More updates on what we have been doing - this time with the emphasis on my sweet. One of the most amazing things she did recently is tame this great wheat bread recipe from Andrea. She takes it from the whole wheat grain to the wonderfully delicious product you see here. It is certain that man does not live by bread alone, but if he had to, this is the bread he would want.

She has also been doing a bunch of sewing. This is one of the many great talents she has. She made one of these bags for each of our daughters, including the ones we acquired through marriage, for Christmas. So the other day she grew tired of what she was sewing and whipped this little beauty out in virtually no time. What a marvel she is!

And, as many of you know, one of the annual marvels are these personalized calendars she creates each year, seven in all. Here is February of the one she made for us. It is beautiful - mainly because she is in all the pictures.

Coming Soon

Another of my recent projects has been helping my mother prepare a transcription of my father's missionary journal for publication. Here is a picture that will no doubt be included in the finished product. Those appearing here, from right to left, are: Elder HG Hall, Hubert ??, Eustace King, Elder Clark. The note on the back of the photo indicates that these two were "my best scouts".

Just as a teaser, here are some quotes from the journal, which, depending upon my success in formatting it well, may be around 100 typewritten pages. A few caveats: (1) the spelling rivals James' in creativity; (2) editorial comments [in brackets] are from my mom, as she was pretty diligent in maintaining the flavor of the original entries, which, by the way, are actually in very good penmanship - a trait that did not take with his 3rd son; (3) editorial comments in {this kind of bracket} are mine; (4) this is not your father's mission -- it's your grandfather's (or great-grandfather's as the case may be) -- to quote a wise historian: "The past is an interesting place, they do things differently there." Please enjoy.

Mon. Sept. 13, 1948
Mom brot {see what I mean?} Raona & I to Salt Lake. Raona started today at the Bishop Office building {Presiding Bishop's Office, where she worked while he was on his mission} as a filing clerk & typist. I registered at the mission home, where I renewed acquaintences with Sid Gilbert, Ross Hogan, Dave Bishop, Russel Hunt, & Boyd Rollins. I also made many acquaintences. Ross & I were given Room 316 in the Carlton Hotel with two other Elders.
We (the missionaries) attended classes all day. Then I went out to Richards’ [I think he means his uncle Richard Heaton] uncle Burnell was there. Mark & June & I took the station wagon, then went out to see Raona who was staying at her aunt Nell’s.
I returned to the hotel and studied the assignment which included memorizing the books of the Old Testament.

Tues. Sept. 14, 1948
I spent the biggest part of the day in the Temple. I walked with Raona, after work, to her bus. I ate my luncheon & supper at the Temple cafeteria. I also registered for the Draft at the Selective Service Board today. I studied the bible and attended an evening class in song leading.

Wed. Sept. 15, 1948
This morning I awoke early & studied, then went to the various classes of the day. I took Elders Hogan, Hunt & Gilbert up to the 4th floor of the [B]ishop’s off. bldg. to meet Raona. At 5:00 I went with her to catch her bus.
A health class was given in the evening.

Thurs. Sept. 16, 1948
The 373 missionaries in the home had their pictures taken today. Bishop Jos. L. Wirthlin gave a very good account of the church’s financial status & the part played by tithing, offerings, business’, Welfare etc. in the classes.
I met Raona, Reva & Nina for Lunch. Then went to Nina’s apt. for supper. Reva & Raona walked with me back to the hotel.

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Tues. Sept. 21, 1948
I went over to the Church offices this morning for my setting apart. I was set apart by Henry D. Moyle & was given a wonderful blessing. It told of my talents, ambitions, leadership activities and the promises in store for me. I was very pleased. I was able to talk with apostle Moyle for a short time after my setting apart, personally.
Charley & I went to the show “Luxury Liner”, with Reva & Raona. Charles stayed with me at my hotel room again.
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Sat. Sept. 25, 1948
I awoke coming into Cincinnati. We changed to a chair car for the remainder of the trip. Just out of Cincinnati a man four seats behind me died of a heart attack. I got into a discussion about two hours out of Roanoke, with a bible student. I did quite well, using common sense to disprove his thots and teachings. Upon arriving at Roanoke I met and renewed an old acquaintance with Jim Middleton whom I went to BAC {Branch Agricultural College - this college in Cedar City was, at the time, affiliated with USU, but is now Southern Utah University I think}. He and some other elders took Ross, Elders Call & Christensen and I out to Back Creek Branch to a party for an Elder Olsen who was leaving that Branch. After the party we went [to] Guy Ferguson’s home to sleep. As the butt of a joke, I preached the gospel to Guy until I found out he was already a very good Mormon.
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Sun. Feb. 6, 1949
Today I am 21 years of age. 5' 8" tall and weigh 158#. We had an exceptionally good Sunday school today and a fine nite meeting. Elder Baker & I ate over to Dewey and Nita’s. I wrote a quite a number of letters but didn’t any where near catch up. Elder Baker and I realized an answer to prayers as Asheal accepted the Branch clerk job.

Christmas Video 2010

Here it is . . . . hot off the press, or the laptop . . . . or whatever. This is a joint effort project where my sweet picked some of the best Christmas photos and I put them to music which you will all recognize from your earlier years. Hope you enjoy it.

Just Getting Caught Up On Christmas

We are so grateful for all of the wonderful gifts we received at Christmas, but I thought I would highlight a couple. This first is a quilt from the master quilter in Idaho - Lisa. It is so beautiful.

