November Already

I can't believe how times flies! This has been a busy summer (and start of fall)! Rather than try to describe all we have been doing, I will just post some pictures. I have more pictures on a different camera that I will have to put on a cd, so that I can post them later!


Reed's Birthday


Lauryn's Birthday


Gary getting the dogs attention up camping.


Tyler and Natalie with their prizes for coming in first and second in our weight loss contest!


Making pizza in the dutch ovens! Yummy!


Jason and Matt's birthday cake!

Sophiya enjoying the cake & ice cream!

Evan, Marie, Connor, and Melanie at the park.

Heather, Hadley, Ethan, Lauryn, and Sophie!

Cole and Gavin at the park!

My coworkers and me on Halloween! Arrrrgh!

Andrea, Reed, and Tinkerbell at our Ward party!

Father's Day and Hadley's Birthday

We had everyone over for dinner on Father's Day, and we celebrated Hadley's 10th Birthday! We grilled steaks, and had lots of yummy food. Everyone was here except for April and Jason's family (who were in Utah visiting friends) and Joel & Becky's family (who are in Pittsburgh going to school). Tyler & Natalie, Reed & Andrea, Matt & Melanie, Kathy & Bill, Ron & Mary, both of our Mom's, and lot's of kids were here. It was a fun and busy day!

Natalie was planning to go to Switzerland and Austria with some of her family this week, so that's why we celebrated Hadley's birthday early. She turned 10 on June 19th! Happy Birthday Hadley!!!

Fun Trip to the Mountains

Gary and I went up north on June 10 to take a trailer full of canoes for the 4th Year girls to use at their Girls Camp campout. We decided to leave earlier than they did so that we could go to Tonto Natural Bridge.

I had never been, and have been wanting to see it for a long time. It was amazing! The day was beautiful, but a little hot. The hike down into the canyon below the bridge was long and hard, but it was so worth it.

Coming out was even harder (I don't do hills very well!) The building and grounds on top were beautiful. We may need to go back when the weather is cooler, and maybe take some of the kids and grandkids.

Then we went to meet the girls at the Long Valley Work Center Group Camp. It was really nice. We are going to try to reserve it for our campouts next year. It is already reserved for Labor Day this year. The person I talked to at the Ranger Station said that you have to call at midnight on January 1st in order to get it reserved for certain dates. That's when it opens each year for reservations. Wow, a popular place!

Then we took the canoes and girls to the Blue Ridge Reservoir to go canoeing. It was a beautiful day on the lake. We took 2 kayaks, and spent most of the time rescueing girls that tipped their canoes over (usally on purpose). But a fun time was had by all.

Fun Times with the Family

We have had so many fun times with the family the last two months. Here is a brief recap of some of the events.

We had a fun family picnic at Countryside Park with all of the Tiffany clan in April. Gary's Mom, brother, sisters, and most of their families came for a fun cookout! We had lots of food, fun, squirt guns, homemade ice cream, and visiting. We need to do that more often.

April and Jason had a very eventful day on April 26th! Gavin was baptized, they were able to have Sophiya sealed to them in the Temple, and it was April's 30th birthday!!! What a special and exciting day!

We had a family dinner on May 4th to celebrate Andrea's 24th Birthday. It's nice to have birthdays so that we can have a good excuse to have the family over for a get-together. Thanks Andrea!

And then the next week was Mother's Day, and we had another family dinner! I don't think I remembered to take any pictures at that one!

Gary and I went with both our mothers, Ron (my brother), and Mary (his fiance) to dinner and to the Hale Center Theater on May 10 (Ron's birthday)! We had a great time, and got to see a hilarious comedy - "The Man with the Pointed Toes" ! A fun time was had by all!!

Natalie graduated from Rio Salado Community College's Dental Hygenist School. She really had to work hard to complete all her requirements. And she graduated with Distinction! Way to go Natalie!!

Joel and Becky were able to come to Arizona last week for her brother's wedding. They were hoping to enjoy some of our Arizona sunshine and warmth, but it seems that they brought the Pittsburgh winter weather with them! It was cold and rainy when they got into the valley. We were able to go to dinner with them on Thursday! Wow, are their kids are growing, especially Nolan!! It was so wonderful to get to visit with them, and spend time with those cute kiddos! Joel flew back on Monday to get back to dental school, and Becky and the kids are staying the rest of the week. We hope to get to see them again before they leave.

We went camping on our traditional Memorial Day campout with the family last weekend. But the weather sure wasn't very traditional!!! For the first time in the 30 years that we've been going camping on the rim for Memorial Day, it SNOWED!!! The weatherman said this was a once in a hundred years storm!! It was so exciting to see snow coming down! I just couldn't quit grinning! Good thing we knew it might snow, and came prepared for the cold! Everyone had a great time, and stayed warm with our coats, thermals, gloves, stocking caps, campfire, and down comforters!! We will be talking about this wacky weekend for years to come!

After the snow melted and the sun came out, we went fishing at Blue Ridge Reservoir! It turned out to be a beautiful weekend, even if we didn't catch any fish!

Well, that's all folks! Hope I post sooner next time!

Family News

I haven't posted for a while, so I thought I better put something on here! We have had a lot of fun things happen in our family since I last posted. Becky and the kids visited in February! It was so fun to see them! I got the cutest picture of Nolan laughing!

April, Jason, Gavin, and Ethan made it home from their 4-week journey to Ukraine with their beautiful new daughter and sister Sophiya! She is really adjusting well to her new life with their family. What a happy girl.

