September 7th through September 13th

September 7^th through September 13^th:  Monday we left

early to drive to southern Utah to spend the day and night with our dear friends, Tom and Merritt Stites.  They just finished building a house outside of Torrey and Capitol Reef National Park.  Wow, what a beautiful place. 

Tom and Merritt's new home.

Tom and Merritt's new home.

It has one upstairs bedroom and bath and a huge loft.

They bought property about 20 years ago and for most of those years stayed in a one room cabin they built on a deck, but they have just finished a wonderful home. 

This is the one room cabin they stayed in for many years.

Tom is an architect and their home sits just above the pinion pines and they have an amazing view of the red-rock hills.  Their view is spectacular and the peace and quiet is heavenly.  We even got to take a little hike through Capitol Reef.  

We drove into Capitol Reef National Park.  I will let the pictures do the talking.

Merritt, Mom and Tom.  We did go for a short hike.

Two old people still in love.

Thanks, Tom and Merritt for a wonderful getaway.  We did not want to come home.  

Merritt and Tom cleaning up after lunch.

This is the view from our bedroom upstairs.  It is breathtaking.

Also part of our view.

Sunrise from our bedroom.

Sunrise from the deck.

Just outside of Richfield on the way home.

Tuesday we had breakfast with Tom and Merritt and then headed home.  It is about a four hour drive and we got home in time for me to get most of the shower grouted.  We then had another webinar on the temple.  Wednesday I got the grouting finished and the vanity set.   Charlotte painted the walls while we were in Torrey.  I got the new towel bars hung and new electrical switches and plates installed. Chris, Charlotte and Kate went to lunch with Chris' Aunt Deanie and her two daughters and granddaughter.

Tawna, Aunt Deanie and Karrie.  Tawna and Karrie are Chris' cousins.

Karrie and her daughter Brooke.

Vanity installed and grouting complete.

Thursday the plumber came and hooked everything up.  I cleaned the tile and said done.  We went shopping for our weekend in Lava Hot Springs with all the kids and grandkids.  I went and picked up Ginny and Sam at the airport and so everyone is ready for a short family reunion.  

The plumber is finished.

Tile cleaned and ready for use.

Friday we did the last of the grocery shopping and headed north.  Lava is only 2 hours away.  We unpacked the car and got all the groceries put away and got ready for dinner.  Everyone arrived by 6:30pm, except John.  They experienced car trouble and had to have a radiator hose changed out.  They didn’t get there until almost 9:00pm. But we still had time for a fire and s’mores.  

Sam and me cooking corn on the cob on the grill.

James working on his game with a lot of help.

The fire Friday night.

Saturday  It was so fun to have our family all together—27 in total! We will be 28 (hopefully in October) when Kirstin deliverers her 3^rd.  Some of the adults went golfing early in the morning while I cooked Swedish pancakes for the rest.  That is a lot of pancakes.  Mom, Jill, Ginny and Alex took most of the cousins on a hike up the mountain.  The cousins had a blast playing together and after lunch we loaded everyone up and went into Lava and rented tubes to float the river.  This was so fun and even the little ones enjoyed it.  I took pictures and shuttled the tubes and everyone back up to the put-in place.  They all got about 3 trips floating down the river.  We then went back and had dinner.  We then had another fire only this time James tried to see how big of a bonfire he could make.  It was at least 7 feet tall when I came out.  It was so hot you had to sit 10 feet away and nobody could roast marshmallows until it burned down, about an hour later.  

James at the put in.

Sam, Ginny, Xela and Willa hiding.

The John Norman Jr's and Kirstin and soon to be baby.

Bryce and Kate's family.

Badger was the first down.

Sam and Ginny's family hitting the rapids.

Sam and Ginny's family.

Mom went down with James and his 2 kids.

John and his family minus Badger.

John's family.

 Alex and his 3 boys.  Charlotte is tending Tilda.

Alex and his boys.

Kate and her crew.

Kate and her crew.

Second time down mom had 3 grandkids with her.  

Charlotte also got a turn.

Saturday night's fire.

Saturday night's fire.

Sunday I got up and fixed breakfast of bacon and eggs.  We then all went to church in Lava.  We filled up 2 and ½ benches.  We came home and tried to take a family picture.  Jamie how do you do it?  How do you get everyone to look at the camera?  We had a Norman family dinner, beef roast, mash potatoes and gravy and broccoli. Then everyone packed up and headed home.  We got home about 6:00pm.  It was a short but wonderful 2 days.  It is the last time we will all be together for the next three years.  Some of them have promised they will come to Guatemala and visit us.  But each of them will be in our thoughts and prayers each day.  Family is the best and we are so blessed with a truly great family.

Grandma and her grandkids.

We took one with the timer and I was in it, but is was out of focus so this is the one we will have to use of everyone.

August 31st through September 6th

 August 31^st through September 6^th:  Monday and Tuesday
mom went out to Kate’s house and tended her kids.  On Monday, I went with Charlotte to buy tile and her new vanity.  Tuesday I demolished her bathroom and put up new sheetrock and cement board on 2 of the 3 shower walls.  The third wall will have to wait for the plumber to change out the faucet and he can’t come till Friday.  In the evening we had our third webinar of temple training. 

I forgot to take a picture before I started the demo.

There was 2 different color of tiles some had been installed right against the sheet-rock.

After I got the tile off, I had to take off the sheet-rock.  It was too damaged and had mold on it. 

At the end of day 1.

 Wednesday morning mom went for a walk with her good friend Merritt.  We had a man come out and inspect everything we are going to ship to Guatemala.  We are allowed 250 cubic feet and we have about 40.   After I finished work, we went to dinner at Devon and Diane Hale’s home.  They just got back from a year in Rwanda, where he was teaching at a medical school.  It was fun to catch up on life with them.  

Diane, mom, and Devon.

Thursday we drove to Lava Hot Springs to check out the house we have rented for next weekend.  It is huge has 6 bedrooms and a bunk room, 7 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, and 2 family rooms.  It sleeps 28 in beds.  Ginny and Sam will fly up next Thursday and we will all be together for the weekend.  It will be the last time we are all together for at least the next 3 years.  We got home and I was able to get the tile finished on the 2 walls.  

This is the home we will be staying at.  It is actually in Bancroft, about 15 minutes east of Lava.

End of day 3.

Friday I took out the vanity and the toilet and patched the floor under the vanity and installed some new tile base on the wall where the night before I had finished the tile.  The plumber came just after lunch and then I was able to get the sheetrock and cement board up on the last wall of the shower.  

End of day 4.

End of day 4.

Saturday I got the tile finished and the last repair of the walls.  Mom went to Miles’ birthday party while I worked.  

Miles, the birthday boy, turned 8.

Miles celebrated with a swim party at the rec center.

Even Tilly went swimming.

End of day 5.

Sunday we went to Kate’s church where we talked in her Relief Society meeting.  She is the RS President in her ward.  We then went to her home and spent the afternoon having dinner and playing.  We finished up the day with a visit with many of Chris’ cousins on her father’s Cornwall side.  I’m still not in shape yet.  My body hurts and has lots of aches and pains form all the work that I am not use to doing.  We made it to the gym twice and the temple once this last week.  Time is flying by, but life is good and we are so blessed and have much to be grateful for. 

Kate's three monkeys right after church.