MORE HIGH FLYING IN LAKE AMPHIBIAN

Here is a great video Gary and our son-in-law, Kevin, made flying over Willard Bay and Pineview with the beautiful autumn colors.  http://youtu.be/SgESF76HDY http://youtu.be/2SgESF76HDY

HIGH FLYING

Gary took me for my first adventure in the Lake amphibian plane which he has been restoring for the past couple of years.  First we made a few landings and take-offs on Willard Bay, then flew east over the canyons to look at the beautiful colors.  Next we buzzed our daughter, April's house and on to Pineview Reservoir.  The homes on the lake were so picturesque with the bright foilage on the trees, it looked like something in Maine.  Gary couldn't pass up the chance to land there amongst the sail boats on the water.  It was pretty weird to land on water and taxi around the lakes, and I will admit I was nervous.  As always, Gary takes me on adventures to try new things. The lovely bright yellow addition to my outfit is the life vest required for all passengers.www.facebook.com

PHOTOS OF OUR NEW BABY

findingsday.blogspot.com

Having problems downloading pics of our new grandson, Rider.  So go over to right side of this blog and scroll down to the blogs I follow and click on "Shannon Day".  She keeps lots of updated photos of the kids there.

RIDER'S NEW RAGE

This is the quilt I just made for our newest Grandson; Rider, Kevin, Day.  Back of quilt has fabric with monkeys swinging through the trees.  Rider's fingers and toes are long enough to do just that!facebook.com

NEW BABY IN TOWN

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I will post some of my own pictures later, but if you go to www.bouncinbabyphotography.com then click on "view photos"  then enter the following password you can see Shannon and Kevin's new baby boy.  Password is  0829riderday      Have fun- we love him so much already!

NEW QUILT

Go on over to www.Liahonaquilter.blogspot.com and see my latest quilt.

FAR BETWEEN

I recently listened to a program on NPR Radiowest discussing a BYU professor and film maker who is openly gay.  This was the most spiritual, insightful, uplifting discussion I have ever heard dealing with an active member of the LDS faith who is also gay.  I have never listened to anyone who has studied, prayed, and pondered so deeply on this topic, truly wishing to know what his Father in Heaven wants him to do.  It takes about 30 minutes to listen to but I guarantee that it will be worth your time and effort.  It left me in tears.

Go to KUER radio on google and click on that and then Radio West and look up the podcast from 8/18/11 titled "Far Between"  with host Doug Fabrizio and his guest, professor Wilcox of BYU.  Please set me know what you think after listening to it.

GOD'S BEAUTIFUL CREATIONS

Yosemite Park in California is now one of my all-time favorite places in the world.  We are so lucky to have this wonderful park so close by.  We went with 2 other couples and made sort of last-minute arrangements, so we had to stay at a motel 60 minutes outside the park, but it was still worth the driving.  We flew in to a small airport in Mariposa, CA, about 5 minutes from out hotel.

There are lots of short hikes that take you to breath-taking vantage points.  Most hikes were from 1 to 3 miles each way.  I would recommend shelling out the $25 or so to take what they call the 'tram' ride through the valley floor with a ranger who points things out and tells you the history of Yosemite.  This takes roughly 2 hours.  There are also free shuttle buses to get you around as well.  One day we went around and came in thru the south entrance and drove to the trailhead leading to a fantastic grove of giant sequoias.  We met up with a nice young ranger and went with him on his tour of these huge, old trees.  We had a nice lunch at the historic Wawona Hotel.

We plan to go back next year and take more of our family.  We were lucky because due to all of the snow and rain this year the park looked like it was April instead of August.  The waterfalls were all still going and there were fields with thousands of lupine flowers which were about 2 feet tall. If you haven't been there I would HIGHLY recommend it.  We spent 3 full days and could have used another.

DOUBLE OOPS!!

Correct address for my other blog is Liahonaquilter.blogspot.com

YOSEMITE POST, OOPS

I made a big boo-boo and downloaded pictures from Yosemite to my 'other' blog with my quilts on it.  Dang it all.  Until I get a minute to put them all here, you can skip on over to Maryquilter.blogspot.com

YOSEMITE, YOSEMITE

I will soon be adding a new post, I know it has been ages, but I will have some pics to share of a visit to the most fabulous place in all the world- no, it is not Disneyland, it is Yosemite Park, CA.  Who would have guessed that the most spectacular place on earth is located in nearby California!  I will tell details when I get some pictures posted, but suffice it to say that the past 4 days have been some of the choicest of my lifetime.

MY GIRLS ROCK

These are pics taken after the recent Wasatch Back Ragnar Race. My daughter-in-law, Kim is on the left and April on the right.  You probably know that the race covers almost 200 miles and is done by teams, each team member running several different legs over the course of 18-35 hours, non-stop.  This is the first year Kim and April have entered and they did a great job.  April even took on the toughest leg of the race which goes about 8 miles straight up the mountain.  Shannon was team leader, but do to illness had to drive the van instead of race this time.  I am so proud of these kids and the athletic goals they are setting for themselves.  April and her husband are getting ready for the Rag Ride which is a bike race covering the entire width of Iowa.  They ride between 30 to 80 miles each day and camp out at night.  They ride for a week. Johnny has raced this for MANY years with his family and this will be April's 3rd time doing it with them.  Last year she got the flu and had to stop and throw up along the route; hopefully this year will be more fun for her!

