We had a very happy holiday season which included Wendy working nearly full time at Deseret Book (which she hadn't anticipated), Ian doing most of the decorating (which wasn't very much...he used to really get into decorating for holidays, but since he turned into a teenager, he's not so excited about it anymore), Corey making batches and batches of soap to give as neighbor gifts and Austin just being his normal, silly self. Celebrations included a birthday party on December 11th for Wendy and Carol, whose actual birthday is on Christmas day.
We have a wonderful Christmas Eve tradition of going to Corey's sister's house for a yummy buffet, chatting, playing games and singing carols. This year was no different in that regard except that Corey's mom (Della) had been experiencing some health difficulties and had to be put in a care faciltiy a couple of weeks previously and couldn't be there with us on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we went to church, had family over for present opening and dinner. Corey, Wendy, Austin and Aidyn went to visit Mom. She clearly wasn't doing very well. As we left, she summoned up all her strength, took Aidyn by the hand and, looking into her eyes, uttered the last full sentence anyone probably heard her speak. It was very sweet. That was the last time we saw her alive. She passed away peacefully the next morning and we're sure she enjoyed a glorius reunion with her loved ones on the other side. We love her and will miss her but are happy for the knowledge that we will be with her and all our other family again some day.
The funeral was held in Ogden on Saturday, December 31st, and was a wonderful celebration of a great woman's life.
Last year for the Box Elder County Fair Kynlei showed a cow. This year she didn't have time to practice with a cow so she put her name in for the Mutton Bustin' contest at the rodeo and was drawn out to ride! So last Saturday (hot, muggy, buggy) night we all went up to Tremonton to watch. When the big moment came, we watched with cameras ready...they called her name, she was on the sheep and...then she wasn't. OVER in a flash (with no pictures to show for it). Sven had gone down with Kynlei and said they didn't let her get a good hold before they let the sheep go. All in all, it wasn't the best experience she'd ever had...bumped her head a bit and said there'd never be a "next time". Can't really blame her and we want to know that we're proud of her for giving something new a good try! Love you, sweetie!
We told ourselves that we wouldn't get a new pet after Chase died (see post below), but circumstances have a way of conspiring against us! It all started late on a Sunday night when Austin heard a funny noise at the front door, opened it and found a darling black & white kitten. Of course we didn't question it's origins...it was meant for us! Austin claimed naming rights: Meena (or it could be Mina...we didn't ask for a spelling). Still in mouring, our other cat wasn't happy at all with the newcomer. The next day, Corey and Ian were talking with Neighbor A who said Neighbor B had brought the kitten by her house the previous evening to see if she knew who it belonged to. Still we didn't question our right to keep her and enjoyed her antics for three more days when Wendy ran into Neighbor C at the store. She told Neighbor C about Chase's passing and the miraculous appearance of Meena/Mina at our door. Neighbor C said, "I think Neighbor D lost their kitten last Sunday...maybe you should see if it's theirs". OH, the sadness and trepidation! But when Wendy got home, she did call Neighbor D and asked her to identify the lost kitten. Of course it was Meena/Mina and she wanted to come collect her (Socks, to them) right away! Poor Austin was at work...what would he think when he came home??? Neighbor D and her two boys came over and picked up Socks and she casually mentioned that she had a very cute 10-week-old, black & white cocker spaniel puppy at her house. It really belonged to Neighbor B's daughter, but kept knocking over their 1-year old baby and wasn't going to work out for them. If Neighbor B couldn't find a home for him, he would be headed to the pound! Neighbor D thought they might want to keep him, but with Socks back, it wasn't very likely...so, sheepishly we went to see the puppy. HE WAS ADORABLE! And he came home with us where he will hopefully live happily ever after. When Austin came home from work that night, he saw the dog under the table and said, "What is that and where is my cat?" But he soon came to love and accept him, too. We named him Pepper for the black spots on his nose. He is a very good, little guy...doesn't make a lot of noise at night, has made only a few "messes" and makes us laugh. Our cat will probably need some special therapy to help her get over all the animal chaos around here lately.
Yesterday we got back from a fun camping trip with Megan & her girls and Jonathan's family. Sadly, Austin and Sven had to work. We went to Trial Lake in the Uintahs. It was beautiful up there: warm and sunny during the day, cool and NOT windy at night. The mosquitos were only a little bit of a bother at dawn and dusk. We borrowed a canoe from Kristen's family and it was the hit of the trip. We also did quite a bit of fishing and the grandkids loved learning from Grandpa. Kynlei says she caught two big ones (about 8 inches) and insisted on taking them home to her dad to eat because he didn't get to go with us...what a caring girl. For some dumb reason, Wendy can't remember to charge her camera's battery before we go anywhere so she got pictures of Tuesday and part of Wednesday and will have to get the rest from Megan, who is a much better photographer anyway.
