Surprise B'day Party

 

 Saturday Andrea and Emily put on a surprise birthday party for me.  That they later told me that I was very difficult.  They couldn't get me out of the house.  Ha!  In fact Em came over earlier and walked in with balloons which she then had to quickly hide in the garage because she spotted me in the house.  Then she came in and asked me, "What are you doing here?"  "I live here," I replied.  Finally I did leave.  John and I went to visit a friend whose husband just got home from the hospital.  Then we went out to eat at Pho.   After dinner John still wanted to go and visit a sister in the assisted living center, so we did.  We came home to a house full of people.  What a great party we had.  I am so thrilled that the girls went to so much trouble to have a party for me.  I am so happy and pleased.  What an awesome thing to do. EVERYONE was so nice.

Sara and Em

                                               My good friends Sharon and Anita.

                                        Jenna and Clayton gave me these beautiful flowers.

Flavia and her family gave me this lovely plant which I think is so pretty.

                                                    Baby Jakob and Talia are the cutest!

                                                Jenna with Sharon, Anita and Alan.

                                           The party princess with Sara and Em with Jakob.

                                                          Dani, Ry, and Tanner.

                                           Jose.  Doesn't Jakob look just like his Daddy?

                                                  Flavia with Val and John.

                                                 Michael with Indy and Reubens.

                                                           Jojo with Matt.

                                                           Tal, Kenzie, and Tatum.

                                                          Spencer and Matt goofing off.

                                                               Paulette

Somehow I didn't get a photo of everyone.  Too bad.
 I had an especially nice party and I am so grateful to everyone who came and for all the trouble that everyone went to to give me a great party.  I can't even express how thankful and happy I am.  Thanks Ang and Em for all of your hard work.  Thanks to John too for keeping a secret and helping the girls.  What a lucky woman I am.

Anniversary

Today we are celebrating our 47th anniversary.  How did the time fly by sooooo fast?  It's been a wonderful 47 years.  Oh Yes!  I chose well.  The years have flown by with lots of wonderful, happy times, some hard and sad times, some challenging times.  All in all though, we have been so blessed with a great marriage and a great life.  We have the most awesome children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.  Our goals and values have always been the same as have been our dreams.  I have the best husband who has always treated me with love, kindness and respect without exception.  We try to put the Lord first in our marriage and in our life and we try to be good examples.  Heavenly Father has surely blessed us time and time again and we are both SO grateful for Him and His son Jesus Christ.  

Hand Prints

I had fun making these little handprints.  The babies (sort of) cooperated.  I did have to re-do Tal's once because the first one turned out kind of bad.  I am not a very good artist and had trouble doing the greenery.  I think they turned out fun and will be a good memory for their parents.

In other news, baby Jakob has started holding his breath until he passes out.  I guess he did it the other day while with Jose.  He turned all blue and limp and seemed like he was not breathing.  They thought he was dead.  How scary!  Em called 919 and  Jose was blowing in his mouth.  He came too in about 3 mins.  I would have been freaking out.  The Dr said it's a temper tantrum and that some kids do it.  He did it again the following day.  He seems too little to me to be getting mad and holding his breath, but I guess not.  He's such a sweet little baby too.  He's calm, happy and always loving and cuddly.  This seems so so strange.  Now whenever they seem him starting, they blow on his face and it seems to help.  I sure hope he stops soon.

Halls and Taylors

 Last Saturday Allen came over and worked on our installing a fan for us over our table.  He worked for a long time.

 Wednesday he came and installed the back screen door.  It is getting hot and John always like to open door to get some air and I do not want any bugs coming in.

 He took a dinner break from installing the fan on Saturday and the 4 of us went to eat at the Cracker Barrel.  We had a very nice dinner and enjoyed some good conversation.  After dinner he came back over and finished installing the fan.  It was quite a large job.

The week before that on Wednesday we were invited over to the Taylor's home for dinner.  After a very nice dinner and wonderful conversation Lindy played the piano for us.  She is a concert pianist and her music was just beautiful.  We just loved it.  The family sang to us just before we left.

 Joshua also had a turn playing a couple of songs for us.

 Finally, Aria played the violin.  Oh my goodness, but this family is so talented.

 Paul is the High Priests Group Leader.  He and John always have a lot to talk about.

 We had a most pleasant and enjoyable evening.

