Frandsens September visit

Kristen and her kids and also Brad (her father-in-law) came to see us for a week in September. She got to spend some time with Lori and her family too. Kate was a hot item as everyone wanted to hold her all the time. She was a really good sport.

 Picnic with the crew. It was lots of fun to have Lori and her kids come up for a visit.

 We went on a little hike on the way to Bryce Canyon and these hikers did a great job. The rest of the picture misses a mossy cave.

 Beautiful Bryce Canyon where I fretted the whole time about kids being too close to the edge.

 The Asian women at Bryce went nuts over Kate and Lydia. Brent let this little Grandma hold Kate and she was delighted. The whole group behind us was taking pictures and clapping.

 Grandpa Brent and Grandpa Brad holding the littles. Brittany was able to come on Sunday afternoon and stayed for a few days. We were happy that she could do that.

 Landon and Melanie caught fish and a snake. Nothing like the great outdoors.

 Look at that boy climb!

 Look at that girl climb!

Brittany celebrated her birthday with us and here she is with her boys on the talking rock.

Caden and Abby couldn't get enough of Baby Kate. None of us could.

 Landon made a Lincoln Log house and playground that he was pretty proud of.

Climbing wall in the grandchildren's room

No self-respecting grandchildrens room would be complete without a climbing wall.  Now ours has climbing holds on both sides of the end of the beds. 

There climbing holds also double as the access to the upper bunk beds.  If the child is too small to climb up the holds and climb onto the upper bed, they they are too small to be on the upper bunks.

However, this climbing wall has not yet been kid tested and approved.  I have stood or held on each hold to be sure it will support the grandkids, but I can't say that the holds are in a good position for kids.  Wonder if anyone will offer to test out the holds for us?

Jamestown, Colombia, San Francisco, Big Trees

For our early anniversary trip we decided to go to Jamestown and see the houses we lived in and also how the mine reclamation looked. It has been 20 years since we left and things do change. There are two businesses on the road before our house and we talked to a guy that said that Buchard Gardens bought all the surrounding land and plans to build a garden like the one in Canada. That is if they can get through the red tape involved.

The first house we lived in was torn down and they had a gate and no trespassing signs so we couldn't get pictures of the horse stalls and arena. This house looked pretty good though.

 This is table top and sure did bring back some good memories of the horses.

 This is where the mine was and I was pretty disappointed that it didn't look better. I really thought that after 20 years it wouldn't look like a mine (nothing against mines).

 The pond where many frogs were caught and where Missy loved to swim.

 Columbia State Park was a huge favorite and hadn't changed at all.

 The kids used to love to climb on these rocks.

 I could picture Scott with his fiddle. Lots of good memories.

 I just thought this sticker was pretty funny.

 Windmills on the way to San Francisco.

 This was taken on the way down Lombard St. The windiest st. in the world.

 I like this building in downtown San Francisco.

 Big Trees State Park

 This tree fell over many years ago and this shows how huge the root system was.

 Fun, fun trip.

Latest Rhino Ride

We are way overdue in updating our blog site.  Lots of kids visits, new baby.  We will get caught up soon.  Decided to start with the most recent and work back. 

Today I took a ride on the Rhino with a group of 4 other.  We traveled a total of 50 miles, west of Kanab, and south of Zion. 

this first shot is called the Barracks Overlook.  Beautiful canyon with the east fork of the Virgin River in the bottom, the white rocks in the backgroud is East Zion.

This shot is something called the Warrior's Walk.  No one has any idea what it is about.  This path goes for about 2 - 3 hundred yards across the slick rock.  Someone went to a lot of work to move these rocks, some would weigh several hundred pounds.  It pre-dates the whites in this country. 

This is an overview shot of the Warriors walk, if you look closely you can see the path.

This shot is called the mail drop,  In the early days, the mail would be lowered down on a rope, and the mail coming from the other side was hauled up on a rope.  A lot shorther than going around on the Arizona Strip or above Zion.  Looking down the canyon you can see Springville, just outside of Zion.

Connor and Kate

We have a beautiful, healthy new grandson named Connor Steven Chamberlain. He was born on February 21st weighed 9 lb. 4oz and is a welcome addition to Scott and Brittany's little family. Melanie and Lucas have adjusted well to this little doll and everyone sure does love him.

 Our adorable little granddaughter is named Kate Frandsen. She made her very quick appearance on April 4th (Lydia's birthday) and weighed 8 lb. 14 oz. She is just a perfect, beautiful little girl and we sure do love her. Landon and Lydia are also adjusting to this new little one and they are a darling little family.

 Here she is sporting her Easter dress.

We know that Connor and Kate will be great friends just like Landon and Melanie and Lucas and Lydia. Nothing like cousins that are best friends.