Christmas Tradition

We had a very different Christmas this year then we have ever had before. On Christmas Eve Candis and Joe invited us to their house for a great Christmas dinner and then we played Flinch - I won!. Thanks Candis and Joe for a great evening. Then on Christmas morning we got up and went to church and finished getting ready for the celebration that would happen later on in the day. We finally got around to opening our presents around 3:00 p.m. and of course Daryl spoiled me again. He does every year and I just love it. I sure appreciate him and all he does for me. The family came over at 6:00 including Chris, our foster son, and my parents with all the children and grandchildren. we had a nice turkey dinner and then opened presents. Thank you children for the wonderful gifts that you gave us, we will use them often over the coming years.

This year we started a new tradition - or continued a tradition that was handed down from the previous generation. When our children were young every year on Christmas their Grandparents Gudmundson would have a Christmas dinner then all the parents had to leave as well as any children that were not potty trained. Then they would have a sleepover with their grandchildren. This meant so much to my children that they encouraged us to do it as well. So this year we gave it a try - and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We bought flashlights for them and talked about being a light unto the world and a good example to their friends and family. We have five grandchildren all under the age of five and they were so excited literally running circles around each other. I don't think they fell asleep until long after midnight.



We read stories and watched part of Mary Poppins. But the funnest part of the night was turning off all the lights and laying on the floor with new flashlights and chasing a red dot that Grandpa pointed at the ceiling with his laser beam. The Grandchildren just loved it and all night long they wanted to know where the red dot was.


For breakfast we had chocolate chip pancakes, which is always a big hit with the grandchildren. We tried to get Penn to face the camera but I guess he was just too busy eating. The parents came to pick up their children at 10:00 a.m. and Alexis did not want to go home, she ran into the bedroom and shut the door and yelled "no mommy I don't want to go." but once all the parents got their she was okay going, she just didn't want to miss out on any of the fun. We had a great time and we think the grandchildren did as well. This will definiately be a tradition that we will continue for years to come.

railing

As a follow up to the previous post. Here is a picture of the unfinished railing that separates our back yard from the pool area. I think it is turning out really nice. (As part of Joe's birthday present to Daryl, he gave him a coupon for working in the backyard. Daryl collected on the coupon by having Joe help with this project and it turned out great - thanks Joe.) We plan on putting in archways at the top and hang baskets of flowers and little lanterns. I am so excited about all the hard work that Daryl has put into this. It is turning out beautiful.

Pool area and Halloween

This summer Daryl was very busy once again working on our back yard. He finished digging around the pool and putting in the wall. It is now ready for the deck. The railing separating the pool area from the back yard was also put in, but it is not quite finished yet. We are making a lot of progress and getting real excited about getting it done. It will probably take another 2 summers of hard work before it is done.




It was Halloween yesterday and the grandchildren that live close enough were able to come down to the Government Center and trick or treat. Here is a picture of them. Penn and Logan were dressed up like Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the story "The Cat in the Hat." Audrey was a cat. Alexis was a fairy princess. Not pictured is Drake who was a monkey. Drake wasn't too happy about wearing his custome. I had a blast showing off my grandchildren and I am pretty sure they had a blast going around to the different offices and getting candy.

Summer Vacation 2011 (trip home)

Before we left the Palmyra area, we made a stop at Peter Witmer's farm. This is the place that the church was organized on April 6, 1830. It was so neat to visit the sites on church history that we have heard about for so long.




Coming home along I90 we stopped by Mt. Rushmore for another look at this monument to some famous US Presidents. What an awesome sight. But I still maintain they should clean up the rock piles in front of the mountain and let the natural landscape grow back in. I think it would look a lot better.




In Mitchell South Dakato they have a corn palace. If you look closely at the following picture you will be able to tell that the outside maurel of this building is done by using different color corn still on husk. the corn husk is cut lengthwise and by using the different kinds of corn they decorate the outside of the building. The maurel changes every year. It was fun to walk around on the inside of the building and look at all the decorations they have done over the years. Its amazing what you can do with corn.




On the way home, we had to of course stop and visit the Jolly Green Giant. I don't remember how we discovered this statute but we did on the trip we took a while ago to Milwaukee. So we decided to stop and visit him again. It was good to get out and walk around.




Our next to last stop on the way home was a visit to Devil's Tower. This is the mountain that was featured on the movie Close Encounters. It was pretty cool to see it. After a delicious breakfast in Jackson Hole we visited with Monica, Sean, Ayden and Gavin for an overnight visit. Daryl got to ride bikes with Ayden, and we got to watch Ayden at his swimming lessons - were he did awesome. Then the next day we headed home. We were gone for 2.5 weeks and as you can tell from the blogs we did a lot and had a ton of fun. Now we just need a vacation from our vacation.

