Kaleb is 5 and Emma is 7 - the SAME DAY!

These special days are the times we miss Matt and Sara and family the most! Emma turned 7 on December 4th, the same day Kaleb turned 5. Thankfully Kaleb only lives a half hour away so we were able to attend his birthday party, but little Emma...well, Orlando is a very long way from here! We did get to talk for a minute and sing Happy Birthday and Matt posted a little video on YouTube of her opening her books from us that was so fun! They are always so thoughtful of us and the fact that we can't be there for these occasions even though we long to be. I love that all my grandchildren LOVE to read...they all love books and I am sure that this is due to their good moms taking them to the library so often and reading at home with them. We thank these wonderful moms so much because if a child can read they will love school and learning as a general rule.

 All Kaleb wanted was a remote controlled helicopter which Cindy was nice enough to let us give him and he does love it! His parents gave him a remote controlled truck which he is also so thrilled about and plays with constantly. Kaleb has always loved things that are real or look real! So these items fit the bill perfectly! He is an easy child to please as is Emma.  Happy Birthday, you two! Grandma and Grandpa love you SOOOOOO much!!!!!

Thanks, Mom and Dad! I love my RC Monster truck!

Kaleb is definitely Grandpa's buddy!

Patiently ? reading Grandma's lengthy cards!

His cool remote controlled helicopter!

Cool race track cake/bumper to bumper traffic!

I won't say this is what DJ does best, but he is darn good at it! He does them here, too! Love that guy!

Thanksgiving at Home

                          

                    

  

        

         

                                 

           

  

      

    

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Due to the aforementioned storms, our plans to travel to Utah were abruptly changed on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving! Roads so slick that a four-wheel drive made no difference! Never have we seen so much snow and cold in November since we moved to Blackfoot! We were "bummed" not to be able to be with Greg's extended family for the big day to say the least, but felt it just wasn't using wisdom to travel on roads labeled "treacherous" wherever you looked. My mom ended up not being able to travel on the shuttle to Salt Lake to be with Craig and family due to the weather and Cindy and DJ and family also decided not to brave the roads, so we all threw Thanksgiving dinner together at our home! I must say it was delightful...food and company!  "Many hands make light work" as they say and such was the case. I had made 6 pies in preparation for Utah so needless to say, we had PLENTY of dessert! And as evidenced by some of the above pictures, our little ones asked for pie and "ice ceme" SEVERAL times during the course of the afternoon! I'm surprised Porter wasn't sick the next day...but hey, Thanksgiving only comes once a year...right? Cindy brought jello, rolls, and potatoes, Mom brought vegetables, and Greg and I did the turkey (a never been frozen one from DelMonte meats in Pocatello, yum!), dressing, Chuckwagon carrots, and dessert. I was very much looking forward to helping Janet do the "loving hands" quilt at Promontory, so decided we would do one ourselves Thanksgiving afternoon. It turned out to be a fun little project and gave me lots of time with my Mom and my little Morgan who stuck with me every inch of the way until time to go home! All the kids contributed little hand prints with uplifting messages.  We will tie the quilt after Christmas and take it to the Crisis Center. Another thing I especially loved was the opportunity to sit around the table and while eating, share a list of things we are all grateful for. It was a wonderful intimate time. So though we missed extended family and our other kids and grandkids, we did have much for which to be grateful on this wonderful Thanksgiving Day! Life is rich and full and all of you make it so!