Christmas Day 2007

Nate, Misty and Adalei put up the tree and decorated it. I thought it looked beautiful.


















Nate got me this nativity set in Jerusalem. It is made out of olive wood. Adalei liked carrying around the baby Jesus and the manger and showing everyone "baby Jesus."







Everyone had a stocking with surprises and the traditional little box of cereal for Christmas morning.








Casey was happy from this gift from Jenna.











Charity got a really cute "therapist" cup from Santa!

















Casey is the #1 BYU fan and he received some BYU apparel that he was very excited about.












Charity did a great job shopping for Casey - hat, hoodie, and sweats!

















Jason and Ashley got Nate this book he wanted on teaching babies sign language.


















I gave this to Jason for Christmas and I know he really likes it. I think it is an MP3 player but I could be wrong.....


















Uncle Casey with 1 month old baby Brielle who slept through the gift opening part of Christmas.
















A pretty green shirt for Misty.

















Pride and Prejudice and Miracle DVDs for Jenna!


















A cute top from Charity to Jenna!



















Adalei just wanted to read her book. One gift satisfied her.


















Charity was thrilled with her coupon book from Casey and Jenna - free meals, consulting, etc.
















Aunt Charity gave Adalei lots of fun toys for Christmas.





















Casey was happy with his new polo shirt. I think this was from Charity.


















Nate and Misty waiting for their turn to open more gifts.















Ashley got a stereo so she is happy!


















A cute dentist cup for Nate.......




















Grandma and Adalei.... This is evidence that Charity took most of these Christmas pictures so if there are any complaints from the family about how many pictures were taken of them, please discuss this with Charity.













A little fishing gear for Nate........
















Lots of cute books for Adalei and Brielle.




















Charity received a makeup kit from Estee Lauder with eye shadow, blush, lip gloss, brushes, perfume, lotion, etc. She looks great!















I think this was one of Adalei's favorite Christmas gifts. She loved the little backpack with a sleeping bag. It wasn't long before she removed the sleeping bag and put her dishes and play food for the kitchen in her backpack. What a cutie!


We had a terrific Christmas!


I received lots of wonderful gifts - coupon book, pictures, yoga mat, workout bag, sweats, memory card for the camera, jewelry from Spain, candy, jewelry organizers, shirts, rubber stamps, lotion, organizer for papers, stickers, books, sewing machine, etc. I felt loved. The best part was having all the kids and grandchildren home for the holidays!

Makeovers at Nordstrom's - 12/27/07

Jenna and Charity both received holiday makeup kits by Estee Lauder for Christmas gifts. So we made a trip to Nordstrom's after Christmas to have makeovers in the new makeup colors.

This is the "before" picture of Jenna - looking great!







Charity was just having such a good time being pampered. She had a dinner date that night so she was going to look great.











This is the manager of the Estee Lauder counter giving Charity her makeover!












Don't they look great? From left to right: Jenna's makeup artist (also pregnant), Jenna, Charity's makeup artist, and Charity! How fun! And it was FREE!!!!!











Casey and I ran errands during the makeovers. Then we all sat down for a quick bite to eat at Nordstrom's before taking Charity to the airport for her trip back to California.

The Nordstrom's Cafe is Jenna's favorite! We had a delicious lunch! Casey was very patient with the day's activities!

Pittock Mansion in Portland - Christmas 2007

It was a beautiful, rainy day at the Pittock Mansion so we couldn't see the panoramic view of Portland but this is a good shot of the mansion itself.

This was my first visit to the Pittock Mansion. I heard this was the hot spot of Portland for this Christmas. There were lots of people to see the mansion decorated for Christmas with each room decorated for a different fairy tale.





This bench was on the mansion grounds. The rainy, gloomy day cast an interesting look to this picture.











This was my favorite picture from the mansion. I loved the package and the ribbon with musical print on it.










I thought the gingerbread room was really cute so here's several pictures.













This room was near the beginning of the tour. Casey had seen all rooms before Jenna and I got to this room. This room was so cheery.