Summer Vacation 2011 (Palmyra)

We finally made it to Palymra, after being on the road for over one week. We meet up with Daryl's dad and his wife Judy and was able to visit with them for a while. We saw the sites like the following picture of Joseph Smith's home where the Angel Moroni appeared to him. We also made it to the Hill Cumorah pageant that I have wanted to see forever. It was wonderful.




This next picture is of Daryl and I in the Scared Grove. I took my kindle in and we sat on the bench and read the story of the First Vision. The Spirit was strong in the Grove and it was a highlight of our trip.





This is a picture of the Palymra Temple. We did not get a chance to go into this one. But it is beautiful as usual. This temple was built on the Smith Family farm and can be seen through the trees from the Scared Grove

2011 Vacation (Kirtland & Niagara Falls)

The next stop after leaving Chris and Cathy's was to Kirtland Ohio. I didn't realize how many of the revelations found in the Doctrine and Coveants were given to Joseph Smith while he lived in Kirtland. While there we saw the John Johnson farm were D & C 76 was given on eternal marriage. This was a great stop. We also saw and was able to tour the Kirtland Temple.



This is the Newel K. Whitney store. This is where Joseph and Emma stayed for a while. This is where the School of the Prophets was.




This is the room where the School of the Prophets was held. This is also the room where the Word of Wisdom was given. There was just a small group touring this building when we were there, so the Missionary let Daryl teach about the word of wisdom. It was really cute to do that in the very rooom where it was given.




On the way to Palmyra we stopped off at Niagara Falls. They sure are beautiful falls. We heard the Canadian side is even better, but we didn't want to take the time to cross the border. We were anxious to get to Palmyra.

2011 vacation (Chris & Cathy)

After our visit to Nauvoo we then headed to visit my brother Chris and his wife Cathy. It has been a while since we have had a good visit with them and we really enjoyed it. they were able to take a day off work and took us to visit the Abraham Lincoln sites in Springfield Il. WE first visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. It is the first Presidential Library we have been in and it had some really cool exhibits. Abraham Lincoln was a great president, one of our heros.


Here is a picture of Daryl and I posing with the family of Abraham Lincoln. What a great president.


We got the opportunity to visit the resting place of Abraham Lincoln. Out side the tomb is a statue of him, the tradition is that you rub his nose - so we did. the nose is really shiny from everyone that has rubbed it. this is a picture of Daryl, Chris and Cathy. I had a hard time reaching the nose, I had to stand on my toes to do so.


Here is a picture of the tomb that holds the remains of Abraham Lincoln


While visiting Chris he took us to St. Louis to see the arch. It is called the Gateway to the West. Can you believe that people actually ride up to the top of the arch. Needless to say we didn't, the cars that you ride up in are very small. Chris told us that when you are at the top of the arch that it does sway sometimes. That did not sound fun to me. But there is a pretty neat museum in the bottom on the arch that we enjoyed looking at the exhibits.

Vacation - 2011 (Nauvoo)

Daryl and I went on vacation this year, we decided to drive back to New York to see the Hill Cumorah pageant (something that I have always wanted to see) and the Scared Grove (someplace that Daryl has always wanted to be). so we loaded the van and took off. The next several post will be about our vacation and the sites that we were able to see

We were able to do the tourist things in Nauvoo. This is a picture of us at the drainage canal that the pioneers built. It was pretty special to stand there and image that your ancestors might have been there helping with the laying of these very stones.



Nauvoo has a great family living center for visitors to watch and participate in pioneers skills. We learn how weaving was done, how the pioneer women made bread, had thread was made from weeds, how to make buckets and as you can see from the picture we participated in making rope. It was a great place to learn and get some hands on experience as well.




One of Daryl's highlight of our vacation this summer was the gardens at the Visitor Center in Nauvoo, there are some wonderful statues in the garden with all the beautiful flowers around. This statue is located at the doors just before you go outside. I thought it was great!




We did not make an appointment to go to the temple before we left home.We didn't know for sure when we were get to Nauvoo, so we were surprised when we went to the temple that they actually had an opening and we were able to do some initatory work. It is a beautiful temple and has such a strong feeling.




Daryl's brother Alan and his wife Liz, have been called to be in charged of the bagpipe band that performs in Nauvoo during the month of July during the pageant. We were able to spend a little bit of time with then when we were in Nauvoo. The band really adds a lot to the pageant and it was fun to watch and hear them.

