Grandmas Annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Party

As I'm doing this blog, Christmas is now over and I'm looking at these pictures and it truly brings tears to my eyes. What joy fills my heart as I see each one so happy and it thrills me as a grandma to be creating some fun, fun memories for them. Jared, Shana and Troy still talk of the times they got together  with their cousins at their grandma and grandpa's home to decorate their Christmas cookies.

Look at the happy faces on these kids. Aren't they just the cutest? 

Look at how serious they are. Presley even has her tongue hanging out. lol Easton is placing his decorations so carefully on his cookie.

Makinley loves the frosting. And Daxton has so many decorations on his cookie!! I bet it will taste so good.

I had lots of yummy treats to put on their cookies. I had made so many cookies that the kids got bored and the adults chimed in on the decorating.

Papa and Shana are helping out. Hadley is 2 now and loved getting in on the action this year.

Jared had snuck some cookies before the party had even started!!I love that the adults even love decorating too.

Oh Easton is so proud of his cookie. He should be! Look how delicious it looks.

Grandma sitting next to the Grand kid Christmas Tree.

Since Brayden is 11 now he is the decorating expert. His cookies were so precise with the decorations and looked so beautiful.

Oh Hadley Bug..she loves dressing up and coming out and showing everyone how pretty she looks.

Gentry is 6 now and does a great job. 

Now we're starting to decorate the grand kid tree. They each have their own ornaments and love putting them on. Some even have pictures of when they were just little so it's fun for them to look back at what they used to look like.

Presley in her cute Mickey Mouse Christmas shirt.

Brayden didn't really need crutches but was just playing with them. 

This is such a fun tradition for me to do with the grand kids. I hope they don't get tired of it. Easton and Gentry love it too.
We had Mel and Michelle and Abigail over for dinner and sharing the evening with us since Mel and Michelle are leaving for the MTC to serve their mission. I'm glad they enjoyed being with us and sharing the night with our family traditions.

Happy Birthday To My December Sweethearts

Happy 32nd birthday to Shana Banana. She's such a beautiful young woman. So full of talent as a photographer and a wonderful wife and mother and daughter. 

Hadley turned 2 years old on Dec. 22nd. I love the excitement in their eyes as they wonder what's inside their presents. She's such a doll and is all potty trained and talking up a storm. 

I love this picture of the two of them. Their birthdays are one day apart. They share quite the bond together. Shana asked me how dad and I did it when she was growing up with having her birthday so close to Christmas. Because of the extra money going out for Christmas at the same time. I told her just because she was born on the 21st of December didn't mean her birthday was any less important. I told her I always tried to give fun birthday parties and always wrapped her presents in birthday wrapping instead of Christmas. It was nice of her to notice how hard we tried.

My Visit To San Antonio Texas

On Dec. 4th through Dec. 10th, 2012 I had the opportunity to fly to Texas to take care of Colby and Addie. Troy and Kori were going on a cruise and didn't have anyone to take care of the kids so I took some time off of work and flew to San Antonio. I was so nervous about flying alone but it ended up being a great experience and I didn't have anything to worry about. I met a couple of people on the flight that were so kind. What a blast I had with my sweethearts and I was so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity and for giving me lots of energy to keep up with them. Before I left I had found some ideas of things that we could do to help pass the time during the day. I went to the craft stores and bought everything I needed and loaded up my suitcase to take it with me. Each day I had planned for one activity for them to do.

Here are a couple of activities we did. They loved making the pom pom trees and coloring the nativity scene.

I had to post this because this is what I got from Troy and Kori when they got home. I laughed so hard. They even brought one for Roger that was a muscle man in a speedo of the American Flag with a $ bill stuck it in. We got quite the kick out it.

While I was there with the kids we ventured off to Target and I bought them some legos and they loved playing with them. They loved to create a big mess but were always good to pick up after.

I had taken so many pictures of just the kids so I had Troy take one of me and Addie when they got home. Colby didn't want his picture taken with me darn it.

Another venture off was to Kohls. I was so thankful for a phone AP that Troy had told me about because it got me everywhere we wanted to go. But I bought the kids this little book called "Do You Know How Much I'll Miss You?" I was able to record my voice to the words of the book and that way it would be like me reading it to them. They read it over and over so much that the batteries wore out. lol

I got to take Adaline to her ballet and tap class and it was so much fun watching her. She was awesome! She's the one in the middle.

We would spend a lot of time outside each day playing. Addie's hair is getting so long.

Another thing I bought them while I was there were these nerf guns. They picked them out and it was such a great cheap investment. They spent hours and hours shooting them inside and outside. 

Another adventure we took was to the Winter fest there in San Antonio which wasn't too far from their place. I had heard about it so we decided to go. They rode a couple of rides and bounced in the bouncy thingy. For the Winter fest they ship snow in from some place for the kids to play in since Texas doesn't ever get snow. It was pretty disgusting with all the hay and kids playing in it that I was glad Colby and Addie didn't want to get in it.
Needless to say I had such a fun time taking care of my sweethearts. Roger was sad he wasn't able to go because he had a couple of important doctor appointments but hopefully next time he can come. 

