trip to cali...

the day after christmas, don and i packed up and headed to california to see our friends, the godwin's, who are serving as mission presidents in the california san bernadino mission. they've been out for a year and a half, and still have that long to go. (at least they are at the 1/2 way mark).  i am really missing ladawn!

we stopped and stayed in their home in st. george the first night.  the weather was nice and i love just being with donnie.  we got up tuesday morning and headed for a beautiful drive. (if you like to see a whole lot of nothing.  well, every once in a while a joshua tree or sage brush would pop up) it certainly is not like driving through 'island park'. 

we got to their home in etiwanda about 5:00pm.  the traffic was unreal!  we would be traveling about 70 miles an hour, and then all of the sudden traffic would be at a complete stop!  no explanation!  just a complete stop!  then stop and go, stop and go.  when we got there, finally, ladawn told us that craig says that NOBODY could pay him enough to live down there.  well guess what craig! you live down there and NO one is paying you!  well... i hope you are getting payed with blessings!

ladawn fixed us a nice dinner and we visited until we were all too tired to talk.  it was so fun to visit and just be with them again!

wednesday morning we got up and had breakfast then jumped in the car for a tour of the mission.  we went up the mountain to crestline and then over to big bear.  don and i had never been there before, and it was a fun drive.  there was actually a little snow at big bear, but the weather was warm (to us, anyway).  they had snow parks, where they were tubing and having fun.  the traffic was horrendous up there, for people trying to get into the parking lots at the snow parks.  we stopped and had lunch in big bear.  it was funny to see people all dressed up in their snow clothes... hats, mittens, snow pants, boots ~ get the picture.  and then there were those who had barely any clothing on.  we definitely were NOT in utah!  we headed down the mountain to the lucerne valley.  i think it should be called the 'desolate' valley.  but they have missionaries there and said that the ones serving there, love it.

this is us on top of the mountain looking over at big bear

then of course, we had to stop at the 'pro bass' shop in rancho cucamonga

ladawn, jacki, and don

craig (or "president") and don

had to take a picture of all of the sheds, for cheyne.
(i just love how everyone "welcomes" us, the hunters!  isn't that just sooo nice)

more sheds

after (long enough) time spent at 'pro bass', we hurried home so that craig and ladawn could change back into their missionary clothes, then off to meet the carter's (elder and sister)  at out back steak house.  yes! the real steak house, not the stake house!  sorry, not a very good picture, i had one of the waitresses take this picture with my iphone.

president and sister godwin
jacki and don
elder marshall and sister trudie carter

we had a fun time visiting. remembering old times and hearing of all of the drama that goes on in a mission.

the next morning (thursday) don had planned on leaving to come home.  when i went down stairs and told ladawn that, she said "but you can't go home yet!  i bought all of these pork chops, and you can't go home until they're gone!"  didn't take much to talk donnie boy into staying.  so we just bummed around with the godwin's all day.  a trip to sam's club then on to costco.  we went back to the mission home and put on some dinner, then we went to the mission office with them.  they had 4 missionaries that would be leaving the following monday, so they had them all come to the office, fed them, then we went into the chapel and listened to their departing devotional. 

we went back to the mission home and had dinner, visited, laughed about craig running a "daddy day care", and other things.  it was so fun to just be with them again!  can't wait until we can all be down in fairview, together again!

craig, ladawn, don and jacki
the morning we left to come home.

ladawn and jacki.
till we meet again...

on the way home, we just had to stop in las vegas at the 'pro bass' store there.  they had some neat mounts, and some not so.  but we didn't spend a lot of time there. thank goodness!

we stopped at the 'olive garden' in st. george for dinner, then went back to godwin's home to spend the night.  we watched some lame movie, then slept in the next morning. it was nice to be able to relax and not be hurried.  we came home saturday, to the mess from christmas that we left.  oh well... it was worth it!  and... believe it or not, after all the relaxing and good times we had, it's great to be home! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

christmas...

this christmas eve, we were blessed to have our whole family together.  don fixed a delicioso prime rib and the kids brought all of the fixins to go with it.  after we ate, we all went down stairs for some fun and games. we did our own version of "chubby bunny" with "we wish you a merry christmas".

ise... not so sure. 
but usually she can stuff a whole cup full of marshmallows in her mouth at one time.

hunter... how many??? still has those dimples!

siona

kendyl looks like she's going to loose it before she even started.

kamryn was giggling too hard to put many in.

haley determined...

jeff, determined to beat haley.

chet... thinking he could beat them all.

george, ready to loose it!

gramma and leila
(we got to just sit and watch).

did grandpa win?

no!  briggs does not have anything in those cheeks!

we even got the neighbors involved.
gunner and reegan lamb.

the kids lined up to play "santa, may i?"

after a few games and a lot of giggles, we sat around the coffee table and colored a picture of the nativity and talked about the true meaning of christmas. 

then all heck broke loose when we let the kids open their gifts from gramma and grandpa and their cousins.

we had them all sit on the couch to take a picture. they all looked so cute in their matching jammies.  but...  what a joke!  but we did get a couple where most of them were looking at the camera.

leila, kamryn, hunter, isley, siona, jack sittitng on siona's lap, ryker, kendyl holding briggs

cheyne, helping jack open his present.

christmas morning

christmas was on a sunday this year, so don, cheyne, and i, got up and got dressed for church. our ward doesn't meet until 1:00.  we decided to make the rounds early, so we could see the kids before they went to church at 10:00.

first we stopped at the 'murdoch's' to see if santa had come.  sure enough... he stopped there!  the kids were excited to show us what he had brought them. 

