Steve and Nery's Place

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

2011-11-29T19:14:00.001-07:00

Sunday night Nery and I went to see the lights at Temple Square, we had a wonderful time here are some pictures we took of the lights and images of Christmas on Temple Square.

The Conference Center directly north across North Temple from Temple Square

The Assembly Hall, one of the most beautiful buildings in Salt Lake served as the meeting place while the Tabernacle was being built.

Another view of the Assembly Hall

The Tabernacle and Temple

Nery in front of the Statue tribute to the Handcart Pioneers

Fountain in front of the South Visitors Center

A View of the Temple and lights

A view of the Temple without Christmas lights

The Nativity on the Reflecting Pool in the Plaza

A closer up shot of the Nativity on the Reflecting Pool

Holiness to the Lord

Shepherds in their fields watching their sheep

Another view of the Reflecting Pool Nativity

Steve With Reflecting Pool in the background

Tabernacle Organ

The Christus located in the North Visitors Center

Our walk through Temple Square was magnificent as it always is, Temple Square is an historical and spiritual treasure for all people of every country and every religion.

Fall Family Pictures

2011-10-30T12:42:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday we got together to take fall pictures. We took the pictures on the campus of Weber State University.

Nery with Bennett and Jude

Catie and Dave footloose and fancy& free

Dave Catie & Bennett

Spencer Rachel and Jude

Bennett was loving climbing on the rocks at the waterfall

Steve with Bennett and Jude

Nery and Steve

Spencer Rachel & Jude

Dave Catie & Bennett

Nery & Steve

Jude started walking about a month ago now all he wants to do is practice, he seldom walks he usually runs and doesn't like being held for long.

Willis Creek Slots

2011-08-26T22:15:00.001-06:00

On the last day of our trip to Bryce we drove down through the beautiful towns of Tropic and Cannonville and out into the Grand Staircase National Monument. 7 miles off the paved road on a well graded dirt road and through some beautiful Southern Utah Desert we came to the Willis Creek trailhead. It is an easy hike through three slot canyons it's a great place to take kids.
Here are some of the pictures we took.

Nery

Steve

Emily, Abby and Nami

Liza

A Religious Experience

2011-08-24T00:41:00.001-06:00

As we planned our recent trip to Bryce Canyon we looked at several places we would like to visit. I saw on the information website a list of the trails at Bryce for hiking and knew that the Bristlecone Trail would be one I had to do. I had never seen a Bristlecone Pine, I had only seen pictures in books and read about this tree which is one of the oldest living things on earth. For me to see a living organism that was here long before the pioneers came to Utah and maybe even before any european explores came to this continent was awe inspiring to me. Not for its beauty because the older they get they gnarlier they get,
but because they have lived so long I wanted to see these trees for myself and take pictures of them.

About six or seven years ago while I was riding my bike I started having trouble breathing, I didn't feel sick but I had been riding my bike several times a week, I had been hiking at least once a week and walking on days when I couldn't ride my bike or go for a hike and to all the sudden be short of breath concerned me. A few days later I did get sick and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. Since that time my breathing has become more and more difficult. I have had pneumonia and been hospitalized several times. Last year I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and spent a night undergoing tests to determine what was wrong and they found inflammation and palups in my lungs. At first they solemnly told me I might have cancer and I needed to be seen by the chief of pulmonary dept. The next day he came in an relieved my fears by saying he did not think I have cancer but there is definitely something going on. Later they did a bronchial scope and found evidence on hemorrhaging in my bronchia and that there was air trapping and inflammation. After many tests they can see there is a problem but until now have not been able to diagnose me with anything other than severe allergies that trigger flare ups of inflammation.

What does all of this have to do with Bryce Canyon and the Bristlecone Pines? I knew going in that the hike was going to be difficult for me, especially at the high altitude above 8000 feet, but I was determined to see the Bristlecone Pines. I took it slow and made it to about the halfway point where there was rest area with covered benches and a lookout point over Bryce Canyon Hoodoos. I was already feeling fatigued so I rested for about 10 minutes with Nery and Liza then decided to go on and they decided to go back the way we came in, I was on my own. The next 100 yards was up a fairly steep hill and I pushed myself to make it to the top without stopping to catch my breath. About half way up I was so out of breath I started to black out, I honesty thought I was going to die. I stopped and leaned against a tree and several hikers past me and paid no attention to me. I was really struggling to stay conscious when a wonderful young couple came to me very concerned and asked in a heavy french accent if they could help me. I told them I just needed to rest and I thought I would be alright. They stayed with me for a few minutes and I wasn't getting any better. The young lady took a spray bottle out of her backpack and sprayed ice cold water in my face. It really helped and brought me back to full consciousness. I guess I started to look better and they offered to stay with me and make sure I got out safely. But I told them I was better so they left me.

Slowly I made it up to the top of the hill and there they were the Bristlecone Pines I stayed for about 15 minutes and took many pictures which I will share here.

Why a religious experience? Two reasons, 1st my two Good Samaritans that stopped and showed compassion and concern for a total stranger while others past me by. Later further up the trail I stopped to take pictures of some birds and squirrels My Good Samaritans came back to check on me. I told them I was much better and that I was taking my time and taking pictures along the way. I have heard some ugly comments about French people, I will never believe it, I think these two saved my life on that trail by offering kindness and reviving me with the ice cold water. 2nd despite everything that happened and the difficulty I had in making it I was able to see the Bristlcone Pines.

Visit to Bryce Canyon, Red Canyon, Willis Creek and Cove Fort

2011-08-13T10:36:00.007-06:00

For the last week we had a wonderful visit from Nery's sister Liza and Nami one of her english students from Japan and our nieces Abby and Emily. We took them on a trip to southern Utah. On the way we visited Historic Cove Fort, then on to Panguitch where we stayed during our visit. That evening we hiked Red Canyon which is on the way to Bryce. Tuesday we spent the day at Bryce Canyon and hiked the Bristle-cone Loop and saw some wonderful vistas and the Bristle-cone pines which are some of the oldest living things on earth. Some of them are over 1000 years old. We stopped at all of the view points and took pictures. Wednesday we drove down though Tropic and Connonville Utah to the Grand Staircase National Monument and hiked the Narrows/Slot Canyons of Willis Creek. to see our pictures please check out our photo album on Picasa. There is a link "Coleman Photo Albums" on the main page of this blog in the right side column below the picture of Belle, or https://picasaweb.google.com/stevecoleman1155/BryceCanyonTrip2011

Easter and Easter II

2011-05-22T15:38:00.000-06:00

Bennett with his Easter Basket

Always time to kick a ball

Easter Dinner was Greek this year, we started off with assorted Greek Olives, peppers and Dolmas

With Rotisserie Lamb and grilled vesetables

Not sure if they are Greek but we had Deviled Eggs and Cup Cakes for dessert

Easter II the Sunday after Easter we all got together for and Easter Egg Hunt

Spencer and Jude

Dinner was Southwestern style Chicken Tacos with Cilantro lime rice

Jude with Curious George

Bennett found an Easter Bunny

Rachel examining her goods

Dave checking out his basket and Bennett playing with Thomas the Train

Nery's Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Jude learning to swing

Lola and her grand babies

Jude's Big Day

2011-02-27T14:14:00.003-07:00

Presidents Day weekend was also Jude's big weekend. Spencer and Rachel had Jude blessed on Sunday. Saturday Rachel's family from St George arrived and we had a celebration at our home for the families to come together and celebrate Jude's blessing.
Here are some pictures:

Jude's paternal grandparents
Steve and Nery Coleman

Jude's maternal grandparents
Kimball and Jonna Forbes

Jude and Lola

Jude and Lolo

Jude and his daddy

Uncle Jacob Forbes with his niece and two nephews

Forbes Family

Coleman Family

Grandma and Grandpa Great Coleman

Great Grandma and Grandpa Forbes

Jude and his Great Grandmothers

February 25th is Auntie Kristan's Birthday. Bennett and Jude wish their Auntie Krissy Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Krissy from Bennett

Happy Birthday Krissy from Jude

The Blueberry

2011-02-27T13:32:00.001-07:00

We have been looking for several months to replace our commuter car, our old Deawoo that had more wrong with it than it was worth to get it fixed. We were looking at Kia Soul, Volkswagen Golf, or a VW Beetle. This is the car we finally ended up getting. Neither of us had ever driven a Beetle before but we fell in love with this one. We have been calling it our Blueberry.

People Watching in Saronno

2010-11-21T23:48:00.001-07:00

Train Station in Saronno Italy

During our Stay in Saronno Italy, Kristan and Nery wanted to do some shopping. I don't like to shop so I went out on the street and watched the local people and took some pictures. I know nothing of this region of Italy I know very little of Italian culture but spending time watching these interesting people I have drawn some conclusions. I'm not sure if I am correct because I really have no way to verify my conclusions only what I observed during one of the most interesting hours of our trip.

