Weekend in Utah!

My friend Shannon called me and told me she was on her way to Utah for her Grandma's funeral and asked if I could come to Utah and see them while they where there. YES! Was my answer. While there I stayed with my son Chris and his family. One of my goals while in Utah was to get my grandbabies pictures taken. I arrived on Thursday and us girls went shopping for Easter dresses! Then the next morning we meet at the Mall to get their pictures taken. The pictures included in this blog are actually the ones we had taken at Walmart. I'm glad I accomplished this goal - they are darling! What do you think?

Happy Birthday Mom!

This past weekend was my mother's 75th birthday. Both Trevor and Chris's families where able to come for that. We had planned a big birthday bash at my house. My parents had tickets to a scout dinner and we had asked them if they wanted to do that or come up for dinner. They decided to come for dinner. Well on Saturday morning my mom called and asked how far the plans where for that night (all done mom!). She had received a call that morning saying that my Dad was getting the Cub Scout Leader of the year award, and my brother had received a call saying my mom was getting an award also. Needless to say, we did not have a party at my house, most of us went to a Scout Dinner, which was very delicious and then afterwards we had dessert at my mom's home with those who couldn't make it to the dinner.

Happy Birthday Mom!The best part of the whole weekend was having my grandbabies here. Emma is 6 months old and Allie is 4 months old. They are so fun to have around. Allie & Emma

Since we saw Emma last she has started a new habit of sucking on two of her fingers.

It's a Winter Wonderland!

It's a winter wonderland here. It is beautiful! All the trees, bushes and plants are covered in ice. Apparently it is called Hoar Frost. The first time I heard that name I had to check it out on the internet, it didn't sound as pretty as it looked! I thought they where pulling my leg. But Hoar Frost is when an object gets colder than the air around it and it forms ice crystals on it. These pictures show what it looks like. It is absolutely beautiful, it makes everything look amazing. This first picture is looking down my street. The rest are from around here except one I found on the internet which looked better than mine. It is the last one.

Another year older!

Well, whether I like it or not I've had another birthday. Not that birthdays have really mattered to me. I usually don't even know how old I am. I have to ask Michael - he is great about keeping track of that especially because he is 7 months younger than me! My friends in Idaho took me to lunch which was very nice. But the best surprise was cold hard cash, just kidding that was nice too, but the best part was Trevor & Miranda decided I needed to see my newest grandbaby for my birthday. It works out really well because Tyler's birthday is just after mine and they where here for his too!

Allie (the newest granddaughter) was a lot of fun, she loves to talk, even in her sleep. It's like she talks herself to sleep and then forgets to stop. She sings along when her dad plays the piano it was a lot of fun to get to spend time with her. I have included a couple of pictures with her. Unfortunately, I am always taking the pictures so I am never in them. (Maybe that's not so unfortunate!) The first one is of Michael and Allie, she loves looking at people in the face.

Christmas Tacos!

When we lived in California we had a tradition of having Shannon and Pablo come for Christmas dinner, which was always Tacos and sometimes ribs. We decided that even without them we would keep up the Christmas taco tradition. But since we are living in Idaho we have to make a few adjustments. First it started snowing Christmas Eve, we woke up to about two more feet of snow. But nothing is going to stop us! So we had to shovel out the front walk so we could get in and out of the house. There's was so much snow in our driveway we had a three foot drift in front of the garage. But there is no stopping tacos. We pulled the grill out and cooked the meat. It was all worth the effort the Taco's where great! The neighbors even asked what that great smell was that came from our yard on Christmas day! Notice Michael wearing his Harley Davidson Christmas "Chef" hat.

Of course Pablo had to rub it in that it was warm and they where wearing shorts waiting for us to show up!

Christmas Day!

