Blake's Quick Trip to California

While I was in Texas, Blake ended up having a few days off of work, so he decided to take his mother to visit his sister Natillie's family in Rancho Cuca Munga, CA.

They loaded up on Wednesday, October 31 and headed south. They stopped in Tremonton, UT to see Aunt Ilene Purcell. Then they stopped in Centerville, UT to see Aunt Winnie and Uncle George Merritt. They spent the night at a Worldmark resort in Midway, UT. Blake had to stretch his abilities with his new iphone and let the GPS direct their way. He usually depends on me to help with that!

On Thursday, November 1st, they headed south again. When they got to Las Vegas they went to see Aunt Joanne and Uncle Richard Grant. They had dinner with them and their kids and grandkids.  They stayed that night at a resort in Las Vegas.

They got up on Friday morning and headed for Natillie's, they got there about noon.

Helen's favorite hamburger place is In n Out, so they headed there right off.

She had to get another hamburger for the road home.

On Saturday, Helen, Natillie and Darbie went shopping, so Blake and Mark played some ping pong, went hiking, found a little shelty dog and did some campaigning. (wish that would have helped more!) Later on Saturday, they went to eat at a BBQ place. Thanks Mark for entertaining Blake so thoroughly, and for teaching him how to use his new iphone.

Blake loved the green, the warmth and the flowers.

They got up Sunday and headed north again. They stayed in a resort in St. George on Sunday night, then got up early Monday morning and headed home, stopping only long enough to fill the gas tank and go through the drive-thru at In n Out in Centerville. It was kind of a whirlwind trip, but I think Helen and Natillie were grateful. It was fun for me to get the pictures from Blake and track his trip with the find a phone app.  

Annie Emma Purcell 10-30-12

We have a new Granddaughter!  Annie Emma Purcell was born in Weatherford, Texas on October 30, 2012 at about 7:20 am. She weighed in at 6 lbs, almost 8 oz., 19 inches long. She has quite a bit of light brown hair, mostly on the back of her head.

First picture of Annie! Welcome to the family!

I was lucky enough to fly to Texas on Saturday, Oct 27th.

Brian and Maden met me at DFW Airport. On our way to Weatherford, we stopped at a park in Fort Worth for Maden to go to a birthday party for a little friend.

Sunday, I went to church with Brian and Maden, it was so fun to be with Maden again, I have missed him! On Monday, we went to Texas Roadhouse for Celia's "last supper".  She was scheduled to be at the hospital at 5:00 am Tuesday morning for a C-section. About 1:15 am Brian came in and told me that Celia was having contractions and they were heading to the hospital.  They were able to stop the labor and go ahead with the C-section at the scheduled time. Brian called and said Maden and I could head on over to the hospital about 8:30. We were both excited to meet Annie!

Beautiful little lady. She looked a lot like Maden when he was born, smaller, but very similar features.

Maden and I stayed at the hospital for awhile, then went home for a nap, then we went back to see Mommy and Annie again. Wednesday was Halloween, we went back to the hospital to visit again for awhile in the morning.

Maden and Brian played at the hospital playground for awhile, then Maden tried out Mommy's hospital bed and drank some sparkling cider in a fancy glass.

Maden also wanted to try out Annie's hospital bed! We sang Happy birthday to Annie over some cupcakes we made and decorated(We did this on her actual birthday). Pretty sleeping baby.

We went Trunk or Treating at the church. Maden was way impressed with all the candy he got. He was very good at saying Trunk or Treat and Thank you.

Thursday, November 1st, Annie and Celia got to come home! Maden got to have a little ride in the wheelchair.

Helping feed Annie. Beautiful Annie. 

1st bath.

All cleaned up and smelling so sweet!

Maden is such a good little self entertainer.

Holding and loving and kissing baby Annie.

Having more fun with letters.  Brian made this Alphabet hop scotch for Maden, he loved it and got pretty good at hopping!

Helping with Annie's bath, before his bath time.

