Christmas Pictures.

This photo of Sofie is somewhat similar to the previous blog. This is one talented young lady. Actually Sofie is amazing.
Ryan is so much fun. This little fella is always smiling. We would love to have him living closer, along with the rest of his family.
I don't know what the hat was about. Maybe Adam was on his way out or else he's hiding a bald spot.
Seth was the chef. He was very helpful. Thanks Seth.
Trying to recover from Christmas morning....Steve and Sarah.
This is every 5 year olds dream....a Barbie house. Lexi loved it. I thought for sure Steve would have to take it apart to get it home but he fit it into the back of the van and stuffed the rooms with things. Last I heard all made it home to Vegas safe....Barbie house included.
We tried to get 7 little grandkids to sit still and take a picture. You can see how successful we were.
Not bad.
Sofie, Braxtyn and Lexi.
We tended the girls while Sarah and Steve had a night out. Evie hooked up with David.

Twas The Night Before Christmas....

Here we are at the Roy Complex Swimming Pool. This should be one of the last pictures shown. The water was a bit chilly and after about an hour and a half some of the little girls got cold. Actually, Seth got cold too and he was more than happy to get out and keep them warm.
The Jones family minus a few. Sarah, Lauren and Steve.
Grandpa, Lexi and Braxtyn. Braxtyn didn't wear out. She and Sofie were the first ones into the pool and the last ones out.
Ryan wasn't sure what to think about this at first. After a bit he warmed up to it.
Natalie, Braxtyn and Adam. I think they are getting a "noodle" ride.
Seth keeping girls warm.
Sofie doing what? We don't know. She is a water nymph.
Evie was loving the pool. She lasted until I finally took her out with purple lips. We all had a great time and warmed up in the sauna room.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

We got blasted on Saturday and Sunday. It was great snowman building stuff. I started shoveling the side walk but I was easily distracted as you can see. Meet Doug and Susan Snowman. The next day Doug had fallen down. Maybe he got smacked for goosing Susan's bum. Just maybe.
See the bum patting going on there.
There is a pool under all that snow. It is frozen solid.
These next few photos are for my sister, D'Ann. She wants to paint a road map for her cute little grandson. You can see D'Ann that the map is a good size. I painted buildings that had some meaning to the boys. You can see the church we attended right there in the front. We also went to the bookmobile once a week so it's there too.
A cute house with all the trimmings. I remember the canvas was given to the boys from mom. She had sewn on some material periodically and drawn some squares and labeled them feedlot and stuff like that.
The Drive In.

This was a copy of our old house. If you decide to do this I know I had to buy some special something to paint over the houses I painted. I used ceramic paint. This map is at least 25 years old and it's had a ton of use. It also has a police station, grocery store, school etc. I think I got copies of some of the buildings from a coloring book. Good luck.

More Thanksgiving.

Sister-in-law Kim with her daughter. I think I'll do a bit of bragging about Kim for a minute. I hope you don't mind Kim. She is a very fun friend and very generous. She will do anything for anyone. Kim was the crew boss this summer with the flooded basement and by the way it looks terrific. I know I should have gotten some photos. When I was there in July she was keeping it going...bossing us all around. (not really) Then I show up 5 months later for Thanksgiving and Kim is 40 pounds lighter. We all want her secret. How did you do it Kim? "Well, I can literally say I worked my ass off this summer." That she did. She also committed to quit drinking soda, no white bread and eat more healthy. Way to go Kim. You look terrific and I'm so proud of you.
We can start out with one of those last minute photos I took. The sun blasting them in the eyes, everyone excited to be outside taking photos. You gotta love these kind of pics.
Dad and I.
This is a cute photo. It's my nephew's daughter, Cheyenne and Atticus. It reminded me of a photo of Sarah and David doing the same thing. They were about 2 and 3 and David had a girl mask on. Boys will be boys.
Niece Tana doing the brew look. This is the hat she found. Clever

Niece Tiffany and her cute little guy Austin. He's growing up very quickly.

Yes, that is Patrick with a knife. That is why I was on my best behavior.

Thanksgiving In Oregon

We started out with fine dining in Boise. David made it in from Seattle at 9:30 and we got to Boise at 10:30 or so.
Our escort to and from Vale. Thank you Sweetie.
My dad was 80 a week before Thanksgiving and they all celebrated there in Vale but we brought a birthday cake to do a bit more celebrating. I think we were supposed to save the cake for the next day but it looked so delicious and we were all hungry. Sorry Debbie.

Playing gestures. Todd looks like he needs to have Veletta explain the meaning of the words to him. What's up Todd?
Seth and Atticus made a pretty good team.
I'm a dork about taking photos. Here it is the day we are leaving and I get a bunch of photos. Not too smart. Todd, Patrick and I.
Todd's family with David and Seth. I don't think anyone was too thrilled about taking pictures that morning. Can you tell?
Can't you just see the enthusiasm.
Very nice. We loved meeting your family Todd. You scored big time with the cute wife and kids.
We went through some things downstairs and found some old hats from mom. There was enough there for everyone and more. Lots of hats were given away because many found some they really liked. Here we see Remy (Rusty's wife) Tana, Kim, Ashley (Devin's wife) Me, Tiffany, Leah (foreign exchange student from Germany, she was adorable) Cheyanne, Debbie, Atticus, Louie (who found this hat and never let go of it) Famie, Veletta and Connie. (Sorry for all the misspelled names folks)
Doug took this photo. Thanks Doug. Happy Thanksgiving to all. We had a great time in Vale and of course I should have gotten more pictures. We are excited to see those who are coming for Christmas. Peace out as Joel would say.