Our Autumn Drive

We headed out the door to enjoy this beautiful fall day.  We drove to Jackson Hole and over to see the Grand Teton mountains.  We enter the national park area and walked around beautiful Jenny Lake. 

We stopped by to see Chris Woodward who just happened to be in town as we came into Jackson, fun to see him.  It has been a lovely drive. Fun to be outside and enjoy nature.  We ended the day eating a philly steak sandwiches at Cutty’s in Jackson Hole, Wy.  Chris recommended we eat there.  We are heading back to the lake enjoying the drive home.  

Dog Bite

Well she’s doing a lot  better !! She’s all fixed up the Doctor was Awesome 👏🏻.. They cleaned it out really good and ended up cutting away the tissue that was sticking out of the wound But they decided to leave it open to heal I guess because of the risks of infection . She’s on some antibiotics for 10days and doesn’t Want to go see those dogs anymore !! 🐕 🐕 Because those dogs hurt Ashtyn they bite Ashtyn . She says !! .. So that’s a win win I guess . Now to go meet the New Neighbor after we already got to know their Dogs 🐕 🐕 Fun being parent isn’t it . 🤪😂😂

Sky to the Rescue!! She is one spoiled Princess 👑 by her Daddy . I keep telling him he’s creating a wonderful teenager one day that he gets to deal with ??..

Sharlena’s Craft And Silk Flower business

Our Sharlena is so creative.  She started a new business this year.  Wish her good luck in its growth and bless her with the strength she needs to create her projects. I’m so in love with wreaths right now. They’re so fun.  I’m loving decorating my house with wreaths on the inside doors.  I have so many doors in my house, wreaths are a fun way to decorate without it getting in the way of everything else. They’re an easy up and easy down way to bring the seasons and holidays to my home. Choose your style $10 each (approx 16-19 inches)

I love her witch one and want her to make one for me.   

Ashtyn Bite by The neighbor's dog

So our New Neighbor’s Dog bit Ashtyn bad about 20 min ago we’re just waiting for the Doctor to call us back to let us know If we can bring her there or have to take her to the ER.  Our poor Ashtyn was crawling over the neighbors fence and their two big dogs attached her and pulled her pants off just as she was crawling over.  They bit her hard on the butt and on her legs and ankles.  The poor little thing I’m sure was horrified by their attach.  She is bandage up they were able to take her to the their pediatrician.  She didn’t need stitches but is bad punctured wounds.  Have to let it heal.  What a day !!😔 My poor baby just loves all animals 🐕🐕‍🦺 but today didn’t turn out good . Her and her mischievous free spirit decided to climb over our New neighbors fence when she was attacked by their 2 dogs . She was hanging on to our fence as they bit her all over her legs and they pulled her shorts off of her . They got her good right under her little butt and all over her ankles.

Neal Griffith’s Funeral

Neal passed away at 11am Wednesday morning September 16th, 2020.  Craig is very sad to loose a dear friend.  They have been friends since 1984- for over 36 years.  They had lots of fun together hunting, snowmobiling, boating and doing guy things together.  Neal had cancer.  He died at 59.  He gave it a good fight.  Laura his second wife called Craig in the spring to let us know he was not doing well and was going to stop his chemotherapy-  when I saw him he did not look good- I didn’t think he would make it through the summer.  Craig visited him almost weekly to help comfort him in his latter months of life.   Laura asked Craig to speak at the funeral.  She wasn’t sure when it was going to be and would let us know.  We waited to here back from her on the plan and time for his funeral.  Craig was just looking at the obituaries late last night at about 11:30 and saw his funeral was in the morning. His viewing was last night.  Laura did not let us know.  Luckily Craig was reading the obituaries last night or we would have missed his funeral.  We got up early 5am to drive down to attend the viewing prior to the funeral and Craig is on the program speaking with Neal’s brother Evan also speaking.  They are the only two speakers.  So it is a good thing we found out last night.  I’m waiting in the Chapel while Craig visits with his friends and family.  It is awkward for me they are a different group of people- since Neal remarried Laura.  I have been good friends with his 1st wife Denna.  Laura is not a church person at all. Very anti-Mormon.  Odd as his wife- she is is wearing short-shorts and a fancy blouse. It is the oddest funeral apparel.  Our friendship has been strained since he married her in about 2000- Craig and Neal have not done as much together since their marriage.  He has tried but Laura made it very difficult.  She has had a bad drinking problem and not fun to hang out with her drunk.  So we quit doing much with them.  Craig and Neal have stayed closed friends still over the years.  Today is a time for him to pay tribute and honor to one of his best friends.  

