End of December

The boys had a Christmas Sing at school on Dec 19. 

 Second Grade- Ryan is in the middle, in a red shirt.

1st grade. You can just see Jackson's knees in the middle. He would not stand up or sing. (Part of his syndrome we have to deal with)

Then we had our family Christmas party on the 20th.

Jennie's Kiddos, Maddie on Santa's lap

Hayden on Santa's lap

 And Tyler. Did not even cry!

Then Dora's kids

 Maclay

 Kambree

And Kylie. Kelsey was not with us that night. She had a school dance.

 Marian and Jackson. Ryan was asleep and just could not wake up to sit on Santa's lap

 Jackson said he was too shy to sit on Santa's lap.

And Santa with Grandpa!!!

And the kiddos making Gingerbread houses

 Tyler is as big as anyone!!

Opening presents

 Games and blankets were the big hit

Then it snowed

 Snowmen

 And snowball fights

 And the boys got scooters for Christmas. Such fun!!

A few more pictures

Pictures with Dad

with Grandpa Robert

with Grandma Vonda

Our First Great-Grandchild

Yesterday morning we were just grandparents. Late afternoon/evening we became GREAT. Our oldest granddaughter, Stephanie delivered a bouncing baby boy. He was born by emergency c-section, as his heart rate would fall during contractions and he did not recover well enough between for the doctor to feel comfortable allowing labor to continue. 

Paul Merlin Turner was born at 6:41 CST, weighing in at 6 lb 4 oz, and measured 21 inches. Long and skinny! They tell us that he looks like his Daddy, Cameron!

Time to update!

I can't believe that I haven't posted for almost 3 years. I will have to do a bit of updating!

Our grandkids are growing up so fast. We have 13 of them, from 16 months up to 22 years, with our first great-grandchild due in December.

The big news this month is that the oldest of the 5 little boys turned 8 on Saturday, and was baptized by his Uncle Paul!

And right after that, Cub Scouts. He is growing up!

Fall Fun with the Grandkids

Maddie Mae turned 6 months in September. She is growing up so fast.

In September Kylie was in a couple of Ice Skating competitions. She is doing really well. In this competition she took second place in her division in Open Style

and First Place in Free Style.

Ryan and Jackson have their birthdays the first part of October.

They had only cousins and uncles and aunts come to the party. One the left side are their cousins from their Dad's side and on the right are the cousins from the Topham side. Hayden is in the middle, and Ryan is by the rocking elephant, barely visible.

I don't know what happened here, but the boys are blowing out their candles on the cake.

The boys playing a game

and the girls join in.

Mid-October Kylie and Kambree had their Halloween skate review.

Kylie's solo was "Welcome to my Nightmare"

Kambree was in a group who skated to "Monster Mash"

Then Kylie's group dance was to "Thriller"

Grandma gave them each a rose, and we all went to dinner afterward.

It is Corn Maze time at Thanksgiving Point. They have a whole area they turn into an amusement area, along with the corn mazes.

Here are Ryan and Jackson in the Princess carriage, while waiting for Hayden to get there.

Here they are in the train,

They had Pig races and the last race the chose adults to cheer for the favorite pig. Jeff was chosen and he has Hayden on his shoulders.

The "Pig Handler" said he had some special imported pigs. He said they were "Chinese Pigs", but they were "Pig"my Goats.

Jeff's prize was shooting a pumpkin from a pumpkin cannon.

Jeff and Paul and Dora went to Las Vegas for the Ragnar Relay. Jeff is on a different team.

I am at Dora's house, watching their kids. I also have Ryan and Jackson, as Marian is working the early morning shift today and tomorrow, and the mid-morning shift yesterday.

Here are the boys and Kambree on the trampoline.

And Kylie with the boys in the sandbox. It is beautiful weather and they are enjoying being outside.

Busy Summer

Right after our Sister's weekend we brought Ryan and Jackson home with us, as Marian was scheduled to work the weekend. On Friday she called me and told me that she had been demoted and was not going to be the manager in Huntington anymore. The gal she replaced and one of the assistant managers had sabotaged her and had been logging complaints at the office and on the customer service line. They did not fire her, but relieved her of her position. Luckily, though, one of the girls at American Fork was quitting, which Marian was able to jump back into a job here. We moved her back home and so now they are back with us and she is back at American Fork. She is looking for something else, though. She probably does not have a chance at another store.
With Stephanie back in Washington, Jennie has need of day care, so I have her little ones 3-5 days a week for the time being. She is looking for a new day care. The one she had Hayden in is going through some changes that she is not pleased with, so does not want to go back there.
And my garden is in full production. I have been freezing vegetables, making pickles, and generally trying to keep up with it.
Here are some dill pickles and "Dilly Beans" that I canned. They are by some Salsa from last year, that soon I will be adding to that supply. I will do some spaghetti sauce too. We use a lot of that around here. The boys love pasta.

Sorry about the spacing on the last post

I thought it would take less space to put the pictures side-by-side, but it just messed up the spacing on the descriptions of the pictures. I will try to re-do it later.