Grammy Jo and Bampa

The Sollenberger Classic

2012-02-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

I realize that it's February and I am just now blogging about August, but I am trying to get caught up. I know it would be easier to just start from now, but I can't. That just seems wrong. So here goes.

Football started early this year because we were invited to play in the Sollenberger Classic in Arizona. It was pretty exciting because we got to play in this stadium.

It's the University of Phoenix Stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play.

We stayed at the Arizona Biltmore, a ritzy hotel that was build in the 1920's or maybe 30's, not quite sure. It was a really cool hotel where all the movie stars and famous people used to stay, and it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Lexi was visiting us, so she got to come with us, and Hill and Keith and the kids came and visited us each day and took advantage of the really awesome swimming pool right outside our door.

We had so much fun swimming with the kids. There was a really cool slide that everybody loved, but it took me and Finley a while to appreciate it.

You can tell Sareny is having a great time!

The first night we had an exclusive tour of the stadium, which would have been much more enjoyable if I hadn't developed blisters on my heels from all the walking (in my new shoes I bought when all the wives went shopping). Still, it was really interesting and lots of fun.

Here we are in the Cardinal's team room.

That night they had a banquet for us and the speaker was Randall McDaniel, former Arizona State and Vikings player. Afterwards Lexi met him and had him sign her T-shirt. The next day we went swimming again, and then it was time for the big game. We were able to get tickets for Hill and Keith and the kids and it was fun to have them come. We played an Arizona school called Show Low. They were supposed to be a really good team, nationally ranked and all, but we beat them! It was really a fun game and cool that we won.

Here are a few game pictures.

The cheering section. Our son-in-law's dad, also named John Ronquillo, was supportive and came to watch the game with us. I thought it was really nice of him.

Winning this game was really fun. It felt like winning state or something (almost!)

It was a fun weekend, and even more fun because we got to share it with Lexi and Hill and Keith and the kids. Plus it's always fun to win!

The Fallstom's Visit

2011-12-14T20:39:00.000-08:00

Hillari and the kids came for a visit in August and we spent the day in Las Vegas going to the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus. It wasn't quite Disneyland, or even Lagoon, but the kids had fun and that's all that matters.

They were just so cute riding on all the rides. Finley loves carousels, so she was happy on this one.

Isn't Isaac so cute!

Okay, I'm having blogging problems, so now my captions will be at the bottom of the picture they are describing. This ride ended up being a favorite of Isaac and Sareny, but poor Finley got super scared on it. It was kind of a kiddie version of Tower of Terror. Fin tried to be brave but ended up crying through most of it. We felt so bad for her! The other two loved it and went on it again and again.

The ever popular bumper cars.

After we left the Adventure Dome, we went to the Belagio to take the kids to see the fantastic gardens they have there.

This picture is kind of dark, but the gardens are really quite fabulous.

After that we took them outside to watch the water show, which is short but very cool.

These kiddos always have to have a bubble bath in Grammy's big tub.

Then came the infamous disaster of the Ranger Ride gone bad. We went to the Virgin River and got super douper stuck in the mud. We had to get creative and get arm loads of bushes for traction.........

and come up with this ingenious lifting system so I could shove the bushes under. We worked really hard, but what really got us out was Isaac saying prayers and asking for divine intervention! He was so cute, and said a prayer immediately when we knew we were stuck.

Then we managed to have some fun, including a water fight!

We had lots of fun while they were here for their visit. We took the kids to the Winnie the Pooh movie and swimming at the pool. We loved having them visit and doing some fun things with them before the whole back to school business started up again!

On to Utah for a Visit

2011-11-13T09:31:00.001-08:00

Cassidy wanted to go for a visit to Utah to see Grandma and Grandpa and also visit Jake, Liz, and Lexi before she traveled back to Hawaii.First we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Quarnberg's and Grandpa took Truman for a ride in his great big tractor, which Tru loved, though he was a little scared at first.

Grandpa has a ranch, and he loves to take the grandkids to see his cows and horses when they visit.

Grandma and Grandpa with Truman.

A favorite picture

On the way to Jake and Liz's we decided to stop at Yuba Dam and see how much water was coming over the spillway, which hadn't happened for 20 or more years, because of the huge spring melt.

The first thing we decided to do after arriving at Jake and Liz's was to go do a tour of the Kennecott copper mine. It was pretty amazing. This picture shows just how huge the tires are on the trucks that are as big as houses that haul the ore up from the bottom of the mine.

The mine is so huge it is mind boggling. You can see the little tiny dots down in the bottom that are the trucks.

Those trucks looks like toys!

Jake, Liz, Josh, and Charlie

Grandpa showing Truman the trucks.

Three little boys needed a bath after spending the day at the copper mine.

The next day, while Jeff and Jake went golfing, we took the boys to Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was really fun for the boys with lots to do, and really beautiful. Here's Josh and Charlie in the maze we got kinda lost in.

Truman "riding" a bear!

There was a little stream with wooden "boats" for the kids to float down the water. I think they had the most fun here.

Liz helping Josh with his boat.

Cute little Charlie

These two little boys had so much fun!

Then it was off to play in the splash pool.

Tia Lexi read them a bedtime story.

Liz has been wanting to take us to Gardner Village for a long time, so the next day we went there. I loved it! There were so many cute and fun stores. But we soon learned shopping with three little boys is not very fun. I guess their parents already knew this, but I had forgotten. We still had fun though.

We had such a fun time at Jake and Liz's, but all too soon it was time to go. On the way home we stopped again at Mom and Dad's. We had fun taking Truman to the Petting Zoo at Dairy Queen.

We had another little photo session at Mom and Dad's. Their flower garden is always so beautiful.

Right before we left I wanted a picture of Cass and Truman with his Great Grandma and Grandpa.

We decided to make a stop at Grandma Keel's and see if she happened to be there, and to our delight, she was there. She spends most of her time in Oregon and only comes to Utah periodically, so we were glad we got to see her.

We finally spent a few days back at home, and this cute little picture is Truman having a "spit bath" in the kitchen sink.

Swinging in the back yard.

One last Ranger ride.

While Cass was here we wanted to do some sewing and crafting, and we were able to make lots of cute things in the time she was here. We had to utilize Truman's naps and stay up late at night to get our projects done, but we had lots of fun doing it. We tried finishing projects while Truman was around, and it was a disaster. He is a busy little boy and didn't want to be left out of the fun. This is a picture showing some of the fun hot pads, pouches, pin cushions and aprons we made. This cute apron is the one Cass made. Mine wasn't quite finished when we took this picture.

We also tried to exercise together when we could, and started P90X with some friends while Cass was here, when we weren't traveling all over. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed the whole visit, and it was pretty sad and lonely around here when they left to go home. We made some fun memories though, and had a super good time!

Cassidy and Truman's Visit Continued........

2011-10-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Truman loved playing in the little wading pool. But only for a short time, then he would get out and wander around, burning his feet on the hot sidewalk, and getting grass all over himself and not liking it.

Finding Nemo.

For the Keel Reunion we spent the day at Cove Fort. It was fun to see everyone, since we don't get to see them very often, and I was glad they got to see Truman too. Most of them had never met him.

After we got there, I discovered that my Uncle Donnie and his wife were serving a mission there, so that was pretty fun!

For some reason, maybe because we were so busy chasing Truman around, we didn't take very many pictures. But here's Cass and Lex..........not sure what they were trying to do.

Next it was off to Phoenix to visit the Fallstroms. Of course we stopped at our favorite In N Out Burger on the way.

It was Isaac's birthday the day we arrived, so he got to open presents as soon as we got there.

Cute little Isaac. Happy to you!

One of the things we did while visiting was go watch Isaac and Sareny at their gymnastics class. It was so fun to see them trying different things, and feeling good about themselves.

Isaac's class was a combination of gymnastics and karate so we got to see him doing both. It was super cute to see him trying to kick and do the karate moves.

Sareny really loves her gymnastics class, and is pretty good at it.

I'm sure she loved having us all there watching her!

Hillari lives in a neighborhood with the best swimming pool. We love to take the kids there, so that was one of the fun things we did.

Hillari's three kids are all like little fishes. They swim every day, and are getting pretty good at it, even Finley.

Bampa and Truman

Sareny spent quite awhile just snuggled up to me while I talked with Hill and her friend. For not being a very cuddley baby, Sareny sure likes to snuggle now.

This shows the huge bucket that periodically dumps a ton of water on you if you aren't paying attention. I personally hated when that happened. And so did Truman, so he is completely happy watching from a distance!

We had so much fun during our visit. We went to see Cars 2 on our last day there. Truman is still too young to really love movies, so he got a little naughty after awhile. But he did see enough to totally love "Light-Mean Queen" and "Mainer" as he pronouces them. We stopped at Walmart on the way home and I bought him a Lightning McQeen and Mater and they became his new favorite cars. We left to come home on Finley's birthday, so before we went to the movie she got to open her presents. She was so cute.

Bampa helping Finley color. She is the best little "color-er" there is! She will sit with paper and crayons for hours. And she's pretty good at it for her age.

Playing with Finley's Marble Works set.

Me and two of my girls. My eyes may or may not have been closed in this picture. I really can't tell, and don't care at this point. I just want to get caught up on posts by Christmas!

Cass and I had made 4th of July outfits for the kiddos, so we tried to get a cute picture of me Bampa and I with our grandkids, but it was pretty hard to get one with everyone looking at the camera.

We had such a fun time visiting with the Fallstroms. We always have fun at their house, and love to see them and the kids. Stay tuned for the final post of Cass' summer visit.........

Cassidy and Truman Come to Visit!!!

2011-10-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

We were excited to have Cassidy and Truman come to visit for five weeks while James was in Rhode Island at Officer Development Training for the Navy. We don't get to see them very often, so it was fun to see how Truman has grown. It was amazing how much he changed just in the five weeks he was with us! He loved Bampa's football hat.

