Weekend in Wyoming

Clark is a pilot. No surprise there. When you drive, sometimes your car breaks down. When you fly sometimes your plane has engine troubles too. Several weeks ago on a return trip from Dickensen, ND, Clark's plane developed some problems. Fortunately he was near enough to an airport to land safely. The problem was diagnosed and he was able to fly on to Casper, WY, where there is a mechanic that he felt comfortable with. He had to leave the plane and rent a car to come home.

When it was time to return the car and pick up the plane we decided to make an overnighter of it. There are two routes to Casper. East through Craig, CO, and then north or strait north to Rock Springs. I love to eat at Long John Silver's. I got hooked while we lived in Midland, and I try to go any chance I get. There is not a single LJS in Utah. Boo hoo. Clark promised we could go to LJS in Rock Springs so we drove north towards Rock Springs, WY. At Dutch John, UT, there is a sign letting you know if the road north is open or closed. The state of WY does not plow that road during the winter. The sign said "CLOSED". I questioned the sign (remember how bad I wanted to go to LJS). About that time a 4-wheel drive pickup zipped past us. We were in a little Hyundai Elantra. Well, if he could make it, surely we could. Most of the 50 miles was OK, just typical Wyoming wind blowing snow. But there were several spots where the kind pickup driver had to break trail for us. Yes, the road truly should have been closed, at least to us. My husband loves and spoils me, sometimes against his better judgement. We made it to Long John Silver's and had a totally delicious meal. By the way, I made it to a LJS while we were in Scottsdale in January. Twice already. It's shaping up to be a good year.

After the promised meal, we drove on to Rawlins, WY, and spent the night. The next morning we continued to Casper. We made a stop at the LDS Historical site of Martin's Cove. Winter time is not a big tourist time so most of the site was closed, but we did walk through the visitor's center. Personally, I think they should conduct the handcart tours in the winter so you could really get a feel for what the pioneers went through. ;) It was cold and blowing while we were there.

Independence Rock. I was a little disappointed. I expected something huge, I guess. Although, it does say "rock" not mountain. The story goes that some of the first pioneers arrived at this spot on July 4th, hence the name Independence Rock. After that the wagon trains tried to be at this spot by July 4th in order to make a timely arrival in the Salt Lake Valley (or other points west) before winter set in. We drove on in to Casper, picked up the plane -- running like a champ I might add, and made the 6 hour drive up into a 1 hour and 10 minute flight home. Pretty awesome weekend with my sweetheart.

Cousins = Friends, Again

All the school age grandchildren had President's Day off so we planned another cousin = friends get together. I made the circuit and picked them all up on Friday. Saturday Grandpa broke out the marine surplus parachute and the kids (except Kade) loved it. First they ran with it and then once it was inflated the kids would duck under it and let it collapse on them. When they got tired of that they spread it out over the trampoline frame and played under it for a while. After they were tired of that, Clark strung a line from the fort to the swing set and made a tent. Kade was OK with that.

Later that day we went for a little hike. This rock was a little slick, but with a little (OK, a lot) of Grandpa help we got them all situated for a photo. Bless their little hearts, they get so tired of Grandma (and Grandpa) aiming a camera at them. I have no memories of my grandparents so I guess I try to over do so even if they don't actually remember the activity, there will be photo documentation that we did do things together. After the hike we took the kids back to the house and had lunch. We put Kade down for a nap and I took the others to the Jumpin' Jivin' (inflatable toys) House. We've gone several times and I forgot the camera every time. They do enjoy that. One of these times I'll remember the camera (much to their dismay, I'm sure).

Basket Ball with the Boys

The two oldest grandsons were both playing Jr. Jazz/Rec Center basket ball this winter. We made a couple of trips to the city to watch them. It was the first year Lije (#40) has played. He did pretty good, even made a few baskets during the season.

Mick has played for several years. We think of him as a fairly tall kid, but he was certainly not the tallest on his team this year. It is so fun to watch the kids and be part of their lives.

Scottsdale

Towards the end of January Clark had the opportunity to take a class in Scottsdale, AZ. My good friend, Fran, lives in Surprise, AZ, so I was tickled to go with Clark and spend some time with her. She drove over to Scottsdale on Wednesday and we spent the afternoon in the Desert Botanical Garden. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of cacti. At the entrance to the garden is this display. The yellowish green cacti are actually glass sculptures. They were beautiful in the bright sunlight. A Micky Mouse cactus. This guy looks like he is ready for Christmas, with a wreath hanging on his arm. :)Saturday morning we were looking for something to do together since Clark had been in class for 3 days and I had been playing/shopping. If you're a golfer or an art museum enthusiast there is a lot to do in the area. We are neither, so we ended up at the Phoenix Zoo. There are some beautiful animals there, but the tiger is always my favorite.

