Thanksgiving and Gratitude 2009....

If you talk to pretty much anyone in my family, they will say that I don't

share any of the bad stuff that is going on in my life...

that I always want to help them,

but that I don't let people in to help me.

And there is some truth to that.

But it's not because I'm hiding anything or trying to

disguise my struggles or whatever.

It has more to do with the fact that in my worst of times,

I still see all the incredible blessings that are mine

and I feel like a total hypocrite

when I complain about my circumstances.

Let's face it, I do now and I have always

lived a blessed life! I have 6 great kids who are healthy and

happy and have all married well. I have 12+ amazingly

gorgeous grandkids who bring me immeasurable joy.

I have a loving, loyal, hard-working husband

who has provided me with every possible

need and a whole boat load of extras.

I have seen the world. I have great health,

wonderful friends, caring family, the knowledge that I have a

Heavenly Father who knows me by name and a Savior that makes it

possible to have all of those I love most for eternity. Who on earth has

the right to complain when you have all that?? Don't get me wrong...

I have my share of trials, heart ache and struggles but when

compared to all that I have been blessed with...it's NOTHING!!

So yes, I have been know to mope around a bit, to complain to

my beloved, to shed a few tears of sadness and

discouragement, to get overwhelmed and to wonder

"How the heck am I going to do it?"

And yes, the second knee surgery hit me rather

unexpectedly and has me playing catch up as I attempt

to get back on my feet...literally. But if I don't ask for help,

it's not because I don't want to share but rather that I feel

ungrateful if I complain. And yes...as I am "growing up",

I am being humbled to the point where I am learning that

we are all put here to help one another and that includes ME!!

So...this Thanksgiving I am most grateful for all the above

mentioned things and most importantly for these little

ladies who pitched in and took over the majority of

preparations for me.

Also, I'm thankful for this young man...Tucker was SOOOO

helpful in all the preparations and such a great example to

all the other grandkids. Love this guy (and all the other

little people that were with us!)!!

Cute Brad and Vanessa were in charge of appetizers

and beverages and they out did themselves! Look at

those darling turkeys that they prepared and they

brought hot,cold and bubbly beverages!

We had 27 for dinner...all of our kids were with us

with the exception of Bryce and Lisa who had a seafood

Thanksgiving with friends in Santa Rosa and

Paige and Nate who were with the Clark family this year.

With Tucker's help we set a lovely table...

or series of tables.

Dustin and Brooke have taken on the responsibility of

deep frying a turkey and it is delish!!

This is a tradition that will definitely stick....

Grandpa's major role is to supervise and

cuddle whatever grandbaby he chooses. Here he

is loving on Miss Greta!

The house was rocking and rollling with ten little people

10 and under and somehow I FAILED to get a photo

of all the little cousins together. (Note to self: gather

all the grandkids for photo op next time!)

***In my defense, they were moving so fast it

was almost impossible to find them all at the

same place at the same time.***

But I did manage to get all the adults with the

exception of Alice and Steve Jackson (our

first time guests...hope they know they are

ALWAYS welcome...even if they weren't documented!).

These two little dolls are going to be best buddies

as the years go by. Greta and Poppy sat still long

enough to allow me a photo op.

Here's gorgeous Robyn and amazing Bob who

are the proud parents of my four wonderful

Lamoreaux grandkids.

Kennan and Trevan stopped long enough for me to

get a quick shot of their little family....cute, cute!

Here is the little lady who spear-headed the whole event.

Sweet Robyn caught me on a not so good day at a not so good

moment and decided that I needed help. She was right.

And I am so thankful for her intervention! (And yes...

that's our Dustina in the background!)

And this amazing lady is ALWAYS ready to step

in to help. Eileen's family is NOT our extended

family...they are our immediate family. I am

so grateful that Tim chose Eileen so that I could

call her family as well as friend!

You would think it is enough that they all pitched in to

make Thanksgiving possible but that was just the

start. Paige joined us on Friday and on Saturday

these darling girls drug out all the Christmas decorations

and had my house decked out by Saturday night.

(They even attended the BYU-Utah game in between times!)

So all the major stresses of my life have been

diffused by my children and I am so very

thankful for their wonderful service to me.

Who could be anything but thankful when you have

a sink-full of sweetness after a holiday weekend?

Thank you, dear family, for your sweet, loving service!!

I love you all beyond words. XOXOXO

Summon the Snow!!

For as long as I can remember, when winter approaches our

family has done this little ritual. When the cold winds start to blow

we get out the scissors and paper, cut out snowflakes, tape them

to the windows and summon the snow!!

Don't ask me why, but it seems to work....

So after Sunday dinner with the Gregory family,

we started our ritual. Jude loved it and showed

some real talent for this creative activity.

He even insisted on calling this a Christmas party

and proceeded to invite various relatives.

Unfortunately, everyone was already booked...

he thought I should start calling neighbors.

After 8 hours of Church meetings....not so much!

Even Miss Greta grabbed a pair of scissors and

started clipping away. I guess you know what happened.

