SPRING BREAK WITH OUR IDAHO GIRLS

Rebecca and Renee made the drive from Idaho to spend Spring Break in sunny California, stopping overnight in Parowan at Grama and Grampa Great's.  The cousins are having one big love-fest.  The only squabbles have been between siblings.  The weather has cooperated all week and the kids have had so much fun playing outside in the nice spring sun.  They even had sunshine at the usually overcast beach in Oceanside on Tuesday.  

Paige 8, Luke almost 7, Claire almost 6 Dylan 5 1/2,

 Reese almost 4, Austin 3 1/2, Skye 2

(We're missing Kaylee 6, Blake 4, and 3 week old Lincoln)

Luke is playing T-Ball and he was happy to have his cousins come watch his game. Melissa made the darling team banner.

Austin, Reese, Dylan and Claire
After Craig picked me up from the airport Sunday afternoon,  we went over to Greg and Melissa's for a fabulous Carne Asada dinner.  The kids are all playing so cute together, and they are so happy to be able to play outside in the nice warm weatther. 

 

Skye loves her Grampa.  She runs right past Grama straight to Grampa every time!

Bryant's are staying at Melissa's two doors down, and we get Renee and Skye with us. It is so nice to be so close at times like this and we can go back and forth. It has been fun for us to spend a little extra time with 2 year old Skye.

Skye being silly one night before bedtime. 

 This is her "say cheese" smile.

We decided to begin Craig's gala 60th birthday celebration a few days early. 

 He chose In N Out for dinner.

Craig recieved lots of fun gift cards, and a book "HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD AND FREE". He just made the big decision to wait and retire early next spring.

The girls made Butterscotch Torte and

 Oreo Torte for dessert.  Dylan seems amazed by the heat

 from those  60 candles.

Some of Craig's best girls. 

 

Renee even looks adorable while photo bombing.

Love these beautiful sisters. 

Sad for me, I hurt my knee before going to Monterey

 last week. No clue how it happened, but it's getting

 worse.   Alas, I had to miss the beach  because the

 day before I went  to the Dr.  He x-rayed my knee

 and found arthritis and bone spurs.  So. Not. Fun. 

Today I am blogging while everyone is at

Knott's Berry Farm.  It's up to Craig to do the

 appropriate spoiling while I sit at home on my

heating pad, trying to have a good attitude. . . .

I LEFT MY HEART IN MONTEREY

I spent 5 glorious days in Monterey with Josh, Krista and our newest grandson, 2 week old Lincoln.  I love the cool weather and ocean breezes of Monterey.  So between my family and the 60 degree weather it was a win-win for me. 

 

Krista looks fabulous.  She is a darling Mom and as you can see, motherhood definitely becomes her.

 

Josh is quite the proud Papa.  He was off for spring break so it was nice to get to spend some time with him.
 I even got to watch him play basketball.  It just doesn't get much better than that. 

 

This is what it took to get the following picture. .  .

 

 

 He is such a good baby, we joke that he has THE CURSE OF THE ROGERS' FIRSTBORN. 

 All the firstborn grandchildren in our family are perfect angels.  Then when the second child comes and they are a "normal" baby, it is a bit of an adjustment for Mom and Dad. 

 Josh  and Krista just assured me all of their babies would be angels. 

Lincoln loves his quilt from Aunt Melissa

The only way I was able to get on the airplane without a breakdown was knowing we will see this darling little family in less than 2 weeks when they bless him in Lake Elsinore. 

 

CONFESSIONS OF A MORMON BISHOP

My broher-in-love, Kirk Jacobson posted this article on his facebook page.

Confessions of a Mormon Bishop

 I was amazed to see the author is one of our missionary sons, Russ Hill! We even met in Seattle with  Matt Lovejoy and attended Joe Webb's wedding back in the day. Good times. (I need to find pictures).  I am not surprised to find out about his success, or the depth of his committment. I was so touched by this post, I wanted to share it.  This article is for everone, Bishop, member and non-member alike.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2 weeks old tomorrow



Our Baby is a Daddy

Lincoln Huck Rogers

8 lbs 3 oz, 20 1/2" long

Monday, 4 March 2013

I got a call about 5:30 on Monday morning, 4 March that when Krista woke up that morning, she was feeling a little pain, stood up and her water broke.  Her contractions were 2-3 minutes apart so they were off to the hospital, 3 days early. As I type this I am so sad that all my texts from that day were deleted with my old phone.  I honestly planned to transcribe them because they were so cute and funny. Hopefully Josh still has his.

