Gavin, the Tee-ball Star!

As I mentioned in my last blog, we had a little birthday party for Gavin.  He got the necessary equipment for playing tee-ball.  He also got a gift card for McDonalds so he can fill his cute little belly with whatever his little heart desires.

Once he got his birthday gear, he had to go play ball with Dad and Grandpa.  He missed the first few hits but then he caught on really quickly.

He practiced,

and practiced,

and then made several hits.  Way to go Gavin!!!  We really, really love you:)

Thanksgiving 2011

Our Thanksgiving holiday started on November 23rd when Garry, Heidi and their family arrived via Mesa where they were visiting Heidi's family before visiting us.  Once they arrived the children were ecstatic to be out of the car and finally at a destination where they wouldn't have to ride another mile for a few days. Our first order of business was figuring out the sleeping arrangements.  Luckily our back room was big enough for four beds.  All of them sleeping together in the same room wasn't the most ideal, but it wasn't bad.  Other than waking each other up early in the morning, it was pretty good.

The kids loved the trampoline.  They were out jumping a lot during the whole trip.  They even talked their dad into jumping with them.  That of course is more fun than jumping alone.

They were all acting kind of silly but they made us laugh.
We had a great dinner on Thanksgiving and then later that night we went to visit the Terry's and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins.

On Friday, we had a lot of pomegranites to squeeze.  Brother Rawson, a friend of ours, made a machine that does a fabulous job so we always go to his house and we help him help us.  The children were so interested in watching this whole process.

Gavin in particular was intent on helping.

Zach helped out washing the pomegranites before they were juiced.

Tyler also did some washing.

Lexi stood in the back of our van and helped put the pomegranites into buckets.

Gavin loved loading the fruit into the hopper and watching it squeeze them.

After they were juiced, Zach helped fill up the cartons.  We got 13 gallons of juice off of one tree.  I think this will always be something they will remember.  They found out that they all loved pomegranite juice.

Alyssa, brother Rawson's granddaughter, happened to ride by while we were there and offered to take the kids for a little ride.  They were all excited to see and ride the horse.

 

 

After juicing our pomegranites, mom, Gavin, Lexi and I went to the cemetery to decorate my dad's, Bonnie and Heather's graves.  The Littles had fun helping there as well.

After returning from the cemetery, we started doing some projects around the house.  Duane borrowed a metal detector so he could find a buried sleeve for our tetherball we had a few years back.  Zachary found it and so Duane uncovered it and we were able to put our tetherball up again.

Garry, Tyler, and Duane put up the Christmas lights.  After a while we were able to get them all working.

In the evening, we had a birthday party for Gavin.  He will turn 4 next Wednesday, on the 30th, so we had a barbeque and ate outside.  It was a beautiful day but after the sun set, it got a little cold so after dinner we went inside to have the birthday pie.

Gavin blew out the candles (4 for his birthday and the one in the middle played Happy Birthday).  We didn't count that as one of the four.

We had pie and then...

Gavin was able to open his presents.  He got a bat and ball, a glove and a helmet.  He's now outfitted for being a star tee-ball player.

Holy Moly Pomegranites!

Well this year was a bumper crop for pomegranites!  Duane and I picked and picked and picked.

We picked the red beauties the day of the pomegranite festival, which was November 5th.  As we were leaving to go, I said to Duane that I would be so mad if we came home and someone had stolen them while we were gone.  This valley has always been rich with pomegranites and no one really cared until pomegranites started being advertised as such a great health food.  Now several people we know have had their pomegranites stolen. They now seem to be pretty valuable.  At the pomegranite festival the little beauties were selling for $3 a piece.

Well when we got home I got a message from a friend that my neighbor happened to go by our house and two cars full of adults were picking our pomegranites.  Our neighbor stopped and asked them if they had permission to pick them and they said they did.  She said, "I don't think so," and then proceeded to pretend to text me and as soon as she told them she was texting me, they took off.  She said they had already picked about three grocery bags full and they did get away with those but at least we still had a lot left because she came by in time to stop them.

As you can see we still got a lot.  This is off only one tree.  Yesterday, we juiced them and got 13 gallons of juice.  Our grandchild were here and they had a ball helping to juice them.  They found out they loved pomegranite juice.  Now it will be time to start making our Christmas gifts of pomegranite jelly.  Everyone in Provo loves receiving this gift because it is something they don't normally get.  It's a unique gift to them.

Aren't they a beautiful fruit?

A Night With the Osmonds

I'm sorry for reposting the same blog, but I've been having problems with my blog and Heidi just helped me fix it.  Anyway, I'll try this now with the words.  On October  29, the Osmond Brothers came to Las Vegas to put on a show at the Orleans.  Jay Osmond and Duane worked together for 4 years at BYU and are good friends.  Jay called Duane and said they were coming to Vegas and he would comp us tickets to come see the show.  To make a long story short, we ended up getting 5 tickets because Christian was coming to Vegas to teach at a conference so he was here and Shawna, his cousin, who is my principal loves the Osmonds, so we all went together.  Before the show, we all went to Macaroni Grill and then over to the show.  When we arrived, Jay had arranged for us to have our own box seats with a separate private room to watch the show with a couch, table, and drinks.  He invited us to come back stage before the show so we did.  They put on an excellent show and really talked about their family and paid a nice tribute to their dad.

Heidi and Christian

They sang a lot of really great songs.

They have sung together for 54 years.  This is Jay's last year to perform.  He is retiring next year.

It was a very fun evening.  We all had a great time.

Fall Fun

One of the fun things about fall are the beautiful leaves. For kids the best part is raking them up and playing in them. I thought these were the cutest pictures of my grandchildren. This is Zachary. He looks like he's having a blast.

Tyler is a sweetheart.

Gavin just makes me smile and giggle inside every time I think of him.

Our cute little Lexi! She's all about having fun with her brothers. Maybe next fall we'll have a picture with Katelyn getting in the action but for now she's just sleeping and eating.

Katelyn's Blessing

On October 7th, 2011 we flew to Colorado to see our newest grandchild and attend her blessing. She is such a sweet baby. Heidi had such a rough pregnancy so we feel very blessed that Katelyn arrived so wonderful and perfect. She has the sweetest spirit to match her perfect little body.

The day we arrived we had planned on taking the kids to the pumpkin patch but it was so cold and windy that we thought we shouldn't take the littles out that long. Zach and Tyler both had soccor games but they were at the same time in two different places so Duane went to Tyler's game with Heidi and Gavin and Grandma Great and I went to Zach's game with Garry and Lexi. Both boys made a goal in their respective games.

Grandpa held Katelyn to keep her warm, or was it the other way around?

Grandma Great, Lexi and I bundled up at our game to keep warm as well.

Back home we all enjoyed holding Kate. You just can't get enough holding and looking at their sweet face.

Saturday morning we looked out and this is what we saw. Wow, we weren't expecting snow. It snowed all day long so we just hung out at home and enjoyed playing with the kids and watching it snow.

My buddy Gavin is such a sweetheart.

Lexi is too.

Lexi had to model her frog costume for us.

Gavin also had to model his Halloween costume. They were pretty cute.

We colored,

skated,

and played the piano to name a few things.

Sunday was the special blessing day. Garry gave her a beautiful name and a blessing. What a special occasion. Garry, Gavin and Lexi all bore their testimonies after that.

What a precious little girl. We love her dearly.