This Beauty We Call Home

I was up early this morning and I could see out my kitchen window that the sun was coming up. I ran to get my camera. I could tell that this was going to be one of those picture mornings.

I love taking pictures of the sky in the morning and evening. I don't know really why, except that I have had some great feel good moments with the scenes that I have seen.

When I see something I think is worth sharing I tell the boys to look and now they do that for me. I have them sharing what they think is beautiful nature too.

I will share some of my favorite pictures with you.

These are the Rocky Mountains aren't they gorgeous?This was taken in November. In my yard. I love them.Good Morning Sunshine, snapped this one before taking Connor to school.

These are from my garden, in November also. I played around with Photoshop on this one.

Isn't he cute?This one was pure luck. We were at the zoo and I just hit the button and this is what I ended up with.

Brighton, one of my favorite places to walk around.

My sweet little neighbor. Who comes to eat my grapes.

Love her to pieces.

Thanks for spending some time with me. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have.

It's Done, Finally Done

Spencer and Connor have completed their EAGLE projects and I am so relieved. This has been the longest 12 months ever. It started out in January 07 when I came to my oldest and said, "Hey it's time to start thinking of a project for your Eagle project. "

SPENCER

CONNOR

"Yeah, I know. Maybe I could do something at the school. Or for the homeless."

"Okay, let me know what you decide."

February, "Hey Connor, time to think of a project for your Eagle."

"I don't know what to do."

"Let me give you some Ideas."

"NO, mom I don't want to do any of those they are boring."

"Spencer have you thought of anything?"

"Yeah, maybe something at the animal shelter."

March, "Guys you need to decide what you are going to do!!"

April, "Come on, can you figure out what you would like to do??"

May, "I have a terrific idea, your Uncle in Iraq said the troops and the Iraqi children are in desparate need of certain items you could collect these and send them over."

"That is a great idea. What do we need to do to get started?"

After about a month of getting things cleared and paper worked finished and red tape gone through they finally were able to get the "BALL ROLLING!"

They went to Grammy's work and set out boxes to have people donate and donate they did. It was wonderful to see how generous they were.

(Grandma's Work)

(Grandma Clairee)

(The Boys collecting)

(THIS IS COLLECTION DAY)

With DAD

Next we went to our ward members. They were awesome, we had our entire front room filled with donations from, clothes, and school supplies, to food and hygiene items. All types of books, games, footballs, stationary and stamps.


It was very heart warming to see how giving everyone was.

(It took 4 days to sort and package )

and label everything that was

donated!!

They have felt a tremendous love for these people as they worked on this project. And they know it will bless the lives of many.

In November the boys recieved a letter from Col. Darel Maxfield. He thanked the boys for their support and generosity and what a blessing the clothes and books and soccer balls, were for this community of children. He said they are very needy over there and this was huge for them.

I know it was huge for my boys. They have grown into wonderful young men. This is just one thing that has helped them learn about service for others. They amaze me every day and I only hope to continue to learn from them.

They would also like to thank everyone who donated and helped make this project a success.

Grandma Clara

Grandma and Grandpa Fankhauser

Harper Co.

Dad

CopperHills 14th Ward

Millionaire Lines (for free shipping of 30 boxes)

Congratulations, Spencer and Connor for the fine job you did on this Eagle project.

Have you done an Eagle project or helped with one?

IT WAS THIS BIG!!!

Now that we are here, you probably think we want to rest and sit in the sun. Yeah, right. No way, get us out on that boat! 4:30 wake up call please. We are so excited we wake up early to get ready. Actually it wasn't that hard we were still on Utah time. We headed down to meet our group and wouldn't you know it, we get the VP of FedEx, and the VP of Corporate account of sales. And an account manager from New York. Brent account manager and little old me. The only girl, this is going to be great. I love to fish and this has been a dream for along time. And we are really doing this.

We head out and the first thing our Captn' says to us is hurry and get those poles in the water we only have a few minutes to catch the mackarel before the sun comes up. Kai(appropriately named after the ocean) gets busy on helping us catch the mackarel. With out any success the men hand over the darn pole and tell me to get busy. I cast out and caught two at once. Yeah me. Then Kai gets a crackin' and he catches all the rest.

They were pretty surprised that we caught any at all. They said live bait is the best for catching these ocean beasts.

Having that out of the way we get rigged up to do some serious fishing. We had on line out skimming the top and one line out deep deep deep and on line medium deep.

Now we have to figure out who gets to go sit in the "hot seat" and the guys said since I caught the first two I could go first. I could not wait. Get me in that seat. I was only there for about 1o min. and I got a huge hit. So I start to reel in, just like they said, slow up and fast reeling in on the way down, My heart was beating so fast and I had a hard time remembering slow up fast down. But I kept at it. Then it felt like the stinker got off the line, ohhh noooo. That can't happen to me. How disappointing. But oh wait, he's still there he was swimming towards the boat. He tried to trick us. Now he's mad. He's fighting hard and it took me about 15-20 min. to reel him in. But what joy that was to bring him on the boat.

