Thanksgiving

 

This year, our son Michael who lives in Salt Lake City, invited us to come down to his house for Thanksgiving this year to enjoy the Holiday with he and his family.  It's been quite a while since we've been to SLC, so it was wonderful to go and visit all of our family who lives there.  Michael invited my mother to come along with us, so we stopped in Pendelton and picked her up.  It took us two days to drive down....we slept in Pendleton the first night so the trip wasn't so tiring.  As we arrived in the Salt Valley, the sun was just setting.  I had forgotten how beautiful sunsets can be in Utah.  (I took this photo going 70 mph driving down the freeway.)

 

 

Before we drove out to Michael's house in South Jordan, we stopped in Midvale to say "hello" to Ron's parents, Joe and Doris Southworth.  It's been almost two years since we've visited them.

 



 

Many hands make light work, so we all pitched in to help with dinner on Thanksgiving Day.  MIchael and Emmy have a beautiful home with room for everyone, and there was a warm atmosphere will all the family around.

It was practically impossible to get a photo of everyone at the tables, so we divided it up into two shots.....one from each end of the tables.  Besides ourselves and my mother, there was also Emmy's parents, Guy and Karen Bowden, and Emmy brother Colt and his wife Abby, plus Ron's parents. 

 



Later during the week, Michael, Emmy, my mom and Ron and I drove up to Park City.  We spent the afternoon wandering through several art/photography galleries, and then enjoyed lunch at a very nice Mexican resaurtant. 

 



There was a little snow here and there, but most of the snow that they had received the previous week had melted.  It was very warm in the sun, but rather chilly on the shady side of the street.  We all enjoyed looking at all the different shops.  We were wishing that there was some way that we could Ron's photography into a gallery here.

 



 

Ron had never been to his sister Jean's home in Pleasant Grove, in Utah Valley.  We lucked out and they had several of their children and their spouses there as well, so we got to see everyone.  (below: Jean and Ben Zitting)

 



 

Grandpa found a nice comfortable chair and put his feet up.  

 

 

Ron's mother Doris, showed me all around Jean's house.......Jean had painted, decorated and even done some carpentry work all herself.  Her home was very beautiful and homey.

 



Before we left Utah Valley, we stopped at the Lehi Cemetery and found Dori's parents graves.  Then we found the spots where Doris and Joe are to be buried.  It was such a peaceful and beautiful little place.....and we lucked out and had beautiful sunshine.

 



 

We also visited Ron's brother Lynn in Sandy, and several of his children and their families were there as well.  (we didn't get any photos of them though.)

 

We had planned on starting to drive home on Sunday morning, and then get back to Camano Island by Monday night.....but the best of plans can change.  Michael was called as the First Counselor in the Bishopric of his ward.......they also called a new Bishop, and Michael really wanted us to stay to Sacrament Meeting because of this.  We hadn't even brought Sunday clothes, but we were able to come up with something that worked for everyone:  Ron borrowed one of Michaels old suits, white shirt and tie along withs shoes.  My mother borrowed a skirt from Emmy, and I borrowed a skirt from Emmy mom.  I had to buy a pair of black dress shoes (but I needed some anyway, so that was not a problem.)  So all in all, I think we turned out pretty good.  Below: Ron and I with Michael.  We are so proud of him.  He is such a wonderful son, husband, father and now a counselor in the Bishopric.

 



It was a good opportunity to snap a few family photos.....how often can you get everyone together, and all dressed up?

 



Emmy and the kids put up the Christmas tree while the stereo played Christmas music.  It was wonderful to be able to spend time with our family.  Everyone is so spread out, that we don't get to see everyone very often.  Thank you Michael and Emmy for the invitation to share this time with you.  We love you!

November: A week with two special little boys

A lot has been ocurring these past few weeks.....some good....some bad. I'm trying to look at the glass as half full, and not half empty. It helps me to realize all the blessings that I really do have.

Ron and I were able to have Preston and Taylor come and stay with us, for about 8 days this month, while Jenni and Will went down to Los Angeles for some music events that Jenni attended.  So it was "Play Time" around our house.

 

Both of the boys were so good.  They slept good and played hard.  The only thing that we had a bit of a hard time with, was trying to figure out what they would eat.   Hmmm....picky eaters. So we ate a lot of yogurt and chicken nuggets.....oh yes, and cookies.  (Taylor has one in each hand.) 

 

 

Preston is starting to outgrow the little racetrack that we have, but Taylor is just getting old enough to start to have fun with it. 

 

Taylor, cookie in hand, next to some colorful toys that Jennifer Flake brought over for them to play with.  I teach violin and piano and Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, (from 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm) and if Ron is not home, it's impossible to keep an eye on the boys.  So I asked Jennifer Flake to come and play with them while I taught music lesson.  She was a life saver!

 

Wow, I actually got Preston to smile for the camera!

 

Hmmmm.....Taylor with another cookie in hand.

 

Ron had a lot of fun playing with the boys.....I think that he's still a kid at heart.

 

Jennifer Flake and Taylor.  Taylor thought that Jennifer was pretty cool.

 

Preston, Jennifer and Taylor all seated on the couch, ready to watch a movie.

 

Preston discovered that grandma had a book all about the "Cars" movie.  We would read several stories from it every day.  He wouldn't go to bed until we had read a couple of stories before crawling under the covers.  He packed that book around everywhere.

 

Every morning Taylor would go downstairs and find grandpa sitting in his favorite leather chair, and the crawl up on his lap.  He was fascinated with grandpa's electric shaver. Ron would let him hold it, and soon he discovered how to turn it on and off.  Then it wasn't long before he put the razor up to his face and tried to "shave" just like grandpa. 