And he loved a ride in Bampa's wheel barrow.

Cass and Tru got here around June 8th or so, and we wanted to have a hot dog roast before it got way hotter, so we cooked hot dogs and s'mores in the back yard. Tru loved them and ate at least three. Unfortunately, he got really sick during the night, and it was not pretty. We were hoping it was just too many hotdogs and not a flu bug because..............

We had planned a super fun trip to the happiest place on earth!

Lexi came down for the weekend, and we headed out. Sadly, right before we left Cass started feeling sick and we realized that Tru actually did have a flu bug............but what could we do but carry on? Poor Cass felt awful all the way to California. Fortunately the only other person to get it was me, and I had a much milder case of it. But the Keels would never let a little thing like the stomach flu ruin a trip to Dis! It was so fun to take Tru for his first time. He loved everything! (except Pirates of the Carribbean, which he hated.)

All but me squished into a tea cup.

Truman loved riding on Bampa's shoulders!

No doubt the highlight of the trip for Tru was meeting Mickey Mouse! He was in awe, as you can see.

Not to be out done, Lexi was pretty excited too!

After awhile, Tru wasn't quite so shy around the characters. He just ran right up and gave Pluto a big hug.

We lucked out and found a short line for Dumbo, so the kids hopped on it. Every kid has got to ride on Dumbo!

Truman in his new Mickey shirt with his "Mickey Buddy". We have a tradition of making Muddy Buddies when we go to Disneyland, and we call them Mickey Buddies instead. But since Cass was sick all the way there, then I was sick, we really couldn't enjoy our Mickey Buddies much, so we were pretty excited to eat them on the way home. Unfortunately when we opened the back of the car while loading stuff up, the Mickey Buddies fell out, the lid popped off, and they spilled all over the parking lot. We were so sad :( But the cute thing is, Tru heard us talking about "Mickey Buddies" so much that he called his stuffed Mickey toy his Mickey Buddy. So cute!

Well, bloggerland has decided that I can't download anymore pictures, so I guess this is the end of my Disney post! Can I just say, sometimes I hate blogging! Especially when things don't work right.

But as you can see, we had a great time. I'm so glad we got to go. In spite of sickness and spilled treats, and it being summer and crowded, we managed to have such a wonderful time together. We're already wondering when we can go back!

Gold Butte

2011-08-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I recently decided we should go see Gold Butte, since we have lived here for so long and never taken the time to go there and see what it looks like. We loaded up the Ranger on the trailer, and headed off. Yes, strangely enough, Big Red actually still runs AND pulls a trailer.

I wish I had a picture of me wrapped up in the dirty old blanket we found in the back of Big Red, that had been there for a few years. (I was desperate!) It was actually cold there!

Anyway, we discovered that Gold Butte is a pretty interesting place. Here I am in front of this huge sink hole, called Devil's Throat. It was really wide and deep, and kind of amazing.

There were lots of strange rock formations all over the place. Some of them looked like gigantic pebbles or river rocks stacked on top of each other.

It was lots cooler than these pictures make it look. These rocks aren't that big, but some of them were HUGE!

We had a picnic and drove all over the place and had a really fun day. And now we can say that we've been to Gold Butte.

A Fun (?) Visit

2011-07-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

One of Lexi's best friends from high school got married May 13th, so I went up to St. George for the wedding reception, since Lexi was a bridesmaid. Jeff was busy at a track meet, so we had talked about getting a motel room up there and spending the night in St. George, but in the end we decieded to come home and do some fun things here. Not that washing your car is fun, but both our cars needed it so bad, and Lexi actually wanted to! Plus it IS more fun when you do it together.

We washed both our cars, and then even though we were pretty tired and hot, the fun didn't stop there. Next we exercised! We really know how to have fun, right? Well, it actually was kinda fun. While Lexi did a cardio workout on the elliptical...........

I lifted weights, did push ups and ab work, then we swtiched. Again, it was fun to have someone to work out with.

Next we did manis and pedis. Here we are dipping our hands in the hot wax treatment. It really feels wonderful and makes your skin feel so soft.

My hand looks gi-normous, and kind of creepy, but believe me, this treatment is awesome.

After the nail painting extravaganza, Jeff got home and we all went to Sugar's for dinner. Always a treat the kids love when they come home to visit. Brings back lots of fun memories of going out to dinner there when they were kids. It was a very short visit, since Lexi had to go back the next day, but we really did have lots of fun together. Next time Lexi comes home maybe we can even vacuum out the cars and really detail them, maybe mop some floors............

Branding Day

2011-07-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's branding time again. Or at least it was, on May 7th (I'm a little behind as usual). Head 'em up, move 'em out! It's always a fun time when everyone who can, shows up at "The Ranch" for the day. It's like a big ol family reunion.

This year, Jeff even got to come for it, which he usually doesn't get to do. It might even be the first one he has gone to. Jake and Liz and their boys were also able to come down, as well as Lexi. Jeff couldn't dig in and help though, on account of his broken toes with the pins sticking out of them. But if I were him, I would be glad I had a good excuse NOT to get slobbered on, pooped on, or kicked, etc.

Josh showed up with his homemade sheild and sword. He is so creative and cute. Jake was the very same way, always making something out of a cardboard box and some duct tape. I guess you could say he was recycling or repurposing long before it was "cool".

My sweet Mom is always the shortest person in every photo. But when you're only 5' 1", I guess that's bound to happen. Liz and Josh stopped for a quick photo. The boys were pretty busy running around and stepping in fresh cow pies. Good times........

Lexi and Charlie.

More random pictures of the day.

Then it was back to the house for lunch. (the best part of the day!) Mom's potato salad is to die for.

Lindsay and Liz sharing stories.

Lexi and her Grandpa. Love this picture.

One tired Mama. Mom works hard to make sure all the food is just right, and it is a little stressful for her, but she still loves the day and has fun.

I love being with my family and going back to my hometown. Branding day is the best! I hope there are many more of these to come.

Spring Break In Georgia (and South Carolina!)

2011-07-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

For spring break again this year we went to Georgia to visit this cute kid (and his parents, of course.)

He has grown so much and changed a lot since we saw him at Christmas time. He has a new hair cut, which makes him look lots older. He is still only two, but seems older because he talks so much and so plainly. We flew in to Atlanta and took a shuttle to Holli and John's place. We immediately loaded up their car and took off for Charleston, South Carolina. We decided to spend a few days there seeing the sights. The first thing Holli did was buy a hat. I decided a while back that I would never sunburn my head again, so she decided she didn't want to either.

We had such a great time there. Charleston is a fun place to visit. There's lots to see and do. Rhys loved this water pad at Charleston Harbor.

This bridge was absolutely beautiful.

We went on a fun carriage ride through Charleston and saw all these wonderful, grand old southern homes. It was totally fun, and we had a good tour guide who told us lots of tidbits about each one.

Here are just a few of my favorites. There were lots more!

Okay, I'll stop now, though I could show you much more. I love these beautiful old homes! We wanted to do a ghost tour while we were there, but Rhys was too young for some of them. We decided to do the tour of the old city jail. It was pretty awesome, but at the same time a little gruesome..........none of us enjoyed the tales of brutality to the prisoners. It was a very old jail dating back to the civil war, so prisoners were not treated well there. Still, it was kind of fun when the lady doing the tour (who, by the way, was PERFECT for the job with her gravelly voice and scary demeanor) told some of the ghost stories of the place. Rhys seemed to enjoy himself and even laughed right in the middle of one of her stories! Here we are in front of the jail.

It really was a spooky old place!

All in all, a pretty weird tour, but I'm glad we did it. One has to do a ghost tour in Charleston!

The next day we went to Patriot's Point to tour the Yorktown Aircraft Carrier. Jeff loves this stuff, so he was in hog heaven.

Lots of steep, narrow stair ways.

Rhys sitting in the on board dentist chair. It was a pretty interesting tour, to see how the sailors lived on board a ship.

We only got half way through the tour of the Yorktown, when it was time to take the ferry over to Fort Sumter. Disaster struck here, and Rhys decided he had had enough of tours, and he threw a major tantrum (or several) at Fort Sumter. Hence, there are almost no pictures of Rhys at the fort.

After Fort Sumter, Holli and John decided to take Rhys back to the motel for some much needed down time (and maybe even a nap, if they were lucky) while Jeff and I finished touring the Yorktown. Out of all of us, I'm sure Jeff enjoyed this day the most.

Next day it was on to Boone Plantation, and this gorgeous and famous live oak lined drive. I loved it! This lane has been in many movies, including The Notebook and Last Song most recently.

This is the original slave quarters. Pretty small and grim. As many as 16 people lived in these appalling single rooms.

Rhys pretty much wallowed in the fireplace and got covered with cobwebs and moss.

We toured the plantation home and gardens. This isn't the original home, but was built in the 1930's, I believe.

The gardens were really beautiful.

Then it was off to Isle of Palms Beach. Had we known how much Rhys was going to love the beach, we would have saved more time for it, and we would have put our suits on. We all thought the ocean would be cold like it is in California, or even colder, since it was a cloudy day. But it wasn't. It was actually quite pleasant.

Rhys was so cute at the beach and loved it so much.

A fun day for Rhys, but sadly he fell asleep after the beach and didn't get his promised ice cream!

The next day we headed back to Georgia for a few days. Rhys is sporting his Handy Manny/Movie Star look.

I don't remember which morning it was, but one day Jeff accidentally slid down the stairs in a funky way and broke two toes, so we spent the morning in urgent care. He was a trouper for the rest of the vacation and hobbled along wherever we went, even though he was in pain and his foot was bruised and swelling. (After we got home he ended up having to have surgery on the toes, and pins inserted to hold them in place. Major mess.)

Went to this cute little town called Washington for an Easter picnic. It was such a fun day, and such a picturesque place. Holli and I in front of the town courthouse.

Out in front of the Robert Toombs home, which we toured. These old homes are quite interesting to tour. And since I LOVE old things, I always enjoy seeing how they lived and the things they used in their lives.

