Thanksgiving 2009

Randy and His Thanksgiving Feast



Savannah and Grandpa Randy


John and Kathy Enjoying Their Feast

We had a great Thanksgiving. But big feasts do not exactly go with my digestive system. There was so much food and it was all very good. But I could only eat one helping and couldn't even eat any pie afterwards. Charlies makes a good turkey and Tammy makes good stuffing yams. Randy did a lot of the grunt work in the kitchen. He kept everything in order, cleaned up and did most of the dishes. I enjoyed having family over and the great food, but Thanksgiving is kind of wasted on me because I just can't eat all that food!


Tammy's Yams: Yummy

I Am Thankful....

This Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for my health, my security and my family. I have many blessings. I often do not appreciate all that I have. I have a tendency to look at negative other than positive things.

I am thankful that I was raised by loving parents. We didn't have much in the way of material things but we had love and many happy times together. My parents taught me great values and hard work.

I am also thankful for my children. All of them are very successful and responsible people. I could not have asked for better children. I am thankful for my Alex and the hard work and all of the talents he gave us while he was alive. I miss him very much. He was always there for me even though we had our trials. His life was way too short. But he left us with many wonderful memories and things to treasure. He left me with security and I am sorry he had to go through so much only to lose it by an untimely death.

I am thankful for Randy, my husband. He is very special. His life was so much different than mine and I am learning to have understanding of those people who are not just like we are. I am sorry he has so much physical pain to live with every day. He has had pain most of his life. He keeps plugging on and helping me to have a life worth living. I wish I could do more to help him but like it was with my mother, I just can't take all his pain away. Would that I could.

I have a nice warm home, a loving family, food to eat, a nice warm bed, a shower, clothes to wear and fairly good health. There are many in this world who do not enjoy these things. I am truly blessed.

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween at Matt's house. He really goes all out. He has fog machines, bubble machines, graveyards, witches, ghouls, bats, you name it. And great Halloween sound effects and music too. He even dressed his dogs up ant took them Trick or Treating! Randy even dyed his hair green for the occassion!!

Zion's Park

The Great White Throne

We enjoyed a week at Zion's National Park. The park is so beautiful. We took a ride on the shuttle and also ate at the restaurant at the Zion Lodge. We saw a 3-D movie and also went to a movie in Hurricane Utah. We also went to a Chinese buffet with Tammy and Charlie who were in St. George to see a production at the Tuachan Theater. The weather was beautiful at first but a cold front came in later in the week and the wind was miserable.

We really enjoyed our trailer and nice and warm furnace we have in it. We had electricity in the park but no water or sewer. We had to fill up with water at the entrance and we ran out because I needed to wash my hair and take a shower. (I don't like to go out with flat hair) So we had to unhook everything and go fill up again. We were right by a water faucet but the park manager would not even let us hook up a hose and fill up even though it would have taken only 10 minutes or less. Because Randy has a lot of arthritis pain, I think we had better find a park in the future with full hookups because of the work he has to go to. In the government parks in Timpanogos we can come home a couple of times a week so that we can shower at home so this is OK when we camp that way. But when we can't come home for a long time, we really need full hookups. I guess we should have gotten a motorhome to make it easier on Randy. But motorhomes are so expensive unless you get a really old one or buy a really small one.

We would like to winter in a warm place but we would have to leave before the snow flies because if we leave later, the weather is too unpredictable and we might get caught in a bad storm and that would not be good with a trailer. Anyway, it is better just camp close by as it is cheaper as the gas mileage is really bad with the Suburban and trailer. The Suburban isn't too bad when not pulling the trailer.

We met some nice folks in Zion. One couple from Canada who were originally from New Zealand. They were very friendly. It seems folks from other countries are much friendlier than our fellow Americans. We did have a good time despite a few setbacks.