He and Ben worked together to get all the paperwork for their Eagle rank in and we're so happy that they were able to achieve this goal at the same time.

We are so proud of all our boys for having participated in the Scouting program. We feel it has been a blessing in their lives in helping to shape them into men of integrity, strength and courage. A big thank you to all of their scout leaders, young men leaders, teachers and anyone else who has had a hand in helping them to reach their goals and becoming the people they are!

2008 Hawaii Trip

We just returned from our yearly vacation in Hawaii. This trip we took our four youngest children, Bradley, Lindsay, Benjamin & Brian. We also took Lindsay's good friend, Amy Miles. We had a wonderful time on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. We did several new things this trip including a five hour Catamaran trip around the north shore of Kauai to see the Napali Coast. We saw dolphins swimming in the wake of our boat, some flying fish and got to snorkel in the beautiful blue waters.

Poipu Beach on Kauai

Laie, Oahu Temple

Spouting Horn on Kauai

Sunset at Ko Olina on Oahu

Some of the highlights of the trip were the amazing snorkeling we did on both islands, the scuba diving that everyone did but Mom (she's the designated book reader...), drinking smoothies by the pool (Amy's favorite), visiting the waterfalls, visiting the Temple, hiking to Queen's Bath and jumping off rocks at Luma Hai and Waimea Bay.
The sand is amazing, the water bluer than blue and the weather couldn't have been better. The only thing that could have been an improvement would be to have had all of our children there with us. We love being together as a family and experiencing this beautiful place together.