Colorado Trip

Wild ride on the Million Dollar Highway

I was leaning toward Todd a lot going south. He kept telling me he was hugging the yellow lines and he would not take his eyes off it!
This is coming back North to Ouray
This is also traveling north, and notice how close the white line is to the edge of the road.

Our visit to the" Million Dollar Highway" was just as we expected. We had been forewarned
by Todd's Mother Leslie. Leslie and Ron had been there a few weeks earlier, and had their wild ride on the highway.


If anyone wants to travel south to Silverton or beyond from Ouray, they must do so on the Million Dollar Highway. I am wondering if it is the scariest highway in America! It gets scary just beyond the "Switzerland of America" sign just leaving Ouray, and for about 11 or 12 miles it is white knuckles for any passengers. The driver however feels a little bit safer, because he or she has control of the car. This highway has two lanes, no shoulders, and no (yes, I repeat no) guardrails, and about a 100-300ft drop off on one side. I am posting some of the pictures I took of the highway, on our way back to Ouray from Silverton. I was too scared to take many pictures on the way there.

Very Happy 30th Anniversary

Well, we got back last night from a very enjoyable week in Ouray Colorado. We had never gotten away for a whole week together like that ever. When I say ever, I mean, going someplace where we did not know anyone,with no children and a place we had never been to before. It was so relaxing. By that I don't mean that we laid around all day either. We hiked and hiked and then did more hiking, and soaked in mineral hot springs hot tubs right outside our hotel room. We strolled through many galleries and shops both in Ouray and Silverton. Ate out at some cool restaurants, and watched the whole entire 4th season of the"Office" in our hotel room at night, because there just happened to be a DVD player in our room. The mountains were breathtaking and it was a chance for us to just focus on one another and not think about any thing but the wonderful 30 years we have spent together. What a wonderful week it was.

Breya's letter

The other day I got a letter from my little Breya. She is in Kindergarten and was suppose to write a letter to a relative and send it in the mail. Elliah wrote it down while Breya dictated it to her. I will cherish it. Then she called yesterday to see if I got it. Answering the phone and having a grandchild on the other end is so special to me. Breya told me that she is sending me something else. I think she is getting into this mail thing. In her letter she asked me if I would come to her school and visit so she could show me something. How could I refuse. I will be visiting soon.
I can't believe I have arrived at the point that I have two grandchildren in school and that they are asking me to visit. I always thought that was for old people, on grandparents day, and now here I am. She writes in her letter: I love you too much than anything! Do you like flowers? Because, I do. You're my favorite Grammy and I love you a whole whole lot. And I just love to spend time with you when I visit at your house. Love Breya

I needed to see the Askeroth girls

On Wednesday, I had to go to St. George for some errands, and decided that I needed to see my three Askeroth granddaughters and have a little bit of Grammy time. They showed me their new rooms and they sang songs and performed for me. I read them a story and we played outside. I thought I would post some pictures of the new generation of Askeroth girls. Grammy sure loves them alot.

The magazine

Amy Hansen, photographer for elan woman magazine with her darling little Aidan, and below; Darci Hansen, editor in chief

Yesterday, the editor of Elan Woman Magazine, Darci Hansen came to our home for a photo shoot.
I mentioned several months back that the magazine would do a spot with me and my scrapbooking. Well, it is going to happen next issue (Nov-Dec). Darci brought her daughter-in-law Amy Hansen who is the photographer for the magazine to take photos of me and my "artwork" (that is scrapbook pages and other creative items). Amy also brought along her darling baby boy Aiden, who was so good while his mom and grandma did their work. I felt a little awkward when they were taking pictures of me. I am just not used to having a bunch of snapshots taken in rapid fire for a magazine. It was sure fun though and Darci is just the neatest person ever. They made me feel like I am kind of special. I admire other people's ability to elevate others around them and make their self-esteem soar. Darci is such a classy lady and someone I admire greatly. I am understanding her work and the purpose of this magazine more and more all the time. Anyway it was a way fun afternoon and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Getting ready to blast off

Todd and I are about to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We have planned a week long trip to Ouray, Colorado. We are so excited we can't even hardly stand it, because we have been planning this for over 12 weeks. A whole week away from all the busi-ness of everyday life. We wanted to go to Kauai, Hawaii, but the funds to do this sort of vacation for a week just weren't there at this time in our lives, and this economy! So alas, we wanted to pick a place that we could drive to (8.5 hrs.) and a place that we did not know anyone. Since it is our anniversary, we just really want to focus on one another. Todd said, how about Colorado, and I use to go to Montrose, CO when I was a kid and I got as close as Ridgeway Colorado , but had always heard that Ouray was spectacular. So Ouray was our focus. As we looked into it on the internet, we got more and more excited. Ouray has been dubbed the Switzerland of America, surrounded by waterfalls, 13,000 ft mountains and even a giant hotsprings pool. When I return I will be posting pictures of our trip and this unique and beautiful place.

new favorites

Could she be any cuter?
She is such an exceptional person
This one would be clearer if I did'nt steel it off of my son's blog, but wow, what a cute kid!
Tara took this great picture of daughter and daddy!
Ty is becoming such a wonderful teenager. We love having him around!

Well just posting some new favorite photos from my gallery of family members. I know I am a typical grandma and mom. But these pictures ore just to good to not be shared!

1st Birthday for Caleb

Breya on the slide at playground at Caleb's birthday with instant friend Erika
Caleb's cousin baby Evelyn and Grammy
Caleb's pal (uncle) Ty. Ty kind of likes him too!

