Christmas in the Desert

We had quite a group for Christmas in the desert this year. Shay and Travis had not been to the little house in Wikieup for at least ten years. They both brought their families. Travis and his family left Christmas Eve and Shay and his family stayed until the day after Christmas.

There is nothing like the holidays with grandkids around. We had half of our grandkids with us. These two families haven't spent much time together by themselves, so the cousins had a good time getting to know each other better.

Emily (Shay's third) just loved little Josh (Travis's youngest), along with everyone else. Who can resist a 2-year-old!

Sean got a B-B gun for his birthday in September. He was doing some target shooting with his dad and Grampa.

These pictures remind me so much of the first time we went to Wikieup with our six kids and my sister Lorrie and her two kids in 1988. They love to roam the desert.

There was not quite as much wildlife to see in December as there was in March when we used to always come. In fact, on our very first walk in the desert 20 years ago, Travis had Mom's shotgun and killed a snake the very first day on a walk like this one.

Shay and Heidi brought their early Christmas gift. Terry tried to keep up with him on "Little Red," but couldn't do it!

They were a big hit with the kids. Travis' boys Nathan and Josh are ready to go. I think the older kids made a permanent rut in the circle they road in front of the house.

The solar electricity held out even though the batteries are not carrying a full charge this year. There was enough for the kids to have some quiet time before bed to watch a movie. It's fun to see Nicholas and Josh with cousin Tyson,

and Marissa with cousins Spencer and Nathan.

The kids came running one day and told us they had found a big spider. It ended up being a 3-4 inch tarantula! He was trapped in a 5-gallon bucked buried in the ground to protect the opening to a septic tank down from the house. It reared up on it's hind legs when we put a stick in the bucket to help him escape.

When Mom and Dad first moved to Wikieup, they grew a "wine tree." Of course, that was one of the first rules with the B-B gun, second to not shooting any one's eye out, to not shoot the bottles on the wine tree. But, as you can see, rules must be made to be broken.

We figured that the bottles would be too much of a temptation for the "mighty hunters." At least no one got their eye shot out.

After Travis and his family left on Christmas Eve, we went to Burro Creek. The first time we went there, many years ago, we actually saw some wild burros. We looked really hard for them, but didn't see any. It was pretty muddy down by the river.

This is Terry and Shay's family sitting on the stone stairway on the way to the Creek. It seemed to be a natural "Kodak moment" spot.

After getting back from the creek, everyone spent time cleaning the mud off of their shoes.

Terry and Sean are in front of the Cactus Garden at the Burro Creek Campground. They have a little pamphlet that tells all of the names of the cacti. This is where our family learned the names (I know, 20 years ago!)

Well, after counting down the days, Christmas morning finally got here and it looked like Santa found us. We were a little worried, being out in the middle of the desert!

The kids were excited about checking out their stockings. And, the empty plate of cookies and carrots proved that Santa and his reindeer were really here!

Terry is relaxing in his new chair. He also got some float tube waders. I took pictures but he wouldn't let me post them on the BLOG. He said I could if I would also include a picture of me in my new nightie, then I could post his picture. That ain't gonna happen! So, kids, I will send you some private pictures. Thanks to all of you for the things you gave us. It was great!

Before Shay's family left, they had to have their picture taken in front of our "picture postcard" cactus.

We had a great Christmas. We want to thank the daughter-in-laws for putting up with a few inconveniences (namely the outhouse). They were good sports and we hope the grandkids made some wonderful Wikieup memories.

December in Wikieup

We finally are on our way South. We stayed at my uncle's home (Terry & Nancy Imlay) for a night in Plain City, Ut. We were going to stay a couple of days, but a big storm was coming in, so we only spent the night and then headed for St. George.

We stayed three nights in St. George. We went to Beaver Dam and saw my Dad's brother, Dan and Joyce Fisher. They used to spend part of the winter in Wikieup, but now have a winter home in Beaver Dam. They took us to lunch and then to his grandson, Jared's home. It was really nice. The next day we went and ate dinner at my High School friend's (Ruth and John Lunt) home and they took us to a Christmas nativity scene show where there were over 300 nativity scenes set up in an LDS Church building. It was really something to see.

