Gideon is baptised in the East Verde River

Owen officiated in the baptism of his son, Gideon.  It was a solemn and beautiful ceremony.  We were honored to be included in this most blessed event.

After Gideon was baptized in the East Verde River, Owen gave a special prayer pledging Gideon to a life following the teachings of Jesus and thanking God for this precious little child.

And then as a closing prayer we sang an ancient Irish hymn that Owen had chosen for this special occasion...."I bind unto Myself Today."

Gideon Paul was baptized on this glorious day of June 1, 2026….surrounded by those who love dear little boy and in the midst of all of God’s glory.

A fitting conclusion to this most holy ceremony was that when we asked a family who was hiking beside the river to take our family photo, it just happened that the man who took our picture was named Jesus.  

Somebody forgot to tell her she's 76.

How many grandmas can do this?

 

 

 

Summer in The Love Nest….

Since Owen and Mila with our darling grandchildren, Hannah, Vernon, Robert, and baby Gideon are staying at our log cabin through the summer and beyond, we have rented a cute cabin 1/2 mile away from them.  We will be living here for 4-5 months….until our littlest grandson has the surgery required to fix the hole in his heart. 

The cabin we are renting is high in the pine trees overlooking the Cool Pines neighborhood.  When we sit on our back deck we see Strawberry Mountain towering high above the little valley below us.  And as we relax and enjoy this world before us, we are on the same level as the bird nests high in the pine trees.  For this reason (and because we love each other so very much), we have named this cabin our Love Nest!

Our first morning we were excited to hike our favorite loop on the Pine-Strawberry Trail. 

A gigantic century plant budding out….one of the few century plants that a hungry elk didn’t break the stalk off and eat it in early spring.

Two more century plants….

The Heart Rock Tree….several years ago someone put a heart-shaped rock in a notch in this old juniper pinyon.  And now the tree has heart rocks in every possible crook and cranny!

So of course we added a shell fossil heart-shaped rock that we had found while hiking a few years ago on top of the Mogollon Rim.  Every time we go by the Heart Rock Tree we make sure that our special heart rock is still wedged into the crack of the trunk.

Here is our 50 million year old fossilized shell heart-shaped rock….it’s the 6th rock up from the bottom in this photo.

We hadn’t hiked this loop for seven months, let alone any mountain trails all winter long—and last summer it took us three months to hike it as fast as we did this year on our first try.  

Neither of us were even wiped out after our hike.  In fact, we had so much energy that we headed over to the cabin to play with our grandchildren….oh, and to see Owen and Mila too!

Hannah was making breakfast.  She informed us that she makes breakfast five days a week and that she is “learning how to be a wife.”  We all sat down to breakfast and Vernon said a prayer.  He had four helpings of oatmeal, Robert had three helpings, and Grandpa had two.  Hannah’s oatmeal was delicious!

The children discovered the first prickly pear cactus blossom this spring….and spent time duly admiring the yellow blossom and the tiny flying bug that was gathering nectar from the blossoms.  Hannah thought that perhaps it was a baby hummingbird.   And she was right…this tiny 1/4” bug did beat its tiny wings as fast as a hummingbird’s wings flutter!  

They were quite upset that an elk (or perhaps the large black bear that has been visiting lately) had smashed a tiny baby prickly pear baby cactus that they had found last fall, and had protected by surrounding it with rocks.

Upon seeing the beautiful blossom that this (in their word) “pokey” cactus produces, all three children now knew why I had asked them to take care of all the prickly pear cactus on the property. They were truly in awe of the miracle before their eyes.

More fun at the cabin on the swing that Papa made them for Christmas….

Teaching Vernon and Robert how to keep the swinging on their own….

Our littlest grand baby is not just smiling…..

….he’s laughing!

It is so good to be back in our high desert mountains….and cozily nestled in our Love Nest!

New Stairway to Heaven..…..thank you, Owen!

Our wood stairs up to our beautiful log cabin had, with sun and rain, started looking really bad.  And from the street, they really stood out. 

So, Owen volunteered to repair them.  We said "oh no, that won't be necessary".......but not loud enough for him to hear us.

He started to work.  Here is a photo of the work in progress:

 

On the ground in the above photo you can see how rotten the old wood had become.  You can also see in the next photo how rotten the wood was.

THE NEW STAIRS!!

He is so multi-talented. 

Underneath the stairs: 

Thanks Owen.  You've taken an eyesore and changed it into a thing of beauty!

Pray for our fallen soldiers, who died too young….

Memorial Day: Not just for grilling hamburgers

American flags used for the golf course today.   

We have had so many Veterans in our family.  

Vicky’s ancestors in the Revolutionary War.

Both of our grandfathers in WWI.  

Both of our fathers, in WWII.  One who was already in the ROTC and another who joined the day after Pearl Harbor.  

Two uncles in WWII.

Vicky’s uncle in the Korean War.

Dan's uncle in the Korean War. 

Dan’s brother-in-law Dennis in Vietnam.  

Our nephew Paul.  

Our son-in-law Calvin in Iraq.

And most salient to us….our son, Owen, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Memorial Day is for our fallen soldiers who died, young, giving us the life we have enjoyed.  Dan’s cousin, Guy Alley died in WWII before he had a chance to have a life. 

As Hector, in the film Troy, expressed it:  "War is young men dying and old men talking."

We were engaged….15 years ago today!

15 years ago today, we were engaged….we planned to be married as quickly as possible. Even a moment apart was almost unbearable. 

We pledged our lives to each other just 10 days after my Danny took me to Buck’s Restaurant in Everett and then to a dance, where we danced only together….and danced the night away.  I fell in love with him on this first date.  It was the only time that we had been alone together…the first time we had talked hours on end.  

Before that we had only seen each other when we danced together at a Whidbey Island Saturday night dance and at dance lessons that Dan had started going to.  He had fallen in love with me the very first time that he saw me across the dance floor at that Whidbey Island Saturday night dance.

He had signed up for the dance lessons just so he could see me and let me get to know him.  Isn’t he a true gentleman!

Today we celebrated this magical month of May….15 years ago when we fell in love.

This is the first thing that I saw when I got up this morning.

I surprised Dan by wearing the same clothes that I had worn when we danced together 15 years ago.  My love created a dance list from songs that we had danced to during our courtship. Dancing together to these special songs invoked so many memories that it brought tears to our eyes.

Our anniversary toast by my dear husband, “To 15 more years!”

My dear husband decorated my gift with flowers from our garden…isn’t it lovely!

And the love birds are just as lovely.  Several of our children have called us “love birds,” so these birds are a very special gift.

The matching cups that I gave to my Danny have a photo of us dancing in the grasslands where our ashes will be mixed together and spread….where we will dance together through all eternity.

The 27th book of Our Life…filled with our adventures, family, and love.

Danny barbecued the steaks that I had soaked for 24 hours in my Mother’s tasty marinade sauce.

I made a heart-shaped lemon bar (from the lemons on our tree) to celebrate this momentous anniversary.

15  years after our courtship in this glorious month in May, we still find it unbearable to be apart for even a moment.  And that is how we want our marriage, our life to be…side by side, together forever!