Tanner's Thanksgiving Climbing Trip

Hey fam, I just rounded up all the pics from the climbing trip I went on the five days before we all met in SLC. I may be the only one who really appreciates this sport, but what the heck else am I going to blog? So enjoy it!

A few things I'm thankful for:

After being away for Thanksgiving - in two cities - and having cute grandkids visiting for several weeks I have taken a ton of pictures and feel like I will never catch up with my blogging. I'm not the dedicated bloggers my daughters are. So I decided to post a random list of things I'm thankful for. Here's just a few:

Being able gather the family together - and getting to spend time with my favorite people in the whole world (that would be my husband, daughters, sons, son-in-laws, and grandkids) How did I get so lucky?

Having the cutest grandkids ever!

Sharing memories and stories - it cracks me up the things you remember. Who else remembers Tanner saying "Raise you hand if you're sad" after I had to tell you Pepper the goat died? Summer remembers it vividly. :)

Exploring the desert and starting a rock collection with Noah.

Little ones that keep the excitement of Christmas still there.

Priceless opportunites we have to spend time together as a family.

Having a supportive husband that lets me go off and play with my grandkids whenever I want.

Having a son that's excted and ready to serve a mission.

Being old enough to be a Grandma - the best job in the world!

Being young enough to still have a kid at home of my own. Go Landon!

making fun memories in Palm Springs - thanks to a Mom and Dad that have always been so generous to me - thanks for the time share week Mom and Dad

A Thanksgiving with lots of good food (and no cooking or dirty dishes for me)

Michele's baby getting a little more time to grow

Tanner opens his Mission Call

We had to do some last minute switching around to get the whole family together for this Thanksgiving - but it was all worth it to all be together as a family for the big event. On Thanksgiving morning Tanner opened his mission call. It was so exciting. He is the first in our family to serve a mission, so this was all new and exciting for us. His reaction was priceless, he was laughing so hard and was so excited, he couldn't even tell us what it said for the longest time! MEXICO CITY EAST MISSION! He reports to the MTC on Feb 20, which means we will get to enjoy him for about 2 months before he's off for 2 years! I can now admit that in a perfect world I would have liked to have him go 1. foreign/3rd world expereience 2. learn spanish 3. serve where he would get to baptize but I knew you can't really have it all - it would seem we hit the jackpot with his mission call to Mexico City. It is everything I wished for all together! Tanner is so enthousiastic - he will be a fantastic missionary.

Tanner's Mission Call has arrived!!!!!!!

Landon does some investigative work . . .

but his attempts are futile

Tanner's mission call remains a mystery -

until Wednesday.

Nice try Landon - but forget it!

35 hours in NYC

Michele and I had the most whirlwind business trip ever with a short 35 hours total in New York City. Very interesting experience - learning the inside scoop on the garment industry. It was all work and no play except for this quick trip to the top of the observation deck of the Empire State Building. There's a funny story behind this picture but you'll have to call and ask me about it - I'm blogged out. I really don't know how Summer manages to blog as much as she does - but thank goodness she does - and you all do. It really helps me to feel more in touch with what's going on with all of you - so keep up the good work! I'm done for now :)

Saying Goodbye

I wanted one last picture with Noah - but what can I say - I don't think he wanted it. He wouldn't sit close to me and this picture cracks me up because he's looking like he's just not too sure about me! I guess now I'm bugging my grandkids about photo op's just like I bugged my own kids. Oh well - I still believe some day you'll be glad :)

Last squeeze for Alex

It was time to say goodbye after a very fun week + Alex is such a cuddler - I'm so glad our good bye was only for about 10 days and then they'll be here. That's never happened before.

Alex's new snow hat

Alex is tricky to get a pciture of - she is constant motion. She looked so cute in her new snow hat! Noah looked cute too in his new coat and boots but he refused to let us take a pciture at all.

Activities with the kids

We kept very busy the 4 days Paul and Summer were gone. It was so much fun doing little trips, playing games, and then racking my brain for more songs, games, things to do to keep them occupied. It was fun - It made me remember back when I had little ones - and also how BUSY it is. Summer has my greatest admiration for keeping up with all that she does. I'm so glad I was able to come out and spend all this quality time with Alex and Noah. John and Landon were such good sports during my absence.

Thanks guys!

I got Alex a bouncy cow to ride on. You should see her bounce!

We made a Parade!

Playing Superhero

The kids love jumping on Mom and Dad's bed. They would yell "Superhero" and jump. I loved hearing Alex's little voice yell "SUPERHERO". She is so cute and tries her best to do everything Noah can do.

Trip to the Pet Store

I wish you could have all seen the kids at the pet store. Summer told me they liked to go there. Noah ran in and started running through the store as fast as he could yelling - "Grandma look at the dogs, come see the fish, here's the birds," etc. etc. Alex would stand up to the dogs behind the glass and they would jump up to the window - she didn't seem to understand they were behind glass and she would get scared but excited all at the same time and she would sort of do this little dance on her feet and nearly hypervenilate - it was hilarious!

Noah at the pet store

See Below -

That picture of Alex I think I took after a difficult struggle to get her hair in pigtails. I've never been good with hair - and the fact that I am slow and Alex doesn't like to have it done produced the following results - I don't think Alex was too thrilled with Grandma as her hair stylist.

Getting Crafty

We did craft projects - Noah couldn't get enough of his sticker projects he was very proud of them.

Are you sure these are washable making pens?

Alex got as much maker pens on herself as on her paper - I was getting worried she was ruining her clothes so when I tried to keep her from getting them on her I realized she thought it was funny and just scribbled on her shirt more. :)

A bike ride around the neighborhood

The first day I was with the kids we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood - (I pushed Alex in the BOB). Noah demonstrated his tricks -notice the first pic - bike riding with no hands!

Every so often Noah would stop to pick up a leaf or a stick to add to his collection. There are so many trees there and they were in their fall colors - I've never hit it just right in my trips before, it was so beautiful. Alex just enjoyed the ride, her blankie and her thumb.

Halloween Night in Cleveland

I was lucky enough to come in the night before Halloween to stay at Summer's with the kids. This isn't a good picture but we got the kids dressed and out the door and met at Summer's friends house. It was a beautiful evening and kids started showing up in their costumes to all go out trick-or-treating together. While we waited for everyone they ran around the front lawn happy as could be in their costumes. They were so cute. This moment made me have deja vu for all the Halloween nights I spent out with my own kids in costume. Thank goodness for grandkids or all the fun stuff might be over. I was so glad I got to be there - and I bet Summer was glad too because with Paul already in Miami, two trick-or-treat bags, and two trick-or-treaters full of energy and running the streets of Cleveland I don't know how she would have managed the night alone :) Thanks for sharing the moment with me Summer!