Visits with Grandpa D

We got back tonight from spending the weekend with Grandpa. We always look forward to the visits & our Saturday night Phase 10 game. When we got there Friday night it was cold & had been raining. Grandpa was in his room settling in to watch the Jazz game. When we walked down the hall to his room we noticed that all the doors had been decorated for Valentine's Day. Each door had a red heart with the occupants name on it. Then the doors were decorated with small hearts & things that the person liked. (Art, the Jazz, music, etc.) Grandpa's door had a red heart that had Phase 10 cards attached to it. It was awesome! One of the local wards had made them for the residents & wanted them to be personalized. And the definitedly were. I am going to frame it for him.

When we left from the visit it was snowing hard. We woke to 6.5" of snow & the power was out!! That came back on, but the snow stopped about mid afternoon. It snowed again Saturday night. It was cold but, it is beautiful.

Saturday night we went to dinner with my cousin Wayne & his wife Marjie. Then headed to play cards with Grandpa. Needless to say, he won the game this time.
(This is a picture Brent took of him on Feb. 6, 2010. Note the card in the pocket!)

He was having such a great time & was definitely on top of his game. We all had fun. The weekends pass way too fast.

Happy Valentine's Day!

In spite of vertigo we managed to have a great Valentine's Day family dinner! The menu included a heart-shaped meatloaf, potatoes (w/ pink sour cream & fucia butter), red jello and pickled beets (which were purple). It was fun. The characters on the table were gifts that Brent & I exchanged. These obnoxious little singing stuffies are a tradition with us. It amazes me that we can keep finding something different every year.


After dinner, we decorated the desert. Sammy & Erica helped me on Saturday night (while their parents went out for their Valentine's date) cut out valentine cookies. Erica cut a few & then lost interest. Sam & I cut out a few dozen.


So, Sunday after dinner, we frosted cookies. Aunt Whitney got very involved & the girls jumped right into it with her.

Happy Birthday, Erica!

We started this month celebrating Erica's 4th birthday. She & I had a night out just the 2 of us. I took her to Build-a-Bear and grab some dinner. She was so funny! So many of the animals caught her attention and it took her a little while to choose. She went from a pig, to a penguin, to a purple dog, to a pink poodle and finally settled on a blue monster. Go figure. He is cute though. And silly me, I didn't have my camera with me and my phone was out in my car!

Her parents had a party for her the following night at Chuck E Cheese. She was in heaven!! She had family on both sides attend and it was really fun. Great Papa Conder bought her a birthday crown full of tokens and she burned right through them.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, ERICA!!!! We love you!!!

January 2010!

A big month for us! On January 15th we welcomed a new granddaughter, Reagan Leigh into the family. This is our daughter Jennie's 3rd child and 1st girl. She is beautiful!!! It was really hard for me to be so far from her during this time, but she had great support from her ward and neighbors. Her husband was able to take about 10 days off to be at home with her and help the boys with the transition. However, those little guys had no problem welcoming their new baby sister home! They absolutely love her!!

I flew down to spend a few days with them and meet this little girl. :) It was great!! I didn't have to share Jen's time with anyone but the kids (& Patrick when he was home). It was so nice. She is such a great mom and I'm so proud of her. We are so grateful for Patrick, too. I sent Patrick and Jennie out on a date night so that they could have some "alone" time. It really was selfish on my part since I got to have "movie night" with the kids and spend the time with just them.

Having them so far is hard. But they have made a great home for their family there. We look forward to many trips down this year. Time went by WAY too fast and it was time for me to come home. I love them and miss them so much!

Happy 2010!!!

This is a tad late getting posted, but.......

This was the first year in I don't know how many that Brent & I spent New Years alone. We went to dinner & a movie. It was really fun! Then we watched the ball (that doesn't fall anymore) in New York.

This was also the night of the "blue moon". Apparently it about every 28 years. It was really foggy out, but I was still able to get a picture.

We are very grateful for making it through 2009! It was a difficult year for so many. We have been so blessed as a family this past year & don't take that for granted.

We hope this year brings all of you joy, peace, health & happiness!

Christmas 2009

Twas the night before Christmas.....




It was a different year without Jennie, Patrick and the kids. Jennie called during dinner and we were all able to talk with her. We ate, opened presents and sat around talking. Another great Christmas Eve.



Christmas day we headed over to Cameron's to see how the girl's did with Santa. I played bowling with Sammy and Erica on the Wii (almost lost to both of them!). Then we went back home so that they could spend the afternoon/evening with ReyAn's family. Jake and Whit spent the day with her family. Christmas evening, the Beidler's came up for eats and a visit. We had a great time with them. And as usual.....Christmas ends WAY too fast. Merry Christmas everyone!

Gingerbread!

Christmas brings so many traditions. One of the ones that we started last year was building gingerbread houses with the kids. We weren't able to do it while Jennie was here, just not enough time. This year I found trains to build, so ReyAn, Sammy, Erica & I started building. Cameron & Brent sat with us and visited. It was fun.