Christmas 2012

We were fortunate this year to be able to have everyone home for Christmas.  It was wonderful!  We were able to do a lot of fun things together.  Since we are not able to get the whole family together very often, we made plans to get a family portrait taken on December 22nd.  Our Bishop does photography as a side job so we invited him to photograph our family.  We were able to take the photo in our own home, which was nice since the weather was rather cool and we didn't want to have to take Milo (11 days old) out into the cold weather.

We have only received one of the photos so far...only because I requested a photo that I could use for a Christmas e-mail greeting.  Evidently, Bishop Richardson combined 4 different photos to create this one photo.  At least everyone is smiling.  

On Sunday, December 23rd, Milo received a name and blessing from his father in our Sacrament Meeting.  It was a very special occasion since everyone in our family could be in attendance, although  Eric's family was a little late. They lost track of time and arrived just seconds too late for him to participate in the blessing, but they were able to hear it from the lobby. It was a wonderful blessing and Milo didn't make a peep.

On Christmas Eve day (December 24th), several of us went to a shooting range to try out different rifles, shotguns, and handguns with the help of Nicole's father, Rulon Beesley, who owns all of the guns. The morning was very cold and windy so I was quite miserable much of the time even though I was bundled up pretty good. Even with being cold, I still managed to enjoy the family activity. Here are a few of my favorite pics:

This shows the table with handguns on it. There was a separate table for shotguns and another for rifles.  Rulon allowed us to use any gun that we wanted to shoot.

Our family's favorite gun was the high powered laser sniper rifle. I didn't shoot it for two reasons - I didn't want to lie down on the ground and it costs too much for the ammunition (I think it is $1 a shot)

With this gun you can get a deer from 1,200 ft. away. Pretty amazing (and expensive) gun.

 Jared above and Eric below using the sniper rifle with Alan looking on.

Kyle trying his hand at the shotgun

Alan using a shotgun

I think I enjoyed the 357 magnum the most but I liked trying out the different rifles and shotguns too.

Cheryl using a handgun

We did something different before opening gifts this year.  Kyle and Emily favored us with a Christmas musical number, using magnifying glasses for microphones.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture the beginning of the song.  Our front door entryway makes a perfect stage.

I don't usually have many surprises when it comes to Christmas gifts, but I think I got the biggest surprise of anyone this year. I purchased a waffle iron from a seller on Amazon and when I opened the box, this is what I found:

a used Dell computer.  I don't know what it is worth, but I wish I had received my waffle iron instead.  I had to return it to the seller and will get reimbursed for the postage and the cost of the waffle iron.  When the person who lives in United Arab Emirates returns the waffle iron, I can repurchase it if I would like to.  What a mess!

It was a lot of fun to have the grandchildren around for over a week and to welcome Milo into the family. I have the best family in the world!

Milo had some cute Christmas outfits!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I hope that the New Year 

will bring you much joy and happiness.

Welcome to the World, Milo

On December 11, 2012 at 4:04 p.m. (Central Time) our newest grandson, Milo Andrew Stott, was born by emergency c-section.  He was a week past his due date, but even so, his birth weight was still less than any of my children.  He weighed 7lbs. 5 oz. and was 19 1/2" long.  He is such a cute little guy and I can't wait to meet him in person next week (if Emily is feeling well enough to travel from Memphis to L.A.).  Here are some pictures shared by his parents - Kyle and Emily.

Minutes old

Emily's first view of Milo

Snuggled soundly in his mother's arms

The proud father

Satisfying the desire to suckle

Milo looks so tiny in his father's arms

Bonding time

Milo matches the quilt I made for him

How to shuffle fatherhood and finals

Emily will be a wonderful mother!

Ready to go home

According to Kyle, except for being tired, Emily is feeling pretty well and they are very hopeful of being able to travel to California for Christmas next week.  I am hopeful of that too. It would be very disappointing for us if they couldn't come, but of course we would understand if they decided they couldn't make it.  Emily's health at this time is top priority.....along with taking care of the needs of little Milo.  Welcome to the world, Milo.  We gladly accept you into our family!



For fun, as a comparison, here is Kyle as a newborn - all 11lbs. 11oz. of him.

Thanksgiving in Scottsbluff

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to drive to Scottsbluff, Nebraska to celebrate it with Eric & Nicole's family.  Yes, we were aware that driving to their house would be a 19 hr. trip each way. However, that didn't deter us even though we would be pulling a trailer full of items that Eric's family wanted.  These items included water barrels, pool table (small one), and foosball table.  Alan was glad to get them out of our garage and Ethan, Ella, and Olivia were happy to include them in their basement play area.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of them playing with them to include here.

Salt Lake City is actually on the way to Scottsbluff from our house, and since Cheryl wanted to join us on our road trip, it worked out perfectly for us to stop there to pick her up. Except for Alan getting motion sickness the first day, things went well as far as traveling went.  The weather was very agreeable.

Once we got to Scottsbluff, we were able to finally have some fun.  One fun thing we did was take a walk along the North Platte river. It was such a pleasant day and the walk was very enjoyable.

Olivia found this stick that she was very proud of and wanted her picture taken with it.

Another fun thing we did was shoot Eric's crossbow.  That thing is very powerful.  Eric set up a target in his back yard and let us have at it.  Yes, the children were inside so it was safe.

We also went shopping for clothing to wear for our upcoming family photo.  Olivia was a crack-up.  She entertained us by trying on Cheryl's sun glasses and ear muffs in Target

Oh, and yes, we ate a wonderful, delicious, Thanksgiving meal prepared mostly by Nicole.  The Bagley's (friends of Eric & Nicole) were invited as well and we had a great time.  I stole this picture from Nicole.  I hope she will forgive me.

It took two more days to drive home so we were very tired of being in the car, but all in all, it was a great trip, especially since we got to spend so much time with Eric's family.  Thanks for letting us share Thanksgiving with you!!!