Baby Emily

Brad and Stephanie had baby Emily blessed on Easter Sunday. Here are some pictures from that day. She is such a little doll.

San Diego

Doug and I had a meeting in LA for 3 days, and then we went to visit Beth in San Diego for the weekend. The weather was beautiful. Beth got us tickets to the Zoo. It was fun going there without any kids. (I don't think we ever went to a zoo alone before)We went on the tram around the zoo and then walked around and saw what ever we wanted to. Then in the evening we went to the San Diego Harbor and watched the cruise ships leave, and drove to see the ocean cliffs. It was awesome!!! We got a cool picture of Beth with a Peacock. The Panda Bears and the Koala Bears were my favorite.

Zion!!!

Doug and I went to Zion for a quick weekend getaway. It was beautiful. We've never gone this early in the year. There was still snow on the mountains. We saw some waterfalls in places we hadn't seen before. The shuttles weren't running yet, so we could park wherever we wanted and explore.It was great to be out hiking in the sunshine. The highlight of the weekend for me was going to the art gallery of my favorite (besides Luann, of course) photographer. His name is Michael Fatali. He photographs landscapes and nature in the southwest states.I have loved his photos for years. Every time I go to Zion, I go to his gallery.(He also has one in Sedona, Az) They have moved it right next to the IMAX so it is in a lot better place. His website is: www.fatali.com. You should check out his work. Well... he was actually at the gallery, and we got to meet him in person, and talk to him about his pictures. Doug bought me an early birthday present. It is my favorite picture of his called: "Ocean's Breath" The size I wanted was $4600.00, so I got a special edition 11x14 instead. He is going to sign it for me when we go back in April. I am also in a special drawing for of one of his pictures that he took at the bottom of the grand canyon. They are giving it away on the Sat. we are going to be there. It would look perfect over my fireplace. (I don't know how I got 2 of the same pictures on there of me with Michael Fatali, and I can't figure out how to delete one of them , so after trying forever,I give up!!!)

Boys Beware !!!!

Doug and I went and watched kids and grandkids open presents on Christmas morning. First we went to Brads house. MaKayla (who is turning 13 in April) got a lot of cute things like clothes,makeup,curling iron,etc. and we were all commenting on how grown up she is getting, and telling Brad he would have to keep all the boys away....and then Brad opened his present from Stephanie: a gun! The look on MaKayla's face is priceless. It says it all. It was very good timing and very funny to be there and see it.

Winter Fun

We went to Scott's house on the 1st weekend in December to go on the Polar Express. There happened to be a big snowstorm while we were there, and the kids had lots of fun playing in it. Especially the ones of us from St. George who hardly ever get to see snow. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Cathy's Funeral

This has been a very difficult week for our family. My sister Cathy died. I know she is in a better place and can finally be free to do everything she couldn't do for 48 years, but it is very hard for me to see my mom go through! The one good thing out of all of this is that it brings the family together. This family picture was taken at the church right before the funeral. It turned out pretty good! We hadn't all been together for 14 months, so we all had a good visit. My Aunty Jean (mom's sister) came from Canada for a week, and since tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving, we had a turkey dinner out in our backyard.

Fall Colors

We came to spend the weekend with Scott's family for Alex's 11th birthday. We went to Payson Lake and fished, (no luck) had a picnic, and went geocaching in the rain. The drive to the lake was absolutely beautiful. The leaves were turning bright red, and orange. The clouds were low on the mountains. It was nice and cool up there.

The Happiest Place On Earth

This was our last day in Disneyland. We thought we would only stay half the day and then swim and relax, but we stayed for almost 11 hours. I have blisters on my feet (from wearing sandals all day) and blisters on my hand (from my curling iron...another story), but the kids are wide awake and could still go some more. We went back on all the favorite rides and Ali tried Big Thunder Mtn. Railroad and loved it. We went to the play Aladdin. It was very good. I couldnt take any flash pictures of it, but I got a cute one of the girls after. The girls helped one of the workers at the theater and they gave us VIP tickets, so we got to go on 3 more rides at the end of the day. The lines were very long today, so it was fun going to the front of the lines and getting put on the rides without any waiting. We saved over an hour on the Big Thunder ride, and of course we ended the day with "It's a small World". We saw the castle all lit up as we were leaving. It is so pretty. Alex, Ellie, and MaKayla hopefully remember how it looks. We had an awesome time and the kids were very good the whole time. It will be fun coming back with the next grandkids in a few years. The time has gone by quickly for us, and I know you are homesick for the kids, so I guess we will have to come back to reality tomorrow!!!!

Disneyland

We spent 10 hours in Disneyland today. We went on every ride, some more than once. The only line we had was the Nemo ride. We waited 30 minutes for it, but it was worth it. It is a very cute ride for the kids. They were amazed that we went to "the bottom of the ocean". They saw Mickey and Minnie, and Pooh, Tigger, Goofy, Pluto, Jasmine, and Aladdin. Ali loved Splash mountain. I went on it the second time and we were in the front seat and got soaked. They loved the Buzz Lightyear ride. (lightening, as they called it) Izzy liked the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Princess Day!!!

What can I say....we ate lunch with the Princesses'. I think the 2 prettiest were of course Izzy and Ali. You be the judge. We took over 100 pictures so it is very hard to decide which to put on here. The rest of the day we went on a few rides, but it was interesting because they are AFRAID of all the kiddie rides: Frog & Toad, Snow White, The Bugs life 3D movie, etc, you name it. If it was at all dark they didn't want to go on it. We made them try them, but they didn't want to do it. We went on the Monorail and the train, and watched the parade. We hope tomorrow will be a little better. They are having a hard time knowing pretend from reality. Of course they liked It's a Small World. Yea!!!