Uncle Scott's funeral January 15, 2011

Some of Darrell's cousins who stayed at the same motel. Neil Lamont (Uncle Art's step-son and) Sylva"s husband (Aunt Thelma's daughter), Dave, Neil's son-in-law, and Marcel.Fun little place!

Uncle Scott's funeral program. Wish I knew how to flip it!

Trip to Ohio to visit Rob and Karen and Family, December 27, 2010-January 1, 2011

We flew to Ohio on Monday, December 26th, arriving at the Columbus Airport in the early evening. Rob picked us up and took us to his home where Karen had a delicious roast beef dinner for us! We enjoyed many fun activities while we stayed in Lancaster. One day, rob and Karen took us to Ash Cave. It is a land feature where the river has carved out a deep area and left cliffs above and caves under them. Large groups of people could stand under the overhang and be protected from inclement weather, but it is not enclosed. Icicles drip from above, forming beautiful water features at the falls and elsewhere. On one spot where icicles drip, the ice forms on the ground and grows up during the winter. I took a video of this water feature, but for some reason, it will not show up on this blog. The ice feature has grown to about 12-f15 feet and about the same circumference, looking like a huge snowman or a buddha. It was an interesting hike and well worth the short amount of time it took to reach the end where the largest cave and the largest ice feature were.

One day we traveled to Columbus and toured the COSI (Columbus Science Museum). We enjoyed the 3 d movie about building airplanes and jets, experienced the tv weather station area, watched fun experiments with electricity where Jonathan was the guinea pig volunteer, and saw kids unicycling 20o feet up on a wire. Jonathan was in line but it took too long, so he didn't end up doing it.

Darrell and Rob spent a lot of time together making repairs on Rob's home. I taught Jonathan how to count to 10 in Japanese and shopped with Karen and the girls for material for skirts for them. Karen treated us to delicious food, Navajo bread with sausage, eggs, fresh vegetables and cheese for breakfast and the most delicious apple cobble ever made!

That evening we ate dinner at Schmidt's Restaurant, a German place. The sausages were delicious as well as the hot potato salad, sauerkraut, and other yummy things. We enjoyed listening to the tuba, and the accordion with the accordion player singing German drinking songs. "In Munchen in dem trinken Haus, Einz, Zwei, Gesuffa!"

We all spent New Year's Eve at Kent and Georgia Emmers' home, eating homemade pizza and salad, and playing Apples to Apples. Kevin and his children, Mickell, and Tia, were there, as well as Jared, Kim and Mike and their son, Kaleb, and of course, rob, Karen, Jacob, Jonathan, Rachel, Kayleigh and Darrell and I.

We flew home on Saturday January 1st. It was a flight we will never forget. It took three legs to get home instead of the usual two. Columbus to Minneapolis to St. Louis to Salt Lake City. And instead of 6 hours, it was 10-12. At least we did get home in one piece! AND,we had a great time with Rob and Karen's family!

Family photos at Norco Park November 2010.

Brittany, Darrell, Brianna, Braden, Sheri, with Bailey, Stu with Bridgette.Brittany, Darrell, Brianna, Braden, Deb with Bailey, Stu with Bridgette.
Deb taught Brianna some basketball skills, and Darrell and Stu taught Braden some throwing horseshoe skills. we all enjoyed being outdoors and tried to get out full stomachs to rest. This was the day after Thanksgiving.

More photos of trip to Deb's November 2010

Deb planned a fun outing to Norco Park. Norco is a horse town. In fact, two riders were there at the park when we arrived. They let us pet their horses. Darrell and Stu played horseshoes, then Braden and Brittany, then Deb and I. We enjoyed the outdoors and playing this fun game.Brittany playing horseshoes at Norco park
Bridgette poses at Norco Park.
Brianna at Norco Park.
Braden tosses a horseshoe. He's a natural!

Trip to Cove Fort November 19, 2010

We stopped at Cove Fort on our way to visit Deb in California. It's right off I-15 and is open year round. An elderly missionary gave us a personal tour. It was very interesting! The fort is built in a square with the rooms inside the four walls along the edges. Some rooms are connected, but you usually go out into the center outside and then go into the next room. Here is the washing machine of days past. It's a metal board that you rub the clothes on with soap and water to get the dirt out.Darrell is in the boys' room with the rifle.

This quilt has the date it was made on it.
This blue and white quilt is made of wool and linen-linsey woolsey, which makes it warm and comfortable.
Bone dominoes in the boys' room.
All of the rooms are restored to the 1860's use and really do show what people lived like in those days. Glad to live in the 21st century.

Visiting Deb and Stu in California, November 2010

November 2010-Orange Park near Deb's house. the girls-Deb, Brittany, Bailey, Grandma Sheri, Brianna and Bridgette!Braden and Bailey take a little rest.
Brittany, Brianna and Bailey at Braden's game November 27, 2010.
Braden is the kicker!
Deb, the mom, getting a good shot of her son!

Visit to Steve and Dani September 2010

One evening in August, 2010, Steve phones to tell us that he has been called to serve in the bishopric of his ward in Houston. He asked if Darrell would fly to Houston and ordain him a high priest. After checking calendars and flights, we made reservations to fly to Houston, Saturday, September 4th, 2010. Steve was sustained, Sunday, August 29. But we weren't able to come that quickly. We did come the following weekend. We arrived Saturday, around noon, and Steve and Garrett picked us up, after choosing a new suit at the mall. We spent the afternoon with the family and in the evening, Steve and Dani took us out to eat at a fancy French restaurant, Chez Nous. It was in a residential neighborhood, and looked like a house. Upon entering it, it seemed much larger than it appeared outside. We had several waiters and servers who kept us supplied with water and rolls. Each of us ordered something divine and enjoyed it immensely. I inhaled the cantaloupe soup. The atmosphere and food were indeed a rich experience that I will not soon forget!

Sunday morning early, September 5th, we met the stake president and Steve's bishop and Darrell ordained Steve a high priest and then Steve was set apart to be a counselor in the bishopric. Their ward meets in the afternoon, so we went home and enjoyed a morning with Garrett and Ethan, playing monopoly. Garrett took the job of banker and played very well.

After church, we enjoyed a good home-cooked meal and finished our game with Garrett, who won! James and Gail Butterfield, old friends from Lake Jackson Ward days, came to visit. We had some fun memories to recall and laugh about. We are so glad we had the opportunity to see them again!

Monday morning, after packing our things, we all drove to Houston to the Natural Science Museum. We spent a couple of hours there exploring a lot of interesting displays. Here Darrell and I stand in front of a huge geode! I love to look at them!

Steve and Dani and Olivia pose in front of an insect display.

One fun place was the butterfly room, with trees and lots of butterflies zooming around all over.

Garrett and Ethan had a lot of interesting things to do here. We even learned about how oil is drilled. We saw a lot of interesting fossils from Utah and from Germany.
Steve and Dani took us to a great barbecue place where we enjoyed some real Texas food, and then we drove to the airport for our flight home to Salt Lake. It was a wonderful weekend with great food, great company, and great entertainment!