On the Shoulders of Giants

Referring to ancestors who have gone before us, my Dad likes to say "We stand on the shoulders of giants." This summer, we paid tribute to Aunt Gwen, a giant of a woman in a little body, who blessed and enriched our lives with her humor, compassion, straightforward talk and impeccable elegance. We were able to attend her graveside funeral service at the Salt Lake City Cemetery while we were on vacation in Salt Lake City. My picture of the casket seemed so impersonal, I didn't include it here.  We'll treasure our living memories of her and anxiously await our reunion on the other side.

After the funeral, we had lunch at Gwen's ward chapel.  It was great to mingle with relatives we hadn't seen for a long time.

We caught a photo of the two remaining "Giants" in the James and Sarah Dixon family - my father Ken (with my mother Dixie) and uncle Dick (with Aunt Norma).

After the luncheon, we drove back through the cemetery and visited the spot where Great, Great Grandfather Archibald Gardner was buried, with some of his wives.  More "Giants" upon whose shoulders we stand!

The Nativity

Every year on Christmas Eve, we read the story of the birth of Christ from the books of Luke and Matthew in the New Testament as we celebrate the miraculous birth of the Savior of the World.  Each year, the actors are a little bit different, depending on the age and availability of our children and grandchildren.

This year, Dave and Rachel were Joseph and Mary, with baby Iris blissfully acting as Baby Jesus.

Holly was the lone shepherd who came to the stable as instructed by angels.

Three wise men, Eve, Devlin and David, soon joined the Baby Jesus to offer their precious gifts.

I can still remember my Dad reading this wonderful story each Christmas Eve when I was a little boy.  We can only hope that our grandchildren will continue the wonderful tradition.

More family holiday photos are on Mark's Flicker page.

Christmas Eve Dinner!

Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve with a wonderful family dinner at our home. Our dining room table comfortably seats only ten people, so Mark built a seven foot extension with folding legs to enlarge our eating space accommodate all sixteen of us at once.

Claudia found great Christmas themed plates and created great decorations.

But the best thing was the food! We all put any dietary goals on hold and stuffed ourselves accordingly.

More family holiday photos are on Mark's Flicker page.

Merry Christmas!

Mentos and Diet Coke

When we begin gathering as a family at Grandma and Grandpa Dixon's home in Jerome last July for our family reunion, the teenagers wandered down to the corner grocery store and came back with the makings of a real science experiment - a couple of six packs of Diet Coke and a generous supply of Mentos. The combination of Diet Coke and Mentos causes a wonderful chemical reaction, which is explained on Wikipedia as the "nucleation-site theory - the surface of the mint Mentos is littered with many small holes, allowing CO₂ bubbles to form very rapidly and in great quantity, in turn causing the jet of foam."

At the request of another Flickr photographer, the following photo is now part of the Planet Mentos group pool of photos.

The initial trials led to all sorts of interesting experiments.

Ryan proved that he couldn't keep Diet Coke and Mentos in his mouth at the same time!

The moral? Eat, drink and be merry - but not Diet Coke and Mentos at the same time!

Standing Around with the Family

Reaching back into the summer, here are couple of memorable photos from the Dixon family reunion. They bring new meaning to the phrase, "just standing around."

I love standing around with these folks!

Twin Falls Temple - Eternal Dixon Family

Finally, here are some photos of the Dixon clan when we gathered after the Twin Falls Temple open house. You can view more photos in Mark's Flickr photo set for the occasion.

"Oh, Ken!"

Wedding! Rachel Redd and Brandon Hepworth

This is a bit late, but we thought you would enjoy a few memories from the trip Mark and Claudia took to Idaho Falls to attend the wedding of Rachel Redd and Brandon Hepworth in the Idaho Falls Temple on April 12, 2008.

Grandpa and Grandma Dixon started it all with their marriage in this temple in September, 1950, commencing a long tradition of temple marriage and temple worship in the Dixon family.

Mark was endowed in this temple in September, 1972. Mark and Claudia were married in the Salt Lake Temple in August, 1976 - almost 32 years ago. It was great to be back in the Idaho Falls Temple. Our last attendance here was at Chad and Becky's wedding many years ago.

Derek Romer, DeAnn's son, is contemplating which lucky girl will stand here with him one day!

Several more photos taken at the temple and the subsequent reception are included on Mark's Flickr set, Rachel's Wedding. You can see some more fun photos on the Rach Bec Hep and Redd Family blogs.

God Bless and Good Night!

Happy Birthday, Eve!

Eve's two year birthday will be March 4th (same day as Great Grandma Dixon's birthday), but we celebrated yesterday with a small family party at Dave and Rachel's home.

Eve looks like a beautiful princess, even though she isn't sure she wants that funny thing on her head!

One of her favorite gifts was a telephone fit for a princess.

Dad helped her blow out the birthday candles on the cake Granny made ...

... and Eve's brother and cousin joined in the fun!

More birthday party photos are on Eve's Birthday Party Flickr set.

Good night, and God bless!

Happy Birthday, Ryan and Rachel!

Sunday night dinners are always great at our house. Always good food, good people and good conversations. Celebrating birthdays or other special events adds to the fun.

Tonight, we celebrated Ryan's and Rachel's birthdays which had occurred during last week.

Ryan got a real kick out of a T-shirt with an "inside joke" on the front.

Rachel emphasized the value of a cash birthday gift. She is saving up for a pair of prescription sunglasses.

Devlin coached Ryan on how to blow out the candle on the chocolate pie Granny made.

Chloe modeled her new outfit for us. Isn't she pretty?

Eve eyes sparkled for Grandpa ... and melted his heart.

