Lots of reading

We've been having a tough time being home during January. Normally we take off on a few jaunts to get out of the snow and cold and to celebrate our wedding anniversary. (Jan. 25th) The temple has been closed for a month so we can't even go there for a break. Therefore, we have been doing lots of reading. Some of the authors Reed reads are Vince Flynn, Harlan Coben, Clive Cussler and James Rollins. We usually enjoy John Grisham and Dan Brown (we read his latest book). "The Help" by Kathryn Stocket was good. I recently finished "The Last Oracle" by James Rollins. I like a variety including Mormon fiction and Amish books. I heard about a book called, "Three Cups of Tea" but it was never available when I went to the library. A ward member received the book for Christmas and said I could borrow it. I went over to her house and rang the doorbell. Her husband answered the door and I asked if I could borrow three cups of tea. He got a strange look on his face and looked a little confused. Then I realized what I said. I started over saying, "Susan said I could I borrow her book titled "Three Cups of Tea." Very interesting read. I checked out the sequel, "Stones into Schools" at the Hyrum Library but haven't started that yet because the Providence Library called and said they had the book "Undaunted" by Gerald Lund that I had been waiting for. I've got to get cracking on that book. It has just over 800 pages! Kim told us about a used book store where all the books you can stuff in a grocery sack can be purchased for just $7. We checked it out but we were in a hurry so we didn't buy anything.

Riley

Today Riley was ordained a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood by his father, Bryan.  We are proud of him! He already looks like a missionary.  Riley lives in Nibley, is a member of the College Ward, goes to church in Young Ward, and is in the Mendon Stake.  Go figure!

On February 5th...

Andrew will have surgery.
Jodi will have an ultrasound.

We are so pleased with Andrew's MRI and scans.  Prayers have been answered!  The tumors in his liver that were a major cause of concern are gone!  The drugs found their target. Andrew no longer has to have half of his liver removed.  We are so thankful for the good news. He will have colon surgery on Feb. 5th in Murray.  Three months of chemo is anticipated following surgery. We are remaining very hopeful for a cure!  We will probably be in American Fork for at least a week to help with Ashlyn, Katelyn and Aubrey. 

Also on February 5th we should find out  if our 19th grandchild is a girl or boy.  Having a girl would make 2 and 2 for Jodi.  Having a boy would even us out a little...10 girls and 9 boys.  Irregardless of which it is, we're not going to send the baby back. Either one is welcome.  We plan to be in Oklahoma to tend Owen, Miles and Olivia when the baby arrives at the end of May. The Hawkins family will be living in the Oklahoma City area by then, but the baby will be born in Tulsa.

Ice Fishing

Tuesday was rainy and snowy in the morning but the afternoon was clear and sunny.  Finally!  We headed over to Hyrum Dam to do a little ice fishing.  It was nice to get out.  I only caught a couple of perch which I ended up throwing back.  We might take a 4-wheeler next time.  The ice was a foot thick. Our hand auger gives the user a good work-out.  It helped to re-open a previously used hole that had frozen up. On Saturday there was a polar plunge at the dam.

2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

I do not keep a journal.  In years past I was very diligent in making lots of notations on the calendar, but for some reason I didn't start doing that until about 1978. The old calendars have come in handy many times when we needed to check on an event or date.  They are really interesting to me, and bring back a lot of memories as well.  A few years ago I decided to use the calendars to write a fairly comprehensive family history.  Reed was taking a cabinetmaking class at Bridgerland on Monday and Wednesday evenings and was gone about 3 1/2 hours per night.  I was home alone and embarked on my project.  I was surprised how a calendar notation of a few words could provide such recollections that sometimes I was able to write paragraphs or even whole pages about the event.  The task was very slow-going.  It seemingly took forever.  Sometimes I worked on the history on Sunday or on other evenings as well.  I worked for an entire semester.  I couldn't count the hours it took as I waded through just a few years' worth of calendars.  Then our computer crashed.  The data couldn't be retrieved from the hard drive.  And, unfortunately for me, I hadn't backed up my work.  That was a terrible blow, a very hard lesson to learn.  I was so devastated that for some reason I have never returned to the project.  I know I still need to do it.  Since then I have written a few pages at the end of each year as a short review.  I have posted them here.  They are probably not all that interesting to anyone else.  My regular blog posts with pictures tell the same stories.  Oh well, here they are:  (I don't know why some of the spacing between lines is a little off)

   

2006

The Year in Review

Robin and Ashlyn were living with us while Andrew was in Iraq until April.  Robin and I made a bunch of Raggedy Ann and Andy things for Ashlyn’s new bedroom for when they returned to Washington.  We made a quilt/comforter, dust ruffle, pillow shams, window valance, small decorator pillows and a table topper cloth.  I received a serger from Reed for Christmas so we put it to good use.

Reed and I were serving as Teacher Improvement Coordinators.  We had meetings on 3^rd Tuesdays.  We started working as temple officiators in October 2005.  We leave home by 2:30 p.m. each Saturday and have prayer meeting at 3 p.m.  We return home about 10 p.m.  We like the temple and the people we work with but it ties us down and cramps our style a little.  I was also serving as a church service missionary at the Distribution Center for the first couple of months of the year.  Each of our days and nights were scheduled for us so I got a release from that assignment. 

Reed and I took cabinetmaking at Bridgerland Applied Technology Center on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-9 p.m.  It is very frustrating but we do have an oak TV stand, and cherry desk, lateral files and hutches to show for our time and effort.  I took the class with Reed for the 2005-06 school year. In the fall of ’06 they started offering senior discounts so Reed can take it for $20/semester.  Instead of paying $150 for my tuition, I stay home and do projects, attend the temple etc.

In February we stayed a night in Salt Lake and went to the boat show at the South Towne Expo Center…and we ended up buying a boat.

I used to make my kindergarten teacher’s valentine box each year while I was in elementary school. (Ruby Akin)  I made her a big bog this year and solicited valentines from former students.  I was able to present Mrs. Akin with the large box filled with about 75 valentines.  I think she is about 96 years old.

