Free Falling

Well, not quite.

We did give the kids "Experiences" this year for Christmas versus physical gifts.  We wanted to get them out of their comfort zones.  I guess you could say we accomplished that.

  Neither of them was overly excited, but Rose figured it out and was doing great.

 

 Ryan was paranoid that there would be an "equipment failure" so he wasn't really into the moment.

 But Miss Boo loved it.

 And he may say he hated it but...

I am hoping we can find more ways for them to stretch themselves.  And...I want to do this.  It looks like so much fun.

Family Trip

The kids and I got to spend two weeks with my oldest daughter, Nyoka and my favorite grandchildren.  It was a lot of fun.  They live on a lake and it was beautiful.  Got to hang with the kiddos one on one and bake for them.  I miss doing those things for them.  

Westin is the baby and he spends quite a bit of time alone as the other kids are all older.  At this point they were 5, 9,10,11,12,13,14.  Boys are younger.  Works good for the kids as they have those their age and they all get along pretty well.  Such a blessing.

Maya got Miss Boo out one time only on the kayaks and it wasn't because of the hard work, it was the spider that made a home in the kayak and freaked her out because there was nowhere to go.  Her face pretty much says it all.  Ha Ha

She did try a smile for me but I knew it was a scared one.

I love that Maya and Miss Boo have a pretty tight friendship.  They just get each other and make each other laugh.  Sure love these girls.

This is my daughter Nyoka.  She makes me laugh.  Sure love her and grateful she is part of my life.  It's pretty cool to see how Heavenly Father works to create families.

And here is the worlds dirtiest dog, Rocky.  He drove me crazy, but he was kind of cute.

I am a little obsessed with Maya.  She is so quiet and introspective.  She can sit and be happy doing nothing but hanging her feet in the water.

These kids will play all day in the water if you let them.

Garrett has grown quite a bit in the last year.  He will talk to me and look me in the face.  Was the first one to give me a hug when we got there.  Sure melted this Nana's heart.

As I said kind of obsessed.

See?

And this little boy... Ian.  So adorable and loves his Nana.  Not that they all don't, but he makes sure I know it all the time.  I love hearing him call me Nana.

Love that they play together.  Garrett, Ian, Ben (their Dad) and Konya.  Not sure why I don't have more pictures of her.

It was the fourth of July and I was proud of Miss Boo for not letting the bugs get to her.

My little dude wasn't having the best time.  It was not and lots of Michigan buts.  At least he was looking patriotic.  lol

Miss Boo was all about the sparklers this 4th.  She really had a good time.  

I love my grandkids.  This little boy is so sweet.

Have you ever asked yourself the question, What happens when you throw the dead christmas tree on the bonfire?  Absolutely spectacular.

First time ever that I watched fireworks in the trees by a lake.  It was pretty awesome.

I love nature in action.  Caught this out the window one morning.  Nothing like a blue Heron to make you appreciate life.

The Dude does so much better indoors.  Not ecstatically happy, but content.  Love this boy.

We had a good time visiting.  First time for us to stay longer than a couple of days.  I read a lot and cooked, and laughed and spent time with the part of my family that I don't half as much as I should.

So grateful for them.

Christmas 2016

When we got home from Dad's funeral on Saturday night, I knew I was never going to pull of Christmas, so my dear friend Soraya came to save the day.  She flew in Sunday and helped me get the tree decorated and the house put together.  She also helped put me together before she left as I was an emotional mess still.

 When we weren't preparing the house, we took a factory tour on how to make sausage.  Those hair nets do nothing for facial recognition or quite frankly, anything else!

 The tree turned out beautiful.  I told you she was a beauty.

 The kids aren't so much into pictures anymore.  This was the only one I was allowed and it's not the best.

 The cat, on the other hand, seemed ok with it.  After all, it was her job to mess with all the presents first.

 For some reason I feel the need to photograph Mr. Finn sideways.  Hmmmm.  I bet Freud would have a hay day with that.  He got what he wanted and was happy.

 But sadly, our beautiful, perfect tree had died while we were in Arizona and Christmas day it became evident that it had to come down immediately as it was a serious fire risk.

So Sad!

We enjoyed our quiet Christmas.  We gave the kids experiences this year versus presents.  They were too thrilled at first but got behind it later.  I feel they have so much stuff and it only holds their attention for a brief period of time.  This way they have an experience and can hold the memory forever.  They will be going to a parachute/fly school.  I am envious for sure.  They also got gift cards to Dave and Busters so they could get their electronic fix and leave it there.

I hope it was a Merry and insightful Christmas for all.

Tree Hunting

I feel like I need to lighten things up and share some of the good that happened during all the sadness...

Mr. Finn loves to go to Tree Farms.  I am the practical one and am good with picking it up at Costco. But this year I vowed I was going to let him have that joy.  I am not always good at that...

 Although we did not go out and cut it down, we did hunt through the ones they had already chopped down recently.  It seemed like a good start.

 We found the perfect tree.  A black hills spruce.  I was almost giddy.  We had blue spruces growing up and this seemed the closest to that.  It's all about the memory, right?

 This little guy was so deflated when his Dad told him he couldn't run through the trees.  I know Mr. Finn was just being cautious (overly) that one would fall on him and he could get hurt, but his feelings were hurt.  I felt so bad for him.  Couldn't even get him to run with me through them after that.

 Our gorgeous tree on the way to getting pretty to come home.

 We love Fulk's Tree Farm, they have the most interesting decorations.  Miss Boo thought this was the best.

 Isn't she a beaut?

 Not me!  The Dude took this picture of me.  I don't love my own pictures but am trying to make sure that there are some for the memory books.

Then my girl took this one of me and this scrumptious boy.

It was a fun day!  I have to admit it...we will do it again next year.

Once again...

Betty has been a part of our lives for the past several years.  She joined the church a couple years ago and Mr. Finn became her home teacher.  I started driving her to church a year ago when her visiting teacher moved.  It became the best part of my week.  She shared so much with me and showed me how to be happy in all times.  She was truly an angel in this life.

We grew to love her and were blessed to be part of her temple endowments and her sealing to her husband in the temple.  She felt a rush to get these things done and two months after doing the last of her work she passed away.  I talked to her the night before she passed and when she said she wasn't sure why she was still here.  I asked her if she had finished all she was meant to do in this life, to which she responded, "I have no secrets from God and I am ready".

We are blessed to have known her and she will be missed.  We love you Betty.