Robert and I had the chance to get away last weekend to small town Utah and it was so nice! We left after work and once we were through all the construction traffic of Utah County, the stress started to loosen up. What was so fun as we drove through so many of the small towns (away from the freeway) like Levan and Nephi and Gunnison were the Christmas decorations. They still have streamers across the streets and nativities in the parks. Lights everywhere - on a very small scale. This park above was in Nephi and was terrific. We also found a restaurant in Nephi called Lisa's cafe (or diner or something). It was beautifully decorated and the food was terrific. So was the service. I wanted to go back in with my camera to get pictures of the Christmas trees and the teddy bears on a seesaw and the beautiful fireplace, but didn't.
This is the B & B we stayed in - the Gunnison Rose Bed & Breakfast. A very old pioneer house that they have very lovingly restored. It is beautiful inside and they do all they can to make you comfortable. I called ahead to ask them make the room cold for us and they did a pretty good job. It wasn't all the way down to 58', but almost!
Our cute bedroom.
The breakfast room was charming and reminded us of the ones in Amsterdam and Cornwall the most. The breakfast, however, was far superior, consisting of bacon and eggs and french toast, instead of fried tomatoes, baked beans and peculiarly tasteless sausage.
The house was all decorated for Christmas
Storm clouds threatened on the way to Manti.
A funny story - the night before, after we were long past Provo, Robert realized that he'd left his temple clothes at home. Sometime during the night, he realized he had also left his suit at home. So this morning as we dressed for the temple, he had his white dress shirt from the day before, black cargo pants and his Sunday shoes. As we drove through Gunnison and then through Manti we kept an eye out for a clothing store - not an easy thing to find in such tiny towns. In Manti there was a small storefront department store on the main street, so Robert quickly pulled a U-turn and we dashed in and went straight to the single tie rack. As we were ruffling through the selection, the salesman came over and in a booming voice said, "You're going to the temple and you forgot your tie. I make more money off that rack of ties than anything else in this store." He made the purchase fun. So, Robert had to buy a tie and later rent temple clothes and we just had to shrug off the unneeded expense and call it a Christmas present or a souvenir of the weekend.
We had never attended a session in Manti before, but had always wanted to. It was beautiful. Robert's great-grandfather, Daniel H. Wells was president of it, long, long ago.
We stopped in Fairview to see the Museum, because Fairview is where many of my ancestors are from - Grandma Sellick's family - the Johnsons, Sandersons and Days. There are a lot of great pioneer things to see, plus great art and sculpture. I was too walked out to stay long - we'll have to go back.
But here is one thing in the museum that is very important to me. This portrait hung in my grandpa Johnson's dining room all of my life till he died when I was 21. He is the tall boy in the middle of the back row. I was so surprised to see it hanging on the wall there - like an old friend. I have to admit I was always creeped out as a child by the little boy painted in, in the middle, posthumously. He looked mean and I didn't like some mean dead kid looking at me.
Here is something we need to take the grandkids to to see - two, I mean one, dinosaurs.
Look at the view to the east off the deck!
I went to COSI - the wonderful science museum in Columbus.
The kids discovered telephone booths. Zoe shows her typical temper.
Jim films the family on the news show.
In June, I went back to Ohio, and we went to Hocking Hills.
Absolutely beautiful!
In June, I went to Disneyland!!
This is the only picture I'm in. I think one of the Princesses took it.
In July I went camping at Payson Lakes with all (most) of the family.
We played games.
We found out how many glow sticks it takes to light up a tent all night. (answer - 90)
We petted a llama. 
I went to the zoo and discovered dinosaurs!
I discovered a granddaughter in an egg.
The T-rex is about to discover Zoe!
I went back to Ohio in September and put the kids on the school bus for a week.
I gained a tenth grandchild in October and he was adorable!
I went back to the zoo and discovered seven grandchildren in an egg!
My husband survived a rear-end collision on his scooter and got a new one out of the deal.
We baptized our little Jimmy!!
I had family in for Christmas!!
Grandpa had someone to read the Christmas story to on Christmas Eve.
And I had the cutest kids ever in the cutest nativity ever, especially the little winged sheep!