 

They gave her pitocin to speed up her contractions and they were too fast, so they took her off the pitocin, and she went the rest of the way on her own.  After about 11:30, there were no updates and I started feeling a bit anxous.  Not wanting to intrude but needing to know what was happening, I texted Krista's mom for an update, and she immediately texted back saying " she is pushing and the nurse can see hair and it's not red!"  This baby had every option for hair color with lots of redheads and every other hair color in Krista's family.  We all started out different shades of blonde, and Craig has lots of pretty brunette's on his side. It is always fun to see how genetics work!



It was so wonderful to finally get the news that all was well.  Lincoln was born about 2:30. The first picture Josh sent was very dark, but the one above was just right.  It was love at first sight.  Or maybe I should say second sight because I have seen this face before!  Little Lincoln is the spitting image of his father.  Krista and Josh both have a dimple in their chin.  It was the first thing she said when they met.  Craig, all 5 kids, my mom and her dad, my Grampa Buff all have "THE DIMPLE" so we were excited Lincoln is carrying on that family tradition.  He also has the Rogers trademark of  big feet and long toes. 

The next day Josh sent this sweet picture.

Krista sent this when they came home from the hospital.  Josh was able to have Monday and Tuesday off, which they were very grateful for.  On Wednesday he had to get back to class.  Krista's Mom arrived from Kentucky last week, and we're so glad that she felt prompted to change her ticket and come a week early.  Lincoln was 3 days early and he is the first Huckvale grandchild and the tenth Rogers grandchild. He evens the score to 5 girls and 5 boys. 

3 days old - Krista texted me this picture " He looks sooo much like Josh!"

Here they are side by side.  This is Josh at the same age.  Krista did this split screen with pictures we had given her of when Josh was a baby.

5 days old

 

On Sunday, 10 March, Josh posted this one on  Facebook, "Starting him young"
and a comment from  Krista, "This was right before he palmed the ball. . ."
 



We talked to Josh today and he said Lincoln is a good baby, eating and sleeping well.  Today they texted several pictures and a sweet little video.  I am so grateful for the modern technology of smart phones and skype.  It truly is the next best thing and helps so much.


6 days old

 I am counting the days until my turn to go to Monterey and meet Lincoln in real life.  I will fly out on Tuesday, March 19  and stay for 5 days.  My preschool parents were very supportive of my having to juggle our schedule.

P.S. I'm still waiting for pictures of Krista and Josh with the baby.  More to come! 

Paigey Lou and Clairey Lou Who

Paige 8, Claire 6 1/2

Happy Birthday, Dr Seuss! 

 Rebecca did such a great job of their hair. They dressed up  for school to celebrate Dr. Seuss.

Cindy Lou Who would be impressed. 

Captain Ben Rogers

Ben made Captain on March 1, 2013 and so we made a quick trip to Aizona to celebrate with them.  It is wonderful to have them back out west this year.  Ben will be in class through September at the least and possibly through December.  He is taking the Captain's Career Course in Military Intelligence. 

 

 





Blake just turned 4 in February.
 He is a sweet, happy, boy - almost as tall as Kaylee. 
He is usually on the move and singing a song as he goes. Before the ceremony, Blake said, "My Daddy has a #1 on his hat!" (The emblem for captain is 2 bars and the emblem for Lieutenant is 1 bar. )

It is always a treat to spend time with Ben and Jamie, but our visits are never long enough.  The drive is 7-8 hours, but it is such a nice drive without all the random traffic and craziness of the drive to Utah. Even though it is the same length, the distance seems shorter.  And the Arizona roads are definitely better.  We listened to almost a whole audio book each way.  I'm still working on my hexies.  I'll have to post my progress soon. 

THE GIRLS REMAIN TRIUMPHANT IN SEQUENCE : )