mike and ruth

The annual Christmas Concerts by the Salt Lake Children’s Choir were held this year on December 2nd and 4th at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. The singing was wonderful as usual, and there were no catastrophes with sickness, dizziness or other issues to mar two wonderful performances. The crowd was a little less large than usual, possibly due to the extremely cold weather we experienced this weekend. The children were awesome. Be sure to check out their music when you can! The carols sung with the audience were thrilling as they always are, with stunning organ accompaniment. The choir sings the entire concert otherwise with harp accompaniment or a’cappella.

Mom and I decided that we needed to get away together for some time so we went to the mountains today and did some hiking and exploring.

We have wanted to go to the Uintahs for a long time so we finally were able to arrange to be away for a day to do it today! (This was our first chance to get out together since our anniversary, almost two months ago so we felt like it was about time.) We saw lots of fall colors on the way, but strangely the fall colors were not particularly striking up there. It was probably because there are so many evergreens that the colors are not so apparent. There were clumps of yellow and orange here and there, sometime brilliant yellows were seen in the Quaking Aspen trees, but not everywhere. The mountains in Provo Canyon and northwest of Heber were covered in bright oranges and reds though. Hopefully we will get to see them again before the seasons change and the leaves fall off of the trees.

Robyn and Eric came over to see us before they were to leave for their trip back home to Ohio tonight. The girls were all together for the first time since Charlotte was married so we thought we needed to take a few pictures to remember the day.

Here are the ones we felt were the best. It was so nice to see all the girls together at one time again. They are all such good people and we are very proud of them. Of course we are their parents, so why shouldn’t we be proud of them? They are our children!

Mom and I celebrated our 35th this week by staying in Park City in conjunction with my commitments there with the choir. Our rehearsal with the Utah Symphony was Thursday night and we stayed over in Prospector Square that night and then went to the Factory Stores Friday morning. We drove to Ogden to have lunch at Ristorante La Ferrovia Friday, and hoped to make it out to Antelope Island. No such luck, the traffic on Antelope Drive through town was really bad and we ran out of time. I left Mom at home for the performance that night, and Saturday we had considered a few things but we were busy with other things we needed to do. Robyn and Eric were here earlier this week and will also be here next week. They went to Bear Lake for a family reunion while we were away. It was fun to get away but just as fun to get back to enjoy the family. Melodie is home now too for several weeks! Fun times!

Today while Robyn and her family were with us we decided that we would have a fun activity for Home Eveningand make s’mores in the back yard.

We had almost everyone come over to help with this and we a great time. No only did everyone get to see their cousins and sister with her husband from out of town, but we all enjoyed some nice warm marshmallows and chocolate. Apparently this is the way to get everyone to come (of course); fun treats. Both FUN and TREATS make for a great time especially when everyone helps out. It was so fun to have everyone here who came. We missed those who could not come! [We need to do this again soon, don’t-cha think?]

We had some camping experience this weekend as we attended the reunions of Dad’s family and Mom’s family. Thursday night was the OJH Family reunion at Balsam Campground in Hobble Creek Canyon. You can see that we had a lot of people there. I was told that we had a total of 86 people (and 6 dogs) which is considered some kind of a record. Mom was at a care center so was not here again this year but is happy and enjoying her surroundings. Dad slept in his Springbar tent, and there were serveral “tin teepees” used by family. Thanks to Eric and Derek who provided their tents for family members since I left the tent stakes at home for the squad tent.

The CWH Family reunion took place Friday night and Saturday morning at the Heber Valley Camp which was a contrast to camping at a Forest Services campground. This place was really nice but also at a very high elevation. While there we participated in some of the challenge activities including an elevated log crossing, the zip line, and group rescue activities. Ed discussed the Family History program of the church and we were treated to many, many photos of ancestors and family members scanned over the past several months at Janice’s by the sisters. Thank you everyone for your hard work and preparations for a very successful and memorable experience by everyone.

Tamara and David welcomed their sixth child to their family Tuesday June 29th at 4:47pm. Megan Elizabeth came into the world weighing 7 lb. 2 oz. and 20.5 inches tall. She is a sweetheart born into a family of loving children that love her so much and are very excited to have her here! We visited her and her mother at the hospital today and took several pictures so you can get to know her. Grandma said she had a heathy cry which she heard on the telephone last night, but we didn’t hear her cry while visiting at the hospital. We are very pleased and happy for their new addition. CONGRATULATIONS!