GrandCamp June 24-25

Friday night, we had a sleepover with the Divine Miss L. It will be our last one for awhile, since Grammy R. is here to help with the new baby for a month.

Miss L wanted her toes painted "blue, like Mom's." The women in the family had gone for a pedicure last Thursday night and Sarah got blue painted toes.

So here she is all freshified from her bath, and laying in my bed waiting for her nails to dry.

Note the cute Grammy Jammies from Grammy R.

Watch for Lucky's appearance on Wednesday!

MEMORIAL DAY 2010

My dad and brother are buried in Sandy City cemetery - about 50 minutes from where I live. I didn't actually get there on Memorial Day, because I knew I'd be going up that way later in the week. This cemetery doesn't have an actual injunction against plastic flowers, but 95 % of the flowers in these pictures are real. It looked almost gaudy, because there were so many flowers. Apparently this year, they didn't put flags on the veteran's graves, either.(looking east from Dad's grave)

(looking north from Dad's grave)

This is Dad and Jeff's grave marker. I brought the flamingo in the top center. I think this is the first time in 8+ years I haven't cried at the cemetery.

That made me feel like crying.

One more post and I'm done for today

On April 2, Jenn turned 24. We celebrated by going for Korean food - even Grandpa liked it. Instead of a birthday cake, she wanted lemon meringue pie. Jenn blew out the candles once, Laura 3 or 4 times. Happy to You, Jenn!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our THIRTY-FIFTH (yes, 3-5) wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long.. . .seems like I turned 35 years old just a couple (oh, say 20) years ago! We were married in the Provo Temple. Now, we live in Provo, and I can see the temple from my upstairs every day.
THE SCORE:
Four Children (3 girls, one boy) and their spouses (2 husbands, one wife)
Six Grandchildren - five living and #7 due in July - 3 girls, 4 boys
We each have one parent still living: My mom is 78 and Mel's dad is 91 next month!
We've lived in Arizona, New Jersey, Illinois, northern California, Germany, southern California, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.
We've had nine jobs between us: I've had 6 and Mel has had 3 (Air Force counts for 23 of those years)
I don't even want to think about how many pets, houses, rentals, yards, painting, repairing, fencing, gardens we've done.
We've lived in Provo, in the same house for 12+ years.
I guess 35 years was barely long enough to do all that!

It's a Boy!

Sarah and Bob will be having a delicious man-cub sometime before the 7th of July. We are all so excited. I celebrated by taking Sarah and Yaya to the Carter's outlet. :)

Fun after Christmas

Kate had to work the week between Christmas and New Years. Sarah and I managed to entertain Brody and Laura. I so enjoyed having Brody all to myself....well, not exactly all by myself. We still had a pretty full house. Papa got a snow blower for Christmas and Brody was absolutely enthralled by the snow and the snow blower. Unfortunately, we didn't have snow gear for Brody (you don't need it in Seattle!), and he got cold pretty quickly.
Note his hat. On the right is Daniel blowing Grandma Wilcox's driveway.

You couldn't tell the street from the yard.

Late one morning, we went to Pirate Island. It's a pizza/restaurant with video games and play areas. MUCH nicer than Chucky Cheese.

Brody and I got there first. That is a very spooky looking pirate in the background.

Handsome Scallywag

On the right, notice how Brody rides the little merry-go-round standing up. Laura kept assuring me this was not "Ma-Goon" (Lagoon amusement park we went to this past summer)

Brody playing a game -- he wasn't all that interested in them.

*sigh of relief*







Laura riding the merry-go-round.

We knew it would be hard for the kids to leave, so we made up a song (sung to "Once There Was A Snowman")

Once there was a pirate, pirate, pirate.

Once there was a pirate, Fierce, Fierce, FIERCE!

When it was time to go home, go home, go home,

When it was time to go home,

NO MORE TEARS!

Sarah and I think it helped.

We also went bowling at BYU one afternoon and it was a NIGHTMARE! It was beyond crowded with families and children. We still had fun, but here wasw no time to take pictures!
Brody has a funny little sense of humor and was always delighting us with his remarks. One night during dinner, our cat was eating whatever Laura dropped under her high chair.

Brody piped up: Guh, your cat is like a Roomba!

(a Roomba is a small round disk that vacuums by itself)

CHRISTMAS MORNING

We had lots of people for Christmas morning. Aunt Tessa, Grandpa Leseberg, Kate, Brody, Dan, Jenn, and later in the day, Jenn's sister Erin. Jenn had to work at 6:30 in the morning, so she and Dan unwrapped their gifts later in the day. Then, Erin came and she had gifts to unwrap. Sarah, Bob, and Laura came later, too and we had great fun.

Brody and Daniel (note cat peeking out from under Dan's blanket).

Brody got his own camera!

Can't decide what to open first!

Tessa and Grandpa all snuggled up, watching the festivities.

...and thebest news is:

Sarah and Bob and Yaya will welcome a new baby to their family in late June or early July! HOOAH!
This will be Number Seven for Mel and I -- Number Seven, due on 7-7. Perhaps this grandbaby will be known as Lucky.

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

A couple of weeks ago, Yaya and her family were having dinner with us. After dinner, Sarah and I bathed and freshified the Divine Miss Laura so that she would be ready to get in bed as soon as they got home. We were all within 10 -15 feet of her, getting dessert on the table, and she was running around the kitchen/play area. All of a sudden, she slipped/tripped/fell into the corner of the little kids' table! There was that 2-3 second silence, before the horrendous shrieking - and blood. Quite a bit of it. We were all rushing too her (no doubt adding to her panic), and trying to get towels, cold cloths or anything to help. Poor thing cried so hard, she began throwing up as well as bleeding!

A trip to InstaCare with Mom and Dad resulted in 10-12 stitches on that perfect little forehead. There were seven on the outside, and at least that on the inside. By the next morning, she was no worse for the wear.

It took Guggie a little longer to get over it.

FAMILY TRADITIONS

My husband's family are game-playing ninjas. Card games and "Acquire" are the main ones they play. After dinner on Thanksgiving, the SkipBo cards came out for Mel, Grandpa, Brent, and Flor. Yaya decided she wanted sit on Papa's lap and play with the big people. She was quite serious about playing (note the look of concentration as evidenced by the binky in her mouth) -- which fits in perfect with how the clan plays. Yaya continued to play for at least 40 minutes - that equals an eternity for a two-year old! Papa was diligent in explaining how the game was played: Yaya was equally diligent in announcing his cards to the rest of the table. (Yes, she knows her numbers AND colors)

And so the madness begins. . .

THANKSGIVING 2009 in Which Laura Makes the Supreme Gravy of the Universe

The company was great -- we had Sarah, Bob, and Laura ; Brent and Flor; Dan and Jenn; Pam, Kate and Jim and Grandpa. Oh wait - where's Jenn in these pictures?! We can still see you, Kate.

We missed Mom and Lloyd this year - Lloyd was not too portable this holiday.

So, I'm an OK cook. Sometimes I approach "good cook." There are some foods that I cook well. Gravy has not been one of them. I always end up adding a can/jar/evelope of gravy mix to redeem what I've tried to produce (usually with lumps). This year, I made make-head gravy. You cook turkey wings in the oven, then on the stove, etc. Time consuming, but too easy. I knew it wouldn't be enough for all of us, so I bought no less than 6 jars of gravy to add to it. But, first, I decided to TRY the pan drippings from one of the turkeys (yes, we were a 2-turkey event this year) to make some gravy. Well, Gravy Heaven smiled on me, and the two gravies mixed together were absolutely superb. I'm really being modest and humble - but it was DIVINE.