F2 Family

Camping

2009-04-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, here we go on a long series of posts (we'll try to catch up)! Its not easy picking pictures from Mom's hundreds of pictures!

A few weeks ago we went camping for the first time by the Sand dunes/Cherry Creek. It was still a little chilly, but it was a great getaway, and fun was had by all!

Fred and Chris (and Lacy) with the Taj Mahal, as we call it

Hannah, Ty, and Brady

Lyndsey and Lacy

Riding at the Dunes

Lacy- she is such a good sport and loves to go for rides

Tracy explaining the basics to Lyndsey about how to ride a motorcycle. The good thing is that she only came CLOSE to crashing

Fred and Chris going for a ride in the Razr

Lacy and Hannah playing in the sand

Tyson and Brady

Hannah's four wheeler isn't very good in the sand. Brent ended up riding most the day through the sand

A group shot at the dunes (Gotta love the self timer)

We have another trip planned in two weeks for the Green River area. We can't wait. Shalice is coming, and Becky and Jake may be coming also. Plenty of good pictures to come. You may even see crazy stuff with the Razr and the slick rock!!!

Bryan's Truck

2009-04-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

Bryan has been restoring his 1955 Ford truck now for several years. It is finally finished, and he entered his first car show recently. He placed 1st in his class, and 4th overall for the trucks.

This is one VERY NICE TRUCK!

Whitney, Daniele, Bryan, and Tyson with the truck

I hear that he and Tyson are now looking for another old truck to restore together. We'll keep you posted.

Who's THAT crazy girl???? Its Macee, with her funny smile (she does this in every picture)

Random Things

2009-04-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, it was time to update the blog. I was horrified to see we still had a Christmas background!!! My mom (Chris) takes a lot of pictures, and its not easy to choose from 4 different cameras and hundreds of random pictures for the blog! I'll do my best

This picture is at Christmas of a family dinner

Bryan and Lorrie's open house in Dec

The Jensen family at Christmas (Liv isn' here yet in this picture)

Scott and Carrie's family at Christmas

Christmas Chaos!

The Fox grandchildren at the reception

The Finlinson children at Luella's on Christmas Eve

At Sophie's blessing in Las Vegas

Baby Liv

2009-04-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

Laurie recently had baby Liv, her fourth. She is so cute, and she has the best older brothers and sister.

Grandma with Liv

Laurie and Liv

Bryce and Wren

Brittany Gymnastics

2009-04-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Brittany had her second gymnastics meet as a Level 5 in March. She did so AWESOME! She placed in 3 out of 4 events, and also in the All-Around. She has her next meet in a few weeks. We love watching her practice and compete. She's such an athlete.

Lorrie and Chris at the Gymnastics meet

Brittany getting her awards. She got so many of them we were a little unprepared with the camera! Sorry Brittany that the pictures aren't better

Becky and the girls were up here for the weekend and came to watch also

Becky and little Reece

Humility and Obedience

2009-01-11T16:39:00.000-08:00

HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE
Lessons Learned
Fred and Christine Finlinson
11/27/08

Lesson #1, November 26, 2008

It all started on Sunday, November 23, 2008 when Brother Abney from the High Council dropped a note to me as he was leaving the stand after conducting Stake Business in Sacrament Meeting. My first error was that I did not read his note which he mentioned was about a temple cleaning assignment until later on Sunday night just before going to Tyson’s birthday party. It was then I discovered that our assignment, three members to clean the Timpanogos Temple was for Wednesday night from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm on the night before Thanksgiving.

It just didn’t seem fair or right. We had Jazz tickets, a lot of people would be out of town and Thanksgiving is a time for families. I got pretty “hot” thinking about the inappropriateness of the assignment. I called the Stake President, but fortunately for me he was out of town. I then called the Messenger, Bro. Abney, and started asking questions. I thought I wasn’t shooting the messenger, but Chris thought I had stepped over the line. As a result of my interrogatories, I found out that our Stake had not learned about the assignment until Friday afternoon, the 21st. There had been an agonizing discussion at High Council Meeting about the short notice, and being on the evening before Thanksgiving. Pres. Delis had counseled that the temple needs to be cleaned, let’s see if we can find 30 members out of close to 6,000 that would be willing to clean the Temple.

In the exchange, my question was whether the members in our ward should even be asked. The stake encouraged us to ask, but then said they would understand if members couldn’t make it because of the short notice and being on the night before Thanksgiving. In my mind, asking some one to serve and then saying they could understand why they couldn’t serve is the same as telling the person that they would not be expected to serve. So the first struggle that I had to deal with, was should I even ask someone to serve.

