Smiling happy people...

My cousin Molly is going to be a mom soon.  I can remember when she was born.  She was the first baby that I got to spend a lot of time with, and I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with her and Kate as I got to be a part of their childhood.  She in turn, has got to be a buddy to my kids over the years, and I now I get to spoil her baby. Here we are as she is about to start opening the mountain of gifts that she got at her baby shower at our house.

These two always make me so happy.  They are each other's best friend, and have been such a blessing to so many of us!  Here they are in their usual spot at my house, either cooking or cleaning up from one of our get togethers! 

My Aunt Gail is going to be a gramma soon!

Aunt Gail did a fish tail braid on Gracie for Molly's baby shower.  I can remember watching Aunt Gail braid Molly and Kate's hair when they were little and I was always amazed how quickly and neatly she was able to do it!  I guess it is a skill that goes hand in hand with sewing and being creative!

 This is another picture that makes me happy.  It has been such a blessing to have Len and Shirley be a part of our church family. 

 Here are three girls who are so much fun to be around.  I love listening to them talk to each other, and they truly miss each other when they haven't been together for a while.

 I love this picture of Gracie's face as Molly was opening the present that she made for her and baby Owen.  Aunt Gail has become such an awesome teacher and mentor to Gracie in all things to do with sewing.  She loves going over to Aunt Gail's house and working on things with her.  Grammy just gave Aunt Lori's old sewing machine to Gracie and she is so excited to start using it.  Too bad I can't even remember how to thread a bobbin.

 We have been blessed to have Laurie and Abby as part of our church family.  They come over often for girl time for both of them and for the Moms also!

 Had to include this picture of Madison with her cute haircut! Go to Molly's blog to see all of the great pictures from her baby shower.  The next post will be of our trip to see Madi compete in the state Adademic Decathlon.

 Here we are with Grandma on her birthday.  Last year we started a tradition of fixing her a "fancy" meal using my pink dishes and had such a great time, we did it again this year. This year we fixed her salmon, asparagus, twice baked potatoes, and banana pudding for dessert.  Gracie picked out tulips for her and we wrote her a poem all together.

 Lori, Chris, Bill and I were able to go to the PAC 12 tournament at Staples Center to see Colorado beat Oregon.  I was hoping to see UCLA play that day, but since they lost their game earlier, I guess I didn't really miss all that much! Now I am caught up on all my old pictures and can start blogging about our snow filled vacation to Yosemite!  Coming soon!

pen pals

 Luke had so many fans come and watch him play his last game of the season, but there was one person especially he had been hoping could come! The previous Wednesday night, Luke went up to Joy and asked if she could bring Samuel to his game.  I told him that this was too much to ask (his game started at 8:30am!) but it shouldn't have surprised me that the whole family came!  We had Joy, Lily, Emi, Gracie, Dylan, Grandma, Grammy, Delaney, Lori, Caleb, Bob, Tim, Eli, Alicia, Chris, Craig and Grandpa all there!

 At first, both Samuel and Luke didn't quite know how to act with all of us watching them see each other for the first time in a year!  He had been counting the days waiting for Samuel to get here.  For the past year, him and Samuel have been writing the best letters to each other.  It was Alicia's idea for them to be pen pals and it has been such a great experience.  Luke doesn't particularly love writing assignments in school, but never has any problem writing long letters to Samuel.

 

 After his game was over we had a while before Dylan's game started, so we walked over the park to play for a little while.  Caleb and Eli enjoyed the swings and running around together.

 After spending some time with Lily, she reminded me so much of how Gracie was at her age. Such sweet girls!  We were able to go to Rubio's for lunch with them too.

 It didn't take long for the two of them to start playing and laughing together.

 It was fun to see Dylan and Delaney run and around and play with the younger ones too!

 All the guys played basketball after second service on a Sunday night, and the girls came to our house.  Gracie still has the same dress up box she has had for many years and loves to help the younger girls dress up.

Luke and I were able to join the Short family for the evening at California Adventure one night during their stay.  It was a special night for the two of us to get to do something alone together (besides eye doctor appointments!) and we had a great time.  Here we are on "Soaring over California".  Luke also went on "Tower of Terror" for the first time with Samuel.  We were blessed to get to spend so much time with the Shorts while they were here.  Luke is saving his money now so that he can go see Samuel in Kentucky for his birthday.  He has $14 so far, and is hoping that will help pay the cost of an airplane ticket!  He wrote Samuel today and said, "See you in August, maybe!" :)