Some observations I made are:

They Love to visit with friends, everywhere people were sitting on park benches or just standing on the street talking.
There are a lot of small children and babies in this area, there were people pushing baby carriages and strollers, riding kids on their bikes.
Many children are taken care of by their grandparents while their parents are working, I saw a lot of older people with babies and small children.
Italians are very affectionate, I saw many touching displays of affection, boys and girls walking arm in arm, Older men and women walking arm in arm and as you will see, older ladies walking arm in arm.
Italians love to walk and ride their bikes everywhere people were walking and riding bicycles, all the way from small children to senior citizens.

My impression of these people is they are down to earth, they love their families, they love their friends and they love their way of life. Saronno was beautiful and charming, I hope I will be able to return there some day.

Nery came out from shopping and my hour of watching the good people of Saronno was over

Weihern A Slice of Heaven

2010-11-05T10:36:00.001-06:00

We spent 2 1/2 wonderful days with the Haider Family in Weihern, Gerhard's home town. We were treated to such a wonderful time, the entire family was so gracious and shared their home with us. Magda, Gerhard's mom prepared some delicious German meals that we will forever be craving and never be able to recreate. We spent time exploring their beautiful village and farm including the forest on their land. Following are pictures of our visit to Weihern

Haider Family Back row Gerhard, Veronica, Andy
Front Row Gerhard Sr. and Magda

On a walk around some of the farm land

Haider Home

Wood stack and Cabbage garden

A walk through the village

Kristan and Gerhard Sr. at his fire station. Gerhard Sr. is a Fireman

All of the farms have these beautiful ponds

Kristan, Nery and Steve on our walk through their forest

Kristan and Andy taking pictures of mushrooms that were everywhere in the forest

Here are just a few of the mushrooms we saw

Did you ever feel like you just walked into a picture. That is what it felt like everywhere we went in Weihern

Some of the farms

The Village one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen

Just when we thought we had enough eye candy for the day - we turned around and saw this!

Our second big meal Magda made Spatzle (German pasta), Rotkol (red cabbage), Rouladen (Rolled beef stuffed with vegetables and bacon), with gravy.

Andy and Veronica

Kristan and Gerhard Sr.

What can I say it was a wonderful meal

And then Magda brought out this masterpiece a Chocolate Banana cake called Mikado Torte

This was Nery's favorite.... so yummy!!!

Haider's yard and garden

Kristan Magda and Nery

Haider Garden

Their barn now used as a garage, workshop and storage for lumber and firewood

The new tractor

The old tractor, it still runs

Fountain at the farm museum

Gerhard's Oma's Home

Oma's garden

Magda, Oma and Gerhard

Thank You Haider Family for a Glorious Weekend

Our Last Meal In Europe

2010-10-26T20:12:00.001-06:00

One of the things I am very proud of each of our kids is that they are all gourmet cooks. They grew up practicing mostly on pizza but they all create the most delicious gourmet dishes now of all sorts, whether it's Mexican, Indian, Thai, Filipino, Bar-B-Q or other favorites.

On our last night in Germany Kristan and Gerhard sent us upstairs and they made a wonderful dinner for us. They made two incredible pizzas. with ingredients they got while we were in Italy. Buffalo Mozzarella, Dry Italian Salami, Olives and other tasty things and yes even pineapple and their own homemade sauce. It was a meal Nery and I will never forget.

Thanks Kris and Gerhard you were the perfect hosts and made our visit to Europe and unforgettable experience.

Autumn Ride

2010-10-23T12:16:00.000-06:00

There are several people with Motorcycles in our neighborhood here in Woods Cross. Last weekend we got together for a ride to see the fall leaves. We met at our church in Woods Cross and took the Legacy Highway to Highway 89 to South Weber then up Weber Canyon to Morgan then to East Canyon over to Big Mountain and down Immigration Canyon into Salt Lake then home My odometer turned over 100 miles as we pulled into our driveway. It was a beautiful day and great company. Here are some pictures of our ride.

The group just before taking off

Posing with our bikes

Short stop to rest in Morgan

Nery my Motorcycle Mama

5 Suzukis 1 Honda and My Triumph

Rest Stop at the top of Big Mountain

Autumn Splendor From the top of Big Mountain

Jim and daughter Haley

Wally and Kathy

John

Javier

Guy

Mike

More Pictures of Jude

2010-10-15T22:53:00.000-06:00

Lola and Jude

Lola, Lolo and Jude

Welcome Jude

2010-10-13T21:29:00.000-06:00

After such a wonderful trip to Europe we received another wonderful gift yesterday. Spencer called to let us know that Rachel was in labor and at 1:10 p.m. October 12, 2010 weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long, Jude Coleman entered this world to the arms of his loving parents Rachel and Spencer.
Here are a few pictures with a few hundred to follow:

The Happy Family

Travels in Germany

2010-10-04T22:35:00.001-06:00

Rothenburg

I will go into more detail about each place in individual posts, for now here are some pictures of places we have visited.


Nery & Steve at Ansbach


Ansbach


Tower in Ansbach

Pictures from Furth

Germans take their gardens very seriously, even apartment dwellers can rent small cottages like these near Kristan and Gerhards apartment where they can garden to their hearts content. I will do a post later of just gardens but here are a few pictures for now

Their gardening skill also extend to the cemetery. They keep beautiful gardens on their family cemetery plots.

Here are some pictures of one of the favorite lunch places in Nuremberg Kerzcher's for Schnitzel

Furth Cathedral and Park

Cadolzburg

Cadolzburg Castle

Rothenburg

Weihern, Gerhard's home town

European Vacation Part I

2010-09-29T02:47:00.000-06:00

Thanks to so many people: Kris and Gerhard, Nery's sister Liza, Nery's hard work, Catie and Dave for helping at the house, Mom and Dad for driving us to the airport, Donna for watching Belle, our many coworkers and family who have pitched in and helped; Nery and I are able to visit Kristan and Gerhard in Europe. We have been able to spend 3 wonderful days in Italy, we visited Saronno, Como, Milan and Verona. We have been in Nuremberg Germany for several days and have visited old Nuremberg and Furth. We have taken over 500 pictures and want to share a few of our pictures from our visit to Italy with our family and friends. Enjoy.

This one is for Bennett we passed this sign walking in Saronno

Saronno

There is a Cathedral every few blocks in Italy and Germany this one of two that we went through in Saronno

Nery, Kristan and Steve in beautiful Saronno

Our favorite bakery in Saronno their pizza rolls and cannolis were out of this world

My first ever cannoli I had always heard they are wonderful, well they are!!!

Kristan in Saronno

Train station in Saronno
Como

At Lake Como in Como Italy home of the original Bellagio

Nery and Kris at Lake Como

Steve at Lake Como

Milano

Steve and Nery at Castello Sforzesco in Milano "Milan"

Fountain in front of the Castle

This street artist was carving vegetables into beautiful works of art

Kristan and Nery at a sidewalk cafe in Milan

Nery and Steve in front of the Cathedral in Milan

We stopped at a rest stop on our way to Verona and had a picnic of wonderful pizza and desserts from our favorite bakery in Saronna

Verona

Gateway to Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet

Steve and Nery outside the Arena in Verona

Kristan and Gerhard outside the Arena in Verona

Looking down one of the many beautiful streets of Verona

There were vineyards and orchards along the road as we drove out of Italy and toward the Austrian Alps

Fishing with Dad

2010-08-06T22:31:00.003-06:00

For years my dad and I and sometimes my brothers and brother in law join us to go fishing at Trial lake in the Uintahs. We don't go as often as we used to, in fact last year we only went once. Today we finally went for the first time this year. there are many reasons we like to go there, for one I don't think we have ever come away without our limit of fish, but also it is a beautiful place. Here are some pictures of todays fishing trip/ We both brought back our limit and released as many as we kept.

I like to fish with a spinner, because the fish hit so hard and they fight harder than with bait. Today I tried every spinner I had and only caught 1 fish on a small red and white Dare Devil spoon. I found that the secret combination today was one 1 salmon egg on a small hook with half a worm. Once we found they were hitting on that combination we fished most of the day with that. Like I said we both took home our limit of fish and released all the ones we hooked in the lip and could safely release them.

Several small thunderstorms came through but we only had a few minutes of light rain

Ever wonder why they are called the Rocky Mountains

We stopped at Provo River Falls to take some pictures

It was a great day

Grown-ups Need Toys Too

2010-07-31T22:26:00.002-06:00

Nery and I spent the last 2 Saturdays 2 wheelin' Last Saturday we rode our bicycles on the Nature Trail at Farmington Bay then today we took a motorcycle ride with our friends, Guy and Angela Brown. Here are some pictures...

Nery on her new Schwinn Ranger

Steve coming and going

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Guy and Angela and their beautiful Suzuki cruiser

Nery, Steve, Angela, Guy the happy bikers

The bikes with Snow Basin Ski Resort in the background

Pineview Reservoir

Our 4th of July Weekend

2010-07-11T22:12:00.002-06:00

Friday afternoon we took Bennett to Grandma and Grandpa Great's pool, then that evening Spencer and Rachel stopped on their way to St George, Dave Catie and Bennett, our Neighbor Joe, Nery and I had a wonderful dinner to get the holiday started. Saturday we went to my Sister Angie and her family's home for another Bar B Q with Grandma and Grandpa and Bennett spent the evening with us, he had a great time with cousins. Sunday my parents had Nery and I for a quiet dinner at their home and Monday Nery and I enjoyed a nice motorcycle ride up Weber Canyon over the Trapper Loop to Eden. It was a wonderful weekend and holiday. We are so blessed to live in this free land where we enjoy so many blessings. Here are some pictures:

Bennett met this beautiful young lady and quickly learned a valuable life lesson, they both fell in love with this fish shaped floating device and had a short discussion on who it should belong to.