Craig gave a lovely tribute to his best friend Neal

The old truck that Neal loved and powered up the engine on it.  Craig and Neal had great times together. They transported his casket in the truck to the gravesite.  He did such a great job speaking.  Many loved the stories he shared about Neal and their adventures together. Neal was a selfless friend to all, very caring and helped many people in his life.

Natasha’s Post

Let me love you a little more before you’re not so little anymore. 🌿  I can’t get over my girls in these.😭❤️. Her little girls are the love of our lives they are so precious- 

Love these pictures she posted for her online clothing business-  her fall design.  

Baby Cora Rose is just to cute.

Cleaning And Baby Sitting

I got home late last night about midnight from baby sitting little Ashtyn.  She is so

adorable.  She loves to dress up as a princess. She has her mother's wedding veil on.  She gathered up these silk flowers and put this dress on herself.  She was prancing around so cute.

She kept me busy.  She was really good for me.  We ventured out to the $ store and Walmart yesterday. That was an adventure for me.  Ashtyn wants everything in the store.  She was so fun to watch her little eyes light up from everything she was.  She pick out two little ponies and a sparkle pony art picture to color with attached markers.  She was wild at Walmart there was even more things to see.  I told her we couldn't buy anything -but we would just look.  I had to go slow and let her look at all the toys, pretty shoes and bows.  We bought some apple juice with plastic pony heads-on top. That was her treat.  I worked hard cleaning Shannon’s laundry room and her bedroom on Wednesday.  Sorting her piles of stuff-  she is so unorganized and things were very dusty.  I managed to get that done and tidy the family room area on Thursday and get rid of clutter.  It looked much cleaner.  There is just so much that needs to be done-housework and a family is a full time job-  I was up early by 7:30am and worked till 10:30 pm each day.  My back was aching I could hardly move by the end of the day.  I wasn’t feeling real well yesterday.  I felt achy all over like I’m fighting something.  I had to take some Advil to get through the day.   I could spend two weeks at Shannon’s working nonstop to get her home in order.  She needs to tackle her storage rooms and garage- she has stuff piled everywhere and things piled since they moved there 5 years ago and still piled up. She has not hung one picture on the walls in that time being. I finally hung a few pictures for her to make things look better.  Most of the decor things are from our old home.  It has added a lot to their home if she would just take care of things.  The boys are so hard on things.  There house is looking beat from the wear and tear of family living-  the walls need to be touched up and painted.  Lots of work needs to be done and I know Shannon just  can’t seem to get it done.  Her health is doing so much better- she just has a hard time staying on task.  She does sleep more which limits your working time.  Bless her heart she does try.  Little Ashtyn has been a huge blessing for the entire family.  Each morning we sat outside while she jumped on their trampoline.  The air has been so thick with smoke from fires burning-  we could taste the smoke in the air.  The entire west has struggled with fires.  The worst in the history of our county in over 200 years.  It is the signs of the last days as prophesied for our time.  Lots of natural disasters-  it felt good to sleep in my own bed last night.  I’m really tired today and just going to rest from all my hard work.  I did enjoy spending time with the Chaudhry grandkids.  The boys were all busy with their schedules in and out for work and school.  Ashtyn was a full time job to care for her.

