My 10 days in Utah -

My 10 days in Utah were a lot of fun - starting out with a beautiful Sunday afternoon drive thru the canyon - gorgeous colors -

Then the kids opened presents just for them to take to the hospital the next day -

They were excited - can you tell?

The next morning was REALLY exciting as Michele went into labor as she was getting prepped for her C-section.  Rowen was a beautiful baby . . .

her brother and sister were excited to meet her -

So cute!

The first few days I kept the kids busy at home and made visits to the hospital -

Once Rowen and Michele came home the main goal was to keep Boston and Naomi off of Michele's recovering tummy and off of the baby.  We went on exploring walks to give Mom time alone with the baby, rode go-carts, had a dance party (wish I had videos of that) and learned Halloween songs and played with my I-phone (Naomi loves that I-phone!) and gave Rowen her first bath. 

 It was non-stop action.

Usually I take literally hundreds of pictures - and some turn out.  Not anywhere close this time.  It was a full time job keeping Boston and Naomi busy and Rowen safe and sound :)

I got a few pictures of the kids that I loved their expressions -

Luckily Michele had someone wonderful lined up to take adorable pictures so there was no pressure.

She got shots like these . . . 

Thanks for sharing this wonderful time in your lives with me.  It was the best!

Welcome to the family - Rowen Faye Cloward

Little baby Rowen arrived Monday morning - she is adorable and I am in Grandma heaven :)
Her brother and sister love her and are pretty excited to have her come home today.

 She looks a lot like her brother Boston did and a lot like Michele as a newborn.

Michele is doing well after her C-section - the biggest challenge so far is keeping excited Naomi and Boston from jumping on her or Rowen :)  I'm enjoying being here at this special time - life is good!

The Clowards visit to California

Michele, John, Boston and Naomi came to California for a quick 4 day visit.  We spent that first Saturday at our obligatory visit to Pixie Playland . . .

That's Boston with his hands up on the roller coaster - he's a dare devil!

Sunday we went together to our Nephew's homecoming talk, hung out with Tanner and Josie at the house -  Tanner trained the kids to surf on his back (I think he gets a free back rub in this deal)

 Naomi surfing on Tanner too . .

Do these photos indicate how wound up we had the kids at this point?  They LOVE their Uncle Tanner and Josie.  They can never get enough of her :)

A fabulous Sunday dinner at my Mom's (it's always like Thanksgiving when we have dinner there)

Then we spent 2 quick days in Tahoe - the guys golfed, we rode bikes, hung out, ate and had a picnic.

The time went by way too fast.  Then it was back home - I started my new job and that explains in part why this blog post is 6 weeks late and there has been nothing to post since.  Waiting for grand baby #7 - (can you see Michele's prego tummy/)  I expect to be off for that next big event in the next few weeks.  Photos to follow for sure.

Here's all of us at the Wisconsin Dells - How did Landon get so tall?!!

The Deer Park

The problem with taking a billion pictures - which is what I do when I'm with my grandkids - is I can't narrow my pictures down.  I wanted to do a quick re-cap because I am so far behind and this is what happens - I pulled up a ton of pictures from this cool deer park we visited in the Dells and it seems faster to throw them up on the blog than for me to decide which ones to use.  So in the interest of time - here's all of us at the park . . .

Last few days in Chicago

We said goodbye to Summer and headed back for a few more days in Chicago.  Stacey arrived while we were there and so we got to see her new house . . .

 and go out for a fabulous dinner with them!

The rest of the time we just played with this little darling . . .

 Landon is so good with the grandkids.

Can you tell how much I love this little guy?!!

It was all a great trip - so I wanted to document it.  Better late than never right?