October 2023

October 3 - Can you find Penny or Hallie? Penny loves to army crawl under the table, we say she puts herself in baby jail. Hallie loves to play at the McDonald's play place.

October 4 - Shauna and I decorated our parents door for a Halloween Door Decorating contest at Parkwood Meadows. We sure do appreciate Nikelle for using her Ciricut to cut out the lettering and the bats!  I'm so glad Shauna was still here so I could help her!

I got to take cute little Declan shopping and to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  He chose a Lincoln Log set and ate really good at Roadhouse. He wasn't sure about riding the saddle, but did it.  He loved the brownie! He turned 6 on the 7th! Love you Declan!

Beautiful sunset!

October 5 - We took Ryder and Hallie to Goshen to get some spuds from Uncle Bart! This is the last year he will grow potatoes!

We went over to Aunt Merralee's house to go down the slide and see if we could see some of her 21 cats.  They found about 14 of them! They had a great time "playing with the cats". 

October 7 - I got to go to the Pocatello Temple! I love this picture with the sun behind the temple.  

Jared and Blake were winterizing the boat, so they had a little picnic in the boat!

October 8 - We celebrated Aubrey's birthday (which was on the 5th) She isn't fond of pictures, so the kids all took their turns blowing out the candles.

October 9 - Hallie loves to choose her own clothes! She was "helping" mow the lawn, so she thought she needed to wear some boots, these just happen to be Molly's boots.

October 10 - Beautiful phases of the sunrise from different parts of the eastern sky!

We had a Chile Cookoff and ward party.  There were some fun games for the kids.  Molly loved making Tawnie into a mummy with toilet paper.

October 11 - Maden was inducted into the Jr. High Honor Society where he is serving as Treasurer.  We were able to go to the induction ceremony.  We're very proud of you Maden! Everyone thought it was funny that the ceremony was held in the same auditorium that Blake graduated high school 50 years ago.

October 12 - Hallie wanted two ponytails and clips in her hair, then of course, asked me to take a picture.  Penny was so proud of herself because she had pulled up to stand in the pack and play..

October 13 - Cindy and Ken had these beautiful flowers sent to me for my birthday! I love them, Thank you!

October 14 - Another gorgeous sunrise! Blake and I went to Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday! We went to meet Randy, Courtney and Ryder's new dog.  Her name is Happy and she has brought a lot of happiness to their family.

October 15 - My 65th birthday! The flowers have opened up some more and are so beautiful!

Brian and Aubrey were so kind to have dinner and yummy cakes for me.  Maden put the candles in so they formed a 6 and a 5. 

After dinner, we played a fun game of catch phrase.  Even Paris decided she like me and came and sat by me.

It seems that I celebrated all day long.  Michelle was kind enough to have me come over for a birthday brownie and games.  Jared and Nikelle came and my nephew Adam and his wife Laura were there from South Carolina.  Thank you everyone!

October 16 - I had to take some more pictures of these beautiful flowers!

October 17 - Miss Penny found another jail to put herself in.  Hallie went over to play with some neighbor girls, they decided to go across a barbed wire fence, Hallie had a little mishap with her pants.  She wore one of my shirts while I fixed her pants.

October 18 - Blake and I flew to Knoxville, TN and then drove ro Gatlinburg so he could attend a medical conference.  This is in the hot tub and swimming pool at our hotel.

October 19 - This is our hotel.  We stayed on the 15th or top floor.  I think we were just about a week too early for the fall colors to be at their best.  The top pictures are taken from the lobby of the hotel and from the railing on the 15th floor! It was quite impressive.  My sisters Suzanne and Tricia came to spend a couple of days.  They were only on the 4th floor.  If you look close, you can see Tricia way down in the lobby, and Blake and Suzanne and I way up on the 15th floor.

After Blake's meetings ended for the day, we went down the crazy hill from our hotel to eat at Bubba Gump's.  It was a fun meal.