That's right...it snowed!!

Gretsie found other entertainment and we were

all quite entertained by the Real Salt Lake's

amazing championship win!

Yep...so that's all. She's blowing you a

night-night kiss! Nighty night!

WELCOME, WINTER!!

ONE TOUGH COOKIE!!

This brave little man faced off with the pulse dye laser for the

tenth time (mind you) today. Jude is my hero!

He and his very brave Daddy & Mommy (wearing a mask to save

others from getting her cold) arrived at University Hospital

bright and early with smiles all around.

Jude had a really positive attitude. His Dad had given him

a blessing the night before and this sweet little trusting guy was up for

the challenge. The regulars were there...me and Grandpa Rog.

And he came through like a champ!!

He was treated to a Frosty the Snowman from Build-a-Bear

and even came down to Nannie's tonight bringing pizza....

Like I said....all smiles. What a warrior this

little man is. Couldn't love you more, Jude!

You make me proud!!! XOXOXO

ONE TOUGH COOKIE, INDEED!!

A Lovely Little Distraction....

Today I thought it would be a good idea to make a run up to SLC to

try to see Grandma JB since I have been basically absent for her

entire relocation operation due to my knee issues.

Kennan hasn't seen her new apartment complex so she really wanted to

join me. So...after Greta's speech therapist left we headed downtown

to try to visit the little lady. I had been trying to call her all morning to no

avail but hoped she was just on the premises doing something fun.

While we waited to reach her, Kennan suggested we have a bite

of lunch at the Little American Coffee Shop. Great suggestion!!

Jude loved seeing the shops getting ready for Christmas

and the lobby all aglow with the fire... AND the lunch was delish!

Greta tried repeatedly through lunch to reach

Grandma Johnnie Belle (along with several others)...

and finally, we spoke with her!

Unfortunately, she had been to the dentist to have a tooth

extracted so she wasn't up to visitors.

Sigh......maybe another day!

But lunch with this bunch at Little American was indeed

a lovely little distraction.

Thanks for the sweet afternoon, Kennan and Co.!!

XOXOXO

Poppy's 1 !!

This little heart-breaker celebrated her first birthday on Monday

and let me tell you....she is worthy of celebration!

Wow...has this year ever flown by.

There are a few things that will always stand out about this little one's arrival...

1) She is the ONLY grand baby to literally POP out of the womb....

never seen anything like it...not in our genetics...still has us

all flabergasted! (And her name was MOST appropriate)

2) She remarkably looks like NO one on either side of her family...

she's absolutely gorgeous, but kind of a stranger.

Every other grandchild looks like their Mom or Dad

or sibling or all of the above, but NOT this girl.

She is a beauty, but she is all her own!

3) With all this beauty she has notably large hands and feet...

while her sister had notably tiny hands and feet (go figure!).

4) From the get go she has done what we call zero to sixty when she

cries. There is no warming up or fussing involved. She wakes

up and let's her rip. Nothing wrong with this girls lungs!

5) She has the most incredible twinklie, liquid eyes I have ever seen.

When a poet penned "your eyes are like pools" he was looking

at Miss Poppy. And when she smiles, it's like the stars have come out!

All in all...she is the sweetest little blessing and loved by so many.

We are lucky she chose to join our family and we look

forward to watching her Dad beat off the fella's as

the years go by!

Her Mommy threw her an AMAZING birthday party at

Grandma Alice's house. Brooke worked on the

decorations for weeks and it was a sight to behold.

Unfortunately, this Nannie left her camera at home and

missed the "photo op" but Poppy was more than

happy to oblige us with some additional candle blowing.

This is a big skill for a one year old and she has it down pat!

And this proud Big Sister can't be forgotten...Minie loves her

baby sister and survived the birthday party without too much

trauma over the gifts that weren't for HER! (It's hard when you are only

17 months apart in age!) After the fact, she has been enjoying Poppy's

new toys as if they are her own...and sweet little Pop-Tart

doesn't mind at all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRETTY PRINCESS POPPY!

We love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!

TEN????? Impossible...

Below you see my first born Grandson...and I can't believe he is ten today!

I remember like it was yesterday (literally) seeing this little beautiful new-born baby boy being

held in his very confident and capable Daddy's hands in the delivery room. He stole my

heart then and he still has it today! I remember making drives to Pleasant Grove just

so I could get a good-night kiss from this sweet boy. And he will still give me a good-night

kiss when ever I ask for it. I hope your day is perfect and I hope the next ten years

slow down a bit...because you'll be on your mission by then. YIKES!!!

Love you, sweet Tucker!

XOXOXOXO

Jude crosses the toddler threshold in style...

Sir Jude Malcolm Gregory officially left toddler-hood behind yesterday

and it was my great pleasure to be witness to ONE of the parties celebrating the

great event! He is now a really big boy...

No question in his mind how old he is!

This was the second cake he got to blow candles out on...

the first was at McDonald's earlier in the day with

a group of his esteemed peers!

This was my first post-op outing and I'm soooo

glad I didn't miss it (or ruin it, like I did his Mom's).