In March we took a quick trip to Moab and checked out possible 4-wheeling places, Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands.

Andrew got back from Iraq on the first Sunday in April and Robin had Katelyn Alexandra on the following Friday. (7^th)   Katelyn was blessed at our church Relief Society Room on Saturday, April 15^th.  Robin, Andrew, Ashlyn and Katelyn returned to Washington the following week.  Andrew’s parents and brother came to the blessing.  We prepared dinner for everyone.

We spent a lot of time, effort and money on more landscaping for our yard.  Primarily, we added perennials, shrubs, fruit trees, bushes etc.  We put down weed barrier and woodchips.  Our yard did very well.  Once the sprinkling system was up and running on the canal water, we generally watered twice a week, mowing and edging the lawn earlier in the day.  Reed used the new ride-on mower while I used the walk behind mower in smaller areas and edged and trimmed.  Reed completed the job by using the blower.  We had a very nice crop of tomatoes, squash and corn.  We bottled lots of juice and froze lots of corn.  We also bought and bottled peaches and pears.  We picked chokecherries at Ron’s and made syrup.

Reed gave me “permanent” eyeliner for Valentine’s Day.  I love it!  There was not too much pain and discomfort from the tattooing.  I was getting increasingly difficult to apply eyeliner as I can’t see anything well close up.  If I put glasses on they were in the way of putting makeup on.

We signed up and paid for 16 months at Academy Fitness but did not do very well in going to exercise as often as we should have.

We went fishing at Willard, Hyrum Dam and Bear Lake with very limited success.  We hiked a little.  We went 4-wheeling when we could.  One time we went with Bev and Bill Whitten and another time with Bob and Evelyn Saxton.

Our new fridge had the compressor go out so we had to get another.  We also bought a power washer and a new Intelli-gel over Tempur-pedic bed.

In July I got sick…coughed my guts out.  I went to the doctor twice and had chest x-rays etc.  I lived on high powered cough syrup.  I was weak and washed out and sick for 6-8 weeks.  What a rotten time!  During that time we had a family Yellowstone vacation.  Everyone was there except Ty.  We stayed in cabins at Lake Lodge area.  I think everyone had a good time.  We tubed the canal in Logan Canyon on the 24^th of July.  Our kids and grandkids had two Bear Lake outings but I didn’t feel well enough to attend.

Reed was set apart as Nibley 1^st Ward High Priest Group Leader on September 17^th.  He nearly has as many Sunday meetings now as he did when he was Bishop.

We left for Alaska on September 23^rd.  We went to the Silver King Lodge on an island near Ketchikan.  It rained and rained every day as we sat out in a 14 foot fishing boat with a 15 horsepower motor.  We didn’t have to best of luck.  Nevertheless, we had fun.  The cook was really good.  Several people we knew were also there at the lodge.  That made it more interesting.  We went to church in Ketchikan.  Our old renter in our Bountiful duplex, Doris Crockett, was the Relief Society President.  She took us on a whirlwind tour of Ketchikan.  Due to fog our flights were cancelled.  We spent a whole day at the airport before making it to Seattle.  With no connecting flights, we spent the night there.  We arrived in Salt Lake a day late and our luggage and fish were missing.  We finally got them at 3 a.m. the following morning.  We joke that the salmon cost us about $100/lb. We ended up with only one 50 pound box of filleted, packaged fish.

I started attending Daughters of the Utah Pioneers again.  I’m going to the Lusannah G. Hovey Camp in Millville.  I’ve since found out about the Sunflower Camp here in Nibley.  Several women I know from the ward are members.

On October 23, our neighbor, Vikki Carver, received word that her son had been killed in Iraq.  The news received a lot of attention.  Flags lined the streets.  It was really sad.

I pre-arranged Helen’s and Mother’s funerals at Allen-Hall Mortuary.

On Halloween we went for flu shots and voted early.  My costume was the pig again.

On November 11^th we flew to Tulsa.  Jodi picked us up and we went to her nice, new home.  Marcia Sperry drove up from Texas and met us there.  The next day we drove to Branson, Missouri.  We spent a week there in a three bedroom WorldMark condo.  We went to a number of shows such as Yakov Smirnoff (a Russian comedian), Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, Paul Revere and the Raiders with the Righteous Brothers, The Lowe Family from Utah, Andy William’s Christmas Program and a 3-D movie, the Mystery of the Nile.  Ty was able to join us for a couple of days.  After a week we went back to Jodi’s.  We enjoyed a really nice and tasty Thanksgiving Dinner there then flew home the next day.

Our birthdays were uneventful.  We had the usual church and temple group parties.  We’re basically social duds.

Mason was baptized on December 2^nd.

Helen turned 90 on December 14^th.  I put a little write-up in the paper.  We had a nice party.  Mike Sperry drove from Nebraska and Marcia Sperry flew in from Texas. Ronald came, as did Paul Milligan and Ruth.  We ate at the nursing home, had cake, and visited.  We had supper that night at Ronald’s.  The next day Mike, Marcia, Reed and I went to see the rocket display at Thiokol (ATK), stopped at Promontory Point, bought Idle Isle chocolates and then ate at Maddox.

On Friday, December 22^nd, Kim’s family, Jill’s family, Candace’s family and Reed and I went to Salt Lake.  We checked in to the Marriott Hotel, ate, went to “Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration” at the Legacy Theater, wandered around to see the lights on Temple Square, went back to the hotel and opened gifts, then everyone but Reed and I swam in the pool.  The next morning we headed to North Salt Lake for a Milligan Family Christmas Party at a church.  We had about 70 family members in attendance.

On Sunday, Christmas Eve, we only had Sacrament meeting.  Kim, Bryan and family came over for a big turkey dinner.  Christmas was quiet.  Reed and I did not exchange gifts.  After stopping by the Johnson’s to see what Santa brought, we went on a long ride.  We ended up eating at Mandarin Garden restaurant where we ran into Reed’s cousin, DalVon Atkinson, and his wife, Vicki.

