To Grandmother's House WE Go

This past weekend I was able to go to Spanish Fork to visit my family for the first time in months. Each time I have even thought about planning a trip down, it has snowed. It was very nice to be able to go and spend time with mom and my sisters and brother. They all live within 30 miles of each other and sure do wish I could live closer to all of them. We always have so much to talk about and have a lot of fun. They all have young children and it is great to see them. They are all growing up so fast.

Grandma and all the grandkids

Last fall we had a very busy three months ... my brother and sister-in-law, Jedd and Kaycee, had a baby boy, Bennett, on September 30. On October 26, my son and daughter-in-law, Jade and Brittiney, had my grandson, Branson, and then, on November 21, my sister and brother-in-law, Aspen and Corbie, had a baby boy, River. THREE BOYS born within three months. They will have so much fun growing up together.

This was the first time we had been able to get all three babies together and my mom and I were so excited that everyone was able to make it. All of mom's kids and grandkids were there except for my daughter, Chelsie, and my brother and sister-in-law, Lynn and Jolene, and their kids, Sheadon and Kallie. We missed them and hope they can be with us next time.

Mom and my brother and sisters

Amanda, me, mom, Jedd, Shelly, Aspen

Needless to say, it was a house full of people and lots of catching up and tons of food and fun!

OH SERIOUSLY!

What in the world is going on with our weather. It is a beautiful sunny morning. I think to myself that it is going to be a nice day. I glance down at the temperature in the bottom corner of my computer. It says:

ZERO DEGREES

What in the world is going on? We haven't been above 29 degrees for a daytime high since last week. This is getting so very old. WHERE IS SPRING??

GLOBAL WARMING???

I woke up this morning to 6 or so inches of snow. Went out on my lunch and shoveled at least 8 inches off the driveway and sidewalk and neighbor's walk. Just now took Roxy and Buddy out for their last romp before it got dark and shoveled another 2 inches. ENOUGH ALREADY! Didn't we just SPRING forward this past weekend? I am protesting that too. I don't have enough hours in the day, why do they want to take one away from me?? It will take me weeks to catch up for that one hour!

This picture says it all ... even Mr. Snowman has had enough of winter!

Roxy does love the snow though. she loves to smash her ball down into the snow and then dig it out of the hole with her nose. At least someone likes it. This picture of her was taken after the first snowfall this winter. We have much, much more snow than that out on the grass now. We have at least another 3 feet in some places from where the snow has been piled from snow blowing and shoveling. I was just getting to where I had some grassy spots coming through on the south and west side of the house. Now it is all covered up again. At least we know that winter won't last forever (or we hope). It should be warm by the 4th of July. Only four more months ...

Houston, we have a problem ... do you see a black spot in the tree on the left-hand side? That is Roxy's ball. This afternoon while playing ball, after shoveling snow, I threw the ball up for Roxy to catch it and OOPS, it stuck in the branches of the tree. I probably couldn't do that again if someone paid me a million dollars to do it! So funny to see Roxy try to get it down. I thought she was going to climb right up the trunk of the tree. After she nearly had an anxiety attack, we finally had to go in the house and get her a new ball. Good thing we buy them by the dozen.

WEEK OF SURGERIES

This is a crazy week for our family! First of all, my mom's husband, Earl, had total hip replacement last Wednesday. He is home now and doing okay, but mom says he's in a lot of pain. He was in so much pain before the surgery, I hope he will feel better soon! He has my mom to take good care of him. I am sure she will be ready for a break before too long. She works so hard all day at Shopko and is on her feet constantly. Don't forget to take care of yourself too mom.

Secondly, Jade had hernia surgery today. He had a hernia repair when he was 8 years old on his left side, and today they repaired the right side. He didn't go in for surgery until after 11:00 and was home and doing okay by 3:00. It seems kind of like drive-through surgery to me! He has suffered with it for a long time waiting for insurance and vacation pay from work. Not a very fun way to spend your vacation Jader ... we love you and hope you heal quickly. Remember to take it easy and not try to do too much too fast. Good thing he has Brit to take good care of him!

