Halloween 2010

Our ward celebrated Halloween with a very wet and soggy Trunk or Treat last night, but we celebrated as a family tonight on a beautiful fall evening. We also were celebrating the October birthdays--Dad, Jeremy, and Gentrie. Our dinner was our traditional beef stew, a very delicious, spicy chicken pumpkin chowder, witchfingers (breadsticks), candy corn jello, orange jello, mini-mummies (pigs in blankets), fruit salad in a pumpkin, streusel crumb cake, and "wormy" cupcakes. Our clever cooks made it all lots of fun and very tasty. Our guests included princesses, a fairy, a skeleton, Woody from Toy Story, two werewolves, Alice in Wonderland, a wizard, a hobo, a tiger, a pea pod, a chili pepper, and other sundry characters.

Stairway to Paradise?

More than two months ago we decided that replacing our front steps had become an emergency, so I had my general contractor cousin, Doug, come over to assess the situation. Well as things usually go, one thing led to another and we ended up with new cement in the driveway, a new surface on the retaining wall, a new front porch with a nice new surface, new steps, and new railings. Fortunately for Jim, these improvements will not lead to new furniture, but we do need to replace the outside lights and get a new doormat. We went without front steps for about eight weeks, but we think the wait was well worth it.

Little Girls

One of the fun things I did during the summer was to make some dresses for some of my granddaughters and here are Cassidy, Gentrie, and Emily modeling the results.

Ora Ruth Hall Kirkham

Ora Ruth Hall Kirkham

Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, and daughter of God

December 7, 1920-October 2, 2010

Red Rock Relay

Our daughter-in-law, Emilee, has spent months organizing a team to run in the Red Rock Relay to benefit her grandfather's charity, Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids. She and Joel got everyone started in training for the event and even bought the $400 van (shown above) to transport half of the team. Jim and I signed on as volunteers, with Joel, Emilee, Jenny, and Nate making up four of the twelve running members of the team. Jim and I drove as far as Cedar City the night before, with most of our team staying in Brian Head where the race would begin bright and early on September 10th. We met up with Van #2 a little way from Duck Creek about mid-morning, then headed off for our volunteer assignment at the turn off to Navajo Lake. We spent six and one half hours directing runners and their vans in the sun and dust--and honestly we felt like we'd been running the race by the time we got done. The following picture is of Joel after he ran his first leg, more the 5 miles mostly uphill.

We were so proud of all of our runners, who finished up in Zion Canyon some 35 hours later. Many family members came down to cheer them on.

We spent a couple of days in St. George with Jim's parents and then it was off for home with a side trip to the ghost town of Grafton. Some of Jim's ancestors, who were killed by Indians, are buried in the cemetery there. Stephanie, Danny, Jenny, Nate, Sam, and their kids joined us on the adventure/photo op. We went home through Zion National Park. Everyone had a great time, but we were all tired and happy to get back to our own homes.

Heber City Weekend

A few weekends ago we celebrated our anniversary with a weekend trip to Heber City. We drove around to see many of the beautiful sights of Wasatch and Summit counties, including the Jordanelle reservoir pictured above. We shopped at the outlet stores and rode the ski lift in Park City. Jim did both without his knuckles turning white! He is such a good sport.

Saturday night we rode the Heber Creeper, participating in their murder mystery dinner and play. We got off the train in Soldier Hollow long enough to eat a delicious dutch oven style meal and to see Act II of the play, which was campy and fun.

37 Years Down, Eternity to Go

Today is our 37th wedding anniversary. I maintain that I am one of the most fortunate of women to have Jim for a husband. The little family that started with just the two of us has now increased to 28 members and what a great time we've had as each new person has joined us. We bought new pillows for our bed for gifts this year, but Jim cheated and surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses as well. (That's the only kind of cheating I like.) We went to Maddox for dinner tonight to celebrate and the celebrating will continue with a little upcoming trip to Heber City. Is it okay for me to wish us many more happy anniversaries?