Trying to be a gentleman he took a more diplomatic direction and offered her a flip flop in exchange for the Floaty.

At first she was not interested but then decided she wanted both, Bennett just scratched his head and wondered how this happened.

That evening at Lola's house a sprinkler was all he needed and it was good to be the center of attention again

How many men does it take to blow up a wading pool?

Evidently three and I wish they would hurry

Finally now let's get some water in this bad boy!!!

My dad my hero

Don't worry, I'll take care of filling it

Better watch your step I swing a mean hose

Time out for a cool drink

Monday the 4th we went to the Clawsons' for a Bar B Q and Bennett got to meet and play with his cousins this is Sam, of course the first thing he went for was a ball.

Abby and James

David and Heidi, Teresa had to work and wasn't there

Frank and Angie

Brad and his friend Stephanie

Grandma and Grandpa Great

Lolo, Lola and Bennett

Bennett's fist time on a trampoline

Cousins are awesome

Nery and I took a Motorcycle ride Monday morning and it was beautiful. We didn't take a lot of pictures but we stopped at the General Store for lunch, they were closed but the gift shop was opened so we walked around their garden and took a few pictures.

It was a wonderful holiday weekend

Fun Is

2010-07-02T15:04:00.000-06:00

A hot day and a sprinkler

Fun is also chucking rocks with Lola

Moab a Family Tradition

2010-06-22T12:13:00.004-06:00

Thanks to the generosity of Drs. Reading we were able to stay in their beautiful condo at Rim Village. We enjoyed the wonderful accommodations including the pool and hot tub and Bennett Loved running through the sprinklers

Spencer, Rachel, Nery and I and I took a leisurely walk through the Matheson Wetlands at dusk and saw beautiful scenery, Deer and Birds

We spent a day of 4 wheeling in the desert at Gemini Bridges and Bull Canyon trails

We stopped to take pictures with the Gooney Bird formation and Bennett loved playing in the desert

I called this the USS Enterprise, I think it looks like the space ship from Star Trek

Spencer climbing the rocks

Gemini Bridges

Afternoon fun at the stream on Power House Road

Some scenic shots on the La Sal Loop road East of Moab

Andrew Zimmern is a Wimp// Durian the King of Fruits

2010-05-23T21:32:00.003-06:00

Nery and I treated ourselves to a once a year indulgence this weekend. Yesterday we went to our favorite Asian market for rice, coconut milk, filipino vegetables and other goods. Temptation got the best of us and we bought a Durian. We don't get them often because only she and I will eat it and they are expensive we bought a small one and it was $8.00. Luckily it can be frozen so we ate a little today and saved the rest to eat over the next week.

Durian is very much an acquired taste. It is a fruit with a strong smell and very different flavor, and it could double as a weapon.

I enjoy watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and am amazed at some of the things he will actually eat. The bugs, the fermented rotted foods he will put into his mouth not to mention organ meat that most of us would never get close to our mouths. But there is one food he consistently maligns and that is one of the most loved fruits of Southeast Asia, the Durian. On three episodes I have seen him with disgust on his face from the strong smell put a piece of durian in his mouth only to spit it right back out. I don't think he has actually ever swallowed any durian. Come on Andrew it is not that bad. I have watched him practically drink fish sauce in Vietnam and rave how wonderful it is. Now I like to cook with fish sauce but a little goes a long way and as far as smell the stuff really stinks, like rotted fish.

Yes Durian has a strong smell, I remember the first time I smelled it I was riding a bus in the southern Philippines and all the sudden was over come by what smelled like a pile of dirty diapers. I asked what is that stink? Someone on the bus laughed and said we are following a truck full of durian. I had heard of durian the Fruit that is reputed to "smell like hell and taste like heaven" but when I smelled it that day, I thought how could anyone stand to taste something that smells that bad?

Yes durian does have a strong smell and must be taken with an opened mind and a sense of adventure but so do many things we eat. How about blue cheese? When I was a kid and my parents would eat blue cheese I was disgusted because I thought it smelled like dirty gym socks. I was curious how they could stand it. I tried it and it did taste as bad as I thought it would but as years went by and I began to like many things I didn't like as a kid, I tried it again. Today I can eat blue cheese straight in fact I love it, but it does still smell in fact it stinks. So it was with durian, I did have a chance to taste it and even though the smell was strong the flavor wasn't that bad. I thought it tasted like garlic flavored carmel custard the first time I tried it. As time went on and I tried it again the more I tasted it the more I liked it. In addition to eating it straight, it makes great candy and ice cream, even fruit smoothies.

Andrew put aside your pre-conceived notions about durian and I think even you who can guzzle down worms, slugs, bats and all manner of unappetizing and smelly foods, I think you could learn to like durian.

B IS FOR BENNETT AND BASKETBALL

2010-04-02T11:58:00.001-06:00

Bennett is crazy about Basketball

Dave teaching Bennett how to dunk

Going in for the hammer dunk

Hang time

Learning to dribble

Who's open?

Another game in the refrigerator

Bennett scores during practice at his basement hoop

Basketball Bennett

2010-02-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

Bennett the new up and coming Basketball star

Look out Derron Williams here comes Bennett

Always ready to shoot some hoops

Duck Barbeque

2010-02-07T00:30:00.002-07:00

Friday I taught a class at Farmington Bay for Webelo Cub Scouts and took them to see the Eagles that are here in force now. After the tour Rich the Manager of Farmington Bay invited me to their annual barbeque to celebrate the end of the Duck Hunting Season and to share the ducks they harvested during the hunt.

I had only eaten wild duck once before and it tasted like muddy liver. But Rich has always told me if it is prepared correctly it is very good. Nery and I went with low expectations for the duck but figured the rest of the meal would be good. Rich was right the duck was outstanding as was all the rest of the food. The people that work for DNR are all great people and I always love spending time with them. The barbeque was great, the food was excellent and the people all made Nery and I feel welcome. Here are a few pictures, sorry I didn't get everyone's name.

The chefs cutting the duck

Rich and Jason from Farmington Bay

Ducks waiting to be cooked

Ducks on the grill

The rest of dinner cooking
Dutch-oven potatoes, Stir fried vegetables, Duck gumbo, The food was all excellent.

Rich and Jason

Their ladies

Justin and his family, Justin was Manager when I started volunteering at Farmington Bay about 10 years ago

Thanks again to to Rich, Jason and all the DNR staff for a wonderful evening

Playing in the snow with Lola in our matching sweaters

2010-01-01T22:40:00.002-07:00

These are 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Sweaters. Lola wanted a picture with Bennett, Bennett wanted to play in the snow.

Lola was finished but Bennett wasn't even close, he was loving the snow

Images of Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T11:41:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of just a few of our celebrations during this Christmas season, from our visit to see the lights at Temple Square, to our Coleman Family party at Grandma and Grandpa's house to our prime rib on Christmas day at our house to a few of Kristan and Gerhard's pictures in Germany. It has been a wonderful time getting together with family.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T22:24:00.006-07:00

We had Thanksgiving this year at our house for the extended Coleman Family or at least those that were available. Nery and I enjoyed preparing and hosting Thanksgiving this year. In addition to our meal and visiting, Nery passed out M&M's, each person was to take three, all different colors then she went around and asked questions for each color. For example if you had a red M&M you were to tell what your biggest pet peeve is other questions were "if you had a million dollars what gift would you buy just for yourself", another was "What is your favorite childhood memory", another was, "What gift will you never forget".

The one that I thought was most interesting was, What is your favorite childhood memory? all of my sister Angie's kids that had that question answered how their oldest brother Brad who is just a few weeks away from returning from his LDS mission used to tease them. Though they may have been scared or annoyed at the time they have fond memories of the attention that he gave them. As I thought about my own childhood memories they had to be the crazy things my brother Ken and I used to do, like playing chicken in the front yard with ski poles, hanger and penny fights, and scaring our mother. We used to put plastic spiders on her nightgown that she hung on the back of the bathroom door. No matter how many times we did it she would still scream when she saw it.

For the last couple of days I have thought more about my childhood memories and realized that my two favorite hobbies are a result of spending time with my parents. My birding hobby comes from the times my dad took us to Farmington Bay when I was a kid, I loved going there, I couldn't explain it but I loved and still love being in a marsh. I loved seeing the birds, the plants and the water and the feeling I got when spending time with my dad. I remember one of the first things I did with my dad when I got home from my mission 30 years ago was to go to Farmington Bay in the dead of winter and take pictures. My other favorite hobby cooking comes from spending time watching my mom cook and learning how to make some of her family traditional dishes like Pulled Pork Barbeque, White bean and ham hock soup, chili, and West Virgina hotdogs and her famous Roast beef mashed potatoes and gravy.

