DOGGIE DIET!

I can’t remember ever a time in my life that I ever had a dog that was actually put on an appetite supressant! EVER! Ashley is up for a few days and took her kitten to our vet on Friday to be spayed. Dave gave her permission to take Sadie, our Beagle over for her overdue and much needed shots and dog license. Well the vet told Sadie she was at least 11.5 pounds over weight. In fact, she weighs 1.5 pounds more than Ashley’s part lab dog, Ayce. Dave gave his consent to the vet to let her try this medicine called "Slentrol" for dogs. It’s suppose to help her not want to eat so much. It’s serious stuff with her. She snorts like a pig when she is eating, ..... and poor Tucker! If he doesn’t eat his food fast enough, she is in his bowl too! We have to supervise them eating or she’ll eat out of both bowls. Even when Tucker does eat, she has to lick every bit of any kind of a taste left, and she doesn’t stop when you would think she should. We are going to give it a try I guess. It’s not very expensive, so if it helps our little darlin’ shed a few pounds and get healthy, then I guess it will be worth it. Of course she'll have to exercise too! PS: Keep in mind this decision was made before I even got home on Friday from work!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANA ! ! ! (TEN YEARS OLD)

It’s hard to believe that our beautiful grand daughter Diana is already 10 years old! I can remember the day Chris and Laura told us they were expecting. Laura was already 6 months along when she was told by the doctor they were going to have a baby. There were circumstances that did not lead anybody to believe that she was pregnant. She wasn’t even showing that much. So needless to say, we didn’t have a very long wait. Diana Crystal Sprankle was born on August 19, 1998 in Layton, UT. I keep telling myself that God gave her to me as a belated birthday present one week after my birthday. I have given birth to three children but was never really witness to another’s birth until Diana was born. Both Ashley and myself were there for the blessed event, along with Laura’s mother, Marsha. In case any of you didn’t know this, Chris and Laura named her after Princess Di because of the geneology and us finding out that we, the Spencer’s come down the same lines as Princess Di. Diana was so pink and beautiful. And she has flooded our lives with so much joy. It has been so special to have a grand daughter like her. As far as her Grammy is concerned, she is a perfect little girl. I love to hear her laugh and giggle. Her eyes are so big and are a beautiful combination of colors. They sparkle, and people are always commenting on how beautiful her eyes are. She loves us all and has wrapped us around her little finger. We try not to spoil her too much, but c’mon! Who doesn’t spoil their grandchildren a little bit. Most of you have probably seen this poem I wrote about Dad and him reading a “Winnie The Pooh” story to her on Easter Sunday, April 15, 2001, the same day he passed away 6 years later. Hopefully you can click on it to make it big enough to read if you haven’t read it yet. When Diana was trying to learn how to crawl, Ashley and I made up words to go with the music, “I Believe I Can Fly”. Some of the words were, “I believe I can crawl, I believe I can touch the wall. I think about it every night and day, bend my legs and crawl away”. You would have to of heard us singing it to appreciate it, and we had a lot of fun doing it. One of the things I remember about Diana is that when she was about three years old, we had Great Grandma Sprankle's 3 great grand daughter's pictures taken. Diana was having a fit and would not sit to have her pictures taken with Dezi and Kasha who were just babies (we had brought 2 or 3 outfits for each of the girls to wear),....... that is until Aunt Sylkie, Aunt Suesie and I showed her a pretty little pink dress we had brought for the pictures. Once the photographer took pictures of her in the dress, she let us change her in the other outfits without a problem. Ever since then, she loves to get her pictures taken. Diana, we want to wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY. We all love you so much! Grammy

A SPECIAL YOUNG LADY ! ! !

