Craig & Lissa Rogers

Busy Season for the Tooth Fairy

2011-12-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

Paige lost one of her front teeth the end of October and the other one was really loose.

Then Luke lost one of his front teeth last week and the other one is really loose! Paige gave him a pep talk about how it didn't hurt that much.

Then Paige lost her other front tooth a few days ago!!!! Apparently she had forgotten her words of wisdom to her cousin. It had been dangling for days and Mark finally held her down so Rebecca could pull it out. Rebecca is hoping she was not traumatized by the experience. Luke's other tooth could come out any day now. . .

So cute and so grown up! It doesn't seem like all that long ago they were getting their very first teeth and they are already falling out!

Another soldier in the family. . .

2011-12-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

Josh enlisted in the Army yesterday! He reports to basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina on January 30th for 9 weeks, then he will train for a year in Monterey, California. Here is his post from facebook:

"Im going into the army doing cryptologic linguistics . So I'll learn arabic or chinese or some crazy language"

Josh has been looking into this for the past month. He is excited to have found a career path and plans to do the "green to gold" program like Ben did. (The Army pays for him to finish his degree and then he gives them another 4 years as an officer). When we spoke to him yesterday, he sounds really happy. He is so glad it all worked out so he can begin sooner than later. Krista should be able to join him in Monterey after a month or two. Everything has fallen into place, so we all feel really good about his choice.

Christmastime is Here

2011-12-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it's because we are empty nesters and will see only 4 of our 5 children (and 3 of our 9 children) for Christmas this year---or because we were packing and moving last year so we diidn't send cards or decorate at all. . . here are a few thoughts:

I have always loved Christmas. For most of my life, we spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's side of the family. We'd get dressed up in our new Christmas outfits and it was so much fun to spend time with our cousins. Grandmommy and Grandaddy always made Christmas Eve so special for us. We were really blessed to live so close to them so that we could celebrate together for so many years. Once we started having families of our own, we still had a family party a week or so before Christmas. The fun thing about that was that it stretched Christmas out a little longer.

My Mom's parents lived in Parowan, Utah, so every other year they would take turns spending Christmas with us in southern California or my cousins in North Ogden, Utah. During the years they had Christmas with our cousins, Grama would send the most amazing packages, with the perfect presents. And there were always other treats. Her specialty was home made turtles and peanut butter cookies. She would stack the cookies in a roll and then roll them up in wax paper and foil. It's the best peanut butter cookie recipe on the planet.

Last year, we spent Christmas with Jamie in Louisiana while Ben was in Afghanistan. And then we moved on January 14. Needless to say, for the first time in many years we did not send out Christmas Cards. We did nothing Christmassy except hang wreaths on the front doors and I changed my blog background. I really missed decorating my house, making caramels, and putting up my Christmas Tree.

This year it has been fun to become reacquainted with my Christmas decorations. It has been such a treat to open up the boxes of ornaments and my nativity collection. I still have a little more to do, but I'm almost there. The most important thing for me this year was to make sure I sent out cards early so that we wouldn't lose touch with people we love.

As I thought about the whole process of giving and receiving Christmas Cards, it made me so grateful for the custom. As I addressed each card, I found myself going down memory lane, remembering why the addressee was so important to our family. I thought of family members who I have known all my life or all of their lives. I thought of people we have been in the trenches with as we raised our children and served together in church callings. It makes my heart sing to think of all the wonderful people who have blessed my life and the life of my family.

I like scrappy quilts. I don't like matchy-matchy as much as I like a variety. That's how my Christmas tree is. I have all different kinds of ornaments. It's not very fancy or decorative or color coordinated with a theme. My Christmas tree has become a family history. But really, so many of the traditions we have at Christmas are parts of our family history that was added over the years. I thought of all the things I've learned over the years that help make Christmas special. The fun Christmas Groups and Family Home Evening Groups. I still use many of the stories with my preschoolers and cherish many of the ornaments and decorations we shared. Little things like how to string popcorn and cranberries, how to make a bow, or homemade caramels. The tradition of leaving out a shoe for the elf during the month of December to help the children behave. The ornaments and other decorations I've made in classes or at church with dear friends. All the wonderful Relief Society committees over the years. Music that has been shared. Recipes. Stories like "Cracked Wheat for Christmas" or movies like "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" or "A Muppet Family Christmas". Napkins folded like elf shoes.Then there are the gifts of ornaments or nativities that have been given by students and friends. The list goes on and on.

Tonight I just feel really grateful for all the people and experiences in my life that have made me the 55 year old woman I am today. As I unpacked every ornament and nativity I was filled with joy at the memories associated with each one. As I addressed each Christmas card it felt so good to see those names of people who are so dear to me. Maybe that's part of the Christmas spirit. It seems to be for me this year. I love Christmas!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Autumn - at last!

2011-11-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

It seemed like Autumn would never arrive. I was getting so weary of the heat (too hot to have recess, too hot to cook, too hot to have any energy, etc). It has been tricky teaching preschoolers about leaves falling when they are still all green! Then finally, last week, this is what I saw when I walked out my front door. . . . .

This is the view from across the street

It looks so pretty when you turn into our street because every house has one of these trees.

Today it was actually cloudy and cold all day. It was such a treat.

I really need to live in the mountains one day because I love the change of seasons and the cool weather.

Craig and I are having fun teaching the CTR 5's in Primary. We have 9 adorable 1st Graders and Kindergarteners in our class:

Back - Meredith, Abbey and Rebecca. Front - Daxton, Davis, Preston, Daylen and Jacob. (Dylan had to leave early)

We had our feast at preschool with pilgrim stew, popcorn, cornbread and turkey cookies. We made our own butter by shaking cream in a jar with a few marbles.

Back- Dylan, Violet, Saphryn and Macey. Front- Sadie, Nathan, (Reese and Austin are visiting). We missed Ethan!

Isn't my little class cute? The stew always turns out great, but the kids barely touched it even though they loved stirring in their ingredients. I'm beginning to think maybe I should try a feast Charlie Brown style with jelly beans, toast and popcorn.

We are flying to Louisiana next week to spend Thanksgiving with Ben's family. We've spent the last two Thanksgivings in Idaho, so we'll miss our western states kids. It seems we are always missing someone. We are so excited to see Ben for the first time in 18 months. Jamie and the kids were here to visit in July, but that's been too long. Kaylee and Blake just won't stop growing!

Skype and phone calls are wonderful,

but I can't wait to be with them in real life!

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Autumn!

Ben's Homecoming

2011-10-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Ben arrived home to Ft. Polk, Louisiana this morning and at 5:30 a.m they were officially welcomed home on base. Before then, the family was not allowed to see them.

Lest anyone get the bright ideas to go around the ceremony and meet them at the airport, the Army promised a police escort back to the base. . .

Needless to say, this is one very,

very happy family!

Kaylee and Blake's expressions

in all these pictures are just priceless.

Ben called briefly this morning

and I talked to Kaylee. I asked her

how her day was going,

and she said," We got Daddy from

the Army. There was a song.

And Flags. My Daddy's home".

Craig talked to Ben on the phone tonight, and he said Blake didn't take his hat off all day. I think Ben looks great! But tomorrow first ont he agenda is a hair cut! Jamie sounds wonderful. You can hear the smile in her voice. Jamie said Blake keeps saying, "Hi Daddy" or "Daddy home" and then he repeats it dozens of times.

This morning when I woke up at 6 I was kind of hoping for a text with a picture saying he'd arrived. I just figured they were enjoying the reunion and we would hear at some point today. (I told Jamie last night just to enjoy him and worry about us later.) Then when I checked facebook and saw these pictures I lost it. I couldn't stop smiling or bawling. I just felt so competely overwhelemed with joy and gratitude for Ben's safe return and most especially for his safety this past year. Needless to say, it took me awhile to regroup and focus on preschool. Fortunately, only 4 kids were here today, so that made for a very easy morning.

I printed up a few of these pictures and put them on the reminder board to share with my preschool parents. When Craig saw them when he came home, he returned to the kitchen where I was making dinner and I noticed him wiping away the tears. It's been an emotional time for him as well. We feel so grateful and so humbled that we have been blessed with such dear children and grandchildren. It makes "Thank You Heavenly Father" seem so very inadequate.

Our Lovely Idaho Weekend

2011-10-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

We took advantage of Craig's long weekend for Columbus Day and flew up to Idaho for a much needed visit. It was such a treat to have cool, autumn weather, but even better than that was 4 days with 3/5 of our kids and grandkids!

We took an early flight out of Ontario and we arrived in Boise at 11:00 a.m. Rebecca and the girls picked us up from the airport, so Grampa had to spoil them a little and let them "ride" the train and plane in the little arcade.

We were right in time for lunch and everyone's favorite, Red Robin. They are always so happy to see the Bryant family there! Rebecca can elaborate.

After lunch we went home and all napped on a nice chilly afternoon. It was such a treat to have genuine fall weather. Paige and Claire both recently learned to ride their bikes without training wheels, so it was fun to see them in action. Of course, Reese didn't want to be left out of the photo op.

While we were watching the girls ride bikes, a big grasshopper was on Rebecca's shoe and the girls thought that was so funny.

Since we hadn't seen Skye since March, we knew it would be a challenge to win her over in such a short time! She would flirt with us and then when we'd reach out to pick her up or hold her she would start to howl! Of course, she warmed up to Grampa first.

Skye is very busy crawling and pulling herself up on everything. She is way too big already, but so cute!

Saturday morning we went to Paige's soccer game at a park just around th corner from Nick & Renee's. Nick and Skye met us there, ( Renee worked that morning) and they surprised us by bringing Uncle Josh and Aunt Krista who had driven up from Provo! Josh is on the left. Skye is wearing Kaylee's "pinata" hat. (Rebecca and Nick have more cute pictures of Josh and Krista I am hoping to find in an email soon).

It was great to see Shannon and Dave Grogan! Their family is so dear to us. Rebecca and Shannon have been friends since their girls camp days when they were in middle school, and I had Samantha in preschool. Dave and Mark work together and Dave is Jamie's cousin! I love it that they are all together in Idaho. Just one big happy family!

Paige loves playing "defender". The leauge has some weird rules, so she can't pick up the ball and actually be a goalie. But she loves it. I got to go down memory lane and french braid her hair that morning, just like I used to for her Mom and Aunt Melissa.

Saturday afternoon we all went to the pumpkin patch in Boise. We had a few extra minutes while we were waiting for everyone and since the girls were all dressed up, I took a few pictures. Rebecca always fixes their hair so cute. Mark's mom made the darling matching barrettes for the girls.

Skye's first visit to the pumpkin patch

We all went through the corn maze, and ended up going in a big circle and exiting at the entrance!

Claire was so tickled to find this lady bug

Skye makes the cutest scrunchy face.

We spent Sunday afternoon at Nick and Renee's. It is so fun to watch them as parents. They are both so good with Skye. I love her little baby hands in this sweet picture.

Skye is definitely smitten with her Daddy.

At last, the night before we went home Skye let me hold her.

Here is proof that she actually let me snuggle with her and rock her to sleep - mission accomplished!

Sunday night Rebecca made homemade rolls and potato cheese soup, and Nick and Renee and Skye came over for the evening. Josh and Krista left about 4:00 and spent the evening with her grandparents, who just relocated to Boise from California. They had a long drive back to Provo that night and Josh still had a paper to do

The girls all adore Skye. This picture pretty much says it all.

It was so great to be with our Idaho and Utah kids. Rebecca said, "This is awesome, almost like Thanksgiving without all the work!" We flew home Monday afternoon, much sooner than we were ready to leave. It was a lovely weekend.

Please help Valerie

2011-09-09T00:47:00.000-07:00

I just changed the settings on my blog. So many people are using facebook instead of their blogs. When I noticed there was a recent post on Valerie Aguinaga's blog, Go Val Go!!! I felt sick. I haven't checked up on her lately. And after being in remission for just 9 months her Hodgkin's Lymphoma has returned.

Valerie was one of my favorite seminary students. She is a darling wife and mother of 4., just 30 years old. Val is the kind of woman that just keeps getting more beautiful with age. Motherhood definitely agrees with her. Please look at her blog and donate if you can at cureval.org. The treatments she needs are not covered by her insurance.

36 Hours With My Sisters

2011-08-27T00:40:00.000-07:00

The very lucky Kirk Jacobson gets all 3 of the Landes sisters' to himself all weekend!

My sister, Suzy from San Diego and I flew up to Utah so we could attend the wedding reception of our favorite nephew, the son of the other sister, Dana, who lives all the way in upstate New York. Which means we hardly ever get to see her or spend time together.
So we made a fast trip and flew in on Friday and flew home on Sunday.

Saturday morning we all went to breakfast at Kneaders, and then went to Danny&Danielle's cute basement apartment to open presents. I love this picture of the Jakes. Just wish Ty was there too.

Maybe it was just too much of a good thing for Kirk. . .

After opening presents we went with Dana, Kirk and Kate to BYU to see her dorm room in Helaman Halls and take some photos. Then we all went our separate ways and us girls snagged Mom, left Dad reading

[AKA napping] at the hotel and did the town.

We had lunch at Cafe Rio, and I like it

BUT I DON'T GET WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT???

It's good food, love the pork, (have the recipe) but it's too crowded and squishy and noisy. And I can tolerate noise more than most people. After lunch we did a little shopping and I was homesick for Jamie at Hobby Lobby. Then for fun, we went to the BYU bookstore and Wal-mart with every other parent/relative dropping off their student that weekend.

Good times were had by all.

Even though Suzy is blinking, I had to include this picture. We tend to get the giggles. Our children call it "cackling". It's just one of the things we do when we are together that makes us happy. And it frightens our children because we all laugh the same, and we've been known to confuse our favorite nieces and nephews on the phone.

Kirk wasn't quite as happy as we were, however, and we were lucky to find this gas station in the greater Provo-Orem area. It's a good thing we didn't have to wait in line.

