Perry and Brenda Madson

D.C./ Virginia 2011

2011-08-11T14:48:00.004-06:00

Jamie and Bryce moved this spring to Northern Virginia and we were able to visit them this summer. On a previous trip to D.C. we were not able to see Mt. Vernon and so this time we wanted to start our visit by going there.

On that same day we drove west from Mr. Vernon to Manasses Virginia. This is where the first battle of the Civil War was fought. I think the textbooks call it the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

This is where Stonewall Jackson was given his nickname.

On Friday we started off to visit D.C. Our first stop was at Arlington Cemetery. We especially love to visit the tomb of the Unknown.

The changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown is especially cool.

We then went on to Nationals Ballpark to see a ball game. The new ballpark in D.C. is very nice. The Metro stop is very close to the ballpark and you walk up to the center field entrance.

Brenda, Jamie and Bryce are good enough to let me take them to a game.

On Monday the fourth we again went into the city to celebrate. We wanted to see the concert at the Capital and see the fireworks.

From where we were seated for the concert we could also look down the Mall to the Washington Monument. We were able to watch the fireworks with the Washington Monument in the foreground.

Texas with Megan & Josh

2010-08-09T14:18:00.001-06:00

Our visit to Texas and the home of Josh, Megan & Lilly.

Our rental in the front of their house.

Josh and Megan's place in Plano, Texas.

Brenda with Lilly.

Lilly with a toy ear of corn stolen from Kaylie and Brooke while babysitting.
Toys will be fun for Lily.

Brenda and I had to visit SouthFork. You remember to home of the Ewings.
We used to watch "Dallas" all the time after we were married.

Brenda with Jock Ewing, Bobby and JR's father.

Brenda and I took the DART to downtown Dallas.

What a BIG city.

We walked by the "Old Red Courthouse" a museum now.

Do you remember 1962 and Dallas.
This is where JFK was killed.

Lee Harvey Oswald was on the sixth floor of this building. Or was he?
The sixth floor is a museum now.

The grassy knoll where the other shooter may have been.

Sonny's barbecue was a fun place for lunch.

California Vacation

2010-08-09T12:42:00.006-06:00

Welcome to California Week

We had a great visit with Bryce and Jamie in Santa Maria.

Brenda with Jamie outside their apartment.

Beautiful flowers everywhere
and everything in bloom.

First stop is a cute place called Solvang.
A Danish community a short drive from Santa Maria.

We had to try one of the bakeries.

Next day we went to all the beaches.

Brenda and I on the end of the pier at Pismo Beach.

We had lunch at "The Spash" in Pismo Beach.
The clam chowder was excellent.

Thursday evening we went to the Farmer's Market
in San Louis Obisbo.
Strawberry, broccolli, lettuce fields were everywhere outside of town.
Also vineyards were along the side of the mountains.

Saturday was a road trip to Hearst Castle.

Casa Grande at the Hearst Castle

Brenda, Bryce and Jamie at the Hearst Castle.
Quite a view from the top of his mountain.

The famous pool you may have seen in pictures.

Finally Finished

2010-07-12T10:54:00.004-06:00

Our kitchen and laundry rooms are finally finished. It seems like it has taken forever.

No more range hood. Instead we had a valence made to cover the area above the stove.
The new granite and tile can be seen.

This picture might show the tile the best. This is the laundry room with new granite and tile.

New sinks with a new faucet. A valence that matches the one over the stove is also above the sink. Sorry, for the bad picture.

We also replaced the tile in the entry.

The family room got new paint. The west end by the fireplace got a darker color paint to accent that wall.

Brenda's climatis plant is doing very well this year with beautiful purple flowers.

And then there is our garden. Only a few rows. Beans, onions with a cabbage at the end, and a row of beats. In the back, by the fence are the tomatoes, and peppers.

Brenda has several things in the grow box on the right.

Remodeling, Round Two, 2010

2010-05-30T18:47:00.003-06:00

Here we go again!!!!

We decided this spring to paint and fix up our main floor. We painted the Front Room, the Family Room, and the Kitchen/Dinning Room.

The painters were good to cover all of our furniture while they applied some texture to the walls and painted. They painted to match the paint from upstairs.