The last night Dave and I was in Colorado this past week, we were invited to stay the night with some friends we new when we lived out at Dugway Proving Grounds. George was the Physician out there and Melissa and I were pregnant together,….her with Adam and I with Ashley. Actually I think she was due after me but it didn’t turn out that way. Adam was premature so he was about 2 weeks older than Ashley. We moved in to our government quarters first and lived there just a short time before the Philbins moved in to their quarters the next building over from us. The only thing that separated their place from ours was a patch of grass and maybe a tree. I remember the day they moved in. We were excited to get neighbors that were going to be there as long as we were going to be. Dave was outside doing yard work I believe when George was either just getting home from somewhere or trying to leave to go. Not sure which. Dave introduced himself and then they started a conversation. We found out he and Melissa had a toddler about a year and a half old, Veda Katherin. I can’t remember how long it was before I actually met Melissa and Veda, but when I did we became good friends. When I saw Veda for the first time, I immediately fell in love with her. I believe that God picked Melissa and George to be parents of Veda because he knew they would love her and give her a place in their hearts. Melissa said she was a very happy baby and had a lot of love to share with others. Veda was born in Aurora, CO on March 28, 1981. Her family moved to Dugway Proving Grounds a short time later. Hence, our friendship began. Melissa and I got together weekly with other officer’s wives for a craft session. We were always learning and making things together. One of the other wives taught us all how to tatt. I had a very hard time with it, and can’t remember if Melissa was successful at it or not, but we had fun trying. The officer’s wives group gave Melissa and I a baby shower together. It was a lot of fun. Not too long after the shower, Melissa went in to premature labor. That baby wasn’t going to wait at all for his due date. George brought Veda over to me to take care of when they left for the hospital in Salt Lake City. Adam was almost a Halloween baby but just a few minutes shy of it. So therefore, I got Veda and we were so happy to have her. The boys enjoyed having a little one to play with when they got home from school. I'm introducing my young friend to you all because she is a special young lady and I also hold a special place in my heart for her. After we moved to Kaysville, I got to watch her again while Melissa and George went to Denver for a conference. It was so much fun having her with us. Ashley was a baby at the time and it was amazing to watch the two of them together. Some of Veda’s favorite movies are, "Batman", "Bringing Down The House", and "Dirty Dancing", to name a few. She is in a program called Devleopmental Pathways near their home and gets to go on special activities and really enjoys swimming and bowling. She also enjoys going to the park. She loves doing the “Meals on Wheels” for the elderly and does volunteer work for a goodwill organization called ARC. She also volunteers for Compa Foods where she sorts bread and can goods. Veda loves sitting out on the deck in the sun. She is a proud gardener and has a tomato plant out there on the back deck of their home with 6 tomatoes growing on it. (She’s a young lady after my own heart because I love tomatoes too!) Also she is growing cat nip for her cat “Mr. Meow” who goes crazy. She with her mom loves watching him have fun with it! Veda starts her day by waking up at 7 a.m. and gets ready and waits for the bus to come and pick her up between 8 and 9:30 a.m. She goes to program and keeps very busy. The folks at Developmental Pathways says Veda is the “leader of the band” and she is definitely the one in charge! It has been an honor knowing this family. It’s always fun to get together with George and Melissa, and we have promised ourselves to do it more often. Veda is an inspiration to me. Through her eyes she sees only the good in people. She loves unconditionally and she has so much love to give to others. I have learned a lot through Veda and truly know she is definitely one of God’s angels on earth. I love you Veda! Janette

What a fun week in Colorado!

