Celebrating in the City

We went into San Francisco to celebrate John's birthday this last week.  It was a gorgeous day and we walked around for a bit and then had dinner at this great restaurant on the Embarcadero.

The restaurant is called Waterbar - and it is mostly seafood - but everything we had was INCREDIBLE.  It instantly became one of our new favorite places.The next morning we had breakfast at the Palace Hotel.  This room was amazing - it made me feel like I was in Paris, and the food was delicious.  I had Macadamia Nut Waffles with coconut syrup - I am still thinking about it!  I love when you do something unforgettable - and this quick trip into the City was very memorable.

We had so much fun we've decided we need to go into San Francisco a lot more often!

My Maricopa/Mesa/Chicago Adventure

After Madden's blessing everyone went home except - me and Michelle (and Naomi) stayed to help Tiff pack up her house to move to Chicago. I am pretty unexperienced when it comes to moving and I find the whole project a little intimidating - but Michelle was a lifesaver. We worked so hard we even got everything packed in enough time to squeeze in a little fun on the final day. After we had Tiff's house all empty and Randy hit the road for the 27 hour drive to Chicago we had some time to just hang out in Arizona until we would fly out to Chicago to meet up with Randy - it was great to have the down time to just relax and visit.

We attended the Kindergarten graduation of Tiffany's class. They were all so excited about the new baby. It was sweet to see Tiffany with her adoring students. One little boy wanted to know "how you got babies?" Tiff just smiled and said you just get married and then pretty soon a baby comes along. His response - " I wanted you to get marrried lots and lots so you can have lots and lots of babies!" I will miss the funny things Tiffany would share about her Kindergarteners - thank goodness for grandkids :)

Naturally, I took lots of pictures of Madden - I even caught some smiles.

Thankfully, Tiffany and the baby and I flew to Chicago. When we got there Tiff and Randy's apartment looked mostly like this -

-

. . . but when we were all done unloading and organizing it was looking like this -

Tiffany and Randy love their new home outside of Chicago -

Madden's Baby Blessing

Here's the whole bunch of us in Maricopa, AZ for Madden's baby blessing. It was a wonderful day for all of us -

The proud parents . . .

Michele and John and the kids came down to AZ and suprised Tif and Randy - it was a quick weekend for most of us but we all had a great time together.

Can you believe how cute Naomi looks all dressed up for church?!

On the Saturday before we got some time to just hang out together and visit and play with the kids. Everyone loves Uncle Landon - he's so good with all the kids, but John and Landon headed back to Calif on Sunday night to get back to school and work. Although we were all together less than 48 hours - it was all wonderful and I was so grateful we could all be there to share in Tiffany and Randy's happiness as they blessed their precious baby.

Sausalito Date

Saturday after we got some yard work and misc stuff done - Landon headed off to Waterworld with a friend and John had a "day date" planned. We headed to Sausalito for a late lunch - we found a delicious little place to eat at and wandered around Sausalito a little bit. It was a little windy and cool - but still a lot of fun. Those bags we are carrying . . . . we found a funny little store that had the most ridiculous random stuff in it. So we got our gag gifts for next years Christmas Party. I only hope by next December I can remember where I put them. Then we headed over to the Metreon and saw "Angels and Demons" which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was glad it had been so long since I read the book that the movie was still suspenseful. It was a super fun day - of course it would be hard to go wrong - I love the City and I love my date :)

A Wonderful Week

I could take pictures of this little sweetheart all day - (and one day I did - thank goodness for digital). He is such a cutie.

He was probably relieved when I stopped and quit posing him in every possible position with anything that looked like a good prop around Tiffany's house. I made it up to Madden with lots of holding and cuddles. Really there is no better job than that of a Grandma - actually job doesn't seem like an appropriate word - it is more a privilege. Tiffany and Randy were very sweet to indulge me and share this special time with me. I loved every minute of it.

There is really nothing like a mother seeing her own daughter become a mother herself - very sentimental, emotional, sweet, incredible, beautiful . . . . It has been a wonderful week!

I've been having fun experimenting with my new camera lens.

This one may be my favorite so far - but I am going to keep on trying to get more "kodak moments". So I spent all morning taking pictures of Madden and most of the afternoon editing them on a new site Tiffany showed me - Picnik. Very fun!!!

He's such a sweetheart. I'm having so much fun!

More Madden . . .

By popular request - some photos showing off Madden's full head of hair.

Already posing with a football in hand :)

One of my favorite pictures - isn't he just precious?!

He's a lucky little guy- he has wonderful parents who addore him.

Motherhood is amazing! It is exciting to see my own daughters beginning their own amazing, emotional, wonderful, love filled, funny, amazing, fulfilling, non-stop ride. Enjoy the ride Tiffany!

Introducing Madden Brimhall

My day started with a phone call from Tiffany that they were in the hospital and she was in labor. I checked the flight schedule and in order to catch the next flight I would have to be on my way to the airport in 15 - 20 min. I wasn't sure I would make it but I decided to go for it. I called a friend to drop me off at the airport curbside and I made the flight. I was so excited to get to Phoenix and to the hospital before the baby was born. I didn't think that was possible. Tiffany was progressing slowly, and when they would up the meds to increase the contractions, the baby's heartbeat would drop and they would turn off the meds. After nearly 12 hrs of labor - the baby gave us all quite a scare. His heart rate plummeted, 4 nurses were all over Tiffany changing her position, making adjustments to her drip, they called the Dr. and he raced to the hospital and the decision was made to take her in for an emergency C-section. It was stressful and scary - but the Dr. had this beautiful baby boy delivered a short 10 min after he got to the hospital. Mother and baby are doing great - and we are all grateful.Madden under the warming lamps - in the recovery room.

Here's the proud parents of Madden Randall Brimhall weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz and 20" long
Tiffany was just so happy that the baby was fine and enjoying motherhood.
Randy got to give Madden his first feeding while Mom got some rest.
Pictures don't do justice to how cute this little guy is. He has a cute round head, pouty lips, a beautiful complexion and lots of black hair. We're all so excited he's here. More pictures to
come :)

Spring Break - Landon style

Landon wanted to use his Spring Break to get out snowboarding again for the last time of the season. We headed to Reno - where we stayed at the Chatterly's and Landon, Tanner, and Seth went snowboarding at Mt. Rose Thursday.
Then on Friday Landon and I headed off for South Lake Tahoe - where Landon met up with Jeff Wadman to see what the Sierra slopes had to offer. (what a great Young Men's advisor!)

You can see by the pictures what a gorgeous day it was. I spent most of it here - on the deck, with no coat, watching the skiers and reading a good book (until I realized I was getting a sunburn). It was a nice relaxing day inside as well - Landon had fun and we headed home at the end of the day. There are certainly perks (for both me and Landon) for being the only child. Any guesses what John did Friday while we were in Tahoe? Yep - we all had fun!