Now the ceilings are light instead of dark. The walls are textured and colored instead of white.
The woodwork is white instead of dark.

Everything got covered with dust from the texturing, and we had to do a lot of cleaning when the painting was finished.

The bead board in the kitchen/dinning area is white instead of yellow.

Spring Break in Utah!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-07T15:11:00.004-06:00

Isn't Spring in Utah interesting. Brenda and I had some time off for Spring Break and we were looking forward to working in the yard.

Mother Nature had other plans. We haven't had all that much snow this year so some Spring storms will be good for us.

We also had Easter and General Conference this weekend, so pictures of us gathered around the TV enjoying conference are included.
They all said a picture of Dad was needed so I turned the camera on myself. Sorry but I was forced to do this.

Grandpa and Grandma came for Easter dinner and watched afternoon conference. Grandpa is doing very good. Much better than earlier this winter. He loved Easter dinner and seemed to enjoy the outing to Layton.

This is a bad picture of Dan, (Sorry Dan but you got cut off), but a good picture of Grandma, Brenda and Erin.

Savannah too enjoyed watching conference and listening to Elder Nelson.

Let's Get Political!!

2010-02-13T18:29:00.002-07:00

Brenda and I love a good demonstration. We've attended several over the years.
Last Saturday we went down to the State Capitol to demonstrate with 4,000 of our friends who are also state employees.

The State Legislature is up to no good again. They love to pick on teachers it seems. They are talking about changing the rules for state retirement. It could be bad for education lots of cuts in the state this year. We even wrote Kevin Garn and he did email us back. Don't know which way he will vote on the retirement issues. Brenda hopes she can retire some year and not work until she is 70. Around 4000 people attended this peaceful rally. We were glad it was a nice warm day at the capitol. Perry now has another sign for his garage.

Micanopy, Florida

2010-01-02T13:38:00.005-07:00

We couldn't stay at home and play with Lily all the time. Chasing Lily is so much fun. Here she found one of Brenda's bras. She loves to explore your suitcase.
On Monday Josh had to go back to work and we and Megan decided to go for a ride. We went to Gainesville and then stopped in a little town called Micanopy.
Micanopy has lots of antique stores. The main street is one block long, It ws like going back in time. Beautiful southern homes and a place not to miss!

The Herlong Mansion was a lovely bed and breaksfast with all the southern charm! Doc Hollywood the movie in 1991 was filmed here. This was the hospital in the movie. This movie was actually on T.V. the other day so we were able to see Micanopy on T.V. We could see some of the places on the movie. Kinda fun!

Daytona Beach

2010-01-01T14:37:00.003-07:00

On the day after Christmas we took a drive over to the Atlantic Coast. We arrived at Ormond Beach. It was cold and windy.
Ormond Beach is just north of Daytona Beach. We continued on down to Daytona Beach.
Brenda picked up shells to give to her students at school. She had to have proof that she went to Florida.
Daytona Beach has very white sand. They had the Lifeguard out in the cold wind. People were in the water. They were doing some renovations trying to preserve some of the old stone.

Fountain honoring the Nascar and Motor cross winners.
Shops along the Daytona Beach. The hotel rooms are right on the beach very pretty. The famous Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant.. Very expensive homes and hotels right along the beach.

Christmas from Florida

2010-01-01T13:25:00.006-07:00

How lucky are we? We were able to leave snowy and cold Utah to spend Christmas in Florida.
We had to leave Savannah behind too.
We arrived in Florida to much warmer conditions. Josh and Megan live in a beautiful apartment complex in Ocala. Megan is taking a potty break with Lily.
This is where they take Lily for a walk each day, past the fountain and past the clubhouse which is below.

Inside the apartment Megan and Brenda did some cooking on Christmas Eve while Josh was still at work. Josh was able to get Christmas Day and Saturday off.

Christmas morning we started with the Christmas story read by Josh. Lily got to see her new toys first.

Brenda is showing her gifts from Josh and Meg. A movie and a Tom Tom.
Josh gave Megan a Snuggie, among other things.
Josh got a new Bose type stereo with a dock for his I phone.
Our table and cloth from Africa.
Josh and Megan were great hosts for our visit and Lily was a lot of fun for us to play with.
Our Grand Puppy Lily.
Josh and Megan have a very nice apartment.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-27T18:25:00.007-07:00

Got Grandpa in the car and over to Craig's for Thanksgiving. He seemed to do okay, it was good for mom get out of the house for a few hours.

