Is It Halloween Yet?

My children all know that Halloween is my least favorite day of the whole year.   I don't like scary movies or scary costumes, and Halloween seems to abound with those -- and I'm not creative.    When the kids would ask "What can I dress up as on Halloween?", I would (in desperation) direct them to the box we kept downstairs -- full of old clothes and maybe an old costume or two.  When I had influence, I tried to encourage them to be a hobo, a dancer, a cowboy, a clown, or a princess.  (I have never liked having to dress up in a costume -- I know, I know - I'm not much fun when it comes to things like that. As a result, I was not very creative when it came to Halloween and coming up with ideas for the kids, but I knew that an old cowboy shirt and hat could turn you into a cowboy or a long dress could turn you into a princess.)  Over the years, they learned to be creative on their own or get ideas from their friends.   Roger's job was to make sure that we had pumpkins to carve for Halloween at Family Home Evening.

On Halloween night, I would prefer to curl up in a corner of the couch upstairs and either read a book or watch a light-hearted Disney movie or something.  It's not that I mind passing out the candy, but we live in a split-level home, so you either have to camp out on the stairs or run up and down them all night.  When the kids were younger, the door rang constantly.  Parents from all over Enoch would bring their children to our street and then they would trick or treat the four or five blocks to the elementary school for the PTA-sponsored Halloween Carnival.   Now a lot of parents with younger children do "trunk or treat" in the church parking lot or stick to their own neighborhoods where they know their neighbors.  We still buy Halloween candy and open the door and pass it out when the doorbell rings, but there aren't quite as many "trick-or-treaters" in our neighborhood as there used to be, so it is a little quieter. 

But I couldn't resist pulling out some pictures of Halloweens past and taking another trip down memory lane in our "home-made" costumes . 

 

Halloween 1980

Lynnette, Chad, Jennifer, & Carolyn

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1982

Chad (at the back)Jennifer, Lynnette, Carolyn, & Kyle Athey, a cousin

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1984

Back: Jennifer & Carolyn

Front: Lynnette, Monica, & Chad

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1986

Monica, Carolyn, Lynnette, & Jennifer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1986

The Athey Boys

Front: Devin, Shaun, & Derek

Back: Kyle and a couple of neighbors

 

 

 

Halloween 1988

Nicole, Devin, Derek, Kyle, Monica, Shaun

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1990

Front:  Monica & Nicole

Back: Carolyn & Julie Hulet

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1992

Matt & Devin Athey

Nicole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1996

Jayli Zingelman

Jodi Zingelman & Nicole as a two-headed monster?

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1998

Me, Nicole, & Monica

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1999

Nicole as "Sassy Smurf"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because we no longer have kids at home and none of our grandchildren live close enough to come "trick-or-treating", we don't have much incentive to decorate for Halloween.  But Halloween is coming, and just so my kids (and grandkids) won't think Grandma is a complete "Scrooge" went it comes to Halloween..........

     Happy Halloween!

THE ELK HUNT - Part Two

I wanted to include a video that I made of Leif "bugling" for the elk. Since we couldn't figure out how to include it on the original blog, we had to give it a spot all to itself. Enjoy!

THE ELK HUNT, 2ND WEEKEND

This hunt started at 4:15 am Friday morning when I took the lead rope and flashlight to the corral, caught my horse and took her to the trailer. We picked up Leif Condie and his horse and gear and headed for South Creek Canyon on the south end of Beaver, Utah. The stars were shining and the weather was cold but we were dressed for it. When we got up the canyon, we saddled the horses and headed up the trail in the dark. It was just beginning to get light and the air was fresh and crisp. As it got lighter, the mountains were beautiful, with yellow and orange leaves on the aspen trees, mixed with the green pine trees.

