Together time = Family Reunion!

Most of our family was able to be here this weekend...We were only missing Jacob (who is on a mission in Belgium) our 2 son-in-laws, Jake (in Buenos Aires) and Daniel (in Green Bay, WI). We had a good time...the weather didn't quite cooperate for an outdoor activity or picnic, but we got to eat at a couple of our favorite restraunts, and had a good Family Sunday Dinner...it also made a lot of indoor play time for 8 very active and very noisy cousins! They had fun watching some movies and playing in the hot tub...most of us adults just sat around and ate or watched some TV and played a few games...mostly just sat and visited which was nice!

For more pictures of our amazing Grandkids...read on!!

Our Awesome Grandchildren!

All of our Grandchildren were here with us this weekend.
We tried to get all their pictures so they were updated
and we even tried for a few group photos!
(Ok, that's impossible...but here are the best ones...)

Emmaline Rae - 8

Alissa Jo - 6 1/2

Carter Jaron - 6 1/2
Ashton Brent - 4Addisyn Edie - 2 1/2

Grant Von - 18 mo.

Corgin Ray - 16 mo.

Lillian Kristi - 16 mo.

We had a great time with all of them here! It was very noisy and sometimes chaotic,
but other than that...it was Heavenly!

and Hot...and Fun!

Cousins!!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day here!! We had bright sun and it was 75 degrees. Tanessa and I went over to Clint's house and hung out there with Corgin and Addi. Clinton was outside working on his yard, picking up rocks and tilling the dirt. We took Corgin and Addi on a little walk down to the fountain and rocks.

They liked the water, but didn't like taking pictures very well. One of them would smile, the other would be distracted...then the other would smile and the first one would walk away or be grumpy! I saw a small insight into what we face taking pictures with all 8!! I will try to get some pictures of all of them, but they may not turn out too well...we'll see. Even if the pictures don't turn out too well, I'm sure they will all have a lot of fun together.

Addi

Corgin

Q T Pie!

Today Addi came and cuddled with me and gave me tons of loves, I said, "Oh, I love this girl!"  To which she replied, "Ohhhhh, I love this gramma!"   Enough said...that made my day!  Of course this is when she is absolutely the cutest!  So fun having her and Tess here...today at lunch I got to hold Corgin on one knee and Addi on the other...it was heavenly!  I love the grandkids, and can't wait for the other 6 to get here this weekend!  Hurry, OK?

Letter and Pictures from Jacob...

Jacob Von in a park in Brussels - April 13th

Oh, I LOVE Mondays...it's about the only day that I wake up, open my eyes, and think, "It's Monday!  Jacob's Letter!"  And I jump straight out of bed and run to the computer...Today was extra special because he actually attached some pictures to his email.  Why hasn't he done that before today???  He's been out how many months???  Crazy...

Jacob with some of his first converts, Esther and Dylan,

 with Patrick, the Ward Mission Leader.

Jacob with new convert, Daniel, and Elder Schmutz

These last pictures, I got from Patrick through Facebook...

this is before Jake left Charleroi.

April??

They say April Showers...

bring forth May flowers...Can we only hope? 

This is the time of year when the weather really likes to tease you...you get a couple of really nice days of sunshine and heat, and then you wake up to the dreaded rain and cold!  I know it's only the first of April, but I am ready for Spring!  This month came in with lots of news about our family...just a short update...

Jacob is doing great, and was transferred from Charleroi back to Brussels the end of March.  He was sad to leave Charleroi and all his new converts and investigators, but has a good attitude and ready to work in Brussels now that he is back.

We are also excited because Tanessa and Addi are coming to visit us all!!  They will fly in on April 16th and be staying for a little over 2 weeks while Jake is in Buenos Aires.  We are excited to see them and wish Jake good luck on his venture southward!

Clinton, Katie and Corgin have also planned and booked a trip to go visit Grandpa and Grandma in New York.  Clint has been off work for a couple of months and with Spring coming, he is going to be working with his in-laws on the farm, and he was called to jury duty for the entire month of May, so...they will go visit the very end of April and return home on May 4th...just in time for jury duty!  Katie is still working with the Chiropractor and loves it!

