Killer Turkeys

When I was a little girl, we would go to my grandma and grandpa's house in Virden, New Mexico. They had a neighbor who had a turkey that would roam free through the neighborhood. I was only about 5 or 6 at the time, and I hated going outside! Whenever I or my siblings went outside, this turkey would fluff up all his feathers and take off running after us. We'd run into the house screaming. One day my dad had finally had it with that turkey and told us he'd take care of him. We watched out the window to see exactly how this would be done. A few minutes later, dad was running away from that turkey and jumped into the bed of a pickup truck. The turkey stayed there keeping watch over his prey....

Fast forward about 33 years, I have been training to run the Ragnar Relay, I've been running all over town. We have only one stoplight in town, which is right by a strip mall, and gas station, but on the other corner is a vacant field. Saturday as I was running to the itersection, I turned right and saw two huge turkeys blocking my path. When I was 5, the turkey was as tall as me, now it only came up to my thigh, but it still brought up memories of the past. When the turkeys saw me they fluffed up their feathers, I only had a small gravel path that I could run on, and they were on the gravel. I tried to go around them through clumps of long grass, mud, and other debris. Sure enough, as I was passing the turkeys, the larger of the two started after me. I'm sure I put on a good show to all the cars stopped at the intersection as memories of the killer turkey from my past came back. I had goosebumps that went from the top of my head to my toes, a pit in my stomach, and I watched my whole life pass before my eyes as I resigned myself to my fate. Needless to say, I ran faster than that turkey, and had enough adrenaline pumping through my system to make it the 3 1/2 miles back home in 30 seconds flat.

I tried to find a picture that looked like the turkeys that almost killed me. This picture of my neighbors is all I could find. I know it looks like a cute pet, all fluffy and sweet...but don't let the looks fool you. They are deadly!! (Luckily, the turkey in this picture was eaten for Thanksgiving.) he he he...

Fun Weekend

This weekend, Steve's parents came out to see the boys play basketball. The boys have wanted to show off all season, it was really neat to have grandma and grandpa there. Steve's team won, with Steve dominating his team in points. Conner's team had an off week, they lost by 20 points, but Conner made 8 points. That usually happens when grandma and grandpa come out. He was disappointed that they didn't get to see the real Conner.

We also had Stake Conference this weekend. Steve was gone almost all day Saturday with Elder Renlund, an area seventy. They visited several members of our stake, then had leadership meeting. Then there was a dinner for all the bishops, stake presidency and their wives, followed by the adult session of conference. On Sunday we had the General session, Steve's parents joined us for that as well. It ended up being a very nice weekend...long...but nice. It is a relief to have it over for another 6 months.

Valentine's Day Competition

We decided for Valentine's Day to have round two of "Iron Chef Wright". We had this competition two years ago, and Lee and Tricia won the title of Iron Chef. This year the "secret ingredient" we chose was sausage, thanks to Brayden. All of my brothers and sisters who live in Utah, and their spouses participated, with the exception of Tera's husband, Erick, who is serving in the military. Steve and I decided to try our luck at Stuffed Manicotti, and for our dessert we made chocolate covered strawberries. We were all supposed to make any type of dessert, that we would not be judged on. Steve is an amazing chef, and really helped me to step it up a bit, he has great taste, and really wanted to make our plate look nice.

Because Erick was gone, we had Tera be our judge. She judged on taste, use of the secret ingredient, and presentation. We each took 1/2 hour to shop and 1 hour to cook.Here are the dishes each couple made. Erin and Brayden made stuffed mushrooms, and alfredo pizza. Their dessert was chocolate cookies, raspberries, with white chocolate whipped cream, very good! Lee and Tricia made fresh pizza, and a sausage dip with chips. For dessert they made a coconut, rice pudding. It was delicious. Jared and Casi made penne al forte, and salad. For dessert, they made rootbeer floats, yummy! All I can say is EVERYTHING was Wonderful!! I ate so much, I thought I was going to pop.Tera is tallying up the scores... it was a really fun day. Good food, and good fun. Tera said that our manicotti tied with Lee and Tricia's dip and chips, but because Lee and Tricia won last time, they let me and Steve take home the Iron Chef Wright apron. We were so happy.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Grantsville Utah Stake Presidency

Jason Allen: stake clerk, Bill Lawrence: 1st Counselor, Steve: Stake President, Rick Phelps: 2nd Counselor, and Troy Tuckett: Executive Secretary

Last night the Stake Presidency, Executive Secretary, Stake Clerk, and their wives went to the temple together and then to dinner at The Garden, which is in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I have been wanting for a long time to get a picture of the men that Steve serves with. They are an amazing group of men, and we had a really nice evening together.

Pictures of Grandpa Fred's Funeral

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is good for me, because I don't know where to start talking about Grandpa's funeral. It was a very rough week for the family. These first pictures are at the viewing, just some of the great grandchildren. Steve, Kelton, Cameron (hiding), Sandi (their mom), Kaylea, and Jessica.