A cute little church we saw on our walking tour of the town. It was such a quaint little place. Holl and I both wanted to move there.

We had a picnic in the park and then headed for home.

I should apologize for such a long post, but we just had such a great time and saw so many things and places that I couldn't leave anything out. This will be our last trip to Georgia, since Holli and John will be moving to Chicago soon. We have loved the trips we have made there to visit them, and are excited to visit them Chicago in the future. We had so much fun, even with Jeff breaking his toes. Obviously that wasn't a fun part of the trip, but in spite of it, we had a great time. My most favorite moment of the trip was when I put Rhys to bed one night and as I lay next to him he grabbed me around the neck and snuggled up to me and fell asleep. So sweet. Thanks Holli, John and Rhys for having us, and making it so fun!

Visits With Lexi

2011-06-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

During the March Madness craze Lexi and her friend Dallas came down for the BYU basketball game on a Friday night. Unfortunately Jimmer couldn't pull this one off, and they drove all that way just to see the Cougs get beat. But I guess they still had fun. Especially since they came to our house after the game and we had dinner together. I had gotten a Bountiful Basket that day with an Asian pack, so I was excited to wow her and her friend with an exotic Asian dish. Everything was looking good, but when I added the fresh ginger, I just wasn't getting any ginger flavor. Now as many of you know, ginger is pretty strong, especially fresh. Well, the dish was really tasting kind of bland, so I kept grating more fresh ginger into it, with no results. Very strange. Anyway, the dinner was not as wonderful as I had envisioned, and we were all adding salt and pepper to jazz up the flavor a little. We had a nice evening, but I felt a little bad that the dinner was kind of a flop. It was only the next morning when I realized that I had been grating the Jerusalem Artichokes (which are pretty tasteless) that I had gotten a few weeks before in another Bountiful Basket, into my Asian dish! They look almost exactly like fresh ginger, so I didn't even realize what I was doing. In hindsight, I should have figured it out, but I was getting kind of flustered about the whole thing and was a little stressed trying to have everything perfect. It's pretty funny to think about now, and we all had a good laugh about it!

Then In April, Lexi and her roommate, Amanda came for the night on their way to Phoenix to participate in Pat's run. It seems like every year Lexi manages to come home either on her birthday, or close enough to it that we can have a little celebration. I let her pick the dinner menu and she chose steak so that's what we had. I tricked her and told her I didn't have time to make a cake, but there was a poppy seed bread left over from Christmas in the freezer that we could have. I could tell she was a little disappointed at that. So when I brought out her favorite cake she was pretty happy.

If anyone is wondering why there is a 4 candle on her cake, the reason is it was the only birthday candle I had in the house. Lame, I know. But she had to blow out something! A few weeks later I was cleaning out a drawer and found a whole box of candles...............typical.

So happy to you Lexi! I hope your birthday was fun, even though you had to have a stupid number 4 candle on your cake!

Scrap-A-Thon

2011-06-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Patty, Debbie, and myself met up at Patty's cabin again this year for our 4th annual Scrap-A-Thon IN APRIL MIND YOU, and this is how the weather was! Debbie and I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever, but Patty, who has been in snow country all winter, was not so enthralled. We spend most of our time inside scrapbooking, so that's why Debbie and I didn't mind.

It really was beautiful.

We tried to get a picture of all three of us together, but our arms weren't long enough!

I didn't take very many pictures this year, for some reason, but we ate a little chocolate (a lot!), scrapped, stayed up too late, ate at some yummy restaurants, and on the final night Patty made us the most delicious corned beef dinner! It was so yummy, and the whole weekend was a blast. We've got to figure out how we can make this a semi-annual event!

A Visit With the Grandkids

2011-05-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

The end of February we went to visit Hill and Keith for the weekend. I brought the kids each a stuffed turtle and they loved them. I tried to get a picture of them with their turtles, but it's harder than you think. Isaac wouldn't quit doing silly things with his, and of course Finley had to do whatever Isaac did.

There was a cute little book that went with the turtles, so I read that to them a few times.

Since it was sort of close to Sareny's birthday, and since we wanted to see her open her presents, we had a little pre-birthday party.

Sareny loves jump roping at school during recess, so we got her two jump ropes. A big long one that has to be turned by two people, and another for just her by herself. It took her a couple of weeks to master that one, but she did it. All weekend though, we had to turn the big long one so she could jump 24/7. It got to where we tied one end to the door knob so only one person would have to stand and turn.

We also gave her some "Twinkle Toes" boots (that girl loves boots!) where the toes have little sparkly lights that light up when you walk. She would hardly take them off all weekend. You can see them in the above picutre. If she did take them off, then Fin would run and put them on. She loved them too.

Hillari was in charge of a Ward freezer meal extravaganza, so Saturday morning we had over 20 women at her house making freezer meals. It was kind of fun, but tons of work. Hillari worked hard for several days chopping and doing some of the prep work. I got to meet some of the ladies from her Ward, and I got to make freezer meals too!

It looks like total chaos, but it was actually very well organized. Hill did a great job.

I hope I can get down there for the next one! It has been great to have something in the freezer for when you just don't feel like cooking.

We did some fun things like the paddle boats on the lake near their home, and we went to the sports bar and grill to watch BYU play, but I don't have any pictures of those activities. On Sunday we went to Church with them and then had to head home.

It was a fun, busy weekend. It's always fun when we go there. And the bonus this time was bringing home 4 or 5 freezer meals for later!

President's Day Weekend

2011-05-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

My sister and her husband came down for a visit President's Day weekend. We haven't gotten together for quite awhile, so it was a fun weekend. One of the things we did was take them to see the new bridge at Hoover Dam. It is an awesome sight. The pictures really don't do it justice.

You don't get the feel of how high the bridge is from pictures, but this will have to do. The wind was blowing pretty bad, so our hair was doing its own thing.

That white stripe behind us is the water mark of how far the lake has gone down in recent years. It may not look like that much, but in reality it is over 100 feet. It makes me sad.

This is a view of the dam from up on the bridge! We were able to walk across it, and this might give you more of an idea of just how high and majestic it is. We only walked half way across. That thing is LONG.

This seal marks the apex of the arch, or the half way point.

Since the bridge spans both Nevada and Arizona, it is named after a great person from Nevada and also one from Arizona. Our family really admires these two men, and since we have gone to Arizona and run in "Pat's Run" for the Pat Tillman Foundation, we have a special love for him.

We spent a fun day there and went out to dinner later. It was a nice weekend and I'm glad that Shell and Rand could come to visit us. I'm so grateful to have a sister. We often say we don't know what we would do without each other. We love our brothers, but sometimes you just need a sister!

Finally........

2011-05-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

I know everyone is wondering why I didn't keep my New Year's resolution to blog more often..........well, ask yourselves how many of you kept your's to exercise more or lose weight? I rest my case. I haven't kept those ones either. But about the blogging, we got a new camera for Christmas and JUST NOW got around to setting it up so I can download my pictures. I know, we stink.

So anyway........right after the holidays we took a quick trip up to see our parents. We had time to take my parents to Provo for dinner one night and took them to see Jake and Liz and their boys, and their sort of new house that my parents had never seen. Lexi came over too, and we all went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Yum! And thus began the first breaking of theNew Year's Resolution to lose weight..........
Here are a few pictures from that weekend:

Jeff and his Mom. We barely made it in time to visit with Mom and Frank for a day and a half. They were heading back to Oregon soon, so I'm glad we got to see them before they left.

We met Jake and Liz and the boys at Kangaroo Zoo, which is a fun place where the kids jump and run and play to their heart's content. Josh and Charlie were getting cabin fever, so they decided to take them someplace NOT cold and covered with snow to run and get the wiggles out. Here's Charlie trying to decide if he likes it or not. (He did!)

Me with my handsome son.

Josh totally loved it and had a blast.

Charlie got a little scared, but once he took the plunge, he loved it!

We got Josh to sit still long enough for a quick picture.

Me, Liz and Charlie

Me and my cute Mom. I'm so glad we got to spend a little time with them. I hate that we live far away from them and I don't get to visit them as much as I would like to (every day) but I am happy for the times that we do get to be together!

The Way We Were

2011-03-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

I haven't done one of my "The Way We Were" posts in ages, so tonight I decided to delight you with a couple that showcase Jeff's awesome plaid pants:

Admittedly these aren't too outrageous. In fact I remember buying them for him our first Christmas. This is us at the Manti Temple for my sister's wedding.

But these maroon beauties are my fav! The thing is, he only has socks on in the picture, but he had these "far out" and "totally groovy" (thought I'd throw that in since it fits with the nostalgia of these pictures....) platform shoes that were black and maroon that completed this ensemble. They were awesome, and made him a good three inches taller. As if he needed to be taller.......

A Christmas Story

2011-02-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

I guess it's time to do the Christmas post and get all caught up. Yay! I know it's February, and no one cares about Christmas anymore, but I need to document it. And this will most likely be a quick one because I kept forgetting to take pictures, and our camera flash wouldn't work, so no night time pictures..................
This year all the kids and grandkids were here, so we had lots of peeps, and lots of fun. Lexi got here first from BYU, then came Cass, James and Truman from Hawaii; the next day Holli, John and Rhys came from Georgia; the next day after that Hillari, Keith, Sareny, Isaac and Finley came from Arizona, and last came Jake, Liz, Josh and Charlie from Utah.

One of our Christmas traditions is a hike on Christmas Eve day. This year we went out to Valley of Fire for the hike. This is the Hawaiians, Cass, James and Tru.

Hillari, Me and Lexi.

Our hike was slightly less fun that it would have been, because part of it was under water after the rains we had been having. But it was still fun.

Bampa and Rhys.

Keith got in trouble with Grammy for hiking way too high and dangerous with the kiddos. But he claimed he knew what he was doing, and admittedly, no one got hurt. Guess I am just used to Jeff, who would never let our kids hike higher than 6 ft. (that may be a slight exaggeration, but not much!)

