Happy Birthday Damon

It's hard to believe our little D is 7 years old!  He's handsome and smart and has a cute personality!  This year he was also very excited because he finally lost his two front bottom teeth and has a cute toothless grin for his pictures.  The past couple of years, Brandi and the boys have traveled here so we could celebrate Damons birthday.  He got to pick what he wanted to eat and then he wanted to decorate red velvet cupcakes for dessert.  Then the sang a very loud "Happy Birthday to you"...I think we get louder each time we sing it!!  While he was here he also got to drive the truck for grandpa while they were feeding the cows.  Thanks for coming down and letting us share your special day...we love you lots!!

Haylee, Logan, Damon and Taite

The Reason for the Season

Christmas is a lot different from the days when our children were small.  Now they are all grown up with families of their own.  There are no children so excited they can't fall asleep...no flashlights hidden under the bed so they can sneak out at 5 in the morning to see what Santa had brought...no watching Jason take the gifts from under the tree and set them in five different piles to make things easier when his sisters came out...no watching their faces as they unwrapped their gifts and were so excited to see Santa had looked at their lists and brought them what they wanted...just a quiet house with only the two of us.  I miss all those things that use to fill our home at this time of year.  But in it's place we have come to ponder the true meaning of Christmas.  The birth of the baby Jesus...the gift of love from our Heavenly Father...His precious son that would grow up and give his life so that we could each have the opportunity to return to live with our Heavenly Father again.  It's a season that we spend time thinking about those around us and doing things for others...just as the Savior did while he was here on the earth.  Hopefully we will keep that Christmas spirit thoughout the coming year.

Christmas Eve 2011

Those of our family that live here in Sanpete try to gather on Christmas eve for a little family fun.  We started the evening off with some yummy chilli and scones and then it was time for some activities.  First we played a couple of games of bingo.  Each round got a little harder and the money in the winning envelope was more and more.  At the end of the games we had the winners hold up their prizes...Haylee did add a little extra cash for the picture :-)

Next came cookie decorating cookies so the kids had goodies to leave for Santa.

Then it was time for the Nunleys and the Hoopers to head home and try to settle down so the kids could go to bed so that jolly old Santa could make his visit.

An Eagle Eye View

As Randy and I were driving home from our last minute Christmas shopping, we noticed these two bald eagles perched in the top of this tree.  We tried to get a little closer but the two of them flew off.  I love the picture of the horseshoe in the back ground.  This picture is just one of the many reasons I love living here in Sanpete!!

Lunch with the Ramsays



I got a call this morning from Amy asking me if we would meet her little family in Nephi and have lunch. They had gifts they wanted to give us and they wanted us to have them so we could open them on Christmas morning.  Taite and Haylee were a little bored and wanted to ride over with us so they could see their cousins, so we picked them up and headed to Nephi.  We had a tasty lunch at Lisa's and had a chance to give Christmas hugs and lots of love.

The Rydalch Family Christmas Party

It's that time of year again for the family Christmas party.  We've been doing this for as long as I can remember.  We use to do it on Christmas eve when I was younger and all our grandparents would come celebrate with us.  Years later we moved it to the saturday before Christmas, unless that saturday happens to be Christmas eve...like this year.  We finally had to move the party to the church house since our little family is getting pretty big.  After a wonderful dinner, we gather the chairs into a circle while my mom reads a Christmas story and we pass around sealed envelopes with money inside.  The kids love it and my mom puts lots of thought into the beautiful story she tells.  Above is a picture of mom, dad, my brother Dan, my sister Shell (who had surgery on her shoulder) and myself.  I love the look on Dans face!!  Here are a few more pictures of my kids and grandkids.

 Gavin, Ian and Logan

Amy and Daniel suprised dad with a

gun engraved with his name and a

picture of a horse.

Happy Birthday Kenzie

It's hard to believe Kenzie is now officially 16!  She has a learners permit and 16 candles to prove it.  Cute, smart and dangerous!!  And she is a typical teenager...see how close her cell phone is.  We celebrated the day after her official birthday because she was cheering all day at a wrestling meet at Juab.  She got to pick her favorite dinner...homemade tomato gorganzolla soup with monkey bread and then the traditional large cupcake for dessert.  She even earned her own money to buy her first car by babysitting for her physical therapist...a 1999 Toyota Paseo she lovingly calls Tony.  Happy Birthday Lou!  We love you tons!

Haylee, Kenzie, Wyatt and Taite

Haylee, Kenzie, Logan and Taite...don't you just love

that look on Haylee's face!!!!!

Kenzie and Tony

Care Bears

Years ago...27 to be exact...Cabbage Patch dolls and Care Bears were the hot items for Christmas...neither of which could be found in store and online buying didn't exist!  It was like a treasure hunt just trying to find them to fill the kids Christmas list.  I remember walking into our local fabric store and finding a pattern to make them.  I bought a pattern, some fur and buttons and promised the store owner that I would bring the finished bear in for her to see.  When I brought it in, there were two ladies in the store who wanted me to make them some...and that is how the madness began.  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I made over 100 bears!  I would get up at 7 in the morning and work until midnight or later.  There was fur flying everywhere!!  I delivered my last bear at 8 o'clock Christmas eve and then after my kids went to bed, I finished theirs!  But the madness didn't end on Christmas day.  It continued for a whole year!  I kept a book and listed all the bears I made over the year.  By years end I had made 379 bears!  I couldn't believe it myself!!

