I'm Back!

Hi everyone! After a non-planned break from blogging I am back! I let a few weeks go by after the last post, and then it was easy to blame it on the holidays coming, then the recovery from the holidays, then I was tired...you know all of the excuses. I feel the need to keep my Time Travel Tuesdays going, I miss my Grandma Hamblin's story and I want to finish it! So come back on Tuesday for the next chapter! In the meantime, here are a few photos of life at the Little House on the Corner from recent months.

My adorable Grandson became acclimated to his new home in Minnesota and grew a furry coat to stay warm. He met his new Bishop for the first time at a fall ward gathering where the Bishop let him "drive" his tractor. Lucas now calls his new friend "Farmer Bishop"!

This cool guy got his first job and spends his time wondering why his Mom takes so many photos of him.

Some mornings I wake up to this. You're jealous, I know it!

Remember that dead bush from my last post? My men did, indeed dig it up for me, and Richard turned it into kindling. I love how he works in comfort!

There was pumpkin carving in October. Roxie helped.

Well, OK. Roxie chewed!

It's awesome to have grown children who will clean out their own pumpkins. I am SO over doing that!

For Thanksgiving we hosted Dee's nephew Robert, a good-looking Marine who came up from California to be with us. He's the blond with the Marine hair-cut, naturally! The dark-haired young man is Tyler, Sarah Faria's brother.

And there's my nephew Michael and his wife Sarah, with their sweet baby Nathan.

I love his adorable face!! I wish my sister could see her Grandbabies more often.

Dee and Robert took in a BYU basketball game. Don't you love those 1970's gold seats in the Marriott Center?

Miss Britt and her Provo Google Fiber team earned a trip to Google HQ and had a wonderful time!

 It's a Wonderland kind of place to work!

I taught myself a new skill in December. I learned to paper-piece quilt from You Tube and made a Christmas gift for Sarah, our Canadian daughter (!).

It's a little table runner. I had so much fun doing it and I already have my next project ready to go!

I was thrilled mid-December to get this photo text from Diana! It meant my kids were closer to getting here for the holidays! Sarah flew to Minneapolis and spent a few days with Diana, Nick, and Lucas. Then they all flew here to be with us!

Santa-Dee always wears his Cougar Santa hat all through December. It lives on our bedpost so he can wear it to swim practice some mornings.

Poor Rox was -ahem- in a ladie's way in December and we tried out these Velcro undies to keep her tidy! They worked, but she was not thrilled.

 We bought a little Christmas train this year and showed it to Lucas on Skype. He was excited to get here and play with Pa and the choo-choo!

I had a nice village all set up and the boy had fun putting Santa in the chimneys. I new it wouldn't last long, but I enjoyed it for a week or so before he got here!

We soon cleared the way for the men to have room to run the railroad. They had a blast! Notice the dinosaur in Pa's hand? It produced giggles from Lucas by chasing the train!

 I love how snugly this boy is. He melts my heart!

Christmas Eve day was fun. We all went to the Provo Rec Center and had a swimming party. What else would this family do?

Louie and Britt kept the fire stoked and had us all feeling toasty! I spy Roxie chewing her Greenie bone!

I'll share a few more photos later. I know you are on overload right now! I've got to jump into my Tardis and get some Time Travel going! See you next time!

A Surprise for the Fourth!

I know...I'm running behind!
Our Fourth of July was so nice this year. We had the most wonderful surprise! Early in the week Dee and I were in our room watching a movie. It was pretty late, a bad habit we must curtail, when our door opened. We both thought Richard needed us for something but who should appear? It was Lucas, Nick , and Diana! I was overcome with joy! (Really, we need to stop surprising each other like this or someone may have a heart attack!) Their plan was to come in late, only letting Richard and Brittany know when they got to LasVegas. They were going to go downstairs and get in bed, surprising us in the morning. That would have been amazing too! They let Britt and Richard know when they would arrive and gave Richard instructions to just get the bedding ready on our little toddler bed for Lucas. Just before I went to bed I came upon my son getting into the linen closet in the hall. "Oh! I'm just looking for a blanket", was his excuse. Really? An extra blanket in July? I told him he could also turn his ceiling fan down! When Diana's little family pulled up into our driveway at 11:30 that night they saw our bedroom light on. "Dang it! Why are the old parent people still awake?!"  I ask myself the same thing every morning. They decided to just come right up and so they did! Who can go to sleep after having been so happily hugged by a little blond boy, knowing he is just downstairs?

