One day at a time!!

My eternal companion, President Dennis L. Cooper

Haven singing at church

Haven with her Uncle DoDo

The Marinelli's plus one are off to church

Derrinda Jo took the kids to a water park- amusement park with some cousins

The Stone's have a new couch!

Our very first hand written note from Haven with her Aunt Derrinda's help

Some of the photos from this weekend taken by Derek

Avid Seattle Seahawk fans!!

Derek flew up to Washington on Friday, the 24th so that he could visit and take some pictures of The Marinelli's. They all went up to Seattle on Sat. and had a lot of fun together on the weekend. Derek flys home tonight and will get back home about midnight to Rexburg, ID. It is nice when our children can get together. I am sure that Derek had a lot of fun with his sisters and family there. I really look forward to that family reunion that we are going to plan for next summer at the coast. That will come really fast so I guess after we get moved back to Oregon that we had better start thinking serious thoughts about a place and getting it reserved! Families need to be together and make more memories!

Some graduation flowers from Derek for Derrinda at Pike's Market in Seattle, WA

Derrinda Stone with son Brandon Stone

Derrinda Jo with Brandon, Elijah and Cody Stone

Derrinda with baby brother, Derek Cooper

Happy siblings for sure

Derrinda Jo and the boys on the waterfront in Seattle, WA

Happy siblings, Derek and Desi

Derek, Desi and Derrinda Jo

Marinellis in Seattle at Pike's peak

On Friday, the 24th of August we were able to attend a concert at the newly renovated Tabernacle in St. George. This tabernacle was built in the 1860's by early Mormon settlers here in southern Utah. We are so grateful that the work is done and we could attend a couple of things before we move. The building has been closed for two years for renovations and "seismic retrofitting". They have done a lot of things to bring back the time period in which it was built and it is beautiful. We went to see County Color which is a men's barbershop chorus. We truly enjoyed their numbers and the quartets that sang. It sure made me think of Dad and his love of barbershop music and singing in general. I will always treasure the many times I heard my Dad sing with his beautiful tenor voice.

Spiral staircase to the balcony

Practicing before the concert

I just had to post these pictures of my dear Sista, Lisa with her broken thumb. Sorry Lisa that you had to get hurt and we do wish your poor little thumb a quick recovery!! Love you!

On Tuesday, the 21st, I decided to go ahead and have Denny take me to Urgent Care to see a doctor about my leg. For about a month my leg and arms have had numbness and aching at times. I have never had anything like this before so it has been very strange. This started about the time I was having some other issues. The other issues checked out okay after a cat scan, but my leg was still hurting so it was time to get it checked. Well, the nurse discovered that my blood pressure was way too high and my heart rate was way too fast. I was feeling great except for my leg so I was surprised at that. They wanted me to go over to the ER so I could get it checked out. They got me right in and my blood pressure was 180-190 and my heart rate was about 130. Not good for sure! They did all kinds of tests and luckily everything turned out okay, but I still have to follow up with a doctor this Thursday to check things out. What ever was going on eventually calmed down and I was able to leave. I sure have had some challenge lately with my health, but I look around at others and see the physical challenges that they are having and I will keep my own! I know we will get these issues worked out soon enough. At least I got the green light for traveling so we are going!

We seldom get pictures of  Derek that he approves of, so I wanted to get these good pictures on here!

I believe there are five new kittens!

On one of his latest hikes

Derek with some of his friends being silly!

Derek with his friend Liz

On Tuesday, August 14th, Elijah got his braces! I am glad that he was able to get these so that his teeth can be as perfect as possible. We only had one with braces and it wasn't too bad so hopefully the time will pass quickly for Elijah!

I sure have to admit that Denny and I are really starting to get homesick for our beautiful state of Oregon with our pine trees, fresh water rivers, streams, lakes and cool mountain breezes in the evenings. This is our third summer here and I think we are ready to go home. We are just missing things too much. I am really really missing the coast and spending hours just walking along the beach or sitting in our chairs and enjoying  the beauties of this earth.  Most of all, we are definitely missing our family. All things beautiful can be found in this world, but there is absolutely nothing that compares to family and the relationships therein! We miss our family and we need to be home closer to all of them. We needed a fix of the mountains so we drove up to Pine Valley Reservoir on Monday, August 13th and enjoyed the beauty there. We also stopped in Pine Valley and did the tour again of the unique old LDS chapel there. This chapel was built in 1868 and is the oldest operating chapel that the church has.  We would still like to go up there in October for church services before we leave here. It was another good day with my husband in the books!!

My favorite date!!

Love this little chapel, built in 1868.

Denny conducting the meeting! LOL

Headed toward Pine Valley reservoir

Denny looking for little fish in the creek!

Love these trees!!

Lots of walking paths through the park.