The Marriage of Alaska & New York

2011-08-26T00:09:00.000-07:00

Where do you get married if the groom is from New York, the bride is from Alaska,

and they are both attending school at BYU???

You have a destination wedding
at the Laie Hawaii Temple!

Then you have a lovely beach reception and get to wear shorts and frolic in the ocean.

But wait! Since it was so far away, the groom's extended family was not able to share in the big day.

Bless their hearts, they had a reception in Utah on August 26th

At the Highland Gardens reception center in American Fork. The hanging baskets and flowers in the entry way were so beautiful.

The interior was a beautiful greenhouse, with a glass roof and it was magical with the lights and stars

We are so glad Danielle likes our Danny. She is an amazing girl. She did all the flowers for the reception and helped with the cake in her spare time. When they were dating we called her Alaska.( just like we referred to our Krista as Kentucky).

Here's the Landes bunch: Grampa, Cameron Jacobson (just home from his mission in Texas, San Antonio) The Bride & Groom, Kirk Jacobson (f.o.t.g.), Katie Jacobson, Josh & Krista Rogers, Aunt Suzy Burningham, Dana Jacobson (m.o.t.g.), Aunt Lissa Rogers and Grama.

Here we are, the sisters with our boys and their beautiful brides

Here's our niece, Katie, on her way to her freshman year at the BY

with her favorite Aunt Lissa and Aunt Suzy.

The Bride and Groom with His Honor, the Mayor, and First Lady of Parowan Utah.

I never get to spend enough time with Kirk and Dana. They are joining the Extreme Empty Nesters Club , with all 4 of their children living in the Provo area this year.

Cousins!

Almost all the New York Jake family. We really missed Ty, Amber, Haylee and Hudson.

Provo, Utah will be home to all these adorable Landes cousins.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!!!

2011-08-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

It is so much fun having these

little girls in our home this week!

We haven't seen the Bryant's for 4 months.

After having them close by for 5 years,

I don't know if we'll ever get used to them

living all the way in Idaho, even though it's been

over 2 years since they moved!

There is nothing sweeter than a child fresh from the tub,

with washed hair and jamies on.

I love the way the girls play with the princess sets.

Paige used to line them all up when she was little.

Now, Mark is teaching them to alphabetize them and

put them in order by their "age" of the princess.

Paige is such a good little artist. Her sisters are already

follwing in her footsteps. Paige was coloring a list for

Rebecca to remind her what snacks to pack. So far

she has goldfish crackers and lollipops.

2 year old Reese isalready potty trained. Her Aunt Melissa is amazed!

Reese is talking up a storm.

It is so fun to excperience her cute, chatty vocabulary.

She has such funny mannerisms and expressions!

Grampa was in heaven with 3 of his 5 granddaughters home.

Reese was comfortable with him right away, which melted his heart.

Back to the Beach!

2011-08-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we all went back to Oceanside, and this time we brought the men folk.

Once again, with creative control Mark and I will not appear in any pictures this post.

Rebecca and Reese

Craig was a good sport. Since he works in the sun all day,

he doesn't get it why we love the beach.

Plus he doesn't like to swim. Or enjoy sand everywhere.

That's what an awesome Dad and Grampa he is-

anything for his girls!!

Melissa and Austin, almost 2 on August 9th

Uncle Greg was in the water helping Luke and Paige boogey board most of the day.

Paige is fearless like Luke. They love the water and have no fear of the waves.

Luke catching a wave

Paige's turn to catch a wave

Paige and Uncle Greg

There she goes!

Way to go, Paigey!

That's our Luke. Check out the muscles.

Claire and Luke

Greg and Austin

Ever since their beach camping trip,

Dylan doesn't enjoy the water anymore.

Dylan just turned 4 and finally

potty trained in the nick of time!

Cute Claire with Luke, Austin and Uncle Greg

Luke loves the beach, between the waves

and the sand crabs, he could stay all day!

Cousin Time

2011-08-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

Our darling daughters, Melissa and Rebecca

It is always fun when the Bryant Girls and the Gargalis boys

get together. Isn't interesting that we have one daughter with

all boys and the other daughter with all girls?

Ben has one of each. Nick has one daughter so far.

Austin

I adore Fisher-Price toys. And since

I"ve become a grandmother, I have the best preschool toys.

Or, on the other hand, because I'm a preschool teacher,

I have the best Grama toys!

All the kids love the cute little Fisher Price Snap 'n Style Friends. They have hard plastic clothes that snap on and cute shoes and accessories. They have long hair that is easy to brush and doesn't get tangled. What's not to love?

The funny thing is that the boys love these as much as the girls. The only squabbles were between siblings over who had what accessory.

I've watched for them to go on sale at Kohl's, and ordered a few outfits from the Fisher Price store online . Now I have 3 blondes and 3 brunettes so everyone can play nice. Paige loves the doll with brown hair and eyes like hers. Those girls play so cute together and love to play pretend and make up scenarios. Paige especially loves "directing" their play, and has definite ideas about who should play what role.

It cooled off enough to play out in the backyard a few times.

They all love to climb on the fort and play with the balls and hula hoops.

We have had a little tykes fort like this since 1989! It was a gift from Santa, and that night all 5 of our kids slept in it. All night long. True story. I wish I had the documentation to prove it. That might be when they began the tradition of all sleeping in the same room on Christmas Eve. A tradition they continued even after they got married. . . It was all their idea! I can't take credit for that one : )

Up On the Roof

2011-08-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm humming the James Taylor song as I type this,

bless his heart, but this is not a post about

my favorite singer-songwriter of my life.

One evening last week it cooled off just enough to have the kids play in the backyard.

First, Paige and Luke climbed on the roof of the little play house.

Not to be outdone, Claire began to ascend to the roof as well. (see upper right of roof)

She made it!

TA-DA!!!

Of course, it wasn't long before Dylan and Austin joined in the fun

Last, but not least, Reese finished off the group.

How cute are these cousins?????

The Beach and The Bryant's

2011-08-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Happy cousins: Paige 6 1/2, Luke 5 and Claire 4

Bless Mark Bryant's heart!!!!! He was able to work out a business trip to California right at the time his brother, Matt was blessing his new baby. Matt lives just 20 minutes away from us in Mennifee. What better to do during his week of working - letting Rebecca, Paige, Claire and Reese stay with us! We had so much fun with the Bryant's here for 10 days!

Luke taught the girls the fine art of catching sand crabs.

Austin and Reese weren't interested in the water but had so much fun digging in the sand.

Paige the Mermaid

The Bryant girls at the beach in Oceanside

We "planted" seashells for the kids to find and they were a big hit and quite the treasures.

My Happy Birthday aka "Cinco-Cinco"

2011-07-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

I had a fun birthday this year! I can't believe I'm 55 - or "Cinco-Cinco" as Craig says. I love my 50's! Just wish I was in better shape, but I'm working on that, so "Fabulous at Fifty Six" will be an understatement next year. Poor Craig had a terrible virus all week long. Fortunately for both of us, my BFF Ruthie had planned to visit for the week from Las Vegas. We took her out to dinner for our 36th anniversary on the 12th, and after that Craig was out of the picture for the rest of the week. Once we had him squared away for the day, we took off so he could rest and we could play.

We spent our first day at the movies, and in between we had lunch across the street at Miguel's. It was a lovely, breezy day so we ate on the patio. We saw WATER FOR ELEPHANTS - hated it- an over rated disappointment that morning, and after lunch we saw MONTE CARLO with Selena Gomez. A cute, fun, feel good movie! I hadn't heard about it before I saw the trailer. It was adorable and I highly recommend it!

The next day I began my birthday by taking Ruth over to the neighbor's for a visit. Look at those 3 adorable boy!. Ruth promised Melissa she wasn't blinking when she checked the camera, but apparently she was not wearing her glasses or this could be a framer with all 3 boys smiling AND looking at the camera.

I love the interchangeable beaded watchbands from Bead It!. I first discovered them when Melissa had a party in the fall and I just went to be supportive. I went with her to a friend's party a few weeks later and I've ordered several online. I can't get enough of them and was excited to get invited to an Open House here in Lake Elsinore. [I'm having a party on Sept 7th if you're interested]

Karen Blackmer and her sister, Misty started this fun home party business. Look at all those glorious beads! You select the colors and style you want, pick a watch face, and they teach you how to bead a watch band. It was the perfect activity! I knew Ruth would love them too.

She made several and helped me make one. I could have stayed there and beaded all day.

We went to Red Robin in Menifee for lunch and then we went home and rested up and read for awhile.

One of our favorite things to do is just hang out, lay on the beds and read. Such fun.

Later we watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, DANCE, DANCE so I had a truly lovely day.

All the kids sent wonderful cards and that day I got to talk to and/or Skype with most of the kids and grandkids, and best of all, I got an email from my boy in Afghanistan.

Thursday we did a little shopping and went to see another movie, LARRY CROWNE with Tom Hanks.

A cute, feel good movie. So we were 2 out of 3 on the movie picks. It was such a treat to spend 3 whole days with Ruth! Craig slept through most of her visit, and he felt bad to miss out on all the fun.

Thank you, Dwight for sharing Ruthie with me for 3 whole days! And a special thank you to Josh and Charlie for letting Grandma stay with you. Love you all to pieces!

The Blessings of Technology

2011-07-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite blogs is The Pioneer Woman written by Ree Drummond. Today her post was so lovely, about a friend who'd lost a teenage son several years ago. Ree blogged about this several years ago, and asked for prayers on behalf of her friend. The comments she recieved were so heartfelt, from complete strangers. A book was made for the family of this post and the comments. Recently, her friend shared with her how this book of "comments" to a simple blog post had given her strength and comfort in times of sadness.

I just felt so touched, and so grateful that the internet and the blogosphere gives us the opporutnity to connect with so many good people, and have such a positive influence. It has truly blessed my life, and today I feel so uplifted and so grateful.

Thank you, Ree.

Group Photo Attempt

2011-07-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

This is a partial picture of the fisher-price city we built

The night before Jamie left we realized we had no pictures with Grama & Grampa and the kids or us with Jamie. So we made a feeble attempt at a group picture

Kayle was not happy and Dylan was, well, being Dylan.

Blake was a trooper and we can always get smiles from Luke and Austin.

We made another attempt the next morning and this time we got Kaylee to smile but Blake wasn't feeling it.

Jamie hopped in to the last one. The Gargalis boys did not enjoy being left out of the picture! Go figure!

We will miss Jamie, Kaylee and Blake so much! We had such a fun visit and the kids were awesome and played so cute together. They had a safe, uneventful trip home to DeRidder, Louisiana, and the kids even slept in the next day. We are hoping to visit them in the fall once Ben is home from his deployment in Afghanistan.

Beach Babies

2011-07-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Austin

Sand Babies is proabably a more accurate title for this post.

The Louisiana kids did not enjoy our California ocean. We picked a glorious day at the beach. The water was warm, the sky was blue, it wasn't crowded. Perfection. Ahhh the beach in summer!

Blake

Kaylee and Blake loved playing in the sand!

Kaylee would have nothing to do with the water! She was content to just sit and dig.

Kaylee

Luke spent the day digging for sand crabs and had quite the collection. Then he decided to body surf by laying on the sand and letting the waves push him a few inches.

Luke and Dylan

Melissa dug a nice pit for the boys to play in.

It's a good way to corral little ones. Such a great beach tip.

And Melissa's greatest beach tip of all: BABY POWDER.

It's true. When it's time to dry off and get in the car, baby powder helps the sand come right off.

It really works! Amazing! Go Meliss!

Blake

Luke hunting for sand crabs

Jamie was the photographer and Grama had creative control,

so even though we aren't pictured,

we were there having fun as well.

I spent most of my day with Dylan and Luke in the water.

Luke is a water bug and he is totally fearless!

4th of July, 2011

2011-07-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

It was nice to have Jamie and the kids here to have a reason to celebrate 4th of July. Holidays kind of lose their sparkle without family and children to share it with. We watched Blake and Kaylee that morning while Jamie did some rare, solo shopping. We went swimming at Melissa's and even got Kaylee in the pool.
Then Jamie and Craig went to see the new Transformers movie.
I opted to babysit napping children. I'm pretty sure I was the lucky one that time!

Kaylee helped me make these darling Firecracker Cupcakes from Jamie Cooks It Up! for dessert.

This is an amazing blog my sister, Dana shared with me. I subscribe to it now, and I adore her.

After I piped the frosting on, Kaylee added the licorice "flame". They turned out pretty well, even though I used chocolate cupcakes instead of white. I love a little chocolate cupcake with my vanilla frosting!

I think next time I'll use a paint brush for the color instead of a knife, so that I get a finer line.
I don't enjoy eating brightly colored frosting but the kids all loved it!

Greg and his trusty side kick, Melissa, made a fabulous dinner for us. They are a great pair and have become quite the gourmets! Plus it is always nice to eat someone elses's cooking!

Everyone but Grama went to watch the fireworks at Greg's Dad's house in Canyon Lake.

These are two of the cutest pictures we have this week of all 5 cousins .

On the way to Huck Camp

2011-07-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

This week is Krista's family reunion in southern California: Huck Camp! Josh gets to attend for the first time. Most of the Huckvale's will be together with lots of great activities that include a very serious Olympic Competition, a Talent Show, Disneyland, The Beach, a Dodger Game and that's not all. At they end of the week they all get to be together in the LA temple with her cousin before he leaves for his mission.

It sounds like such a fun family tradition. The timing worked out great so that they were able to spend the day with Jamie and the kiddos. It has been really hot, so they drove through the night. (They made it from Provo in 8.5 hours) As usual, we should have taken more pictures. We grabbed these as they were leaving. So glad I remembered the camera.

Jamie and Krista whipped up this lovely Red, White and Blue Fruit Pizza. The pictures don't do it justice. Here's the recipe from Our Best Bites: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/06/red-white-blue-fruit-pizza/

We didn't love their sugar cookie recipe for the base. Next time I'll just use my recipe or you can also use the refrigerated cookie dough.

