A Visit from Josh and Krista

It was so nice to have Josh and Krista home for the long Veteran's Day weekend. 

Krista is finally looking pregnant and she looks beautiful. We had hoped they would be able to join us for Thanksgiving but the Army is giving Josh Wed and Thurs off instead of Thurs and Friday.  His schooling is so intense he cannot afford to miss any class.  So far he seems to enjoy it and is keeping up his grades. It was interesting to see him speak and read Persian Farsi.  He tried to do a little homework while they were here. 

They are so excited about their baby boy, due March 7.

We had a fun weekend: we did a little baby shopping at Carter's, saw Skyfall - the new James Bond movie, (which was great) and then we went out to dinner at Cafe Rio in Redlands.  To top off the evening, Krista and I were victorious, as always when we played Sequence, boys against the girls.  Craig and Josh wanted a rematch the next night and once again, the girls triumphed.  Jamie would have been so proud of us!

Before we knew Josh and Krista were coming, we had planned to watch the boys for Melissa on Friday while she was at her Ragnar Race in Las Vegas. They were a little shy at first but Aunt Krista won them over in no time. The boys all love the old Marble Works (that our kids loved) and let our expert Josh set it up. 

It didn't take long for the wrestling to begin. . .

 

Austin was so happy to have a turn

The face of this child is so darling! He is such a sweet boy!

Greg & Melissa came over for Sunday dinner.  It was so nice to have the chairs filled around our table. Craig and I miss those glory days before eveyone moved to all parts of the country.  We like the show "Blue Bloods" with Tom Selleck.  In every show they have a big Sunday dinner with the entire family and we always look at each other with a heavy sigh -  missing those sweet days. 

Ben, Rebecca and Nick all have firstborn daughters.  Josh and Melissa are the only two who will have firstborn sons. 

 

So Cute It's Scary

Our daughters are so sweet to send us pictures of the kids that live so far away in Star, Idaho and DeRidder, Louisiana. We appreciate it more than they will ever know.  It is always such a treat to find a picture on my phone or in an email.   Here they are in this years Halloween costumes:

Paige is almost 8. She is Merida from the movie, BRAVE.

(It was Rebecca's first attempt at sewing a costume and it turned out so darling).

 

Claire is in kindergarten and she is Rapunzel - wedding dress version.

 

Little Miss 3 1/2 year old Reese is Jessie from Toy Story.

 

This Karen Sterling creation was Paige's originally, and all 3 girls have worn it now. It is a family heirloom!

 

Here they are all ready for tricks and treats.  I love the expressions on those cute faces.  Doesn't Paige's hair look great?  Rebecca had her sleep on sponge curlers and by the end of the day the curls had loosened to perfection.  Then Rebecca just used a red hair spray to get that Merida look.
 

 

 

This isn't from Halloween, but how darling is the sleeping Skye? She looks so grown up with her hair like this. She will be 2 in January.

 

Skye has the sweetest, cutest cheesey smile.  I got this outfit for her on sale and I had a coupon on top of that so I could not resist. Thank you Carter's. Her little pony tails are so fun. 

 

 

 Of course, Nick and Renee always have the cutest, thematic costumes. They are so creative! This year they were characters from Heman. Nick is Heman, of course. Renee was the Sorceress and Skye was Orko the ghost. ( I just noticed poor Nick had to buy those purple and gold shoes, oh dear)



Our Louisiana grandkids, Kaylee and Blake were Batgirl and Batman.  Blake wanted to be Batman and when Kaylee saw the matching Batgirl costume she joined in the fun.  These are fitting costumes because their Dad has always loved Batman.

6 year old Kaylee is Batgirl.

3 1/2 year old Blake is Batman.  Look at that darling smile. 

Last but not least are the darling neighbor boys, our super heroes.  6 1/2 year old Luke, 5 year old Dylan and 3 year old Austin stopped by to show us their costumes before they went Trick or Treating.

Luke is a Red Ninja, Dylan is Batman and Austin is Buzz Lightyear.  Austin had an attack of shyness and he would not wear his costume to our preschool party the day before.  No amount of bribery and/or threats would work.  Funny boys.

 

IT'S ALL TIED UP

Josh and Krista are having a BOY!

