January 2019

I'm always glad for a new year.  It is like starting over again fresh and new.  Family is a high priority and on January 1st Dennis invited the children and grandchildren to watch the new Mary Poppins movie at a theater. Rachel was still in Utah for the Christmas holidays but Rob had already returned to Seattle.  We spent New's Year's Eve with the Beus Family.  Each year they reserve a church and play games, dance to music and eat.

Rachel and Ely stayed in Utah to ski and visit until January 6.  Ely was getting to be a really good skier by the time they left.  We also went to the Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake with Ely and Rachel while they were still here. 

Chad had asked Dennis and me to go to his home in Lexington, Kentucky while he went on a vacation with Jeana to Panama.  We were there with all four of their children for 10 days starting on January 11, 2019.  It was unusually cold and snowy.  I went out with the children to sled down the hills in their backyard.  Soren and I made a snowman in their front yard.  The snow didn't last long but our snowman was still around after all the rest of the snow had melted. 

We were ready for church and about to get in the car and drive 25 minutes to get there when we received a call from Jeana saying that she had just heard that church had been canceled because of the snow. The day before on Saturday we had taken the children to a museum.  I was so impressed when we got to the puppet stage at the museum.  The children each took a puppet and made up an impromptu play.  It is amazing how acting out another character can make an individual come alive on stage.  Since church had been canceled we read some bible stories and then Dennis wrote out a simple puppet play depicting Daniel and the lions den.  Sophie helped me make some simple hand  puppets.  We rehearsed the play a couple of times and then Dennis recorded it while the children performed.  I thought it was a good way to used a snowed in Sabbath.  

Spencer was working on a science project that was due shortly after we got there so we helped him with that. It turned out very nice.  

I went to our Stake Relief Society conference and was delighted to hear Gail Miller speak.  She and her husband, Larry H. Miller bought the Jazz basket ball team and have car dealerships all over the state.  Larry had diabetes and died and so she is carrying on with all those business adventures and is extremely successful.  I really admire her.  She got her family together before Larry died and they had him talk and teach her and her family how to run all of the businesses they own.  she and her children also took an online class from Harvard business school so they would know how to handle their business.  I went out and bought her autobiography that she had recently written and read it.  It was 

very interesting.

Dennis and I flew to Puerto Vallarta on January 28 for a little vacation time together.  It was warm in Mexico and cold in Utah.  We stayed at the Marriott Hotel and purchased some of their excursion packages to do some guided touring.  

                                         

December 2018

It's a marshmallow world in the winter  at the cabin on December 4, 2018.  Christmas dinner compliments of Gerald Holman Investments December 19, 2018.  

The Thomas' were coming in for Christmas and Ely asked if we were going to have a Christmas pageant with costumes.  This was for Ely.  A nativity pageant at Amy's house. 

 

All the Harston girls and their families went to the cabin and bless his heart Rob, cleared the long driveway for us to park in.

Rob also made wonderful cheese bread.  That disappeared in a flash and he generously jumped in and made another loaf.  He also made a cinnamon swirl bread.

How full can you fill the holiday season when all your daughters are in town.  This was a cookie decorating and children's exchange gift party at Renee's house before we went downtown.  

The family took an excursion downtown to the church history museum.  They were displaying the art of Elder Henry B. Erying.  Along with that display they had a space for children to do their own art project.   All of the grandchildren participated. The whole family also went out to an "all you can eat" buffet restaurant afterwards.

The big family excursion to Temple Square the day after Christmas.  

Phil Colton a member of our old ward happened to be there and took the picture for us.  

December 28, 2018   Hair buns styled by 4 budding beauticians while at the cabin. Grace, Ella, Tess, and Beth. What will these four cousins be doing 10 years from now?  Twenty years from now they will be styling their own daughters hair.

Sledding was popular, particularly if  someone drove the Ranger and pulled the sledders. It went on into the cold evening hours.  

  Renee tried out the snowshoes in the upper playground.  It looks like she is still sinking in quit far on the light snow.  .  

