What's been happenin' . . .

Lots of things have been going on since I updated last. This past weekend I spent a couple of days at Cashelle's house and then the next couple Lacey, Amanda, Cody, and Chris came for the deer hunt. I had a great UEA weekend with all my family. I loved it! This first picture is of Cody trying to drive Curt's truck up at deer camp. This was for the rifle hunt. Their camp was on the Face on Scott Miller's property. It sure is nice of him to let them camp there every year. The picture shows the mighty hunters getting ready for a drive. Curt drove us up to the cornpatch. Chris, Traci, Jared, and I did the first drive. Man, I felt like I was on the Biggest Loser or something. I did realize how out of shape I am. It was great exercise--we didn't see a deer, though.
Cody all dressed up in his camo ready to go hunting. Saturday Curt and Chris came down and took him up the canyon for a couple of hours. Lacey, Amanda, Cody, and I went out to Los Amigos for lunch on Saturday. That's always the hunter's widows tradition. Come to think of it, I think I didn't even cook--Fred's fed us one night, McDonald's one morning. (Wow, I'm a great hostess.) We had a lot of fun, though.
What a cutie. Look at those blue eyes.
The next few pictures are from the muzzle loader deer hunt. Their camp was up Manti Canyon. Curt took these pictures with his camera.

More autumn leaves.
More autumn leaves.
Their camp in the background under the trees.
Here they are around the campfire. They really have a great time being together--even if they don't all get their deer!

Another look at the hunting group.

This was yet another hunt--Landon's up on the Boulder. Curt said it was really a rough sucker. Landon was hunting his elk. He got a really nice one. Curt didn't get to see him shoot it. He got it during the week.
Jerry, Logan, and Landon on the Boulder.
The Twitchell party on a flat. Where they went hunting they had to take four-wheelers.
For Curt's birthday on September 11, Dalliam Henningson decorated his closet at the high school. She also got him a bucket full of fresh vegetables.
Curt, A. J. and I getting ready for the BYU game with New Mexico. I had a great time. BYU won--too bad they couldn't keep the streak going.

For UEA weekend I went up to visit Cashelle and her family. She had found a cute idea in a magazine. She tie dyed their shirts orange and then they drew pumpkin faces on the pumpkins with permanent black marker. They looked so cute! Cashelle is such a good mom.
Spencer looking up at Gammy trying to figure out who has him this time. He sure is growing.

Cute little Spencer in his tie-dyed onesie.
Audrey showing off her "scribbly" shirt. She didn't want to wear it. She said it was too scribbly. I thought they were so unique; and the girls had so much fun decorating their own shirts.
Thomas in his shirt.
Madalynn sporting her new pumpkin shirt.

OK, I'm a little slow . . . Zoo Day!

Before I begin my blog, let me just say I thoroughly enjoyed conference today (Sunday). President Monson made me cry when he said to enjoy today. Tomorrow all the little fingerprints on everything will be gone. Curt and I are at that stage in our lives. We were sad when all the kids left home to make families of their own. But we are so grateful now they are all doing so well, enlarging our family and giving us beautiful grandchildren. Also, their partners are now an irreplaceable part of our family. We love each and every one of them (A.J., Amanda, and Landon). We will be blessed with one more grandchild in February. Lacey and Landon will get to try their hand at parenthood. I was just thinking today after President Monson's talk that when Curt and I were starting our family, Grandpa Ben, Grandma Kjar, Grandpa Barney, and Grannie were where we are now. It's sad that this life moves on so quickly. I'm getting teary eyed again, better continue on with my blog.

The weekend after Spencer was born (September 20, I think), all of us except Cashelle, A.J., and Spencer took an outing to the zoo. We had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures from that weekend. This first one is Curt with a sleeping Cody. What a precious picture. OK, I have all these pictures in the reverse order of what I wanted them, but I'm not deleting them to get them in order. One of these days I'll figure out how to get them in the order I want. ANYWAY, here we are AFTER our trip to the zoo on the zoo property enjoying a picnic lunch. By now we were all worn out.
At the entrance to the zoo, the kids were msmerized with the water ball there. They all had to touch it (me included).
Pompa and Madalynn on the train.
Audrey on the train. She and I were sharing this seat.
Everyone else behind me on the train: Amanda, Thomas, Chris, Cody, Landon, and Lacey.

Thomas on the carousel. He chose the zebra to ride on.
Madalynn and Audrey with Amanda on the carousel.
Cody and Chris on the carousel. Cody didn't really like it at first.
One of the zookeepers was walking through the crowd to take this snake back to its home. Madalynn and Audrey got to pet it (yuck!).
This was the highlight of Tommy's trip to the zoo. (Lacey got a better picture of it on her blog.) This is the "Ooo, ooo, ahh, ahh's" (monkeys to Tommy). The one was picking the other one's butt (another yuck). For some odd reason, this was Tommy's most memorable part of the zoo. He kept saying "ooo, ooo, ahh ahh eat poop."