Part of my attitude was being driven by the fact that I had blown the best opportunity to make the assignment to others in the Ward when I didn’t read the note in detail until late on Sunday evening. The opportunity to go to the Priesthood and Relief Society had passed because of my error. When Chris suggested that my attitude was out of line, it was like being hit with a hard dose of reality. It really hurt and I started to step back and think a little clearer. I had just finished reading a book about the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Good people did a very bad thing on that event and most used the excuse, that they were just doing what their leaders had asked them. Blind obedience may not be a defense; however, the basic request from my leaders was to help clean the temple, not kill innocent people. So I had to discard the blind obedience justification and come face to face with the simple request to serve by cleaning the temple.

I concluded that we would fill our ward’s allocation and rather than delegating this assignment to the Priesthood and Relief Society, I would go personally. I planned to ask Pat Patterson, 1st Counselor in the Bishopric and Darrel Wendell, the High Priest Group leader to go with me. As Chris and I talked further about this, she volunteered to go with me. When I asked Pat, his wife Donna volunteered. We were starting to look forward to a double date, cleaning the temple. Pat told me that there was good news and bad news. Donna would go, that was good, but the bad news, she didn’t want to hear any complaining about the call. I readily accepted Dona’s terms, but there were still lessons that I needed to learn.

The brief note from Brother Abney asked those coming to wear clean work clothes. There was no mention of whether white clothes were required and I couldn’t get an answer from anybody about the color of the work clothing. I concluded that I would wear jeans and a work shirt and if they wanted white, I could go home. On Tuesday, after I had reported our names to Brother Abney, Donna got pneumonia and requested a pass which was deserved. Just after I learned that Donna couldn’t go, Dale Nguyen called on other matters. He is our Executive Secretary. He volunteered to join Pat and me. With this option, Chris decided to stay home, she might be able to attend the Jazz game, but that opportunity had passed and it let her stay home and work with Lorrie to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

My attitude started to change from Sunday night to Wednesday morning, when I finally spoke with Pres. Delis about other issues, I mentioned the Temple assignment and expressed that my decision to participate was penitence for my bad attitude. He suggested that perhaps I should attempt to clean the temple each week. I think he was kidding me, but maybe not. As Pat and I drove over to the temple on Wednesday night, we were still facing the white issue, and the remote hope, that it would be required and we could go home, but as soon as we saw others in jeans and sweatshirts, “white” became a non issue. There was one last straw, our instructions said nothing about parking or were to enter the temple. It was clear that there was only one way and it was not the front door, we had to walk from the West parking lot around to the Southeast corner and enter through the basement service entry, the servants’ lowly entry. This could have been the last straw.

In a way it was the last straw, as we entered, cleared security and recommend checks, we learned that over 119 people responded to this call to serve on the night before Thanksgiving. The staff at the temple directing the cleaning was overwhelmed with the turn out. Our stake had over 40 in attendance. Other stakes responded with the largest turn out for a cleaning they had experienced since the Temple became operational. The previous high number was 96. I was assigned with Pat, Dale, and Eric Bucker from the Sunrise Meadows Ward and a good tenor, to a crew cleaning doors and bathrooms in the basement around the cafeteria. The wood was cleaned with Murphy’s oil, then touched up with lemon oil, then polished. We used queue tips to get dust out of the cracks and we cleaned bathroom title with little tile brushes. We even used a mop to clean the ceiling, the walls, and the floors. We topped off our assignment by going back to all of the doors to clean up and polish the chrome fixtures with a vinegar mixture that really polished.

Through out the temple, the cleaning process was in full swing. After about two hours, the assigned work was completed. Kathy, our supervisor, invited the four of us to come into a spot in the temple that we would probably never get to see. She had our attention, wondering what this place would be, would it be the “Holy of Holies?” In a way it was, she took us up to the Brides’ room. She was right; we would never on our own get to see this beautiful room. There is a chandelier in the Brides’ room that is the probably the prettiest chandelier in the Temple, and on Tuesday night it had been taken down and each single piece had been cleaned, polished and reattached. It was just beautiful.

As I had obeyed, my attitude softened. As I addressed each issue, there was a resolution that enabled me to advance to the next issue. By the time we were in the basement room with all of the others who had responded, I was in the right attitude. The combined group had a prayer and then the work started. We cleaned and polished and in the words of Aunt Elizabeth Finlinson Foy, we “were where we were supposed to be, doing what we were supposed to do, when we were supposed to do it.” The realization of my lesson of obedience and humility was received in the Brides’ room as I remembered and shared Chris’s story of “humility and obedience.”

