Grandma got Nerfed

 

Ben got a Nerf Gun from Santa - and Grandma was a target. Grandpa has a collection of Nerf Guns, and now the 4 and under guys have their own. The war is on!

 



The usual suspects (Lyons, Runyans, Jared's Fam and G-Ma & G-Pa Hawley)came for Christmas Dinner. We had a great time, but missed the rest of the fam.

 

This was one of my favorite shots of Christmas - the sign of a "real" man. Aaron is doing dishes, armed with a disposable diaper in his back pocket.
This was the first Christmas Eve in about 37 years that we spent the night at home without any kids in the house. We got up early and went over to Lyons to unwrap presents with them. It was kind of odd going to bed on Christmas Eve without any children in the house, but also kind of peaceful!! And, because we did all the unwrapping at someone else's home, we were spared all the extra wrapping paper mess. First time I can recall our garbage can was not overflowing the day after Christmas.
We had the traditional Chinese Food on Christmas Eve, with our Nativity Story re-enactment. Those photos must be on Emily's camera. She will have to blog those. Then we did the traditional breakfast at Emily's house, and Dinner at our house. It made for a very nice Christmas Day. We feel so very blessed in every way imaginable.

Thanksgiving, 5K Turkey Trot & Family Reunion

We started off the long weekend with our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. Not all of the family were there, as Josh and Courtney spent the day with Courtney's family and Megan was enroute from New Mexico - leaving her family behind (sad face). We had great food, and great company.



We kicked off the Family Reunion with a "No Chickens Allowed" 5K Turkey Trot on Friday morning, after Thanksgiving. It was a good way to burn off the additional calories from the Thanksgiving over-indulgences. It was a beautiful morning to run, after a much needed rain. The kids did a 1.4 mile run, while the adults did a 5K. We all ended up at Emily Lyon's home for juice and bagels. Aaron Lyon came in first, and I came in last - woohoo - at least I was there, and I finished.




Yes, we had the Family Reunion to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday. There were 72 in attendance. We had wonderful time. It was so great to see my parents enjoy greeting their children, many grandchildren (15 of 24) and numerous great-grandchildren
(38 of 60?). We played a Jeopardy game with questions about Grandma & Grandpa, we had many photo ops with each family, then each family put together a scrapbook page. We presented the album at the end of the evening. We ate dinner, had a variety show, and then had cake and Hot Fudge Sundaes, per Isabelle's request. It was a perfect evening. Thanks to all who made the trek to Cali. The grandchildren came from as far as Minnesota, Iowa, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Nevada and Utah. I know it was a sacrifice for many, but Grandma and Grandpa are still floating on clouds over the magnitude of the event.

Sister Act + One Grandma

Here is our contribution to the Family Reunion Variety Show. We celebrated my mom's 90th Birthday with a gathering of about 70 family members. It was a wonderful time to see everyone and renew family ties.
Emily roped us girls into doing this parody from Saturday Night live that my granddaughter, Sara, had shown us. I made the snazzy aprons and Emily chose to be the "odd" sister. We are in order from left, Emily, Andrea, Laurie and Megan. And that is a pillow filling out my apron front! Anything for a laugh!
I will be posting more photos of our fun filled Thanksgiving, 5K, and Family Reunion soon.
Enjoy!

Isabelle turns 90!

First, I think it is fitting to show a photo of Thistles taken at Apple Hill a few weeks ago. Thistles are the flower of Scotland - a fitting tribute to my mother.
She turned 90 years old today. We will have a bigger celebration in a few weeks, but for today we took her and my dad to Chili's for lunch. We had a great time and she got to laugh a lot.
 

Me and my mom. She is pretty spry for a 90 yr old.
 













Me, my mom and Hannah & Ben (Jared's kids)
 













Great Grandma, Grandma, Mommy - Emily and Brielle. Great Grandma Isabelle was very pleased to have 4 generations there. Grandpa looked on with a tear in his eye.
 

It is such a blessing to have my parents live close-by and be able to share these times together. They are both blessed to have one another, even after 68 years together.
We are anxiously looking forward to our family reunion in a few weeks to celebrate my mom's 90 years. It will be wonderful to renew family ties with siblings and nieces and nephews.
A reminder to all ya'll to work on your VARIETY SHOW entry. We will also be making scrapbook pages, so if you are not attending, you can send me a 12" X 12" page with family photos(thanks Jenni for getting yours in). You may also send a 5 min or less DVD with your birthday greeting (thanks Mike H. for getting yours in).
She and grandpa still get around fairly well with their walkers. They seem to like their living conditions at The Courtyard Assisted Living. They go to Church with me every Sunday, unless one or the other is sick, which is not very often. They tire easily and are not as sharp as they used to be, but everyone who visits them from the ward comments on how fun they are to talk to, and what a great sense of humor they both have. Yesterday, the kind ladies from our Relief Society Day-Time Stitchers Group brought them both lovely lap quilts. Both quilts are works of art, made by loving hands. Thank you, dear friends.
If you'd like to leave a birthday greeting here, I will print them up and show them to Isabelle/Grandma/Great-Grandma.