Josh and Krista will stop by and spend a few days with us on their way home.

Blueberry Picking

2011-07-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

Melissa's play group went to the Temecula Berry Co. and picked blueberries last month. It was such a fun outing that she wanted to go again. It's nice and close so we took the cousins there for a little outing Friday morning after we'd recovered from Disneyland on Thursday. (Still sorting those pictures - post coming soon)

This is the coolest place and the blueberries are so delicious. They are only open about 6 weeks a year. I can't wait to take my preschool class on a field trip there next May. They have a facebook page and you can sign up on their web site to be notified when they open.

They show you which blueberries are ripe and how to pick them, and then they send you off with your bucket. Just like in the storybook, Blueberry's for Sal by Robert McCloskey.

Luke, Dylan, and Kaylee were very serious about their blueberry picking. Blake and Austin obsesrved from the stroller. It was a very hot morning, so we stayed just long enough to pick our blueberries and take a few pictures. They also have a story time and other activities.

Luke

Dylan

Kaylee

Blake

Austin

Disneyland with Jamie & Melissa

2011-06-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: This is a super long post. Even for me. Too much fun and too many cute pictures!
Jamie and Melissa's blogs have tons more pictures to get the whole story.

We picked a great day - perfect weather, not too crowded, and even got awesome seats for the parade!

One of the first things that we did when Jamie, Blake and Kaylee were here the end of June was to hurry and go to Disneyland before it was too crowded and our passes were blocked out for the summer. There are seashells embedded in the cement where the lines are, and the kids loved that. Such a cute touch.

We hurried to California Adventure to ride the new Little Mermaid Ride. There is a ton of contrruction there, so it was hard to find our way around, but after a very long detour, we were pleasantly surprised with a short line. The ride is set up like the Haunted Mansion. You ride in giant seashell shaped "cars" and you begin by going backwards and downhill. When you look up, you see a very cool scene of Ariel and Flounder, then when you return to front facing it takes you through the darling story of the Little Mermaid.

The ride ends with Prince Eric and his bride Princess Ariel waving goodbye while King Triton looks on. I wish those pictures had turned out, but you get the idea.

I got to ride with Dylan

The Little Mermaid is near and dear to our hearts. The grandkids all love it, and it was Paige's favorite for a long time.It's my ring tone when I call Rebecca so the girls always answer and I get to hear those sweet little Idaho voices! But we first loved the Little Mermaid when Josh was little. WILLOW and "MERLAID" were his 2 favorite movies when we arrived in the VCR world.

While we were in CA Adventure we raced over the detours to the Toy Story ride. It seems like half the time we try that ride it is shut down. So we lucked out because not only was it open, but Jessie and Woodie were there to greet us, and they are favorites of one and all. It was a challenge for us throughout the day to get all 5 grandkids in the pictures.

The two-year-old boys did not enjoy waiting in line. This was a recurrent theme for us throughout the day. It was nice that Craig had an eye problem that day so he could go with us [he just couldn't see going to work].

Aunt Jamie saved the day with lollipops for everyone. Those little dum-dum suckers are a great secret weapon!

I got to ride with Kaylee

Our timing was great all morning. Craig and I waited in line for the Playhouse Disney show while the kids all went on the Monster's Inc ride. We were able to be in the front of the line, so we got great seats and everyone had a snack while we waited.

Mickey's Clubhouse is the first segment. The story is about working together to throw a surprise party for Minnie Mouse.

Then Handy Manny fixes the bubble machine for Minnie's party.

And the room is filled with bubbles. It is so magical!

Next is our favorite Little Einsteins. They have a race with Big Blue Jet.

The new favorite is Jake and the Never Land Pirates. The kids can sing-along with all the songs.

Captain Hook and Mr. Smee were there

And every now and then the 2 pirate singers would pop up and sing just like on the show.

At the end, gold tissue paper and mylar "dubloons" floated down.

Once again, so magical and the kids just love it. Then it ends back at Minnie's Party with streamers shooting out. I never get tired of sitting on the floor and watching the children in awe of their favorite Disney TV stars. Plus it's nice and air conditioned.

The only picture with all 5! It was really nice having them all
in matching colors. It made counting noses much, much easier!

At Disneyland we had more fun! We visited the enchanted tiki room where Austin was as much etnertainment as the show with his dancing skills. We all hopped on the jungle cruise and rode the train. We ended up at Small World and got out just in time to get a perfect spot for the parade.

The new "MICKEY'S SOUNDSATIONAL PARADE" was the best! All the favorites were there, divided up by different styles of music. Lots of princesses and movie favorites. We scored and had a group of Disneyland employees sit behind us so we got lots of waves, handshakes and high fives.

Kaylee and Blake were out before we even hit the freeway! When you come to the end of a perfect day. . .

I have yet to tire of this magical, wonderful place.

I am so grateful for season pass bargains for residwents of southern California.!!!

The Louisiana Kids are Here!!!

2011-06-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

It is such a treat to have Jamie, Kaylee and Blake here from DeRidder Louisiana. One of the many perks of having them here visiting is that we get to talk to Ben a lot more. He calls and emails Jamie whenever he can. Sometimes it's daily and other times quick emails have to hold her. There is a 12.5 hour time difference between us and Afghanistan. Ben will be home in October. It's been a L-O-N-G year for all of them. Jamie is our hero as much as Ben is!

We have a fun 2 weeks planned, that include Disneyland, The Blueberry Farm, Movies, Girls day out at Glen Ivy, The 4th of July, The Beach, A visit with Josh & Krista and more! So it will be a glorious time for one and all.

It is especially nice to live 2 doors down from Melissa & Greg so the cousins can play and the Mom's can visit and catch up. One of my favorite things is that my kids and their spouses all get along and truly enjoy being together. Another one of my favorite things is watching the darling cousins together. The. best. ever.

Skye's first babysitter

2011-06-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today Aunt Rebecca babysat Skye while her Mom & Dad went out for the first time without her. Reese was happy to help! I loved receiving these pictures on my phone.

Skye will be five months old on Monday, June 13

Oh how I adore these Idao girls, and the other two that aren't in these photos! Thanks, Rebecca for the glorious texts!!!

Lillian Stead Rogers 100th Birthday

2011-05-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

*Our sister-in-law, Kathyrn Ann Rogers posted this beautiful tribute to Craig's Mom:

Lillian Stead Rogers

(1911-1993)

Lillian Stead was born in Pudsey, Yorkshire, England, on May 20, 1911, the first child of Simeon Stead and Mary Mitchell. Her parents were studying with the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Lillian was given a name and blessing in the LDS church before her parents were baptized. She was honored to be the first member of the Church in her family.

Albert and Lillian Stead in Pudsey, Yorkshire, England, in 1912.

At age fourteen, Lillian immigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brothers Albert and Harold via Canada. They settled in Southern California. Lillian was grateful that she had the opportunity to attend and graduate from high school. If they had stayed in England she would have gone to work in the mills after she finished Eighth Grade. She learned secretarial skills which served her well throughout her life.

Lillian in 1931 in Southern California.

Lillian met John Victor Rogers while they were serving as stake missionaries from the Garvanza Ward in the Highland Park District in Los Angeles, California. They were married by their bishop on March 27, 1937, and as soon as Vic got vacation time, they made the long trip to Utah by train to be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on October 12, 1939. Lillian was self-conscious to meet Vic’s family for the first time when she was so obviously pregnant but they were kind and welcoming to her.

Vic and Lillian had four children born to them in California while Vic worked on the railroad—David, Lillis, Kathie, and John. She also cared for Vic’s father for eight months until he died. They inherited the family home in rural Kanosh, Utah, and moved there in 1947 which was a real challenge to Lillian who had always lived in the city. Her biggest problem was the coal stove—something entirely foreign to her. It wasn’t until 1951 that they got a butane gas stove and water heater. Vic had to go back to California to work for another year leaving Lillian with four children, 1000 chickens, some pigs and a cow to milk. In 1953 Craig was born.

Lillian in 1972

Lillian worked as a clerk-typist for the U.S. Forest Service in Kanosh for 15 years to support their five children on missions. She and her husband served two temple missions in Manti and a full-time proselyting mission in Sarah, Mississippi in the Arkansas Little Rock Mission. She compiled much family history and was diligent in doing genealogy and temple work for her family. She and Vic were involved in Name Extraction with the Fillmore Stake. Lillian learned how to do Data Entry on the computer in St. George and spent two days a week doing that in addition to temple work. She was an avid letter writer and frequently remembered people with cards and visits.

Lillian and John Victor Rogers on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Lillian served in various positions in the LDS Church, but her greatest love was music. She had a lovely alto voice and directed or sang in many groups. She also trained many young people to direct music. She participated in choirs for the Manti Temple Rededication and various pageants.

One weekend Lillian and Vic were staying with John and Kathryn Ann and were planning to return home that morning. Kathryn Ann received the assignment to accompany Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus on the organ. When Lillian saw how Kathryn was struggling with the music, she and Vic stayed until late in the afternoon. He tended the children and she carefully beat time and helped Kathryn learn the music well.

Lillian Stead Rogers, 81, died May 15, 1993, at her apartment in St. George, Utah, from cancer of the liver and pancreas, twenty-nine days after the diagnosis. She had breast cancer several decades before. Vic was in a rehab center at the time recovering from a broken hip. Funeral services were held in the Kanosh Ward Chapel on Friday, May 21, 1993 and then she was buried in the Kanosh Cemetery, Kanosh, Millard, Utah.

Lillian was a loving, caring mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend. She had a strong testimony of the Gospel and spent her life in service to others. She will be remembered with fondness and affection for her devotion to family and to the church. She was a steadfast example of righteousnes.

*here is the link to her original post:

http://j-k-rogers.blogspot.com/2011/05/lillian-stead-rogers-100-year.html

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

2011-05-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

I happened to turn on the TV yesterday and caught the press conference by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A.MAZ.ING. So grateful I was able to witness that live. Quite a history lesson!!! President Obama speaks for the first 7 minutes, then Prime Minister Netanyahu responds:

A Visit From Uncle Kirk

2011-05-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

My brother-in-love, Kirk Jacobson is here this week on a business trip from Canandaigua, New York, so he stopped in for a visit for a few hours. Since we live on opposite ends of the country, our visits are too few and far between. It is always a treat to see him. It just made me really homesick for my sister, Dana! And my 4 neices and nephews. And that I don't get to be in Hawaii when nephew Danny gets married later this month to the darling Danielle of Alaska.

Kirk and Dana got married when Melissa was just 18 months old so he has watched her grow up and he has always been one of her favorites.

Melissa loves her Uncle Kirk

When Nick was born 6 months later, Kirk and Dana saved Melissa's life (and Nick's) by letting her spend the weekend with them in San Diego. More than once. [ Melissa had a bit of an adjustment problem with her new brother, that included feeding him a bologna and cheese sandwich, piling all the quilts on him in his crib, and sitting on his tummy while scratching his face--- just to name a few----all within a day or two when Nick was just 2 weeks old.]

Melissa giving a kiss to baby Nick

Since then, Melissa and Uncle Kirk have always had a special relationship. And I have always been grateful to he and Dana for saving all our lives back then. It was wonderful to see him!!!

I AM GRATEFUL FOR CELL PHONE PICTURES!

2011-05-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

It makes my heart sing whenever I see a picture of my darling grandkids pop up on my cell phone. Here's some cute ones I've received in the past few weeks:

"ready to bear her testimony"
Skye 3 1/2months old, May 1, 2011

The birthday girl - Reese, 2 years old
April 21, 2011

Claire and Reese enjoying their See's chocolate bunnies
April 22, 2011

Reese weairng Paige's hand-me-down Easter dress

Dylan painted HIS toes!
April 28, 2011

Thank Heaven for Little Boys!!!

2011-04-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

It is so much fun having Melissa, Greg and their three darling boys 2 doors down. One of the nicest things is when we get a phone call and they want to come over to show us or tell us something.

Greg had taken the 3 boys to Wild Animal Park (while he sent Melissa to Glen Ivy for the Day) and had their faces painted. They loved their snakes.

I had to go over to their house to see their face painting because I was sound asleep when they came over. I didn't even hear the doorbell. In my defense, I have been plagued with an abscessed tooth since April 20th (the day we left for Utah) and I am currently on antibiotics and pain killers until May 3 when I finally "get" to to have my root canal. Dental health has not been my friend.

Luke had to tear himself away from his favorite past time, playing Mario Brothers!

I volunteered to watch Dylan and Austin while Melissa had Bunko at her house last week. Craig took Luke to soccer practice, and so I offered to bathe the little boys. What is it about being a grandparent that makes bathtime so much fun? And why is it that it is such a big chore for parents?

Austin was so cute oohing and ahhing and whoaing over the water and the bubbles.

Dylan was there too, but he was not in the mood to smile for the camera. They were such sweet boys for me. I love a freshly bathed, lotioned, pajamaed child. One of the sweetest things on the planet!

A few weeks ago I got this cool action shot of Dylan. We have had fun watching Luke and Dylan play soccer on Saturday mornings. This is Luke's second season, and Dylan's first season. Today Dylan played goalie and I wish I had a picture of him. He held on to the goal with one hand at all times.

Luke was so happy to score a goal this morning! We are enjoying these 3 little boys. We just ache for the 5 little girls and our other grandson, Blake that are far, far away! I am so grateful for skype, email, pkgs, and airplanes!

Krista's BYU Graduation

2011-04-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

We made a fast trip to Provo, Utah for Krista's graduation from BYU , with her bachelors degree in Public Health.

Josh is so proud of his bride! Now it's Josh's turn to finish school. He is majoring in International Business and minoring in Computer Technology at Utah Valley University and he is working for Sprint.

It was great to see Krista's family. Her youngest sister, Amy will be a BYU freshman in September.

