And the Tradition Goes On!

Since the early 80's our family has gone to Newport Beach in the summer. We've missed a few, but not many. We used to stay here and loved the summers when we could rent the upstairs. Here's Maren looking out the window. It wasn't a glamorous place, but we loved it.
Now we stay at the Marriott villas--much nicer and roomier, but I think we all miss the "good ole days" on 14th Street. So, this past August, we made our almost yearly trek to the beach, and Dave's family (they're the only ones close enough to go now) went, too. It was lots of fun, and especially memorable, because Brenden will be leaving on his mission soon, and it was good to have some time with him.

Here's Dave and Hayden keeping close to shore.

The "big boys" (Brenden and Landon) on the other hand, kept going out far enough to catch the big waves. I really had to zoom in on them, so picturewise, this is the best I could do.


After all the fun it was time to pack up and go back. Here's Landon and Grandpa--NOT helping Hayden with his boogie board, but obviously doing a good job of overseeing.

Dave, wondering why I'm taking THIS picture.
Back at the villas, we spent a lot of time going back and forth between th hot tub and the pool.

An action shot of Hayden being tossed in the water by one of his big brothers.

I'm definitely not a very good photographer--where was Carson in all of this? Was he avoiding the camera? Out of the whole week, these are the only two days I took pictures, and he is nowhere to be found. And he is so darn cute! For sure, I'll get him next time.

Cute Kids!

In July (can I be that far behind?) I had an end-of-summer pizza party for my Primary class. Aren't these cute kids? They are really good kids, too which certainly makes my job a lot more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to get the camera out until some of them had gone home.
They kind of drifted between the Wii and pickleball. Here's Katelyn and Samantha. I had a hard time catching them when they were still enough for a picture.
Payton, Aubrey, and Ryan. It was fun for me because they were all having such a good time.
I should have taken a picture of the pulley that Stan made and attached to the upstairs deck. The kids think it's the greatest, and loved being able to put the ice cream, etc., in the bucket and let it down to the patio below.

Visitors

I love to have visitors, so we were really excited when we got a call from Bart saying that they were coming down from Utah to spend a few days with us. Unfortunately, I always get so involved in what is going on that I forget to take the all important "blog photos." We got to celebrate Jarom's 5th birthday on June 28 while they were here, so I did get a few pictures of that. Here he is opening his presents with Kerina looking just as excited as he is. On the right is his cousin--Uncle Jason's son. They came up from Phoenix for the "big" party.Porter very concerned about the presents, Hannah sharing something fun with her mom.
I had to add this picture of Uncle Jason's daughter. Isn't she just the cutest little thing? That's her mom with her.


All Jarom wanted to do for his birthday was go swimming, so we found this fun little water park down in Prescott Valley, and off we went. The kids all had a great time. Some of those people belong to us.


Porter and Emma waiting their turn to go down the slide.

Porter--someday he's going to "love" this picture. He is such a little charmer.
Hannah and Emma. That Hannah is getting sooo pretty, and is such a sweet girl and good baby sitter.
Kerina in the water, and Emma out. Check out Emma's pose--she is such a little cutie!
Joseph--growing up way too fast. He will be twelve in November--a most important birthday. We will be going up for Thanksgiving and to see him ordained a deacon.
Kerina--you just can't help loving that girl.
Okay, so I know there are eight kids in that family, and I only took pictures of five--don't know how I missed the others, especially baby, Grace, who is adorable, and who I took care of the whole time while she slept. You'd think I would have clicked a quick photo--and where were Andrea and Jarom, the birthday boy? I know they were there, but you can't tell it by my shoddy photo journalism skills. Sorry you kids--I'll get you in November.

The day before Bart and Marie left, my sister, Melinda, and her husband, Randy, flew in from Colorado. (We also had one extra elder for a couple of days, so that meant we had 17 people here. Does it get anymore fun than that?

Randy has always loved to cook, so when he lost his job a few months ago (he was a superintendent for a very large construction company--can you say, "Freddie and Fanny?"
Anyway, it was probably a blessing in disguise, because it forced him into a career change, and since he has always longed to be a chef, and since they have a great culinary arts school near him, he enrolled. So needless to say, I didn't cook the whole time he was here. Check out the pro-chef attire. He even has the full-on checkered pants (but it was just too hot for the smock).
Here's one of the meals he cooked--the best steaks ever (done in the frying pan instead of the grill), the salad was amazing, and the grilled corn . . . well, there just wasn't enough of it.
We went to the rodeo (world's oldest, right here in Prescott) while they were here, but I forgot the camera. They were here on the 4th of July, and we watched fireworks with our neighbors from the street in front of our house, but I didn't take any pictures of that either. I did capture a little Wii-playing the night before they went home. I have no idea how long they played--I went to bed and they were still at it. Such fun, and would you believe, they are coming down again in two weeks? I am so looking forward to it. This time, I'll try to be more efficient with the camera.