Annual Bishop's Pumpkin Patch Trip

What a great place to spend the afternoon with grandkids. This place used to be one shack and a patch of pumpkins, when our kids were little. Now it has grown to several buildings, petting zoo, train ride, hay trampoline, railcar, 3 story treehouse, lots of things to explore, corn maze and yummy food. The Walnut Pumpkin Pie was amazing. We had a great time - albeit some puking in the car on the way there :( (poor Carter) Fortunately, we had a bag in the car, and some of the chocolate milk barf made it into the bag. The rest landed on me and Carter.
Enjoy the photos.

Labor Day Fun!

Micah, Sarah and the kids visited for Labor Day weekend, and we had a fun filled few days with them and the local kids and their fams. Here are some of the highlights.
Woo Hoo - bowling shoes!


Lacey was not about to let the big boys have all the fun!



Thomas the Train is a favorite with the under 4 guys


The sand table is a new favorite.


And, of course, Schwimmin is always a hit - with Weezer on duty as Lifeguard. Jackson and Lacey have some awesome swimming skills.


Thanks for coming, Micah & Sarah. We loved it!

Happy Birthday, Shmicah!

My birthday wish to Micah - keeper of all the family videos! Since he has custody of the videos, I couldn't get one of him for embarrassment. But I did find this gem of a photo. Too cool for words. Leave Micah a birthday wish. I hope he still has the knit pants!  
















And I did find this little snippet of Micah with Big Bertha out at Southridge.

Fun at Grandma's

The Lyon kids were teaching Ben and Hannah the fine art of "Timmmmbbbberrrr" on grandma's bed. It worked well when there were just 4 abreast. 5 was too many. Watch Brechin on the far left. He fell a little deeper in the forest. Do you think this is AFHV worthy?

Camping at Fort Bragg

 
 
 
We had a great time camping at Mackerricher State Park at Fort Bragg, CA a week or so ago. The Runyans invited us to come along with them. We actually went a couple of days before them, stayed in a motel, rode the Skunk Train and then set up camp. We enjoyed the kids, both laughing at them and with them. It was great to cool off at the coast. Camping is always fun, but it is nice to get home, shower, sleep in a raised bed, and be rid of the smokey smell. We have this infamous camping box we've been working on for a few years. It is actually a toolbox on wheels. We joke that EVERYTHING you'd need for camping is in the box. It also serves as our 72 hour kit. It is nice to not have to pack up the kitchen for camping - everything is already in the box! We made dutch oven carnitas with cornbread on top - YUMMY! The silverish looking sluglike things on the rocks in the 3rd picture are sea lions.

A Birthday Tribute to Josh - Stayin Alive

This video says it all. Josh was such a fun kid to have around - never a dull moment. He could really bust-a-move. Feel free to leave Josh a Happy Birthday message. Thanks to Micah for having the video clip accessible.

Josh Clowning Around from Micah Stubblefield on Vimeo.

Charleston, SC, Graduation and Myrtle Beach

We had a great trip to take part in Jared's graduation from Chiropractic School. It was a long haul for their family, but they did it, and now they are here in California. Jared will do an externship with his dad, while he awaits board results and licensing. On our visits to South Carolina we have managed to get in some sightseeing. We have seen lots of great stuff we never would have, had they not been out there. We've been to the Smokey Mountains; Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields; Biltmore Mansion; Outer Banks of North Carolina; one of the largest gatherings of the Scottish Clans and Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain, NC; Norfolk, VA Naval Base, home of most of our aircraft carriers; and now this trip we went to Charleston, SC and Myrtle Beach, SC.
Here are some photos of our travels this trip. I will leave the graduation posts for Jared and Debbie to do.

Porch Rockers at Holiday Inn Charleston, SC. This was a great hotel in the heart of the historic district of Charleston. If you ever go - stay here. The concierge was super at getting us on the right tours and to the best restaurant. Yummiest seafood I have ever had!


We took a boat ride out to Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. I love visiting historical places. We saw dolphins on our ride back to the mainland. We also went on a dolphin watch boat excursion at Myrtle Beach, but I won't post photos - but it was tons of fun!


The cobblestone street of the Old Slave Market in Charleston.

A Gullah woman making a Sweetgrass Basket. These baskets have been made for over 300 years in America by the Gullahs of West Africa. I asked the woman if I could take her photo because some won't allow it (believe it takes part of their soul). She said "yes," if I bought one of her baskets. I took the photo, then looked at the prices of the baskets! I was suckered, but it was worth it!
A way cool cemetary with very old gravestones and cool Spanish Moss.

