Well another Christmas is over, and what a blast it was. We went to SLC, and had the usual Christmas Eve Talent Show. The highlight was being able to Web Cam to & from Iowa to Ellen's & Bud's family, and to and from Idaho to Tina's & Blakes family, and to Seattle, to Becky and Nick.

Happy New Year to you all. We will be spending it with the OTHG, as we have for the past many years.

As you know we have some awesome ponds in our back yard. This is one of our renters, she caught a 6 1/2 lb bass last week. She does catch and release so we know it is still there. She also caught a 4 lb bass a couple of days later. When we first moved to St. George, we did lots of swimming in the ponds. When "Four Kings and a Queen" (Not sure about the name) was filmed in St. George, Clark Gable did a scene swimming in this very pond. What is ironic is that when he was doing the film we lived next door to him in down town St. George, Didn't know about him swimming in the pond until we bought the house about 15 years later.

MOM ON THE FLOOR

Today is Sunday, and my weekend to tend my Mom. She fell off the couch when I was in the kitchen and we have been trying for half an hour to get her up off the floor. She has such a sense of humor, we have laughed and laughed and I teased her about being too fat cause I can't lift her. OH well, Garn will be home from church in about 5 minutes and we will get her up. Just another exciting day in the life of tending Mother. Yesterday was so cold I built a fire in the fireplace, you guessed it, I turned around and she was trying to pick up wood to build up the fire. MOM YOU ARE A HOOT!!!

CONGRATULATIONS ANDEE !!!

ANDEE, we are so proud of you on getting your CNA. We know it is just one of the early steps in your education to complete your RN, but a very necessary one, and who knows you may someday be Dr. Andee. We love you and again CONGRATULATIONS.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK

Today, Nick is in St. George for a High School Reunion. Its also his ?? birthday. We went to Red Lobster for dinner and maybe will play cards for a couple of hours. Nick we are so happy to have you in our family, and want to thank you for all the fun times we have together, the free motel rooms, the hiking at the slot canyons, and the late night card games. We love you and hope you have had a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to Ciera

These are some of my favorite times with you. We have had so many adventures and I treasure all of them. Now that you are a young lady I am so proud of you and the way you conduct yourself . I know you will always be a example to your family and friends. Stay as nice as you are now and your life will be perfect. Love Grannie

Baby Trey and big sister Nyah

Great grand children. These are 2 of the 6 we have. Trey was born 9-21-08 7.9 lbs and 19 in long. His big sister is Nyah, she will be 2 in November. They are children of Tina Branham Tubbs and husband Blake. They live in Fruitland ID. I'm going to SLC on Thurs. 25th to see them.

TREY TUBBS BORN TODAY

Would you believe this? This picture is of our daughter Ellen and her first baby Tina. Today Tina had her second baby, a BOY, his name will be Trey. Will post pictures when I get them. CONGRATULATIONS TINA & BLAKE & NYAH, THE BIG SISTER.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SON IN LAW, BUD

Today is the birthday of our son-in-law Bud. He is married to our second daughter Ellen. They have 4 children and 3 & 8/9ths grandchildren. Bud, I honor you on this your special day, I am so proud to have a son-in-law who does so much for so many. You deserve the happiest of birthdays. We miss you and hope in the near future you have the chance to move closer to your family. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WE LOVE YOU

Today I worked in the back yard, for 3 hours, stacking wood and hauling garbage to the dump. I love our property and know I wouldn't be happy if all we had was a normal yard, however it sure is lots of work, and we will never get it cleaned up like I want. Two weeks ago, we hauled wood from Cedar Mtn. from Jack & Colleen's property, they were so generous with their wood, and now I can hardly wait for winter so we can cozy up to the fireplace.