Happy Thanksgiving
The family all got together at Craig and Pam's for Thanksgiving.

The Women cooked up a storm and there was tons of everything you'd expect.

Look at all the pies.
Kirk's family was all there except for Melanie & Jake. Becky brought around 6 pies. Erin also made apple and a banana, pineapple, macadamia nut pie Yum! Kevin is counting down his days before he heads up to BYU Idaho in January. He is used to the cold since his mission in Canada. Melanie and Jake are heading to Fort Worth this summer for an internship with Lockheed Martin. Should be a good summer job. Kerry and Brian are walking together in a couple of weeks Graduating from Weber State ! Pretty cool for them to be finished.

Alison and J.J. with Colin and Reese Colin is in preschool and getting tall. Reese is 17 months old.

Dan and Erin. What a cute couple!

Brenda spends lots of time in the kitchen. Making her turkey soup and trying to cook healthy.

Our faithful dog Savannah. Has been spoiled with some turkey skin and treats today. She looks good since having a bath at the pet spas last week.

November News

2009-11-08T14:21:00.003-07:00

Welcome to November. It has been the most beautiful month. The leaves are falling. Today we walked to church at 8:30 a.m. without a jacket. It has been a beautiful week. Hope it stays that way for Perry's birthday this week. The colors here have been very vibrant this year. Brenda took leaves to all her kids in school this month. We pressed them and talked about fall. Now they are all bringing leaves to her each day saying, " Mrs. Madson these leaves are for you, I know you will like them." Children seem to enjoy the simplicity of everything.

Savannah seems to love the fall also. She loves to lie in the sun and chew on all the bark in the flower beds.

Here is Perry's new birthday present. He is very spoiled. Once mentioning a new car he was on the lookout. We were so fortunate to sell our Honda Passport in a week. ( or can we say a weekend). KSL cars really works. We had lots of calls and could have sold it several times.
Perry is a proud owner of a 2008 Honda Ridgeline. It was very well taken care of for a truck.
Hope we can keep it looking this good. The requirement was it fit into the garage. The owner turns a care in every 2 years. Of course a BYU hitch is important, thanks to Megan and Josh.

Wishing you all a great Thanksgiving Season. We all have so much to be grateful for. Start keeping a list and you will see. Brenda and Perry

October visit

2009-10-11T16:45:00.004-06:00

Bryce and Jamie came for a visit on Conference weekend. The kids wanted to see Grandpa and Gra.ndma So we went over to see him. He wanted to know why everyone wanted his picture. We said," Because they hadn't seen you since May." He looked quite good that day. He has his ups and downs.

Here we are Bryce, Jamie ,Mom , Grandpa , Grandma and Erin.

Had Sunday dinner together. It was nice to have most everyone home.

Bryce is still working hard at homework. Jamie took some notes at Conference.

Dan and Erin keep track of all their projects, work school, and computers.

Fall in Utah ( Cabin visit )

2009-10-03T10:24:00.005-06:00

With two days off from school we just had to get away. We headed off to the cabin. It was dinner time and we decided to stop in Park City. It was snowing and a bit chilly but always fun to stop and see Main Street in Park City.

There were three or four inched of snow on the ground and on the roof and it comes sliding off the roof on to the stairs. I got to use the snow shovel and broom to clear the deck and stairs.

That chokecherry bush is still too close to the deck. The snow has it leaning in very close.

One deer came very close to the cabin. I think she wanted to get underneath the deck where deer like to lay on the soft dirt.

Fall in Utah means snow and cold followed by sun and warm. It's crazy.

That's It, We're Done.

2009-08-23T17:18:00.003-06:00

That's it. It's time for school to start, so we need to put the remodeling on hold. Brenda wanted to paint the laundry room before the new appliances arrived. They look great, don't they.

I also wanted to add some pictures of the guest room that we finished this summer. It's not Jamie's room any more. This bedroom set came from the ranch and Brenda painted and refinished them. Hopefully some one will sleep in this room someday!

We went to th Oquirrah Mountain Temple dedication today. Church was canceled in Utah today. It was a great experience to see a dedication again Tomorrow school starts.