Saturday, August 9, 2008 - Saturday, August 16, 2008

This is our annual “Janette’s Birthday Week” vacation. Nathan got us booked on a flight to Denver at 8:41 a.m.. After making sure the dogs were going to be taken care of a few days before we left, we said our goodbyes to them and gave the normal instructions needed so that all would be OK with them and headed to the airport. Surprisingly, we got on the flight we were actually booked on (we go stand-by when we fly) and made it to Denver. We headed out of the airport on the Avis shuttle bus and got a car rented with Dave’s discount (he works for them part time on the weekend) and decided since we couldn't check in at Estes Park until 4 p.m., we headed downtown Denver. Dave had just been there back in December for ATF stuff, so he knew of the “16th Street Mall” area. (What is the 16th St. Mall?: It is an outdoor mall that is a mile long where they have shut down the street for traffic except the free shuttles that you can hop on and go from one end to the next) After finding a parking spot we headed for 16th Street. To the left is an arial view of the mall. We walked down to one end of it, got some lunch then got on the free shuttle bus and went up to the end of it all. We walked over to the Union Station where you would get on the Amtrak train if you were traveling on it any where. Dave took a picture of the front of the station which is at the right (I'm standing at the bottom of the flag pole in front of the station). We then left there and walked down to 16th Street again and went in this old building called 'Tattered Cover Bookstore". It was amazing! Not only the history of the building, but the bookstore itself. Here is a little bit about the history of the building this bookstore is in. Picture is below to the left. There is a plaque on the outside by the main door of the building that says: " C.S. Morey Mercantile Building - 1896 - Constructed in 1896 for $75,000, the Morey Mercantile Building was the first notable warehouse to be built after the 1983 Silver Crash. Designed by Gove & Walsh, the structure included a spice grinding mill, roasting plan, extract laboratory and print shop. Unusual yet practical features of the building include a second story main entrance built for direct access to and from the old 16th Street viaduct (demolished in 1994), a double wide alley between this building and the Henry Lee Building, and train tracks in the front for easy transfer of goods. These functional attributes were essential for a thriving, eclectic distributor like Morey who manufactured, packaged and marketed all manner of food products, as well as brooms, writing tablets, matches, snuff, chewing tobacco, and cigars. From its founding in 1884, Morey Mercantile grew into an empire becoming the largest wholesaler in the Rocky Mountain Region until its sale to Continental Foods in 1956. Even today, “C.S. Morey Mercantile Company” remains cut in stone above the second-story door on 16th Street." We jumped back on the shuttle and rode it up the street near where we parked the car. We made our way out of downtown Denver and got on the interstate to head towards Estes Park. We stopped at a Walmart along the way to get some groceries for our meals while at the condo. The drive up was really pretty through the mountains was beautiful. I did find out when we got up there to Estes, that the big hotel they used in the movie “The Shining” with Jack Nicholson is there. When watching that movie one would think the hotel was way up in the mountains and very secluded. But in all actuality, it’s a couple of blocks off the main street of Estes Park. Also in this post is a picture of the the hotel (to the left). It’s called the “Stanley Hotel”. There is a concert hall and museum. Actually, there are 11 buildings up there. Here is the link if you want to go in and check the hotel out. In the movie, it was known as the "Overlook Hotel". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley%20Hotel . Or just Google the Stanley Hotel or "The Shining". On Sunday we were invited over to the office where we were staying because they wanted to try and sale us more points to have more time in the resorts than what we have. But we were very adiment about not wanting to do that and shook the guys hand that was doing the sales pitch and left. Because it was raining, we stayed at the condo and watched a movie. Later on we went down to the village (I call it a town) and walked around a bit and went in to the shops. After a while we went back to the condo and fixed some dinner. On Monday we drove up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. This first visit up there we found out it wasn't very easy finding a parking spot so we drove back down the mountain to the park and ride and got on a shuttle. We headed towards "Bear Lake" and hiked around it. It was gorgeous up there. There were several little chipmunks that were being fed by people, which they weren't suppose to be doing. The chipmunks weren't complaining though and had enough food stored in their little cheeks, it made them look like they had the