Christmas with J J L

Jarod, Jamie, and Lilli (aka J J L) chose to spend Christmas eve and morning with us. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I always love having my Christmas baby home with me on his birthday. I made this advent calendar while we lived in Texas - before any children. For the most part, turning over days is a first come, first served thing. Frequently when I was doing day care a day got turned over, turned back, and turned over again so everyone could have a turn. The girls usually turned over the angels and we tried to get the other kids to turn over their birthday number. But there are 3 days that are set in stone. The 23rd is Mary, me. The 24th is Joseph, Clark. The 25th, is the baby Jesus, Jarod. We always, always sang happy birthday to him, let him turn over his day, and then we could have Christmas. One year they were not going to be in Vernal for Christmas but were here for Thanksgiving. I got the calendar set up and he turned his day over first, just so I would know he had had his turn. Lilli is such a good cuddler. We love having this sweet family in our home. Right in the front of the picture, there is a treat -- chocolate mice. A Hershey's kiss is the face, a chocolate dipped cherry is the body and tail, and sliced almonds for the ears -- all set on 1/2 of an Oreo cookie. For as much as I hate the real thing, these mice were pretty sweet.

Olsen Caroling Party

The weekend of the 11th Annual Olsen Family Caroling Party blessed us with a house full of family. The grandkids were there to help Grandpa untangle lights and get them up in the tree out front. We had to decorate the kids first though to make sure all the lights worked. The same day we made about 12 dozen spudnuts to deliver to friends and neighbors. Natalie was a huge help. Tori and Jake had a good time also. Eating was the best part. That evening we took the traditional fruit baskets to the 3 aunts and uncles that are still with us. We have such a fun time caroling to them. Aunt Ellen always has delicious cookies for us. My Aunt Gladys insisted we come inside this year. The kids had a hard time keeping their hands off the wildlife. Aunt Marilyn gets something for us to take back to the church to share. Then it was back to the church for a yummy chili dinner and then games. We got pretty creative this year. I found a "Family Feud" game online. FUN FUN FUN!! Everyone -- young to old -- had a super time. Sheila was the MC and I was the answer uncover-er. Brad was the first one up on the Olsen team. Megan and Janet (Jackson team) faced off. Adam and Brandy R. After the "Feud" we played Christmas Scattergories. It also was a hit. We had the usual dollar store gift exchange where I read the pass it right/left story. Sheila had a fun "Sweetest Story Ever Told" game. About 40 different kinds of candy were woven into the nativity story and the candy was passed around as it was mentioned. Everyone ended up with something. Like I said, EVERYONE had a good time.

A Fun, Festive Day

Several years ago Clark and I took a summer drive north of here and ended up at the Jarvie Ranch in Brown's Park. It is an interesting little place to wander around. I knew they had a Christmas Festival (http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/vernal/recreation_/browns_park.html) there because Rhett had participated in it when he was in Jr. High and part of the Escape Club. Last year didn't work for us so we made a greater effort to go this year. BURRRRRRR. It was a cold day and the wind was blowing right from the Arctic Circle. But we made it. The crowds were less than half of other years, blaming it on the weather.

There were a number of activities. Most of them were geared to children, although aren't we all young at heart at Christmas? Clark took a short ride on the saw horse saddle.
The blacksmith is a man Clark works with in the Vernal Temple. Mr. Manning took a strap of iron and asked Clark if he saw a horse head in it. Clark said that he did. Mr. Manning then proceeded to create a horse head. Clark helped where he could. This is the finished product. The main reason I wanted to go (call me silly) was to see Santa arrive in a Dorey boat. This was one of the first glimpses of him rounding the corner in the river. Hi Santa!!I was a little too big for his lap, but I definitely sat near enough to place my order. There were other special guests there also. A young lady and her hawk were joined by one of Santa's reindeer. There were horse drawn wagon rides. Did I mention how cooold it was???? After all the fun at the Jarvie Ranch we headed back to Vernal with a stop to cut a Christmas tree. At the Ranch there was no snow on the ground. At McKee Draw where we chose to stop, the same could not be said. I prefer a short needle tree. We walked about 5 miles in snow up to my hips before we found this perfect little beauty. Ok. It probably wasn't five miles, but the snow did go past Clark's knees, so that is fairly close to my hips. I usually am behind the camera so Clark snagged it from me for a second to prove that I really did get out of the truck. You can see the snow is above my knees. That evening we attended the Vernal performance of "Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols." This play, really it is the music, just speaks to me. I bought the 20th anniversary edition of the soundtrack and have just about worn it out already. I had already bought tickets to see it in SLC before a Vernal -- 1st time ever -- performance was announced. So lucky me will get to see it twice this year.

The night before this big day my sweet nephew and his beautiful wife and daughter took Clark and I to dinner and then to the Christmas show of the Bar J Wranglers. They are a cowboy music group that is just wonderful. They have a ranch near Jackson Hole, WY, where they perform at a Chuck Wagon dinner every night all summer. It was a totally different night than Forgotten Carols, but just as enjoyable. Altogether it was a fun, festive weekend.