Temples

A fortress in the rising storm

I love this building.  Today in General Conference Pres. Monson talked about temples.  He said that 85% of the membership of the church lives with in 200 miles of a temple.  Amazing. 

I am so happy for my friends in Ft. Collins Colorado.  Yesterday they announced that a temple will be built there.  I lived there when the Denver Temple was built.  (In fact I was in that temple when I went into labor with Tom hehehehe.)  It was an hour and a half drive.  We were so happy and felt so blessed to have one in Denver.  Now, all my Ft. Collins friends get one of their very own.  

Blessings.  Blessings.

Junior Prom

I'm so glad I have my baby in the house.  He keeps me young.  I was 35 when  he was born and most of my friends my age had children that were all in school.  John has been a blessing in my life and has kept me young.  He's growing and will be out of the house before I know it so  I'm trying to enjoy every minute with him. 

Last night was Junior Prom.  He chose a white tux.  I have no idea where he got the confidence to wear it.  He didn't get it from me.

The group had dinner at the Lesters house.

 After the dance they came to our house to play games.  One of the games was a white elephant exchange.  He wanted some ideas for a gift so I asked my face book friends.  One of the ideas, from my daughter Mindy, was to give an 8X10 framed photo, signed, of himself.  He loved that idea.  Below is the photo he found, printed, signed and framed.  I giggle every time I think of him giving it as a white elephant.

I love having John in my house.

Winter Playland

Because I had to work today I didn't get to snow shoe with my fun  hiking friends.  When I got home in the after noon it was still a beautiful day.  I decided to go cross country skiing even though I'd have to go alone and I had never gone alone before.  It didn't take long, going up Green Canyon, before I realized I wasn't alone.

These are the groomed ski tracks I followed.

This cute group was going to the Yurt to spend the night.  They were with the group Common Ground that helps disabled people enjoy the out doors.

I snapped this picture as the lady zipped by on her skis.

A lot of the skiers had dogs.

I'd never seen this before-snow bikes.  They looked so much fun!

Good by, snow bikes.

I took this picture after I did a spread eagle fall flat on my face trying to avoid hitting these people, my neighbors, as we were on the same tracks.  I picked myself up, swallowed my pride and took their picture.  The camera lens was fogged up as a result of my fall.

I thought I was going to be alone but there were a lot of people ( and I didn't photograph half of them) enjoying the winter playland in Green Canyon.

Tree cutting adventure

One of our family Christmas traditions is to cut our Christmas trees after Thanksgiving.  This year was probably the best year yet.  We had the whole family.  The weather was good.  We had a ton of snow which made it beautiful plus more fun because we all needed snow shoes.  Great day!

My sweet Karen and her Papa

One tree down, 4 to go.

 

 

 

Gracie looked like a little pink snow girl.

 

 

 

 

Second tree found for Jim's family.

Mindy's family found a nice tree for their new house.

 

 

  Jake, a big Utah fan, wore his Utah hat, as he cut the tree, for good luck in the UofU/BYU game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark, Jenn and Chi Chi chose a little tree.

 

Hahaha, Mark could carry his tree with one hand.

 

Tom and Megan are on a mission to find the best tree.   

 

They are ready with saw in hand.

 

It took two to carry their very first Christmas tree off the mountain.

Dan and John carry our tree to the truck.

 

Success!  Five trees for our family plus one for the grandparents and one for a friend.

Taking a Family Portrait

We've been trying for months to get this group of 14 together for a family pic.  It's been nearly impossible.  Finally, we found a day.  Last Saturday, November 20, was it.  I watched the forecast as the day approached and it didn't look good.  I had some out door settings but no inside settings for the picture.  I didn't know what to do.  If we canceled it may take another 6 months before we could get together again and Mindy's little pouch is growing (yes, that is an announcement) so we needed to do it ASAP.  On Saturday morning, as Mindy and Jake were driving up from Bountiful, it started to rain.  Oh well, we had our day and we went with it.

As we were getting ready it was lightly raining.

We used my son, Mark, as our photographer.  Hooray for camera timers.   He used the towel to protect the camera from the rain.  The singing Snowman in front of the camera was used to get the grandchildren's attention with marginal success.

This one looks pretty good, except, look at the babies.  Hahahaha.  Mark thinks he can fix them with photo shop.

Once again, this is good of everyone EXCEPT THE BABIES!  Oh well, photo shop.

As an after thought we did some family groups.  I love these.

Dan and Nan

Mark and Jenn

Mindy,  Jake and Cash

Sarah, Jim and Gracie

Megan and Tom

This is not the final pic but I love it.  Cash and Gracie had had it and Karen and John had fun trying to keep them happy.

This family pic will be up to date for 7 months, until Mindy has her baby in June.  Then, we'll try again.

