you would think....

...that with a head as big as the one on Blue, he would have brains. But no, not so much. He deliberately sat on the space heater at the cabin, for 30 seconds or so while I tried to coax him away from it, and scorched his fur. Did he feel it, not in the least. In reality, he was bugged we wanted to see his butt and find the source of the smoking. We could smell the burning, you think he would have noticed...but he did not. Guess you can see why we say we love him because he is "pretty, not smart". In all seriousness, he was not hurt. Only the scorch marks on his fur remain to remind us of his brilliance.

Happy 75th Birthday Grandma Smart!

Better late than never - the Smart/Beckstead/Bolton

families wishing our Grandma the happiest birthday!

Who knew she was 75?

Happy 92nd Birthday Grandma B!!!

Grandma turned 92 on inauguration day.

I hope she decides to see 102...but she isn't promising anything.

We celebrated with the usual Spaghetti Factory family gathering.

We photoed...

and photoed...

...and photoed.

We matched despite our best efforts - it is in our genes.

We colored.

And we did what we do best....we ate

and ate!

seeking blue sky

So as not to forget the look of a Utah Bluebird sky,

and since the inversion had settled in the Salt Lake Valley,

we loaded the dogs and headed to the mountains.

We found just enough snow to play in.

We all caught up on our napping,

even the spoiled cabin dogs.

Found lost cattle by the reservoir...

...and pushed them down canyon
with the snowmobile so the cowboys
on horseback could load them
in the trailer and take them home.

Happy New Year!

Tradition, tradition!

Every year we go out as Beckstead women & shop for the Christmas holiday. We meet at an eating establishment which Grandma chooses. Once we eat, we are off to the shopping. We used to include boutiques in our day of shopping, but as we have scheduled our day prior to Thanksgiving, the shopping is limited to Modern Display & The Basket Loft. After we have seen more decorations than is probably good for us - we dessert. Again, in the olden days we would eat at Snelgrove Ice Cream on South Temple each getting our own sundae with small pitcher of hot fudge and choice of nuts...but it long ago closed, as did the other locations in the valley. For the past couple of years we have desserted at Marie Calender's with PIE. This year, Grandma was kind enough to share her double cream lemon with me & I enjoyed razzleberry. Jane and her two daughters Randi & Jessica joined us from California, as did Aunt Anet. Dallas drove from Vegas, arriving at o'dark thirty, to be a part of the festivities. My sisters-in-law Brandy & Sara joined Jessica, me & my mom. Our group also included Michelle, Aunt Max & Elizabeth, Jeana and her two daughters Jaylynn and Janessa. Only Aunt Lynn, Jackie and her daughter(s) were missing - but they were with us in our hearts. Once upon a time we were five or six, now we number 17 and will grow next year when my niece Kyra joins us. All these wonderful women, women I am lucky enough to be related to, continue to gathering for a tradition that we all enjoy and look forward to.

Thanks to my coolest of cool Grandma Beckstead for inspiring and continuing such a fun tradition.

Montana

Eastern Montana sort of looks like Price, UT.

Day one : lots to see, lots to shoot, Annie & Blue working hard for the money & flushing 30+ birds.

Small success: no birds taken but a pesky cat treed. It enjoyed flushing the birds too - way too soon to shoot them.

Day two: lots to see, not much too shoot, Blue working hard & floating down the river with the current. Annie at home in the kennel - she had a bad rear wheel and could only walk on three legs. I guess when you are 10, you are entitled to a down day after brush busting in the cold river for 4+ hours.