Our Wittle Fif is Gwowing Up!!

I don't have a lot to write so I'm going to let the photos do the talking for me about Fif's big day.

I want to congratulate you again sweetie. You da bestest!!

Moving Plans

Just a little update for those of you who haven't heard, I recently was told that my residency status has been changed in Utah so I'm going to transfer down to Utah Valley University. This last weekend we took a trip down to Orem to look at apartments and for Kristen to interview at the plasma center down there. She got the job and we may have found a good apartment next to campus. We're planning on moving down there either the middle or end of July. We'll keep ya posted.

Pretty Time of Year

Just thought I'd share a few pics of the wildflowers that are going crazy around here right now. We had a good wet winter and the results of all that ground water are starting to show. Hope you like them.



I also wanted to thank those of you who were able to make the trip here for Jennifer's graduation. Mom and I do so appreciate the support you all have for each other and the fun we have together. Makes us feel good. Dad

Dear Family

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that came down/up/out for my graduation last week. It really meant a lot to me that you came, and I had SO much fun! I hope you all thought it was worth it, because I sure did. (:

And also: I love you!

Family reunion

Just in case some of you haven't heard, there is a family reunion for Grandma's family scheduled for July 17 in Provo. We are planning to go up there for it and hope some of you can make it as well. Contact me and I'll give you the details (if I know them). As of right now, it sounds like Grandma, Cheryl, Ryan and (hopefully) Jan will be coming out for the reunion and maybe spending a couple of days with us down here. Just thought I'd give you a heads-up. And maybe a picture for your enjoyment. Dad.

What the...?!

Hakan brought this in the other day from the field around our house.

He was trying to be sweet by bringing his Mommy a flower, but the first thing that flew out of my mouth was something like, "EW! What the crap is that thing?!"

First of all, this was the BIGGEST dang dandelion I've ever seen. It was a good 2.5" in diameter, about the size of a carnation. Second of all, well, LOOK at it! There's a dandelion growing out of a dandelion! It's a mutant!!


This is just wrong. I find it unsettling. Freaky things are happening around here, and I don't like it.

I don't like it one bit.

Just sayin.

I just wanted to celebrate with all of you the great news I got in the mail today. It's called: I just got a $5,000 scholarship to SUU, in addition to my Founder's Scholarship, which is $2,500 a year for 4 years. I'm just gettin hooked up in all sorts of ways! Hurray for college!

A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood

It may be April 21st, but here is the proof that Mother Nature has a sense of humor! This amount of snow would have closed the entire school district in Lumberton!

This little unseasonable snow storm not only blanketed all the vegetation around the park, but about a mile and a half up the road (near the sledding hill) the snow fell so fast and furious that for a quarter-mile stretch, it was close to 4" deep and someone sent the snowplow out here! Naturally, the 'meadow' is a muddy mess--talk about your crazy weather patterns! This may be Old Man Winter's last parting shot, but you never can never be too sure...

Easter 2010http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RSFPAqRXE6o/S8FovcNI5jI/AAAAAAAAAGI/fX_Uff3kzq8/s1600/_MG_0498%232.jpg

I don't know about anybody else but Kristen and I had a BLAST hanging out with a lot of the family in Utah. Those little mugwumps were cute especially Rambo....I mean Pyper. She was pretty aggressive about getting those eggs. I can't wait until we get to hang out again. Here's a few pictures of the kids and a family picture with a happy Aaron.

Portrait failure

This WOULD have been a really good photo...

...except...

...Aaron thinks it's funny to be uncooperative.
I should be annoyed by this, but I still can't help but laugh.

Dad's California Trip

I’ve been wanting to do a post about my trip to California last month, but have been a little too uninspired until now to do it. So here goes. As most of you know, Grandma was able to go on a cruise with and old friend of hers and that friends sister. The sister lives in St. George, so they flew into Las Vegas and drove to St. George. I was able to get the week off, so I drove to St. George on Monday morning, picked up Grandma and we headed to San Lorenzo. I stayed ‘til Friday and came home. How’s that for a post? What? You want more? Oh, all right.
Ryan was able to come and stay Tuesday and Wednesday, so we did a fair bit of goofing around together, as well as a little bit of constructive effort. When we got there, Grandma’s magnolia tree in the back yard was in full flower, and lots of the petals were in full free fall, as well.

We cleaned it up for now, but there were more waiting to fall. In fact, some didn’t even wait for us to get back in the house. Oh well. We went and met Bart and Jane for lunch and then got to go see Issac and Becca’s new baby boy Aiden.

There was a pretty good fight to hold him, but we each got a turn.
Then on Wednesday, Grandma decided she needed to stay home and do laundry, so Ryan and I took a trip to the coast and Bean Hollow. The tide was high, so the rock pools were covered, but the surf was up and we got some pretty great waves coming in, as you can see from a couple of pictures.

There was foam all over the place.
Then we drove down the coast a bit and found Pigeon Point Lighthouse, so of course we had to stop and take some more pictures. Ryan and I can be bad influences on each other when it comes to cameras.

