Vintage Vinings

VERSAILLES-SUN KING'S PALACE, France

2011-10-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Marie Antoinette & her children. Queen of France & Navarre

VERSAILLES-SUN KING'S PALACE

2011-10-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

GARDENS OF VERSAILLES PALACE

2011-10-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

GARDENS OF VERSAILLES PALACE

2011-10-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Versailles magnificent huge terraced gardens with their fountains and statues.

Unfortunately the fountains were'nt turned on until after we were inside of the

Palace. Shucks! I love fountains!!

A bit windy up on the hill! It was cooler & prettier out here no wonder the King wanted

to build a Palace out here. Beyond the gardens is 500 acres of forest used for hunting.

And what's pretty exciting now is that we heard right after our return home from France,

that a Temple for our church is to be built close to this area of Versailles!

VERSAILLES-SUN KING'S PALACE

2011-10-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Historic Verailles is the beautiful, restored palace of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

What started as a modest hunting lodge was expanded into the world's most famous palace,

a model for the future European Palaces.

PARIS, FRANCE

2011-10-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

PARIS, FRANCE

2011-10-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of the" City of Light!"! I was just not expecting it
to be so huge! I was totally WOWED!! We only went to the second floor, but what a total
AWESOME view!!!

A miniture Statue of Liberty in the forground that the U.S. gave to France.

The tunnel where Princess Diana was in the car accident is not to far from
here & we drove through it several times.

We took a River Seine Cruise but were a bit disappointed & pretty glad to get off the boat since Paris was seized by an early heat wave! To hot! Glad to get up on the Eiffel Tower & a breeze. If you go, do it in May!!

Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orleans" is considered a national heroine of France & a

Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the army to several important victories during the Hundred Years War, which paved the way for

the coronation of Charles VII.

PARIS, FRANCE

2011-10-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Jardin de Tuileries is an Italian-style park marked by the influence of the Medicis family,

& was once the backyard of the royalty. We lunched at a little outdoor sandwich shop here &

found another little shop where we watched them make huge crepes & relished our

pick of strawberry! Yum!

Monument of Queen Marie Antoinette.

The Champs-Elysees & the Arc de Triomphe, which commemorates Napoleon's victories.

I was impressed with how wide this street is compared with the small streets in London & Rome.

PARIS, FRANCE

2011-10-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

The Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris, connects the Tuileries with the Champs-Elysees. At it's center is a 32oo years old obelisk transported in the 19th Century from Egypt.

The Notre Dame de Paris is one of the first Gothic Cathedrals ever built. Construction

started in 1163 & lasted almost two decades.

This is the backside of the Cathedral.

PARIS, FRANCE

2011-10-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

The guide pointed out where we could find Quasimodo on the Cathedral.
I would never have found it without that help!

Bridge on the River Seine

The famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France

Beautiful Lake Geneva on the Switzerland & France Border.

GRUYERE, SWITZERLAND

2011-10-13T21:41:00.001-07:00

Loved the quaint looking little village of Gruyere with it's cobblestone streets!

Now that's a WOW of a fireplace!!

GRUYERE, SWITZERLAND

2011-10-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

There were some sky-divers jumping off those mountains above.
It was fun to watch! So much to take in!!

Looking out the Castle's windows to the beautiful gardens &

valley below.

GRUYERE, SWITZERLAND

2011-10-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

This is the delightful hilltop village of Gruyere where we stopped to

climb up another hill to a investigate the village & Castle on top.

Right around in this area we started climbing & winding up, up, up, on a road so narrow

I'd swear no other vehichles would fit on this road little alone us in the big coach!

Yet we passed a good plenty & I swear there could have only been an inch or less

between our vehicles & at a good 80 degree angle! I fully expected to hear some scrapping

anytime! Yikes!! And just when I thought we were near the top, we went up some more

MOUNTAIN, up through JUAN'S Pass!!

This was on our way to Interlaken, Gruyere & Lausanne Switzerland. Breathtaking for sure &

WOW what a view!!

Doesn't that just take your breath away! I could feast my eyes on this all day!

Switzerland is literally sourrounded by a fortress of Mountains guarding it's people.

It would be near impenatrable & very costly to try & overtake it.

No wonder Hitler didn't want to try & invade it during the war! Instead, & we only

found this out after the war, that Hitler made a deal with Switzerland to provide him

with ammunition to fight the war in exchange for their freedom to stay neutral.

LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND

2011-10-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

This is the Lion Monument, a memorial to honor the country's Swiss Guard that are known
for their bravery & loyalty that I talked about earlier.

This is our group from all over!! Eight families from U. S. 2) families from Florida,

1) from New Jersey, 1) from Michigan, us from Arizona, 4) families from California,

4) families from Australia, 3) friends & 1) family from India, a young newly wed couple from the

Phillipines, Luigi our driver & Beatrix our tour guide both from Italia!!

We were entertained at this Restuarant with some yodeling, blowing the alp horn &

some real experts that entertained us with merry melodies on the accordian & traditional

dances while we enjoyed a full 3-course dinner.

LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND

2011-10-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

We took a cruise on the beautiful Lake Lucerne in the early morning when there was a bit of

a chill in the air but we didn't mind at all.

Lucerne is one of Switzerland's finest cities, nestled amid its snowcapped Alps, surrounded by

it's lake, & embellished by the clear mountain waters of the River Reuss. They say the

water is so clean in Lake Lucerne that you can drink it!

PISA, ITALY

2011-10-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

Kelly holding up the leaning tower!!

PISA, ITALY

2011-10-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

FLORENCE, ITALY

2011-10-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

Cute little Pinochio shop. How Italian is that!!

FLORENCE, ITALY

2011-10-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

These are the golden double doors of a church & each sguare on the door depicts a

gosple story out of the Bible. It was Beautiful!!

Our local tour guide. He was a walking library!!

Now that I've traveled a bit I recognize these famous
buildings in pictures all over at home now!

2011-10-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

We thought this was pretty rad!! The hotel we stayed in while in Rome was
the Hotel Fleming!! (Sean & Ashley Fleming's last name)

Infact a street was named Fleming & a building & whole area

had the name attached to it. It doesn't sound Italian, so who

knows how it came to be. Curious????

We could hardly believe it!! The locals park 2 & 3 cars deep along alot of the roadsides so

you can imagine it was kinda a nightmare for Luigi to navigate our big coach through

all of this. One time, on the street of the hotel we couldn't turn a corner down from the

hotel because of the way the cars were parked, we would hit one or the other of the cars

so we had to back clear down the street & take another exit!! Luckily not to many behind

us that day!!

THE COLOSSEUM - ROME ITALY

2011-10-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Besides being used for gladitorial contests, it was used for public spectacles such as

re-renactments of famous battles, dramas based on mythology & the bottom part

could be flooded & they would have mock sea battles.

One of the entrances to the Colosseum.

What I think is to cool is that our church is building the

Rome Temple not to far from here. That's pretty exciting

& historic after all these years!!

THE COLOSSEUM - ROME ITALY

2011-10-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

One of the roads that led into the Colosseum. You can still see the ruts in the rocks
where the chariots drove over them. It was pretty hot that day, just days before
I was using the umbrella for rain! Going in May would have made things much more
pleasurable than June! To hot! To hot!

Construction started in 72 AD under Vespasian & completed in 80 AD under Titus.

Don't those years just blow you away!! WOW!

Considered one of the greatest works of Roman Architecture & Roman Engineering.
More than 2/3rds of the building has been removed. The Colosseum had 50,000-

55-000 seating capacity & was designed for easy crowd disperal; the entire audience

could exit the bldg. in 5 minutes.

There is still tons of excavation going on around the Colosseum.

We were looking anxiously ahead to see our first glimpse of

the Colosseum & this was it!!