This little group is always ready to help celebrate

a birthday. I'm thinking of renting them out

because they make EVERY party a success!!

And a good time was had by all.....

Happy Birthday, darling boy!

Where did I go???

It all started out very innocently with some fun pre-holiday festivities with

some of the local grand babies. Brad was in California. Mike was

in Wyoming and Kennan & Co.were staying

with me because Trev was in Chicago on business.

Brooke and Dustin brought down their pumpkins for some carving

and we were all enjoying it immensely!

If you just hand little Miss Poppy and apple, she is good to

go for the rest of the night!

This was the finished product....simple elegance!

And this was the weather that night...simply atrocious!!

Dustin went on his way due to weather and Brooke and Co. decided to spend the

night so we could celebrate Kennan's birthday right (the full 24hrs.)

since Kennan's #1 guy wasn't going to be there.

We moved on to project # 2...Halloween cookie making!

These two even joined in on the action.

And these two are going to start a cookie making business when they grow up.

Such talent is hard to come by!!

So far so good....

We awoke the next day and decided to get the crew together and head to

SLC and the mall for some real birthday fun.

Let me side step for a minute and just say what an amazing girl Kennan Elizabeth is...truly.

Not only is she gorgeous, she is fun and funny, smart as a whip, capable of doing anything,

a walking GPS, strong in the very best sense of the word (even stronger than she realizes),

a terrific mom and her kid's truest advocate, my truest advocate (more on that later), an

incredible fashion consultant with an eye for what works best for who,

a whiz on the computer, every body's favorite aunt, a great wife and her Dad's biggest fan.

She is loving, forgiving, assumes the best of people, welcoming,

easy to talk to, and everybody kind of wants to be Kennan's friend.

And I am so lucky to have her as my daughter and friend.

So, in celebration of her most momentous 27th Birthday, we made our

way to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch....yummmy!

Dusty Britches joined us because he thinks he is one of the girls

AND he and Kennan have a mutual admiration thing going...

Let me just add here that Cheesecake Factory is really nice to kids....

very accommodating and these little people LOVED it!

Here's where it kind of takes a turn for the worse. After lunch, we headed into the mall and my

"good" knee was bugging me as I have been relying on it pretty heavily since my surgery.

So, rather than trek around, I opted to sit it out and people watch while tending a couple

of the babies. No problem!! The girls returned and I joined them doing nothing

unusual mind you. All the sudden I hear a "pop" and my knee is in excruciating pain...

like I can't walk and tears are bursting from my eyes pain! Kennan (the one who is

my advocate) makes a bee line for a wheelchair in the mall and the girls (and Jude)

wheel me to my car. Mind you, Mike is out of town, Trev is out of town and Brad is out

of town, and Dustin is in class for the evening. That leaves broken down me, Brooke,

Kennan and four kids under 4! So, Kennan takes her little's to Terri Gregory (thank you

Terri!) and Brooke calls Eileen (thank you Eileen) to watch her two and Brooke takes me

to AF Hospital where Kennan joines us and they proceed to further torture me by moving my leg around for x-rays. Finally, they give me percocet and shot of morphine (after Brooke and Kennan again advocatefor me and my pain) and send me home with a brace and instructions to see my orthopedic surgeon who I had already made an appt. with the next day. Brooke and Kennan were amazing and stayed with me until Mike could get home. To make a long story short, I saw the surgeon & was under the knife (AGAIN!) in 36 hrs. with my dear husband and that amazing Kennan by my side. (BTW...the surgeon was probably more interested in my "beautiful" daughter than

he was in my knee!)

Yep...that's my knee. So I managed to ruin Kennan's birthday, miss out

on Halloween and pretty much inconvenience my entire extended family.

Kennan was kind enough to bring these two adorable kiddie's

down on Halloween so I didn't feel like I missed the holiday altogether.

Have you ever seen a cuter kitty or better Dracula?

Nope...didn't think so!

And... this amazing girl dropped her life in California (which includes two jobs,

a husband, two dogs and her Church work), hopped on a plane and

was here before I ever went into surgery. Paige was by my side day and night, cooked,

cleaned, nursed me back on my feet, and made sure her Dad felt loved

and cared for. She dressed up as "Rosie the Riveter" for door answering on

Halloween and it was absolutely appropriate because the phrase "We Can Do It"

certainly described what happened at my house. Thank you, Paigey, for your

tender, loving care. My little baby girl has become such a

capable, caring adult and she is going to be an amazing little Mommy!

So....in a nut shell....and a very long post....that is where I went.

But I'm back...maybe only partially back...but I'm back.

Funny how life is what happens when you are making plans.

This really wasn't on my agenda for the holidays but I guess I will be recovering.

Seems like I just did this....wait, I DID!!!

Thank you to all of you who have been helping me out and

thank you to my sweet husband who patiently is going through this with me again.

He gets to endure it all after all the fanfare is over and I'm growling around the house

because I want to be better NOW. For better and for worse....

And forever. XO