2007

The Year in Review

On January 7^th we met at the Kent Concert Hall on the campus of Utah State University for the Nibley Stake Conference.  We got a new Stake President.  The High Priest’s of our ward were in charge of directing traffic so Reed had to go early.  It was cold outside.

I continued to attend Daughter’s of the Utah Pioneers at the Lusannah G. Hovey Camp in Millville through May and then transferred to the Sunflower Camp in Nibley when meetings started up in September.  Reed continued taking cabinetmaking through April at Bridgerland Applied Technology College.

We needed to get away from the bitter cold and dreary winter weather and inversions of Cache Valley.  We made reservations for Las Vegas and Tucson.  Deciding to get a head start, we left on Friday, the 19^th of January, and stayed at the Marriott in Provo.  Reed didn’t feel well.  The 10 o’clock weather reported unseasonably cold weather for the destinations we were headed.  We decided it was pointless on going where it would still be cold so we left the hotel at midnight and arrived home at 2 a.m.  Reed got on the internet and found us a tour to Costa Rica and set up flights as well for the following morning.  We spent the day shopping and packing for our vacation. The tour included all accommodations, meals, transportation in a bus or by boat, all admission fees for activities etc.  We didn’t spend any additional money except Reed bought a leather belt.  We stayed the first two nights in San Jose, two nights in Tortuguero, two in La Fortuna, two in Jaco, and the final night in San Jose.  We had our 36^th anniversary while on vacation. We had a tram ride in the rain forest, a hike in a cloud forest, spent a beautiful day on the beach and in the ocean, watched the lava flow from a volcano, stopped at shops, visited banana and coffee plantations, went on boat rides in the jungle, and saw lots and lots of animals (turtles, monkeys, alligators, birds etc.)  We had a fantastic time. The warm weather was a delight.  Everything was fun and enjoyable and we’d like to go back!

I was called to teach the CTR-5b class in Primary.  Half of the children in the ward who were 4 and would be turning 5 by the end of the year are in my class.  There are 4 boys and 4 girls:  Mason Alder, Donny Philips, Payton Wise, Connor Simpson, Madelyn Lund, Morgan Wise, Sara Snyder, and Paige Grantham. Usually 5 or 6 of them show up.  I feel ‘out of the loop’ when in Primary, but by the end of the year I really enjoyed the kids in my class.  Later in the year Susan Bingham was called to be my team teacher; we take turns giving lessons.

We went to Idaho Falls on February 7^th for Michael and Carly’s reception.  We were unable to make it to Mount Timpanogas Temple on Saturday the 10^th due to our calling at the Logan Temple.  They had a baby girl, Avery, in December.

On May 22^nd we embarked on a trip to China.  Kent and Deb went with us.  The trip was different but interesting.  I am glad I went but doubt I’d go back. I didn’t like the food, the beds or the millions of people.  For me, the three main highlights were climbing the Great Wall of China, seeing the Terracotta Warriors and the Yangtze River cruise to the Three Gorges Dam.  They were each incredible. I enjoyed a train ride through the countryside.  We went to several factories such as furniture, bronze pot, jade, pearl, silk, and embroidery.  We went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and saw many palaces, museums and parks.  We went to see where they raise Panda bears.  The main cities we visited were all larger than New York City—Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, Chengdu, Suzhou and Shanghai. We went on a canal cruise, a rickshaw ride, and climbed the steep stairs to the drum tower. We attended a Chinese Opera and saw some amazing Chinese Acrobats. We returned home June 6^th and felt sorry we missed Natalie’s baptism on June 2^nd.

Robin, Andrew, Ashlyn and Katelyn were able to come from Washington for a family vacation.  I arranged for the Gideon campground at the Cinnamon Creek Camp above Porcupine Dam for the Milligan Family Campout July 2^nd to July 4^th.  It was a lot of work but was fairly well attended and especially the kids had a good time.  While Robin’s family was here we also had a Family Lagoon Day and a Family Bear Lake Day.  Both were enjoyable outings.  We took our boat to Bear Lake and set up our huge gazebo. All our children and grandchildren except Jodi and family were able to be together for these activities.

I attended a Relief Society Activity that lasted all day.  We went to our Relief Society President’s sister’s home in Eden.  We had lunch there.  We toured her nice home, gardens, and outbuildings while hearing homemaking ideas, decorating tips and gardening advice.  Then we went through the David McKay home in Huntsville. After that we went to Snow Basin and rode the tram.  We had some treats and fruit to eat and then hiked to the top of the mountain.  It was a fun day.

On the 28^th of July the Conlin Family Reunion was held in Pocatello.  We drove up and ate then made a beeline for our shift at the temple.  We were sorry we couldn’t spend more time visiting.

Jodi was scheduled to have her baby boy on August 21^st.  We planned on going to Oklahoma to help with Owen when the baby was born.  We kept checking airfares but they were too expensive.  It is a good thing we didn’t end up purchasing tickets because baby Miles Perry Hawkins ended up being born on August 10^th.  He weighed in at 5 pounds 14 ounces.  We grow potatoes that big! We were outside in the garden picking beans when Jodi called to say she was having the baby in the afternoon.  We had planned on picking our corn and freezing it that day.  Boy, did we scramble to make phone calls to get people to cover church jobs, make sure the yard and garden were taken care of etc.!  Kim agreed to pick and freeze the corn.  We hurried and packed and got on the road shortly after noon.  What a long drive…9 hours the first day and 11 hours the next day. We went straight to the hospital in Tulsa.  I don’t know that we were much help other than preparing meals, playing with Owen a little and straightening the house a bit.  Jodi and Miles seemed to get along fine.  After 6 nights at Jodi’s house, we left Tulsa and drove to Albuquerque where we spent the night.  We checked out the Albuquerque Temple.  The next day we drove to Arizona and went to see the Snowflake Temple.  We stopped at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and stayed at a place that I think was called Marble Canyon.  The following day we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  As the crow flies, the North and South Rims are only about 11 miles apart.  By car it is over 200 miles. We went through Bryce Canyon and on a very pretty and interesting drive through all sorts of rock formations from Bryce to Tropic, Escalante, Boulder, Teasdale, Loa and on up.  I was worn out from all the twists and turns in the road.  Reed drove the rest of the way and we arrived home at 9:30 p.m.