School starts on Monday the 22nd, so it was fun to have one last "vacation" with the family...Good luck to Ian who starts high school at Davis, Megan who will be attending Weber State University and Kynlei who will be in 2nd grade. Jonathan has a few weeks off from school and then will be doing his last rotation in Blanding, Utah for six weeks...Kristen isn't looking forward to that very much! Austin will get his elementary school up and running and then will be attending the Burning Man Project in the Nevada desert. Do a Google search on it...it's quite interesting and we hope he survives it well!
June is over and the last week of it was a super busy one! We celebrated the June birthdays on Father's Day--Kristen's was on the 11th and Sven's on the 16th--with a dinner and lots of family over. Jonathan turned 30 on the 30th but we celebrated his on the actual day with a cookout. When we get together the grandkids always like to take pictures with Grammy's digital camera. Taitlyn accidentally took a very creative one of Wendy's brother, Cody...it turned out great! We are thankful for all the great fathers in our lives and hope they had a happy day.
Kynlei and Taiter stayed overnight Sunday and Monday. They had lots of fun playing with Ian and waterballoons. Monday we went with Kristen and the boys to the zoo and had a very enjoyable afternoon until it was time to go home and Kristen couldn't find her car keys. Luckily she lives just down the street and could take Wendy's car to pick up the extra keys. Later that night we played a rousing game of Candyland for FHE.
Tuesday was the day of the "Under The Sea" Mother/Daughter RS event. The kids were very helpful with decorating the "Bears on the Beach" cupcakes--forgot to take a picture; they were very cute--and setting up at the park. Megan and Carol joined us for the fun: food (Submarine sandwiches, Octopus hot dogs, Swedish fish jello, the aformentioned cupcakes and lots of salads), relay races, sandcastle contest, pearl ring making and under-water photos. Thanks to everyone who helped make the evening a success and especially Kynlei and Taiter for their help. (Wendy was exhausted the next day and did nothing but eat and read umtil she recovered.)
Last weekend was a super fun one. Besides Mother's Day on Sunday in which Wendy got the Silhouette she's been wanting for years among other great gifts and in which we took dinner up to Corey's mom, we had Kynlei's soccer game on Saturday morning in Nibley where she plays on a team with her cousin, coached by her dad and Aunt Krish. This is the first year she's played, but goes at it like a pro. She stopped two goals as goalie and ran herself ragged in the 4th quarter. Way to go, Kynlei Jo!
In the afternoon we took Aidyn to Thanksgiving Point to enjoy the last day of the Tulip Festival and the dinosaur museum. Just a word of warning: DON'T ever go to the Tuplip Festival on the last day, especially when it's the warmest, sunniest day of spring so far...the rest of the Intermountain West will be there also. Despite that, we had a wonderful time. The flowers were gorgeous and Aidyn loved the museum...hardly anyone was in there.
We had a wonderful Easter again this year beginning with the annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. It works much like trick-or-treating only every participating household hides eggs, treats, or other goodies in their yards and hangs a poster on their door announcing their participation. It's so much fun to take the grandkids (Kynlei, Taitlyn, William and James got to come) all aroung the neighborhood to gather up the fun...there is a limit of one item taken per yard so no one gets greedy. Fortunately for us, we live next door to the world's most generous person who always puts out way more than enough and lets us gather up the excess. It was a wonderful day in the neighborhood!
Easter Sunday we woke up early to Aidyn wondering if the Easter Bunny had arrived during the night. Why, YES, he had! He brought her a T-ball T along with a goody-filled basket while Ian got 3 giant green eggs...the largest was filled with new church shoes, the next with a new church shirt and the smallest with some homemade chocolate covered eggs and $10 to buy his own candy at a discount the following day. Of course there was church and we are so grateful for the many gifts of Jesus Christ in our behalf. In the evening, the whole family came for dinner and the 2nd annual plastic egg throwing war...unfortunately, Chocolate Grandpa was absent this year so it wasn't as long or boisterous as before.
Grammy: What cute socks...they have frogs on them!
Aidyn: Yep...they help me DK.
Grammy: What's DK?
Aidyn: You know, it's what pumpkins and bananas do when they get all gross! It's yucky.
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Aidyn: Grammy, Grammy, I helped you with your laundry! I put all your little piles in one great big pile!
For the past three years, Wendy has been the 2nd Counselor in her ward Relief Society...and you know what that means...PARTY PLANNER (which I'm really not!)! This is the 5th time in my life I can think of that I've either been the counselor over Homemaking, Enrichment or the additional RS meetings (would they please just quit changing the name!). I guess I haven't learned the lesson I need to learn, so I have to keep doing it again and again.