 He will tie up the score giving us 5 grandsons and 5 granddaughters. 

We realized once we had Melissa [our third child] that all our babies would have blue eyes, big feet and dimples in their chins. (The dimple is from Craig, my Mom, and her dad, my Grampa Buff). Both Craig and I have blue eyes and so do our parents and siblings.  However, Craig and I are personally responsible for the big foot gene.  I got mine from my Aunt Sharon, but I'm not sure who share's Craig's shoe size.   

When Josh and Krista met, the first thing she did was point to his chin and tell him she had one just like it. The rest of course, is history. They are both tall, so we know this child will be gorgeous and tall. Look at his toes in this ultrasound. The tech commented on his long toes! Yep, he's a Rogers!

 

Like father like son: here he is already flexing!



Here's his sweet little profile. I'm in love!
 

The big question remains - what color hair will this child have?  Krista has lots of beautiful redheads in her family as well as blondes and brunettes.  Our kids all started out really fair and blonde, but now they all have light brown hair.  And Craig's family has pretty brunette hair.  What fun!

YO HO LET'S GO!!!

We had a fun day at Disneyland with Melissa and the boys on October 10th. It was a school day, and when they woke up Melissa asked them if they wanted to go to Disneyland instead of school.  What a great Mom!  It has finally cooled off enough to go and enjoy Disneyland without melting.  To add to the fun, Craig had an eye problem - he just couldn't see going to work : )

We took a picture as soon as we got there. Wonder of wonders, no one is blinking (something I share with Melissa) and all 3 of the boys are smiling at the same time!

We stayed at Disneyland since California Adventure is still crowded from the opening of the new Cars Land.  The lines weren't very long and it was a great day.  All the autumn flowers and decorations were beautiful.


Dylan is the 4th from the right.  Luke is the 4th from the left.

We went to the Jedi Training Academy and both the boys got picked.  I never get tired of watching this, and it was fun to see Luke and Dylan get to participate.  The Star Wars characters are amazing and they stay in character the entire time.  They are so good with the "younglings".

Dylan got to fight Darth Vader.

 

Luke got to fight Darth Maul. Darth Maul is so creepy and so are the stormtroopers.

I had read on the blog Babes in Disneyland  that Pirates League was open at Disneyland during October.  Its kind of like the boys version of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique except instead of a princess makeover, they paint on eyebrows and a beard and dress them like a pirate with a sword, sash, and a medallion necklace.  The boys love getting their faces painted so I thought they would like this.  Plus they love the show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  We weren't sure if it was open on the day we were there, and then when we went through New Orleans Square on the way to lunch at our favorite Hungry Bear, pirate wenches were passing out fliers, so we put that on our list after lunch.

It was tucked away in the back behind the shops, by the stairs.  It was set up in true Disney fashion.  Our timing was perfect and there was no one in line.  The boys got to pick if they wanted to be Jake , or a first mate. I was surprised they all wanted to be Jake. 

 

 

It was hilarious watching the process. The Pirate "wenches" were amazing. They were so good with the boys and they all stayed in character the entire time, speaking in a cockney accent. They were so funny.

 

 

As each boy was done, they were read the pirate oath and then it was announced, "We have a new pirate" and all the pirate wenches shouted ,"AHOY!". It was truly magical.

It was a priceless afternoon.  My favorite part was as soon as they were done, Dylan and Austin ran up the stairs and started dueling with their new swords like old pros.

The boys really wanted to ride the tea cups.  I don't think I've been on them since their Mom was little.  None of us were really thrilled about it, but I took one for the team and went with Luke and Dylan while Melissa went with Austin.  Craig offered to take pictures.  It was so much fun and we laughed the entire time.  But I'm pretty sure I won't go again soon- I felt awful when the ride stopped.

We love the Enchanted Tiki Room and getting a Pineapple Whip.  Why did it take us this long to discover that the back row has nice padded seats?

Luke stayed in character all day, and was very serious about having his hand on his sword, or putting it up on his shoulder.  It was another wonderful day at the happiest place on earth.  So glad we have our season passes.