Lesson #2, January 2, 1998

This is Chris’s story and she tells it with great class. In preparation for our wedding, Chris had taken a lot of preparation to make it special. She had contacted the Salt Lake Temple to learn what the requirement was for white shoes with heels because she didn’t like the temple issued white slippers. They gave her the specifications and we spent the after noon of New Year’s Eve, 1997, going to six different stores to find white shoes that fit temple specifications. Finally at the sixth store at about 6:30 pm, we found just the right pair and made the expensive purchase at Dillard’s. While crossing the street to enter the Temple early Monday morning, one of the shoes fell out of its carrying bag unknown to Chris. A person behind her saw it fall, picked it up and brought it to Chris so that she had the right shoes for her wedding.

Chris had her wedding dress designed so that it could be worn both as her temple dress and her wedding dress for the rest of the day. It was classy and it was lined to meet temple specifications. Chris doesn’t like bumps or bulges in clothing. This dress was a work of art created by Mel Brown’s daughter in law. This was just part of the preparation that she had done to make this a very special occasion. Pres. James E. Faust was going to marry us. Our families would be there to support us, and we were really looking forward to getting married.

Then Chris ran into the Salt Lake Temple Sisters in the Brides’ room. Chris was a regular temple attendee, she knew the “drill” on how to wear the temple clothing and her mother, Edith, was there to help when it was needed. Edith and Virgil worked in the Mesa Temple for almost twenty years and Edith had helped numerous brides get ready for their marriages. This wasn’t “her first rodeo.” They were well prepared to get up to the sealing room for the pending marriage and then they ran into the Temple Sisters in the Brides’ Room.

The first encounter evolved quickly. Chris headed for her locker and planned to dress in front of her locker as is the general custom for temple worshipers. But this was not to be, the Sisters wanted her to dress in the middle of the room where all could see how beautiful her dress was while they made sure that she had her garments on the right way for the wedding. Chris begrudgingly made the move to the middle of the room and then the second encounter occurred. As she made the move to put on her lined wedding dress, she was stopped. Oh sister, you need to wear a slip. Chris explained that the dress was lined so that a slip wouldn’t be needed and she also indicated that her experience with “temple slips” was that it was hard to find one small enough and most of the time they “clinged” badly. There was no give in the Temple Sisters, so Chris tried on the first slip they brought, it was about a foot and half too long. They brought a second slip and it wrapped around her tighter than saran wrap. The third slip didn’t cling, but it was a little long, so rather than try on more for the perfect fit, Chris decided to fold it over a couple of times to get the right length. She really wanted to get married rather than try on slips for the rest of the day.

That should have been enough, but the Temple Sisters were just getting started. They then suggested that Chris should pin her locker key to her slip so that it would not be lost. They were not impressed with Chris’s proposal to give the key to her mother who would be right by her side the entire temple experience. Chris was sure that it had to be their way or the highway, so she allowed them to pin it to her temple slip and endured the bulge under her dress. It would match with the bulge from the slip folds. With her dress in place, it was time to put on the new temple shoes. The Temple Sisters were not impressed. In their mind, only the Temple slippers would work. It didn’t matter that the new shoes complied with the temple specifications, the only way Chris was getting out of the Bride’s room was in Temple slippers.

During these encounters Edith was amused, but she kept quiet as she watched Chris deal with these items of stress; however, at times she just giggled. Now it was time to put on Chris’s bonnet and fix her veil. The tradition is that the Bride’s Mother gets to do this. Edith had spent 20 years helping brides in the Mesa Temple and she was confident in her ability to properly place the bonnet and veil. She proceeded to do just that and then her confidence left her because the Temple Sisters didn’t feel that it had been done right. When informed that it was up to the Mesa Temple standards, the Temple Sisters informed Edith that in the Salt Lake Temple, is wasn’t right and it had to be adjusted to the Salt Lake Temple Standards. It was adjusted accordingly, but now both Mother and Daughter were nodding their heads and muttering under their breath, “Humility and Obedience.”

By the time they made it to the sealing room, the waiting Groom could tell immediately that something was bothering both the Bride and the Mother. The nodding of the head is a classic Roberts’ warning sign. It is not unlike the raised tail on a charging buffalo. I immediately asked what was wrong. The only response from the Bride was, “Humility and Obedience. Let’s go in and get married.”

