Lena photos

Here are some photos of Lena and the family.  I went up and visited Christina and helped her load her photos.  We could not get Lena to smile for the camera.  She mainly looks surprised with her big blue eyes.
I enjoyed playing with Amy & Esther and holding Lena.

Visiting Jenny's family in Henderson

We spent several days in Vegas and drove out to Henderson to visit Jenny's family.  They also came to see the giant pumpkins, fountains and flowers at the Bellagio.  The kids really enjoyed it.

Olsen Reunion

Bud, Jill, Jeff, Jan, Jerry & Diana

It was great to see my brothers and sisters for a few days.  This was the first time we were together in five years.  The last time was just before Bruce & I left for China. We enjoyed the beautiful fall scenery around our home and good meals.  We talked about mom & dad and growing up and shared stories. It is nice to have brothers and sisters that love one another. We are planning a reunion next year in Oregon on the coast on July 19-21.  We need to make this an annual event.  Jan, Diana and I get together at least once a year for our sisters' lunch when Diana flies out to see Lance and his family.   We attended Lance's ward so Diana could watch her grandson pass the sacrament.  Bud got up and gave a wonderful testimony about the power of a loving family and good parents.  

Watching grandkids

I am watching the Weight grandkids, Lena, Amy & Esther for two weeks while Christina & Ryan are in London & Germnay.  Lots of work and lots of fun. 

Smoke in our Canyon

 After living through the worst fire season in Utah for years we thought we were out of danger and then smoke appeared on the mountain up canyon from our house, probably from an old lightning strike that smoldered for weeks under the thick carpet of needles and roots.  Here are photos.

Water drop from helicopter. 

Helicopter in field at bottom of canyon, smoke seen half way up the back mountain.

Smoke seen from road below our property. 

Only entrance or exit to our box canyon with the Fall brilliant red leaves showing. 

We live in a paradise, but it is not without danger.  However we never felt the fire was a threat.  We never saw flames.  Our neighbors Alex Scobell and Mitch Kay hiked up and worked on getting a fire break around it until the helicopter started dropping water.  They helped to keep it contained. The fire fighters have been working on it since Thursday when we first noticed smoke.  A crew has hiked up and the helicopter has dropped water.  It is hard to put out because everything seems fine and then the next day you can see smoke again, so they sit and watch from below and when the smoke starts getting bad they start fighting it. . 

Bruce's reunion with siblings

Bruce & me, Jeff & Leslie (Meyers), Dennis & Lana, Shelley & Peter (Harris), Becky & Paul (Terry), Julie & John (Primb) at the Taylor reunion on September 15th

Bruce with his siblings.
Once a year at least thanks to Leslie, we try to get together with his siblings and children.  This year there were less children and the visit was more with just the siblings.  Christina came down with her family and I spent most of the time watching grandkids.  Shelley showed us old photos that she had scanned of the family from the 40's & 50's.  There were some cute ones of Bruce as a kids.  We had not seen any of these photos before.  Shelley sent me the link on google +.   Bruce was a cute kid

Becky, Julie, Leslie & Bruce

Bruce the baseball player, love the socks

Bruce, the growing boy, love the turned up cuffs on his jeans

Bruce by a creek, love the spontaneous smile.  He reminds me of Ben as a kid. 

Ezra's blessing

Ezra Benson Taylor was blessed on Sunday August 26th in Lehi.  Ben and Shera's family and friends were all there.  Ben gave a lovely blessing for his son.   

Christina, Ryan and Lena, Esther & Amy also came for the blessing. It was great to visit with them too.