Sharlena & Dave’s anniversary

Shar and Dave are celebrating their wedding anniversary today.  They have been married 21years Shar and Shannon are a year apart and one day in getting married.  Shannon was Sept- 14th 1998 and Shar’s wedding was Sept 15th 1999.   They both had lovely weddings .  The years have gone by all to fast. They the kids are just about grown.  Cole is on a mission.  Their lives are very full and a very busy season in their lives with their children.  They have both done such a great job in raising their 4 children together.  I posted this on Facebook -Happy Anniversary daughter dear love you and the family you have created over the years, you both have done such a great job so proud of you both thank you for all you do- have a great day celebrating your love - Love you with all my heart mom💕 Here some cute pictures she posted of them- 

Baby Sitting the Chaudhry Grandkids

Shannon and Ryan left for Las Vegas yesterday to celebrate their 22 anniversary.  They haven’t been anywhere by themselves in about 7 years-  that is crazy!!  They needed to take some time to get away- we worked hard in summer of 2015 to get their home ready to sell and move into their new home on Blue Sky drive.  Shortly after they had moved in Shannon became pregnant to our surprise !!   Baby Ashtyn was born June 27th 2016 -  Shannon had a hard pregnancy - baby Ashtyn was born with complication and in the hospital for several weeks.  Adjusting to an other baby 8 years later and their new home was alot.  Now 4 years later Ashtyn celebrates her 4th birthday June 27th.  I’m excited to spend some one on one time with her.  She is a sweet girl.  I love her big brown eyes and beautiful red hair.  Her parents are off!!  They left at noon  Shannon is a terrible house keeper. It took me the rest of the day watching Ashtyn playing with her, cleaning the kitchen dishes and doing  5 loads of laundry folding and putting away and cleaning and sorting things as I go.  It already is looking better.  I don’t know how Shannon can stand to live in such a mess- Ashtyn was good to stay with me as I worked and she played with her toys.  She did sneaked our side when Jaxon left for work.  I heard the door shut and I was out chasing her - Penny crawled under the fence and out she goes -their dog, she ran off down the neighborhood- trying to catch her was a challenge for me.  She would not come to me and just kept running down the street through the neighbors yards. Finally we met in the neighbors backyard - the lady was nice to bring out some dog treats to bring Penny to us. We finally Caught her !! When we got back home I was beat. I took Ashlyn and I to Maverik to get a drink- she enjoyed our little outing in the car ,she picked an orange Slurpee. Such a sweet Little girl. Today is my second day to have a full day of cleaning and sorting things and trying to put this house in order with the short time I have. I slept with Ashton last night she didn’t fall asleep till close to midnight I didn’t sleep very well woke up several times, I heard the boys up Michael up at 3am- Alec up at 4 AM eating in the kitchen. I finally fell in a deeper sleep and then I heard Landon up getting ready for school at 7 AM- I fixed him some cheesy eggs and off he went to catch the bus by 7:35am. Jaxon didn’t get up so I guess he’ll be doing online schooling today.   I began working for the day to get as much done as I can.  So excited to have some bonding time with the grandkids.  Alec Thank me for what I had done.  He said it was already looking much better. 