mumps. When we were finished there, we took the shuttle down to Glacier Gorge where we hiked up to Alberta Falls. Here is a picture of the lake and the falls. It was beautiful! That night we went to a Ranger talk about Coyotes which was very interesting. Learned new stuff about the animal and the ranger was pretty funny too. Tuesday we went back down to Denver to pick Nathan and Pamela up. It was my birthday so they surprised me by coming to spend some time with us. Once we got back to the condo, we made plans for the rest of the day. We took them up through the park only we went on a different road. It was called the "Ridgeline Trail" which was spectacular! There was one section of the road where you could look down each side of the mountain. Believe me, we were very very high. We didn't have time to take them all the way to the top, but we did get up quite a ways. We started heading back down because it was getting late in the day. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner for my birthday! It was a bar-b-que place and I think I had the best pulled pork any where! Unfortunately, Nate and Pamela had to leave again Wednesday morning so we headed back to Denver to the airport. After dropping them off, we went back downtown Denver and walked around. We went to the "Fortney's Museum of Transportation" and saw a bunch of old cars, carts, bycycles, hearse's, trucks, trains and an airplane. Whew! The car pictured here is a "1916 Detroit Electric" car. It was cool, the glass in it is concaved. After leaving the museum, we went back over to the "Tattered Cover Book Store" and got some lunch. This time we walked from where we had parked the car. We left there then went over to the US Mint thinking we were going to go on the tour, but unfortuneatly the tours were all booked so we went walking around. We went over to the capital building and walked through it a bit. After leaving the capital we walked over to this old hotel called the "Brown Palace". Here is the link to go in and read about the legend of the palace" http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CO-BrownPalace.html It also has some stories to tell. You will find this link very interesting. Because we were running out of time at the parking meter, we headed back to the car and tried to find our way out of Denver. We got lost for about an hour! but finally got headed in the right direction. On our way back to Estes Park we went by Loveland which is where my cousin Farrell and his wife Mari live. We met them for dinner and really had a nice visit with them. We were pooped by the time we got back to the condo, but enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing and watching the olympics. Thursday we went back up to the park and went up clear to the top then back down the other side to a village called Grand Lake, and yes there really was a lake there. We drove around for a few minutes then headed back up the mountain and back down to Estes Park. It's about 48 miles one way from the entrance in to the park to Grand Lake. The view from up on the Ridge Line Trail (road) was spectacular! I'm going to put a few more pictures on we took up there. There is a sign on one of the trails we hiked up that says you are literally "on the roof of the Rockies". What a great way to spend the week of my birthday! Hope you go in to the links I provided (most of all I hope it works for you when you click on them). 1) Side of a steep slope 2) Mushroom Rock Formations 3) Yes folks, that the snow storm coming our way. In fact I took a picture of my hoodie with the little flakes on it. Ya' have to know we are at about 12,000 elevation. They call this area the "never summer mountains". You are on what they call the tundra where the trees don't grow because it is so dang cold. My left ear felt like it was going to explode and it was so painful, plus my head was aching. I put my hood on and it felt some better. I think it was alot to do with the cold wind that was blowing up there. 4) is another steep slope where this glacier lay at the bottom of it. Notice the little lake of crystal blue water. It was beautiful! 5) The dark rock of Lava Cliffs is welded tuff. This rock ormed as a result of a violent explosion some 28 million years ago. Volcanic vents in the Never Summer Mountains twelve miles west became clogged with thick, gooey lava. When they erupted, not all of the molten rock flowed as liquid. Some exploded out as a fast-moving avalanche of molten rock and gas. Where the flow stopped, it fused itself into a solid mass as you see in this picture. When you are as high as we were (on the tundra) the wild flowers only grown maybe an inch high. 6) Wild flower - They say that when there is a 30 mph wind blowing at eye level, it's only blowing 3 mph on the ground. Therefore since it's warmer for the flowers on the ground, they are protected from the cold. Hope this wasn't too boring and you all found it somewhat interesting. The picture of this flower makes it look bigger than it really is. 7) Really is a great backdrop for a picture, eh? You can tell the wind was a blowing.

