First day of School '08-'09

Calla and Jenny were ready "bright and early" Monday, Aug. 11th for school to begin. Jenny's bus comes at 7:05 a.m. and Calla's bus picks up the local neighborhood kids about 7:25 a.m. Calla started 6th grade, where are these years going? Jenny will continue attending the self-contained resource classroom at the high school. She enjoys the sociality there and the staff (secretaries and nurse) at the school say that her smile is the highlight of their day.

Summer ends with trip to Utah and Idaho

Mark and I and the girls drove up to Utah on Friday, August 1st and took a different route (Alt 89) thru Marble Canyon and the Vermillion cliffs. So beautiful!


We arrived in Provo and then followed Christopher and Jenelle up Provo Canyon to the Willis family cabin near Kamas. The cabin was so comfortable and in such a beautiful setting with an awesome view. Deer came around frequently. The weather was perfect.We went to a huge reservoir and canoed, played games, got acquainted with Dawson, attended church in Oakley, took naps, walked to the creek and just relaxed. Jenelle had planned yummy, simple meals. Her parents drove over from Centerville for a brief visit. Mark enjoyed hearing Corey's narrative of how their family built the cabin over many years. We stayed there till Monday, and it was kinda sad to leave.



On the drive back to Provo, there was a fire on top of the mountains above Bridal Veil falls. There were two helicopters dumping water and we stopped at the scenic view pullout and watched them in action. We settled into the large apartment that Chris and Jenelle live in, that we hadn't seen, and planned our meals and grocery shopped. They are such a sweet, hospitable couple, and Dawson is a precious boy. He is really talking, and seemed to really enjoy Calla and Jenny. We went to a local park,threw Frisbee's and Landon Woolf stopped by to visit us. He also works at the MTC and Chris really enjoys having his cousin in town. On Tuesday we girls had a "day out" while Grandpa babysat Dawson, and went school clothes shopping and saw the movie, "Kitt Kittredge, an American Girl." Wednesday, Mark and I and Jen went to the BYU Library and did some family history research. Calla went ice skating that evening with Christopher. We were grateful for Jenelle, she watched the girls for us and that was such a blessing. Thursday, Mark and I drove up to Idaho Falls, stopping in Logan to meet some new coworkers at Henderson Law Offices. Because I work on my computer at home in Arizona for them, most of them are just "names" without faces. Until now.


We arrived in Idaho Falls and spent the evening there at a theme hotel room downtown. We celebrated our belated 31st anniversary in the most elegant room we've ever had. The next morning we got up quite early and went to a session at the temple. Then attended Tyler and Brittany Klepinger's wedding. Such a beautiful couple and special memory! We went to the delicious luncheon afterwards and headed back down to Provo. Christopher and Landon had driven up for the wedding and they followed us back down. We packed everything up, slept in our clothes, and left early Saturday morning for home. We had a safe trip and arrived in Taylor, grateful for the great vacation to end our summer!

Welcome to the world Brolin!

On Friday morning, July 25th, Lathe called to excitedly tell us they were at the hospital and Brookly was in labor. We packed quickly and drove down, arriving in time to nervously pace the halls till Brolin arrived about 4:15 p.m. (He was born on Jenelle's birthday) Mark calls him "L.J." for "Lathe Junior." The Bigler genes definitely won out, and that's just fine! The girl's and I stayed down in Mesa for a few days to help Brookly with the twins and love and hold the baby.

Slizzerin' snakes!

The kids saw and screamed over a snake, luckily, Uncle Tim was there to pick it up and show them it was harmless.

Bloomin' babes

Zippin' along!

It was the 4th of July weekend, and a highlight was getting to go ride the Muder's zip lines behind their home by the creek. Here's some pictures to prove that they did it...(top to bottom) Tim, Leah, Logan, Lathe, and Calla

Jenny Jo turns 20!

Breakfast in bed
Presents: new curtains, new bedspread, stuffed lion (she wants to call "Simba"), kite, puzzle, new shirt, and a slip-n-slide
The cake she chose at DQ
The anticipated 20 swats
Phone calls from Brookly, Tim and Chris made her day!

June memories

Dad building his work bench and shelves in the new shed.

Calla waiting for a race in the Show Low pool "bull pen" (pink swim cap)

The dairy view...always interesting.

Calla having fun at the next door neighbor's hot tub. Not quite a pool, but better than nothing on a hot summer day!

New look for an old house!

Creek time!

I took Calla and Jenny to the creek a couple times in the last week. They love this spot where there's a rope swing, and enjoyed acting like monkeys on it. It's hard to catch them in "flight" so I didn't get any good shots. But you can imagine how fun it was, can't you? Of course, I'm sitting in a cozy camp chair, with a bottle of ice water, relaxing. No attempts at Tarzan swinging for me.

Calla competes at swim meet in St. John's

She dives pretty, doesn't she? They let the swimmers have a free swim for 30 min. after the swim meet and she spent all her time on the diving boards. She went off the high dive twice, but I missed both shots. I tried to upload two videos of her competing, but they must be too "large" because after an hour, it still hadn't finished. It was a beautiful day for a swim meet and even though she only got a participation ribbon, she beat her personal times in all the events she competed in. Obviously, she has lots of competiton this year, but she'll get better each week.

Happy 31st Anniversary!

There was a knock on the door this afternoon and a pleasant older man was holding this huge hanging planter, a gift from my sweetheart. Aaaah. I told the man that Mark was a "keeper." He spoils me. I love anniversaries, reflecting on our wedding day memories, even if we can't really celebrate in style. Today Mark is working a 12-hour shift and we're feeding the missionaries dinner tonight. The girl's have head colds, etc. and Calla has a fever. So they've been laying around. But I've had fun working on a blog for my great-grandparents, if you're curious, check it out: elmerandardellawatson.blogspot.com

Our Heavenly Father's Plan

Retro 50's...hanging out the laundry to dry!

The dryer quit. Guess who had to run to the dollar store to buy some clothespins. Obviously, today the load was "pinks." We have lots of that color around our house.
It's a beautiful day out and I really didn't mind. I suppose I'm being frugal at the same time, saving electricity for someone else to use. It reminded me of a few years ago, hanging "Calla" out on the line. Got the idea from a picture in an old Reader's Digest magazine. Tim held her while I clothespinned her. She wasn't too sure she liked it up there, but we sure got a chuckle.

School's Out Party!

May 23, 2008 We planned an outdoor party with water balloon games, but the weather didn't cooperate. So we went to "Plan B" and stayed indoors. The girl's had a blast!

Jenny walks the line!

May 22, 2008 The Snowflake Seminary held their graduation service and Jenny received her certificate! They were the first graduating class to have Pres. Thomas S. Monson's signature. The seminary teachers presented each of the student's a personal letter and Bro. Ashley Davis wrote Jenny's. He said, "You are a wonderful, unique young lady. It has been fun to watch you grow, develop friendships and share your feelings with us. You have some amazing talents and abilities. Thank you for being patient with me as I tried to understand what you were telling me. I think I got better as the year progressed! It has been a privilege to be your teacher. You bring something to the class, that, even though you couldn't put it into words, I could feel it just by your goodness. May the Lord pour out His richest blessings on you!" Jenny's Special Ed teacher came to the program, she's not LDS, so that was a great fellowshipping opportunity. We skipped the refreshments and went by Sonic to get Jen a blizzard. She opened up some special cards and gifts from family and friends. It was a memorable evening for our family.