Josh and Krista have worked hard decorating their apartment. They were excited to surprise us with their new couch, entertainment center, curtains, and pictures up on the wall. They have created a nice cozy home. All of our children now have better furniture and TV's than us!

We seldom visit Utah in the Spring. We are usually there in the summer or at Thanksgiving. After living in the desert for over 30 years, the beautiful springtime took my breath away.

The pink and white flowering trees are all over town. They were exquisite against the back drop of bright blue skies, puffy white clouds, and snow covered moutains. There is still a ton of snow. The tulips and daffodils were just beginning to bloom. Days like this I wish I owned a nice camera and had the talent to capture the moment without powerlines and parking lots in my pictures!

On the way up to Provo we spent the night with my parents in Parowan. While in Provo we stayed with our dear friends, Tim and Shannon Dulaney. Tim was Craig's best man and Shannon and I were bridesmaids for each other. They just moved to Provo in August when Dr. Shannon Dulaney started her new job as an assistant professor at BYU in the education dept. It is always so fun to be with them, and the years just melt away. It was just like the old days, staying up too late laughing, talking and playing cards.

We were able to visit Craig's sister and her hubby, Lillis & Frank Byers in Salt Lake City on Thursday afternoon. It is always wondeful to spend time with them. Shame on us for not taking any pictures. Lillis just had back surgery this past week.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at IN "N OUT in St. George and we looked up and saw that we were sitting next to Robin & Kathi Hiatt, friends from Moreno Valley who moved out of our ward over 20 years ago! It doesn't seem possible that it's been that long. They were also on the way home from their daughter and son-in-law's graduation at BYU. It's a small world in the church!!!

We had an easy trip home on Saturday and we experienced every kind of weather through the state of Utah, inlcluding snow and fog at the Scipio summit. We got home about 6 p.m. and I was able to go grocery shopping for Easter dinner the next day and find everything I needed, including Reeces Pieces eggs. I was glad that my Primary lesson was all prepared and ready to go before we left for Utah.

We had a lovely Scrament meeting, although both Craig and I missed our dear Valley View Ward choir. On Sunday afternoon, we had the Gargalis family over for Easter dinner. Melissa made darling Easter cake balls decorated like chicks and eggs for dessert. I did the usual ham, yummy potatoes and most wonderful cherry jello. It was all a taste treat. This year to mix it up a little I used frozen rolls to make dinner rolls in the shape of ducks and bunnies. It was a busy, fim day. And once again,

shame on us for not taking any pictures.

Skye's Blessing Day

2011-04-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

It was such a treat to have our family assembled in our new home for Skye's blessing. It finally felt like home at long last. Nick, Renee, Skye, Josh & Krista and my parents stayed with us while Rebecca's family stayed with Melissa just 2 doors down. As always, we wish there were more pictures, especially of all the cute little cousins playing together. Everyone got along beautifully and it was so convenient not having to drive back and forth to Moreno Valley.

Nick gave Skye a beautiful blessing. It was such a sweet time together.

The Gargalis Boys and The Bryant Girls

Luke selected this tie to go with his shirt.

4 Generations

Renee's Aunt Donna

Aunt Suzy, Trevor and Sarah from El Cajon

Skye's Grama & Grampa Great

Meeting Skye

2011-04-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Nick, Renee and baby Skye arrived via airplane last Thursday night (March 24). It was so much fun to have them in our home for 4 very short days. Since the Bryant's and I are the only members of our family she has met in person, there were lots of people who were happy to greet the newest memeber.

Aunt Melissa and the boys came over first thing Friday morning. Austin was so sweet and gentle with her.

Uncle Josh and Aunt Krista left Provo at 8:00 p.m. Friday night, stopped for a 3 hour nap in Parowan and then arrived bright and early Saturday morning - even before the cinnamon rolls were done. Since Josh just started a new job with Sprint, he only had Sataurday and Sunday off.

Skye loves Aunt Krista!

The Good Old Days!

2011-03-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

I just came across this picture and I hadn't seen it for years. I immediately scanned it so I could post it here and on Facebook. This was such a happy time in my life, and I am still in touch with Gregg, Marian, Ronna and Becky. I just did the math and I cannot believe that this was almost 40 years ago! I am extremely grateful that I labeled the picture back when it was taken. I'm afraid today I would not have remembered all those names, or that Jodi was hiding behind Diane!

1971-72 Freshman & Sophomore Seimainry Class,
Montgomery High School, Santa Rosa, CA

1971-1972 SEMINARY CLASS (Old Testament).
Front row: Ron Cook, Jeff Foulger, Bob Eller
2nd row: Jennifer Harris, Desiree Calapp, Diane Keever,Glors Benally
3rd Row:Lissa Landes, LInda Schneider, Jodi Lowder, Denise Joly
4th Row: Twila Layman, Ronna Hyer, Marian Johnsen, Becky Taylor, DiAnn Hardin
Back Row: Brent Ririe, Clark Jordan, Greg Barsi, John Briscoe, Richard Layman, Scott Ririe,
and our AMAZING teacher: Rich Taylor (AKA Elijah the Tishbite)

Bishop Bradford

2011-03-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended the funeral of Gordon R. Bradford, my former Bishop and the father of my best friend , Karen Cooper. It was such a sweet experience for me to be in the midst of the Bradford family and dear friends from the Riverside 4th Ward. Just being in the building on Blaine Street was wonderful. I wasn't feeling very emotional until I saw a picture of their home where I spent so much time. Then all those wonderful memories and tender feelings just rushed back.

It was difficult for me to move to Riverside the summer I turned 16. My family moved from Santa Rosa, in northern California and it was awful leaving my friends at Montgomery High School, The Santa Rosa Stake and my best friend around the corner on Melita Rd. Not to mention my adorable boyfriend who I'd just begun dating a few months earlier. Heavy Sigh.

I had an interview with my new Bishop who happened to be Karen's father. When I arrived at his office, I noticed a young girl, maybe age 11 or 12 playing outside. After Bishop Bradford and I visited for awhile, he told me he had a daughter about my age and she was outside. I was mortified, because I immediately thought of the girl I had seen earlier. He walked me out and to my surprise a darling girl rode up on a 10 speed bike and it was Karen. After he introduced us, he went back into his office and the first words Karen said to me were "There are no guys in this ward". Needless to say we hit it off immediately and have remained friends now for over 39 years. Karen made all the difference in my transition from Santa Rosa to Riverside. She was a true friend. Although she was wrong. There were lots of adorable boys in the Riverside 4th Ward! Months go by between our visits, but as soon as we are together it's like we've never been apart.

There aren't very many pictures of us together,but this is from Karen's wedding in November, 1974 when I was her Maid of Honor. On July 12, 1975, she was my Maid of Honor

I am so grateful for the wonderful example her father, Bishop Bradford, was for me as a young woman. I am even more grateful as an adult to learn what a truly amazing man he was and to have known and loved him. This is the obituary that was printed in the Press Enterprise, p.C16, on Sunday, March 27 (Karen's birthday). It barely scratches the surface of his great life. His funeral was amazing.

Starting to Feel Like Home. . .

2011-03-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

It has been almost 2 months since the big move, and it is slowly starting to feel like home. We have been busy this past week hanging up pictures downstairs. I love the stairwell and being able to hang all our family pictures.

Bottom of our stairs

It makes us smile each day we go down stairs and see pictures of our family over the years.

Top of the Stairs

More photos to come, but for now it felt good to have something, at least ONE thing, 100% done.

Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood Preschool

2011-03-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

I am trying to getg a blog going for preschool, so that the info is easy to access. For now I just want to keep it simple with basic info. Then when school is in session I can use it for reminders, etc. This is what I have so far. I welcome any and all comments. I'm impressed with myself for figuring this out on blogger all on my own so far.(The tabs are called "pages".)
mrsrogersneighborhoodpreschool.blogspot.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REBECCA!

2011-02-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today is Rebecca's birthday, but I couldn't wait until now to give her our present, so I packed it in my luggage and took it up to Idaho with me. Thank you Southwest Airlines for free baggage!

Back in December, Melissa called one afternoon, excited that a Bernina starter sewing machine was on sale for that day only for a bargain price we could afford. We decided to splurge and get it for Rebecca's birthday. Renee also went in on it with us.

Melissa was on the phone while Rebecca opened her present. It was such a fun surprise.

Sadly, my camera was on the wrong setting and these pictures are not good. @#$%^&*! But you can get the idea. Rebecca was truly surprised. To add to the fun, I found a lovely Bernina dealer/quilt shop/fabric store that also teaches adult sewing just 12 miles from her home. Happy Birthday, my first daughter, even though you were 3 weeks late, I love you and your family to pieces!!!

Why I Love the Utah Jazz

2011-02-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

This is a long one. . . . .skip down if you want to see the posts about Skye & her Idaho cousins!

The day Jerry Sloan "retired" I was phoned and texted with updates all day long. My family and friends all know my love for the Utah Jazz so they knew here in southern California the coverage would be minimal. Which it was. And they all wanted to know how I was doing. I ended up listening to Sports Talk Radio all week. I think there’s 2 sides to the story and I don’t think it’s all Deron Williams fault. I just think it’s sad that it all happened the way it did and it will be years before we get the whole story.

The thing that gets me the most about this entire drama, is that the people who never awarded him with Coach of the Year in 23 years are now singing his praises. Where were they when he deserved the award – especially when he lost out to just an okay coach with a star player? The double standard makes me crazy.

Craig was never a big TV sports fan, he always said he'd rather play or watch our kids play. But we usually watched the playoffs each year. ( Today he is a big football and basketball fan.)We used to root for the Portland Trailblazers in the Clyde (heavy sigh) Drexler and Cliffie Robinson days. Back then, they used to broadcast more post game comments. One thing I noticed was that most teams would blame their teammates or the officials or find some excuse for their losses. EXCEPT the Jazz. I remember falling in love with them as they were interviewed and Karl( heavier sigh) Malone, John Stockton, Jeff Hornaceck and Coach Sloan would give the other team compliments and each take responsibility for their loss. I was so impressed. Plus they were always the under dogs and I love an underdog. That's how it all began. And that is one reason I so dislike that purple and yellow team, because they never take responsibility for their mistakes. Plus they are snarky. From the players and coach to the management and announcers. And they have no heart. But I digress. . .

Diane Worthington and I both adore our Utah Jazz, and we were able to attend a few games when they played the Clippers or that other NBA team in our area. One year we got amazing, bargain tickets at the Honda Center in Anaheim and we were about 10 rows behind the bench. Diane and I were the lone Jazz fans in our seating area, and we were very enthusiastic with our cheering. For some reason, Jerry would look back in our direction and he seemed to be staring at me.TRUE STORY! Diane will confirm this. Then, at the next game, Jerry once again could not take his eyes off me. So of course he has a special place in my heart.

It really is an end of an era, with new players, dopey new uniforms and team colors, and now a new coach. When they wear green they look like the Celtics. Maybe that isn't all bad. But I still love my Utah Jazz. And it's been nice to see Karl Malone again!

I got a chuckle out of this article that Diane sent me from the Feb 10, 2011 Deseret News by Logan Dunn:
TOP 14 “SLOANISMS”
Quotes by Utah Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan

# 14 - "I'm not looking for another job. My wife has a job for me when I get home." Said Feb. 10, 2011 at the press conference where Jerry Sloan announced his resignation.

# 13 - "Kind of like Miss America. She gets what she wants."
"He draws so much attention that if you give too much help, somebody else is open; if you don't give enough help, he's got what he wants. It's kind of like Miss America. ... You know she gets what she wants." Said in May 2010 comparing Kobe Bryant to Miss America.

# 12 - "I don't know if we're scared of wolves or what."
"Minnesota has given us trouble from day one for whatever reason," "I don't know if we're scared of wolves or what." Said March 2010 after the Jazz lost twice to the 14-win Timberwolves.

# 11 - "My job is to win"
"My job is to win, and I told him, like anybody else: 'If I have to win with the shortest guy on the team playing your position, (so be it). I'd rather have it the other way around, if I can do it, but I have to do what I can to win." Said following an argument between Sloan and Ostertag after Sloan benched Ostertag for picking up a few fouls early in a 2003 Jazz-Suns game.

# 10 - "A lot easier playing this than playing bingo"
“Hope they realize they can feed their family a lot easier playing this than playing bingo.” Said at the 2010 Jazz training camp to Utah Jazz hopefuls.

# 9 - "Heart is what makes a difference"
"Size doesn't make any difference; heart is what makes a difference." A typical Sloan pick-me-up with the kicker coming in when he related the above quote to the other team: "These guys over there want to make the playoffs more than we do."

# 8 - "The most important thing in sports is to keep trying"
“These guys have been criticized the last few years for not getting to where we’re going, but I’ve always said that the most important thing in sports is to keep trying. Let this be an example of what it means to say it’s never over.” Sloan after his team defeated the Houston Rockets in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals to advance to the 1997 NBA Finals. A quote to go down as one of the classic NBA quotes on never giving up.

# 7 - "You can't jackpot around"
“I'm still not really happy with (Fesenko) being happy-go-lucky," Sloan said. "He's a young kid - and young guys have a tendency that they want to have some fun. I don't have too much of a problem with that. But it sometimes it interferes with their progress. You know, you can't jackpot around and get better.” Said to Fesenko, who was blasted by coach Sloan for "just going through the motions." Sloan said he needed to "learn to compete" after an Oct. 2009 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

# 6 - "18 years... Even in a marriage, that's a long time."

We've been together 18 years. . . . Even in a marriage, that's a long time." Sloan 2002, speaking of his relationship with Karl Malone.

# 5 - "Playing in tuxedos”
“Basically what we've been doing is playing in tuxedos.” Said in 1997 after 13 straight wins. Sloan was worried about how the Jazz would respond to a good team after having things fairly easy.

# 4 - "I haven't been nasty enough"

“We're not a nasty team...I take full responsibility for that, because I haven't been, probably, nasty enough with them.” Sloan said after a 113-100 loss at the start of a first-round playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009.

