Wonderful Family Memories!

I think I have all the family weddings represented here where I have taken pictures, with the exception of Adam and Lisa.  I think theirs was the first wedding I did, but that was before digital and before I had an easy way to store and find them.  For this post I just didn't have time to go through a bunch of negatives or photo albums to find them, so I apologize to you.  My goal is to some day have time to go through all my photos (there are probably over a hundred thousand), and choose the best ones to digitize, but I don't know when that will happen.  The last photo wasn't taken by me, but I love it anyway.

Public Affairs - Office of Legal Council Leadership Training

We had a wonderful first day of our world-wide Public Affairs and Legal Council training.  It started early this morning with a warm handshake from Elder L. Tom Perry, and his inspiring key-note address.  The room was filled with some of the most spiritual and intellectual people we have ever been privileged to rub shoulders with, who have gathered from all parts of the world for a week of instruction, inspiration and information presented by our Public Affairs and Office of General Council leaders,  and members of the Seventy.  All of a sudden the thought of Jeff & I making a presentation to the Public Affairs part of this group on Friday seems pretty intimidating!   

Taylor, Jeff, & Grandma Kimball's B-day Party

 Here's the birthday boy!  Well, now I'll have to say 'young man', or hard to believe, 'teenager'!  Isn't he handsome??  I can hardly believe it has been 13 years since we welcomed Taylor, our first grandchild, into the family.  Heavenly Father certainly sent us a very special grandson.  We are so proud of you Taylor and the way you are setting a great example for our younger grandchildren to follow.  Taylor is a young man of many talents and abilities, and more importantly, he honors his Priesthood and is living up to his baptismal covenants, and is a joy to be around.  We love you Taylor!!!!

 We also celebrated Grandma Kimball's birthday on the same day as Taylor's birthday, and Jeff's birthday which was the day before.

Grandma Larsen's Birthday Dinner

Saturday, February 2, (Jeff's birthday), we took Mama out to a late lunch and had a great time.  It was so nice to have Russ and Kay Lynn with us to celebrate Mama's 90th birthday.  We presented her with a binder containing expressions of love, admiration and respect from all of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  What a blessing it is to be part of this wonderful family! 

February Desktop Calendar

  Take time this month to light up the lives of those around you.  Visit a sick neighbor, call your mother, volunteer, donate to your favorite charity, smile at a stranger (not in a creepy way - haha).  And above all, tell those people most precious to you, how much you love and appreciate them.  The magic is that in doing so, the love will be returned and your own burdens will be lighter.

 This is my monthly Desktop Image I posted on my photography blog, and what I'll be looking at this month when I turn on my computer.  For anyone interested, feel free to click HERE then right click and download to your computer.

Would It Help To Talk?

Here is Jeff practicing his listening skills.  

We are taking a break from winter this week and have been RZR riding at Sand Hollow, visiting friends in St. George, checking out snowbird communities in Mesquite, and taking photos in Springdale outside Zion.

Snow Fun in January

Tyler and Emily took Taylor, Owen and Chase sledding.  Too bad that Bennett was home sick.  I showed up just long enough to take a few photos, then I was ready to get back to a nice warm house.

Grandma's 90th Birthday

Grandma was very surprised and touched when we came to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake and ice cream with her.  It was wonderful to be together and honor our Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother and to rejoice in our heritage and the blessing of having honorable and righteous parents. 

(More photos are posted HERE.) 

Halloween Rewind - 2012

Before moving forward into 2013 I have to go back and document a few family activities between the time we got home from our mission and the end of 2012.  Here is our Halloween party.  The dinner menu was less than tantalizing.....but fun and appropriate nevertheless!!!

Arizona Trip Wrap Up

A day RZR riding with Michelle, Sawyer, Barrett, Michelle's Dad Mark, her sister Jessica and her two brothers Nick and Kevin, (Jaron was at work).  We certainly have had way over our money's worth of fun with these side-by-sides. 

An afternoon at the train museum.

A few hours at the park.

And a VERY snowy, slippery ride home on Christmas Eve.

Pre Christmas with Amber & Will

Jaron & Michelle and Jeff and I celebrated Christmas a few days early with Will and Amber.   We also celebrated Isaac's baptism.  Amber had their home decorated so cute for the holidays, all with homemade decorations. We played games, opened presents, went to an outdoor market, rode the RZRs on the largest sand dunes in the US, (so we were told), and ate a delicious, AND nutritious Christmas dinner.  (Ask Amber how she makes mashed cauliflower taste as good as mashed potatoes.  And the best part, there was no guilt in have a second helping!) 

Congratulations Isaac!!!

I thought this was such a cute photo of Isaac taken at his baptism.  The lighting was good, the background was clean, and I know the Church always has a need for these types of photos.  Of course I asked Amber's permission and she had to sign a release in order for me to submit this for Church use.  (Note:  See the above tab titled 'LDS Create'.)   Submitted and approved, so if you see Isaac in a future edition of The Friend, let me know!!

Happy Birthday Vanessa!

Actually Vanessa's birthday was yesterday, but I was too busy to post.  This is a quick snap I took while we were visiting just before Christmas.  She is turning into such a lovely young lady and we are so proud of her!!

A Visit to the Zoo - Part 2

And the very best part of visiting the zoo.........

........was splashing in a water puddle on the way out!!  It doesn't get any better than this, especially when Grandma said it was O.K.

A Visit to the Zoo - Part 1

Before Christmas we traveled to Arizona to spend time with Jaron, Michelle and their family, then to visit Will, Amber and their family.  This day we went to the zoo.  Here we are with Sawyer and Barrett in a special area where we were able to be up close and personal with the monkeys.  This nice zoo lady is telling us not to touch anything because the monkeys mark their territory, and, well, everything is covered with monkey pee.  Notice how carefully our grandsons are listening.

Immediately after these instructions the boys spotted a monkey in the tree, (can you see him?), and Sawyer promptly grabbed onto the barrier rope.  Not to be outdone, Barrett not only grabbed onto the rope with his hands, but put it in his mouth!  Cringe!  Sometimes it's a miracle kids are not sick more often than they are! 

2013 - The Dawn of a New Year!

One out of Two Items on this Post:

The first dawn of a new year and this is what I saw out my window.  Made me depressed, especially since I tossed and turned all night and woke up with a chest cold.  I didn't want to be depressed!  I went to bed in such a good mood because we had spent a wonderful time New Year's Eve with Jan & John & Dave & Sherrie, eating good food, visiting and watching a very sweet movie.   An observation about our evening; it became apparent how pathetic all of our social lives are, when we could call each other up earlier in the day and discover none of us had any plans to celebrate that evening!  (Sidenote:  for all of you who have children from about 7 and older, The Ultimate Gift is a must see to watch as a family, especially at Christmas time.)

Back to the picture and my mood.  I decided I wouldn't be depressed and I could choose to change my attitude.  And I didn't need to look at this boring photo either.   Thanks to modern technology, I can choose to change this scene in my mind's eye with a few clicks of a mouse...............

Ahhh, that's better.  I feel happier already!  I think it's going to be a great year!!  I'll probably put this in my 'I Hate Winter' folder on my Smugmug site!  (NOTE: as usual, when I do major edits, I always confess....well almost always!)

Second Item:

I've decided to resume making desktop images/calendars each month and I've used my little winter friend for January.  Feel free to download, enjoy and share. Just click HERE, then right click to set as your desktop image.  It should fill your screen and not be pixelated or blurry.  Let me know if you need help.