Finally, Chelsie has her wisdom teeth removed on Friday. She has been having problems with them hurting her for a while now and that is how she is spending her tax return money ... also not a very fun way to spend money, but has to be done ... good luck Chels and hope you feel better real fast. Brian will take good care of you. It is a good excuse to eat lots of ice cream and pudding, so there could be worse things I guess!

I wish I could be in three places at once to help out with all of you, but I can't so I can only send my love and prayers.

The best thing about this whole day was that I got to watch Branson while Jade and Brit were at the hospital. He is sooooooo darned cute. I love spending any time with him that I get a chance to. He has taken to sucking his two middle fingers, alternating with his thumb, and loves to have his blankie close to his face. He has mastered the art of SQUEALING and is learning to grab toys of course everything goes right to his mouth. I can't put into words how much I love the sweet little guy!

WHERE IS SPRING???

Roxy and I would really like to know when it is going to warm up. We watch the weather every day and they say it is warm everywhere but here in COLD Cache Valley. Roxy is tired of playing ball in the mud and snow. Since she insists on playing ball at least four times a day, playing in the cold is getting really old! Hopefully it will warm up soon ...

Roxy would really like to play in her pool and Buddy hates for his paws to be wet. It is his worst thing. We are all ready for warm weather and sun. I am even ready for yard work!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KANDICE!

TODAY is our sweet daughter,,,,, KANDICE's, birthday! She is 27 today. I remember the morning before she was born so clearly it seems like it was just a couple of years ago, not 27! I was so scared and so excited. I was going to be a mother for the first time. I don't remember a whole lot after that until after she was born because they didn't have a doctor that could do epidurals at the hospital where she was born They gave me pain medication in my IV and things get cloudy from that point on. I do remember seeing her after she was born and thinking to myself how beautiful she was. Her daddy was so proud and he doted on her SOOO much. She is a special girl and has always made us so proud to call her our daughter. We are so happy to spend time with her and are so glad they live close and we get to see them often. She is adored by anyone who gets to know her. She is so giving and cares about anything that lives and breathes. She still won't watch Bambie or Benji or any movie that has animals in it because she can't watch them be hurt. It is for that caring attitude love her so much. Her and Josh are truly the happiest married couple we know and we are so happy that they found each other. We hope all your DREAMS come true SWEETHEART! We love you! HAPPY 27th ... do something special today...

SUNDAYS AND SNOW DAYS

I love Sundays at our house. Ever since the kids were little, we enforced the rule that Sundays are family days. We would spend the day cooking a big dinner, hanging out with each other and watch movies. This has been a hard habit to break even as the kids have gotten older and married and moved out. They do all try to come home as often as possible even now with their busy schedules. Kandice and Josh and Jade and Brit are able to come for dinner much more often than Chelsie and Brian are since they live so far away. We had a big dinner on Superbowl Sunday and again this past Sunday. We love having them home and I thoroughly enjoy cooking a big dinner and just hanging out with all of them. I hate it when it is time for them to go home. We watch movies and catch up on TV shows I have recorded that they haven't had time to watch. I get to spend the day loving on Branson and catching up with what's going on in their lives. We have a lot of laughs and EAT! It is a pretty laid back relaxing day.

Kandice and Josh weren't able to come up this Sunday as Kandice went down to Salt Lake to watch her favorite kids sing in a choir at the Tabernacle. I was very worried about her as she was driving home late at night and it was snowing. I am so glad she got home safely and it is a good thing she didn't wait until morning as this is what we woke up to this morning!

I hate the bitter cold of our long winters but it sure is beautiful when we have fresh snow. It hasn't stopped snowing yet today either. I think Glen is getting mighty tired of shoveling. He shovels our driveway and sidewalk, our neighbor, Joyce's driveway and sidewalk and his mom's driveway and walkways. He works all night and shovels all morning. He's a good man ...

I want send sympathy my mom's way today. Her little Pomeranian, Trixie, died Saturday night. She was a sweet little dog and loved it when I went and stayed at mom's house. She would spend all the time she could in my lap and loved the attention. She was 12 and had a very happy life. Sorry mom. Hope you're doing okay.