A few days after we arrived home from Jodi’s she called and asked if we would like to come back.  Ty had been called as 2^nd counselor in the bishopric of their ward and was to be ordained a High Priest.  Unfortunately we were unable turn around and head back.  With Ty’s new calling and with Jodi as Primary President and with a newborn and 2 year old, they will be very busy and stressed. Sundays will not be a day of rest for them.  During the year David Adams was put in as Bishop of his ward and Michael Walker is a counselor in his bishopric as well.  I thought that the extended Milligan family could basically staff a ward.  We have a whole bishopric, a High Priest Group leader, Elder’s Quorum President, Primary President, Teachers, etc.

We had a garden again and even set up a nice irrigation system, but we wonder if the garden might have been our last one.  We really don’t need a garden just for the two of us.  We already had so much tomato juice bottled from the previous year it was pointless to put up more. We did put up a supply of beans.  We tired of the squash.  Reed is the only one who eats cucumbers and tomatoes.  We left for Oklahoma just when the corn was ready and we gave the potatoes to the kids.  Actually, we give away far more of the garden produce to neighbors and family than we ever use ourselves.  Obviously our young fruit trees are not producing enough for bottling so we went over the hill and purchased peaches and pears.  We process the fruit on the Camp Chef in the garage.  Reed met with an accident while dumping the water from one of the canners onto the driveway.  The boiling water splashed back and washed over his feet.  He was wearing Crocs with holes in them and had socks on.  His feet were burned badly and he was unable to put shoes on for a couple of weeks. The doctor had to cut all the blistered and dead tissue off.  Reed couldn’t go to the temple, to church, or anywhere.

We spent a lot of time in the yard.  We fought grubs or something in the lawn.  I take great pride in the appearance of our yard and it just killed me to see a less than perfect lawn.  On the other hand, many of our flowers were gorgeous. The begonias and geraniums really looked nice.  We had made cuttings from the previous summer’s geraniums and babied them along all winter.  We also planted hollyhock seeds indoors in trays. Most of the long spindly plants died when we set the trays outside for a few hours each day in the first week or two of May.  Before we left for China we didn’t have a choice, we just planted the hollyhock seedlings and geranium cuttings and crossed our fingers that they would survive. They did fantastic and rewarded us with a pretty display of color.  We had also planted allium bulbs.  They were a novelty.

The summer seemed to get away from us and we didn’t go 4-wheeling or fishing and boating like we should have. We did go 4-wheeling with Glen Kraus and Reed took him fishing in the boat at Newton once.  We went above Cinnamon Creek 4-wheeling as well.  I went geocaching a little. I am embarrassed to admit I bought a fishing license and never used it. Part of the problem was that after our trip to China up until mid-October, I had intestinal problems.  I had a lot of pain in my right side, had diarrhea and just plain didn’t feel well.  Thankfully after 4 ½ months, whatever it was went away.  We were able to go on some nice hikes… River Walk, Logan River Trail and other trails branching off, from 1^st Dam to Green Canyon and back, from Millville Canyon along the deer fence to Blacksmith Fork Canyon along Nibley Hollow Road and home, a ways up Rattlesnake Trail and up Dry Canyon.  We saw some pretty scenery. I bought some trekking poles and like using them.  It was on one of the long hikes that I ‘ruined’ my toes.  Both big toenails are blackened. I will end up losing them. I was having numbness in my feet as well. I went to the podiatrist and he has been giving me alcohol injections for neuromas in my feet.  I purchased some larger, wider shoes.  Dress shoes are still a problem as they are narrow and pointy-toed and my feet are wide and square.

We completed our 2 year calling as ordinance workers in the Logan Temple. We enjoyed the work and are glad to have served but we had a difficult time about working on Saturdays.  That’s the day for most weddings, baptisms, family reunions, ward parties etc.  With our grandkids in school and some of our daughters plus our sons-in-law working all week, and with them having their own responsibilities on Sundays, the only day we could have done anything was on Saturday.  But we were tied up on Saturdays. Nevertheless, after we have served a mission and get the travel bug out of our system, we would like to go back and work at the temple.

We have received a mission call to the Heber Valley Camp.  It is the largest Young Women’s Camp in the church. It takes 50 couples to staff the camp. Our mission begins April 15^th and lasts until about October 15^th.  It should be an interesting experience. We don’t have our own trailer so we will be renting from the Church.  The camp does have a few cabins for missionary couples and we are hoping for one of them. We will soon be released from our current callings, Reed from High Priest Group Leader, and me from Primary.

On September 29^th I hosted a bridal shower for my niece, Holly Milligan.  She and BJ Christiansen were married in the Bountiful Temple on October 20^th.

On October 2^nd we put a change of clothes in the car and took off on a ride to Yellowstone.  Reed had never been through the North and East entrances/exits.  The park had a snowstorm and it looked like a winter wonderland.  Unfortunately the North gate was closed due to the storm.  We went through the East side and stayed the night in Cody, Wyoming.  We thought maybe the next morning we could go back through the East gate and up through the Northern route but both of them were closed.  We were too cheap to pay the entrance fees to the Museum in Cody.  If we were big on firearm collections maybe we would have attended.  We just ended up driving back home.  It was still a nice drive except for the speeding ticket I got…the first one since September of 1972.  Maddening!  

Friday, October 19^th we went to Herriman to stay at Jill’s and Brandon’s home and tend grandchildren Courtney, Hailey, Natalie and Kaden.  We were there for 9 nights while Jill and Brandon were in Hawaii.  We got along just fine as they are good kids.  We were busy with meal preparation, helping with homework, making sure the girls practiced piano, transporting Courtney to and from school, doing hair, taking the girls to piano lessons, Courtney to Young Women, Hailey and Natalie to Achievement Day Activities etc.  We read books during the day while the kids were at school.  Actually, we have enjoyed reading lots of books this year.  We have cards at the Providence Library (which is the Cache County Bookmobile Headquarters) and the new Hyrum City Library.