 

The boys love going to the store....any store.  But the especially like Costco with all the tasting tables.  We loaded them into a basket and then proceeded to pile the food on top of them.  Preston wanted to buy half of the toys in the store, and was not too happy with us, when we told him that we couldn't do that.

 

Sunday morning, grandpa left early to go to the Stake Center, so I made sure that I got up early and got ready before I woke the boys up.  We were all ready for church 45 minutes early!!

 

In our garage, Ron has all of the exercise equipment that we used to have in BodyWorks downtown.  We have a rubber mat on the floor which keeps the chill out of the room, so the boys love to play there.  They would run, and jump and laugh and climb all over the gym equipment, and had a great time.  It was too cold to go outside, and raining most of the time anyway, so we had a "beach party" in the garage.....sand buckets and all.

 

 

Taylor pretended that the smaller Vortex machine was a train.....he made of these "chugging" sounds and "toots" like the train whistles.....pretty cute.

 

"See grandma, I'm driving the train!"  Don't you just love a child's imagination?

 

They found the orange cones that Ron uses in the gym for his clients, and discovered that they make perfect "Party Hats". 

 

Preston discovered a little Tea Set that I have sitting on the little table in our bedroom, and thought that would be the perfect thing for a "Tea Party."  I told him that we don't drink tea, but we could pretend it was Hot Chocolate.  (He picked up the Tea Party lingo from the tv show "Thomas the Train".....the station master always take a tea break.)

 

Taylor and Preston at the Tea/Hot Chocolate Part.  Notice the pens they are using to "stir" the "tea." 

 

Ron and I were pretty tired by the end of 8 days.  It's been a while since we had young children of our own.....you have to keep on top of everything all the time.  No rest for the weary., as the saying goes.  But we woudln't trade this time with them for anything.  However, I think that the day after then went home, Ron and I crashed and didn't do much of anything.  Being a grandparent is great!

Play Time with Grandma and Grandpa

Jenni called us the other day and wanted to know if we would be willing to have a couple of small visitors for 24 hours.....by the names of Preston and Taylor. Of course we couldn't say "no" to that offer!  She and Will hadn't had some time to themselves for quite a while, and we hadn't seen much of the boys lately, so we thought that this was a pretty good trade off.   Whenever we have grandkids come to visit, we usually end up dropping everything else and just spend time with them.....and that's exactly what we did.  Ron got all of his agenda items for Stake Presidency meeting prepared ahead of time, along with the talk he had to give at our Stake Relief Society Conference.    When Jenni pulled into the driveway with the boys, Preston unbuckled his seatbelt and bolted out of the car with arms outstretched and ran right to me for a big hug........wow, does that warm a grandma's heart!  It took a little more effort to get Taylor unbuckled from his carseat, but we came out of the car with a big smile on his face.   So what do we do when we play with our grandsons?    After going to the grocery store for some special food items, (gumdrops, corn on the cob, yogurt, etc) we ordered a Jimmy's Pizza and went to a park near our home for a picnic.  With apple juice to wash it down, and miniature cupcakes for dessert, we were ready to hit the beach.  

There's nothing like sand and water to play in......perfect for making sandcastles.

The tide was coming in really fast, and Taylor was trying to keep his feet from getting wet.  That didn't last long.....pretty soon was he laughing as the water washed up onto shore and got his feet wet.  Boys will be boys.

When we got home, we had to hose the boys down to clean up all the sand.  It became a game when Taylor had the hose and tried to get Preston's feet wet......and he ended up getting Preston's pants soaked.  They both thought it was pretty funny.

It was such a beautiful day, that we wanted to spend a lot of time outdoors.  I still had camera in hand while Grandpa sat on the porch swing with Preston and Taylor. 

While Preston went to play on the slide, Taylor stayed on the swing with grandpa and starting having a conversation......grandpa wasn't quite sure what he was saying, but Taylor was very animated and talkative.

Then the conversation turned into giggles.

I'm not sure who was enjoying the conversation most....Taylor or grandpa!

Both Preston and Taylor love the playset that we have in our backyard.  It has a swing and a slide.  Most of the time they like to climb up the slide and then slide down it, but Taylor finally figured out how to climb up the ladder.  When he finally made it up the ladder to the top, he would giggle and say "I did it!"  Preston's pant were still wet from Taylor squirting him, and he kept getting stuck on the way down.

But their favorite part is the swing.  There is only one swing so they had to take turns.  I had to push them, so I would count and give each boy 15 swings and then we'd trade. 

However, Taylor would get very impatient when Preston was in the swing, and start to jump up and down hollering "my turn, my turn!"  And when I told him he had to wait for his turn, his lips  would stick out and you could tell he was not happy. (he looked like this little tough guy that was going to let me know what he thought of that.....LOL)

Once Taylor got too close while Preston was on the swing, and got Preston's foot in his face by accident. Then he acted like a normal two year old and the tears started to flow.....not such a tough guy after all.  He needed grandma for a hug.

Since it's okay for grandma and grandpa to spoil their grandkids, we took advantage of it.  That night we had what Preston called a "Slumber Party."  We put our pajama's on and popped popcorn, then watched a movie.  Preston picked out "Tangled".  (I love the horse Maximus.) 

Both of the boys got to pick out a little pumpkin at the grocery store, and grandma suckered in and bought them each a Hot Wheels car.  Hey, but that's what grandparents are for, right?