The Barneys, Smyths, Monsons and Allans go to Bear Lake for Christmas

 We just returned from a great week in Bear Lake with all our kids and grand kids.  It was really a fun time and so so good to be all together.  Thanks so much to each one of our kids who arranged schedules so they could be there with us.

Christmas Eve, after opening the 12th day of Christmas gift which was PJs for everyone.  

Here is Blake, Lindsey, Caleb, Spencer and Ethan, all the way from Washington.

Jim and Colby,  with little baby Kimber who should be here in a month.

This is Wes, Meredith, Saria, Easton and tiny little Sadie.

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Here is Eric, Chandra, Ali and Myah, 

Our newlyweds, Brittany and Patrick.

And Royce, AubRee, Grace and Kruz.

We had lots of stockings for Santa to fill,

and many gifts to share.  Santa brought lots of fun stuff for all.

We ate some really large pizzas,

and had lots of fun doing it.

Sledding was part of the fun and sadly, the very first day little Grace got quite an ouchie on her cheek and chin.

Patrick and Jim decided to try sledding without a tube or saucer.  They went down the hill with just these garbage bags on, on their bellys, face first.  They are crazy!!!


Hope you all had a great holiday season!

Four Really Great Folks!

I just love this happy picture and just wanted to share it with you.....hope you love it too! ( love the people in this picture!)  So glad we have such great kids with such neat spouses. PS:be sure to keep reading so you don't miss the blog about Brittany's wedding shower....

Brittany's Really Fun Wedding Shower

We had a really fun bridal shower for Brittany this past week.  Thanks so much to Melissa Ballard and family for the party and for employing her the past 9 months.

There was so many people at the shower, friends from Victor, college roommates, sisters, sisters-in-law, mom,  mom-in-law, friends from Utah,  grandma, and LOTS of little girls.  She got really nice gifts from everyone.  It was good to meet Patrick's family and Melissa at the shower.  Its hard to believe two weeks from now she is going to be married......a little bit sad to me, but very exciting.  Here are some photos of the fun event.

 Family and friends.

Cute little dressed up brides, Eliza, Saria, and Mary Katherine.

My sweet sisters, Rae Jean and Julie.

Opening gifts.......

My present for Brittany, crocheted hot pad holders, knit dish clothes and embroidered hand towels.  Lovingly made each time one of my daughters or sons is married.  Guess this is the last time since Brittany is our last to be married.  WOW!

Brittany has planned a fun party for after the wedding and their honeymoon, hope we get to see lots of you there!

Road Trip!!!!!

Many years ago we lived in Northern Idaho in a little town called Hayden Lake.  It was an awesome place for little kids to grow up, especially if you liked to play in the woods and climb really tall pine trees.  Well....last week Russell and I took a little stroll up nostalgia lane and returned to that place and those memories.  We had such good friends there and had a chance to visit some of the best of them. 

This is the house we lived in then.  It was right in the middle of the woods.  Russell cleared the land so it could be built.  Now... there are houses all around it.  Eric, Royce, Blake and Meredith climbed those tall pine trees, often times to the tops. I had a little preschool here called Alphabet Soup Preschool. It was a fun little place to come to.

These are the Frantz boys.  They had a home out around Hayden Lake and we had lots of good times there.  Between our boys and these boys much mayhem and mischief was made, all in good fun of course.  We were able to spend an afternoon with them while we were up north and we loved seeing them all.  Between their family and ours I think there were 17 of us so it was a gang!  Their dad, Marty, (left in the picture), gave Colby the name of Little Thunder Diaper when she was first born and it has been one of her nicknames ever since. It is crazy to see these guys all grown up with little kids of their own. 

Our next stop was Seattle to visit Blake and Lindsey in their new home.  Blake is at the University of Washington doing a dental  residency.  He is studying to be a prostadontist, (not really sure how that is spelled).  They live on campus in a nice little 2 story apartment.  When we lived in Hayden Lake, Seattle was one of the places we visited often because we were in that temple district, so going back there was really fun for us. We got to go back to all our favorite places we haven't seen in many years. 

One place we love is Pike Street Market Place.  We got on the bus and rode there twice while we were visiting.  Here are the boys having fun on one of our visits.  We also ate on the wharf one night and this is the delicious dinner Lindsey and I shared:

It was a treat!!!!!

Caleb

Spencer

Ethan

Bus riding photos.....

We also rode a ferry to Bainbridge Island one day for a little adventure. The boys were so excited to ride on the big boat and see the cars ride on and off with us. 

While we were there this little fellow joined the Royce and AubRee Barney family.  

Meet Kruz Kent Barney:

We are pretty excited because he is moving here next week!!!!!!

After our Seattle visit we drove down the coast to visit some of our other favorite places, Seaside and Tillamook, Oregon. Seaside has a yummy restaurant called Pig and Pancakes where we went for breakfast  and then we took a stroll on the beach.  We were able to stop and visit my mom on the way home and it was good to spend some time there. It was so nice to have a week with Russell and just do whatever we wanted to do.  It was a much appreciated week of rest, fun, and relaxation.  Now it is back to work and the real world, darn it!

