To Grandma's House We Go!

Grace and Raegan came for a visit to Grandma's house. They had lots of fun "cousin time" along with some "Grandma time" of reading stories, coloring, watching movies and playing games. We even stopped by the county museum to see the natural history collection. Grace especially liked the lizzards and snakes. Raegan liked the big polar bear and the scarey wolf.

On Saturday, Mike came over with his kids after "off roading" and needed some help washing his truck. Kids to the rescue! They all wanted to get in on the action. They thought Uncle Mike was so cool because he let them wash his truck.
Who knew it would snow on Sunday? Grace looked out the window when she woke up and said, "It's white outside!" She said it was just like her Nana's house at Christmas time in Missouri. Sometimes we've even had a freak snow storm in April.
Grace helped me decorate a birthday cake for her daddy. We put the frosting on it along with all the candles. I was putting ballons up on the wall and I slipped off the chair landing with two fingers in the cake. Grace was more than willing to help me lick the frosting off. Then we repaired the cake with more frosting. Yummy. Make a wish, Bryan.On Friday we had an afternoon for Staci and Grace. While Raegan took a long nap, the cute California girls got ready for some fun in the sun. It was time to go swimming in the
jacuzzi. Grace was dissapointed that they couldn't swim in the big pool. But it was just too cold. (Refer to the snow picture from Sunday). She said that she would wait on the waterfall until it warmed up. That will be next month, probably - kind of a long wait.

After swimming, it was time for some Princess Barbie fun. The girls loved playing with the big and little barbies. They even made up cute songs to sing while they were playing.
Tami came over with the gang on Saturday to have some fun with Grace and Raegan. Caitlyn took the picture for us. What a great helper. (I wanted to stay warm in the jacuzzi. Can you blame me? Remember it snowed on Sunday!)

From Park City to Yucaipa - We celebrate the Union of Taylor and Aubree

At Park City there was a wonderland of snow. It was piled high and difficult to maneuver through, but we made it. Paul and Bryan are standing in the driveway at the condo. Hurray for four wheel drive! It was amazing that we all made it up there for the wedding. There was plenty of illness to go around, but everyone deserves a great big "Thank You" for being troopers and persevering. It was wonderful to have our children together in temple and to spend time together for a few days. We certainly missed Paul's family as well as Jason, though. And we can't forget Matt who is in the MTC - we missed him too. We had a delightful luncheon after the temple marriage. We ate delicious food, and enjoyed hearing about Taylor and Aubree from family and friends. Aubree's family and friends were quite the singers paying tribute to Aubree. It was fun to just enjoy the celebration.

Taylor put a smudge of frosting on Aubree's nose at the reception in Orem. She was determined to get him back at the Yucaipa reception. However they both got each other pretty good.

The World Traveler Returns

Ray is finally home after spending several weeks on business in Asia...just in time to start "tax season." We all missed him while he was gone, but were plenty busy in his absence getting ready for Matt's mission and Taylor's wedding. We're looking forward to going to Park City next week with most of our family, to brave the cold weather and snow, and to celebrate the marriage of Taylor and Aubree!

Tribute to my favorite son-in-law

Jason has such an adorable wife. And his sister, Nancy is wonderful.
Jason has such a great group of friends. And these are only a few of them.

Jason is a star sportscaster in Honolulu. He had his humble beginnings in Grand Junction.

But this is where we like Jason the best...in the kitchen using his magic wok! Do I smell Chineese food?

Matt prepares for his mission

Last October Heather and Ashlyn stayed with us for a couple of weeks before moving to Hawaii.

(Jason was here for a few days before he went off to start his big time sports broadcasting career.)

It was Matt's last chance to see them before his mission. I didn't take a picture of them together,

but he was happy he got to spend time with them.

We've had lots of excitement surrounding the mission for Matt. The Friday after Thanksgiving we went with him to the Redlands CA temple. Ray and I, Taylor, Bryan and Jamie, Mike and Amber,

and Brooke and Tami accompanied him.

Just before Christmas, Matt and I went to Kansas to stay with Paul and Natalie and family. We had fun playing with their kids and experiencing a power outage due to an ice storm. We really miss them all. It was great to get to know baby Maddie. And Matt got to say "See you in two years" to everyone there.

Ray was leaving for an overseas business trip a week before Matt went up to the MTC.

This was their "See you in two years" moment.

We all decided to meet at the "Crab Cooker" in Newport Beach for a final dinner with Matt. He was excited to have lobster. We tried to get a picture with all the kids, but we were missing Bryan and Jamie, Grace and Raegan during the picture taking. They are at the back end of the table inside the restaurant.

We missed having Paul, Natalie and family as well as Heather, Jason and Ashlyn.

And we missed Ray, of course.

We had a few moments down at the beach to watch the sunset and see the ocean.

Matt and I flew up to SLC and got to spend some time with Taylor and Aubree.

We got to meet Aubree's parents and enjoy thier hospitality while waiting to enter the MTC in Provo.

We spent one day finishing our shopping and visiting Temple Square.

MTC day finally arrived. Matt was nervous and excited at the same time. I only cried for a short while.

See you in two years, Matt. We love you.

Each grandchild looks forward to the blanket that grandma makes them for their baptism. Here are Emilee, Caitlyn, and Alix with their blankets.

So many cute grandkids! Emilee, Alix, Caitlyn, Kira, Ryan, Andrew, Brinley, Spencer, and Staci.

Lake Mohave 2007

Plenty of fun things to do.


Laura having fun with the kids.


"Mean and nasty as ever."


Grandma and Grandpa enjoy watching everyone from the boat.