ROME, ITALY

2011-10-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

The most famous of the Roman fountains, is Treve Fountain. Romans prided themselves
for the availablity of water distribution throughout the city through a system of aquaducts,
and where-ever these aquaducts came together it was a tradition to build a fountain.! So
beautiful fountains all over the city & very pretty all lit up at night! We signed up for a
night tour of the city & ending up with dining in a Roman Restuarant that didn't start till
9:00 p.m. & got seranaded by a couple of musicians. One of them was a very famous
Italian flutist & was he ever good!! Wish I could of gotten one of his C.D.'s Mama Mia was
he good!! Could of listened all night!! They like to eat late!!
Me & Napolean!!

Wouldn't you know they closed Vaatican City the day we were in town because the

Pope decided to show himself. I had noticed earlier in the day all these Brides & Grooms

just walking all over the streets toward this area. That's where they were headed, to

receive a blessing from the Pope.

This is one of the entrances to Vatican City & those guys in blue are the SWISS GUARD.

Kelly said he didn't like getting his picture taken. But they are known for their military

prowess & trustworthiness & guard Vatican city & were hired to guard Nobility in olden

days.

ASSISI, ITALY

2011-10-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

Lauren says her Italian ancestors families are all from this area.

We stopped in Assisi for lunch & some hiked up the hill to a Famous Cathedral. Kelly & I

& another couple from Alabama opted for a liesurely lunch, best pulled pork, lettuce & tomato sandwich I've had in a long while, Yummm! I'd read a book about the travels

of a Medieval Queen & her entourage who traveled from France down through Italy over

mountains & hills on horseback & kind of a hand-carriage like the Chinese used. She was

well along with child & stopped in this city to have her baby & convalesce, before resumming

her journey south, so it was pretty interesting to actually be here.

VENICE, ITALY

2011-10-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

Venice Gondola rides & beautiful blown glass figurines.
We had recently watched the movie "Tourist" with Angelina Jolie

& Johnny Depp & looks just like this. I thought it was a pretty

good movie too!!

THE FLOATING CITY OF VENICE, ITALY

2011-10-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Italians are known & famous for their clothing designs & and these

stores caught my eye as we were waiting in line to exchange some

money. You can't see it but the name of the store right next to this one was "Rinaldi", which was the name of the street Aunt Ruth Bown lived on in California hence it got my attention &

brought back fun memories at her home.

This is our fun tour guide, Beatrix, she spoke French, Italian, German & English!

She's german & italian & she lives in Rome & does many different tours.

Here we are waiting for our boat to take us out to the floating city of Venice.

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA

2011-10-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

We overnighted in Innsbruck. Kelly & I took a stroll along this river after dinner that
evening. It was pretty interesting, the river water was white!

A cute family from Michigan that was on the tour with us.

Our Coach!!

TOP OF THE ALPS IN AUSTRIA

2011-10-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

We wound up, up, up, through the breath-taking beautiful Austrian Alps to a rest stop at

the top.

GERMANY - RHINELAND - INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA

2011-10-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

We went up to the very front of the boat & just let the wind blow through our hair. It was

rather chilly but we didn't care, it felt good after being in our Arizona summer heat!

There were castles all along both sides of the river, so many I lost track of the count!!

We traveled clear across Germany & wound down, down, down through some gorgeous

green mountains to the Rhineland & took a Scenic Rhine River Cruise with vistas of

hilltop castles.

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND

2011-10-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

This is a bicycle riding city!! All of those are bicycles in the background. They have
bike lanes right along side the sidewalks & you have to beware if you are a pedestrian &
want to cross over the bike lane so as not to get hit by a bike because they have the
right of way.

They have many beautiful buildings & Cathedrals, & lots of tall blond beautiful people, but it was
sad for me to hear that hardly anyone goes to church anymore & they are turning all
their Cathedrals into Museums. And they were the first country to vote for or sanction gay marriage.

We enjoyed a canal cruise & went by the house that Anne Frank & her family hid in for 2 yrs.

from the Nazis during World War II. And here's where Anne Frank wrote her diary that

is the most published book, second only to the Bible. The only member to live through & return

after the war was the father. The house looks like one of these houses here. These houses have big hooks in the walls that they use to hoist up furniture & take through the windows because

there hallways are to small.

We took a 9 story ferry across the English chanel from Dover to Calaise, France.

When getting ready to dock, we couldn't hear our instructions & found ourselves lost on the bottom

2 decks of the ferry in a sea of Tour Buses they call Coaches!! There must of been 200+ of them.

Oh my goodness we thought we were going to miss our connection, but Kelly in his

craziness, started repeating "Make Way for the Queen!" as we made our way back up the stairs

against masses of people coming down, everyone smiled or chuckled & let us by!! What a hoot!!

2011-10-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Queen Elizabeth's apartments, at Windsor Castle.

LONDON & WINDSOR CASTLE

2011-10-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

They were in the process of changing the guard at Windsor Castle & I went out there &
stood by the guard, thank goodness nobody went for the guns! All young fellows they were!!

You can't see the top of that pole on the Castle but they fly a flag on that pole

if the Queen is in resident & she was there on this day. This is said to be her favorite

Castle & she was down at the Ascot horse races in the area at the time. Like in the movie "My Fair Lady" with Audrey Hepburn. Unlike you might think

the Castle consists of two seperate buildings the ones on the left are the Business &

Social part of the Castle & the ones on the right is the Queen's private apartments with

it's own separate entrance. The one's on the left they open for touring most of the time

& close when they have special functions. Lots of different beautiful halls & a ginormous library!!

Huge beautiful paintings & portraits hung all over the walls. A ginormous knights hall with

coat of arms all over walls & cieling. A special Blue Knights Hall.

I didn't take pictures we were on a pretty rushed schedule & I just enjoyed looking and trying to listen to all the history. So, soooooooo much to see & so little time to do it!!

Windsor is where Kate Middleton & William went to College. We could see the campus

from on top of the hill of the Windsor Castle. It's located about 1/2 hr. drive west of London.
Seems all the Castle's are built on the top of a hill or mountain, of course stratigically built

for protection. But my oh my what a climb!!! Lots of walking & stairs.

This is Westminster Abbey where Kate & William were married. This is one of the side

views.

Big Ben & the Red Eye in the background. It was

raining off an on this day so it's cloudy but I loved the

cool weather.! We stayed in a Hotel right by Hyde Park

and took a stroll there one evening.

This is the Parliament Building, it was closed when we got there

so we went to look at Westminster Abbey, had a nice lunch & visited the Queen Victoria &

Prince Albert Museum & to tired to go back to see Parliament Buildings.

Food was very expensive in England, I said no wonder everyone is so thin, plus they

bike alot & ride the Tube, so lots of exercise. One thing that surprized me that the

guide told us was that England never recovered it's former wealth & glory after World War II

& they barely finished paying off their war debt to the United States 2 yrs. ago. Wow, I

had no idea!!

GREENWICH, ENGLAND

2011-10-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

After our Leeds, Dover, Canterbury & Greenwich visits traveling on the coach we are getting ready to board our boat for our cruise on the Thames River back up to London. Where to
our surprize, not having been told ahead of time, that our tour ended back in the middle
of London & we were to find our own way back to our hotels!!! I thought it was an English
joke, but it turned out to be for reals!!! So......we took a deep breath & said let's go try to
find an underground tube station which luckily we had ventured into trying out the day
before so we were successful in making it back ok!! It was on hands ADVENTURE!!!!

That's the Queen's Palace behind me where Henry VIII &

Anne Boelyn lived when they were first married in their

happier days & where Queen Elizabeth was born.

The Queen's Palace gates.

These are the famous White Cliff's of Dover where we stopped

and had nice lunch at a on the beach restuarant. The beach itself

was pure 1-2 inch rocks, kinda hard to navigate & easy place to

break an ankle. I guess because it's in the chanel the huge waves

of the open ocean don't get in here to break them up. The guide assured

us they had many other beautiful beaches elsewhere in England!!

CANTERBURY, ENGLAND

2011-10-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

m Canterbury is the second most visited city in England & the site of the

assasination of Archbishop Thomas a Becket in the 12th century. I was

glad to hear that Henry VIII didn't order it but that 4 knights seeking to

gain favor with the King took it upon themselves. The tour guide told

us to give us an idea how old this Cathedral is, that it was built before

Chrisopher Columbus discovered America. You could see where the

stone on the stairs was worn in concave pattern where so many people

have walked over the years.

