Thanks for everything, Mom/Nana!

We had a lovely visit with Mom/Nana over the Christmas holiday. It was fun to see her with the Utah great-grandkids. (One of these days she and our Texas boy, Remington, will get acquainted, too). It was a very cold, snowy and icy two weeks which kept us pretty much house-bound. The day before she left the weather got cooperative and she was able to do some shopping and gallivanting around town with Katie.
Thanks for coming to see us, Mom/Nana. We are glad to have the chance to spend some time with you.

The first quilt on my new frames!

The first quilt is a tied Christmas blanket. I am looking forward to wrapping up with a grandkid or two next season and reading some Christmas story books. Mom/Nana was a good sport about giving quilting a try.
I think that I love quilting so much because it gives me a chance to create and connect with a age-old practice. I find it so relaxing. My absolute favorite thing to do is to get a book-on-tape and listen while I quilt.
Frank and I are really looking forward to quilting during our weekends in Randolph. I have the next few quilts all ready to go!! The beauty of these quilting frames and stands are that they are transportable, they kind of collapse into nice compact stacks that will fit into the car.
Some of the following quotes really capture my love for quilting:

1. A day patched with quilting seldom unravels.

2. A quilt is a treasure which follows its owner everywhere.

3. Before Prozac, there was quilting.

4. Blankets wrap you in warmth, quilts wrap you in love.

5. Blessed are the children of the piecemakers for they shall inherit the quilts!

6. Cooking is for those who don't know how to quilt.

7. I'd rather be stitchin' than in the kitchen!

Thank you, Frankie, for an absolutely perfect Christmas gift!!!

Christmas Day 2008

Welcome, welcome Christmas morning!!

The Bridgets!

Frank and Beth received a beautiful framed collage of their children through the years and grandchildren. An emotion-filled treasured gift!

Frank really pulled a good one over on Beth. They had agreed to only get little stocking stuffers for each other this year. With the help of the whole family, he managed to surprise her with a custom-made set of deluxe quilting frames!!

This came as complete and wonderful surprise to her!! She had been dreaming of having some nice frames to use for making quilts that would fold up small enough to transport back and forth between Bountiful and Randolph. This is the perfect set!! More tears, hugs...........

and kisses of gratitude!!

After another wonderful meal, this time of Prime Rib, ham, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatos, asparagus, etc., we all settled in for some quite visiting, TV watching, and game playing. Katie and Dallin tried out "Rock-em, Sock-em Robots". What a lovely day!

Christmas Eve 2008

Mia, and all of us, enjoyed a delicious traditional "Fish Feast" for dinner. Mom/Nana and Katie stayed up to 2 a.m. getting things ready and then started up again first thing in the morning. Jared and Brenna pitched in to help peel shrimp, clean octopus, chop, mince and stir. Brenna overcame her lifelong contempt for seafood and helped pop the ink out of the eight-legged octopus. It was a fabulous meal! Thank you to all who helped make it possible.

Mia had four plates of "noodles". she had no idea it was White Clam Sauce that made it taste so yummy and we were not about to tell her!

A big plate of White and an even bigger plate of Red!!!

Cami, AJ and Ty. Below: Lots of fried shrimp, scallops and squid! Everyone enjoys the left overs for breakfast the next morning.

After dinner we gathered in the livingroom for the Christmas Story and some singing. Beth and Katie accompanied this year on their guitars.Mom/Nana took a turn strumming too.The traditional line up! Frank's grandpa used to hand out dollar bills to the grandkids. In keeping with that tradition Frank had the little kids line up but Katie decided to get in it too. It is a good thing she is short - she kind of blended in with the little ones. Next year Remi, Ty and Bridget will be old enough to participate in this fun tradition.What a great evening!

Utah Snow

Look what came to give Mom/Nana a white Christmas!! Snow and lots of it. It has stormed almost every day that she has been in Utah.

AJ's Crew

Dallin (loves his DS)
Mia (enjoying Florida oranges)

Ethan (Favorite Food: tomato)

Ty (has recently discovered his tongue)

Backyard Visitors

The first morning that Mom/Nana was here, she looked out the window to see a family of five deer. They wander through the yard often. We saw three last night just as we sat down to dinner.

Two Bridgets

The Bridgets meet! One from the east, one from the west! The two of them together represent 4 generations. It is great to have Mom/Nana here for a Christmas visit. We are glad to have time for chatting, cooking, visiting, cooking, shopping, cooking, etc!! Nobody can bake and cook like her.