Anyway, in our ward we have an extremely talented party planner-type sister, Gina, who came up with an idea for a Hollywood Night which she put on for her mother's ward last year. So we thought we'd take advantage of all her supplies and expertise and do it for our RS Birthday Party which was last Saturday. We knew it would take hours of planning and preparation because this sister doesn't do anything halfway, but it was so worth it!
We had a red carpet entrance complete with paparazzi (YM & YW) and fashion commentary (Zanny & Jerald). Next up was the cheese fondue hor d'voeuvres table, followed by a dinner featuring pork loin with orange/cranberry sauce, baked potatoes, green beans and fluffy Jello salad (wouldn't be a Mormon event without Jello!). While we ate, we were entertained(?) by the RS presidency and our MC (Wayne), a very kind and brave husband of one of our sisters, lip-syncing "You're the Top!"--which we didn't get any pictures or video of--thank goodness! We also heard a fabulous piano medley of Hollywood tunes by another wonderfully talented man (Jerald, again) in our ward and a YW rendition of "When I Grow Up!" In between the numbers, we gave out academy-type awards such as "Best Director" where the nominees were all music directors and "Best Costume". The way we decided on the awards was we gathered all the pictures of the sisters from the past years, looked through them and found some similarities then narrowed down the nominees. Gina then put together a wonderful video presentation (which I think we need to make available to each sister). At the end we had a special presentation by our President which included another video where a lady talks about how she feels invisible, then one of her friends gives her a book about the building of the famous cathedrals of Europe. She reads that usually no one knows who the builders of these churches are, but how God knows and, likewise, we are building great lives and families and, even if the people of the world don't "see" us and what we are doing, God sees...and that's what really matters. Not the glitz and glamour of the world, but what's inside each of us.
It really was a fun and fabulous night. I, for one, had a great time getting all dressed up and pretending to be somebody, even though I knew I'd have to clean it up afterwards. The presidency went to a playhouse to choose our dresses for the evening, thanks to my coordinator, Sandy, and her connections. If anyone in our ward reads this blog, I just want to thank you all, again, for your help and participation. You are all MARVELOUS!
On March 15th, 1980, Wendy & Corey were married in the Ogden Temple. To celebrate 31 long and (mostly) happy years together, we used the two-night stay to the Park City Waldorf Astoria we won last November from the KSL Travel Show. We headed up there on Friday and came home on Sunday morning, and can we just say that we REALLY wanted to just live there forever. We had a one-bedroom, king suite with living room, full kitchen, dining area, bedroom, HUGE bathroom, two fireplaces and three televisions. Everyone at the hotel was super nice and we really had a wonderful time. On Saturday, Wendy used the $300 credit to the Golden Door Spa which we also won and got to be pampered for two hours with a massage and facial. It's easy to see how people who have the money could get used to such a lavish lifestyle. There were many families who had flown in from out of state to stay there and go skiing. We also spent some time driving around Park City and eating out. What a great weekend! Happy Anniversary to us!
On February 18th our lovliest and onliest daughter turned 28...she thinks she's old, but when her daughter turns 28, then she can complain! Megan is a very talented and creative person and a fun mommy for Kynlei and Taitlyn. We love her very much! Enjoy the blast from the past in pictures (we won't embarrass her too much).
Maybe now that it's March--the month Spring starts--we'll be more motivated to blog more...one can only hope! We have had some good, some not so good, things to post so scroll down and read to your heart's content.
First up was Ian's 15th birthday...15 seems SOOOOOO old for some reason. Maybe Ian has matured some because this was the first year he didn't want to plan a friend party of some kind. We got the family together, though, and celebrated. Here's a little trivia about Ian: he has two little water frogs that have actully stayed alive since July 4th; he needs just two more merit badges and his project to earn his Eagle Scout award; he loves to make little creations out of Sculpey-dough (and has sold quite a few of them in the past); he has read his scriptures every night since starting Seminary this year; he is a good helper at home and a comfort to his aging parents and we're so glad we have him in our family.
The holiday season really threw us for a loop and it's taken until now to (sort of) recover! We did have some very fun times this year. We always go to Corey's sister's on Christmas Eve for a wonderful buffet, carol singing and lots of chatting. We got to have Aidyn overnight for Christmas this year and it was way fun to see her excitement on Christmas morning. Santa brought her a scooter and helmet, which she loved. Wendy's Dad came to join the festivities. After unwrapping and breakfast, which Austin couldn't eat because of a case of the stomach flu, Wendy took Aidyn to her other grandparents', then all of our family met at Wendy's dad's so he could see everyone open the gifts he gave them (which Wendy lovingly purchased and wrapped for him). Then Corey dropped Aidyn off at her mom's in Riverdale and hurried on to his mom's in Ogden. The schedule was pretty tight because we'd said we'd provide a turkey dinner for Corey's side of the family at 1 pm...but the darn turkey had other ideas and didn't cooperate until about 2 pm. That gave us plenty of time for more gift-giving and playing with our toys. After we cleaned up the house, we drove back to Wendy's dad's to give him his Christmas dinner, then it was back to our house to collapse! Next year we (some of us, anyway) plan to stay home and enjoy the family who comes to our house to visit and eat. All in all, it was a very happy holiday season...we have much to be thankful for and are blessed with good family and generous neighbors. Thanks everyone for all you've given us!
