Hancock Family

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY SWEETIE!

2012-02-13T15:52:00.000-08:00

Krysta did a cute anniversary tribute or birthday tribute to Adam a couple of years ago and I thought then I would do the same. So let's start with the top 10 reasons I love that cute guy Doug.

10. In 35 years of marriage and a stressful job he does not bring his work home. That does not mean he does not do some of his work at home, it means he does not complain.

9. He has been known to be fun. We have all seen it so we know it's there.

8. Doug hangs up his own clothes. I hear that's pretty amazing and maybe i should have it as the number 1 reason but I am spoiled and used to it. Thanks honey.

7. Every 10 years he has attended something that I want to go to and he doesn't. That makes 3 times so far. There might be more but I can't think of them.

6. He is always there for anyone in his family, our children and it will be the same for the grandkids. Very responsible about his role as oldest son, father and grandpa.

5. Loves The Gospel, he just doesn't advertise it. I promise.

4. Good provider. Need I say more.

3. Lets me do the crossword and doesn't get mad even though he likes doing them too. I usually save him some (not by choice). He does tell me he could fix my mistakes quicker if I would spell the words correctly to start out with.

2. Greatest grandpa ever. All the kids wish they could be one of our grandkids.

1. Everytime Doug answers the phone when it's me phoning he always says, "hello beautiful."

Summer Swim Pictures

2011-11-06T03:10:00.000-08:00

We finally unloaded some pictures from the camera. Here it is November and we are looking at summer pictures. Lexi with her balancing act.

Lauren looks like she had a bit of sun.

Eli loves the water.

We call this the polygamous hairdo. Natalie and Sofie.

This cutie is always smiling. What a happy boy.

Evie had to have her swim glasses on all the time. If you look close you will see there is water in the glasses.

Doug's job....hold cute girls. He likes that.

You got to love girls. Natalie, Lauren and Lexi.

Halloween Party

2011-10-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

We had family over and celebrated Halloween. Mostly it was food and carving pumpkins. Dinner in a Pumpkin....

This is supposed to be Mummy Meatloaf.....I think it looks like ......I don't know....I couldn't eat it.

Witches Fingers

Scary smiles.

Even after all that food Ryan wanted yogart.

Noah getting to be a big boy sitting all by himself.

Playing in the leaves. Sparky Jones was having fun along with everyone else.

Buzz Lightyear. He was zapping everyone and of course they were falling like flies.

Rex the great friend of Buzz Lightyear. I don't know why we didn't get a picture of Natalie in her mermaid costume. She was adorable of course. We missed everyone that couldn't be there.

A Bit Of Summer Swimming

2011-09-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

Claire finding the pool treats.

Not pool fun but close enough. Evie and Ryan were cute friends.

Sweet baby Noah and his first time in the pool.

We got a bit of Braxtyn for the summer. Seth in June and we had nice weather. I think it was the only nice weekend of June. We loved getting Seth and Braxtyn here.

Braxtyn loved getting thrown as high as Seth could throw her.

Hanging out at the pool...Steve and the girls.

Sofie learned how to dive off the board. She did a great job. Such a good swimmer.

The girls love this floatie. It can be a rock for mermaids, a boat that gets tipped over and many other things.

Evie is working on getting her floaties off. She wouldn't have been taking them off to go to the bathroom because she would just run over to the grass, slip down the swimsuit and take the opportunity to pee right there.

Lexi Lou.

Lauren Mae.

Hiking Waterfall Canyon

2011-08-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the summer we got Seth home for just a weekend and Braxtyn came too. It was a nice time and off to Waterfall Canyon we went. Brax was a great hiker.

Here she is standing at the base of the waterfall.

Our hiking bunch. Paul and Blitz came along.

You can see Ogden in the back ground.

Taking a break along the creek.

FENCE BUILDING

2011-08-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

Finally I have got around to getting the "fence building post" completed. What a slacker. This photo and a couple of others show no work being accomplished. We had to get some family pics before coming home. Thanks to all the boys; David, Adam, Joel and Paul. Grandpa loves his fence. Especially thank you to Caitlan and Krysta. You two didn't have to come over and watch your husbands work but you did. Here are Joel, Caitlan and baby Noah.

The family picture of Grandpa and Paul.

It was also a bit of fun and games. Natalie, Eli and I.

Adam and his family with Grandpa Braniff. Fence in the back ground.

Grandpa Braniff and Noah.

Natalie taking a pose at the back of the yard. Fence looking good and so is Natalie.

Tommy was the official cutter. He did all the cutting. I always thought Tommy was the "perfectionist" but he informed me Adam had one up on him.

Kim and I were the "yard improvement committee". We worked so hard and Kim was amazing. I hadn't spoken to Tommy or Kim about helping and they just assumed so much responsibility. Thank you.

Adam and Joel. Adam the engineer and perfectionist. I would want him on my fence building team.

David, Joel, Paul and Adam. David and Paul were the official "worker bees." They got there on Wednesday and we took down the old fence. Thursday was fence post digging and post setting which those two did and then Friday and Saturday was fence put up day. Joel and Adam got there Thursday night. Thank you wives for letting the husbands take time off of work and spend it working.

Two helpers; Natalie and Ryan.

Random Photos.

2011-05-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

Prior to Baby Noah coming we had a shower for Caitlan. I didn't take many pictures.

Caitlan's sister with her cute baby and Caitlan's mother.

Sarah and Steve helped put together this cute diaper cake. Thanks for coming all the way from Vegas.

Thanks for coming to the shower Jacee, Masie and Joanne.

Jonie and her sweet baby girl who just turned 2.

Ryan from the shower day. This little guy loves being outside.

We got to have some great grandkids over to play. Sofie, Natalie, Lauren, Lexie and Ryan.

Evelyn all smiles.

Hello Seth

2011-05-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I drove to L.A. and spent a weekend with Seth. It was great. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and left on Saturday. As if spending the time with Seth wasn't enough but we got to meet Robert. He arrived from Chicago on Friday. Thank you Robert for treating us to a delicious dinner. We also met other friends on Saturday morning before leaving. Seth you have amazing friends.

These pictures were taken right outside his apartment. It's not really an apartment....it's a 4-plex.

Claire playing on the yard. Hair is still red.

If you stand outside Seth's place and look to the mountains you can see the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. You have to look carefully.

The door to the apartment. It was beautiful weather.

We went on a couple of tours of places. I think this picture was taken at the Huntinton. I liked this rebar tree. It has a flowered vine growing up through it. I loved it Adam.

This is the top of the tree.

