Germany and This and That

Just got back from a trip to Utah to witness the very special Blythe Butler baptized, and the scrumptious Charity Bishop blessed. It was also the first time I met, said Charity. What a darling!! Both events were tremendous. Thank you so much to the Bishop family for hosting us. They are always so gracious and do all they can to make us comfortable! It is also good to be home. The weather had been beautiful. Andy and I have been making further plans for our upcoming movie. It is getting very exciting to see it come together little by little. Andy is working on a web site right now and hopefully we will soon have a sight you can visit to see the progress.

Now, some of you may not believe that I actually went to Germany, so I am going to post a few pictures, provided I can upload them. Wish me luck!

OK Blogger Land. It has been a long time, but I haven't heard any complaints. I refuse to let that get me down! I spent a great month out of the country. First two great weeks with my hubby. We took the Queen Mary II from NY to England, (a super luxurious ship) and then spent a great week in England exploring places we haven't been before. I now have a new favorite village in England called, Lavenham. It is so cute it could put you into sugar shock. Then we spent a few days in Germany together and had a wonderful time. We met up with Mary and her friends in Frankfurt. Greg left for home and I started a new adventure with Mary, Peggy and Fawn. We had a great time. We covered a lot of territory in two weeks. Germany in the fall is really fantastic! The colors were unbelievable, and the whole beauty of the country put my eyes on overload! While on this trip I came up with a great idea for a movie script. Lucky me! I just happen to have a son who is a movie producer, and is looking for a script! Andy and I have put our heads together and we are collaborating on a movie!! Amber is our third partner, and we are set for the adventure of a life time! At least I am. This is old hat to the others. But I have a new passion and am so excited I can hardly stand it! I'm sure we will be setting up a website about the movie sometime in the future. The script is finished, crew is being assembled, funds look promising, we are on our way. It won't be long before I am "Somebody!" (If cans start exploding around me I'll let you know.)

GREAT TIMES .... PHASE TWO THE MOVIE .... AND OUR NEWEST EAGLE SCOUT ... AND OUR NEWEST GRANDDAUGHTER

I have been away for weeks, but it was all worth it! We spent a very exciting two weeks plus in the Mojave Desert watching Andy be brilliant, and rubbing shoulders with big stars in the making. Oh, and we made a bunch of food while we were there. It was hot as the dickens, and dirty as ..... uhh .. dirt, but we had an absolute blast. I can't wait until the finished product is ready for view. EVERYONE will have to make the trip for the big premier because this may be your last time for you to be "the little people" as Andy makes his way to the big time. We are so proud of him, and so happy for his success to come.

In the middle of our big adventure on the desert, we made a whirlwind trip to Utah to see our number one grandson, Wm Brigg Butler, receive his hard earned Eagle Scout Award. We have no buttons left on our shirts after popping them off over Brigg and Andy. We have been on excitement and pride overload!! Congratulations to both our boys on their major accomplishments!

There is one more MAJOR happening during this exciting two week period. Our number 5 child (Amanda Luce) gave birth to our number 23 grandchild, Charity Gene. We are grateful for her safe delivery and for Amanda's good health. We can't wait to hold the little darling ourselves. Congratulations to the Bishop family of Lehi. Hope to see you soon.

I have been waiting to publish this post so I could add pictures of all these events, but alas, I can't seem to make the pictures appear, you will just have to use your imagination to see how great it all was. Maybe sometime in the future I will be able to figure it all out. In the mean time, close your eyes, and imagine ......

MAJOR CATCH-UP!

These events are backwards, but basically involve the same people ... my family.

This was our fun visit to Utah,

and Anna Celeste is showing off her sewing skills.

I don't remember what Amanda was showing me, so that gorgeous face

is all that remains of that memory. That's the most important part.
Then there is "that" part.

Can't wait for Charity in our lives.
This was the girl of the hour.

Eden Elizabeth was baptized that weekend. She is such a joy.

We enjoyed Sarah and Eden for a couple of days to celebrate their 8th birthday.

Unfortunately, my lens was broken by then and I didn't get any pictures.
Jonah's shirt says it all.

Hayden dodging a bad pitch.

This time he nailed it!

Micah was unimpressed, but was wearing his heritage proudly across his chest.

Kennedy and Celeste are growing up way too fast, but are lovely young ladies.

Once more, the girl of the hour.

This catcher means business! He's also very handsome in his catcher's gear.

Not many get past Hayden.

Here we get a peek at the man behind the mask.

He even looks serious (major cute) from behind.

Here he is running in for the score. They won, of course,

and went on to become state champions!

The Butlers came for a rare visit in June, and to my horror and dismay, Brigg was all grown up!

The upside is, for a teenager he was still lovable.

Then there was the Queen of the Pool, our darling Blythe

Tucker was the young Prince.

He was a happy man learning to swim.

We had all kinds of divers showing off their best tricks.

Charlie was a little tentative...