LEEDS CASTLE IN KENT, ENGLAND

2011-10-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Castle Apartments where Henry VIII's entourage of people & guests lived that traveled

around with him whenever they moved from one Castle to another. They had many

Castle's in England & they would pack up & all move to a different castle where there

would be new game to hunt to keep them all fed. They hung huge colorful tapestries

on hooks in the walls of the Castle to give it warmth & color, then they would take them

down, roll them up & take them to the next Castle. The guide said an entourage of 5,000

people lived & moved around with him. He became a great hunter & enjoyed helping

to provide for all of them.

Leeds Castle in Southern part of England called Kent.
Our Ancestors on the Whetten/Hatch line came from this area.
This is the line we have recently discovered goes clear back to the French Kings

& Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

European Highlights Tour June 2011

2011-10-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

The London Museum

White Tower Of London

We flew out of Detroit Michigan to Heathrow in London.
Stayed in London 4 days investigating the city. We learned

how to hop the tube on the red, yellow or green lines &

how to mind the GAP!!

2011-09-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

A good part of one day was spent taking turns riding the horses which brought back fond
memories of Mexico, Pacheco days in the Mountains & Mom & Dad Cluff.

2011-09-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

Lots of backyard lounging, playing ball, jumping on trampoline, arm wrestling contests, huge toy room, huge game room with big screen T.V. Pool table, fooze ball, & ping pong table. Soooo....

lots to keep the 21 grandkids entertained. Lots of YUMMY food, a family photo shoot, thank-you

Lauren!! CHEEZ everyone!! We're quite a group now!!
And just enjoying each other, cousin time, recalling old memories & making new ones. And

not to forget SPECIAL mention, just enjoying a reprieve in the pines I love & the COOL!!

Shaun entertaining & challenging the girls to "Minute To Win It" activities!!

2011-09-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

Vining Family Reunion - Heber Cabin June 2011

2011-09-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

I'm back! Wow! Where did the summer go?????? It's been busy, busy, one thing
right after the other!!! Lot's of catching up to do.

Brittney, Chris & family were able to come in May-June for a Vining Family Reunion.

We were lucky to be able to rent a Mansion of a Cabin where all of us could stay &

be together. Thank you Jon!! We all had a great time riding these all terrain vehicles & went to see a site nearby where they are building a new girls camp.

Eden Vining's Preschool Graduation - May 2011

2011-05-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Lauren & Emalyn are missing because poor little Emalyn went into the hospital that

morning with bronchial, ashma, pneumonia type symptoms. So we supported Eden &

Shaun at Eden's cute little preschool graduation & party then followed Shaun into St. Joseph's

hospital to see how little Emalyn was doing. Shaun took lots of pictures of graduation to show Lauren.
Sorry, my pictures didn't turn out to good, or rather my sorry pictures didn't turn out to good!

The kids filed in to music & took their places on the little stand, did the pledge of alligence & sang

three cute songs, & did a little play about "The Rainbow Fish". All the other (other fish were

one solid color)

fish admired the Rainbow fish's shiney rainbow color scales & one by one they each came by & asked if they could please have one of his shiney scales so they could be pretty like him.

As each fish approached him, one by one, he said "no"to each & then finally relents &

shares one of his scales to one of the fish. Then later the other fish each come by again & ask if they can have one too, this time he says "yes" & gives one of his pretty scales to each fish. In the end it makes him happy & all the other fish happy as well, because now they shine a little

like the Rainbow fish.

KING CHARLEMAGNE

2011-05-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Because of our recent discovery that our ancestory leads back to the French Kings &
Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor, I was reading a little bit of history & came
across a couple of interesting stories about him. Charlemagne tried hard to learn how to
write but he left it very late. So it is extraordinary that the form of writing we still use today
owes its existence to him. Until about AD800, writing was all in capital letters with no punctuation and with the words all running together, which created a great deal of confusion. Under quidance from his teacher, Alcuin, Charlemagne set up writing schools in the monasteries. There, the monks developed Caroligian minuscule----capital and lower case letters, punctuation and separated words--the form of script you are reading at this moment. The monks had to practise their new skills on something, and it's thanks to the writing schools that 90 per cent of the Latin works we have now survived at all.
(Our ancestry leads back to him through the Whetten-Hatch line & the Hatch line is listed as the 49th largest LDS family)

Also: CHARLEMAGNE & The fasting Bishop
A truly great king, Charlemagne chastized by example rather than punishing outright.
A bishop staying at the palace once criticized him for eating early each day in Lent, which was not strictly allowed by the Church. Keeping calm, Charlemagne patiently told the bishop that he agreed with him and he was right, but then Charlemagne informed the bishop that he would henceforth be the last person to be served during his stay at the palace. At every meal the
bishop had to wait until the nobles, the commanders, the courtiers and the officials had all been served before he was finally given his food. After many hungry days, Charlemagne asked the bishop, "Do you now understand that I eat early not from greed, but in consideration for those who have to wait?

Celebrating Mother's Day Brunch at "Morning Glory Cafe"

2011-05-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

Thanks Brittney for the cute flower rings!! We had a wonderful brunch at the Morning
Glory Cafe` at South Mountain. When we were standing around waiting for each to
arrive I was handing out the rings you sent me & some ladies from the Purple Hat Club stopped by
to inquire about the rings, I guess we looked like we were having fun!! And one lady
came by later to get more info on your rings. Luckily Lori & Michelle knew you had
a website, it was new news to me. You busy creative girl!! We missed you, but were
thinking about you & thank you, thank you for your thoughtfulness! We can't wait to
see you soon!! We'll have some fun while you're here!!

I don't know what happened to my picture of you other three.
I was sure I took one, but it wasn't there. Bummer. Thank-you for all your
well wishes & thoughtful gifts. It was fun just getting together & my food was good too!

Funny Mother's Day Card! Enjoy!

2011-05-09T10:55:00.001-07:00

Kelly gave me this card!! We remember!

Sorry I didn't get a very clear picture of these, but

here's what the fine writing says: * Billy's giant shoes are touching my side!! * My rubber

nose fell off! * Mom! He sneezed on my cotton candy!! * I've gotta pee!! * Quit miming me!

Sounds awfully close doesn't it!! Ha! Ha!

At the Farm at South Mountain

2011-05-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Love the Hollyhocks, they remind me of my little grandma
Amanda Cluff when I was growing up!

Little Evelyn Noelle & Ashley

More Of My Blooms!

2011-04-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

My Bloomin' Rose & Flower Garden

2011-04-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Wow! I am so pleased how my rose bushes are blooming this spring, I only planted them

last year & they looked so dead after the summer heat, I wondered if they'd ever bloom

again, but what-la, here's the proof!! It's been so fun to get up in the mornings & count

the buds & then see them slowing open up & more & more appear!! I sorta feel like the

successful farmer must feel when he sees a good crop!! Now if the affids won't decend on them!

I know I have to thoroughly enjoy them now because I know all to well what comes after

our short spring!! Everytime we come & go we get a wonderful whiff of fragrance when

walking by!! What beautiful creations!! Just have to watch out for the prickly's!!

Seth & Kimberly Allen's Carnival Wedding Reception

2011-03-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

G. Kelly & darling Evalyn, little sunflower girl!

We enjoyed being in the temple with Seth & Kimberly at their sealing a couple of

weeks ago. And later at their fun Carnival Reception. It was a kids haven with two

of those enclosed jumping contraptions, (?) a couple of rows of game booths, cotton candy,

bubble scone dessert with Ice Cream & frozen strawberries & dancing. I resisted the

dessert until the very end, then I saw Kelly eating cotton candy & I caved in & had

some of that yummy scone dessert!!! Self control went out the window! Dreggs!

But it sure was good! Kelly & Melanie Cluff cousins & their spouses came down for

the reception. Seth & Alisa got to see them at Alisa's wedding in Salt Lake in December.

