Best Friends

I have the worlds best friends!! I love each and everyone of them so much. I'm so happy when we all get together. I've been praying so hard to meet some married friends because all of our friends are divorced. But now I can say Heavenly Father blessed me. Mike and Teresa on my left have been married for 28 years. Steve and Debbie for 29 years and Lora and Scott are engaged!! Now I have to find someone special for my Cindy. I just want to say what a blessing each one of them is in my life. What fun memories we have through the years. I love you all!!!

We had wonderful food. We barbequed, had several salads and baked beans. Yummy!!! What a perfect night for a fun barbeque. After we ate we played Catch Phrase and I about pee'd my pants laughing so hard.

What can I say? These women are the most important women in my life (besides my beautiful daughter and and daughtersinlaw) Debbie on the left has been my wonderful friend for 24 years. I can't tell you how much fun we have had over the years as couples with her hubby and Rog and I. Our kids have grown up together and we still laugh and laugh when we get together. I love you Deb!! Teresa is next to her. I've only been friends with her for 3 months. She and Mike are the friends I've been praying for to have. She and I also have a lot in common and she has the funnest personality. I look forward to many more fun times together. I love you Teresa!! Cindy is on my right. Ok, I've known her for 20 years also. She's been through things with me through thick and thin and we'll always be there for one another. She's a hoot to be around and I love her so much. Then there's Lora. What would I do without her? She's been by my side for 20 years. We've helped each other through many things. She's my twin..we're so much alike. She once gave me a little figurine that said "You'll always be my friend because you know too much". I love you Lora!!!

Lora and Scott are engaged!! They have been dating now for a couple of years. I"m so excited for them. Lora has been my bestest friend for 20 years. She trained me at my job at Orem Co. Hospital and she now works at a sister hospital. I couldn't ask for a better friend. We've been through many trials and tribulations together but also many wonderful times. I love you Lora!!!

Everyone is just relaxing and having a good time. It's so nice to get together with best friends and enjoy each others company.

While we were eating Cindy attracted all the dogs. She was feeding them steak behind our backs..haha..no wonder they loved her.

It looks like Steve is making fun of Rogers "limp wrist".

Roger and Steve have so much in common and have been friends for 24 years. They have hunted, fished, and rode horses together.

Weekend Trip To Lagoon and Cherry Hill

We had the funnest weekend. Shana and the boys and Rog and I drove to Cherry Hill camp ground in Kaysville, Ut. We stayed there for two nights and while we were there we had a blast at Lagoon and the water park at the campground. There were batting cages, rock climbing wall, waterslides, lazy river, miniature golf etc. At Lagoon the boys weren't hardly afraid to ride the "big" rides. Dax had a hard time getting on some of them because of his heighth but we got him through on a few of the scarey ones. The weekend was so fun. One I hope they'll remember for a while.

Brayden wasn't afraid of climbing the rock until he got about 3/4 of the way up then he decided to come down. I couldn't believe how awesome he did. Dax climbed about 2 feet then decided it wasn't for him.

Brayden did pretty darned good in the batting cages. The balls came at him pretty fast but he didn't do too bad.

Here's Brayden and Daxton under a water fall at Cherry Hill water park. They had so much fun going around the lazy river about 500 laps. And going down a water slide with a tube. It was a little rough on Daxton. Shana said he was under the water most of the way. lol. He made it though and so did Brayden.

We spent all day long at Lagoon on Friday. Shana and the boys are taking a break. It was really hot that day but we still had a great time. The rides were only like a 5 minute wait so it was awesome.

Ok..good thing we went on this ride almost last because we all got DRENCHED!! It was the Rattlesnake Run. You're on a huge tube and it goes down a river type thing that is like running rapids. We were laughing so hard and just having a blast but didn't realize we'd get so wet!! What a blast!!

Daxton and Brayden are on the roller coaster. DAxton is in the green and white striped shirt with his hands up and Brayden in the black shirt. They loved raising their hands on the roller coaster rides.

At Lagoon there's a train ride that takes you through places where you can see tigers, ostriches, elk, deer etc. The boys loved seeing those things up close. The boys loved sitting with papa on the ride.

Daxton was quite the miniature golf player. He did his best to get the ball in the hole. Way to go Dax!!