Megan & Josh's visit.

2009-08-12T16:02:00.002-06:00

Megan and Josh came to visit us from Florida.

We were able to take them to the cabin for the day.
It was a short trip, but we were able to ride the
ATV and see the mountains.

Megan and Josh saw a Moose.

We stopped at Taggart's Grill for dinner on the way home.
Taggart's Grill is almost the only thing in Taggart (near Morgan).

We then met Melanie and Kirk's family at Grandma and Grandpa Hanni's.

Doesn't Megan and Josh look good on an ATV?

Here we go again!!!!!!

2009-08-11T19:39:00.004-06:00

Brenda has a story to tell. But let me just say we
are texturing and painting the laundry room.
The red laundry room will be changing colors.

Out with the old and in with the new.
Perry decided we should get rid of the red. I am going to keep one wall red though. I want to get this project finished before school starts next week. Then we will be done for the summer.

A few months ago we were wandering thorough R.C. Willey and went to Electronics Dept.
They were having a sale on LG washers and dryers, and a contest to win them. Of course we signed up. Well Brenda came in 2nd. They say I won a $500.00 gift certifcate to R.C. Willey.
Through signing my life away I finally got the gift card from R.C. Willey. We picked out a washer and dryer at an amazing sale.
I can't put them in with old paint so I wanted to
have great paint behind a new washer and dryer.
After we purchased the set and used the gift card
it came up as $.00 dollars.
We were so disappointed and wondered what had
happened. The problem was solved today after
talking with the corporate office.
We decided to go to the big people and got things
straightened out. So Tues. our pair of pearl gray
washer and dryer are coming home to new paint.
We will save the old ones for some of the kids that
need them.

Perry is excited since he does a lot of laundry.

Colorado Vaca.

2009-07-19T14:34:00.004-06:00

Our latest adventure took us to Colorado. Jamie and Bryce are living there this summer while Bryce does an internship with Lockheed/Martin.

First stop on Friday was "Garden of the Gods" it is spectacular. We love the beautiful red rocks.

Bryce and Jamie are great tour guides. They've seen just about everything in Colorado Springs.

Brenda did some walking with all our sight seeing.

Manitou Springs was very close after seeing "Garden of the Gods". It is the home of several springs that pop up all over town.

On Saturday we headed north for Denver, but stopped in Castle Rock to visit the outlet stores. We found lots of great deals and spent some $$$$$. Then it was on to Coors Field for a Rockies game. It is a beautiful stadium and a lot of fun. The Rockies aren't the Dodgers but I love a baseball game.

After church on Sunday we took a driving tour of the Air Force Academy. The Visitors Center was closed, but we drove through campus and were very impressed.

The football stadium is located far away from the athletic area where it can be seen from all over. It looks like a great place to see a football game.

On Monday Bryce left for a retreat with the other interns in Virginia and Jamie continued our tour. This is the old El Paso County court house. It has a museum now, which is closed on Mondays.

Next we went to the Olympic training center. We had a great tour led by a member of the modern petahalon team. They compete in five events including fencing,
shooting,running, swimming, and horsemanship.

Tueday we took the train to Pike's Peak. What a fun way to go to the top of Colorado.

Fourteen thousand feet where we could see forever.

Cabin Fever

2009-07-05T17:26:00.003-06:00

Perry finally got his four-wheeler. I made him buy a helmet so we could be safe. He took me for a ride. It was so fun to have a ride around the area of Timberlakes.

Because of all the rain this summer the lakes are really full. There is a lot of standing water and many more ponds this year. It was so green. Summer is just barely coming this year.

The wild flowers are just starting to bloom. In a few weeks they will be blooming!

We took Erin and Dan up with us. Also Wayne and his amazing dog Jack came up. It was nice to have Wayne's Rhino which is so much fun. Jack would run right along with us. He never seemed to get tired. Wherever we went he went running. He sure is Wayne's partner. We watched a few movies, did some cleaning, and had some dutch oven food of course. It was nice for Erin and Dan to get away. We took a nice ride up by Daniel's where Erin and Dan are going to walk on a pioneer trek in a few weeks.

We like to keep moving in the summer. Maybe it's Cabin Fever. We saw fireworks with Erin and Dan. It was a nice weekend.

