7.26.24 24th of july

Addie caught some of the unique smoke-filled sunsets. This is what hopes and dreams going up in smoke looks like. So many cattle and almost all grazing feed has been burned up in these last few weeks. 

The smoke-filled air is awful. Many are coughing eyes are irritated and watery. Not good. 

Nonetheless, we still celebrated Pioneer Day at the church. There were three-legged races. Bruce and Millie and Mark and Addie all competed. No pictures of Mark and Addie though she did have to carry her own weight Mark couldn't just carry her. 

There were horse races. Afton in this one. 

Millie on the left. 

And Bruce who didn't bother with the riding part just ran. 

Alia in her age group. The youngest Atkinson daughter on the left, and Tuf Johnson on the right. 

Andrea and Marilla lined up for the youngest age group truly the two youngest able competitors in the two wards (Marilla's baby brother and the Whitaker baby aren't up to racing yet)with. Marilla started to cry then Andrea saw she was crying and joined her in tears. No race this year. 

We are thankful for our pioneer heritage. Both in the church of Jesus Christ and the family that were firm in their Baptist faith many of my ancestors came in wagons pulled by animals or in jalopies all in search of new land and new opportunities. I'm thankful for their determination, grit, and faith. We are blessed with good memories year after year and to continue to be a family.  
 

7.25.24Our best works

We are starting to have an abundant zucchini supply. I remembered seeing a mock apple pie recipe. I asked Sue if she would try this with Afton. This is the result. The vote is delicious! Many more pies to come I think. 

More fair prep pictures. These were taken by Millie. The sweet sisters learn about animals too. 

Bruce admonished Addie that she needed to love her pig more. He said, "I loved my pig and they grew big and fat if you just spend more time with your pig it will grow better too!" She committed to try to love it more. They are now walking the pigs more often working on weight management. 

I was coming home from checking water and pulling weeds in the garden and Andrea asked for a picture. Addie shot these. Would I delete them? Yes, but Andrea is a balm to my soul and she does love her mom. 

Lia also wanted a picture with me. We were out working on a better picture of Addie and she asked for a picture with me. These ladies will be all grown up soon too. 

Bruce is encouraged to go work with the big kids as often as they will take him. He specifically loves to go with Addie. She demands a lot from him and he delivers. 

This is honestly how a lot of hours are spent in the summer watching movies and relaxing. Hours of reading intermixed. We are thankful for our cool basement. 

Our favorite cow named big white had twin calves. She was confused why two were trying to suck on her. I was concerned that one calf had not gotten a drink and with the hot temps knew it would not live without some nourishment. Reed made a colostrum bottle with some electrolytes thrown in. He and Addie fed it its first meal by the flashlight. Thankfully 3-4 days later both calves have attached to the mom and she has accepted them both. Phew, no bottle babies for now. Calves on a mother do so much better than calves on a bottle. No sickness, stronger faster growth it's just better. 

Addie had the opportunity to feed our neighbors. She happened to take Alia and Merle with her one evening. Sister Page ended up reading stories to them. She had been a librarian and loves books almost as much as she loves children. It was a delight to her. 

We harvested beets today! I love this time of year when I am done weeding and I can bring some fresh vegetables home. 

 While all this food and activity is good, the smiley faces and time together is the best. These are the most important things we grow is kids. We are so blessed. 
 

7.25.24 John MTC sendoff

Well, the day finally came we gathered everyone that lives here for a last picture. They were in the midst of pivot repair, playing, life etc. Life doesn't change a lot here the same requirements are part of each day the ages and faces change. The talents and skill levels change but the day-to-day just keeps rolling on. We are thankful for this group and for the one that will grow to fill the huge hole that happens each time a highly skilled mature one leaves. 

The three brothers. So much ability in this photo and a lot of years until they see each other again. The power of example and expectation is strong. We are thankful for brothers and the good examples they are to each other. 

John with Grandma and Grandpa Saunders. Their support and teaching have helped shape John over the years. 

Livy shows how excited she is to work at the shop. This was a deliberate pose on her part. And John is excited to leave the shop for new adventures. Mark is working there now too. 

We tracked my dad down in a wheat field. He took a quick break for a last-minute hug and encouragement to John. 

We caught my mom on the way to lunch. She too gave a hug and encouragement. 

We stopped in at Grandma Lasley's for a quick squeeze and well wishes. 

We spent the night with Greg's sister after a quick dinner with one of his favorite mission companions. The next day we visited his cousins. Jani Perry had completed another 5k temple-to-temple walk that morning. A determined return after her stroke 2 years ago. She fed us lunch. 

The temples are so close together and yet there are so many people. I'm always overwhelmed when we go south to Utah. I'm so thankful plants and trees dominate my landscape. But it would be nice to be within minutes of a temple. It was odd to not have the Provo temple looming. It is totally torn down and work has begun on the new Provo temple. 

Just as we were ready to leave she told us she had joined Gifford Nielsen speaking at the MTC a while ago. Her contribution was to bring some of her signed BYU footballs and toss them to Elder Nielsen. It caused a ruckus of laughing and enjoyment among the many elders and sisters. I don't know if my sons understood how impressive her collection is. All the quarterbacks for the last 40 years the coaches, full teams that won big events. She is a number one fan. The world knows her as a songwriter but her close friends know she absolutely loves sports! 

