Charles Howard Bartle

On September 6, 2011 we received word that Duane's brother Charles Howard Bartle passed into his next life. Today, September 12, 2011, his funeral service was held. It was a very beautiful service and we felt as if his memory had really been honored.

Chuck was a retired fire fighter and so the fire department came to honor him. There was a honor guard ceremony which was very moving. They presented the colors and then two of the fire fighters took the flag off the coffin, folded it and presented it to his wife, Dyanne.

Then a group of bagpipers played. That was also very moving.

Here are some of the fire fighters who attended. Duane conducted the service and also spoke. Heidi gave the opening prayer and I gave the closing prayer. His son Karl, gave the eulogy.

After the service, we all drove to Boulder City to the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery where he was laid to rest.

Duane's sister Darla, and her daughter Katherine flew out from Wisconsin.

Once we were at the cemetery, another tribute by an honor guard was done but this time from the Navy since Chuck served in the Navy. It was also very moving.

They also took another flag from the coffin

and folded it

and presented it to Dyanne. He said quietly to her, something like this, "In behalf of the President of the United States, we present this flag to you for the service your husband rendered to his country."

There were lots of beautiful flowers.

Duane then dedicated the grave.

After they lowered it, Dyanne threw a flower in and each of us in turn threw another flower in to join hers. We want Dyanne and her son Karl to know that they are in our prayers at this difficult time. We, along with them, are proud of the good man that Chuck was and are pleased with such a beautiful service to honor him.

Get ready, Get set, Go!

Well every August is busy for teachers going back to school, but this year is even busier. As you probably already know, our school is being remodeled. I went to school last Monday and they told me that they would have my furniture and boxes in my room by Tuesday. So early Tuesday morning, I went to face this enormous job. I walked into my room piled high with boxes and the furniture everywhere. I had to move all the boxes because they were piled where the furniture had to go. I finally got the furniture in place and that much took up most of my day. I unpacked a few boxes but not many.

Just having the furniture kind of where it needed to go helped a lot.

I ended up moving the furniture (at least some of it) about 3 or 4 times.

Then on Wednesday, I started unpacking boxes. I unpacked about 50 boxes on Wednesday and put the things away where they should go. Since I have a completely different room, I had to think where to put things because there was no prior place so I had to make a place for everything.

It seems so nice to have a clean, fresh room and brand new clean carpet. We have some cool new technology items in our rooms now. Now all I have to do is learn how to run it all.

Wednesday, I also got my bulletin boards put up.

I got my computers back into my room but they're not hooked up yet.

I have lots of books so my principal promised me lots of bookcases. I got 8 brand new ones. It took me a while to go through and organize the books and put them in a logical place.

Thursday, I spent all day there as well putting 50 more boxes of stuff away. Now I have all the boxes opened and most put away.

Some things I'm getting rid of so I'm just holding the boxes in my room until I can get rid of them and I'm storing some stuff in our grade level closet.

I feel so much more organized and unburdened now that I'm almost all unpacked and put away. It's a great feeling! Now next week will be finishing the room and planning and getting ready for the children. August 29th, here they come.

Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere!

Fo
This past weekend has been a busy one at our house. Heidi did the flowers for a wedding yesterday.
We drove into Vegas on Friday to pick up the flowers at a floral warehouse. When we got there we found out that we had a flat tire. Luckily there was a Goodyear tire store across the street. I went over there and they found a screw in my tire. To make a long story short, we got it fixed and then went back to pick up the flowers.

There were buckets and buckets of beautiful flowers all over my kitchen. When people came to our door, they said our house smelled so good.

The bride picked hot pink, bright orange and green for the flowers. They looked so summery.

This is where it all came together.

I loved the colors.

Heidi made 10 table centerpieces, one guest book arrangement and a large centerpiece for the food table. She also made all the corsages, boutineers, bridesmaid bouquets and the bridal bouquet plus a throw bouquet.

Here is the bridal bouquet.

It's pretty in the pictures but not nearly as pretty as in person. She stayed up until 3:30 Saturday morning finishing everything. Everyone thought they were gorgeous. The bride even commented that she got more compliments on her bouquet than on her dress. Way to go Heidi. You did a fantastic job!

Announcing Katelyn Joy

Yesterday, August 20 at 11:50 AM we welcomed our newest grandchild, Katelyn Joy Bartle, to the world.

She weighed 6 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 inches long.

Heidi has had an extremely hard pregnancy, but now she's here it makes it all seem worth it. Thanks Heidi for your long endurance.

Garry is a proud papa!

Our Family Campout

Recently, we decided to do something that we haven't done in a long time. We decided to go camping! We went to Black Hawk Campground up Payson Canyon in Utah.

We reserved a campground in an equestrian campground.

What a beautiful place to ride horses.

We arrived on August 8, 2011.

The first thing we did when we arrived was set up camp.

We bought new cots and mattress pads. We were grateful for comfortable beds and we were grateful that we stayed warm.

We set up the porta privy,

our living room where we played games,

and our kitchen.

We were very crowded with two cars full of stuff, but when you consider that we brought up a whole house with a living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, it's easy to understand why we were so crowded.

We dutch oven cooked and also cooked on our propane stove.

From the beginning of thinking about going on this trip, we were kind of worried about bears. There have been several bear sightings and some bear attacks just this summer. The first night we were there, Heidi was awakened by an animal right outside the tent by her head. It made a kind of snorting, exhaling noise and then we heard it walking around on the sticks all around our tent. We could tell it was a large animal but we weren't sure what it was. It's a little hard to get back to sleep when you are afraid of what's out there. Well the next day, we were driving to Payson Lakes and about 2 1/2 miles from our camp we see a bear walking across the road. It stopped in this open field and then ran up into the trees. It's hard to see, but there is a black speck right in the middle of this picture and that is the bear.

After that exciting event, we got to Payson Lakes. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

There were lots of people canoeing, boating, and fishing.

We sat there thoroughly enjoying the beautiful scenery and the cool weather.

Here is one view of the mountain.

The last day, we packed up our tent and then drove the Nebo Loop to see a place called Devil's Kitchen. After we got to the place we had to hike up a trail and all of a sudden,

you see this beautiful sight! From the road no one would guess these gorgeous red formations were there because from the road you can't see anything but green.

This is a view of Mt. Nebo.

Mt. Nebo is the tallest mountain peak in the Wasatch Mountains (12,000 feet). It was breathtaking. As all fun things must come to an end, we will never forget this fun experience.