Florida Fun

2009-07-05T16:35:00.003-06:00

This is Megan and Josh at St. Augustine Beach. We spent a few hours driving to St. Augustine

and a few hours looking around. This is the oldest city in the USA. We went to an old fort and had lunch at one of the resturants there. We met Bryan, Andrea, and Breanna Harper at Olive Graden for dinner in Ocala. They were sweet enough to come and see us. We really miss them in our neighborhood. It was so nice to see them again. They live in Orlando. Breanna was 3 when they moved.

This is Rainbow Springs a beautiful natural springs outside of Ocala by Dunnelon. This is a roped off part of the river. They say the water is warm. It sure was blue.

One of the hundreds of horse farms in Ocala in Marion county. The barns were like our churches. These are very expensive farms that go for miles around.

We took a carriage ride with Duke and Dan. We traveled down the country roads to see the horse farms. It was amazing to see such amazing farms. We know now where all the expensive racing horse are raised. We met a lady who owned one of those ranches. She was on her way to Philadelphia to buy around 15 horses and drive them home with her husband. It is big business there.

One day we traveled hours to the Kennedy Space Center. What a amazing place to visit
This flag is the size of a football field. These are massive buildings to hold the space shuttle.
This is the space shuttle assembly building.

This is a fountain outside of Megan's apartment. It was a beautiful place called the Estates at Heathbrook.

June Happenings

2009-06-13T12:29:00.007-06:00

Brenda's bathroom is finished. Brenda took some pictures of the new vanity and countertop.

We put in just a single sink with some countertop space and some roomy drawers.
The mirror was a great deal from the Ti' Pan Tent sale. Remnants of granite from the cabinet shop. You know it has to be a deal for us to buy anything. Han't had a sink in there since January.

The bathrooms are great. Brenda also painted Jamie's bedroom to match the upstairs and the downstairs bathroom to cover the yellow bathroom. Sorry girls dad did not like the yellow

bathroom. I am painting so it will match the rest of the house. We had grandma and grandpa get up the stairs to take a peek. That was really hard for grandpa . We are glad he made it to our house. That might not happen again.

Then on Friday we went to Salt Lake to an open house of the new Church History Library. It was really neat. The open house was just on Friday and Saturday this week. It was neat to see the vaults . After this weekend only the public can go on the first level floor. It was quite the building. We saw Joseph Smith's hand writing
Many old pictures from around the world. It was quite amazing place.

It's a great looking building just east of the Conference Center on North Temple.

Finally we had all the Hannis that could come over to have a BBQ at our house.
Grandpa and Grandma made it, Pam on crutches and Craig, Wayne, April and Issac,

Mark and Monica, and their 4 girls and some of Holli's kids,Kirk and Becky

Erin and Dan.

Sorry we couldn't rotate this photo. We thought we had done that. Grandpa ready for dinner. He wanted a steak so thats what he got.

April and Issac and Wayne. Issac is now 10 months old. He is a big baby, very tall.

Grandpa and Grandma and some of the Great Grand daughters and Issac.

Also this summer we have become bird killers. We had a nest of magpies in the back yard. In a storm the 4 babies fell to the ground. They lived in the yard for several days until they left such a mess. We had to have them removed. In a big rainstorm this week a poor bird fell down our chimney and got stuck.

We could hear this poor bird crying in the house and finally decided he was in the chimney even though we could not see him. We called a chimnery sweep to help us out.
Perry and the kind man worked for hours to get the bird out. They made an elevator device out of a tupperware small bowl and tried to get the bird to jump in it. It was the only chance to get him out since we could not remove the insert in the fireplace They put a rope on the end and fished it down the chimney. God must have been looking out for this bird because it worked.

The poor bird was pulled safety and a bit stunned for awhile. We had our chimney capped so that doesn't happen again. We wonder what will be in store for next weekend.

Also had the R.S. Summer social in our yard this week in the pooring rain. Had lots of people in the house for our Gardening Party.

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-28T11:06:00.007-06:00

Spring is definitely here and summer will be here soon. We have planted our garden and Brenda is trying something new. A grow box. In the back you can see a grow box against the fence.
Our peach tree is starting to grow. We have lots of blossoms this year. We will see what happens. We don't want to break it down.

