Welcome Home!

Can't wait till you come...

Sweet Avalon

Hello, Nana!

Sweet Avila

Karen Kenney Choy sent this photo from her cell phone with the following caption: "Good night, Uncle Kenny. Sweet Avila."

Paint!

Ken and Dorothy came over for a while this afternoon. Dorothy helped me with some organizing, and Ken helped Mark put a fresh coat of paint in the bedroom / sitting room of your apartment. It looks great! Tomorrow...new floor!

Ken and Mark were a good painting team. Ken did the edging and Mark operated the roller. They were done in an hour.

I love Grandma!!

Holly sent this darling photo of Avalon today.

Kansas kiddos

Kendra sent these wonderful photos to my cell phone.

 A. and Kendra at the Young Women's Pageant. Aren't they beautiful?

Go Jayhawks! G. got to pose with the mascot & an athlete as part of the Special Olympics weekend.

Avalon Awake

Such a cutie! It will be so fun to meet her in June.

Avalon Update

Not sure if David sent these photos to you. Holly sent them to us a couple of days ago.

Pretty Winter

Here are a few more photos for you from our snowshoe outing last week.

 Liberty and I liked the way the bent-over trees seemed to form into groups. Praying trees?

 A fellow all by himself, with head bowed.

 Then we caught a glimpse of Mt Hood through the trees...

Another form crouched on the left. It was all so pretty. I don't remember ever seeing the forest look quite this way before.

Score...fail

In digital photography, it's called a "score" when you aim the camera at yourself and take a photo.

On Veterans Day, I tried taking several score shots. They failed. However, I thought they'd give you a good chuckle, even if they are a couple of days late for Veterans Day.

So I present...how not to take a photo of yourself.

Hahahahaha...ugh. I was trying to get a good shot of the shirt.

Have a great day! Love you!!

A Tale of Two Toes

Can you tell which big toenail is getting ready to fall off?

Sigh...yes, the left big toenail is not long for this world. I guess that's what I get for playing hard this summer. Must have banged it too hard (or too long on a downhill hike) on one of the summer's hikes.

Luckily, it doesn't hurt or anything. It just adds to what my friend Liberty calls my "interesting" feet. Haha! I slapped some bright fuchsia nail polish on my toes this morning, and you can hardly tell.

Wrist update - feeling better now that I've been taking it easier with the wrist activities for a couple of days. Makes me hopeful that it's just a sprain and some healing time + physical therapy will mean that I will be back to "good as new" before too long.

Cousin Connection

Marilyn and Wayne stopped by for an hour or so today. It was earlier in the day than we had expected, and they said not to feed them anything, so we just chatted in the house and out in the back yard. Then they were on their way to Ashland, where they will see a play tonight.

Here is the lunch I had planned to make for them. Mark and I enjoyed it as a delicious Father's Day dinner instead. We'll have lots of leftovers!

Salad (with lettuce from the garden), salmon, asparagus, rice, yummy bread.

Good times

I had such a good visit with you! Thank you so much for including me in your lives during a challenging time. I love you!

The True Meaning of Mother's Day

Kendra sent this message along with the photo of Lily:
Happy Birthday and Mother's Day. I hope your card arrived in the mail. Enjoy your company and this picture of Lilly this morning. She was ready for her nap. Love you!

Guard Cats

Here are the neighborhood cats, watching for the mole...

...and waiting, and waiting and waiting...

Kansas Kids

There is a new temple in Kansas City!
Kendra and Chris took all the kids to the open house last week.

Kendra said "It was windy! This was us visiting the temple."

Earlier she sent me a message that said, "Abbi just told me her favorite number is 151 and Charlie said his is 72. No idea why. I just love my kids."

Like Art Linkletter used to say, kids do say the darndest things!

There is more information about the new Kansas City temple here.

Arora Borealis

David sent this wonderful photo.

Arora + Borealis!

And here's Maddy in her Easter dress. It will be so good to see her later this month.

Baby Blanket

Little Anson loves to be cozy and warm. He was fussing until Grandpa wrapped him up in the beautiful crocheted baby blanket.

Bridge Photo - Exclusive!

Mark and I took a load of yard debris to the transfer station today. The traffic wasn't bad at all. And the best thing...we had a primo view of the bridge construction project! Hahaha...

Mark took a couple of photos with his cell phone camera.

I tried to make the photos bigger for you, but now they don't fit all the way. If you click right on the photo, it will show you the whole thing and you'll be able to see more.

You'll be happy to know that our yard debris was all the trimmings from the redwood tree. It now boasts 14' of clearance for your trailer to visit us!

We also helped a new family move into the ward this afternoon - a couple about our age. They mentioned that they also have 9 children between them. They seem very nice and friendly.

This evening I have a broadcast from Salt Lake for the Young Women. Mark and I are also working on thesis (me) and National Boards (Mark). (Actually we're both goofing off on our laptops at the moment but we REALLY ARE going to get busy in just a minute! Promise.)

Lala Reads

Go to this website for a darling video of Olivia reading! (click here)