Aren't these two so darn cute! (Rhys and Finley)

The annual sugar cookie decorating extravaganza.

Three cute girls.

There were lots of Ranger Rides.

And lots of trips to the park for some fun.

Liz and Charles.

Josh loved the slides.

A rare picture of Rhys smiling! It's not that he doesn't ever smile, just not for the camera.

Even some of the big kids had fun at the park!

Of course there was lots of good food.

Happy kids

Sad kids

Snuggly kids

Lazy kids - just kidding, nobody was really lazy but you gotta kick back once in awhile.

And the best reinactment of the Christmas story ever! Originally there were not this many adults in the production, but the kids started dropping like flies, so the adults had to fill in. As you can see, we had a busy, fun filled holiday. We love our family and friends so much and were so happy they could all be here with us.

Thanksgiving Arizona Style

2011-01-25T21:45:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving Lexi came home and we headed to Hillari and Keith's new house. We left on Tuesday night so we could go to Sareny's school for a picnic on Wednesday.

All the kids were there with their families, and it was pretty fun to see her friends and school.

Lexi is so good to her neices and nephews. They are lucky to have her for an Auntie.

After we ate, the kids had fun playing on the playground. Sareny ran off to the "big kid" playground at first, and Isaac didn't want to play on the "baby" one. But before we knew it, they were all on the "baby" one, which looked pretty fun to me.

Pretty sure this little cutie was having a good time.

My favorite first grader.

And sadly, this is what comes of giving gum to Isaac on the way home. I'm afraid I will have to fess up that it was me who gave it to him! I knew he wasn't allowed to have gum in the house, but as soon as we got in the car he started begging for it. So I caved. But I learned my lesson. At least he didn't get it in anybody's hair!

One last picture of the picnic. After we got home from that we discovered that I had forgotten to bring my shirts that had been hanging by my suit case, so of course we had to make a run to Kohl's to get me something to wear. (This is a pretty good trick ladies, when you want some new stuff!) We made pies that night and got a few other things ready for the big feast day.

Hill and Fin getting the table ready with the cute name cards they had made.

Lexi taking a break from doing Sareny's hair (and makup! She begged, and Lexi or maybe Hillari, caved) and helping the kids make crafts of turkeys and tee pees for decoration.

Jeff making his yummy deep fried turkey.

Carving the yummy deep fried turkey. We all kept snitching tastes, at the peril of losing a finger when he threatened us.

The cooks take a break to pose.

Waiting patiently.......

We had such a delicious dinner we couldn't eat dessert, so we went for a nice walk around the lake near Hillari's house. It was so pretty at night, and we figured we walked off enough that we could have pie when we got home. Then we pored over the newspaper deciding where we were going to head to first for Black Friday, which is a tradition when we go to Hill and Keith's for Thanksgiving. Jeff and I opted for starting at 3:00 am, but Hill, Keith and Lexi stayed up all night to go to Toys R Us and maybe Walmart, I can't remember. They came back at 3:00 and woke us and the kids (yeah, we took the kids. Can you imagine??) but in reality they were excited to go and were pretty good too. Plus none of us wanted to stay home with them and miss out on the fun (!?!) Wish I had some pictures of that, since I'm sure we were a little scary looking, but no more so than all the other crazies.

We all took naps after the shopping bru ha ha, then the guys went golfing, we had dinner, and popped popcorn and watched a movie. Saturday morning we took the kids to see "Tangled" before we had to pack up for home. Before we left, Bampa taught Sareny how to ride her bike with no training wheels! She was pretty excited. We also took turns riding on Hill and Keith's new bikes. They got some great deals on them on Friday.

Hillari with her sweet bike. I want one!

When we got home we put up the tree so Lexi could help decorate it with us. Lexi and I have a long time tradition of stringing popcorn for the tree while watching Little Women and Prancer, two of my favorite Christmas movies. The only way we could fit it in was to do it on the way to and from Hillari's. So we strung popcorn and watched our movies in the car. It was actually pretty fun.

The Thanksgiving weekend was very fun filled and we were thankful that we could be togther with some of our family for the holiday. Thanks Hill and Keith for a great time!

Time For A Change..........

2011-01-10T21:24:00.000-08:00

Is everyone as sick of seeing the same post on our blog as I am? I'm sure the answer is yes, and I vow to blog more frequently this year. My goal is to blog more often, and not necessarily include a jillion pictures, since that is the time consuming part. We'll see how I do with my resolution...........
Anyway, here are the highlights of the last few months. We went to San Diego right after we got back from Maui, and here's the proof: This is Jeff at the Padres game we went to.

And here's me at the newly renovated Mormon Battalion. It was was really cool and we were glad we got to see it.

We of course had a wonderful time in San Diego, but eventually we had to come home and school started and life got busy and hectic again.

The next event I want to highlight was on October 1st......

The football field and stadium was dedicated to Jeff at the football game that night! All the kids were able to be here for it, except for James. Both sets of parents came, and most of Jeff's sibblings. We all felt that Jeff's Dad, who would have been so proud, was there with us as well. It was really a wonderful dedication to a great guy, who has given so much of himself to the students and athletes at MVHS.

I'm so proud of my fantastic husband! It's hard to believe we have been doing this for all these years, and still going strong! He's been coaching football and track out on this field every year for 36 years, and I've been in the bleachers supporting him.

Here's a picture of the whole crew waiting for the unveiling of the sign, and the touching dedication read by Principal Grant Hanevold. What a great night, and one we won't ever forget.

I'm so grateful that this many family members could be there for their Dad, Son, Brother, and Uncle. It meant a lot to him.

Maui Part II

2010-11-14T16:26:00.000-08:00

I really don't like reliving our summer in the middle of November.............makes me wish we were back on Maui! I want to get caught up once and for all and actually post things when they happen. Novel idea.

Here are Cass, James and Truman at the lava tube.

Did I mention how cute this kids is? I love his cute little smile.

I mean, seriously? He was such a joy. Even when he was tired and cranky, he was pretty darn good.

Cute little family on our last day on Maui. We tried to go to one last beach before leaving, but it was way too windy. We flew from Maui to Oahu to spend some time at Cass and James' place.

One of the first things we did was to visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. We didn't get in to see it when we were there last December, so we made sure to send James down early for tickets. Thanks James! We had seen it years ago when we came to Hawaii in 1985, but wanted to see it again and take our time. We were rather rushed the first time around.

I felt like I was on sacred ground, and indeed I was. If not for some very noisy tourists in our group, the visit would have been very spiritual.

Jeff got to see everything for as long as he wanted. No rushing.

Isn't this a beautiful beach? Luckily Cass and James have learned where the best (and least touristy) beaches are.

I did not want to go kayaking! James and Jeff talked me into it. I thought it would be so scary, but it wasn't! I actually really enjoyed it. There was a little island we went out to and got out to see, but it was volcanic and hurt our bare feet. We kayaked back to shore and let Cass and James go out. They came back and said we needed to take our flip flops and go back out and walk around the island, so we did. There was a little pool on the side of the island that we swam in. We walked all the way around the island and saw lots of birds, since it was a bird preserve, then we decided we better get the kayak back. It was so fun!

On our last day there, we took a walk around Ala Moana before heading to the airport. That's Diamond Head in the background.

We have loved Hawaii since we were there in 1985, and Jeff always said he wanted to go back. Now he is getting his wish. We have fallen in love with the place, and hate to leave.

Of course maybe our not wanting to leave has something to do with this little guy and his parents. Boy do we miss them! But it sure is fun to go visit them. Thanks guys for helping to make this such a memorable trip!

Maui

2010-10-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

After our trip to Phoenix we got on a plane and headed to Maui to meet Cass, James and Truman at a friend's condo. They flew over there from Oahu. We had so much fun. The condo was in a great location near restaurants and shopping, and best of all, right on the beach. Cass and James had brought their book with all the best places to see, and we spent very little money and saw some really awesome things. It was a trip to remember, for sure. I have tons of pictures, so I will try to condense it down a little.

First of all, in all my excitement I forgot to use the bathroom at the airport, and anyone who knows me knows I would have to be totally desperate to use a porta potty. But desperate times call for desperate measures, so here I am at the dreaded porta potties.

Our first stop was at the Iao Needle and gardens, a very short but beautiful hike.

Truman warmed up to us a little quicker this trip. And of course he loved Bampa!

On our way to dinner, walking along the beach we saw this gorgeous sunset, and for once Dad can't claim to have taken a wondrful picture. I did this one! We ate at Leilani's, where we were introduced to Hula Pie. After that we became addicted to it, and wanted it all the time. We're talking amazingly delicious. We held ourselves back and only had it a couple more times though.

The view from our balcony:

Swimming at one of the great pools at the condo.

We hiked to some semi-secret tide pools that were really cool and saw sea cucumbers, a gobi fish, crabs and sea urchins. It was great fun.

This was taken on the road to Hana where we saw lots of beautiful waterfalls and went on some little hikes that were fun.

This little boy was so cute and so good.

This is called Chings Pond where some local show-offs dive off a cement platform by the bridge for the entertainment of the tourists.

Jeff, Cass and James did a less scary jump off a ledge lower down. Still scary though. I wouldn't do it!

Everything was so lovely.

We went to this really cool black sand beach. It was weird, you couldn't actually call it sand, it was more like gravel, but I thought it was the prettiest beach we went to.

At the entrance to a lava tube at the beach.

The last thing we did that day was hike this bambo trail before heading back to the condo. It was a really cool hike, but there were lots of mesquitos. They didn't bother me too much, but Truman had to be wrapped in a towel.

Well, this post is getting too long, so I think I'll call it part I and do a sequel in a few days. Obviously I didn't do so good with only putting a few pictures. It's so hard when you have so many, and on a trip like this you take lots. Especially when there is a cute boy around!

