Thanksgiving Trip to Family in California

The Drive from Monterrey along the coast of California is spectacular, part of our trip was to see the Aquarium in Monterrey, stay one night and then drive the coast highway back to Roy and Angles home in LA.
When we first arrived in The LA area we took a short five day Cruse to Mexico. We have taken this trip many times, but the food and shows are still great. Mom bought a silver Opal Ring and a new purse.
The Cruse Line that we used for the Trip was Carnival. It was surprisingly good. Entertainment was the best that we have had on this kind of trip.
The Jelly Fish at the Aquarium were really some thing to see. They were wonderful.
The best part of our trip was spending time with Roy and Angel's family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner, even Pecan Pie my favorite. We went to a Temple Session in the LA with Roy and Angel, spent some time with the Grand kids at Chickie Cheese, relaxed and read a good book.

The trip was wonderful. We are excited to see more of our family in the Salt lake area around Christmas.

October trip to Sandy

We drove to Sandy for several events last week. Our Mission President, Mike Stewart died from a sudden heart attack and his funeral was Friday. He attended Jr. High School together and he was the Student Body of South High School while I was there. We were the same age. It was a very sad event. Many of the Sister Missionaries attended and they sang the Mission Song as the family left for the Cemetery.

We had every one over to the house for out Big Birthday for October and November. It was very loud but great to see our family. There was a Ward Party, a progressive dinner on Saturday so we were able to see many of our old friends from Sandy.

Tuesday We went for a consultation with the

Neurologist about the tumor on Marlene's spine. They have discovered that is not a problem.

The recommendation is to leave it as it is and take a MIR every six months to see if there is any change.

We bought a electric fire place for our home in Saint George. It looks like the real thing but you just turn it off and on with a switch. It was at our home ready to be assembled when we got home. It was a test of my Engineering knowledge to find our where "peg A" was and how to put screw "Z" in to hole 6.

It was finally done and it looks great.

October Confrence

October Conference was a busy time for the Old Glads. Clay and Allison came to St George to to see Cody in a track meet in Cedar City and then spend Conference time with us in St George.

It was a fun time We watched all of the Sessions in our home then the Men went to the Priesthood Session The Priesthood session is always the best. I liked the talk about wearing flip flops in in the desert best.

The girls and kids went to the park by old Tabernacle to enjoy the water features. St George City has made a really nice water park with intermittent fountains and wading streams and ect.

Mom is not feeling real good about having her 70th Birthday next month and I have not? been teasing her about it.

I am planing on going to Las Vegas to see the Lion King to cheer her up. We are hoping that all of the Family will come to St George for our 50th Wedding Anversity in November

Fall in Fairview

We drove up to Fairview to Winterize our Motor Home that we have Parked on the property there. It was quite warm for this time of the year but in past years we have had cold and snow so we thought is best to get it done.

We played two rounds of golf. I did

really poorly It has been quite a while since I have played. Marlene and I play together. She drives the Cart and keeps scour while I strike the balls and try to get them to go in the holes.

We thought we would take a ride up on the top of the Mountain. The leaves were as P

reety as I can remember. I took some Pictures.

Cody has a cross county track meet Friday at Cedar High School. We are going to go up to see how he does. Then Clay and Family are going to spend Confrence week end with Us

Todd and Shelly are coming to visit on Monday after Clay's family have left. St George is a great place to visit when it starts to get a little cold up in the North.

There is a wild fire between Beaver and Filmore. It has been burning for several months now. The Forest Service is doing nothing to control it. "It is part of the Natural World" Stupid !! It has burned a large part of the central section of Utah. There is heavy smoke from Nephi to Cedar City an area of more than 200 Miles. The same conservation people who are worried about Global warning and want to decrease our "Carbon foot print" will allow a fire to burn producing CO2 for an area that large. The people who have to breath the smoke should have some say in the matter. It just does not make any sence

New England Cruise and ID theft

We had a great time on our 49th Anniversary Cruise. It was super fun. We did not spend a lot of time in New York as our plane arrived at 10:00 AM and the ship left the harbor at 3:30. The ship was at the Brooklyn dock by so we were close to Manhattan the Brooklyn Bridge and we sailed past the Statue of Liberty.

