Christmas goes by SO fast

Had a great day. Our 5th Christmas here in Utah. Hard to believe. The first couple we spent at relatives, but now we're blessed to have enough of our own family here to stay home.











Oh, yeah, the sweaters. I bought Janet hers either last Christmas, or the one before. Then her sister Lorraine came home from the D.I. the other day, "I think I found the same sweater". We all had a good laugh. Those 2 haven't dressed the same since they were like 7 or 8.

More Ebay finds

I've been looking for an old malt mixer for some 10 years now. Should have bought some of the ones I looked at 10 years ago. They just keep going thru the roof in pricing! Nice ones with porcelain towers go for in the $300-ish range now. Used to be more like $100 or so. Almost bought one at the antique show in Ogden a couple months ago, but the guy was kind of a weasel with his prices. He still had the price tags on from where he bought a bunch of stuff back east, and couldn't see why I was upset that the tagged price wasn't the selling price. Tag said $45, he wanted $85. Go figure.
So, I found an almost identical one on Ebay, for just shy of what he paid for his. Nyaa, nyaa!


Snagged this one for like $39.40, INCLUDING shipping. Has a 1922 patent date on it, and it even still works!
Now, where to put it...........

Hope ya had a good Thanksgiving!

Had a little smaller crowd this year, but enjoyable all the same. I am VERY thankful for my wonderful family!
Oh, and the china set we used this year belonged to Janet's grandmother(her mom's mom). Made it kinda special.

30 years

Today was our 30th anniversary! Already!
I should wax poetic here, but it's late and I'm tired, and my brain ain't workin' too well.
I'm just VERY glad we've made it this far together. Looking back, I can't think of anyone else that it would've worked out with. I'm not easy to live with, and Janet's patience and consistance has gotten us thru alot.
We met thru the church Young Adult group in 1976, before we both went on missions. Our relationship almost didn't make it those 2 years, but it did. I can't help but believe it was "meant to be". I know. "How quaint." But really, I think it was that way. God knows who we need in life, and he all but took us both by the hand and said "Here you go. Make it work."
"Ok, Ok!"
And now I'm very glad we're here, in this house, in this town, doing what we're doing together. I hope we can have another 20, or, what the heck, another 30 years together! Love ya Hon!!

Well......that was fun! (?)

Got to take a trip to the emergency room last nite from work. Gashed the side of my hand open. At first i thought I just bumped my hand. Then I looked at it, and saw it was cut. No biggee. I cut my hands and fingers all the time at work. Part of being a machinist(masochist?)
But then I moved my fingers, and that "cut" just kinda gaped open, and I saw muscles inside! Four stitches is all it took though. Been kinda sore off and on since.

Anyhoo.....
I need to dig thru pix and archives and get something of substance on here again. been awhile. Was thinking I promised aunt Fayes girls more pix of uncle Gordon, so may go thru all mom's albums and see what I haven't scanned in yet.

Hope everyone has a good holiday season as we approach it. Wish we could get around and see everyone. Family is what makes the season. Best thing we ever did as an extended family(Lane & I, plus all of Janet's family) several years ago, was we decided to stop trying to christmas shop for EVErYONE. It just got to be too much. Once we decided to just take care of our immediate family, and then just to enjoy each others company for Christmas, it was agreed we all enjoyed it alot more. So let me just pass that suggestion along. Things are tight enough out there right now anyway, so conserve. There's many ways of giving without it involving a big financial burden.
So, those of you we don't get to see, have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas! We love all of you, and think of you all often!

A few random pix

Was looking thru a box of pix of our family, and thought I'd share(mostly to my kids). Doesn't seem like the 80's were all that long ago!!!!!

Hippo birdie to my favorite oldest daughter

What the heck?! 29 already?
Ya know, she still has that same intelligent look, too!(Becky, not her mom)

Welcome to a new family member!

Sucked ya in with that title, huh?!
Here's the new family member, for the one or 2 that just might care.
Found it on the internet, after weeks of research and study, and searching. Wanted something to step in place of my poor, tired old Subaru. I was gonna buy another Subie, but for various reasons, didn't. But I like the utility of a station wagon, it had to get good gas mileage(like up near 30 mpg hiway), it had to be something with a good solid dependability rating(which eliminated ANYTHING domestic), be within a certain budget, and decent in the snow. Oh, and have air conditioning that works!
So, Toyota is about the only thing that I kept coming back to. Subies have a couple issues that scared me off, like blowing head gaskets, mainly. Then I remembered that Toyota used to make a Camry station wagon. They're kinda rare, and stopped building them back in like '94 or '95. Found a '93 down in Orem, but it had a kajillion miles on it, and '93s have the old freon A/C system, which you really can't get serviced anymore(hence, my Subies demise). Finally found this one, after widening the search. In Denver. Colorado. Yes, 500 stinking miles away! But it looked pretty clean, and only has 97,000 miles on it, which for a Camry is barely broken in. So, after a few phone calls, off we went Friday with the truck & trailer. Got there just before midnite and caught a hotel. (BTW, if ya want a nice hotel to stay at near Denver, find the Raddison Hotel. Awesome hotel! they have SleepComfort beds, and were cheaper than a stupid Holiday Inn Express by almost $50!) Got up saturday and had breakfast, then went over to the dealer. (They had some neat toys inside! An old Chrysler 300, and a '62 Cadillac almost like the '61 my folks had when I was a kid) The Camry turned out to be almost as good as they claimed. Needs a couple things, but overall is a real nice driver!