# 3 - "Get your ice picks out"
“Hey, get your ice picks out. Get all your stuff solved. Go out in the parking lot. Do whatever you have to do, to get all the nonsense taken care of, so we can play basketball. Let's get back to the business of basketball." Said after a 2004 loss against Portland, setting the Jazz to two games under .500 for the first time that season, and marking their fourth loss in a row.

# 2 - "That'll get you a toothpick and a glass of water"
“That'll get you a toothpick and a glass of water when you're hungry... Nobody cares about that." Said Nov. 2010 after pulling off three straight wins against the Clippers, Heat and Magic while trailing by 10 points or more at halftime. A feat no one had done since 1954.

# 1 - "We can't put diapers on him one night, and a jockstrap the next"
"He came out kind of soft. I mean, I don't care if he's 19 or 30. If he's going to be on the floor in the NBA, he's got to be able to step up and get after it. We can't put diapers on him one night, and a jockstrap the next night. It's just the way it is." Said by Sloan about C.J. Miles, age 19 then, right after a less than ideal performance in his second season.

I HEART PIONEER WOMAN

2011-02-14T19:44:00.000-08:00

I first discovered Pioneer Woman almost 2 years ago when my favorite blogger, Bakerella posted about her March 2009 visit to "The Ranch" where she talked about "Marlboro Man". Of course I clicked on the link and the rest is history. You can spend hours, even days at The Pioneer Woman blog,where she chronicles life of her family on an Okalahoma cattle ranch. Her recipes and step-by-step photo-tutorials make you want to try everything. In addition to recipes her accompanying posts are so uplifting and so funny.

Last year she published a wonderful cookbook that is filled with great recipes, photographs of ranch life as well as her commentary on all of the above. It reads almost like a novel.

Last fall I discovered posts on her blog that were serial chapters about how she and her hubby met and fell in love. I sat and read at the computer for hours, and then a few months later I was thrilled with the news that those posts became a novel, which was published 2 weeks ago. I preordered it and had it sent to Idaho. And while I held my sweet, sleeping granddaughter, I read this book:

This book is now one of my top 5 favorite books of all time!!! It is so funny and so heartwarming, and so romantic all with a lovely PG rating. So refreshing to read a book that doesn't get ruined with too much steamy graphic detail. I passed it on to Rebecca, who read it while I was up there, and now Melissa is reading it. I wish I could send these books to everyone I love. The books are everywhere - Target, Wal-mart and all the online book stores.

I relate to her because she adores her husband and family, her extended family, and is always baby hungry. My kind of woman. It is a good reminder of how blessed we are, and how important relationships are in our lives. Plus her recipes are so user friendly and yummy and she has such great taste. My hero. Her Valentine post today about her husband and children was perfect.

Today on her blog she posted a give-away for 4 of these custom painted mixers - painted to match the design of her book covers. I thought this was my chance - so I entered by making a comment and was dismayed to find I had company with over 22,000 (yes, 22 THOUSAND) . I want it for my new yellow and red kitchen. But it's so cute I had to post it.

So, if you want a great book to read, or love a great blog, go to The Pioneer Woman*

She is also an awesome facebook friend!

* Disclaimer: make sure you have LOTS and LOTS of time before you click the link above!

You're Welcome.

My Idaho Girls

2011-02-14T01:28:00.000-08:00

We now have 4 granddaughters in the lovely state of Idaho. Due to the cold weather and sick kids and smart, careful Mom's, it wasn't until the day before I left that we that we were able to introduce 3 1/2 year old Claire and 20 month old Reese to their new baby cousin. Paige, 6, got to meet Skye several weeks earlier. The girls were all so sweet and cooperative and 3 cameras clicked away.

Paige is getting way too grown up all of a sudden!

Claire was very serious about holding Skye.

Reese is a baby lover, and she was so sweet. I didn't realize that she had her hand on Skye's . It was such a sweet, tender gesture.

There were too many pictures to choose from, and these are just from Renee and I. I know Rebecca will have more cute ones.

All we needed was Kaylee to have all the girl cousins together. Lousiana is just too far away!

OH IDAHO !

2011-02-13T22:54:00.000-08:00

I was able to spend January 31- February 9 in Idaho with Nick, Renee and Skye. By the time I arrived, due to the delay in the house closing and Skye's arrival almost 3 weeks early, Skye was already 2 1/2 weeks old. Since she was such a tiny baby weighing 5 lbs 10 oz at birth, she still seemed brand new to me.

Skye is such a sweet, mellow baby, and Renee is a natural! She is such a good little Mom and it was such a joy for me to watch her and Nick with their baby girl. One day after her bath I noticed the light was perfect in my room for a few pictures. I hurried and turned the quilt over so there would be a plain background for pictures, but I couldn't find her other sock - I love this one with Skye & Renee.

It is so much fun to have a baby girl with so much hair.(She even has Dylan and Austin beat). I couldn't wait to play with her bows.

It was like a dream vacation for me--- sleeping in a nice cozy bed, snuggling with a new baby for hours and hours every day, and hanging out with 2 of my darling children and their families. I tried to get up early so Renee could get a 2-3 hour nap each morning. Skye was still figuring out her days and nights. It was really fun staying with Nick and Renee all week.

After a crazy month of moving, it was such a treat to spend 9 days away from all those pesky boxes waiting to be unpacked.

Skye loved her baths once she got in the warm tub. She has a little birthmark just above her belly button, that will go away.

For excitement one night, there was a knock on the door and they had been heart attacked by Renee's young women. They left a thoughtful gift of a box of baby wipes and a big bag of refills. This is just a picture of part of the door, but the next morning there were hearts on the windows and garage door. It was such a sweet surprise for Nick & Renee.

Nick and Renee had lots of support from their ward. Several friends stopped by with gifts and to visit, and they also had some delicious meals. It was nice for me to see them so well cared for.

One late night Skye was bright eyed and look so pretty in pink. She is such a good mix of Nick and Renee. She definitely has Nick's dimpled chin, mouth and cheeks! Her eyes are dark blue, so it's hard to tell yet if they will turn brown like Renee's or blue like Nick's.

The morning I left, the light was just right once again. This time I had the darling quilt Aunt Melissa made on hand for the background. I love her sweet little nightgown. It's one of the first things I bought for her when I knew she was a girl. I love a newborn in a nightgown!

Look at those CHEEKS!

As I write this, Skye is 1 month old, and weighed in at 7lbs, 3 oz. It will be fun to see them in 6 weeks, when they will be home to bless Skye on March 27! That will be a great incentive to motivate me to finish unpacking and get the pictures hung!

Skye's First Week

2011-01-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that Skye is already a week old! She is changing and her pictures look more like Nick's baby pictures. She lost 10 oz in the hospital, but is already up 6 oz. this week. To see darling pictures of Skye's first week, and Renee's cute posts, here is the link to their blog: http://naeandnick.blogspot.com/
Doesn't Renee look great?! I love the picture of her holding Skye in her bath towel.

We got to Skype with them again tonight. It was a fun visit because Rebecca and Paige were there also! I am still unsure when I get to fly to Idaho to visit. I am hoping we finally get some good news tomorrow or Tuesday or Wednesday. . .

Moving - who cares! Look at Skye and her first bow!

2011-01-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

my new screen saver

The Big Move Week - Day 5 - The Big Day

2011-01-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

day-old Skye

After the craziness of yesterday, we had to make up for lost time by staying up very late and getting up very early to get everything done in time for the movers arrival at 8 a.m. Plus, the Direct TV guy was coming to set us up at the new house between "8-12". That's a whole story for another day.

The movers came 1/2 hour early and got right to work. The day flew by. We fit almost everything on the truck, but needed a second trip with half a load of the big furniture items. Everything is chaos but we are getting there. We have phone, internet and TV. Now all we need is a bed and a good night's rest and sleeping in tomorrow and we might survive this. There is so much to do.

My phone rang so much today I've been hearing phantom ring tones that aren't there! I definitely will be changing my ring tone!

The Big Move Week - Day 4

2011-01-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

As Craig and I were driving a full truckload out to the new house, bright and early to meet the verizon guy between "8-12", I got a text at 7:15 a.m. from Nick saying::

"WE HAVE BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL SINCE 3AM. THEY JUST BROKE HER WATER. SHE'S LIKE A 4 1/2 CM RIGHT NOW"

It was such a big surprise it took my breath away and then I just started bawling and couldn't stop for about 15 minutes. Renee wasn't due until Jan 31 so she was almost 3 weeks early! I was so weepy and sidetracked all day long. And Craig was so dear, and so patient - even more than usual!

This is the first time I' haven't been nearby to meet a new grandchild and share that special time with my own child. It just tugged at my heart all day. Once Rebecca called and told me she was going down to the hospital my heart was lightened and I felt so happy. She was able to spend the day with them and kept us updated with phone calls and texts. At 12:49 she sent the text "WE HAVE A BABY!"

Skye Huntington Rogers

5 lb. 10 oz.

18 1/2" long

Tons of dark hair

Mom, Dad and Baby Skye are all doing very well!

The Big Move Week- Day 3

2011-01-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

Craig ended up taking off today, so he is off the rest of the week . It has been great having him home and we have been able to tag team and accomplish so much more. However, we have very different styles and philosophies when it comes to packing and sorting. We've been able to put a dent in things.

The Big Move Week - Day 2

2011-01-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I accomplished a TON, but it still looks like there is a TON yet to do. How does that work? And with this nice, cool weather, I am so in the mood to bake and I don't dare get involved in anything but packing.

I started upstairs gathering up and packing and it was so easy to get side tracked and see something in another room to deal with. I felt like Phil Dunfee from Modern Family. I had to really force myself to focus on the upstairs, because I want to move all the boxes and moving supplies downstairs one last time and be done.

I finally got all the little odds and ends packed in the upstairs bedrooms - pictures, lamps, books, etc. It all adds up so fast and I am honestly sorting and donating a lot. Packing away pictures and taking down curtains and quilts and things off the wall has been difficult. Way more than I ever imagined.

On the news this morning, they showed highlights from half time at last nights bowl game with Auburn and Oregon. [Sorry about your Ducks, Joshie!] But the cool thing was they honored families of deployed military and then I wasn't paying attention and all of a sudden the dad's and husband's were THERE! It was a sweet surprise that gave me chills and then I just sat down and bawled for my Ben. I can't wait until he is home again with Jamie and the kids. Almost 3 months down, 9 or so to go. I hate it that they are apart more than I am worried about his safety.

Back to Day 2 of this crazy move week. Today I took a full load to the new house all by myself, and it is starting to feel familiar. I am really looking forward to being DONE.

Happy news today: my friend Ruth Melvin had her 11th grandchild - he was born at 11:54 on 1-11-11. How cool is that for a birthday? Welcome to the world Finley James Melvin - 6 lbs, 12 oz, 19". Lots of love to parents Josh & Charlie and big sisters McKenna and Gracie! I can't wait to see more pictures.

The Big Move Week - Day 1

2011-01-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

DISCLAIMER: I am using this blog to journal and record the highlights of our move, so it could get a little more wordy and detailed than usual.

Craig, the knot-tying-champion and master packer. This is just a partial picture of load #1.

Over the weekend, Craig borrowed a trailer and suburban from a friend at work. Our first stop was the storage unit, where we loaded up the shelving for the new garage and emptied almost 2/3 of the storage unit. [We got the storage unit when the Bryant's lived with us for 8 months, so I've stored all my holiday decorations, preschool stuff and catering supplies there, since the garage was used as the preschool room].

We were able to take 3 loads over to the new house filling both the trailer and inside the suburban. We felt like the Beverly Hillbillies with our belongings piled up on the trailer. On Saturday, Craig and his trusty assistant, Greg, spent most of the day dismantling the shed and loaded it up. I was able to get the kitchen unpacked and set up the pantry on shelving in the under-the-stairs closet. Melissa and Greg have been such big help, helping us unload and lug things upstairs. We will owe them free babysitting forever!

This is the new kitchen, minus the plants on the top of the cupboards. I love the colors and my red kitchen stuff looks really cute with the yellow. I am going to put things on top of the cupboards that I put on my shelves in the past. (This way we won't have to leave big holes in the wall from installing the shelves, since we are renting). It is so nice having so much cupboard and drawer space.

We are at the point now that most of the things we go to use are either packed or at the new house. I guess that's a good sign. Today I am spending the day packing up the odds and ends, and putting colored dots on all the boxes as requested by the movers. I will try to remember to take more pictures this week.

I am really dreading taking down my pictures and quilts off the wall.

Under Construction

2011-01-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

Is it just me, or am I being too picky about a blog background? Every time I find one I think I like, only half of it shows on the blog. So then it looks weird and not so cute. Annoying. So, since Christmas and New Years are officially over, I took down my blog Christmas tree and it looks as empty as the house after the decorations are put away. So please bear with me while I figure this out.

It may take awhile because the movers are coming on Friday, January 14 for the big, heavy items. We are at the stage now where we go to grab something and it's either packed or at the new house. We should be officially moved out of Moreno Valley and moved into Lake Elsinore this weekend. I-AM-SO-TIRED-OF-PACKING!!! The good news is that I have the new kitchen almost done, so that feels like I've finally made a dent in something. Finally! One room down, 6 to go. Baby steps, I know.

Peppermint Candy Cane Brownies

2011-01-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

I bought all the ingredients to make these for our Christmas dinner at Melissa's, butI ran out of time. Yesterday when I ran across the ingredients I thought I would humor myself and make them, since I got jipped (gypped?) out of any holiday baking. I am happy to report they turned out just like this and they taste even better than they look! On the glorious ourbestbites.com there is a great, step-by-step, photo tutorial. I followed all their directions. It takes a little time, mainly to refrigerate between layers, but otherwise it's easy and so worth it. Your'e Welcome!!!