It has been a great Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful time with our kids and our relatives and most of all this year we were all grateful that my dad who spent last Thanksgiving in a care center not knowing if he would ever walk again was with us and not only was he there but he is walking and even walks up and down the stairs unassisted.We talked with our daughter Kristan who is living in Germany and she and Gerhard hosted Thanksgiving at their home for 17 of their friends, she cooked turkey and all the other traditional Thanksgiving dishes so the tradition continues.

We have much to be grateful for, it truly was a great Thanksgiving.

Here are a few pictures.

The bird

The rest of the food

Our new cabinet from the DI

Grandma and Grandpa Coleman

Angie and Frank David hiding behind the center piece and Ana Leigh

Spencer and Rachel

Dave, Catie and Bennet

Sarah and Chris

Teresa hiding behind the center piece and Heidi

James, Abby and Sam

Who needs a plate and silverware? Bennet

The Hosts Nery and Steve

Happy Birthday Nery and Steve

2009-11-24T21:10:00.003-07:00

Nery and I celebrated our birthdays last week with an overnight get away and dinner at Olive Garden. I got a snow blower as my gift and Nery got our counter-tops refinished. We had a very nice quiet peaceful time together. Here are some before and after pictures of the counter-tops

Bennett Enjoying the Leaves

2009-11-08T22:51:00.001-07:00

Bonus Story of the Week for Halloween

2009-10-28T22:24:00.005-06:00

I've been thinking the last week trying to remember my best scary story for Halloween. I've got a few but last night I got thinking about what truly is my scariest memory. I thought about all of the movies I have seen in my life trying to think of what movie was the scariest, what experience in my life scared me the most, when was I the most terrified. Here's a list of scary movies that were scary, (not slasher because I hate slasher movies. I have never seen any of the Friday the 13th, Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street Movies): My favorite scary movies are: The House on Haunted Hill, The Haunting of Hill House, The Crawling Eye, The old Wolfman, Mummy, Frankenstein, and Dracula movies, Poltergeist, The Ring terrified me. but the scariest of all, hands down is the Killing Fields. Not a horror move you say, what could be more horrifying than genocide and senseless brutal war. This movie scares me most because it really happened, and it continues to happen all over the world.

So what is my scariest experience? I would have to say and just like my scariest movie it has nothing to do with the supernatural but with something that most if not all of us have had to deal with at sometime in our life, neighborhood terrorists Bullies.

Bullies intimidate, they scare, they take away your dignity, they are incredible cowards always picking on someone they know is weaker than they are and they surround themselves with bully friends that terrorize neighborhoods and school yards.Why are they so scary? Because of bullies people especially kids can be afraid to go to school or to go out and play, they can make you afraid to do the most basic things in life. I hate bullies I always have. There is a quote that "no one can make you feel anything everything is a choice". Maybe that person never had to deal with a bully.

When I was 8 years old I joined little league baseball, one evening after practice I was riding my bike home when a kid a couple of years older than me who all of us in the neighborhood were terrified of came after me with a paddle-ball paddle and started hitting me with it, then he pushed me off my bike and smacked me around with the paddle until he had his fill then left me there laying in the street bawling my head off. I got back on my bike and rode home. My dad was working in the yard when I rode up and saw I was upset and asked what happened. When I told him, I had never seen him get so angry, he put me in the car and we drove down to the kid's house. I stayed in the car but I watched him knock on the door, when the kid's mom answered he told her he wanted to see the kid, she of course wouldn't let him. I couldn't hear all that he said but whatever it was he must have made a believer out of her and the kid because he never gave me any trouble after that although I was always in fear of retaliation and I was still scared to death of him.

That was my first experience with a bully but not the last. I have had to deal with a few in my life and hated every minute of it. Bullies come in all types the worst these days are gang members and kids still have to put up with these poor excuses for human beings. Experts will say that bullies are the way they are because they lack self esteem, well boohoo we all have some sort of self esteem or self confidence issues at some time in our lives but most of us don't deal with it at the expense of others.

There is no excuse.

Story of the Week #8 Innocence of Children

2009-10-25T23:50:00.007-06:00

For the next few weeks I will be writing random memories of what I remember of our life in Woods Cross. We lived in Woods Cross until I was 9 years old.

I never understood adults as a child and as an adult I don't understand them any better.

Adults teach children that there are some things that are bad for kids but as adults they must be ok. Kids are taught that smoking and drinking alcohol are bad but adults do it. Some movies are "Adult Movies" and are not for kids. Kids are taught to get along with other kids but adults complain about their friends and coworkers and bad mouth each other, Kids get in trouble for swearing but hear their parents spew profanity every time they get mad about something. I think we need to be more like we were taught as kids and less like the adults we sometimes become.

A I said adults are constantly instructing children right from wrong and smoking and drinking are not only wrong but evil and people who used them were in our minds committing evil acts, and therefore could not go to heaven. It was impressed upon our minds from my earliest memory that not only are these things bad for you but using them is a sin. I remember seeing people smoke and thinking that they were bad people because they were sinning. I don't ever remember seeing anyone drink.

A block from our house there lived an old lady that had a Boston Terrier. We were always afraid of this old lady because we only saw her occasionally, when we did she was usually smoking, she never came to church which living is a small Utah town is where you met most people that were not your next door neighbor. She always seemed mad because when she talked it was always loud and in a raspy voice.

I remember walking home from kindergarten one day, I don't remember anyone walking with me and the old lady called to me from her door and asked me to do her a favor. I walked over and she handed me a piece of paper and a dollar and asked me if I would take the dollar to the Irve's, the little town store across the street and buy her what she had listed on the paper. Then she handed me a dime and said this is for you to buy some candy.

I took the money and the note over to the store and handed it to Terry, Irve's son who ran the store with him. Terry reached behind him on the self and grabbed a pack of cigarettes and gave them to me. I almost died, I had never touched a cigarette, we had a few neighbors that smoked but none in the presence of kids. I was shocked and embarrassed and exclaimed to Terry "Oh these are not for me". He said he knew and that she always asks kids walking by her house to come over to the store and buy her cigarettes. I took them and walked back across the street and handed them to her, very glad to be rid of them. I was a little confused, even though she smoked and we were a little scared of her, she was nice to me, even though she smoked she wasn't a bad person. She never asked me to go to the store again for her but I do remember walking by her house no longer afraid of her and petting her little Boston terrier when ever they were out and saying hi to her from then on.

I don't remember what I did with the dime.

The Boogey Man

2009-10-11T15:35:00.005-06:00

The Boogey Man

My Parents often went out on Saturday nights and left us with a baby sitter. I always looked forward to Saturdays when they would go out because it meant we would eat TV Dinners and usually get to stay up late. Back then TV Dinners were a treat, I remember mom putting them in the oven and the smell of chicken or turkey or Salisbury steak while the frozen dinners heated up. No microwaves in those days, it took a good 30 to 45 minutes to heat up a TV Dinner in the oven. We had some favorite baby sitters, there were Vaughn and Keith Behunin who always brought their box of plastic dinosaurs for us to play with. Then there were the two Hackee sisters, one was real nice and pretty the other was a tomboy and sometimes got irritated with us. We liked the pretty one best.

One Saturday evening my parents left and the pretty Hackee sister, I don't remember her name, was our baby sitter. All was well and we were enjoying staying up and watching TV. But eventually it got late and she sent us to bed. A few minutes after we went to bed the telephone rang and she answered it. I remember her getting excited and saying in a load voice who is this? then she hung up. A minute later the phone rang again and again she got very upset and hung up the phone. Then she came into our bedroom crying and carrying my moms biggest knife. We asked her what was wrong, she said there was some scary man calling. We asked her what he said. She said the first call he asked if this was Stevie or Kenny and he talked with a real raspy voice. Then what did he say we asked? Just then the phone rang again, this time she refused to answer it and she started crying even harder. I remember her holding the knife ready to defend us against this boogey man that she was sure was coming to get us. Again the phone rang by now she was beside herself, sure that any minute this strange man would come bursting in and kill us all. I guess I should mention that in our neighborhood recently there had been a strange man sighted walking around late at night and a couple of women who lived alone and one whose husband was a truck driver and was gone much of the time (who lived right next door to us) had found footprints in the flower beds under their bedroom windows, this fact I'm sure added to our babysitter's terror.

Fortunately within a few minutes my parents got home and found us huddled in our bedroom with this near hysterical baby sitter. Between her sobs she explained what had happened. While she was telling my parents who were becoming quite concerned themselves, the phone rang again. My dad answered it and started laughing, he said "well you sure scared the babysitter".

Had the babysitter just given the phone to me or Ken she would have known that there was nothing to be scared of, it was my grandpa. Grandpa Coleman did have a gravely voice and he always liked to tease us. The first phone call he made he thought it was either Ken or I that answered so he said something, I don't remember what, one of us would have recognized it was him, but it scared the babysitter near to death. All of the subsequent phone calls were him calling back to try and calm her down, but she was already too upset and just hung up on him each time and then stopped answering. He became concerned, he didn't want her to be upset but there was nothing he could do over the phone to get her to understand he was not the boogey man, but the more he called to try and calm her down the more upset she got.

