I am going to write about my Love/Hate relationship with art.  I love art!  I love the stories behind the art!  I love the feel of art.  It takes me to another place and time.  To a creator's heart and soul,  to the ability to put your heart and soul out there for others to see.  Ahh here is my trouble.  I do not have the ability to put my heart on wood, canvas, glass or ceramics like other people do.  I don't know how.  That's what I hate.  My inability to create.  To think of a masterpiece, to see it in my mind and be able to recreate it.

So, I surround myself with the art of others and fill my house with how I feel by the work of others.  Here are a few of our collections.

This is my bed headboard.  It was painted by Laura Lyon, friend and neighbor who has moved to Michigan.  From left to right is Zoe and Morgan, BlueEyes and Tiffany, Rusty and Kevin, Chester and Jamie, Raven and an elk, Skittles and Me (Shauna).  The bed is log and created by Kevin.

My sister-in-law Geri, is an artist.  She does beautiful work with all kinds of mediums.  A few Christmas's ago she created this stain glass window for me.  Her vision is of water.

I saw a mirror with cowboy boots for the frame at a deli one day and have not been able to get it out of my head, so I found an artist who put it together for me.  Ever since I saw the mirror, I have saved our old cowboy boots.  This has a pair of Grandpa Frogs boots and a couple pair from the DI that I bought because of the stitching.  I love the finish product.

This picture was commissioned by Ray for Monica for their wedding anniversay.  The artist is Andres Copinas. He lives in California and paints beautiful pictures of children on piers.  Unfortunately my camera does not do the colors justice.  It is a beautiful picture full of color of the Salt Lake Temple.

And then my Grandpa, Richard Larsen, painted with watercolors.  I have memories of him sitting in his spare bedroom with the window to his back, creating his pictures.  This is a picture of Albion Basin.

Recreating nature, and nobility of animals is truly an art.  Edd Morgan does a fabulous job.

Cheri Onars, (I hope I have her name right), painted this scene on one of our buffulo heads.  She did a great job with the Indian and Coyotes!

Grandma Leake has spent hours and hours creating counted cross stitch pictures, crocheting and knitting, and generously giving them to all members of the family. 

Kevin found and purchased this Moose for me at an Outdoor show one year.  Cranky looking isn't he!

This is some of Grandma Opal Hancock's work.  She painted ceramics and china and taught classes on painting.

I love metal art! 

Well, I have a few ceramics that I have given a try at.  It is fun!  And I enjoy painting, as long as I have a picture in front of me to follow.  I do change the colors some, but that is about as far as my creative mind will let me venture off the well traveled path.

I have other art decorations around the house.  These are just a few!

Tiff, Rob and Cadence came to Utah for Christmas.  Rob was able to stay for one week and then had to go back home.  While they were here, we had Christmas, New Years, Rob's Grandma Giffen passed away so they had a funeral.  And Rob bought a truck.  Now how do you get a truck home?  It doesn't fit in your suitcase very well. 

So Rob flew home after a week visiting, and Tiffany and Cadence got to stay an additional week.

Which we treasured every moment.  Kevin came home from work early every day just in time for Cadence to need a nap....While he wanted to hold Cadence and play, Cadence wanted to nap. 

Cadence and Tiffany like to run.  So we decided to go for a walk while they were here.  But it was very cold!!!!  We made it to the subdivision behind us and turned around and went back home.

On Mon, the 10th, Tiffany, Cadence and I drove the new truck back to Owasso.  Listening to Huckleberry Finn made the drive go by quickly and gave us a few laughs.  We stopped in a little truck stop just east of Denver for some dinner and out of the seat time for Cadence.  She was done sitting and needed to wiggle.  The truckers coming in were talking about the snowpacked awful roads through Kansas.  We went another hour or so and got a hotel room in Limon, CO.  At 9:00 p.m it was 15 below zero.  COLD! VERY COLD! I went to the indoor swimming pool to stretch my legs and there was 3 inches of ice on the inside of the windows. 

Tues, back on the road and through Kansas.  The truckers were not kidding.  Kansas roads were snowpacked.  It was so cold that the snow wasn't melting.  Thank goodness there wasn't a lot of traffic and we were able to drive right through.   After a few stops, we made it to Owasso.  Rob was very glad to have his family home safe and sound.

I was able to stay and visit for the rest of the week, where we went running in 60 degree weather.  What a change from Utah, Colorado and Kansas. Ran errands, tried Owasso cuisine in the form of Thai and Mexican food.  And just enjoyed each others company.  Then I jumped on an airplane and flew home back to the normal daily routine.

Owasso is an old city.  Built at the end of a railroad track for ranchers to load cattle and send back east.  Some of the old buildings are built out of this beautiful rock.  There is a lot of Indian heritage here also.  It is rolling countryside. Not flat like Nebraska.  And some of our favorite people live here!

New Years Resolutions/Goals/Bucket List/To Do's:

With the help of Cadence, I thought that I would share some goals for the year.

Find Wonder!

