Eight to Three and Counting

We have eight granddaughters and three grandsons + two more grandchildren due this year. So I got thinking  about the day I found out that I was going to be a grandma. Gene and Betty married just three months after his mission (November 1996) and soon called to tell us that Sydney was on her way. I had a hard time thinking about being a grandma. I told Gene that "I wasn't even used to being a mother-in-law yet." But it didn't take long before we were hooked. Sydney Katherine arrived in August 1997 was named after her Grandpa Sydney Pendle and Grandma Katherine Baldwin.

Vic often says "If I knew how much fun being a grandpa was, I'd have done that first." or "Grandparents are God's gift for not killing your kids."

But the second took her time coming. We waited for 5 years before Ashley Nicole joined the ranks in September 2002 as our second granddaughter, followed by Kaitlyn Bonnie 2 years later on Pearl Harbor Day December 2004. Ashley's middle name is the same as her mother's middle name. Kaitlyn's middle name is Bonnie after her great Grandma Baldwin.

So - we have three grandchildren - all girls. But if you wait long enough. . . Cole Hazen was born on 16 October 2007 - Hazen & Guila Olsen's (his great grandparents) wedding anniversary. He was followed 6 months later (April 2008) by Kamryne Lily who was named after her Great Great Grandma Lillie Rebecca Robinson. And followed 6 months later by Anna Beth (October 2008) who was named after the Anna's in the family and great grandmother (Beth). So now there are 6 grandchildren, 6 children and 6 spouses (until Gene & Betty divorced, and then it was 5 spouses). We thought it was interesting that we had 5 sons and 1 daughter and had 5 granddaughters and 1 grandson.

2010 brought 2 more: Chelsea Ramona (Ramona is Chantelle's and her mother's and grandmother's middle name - 4 generations of Ramonas) born in September and Nicholas Olsen (Nicholas after his great, great grandfather Nicholas Thomas Henderson and Olsen after his father, Devin's, middle name and his grandmother Baldwin's maiden name) in November. Now the count is 5 granddaughters to 2 grandsons.

But wait - 2 grandsons in a row? Wow! Andrew Michael Giles was born the day after Missy's birthday - June 22, 2011. The count is evening up a little 6 to 3. Interesting sidenote: 3rd grandson - 3 is Vic's favorite number; and 9th grandchild - 9 is Kathy's favorite number.

Alivia Kylie (named after Kyle) was born in May 2012. We are up to 10.

Number 11 - Cynthia Katherine (Cynthia after her mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother - 4 generations of Cynthias, and Katherine after her Grandmother Baldwin) was born 25 March 2013. The score is 8 girls to 3 boys.

2013 will be a big year: #12 will be born in July and #13 in October - the closest spacing so far - three in one year. We are excited each time we add another - we love them all.

Catch Up

I am so far behind so I thought I would just add a few highlights of the past few months:

