MERRY CHRISTMAS

HERE WE ARE A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND WE COULD USE SOME SNOW IF WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A "WHITE CHRISTMAS" IT IS COLD ENOUGH TO SNOW. FINALLY GOT THE LIGHT ON THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE ALL WORKING, HAD A SHORT AND FINALLY GOT IT FIXED( NOT EASY WITH THE SNOW IN THE ROOF). LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVEING THE FAMILY OVER ON CHRISTMAS MORNING FOR BREAKFAST. ALWAYS A TREAT TO ENJOY THIS TRADITION. WE THANK THE LORD FOR OUR GOOD HEALTH OVER THIS LAST YEAR AND ALL OF THE MANY BLESSINGS THAT WE ENJOY!!! HAVE A GREAT XMAS AND A PROSPOROUS NEW YEAR.

New Cabin Roof

A quick note and a couple of pictures of the quick trip to West Yellowstone. Spence and I journied to the cabin to check out the installation of the new metal roof. Went up on Monday afternoon and stayed in West that night. (Thanks to a FREE room at the Holiday Inn provided by Paul) Had rain most of the way North but Tusday morning we woke up to clear and Cold morning. The contractor had three hands working on the roofing and they had the garage all done but the finishing touches. They had a good start on the East side and planed in finishing up on Tuesday Afternoon.

It's FALL

It's FAll and we just completed the CLOSING OF THE CABIN. Went up on Friday and completed a very sucessful "logging" on Saturday (Which turned out to be great day, weather wise) As you can see by the attached photo , the "wooding crew"haul in a good amount of fire wood which sohould last thru the next couple of years. Another change for next year is a new ROOF, just ordered a new metal roof to replace the 56 year old one that serves well. Got the closeing done on Sunday, Boats put away, shutters on, flag pole taken down and every thing locked up.

Septembe rememberance

A quick recap of September (so far). Grammy and I spent a great couple of weeks at our favorite place, the Cabin on Hebgen Lake. It was beautiful Indian Summer as far as weather was concerned. A full lake!! Tom was up there the week before and try as he may , they didn't catch a fish. We are going to have to have a work party to gather some more logs for cutting, as with the cool mornings, there was a welcome fire to take the chill off. We were invited to wedding of The Jex daughter down at Anahiem on the 19thl, so Alyson decided it was a wonderful oppertunity to visit DISNEYLAND, so we flew down to Orange County Airport and thru the connections that Lynell has we got lodging at the Friends and Family discount at the Fairfield Inn and a free pass's to the Park. WHAT A DEAL!!! Grammy had her own transportation
Grammy has played in a couple of Bridge Tournies and has done very well. Grandpa is glad that Football Season is here, but disapointed in the last Ute's game with Oragon.

Our final trip to Montana for this year. Arrived on August 29th and will stay until September 11th. Dave is bring a group of customer up for a fishing trip a little later on this month. Beautiful weather so far, middle 70's during the day and cooling down to mid 30's in the morning. Great for sleeping!!! Lake is still up pretty well, although starting to go down. Alyson and group coming up for a few days over the Labor Day week end. We are burning some wood in the morning so will have to cut some. Hope everyone is in good health and are HAPPY.

Just a quick update on the "false alarm" . Had a pain in the lower chest and thought it should be attended too, so Grammy and I went down to St Marks Emergency Room on Saturday Midnight and had it check out. They thought I should stay overnight and have a Stress Test and make sure everything was working OK. And I'm happy to say that the Heart is as good as it ever was!!! Thanks all of you for the concern and know I love "ya all"

A day at the Gateway

Ian and Nate(Grandsons) and I spent most of the day at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City today. We Spectacular Galaxy at the Clark Planetarium and saw Dinosaurs in 3D at the Imax theater. Both were very entertaining and also informative. Nate liked the Dinosaurs the best. Of course , between shows we had to eat as we were all starved. California Pizza was the choice of the kids, so we had a Pepperoni and a Chicken Halopenia pizza. We were able to get around both of them. Next on the agenda is swimming so we went to the Club for a swim and a couple of treats. Was a fun day and a good tome was had by all!!!!

OUR 4TH OF JULY

As we usually do, we spent the 4th of July at Hebgen Lake in the beautiful state of Montana. We had children, grand-children and even a great grand-child. The weather was typical mountain weather i.e. wonderful, rainy, windy and beautiful. Grammy love a fire so we accommodated her with a daily fire in the fireplace. Some of the kids even went swimming in the lake and said that you could get use to it??? Got the boat in and made some benched for the fire-pit. Did some clean up around the area and now have to get the slash burned. Leave that for another day.

4th of JULY

Well we are at Hebgen for our annual fourth celebration!!! With the 4th coming on Satruday this year, Grammy and I came upon June 28th to spend the week. Weather is perfect, around 72/80/35 degrees and a slight wind. As usual doing some clean-up and generally "just taking it easy". Suppose to have some visitors come Wednesday. Our friends the Wards were suppose to make it, but Norine was diagnosed with Lung Cancer and had to be operated on and will be under the weather for a while, so just Grammy and I here for the first couple of days. Nothing wrong with that! That's about it for this posting, we're thinking for your all and wish you were here. Got a FULL lake for a change.
Love and Kisses
G & G

Has Spring really made it????

Seems like the transition from Winter to Spring to Summer has been an arduous journey........June has been nothing but rain which is good for the lawn and gardens but hard on the psyche. But as Grandpa Smurth use to say " If GOD sends rain then rain is my choice"!
We are looking forward to heading to Montand, as I'm sure, so are the rest of you. David is using one of his weeks now and it looks like the rest of the summer is about booked at the Cabin. Paul is in town this weekend for a meeting regarding the waste disposal and the need for Aljon compactors. Of course, Brynn is in Ghana volunteering to teach deaf kid how to "sign". It has been agreat experience for her.More later............Grandpa

Bailey's recital

This Sunday afternoon we went to Bailey's recital over at the Ward. Bailey sang about 5 tunes, some accompanied by Spence. It was very good and Bailey has come along way with her singing. She handles the mic and audience very well. The recital was attended by the family and of course applauded very loudly at the conclusion of each piece. You missed a special occasion by not being there.

Saturday

Another beautiful day,about 70 degrees with a slight breeze. Got the front room floor washed and waxed, another loead of washing done. Uncle Army and Aunt Dot departed for Bountiful around 1 this afternoon. We did meet and talked to the new propriters of the laundry, Tab and Tammy who just bot the laundry and dry cleaners in March. He formally was Concrete Construction supervisor in Las Vegas. Got layed off when the enocomy tanked and said he love it up here so bought the business.

Memorial Day

Great start to the "CABIN SUMMER" Opened up over Memorial day with the Bowthorpe's, Jones, Materns and Rhea. Lake is about 60% full, but the Forest Ranger claims that we will have a full pool by June 10th. Hope they are right. The Cabin schedule is almost full for the year. Should be a banner year!! We got the area cleand up and the cabin cleaned up and Uncle Army got the kitchen stove wood pile clear up to the top. Tried to cut some of the "bone" pile, but it is still a little "green" and don't split very well. Going to let it cure for a while. It has been a fine 10 days for us and highly recommend it for a great change of pace. Time to go into the Village and do some washing .