Here we are at the Getty. As the afternoon came on it got a bit chilly. Claire all bundled up.

At the Huntinton. A favorite garden there was the cactus garden. Pictures following. It was a treat because the garden was in bloom and cactus gardens bloom only about 2 weeks out of the year. We just happened to arrive for the blooming.

Sarah described it well. She said it was like a Dr. Seuss story with the plants going everywhere.

The New Family

2011-04-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here they are....the happy family. Noah Joel Hancock was born April 17, 2011. He weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces. He is totally adorable. These two parents are so proud and they should be.

He was probably 3.5 days old in this photo. Caitlain was home.

At the hospital. Proud papa.

Isn't he the cutest? Perfect every where and amazing. Sooooo cute.

The Newest News

2011-04-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

Sweet baby Noah born April 17, 2011. He weighed 8 pounds and 11 ounces. This is one proud papa.

2011-04-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Visitors In January

2011-04-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Steve came our way in January and brought along two daring girls. Sofie and Evie came. Evie had a bit of a cold so she had to stay in the house. She didn't seem to mind. While the other girls played out in the snow Evie played dress up and got grandpa all to herself.

We got a few of the boys together. Always glad when family comes over. I was going to post a picture of Caitlain very pregnant. It's been about six weeks ago so I ought to post it because now, with just less than two weeks left she would probably think, "Oh, my goodness.....look how skinny I am." We are so excited for them. Maybe the next post will be the birth of sweet baby Noah Joel Hancock.

Just for a heads up....I have tried to delete this photo. When I pick a photo I can't see it clearly since it's so small. I've been known to delete a few once in a while but for some reason I can't find the option today. As you can all see it would have been a good one to delete.. Bummer. If I EVER have my camera handy when Ryan is not smiling I will take a picture. It would be a rare occasion.

This is what the other girls did. Sofie, Natalie and Braxtyn found it snowed one morning and Sofie was especially excited to play in the snow. I think Seth and I whooped them on a snow ball fight. That's the way I see it anyway.

So Many Years Ago

2011-03-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

I looked for some pictures from a few years ago but for Claire that isn't very long ago.

Lauren from just last June...That shirt says CUTE and that is so true.

Ryan from Christmas in 2009.

Evelyn from the same year when we were swimming during the holidays.

Believe it or not that is Braxtyn.

Sofie from so long ago.

Lexie and she is being bugged by Blitz.

Sarah, Dad, Sofie and Me.

Blitz who will be 5 this fall.

Natalie was the biggest Weber State fan.

Photos Hanging Around

2011-02-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it's been a year since cute Sofie was baptized? Here she is with her Grandpa Jones. More photos at the end of the blog. We loved that the Jones family came our way to do the ordinance.

We also had a girl sleep over since so many girls were already here. Lexi, Evie and Braxtyn.

Crazy faces.

Seth was here too. He hadn't left for Los Angeles yet so we took advantage and had him do the bedtime honors.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Hancock at the West Weber church.

Sofie and her mama. That is Sarah expecting Claire cutie who arrived a few month later.

Our oldest grand daughter, Sofia Joyce Jones.

Visiting Oregon

2011-01-30T15:51:00.000-08:00

I took off a couple of weeks ago and went to Oregon to visit my dad. My brother Patrick lives there with him for now and my brother Todd was visiting too. Sarah found an inexpensive flight to Twin Falls. I didn't even know Twin Falls had an airport. It was out in the boon docks. Anyway, I collected Sarah and Claire and took them over. We got to stay Thursday night until Sunday night. It was a very nice visit.

My dad with Claire.

Patrick and Claire.

Claire if obviously the star of the show. She was a very cute baby.

Eli Douglas Hancock

2011-01-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

Eli born January 19, 2011. He weighed 6 lbs. 15 ounces and I think he was 21.5 inches. Of course he's adorable. We went up to the hospital and stayed just a bit. He was having plenty of company celebrating his arrival. What a great blessing. Straight from our Heavenly Father and arriving to the amazing family of Adam and Krysta. What a lucky baby.

Natalie had only girl names picked out but I'm pretty sure she's going to love this little guy. She is already such a good big sister to Ryan.

Halloween Visitors

2010-12-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

We had some fun visitors show up at Halloween time. Steve came to spend some time with his parents and Lexie was the one who got to come along. We love having those girls show up one at a time. We get to do some major spoiling.

Three Halloween Houses. Made by Three adorable grand daughters. They all took it very seriously and did a great job.

Braxtyn spent the night with Lexie here. I can see the evidence that some of the candy was eaten during the house building. I'm shocked!

Natalie is wearing the new Halloween skirt. Each of the girls had one to take home and we sent some home for all the missing girls.

Now for our Trick or Treat visitors. Ryan came as a cute puppy dog. When he was here he took the costume off and when it was time to put it back on he wasn't that thrilled. Adam and Krysta wrestled him back into his puppt suit.

Natalie was not a very scary witch. I hope she was trying to be an adorable witch because that is what she was.

Extra Summer Pics

2010-12-05T16:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, everyone, I know I haven't blogged for a bit. I would like to not take the blame so I'm passing it on. Our computer has been on the blitz. Everytime (the two I tried) the computer would shut down and you would have to start it all over again. Needless to say it would close down again. It was a pain. I gave up. Now about the adorable picture above. When is it totally adorable to be the chubbiest you can possibly be and hang it all out? When you are Evie and Ryan.

When Ryan sees the 4-wheeler he is wanting a ride. No matter the weather. A couple of weeks ago Adam wrapped him up and off they went. It was a bit chillier.

Hi Sparky Jones. He comes to visit with the Jones family. Blitz loves him and we like him too.

I think Sofie was the slave driver. They all look pretty willing.

A year ago Ryan wasn't too sure about Blitz but it didn't take him long to warm up. He is sweet with him.

More of the chubby bellies and having fun in the water. I think Sarah and Krysta were off to Salt Lake City. We had a fun day.