PEPPERMINT CANDY CANE BROWNIES ~ from ourbestbites.com
Brownies:

4 squares unsweetened chocolate (4oz)

1 C butter (2 sticks)

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1t vanilla

1 1/4 C flour

1/2 t baking powder

Frosting:

2 C powdered sugar

4 T butter, softened

1 1/2 t peppermint extract (I only used 1/2 tsp)

1 T milk

pink food coloring

Chocolate Glaze:

6 oz (about a cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips

6 T real butter

Additional:

1/2-1 C crushed candy canes (Use Bob's NOT Spanglers!)

6 candy canes = ½ cup (6 oz. box of 12)

First, the Brownies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.The chocolate you want is baking chocolate, which is sold in bars by the chocolate chips. Make sure it is unsweetened. Give those squares a rough chop so they'll be easier to melt.

Then place them in a microwave-safe bowl along with the 2 sticks of butter (also chopped). Melt in 30-45 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Set aside. Don't accidentally stick your finger in the melted butter and chocolate combo because it will laugh at you for forgetting that it is unsweetened.

In a stand mixer or with electric beaters, beat eggs for about 3 minutes until thick and frothy. Add sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Then add in the melted chocolate and butter that you set aside. Combine flour and baking powder and whisk into brownie batter by hand until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. If you want to make the job much easier, line your pan with foil first.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness and don't over bake! When brownies are done, cool on a cooling rack. When completely cool, pop in the fridge to chill. (makes the frosting spreading easier)

Next layer is the frosting:

Combine all frosting ingredients and beat until light and fluffy. Add extra milk by teaspoonful if you need a little more. Spread evenly over cooled/chilled brownies and place back in the fridge to chill again while you do the final step.

Chocolate Glaze:

Place chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and cook in 30 second intervals until smooth.Set aside for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, so it can cool off just a bit. Remember in the first step when I told you to not accidentally let your finger fall in the chocolate butter mixture? Totally doesn't apply to this chocolate butter mixture. Quickly spread on top of brownies. I say quickly because the frosting is cool and the chocolate is hot. If you take your sweet time and overdo it, you'll make a big gooey mess. Just spread it on quick.

Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top and return to the fridge until chocolate is set on top.

Remove from fridge a few minutes before serving. Cut into squares, eat, ooh and ahh, and then eat another one. Or two. ( I would wait another 30 minutes or so to serve them when they are at room temp).

A New Year & A New Address

2011-01-02T05:55:00.000-08:00

It won't be official until January 14th, but the move has begun! It has been such a daunting task, but such a good decision. We picked up the keys to our new home a few days ago. While we were in Louisiana for Christmas, we got the good news that our escrow was delayed 2 weeks, which means we are back to our original move dates. At first we were frustrated, but then we realized by having a month of thinking we had to be done moving by December 30th it helped motivate us to hustle our packing and planning. That is an understatement. We basically did zero for Christmas. No decorating. No tree. No nativities. No baking. No parties. No Christmas cards. No fun, until the night before we left for Louisiana. But that's a story for another post.

I am finding that moving is almost more mental work than physical and we are exhausted all the way around. Trying to decide how and where to put things in a place that will be convenient is taking more time than I imagined. I have taken for granted so many little things, like knowing how all my appliances work and where things are in the kitchen, or anywhere else for that matter. I am trying to plan carefully so I can unpack as I go. We will have a much larger kitchen and pantry so that helps. But then I get emotional and overwhelmed with the enormity of the task ahead, and after a small meltdown I just start all over again and make a new list.

The other thing I have taken for granted is the ease of having "current information" on all my ID, checks, etc. Now when I am asked," Is this your current address?", I will have to remember my new address and phone number. The address is super easy - 41111 - but the phone number and zip code will be tricky since it's been the same for 30 years!

What I Will Miss About This House

2010-12-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

Today when I was doing the dishes I noticed two little lizards playing on our sunny retaining wall and it made me feel kind of sad and melancholy. It reminded me of Nick and Josh's herping days, having the preschoolers get excited to see the lizards during recess and my little Claire chasing back and forth after the lizards last year. I started thinking about all the improvements we have made and I decided to make a list about the things I will truly miss about this house:

Lizards running and sunning on the back wall

My glorious, deep, stainless steel kitchen sink

My corian counter top

The downstairs bathroom with bronze fixtures and matching accessories and Texas stars

Our big soaking tub with the built in shampoo shelf (simple pleasures)

A perfect place to hang my pretty chime

Big wall grouping of family pictures downstairs

Hanging my quilts from the landing

Hanging my quilts on the walls with vaulted ceilings

from Craig - the nice wide driveway

Our old tree in the front yard that died

The "new" brick wall and back gate on the west side

People knowing this was our house and having old friends drop by

Our sliding glass door that no longer sticks
(and the pretty, ruffled , country curtain valences)

Knowing how to operate all the appliances

Our one-year-old A/C unit

Being close to shopping

Knowing my address and phone number - I have had the same phone number for over 30 years. . .

Friends close by I can count on in a heartbeat

Ceiling fans in all the bedrooms and landing, especially my pretty master bedroom fan

The sweet memories of raising our family the past 16 years, including 5 graduations, 3 1/2 missionary farewell's, 3 homecomings, 5 engagements, 5 weddings, and 8 grandchildren (and the news of #9 due in January 2011).

Then it took me a lot longer to think about the things I will not miss at all. The first three were easy but I've been thinking about it all day (both lists) while I pack. Did I mention that packing is not such a fun way to celebrate the Christmas season?

The traffic due to the moronic, rude and thoughtless parents of Palm students- twice a day - that gets worse every year.

Unfriendly neighbors

Barking, yipping dogs

Rusty old group mailbox and weird postal workers

Dopey garden window in kitchen - overrated and impossible to clean

Lack of cupboard space and drawers

Lack of overhead lighting

The aging green carpeting

The aging, chipped floor tile

Needing to paint

The drafty windows

DYLAN THE AMAZING PUZZLEMAN

2010-12-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

This post is old news but it is worth posting even this late. This summer we discovered that Dylan and Claire had an amazing talent for jigsaw puzzles. Dylan has always loved puzzles, the harder the better. He was acing the difficult preschool puzzles I usually save for the end of the preschool year and then he moved on to 24-36 piece puzzles, and for his birthday in July he got some 50-65 piece puzzles. This summer in Idaho we tried the 100 piece puzzles, and with a little help he could do those as well. [and we discovered you can get them at the dollar store] This fall he spent a day with me and with a little bit of help the did a really hard 100 piece puzzle with tiny pieces.

His technique is so interesting. Most of us do the outside border and then fill in the design. But Dylan puts it together by looking at the design and working outward. Sometimes we have to help him group the pieces together for one section, but usually he pushes our hand away or takes it apart and redoes it on his own.

These are pictures from Idaho in August. I love it that Claire and Dylan are both the middle child in their families and they are both puzzle experts. They can even outdo their older siblings, which doesn't always go over well! Such cute kids --- all so different, with such different talents but each and everyone is wonderful!!!

Louisiana - round 1

2010-12-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

Jamie had to have some medical work done last month so she flew me to Louisiana to help her with Kaylee and Blake. Kaylee was so excited, she ran through security before my plane had even landed. A kind TSA agent escorted her back to Jamie, but by then Kaylee was freaked out. So when I fianlly got there, Kaylee was not to sure whether it was okay to approach me. On the way home from the airport in Alexandria, we were delighted to find a Logan's Roadhouse, which Ben and Jamie discovered in Texas. It was the perfect place to stop for lunch, and Kaylee loved being able to open the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. Look at how cute Blake is with a part in his hair! Kaylee was 4 in October and Blake is 20 months old.

Kaylee was being so cute and silly while I unpacked. I slept in her room and she slept on a blow up in Jamie's room. It was fun to be in their world in DeRidder and see where they live and work and play. DeRidder is just south of Fort Polk, a huge Army base in west central Louisiana.I got there on Saturday, November 6 and Jamie's surgery was on Monday morning.

Jamie's friend took her to the hospital early that morning, then later Blake and I took Kaylee to preschool and then we went to Wal-mart. I thought there was team spirit in Texas and in Boise, but they have nothing compared to those LSU and Saints fans in Louisiana. Every store in town had a huge section of LSU and Saints gear. And there were flags, signs and stickers everywhere. The Sunday paper had a four page spread on just the LSU game, and that was the small town Alexandria newspaper. Everyone was so warm and friendly, taking southern hospitality to a new level.

The kids were angels for me, but they were so glad to see their mom later that night. By the end of the week Jamie was feeling better and we did a little shopping and even found a darling new quilt shop in Leesville, the next town over.

It was rainy at the end of the week and Kaylee was thrilled to use her umbrella on the way to preschool.

Jamie looks fabulous, but she is way too skinny! Isn't Blake's spiky hair cute? Blake LOVES trains and Woody, not necessarily in that order. Whenever he sees or hears a train or sees a railroad track he says "choo- chooooo" in the sweetest little voice. That boy stole my heart.

Jamie sent Ben decorations for his hooch [storage container converted into housing] and while we were shopping for things to send him, Kaylee just about jumped out of the cart in the aisle with the little trees and ornaments. So of course I thought she should have one for her room, and she gladly picked out all the pink and purple ornaments.

It turned out so cute and fits perfectly on top of her dresser.

The day before I left I needed to spoil them a little and I got Kaylee a Strawberry Shortcake and Blake a Thomas the Train that you shake and it goes and makes noise. This was a busy trip with not much picture taking. I will do better when we are there for round 2 at Christmas. I was sure I would be strong and not cry when I left this time, then Kaylee started crying saying she didn't want me to go, and of course, I lost it! I told her I had to go home and take care of Grampa so I could bring him back for Christmas. Can't wait!

The Amazing Nicholas and His Lovely Assistant, Paige

2010-12-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Nick had Paige help him do a "magic trick.--- Now you see her. . .

Ala peanut butter sandwiches!

. . . Now you don't!

TA-DA!

She made it back! But the best part of this magic trick was that Claire freaked out when Paige disappeared! Bless her little heart, she couldn't figure out what happened to her sister [who was just hiding behind the couch]. Even when we tried to show her how it was done, she wanted no part of Uncle Nick's hocus-pocus! This was one of those - you had to be there - moments. We could have made big bucks if we had Claire's expression on video. And Paige was so tickled with herself for helping the very cool Uncle Nick - who can do cool tricks on the trampoline, too. Good times!

Thanksgiving in Idaho

2010-12-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

I need to post these fun Thanksgiving pictures before it's next year. Packing up this house is so overwhelming and just no fun at all. It's dreadful. The worst. Especially since I get gyped out of Christmas. It already doesn't even seem like Christmas and now the dopey weather in the 70's doesn't help. Sorry, I guess I needed to get that out of my system. Did I say I hate packing? It is such an enormous, endless task. I go from being overwhelmed to depressed to feeling like I'm making progress.

Okay - back to Thanksgiving: The Idaho weather was so bad we had to delay our trip a day coming and going. We ended up driving all the way to Provo the first day, then on Tues we left by 7:30 a.m. to be ahead of the storm. Which worked until we hit southern Idaho, and the 84 West was brutal with almost zero visiablility, blowing snow and icy roads. It was a white knuckle drive for a few hours. I think I was more concerned about Josh and Krista who were close behind in their honda. I felt safe in the truck, and Craig is a great driver, but the icy roads were awful. We debated whether or not to get off and wait it out, but we ended up forging ahead and made it through just before the roads closed and arrived in Star a few hours later than planned. We had such a fun week with our Idaho kids and it was so nice to also have Josh and Krista there from BYU. On the way home that section of the freeway was closed and we had to take a detour up through Pocatello.

So here are the pictures everyone has been waiting for:

Renee, who is finally looking pregnant at the 7 month mark

Right profile. . .

. . . Left profile

The happy parents to be. Miss Skye Rogers is due to arrive the end of January. Craig keeps telling Nick to get lots of sleep!

The girls have grown up since I was there in August.

Paige will be 6 in a few weeks. She wanted me to take a picture of her with her princess barbie collection as she posed differently with each doll. I'll just post one, although I have to say they are all adorable. Here she is with her new Rapunzel. Rebecca and I took all three girls to see the new movie" Tangled" the day before Thanksgiving, and they all loved it. Reese was even good. Later that night Craig and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie with Nick, Renee, Josh and Krista.

Of course, the darling Clairey Beary wanted to pose for a picture, too. She has changed almost as much as Reese. She is getting so grown up and so smart. She knows tons of letters and is speaking so clearly now. She loves to do whatever Paige does. I have never seen children sit and color for so long and so well. They both inherited their parents artistic genes.

Reese is 19 months old already. She is a baby doll lover and always wants you to help her wrap up her doll in a blanket. It is her favorite thing to do. Well, maybe her 2nd favorite because Rebecca is her very favorite. Saying Reese is a mama's girl is the understatement of the year. We all spent the week trying to win her over.

Reese's 3rd favorite thing to so is have stories read to her. Aunt Krista was the first person to win her over!

Josh giving Mark moral support while he mashes the potatoes.

Sadly, this is the only group picture I took. I was not a very responsible photographer this trip.

It was so fun to be with Nick and Renee. We spent Saturday with them and went out to lunch, shopping for baby quilt fabric (they have some killer quilt shops) and watched a movie and hung out at their house.

Our newlyweds have made it to 6 months already! Krista is so excited about graduating in April. We met for lunch after we survived the drive in the blizzard on our way up

. Grampa finally won Reese over the day before we left!

On Saturday they put up their Christmas Tree. Paige wanted to point out the ornament she made last year in Preschool. It was fun to see Rebecca's childhood ornaments that were passed on to her when she got married.

Paige calls their little nativity set "The Little Lord 'Tivity". So that's what Clarie calls it. They had so much fun playing with it. Thank you Fisher-Price

LET IT BE CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

One of my very favorite Christmas songs is "Let It Be Christmas" by Alan Jackson (#1 on my playlist, bottom right on the sidebar). It has special meaning to our family because Josh likes to sing the first line in a big, booming voice. It always makes me miss him --- just like it does to watch the movie ELF or see the Egg Nog in the grocery store. Sorry, Josh, I was just having a moment. That is not the point of this post. . . .