Fall Canning

Last week I kept busy Canning-  I made elderberry juice  and raspberry jam from the raspberries I picked at Bear lake and I picked apples across the street from our place.  I made apple juice for two days.  I bottled 10 quarts of apple juice.  It is so yummy.  I want to do more but had to quit for now. Craig and I drove down to our Draper Home Sunday afternoon.  Little Winston fell and hit his chin and needed stitches.  Bridger called us at the lake to let us know we headed down after his call.  We stopped to visit with their family last night for a few hours.   The kids are all so darling.  Winston has three stitches not as bad as it looked.  I enjoyed spending time with them last night.  Today I cleaned up and went to lunch with Craig.  He headed back to the lake for our Bear lake Pickleball tournament today at 5:30.  I wanted to be there.   But stayed down so I can baby sitting for Shannon and Ryan for a few days while they go out of town for their 22 year anniversary- I’m looking forward to baby sitting our little Ashtyn.  I’m excited to spend some one on one time with her.  I have not been able to do since she was born.  Hard to believe she is now 4 years old.  I have enjoyed my time at our Draper home.  Working on my decorating projects.  I bought two white night stands from Dolly she was selling.  They are just what I have been looking for and she had them in her storage getting rid of them.  We brought them down and placed in our guest room.  It looks complete now.  The lamps I bought from Trisha when she re-did Karley’s  room-was fun to place them on the night stands.  After Craig left this afternoon I had to take a nap- I was so tired after our lunch.  I slept a couple of hours.  I then went shopping for a couple of hours- my favorite stores Ross and Tjmax,s-  I found a few fun fall decor items to add.  I hung our family pictures on our large wall going down the stairs.  It turned out nice.   Scott came home from the hospital Friday and is doing much better Jan was diagnosed too with the virus..   They are both the first we know to have the virus.  We stayed home from church Sunday just to make sure we are not infecting anyone ourselves.  We have not had any Symptoms, just being safe.  We are very blessed- I enjoyed our Relief Society zoom meeting online discussing the closing talk of our Prophet from April General conference “Going Forward in Faith”.  I had read and it months ago and was nice to review and see what other sister's comments were.  We will be starting back to church weekly after The October conference session which I’m looking forward too.  Be nice to get back to our weekly meetings which I have missed.  I also miss going to the temple. I love these remarks from the talk we reviewed-  “ Because of His Atonement, His gift of resurrection will come to all who have ever lived. And His gift of eternal life will come to all who qualify by fidelity to ordinances and covenants made in His holy temples.”

  The temple ordinance are so very important-  Brothers and sisters, during times of our distress when temples are closed, you can still draw upon the power of your temple covenants and endowment as you honor your covenants. Please use this time when temples are closed to continue to live a temple-worthy life or to become temple worthy.  These thought are comforting to me- “ We pray that you will begin anew truly to hear, hearken to, and heed the words of the Savior. I promise that decreased fear and increased faith will follow.  His counsel to us goes along with our come follow me lessen this week to follow the prophet-  he has counseled us to Hear Him in our lives to continue in faith and study the come follow me lessons we will replace our fears with peace and our Faith will increase.  This is comforting to me as we do live in uncertain times.  This year things become more and more challenging all around us.  Yet I do feel peace in our lives.  Pray I can continue to remain Faithful in all I do and Hear the Lords voice guiding me in my earthly journey.  

Here are pictures of my decorating projects- our guest rooms 

Love the night stands 

Adding a touch of fall to our other room. 

Our family group wall from our pictures at Bear lake this year.  

Week Three

Cole has been out three weeks now.  The time goes by all to fast- Shar posted this today-"So fun to talk to these two today! Cole with his companion Elder Rawlins. 

They are finally out of quarantine and enjoying serving their community. 

They took care of some alpacas, did a lot of hauling of trees and broken branches after a wind storm that took out their power and water. Cole had his first baptism. 

And no, that is not a moose statue! When’s the last time a moose beat you to the front door of a convenience store?

who would of thought Cole would see his first Lama in Alaska?

Corona Virus

Scott- Craig’s brother was just admitted to the hospital yesterday not feeling well. He has been diagnosed for the Virus.  We just stopped by to see him Saturday evening.  He wasn’t feeling well, having a hard time catching his breath which is one of the symptoms-  we should have thought more about it - so surprised to here he has been diagnosed.  I cooked dinner for Craig’s Mother and Scott & Jan on the 22nd of August and  drove down with them all in the car Sunday.  I have been around them all in the past 2 weeks. I’m not feeling the best today- feeling achy all over, so I’m concerned.  Time will tell.   We might have to be in  quarantine for two weeks -is the recommend time period when exposed to the virus.  

Coles Second week

I talked to Sharlena tonight to see how things were going.  They were able to visit with Cole tonight. He is in a small town of only 1000 people.  It is very spread out there.  They had a bad wind storm last night so there are lots of trees down. He will be out and about doing service work this week.  Shar and the kids are back in school.  Two weeks now.  She works about five hours daily on her feet outside for recess.  It was really hot last week she will be glad for it to cool down this coming week.  We have an artic storm coming in tonight and will have some snow by morning.  Crazy weather.  