The following days were full of fun and just good times being together. We got up early and watched "Nemo" and then Lucas helped Gramma do the laundry.

 

 Later that morning we took the boy to Cookie Cutters to get an affordable haircut 

(as in NOT California Prices!)

 

 I love this photo I caught of this sweet family, Lucas all fresh and clipped with his red balloon! That's Uncle Richard on the right who as Grandpa George would say has become "a tall drink of water"!

We drove on down to Provo and had lunch with Auntie Britt at Brassa's Mexican. Oh, was it ever good!

 Sisters and goofs!

On our walk back to Google Fiber HQ we found a store front with Lucas' favorite superhero "Steeeeve!!"

Auntie B brought out one of the fleet of Google Fiber bikes. Isn't it cute?! I want one, really, a lot! The team ride them all over downtown. They were getting them ready to ride in the Freedom Festival Parade.

Each bike had been equipped with an awesome bubble blowing machine for the parade. Lucas loved it!

At home, later that day I heard some noises from the powder room and found my grandson being very conscious of his dental hygiene, as well as his dirty feet!

 I took him outside where he met our neighbor's friendly tree. Of course he had to give it a big hug!

Then he and his Mama made some driveway art.

 We pulled Uncle Richard's out lawn mower out of the garage and Lucas had a blast!

If only it really cut grass we'd be in business!

 There is always some monkey business going on with this kid. I don't know what he was doing in the tub, but he was having a great time!



Then he went across the hall and had some fun jumping on Aunt Rachie's bed. Have you seen those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prints-gone-viral online? I have the originals in my house! I'm also painting this room a calmer color now that the artist lives in Provo!

The men and I ran to Wal Mart to grab a few last minute items on July 4th. We found a bin full of those personalized Coke bottles. They literally spent the next 30 minutes trying to find one for everyone in the family while I did the shopping. That was very helpful. They were there so long that they were helping everyone who came by because they knew where all of the different names were!

See the little guy in the green Monsters Inc. hat? Yes, that's my grandson mowing all of the grass at Thanksgiving Point where we gathered for fireworks!

 Along the way he made friends with some cool kids and their way cool air rocket launchers!

It was a lovely, cool evening to relax, read, and play games while we waited for dark.

Here's Nick and Diana after they had chased Lucas for the millionth time and brought him back to the fold!

I swiped this one from Diana. It's all of us who were there. Poor Brittany had to work an event that night and we missed her, but she wouldn't have liked to be at her old workplace anyway. 

It was a fun, fun Fourth of July! The fireworks were spectacular and the grandson just made it sweeter!

November...at Last!

I know, I know. Ive been promising to post Thanksgiving pictures and here it is time for Christmas posts. I finally found my missing camera cable!

 Let's start with November and I'll share Christmas with you next time. We were so delighted that Nick and Diana joined us for our Thanksgiving this year. Last year they were in sunny Thousand Oaks, CA with Nick's grandparents, having just moved to San Diego. This year we ordered up a proper fall for them and had orange leaves and snow all in one week. I 'll admit that now that I am a Gramma, that baby boy is a big plus for them! They can come and bring him to my house any time...ANYTIME!

The following is a pictorial review of Thanksgiving, heavy on the grandson!

Pa reads great stories and there's usually some ice cream when he's around.
Gram gives out tiny pumpkins and leaves her storage boxes out so you can climb inside of them! Roxie gets her teeth brushed...that is totally fascinating.
You can get Christmas presents early if you look at Gramma with your big round eyes.
Some people want to put bunny hats on you, but you can rip them right off!

 

It was a wonderful time. Nick had to leave us early to get back to school and work, but Lucas and Diana stayed for another week. What fun we had! I share our December with you next time!