Another Catch-Up Post

2010-10-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, if you recall I only got as far as July in my last post (not counting the TGIF one I just did), so I need to hurry and get caught up. During July we did lots of traveling so I will try to compress it all into a few pictures because it just takes too long to download them! The second week in July Jeff had football camp in Utah, so I went as far as Mom and Dad's and spent the week with them. Shell came down also and we had so much fun sewing and cooking together, and even got a little shopping in.

We helped Mom make some baby blankets for the new great grands she will be getting soon.

Mom mentioned that her new Temple dress was too long so I hemmed that up for her. I can't believe we had my 80 year old Mom standing on a chair. Probably not very smart......

Here we are with all the cute blankets we made.

Mom had a gift certificate for a manicure so we took her to Richfield to get her nails done. She had never had one before! She really liked it, and was so proud of her pretty nails. I always love spending time with my Mom and Dad, and wish I could do it more often!

The next week after getting home from Utah we headed to Phoenix to help Hill and Keith get moved into their new home and paint, but mostly we were there to tend the kids while they did all the hard work.

Some of the pictures are a little blurry. We need a new camera. But aren't these yahoos cute? We went on a little hike up to this thing that is at the start of their nice new subdivision. It was quite a pretty hike.

Little Finney with her Bampa.

We took the kids swimming a couple of times, and Hill came with us one of the times, since they had no power, so we couldn't paint or clean the carpets like we had planned. Oh darn!

We took the kids to see "Toy Story 3" which we have been needing an excuse to go see. We helped as much as we could, but could see that they were in a mess that would take a few weeks to finish up and felt bad to leave them. The new house is very nice, and so much bigger than their old one. They are going to love it, if they ever get it all painted!

TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Fall)

2010-10-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

Finally it has cooled off a little. Yay for Fall, my favorite time of year! We don't really get much of a Fall around here, so we have to have "fake" ones like this:

And this:

We kind of have to create our own little Fall-ness. Sad huh?

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

2010-09-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

In lieu of Christmas presents this year for all of you, we got a new air conditioner/heat pump when ours went out in the middle of the hottest summer ever. Here are some pictures so you can enjoy your gift. You will also appreciate it when you come to visit.

We had to hire a crane to place it on the house. I kept thinking how much the grandkids would love watching this. Especially Isaac and Josh.

Seriously, this was a very expensive little purchase. Am I kidding about it instead of presents? You'll just have to wait and see!!!!

JUNE........ the rest of the story

2010-09-05T14:58:00.000-07:00

In mid-June we went with the Young Women in our Ward to Manti to do baptisms for the dead, and to see the pageant. We had such a great time. The previous October we had challenged the girls to read the book of Mormon by June right before we were to go to the pageant. Jeff and I both were abe to do it, and it made the pageant so much more meaningful and special because we had just read about all those things. Here we all are in front of the Temple. (the one Jeff and I were married in, by the way.) Patty and Bob were gracious enough to let all the crew stay at their cute little "farm". I wish I would have taken some pictures of their cute place, but I didn't. They took all of us to lunch and bought pizza for everyone. Someday I hope to be as generous and kind as they are!

Jeff and I went back to the Temple the next day after the Young Women left to go home, and did a session, since we were staying up there with Mom and Dad and then heading to the Q. Reunion. We always love to do a session there in the summer and remember our wedding day........

Next came the annual Don and Phyllis Quarnberg Family Reunion Extravaganza! These are the two people who started it all: my parents, who I love dearly.

One of the highlights of the weekend together was the "Dutch Oven Cook Off." Some of us aren't that into dutch oven cooking, so it was stretch for us. Jeff and I were assigned to cook some kind of bread. Rod and Kim's kitchen began to resemble an episode of "Iron Chef" as we all started scurrying around yelling for stuff, or calling for the time.

These peeps were assigned to do a main course. They came up with the winner, actually. It was pulled pork sandwiches on scones, with a really yummy sauce Matt mysteriously called "gold sauce."

Me and my baby brother, Rod.

Jeff and the guys monitoring the dutch ovens. I'm thinking maybe we should dutch oven more often. Anything that gets the guys to do the cooking!

Here is mine and Jeff's finished product. Yummy rolls filled with garlic and cheese we dubbed "Pirate Rolls." Is anybody surprised at that name? They were a big hit and we won the bread division! Of course there were only two entries, but still.

The panel of judges tasting all the entries and rating them.

Everybody had plenty to eat, and then we sat around and talked and enjoyed each other's company.

Dal and Dad each read an original cowboy poem, and then Dad played his harmonica, which is always a treat. I think we all realize he won't always be around to play for us, and that makes it even more precious. I took some pictures of that, but they are on another camera and I can't get the pictures.

Lexi was the only one of our kids who could make it this year, which was a bummer, but we still had fun. We always enjoy being with her, and she still loves to be with us, which makes us happy. Here she is spending some special time with her Grandma.

Another highlight is always the day spent at the new K-Town pool. It really is one of the funnest pools I've seen.

Most of the adults didn't swim, so here they all are, huddled around a big umbrella trying to stay cool.

We found some shade with a back rest!

Well, all too soon the weekend came to a close. We always have so much fun together. Rod and Kim have been so good to host the thing every year for the last 10 years or so. It has always been a ton of work for them, so this is the last year we will hold it at their house. Hopefully we can find someplace as fun for next year! Thanks Rod and Kim for everything you have done for us all!

A Visit From the Fallstroms Minus 1

2010-08-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hillari had a class reunion June 12, so her and the kiddos came down for the weekend. Keith stayed home to work on the packing and preparing of their present home for a renter, since they have bought a new home and will be moving into it in July. It was nice to have some time with Sareny, Isaac and Finley, and HIllari of course. The kids love to come for visits, and they especially beg to go for "Wanger Wides." So Saturday morning we took them on the Wanger Wide to end all Wanger Wides! Seriously, it was so long that they even said they just wanted to go back to our house. They never do that! Jeff isn't known for short ranger rides, so they are used to some pretty good rides, but this one one super long. We took them out to Redrock, and by the time we hiked around a little and took some pictures, it was a pretty long time. And of course it didn't help the situation that Bampa was teasing them all the way home, pretending to take the wrong road at every turn and scaring them that we were lost, and were going to have to build a little rock house in the desert to live in. I think they mostly knew he was teasing, but weren't quite sure............

Sareny and Isaac posing by the hieroglyphics. The picture doesn't really do them justice. They are pretty cool. Isaac was totally scared. He doesn't like heights.

They were so cute sitting in this little cave.

Jeff and Finley. Redrock is so beautiful. And until we got the ranger, I had never seen it!

I love this picture, even though Finley doesn't look too happy. Isaac was trying to be a good brother, but I think Fin thought he was trying to hold her down, which he kind of was.

Finney is just so cute though. The spring flowers were still kind of blooming and it was quite pretty. At the end of this long ride we had three very tired kids. Sareny actually fell asleep on the couch later on.

Sareny finally got to open her birthday presents! She was very happy to get two Liv dolls, and some new Sunday shoes from Grammy and Bampa.

Liv dolls are Sareny's new favorite thing. They are pretty darn cute, and seem much funner than Barbie. They have different wigs you can put on them!

Finley found a "baby" to take care of, so she was happy.

Isaac got to open his presents a little early rather than late. His birthday isn't until the end of June, but we knew we wouldn't see him, so we let him open his too. I wish I could be there for every single Grandkid's birthday, but that is never going to happen as long as they are so scattered around the country. So we do the best we can!

Isaac spent most of the weekend begging (I'm not kidding!) to take a bath or shower. He loves my big jetted tub, and my big shower with a hand-held shower head that he can mess around with. Sadly, no one had time for him to have as many as he would have liked, (it's not like you can turn him loose. My bathroom would be flooded!) so I promised him next time he comes he can bathe and shower to his heart's content. We did manage to have a very nice weekend with them, and look forward to the next time they can visit!

They Did It!

2010-08-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

I think we are home to stay for awhile now, so it's time to continue the blog-catching-up. Pathetically I am now caught up to June.......... So here is what happened early in June: Right after graduation on June 3 we headed to the Grand Canyon for Jeff's big Rim to Rim hike. He has been wanting to do a "Rim to Rim In One Day" hike for several years, so he finally made plans to do it. It's about a 24 mile hike, with some of it almost straight down, and some almost straight up. We stopped to pick up Lexi and our good friend, Paul Webb, who were also going to to make the hike, and drove all night (mistake number one) and got to the GC at 5:30 am. It was so cold! (35 degrees!) Here are the hikers right before they started off, with Lexi lookin' so good in her "Pollyanna hat" as Paul called it.

I had the not-so-fun job of driving around to the south side of the canyon to meet them when they came out, a five hour drive. It was a pretty drive, but I had to be careful and watch for deer because they were all over the place.

These are just some of the many pictures they took along the way (mistake number two). They took so many pictures that they were quite a bit later getting down to the bottom than they should have been. And it was 116 degrees on the bottom! Paul is a really good family friend we sort of adopted (he calls us Mama and Papa Keel), and he treats Lexi like a sister.

Here they are at the Supai Tunnel, which is cut through the rocks to make a trail.

They crossed several bridges on their trek.

Obviously it was very beautiful. It was Paul's first time to even see the Grand Canyon, so he really loved it.

I'm really glad Lexi got to do this with her Dad. It's a great memory they'll always treasure.

Don't they look like pioneers or something, trekking across the plains?

Lexi and Paul on one of the bridges they crossed.

Hot and tired by this point, they got in the river to cool off and help their poor burning feet.

Ever the good Samaritan, Paul not only helped Jeff when his legs started cramping up super bad, but he also helped many others who followed behind them, or were coming from the South side. Paul is awesome, and has some pretty good doctoring skills, as he is a sports trainer at a high school.

A cute picture of Lexi.

Jeff and Paul with the bridge over the mighty Colorado River in the background.

