To my nieces and nephews,

Have you seen the big bad hole in our backyard?  If you have been here in the last year you have.  Well, believe it or not, it has gotten bigger. Trent and I have been working on a walk out basement for over a year so I have learned a lot of lessons about building in general and more importantly, building a good life.  

Here's my advice:

First:  Build a strong foundation on sure footings.  We found a lot of sand at the bottom of that hole.  Sand is good for growing an orchard but terrible for building.  Not only does it wash away when the rain comes (and it has been raining a lot), but it is also hard to dig out.  As soon as you take one shovelful out, two or three more shovelfuls fall down in. We have been digging and redigging.  Sometimes whole sections fall in.  I’ve had to jump out of the way or get flattened a few times.  It is not fun.

​Stay away from the sand, make sure you build your life and your home on a sure foundation.  Remember that the rock you should build on is Jesus Christ.  Read your scriptures and pray so you know Him and have a close relationship with Him.  

Next: We have been putting up walls.  We measure and check, measure and check, make small corrections and line everything up.  If you start out wrong it is hard to get everything back to straight and square.  We put up the boards first, and connect them all, then pour the concrete.

​Alma 37:35 says, “…Learn wisdom in thy youth; yea learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.”  If you will do this, your life now and in the future will be blessed.  It is so much easier to start and keep good habits when you are young.  It is so hard to change them if they are set in concrete.  I’m so grateful for the Atonement so we can repent and get back to straight and square with the Lord but it so much easier to start out straight and square. I’m also grateful for prophets and the Holy Ghost who show us the way so we know what the Lord wants us to do.

​Advice Point #3: On our refrigerator, my husband and I have a sign to remind us what things are important to build a safe and strong home.  We call it the 2 X 4 Plan (Get it? You build a home with 2 X 4 framing boards.  I didn’t come up with that but it’s very clever):  There are 2 things for each day, each week, each month and each year.  Every day, pray and read the Book of Mormon.  Every week attend church and participate in Family Home Evening.  Every month attend the temple and pay tithing.  Every year meet with your bishop for tithing settlement and finish the Book of Mormon.  That’s what we are working on.  These are our goals.  Sometimes we fall short but we keep striving.  I challenge you to do so too.

I want to leave you with my testimony.  I know this church is true!  We are daughters of a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for us.  He sent us here to learn and gain a body.  We will face challenges and need to repent from time to time. He knew that so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior.  He was born in Bethlehem in humble circumstances but lived a perfect life of service.  He made it possible for us to overcome death and sin through Him.  You have divinity in you. I testify that this is true.

Love,

Aunt Adela & Uncle Trent

The Thanksgiving Adventure

So this is the story of the adventures and misadventures that happened this Thanksgiving...

Trent and I planned to spend Thanksgiving down in Castle Dale with James and Joe's family.  Mom decided to go to Disneyland with Liesl and Luci's families for Thanksgiving (They all left on Monday complete with a turkey in a crock pot, but that is their adventure story).  We drove down on Wednesday and picked up James.  He was excited to go and hopped right in the truck with his bowl of chips and suitcase.

That evening Joe and his family came down to play games and we had a lovely, quiet evening.  Thanksgiving Day was wonderful, too.  We had turkey with all the trimmings, played a little football, ate some pie...  Then as we were getting ready to go ride horses, Trent's brother called to tell him their sister, Shelly, was stranded in Cedar City.  Within 5 minutes Trent and Joe had unloaded the jeep off the trailer and he was on the road to pick up Shelly, her family, and their van.  I was worried the tryptophan would kick in and he would fall asleep on the road down but he made it to Cedar City.  He got their van loaded on the trailer then they pulled it back up to Orem with no more incidents.

I was supposed to drive the jeep back up that night but first Joe took us down to Orange Hill to ride horses .  He had fun and a little bit of exercise trying to trim Pepper and Oreo's hooves.  Then we had a very short ride because it was getting dark.  We tried to get James on but he has lost what little flexibility he had and decided after a few attempts that he didn't want to ride the horse so much after all.

