Along the path...

On this day we choose to honor our fathers, I want to say thank you for believing in me. Thank you for your love and guidance. Thank you for your patience. May you have a wonderful Father's Day! Love you!! Here are some quotes and poems about dads that I wanted to share. They reminded me of you. My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." ~Harmon Killebrew A father carries pictures where his money used to be. ~Author Unknown The greatest gift I ever had; Came from God; I call him Dad!~Author Unknown Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope. ~Bill Cosby "Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad." -- Anne Geddes What Makes a Dad God took the strength of a mountain, The majesty of a tree, The warmth of a summer sun, ...

Happy Birthday, Dad! Thanks for your thoughtful and loving ways. I appreciate all you've taught me and am grateful you watch out for me. Hope you have ea fabulous birthday! Love you so much!!!

A day at the zoo. Beautiful weather. Fabulous company. Cooperative animals. Congrats on retiring, Mom! What a fun way to spend Labor Day! (Missed you much, Adam, Renee, AJ and EL.)

Thanks for being such wonderful parents. May you have the best year of marriage yet and many more to come. Love you! Happy Anniversary!!!

I looked up my dad's name online to see what it meant, but none of the websites recognized it. Many alternatives were offered such as Randall, Randell, Randolf, Ronald and Randulfr--but no Rondall's. I think that's because he's one of a kind, a stellar guy and a real #1 dad. This name and meaning did come up and it fits him pretty well: Ron - Advisor To The King Gender: Male Origin: English Means "song, joy" in Hebrew. Happy birthday, Dad! Love your favorite older daughter (What do you mean "who"?)

(Images taken on vacation in Colorado - October 2009)

On Saturday we hiked Donut Falls in Little Cottonwood Canyon--starting at the Spruces campground. My compliments to Adam and Renee's camera for capturing the colors so well--and to the lady who offered to snap us all together. It was a beautiful hike that I would recommend to anyone. Be aware though that there are streams and waterfalls; they tend to draw the kids. We saw deer and chipmunks and snakes and wildflowers and other hikers and castles (big rocks that RD stood on). Here we are at the end of the trail. My particularly saucy do is compliments to the niece I'd had on my shoulders part of the way. Thanks, EL!

Last Saturday, before the sudden cold snap, we took a family to the Hogle Zoo. The weather was perfect--not too hot, not too cold. The animals were out and about. The zoo wasn't too crowded, and we got to see them feed a penguin fish. RD loved the lizard his dad told him was a dinosaur. IC said she liked the zebras the best. In this picture, AL was a little nervous at first when the giraffe started to lower and tried to pull herself up the pole until she realized that the animal would rise up and sink down. Then, she was fine. She had a ball going around in circles and waving at everyone as we passed. The rest of my nieces and nephews who were old enough to care about riding on a carousel had ridden the turn before. What a fun day! Becca thanks for sharing this picture!

Hope you have the best birthday ever! Love you!

I don't cook much any more. Leftovers get really tiring and it's not much fun cooking for one. Mom's birthday was this past weekend and I offered to make Sunday dinner so she wouldn't have to cook for all of us. Since my ward starts at 12:30, it had to be something really quick that could come together from about 4-5 or a crockpot meal. I opted for the later. About 10 am, I loaded my large crockpot with 2 lbs of baby carrots, brown rice for about 13 people, 2 cans of cricken broth, plus some chicken boullion for added flavor, about 20-25 chicken tenders, and a can of cream of mushroom and a can of cream of chicken soup. For seasoning, I had hoped to use a dry onion soup mix on top. No luck. None in the cupboard. Instead I opted for celery seed, rosemary, dehydrated onion, parsley, and pepper. I'm trying to remember because I thought it turned out pretty well and might want to recreate it later. After church, I was a little worried there wasn't enough liquid in w...

After nearly 32 years as an employee of American Fork City, Dad is retiring. He was recently featured in an article in the American Fork Citizen and the Daily Herald . You can read it here . I remember some of the dirty movies he brought home to watch as part of the job--camera tours of the sewer lines. Ewwww! (Luckily those movies were usually prior to the line being used.) Way to go Dad! We are so proud of you and love you much!

My dad is retiring at the end of this month and I have been racking my brain to come up with a cool retirement gift. He's already got his own set of Mardi Gras beads. LOL Any suggestions?

Tonight, the majority of my family met at Gardner Village for dinner at Archibald's and then planned to wander the Village. It's Witchapalooza and witching time at the Village. By the time we finished dinner, most of the shops were closing. We looked around a bit and snapped a few pictures. I'll post them another time. The witches and pumpkins and Halloween decor was frightfully fun, but I don't think I've had such poor customer service at a restaurant before. I wish I could say that the restaurant was packed. Maybe there were extenuating circumstances we weren't aware of. Maybe it was an off night for them. Maybe I'm just grouchy. Birthdays sometimes do that. Guess I'd better see the Witch Doctor or something to get it straightened out. The company was grand: mom and dad; Adam, Renee, AJ, and EL; Nathan, Bekah, RD, and AM, and me. Their service gave us a lot of time to sit and visit. RD and AJ were darling. Both were in very good moods. RD had on hi...