Playing Catchup - January 2010

January 2: Justin & Steph's Open House: This was held at our home, which was a little stressful, but we were so pleased with how everything turned out. Since it was Christmastime, I chose to keep the Christmas theme. We had a huge turnout of friends and family to celebrate with Justin and Steph.

Emily enjoying some treats

Some of you already know that one of my favorite things was the photo tree we did. I purchased a new tree, and Caitlin helped me pick out all the new decorations, but it was Caitlin and my neice, Christianne, who did the actual tedious decorating of the tree. Pictures just don't do it justice - it really was beautiful!! I liked it so well, I will most likely keep the photo theme and put family photos on the tree for next Christmas.

We had a great turnout, and there were people everywhere, from the kitchen........

Caitlin's friends Kyle & Talise, and Caitlin

to the family room......

Rochelle Tuttle, Christianne Bennett, Becky Whittle

and up the stairs.........

Steph's sisters Jennifer & Kim, and friends

Justin and Steph

There are just too many names to mention, but thank you again to ALL of you who did so much to help make the evening so wonderful!

January: Trip to visit Grandpa and Grandma Danes

Grandpa & Grandma at our favorite restaurant in Kuna - El Gallo Giro

Playing Catch Up - December

It's been 4 months since I've made a blog post. I had to think twice about what my password was to even sign in! We've had such wonderful news happening in our family the past few months that I decided I better catch up a little and at least mention them and post a few pictures for the record.

December 19: Justin and Stephanie get married (guess I can take the ticker off the blog now) :)

Coming out of the Mesa Temple

Proof we were all there! All of our children (and spouses) were able to be there except for Jordan (in Mexico), and Andrew, and Starrie, since Starrie was due with Jocelynn about a week later.

Emily carrying the train

Groomsmen, bridesmaids, Emily, & Alyssa

The reception was held in Stephanie's home and backyard - everything was absolutely gorgeous. Her dad made homemade Mexican food (yum!). Perfect December Arizona weather (73 degrees) for a perfect day!

Cutting the cake

Emily all tired out

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Christmas 2009:

We are so blessed to live close to Bill and Karen! One night we met them in Salt Lake City, enjoyed dinner together, then went to see a gingerbread house display. There was also a nativity display and a tree display there. So pretty!

Bill and Karen at the Christmas display

I can't believe it, but this is about the only picture we took on Christmas day!!

Kathy and Emily sporting the new aprons that Caitlin made for us!!

December 28: We became grandparents again!! Beautiful Jocelynn Autumn Whittle was born to Andrew and Starrie, at 10:25 a.m. Weighing in at 7lbs 12oz, 19 inches long.

Jocelynn and her Daddy

Aunt Emily and Jocelynn

Grandpa Whittle & Jocelynn

Jocelynn's little family

We feel so blessed to live close by and be able to enjoy Jocelynn as often as we do. It's a joy to watch her grow, smiling all the time now, and starting to interact with people. I was sick for over a week and had to stay away from her and not hold her - not fun!!! Dave and I love being grandparents!

Tribute to My Son

This past Thursday was Justin's 24th birthday. Emily and I called him in the early morning and sang Happy Birthday to him, and I enjoyed some one-on-one time with him at Red Robin in the late afternoon. We held a family party on Friday evening, with homemade pizza, rootbeer, carrot cake, and the the BYU football game.

I'm not sure why this birthday brought so much reflection for me. My sweet little boy is all grown up. How well I remember the day I held him in my arms for the very first time. Time. Where does it go? How quickly it passes. Memories of his childhood and our time together flood my mind, and my heart is full of joy at the love I feel for my Justin. Not being too skillfull at words and expressing myself, I found a poem that echoes some of the things I feel in my heart:

TRIBUTE TO MY SON

a poem by Angel Marie Schmidt

A son is born

Life goes on

No one knows

Just when it happens

But one day

A miracle happens

The child has changed

The child is no longer

A man has taken his place

All grown up

Ideas have changed

Responsibility comes easily

Parents sit back and admire

The person he has become

Apron strings cut long ago

You cannot help but wonder

Will you always feel

The way you do now?