We then went to New Port, RI where the rich and famous played. Remember the movie "High Society". Boston was very nice. It is strange to see how they have built large new modern style buildings right next to old historical ones. The John Hancock Building is right next to the Old Trinity Church. Bar Harbor, Main is another of the special places for the wealthy to stay. They would spend the hot times there as it was cooler than Newport. The summer Cottages of J P Morgan ect are there. A summer cottages has only 12 bedrooms ect. St Johns, New Brunswick was settled by immigrants from Ireland. We went on a tour with a horse drawn buggy. Halifax, Nova Sochia is a Scottish settlement. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Bag Pipe Band came on the Ship to perform for us. We have lots of photos so we are posting them on Facebook.

When we got home, there was a E-Mail in and a Voice Mail on my Cell Phone from the American Express Credit Card Company. It seems that there was a unusual amount of charges being made on my card from various companies in England, Two Charges from one company for $596 Charges for $780, $ 890, $ 234 and $ 286 and additional charges still being made. They thought that this was very unusual so they wanted to know if I knew what was going on. American Express Security Division canceled the card and deleted all of the phony charges. This Identify theft is really scary but it is great that the Credit Card Companies are monitoring our accounts for this kind of stuff. It will take a little more than a week before we get new cards.

Movie, Stars, Sand dunes and Family Search.

We took a ride through Zions National Park and the loop that passes by Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park. We had not been all of the way through the park to as we normally turn around after the tunnel. It was great to see that part of the park. The traffic was really bad as large parts of the roadway was being replaced by President Obamba's Stimulation program. We had to stop at several locations and wait for traffic coming the other way. It was really nice, as we were in no hurry and the view was really great. The desert flowers were just great as we have had some rain it the last few days.

Pink Coral Sand dunes were fun but there are there are still some bad memories about leaving Angel there. We continued on the road past the State Park. The road was dirt for about three miles, until we came to Colorado City and the highway back to Huricane and on to home. The Trip was nice but not too long from 10:am to

St George City has Movies in the Park every first and 4th Saturday night they were showing
Shark Tails. It was nice, so we took the lawn chairs and watched the movie. There were lots of Families with young children. The local TV station had games and ect for the children.

Thursday night was the first performance of "Crazy for You"at Tuchan. It was a fun musical with lots of famular songs, they lways do a great job. They made said that Disney had contacted them and asked them to do the premier of their new musical, "The Littelest Mermaid" next season. If it turns out as good as "Tarzan" it will be as

travel day and ect

We try to visit some where in the area near to St George each week, one hundred fifty miles or less is near. We drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument today. Last week we drove the road that goes to the Gunlock area, a pretty lake and small town. The week before that Kolob Canyon section of Zions National Park, ect. and so on.

The thing that is amazing is that we can still find cool places around here that we have not visited. Some of the unexpected cool places were Pipe Springs National Monument where the Mormon Pioneers had a large Cattle Ranch. At Sand Hollow State Park There is a really cool beach formed from a sand dune that comes down in to the lake. There is a really neat water fountain park for the kids to play in a right next to the historical Tabernacle. They have Movies in the Park by the water fountain every second and forth Friday. A really nice afternoon and evening would to be to take the tour of the Tabernacle, play in the water until dusk and then sit on lawn chairs and watch the Movie, all of them are G type.

I have been asked to make a presentation for the combined Relief Society and Priesthood Meeting on the 5th Sunday of this month about finding a person using the new.familysearch.org Computer Program. We have scheduled a take a Ancestor to the Temple Night, on Saturday the eighth of October. I have prepared all of the materials; a really good hand out and a Power Point Presentation on how to use the Computer Program. It should be really good.

Tuachan has a Saturday Market and Entertainment each week. We went there on the 24th of July. The Blue Grass band was passing out various musical instruments to the people in attendance to play on. Mom got the Washboard. It was really fun. We have been attending the events at either Tuachan or The Square by Brigham Young's home on Saturdays

The first of August was the time for the blessing of Todd and Shelly's new daughter Shaylynn. She is a very special baby. We are so grateful for out third Grand daughter and 13th Grand Child. Todd was so excited to be a Dad after all of these many years. It was great to be there for the event, but we missed our home in St George.
We ended out trip with a visit to our property at Fairview. We had not been there for more than two years. The Motor home started after much effort. Dad got to play two rounds of Golf, and did really well even though he had not played since before our mission.