Jodi, Ty, Owen and Miles flew out on Halloween.  Miles was blessed on Saturday, November 3^rd at Ty’s parent’s ward.  We went to eat at Chuck-a-rama in Salt Lake afterward.  The next day we had another blessing dinner here… baked ham, funeral potatoes, green peas, rolls, salad etc. Jodi’s family spent a couple of days with us.  We really didn’t do anything exciting…went to visit Mother and Helen, went to Pepperidge Farms, Gossner’s Cheese, and ate at The Italian Place and Mandarin Garden (Jodi’s choices).

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at our home this year.  Kim, Bryan, Riley, Ashley, Jayse, Jill, Brandon, Courtney, Hailey, Natalie and Kaden ate with us.  We had lots of the good traditional Thanksgiving things to eat and ended up with way too many pies. We went through a lot of cool whip balls too.

The Milligan Family Christmas Party was held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 15^th at Ronald’s Church in Cove.  69 were in attendance.  The meal was catered and we all thought it was good. I spent the preceding couple of weeks compiling ancestors’ histories and putting them on CDs to give as Christmas gifts.  Now I need to get busy typing and organizing all the Conlin family histories.  Marilyn, her daughters and daughters-in-law compiled an impressive family recipe book.  It is a nice gift.  Kent had boxes of shavers, hand wash, night cream samples etc. that he put out for everyone to grab.  Ron gave his siblings some Idle Isle almond cream chocolates.  Marcia Sperry, Paul Milligan and Aunt Ruth also attended.

Our immediate Conlin Family Christmas Party was held on Sunday, December 23^rd.  On the day before Jill, Brandon and kids arrived with a 14 foot U-Haul loaded with some of their unneeded belongings they wanted to store in our garage prior to putting their house up for sale.  They spent the night and attended church with us as well.  In the afternoon Candace, Jory and boys came.  They were followed by Kim, Bryan and their children. The grandkids ran wild while their parents visited.  We played a few group games. We opened gifts. Our Christmas Dinner consisted of Swiss steak, mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, bottled beans from the garden, a relish tray, red and green jello, home bottled pears, rolls and butter, pumpkin pie with cool whip, cookies with Christmas colored M&Ms, and homemade fudge.  

This year ends with a bit of apprehension about the future of some of our family members.  Brandon has purchased a dental practice in Logan.  He will be moving in with us just after New Years Day.  Jill will stay in Herriman with the kids so they can finish the school year there.  Her main job will be to get their home sold. There are a bunch of unknowns such as how long their house will be on the market before it sells and if the children will need to change schools a couple of times before they are settled in their own home in Cache Valley. They might all need to move in our home temporarily.  Also, Andrew is leaving the Navy June 1^st and is now starting the job hunt.  Robin and Andrew hope to move to Utah.  It would be nice to have them close.  Selling their home, finding new employment and relocating are big events in their life as well.  I wish I could be there to help with Ashlyn and Katelyn while they relocated. We hope and pray for a good outcome as all of these guys embark on this new chapter in life. Hopefully the housing market will pick up and their homes will sell in a timely manner for a reasonable amount of money.

We look forward to 2008.

2008

The Year in Review

January always starts out with a bunch of family birthdays:  Hailey on the 7^th, Ashlyn on the 8^th, Riley on the 9^th, and Ty on the 10^th.  It has been 10 years since dad passed away.

Brandon bought a dental practice in Logan from Darwin Harris.  The office is south of Sam’s Club and west of the Sizzler.  Brandon moved in with us at the beginning of January while Jill stayed in Herriman to sell their house and allow the kids to continue at their schools.  Brandon went home on weekends.

In an effort to get out of the cold and snow, we embarked on a long vacation.  On January 18^th we stayed in Herriman at the Schvaneveldt home to get a head start.  For the next week we stayed in Las Vegas at WorldMark on Las Vegas Boulevard.  We never did go to ‘the strip.’  We enjoyed reading books, relaxing, getting in the pools and hot tubs, going to movies, shopping, attending the Las Vegas Temple and visiting with cousin Kathy Kingsley. We spent our 37^th anniversary in Las Vegas.

On the way to our next stop we got a call from Candace and we were sworn to secrecy that she was expecting a baby in September!  We spent the night of the 26^th in Yuma.  Lots of people go there for the winter. We thought it was a nice place.  We checked out the park model trailer that cousin, Karla Broeder, lives in during the winter.  We talked for a few minutes on the phone but didn’t get to see each other.

From January 27^th through February 2^nd we spent at WorldMark in Oro Valley, Arizona.  It is right by Tucson.  We went to many of the local attractions such as Biosphere II and the Desert Museum. We enjoyed fairly warm weather.  We attended a session at the Mesa Temple one day.  It was an enjoyable stay. While we were there we watched the funeral of President Gordon B. Hinckley on our computer.

February 3^rd had us on the road again.  We spent a night in Odessa, Texas enroute to Marcia Sperry’s home in Trophy Club, Texas.  We spent 6 nights at Marcia’s.  We enjoyed meals at her home, at her friend’s home and at some good local restaurants.  We attended the Dallas Temple and toured the book depository from which JFK was shot.

From Dallas we flew to Tampa, Florida and boarded a Carnival ship for a Western Caribbean Book of Mormon Cruise. We had sacrament meeting shortly after we boarded. On days at sea we had Book of Mormon lectures from Scot and Maurine Proctor.  We went to the Grand Cayman Island to snorkel and play with the rays.  In the Cozumel, Mexico area we toured some ruins at Tulum. Helaman, our guide was interesting and he gave everything with an LDS perspective.  The following day we stopped in Belize.  We viewed and climbed the Lamani ruins.  We went on an Indiana Jones adventure that consisted of zip lines and a ropes course in Roataan, Honduras. The next day was spent at sea and the day after that we disembarked and flew back to Dallas where Marcia picked us up.  We stayed one more night with her.

