A Good Time Was Had By All

As you can tell we had a very delicious meal. Everything was set just perfectly on the tables. We all got along and liked who we were sitting by. hahaha..

Brayden and his second cousins found the "boy stuff" to play with. It kept them busy while we got dinner ready.

Daxton of course found the cowboy getup to play with. He loves Thanksgiving!!

Makinley and Gentry having their own tea party before we ate dinner.

Troy played the traditional morning football game when the ground was still frozen this morning. As you can tell he got pretty hammered from the frozen ground.

Gentry loves Thanksgiving. Kristi is feeling pretty satisfied with the big meal too. Yummy ..

Kori and Troy feeling stuffed after their big dinner. Troy went back for seconds even. And then there's Elaine who's trying to take pictures for her blog too. She's in the background of all my pictures taking her pictures..hahaha

And here's Morris. He couldn't get enough of my yummy yams either. hahaha.

Elaine of course was the last one at the table. She just couldn't get enough of my yummy yams..hahaha

This is your typical after turkey dinner activity. The guys have to watch football. Jared, Ron and Rog have the pick of the seats. No dish washing for them. Just waiting to be served their pie.

Aunt Lola is one of Shanas favorite people. Lola ate more than I've ever seen her eat before. J/K

Kristi is looking to see if there is an item of food that she missed out on. Morris is asking Makinley if she is going to innoculate her children before the age of 3 and Makinley said "no".

Here is Ron, the master turkey carver. As you can tell he takes this job very seriously.

As you can tell everyone is as happy as can be with their big plates of food in front of their faces. I think this is the longest Thanksgiving table I have ever seen. We were so fortunate to have the Listons welcome us into their home. They worked so hard to make everything so perfect and it was. What a fun family we have and I love and adore each one. This is another happy memory for me and my family. It was so nice to have us all together. Thanks Listons for having us all over!!

Things I'm Thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day

I'm so thankful for my beautiful grandchildren. I never imagined it could be this good being a grandma. My love for them is so great. Each one brings so much joy to our family and they each have such unique personalities. I'm so excited to be adding a 5th grandbaby in March. Grandma loves you so much Brayden, Daxton, Makinley, Gentry and baby Colby.




I'm grateful for my husband. For the 30 years we've been together. He's such a hard worker. Rog is such a sensitive person. He wears his heart on his sleeve. When it comes to his kids and grandkids he loves them more than anything in this world.





I"m so thankful for Jared, my first born son. I"m so thankful for Kristi, his beautiful wife. I've always admired their marriage and how much in love they are. Jared treats Kristi like a queen and is such a wonderful father. Kristi is a hard working mother and wife. She loves being a mommy. They are such good examples to me.



Shana is my beautiful daughter. She's married to Jake. I am so thankful for them and for the example they have been to me. They have survived some big trials their first year of marriage but have come out on top. Shana is a wonderful mother and loves her boys so much. Jake has taken on the role of father and is doing an excellent job. I love them so much.


Then there is my baby. Troy and his beautiful wife Kori. I"m so thankful for each of them and for the hard workers that they are. They are great examples to me in every sense. They have a great love for one another and are so supportive of each other too. Our family is looking forward to them having their little boy, Colby, join our family in March. I love you both so much.

As you can see my family is the number one thing that I"m always thankful for. My list of others are as follows: I'm thankful for my parents who brought me up in a good home. They were such hard workers and loved me. I miss them so much. I"m grateful for my siblings and for being able to find my brother Jim after almost 30 years. I'm grateful for Rogers family. We have so much fun when we're together. I'm grateful for the gospel. For what it represents. That Christ died for us all and that we can live with him again. I"m grateful for my job, Rogers job and for the benefits it provides for us. I"m grateful for my close friends and for their unconditional love for me. I'm grateful for a warm home that shelters me from the elements of the world when others are so less fortunate. I'm very grateful for my good health. I'm grateful for men and women who sacrafice their lives for my freedom to live in this free country. I"m grateful for this Thanksgiving Day that gives us this opportunity to reflect upon all that we've been blessed with.
May you each have a wonderful holiday season and remember that I love each and every one of you. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

7 Things You Don't Know About Me But You Do Now

Ok here goes..since everybody else has done it I guess I will.