We decided to go play card bingo at the clubhouse at the campground one night. We met two couples from Horsehoe Bend who were on their way south! Then when we went to church the next day, Terry met a brother-in-law of Don Fluckiger. His wife was Don's sister. I met a "Howard" whose husband was from the Rexburg area where Terry's dad was raised. We decided that we were probably related and she told me that most of the Howards were buried in Woodruff cemetery and not the Chester Cemetery, where we had looked earlier. It sure is a small world!

We were a little worried about the little house on the desert in Wikieup because in September someone broke into it. We knew that they had stollen a couple of air conditions and had left the door open for a couple of weeks before some friends went in and closed them for us and patched the holes where the air conditioners were. We were afraid about varmints getting into the house.

When we got there, we found that they had also taken our little microwave and a big aluminum ladder. The worse thing was, they had stripped all of the wiring for the solar panels. I guess they wanted the copper wire. We ended up having to go into Kingman and buy all new wiring, and then with a few calls to my brother, Dave, we got it all wired back.

Terry sent me up on the roof of the porch to wire the solar panels because the sun had baked the old wires (for the past 14 years). It was a little scary, but Terry guided me through it.

We were really glad to find no varmints in the house--not even very much sign of any ever being there. We had left a lot of poison around before we left last year. But, as Terry was wiriing in the solar battery box, we heard some crunching going on under a little wooden step on the porch. Sure enough, when we raised the step, there was a pack rat. Terry grabbed a piece of lath and stabbed him! He is a great hunter! Other than that, we haven't seen anything else but a friendly lizzard and a hummingbird around the house.

We have been having mostly nice weather. It gets pretty cold if the wind blows. But, it has been nice enough to have a few meals out on the picnic table.

We are now busy getting things ready for Christmas. Shay and Travis and their families will be here with us during the holidays. I am scubbing, mopping, washing bedding, and sanitizing everything, especially the outhouse. Some of them are not too used to anything but modern conveniences. We are hoping they all have a good time, anyway.

The Month of November

We spent most of the month of November still in Jill and Dan's driveway. We had a chance to go to Chester Idaho where Terry's dad was born. There is no town, just a little community. We found the cemetery, but only one "Howard" grave. We didn't recognize the name, but he could be related. It was fun just driving around that community and imagining Terry's dad growing up there.

We got to watch Sean (Shay's son) play some football. We went to his last game and the boys all got a trophy. I think his team got second place. His coach called him "Lightning Sean" because he is so fast.

All of the family came out to support him, except Marissa. She has a hard time getting up early on Saturday mornings!

Both Sarah's and Ryan's families came to Jill's for Thanksgiving. She had a housefull. Terry thought it was pretty nice that we could just run away out to our own little "house" in the driveway to have a little quiet time!

Jill had lots of help in the kitchen making pies with Kamber and Jenna. Jenna and Kamber are good helpers!

Here is the "adults" table.

And here is the "kids" table. Good food, good company, good time!

The kids had fun playing together. This is Chaz, Jenna, and Ryley. Chaz and Ryley are Ryan' s and Jenna is Sarah's.

Sarah brought along some projects. She is giving Jill a Levi quilt for Christmas, so she brought all of the blocks cut out and Jill and I helped put it together!

That's a good way to get Jill's gift done, just have her help!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went to the school where Dan teached in Rexburg and played in the gym. The adults played PIG.

It looks like Terry and Dan tied!

And then everyone joined in on Freeze! We were really trying to get some of the energy used up from the kids!

Terry had a little project that he needed help with. We told the boys that if emptying our sewer was the worst thing they every have to do for us, they can consider themselves lucky!

We ended up going back to Emmett the Monday after Thanksgiving. I had a leg/back problem the whole time we were in Rexburg. So we went back to Emmett to make sure I wasn't going to have to have surgery or anything.

It was good to be back in Emmett. It was nice seeing everyone again and we got to watch Wesley Ryan's son) play a basketball game. I am sure he is going to be a star some day!

He had a great cheering section!