What did I catch you ask? An Ono (Oahu) and was he just about the ugliest fish you have ever seen. Any way Lani took our pic's and the Captn' whacked the fish on the head with a baseball bat. How's that for a final ending. Gross. Then they threw him in the cooler and will sell him later to the fish market.

Now after playing four hands of poker to figure out spots to take the "HOT SEAT" Mike is up. He gets to sit in the chair for 20 minutes .

So for 20 min. Mike bakes in the sun. The HOT HAWAIIAN Sun. But he enjoyed every minute, because he had company. His Bud Light. Time was a tickin'.

Now it was Lani's turn. He hopped right in and WOW he got a bite. Reel it in nice and easy. But wait it let go. How disappointing.

Next, it's Pat. Good Ole' Pat. He got all ready and he had a companion also. Bud Light. And he sat and waited and waited NOTHING.

We did have some great conversations and laughs. And awesome food.

We each got a white lunch box full of the most delectable food.
Fried chicken, Hawaiian chips, wraps loaded with meat, Macadamia nuts, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, all the pop you could drink.

Remember we had not eaten since 4:30 am and it was now 11:30 am.

Now it was finally Brent's turn to sit in the "HOT SEAT". He just sat down and wham he got a hit. Reel says the Captain. And Reel he did. And reel. And reel. Eewwww. He caught a what? A Barracuda? You really catch those in real life?

Sure do, he did and they brought him on board and made us all move out of the way of his monsterous teeth. This fish weighed about 35 lbs. and was 48 inches long. He got a tag in his back and they sent him on his way. Lucky fish.

Kai said they don't eat these fish because they can make you very sick. Who knew. Just looking at him can make you sick.

Take a look at the back ground and see the gorgeous water we were on. It was the deepest color of blue. It almost didn't seem real. But it was amazing.

Thank you Fedex for the adventure of a life time.

Hang Loose!!!

One thing I really don't like in life is coming home from a wonderful trip. Saturday we did just that. We came home from beautiful sunny Hawaii. Maui to be exact.

Brent won account manager of the year and that is where they sent us. Talk about fabulous. I had never been and I am glad we were able to go.

We had been preparing to go since July. So with luggage in tow and beaches on the brain we left.

Doesn't he look ready for some serious R&R. You better believe it.

Here is our Hotel, with king Kamehameha greeting us.

Wasn't that nice of him. Here are some pic's of the hotel.

I can't tell you what a wonderful time we had there. It is the most laid back place. Everyone one was friendly and happy. There was no rushing or hurrying. I can't believe it's over, but I now have great memories of Maui.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as we did. Keep a watchful eye out for more on Hawaii 07.

Angi

Furry Kids, the best kind

I have a dog. His Name is Skip. Skippy, Skipper, Skipety-doodog. As you can tell he is a Chihuahua. He is the cutest ever. I love him sooo much. He is smart, funny, loyal. He is my lap dog. He even likes to snuggle at night when he is cold. The only thing I don't like is his ability to shed 24/7. You would think he would be bald by now.

Skippy hates for me to kiss Brent. And will jump up and bite Brent on the nose and then lick me to move.

Now meet our cat Speedy. He is a Snowshoe Siamese. He is a wonderful cat. He minds his own business and takes great care of himself when we are gone. He adopted us about 10 or so years ago. He came declawed and neutured. That was great for us.

Spencer has taken great care and concern for the cat. He even got mad at us when we laughed at Speedy when he was wearing his "Pioneer Hat". He had to have a wound cleaned and he had a cone for awhile. That was so funny. He couldn't walk in a straight line.

Thanks for bringing us so much joy and happiness into our lives.

I finally did it!!

Here is my pride and joy. After having lived in this house for almost 5 years, yes, I said 5 years I finally got a pumpkin. Isn't he a cutie? I love how round he is and just the right color orange.


He had been hiding, then one day there he was. As I was checking out my other pumpkin plants I noticed there were more than just him. He had relatives. About 13 to be exact.

We had fun picking them on the day it rained and was cold out. It felt like pumpkin time. So we cut them off the vine and set them out. I am so happy we grew our own. Next year I hope we get a lot more. This was too much fun.

I am going to miss you!!

I do truly love fall, except for the fact that in just a few short months I won't have my flowers greeting me in the morning. I am going to miss their individual personalities. And fragrances.

They make me happy. And I enjoy all the hard work they may take. So for now I say "Adeau" and look forward to your speedy return in the spring.