Our Lesson In Relief Society

Sunday I was able to attend Relief Society.  We only had two boys in our primary class today, so they combined with the older class, so Cindi and I were able to attend relief society which was really nice. Sister Menlove taught the lesson and she did such a great job, she talked about setting goals.  In her older years which is still very important in order to return to out heavenly home,is our ultimate goal. Keeping our goal ultimate goal is not that simple.  We have to constantly remind ourselves of this goal to return to our Heavenly Home.  Satan is constantly trying to distract us.  In order to have success this week I want to do better saying my prayers morning and night, I've gotten lazy and  in making an effort to read the Scriptures daily.   I stayed up late Monday night reading for a little bit yesterday I read the proclamation to the family and the living Christ, she had asked us to read them side-by-side.  Craig & I both need to get more exercise in so we rode our bikes about 18 miles yesterday we were gone for a couple hours it felt good to get out and ride. We both need to lose at least 10 pounds it's a constant struggle to keep our weight off, striving to do better this week.  Her lesson was a good reminder to always have a goal something to be excited about and work toward.  We need to be growing, continue our progression at any stage in Life.  We are never to old to learn and grow.  Important to keep our goal in focus of returning to our Heavenly Home with Honor!!

Craig At Girls Camp

Craig left early this morning to help set up girls camp at Paris Canyon today, it's the girls camp for the entire stake this year. He is going to be gone most of the day, Trisha and Buck are going to Logan to pick up Sadie and Karlee from their youth conference, they stayed at the college in Logan the last couple days, they are going to do our grocery shopping for the Fourth of July weekend, so I will have the day to entertain the boys, thought I would take a trip down to fossil Butte today.   Craig and I stopped by there on our way to Mount Rushmore it was very interesting, it's about a 45 minute drive from here, maybe an hour.  I also work at the Family History Library this afternoon and then after that I'm going to the Bear Lake high school in Montpelier to try out for their musical, "Sound of Music", I have been practicing my song for my audition, I'm going to have a very busy day.

Our Guest Arrived

Trisha and Buck arrived last night and they brought Jaxon and Landon with them.  Our Fourth of July weekend has begun, we will have lots of family here for the next week, we are also celebrating little baby Ashton's first birthday this weekend, Shannon and Ryan are planning on coming up, Shar, Dave, Natasha and her little family are coming up too.  We will have everyone here but the Towner family, we will miss having the Towner family here this year enjoying our summer together as a family.

Working On Our New Cabinets

We got the pieces for our cabinets in the lower garage, they literally came in pieces, Craig and I had to build them all, 10 boxes, 95 inches tall and 45 wide they are heavy we spent all day Friday, Saturday & Monday working on this project.  We now have them all put together just waiting to hang them  to the wall. It will be nice to get our lower garage organized, it's the same set up as what we had at our other house, which will be nice, I guess it's lots of storage space, it was nice to have a few days to ourselves for some peace and quiet it won't last long the Fourth of July holiday is coming fast.  The summer months go by all to fast so we have enjoy it while is is here.

Craig Is Still Skiing Strong

Last Friday when we got back from our St. George trip we had a travel camera crew here at the cabin, they were doing a highlight of  Bear Lake, they interviewed Craig and I and then they wanted to shoot Craig water skiing, they also had a drone that flew overhead of the boat filming us, it will be s fun to see the video clips, they are supposed to email them to us.

Happy Birthday Ashtyn

 A Unicorn Birthday Cake, a party one and a small one for her to eat.  It is so adoreable!

June 27 our little baby Ashton turned one years old today,she is such an adorable little baby girl, the year has gone by so quickly, she was in ICU for three weeks when she was born, we are so blessed to have her in our lives, she has beautiful red hair, Shannon just sent me the most adorable pictures.

Don't Mess With Her

Shannon just sent me the most adorable picture of her kids, the boys with their little baby sister  Ashtyn, the sign saying,  "don't mess with her," it's so cute, they had family pictures taken this last Saturday this is a great picture,  love it!!