Leif began to bugle for elk with his elk bugle and his cow call. After about an hour of riding up the canyon, we had a bull elk bugle back to us. We got off the horses and with the gun ready, bugled back. In about 30 seconds a majestic five point bull elk walked out between the trees, its head high. He was about 80 yards away and stood and looked at us for about 45 seconds. I have a spike elk permit so this was much too big of elk for me to shoot at, but what a great experience just watching him. He turned and walked back into the trees and we continued up the canyon. About 10 minutes later, we again had a bull bugle back to us. We stopped and bugled to him. He bugled back and was coming closer. He bugled again and Leif saw him. He was about 120 yards away and looking at us just over the top of a big rock. He was a four point and calmly watched us for about 5 minutes. I watched through the rifle scope and, after a while, he stepped out and watched us for a while, then turned and went back into the trees. We hiked up the mountain side to see if we could see any spike elks with him. There were none – my luck. We came to a summit and looked over several mountain valleys.

 

The rest of the day we hunted in mountain valleys and meadows in what turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.

End of Summer Fun

After Nicole & Matt got married, we had a mini-reunion with any of our children and their families who could stick around. We had all of our grandkids together for a few days, and really enjoyed it. We barbequed at Canyon Park, played at Discovery Park, rode the horse, played horseshoes, and drove down to Snow Canyon Park to play in the sand dunes. (The storm that was supposed to cool things down didn't happen, so the sand dunes were too hot and we ended up not staying.) For the most part, we just enjoyed being together. Anyway, I found some fun videos and thought I would share.

At Nicole & Matt's reception:

At Discovery Park:

At Home:

More fun?

A Summer Wedding

As you can tell from previous posts, it has been a busy summer for the Shurtz Family.  From the end of April when Nicole flew to China until August when she and Matthew Cragun were married, we have been juggling schedules and vacations as we tried to keep up with everything that was going on in our family.   Despite occasional bouts of stress, it has been a wonderful summer. 

 

Somehow everything came together in the six weeks that we spent planning the wedding, and it was a wonderful (and warm) day on August 2nd as our families got together to celebrate Matt & Nicole's marriage in the St. George Temple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reception in Enoch

 

 

 

 

After a honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Matt & Nicole loaded up everything they could fit in their car and headed cross country - first stop Rochester, Minnesota, for an open house at Matt's home.  Roger and I flew out to Rochester by way of Minneapolis on August 14th.

We rented a van and on Friday morning explored the surrounding countryside, driving around Lake Minnetonka to look at the beautiful homes that surround the lake.

The license plates on the cars in Minnesota say "Land of 10,000 Lakes", and I believe it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seemed like everywhere we drove we saw lakes - big ones and small ones - and people out enjoying them. (We flew into Minneapolis at night, but when we flew out it was daytime and we could look down on all the lakes from the airplane.)

 

We met Matt & Nicole and Lacey & Jordan Mecham (friends from Cedar City) at the Mall of America Friday afternoon. 

We thought Matt was exaggerating when he said it was the biggest mall in the United States.  I now admit that he wasn't.  It was at least four stories tall and had an amusement "park" right in the middle of it. 

We ate in the Food Court and looked straight out on a Ferris wheel, roller coasters, and other rides.  Matt said that you don't find just one store of say, "Bed, Bath, & Beyond" in the Mall - there are probably four of every brand name store scattered through the Mall.

After lunch, Matt & Nicole went shopping.  Roger and I went with Matt's parents, Brian & Leanne, to do some sight-seeing.  We drove to Minnehaha Falls which is a state park located in the middle of Minneapolis. You walk along a sidewalk, walk down some stairs, and find yourself next to a waterfall that is 53 feet high. The falls are part of Minnehaha Creek which starts at Lake Minnetonka and flows to the Mississippi River. Once you start walking along the creek, you can’t even tell you are still in the city. It feels like you are out in the woods somewhere. 

 

 

Later the four of us met Matt & Nicole at the St Paul Temple where we were able to do an endowment session before leaving for Rochester.