Years ago I struggled with how to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas and still have fun with Santa. Then I discovered this wonderful figurine, titled "The Kneeling Santa". Along with it I found an article that tied it all together for me:

     "In Clement Moore's poem, 'The Night Before Christmas', St. Nick gives solely out of love and wants nothing in return.
     In the Charlie Brown story the Christmas tree is meager and lopsided until love makes it glow.
     And unselfish, Rudolph guides Santa and his sleigh through deep fog with his loving beacon of light.
     Even the mean old Grinch learns that it was love, not the gifts he had stolen, that brought joy to the folks of Whoville."

During this time I also attended a Holiday Seminar at Victoria Community Church in Riverside, where Emily Barnes spoke about having a Christ-Centered Christmas. That was a life-changing day for me! She shared lots of ideas on how to incorporate nativities and other reminders of the Saviour in all our Christmas decorating and celebrating. One comment she made was that "the minute your friends and family walk up to your door, let them know what Christmas means to you". Since then I have added many nativity sets to my collection, especially ones my children could play with and enjoy. I selected Christmas cards and even stamps that reflected my feelings that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus Christ. Today there are so many great choices to help teach about the true meaning of Christmas from ornaments to puppets and toys to advent calendars. And I will be forever grateful to Emilie Barnes for introducing me to the Christmas music of Amy Grant, who quickly became one of my all time favorites.

This week I found this wonderful little blog on facebook, [through being friends with SugarDoodle. They have the cutest links and ideas.] SugarDoodle is truly my favorite facebook friend. I love my new nativity button! It links you to a daily Christ-centered quote about Christmas. So, this year, this blog background is as close as this home will come to decorating for Christmas. After being gone for a week to Idaho for Thanksgiving, we will be in Louisiana for a week during Christmas, and then we move the day after we get home. Even I, who adores all things Christmas and believes you can never have enough ornaments or even trees from which to hang said ornaments from --- cannot figure out a way to justify decorating or putting up a tree this year whilst packing up our home of 16 years. When I saw this blog background, it made me smile and filled heart. Simple pleasures. And I love the way the nativity blog button is the first thing you see next to the tree.

LET IT BE CHRISTMAS

Let it be Christmas, everywhere

In the hearts of all people both near and afar

Christmas everywhere

Feel the love of the season wherever you are

On the small country roads lined with green mistletoe

Big city streets where a thousand lights glow

Let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let every heart sing let every bell ring

The story of hope and joy and peace

And let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let anger and fear and hate disappear

Let there be love that lasts through the year

And let it be Christmas

Christmas everywhere

Let it be Christmas everywhere

With the gold and the silver, the green and the red

Christmas everywhere

In the smiles of all children asleep in their beds

In the eyes of young babies their first fallen snow

Elderlys' memories that never grow old

Let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let every heart sing let every bell ring

The story of hope and joy and peace

And let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let anger and fear and hate disappear

Let there be love that lasts through the year

And let it be Christmas

Christmas everywhere

Let it be Christmas everywhere

In the songs that we sing and the gifts that we bring

Christmas everywhere

In what this day means and what we believe

From the sandy white beaches where blue water rolls

Snow covered mountains and valleys below

Let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let every heart sing let every bell ring

The story of hope and joy and peace

And let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let anger and fear and hate disappear

Let there be love that lasts through the year

And let it be Christmas

Christmas everywhere

Christmas everywhere

Christmas everywhere

THE END OF AN ERA

2010-12-02T19:46:00.000-08:00

It's true --- we are moving from our home of 16 years and the city we have lived in for 30 years. We have loved our town of Moreno Valley. We feel so blessed that our children were raised here, in the Valley View Ward and educated at Armada, Cloverdale, and North Ridge Elementary Schools ---Mt. View and Palm Middle Schools --- and Valley View High School.

It is a daunting yet exciting time as we look to the next chapter in our lives. As Craig looks forward to retirement in a few years, we realized that now would be a good time to downsize and to begin to make some changes. Due to the sad state of the real estate market, we knew that selling our house would be a dilemma. We swallowed our pride and put it up for sale, knowing it would be a short sale (meaning that the value of our home is less than the mortgage). So in order to deal with that we felt that sooner would be better than later so here we are. It is all official and our escrow will close on December 30. Gulp. YES - IN 28 DAYS WE ARE MOVING.

We will be renting a home in Lake Elsinore, just a few houses down from Melissa. She assured us this would be okay, and we are excited about the possibilities. Due to the move I felt it only fair to cancel preschool this year. I was surprised and truly caught off guard by how much I missed it, so I am looking forward to holding preschool again next fall in a new area.

With our baby getting married in June, and our nest being truly empty for the first time in 35 years, it has been a time of adjustment for me - which I admit has not always been my finest hour. Although I welcome the adventure that is ahead of us, I miss our full house and all the joy and purpose that brought into my life. In addition to those changes, this year our family spread out to Utah, Idaho, Louisiana and Afghanistan. I am so grateful for free cell phone minutes, e-mail, Skype and the post office to bridge those miles --- and help us watch our children and grandchildren grow as well as being able to spoil them long distance.

If I have been distant, I am sorry. But now you know why. It has been a weird, emotional time that has been difficult to deal with let alone discuss. So, ready or not, here we go. . .

I'm on Bakerella's blog!!!

2010-10-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.bakerella.com/

I love finding a post from Bakerella in my email, and she almost always has one on Monday mornings. I opened up my email this morning and she has a post about her book tour in southern California AND I AM IN THE 3RD PICTURE!!!! Front and center! And my hair isn't flat! I'm also in a few more pictures in the slideshow. So that was a fun surprise on this rainy, dreary morning.

I love a rainy, dreary morning than most people. But today it matches the mood of our family as Ben leaves for his deployment in Afghanistan. There have been lots of little miracles involved with this deployment, but the best news of all is that he will only be gone 8 months. Due to security, I'll let Jamie give you the details. (Her blog is private, but if you want to be on it just email her and she will add you.) It was interesting this time around (Ben went to Iraq for a year in 2004) they are being very cautious about security and what can be posted on social networks online or even spoken of on cell phones. As a mom, I am grateful for their caution. I talked to Jamie first thing this morning, and so far so good. We are looking forward to our visit to Louisiana for Christmas.

Bakerella Book Tour Signing

2010-10-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

Last year I discovered Bakerella.com when I was looking online for a recipe for cake balls. She has an amazing blog that I have subscribed to ever since ~ and I always look forward to finding her latest post in my inbox. Bakerella took the basic cake ball recipe (where you combine cake and frosting, roll it into a ball and dip it in chocolate) and has created tons of darling shapes and designs and put them on a sucker stick and called them CAKE POPS.It is amazing how creative she is. Her blog has step by step tutorials and the directions make it all look so easy. Bakerella had so many good ideas she wrote a book:

It was fun to learn about the publishing process in her posts. I was so excited to hear that she was having a book tour stop in Costa Mesa that I immediately put it on my calendar and promised myself I would go no matter what. I usually have grand plans-- but then I talk myself out of going, especially when I don't have anyone to go with. This time I followed through! Since Disneyland and my Aunt Sharon's is the only place I ever go in Orange County I was proud of myself for figuring out how to get to
Williams-Sonoma in South Coast Plaza.

I left home at 8:30, filled up the gas tank, got a Jamba Juice for the road and made it there in an hour. So nice not to hit traffic! I was unsure of what to expect so I was really pleased that I got one of those sweet front parking places at the mall and I was #24 for the book signing. I got a front row spot and it was so much fun to be there that the 2 hours of waiting flew by. Not to mention Williams-Sonoma is a place I could get into lots of trouble.

Melissa's friend, Heather, from Lake Elsinore was there (she recognized me and texted Melissa to be sure it was me). We had our picture taken together to show Melissa. Most of the people there were from Orange County but there were also several people from Corona. They handed out 128 numbers so I was really glad to be in the front of that line.There were over 200 people there and it was a happy, lively group. Bakerella answered questions for about 15 minutes before the book signing and she had some really good, simple suggestions.

These girls from Mission Viejo were in line with me for the signing, and they had these adorable shirts made! I never found out their names, but the blonde told me I looked familiar and I had thought the same thing when I first saw her, but when we talked about it our paths had never crossed.

Bakerella was featured on the cover of the Betty Crocker Fall Baking magazine last month, and she signed that for me too. It was such a treat to meet my blog friend Bakerella AKA Angie Dudley. I'm so glad I took the time and made the effort to be there - it was well worth it!

A Blog for Us Grandma's

2010-10-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.travelinoma.blogspot.com/

I was blog/link surfing today and found this wonderful blog, TRAVELIN OMA - FINDING BEAUTY IN LIFE! Lot's of cute posts about being a grandmother and the joys of aging. It was just what I needed!

Blues and Bothers

2010-09-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

I have struggled this week with the blues and bothers----missing my kids and grandkids, worrying about Ben's deployment to Afghanistan next month, surprised to be missing preschool after 19 years, not to mention this empty nest of mine and the holidays approaching with so much uncertainty. . . . Then I read this post on facebok from a dear high school friend ( from my Santa Rosa years), Greg Barsi :

Putting the blues and bothers of the past few days away -- Friday will be my day of joy finding! HAPPY FRIDAY to all you good people!! Blessings of Love, Joy and Happiness. ♥ :-D

It touched my heart and reminded me to count my blessings and FIND JOY. Shame on me for needing the reminder, but so grateful to be able grab on to it and put those blues and bothers away for now. Thank you, dear friend!

GIRLS 5 - BOYS 4

2010-09-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

Nick and Renee just called with the news that they are having a baby GIRL in January!!! We are so happy for them having their first baby and our 9th grandchild. She breaks our tie of 4 girls and 4 boys. They both sounded so excited on the phone. I can't wait to quilt & shop for another newborn! We are so blessed!

Happily Ever After

2010-07-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

Josh and Krista were married on June 5 and it has been a busy, happy, joyous time for our family. I'm still waiting for the photographer to send me the family group pictures. Once I get those pictures, I will update the blog. In the meantime, here are a few pictures taken by the photographer at the temple. [for more pictures, check my facebook page]. Despite the heat, everything went well and Josh and Krista were gorgeous and they are so happy. My sister was here from New York, my brother and sister from San Diego, my parents and nephew from Utah, and my Aunt and Uncle from Orange all shared the big day with us. We also had dear friends (that are like family) with us from Richfield, Utah and Las Vegas so it was a sweet time for our extended family to all be together. Truly a glimpse of heaven!

The good news is that I have not crumbled with the departure of the kids back to Idaho, Utah and Louisiana. When the last batch of kids left, Craig said, "You're holding up remarkably well, Grama". And I truly am holding up. I will always want to be near our loved ones, but I recognize how blessed I am to have had them close by for 5 precious years. I am so grateful for free cell phone calls and being able to skype! Now I am trying to find a new normal with a quiet, empty house and calendar. My only real committment left this summer is a road trip to Idaho in August with Melissa and the boys, and teaching my primary class. So, sewing room, here I come!

This is the picture I framed for the piano ---

It is such a great feeling to know that our family is complete.

This is my very favorite picture of all the hundreds taken that day. It made my heart sing to see my 5 girls and know that they are all here at last!!!!!

The Invitations are in the Mail!

2010-05-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

The invitations to Josh & Krista's wedding are finally in the mail. They had to be sent back to the printer twice, so the third time really was the charm. Sorry they are a bit late. Last weekend Josh & Krista went to Kentucky where she recieved her endowment in the Louisville Temple. It was Josh's first trip to Kentucky and he loved it. Krista also had a bridal shower and they had their engagement pictures taken. They had such a wonderful photographer --- all the pictures are great. I think the setting is beautiful. It reminds me of a setting in a country music video. June 5 is right around the corner, and the celebration begins on May 29 when Nick& Renee and Mark & Rebecca arrive. Ben has training until the 28th so Jamie is picking him up from the airport and they are hitting the road. They hope to arrive on Tuesday in time for Ben and the men folk to go to a Padres game. My sister, Dana flies in from New York on Wed and Josh & Krista will arrive that night. It will be a party!

Krista's gala birthday week begins!

2010-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Josh's fiance, Krista Huckvale, will be 22 on April 7, and so far the only negative part about Josh marrying Krista is that it gives our family another April birthday!!! She joins Uncle Kirk, Melissa, Luke, Sarah, Cameron, Reese, Mark, Ben and my Mom! Since her birthday was just a few days away, we decided to start celebrating so that she could have a gala birthday that lasted all week long.

It is always wonderful to spend time with Josh & Krista and see how happy they are. Their June 5th wedding is just 2 months away! I was excited to find gift wrap that matched their wedding colors. We celebrated with funfetti cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert. I'm bummed these pictures are blurry, so hopefully my Mom's will be better.

Easter in Parowan

2010-04-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

My Dad had knee replacement surgery on March 22 and the good news is that he is having a great recovery and physical therapy is going well. The bad news is that he developed a staff infection while in the hospital that has proved to be a bit more challenging. He is currently stable, but will have 6 weeks of anibiotic infusion treatments. That entails a daily trip to Cedar City (1/2 hour away) and the treatment which lasts about 90 minutes. Needless to say, we have all been very concerned, and since Suzy had Friday off for Good Friday, we decided to make a quick road trip. We are so glad that were able to visit with Mom & Dad, check out the situation first hand and give Mom a little bit of a break.

Suzy's daughter, Sarah had already planned to be in St. George for the holiday weekend with her boyfriend for a family reunion, so on Saturday after we got Dad settled for his treatment we went to St. George to pick her up so she could visit with Mom and Dad in Parowan ( about an hour away). Sarah is holding the parts that were removed and replaced in his knee (this is his second surgery on that knee ).