I don't remember her ever babysitting us again after that night.

A Nightmare to Remember

2009-10-09T19:52:00.007-06:00

Every Friday night when I was a kid, channel 4 played Nightmare Theater. The best and scariest part was the introduction where the scariest voice you ever heard introduced It's niiiightmaaaar. we later found out that the voice of nightmare theater was that of
Fireman Frank the host of the daily kids TV show.
We watched several different versions of Frankenstein, the Wolf man, The Mummy the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula and other vampire movies, The Crawling Eye, 13 Ghosts and others but the scariest of all for me was House On Haunted Hill. I saw it when I was 6 yeas old in the first grade. I thought I was tuff, I had seen so many of these horror movies and had no problems, but this one scared me half to death. In fact I couldn't sleep for several nights and it made me sick. It scared me so bad that my parents wouldn't let me watch Nightmare for several weeks.

There were so many things about House On Haunted Hill that got to me. I have posted pictures from the movie that were the scenes that scared me the most minus on the scene where Vincent Prices Dead Wife was floating outside the window of the young woman's room holding a rope that came through the bars on the window and coiled around her ankles then backed off and went away. Vincent Price was so sinister in this movie every time he was on screen it scared me. There was the vat of acid in the wine cellar that they showed several times and we all knew something bad was going to happen there. There was the dripping blood from the ceiling that always dripped on the older lady's hand, there was the severed head, but the scene that almost did me in was when Lance and the young girl were in the cellar he in one room and she in the other and the creepy old woman appeared above the young girl and floated out of the room.

That movie like most of the old horror movies of the 40's and 50's played over and over on Nightmare Theater but I never watched it again until I was grown and had kids of my own. I now own a DVD copy of it and pull it out every year around Halloween and watch it. In fact when I first got it I played it for my kids and my nephews. Of course to them it was kind of lame, after all it was black and white and after all the new movies and special affects they have seen, it just wasn't that scary to them. A few years ago they made a remake of it that someone let me borrow, I only watched about 15 minutes of it and turned it off disgusted. The new movie was all about how vulgar they could talk and how much sex they could throw in. The old movie has class and style and is one of the best horror movies ever made the new one was a disgrace.

So after all these years I have gotten over how scared I was and would have to say that House on Haunted Hill is my favorite horror movie and my close second is Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

A Photo Shoot in the Rain

2009-10-09T15:33:00.004-06:00

1st Girl Friend

2009-10-06T12:58:00.009-06:00

The year before I started Kindergarten my parents put me in a pre-school called Kiddie College. We lived in Woods Cross and Kiddie College was in Centerville. A very nice lady, Mrs. Liffreth picked me up along with several other kids and drove us to Kiddie College. I don't remember a whole lot about it other than it was fun and that I met my very first girl friend, Mrs. Liffreth's daughter Carla.

I lived the furthest from the pre-school so each day on the ride to and from pre-school Carla and I got to play in the back of their station wagon. We became good friends for the few months we were in Kiddie College. Then we went to elementary school Carla at JA Taylor in Centerville and me at South Davis Elementary in Woods Cross and we didn't see each other again for 4 years.

When I was in the third grade my parents built a home in Centerville and we transferred from South Davis Elementary to JA Taylor. By this time I had all but forgotten about Carla until during a fire drill a few days after moving to JA Taylor, I saw her on the playground. Excited to see her again I went over and started talking to her thinking we would still be good friends, but she wouldn't even look at me, in fact she ignored me like I wasn't there. I was so confused, what had happened? We had been such good friends and now she wanted nothing to to with me. I hadn't done anything to make her mad, how could I? We hadn't seen each other for over 4 years. I didn't understand why we were no longer friends but go over it fast, by that time I didn't care about playing with girls anyway. I had plenty of friends and plenty of other things to think about than a girl that was once my friend and for no reason that I could understand now acted like she hated me. Oh well I got over it quickly, in fact I have no further recollection of ever seeing her again after that day, since we were not in the same class and I think soon after that her family moved to Bountiful.

The Curiosity of Children

2009-10-04T22:38:00.006-06:00

This story may be controversial and I have debated the last two weeks whether I would tell it or not because it is a story that was never mentioned since the day it happened. But I have committed to tell all the stories I can recall whether humorous, serious or lessons learned, even the first time I remember really getting in trouble even worse than the "Chicken Thieving" story.

What made me think of it was a seminar I went to last week called "Think Like Da Vinci, Innovate Like Edison. One of the things the presenter expounded on was the importance of curiosity and how all the great people like Da Vinci and Edison were curious and that as little children we were curious about everything but somehow when we get older we loose some of that curiosity and that we should all keep the curiosity alive. But there are some things where curiosity must be controlled by our internal knowledge of right and wrong our conscience.

Well here is the story I was very young and this is not a story that has been retold at all so it is completely from my recollection as a 4 or 5 year old. It made an impression because we (my brother Ken and I) got in a lot of trouble as well as the other kids in our neighborhood.

Several kids in our neighborhood ages 4 and 5 years old, boys and girls were playing in the back yard of a vacant house. I don't remember what we were playing or how it got started but one of the kids pulled their pants down. Now Ken and I had no sisters at this time and it was the first time for me at least that I realized/found out that boys and girls were different. Before long we all had our pants down comparing each other. Pretty soon we heard mothers calling, so we all pulled our pants up and ran to our respective homes. It seems the lady who lived next door to the vacant house happened to hear us and looked out her window and saw what we were doing and called all our mothers and reported the scandalous goings on.

Upon arriving home we all got spankings and scoldings like we had never before experienced. I guess we felt a bit naughty doing what we were doing but none of us had any idea it was as bad as it was. None of us as far as I know ever did it again even though I don't think any of us understood why what we had done was so terrible. In those days such things just were not discussed. I'm afraid in today's world even 4 and 5 year olds would not be so innocent as we were.

At Lola's House I Can Be

2009-10-02T12:39:00.012-06:00

A Swinger

A Swimmer

A Ball Player

A Cowboy

A Biker

I Love My Lola

Shingling Miracle

2009-10-02T12:16:00.006-06:00

When ye are in the service of your fellow man ye are only in the service of your God.

Last Week Nery and I were the recipients of great service and love from our family, friends and neighbors. It was truly a miracle to watch our family and neighbors come over and help us get our house re shingled. Nery and I are grateful to all those who showed their kindness and love by helping us get our roof done. Here are some pictures of the project.

OD'd in AZ

2009-09-29T12:11:00.007-06:00

When I was quite young I'm not quite sure of the age, our family took a trip to Mesa Arizona to visit our cousins the Scott's. My aunt Helen is my mother's sister, uncle Melvin her husband and her moved to Mesa from Salt Lake after migrating from West Virgina and raised their family there. My cousins are, Wayne, Patty, Connie, Joe and Randy. Joe is about 3 years older than me and Randy is a year older than me.

After dinner one night Randy, my brother Ken and I went into the room my parents were staying in and got into their medicine bag. We found a bottle of Children's Chewable Bayer Aspirin and had a party. This was before there were child-proof caps on the bottles. I don't remember whether it was Patty or Connie but one of them walked in and caught us finishing off the bottle. In a panic she ran and told our parents what we were doing.

My mom and dad put us in the car and took off for the hospital, my dad was speeding and was pulled over by a police officer. After explaining the situation the policeman gave an escort to the hospital where we got to have our stomachs pumped. I remember very little of this event, but it made an impression and we stayed out of the medicine bag from then on.

Bear at the Goose-necks

2009-09-21T23:50:00.003-06:00

Some of the fondest memories of my youth are times we spent at Bear Lake and Flaming Gorge. The ward I grew up in took the Explorer Scouts on a kayak trip to Flaming Gorge every year, and from what I have heard they still keep up the tradition today. Each year the new boys built their kayaks and joined the trip. I was able to go on two of these wonderful adventures.

We stayed at several camping areas on the trip which took 4 days to paddle the length of the lake from Antelope Flats to Cedar Springs Marina near the dam. The favorite camp spot along the way had to be the Goose-necks, a remote camp ground only accessible by boat. There were two docks at the goose-necks one on each side of the bend in this narrow canyon. The camp ground was about a 75 yard walk up the trail from the water and the side we always stayed on had a small creek that ran along side the trail that was covered with willows.

There are several interesting stories that took place over the years at the goose-necks one was the story of the sack no more tree. But that is not my story and happened a year before my first trip.

The second year that I went on this trip our group split into two groups and stayed at two camp sites. the leaders and a couple of the boys stayed at a camp site a little further up the hill from us and the rest of us stayed in the first camp site as you come up the trail from the dock.

One of the things that made these kayak trips nice was that we were able to eat decent food since we did not have to back pack anything. We mostly ate canned foods like spaghetti, ravioli, chili, soup etc. A lot of the boys brought dry cereal.