They took pictures of guests for their Memory & Guest book & we

each got one to take home. Cute Idea!! Always wish I got more

pictures. To busy gabbing!

Baby Evalyn Noelle Fleming's Blessing Day

2011-03-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

Megan Crook & Baby Evalyn

Blue eyed girls!

Baby Evalyn Noelle Fleming's Blessing Day

2011-03-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Such a beautiful little girl!

Adorable!

Eden Vining's 5th Birthday Party!

2011-03-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

We went to Eden's birthday party in Feb. that was held at, I believe it was called
McCormick Ranch Park in north Scottsdale. Very nice park with a nice
kids Train Ride & and a Carousel which the kids got to do twice. Joyce &
I," the grands," even took the ride with the kids. We just happened to hit it right at
the time a class arrived from Payson area & they all had to sit together
so our little party ended up sitting separate all over, but that was ok.
I was just kinda surprized that schools were allowing field trips like that
anymore with all the budget cuts & especially so far from their home.

The kids got to do the "pinata thing" only this was different
then what I'm use to. Instead of hitting the pinata, there are
alot of ribbons hanging down from the bottom of the pinata & the kids get
to take turns pulling the ribbons until they hit the one that
pulls it open. I like the hitting thing better, but I guess this
is safer for the kids.

G. Kelly with little Emilyn Vining!

Lots of little boy friends, & it was such a beautiful day!!

Hardly seems possible Eden is 5 years old now!! Yikes!

Crook Grandkids Visit

2011-02-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

Backtracking a bit, the day after Christmas the Crook Grandkids came over & stayed with us for a couple of days while Lori & Jim celebrated their 20th Anniversary! Here's a few of the things we did on their visit to stay busy.
1. The kids picked grapefruit & oranges.
2. Megan & Caley went outdoors to practice their skills at photography, therefore a few
pictures of me posing for Megan. Good job Megan!!
3. We promised the kids we'd take them to see "Tangled" so we all loaded up in two
vehicles because we wouldn't all fit in one of our vehicles & were off to the movies!! They
said their favorite part was all the lanterns or lights in the sky at the end!!
Cute movie!! Then picked up pizza & pop on the way home.
4. We were planning a hike up Carver hill, but Annika came down sick & the older girls still had
had coughs after just being sick themselves, so we cancelled that.
5. The girls & I put together the puzzle I got for Christmas of a Hawiian beach scene, where
we'll wish we could be a little later this year or anyplace like it!!
6. We played several board games, & other: Banana Grahams, Scategories & Chicken Foot
with the Dominoes.
7. I taught them how to play "Anti-I-Over" that we use to play with my kids when they
were growing up at Lori's suggestion. You divide up in teams, one team on either side
of the house, one throws a small rubber ball over & the others have to fetch it then run
on either side of the house & try to tag members of the other team. Which can either
then be out or have to join their team, according to how you set the rules ahead of time.
Only we couldn't find a rubber ball so were trying to play with Ryans' new bat & wiffle
ball set & that wiffle ball had so many holes in it the wind made it hard to get over the
house. Megan was pretty good at it. I resorted to batting it over with Ryan's bat! Hit
the window several times, oops!! Ryan (age 3) was a great cheerleader, "hit it harder"
Grand-Vona!!
It can really get the blood flowing, keeping up with the grandkids is more than a trick!! I
broke Ryan's ball so Kelly gave him one of his harder pickle balls, and we played on!!
8. Watched some T.V. And the kids played with some of their Christmas gifts! Wha la!!
Happy 20th Anniversary Lori & Jim!! Hardly seems possible!

Crook Grandkids Visit

2011-02-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

I liked this photo because right above my head on the Christmas

Tree is a picture of our favorite Temple in Mesa where we were

married. (A few older pictures)

I liked this picture with all the pretty poinsetias!!

I guess the tall Cactus-like structures are suppose to represent

the deserts of Arizona but made for quite an interesting picture

that captured my eye!! Unique!

This was Ashley's first big trip out after having little baby Evalyn!

They came over to have dinner with us.

The Fleming girls!! Won't those girls have a fun time playing

together in a few years!! Meanwhile enjoy cuddling them while

their little!! Ashley's looking great!!

All in all it was a pretty busy season starting with baby Evalyn's birth & Ashley's

re-coop time after having a surprize C-section. Then the busy Thanksgiving &

Christmas season & on top of that Alisa's bridal shower & Reception & Caitlin Dorn &

Chelsea Dorn, & Ibis Cluff baby showers, one right after the other. Kept us hopping.

The Cluff decendents are being blessed abundantly!!

January In A Nutshell

2011-02-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

1. Under the weather for a couple of weeks.

2. Cleaned out a couple of closets & took clothes to D.I.

3. Jury duty watch on th 14th & 15th. Was released, whew!

4. Tri-ward Service Project making bracelets & earings for New Leaf, a women's organization
to help women in need get back into the workforce.
5. 14th, My Birthday. Kelly baked me a 2 layer round chocolate cake with large walnuts
covering the top. He knows I love nuts, wow! I was impressed and he splurged & took me
to Ruth's Chris Steak House on Camelback for a lovely candle-light dinner out where I
got to dress up! It was great, but we decided we're partial to Flemings where we
went on one of our Anniversaries in the past.
6. I Read: "Before My Heart Stops" a memoir by Paul Cardall. I was born with Half a
Heart, God made up the difference.
Wow! What a story! I had no idea. I looked up a couple of his recording's he did while
going through this life experience. I really like "Miracles" & my favorite is "Gone Home"
which are on my Blog playlist & I play it over & over lately.

I read: "Dinner At Mr. Jefferson's by Charles A Cerami. Three men, Five Great Wines, &
The Evening That Changed America. Great Read!

I read: "The General & The Jaguar" Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa. A True Story of
Revolution & Revenge, by Eileen Welsome. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Wow! Very educational & I learned alot about events that were alot bigger than I
thought they were & happened in alot of the areas I have traversed. I didn't realize
how huge General Pershings expedition into Mexico was or all the details. No idea they
used 5 airplanes in the expedition & the interesting tales of them & their experiences.
It was not to long after airplanes were newly invented & they were described more like
flying crates. My son-in-law Jon, would find this interesting & perhaps Becky's Steve
Dorn, who is training to be a pilot. What an adventure!!
Also a young George Patton was one of the generals accompaning Pershing & was frothing
at the bit to catch Pancho Villa & pursue him further into Mexico, when they weren't
allowed to go any further.

7. Worked 4 hrs. at Deseret Industries stocking shelves.

8. Went to the "Wildflower Bread Company" w/daughters & Lauren celebrating our
Birthdays. (Vona's. Michelle's & Lauren's.) Two hours flew by with all our chatting!!

9. Oh, & Kelly & I did an endowment session at the Temple taking two of our family names
through & Kelly afterwards, did the Baptism for his Dad's older brother Lloyd Richard
Vining, that we researched recently & finally found info after 15 yrs. of looking.
Kelly came out just a whistling, he was so pleased!
Also, an unknown cousin of Kelly's, James (Jim) Coates contacted us by E-mail through
my hotmail e-mail address that I had left when I submitted some names for Temple
work over 15 yrs. ago & I haven't changed it & he came across it. So he & Kelly have
been E-mailing back & forth & he also called & he & Kelly had a nice long visit catching up on
how they connect & the family's histories. It's been quite fun!!
It just so happen's that the 15 family names we have been working on this past year is
this Coates family line, & Kelly just went thru for James Coates Grandfather or G.G.
this last temple visit. And we're tickled to find out Jim (he goes by Jim) joined the church & is active & has
two children ages 7 & 9 & lives in San Jose California. We've discovered one other of the
decendents has joined the church & lives in Utah. Exciting stuff!