Things were hopping around here yesterday! But first, Thanksgiving itself was very low-key. We had Wendy's dad as a guest and that was it! The other kids and grandkids went to their in-laws for the holiday. The food was delicious and it was very nice to have the rest of the day to relax. We even did a little shopping in the evening because...we needed to get ready for the party the next day! And everyone came. Today is Aidyn's third birthday so we celebrated with her yesterday. She is such a little ball of fire and cuteness. Here's a sample of a recent conversation with her:
Grammy: I have to go wrap a present for someone who's getting married.
Aidyn: I want to get married.
G: You have to be a grown up to get married.
A: I am a growing up.
G: How old are you?
A: I am nothing...I am just icky. I can't be a grown up. I just have to go to work and check the mail. I want to wrap a present too and somebody will get married.
G: Who are you going to marry?
A: Nothing!
She was VERY excited for her birthday presents and cake (and kept sneaking the frosting off it). She loved her "shotting guns"--and so did everyone else...they were the hit of the day! We love you so much Aidyn! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Also yesterday we had our talented photographer daughter take pre-Christmas pictures of the grandkids in their matching dressy outfits from Grammy & Grandpa. Despite the freezing temperatures, the kids did very well. The getting dressed part was more traumatic for some of them than the picture taking. Megan is editing them and putting them on a disk for us and then we'll share some of them here.
Sometimes life gets a little dull with nothing to look forward to, but that's not the case around here lately! Here's a list of some of the things members of our family are looking forward to in the near future:
* Temple devotional inside the SL Temple tomorrow for Wendy & Corey
* Ward adult dinner on Tuesday night which Wendy is partly in charge of, and so, Corey will also be helping :)
* 2 2-day work weeks in a row for Wendy, and the same for Ian at school because...
* We are headed to Mesa, AZ on Wednesday for our cute niece Brein's wedding to Brandon, and...
* Thanksgiving the next week (Wendy's favorite holiday because all it entails is cooking, eating 'til you're stuffed and cleaning up...no presents to buy!)
* Granddaughter Aidyn's 3rd birthday on Nov. 27th
* the Christmas season...can't believe 2010 is almost over! It's crazy how fast time goes.
Here's hoping you all have happy & special things to look forward to as well.
Ian always does a great job of decorating the house for Halloween, but this year he outdid himself. There was a skeleton peeking through the garage window with a strobe light behind it, webs and spiders galore and black lights as well as a screaming headstone. We enjoyed... MUHAHAHA this is Ian and I have hijacked this blog. Mom went upstairs to put Aidyn to bed and forget to get out of her post editing page! For those sparse few who regulary read this, I am now in controll of this post!!! Not much happend this Halloween, not much at all. We didn't even carve the big pumpkins we grew this year, they just sat outside, un-carved and only slightly spooky. Not many trick or treaters came because it rained all night, there was also a rainbow which was extremly un-helpful to the Halloween mood. So that's all we did, passed out candy to those few who came, watched Mythbusters and went to bed. THE END!
Now back to our regular family blog poster! As I was saying, we enjoyed a visit from a Dracula queen and a cute black kitty and their mom on Saturday who helped us carve the small and color on the large pumpkins. And on Sunday, Elmo and a darling dragon came to see us. Elmo helped put sprinkles on some Halloween cupcakes for dessert. I, for one, am glad to see the spooky holiday done and gone...I love autumn but Halloween? Eh, not so much!
We won't say how old he is, but Corey had a birthday this past Monday. Unfortunately for him, he had to work 12 hours that day after having been sick all weekend, but we had a little celebration when he got home that evening. Many people blog the number of things, according to age, that they admire about a person for their birthday and, while we could probably think of that many things we admire about Corey, we decided to just add the 2 numbers of his age and list that many things:
1. He is a very patient and forgiving husband.
2. He is a hard worker and is very dedicated to his job at the temple.
3. He is a "hands-on" kind of dad.
4. He is true and faithful to his God and religion.
5. He is a fun and funny Grandpa.
6. He is a fabulous cook and doesn't mind taking over in the kitchen.
7. He is very handy at fixing things and taking care of the house and yard.
8. He is concerned about the future and plans and prepares ahead.
WE LOVE YOU, COREY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
It was a dark and stormy night which blew open our side gate and allowed our 17.5 year old cocker spaniel, Chase, to escape from the yard after his morning potty trip. Wendy was in the house sick and napping when Corey discovered the dog was missing. After several trips around the neighborhood and a call to the local animal shelter with no good news, we were very worried. The kids were especially unhappy when they found out. Later that afternoon, unbeknownst to Wendy (who was yet again napping), the shelter called to say that a cocker spaniel had been brought in. Corey took the call. Here is where one can plainly see the difference between male and female thinking...not saying one is better than the other, just, well, different. Corey told them our dog was very old, deaf and practically blind. The shelter people said the dog they had couldn't be ours then and Corey hung up and didn't mention it to Wendy until later at dinner, when it was too late to go see if, maybe, it possibly could happen to be our Chase.
It was determined early the next morning that, yes, we probably should go to the shelter and just check, but before we could do that, the shelter called and told us they really believed it was our dog because the one they had in custody had, after further examination, practically no teeth left and obviously couldn't hear the ruckus of all the other animals waking up and...SURE ENOUGH! Chase is home safe and sound and didn't even have to spend a dark and stormy night wandering by himself or wasn't found smashed and dead on the road somewhere. He actually walked to Layton, which is pretty amazing, and a very kind lady picked him up and took him to the shelter. Welcome home, Chase! Over the years Ian and Austin have taken about 5 million pictures of this beloved pet...here are only a few...ENJOY!
Every two years Corey's brother's family comes down to Utah from Oregon for a visit. We love having this chance to see them. This year Corey was to ride home with them and spend a few days fishing with his brother and then fly home. Well, communication errors occured: Corey thought they were leaving on Sunday and his brother thought they were leaving on Saturday. Corey HAD to work on Saturday night and his brother HAD to be home for a big meeting on Sunday. To save some money and not have to drive himself, Corey arranged to take the bus to Oregon leaving at midnight on Sunday night. UNFORTUNATELY, the bus broke down and it ended up taking him 24...yes 24...hours to get to Oregon, and the trip involved a couple of irresponsible teens being left at a McDonald's along the way and a bus driver basically quitting, but that's not our problem, is it?
After resting on Monday, Corey and his brother had a great time fishing: one day on streams and the next for salmon near the ocean with a guide. They had great success and Corey brought home an ice chest full of yummy salmon. We're lucky it stayed frozen BECAUSE Corey had to take a small plane from Oregon to Washington to catch the plane to SLC. UNFORTUNATELY, something was wrong with the small plane, he missed his connecting flight and spent the afternoon in a very small airport in Washington, but finally made it home Thursday night and decided the whole ordeal was worth it.
We had a great idea to go with all 13 of our family members to Bear Lake (just for overnight)because Corey, Wendy & Ian had been up there a couple of weeks previously and it was delightful...sunny, warm water...and we have a friend who generously offered the use of her cabin. So it actually worked out that all 13 of us could go on a certain fateful couple of days in August! Happy Days...right? So we got everything and everyone (except Sven, who would be joining us later in the afternoon) loaded in 3 vehicles and headed toward Logan where we planned to eat lunch at Gosner's Cheese Factory--you HAVE to try their ice cream--YUM!
Just as we got to Logan, our Subaru Forester started overheating and we barely made it to Gosner's where most of us ordered our ice cream and Corey looked for an auto repair shop. We spent quite a bit of time at Gosner's actually...thank goodness they have shade trees and picnic tables...and ice cream (and wind). Kynlei kept wanting to go inside to a) use their restroom and b) eat their cheese samples. Megan brought Corey back from the car shop and Jonathan went to buy chicken for lunch. Then we realized that with only two vehicles, we didn't have room for the 12 of us to continue on to Bear Lake. So Megan took Corey, Ian and some of the little kids to the car repair place again to wait for Sven to come with his truck while the rest of us played a rousing game of "Duck, duck goose" at Gosner's...for quite a while.
Megan came back for those of use who wouldn't fit in J&K's vehicle and we all went to the car repair shop to wait for Sven who was amazingly speedy...our hero. He, Corey and Ian loaded all of our gear from the Forester into his truck and we were off! Oh, wait...what was wrong with the Forester, you ask? How about $2000 worth of blown head gasket! Needless to say, we decided to get a 2nd opinion from our trustworthy mechanic, Bob, in Ogden. (I KNOW THIS IS LONG...HANG IN THERE...OR SKIP TO THE END IF YOU WISH) Luckily, Wendy has a kind and generous cousin & her husband who live in Logan and they let Corey take our sad vehicle to rest at their house until the following day when the tow truck could come pick it up and take it to Bob's...more heroes!