The best headstone in the cemetary - check out the scar on the forehead of the skull!

From the upper story looking out onto the courtyard of the Pink House, a tavern/brothel. It's one of the oldest buildings in Charleston - built in the late 1600's.


An awesome storm coming at Huntington Beach State Park at Myrtle Beach, SC. I love the oat grass on the barrier dunes. Loggerhead turtles come ashore here and bury their eggs. Then after they hatch, the baby turtles have to make their way down the beach and into the sea.

Mr.Gator - at the marshes natural habitat. He was only about 6 feet from us, with only large rocks as a barrier to keep him from gobbling us up

Cape Fear Harbor, NC. One of the oldest harbors in America. First named in early 1600's, just before the first ship sailed up to Roanoke, VA. I am fascinated by historical harbors.
Okay - that's it. I am done.
I have a movie of Bud hooding Jared, but can't seem to get it to upload to Blogger. I will do some research and keep trying.

Ode to my Mom

I thought it fitting to pay tribute to my mother, on this Mother's Day. My mom will be 90 years old in November. She still gets around pretty good, still has dark hair -not all gray and even makes it to Church with me every Sunday. She and dad live in a lovely assisted living facility. They don't complain about it, although, I know it has been a huge adjustment for them. Mom has kept her sense of humor and is always optimistic about life. She is always eager to participate in family gatherings and likes to be part of the conversation. I often have to remind her that she is not able to continue to do the things her mind tells her she can still do.
A few weeks ago, our bishop and his wife reported to us that they saw my folks trucking across the Home Depot parking lot with their walkers - mom with her rollator and dad with his Jazzy electric scooter. They had called Dial-A-Ride and hitched a ride to Jack In the Box (they had a hankering for a fast food burger), then they decided to walk across the parking lot to Marshall's and do some shopping.
This is a big shopping complex parking lot - Home Depot, Marshalls, Petco, WalMart, Bed Bath and Beyond etc. It didn't occur to them that it might be too far to walk. I called to make sure they had gotten home okay. They were pooped, but enjoyed their little outing.
Not being able to drive, and enjoy their independence has been the hardest part of the aging process for them.
I am grateful they live close-by where I can keep an eye on them!
I love you, Mom and I am grateful for your humor and optimism.

New Mexico and back!

Last week I spent time with the Tripp Family in Los Alamos, NM. I had a great time and got to do some fun things with my grandkids. I even got treated to a spring snowfall. Fortunately, it wasn't the 2-3 feet predicted, but only a few inches - enough for Justin to build a snowman for Ada and Tyghe. Mr. Snowman toppled before the big kids got home from school.

The littles got to sled in their own backyard. They have the perfect little hill for them.



I like to take a craft to do with the grandkids when I visit, so we made hand puppets and pretzel rod candy molds. The kids were very good at doing things on their own, without much direction. And then they treated me to a puppet show in their newly constructed (by Meg and Justin), awesome puppet theatre.
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Friday night is Pizza and Movie night, so while mom and dad went out to dinner and a movie, the kids made a Mickey Mouse shaped pizza and we watched Nightmare Before Christmas. They really enjoyed the movie, but even more, I think they enjoyed seeing how the movie was made in the bonus features








On my return trip to the airport, Meg and Justin got in a temple session, while the kids and I went to McDonald's Playland. Then we all went to Old Town Albuquerque and visited the Rattlesnake Museum. I am wearing my souvenier shirt in the photo with all the kids. I never knew there were so many kinds of rattlesnakes! EWWWWW!


Thanks to the girls for letting me bunk with you. Sorry I snored ;(
I had a great time with all of you.

Fat Tuesday - or I am such a dork!

I knew the missionaries were on the calendar for the day before Fat Tuesday. So I woke up Monday and thought "Man, I have to make a King Cake and Jambalaya for the Elders" We started the tradition of having a King Cake on Fat Tuesday a couple of years ago. We hide a little plastic baby in the cake and whoever gets the piece with the baby inside has good luck for the coming year, and also gets to host the next King Cake Party. Never having made Jambalaya, I wanted to give it a try this year (I even peeled and de-turded fresh shrimp).
I spent all afternoon in the kitchen, invited the Lyons over to enjoy the feast and waited for the Elders to show up. No Elders! Then I went online to read more about Mardi Gras, and low and behold - looked at the calendar and realized I was a week early! Sheesh. We had a good meal, enjoyed the cake, and we all snickered at my senior moment. The leftover jambalaya is in the freezer for next Monday when the missionaries are really supposed to come, and I will make a new batch of dirty rice and a new King Cake - maybe.
Brechin was the recipient of the baby in the cake. He can have next year's party. I will come!