Northwest Trip

In August we made a quick trip to the Great Northwest. We flew in to Portland then took a rental car for a road trip to the Seattle area (Carnation, Washington) to see Tana's son Lou then to Westport, Washington, on the coast. We followed the coast south to Astoria, Seaside, Canon Beach and Tillamook, Oregon before returning to the Portland area in time for Trista and Tim's wedding at Troutdale, Oregon on August 20th. It was a great trip but any trip to the Oregon coast is a great trip! Here are a few pictures of the trip.

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

Tana at Westport, Washington

Bob and Tana at Seaside, Oregon

Sunset at Seaside, Oregon

Bob at Canon Beach, Oregon

Tana catching Shepperds Dell waterfall in Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Kelly, Trista and Darin Hale

China Trip

I know, I know, it's been a long time since we wrote anything. I guess that shows what a boring live we live. Oh, I remember now, we went on a trip to China. We have been back for six weeks and I think we are finally over jet lag. It was a great trip. There were so many changes since Bob was there three years ago. Construction is going on every where but we're not sure how well built things are. We saw two year old freeways made from concrete with no rebar that has now turned to gravel, with the heavy trucks driving on them. Here are a few pictures from the trip. For those that beg to see more, we have 560 more or for those who are not quite so desperate we have a 80 slide Power Point presentation.

Dinner at Shenzen

The Li River at Guilin, China

Tana and Bob at the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River

Tana and students at the Viking Primary School at Jingzhou, China

No diapers for toddlers

Terracotta Warriors at Xian, China

Bob and Tana at the Great Wall at Badaling, China

March 6th

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I have added anything to our blog, but it seems like I wake up and another month has gone by. We enjoy hearing from other family members through their blogs. It's sure a neat way to keep up to date on the grand and great grand kids, since we don't see them often.

We stay busy between going to Salt Lake City every Saturday to serve as hosts at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and taking care of our moms the rest of the time. We are the leaders of the Saturday morning shift and it keeps us on our toes trying to schedule the other hosts to cover all the stations in the building. We are in need of additional hosts. Does that sound like recruiting?

Tana goes to Ogden to help her mom out a couple of times a week and I check in with my mom a couple of times a week to count her medicines and pay her bills. We manage to go out to eat Chinese once a week, she likes to eat something besides the food at Williamsburg Retirement Center.

Last month we were able to go to the winter concert at the Mount Logan Middle School in which Hunter (my grandson) performed.

We are excited that it finally looks like there is a hint of spring. We can't wait to be outside riding our bikes and hiking in the mountains. This is all in preparation for our trip to China in May!!

On Sunday, November 2nd, we flew out of Salt Lake City to Tampa, Florida. The purpose of the trip was to visit with Derek and LeEllen and to enjoy some warmer weather. The weather was perfect as were the hosts. We were treated like royalty and the food was terrific! They made us feel so at home and comfortable. Thanks Derek and LeEllen for such a great time!!

On Monday Derek and LeEllen took off work and we drove over to Orlando and spent the day at Epcot. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. They had a food and wine festival going on and each country had a kiosk set up with sample size servings of native foods ($4.00 a serving) and we tried several. We have to get more of the pepperberry prawns from New Zealand!!! For lunch we ate at the Italian Resturant there and the food was great. I think the favorite ride was "Soarin". We stayed for the fireworks and lazer show, that night, and were really happy that we did, even though it had been a long day.

On Tuesday Tana and I got to sleep in since Derek and LeEllen went to work for half a day. After they got home we drove over to Tampa to the Cuban neighborhood of Ybor City for the afternoon. It felt like we were in Cuba with the architecture and everyone speaking with an accent. There were several shops that made hand rolled cigars, which was facinating to watch being made. Yew those are bras on the balcony! I'm not sure what they are doing there, maybe advertising, but what?This Cuban fellow was reading the newspaper so we checked to see what the news was and found out that Obama had won the election. We walked around the area and could smell the Cuban coffee being roasted. We had lunch at a Cuban resturant. I had a very good Cuban sandwhich. Tana didn't think much of her chicken noodle soup but managed to survive on the salad.

