Our Family Is Back Together Now

This family picture was taken today at Shanas home. Troy and Kori came home last night from living in Florida since April and we're so happy that they're back. I hate when someone is absent when we get together. We now feel complete again. I remember when we used to all congregate over at Grandpa and Grandma Pynes home. Grandpa would always ask us why we had to leave so soon even though we'd been there for several hours. He hated to see us go. Well that's how Rog and I feel when our kids have to leave us. The times we share together mean so much. I always look around at each one and think how blessed I am to have them in our life.
We were going to have a new family picture taken this fall but now we've decided to wait since it would be out-dated in March when Kori and Troy have their baby. So come this spring we'll have something professional taken. In the meantime we just take these cute pictures with our self timer cameras.
I want my kids to know how much I love them. How proud I am of each one. The happiness they bring to our family is unmeasurable. Sometimes it gets a little rowdy with the kids screaming and running around but that's what family is all about. The more the merrier. I'm so excited to have another little one added to our family.
We celebrated Kori's 27th birthday today even though her birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Kori. Two weeks ago was Jakes 26th birthday. I'm so glad that Troy and Kori are home now and can get on with their careers and get ready for their new addition.
Do I not have the best looking family around? Seriously.. : )

Our little Tinkers

Well we had 3 little tiny Tinkers today. Our Rocky and Tinker have made some cute little babies. We have 2 male and 1 female. Roger assisted in their birth this morning because I was at work.
We are now going to be tied down for the next 8 weeks!!! Yuck..but fun. So if you know anyone who wants a darling Shih Tzu then tell them to look us up. hahaha..
I have pictures of the mom and dad posted too so you can see them. These dogs grow to be about 8-12 lbs is all. Tinker is quite small and Rocky is on the bigger side. They sure make great pets though. They love being cuddled and are definitely lap dogs for sure. They love traveling in the car with us too and going camping. Oh the joys of animals huh? Actually, the next 8 weeks will be kinda fun. I know the grand kids are going to love holding them. So wish us luck!!!

Elaine was at the Tucker reunion

I know I"m a little late posting these pictures of Elaine. She really was at the reunion. She even beat me in the Tucker races. That was only because I fell down though..hahaha..how embarrasing. Anyway, it's always a joy to hang out with my sisterinlaw. She's someone I"ve always looked up to. I love hanging out with her and she's always the hit of our parties. So here ya go Elaine!! Love ya

I love this picture

I have this picture of my 4 adorable grandkids as my wallpaper on my computer. I love it!! It was taken at the Tucker reunion and as you can tell they were all so happy to be there and were having a great time. I want them to know how much I love them. What an honor and privledge it is for me to be their grandma. When I hear them calling me for something it just thrills me to no end.
Brayden is the oldest and he's 6, Daxton is 3 1/2, Makinley is 3 1/2 and Gentry is 16 months old. What a joy they are in my life. I hope they will always enjoy coming to our home and hanging out with grandpa and grandma because we sure love it when they do. Brayden is our basketball boy. He loves shooting hoops in the back yard, Daxton loves fruit snacks, Makinley adores Tink and Rocky and Gentry tries to take everything in and tries to do everything the older kids do. She always has some kind of bruise on her face from falling down. You know how grandparents always say they have the cutest grandkids? Well when I say it it's the truth!!!

