Kaitlyn's Blessing Day

A Valentine's blessing! Kaitlyn's blessing day was on Valentines Day... a fun day for a blessing! Cory gave her the blessing in their Ward in Tracy. It was a really nice day, the sun was shinning and it was around 71 degrees outside! Kaitlyn looked like a little doll. She was so good during her blessing, she was just looking around as quiet as can be. She seems like a very easy going little girl. We hardly hear a peep out of her unless she is really hungry. She just smiles, coos and looks around. What a sweetie!

Kristal's parents came for the blessing from Arizona. Kristal made a delicious meal and a pretty Valentines cake for dinner. A great day! We are so very blessed to have 9 grandchildren and one on the way...oh yea...one on the way! Shawn and Kim are expecting a baby in August...so exciting!!

Trying to get 5 children to stay still for a family picture is not easy...especially for the active ones...in the case of Cory and Kristal's family Ethan is the active one! Mike kept snapping pictures so we have a whole line of pictures of Ethan running around...Cory grabbing him and trying to hold him so the picture can be taken. It is so funny to see the whole sequence. It just made us laugh! Here are three of the pictures...

Ethan starting to break rank...

Cory getting Ethan and holding on to him while all the time everyone is smiling for the camera! OK...good enough...at least everyone is in the picture and looking at the camera!

The whole gang.Jimmy, Christy, and Cory. The Valentine girl! Smiling for Grandma!

A trip to New Jersey...

Stacy had to have some surgery so they flew me out to help...Stacy did wonderfully with the surgery. It was an outpatient surgery so she was only gone for 1/2 a day. Meanwhile I had all the fun with the grandchildren. We played tag, played some games, played with Cailin's play kitchen and dolls, watched Sam put on a magic show and drove Ben to the bus stop and picked him up again.

My trip to New Jersey was a long one. I flew from the San Jose airport to the Phoenix airport and then on to the Philadelphia airport. I left home before 8:00 a.m. and didn't get into Philadelphia until after 10:00p.m. It was a long trip with about a 4 hour layover in Arizona. A couple of days before I left they had a big blizzard back East. When I got there on Monday the ground was piled with snow. By Tuesday night it started snowing and they were predicting another big blizzard. It was beautiful...cold but beautiful. Everything was covered in snow with the snow falling in large flakes...a winter wonderland! I was really enjoying it but then I didn't have to go and shovel it off the drive way or sidewalks!

This was a picture out the plane window on the way to Philadelphia.

This is Cailin standing in front of the door that goes out to the upper deck...you can see how high up the snow is behind her...if you really look hard!

It snowed....

And snowed...

And snowed!!

Sammie putting on a magic show for me and Cailin.

We did brave the cold and went out into the snow to play awhile. Making a snowman is not as easy as it looks...!! We worked on the snowman ,stomped around in the snow, Stacy pulled Cailin around on the toboggan that she found buried under the snow and when we decided we had enough of the cold we hurried back in. Sam was the brave one, he didn't want to come in when we did and stayed out for a little longer. I was glad to get in and warm up my numb fingers!

Stacy had a stick that she stuck in the ground to measure the snow...it was about 27 inches.

I had a great week. It is not bad being snowed in when you are with the grandchildren! I got to play with them, watch movies with them...(I finally got to see "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" and "Up"), play chase with them, shoot Nerf guns with them, listen to them read the scriptures and say prayers, got to hug them and hold them...it was great fun! It all went quickly and before I knew it the day came when it was time for me to fly back home.

A picture before leaving for the airport!

Notice Cailin in everything pink! She has to have pink clothes, pink shoes, pink coat, pink glasses... Flying into the sunset...on my way back home!

Thank you Stacy, Jason, Ben, Sam and Cailin for a fun week!

I have to add the following video...Sam and Cailin were making me a pretend birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday to me!

1 Year Ago...

Friday February 13,2009 ... we said good-bye to our mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother.

Ernadene Butler Angus

Aug. 20, 1929- February 6, 2009

Tuesday February 24, 2009 ...we said good-bye to our grandmother, greatgrandmother and great great grandmother.

September 29. 1909-February 15, 2009

My mother and grandmother passed away 7 days apart. My grandmother did not know my mother had passed away. The day that my mother died my grandmother fell ill and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She might have died the same day my mother did if they hadn't put her on a respirator. I really feel it was God's plan to have them together in death. We miss them so much.

This is a fun picture of my mother and grandmother. They spent many Christmas's with us and we loved it! We always had so much fun.