Mistake number three was when Jeff didn't realize he was starting up Devils Corkscrew, and therefore didn't get hydrated enough. He later said it was very aptly named! All of these little mistakes combined to make the hike even harder than it normally would have been, which is bad enough. But Jeff was already exhausted from driving all night, then they got to the bottom when it was so hot, and that drained them some more.

Jeff says he never would have made it out without the help of Paul.

They were supposed to contact me by radio at 2:30 or 3:00 pm, and when they didn't until 5:30 I was pretty worried. Their goal was to climb out at about 6:30 or 7:00 pm . Well, they finally climbed out at 12:30 am, or somewhere around there! I was a basket case. I was very worried by then, because I knew Jeff had been struggling with serious leg cramps. Plus everything closed up at about 10:00 pm, so there I was pretty much by myself waiting for them. Right before all the restaurants closed I bought them some food that I knew would be cold by the time they got to it, but I knew they would be famished so I figured anything was better than nothing. Then I locked myself in the car and tried (in vain) to sleep. I did get to observe some Elk and deer that wandered around right by my car! But boy was I glad to see the hikers when they finally made it out! Jeff could hardly walk, but he was basically okay. We went to our motel, and I was glad I had us a room on the bottom floor. I seriously think we would have had to carry Jeff up if we had had to climb any stairs!

We took Paul back the next day so he could see the GC looking out over the rim, since he had never seen it. They posed by this sign because it was the Bright angel Trail that they were on. All three of them were very tired and sore, but they were glad they did it. I'm glad that Jeff accomplished something that he has always wanted to do, but as far as I'm concerned I never want him to do it again!

Catching Up

2010-07-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

If we could ever stay home long enough, maybe I could get caught up on posting. This summer has been crazy so far. So here I am finally updating, but it is from clear back in May! Jeff and I were chaperones for Prom on May 8th. It was kind of cool this year, because for the first time it was held at the Treasure Island in Las Vegas.

Here we are in our masks, since it was a masquerade.

Then on May 28th the Keel family reunion was held at Bryce Canyon. Everyone brought their four-wheelers and had fun riding them. In fact, that was all that Josh and Isaac wanted to do was go on "Wanger Wides".

Here are those two cuties waiting for their next ride.

Dad caught this cute smile from Finley!

Everyone gathered on Saturday for a pot luck dinner together.

Lexi is such a good Tia to her neices and nephews. She loves them all so much, and they love her back!

Grandma and Frank relaxing after dinner. By the way, did I mention that it was FREEZING COLD there? Fortunately I came prepared with coats and sweat shirts! ( I wore both at once).

There was a really cool museum with stuffed animals of all kinds, and lots of butterflies and bugs too. The kids really liked it. This is Jake and Josh.

Lexi and her Dad.

Isaac and his favorite person.

Out in the back they had some deer the kids could feed. They had a blast, but of course one of them bit Isaac's finger and he boobed for awhile. But amazingly he got over it and fed them again.

Cute little Charlie and Finney sharing a chair.

The scenery was so beautiful. This is Keith, Finley and Jeff.

We did a little hiking, which was pretty fun. This is me, Hillari, Liz Isaac and Josh.

More hiking. This is the ones of our family that could come this year.

Me and my honey.

We really had a great time with some of the family. Gone are the days when every single person was at the reunion. Especially our kids, who are scattered far and wide. But it was a wonderful time with those who could make it!

Scrap-A-Thon

2010-06-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

Every year in the spring my good friends Patty and Debbie and I head to Patty's cabin for our annual Scrap- a-thon. We have such a fun time, and I know I look forward to it for months before it happens. This year Patty, who is always thoughtful and sweet, was extra sweet and this is what Debbie and I found when we got there:

She had these baskets of goodies for us filled with all kinds of cool scrap booking supplies. Also to note: the little bowls of almond M&M's. We can't carry on without some chocolate. I usually scarf mine up first thing and then start eyeing up everyone else's. We always stay up really late into the night scrapping. And this is what we woke up to on Saturday morning:

It was so beautiful. But I'm glad I snapped this picture first thing because it didn't stay around for long.

Patty's hubby made us this wonderful chocolate lunch! He surprised us with a chocolate fondue he prepared and cleaned up himself! Bob's such a good guy. He always insists on buying us all dinner at Milt's, one of my all time fav restaurants. This is the aftermath of the chocolate lunch:

We seriously have so much fun together. We talk and yak and we do get lots of pages done too. We did three scrap book challenges this year too. Each of us brought a kit for everyone to see what we each came up with, using the same stuff. It was a ton of fun.

And of course we stayed up waaaaaay too late every night:

We are already planning and scheming and looking forward to next year! Thanks Patty and Bob for being such great hosts!

Lexi's Birthday

2010-06-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Lexi actually celebrated her birthday twice this year, or maybe three times, if you count the surprise party she had at her place. But the weekend before her birthday in April, she came down with her roommates, Amanda, Emily and Lexie to go to the fair. I fixed them breakfast out on the patio that morning. It was really fun to cook and eat it outside, and the weather was perfect. After that we all went to the fair for the day.

This picture is not that flattering of me, but I think I was still in my jammies, so that should explain everything.

The roommates: Amanda, Lexi and Emily. Lexie Casalou was not at the house yet.

We didn't have time to make a cake, so we had to make do with cookies and poppy seed bread. We stuck a candle in it for something to blow out, and sang happy birthday.

Lexi wanted to wait to open her presents because she had to come down again in a couple of weeks for Carlie's wedding. But she traipsed upstairs where I had been hurridly trying to wrap her presents and saw one of them! So this next picture is taken when she came for the wedding. She was thrilled with her new Brita water filter pitcher and filters, and her "Klean Kanteen". She also got some money, so when she headed home I took the day off work and we went shopping. We had lots of fun trying on clothes (and buying some!) and having lunch together. This was a strange birthday for her in a way, but I hope she had fun!

Georgia Trip Part II Y'all! (Finally)

2010-06-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's time to finish up the Georgia post. I am so far behind on posts! This is a really busy time of year for me at work, so that's part of the reason for the delay in posting. The other reason is that I just don't like to...........especially when I have lots of pictures. Anyway, we left the Dollywood area of Pigeon Forge and headed to Asheville, North Carolina to see the Biltmore House. Sorry, some of the pictures are black and white. I needed them that way for my recent scrap book retreat. Here we are in front of the mansion.

This place was unbelievable! The pictures don't do it justice, and sadly you can't take pictures of the inside. In case you've never heard of it, it was completed in 1895 by George Vanderbuilt. He and his familly lived there until 1930 when it was opened to the public. There are four floors and a basement, and the furnishings and luxuries are exquisite.

In a time when most people didn't have electricty in their homes, Vanderbuilt had a bowling alley and an indoor pool with electric under water lights in the basement.

Many of you might be wondering how we managed with Rhys in a high falutin' place like this. Well, we had him on a leash. Otherwise, I'm sure we would have (A) lost him in one of the 30 or 40 bedrooms, or (B) had to replace something very, very expensive.

On the way home we passed through South Carolina as well, so we traveled through four states on this trip! When we got home we spent a couple of days seeing some of the sights in Athens. I absolutely love covered bridges, so we went to this one near Athens called Elder Mill Covered Bridge. It was really pretty there.

I apologize again for the black and white. This little stream under the bridge was so pretty.

This is the actual bridge. Isn't it so cool? I just love it.

Rhys was sticking his bare toes in the water.

We adore this little boy. He is so cute, and he has a mind like a steel trap. I mean this kid is smart.

John took us to see the campus of UGA, where we posed in front of this really gross looking bulldog. It's been around awhile.

Not the greatest pic of Holli and I, but I had to have a picture of me and my sweet firstborn daughter.

We took Rhys to this really pretty park that had a FREE, that's right, free, zoo. Granted the zoo didn't have tons of animals, but just enough to be fun for Rhys. We liked it. We didn't have to tromp around all day and get too tired.

The happy (well maybe not Rhys. I think he wanted down.) family.

Holli and John's Ward had an Easter egg hunt at their former Bishop's home. Rhys didn't get it at first, but finally figured out that you pick up the eggs and shake them. I think he even started putting them in his bucket and not opening them immediately.

This kid never, ever got tired or slowed down at the hunt. He was on the go every single second. I know because I volunteered to follow him around and keep him away from the electric fence surrounding the huge yard, that Jeff swore was turned on!

Then we had our own little hunt back at their apartment. What fun! Rhys really has the hang of it now.

I don't have any pictures, but no visit to Georgia would be complete without trips to our favorite restaurants, Five Star Day Cafe and Knat's Landing Bra and Girl (yeah, bra and girl; Kind of tacky name, but the food is good) for sweet potato fries and fried green tomato sandwiches. Yummy! We also sampled some boiled (pronounced "bold") peanuts. They're different, but they grow on you.

Well, all too soon our stay was over. But I am so glad we got to go and visit all these fun places and best of all, visit with our daughter and son and cute little Rhys. Thanks guys for such a fun time!

Spring Break In Georgia, Y'all Part I

2010-05-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

During Spring Break this year Jeff and I took a trip to Georgia to visit Holli, John, and Rhys. We had such a great time, and there are lots of pictures, so it will probably take two posts. The day after we got there we drove to Tennessee to Pigeon Forge. Yes, friends, we went to Dollywood! Since Spring Break was early this year, spring had not really arrived in Georgia or Tennessee yet, but we still managed to have fun at Dollywood, even though it was cold and rainy. We knew it would be, so we were prepared. And by "prepared" I mean that we took the infamous Mickey Mouse panchos, but left them in the car. The good news is, cold and rainy means we were there with only about 300 of our closest friends instead of 5,000. The first thing Rhys discovered at the hotel was this luggage rack that he loved to have Bampa take him for rides on. We had to pass it every time we left the hotel, and Rhys never gave up on asking for rides!

