Look Out Bean Town! We Are Coming Your Way!

Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge Mass. Mount Auburn contains 175 acres of land and more than 10 miles of roads and paths. 94,000 people are buried here. This view shows the Mary Baker Eddy Monument in the center.

How on earth am I going to cover all this ground in one day?

Childs Family Reunion

In June Steven's family had their annual "family reunion" at Lake Powell. It was the perfect weekend as it was the same time they had planned to have the open house reception for Danny and Heidi.

When I say family........I mean FAMILY! What a wonderful, loving and large family. Steven comes from a family of ten children and being from Utah..... you know that means we are probably mormons!

Hmmmm, but then you all knew that. Mormons love big families and we really do care for and love one another.

I, on the other hand am a convert to the church and have only one brother. Surprisingly........I have really enjoyed getting to know each and everyone of his family members and I have now been to a couple of the big family occasions and am starting to feel pretty comfortable around them.





This is sweet baby Sophie........Steven's only grandbaby presently, but grandbaby #2 should be arriving in September.

Sophie was really enjoying this sucker and was loving being all messy and sticky!

The kids loved playing in the water on this big raft.

Uncle Mike would pull them all around on it. This is the famous Lone Rock in the background...

hence........... Lone Rock Beach.

Mike...........a big kid still himself! It was a great time and I would say a pretty successful family gathering.

My Adorable Grandbabies!

Last week it was the invasion of the Hunter kids in Vegas! Ivy and Cody dropped all five little darlins off at Grandma and Grandpa's and Aunt Kenzies for several days and then off they went to spend a few nights at the Vdara Hotel on the strip! What a vacation for sure!

Then on Monday both girls and all six little sweeties came to Zion to spend the night!

I think we did pretty good as we only misplaced two of them for five minutes! Holy Cow!

"Let us love at all times." And let us especially be there for our friends, families and neighbors during times of adversity......

"As we extend our hands and hearts toward others in Christlike love, something wonderful happens to us. Our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger. We become happier, more peaceful, and more receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit."

Sometimes it is hard to love.......I work at it everyday!

I'm sure there are times when it is hard to love me!

I am a work in progress.......just like each and everyone of us!

"As I Have Loved You"

Love and service are what distinguish us as disciples of Christ.

Jesus wanted the Twelve-and He wants each of us-to learn that humility and service are worthy characteristics we should seek to obtain. He taught that no one is too important to serve others.

Just Another Thousand-Ton Rockfall in Zion

This is the photo from our latest rock slide that occured on Saturday. Highway 9 was closed for several hours to traffic.


The Park Service posted this image Saturday of the ZNP road crew cleaning up a giant rockfall just east of Canyon Junction. Thankfully, this kind of stuff typically occurs overnight, when the roads are empty. Nightly rockfall is typically small – watermelon and wheelbarrow-sized boulders – but sometimes, as above, a significant piece of sandstone crashes down, smashing to thousands of bits and blocking the road for quite a while. When you realize just how much rock and rubble falls onto Zion’s roads, it’s sort of amazing to realize there has never been a catastrophic, car-crushing accident via rockfall (at least to my knowledge).

Brooke's "Couture" Burp Cloths

This past week I attended a baby shower for my friend Kristen who is having her first child!

How exciting is that? She is adorable and I know she is going to be a wonderful mommy.


Babies are always spitting up, so let them spit up in style with adorable burp cloths.

I love giving my home made baby burp cloths. I love home made gifts and they are just so fun to make. In her sweet thank you note that came in the mail today I thought it was super sweet that she acknowledged the fact that I spent several precious hours thinking of her!

If anyone is interested in making them......here is what you will need.

I use 100% cotton Gerber premium 6-ply diapers with absorbent padding that measure approx. 12in x 18in. (the best ones Gerber makes). I find them at Target.

Wash the diapers before you sew with them....there may be some shrinkage!

Then you buy whatever cute flannel fabric you want and cut your pieces 5" x 19".

Place this piece directly in the center of the diaper folding under the top and bottom edges and sew down both sides and across the tops. Then do the same with the adorable ribbon that you have purchased to match.

A little secret here......always make sure your bobbin thread is white so the bottom side of the diaper looks nice and neat. No colored scarey thread here!

Missing You

A father will always be his daughter's first love.
The man by whom all others will be measured against.

This past couple of weeks have been tough, as I have relived the life and loss of my father.

Between fathers day and my fathers passing eleven years ago on June 30th, it has been a tough few weeks.

Time does heal, we all move on and we move forward .....we learn to live with our loss. But some days, months or years are just tougher on us emotionally. I don't know why nor do I care to understand it. It just is!

I miss my daddy!

There are so many family gatherings and special events that I so wish he were
here for and I feel badly for my sweet grandchildren who did not
get the opportunity to know him.

We were robbed...... robbed by lung cancer, caused from smoking! I know, that is rather harsh but let's face it.....it's the truth!

My father is a United States Marine......

He is a Korean War Veteran.
He faithfully served his country.
He was a wonderful and loving father!

Between Sept.17th and Oct.7th 1950 he participated in the
Capture and Securing of Seoul, Korea

Between Oct. 28th and Dec. 11th 1950
he participated in the Wonsan-Hungnam-Chosin Campaign
in North Korea.

From 15 Dec 1950 to September 10 1951
he participated against enemy forces in
South and Central Korea.

"I don't think we should ever apologize for our tears."

"Semper Fi" daddy..........

Change..........Past, Present and Future

"Living in the past is like visiting and re-visiting history hoping that the past can alter the present, or reminiscing on "what might have been, or chewing on plain, old fashion nostalgia."

You cannot rewrite history, you can only learn from it, and move on.

1. "Create your future from your future not your past." Werner Erhard.

2. "My life is not just about the past." Jeanette Walls

3. "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana

4. "Learn from the past, look to the future, but live in the present." Petra Nemcova

5. "I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past." Patrick Henry

6. "We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsiblity of our future." George Berrnard Shaw

7. "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past are certain to miss the future." John F. Kennedy

8. "I like what the future holds. I don't like thinking about the past." John Cale

9. "The past cannot be changed the future is yet in your power." Mary Pickford

10. "Forgiveness is letting go of the past." Gerald Jampolsky

The Past
by Leslie Rentas


The past holds many secrets
better left untold . . .
For to bring them to the present
its bitterness unfolds . . .

The memories we cherish
may be tarnished by its gloom . . .
Its darkness and its sorrow
is to what we are doomed . . .

There is no need relive the past
for to do so is in vain . . .
Yesterday's gone, today is here
why relive the pain . . .

Forget the past as you turn away
and wish it a farewell . . .
For no longer in the past
will your present dwell . . .