BOOK REVIEWS

I have recently read 2 books that I would like to review.  The first is Phantom by Susan Kaye ( I think).  I am on our sailboat right now and don't have the book with me to double check the author.  This book is sort of a prequel to the story of Phantom of the Opera that we know from the stage production. It goes into the entire life of Erik, the Phantom, and how his life shapes the person he becomes and what leads him to the Paris Opera House.  I forced myself to finish this book, but I would not recommend it .  Although the writing itself is good, there is SO MUCH EVIL, hatred, and gratuitous violence and murder that it was disturbing to me and I am not a "prudish" reader by any means.  I was left with the same feeling I had after reading tthe first in the murder mystery series by the Scandanavian author called The Girl With the Tattoo, or something like that.  Everyone raved about the series, but it left me feeling spiritually drained and dark

The second book, which I read on the airplane flights here, was Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls , who also wrote the Glass Castle.  I very much enjoyed this novel which was pretty much the life story of the author's grandmother, Lilly Casey Smith.  Lilly was an amazing woman and rose above many challenges in life and I chuckled all the way through the book.  No sex, violence, or bad language, but a fun light read if you just want to relax and get some old-fashioned lessons on dealing with life as it comes at you. 

I have loaded about 7 books on my e-reader for this trip and will continue to share them with you as I go.  I am currently starting a British murder mystery .  Please leave comments if you have read either of these books and let me know what you thought.

Little Miss Layla

I was tending Layla today and we had so much fun together.  Top picture she is cooking for me and bottom picture she is watching Dumbo dvd while I iron clothes.  These are some of the choice moments in life.

Back from the sunny Caribbean

We just returned from 3 weeks in Grenada, Carriacou, and Union Island.  Saw lots of beautiful views like the first picture and did lots of what is shown in the second.  Now that obviously isn't one of us snoozing in the cockpit, that is Rob Helm, from one of our previous voyages.  I will try to download some of the pictures Gary took from this voyage.  We did LOTS of reading and resting this time around; something Gary does very little of at home.  Met some lovely people and re-charged out emotional batteries.  We spent some time in the Port Louis marina in St. George's, Grenada, "parked" near the Eos, the world's largest privately owned sailing yacht.  That boat is 300 ft. long.  If you want to see an unbelievable and beautiful yacht, Google that one up.  We have one more trip this sailing season and will haul the boat out of the water to store for the upcoming hurricane season.  Early in December Gary will take some crew with him and sail the boat from Grenada up to St. Thomas where we need to have our life raft re-certified.  Think I will fly into St. Thomas and meet Gary there to finish out the trip.

EASY BAKE by Cluck, Cluck Sew

Once again, this isn't quilted yet, but wanted to show you anyway.  This is the front and back of a baby quilt using Riley Blake's "Sugar and Spice" fabrics.  I made it this weekend for the daughter of a friend who has had a hard time getting pregnant.  She is finally ready to have a little girl and I am so thrilled for her.  This pattern is "easy-peasy", and you honestly cannot mess it up and most seams don't have to line up. I plan on binding it with one of the striped fabrics, cut on the diagonal so it looks like a candy cane stripe.  Great pattern for beginners or those who just need to whip something up quickly. I purchased the pattern and fabrics from Material Girls Quilt Shop in Draper.

DOT TO DOT QUILT

Sorry this isn't the most clear picture of this new quilt.  I will try to get a better one later.  This fun, bright quilt will be on display at Material Girl's Quilt Shop in Draper, Utah.  The quilting on it was done by Kathryn Lindsay of Black Cat Quilting- thanks, Kathryn. Shannon has her eye on this one, but who knows where it will end up.

HIGH FLYING TO LOGAN TODAY

I was soaking in the tub this morning and Gary remembered it was the monthly fly-in at Logan airport for their free super pancake breakfast for pilots.  Threw some clothes on and Gary pulled good old N678DB out of the hanger and off we flew with the sun shining through the windshield on our faces.  Gary even got to practice his teaching skills as he coached me and I flew the plane part of the way back from Logan to Ogden.  Had fun chatting with pilots and looking at the great variety of planes people brought in this morning from all over.  Quite a few home-builts to oooooh and ahhhhh  over.  I am including a few photos; one of Gary pulling out the Cessnae, one of the Christin Eagle stunt plane in our hanger that Gary built, one of the Lake Amphibean float plane he is restoring in the hanger, and a couple of a huge, Albatross float plane parked next to our hangar.  Have a great weekend everybody.

Oops- more pictures of Shannon and Layla

Shannon and Layla go swimming; Layla and buds go hiking with moms; Dad and Layla go for a bike ride together; our Christmas angel.

WHAT A LUCKY MOM I AM

I was reading my daughter Shannon's blog today, and once again I was reminded of what a lovely, deep thinking and truth-seeking woman she is.  If you have time, stroll on over to her blog at

www.findingsday.blogspot.com   Just to fill you in a little bit, her daughter is named Layla, and Shannon and Kevin were blessed to adopt Layla after many years of dealing with painful infertility problems.  Shannon has sometimes felt inadequate (as all young mothers do) and not worthy of this precious little spirit.  She has been completely in awe of the gift Layla's birth mom gave to all of us.  In reality, I have never seen a young women love motherhood more than Shannon does; she is ten times the mother I ever was at that age.  Thanks for listening, friends.

MORE OF PRAGUE

Here are a few more photos.  The Charles Bridge in Prague is about the oldest bridge in Europe.  The sepia toned picture of my grandniece and grandnephew is really taken in Leipsig, Germany. If you double click on these pics you can get the full effect.