Tonight I went to the Elks where Garn is playing in the band "Country Classics". They are a very good band, but its no fun for me just listening to them two or three times a week. The Elks serve fish every Friday night, so that is the main reason I went tonight, so I ate their fish, now been there, done that, so don't need to go again on Friday. The band plays every Wed. night and that is steak night. I must say their steak is much better than their fish. This is the 3 main guys in the band: Garn, Frank, & Jim. However tonight they hired a drummer. I have been doing some singing with them along with Franks wife Sue, however I have decided I am not going to sing with them anymore. With tending my Mother and with our Mission, I just can't go with them so many nights. It was OK when it was only one night a week but now it is 2 and 3 times some weeks. It was fun while it lasted but maybe its time for me to grow up and act my age. Smiles, Dorothy

OUR GIRLS & SPOUSES

This is our awesome girls and their spouses. Nick & Becky,

Bud & Ellen , Del & Barbara.

Becky and Nick have 2 motels in West Yellowstone. They run the motels themselves so they work very very hard and long. They are open about 6 months in the summer and 3 months in the winter. The other 3 months they spend some time on repairs and fixup then they play as hard on their time off, as they work when they are open.

Bud and Ellen are still in Iowa. Their baby daughter Kristi just left for college, so now they are empty nesters. We are hopeing that soon they move closer to Utah, cause we miss them so very much. They still have several horses and do the usual horse things which takes lots of their time. They both have demanding jobs, and they also spend much time doing Church work. Bud just got released as the Branch President and is now a High Counselman. Ellen is still working for a dentist.

Barbara and Del are our tech specialests. Del has built our computers and bails me out of trouble when I mess things up. He still works for Sky West and does lots of traveling to teach classes, mostly in the West and in Canada. Barbara retired from Delta, but we all got to keep our flying privelages. I just can't explain or thank her enough for the experiences she has afforded us. Later on I will post information about some of our trips. Barbara spends much time in the church and school system & she still has 3 kids at home.

OUR GRANDCHILDREN

Our Grandchildren, and just a little about them.

L to R on each row.

Tyler Nelson: Lives in Vernal, UT with his girlfriend Malissa and their sweet baby girl Shelby. He works at a auto body shop. He used to be the star snowmobile jumper, but I think he has about given that up. Seems a family makes a man decide he has to make money instead of playing.

Jason Branham: Lives in Cedar Rapids IA where he works in the home building trade. He still goes to lots of rodeos, where he is a awesome bull rider.

Andee Belyea: Going to college at Weber State and Salt Lake Community College where she is studying to be a Nurse Practioner. She is still dancing in college, and playing her violin when she has time, but she spends most of her time studying.

Randi Nelson: Works at Costco in Salt Lake City, where she has been for almost 10 years. She has a darling little girl Ashlynn.

Bridger Belyea: Is in 7th grade and a student officer. He is a master on the computer and the WI games. Right now his favorite sport is Golf, he got new clubs for his birthday last week.

Jessie Branham Price: Lives in Bountiful with husband Rob. They have 2 awesome children, Gunner and Bella. She has worked at Costco for about 8 years. Her dad just brought 2 of the horses from IA so now she can ride again.

Kristi Dawn Branham: Just started college at MT. Mercy in Cedar Rapids IA. She has always been the big rodeo girl, being first place in the State of IA and going to the National High School Rodeo's, but now her college scholarships are in basketball.

Ciera Belyea: Is in the 9th grade and a big cheerleader. She is a 4.0 student, does dancing, and plays the violin. She just won the fiddle contest at Peach Day in Hurricane.

Tina Branham Tubbs: Lives in Fruitland ID with husband Blake. They have a darling little girl Nyah, and expecting a baby boy in Oct. She works at a Hospice with the doctors and nurses. They like her so much they let her do part of her work from home so she can stay with her family.

GRANNIE & PAPA

GRANNIE & PAPA

OUR FAMILY WITH GRANDMA

This is our family where we all met in SLC in May 2008 for my mothers 100th birthday. Becky & Nick came from West Yellowstone. Ellen & Bud and family came from Iowa. Tina & Blake came from Idaho. Of course Garn & I picked up Mom and drove to SLC. The rest of the family live in or near SLC. Mom travels real well, and she injoys her time in SLC because of all the little kids that always want to play games with her, read books & color with crayons. We took her to SLC again in August for a full week. Barbara took care of her while Garn & I took a trip to Seattle, and Canada with our friends the Hackworths.