I started this post a couple of days ago or so and think it is time to bring it to an end. Sorry it is so long.

If you haven't been to Rocky Mountain National Park, I recommend you go! It was breath taking up there "high in the sky" as Nathan would say in his little gravely southern voice at the young age of 3.

Happy 80th Birthday Dad!

I was going through some pictures last night and found this one of Dad. This was taken when Mom and Dad were having a yard sale in July 2005. Kyle,....my nephew,.....yeah you know the one (with the shirt) made the sign and put it up behind Dad. I named the picture "Dad for sale" and the sign says "Bitter Old Man For Sale". I'm not sure if he knew the sign was behind him or not, but maybe Kyle can verify one way or the other. Anyway, it would have been Dad's 80th Birthday yesterday. It was a hard day to get through but I think he got the best birthday present ever when he looked up and saw Kelpie running towards him. I am very sad for Kadie and her family,....especially Spencer because he lost a "best friend", but I hope some day when he is older he'll understand his Great Grandpa got his "best friend" back to keep him company "up there". Dad,.....I hope you heard us all singing happy birthday to you. We Love Ya'!

You're what????? Going to China?!

For all you cousins out there that doesn't know her,…..let me introduce you to Stephanie Lynn Hess. She is the oldest grandchild of Clyde and Nadine Spencer, the oldest daughter of Steven Hess and Cheryl Young. She was my first niece and the one out of two of my nieces that I got to spoil a lot before going with my husband Dave in the Army. She is the one responsible for all the other nieces and nephews calling me “Aunt Nanna” besides herself. So for all those out there that thought Grandmas were the only ones called Nanna, it just isn’t true! One of the good things about my “Nanna” name (that means the world to me, by the way) is that there are a lot of Nanna greeting cards out there that I got a few of over the years. Anyway, I’d like for you all to get to know a little bit about Stephanie and what she is going to be doing for at least the next year.

In 1991-1993 she went on an LDS mission to Finland. I don’t know how many of you know this, but I heard at the time she went that Finnish is one of the harder languages to learn. But she did it and could speak beautiful Finnish. I was so impressed with the way she spoke it. She sent a tape home during her mission where she was giving a talk in sacrament meeting in the Finnish language. I did not have a clue of what she was talking about, but it gave me goose bumps when I heard it! The words she was speaking just flowed out of her mouth perfectly (what ever they were) and even though we back home couldn’t understand it, you can bet that everybody in sacrament meeting that day could.

After coming home from her mission she was invited back to Finland to help a young family out whose mother had a virus that attacked her neck and head and was doing very poorly. She went there to help the family while the wife and mother got better. She was there for three months during the summer of 1994 before returning back home to Utah. You would have thought that would be it for Finland, right???? WRONG! She returned to Finland in December of 1995 and taught English through March when she decided to continue her education while over there. She earned a Bachelors Degree in English Literature and a Masters Degree in English Linguistics. She returned home again in 1998.

She can now speak at least five different languages other than English. She speaks Finnish (of course), along with Russian, Swedish, German and some Latin. Also she knows some sign language.

She moved to Alabama a while ago and bought a home in Fayette. She thought that moving to a lower altitude may help with her very bad headaches she still gets that were the result of a couple of rear end collisions. She said that the headaches aren‘t as bad but she has other health issues she is dealing with because of the accidents.

Wanting to try something new and different just recently, she was browsing the Education Website and saw a teaching position available that she was very much interested in and therefore submitted her resume. And now the BIG news folks! (if you didn't catch it in the title of this post). Stephanie has accepted a teaching position in Shanghai, China teaching fourth grade to Foreign National students that will primarily be Korean, Japanese and some American children. She is not new to teaching and besides teaching in Finland, she has also taught in Utah, California and Alabama. She submitted her resume which was very appealing to the folks at the Livingston-American School, which is a very large school in Shanghai. Stephanie said if you were interested in checking the school out, just GOOGLE the name and you’ll be able to see where she will be teaching for at least the next school year. Who knows, maybe we’ll be able to go to the website and see a picture of her as one of the newest staff members in a couple of months. The curriculum of the school is based on the California school system and the focus at this school is Language Arts. She will be in China during the Olympics, however Beijing is about 3 hours away from Shanghai.

While in China teaching, she will not only celebrate the American holidays but also the Chinese national holidays. She mentioned she will have a three week holiday for Christmas and a one week holiday for the Chinese New Year among others. Stephanie said that she’ll take that free time she will have off and travel the country. She said China is the number one place on her list of “places she wanted to go” along with Egypt and Greece. She has been somewhat of a “world traveler” in the past. She has been to France (after graduating from high school) along with Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Estonia and of course Finland. WOW! The only foreign countries her Aunt Nanna has been in is Canada and for a brief five minutes in to Mexico and after a quick “U” turn, right back out again. I did get to go on an eastern Carribean cruise, so I guess that counts too. But am I jealous at all Stephanie? You bet I am! Dave has been to Korea and England, so I got to see lots of pictures from those countries, but it just isn’t quite the same. Stephanie said being exposed to different cultures and ways of doing things gives people wonderful experiences and opportunities that they may never have a chance to enjoy and that going to China will probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity for her.

