Corinne and Richard's visit

I don't remember the occasion that the three of us are in Shannon's car, but this was taken on a Sunday. 

Maybe we stayed after church for something???

We took this picture at the game night we had at our house. These are my two new friends. Gale Couch is in the middle and Angie Erickson is on the end. Fred and I have found these two other couples and we get together to play games and eat food. We are all planning to go on a cruise together in 2024. 

It's so fun to have new friends to get together with.

Angie got me started on the app BeReal. I'm only connected with Gale, Angie, Scott & Jess. It's still kind of fun. I don't have a whole lot of variety to my pictures. Most of the the time when I get the notification to take a picture, we are sitting in our recliners or many times on I'm on the toilet. 

I'm not taking a picture in there. 

We received an Amazon package with this book in it. I showed the book to Fred and asked if he had ordered it. We both were puzzled. Then I look through the receipts and found the note that it was sent by Evan and Graham. It was hilarious! What a fun surprise!!!

Corinne and Richard flew into town for about four days. Corinne wanted Richard to have a flying experience before he flies to Michigan for his mission. On the first day, we all split up into a girl group and a boy group. We girls went to Olive Garden for lunch and then to the International BYU dancers performance. The boys went to Cafe Rio and Top Golf.

This was Sunday after church. Corinne was so good to play games with Marissa. I made a big spaghetti dinner for everyone. We ate that spaghetti every day after that. It was a very handy leftover. 

On Monday, Shannon drove us all down to Colorado Springs to the Michael Garman Museum. A very unique place. We had a very good time there. Unexpected. Each of us were given a little scavenger hunt page with four items to find. It took all of us helping each other to find our items. 

The prize was a miniature candy. 

Fred's Bar 

Corinne, Richard, Fred and I were able to go to the Temple to perform sealings with our family names. Afterward, we stopped by the Deseret Book store. They have a map there for missionaries to pin their mission locations. Richard got to to that. 

This picture was taken just before Corinne and Richard left for the airport. 

My pictures got out of date order, but it's too much work to fix it. So here are the pictures we took outside of the Denver Temple.  

  Corinne should come every year with just one child for a visit.

She thought that was a good idea. 

This was a very nice time to spend with Richard one on one before he leaves on his mission.

I'm so glad Corinne made that happen. We enjoyed our time so very much!

So far this new year

 Today we went to the rodeo with Shannon and the family. Brian was able to get free tickets from his work. That makes it extra nice to have a somewhat free activity. Minus gas and food. 

That's M's head there between Shannon and Brian.

They put on quite a show. Besides the competitions, they provide extra stuff. I remember a lot of this from last year when we attended. I'd like to someday stand next to a Clydesdale just to see how really big they are. 

It was Girl Scout Day at the rodeo. About 1,000 girl scouts attended. We met most of them in the line to the women's restroom after the rodeo.

The strangest thing. Fred and I applied for a PreTSA "permit" or whatever you call it. We went to the office to have fingerprints and our picture taken. Honestly, this was the motiff of the entire office. Not just the waiting room, but in the rooms and hallways. In the room we went into, there were two unicorn busts on the bookshelf. 

The pictures really don't do justice. 

There has been snow on the ground for a long time. I don't mind the snow when I don't have to go out in it. 

We went to the Denver Zoo last weekend. Fred and I went with Shannon and the kids. They were teasing me that this is my doppleganger. Ha

We took a break from walking to enjoy some sunshine. 

I finally tried out a recipe for white hot chocolate with the kids. Not a hit. 

But they did like my banana bread.

The whip cream made it all worth it. 

Shannon and I hit the stores a few days after Christmas. 

I bought these gingerbread houses for $3.80 each. 

This is usually B's face for pictures. He really isn't mad. Just being a 10 year old boy.

More Holidays Happenings

Last year we had a girl's night to the Nutcracker. 

This year Shannon bought tickets for Disney on Ice.

It was a great night.

M choose Chili's again for dinner.

Can't go wrong with their chips and salsa.

I wasn't expecting to be impressed, but I was.

It was very well done and not at all as I expected.

Wonderful music, skating and costumes.

 We were able to attend our ward Christmas party this year. Last year we were out of town. 

Our new  best buddies here - Angie and Brian Erickson.

I decorated this year all the way. It's been several years since I've done that. It has been very nice.

Fred was finally able to get the hanger on the door so I can start hanging wreaths. I've missed that.

We finally got some decent weather and roads to drive to Corinne's. 

It was awful between Price and Spanish Fork. I had to close my eyes for a lot of that part.

We had an early Christmas with them. I suggested that.

I thought it would be nice for a change to see the kids actually open our gifts.

We were able to attend school Christmas concerts for Garrett and Spencer. Haven't been to a school concert in so many years. Garrett's concert was especially fabulous. Lots of talent in his high school. 

This is the first time I think Fred and Richard were together to celebrate their birthdays. 

Nineteen years in fact.

Henry was happy with our gift. I was happy to see the little kids play with the toys. 

We gave gift cards to the three older boys. 

Had some fun moments with Clara. She is full of sass. Really a cutie.

We were able to meet up with Rick and Wendy Cloutier. We met as newlyweds in Bremerton. 

They were married a few weeks before us. We have managed to stay in touch over the years. 

This was a very nice time together. 

This is my most favorite moment from our time with Corinne. Richard smiled more than any other time we have had them visit. It was very nice to see. He has since received his mission call to Lansing, Michigan. He starts his at home MTC on February 27 and will enter the MTC in Provo on March 8.

2022 Early Christmas Phoenix

We had an extra early Christmas this year with Scott and Jess. 

After the boys were in bed, we got to play Hand and Foot.

We got pretty silly. Their decks of cards were super stiff. 

It was a real work out to shuffle them.

We got to attend Evan's Kindergarten Reading Night at his school

We sat and listened to a few people from the school read to us.

They had some of the different learning centers set up for all of the families to experience.

One of the days while both boys were in school, Fred and I drove out to the Phoenix Temple.

It's a beautiful temple.

The boys both got Elf PJs for Christmas.

This was the Garbage Truck we got for Graham.

He was pretty pleased with it.

Graham wore his PJs and hat more than Evan did.

We originally got these Squishmallows for the boy's birthdays.

But our trip was delayed so we saved them for Christmas.

Fred sat the boys down and taught them how to play a card game.

We also got to attend their last T Ball game this year.

The boys were on the same team and Scott was their assistant coach.

It was freezing. 

We were able to attend church with them on Sunday.

I'm sure glad we got this picture taken with them.

We spent some good times lounging on the couch watching movies.

I'm so glad we have this special time with Scott's family.

Jess always has their home decorated beautifully.

We have good food and a nice easy time together.