Holden and Brant

I have been feeling so sad for some really sweet, strong, special couples.  Above is little Holden Lee.  Holden was born in Hawaii on May 20th.  His parents Jared and Caitlin live in Hawaii while Jared is a student at BYUH.  Jared is the son of good friends and neighbors of ours from Lancaster.  Paul and Vicki Lee moved across the street and one house down from us when we lived in Lancaster years ago and we have been good friends for many years.  They have 5 children just the same ages as some of ours and the kids have been good friends for years.   After two days Caitlin and Jared took little Holden home and were so excited to have their first little baby at home, but he was not doing well.  He was having problems.  The next day they took him to the hospital and they were given some treatment and sent home.  The treatments did not work and the baby had to go back to the hospital.  He was having some intestinal problems and he was operated on.  Little Holden did not do as well as expected.  Some time later he had to have more surgeries as more problems were discovered.  All this time his parents and grandparents loved him and stayed with him.  Finally on June 4th they knew little Holden would not make it and as his parents and grandparents surrounded and held him and sang I Am A Child Of God to him, sweet little baby Holden went home to Heavenly Father from whence he came.  Jared and Caitlin are so happy and proud to be his parents.  They are so glad that Heavenly Father sent Holden to their family.  They are so strong.  I admire them.  The funeral held in Centerville was lovely and he was buried in Bountiful in a beautiful little cemetery near the Bountiful Temple.  After Jared dedicated the grave, they sent off a huge bouquet of white balloons which all the children and relatives got to hold and then release.  It was a sweet send-off and as we watched the balloons going up heavenward, there was a wonderful feeling of calm and love.

Also in Lancaster live James and Wendy Hardy.  James is a wonderful young man.  When he was in high school John taught him the gospel and James was converted and wanted to be baptized.  Now James, who is a very nice looking black man, is quite large.  He is not fat at all, just football player big.  In fact he is now a football coach.  Well, John baptized him but had to have the help of young missionary who was in the ward at that time.  Years passed and James fell in love with Wendy, a beautiful, white returned missionary who is an R.N.  They got married in the Los Angeles Temple and are so happy together.  Years passed and they were unable to have children so they adopted a darling little girl, half white and half black.  How perfect is that!  A few years later they adopted a little boy.  He is also darling and also half black and half white.  The children are now about 4 and 6 (approx).  Last year  Wendy became pregnant and this past Mother's Day she gave birth to little Brant who did not make it because of an umbilical cord accident.  So, so sad.  They are so strong and brave, but as Wendy said, " We just wanted Heavenly Father to let us have him longer."

I'm sure everyone remembers Grady the little grandson of my friend Connie who also had to go home way too soon.

We know that because of Jesus Christ and His sacrificing atonement that we will be reunited with our loved ones and we also know that those who die before the age of 8 will have automatic exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom.  That is awesome and that is what we want for our children.  However, it is so, so sad especially for the parents and for those who stay behind.  I know these babies are fine.  They have it made and yet I feel so sad for the families.  It just doesn't seem natural for the babies to go before the parents.  I admire the strength of these families.  They are special indeed to have provided bodies to these little babies that only needed that gift from their parents.    

Jenna in Romania

 My cute granddaughter, Jenna, went to Romania for a semester abroad with BYU.   While there, they worked in the orphanage in the morning and the hospital in the afternoon.  They also went to classes one of which was studying Romanian.  During their stay they got to do quite a bit of traveling and in fact before coming home after the study was over, Jenna and a few of her fellow students got to travel to London and Ireland.

Meanwhile, back home waiting for her sister to return from school, this cute granddaughter, H, had a plan.  The girls in her Young Women's Group wanted to do something for the children in the orphanage.  They decided to have a fund raiser.  All of the girls in her group got orders for desserts one week at church and the following Saturday they baked and baked and baked.  Deliveries were made on Sunday and the girls earned A Lot of money.  I can't remember exactly, but it was over $500.00.  That is a lot of money.  Lana collected the money and put the money into Jenna's account.  Jenna then went shopping and bought lots of books as well as some toys for the orphanage, which the head nurse had requested.  You can just imagine how excited the children and the nurses were when the gifts to them were delivered.  The children were down to one book and the staff even threw that one away the week before because it was so tattered.  I am so pleased with this wonderful project.  What a great idea and what a joy these girls have provided to so many.

Just Because

 Had to post these photos just because these toddlers are so cute.

 Tal loves her pink princess bear.  She goes everywhere with her always dressed appropriately.

 Reggie loves his daily bath.

Joneaux can't get enough of that yummy chocolate croissant and I can't get enough of him.  So sad that he lives far away.

May B'days BBQ

 Last Sunday we had a May Birthday celebration for the people here.  Sadly we couldn't include Amadeo and Rob because they live too far away.  We also got to meet Clayton, Jenna's friend.  He is very nice and we liked him a lot.  All of the little kids liked him too.

 Here is Jenna with her high heels on and below is Jenna with her shoes off to show how tall Clayton is.  They are a very cute couple and I think they really enjoy each other.

 Jose and Spencer are the birthday boys.

 Of course the babies wanted to blow the candle out too.  Tal was first.

 Then Reggie had a turn.

 Finally Tatum blew her candles out.  We also had to sing Happy Birthday to them, even though it wasn't close to their birthdays.   They loved it.