The MTC was busy. I was thankful for Harold coming with us. This was of course hard, but with Harold in the backseat laughing and encouraging I did not lose it. Yes, I'm crying in these pictures but there is no place I would rather he be. I'm thankful for our latest elder Saunders. 

After we dropped him off we stopped at the Leatherby's Ice Cream parlor. We got some scoops of ice cream. We did this after dropping Harold and Anna off, but not Aliza. Greg was sad we didn't that time. It was an inspired stop because Deanne had left her purse in our car. She went visiting with us and had treated John and I to Einstein bagels.  A treat I had not indulged in since my college days in Utah. 

My guys are what I hoped they would be, and they are grown up. I told Greg it almost feels like our nest is empty we are almost to single-digit kids. We are down to 10 at home but that will fluctuate and we will continue to work to teach and train and know this younger crew.

Our drive home was long and we were tired. We stopped to see my aunt and Uncle. Greg slept a bit. We continued toward Oregon and noticed the smoke get thicker and thicker. At the border around 9 the sun was odd and red in the sky. There is so much destruction happening with the lingering and large wildfires burning more and more of the state. 

 After grocery shopping and Greg's assistance that he pick sweet corn, we made it home to our in-bed but not asleep kids. They helped unload the car and I made dinner. It was nice to be with them and care for them. It's good to be home. It's a place where we try to stay stable and continual or methodical. We are so blessed to be parents and to get to know each other. Life is good. 

7.24.24 Garden and rafting

 Saturday we woke to ash on the cars and dusting everything. The smoke was thick and disturbing. 

I'm growing celery this year in the garden its' good not terribly fast or overabundant mostly just a novelty. 

All of the garden seems to be a novelty this year. We get up there when we can but when I wake up worrying about things I do those first and when its over 90 degrees its hard to go fight weeds. The weeds are growing really well. I think we have the bugs under control? Nothing was dead last time I was there. We have been dusting the plants and they continue to grow. 
Reluctantly we let Reed and Mark go white water rafting with the Bishop of our ward. With John unavailable this was a real hardship. Thankfully nothing broke until Saturday morning when they were scheduled to come home. Greg, addie, Millie, and Bruce were able to change the flat tire and we headed to a funeral later. 

I'm thankful for the new experiences they had a great time. Mark is in front with Reed right behind. Life is good and we are adjusting and blessed. Days are long and years are short. 

7.23.24 John farewell

It has been a pleasure, relief, and struggle to go weekly to the temple with John. When we finally just do it I'm always surprised how easy it is to fit in. But when we finally get home 8 hours later (because of all the errands we run on that side of the valley) I'm exhausted. We listened to his assigned conference talk a few times, read the foot notes and discussed distractions. We had a good experience in the temple and came home with the obligatory stops. I ended up waiting in Ontario for a car and took a nap in a dealership waiting room while waiting and waiting. He is a fine young man who is enjoyable to be with and a huge tease. 

Sunday morning I insisted he settle in and write a talk. He wandered and worried till finally I sat down next to him and we started hashing out what stood out to him and what he wanted to say. His "mom I need you to stay focused with me" spoke to my heart and realizing this was the last we spent 2 hours getting his talk ready to go. Mark wrote his talk, sharing his experiences with new farming methods and learning from failures. Mark looks like a little brother but he is in face a sizeable man too. John's curly hair is showing up again as its longer. I'm never sure how to cut the hair for mission life as it's a different look. I think his plan is to get a hair cut in the MTC? 

After a luncheon and clean-up we retired to our home then grandmas to play with cousins for a while. These two are a few months apart but have a good time when they see each other. 

Eloise, Evander, Merle, Bruce, Trenton. 

The older girls were playing card games in another room.

After family left we took dinner to a family who have been battling wildfires all week. The manager suggested we take a look and we were of course in awe of their farming operation. These are cull dairy heifers from California. We were shocked to see how well filled out they are and how uniform. 

 This is NOT the result of antibiotics or hormone feeding. Those things cost money. Farming is always based on slim margins between cost and profit. Thus, the fattening of cull cattle. They cost less, grow well, and have large frames. This is a picture of scientific feed rationing. Just like the famous people are so skinny because of all the franken food and supplements they eat- no regular meat and potatoes for them. These cows are fed specially prepared meals that are easy to digest just the right nutrients to be sweet and salty and make them want to eat and eat. They have little reason to roam the pens thus they mostly just grow muscled marbled meat which is prime grade and reliable for each of us wanting a nice restaurant meal. We came home smelling like manure and fire. The devastation is real. People are loosing all their feed and some stock. It's hard to imagine the amount of money and family history of farming that is burning up. Thankfully the ranchers and farmers work together to make fire lines and stop the flames. We are not alone in our daily grind of long hours and hard work. We are blessed by good family and friends who support and encourage and enliven our years with the shared journeys of life. God is good even in hard times.