Annual Hancock Swim Party

2010-10-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

Here it is Folks...the annual swim party at the North Ogden Pool. It's a short tradition but I'm thinking it may last a few years. I believe this is the third year. Thanks to all the worker bees who made it happen. The above photo is Steve Denny doing his famous swan dive. Below is the cheering crowd. ***Let me offer my apologies right from the beginning about misspelled names, wrong names, etc.
Cheering crowd made of boys....why am I not surprised?
Two of the people to take credit or blame for the mayhem. Grandma Hancock and Grandma Hancock...Mary Lou and Joanne.
The party committee made of Uncle Terry and Joanne. Thank you again.
Katherine and Jeff's little boy Devin. Totally adorable.
Followed by Katherine and Jeff.
Nikki Hancock Blanch with her brand new baby along with mom, Annie, Sister Audrey and 2nd daughter Nadia.
I love this photo and I'm so glad I opened this file. I remember seeing it the first time and thinking, "I need to get a copy of this to Gena." I will be sure and get that done. This is Doug's cousin Gena with her son Brian. Beautiful mom and handsome son.
What a couple of cuties. It had been quite a couple of weeks for this family. Uncle Val had passed away and everyone was here for the funeral and lucky for us they just kept staying. Brent and Glen.
Sheila will probably kick my butt if she knows I put a photo of her on a blog but I'm not telling. Sheila is the beautiful lady in the middle with her daughter to her right and her sister to her left. Sheila how do you stay so young looking? What is your secret?
Sweet Ryan son of our sweet Adam and Krysta. He had a great time.
Steve Hancock with grandson Chase. Chase is the 4th child of Nikki.

Family Photos

2010-09-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

.With Paul coming home from Spain we took advantage of everyone being home. Family Pics. What a challenge. Here is Natalie looking adorable.
I have to compliment our photographer, Jen Skeen. She did a terrific job. How does one get all these many people looking any way close to happy? Jen did it. Thank you.
One cute pixie....Lauren.
We usually try to get a picture of the siblings. They are always having fun.
Two cute cousins....Braxtyn and Sofie.
Sarah wanted a pic of her brothers with her 5 girls. If she wants to keep the ratio one to one then she will have to call it quits.
I had to put this picture on. Lexie is totally adorable.
I love the look of Natalie in this picture. For a heads up our family was swimming for about 3 hours and then the little ones were supposed to take a nap before the photos. Ryan did not do as the plan was directed. He did not nap so we didn't get that very cute adorable smile but he was still going strong.

Steve, Sarah and cute girls.
Joel and Caitlan. I always tell everyone to wear a certain color. The colors today were supposed to be gray, sky blue, white and a bit of pink. I have gone out the past few times we took pictures and purchased some shirts that would work because I know someone or all will not have the right colors. Joel showed up in AQUA. It was pretty funny because I said, "Joel you can't wear that shirt." Caitlan immediately said, "See I told you so." It's funny what people think sky blue is. It always works out.
Very cute of photo of Braxtyn and Seth. We miss you Seth.
One adorable grandson. We love this little guy. Also, thank you all for being such great sports with the pictures.

Simming Pool Fun

2010-09-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

With all the days we were out in the pool I am surprised at how few of photos I have. This photo actually looks like Ryan is in pain and that cute little guy never felt one bit of pain ever. He loved every minute and was usually pretty upset about getting out.
Nothing says, "I am adorable," like swim goggles. Lexie Lou.
The boys played a game of catching the football from the diving board. Braxtyn got involved and she caught it a couple of times.
I think this photo was taken only moments after eating chocolate pudding. I can still see the evidence. Lauren and Natalie.
Grandpa always gets the best jobs.
This is a very serious project going on here. You can see the concentration on Paul's face. I am just wondering why they chose the heaviest boy to throw.
Mid air trick performed by Natalie Rebecca Hancock. Way to go Girl.
Some moments were better than others.
Sofie was pretty good at getting the hose and giving everyone a very cold shower. The water is about 85 degrees in the pool so when that cold water hits it's a bit of a shock.

Paul Gets Home!!!

2010-09-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

We headed to the airport on August 17. Everyone was very excited to see Paul but we were not prepared for him to arrive early. We barely made it on time.
Paul was busy hugging the girls and then he saw this little guy come up. Paul thought it was a boy from another family but he is actually checking out Ryan.
I can't tell who is the most excited....Paul or Lexi.
Joel just trying to be helpful. Braxtyn keeping tabs on PJ.
Adam, Krysta and family. They got there just five minutes to spare. Who arrives all the way from Spain 15 minutes early?
Jill came with Braxtyn. Thanks Jill.
Two happy parents glad to see their baby boy home. Way to go Paul. We have loved having you here.

The Newest News

2010-08-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Last Minute Photos

2010-07-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

These photos are from the week I was in Vegas when Sarah had baby Claire. It was a great week with tons of sweet moments but not one time did I get out my camera. I waited until the last minute and then Sarah said, "Mom let's get some pictures."
I am ready to leave and we get out the camera. That just doesn't make much sense. Nevertheless here are some cute pictures. Lauren looks adorable in the above picture and Lexie always has a sweet smile even when it's one of her small ones.
Evelyn was a treat to take care of. She snuggled right up to me from the minute I got there. She's tiny but determined.
I told Sofie the other day she is very photogenic. She wondered what that meant. You can see...No matter what; she always takes a great picture. Love you Sofie.
You can just see "Imp" all over that face.
The package deal. One grandma with FIVE very adorable sisters. Thank you girls for being such great grand daughters. Loved being there.

Ryan Loves The Pool

2010-07-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

Ryan can't get enough of the slide. We put him part way up and down he comes. He's also gone down with a helper like Adam.

Here he is with one of his many trips down with Adam. The minute he gets down he starts pointing that he wants to go again.

Seth and David were tossing him all over and I think they were making Krysta a bit nervous.

2010-07-10T02:39:00.000-07:00

I thought I would get out one more set of photos before Paul gets home. It's only a few weeks away and I know it will go fast. As you can see by this photo Paul is spending some time on his creative outlet.
Cute and adorable of course.
We don't know who the people are or anything since he just sends home his camera card. We'll get some explanations once he's home.
Looking thoughtful and pensive....
Looking crazy and fun.
I don't know if Paul had a part in this sweet little girl losing her tooth or not but she is very sweet looking and excited to be the owner of an enamel tooth.

It's always good to know that PJ has kept the faith.
I'm thinking Paul will be looking forward to a little ping pong challenges. Beware Joel.

Who Knows. We will get to see some of these strange looks for ourselves in just a few weeks.

Random Photos

2010-06-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here are the wild guys traveling across the USA. Watch out for fellas in vans.
They had a great time even though they didn't stop much. Both Doug and Adam said they enjoyed having grandpa along and getting a chance to visit with him without too many interruptions.
Natalie at the Fish farm. Thanks Krysta for bringing the kids. It was nice to have them.
Seth playing with Ryan. We loved having Seth around for a couple of weeks even though he was hardly there.
Ryan and his first introduction to Blitz. Adam said he was pretty scared with a dog back in North Carolina but he was great with Blitz. Blitz is good to back off when you tell him to.
That's Natalie in there.
Loving the swing. Actually he loves pretty much everything.