Well our first night we ate dinner then sat around and told stories then went to bed. We all spread our sleeping bags across the trail except for Curtis Barnett who brought an one man tent that he slept in. along the trail was Wayne Passey, John Jensen, my brother Ken, Brad Barber, Alan Arbuckle and me on the end.

About1:00 a.m. in the morning I woke up to a fairly strong breeze, I had taken my kayak out of the water and set it upside down on the dock to dry out. We had gotten into a water fight and I got a lot of water in my kayak. I was worried that the wind might blow it away so I got up and walked down the trail to the dock to tie down my kayak. On the way back up the trail I thought I could hear something splashing in the creek. I couldn't see anything but it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I hurried up the trail and climbed in my sleeping bag. Just a few minutes later I heard some banging around on the picnic table that was just a few feet away from Wayne. I looked up and there was a bear sitting on the table going through the food that we had left on the table. I woke up Alan and told him there was a bear in the camp, at first he thought I was pulling his leg and trying to scare him then a very frightened sounding Wayne said he is not kidding there is a bear. Well all of the boys woke up we were all scared but just laid in our bags quitely hoping he would just go away. After a few minutes of rummaging around in the food the bear got off the table and walked over to the tree just a couple of feet from Wayne and started scratching it's butt on the tree. Then he walked around the back of Curtis's tent and started pawing it. I stuck my head around the side of his tent and right into the face of the bear. I quickly crawled as far into my sleeping bag as I could. I could hear him sniffing me for a minute then he walked off down the trail. We all waited for a few minutes then figured he was gone so we started talking about it. Then I felt a thud on the back of my leg and the bear came up the side of the trail and walked across us and though our camp and on up the trail and didn't return. It took a while but we all did go back to sleep.

The next morning the leaders came down and we started telling them about our bear experience. They gave us a bad time for a while and told us they didn't believe us. Then they told us they had seen it too. Our Leader Clarence Jones told us that he had taken the garbage can and set it between the three sided fire pit and his sleeping back to block the smoke from the smoldering coals left from their fire. He said he woke up to a crash and saw nothing but black, no light no stars nothing then he realized he was looking at the bears butt. He said if the bear had sat down he would have been a goner.

The next night after sitting around talking tough and telling bear stories 4 leaders and 8 or 10 boys all slept together under a lien too, that we made by lashing several tarps together.

Tell-um Story

2009-09-15T21:55:00.006-06:00

One of my favorite movies of the last year is Australia, I thought the kid that narrated stole the show. In the beginning he started by telling how his grandfather took him on "Walk about" and told him the most important thing is to "Tell-um Story" Later in the movie the Drover told Mrs Boss that all worldly possession can be taken away and in the end all you have is your story and he was just trying to live a good one.

This month I am attending a managers training and one of the important concepts taught is the importance of using stories to train people or to get a point across. I like this because I always use stories to make a point or teach and train. While in the class I decided that I am going to post a story of the week on this blog. I don't know that they will be in chronological order but they will be true stories as I remember them.

The first story is one of my earliest memories. I remember probably because it has been told so many times by my parents and by my brother and me.

When I was about 5 and Ken was 4 we were playing at our friends Barry and Neil Jones house across the street. Their mother happened to be on the phone talking to our mom. One of the things they talked about was "what am I going to fix for dinner" they seemed quite concerned about this so the four of us set out to see what we could do to help our mothers out.

We ventured a couple of streets away which in it's self would get us in a lot of trouble. Be went into the back yard of a house that had a chicken coop. Young and innocent as we were we felt we had the answer to our mothers dilemma. There was no lock on the door to the coop so we went right in and started chasing chickens. They were not easy to catch but we finally did get a hold of one. We took it out of the coop and found in the yard a pick-ax. One of us held the chicken while another hacked at it's neck. The head never did come off but after a few wackes it seemed quite dead, so one of us slung it over his shoulder and off we went to show our mothers how much we had helped them.

Much to our surprise and dismay our mothers were not the least bit happy with what we had done, in fact they were quite upset. After getting a good talking to and maybe a spanking (really don't remember) they took the chicken and made us show them where we got it. We all walked up to the back door and they knocked several times but no one ever answered. I think all of us including our moms were a bit relieved that no one was home.

Then a miracle happened. The chicken that they had laid on the lawn came to and started getting up and walking around. They quickly grabbed it put it back in the chicken coop and the six of us set out quickly for home.

It's funny how after so many years something that was very upsetting for our moms and for us because we got in trouble, this story has been repeated hundreds of times and always as a humorous story. time does make things a lot different.

We Have Returned

2009-06-21T17:06:00.008-06:00

One of our family's favorite places to go on vacation is Moab. We have all loved river rafting and hiking. The kids love mountain biking and rock climbing. We have missed going there for the last three years but this week we returned and it was awesome, the only thing missing was Kristan and Gerhard who live in Germany. She says when she an Gerhard come for a visit one of the places we need to go is Moab. It was a short trip but we were able to do a few things and have a great time. This year we had Bennett for the first time and he loved it. Spencer, Rachel, Dave and Catie all ran the river in kayaks while Nery Bennett and I went 4 wheeling in Canyonlands. The kids also got to rock climb except for Catie who was just getting started when it started to pour so we had to cut the climbing short. Saturday we toured through Arches National Park. Moab is still our favorite destination and I can't wait to go back. Here are some pictures.

The Teacher

2009-06-12T09:03:00.004-06:00

Last week I went fishing with my dad, here are some pictues and a poem I wrote that reflect my feelings of my dad and spending this time with him

The Teacher

The Teacher teaches lessons to help us through this life

He helps us learn the paths that lead from toil and strife

The choice is ours to listen and apply the guidance he shares

With patience he lets us choose and with kindness shows he cares

Though we may disappoint him with some choices that we make

He knows we must learn for ourselves that we will make mistakes

When we succeed he gives us praise and pats us on the back

When we fail he suffers and wonders what his lessons lacked

The teacher will not feel ashamed if he is shown a better way

By a student that has ambition their talents to display
Deep inside the satisfaction that his student did their best
Because the lessons of the teacher began their personal quest

How important is the teacher to this world we live?
Often not acknowledged for the sacrifices that he gives
Gratification has to come from the knowledge deep within
That the world is better for the lessons that began with him

Who is the greatest teacher that influences our lives?
Who teaches us most and helps us become wise?
As I reflect upon my life my lesson's greatest author
Is the man who teaches me every day the Teacher is my Father

Follow up to the Woods Cross Chainsaw Massacre

2009-05-31T23:42:00.006-06:00

Almost two months ago I got my beloved chainsaw and started cutting, I posted pictures of the tree I pruned and the pile of limbs from the three other trees that I cut down. Here is a follow up to so the progress made since the tree cutting. I have included pictures of our flower garden in the front yard and vegetable garden in the back yard. I also included a new swing for Bennett.

Thanks to Spencer, Dave and Ken for helping me haul the limbs to the dump and to our neighbor Joe for helping me unload a trailer full of compost from the dump into the garden. Hopefully this fall most if not all of the ingredients for our salsa will come from our garden. We planted several types of tomatoes and peppers, we also planted egg plant, several types of basil, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, yellow summer squash and a blackberry bush.

Sunday Afternoon Walk at Weber State U

2009-05-25T23:13:00.008-06:00

If a picture says a thousand words here are 15,000 plus a few extra. It was a great afternoon. Spencer and Rachel fixed dinner in honor of Nery for Mothers Day

Nery relaxing on the grass

Feeding the ducks

Auntie Rachel and Uncle Spencer

Mommy and son

Mother and Son

The Fam

Happy Lola and Happy Bennett

I think Bennett will be a birder, he loved feeding the ducks and gulls

An Amazing Night Out With Nery To See BB King and Lucille

2009-04-16T23:26:00.004-06:00

About 38 years ago when I was in Jr. High School my brother Ken, a couple of our friends and I went to the old Salt Palace in Salt Lake to our first concert. We saw Credence Clear Water Revival. It was an amazing night and one that was made more amazing because of the opening act, a singer guitar player none of us had ever heard of an artist by the name of BB King. I knew that I liked him but they never played his music on the radio and it was years before I heard of him again and started listening to his music and bought some of his CD's. For the last 10 years I have wanted to see him again in concert but for one reason or another each time he came to Salt Lake I was not able to go. About two months ago DeOna, a lady that I work with told me that BB King was coming to the Kingsbury Hall. I went right to my desk and ordered the tickets and this last Tuesday the event I have long awaited came and this time I was able to go to his concert with Nery and really appreciate and enjoy the show. BB King is 83 years old and he put on the best concert I have ever been to. Many of the artists that we listened to as kids voices are starting to give out but BB King still sounds as good as he ever did. He not only came out and played music with his amazing band but he interacted with the audience, and thanked us several time for supporting him. I have never heard an entertainer be so sincere and gracious. He played for almost 2 hours, he is a great Blues/Jazz singer and guitar player and also a great showman and entertainer. If he ever comes back to Salt Lake I will see him again.

Thanks to Nery for being my date I love doing things with my wonderful wife. Thanks to Catie for providing valet service for us so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain, thanks to Bennett who entertained us for a half hour before the concert and thanks to Dave for letting Catie help us out, all of you helped make it a wonderful evening for me.

