Lovell's Day Parade

Jacob had a nice time on their float. Here he is next to Katy and some of the other Orioles. Their team won the championship in their little league tournament. Jacob missed the last games because we went to Laramie. Apparently they had to play the 'stacked' Cowley team but still came out victorious!

Mark is on the Stake Float in the Parade. He is with a Croft girl whose name escapes me. Jacob Asay and Holly Wilkerson are the pioneers in the front of the handcart.

What a handsome young man!

Laramie Trip!

Jacob and I went to Laramie to pick up Mark from HSI. We decided to go a few days early so we could play with Jared, Megan, Rachael, Eli, Lucas, Shanae, and Gwen and family. We also got to see Brian and rub his head. He liked that. On Tuesday afternoon I had to have a walk to get all the kinks out of my legs so we went to Prexy's pasture with Jared, Eddie and Mazie. I gave Mark and Lucas a quick text to tell them where we were and everyone showed up there. It was nice to see them. I took Mark, Lucas and Shanae out to dinner at Applebees. Mark likes Applebees better than Washakie Cafeteria. The waitress looked at us and said, "It looks like everyone here is over 21 right? I told her that Mark was just sixteen and she had to do a doubletake. Shanae is only 20, so the waitress didn't do very well guessing. Jared fed Jacob a hotdog and took him to his game with him. The first evening in Laramie Jacob and I got to see Jared's softball game. He plays for Clark and Sons with Matthew, Kyle and Lane. The wind was blowing ferociously and the ball didn't always go where it was planned. I think that might be Nathan out in left field.

.This ball was ripped right up the third base line for a double! Really nice hit.

We got to go see Gwen and Randy play a game of soccer. There were only three women there so no subs for them. The men had a few more. Gwen was awesome and scored a goal by hitting the ball that was thrown in with her head. A dream come true for her.

I think Gwen will get the ball this time.

Randy was taking a breather here.

Jacob, Mary and Brad got to sleep out on the tramp on Tuesday night. I thought it might be kind of cold but they were just fine and had a good time.

Gwen and Brennan. He is just a lovely boy.

Jared and Jacob trying to be as tall as the Polar Bear. Keep growing boys!

Jared, Megan, Rachael, Eli, Brad, Jacob and Mary at the Denver Zoo.

This guy is a harbor seal. The only one amongst a crowd of sea lions. He was looking kind of lonely.

The peacock was just lovely. I think he was looking for the hen. Jared found her outside the front doors of the zoo and chased her back in. Job well done, Jared.

Jacob really, really wanted to ride the train so a few of us did. We had a great time and the train conductor was quite funny.

The orangutan was all relaxed and feeling happy.

The Hippo was fun to watch but he really didn't have any desire to get out of the water.

One bored Gorilla!

This rhino was surprisingly (at least to me) tame and docile. For some reason they kept holding onto his tail while they were cleaning the sores on his skin.

A nice but very slow elephant. It took a long time for this guy to come in the door.

Jared and Megan in the elephant house.

Rachael and Eli in front of the elephants! They didn't get elephant mooned in the second picture.

Jared and Megan in front of the Giraffes at the front entrance.

Randy turned 52 while we were in Laramie! Fifty -two candles on that cake! It took a lot of hands to light them all on fire before the candles melted. Kyle 'took one for the team' by getting scorched. Way to get the ones in the middle Kyle!

Announcement!

This is the ring!

This is the girl. Shanae Jackson and Lucas are engaged to be married. I don't know when but I am sure they will share that information when they decide. Aren't they just a good looking couple?!?

More Painting

This view is from the stairs looking up into the hallway upstairs. I am not sure if I should go ahead and do the ceiling the same color as the walls which are gold buff or if I should stay with the white ceiling. I am thinking it should stay white because it gets pretty dark up there but I think I could use some advice.

This will be the hard part. This picture was taken from the stairs looking up to the ceiling. Yikes.

Yet another view. This is as far as I could far as I could reach with a stool. Now I have to go and get the ladder and some more painters tape.