Blitz with his summer do. He loves it.

Uncle Val Passed Away

2010-06-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Uncle Val died last Thursday and the funeral was today, June 2. It was a beautiful day outside, actually one of the first very nice days we've had this spring. Val died while working outside which is just as he would have liked. Here are the brothers Reed, Gene and Terry.
Ashley and Reese with their cute baby. I think his name is Bergen. I may have misspelled that. I just remember it sounds like Burgundy. He is a cutie with only curly hair.
Susie had her shoes off and here she is standing by Adam. She is a sweetie.
Doug with his cousin Sharon. Sharon is the youngest of Val and Margaret. She has a very cute family of four boys.
Joanne and David. Saren is in Argentina so we have everyone else here. Sam is heading off to Mexico right away.
Grandma, Adam, Krysta, Carol and Cheryl Goodfellow. Cheryl is a daughter-in-law to Ruth Goodfellow who is a sister to the Hancock brothers. Ruth passed away years ago.
Uncle Terry and Rhonda with some of their family. Tristen, daughter of Tracy, Ronda, Terry, Trent and Tyler. We should have rounded up Tera lee, she was wandering around the cemetery.
Joan with Tristen. Joan has been a sweet grandmother for the past 16 years.
Blair's two boys, Brock and Levi.
Susie and Blair.
Nikki, Brent and Hanna. Nikki is due with a new baby in a few weeks. She is always beautiful
Jacee and Masie. These two cousins are the best of friends.
Just some of the beautiful flowers. It was a lovely service. All the children spoke and they did a great job. One of Joan's sons spoke too. He did a great job.

Sofie Gets Baptized

2010-05-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

Sofia Joyce Jones was baptized on May 8, 2010. This is a sweet picture of her with her confirmation dress on. She is such a sweet girl with a very generous nature. Sofie is a wonderful big sister.
Sofie was baptized by her father, Steve and confirmed by him also. Lots of people attended a lunch at our home. She had Jones family, Hancock family and friends who had moved from Vegas to Utah. Steve's friend, Josh also attended. He has a great story of the "Sponge Bob" car that he ticked off on his way to the baptism. You'll have to read his blog.
Grandma and Grandpa Hancock.
A lovely picture of Grandma Jones and Sofie
Great Grandma and Grandpa Hancock.

Swimming in April

2010-05-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

It was a bit chilly but the girls were determined to get into the pool. The weather was probably 50 degrees and the water we had warmed up to 80. Lauren got brave and went on the slide.
Brave Lexie. She was the first one in the swimming pool.

You can see the snow on the mountains. It just doesn't matter to kids. These Vegas girls are tough.
Lauren Loving it.
The mermaid girl, Sofie.
Cute Lexie. She was all over the place.
Sarah and I are "fair weather" swimmers. We like to see the sunshine and temps in the 80s would be nice. It was a fun weekend. I still have pictures to post of the baptism. Stay tuned.

Our Newest Graduate

2010-05-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here is sweet Caitlan at Weber State University Graduation. She will be student teaching this next fall. She is shown with her mother Carol and her sister Jenna. Congrats Caitlan.
Caitlan graduated in the same program as Jamie Gallegos (sorry Jamie I cannot remember the married name) and our grownup Shannon Nielsen. Way to go ladies. Shannon is on the cusp of getting married herself. The date is set for the middle of July.
Joel said he has a "sugar mama." Don't be going crazy spending all that money Caitlan will be making as a teacher. Needless to say....we are very proud.

2010-04-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

The weather is nice right now. I guess the weather man has it staying nice for a few days and then turning 20 degrees cooler. It is calving season and the field behind Wagstaff's feed is full of calves. I counted 10 or 11 the other day. This little black calf was bugging the heck out of the baby brown. Obviously mom does not care.
These two managed to avoid the mayhem.
Just playing.
The road headed down. Gene Atkinson was telling us one day he was going to phone the county and ask them to pave or asphalt this road. No way. I love it just like this.....No traffic. If you make it smooth or nice then all the cars will think they need to drive on it. It kicks up some dust when you're driving it so most cars avoid it.
Lauren Princess at the beauty parlor. We loved having Lauren visit. She was a very good girl getting her hair cut. The beautician asked her how old she was. She said, "I'm 3 but I'll be 4 when Uncle Paul gets home. He has diabetes. He ate too much sugar."
Lauren the Blitz lover.

Crazy cutie.

2010-03-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

We spent our Sacrament meeting with Joel and Caitlan this week. They both spoke in their ward (which they did a wonderful job) but prior to them speaking Doug made a list of things for me to do. I usually don't pay much attention to "the lists" but one of the items was important. He even underlined it....Update The Blog. I have to admit it needed to be done. In defense of myself I went to load the pictures from last weekend on the computer but our reader was broken so that required a new reader. (I'm pretty sure the technical term is not reader.) But here we are at last. This is a picture of the cute girls except Evie, she was napping, prior to Sunday church. They are all getting much too big and we had a great time in Vegas.
Sarah is definitely pregnant. That is not a pillow. Baby due in double digits. 90 days or so...that's double digits.
Steve served as a child back pack. If not one little girl than another.
Someone had to play in the water. This is a man made pond with a spring flowing into it. It was used to water the ranch. I'm sure it still is.
Thank goodness for the wagon or grandpa would have been a child carrier too.
The all purpose child carrier...again.
Sweet Evie.

Finally....Another Post

2010-02-22T17:46:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Braniff remembers when this photo was taken. Another soldier was chosen to be "the man" but I guess he got sick. Grandpa said he was chosen but he says they forgot to tell him to look fierce. He smiled like crazy.

This is my Great, Great, Great Grandma and Grandpa Craig. I'm always amazed that there are some pictures. This gentleman and his wife are the grandparents of my grandma Braniff.
My grandma Braniff with D'Ann and I out on their farm. We went off to church with her quite often.
The Grandparents kitchen. Many fond memories of waking up with the radio on and grandpa whipping up some pancakes. The floor was all linoleum and so cold in the mornings.
Grandpa with us girls.

My dad with his brother Bill. Love the lock of hair.

Update on Paul

2010-01-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

Not sure what's going on here. Possibly he's trying to make the jump rope longer so he won't trip on it. Maybe he's just doing some stretching.
No explanation on the photos but I think the couple on the right is his new mission President, President Hinckley and his wife. Dad can correct me if I'm wrong.
Don't know much about any of the next photos. I looked through the ones we have and picked out some that he was actually in. He had tons of pics of statues, ancient buildings, etc. but not many of Paul.