Ely likes the snow that he doesn't get much of  in Seattle. He and I made a snowman in the side yard of our Draper house.  I helped him find a hat and and a scarf.  He named our creation "ice man".  Rob stepped in for a picture.

The Thomas' went over to visit Elaine and Linda.  Elaine's father played the violin.  She was 94 years old in this picture.  

October and November 2018

 Jeff's wife Carolyn died on October 9, 2018.  She had breast cancer for several years.  I was at BYU education week in August when Jeff called and said she was not doing well.  I left early and went to see her.  At that time she was still able to leave her bed and go to the front room to visit. It was a short visit because she got tired and was in pain, but it was still nice to be with her.  From that time and for the next 6 weeks her health and ability decreased rapidly. I visited again a couple of times and took Jenny with me once as she wanted to support Jeff.  Then in October Jeff called to say she had died. Carolyn's mother, Barbara, and my siblings Ronda, Marvin, Elizabeth and I believe Paul all went to Jeff's house.  It was hard on Jeff.  We all sat around in the bedroom and visited along with Sadie, Carolyn's dog before her body was to be picked up. Before she was taken by the mortuary Jeff asked Marvin to say a prayer. Jeff said he felt like we had a viewing, (with us all sitting around visiting), a family prayer and then Ronda had brought food and we all went in the kitchen and ate so Jeff called it the family luncheon.  This picture was taken in the front entry way of the house just before Carolyn was to be taken out just away.  Carolyn wanted to be cremated so Jeff honored her wishes.
  
 Jeff had a memorial service for Carolyn at the Le Jardin in Sandy.  We all pitched in and helped with food, flowers, setting up and taking down.  Dennis and I took some of Jeff's photos he had of Carolyn, enlarged them and framed them to display at the memorial.  Jeff had prepared a program which Doug conducted for him.  A lot of family and friends were there. Alyssa and friends sang, a sister gave a tribute and many offered comments and feelings for Carolyn.  She was a dog groomer and Jeff had build a servicing station in their basement where she worked.  Many of her dog grooming patrons came to pay their respect to her.  The Hatch family was well represented including Deryl Hatch, Doug's son who flew in.  The memorial was on October 18 and on the 20th all the siblings went to lunch in Midway.  Doug and Patti were still in town.  Craig Aramaki along with Alyssa and her husband Garrett Hazen were there also. 

I still had furniture in our Cottonwood Heights house that we were trying to sell.  We gave much of it away to our daughters who lived locally but I still had the baby grand piano and my mothers piano to move to our new Draper house. I had asked Rachel if she wanted to have my mother's piano that I had bought from mom's estate.  The sales receipt with her signature and date of purchase were still in the piano bench.  I asked Barrus Piano Company to move the baby grand piano to our new home and also to load mother's upright piano into a trailer.  On Veteran's Days weekend Dennis and I drove to Seattle with the trailer and piano.  Rachel had arranged for several men including the missionaries to moved the piano into her home. She had a very old piano she had purchased from a woman she knew who had asked if Rachel would store it.  Rachel eventually bought the piano from her.  I was so glad that Rachel was willing to take mother's piano so it would have a good home.  While we were in Seattle we went hiking with Rachel and Ely on Veteran's Day.  Rachel worked for the Veterans Administration so definitely had the day off.  It was cold but beautiful.  

Ely was selected to take the school class seagull home for the weekend and then upon returning to school on Monday tell the class about the adventure gull had been on.  

Craig Harston, Dennis' brother came out from Tennessee to visit.  This photo was taken in Elaine's kitchen on September 23, 2018.  He rode the Amtrak train out and Dennis picked him up and let him drive one of our cars to visit family in Idaho.    

 

 It was Craig's 73rd birthday on September 30th.  We were eating dinner at Amy's house and Craig was to leave soon and return to Tennessee.

Dennis got a call from his brother  about 6 weeks after Craig has returned home.  He said he had been in a car accident and  his license was taken away.  He was having health concerns and Dennis told him he needed to go see a doctor.  Craig went to a doctor who put him in the hospital.  He had several strokes while he was there and was not doing well.  Dennis flew out to be with his brother and help him.  Unfortunately he died in the hospital on December 8, 2018.

