SNOW DAY

We went to the KMart today and got cheap sleds. Then headed to the park, ran the kids off the little hill and started sledding. It was so much fun! The snow in the trees is the most beautiful part.

Stephani

This is what we left Stephani do. She was pretty disappointed by we know Doodle will be well worth the caution!

Liz was the best sledder!

Perry in his second childhood

I love this picture! I just wished the temple had already been open. It is beautiful.

This is the Rexburg temple! It is awesome today. The snow was falling just lightly and so we got out and took a few pics. I missed getting the angel Moroni!

Heath and Liz together. They were really good about letting us come up and take pics.....probably because there was not a professional photographer there.

This is Heath after he walked across the stage with his diploma "cover". hopefully, he will be getting the rest of it. :)

Heath and Liz's graduation!

Heath and Liz have graduated!! Our last ones to get out of college! We are so excited for him and Liz. Their graduation was awesome! This is Heath, Liz and Steph before they walked for their diploma in the Hinckley building.

Thanksgiving Blessings

I am truly blessed! Thanksgiving week was spent with family and friends. Heath and Liz were able to make it home from Idaho. Of course, Perry immediately put Heath to work building and I put Liz to work cooking and cleaning. They probably won't be back for a year or so. ( when the memory fades). They were very good sports about it though! Friday we went to Joel's football game in the Alamodome! It was awesome! The Judson Rockets won! We were a little worried at the half because Judson was down10-0, but they came back fired up at the half and won! Jack and Brooklyn are so great! I can't believe how much I adore them! Brooklyn loves the rockets! She sang their school song for us on the way to the game! Stephani and Nick are now officially homeowners! I know they will make so many awesome memories in that first home. Especially since they will bring their new baby home to that house! I can't wait to get started on the nursery!

A new member of the family!

We are so...........excited about our new grandchild that will be coming in May! Stephani and Nick are expecting baby Bailey!

I cannot wait to wrap my arms around all three grandchildren at one time! What an enormous blessing to have six awesome children and -soon to be- 3 awesome grandchildren! I cannot express how much I love my growing family and how blessed we are!

Today is officially the beginning of the 70th Yamboree here in Gilmer, Texas! I am not usually as excited about this as I am today. I am really, really excited this year because I have friends and family coming in for the weekend! I can't wait! What could be more fun than walking around a rural town square that has a carnival set up and eating junk food all day. Also, going out to the fair grounds and looking at all the livestock, arts and crafts, and decorated yams. Standing in the autumn sun (if you're lucky, not the autunm rain) and watching a parade that is far too long but still getting pretty excited when your school band passes by, even though you don't know anyone that plays in it now.

"I can't wait for Brooklyn to experience her first Yamboree! I know it won't be many years until she and Jack will be too busy to leave their life in New Braunfels and come to east texas, so I am going to enjoy every minute of it now.

Our son-in-law, Nick is also going to get his first taste of the East Texas Yamboree. It will probably be a little harder for him to "catch the magic", in between all the riff raff, carnies and crowds. He will probably also be brutally subjected to meeting a bunch of strangers and hearing stories that he has to pretend are intensely interesting. Thankfully, for him, his parents are coming also! We can't wait to see them again! The thing about the natives of the Yamboree is that we can't always tell that others aren't having as much fun as we are!

We also have old friends from the area coming back to Gilmer for the Yamboree. I wonder what that experience would be like. I don't know if that will ever be an experience I will have, but I think it would be a mixed emotion. I do remember my first yamboree when I was a junior in high school. When I first heard about it, I thought I was the brunt of a joke. I soon found out the yamboree is not laughing matter for a gilmerite. :)

We will really miss Heath and Liz, but through the cutting technology of the Yam Cam, maybe we can say Hi to them in "real time"! Then, hopefully next year Liz can experience her first Yamboree!

Ok, I am trying to post on my new blogsite! I'm sure no one will ever look at it, but at least I can quit annoying the people I work with. I talk about my kids and grandkids nonstop. This way I can just assume if anyone wants to know, then they can look.