Winter. . . . .

Well it's officially winter. Okay, I guess it's been winter for a while. For whatever reason once February comes, it seems like it should be Spring! I know, wishful thinking At least we're headed in the right direction and the sunny days we've enjoyed this week have helped. That is until you go outside and it's only 7 degrees! But at least it looks warmer. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to believe that the holiday season is again upon us! It always amazes me how quickly the years fly by. We had a terrific Thanksgiving Celebration. It started with an Aggie win over the Utes on Wednesday night. What a great way to start the festivities! Then the family all came out for pie night. I heard about another family that had pie on Wednesday night when they could still enjoy it. I have to say, it worked! The pie tasted fantastic! Then Ty and Amanda and the girls as well as Richie, Zac and Daren were here overnight. Robbie and Mari went home to Logan, but everyone else found a spot to sleep. Ted and I had the pleasure of a darling nearly three year old in our room. It was so much fun! We read some of my favorite stories before she went to sleep. It was funny because she picked "Katy and the Big Snow" by Virginia Burton. I always loved to read that especially after a big storm. Very appropriate after our Tuesday blizzard! Which while it was short-lived, was still very ferocious!!

Thanksgiving morning we had Liege waffles, a recipe from a town in Belgium. They weren't quite as good as Bruges in SLC, but they still tasted really awesome! Then on to getting the turkey and all the fixin's ready for dinner. Other than almost forgetting to make the stuffing, the meal was so good! I even ate some of Amanda's sweet potatoes! Anyone who knows me realizes how impressive that is! Then more pie! It makes me full just thinking about it! (Although that could be due to the spudnuts that I made tonight! I need to go back to work and quit baking such delicious treats!) After the dishes were done, we gathered in the living room to share our favorite blessings. It was such a great time together thinking about how truly blessed we are! I for one am so grateful for our growing family. It's such a blessing to add to our already fantastic family such great girls. I love my daughters in law and adorable granddaughters so much and am so very thankful for the beautiful promise that life brings! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wedding Pictures

Tonight Robbie and Mari brought copies of their wedding pictures. It was so much fun to relive the day through the pictures! What a wonderful day! We love Mari and her family and enjoyed sharing the experience with all of them. I feel so blessed to have another great daughter join our family. We love Mari and appreciate what a great wife she is. I love having Robbie and Mari come visit and look forward to the years ahead. :)

Robbie's Married!

Last week was so awesome! We went to the temple with Mari and Robbie for the wedding on Tuesday. It was fantastic! Such a beautiful ceremony! Afterwards we had a family luncheon at the Riter Mansion. It was so pretty! We took lots of pictures at the temple and in the gardens around the Mansion and enjoyed a delicious lunch. We appreciate the love and support of family and friends on their special day. My camera charger was lost, :( so I don't actually have any pictures yet, but as soon as the photographer has them ready I'll post some.

I'm so grateful for Mari! She is such a beautiful person, inside and out, and absolutely perfect for Robbie! It's so much fun to see them together. It will be so great to watch them grow and learn all about life, marriage and family. I am also so grateful for Mari's family. They are awesome people! When Robbie and Mari were first dating, they told us her mom and I would be best friends because we are so much alike. Well, they were right! I love Michelle! She has been such a joy to plan a wedding with. We are looking forward to enjoying many milestones together with our amazing kids!

Disneyland

The first week of June, Ted and I drove to California with Ty, Amanda, Emorie, Eva, Richie and Richie's girlfriend Sarah. We drove to Hurricane the first day and spent the night with Ted's sister Sonja and her husband Ron. As a bonus, their daughter Stacey was also there! They took such good care of us, including waiting up for us, we arrived at 10:45, feeding us dinner when we got there, finding comfortable beds for everyone and a delicious breakfast of scones and eggs. It was so much fun to be with them.

The next morning we left Utah at 9:30, expecting a six hour drive to Anaheim. We had forgotten to account for Memorial Day traffic out of Las Vegas. It took us 11 hours to make the drive! To their credit, everyone was pleasant and patient. Even the little girls! :) We finally arrived and headed straight for Disneyland. Yeah! We were there until midnight! Ted and I finished the night at Splash Mountain, my favorite ride. :) Since no one was waiting, we got to go again. When we returned from that trip, they asked if we wanted to go again? Ted reluctlantly agreed. As we came back in the third time, without Ted seeing, I motioned to the operator, 1 more time?? And we went around again! It was so much fun.

The highlight of the next day was lunch at Ariel's Grotto where all of the princesses came by our table to see Emorie. It was so much fun to watch her interact with her hero's. She was definitely a little starstruck! After lunch Ted, Richie, Sarah and I went to Laguna Beach for some water fun. It was a little cool, but still fun. I love the beach! After we got back, we returned to Disneyland to watch the fireworks. I hate to say it, but it made our Lewiston July 4th fireworks look a little small. :( It's okay, we still love the 4th in Lewiston!