On Wednesday Tana and I drove back over to Orlando and attended the Orlando Temple. It is beautiful, as they all are. There were only seven in the session we attended but it was nice to be there. Our original plan was to go on over to the Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach but we ran out of time.

Thursday we drove over to St. Pete and then up the coastal islands to Clear Water. The beaches on the Gulf of Mexico were very clean and the sand was white and powdery. We were able to find some shells, even some sand dollars, but they didn't survive the trip home.

Our evenings were spent visiting with Derek and LeEllen and eating great food. Derek is coming out for Thanksgiving and I am concerned that he will starve to death with our cooking :) They sure have a nice home in a great neighborhood. We were always greeted by Tabitha (the cat) who seemed to like us. Again, thanks Derek and LeEllen, we couldn't have felt more welcome!!

Church History Tour

Joseph Smith Memorial

Sharon, Vermont

Peter Whitmer home

Fayette, New York

Palmyra Temple

Palmyra, New York

Smith Log home

Palmyra, New York

Niagra Falls

Niagra, New York

Kirtland Temple

Kirtland, Ohio

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Missouri

Nauvoo Temple

Nauvoo, Illinois

Carthage Jail

Carthage, Illinois

On September 17th we flew to New York City where we boarded a motor coach for our tour. We went to the Sharon, Vermont area to see all the sights there and then on to the Palmyra, New York area to see the Hill Cumorah, the Sacred Grove, the Palmyra Temple and other places. We were to then go to Kirtland, Ohio but our driver didn't show up. It turned out that he got drunk and didn't show up for a couple of days but the bus company sent a new driver to take us to Niagra Falls and on to Kirtland. We were able to go into the Kirtland Temple. From Kirtland we flew to Kansas City, Missouri where we got on another motor coach for a tour of Independence, Liberty, Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri. After checking out those sights we travelled on to Nauvoo and Carthage, Illinois. We were able to attend the Nauvoo Temple where we were the witness couple in the session. Our final bus ride was to St. Louis, Missouri via Hannibal, Missouri to see the Mark Twain sights. We flew out of St. Louis to Salt Lake. It was a great trip and we learned a lot.

Temple Fork with Brice

July 8, 2008,

Brice stayed with us for three days. one of those days we hiked up to the Temple Fork saw mill site, up Logan Canyon.

It is where the lumber was obtained for the Logan Temple between 1877 - 1844. They hauled the wood to Wood Camp and then floated it down to Logan from there. It is a beautiful hike, a lot of shade and tons of yellow and purple wild flowers in bloom, next to the creek.

Brice seemed to really enjoy it. Bob told us faith promoting stories of two boys about 19 yrs. old that worked there and incidences that happened to them. It is so quiet and such a peaceful feeling at the site. We also learned from Bob about a young man and young lady that had met at the site and later were married. This ended up being the great grandparents to the wife of his counselor in the bishopric.

If you would like to hike it, it is an easy hike. I know a great guide and we would love to show you and have a few great stories. The kids would love it and would also be able to play in the water along the way. Little ones could ride on dad's shoulders.

The Garden Tomb and Dead Sea

This was a great day to be able to stand in the Garden Tomb, and partake of the spirit that we felt. It was very humbling to be able to stand where Jesus once lay. It is now a beautiful garden with flowers and walk ways, but we realize that it was not, then, quite the way we see it now.

It is a very reverent place. Everyone around was very respectful and used their soft voices. We sat with our guide and read scriptures about events that took place there and listened to beautiful spiritual music, that he played, and it is a feeling that we will never forget!

This is the actual place where Christ was laid after the crucifixion.

They had to chisel out the foot area, which is on the right, because he was taller than the average Jew.

Now on a lighter note:

We had a fun time with this camel, he was VERY tall and had to kneel on the ground for me to climb on him. Then he got up with me on, and boy did he wobble back and forth. I felt so high. This was taken at Qumron, at the Dead Sea.

Bob was floating in the Dead Sea, he has his tongue hanging out because , he tasted the salt and mineral water and it had a terrible taste. It didn't take any effort to stay afloat. The sea is about 27% minerals. You couldn't sink if you wanted to. Have a great day and remember we love you all and wait for a neat home evening when we can share more. Love you all Grandma and Bob.