This year for Christmas we had all of us together except Trevor and his family. We really missed having them here with us. Christmas morning we woke up around 7 am to open gifts, maybe closer to 8 am. It's nice having older children who don't wake up as early! I had given Marissa a Tomagotchi (an electronic pet) and told the other children that I had extra, all of them wanted one except Tyler. It was pretty funny watching them all playing with their little pets. Danielle even told Jason that this was a test for being a father, if he couldn't keep his pet alive he probably wouldn't be a good father. Jason said, "You are kidding, right?"

Christmas Eve with the Williams

This year for Christmas Eve Michael's family came to our home. We enjoyed a nice dinner, the children performed the nativity and then we opend gifts from the Williams side of the family. Michael was asked to narrate the Christmas story. We decided after watching the 1st Presidency Christmas special that our story needed Samuel the Lamanite. So Michael asked Jason, Danielle's husband, to be Samuel. He had no idea what he was getting into, but the children had a great time trying to knock him off the wall with their sling shots, by the way, Tyler is a great shot! We did have one sad moment in the story, the camel was missing, apparently he wanted to be the donkey and refused to perform!

Danielle and Jason brought mustaches to make the kings more manly!

It's finally snowing!!!

Marissa and I have been wondering if we would get as much snow as we did last year. I don't know the answer to that but I am grateful I put up the last of my Christmas lights outside on Saturday. This is what we woke up to this morning. I figure if it's going to be cold outside we should at least have snow to play in!

When I went out to shovel the snow off of our very large driveway ( you can put like 20 cars in it) I'm sure with all the snow and my little red shovel it appears even larger, it usually takes me 3 hours to do most of it. Anyway, Harley our dog just loves snow and was outside helping me this morning. But this year we have kittens who haven't seen snow before. These kittens have funny personalities...Dixie for instance is the whinier, she is always crying about something and she has the most pathetic meow. So this morning when she saw the snow she sat inside the garage and just looked confused and refused to come out except once and she ran under the car where there was no snow. On the other hand we have this cat named Ginger. Ginger thinks she is a dog, anyway that's who she hangs out with the most. At first she was very cautious, then she was attacking it, batting at it and running around and sliding in it. It was pretty funny. I just feel sorry for Marissa the first real snow day and she comes home from school sick.

Being Thankful!

Thanksgiving for us this year was alot of fun! Trevor and Chris and their families came on Wednesday. On Thanksgiving Day Michael's family came around too and we had dinner and dessert with them. It was very nice to be able to spend time with them, we don't see them enough! Then Friday we went bowling with Michael's family, afterwards we all came home for a nap.

On Saturday we had a baby shower for Allie our newest granddaughter. It was early in the day so I thought it would be easier but it meant I had to get a lot done before they all came. I was still cleaning up the messes from Thanksgiving and with another whole houseful coming there was plenty to do but it turned out great. We had lots of family come and Allie was showered with lots of love and gifts. Thanks Aunt Kendra for doing the games!

Here's Allie on the blanket her Great Grandma Killian made her.
That night Michael made his famous pizza. We vote it as the best pizza anywhere! But with it comes the pizza mess, flour everywhere! Sunday our family went to church except Chris who hadn't been feeling well. It was fun showing our new grandbabies to our friends here. It was sad to have them all leave later in the day, it got quiet really quick after they left.

Just before Christopher and Rachel left Marissa went up to Emma to tell her goodbye and Emma started smiling, she smiled for about 5 minutes and was leaning really hard to get closer to her.

I noticed how different it is to have babies in our home again. Worrying about them, and making sure they get what they need and trying not to stress them out too much. I am grateful they have good parents who love them and take good care of them and bring them here to visit so I can spoil them too!

Grandma Time!

I left on Monday to help (that's what grandma's call it when they want to spend more time with their new grandbabies) Miranda and Trevor. I was there for 3 days and had a great time with Trevor and his new family. While there Miranda had her one week check-up and Allie was weighed she has gained 5 oz in one week. Allie is really funny, she likes to hum herself to sleep. She is always making noises. She was very alert and stayed awake quite awhile for a newborn. She is very tough and likes her hand by her face, I hear that's how she was born with her hand next to her check. Miranda has been wanting to post pictures on her blog of Allie but her camera has disappeared. We searched the whole house and couldn't find it anywhere. I hope they are able to find it, all of the birth pictures of Allie are on it. Oh, and if you have noticed that I changed the spelling of Allie's name. It is because after Trevor and Miranda decided on a spelling Trevor didn't love it so he changed it on the birth certificate. So Ali - is now Allie. I've included a few updated pictures of Allie and of course one of Emma who conviently lives close by.

