Christmas Day in Grants Pass

Misty sent me this picture and I just wanted to share it. I really missed seeing them on Christmas. Thanks Misty for sending this cute picture! I miss you all so much.

Celebrating Brielle's Birthday and an Early Christmas in Grants Pass

I bet you hardly recognize this little boy! He is so cute even though he is missing all his curls! He no longer looks like a baby now that he's had his first hair cut. Elijah looks like a little boy! He's very happy and smiles a lot!

Nate carries Elijah around like a sack of flour and Elijah just loves it! It was so cute to watch them together!

Above and below are pictures of Brielle with some of her birthday gifts. A doll with snap-on clothes, a Fancy Nancy book about cupcakes, and chocolate cupcakes. I had so much fun celebrating Brielle's 3rd birthday that was last month. Before I left, she asked me to come again for her birthday next year and bring her and Adalei both lots of presents! It was so sweet!

I gave Adalei some of her Christmas presents - She loved new snap-on clothes for her doll and another Fancy Nancy book. (I first read the Fancy Nancy books with Paisley and thought they were so cute that I wanted to get some for Adalei and Brielle.) I watched her play dolls and read lots of stories.

For Christmas I gave Elijah a little savings bank for his mission. I meant to put some money in it before I left but forgot. I'll have to do that next time! Just 18 more years and he'll be ready for a mission!

I just had to add this final picture of the family walking home from church. Church was a 15 minute walk and we enjoyed it even though it was a very chilly day. John and I really enjoyed the ward in Grants Pass. The people were extremely friendly and the talks and lessons were great! I was really impressed by their ward. Misty teaches Primary and Nate is the cub master. They are both busy and enjoy being active in their ward.

Adalei's Pre-School in Grants Pass

Here's two pictures of Adalei at her pre-school. She loves school and proudly showed me a picture frame and bracelet that she had recently made during craft time.

Redwood Family Dental in Grants Pass - Dr. Nathan Tanner

Dr Tanner opened his practice a few months ago in Grants Pass and is doing very well. He is busy and enjoys his work. He was moving so fast and providing excellent patient care so I was only able to catch one shot of him in the office. The pictures below are of the waiting room.

Dr. Tanner is the best dentist and I'm thrilled that I can continue to have my regular dental visits in his office. His staff is so friendly too so visits are very enjoyable. I had no cavities! It is a pleasure for me to travel 5 hours by car to have a dentist that I trust! Dr. Tanner is the best!

Sheree and John in Grants Pass

Grants Pass at Christmas - A Martian Christmas

I took an unexpected trip to Grants Pass last weekend when I saw reasonable airfare. We visited the Martian Christmas in Grants Pass so I took some fun pictures. Above is Elijah in Santa's chair. Below, Brielle and Adalei look so cute in the sleigh with the polar bear.

Pictures with Santa above and below.

A cute picture of Nate and Misty with the kids..........

There were large nutcrackers all over Grants Pass - Above, a picture from downtown Grants Pass and more pictures from the Martian Christmas below.

The girls looked so cute next to the martians since they were all about the same height!

In the picture above and the two below, notice the antennas. We all had a pair!

Shopping with Charity

Charity and I had a fun time shopping last weekend when she came to visit me. She said this was the first time ever that she wanted to stop shopping before I did. She needed a new winter coat and we found a really cute one at the first store. We kept shopping in case we found a better coat but never did. I hadn't planned to buy a coat but I bought myself three coats! I got a cute short black wool coat, purple wool coat, and casual black jacket. They are all really cute. When I shop with Charity, I always seem to find great deals and cute stuff. I'm so glad Charity could come for the weekend. We shopped, ate out, and watched TV. I sure miss her now that she is gone. She declined my offer of a photo of her for my blog..... I guess I should have had her take a picture of me in one of my new coats. Too bad I didn't think of that sooner. (I donated seven coats this morning to the Salvation Army.)

Sunny San Diego

I spent a week in San Diego to attend Leadership training. The weather was great and I really enjoyed the California sunshine. The highlight of my trip was going with Jaleen to Extraordinary Desserts. I had a Greek salad for dinner and a piece of the Viking cake for dessert. It was so good and I had a fun time.

Viking cake - An absolute necessity for chocolate lovers. Chocolate creme brulee and milk chocolate creme are hidden between chocolate cake layers. Crushed chocolate almond pralines surround this dark and dense torte.

Dinosaurs at Spencer's Birthday Party!

Spencer is now one year old also. I was excited to visit Sacramento and attend his birthday party. Ashley made the cake above and also the one below for his birthday party. One cake for Spencer and one cake for the party guests. (The party guests ate all of both cakes.) The kids at the party were petting the dinosaur above before it was cut but no one hesitated to eat a piece of cake. Both cakes were delicious!


A cute picture of the birthday boy at his birthday party!

In the pictures above and below you can tell that Spencer wasn't feeling well. He wasn't at all interested in his birthday cake. Ashley put him down for a nap after he started crying. I felt so bad for him not enjoying his birthday cake.

Spencer opened his gifts after a short nap and seemed to feel much better. I think Casey and Jenna got him the cute truck in the picture above.
A final shot of the handsome birthday boy, Spencer - above. If you're wondering who had the most fun playing with Spencer's birthday gifts, it's Weston in the picture below. See how happy he is! Weston especially loved the dinosaur books that Grandma Chandler got Spencer so I ordered some of the same books for Weston for his Christmas gift. These boys will have fun playing together.

The Outlet, Chuck E. Cheese, and Backyard Shots!

I was trying to browse at the Gap outlet while watching Paisley. As you can see above, she was quickly trying on the merchandise while I was trying to shop. She looked so cute I had to take a picture.
Above is Paisley at Chuck E. Cheese's and below is Spencer. Spencer wasn't feeling well so I didn't get many smiles from him.

Here is little Benson - can you believe it! Look at him holding on and having fun. He's just 7 months old and amazing.
Here's a good shot of Weston at Chuck E. Cheese's. He was moving so fast I had a hard time getting some good pictures of him. Below is Spencer behind his house in this car. He likes to push the car all around and then he surprised me by opening the door and getting inside.
Little Paisley below sticking out her tongue at her grandma! She's so cute! It was so fun to visit. I wish I lived closer.

Elijah Turned One!

It was really fun to be in Grants Pass for Elijah's first birthday. Since he has two big sisters, he had plenty of help opening his gifts. He started with the card I made him. (above)

Here's Elijah with two of the gifts that I gave him. He was content to play with his first gift so it took awhile until he opened up everything. Of course his sisters were having fun playing with his gifts too. He really like the ball (above) and took time to read the book (below).
Misty chose a teddy bear theme for his birthday and made him the cute teddy bear cake below. Elijah loves to hug the teddy bear and is so cute when he does that.
Elijah was a little slow getting started with his birthday cake. He didn't take long to lick his fingers!
Below, you can see that once he decided cake with whipped cream was good, he was really after the cake and ate quite a bit.
I love this picture of the cute little birthday boy so happy after having cake and ice cream!

Picking Pumpkins in the Pumpkin Patch

When I went to visit Nate, Misty and family a few weeks ago, I was able to go on a field trip with Adalei's pre-school to the pumpkin patch. It was really fun to see the happy children picking their pumpkins after going on a hay ride. I'm grateful that I could be there to do that. It was fun.