I'm telling ya, Dollywood was pretty dang fun! Who wouldda thought? I thought it might be cheesey, and it kind of was, but in a good way. We didn't get very many pictures there, because did I mention it was cold and rainy? There are some amazing roller coasters there, and I love roller coasters!

We pretty much walked on to every ride

They had some cute little play areas for Rhys.

This picture is just too cute. You can't see Rhys in all his glory with the hood on and all, but he is so darn cute! And he is a handful and a half too!

Here's Jeff in this goofy coffin.

Nobody expected Rhys to enjoy Dollywood, but he did, and he was really good. We didn't have room to bring his stroller, so we stopped at a Walmart to buy him a cheap one, and all they had were these pink and lavender ones with flowers on them. ( It looks kind of blue in the picture, but it wasn't. It was very lavender and pink) John was not thrilled, but we had no choice. Poor Rhys in his girlie stroller. But he didn't seem to mind. He loved the kiddie rides. The only problem was, when the ride ended he cried when he had to get off. There was one ride that had ducks you ride on and Rhys called it "Quack Qack." He really liked Quack Quack.

The next day we drove to nearby Gatlinburg. It's a cute little town with lots of fun shops, but we were limited on how many stores we could drag Rhys in to. He isn't a shopper. Rhys doesn't like to sit still for very long.

Look who Holli and John ran into! Eat your heart out Doozie! Miley Cyrus just happened to be shopping in the 50% off section.............yeah right.

The picturesque main street of Gatlinburg.

We're not sure why this was the name of this store; there was nothing "Jakish" in there. But we thought it was a cool name!

I just had to make a quick phone call...........

There was a really huge, but cute Easter basket fulll of eggs in this area and we wanted Rhys to pose in front of it after this picture was taken. We should have never let him out of his pink stroller! All he wanted to do was make dents in the gigantic eggs by throwing them on the ground, so we had to get him out of there fast, and didn't even get the picture!

Does he look like he could cause some mayhem? Yeah, good thing he's so cute.

We rode on this gondola ride, which was a little disappointing, since they crammed way too many people in there, and if you were stuck in the middle, you couldn't see a thing. All the way to the top we plotted how we were going to ask for our money back, but of course we're all talk. The ride back was a little less crowded and more enjoyable. In the Fall this view would be spectacular!

When we got back to the hotel, Rhys got a little stir crazy after being in his stroller all day and then the hotel room, so we found a park to take him to so he could run around a little. He has more energy than the energizer bunny! But we sure did have fun with him. I think I'll end the post here, so be on the lookout for Part II y'all!

Monkey Business, Etc.

2010-04-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

Some of my kids, and my sister have been asking me to post pictures of some of the crafts I have made recently, so I'm finally going to do it. For some reason, I have been in a sewing mode for awhile and have been sewing some fun stuff. First, I made all the grandkids a stuffed animal for Christmas (yeah, that was kind of a long time ago, but I never posted pictures of their cute monkeys and dolls).

This was the bigger monkey that Isaac and Josh got.

This little guy is the one that Truman, Charlie and Rhys got. I really fell in love with the monkeys. They are just so darn cute.

My two little girls, Sareny and Finley got this cute little doll. She is so homely she's cute. Finley just warmed my heart when she opened hers up. She grabbed it and hugged it like she already loved it!

I also made all my girls one of these bags. I loved how they turned out so much that I made myself one too. They are big and roomy, perfect for a diaper bag, or just a purse, which is what I use mine for.

This purse is one I made from a pattern I got from Cass. I thought hers was so cute, but a bit too small for me, so I enlarged the pattern and made mine bigger. I even used the same fabric she used because I really liked it, so now we have twin purses. I bought the fabric in Hawaii when I was there.

The latest project I have been working is zippered pouches. I just love these little things! They are see through vinyl on the front so you can see what's in them. I can think of a million uses for them. They are kind of tricky to make, but are kind of fun at the same time.

I have also been making aprons and dish towels, but they were featured on another blog about a weekend I spent with my Mom, so I think everyone has seen them. And now, after my fun scrapbooking weekend (more about that later) I think I am going to start scrapping more, so maybe I'll lose my desire to sew. We'll see!

The Adventures of Build A Bear

2010-04-13T20:27:00.000-07:00

Jake, Liz and the boys came down in March for a weekend visit. It was close to Josh's birthday, so we took him to Build A Bear to make his very own bear. He was pretty excited about going, and said he wanted to paint the eyes on his bear. Even though we told him the bears already had eyes, he still kept talking about painting the eyes on. But it gets worse; the minute we told him to pick out his bear he ran for the ugly green St. Patrick's day bear with four leaf clovers all over it. We quickly tried to divert him, but as you can see in the picture, he is still pointing at it. We said maybe he should pick a different one, so he went for the "kitty" with pink ears, and Jake said in my ear, "he's NOT getting that cat." But my question is, why IS there a cat in "Build A BEAR"? Anyway, we practically had to pick his bear out for him by steering him in front of the normal bears and telling him to pick one of them.

The thing about this place is, there's not really that much the kids get to do to "build" their bears. Here Josh is pushing the pedal that fills the bear with stuffing. And it kind of scared him because it made a loud noise, so he kept stopping.

But obviously he was having fun anyway!

Here he gets to give the bear a bath by brushing its fur.

Then comes the picking out of the "outfit". This got a little sticky because he wanted Woody, then Buzz, then Batman.............we tried not to influence too much here, since we had been kind of overbearing (no pun intended) concerning which bear he should pick. He finally settled on Batman.

Cute little Joshy with the finished product.

When Josh and I went to name his bear, I asked him what he wanted to name it and he just insisted that he wanted to name it Batman. So, Batman it is.

Bampa kept Charlie entertained with his tickling. Charlie is really ticklish!

It was a super fun time with Josh. But I really think if I had just drawn a bear on a piece of cardboard and let him paint the eyes on it he would have had just as much fun! But that wouldn't have been as much fun for me.

After that we went to show Liz some of the hotels that she hadn't seen before. Here we are at the Belagio. They have the coolest flower gardens there.

Josh is giving us his best tough guy look

We had such a fun day with everyone, and a fun weekend soaking in the spa, having a big breakfast, and watching a movie. Those two little grandsons bring us so much joy and make us laugh. We hope they'll come visit us again soon!

Life Is Good

2010-03-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to visit Hill and Keith and the kids for the weekend. We had such a great time. We got there on Thursday night, so we were able to go have lunch with Sareny at school on Friday and then Jeff and I each read a story to Sareny's kindergarten class. I couldn't believe how well behaved the kids were. They listened so attentively! Sareny loved being "special" and getting to sit up in front with us. Isaac got kind of shy about it, but he loved it too.

This is the second time we have done this at her class, and it really is fun because it makes her so happy.

Of course Jeff and Keith went golfing after that, so we went to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, also known as Hob Lob, and found cool stuff and lovely fabric. I bought some ribbon so we could make Finley and Sareny these adorable hair thingys. They are such sweet sisters.

Cute little Finney.

Sareny, with her cute little gap-tooth grin.

But then tragedy struck and Isaac got hurt. Here he is getting some lovin' and attention from Grammy after his mishap. He had to snuggle for quite awhile before he got over it.

Let me just say that it is virtually impossible to get a picture of these three where all of them have "eyes open, hair neat, expressions pleasant" so this one is a keeper even though Fin was wanting out of there.

Saturday we took the kids to the zoo and spent the whole day there seeing all the sights. The kids loved it. Sareny and Isaac rode their bikes around the zoo, which was really nice. It was amazing that Isaac, our resident couch potato, rode his the whole day!

Hill was trying to be the papparazzi and hid behind a tree to capture this famous couple..........

The above explanation about trying to capture happy smiles on everyone's faces (especially at the end of the day) applies here as well. Finley is fixated on some problem with her shoe and Isaac looks like he wants to cry. Contrary to how this appears, they had lots of fun!

Isaac would not ride his bike unless someone walked along and held on to his jacket. I think he was paranoid about going out of control on the slight hills. Funny kid.

The end of a fun, but long day at the zoo! What cute little kiddos.

Sunday we went to Church and had dinner, then headed home, even though Sareny begged us to stay. But then she remembered that Zander was coming over to play on Monday, so all was well! We had a fun trip and are already wondering when we can go again!

The Wall of Fame

2010-03-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

On February 19th Jeff was inducted into the new "Basketball Wall of Fame" at MVHS, along with his good friend Gary "Batch" Batchelor. As the first to be inducted, they were honored with a plaque and a short life sketch during half time of the boys basketball game for their contributions to MVHS sports programs.

Jeff with Assistant Principal, Hal Mortensen, Athletic Director, Matt Messer, and Principal, Grant Hanevold.

Jeff has coached and taught at MVHS for 36 years, coaching boys basketball for 32 of those years, and he is still assisting with coaching football and boys and girls track. I know I am bragging a little, but I'm pretty proud of my hubby. He led the Pirate basketball team to six straight appearances in the state championship game, winning the title in 2003. He's been basketball coach of the year for the Southern AAA Conference seven times, and the Nevada Coach of the Year twice. He was the girls track coach when they won three state championships and two runners-up, and was named Coach of the Year five times. He was assistant boys track coach when they won seven consecutive state championships. He has been on the coaching staff of nine football state championships while being the defensive coordinator. Jake's senior year he was coached by his Dad in football, basketball and track! I don't know if he loved it, but I know Jeff did. He still loves teaching and coaching after all these years, and you can only imagine how sore my backside is from cheering him on from the bleachers for 36 years!

Jeff and Gary coached together for at least 21 years, give or take, and taught together even longer than that, and Jeff has nothing but respect for Batch. You couldn't have found two better men to honor.

Congratulations to my sweetheart of almost 37 years!

