Strolling Cousins

Last Saturday afternoon we went to my niece Elizabeth's baptismal service.  She was so pretty in white.  It was really nice to visit with family.  After the service we drove to Buhl Idaho and stayed overnight with my brother James and his family.

Sunday morning they blessed their new baby, Maddison.  She is such a beautiful baby.  Sunday afternoon we had lunch with Brooke and James and Brooke's family in Hagerman.  It was a really nice afternoon and it was so nice to spend it with family.  I didn't do too well taking pictures, but Nigel was really cute playing with his cousin Jaydaka and I did get a short video clip.  Here they are strolling around the driveway.

Fresh Alaskan salmon

Friday morning Dad took us out fishing on the river. It was a beautiful morning and we had a great time. We saw a bald eagle flying and then resting on the top of a tall pine tree. The water was clear and we could see all of the salmon rushing up the river. I didn't take my camera with me, but I did get some good pictures when James and Brooke took Miles, Ian and me up the river a couple of days ago.


Miles and Ian are eager and ready to catch fish.

It was a beautiful day out on the river.

James was our intrepid captain, steering us clear from dangerous sandbars.

James and Miles fishing on the shore.

Here's Ian reeling in a beautiful silver salmon.

Brooke was the first one to catch a fish and the first one to catch her limit. She is quite the fisherwoman!
We grilled up some fresh salmon that we caught yesterday and it was delicious. I'm afraid that being up here is turning us into fish snobs. If it's not fresh, wild Alaskan salmon it just isn't good enough.

James and Brooke's Wedding Brunch

Here are some fun snapshots of family and friends at the wedding luncheon, and a few pictures and the temple afterward. We had so much fun seeing family, and it was wonderful seeing Brooke and James; they looked so happy together. It was a very joyous occasion.

I'm post dating this so they are in chronological order. I've been a real blogger slacker lately, but I'm going to try to catch up.

Michel and Analyse catch up with Marie.

Dad and his brother Ray enjoyed swapping stories.

Makenna looked lovely in her floral sundress.

Miles is glad to have so much family together.

It was great fun to have Joy around, and she is looking very fashionable, as always.

Mom and Stacie look great in their gerber daisy colors, and Mom is happy to be holding lovely baby Hope.

Snack time for Zach and Ben. Darius and Ruth are enjoying being parents of two very cute little boys;

Me with my very handsome, conscientious, considerate, and fun boys. I couldn't ask for anything else better.
Family weddings can take a lot of work, but I love them. I can't wait for the next one.

James and Brooke

Congratulations to James and Brooke who were married on Saturday!


They look very happy together.


Jame's siblings and inlaws.


Lots of nieces and nephews.


Brooke's family.

Hallelujah!

Yeah! Melinda will be home in the next couple of hours! She's been visiting her sister in Minnesota for 5 days and 4 nights (not that anyone's counting.) I think she's had it in her mind for some time to take a trip to visit her sister. Amy has 4 kids (2 of which are very small) so Melinda was going to help her travel to Utah to be at Grandma's funeral.

We were worried about how Saffron would do with her Mom away for so long, but she's done very well. I think it helps a lot having her 3 older siblings look after her; they're very attentive. Melinda also talked to her on the phone once or twice a day and she seemed excited that her mom was coming back with 2 of her baby cousins.

We've done pretty well being orphaned and widowed for these few days, but it will be soooo nice to have Melinda back with us again. We've all missed her very much.

Karen was also very gracious to watch the kids during the day. Thanks Auntie Karen!

We've actually been quite busy these past few days, which probably helped the time pass more quickly. Here's a short list:

1. Thursday we had homeschool Lagoon day. Miles, Ian and I had a great time.
2. Friday we went to Connie's book group "After Hogwarts" at Barnes and Noble.
3. Saturday we gardened and weeded at home. Then in the evening we went up to see Ed, Salena, Teancum, and Rachel. Karen and Wendy fed us (though they also tricked me into helping them plant tomatoes.) Actually, I enjoy gardening so even though it's work it feels recreational.
4. Sunday we went to church in Roy for baby Hope's blessing. My parents, Grandma, and most of my siblings (we missed you, Ruthie!) were there. Everyone got to meet Jame's finance, Brooke, and we had a nice picnic in the park.
5. Sunday evening went back to Grandma and Grandpa's just in time for dinner. The kids were pretty lucky today; two sets of cousins to play with in one day!

Grandma's funeral and viewing are going to be held in the next two days and things will be very busy with all the family in town. It will be busy, but it's a good busy.

I hear bells...

James gave me a call this evening. It went something like this:

"How's it going?"
"Good, how are you?"
"Are you doing anything this weekend?"
"Just watching conference."
"It was fun seeing you and your friend, Brooke, a couple weeks ago? Are you dating?"
"We'll actually, thats why I called; we're engaged!"

Yeah!!! It's so fun to have siblings get married! Brooke seems really nice; a real catch. Congratulations, lil' bro!

