Good Memories

Today is a sad day for us because we had to put down Rusty, Sid's beloved hunting companion. He will be really missed by all of us on our daily walks down Barker road and of course the swimming in the pool with us!! He was almost 12 years old and lived a good life. We all have great memories with this wonderful dog and I hope he is reunited with Pepper and they are chasing each other all over Heaven!! Sid was by his side at the Vets and said it was peaceful for him. When we return from our trip I will post some pictures that I think will be a nice remembrance for him. I thought you would all like to know about his passing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Today I awoke to Sid asking me to come into the kitchen and he gave me some beautiful flowers! How sweet is that??? then I was talking to Kandis on the phone and the UPS guy left 2 boxes, yes you read it right, 2 boxes at my door from pro-flowers!! Lo and behold (I just had to say that) I received 2 lovely arrangements from Kandis and Nic, and Jacob, Julia, Isaac and Loraya!! How spoiled am I???? (don't answer that one) I'm going to lunch with the hubby and Mike and Christy today and then dinner with Sid possibly tonight or this weekend. THEN, the best present ever....... ta,da............Aventura Palace Resort in Cancun! We leave on Tuesday and can't wait to feel the warm sun on my lily white body! Hey pool boy, bring me a virgin miami vice please!! Seriously, I am so grateful to have reached the ripe old age of 54! I still feel like I am in my 20's in my mind but my body does not seem to respond like it is still in my 20's. I have such great kids and grandkids and I love working in the temple every Tuesday. What more could a girl want??? I can't think of a thing, (oh, yeah, I can think of a few things, like both my sons getting into dental school soon!!) Thanks to everyone for all the calls from friends and fun cards from friends and family. Love to you all and thanks for being my friends and family

and putting up with me all these years. Hopefully I will be around a lot more years to bug you!

So Grateful

I can't let another day go by without posting about the wonderful conference we heard on Saturday and Sunday. I was filled with emotion (not surprised!) as the prophet and apostles spoke to us and of course the music by the choir was amazing. It is so cool to see my brother sit in the choir seats and be singing with such a great group of people. We are so blessed to have a living prophet to give us direction every six months at the general conferences that we get to hear. It was so good to hear such positive direction for us to follow and know that our Heavenly Father knows and wants us to succeed in this life. I really enjoyed the talks and especially the talks about the temple and the importance of attending and renewing our covenants in that holy house. I feel so blessed to be able to work in the temple every week and feel the spirit that comes from being there. I have learned so much from the people that I work with and am truly blessed by their friendship and love. I am also so blessed to have such a wonderful family that I love so much. What a blessing to know that we will be an eternal family for the eternities because of the blessings of the temple. I felt the spirit so strongly when the choir sang We Thank Thee O God for A Prophet. I know that President Monson is our true prophet of God and he is to give us direction in our lives. We are not to fear if we have faith and do what we have been counseled to do. It is never to late to change habits, ideas, or whatever needs to be changed to become better followers of Christ in our lives. I truly believe that service is the key to happiness. No matter what we have in this life we can always give of our time and talents to make others happy and help in some way. We have been so blessed with things in our lives but the best things in life are not things. They are the joys of a wonderful posterity that I have and the examples they are to me. I hope we can all take the time to truly look at all the blessings that we have in this life and share something with others, no matter how big or small that may be.

Jacob came to Visit!

Jacob and Ava got along great. I guess Jacob is getting used to holding babies again since Julia will be having another little one in September.

We took a drive up to see Grandpa Kelly and Jacob got to see his little dog Abby and of course see all of the chickens. Abby liked Jacob a lot!

Ava loved seeing a little dog for a change and just laughed and laughed at Abby when she would move!! We tried to get a video of her laughing but she would always stop when we would turn on the camera!! Ava knows when we are taking pictures I guess!

Dad and Jacob went up to Squaw on Thursday and then drove over to Tahoe to stay at the time share at Heavenly. They skied the next couple of days at Heavenly and had a great time. Sid had been doing sit ups every night to strengthen his back muscles and it seemed to help him out a lot. He didn't get one single back muscle spasm! They had fun together in the great sunny weather but on the last day it snowed on them. Sunday we went up to see Grandpa and then Jacob flew home on Monday. We drove over to the Mall so he could see all the improvements since they had moved and found some cute things for the kids. We had to make a stop at Costa Vida for lunch before we took him to the airport. It was a toss up between In and Out and Costa Vida!!

It was wonderful to have him here but strange to not have the rest of the family here!! We missed Julia and the kids and hope that this summer they will all come out and have fun at our place. I'm thinking June???

A couple of weeks ago Sid and I went to Arizona so Sid could attend a dental seminar in Scottsdale. We had the privilege of staying in an amazing place called the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. It was so beautiful and the weather was so warm. Sid got up early on Friday and went to his class and I just relaxed in our beautiful room and went for a couple of mile walk around the grounds.

The colors don't show up quite right but they were a blue and chocolate color with golds and browns. Truly beautiful and relaxing. We had a patio with furniture to relax in the sun and take in the aroma garden just outside our doors.

I must say it was quite expensive to eat at this place so I decided not to do so. One of the resturaunts was a steak house and a 6 oz steak was $175.00!!! That is close to what the room costs! We drove to Scottsdale and ate at the Cheescake factory and that was just fine with us! After the seminar was over we went over to stay with Chris and Tim in Mesa and got to see their beautiful home. The terrain in AZ is much different than northern California. There is so many rocks in peoples front yards and not very much grass. I don't particularly care for the southwestern style of homes but I guess it can grow on you!! It was around 80 degrees and so pretty but they say it really gets hot in the summers.

Back in Sac (2)

This was the first day we brought him home from the hospital. We were so excited to finally get him home and love him!! He is very strong and moves his head around to look at everything. He also puts his hands out and touches your face. He is a very calm sweet baby so far.

Grandpa flew in again to get his truck back. I was supposed to drive home with him but since we just got Nixon home on that Friday I had to stay another week to help Kandis and Nic with the baby and help around the house.

This is just a sweet picture of Kandis hugging or burping Nixon. He is really good at all the bodily functions that babies do! He did not like getting his circumcision last Wednesday but in a couple of days he didn't seem to mind that either! He is gaining weight and the doctors are pleased with his progress. He will have his 2 week check on Monday and I am sure Kandis will post all the stats. We still think he looks a lot like Kandis and grandpa Scott!! Good thing his middle name is Scott!!

I am back home now and will leave for Arizona on Thursday with Sid for a dental convention. We plan on visiting Sid's sister Chris when we are in Arizona so it should be warm and fun!! It sure is nice sleeping in my own bed next to my husband!! Don't get me wrong, I loved being in Provo with Kandis and Nic and their great couch but your own bed sure is nice!!

Back in Sac!

This picture was taken just before we loaded him in his car seat for the ride to the airport. I had been in Utah for a month and I was ready to go home again. Nixon is doing so good and such a great baby. Kandis is looking wonderful and feeling good so I know they will do just fine without me around!!

Back in her old jeans again and looking fine!! She only needed a week to get back to pre baby size. She looks great and is such a wonderful mother to Nixon. She really takes to this new motherhood thing in her life and is very calm and relaxed around the baby. That in turn makes Nixon calm and relaxed. Nic on the other hand loves to get Nixon excited and tickles him and tries to get a rise out of him. Poor little guy!! He gives him kisses with his prickly beard and that makes Nixon make his squishy face!!

Check out this boys hands. He loves to do this with his fat little hands. I don't know how he learned this thing but he likes to hold his hands or fold his arms. It seems to calm him down.

This is a closer look at his pudgy sausage fingers intertwined!! funny huh???