Changes

I've had a lot on my mind lately and I wanted to take a minute to blog about some of them. My thoughts are continually on Roger as his body is beginning to have complications from his diabetes. He's dealt with it now for 46 years and up to this point has actually done really well. He's always been such a model patient according to all of his doctors. He still is..but he's now having a real hard time trying to control his blood sugars and we just found out he's having some major kidney issues.
6 weeks ago he went in for his routine kidney check up with Dr. Stephanz. He goes once a year and has his blood drawn to see what his BUN and Creatnine is. He got the results and the doctor wasn't happy at all. In fact he said there must be a fluke in the test. Lets repeat it in a month. So he did and the results were even worse than the month before.
Roger and I went to see Dr. Stephanz last week and he's quite concerned. He said that Roger's kidneys are functioning about 27%-35% and is in stage 4 of 5 kidney failure. He said if he had a crystal ball he would guess within the next 1.5 to 2 years he will have a kidney transplant or be on dialysis.
The thing is we always knew this day would eventually come but not at the age of 55. You're never prepared for that kind of news.
I'm trying to be positive since I know that kind of attitude helps you survive anything and keeps you out of the dumps. But I have to admit that I'm scared. I'm sad. I hate seeing him vomiting almost every day because of the nausea. I hate seeing him so tired. He will usually start out having a great day then the nausea starts in and he's done for the rest of the day. His blood sugars have been so out of control. Highs for days then lows forever.
I wish I could take it all away for him. But he's been given this challenge and I pray that God will allow us to learn something from it. I know it's brought us so close. Life hands us some real curves sometimes but it keeps us praying and having faith that we'll get through this. I'm so thankful for Roger and for his desire to keep his self healthy. I'm grateful for his love for life and for his family. I know many people are praying for him and putting his name in the temples. He's my rock and I pray I can be his.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving Day is a day of thanks. I'd like to think of every day as giving thanks but I'm grateful we have a day set aside to ponder all of our blessings and to remember our pilgrims and others who have gone on before us. Thanksgiving was always a fun day for me growing up. Mom always made such a delicious meal. Her dressing was to die for! She'd add lots of different things in it. Apples, cranberries, walnuts etc. The tradition for dad was to eat his dinner and hurry back to the TV to watch some football games. Uncle Sterling always came and ate with us too. Occasionally, my brother Jim would join us. 

I'm so thankful for my blessings. My family is always at the top of my list. I can't imagine life without them. From Roger to my children, my grandchildren, my siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles etc. Life is grand. I have so many fun memories with all of them. I'm so grateful for my parents who gave so much to me. They worked hard in their life and sacrificed a lot. I'm grateful for the gospel and for all the good things it brings to us. I'm grateful for my testimony of the gospel, grateful for my job, home, friends. My list could go on forever.

Thanksgiving dinner was held at Lola and Ron's place this year. We had a total of 46 people in attendance and we had so much fun. The food was delicious and the company was awesome.

Julie, Shana, Brea and me with Presley and Hadley. I love the Liston girls

Jake, Shana and Julie enjoying the food and talking

Brea and Brendon were at the table with Rog and me.

Oh Daxton. He's such a ham. 

The place settings were gorgeous. They had done so much work to make everything so special for us.

Eric and Alecia and two of their kids

Gentry enjoying her Thanksgiving food. I wonder what she's thankful for?

Heading to San Antonio on Dec. 4th, 2012

In 2 days I'll be heading to San Antonio, Texas to take care of Colby and Addie. Kori and Troy left today for a cruise that Troy had won last summer. The kids are staying with a friend there that lives in their ward. She has grandkids too and they knew they could trust her to take care of the kids for a couple of days until I could get there on Tues.
I've put lots of time and money in preparation for this little trip. (1 week) I'm taking the traditional Christmas cookie party to Colby and Addie since they won't be here to join us.
So I've bought all the stuff I need for that. I've also bought all the stuff to make a Christmas craft each day I'm there. We're going to make gumdrop trees. Reindeers, reindeer candy canes, etc. I've bought them each a pair of Christmas socks to wear, ornaments to make for their tree. We're going to have so much fun.

The thing that makes this even better is the kids are so excited for me to get there. Kori made a chain out of construction paper that they tear one off for each day before I get there so they can see how close it is. They took a picture of Colby with the biggest, dimple smile and he's holding a Christmas Tree cookie cutter. It makes my heart so happy to see how excited they are.
I'm flying out Dec. 4th at 9:20am and I stop in Denver, Co. then off to San Antonio. The lady in their ward taking care of the kids right now will pick me up at the airport and take me back to Troys place. I hope I make my flights ok and I'll be able to find my way around the city.
I'll post some pictures when I get back from my fun trip.

Roger My Honey Love

This past month Roger had his kidney doctor appointment and before he goes he has to have his labs drawn to see his kidney function levels etc.
Up until now his doctor has been very pleased with how he's done and has told Roger how blessed he's been to have his kidneys still functioning as good as they have been. His results this last time weren't quite as good. In fact they've made a drastic change in the past year. For what reason, we have no idea. He is going to have his tests run again this week to see if there is any change. I'm not sure what he'll do about it. He might just have him be seen in 6 months rather than a year. Maybe there's medication they can put him on to slow the damage down. I'm not quite sure. He did tell him he's in stage 3 of 5 stages of kidney failure.
That's such a scary thought. I know how worried Roger is and how much he has dreaded this day because he knew it would eventually come. He was hoping it wouldn't be at the age of 55.
Our family had a fast for him last week and I pray through our fasting, prayers and faith that he'll be able to go longer without having dialysis or a kidney transplant.
I try so hard to try to be positive. I want him to also. No sense in worrying and stewing about it right now if we are still years away. But I know he is so worried.

He's my rock! I'm not sure how he has gotten through all of his health trials so far but he has. I pray that God will continue to bless him and allow him to do the things he dreams of doing. I love you honey and I"m always here for you. We're in this together. Just like in our marriage vows..."In sickness and in health."