Tuesday evening - Sunset pictures

These are just some random pictures that everyone was taking of the gorgeous sunset and walking along the beach.

California - Tuesday

Tuesday morning found us on a whale watching, dolphin watching boat.  It was chilly but we happened to be on the side with the sun on us almost the whole time which made it pleasant.  We did see a fee dolphins and some sea lions, but no whales.  It was fun to be out on the water and the bonus was that not one person got sea sick.  Annie had motion sickness pills and everyone took one so maybe it was the pills or maybe we were just weren't prone to get sea sick.

 One of the comments made was "don't have your picture taken with Jamie because you will never look as pretty as she does."  Jamie is very photogenic and beautiful to boot!!

 Some more fun pictures of the boat ride.

Monday

We had breakfast in the morning, gassed the cars up and then went to the outlet stores and shopped there for about 2 hours and then resumed our journey to California.  Tucker and Jamie were coming from their home in Kingsburg and we all arrived about the same time.  Tucker and Jamie did the walk through and got us all checked in and we were about 1/2 hour behind them.  We stopped and got pizzas on our way in and went through a car wash.  Our cars were caked with mud, dirt and salt.  What a fine looking couple!!!

 

We were blessed with safe roads and travel.  We were worried with the storm that had settled in on Christmas day but by the time we began our journey the roads had mostly been cleared and the snow melted.  There were only a couple of very small patches of snow as we neared a couple mountain passes. 

California Here We Come!

The Gertson family, Cutler family (minus Taylor) and Neal and I all met in the afternoon to begin our journey to Ocean Side, California to spend a week at a beach house. 

Before the actual trip began, Neal and I went to Sacrament Meeting that morning.  When we pulled in the parking lot and I turned the Jeep off, I noticed that the fan was still running.  It wouldn't turn off.  I had to lead the singing in Sacrament Meeting so we locked the Jeep and went in, hoping the fan would miraculously turn off.  An hour later we came out and the fan was still running.  We called Triple AAA to come and look at it and they said there was nothing they could do to fix it and to disconnect the battery every time we stopped somewhere and that would shut the fan off.  Thus began our journey.  It actually worked fine to do it that way other than it was a bother to disconnect the battery everytime we stopped.

We traveled as far as Primm where we spent the night.  I might add here, that finding a place to eat on Christmas Day is almost impossible!  When we reached St. George we must have spent an hour looking for some place that was opened and found only one place called Wingers.  When we walked in they said it would be at least an hour wait.  So we got back in the car and headed toward a Pilot station where we found a Burger King that was open.   We all laughed when Jaden said, "Why this is a fricken Christmas Miracle!"

After we had a quick bite to eat we headed on to Primm.  Of course, we had to drive down the strip in Las Vegas, which took an extra hour.  There were masses of people on the streets even though it was only 40 degrees!  We arrived safety in Primm, checked in and settled in for the night.

The first big snow storm

What are the chances that you wake up to a foot or more of fresh new snow and Christmas morning.  I honestly can't remember the last time we had a storm like this on Christmas.  The first snow fall of the year is beautiful and this was no exception.  Neal and I went out about 7:00 to shovel the driveway and with all the Christmas lights on it was breath taking.  The only down fall was that our family was leaving for California this day.  I tell more about that in my next post.

Christmas Eve Gathering

This year we decided to have our Christmas Eve dinner in the morning.  Everyone came about 10:00 and we had breakfast casseroles, orange rolls, cinnamon rolls, juice and fruit.  Abby made the Christmas cupcakes and Maren made the darling Santa Clause hats out of fruit.  After dinner we gathered for Neal to share a Christmas message for the family and read our Christmas book and then we opened presents.  It was a fun time.  Again we missed our Jeffrey.  Mindy was very teary when she left for home but we were so glad she came and represented him.  We miss you Jeffrey.

 It is hard to tell but I have a brand new lace table cloth on the table and it actually fits the full length of the table with all the leaves in. 

 We were happy to have River join us for the festivities.  It is hard now with his mom and dad divorced.  He still wants to be a part of the family gatherings and his dad is good enough to bring him by and let him participate.  He also joined us for our Thanksgiving celebration. 

Geroge Dyer Concert

George Dyer performs in Branson and we found out he was here in Salt Lake.  Neal bought tickets for any family members that wanted to come.  Lynda Ann's family were the only takers of Neal's generosity.  Mallory brought her friend along.  We met at Hires for hamburgers and then headed to the concert at Murray High School.  Very fun evening.

Abby's surprise

Every now and again one of my grandchildren will do something special for me for no reason other than they were thinking about me.  This was one of those occasions.  Her message touched me deeply.  Thank you Abby for this sweet message.

Pictures from Tucker and Jamie's Thanksgiving

Of course, we were sad that we didn't have Tucker, Jamie and the girls with us for Thanksgiving.  But this wasn't a good year for them to come so we had to Thanksgiving without them.  It was fun to get some pictures from them of their Thanksgiving dinner. 

 Does this picture below remind you of the Clevers on Leave it to Beaver?  What a great picture! 

 This is a picture of Lexi with her card and birthday money from Gam and Pa.  Darling girl.  We love you Lexi.  Happy Birthday and thanks for the picture.

Thanksgiving tradition

Every year for as far back as I can remember we have gone bowling on Thanksgiving morning while the turkey is cooking in the oven.  Each year we run into people that we used to know from the old 8th ward and we also see families from our new ward.  It is fun to greet family and friends.  The bowling alley is the gathering place for the family before going over to our house.  Here are some fun pictures.  This was our first year without Jeffrey and Mindy and the kids decided to go to Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with CJ and Justin.  We missed them and I missed my Jeff.

Thanksgiving handout

Teaching RS lessons over at MBK Retirement Center is interesting.  You get quite a variety of coherency of the older people attending.  You go from one end of the spectrum to the other when it comes to who is actually listening and knows what you are teaching.  It is a challenge but I do like going over there.  I always think of the years that mother was in a care center and how much she appreciated visits and going to her church meetings.  This is the hand out that Lynda Ann and I made to go with my lesson. 

Halloween

Before I start posting pictures I have to say that it has been since September that I last posted.  My lap top died on me and even with the expertise of Mindy, the computer gave up the ghost - so to speak.  So, I had to wait until we saw Jamie again and she could help me pick out a new lap top for me.  So, we are back in business again and I'm exited to get caught up on my blogging.  It is hard to remember the details of everything but thankfully, pictures tell a lot of the story.  This is the picture that Maren sent me of Jaden, Brock and Boston at Halloween.