Parents Pay Day

This is all about Baby E Check out that tongue. She loves it.

Today (Sunday) was her Blessing day.
She looked beautiful and was perfectly behaved.
Do I look so happy with my little Grandbaby?

R and I made the dress. G'ma Cherri made the bracelet which I was going to get a close-up of but forgot it. It matched perfectly.

R loves the "matchy" family photos. Aren't they cute?

Here is baby E, my girl, R, Me and My mom with her new hairdo.

(no I didn't do it. She "bought" it) I like it.

Four generations!
It was a great day!

What's in a name?

I've thought about and talked about names frequently as of late. Mostly because our grandaughter has a very unique name. It doesn't mean anything in particular but goes with the currently trendy names such as Kinsley and Ainsley. Her middle name is the combination of the two Grandmother's middle names Kay and Lynn, thus, KayLynn.
I also have a personal goal in life to let everyone know that Maggie is not meant to be a human name. Many people use it as a dog's name. So many, in fact, that to hear it now it goes quite well with Rover, Spot or even Daisy. A dog doesn't really mind the name so use it if you like it, BUT my name is close enough to Maggie I can tell you I have never liked the name and if you go through the whole alphabet there are many unkind things that rhyme with Maggie. Go ahead and try it. I'll wait....
B
H
F
S
R
N
Or go one step further and use two letters together.
Br
Sl
and a whole bunch of other nonsense words that just by their sound are unappealing.
'Nuff said. Friends don't let friends name people Maggie.
It kind of goes along with the return of the old-fashioned names. To that I say "whatever"
Now to the confusion of cross-gender names. You really don't know who (whom?) to expect when you see the names Tracy, Chris or Pat, male or female. If you see it written correctly you have a pretty good idea with names that have a different spelling like Erin or Aaron or Gene and Jean but what about names that used to be male names that have turned into female names like Morgan, Taylor or Devon.
That reminds me of a story. (go ahead, get a snack or a blanket or leave the blog, it's up to you) Last week we were visiting D's brother who has two little neighbor boys. They are both about 4 years old but one happens to be the uncle of the other. This little boys poor mother had a very late in lifer. D commented that they should have named him Isaac. (biblical reference, if you need to look it up.) And I suggested that I would use the name which ever gender it turned out to be and with the current name situation there should be a female spelling for Isaac so I racked my brain (or did I wrack my brain? it seems like it should be wrack. Hmmm) and came up with it
Izyk!
It sounds a lot nicer than it looks on paper but I would do it anyway.
What about your name. Do you like it? Is is appropriately feminine or masculine? What interesting names/spellings have you heard?

Feeling left Out?

I thought so.

So I uploaded more pictures of Baby E.

R,A and E spent last weekend here so Grandma could get up in the night and take care of the little angel while Mom and Dad got a couple of nights of uninterupted sleep. She is just as cute at 2 AM as she is during the day. (R might disagree).

Enjoy!

More Wonderful days!

My 48th birthday was Tuesday.

I woke up snuggling with my Glow bug - my new Grandbaby.

I stayed Monday night so R and A could sleep as much as possible so when baby E wasn't really hungry but just making noises I could take care of her and since she had to be on the bilibed she was in the front room. When she fussed I held her on my chest and we slept like that for a couple of hours. What a beautiful way to wake up. I went to work that day but we had plans to celebrate on Thursday. The timing worked out well since CJ was going to camp for 4 days leaving on Weds so D and I left at noon and went to spend the day with R and Baby E. D was happy to see the baby since he hadn't seen her since Sunday when she was in the hospital. We fixed dinner there and all ate together then we left for the event: YAY!
We had tickets for the James Taylor/Carole King concert!
They are some of my favorite musicians and Carole King is what I listen to when I need "feel good music" I have so many CD's that someone else sings that she wrote the songs. So talented. Here we are waiting for the show to begin:This is the whole stage. She is at the piano and JT is sitting with the guitar at the right.

They did some of her songs and some of his.

They are looking older but still move like they are 30. She danced around in those heels like they were running shoes and she is so thin and 68!

This picture was from the big screen over-head, thus the distorted color but Carole had always left her curly hair down. Maybe it's a trademark but she still does although she has lost the color in her hair.

Here they are both on guitars.

Both looking older but still sounding great!

I've posted two posts today so be sure and check the next one. It's the most important one I've EVER done.