Lesson in sportsmanship

Following a Logan High Football game loss that ended in a controversial call that changed the outcome of the game,  Dan and I drove home complaining the whole time about the bad call and poor officiating.  I was anxious to talk to my son, John, who played in the game to get his take on it all.  I wanted the gory details about how bad the refs were, that we should have, would have won  had it not been for them and information if Coach Favero was going to file a complaint.

When John got home I asked him about the game.  He said we played poorly.  Box Elder, the other team, played better and deserved the win.  When I asked him about the bad call he  just said that we shouldn't have let ourselves be in a situation where one call makes the difference in the game.  That was it.  No complaining.  No bad mouthing the refs.  No blaming.

I felt about 2 feet tall.  I need to be a better sport.  I'm thankful for John's example to me and for a coach who teaches the boys good sportsmanship whether winning or losing.

This is John with his nephew, Cash.  (I think Cash wanted a win.)

LOTOJA, almost

Dan supported me in my last 2 LOTOJA s (LOgan TO JAckson bike race which is 206 miles) and has dreamed of doing it himself.  This was his year.  We trained and trained riding 3000 miles this summer including a 133 mile ride as well as a 125, 2-100, 2-80, and many 50, 40 and 30 mile rides.  I felt better prepared for this LOTOJA than any other I had done.

We started at 5:45 Saturday, September 11.  It was 36 degrees.  We were prepared and ready for a great ride.

On a ride of this distance you need a support vehicle to meet along the way to replenish your supplies.  Driving our support was our cute daughter-in-law, Megan,  and my good friend, DeAnn.

 They were THE BEST!  Who wouldn't love meeting these cute faces at every stop?

 Megan took this picture of us at the stop in Afton, Wyoming.  We'd just finished 125 miles which included 3 mountain passes.  I couldn't believe how good we still felt.

Dan and I were riding well.  We felt strong (for us) and were having a very fun ride.  After meeting Megan and DeAnn in Alpine, Wyoming (160 miles down) we took off to do the last leg of the journey, 46 miles.  I told Dan that this was not a normal LOTOJA.  We were feeling too good, too strong, and having way too much fun. 

Through Snake River Canyon we were riding alone together anticipating a strong finish.  We had hoped to finish under 12 hours but at the pace we were going we were set to finish at 11:15 hours. Although a racer would have been mortified by that time, we would have been thrilled.

Megan took this picture in Snake River Canyon a few minutes before the crash. 

At about mile 176 we were going on a slight down hill, probably at around 25 mph, and I was right behind Dan, drafting, when all of the sudden his front tire went wobble, wobble and he went down.  He hit hard.  I stopped my bike and ran back to my husband.  His eyes were open but he was unresponsive.

I was terrified but with in a minute several people had stopped including a lady driving by who had just floated the Snake River. She was a paramedic.  LOTOJA support people also stopped.  A sheriff arrived quickly and started directing traffic.

Dan regained consciousness after a few minutes but was confused.  Slowly, as we waited for the ambulance, which took an hour, his memory came back and by the time he was in the ambulance he was himself.

We went to the hospital in Jackson.  They did lots of tests and X Rays.  Aside from the fact that his left side was covered with road rash and abrasions, everything was okay except for very low blood pressure (66/27 at one point) and the fact that he had sustained a concussion and lost consciousness.  They admitted him to the hospital for observation over night.

He is home now and on the mend.  I expect him to fully recover.

Now, a couple of side stories.

While we were caring for Dan in Snake River Canyon there was a lot of confusion.  Cars were going both directions, many slowing to view the accident.  Cyclists were riding by having to curve out around the crash.  At one point 3 riders were drafting together.  One slowed at the accident, the other ran into him and they both fell on the 3rd rider.  All 3 went down 5 feet from Dan's head!  Luckily they weren't seriously injured and after about 10 minutes they were able to get back on their bikes and finish the race.

In the ER a rider came in with a big gash on his face.  He'd been involved in a crash in Star Valley where he was riding in a big group.  A girl in front of him went down.  He fell over her and went down.  Several of the other riders went down.  When he sat up he said he needed his glasses.  Someone handed him a pair.  He said they were not his.  They handed him another pair.  Not his again.  The third time they were his glasses :-)  LOTOJA support helped him dress the wound on his head and then he went on to finish the race, riding about another 60 miles to the finish.  He then went the the ER.  They put 17 stitches in his head and admitted him to the hospital.

The ER was hectic with LOTOJA injuries.  It gave me a lot more respect for the danger of the sport.

I later inspected Dan's bike and discovered a bulge in the front tire that must have stuck at the brake pads causing the front tire to wobble and forcing Dan to lose control.  We need to figure out why that bulge occurred.

I thought this would be my last LOTOJA but now I'm not sure.  We have the winter to decide if we want to do the training, and I guess, take the risk, again.  I'll keep you posted.  I'm just grateful Dan is going to be okay.

Only 30 more miles and we would have finished!  Sigh.....