Fun in North Carolina

In June we flew to North Carolina to visit the grandchildren (and their parents). The weather was great--not too hot or humid . . . yet. First we visited with Maren and Andrew in Garner (near Raleigh).


The boys had lots of fun in their little pool, and had to show me all their tricks. Will thought a picture of him jumping off the slide into the water would be really cool, and he was right.

Hyde preferred the side approach.

And here are our men at work. Andrew wanted to build a fort in the backyard for the kids to play on, and of course, Grandpa (never one to sit around) was more than eager to help out. (A picture of the finished project is now on Maren's blog.)

Making progress . . .

Still in the beginning stages, but the boys were already so excited about it.

Maren drove us to Casey and Tim's in Clemmons (near Winston-Salem). We arrived just in time to attend Alexa's "Fifth Grade Celebration" (since she would be moving on to middle school. Here are a few of those in attendance.

No one can ever accuse this darling Maya of being camera-shy.

Alexa receiving a certificate of promotion. (I guess that's what you call it.)

Here she is with her teacher. So cute!

I told you--loves the camera.
Unfortunately, I was so busy having fun that I forgot to take many pictures, and some of the ones I took didn't turn out for some reason, which explains why there are no pictures of Ivy, Nate, Livie, and McKenna. I'll just have to do better next time.

Meet Elder Robert D. Schamel

In March, I flew to Denver to attend my nephew, Robert Schamel's, missionary farewell. He was leaving the following Tuesday for South Africa. He really is a neat kid, and I was so proud of him, as are his parents. He gave one of the best farewell talks I have ever heard. That night, LOTS of his friends (he's a popular guy) came over to say goodbye, and ended up entertaining us. Robert has been singing in a quartet, and the other three guys were there, so they treated us with an impromptu concert. It was the first time I had ever heard them, and halfway through the first song, I realized that they were really good, and since I had my camera in my hand, I set it to record. Here they are--enjoy!






Here he is with his Dad right after he was set-apart and got to put on his name tag.
Schamel kids--Andrew, Leslie, Robert, and Aaron.
Robert and his mom--my sister, Melinda.

Here we are at the airport. We had to be there about 6 AM, and it was snowing like crazy. Leslie, Andrew, Robert, and I were all flying out that morning. Good planning--Only one trip to the airport for Randy and Melinda.A great story here. We were all going headed over to security, when this girl saw us and noticed Robert's tags. She was excited, because she said this was the first time she had ever seen a missionary leaving from an airport with all his family there to see him off. (Obviously, she's not from Utah.) Anyway, a little while later, I guess she got up her nerve to approach us, and said that she was in a lot of pain because of her arm, and wouldn't be able to do anything about it until she got to her destination (Atlanta I think) which would be several hours from then. She asked if Robert and his dad had enough time to give her a blessing. Well, there we were, in the middle of the airport, with time to do it, but where? Melinda turned and saw a NTSB guy standing nearby and asked if perhaps there was a room they could use for a few minutes. His response was, "Oh, do you want to give her a blessing?" Yep! He was LDS--what are the chances?--this is Colorado, not Utah! Anyhow, he said he'd ask for permission, which was granted, and they were able to use the room right next to us, and the blessing was given. I thought it was a perfect experience for Robert at this important time in his life. Anyway, here they are. Unfortunately, I have no idea what her name was.


After boarding the plane, I think he met up with his companion in New York (or somewhere back east) and then they flew straight to the MTC in Johannesburg, (although he is in the Cape Town mission) and is now serving in a town called Knysna. He is absolutely loving it despite having been robbed at knifepoint on one occasion, and finding himself in the middle of a riot on another, all in the first month. Scary stuff! But his letters are filled with enthusiasm and love for the work. What a great kid he is.

Elders in the Basement

The problem with having missionaries living in your basement is that you get way too attached to them. These are the first two we had--Elder Chezik and Elder Leavitt. They (coincidentally) moved in on the very same day that Brenden arrived (Landon came a couple of days later), so the four of them shared the basement for about a month. As soon as their folks arrived, Brenden and Landon left us. ( Too bad for us.) This picture was taken on the night the boys came over to say goodbye to Elder C. who was being transferred the next day--so sad. They had lots of fun together--ping pong tournaments, basketball, and pickleball (only at appropriate times, of course).