We did, as we entered into the sealing room, the love from our family and friends immediately replaced the stress from the Brides’ Room. President Faust conducted our marriage with “class” and pronounced an Apostolic Blessing on our effort to combine our two families. Our lives have been blessed as a result of our union; however, a negative response to the lesson of Humility and Obedience may have stopped our union from occurring.

Both lessons of humility and obedience teach true principles. There is a process that needs to occur as we have to shed some, if not all, of our feelings until we are ready to obey our Father in Heaven. We have found that when we are humble and obedient, the Lord blesses us beyond our comprehension. Our love experience together as husband and wife is such a blessing. The sweetness on the ride home from the temple on Wednesday night was far better than the attitude on Sunday night. It just works that way when “you are where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to do, when you are supposed to do it.”

With all of our love, Fred and Chris.

Lorrie's new dance moves

2009-01-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Figured I'd post this on the family blog...This is Lorrie doing the most dancing I have ever seen her do, it is kind of dark but they are good to watch!

A few Pictures from the Jamaica Trip

2008-12-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

Mom and Fred on the Beach in Jamaica - Anyone else notice mother is on her toes?

This is mom on the riverwalk we did. It was way fun, but the water was very chilly when we first went in. We came to spot in the river where it was about 4 feet deep, and I was just going to walk around it, but the next thing I see is Mom climbing the tree to jump in the water!! Now, I'm not sure she knew what she was in for, but she was a good sport and jumped right in! Of course, after that, I had to jump in too. Tracy managed to sidestep that though :-)

Further up the river was a spot where the river was about 7-8 feet deep. All of us could see this little platform up in the tree and the guides invited anyone who wanted to to climb up and jump in the river. So.....what does Fred do? He dives in the water and swims across; climbs the tree and gets to the platform.

And then he jumps!!! That had to be about 15 feet up....Yeah, he was the only one in the family to do that, the rest of us were content to watch.

Stay tuned for more pictures!!!

Bryan, Danielle, Whit and Ty Cancun

2008-12-08T08:31:00.001-08:00

I was talking to Grandma Roberts the other day and she said she wanted to see some of Whitney's pictures from Cancun. I asked Whit if I could post some up on the F2 blog and she said okay. So here are some of the pictures from their trip. Wish I was there!
Danielle and Ty on the bus
Whitney and Ty in their Hotel
Whitney in Cozumel
Danielle in Cozumel
Whit and Bryan para sailing

Whitney and Ty at the ruins

Halloween Treasure Hunt Clues and Answers

2008-11-16T13:24:00.000-08:00

After much anticipation, we have posted the clues and answers to this year's Halloween Treasure Hunt. The Clues are in Bold Orange, the answers in yellow.

Good Luck!

F2 Combined Family Halloween Party
Treasure Hunt Clues
prepared by
Fred W. Finlinson
10.31.08

In the Canadian Rockies, a variety of "Choke Cherry" trees has developed that have cherry red leaves during the summer. Directly Northeast of the most Easterly Canadian Choke Cherry you'll find the next clue behind a piece of vertical conduit.

This clue was found at the bottom of the pipe next to the utility pole where we take our electrical power from Rocky Mountain Power. Tate found the clue.

The Flowering Pear Tree is the community tree of Murray, Utah. In the spring, the blossoms are a delicate white and in the fall, the leaves turn a variety of golden red. At the base of the 2nd most Northern or the 5th most Southern Flowering Pear Tree, you'll find the next clue.

This clue was covered with rocks among the flower pear trees. The kids thought the pear trees were the Canadian Coke Cherry trees because they still had their leaves. Many of the leaves were "red." Tate discovered this clue while looking for the first clue.

This clue will be found under the nose of an object named after a mean dinosaur featured in a film about an island where dinosaurs still roamed. If you have guessed that the dinosaur is a T. Rex, you've got the wrong lizard. Today, this dinosaur's name applies also to a class of birds that prey on other birds. Eagles are part of this class of birds.

Our "toy hauler" trailer is a "Raptor" with the name on the front and back of the trailer. I'm not sure who found this one, but with grand kids looking all around the trailer, it didn't take them long.

There is an old farm joke about the conversation between a tractor and a plow. The question is asked, "What did the plow say to the Tractor?" The answer identifies the location of the next clue. You may have to ask your parents for help on this one. The clue will be under the southern most part of the answer to the Question mentioned above.

I was amazed, nobody knew the old farm joke. The answer to the question, "What did the plow say to the Tractor?" is, "Pull me closer, John Deere." The clue was hid under the front end loader of the John Deere Tractor which was facing south in the little barn.