Grandkids come to play, and play and play......

Every summer for the past 6 summers our four oldest grandkids have come to visit for a week.  We try to do every fun thing possible while they are with us. (mostly because we live in a tiny apartment and the addition of four extremely fun, active kids is to much for the little place), there are lots of cool things to explore in our area.   Well this summer has to be ultimate in fun things to do.  Our city has a neat pass you can buy that lets you get into 13 attractions for a reduced price and...I found a Groupon that had this pass on sale so it was even cheaper so I bought us each one and we had a great time.  Now, just so you know, that week is over and Russell and I are on a vacation from that vacation.  It was such a busy week that we needed a rest.  HA!

Monday morning, this was the first official event we attended, breakfast at our church 24th of July celebration, followed by the Days of 47 parade in downtown Salt Lake City.  Then we got in our swimsuits and swam all afternoon.  Something that you just have to do every day with these four little fish/parade watchers.Tuesday we went bowling and I am happy to say I actually broke 100 in both of our games.  We also helped Brittany and Patrick move into their new apartment.  We got some of Brits stuff out of our storage unit to take there and Patrick was moving from one place to another so we helped them move that stuff.  One great find there was tons of snails, they were excellent entertainment for the kids!!!!!  This picture is of a snail race up the stairs at their apartment.

Wednesday, the first Groupon place we went was to the Lion House Pantry where we got a free lunch.  It is located in downtown Salt Lake and is near temple square.  This is walking distance from our apartment so we go there every chance we can. Temple square is a beautiful spot with lots of  memories for Russell and I.  It is were we were married 32 1/2 years ago. These girls especially like going there because there are usually brides and grooms coming out of the temple after getting sealed to each other as well as getting wedding photos, so they like to see all the beautiful brides in their lovely wedding dresses.

Our next stop that day was the Discovery Center at the Gateway Mall.  This is the second visit we have had there and the kids love it.  They spent lots of time in the little grocery store,  Saria was a checker, Myah was a shopper and checker, Easton was a shopper and Ali  stocked the shelves which meant that after each child bought their groceries, she had to put the stuff back on the shelves.  Also, lots of little boys just like to dump all the groceries on the floor so she spent a good amount of time picking up after them.  Another fun thing at the Discovery Center is a mini new-casting center.  You can sit in front of movie camera and read the news, or stand in front of a green screen and do the weather.  The girls love that!!!!   After the Discovery Center we stopped in at the Family History Center at the Joseph Smith Memorial Center and looked up some genealogy for the kids.  It was cool to look at the census records , and other records for their great great great great great great, ( just kidding) grandparents. 

Thursday  found us at the Clarke Planetarium, also at the Gateway Mall.  We were able to explore all the neat things that place has, read about  space, walk on the moon and Mars, and do science experiments.  We watched a 3D IMAX movie about baby elephants and baby orangutans that was very informative and super cute.  Then we watched a  presentation in the dome about space and the planets.  (I think, because I pretty much slept through that!)

After lunch we went to the This Is The Place Heritage Center , up Emigration Canyon and spent the afternoon.  It is a place that teaches about the beginnings of Salt Lake City and life in a earlier time.  There were  lots of hands on stuff to do here in different old houses and cabins and the kids loved it here.  We rode this train around  to see it all then went to all the different places to check them out.  The favorite thing this afternoon was the gold panning, although Easton was quite put out that the gold wasn't real, just iron pyrite or fools gold.  They each did get some though so that was fun.

Friday morning we went to Hoagle Zoo and did a lot of walking around.  It was a fun place to go.  We saw lots of animals but the favorites were tigers, elephants, giraffes and the animated dinosaurs that were on display there for the summer. This big metal elephant the kids are sitting on would squirt water out it's trunk so that was good for getting cooled off at! (Also there was a couple of the dinosaurs that would squirt you!)

Friday afternoon found us at Thanksgiving Point at the Museum of Ancient History.  It is truly an amazing place.  It is full of dinosaur bones, tiny and HUGE.  Some of the displays were out of this world.  Those dinosaurs were gigantic.  The kids are sitting in front of a huge shark that was alive in the dinosaur age.  It was very large, very real looking and very scary!!! It looked like it could just eat you up.  The kids liked this  place a lot.!

       The Fabulous Four
We sure had a great time with the kids.  It was even better because Russell had the whole week off so he could spend it with us. Thanks Ali, Saria, Myah and Easton for spending part of your summer with us.  
        WE LOVED IT  !!!!!!!!    See ya next year.                                                                    

Randomness of things I like.....I guess that's okay since this is my blog!

Oh yes I love all these people, they bring joy to my life,  I thank Heavenly Father every day for them!!!!