Christmas Pictures.

2009-12-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

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....

2009-12-26T18:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-12-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-11-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is where we were Saturday. Fun day. Actually it was because we stayed relatively warm. Your dad was commenting about what a big baby I was bringing an umbrella, blanket, and wearing snow clothes. He was glad to help use all that stuff during the game.
This is a kind of "finding Waldo" game but it's a finding Joel. Doug took his camera and I thought of taking mine but I knew I wouldn't want to take off the gloves to take photos. I think he got Joel in every picture. Not sure.
Folks sitting in front of us. They didn't last the entire game. They didn't have an umbrella.
Remember, this game was happening at noon. Notice the lights.
Not too big of a crowd. Actually I was surprised that so many football players had so many family members since I'm guessing that is all who attended.

Now lets follow up with some photos from the "girl weekend." Perfect weather.
We thought this was a funny pictures until you actually get there and realize it's true. Be Careful.

North Carolina Extra Photos

2009-11-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

I told Adam I wanted some photos to use in the photo albums and I thought I ought to just go ahead and post a few of them. They were nice enough to send them. We never get to see many photos of Krysta anyway.
Those baby chairs are nice. Does this guy ever cry? He is so happy.
What is the actual message in this photo? Natalie is wearing a princess dress with a crown, holding a pink mitt. Princesses love baseball.
Once again adorable smile.
We need another piano recital. If you have forgotten the last one just scroll down on Adam and Krysta's blog.

The Lexie Visit!

2009-10-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

We had Lexie last weekend for a night and a day. I slept with her and I told her we should name her "Lexi Wiggle." She just giggled and said we should name her "Lexi Giggle." Either one would be fitting. I went out today to take a photo of the Lexi tree. Those last few leaves are hanging on.
We drug Lexie to the football game. It was pretty boring for her but she was a good sport. Joel got in for a couple of holds and he played quarterback on the very last play. They didn't have him take a knee. He got to run the ball. He made 7 yards.

These leaves have pretty much all fallen. They are such a pretty color. I may plant one of these out front. Love them in autumn.
Here is Lexie and Blitz. Blitz loves it when someone is here that will lay all over him and give him hugs.
Lexie was pretty proud of her pumping abilities. I got a big kick out of her Sparky imitation. She was very serious when she began to show us all the stretches that Sparky goes through in the mornings. He has quite a wake up procedure.

Braxtyn The Cheerleader

2009-10-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

Seth, Jill and Tami have much to worry about. Braxtyn was loving the cheerleading action very much. Tami said she went to practice for 2 hours 4 nights during the week and still wanted to practice more when she got home.
They performed at East High in Salt Lake City. The high school cheerleaders had the girls do cheers with them prior to doing a dance during half time.
The cheerleading part was more fun than the dance since you could see them better. The song for the dance was adorable though. It was by Beyonce titled "You should have put a ring on it." If you haven't listened to it you ought to. It's a very fun song.
This troubled look was part of the cheer. What? What? What what what.
I think they are the East High Panthers.
Too cute.
Their cute family.
All of us. It was a fun evening.

2009-10-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some totally random photos from last Christmas. Adam is escorting the young ladies to the Children's Museum. Sofie, Braxtyn, Adam, Lexi and Natalie.
The girls love Joel. He' was "working it" and trying to be their favorite uncle.
This was Evelyn at only 3 months.
Can't you just see David smiling like this. He must have gotten something over on someone. Probably me.
Too cute. Check out the Natalie and Ryan photos on their blog.
Adam was torturing the girls.
This was the torture. They would all hide their face at just the right time when he threw the pillows.
Lexi and Evelyn.
I had to put this picture in even though I have it in the scrap book. Perfect picture.
The Vegas girls were loving the snow.
I'm pretty sure Joel won the ugly sweater contest with his friends. If he didn't he should have.

Photo Ops of Paul

2009-09-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

I thought I would get us a a "PJ fix." It's been a year so one year to go. How's that for a terrific math teacher. Is that a chubby belly? Maybe it's the light. I hope he's sticking to his diabetic diet.
These two elders probably stopped some cute girls and asked them to pose in a picture.
That's probably as close to swimming that Paul got to this summer. Let's not tell him what a great time we had.
Happy Birthday July 6. He said he celebrated with a young lady in the ward. That's probably her.
The tie almost looks like it's being pulled by a wire.
Gum on the shoe. Cool.

56?! NO WAY.

2009-09-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos from our summer. Doug just turned 56 last Thursday. Here he is with David who had just graduated from law school in June.
One of the many photos of Grandpa playing with the kids. Doug was in the pool sometimes for hours if one of the girls wanted to play.
Proud papa with Seth who also graduated this spring. We will be seeing Seth soon with the same outfit on only graduating from University of Utah.
Making faces with Lauren in Las Vegas.
Getting ready to be the float driver during the 4th of July.
Acting his age? I don't think so. That's a good thing though.
Catching a little air.
Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Our North Carolina Family

2009-09-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here is our newest member to the family. We loved having our North Carolina family visiting. Ryan was adorable.
Enjoying the shade, Caitlan, Krysta and Ryan.
Natalie looks kinda sad in this photo. Probably because they were getting ready to leave. Just kidding. I just happened to pick one that wasn't the best of Natalie.
Now this one makes up for the picture before.
Natalie loves this kind of stuff. When she was just tiny Adam would give her a little toss and she would land on the sofa.
Grandpa loves to play "Gladiator" and try to trip the girls. I remember him doing the same with our kids but his tripping was much more serious when he was playing with the boys. Boys do you remember?

Ryan swinging. He loved it. Cute little guy.

Swimming At Home

2009-08-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the pool. This was the first swim. We had a sprinkler guy there working on the yard with his 7 year old son "helping." We invited him to swim and 3 hours later it was time to go home. Jace said "I think I'll ask my dad if he wants me to come and help next time too."
Everyone loved the pool....Even Dad.
Sofie was an amazing swimmer. She would throw toys into the pool and collect them all at the same time with one breath.
Natalie loved the water.
Most of us wore our swimsuits but not Lauren. She comes with the birthday suit and loves wearing it.
These two, Natalie and Lexie, had a great time together.
Braxtyn. I love this picture. She is a great swimmer.
One of the many contests was jumping off the diving board and landing in this tube. I wonder how long the tube lasted with big boys jumping into it?

Natalie Jumping

2009-08-13T15:43:00.001-07:00

Grandpa...Get closer.
Okay, that's better.
The take off.
Blast off.
Landing.

