Here's to 2009

Girls' Night Out~Plus 1 "Mature" Wannabe

Krissy, Sally & Traci, we really missed Laura!
We hope you are feeling better!

Missy, Jenny, Jen, Traci At Paradise Bakery
which is a lot like Panera at home!

Vanessa and Krissy
We chatted for quite some time and
it was delightful!
Then "someone" said something about Edward
and having babies and the
next thing I knew we were all lined up in the
theater watching
Twilight!

The old lady made it through and even liked it.
A little Bizarre but better than Seven Pounds
any day of the week!
I haven't been up that late since New Year's Eve, 2000!

Deja Vu? Jennifer

Piper poses as a miniature, Jen!
Can you wrap your head around
this if you knew Jennifer then?

Random Cute Photos

My favorite clicks this vacation!

Happy New Year ~ Eastern Standard Time!

We were in the Mountain Time Zone but
we played a little trick on the kids by
setting the clocks ahead 2 hours.

Jim and Lowell put bead board on the kitchen bar base
and here Grampa and Julia are painting it.

The Little Sisters

Gramma's Girl, Chloe!

Grampa and Connor

Owen & Daddy

Pretty Piper

Zachary James

Hazel & Julia

Chloe Jane

Piper & Julia

Precious Hazie

Julia Mae
My Beautiful Chocolate Eyes!

Cheerios!

Christmas Day

Christmas Dinner

Hazel the only one not running around
when we want to take photos!

Grampa & Owen

Christmas morning, Zach, Aynslee, Connor, Owen

Owen

Connor

Aynslee

Bath Time Fun! Chloe, Julia and Hazel!

Sledding

Chris and Missy's backyard is just perfect for sledding. Chris and Grampa shoveled the snow off the deck and onto the stairs, packed it down pretty well and made a little hill that is just great for the kids to sled down. A great time was had by all and Missy, Owen and I could see the whole thing for the big slider out onto the deck. It was like watching a humongous screen while staying toasty and warm inside. That is what I call the best of both worlds.

Chris and Connor

Grampa Jim and the Kids

Connor takes a ride!

Connor gives Zach a push!

Hamming it up for the camera

Grampa, Connor, Zach, Aynslee

Zach and Connor playing in the snow

Connor and his snowman!

White Christmas 2008~Updated With More Photos

The Snow is So Pretty!

Jen and Lowell's House~Our Destination!

We arrived here in Utah without a hitch. What a blessing. We even flew in mostly sunny skies above the first layer of clouds. The Oakland airport was remarkably deserted and things were pretty much on time. The plane was packed, in fact they had one extra passenger that they found a magic pull down seat for in the way back. Chris picked us up at the airport and we struggled to get down 15 as there was a major injury accident along the way. It was so sad to think about how that must have ruined someone's Christmas in a big way. It stayed on our minds and we prayed for the injured as we arrived at Jen and Lowell's for a wonderful family dinner with all our Utah kids and grandkids, Lowell's parents and our friends the House family. There were 21 of us~11 kids!

Hazie loves a party!

Jen and Lowell's Beautiful Christmas Tree!

Grampa Read Opens the Bubbly Cider!
Easy on the teeth there, Read!

Jen and Lowell had prepared a wonderful tri-tip dinner and we were starving by the time we got there. The excitement of 11 kids was pretty tangible as they knew Santa was on his way. The dinner was delicious and Hazel especially enjoyed the steak. We all cracked up when we looked at her and she had grabbed Jen's entire steak off her plate and was trying to rip off a bite with her tiny teeth.

Not to be outdone by Grampa Read,
Hazel tries out her own teeth!

Christmas Eve Dinner~The kids' table!

We spent our first night at Jen and Lowell's and Christmas Morning. Piper and Julia were awake most of the night and I slept with Chloe. That was my first overnight bonding experience with Chloe and it was delightful. She is a calm sleeper and just cuddled up to me all night. I woke up a few times and just marveled at the blessing of this little girl in our lives. Santa was most generous to all again this year.

Chloe

Chloe is a Good Snuggler!

Jim tried sleeping on his thermarest in his sleeping bag but it has a leak so he spent most of the night in the basement doing laundry. Joy to the World~well, Jen's world anyway. But it was all fun and good and Christmas was so neat. We love Lowell's parents so much and always have a fun time with them.

Piper & Julia

Chloe Jane

Lowell, Hazel, Piper

Piper

Hazie J
Christmas Morning~Santa was exceptionally good to us all!

In the afternoon we came to Chris and Missy's for Christmas dinner and the opening of presents with them. Jen and Lowell's family and Read and Mary Jane came too so that great. Missy had prepared a delicious dinner, she even made scratch pomegranate jello!

Chris and Missy's Beautiful Christmas Tree

Chloe, Zach, Gramma, Grandpa Read, Aynslee

We played a game and all enjoyed the afternoon and evening together. We got a really good night's sleep last night and are feeling a little more human today! We will be staying here until Sunday afternoon and then returning to Jen and Lowell's for the remainder of our trip.

Jim and Chris and Lowell are going snowshoeing tomorrow and so this morning they watched all the kids so we girls could catch the sales. Retailers were hoping the day after would be the new Black Friday but it truly wasn't even close. The stores were virtually empty. I picked up a couple things but the girls loaded up on wrapping paper, etc. for next year. I bought a pretty white tree skirt which was the only Christmas thing I needed wanted. I have never had a tree skirt before and this one is going to be great. I don't NEED anything at all but it was fun to have some girl time. Our friend Tracy came with us too.

Owen Has a Ouchy!

When we got home little Owen was a little bit of a concern to Chris and Missy as he had fallen off a kitchen chair on Christmas Eve and his arm seemed like it was hurting him. We call him Mr. Bump, since he has been able to run around he tends to get hurt! Well, God bless parents' intuition as Missy took him in to the doctor and sure enough he has a buckle fracture just above his wrist and a hairline fracture on the other bone. So he is resting now with a little blue cast on his tiny arm. Poor Owie! He is such a good little guy both Jim and I were just sure it wasn't broken. Hmmm, I guess that is why we are the grandparents!

So we are loving the snow, the icicles, the coziness, and the joyous chatter of our grandkids. This is Bliss! If only Laura, Robert and Spencer and Rossie could be here too!