We are very blessed because we have the cream of the crop--the hardworking zone leaders. We really hated to see Elder C. leave. Up here in the mountains, they have a cool, red pickup to drive. Elder Chezik goes home in August, so he was hoping to spend the last few months back on a bike down in the valley doing more teaching, which is exactly what he's doing. Too bad he spent the cold part of his mission up here in the snow and ice, and is down there riding in the 100+ temperatures for the summer--but knowing him, he's loving it.
Here's Elder Carver who came home with Elder Leavitt after Elder Chezik left. We were surprised that Elder L. got to stay--because it meant that he had been in Prescott for a whole year! But what a great missionary.
Here we are after receiving the news that Elder Leavitt was finally leaving Prescott. He's also down in the valley now. Hot, Hot, Hot. But still a zone leader. We really miss him.
Here he is packing up. He had a bunch of old ties that he never wore which he added to a bunch that Elder Chezik left, and made a ball out of them, which Elder Carver seemed to be enjoying. Too much fun! Now we have Elder Van Orden who took Elder L's place, but unfortunately, I haven't taken a picture of him yet. Guess I'll just have to save that for later.

A Dream Come True!!

The Big Day!
It has been a long time since we have had any of our children living close to us. Many of you will remember the main reason we moved to Arizona was because we had three children and about 12 grandchildren living here. Then, after only a few months, Stan and I went on a mission, and, wouldn't you know, one by one the kids all moved away, and worst of all, they took the grandchildren with them! Well, things are looking up for us now.--In January, Dave brought Brenden and Landon out, got them enrolled in school, and left them with us. Then in February, he and Roberta drove two big trucks out from North Carolina and moved into a house just two miles from us. They got here just two days after the biggest snow we've had in years. Great timing!

They hadn't seen the house they were moving into, except on the internet. But I had taken the boys over, and got their approval, so we just hoped they wouldn't be disappointed. As soon as the rest of the family got here, we took a quick trip over to have a look. Because of all the snow and ice, we could barely get up the driveway which, I must say, is pretty darn steep. But we were determined to get up there.



The next day we all went to help unload. Needless to say, the trucks couldn't get up the driveway either, even though by this time the sun was out and the driveway itself was pretty clear. So they had to unload the stuff from the truck into the car and onto another trailer and pull it up with a pickup, and then unload the trailer.
Here's the second unloading process.
Notice that everything still had to be carried across the icy driveway. It was quite an ordeal and took two days, with the piano being unloaded on the third day. But we were glad to help because we're so glad to have them here. I just hope they will stay for a really long time. (Sorry to take them away, Van Buskirks.)

A Plea for Sympathy!

Okay! I've swallowed all my pride, and I'm posting this. I had a little mishap on Easter Sunday. Was out on the back patio with my grandsons--missed the step and fell flat on my face on the concrete. You can see where my glasses cut the bridge of my nose. It scared the kids to death. Brenden wanted to help me up, but I told him to just leave me there until everything quit hurting. He said he was going to go upstairs and get Grandpa. Meanwhile, I was bleeding all over the patio. It's amazing that I wasn't in more pain. I just remember seeing the concrete coming toward me, and thinking that this is really going to hurt. My first thought was that I had broken my teeth, but fortunately they seemed okay. Next worry was that I'd scratched my new glasses (which I did, but only slightly), and then we were all certain that I had broken my nose. Not a pleasant thought. I may have, but since I knew they wouldn't do anything for it (unless it was really bad), I just sat around with ice on it. This picture was taken that evening, after I called Maren and told her what had done. Her first response was, "You are going to take a picture and put it on the blog, aren't you?" Then I called Casey--Her first response, "You need to take a picture and put it on your blog!" How's that for sympathy?

So here I am. Actually, I think I was just getting ready to say something when Stan took the picture, so you can't really see how swollen my lip was, but take it from me--it was really fat!
I should have taken another picture a day or two later, because the bruise above my lip got really ugly. Couldn't hide it, so Stan kept calling me "Charlie" (as in Chaplin) which was a wee bit better than Adolph.

I tried to cover it with all the makeup I had, and Tuesday morning after I got myself looking the best I could, I came into the kitchen and Stan said, "You look like you've been beaten." I said, "Oh (whiny voice here), do I look that bad? I really need to go to the store." Stan: "Do you want me to go for you?" (Insert this implied followup--"You probably shouldn't be seen in public.") He's a real morale booster. Anyway, I'm much better now--the bruise is slowly fading, the lip is back to normal, and I think the swelling is almost gone on the nose (or maybe not, and this is what I'm left with.)