White Eggs, Brown Eggs, A Good Egg and one Rotten Apple

2009-04-05T12:35:00.008-06:00

I have been blessed to have been born into two great lineages; from my fathers side Pioneer stock that came across the plains as Mormon Pioneers and across the ocean from Denmark, from my mothers side later pioneers who joined the church in West Virgina and came west when my mother was a teenager. As a child we almost shared backyards with my mom's brother Dick and his family. Dick has always been a bit of an icon to me. He was a barber by profession who used to give my brother and I his version of a bulldog haircut that we called a bullfrog because when he was finished we had about as much hair left as a bullfrog. Dick was a true rough houser. He loved to play with all the cousins and he played rough. The thing that most impressed me with Dick though was in his small back yard not really zoned for it, Dick had a small farm. He raised rabbits, chickens and even turkeys and a very nice vegetable garden and still does to this day. I even followed his example and raised rabbits , chickens and ducks myself when my kids were little. We always had fresh eggs, chickens and rabbits to put on the table.

Uncle Dick has always been very generous with the fruits of his labors, especially his wonderful tomatoes that I have used to make many quarts of salsa over the years.

Last night my parents told me an experience that Dick had with a friend. Generous guy that he is he took some eggs to one of his friends. My uncle Dick has several breeds of chickens, some of them lay brown eggs some white and some even green. Dick took some eggs to his friend who upon seeing the brown eggs actually got mad at Dick and told him he was no n..... and would not eat brown eggs. According to my parents this person will not even speak to Dick anymore.

This story has raised several emotions in me:

Sadness: it makes me sad that there are still people in this world that are so ignorant and prejudiced. I am sad for this person for having such destructive and damaging thinking, I am sad that this person who works in the temple sets an example to people around him and could potentially tarnish the reputation of the church in the eyes of others. Most of us work hard to be a loving kind and accepting people.

Sorrow: I am sorry for those who might be offended or who might get the wrong impression of Mormons because there apparently are still members of our church who hang on to this un-Christ-like way of thinking.

Anger: My initial reaction to this story was that of anger toward this person and his ignorant bigotry and the realization that there are still people in this world that feel this way. My anger has subsided and now I feel just sadness and sorrow.

The fact of the matter is that nutritionally there is no difference between white, brown or green eggs. When I raised chickens myself all of my chickens laid brown eggs and I can assure you that the only difference is the color of the shell. Just like eggs people come in different colors but we are all Gods' children.The color of our skin does not make one person better or worse than another. I am happy to say that the vast majority of members of our church love all people without regard to race, a few rotten apples do not spoil the whole bushel. I just hope that more and more of us can show love and compassion for everyone. And those who might have some of these old and destructive views can be touched by the Lord and gain the Christ-like love we all need to have for one another. The kind of love Uncle Dick has for everyone. Thanks Uncle Dick for being a good example.

Below is a poem I wrote several years ago about this subject

Brothers and Sisters

I’ve never understood why the color of our skin
Brings so much hate and anger to the world we live in
In this progressive time how is it possible we still hate?
I find it hard to believe anyone would still discriminate
To be so ignorant to think one person is better than another
Simply because their skin is a different color
The thing that I find very odd
That many discriminate in the name of God
His Son commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves
Remember the Good Samaritan and the woman at the well?
He did not teach discrimination, hate or envy
To do it in his name is blasphemy
We must learn to love like Jesus and follow his example
To make this world a better place and we a better people
We must open our minds and learn of one another
Accept and share our customs with each other
Hate is such an ugly thing it only makes us bitter
Look at history what it did for the followers of Hitler
Take time to understand your sisters and your brothers
Accept the beauty inside and out regardless of our color
Enjoy diversity and learn different ways
Culture is a beautiful thing it will broaden your gaze
It’s a blessing we’re not all alike how dull our world would be
Seek to find the good in your neighbor and you’ll begin to see
We are all Brothers and Sisters, Children of a loving Father
Our thoughts and feelings are not so different we all have things to offer
He sent us to this world that we may learn and grow
If we accept Jesus as our Savior we need to show
That we will follow him and all he says
Love our Father with all our hearts and our Neighbor as ourselves
Never did the Savior teach one race above another
Quite the contrary he taught us to love all our Sisters and our Brothers

Steve Coleman July 2001

The Woods Cross Chainsaw Massacre

2009-03-29T09:14:00.004-06:00

Nothing motivates a man to do work than a new power tool. I don't think I am obsessed as Tim the Tool Man Taylor but there is something about a power tool that makes a man feel like a man.

My old chainsaw that we got many years ago at a pawn shop gave up the ghost 2 years ago. Since that time pruning of the trees in our yard has been restricted to only what my hedge trimmer could handle. In the mean time two Chinese Elm trees have grown out of control on the side of our house, our cottonless Cottonwood Tree has grown branches that were starting to touch our roof, and our little , I call it the Umbrella tree in the front yard that is supposed to be cut back every year grew branches that hung over the side walk and our driveway. Well yesterday I broke down and got a new chainsaw, I took out one of the Chinese Elms, took off the branches of the Cottonwood tree that were posing threat to the roof and pruned back the "Umbrella" tree. I have pruned this tree back before and each time I do it I get criticized by some of my neighbors and Nery that I have pruned it back too far and probably killed it. Each time it has grown back beautifully. So this time I am documenting it here. I have included pictures and in a few months will post again showing the progress. The Chinese Elms however are going completely I will be putting root killer on them and hope it works, these trees seem indestructible.

Bennett Sitting on the Hog

2009-03-20T13:19:00.009-06:00

Bennett's bike of choice
Triumph

My Buddies and Me

2009-03-19T11:59:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Catie stopped by work to say hello and she and Nery decided to go to lunch together. I had already finished my lunch so they left Bennett with me. I took him up to my floor and showed him off. He entertained everyone with his smile and even did his little dance several times. It was so fun to be able to spend some time with my little buddy and show him around and have a little male bonding, I think he had a good time too.

Then last night before it got dark I went out to fill my bird feeders, my little Pine Siskin friend was there feeding and wouldn't leave he actually stayed on the feeder while I took it down, took the top off and refilled it. I put some of the seed in my hand and he ate right out of my hand as well, it seems we have developed a real trust.

Life is good

Hanging out with Bennett

2009-03-09T23:49:00.005-06:00

I'm sure every parent believes that their kids are the best looking smartest most amazing kids on the planet. I know I do. And I'm sure that every grandparent believes that their grand kids are the cutest smartest most amazing kids, well I have the pictures to prove it. Yesterday Nery and I got to spend about 5 hours with Bennett and he amazed us and entertained us the whole time. Bennett got to try oranges for the first time and he gobbled them two fisted wedge after wedge. He ate 2 whole oranges and had orange juice all over himself. Then he wanted to drink water from a glass, he wasn't having any bottle stuff. Of course he was soaked, so with his clothes soaked and face, hands and arms sticky with orange juice he got to take a bath. The whole time he never fussed or complained he just had fun with his Lola and Lolo. He got to read his books play with his toys and watch the fish in our aquarium. Friday we got to go with Catie and Bennett for his first time swimming and again he went in with no fear and loved every second of it. Even when he splashed water in his face he just laughed and splashed even more. Bennett is such a happy wonderful little boy. I know there is a God and his greatest gifts are our kids and grand kids. Thank you God for this little angel and thank you Catie and Dave for letting us take care of him for a few hours it made our week.

A Very Friendly Pine Siskin

2009-02-21T23:43:00.005-07:00

I went out this evening to fill my bird feeders and this little guy stayed behind to eat after the others had left. I noticed that as I approached the feeder he did not fly off so I slowly approached him. I stood right in front of him just a few inches away and he just kept on eating, so I stuck my finger out and gently touched him on the bumb and to my surprise he stepped back onto my finger and stayed for about 7 or 8 seconds then flew off. He circled around and came back to the feeder and continued to eat. I ran inside and grabbed my camera and asked Dave my son in-law to take some pictures. He actually stood on my finger 4 more times before I left him alone to finish eating. Here are a couple of those pictures

After All These Years

2009-02-14T12:26:00.002-07:00

For 18 years a group of friends in Woods Cross have gotten together each Valentines to put together a tribute to their wives. Each year attempting to come up with new and more creative ideas to entertain their wives. Over the years they have serenaded their wives with original compositions, written love letters, written love poems, taken them to fancy restaurants, winter sleigh rides and even a dinner cruise on the Great Salt Lake. But I think the most memorable are the dinners all the guys get together under the direction of Mike Johnson master chef to cook dinner for their wives. Nery and I were honored about 6 or 7 years ago to join this group and have enjoyed being a part of such a loving thoughtful group of friends. Over the years a few people have moved away and some like Nery and I have moved in so there has been some change but the main core of friends still remains. The Bowman's, Maurice being the driving force behind this effort, The Johnson's, The Bradley's, The Schwab's, The Van De Graff's, The Harten's, and the two newest couples The Coleman's that's Nery and me and the Seegmiller's. Last night we enjoyed this years installment and it was another success. Under Mike's direction we fixed an Italian dinner with homemade 1000 layer Lasagna, Mikes homemade baguette's, salad, minestrone soup, sorbet, and chocolate cheese cake. we then went downtown to the Off Broadway theater and watched a play, "My School Musical", Bradley's son Justin was on of the actors. We finished the night with a video slide show that I put together of each couple over the years. I have included the introduction of that slide show which is pictures from four of our past Valentines party's. A dinner at Xiao Li Chinese restaurant, a Prime Rib Dinner at Johnson's home, a dinner and sleigh ride at Park City and a Dinner Cruise on the Great Salt Lake.

