Happy Anniversary--last week!!

LaVerl & I took off Tues after our temple work was done and headed to Roosevelt for a little R & R as it was our anniversary on the 21st. We had several projects we had to get done while we were there. First was getting our propane tank filled. That was a process because it was old and all the valves had to be replaced, but now its done and we have hot water again! Then we had a leak in our roof coming from the cooler that LaVerl had to fix. Water had been leaking through the ceiling and dripping on the floor! Its a good thing he's so handy! Then I wanted to clean out the planter and I started whacking off all the dead stuff from the summer. I hope I didn't kill anything!

I even attacked the palm tree and took off some dead branches.

I just thought this huge old tree was awesome! Since it is winter, there really wasn't much else growing to take pictures of.


Then we went 4-wheeling! Our friends, Randel and Nancy Penrod came for a couple of days and we had fun playing together! We were a little jealous of their really nice quad!

Randell brought his metal detector and we thought it would be fun searching for gold! We stopped at this old foundation thinking we might find something of value...

....and we found this!!! Lots of old nails and gun shells! It sure was fun though!

Our second day of 4-wheeling we went up Cherry Creek. We went low, down by the creek

...then we went high! We followed the road way to the top of the mountain and looked out over lots of country.

It was all fun and relaxing. However, LaVerl started getting a runny nose, thinking maybe he was allergic to the mesquite wood we were burning. A few days later, he was sicker than a dog, miserable, in fact! After chewing on whole cloves of garlic, and other disgusting drinks, he's lots better now!

So, for our anniversary, we went into Mesa and he bought me a new Apple laptop, which we have to learn how to work, and then we went with our kids that are there, (Lisa & Barry and Bret & Becki) to my favorite place, Red Lobster and ate lots of yummy shrimp! Of course, I didn't get one picture of that, our actual Anniversary Day! It was a great get-away for us to be together, even after 34 years, we still like each other!

House guests!

January started out with us getting some house guests! Who are the lucky people that get to stay in our lovely basement, sleep in the room that has 'magnified noises' coming from above it and who get to put up with us 24/7?? Tami, Ryne and baby Blake! It came about because Ryne started work in Eagar at the State Farm office here. They just didn't want to commute that far everyday, and didn't want to jump into buying a house right now, or paying lots of rent, which is like throwing money out the window. So- we gladly accepted them as house guests for awhile. There are quite a few perks-- Tami helps with the cooking & cleaning, Dad has another BYU fan to watch the games with, and we get to hold and kiss on Blake whenever we want! Here he is trying out the camping gear, very excited to go when it warms up a little!

Like I said, we get in lots of kisses! Grandpa can't resist him!!

Tami and Ryne are being really good sports about the whole situation!
They had to put all their stuff in storage, use the furnace room for an extra closet,

and give up lots of the things they enjoyed with having their own space!

Really, who could resist the face???

Tami is going to start him on some more solid foods this week,

he sure did enjoy this paper towel roll!

But just so they know- we are loving having them with us for awhile!

MLK Day 2011

So Kaemon had no school and I had no work, so we spent the day together in downtown New Orleans. Before we left we had a little talk about why today is a national holiday. For me, it's a day to remember that no matter the color of our skin, where we live in this world or how we believe, we are all God's children, brothers and sisters. I'm grateful to live in a country with so many freedoms and many people have fought much to ensure those freedoms are available to all.

We rode the ferry across the river and spent the day at the Aquarium, lunch at Arby's, and the afternoon at the Louisiana Children's Museum, which Kaemon and Milea both love so much. The weather was beautiful (60s) and the kids were actually half-way behaved.

New Years Resolution- be better at posting on time!

OKAY! So it's past Christmas, but I realized that my kids had posted about Christmas on their blogs, but my poor little blog didn't have anything on it about the wonderful Christmas that we all got to spend together. So another New Years Resolution- I will make more posts this year!

We did have a wonderful holiday. These two guys were the brightest, shining stars!! They are both the cutest most adorable babies ever! That is coming from a not prejudiced Gma! They look so different, but both have the sweetest countenance's about them!

Best friends already!! Blake & Rivers!

We had a nice Christmas Eve program, that I didn't get any pictures of. Kirk played the guitar and sang three songs, one which he wrote himself! He is very good and seems to like entertaining all of us! His music added alot to our program. Barry plays the guitar too, but is a little more shy about sharing his talents! We shared some favorite Christmas memories and LaVerl challenged us all to give a gift to our Savior this year, something that might be holding us back from becoming closer to Him. We read about our Saviors birth out of the Bible & watched "Joy to the World" a wonderful church movie. I can't wait until I have some grandkids big enough to dress up and act out the Nativity like we used to. It was good to feel the Spirit of Christmas!

Then Bret & Becki started putting together Christmas gifts from Santa, how fun to see them doing what we used to have to do!!

Christmas day was fun. We had decided that gift giving this year wasn't the main focus, so I didn't do much for my kids, but they did get pictures of their grandparents. The kids however, didn't get the message, so they all had lots of gifts to open and so did we! Thank you for all the nice gifts!

Its wonderful to have grandkids to enjoy Christmas with. Kingston LOVED his 'Ironman' costume and...

....his 'Bumblebee' costume! He is also adorable and pretty special to his grandparents!

Our little lady London! How cute she was with her new "little kitchen" to play with! How fun it was to watch her play and trying to keep up with her!

Kari made little matching outfits for these little guys, how cute they looked!

Auntie Lisa with Rivers!

This was just so cute of London, she's such a little character!

The little guys in matching sleepers from Tami!

Yes, there is nothing quite like all being together for the Holidays. We sure missed those that weren't here, but all of us getting together is pretty hard. We love you all! We wish you all the best ever New Year!