Stephanie plans on leaving Utah around the 5th or 6th of August, heading to San Francisco and will be leaving from there to fly to Shanghai, getting there around the 11th. She will start out with a week of school preparations the 14th and says school will start around the 23rd. The school will be providing her a place to live (apartment) which will be close to the school and is very excited to go and even happier they are paying for her travels there to a country she has been wanting to see for a long time.

We want to wish you the best while doing your “once in a lifetime” travels to China Stephanie. I have no doubt you will be a wonderful teacher to these students. (And oh,….by the way, I don’t want to see a bunch of red check marks on my post after you read this and say,…..“oh Aunt Nanna, did you not learn anything in any of your English classes during your years in school?”).

Seriously Steph, we are very proud of you (and a little bit worried too, I might add) but we know that this is going to be just one more great opportunity for you. So be happy and do us proud! Stay safe,…….your Aunt Nanna loves you along with your parents, sisters and all the rest of your family. We expect a lot of pictures and information while you are over there.

Love you!
Janette

Congratulations to Joey!

Wanted to do a quick post and congratulate Joey (Ashley's hubby) on his Associates of Science Degree as a Pharmacy Technician. He and his folks will be on their way on Thursday with the houshold items to St. George and Ashley is on her way right now with her car loaded along with the dog and kitten. She has been coming back and forth for the last month and a half to get things packed and ready to go and for Joey's graduation this past Friday. We are certainly going to miss having them close by, but it's only a four hour or so drive, and as long as Nathan works for the airlines and we have benefits to fly, it's only an hour away. Eventually, Joey hopes to get a degree as a Pharmacist and his goal down the road is to have a specialty in Nuclear Pharmacuticals. He does plan on starting school to get his Pharmacist degree in the near future once they get somewhat settled. I am very proud of both of them!

39 Years of what??? Marriage!

The Art Of A Good Marriage
Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created.

In marriage the little things are the big things.

It is never being too old to hold hands.

It is remembering to say "I love you"

at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is at no time taking the other for granted;

The courtship should not end with the honeymoon,

it should continue through the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world.

It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude

of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation and

demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience,

understanding and a sense of humor.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is establishing a relationship in which

the independence is equal,

dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner,

it is being the right partner.

Well, yesterday the 18th of July Dave and I celebrated our 39th wedding aniversary. WOW! I would say that is a milestone! Especially in these days and times. It just doesn't seem like it has been that long. So many changes througout our married life has occured! Him graduating from college and going straight in to the Army afterwards was an experience of a lifetime. We moved away from home and saw many parts of the United States together. We were two explorers out there in this very big world all alone, just the two of us. I had one very little problem however and that was being homesick,....ALOT! I missed my mom and dad and was very lonesome for my sisters and my two nieces at the time. I missed my grandmother and Dave's family that lived here. It was the start of a whole new life.
We dated for four years before we did get married. I was a junior at Davis High and he was a sophmore and in my Algebra class when we met. He was a HUNK! He had beautiful blue eyes which was what caught my attention to him. He was active in all the sports. He was in track, football and wrestling. By the end of that year in Algebra, we were sitting next to each in class, along with two other couples. We were one of the two couples that eventually got married. That was two years after my high school graduation. When we first became a 'couple', he didn't have his driver's license. His sister Sue would bring him over to my house and we would spend time playing tennis up at the high school and going for walks. We talked alot about everything. His family had just moved from Pennsylvania. It was a big change for him and his sister, but they eventually became very fond of Utah. We had a lot of fun together, and I became good friends with Sue at the same time. We were married in 1969, after his first year in college. I had attended a one year business college the year after I graduated from high school. Once he graduated from the U of U, we spent almost 12 years of him being in the Army. During that time we had our three children. When Ashley was a year old, we moved up to Kemmerer, WY and stayed there for 15 years. He became the Sgt. of the Kemmerer Police Department but eventually we decided to make a career change. We were very anxious to get back to Utah, so in Janurary 2000 he started out as a Training Lieutenant, later becoming the Program Officer at a correctional facility. When the state closed the facility, he worked for Weber County Sheriff's Dept., then Salt Lake Sheriff's Dept. as Corrections Officer. During the time between the correctional facility and working for Weber and SL County, he had applied for other jobs. He was selected in a Federal position with the US Attorney's Office. That was a term position that was to last four years. Towards the end of the four years he applied for a position with ATF (Alcohol, Tabacco and Firearms) as an Investigator. He's been with them since August of 2005. I have been working for the Dept. of Veterans Affairs in Human Resources ever since we moved down from Wyoming. It's hard to believe we have been back for over eight years.

