This week I learned that Tom Bennett's son was valedictorian and Shirley reminded me that he was not the first in the family. As a matter of fact, by my memory, there have been at least 7 valedictorians among my parents' descendants, and this is not the only thing they could be proud of. They were always focused on their children doing their best, and "showing the world what they could do." This post is a tribute to the family legacy of this faithful, hardworking couple.




-All five of their children were married in the temple and remain faithful to the church and their families.
-All 3 sons went on missions and have served as bishops.
-All 3 sons have 2 university degrees.
-The daughters have each raised 5 fabulous children, all of whom have been married in the temple and have fine families of their own.
-The daughters and their husbands have been very successful farmers. the Cooks have half the farm that we grew up on, and they produce more crops and cattle on that half than we ever did on the whole thing (around 4500 acres.) A couple of years ago, they had 220 cows, and weaned 218 calves! The Bennetts have a large grain farm which they have enlarged and paid for and produce prodigious yields every year. They have kept very modern and use GPS guided tractors and computerized combines etc. For decades they have been the backbone of the little Spring Coulee branch and have been instrumental in building a beautiful chapel there.
-All 5 children have become multi-millionaires.
-Some of their children have excelled in sports. One has been an outstanding athlete, leading his high school basketball team to provincial championships, and is still a great golfer. Another son has won several 50 mile endurance horse races. Another family has great softball players and hunters.
-Two sons are medical doctors and have provided excellent patient care for many years.
-One son has served in the stake presidency, spearheaded a charitable organization that assists Jewish immigrants in Israel.
-I'm sure that there are many other unnoticed examples of excellence that have been quietly done without notice, and especially if we included the next generations, but if we tried to get into all of that, this blog might overload the Internet!
-Anyway, I hope that no one interprets this post as an arrogant boast, but as a grateful acknowledgment of a wonderful family with a great legacy of excellence.

Here it is Memorial Day and we are playing golf with our empty-nester friends at Riverside. With all the rain we have had this course has never been greener, and with 23 new sand traps and new laser-leveled tee boxes it is really a different course than it used to be. Can you tell which hole this is?

Sylvia is really becoming a good golfer. She won the ladies' day tournament last week!

This post is a lesson from life on prejudice. When we visited Mike's ward last month for his ordination, a man with a beard came in and sat in front of us at sacrament meeting. Now I had always been impressed with the members of this ward as being very exemplary LDS, but when this guy showed up my immediate reaction was "what kind of a rebel is this?" I didn't say that, but Mike might have known I was thinking it, because he said to me " do you know why that guy is growing a beard?" Obviously I didn't, so he explained: "He has been asked by an artist to prepare to be a model for a painting of the Savior." When he told me that I was amazed at how immediately my perception of this man changed; from a backslider trying to avoid a call to the bishopric, or worse; to a sweet latter-day-saint with the most angelic countenance. Since then I have made an effort to see the face of Jesus in other people who did not to appear very holy at first, and when I have done that it has always made me feel better. The other lesson that we might learn from this story is this; think what a world this would be if we were all trying to be a model for the savior, not necessarily by growing a beard, but by trying to "receive his image in our countenances" ( Alma 5:14).

Last weekend was our annual Rough Rider ride. This year we went to Escalante and had a marvelous time.

Our First ride was just south of Panguitch where there is a loop up Casto Canyon and then down Losee Canyon. A brochure called it "a little Bryce Canyon without the crowds."

The trails were soft and easy and the scenery was great.

This is an Anasazi pictograph that we found under a huge overhang in Escalante Canyon.

Mysti and I in Losee Canyon near Bryce. We love the ponderosa pines.

Climbing up the mountain behind escalante to see Anasazi ruins and nice country with our old endurance racing friend Crockett Dumas whose magnificent horse ranch is just below these cliffs.

Here's Crockett apparently casting a spell on Champ (Legrand Woolstenhulme)

The Spell must have workde because he got out of this adventure without a scratch.

We just had a quick trip to Arizona for Mike's High Priest ordination. Congratulations Mike!
What could more delightful than grandkids? One really snuggly and the other very sticky!

It's spring yard work time. Sylvia's back is suffering a little, but her flower beds look great.