4th of July celebration

Every 4th of July our neighborhood holds a kids parade and breakfast. The children in the neighborhood as well as grandchildren decorate up bikes, wagons, or scooters to ride in the short neighborhood parade. Parents line the parade route to watch the children go by. The parade ends on a cul de sac where a short patrotic program is held and then a breakfast. It is fun to get to know all your nieghbors and to get reacquainted with ones that you hardly get to see. Above is a picture of Daryl, and Mary Elizabeth's family just before the parade. Spencer and Daryl drove our four wheelers and Penn and Logan rode with them waving the American Flag. It was fun to watch them go by. They seem to really enjoy it.


Here is a picture of Mary Elizabeth and Audrey waiting for the neighborhood parade to start. It sure was a fun morning.

some random pictures I forgot to post

this is a family picture we took at Dad's birthday party. It is one of our entire family and to think it all started because two people fell in love. WOW!!!

Here is a picture of Daryl, Alexis and Candis at the Taylorsville Days parade, it was a lot of fun.

Daryl's younger brother, Steve, made this walking stick for him. It is totally amazing. If you look closely you can see cravings of a old man in the wood. Daryl just loves it. I think its great as well.

Busy summer so far

During the April Conference weekend, Daryl's mission Quito Ecuador held a reunion. We were able to attend and I finally met his Mission President. This is a picture of Daryl with his mission president. It was so much fun to listen to the stories and the experiences through other eyes and realize how much a mission affected everyone's lifes. To hear the stories that Daryl has told me throughout our marriage from a different view was great. It just refirmed what a great, inspired man his mission president was.


I am the assistant camp director for the young women in our ward, which I absolutely love. It is a lot of work and worry but so much fun once you get to camp and see how much the girls are enjoying it. This year our theme was a Scout camp, we learn knots and had contests with that. We shot bows & arrows as well as BB guns. We went canoeing, make slides for our neckerchiefs and make a camp stove out of pop cans. the girls got a pocketknife and whistle and did leather work as well. We were only gone for 2 and one half days, so it was really busy but love. Luckily we got to sleep in a clubhouse at a park with grass so the rain wasn't that big of a deal. This picture is all of us at camp. Daryl, who has been involved in scouts for the past 30 years was able to go as well.


On June 4, 2011, Daryl's brothers and sister throw a surprise birthday party for their dad, Grant, who turned 80 on the 26th of June. We have been planning it all year and dad sure was surprised when he walked into the room as you can see.


Here is a picture of some of our family sitting around the table visiting while waiting for the program to start. We had au gratin potatoes, ham, lettuce salad with a roll for lunch. Then of course we had to have cake and ice cream. the program consisted of memories by dad's older brother, Gerald, thoughts from Judy and a slide presentation - pictures of his life and his children. Each family member made a scrapbook page to go into a book for him to cherish and look through. All in all I think it was a great time and Dad really appreciated it.

Our new bathroom tile

We got new tile for our master bathroom. Daryl and a friend were able to do it. I am so pleased with it. It looks so nice and new. Thank you Daryl for doing such a great job on it.

High Priest

This past Sunday, February 13, 2011, Daryl was ordained a High Priest by his dad. It was a great blessing and a wonderful day. We are so thankful that his dad was able to come down and do the ordination.

Drake's Blessing

This past fast Sunday, Drake got a name and blessing. Joe did an excellent job, and Drake did his part looking so cute in his blessing outfit. His name is Drake Joseph Bailey. Drake is named after his Grandpa Drake who only had daughters, so the last name was ending. Candis and Joe thought to continue it at least one more generation. What a great idea.

The following are pictures of the rest of our grandchildren on Sunday, they had a lot of fun playing together. We had a lot of fun watching them. Grandchildren are the best!!!!! (The caption for each picture, appears before the picture not after, my mistake)

I love this pictures. Most of the grandchildren were waiting at the front door for Aunt Candis and Uncle Joe to open the door, but before we could get a picture the rest of them ran away. This is Logan and Alexis




Here is Gavin, waiting patiently for some food.




This Ayden, He is getting so grown up. He is four years old and our oldest grandchild.




Here is a picture of Audrey, she looked so angelic sitting on her mom's lap. I don't think the picture captures the look as well as seeing it in person.




Here is another one of Alexis, most of the time she likes to get her picture taken.




Here is a cute one of Logan.




Penn is always on the move and it is a bit harder to get pictures of him.

deep thought

Sorry, no pictures this time. Our home computer is not working, so I can't access any pictures. We had a great Christmas, with all the family together. It amazing how much the family grows with marriages and grandchildren.
Well anyway I had a thought that I would like to refer to as a deep thought. Daryl was saying how he had to go shovel more snow, and without thinking about it, I stated you can put that off, it will always be there tomorrow. Then I got thinking, sometimes after a snow storm, the snow will melt by the next day, its not like dishes that will always be there until you do them. What a thought.