Happy 31st Birthday to Nate!

Nate had a wonderful birthday. You can see how happy he was to receive BYU apparel! Casey and Jenna picked out a perfect gift!
Misty makes the best birthday cake! It was delicious! Nate easily blew out all the candles so his birthday wish should be coming true!
Cute little Adalei loves to have her picture taken. You can see Brielle in the background having fun by herself.
On a Sunday evening, you can often find Nate making chocolate chip cookies. They are delicious and I thought he would enjoy this cute book about the parable of the chocolate chips.

An Ansel Adams photograph from the Redwoods in California - one of his birthday gifts from Misty.
Peanut M&M's were a big hit for Nate and Adalei too! Misty sure knows what Nate loves!
This picture of Misty is so cute - I just had to add it...... She is such a wonderful wife and mother.
I just love this birthday card that I made Nate. I was so excited with how well it turned out.
This is a special gift for Nate for his birthday! For years, we made cookies on Sunday evenings when the kids were little. It has been interesting to see Nate do the same. Therefore, I thought it was only fitting to gift the family cookie jar to Nate as he carrys on the tradition we shared. This cookie jar is extra special because it was made by my mother, Grandma Creek. Adalei was excited to see the huge bag of chocolate chips that filled up the cookie jar.
Adalei had fun helping her dad unwrap his birthday gifts. I found a game with chocolate game pieces! I hope I'll be invited to play the game and maybe enjoy a yummy chocolate chip cookie too!
Here's a close up of Brielle - she was so oblivious of the birthday party going on. She adores the little people.
Happy Birthday to Nate! I'll be waiting to hear if there are still chocolate chips left when it's his birthday this year.

A White Christmas in Vancouver, Washington - 2008

(These pictures are not in chronological order as I prefer.)
The weather was quite a surprise as we seldom have snow that lasts more than a day or two. It is also usually just a few inches at most. I'm not sure how much snow we had. I heard 2 to 6 feet depending where you lived. I don't think I had more than 2 feet but I didn't measure.

The pictures are so beautiful! I love to look at the snow before it has been disturbed. It is awesome. The pictures are in front of and behind my house. You will notice that you can't tell where the street and curbs.

.The snowflakes were huge just like the pictures show. Isn't it amazing and so beautiful?

In all the snow, I was amazed that the mail and my newspaper were delivered every day. Unfortunately, the garbage routes were canceled and there were mounds of trash waiting to be picked up on January 3rd.

I didn't drive my car for 9 days. Fortunately Nate's car is all-wheel drive so he took us to his place for Christmas eve and they came to my house for Christmas day.

I have lived without snow so many years that the snow didn't make it seem more like Christmas. What a memorable holiday! I saved lots of money - no shopping and no eating out! We were home for the holidays!

Let me introduce you.................

........ to my new favorite cookie - Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Ashley introduced me and they are so awesome that I want to introduce them to you. They are no fat and low calorie.

Recipe - 1 box spice cake mix, 1 small can of pumpkin, and 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Mix and bake by the spoonfuls at 350 degrees for cookies for 10-12 minutes or in cupcake pans for muffins. (test with a toothpick to determine if done)

This is the perfect treat for the Halloween/Thanksgiving time of year! Thanks, Ashley, for introducing me.

(Ashley, please don't tell Charity how many I ate today! Charity, you'll be pleased it's less than I ate yesterday but then the day isn't over yet! But I did do the wii for 30 minutes today!)

Pumpkins and Chocolate Covered Strawberries!

In preparation for Halloween, Adalei and I went to Michael's for the kid's craft one Saturday! Adalei designed and made this pumpkin with my help! It was a total cost of $5 so it was a great deal! We both had a lot of fun!















Compliments of Charity's birthday gift to me - I received a surprising second box of chocolate covered strawberries from Shari's Berries! The berries were delicious! Adalei was enjoying her strawberry so much that I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures. It was really fun. On Saturdays when Nate works, I have a great time with Misty and the girls! I'm glad the box arrived so I could share it while the strawberries were at their best.