Kolob and Cats

Thursday we went to Tuachan for the Musical "Cats". If you like Music and Dance, it was the best. The Dancers were unbelievable and Andrew Loyd Weber's music was terrific. It may have been the best production that we have had the opportunity to see.

The story line is a little hard to understand but the production numbers make up for that. The Performers were outside after the Play for picture taking. Mom wanted some pictures and more pictures these are some of them

Mom with Old Deuteronomy. I still have the music going through my head.

If you can come to St George the Musical is worth the Trip.

We drove up to the Kolob Canyon Part of Zions National Park. It is between St George and Cedar City just off of I-15. The Canyon is quite a bit different from the Zions park that most people visit. The drive into Kolob Canyon is about five miles. The elevation is much higher, starting at about 4500 feet, the elevation of Cedar City, then driving up the canyon to around 5000-6000 feet.

The road ends at a point where you can look down to the normal Zion's park. The Canyon is high enough that there is a lot of Ponderosa Pines. Not many people visit this area of Zions so you don't have to fight the crowd.

4th of July Holiday

The 4th of July was really great. Clay and Allisons family came to visit here on the weekend. We had a great time, went to the park where lots of games were played. Aaron entered the water melon eating contest and Cody participated in the hot dog eating contest.The photo to the right is Cody looking over a large plate of dogs just before the event started. He was able to eat nine and one quarter dogs. The winner consumed ten.

We went to the beach on Sand Wash Lake and enjoyed the water. Clay got a sunburn on his back from bending over trying to see how far He could make his feet sink into the sand.

Roy and Angel came on Tuesday just after Clay and family left. We visited St George Pioneer Park, a very unusual park it is a red rock area just above the city with lots of fun places to climb around on. Nathan was able to make it through a slot canyon, Roy or I could not fit. We were all tired so we came home watched some movies and then Melody, Megan Nathan and Grand parents went to Tuachan to enjoy the Disney Musical production of Tarzan. It was really good.

Marlene went to the Hospital today, Monday the 12th of July to have a a special test on her spine to find out more about the mass that was found there. She is feeling pretty good. They did a spinal tap then injected some die into her spine and then scanned her back. She has already had an x ray and two MRI done. We should have the results this coming week then we can make some plans for the twenty forth of July week.

driving and driving

We just returned from driving back to Sandy again. We were there last week end for Stuart's graduation, doctor appointments and Marlene's siblings get together. This time Bruce was scheduled to have his new son, Matthew blessed. When we were just on the outskirts of Sandy, our cell phone rang and we were informed that Tara was too sick to have it done. Tara is now feeling better She was taken to the hospital due to hemorrhaging from some minor surgery that was done earlier in the week. We stayed in our old home and attended the Sunday meeting schedule there. I am getting better at driving that three hundred miles. It was good to be back to our home in St George.

Our tomatoes plants are staring to produce, fresh home grown tomatoes are so nice. Sandy was cool and raining, for us really cold. I love the sunshine and heat.

Marlene has been suffering from really bad pain in her back and hip after hiking around Grand Canyon and standing and thinning Peaches at the church farm. The doctor here took some X rays and told us that she was staring so have some problems with arthritis in her lower back. She is taking some anti inflammatory medication and is feeling better. The heat here will help her. She will be doing some Physical Therapy to help with the situation.

We have moved almost everything we wanted from our Sandy home. I put up a book case and the curio case yesterday, so all of our assorted nick knacks now have a place to go. The home now looks like the "Glad home".

Memorial Day, Ect

We went back to Northern Utah last week for Doctor appointments, Stuarts High School graduation and a Sibling reunion in Cache Valley for Marlene's Family. It was great fun but Saturday was a very busy day with our driving to Logan from Sandy for the get together and then after back to St George. It was great to visit with Marlene's family and talk about family history and ect. We had to get back for Sunday so that I would be there for Setting apart as the new High Priest Group Leader in our new ward.

We were the speakers in Sacrament Meeting the week before. It feels good to feel like we are needed in our new Ward can still contribute. To the Lord's work. We have been going to the Temple here in St George once a week to get some of the family's work done that we have found on the New Family Search Program.

