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!

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.

The Big News

Christmas Eve Grant and Cole opened a present from their parents. In it was a card saying that they are getting a new brother or sister next July. We are so excited...ok it may not look like it in this picture. We were in shock what can I say? We did have a great Christmas with the whole family together.

Favorite Gifts Part 1

Grant made us this gift for Grandparent's day at school. I absolutely love it. I love it because he took the time to make this and remembered many of the fun things we've done together. I love picturing the time that he spent with his mom putting it together. I love looking at it over and over again. Thanks Grant for such a treasured gift!

It's titled: "My ten favorite things about my grandparents. #1 Hiking.
#2 Making things with G-ma like Christmas stockings, cookies, and ginger bread houses. (Grant and Cole picked out some Christmas fabric from my stash. You know...the stuff that you don't like anymore that you don't mind using because you really just want it to leave your house in any way possible. The stockings were meant to be temporary because they forgot to bring their Christmas stockings with them. Much to Candice's dismay...those are the stockings the kids now want to use every year because they actually helped design and sew them. They sometimes call me G-ma because that is the name they assigned me when we play Nintendo or Wii games. They think it is hilarious when they call me that.)

#3 Building things with Grampa like a tree house and sand castles. (I loved how he spelled Grandpa phonetically.)
#4 Mini golfing and football...playing sports. We played a lot of boccie ball, flag football, whiffle ball, catch, soccer, croquet, tag, kickball, etc.

#5 Sledding. We usually sled in the park but decided to make a big ramp off our back deck. We had a blast playing in the snow and building snow forts and snowmen. So much fun! Here is Steph's post about it.
#6 Crawdad hunting, fishing, and swimming at my parent's cabin at Lake Tahoe. (We also hit the garage sales when we go there. You almost always find great treasures. It is a "must" on my list of things to do at Lake Tahoe. Last summer I found a snowboarder who was sponsored by a big name company and was selling his coats and pants. He had a ton of them and they were either brand new or hardly worn for great prices. He was the same size as Eli so Eli has new snow gear to wear this year.)
#7 Road trip vacations...Williamsburg, Disney World, Lake Tahoe. We've had some other road trips with them but these are the ones Grant listed.
#8 My grama makes good costumes. She made me a cloak and belt. Here Grant is as Luke Skywalker and me as Madame Hooch from Harry Potter. (I'm not sure why this picture wouldn't post in the right direction...I tried.)

#9 "We went letter boxing together. It was fun." Letter boxing really is pretty fun. It's taken us to places we've never been before. It's like going on a treasure hunt. You are never too old for that. Just google letter boxing and you'll probably find some in your area.
#10 "They love me very much." What's not to love? Grandchildren are the best!

I love having pictures to capture all the memories. Good thing all my daughters are good about taking pictures. A picture really is..."worth a thousand words."
Tomorrow I'll post some more favorites.

Lagoon

Brett and I took the kids to the company Lagoon Day. We had so much fun. I only took a few pictures with the point and shoot but trust me it was fun.





We met up with my brother's family and took turns every once in awhile so we could ride an "adult" ride. Who know that cell phones were so strong. Mine even survived falling out of the fastest roller coaster I've ever been on and still is working. OK, it's a little beat up...more memories. I'll think about my adventure with my SIL every time I see those dents. She had it in her pocket so we could hook up with our hubbies after we got off.

A Great Surprise!

I received my Country Living Magazine in the mail this week...no biggie right? Well, as I was reading from front to back, I ran into this:
No...not the picture of the people...the photo frame. My daughter Stephanie designed these for Sycamore Street Press. Steph's friend Eva has a letter press and owns the company. How cool is that? It was such a great surprise.

Stephanie gave me some red ones for Christmas that I was going to put in my studio but I think I need to trade them for the turquoise to go in my guest room. I want to frame them in black frames and hang them from turquoise satin ribbon on the "door" hooks.

More Pictures of Logan!

Logan giving Campbell loves.

Logan and his great curly hair. (Some of these were cut off the end of my last post so I am reposting.)

Logan and his great smile. He is such a happy little guy. He is 19 months old. Marissa is going to be busy.

I love this picture. (Candice here is the picture for my last assignment in your class. I can't post it without photoshop. What do you think?) Logan reminds me so much of Marissa. I think Campbell takes after the Garners.

He's Here!

There is nothing like seeing and experiencing a precious spirit being born. He was born at 4:26 am and weighed 9 pounds 8 ounces. He was 22 inches long. Mother and baby are doing great and will be home tomorrow.

He nursed like he was starving right after he was born and has been sleeping soundly even with all the poking and prodding that went on today. Don't you just love those chubby cheeks?

Here he is right after he was born. We were all amazed at how big he is already.

Marissa and baby Campbell? They think that is what his name will be.

Logan checking out his new brother. He was pretty excited.

Mike, Logan, and Campbell. They were checking out the babies feet. They are huge! He's going to be a big man.

Logan was doing lots of baby exploration.

Look at Logan's hair. Isn't it great? It's so curly.

Doesn't Logan have a great smile? He looks so much like Marissa did when she was little.

I love this picture of Logan. (Candice here is my picture for assignment #6. I love it.)

Logan with his "Big Brother" shirt. (I flew in Tuesday night so I just made it in time for the birth.)