Visiting our newest Granddaughter!

Saturday we made a day trip, a long day trip, but it was worth it. We got to see our newest granddaughter for the first time! She is so precious, and already has her daddy wrapped around her finger. So here are the latest pictures of her and also new ones of Emma.

Our two girls!

Michael and I where talking on the way home and I brought up how nice it was to see our children grown with their own children. This life is so amazing and just keeps getting better. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who has allowed us to have these most beautiful experiences in our lives.

Just before we left Emma was fussy so I volunteered to hold her. Not such a bad job!

Allie has arrived!

I received a phone call this morning at 12:20 a.m. letting us know that our second granddaughter has arrived. Trevor and Miranda named her Allie Rae. She was born November 3rd at 11:28 p.m, weighed 6lbs 5oz and is 19 3/4 in. long. She has long fingers like her mom, and definitely her dads hair! I will post more pictures after we see her. Hopefully we can leave on Saturday early and visit them for the day!

Two Babies to love!

I can hardly wait to see my new grandbaby, if I had a car today I would of totally drove to Utah for the day or even stayed until tomorrow. This picture is of Allie Rae and Emma Ruth, they should have fun growing up together!
Chris & Rachel went to see our new grandbaby, so here's the most recent picture. I snagged it off of Rachel's blog! Thanks Rachel. Send me more!

All Together

This past weekend was a lot of fun. Fielding Steinlarsen a friend of my boys got married in the Idaho Falls Temple so they both came for the weekend to be at the wedding. I let Danielle know that they were both going to be here and her husband Jason had Saturday through Monday off so they came too. This is the first time that Christopher and Rachel had met Jason, and Danielle and Jason's first time to meet Christopher's daughter Emma.

I just am so grateful that we can all get together and have fun. Everyone found something to do and we were able to spend a weekend together. Michael and I were both sad when they all left. Of course today I am doing wash and cleaning house, but don't mind the clean-up it was worth having all the family together. The one thing I am sad about is we didn't get a picture of all of us together. Trevor's wife Miranda could have her baby anytime and we wanted to wait for her to get here before we take a family picture. So all my children need to send me their pictures from this weekend so I can post some!

I thought it was Autumn!

When I went for my morning walk today (wearing a jacket, mittens, and ear muffs) this is what I saw. Can you believe it? I thought it was Autumn but apparently winter can't wait. And when Michael and I left for our date tonight it was snowing. October 10th and it is already snowing and getting very cold. I love Autumn, the changing of the leaves is just amazing.....and I am not quite ready for winter. The cold weather brought back memories of growing up in Idaho. I remember most Halloweens getting really cute costumes and then putting winter coats over the top of them. So whenever you went to someone house they would invite you in, have you take off your coat so they could see your costume. No wonder we only went to about ten houses! Sometimes we would find those outfits that fit over our coats with plastic masks to match. I still remember breathing through them but we thought they where the best.
Well, I guess I won't be wearing this outfit this year!
I guess it could warm up for a few weeks....nah most likely not!

So maybe Michael and I could go
dressed as this!

Things I miss most!

It is really beautiful outside today, the kind of day you grab the children and head for the beach. Which made me homesick for California, and all that we left behind. My friends, my hometown, Mia & Sophia (Shannon can you tell I need a new picture of the girls), strawberries, and the beach! Even though we knew we needed to move, this has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. We lived in the same place in California for 17 years and it's impossible to replace the friends and associations we developed there. Not that I could ever replace the friends, I just miss them so much! Here are just a few things I miss most!