Shantell and the Civic Orchestra of Tucson

We are all so very excited for Shantell.
Everyone is invited!!!

Bedazzled Witch

Thank you Nora for the make-up job.

She was by far the most bedazzling witch at the party!

Birthday, Baptism and Baby!!!

I admit it! I am a terrible blogger!!!

I have fallen behind and don't know whether

I will ever be able to catch up.

But here I go again.

Last month, yes last month we celebrated

Brigitta's 8th birthday.

She is fascinated with Egypt and Mummies

thus explaining the theme of her birthday party.

Mummies of Egypt!

Everyone had their eyes made up on arrival.

Excavating!


The Mummy Wrap!

The girls put on plays about Egypt.

Mummy Cake Pops!!!

Mar-Kay's birthday followed a few days later.

Brigitta said that she has been waiting

all her life to be baptised.

Her dream came true.

I sewed the dress she is wearing

22 years ago for her older sister.

All of Brigitta's sisters and cousins have

been baptised in this dress.

Brigitta and her nieces.

Michele was having contractions throughout

the baptism. But as promised, she waited until it was over.

We welcomed our 7th grandchild the very next day.

He is absolutely precious!

The two grandmothers.

I love that we are such good friends

and can work together to help raise our grandchildren.

In a day or two I will explain what has been occupying all of my extra time. Not that I really have extra time. Until then I just have to thank my Heavenly Father for all of my blessings. I feel so loved!!!

STOP and REWIND

Don't you wish that you could just make time stand still? The older I get the quicker life seems to move, however I am determined to catch up on my blog and stay caught up.

At the end of June we packed up some of the grand kids (their parents were at the temple) and traveled to Mesa to celebrate my grandmothers 100th birthday!

These boys are the BEST travelers.
Much better than their father was at this age.

It was so wonderful visiting with extended family,

many of whom we have not seen in years.

Not everyone was able to attend Grandma's celebration.

Here are 20 of her 34 grandchildren.

I love that I am still considered a grandchild.

A portion of the great-grandchildren,

plus two of the 11 great great grandchildren.

I have many fond memories of my grandmother.

She is a remarkable woman!

She shared with us a song from her childhood.

It was wonderful to see my parents.

It has been too long.

One more picture with grandma.

Kendrick took a week and hiked down the Grand Canyon.

It was quite an adventure.

Happy to be home!

Ready for a long and well deserved nap!

Shantell's beautiful naturally curly hair.

The next several pictures are of our 4th of July.

We actually attended 3 parties!!!

(A special thank you to the Thomas and Cowley family for the invite.)

Fireworks were banned because of the lack of rain.

Wouldn't you know it, it rained that evening

and God provided us with a spectacular light display.

Off to his first dance accompanied by his sister.

One of our favorite activties in July was our

Harry Potter Party we had just prior to the Midnight showing.

The older children planned everything

from invitations to decorations.

People came in costumes and all of the food

fit perfectly into the Harry Potter theme for the evening.

The Weasleys

Madame Hooch.

I wish I would have taken pictures of all of the food.

Each had a label which creatively described it.

These are my deliciously wicked brownies.

My own creation:

the Nimbus 2000 Cookie.

Another trip to the temple with the family.

A bountiful harvest from our garden

thanks to the rains that have been falling.

This catches us up.........for now!

Dear Natasha,

I hope that it is not too late for your birthday but I will post the Pineapple Upsidedown Coconut Cake recipe next. I PROMISE.