Lauren loves Blitz and sunglasses

2009-08-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

The first item needed to show your pal, Blitz, that you love him is something to entice him. Thus, the wet cloth ball.
Run like crazy after the teasing and....
begin the process again.
Reward Blitz with a smell/lick of your stinky feet. He loves it.

The starlet.
Upside down, right side up it's all the same to Lauren.

Visit To Oregon

2009-08-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

I probably ought to relabel the title. It should be called a "work release visit." I went to dads knowing the basement was still a mess. I should have just stayed away. Just kidding. I like seeing the work in progress and I'm glad I was there. Tommy, Kim, Pat and Dad have done amazing work. I'm so pleased at the look. Dad has a flag flying outside. He usually has the old green truck parked right there but it's been down to Tommy's place. It looks nice dad.
It was decided to keep one phonograph instead of six. This was the lucky guy. The others ended up at the Goodwill. Will they get bought? Does anyone else have records?
When I arrived there was music playing from one of the records.
The playroom. Just a look so when any of you arrive you will be amazed. The sheet rock had to come off from 4 feet down. Tommy, with the help of his crew, cut and placed the sheet rock. Kim, the crew boss, also doubles as the sheet rock taper and mudder. She's done a great job. I always thought the crew boss was supposed to take it easy but Kim is the worker bee. They also decided to replace one of the bedrooms and the play room ceiling. Sheet rock is NOT fun to put on ceilings just in case anyone wants to know.
Third fill of the dumpster.
Patrick has pots of flowers growing all around the yard. The window pot below.

My weekend help on the crew earned me a place on the bench outside.
The real crew minus Tommy. Great Job Everyone!
I better not forget Patrick's dog, Dakota. He's a very nice dog and he minds well. He's a 9 month old puppy.

Annual Hancock Swimming

2009-07-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist this adorable picture of Nikki and her little boy Chase. Nikki is such a cute mom. I wish I would have taken more pictures. Ashley Hancock (do not know the married name) is 3 days overdue with their first baby and she is huge. She's a tiny little gal anyway and not a bit of extra weight anywhere except a big baby boy waiting until his time. Her sister Shae flew in from New York a week ago hoping to be here for the birth but she is flying home tomorrow. Unless Ashley has that baby tonight then Shae will just have to be happy with photos.
I didn't know there was such a thing as an "annual Hancock swim Party." I guess it's going to be and they will try to schedule on the 24th of July. Lots of great food. Uncle Terry had his store people make some great sandwiches and everyone else brought salads, desserts, chips, etc. It was great.
Waving hello.
Cute picture. That has got to be one of the few times grandpa has actually looked at a camera. Caitlan looks darling no matter what.
The four brothers. Uncle Gene came with a black eye and of course we were saying you had better watch out of Aunt LaVone. The story he tells is he was out watering and he got attacked by a head gate.

The Pool Opening Day

2009-07-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the official opening ceremony of the Hancock Swimming Pool. Braxtyn was the first grandchild in the pool. Ryan could be the first grandson. The first picture here was with Braxtyn balancing. She was getting good at it so Joel and Seth took it upon themselves to create big waves and see how long she could remain standing.
The wave machines.
Strategies were planned from these two in order to knock Braxtyn off. Of course we also witnessed diving competitions, jumping into little tube competitions, flipping competitions, things that Joel couldn't do competions. I'm not sure this little pool can handle all that you "guys" have to do in order to do "guy stuff."
You can't see the picnic table but it's right behind these chairs. I refinished the table that David built years ago. It looks great David.
Braxtyn didn't take those goggles off the entire time. She's quite the swimmer. She can't wait to swim with all the other girls.

Final Pool Update

2009-07-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

This will be the final blog set aside for swimming pool. The fence has been completed for some time. It's very nice and offers privacy and shade on the west end for the late afternoon. I have some work to do here on getting some new yard in.
Liner in on Saturday. Yea.
Most of the flowers on the back fence went the way of ....who knows once the fence came down. A few survived.
Caitlan and I sitting on the bench in the pool Sunday evening. The water was to our ankles. The fence in the background comes to the half way part on the deck and that will give some shade in the afternoon. There is also an umbrella stand placed in the cement right about where my hat is. Lovely hat by the way. Thank you Doug. We have matching hats.
Joel couldn't wait. On Sunday he dove into the deep end.
He's having fun and it wasn't cold at all. The sun is warming it up as it fills. It is now full and the filter is running. Tonight is Tuesday. They are installing the diving board tomorrow and the slide once it arrives. Almost finished. Certainly swim friendly. Last Pool blog so you all need to come and check it out.

4th Of July

2009-07-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

This was one of the "floats" in the July 4th parade in West Weber. Do not be showing this to my brother Tommy....He'll be wanting one.
July 4th! Sofie showing off her flag. She was a participant in the West Weber 150 year celebration.
We had floats. As a matter of fact I understand there were 48 entrants. I'm also sure there were a few others that showed up with decorated bicycles, boys shooting squirt guns from 4-wheelers, etc.
Free cotton candy....if you are awake. Sorry Evelyn.
Cute girls to wave. That's what the parade is about. I think there were more kids on the floats than actually watching the parade.
Free ice cones. Whatever they are called.
Lexie showing off her face painting. We all had a great time.

All About Paul.....Again.

2009-07-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

After I sent the birthday blog I thought I should have included some mission pictures. Here they are now. I actually had a hard time finding Paul in very many photos. There were plenty of pics of dead pigs for sale....what's up with that?

These pictures come with no caption so if someone has been to Barcelona maybe they can tell us where this is near.
He said he's loving the people. I think most of those they teach are not Spaniards. These people look South American.
So close but not to hop in.
He probably had more luck sharing the message of the Savior with this fellow than he did with many others. In one of his e-mails he said, "You ask me about my investigators and I have to say....we usually don't have any. I'll tell you if we do." I guess that's a nice way to tell us to quit asking.

Happy Birthday Paul.

2009-07-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Even though Paul is in Spain I had to post some pics and wish him a Happy Birthday. Tomorrow PJ will be 20 years old. I remember sitting in the shade under a tree on the 4th of July while you other kids played in the old North Ogden swimming pool. Now here it is such a short time later. This picture was taken with the crown from Junior Prom King. We were giving Paul a hard time about "being a King."

Cute picture of Paul. There doesn't seem to be too many with him actually smiling so I had to include Seth. We can think of it has Seth's half birthday.
Paul and Blitz. Blitz was probably 3 month old.
This was Blitz on Christmas 2005. Paul wasn't allowed to have him until a week later but the owners let him drive over and get him everyday and bring him home for a few hours. When we did get Blitz on New Years Day he never whined or cried. He was pretty settled in with us.
The Christmas Puppy. I guess it's a good thing Joel left and went on a mission or I probably would not have thought of getting Paul a dog. Paul needed a new friend.