1. I have always wanted to learn to play the piano and hope I can some day before I die.
2. I have this fear of dying before I feel like I have accomplished all the things I want to.
3. When I was growing up I swam on the Riverside Country Club swim team and won many ribbons. I guess that's where I get my love for the water.
4. My pet peeve in life are the advertising inserts in all the magazines I read. Thank goodness for the Ensign because it doesn't have any unless it's once in a while advertising church stuff.
5. I used to be on the Orem High Gymnastics team and I did the uneven parallel bars as my specialty.
6. Starting in Jr. High I started passing out whenever I entered a hospital. I had this phobia about them. One time they had to take me out in a wheelchair and another time I passed out and my blood pressure was so low they had to lay me down on the ER table and here I am working in the ER now. No phobia anymore about hospitals. Thank goodness.
7. I hate being gone away from home for very long. 3 or 4 days away from home and I'm starting to get antsy. I miss my kids, grandkids, home and my own big bed. I guess I better work on this one because when we retire we're wanting to do a lot of traveling.

I must have had a few nightmares

What do you think? Maybe a nightmare or two? I woke up one morning last week and I laughed so hard at my hair. I called Roger in to see it and he had to grab the camera. Now you know why I have to shower every day and wash my hair. There is no way I could make anything out of that hairdo in the morning to just brush and go.

My Play Date with Daxton and Makinley

Makinley enjoying her fruit snacks. She loved being outdoors on our day together

Daxton was raking leaves to surprise Papa when he got home.

Makinley and Daxton made me a couple of birthday cakes with their playdough!!

I was fortunate to have another "play date" with Daxton and Makinley on Tues. Monday night they both slept over. They started out on the floor in our room on some mattresses. By about 2 am Dax was already in our bed between Rog and I. Makinley luckily stayed on the floor all night and didn't wake until 7:30am. The three of us were all in bed together watching cartoons for a little bit then I got up and made them breakfast. I sent them downstairs to make a hut while I made some playdough for them.(I have an awesome recipe if anyone wants it). Can you believe for 1.5 hours they entertained themselves with that playdough, rolling pins and cookie cutters?

Not much usually holds a 3 year olds attention for that long but it was awesome. I was downstairs getting ready for the day and I heard them yell "Mimah, come here!!" I ran upstairs and they both were hiding behind the countertop. They stood up and with hands in the air yelled " Happy Birthday." It was so adorable!!! They each had made a birthday cake out of the playdough and had put their cookie cutters on the top of it for decorations. You can see in the picture what I mean. It just melted my heart!!

After they played there we walked to the park with the dogs. Oh what a joy that was. They each had to hold a leash. They played at the park for about an hour and we came home and played in the back yard. Dax was trying to help by raking leaves. Makinley didn't want to. She just wanted to eat her fruit snakes. Well, we called Papa and asked him if he wanted to meet us for lunch so we met him at Carl Jr. so the kids could play on the big gym they have there. Again, they had a blast. Makinley didn't want to go home so she spent the rest of the day with us.

Can I just say how much fun I had? Those two are quite entertaining. What a fun age they are. I love them both so much and I'm so looking forward to our next "play date." When Gentry gets just a little bit older I'll take her too. I need to get with Brayden and take him on a one on one date also. My life is centered around my grandkids. They are the joy of my life. I love their hugs and kisses so much. Thanks Dax and Kin for making my day!!!

Guilty Feelings of a Mother

There are times when I wish I could do more as a "Mom" or as a "Grandma". Yesterday when I was at work I got a text from Shana telling me how sick she was and how she wished she had someone to take Daxton so that she could sleep and try to get better. I felt helpless. I wanted so much to be able to take off work and go "mother" her and help her out at home and with the kids. I was training someone new at work and right now I have no one to call to back me up so I had to sit there all day wondering how she was doing. Then she told me that Daxtons pre-school that was supposed to open on Monday is not going to open for another week now. Here I go again feeling guilty that I can't help out more. Work, work, work. It seems to stand in the way of everything that's important in this life. I'm going to have Dax on Tues.(my day off) so i'm looking forward to spending my time with him. We'll plan on doing something fun together. I look forward to the day when I can retire and be able to be of more help to my family. The guilt really gets to you some time. Anyone else have those guilty feelings?