I HATE driving in the dark.  Hence, Joe easily persuaded me to stay one more night, play games with the kids and head up early the next morning.  Done.  That way I could spend more time with James at home and really relax.  Joe and LaNae decided to hit the Thanksgiving sales in Price so I had the kids all to myself to play all kinds of games. I taught them how to play the flour and penny game and it was hilarious.

The next morning James and I got up and got our suitcases loaded.  Trent had told me the jeep was going to be a bear to steer so I wasn't worried when it was hard to pull the jeep out of the driveway.  It was awful to steer and started making a terrible noise.  I pulled over in front of Stewart's to call Trent but he didn't answer.  I kept going hoping that once it warmed up it would be better.  Nope.  As I turned out of town the jeep started trying to throw me off the road.  Hmmm.  By the time I was to Laurel's it had tried to jump off the road a couple of more times.  The front tire seemed like it was sliding not rolling down the road.  I was convinced this was not just a little steering problem so I pulled off the road.  Trent would not have me drive something so dangerous.  I called Joe to rescue me when I still couldn't get Trent on the phone.  We piled everything, even Trent's tools in his truck then went back to borrow Mom's car.  James was awesome through the whole thing.

I dropped off James in Price and then headed up through the canyon calling Shelly to see if she could find Trent and get the turkey in for the Huntsman Day-After-Thanksgiving celebration at our house.  I got there just a few minutes before the rest of the Huntsmans arrived. I caught my breathe and dived in. We had a wonderful time.  I love the football games, the basketball games, talking with nieces and nephews and my sisters-in-laws.  I love playing games until after midnight and hearing the teenagers hit the fridge again at 2AM.  I don't care for the silverware that ends up in the garbage and the pencil line on the wall but it can't dampen my love and gratitude for my wonderful family.

The Great Hunter

Trent drew out for a big elk this year.  He has been so excited and disappointed at the same time.  He has been waiting over 10 years for this opportunity but his dad is not here.  I went spotting elk with him, and target shooting but I had no interest, absolutely no interest in hunting with him.

Ferron Mountain-Woodtick Point

A Wild Shot

A Good Shot

Castle Valley Ridge

Luckily, McCoy has been able to go with him for the part of the time.  He also met up with Wayne Huntsman and his brother, Troy came down with a couple of the kids.  I'm so thankful they did.

It snowed like crazy!  Troy's first attempt up the canyon, he had to turn back as the snow was up over the tires.  After spending the night at our house, he went down a different way and made it up to Trent. Trent had been having some bad luck with the weather and with his vehicles.  His jeep had a problem with the tire.  He had J&D fix it while he went to my Mom's house.  In the driveway his truck caught on fire.  He had to call them up to tell them he was bringing another vehicle in.  He drove the red truck back up the mountain.

Troy and M. helped Trent get a huge bull but it had been shot earlier in the year by a bow hunter.  It was really stinky and good that Trent put it out of its misery.  The Fish and Game Department had to come and confiscate the antlers.  They reissued the tag but Troy had to leave so he was on his own. On the 2nd to last day of the hunt Trent was able to get a bull (smaller than he had hoped but right off the 4 wheeler road).  Wahoo the mighty hunter returns home, safe and sound, and with a ton of meat that now I have to help eat.... oh no.

Once There Was a Snowman

The snow didn't pack very well. It was the first good snow of the year and there was a lot of it but it was all powdery.  We tried to roll some big snowballs but they just fell apart.  I think this was a cute little snowman anyway and a cute nephew, too.

A fun time was had by all.  Though fingere

Cue the Pirates and Ghouls

My students decide months in advance what they are going to be for Halloween.  I, however, decide in the morning as I'm rushing out the door to go to school.  This year I pulled a few different pieces out of my Shakespeare costume box and put them together to make a pirate costume.  To complete the look I added some fish net stockings that I forgot I even owned and my trustworthy old boots.  Wala- pirate.  

Trent was in charge of the Trunk or Treat party in the church parking lot.  Amanda wanted to come trick or treating at our house early so we told her to meet us there. It's fun to borrow a few kids for a while and I don't think they minded loading up on a few extra treats before heading back to their neighborhood.  Trent filled my witch's cauldron to the brim with 10 jumbo bags of candy.  By the time we were finished cleaning up the parking lot, it was late and we ended up with only a few trick or treaters at our house.  We had tons of leftover candy to help us survive the entire Fall.