Speaking of Grandma...April is the month of my Mom's Birthday...

April 11th, 1933...you can do the math, I'm not touching that one!  But I just want to wish her a wonderful Birthday!  She is a great person and such a good example of loving service.  I love you mom!  We are getting excited to go to Palmyra in June to visit them on their mission...

April also brought some good news for Jaron's family (not so good news for us...)  Heather has been wanting to return to school and finish her PA, and she found a school in Pennsylvania that she wanted to go to.  Jaron put in for a transfer from Cracker Barrel, and low and behold...he not only got it, but it was pretty immediate!  So they are planning on packing up everyone and everything and leaving for Pennsylvania by the first of May :(  We got to see Heather and the kids on Conference weekend, so that was nice, and Jaron is planning on coming up here around the 24th to visit and say goodbye to everyone.  We will surely miss them!

We are hoping that Trisha and the kids will be able to come the weekend of the 24th also, so that we could all be together for a couple of days...it seems that life keeps seperating us farther and farther around this crazy world!  I'm so glad for modern technology that gives us email, twitter, facebook, cell phones, web cams and airplanes!!  

One last thought, "I hope those May flowers are worth it!"

Back Home!

My little vacation has ended...sad to say!  I spent almost 2 weeks with Danny, Trisha, Ali, and Grant.  They are always so hospitable and nice to me.  They make me feel right at home and part of the family, I really appreciate that (even when I stay WAY too long!)  It was Ali's Spring Break, so I got to see quite a lot of her, that was nice.  She has a great fan club in Clarkston and the doorbell rings first thing every morning with friends that want to play with her!  She is a great helper and has a chore chart that she has to earn stickers for jobs and then trade them in for playtime, so she is always scurrying around to get her jobs done so she can go outside!  Grant is still not so sure about Gramma...I think he likes me...but I was NOT his Momma!  He really likes his mom, and so when I am around, he likes to be with Mom!  I got lots of smiles and hugs and even kisses, as long as he felt secure with mom, or if mom was not around, then he was fine, but with her there, the only time he would decide to come with me is if I told him we would go for a ride in Gramma's car!  He really liked my car...even if he didn't really care for me!  ha  Danny had to work most of the time I was there, but he did have the weekend off, and it was fun to spend some time with him.  On Monday, Trisha was sick, so Danny and I went to lunch, and that was like old times sake and fun!  He used to let me take him to lunch about once a week when they lived here.  He's always a hoot to be around, makes me laugh most of the time or at least smile!  Trisha and I...well, we got very familiar with the sewing machine while I was there!  We spent a few days sewing...Danny had us working on a 'secret project' for prototypes, Trisha and I were also making dresses.  Ali got a beautiful new Easter Dress (on Trisha's blog) and I was able to make Emmy and Lilly Easter dresses with a lot of help from Trisha!  It was fun to work together and it made everything go a lot faster with one sewing and the other pressing and pinning or vice versa.  Danny even sat and watched us the one night and was getting a few sewing lessons...ha (he wanted to!)  All in all it was a fun trip.  We did have a couple of very good laughs about me and Restraunts...it seems I had a curse while in Lewiston with every place we went to eat!!  We either "got behind a few big tables" or "had a new waitress" or "was having a Record Night!"  Whatever the excuse, we would wait forever for food or service and always end up being stuck for a couple of hours waiting...after about the third straight night...it became a stinkin' joke!  We kept getting coupons for their lousy service or slow food, so we were getting quite a collection of free stuff...I finally decided we should go out every night and see how long the weird streak could possibly last!!  Maybe you had to be there...but anyway, we had some laughs.  I would love to post some pictures of my trip, but Brent had taken my camera to Moab with him, so I got stuck with the video camera, and that's all I got, so sorry!  Thanks again to Danny and Trisha for letting me come hang out with you!  Love ya!