Some of Craig's family and children came to visit him in the hospital.  Tina Dance, a daughter and his son Randy Harston came to see him.  His wife Ronda came from Idaho. Susan, his sister had recent knee surgery and couldn't come so her husband Keith Morgan drove from Texas to help. When they realized Craig was not going to live much longer Dennis and Keith jumped in and started cleaning out Craig's house and the cabin Craig owned so it could be sold.

Elaine, Craig's mother wanted him to be buried in Utah in the cemetery where his Father, Clive is buried.  With Dennis' help it was arranged that Craig would be flown to Utah. On December 15 we had a memorial service for Craig at the Club house where Elaine and Linda live.  Elaine felt like she could ride in a car to the club house which was just a block away. from her house.  We had a luncheon and friends and family came. Dennis asked Craig's family members that were present to stand for a photo.  Will, Randy Tina, Andrea, April and Ronda stood by his coffin.

While Dennis was away in Tennessee taking care of his brother our daughters and their husbands and children helped move more furniture from the old home to the new.  It was a very busy time to be moving and I was very grateful for their help especially since Dennis was helping with Craig and his home and cabin

Dennis had bought tickets for a Brandenburg concert at Abravenel Hall downtown but he was with Craig so I had the option to go alone, forgo the concert or give the tickets to one of my daughters.  They insisted I go and Tyler should go with me.  We changed very fast and left everyone still carrying furniture into the Draper home.  We barley made it on time, but enjoyed the concert.

June, July and August 2018

Janiel Benson was a big part of our life when we lived in Cottonwood Heights.  Dennis and I had the opportunity to visit her at least once a month for about 20 years.  

Michael and Jordan had been helping me at the cabin when we got a message saying that they had a new baby sister.  On the way home we stopped by the hospital to see Maren Sage Clark.  Michael tore his shirt while he was working up there.  He is also wearing a beaded bracelet he got in Africa.

They are good workers and like to earn the money. Maren was born June 21, 2018. 

Rachel and Ely drove down from Seattle in June of 2018 for the purpose of having Dennis baptize Ely Nolan Thomas.  His birthday was June 6 and we had special permission from the stake president to have the service in our building.  It was just for Ely and no other children.  He looks very happy and proud to be a member of the church in this picture.  Everyone helped with leading the music, playing the piano, setting up and taking down chairs.  I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost.  Afterward we had a luncheon at our home in Cottonwood Heights.  Donna and Michael Hawks who Rachel knew from Washington made an effort to come as well. Pat Lowe and her husband Steve who live in Utah came as well.  Pat is a sister to Donna and they are cousins to Dennis.

July 1, 2018 Newly baptized Ely and cousin Beth Beus at temple square.

The old benches are about to become firewood.  July 3, 2018, the grand boys
are eager to help take apart the old benches that are deteriorating.  

We built new benches to go around the new and improved fire pit that Dennis built.  I had made the old benches out of some shelves that were in the bunk house.  These benches will not have to be covered with tarps in the winter to protect them from the snow or repainted in the spring. 

We were all at the cabin and most everyone decided to run the traditional Independence day 5K.  I did it, not in wonderful time but I'm glad to have done it. Wednesday July 4, 2018

I do hope these boys maintain good relationships throughout missions, marriage and adulthood. 

Dennis built a zip line and a platform for the children to access the zip line.  It is a popular 

attraction for the grandchildren.  We seem to have space for this sort of playground if we go west behind the cabin.  The zip line is where the corral used to be.

Dave Dalton our new neighbor who bought the cabin that used to belong to Marvin and Dorthy Wallin built a new gate.  When he built his new cabin he found that he had to take the top off the old gate and partially disassemble it.  Dennis helped him stain the new gate.  

I wanted to hike in the Mount Rainier National Park and I also wanted to go to Canada again to see Butchart Gardens and the San Juan Islands. I had asked Rob and Rachel if Dennis and I could take Ely into Canada with us for a little Vacation. Before we went to Canada Rachel, Rob and Ely drove down from Seattle and met us very early at Mount Rainier National Park and we hiked together.  The wild flowers were absolutely beautiful.  The next week Dennis and I went to Canada with Ely.