To find this next clue, you'll have to think like one of the F2 Place wild cats. There are racoons that will fight them for cat food. Little Bryan loves to chase them. We have a pack of coyotes that would love to eat them. One of our neighbors used to bring his lion hunting dogs through our area, and "treeing" one of our cats seemed to be a lot of fun for his hounds. So you need to think, where could the cats be out of the weather and be safe from these predators. Access to this clue will only be available to the older cousins who will have to share the clue with everybody else.

The grand kids came up with the hay barn and the hay stack pretty quick. When we caught up with them they were looking all around the hay stack at their level. The safest place is up on top of the stack. Access to the top, is from the back of the stack where the bales are placed up against a brace. The boards of the brace became the ladder that Hannah used to climb to the top of the stack where she found the clue stuffed in a bale on the very top of the stack.

The next clue will be found on the circumference of a training enclosure in a device utilized to provide H20 for equines.

We use the Round Pen to train horses and there is a blue bucket tied to the side of the round pen that can be used to give a horse a drink. Brittany remembered the blue bucket and Tate knew what a round pen was.

To find the next clue, go to the largest collection of springs on the F2 Place. Elevation at this place will be necessary to spot this clue when you look to the West.

This clue stumped the kids for a while. The trampoline is new this year and the springs are hidden under the pad that goes around the tramp. They finally got a little help from a parent and they were off to the trampoline, but the next clue was not in the trampoline. If you jumped high on the trampoline while looking to the West, you could see the next clue taped to the highest bar on the swing set just west of the trampoline. Tate climbed the swing set and got the clue down for the group.

Grandma Finlinson has a soft spot in her heart for little ones, including all of our Grand Children. The next clue will be found in a spot where little spheres break apart revealing relatively large mouths and little bodies.

This was one of the most difficult clues. "Little ones," include the little song birds that are born each year in our garage, nesting on top of the hoes that hang on the wall. The "little spheres" are the eggs laid that hatch or "break apart" revealing the baby birds, that are mostly "large mouths" with very little bodies. The kids were looking all around the house, it took a little direction to get them into the garage and then they could see the nest on top of the hoe and the rest was easy.

Inside the F2 Gathering Place on the counter, you'll find this year's treasure. We hope you have enjoyed this year's treasure hunt. Grandma Chris and Grandpa Fred.

Actually, Grandma Chris found a better place, the treasure gift bags were in her legislative desk in the dining room. It didn't take this pack of clue hunters long to find the treasurer. The success of the hunt didn't come from the sugar found in the goodies in the bag, it came from the faces of the kids trying to figure out Grandpa's clues. The racing off to the next clue. The attempts of their parents to help them with the clues. It took three generations to pull of this treasurer hunt successfully. We're a good team.

F2 Halloween Party 2008

2008-11-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

Bryan napping
Brent and Brandon resting
Chase and his pumpkin
Tate
Brook Blain, Bryce and Henry
Lace, Grace and Britt
Grandpa Fred, Henry, Abby, Grace, and Lacy getting their pumpkins
Aww Brent and Tray, how precious
Sweet little Wren
Chase, Brook and Jaime
Abby
Grace
Bryce
Wren

Bryce and his pumpkin...looks like a good one Hannah, Brittney and Tate
Grandpa Fred supervising the pumpkin carving

Hannah getting one of the many clues, this one happended to be on top of the haystack
Abby and her costume

Oh Wren again, she just looked so cute we had to keep taking pictures of her
Henry, Chase and Brandon
The Treasure Hunt, we were all scratching our heads as what Grandpa Fred was talking about, but we made it thru okay.
Elsa and Shelly

Mom's UEA Pictures

2008-11-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

Arizona Blessing and Baptism

2008-11-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Jake, Becky and Reese
All of us at the Blessing and Baptism

Baby Reese, Becky, Mom, and Grandma

Baby Reese

Grandma and Grandpa Roberts

Some More pictures

2008-10-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

F2 Family Tree

Cortez, Grandpa and Uncle Dave

Reece's Blessing

2008-10-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

Grandpa, Jared and Chase

Grandma, Elane, Emery, Elise and Natalie

Becky, Mom and Grandma

Becky, Mom and Elane

The Artist’s Night Shirt

2008-10-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

I thought you would enjoy reading Lauren's essay that she submitted for her reflection contest. She did a great job.

The Artist’s Night Shirt
My Favorite Wow
By: Lauren Finlinson

I open my eyes and adjust them to the dim light. I wasn’t sleeping. I had been crouched in this car’s tiny space for six hours and was ready to get out and onto a bed. Even if it was a bed over the water.

