Clarke's Birthday and Annual Tournament!!! ( Hearts this Year!)

 This year we were honored to have Deborah, Eric, Jacob, Mason, and Danielle join us. Of course Sarah and family and Ashley attended. Allyson missed this year because she is on her mission! A good thing to miss it for. She's excused.

                                                                Sisters!

 All the kids were so excited to have a pizza dinner and sing Happy Birthday to Clarke and dive into the birthday cake!

This table was having some serious outburst of laughter! We love cousins!!!!

      
                         Deborah and Danielle.... she looks like a mini Deborah!!!!

And now for a little MONKEY business while the adults play hearts!!!! Let the fun begin!!!!

 

                                                                    Andrew!

   

                                                                        Mckay!

 These were the last standing table of hearts!!! The final Four! And the winner is........................

Drum roll.....................Ashley! She was so happy to win... Sarah won last year!!!!

 Back to monkey business. Gracie and Lucy had to have a turn! Not sure where Maren was at this point!

                                                                  Gracie!

 Lucy.... we had to get out of the tree fast cause Bob was on his way up the walkway... he is the maintainence guy who does not like the kids in the tree.... shame on grandma!!!!!!

Jared has another birthday... can you believe that?

 Ashley and Sarah and family were able to spend Jared's birthday with us this year. After a dinner and some cake and ice cream we were able to take the kids to the park for a little fun.... which, by the way, they love!

 

Taylor Ann

                                                                    Mckay
                                                                     

This is Mckay's favorite apparatus

                                    Maren and Barbara raking and digging in the bark.

 Benson and Maren loved taking all the dinosaurs and animals  to the park and lining them all up!

 This is sweet Maren.... who loves to climb, swing, jump,and get into everything. She is going to be so smart because she is curious about everything!

When we get tired of chasing her because she runs off Grandpa just puts her on his shoulders and she has a great time.....so far she hasn't caught on to the real reason she is up there.

Muir Woods - February 15, 2013 Clarke and Char's anniversary

On February !5th we went to visit Clarke and Char and family so they could get away for some alone time for their anniversary. Ended up they wanted to hike Muir Woods and needed the help of Jared and I to help with 4 children. It took us about 3 hours and we did the hike to the top. It is definitely a great view and beautiful hike. Here we are as we arrived.

                              Lucy wanted me to get a picture of her... so she is beautiful!!

 Clarke and family right before we start on the trail... Char and Elise( which she carried in a mobi the whole hike, and Elise is 20 pounds!) Clarke, Lucy, Gracie, and Andrew.

                                       The kiddos with Grandpa and Grandma!

 Gracie was my little companion for a big section of the hike. She did most of the hike all by herself. I was so proud of her.

 This was taken at the top of the hike as we went to see the ocean view. On the hike the canopy of the Redwoods kept it cool and shady. It was weird to get to the top and have it be so sunny and HOT!

                       Taking a break from our work before we head back down.

                               Thankfully some hikers were willing to get a shot of all of us!

                     We are so glad Clarke married his beautiful bride 11 years ago!( Notice the sleeping baby in the mobi... she carried her 3 hours on this hike this way! Amazing!!)

    

                                                                        Cute!

 This is how much fun Gracie was having. The trails look alot like this but in areas it was steep. Way to go Gracie!

                                                      We made it to the top!

                 Thankfully a hiker was willing to get a shot of all of us. We had a great day. So fun!!!!

Colorado Springs Here comes Sister Bjarnason!

Ally came home from college on the 20th then had 4 impacted teeth removed. After recovering from Dry socket and the flu... The big event of that week was our trip to the temple which was awesome, We are so glad that Sarah ,Clarke,Stephanie , Leon and Kathy, Karen and Porter and Jim were able to be with us,

             Just before entering the temple we were able to get this shot of the lights. This was so amazingly beautiful. The glow was emanating and beckoning us to come in.

The temple was magnificent and we were able to take a few shots in the dark that really showed how beautiful the lights are.

It had been raining and cold as you can read in Ally's expression but its a great picture of her right before we went in. Love the palm trees and the flowing water. This was taken before we went in. We had just purchased garments.

  Judy Payne and Trudy Gleason have been dear friends for 30 years and have been a part of our lives and Ally's since birth! So glad they could come!

 This is all the family that came to our special evening. Sarah drove from Mad era....3 hours away, Clarke drove from an hour away, Karen, Porter and Jinn drove 1 and 1/2 hours , Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Leon and Aunt Kathy made the evening great. Thank you all for coming. Jared and I are there ... I am hiding behind him. We had such a wonderful night! I love my family.Wish all of you could have been there with us.