Oh, and the thing has a back seat, like the old station wagons of the 60's and 70's! This thing can haul around 7 people! And it's not a minivan, or a SUV!



(Sorry 'bout that last comment. If you happen to LIKE minivans, or SUV's, that's ok. But I hate 'em personally)

Utah moms RULE!

Had to applaud this article on KSL web site:

"SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A U.S. Census Bureau report says Utah is tied with Arizona for having the lowest percentage of children with both parents in the work force.
The report says 53 percent of Utah children have at least one parent at home.
Jeannene Smalley of West Jordan says her children are better off having her at home with them. She gave up her job years ago to become a stay-at-home mother.
"I don't regret it at all," said Smalley, who worked as a special needs teacher. "We had just decided it was important for me to be there at home to help our kids grow up. I have loved every minute of it."
According to the report, nationwide, there were 5.6 million stay-at-home mothers in 2007 who were caring for children younger than 15. That was about one-fourth of all married-couple families. There were 165,000 stay-at-home fathers.
Information for the report came from the American Community Survey.
"Despite press and academic attention, stay-at-home parents are a small proportion of married parents," the report said.
In a first-ever analysis of the nation's stay-at-home moms, the Census Bureau found they were more likely to be younger than 35, Hispanic and have lower education levels than mothers in the work force. They also have younger children.
In some aspects, Christa Storms of West Valley City fits that profile. She is a 29-year-old high school graduate who has three children at home who are 7, 5 and 2. She does some data entry from home to supplement her family's income, although the says her husband makes enough to support them.
"I believe that no one else is going to love my kids the way I will," she said. "I want to be the one there for them and make sure they are alright."
The report also said Utah had the highest percentage of households maintained by married couples with children younger than 18, at 82 percent.
In comparison, on a national level 67 percent of households with children younger than 18 were maintained by married couples in 2007."

I never put down moms that work. Ya do what ya have to do, and it's each persons decision.
But Janet and I made an agreement when we got married that she'd be a home-mommy. It was a serious sacrifice for us over the years. We did without alot. Drove crappy cars, lived in crappy homes in crappy neighborhoods, bought alot of stuff at second-hand shops, ect. But looking back, we wouldn't do it any different. The kids have a strong sense of family, and always had a parent to go to when they needed to.

Stupid things to wonder about

I don't know why these things pop up in my feeble brain.
Got home from work tonite. Ok. Let's see what left-overs there are for me to fix. Ahh! Ham and scallop potatoes! yummy!(how do you spell "scallop" anyway?)
I'm putting stuff on a plate, rinsing off a couple utensils, then it hits me...
"So, what the heck is the whole point of a garbage disposal anyway?(we don't have one) Is it REALLY that hard to, oh, I don't know, walk all the way over to the garbage can, and dump stuff in there? What's the point? Just another damn appliance to break. Worse yet, another damn appliance to leak water all over the place!"
I don't know why these things pop up in my feeble brain.

Ah, Fall....

.....just around the corner.
I used to hate fall. Detest it. As soon as I'd se trees starting to turn color, the funk would set in. -sigh- Here we go. Another long, grey, dreary Washington winter. 9 months of grey. Gray, grey, grai, blah, blah, blah.
Lessee....arsnic....razor blades.....gun is loaded.....rope tied into a noose....prozac.....
Ok. All set for the depression. Let's get on with it.

Then we moved to Utah!
Oh, look how pretty the trees are! And now I can shut off the air conditioners, open the windows, get some fresh air. Take a walk without getting all sweaty.
Winter? Snow? Big deal. Ya get a couple days of snow. Then several days of sun. A few more days of snow. A bunch more days of sun.
I LOVE fall!

Grandma Clark visits

A big dinner! Lotsa corn on the cob, and fresh tomatoes. Ya shoulda been here!

Yellowstone in the winter

Just signed up for a 3-day Yellowstone va-ca this coming January.
http://yellowstonesnowmobiletrips.com/package3.html
Some friends did this last winter, and had a blast. First day, you go out on snowmobiles with a guide, and see all the sights. Then the next day, they cut you loose with snowmobiles, to go where ever you want(ya gotta stay on the trails tho')

My mum

Wanted to post a bunch of pix of my mom, mostly for my kids benefit. She was a cutie!







and....






