Bastogne, Belgiam

Dear Family and Friends,

Barbara says it has been a few years since we have written a family letter. I denied that and told her we wrote one just last month. Besides, we don’t have a family anymore they all moved away. Barbara feels like a free woman and I still haven’t recovered from the empty nest syndrome. It snuck up on me. After 30 years of marriage I woke up one morning with the kids all moved away. I looked over at the redhead in my bed and said, “What was your name again? Tell me about yourself.”

With the majority of our work in the Magic Valley we sold our house in Idaho Falls (that was stressful) and built a house in the country near Burley (that was even more stressful). Now we look back and wonder why anyone lives in Idaho Falls. We grew a garden this past summer and got to eat some of the tomatoes we grew. After all these years I learned that tomatoes turn red on the vine. It is awesome. No more boxes of tomatoes wrapped in newspaper rotting in the basement.

Believe it or not we are still active in Church. Heavenly Father blessed me by calling Barbara to be Relief Society President, giving her something to do other than fussing over me all the time. As all of you know Barbara, she is the perfect president. I told the Bishop to strap himself in but he figured he could handle it. Hahahahaha! I warned him.

I am the ward missionary working with the Spanish Elders. I love it.

Harmony and Aaron have 2 little boys, Jack and Lucas, and a little girl Noelle. They still live in Europe and have done for the past 5 years. Harmony earned her Master’s in something or other but is a stay at home mom. Aaron earned his Master’s in something or other and is keeping his nose to the grind stone. They are the best parents in the world.

Jaxon and Brittany just had #2, Scarlett Rose, a couple weeks ago. Eleanor now has a little sister. I can’t say how proud of Brittany we are. She was on bed rest for about 3 months, and did it. It was a great treat to see Jaxon’s homemaking skills (he has none). However, Jaxon completed his schooling last year with a Master’s in hydrology. He has taken hold of the helm of this floundering ship (our business) and is trying to right it. What a great asset. They live in our ward and we love it. They are the best parents in the world.

Jaimie has the 5 most beautiful girls in the world. The oldest Elsie is 7. The youngest Ada is in nursery at Primary. In the middle are Hallee, Macy, and Jo. Jaimie is keeping her nursing license up but is not working outside the home. Brian is slaving away at the middle school, doing a great job, and teaching the girls how to kill dinner from about 500 yds. They are the best parents in the world.

Dallon and Kristie live in Boise and both are going to school at BSU each majoring in working out at the gym. Kristie is showing off her muscles in a bikini once in a while (taking 2^nd as a rookie) and Dallon just broke the Idaho state record for bench in the less than 182 pound class. He benched 335 lbs. Dallon has taken a break from wearing a beard with sun glasses and traveling around the world silently offing bad guys. We hope he stays home for a while. They are not the best parents in the world. Their damn dog is so spoiled she has a pillow ON their bed.

There you go. We hope Heavenly Father continues to watch over all of you. Go to Church if you don’t and keep going if you do. Do your home teaching or visiting teaching assignment. Pay your tithing. Kill every mouse, rat, gopher or ground squirrel you see. Merry Christmas. BRIAN

BARBARA'S NOTES:

*We really loved Idaho Falls and all the wonderful people there.

*Brian is the perfect person to be Ward Mission Leader. Everyone loves him!

*Harmony's masters  is in Human Relations and Aaron's is in International Relations.

*Our business is doing well, sometimes too busy. We have really been blessed!

*Dallon got out of the military and spent some time contracting. Mom is hoping he's done with that!

*Dallon is majoring in Exercise Physiology preparing to apply for the Physician's Assistant program.

*Dallon's wife, Kristie, is majoring in Exercise Science, working as a personal trainer and doing fitness competitions.

*WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR EACH ONE OF YOU! HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This little guy looks and acts exactly like the wart.

Of course, I found some new friends.

The top 5 are of the pass. It is almost 11,000 ft high and absolutely spectacular. This is where we are going to take the White's and Krupp's when they come next summer. Aaron can hike around there until his legs fall off. The bottom photo is in front of the Grand Teton.

Our latest ride.

Barn man and I went on a short but great ride back over Bear Tooth Pass, Montana. I always take photos of our campsite to make Jaxon jealous. There is just something wonderful about sitting around a fire. The top campground was in the Bridger Forest north of Bozeman. The middle campground was at the base of Bear Tooth Pass. I was doing the undies dance with my clothes on. The bottom camp is in Yellowstone Park.

Keith Barney and I went on our annual spring ride. Keith chose the route this year and as you will see it was excellent. We went down to his dad's old stomping grounds when he was a kid. First day out I hit a bolt. Two BMW riders from Calgary stopped and plugged my tire. We limped back into Price where we got a new tire the next morning.

The weather was beautiful. That is Moab in the distance.

New Temple in Monticello, Utah. It is bigger than the normal small temple.

Second night campsite. This is along the San Juan River about 2 miles outside Bluff, Utah. The following photos are from Fort Bluff. Fort Bluff was founded by a group of immigrants directed by John Taylor to settle southeast Utah. This group of immigrants were known as the Hole in the Wall Group because they traversed their way perpendicular through the canyon country. They dug and chipped a road through a narrow sandstone crevasse to get down to the Bluff area. These are replicas of the cabins they built when they arrived. Unfortunately, southeast Utah is about as dry as the Sahara Desert. They scratched out a living but it was miserable. The cabins were constructed using historical foundation money but the fort is manned by Mormon missionaries similar to Cove Fort. However, since the money is government money the missionaries name tags do not include the name of the church. This is a very nice place. Well worth the visit.

The following 4 photos are from Canyon DeChelly (pronounced du shea. Don't ask me, it's stupid) This is an absolutely beautiful sandstone canyon. There are a few cliff dwellings at the bottom in the second photo. There is a trail to the bottom of the canyon and to the dwellings. It is 3 miles round trip and of course, I did not take it. I can barely walk from my test to my motorcycle. I sure as hell didn't walk 3 miles up and down a 600' cliff.

Keith and I traveled across the entire Navajo Nation. A more miserable lot of people I have seldom seen. Sad.

Our 3rd campsite. Up in the White Mountains of Eastern Arizona.

The 2 photos above are of a cemetery from the no longer existing town of Stargo. It is an old mining town that had to go when the mine was expanded. It is difficult to see but the grave sites are not dig into the ground but placed on the ground and the grave built up around it, In the photo above I am walking to the right about the center of the photo. Unfortunately I did not take my camera up on the hill with me. It was very interesting. All Mexican names on the tomb stones. We went past the Morenci copper mine. Geographically it st be the largest in the world. It was huge. I kept waiting for a good photo location but there wasn't one that would do the mine justice. I stood for a long time on a bridge watching the giant dump trucks and water trucks pass underneath.

Our second to the last campsite. This is near Roosevelt Reservoir. It was late by the time we stopped so we snuck in, slept on the tables and snuck out in the morning. We owe the State of Arizona about $20 since we used their showers. Good thing too, because it was Barney's first shower since we left 5 days previous and he was really getting to stink.

Back side of Theodore Roosevelt Dam and an old dragline from the mine.

Beautiful scenery between the Navajo Bridge and Jacob's Lake. It was stunning. The last night we stayed outside of Kanab. I thought I had photos of it and of the Gila Valley Temple, I guess not. Too bad you didn't come along.