Dad's Funeral Services

I have had a few of you ask for the link to Dad's funeral.  Log on to Fausett Mortuary at http://www.fausettmortuary.com or click the link below:
Recorded Services

Saying Goodbye to Dad

We Had a Blast This Summer

Our summer began with a blast.  June was full of digging but July was full of family visits.  We went to Palisade with the Jorgensens.  Of course I forgot my camera.  Then we had a lot of the Huntsmans for the 4th of July.

 Joe had a birthday.  Guess which one.

 Look whoo we found in our backyard.  Have I said lately how much we love our backyard.

 Luci had a birthday too.

Story of a Yard

Yes we are the Hole-y Huntsmans. In fact a few of our neighbors have dubbed Trent, Trench Huntsman.  We have been digging one hole after another hole after another hole in our yard this year.

The first two holes were to fix major sprinkler problems.  Last Christmas we came home to a pipe that had burst in the backyard and a nice pool of water.  Then this Spring, Trent found another valve that was leaking and making the ground sink.  We decided to tackle both of those problems and move the second valve box out of the area Trent drives over.  Trent was hoping to borrow a track hoe to dig the 8 foot hole that was necessary but it fell through.  He tried and tried and postponed digging the big hole but could not get any equipment. Our lawn was dying and Trent had a plumber friend lined up to come put in the technical stuff so Trent started digging with a pick and shovel.  He was so tired and his back was already hurting from digging the "smaller" hole for the first valve.  He just felt frustrated that we always have to do things the hard way. Well, it was really hard digging.  Then we found out why we weren't able to get a back hoe.  It was actually a blessing!  Even though we had called Blue Stakes to come out and do their marking, they missed a line.  A foot and a half down Trent found the main wire lines.  They didn't have a conduit around them and Trent could have easily ripped them out with one scoop in a track hoe. An expensive mistake for sure, not to mention the fact that Trent could have been electrocuted!

Well we got all that put back together and got the sprinklers going without incident. Wahoo!

Then on to the front yard. That part all started with the flooding in our basement last July.  It had been flooding in Grandma and Grandpa Patch's  basement off and on for years but last year with the heavy rains it really did a number on the bedroom downstairs.  We decided sooner rather than later we should tackle that problem.  We also decided it would be better to get rid of the decorative bars from the windows downstairs so we would be able to have a fire escape -a requirement for foster care and generally a good idea, don't you think?

We had to dig up and transplant about 50 of grandma's irises from the area wells out front right as they were starting to bloom.  Then we pulled out 30 huge rocks that lined the well. Luckily, Trent had a friend that lent us a back hoe to do the heavy lifting, though it did tear up our lawn.  The next week we had a track hoe to do the other side.  Our neighbors loved watching Trent rip out a dead tree and a couple of huge cherry tree stumps as well.  He drew a little crowd.  The neighbor kids have been over to help off and on.

Then it was sprinklers to fix in the front yard, digging more holes to install more window wells in the backyard, trenching all the way around the back and side of the house to put in a new water line, more sprinklers to fix, excavating a deep hole to put in a door from the basement, and for an encore, we will be doing some more digging in conjunction with the well in the backyard.

Trent has done most of the work.  He's so good at figuring how to get everything done on a Slim Jim budget.  I'm amazed that he knows how to do so many different things.  I'm not too terrible with a shovel and a wheel barrow.  However, don't let me drive a skid steer.  Trent says I was "crazy bad" in it.  In my defense I only had a minute or two of training and I felt like Hiccup in  How to Train Your Dragon trying to remember all the combinations for turns and bucket lowering.  I was fired from the job in less than 10 minutes. Oh well.

Just a little red-necking:
-Trent's way to dump a trailer when the battery on the lift was dead.

-My attempt at a bridge over the trench.  It held for a few loads of sand but finally gave out.

Did I mention that Trent would also like to dig and start pouring a driveway since the grass is already a mess.