But her made it off!

I believe this is Riley flying through the air like Superman.

Charlie still not sure about this swimming thing.

I think this is Micah

I think this is Hayden doing a back-flip.

I'm not sure how this ended ...

or this ...

But this looked like a perfect 10 to me.

This is a darn cute kid having a stare-down .....

with another cute kid.

I think the word is frusins? A very sweet image.

I guess Brigg was the champion, so another contender came along.

He looks a little more serious than the last guy. Maybe he has this one in the bag!

Blythe is a girl of many moods. This is my favorite mood.

This is her "I'm thinking about it" mood.

Maybe this is my favorite. I think this is her

"I love you Grandma" mood.

This might be her, "Don't mess with me" mood.

Now you've done it! This is her "Why do I put up with these peasants?" mood.

This is Riley at his swim meet, on the start ..

swim like crazy ....

and pick up your metal!

In June we also got a visit from Mark and Cherie, which led to a visit by this cute fellow.

Jonas definitely has that, "pinch my cheeks" face!

This is his, "I have a mission" look.

This is his "who is this camera freak chasing me around?" look.

Aunt Jenny saves him!

It was funtastic getting to see all these special people.

Now, we had one more fun weekend with Sam and Michelle. I have been trying for days to upload my pictures from that trip with little success, so I finally gave up and will post that when I do have some success. You won't want to miss it, because you can see what I learned from Sam the camera man.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA LEE! YOU'LL ALWAYS BE MY FAVORITE FIRECRACKER!

I'm afraid I still can't do this uploading thing very well, and have gotten things in the wrong order, not to mention getting one where her eyes are closed

(I've lost my glasses, sorry about that Anna.)

This is my eldest child, Anna Lee Waite Butler, born on the 4th of July, 1972, to grateful parents who have adored her ever since.

This is when she was still the big sister living at home during her college days.

This is where her show-biz life began. She started out wanting to be Groucho Marx.

This is at her baby sister's wedding, caught in an awkward moment, (sorry about that.)

I am so proud of this amazing accomplished woman.

37 things I love about Anna?

Smart, talented, organized, efficient, reliable, enthusiastic, loyal, fearless, beautiful, committed, humble, fun-loving, strong, bold, charitable, persevering, persistent, tenacious, stedfast, sympathetic, gregarious, frugal, friendly, expressive, imaginative, great since of humor, great laugh, great smile, straight teeth, sings like an angel, always speaks her mind, loves her Heavenly Father, loves her brothers and sisters, is a good Mom who really loves her children, is a good wife, a good teacher, she's a natural leader, and very very cool.

There you have it, with one extra for good measure.

Happy Birthday Anna. You will always be our baby girl!

(ps be sure to see my last blog on the Li River below)

CRUISING ON THE LI RIVER

Well, my fans, here we are once more in China. This was one of my favorite days. We took a one day cruise up and down the Li River. Now, before we start I have to say, "Sam, you were so right!!!" Sam gave me a couple of lessons on using my camera, which I very much appreciate, or I would not have been able to capture most of what I did. However, as he was setting the camera up for me he set it on both jpg and raw shots. I had no idea what "raw" was. As it was my first lesson, there wasn't time to get into that. Anyway, he said, "Believe me, one day you will want them." He was absolutely right, but I learned too late. While we were there, about half way through, my computer said something about not having enough room for my photos. So I thought I would erase the raw files to make more room on my computer since I didn't know what to do with them anyway. Then a couple of days ago I got a new computer, and new editing program. I found out what you could do with the raw pictures and now I am broken hearted to have erased them. I am very disappointed in my pictures of the Li River. I just didn't have enough experience, and made all kinds of mistakes that made my pictures not nearly do justice to the landscape. But I hope this gives you all an idea of the kind of awesome beauty we saw that day.

These are some of the water buffalo we saw along the banks.

A lot of very odd formations. Kind of like some parks in the desert part of the US, only they

are all covered in green. Everyone knows green is my favorite color of landscape.

Greg and I on the back of the ship. I'm the one getting a terrible sunburn.

This is a fishing bird. The fisherman tie lines onto the bird then sends it into the water to catch the fish. Then he pulls the bird back to his boat. Pretty cool.

This is the fisherman with the fishing birds.

As you can see, there were a lot of boats on the river that day, and probably most days.

These were venders that came along side the boats, risking life and limb,

trying to sell their wares.

There were a lot of interesting looking caves along the way.

Chinese writing is a little more difficult to make into a hedge, I would think.

This don't even come close to showing you how fantastic the mountains were. I have no real definition here. But try hard to use your imagination.

Pagodas along the way added some contrast.

Mom enjoying the view on top the deck with me.

There were some magnificent waterfalls. This one was one of the tallest I have ever seen,

but I only got the bottom part photographed.

As far as the eye could see.

More water buffalo.

Another boat-to-boat salesman.

Next time ... Beijing.