Christmas 2011

 Christmas morning on the stairs about 7 am.

All ready for Santa to come.

Mark and Sebastian...such a good baby.

Campbell and Logan...you've got to love the hair!

Eli and Brenna already worn out.

Creed our little jazz musician who wanted Santa to bring him an accordion.

 Santa delivered one to his house.  Don't know what he is thinking in this picture.  He's looking kind of serious but cute.

 Cole with his favorite present...a cougar pillow pet.

Checking out what Santa brought and looking in stockings.

 (Another before picture.)

 Cole and Grant were here Christmas morning to see what Santa brought for them.

 We are missing Sebastian and Ollie but don't these guys look cute in their Christmas pj's?

The Stringhams and Eli and Brenna were here Christmas morning and then we all went to church at 9 am.  We saved the present opening for after church when every one could be there.  We had our whole family for Christmas and I didn't get one picture of everyone.  We sure had a lot of fun though.  We had our traditional ginger bread house making, went to temple square to see the lights, had a girl day where we went out to lunch and antiquing, and the boys had a boy night where they went to the movies, played games, ate, and ate, and ate, went to the grill one night at Sundance with all the adults.  It was crazy with 8 kids but very fun.

My husband was the official photographer...I can't wait to see what his pictures look like.

Candice

When Candice was up visiting recently, we went to a boutique they had at Spark (a scrap booking/crafting event).  It was fun to see people gather around Candice and Sebastian to have their pictures with them.  I snapped this with my phone so you could get a bird's eye view.  (Evidently Candice taught a photography class these girls attended in Japan and they recognized her.)  Candice has been able to accomplish a lot with her photography.  She has a great business sense and I think she has a real talent for teaching too.  I love my kids!

Adventures with Creed

 Brett and I took Creed to Tuacahn to see Disney's Little Mermaid in October.  Here we are on the 5th row waiting for the play to start.

 Ariel and Eric after the play.  Creed was too shy to have his picture taken with them.  He loved Ursala.  He said she was her favorite.  We loved the whole play.  It was an underwater marvel.  Creed was even afraid to go out at intermission for fear he might miss something.

 We spent the night in St. George and then went to the dinosaur museum.  Creed's favorite thing was digging for bones in the sand box.  We played tag on a playground on the way home and also stopped for ice cream.  The three of us had lots of fun.  I even got Creed to do a little trick-or-treating with me on Halloween.  It's wonderful being a grandparent.  I wish all my babies lived close by.

Eli and Brenna

 Eli and Brenna just before heading off to their Halloween party.  I think they host some great ones.  This year they had it at Brenna's mom's house.  This picture was taken in front of our mantel.

The Stringham's had awesome Harry Potter costumes this year.  I hope Candice posts pictures on her blog.  Happy Halloween everyone.

A New Grandson

Sebastian Darcy S. was born this morning at 11:29 am.
He weighed in at 7 pounds 7 ounces and wad 20 inches long.
We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am. so it has been a long day.
Everything went so well.  Mother and baby are doing great.
Candice did wonderfully well.
Grant and Cole were able to come and visit and were fascinating by the little guy.
Cole is so excited that he will finally get to be a big brother.

Grant staring in amazement.  They just kept saying, "he's so cute."

Cole couldn't be prouder.

 

Here's the proud dad.  He is so absolutely great with all his boys.  What a good dad.

Some phone pictures.  After Sebastian was all cleaned up.

Soon after the birth.  He was wide awake and looking so "all knowing."

Candice and baby.  Unfortunately, I took pictures with Candice's camera so that is all I have.  I will have to try and get the ones I used with Candice's camera.  It was a very full day and I am feeling Oh SO Tired but very blessed.  What a miracle the birthing process is.  I loved being there.  Thanks for inviting me Candice and Mark.  (I was supposed to be Candice's birthing coach until the epidural but she did great on her own.)

A Trip to the Zoo

Last March we all went to the zoo. I thought I posted all the pictures but I couldn't find the post so I'm doing it again. It was a cold day...we even had snow flurries but it didn't stop us from a day at the zoo.

The monkeys always a favorite.

Marissa and Logan are enjoying the elephants.

Even Eli came along on our trip to the Hogle Zoo.

Logan and Campbell rode in the double stroller while Steph carried new baby Oliver and pushed Creed in the stroller.
Posing with the brass gorilla


We even got to feed the geese and new baby goslings with food we had left over from the adventure the day before.


Oliver all snuggled up in that wrap around thingy.
A picture of Eli with a monkey in the back ground. Why you ask?
Because this monkey's name was Eli. Hee Hee.
Even the peacocks were strutting their stuff and we all enjoyed the show.

Even Campbell enjoyed our day at the zoo.