I'm not as good at these names, but they are Alison and Corey's kids(Tawnie... sorry don't know the boy's names), Blaine and Laura's boys(Caden, Ethan, Mason, and Garrett...Conner's helping me), Trevor and Melissa's boys (Colton and Bridger) and Conner. It's nice that Conner has cousins close by that he has fun with.

Grandpa was a WWII veteran, he served in the navy, so he had an honor guard with a 21 gun salute and the bugle. It was really moving, if you scroll down further, I have taken a video of this part. It was an incredible experience to watch this part of the ceremony.

They draped his casket with an american flag, and after the ceremony, folded it and gave it to Loa Jean. Steve gave the family prayer before the funeral service, and his brother Marc dedicated the grave. As I said before it was a trying week, not only did Grandpa pass away, but Grandpa has 4 kids; David, Allen, Eloise, and Craig, Allen has been in the hospital all week with some sort of intestinal blockage. He was at the funeral, but in a wheelchair, and was still really sick. Eloise has a granddaughter who has a severe medical condition. She ended up having water around her heart and has been in ICU at Primary Children's Medical Center for the past few weeks. And Craig (who was supposed to dedicate the grave) ended up in the emergency room with kidney stones. He was in surgery during the funeral services.

Our whole family was able to attend. Jessica took a couple of days off work in Orem and came out for the viewing and the funeral. After the funeral, she had to go right back home.

Steve and his dad.

After going to the cemetery, the ward made the family a nice dinner. It was nice to spend time with family that we haven't seen in a long time. We are so sorry for Loa Jean, she will be lonely for a while, grandpa always made everyone around him happy. He was quite the comedian.

Just a few pictures I took of family:

Jessica and Marcia

Kenney and Sandi: Sandi played the piano throughout the service, she did such a great job, and was even able to play songs at the last minute that she didn't have time to practice. You couldn't tell, she sounded great.

Cait and Zoe

Molly, John, and Carter...hiding. I feel bad, I gues I didn't get a picture of Todd and Denise or Marc and Victoria, but it was good to spend time with everyone. It's hard to believe that Grandpa is gone, he's been such a big part of our lives, we will truly miss him.

Conner meets the Denneys

Today was a cool day for Conner. My sister in law, Casi, had her baby and her new niece blessed on the same day. I thought that was such a neat idea, and it was just family and close friends who attended. Conner and I went to the blessing and ended up meeting Casi's cousins. Ryan Denney, #92 who plays football for the Buffalo Bills, and used to play for BYU, and Brett Denney, also #92 who plays for BYU right now. Conner was so excited to have them in the same room with us, he loves playing football so much, and these guys are living the dream. Conner was pretty embarrassed, but really wanted an autograph. Jared, my brother, was so sweet to take Conner and a couple of his cousins over to meet them and get an autograph and a picture taken with them. Conner acted like he didn't want to do any of this, but when we got home, he hung up the autographs, and wants me to print up the pictue to hang in his room as soon as possible.

When Conner grows up he wants to play in the NFL. I've always told him that he needs a back up plan, because not many people make it into the NFL, he says he has a backup plan....the NBA.

Ryan is in a sling with the blue shirt, and Brett is in the white shirt. They are both 6' 7". I'm afraid Conner will never be that tall!

Grandpa's Funeral

I will be posting pictures, etc. of Grandpa's funeral later, but I wanted to post this video. Grandpa served in the navy, so he had an honor guard present at his funeral. It was really neat, I was amazed at how beautiful the bugle was. One funny thing about this video, watch the little boy in the bottom right corner. He wasn't the only person who jumped when they did the 21 gun salute, but I'm glad I got it on video!

Kaylea's project

This year in school, Kaylea is taking an Ag Mechanics class, which basically teaches her welding. Kaylea really enjoys this class, and has learned a lot. Kaylea made us this name plate for Christmas, we haven't had a chance to hang it until now. She used a plasma cutter, then had to grind the edges and paint it. It's made out of metal, and is so heavy duty, it should last for a hundred years. I'm so happy with how it looks, it really pops with the new stucco, and matches the lights, door, etc.

Hopefully, it will help you all find our house a little easier!

Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay

As most of you know, I joined a team to run the Ragnar Relay in June. Team SABOTAGE had our first meeting last night. We met our fellow team-mates, and had a fun time. I'm a little bit nervous about this race, it looks long and hard, but I think the views are going to be amazing, and it was fun to get to know our team members from the other side of the mountain. I was worried that they would all be CRAZY fast, and I would be the weakest link on my team. The more I got to know them, the more comfortable I became. There are a few men on the team who are really fast...that will be nice, and one woman who is an amazing runner, but mostly the other 5 ladies on the team run at about the same speed. Now it's just trying to get used to the hills, and running 2 to 3 times a day.

Of course, every team needs to have a comedian, Gene Isom volunteered for that position. Thanks Gene for saving me the trouble of doing it myself.