 

Rob had hiked to the summit with Chad months earlier. When we arrived to their home he showed us a slide show of the adventure.  Rachel had pack us a very healthy lunch to eat after the hike.  It included some "melt in your mouth figs" from the tree in her yard.  They battle the raccoons each year to see who will get the figs first.  An air show over the water in Seattle.

 

The beautiful San Juan Islands, Ely at Butchart Gardens, Craigdarroch Castle, hiking on Vancouver with Dennis inside a huge tree, swimming and reading at the hotel and sushi for dinner in the park.

 

Sunset at Alki Beach, Seattle and Dennis and me with Mount Rainier in the background.

As we were driving home from the Rainier/Canada trip in the Northwest Amy called and said that a woman in her ward was going to sell her home.  I had been looking for a smaller home with less yard work.  This woman lived in Willow Bend, a gated community near Amy.  I called her and asked if we could see her home.  She said she had decided not to move but told me the name of another family in Willow Bend who was going to move.  I called that woman and she said a family had already looked at her home and more family members were flying in from California in two days to see the house.  I asked if we could see the home the next morning as we were still driving from Seattle.  Dennis and I looked at the home on Saturday morning (the next day) and made an offer on it.  They accepted our offer on Sunday and said the other family was disappointed about not getting the home.  We started packing and getting our home in Cottonwood Heights ready to be put on the market.  

The whole idea to move had been brewing in my mind for some time but it came to a more definite plan when I was at the Draper Temple one day.  I was sitting in the Celestial Room and in prayer I asked what I needed to do.  The answer came loud and clear but as a surprise when I heard the word, "move".  I looked and thought about several locations but nothing seemed right, until the option to move to Draper came into play.  The Lord definitely had his hand in this.  

There was a lot to do after living in our home for 22 years.  The girls were so good to help.  We gave a lot of stuff away especially to our children such as the barbecue, bedroom sets, the foosball game, lots of patio furniture, tables and chairs, desks, the china closet, an entertainment center, yard tools and so much more.  The piano I had purchased from mom's estate went to Rachel.  

The family was very helpful in the moving process. Everyone got into the act.  

Dennis went through boxes of stuff he had stored away.  He sorted through it all.  We were moving into a home half the size so we couldn't keep all of it.

Here we are on one of the moving days at our front door.  

Bobby and Phil Colton from our old Union 2nd ward wanted to give us a going away party, mainly because Dennis sang in the choir and they practiced at the Colton home. Dennis and I worked with Don and Rebecca Reese in our calling to have a social every other month for the older men and women in the ward.  I also taught the youngest primary age children with Rebecca.  I really appreciate the Reese's humility and sincere desire to build the Kingdom of God.  They will be there in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom.  I hope Dennis and I are with them.  

Theresa Schubach was a good woman that Dennis and I enjoyed getting to know.  She is a Clinical Social Worker and Therapist.  She had  heard about having a patriarchal blessing and wanted one.  The bishop said she would need to attend church so we invited her to come and sit with us.  I was so glad when she was able to receive her blessing.  

I took some pictures of the house as we were packing up and getting ready to sell it.  

I spent a lot of time in that yard.  It required a fair amount of maintenance.  Dennis and I built the pergola and I planted grapes on it.  It served well for a quiet place to sit and also privacy from the Beau and Maria Backman yard next door.  As the house was located in a river bottom we had lots of rocks to landscape with.  Every time we dug a hole to plant anything we ran into a good size rock.  We had a lot of wedding parties in the back yard.  

We took out the old wooden fence we build when we moved in 22 years earlier.  I felt we needed to access the full yard so we put in the wrought iron fence up close to the sidewalk .  Dennis helped build another pergola on the other side of the yard. I planted lilacs that would grow tall on one side and Fine Line Buckthorn trees behind the pergola with still more shrubs and trees on the other end.  My thought in doing so was that in a few years those trees and shrubs would offer privacy in time.  We finally sold the home in August of 2019 to the Liddel family.