I feel we are each other's best friend, confidant, teacher, listener and yes,....even critic. It has been said that "Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences, new ways of expressing a love that is deeper than life. When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique unto themselves which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential made in the hearts of two people who love each other and takes a lifetime to fulfill".

I'm not going to say marriage has been one of the easiest things we live through and it takes a lot of work to succeed in it, but I can say that being together for all these years and growing older with one another, sharing feelings, experiencing new and different places, raising three children together, enjoying one beautiful grand-daughter and life with all its ups and downs,.....we have made it through and have experienced some of the best times of our lives with one another. So, here's to many, many more years! I love ya' Dave!

Kung Fu Panda

Just a quick post. A few weeks ago, Ashley and I took Diana to see the movie, Kung Fu Panda. She really enjoyed it and so did the two of us! This is a picture I took of Diana in front of the huge sign after the movie. That same afternoon, Ashley and Joey took Diana fishing over to the Kaysville Pond. She did get a bite, a BIG one, with her "Barbie" fishing pole Uncle Nathan bought her for her 7th birthday, but couldn't get the fish in before it broke the line trying to get it through all the willows and stuff. Does that sound like a Grandpa Clyde fish story, or what?

More Stuff from Nettie

Greetings! Well, it looks like it had been a couple of weeks since my last blog so I just posted more pictures from the Boston trip that I said I was going to do since I was having a hard time with the camera card on Ashley's computer. She had just moved from the condo the hospital provided for her for the month of June to the leased home her and Joey will be living in. All she has down there right now is the bed that is in the guest bedroom and a love seat she got delivered from RC Willey’s in Las Vegas that matches her couch she will be moving down next weekend. She has her computer and a smaller television to keep her occupied when she is not at work or sleeping. The house is in a little community type setting that is sort of like living in a condo. Every Thursday they have a team of grounds keepers that come in and mow the lawns and there is a swimming pool right across the street to the side of the house. She has been making regular trips home since starting work down there to pack a few things up to get ready for the big move. It’s kind of sad because I don’t know how often they will get to come home once Joey is down there and starts working. He graduates as a Pharmacy Tech next Friday night, and is hoping to get a job in that field when he gets down there. In the mean time he is working at a Chevron down in the Magna area and will be transferring to one of the Chevron’s down in St. George. We hope for the best for him. He’s got a few irons in the fire and will be putting more resume’s out there when he get’s down south.