I haul my bag over to the edge of the dock where Grandpa heaves it on to our little boat, Sundance. I hop on, stretch out over the nose of the front seat and wait for her to deliver us to our house boat, Spyglass.

I haven’t been here since last year, but I can remember nearly everything. How to win every card game my aunts manage to set in front of me, the steep free fall that separates the slide from the water, and the moon. Especially the moon.

We would camp out in the usual spot, with smooth cliffs surrounding us that cut out all but the sky, positioned in a square like our own little room. Right by it, we’ll have to rediscover the sneaky path that we found last trip that winds around the abandoned rattle snake nest to the shallow quick sand we can play in. And this year, I’ll be allowed to ride the jet ski all by myself around the cove if I like. If we’re lucky, it will rain, and the walls around us will turn into waterfalls. I love that.

I can remember one more thing. My favorite thing. I look up and there’s my sky. If could choose one sky to live with for the rest of my life, it would be this one. The full moon hangs like a white button on a black night shirt that an artist was wearing when he used white paint. The paint has dried, now it flecks the shirt, and makes the stars.

“Wow,” I whisper.

I make a mental note to sleep on top.

Tate's Soccer Game

2008-10-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Tate's soccer game two weekends ago:

Cute little Wren

Tate

Tate's Team

Bryce

Laurie and little Wren

Blaine and Bryce

Happy Birthday Grandma Luella!

2008-10-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Grandma's birthday was several weeks ago, but we're just getting around to downloading the pictures of Grandma Luella blowing out the candles on her cake - wow! What an amazing woman she is!

Grandma Luella blowing out her candles, with little Lacy looking on

And one more of Grandma!

A MOVIN', MEMORABLE OCTOBER WEEKEND

2008-10-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

A MOVIN’, MEMORABLE OCTOBER WEEKEND
Prepared by Fred W. Finlinson
October 3 – 5, 2008

This “movin’, memorable” weekend started just before 4:00 pm on Friday afternoon. I called Chris and requested a rescue. She wanted to know why I needed to be rescued. When I explained that I was listening to Shawn Hannity and he was starting to make sense, she agreed that I needed rescuing. She quickly arrived on the scene, Lyndsey agreed to feed, and Chris and I left in the Dodge for Heber City. Our rational for the trip was that our horse trailer needed to return from the Heber Ranch and Feed to the F2 Place. However, the best part of the rescue was the chance for us to check out the fall colors in Provo Canyon and the great food at the Snake Creek Grill in Heber. This is one restaurant where you can get “Hanger Steak.” This is a fancy name for Tri Tip Steak, one of our favorites.

The meal was delightful. When we finished, we headed for the Heber Ranch and Feed and picked up our trailer. We were tempted for a minute to hook up to the nice, bigger trailer parked right next to our, but it didn’t have the special bumps that our trailer has acquired through its faithful service at F2. We hauled it back to F2, pleased that we could park it on our “new trailer” pad. It fits just right next to the Raptor. To those who helped with the construction of the trailer pad this summer, we say “Thanks” once again. On the ride down the Canyon we planned out our Saturday. It included a run to Costco and a trip to Bangerter’s to order a special birthday present for Chris. It would probably rain, but we could deal with the rain as we watched conference.

Early Saturday morning, I thought it would be a good idea to start the day with a good work out. I did all of the Physical Therapy exercises for my shoulder and then worked pretty hard on the Elliptical for 40 minutes. As I finished up, I really needed a cool down and a shower, but Brett and Lyn were getting ready to make their move to Genola. It was their movin’ day. It was a perfect morning for Cowboy Tom’s Wheat Pancakes. Brett agreed to feed while I cooked breakfast. Just as we were getting ready to eat, Brett’s friend, Brett Barrow showed up. The test of true friendship is found in the willingness to help on the day of movin’. Brett and Brett are pretty good friends. They rope together and still like each other. More than that, they help each other move. It was the least I could do to fix them a good breakfast. Brett and Lyn assured Brett that he had better try Fred’s pancakes, so he did. There was a smile on his face as his pancakes vanished.

