And a Merry Christmas was had by all!

OK, this is going to be a long post with lots of photos. Hang in there. First, let me say that we saw every grandchild except for Allie and Luke. We missed you guys. We even got to have Madison fly in from Missouri to spend a couple of days with us. This is our early Christmas dinner/present opening with David and Jill and kids and Madison on the 20th.

Madison wearing the PJ's and showing the blanket that I made for her. She had fun while we visited, baking sugar cookies, decorating a gingerbread house (thanks to DandJ), going to The Tales of Deberaux ?(that mouse movie)with me, going to Church with us and watching Christmas movies.

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This is Christmas Day in Utah! The photo of our car shows you what we woke up to on Christmas morning. For a Californian, this was sweet!

Hannah is wearing both her tutus at the same time from Grandma Julia

Sleepy little Hannah so happy to open her own Make-up!

Hollie and Jarin's kids half awake opening up gifts. Dallin waiting patiently to open his gift, the Barbie is not his!






We ate a wonderful lasagna dinner at Jo Ann and Jim's house with all their children and grandchildren. Then we played Boggle. It was great to see their family.

On Christmas Eve we had an enactment of the first Christmas. Uncle Scott played a very convincing donkey for Sisi (Mary) to ride on. Hannah was an adorable lamb. Dallin was Joseph, Kamrie was the Angel, Taylor was a Wise Man and Grandpa was a shepherd. Jarin read the story and Hollie and I photograhed it. It was very sweet.

The cutest little lamb ever!

On Saturday, since the Christensens were in town, we decided to head over to a local park with a great area for sledding. There was tons of snow. Grandma convinced Hailey and Kamrie to go down the hill only to have them fly over someone's home-made ramp. They both were in the air and went down pretty hard. If you look closely, you can see a red mark on Hailey's cheek where she hit the ground and Kamrie bit her lips. Luckily, it wasn't worse and Grandma felt really bad for giving them the push off the hill. :(

Taylor, waiting his turn to go down the hill.

Ella was freezing, but did go for a ride down the hill with her Dad.

Little Snow Bunny, Hailey. This girl is courageous and will tackle any hill even after she bit it!


Jennifer, holding Ella, and Dave getting ready to go down for another ride.

It was absolutely freezing and my camera only lasted about ten minutes before it quit taking photos. It was a beautiful, clear day and luckily I got these shots before it quit.

Brave little Hannah going down the hill with her Daddy and Grandpa. Even Maran and the "Twins" (unbeknownst to her at the time) went down the hill.

Hollie and Sienna coming from the car.

We all went out to eat at Cafe Rio (yum) and then all of us went to the dollar movie and saw Beverly Hills Chihuaha. What a fun time it was while we were there. Many thanks to Jarin and Hollie for putting us up.

We enjoyed making Gingerbread houses with the grandchildren. It was a fun, sticky, delicious activity. The picture isn't very clear, but if you look closely you can see Hailey's owie below her left eye.

Sisi in her undies and Ella in her Princess dress. Sienna ate more candy than she put on her house:)

Grandpa and the three boys.

Even Grandma tried to help out (and eat a few candies along the way). A great holiday season was had by all. We left on the 29th to spend New Year's Eve in Sacto.

Our Baby Davonna

OK, this is hilarious. I saw it on someone else's blog. I took a photo of Dave and myself and put them together on this site, and here is our baby. We've named her Davonna. I know she looks like a boy, but imagine a bow in her hair and a pink top. I always wondered what a baby would look like. To make your own baby, go to http://www.vw.com/vwhype/babymaker/en/us/ Have fun!

Jamies Reception in the Yard

Sorry that the pictures don't exactly match the words. You'll understand if you scroll down little after some of the words. Friday, Sept. 26th we had a reception for Jamie G. and her hubby Jordan. It started at 6:30 -8:30. So it got dark 45 minutes into it.Marcie and Gray came over a couple of weeks earlier and helped pull out all the pink flowers. Each reception is beautiful and different. It is a joy to do it for those I have been close to. Wish we had it my own kids.

These are the bride's maids. The one on the right is Starlene, for those who remember EG 1st Ward.

These are my lanterns on the front walk. Jamie's colors were pink and green. The greeting line was in front of Virginia's house.

Amazingly, the weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor reception. That was taking a chance for the end of Sept. This weekend is supposed to be rainy. They lucked out.

The caterers did an awesome job. There were so many people (at least 200) that they almost ran out of food. They had fresh fruit and hors d'oeuvres. (is that how you spell it?)

These candles are on the

table in the kitchen area.

Jamie threw her bouquet from the steps.



Check back next week for photos of my re decorated bathroom. :)

Maren W's Reception

Before I post the reception photos, I just had to post this. (Please excuse mess in kitchen.) I walked out of my bedroom and saw these two snuggling on the couch. They are both very content.:) Hannah is so cute with her sippy cup and Care Bear. Of course, she has a boo-boo on her knee. She trips alot on our flagstone in the yard.