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Chris, Laura and Diana came over along with Ashley and Joey. Dave’s sister, his mother and Pamela (she is Nathan’s “soon to be” we hope). Nathan had to work, so it didn't stop the rest us from having fun. We had a bar-b-q here at the house and then watched the fireworks put on over at Davis High from our front yard. Earlier that day we had gone up to Logan for the car show they have up there every year. Loved some of the cars,....even picked out some favorites. Here's one of them, a 1951 Ford. Other than that, its been work work work for both. Dave had a jaunt up to Montana all last week with his job at ATF. He had seven assignments around the Great Falls area and Billings with places in between. On Friday night Nathan booked me on a flight to Billings because Dave felt more comfortable with me driving home with him. I was to keep him alert. He did ok going up because he broke the trip up by stopping in Lima, MT for a visit with Steve. We came home a different way. Saturday morning we got up and headed to Livingston, MT which is the town you go through to go in to the North gate of Yellowstone. Pictured to the left is the arch that leads in to the entrance of the park. President Theodore Rosevelt was responsible for getting the arch up and dedicated. We stopped at Ft. Yellowstone which use to be an Army post. Back in 1912, President Taft made a recommendation that the National Parks service be formed. In August of 1916 the National Park Service Act was signed, then in 1918 the National Parks assumed full administrative responsibilities. Fort Yellowstone was transferred to the new civilian agency. The soldiers of Fort Yellowstone were relieved of their military status and became the first park rangers with the National Parks Service. I am attaching the photo of the soldiers in this blog. It was quite interesting. Also is a picture of the two of us on the steps of the Yellowstone National Park Post Post Office. When leaving there we drove down to Mammoth Hot Springs. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Mammoth has done and dried up, atleast for what you can see from the road. There is a trail still that does go up to some hot springs, which we didn’t do because of time, but if I remember correctly from seeing the area in August of 1969 (our honeymoon) there was all kinds of colors and sulfur water running down the face of Mammoth. I’m going to have to get our pictures out so I know for sure that I know what I am talking about. After leaving there we drove down to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We saw just about every kind of wildlife there is to see in Yellowstone. We saw three bears total, the one here is to the right of the pine tree in the middle. Also a big beautiful magnificent six point elk. We saw Moose, a cow Elk with baby and Buffalo and Antelope. We stopped shortly to see the upper falls and then headed down the road and decided to go right (Whitey,..in case you don't know, that is "my" direction when sitting in the passenger seat of your vehicle) instead of left ("your" direction) to go up to see Old Faithful. We stayed there to see the eruption then started heading down to the south gate and in to Jackson. It’s always wonderful to see the Grand Tetons and also the “Sleeping Indian” mountain to the left of the Jackson Airport. Didn’t get a picture of that this trip however. We stopped in Jackson for about an hour then headed down to Alpine Junction where we stayed the night. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Alpine Junction, but one of the old hotels there is of German architect. This is me in front of it this morning as we were getting ready to leave for home. It was a lot of fun! We enjoyed the beautiful scenery all the way from Billings to Livingston, through the park til' we pulled in to our driveway here at home. It was wonderful to not have to go in to the office this weekend.

Just a few more pictures from Boston trip

Hi everybody, I wanted to share a few more pictures because when I did the last blog I was having a hard time getting Ashley's computer to read from the camera card. I think this will work! The first picture is of Dottie and myself. I worked with Dottie in the office at the Officer's Club. She did a really good job of trying to keep me from being so homesick while we were at Ft. Devens. She helped me get through my pregnancy with Christopher and then with Nathan. Her and her husband Art babysat Chris when I went to the hospital to have Nathan. Her kids loved having Chris at their house to play with while he was there. Art passed away in 2002 after suffering with a spinal cord stroke 11 years prior. Dottie took care of him all those years, which was getting to be pretty hard on her. She has done well however and now has a new guy in her life. The next picture of is of the church that our Branch met in, in the same town Dottie lived in,....Leominister. It belonged to another religion but they allowed the LDS to meet there. This is the church that Christopher and Nathan were blessed in. It's kind of a cool looking building, isn't it? There is a lot more to the building than what you can see here. Next picture is of the Nashua River which runs through the same town just down the road a short distance from the church. The next two pictures are of the hospitals the boys were born in. Christopher was born at the Cutler Army Hospital on post. They have rebuilt the front of it and it is now the Federal Medical Facility which is used for the prisoners in the prison that sits up at the side of the medical building. Nathan was born in Concord, MA at the Emerson Hospital. As you all know, Concord is a well known town that sits next to Lexington which is where the "first shot heard round the world" was shot to start the Revolutionary war. The whole New England area is full of H I S T O R Y, which is one of Dave's loves. The next picture will be of the commuter rail we rode a couple of times from Boston to Fitchburg the night we got there, then from Leominister to Boston the next day when we went to sight see. Notice the colors. Nothing like our Red, White and Blue "Front Runner" which is our new commuter rail that runs from Salt Lake City to Ogden. The last picture I'm going to share for this trip is coming in to Boston on the train. We took lots of pictures, but since we were only there for two days, we didn't get to every where we wanted to. Oh well, hopefully we'll get to go back some day. I would like the boys to see the New England area since they were born there. That's it folks. I already showed you a few pictures with the previous blog. Hope you enjoyed these. Not real exciting pictures but like I said,....maybe someday we'll get back there and be able to stay a little longer and get even better pictures. Bye for now!