Our Anniversary Week: Part I

Kevin and his family arrived to spend a week with us and have some fun. There was ice cream, baseball, swimming, movies, Dewars ice cream, and much more. This is Luke--10 going on 15.
Liesl was sooooooo glad to have some girls cousins in town. Christine and Rachel.

The Rickster--does it get any better than this?

The toddlers checkin' each other out. Ricky thought she was fun--Clara didn't want to have much to do with him.

Owen and Seth had so much fun together.

Nick and his family arrived on Friday and we celebrated Natasha's 9th birthday with a big party on Saturday. Aunt Becca made a beautiful cake.

The games were fierce and fun.

The goal: Build a free standing balloon tower. Tallest wins.

Team #1

Team #2

There was no clear winner as both teams cheated.

Swimming with the cousins.

Ricky could not believe there was a real fire truck he could ride.

Charchar and the brudder.

Hangin' out in the back yard.

Our 40th Anniversary was on Saturday. This was just the beginning. More to come. . . . .

Camera's do not like water. No they don't.

Did you know that digital cameras do not like water? It's true. My very favorite, special Kodak digital camera circa 2004 took a swim in the bottom of my purse with a spilled water bottle. I noticed pretty quickly but not before the damage was done. I gave it a couple of days to dry out and nada. It would turn on but still had major issues. So off to Sam's Club to buy a new camera. Here she is. Don't you just yuv her (in Charlie speak).

This is what summer is all about.

Summer is meant to be special for kids and adults alike. Swimming, playing, vacationing, etc. Here are just a few things we did this week to enjoy our summer.

We have replaced many mail boxes at our house over the years. Vandals seem to have fun driving in the neighborhood with a baseball bat, people back out of the drive way and run over it. . . . stuff like that. Two days ago it happened yet again. Jack and Charlie spent the day with us today and we decided to put up a new mailbox. As you can see--we had fun. First you have to get more dirt from the back yard.a> Then you take it back out front and pack it in the hole to hold up the new post.

Then you talk this kid out of taking the old mailbox home---as it is needed atop the new post. "But Gramma, I really need this."

Now there's one proud repairman.

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I also got to see Owen and Liesl's swimming lesson this week. They did awesome. Yup--summers are fun.

My fabulous weekend

To make a long story short. . . .Cris and I had planned to drive to Utah for my niece Angelica's wedding. I hurt my back--decided the drive would kill me. . .decided to fly up one day and back the next. We found a great health care person to take care of Cris on Friday and Becca and Jason took care of him on Saturday. He did great even though I was nervous about leaving him. I had a blast. It was great to see my siblings and participate in this special event. As you can see---she's a beauty!!!!
Her mom, my sister Patty MADE THIS DRESS. It's true. I know. Unbelievable!

I took a picture of a picture. It's stunningly beautiful. Taken at the Bountiful Temple at sunset.

Look!!! It's Tiffers Landelu Landerson's mom.

And Dad!!!

Patty, Angelica and Me.

Parents of the Bride. Uncle Howard was a softy and was choked up much of the time.

The bride wanted ruby red shoes. I loved it. And yes, those are Gramma Decker's legs on the left.

Sister-in law Leah Jane, Marge and Pete.

Jim and Marlene. (Landee's look alike Dad)

What fun we had.

The happy bride and groom.

Annie and her girls, Marci and me. I love these girls so much. It was a fast trip but so much fun.

Some things are just meant to be shared.

I came across this picture the other day and it just screamed "post me". There are so many good things about this picture--family--fashion--fun. I await your comments.

Fourth of July fun

For some reason, my camera did not make an appearance much for this holiday. It's not because we weren't having fun--I was just lazy. But here are the 3 pictures I DID take.

Clara enjoying watermelon. She would have eaten the green part too if we hadn't watched her.

Our dilemma was this: Go to the cub scout pancake breakfast at 8:00 A.M. and 100 degrees---or just contribute to their fundraiser on Sunday and stay home and have THESE babies. Puff Pancakes, Ebelskievers. One of my favorites and soooooo easy. Just any old pancake mix will do. They're scrumptious.

this is what they look like before you turn them with skewers. Thanks again to Bella and Tasha for my Ebelskiever pan. (Check on line at Williams Sanoma for this http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/c332/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cebelskiever%20pan&cm%5Fsrc=SCH

Hope you all had a great 4th.

Father's Day festivities

It's amazing how kids can entertain themselves. Pick a few leaves off the trees, gather twigs and grapes and presto---instant imagination.
There is some serious hero worship goin' on here. Clara LOVES to sit by Riley at the piano.
Case-in-point!

Ahhhh--the gift that keeps on giving. A new iPod Nano. Sweeeeeeeet. I gave Cris the Nano--the kids gave him iTunes gift cards, headphones and awesome photos. Add hot fudge sundaes and you have a perfect day. Happy Father's Day to my sweetheart.