Annette's Surprise 50th!!! 6-13-09

Let me set the stage!!!!! I had been Lying, and Lying and Lying to Annette as she so inquisitively asked questions for the previous couple of weeks as to what we were going to be doing on the weekend of the 13th and 14th. I said we would work on the house and other vague things and she was wondering why I was being so elusive. He he he he... It was fun playing with her for a week. It was so hard not to say anything and she always wondered why I would slip outside to answer my phone if I saw it was one of the kids.

Anyway, We invited all of her closest friends, her family and most showed for the party. her dad Wayne came up and Davey and Stephie came up from Caldwell ( lying that he had a job interview) the twins and all but our lovely Missy and Tom came up to be with us. It was fun.

It rained the whole time we were partying. It didn't before, and it didn't afterwards. It was worth it to have her be so surprised.

By the way, she still hasn't forgiven me for throwing the party. She hates being the center of attention and she let me know for three or four days that she wasn't happy with me!!! Oh well, when have I ever NOT been in trouble!!! I like it!!! wink wink

Blessing the Little Ones!!!!

Last weekend we went to Caldwell, or rather Middleton and had a wonderful time spending the weekend with the newest additions to the family, Kenzington and Rylee Perez. We spent time with Dave and Steph and the Hammonds at their beautiful home and enjoyed their wonderful hospitality. We enjoyed eachothers company too and all the fun we had at the Mall, the Cafe ole with Dave , Steph and the Twins and at the hotel with Tony & Julies family, and Critter and Ellory.

We topped the weekend off with the blessing of the girls in Middleton and what a beautiful blessing David gave the girls. His blessings were so touching and the Spirit was so strong while he blessed them. It was good to be there with my two sons and most of Stephies brothers and Rich.

We had a great dinner afterwards and had a great time with all the family. Afterwards, Annette, Hali and I traveled home and we went the Mountain Home/Fairfield way home. All I can say is WOW! It is absolutely beautiful to take that route. I think We'll take that way home and there everytime!

Memorial Day Work & Check Out Missy Singing ->>

Well, there hasn't been much to report lately other than things are going just fine. Work is still quiet, relatively speaking), life is good and our biggest news is that i've been called to be 1st counselor in the Young Single Adults Branch of our stake. I made the mistake of going fishing with my good friend Deano (second counselor in the Stake Presidency) and mentioned to him that the best kept secret in the church is teaching Sunday School and how there are no early morning Priethood Leadership , nor Auxillary meetings to go too. Well, that was a mistake. After a mere two weeks, I got called. It's cool though. I'm serving with my good friend s Lamont Hanson Pres. and Roger Harshbarger 2nd counselor. We will have fun for sure. I know most of the kids from when I was their Stake Young Mens President and or the High Council talk assignments.

Also, we had fun working around the house on Memorial day weekend. Other than the gig I had with the band on saturday afternoon, the rest of the weekend was dedicated to my beautiful bride and my family. We worked on the yard and the fences and just had an enjoyable time.

Tony and Julie are visiting Aaron and Crytal in Florida at Disney World where Aaron works and we had their little ones with us for the weekend and we'll have them again this weekend.

Poor little Hali was out of sorts because her mom and dad were gone. She would never admit to it but she missed them so very much. She spent most of the time by herself just moping around quietly and out of everyones way. Kinda cool to see an emotional little girl again. Anyway, she was in the upstairs bathroom taking a 2 hour soak and I came in from outside and spoke to her through the door. I yelled out to her "Hali! Who loves ya?" She responded, "You do Gramps" rather discouragingly. I asked her again "Who else?" She responded "Grandma!" I added, well i think everyone loves you. She proceeded to tell me about a girl at school who hated her and turned many of her friends away from her. ( I think she was just down and needed to vent!) I said to her " She really doesn't hate you Hales!" She responded that she was sure she did in her best Eyore tone. I responded by reccomendeing to her " Well, tell her to go to Hell!" (Grandma did not approve) Hali just started laughing her loud deep from the bottom of her belly laugh and she had me laughing. She thought that was funny and then she quickly said to me, "Hey Gramps, you owe me a buck" "I almost forgot because I was laughing so hard" Ya see, everytime I cuss, I owe her a buck. Julie tells me that I will singlehandedly fund her education! Little Poops!

Our Trip to Caldwell to See the Twins

So yesterday, we all loaded up into Tony's van and left Idaho falls and made the 4 hour trek to Caldwell to see Davey and Steph and also Kenzington and Rylee. We had a blast.

The only little person to go with us was Ellory. She was fun. I'll just say that it was an honor to give the girls a blessing and to spend even if it was just a few hours with our newest grand girls. They are beautiful and PUNY!

We hated to leave and if we would have driven, we'd have been there until the hospital staff would have had to to get the retraining order in place and remove us! It was nice to be together with Tone, Julie, Missy, Critter and Ellory to see Davey, Stephie, Kenzi, and Ry.

Kenz & Ry are here!!!! Wahooooo!!!

Well, they came last night around 6:45. Both of the girls are Healthy and doing good. Kenzington was 1st weighin in at 5 lbs 1 oz and Rylee was a whopping 3 lbs 14 oz's. Here are two piuctures that Dave sent.

I talked to Steph this morning and she is doing great. She says the girls are doing excellent. She said that Ry was eating a ton (she has to catch up to her sis). She figures it's cuz Kenzington's butt is finally off of her and she can eat!

They were 2 weeks short of a full term! We are going to see them tommorrow.

Hali's "101 Dalmations" Play

Yesterday evening we went to see Hali's play. Her G.A.T.E. program put on "101 Dalmations". these little actors were great! They did excellent.

Hali played a Chihuahua and she was as cute as a button. Afterwards we went to Arby's for dinner and proceeded to get soaked with spilled pop and slimed with ketchup from our little group. It reminded me of when my parents took my sister Martha and I to a real nice restaurant in LA when I was just an 8 year old kid and Martha and I spilled things and we were crawling around on the floor picking things up and eating them. All the while embarrassing my mom and dad.

Of course, last night, I didn't even get mad at the fact that pop was spilled all over me. It was fun because it was my grandkids. Anyway, here's a clip of her last night

End of March Photos!!! What a difference today!

Ok, so this was the view from our door on Sunday the 29th of March. The markets were gloomy (but improving), the weather was relentlessly reminding us of the nasty grip of winter and it seemed as though we should have remaned Idaho Falls to something Siberian! Maybe even Chernobel or something that would fit for the times. Here's another two:

As you can see, it even feels cold to look at these pictures!!! and now we are in full swing of Spring. yesterday, Annette, Ellory, Critter and I were working in the garden areas getting them all prepared for planting some fun stuff. I moved a bunch of shade loving plants from the back yard that were'nt doing so well after the apple tree that used to shade them so well had split in two and had broken. Since then the plants had done just terrible. So, along the front of our house, it faces north and we always need shade lovers there. So, we'll see if the transplant actually works. I guess that slowly, one by one the projects will get done around here. Annette wants the big pine tree gone in our front yard. I say please not yet. I like it and I know the neighboorhood kids would sure be upset. Years ago, our little Critter and her friend put up or had me rather, put up two swings in the pine tree. Now, years later, every neighborhood kid plays on them. It's really kinda fun to watch and to hear! I know, I'm starting to sound like a nostalgic old man!! ha ha