NEW YORK

This last week Carrie and I, my sister Sue and her daughter Brette went to New York. We stayed with Kent, who is the best host. He plans fun things for us, makes us comfortable in his cool place and makes sure we dont get lost. He decorated with beautiful wreaths in all of his windows, he has the Christmas Spirit.It was chilly but felt great. We had snow on Sunday, which was perfect for the Messiah sing along we went to that night. We had fun at "The Lion King" and one you dont hear much about but was great it was "The Drowsy Chaperone". We saw the Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, Central Park, 5th Avenue, spent some time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the lights on all the trees and the store windows are beautiful. Its very Christmasy. We probably walked 1000 miles and spent most of our time shopping, I wish I took a picture of Kent with all our bags, he wouldn't let us carry any and he looked like Santa walking along the streets. I love New York, the trip went to fast but we had a great great time.

Sue and Brette with Lady Liberty

On the subway

Getting our picture taken

To bad it had to come to an end but this is us taking off to the airport. Thanks to Kent for such a wonderful time, and to Sue Brette and Carrie for such fun.

WEEKEND VISITORS

The past 4 days we had two 10 month old grandbabies stay with us. Oh Yes Landon and Braden Pickett. Their mom Beka went to her brothers wedding so we got to bond, bond, bond. We got to EAT...

PLAY... SHOP...
PLAY IN THE RAIN...
HELP WITH LAUNDRY...
PLAY IN THE BATH...
HELP GRANDPA CLEAN THE GARAGE...
WENT FOR WALKS WITH UNCLE STEVE...
WE EVEN HAD SPECIAL VISITORS WHEN GREAT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA, UNCLE JEFF AND AUNT SUE CAME TO VISIT, WE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM AUNT SUE, SHE REALLY HAS A GIFT!!!

We all had a great time, Aunt Bobbi came and helped one night we all went to eat but the batteries were dead so we didnt get a picture. I didnt get a picture of everyone asleep, maybe because it didnt seem like we ever slept. It was a fun weekend and I would do it all over again becuase these two boys are the sweetest, cutest, most adorable little ones on this earth.

Marathon Man

Once again he made it 26.6 miles in amazing time. It was 3 hours 35 minutes adn 38 seconds. This was the St. George marathon in St. George Utah. Here Paul is at the end of the race.

And here he is with his two favorite fans, this is the second marathon they have been to, the first was Boston, they think Grandpa is great. Congratulations!!!!!!!!

HOME AT LAST

The most exciting that happened here this week was the return of our nephew from his mission. He has been gone for two years serving as a missionary in the Spanish speaking area of Eugene Oregon. He was the best missionary they ever had and they were so sad to see him leave. He is as handsome as ever. Here are a few pictures from the airport. We Love You Andrew!!!!

High School Reunion

Time sure goes by fast. I went up to Salt Lake to attend my (20-25-30-35-40)school reunion. The best part was the lunch we had with a few friends before. There were 6 girlfriends that were in my ward and we have been friends ever since. I havent seen some of them since high school so it was so nice to get together. In the picture from the left to right is Ann and Melinda McCoun, me, Shelley Davis, Sharon Ward, and Sue Garn. These were all maiden names. We missed Laurie Nelson and Sue Center. We passed around pictures and got caught up on all our lives. It was the best. The reunion was great also. Everyone seemed happy and doing well in life. East High was a great school and I have a lot of fond memories, I hope I make it to my next one!!!!

Family Vacation

We had a great vacation in Hawaii. We stayed at a beautiful home and our front yard was the beach.

We started off with a little scare, our plane had to turn around and make an emergency landing because of the landing gear. As we were landing we could see all the emergency vehicles driving behind, in front, and beside us. We all deplaned safetly and the airline put us up in the "Greek Isles" hotel. We got to our room at 1:00 a.m. and had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the new plane at 7:00 a.m., they then told us it wasn't leaving till 11:00 a.m. We were all tired but did finally did fly into Honolulu.

These are the emergency vehicles

The babies were so good and were so ready to do all they could in Hawaii

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center

Where the men went crazy........dancing

Hunting.....

We almost lost Carrie and Steven, we couldn't find them anywhere...

then we had a great meal.

My little brother, Steve went with us, so he, Carrie, Loren, Danny and I all went scuba diving. Our first two dives were about 35 feet and we saw all kinds of sea life, we swam inches away from a huge sea turtle and saw a stringray. Our last two dives we were able to go 92 feet deep to a shipwreck. It was beautiful and amazing.

This is us ready to go.

This is Danny and I, kneeling on the bottom of the ocean. We had a great time.

We enjoyed going to the Temple, It is in a beautiful setting, with gorgeous grounds and as you look out from the front you see the ocean.

We had shaved ice at the famous Matsumotos shop

We went to Pearl Harbor...

We went to the Dole Plantation...

We went to the waterfalls...

and in Chinatown we saw all kinds of new and interesting things.

We played at the beach quite a lot and Steve had a great experience of swimming with the dolphins. A bunch of them came and swam around him, he could hear their chatter under water and they put on quite a show for us on the beach. They flipped out of the water, did turns and seemed to be having a great time.

We were so glad the babies could come. They get cuter everyday. I can't even say how much we love them. They smile, laugh and provide hours of entertainment. Beka and Danny are the best parents, and we are glad they brought them along.

This is how we all felt at the end of the trip, we tried to see and do as much as we could. We had a great time, Hawaii is beautiful and all the people were very nice. We were so happy to be able to spend the time with our family. We are blessed with such wonderful children, spouses and grandbabies

Swimming at Grandmas house

With the temperature being about 110 everyday here in Arizona its nice to have a pool to cool off in. Danny and Landon like swimming and as you can see "Like Father like Son" thats how they feel about the hot weather. Then its always nice to do a little tanning after the swim. Braden is thinking hard about something and Landon is checking his tan. We are all going to Hawaii and these dudes are going to be babe magnets, they sure have all of us wrapped around there fat little fingers. Its amazing how you can love such litle ones, that dont walk, talk, or play. They just let you love them as much as you want.

Our Grandbabies

Here they are ! Are they the cutest????? These little boys are Beka and Dannys twins. Everytime we see them we can't get enough of them. Even when they cry we just look at them and say "Oh that is so cute" They keep us smiling. Here they are at the house and sitting in there seats, one top got broken but they don't care, well maybe Bradon does a little, he is just discovering that Landon has the one with the top. They are starting to make all kinds of noises and soon will be talking. That will be fun, its the walking that might be a little more challenging.

Our Boarders

Look at these faces. Could you turn them away, neither could we. The beautiful boxer is Traci. She belongs to Carrie, who has married and moved to a house with a yard not quite big enough. The larger more sophisticated looking dog is Cody, he belongs to Bobbi, who married Mike and they have moved to a condo, with a porch not quite big enough. They love each other and play well together. We are glad to have them as part of our family. They are great guard dogs and let us know if anyone is walking in front of the house, or the side or over the back fence. We dont know what we would do with out them.

Proud Grandpa

Heres Grandpa holding Landon and Braden when they came over the other night for babysitting! It was a fun night. Landon was just not one for taking pictures at this moment!