Boating With The Thomas Family

Thomas Family June 2017

We had a very nice day with the Thomas family boating they left yesterday afternoon, it was a quick trip for them, they arrived here late Saturday night, they had all day Sunday and half day yesterday, the kids are so darling, we were missing  them living at the lake now, they have to come up to see us.  It feels so nice to have some peace and quiet with all the kids gone, we haven't had a break for several weeks now.  The Burbidge family left Sunday afternoon to head south to work on their new home in St. George, we are leaving today and going to the movie with all the kids in Salt Lake tonight to see the new transformer movie coming out, Sadie can hardly wait for it, we are there then heading to St. George tomorrow to see Trisha and Buck's new home and pick up our cabinets that have been made for our lower garage, that will be our next big project for the summer.  We finally got our garage door fixed yesterday,  Craig knocked off last summer it's been a real pain, having to manually open and close it.   Now we can now close i t. Feels so nice to have a break from all the grand kids, a little peace and quiet but it won't last for long

Row, Row your Boat with the Thomas grand kids. the lake is up high this year, we have to use a row boat to get out to our boat

Martin Cove

Craig & Debbie- Celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary in June,  we took a road trip to see Mt Rushmore and stop along the way at Martin's Cove, Mormon pioneer history museum, Craig has relative that were in the Martin handcart company and survived the tragic events as they traveled to Utah in 1856.  We had a great time, something on our bucket list to do someday,  we loved seeing Mt Rushmore and spending time at Martin's Cove.  I would love to take our family there for them to feel and learn about their pioneers ancestors.  I would be a great field trip for us all some day.

Thomas Brothers

Love this picture of Lincoln and Winston at the river, this is such an adorable picture

Happy Father's Day

We are having a very nice happy Father's Day, Trisha has fixed a lovely dinner, we're having grilled pork chops and yummy potatoes, just got home from our three hour block of church, Tasha and her family arrived last night to share the day with us.  Trisha and I went to Logan shopping yesterday and bought food for our special dinner, we bought a water lily pad, it is a family gift for everyone to enjoy on the lake this summer, the grand kids are having a great time.  Michael came up Thursday night and stay till Saturday, they left yesterday afternoon to be home with their dad on Father's day.   Trisha and Buck are leaving later today.  Tasha and Bridger are not leaving until Monday,  tomorrow it will be nice to have a day or two to ourselves.   I love my husband very much, he has been the best father to our daughter's, there  could not be any one better, he is very loving and kind to his girls.  We had a very nice day Honoring Him as their Father!!

Natasha & Craig

Trisha & Craig

Fast Sunday

Our Fast Sunday was pushed back a week because we had the Idaho Falls Temple dedication the first weekend of June.   We were all surprised to see the entire stake presidency sitting up on the stand in our ward this week,   Everyone was wondering why they were there.  Many commented that maybe they're calling a new bishop today but that wasn't the case because our bishop was not there in attendance, he was out of town, others jokingly said they're trying to figure out who to call for the new bishop.  Bishop Peterson and several others in the ward  jokingly said that Craig would be our new bishop.  At youth conference the first counselor noticed that Craig and Bishop Petersen were the first up to fix breakfast for the youth and jokingly said there's the changing of the guard's Bishop Petersen and now Bishop Symes.   Time will tell, I pray that Craig might have this opportunity to serve in the Bear Lake Ward, he would be an awesome to serve at our season in life.  Time is running out he turned 62 this summer so if he serve for five years he would be 67, we are getting older, I know Craig would be an awesome Bishop or a counselor in the new Bishopric, so I pray that he might be considered for this calling in our Bear Lake.

The Symes Hotel

Love this picture of Natasha & Annie, Natasha in one of her darling dresses she sales, love it!!