You can't say this man is too old to climb a rock!! Rog almost got clear to the top of this rock but his hands started cramping so he had to give up. I couldn't believe he did it!! Way to go honey!!

Shana and I with our wind blown hair on the sky ride at Lagoon. It was neat looking out over the valley because you're up so high.

Our California Trip

We had a really nice time in Oxnard, California with Troy and Kori and Colby. We went to Santa Barbara, Long Beach and drove up the Pacific Ocean coast. Drove by Malibu beach. Ate at some really nice places and just really enjoyed ourselves. That was until everyone ended up with the stomach flu. Something must have been going around because it started with Colby and went to Kori then Rog and Troy and I didn't feel well the next day. But other than that it was so nice to see them. Troy is working long hard hours trying to make some good money this summer. Kori stays home and takes care of their son all day and 6 days a week. She's very supportive and loving but I know that has to be hard on her day in and day out. But hopefully it will all be worth it in the end. Here are a few pictures of our stay with them. It was so nice to get away for a few days.

I love this picture of Troy and Colby. Colby loved seeing all of the fishies in the aquariums. Troy is an awesome daddy.

Ok. We have to admit that this was the biggest reason we went to California. Even though we missed Troy and Kori we missed this little stinker even more. I had bought little Colby this summer shirt and it said "Grandpa is my hero" What a good baby he is. Such a joy to have him in our arms again and making him laugh and smile. I can't wait til he comes home in August.

This is where Troy and Kori are staying this summer. They've got a beautiful apartment complex and a nice pool to enjoy. Very comfortable place to stay. They have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Kori, Rog, Colby and I drove to Santa Barbara one day to shop and go to lunch. Troy had to work so we took advantage of the day and enjoyed getting out. Colby is quite the little trooper. Never fussed just went along for the ride. We walked out on this pier and saw lots of ships and beautiful scenery. Thanks for showing us around Kori!!!

While we were at the aquarium in Long Beach we saw this fabulous and fun restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimp so of course we had to go there. We all love sea food and it certainly was the best I've had. Yummy, yummy

This is beautiful Long Beach California down by at the aquarium we visited. This place also is where a lot of the cruise ships dock. We walked around there and took pictures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Kori and Troy are petting the sting rays. You had to be sooo careful to only use two fingers or the worker would scream at you. Of course Troy had to be defiant and try to get them all mad by using his whole hand to rub down the sting rays back!!!

Kori and Troy and I at the aquarium. There are so many species of fish it's crazy. This was the biggest aquarium in the United States.

Papa and I loved spending as much time holding our little grandson Colby. It had been 2 months since we had seen him and he had grown like a weed. Laughing and smiling and trying so hard to talk. What a doll!! We love you Colby!!

Colby woke up from his nap and came out and laid by the pool with us. We didn't get to spend much time by the pool because the second day we were there a little child pooped in the hot tub and so they had to close everything down for a few days. Dang kids..had to mess up my ability to get a tan while in California. hahaha

These next two pictures are of how rog spent most of his trip. He was either sick in bed with the stomach flu or he was so tired he fell asleep anywhere he was. hahaha. j/k actually, he was so relaxed out by the pool that he fell right asleep and snored like a hog. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him. He needed the much needed sleep.

Here's How We Spent Our Weekend

Here we are in a beautiful, shady meadow where we spent Saturday afternoon. We brought our lunch and just relaxed and went on a few rides.

Mike and Teresa Eastman are some new friends of ours. I've known Mike for 20 years or so because he used to deliver UPS to the hospital. He's the one that helped Jared get on with UPS. He invited Me and Rog to go with them to the Trace Atkins concert in Wendover last May and since then we've hung out with them several times. What a blessing they are in our lives because we really have only one married couple friends that we do something with maybe once or twice a year. So we look forward to hanging out with them and having our kids together also.

This picture is Jared, Mike and Rog talking about where to ride the horses. They look pretty serious huh? When they got back Jared had scrapes on his arms, Rog and Mike both had holes in their shirts getting caught on the brush on the mountains.

Rog and Teresa had a mean game of horseshoes. She's quite the horseshoe player too. She beat Rog and Mike. Way to go Teresa!! Oh and the hat that Rog has on was supposed to be the "lucky hat" but it wasn't so lucky. Better luck next time Rog!!

