Korea on the Marine Corps birthday!

In November of 2010 (the week of the 10th to be exact) I got to go on a Korean war veterans tour of Korea with my dad, a veteran of the "Frozen Chosin". It was amazing. We were with a big group of veterans and I loved all of them. They were humble and reverant about their experiences and funny and happy most all of the time. I've never seen a country show so much gratitude for a group of men in my life! They remember and they teach their children to remember.It was like being a celebrity everywhere we went...fun. Thanks dad.

A New Family Picture...outdated already!

Yes, it has definitely been a while. No excuses, just life. If anyone is still checking in now and then this is for you. This is our most current family picture taken at Thanksgiving down in Hurricane for the annual Butler family get-together. Yes, it was a blast. On January 18th Micah Audie Smith made this photo officially obsolete, and we were glad to see it happen. More pictures of him to follow, suffice it to say he's adorable!

Tomatoes

I grow my tomatoes vetically and it makes all the difference. All the energy goes to the tomatoes and isn't wasted on the plant because I nip off the unneccesary parts. I get ripe tomatoes by mid July and they go until October.

The Harvest

I LOVE September when everything is getting ripe at the same time and every day you're figuring out what to do with all that goodness. Pesto was by far my favorite thing this year. That and my "sun dried" tomatoes...so good!

American Fork Canyon

When we moved to Utah in 1991 (yes, that was so long ago that Gabi wasn't even born!) we discovered the AF Canyon and fell in love. Back in the day it was hardly crowded and that, combined with the stream of trout just waiting to be fished, really appealed to Blaine.

While in the USMC we had been living in so many "lovely places" with:
1.no mountains
2.no trout streams
3.no cool mountain air
and
4.way too many wierd bugs

We were so excited! I think we came so often that the kids thought they owned their spot. We had birthdays here and took grandparents here...we loved it!
When we moved to Alpine it was even better. In less than 10 minutes we could be in the mountains, catching fish, getting dirty, and roasting hot dogs. Life was so good!
Now the next generation of "Butlers" are doing the same thing. It's a little more crowded, a little bit nicer, but there are still trout in the river, dirt to be played in and things to explore.

American Fork Canyon

You wouldn't believe how many pictures we took on this bridge just to get these shots. it was at the end and you know what that means...kids are tired and adults are goofy!

American Fork Canyon

I think we have the cutest grandkids ever...they have so much fun together and crack us up on a regular basis!

American Fork Canyon

Oh the joys of "aunt-hood"! HA! This is the exact same spot we used to take our kids! Memories!

Alpine Days...a family tradition

Our family has always loved Alpine Days, held the second weekend in August every year. But as the kids have grown up and moved away we've gotten to be fewer and fewer in number. This year we had the brilliant idea to make this weekend an annual tradition to get together and party! We started off with the water games for Trey on the Stake Center lawns. Next was the Little Buckaroo rodeo Friday night and even the Davis' came to watch Trey. Saturday morning four of us ran in the 5K; Grandpa Butler, Blaine, Lynn, and Nicole (Gabi and Rachel both had a bad cold and bailed). Three out of the four got trophies! Next was the parade, very professional and wow-y...not! Very small town and darling. After the parade we hit the art show and quilt show in the old red church. Lynn and Rachel both had quilts on display and as a surprise to Grandma Butler we put her mothers vintage quilt from the 20's or 30's in also. Blaine put on the smoked meat BBQ after the festivities in town and before the bull riding rodeo that night. I think that the smoked meat was probably the highlight...at least for the guys. We really hope this turns into "our weekend" and maybe even extends to the whole week before! See you all next year!