Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sunday Smiles with Loni

Hello again .
Here it is Sunday and time to think about the smiles I've
been accumulating.

I did get all my Christmas decorations packed back into
their boxes.... which if you saw my last post you realize that
was not an easy task.
As it turned out, my friend Terry did come over and
give me a hand. I was just kidding when I asked for help
on my post.... but she showed up... marched into our game room
and started helping me pack and tape up the boxes.
I can assure you that made me smile!!!
I didn't get a picture but I won't forget her help.
...
The rest of the smiles I am sharing today
involve our 11 year old Lonica.
I've told you about what a good little dancer she is.
Watching her dance always makes me smile.
I got to go with her to her dance studio and watch her
run her new solo dance she is working on for competition.
I was smiling the whole time.
...
It was freezing the whole time we were in Utah.
(I am smiling to be back home in CA where the temp is in the 70s.)

It was the coldest I ever remember it being in Utah.
(It was as cold as we were when we went to Idaho, Marie.)
The temperatures ranged between 9 and 22 degrees.
This is the street in front of Lynell's house.
It snowed so much that the snow plows could not keep up.
I gave up trying to drive and I didn't go outside unless I had to....
... but not Loni. Doesn't that face make you smile.
She is a nut!
One day she stayed outside for 2 hours building us a
snow ramp we could slide down.
She was an icicle when she finally came in.
Loni and Grampy's buttermilk toast tradition always makes me smile.
They are the only 2 in the family that like the stuff.
As soon as we get there,
Loni runs to get some buttermilk to share with
Grampy.
She and Grampy crack me up.

Her willingness to help makes me smile.
She loves to go down to Erin's and give her a hand with the babies.
She wears herself out ....
...But she is never too tired to play with Ellie and Calan...
or feed them.... or change them.
She will be a great little babysitter when she turns 12.
She even lets Cal play with her cat, Lucy.
Cal loves Lucy.... but I don't think the feeling is mutual.
Smile....smile
...
Loni's cooking makes me smile.
She loves to cook.
She can follow a recipe and cook almost anything from scratch.
You would be proud of her Marie.
She made us a delicious home made cake
and decorated it for New Years.
I was full of smiles.
So from Lonica and me....
Happy New Year.
I hope you have a week full of smile.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

What a difference a day makes.....HELP



How can it be 1/11/11 already?
One day it is the holidays......and the next day they are over.
How did it happen so fast?
We have traveled 1900 miles since Christmas eve.
We have visited loved ones and Erin and Patrick came to visit us.
It has been grand....but now it is over.
We are back home and our family that came home with us
left yesterday.
The house that was full of children's voices is quiet now.
The kitchen table that looked like this yesterday...

...Looks like this today.
Our game room...aka our buffet room...
has gone from looking pretty ....
...to looking like a disaster...
I've dumped all the decorations from all over the house
and all of their boxes into this room
.
WHAT A MESS!!!
I need help!!!
Can't some of you who have a clean house
because you put away all your decorations
a week or so ago, come over and give me a hand???
Good.... I'll wait for you....
...
Wait a minute...
Doesn't ...1/11/11... seem like too special
a date to waste cleaning house!!!
...
Come on over tomorrow to help me clean up.

I think today I will remember the joy I had rocking Ellie yesterday.
I will reminisce about all the loved ones we've been blessed to visit.
...
I will look at the 550 pictures I took on our trip
and after the kids got here.
...
I will think about how pretty the house looked all decked out for Christmas
and count my blessings as I put all the decorations away.
My rocking chair may be empty today....
... but it is full of sweet memories...
And
...every cloud always has a silver lining....
After changing where we slept 7 different times over
the past 2 weeks, we are back in our own room,
in our own bed.
Maybe I will go there and take a nap now.
All this talk about cleaning up the game room has made me tired.

I hope that all of you are having a good
1/11/11.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

More New Year Smiles


I hope that all of you blog friends are having a happy start to our
New Year 2011.
In my post last week on New Year's Day I told you
all about Ernie's band in the Rose Parade.
Thanks to those of you who voted for them.
Their hard work surely paid off.
They got over 8700 votes and came in 4th place.

With so many good bands in the parade we feel that is amazing.
All of our family is so happy for them.
...
While Ernie and the band were working hard on New Year's Eve
getting ready for the parade, we were having a play day which
was full of smiles I'd like to share with you.

That afternoon we all went to watch our 16 year old Jalen's
soccer game.

We were thankful it was an inside game since it was a
snowy 10 degrees outside.

It was Ellie's 1st soccer game and she seemed to be enjoying it.
Her family had driven 70 miles to come and join us.
That made me smile.

...
When we got back to Lynell's house Loni was ready to party
away the last hours of 2010.

We were happy to oblige.
We don't go out for a night on the town or drink alcohol but
we surely do have a great time being together with family.

We can't think of a better way to end one year and bring in the new.

Of course, karaoke is always a part of our party plans.
This year we were well prepared for 1 year old Calan to join us.
Cal didn't know all of the words, but
following in his daddy's footsteps, he sang his little heart out.
We were all smiling.

After all of that singing we built up big appetites.
Can you tell from these ingredients what Lynell was making for us?
Sushi!!!
California rolls are my favorite.
We had a buffet of good food to choose from.....
It all tasted great...
...but sharing it with dear ones
was the most delicious part to me!
When our tummies were full we were ready for a
game of wii Pictionary.

It was a fiercely competitive.... and....exciting game
...Which kept us on the edges of our seats....
...Well, maybe not all of us.
Then the clock struck 12:00 and it was officially...
...2011...
We toasted in the new year with Sparkling Apple Cider....
....AKA
...Mormon Champagne.
So Erin and Patrick.....
...Lynell and Dathan...
and Grammy and Grampy wish you a very
Happy New Year 2011

May God bless you in all that you do and
may your hearts be full of thankfulness
and smiles
.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Vote for Ernie's Band in The Rose Parade Poll

Happy New Year 2011
Wow!!!! Can you believe it is 1/1/11????

I hope that you are having a great New Year's Day 2011
We got up early to watch Ernie's band in the Tournament of Roses Parade on T.V
.
All of us here in Utah wished that we could be at the parade with
Mindy, Ernie and the kids in CA. Since we couldn't be there,
we were glad that we could watch it on T.V.
We all cheered when we saw Ernie go walking by.

These are some of the pictures I took off of the T.V.
I think Ernie told me that there are 235 in the band.
They are one of the best high school bands in the Western States.
Ernie works hard leading this band to excellence.
...
I made one recording from the T.V. today.
I also put on 2 other videos of their band.
One was made by KTLA t.v. and the other
was made at the Disneyland parade.
Both of these recordings are better than mine.
I hope that you will watch the Highlanders in the videos below
and then click here go to

http://www.ktla.com/entertainment/roseparade/bandvideo/
and vote for

Ernie's Upland Highland Regiment.
After you get to their web page, just click on the Band Poll box on the right hand side of the page. Upland Highland Regiment is the last band listed.
...
As this New Year marches in I hope that it will bring you
many blessings and smiles.

I am sending you all hugs.


You can also click here to see the KTLA video
which is a better recording than I made.
http://www.ktla.com/videobeta/c273dd1a-f23c-4d2d-8fbd-23b66d90141c/News/KTLA-Upland-Highland-Regiment-2011-Rose-Parade-Bands
...
You can click here now to vote.
Thanks for voting for them. So far they have gotten over 7050 votes which puts them in 4th place.