Christmas 2011

We had three different Christmas celebrations this year with different groups of relatives.  Here are some picture from each in the reverse order from when they actually happened.

 

The last one was at our house in Puyallup which was actually closer to New Years Eve since we were in Arizona during Christmas day.

We had five of our children here and their families.  In this picture is Tianna, Amery, Layne, Mallory, Malachi, James, Andrew, Tucker, Jim, Evan.

Another group shot, with Bruce, Andrew, Evan, John, Ashton, Talitha, James, Caleb, Jacquelyn.

Mallory brought one of her favorite gifts from home with her, a talking toy dog.

Penelope is modeling some bead necklaces purchased from our traditional trip to the dollar store.  She was really sick and not feeling very good but got better as the days passed.

Talitha gave homemade blankets to several of the kids.  They put them to good use and made a fort to play in.  James is in the front and Tucker in the back.

The computer is always a big attraction, even at meal time.

Foosball is fun.  Evan and Ashton are having a game with Andrew waiting his turn.

 Dallen, Mallory, Tucker and James.

This is a unique picture because everyone likes to play cards so much and here you can see Jacquelyn with all three of her daughters (Tianna, Talitha, and Doranda who was sick too) and three of the five grand-daughters (Amery, Penelope, Scarlett).

 Now we move to Arizona to San Tan Valley.  We had a Christmas celebration there with the Ruckers.

 In this picture is Jacquelyn's dad with Duane's daughter Melissa and her boyfriend and Melissa's son Gabe.

Here is Conni's daughter Elaine with her son Elijah.

 This is a group shot with Jacquelyn's mother, Gabe, Conni, Elijah and Elaine.

 Another picture with Conni, Gen, Elaine, Elijah, Patti and Gabe.

 Jacquelyn with Conni's pet parrot.

For the third part of Christmas visiting we were in Mesa.  The first thing we did was have an Anniversary Celebration with my parents.  We went out to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse.  They have been married 64 years.

This is my brother Mark who came up from Tulsa.

 Mark's wife Angela.

 My Dad.

 My Mom.

 Christmas dinner at my parents house.

Mark, Angela, Jacquelyn and I went for a hike at the Usury Mountains Recreation area just to the north.  It was a 7.4 mile hike around a mountain and we had a lot of fun.

 We saw the annual Christmas golf cart parade.

And we had hot dogs and hot chocolate at the Recreation Center at Leisure World after the parade.

 We were also busy one day digging out tree stumps at my parents house.

Buzzards at Leisure World that roost in the trees and keep watch over everything going on.

BYU Idaho

Great news.  Caleb has been accepted into BYU Idaho.

New Grandchild

Nathanael and Mary-Anne had a new baby boy.  His name is Jacob.  This is our 15th grandchild.  We can't wait to come and meet him, probably at the beginning of next month.  We are on travel so this post is late, he was actually born on December 5th.  He really is cute.  We will see him soon.

Children Blessing

We got to go to the child blessings for Andrew and Mallory.    Thank you Malachi and Layne for inviting us.  It means a lot to be able to take part in these special occassions for the grandchildren.
Sorry I had to borrow a picture from you blog but we didn't have any of our own and we are away on travel.

Aircraft Carrier

I got to go on a tour of a Navy Aircraft Carrier.  They were asking around at work who wanted to go on a tour the public affairs office got some Boeing slots for and I volunteered right away.  It was extremely interesting and a lot more fun than working that day.  Here I am on the flight deck.

It was the USS Abraham Lincoln.  The most amazing thing was how big the aircraft carrier was with thousands on board when they put out to sea.  It was like a floating city it so huge.
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This is the other direction on the flight deck.  You can see one jet aircraft and the tower.

This is one of the seaman's (enlisted) dining rooms which was cafeteria style.  They also had dining rooms for the petty officers (NCOs) and dining rooms for the officers where they get served restaurant style by enlisted.

There were three giant hangars inside the interior for storing fighters and helicopters separated by massive fireproof walls that could open and close.

Here's another hangar, but the aircraft were not deployed to the ship at the moment.  You can see attach points on the floor where they tie them down.

I think I need to go on a diet.  Some of the port hole doors were a little tight to squeeze through.  Most of the time they had metal stairs going up and down through the decks but occasionally we had to climb or descend ladders and they had these seal-able port hole doors.

Thanksgiving

We had a lot of fun at Thanksgiving and lots of family visitors.  This is the children's table during Thanksgiving Dinner with Dallen, Mallory, Andrew, Ashton, Tucker, Evan, Penelope and Scarlett.  It was a crazy weekend with so many grandchildren playing and running about the house.  This may have been the only moment during the whole weekend when they were all setting down and quiet.  We love them.

This is the adults table but we only got some of us in the picture.

Talitha was in charge of Thanksgiving this year.  Everyone brought something.  We had two turkeys and John deep fried one of the turkeys in peanut oil.  It was great.

We even had a little ham (or someone who likes to ham it up anyway).

 You can see some of the plates of food.  Here's Caleb and Amery and Doranda.  There was lots to eat.

Of course we had good music too.  Tucker and Andrew are playing such a fast song their hands are just a blur.

Throughout the weekend there were lots of game and card playing.  A good opportunity to visit.

 We had the game room upstairs with pool, foosball, and the big TV.

 The kids liked watching movies or film clips whenever possible.

Penelope seemed to like showing off her new coat.

Couldn't help another shot of Penelope, catching the sun in her red hair.  She managed to get into a third of the pictures I put up this time.  She was just being extra photogenic.  And I think she does like having her picture taken because she pauses whenever she gets peoples attention as if waiting for people to look at her.

We went to the school playground one day.  Tucker is walking the curb.  He's such a cheerful boy and is always active all the time.

 James on the slide.  He on the other hand is a very cautious and thoughtful and boy.

 Ashton doing tricks on the bars.  He is very skilled and athletic.

And Evan who is getting older now and being more grownup.  He was very helpful with the little kids while on the walk.

1. I'm thankful for my wife most of all.
2. I'm thankful for my children and grandchildren.
3. I'm thankful for my parents.
4. I'm thankful for the gospel and the church.

That about sums it up for me.

Andrew & Mallory Adoption

The big day finally arrived.  Malachi and Layne had their court date for the adoption of Andrew and Mallory.

This is the new family setting in court in front of the judge answering questions.

 Layne, with Andrew, taking the oath of adoption.

 Malachi with Mallory during the court proceedings.

 After the judge ruled yes on the adoption they went out in the hall for some pictures.  Now Andrew and Mallory legally belong to them.  It's official.

 We went outside for some fall pictures .

 We were happy to get to go and see the adoption.  Now they are officially our grandchildren too.  So you could say we have adopted Andrew and Mallory also.  They are part of the family now.

 Here are a few choice photos they we were not able to put on the blog before.  This is Andrew and cousin Tucker having a laser-sword fight.  They are about the same age.

 This is Andrew sitting on his new Grandma's lap at Caleb's court of honor for Eagle Scout.

 This is Andrew with his Auntie Talitha and Uncle John.

 Here is Mallory with Tucker and Bruce.

 At a birthday party.  I think it was for Tucker and Mallory.

 We took Andrew to the race tracks on weekend.

 A favorite thing, whenever they come over to our house, is to immediately check out the ponds.

Halloween costumes.  Buzz Lightyear and Snow White.  We are so happy to welcome Andrew and Mallory into our family.  And we are especially happy for Malachi and Layne.