We went to a place called Ober Mountain.  We rode a tram up the hill to a little ski hill.  They make snow, so there is really skiing in the winter.  We rode a ski lift to the top of the mountain.  The highlight of it all was watching some Amish on the ski lift and going down the alpine slide, they were having the time of their lives. You can see that the elevation is not really very high.  Suzanne got "lost" in the straw maze! In the bottom left picture, you can see our hotel on top of another hill.

October 20 - Suzanne and Tricia and Il took advantage of every photo op in the hotel and a little mall we went to. We took a trolly into town and walked around the Main Street and bought some souvenirs. As you can see, bears are a real thing there.  They warned us at the hotel not leave any food in your car, cause the bears will do whatever they can to get to the food.

I know this is silly, but after Blake's meetings, we dicided to go to the next town over to eat.  There were so many people in Gatlenburg for a number of reasons, like a fall festival, fall break from schools, a soccer tournament and craftsmen fair.  It took us about 1 hour to go 7 miles to Pigeon Forge because of backed up traffic.  We ended up eating at Texas Roadhouse! We found a different route on the way back and it only took about 30 minutes! It was so fun being with Tricia and Suzanne just having fun! Each evening, we played games and visited and laughed! Sisters are the best!

October 21 - Blake and I braved the traffic again to go eat.  This is how the traffic was the whole way!

October 22 - I took these pictures from our balcony before we left to go back to Knoxville to fly home. You can see there is a bit more color in the trees.  I'll bet the next week was amazing.  Oh, well.

October 24 - Another unbelievable sunrise!

I took some pictures of our roses and hydrangeas before the predicted frost hit us.  They were gorgeous!

October 26 - Randy and Happy came to visit.  Penny loves Happy! Hallie thought it was funny to put the spider she made at preschool on Happy.

This little Penny girl is always on the move, she had to check out the draw handles and the night light and pull Hallie's hair from the saucer.

And, yes this also happened! We're not ready for it!

October 28 - I took Ryder, Molly and Hallie to the Snake River Carnival.  They had a great time with the fun little games, and got quite a bit of candy and surprises.

I love all the current pictures of the grandkids! Our neighborhood did a Halloween Parade around the block.  Penny and I waited for Molly and Hallie to come back.  It was cold! Molly and Hallie were watching a show, and Penny was showing off her skills of standing up.  When I took the girls home, this was the moon shining through the trees, it was so bright!

October 29 - Celebrating Annie! She loves a donut cake! She got some fun gifts.  She will turn 11 on the 30th!

A beautiful sunset on our way home from Annie's party!

October 30 - I got to take Annie to lunch at Chick Fil A! And we went shopping at Target.  She chose to get supplies for doing her hair. She's growing up so fast! We did the traditional Reed's Dairy to vote on the decorated pumpkins.  I can't believe you are 11 and almost as tall as me!  We love you, Annie.

October 31 - Everyone looked so good in their costumes!

The kids always love the "Trunk or Treat" at Groveland Elementary.  It's such a safe, quick way to go trick or treating.

 

September 2023

September 1 - I got to go to the Idaho Falls Temple! Then I got stuck in a car wash for about 5 minutes! There was a beautiful full moonrise! It almost looked like a sunrise.

September 2 - The day started with a beautiful sunrise, and ended with a another beautiful moonrise.  We found another Little Free Library that is not registered, this one is in Basalt.

In between the sunrise and moonrise, we went to the State Fair Parade.  Blake was really enjoying it! Ryder got lots of candy, Jared plugged Penny's little ears when the sirens were noisy.  The vey last float had some really cute little dancers! We loved watching for Molly and Hallie!

September 3 - Playing a rousing game of Scatergories! Guess is it didn't rouse Aubrey, she and Penny had a good little nap.

In between the rainstorms, the kids went out to play on the scooters, the crazy cars and bikes.  

They all had a great time, and the puddles was great fun!

September 4 - After going to the fair, Ryder, Molly and Hallie decided to eat their little lunch on the patio.  Molly thought she was such a funny Pringles Duck.