I need to get Aunt Elaine to write up a story about Auntie Ri(tie) for us younger generation. I've heard countless stories, but nothing I can really accuately repeat. I just know she really wasn't an aunt, but an old school marm that took my mom's family in, and she became as family to them. Seems to me that she taught Grandpy Kellogg in school.

1951

This was taken in Enoch, Utah(just outside Cedar City). The back has written "Enoch, Utah 1951. Bro. Jones and son(Chuck's friend), Chuck, Dad, Mom, Carole, Gordon"
Nana & Grandpy moved down to Enoch for a year or so, before moving on to California. (It's a safe bet my mom was preg-o with Lane when this was taken) I guess a job Grandpy was promised there didn't pan out, so they moved on.

Getting hard to keep track.....

...of what I've used so far. My file has 141 pix in it so far. I don't think I've posted these yet. I usually don't scan unless I'm going to post the right away, but looking back thru, I don't see these.
So, here's a couple more!




BTW, I'm pretty sure that my dad & Keith in the backseat of that T-Bird you guys had.

There really were good times

This picture made me laugh when I found it. Pictures of my parents like this just don't exist! We all remember my dad's sense of humour. And mom did have one, too. But she just wasn't given to laughing out loud! (At least not when she wasn't around her older sis). I think this may be one of the most important pictures I've found of my folks so far. I love it! I always recall mom giving dad "the look" when he was trying to be funny around her.
This proves otherwise, huh?!

The 'ol Benz

Sold my baby a couple years ago. Hated to see it go. A sweet 'ol car. But it was getting to need more TLC than I had time for anymore, so off it went.
Well, I can't seem to get away from it. The new owners only live a few blocks away. Seems they busted a headlight, and didn't know where to look for a new one. They aren't anything you can pick up at Autozone. So they gave me a call(while I was on vacation). Went over to their house and took a peek at what it needed. Looked sad, sitting there in their carport, busted headlight and all. But, they are giving it a good home. It actually had blankets spread all over it to protect it from the cats, and it stays in the carport through the winter, just like I did.
It's hard to let your kids go, but it's nice when they find a good home!

I hate flying!

Our little va-ca was awesome. Glad we drove. Took 2 days to get up there, but drove straight thru coming home. Almost 13 hours flat. It's exhausting to drive, but I'll take it over flying. Last couple times I flew, I absolutely couldn't wait to get off the damn plane! The stupid security check-in. The cattle-call getting on. The fat sweaty guy you sit next to(oh, wait. I was that fat sweaty guy.) The broken seat back I had to endure one flight. The quesey stomach every time the airplane dips and sways. And you call that a SNACK?!?!
No thanks. Give me the wide open hiway! Well, Idaho is a little TOO wide and open. But heck. This is a beautiful country(most of it). You can stop and go as you please. Snack as you please. Meet people.
There was the guy with the old hot-rod at the gas station in Nampa Idaho. Rolled down the window and talked to him for a minute as he was getting ready to leave.
There was the nice folks at the rest stop taking turns holding the 2 year old outside the restroom.
There's the sights. We've made a small list of fun things to watch for along the way. At the top of my blog right now is a picture of one of our fav's. Beautiful Lake Bob, just north of Baker, Oregon. It's a smallish man-made lake, more of a big pond. Right off the freeway, in front of a farmhouse. We laugh every trip.
"here it comes."
Look! There it is! Lake Bob!"
Silly really. We keep watching for Lake Martha. Has to be along there SOMEWHERE.
Oh, then there's the old homestead we want to buy for a summer cabin just s little further south.


Now, how ya gonna have all that excitement flying at 30,000 feet?
There probably are limits. Our trip back to Minnesota a few years back was a bit too long. Two and a half exhausting days, each way!
But no. I'll keep driving,thank you very much.

too many pictures!

Had an awesome vacation!
We hit Lake Chelan on the way up and spent a couple days with our good friends the Kencks. For some dumb reason, I didn't take any pics there.(note to self....)
Then went up over the pass and spent most of the rest of the time at daughter Becky's place with her and her hubby Jim. And of course our most awesome 2 grandkids, Owen and Samantha.




Spent the 4th at my brother Lane's. Great day! And totally great weather!






Got to see Lane's new toy!



And then went down to Tacoma and spent a fun day at Uncle Dale's and Aunt Darlene's, and Mark and his family.





All in all, a great vacation. We didn't do anything "fun" so to speak. No Disneyland. No Las Vegas. Just time with the most important thing in our life, family and friends. Thanks to all for putting up with us! Hope we didn't over stay our welcome(too bad if we did!)