I Love Yellowstone

I love Yellowstone National Park. My cousin Mark Schweppe and his family recently vacationed there and this is one of the pictures they shared with us:

Well said! Thanks Mark & Kristal!

8 day old Austin

Austin is always so bright eyed! This is the first time we'd seen him in a week.

On Monday we picked up Luke and Dylan and brought them back to our house for the day. Melissa seems to be doing great, and now that her milk is in the baby is sleeping in 2-3 hour chunks at night.

When I changed his diaper he stretched out and I thought he looked so long!
Although, this isn't one of his better pictures, it's the best one so far of his dimples. Austin has a big one on the left and a smaller one on right.
While Craig was holding Austin he looked up at him. It was so sweet.

These pictures were so cute I had to put all 3 on the blog for you all to enjoy.

Dylan and Luke thought it was so fun to take a nap in Uncle Joshie's big bed. (They kept asking where he was). They were horsing around so I put Luke on the other end of the bed, and after a few rounds of the ABC song and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, they conked out and had nice long naps. (Dylan sings himself to sleep like Claire used to)

Ben's Graduation

It has been a busy two years for Ben and Jamie while he has attended BYU to complete his bachelors degree. As part of the Army ROTC program, he was able to recieve his full Army salary and benefits while going to school full time. They are so glad to be done with school and ready to move on back to the real world.

We didn't have much luck taking pictures, but here are a few. Jamie has a cute slide show on her blog with more pictures of the commisioning and graduation.

When Kaylee saw Ben in his cap and gown, she said, "Dad, what you wearing?". Too cute.

The day before graduation, Ben was commissioned as an officer to the rank of 2nd Lt. My Dad and Craig were both in the Air Force, so that's 3 generations of military men in our family. My parents spent the day with us from Parowan, where my Dad is running for Mayor! Vote for Don Landes if you live there!!!

Kaylee wasn't too sure about all the clapping and commotion of the Commissioning Ceremony, but it was really nice. Notice Ben's Lt. bars on his shoulder now! Frank and Vanez Butler joined us from Richfield. It was so great to be with our dear friends. Frank is retired Air Force. He wore his uniform and administered the oath to Ben. It was really special to have them share this great day with us.
Friday night we went out to Outback Steakhouse to celebrate. Josh and his roomate (and cousin) Danny Jacobson joined us. It was so good to see Josh. He's been in Provo since July 1. He is going to take this semester off and work full time and then attend UVU in January. It has been fun to see Danny while we have visited in Provo the past few years.
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Nick and Renee surprised us with a visit from Star, Idaho on Friday night! It was so much fun to have all the brothers together. It was such a treat to see them. They moved to Idaho a month ago and we miss them.

Craig's brother John and sister-in-law Kathryn Ann came by for a visit while we were in town. They live in West Jordan, and they are currently serving a mission at the Family History Center.

It has been fun to spend time in Provo with Ben and Jamie the past 2years. While Ben attends officer training at Ft Sill, Oklahoma and then job training in Missouri, Jamie, Kaylee and Blake will stay here with us for about 7 months. Ben's assignment is to Fort Polk, Louisiana in March.

We had such a great trip --- the only glitch was 6 hours of traffic after Las Vegas.

IT'S A BOY!

Austin Charles Gargalis
8 lbs. 7 oz. 20 3/4" long
Sunday, August 9, 2009, 5:51 p.m.
Proud Parents: Greg & Melissa Gargalis

Melissa called us Sunday morning at about 7:30 to put us on stand by because she'd been having contractions since 2:30 a.m. and this time seemed to be the real thing. She wanted to try and go to church at 8:30, which she did while her contractions were 10 minutes apart. After 3 false alarms to the hospital, she wanted this to be the real thing. Since our church was at 10:00 we opted to once again be on stand-by rather than go to church only to have to leave. She called back before 10 and they were getting stronger, then a half hour later she wanted us to come.

She got to the hospital dilated to 4 cm and 90% effaced so she was relieved when they admitted her and immediately started her epidural. She got it just before the brutal double-peaking contractions began so she was pleased to watch them on the monitor instead of feel them. Her labor progressed effortlessly, and at 5:51 baby Austin arrived.

He looks exactly like Dylan with even more dark hair and better sideburns. He has Luke's dimple on the left and one of his very own on the right. He is such a sweet combination of his big brothers.

We bathed the boys and put them in their p.j.'s and went to visit at about 8:00. Melissa wasn't in her room yet and when we arrived the nurse was finishing up Austin's bath and scrubbing that head full of hair. Once she dried him off she put him under the warm lights and that's when we got to meet him.

Luke and Dylan were fascinated by their new brother.
Our darling Melissa and her third baby boy. They wanted to be surprised by the baby's sex. Since her pregnancy and labor were so different I was beginning to think it might be a girl after all. It is fun that her sister has 3 girls, and her brother has one of each.
Today I met Melissa and Greg at the hospital with the boys and they were so happy to see their baby brother and their parents. Greg took them to lunch at Burger King and let them play for awhile and I got to stay and hold Austin, who was alert for over an hour.
He is so bright eyed. . . . . .and check out these sideburns!
Austin is our 4th grandson, so now our total is 8, with 4 of each. Interestingly, the girls were all late and the boys were all early. Austin was early by one day.
They came home tonight, 24 hours later. The boys were so happy to have them home.
I asked Luke if he wanted to hold the baby, and he said, "No, I just want to play with him a little bit". He is so sweet and loving, but Greg and Melissa will have their hands full teaching their rough and tumble boys to be sweet and soft. Greg already said, "No head-butting the baby". LOL.
Dylan loves cars and went and got his prized bucket filled with them and put a car on Austin and said, "Here go baby". It was such a darling 2-yr old gift of love.
Now the trick will be just hoping he doesn't dump the entire bucket on the baby! That's how Dylan loves to play- dumping out and filling up a bucket or container with cars, trains, blocks, action figures or whatever toy he's playing with.

It's been a long few weeks, but we are so happy to welcome this new baby to the family, and especially grateful he came in time so that we can leave on Wednesday to go up to Utah for Ben's BYU graduation!

My Fun Project

Top:Ben --- Middle:Rebecca, Melissa --- Bottom: Nick, Josh

I remember my Granmommie had a gold frame like this and I always thought it was so special. When I saw this at Target a few years ago I didn't even hesitate to put it in my cart. It's hard to find frames that fit 5 kids. It has sat on my dresser for several years while I decided what pictures to put in the frames. The ovals are open on both sides. Origianlly, I thought I would put a newborn picture on one side and a 6 month old on the other. But that meant searching through photo albums . . .

I finally decided to tackle this "little" project. It was so much fun looking through old photo albums and seeing my grandchildren in their parents' faces. Sadly, I have very few close up newborn pictures of the first 3 kids. I was always bummed they weren't taken in the hospital. (Or maybe since I only stayed in the hospital 12 hours I missed that window). Most of my pictures from the 70's and early 80's have turned orange and faded from the crappy bargain film developing of the day. It is so sad. I need to hunt through old slides and see if perhaps my Grampa Buff took some?

At any rate I put a 4-6 month old baby picture on one side and a kindergarten picture on the other side. It was tricky enlarging and reducing the pictures to fit the 2" ovals. I just love the results. It makes me smile and fills my heart to see those little faces I love so much and continue to adore, even though they are now adults. If it's possible, I love them even more today, but they will always be my babies.

Top: Ben --- Middle: Melissa, Rebecca --- Bottom: Josh, Nick