Sunday Holiday Smiles

I can hardly believe that 2009 is gone and this is my first Sunday Smiles for 2010.
Again I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year.
...
We traveled home from Utah yesterday.
It was a mistake to make the trip home over the New Year's weekend.

The weather cooperated and we made it all the way through Utah in record time.
However our luck changed when we got to Neveda.

It took FOREVER to get from Las Vegas to our CA home.
Much of the way we only could drive from 7 to 20 miles per hour.
We kept inching along because we wanted to be home in time to attend church today and babysit Austin.....but we won't do that again. It was a very long, hard trip.
...But...
This blog is suppose to be about smiles....not complaints...
...so...
Here are some of the things that we are still smiling about.

It is so nice that we are made to feel so welcome in all of our children's homes.
That surely makes us smile. What a blessing that it.

Words can't express the joy we have when we are together with our family.
Each one brings a smile to our hearts.

Wouldn't you be smiling if you were with this happy baby boy?

It made John and I smile when we went with Erin and Patrick

to take Cal for his first visit with Santa .

Cal didn't know what to make of Santa but he didn't cry...
...and that made us smile too.
...
Getting up bright and early on Christmas morning with our grand kids made me smile.
(Notice I said me smile....I think John would have liked a couple more hours of sleep.)


This is my oldest grandson, Jordan sitting with us.
I am showing a macaroni and play dough Christmas necklace that Jordan made me.
Doesn't that make you smile? It does me.
Of course he made it for me when he was in kindergarten.... I have worn it every
Christmas morning since then and it still makes me smile.

Waking up and seeing that Santa had come made me smile.
It has not been an easy year for Dathan and Lynell since they had to start a new business.
Dathan had been in construction since he graduated from college.
Starting a new property management business has been very difficult...
...but the Lord has blessed them...
...they were able to keep their new home...
..and they have made it through the year...with struggles...but they made it...
... and Santa even found his way to their house this year.
That makes all of us smile.
....
Meeting Hiroko from The Sweet Escape made us smile.
We have been wanting to meet Hiroko for some time now.
Her husband sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and she gave us 4, much in demand, tickets
for their Christmas concert. John and I could not go to Utah in time to use the tickets
but my girls and their husbands went and had a wonderful time.
(We were told that 4 million people requested tickets and the conference center only holds 20,000, so you can see why we were thrilled to get 4 tickets.)
THANKS AGAIN HIROKO!!!
Hiroko drove about 30 miles to meet Erin, Lynell and me for lunch.
She is even more beautiful and sweet in person
than you can tell from reading her blog.
(Her blog is great, but she is even better in real life.)

Spending time with Hiroko made us all smile.
...
Sewing with Lonica made me smile.

I gave Loni a sewing kit for Christmas.
All 4 of my little granddaughters love to sew....
...and I love helping them learn.

Loni made this darling bunny.
We named her Honey Bunny because that is my nick-name for Loni.
...
Those of you who read my blog regularly know that our family
thrives on Karaoke.

We can't be together very long without getting out the karaoke machine.
We may not have the world's greatest voices ...

...but...

we do have the greatest time in the world singing together.

...
My son's family made us a CD of all of them singing for our gift this year.
We listened to it over and over and over on our long drive home.
(John said that was the only good part of our trip taking so long)
My family singing karaoke always makes me smile.
...
Baking with Loni made me smile.

New Year's Eve we made Marie's from A Year From Oak Cottage delicious Eggnog Cake.

It turned out to be about the best cake we'd ever tasted.

Even with all the other good food we had out on New Year's Eve
it was a favorite.

We all gobbled it down with smiles on our faces and in our tummies.
...and it made us think of our sweet friend Marie with smiles too.
...
Bringing in the New Year with family made me smile.

We ate, karaoked, played wii guitar hero and all kinds of games.

Here Justin is playing pool with his dad and cousin

on his last night home before returning to his army base in Texas.

Then at the stroke of midnight we made our sparkling cider toast to the new year.

We smiled as we counted the blessings that were ours in 2009
...
Friday, New Year's day, we had to pack up and leave Lynell's house.

Justin had to go back to Texas that day too.
A snow storm delayed his flight so we got to keep him home 3 hours longer than planned.
That made us smile.

Lynell had been in tears at the thought of him leaving earlier that day, but she was able to find her smile in time to tell her precious son goodbye.

When their family left to take Justin to the airport, John and I packed up and headed down to Erin and Patrick's home.
It was nice to spend our last night in Utah with them and little Calan.
Our holiday was filled with family and smiles.
I hope that yours was too.
You blog friends also fill my heart with smiles.
I wish all of you a very....

I wish you all the very best for the year to come.
Hugs, Grammy Lura