We had everyone over for dinner on Gary's birthday for our annual corned beef and cabbage dinner. The next Sunday everyone came again for our Easter dinner. It is always a lot of fun to get the family together. I just wish Joel and Becky's family could have been here too! We miss them being so far away.

Let's see, what else is new? Gary got a new motorcycle. He found it will go 142.5 miles on a tank of gas. He was 3/4 of a mile from the closest gas station.

April had an Open House for all their family and friends to meet Sophiya. She got a lot of nice clothes and things for her. Jason blessed Sophiya today at their Ward. All the brothers and brother-in-laws and Grandpas were their to help. We are planning our Memorial Day campout at the Long Valley Girls Camp the end of May. Let me know if any of you are interested in going, and I can email you the information.

Canyon Lake

We were planning to go camping at Apache Lake this weekend (Friday - Monday), but it was so cold and rainy Friday that we decided to just make it a day trip on Saturday. Then as we were driving up to Apache Lake past Canyon Lake, we decided why not stop there instead of going all the way to Apache Lake. It was a great decision. We didn't have to drive as far, the water was beautiful, and there weren't any crowds. Tyler and Natalie, Hadley and Cole, Reed and Andrea and Lauryn, and my Mom went with us. We took 3 kayaks, and had a lot of fun. We all took turns kayaking, and even taught Hadley and Cole how to do it. We had steaks, chicken, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, garlic toast, and salad for our warm yummy dinner. I should have taken more hot chocolate though, because we really liked drinking that to warm us up! What a beautiful day, even if the sun didn't come out until we were about ready to leave. I took the picture at the top from the truck window as we were leaving!

President Hinckley Passes Away

SALT LAKE CITY 27 January 2008 President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97.

President Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its president since 12 March 1995.

The Church president died at his apartment in downtown Salt Lake City at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night from cause’s incident to age. Member of his family were at his bedside. A successor is not expected to be formally chosen by the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until after President Hinckley’s funeral within the next few days.

For more information follow this link to the Church website.

Myths & Reality

My amazing daughter had this post on her blog, and I just loved it! I felt so inspired when I read what she had written, and when I watched the video!! I couldn't think of how to put it into my own words, so I decided to copy her post, and put it on my blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"For those of you who do not know, we are Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I LOVE my faith and I believe it is true with all of my heart! I came across a video today that I think would be very interesting for anyone who might not understand our church and beliefs. This film was originally made to be viewed by journalists preparing to cover the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. It talks about some major misconceptions about our church & highlights some of the great things we do! :) If you are interested, and have about 10 minutes to spare, please enjoy... "

"Myths & Reality"

Hawaii Trip

This first picture is the sun rising over Diamondhead.

This was the view from our table where we ate breakfast at a beach restaurant.

I am so excited that we finally made it to Hawaii! Gary and I celebrated our 34th anniversary by taking a short trip to Oahu. We went Friday morning, and returned home Monday night. If any of you know me, I hate to spend money!! So a short trip was all I wanted to do. We were able to go fairly inexpensively. The Hawaiin Airlines flights were cheap ($139 per person each way - nonstop from Phoenix), the Ohana Islander Waikiki hotel was inexpensive ($99 per night - a renovation rate), but nothing else on Oahu was low priced! I couldn't believe that a gallon of milk there costs $6.99! But besides the high costs we had a lot of fun! We really enjoyed the Polynesian Cultural Center and our crazy tour guide (Cousin Leon from Samoa - whose whole name was way too long to remember), the beautiful beaches and scenery on the windward side of the island, the Temple grounds and Visitor's Center, the church meetings we attended next door to the Temple, getting to watch a baptism in the ocean right across from the temple, the perfect weather, the rainbows, and the nice people at our hotel and at Hawaiin Airlines. We did not enjoy the confusing public bus system, the crowds in Honolulu/Waikiki, the high prices for everything, and not having enough time to see and do everything that we wanted to. If we ever get there again, we will take more time so that we can schedule more things and see more islands. But for our very first trip to Hawaii, it was great!

I do have a few tips for anyone going to Hawaii for their first time:

• Pay the extra money to take the Polynesian Cultural Center's bus ride to and from the Center. It is well worth the $20 per person for the guided tour of the island you get on the bus ride there, the comfortable bus (as opposed the uncomfortable city buses), and the same bus and driver waiting for you at the end of the night to take you to your hotel.
• Also pay the extra $10 per person to have the tour guide take you around the Center. It is so nice to have someone to show you where everything is, and make sure you get to see most of the shows. It is impossible to see every show in one day (I wish they would open earlier in the day so that you could). They have a deal that I didn't know about, where you can go back for free within 3 days and see the stuff you missed the first time. I don't think you get to see the evening show again, but it would be nice to be able to see all the villages, and do more of the activities during the day. So if you have the time, schedule a second day to go back.
• Go to the beach across the street from the Temple. It is a beautiful secluded beach with hardly anyone there. Just go down the path to the left of the Temple Garden area that is right across the street from the Laie Temple.
• Don't bring any fruit with you to eat on the airline coming back to the mainland. Even though we bought our apples in Arizona, and they let us take them on the flight going to Hawaii, they wouldn't let us bring them back.

This is us at the luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

The Laie Temple was beautiful. The next picture is of the baptism in the ocean.

This is the beautiful beach across from the Temple.