Christmas Eve Celebration

I made Quiet Books for Tyler and Kinsey for Christmas. Londyn was going to get one too, but her mommy wanted to be the one to make it for her so we worked on the books together.



Ella really wanted Disney Princess Barbies for Christmas... here she is opening up Snow White. Christmas morning she also got Cinderella and the Prince. Mindy is now hoping for another Prince since Ella wants a Prince for each of her Princesses.


Jeffrey loves Play Mobile. After all the packages were open Dave sat with Jeffrey and helped him get his new people all put together.


Mindy modeling her new winter coat!


Oma and Opa are always so sweet to each other. There is always a kiss to say Thanks!, I love you!, or just for no reason at all!


Lynn has been busy with my dad all week long. They built a work bench together and with his Christmas Present he can organize his tools now too!


I love my present! I get to have pictures of the kids and grandkids all year long! I wouldn't mind a present like this every year! (hint, hint)


It is always fun to have Nick and Diana join in our Christmas Eve festivities! We missed Michael, Tami, Brandon, Cameron and Hanna!!! Wished they could have been here too! (Get well soon Brandon and no more surgeries right before Christmas next year!!!) Of course we also missed Kim, Rand, Avery, Trey and Kinsey!!! Why is the world so big and people live so many miles apart?

Gifts to Share

OK, so this post is late. I should have posted it last week but I guess better late than never. Lynn needed co-worker gifts for work so I decided to make these Carmel, Chocolate Pretzel rods.


I like how the packaging turned out. But, I did these again later for my Young Women class and I omitted the carmel and added white chocolate swirls. Much better!!! For some reason, the carmel got very hard and that made eating a little bit tricky!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lynn and I were very grateful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with Kim, Rand, Avery, Trey and Kinsey this year. Visits are always so short with too much to get done, but we enjoyed our time together.


And what a yummy dinner we ate! All week Trey was asking for turkey and today he finally got it!


Since Kinsey wasn't at the dinner table I thought I would throw in some pictures of her with Poppy!


And one more, just for good measure, with Omi!

Announcing Grandbaby #7

Now you know why I have been busy! Here we have our newest grandchild... Londyn Faith. Stacey and Kyle are so excited to finally have her here. Since they live in Provo, rather than flying out to be with them for a week... I was able to have them stay at my house for the week so I could help Stacey out. Kyle was a real trooper and drove 1/2 hour to get to work and school instead of the usual 5 minutes.


Here are just some sweet pictures of this beautiful baby!




The only thing that would make me happier than I am right now is having all my grand-kids close so I could see them more often! I love being a grandmother!

Time out for Women

OK - So I am really behind in my blogging efforts, but as you will see... I have been busy. Not that much happens in my life that doesn't involve other people so I depend on them to give me something for my blogs.


Quite a while ago Mindy, Stacey, my Mom and I decided to buy tickets to go to Time out for Women, in Logan. Well, my Mom forgot to put it on her calendar and planned something else. Stacey had quite a bit of pre-term labor and we all decided that 2 hours away from the hospital was too far away, so she stayed home. Lucky for me, Mindy was still available and excited to go! So, even though we missed two of our four-some, we had a great time together. I felt kind of bad that I only saw the kids for a few minutes Friday night and Saturday morning, but I got to spend hours and hours with Mindy and we laughed and cried and just enjoyed our time together and soaked in the messages and thoughts of the speakers and performers during the event.


There was quite a line to talk to Michael McLean and so I decided that a picture of him talking to someone else would have to do. It was great to hear him sing and listen to him share his feelings and thoughts. I had the opportunity to live in the same town as him and our paths crossed occasionally so it felt like I was visiting with an old friend as he performed for us Friday night.


Here's Mindy and I on Saturday. What a great way to spend time with your daughter!


This is Cherie Call. I actually did stand in line to talk with her. The whole weekend was amazing! Thanks Mindy for coming with me... let's do it again!!!