Time to get ready for another shift this coming weekend, got Stacy and Chad out the door today Trisha and Buck are in St. George looking for a house still, so we have their three kids here with us.  I have a lot of housecleaning to do now that Stacy and her family are gone,   I'm just too tired, I need to rest today.   Father's Day weekend is coming up this weekend, Shannon and her family, Tasha and their family are planning on coming up for Father's Day weekend, so time to get ready for another summer shift, it is nice to just stay here and not have to go back-and-forth because it is exhausting cleaning up and packing up and getting things ready for the next families to arrive.

Natasha & Bridger, darling picture of them so proud of them both!

The Towner Family Left Today

Stacy and her little family left today to head back to California about 1:30 PM.  Tuesday afternoon I was so tired when they left I had to crawl back in bed and take a nap having four little ones around exhausted me.  I can see why Stacy is so tired, she has her hands full with those four little kids, they whine a lot, they were much better for Craig and I.  They are planning on coming back about the middle of July for a few weeks in the summer, we didn't have very good weather this weekend it was very windy and cool this weekend so we didn't really play much outside.  We watched lots of movies, I held and cuddled with my little grand kids, little Farrah is so sweet, she loves to put make up and lipstick on, she wanted me to put my own make on today while she watched me. I'm going to miss those little critters.  Look forward to them coming for another visit.  I just need to rest up for a few days.

Our New Boat

We are having fun boating with our new boat, the weather was beautiful last weekend so we were able to get it out and go for a boat ride.  Craig pull the kids on the tube,  we had Alec & Jaxon and the three Burbidge kids here this week, having lots of fun Cousin time together.

Cousin Time At Bear Lake

The kids are all having a great time at Bear Lake, the weather's been on the cool side this weekend  with lots of wind, we had a huge windstorm with big waves crashing in, it felt like the ocean, we lost a couple rocks on our Rock wall from the heavy waves.  We will have to get fixed now, we watch the new Beauty in the Beast movie last night, it is so good, I love it!!  We had our hands full in Sacrament yesterday with six kids, we came home and watched lots of movies last night because the weather was not very good,  Stacy & Chad will be back later tonight and Trisha and Buck as well.

Our two yr old Farrah Towner

10th Wedding Anniversary

Stacy and Chad are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary, they were married on June 12, 2007. the years of gone by so quickly, they now have four darling little kids.   They went to a really nice resort in Park City, Deer Valley for the night, Craig and I are babysitting the three younger kids they took baby Enzo with them, she is still breast-feeding him.   We have our hands full babysitting the three Towner kids and the three Burbidge kids. Farrah was a little temperamental last night I had to end up sleeping with her to get her to stay in bed, she was missing her mommy, yeah woke up crying for his mommy, the Towner kids are really attached to their mom Stacy,  She is a great mom, hope they have a nice day together They will be back later tonight.

Chad & Stacy with baby Enzo 10 months old, Happy 10th Anniversary

Trisha and Buck House Hunting

Trisha and Buck got bids back on their house that they were going to build in Heber the building cost is way too expensive ,it's going to cost them over $1 million to build their house they can not afford that, they are feeling quite discouraged right now.  Trisha is having a really hard time emotionally. They drove to St. George looking at homes down there, they actually found a home that they really love a made an offer on it so they're still working on negotiating.   T,hey showed up Thursday night from their St. George trip so we have a cabin full.  They've been here two days, I think their going back down to St. George today without their kids to see if they can look really hard for homes in St. George, they like the home's better down there in the south.   It will be hard having them so far away about seven hours from us now but we do like going to St. George in the winter months.   It would be fun to visit them down there, I've actually thought it would be nice to have another home in St. George I've missed having a home down there, I just haven't wanted to have a home down there with out my family there, if they move to St. George I'd be more open to getting a home in St. George as well.  Time will tell!

Stacy and Chad Arrived

The Towner family arrived here Thursday night we barely got home from our trip to Mount Rushmore they had been at Lake Powell all week and decided to come up here to see us which I'm glad they did, fun to see the kids and spend time with them, they are celebrating their 10th anniversary on Monday, June 12 so they asked us to babysit the kids for a night while they go to a hotel and celebrate their anniversary.

