Fun with the Family

Can you believe this beauty? I even got to drive it. Okay only

up to about 40 mph. (got grief for that one at home). All my sons

and son-in-laws were envious.

Went to visit my cousin, Kim, and her husband, Steve.

We had such a good time ( minus the food poisoning part).

They are fun to be with and laugh your guts out with.

Steve hid in his garage with all of us ladies around. He would

come in when he needed to eat. But all those women talked

about things that didn't interest him.

Kim WORKING HARD in her new office. The new Senior

Center is very nice. Maybe Rick and I will move there when we

get too old and Kim will take care of his. Oh! Wait she will be

living there herself as she will be too old to run the center.:)

Well, Briggs Michael Winget, my 10th grandchild, came on May 13 @ 7 lbs. 8 oz. Everything went well with the delivery, it was six days after that we had a terrible scare. Our daughter-in-law, Brook, went to the doctor because of terrible headaches. They took her blood pressure and immediately sent her to emergency because it had skyrocketed. They put her on a medicine to bring is down and while waiting for it to come down she had two seizures(biting her tongue all away around-it was swollen so bad she couldn't eat for several days). We found out after tests it is what is called Eclampsia. Most women get it during pregnancy or 12 to 24 hours after birth. It is life threatening. It is very rare to get it as far out as she did and is even more dangerous. She is now at home and has to take it easy until they can get her blood pressure to stay normal. It is not sure how long this can take, they are hoping a few weeks. Brook is such a sweetheart and we were worried to death and pray that she will make a full recovery and give us a happy ending . You can tell grandma and big sister certainly are smitten with him. With three big sisters he will be very mothered.

Another exciting event with a happy ending was Michelle got married to Chris Sauer. What a wonderful man she found for herself. They have been together about 3 1/2 or 4 years now and make each other very happy. They have their farm with their lamas, alpacas, peacocks, ducks, dogs, goats, cats and love every bit it. We are so happy for this union. We are glad to have Chris as part of our family.

Mom giving away the bride. Doesn't Michelle look pretty and very happy?

Even the animals came decorated for the occassion!

Look at the crazy sister in the bright colors. Have to have one in every family that makes us smile and want to be around.

I am very excited to announce that grandchild number nine has arrived. He was two and a half weeks early. It's a good thing or he would have been a ten pounder. Ridge's daddy (Matt) wants him to be able to play now. Mommy (Mindy) just loves holding him and cuddling him.

"Hold a little longer, rock him a little more. Tell him another story, tell him a million more. Let him sleep on your shoulder, cherish his every smile. He is only a baby for just a little while."

It is amazing how as each member of the family comes that another door to your heart opens. Each of my children, their spouses and all my grandchildren have a place there. The love never stops. I have grandchild number ten coming on May 12 (my daughter-in-law is being started then). They are also having a boy. That will make 5 girls and 5 boys now. Boy! Is this great!

I am so excited that after about 17 years we have repainted and did some upgrade to the kitchen. Rick said it was time to bring me into the 21st century. Can you see that oven that is avocado green? It is now gone along with the stove top that was the same color. That microwave is gone and a new one is above the stove. I now have all white appliances. With the bright yellow and green on the walls, I feel like it is spring or summer (my favorite times of the year) all the time. Rick is going to put new cupboard doors on and new cubboards where the oven and old microwave is taken out.

I find myself in my kitchen a lot more. Rick also put new recessed lights in the ceiling (Duh! Where else would you put them?) So now there is lots of light to see what I am cooking. Oh! Now that could be dangerous. I asked if we could paint and Rick gave me a lot more. Isn't he a sweetie!

I was looking at these pictures taken of mom, my sisters and I the last couple of years. What a group we are. There have been many laughs, tears, and many, many memories. We have a monthly craft and lunch day that we have done for about 15 to 20 years. We have made a lot of fun things (this star being one of them) and ate some yummy food. But most importantly we have kept the bonds of family knitted. We are there for each other. We lead different lives and don't always connect as often as we should but at least we do it once a month.

We have birthday parties and play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, get on the floor and play jacks ( and grunt trying to get back up off the floor). We do Halloween costumes and all the holidays. We celebrate just being together and lots of times it gets goofy. I am so grateful for staying together like we do. I am blessed to have them as my family.

Catching up the blog after 4 month

After our hard drive crashing and trying to get everything that wasn't lost back on and with all the big events that kept me going in every direction, I am finally back on and will try to keep up. Thanks, Kim, for guiding me through on how to get pictures on my blog. Makes it much more fun.

Our daughter,Mindy got married on the 8th of November to a wonderful guy named Matt Stimpson. We decorated the church cultural hall all in Christmas trees we borrowed from everyone. There were about twenty trees. More than I have ever put up at one time. It looked so neat. My family were real troopers and helped so much. Nice evening but I am such a worrier that it was nice that it turned out as hoped and that it is over. Now on to the next thing....

Here is our newest grandson, Ashtin Neil Reed, that came to us on Dec 5, weighing in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. His big brother, Antonio loves him. Mom and baby and family are doing great!

We have two more grandsons coming. Mindy, our daughter (on the left) is due April 23 and Brook (our son, Mike's wife, who lives next door to us) is due May 22(her b-day). This is Mindy's first and Mike & Brook's 4th (first boy- they are so excited)

For Christmas I made all my grandchildren hats(two for the boys because they didn't want scarves), mittens and scarves(for the girls). Twelve sets, I told Kim on the phone 11 but I forgot I even made our new grandson some hats.

For the adults I scrapbooked these clocks. Some stood on stands and others hung on the wall. They are able to switch out the pictures whenever they want. I also made them blocks that were 5 inch squared that I stained and put pictures of their families on that I had done in the sepia tone. They each recieved three of them to stack and put on whichever side they want because all sides had their pictures. They loved those!








The older I get the more I love gardening and being out in the yards and the less I like the cold. Now that the excitement of the holidays are over and January is sort-of blah!!!! I am craving sunshine, warmth, and the chance to play in the dirt and flowers once again.

I'm here at work with some empty time on my hands and thought I would express some feelings I am having at this time. I feel the hands of Autumn reaching out. I love the warm months and prefer them, yet there is something about fall that always takes me back to my youth. I can't ever put a finger on exactly what that feeling is. It is a good feel. Maybe it is the thoughts of the holidays of my youth. One of my first thoughts is of Halloweens. My dad and mom were the best at making some great costumes out of anything we had at home. I remember one time going to Grandma Sowerby's house and she didn't recognize my dad in his costume and told him her was a little too big to be out trick-or-treating. Thanksgiving dinners gathered with the Sowerby's are other wonderful times to remember. There was the aunts, uncles and all the cousins to make it such a day to look forward to. Not to mention the tons of delicious food! Then the thoughts drift to Christmas' at Grandma Sowerby's house with her silver tree. I think of My Grandpa Sowerby's emaculate yards and how we kept the leaves raked up. I think he went out every day to keep the leaves cleaned up! I thnk of dinners at grandma's house. She could whip a delicious meal from anything. I had such a close relationship with my grandma especially after grandpa died. I was with her once or twice a week. I so miss her!!! She was always supportive and encouraging to me. She loved for me to bring my kids over. We loved going to the malls in Salt Lake to shop and find a good place to eat. I also gave her perms for years. At times when life gets a little complicated I like to go to those places in my mind of those good and happy times. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade my life with anyone. I am so blessed. I am so thankful for the relationships with family and friends that help to make me a better person. Especially when I see how heroic they face their challenges.