POWER RANGER PLAYS SOCCER IN SANDY!

 Last Wednesday, Matt and his Red Ranger team took the field against the Alligators.  It was a most entertaining game.  TJ was the coach of the Red Rangers, and did a brilliant job of managing his little warriors.  


Wendy (coach's wife)

 Even though this posting is all about Matt, I have to give credit to the rest of the team, as they put their all into this contest.  Caleb, had to take a personal "time out" to adjust his shin protectors, and the Leipalli boy showed the crowd that he could compete with the best. 


Matt begin the game with total enthusiasm and never let up until the game was over. 

He never let up, even when he was poked in the eye, and had to exit the game for a few minutes, in order to receive comfort from his Mother.



 Soon he was back into the game, giving 100% effort.

Matt had previously spent countless hours at home practicing Power Ranger moves, and this personal training obviously was an ego booster for him.  His aplomb was definitely that of a hero, and he was so pleased by the positive reaction of the crowd.

During a time out, Matty received some personal advice from his Dad,

and I think that Jenna enjoyed his comfort also. 



 She is so pretty.  Maybe someday in the near future, she ought to run for prom queen.

AMERICA! WHAT A GREAT LAND!

Feast your eyes on this!  Yes, a chicken dinner from Maddox in Brigham City, and it was so good.  While in the restaurant, I purposely observed that the patrons were a nice mixture of both senior citizens and younger persons, dispelling the notion that Maddox caters to only "old people." 

Just up the road, close to Burley, Idaho, is an old church.  I spotted it on the way to Boise, memorized the closest exit number, and on the return trip, I payed this interesting old church a visit. 

On the backside is some farm equipment, and it looks as if someone is using at least part of the inside as storage of some kind.  I remember someone telling me a story of how the Kirkland Temple was used for a barn following the departure of the Mormons from Ohio.



About a mile behind the old church, we pulled up next to an irrigation ditch and grabbed a little nap.  The farm land was well kept, and the view of the mountain was spectacular. 

America!  What a great land!

NO KIDDING

Yo!  Up by Snowville, we pulled off the freeway to change drivers.  These signs kind of struck me as being "absolutely" unnecessary.  The road department must have had a very small amount of funding left in their budget they had to use or lose. 

Notice the arrow on the FRONTAGE RD. sign.  Duh!  This direction is a no brainer, right?

The YIELD sign!  Hum!  Look at the terrain!  Is this desolate country or what?

Okay, the last sign, NO SERVICES.  No kidding.

Don't get me wrong.  I love the back country of the Western U.S.A..  These days, a person can wander for days without seeing any evidence of civilization, or can he really? 

TRIBUTE TO BILL

One of the finest men I knew passed away last Sunday, so I thought I would pay a little tribute to him.  I'm sure that, in the scheme of things, every once in a while, a person comes along that is special.  Bill Huckstep was one of these people.


Bill & Maxine



Patty


I first became acquainted with him and his lovely wife when my wife's brother wedded his daughter, Patty.  The whole family attended the wedding held in the Logan Temple.  Bill drove up in a huge motor home, and I quickly found out that this one was not the first he owned, but it was the last of a long succession of these treasured vehicles.  Since that time, he had purchased even a bigger one, and it stayed with him until this day.

Bill's home was in sort of the industrial part of town, and it was a small one home originally, but over the years he added on sections to accommodate a growing family.  It was a "fun" house with a large kitchen with lots of well lighted bar space.  It seems to me that all of the cooking gadgets they had were large, and heavy duty restaurant types.  Large numbers of people were easily fed, I'm sure. 

Over the garage was a large play room with all kinds of gaming equipment, including pin ball, pool, table tennis, and Foosball.  This was a great place for the kids to entertain themselves while the adults made use of the kitchen area.  Our little kids, loved to go to the house because it was so much fun.

Now Bill had some land in the mountains.  On it he had build a "cabin," that seemed to me to be more of a lodge.  Behind it was a heated swimming pool with changing rooms for both the ladies and the men.  Close by was a home for the caretakers of the property, and on the other side of the "cabin," was a re-moleded barn, designed to entertain large gatherings.  Bill was especially proud of the spiral staircase, of which the steps were made out of cut pieces of pine wood.  Close by were several smaller, complete cabins that he had moved onto the property, for the purpose of housing families.  Each had a name, but the one that I remember the best was the "honeymoon cottage."

All of the household appliances in the cabin were commercial size.  I was told that Bill would accept trades for service, so he had a lot of things, and with his creative imagination and engineering skills, he could build almost anything.

Our kids, loved to ride the motorbikes, and Bev and I loved to take off on the 3 wheelers.  Patty's husband, Stacy, really loved to ride the 3 wheelers.  He actually had designed a riding course, in front of the cabin, on which he could practice his riding skills.  He showed me how to do several basic maneuvers on this course.

Bill was a very generous person.  He was Branch President at the time, and he would let not only youth groups from his church, but also boy scout troops use his mountain property.

