Who has time to blog when you have to work for a living?

It was fun to blog on a regular basis while I was off from work recovering from my knee surgery but I find it very difficult to find time to get it done now. The fact that they called me to be the Executive Secretary in the Ward doesn't help with that either. Since I have every other Friday off and Brenda went camping with her kids, I figured I better take advantage of the opportunity to post again. When we last met our family was on the way to Utah and the new adventures that awaited us there. In retrospect it turned out to be both a good move and a questionable one as well. I love Utah but having grown up here I suppose that I am somewhat prejudiced. Most of my sons however don't seem to have benefitted from the move. Their activity in and attitude about the Church has taken a real hit. The move may not be at fault but it is very easy to find and identify with church members who have lost their testimony here where it was hard to find them in Michigan since they blended into the general population. Of course an unwarranted divorce didn't help much either. That one monumental act has certainly taken it's toll. That having been said I would like to try and focus on the good times that have occurred since that move in Oct of 1988.

-moving into a beautiful home in Spanish Fork that my parents had built as they prepared to go on a mission.
-learning how to build valves as I worked for Valtek for four years
-the chance to ride my bike to work instead of commuting for 45 minutes each way
-being called to serve as the financial clerk in the Spanish Fork 2nd Ward
-living closer to my family which allowed us to get together more often
-again being able to look up and see the mountains which I missed so much in Michigan
-sending our son Matt on a mission to England -little did I realize at the time that a future son-in-law would be the product of those missionaries in England or that another son-in-law also served his mission there
- after completing his mission in California we added a daughter to our family when Tony found a terrific young lady and got married in the Manti Temple
-the arrival of our first granddaughter, a beautiful girl with dark hair and eyes named Chelsea
-having the opportunity to train for and receive my Utah Realtor's license
-building my real estate business to a point where I could hope to rely on that as an occupation when it appeared that I might be laid off from Valtek
-the opportunity to work with my wife in earning a living for the family
-adding a second daughter to our family when Matt found a first class young lady from the Denver area to marry in the Denver temple
-another granddaughter and our first grandson when Tony had his second daughter(Rachael) and Matt had a little boy (Madsen)
-entering into an agreement with Susan's sisters family to jointly buy a share in a houseboat at Lake Powell which allowed us to spend many wonderful weeks enjoying the unique beauty and fun that occurred there
-again having a pool in the backyard that enhanced our families love for the water and allowed us many relaxing hours there
-discovering a house for sale that sat on an acre of ground in the middle of a subdivision. It was as close as we could come to our situation in Michgan. But this time it was right there within walking distance of shopping, church and other activities.
-in 1994 working out a deal with the owners to purchase this little island of privacy and again it was time to move
Our family can't be accused of living in any one place for too long although we did spend almost ten years on our acreage in Michigan. By this time I should have been proficient at moving but getting the food storage up out of the basement was almost more than I could handle. The move was only less than a mile but it took us at least two weeks to complete. We were lucky that the mortician who lived a few doors down was looking for a new home and decided to buy ours. He was also more flexible than usual about the time frame for him to move in. It was a little older than the home we left but had more room and we loved the fruit trees and the privacy it provided. But alas, as is the case in life the good times don't seem to go on forever.