Wonderful Days!

Here she is. Baby Eisley!!! We have been loving being Grandparents!
She had a little Jaundice and was on the biliruben lights. When she was held she was supposed to have the light pad on her so when she was wrapped up she looked like a little glow worm. I called her my Glow Bug. She is so fun to hold and cuddle.

She is so sweet and squishy weighing in at 9lbs 10 oz. and measuring 22 inches long. R was induced and had a long labor but did super well. She is recovering very well and loves to share the love and lets everyone hold her precious baby.

How precious is this little yawn?

Every little thing she does we get excited over. She is so loved and coddled.

We tried to get a picture with her eyes open. It doesn't happen enough but it's good that she sleeps so well.

Her Grandpa D was so excited to see her after 4 days of missing her. He took her right from her bath and cuddled her wrapped in her towel.

R is the best Mommy ever. Baby E looks so much like R did when she was born.
Oh those sweet kissable cheeks! So soft. Mmmmmm

Yes, Grandma Gigi loves to hold this precious baby and loves to take pictures of her. She is my new favorite thing to talk and write about and take pictures of. I love being a Grandma!

Kick off to Summer

These first pictures are two that I forgot to throw in but the trip wouldn't be complete without saying that we really did go to Winslow Arizona and took a picture "standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona" (sorry if you are too young or not an Eagles fan and the whole line is lost on you)I lived in Aztec, NM when I was very young and remembered going to the Aztec Ruins so we went way out of our way and found it. It was truly amazing. 1000 year old ruins with about 800 rooms. You can walk through some of them. It is amazing!
Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog post:

So we went to San Diego - the long way!We started by going to Moab and doing a late hike to Delicate Arch

We met with L who is always our guide when we go there.

Here are my hiking buddies just before the hike.

L loves to go places with her Dad. They are both so funny.

Then we went way out of our way to Four Corners. It's all fenced off and under construction so we walked all around it and at each "corner" we stopped and made the letters of the state we were in. We are a little dyslexic - this AS should be AZ for Arizona.

We stayed in Chandler where an old High School friend of mine lives. I had a great/quick visit with her. We arrived at almost the last minute because now they have moved to Virginia and I would not have seen her.

Our first visit was at the Mormon Battalion museum. It was amazing how they told a very "moving" story and had so much interactive information.

The reason we went to San Diego was for a conference for D. Our hotel was close to Sea World so while D was in meetings the boys and I hung out at Sea World. For future reference, if you sit in the "soak zone" you don't get splashed on - you get SOAKED!
We actually had to go back to the hotel and change. It was too cold and humid to ever dry out.

See the sunshine. That was a brief few hours but such a beautiful time to be out biking on the beach.

Whose jaws are the scariest?

No, it's not a dolphin, not a killer whale either. It's a Pilot Whale. Everyone has pictures of the common animals so I decided to use the unexpected.

Yeah, that whale really is bigger than CJ.

The nature of our trips have changed over the years and it's nice to let the boys take the car and go to a movie so I can sit by the pool and read. We drove 2400 miles and saw a lot of territory. The temperatures in the desert of Arizona got up to 109 degrees to 3 days of 65 in San Diego and down to 45 on the way home. So nice to be home. I had four very busy days at work as payback for being gone for over a week.

Now we wait for a new grandbaby!!!!!!!!!

Family Reunion 2010

This last weekend was a family reunion for my parents and siblings.

This is what a family reunion looks like:

It was held in Paragonah. We also went up Parowan canyon for a picnic where there were more trees and water. However, we were so close to the mountains that our morning walk was a hike in the mountains.
My Dad and oldest sister from California visiting here.

Did I mention that our morning walk was in the mountains? And was 2 hours long?
The first day most of the gang took an assortment of guns out and shot targets.

D likes to shoot.

As many as possible got in on the action.
Some would consider it a shame teaching a sweet little girl to shoot but she learned some important gun safety along with it.This is us in my sisters yard. Great place for a reunion!

Saturday was also our 29th anniversary. We don't usually make too big of a deal of it but we did manage to escape for an hour or so for another shorter hike.

While the majority of the group went shooting the older sisters and Mom took a scenic drive to Cedar Breaks and had a great visit.

Cousins. (second cousins)

It's been called a "redneck reunion" with the guns, 4-wheelers, country atmosphere and dogs but what a fun time us hicks have!

Our family is the greatest!