Baby it's cold outside

It has been so cold this week. My office at work is cold, my bedroom is cold; it seems I just can't get away from the cold. This is about the time last year when we went to Disneyland and enjoyed the warm weather of southern California. Too bad we can't go this year.

We've been having high drama at work. My employee has been in a relationship with someone in another department at work and it has gone sour. Unfortunately they haven't been very mature about it and their problems have been bleeding into work life way too much.

We've been planning to take a "vacation at home" to get away from the stress of work life, but I think we may have to modify those plans. Maybe we can break it up by taking some time off and having a couple of long weekends at least.

James was visiting today from BYU Idaho. He has to get a couple of crowns on his teeth on Monday. Clair, Carrie, Bobby, and Joy came to visit. We made fish tacos and then played Bananagrams and Settlers of Catan afterwards.

We originally had planned to go night skiing, but it was just way too cold. Here's hoping that next week is warmer than this one.

Muchos tamales ricos

Tonight was our second annual Christmas tamale part with some of our homeschooling family friends.

Earlier, Wendy had 4 ski tickets for Park City that had to be used up, so James, Carrie, Bobby, and Clair went. We watched Clair's little girl, Makenna, so he could go. I didn't feel up to skiing and a big party all in the same day. So instead I cleaned up around the house a little, helped the kids with their homework, played with Saffron and Makenna, and then a took a nice long nap.

Makenna was very cute, and a cinch to babysit. She just wandered around and played with all the toys and read books. Here's a picture of James reading to her.

We took James with us to the tamale party. We got an assembly line going; someone to spread the masa on the corn husk, someone to put the filling in, and someone to tie them up. We had lots of yummy fillings too:

• Spicy pork
• Chicken with red mole
• Chicken with green mole
• Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes
• Southwest beans
• Cherry with chocolate chips
• Pumpkin pecan
• Cinnamon raisin

That's not to mention the tortilla soup, or the 4 different kind of salsas we had with chips. It was quite the fiesta of flavors! Tamales are a lot of work, so doing it together as a big group is ideal.

The kids had lots of fun, too. They ran around like creatures from "Where The Wild Things Are" for a while and then they played Lego Star Wars for a while. We were there quite late, so they kids were ready to sleep when we got home, exhausted from so much fun.

Off to China for James

Friday night I had some of my siblings over at my place. We were having a little get-together for my brother James. He's the baby of the family. He's actually 14 years younger than I am, but only 13 years older than my oldest daughter. We're always glad to have him visit; he's great with the kids and really pleasant to be around. He's been going to school in Anchorage so we don't get to see him too often. He's taking a little break from school right now to teach English in China. It should be a really good experience for him. He'll get to visit Hong Kong for a few days before he gets to the mainland. He'll have room and board at the school and they will teach him a little Mandarin. He plans on having time to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Warriors. It should be very educational and a good experience for him.

It was fun to have my siblings over. I haven't seen Joy for a little while. Her hair has grown out longer and it looks good on her. Also, she brought over her new dog, Olive. She is an adorable young bulldog. She was so much fun to play with, and Ian loved walking around the yard with her. I think it made Melinda kind of nervous though. She wanted me to take a shower to wash off all of the "dog germs" after Olive kissed me. Just imagine Lucy from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" right after Snoopy kissed her, and that would be Melinda. But Olive was just so cute and so fun! She has this loose skin that's so fun to rub, and she is just so solidly built that she's fun to squeeze!

Connie made it over after her Harry Potter book group at Barnes and Noble. She's been really busy at getting book events going over there, and she does a really good job at it.

Clair came over earlier with little Makenna. It seems like school has been keeping him very busy. But you can tell he loves his little baby. He makes a great dad.

Carrie shared tragic pet stories with us. I didn't realize that when little Peaches (the dog) died that James didn't know about until a week later when he asked mom, "Where is Peaches? I have been looking for him all week and I can't find him."

Michel was over with most of her kids. She is starting to teach school this fall so she has been busy getting her classroom ready. The cousins had fun playing together and James enjoyed seeing his nieces and nephews before he had to go.

On Saturday I took James out to do a few errands and then Carrie picked him up in the afternoon so they could hang out and then she was going to drop him off in the airport.

Saturday I also swept up dog hair off the kitchen floor. Still, it would be fun to have a dog to play around with. Melinda is going to be really nervous when she reads this.

Random notes

• Today was the Poison and Ratt concert (I didn't go). I think they should have billed it as the "Rat poison" tour.
• Lisette wore her pajamas all day because her one pair of jeans were dirty.
• Miles and Lisette discovered the wonders of Lego Star Wars II now they can both save the galaxy from the Empire together.
• Saffron went to REI with James and I wearing an orange dress, Dora the explorer stretch pants and a Winnie-the-Pooh hat. Everyone admired her cuteness and her free-spirit choice of apparel.