City of Rocks Family History Tour

We traveled to southern Idaho for a Pickett/Womack family reunion. Claude Richard Womack, Blaine's great-grandfather homesteaded in the Raft River area for seven years before giving up and moving back to Logan. Ethel Womack Pickett , spent some of her childhood years here. It is such dry, barren country it is amazing they lasted even seven years. None of the family live there today but about 75 family members came to see that part of our heritage.

We took Jennifer's friend, Emma (W.) with us. Jenn and Emma were able to scale Bath Rock in City of the Rocks.

Believe it or not, one of the highlights of their trip was playing on the teeter-totter in Almo. You just don't find teeter-totters in parks anymore. At eleven years old this was the first teeter-totter they had ever played on.

Guess who has her 1st job?

It's the first day of summer vacation for Jenn and also her first day at her first job ever. She spent four hours wiping tables, washing dishes, cleaning sandwich unit glass, putting bread sticks on baking pans, sweeping the floor, making tuna, stocking chips and other tasks.

Her co-workers said she worked hard.

Kyler Michael Jacobson, Born May 30, 2008

Jason & Mary's third son and our fourth grandson.

Blackhawk Tyson

Jason, Mary, Tyson & Ryder joined us in Swan Valley on Sunday afternoon, the day before Memorial Day, for dinner with Grandma Gayle. Vice President Cheney was in town (as he is frequently) to fish on the river. While he was fishing Jason and Mary and the boys were allowed to get in the Blackhawk helicopters. As you can tell, Tyson thought it was awfully cool!

Hiking Palisades

We are thinking of hiking Mt. Timpanogos in Utah sometime this summer, so we thought we would start getting in shape with a hike over the Memorial Day weekend. We were in Swan Valley visiting Blaine's mom and decided to go up Palisades Creek Canyon. The trail was alright at first, but by the 1st bridge started to get a little muddy. So we turned back. Lucky we did for when we got back to the car the rain turned loose and it rained most of the rest of the day. We would have been soaked if we had gone further into the canyon.

The other pictures shown below will show family members how green the valley is this year (and also make you a little nostalgic.)

Mother's Day

This picture brings back happy memories of my childhood even though I'm the baby in the picture and don't remember when or why it was taken. What I do recall with fondness are my parents who loved me, my brothers, and my sister. They taught us many things and instilled in us good values.

Our home was a happy one due in large part to our mother. Mom filled our home with the sweet sounds of music, beautiful flowers, and mouth-watering aromas. She made us laugh. Mom had a great sense of humor, in fact sometimes she reminded me of Lucille Ball!

On this Mother's Day I want to pay tribute to my Mother, a very special woman. I only hope my children will have the same love for me as I have for her. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Pinewood in Pink

(original post May 8) Blaine and Jenn have been working on two cars for a Pinewood Derby, one car for Jenn and one for her friend, Emma (G.). Jenn has named one "Pink Panther" and the other "Spider". It all started during the regular Cub Scout Pinewood Derby this year when a couple of dads were discussing their classic cars from prior years. In order to settle whose car was the fastest ever they persuaded the ward activities committee to sponsor a ward derby open to anybody, adult or child.

The odds-on favorite is the scoutmaster who is also an engineer in his day job. His youngest two of seven sons are now in Cub Scouts and the family turns out championship cars every year in assembly line manner. Several other dads think they have the best car ever. They are the ones who keep their championship car stored in a shoebox protected with cotton balls. Everybody else planning to enter a car is just window dressing. But, who knows, there may be a dark horse.

Perhaps one of those dark horses will be Jenn or Emma. (It's Blaine's hope anyway). We are completely off the radarscope because we haven't had any boys in Cub Scouts for a while and there isn't anybody still in the ward from the time when Jason was a Cub Scouter. Who wins with a pink car anyway? But Jenn's cars have a pedigree. Sixteen years ago (how time flies) Jason had the fastest car on the track for the year. Jenn's Pink Panther is a similar build.

Win or lose, it has been a fun project!

(updated May 15) The Pinewood Derby was held last Saturday, and Jenn and Emma's cars were among the fastest. Each car raced four times against the clock. Jenn & Emma's "Spider" car clocked fastest overall and their "Pink Panther" car came in third, out of a field of 40 or so cars.