New Sun Room

Thought you might like to see the new sunroom.

We had such a fun visit with Casey. He visited with family and made a great good friend of Dumb Cat. We are all looking forward to Casey coming home again.

Birthday Visit

Our vacation was a fun one. We met Den's Mom and Dad in Laughlin to see Doug Kershaw sing Cajun music. We made a very quick visit to Mexico, then on to Arizona to share birthday fun with Becca and have Grandparent lunch with Rachel (a day early.) We went for Becca's Day and found out that we have "Rock Star" in the family.

It was so fun to spend some time with Carrie and David's family. Nathan has grown so much, and so have Rachel and Rebecca.

Bjorkman

We took the 4 wheeler up by Strawberry last night to go riding. We saw a beaver swimming in the water, 24 deer (2 of them were fawns that still had their spots), and 6 elk (2 of which were calves.) The mountain side looked as if someone had spilled their paints all over. The flowers were of various kinds, sizes, and colors; every shade of pink, purple, blue, white, red, and yellow that you can think of. Some of the reds, purples, and blues were so bright that they looked almost florescent. We had a wonderful time.

Has anyone seen a good movie lately?

by shayla

HI boys and gals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how are you today?
my name is shayla I wan't to tell you a little stuff about me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I stay with my grandmas and I play with my family. I like to play with my friends. And one of my friends is Carly. I have two loose teeth, my two front teeth. Some of moy favorite things are: playing, doing math, going to school, parties, and I like all my friends. My favorite foods are spaghetti, pizza, chocolate cookies, and fruit and vegetables. My favorite color is the rainbow. Thanks for reading this. Goodbye.

Felicia's blog!(about her glasses too!)

Hi guys and gals!!!!!!! Felicia here!!!!!!!!! I wanted to tell you when I got glasses!! O.K. here I go! It was the last monday of march when the bishop called. He said someone really nice in the ward payed for me to have an eye exame for glasses. He new who but the people who payed for it didn't wan't me to know!!!! The guy who gave me a eye exame used cinda weird things to exame my eyes. At the end of the exame he brang me to another weird and I mean weird thing that hurt my eyes and made them water. A few days after the glasses came in! They are bifocals!!!!!! Now I'm so happy!!!!!!! bye bye!!!

Quilting Class

I've decided to take a quilting class this summer. It's on Tuesday nights and goes for 2 to 3 hours. I bought fabric at Walmart so that if I ruined it I wouldn't be out so much. We're making a wall hanging. Mine is done in blues, white, and yellows. We made 3 quilt blocks last week and will be making 3 or 4 blocks tonight. It is really quite fun.

Den and I went up Bjorkman on the quads last Friday. We saw a doe with her tiny little fawn (with spots), a bright yellow canary, and a beaver by his dam. We were only able to go for part of our usual ride, since the snow was too deep to get through.
draft

Is it spring yet?

We used the few days of beautiful weather that we enjoyed to plant tomatoes (in their walls of water, of course), creeping phlox, and a few other things. We are trying to get a few more flowering plants in among the rock levels. It is starting to look pretty good. The big "Hearts and flowers" plant just went out on the front porch this week.

It is raining cats and dogs today, so there will be no weeding or planting going on. I stood in the front window of where I work. The whole side of the building is glass, looking out on a beautiful green valley. I watched the clouds and the rain as it washed the valley clean. Everything is fresh and green and beautiful. It has been raining all morning and still continues.

I forgot to tell you about our last, short day away that we had last month. We went to Promontory point to see where the east and west came together with a golden spike. I have a picture I will try to add later. This might be a good time to share that story with your children. It is a nice piece of Utah history.

Cold Weather Dreaming . . .

We have had so much snow is spring. Today isn't snowing so Dennis is finally able to work in the garden. He has the garden area tilled, and is laying some block. When I went out to talk with him for a minute I was driven back in because it was so cold. Now I am dreaming of warm tropic breezes, colorful birds, fragrant flowers, yummy luaus, and the sound of the surf.
Labels: Cold Weather Dreaming

New Hobby

I have taken up a new hobby, Cake decorating!!!!
It might sound slightly dumb but it sure is yummy.
It all started when I went to the store to get clay and I just happened to pass by the cake decorating stuff. About thirty minuets later I had left the store with a cake decorating kit, a new book, and some cards to practice on.
Lol, It will be interesting to see if I continue on with it. Talk to you all later!

Welcome Spring????

We have been looking forward to beautiful spring weather. We were blessed with one day at 80 degrees; the next morning had dropped 47 degrees to freezing and we had snow on the ground. We are hoping for some better weather since Den has some ideas about what he wants to do with the yard.
Our local neighbors, 2 deer and a yearling, have been busily trimming the bushes and weeding out some of the rock garden plants. They found this to be a lovely salad bar, so they return daily for a nice healthy lunch. We try to please.
Here is a bit of trivia: Did you know that Grandpa Duke, (mine and Aunt Donetta's father) was a fantastic gardener? This time of year he would have his shovel, hoe, rake, yardstick, and level out and would be making sure the ground was perfectly level and the rows exactly the same number of inches apart. He grew the most wonderful vegetables, fruit, and flowers and had plenty to share with neighbors and family. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in the middle of the garden picking and eating peas. (He even tried growing peanuts one year. They were GREAT!!!!)

i'll write more later

i'm currently trapped in this strange round-about of grumpiness. i have nothing but sorta negative views right now. i'll write stuff later.

Family Newsletter

It is time for the Family Newsletter. I'm thinking that a fun new way to keep everyone updated on what everyone else is doing is to use the blog. You can use this one or do one of your own, like Carrie is doing. I hope your are checking Carrie's each week. It is so fun; I know you will enjoy it. At any rate, it is fast, fun and we can all keep up on each other's doings and stay in touch with each other. Are you game?

You know about our trip to Hawaii and how terrific that was. We made some new British friends that we have heard from through email. We have really been enjoying that. They live about 20 miles from where our Duke ancestors came from.

Den has had some difficulty with his throat over the past year or so, getting increasingly worse; until he couldn't swallow at all. After three treatments, two weeks apart he is now able to choose what he wants to eat and enjoy. We are so greatful for his recovery. He is back in the swing of things, umpiring ball games. He just returned from a St. George tournament today. He loves it.

On Thursday I spent the night at the sleep clinic. They marked my head with red marker and attached electrodes to my head, face, neck, ribs, and legs. They told me to sleep well, then proceeded to wake me up about every 20 minutes or so to reattach an electrode that had come loose. Then they woke me up at 6:00 am to go home. That was a spooky ride; it had snowed in the canyon during the night, so it was "slip, slide all through the Provo side. The second I reached Wasatch, it was clear, wet roads, and rest of the drive was great. I will get the results on Thursday.

Okay! It is your turn. Tell us what is going on in your life. I'm excited to hear from everyone.