the murdoch's

then we headed out to saratoga springs.  guess what!  santa found his way out there, too.

briggs and grandpa

the hunter's

sauvao's had church at 9:00, so we went there last and waited a few minutes until they got home.  beleive it or not...santa stopped there, too.  and why is it that the boxes are so much more fun that anything else?

isley, playing in the boxes

siona, busy with her leapster
isley, playing with the boxes

leila, in her saucer

the sauvao's

we hurried home, and grandpa surprised me with "my fish".  this is a replica of the fish i caught in alaska this summer.  when i caught it, i asked if we were going to have it mounted.  don said "do you know how much that would cost!?'  and i responded with "if it was you that had caught it, would you mount it?"  i teased with him every once in a while, but never had a clue that he really was having it mounted for me.

me with "my fish"

we then headed off to our church meeting. 

after we got home, all of the kids came back home for left overs, and to play games.  cheyne got each of the families a game called "head bandz".  the "older" kids (as in adults)  had the most fun playing.

chet trying to guess what he was

kamryn had it figured out. 
if you can see your reflection in the glass,
you know what ?'s to ask!

cheyne, getting really annoyed that he couldn't figure out that he was a toaster.

jeff and haley

we feel so very blessed to be able to spend such a special time with our most treasured gift.  the gift of a loving family!  and to be able to reflect on the birth (and life) of our savior, Jesus Christ, with them.  we have been soooo blessed this year.  health, jobs, 2 new babies, and more blessings than we can count. 

here's to hoping that you all had a merry christmas, too.  

and... wishing you a happy and prosperous 2012.

from our family to yours...

grandpa's sleepover...

grandpa's last day of work for the year was december 22nd.  so the boys got to have a sleep over with grandpa that night.  hunter and ryker are the only 2 old enough this year, so grandpa really got to spoil (and tease) them.  we (yes... they let me go with them) went to mi ranchito for dinner.  cheyne got to go, too.  they told me that i was "boy trapped" because i had boys on every side of me.

of course... they didn't get to do all the fun things the girls did, but they got to go to mc donald's for lunch on friday (grandpa just forgot to tell them at mc d's that they wanted the boy happy meal instead of the girl one).  oh well... they played with the 'chipettes' while they were eating, then decided to give them to their sisters.

grandpa got to lay with them until they went to sleep, because ryker heard something go "urghhhh", and neither one of them were going to go back in the bedroom without him.   he then got up with them in the morning and poured them each a bowl of cereal, bathed them and got them dressed,  and then they rode down to spanish fork to circle v to pick up  the prime rib he was going to cook for christmas eve.  after that they got to ride with grandpa up to salt lake, to pick up 'gramma's' surprise, and then stopped at cabela's for treats (black and green licorice) and to look around.  grandpa then took them home.  i can't imagine what it will be like when jack and briggs are old enough to stay over.  i wonder if grandpa will be able to do it alone.  maybe they could have an all boys sleep over and the dad's could stay, too.  love you boys!  thanks for keeping us young... if that's possible...

sleepover at gramma's...

since the kids had a few weeks out of school for christmas break, and we were planning on being gone the second week, between christmas and new years eve, we decided to have 2 separate sleepovers the 1st week. today was the girls turn. they came up sunday evening and had tiffany braid their hair, before she left, so that it would be wavy in the morning. siona's was already braided, and her hair is a lot longer than kamryn and kendyl's. when they took the braids out and combed their hair monday morning, this is what they looked like. can you tell that it's wavy?

looks even better from the back, huh!?

we made waffles with whip cream and strawberry jam for breakfast.

then we made carmel to dip pretzels in.  siona got to be the stirrer, because kendyl didn't want to make her arms tired.

she actually stirred for quite a long time.  then we dipped the pretzel sticks in the carmel and then in chopped up chocolate and nuts.  they turned out pretty good and the girls had fun doing them.  i'm bad!  i didn't get a picture of the finished project.

after we dipped the pretzels, the girls wanted to make snow flakes.  so for about 2 to 3 hours, we made a total mess of the kitchen, but made some pretty awesome snow flakes.  (looks like they are the only snow flakes we are going to get to see this christmas).

see the snowmen in the snow flakes?

and can you see the intense look on siona's face.  (she was making some kind of 'sign' that she wanted to hang in the front window).

kendyl is making a sign, too.  can you see all the paper scattered everywhere?

all over the floor...  teeny, tiny, bits of paper... everywhere!

okay... now kamryn's thinking about making a sign, too. 

what the heck am i going to do with all these signs?

kamryn ironing the snow flakes so they would look nice to hang.

the snow flakes all arranged on the front window.  i made them hang their 'signs' on the back patio window. i know, i know!  i'm a fun hater!

then they moved the curtains around and made a little 'fort' in the front window.

i would have NEVER let my kids do this. 

but as hunter says... gramma will let the grand kids do ANYTHING!

mel wouldn't let isley sleep over but she came with george to pick the
girls up , and when they left, they all had on their matching coats.  so of course, being a gramma, i had to take a picture of all of them together. 

and leila was just happy to be here... like always!

it's always fun to have the grand kids here.  they keep us very entertained.  the older girls seem to get along a lot better as they get older.  and... they even all slept in the guest room together in the same bed... all night!  bonus!!!  maybe next time mel will let isley sleep over, too.  (leila will have to wait a while before we take on that task.) 

thanks girls!  i had a wonderful time!  hope you did, too.  heavenly father let me be a gramma, so that i could make up for being a onery mom.  love you all!