Thomas, quite the handsome little man.
Two sisters (Madalynn and Audrey) hugging one another. Aren't they cute?
Chris and Cody. Cody playing with the water. Chris, what's up with your eyes?
A. J. with our newest grandson, Spencer. Don't I just have the cutest grandkids?

Happy Birthday, Spencer!

Tuesday, September 16, at 12:26 p.m., Cashelle and A.J. had their 4th child, a son, named Spencer Ben. He weighed 7.77 pounds (like A.J. said, that's a pretty lucky number) and was 22 inches long. I know a lot of this is a repeat from Cashelle and A.J.'s blog since most of the pictures were from my camera. I got to take videos of the birth and of A.J. cutting the cord. I can't believe Cashelle only had to push ONE time and his head was out. On the SECOND push, he was here! Unbelievable! This is a sign that the kids and I made to put in the window. Madalynn was SO excited to tape it up. She did that herself. She started coloring all the letters but decided it was taking too much time--we had colored paper anyway. Audrey and Thomas helped, too. I tended them after Spencer was born on Tuesday. I stayed until Thursday, making sure Madalynn and Audrey made it to school on time. We had a great couple of days. Congratulations, to you all! Here is cute little Spencer Ben. He has a lot of curly hair.
Mommy and Spencer getting a chance to see each other. Doesn't Cashelle look great after just giving birth!

Spencer and daddy getting to know each other.
No, Madalynn isn't excited at all!
Audrey and Thomas taking a turn. They aren't excited either (ha, ha).
Thomas trying to hold Spencer. Spencer has his eyes wide open on this one.
What a great day. Okay, Lacey and Landon, your turn is next! Watch for pictures around Valentine's Day!

For the Birthday Boy

The date of 9/11 is happy date in our family. It is my sweetheart's birthday. As you can see from the picture below, he loves his grandkids. Yep, that's all of them! (That is, until Spencer makes his arrival next week to Cashelle and A.J., if all goes as planned. And Lacey and Landon will make another addition in February) Curt, I want you to know how much you are loved. Not just by me--but by everyone that knows you. You are a wonderful husband, son, brother, uncle, cousin, grandfather, and friend (did I cover them all?). Here's to another fun-filled year! Here is Curt doing one of his favorite things--fishing at Ferron.
Another fishing picture in Alaska this summer. He caught a very nice silver salmon.
I need to get busy and update my blog at least once a week. I've decided I kind of have addictive tendencies (how I stayed away from the bad stuff, I'll never know!). Through the summer, I spent HOURS and HOURS on the computer. Now, Cashelle has got me entralled in the "Twilight" book series by Stephanie Meyer. So now I'm spending HOURS and HOURS reading. They are wonderful books! I'm now almost halfway through the last one. When I'm finished, I'm going to start the Harry Potter books. Cashelle and A.J. highly recommend them. I guess if you're doing something addictively worthwhile, it is okay. Isn't it?

Catchin' Up

Okay, it's been a while since I last updated my blog. Since our trip to Alaska the first part of August, we had Cody's first birthday party, school has started again (yuck!), the county fair, and my Snow College roommate reunion. I have included a few pictures from all events, except for school starting. I am beginning my 33rd year of teaching this year. I expect to go five or six more before I'm done. Hopefully, Curt will be able to retire from the school after this year (it's about time--he'll be 67 by then!) but he plans on driving school bus for a few more years more. This first picture is of Cody celebrating his 1st birthday. We had so much fun. After a dinner at our house, we rented the Manti Aquatic Center where we all went swimming afterward. We had a good turnout at the party and even more showed up at the swimming pool. We also had a little baby shower for Cashelle. She is expecting Spencer in a just a couple of more weeks. Here's Cody with his birthday hat on. He's so cute! Thomas is getting so big. He is now two years old and saying about every word you ask him to say. He is so cute, too!
Audrey and Madalynn at Cody's party. Audrey starts preschool this year and Madalynn has graduated to the 1st grade! My grandkids are growing up way too fast!
Cody and his mom and dad.
Grandma Kjar and Curt at the party.

Grandma Duncan celebrating Cody's birthday.
Cody could hardly wait to get his hands on his chocolate cake covered with gummy worms!
This is a painting by Gus. He had taken an awesome picture of Grandpa Ben and decided to paint one from it. He received the sweepstakes at the county fair. He did such a great job.
A close up of Grandpa Ben's painting. Isn't it awesome!
On Saturday, August 30, my roommates from Snow College and I had a little reunion (34 years after we had gone to Snow together). From left to right: me, Mardene, Virginia, Bev (behind the sign), Charlotte, Juanita, and Connie. We missed Leila and Dianne. Hopefully they will come next time. We are planning to get together again in the spring. We picked on a student passerby to take our photo. Mardene told her we were new freshmen coming in this year.

Here we are at Polly's Brain Freeze. We had a great time reminiscing, laughing, showing off pictures, etc. Back from left to right: me, Virginia, Bev, Mardene and Juanita. Front left to right: Connie and Charlotte.
Here we are gathered around the table at Polly's Brain Freeze. Next time we get together, we are planning on going to St. George. Go Snow College Badgers!