Playing games on Grandma's IPad, pretending with Daddy, hopscotching with Daddy, even Kitty Maden can play on the hopscotch.

Trying out hair bows!

Feeding fish at the park.

Playing at the park.

Bath time for Annie, shower time for Maden.

Photo shoot.

Having great fun throwing sponges off the deck to a chalk  target on the driveway.

Dancing with mommy and watching Mickey Mouse while Daddy is house hunting in Erie.

Look what Brian found in his bag!

Tired parents.

Back to the park again.

I made Annie have a fashion show in the dresses I made for her. 

Brian and Maden having a marching band with some little guitars.

I had a great time in Texas meeting little Annie and playing with Maden! It was really hard to to leave them and come home to cold Idaho and my real life responsibilities!

Yellowstone

 We decided to take a little Autumn trip through Yellowstone. So on Friday, September 28th, Randy, Courtney, Blake and I took off. Our 1st stop was at Big Judd's in Ashton for some large hamburgers. Next we stopped at Big Springs in Island Park.

We fed the fish, some ducks and some muskrats.

We stayed at the WorldMark West Yellowstone Resort that night. Early the next morning we took off for Yellowstone National Park. Randy couldn't remember going to Mammoth, so we decided we would go that way instead of the usual Old Faithful route.

We hadn't gone very far before we saw some Elk. They were pretty far away, but Randy zoomed in and got a pretty good picture.

We saw a really pretty waterfall.

When we got to road we were going to take, it was closed for maintenance. We went into a Visitor Center, and a Ranger told us to take another route.  We ended up going to The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  When we pulled into the parking lot, there were 3 ranger pickups and a bunch of rangers, one had a rifle on her shoulder.  We found out that there had been a bear lounging on the rocks by the pathway, and he had moved to some rocks just below the path. The rangers were going to shoot what they called fire cracker shots to get the bear to move down further into the canyon.  They roped off the pathway and made us all move back toward the parking lot.  Then they took a shot toward the bear. The bear didn't move down, but up a little incline, right in front of where we were standing. We actually got to see the bear!

There he goes, just lumbering along.

We saw buffalo on our way to Mammoth. One was just walking down the road.

The Mammoth resident Elk.

After we left Mammoth, we drove out of the Park to the north, and stayed at a Residence Inn in Bozeman. We found a school and played some tennis and ate at Outback Steakhouse. We got up Sunday morning and found a Sacrament Meeting to attend, then headed home. We decided to go home on I15 instead of going back through Island Park. We stopped in Dillon and had a little picnic, then headed home. It was a fun little trip.

Tennis 2012

We are a tennis family! Blake played on some more tennis leagues this summer and fall. He really enjoys playing. He and Randy played on 2 men's leagues. They also played on a mixed league. Actually, Blake ended up playing on 2 mixed leagues during August and September.

Blake and Randy playing together in the men's league. They never lost.

Blake seemed to play with a wide variety of ladies in the mixed leagues, all sizes, shapes and ages (one was 70!)! 

Brian and Celia and Maden got to come watch some of the matches while they were here. Brian would rather have been playing!

Of course, Brian and Blake got in some good matches at Matsuura's court. This one they are playing against Junior and Meg Matsuura.

While we were at Cindy's in August, Blake and Cindy played a couple of times, and Cindy even found a neighbor that would play with Blake. (Sorry no pictures)

Courtney decided that she wanted to learn to play, so Randy and Blake have been "teaching" her.

So, with Courtney learning, I have been playing some too, so we can play doubles. It is pretty fun. So as you can see, we are a tennis family.

Grandma Andersen

My Grandma, Violet Doris Miller Birch Andersen passed away on September 4th. She was almost 92 years old and had been in failing health for a few years.

Grandma Violet Andersen is actually my 2nd Grandma Andersen. She became my Grandma after marrying Grandpa in 1963, when I was 5 years old. My first Grandma Bessie Andersen passed away when I was 3, and I really don't remember her at all. We called Violet "Grandma" from the very beginning. Grandpa passed away in 1992, and she cared so sweetly for him in his last years. She was a wonderful sweet, kind, courageous, happy, caring, loving, gentle woman. She has been a great example to me. I love her dearly.