This picture reminds me of the stove in my grandpap Crawford's house in Pennsylvania. Stoves have sure changed from these olden times.










Isn't this cute! Making cookies at Christmas seems like the perfect holiday activity.
















Nice snowy display........










I'm happy to report that this telephone was from before my time! What a difference from this phone to our cell phones today!


















What a beautifully decorated tree!

















What a nice wreath with the fairy!



















This picture of lady and the tramp reminds me of my childhood and reading the story!
















What a traditional Christmas picture of the fireplace!

It was a fun visit. Jenna and I had a great time!

If you haven't been to the Pittock Mansion before, I recommend going at Christmas time for the holiday decorations.

Spruce Goose in McMinnville, Oregon (12/29/07)

After watching the movie "Aviator", I was interested in seeing the museum and especially the Spruce Goose.

This is a picture near the entrance to the museum


on a rainy day just as the sun was setting.





I really liked this shot. It reminded me of the song, "I'm proud to be an American." The museum was one big open space under a dome. There were planes/helicopters on the ground and above in the air.









Casey and Jenna were tending Brielle and Adalei.













Here's a picture with Nate and Misty joining them.












Adalei was so excited by the planes and helicopters. She seemed to like the helicopters the best.











This is a picture of the Spruce Goose in the background. It cost $23 million to build. It flew one mile about 70 feet above ground for less than a minute. (Please correct me if I have my facts wrong.) It cost $1 million per year to keep maintained but it was never flown after the first short flight.








Adalei held the hand of this "boy" and the hand fell off! Casey and Nate did great to put it back together. I got Adalei a little airplane sticker book in this museum.















Here's some of the planes outside the museum.














A blue angel plane...........

Surprise on December 23rd, 2007!

Jenna is pregnant! What a surprise! What a wonderful surprise! It's a boy! It will be my first grandson! He will arrive in mid-March but I won't get to see him until the end of April! Jenna and Casey sure did a good job of keeping this secret!


















Ashley and Jenna are both pregnant and due a month apart. Ashley will have a cute little baby girl named Paisley Lyn in February. Jenna will have the adorable little baby boy in March.

Casey will bless his little boy in Provo (tentatively) the Sunday after he graduates from BYU with his Master's degree in accounting.

Jason will tentatively bless Paisley on May 4th in Folsom.

This will be a busy year with traveling to see the new babies and attending Casey's graduation.




Here are my four girls! The best part about having boys is that they bring you daughter-in-laws. I love all my daughter-in-laws and Charity is always #1.

From left to right: Misty, Ashley, Charity, and Jenna. Misty is amazing at just one month after the baby was born and she has already lost her baby weight.

Charity is the best aunt! She's always thinking of her nieces when she is shopping.



Jenna looks so cute in this top from Charity. Jenna and Casey were the last to leave. It was so wonderful to have the whole family home for Christmas. I am so blessed with a great family - awesome kids - and cute grandchildren with more on the way! I am so happy!

#2 Granddaughter Arrived!

I arrived at the hospital just an hour after the baby was born and Misty was having dinner.
(a hamburger....)

The baby arrived at 7:10 pm on November 21, 2007!

(On November 22nd, the baby was named Brielle Elaine!)






The nurse put the baby on the heated bed as she was cold.












Just a peak at her little head.













Misty said this picture looks just like Adalei - even the same expression! These two little girls may look a lot alike!











She weighs 6 lbs. 9 oz. and is 19 1/4 inches long.













Her daddy tucking her blanket around her to keep her warm.












She's cute and we're all eager to find out her name. For now she is "the baby!"












Misty looks great! She was at the birthing center less than an hour before the baby was born!

















Misty has the magic touch!













Baby falling asleep.... Hopefully Misty, Nate and baby will all sleep well tonite. (Nate has been off work all week with the flu. We're glad he was finally feeling better today.)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we have so many blessings to be grateful for.

It will be interesting to see Adalei's reaction to having a little sister tomorrow. We will all be having Thanksgiving dinner at my house tomorrow night with Misty, Nate, Adalei, the baby and Stephane (Misty's mom).