What Has Happened to Us!

It has been six months since I have posted on our family blog.  Where have we been and what have we been doing?   

An important change for us after living in South Dakota for 37 years was buying a home in Spanish Fork, Utah.  This move even caught us by surprise, since we were content in our home on the farm; but things seemed to fall into place for us to try another adventure.

 Home in Spanish Fork, Utah,

after the first snowfall and before landscaping was added.

This will be a place where our expanding family can congregate to enjoy being together for family reunions.  We are nearer our two sons and daughter and their families who live in Utah (with Beth's family being only 2 1/2 miles away), and our five grandchildren currently attending BYU are only about 20 minutes away. 

We are glad our other family members have additional family to come this way for visits, and we look forward to seeing them as often as they can come.  Of course, we miss our family and friends in South Dakota; but we expect to return regularly and for Sam to help out on the farm from time to time.  In addition, we will continue making our road trips to visit family living away, only now in reverse.   

Our home here has eight bedrooms - two more than we had in South Dakota, so you know we have room for our family and friends to come see us.  Please do!  

On Sunday, September 2nd, 

 we heard about the house in Spanish Fork;

on Monday, we got a "tour" via Beth's iPad camera;

on the following Friday, the seller accepted our offer;

and a short time later, we took our first load of things

to Utah in the horse trailer.

We moved the rest of our things in the reefer trailer

on October 26,

and Jeff Prang drove it to Utah for us.

Everything arrived safely.  Todd had arranged

for members of our new ward to come and unload it.

What took us days to load up, took these men

only about an hour to unload.  We really were

grateful for all their help.

Following are some pictures related to our move.  We appreciate the help we received from family in packing, getting the house in Utah ready for us, and in helping us to downsize some of our stuff (not enough, especially books and dishes, according to Sam!).

Beth came from Utah to help and

packed a lot of boxes.

Marla came from Mitchell to help pack and took

a van full of things to donate to Goodwill.

Brent helped pack the reefer, and Tauna

helped with packing and brought over food to eat. 

 Miles (Jeff and Rochelle's) and Mason (Doug and Shannon's)

thought a packing box was a fun place to be.

Bringing back some memories:

Doug donning his Homecoming crown and banner

brought smiles to 

Rochelle, Weston, Shannon, and Brynlee.

Jeff and Rochelle from Arkansas helped us pack,
and so did Doug and Shannon from Utah.

Mason in his makeshift "highchair,"

since Grandma's was not available.

Grandpa Sam gets a hug from Rachel.

She was a good helper during the packing.

Weston came to show us his clown face
he had one day during Homecoming week.

 
 Our "Hall of Fame" was dismantled, and our sons
now have these mementos of their medals and awards.

 
 Through the years, we have enjoyed seeing

these reminders of our daughters' high school years;

but we took them down for the girls to keep.

 

Before our move, Jeff and Doug and their families

came to the farm for a visit and to go pheasant hunting

in mid-October.

(Doug, Zack, and Jacob) 

Isaac and Kate
Cousins had fun together and ignored the moving mess. 

Miles and Jamon
Grandchildren have enjoyed coming to the farm,
and we hope they will also like coming to our place in Utah.

 

 The first snowfall did not last long, and we got landscaping

done before the snow came again and stayed.



 The lawn was extended and sod was laid.

 
The landscape crew were usually about 

five or six guys, and Sam often helped.

In fact, the Mexican man who seemed to be in charge

of the others made this remark about Sam:

"Boy, he is a goer."  I don't think they were used

to having the home owner contribute physical work.

 Part of our backyard with the covered swimming pool.  

 (The horses are not ours.)

Sam moved the fence back to expand our lawn
in the backyard and added two gates leading into the
pasture behind.  We brought the wheel from the farm.
Pipes were buried in the ground where
volleyball posts can be inserted for volleyball games.

Putting in the irrigation system
in the front.

Grandpa Sam giving Isaac a ride as he moves

the snow from our front driveway.

