Autumn Traditions

On October 16th, we stayed overnight with Scott and Kristine's family in Denver on our way to the farm in South Dakota and got to see Jenna and Shannon cheerleading at a soccer game.  

 Enroute to Denver

Jenna and Shannon,

cheerleaders for Broomfield High School.

The next day we stopped for a visit in Scottsbluff with Bill and Karen and enjoyed eating Mexican food with them for lunch.  

 In front of Bill and Karen's house.

(Bill, Karen, and Sam)

A special bonus for our visit to the farm was having Jeff and two of our grandsons from Arkansas there for a short visit.  A friend of Jeff's and his two sons came with them to enjoy the farm experience as well as pheasant hunting.

 Ready for the pheasant hunt.

(Grampa Sam, Sam, Jeff, Weston, Zack, Jamon, and

three friends from Arkansas)

After the hunt.

(Jamon, Zack, Jeff, and their Arkansas friends)

Grandson Sam taught the hunters 

an efficient way to clean their pheasants.

Going for a Sunday evening walk with

Brent and Tauna's family.

(Tauna, Weston, Brent, Sam, Grampa Sam, and Rachel)

The weather was nice while we were in South Dakota.

(Tauna, Sam, Brent, Weston, Rachel, and Grampa Sam)

On our walk, Rachel (and Weston) decided to 

run along the top of the big, round hay bales.

  

During our two-week stay at the farm, Sam put in long hours helping with the fall harvest combining corn while Brent combined sunflowers.  I, on the other hand, had a relaxing time reading, working on my life story, visiting family and friends, and going for walks.

The following are photos taken on one of my walks.

 Grain bins

 The auger moving grain from the truck into a bin.

They also store grain in huge plastic bags

that each weigh 450 pounds before being filled.

 Silage pits.

The one in the background has tires placed over the plastic cover

for protection.  The one in the foreground is not covered.

Calving shed used during calving season,

especially when the weather is stormy.

It also has a sleeping area for the hired man

if a close watch is needed.

A not-so-nice memory of this shed happened when we were giving a farm tour

to some friends we knew from Russia, the Moltons.  As we looked through

the glass window separating the sleeping room from the calving stalls,

I was curious about the buzzing sound I heard and wondered if if might be

an alarm clock.  Then I noticed in the corner a short distance from me

a coiled rattlesnake making the noise.  You can be sure Gloria and I

quickly left the shed while Sam took care of the snake.

While we were in South Dakota, we enjoyed visiting Curtis and Marla's family in Mitchell and attending church in Rosebud and in Mitchell.  

I also had a nice visit with Curly Mansfield, Sam's 90-year-old aunt.

Curtis, Haley, Maren, and Marla Smith

in Mitchell, SD

We had seen Patti Busch at church in Rosebud,

but wanted a longer visit with our dear friend of almost 40 years;

so we stopped at her home in Mission on our way back to the farm 

from our visit in Mitchell.

(Narene and Patti)

Eulalia "Curly" Mansfield, Sam's aunt, 

who recently celebrated her 90th birthday.

She still enjoys crocheting, morning outings to get the mail,

visiting with friends and family, and going to her weekly

hair appointments.  She is quite a lady.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Returning to Utah on Halloween day, we crossed the long miles of Wyoming and got to Spanish Fork in time to enjoy being part of the Graham family's Halloween tradition of broccoli cheese soup in "pumpkin" bread bowls  
(orange colored bread baked to look like a pumpkin)

and to see the grandchildren in their costumes.

Amanda and Megan found their costumes among my dress-up things;

Amanda chose a dress our former foster daughter wore for her

eighth-grade graduation, and Megan chose my senior prom dress minus 

the velveteen jacket.  Joshua was a BYU football player, Rebecca

was a princess (of course!), and Ethan was a turkey.

(Amanda, Joshua, Rebecca, Ethan, and Megan)

 Sarah, Anna, and Derek

as characters from Monsters Inc.

Doesn't Anna make an adorable "Boo"?

Trevor and Megan

Guess Who game

* * * * * * * * * * * *

We had nice autumn weather, and

the chrysanthemums opened up in full bloom.

Out and About

Activities shared with our Empty Nesters group is something we look forward to and enjoy.  We have hosted some of these occasions in our home or backyard, sometimes we have been hosted by others, and sometimes we have visited interesting places together.  We usually meet the first Monday evening of the month for what we refer to as "Family Home Evening."  On September 29th, we had a nice excursion going to Provo for an enjoyable tour of the Crandall Historical Printing Museum.  It is located at 275 East Center Street.   