We brought this wagon from the ranch and have planted some flowers in it. I think it is cool. I think all the rusty items from the ranch are fun.

Savannah came up lame after chasing a ball with Cedar, next door. We put a wrap on her foot to see if it would help. She seems to not mind having it on. She is getting better but is still limping around. Old age is hard for everyone!

On Saturday we went with Grandma and Grandpa to the cemetery in Ogden. Grandpa didn't feel good at all. He did get out of the car to see John and Mildreds grave.

On Monday we went to Malad to see the cemetery there and the Madson boys. Stacey's daughter Mandy and Matt with their kids came also. We cooked hot dogs at the ranch and visited with Lyuba and everyone. We ate in the shed because we had a good raing storm.

I thought this was a nice picture of the ranch.
Everything is green and pretty right now for a few weeks.

Well tomorrow school is out for mom. We have had a wild week at school. Too bad I have to go back next week to finish up and work with a tranferred teacher coming into 2nd grade. Thsi weekend we are having a cook- out with the Storch's before they move to North Carolina.

Summer must be here!

Family Time

2009-05-10T20:00:00.004-06:00

Erin and Jamie with Grandma and Grandpa Hanni. Everyone came for a visit after Erin's Birthday Party. We all got together for a few days before Jamie gets ready to move to Colorado Springs. They hadn't seen their Grandparents for months. I think Grandma was glad to have some company and see her Granddaughters.

Grandpa was doing quite well that day. He has slowed down so much this winter.

Erin's Birthday cake. A lovely strawberry and banana triffle. We love singing to her!

Our two computer geeks Bryce and Dan. Boy do they love to talk computers. We are grateful Dan comes and takes care of our computer. Lucky to have talented son in laws.

Erin's Birthday Dinner. Mom likes to experiment on different recipes with everyone. Dinner was not too bad.

On Mothers Day were were able to talk to Kevin in Canada. He sounded so good. He just has a few months left on his mission and will be home the end of July. We took Grandma and Grandpa over to hear and talk with Kevin on a speaker phone. We had dinner at Kirk and Becky's. It was nice to hear from all of our girls. New garden gloves were in store for Mother's Day, as well as a new grill. We sold our old one at our yard sale last weekend. Only three more weeks of school for Brenda . Summer is in sight.

Jamie's Graduation '09

2009-04-20T21:09:00.003-06:00

Mom and Dad with Jamie.

Jamie's graduation presents. An itouch.

The first week of April was great with Jamie's Graduation on the 9th and 10th. We are proud of her accomplishments and artist ability. It has been fun for all. We stayed and had Easter with the Blake's. They were gracious to let us share Easter with them for a 2nd year. It was nice to see Craig and Lyuba, Stacey , and Clark again. The weather was even nice for Idaho!

2009-03-31T17:25:00.003-06:00

It's starting to look like a bathroom. New paint and crown molding, new. tile floor, new shower and door, new fixtures and lights.

A new countertop. It really isn't yellow.

Perry picked out the granite without Brenda.

The Perry seat.

The picture colors are bad. This has been a process. We started in January. We hope this bathroom can be used by the weekend. Just a few little things to finish up. Brenda's bathroom is about 1/3 finished. We might do a few things to the bathroom down stairs and then we are out of money. We need to take a break for awhile.

What a Disaster !!!!!

2009-02-22T17:56:00.005-07:00

The remolding has begun. Brenda's bathroom before tearing everything out.

Brenda's shower

Our bedroom after being unwrapped with plastic.

Ditto. See the new paint and textured walls!

Dad's shower during demolition.

We are in a dusty mess but making progress on our remolding. We decided one day just to start after thinking about it for several years. We decided to do this project with the help of a neighbor. I was going to paint but decided I was just too tired. So one a whim we hired a painter, decided to cover up our swamp cooler vent and get central air this summer. We are looking at this as an investment so we can sale this house one day.

Thanksgiving in Texas

2008-12-13T14:15:00.002-07:00

We had a great time in San Antonio! Check out some pictures. Hope to have the family all together for Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone. We will try to update once in awhile.

Mission San Jose

San Antonio Temple
Check out the Stained Glass

Natural Brigde Caverns Fall Leaves and Fern