Prouder than anyone

Of whom he has become

Admiration beyond imagination

A parent's love

Enduring all else

Wanting to be needed

Knowing when to stand aside

A fate hard to accomplish

Needing to be wanted

As if the man has not emerged

The life he lives

Has room enough for all

The thoughtfulness in his heart

His caring ways

New hobbies he shares

With friends old and new

The man shines through

My son, my child

You are a man, this is true

To me you will always be

That child in my arms

Whom I loved from the start

Happy Birthday, Justin. I love you!

Reaching the Top!

If any of you have lived in or ever visited Utah, you've probably heard of Mount Timpanogos. It's a little northeast of our home and is the 2nd tallest mountain in Utah. Last Friday, for the 2nd time together (last one was in 2001), Justin and I set out to hike this majestic masterpiece.

Mount Timpanogos

We got an early start, hitting the trail around 6:15 a.m. Here's the gorgeous view behind us as we started our hike:

There are 2 trails up the back of Mt. Timpanogos, the Timpooneke Trail (American Fork), and the Aspen Grove trail (Provo). Since we had tried the Aspen Grove side about 10 years ago and knew it was a killer hike (I was literally on my hands and knees at one point), we chose the Timpooneke Trail we had hiked in 2001.

It's an 18-mile hike round trip, (some people say 15, but I think 18 seems more accurate!) and the trail takes you up the back of the mountain, a low-key gradual climb in some places. We really made some record time (for us), getting to the "saddle" before 10:00! A short time before the saddle is where the trail starts to get a little difficult.

At the "saddle" with Utah Lake in the background

Here's a look at the trail ahead of us from where we're standing at the saddle. If you look really close, you can see a dot at the top of the mountain - it's a tiny shack on the summit.

Shack is on the far right/top of mountain

Justin had been leading the way the entire hike, shortly after leaving the saddle, we decided to have me go in front for a little while - NOT a good idea! At this point on the mountain, in many places there's not much of a trail. I missed where the "trail" veered off and continued straight until I realized I was NOT on any kind of trail and the ground beneath me was giving way right and left. I was too far to try and go back to the "trail", and I knew if I freaked out, I'd definitely not make it, so I tried to keep my cool and go upwards.

You can't see very well, but there wasn't much to grab onto, and I was climbing on loose sand and rocks.

If you look close you can see me towards the left of the picture with a fairly steep drop beneath me and the sand falling from under my shoes. PRETTY SCARY! Justin was a little ways behind me, so after snapping a couple of pictures for posterity, he went back and traveled the trail to come out above, encourage me, and give me a hand. I think he led the entire rest of the hike!

As we headed up the more difficult part of the hike towards the summit, this next picture was in Justin's view:

Pretty cool, huh? What's even more cool is how they can travel around on narrow ledges like the picture below. If you look close, you'll see all three of them right on the edge.

Three Billy Goats - obviously no acrophobia here!

We reached the summit just before 11:00 - pretty good timing!

Wow! Cell phone coverage on the summit!

A nice couple had brought a sign up with them that said Mount Timpanogos, 11,749 feet, August 29, 2008. They were sharing their sign, so we'd thought we'd get a pic with it too.

We made it!
Mount Timpanogos - 11,749 feet

There's not a whole lot of room up at the summit, and there were 8-10 people up there with us. We took some pictures, rested, ate some lunch, and of course signed the log book in the shack as evidence that we were there!

Some people wonder why I wanted to do this hike again. Several reasons: there's a real sense of accomplishment finish something of this magnitude - I guess you could say a natural high. I love spending one on one time with my children doing something we both enjoy, great memories together. The magnificent views from the summit can't be experienced anywhere but.... at the top:

The pictures don't do justice. You'll just have to come do the hike and see for yourself! After about an hour, we started back down the mountain. I thought the hike down would go much quicker. Guess I wasn't figuring in how tired and sore we would be towards the end. It took us almost as much time to get down as it did to get up! And we were definitely sore, especially our feet! But not too sore to have thoroughly enjoyed the entire day. We had perfect weather, perfect company, perfect scenery. Thanks, Justin, for spending your day with me. It was awesome!

Mother/Son Mount Timp Hike - August 29, 2008