Continue to Educate in many areas of Life! 

Don't be afraid to ask Why?  What is this? and Why? again.

Find Enjoyment in the moment.  Leave yesterday, the last hour, the last minute behind!

Be Happy!

People love to be around you when you are positive and find the good in all you see!

Please play well with others! 

We all want to be loved, listened to, and not forgotten.

Best friends will see your humor when no one else will.

Good Luck in 2011

Goodbye 2010

What better way than to end the year, eating, partying and hanging with family and friends.  Goodbye 2010!  It was a good year!

(Go Utes!) Come on 2011, It's going to be another great year!

 

Traditions

 Grandpa has a hot air balloon and as a tradition, we like to fly it on Christmas Eve morning!

The weather has to be right.  Little to no wind.  No wind is preferable cause we bring Santa along.

Santa rides in the balloon while Grandpa, the pilot, hovers the balloon over houses and Santa looks for Rudolph.  "Has anyone seen Rudolph?"  Occasionally Mrs Santa goes along for the ride.  The rest of the family follows the balloon. We are the "chase crew".

We have walkie talkies in the vehicles to rib, tease and poke fun of each other while the balloon is in the air.  We also use them to keep from getting lost and being there for the balloon when it comes down.

Well this year, the weather was good.  A very small breeze.  Great flying weather, so we launched from a park off of Highland Drive and 9000 South. at 7:00 a.m.  As the sun came up, our canyon winds began to blow a light breeze.  No problem! 
However, this did not allow for hovering.  Santa
was really going to miss Rudolph this year.

The balloon had to stay higher than we like to avoid dangerous things like trees, power lines and chimneys.  As we approached 7800 South and about 200 East, there was an elementary school that Grandpa was going to try to land at.  We, the chase crew, didn't think that he would land there because he was so high in the air and the wind kept moving him west.  So we were all waiting at the front of the school when Grandpa came down in the back of the school.

Some of our more alert crew members were paying attention when Grandpa landed behind the school and were on their way to catch him.  Grandpa came down faster than usual, due to the wind and many trees that could snag the balloon, so the crew was not quite there to pile on the basket and keep it from going back up.  The balloon touched down, then went back up, tipping the basket, Grandpa somehow somersaulted right out of the basket.  And away went Santa.

Can you say, "ah oh".  "Oh Crap", and a few other things came from the lips of crew members.  Most importantly, was Grandpa ok.  He stood up and looked at the balloon, rising above the trees, swinging back and forth without him in it.  Immediately we gave him a walkie talkie and he started talking to Santa.  Now Santa has been through a few exciting experiences in his life, due to his police training, required for entering  homes in the dead of night, and his pilot training, cause you have to be able to fly a plane, in case the reindeer are sick.  After a few minutes of pilot instructions, Santa had it all under control.  Now find a place to land!

We were entering an area of congestion, many houses, apartment complexes, power lines, roads, cars, few open areas to land, and the "no fly zone".  (West of I-15).  Santa found a field west of state street and started giving directions and instructions.  But the crew, even after parking in front of houses and jumping  fences, could not get to the balloon fast enough.  Some of the crew continued following on foot while the rest of us, drove around the corner.  And Santa did it.  He successfully landed the balloon and all was well....except for Levi getting hit by a car, (just banged him up) Kristen tearing open her pants on the fence, (nice behind), being yelled at by a homeowner to get off his fence, Brittany having labor pains and the police, fire trucks and news cameras showing up.  Now who called 911??????

Santa changed clothes and Grandpa drove away before the cameras arrived.  Hehe!
This was a Christmas Eve we will be talking about for a long time.  And Thankyou to the angels on our shoulders.  This could have been ugly!

( This is a picture of our family at Thanksgiving time.  We have a big crew!)                                                                     THANKYOU GRANDPA!                           WE LOVE YOU!                                      AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Snow

I love to play in the snow.  Snowmobiling, Skiing, Snowshoeing, Riding horses.
I love snowflakes, snow piled on pine trees, crunchy snow under your shoes.
I love cold crisp air, Brilliant blue skies, Ice on waterbuckets.

Ohno likes snow also, but his short legs make it hard to get around.  He is standing in this picture.

Turkey Day 5 K in Riverton.  Saturday before Thanksgiving!  Woot Woot!

It was quite chilly, the wind was blowing, snow clouds were hovering and we were wondering why we decided to run this race.  BECAUSE WE CAN!

It helps to have a group of 12 and then you see friends that are also brave enough to leave the warm comfy house with smells of Breakfast, to run a little run.

This is a few of us before the start.  Do we look cold.  Oh yea!

Have you heard the story of the tortoise and the hare?  My girls are hare's and I am a tortoise.  They beeboop around the course and then come back and get me.

I am not complaining mind you.  My thing is to just keep going.  I will get there.  Not the speediest time.  But I get there. 

What fun times to spend with friends and family.  Inflicting a little self induced pain and have someone there to cheer you on.  Let's do it again!!!!