Handsome Cousin Nolan out at the playground. Love that puzzled look!


We traveled to Cedar City on Sept. 7 for our handsome grandson's B-day party. He is getting so grown up, although he looks to short to walk and his little feet are so small. He gets around perfectly. Here are some pictures of Caleb eating his birthday cake, and also some other family members at the party. He really went after it in a major way and we were all laughing so much at him enjoying his cake and not minding anything else that was going on around him. He just kept nodding yes, when asked if 'that was good?' What a Cutie!

The day before the party, I had a garage sale, that I worked on for a few weeks. I told myself that if I sold all the other cameras I had, (3 to be exact) I would go and buy myself a new digital camera and get a good one. Well I did sell all of them and a lot of other junk laying around here too. Tara was down visiting Logandale, and I asked her if she would go with me to help me pick out a good camera. She was so helpful, and I don't think I could of done it without her. I ended up getting a new Canon power shot with lots and lots of great features. It sure came in handy the next day when we were at Caleb's party.

Breya's Turn

Breya finally got her turn at staying for a few days at Grammy and Pa Pa's house. She was here for 3 days and three nights. We had to hurry and fit it in before the 13th, the day she would start Kindergarten. Some of the things we did while she was here.
Made Cookies......Snickerdoodles.
Breya made a mini scrapbook of herself...............turned out really cute
Breya played Mario Cart and beat the heck out of Aunt Kendra.......giggled a lot
Squirted Pa Pa with the hose outside.......... until he was completely soaked
Went shopping with Grammy at home hardware.........picked out a little prize for being sweet
Listened to Grammy read a bedtime story every night..........loved them all
Got to pet and feed the horses across the street..........someday she wants a horse
Got to hold baby Evelyn who was also visiting our house.............Is quite good with the baby

Evelyn's Blessing Dress

Evelyn's first special white dress
Doesn't she look stunning?
These shoes were given to her by Julie Olive and Emily Mortenson. They were perfect with the dress.
Evelyn's two very proud Grandma's

I gave Tara a coupon for 1 white baby blessing dress for her baby girl at her baby shower back in March. I started thinking about it soon after and wanted to get it finished to take up to Provo, when she had her baby. I wasn't sure what it would look like, until I found some gathered cotton fabric, which was already gathered on an English
smocking gatherer. I had it in a bin for years. I have done some smocking, but not for a long time. The smocking could have turned out a little better, but with the little experience I had it didn't turn out to bad. Then I found a dust ruffle in my fabric stash that was hardly used and I thought I would use that rather than finding some scalloped edged eyelet at a fabric store. Here are the results and I think that baby Evelyn looked stunning in her
dress. I had so much fun making it for her. I also had the privilege of making a blessing dress for Breya and Carys.

Memory Tag

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, repost these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Our brave Kendra

Well, Kendra and Sterling don't have a blog, so I think I will have to post this one. For those of you who have been wondering, Kendra is healing quite nicely after two major surgeries within 48 hours time. We certainly feel blessed after Kendra's ordeal is almost over. With her big benign tumors (in thigh, and back) and a visit with the Utah Valley Regional medical center and a Neurosurgeon, everything fell into place quite nicely. I spent another couple of weeks in Provo with Kendra in the hospital, and Tara, Trent and Evelyn at home. I was beginning to feel like I was a resident again of Provo. She spent a week in the hospital, a few days at her Mother-in-laws and then a week here with me recuperating. Each day we could see improvements. It was so good to see her smile again.
This picture was taken about 1 week before she had an MRI to determine why she was having so much back pain
and wasn't able to sleep at nights.

Favorite grandkid photos

My favorite picture of each grandchild from my gallery

Our family reunion pictures finally posted

The first annual Todd and Michele Askeroth family reunion was on June 21, 2008, Some of the pictures were posted before, but I wanted to really get some of the best ones up here for viewing.
We had so much fun. Grandma Leslie and Ron were here too. (what a special treat that was) We were so lucky to have everyone here at the same time. It was amazing and our family has grown to 22 people with the birth of Evelyn Camille. We had a great time and there was even a family auction where the family members could bring stuff to auction off. A couple of times the family got a little over zealous on auctioning off some of Mom's favorite things as a joke. There was also a great speed walking race. And of course trying to get pictures of all the grandkids was a little taxing, but what a great day. Next time we will have to try it when it is not so hot.

Todd's Birthday

Extreme Hiking

This picture came from Linda's blog,
and that is me in the picture. That lake
was so beautiful!




My Trip to Provo for Evelyn's baby blessing also meant staying for a few days for many other reasons. While there, I had to have some time with my best friend, Linda Liddle. I rely on her expertise and experience in hiking the Utah Mountains for an extremely great experience. Well we had a blast. The pictures that are posted here don't even begin to show just how beautiful it was. The mountains were bursting with color from every kind of wild flower you could imagine.
We drove to American Fork Canyon and traversed the road to a dirt turn off which took us over
much zig-zagging up the side of a beautiful overlook. We came to Silver lake and then hiked 2 miles
upward to Little Silver Lake. We sort of felt like we owned that mountain when we got to the other lake, because we were the only ones there. Did someone plant all the flowers in beautiful borders,
or was it just Heavenly Father's way of giving us a great blessing. We felt like we were in a wonderful garden, or maybe some kind of fairyland. i had a hard time sleeping that night because
I could not stop thinking about the beauty I witnessed that day with my sweet friend Linda.