I guess that Ken really missed me while I was in AZ because when I got home he had these beautiful roses waiting for me and a note and chocolates on my pillow.

What a super sweet husband I have.

We had a really good Thanksgiving, even though our numbers were few.

What good are kids if you can't make them peel the potatoes?

We ate too much, as usual.

I think that even Cubby had a turkey induced coma.

Yesterday we went shopping at the Gateway in SLC.

It really put me in the mood for Christmas.
I think I'll start to decorate the tree today!!

Welcome Oliver!!

Here he is...Grandchild # 3 !!!

If you've looked at Michelle and Blaine's blog you've already seen what an adorable little guy Oliver is, but here are some pics that I took with my camera.

While I was there, the Christmas gift that Ken and I got for the kids arrived, so while Mommy and Daddy were at the hospital helping Oliver arrive, we just opened the gift and started having fun right there in the living room.

Of course, the box was a hit.

I'm not sure WHY this is fun, but it definitely is. While I was there alone with Kimberley and Asher we had lots of fun.

We went on walks in the neighborhood.

Finger paints are soooo much fun.

Hint to grandparents: do this just before bath time.

One day we met Gary and Beth and went to this park that had bronze animal statues.
One day, after Mommy and Daddy came home with the baby, we took a walk to their neighborhood park.

Daddy set up the sand and water toy in the back yard.

As you might have guessed, Asher thought the sand was to eat. Yummy.

He doesn't share his sister's food pickiness,

but I guess that's why he was willing to eat dirt.

I'm in Arizona

Okay, if you haven't looked at Michelle and Blaine's blog, then you haven't seen the pictures of our new grandson, Oliver. Since I'm down here helping out I probably won't be posting photos until I get home. So, click on their blog to see how cute our new little Oliver is!! He seems like a pretty happy little baby, so far. Poor Michelle is pretty tired. She had a c-section and is trying to recover from that. So far it is taking all three of us adults to run this household. Fortunately, Blaine was given some extra leave time. He's off for another whole week. I may have to come back and help out after Thanksgiving. (I'm going home to Utah this Tues.) She's not supposed to lift Asher yet. He weighs about 20 lbs. Bye for now.

Leaves and a horse.

Some people hate leaves and work very hard to rake them up and put them in the trash. I love autumn leaves and I'm happy to have them cover the entire yard.

I made friends with this horse the other day.

Horses love apples and I love to feed them to them.

That makes us natural friends.

Some horses are just friendly.

"Hi lady. Come pet me. I'm super pretty."

I think I live in heaven.

Lucky me.

Well, tomorrow is the big day for the Jewelry Show at my mom's house. We've been working like crazy to get all of this done. I sure hope she sells a lot. There are over 120 necklaces, plus earrings for most and at least 50 bracelets.

Playing Dress-up

Last night was Justin and Jenny's annual Halloween Party.

Here we are getting ready.There are few things in this world less attractive than aging

over-weight hippies.

Heavy, man.Corinne's transformation:

Rocker chics rock!Our hosts:

Justin and Jenny are the King and Queen,

Michael is the Knight (sans armor),

and Wesley is the Dragon (which inspired the whole theme).

Here is Michael, feeling more inclined to cooperate.

He actually let his grandma put on his armor.Ava as Dorothy:

Erin scoured the whole town and found Toto. These people are complete strangers to me, but I loved their costumes. Their baby was a Hurricane (inspired by his behavior at home), and they were wind-blown people.
Their clothes and hair were very stiff.

You can't see it here but even the dad's shoes laces were blowin' in the wind. The baby had little trees and cars and animals all stuck to his clothes.

This is Kevin with his red-neck teeth and hat.
Grant and Kristin just raided our costume box on the way home from work.
They are going to borrow our hippie costumes for their ward party tonight.

Kristin looks very pretty, as usual.

(You can see Erin's Wicked Witch of the West legs behind her. )
I decided I'd better add this picture of Erin and Ian as the Wicked Witch and Dorothy's hick uncle, even though I know that Erin will be unhappy with how wide her calfs look in this photo. In person her legs looked slim and lovely.

Our new deck and other fun stuff

We've been waiting to build a deck onto our house ever since we moved in, so finally after 6 years, we have a deck!!!

Here Grant and Kristin are, a couple of weeks ago, enjoying the new deck and the beautiful fall weather. At the time, it was warm enough to eat out there and play games.

It's like a giant playpen with a gate. It's intended for grandchildren, but Cubby loves it, too. He's always begging to go outside. He's too fat to jump over the top, so it's safe for him.

Last week some of my friends from the temple gave a baby shower (at my house) for one of our own. The mother-to-be is Julie Baldwin. She's worked at the temple ever since she was single. We've watched her as she was married, then become great with child. The sad part is that she's had to quit the temple. We miss her a lot.
On Sunday, David and Kami had us over for dinner. The fun idea Kami had was to decorate Halloween cookies for our dessert. It was really fun.
They turned out really bright and pretty.David and Kami like rodents. They have two rats and a hamster. We had fun watching the hamster fill her cheeks with food.All of that width you see is her cheeks getting fuller and fuller.By the time she got all of it stuffed into her cheeks, she looked hilarious.