Cub Scout Day Camp

We went to Cub Scout Day Camp in Burlington on Saturday. It was lots of fun and our pack had six kids participate. There is JR Dickson, Calvin Mickelson, Jacob, Quinton Hetland, Michael May and Mathew Savage. Here they are starting to put together some models of Jet Planes. We didn't get much done but they all got to finish at home.Another fun activity was building towers out of marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti. Jacob, Mat, and Mikel won by bulding their tower tallest.

Thank You Note!

I got this thank you card from one of my Young Women. She is in her twenties now, married with three kids. She just wrote to say thanks because she found some of the notes and cards that I had sent her when she needed them. Maybe there were some things I did right. I need to do a better job of telling people thanks when I think of them. What a good girl she is.

Just Sitting

I was just sitting on the porch enjoying the spring. The oak tree is finally showing her leaves.
Duchess is grazing.

Molly could sniff around for hours!

Jacob can jump for hours!

The baby birds finally hatched. The mommy bird is feeding them.

Jacob gets to start mowing. This is the first try. Hmmm.Nice Stripes!This is how you take care of the stripes. It is easier than starting the mower up again.

Handcart Trek AKA Miracles and Duct Tape

We had a great experience this past weekend. The Lovell Wyoming Stake did the handcart trek to Martin's Cove and to the Willie Rescue Meadow. The first day we went to Martin's Cove. We pulled the handcarts for about a mile and then walked on up into the cove. We had some really neat speakers and got to listen to a recording from President Hinckley and then took the handcarts back to the visitor's center. I think we went about five miles that day.This is Mark, Jacob Asay, Chase and Hunter Tippetts in front. Metya and Jazmine are riding. Spike, Mysen and Meryk are pushing from the back.Our family motto was 'Stand Fast'. Quite appropriate for pioneers.

This is Spike looking quite handsome.

Peter Moncur square dancing. I think he had the most fun of everyone there. Mykel Anderson is in the background.

Mark and Leslie doing some dancing.

The second day we went on a ten mile loop that included a special Willie Company Meadow stop where the Pony Express had brought letters from the kids parents. Our ward thought that was probably the highlight of the trek. The spirit there was so strong and peaceful at the same time. I felt as though we were in a temple. I could feel the hope that these people must have felt. We hope that we were able to teach our 'children' that as these people went through a rescue, we too need to be rescued through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. These people sacrificed so much just to get to Zion and we need to be able to sacrifice things to get to Christ. Everyone one of us has been placed here in our lives to be able to rescue other people who need our help and our Father has placed rescuers all along our way to help us when we need it.

The water is a bit chilly!

The current was swift but the water wasn't as cold as I thought it would be for June. I am glad that I crossed the river to just experience a little bit of what the pioneers did. Some of the little kids had their feet swept out from under them and had to be rescued. Some of the older boys and men carried their families across. I shed a few tears after watching some of them.

The crossing of the sweetwater was the last event of the trek other than the testimony meeting the next morning. The evening became very windy and when we got back to camp we found that three of our tents had blown down as well as the McArthur tent which had blown across the camp. Our ward got busy trying to fix the tents which had been ripped and torn. After about an hour the Stake Presidency called everyone together for a prayer to ask our Heavenly Father to please temper the elements so that we could have a good evening and that the children would have a place to sleep. President Steenbakkers offered the prayer and then we all returned to camp. Bishop Hyde got right busy setting up the tents again and Spike was a little miffed, thinking that we would have another one blown down but he thought that if the Bishop had faith that the wind would stop blowing then he would too so he helped. After about 15 minutes from the prayer the wind did stop and we were able to share in a ward testimony builder that evening around the campfire. The men were able to take two of the tents and make it into one workable one and everyone had a place to sleep. Thank goodness for Miracles and duct tape. The following morning we had a Stake Testimony meeting and then everyone went home. We went on to Laramie to drop Mark off at Downey Hall for HSI.