We actually all made it to the cabin at Bear Lake in the late afternoon, set up all of our tents (our friend was sleeping in the cabin itself...we used the kitchen and other facilities). The kids were in heaven...there was a tree house, sand pile, tire swing and toys galore! See gazillions of pictures below. After a tasty supper we put on our swim wear and loaded up in Sven's truck and Jonathan's car. Driving right past the sign that said "No vehicles past this point" we arrived at the beach...AT LAST! We got a few pictures before our camera's battery died and took some more with Megan's camera, but we have yet to see those pics due to a whole other series of unfortunate events, but that's a story for another day...or not. After about a half hour of cold and windy beach fun we loaded back up and Corey & Jonathan took off in their car. Lo and behold, Sven's truck was good and stuck in the sand...nothing we tried could move it from it's beachy spot. We called Corey who talked to our cabin friend who called her taciturn brother who has a truck who came and pulled us out, basically without saying a word...thank you to this hero!
A fireside complete with s'mores was enjoyed by all followed by a very cold and fitful night's sleep. After breakfast we decided that despite the cloudy, rainy, windy weather, we WOULD go to the beach and we WOULD HAVE FUN!!! Which we did. Gazillions of pictures prove it below. And the Forester only took $3000 and several weeks worth of repairs until it would work again...and the check engine light is STILL on. Oh, and our hero cabin friend went home with one of her other friends so that we could borrow her mini-van to get home again...thank you, thank you, thank you to her!!! We love you, Sue!
We just can't believe this little girl is already six! Kynlei's birthday was on July 20th. She had her family party the night before and got lots of fun presents including a slip & slide, school outfit, princess game, card making kit, princess book, a handmade Kynlei doll and a Pokemon from Grammy, Grandpa, Chocolate Grandpa, Austin, Ian and Aidyn. Her mom made a beautiful doll cake and after blowing out the candles, Kynlei pulled the Barbie out of the cake and proceeded to lick her clean. Kynlei is a very active, funny and thoughtful girl. On the morning of her birthday, she got up and made her mom a card thanking her for the fun family party and fixed her breakfast in bed...granted it was just a bowl of cereal and a cup of water, but still...
Then on her birthday she had a friend party with 13 of her closest buddies. What a fun celebration for a very sweet girl! WE LOVE YOU, KYNLEI!
A silly side note: When Cody was getting in the car to go to the party, Aidyn, who hadn't ever met him suddenly said, "Here's your Grand-Sister!"
We've done a couple of things this summer with kids and grandkids that might be deemed crazy if only for the fact that we did them on extremely HOT days. The first was taking Kynlei & Taitlyn to Lagoon for their first time along with Megan, Ian and his friend, David. Kynlei liked this adventure so much that she declared, "I want to come here EVERY time we come visit you, Grammy!" Hmmmm...don't think that's going to happen, but MAYBE once per summer...if they're lucky. Grammy had to rest practically the whole rest of the week before she could summon up any energy to do very much after that day of walking for ten hours, riding on things that made her head and stomach spin and carrying Taiter much of that time. Taiter was practically fearless and was devistated when they told her she was too short to go on the Lady Bug (a smaller version of the Rocket...which she probably would have gone on if they'd let her). This was Kynlei's least favorite ride and, after getting off it said it scared the crap out of her! Her favorite ride was the Odysea in which you ride up and down (and all around) in sea creatures while dodging the other water-squirting sea animals.
The second adventure was going to the zoo yesterday with Aidyn (whom we FINALLY got to have down here with us for a visit this summer...check out the truck full of pigs we saw on the road coming back from Idaho), Austin, Ian, Kristen, William and James (and half the population of Utah). William knows the zoo frontward and backward since he lives by it and has a season pass. His favorite thing is the train and Aidyn loved it as well. She was thrilled to see the animals up close and especially liked the elephants, monkeys and giraffes. I don't think she'd ever been to a zoo before, and we had a hard time moving her along from one animal to another. We ended the day with a trip to the gift shop (where the other half of Utah was shopping) and picked out some masks for the animals in our family.
I just want to let the best husband, father and grandfather (Corey) in the world know how much I appreciate all he does. My dad is a pretty special (and funny) guy and we love him very much. Also, it's been great to see how our sons, Jonathan and Austin, and son-in-law, Sven, have become such great fathers to our grandchildren. I hope they all have a very wonderful Father's Day tomorrow. We'll see you at dinner!
Announcing the graduation of Kynlei Jo Nelson from Mountain View kindergarten this morning at 8:30 a.m. She performed a beautiful solo rendition of "Eensy Weensy Spider" (tried to upload a video of said solo & it wouldn't work) and received her diploma and year book in a wonderful ceremony. We love you, Kynlei! Keep up the good work!
