Happy Birthday, Shannon!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday today! We love you and we're so thankful to have you in the family. Thanks for being such a good wife to BJ and a great Mom to Sam, Brodi and Hannah.

Welcome to the World, Little Miss Hannah!

I had the amazing opportunity today of watching my 9th grandchild come into this world. I really had not planned on being there for the birth, but I really wanted to be there right after she was born. So, when BJ texted me and told me Shannon was starting to push, I headed to the hospital. When I got there, the nurse told BJ that I was there and BJ came out and invited me into the delivery room - with Shannon's blessing, of course! It was such a great experience to watch her come into the world. I've never watched a birth except for my own 4 and it's a whole different experience when you're not the one doing all the work. Although, whenever they would tell Shannon to push, I found myself pushing right along with her! Thank you, BJ and Shannon, for letting me be part of that special event.

So - here's how it all started. Shannon had a Dr.'s appointment Monday afternoon and I watched Sam and Brodi while BJ & Shannon went to the Dr. Afterwards, they stayed for dinner and Shannon was having contractions the whole time. Here is Shannon right before they left for the hospital - she had been writing down each contraction and timing them. She was about 3 minutes apart for 2 hours when they finally decided they better go to the hospital and get checked. I took the kids home and slept at their house and BJ and Shannon got to the hospital at about 8:00 pm on Monday, March 21. Shannon had contractions all night and slowly progressed. At about 11 am on March 22, BJ sent the message that she was ready to start pushing and Hannah was born about an hour later - at 12:06 p.m.

 Here is her proud daddy! Hannah weighed in at 8 lbs. 10 oz and was 21 inches. She has blonde hair and seems to have a very sweet and calm disposition - so far!

 This little baby is definitely a miracle and something none of us ever thought would be possible for BJ and Shannon. Welcome to our family, Hannah. We're so thankful you are here safely and that you're so perfect! By the way, she is the 101st Great Grandchild of Bryan's parents! Isn't that amazing?

San Diego Trip

Last week I had a quick trip to beautiful San Diego, California.

Unfortunately, I was there on business and spent most of my time in this building - Atkinson Hall - on the University of California at San Diego campus and only got to see the ocean when I flew in and out of San Diego. I didn't have a car and was pretty much on foot wherever I went, so needless to say, I wasn't able to

 go too far.

My hotel was right across the freeway from this beautiful building though and I saw it from campus, but it was too far to walk there. I loved looking at it though - it's so amazing.

The weather was gorgeous and I loved watching the fog roll in every afternoon. I do love the San Diego area!

MMM - Missing My Madie!

Okay, so MMMM - Missing, Michael, Mallory and Madie! But I really miss seeing Madie because she changes so much from week to week. We get to video chat with Michael & Mallory quite often, which we LOVE! It's so much fun watching Madie toddle around. Here are a couple of pictures of her....

learning to brush her own teeth.....

and learning to feed herself and doing a nice job of it (although, I hope she doesn't starve - looks like there is more on her face and bib than in her mouth!)

This picture was taken last fall, but I love it and wanted it in my blog for history sake. I love and miss you, Little Miss Madie!

Sam and Ethan - 4 YEARS OLD!

Happy Birthday to our 2 favorite grandsons! Aren't they the cutest? On February 27, 2007, these little guys came into the world 2 hours apart - Sam was born first and then Ethan.Sam was due March 5 and I believe Ethan was due about March 12. For both of them to be born the same day, within 2 hours of each other, is amazing to me and I just like to believe they were buddies before they came to this earth and they wanted to be together. I wish they could see each other more often, but I think through the coming years, they will become very good friends.

I wish Ethan could have been with us for the family birthday party. This is the cake Shannon made for Sam. Sam is fascinated with trains and strange as it may seem, he always pretends the train is going off the track and the police car comes to help - so Shannon created that image on this cake. The engine is actually in the water (blue frosting). Great job, Shannon! 

 Here are Brodi, Kylie, Sam, Lexi and Sadie with their Thomas the Train party hats

 Isn't he such a cute little guy? We're so thankful to have Sam in our family!

Ethan had a police party this year. Here he is blowing out the candles on his Sheriff Badge cake.
This is the dog pillow pet we gave him. His Mom said that as soon as he realized it was a pillow pet, he layed down on it before he had it all the way opened.

Here he is with some other gifts and in his cool police hat!

And isn't this face priceless? He loves bubble gum so much.

 

I love you, Ethan and I miss you. I'm so glad you're in our family!

Trip to Utah

Happy 81st Brithday, Mom! I took a trip to Utah to be with my Mom for her birthday and we had such a fun time. We enjoyed eating out and visiting with family. We were also able to take a drive up to Park City so we could get new owner badges for the timeshare at The Canyons. We had a nice time - it was a beautiful day. We sat outside and enjoyed a nice cup of Hot Chocolate as we watched the skiiers come off the mountain. Here she is on her birthday. Doesn't she look great? She is amazing and I'm so proud of her.

  There isn't much family left in Utah, but Doug & Kay, Kathy & Dennis, Matt, Melissa & kids, Derek, Melinda & kids and I were all able to be there with Mom and have cake and ice cream on her birthday. Dan & Shauna couldn't make it because Isaac was sick.

 We all went in on a gift for my Mom - we got her an iPod Touch. Here is my brother, Doug, showing her how to use it. It will be a bit overwhelming for her at first, but she'll get it. She's very sharp.

Monday, Feb 21, Doug, Kay, Kathy, Dennis, Mom & I went to Mimi's for dinner. It's one of Mom's favorite restaurants. We missed Dave & Ruth and Bryan - who were all with us last year!

 Also, while I was in Utah, I was able to see my friend, Sharon Wright. We realized that it's been about 10 years since we last saw each other. We call and email each other, but we haven't been able to connect personally until this trip. We always pick up right where we left off and there is never a lull in the conversation. I was sad when she had to leave. We are kindred spirits. It's strange with Sharon - we only knew each other for about 9 months, but we became instant friends and have kept in touch ever since. It was so great to see her.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is one of the Valentine's Day posters that Kylie, Lexi and Sadie made for us.
They worked very hard on it and we LOVE IT!

Papa's birthday party

We celebrated Bryan's birthday by going to Joe's Farm Grill in Gilbert, AZ. The food was delicious and the kids had fun running around.

Lexi, Sadie (who didn't feel well), Papa, Brodi, Sam and Kylie

Here's the rest of the gang. I think BJ and Shannon were still ordering their food, so they didn't make it in the picture.

And - here is our Sunday dinner celebration.