Introducing Adalei's work......

Adalei just loves my camera. I'm amazed that at 3 years old she has figured out how to take pictures and then view them. When I went back to delete her shots, I was surprised to see a couple of great pictures of my downstairs - here they are! Adalei's first photo session!

Adalei's 3rd Birthday Party at Grandma's 10/4/08

Adalei celebrated her 3rd birthday with her family in California and made her first visit to Disneyland. The weekend after she got home I had a little birthday party for her. I thought the table was cute all decorated.


In case you can't tell, the birthday cake is a little puppy with chocolate cake and chocolate icing. Adalei loves chocolate!










The pictures below show Adalei with her birthday cake and learning how to blow out the candles. Misty and Nate were very patient in teaching her how to blow out the candles.































































































Grandma and Adalei with her birthday pajamas! They are so soft and warm.

Here's a picture of Adalei with her birthday presents!

The birthday cake was really good and Adalei shared quite well. Nate always says her favorite ice cream is cookies and cream. I got her death by chocolate also since that's my favorite and she wanted some of both so I guess she has two favorite ice cream flavors.

Little Brielle will patty-cake when you say the words. She is so cute too. After the birthday party, we watched the second session of conference.









Adalei was having fun with the couch cushions while she thought her mom and dad were sleeping. It was such a fun day for me.

Portland Airport with Ashley and Paisley for Dinner 9/29/08

It was so fun to have Ashley and Paisley meet me at the airport during their 2 hour lay-over in Portland. They were on their way from Boise to Sacramento. I was so excited to see them and have dinner before they were back on their way. I thought the food was super and not your regular airport food. Maybe it was the wonderful company I had that made it so good!

I love this picture of Ashley and Paisley. A loving mother with her sweet daughter........


Paisley is adorable! Everywhere we went, people were watching her and commenting on how cute she is. She is pretty in pink.


I got to hold Paisley and put her to sleep. I hope she slept through her flight to Sacramento as she was really tired.

This was the best! It really made my day! Thanks Ashley and Jason for thinking of me and giving me a chance to see Paisley for a couple of hours!

Misty's 31st Birthday Party

Misty, me and Adalei just waiting to see Misty's birthday gifts! This picture is to show what a great job I did with wrapping the gifts. (I'm not much of a gift wrapper for those that don't know me.)










I made this picture to match the shower curtain in Misty's house. (It was Charity's great idea. I loved the picture so much I made one for myself too.)
















This is a picture of Misty with all her gifts - high speed internet modem from Nate, picture from me (matching card), Peter Pan DVD, babysitting for a year, and massage for "dummies." Nate made the delicious cake and Misty had her favorite ice cream - Umpqua's cookie dough ice cream.
Adalei took this picture of me and Brielle so I'm including it since Brielle went to bed before the other pictures were taken.


After Adalei took a picture of us, she wanted one of her taken. This little girl loves my camera. I have to admit, she's getting better with her picture taking. She sure knows how to work my camera too! You know a grandma loves a little girl when she lets her use an expensive camera!

"Learn in Thy Youth ", and a random grandma shot

This is a picture of Nate, Misty, and Adalei doing their daily family scripture reading of the Book of Mormon. Brielle fell asleep early or she would have been in this picture. I am so impressed that Nate and Misty are teaching Adalei and including her. She loves reading her Book of Mormon. They help her say one verse each night. In this picture, she is showing me her favorite page in the Book of Mormon. While watching October conference this month, Adalei picked up on the speakers talking about the Book of Mormon. It just reminds me of the scripture of the importance of learning while in your youth. Adalei doesn't like me to leave in the evening until scriptures are over. She is so good about the daily scripture reading.
This is just a random shot...... This is the cute little blanket I made for Paisley. Jason always loved soccer and I think Paisley will be an excellent soccer player especially considering how fast she can move from one side of the room to the other already. She has her dad's speed it seems! (I don't know how Ashley was as a child but if she was fast like Jason, then that explains why Paisley is super fast!)

It's just wonderful to be a grandmother!