Here are some highlights from our long weekend. Wendy spent Saturday with her dad visiting cemetaries in Nephi, Ephraim, Manti, Mayfield & Gunnison. Wendy was especially happy with the way her photo of the Manti Temple/cemetary turned out. Corey picked his brother, Jason, up from the airport on Saturday. Jason flew down to attend the annual steak fry at his mom's in Ogden. His daughter, Christine, and her roommate came down from BYU Idaho also. It was so much fun to see everyone from Corey's family and we really missed those who weren't able to be there. Plus, everyone brings such fabulous food--YUM!--and they always set up a volleyball net in the front yard so "kids" of all ages can play. We so appreciate our ancestors and all they did so that we could be here now. Some of the younger generation haven't quite figured out what the holiday is really all about; our niece Lauren's little boys summed up their cemetary visiting this way:
Parker: "Wow, there are a lot of dead people." Then, pointing to a VERY OLD and VERY FRAIL looking man standing just off of the path he says, "Look, that guy must have just died today!"
Connor: "That's one down, and like a MILLION to GO!"
A couple of our grandkids have said some really cute things lately...here they are:
Wendy: Look, Aidyn, there's a police car!
Aidyn: Is there a police man?
Wendy: Yup.
Aidyn: Are you a police girl?
Wendy: No.
Aidyn: Are you a police grammy?
(Uhh...yeah, some people think so.)
Wendy: Next time it'll be Taiter's turn to go somewhere fun alone with Grammy. Where do you think she'd like to go?
Kynlei: McDonald's! She loves McDonald's! And when you go, will you bring me back a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets?
James can't talk yet but that doesn't keep him from being SOOOOOO cute...he's very photogenic (and big--16 lbs. at 4.5 months!) Check out the latest pics of him below.
P.S. Ian THINKS he's cute...he says, "who would read this blog, anyway?" He wants you to leave him a comment so he can see who does. Thanks!
William's birthday:
May started with William's 3rd birthday on the 2nd. We partied at his other grandparents', the Kohl's, with a cookout and a much cuter train cake than his grammy made last year. He got lots of fun outdoor toys including a bubble-blowing lawn mower from us which, unfortunately, didn't work so well. William is a sweet little boy whose favorite thing to do when he comes to visit us is to read "The Squirrel's Tale" and "There's a Mouse in the House". Check out the video of him at the bottom of the page as he narrates one of these stories.
Wendy's never-ending "stomach flu":
It's been quite a "lovely" month, health-wise, for Wendy. She had her knee scoped near the end of April. It went well, with very little pain, and the recovery has sped along due to physical therapy. However, three days after the surgery, she got the "stomach flu". It lasted for nearly three weeks, with intense pain and suffering. She finally went to the doctor two weeks into it who did blood tests (among other disgusting things which will not be mentioned here) and said to take an antibiotic and Lortab...her new best friend (just kidding, but it really did the trick for a couple of days). This morning she had an abdominal ultra-sound and, SURPRISE, they said she's perfectly normal. Now if we could just get the whole family over the dizzying, upper respiratory infection we've been living with...
Date night with Kynlei:
Our niece, Madison, age 11, landed a spot in her school's musical, "Annie Jr.", which Wendy thought would be the perfect one-on-one date for her and oldest granddaughter, Kynlei, to attend. So they headed off to the Open Classroom School in Salt Lake and enjoyed an evening of great singing and acting. Madison did a terrific job. Kynlei wanted mini powdered donuts, root beer and ice cream sandwiches to end the date. While they were eating them, out of the blue she looked at Wendy and said, " I wonder who my mom was married to before she married Sven". Wendy had a long discussion with her about how her mom never was married to anyone else and how some people only marry one person and stay married to them for a really, really long time. Her aunt was getting married for the 2nd time the next day and she has an uncle who has been married four times, so that must just seem normal to her. It sure made us crack up!
Spring traditions:
Out front of our house we have a flowering tree of some sort and beneath it is a tulip bed. One of the things we like to do with the grandkids in the spring is go out and shake the blossoms off the tree into the open tulips and then blow into the tulips and get a face full of petals. Maybe you have to be there to appreciate the fun...but the grandkids really like it and it's a great photo op. William and Kynlei got to play with the new croquet set after the flower fun and then Kynlei practiced her basketball shooting and ended up making six baskets after her grammy showed her the proper way to shoot.
Mother's Day:
Corey made a wonderful dinner of filet mignon on the grill for Mother's Day dinner and all the family was here except for Aidyn who was at her other grandparents' house. Megan and Kristen are such cute moms with their kids and we love and appreciate them both so much! From Corey, Wendy got something that appeals to both the jewelry maker and scrapbooker in her: a jewelry cupboard that has multiple photo openings on the front of it.