Hopefully Last Pool Post

2009-06-28T18:54:00.001-07:00

I'm starting this blog out with some color because when we get to the pool it's pretty gray...literally. The flowers on the front porch are looking pretty good since the weather has been cool. Now that's it's warming up I don't think I'll be able to forget to water them like I have a couple of times last month.
Pikes Market in Seattle. Colorful.
I've been working on a path that moves around the house. I laid rock and relaid rock to come up with a plan. I think I can live with this idea. You can see one of the big rocks that I am thinking we can use for steps getting onto the pool deck. Joel almost has me talked into having trek steps built instead. I don't know. Any advice.
Shed is now gray with white trim....pretty boring. The two small rocks on the right we tried to make into steps into a smaller area on Saturday. They ended up looking very lame so needless to say they are back sitting on the basketball court.
The fence guys showed up on Thursday and planted the poles. Lamar watered on Saturday and it came into the yard. This is the only part it came into. You can see the rest of the deck is finished on the pour. It's gray.
Fence and finished decking.

This is the pool krete. It needs to be put around the sides except on the cement walls. It will also be on the bottom. It has to be smoothed out. Maybe they will finish that part tomorrow. All is well here. It's getting hot enough that we are wanting to use the pool so maybe by the end of next week. I think I've already said that a couple of times.

Doug Hiking

2009-06-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Doug went hiking without me on Saturday. The batteries in his camera were working this time and I'm glad. Here is a picture of a wooden pipe. It's wrapped in heavy wire. I guess when they first got these trails going it would have been difficult to get cement pipes up there.
If you look close you can see the grain of the wood.
A picture from the hike. Thanks Doug.
Guess who came to our house on Father's Day? Braxtyn! Oh, Seth, Joel and Caitlan too. Braxtyn is working on a scrap book. She did a great job.
Pool progress. These are the steps prior to them building the shelf that they forgot.
Joel and Caitlan wanted to be the first ones to swim. ha ha
Deep end.
You can see the colored cement around the edges and the forms for the other cement. They poured the other cement today. I haven't taken any pictures. Maybe you will just have to wait.

Graduation For David

2009-06-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

We need to begin with the most important pictures of the day. On Sunday, June 14, David earned his JD Degree. I guess that stands for Juris Doctorate. He was editor-in-chief of law review, which is the most prestigious position in law school. He's not actually a lawyer until he passes the Bar Exam which he is taking at the end of July - so if you want to sue someone you wil need to wait a month or so.
Proud Mama. Way to go David.
Proud Papa. Such two remarkably handsome men.
Receiving the degree.
Here he is in a crowd of 162 graduates. Of course I narrowed it down a bit.
On Saturday we wandered and rested. We are in the commons area of University of Washington. Some of the trees you will see in the next picture are cherry blossom trees. They come on for about 2 weeks and David said it is gorgeous. It's a very beautiful campus,
Many Old Buildings. The campus started in downtown Seattle but in 1909 it was moved up to this location.
David sitting at the law school. It is a new building. I think he said it was used one year prior to their class attending. It's modern. The library and reading room inside are amazing as are the court rooms.
Messing around at a restaurant. This is a picture of our reflection in the window.
David at his kitchen. He has a very nice apartment. He had it spotless, seriously. He has 3 big windows that look out into the street right across from the fridge. The windows are part of the dinning area and living room. I guess you could say there is a living room even though there is no couch.
We went to the famous Pikes Place Market. It was a bit of an adventure.
Messing around.
Flowers everywhere. I thought I had also loaded a picture of all the colorful vegetables for sale. It was beautiful. Very fun day. We had amazing weather. Thanks David for showing us such a good time.

POOL UPDATE

2009-06-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here is the big digger going at it. They dig out the deep end knowing they will hit some water, which they did. They put a pump into the water today and pumped it out into the field so they could get to the pool and form the sides up with shovels. After the digger then the real digging starts with shovels
The dirt around the pool is road base. It will pack well and hold the cement better than the dirt they pulled out of the bottom of the pool.
I need about 2 feet of the road base around the pool where the deck will go.
You can see the braces in the pool holding the walls up and even as everyone is working around it.
The machines that have been busy working. This post is pictures from Wednesday. Today, Thursday, they are placing the rock around the road base. It looks nice. If it will stop raining enough for them to get into the deep end without falling they will work on the deep end forming it up with shovels.

Yard Mess

2009-06-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day weekend Sarah and Steve came up to visit. Steve wants to try and spend more time with his folks and it's to our benefit. Sarah had some sewing and Lexi and I needed a project. Lexi Lou came with me to Jerry's Nursery and she picked out the "Lexi Tree." Jerry said it will do great in our soil. She was quite the helper. It's a Maple Tree.
I had a friend of mine from work pour this curbing. He and his buddy poured all the curbing we have in the yard from 20 years ago to now. I moved some dirt into this part. Dirt came from Adam's "jump" and I transplanted some strawberries. They are great to eat of course and they are such a pretty ground cover. The strawberries in the front are on now and we eat away. With Blitz spending time with Joel we know the berries haven't been peed on so usually I just grab and eat. I hope some neighboring dog has not be using the berries to mark his territory.
I shoveled out some dirt to extend this rock path. A friend of mine had some rock I wanted to purchase and she said we could trade for math tutoring. Simple. She's already been over once and then assigned homework. One of the rocks is about 5 feet long and 6 inches wide, sandstone. I want it scored and broken into smaller pieces. It will happen. This will be a fun path coming around the house.
Pool update. Here are the walls poured into their forms. It was done last Friday.
On Tuesday the forms came down.

Walls with skimmers and the re-bar for the decking.

Picture of an 80th Birthday

2009-06-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

I was checking out some photos and came across some from summer 2006. We went up to the church to Uncle Gene's birthday. It was his 80th. This is a picture of Uncle Val, Joanne and one of Tera Lee's baby twin boys. Imagine them 3 years older.
Cousin Phil (Uncle Max's oldest surviving), Uncle Terry, Doug and Tera Lee.
Cousin Mark (Uncle Max), Cousin Blair (Uncle Val) and Doug.
It was a birthday for Roy Herrick too. I guess they are just days apart. One family had the party in the new gym and one had the party in the old gym. We love Roy. He's our Stake Patriarch.
Uncle Gene and Aunt LaVon.
Doug and Aunt Helen. This is a very sweet picture of Helen.