We haven't seen some of our newly planted bushes 

and plants since winter came to stay,

and they have not been able to complete the pergola area yet.    

The grandkids enjoy our sports center
where they play basketball and four-square,
and they like to put up the volleyball net to play walleyball.  

(Brynlee, Isaac, Mason, and Doug)
  

 
  Joshua and Jared watching
Doug and Sam put up the new backboard.

Playing "walleyball" before the net was added,

which can be raised when desired. 

(Brady, Amanda, and Jared)

  Jared helped build more shelves

for the garage.  We also added more
shelves in the cold storage room.

 

We enjoyed being at Beth's for Halloween.

 Sarah was creative in choosing to be a "snowman"

for her classroom, taking advantage of her pregnant tummy.

(Sarah and Derek)

Rebecca, Joshua, Amanda, Megan, and Ethan
in their Halloween costumes.


We had a nice Thanksgiving and were happy to have

Scott's family from Denver, our Utah families, and 

the married grandchildren come to our home.  

With moms collaborating on the traditional menu, 

we had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. 

Assortment of pies for Thanksgiving.



Enjoying the football game after Thanksgiving dinner!



 Trevor is always a good sport.
(Rebecca, Jacob, Joshua, and Isaac)
[in the background:  Shannon, Kristine, Ryan, and Todd]



Celebrating Rebecca's birthday with cousins.

 Rebecca is happy to be three years old.



It was fun to have a baby shower for Sarah and Brittney
and to give them outfits for the upcoming baby blessings.

We enjoy having our grandchildren
stop by and appreciate when those attending BYU
share some time with us.    
(Amy and Judd)



A nice visit from married grandchildren.
(Rebecca, Narene, Sam, Matt, Brittney, Sarah, and Derek)

 We were pleased to be at the airport

when our grandson, Carson, returned from his mission

in Mexico and to have family come to our home

for a meal afterward. 

 After Carson reported his mission in church,
there was a nice luncheon at Ryan and Tani's.
Our two expectant mommies,
granddaughters Sarah and Brittney,
 sitting together and
may have been comparing notes.
(Ethan, Rebecca, and Beth also in the photo.)



The younger grandchildren had fun playing with Matt
following Carson's talk in church about his mission.

Our landscapers added our Christmas lights.

This guy was pretty agile!

We celebrated Christmas Eve in our home with

Todd and Beth's family and Sarah and Derek.  

Ryan and Tani's family also stopped by for a visit.


 
 We had the usual Nativity pageant with the grandkids, 

but Santa didn't come until after bedtime.   

Christmas morning, Sam and I went to Beth's to

watch the grandchildren open their presents.  


Doug and Shannon's family came on Christmas day 

to spend a few days with us, and Todd and Beth's

family and Sarah and Derek were also here for our

traditional Christmas dinner. 



Bring on the Christmas feast.

   

Ethan, Jacob, and Joshua ready to enjoy the snow.

Brynlee, Megan, and Amanda

   

 

Jacob, Joshua, Jared, and Ethan

Our first Christmas in our new home.
(Narene and Sam) 
This photo and the next two were taken Christmas Eve,
which has become a tradition for us to do.
We failed to get a family photo of Doug's family the next day. 

Todd and Beth's family
(Christmas Eve) 

 Ryan and Tani's family 
(Christmas Eve) 

Rebecca in her new birthday outfit.
Her birthday was November 24th.

Sarah and Brittney, cute and curvy!

(At the time of this posting,

we now have our first two great-grandchildren:

Sarah and Derek's Anna Mckenzie Lontine

and

Brittney and Matt's Montgomery "Monty" Charles Ure.) 

 It is always fun to get together with friends.

We began this friendship in Moscow, Russia.

The Masons live in Idaho part of the time and in

Alaska in the summer; the Reeses live in Salem, Utah.

We got together for lunch one day in November.

(Clark and Renee Mason, Linda and Steve Rees, and Narene and Sam)

 

A Winter Wonderland