Aidyn's visit:
We have been able to get Aidyn overnight a couple of times in the last two weeks. We hadn't seen her since February. Of course, as soon as she got to Utah she came down with a cold and ear infection, but overall, even sick, she's still very happy and delightful. We went to pick her up last Saturday from her other grandparents' and they were thrilled to show us the "Body Art and Temporary Tattoo" kit they had gotten for her! She's two-and-a-half, for crying out loud! Thank goodness she had a little shrug to wear over her dress for church the next day as they had put a tattoo on her little shoulder. The kit also came with body markers which she gave herself a blue mustache with. Luckily, IT washed off. We will be taking her back to Idaho this coming Saturday and will miss her mischievious smile and chattering.
Misc. other happenings:
Corey's mom gave us her "old" car, the red Camry, so we are selling our Malibu...any takers out there? For his science class, Ian was assigned to create a physics project and to draw a logo for Lagoon Physics Day...he did a great job and no one had to stay up all night to finish it on time! For some reason, bouncy balls have been a big thing at our house lately. Ian gathered up all he could find in the whole house and he and various grandkids have had a blast bouncing handsfull in the kitchen over and over...and over.
The End of the really long blog update!
We had the best Spring Break ever in sunny Arizona and "missed" the huge Utah snowstorm in the process! Corey, Wendy and Ian left on Saturday the 4th, stayed overnight in St. George and arrived at Wendy's sister's house in Mesa on Sunday. We had invisioned a relaxing drive while listening to General Conference both days but forgot that the whole world isn't like Utah and lost the signal in the middle of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on Sunday morning. Thank goodness we can catch it on the internet. Sunday was Easter and Melanie had a wonderful dinner ready when we got there. Also visiting were Brad's sister, Jody, and her family so it was a houseful. Thanks so much to the McMillans for letting us invade their home. On Monday, Lindsay and her adorable kids, Logan and Ava, came over and we all went on a picnic at a duck pond park. We had never seen baby Ava, so that was extra fun. On Tuesday, McMillans all went to work and the other company left so we did the tourist thing: visited Brinton Botanical Gardens, Bass Pro Shop (it's like Cabella's), lunch and shopping and the Arizona Museum of Natural History where we went panning for gold among other things. It was a super fun day which ended with Ian deciding to try the McMillan's swimming pool. Yes it was sunny, yes it was "warm" (comparitively speaking), but the pool wasn't heated. Too bad we didn't get a picture of his face as he quickly jumped back out of the pool! Then we fixed our hosts a dinner of shrimp fetticini and got to meet Brein's boyfriend, Brandon, who we decided is a "keeper". On Wednesday we made our way to Basha's Western Art Museum which has an incredible collection of paintings, sculptures, Native American baskets etc. Then we got lost...we were looking for a Sam's Club and ended up on a very extensive tour of the valley. We finally made it back to home base late in the afternoon. On Thursday, we reluctantly headed for home, staying overnight in lovely Kanab and arrived in Fruit Heights on Friday evening. We also spent some time visiting Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam and Snow Canyon where Corey and Ian climbed a volcano. What a wonderful week it was!
Our beautiful, talented daughter will be 27 on February 18th. It's hard to believe she (and we) are getting up there in years. Megan was supposed to be born on Groundhog Day, but decided to torture us by being stubborn and waiting 2 1/2 weeks more. Now she has two adorable daughters of her own. Check out the attached pictures to see just how adorable Megan was growing up. We hope you have a fabulous day!
Click on the picture link below to see the card Wendy got from Corey today...it's totally us (except Wendy would be wearing a more modest swimming suit in real life)! We went out to dinner one night during the week to celebrate and today we had Megan's family and Wendy's dad over for dinner. We hope everyone else had a great Valentine's Day filled with love. The best part of the weekend is that 3/4 of us here have no work/school tomorrow! Lazy times, here we come!
To see if wii can't get in little better shape (and have some fun in the process) wii decided to get a Wii Fit, which also came with Wii Sports, including bowling. So quite a few nights you'll find us in the basement bowling away...yes, Wendy now has bowler's knee, hip and shoulder, but it's worth it. Last weekend wii had Kynlei and Taitlyn overnight and tried to show Kynlei how to bowl. She tried and tried and finally got the hang of it...then proceeded to bowl strike after strike in her third game and beat us all shamelessly and set the record: 192! Scroll down to the video section at the bottom of the blog to view one of her strikes. Wii LOVE Wii bowling!
Kynlei, Taitlyn, Ian and Wendy also went to "Chocolate" Grandpa's to clean...he sure loves his "cleaning girls" and they sure love him!
Our daughter, Megan, sells Usborne Books from home and they are the cutest, most wonderful books we've ever seen for kids. Our grandkids run for them first thing when they come to visit Grammy and Grandpa...SO we're having an e-party which will close at midnight on Wed., Apr. 29th. Just click on the following link, then on Wendy's name to view hundreds of titles for kids of all ages. Attached are pictures of two of our grandkids reading some of their favorites.