Mount Rushmore

I've always wanted to go to Mount Rushmore, spending the day there on our  40th anniversary this year.   We got in the car and started driving it's a long drive for about 10 hours one way but worth the drive,  very fun to see the carvings ,very majestic and an amazing American accomplishment.  W.e both enjoyed learning about the history of the events that took place in building the amazing monument, we were gone for two days and now we're back at the lake.  We saw lots of sagebrush  driving across, Unexpected on our journey we came upon Martin's Cove.  Somewhere I have always wanted to visit too.  This is where Craig's ancestors came thru Wy, on the way Utah.  Lots of history there.   Last week and we went up to the northern part of Wyoming for youth conference to Jackson Hole so we've  just about covered  the entire state this month.   The northern part of Wyoming is the most beautiful

Our 40th Wedding Anniversary

Happy 40 years, I love my husband very much, we are driving in the car to go see Mount Rushmore, we drove yesterday to Casper Wyoming and slept over for the night and now we are heading to Mount Rushmore.  I'm so excited, this is somewhere I have always wanted to go see.  With it being our big 40 we needed to do something,  I thought about going to Florida where we met, checking flights and hotels it was very crowded this time of year for some reason.  It was more of hassle than I wanted it be in planning a trip,  I told Craig lets just go on a road trip and go somewhere we have never been.  We got in the car and started driving.  It is a long days drive across the state of Wy. but fun to see the beautiful countryside.  The entire state is not very populated lots and lots of sagebrush with rolling hills and mountains.

Bear Lake Youth Conference

Saydee & Alec June 2017 at Bear Lake Youth Conference

Saydee, Grammy & Alec getting ready for our rafting ride down the snake river

I asked if Saydee and Alec could attend youth conference this year I thought it would be good for them to make some friends here at Bear Lake when they are visiting.  I felt it would be a great experience for them.   They were short leaders the night before leaving, so they asked if Craig and I could attend as well.  We jumped in the last minute to get ready.  We drove to Afton, Wy, to attend the new Star Valley temple there and preform baptism for the dead.  We then had a special meeting with one of the Temple presidency counselors.  It was very inspiring, glad we could attend.   We all had a great time the first day, we were busy setting up camp and visiting with one another.  I was glad that Craig and I were there for Alec and Sadyee to help them make friends and feel comfortable.  It was awkward at first for us all being new and not knowing very many.  Craig & I didn't know the youth at all so we had to learn there names too.  Saydee & Alec  soon made new friends and started having a great time. Saturday we went rafting down the snake river,   The river was really high with lots and lots of tree logs debris floating, it was dangerous enough that we  all had to stay in the rafts to be safe, we still all had a great time and a safe trip down the river, we are slowly getting to know the people in our Bear Lake Ward.  Spending time with the Youth was fun for us and a great way to get to know them.  I woke up from our first night camping over, It was a rough night sleeping in the back of our pickup truck.  Craig and I both tossed and turned all night long, we didn't have enough padding to sleep on, I ached all over, felt like a truck ran over me.  This camping is hard on the old body,  Next camp out, I know I need a better bed to sleep on!  The leader there were all talking about who the new bishop is going to be come fall, They suggest that it is going to be Craig.  I smiled and said he would be a great Bishop, but it is going to have to be the Lords chose.  Craig is making lots of friends and everyone loves him.  Time will tell the direction the Lord leads us on.  We are here to love and serve the saints in the Bear Lake Ward for now.!!

Craig and Jaxon's Bike Ride

Craig and Jaxon left to go for a bike ride up to Minnetonka cave today, it's about 10 miles up a steep mountain terrain so it will be a good bike ride for Jaxon.  I've ridden it with Craig and it is a great bike ride until the last 2 miles, it is very steep to climb, this is where I have to quit, see how Jaxon does?

Jaxon our Handsome teenager, he is now 13 yrs old.