Six more nights were spent at Jodi’s home in Jenks, Oklahoma.  We attended the Oklahoma City temple.  We didn’t do a lot of things while there but just enjoyed visiting with the Hawkins family. Reed helped fix a few household things. Jodi and Ty had a new Honda Odyssey van.  I asked Jodi if it was an announcement and she said, “Yes.”  What a surprise!

We spent a night in Albuquerque, New Mexico and then 3 more nights in St. George, Utah.  Marcia joined us in St. George.  We attended the temple there and went to Zion’s National Park, Brigham Young’s winter home, Jacob Hamblin’s home etc.  We also went to dinner with Ballards.

Basically from the time we left Albuquerque until we got to Lehi, we stayed off the freeways.  We took the roads less traveled and enjoyed the local scenery.  We checked out the general area where our 5 acre ‘ranch’ is in Iron County. We put about 5000 miles on our car.  We thought it was time to get home to work in the yard or mow the lawn but we arrived home on the 28^th of February to big snow banks and a very wintry landscape.

We didn’t do anything out of the ordinary during March and the first half of April.  I attended DUP, we went to church, did visiting teaching/home teaching, had doctor appointments, attended the funeral for Virginia Bragg etc. On April 3^rd I launched my newly created blog.  Jodi did the first few posts for me as I had no idea how to do it.  I began with our 2007 travels to Costa Rica and China. The rest of the month was spent getting ready for our mission at Heber Valley Camp.

We moved to a cabin at Heber Valley Camp on the 21st of April.  It looked like the middle of winter with all the snow.  Those who had trailers or motor homes were unable to move to camp for a couple of weeks.  They stayed at the Heber Rodeo Grounds.  We started training on the 22^nd.  We spent time at the church at 6400 East 1200 South and also in Salt Lake at the temple and Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

We received our assignment to be Challenge Course Hosts for Challenge Course 5.  We spent 2 weeks in training at Clas Ropes in Provo.  We learned about ropes, cables, knots and harnesses, belaying techniques, climbing, games and activities etc.

I flew to Seattle to help and accompany Robin, Ashlyn and Katelyn as they were moving from Bremerton, Washington to Orem, Utah.  Andrew would join them later.  On our 2^nd week at Clas Ropes we stayed with Robin instead of commuting each day.

Heber Valley Camp is primarily for Young Women and secondarily for families or wards and other groups. It is a beautiful place. We traveled around camp on 4-wheelers.  The elevation was between 7500 and 10000 feet above sea level.  There were 103 missionaries…50 couples and 3 single sisters.  Most of them were the nicest people you could ever meet.  The deer and moose wandered freely amongst us.  About 2000 young women and leaders arrived each Monday morning and departed Friday morning. Then families or other groups arrived.  They left by 5 p.m. on Saturday and the families of missionaries could come stay at camp. Most missionaries had their own trailer or motor home.  We were blessed to be able to rent a missionary cabin for $500 per month.  It only had about 400 square feet but was sufficient for our needs. 

We worked hard each day on the challenge course. The job was quite physically demanding. There were seven activities or challenges the Young Women participated in, each followed by a discussion in which we’d relate a spiritual aspect or correlation. We really enjoyed the Young Women.  When school started again and we didn’t have as much work to do on the challenge course, we were given another job.  Along with other challenge course hosts, we cut the grasses around the cabins in Camps Smith and Esther, sprayed down the outside of the cabins, then refinished the wood log exteriors. It was a lot of work but they looked really good when we finished. It seems we went through miles of tape and masking paper plus hundreds of gallons of a weatherproofing sealer.   

We had a P-day each week that technically lasted about 27 hours. We only went home occasionally. Church services were held in a church house in Heber when the weather was really cold. The rest of the time we met in the great outdoors under a pavilion.  After the three-hour block we had a potluck dinner.  We then met in smaller groups for district meetings in which we studied and discussed ‘Preach My Gospel.’

We had our children and grandchildren come stay over night at the camp on June 21^st.  We were able to get cabins in Camp Reeder for each of the families. All who dared and were able participated on the high course on Challenge Course 2, the giant swing on Challenge Course 5 and used paddleboats on Legacy Lake.  They attended sacrament meeting with us at the Hinckley pavilion and later went to the potluck dinner.  Everyone had a good time.

One Sunday Marilyn, Gary, Jennifer and her girls visited went to Sacrament meeting with us and then we gave them the grand tour of Heber Valley Camp.  Lorenzo and Sherlauna Griffiths (from Reed’s graduating class), who were serving at the Park City Family History Library as part of their Temple Square Mission, surprised us with a visit one afternoon.  Nieces Lauren and Andrea Milligan and Granddaughter, Courtney, came to the camp with their Y.W. groups.  It was fun to see them although interaction with them was very limited.

We missed out on being in Oklahoma for Olivia’s birth on July 8^th and for her blessing day.  Brooklyn, however, was born on our P-day in Salt Lake on September 17^th.  We also had to sneak away one day to bottle Candace’s pears. We were able to attend Nephew Ben’s farewell in Cove.

There was snow and cold at the beginning and ending of our mission.  We worked hard and played hard and attended lots of socials.  We had some special experiences and made some new friends. The Y.W. camp leadership was incredible.  All in all it was a great experience.  We would recommend it to other prospective missionaries.  There were three persons with whom we had a tough time.  We could have done without the ‘politics’ that went on as well.  We had a closing social on Tuesday, October 14^th and made it home by 11:30 that night.

We didn’t return to life as we left it.  Brandon, Jill, Courtney, Hailey, Natalie and Kaden were living in our home.  Suddenly we were a part of a household of eight. The Schvaneveldts purchased a lot in Providence and started building a home.  We made daily visits to the construction site to check the progress.  We fell into a routine of sorts in regard to doing yard care, cooking, cleaning and being here when the kids got out of school to make sure they practiced the piano and did homework.  When Jill and Brandon were at work and the kids were in school we often went for rides…Twin Falls, Shoshone Falls, City of Rocks, Logan Canyon, Bear Lake, Benson Marina, Clarkston, Weston, Blacksmith Fork Canyon, Hardware Ranch, Eden, Huntsville, Liberty, Paradise etc.