And that's a rap for now. Ohhhh P.S. Ask Michelle about her B-day ride present!
Would you believe an Airplane ride doing Aerobatic manuvers in the sky!! Yikes!!
She's always been thrilled by roller coaster rides, so she was game!!!
Pretty daring eh? Jon's into this lately. He always wanted to be an airline pilot or
fly planes. She said the flying strait was fun because you are seated inside the
plane (those kind that are open & with double wings) only about waist down but well haltered & belted in & you can feel the air in your
face & hair & can see great vistas & then stuff started getting pretty interesting! She
said she made it through about 7 manuvers, then started getting a little queasy. Okie
dokie done!! I'd say she earned some flying stripes!!

Well now this really is a rap!!

Our Vining Christmas Gathering 2010

2010-12-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

2010-12-20T17:10:00.000-08:00

2010-12-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

2010-12-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

Our Vining Christmas Gathering

2010-12-20T15:45:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving Table Setting!!

2010-11-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well once again, I'm always to busy to get a picture of the food spread or pictures of

the family except for these two. We had 23 family members present this year.

Ten adults & 13 children. It fills up my home. We had lots of yummy food, good

visiting & being surrounded by family is the best & contemplating our bounteous

blessings!! Thank you for being such a great family!! Oh & we had some fun playing

a good ole game of Croquet afterwards. It's sort of a family tradition now!! That or

Bocce!!

FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale and tree and flow'r,

Sun and moon and stars of light,

Lord of all to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild,

Lord of all to thee we raise

This our hymn, of grateful praise.

I'm thankful for all of the above!! I led our women's choir in this hymn for our ward

conference sacrament meeting & was pleased it turned out well. And helping out with

Ashley's family & baby Evalyn. And that's what I've been doing lately!! I also just

passed indexing 15,000 names for family search indexing & well on my way to 16,000

mark. My goal was 5,000. So wow! I guess it's become a habit now!!

Thanksgiving Time Dinner & Blessings!

2010-11-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

And this is the newest bundle of sweetness! She has the cutest coo's!!

This is my lovely new dining set that I promised to blog about awhile back!

Acutually we've had it for about 3 months but some of the family are seeing it

for the first time & we had our first Thanksgiving Dinner around it!!

I love the patterns in the woodwork & the look of the wood grains. It's called "The Madrid"

Big Sister - Little Sister! Emmery & Evalyn

2010-11-25T06:27:00.000-08:00

Emmery's first time to hold her little baby sister Evalyn. She lit up like a light-bulb, she was so pleased!!!

Won't they have fun growing up together! I can just see them in a few years!!

Our little November girl! She was born on Kelly's brother Terry's birthday!! November 10th!

We bought her a newborn outfit & it was almost to little. She was a pretty big baby!!

Newest Heaven sent blessing! Baby Evalyn

2010-11-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

2010-11-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

Newest Arrival! Baby Evalyn Noelle Fleming - Born Nov. 10 2010

2010-11-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

The Happy Fleming family on new baby Evalyn's arrival!! Evalyn weighed 8lbs & 14oz. barely short of 22 inches.

Ashley looks great! She was pretty drugged up after having to have a "C" section with

this little one who decided to do a flip flop the last week before delivery. But I guess

now-days if one goes into labor & the baby is breach it is an automatic "C" section.

Mom & baby are doing fine, just need a little recoop time!!

Sean says he's pretty tough as nails, but after this one he had to have a little sit down!

My Diaper Cake Creation!!

2010-10-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

The finished product after all the attempts. I thought it turned out quite lovely don't
ya think? I was finally pleasantly pleased. Sigh!!!! It's always nice to say, done.............!!!!We were in the process of planning a baby shower for Ashley & I had gone to a little
boutique place we had visited earlier after our Mother's Day Luncheon in May. I had
wanted to go back & get an antique silver platter I had seen there. Well the platter
was gone........ but I had fun looking around anyway & I saw a diaper cake similar to this
but it was done in greens & different flowers, so I thought OH, maybe I could try to
make one of those for a table decoration for the shower. So I had fun searching for
the items & Wha-la!!!!! Well it wasn't that easy. I called all the girls asking where I could
find some diapers that were mostly white on one side after purchasing three or four
packages of diapers that tuned out to have all kinds of characters & colors on them.
So Ashley made out getting extra diapers!! I finally cut strips out of white trash bags &
triple folded them & tapped them around the layers to give it the whiter look & that
did the trick!!!

Oh........& it's sitting on my new dinning table in case you don't recognize it & I'll

blog about it later & get some good pictures. Another project done!!! Shopping for

a new dinning set!!!

Here's a close-up details, I wanted you to see the cute polka dot ribbon.....!!

Wow!! It's been a long while since I blogged. We got a new computer tower, and eveything

had to be swithched over. And everything looked different & when I downloaded my

pictures I couldn't find them for awhile so hence I'm way behind & will have to catch

up a little bit later!!!!

June Florida-Georgia Vacation - Part 2

2010-08-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

We went down to check out the beaches a found that the media kinda over played
the tar-ball hazzard. We checked several beaches in Panama City & Seaside north of
Panama City & we didn't see any tar balls or they had been well cleaned up. The only
problem was the hurricane to the west in the Gulf made for red-flag days with strong
undertows so one couldn't get very far into the water. The waves were coming crashing
in at 10-12 feet high & the water was all churned up!! But we still caught some nice
cloud covered days at the beach enjoying the waves, beaches & watching (the section
where we were at) a ton of the very experienced surfers having a great time riding
the big waves!!!

And one evening we went out to a nicer restuarant "The Shrimp Boat" down on the warf
for our 40th anniversary to celebrate!! Wow! Hardly believeable. We were daring, and tried a
Halibut dish & I mean they brought out the whole fish on the dish minus the head!
Yummy potatoes & Asparagus! Halibut is the less fishy tasting!! Truly initiated warf eaters!!
Then strolled the warf!

Here we are at Pineapple Willey's down on Panama City Beach where I here the

O'bamas came in August after our vacation, to show the Beaches were fine!!

Thursday when we got home from the movies, Patty said she had taken a fall inside Target

Store. She was pretty shook up & very badly bruised, we didn't know if she'd broken any

bones & we asked if she wanted to go to emergency? She said no she would take pain

pills & go back to using crutches & still wanted to make the trip to Georgia the following

day for McCades baptism. Bummer, really kinda put a damper on our fun, but she

braved the trip & we had a nice Baptism for McCade & Patty mostly sat around & was taking

strong pain pills. So we cut our visit short & only stayed until church was over on sunday & decided to drive back to Florida to get her to a Doctor for a thorough check-up.

We did get to have a kinda-fun " old southern experience" on Saturday morning! Chris took

Kelly & I out to this little country small shack resturant for Sausage, Gravy & Biscuits he'd

been raving about. He said most week-ends you can catch some muscians that come there

to entertain. It's a mostly take-out food because it's so small inside, only four tables &

people were shoulder to shoulder crowded & standing in line for ordering. We were lucky &

caught the musicians there crowded over in one corner strumming away!!! A banjo, three

quitars & a base viol player. Some good ole ho-down country music!! Forget dressing up, ha!

The base viol player had on some old jeans that were torn a quarter inch at each back pocket!!

A table opened up & we stayed a bit & enjoyed our yummy Gravy & Biscuits & some good

old southern music!! Took take out home to others!!

And we did go out for an enjoyable steak dinner with Chris & Brittney saturday evening!

Short & sweet visit! On the way home we ran into a crash, boom, bang, rainstorm that

made us hold up at an Old Restuarant! We ate by the window & watched a downpour

& lightning & thunderstorm I haven't seen the likes of in ages!!! The lightning strikes &

thunder got closer & louder to the point I was ducking my head & shoulders & wanting

to hit the deck!! Wow! What a display!!

Home safe, the doctor said there were no fractures, only really bad bruises that would

take her awhile to recoup from. Best news!!

Florida Vacation - Part 1

2010-08-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

2010-08-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

On Thursday it was McCade's 8th birthday. We decided to celebrate by all going to a movie.
He chose Toy Story 4 in 3-D. So there we all were with our glasses. The kids really seemed
to enjoy themselves. I think the funniest part & where the whole audience was laughing the
loudest is where Mr. Potatoe head lost his main body part & had to use a "tortilla" to put all
of his body parts on in order to get around! What a hoot!!! Interesting, what the kids find
comical!!
Later we made a favorite meal, Chicken Licken Casserole, green beans, rolls, jello & Brittney
made Grasshopper cake as was requested by McCade!! Yummy!!

