Christmas Day (2009)

This was a very special Christmas in many ways. I didn't think Ashley, Jason, Paisley, and Spencer were going to come home for Christmas this year. At 10:30 pm on Christmas Eve I was wrapping the last of the gifts in my bedroom. Little Paisley walked up the stairs and was coming into my bedroom. I thought I was seeing things and strained my eyes to see who it was because she looked so much like Paisley but I knew it couldn't be her.... It wasn't Adalei or Brielle.... Who else would be at my house that late at night - I hadn't even heard anyone at the door..... As Paisley got closer, I questioningly said, "Paisley?" When she immediately replied with "Grandma!" I knew without a doubt it really was her then and ran to pick her up and hug her. She really did surprise me and I was thrilled to find Jason, Ashley, and Spencer downstairs. I sure wasted a lot of tears over them not coming home..... What a great Christmas surprise for me! Then I began to understand why Jason had been interested in what we were doing during Christmas..... I am so grateful they came so we could all be together.

The two pictures above show all of us opening our gifts on Christmas morning. We decided to have each person open one gift at the same time and then show everyone their gifts before going on to the next gift. The thrill for me in giving is seeing how happy the receiver is to get my gift so I missed some of those moments but we quickly opened all of our gifts. I think everyone was quite pleased with their gifts. I gave Nate a special sports watch and Casey/Jenna a camera - both gifts were recommended by Jason who truly knew what would make them happy. Jason wanted to make sure everyone had the best Christmas ever. Charity got a lot of books for her job so she was happy as well.
The picture below shows how talented Nate was - holding Elijah with Brielle on his shoulders and opening his gifts at the same time. This picture shows him checking out his sports watch. Nate pretty much opened all his gifts with Brielle and Elijah just like the picture shows. He is one amazing dad.

The picture above shows Charity's big smile after opening a text book - I think Nate and Misty got her this special expensive one.
Below, Casey and Jenna had just opened their camera.......

Cute little Spencer with Ashley............ Spencer was sick and scared us quite a bit over the Christmas holiday. Later Ashley found out he had pneumonia so there were lots of prayers for him. I hear he is still a bit sick so my prayers for him continue.

Jason and Paisley................

In case you are wondering why my Christmas tree is strangely decorated, there's a story behind it..... Weston just loves balls and throwing balls. He thought my round ornaments were balls so one by one over several days he took ornaments off the tree and threw them. When we put the ornaments back on the tree, we always put them higher so he couldn't reach them to throw them again. By Christmas the ornaments were almost all on the top half of the tree. Weston didn't break any so we were all happy.........

All by herself, Jenna cooked us a delicious Christmas dinner. Her rolls were so awesome in looks and taste that I just had to take a picture. She made ham, potatoes, awesome broccoli, etc. It was a feast and we enjoyed it very much. Thanks to Jenna for a great job!

Above, Jason was bouncing Weston and Paisley on my exercise ball. They were having fun and the kids took turns. Below, I caught a quiet moment with handsome Spencer and his mom.

I just love to read to my grandchildren. The Dr. Seuss books are my favorite. I just loved this picture with Paisley's and Weston's facial expressions. We were having a great time and I was thrilled to have them with me for the holiday.

This picture above was taken the day after Christmas at Who Song & Larry's Mexican restaurant. It is our tradition to eat at this restaurant anytime Casey and Jenna are in town. Adalei, Brielle, Paisley and Weston were having fun with their balloons while we waited for seating.

Precious little Spencer above and Princess Paisley below all ready for bed. I miss all my family when they are gone. I am just grateful for a wonderful visit - to be together and to enjoy each other's company.

I'm starting to make plans for next Christmas already. I think we will take a trip north - perhaps to Seattle / Vancouver, B.C. We will see what the weather conditions are but hope we can make this trip since icy roads kept us from going last Christmas.

Christmas Eve at Nate/Misty's House (2009)

The best part of Christmas is our new Christmas eve traditions. I'm so grateful that Nate and Misty have invited me to join with them as I love sharing their awesome traditions with them. This picture shows most of the food. They put a blanket on the floor and we eat this meal that is intended to be similar to the food in Jesus' day. The hummus is my favorite! We help prepare the food and then eat.

The picture above shows the meal in progress.... One little accident occurred as Weston's water bottle fell into the hummus. Isn't he cute in the picture below, still willing to drink from it. He must love hummus as much as I do.

Casey was helping the pink horse give rides to the kids (above). They were taking turns and having a lot of fun. You can see from this picture that Casey was moving pretty fast.

