Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.... NO!!!!

We woke up to this, this morning. It took a couple of hours to get it cleared off the driveway and walks.

Christmas Day at the Utley's

More family fun at the Utley's. This year Scott, Katie and kids along with Michael joined in the fun as they drove down from Boise to spend Christmas with Bill & Diane. Marty and Linda came later in the afternoon because they were waiting for their call from Michael (Elder Utley), from Texas.

T'was the Night before Christmas

Each year the Knight's gather together on Christmas Eve at Darven & Crystals home in Draper to feast, play games and do gift exchanges. We appreciate Darven and Crystal opening their home to us for this celebration.

Utley Family Christmas Party 2008

Gingerbread time of Year!!

Gingerbread Decorations at the Knights with the Pace family



Gingerbread Decorations at the Utley's with the Waller's

Jingle Bells

The Christmas decor is up and the holidays are in full swing.

Just because Jennifer doesn't think there are any picture of her on the blog

Life in Pieces

As I sit back and evaluate life, my conclusion is that things are pretty quiet around the Knight household. Those that live for excitement and are in the fast lane would classify us as 'boring' and I can't think of a better compliment. Jesse and Jenny live very active lives and regularly invite their friends over to engage in the ritual of 'jammin' on the Knight sound stage with Rock Band, yet they always know where there is peace and serenity.









The Rigby 500
In the month of October we were involved with a youth fundraiser and sold potatoes, these are the baker style potatoes that are washed and packaged in 50lb boxes. Last friday, after raising the funds, we headed up to Rigby Idaho (I had never been there before) to pick up the spuds. The trip was roughly 500 miles round trip, hence the Rigby 500. We loaded 8400 pounds of potatoes on 2 trailers and made our way back home, the entire adventure was about 12 hours. As the sun began to set Connie took some awesome pictures in Idaho.

Funny Faces

Last night we took Reese & Charley to the Halloween store. We cracked up at the silly faces, then Aaron & Erika joined in the fun.

Weekend Wonderland

It's no wonder that Reese and Charley like to come to aunt Connie's house for a slumber party vacation. We enjoy our time with them and the days are full of adventures.

Just a bunch of pictures

High on the Mountain Top

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple will be opening sometime in 2009 and we will be in that new temple district. We have been challenged in our Stake to attend the Temple once a week to attain an increase of spirituality and revelation pertaining to our families and assignments in our ward. The cause is noble and the goal will be a challenge as many times it is a stretch to make it to the temple once a month. Having a temple so close, just down the road 6 miles, may make it harder to attend regularly. I say that jokingly but sometimes that which is in our backyard gets the least attention. We are excited!

It's not a "Farewell"

Our nephew Michael Utley received his mission call to serve in the McAllen Texas spanish speaking mission and had his "opportunity to speak at Sacrament Meeting" as there are no longer "Farewells". After the meeting there was a non-farewell gathering at the Utley home with non-farewell treats and goodies for friends and family to say farewell to Michael. The non-farewell gathering was also a time for Michael to receive his "official" Eagle Scout award presented to him by his grandfather Ned Utley. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Happy Birthday Connie

This past weekend we spent at the cabin relaxing and as luck would have it, it also was Connie's 4?th birthday. Relaxing for us consists of reading, watching John Wayne movies and of course indulging in a plethora of culinary delights. We did take a drive up Mirror Lake highway and stopped at locations on our way to enjoy the scenery.

Slate Gorge. This is some very rugged terrain but very picturesque



Another view of Slate Gorge.



Here is Connie Gorge-ous by the upper Provo River



The upper Provo River at this location was amazing and the photos don't do it justice.



This picture was funny as we set up the tripod to take the picture and I had to set the timer. I pushed the button on the camera and ran across the rocks, jumped over a water fall and barely made it sitting down, Connie is not smiling she is laughing.



This is a beautiful area of the river.



Okay, enough is enough



Here we are at Lily Lake, a popular fishing lake or picnic area.

Mountains of Gold

Most people think the gold rush in the West started in 1849, when gold was discovered in the California Hills. In truth, gold was mined from the western mountains, particularly in Utah, well before the first white settlers came west. Native American Indians first worked the mines of Utah, but not for themselves; they were enslaved by Spanish explorers who had an almost unnatural desire for the yellow ore. The Indians knew where the mines were, but only because they had been forced to work in the deep tunnels as slaves of the Spanish. After many years of oppression, it is believed the Indians revolted, killing most of their Spanish captors. The Indians then returned the gold bullion to the earth, sealing the precious metal in the very mines it came from. It was only when the Indians began telling the white man about the gold that the secrets began to unravel. One of the first white men to fully understand the importance of the Spanish mines was Thomas Rhoades who was a close assistant of Brigham Young. Ute Indian, Chief Walkara who became associated with Brigham Young told of the secret cache of gold in the Uinta Mountains and agreed to give the gold to the Church and Thomas Rhoades was selected to transport the gold from the Indian hiding spot to Salt Lake City. A few years ago at our Youth conference in Hanna some friends of mine took me to an area where some of these old Spanish mines were. This past week we had our Camp Helaman for young men ages 16 - 18 at Hanna, and while Jesse and I were leaders at this camp we took some time for ourselves and drove 5 miles up an old dirt road into the Ashley National forest to once again look for some mines.



Saddled in the back of this meadow is one the the hidden mines.



Jesse saw this mine and grabbed his flash light and jumped out of the truck to take a look.



I thought we better take a picture of us just in case some mysterious curse would wack us.



About 30 feet above this old mine was another mine cut out of rock but just as spooky.



Of course Jesse has to be brave and go inside and then tells me to come in and calls me a wus.



Hey, i'm not a wus and I went in about 20 feet just before the drop off. The nats were terrible, probably escaping the heat.



This is as we were exiting the cave... hurry, get me out!



I can't help but wonder what would possess someone to travel 5 miles up a canyon (before the dirt road was there) and say to themselves, 'I think there is gold over in the saddle of that meadow' and feel compelled to labor for weeks to dig a hole in the side of a mountain. To me, that is more mysterious than wondering if they found anything.

Another day at the Cabin

Okay, so we like to spend time at the cabin, who wouldn't.

It's the funny noises when we read books that keeps their attention.



Just a little artist.



Painting partners.



A good time at the river.



Spashing in the cold river