The kids spied this tortoise & Brittney got elected to pick it up so we could observe it

more closely. Brittney can do it, she's not afraid!!! After releasing it we could often

see it criss-crossing about the lawns, always an object of curiosity! The kids also liked feeding

the fish & "Old Blue" the crab, down by the pond out back.

The kids spend most of their days playing in the pool, brushing up on their swimming skills

& watching movies.

Vacation to Florida & Georgia - Part 1

2010-08-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Brittney's family came down on the week-end & spent a week with us. The news said

the tar-balls had reached the north shore of Panama City, so we packed up drove an

hour south to Tinsdale Beach. The water was nice & warm & the storms held off for

at least most of three hours before it ran us off. We packed a pic-nic & the kids had

a great time braving the waves.

In June we flew into the New Panama City Airport after barely making our connection in Atlanta.

The first week we spent helping out Kelly's mom Patty & Kelly & I enjoyed a Dinner Cruise on the

Lady Anderson cruising around the bay enjoying the music, water & nightlights & yummy

food. But it did rain most of the cruise so we couldn't go up top much to look around & the

band didn't play as much music this time as last for dancing, but it still was an enjoyable

evening.

The Younger Vining Clan!

2010-07-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Cute Parrot Pinata!

2010-07-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

Up On The Rim!!

2010-07-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

The kids enjoyed trying a hand at fishing at Woods Canyon Lake & Jon offered to pay $75 to anyone brave enough to jump in the cold lake & get fully covered by the water, starting with

Lori who's trying to save up funds for taking her whole family to Florida in October! Tee

hee! Remember it was cold up there! She was tempted, but not quite commited & Lauren of

course was ready to get in & we said she wasn't allowed right now.

The kids also enjoyed a hike along the rim, roasting marshmellows, making smores, playing

horseshoes, whacking the pinata & investigating the woods & of course cousin time!!!!

June Vining Campout 2010

2010-07-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

It was COLD, COLD, COLD!!!! We were pretty close to the very rim of the
mountain. Up on the Rim the wind blew all day & kinda settled a little in the evenings! It's
hard to believe it can be so cold up there when it's so dang hot down here in the
Valley!
It was close to being a bit miserable but we bundled up & kept the fire burning.
The camp host said the week before was very comfortable & a year ago same time of
year it snowed a foot! Never can tell what you're gonna get. Last year we went towards
the end of summer & we got rained on big time!!
The travails of camping...... makes one appreciate the pioneers!!! But I still love to be up in
the mountains & the pines. At nights you could see a million stars, sooo........awesome!! Right now I'm almost wishing for that cold again! This heat is a killer! I'm praying for cloud cover & rainy season!.......sigh .... And nothing beats yummy food cooked outdoors... we had fun inspite of the weather!

We debated whether to go ahead with our plans to have the homemade Ice Cream with

our peach cobbler & in the end did!! It was delisssshhhh!! Even if it seemed crazy to be

eating it when we were freezing!

Closing Doors...

2010-07-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Due to security reasons this blog is no longer going to be available to read, sorta. To those who know me and would like to continue reading my blog PLEASE don't hesitate to contact me by email @ vining1947@gmail.com and just simply leave your name and email address. I will gladly send you an invite at my earliest convenience.

Thank you for understanding and I hope you all have safe blogging!

Love,

Vona - Mom

DRAMA & COMEDY AT THE AIRPORT!!!

2010-07-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well we're home!! I should say Kelly barely made it home!!!! Last Saturday afternoon we were
at the new International Florida Beaches Airport trying to check in & make our flight home ....
well I made it through without incident, but Kelly hands them his driver's license I.D. &
they ask him if he has another picture I.D. he doesn't.......they pull him aside for questioning &
the checker says he has to call for a higher up, she comes & checks his driver's license &
asked what happened to his picture??? Kelly said it's just been worn out from carring it. It
seems the whole middle of his picture is nothing but a blurr!! So she takes him away into
her boss's office & more questioning, after much disccusion & hum-hawing they finally decide
to let him go through!! Then get this, they question his carry-on bag & send it through twice,
then pull Kelly aside, they go all through his bag pulling everything out. They take out two
new sandlewood candles that Kelly bought at Target while in Florida, (he likes the smell of them). At this point he's simultaneously looking for his boarding pass & can't find it!!!! Then
I hear his name being called over the intercalm, he apparently dropped his boarding pass &
a checker has found it & calling out his name. Then he retrieves it & back to his bags, they scan the two candles and they set off the drug alarm.....sooooo...they ask Kelly to step behind some
dividers onto a pad in full view of the public & ask him to spread eagle and proceed to give him a full
pat-down!!!! By this time I'm shaking my head & cracking-up!!! I might as well stand back,
chuckle & enjoy the moment!!! (Here I have to admit that my belt buckle & the guy's behind me
set off the alarm so we had to take off our belts & go through again, so we were both over there together putting our belts back on & grinning at Kelly's perdicament). Then back over at Kelly's bags, they wipe off the candles, put them back in &
start going through his other items, apparently Kelly has collected a whole 25 or so little
hotel size bottles of shampoo & creme rinse & other bottles of cream & stuff & they proceed
to throw them out & give him the whole spill about only allowing a sandwich size bag full
of products. Kelly had to just stand there tongue-in-cheek & take it all!! Then they send his bags back through & finally......through
he says to me " do I look like an Arab??????? He says he was thinking he'd just have to
send me on home & take another day to get a Florida driver's license.
Yesterday I saw him ordering another driver's license over the internet!!!!! End of Story!

Gone On Vining Retreat Campout!

2010-06-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

Gone to Florida & Georgia!!!!!!

Volunteer Indexing

2010-06-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm a Volunteer Indexer for Family Search Indexing. I started indexing about 3 mo's ago
when I was hold-up at home recovering from a nose skin cancer surgery. I set a goal for
indexing 5,000 names for this year & I completed & surpassed that goal. I'm at 5,886 names.
Another goal COMPLETED!!!!! Hurray!! I even came across two Vining families from
Pennsylvania & indexed them! That was pretty exciting!!

Cutie Little Miss Emma!

2010-06-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

April Birthdays: Brylee Zweifel the 9th -- Sienna Crook the 18th -- Jim Crook the 25th

May Birthdays: Tanner Gothard the 1st -- C.J. Curby the 19th -- Emma Zweifel the 22nd

Emma's First Birthday!!!

2010-06-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day Luncheon & Boutiques

2010-05-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

We had lunch at "My Florist Cafe" on McDowell & 7th Ave. then had a little fun
checking out the Antique Shops & Boutiques on 7th Ave. just south of Indian School.

OOOOooooo!!! Laaa! Laaaa!

Our Road Trip To Eastern Arizona

2010-05-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

I got a pretty good picture of Superstition Mountain as we were driving back from E.A.
This mountain kinda has special meaning to me because when I was in second grade, one
day during recess I sat down on the steps of our Comb's School Elementery in Queen
Creek where we lived for 5 years from the time I was 5yrs.-10yrs. old & drew a picture
of the Superstition Mountain. My Second Grade teacher Mrs. Collet, was so impressed
with it that she mounted it on blue poster paper & put it up on the board & kept it there
all year. I wasn't expecting that & I remember it made me feel pretty good!!!! Grew
up seeing this mountain & we lived even closer to it than the grade school was. Now Ashley
has moved fairly close to it & I'm thinking, that's pretty cool, whodda' ever thought that
my little granddaughter Emmery would grow up close to the area I was partly raised in!!!!
We wanted to stop and see Ashley but she didn't answer her phone so thought she wasn't
home. Corrina & Tony say Comb's School is still there & live pretty close to it. Becky Dorn
said she ran across it one day when she took a wrong turn looking for Tony's home.