The last time I saw Bill was at their home.  We were served ice cream.  Bill loved this delicious treat, and later on that evening, he visited Stacy and Patty's house and gave me a couple of his miniature auto creations, which I took home and finished with varnish.  They are now proudly on display above my computer desk.

Bill had a quick wit, and was a master at one liners.  He loved good humor, and among his qualities were friendliness and kindness.  He would do anything for anybody if he could.  It seemed to me that he could help anyone solve any type of problem.  Like I mentioned at the beginning,  every once in a while, a person comes along that is special. Bill was one of these people.



Stacy



Jennette

Nathan



Chris

Jerom



Stacia



Bev & Larry



Me & Whitney



WE OWE OUR MOTHERS!

Hey!  We all loved Mother's day!

To continue on with the Mother's Day report, as I mentioned in the last blog entry, there were 19 persons present, representing 4 families.

Soren is behind Aubryn

Jennifer had drove down from her place in Draper.  We were all glad they could come.

Chapin

Chapin is now in the Teacher's Quorum of their Church.  I was very impressed with how well behaved all of her children were.  Their father is on duty with the Army, serving in Lebanon. 



Ean



Ean is now 16, and extremely bright, loving every moment of life.  His is looking forward to spending a week with us while attending EFY in Sandy.

Now this little girl is really special.  I love her smile, don't you?

Aubryn


Greg stole the show by showing off his muscle.  He is 16 now, and I understand, loves to drive his Aunt Katie around any neighborhood except his own.

Why is it that Rachael always ends up "dominating" any group picture she is in?  However in this photo I think Sammy takes the cake!

All of the kids enjoyed playing on the trampoline, at one time or another, but these kids had a great sword fight, even if it

was raining very hard.



Erin, Jenna, Rachael, & Aubryn



Aunt Sherry let the kids use here towels to wrap around their soaking bodies.

Uncle Mike showed off his developing bald spot to all who would notice.  Just in case you didn't notice, here is a great photo of it.  He did a great job of preparing the french toast also. 

Everyone had a great time with lots of laughter. 

We all know Aunt Katie has a warm heart, but she must also have a cold "inner core," as she is always has some kind of lap trough on her. 

I kind of identify because I love to wear my "hoodie," in all but the hottest weather. 

Jeff had the boys organized.  Jason was in charge of the skibob's.  He was also very good at cleaning up minor spills on the floor.  What a guy!

Nick was in charge of doing dishes.

Now, it is time for a little bit of personal opinion, if you don't mind!  What do we owe our mothers?  In thinking of my mother, I have to admit that I owe her everything.  Life itself is a miracle, and that first breath is only possible after one's mother looks into the face of death.  

What about charactor?  If I have developed this particular virtue, it was because of the urgings and long-suffering sacrifices of my mother.

All of our success' obtained in this life, and in the next, we owe to our mothers!

IT WAS A BRAWL!



Mother's Day flowers!

 Mother's Day began quietly, with Grandma sleeping in.  In the meantime, I was preparing for her, a strawberry pancake breakfast, topped with whipped cream.  I served it with a cup of hot chocolate for a drink.  The pleased look on her face, when she finally made it to the kitchen, was worth the whole effort.

I won't go into tedious detail about all the pleasant surprises that she received throughout the day, but I can tell you that there are three vases of cut flowers, now displayed on the kitchen bar, with one live begonia plant from our church, one live lily, and a "hot off the press" novel on her nightstand.




Jenna helps grandma!

 After attending Sacrament meeting in Mike's Ward; by the way, Mike and Katie were the speakers, we brought Jenna home to help us bake brownies, and to get ready to make our drive down trecherous I-15 to Springville.

Upon arrival at Sherry's house the action really began. Jeff had prepared both barbecued ribs and also polish sausage/shrimp skibobs.

I had made 10 lbs. of mashed potatoes.  Mike brought tossed salad and baked pork and beans.  In addition, Sherry prepared a delicious green apple salad that was out of this world.

Grandma had brought the brownies to go with homemade ice cream for our desert.  Wow! What a meal! 

Nineteen people were there, so we had a brawl. Ha ha. (This is an inside joke), that only Katie and Sherry can talk about with any kind of sensibility.



Table before



Boy's table



Bev, Katie, Sherry & Jennifer (Jeff's sister)



Sherry puts on a good show, right?


Just before we began dishing up our food, Jeff had the Mothers' open their presents. They were all delighted, but Sherry received the surprise gift of the day!



Needless to say, much the the remaining conversation for the day, was based upon the name to be given to Sherry's new puppy. 

After long deliberation, it was decided that we like the following names:  Bronco, Jake, or Moses.  It will be interesting to see what the Noorda's will actually call him, when he comes to his new home in a couple weeks.

When I opened my eyes, after laying on the floor, I saw this compelling scene, and I just had to take this photo.  As you can tell, Jeff is in 7th Heaven.



"What shall we name our new puppy?"



Be sure to check out this blog in a few days.  I have some more interesting photos and comments to make concerning this memorable day.