MERRY CHRISTMAS LARRY

This is Larry's present. It took a lot of effort to get it here, but he loves it!
Thanks to sons & neighbors, he managed to get it place.

It was tricky getting it in the house. They had a lot of help in Nampa loading it. Thanks to Shane for the loan of his pick-up & Devin's friend's dad for the loan of his enclosed trailer. And thanks to the bank who helped finanace a part of this present. We couldn't have done it without everyone's help.

Happy (late) Birthday Devin!

Move over, Melina

Shane keeps watch over the cake along with 4 impatient kids!
Happy Birthday to youuuuu! It was great having everybody home & together.

Grandkids make Christmas fun!

Miriam, Brigham, Jazlyn & Shaylynn (obviously Shay doesn't have her pjs on)
Courtney loved this big bear. Look at her rosy cheeks!

Brigham snags Shay. Ever see 4 kids 5 & younger race around the house? I'm surprised no one crashed into anyone.

Doug & Jake get to know each other for the first time. Both had a great time.

Winter is coming...sometime

Okay, so it has been a while since I posted anything. Nothing much interesting happens to me. So, when Larry calls me at school Monday asking if anything weird was going on with our power there, I wondered what was going on at home. Apparently the power company had a bad line between our house & their pole. Our power was doing strange things...dimming, then bright, things turning off. Finally Larry had to completely shut off all power. Our house STUNK when I got home & a power truck was in the driveway. Our microwave & a power strip & a CD player were all fried. One on each level of the house. They found the bad spot & dug down to fix it. It struck me funny so I took a picture of him fixing our line. I'll bet they were glad we have no snow.
Larry winterized the camper & tied a red-neck tarp over the whole thing. It now matches our deck, also wrapped in blue tarp. Just call us the Smurfs.

Burt loved tossing around what was left of this tennis ball.

Look at the concentration going on here!
Don't ya just love that face??

Lookin' through the Sunday ads. even Courtney & Jake are picking out what they want.

Little Chefs

Brigham & Jaz "cooked" dinner for me the other night.
Doesn't it look delicious?

No fair, Dad!

Say hey there!
Now, Jake, these are my fishies, okay?

Party on

After trunk-or-treating at the church parking lot everyone came over for pizza (a must on Halloween!) and a movie. We watched "The Incredible Hulk". Brigham kept asking me who was the strongest hulk. Of course the good one is strongest.

Troy plays with Jaz & Courtney. Brigham took off before I could get my camera ready. Jacob had lots to say and refused to nap. Halloween is fun when family gets together to play & pig out.

Trick-or-Treat!

First, some trick-0r-treating at the mall
Our little monkey, Jacob passed on the candy.

Did you know that pirate princesses are as strong as Spiderman?Who can resist such a darling little devil?

Weird sunrise

Yesterday morning the sky cast a strange light over everything.

Our little hot tub cutie

Look at the steam rise! Jaz has been having fun in the hot tub the last couple of nights.
Gotcha Grandpa!

We had fun squirting water out of the toy animals' mouths. Of course Jaz tried to hang onto as many as she could.

Apples, apples everywhere

Last night I tried making applesauce for the first time ever. Thanks to Ellen for the use of her strainer, recipe & knowledge & Kathy for the use of her water bath equipment! It is a lot easier than I thought it would be. Larry was a big help--he put the strainer together for me & also strained most of the apples.

I ended up with 10 quarts & 4 pints last night. I am going again on more this morning!

Peek a Boo

Sometimes you just feel a little shy.
Other times you just can't help laughing out loud.

St. George get-away

Katy's grandpa passed away last week. His funeral was in St. George. I went with Devin, Katy & Jacob & they dropped me off at Edith's. I was very impressed with what a good traveller Jacob was. He only cried when he need a diaper change & once when he was hungry. We went down Sunday (EARLY!) morning & came back Wed. morning. Edith took me around St. George...art galleries, historic sights, shopping. We even went to the St. George Musical Theatre & saw The Secret Garden, which was great! This is Brigham Young's Winter Home. Did you know he was only about 5'3"?
St. George Temple. We went through a session.
I made Edith pose in front of what Devin calls a vacation tree.
Yup, same trees. The weather was perfect! I came home & had playground duty yesterday & had snowflakes hit me in the face. Something is not right about that.

Happy Birthday Courtney!

Everyone should enjoy cake!
The balloons were a big hit, especially with the big kids.
Courtney loves her babies & thought Jacob was a fascinating baby.
Which toy to play with first? Rebecca had as much fun as Courtney.

A Day at the Zoo

Today was free day at the zoo & I was watching Jacob for the day, so of course, we had to go! It was crowded. The kids did really good. Brigham does a good job of helping hold up Courtney
This little goat was very interested in JazJacob zonked out for a quick nap while in the Asian part of the zoo.
Oma, Jacob & some large pelicans Ready for a grand adventure

Jake, Jaz, Brigham & Melina with the Star Wars guys.

Early morning hike

This morning Kathy & I braved the rain and hiked up the butte. We were hoping to watch the sunrise. After huffing & puffing our way up, we decided we weren't going to see the sun through the clouds & light (?) rain. The view was pretty. The valley looked like a mist of fog was covering it. We met 3 college kids coming down on our way up. They were even earlier than us. I wore a rain jacket (thanks, Katy!), but still was pretty wet. The way down was SO much easier! The breeze actually felt good. We met a group of people on their way up. They were wearing shorts & jackets. I bet they were cold by the time they got to the top. I wanted to get a picture, but my hands were wet & I wasn't sure I would get a good shot. Kathy, unfortunately, got a picture of me. So there is my adventure for the day.

Saturday is a special day

Melina, Katy & I prepared meals to freeze for us all to use later when we don't feel like cooking or want something different than our usual dinners. It was a fun day.
Don't you just want to pick him up & squeeze him?