Looks like they put up an old round swing!! How fun! Reminds me of our Easter Day

Picnics up the river in Colonia Juarez, Mexico. The whole ward would go on a big picnic up there, & they always had a big round swing over the river. Great fun for the teenagers. We

teenagers also, all rode our horses up the river to the picnic area together several

miles. They had easter egg hunts & games for the little ones & lots of yummy food for all!!

Fond memories!

This is one of the big ponds on the Cluff Ranch where the town folk used to hold

big outings. The Ash Creek runs through the Ranch. The Wildlife Preserve now

keeps it up & keeps it stocked with fish. Kelly said one of the pictures showed a

Catfish as big as a calf!!!! Huge!!! There's even a boat ramp into this pond.

The creek was running, I guess the snow off the mountain drains into it.

Our Road Trip To Eastern Arizona

2010-05-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Oh shoot! Before downloading these to my computer I viewed them & you could

read these very well but I see now they are pretty hard to read unless you use a

magnifying glass to read them. Hope you have one handy if you are interested.

Our Road Trip To Eastern Arizona

2010-05-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

We ate lunch at a Mexican Restuarant in Safford & afterwards I asked the owner at

the desk if she happened to know where the old Cluff Ranch was & told her I had

Cluff ancestors who had lived there. Guess what? She happened to have married into the

Cluff family & we chatted & she told us we could find the Cluff Ranch about 5 miles south

of Pima taking Main Street south out of town across from the old Museum. One of the

waiters said he grew up there. We stopped at Firestone to get some air in a low tire &

the fellow at front desk also grew up on the Cluff Ranch. So we had a nice chat then headed

out on our high adventure!! It was kinda fun & surprizing to see all those Cluff signs &

going there after reading all the history of what took place there.

Mount Graham makes a nice backdrop behind the temple. I was really impressed with

all the new Magnolia Trees they've planted around the temple. I fell in love with all the

Magnolia Trees in Georgia when we go to visit. The flowers are just beautiful & smell

wonderful also. These trees here will be really pretty when they grow bigger. The couple

who gave the tour through the temple had served a mission near Savannah Georgia so

we had a nice chat with them.

Thursday the 13th we drove down to the Gila Valley Arizona Temple Open House. It really

was good to get out of the city & see some country again, going & coming. A nice scenic

drive. And it brought back alot of memories of our trips going there when Michelle

attended E. A. We used to drive down for her choir & other talent performances. And

now there is a temple there! Wow! I'm happy for them & think our ancestors are

pleased too!

Yep! Still Reading!

2010-05-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

My Reads since my last May Post:

1. June 14, 2009

"All the Sundays Yet To Come"
A skater's journey......by Kathryn Bertine

2. June 24, 2009

" The Oatman Massacre"
A Tale of Desert Captivity and Survival...by Brian McGinty

3. June 30, 2009

"Mothers of The Prophets from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson......
..............by Leonard A. Arrington, S. Arrington Madsen & Emily Madsen Jones

4. July 1, 2009

"Someday My Prince Will Come"
True Adventures of a Wannabe Princess....by Jerramy Fine

5. July 13, 2009

"More Heart Disease"
How Nitric Oxide Can Prevent, Even Reverse Heart Disease & Strokes --a
program for boasting production of the body's own wonder drug..............
...............by Dr. Louis J. Ignarro -- National Best Seller -- Nobel Laureate in Medicine

6. July 20, 2009

"Cherie Blair" Speaking for Myself
My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street

7. July 30, 2009

"I'm A Stranger Here Myself"
National Bestseller --notes on returning to America after twenty years away.......
.............by Bill Bryson

8. Sept. 1, 2009

"The President's House" (1800 To The Present)

A first Daughter Shares History & Secrets of The Worlds Most Famous Home......
................by Margaret Truman

9. Sept. 25, 2009

" The Doctrine & Covenants" --Jan. 2009--August 2009

10. Sept. 2009

"The Book of Abraham"

11. Sept. 2009

"Joseph Smith - Mathew"

12. Sept. 2009

"Joseph Smith History"

13. October 8, 2009

"The Georgetown Ladies Social Club"
Power, Passion & Politics In the Nation's Capitol
Katharine Graham
Lorraine Cooper
Evangeline Bruce
Pamela Harriman &
Sally Quinn...............by C. David Haymann

14. October 21, 2009

"The Pueblo Revolt"
The Secret Rebellion That Drove The Spaniards Out of the Southwest"

15. November 12, 2009

"Recovering Charles" a Novel ........by Jason F. Wright
New York Times Bestselling Author of The Wednesday Letters & Christmas Jars

16. January 12, 2010

"The Undaunted" .........by Geral N. Lund
Bestselling Author of "The Work & The Glory" The Miracle of The Hole In The Rock
Pioneers --a Historical Novel

17. January 26, 2010

"The Music Room" ........by Namita Devidayal -- "A Memoir"

18. March 11, 2010

"Target"
Caught In the Crosshairs of Bill & Hillary Clinton.........by Kathleen Willey

19. March 15, 2010

"Not Even My Name" ...........by Theo Halo
from a Death March In Turkey To A New Home In America, A Young Girl's True
Story of Genocide & Survival

20. March 19, 2010

"In The Name of Honor"............by Mukhtar Mai
With Marie Thereise Cuny -- translated by Linda Coverdale

21. April 15, 2010

"Fair Game" My Life as a Spy. My betrayal by the White House..........
...................by Valerie Plame Wilson -- afterward by Laura Rozen

22. April 22, 2010

"Might As Well Laugh About It Now" -- New York Times Bestselling Author
....................by Marie Osmond with Marcia Wilkie

23. May 6, 2010

"The Seventeen Traditions" ..........by Ralph Nader

And that's a wrap for now!!!

Shower for Lauren & Baby Vining

2010-04-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

Our girlie time!!

2010-04-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

Most fun game: Sorting baby sock duals!!! Ibis was the winner with 16 pairs in 15 seconds!!!
Joyce said she thinks she cleaned Target out of baby socks!! So cute!!

Baby Shower held a bit early so Joyce (mom) & Sandy (aunt) could participate before

they leave for Michigan & Oregon. A good girlie time had by all!

Lauren & Baby Vining Shower

2010-04-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

Baby Vining's newly decorated room.

This use to be Shaun's office, now turned into a big closet-playroom.

This is a beautiful crocheted butterfly display of a doilie Lauren's gradma Sickle made.

The new crib is in the garage waiting to be set up a bit later.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

2010-04-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

On our way home from California we decided to take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

It is one of the most unique adventre attractions on earth -- an engineering marvel featuring the world's largest rotating tram cars transporting you on an exciting excursion into nature.

Your spectcular 10-minute, 2 1/2-mile trip begins at the Valley Station, elevation 2,643 feet

and transports you to the Mountain Station, elevation 8,516 feet. During your ascent

you pass through 5 unique life zones, from the Mexican Sonoran Desert to an Alpine wilderness. Along the way, you'll encounter special plants and animals distinct to each zone.

Up top discover an incredible scenic wonderland in Mt. San Jacinto State Park encompassing 54-miles of hiking trails, primitive campgrounds, a ranger station and an adventure center for winter activities during snow season. Amenities include 2 restaurants, cocktail lounge, viewing areas, natural history museum, movie theater and gift shops.

Riding The Aerial Tramway Up The Mountain!

2010-04-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Up! Up! Up! We go & looking way down below!

The tram slowing rotates around so you can get a view from all angles of the side of the

mountain & the valley below. The ride up gives you a bit of a thrill!!! I felt alot more

sure of the equipment though, being in the U.S. I was a little to nervous to ride the tram

up the Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio, in Brazil. Sorry Shaun!! I had heard some say, sometimes one gets stuck on top

for a while if the wind starts to blow. I knew we had to make it to the airport that afternoon,

so because of me we opted to eat at a Shuhasqueria Restuarant overlooking the oceon

instead. At least now I can say I did the equivalent! I conquered the Palm Springs Aerial

Tramway!!

