Happily Ever After

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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!