Brett Barrow is the owner of Patch, Fanny’s 2nd colt. He had some great photos of Patch packing out Brett’s big bull elk earlier in this week. Patch has grown up to be a real horse. The Bretts and Lyndsey started hauling stuff up from the basement and loading it in Lyn and Brett’s new horse trailer. This was the first time that the trailer had been used to haul, so it was a “clean” movin’ experience. I made a decision to put our plans aside and help the kids with their move to Genola. About the time the horse trailer was starting to fill up, Brent Fox showed up to pick up his big Volvo front end Loader. It’s really big. The only problem was that the batteries were completely dead. It was going to take some effort to get it going. I changed out of my exercise outfit, pulled on my Wranglers and a short slicker and headed out into the rain to help Brent. It took the Dodge truck charging one battery and my battery charger on the other side. We finally got it going, loaded it on the trailer and then Brent shut it off. As the engine shut down, Brent realized, it might not start again. It didn’t. So now we had to go through the two battery jump start all over again with the Loader now on the trailer. It kept raining and finally the Loader started up again. This time Brent kept it running all the way to Spring City, Utah where he is starting a job on Monday to build a cement reservoir for the Town’s water system. He had already hauled the track hoe to Spring City earlier this morning and this would be his second trip in preparation for Monday morning and the start of this new job.

While Brent and I were working the Loader, Brett, Lyndsey and Chris were loading both the horse trailer and Brett’s work trailer. Then Lorrie, Brittany, Brian and Tracy showed up with a load for Lorrie’s “movin’ in.” Lorrie has successfully closed a sale on her home, put some good equity into the bank and she and Brittany will be with us until Lorrie and Brian are married and have time to purchase their home together. So we have one movin’ out and one movin’ in. Pretty soon, we had people taking stuff in and then loading up and taking stuff out. Brett and Brett took both loaded trailers, headed to Lindon to pick up a new washer and dryer and then headed to Genola to unload the two trailers. The rest of the crew helped Lyndsey clean out their room, the laundry room, the kitchen and the basement storage area of their stuff. It went up into the south half of the garage to await the return of Bretts with the utility trailer for its second load.

It is really amazing to see the power in Lorrie and Tracy when they decide to move something. Chris overheard Tracy counseling Lorrie while lifting a dresser up the stars to groan a little because that’s what the men do when they lift and move things. Lorrie’s Bryan and I watched Tracy raise “the bar” on us. She packed two dresser drawers full of clothing up the stairs. We both had been thinking about just taking one at a time, but since Tracy packed two, we both had to pack two dresser drawers full of clothing up the same stairs. Fortunately for Chris, Lyndsey and I, Tracy, Lorrie and Bryan left with the Dodge Truck to make a run to the dump, the DI, and then back to F2 .

At 1:00 pm it was time to stop for lunch. Lyndsey was attempting to recover from a very bad cold by working all morning. Chris was punishing her toes by going up and down the stairs and Fred was still on the “stair master” going up and down the stairs with added weights. It made for a very long morning. Chris and I made a run to Arctic Circle and we really enjoyed just eating. We really needed the break. Then it was back to work, making sure that everything was moved out of the downstairs that needed to go to Genola. Lorrie, Bryan, Brittany, Tracy and the kids came back with another load for Lorrie to move in. About this time, the Bretts came back and the stuff in the garage went into the trailer for Genola. Brady and Tracy were moving a lot of stuff into the trailer. The “movin’ in” and the “movin’ out” turned out to be pretty seamless, no net loss at the F2 Place.

I had been able to get two tickets for General Priesthood meeting from the Bishop. Scott agreed to accompany me. It gave me an excuse to leave the movin’ crew, but all of the heaving lifting at F2 had been finished. I drove through the rain storm to pick up Scott, and then through the heavy rain to the Conference Center. This was the first time that I had attended any meeting in the Conference Center. It turned out to be a nice intimate experience shared with 20,000 other Priesthood holders. We had to go through a metal detector to gain entrance into the Hall. I was lucky, they let me keep my Henry knife. I never would have made it on an airline with it. Our seats were in the balcony. The speakers were a “long ways” off, but the big screens worked well. The difference between these seats and the ones that years ago I had sat on for a General Priesthood meeting clearly identified great progress. Cushions beat pine boards any day. The acoustics of the conference center were wonderful. I don’t know if you could hear a pin drop like in the old Tabernacle, but the music from the choir was clear. It was easy to hear the respective parts.

The messages of the evening where given under the inspiration of the Spirit and as we listened in the congregation, the same Spirit bore witness to each of us of the truthfulness of the Gospel. The remarks of the First Presidency were some of the best and the seminal talk of the evening was by President Uchtdorf, “Stand closely together and lift up.” This will become a theme taught for generations.

Perhaps the most important thing about this evening was not the messages heard, but the messages felt during the evening. The opportunity to be with Scott was special. During the evening we were able to share little thoughts that added up to a great sharing time. As we left the Conference, Rob called as he was leaving the Stake House in Las Vegas where he attended the Priesthood Meeting. We arranged to call back as soon as we got in the car utilizing the speaker phone. We talked all the way from down town Salt Lake to Scott’s home in Murray. It was a great way to catch up on Rob and Amanda and the twins. Amanda is now at 36 weeks in her current pregnancy, and she is scheduled for a C Section in her 39th week. They have selected the name of Sophie for their expected daughter. The twins are turning into “movin’ memorable experiences.”