The other is a marvelous nativity scene from Germany, from all of our children. Words cannot describe how grateful we are for this very thoughtful gift. The idea is that when you light the three candles the rising heat moves the paddles and the whole thing turns. We love it. Fortunately we had Jeff & Andy here to turn the paddles just right so that it worked.

Cute Girl, Beautiful Curls

More old draft post clean-ups: A couple of years ago (March 1, 2009) there was a post over on another blog about a little boy who cut off his little sister's pony tail. At the time I thought it would be fun to post a few photos of the victim.

And in the meantime, we have acquired another photo . . . . see any resemblances?

Old Stumpy

So here is one of the things that have been taking up my time: the removal of the stump from the palm tree. It has been loads of fun and was accomplished (to date) without the usual effusion of blood. I don't know what comes next. We are thinking of putting in some kind of arbor with a flowering vine on it, and moving the bench from the patio over. But as always, one thing leads to another and we really ought to replace the fence first . . . . and figure out whether we want to pull up the honeysuckle bush, etc. etc. So stay tuned - or give us your ideas.

Orchard House

I guess this is another one we started but didn't finish from our trip to the Boston area last Spring.

On Wednesday Rebecca and I had the chance to go and see the Orchard House where Louisa Mae Alcott lived and where she wrote Little Women. The furnishings inside were from the Alcott family.

The Trek

Another draft post from last year. We were privileged to be a part of a handcart trek our Stake sponsored for our youth this last Summer. It was very well done and we were honored to be a part of it, doing vignettes along the trail. I got to be B. H. Roberts (one of my heroes) and Francis Webster. I loved it. One of the sisters portrayed by my sweet eternal companion was a relative of hers that survived the Martin handcart tribulations. Here are some of the photos from our experience last Summer:

Five of the young men from our ward who went. These are all great young men, headed in the right direction.

The Trek took place near this location at around 8,000 feet above sea level.

This is the parking lot at Tragedy Spring where we gathered for a briefing on the Mormon-related history of the area.

These two photos are from the stump I stood on to deliver my B.H. Roberts vignette. The one above is looking to the west, where just beyond the trees they encountered wild Indians. The one below is looking to the east at the uphill climb they had right at the start of the Trek. By the time they got to my point they were ready for a break.

The handcart parking lot in camp.

This is a shot of the youngest member of our ward to participate. He had just turned 12, but was never far from the front of the chow line.

Uncle Peter's campsite. Notice the handcart wheels there by the road. They had broken and he was fixing them.

Our campsite on the other side of the road from Uncle Peter. This is pretty much the same kind of campsite all of the youth & their leaders had in the little meadow down the road, but we were very grateful to have the amenities of Uncle Peter (e.g. his jet stove) in the cold mornings when a cup of hot cocoa was just the thing.

Preparations to leave the second day. They hiked into this area the first day, did a loop the second day, coming back here; and hiked out on a different road on the third day. This would have been a significant hike, pulling loaded handcarts, at any elevation, but at 8,000 ft. it was a real challenge.

One of our bishops on his horse . . . . which came in handy later in this day.

The Harrisons, some great friends of ours, with their "family" of youth.

These two photos give you an idea of how the youth were dressed. I think they did a good job of staying in character - although I suppose all those feathers were a bit over the top.

In the photo below you can see one of the 5 gallon buckets each youth brought. They were told what to bring and it all had to fit in the bucket.

This photo is of our "Pacific Islander" family. The pink sign reads "forever strong" in Samoan (I think). The parents of this "family" are part of a great family in our stake.

This is the handcart parking lot at the top of "the hill" - where just before noon on the second day all of the young men were taken off and the young women & their leaders pulled the carts up this incredibly steep & rocky hill. It was pretty intense. I was fortunate to be able to be one of the "angels" who stepped out and helped push and pull the carts up the last and steepest incline.

And after lunch they all got to play a variety of games, including archery, crafts, etc.

This is a photo of our wonderful leader, Sister Takahashi, another one of my heroes.

Sacramento Train Museum

A visit to the train museum is always a good idea. There are big trains

Little trains
But they save the best for last.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Okay, this may seem rather random, but we have not posted to this blog for a long, long, long time. Not that we lack for things to post about, but we have been distracted by other things. So as I began to look back over the draft posts, I found a bunch that I started but never finished. So I intend to publish a bunch of posts over the next week or so to clean out old drafts and to show briefs on some of what we have been up to.

These pictures are from our trip to AZ last October. We had so much fun, and now that it is cold and dark in most of the rest of the country, I thought it might be nice to show some sunny and warm (and dry!) pictures.

This is a plant in the vacant lot next to the Hogges in AZ. They all said it was not dead, but would get green and bloom . . . . . no, it was dead.

A testimony that cactus can be beautiful. Personally, I think most forms of cactus are very beautiful. We have some Aloe Vera in our yard that grows like a weed and gets gorgeous flowers on it every year.

Isn't this beautiful?

And this one reminds me of a Christmas tree. I can just imagine in all lit up.

Fairy Tale Town

One of our favorite places to go is Fairy Tale Town. The day we went was one of the few dry days we had and it was quite a nice day.

Crooked Mile
All the slides were a hit

The speed we went through Fairy Tale Town

Sherwood Forest

We just had a great time.