Birthday Buddies...ARRRGH!

Paul & Kenyon are birthday buddies...they share a birthday on January 13th. At Kenyon's house, the birthday person gets a special dinner with Mom & Dad, but this year Kenyon asked if he could go with Dad & G'pa because they are "birthday buddies." Amy was a good sport about it & G'pa was honored to be included.

After dinner, we all met for cake & ice cream. Amy had a little pirate theme going on & Kaden really got into it...ARRRGH!

I love how Trevor is more interested in playing with fire than the cake.

Par-tay animals!

It's really hard to surprise Paul, but they really caught him off guard with this...some of the kids got together & got him that Vitamixer he's been wanting. Now he can whip up all those healthy concoctions he loves in just seconds AND IT IS SOOOOOOOO EASY TO CLEAN!!!

G'pa is happiest when he's surrounded by his g'kids.

Happy Birthday you two knuckle-heads! (Thanks for sharing your special day, Kenyon.)

A Visit with Luke

Our grandson Luke had an extra long winter break from school so he came to San Jose with Grammy & Poppa Joe for a few days, then we picked him up & he came with us to the River for a few days. We had a great visit! The Middleton cousins came over to play. It was a gorgeous day to play outside (we've had an unusually warm & dry winter). It was also a burn day, so G'pa put the kids to work! Unfortunately, I didn't get out there until the blaze had burned down a bit. It kept everyone entertained for over two hours!

Luke really liked Maddie (our little temporary granddaughter). Kyle & Amy have volunteered to take care of her as part of the Safe Families program. He kept her entertained for quite some time, too.

The next day we went to watch our cousins' games. Avery's indoor soccer game was first.

Then Cade's basketball game, followed by Ethan's indoor soccer game. It was a long day, but Luke did well since there were tons of cousins around to play with.

After the games we went to spend the evening with da boyz. We played games & had dinner. Luke likes games & he is very good at them!

We had a great Sunday hanging out with Luke & playing more games, but the highlight of Luke's trip was the trip home on the Amtrak - Luke was so excited to ride the train! I ride the train about once a month when I go see my mom, so Luke came with me & his dad met us in Bakersfield. I was excited that my favorite conductor, Mr Mason was on board. He gave Luke the royal treatment - he even let him push the buttons to open the doors when we got to our final destination. Luke LOVED it!

Luke did great on the long train ride. We ate lunch, read some books, drew pictures, & I pulled out some Legos towards the end to keep Luke entertained...Legos were a big hit!

We said goodbye at the train station & G'ma was tickled to see Luke & Christian briefly before they headed home.

I always have a nice visit with my mom. I love the residents at Pinewood Glen, they are full of personality & are always so nice to me. Here she is with her Sit & Stretch group.

Mom is just getting over a little pneumonia that had her down over the holidays, but she is doing much better now.

However, she didn't want to push it so she stayed home while I went to visit Bonnie & Ben, two of my dearest friends. Bonnie has Ben on a strict diet & exercise regime since his heart attack last summer...they both look marvelous & are equally as entertaining as they've always been.

We were glad to be able to spend some special time with Luke & share a train ride with him. Thanks for coming, Luke!

Celebrating the New Year

When I heard my nephew was getting married in SLC at the end of December a while back, I found some cheap Southwest tickets so we could attend the wedding...and since two of our children live close by, we thought we'd ring in the New Year with them while we were there. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, the wedding was changed to Memphis & considering the expense...blah, blah, blah...we missed the wedding. (Sad face here.) Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Reed Carter! Brittany, you are a beautiful bride!

Photo curtesy of Amy Coontz via Facebook.

We DID, however, celebrate the end of 2011 & the beginning of 2012 with Leah & Terri & their families in Utah. We packed in tons of fun! We began babysitting at Leah's while she & Rick went out to celebrate their 7th anniversary!

Keira is really into games these days (it must be the age where they finally understand the rules & how to play them)...we played a few...





Of course, games with G'pa always end up in a wrestling match!



The next day we got to watch Olivia's gymnastic lesson. Being a gymrat myself, I LOVE watching kids learn what marvelous things their bodies can do! Gymnastics is such a great activity for a child's body awareness & physical development!








After lunch we went with the Bassetts to visit The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point which has the world's largest display of mounted dinosaurs, so I'm told.



They sure have large feet!



I was impressed by all the hands on activities; especially the erosion table, & sand pit where you can brush away the sand & discover hidden bones.





The girls found some old dinosaurs - besides the ones holding them...



Rick discovered a good deal on some sushi at Tsunami's & we were really surprised that the girls liked their California Rolls!





The next day we headed to Jungle Jim's Playland (Chuck E Cheese on steroids). The girls had fun riding the rides as we visited & I played with my new camera. (Haven't learned how to adjust the settings yet, but I had fun playing around with it.)





New Years Eve we all had dinner at T-dolly's. They fixed some yummy fish tacos & we rang in the New Year with a Paaar-Tay!



It's not hard to please toddlers with a little bowling & Twister...






Although, we didn't make it to midnight, we did celebrate with plenty of "cheers"...






We enjoyed a cozy Sunday after church snuggling, playing games, & Liv helped G'pa open his birthday present...




The next day we got to see Keira at her gymnastics class.







Then we headed to the Hogel Zoo - it was a gorgeous day. It always amazes me how much children LOVE animals.






I hadn't been to Temple Square in years so we walked around & enjoyed the peaceful setting. It was a great place to begin the new year, reflecting on what matters most...generations of love.






We met Ty & Christi for dinner at The Pie Pizzaria...great little place with character & a ginormous delicious pizza!




More games & snuggles...




Before we left the next day, we met our Carter Cousins for breakfast at Kneaders. Brittany had to work, but Reed was there & Katelyn brought her fiancé, Zach. Love these little Carter Critters...when did they grow up?




A great start to a wonderful new year full of family. Wishing you the best in 2012 - Happy New Year!