Then we went home, picked up Grandma and went out to visit Janae’s family, which was also a lot of fun (as usual).

Munchkins vs. Jolly Green Giant?

Ryan left from Janae’s to go home. Thursday was mostly spent relaxing and shopping with Grandma and then I drove home on Friday. It was a quick trip but lots of fun. I plan to do it again sometime soon, if I can get away with it. This year is Grandma’s year to have Thanksgiving dinner at her house for my brothers and sisters and we are planning on being there for it this year. I’m sure I speak for Grandma if I invite all of you to join us if you can swing it. Not sure yet of the exact schedule, but we’ll work on it as it gets closer.
The posts have been a bit sparse of late, so I’m going to encourage all of you to think of something and put it on here. A new post from one of you is the highlight of the day for us. Love you all. Dad.

Going, Going...

We have had quite the wet winter this 2009-2010 season—unusual for Southern Utah! As the weather begins to warm and the last remnants of the white stuff melts away, I wanted to post some ‘before & after’ pictures for posterity (or at least have them someplace other than your dad’s laptop).



Since I haven’t mastered the knack placing labels under pictures, I’ll just have to add some notes under each set of pictures. Here is what it looked like most of the winter: 1) the Franklin’s backyard, 2) our front yard as seen from the driveway and 3) the picnic tables by the overlook.


We had some really wet, sticky snow many times. I’d never seen it stay together like this before! That’s 7 or 8” of snow that folded over on itself without falling apart!


The Meadow (or dry lakebed) up the road from us for some reason always gets more weather than we do here at the park. At the most, there was several feet down there, covering the wooden fence rails in places. More than once this winter, someone has tried to drive down in there only to find it was a bad idea!


I got to go up on Cedar Mountain in the snowcat with your dad again this year. The building in the upper right is a ranger residence at Cedar Breaks National Monument; the machine in the lower portion is one of the snowplows that they use to clear the highway up on the mountain. The evening we were there, he was clearing a fresh wall of snow for some Boy Scouts who were digging snowcaves at the state road shed. From the video, you can see that thing can fling some snow!

Now the snow is nearly gone, at least here at the house.

In the five winters we have been here, we have never seen so much heavy, wet snow that stayed in the trees. These are only a very few of the many trees damaged by the weight and strain of so much snow—sometimes it sucks to be an evergreen!

This is what the Meadow looked like this afternoon as I was coming home from church. With Easter weekend coming up, there is a concern if the Meadow is going to be one muddy quagmire for campers next week. The snow has melted relatively quickly lately, but right now, it is one big mud puddle down there! The BLM rangers are thinking of posting a sign, “Enter at your own risk”!! It could be ugly...

So April will soon be here, followed by summer. I honestly have looked forward to each snowstorm as they came, just for the fun of watching it pile up! Of course, I wasn’t the one who had to shovel the walks all over the campground, so Dad likely has a different opinion…

Here’s to the Winter of 2009-2010—thanks for the memories!!

Mom

The smouldering aftermath

We celebrated Finnley's first birthday on Sunday with a little family party. There was, of course, cake. Here's the happy one-year-old after enjoying most of his very own piece (with a little serenading by Aaron in the background).

One more time

I just thought I'd let you guys know that I'm going through the process of donating bone marrow again. Actually they want to do a different process this time where I'm treated with a drug (Filgrastim) that causes me to produce an abundance of stem cells that are then filtered out of my blood. You can read more here: LINK. The recipient is a 64 year old male with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The procedure is tentatively scheduled for the 3rd week in March. Hopefully it will all go well.

-Bryce

Happy Valentine

Dad here. I'm not sure how to explain this, but I'll try. Last month when I was up grooming snowmobile trails on Cedar Mountain, I was listening to a CD I'd made. On it was a song I've known and liked for more than 30 years, but for some reason I haven't heard (or at least really listened to) for a number of years. Anyway, it really struck a chord with me that night and I've kind of wanted to share it with you all since then. This seems to be an appropriate time for that, so I hope you'll excuse a little personal feelings on this public forum. The song is "Beautiful" by Gordon Lightfoot.

At times I just don't know

How you could be anything but beautiful

I think that I was made for you

And you were made for me

And I know that I won't ever change

We've been friends through rain or shine

For such a long, long time.

Laughing eyes and smiling face

It seems so lucky just to have the right

Of telling you with all my might

You're beautiful tonight

And I know that you won't ever stray

Cause you've been that way from day to day

For such a long, long time

And when you hold me tight

How could life be anything but beautiful?

I think that I was made for you

And you were made for me

And I know that I won't ever change

We've been friends through rain or shine

For such a long, long time.

Well, I must say it means so much to me

To be the one who's telling you

I'm telling you, that you're beautiful.

Like I said, for some reason the words and feelings of the song just struck me especially hard that night on the mountain. Many thanks to Mr. Lightfoot. I don't usually make a big deal of things, but I wanted you all to know how much I love my wife and what a great blessing she has been in my life. She's the very best. I hope you all have a good Valentines day and that your Valentine is as special to you as mine is to me.