Remington

I have recently realized that our readers who don't know about the link to Keith and Candice's blog are missing out on seeing how Remington has grown! He is our Precious Southern Grandkid and the only one who is too far away for us to pinch his cute cheeks on a regular basis. We miss him so much (and his parents, too!). Fortunately, Remington is only a click away....the link to Keith and Candice's blog is listed in the right-hand column of this blog. They are great about keeping current photos and stories. Check it out, if you haven't already.
I can tell you this.....Grandma is counting the days to her annual March Visit to see this sweet family! I will be there in time to celebrate Remington's first birthday and Keith's 29th. I can hardly wait!!!!

The Gingerbread House - The potential start of a new tradition

This was a very fun project!! Grandma and Grandpa Sano are big believers in having something "fun" planned when the kids come over. This time we built a Gingerbread house. The kids did a great job. Mia placed the candy on her side of the roof in a beautiful, colorful pattern. Dallin used his creativity to design shutters and build a candy snow man. Ethan entertained us with his expressions of "Mia, you are doing great!!" "Grandma, that looks awesome!" as he carefully decorated his side of the roof. We had a good time and Grandma was tickled that the project was not overly messy. Everyone wanted to start eating the house even before the icing was dry! I think maybe we will do this again next year.

Cousins

We had a chance to tend AJ & Cami's four while they went to the Firm's Christmas party. And Bridget came by for a while too. Can you believe that these two, just four months apart, are so different in size?! It wasn't that long ago that Ty was mini like Bridget. Now, look how he has grown!!!
Here are the Utah cousins. Only Remington is in Texas...... we miss him!!
Aren't they cute?!!! We are very proud grandparents.

Thanksgiving Report

Here are a few photos of our typical Thanksgiving Day. We were all together except for our Texas Kids. We ate (way too much), played some games and enjoyed the day.
Uncle Jared is a great kid entertainer. He spent some puzzle time with Dallin and Ethan.....
and jungle gym time with Mia and Ethan.
Cami and Katie enjoyed dessert and a quiet moment.
Dallin and AJ. Don't they look alot alike?
Beth and Bridget. Brenna, Mike and Frank somehow missed being captured on film.

What are you thankful for?

This is a random list of things I am feeling thankful for today. Use the comment option to add to the list by attaching an adjective or descriptive term to the things you are thankful for. Let's see how long the list can get. Please comment.

Beth is thankful for: Loving husband, fine children, adorable grandchildren and the joy they bring, good health, fulfilling employment, comforting faith, fun exercise facility (Curves), healthy food plan, uplifting acquaintances, comfortable home, enchanted country home, love of reading, ability to read, availability of good books, healing forgiveness that is given to me by my loved ones, approaching holidays which means "family time" and much, much more.

The Power of Thank You

Very interesting article on gratitude. Click or copy this link:

http://www.ldslivingmagazine.com/articles/show/1770

Cowboys and Cowgirl

What a great treat it was for the kids (and Grandma, too) to take a ride on a real horse! Our friend, Riley Smith, and his little sister Amberlee, happened to be riding in the arena on Saturday and invited us to come for a ride. Riley answered all of our questions about horses and we loved every minute of hanging out with him. This was an very unexpected treat that helped make our weekend in Randolph extra special!!!!

Our Randolph Weekend with the Grandkids

Finally, the event we have been waiting for.... Ethan's first Grandparent weekend in Randolph!! Only potty trained kids come and Ethan worked hard to qualify!!
We had a great time!! Here are some of the highlights of the trip:
Dallin and Mia enjoyed working on some knitting looms while Ethan colored.
Who get the "privilege" of sleeping on the top bunk? Mia was the lucky one this trip while the boys slept on the lower double bed, but she was nice enough to let Ethan climb up for a visit. They call this back bedroom the Secret Room. When asked why, we were told it is because they want that room to stay a secret so no one else will know about it and claim it as their own!!
Posing!
It was great to have Jared come up for the day. He is the favorite "good time" uncle who makes time to play and have a good time.

Happy Halloween!

The doughnuts were delicious even though Frank tried to convince all of us that we didn't need to make them this year! At that suggestion there was a near "mutiny". Katie volunteered to come over to help with the work. Beth made the dough the night before and by 5 p.m. Halloween night we were rolling and cooking them up. It is always fun the hear the comments of the happy Trick or Treaters as they are offered a doughnut or a candy. Most choose the doughnut, especially our repeat visitors. Many adults make the climb up our front steps for a warm, homemade doughnut. Despite Frank's urging.... this is not a tradition that will be given up without a fight!
Baby Bridget models her first Halloween costume. We couldn't pass up this "Premie" sized onesie.
After Katie helped with the doughnut project she headed off to a Halloween party as a duck. She had worn the costume earlier in the day at school to the delight of her students. I wish I had taken a video of her duck waddle/walk!!