Day of Cooking

2009-02-10T17:46:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday Nery and I had a cook off and cooked food ahead for the coming week. Nery said she had been craving Chili Verde and I had seen Rachel Ray make a version that looked good so I made my own version based on hers. I also made a big bowl of Picco De Gallo and a cilantro and jalapeno salsa to go with it. Nery cooked a wonderful beef stew and a stir fry of chayote and other vegetables with pork this is one of my favorites. I will list the recipe for the Chili Verde and have Nery list her's tonight.

Chili Verde

2 lbs pork cut in small pieces
10 tomatillos
1 box of chicken stalk
3 jalapenos
2 cans of diced green chilies
2 onions
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
2 tablespoons corn starch
salt and pepper to taste after everything is cooked

place all of the vegetables in the food processor and puree them.

in a skillet brown the pork in olive oil and add the chili powder and cumin, when the meat is browned sprinkle the corn starch and stir the meat to coat it with the corn starch and let it brown slightly, add the Chicken stalk.

Move the browned meat and stock to a stock pot and add the vegetable mixture.

Simmer on low heat for an hour, adjust the seasonings to your taste and enjoy on burritos, tacos, or tamales it is also great served over scrambled eggs, or mashed potatoes.

Trip to Lytle Ranch, some nice pictures and 2 lifers

2009-01-17T21:43:00.005-07:00

Nery and I took a short trip to Lytle ranch this weekend after attending a wedding reception for our daughter in law's sister in St George. There wasn't a huge varity of birds but the ones we did see were quite active. Pictured are Phainopepla and Verdin and a picture of Beaver Dam Wash.

List of birds seen:

Phainopepla, Common Black Hawk (life bird), Common Raven, Eurasian Collared Dove, White-crowned Sparrow, House Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Spotted Towhee, Belted Kingfisher, Ladder-backed Woodpecker (life Bird), Northern Flicker, Verdin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Greater Road Runner. The weather was great and it was a great trip.

The Great Dip Off

2009-01-02T08:58:00.005-07:00

The Holidays seem to be the time of year for everyone to break out their favorite dip recepies to share at Christmas and New Years parties. In my family growing up it was and still is my mom's Shrimp Dip. This year was no different, on Christmas morning we went to my parents house and my mom had prepared breakfast foods for everyone, I got snooping in the refrigerator and sure enough there was a big bowl of her famous Shrimp Dip so I pulled it out. It is so good it's good for any time of day so we had it for breakfast and returned through out the day for our fix, after all it's going to be another year before we eat it again.

This year though we had additional dip days added to our Holiday Season. I prepared lunch for my staff at work and one of the dishes was my own rendition of my mom's Shrimp Dip. When I cook a recipe that I get from someone else I always like to make it mine so I am not just ripping off and getting credit for someone else's creation, so I play with it a bit to make it mine. As far as the Shrimp Dip I made it a Seafood Dip by adding Crab Meat to it. It was a hit at the lunch. Nery took several dips the next day for her work unit to eat and they were a hit there as well.

Another opportunity to show off our dip talents was at Dick's Market "Dip Off", that's right Dick's held a dip off for people to bring their favorite dips in and they had a group of judges from their deli judge the dips and gave three prizes one $100.00 prize and two $25.00 prizes. Nery convinced me that we should enter the Dip Off. She wanted me to enter my Blue Cheese Dip/Salad Dressing and the Seafood Dip, she entered a dip which was a thinned down version of our broccoli casserole and a baked onion dip which was her first attempt at this new creation.

We went in confident that either the Blue Cheese or the Seafood would win something. But alas neither won anything nor did the broccoli dip, but Nery's new creation the Baked Onion Dip took second place and she won a $25.00 prize.

The first prize winner was a carmel toffee dip for apples which was good but I lean more to the savory not the sweet. After the awards were passed out all of the contestant were able to sample all the entries. There was one entry that I thought hands down should have won, it was a Sun Dried Tomato with Greek olives and cheese dip that would also make a fantastic pizza topping. I want that recipe but the lady who made it disappeared and I was unable to get it from her. I thought however that they were spot on with Nery's Onion Dip I would have given it 2nd place after the Sun Dried Tomato Dip. Congratulations Nery on a great creation!!

It was a lot of fun but I am now dipped out for another 11 months until we break out the dips again for another Holiday Season

Recipes:

Blue Cheese Dressing

1 jar of Mayo

1 tub of crumbled blue cheese

3/4 cup of buttermilk

1tbl spoon dill

2 tsp bon appetite or celery salt

1 tsp dried mustard

1tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

2 cloves garlic minced then mashed to a paste with a pinch of salt and a drop of olive oil.

place the mayo in a mixing bowl then pour the buttermilk into the mayo jar and shake well to clear the remaining mayo from the jar. Pour this over the mayo in the mixing bowl then add all the other ingredients and mix well. It tastes best if you make it a day ahead and let it marinate in the fridge over night.

serve with fresh vegetables, wings or as a salad dressing

Seafood Dip

2 blocks of Cream Cheese

2 cans of crumble shrimp

1 can of crab meat

1 cup mayo

1 cup of Miracle Whip

1/4 cup ketchup

garlic salt to taste

canned milk to thin to desired consistency

mix well and serve with chips or crackers

Nery's Prize Winning Baked Onion Dip

2 blocks cream cheese

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup caramelized onion

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

dash of fajita seasoning

bake until it bubbles about 30 mins.

serve hot with chips or crackers

Season of Love

2008-12-19T09:01:00.003-07:00

Season of Love

What have we done you and me to this season of love and joy?
We stress ourselves and worry about giving some worldly toy
In sadness I lay in bed and weep for my lack of things of this world
And how I’ll disappoint my son and my little girls

Every year it’s the same old thing money is never enough
To buy the things I want for my kids all their stockings to stuff
I’m not alone, as I watch the news all society’s the same
They report “businesses are worried about the profit they’ll gain”

What have we done to this Season when we honor the birth
Of the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of this earth?
Does it please Him to know what we’ve become
Searching for worldly treasures instead of sharing His love and wisdom?

If we were to ask what gift would Christ like to see us give away
What would it be what gift would Jesus say?
Would he like the pushing and shoving at malls to fight for the newest fad
Or the way we suffer over profit and loss and things that make us sad?

Would it be to give our heart and soul to all the people we meet
To share the Love of Jesus with everyone that we greet?
Give my kids the opportunity to serve and bless another’s day
Go to church and worship Him, kneel and humbly pray?

Seek guidance from God to know his will what he would have us do
To bless the lives of others his work on earth to continue
Open our eye’s and hearts find ways to bless our neighbors
With love and kindness everyday not only once a year

There’s many things we can do, we must seek guidance from above
To know what each of us can do to make this a Season of Love

By Steve Coleman

What Gift Would Jesus Want for Christmas

2008-12-16T09:53:00.001-07:00

What Gift

What gift would Jesus want, what would please Him most?
Would it be fancy apparel or things of enormous cost?

Jesus gave the greatest gift by giving of His life
That we might be forgiven of sins and have eternal life
We can show our faith in Him by loving one another
Give of ourselves, by giving hope to every sister and brother

Seek out those weak in spirit help them feel the love
That Jesus has for all of us he shares it from above
Charity the pure love of Christ would please him most of all
Show that we will share His love, that we will heed His call

Faith, Hope, and Charity
Three attributes we all need
To be more like our Savior
Show the world we care

By Steve Coleman

Finally got out for a few hours today

2008-12-12T13:21:00.006-07:00

After guiding some teachers on a bus tour at Farmington Bay this morning I got over to Kaysville Pond to see if I could get some pictures of Hooded Merganzers. In addition to the Merganzers I got some shots of Ring-necked Ducks, Common Goldeneye, Mallards, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Juncos and Great-tailed Grackles.

In all today I saw

At Farmington Bay

A dozen Bald Eagles

Northern Rough-legged Hawk

Northern Harrier

American Kestrel

Song Sparrows

White-crowned Sparrows

Greater Yellow-legs

Brewers and Red-winged Blackbirds

Gadwall

Norther Shoveler

Bufflehead

Anmerican Wigeon

Common Goldeneye

American Coot

Kaysville Ponds:

Hooded Merganzer

Mallards

Common Goldeneye

Ring-necked Ducks

Gadwall

Canada Goose

Dark-eyed Junco

White-crowned Sparrow

Northern Flicker

Ring-billed Gull

Black-billed Magpie