This picture above shows the start of the Christmas eve activity held after dinner - acting out the Christmas story. We all drew slips of paper saying who we would be in the acting out scenes. Then Nate/Misty have a couple of boxes of dress up clothes so we could look our parts. You can see that Casey was trying to wear something too small for him but he was a good sport about it.

I think Brielle was a wise man. Nate was probably a shepherd but I've forgotten. Next year I'll have to keep notes.

I managed to get a cute picture of Jenna, Casey and Weston. Casey was Joseph and Jenna was a wise man. I think Weston was a shepherd. (above picture)
Misty was our narrator. Elijah was baby Jesus.... (below)

The picture above shows "Mary and Joseph" headed to the Inn... Below, you can see that Elijah wasn't too happy about being born in a manager............

Our awesome wise man was giving baby Jesus a gift of myrrh in the picture above.

This is our group picture taken by Misty so she is missing. Charity was the inn keeper again this year but she didn't cause "Mary" to cry time. I was a sheep in case you are wondering.
It was a really fun time and we were sure missing Jason and Ashley and their family...... wishing they could have joined us also.

Pre-Christmas Activities (2009)

Jenna, Casey, Weston, Charity and I went shopping in Woodburn at the outlet stores. Jenna and Casey had me take their family picture in front of this tree. (The tree is impressive - over 90 feet tall, more than 30k lights, and more than 1k ornaments.) You can't tell Jenna is expecting #2 but she is and she looks terrific!

We took a walk along the Columbia River in Washougal. This boat above was fun for the kids to play in. Below is a picture taken right at the edge of the river. It was raining on and off and such a beautiful day.

From the picture below, you may be wondering if Nate has a dog.... Nate would love to have a dog but doesn't. Instead he walks dogs for the Humane Society. While we were walking along the river, Nate and Casey had a good time walking this friendly dog.

This picture above is one of many where Weston was having a great time eating ice cream out of the box with Casey's fork. Weston was going to town on it and doing quite well. He was so cute to watch that I'm sure he had more ice cream to enjoy that he would have otherwise. He was taking huge bites and negotiating it into his mouth quite well. We were laughing and he totally ignored us as he was focused on his ice cream feast!

What a happy boy my handsome grandson is! I just loved both pictures of him above and below!

The New Year - January 2010

It was raining very hard on New Year's Day. I enjoyed seeing the rainbow. It just seemed like a great way to start the new year.



















In case you are wondering how I'm doing with cleaning and organizing, here are some pictures to show you. After Christmas, Casey, Jenna, Charity, Jason, and Ashley cleaned my garage. Casey led the effort and did a great job. It inspired me to clean and organize the rest of the house. I am really enjoying it and hope to keep it that way. Charity's coming to visit in February. Perhaps she's coming to check on me!

































Do you recognize the futon? I'm going to purchase a mattress for this bed frame to increase the comfort to those visiting me. I'll take Charity shopping with me to make sure I get a good one. Then any unhappy sleepers can talk to her. :)

In case you're wondering, the pillow cases came from Rhodes, Greece, and picked out special by my wonderful daughter Charity!

I am so blessed.

Party Time for Paisley

Paisley was so cute all dressed up for the ward Christmas party with Santa! I took these pictures as Ashley was dressing her and just couldn't resist posting them for all to see! Pretty Paisley.................... My flight left before the party so I didn't get to go. I'm sure Paisley was the cutest little girl there!

An Early Christmas in Folsom (12/5/09)

When I went to visit for Spencer's blessing and stayed to help out, I brought all the Christmas presents for Jason, Ashley, Paisley and Spencer. Jason and Ashley hadn't planned to come home for Christmas because of Spencer being just a few weeks old by then. (What I didn't know was that while I was there visiting, Jason and Ashley got flights to come home for Christmas to surprise us!)

I persuaded Jason to open some of their gifts before I left so I could see how happy they were with what I had gotten. Jason was resistant to opening many presents because he claimed he wouldn't have much to open on Christmas day unless he waited to open the gifts from me.

The princess book above was a hit with Paisley. (above)

I think Jason (above) was pretty happy with this gift. It's an external hard drive for a computer. Paisley was excited too and had dropped her Princess book to help J open his gift.

I could see Paisley was loving her books. I love to read so I'm really happy that she does too!

One of our few traditions is new calendars from Santa. I was really excited about the purse calendar for Paisley so I had to take this picture! Jason got a National Geographic animal calendar. (Thanks to Charity for the suggestion for Jason's calendar!)

What a cute little expression on Paisley. (She reminds me of the Charlie Brown characters.) Ashley and Jason seemed happy with their dehydrator in the background. (above)

A final picture with pretty Paisley and her new Christmas plate and cup!