Everyone dressed up for Halloween.  In November we bought a new Toyota Avalon to replace the Avalon we didn’t trust since those dang little critters at Heber Valley Camp chewed up the wiring. We had Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. Some of us went on the river walk after we ate. Thanksgiving Day was also Mason’s 10^th birthday. We gave our 12’ tree to the Burkhardts, so although I put up most of my decorations, Jill had to put up her Christmas tree. The Milligan Family Christmas Party was held at the Lodge at Maddox and an elementary school in Brigham following the dinner.  Robin and Andrew hosted our immediate Conlin Family Christmas Party at their home in American Fork.

I continued to use my blog to chronicle all of our travels, tidbits and tall tales. My blog is a pictorial of what I have written for the year. It is my personal journal.  At the end of 2008 I signed up for a Facebook account.

 

2009

The Year in Review

The year 2009 certainly had its high points and low points.  Sometimes I felt like I wanted to throw a pity party. By way of explanation, here are a few of the reasons:  Mother died, then Aunt Helen died. The downturn of the economy caused financial strains on about everyone. Reed’s retirement funds lost a lot of their value, Bryan’s work ceased to exist and Jory lost his job. Andrew was diagnosed with colon cancer, as was his sister, Becky. He spent the remaining part of the year having chemo and radiation. He is facing surgery to remove his colon and half of his liver. Jory broke his ankle in four places, and Landon got a concussion. We had a missionary friend die, Reed had a cousin die, and two of our friends had heart attacks. Challenges are a part of life. All in all, however, I know we are truly blessed. Life goes on.

The Schvaneveldt family continued to live with us until their home was completed in the last week of March.  We did a lot more cooking and cleaning than we usually do. It also meant we were able to have daily interaction with the grandkids.  That gave us something to do during the cold winter days…helping with homework, tying a quilt, reminding them to practice the piano, running kids here or there, making treats etc.

The first of our winter getaways was from January 10-17.   We flew to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico for some fun in the sun.  We used a free vacation certificate from RCI for the accommodations.  We really didn’t spend much money on anything except we did go to Las Caletas for a dinner and program called ‘Rhythms of the Night.”  The weather was great and we spent a lot of time reading and lounging on the beach or poolside.

After being home a couple of weeks we were ready to go again.  We flew to San Diego and went on a cruise to the Hawaiian Islands and back. We left on Thursday, February 5^th and returned on Friday, February 20^th. We traveled with some fellow HVC missionary couples:  Roger & Deon Cole, Gary & Suzanne Felter, Clair & Linda Davis and Darrell & Ethel Johnson.  The Coles brought another couple with them, as did the Johnsons.  We had a great time making stops at the various islands and seeing the major attractions.  It seems like all we did was eat, eat, and eat!  The dining room director treated us very well. We attended the programs and shows each evening and participated in things like trivia games and bingo during the day.  We read books and walked around the deck.  I guess we could consider the trip as our 38^th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

Within 15 minutes of arriving home from Hawaii, I received a phone call from Ron saying that Mother was not doing well. My siblings and I gathered at her bedside at the Logan Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. She continued to decline and passed away on Sunday morning, February 22^nd.  She was 91.  Mother lived a good, long and productive life.  We miss her but are happy for her to be released from her earthly cares.  Mother was blessed with good physical health but her mental state had deteriorated over the past several years.  We all hated to see her linger on in the condition she existed so her passing was actually a blessing.  Mother’s viewing and funeral were held on Thursday, February 26^th at Allen Mortuary.  She was buried between Dad and her infant son, James Keith, in the Logan Cemetery. After the services we ate at the Bluebird.  I’m an orphan now.

We had one more vacation scheduled.  Our getaways provided a break for the Schvaneveldts to live as their own family unit as well.  We checked into WorldMark at St. George on March 8^th and stayed until the 22^nd.  While we were there I received word from Ron that Aunt Helen passed away.  I spent more time with Helen than anyone else and I felt badly that I was not in attendance at her funeral.  It was a tough decision.  I was glad that I had already made funeral arrangements at the mortuary. Her burial clothing was in my closet.  I basically had her obituary and my remembrances of her written.  Jill took the clothing to the mortuary and faxed me some of my notes so I could email the obituary in. The rest of the family stepped forward and took care of cleaning out her room at the nursing home, the viewing, funeral and other arrangements. Helen was a resident at LNRC longer than anyone else.  She moved there in March of 1992. The main purpose of our St. George trip was to attend the Tri-State ATV Jamboree that was held from the 11^th to 14^th.  We went with the Felters and Mowers and had some great rides. Felters took us to see the Tuacahn outdoor red-rock amphitheater.  We visited with the Ballards, Parkers and Claytons too. We met up with Vaughn and Susan Evans in Nevada for a nice ride to see some petroglyphs. We went to the temple. We ate out a bunch as usual.  The temperatures were very nice.

By the time we got home it was crunch time for the Schvaneveldts.  Their home was finished and it was time for packing and moving. Most of the big stuff was moved on Friday, March 27^th with the remaining belongings being moved the following day.  It took a while for things to get thoroughly clean, straight and back to normal around here.  Brandon ended up living in our home a total of 15 months while the rest of the family lived here for 9 months.

A few days later Jodi, Ty, Owen, Miles and Olivia came from Oklahoma for a visit.  It was conference weekend but with a house full of our kids and grandkids, we didn’t get to watch much of it.  We had a family picture on the tabernacle grounds.  With Jodi living out of state, it isn’t often we all get together.  We had a family dinner followed by an early Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard.  We also celebrated Katelyn’s 3^rd birthday.  Robin brought a cake.

Tanner was finally baptized on April 11^th.  Brooklyn was finally blessed on May 3^rd. (Long story).   We attended these special occasions in West Jordan. Everyone gathered at the VanWagenen home afterward to eat and visit.

We went to American Fork to stay on May 15^th.  Aubrey was born the following day.  After we took Ashlyn and Katelyn to see their new baby sister we brought them home with us for a few days.  Baby Aubrey started out as a screamer and a puker, not a good sleeper, and needed to be held/bounced/rocked constantly…a most difficult baby. Thankfully, by the end of the year she has improved so much!  She’s quite normal now but she still throws up a lot and isn’t the world’s best sleeper.  (Granddaughter Olivia has also been plagued with digestive tract problems.  She is improving too.)

