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.

Watch our Olympic bound grandson

We think that our 14 year old grandson, Johnny, is amazing.

He is headed for the Olympics......or at least he is working hard towards that goal.
He works out at the gym with his coach, 4 hours a day, 6 days a week.
He just finished competing at the National Future Stars competition which was held at the Olympic training center in Colorado.
He came in 5th in his age group.
I think 5th in the nation is pretty good. Don't you???
Turn off my music on my sidebar and enjoy this video of him at that competition.

Smiles of the Season

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas. John and I have.
In fact we are having 3 Christmas celebrations.

We spent Christmas Eve at Mindy and Ernie's.

Earlier in the week Claire and I made Christmas cookies.

They were so good....

.... none were left to eat on Christmas Eve... oh well....
no matter... we had plenty of other good treats.

While Claire and I were making cookies, EJ and Grampy were
working in the wood shop.

Grampy helped EJ finish the stool he was making for his folks.
Grampy gave EJ the wood to make this project long ago.
I was smiling to see the project was finally completed.
Good job guys.

Mindy always makes a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.
Everything was delicious.

Especially the prime rib!
After dinner we had a nice family night were we read the Christmas
story from St.Luke and then EJ and Claire gave us a Christmas recital.
(I will try to post a little video at the end of this post.)
We spent the night at Mindy's and had fun getting up with the kids to find
Santa had been there and open gifts.
That was our happy 1st Christmas.
...
Then we packed up our bags and headed to Utah for our second Christmas.
Traffic was terrible. It took us 7 hours just to get to Las Vegas which is
twice as long as usual..... but we survived....and.. finally got to Erin's in Utah.

Where we had our 2nd Christmas last night.
I just accidentally deleted a picture of little Cal in his
full BYU football uniform and it is too hard to put it back on...
but...here he is putting on his Y helmet.
He is going to be well prepared for football season to start.

Grampy and I have our arms full of precious ones...

...and our hearts full of smiles.

Tonight we will go to temple square in Salt Lake City to see the
temple lights and then we will go to Lynell's home for
our 3rd Christmas celebration.
We were not here for Loni's Christmas dance program
but I am hoping she will give us an encore performance.
...
As you can see we have much to smile about.
I have taken 473 pictures so far this season....
I promise not to post them all....just 350 or so...haha
Have a great week.

My annual Christmas Card to you & New Family Pics

Dear Blog Friends
This is my Annual Christmas Card to you.Even though I have not been as good about leaving comments
on some of your blogs this past year,
I do stop in to check on you from time to time
and think of you often with best wishes.
I wish you all the very best Christmas and
a very Happy New Year 2011.
...It is nice that our daughter, Lynell, is a professional photographer.
Here are the family photos she took for us this year.Our Family
David, Mindy, Lura, John, Lynell and Erin
We are thankful that our children and we are healthy and doing well.
John and I passed all the classes and requirements to become
Accedited Cruise Counselor travel agents this year.
Because of that we took 4 cruises.... 3 were work leading tour groups and
1 was for fun and ship knowledge. It is great work and lots of fun.

The Grand Kiddos
(Minus Justin who is on an LDS mission in Guatemala

and Evan who was asleep.)
...
Here are our children's family photos and updates for this year.

Lynell's family
Justin-19, Lonica-11, Lynell and Dathan, Johnny- 14, Jordan -22, Jalen-16
Dathan and Lynell continue work hard in their
Property management business. Each of their children are active, busy
and doing amazing things...Justin is a missionary...Loni and Johnny excell in dance and gymnastics...Jalen and Jordan are busy with school and work.

Melinda's Family
E.J.-11, Mindy and Ernie, Austin-5, Claire-9
Mindy and Ernie both teach full time. E.J. and Claire excell in music.
They both are doing well on piano. E.J. loves playing trumpet and Claire sings like an angel.
Ernie will be leading the Upland High School Band in this year's
Tournament of Roses Parade. Watch for them on T.V. on Jan. 1st.

Erin's Family
Elizabeth (Ellie)-4 mo, Erin and Patrick, Calan (Cal) -1
Patrick provides well for their family
which allows Erin to be a stay at home mom which she loves.
She also enjoys getting away an hour or two a week to
supervise the sign language student teachers at Utah Valley University. Our two little adopted grandchildren keep
Erin and Patrick busy and have filled all of our lives
with smiles and love.

David's Family
Emma-10, Evan-1, David and Marla, Grace-8, Davey -5
David has a good job but it has required them to move every year or so.
Marla and the kids are troopers and have made a home and friends where
ever they are transplanted.
Gracie was baptized last month.
We were thrilled that all of our family and part of Marla's family
could join together over Thanksgiving weekend for this special event.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

...

Here is the 3rd annual posting of the Christmas poem I wrote for you.
We've gotten older but the house looks just the same.
I hope you enjoy reading it again.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WNXFnpazw30L-wMk2kJGUZ0wHAXbjhegRC5OfvX5Tplc9949aNuEyaRvGSqj-JqCTzLMezKrCzAqbYTbTZtL2itUwykTpf68zX1X5dR8GbyCNkVHLFondAi49v6sO92kAjA1YFdP4jRj/s1600-h/Best+part+of+Christmas.jpgThe house is decked out

with lights on each tree

With flowers and presents
and much greenery.





We have new decorations
and the old ones so dear
are out of their boxes
and up for the year.
Each table is set
awaiting the feast





of turkey and dressing,
of ham and roast beef

































There will be yams and potatoes
and gravy galore















and veggies and salads
and desserts and more.











But the sweetest things
that this season does bring
is not the goodies or bobbles
or pretty sights seen....

It's not the gifts or the parties

or good shows on TV

that are the best part of Christmas

for you and for me.
The best part of Christmas
is the feeling of love

That we have for family and friends
and our Savior above
...

It's the thought of Angels

and Shepherds




and the bright star they saw




...
and a wee Babe and His mission
that fill us with awe.
...

As we reflect

on our abundance and cheer

Let us remember

The reasons we're here

...

Let us love one another

and try with our might

to keep His commandments

and do what is right.

...

May the spirit of Christmas

we are feeling today

linger all year

and in our hearts stay.
...
Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

...

We love the Lord and enjoy this season when we celebrate His birth. I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Hugs, Grammy Lura