Way on top of the mountain. Elevation, 8,516 Feet high! Overlooking the valley

way below!

It Was Cold On Top Of The Mountain

2010-04-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

I was trying to take a pictures of ourselves & tried three times but thought
it didn't take but later discovered it took pictures afterall! So here we are!

Somone noticed & offered to take this picture! Snow??? Can you believe it? We had

to put on jackets & zip them up!!! Nice & crisp up on top!!

After you get on top there are trails you can hike down, down, down, on the other side of the

mountain. The only thing you have to remember is if you hike down, you've got to hike back

up which isn't as easy. I saw quite a few people huffing & puffing on there way back up.

It's a steep climb!!

This is where Kelly sat down & was surprizingly lazy, he didn't even want to hike

down one or two or three levels! I, at least tried three levels. The weather was

beautiful crisp & energizing. And you know how I love to be in the pines & mountains.

They give me a natural lift!! Just wish we had time to investigate & hike further!

Kelly said he felt kinda light headed. ??????

The New Redlands Temple

2010-04-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

On our way home from Los Angeles we stopped at Chris & Dick Montgomery's home in
the Redlands. After a short visit we stopped by to see their New Redlands Temple. I love
to see temple grounds they're always so beautiful & of course because they surround a
temple & they just seem to enhance each other & of course temples hold a special place
in our hearts & one feels such a reverence there. The Redlands Temple is built of the
gray granite though which I don't like as well as the white granite. So I think this must
be what the new temple in north Phoenix will look similar to. I think I remember
hearing that the people up there didn't want a stark white temple sticking out, so the
architecs said they would build it with a gray granite so it would'nt be so bright. Trying
to please the people in the area. Me, I like the white granite of the Colonia Juarez Temple,
It looks beautiful in the day & night.

Beautiful, nevertheless!!!

Flowers Along The Way to Los Angeles

2010-04-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

I was really impressed by all the pretty yellow wildflowers along the way on our trip to
L.A. for Aunt Ruth's Funeral. In places there were huge meadows of yellow.

Ruth & Roger Bown had 19 Grandchildren & Three Great Grandchildren

2010-04-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

Cary & Allison Bown Nielsen family.

2010-04-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

The Bown Family

Aunt Catherine & some of her kids & spouses. Jeff, Scott, Melanie &

Jennie & some of their spouses all drove down together in a suburban &

had a good visit on the way.

Brad & Lisa Bown Lockhart & family.

Mike & Marsha Bown & family.

AAunt Chris & Dick Montgomery, Patty, Roger Bown, Thelma Shinney & Terry & Susie Vining in the background.

We stopped at Aunt Chris & Dick Montgomery's home in the Redlands

on our way home. They live in a 109 yr. old victorian home. It was very quaint & interesting.

They have acquired alot of antique furniture pieces & posessions of Grandma & Grandpa

Montgomery's & have them displayed in their home. They even took out and old fireplace

from the huge old home on Jefferson in Ogden Utah where Grandma & Grandpa used to live

and had several boarders. And they've built it into their home surrounded by a whole wall

of book shelves. I remember Grandma Montgomery taking us to the old home to visit when Kelly & I were first married. They no longer lived there but knew the people who did.

Forest Lawn Memorial - Hollywood Hills

2010-04-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ruth Montgomery Bown - April 7, 1932 - March 31, 2010 Beloved wife of Roger Lee Bown

We spent thurs. thru saturday out of town to Los Angeles for Kelly's Aunt Ruth's funeral.

Patty Vining flew to Salt Lake & traveled down with Terry & Susie. All Ruth's siblings

were able to attend. Patty, Thelma, Dick & Byron. Byron was able to talk Aunt Thelma

into coming down with them even though her husband Richard Shinney had passed only two weeks prior. We stayed at the Radazon Hotel in Granada Hills a 10 min. drive from the

Stake Center where Ruth & Roger attended for years where the funeral was held.

This was a beautiful cemetery & it was a beautiful cool spring day and all the flowers

were in bloom. Mike Bown had to fly home from Switzerland & he was already scheduled

to fly home for a vacation in may.

Byron Montgomery (brother) played "Amazing Grace" on his trumpet as requested by

the family at the cemetery. And this time there were no "tic tacks" caught in his mouth

peice as was the case discovered after he played at Grandma Montgmery's funeral.

He thought his kids had sabotaged his trumpet. As it was he had put his mouth piece

in his pocket & there had been some lose tic tacs in there & one found it's way into the

mouthpiece.

Recipe Box Project

2010-04-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hurray! I finally made order out of my recipe's all crammed into a box to small!! I found
this box for filing scrapbooking items that was just right for all my recipe's. One more
project accomplished. Feels good!!

Basel Cell!?!?!?! Mohs Surgery!?!?!

2010-04-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well a month or so ago when I had Bronchitus & went in to the doctor so I could get some
antibiotics, I happened to mention on my way out that I had this weird bump on my nose
after an abrasion healed on it, my skin just started growing extra cells & made a bump on my nose
like raised scar tissue. I no sooner mentioned it & the doc said, "Oh that's a basel cell, skin cancer
& that if I didn't take care of it , it would grow roots & I could lose half of my nose, if it hadn't
grown roots already. What?? Was I ever shocked!!!! I wasn't prepared for that!!!! So what's
one gonna do?? She referred me to a dermatologist & he took a sample & said they would
test it & get back with me. I prayed & hoped it would turn out to be negative but guess I
was wrong. I got a message to call them & they referred me to a surgeon in way-north
Scottsdale. Try Pinicle Peak Rd!!!! Halfway to Flagstaff I said, I don't sunbath that much
or go to the beach very often & he said where have you lived mostly, Arizona????? Yep!!!
He said, it just adds up from being in the sun from the time you're little! Sooo......here's telling
you to WEAR YOUR SUNCREEN!!! Those who are fair are more likely to get it. The
moisturizer that I"ve worn daily before I put on my make-up for the last 25 yrs. has 15%
SPF, so I thought that would make me safe. Try getting seven shots in your nose, that
ain't fun! Yikes!!! I had to wear this big white bandage on my nose for a whole week.
Makes you sorta feel like you're wearing a dunce hat!! Everyone just sorta grins at you!
I tried several antics of disguise as I ventured out. The blue pollution & virus masks, but
they fogged up my sunglasses big time!! Cut two holes in it so the steam could get out.
Kelly wanted to go out to dinner, so I put two skin toned bandages over the white bandage
to make it less noticeble. It only increased the size of my nose!! So then I began wearing
my dark sun-glasses everywhere, inside & out, at least I felt I was a little bit hidden &
they couldn't look me right in the eye!! Ha! Ha! I tried to take tan bandages off & they
were stuck to the white one so I was stuck with the biggggg nose for the rest of the week!

Sure seemed like the longest.........week. On the bright side, it was kinda nice taking baths
& using sweet smelling bath salts, so as not to get the bandage wet. And I read a thick
book & studied the tutorials for familysearchindexing, signed up & finished several
batches of indexing, 700 names in all this week!! It was fun learning something new.
And I didn't mind at all the long drive
up north to get the bandage offfffffff, It's great! Makes one appreciate. Now I can itch
my nose. Well.....it's time for lights out!

My Rose Garden

2010-03-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

I dug my heart out cutting back the "jack-in-the-bean-stock" Lantana & transplanted it all,
over along the south fence. And these are a sampling of my new Rose Garden bushes & their
blooms. I have several other bushes that are inbetween blooms. But it's been fun watching
each new bud bloom into a full beautiful rose!! Another one of my 2010 projects.

Long-last Change

2010-03-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hurray!!! Ta! da! I finally changed out the old mustardy yellow curtains for these new ones
which was one of 10 things I had on my New Years Resolution List! It felt great to
throw those in the trash! I'd looked around for quite awhile to find ones I liked! I think the
kids might be as happy as I am. Check! Another thing off the list!! I was waiting to see
how observant Kelly was & see how long it took him to notice. I was surprized on about
the 3rd day he mentioned he noticed them! Ha! Ha!