Weekend At Home

2010-02-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't get to spend any time with my parents at Christmas time, I decided to go up to visit them the weekend of Martin Luther King Day. I got there Friday evening with all my plunder so Mom and I and Lexi could have a fun weekend together. I have been in a sewing mood lately, and am in love with aprons, so when Mom asked what we were going to do I suggested a sewing weekend. She was game (she's always lots of fun and up for most things) so Lexi came Saturday morning and we had the best weekend together. I brought fabric and notions and my sewing machine and we set up shop. Everyone picked out fabric for an apron and we got busy. Here's Mom ironing her completed apron. My Mom taught me to love sewing, as she has always been a fabulous seamstress, but she's 80 now so I had to help her along a little. But she did great, as you can see.

Lexi is just learning to sew, although she finished a darling quilt earlier in the year. She really wanted to do it herself, and I was proud of her. I didn't have to help much.

My Mom is the best cook, even still, and I'm sure she will put her apron to good use. She cooks my Dad a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and oatmeal every morning, come heck or high water!

Mom and Dad wanted us to try their favorite Mexican restaurant in Salina. I have to admit, it was pretty good! Dad turned his head right when I snapped the picture, and I think he did it on purpose. He said he was a little embarrassed that I took a picture! One thing I loved about the weekend is the softer side I saw of my Dad. He was kind of cute and kept bringing all of us little plates of goodies and a diet Coke every now and then as we were sewing. I was quite touched by his thoughtfulness!

Lexi and Mom modeling their new aprons. I didn't have mine made yet, so I took the picture.

Mom's brother had given her a dominoes set for Christmas and she wanted to learn how to play it, so we got quite involved playing Mexican Train. We kept changing the rules though, so I'm sure Mom was confused by the end. We had so much fun Lexi didn't want to leave Sunday night, but she finally had to so she could go to work Monday morning.

Here's a little display of our crafts we made. We made dish towels and little zippered pouches that are really cute as well as the aprons. The pouches have clear vinyl on the front so you can see what's in them, and are so handy to keep little stuff in, and very fun to make.

This was right before Lexi left to go home. We had fun finding her a nerd outfit for her FHE "Nerd Fest" and I wish we would have taken a picture of her outfit. It was the bomb. Mom had just the perfect denim, elastic waist pants that were too short for Lexi and showed her ankle socks off to a T. I later heard she was the hit of the Nerd Fest too!

We had the paper boy take this picture just as I was about to leave on Monday. I enjoyed the weekend so much. I love my parents more than I can say, and do love spending time with them. I wish I lived closer to them! Shortly after this picture, I left and Mom and Dad went to move some hay for the cows, and Mom suffered a serious injury when the pickup truck accidently started rolling back and ran over her right leg. We all consider it a miracle that she was not injured worse than she was. There were no broken bones, but much tissue damage, bruising and swelling. She has been laid up for three weeks now, but is slowly doing much better. We are so grateful that she is going to be okay. Life can change in a minute, which makes me want to spend time with all the ones I love as much as I can. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Lexi for a memorable weekend!

Christmas Part II

2010-01-31T17:49:00.003-08:00

We made it back from Hawaii on the morning of December 29th just in time to meet Holli, John, and Rhys, who had arrived at our house the day before, after they had a hideously long drive across the dam. We hadn't seen them since last June, so it was great to see them again. Hillari, Keith, Sareny, Isaac, and Finley got here a little later in the day. We were so glad to see everyone, but we were all quite tired as well. Jeff, Lexi and I had just finished a very long red-eye flight from Hawaii; Holli and John had come from Georgia about the time we left for Hawaii and had been in Phoenix with John's family for over a week, and Hillari and Keith and the kids had just come from their more than a week long stay in Spokane with Keith's family, so everyone was a little wiped out. We had our second Christmas that night and opened our presents to and from each other, and for some strange reason I didn't take one picture of it! I'll blame it on being a zombie, I guess. Jake, Liz, Josh, and Charlie, came the next day, and the kids had all drawn names again this year, so they all opened those presents together. Some of the fun things we did while everyone was here were ride the Ranger, of course; feed the fish again, which is always fun for the kids; go to the park to play; play the game Mafia; and have a "lame" (according to Lexi) New Year's Eve party. In Lexi's defense, I guess it was kind of lame. Jake and Liz didn't even stay up until midnight! Here are some of our cute pictues:

Sareny and Lexi made these awesome puppets and did a puppet show for us.

It was pretty cute and funny.

We all want Rhys and Finney to be good friends, but for some reason they haven't hit it off. Rhys does like to hit Finney and pull her hair though. Maybe that's a sign that he really likes her, you know how boys are..................

Here's Isaac going down the slide at the park.

Joshie in the swing.

Cute little Charlie.

These two little cuties do get along sometimes!

The big kids playing pepper.

Love this picture of Sareny and Isaac.

I look a little scary here, but Charlie sure is cute.

I gave Rhys a bath in the sink, and couldn't get him to smile for anything. He's such a cutie even without a smile.

Holli and John were the last ones to leave, and we had a little s'more making night in the back yard.

We also met some of the relatives on Jeff's side of the family at Sizzler for dinner. Jeff's Mom and Frank, Mike and Laurie, Tiffany and Baden with their little boy Taden, and Tracy and Lynnette with Kelsie, Kollin, and Karston were all there. Here's John, Holli, Lexi, Tiff, and Baden.

Rhys and Taden had fun running around and annoying all the old people who seem to love Sizzler...............

A cute little picture I snapped of Rhys on their last day here. He is such a busy little boy, it was unusual to get a picture of him sitting still! We love our family so much and enjoy having them visit us. We all had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Mele Kalikimaka OR Christmas Part 1

2010-01-13T19:13:00.000-08:00

Well as most of you know, Jeff, Lexi and I spent Christmas in Hawaii with Cassidy, James and little Truman this year. They were so nice to let us come and stay with them in their small apartment! We really had a great time. It was a little wierd. I mean, we went to the beach on Christmas Day! At home we never have snow or anything, but at least it's cold. It seemed strange to have it be so nice and warm. Here are some of our favorite pictures, in no particular order:

Cass, Lexi and James getting ready to hit the pinata.

The girls making the traditional Christmas Eve fare of Crook Cracks.

I just had to include this one of Lexi with the star of Ha, the show at the PCC, (also known as the Polynesian Cultural Center.) He was kind of sweaty and gross because it was after the show.

This was at the PCC also. Even though Truman looks a little bored, it was really lots of fun.

Lexi and I learning a game at the PCC.

Chinaman's Hat in the background.

We decided to try one of the many shrimp shacks around the island. Cass and James got brave and ordered the ones you have to peel. They weren't aware that they also came complete with heads, legs, and poop. They were nearly impossible to eat.

We were going to bury James, but decided to just bury his legs. It looks kind of freaky though!

Cass and James took us to a beach where there are lots of sea turtles and we were lucky to see this one on the beach. We also saw a few whales jumping out in the ocean.

Truman was so cute and happy. We drug him to the beach nearly every day, and he just took it all in stride. We had so much fun seeing him and getting to know him.

One of the first things we did was hike to the top of Diamond Head. It's a pretty steep hike too!

We were so thankful we got to be there for Truman's blessing day. Their Church building is very beautiful. It has a reflecting pool kind of like the one at the Temple, and a unique tile mosaic of Christ that you can see in the background. It was a lovely day, and James gave Truman a beautiful blessing.

More Blessing pictures.

This was the day we sent Lexi to the "singles" Sunday School class, thinking she might meet a cute guy. But after the class she told us no one in there was under age 50, and most were at least 80! Poor Lex.

Here we are at the Poly lookout. The scenery was all so gorgeous.

This was looking out from the Punchbowl.

A happy little beach bum baby.

I did say the pics were in random order...........this one should have been up by the other Diamond Head one.

The happy little family the night we left. It was so hard to say goodbye. The week flew by so quickly, and before we knew it it was time to come home. Can I just tell you how hard it is to have your daughter and her family so darn far away! Cass and James, thanks so much for showing us such a good time and letting us sleep in your bed! It was a very memorable time and we love you both. I hope we get to come again sometime. (Cass, I want to know if James cringed when he read that last line!)

Turkey Day

2009-12-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

I am finally finding time to sit down and blog about our Thanksgiving weekend. Some of our kids and grandkids were able to come home for the holiday, and we had a great time. We had to do web cam phone calls with Cassidy, James, and Truman, and Holli, John, and Rhys. We missed them, but we were glad we could talk to them and see them, even if it wasn't in person. Sorry, I have a lot of pictures..............
This first one is one with the grandkids on a little outing we took.

We even saw Jake Travolta!!!!

Lexi and I trying to do a teen model sis pose.

The girls and grandkids.

Me and Finley on the dock when we went to feed the fish.

A cute cousins picture.

Keith helping Finley feed the fish. Can you believe that big swarm of hungry fish?!

Lexi, Sareny and Isaac trying not to let the ducks hog all the bread.

We saw two amazing herds of bighorn sheep. It was so cool.

Hillari and Lexi working on a sewing project.

We got out the marble works game and the grandkids had a blast!

Trying to get them all to sit still AND smile AND look at the camera at the same time is pretty much impossible...........

Matt and Donna came over for dinner. I hope Matt hates this picture. He wouldn't look at the camera.

Lexi and cute little Charlie.

Charlie, Finley and Bampa.

The kids decorated Christmas cookies. I just had to get a picture of them, expecially Isaac's, which is the green one in the bottom right corner with gobs of frosting on it! He was so proud of it. And somebody actually ate it because by the end of the weekend, they were all gone. Of course it could have been him!

Everyone had a name tag at the dinner table.

The centerpiece was really pretty. Thanks goes to Lexi for gathering all the acorns and chestnuts on BYU campus for me!

Of course the kids had to go on several Ranger rides with Bampa.

The last night there was a basketball game, alumni vs. the high school basketball team. Jake was one of the stars of the alumni game. They were all pretty good! And they won. I can't remember the score. It was fun to watch.

Jeff and Gary Batchelor were the coaches for the alumni, so he got to coach Jake one last time!

What a fun weekend. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did!