On June 26^th Andrew went in for a colonoscopy and a bombshell was dropped.  Life for the Burkhardts was forever changed when he received the diagnosis of colon cancer.  Robin called us and asked us to come to Salt Lake.  They had taken all three kids to the appointment, thinking it wouldn’t take too long.  It went on all day.  We met Robin at Hogle Zoo where we watched the girls for a little while until Andrew was released.  We hope and pray that the doctors will be guided, that the chemotherapy and radiation will show good results, that Andrew will be able to handle the necessary treatments and surgery well, and that the cancer will successfully be eradicated from his body.

We spent a lot of time in the yard getting it back into shape.  We had many beautiful and colorful flowers. We planted a huge garden.  We enjoyed it but it tied us down way too much.  We had planned on traveling to Oregon to visit the Cole’s but unfortunately we didn’t make it.  We were blessed with a plentiful harvest and are enjoying the fruits of our labors. When the picking and processing season rolled around we were really busy every day.  We had radishes, beets, peas, green beans, yellow zucchini, pumpkins, blackberries, peaches, pears, apples, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, carrots etc.  We bottled peaches and pears, made applesauce and blackberry jam, bottled pickled beets, regular beets, tomato juice, salsa and spaghetti sauce, baked zucchini bread, froze peas and corn etc. We gave a lot of our garden produce away. We also picked chokecherries at Ron’s and made chokecherry syrup. 

We went fishing a lot at Hyrum Dam and did very well. We spent many an enjoyable morning on the reservoir until the water skiers showed up. We were able to take some of the grandkids with us on our fishing outings and let them experience catching fish.  We went to Willard Bay a couple of times and Bear Lake once.  We grilled and fried fish, smoked a bunch of it, and bottled some as well.  We ate so much we thought we would grow gills and fins. We shared fish with others and still have some in the freezer.

We went on a few nice ATV rides.  We attended the Ransom reunion in Woods Cross during June and the Conlin reunion at Downata Hot Springs in July. Reed’s brother Mike and his wife, Linda, met us at Maddox to eat before they headed back to California. They had been visiting kids and grandkids in Idaho.  We had an enjoyable day going out to eat with Gary and Suzanne Felter and then visiting at their property by Lava Hot Springs. We dropped by to see other missionary couples at their homes…the Mowers and Claytons, and we were able to spend a little time with the Coles when they were passing through or when they stopped to visit Deon’s dad in Providence.

We had grandkids stay with us quite a bit. We entertained them with the wading pool, geocaching, attending the Cache County Fair, riding up Providence Canyon, boating/fishing, going to Minnetonka Cave, eating out and whatever else we could think of. It seems like we did a lot of washing and changing bedding and towels in between each group of visitors all year long. I can relate to what Mother used to say…that she felt like calling her house the ‘Milligan Motel’ or Bed and Breakfast.

Marilyn and Gary left on their mission at the Family History Library in Salt Lake. Jodi and Ty sold their home in Jenks, Oklahoma and are renting a home in the same neighborhood until they move to the Oklahoma City area in the spring. Jodi announced that she is expecting baby #4 at the end of May. Aubrey was blessed on August 2^nd. We watched the Kokanee salmon run at Cinnamon Creek Camp up above Porcupine Dam. We took a family history class during Sunday School.  I started four new family history blogs. Bryan got a new job. I attend the Sunflower Camp of Daughters of Utah Pioneers.  We participate with the Empty Nester’s Family Home Evening in our ward.  Our TV quit so we ended up buying a new one. We have some very smart and talented grandkids who never cease to amaze us. We are proud of all our family members.

We had a family party for Labor Day.  The Hawkins family had come from Oklahoma. While our kids and grandkids did various activities in the morning such as attending a parade or going on a quick trip to Bear Lake, Reed and I were busy getting a meal prepared.  We had a fish fry but served hamburgers on the grill too. The dinner was followed by a water fight.

At the end of September the Felters invited us to join them and Mowers in Richfield to go on some Piute Trail ATV rides. The weather was warm and fantastic.  The scenery with the beautiful fall foliage was spectacular.  We had a good time.  We got home on a Tuesday night.  The temperature had been 87 degrees that day.  The next morning there was a rain/snow mix and the temperature was in the low 30’s.  I was awake but laying in bed when Robin called and needed help.  Andrew was having a tough time with his chemo, she had the flu, Aubrey had kept them up for a couple of nights etc.  I headed down to assist them and stayed about 5 days.  In the meantime, Reed was staying in Providence with the Schvaneveldt grandkids while Jill and Brandon were in Hawaii.  I brought Katelyn back with me and then we stayed at Jill’s too.  When Jill and Brandon got back, we slept at our house one night then took Katelyn home, staying in American Fork for two nights.  In seventeen straight days we had only slept in our own bed twice.

We hosted Thanksgiving Dinner here.  When we don’t have the entire crew of 30, we are able to eat in our kitchen instead of going to the ‘banquet hall’ downstairs.  This year we had Kim’s, Jill’s and Robin’s families.

We attended the Milligan Family Christmas Party that was held in Ogden.  Our immediate family Christmas party was at the Schvaneveldt’s in Providence. We had the December Empty Nester’s Family Home Evening at our home.  On Christmas Day we made the rounds to see what our grandkids got for Christmas.  We started in Providence at the Schvaneveldt’s, went to the Johnson’s in Nibley, drove to the Burkhardt’s in American Fork, and then returned to Logan to eat at Mandarin Gardens.  The Johnson grandkids stayed with us for New Year’s Eve.  They played on the PlayStation3. We took them ice skating.

Well, we’re each a year older. (And hopefully, wiser)  It takes us all day to do what we used to accomplish in a couple of hours. We spend a lot of time reading.  We eat out too much. I work a sudoku puzzle each day. We look forward to longer days and warmer temperatures!