 Sam and I had previously gone to the museum

to check it out and make arrangements for our

Empty Nesters to have a group tour.

 After arriving at the museum, we sang a hymn

accompanied by Trudy Sumsion playing the

organ on display in the museum.

 The tour started with Louis Crandall (the owner) showing us

a replica of the Gutenberg press and

telling us the history of Johannes Gutenberg and

the printing of the first Bible in Mainz, Germany.

Crandall loves to talk about printing and the history of printing, 

and he has been a printer himself since the age of 14. 

 We watched as he actually printed 

a page from Gutenberg’s Bible in the Vulgate Latin.  

Wally told us about the Benjamin Franklin press

and how the Declaration of Independence was printed.

He demonstrated the press by printing a sample page of that document.

 In this room, we enjoyed hearing a

narration on the printing history of The Book of Mormon.

This press is a replica of the cast iron press on which

E. B. Grandin printed the first 5000 copies of

the Book of Mormon.

There were many other interesting displays,

and our excellent tour was a little over two hours.

 

After the tour, we returned to our home for refreshments.

(Eugene and Sandra Cook, Karen and Lynn Haskell,

Neil and Kay Larson, Hal and Christy Smith, and Sam;

(Trudy Sumsion and Monty Bingham 

were also with us at the museum.)

If you are interested, here is a link to a funny yet informative

tour of the museum with Danny Knowital:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA1cUiAg-A0

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ethan, Rebecca, and Joshua

filled the back of Jared's "truck" with pumpkins and gourds 

harvested from what their family planted in our garden spot.

The grandchildren made an impressive profit

from selling these in their neighborhood.

 Joshua and Ethan got Grampa to help with their stunt.

 Amanda and Megan found our backyard a good place 

for taking pictures to post on their Instagram page.

 When we moved here, Sam extended the back yard

so it would be a good place for playing football

and other games.  With his care, the lawn looks very nice.


* * * * * * * * * * * *

It was a special treat to attend Women's Conference in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City with Beth and Shannon and their daughters.

 Waiting for Women's Conference to begin.
September 27, 2014

I loved being there with these cute young ladies.
(Shannon, Brynlee, Narene, Megan, Beth, and Amanda)

 Leaving the Conference Center,
we joined many others
taking photos with the Salt Lake Temple
in the background.
(Narene and Beth) 


The following weekend was General Conference.
We enjoyed watching the televised sessions on Sunday
and the Saturday sessions on the computer, 
  since we were traveling home from St. Johns on Saturday.
We did get home in time to watch the Priesthood session, though.

We thoroughly enjoyed hearing all of the speakers.

I especially like messages given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

Fall Colors in Hobble Creek Canyon

This was a good year to see vibrant autumn foliage in Hobble Creek Canyon, which begins about five miles from our home in an easy drive.  We went with Hal and Christy Smith.  Sam had so many good photos to choose from, but below are the ones I chose to share here.  It almost felt like we were in a fairyland, as the colors were very bright and beautiful. 

Hal's picture of Sam

We were so impressed with the colorful scenery we saw that we suggested a photo shoot for Todd and Beth's family, and they went to Hobble Creek Canyon today on Beth's birthday (Saturday, October 11).  Afterward, they came to our home and played volleyball and ping pong.  Trevor and Megan were here, too, and were babysitting Anna while Sarah and Derek went to see the movie, "Meet the Mormons."  Trevor and Megan had seen the movie earlier today, and Sam and I enjoyed seeing it yesterday. 

Beth began her birthday celebration a day early when she and Todd had a good time on Segways at Thanksgiving Point yesterday (Friday, October 10). 

Now, join us on a photo tour through Hobble Creek Canyon:

 Sam and Narene

 Narene

 Narene

 Narene and Sam

 Christy and Hal Smith

 Narene and Christy walked ahead for a short distance while

Sam and Hal stayed behind taking pictures.

We didn't realize Sam took this one 
as the guys joined us.

 

We returned back to the beginning of the canyon and then

took the north fork to take the next pictures: 

After our excursion enjoying the colorful scenery in the canyon,

we had a nice lunch at Magleby's in Springville and then

thoroughly enjoyed seeing the movie, "Meet the Mormons,"

at the Cinemark theater in Provo.    

 Filmed on location around the globe,

"Meet the Mormons" tells the story of six Church members

in the U.S., Costa Rica, and Nepal.

Each story was entertaining as well as inspirational

and had us smiling, laughing, and shedding some tears.

Net proceeds from the film go to the Red Cross.