Christmas 2008

We braved the bad roads to visit Grandma and Grandpa Sara in Mantua the day after Christmas and had a nice visit with them.

Christmas day we woke up with 40 mph winds that lasted all day long--the blizzard of Christmas day 2008.  The snow totals are not measured-just the height of the drifts in the back yard.  This drift is over 5 ft.

Spencer shoveled the snow from the back door once already- but the wind blew it back in.

Here's Jessica posing for the camera near the front door--pull your pants up!

And they are off...............

Stephanie and Trent got off this morning.  The timing was perfectly coordinated with the first real snow storm of the winter season.  It is hard to see them go, but we know that they will be just fine.

The Clawson's move to Arkansas

Well, Trent graduated from BYU-I with a BS in Business Finance.  As we already posted, they are moving to Bentonville, Arkansas so Trent can start work at Walmart Corporate Headquarters.  The morning after Trent's graduation they packed up the U-haul (with help  from local friends).  Sherrie, Spencer, Jessica, and Carrie also helped.  Tom was on-call in Pocatello so he couldn't help (oh, so sad!).  As you can tell, Sherrie loves to move.  This move has brought back so many memories!!

The Clawson's are moving!!!

We found out this week that Trent and Stephanie will be moving to Bentonville, Arkansas.  Trent got a job at Walmart Corporate headquarters in the internal auditing department.  Trent will graduate from BYU-Idaho December 12th and then they will move.  He starts work January 5th.

Stephanie is a little apprehensive but we just tell her that this will be such as great adventure!!  This will be a time to bond closer to her husband and to make all those memories that they will tell their children when they get older.  It looks like the baby will be born a "razorback"!!

Bentonville is in the northwest corner of Arkansas, in the Ozarks.  It has a population of about 30,000.

Mill Creek trail, October 25th, 2008

We finally got up to Victor for a weekend away. Everyone was able to come join us on the last hike of the fall.

Stephanie stretching her back.  She is carrying baby Lily.

Lunch. Trent loving his Sea Salt beef jerky.

Mom, Dad and Jessica.

  Here Tom and Jessica are looking up Teton canyon from a ridge above.

Mom and Stephanie having a bite of lunch in the woods.

Spencer harassing his sister Jessica.

In the summer, this view is spectacular of the Grand Teton, but today the clouds covered all but the South Teton.  The day was a little chilly.

Our little brood... growing up.

Trip to Sun Valley

Spencer with his new bike--he usually has to wait for us to catch up.

Tom and Carrie taking a sip of water and giving the old "keester" a break!

Carrie and Spencer taking a break on a very big chair on Sun Valley road.

Tom and Sherrie on one of the very extensive biking trails in the Sun Valley area--Harriman Trail.

Spencer wanted his picture taken with the typical Sawtooth Mountains in the background.

Tom had his "Gut Club" meetings in Sun Valley and we decided to take the family with us this year.  We took our bikes and tried out some of the extensive bike trails around.  We road up Trail Creek road and then off onto a dirt road called Cabin Creek, and then on Saturday we rode up the Harriman Trail. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we all got a little sunshine.

  We had dinner in the dollar mountain lodge on Friday night--dutch oven style and then we drove to Hailey on Saturday to have dinner at a really great Thai restaurant that we discovered the last time we visited--my lips are still burning! On Sunday, we went to the Sun Valley ward for church and they asked Spencer to help with the sacrament.  It was a fun trip

Blue Mountain Hike, Sept 6th

Looking north toward Mantua Reservoir

On the trail to Perry Reservoir

Spencer overlooking Perry Reservoir

Getting the rocks out of Sherrie's shoes

On September 6th, Tom and Spencer wanted to take a hike instead of going to the parade.  Carrie went to the parade with the Butterfield family.  We hiked up the Blue Mountain trail and over the mountain above Perry Reservoir.  The day was beautiful with warm sunshine and a cool breeze.  We only ran into one other person on the way down.  It was a wonderful day!

Peach Days Sept. 5th

We headed to Brigham City to see Grandma and Grandpa Sara and to check out Peach Days.  We stopped in at Main street to see what was going on.  Tom said he loved the Carnegie Library as a kid--so we had to stop and take a picture.  We saw quite a few people that we recognized but couldn't remember the names.  As it started getting dark, we had to get a picture of the Brigham City sign that we both remember so well, and we stopped in at the Idle Isle for some of the best chocolate in the world!

Game Creek hike

A great day in the mountains, is when we don't run into a single person.  That's what we had on Saturday. The hike was Game Creek.  The canyon was gorgeous.  We had to cross the creek 7 times--but we were prepared with our water shoes. Taking our shoes off and on was a little annoying, but the views made it all worth while. The creek was cold and refreshing especially when it was hot at 2 in the afternoon.  The high light of the trip was lunch in the middle of a huckleberry patch--yum!  So far we've hiked just over 100 miles this summer.