 We had family dinners, games , play time and just talking. It was fun and filled with lots of memories and love.. Sarah is listening to Ally's talk here so she can get it right for Sunday. Love the new cut. She cut off 11 inches of her hair.. Looks great!

 Ron and Stephie brought Pizza and salad to the house and we had a great dinner and game night as Jon and Jennifer were here for a visit. We love them so much,They have been a part of our family for 21 years!!! This is the three big guys.... Taylor, Andrew and Mckay!

Jon and Jennifer at the table with Uncle Ron, Aunt Stephanie, Char and her baby Elise. Great time!

               Sarah, Ally, Me, Jared and Clarke after the session. Love my family!!!!

                      Ashley bonded with Hannah who is almost 1....so cute!

              Beautiful sisters! Thanks for being my sweet daughters! I love you both so much!!!

 Getting ready for church and having a few minutes to get out some of grandmas toys. FUN!

 The grand kids can never come to the house without an adventure on our water bed.Also at Christmas time grandpa loves to watch the NUTCRACKER and they all followed and enjoyed watching it.All 9 of them. What a great group!

 This is one of my favorite photos I was able to capture. These two look so much like sisters and we had such a great week before Ally left.... shopping, movies, dinners, games, church and a beautiful song they sang! These are my two babies....all grown up!

 Took this right before we left for the airport. Ally looks so excited and she was so ready to go.

Saying goodbye as she went through the security and we had to say goodbye! Doesn't she look ready! Go Ally! Our prayers are with you. You will do an awesome job. We all love you so much!

December Festivities!

December is a busy month here filled with slumber parties, dinners, singing, nativity, chimes, new pjs, birthdays, and the grand Christmas Eve barn experience and extended family dinner. It is a very busy month and lots of cooking when everyone is here...but worth all the effort!

About the month of June I start listening to the grandchildren as they express some of their ideas of things they may want for Christmas. Seems early to alot of you... I keep my ears open) Some of them are very outspoken while others are happy to have whatever comes their way. There were three gifts this year which I was so excited to see the kids open. One was Princess Aurora Maren had been  talking about for a while. Mckay, had been talking of a double edged nerf sword ,and Lucy loves Little ponies and wanted Princess Cadence.  I start looking for great sales and black Friday sales, I use coupons and I go on  my my adventure to pick just the right thing for each grandchild. I start early as to be able to purchase things at a bargain... mainly because I have 11 grandchildren, my own children and spouses and  family in Virginia I like to get  gifts for. Below are some of these moments captured in photos. Some are so Precious!  The only thing that could have topped all of this was if Spencer and his family were with us! Maybe in the future!

 Lucy, Taylor, Maren and Benson getting their share of ice cream.... can't come to Grandma's without ice cream!

                                      Lucy and Maren... best friends.

                         Gracie and Benson are so fun . They play so well together!

 Taylor and Andrew found a perfect spot to escape the little ones... under my dining table area.

 Clarke and Elise taking a break  and watching the kids play the WII which was a big hit!

Christmas Eve pajamas. If you are at my home the tradition is you get a pair of pajamas.

 This year we were blessed to have Charlotte's parents join in our Christmas Eve barn celebration.

                            Ally, Hannah and Sarah singing carols.

                       Clarke, Elise and Uncle Leon enjoying the songs! This year the weather was perfect...last year was freezing!

                                            Maren.... a shepherd!

                                                         Lucy the angel!

 Hannah and Devon  both wanting the horn. I believe Devon was being a sweet boy and sharing!

                            The nativity cast! Great job... always the highlight!

 The chimes are always a hit and the kiddos loved the song they could bang them as much as they wanted and as many times as they wanted. It was beautiful music!

 Christmas day we gave Taylor a weaving loom so she could make pot holders. She loves crafts!

                        Here is that doubled edged nerf sword... it was a hit!

                                                  Ashley and Hannah.

This was a great kodak and touching moment as Maren opened her gift and got the Aurora doll. Made all my shopping worth it!!!

 I turned a big  56 this year. For the past 5 years I have been able to have lots of granchildren to my birthday.... hopefully many more to come!

 Hannah got a dolly that giggled when she pressed the tummy. She was so cute with this doll. She has a lot of love in her and  gave this baby many hugs!

               Taylor checking under the tree to see if there were any more gifts!

 Allyson had just had her wisdom teeth out and had a dry socket but was a trooper and went with us to Sarah's on Christmas day. Hannah and her were great together. They will miss her for the next 18 months. Clarke told me that when he told Lucy Ally was leaving for 18 months she cried. Isn't that so sweet.

Benson loves blocks and trains... so this was a perfect gift for him and I was so glad he liked it.