Our trip to Island Park with the Wilsons

We took off on Thurs. to have the time of our lives. Our friends Steve and Deb Wilson (friends for the past 22 years) invited us to go to their new cabin at Island Park. We packed all our food, clothes, the 4 wheeler, games etc and off we went. I haven't had such a fun vacation in a long time. I've never laughed so hard as we did the past 4 days.
For starters Steve got pulled over by a highway patrol in Sandy for not having a registration sticker on his big trailer that was pulled the 4 wheelers. Well, while the officer was looking it up on the computer to see if they had actually paid the registration Steve found the sticker in his wallet. So he ended up not getting a ticket.
We got to their cabin on Thurs. evening. It was so beautiful as you can see. There isn't any landscaping yet but that is yet to come. It has a beautiful kitchen and family room and two huge bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. Downstairs the family room is finished then they will eventually have the two other bedrooms and bathrooms done. There is a gorgeous deck off the back where we sat in the evenings just visiting.
Friday morning we headed down to Macks Inn and rented a raft. We floated down the Henrys Fork river. I"ve never seen anything so beautiful. There were so many fish that you could see swimming around. We were lucky enough to have seen a cow moose and her baby just off the side of the river. We got some beautiful pictures of them too. That float took us about 2.5 hours so that afternoon when we got back to the cabin we changed our clothes and loaded up the 4 wheelers. We went on a beautiful ride all around Henrys Lake. We went about 35-40 miles that afternoon. It's amazing the scenery you can see on those rides. You wouldn't believe it even existed if you didn't get off on those side trails.
That evening we went to a real Ho Down just up the street from the cabin. Every Friday and Saturday night they put on a little rodeo and have a dutch oven dinner, entertainment and a country dance. The rodeo consisted of teenagers from all over the United States that come there for a week to learn how to ride horses, saddle them, clean stalls etc. Some learn to barrel race, ride bulls etc. It was so fun to see these kids and it was quite entertaining. After the rodeo we walked over to the dutch oven dinner that they put on. It was steak, chicken, potatoes, salad and rolls and cobler for dessert. While we ate our dinner they had a country singer singing for us. He sang several songs that required audience participation. Well, on one song he was picking people out of the audience and guess who got chosen? Me!! He chose me and two others that were teenagers. He then told us that we were going to be Rappers. He gave us each a hat ( wore mine sideways like a Rapper) and he had some kind of garb necklaces. He had one kid making boom bop noises in a microphone and the other girl had to play a cowbell. And he chose me to be the one who sang the rap song he had made up. Oh my!!! Quite the experience. The rap was about the rodeo, the beans we had for dinner that make you go toot!! It was so funny. I about pee'd my pants I was laughing so hard. After that was all over they had a little time to dance afterwards and that was fun.
Saturday we spent the morning golfing at the Island Park resort golf course. That was awesome since it was only the second time this year for me to golf. We had a blast. After we got home we went on another 4 wheel ride and it was so beautiful. We chose another trail to go on and we were on top of the world. When we got home that evening we decided to go look for some wild life. We had been told that there were some moose sightings so we went to see if we could find them. We did but they were in a different place than we were told. We saw two cow moose and one bull. It's so neat to see these things in real life. I got some awesome pictures from this trip and I'll share a few.
We are so fortunate to have such good friends as Steve and Debbie. We have everything in common. We are the best of friends and always will be. I'm so glad they invited us up and look forward to going next year when we take all of our kids and make it a big family party with all of their kids too. Thanks Steve and Deb!! We love you!!!

Happy 30th Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Rog!!
It's hard to believe we've been married 30 years. The time has flown. We've shared many, many experiences together.
Just a little about ourselves. I met Roger when I was 15 years old. I had seen him in the hall and thought he was really cute. He was a senior and I was a sophomore. One day in school a girl came up to me and asked me what my name was and I asked her why she wanted to know. She just told me that I'd find out. Well in December, it happened to be the day we buried my grandma, he called me on the phone and we talked and he asked me out. I was so afraid to ask my parents because I was only 15. But they said I could go. Rog and I went on our first date to a movie. I guess I was smitten with him. We continued dating but my parents were determined I was going to date others too. Which is a good thing of course at that age. But Roger and I seemed to enjoy being together. He eventually graduated and I continued on in high school. I dated other guys but was still attracted to Rog.
By the time I graduated from high school we knew we were in love and we were determined to be married. I was only 18 but thought I knew it all. We could conquer the world together.
Through the course of our married life we've been blessed with three beautiful children. Jared, Shana and Troy. We've had lots of fun family trips. Camping, fishing experiences galore. Roger has been a wonderful husband and father. He's had to put up with me so he should get a reward for that. Through our married life we have shared the death of both of our parents. What a wonderful support we have been to each other for that. We've had our ups and downs in our married life just as a lot of marriages do. But we have succeeded and come out on top. The odds were against us getting married at such a young age but we've stuck with it and here we are now 30 years later.

I want Roger to know that I am by his side through thick and thin. For better or worse .In sickness and in health. He's a great husband and we are looking forward to retirement and getting out and seeing the world.

Here's to another 30 years honey!!! Happy Anniversary

Love,

ME

Exercising your body

For the most part most of my life I have done some kind of exercising. And would you believe I enjoy it? I rarely have anyone to go with so I just go by myself. I used to have a girlfriend who always wanted to go and I told her to just call me and she can come along. We exercised for quite a while together then she quit due to being a single mom and working. But I decided at that time that I can't count on anyone but myself to make my butt get out there so I just do it alone. I loved when Shana was close by and we could meet at the gym.
I have a membership to Golds Gym and I use that a lot in the winter time but when the weather gets nice I'm an outside person. Lately, I've been going up Provo Canyon and either riding my bike or walking. The trail is so beautiful. It's so invigorating and when I get to Bridal Veil Falls I have to stop and take in the view. It's so beautiful. When I ride my bike I start at the mouth of Provo Canyon and ride up to Vivian Park. It's about a 15 mile round trip ride. When I walk I start at Canyon Glen and walk almost to Vivian Park and it's about a 5 mile walk. I put on my tunes and carry my 2 lb. weights and do exercises with my arms while I'm walking. Sometimes I won't take my Ipod and I just use that time to clear my head and think. I'm so fortunate to have a body that is healthy enough to get to enjoy doing these kinds of things. I love the fact that when I'm done it is so satisfying and that it makes you mentally ready for a new day.