My Uncle McKay passed away on Oct. 5, my dad's birthday.  He was the last of the brothers in my dad's family.  He was 97 and has been blind for several years, due to macular degeneration.  He was an extraordinary person who loved and served others.  He was immensely creative and talented.  He moved his family to Boulder, Colorado in the early 1950's, becoming a pioneer in the establishment of strong Church units there.

I was able to travel to his funeral with my mom and brother Forrest and his wife, Cathy.  Because I have not been feeling good at all, Ben was kind enough to drive me partway to Aberdeen, where my mom met us.  Forrest had work in Pierre, SD and in Rapid City, so we just tagged along and waited around, then traveled on to Colorado.  I had a great time--it's always so good to be with my family.  Poor Cathy had to endure hours of us reminiscing about our early lives in Springville and Greeley. And believe me, Forrest remembers all the details of everything!  My sisters Miriam and Emily met us there.  Here are some pictures of the trip:

One of the governors of SD

A president (I think it's George Washington)

After picking Emily up at the airport, we drove up to Greeley.  Here's Meeker Jr. High, where Forrest and I both attended school for one year.  It's an apartment building now.

The house we lived in in Greeley. It was much nicer then and seemed much larger, of course.

This is not a very good picture, but here are the mountains to the west of Boulder.  The rock faces are called the "Flatirons."

When we got back to Aberdeen, we enjoyed an evening of playing Boggle and Name that Tune.  I'm thankful to have been able to go.  I had a great time and appreciate more and more the wonderful family to which I belong.

Fall

Macey's dad tells me that she has kind of a thing about fall right now.  She looks out the window to check on if the leaves are "falling."  I had a little discussion about it with her last time I was there.  She might not see fall coming, but here are some signs of it around here.

We think these three trees are all the same variety.  Why one is so red, while one is yellow and one is still green is a mystery.

The darn turkeys....what can I say?  They show up a couple of times a week and annoy me by pecking repeatedly on the family room windows.  I'm afraid they are going to break one!  They don't leave either, until I actually either go outside and scare them away or open a window and yell at them.  I need Sarah to rustle a few of them for me.

And this has nothing to do with fall, but here's a picture of a cute baby.  Ignore how crazy I look.  That's what happens when  you're trying to keep a little guy happy.