Happy 26th Natalie

Natalie, my sweet daughter-in-law, is 26 today. She has been a part of our family for 6 years.

Travis saw something wonderful about her from the start, and he didn't get that wrong.  She is smart and creative.  Nat helped Trav get his nursing degree, supporting him in classes and time.  She has helped him to become a better person.

She keeps up with Travis and his craziness.  Always willing to go along for the ride. Trav has always had grandiose plans, and Natalie is able to help him with those, or to calm them down.

Nat is a fabulous mother to my sweet Addison.  She is conscientious, attentive to detail, caring, fun, and silly.  Addison is the sweetest baby, who loves her mama. Grandbabies are the best thing on the planet, and Natalie makes sure we are able to be a part of Addison's life.

Natalie is so much a part of our family that even when Trav isn't able or willing to make it to family parties, dinners, or activities, Nat is there, supporting me.  I know she doesn't always enjoy it, but I'm so grateful she is there.  I love my daughter-in-laws.  I am so comfortable with them and I hope they are comfortable with me.

Natalie wasn't raised in a family that was obsessive about football.  She has learned to love the Utes and support Travis in his obsession. Natalie loves life and gets excited about surprises and vacations.  One of our most fun and enjoyable times was the planning of our San Francisco trip.

Happy Day Natalie.  We are blessed to have you in our family.  

Sunshine!

A sunny day! We took the grandkids outside and it was glorious.
Little Man, Gage, LOVES Poppy's new 4 wheeler. He doesn't get off happily.
Poppy loves driving through the snow. Gage wouldn't get off for MyKelle's turn, so they rode tandem.

MyKelle loves to play store while she drives the "Jeep." Today she bought a wild monkey at the store. Oh and chocolate milk too.

Gage was not one bit happy about not driving the Jeep. He only drives in a circle - Oh the freedom of the open road.

Last week was my program at school. They performed fabulously. Lots of hard work and time, but worth it in the end.

The day after, we went ice skating at the Rec. Center. Lots of fun.

This week was parent teacher conferences. My biggest problem is parents who don't support their children at home. Now, how do we make parents responsible under No Child Left Behind? Take note my children, neices and nephews: be supportive of teachers and school and your kids will do so much better in school.

Happy to you Jessica

Today is Jessica's 25th birthday.  She has been part of our family for 5 years (including dating) and we are so blessed to have her.

When she married Adam, I told her that he was her problem now. She has handled him superbly.  Jes is fun-loving, kind, thoughtful, giving, helpful, spiritual, humorous, and beautiful, inside and out.
Jessica is fun and crazy and willing to try anything once and most times more than once.  She keeps up with Adam and his crazy antics.
She loves the things Adam loves because she loves him.  I prayed for someone to love Adam as I did and Heavenly Father more than answered my prayer.
Keith and I are so blessed to have 4 fabulous in-law children.  We count them as our own.  We love them for who they are and for loving our children.  

Jessica, my prayer for you this year, is to have your prayers answered.  Be strong. Your Heavenly Father loves you and is aware of your struggles and pain.  

Thanks for being a part of our lives.

Family Pictures

For Christmas, my kids gave us a photo setting for family pictures.  I've wanted new ones forever, so this was a fabulous gift.  We went on a beautiful sunny day, just after a snow storm. Backgrounds are great, but it was 26 degrees outside and that was far too cold for the babies to be happy. 

I love the pictures and the gift.  Thanks everyone.

Yum

After many desperate requests, (and hungry husbands) we had another cooking day. Thanks to Suz for all her hours of work to prep for our day. Thanks to John for having crazy ladies messing up his house and invading his space. Suz's house is ideal because she has 2 kitchens, so we cook upstairs and downstairs. Some of the girls also exchanged cookie dough. Mykelle helped bring Katie garlic, now if she really knew what that was.

The basement kitchen.

Yum - bagels.

Katie does MyKelle's hair in the cutest styles, but this heart shape is one of my favorites.

We got the kids a Jeep for Christmas. The snow finally melted off the driveway, so we took it outside and let the kids drive it. Gage holds the steering wheel in one place and just drives around in a circle.

