Autumn in Eden

Steve gave me a new camera for my birthday and since I haven't had any opportunities to use it, I decided to go out for a drive last Monday and take pictures. It is a beautiful time of year here.

Aren't those autumn colors simply breathtaking? We call it "eye candy."

Sailboat on Pineview.

Reflections on Pineview.

I hope you enjoy seeing the beauties that we enjoy each day.

Balloon Festival

Summer is beautiful up here in the Ogden Valley. Everyday we wake up to sunshine and blue skies. We definitely are spoiled. Right now, the temperatures are in the 80's. It is perfect. Last weekend there was a hot air balloon festival up here. The balloons are so beautiful as they dot the sky.



It's hard not to like it up here. It is a place of great contrasts. We have loads of snow in the winter, colorful autumn leaves in the fall, and beautiful pleasant summers.

Summer 2008

This summer has flown by since it has been so busy. We have had the birth of a new grandchild, a family reunion, and Reid's unexpected move up by us in Eden (the people he was renting from had to move back into their home and they gave Reid only a month's notice to move out.) We were able to find them a home in our ward. With them living close, I have been able to assist them in getting settled into their home. With them living so close, it has also given me the opportunity to spend more time with his children.

Reid's son, Carter making a big splash.

This picture has several of my grandchildren. Walking around the pool is McKenzie (Reid's daughter), Chase (Brooke's son) is getting in the pool and looking this way, In the middle is Jake and Allison (Reid's), and in the front on the ball with Aunt Kim is Noah (Brooke's).

Brooke's son Chase.

Brooke's boys, Caden and Noah.

It is sad to think that summer is almost over, but it has been a good one.

Isaac Anderson's Baby Blessing

Since Brooke and Spencer were in Utah, they decided to have their baby blessing at the home of Spencer's parents. It was a wonderful experience gathering for this special event.

Family Reuniuon - Island Park Idaho

I returned home from Arizona on July 10th with three-and-a-half days to finish getting ready for our family reunion in Island Park. I had already prepared and froze food to take, but I had to pack all of the other necessities for the trip. Besides that, I worked in the temple from 6:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Needless to say, it was a crazy time, but once we got there, we had a great time. It was so beautiful.

We stayed at a place called Bill's Island.

Madison River

The wild flowers were abundant.

One of the funnest things we did was a raft trip down the Madison River. Steve and I, Spencer, Caden, and Chase , and Kim went.It wasn't very deep in most places, in fact, sometimes Spencer had to get out and pull the raft through the shallow places. Caden hopped in a couple of times just to see how cold the water was. Chase, however, had no desire to get in the water. He just wanted to touch the water to see how cold it was. We weren't watching when this happened, but all of a sudden, Chase flipped over-board and was screaming with hysteria. We were laughing with hysteria. Spencer quickly pulled him back in, but we had an angry little boy for a few minutes. He didn't want his cold life jacket back on saying, "I'm not falling in the water again," but we insisted.

Caden and Chase enjoyed trying their hand at rowing. What we didn't expect was Chase lodging his oar in the shallow water and having it pole-vault him into the water again. Again, we broke out into hysterical laughter. The only thing that consoled him in his anger was feeding the seagulls.

Here are some shots of our family in different locations.

Dan, Darlene, and Kerby

Brooke, Spencer, Caden, Chase, Noah, and Issac

Reid, Valorie, Allison, Carter, McKenzie, and Jacob at the Yellowstone Waterfall.

Katie and Ben at Big Judds.

Kim with Noah and McKenzie

Thomas is living in Hawaii and couldn't come home for the reunion. We missed him, but he was the only member of our family who wasn't with us.

On June 24th, my 10th grandchild arrived by C-section. He is Brooke's fourth boy. He is such a sweet spirit as all new babies are, but he is so good. He is so fun to cuddle and love. It is so fun to be a grandma.

Noah Mack is still a bit of a baby. Doesn't he look simply angelic? I want you to know that looks are deceiving. He has a scream that is deafening and he does it constantly. One of my favorite things that Noah does is say the word "Ever-y-day." One of his babysitters sang a song from High School Musical 2 that says "Everyday" in it and he picked up the word and likes to say it often, though not in context. It is cute. He also says "I love you" to me and as you might imagine, I like that.

One evening we were playing around and took some cute nude shots of baby Isaac. Isn't he precious!
Finally, a group picture with Grandma Chapman and her Anderson grandsons, Chase, Caden, Isaac, and Noah. Aren't they adorable.?

Carter's Baptism

We had a very special time attending Carter's baptism on June 7th. We are so happy that he chose to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was baptized and confirmed by his dad, Reid. Afterward we went over to their home for a wonderful dinner.