 

Saturday afternoon (August 16th) we were given a tour of downtown Rochester, which included the corn cob water tower (which I was interested in because it sits on the Seneca property - which bought out Green Giant.  My dad retired from Green Giant a.k.a. Seneca - well, from the American Can Division of Green Giant.)

and the Mayo Clinic which is actually more than one building in a high-rise complex in downtown Rochester.

 

 

The Open House was Saturday evening at the home of Matt's parents. 

 

 

 

On Sunday we went for a walk around the neighborhood, went to church with the Craguns, and that evening enjoyed a Cragun family tradition called "fat night".   Fat night consists of deep-fat frying anything that you want.  They're continually experimenting, and they get quite creative.  They fried shrimp, cheese sticks, jalapeno poppers, pickles, donuts, crab meat & cream cheese wrapped in won-tons,  zucchini, strawberries, and some other stuff that I can't remember.  My favorites were the won-tons, cheese sticks, zucchini, and donuts. 

Afterwards Roger and I had to head back up to Minneapolis so we could catch our flight out on Monday morning (Aug 18th) to go back home.  We had a wonderful visit with the Craguns and enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them.   Matt & Nicole left Rochester that same Monday morning and headed for Hampton, Virginia, where they will make their home while Matt goes to graduate school at Old Dominion University.

And Then There Were Two.........

Once upon a time there was a boy who grew up on a farm in Delta and a girl who grew up on a farm in Idaho.  When they were old enough, they both went away to college -- the young man to USU and the young girl to BYU.  The young man took two years off from school to serve a mission in Scotland, and then came back to go to school again.  One summer the young man decided to take a couple of classes at BYU, and he was introduced to the young woman from Idaho.   By the end of the summer of 1971, they were engaged.  By December, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple and began their new life together.  So one plus one became two and they were very happy.

Over the next fifteen years, one son and five daughters were sent from Heavenly Father to join their family and, instead of two, there were now eight. 

 

The family moved around a few times over the years, but finally settled in Enoch.  There were occasional challenges in their life, but there was lots of love in their home, and they were happy.  So the two watched over the six as they grew up and started, one by one, to leave the "nest" and try their wings out in the world.  Each time, the mom and dad were sad to see them leave, but they were happy to know that they had the courage to learn to fly. 

The son, who was now a young man, was the first to try his wings, and he left home to serve a mission in Seattle, Washington, and afterwards went back to go to school, and he fell in love with a young woman.  And they were married and became a family.  But they still came home to visit.

 

One by one, the four oldest daughters left home to go away to school and the mom and dad were sad to see them leave, but also happy to know that they also had the courage to learn to fly.  Life held many adventures for them as well, and while they were away, they each fell in love with a wonderful young man and were married and each of them started their own family.   But they still came home to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

And so for awhile, most of the time there were only three in the house in Enoch, and the youngest daughter was a little bit sad because she missed her brother and sisters.  But after five years, it was time for the youngest daughter to go away to school, and the mom and dad were sad because it was really quiet around the house, but it was okay because once in awhile she would come back to keep them company or go on trips with them.   Meanwhile, she was having her own adventures.  And then one day, the youngest daughter fell in love, and she and the young man got married and moved far away to start their own family. 

 

And the mom and dad were happy that the youngest daughter had also learned how to fly, but they were also a little bit sad because now they were back where they started (but 37 years later) and there were just two ........

 

 

but not really........

because somewhere along the way, in addition to the six, they gained one daughter, five sons, and nine grandchildren.  So the math is wrong - 1 plus 1 doesn't equal 2 -- it equals (at this date) 23, and the love has multiplied.  And, although the dad and mom get lonesome once in awhile, they are really happy that each of their children had the courage to go out into the world and have adventures and fall in love and start their own families.  And they are really happy that there are young voices who call them Grandpa or Grampy and Grandma or Grammy or Grandma Dot.  And they are also happy for the voices that still call them Mom and Dad.