Mykelle Likes to try to run over you. The entire time, she has this little devious laugh. They love to try it and I can't wait until it's warmer so we can spend more time with them outdoors. I hate January.

Happy Birthday to Keith

Keith's Birthday is January 2nd, possibly one of the worse days ever. Just when you think the holidays and celebrating is over, you have to celebrate one more time. Poor Keith, I always am too tired to do much. However, this year the Utes have the opportunity to give him his best Birthday present ever, a win in the Sugar Bowl.

I'm not smart enough to think of 54 things about Keith, so lets settle for 10.

1. He loves to ride his motorcycle, so much so, he was sure I would enjoy riding with him. A year ago he came home with a motorcycle for me. I rode it once, 40 feet, and laid it down on top of me. Jeremy enjoys riding it now.

2. He loves his Utah Utes. Don't mess with him on game day. Mild mannered Keith becomes some kind of possessed animal. He will watch a Utah football game 10 -20 times. I keep telling him I know the outcome, but he loves to study the plays. I think he know the games better than the coach.

3. Keith loves to drive a new car, preferably red. I can't tell you the number of times he just comes home with a new car. My friends can't believe I "let him" do that. Keith does what he wants, really he does.

4. He is dedicated to his church calling, spending hours and days doing things others would not. I admire his commitment and compassion.

5. He loves to go on vacation with his family, always has. We worked our way up from a tent, to a black van, to a borrowed tent trailer, to a borrowed big trailer, to 2 different motor homes. We played with our kids a lot when they were young. It was a blessing to our family to be able to travel together. Our kids learned how to be friends and play with each other (not always nicely). Now we prefer Worldmark or the Marriott. Thanks Kelli and Natalie.

6. He doesn't want anyone else on his tractor. It bugs him that I drive the tractor to mow the lawn while he trims with the push mower. He is very particular about how the lawn is mowed. Doesn't worry about weeds though, that's my problem.

7.He loves all new electronic gadgets. He doesn't always use them , but we have them. For instance, we have 3 Garmin's. (We have 2 cars, but 1 is for hiking.) Big screen TVs are his thing. Just waiting for one as big as his parents, but we do have the projector that fills a wall.

8. He has the best sense of humor and loves to laugh, out loud and loud. He is fun to be with and people gravitate to him. Kindness is his trademark. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body.

9. He is a patient, loving, caring and kind husband. Highlight and underline patient. He's lived with me for 32 years, he's had to be. He is my rock and my life long love.

10. No better Grandpa on the planet. His grandchildren are his joy and they love him. I am awed by his care for them. Sorry kids, but he's better with them than he was with you. We learn as we age.

Now for tonight's activities.
Because we will be watching the game on his Birthday, we went to his favorite place to eat tonight, Joe's Crab Shack.
I do love Coconut Shrimp,but my favorite part was being with my kids and Grandbabies. They are the cutest kiddos ever.

Keith treated himself to a bucket of Dungenous Crab. Oh, happy boy.

After eating, we ending up playing Wii, a common activity of everyone this time of year.

Keith just can't quite figure out how to play the NCAA football game. Good news though, the Utes won.

The Grandbabies had fun playing with the "shooters." Fun night. Thanks kids.

Let's be FRANK!!

Tis the season for , "FRANK!" Code word for Santa Claus.  

Keith's oldest brother had a Santa outfit and for years was Santa at the Gines family Christmas party.  Well, he got tired of it and so Keith would borrow his suit and play the part.  About 3 years ago, Keith bought his own, new and improved Santa suit.  Since then, December has been filled with Santa sightings. We do family parties and ward parties and every year we do more. (I say we, because I am Santa's helper/dresser.  No, I do not dress up.) This year we  added Adam's and Kelli's wards. More people are finding out and asking Keith to join their party.  Today, for the 2nd year, he was Santa at Walgrens in Clinton where Darin works.  He had lines of people waiting today and had a fun time.  The only drawback is that Santa, well, sweats under the large amount of clothing that he wears. YUCK,

One of the most fun things we have done is to randomly show up Christmas Eve at homes with little kids in our ward.  Now, that's a shocker, but they love it.

He's a fun Santa, but now I worry about the grandkids recognizing his voice.  He tries to change it to fool them.  5 gigs down and 5 to go.