Memorial Day week end was really neat with lots of our family coming to our home in St George to spend the Holiday with us. Roy and Angel and family came on Thursday night then Marty and Melody came on Friday night and Todd and Shelly came to St George on Saturday night. It was very nice to have so many of the family here to spend the holiday with us. Todd and Shelly found another place to stay while they were here as our home was full to the brim with the rest of the family.

Roy, Angel, Megan, and Tyler were sleeping in one of the extra bed rooms with Nathan sleeping in our walk in clothes closet. Melody and Marty slept in the other extra bed room, With the rest of their family in the front room.

We went to "Pioneer Park" a city park that is in the Red Rock country just above St George on Friday with Roy and Angel's family before the rest of arrived. This is a really special place with lots of places to hike around on like small Slot Canyons, Rocks and even a small arch to see. We then went to Snow Canyon with its Sand Dunes Lava tubes and Cinder Cones.

Saturday when every one was here we visited Zion National Park. There is a short trail just the other side of the Tunnel that goes to look out point from where you can see the park from way upstairs.

There is a free Shuttle that will transport the visitors to the rest of the Park. It is nice because the driver dose a narration about the history and things to see as he drives. It was nice to have the kids take the short hike to Weeping Rock.

All of the family was here on Sunday to attend Sacrament Meeting with us and be there when we spoke.

We had one day of rest "Tuesday" before we started our trip to Northern Utah. We are really tired !!!!

We drove over to the Grand Canyon Friday. It took three hours from our home in St George to arrive at the North rim. We found that May 21st may be just a little early. The elevation of the north rim is around 8000. there are some sections of the road through the forest that are more than 9000 feet. So even though is has been 80 to 90 degrees in St George it was really cool in the Park.

We hiked out to "Bright Angel Point" and drove to Imperial Point where we had a nice lunch. We took quite a few pictures. It was really breath taking on the hike. Two ways, very pretty and hard to breath because of the elevation.

We then drove back to St George after spending several hours at the Canyon. We had never been to "Pipe Springs National Monument" which in on the way as way to Grand Canyon. We discovered that the area was a large Church ranch in the 1850s where there were thousands of cattle and sheep were kept. They would provide Meat, Milk, Butter and Cheese for the workers on the St George Temple as it was being constructed.

Pipe Springs in now on the Southern Piute Indian Reservation and so there it several displays talking about the relationships between the Indians and the settlers. The are really favorable to the Church and talk about how the Mormons assisted the Indians. I was surprised that there would be such a great missionary tool in a National Monument. It was really neat.

Zions Park

We have been in our new home for almost a month now and things are going well. Mom has been asked to serve at the ward organist.

She is relating well with all of the young people in the ward. We may be the oldest members in the Riverbend Ward

The weather has started to get warm so we have started to spend some more time visiting the area. We went to Zions Park f0r a picnic and took a hike to Emerald Ponds. The first of three ponds is only a easy hike of .6 miles. There is a water fall that goes over the trail from the middle pond to the lower pond. It is great to have such a great place so close.

We are going up to Sandy this week end for Bruce's Graduation and some other business that we need to take care of so we will be bringing a other load of stuff from Sandy. We are going to fill up the car each time we make a trip to St George.

We found a kind on neat place just down the road from our house called Johnson's farm.

Several years ago the owners of the farm found some unusual tracks in the ground. They are Dinosaur tracks. They have also found many fossils in the area so now there is a area where they are recovering the fossils that is open to the public to visit for a fee. There is a open market every Saturday at Tuachan with entertainment and Crafts, food and Produce for sale. We will be going there next week to see what is going on.


Emerald ponds, you can see how the water falls from the middle pond over the trail as you go the the middle pond. The upper pond is another .3 miles and is at the bottom of a water fall the comes off of the high wall. the water falls around 1000 feet.

our new home in St George

This is our new home in St George

pictures left to right

master bedroom,

master bathroom,

view from great room to laundry room

Master bed room with mom cleaning the blinds




Great room, Great room from back door, Master bath

great room showing dining room table without leaf and two other chairs

Walk in closet,

two views of outside of home

TV room,

Garage,

upstairs bathroom

dinning room set in great room, TV room