Thanks for celebrating with us. A bit more "joy and rejoicing" in our posterity. You can see more photos on Mark's Flickr page.

Good night and God Bless!

Cousins Week!

It has been great this week to have Heidi and her boys visiting us from Oregon. It gave the cousins a chance to get to know each other and have little adventures together. This photo op was one adventure too many for Chloe. She definitely didn't want to get her picture taken!





On a memorable adventure to the mall, Granny bought matching Cars shirts for the boys. The shirts seemed to inspire goofiness in Zach and Tyler as the boys played in the back yard together.





It looks like Chloe may inherit Granny's love of gardening!





Eve discovered the pleasures of hitting a baseball!





Last Sunday night, we all accompanied Eric to the church, where he gave a fireside about his experiences in Mongolia. Claudia and Mark wore the Mongolian dels we got for Christmas. Eric brought other outfits so the youth could get a photo taken wearing Mongolian clothing. Our favorite photo was Gavin in a Mongolian hat. Proud warrior in miniature!





We posted several more photos on Mark's Flickr page.

Thanks for stopping by. Good night, and God bless.

Puzzling New Years

What would New Years Eve be at the Dixon home without a puzzle? Claudia started this one about 10pm on New Years Eve. Mark helped to get the border in place before he fell asleep. Eric, Ryan and Holly contributed after they returned from their respective New Years festivities. Claudia and Mark put the final pieces in place after they awoke on New Years Day.





The house has been appropriately "de-Christmased." The corner where the Christmas tree stood is bare ...





... and the decorations are neatly tucked back in the closet. It was quite a puzzle just get them back in place!





So, there you have the sum total of our spectacular photography this week. Things are pretty much getting back to normal after the holidays. Mark, Eric and Ryan are back at work. Holly is back in school and starting some intense practice for the upcoming production of The Music Man at Taylor Junior High. Claudia is immersed in Young Women stuff. Dave and Rachel returned with their kids from their Dalton family excursion to California. Myron and Angie are in withdrawl because their high def TV had to go to the shop for repairs. Amy got back from her visit home during the holidays, but went to San Diego this weekend. Claudia accompanied Dave and Rachel as they sang "Come, thou Fount of Every Blessing" at a stake fireside tonight. Mark heads back on the road tomorrow, just in time to miss three family birthdays. Yep, our "un-eventful life" is pretty much back to normal.

If you haven't checked lately, you can see more family photos (from previous weeks) on Mark's Flickr page.

Good night, and God bless!

Relaxing on a Sunday Afternoon

We couldn't leave you with just photos of our inanimate bathroom on a Sunday afternoon. We thought you might want a glimpse of our family members as well.

Ryan is obviously enjoying himself ...





... as Claudia prepares dinner ...





... and Mark sits behind the camera admiring the flowers, thinking of how good the food is going to taste!





Please visit our Flickr Photostream for more shots.

God bless you, and good night!

Belated Bathroom Photos

We finished our bathroom remodeling project a few months ago, but finally Mark got around to taking some photos. It's certainly not the best photography in the world, but it will give you an idea about what things look like. The color scheme is actually light green, white and grey, not just all dreary grey. We really enjoy the beadboard look.

After 17 years of living in this house, Claudia and Mark have "His and Hers" lavatories. Very handy when we are in a hurry to get ready for church!





We love our shower, with an overhead rain head, plus a more conventional shower head on the side.





Claudia hung nice curtains on the window.





Some more photos of the bathroom and our new bedroom furniture are on Flickr.

God bless you, and good night!

Music and Memories

The highlight of our last week was attending Holly's choir concert. She thrilled us all with her great solo part. It was scary for her, but she did a great job.



Claudia and Mark have been home from Oregon for over a week, but still have great memories of being with Heidi's family. We miss those little guys!



Eric was a great friend to Tyler and Zach. They hated so see him come home.



For more photos, visit Mark's Flickr page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to our World, Gavin Bartle!

Last Friday, Heidi gave birth to her third son, our sixth grandchild. What a miracle birth is! Mark likes to say that God has shared with us his greatest power - the power to create life. We are also grateful for the sealing power that binds us together.

Heidi sent the following photo last Saturday. What a cute little guy!

The Dixon Digest Rebirth

Welcome folks, to the new Dixon Digest, brought to life in the blogosphere! After long lapses between Dixon Digest issues, Mark decided that a new format was necessary to ease the process of preparing photos and publishing the DD. The new plan is this:

1. At least weekly, Mark will post a few photos to this blog (http://dixondigest.blogspot.com).

2. In addition to the photos shown in this blog, we invite you to visit Mark's Flickr photostream, where he will post several other photos of the family.

3. If you click on any photo in this blog, you will be taken to the Flickr page for that photo, where you can download any resolution you would like.

4. Mark will send a copy of the weekly blog post to the Dixon Digest email list. If you want to be added to the list, please send Mark an email.

5. An archive of the "old style" Dixon Digest is still available if your would like to look back over time.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

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So, here we go for the inaugural post ...

The big event in November was the return of Eric after a two year mission to Mongolia. We had a delightful time welcoming him at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport the day after Thanksgiving.





We celebrated Eric's 21st birthday a month late after we returned home from the airport.





In somewhat unrelated news, Holly got attacked by the mysterious rubber chicken that seems to turn up in all sorts of interesting places. After Mark brought the chicken home from a trade show, it just seemed to find its way into Claudia's makeup drawer, under Ryan's pillow, into the glovebox of the car, and into Eric's bed the night he got home. Wonder where it will show up next?





So ... please let us know what you think. We'll tweak things now and then, and hope to be more regular on informing you about the happenings in the Dixon household.