Wednesday was more Disney fun with lunch at Downtown Disney's Rainforest Cafe. It's such a fun place. The first time a thunderstorm struck during dinner, the girls were a little nervous, but after a while they both started to enjoy all the commotion. Wednesday night we enjoyed the fireworks from the hotel balcony and then went to bed early. Kind of. I don't think we ever went to bed before midnight.

Thursday was more California adventure fun in the morning. I rode the Tower of Terror for the first time. Can I just say, "I WAS TERRIFIED!" but in a good way. I really, really liked it! I love how Disney makes each ride an attraction, not just a rollercoaster. We all went to the beach Thursday afternoon. It was a little warmer, but not much. The waves were really strong, but Richie still braved the surf diving under the waves and also riding them in. After we got cleaned up, we went back for one last evening all together. Ted, Richie & Sarah were leaving Friday morning. I was waiting with Ty, Amanda and the girls to fly home on Saturday. Ty and Amanda didn't know if the girls could take the drive home, so we had planned ahead to fly home Saturday morning. We rode the Finding Nemo Submarine and got off about 8:50 and wanted to get to Pirates of the Caribbean. It's one of Ted's favorite rides and we hadn't ridden it yet. The park was closing early at 9 for an all night Senior Graduation party, so we knew it was our last chance. We ran as fast as we could through the fireworks crowd, dodging and ducking to try to make it in time. When we got there, the chains were up. :( I was so disappointed. Then I saw some people just going through the doors up above for the last ride and we jumped the chains and asked if we could go too. The girl wasn't too happy about it, but she gave in and we made it on the very last boat. It was a fitting end to Ted's time at Disneyland. I've never been able to talk him into more than 1 day at Disney, so this was a big step for him. He actually had a really good time and we all loved watching the girls enjoy the vacation. I was just so glad he got to ride his favorite ride!

Friday morning Ted, Richie and Sarah left about 9 am and the rest of us headed back to the park. We rode the Disneyland train, Buzz Lightyears Astroblasters and then we waited at Pixie Hollow to see Tinkerbell one more time. We were so excited for Emorie when Terrance, the keeper of the Pixie Dust was there! I of course, hadn't realized how big a deal this was, but I was very happy she got to see him when I figured it out! Then we had lunch and went to California Adventure to see Alladin. Can I just tell you, I LOVED IT!! I had seen it before and loved it, but I still loved it! I had forgotten how funny the genie is! They did an amazing job. After a short rest at the hotel, we went back for fish and chips and Fantasmic, just one more time! We were all very tired and ready to climb into bed for our early morning flight. I love vacationing with my kids! Everyone of them helped make it a great trip! I loved how Richie and Sarah enjoyed playing with Emorie and Eva. At the Rainforest Cafe, the got Eva clapping in such a cute way. I guess you kind of had to be there, but it was so funny! Eva was such a trooper going from place to place, and Emorie was so much fun to watch as she experienced the magic of Disney firsthand. Ty and Amanda are such great parents, and so good to bring us all along on their family vacation. And Ted is such a great dad and grandpa. He never complained but just followed along wherever we drug him. :) Lets go again!!

Saturday Night Sleepover and Mothers Day

I'm a Jedi!


Saturday after Mari's shower, we had a cookout and a slumber party! Okay, not everybody, but Ty & Amanda and the girls, along with Richie, as well as Robbie who just moved home for the next month were here. Daren went to SLC with some friends and Zac who just moved to Murray were the only ones of our family that weren't here. Mari stayed for dinner before she had to head back to Logan for the night. Before bed, Emorie took a bubble bath in Grandpa's tub. She wasn't so sure about it at first, but eventually warmed up to it. Then when she got out, she was a Jedi. That's Ty trick way of getting her out of the tub with lots of tears!

Eva was also so very cute in her jammies before bed. She was a little stuffed up, but always had a smile even when she was miserable. The only time she got really mad was when someone wiped her nose!

I love these girls so much! It was a special Mother's Day treat to have them stay over night. We finished up the weekend in Preston for my nephew Luke's missionary talk. He leaves on the 19th for Guam. It was so great to have 3 of our boys there along with Amanda, Emorie, Eva and Mari. The weather was gorgeous and it was so much fun to be together with so many of my siblings and their kids. They're growing up and I have to say, it's a lot more fun being a grandma at the family parties. My sister and I love watching our children be parents and remembering the years we were in their shoes!

Mari's Shower

This weekend I celebrated Mother's Day with lots of fun family activities. Saturday afternoon Amanda and I had a shower for Mari. We had lots of good food and enjoyed visiting with family and friends. Mari's Aunt Julie and cousin Anna drove up from Pleasant Grove, her mom came from Afton, and her sister from Logan so we even had the chance to spend more time with Mari's family. They are great people and we feel so blessed to welcome them into our family! I didn't even remember to get out my camera, duh!, but Mari's mom did send me a couple of cute pictures that I'll post. Now that we're done I've thought of about 20 people I forgot to invite, but I appreciate all those who were able to come and welcome Mari. Everyone was so generous and kind and it was a great afternoon!