OK, I know it's been a couple of months since I last blogged. I missed alot of opportunities with photos of the family visit in July. I'm not very good with the camera, always forgetting to take photos and just enjoying the time with family. I did remember to take a few photos of the reception on Aug.8 (also Dave and my 10th anniversary), but missed taking photos at Maren's wedding. And just part of a picture here of the bride and groom. Our Maran has some pretty pictures that she can post when she gets back home from visiting here. It has been great having her and Hannah to hang with.

Maren's theme was Gerber daisies in hot pink, orange and yellow. It was so pretty and happy looking. We even had daisies floating in the pond and candles in the pool. The big guy in the photo is Maren's brother, Will, for those who remember him.

Its fun to see how each person decorates the backyard. They had white lights on the bushes and it looked really pretty when the sun went down. All the flowers in the backyard were blooming. The roses and petunias (which did not have a single bloom on them two weeks prior) were in full bloom. I was really pleased with how the yard looked. I worked over a hundred hours on it to make it look that way!

They must have had over 150 guests come. Maren W's entire family was there, all six siblings! The weather was perfect,86degrees the coolest day of the week. It cooled down into the low seventies when the sun set.

One thing that was really interesting is that a man from my teenage years in Culver City was at the Temple and remembered me from over 30 years ago! It was Allan Adams, a first cousin to the groom! Ask Jo and Bet and Frank if they remember him :) He came to the reception as well. It was fun telling him about the family. Our next reception is on Sept.26th. I am taking a little time off for now!

Three and a half weeks in North Carolina!

This blog is done in blue and white in honor of the UNC Tarheels!!
I want to thank Kerrie and Jake and Allie for putting up with me for over three weeks. I had a wonderful time and was so glad that I was able to help out.
When I arrived on the 17th, it was 10:30PM EST. Everyone was tired so we waited till the next day to visit. Allie awoke early around 6AM and said to me from her crib, "I'm looking at you". She was an early riser most every day but we got her routine down really well by the time I left. Here we are around the 19th of May with Allie in the park. The rose garden was very pretty.
Poor Kerrie was hot and swollen. We got our toenails painted on the 21st (Kerrie's Mothers' Day gift to me) and with Jake and Allie also, went to an Indian restaurant which was my first time. It was very good.











Kerrie, Allie and I went to her favorite butterfly museum on May 20th. They have a season pass and it is not very far away. Dave and I never got back there to check it all out because it was so blasted HOT! It hit 101 degrees and much of the museum is outside. We also went food shopping, to the library, and to a going away party for her friends who were moving all before Lucas was born.

Happy Birthday Luke! Although he was scheduled to come on the 23rd, Lucas came into the world on the 22nd due to Kerrie's blood pressure rising. It was a wonderful day for the Thornock family.

Luke was only an hour old when I got to hold him. (Notice the dark circles under my eyes, I was still experiencing jet lag) :)

Luke in his swing four days old.

North Carolina has many beautiful birds, among a gazillion other forms of wildlife. This was my favorite, the Red Cardinal. He and the female came daily to eat out of the bird feeder Kerrie puts in her window. We also saw mice and a vole outside next to the sidewalk. We all went to the Botanical Gardens but it uncomfortably hot so we didn't stay too long.

One of Luke's first outings was to Henderson Park where Allie got to play on the swings. There were many bold (unafraid of humans) squirrels there. One of them had to open this empty coffee container and it succeeded. Luke was asleep the entire time.

When Dave came, we celebrated a late birthday. He chose a Razzleberry pie and vanilla ice cream which was delicious. It is a new favorite of mine now. We sang Happy Birthday and Allie was very excited to give him his presents.

Dave and I took Allie to theMall where she got to ride the train, jump in a jumphouse and ride on the carousel. Afterwards, we went to our favorite store, Costco and had lunch and did some shopping.

On Saturday, June 7th Dave and I and Kerrie, Allie and Luke went to the Museum of Natural History in Raleigh. It is a great museum. It was free parking and free to get in!

Allie liked playing in the Toddler room in the Museum, trying on different animal costumes and playing with stuffed animals. Here she is as an owl.

Allie in her favorite spot in the museum, the dinosaur room.

A little Bumble Bee. Sorry the pictures are out of order, but I am sure you can figure them out. :)

Allie loved the dinosaurs and spent most of the time just gazing at them. We probably stayed in the dinosaur exhibit 30-45 minutes.We got her a little dinosaur to take home with her. It was a fun day. Jake was at home studying for his comps. He was missed. But we did get to go out and eat a couple of times after Luke was born with the entire family. In fact, when we were in Durham Kerrie spotted this sign next to our Restaurant. Hilarious.