4th of July FUN!!!!

We had such a great 4th of July weekend! It was so wonderful that the rains have come to cool everything down and green everything up! Not all the kids could come and we surely did miss them!

 Reed & Natali had to stay in Dallas to enjoy the festivities there. 

Tami, Ryne and boys are in Provo.

 Kari & Kirk are far away in Ohio, but they have 4th of July fun there too.

Lisa and Barry were the very first to arrive!

 Bret & Becki arrived LATE Thursday night so they could be here for the full weekend. Their 4 little kiddos sure loved playing with their cousins. Holly came with her 5 all by herself, Mark had to work!

 Mitch & Mindee Crosby came by to introduce us all to their 3 little boys they just adopted! 

 They had to buy this huge van/bus so they could all travel together. It is super fancy with a big screen TV and 8 leather recliners!

 Chad & Luann came from Snowflake to enjoy the parade and other activities with us!

 The parade is always the highlight for the kids. As long as they throw candy, it doesn't matter what float or horse goes by! Even little Ivory got candy in her can!!

 Dempsey

 Kingston

 Zallen

 Our oldest grandson- Kaemon

 Bolden

 London

 Milea

 They chased for every piece of candy!

 This was one of the Ward floats with the missionaries on it.

 Reed was supposed to come for his 10 year class reunion, but couldn't make it. This was his class float!

 Our little Wembley!  Such a cutie!

 Gpa recruiting help chucking the corn for dinner

 Of course we always play lots of games.

 Gpa enjoying his little granddaughters!

I didn't get any pictures of us all having S'mores out at Gpa's fire pit. We ate a whole bag of marshmallows!! Then we headed to watch the fireworks that I thought were pretty great for our little town! It was really fun being together to enjoy this fun holiday. 

GRANDKIDS--lots of FUN, lots of work!

So after my Dad's birthday party on Sat. June 6th, I headed home to Eagar with Bret & Becki's 4 little kiddos. We've enjoyed getting to know these little people better and have had some good times!

Ivory thinks Gpa's lawnmower is always fun!

 We put a little tire swing up so they could swing across the 

ditch, and they have played endlessly on it.

 Dempsey and Ivory playing in the water while Gpa irrigates!

 Ivory loved the baby chicks! We started out with 6 and

are down to two! We've had some trouble with some kind of

animal getting to them through this cage!!

Then we decided to take them all camping up to Milligan Valley!

We loaded up our 'pop-up' and off we went!

Aww.... This little girl was pretty miserable! She fell down earlier that morning and hit her lip, so it was big and swollen and hurting her! Plus she had both eyes infected, was running a slight fever and had a runny nose. I gave her a little fever and pain reliever medicine and a few hours later, she was the life of the party!

 We call Kingston our little 'snaggletooth'! He's finally got

one of his front teeth grown in! 

 Our little campers!

 Dinner was pretty good, I made chicken kabobs and of course camping wouldn't be complete with out hotdogs!!

They had fun playing! Kingston can really hit a pinecone good!!

 London hit a few too. 

 Oops, he missed that one!!

 They climbed trees, we went on a long hike and did some exploring, and we played soccer.

 Then it was time for dessert!!  Yummy S'mores! When it got a little later, we went into the pop-up, got on jammies, and then we played cards!  They love 'crazy 8's, 'go fish' and 'old maid'! They were so excited to get to sleep in their little sleeping bags! They slept good, but I was worried about the baby getting cold, so every noise she made, I was up checking to make sure she was covered! Finally morning came and we enjoyed a breakfast of cold cereal!

On the way home we stopped at 'Tree in the Rock' for a picture!

They got to see a herd of elk right behind our house!

They've been having fun for the most part (I hope!), but they are also missing their mommy and daddy! This Gma is about worn out, so I guess its time to take them home!

 

My Dad turns 88!!

June 6th was a special day, my Dad turned 88 years old. I am so very blessed to still have both my parents! I wanted to do 'something' to celebrate, so I made a cake and headed to Mesa! I didn't tell Dad that I'd invited some family over, so he was surprised when people started too show up!! 

 This "Almost Too Much Chocolate Cake" is way yummy!!

 The Birthday Boy!!

 Bret brought their 'slip & slide' to keep the kids entertained.

 Cutie Pie London

 My Dad & Mom, Don & Lillian, Pompa & Nanna!!

 Everyone left before I got a picture of the other grandkids and great grandkids that came.  Boyd, Jen and their cute kids, Little Don & Charlie, and Justin, Carli and their little bunch. It wasn't much, but hopefully Dad knows how much we all LOVE HIM!

 After the party, I loaded up these 4 little kiddos (Bret's kids) to take them to Eagar for awhile. Becki had girls camp for a week, then they had some other plans they needed to take care of, so I will have them about 12 days! Somehow I managed to get 3 cars seats in my car for the 4 hour trip home! 

We have been enjoying our time with them! I will be posting lots of pictures of some of the fun things we've been doing!

STILL MAY---Our favorite get-away.....

...we just LOVE going to Tucson to the Gaslight Theatre!! We wanted to see Robin Hood and so we invited Byran & J'net (for her birthday) to come with us. It was just a little 2 day trip, but always so much fun! I had to pick up my computer in Mesa Thursday morning, so we met for lunch at Cafe Rio, then we headed to Tucson! We had to drive separate cars, since we go home in different directions!!

 J'net picked 'Oregano's' to eat and it was way yummy!

 Robin Hood was a hoot!! They had a really cute boy

playing Robin, they are all so talented!

 The sun was really bright!!

On weeknights they only have one 7 o'clock show and we had pretty good seats. We always have to get an ice cream treat from the soda fountain! We love the popcorn on the tables too!

 Friday morning we road this little tram up Sabino canyon. Its really dry, hardly any water in the creek, but it was still really pretty.

After that we made a little Costco run, then headed home.

Its was a fast, but fun little trip. The Gaslight is just good, clean entertainment and they put on such great shows! How can you beat it??

LATE May post--Mother's Day

I haven't been able to post for the last month BECAUSE-- my computer has been down and out. It wouldn't take a charge, but it is now fixed and I'm a happy camper!!

For Mother's Day at church we put on a nice little spread for our sisters. We wanted to make them feel like they were special and deserved some treats. I think that maybe I just wanted treats for Mother's Day! I made about 150 tarts (cream cheese, pecan, and chocolate) plus brownie bites, and a fruit tray with dip! The other ladies made some cookies and of course we had to have some chocolate truffles and hershey treasures. It was a great day!!

 The picture of Christ on the wall is a chalk drawing by my friend Arina Mortensen. She is now selling her prints!!

We had Chad and Luann come for dinner, that was so nice. I also got a phone call from all my other children that made me so happy.