Mother's Day Surprise!

 In May, I flew out to DC to surprise Lauryn for her 8th birthday, which happened to be Mother's Day and the day she was being baptized.  She had no idea I was coming!  Ayden had found out before I arrived, but he kept the secret!!!  It was a great way to spend Mother's Day weekend!  A bittersweet one, though, because I knew it was the last time I would visit them there.  I have loved my trips back to the east coast.......will really miss those adventues....

Baseball games were scheduled the entire weekend (well, not on Mother's Day) but Saturday was a triple header with all three kids playing.  We managed to get to 2 of the games and then saw Meysa play on Monday!  Loved it!!!

 Papa Chip and Lauryn found balls in the underbrush.....

  Then it was off to the playground! 

 

 Batter up!  Ayden has gotten really good at this game; reminds me of when Ryan was that age!  It will be fun to watch this young man grow up!

 Meysa came into her own in this game.   She had never even considered playing softball until this year and what a great little player she is!

 My last day in DC was spent on the grounds of the Washington DC temple and visitor's center.  It was a great experience and Aimee was so patient in answering all my questions!  We spent several hours there.  It is beautiful.

March Madness

 Most people would think spending a week with 4 grandkids would constitute madness.....but then they don't know mine!  They are awesome kids and so much fun!  While Ryan and Aimee had to entertain themselves in Italy, I was having an amazing week in DC with the kids.  We had the gamut of weather - snow, sunshine, rain - it kept us guessing what to take and wear!  Each of the kids got to pick out what they wanted to dinner and we ate well!  We went to the National Zoo, Ayden's concert, had pizza delivered, and broke all kinds of house rules!!  Isn't that what a grandma does??!!!  Enjoy the journey!

 Yep, woke up to snow the very first morning!

 The younger kids worked on keeping their rooms organized!

 Okay, I have a new found respect for my daughter-in-law who is SO organized and manages to get 4 lunches done and packed, a hot breakfast made for the kids and this all happens before the first one is up and in the shower!!!  I did my best and managed to have at least lunches done and breakfast started!!!  Hats off to you, Aimee!

Ayden's concert night followed by Sweet Frog!

 Wyatt chose breakfast food for dinner!  My kind of food!

 Meysa chose spaghetti for her meal......it was tasty!

 Heading out to the national zoo!  Poor Meysa got very sick on the Metro and ended up not being able to enjoy pizza that night.  (Sorry, Lauryn, I forgot to take a picture of the pizza!) We postponed the movie as well until the next night when she was better!

 Off to swim!  We spent over 2 hours at the pool! 

 Chili was Ayden's choice.......mmm good!

 Movie  and games were the standard fare each evening.

 What a lot of fun it was.......except I ended up the with same bug as Meysa had the night before I was to fly home and Ryan and Aimee had to put up with me an extra day because I was in no shape to fly!  Do this again?  You bet!!!  (well not the getting sick part!!)

FINALLY......

I give up....as much as I want to stay current with this blog, it doesn't seem to happen.  So I will begin/start again.......I may take a page out of my daughter-in-law's book:  blog quarterly with LOTS of pictures and update.....that may work!!!

So, I will start with January:
We celebrated our 20th anniversary with several events and dates!  We went to dinner on the 21st.  The next weekend we had a marvelous time in Seaside, Oregon.  Thanks to Aimee and Ryan, who gave us a weekend getaway there as our Christmas present!  This past week we enjoyed a concert with The Piano Guys.  If you have never heard of them, google it!  There are great videos!  Thanks to Andy and Teresa who first enlightened us on this great group!  We would see them again and again!  So incredibly thankful for my husband and sons and daughters-in-law!  Truly blessed!

The Piano Guys set - the only picture we were able to get!

Now on to February....well, it has been interesting to say the least!  We started out 3 days ago with snow and it is still snowing.  So we strapped on our snowshoes and out the door we went.  We didn't need to drive to the mountains!  With a total of 12.5", we got a workout! 

Cool camera

 In our family, having a single camera per photographer just doesn't cut it.  However, this time it wasn't me adding to my collection.  Greg is proud owner of a new Nikon and it does amazing things.  All the pictures below are taken with programs that are imbedded into the camera.  He is not a fan of editing in Photoshop so is happy he can "play" with pictures while he is shooting.  Love the effects!

                Pretty much the same pictures; love the pencil drawings!  

Same shot in black and white.  Pretty cool camera....mmmmmmm......do I dare??????

A final goodbye

 It has been two years since Rusty died and we were ready to celebrate and say our last goodbyes.  We had always planned to blow a glass float and put some of his ashes in it as memoir.  The rest of his ashes we were scattering on his favorite sand dune in Pacific City.  So in March we blew the glass float but once we got it home we really didn't like it.  So during our marathon weekend, we decided to do a different color scheme, one that would make us smile and think happy thoughts. It turned out beautifully!  Once we were done, we took the "disliked" glass float and placed on the beach near where we put his ashes.  We figured someone would find it and be excited (it's such a big deal to find a glass float there- the glass blowing studios "plant" floats all year to lure tourists to the beaches!) and that made us happy to think Rusty once again is making others smile! 

 The glass is glowing hot and easy to manipulate.  I added twists in the glass for character.  

 

 Then it's time to blow.  This is the part that makes the shape.  No mistakes here or you get a funny looking glass float!!

 Almost done.....

 Once it is full blown, it goes into a kiln to finish it.  We were able to pick it up the next day!

 Rusty' float........

We placed his ashes on a rise in the dunes....it won't be there next year as the winds and storms will change the landscape....we know he loved this place and we will forever remember him when we visit....you will always be in our hearts, Rusty!