• Hosted Empty Nester's FHE. Had Jeremiah Martin (in our bishopric and also a Seminary teacher) speak. Enjoyed learning about Moroni's visit to Joseph Smith and how he laid out the whole plan of the restoration at that time.
• A Winter storm in January when we got a foot of snow & I stayed home from work.
• the battery died in the car, the van wouldn't start and we had to get a ride to church. Brrr!
• I received a copy of Mahon's mission pictures that he uploaded to Dropbox and I actually enjoyed the technology of downloading them a half hour later (it took 1/2 hour to upload and only a few minutes to download them to my computer).
• A steak dinner with Vic to celebrate my birthday and phone calls from all the kids, siblings and friends
• Boyd is engaged to marry Rachel.
• A semi accident on the Snake River Bridge that blocked traffic for 12 hours and I had to detour to get to work. I now know a shorter route than I took that morning (I went 30 miles, could have done it in 15).
• Chris & Chantelle are having a boy! due in July. Congratulations!
• Kaite's operetta - Three of a Kind - March 10
• Enjoyed Kyle's handiwork of the tile around the wood stove in his basement.
• March 17 - Kathy talked in Sacrament Meeting on "Living a More Christ-like Life".
• Finished 2003-2004 of "Memories of Home". I read and reread all of Mahon's mission letters. What a great, testimony-building experience. Two years down, eight to go.
• I will have a new assignment (for work) next year in Idaho Falls. I am so excited not to have to drive to Rexburg every day.
• We had a new granddaughter - Cynthia Katherine (Kate) born March 25, 9 lbs. 8 oz and 21 in. long. We are so excited for Mahon & Cindy. I believe her birth and Cindy's health are the biggest miracles of our family this year. She is a real doll with all that dark hair! That makes #11 for us - the 8th granddaughter.
• enjoyed movie, popcorn, and games with Ashley, Kaite, Kami, and Livy while Kyle & Kat enjoyed an anniversary date.
• The best kind of April Fool's Joke from Devin: "Julie's not pregnant. April Fools." She's due in October - congratulations!
• Went to Utah to visit - Devin and Julie invited us down to watch conference with them. We enjoyed our time there and meeting our new granddaughter. Vic went to Priesthood with 3 of his sons: Devin, Gene, & Mahon.
• Kami's 5th birthday. I still can't believe she is 5.
• Enjoyed the u tube video of Devin and Gene putting together a swingset in Devin and Julie's yard.
• Puppy sat Esau for Chris & Chantelle while they went to Canada for Chantelle's sisters mission farewell.
• And last, but not least, I love talking to Missy on the phone almost every day. I love it when I hear the words from Andrew "Hi Grandma".

These and many more things have been keeping us busy. I am finding it a real challenge as I continue to work on "Memories of Home". As the kids have married and started families of their own, it  is harder to collect photos, etc. But the days of digital cameras makes collecting them a bit easier. I am enjoying following them on Facebook and blogs and check almost every day - I am a little disappointed when they don't post. So keep up the good work, kids. Thanks for all the fun times over the last few months.

Christmas 2012

Christmas Traditions have always been important in our lives. When I was a little girl, some of our traditions included having a Birthday cake on Christmas eve for my dad. My mom always tried to keep his birthday an important occasion for him. Other traditions included an orange in the toe of our sock and the rest of the sock being filled with hard tack candy and nuts. To take a little of the edge off our anticipation, we were allowed to open one gift on Christmas eve. We always went to Grandma Robinson's for Christmas dinner. After dinner was over, we opened our gifts from Grandma. She usually gave us underwear or socks. My mom liked to make peanut brittle and carmels.

Vic remembers spending Christmas eve with his Grandpa & Grandma Cozzens. There were 5 families - grandma & grandpa Cozzens and 4 of their children that all lived by each other. They all got together for gift giving and singing on Christmas Eve. They all had Christmas dinner separately in their own homes.

When we started raising our family, we started a few traditions of our own. We continued the tradition of having an orange in the toe of our socks and took away the candy and nuts (too messy). We had Christmas dinner with my parents because they lived close. We sometimes had it at their house and sometimes at our house. One year when Gene was little, we did make it to Montana and shared Christmas with the Baldwin family. After Vic's dad retired, he spent a few Christmases with us here in Idaho. Other traditions included setting up the nativity on the first Monday of December, driving around to see the lights on the last Monday before Christmas, and we "drew Buddy names" because the kids only had to buy one gift instead of a gift for each of their brothers and sister. We made carmels & fudge and peanut clusters for my dad's birthday.

When our boys were on missions, we tried to send a chocolate orange (the real ones would spoil).
As our kids started getting older and getting married, our traditions have changed to keep up with the kids. We still have a Christmas dinner - mostly on Christmas eve so the kids can have Christmas to set their own traditions. The kids still draw "Buddy names" so they buy a nicer gift for one of their siblings. The biggest change has been for Vic and I. We still hang up the socks and Santa puts an orange in it. We still put up the nativity and drive around and see the lights. In 2011 we started a new tradition. Chris and Chantelle invited us to spend the night. We did it a week before because they spent Christmas with the Johnson family in Utah. But we pretended it was Christmas eve. We woke up to gift opening with their family and a nice Christmas dinner.