Old Firetruck

2009-05-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of summers ago we headed over to grandpa Braniff's. He has here a 1921 Packard Firetruck. It's actually in good shape. Much better shape than the 1942 truck he and Tommy had finished. They even had it running last summer for the 4th of July parade but it locked up. Since then they have figured out what the problem is. Dad may have it going for this July 4th.

That same summer dad had the boys take out an old freezer from the basement. It was ancient. It was a tough job but they got it up those narrow stairs and onto that truck. After they got it out they were all complaining about how heavy it was. Seth asked, "Grandpa, how did you get that into the basement in the first place?" "Well, if I remember right your grandma and I toted it down there." Whatever. This may have been one of the jobs that Seth got paid for too. I think dad sent him a thank you note and a $.01 check.
Todd is in the background doing bunny ears. I AM SHOCKED!

Happy Anniversary Joel and Caitlain

2009-05-25T04:33:00.000-07:00

Look at this cute photo. I think this was the senior year Valentine dance. Congratulations to a full year of bliss. They are so great together. We love you Joel and Caitlain.

Old Braniff Photos

2009-05-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post some old photos. I hope I can explain them clear enough. This is my dad with his favorite cousin Pud. Pud was 4 days older than dad and always 3 times bigger. Dad said he always felt a little insecure about that until Pud's dad looked dad over one day and said, "he's big enough" and that became his nickname.
This is always shocking to me that cameras were even around on some of these photos. Actually that someone had a camera is probably more shocking. This is a photo of my Grandma Braniff's grandparents, The Swansons. That would make them my great great grandparents on my Grandma Braniff's mothers side.
My Grandma Braniff, Mattie Susan Craig Braniff. She taught Sunday School at the Vale Christian Church forever. I mean forever. There didn't seem to be a release on that calling
My dad is in the front, if you can't tell. He's in Korea.
My Grandma Braniff's father, Grandpa Craig. His wife died when Grandma was 2. He was left with 3 girls. His sister's helped raise the girls. He ran a road construction crew with mule teams. That is how my Grandpa Braniff met Mattie. Grandpa was working for Thomas Craig.
Grandma Braniff taking D'Ann and I to church one Sunday. We went with her many times. I learned some great Sunday School songs. The Mormons should use "Fisher of Men."
This is a photo of Thomas Craig's parents. Pretty rough life.
A photo of my Grandpa Braniff. Very handsome dapper fella. I hope you enjoyed the photos. I was looking for the ones with Dad and his adopted horse. I'll find them.

Swimming Pool Update

2009-05-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, you have requested so therefore I succumb. Here are some photos of the pool progress. It's going slow. This dig was a couple of weeks ago. It's 2.5 feet into the ground.
Now they put up walls that will be 4 feet. They are cement walls. Most pools are steel framed but this one is cement. I went to 6 pools he had put in over the last 10 years. They were very nice.
I tool this photo to show you the walls will be about 1.5 feet above the basketball court. That will be what I was hoping for. After the walls are poured and sit then they come and dig out the deep end. I'll get photos.
If all goes as "Paul the Pool guy" has said it should be 2-3 weeks once they get moving. They are on hold right now because the skimmers arrived and one was broke. He said he could have went to Salt Lake and bought some there but he thinks the skimmers he orders and gets from Tennesse are better.

2009-05-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

Here is our mode of transportation on all long drives. Your dad is loving his car. He keeps track of every time he gets gas, how many miles he's driven and therefore the miles per gallon. He certainly has bragging rights. He gets 37-39 mpg. That's pretty nice. The fun story of this past weekend was watching it turn over on 10,000 miles. We watched like kids. He commented, "I've seen plenty of cars turn over 100,000 miles but never one turn over 10,000." Now he has.

2009-05-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

If you've checked out Sarah's blog then you will see similar photos. We had a great time in Vegas. What an adorable family. Thanks for treating us so special. We loved being there. I couldn't believe it...it was 96 degrees on Saturday. WOW! That's crazy. Lexi loved wearing my old hat. I found one just right for her later that day and she had it on when we went to the park. It's perfect for you Lexi.

Almost the same photo. I liked this one showing the flag. This wall is original from the "Old Mormon Fort."

2009-05-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Check out the "blinged blog." Thanks to Sarah I now have adorable blog. She was trying to get me even more "blinged" but I'm pretty happy with what's going on. Actually it was pretty easy. I just sat in a chair near Sarah and she clicked away. I answered questions; yes, no, sure I like that. It was very easy on my part. These are pictures from the front yard. I was thinking of you Adam when I took these photos. In the back ground you can see white fuzzy seagulls. Rex was turning up the ground and the birds where chirping and flying all over as I was mowing the lawn. I tried to focus in on the birds and fuzzy up the flowers but I couldn't make it happen.

Seth Graduating

2009-05-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos we have all been waiting for. Congratulations Seth. He is officially a Weber State Graduate, which makes his father so proud. (Weber State, Weber State, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT) The cord around his neck is for Honor graduates. Way to go SETH!

2009-04-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Okay Adam Reed, here are some exciting photos of a back yard with trees and a back yard without trees. It's pretty amazing stuff. We may end up missing the trees........or not. I know I won't miss raking up the leaves and having "cotton snow" all over the yard in the spring. If there were a way to get some machine in near that other big tree in the back I would like to see it down too. We shall see.

2009-04-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHO MADE IT TO OUR HOUSE THIS WEEKEND? Cute Braxtyn came over and spent Saturday night. We had pizza, played outside, rode the 4-wheeler, and painted toe nails. Oh, I almost forgot, Seth came too. One of my cupboards was driving him crazy so he felt the need to organize it. Paul would be saying "thank you." They stayed long enough to have breakfast Sunday and then take off. Thanks Seth and Braxtyn for visiting. We loved it!!

2009-04-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm working on it. Here are some before and after photos after Blitz went to the beauty parlor but the after photo is first. What's up with that? I will be getting some blogging tips from Sarah when we go there in a couple of weeks. Nevertheless your father said we must not have a stale blog.

2009-04-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some great photos from Baltimore. I had a great time and enjoyed Adam, Krysta and their adorable family. We made it to the harbor, Gettysburg, a couple of different parks and an Easter egg hunt. That's pretty good with a 5 week old baby. You can see that Natalie enjoyed the Easter egg hunt. She also loves her baby brother, Ryan. He was such a good baby and fun to hold. No matter how high you swing Natalie she yells, "HIGHER!" When we got to the cemetery at Gettysburg there were lots of grave sites with Unknown listed. It was a great time