The Perfect Weekend

We just had the most incredibly perfect weekend. We ended up with all the kids minus Josh down and together. Poor Jess came down to visit the Dr. to get cold meds and ended up with a sinus infection. Jayme and Virginia only spent one evening with us due to baby Katie getting sick, but the rest of us enjoyed incredible weather.

First we worked!


Then we played. We carved pumpkins and played on the swing set and took a beautiful walk around the farm. Keegan got to dress up in his cowboy outfit for Halloween to "try it out"! Kayden had fun trying to do whatever his big brother was doing. He tried the swings, the cowboy hat and did a LOT of walking. Mom even tried on the hat to see what kind of cowgirl she was.

We had a great Stake conference, even with the kids climbing all over us. Then Zach got sick. Monday we topped it all off with celebrating 6 months since knee surgery and hiked up Mary's Peak. We even took the dog and I let him ride in the back of the Mustang. Can you believe it? I even have pictures to prove it. We had the top down and it was a great day! In fact it was a great weekend!!

Wordless Wednesday

This pictures is especially for Melinda. It was taken in the labor and delivery room. I will leave it to you to figure out why he did this. (Other than the fact that he is so weird!!)

The Newest Baby on the Block

Our newest little granddaughter has arrived. Little Katarina was born on Oct. 10. She weighed in at 6lb. 13 3/4 oz. She was about 3 weeks early, but Virginia was induced due to pre-eclampsia. Things were pretty bad for Virginia, but she was a real sport about it and there were many miracles associated with the labor and delivery. We don't know why all of it happened, but Mom and baby are doing really good. Katie is showing all the signs of being early, but she has responded well this last week or so. I am waiting now for an update. Reed and I were so blessed to be included and to witness her arrival into the world. It is something to behold to witness the birth of a child. I have never been on the witnessing end unless I was the mother delivering, so this was a special moment and I am grateful that Jayme and Virginia let us be a part of it.

Jayme has been a wonderful dad and father. It is kind of fun to watch a son come into this role. Virginia is a natural and seems so comfortable as a mom. Even in the middle of the night when she got frustrated, it was so calm. I was impressed. I loved being there and being able to help what little I could after they came home. Holding this tiny little one is such a sweet feeling. I love being a grandma. I just love all my sweet little ones - even though some of them are getting quite old.

Thanks to Norma for having Josh up for a visit. I am so glad that there is someone close for him to connect with that is family. It sure helps - me especially.

I am still trying to get into a routine. With the birth of the baby and subbing at the school this last week was pretty tiring and now the computer is on the fritz. I am so grateful for family and grateful for all those little young uns!!

Escapades of the Empty Nesters

I know it has been forever since I posted, so most of you probably don't even check me anymore, but I will try to be better. As you can see from the title, we are officially empty nesters. August through September has been a jumble of activity and moving. Mostly moving. Not me, just ALL my kids. Jayme and Virginia started the trend by moving home in June and out in July just before we left on vacation. Thank you Jayme and Virginia for doing it before. Because after ( like 5 days) returning home from vacation we packed up Josh and dropped him off at BYU. Returning home from that we packed Jackie up again and moved them into a house they are renting. Then came Jessica who moved to start her masters program. Wow!! In the midst of all this we jointly canned about 180 lbs. of peaches, betweeen 65-70 quarts of tomatoes and today I just picked up the tuna to can. It feels good to have all this done and to see the pantry filling up with full jars. The kids are thrilled and we all loved the new kitchen when it came time for canning.

But the real reason for the post is that when that was all done, Reed and I decided to play!!!!! Reed's sister and her husband visited us from the east coast, so we showed them the sites. We picked them up at the airport with the camper and tents and sleeping bags and headed for our coast. We started around Seaside and went the whole length of Oregon. We started in fog and ended in beautiful sunshine. We saw PODS of whales. Up close. You could even see the barnacles on their backs. I have never seen so many spouts and so many whales! We ended up in Northern CA at the redwoods, then headed inland to Crater Lake. We nearly froze out toushes off when the temp dropped to 26 the night we camped at Crater Lake, but the next morning was clear and fantastic. After returning home we sent Jill and Buz on their way up north to see Mt. St. Helen's and to end up in Vancouver BC with another sister. We had so much fun together we are planning future trips. We miss them, but we had such a good time.

We were only home about a week, when we decided to take off again. We made a trip to St. George Utah via Reno and Provo. We visited some old friends in Reno, then saw Josh in Provo before heading down to St. George. There we watched Zach and his siblings compete in the marathon. I am always really moved to watch marathon runners. That is such a grueling, hard thing. I know that I only see the very tip top of the iceberg as they have trained for months to be able to run for 26 miles. All did very well despite the pouring rain. From there we headed back up to Idaho Falls to spend a couple of days with Zach's family. I know, it is really weird, but we get along so well with Zach's parents, that we are also planning a trip with them. This is just way too much fun!!

For right now we are staying close to home. Jayme and Virginia could be having the baby a little sooner than planned - but that is another post. We also plan to work - someday. We are waiting for samples to show up. But for now we have had a ton of fun and the kids think we are crazy!!!