This year Kyle and Kat invited us to spend the night. We had a wonderful Christmas eve dinner with their family and Chris & Chantelle. We watched the girls open their Christmas pajamas on Christmas eve and sang songs. We hung our stockings alongside Kyle's family stockings and Santa found us there. There were chocolate oranges in the toe. The next morning was very nice as we watched their family as we all opened gifts and enjoyed the fun. We had Cinnamon rolls & later a nice crock pot casserole and played games. We definately enjoy this new tradition of spending it with our kids. Christmas is more exciting with kids around and we had a great time this year.

We left Kyle's house and spent a few hours with Chris, Chantelle & Chelsea - mostly putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Unfortunately, I am having trouble getting pictures to load. So check out Kat's blog - there are plenty of great shots there.

Dad and I had our share of gifts too. The only thing dad wanted was socks so that is what he got. He gave me sweaters. We also gave each other a record player, CD player, cassette player.
Thanks to all those who gave us gifts:
Book of Mormon commentarys and a dutch oven cookbook from Kyle and Kat
Kathy got an oven mitt & glass stick ons from Ashley and Kaite
Vic got an insulated cup and a caribineer hook from Ashley and Kaite
Hickory Farms meat and cheese from Chris  and Chantelle
Spot it game for Vic from Devin and Julie
"The Ugliest Sweater" book for Kathy from Devin and Julie
Devin and Julie also sent peanut clusters because it was my dad's 100th birthday
Fruit breads and hot chocolate from Mahon and Cindy
Sugar free candy for Vic from Missy and Briant
A jigsaw puzzle - a collage of family pictures for Kathy from Missy and Briant
Hazen and Guila story telling disk from Pam

We all had a great time together. Thanks to all!!!

The most important part of Christmas is remembering Christ's birth. We have read the nativity story from the time we were children, through the time we read it to our children and now we watch as our children read it to our grandchildren. Merry Christmas Jesus!

Babysitting Chelsea

We had a fun time babysitting Chelsea for Chris and Chantelle.

 

Isn't it funny how buckets meant for toys make better toys than the toys themselves?

Grandma and Chelsea stacking blocks.
Oops that shoe isn't a block.

Chelsea loves stacking blocks.

Hazen is 100

Hazen Olsen, my dad, was born on December 24th. We always celebrated his birthday with a cake and ice cream. This year was his 100th birthday (which we celebrated without him). We had cake and ice cream after our Christmas Dinner. We were in Ashton for the big event. Devin sent peanut clusters to everyone - mom made some too along with the little white chocolate lambs. When I told my sister Yvonne, she said he was probably smiling down on us. Happy Birthday Dad!

Chelsea told us some great news! Congratulations to Chris & Chantelle. New baby due in July.

Lyvi loves to suck on oranges.

Kami had a chocolate pretzel (there was milk in the cake). It was kind of messy. We love you Kami.

Kaite's Baptism

 Congratulations to Kaitlyn Bonnie Baldwin for being baptized. Kaite has taken a big step and made important covenants with our Heavenly Father. She was so happy that day and thanked Grandpa and I for coming to her baptism. When in fact, we wouldn't have missed it for anything. Isn't she pretty? She wasn't her usual rough and tumble, tom-boyish self this day. She was a princess - in a dress that she loved!! We love you Kaite and are very proud to be your grandparents!!

WOW! Fall is here!

I looked out the window and what did I see?
The Mountain Ash tree is really pretty.

Another shot of the Mountain Ash tree from outside

The apple tree is slowly losing its leaves

The May Day tree has shed all its leaves.

So we got the rake out and went to work. We covered the roses and
the carrots to protect them from the cold.

We also added more carrots to the freezer.

My Christmas cactus is blooming

Does it have its seasons mixed up?

Sunrise over Rexburg.
I don't recommend this while driving - especially with a dirty window.

The view is great on my way to work.