Visit from Grandma

In August we were so thrilled to have my mom come visit us for a week. We love when Grandma comes! We did lots of fun things while she was here. With it being summer we tried to find activities to keep busy with the kids. We swam, played with playdough, painted, made banana muffins, went to a movie, and just hung out. We love you, Grandma!

Grandma with BrookeThe kids were having a blast playing with sandwich bags in the water.Grandma brought a cute little tea set for the kids to paint. They loved this! They are all such creative kids and were very intent on getting their pieces just right. :) Here's Carli rinsing her brush.Brandon's tea cup is blue, of course.Megan went for stripes on the sugar bowl.Kate went for stripes as well. :)Carli concentrating very hard.The girls loved playing with the playdough. It's not something I volunteer for them very often. I know, bad mom, :) but the mess!What a cutie! love the freckles!Here's Kate with her absolutely adorable creation!It's a girl sitting in a bean bag chair playing Xbox. Funny...I love the look of wonder on brooke's face in this shot.This look is hilarious! lol!Brooke loves to try drinking from sippy cups. Here's Carli helping her out holding the cup for her.

Utah trip (post #2)

I forgot to include this picture in the previous post about graduation. Here is my Dad with two of the red-headed grandkids, Harper and Brooke.

After the graduation Friday night we drove down to Cedar City. We got up early and headed down to St. George because my cousin, Lauren, was getting married in the St. George Temple. It was so neat to be in the temple with so many family members. It was a simply beautiful and perfect day in St. George. She was beautiful, the groom was handsome, and it was so lovely and peaceful on the temple grounds after the ceremony. We even saw Elder Holland walk up into the temple! He stopped to wave, shake hands, and say hello to everyone. That was very neat to see him in person!

Me and Brooke after the weddingAfter the wedding there was a lovely luncheon and then we headed back to the temple to go through a session with my brother, Brett, who is leaving for the Romania Bucharest Mission in a few weeks. That was really special. My parents and all of my siblings were there as well as my Grandpa and Grandma Morris, my Grandma Johnson, and a cousin and an uncle. It was wonderful to have the entire family (except Ben and a sister-in-law) in the temple together. I am blessed with such a special family! The siblings went in on a camera for Brett to take on his mission. He was pretty excited about it. Here he is after he opened it.Brooke loved spending time with Grandpa. I love this sweet picture (Brett, sorry, but you kind of ruin the shot back there on the couch. lol!) She was so content on the trip.My mom has the most beautiful lilac bushes in her backyard. We tried to get some cute pictures of Brooke after church on Sunday, but she was more interested in looking at the dog than looking at the camera.

Duh, I didn't even think to get a picture of me and Brooke on mother's day or one of my and my mom. Oh well. It was a wonderful day with my dad fixing yummy crepes for breakfast and then we had all the Cedar City family over for dinner. Dad grilled salmon and it was soooo good. All of the food was great. I was able to talk to Ben and the kids. I missed them on Mother's Day, but it was nice to have a relaxing day. :) Thanks so much, hon, for taking good care of the kids while I was gone! I love you!

Mom's Visit

The weekend before Halloween we were blessed to have my mom come visit for a few days. She teaches high school business classes so she doesn't get to come whenever she wants (which would probably be more like once a month instead of twice a year). :) We love it when she comes! It is just great to spend time with her since we don't get to be together very often with her living in Utah so we count ourselves very lucky when she can get a weekend away! We are like that with all of our family since we all live in different states.

Our weekend started out Saturday morning at Brandon's soccer tournament. The kids had fun taking walks with Grandma around the soccer field. Brandon's team won their first game, but lost the second. Mom treated us to lunch in between games. Here are some pictures from the day!

Mom, Carli, and Megan.

Daddy and Carli going for a little walk.Here's Brandon going for the ball.Kate really needs some teeth for Christmas. Got any Santa?Carli loved being with Grandma.Sunday we attended church and the kids were rehearsing for the Primary program so my mom was able to sit in and see it since she wasn't able to be here the weekend they performed it. I was glad she got to see the kids all say their parts and hear Kate sing her solo. Mom thought it was pretty great that she could see it! After church we make sugar cookies in the shape of pumpkins and ghosts. The kids had a blast, of course. Carli especially like eating the dough.

Here she is eating it out of the bowl.

She even ate what was stuck to the rolling pin!

Brandon liked "throwing" the dough, like with pizza dough.

Megan covered in flour enjoying her cookie.

I'm so grateful for such a wonderful mom who loves to come and spend time with us and know her grandkids. They all adore her!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

This picture was taken last summer on my Grandma Johnson's couch. From left to right is Brandon, Kate, Grandma, Megan, me, and Carli. Today is my grandmother's 89th birthday. Wow. Can you imagine all that she's lived through in 89 years? She is a fabulous and strong woman whom I admire and love so much. She raised 5 children, losing one at the age of 12 from leukemia from the fallout of nuclear tests that blew into Southern Utah. She's the best pianist I will ever know. She's a wonderful Grandma. She has 19 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren with more to come eventually. She married my grandfather and I think it was 3 days later he left for war and didn't return for 3 years. When he came home he walked right by her to see if she would notice him, but she did not even recognize him! How hard that must have been to marry, be alone for the next 3 years, and not even recognize your husband when he returned. My grandpa passes away after years of illnesses and health difficulties after choosing to stop the dialysis. He was gone a few days later. I'll post more about him in a couple of weeks when we celebrate what would have been his 92nd (I think) birthday. I am excited to spend time again with my grandma this summer when we take our yearly trek to southern Utah from Texas. What a wonderful woman she is!