September 5 - We got a new gate to keep Penny from falling down the stairs.  Hallie was so proud that she finally buckled herself in my car!  Blake hates the puddle at the end of the driveway, so he pushed the water across the street with a snow shovel.  Hallie and I made banana bread.

We took Hallie and Penny to McDonald's for lunch, Penny loves French Fries!

Blake took Ryder, Molly and Hallie back in to the fair, and met Brian's family because they had got rained out on Monday!  They had a blast!

September 6 - Another wonderful start to the day!

September 7 - This sunrise was breathtaking from 2 different angles.

Penny was so thrilled to find a little friend in the mirror.

Randy shot and antelope while he was bow hunting!

September 8 - We thought we were going to the swimming pools at the Lava Hot Springs, but it turned out they were closed even after they told us they would be open! So, Michelle and her family, Nikelle and her girls and Ryder and Blake and I went to the hot pools.  They are really hot!  The kids had fun, but were also pretty disappointed that the other pools were closed.

After leaving Lava Hot Springs, we stopped in Pocatello at Outer Limits for some arcade fun and pizza.

September 9 - Blake, Brian and Aubrey went up tp the hunting spot to pitch the tent. Aubrey was pretty cold.

Brian and Aubrey's new house is finished! They can move in! I went over to take some pictures, so I could show them to my parents.  It is so pretty and will be so nice!

September 10 - We have a curious little mover!

A beautiful end of the day!

September 11 -  I dead headed some roses, and Michelle and Paul came to help.  Michelle crawled behind the Brody tree and pulled some weeds, Paul carried my bucket around and helped pull up some weeds.

September 12 -  Nothing is safe within Penny's reach!  Beautiful flowers in my front yard.

Michelle came again and helped me reorganize the storage room! I forgot to get a "before" picture, just trust me, it's so much better!

September 16 - Jared, Randy, Ryder and Blake went to Gem Lake for one last trip out on the boat.  These are the only pictures Blake took.  It was also moving day for Brian and Aubrey, but no one took any pictures!

September 19 -Oh how I love to spend some time with this cute Penny girl!

September 21 - She's getting so big!

Celebrating Blake's 68th birthday at Texas Roadhouse with some coworkers! He had to ride the saddle! I guess he's a party animal now!

September 22 - Another deluge! So much rain!

I finally updated the pictures in my frames!

September 23 - It's very difficult to put a tv above the mantle in brick.  Jared, Blake and Brian worked hard til they got it right.  It looks so good!

September 24 - Hallie and Molly finally got to celebrate Grandpa's birthday!

September 25 - I'm just always in awe at the beauty around us every day!

September 26 - Hallie wanted crazy ponytails just like in the book "Stephanie's Ponytails".  Penny is discovering more and more everyday!

September 28 - Penny found her friend again, Hallie is "saving" Penny from touching the mirror.  Such cute girls.

September 29 - I guess you would call this a moonset - this was at 6:30 and 6:45am! I couldn't decide which was better the sun coming up in the east, or the moon setting in the west!

I turned the front porch from Sunflowers to Fall!

I did the same with the entry way!

We had a fun dinner with Shauna and Troy and Michelle and Adam at 7eighty5 to celebrate Michelle's birthday.

I will never tire or apologize for taking so many pictures of God's beautiful paintings!

September 30 - Jared has some really cute, gloved helpers as he fixes the brakes.

We had a party for Declan (he will turn 6 on October 7). He was thrilled with his gifts and cake.  Penny loved watching Jared play with Taz.

After the party, we went to the Wild Adventure Corn Maze.  The zipline was a little out of Ryder's comfort zone, but with a little help from Molly, he got pretty good at it and thought it was fun.

Clark and Declan love playing the corn pit, Annie got a little crazy on this jumping thing!

We took a little ride on the barrel train. 

I didn't get a picture of the first corn hole round, but Maden and I went back for another round, he skunked me! Annie and Hallie are burying their friend in the corn pit!

We ended the day with dinner at Culvers.  The kids thought it was great to get ice cream with their meals.