Valentine's Day at Tami's

 After leaving Dave & Mary's in Logandale, NV we headed to St. George, UT to see Tami, Ryne and kids. Its only an hour drive away. We met at a really good place to eat lunch called Tias. 

On Sunday- Valentine's Day, Ryne smoked a roast that was delicious! Tami and kids dipped some strawberries then she fixed the rest of the very yummy meal. They had some good friends join us that were visiting from Provo.

 

We all went to church.

After our amazing meal, we decided a hike/walk would be nice, so Tami took us to a place she likes to go, but there were hundreds of cars there and no place to park, so we went up by Tuachan where there was a nice little trail. The wind was howling and it was COLD, so we didn't go very far!

It was such a nice Valentine's Day to be able to spend it with family. Later that evening, Tami and I got her Kombucha ready, she is going to try making it along with her Kefir.  

We left for home early on Monday. A big snow storm had hit our area and Flagstaff, so we were a little worried about the roads, but they were clear all the way home!!

Feb 11-15th TRIP to see Family

 A few weeks ago Dave and Mary bought a freeze-dryer and wanted LaVerl to come show them how to work it. LaVerl was sick all last week, so we waited to leave till Thursday the 11th. It was fun spending time in Logandale, NV with them and helping out a little. Dave and Mary live in a big metal building where they have built an apartment inside. The rest is filled with all Dave's old cars.

This cool pretty blue one runs!~ Its a 1937 Pontiac?

He has a guy that helps him restore all of them!

So Dan & Rachelle and their 2 boys live in the house Dave & Mary used to live in, next to the big shop Dave built. They have lots of chickens that run around and they like getting up on the porch and pooping all over. Dave needed help screening off the porch and putting a new door on. However, Dave thought it worked better when it was on the wrong way.

When Mary came out to look, she insisted it go on the right way.

Dave has also restored this really cool old John Deere tractor.

The main reason we went to visit was to help with their new freeze-dryer! They have the newer model and a new and improved vacuum pump. It does a batch in half the time as our 3 year old model!

 

Here's their first freeze-dried product!

Mary is into making Kombucha! Years ago LaVerl's mom, Martha Jo was into making Kombucha, she was way ahead of her time. It is very popular now as a health drink, along with Kefir. 

This is her Kombucha 'hotel' where she has lots of 'scoby's'!

What is a scoby, you ask?

She showed me how to make a new batch of Kombucha and sent me home with my own scoby so I can start making Kombucha myself!

Scoby's look like a flat pancake and feel like a raw piece of chicken. They are really weird, but Kombucha is supposed to be really good for gut health, so I'm going to learn how to make it for LaVerl. I even took one to give to Tami. She was our next stop on our trip!

Quick Trip to El Paso! Jan, 23-24th

 Saturday morning early we headed to El Paso with late Christmas gifts, cases of honey and a few fresh grapefruits! LaVerl also had his electrical tools loaded so he could do a little work in Mark's new BIG outbuilding! They made their food storage area bigger and now needed to have some switches moved.

When we got there around noon, the grandkids came out running to see us! Later I just took some random pictures of what they were doing

Milea was making cookies! She is a great little cook!

 Wembley is so chatty and cute! The kids really liked the flying drone toy we got them for Christmas.

 The kids love their tablets and computers!

I also gave them all the 'fixens' for a hot cocoa bar.

  LaVerl started his electrical work. It took him a couple of hours, having to drill through walls. They have a nice storage room and a pretty good supply of food!

This is where the receptacle was inside.

This is the new one on the outside wall.

On Sunday their Bishop came over. Kaemon got advanced in the priesthood to the office of Priest and Zallen was ordained a Deacon.

Mark, Holly and kids!

On January 27th, Mark's family come to Eagar!   

We got a little snow to they decided to come from El Paso to ski and snowboard at Sunrise. It worked out good for them, I could watch Wembley and Daxxon while the rest of them played!

 

Holly had fun on the bunny hills and then went up to some harder hills. 

Wembley went up to Sunrise Friday afternoon to ski half day.

The view from the top was pretty awesome!

They had quite an adventure coming home after skiing until 4pm on Thursday. Mark didn't have their suburban in 4-wheel drive and he slid off the road into some deep snow and could NOT get out. LaVerl had to go up and 2 1/2 hours later, they finally got out! But not after prayers were answered!

That same night, Mark & Holly's best friends the Bandleys, also came from El Paso to go skiing on Friday. Just Brittany and her 3 kids.

Brittany and Holly after hitting the 'Pop Shop'!

Friday night we got a little snow, so they had to drive home for a little ways on snowy roads, but it wasn't too bad! Mark had to work and Milea had a soccer game. 

It was short and sweet, but we were so glad they could all come! 

 

Right after they left, Bret and his 4 kids got here in the afternoon.

They played in the snow too and only stayed until Sunday, but it was fun having them come too!