Australia - Part 5

I know that you have all been waiting for me to finish my postings of Australia (all 3 of you who read my blog) so here it is. We were able to go to the Australian Zoo and see some of the native animals from the area. There were several zoos that we could have gone to but I really wanted to go to Steve Irwin's Zoo. It was great!


It was so amazing to have the kangaroos eat right out of your hand. I loved it!! Their fur is really soft and they are very sweet... we were only warned about one thing. "Don't step on their tail!!!" It can be used as a weapon.


Here we are with our guide. We actually walked through the zoo with a guide. It wasn't very much extra, but we learned so much more than if we had done it on our own.


And of course, we couldn't leave without seeing and touching a Koala Bear. They are very sleepy little guys and we are only allowed to touch them on their backside. It is one of those things that you will never forget! Too Cute!

Australia - Part 4

We decided to take a day just to go to the beach. It was nice to just have a relaxation day on the schedule. They had a really nice boardwalk that took you along the coast to several beaches. Here we are on our way to King's beach.



Along the way we saw some Kite surfing. It was pretty fun to watch these surfers go across the bay at lightning speed. We started with one, but by the time we headed home there were about a half dozen Kite Surfers going back and forth!



We made it to Kings Beach and we enjoyed the warm sun and talcum powder smooth sand!



This is what we saw on our trip back to the holiday apartment we were renting. It was the fattest lizard I had seen and there were tons of them! We later found out (at the zoo) that they are blue tongued lizards.



We decided to head to the roof (which was the 12th floor) and take a dip in the pool. After putting our toes in to check the temperature we changed our plans and headed straight for the jacuzzi.

Australia - Part 3

We took the Kurunda Railway to the Rainforest one day and spent the whole day riding the train, walking around the Aboriginal Village, watching an Aboriginal show and just having a great time seeing the beauty around us.


The trip back down to Cairns was by SkyRail. It gave us the sights in a different perspective. It was amazing to be able to see 360 degrees around you.


We even saw this crocodile enjoying the sun. Believe it or not, there had been a sign by the river that said swimming was allowed. I think NOT!


We saw a great show where we learned a lot about the Aboriginal culture, the plants and things of nature they use for medicinal purposes, their legends about the creation etc. It was so enjoyable! We even learned how to throw a boomerang and a spear. Lynn did pretty well at both. Me, not so good.


I think I will take this Aboriginal home with me.

Australia - Part 2

We flew to Cairns (pronounced Cans by the Ausie's) and went on a day cruise to the Great Barrier Reef! Wow is all I can say. It was very cool.

Lynn went scuba diving and I went snorkeling!

Needless to say, it was an exhausting day!

Trip to Australia - Part 1

We have just returned from a wonderful 31st Wedding Anniversary Trip. We decided to visit the land "Down Under". Our first stop was Sydney. Here is the Opera House.

We took a bus/boat tour and really saw Sydney. Here we are passing a Boomerang Store/School. How cool is that.... I wanna go!

This is our first meal out on the town. We decided to go eat some real Australian food. These are called Moreton Bay Bugs. They are very similar to Lobster. We thought we were splurging when we saw the price tag of $37. Boy were we surprised when we realized that was the appetizer price... the main dish price was $72. It was a costly mistake, but boy was it yummy!

31 Years Together

31 years ago today Lynn and I were married. We have seen a lot of places together, experienced some trials, experienced many joys and our love has grown above and beyond anything I could have imagined. I love you Lynn! Happy Anniversary!

BFF Paula

This past week was a crazy, busy week with my BFF Paula. She was here for her son's wedding. Here we are at Ryan and Gina's wedding. Can you believe we have been friends since 1975! That's right... that's 34 years!

Here is Ryan and Gina just after they got married in the SLC temple. Aren't they cute!

Here is Paula with her sister Connee and her daughter Christina!

The wedding dinner was at Tucano's and it was so yummy! Mindy and Dave were there and Stacey and Kyle joined us later along with a whole crew of others. What a fun evening!