Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Favorites from the Field

I am starting a new monthly post based on the fun pictures 
I get from others each month. Here are some favorites from March.
This is Emile.  The first born of Bethany's new kids.

Elder Ben arrived in Japan.  
Here he is with his Mission President and his wife.

This is Elder Ben with Elder Matthews who is from WA.

Andrea had a dance class where they got extra 
credit if they were in costume on test day.

The Shirleys in Mississippi celebrated  St. Patrick's Day in style.

Caden got to go to the temple for the first time over 
Spring Break.  (Taylor, Scott, Caden, Nana, & Cali Barnard)

Anna and Ethan got to go to the temple for the first time this month, too.
(Jason, Amy, Jessica, Ethan, Laura, and Anna) 

It was the Annual Ranch Rodeo this month, too.
Ammon, Scott, and Sam
Andrew won his first BIG belt buckle.
He won it in the steer decorating contest.

Andrew, sporting his new buckle.     Ammon is enjoying life in Florida!

The Mitchell's hosted a Japanese exchange student for a few days.
Since Amy speaks some Japanese she was the main connection.

Andrea painted this little fairy as a stress
reliever from the pressures of school.



LEVAN HOMESTEAD NEWS: March 2017 Edition
Our March included a bit of madness, but will be remembered more for miracles.  We found ourselves tromping through snow as well as mowing the lawn.  The seasons here are more than a little bit confused, but we are so grateful to see our streams and reservoirs so full.
March brought lots of birthdays, too. Happy Birthday Anna, Ethan, Haylie, Aunt Shellie, Noa and Grandpa! We celebrated Shellie’s birthday by going to the Rock and Gem Show in Spanish Fork and then to the Frank Wildhorn and Friends concert at BYU with Andrea. We surely wish Shellie could have been to both! Bethany helped a lot with Levan’s R.S. birthday party, and we had Uncle Blake and Dan Lee down to celebrate Blake’s 50th birthday party in March, too.

The same day Blake was down, Ed Aagard’s house burned to the ground. As sad as it was, the foundation is already underway for new log cabin for him. In the end he will be in a better situation.  Other Levan news includes the passing of Dave Carter.  We attended his funeral and I have not seen many bigger.

We had a triple dipper party just before the Wilkins headed for AZ.  We had hoped all our Utah family could come, but the Mellors did not make it. We had a green lunch, pony cart rides, 4-wheeler rides, and early Easter Egg hunt, and Grandpa’s pre-birthday celebration

It is the time of year when field trips are frequent.  I had two runs to Cedar City and two to Maple Mountain among others.  Dad drove to Cedar City for one of the trips.  We can report that the construction on the Cedar City temple is going very well.  The open house is this fall!  Dad also picked me up at both of my Maple Mountain trips.  The first we went over to help load the moving van and clean at Tyler and Katie’s.  The second we went out to dinner with Suazo’s for our annual March birthday celebration.  

Dad and I made it to a temple three times this month, once on the cleaning crew. I learned that no matter what service you offer in the temple, you can be taught from on High.  While sanitizing the ceiling rooms, I had an experience with the Spirit that I will always look back on with gratitude. 

The first day of spring Bethany got new bunnies.  The next day she got new baby goats. But the greatest miracle for Bethany happened on March 19th when the Bishop reported to her that President Monson’s personal secretary had contacted our Stake President, Doug Peterson, and said President Monson had instructed him to call and offer her a sealing cancellation.  The impact for us all was one of validation, gratitude, and joy. 

Triple Dipper Party 3/18/2017

Tyler, Katie and kids moved back to Arizona on the March 25th.  
We wanted one last party with them before they had to go...
so we planned a Triple Dipper party on March 18th. 

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day and 
Aunt Shellie's birthday with a green dinner.

Of course the gathering included 4-wheeler rides. 
Luke and Tyler
SJ, Bethany and Hans

Dad gave buggy rides for the first time in over a year 
with the newly designed wheel assembly.  It is now an 
actual axle with wheel bearings and no brace around the wheels.
 
Tyler and Luke were on the maiden voyage.

The kids enjoyed the new swings.
(Hans)
SJ! Check out the dirty feet!

We had a Pre-Easter celebration with an egg hunt.
Linda and Sadie joined us for that.
(Luke, Leia, SJ, Sadie and Gabe)
Hans and Gabe were hunting partners,

We also had a pre-birthday celebration for Dad who actually 
spend his birthday helping the Wilkins load the moving van.
Some of the prize eggs allowed the finder to pick 
a birthday gift from the pile to give to Grandpa!

Leia models Grandpa's new sound reducing ear muffs,

Katie made a super yummy key lime pie for the occasion.

HAPPY 67th BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA! 

Note: We were sad the Mellors did not make it.
It was Kristin's wedding in SLC that day.

FFA Cedar City Field trip

My favorite  bus trip of the month was a long one.  
It was to Cedar City with the JJHS FFA class.
If you look close you may see someone you know.  
Allie Wood, Naesha Poulsen, and Kaitlyn Hall are each from Levan. 
We visited the StaheliWest where they make a steaming 
implement that produces artificial "dew" allowing
farmers in arid areas to bail their hay any time they want. 
This picture was in the office. I loved it!
 Can you tell who the men around the campfire are?

We went on a tour of the assembly plant.  
These are some components of the steamer.
The red tanks are for water and black ones for diesel fuel.

This is the computer brain of the steamer.

This is the finished product.  Can you see the temple?

Dad missed the tour, but drove down so we could 
go to lunch together.  Then we drove up on the 
hill to see the progress of the Cedar City Temple.

Angel Moroni is the project supervisor.

This shot includes some of the native vegetation that surrounds it.

The open house begins Oct. 27, 2017!
It will be dedicated Dec. 10, 2017!
Next year I will look for bus parking near the temple ;) 

Dad and I stopped by a  museum. The host knew 
Uncle Blaine and mentioned they had commissioned 
his son to do several blacksmith projects for them. 

My schedule was not as open as we had expected 
so I had to take the kids bowling while Dad went back 
on on actual tour of the museum that takes up a full block.

March Birthdays

March brought three birthday celebrations here in Utah.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HAYLIE ON MARCH 3!

Family and freinds gathered in Mapleton
to celebrate with Haylie.  Hans made an 
immediate connection with Aunt Karen who was 
here from Texas for her daughter, Kristin's wedding. 

Haylie chose a Minnie Mouse theme.
This game was tape the bow on Minnie.

Aunt Andrea was in over her head with  school,
but she took a break and joined us briefly anyway.

Tyler and his best friend.
(Make of it what you will. :)

This is a Minnie Pinata'.

The birthday girl takes a whack!

Uncle Blake turned 50 on March 6.
We had  Uncle Blake and Dan Lee down for
a birthday dinner on March 5th.

We actually celebrated Darrel's B-day 3 times,
but he got something unexpected on his real birthday.
We got a major winter snow storm that left 4 inches of snow.

This is his birthday pie.

Grandpa is enjoying the funny card Bethany picked
out for him from several of our children.  It was a 
contribution for him to start shopping for a wood lathe. 


Make a wish and blow out the candles.