Primary

11 of our 18 CTR 5's

I thought the day of our Primary Program would be a good time to get a picture of our entire class.  Unfortunately, since four left early, this is a smaller than normal group.  I went ahead and took this picture anyway, since there were a few kids there who missed the last picture.  Craig and I have had fun teaching this big primary class.  They are such sweet chldren and they keep us us on our toes!  It is definitely a different way to serve, but we feel like at least we are making a difference in these precious children's lives.  

Front row: Luke*, Brendan, Jackson and Hunter(with his new hair cut)

Back row: Rachel, Mara, Brielle, Kayana, Rachel, Meredith and Mia
Not pictured: Caleb, Olivia, Bailey, Leah, Piero, Ezekiel, Kenzie

*Melissa's oldest son and our first grandson  : )

HAPPY NEWS

Josh and Krista are expecting their first baby on March 7!  YAY!!!  WE ARE SO EXCITED!!! This will be our tenth grandchild.  Skye is our youngest and she will be 2 in January.  Blake, Reese and Austin all turned 3 this year, so it's been awhile since we've had a new baby in the family.

 This will be a tall child - Josh is 6'4" and Krista is 5'11".  Krista has a sister who is 6'3" and brothers that are 6'6".  Plus, she has siblings with beautiful curly red hair, so this could be our little redhead!  Either way, he or she will be beautiful, tall and have a dimple in his/her chin.  I can't wait to see that little face!  Krista will have an ultrasound on October 24 and they hope to find out if it's a boy or girl at that time. 

Krista is feeling good,  she just tires easily but thankfully she doesn't have any morning sickness.  She and Josh are both so excited to be parents.  They will be wonderful!  We are truly blessed and so grateful for our precious children and grandchildren.  They are the heart of our heart and the loves of our life!

I Left My Heart in Monterey

 

We spent labor day weekend in Monterey with Josh and Krista, where Josh is stationed at the Presidio of Monterey at Fort Ord, Defense Language Institute.  He is learning Persian Farsi to become a cryptological linguist in military intelligence for the Army. This is the language spoken in Iran.  His schooling is very intense, but he seems to be keeping up his g.p.a.  He cannot miss any class time, so he is grateful for the breaks on the weekends and the occasional holiday.  

 

Josh and Krista were separated for 5 months while he was in basic training and for the beginning of his language training.  They are so happy to be together!  We had not seen them for almost a year - it was last October when we all rendezvoused in Idaho for a long weekend.  It was a treat to spend time with them and be in the beautiful Monterey area for the first time.

 Craig and I drove up the 101 and it was the first time we've ever made that beautiful drive. Saturday morning we were tourists and started off at Fisherman's Wharf.  There are seals everywhere and it was fun to watch them and the sea otters  play.

Then we went on the famous 17 MILE DRIVE  through Pebble Beach and took a few pictures.  We were in heaven with the cool 65 degree weather after our hot and humid August.  It was glorious! The coastline was very rocky and craggy, so different from the sandy beaches in southern Calif.  It was overcast most of the time, so our views weren't as pretty as it would have been in clear weather, but it was still breathtaking. 

The housing areas of Pebble Beach reminded me a little of Santa Rosa.  Very hilly and so pretty.  This fence had holes cut in it to accommodate this old tree.   It looked so cool to see this tree just growing out of the fence.


This is the Lone Cypress that is the logo for Pebble Beach.
  It's over 250 years old. 
 

On Saturday afternoon we went out to lunch at Islands and went to see the new Bourne movie.  (It was okay.  I am liking action movies less and less in my old age!)Saturday night we played SEQUENCE boys against the girls and of course, the girls were triumphant per usual. 

 

It was so much fun being with Josh and Krista for the weekend after such a long time.  They have a cute apartment and they are so glad to have their things after waiting for over a month for the movers to arrive. They have a good circle of friends and they are a great support to each other.  The husbands all came to Monterey about the same time as Josh, but they are studying different languages and are in different branches of the military.  One couple is also in their ward.  They love being in a family ward after their first two years in young married student wards.  They are in the Seaside Ward.

 

We drove home via the Coast Highway. This was also a first for us.   Even though there was patchy fog, and it was mostly overcast, the scenery was beautiful.  I especially loved the Big Sur area with the redwood trees and mountain roads, and then through the trees you can see the beautiful ocean.  We can't wait to go back!