On Sunday morning Josh & Krista drove down from Provo bright and early to watch conference and spend the day with us. Poor Josh inherited his blinking talent from me as well as his Aunt Suzy and sister, Melissa. Sorry Josh, but it's a cute smile and how adorable is our Krista?

On our way to Parowan we made a short detour to rendezvous at Zion with our Schweppe cousins so that Suzy's son Trevor could camp with them for the weekend. It is always so much fun to see Mark and Julene and thier families. They stopped to drop off Trevor with us on thier way home to Kaysville and Liberty. Aunt Remerice was there so we got to take a few quick cousin pictures. Aunt Remerice is my Grama Buff's youngest sibling and she lives in Parowan. She reminds us so much of our Grama Buff it always tugs at our heart when we get to see her and hear that voice and see that face that is so similar and so dear to us.

Since Suzy was blinking in the first picture, here's the good one of her with me blinking this time. I wish I had taken more pictures of Mark's cute family and my nephew Trevor. Hopefully when Mom gets her film devleloped there will be some more. It was such a treat to be together, even if it was for a short visit.
Can someone say "BUFFINGTON REUNION"???

A little cake with our frosting!

2010-03-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

I love icing, frosting, whip cream. Love them all. So I try to share that love with my children, nieces, nephews and my grandchildren. When I ordered the cake at Costco none of the designs seemed to fit and they all had bright colors that make the icing taste bitter and we can't have that! Why waste good buttercream icing? So I got the brilliant idea to order the cake in all white since I knew 57 candles would be plenty of decorations, and give us lots of frosting to taste!

Dylan needed no instruction and snitched a fingerful

as soon as he could reach the cake.

Luke wasn't far behind him and even Austin got a taste!

Did I say I love frosting?

Happy Birthday Craig!

2010-03-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

We have had a gala birthday weekend celebrating even though Craig's birthday isn't until Monday, March 29th. He does not enjoy being in his 50's so it is one of the few things we can tease him about, so we put 57 candles on his cake and it brought new meaning to " a burning ring of fire". It's a good thing he had Luke and Dylan to help him blow them all out.

We are so glad Greg and Melissa's family is close by in Lake Elsinore, but when it's holiday or party time, we all really miss the rest of the family in Utah, Idaho
and Louisiana.

Dylan loves to do puzzles and he will sit for a good hour and do the hardest puzzles that most of the preschoolers can't do. As you can see he is barely balancing on the chair to get as close as possible.

I found some cute little 24 and 35 piece puzzles and we took them over that night and that's how we spent a good hour. Dylan says "hmmm" as he tries to figure out where to put a difficult piece, it is so sweet.

Luke is a great puzzler as well. This boy has always had the greatest smile!

All of a sudden our youngest grandchild has changed from a baby to a busy, crawling, jabbery little boy. He is always so happy.

Austin loves the water and the bath is one of his favorite places.

Melissa is such a cute Mom. She's been busy painting 2 bathrooms and they look so cute. This one is tiffany blue with brown accents. Wehad such a fun evening with the Gargalis family --- thanks Greg and Meliss!

My Darling Primary Class!

2010-03-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I was working on my primary lesson Craig asked why I wasn't doing an Easter lesson. . . and I am so glad he remembered! I LOVE Easter and all the music, stories and symbolism. I am so grateful to know how precious it is in my life and what it means for my family. However one of my pet peeves is when Easter falls on General Conference Sunday, because one gets short changed one way or the other. Or maybe that is too strong of a statement and I should just say I am happier when they are on different days. Sadly, Easter just seems to get shuffled to one side, and to add to that we had our Fast Sunday today. What made it even worse was we only sang one Easter song and in Sharing Time it wasn't even mentioned. Now, I'm certain it will be mentioned numerous times in General Conference next week, and our ward will have more Easter music the week after conference, but I still feel short-changed.I think another part of it is that we "celebrate" Easter each week as we partake of the Sacrament. As members we strive to live the gospel daily, not just twice a year on Christmas and Easter or once a week on Sunday. But. . . you can kind of see how people could misinterpret our "lack" of fuss over those 2 holidays and think we don't love the Saviour.

However, due to Craig's kind reminder I had the best primary class today and we had so much fun learning about the first Easter. The kids were beyond adorable. They were all angels and looked so darling, almost color coordinated. I am so grateful to get to teach this sweet CTR 5 & 6 class, most of whom were in the nursery with me. I happened to have my camera in my purse so I took these cute pictures:

Kennadi Lauderman, Ashlyn Danielson, Elise Abrego,

Jocelyn Raffidi, Jorge Abrego

Emily Deaton, Brody Worthington, Nathan Williamson and Nicole Albee

We missed Marcus Jackson and Ari Long today.

St. Obama's Day?

2010-03-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Jay Leno told a great joke last night. I'll try not to butcher it:

"I hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day yesterday. St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Now they want March 18 to be St. Obama's Day --- that's the day he drove all the democrats out of Washington, D.C."

This health care bill is making me crazy!!! I just hope there will be someone who will stand up to that arrogant leadership! It will be an interesting weekend. I'm so glad there's Fox News to give us the other side of the story! Bless their hearts.

A day with our Renee

2010-03-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

Renee was in town for Kim Mitchell and Wes Davenport's wedding, so we lucked out and got to spend all day Thursday with our favorite Idaho daughter-in-love! It was great timing because Melissa and the boys were there for preschool that day. Later that afternoon we took Melissa and Austin to the airport for their weekend adventure to Idaho to visit with Rebecca's family. (Check out Melissa's blog for pictures of the rest of the Idaho gang). It worked out perfectly that Melissa and Renee got to visit before she left. Renee stayed and had dinner with Craig and I and was able to visit with Greg when he came to pick up the boys after work. We had such a fun visit but it just makes us miss her all the more!

On Saturday we went to Kim & Wes's reception

at the Mission Inn in Riverside.

Kim was a beautiful bride and she had the most amazing dress! It had such a pretty, vintage look to it. The picture does not do it justice!

We sat at a fun table with some of our favorite friends:

Scott & Diane Perkins, Greg & Karen Sterling and Russ & Cheri Hardy (I was bummed not to get a picture of the Hardy's).

A Quick Trip to Provo

2010-02-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

I had originally planned to fly to Provo last weekend so that I could meet Krista's Mom, Terri, who was flying out from Kentucky for the week to find a wedding dress and make other wedding plans. Then, when I found out Josh was playing an intramural basketball game at BYU all of a sudden Craig wanted to come with me! Since his flex day was that Friday, he only had to take a half day off on Thursday. I was able to bank my plane ticket to use another time and we were off. We left after preschool on Thursday and stopped in Cedar City to have our taxes done at about 9 p.m. We have the best tax guy and the dearest friend --- Thanks Brian for waiting for us! Then we spent that night in Parowan at the home of the mayor. It was snowy off and on all weekend and the mountains were so pretty it looked like a painting.

Friday morning we took off first thing and hit nasty weather in Beaver county, which was a little un-nerving since we were driving our little jeep liberty. We made it to Provo safe and sound and rendesvoused with Krista and her Mom and roomates at a bridal shop in the University Mall. It was so great to meet Terri and that Krista is so adorable! She is so tall and slender (size 4) that EVERY gown looked gorgeous on her. She had narrowed it down to the top 7. I left with the girls (Terri, Krista , and her roomates, Sarah and Ashley) to have lunch and look at another shop while Craig opted to eat on his own and hit Barnes and Nobles with all the lovely gift cards he received for Christmas. Krista narrowed it down to the top 2 dresses, so we went back to the mall and she found the perfect dress. Terri was staying with friends in Mapleton, and we were all invited there for dinner that night.

After dinner it was back to Provo to watch Josh's basketball game where we got to see my nephew Danny Jacobson and meet his girlfriend, Alaska, AKA Danielle Cluff . It was so good to be in a gym again and watch Josh play! We have missed those basketball years! On the way back to the motel we stopped at Sonic for a fresh lime and that lovely bally ice!

Criag and I stayed in Provo at the Travelodge on University Ave It was a bargain- nice and clean, comfy king size bed and a yummy continental breakfast. Even though it's older, it was a great place and I'd stay there again in a heartbeat. After a visit to the Cotton Shop (my favorite quilt shop in Provo) we met Josh at his store (Shape Up) in Lehi and he gave us the tour. Then I dropped Craig off back at the motel for some quiet time with the Olympics and his new books (I believe a nap was also involved) while I met Krista and Terri so we could finish up some wedding shopping. When we went in the mall about 1:00 it was sunny and clear, and when we left it was a blizzaard and I got my first taste of driving in the snow. This is what it looked like out the window when I parked. . .

After we finished up shopping we all got together for dinner at Red Robin, where I had my first crummy Whiskey River Burger because they insisted on cooking it well done. So sad. It was a quick trip but it was so good to spend a little time with Josh and Krista and see how happy they are! We miss our little Joshy! It was also weird to be in Provo for the first time since Ben & Jamie have moved and we missed them all weekend long.

We had planned to drive home Sunday morning but the weather was bad so we waited for the roads to get cleared and by then we would have been stuck in the Vegas traffic coming home, so we stayed in Parowan another night and had a yummy dinner and a nice visit with Mom and Dad. We got home Monday afternoon and now it's back to reality. I can't believe the month of February is already coming to a close!!!

Another Disneyland Day

2010-01-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

Melissa wanted to go to Disneyland one last time before our passes expired (and we maybe take a break before renewing them this time. We're thinking about holding out until fall or maybe even later). After all our rainy weather last week, it was nice to be outside. It was perfect weather: low 60's and sunny! It was a beautiful day. That means not cool enough for sweatshirts and not warm enough to sweat and melt and have to put up our hair up in clips. A new experience for us!

Not only was the weather perfect, there was no crowd at all. We were actually able to have our picture taken in front of the giant floral Mickey at the entrance. . .

. . . and in front of the castle! Even though we were all blinded by the bright sun, it was too good of a photo op to pass up! Notice how cute Melissa looks in every pictureMelissa took both the boys on the rockets, but it was a little tricky getting Dylan to follow directions and scoot up . . . .

. . . . . so Melissa could get her long legs in the jet and then strap them all in.

They did it! It was amazing that there were no lines. While they went on the Buzz ride I fed Austin his bottle. We only waited 10 minutes for the Peter Pan ride which I got to ride on with the boys and Melissa went with Austin. We ate lunch in Fantasyland. It was nice to eat outside where there were tons of tables. Melissa and the boys walked right on to the Carousel before we headed over to California Adventure for the Monster's Inc rideAustin was such a good baby, he even took a nap for over an hour and a half in the stroller. Such a sweet boys

Just as we noticed the closed sign on the Monster's Inc ride, they opened it back up so Melissa and the boys could walk right on it! Too cool.

Just as they were coming off the ride (I waited with sleeping Austin) I noticed Mr. Incredible and signaled to them to hurry for the photo op

His pal Frozone was there too

And Peter Pan! He was so cute with the boys. We have had such good luck with "nice" characters that make it extra special for the kids.

Then just as we were leaving we spotted Goofy! The boys were so excited to see all their favorite characters from their favorite movies.

We couldn't have asked for a better day. Luke noticed the "L" in the CALIFORNIA sign. He must have a great preschool teacher!

And of course Dylan wanted a turn!

Such sweet brother! We walked right onto the tram to the parking lot, too. On our way out we even scored the front row where you don't have to fold up the stroller!

Dylan was out before we even left the parking garage! Did I say it was a perfect day???

JOSH & KRISTA ARE ENGAGED!!!

2010-01-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Last night Josh proposed to Krista Huckvale and she said YES!!! We are so excited and so happy for them. Cirlce June 5 and save the date. More details to follow : )

JAMIE THE WONDER WOMAN!

2010-01-20T20:26:00.000-08:00

The year of 2010 began with a big change for us, as Jamie and the kids left to join Ben in Waynesville, Missouri where he is in training at Ft. Leonard Wood. Originally, he was going to be in Missouri until the end of February, and when his class was extended to the end of March, Jamie made up her mind right then and there that she would just load up the kids and meet him there. They got this news on Monday, January 4, and she left the next Monday, January 11!!! Once Jamie makes her mind up, just get out of her way and watch her do her magic. She is amazing!!!

So, that little fireball got online, found a house to rent, mapped her route and planned to drive 6 hours each day, and made hotel reservations in advance. The remainder of the week was crazy getting things packed and washed and ready to move and travel with a 3 year old and 11 month old in a car for 4 days.

The most difficult part of the move was having to give up their beloved dog, Roxy. She is truly an amazing dog, ( and I am so not an animal lover) but with the moves ahead of them and the uncertainity of what Army life will bring, it was for the best. Jamie put the word out and in a few days Melissa found a home for her with one of her friends. Jamie took Roxy to the new home the day before they left while Kaylee was napping. Although it was difficult, Jamie feels so glad that Roxy has a new family that adores her and they keep in touch with texts and emails. Interestingly, Kaylee has not mentioned Roxy once since then. It will be a sad day when she realizes her puppy is gone, but until then, no news is good news!

Their stops were Flagstaff, Arizona; Santa Rosa, New Mexico; and Oklahoma City. The third day was a bit challenging for her but all in all it was a good trip and everyone survived. Check out their blog at ben-jamie-kaylee.blogspot.com for more details. She packed every belonging into the car, with just enough room left for the 2 kids and she put the cooler, food and diaper bag in the front seat. These pictures do not even begin to show how full that car was, but you get an idea! The car has a dark tint on the windows so I couldn't get any other pictures.
We are so glad that their little family is together that it has helped us not to miss them quite as much. I keep thinking I hear Blake waking up upstairs, Kaylee playing or I expect Jamie to come walking through the front door. It's been way too quiet, but I think we could get used to it! We are just so glad we got to spend the last 5 months with them. I finally finished Blake's quilt --- I got the fabric in April and it's been cut out since August. [brown minkee on the back and flannel on the front] It was so nice to sew again [after being lazy for so long] and I got it done in the nick of time!