I had wanted to and had planned to listen to conference, but the decision on Saturday morning was easy, “help with the movin’.” On Sunday morning, Pres. Monson counseled us to help when and where we could. It seemed like a confirmation of the decision to help rather than just sit and listen to conference. Sunday provided an opportunity to listen and then to share those messages with our Study Group as we met to discuss the messages of Conference.

From Friday evening to Sunday evening, it had truly been a “movin’, memorable experience.” The focus for us had been on helping those that are closest to us, our family. The service rendered by each person, blessed the lives of each member of our family. There was a lot of individual effort that went into “lifting up.” We stood close in the bonds of family and lifted up together. It just doesn’t get any better than this. It didn’t matter that it rained the entire day.

Teryn's Big Day's

2008-09-23T13:33:00.001-07:00

Teryn's baptism

Teryn's birthday cake, Becky should be the next Martha Stewart.

Becky and Jake in Maui

2008-09-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

Lynnie and Shalice in Hawaii

2008-09-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

I love this picture!

FOX GIRLY's

2008-09-15T17:09:00.001-07:00

I like this picture better then the other one with us four!

Some of Grandma and Grandpa's Elk

2008-09-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Grandma Roberts

2008-09-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Mom and Fred waiting for some elk

2008-09-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

Baby Reecy and Aunt Shalice

2008-09-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Aunt Jo and Cortez "smiling"

2008-09-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

More F2 pictures

2008-09-05T07:38:00.001-07:00

Chris and Fred were at Lake Powell over Labor Day weekend, and didn't get very many pictures- but this one is of Hannah and Brittany riding the tube

Chris and Fred made a trip to Arizona after Becky and Jake had baby Reese. Here is Teryn with her little sister

Trees at the Finlinson house, earlier this year

Carrie and Elise playing the piano at Christmas

Part of the F2 doing Christmas things

Grandkids

Fred

Jamie and Abby at Lake Powell

Brandon at Lake Powell

Hannah playing soccer... with a cast!

Brady playing fottball

Graduations

2008-09-02T19:22:00.001-07:00

We had a few graduations this year- Lyndsey and Whitney. Here are some pics

Lyndsey
Whitney

Let's get started!

2008-08-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the Fox's and the Finlinson's combine to form the F2 family. There are 11 children total between Fred and Chris, and here are a "few" pictures to get us started in the blogging world!!!

Rob and Amanda

Lyndsey and Brett

Shalice and Dusty (oh and Cortez)

Becky and Jake (also Teryn and Macy)

Brent, Tracy, Brady, Hannah, and Lacy

Carrie, Jamie, Shelly, Laurie and Abby

Chase and Brandon

Scott and Lauren

Laurie, Blaine, Tate and Bryce

Grandkids at the F2 house at Christmas

Finlinson kids at Laurie and Blaines

Bday party

Fox kids riding four-wheelers (somewhere)

Brady and Tyson

Grandma Luella, Grandma and Grandpa Roberts

Greg, Amanda, Jaime, and Rob (Chase too)

Brittany, Lorrie, and Bryan

Laurie, Shelly, Gracie, and Abby

Fred and Chris at the Boulders

Bryan, Daniele, Whitney and Tyson

Fox's at the Boulders

Fox's in Hawaii

Daniele and Tyson

Brady

Hannah and Teryn

Grandma and Grandpa Roberts with Brent, Tracy, and Brady

Becky, Shalice, Lyndsey, and Lorrie

The Barrett's at Halloween

Brittany and Lorrie

Bryan and Daniele

Tracy and Luella parasailing

Chris, Fred, and Luella in Hawaii

Hannah and Brittany in Hawaii

Lyndsey and Brett getting married in Hawaii

Lyndsey, Brett, and Brittany

Shalice and Brittany at Lake Powell

Fox's at Lake Powell

Dusty and Shalice

Rob and Amanda graduating from BYU

Finlinson siblings- Scott, Shelly, Laurie, Jamie, and Rob

Scott and Carrie

Finlinson's four-wheeling

Fox's four-wheeling

Greg and Shelly

Lake Powell

Grandma Finlinson

Brittany and Bryan

Finlinson's at Blaine and Laurie's

Brady and Tyson in Hawaii