I was able to see her one last time the day before she passed away. She was in terrific pain, and heavily sedated. I hope she heard me tell her thanks for being such a wonderful Grandma, and that I loved her. It was purely a privilege to call her my Grandma. It was truly a blessing for her to be released from her pain and misery.

As my sisters got word of Grandma's passing, they all started to make plans to come for the funeral. They came from both coasts. Suzanne came from Greenville, SC. Tricia from Sugar Hill, GA, and Shauna from Kennewick, WA. When I heard they were coming, I decided I wanted to spend some time with them. I decided this would be a rare occasion for us to be together as adults without our children. I really wish Lynne and Randy could have come too! So, on Friday, September 7th, I headed for Logan, Ut.  I stopped in Smithfield and picked up my 92 year old Grandpa Chambers, and we met Mom, Dad, Suzanne, Tricia, and Shauna at Sizzler in Logan. Grandpa is not doing very well either, so it's good to spend time with him. After we ate, we all went back to Grandpa's house. Some of us did some shopping for him, some of us cleaned and did his laundry. One of us got the opportunity (grin) to listen to Grandpa tell her all about a 300 page book about Logan.

Me, Suzanne, Tricia and Shauna with Grandpa Chambers.

As you can see, some us were being just a little silly in this picture. That seemed to be a trend for the rest of the day. Mom left to go to the Funeral Home, and Dad and us girls went to get a small bite to eat at Wendy's. More silliness just seemed to keep happening, starting with Tricia and Shauna dipping their french fries in their frosties and grossing me out. I think Dad wondered what he'd got himself in for!

We got to the Funeral Home for Grandma's viewing and really decided that we were celebrating her life more than mourning her death. We were so grateful for the opportunity to be together and I think she would be happy to see us liking to be together and having fun.

Tricia, Suzanne, me and Shauna

After the viewing we went to stay at a hotel in Brigham City (there were no rooms available in Logan!) Mom had not eaten since Sizzler, so we stopped at a different Wendy's. This is where things really got silly. I can't really remember what got us laughing, but there were tears and mascara running down our faces. Mom was laughing just as hard as us "girls". I really think Dad would like to have just disappeared at this point. I haven't laughed that hard in ages! It was just a great release of emotion. I'm sure the people in Wendy's thought we were nuts, and would have had a hard believing we were all together because of the death of our Grandma. 

In the hotel room in Brigham City.

Once we got checked into the hotel, we kind of got caught up in the technology world for a bit. Tricia even had her phone and tablet going at the same time. Mom came to our room for a little while, but we didn't have any cards so we couldn't play a game or anything. So she left and went to her and Dad's room for some much needed sleep. Let's just say the night was filled with quite a bit of snoring, and tossing and turning. It seemed like the sheets were velcro to our jammies, so it made the tossing and turning more difficult.  I'm sure we have not ever had a slumber party like that, even when we were little, because we weren't all little together. There is a 23 year age difference between Tricia and I! Even though it wasn't the best nights sleep I've had, I had a great time being with 3 of my 4 sisters! (We missed you Lynne!)

Saturday, we got up, and didn't even fight over the bathroom, got ready and headed back to Logan for the funeral. Lynne and Randy were able to make it to the funeral, so all 6 of us were finally together. It was a very nice funeral and tribute to Grandma. We went to the cemetery in Trenton and back to the church in Logan for a dinner. It was also good to see most of my cousins. Families are so important!

L-R, Me (I am the oldest), Tricia (the youngest), Shauna (3rd), Suzanne (5th), Randy (2nd), Lynne (4th). 

Mom and Dad joined us for a picture! We are not all together very often, so it is wonderful to have the opportunity to be together. And yes, there was still some silly stuff going on, Shauna still has her sunglasses on! I love you all!