There lots of trees where he is located 

Moose tracks- 

Our Cole Sharing the Book of Mormon message.  He saw a moose yesterday.  There are lots in the area.  

Labor Day

We were alone this year- none of the kids came up.  I was fine to have a quite weekend.  We have had nonstop family since the beginning of the summer.  It has been a nice summer.  The weather has been on the warmer side and perfect to enjoy the summer weather on the water.  It has been so hot and dry in the Salt lake valley all summer in the high 90’s so coming to the lake was nice to be out of the heat.  It has been a hot dry summer in the west.  Hottest temperatures with lots of fires.  The air has been very hazzy for the month of August and going into September with all the fires going on.  This year has been the warmest  Labor Day weekend I can remember.  It was in the 90’s here on Sunday.  We had the annual Labor Day dinner with our Biessinger cousins.  It is always fun to gather, eat good food and visit.  It was a seral moment for us this year with Craig and I being the oldest in attendance.  Flint asked Craig to say the prayer on the food as we all gathered and announced we were the oldest in attendance. As I looked around seeing my white hair husband blesses the food it was a wow! moment for us.  We had a good laugh, which is all we can do.  We are getting older -Craig turned 65 on August 10th this year.  Today we have spent the day cleaning up and putting things away for the summer season.   It is ending fast!!   We are having a storm blow in tonight lower the temperature 49 degrees going from the 90’s to the low 40’s and forecast possible snow in the mountains tomorrow night.  It is dropping to 27 degrees by early morning.  Time to cover up my flowers from freezing to get a little more life out of them.  They have been very pretty this year.  Another summer come and gone.  It has been a blessed summer of growth for our family. Cole has been out two weeks on his mission look forward to hearing how he is doing.   We had hoped to be serving a mission this fall too. But looks like that is not going to happen with the pandemic still spreading.  Our Senior mission is on hold for now.   Fall is here and the leaves are starting to turn! It is one of my favorite times of the year.  It is beautiful at the lake and blessed we have this beautiful home, to be safe from the world and enjoy our surroundings.  

Back At The Lake

We had a nice 4 days at our Draper home.  It went by fast.  We came back up to the lake last night- just in time to eat dinner at Cafe Sabor the Thursday night special.  It is a full moon tonight shining a beautiful reflection on the lake.  We are very blessed to have a home on the lake.  

Today I have spent the day cleaning Michael and Cole's Room that they stayed in for the summer.  I Dust the baseboards and changed the sheets.  Things feel dirty and look dirty from all our summer family visits.  I need to put things back in order and give it all a good cleaning.  Just taking one room at a time, doing what I can each day.  Feels good to just clean at my pace and feel no stress getting it done. Tasha posted this darling picture of her and baby Cora Rose.  She is now 8 months old.  She is growing all to fast.  She still doesn't have much hair yet.  She took after the Thomas side of the family.  Our girls all had lots of hair as a baby.  

Tasha posted 8 months of bliss our baby Cora.  She looks so much like Lincoln as a baby at this age.  So precious!! 

Our Darling Ashtyn

I bought her a darling dress for her birthday back in June.  Shannon says she loves her dress and wants to wear it all time to play in.  She sent me some darling pictures of her in the dress.  She also wanted to be a mermaid so bad- her mermaid outfit came in the mail today.  So darling.  We enjoyed seeing her. 

  

Time for Mermaid bath time!!

Jaxon’s 17th Birthday

We took Jaxon to lunch today on his special day.  He turned 17 years old and is a junior in high school.  We had a good visit with him.  We took him to 7 Brothers out where he lives in Saratoga Springs.  It was a huge burger!! Jaxon is playing his electric guitar very good.  He likes soulful music.  He is working part-time at Pizza Hut- he saved $850.00 To buy is guitar.  We are proud of him and the efforts he has made to better his life.