Ok..so here is our plate of food on Saturday night. Mike and Teresa went on an Alaskan fishing trip 2 weeks ago. They brought back a couple hundred pounds of halibut and so they cooked some of that up for us. What a nice treat. We had halibut, corn on the cob, shrimp, salad, cantelope and rolls. Now what more can you ask for up camping? Wow!!!

Here's Teresa and I heading off with the horses. I haven't been on a horse in 20 years or so. I was a little nervous but not like I thought I would have been. She's an experienced rider so she led the way.

You can't tell in the picture but the flowers surrounding Makinley were purple and she looked so pretty in her purple shirt. She was picking the wild flowers to give to her daddy and Papa for fathers day. She's grandmas little sweetheart.

The kids are so happy when Papa will load them on the 4wheeler and take them for a nice ride. All smiles!!!

This area we went to which is called Tucker has a lot of fun 4 wheeler trails to go on. We'll be going back here for sure!!!

I adore this picture of Jared snuggling with Makinley. On Saturday we took the horses and 4 wheeler up to a nice, shady meadow area to ride and have a picnic. It was so peaceful and cool. Jared laid down under the tree and Makinley wanted to lay with him. How sweet is that. She sure loves her daddy.

Kristi and the girls are enjoying a little rest. They brought up their tent trailer and spent the weekend with us too. There's nothing better than having all your kids with you and sharing these fun times.

Shana brought a friend of hers to come and spend some time camping and riding horses. Shana has always had a love for them so she had a great time. Mike spends his life around horses so they enjoyed a few rides up in the mountains.

Here are Brayden and Mike getting ready to take off on another ride. Brayden was a pro. Always riding by his self. He's on Moon and Mike is on Maverick. Mike was so patient and kind with all the grandkids. Always taking them on rides and teaching them how to be the boss on the horse.

Three of my little sweethearts were riding on Goldie. Daxton is a horse lover from day one. Gentry didn't want to get off and cried when she had to and Makinley just loved riding and riding too. I was so impressed that they were not one bit afraid of the horses.

Honoring our Loved Ones

Decorating graves has always been a tradition in my life for as long as I can remember. As a child we visited my grandparents graves in Morgan, Utah. We made a whole day of it by decorating the graves and taking a picnic to Como. Kind of a resort in Morgan. We swam with our cousins and just had a nice day. This is a picture of me at my parents grave in the East Lawn Memorial. I miss them so much and I'm glad I can carry on the tradition with my children and now my grandchildren. We pay our respects to those that we love and miss.

The Orem City Cemetery had a beautiful service in the morning of Memorial Day. The weather was rainy but it didn't stop people from coming. In the next picture they had a Black Hawk helicopter fly in that had an Orem City Paramedic that is in the Service. They were there to honor all the veterans. The kids got a big kick out of that watching the helicopter fly in and blow us away. What a hair raising experience and an honor it was to see all of this in honor of our service men and women who have sacraficed their lives for our country.

Here's a picture of Rog and Brayden and Daxton decorating their father and mother and great grandfather and great grandmas graves on Memorial Day 2008. The cemetery looked so beautiful. I'm so happy that the boys enjoyed going with us.

It was so crazy. One day when I was looking for my good friend, Margaret Clays headstone in the Provo Cemetery I came across my Grandpa and Grandma Lee's grave. They are my fathers parents. I maybe visited their grave a few times when I was a small child so I was so happy to have found these. My grandfather passed away when I was just a small child so I never really knew him. They are just a few steps away from my friends grave so now I can visit theirs at the same time.

Russell E. Lee was my fathers brother. He passed away in 1945. I wasn't born when he was alive but I remember my father talking about him. He is burried close to my friend Margaret Clay in the Provo Cemetery.

Dan Carly's headstone is right next to my parents at the East Lawn Memorial. Danny was my brotherinlaw. Married to my sister Geri. He died of cancer in 2000.

My Aunt Mildred passed away in 2004. She was my moms sister and she's burried just a few yards away from my parents. My Uncle Milt will be burried by her side when he passes away. I have such fond memories of the Johnson family. We were always together on holidays etc. Aunt Mildred was a very elegant and beautiful woman.

My very special friend Margaret(Peggy) Clay passed away in 2005. I worked with Peggy for about 17 years at the hospital. She was like a second mother to me and I loved her very much. She was such an icon at our hospital. Each year I take flowers to her grave which is at the Provo City Cemetery.