A few months ago I got a text from my nephew Steven asking if I still made Care Bears.  His son Stellar wanted one and he was reflecting on how much he loved the bear I gave him that Christmas so many years ago.  So I dug out the old box of fur and patterns and made little Stellar a Tenderheart and a Good Luck bear.  Thanks Steve for letting me re-live a memory from my past.

All Decked Out For Christmas

I have been known in the past for not getting my house all decorated for Christmas until about two weeks before the big day.  If Randy had his way, we would put the tree up Christmas eve and take it down the day after!  He reminds me of Scrooge!!  But this year was different.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving I decided to get everything up so I could enjoy it for a whole month...I even talked Randy into putting the lights up on the front of our house!  There is a stocking hung on the fireplace for every member of our family...a tradition started years ago when we lived in Fairview and only had Brandi, TaNeal and Holly.  Over the years we have added more stockings as we added Amy and Jason, then came Wayne, Aaron, Daniel, Morgan and Krysten and then our 11 grandchildren, Ian, Kenzie, Gavin, Wyatt, Logan, Haylee, Dominic, Damon, Taite, Tailar and Jonas...and we still have room for a few more...hint, hint! And did you notice my Minnie Mouse angel?  Randy hates it but I lovingly place her on the top of the tree every year.  Here's to a whole month of bright lights and holiday music.

Giving Thanks

Holly had the cutiest idea for Thanksgiving this year.  She put a few twigs in a vase and then gave each of us a round piece of paper and asked us to write what we are thankful for.  Then we hung each of the papers on the twigs and used it as our centerpiece.  There were many things to be thankful for this year.  Our family has truly been blessed.  Then she brought over a little craft project for each of the kids to make while we finished getting dinner ready.  I love the look I Gavins face in this picture!!  We spent our day eating a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and then that evening we enjoyed a pie bar with lots of yummy pies to eat.  I think Thanksgiving is my favorite of all the holidays...mainly because it's just about being together as a family...no commercialism...no gifts...just love of family.

Christmas Shopping at Cabela's

Getting Randy to the city doesn't happen very often!  But today he had some errands to run so we headed north with our little traveling buddy, Taite.  Since Wyatt loves to hunt as much as his Grandpa, we usually end up at Cabela's to do his Christmas shopping.  I'm not much into all that hunting gear, but I do love all the fun things there are to see there and let's not forget about their black licorice.  It's AWESOME!!!!!

Lunch With Haylee

Getting to spend time with our grandchildren is always special to us.  Today Haylee came over to help with things around the house and when it came lunch time she looked at me and said "So where are we going for lunch?"  We gave her several options...which is all there are in Mt. Pleasant and she decided on Cavalier Pizza.  Thanks Haylee bug for all your help and for wanting to go out in public with your old Granny and Grandpa.  We love you!!



Happy Birthday Randy



Randy turned 61 this year and since 61 candles burning on a cake are likely to melt the frosting, we decided to forgo the candles.  We tried to get the family all together to take a family picture and celebrate his birthday together, but the weather just would not cooperate!  So we had a family dinner here and made his favorite cake...carrot cake of course!!  Happy Birthday sweetie and here's to another 25 or 30 more!  

Gavin, Aaron, Holly, Logan, Kenzie, Randy, Wayne, TaNeal,

Haylee, Wyatt and Taite...and as usual...I'm taking the picture :-)

Happy Halloween 2011



I can remember when the kids were little, I really enjoyed Halloween. But now other than the decorations at my front door, I leave the celebrating up to my daughters and the grandkids.  I did start a tradition several years ago that seems to be a hit.  Other than our grandkids, we never seem to get many trick-or-treaters at our house and I was tired of having all that candy left over...so I decided to hand out dollar bills instead of candy.  You should see the look on the kids faces as I place the dollar bill in their bags...it's priceless!!  One little trick-or-treater said this year "now that's the kind of treats I like!!"  Don't get me wrong...it's not like I have a hundred dollar bills just waiting to be handed out...I have my limit of the first 30 kids that come to our door.  So far we are up to 17...and that doesn't include our grandkids.  They get their own little goodie bag.  Here are pictures of the grandkids - minus Ian.  He was busy doing his own halloween party stuff...which looked pretty interesting on facebook...here kitty kitty :-)

The day began with lunch at Subway with Batman! 

When I told Taite I was going to put this picture on my

blog he says "Granny...people are going to say Wow

I can't believe you really had lunch with Batman!"

Kids are so cute!!!!

Damon and Jonas - who you can see are into Star Wars

Kenzie, Wyatt, Haylee and Taite

Tailar and Dominic

Holly's family really gets into Halloween each year.

The theme this year was Star Trek.  Holly made her own

costume and Gavin molded the headpiece and made

his own wig!!  Holly really looked like a Vulcan!!!  It was

amazing!!

Happy Birthday Gavin

Gavin is the last of our October birthdays and I think he has always enjoyed having his birthday the day before Halloween...it makes for some pretty fun parties!!  This year he took some friends to Provo to do a little laser tag and it sounds like they had a fun time! We gathered at the Hooper home Sunday night for some cake and ice cream and Holly made another one of her awesome birthday cakes.  Gavin is a huge fan of sushi so she made him a cake that looked just like a big piece of sushi...thanks heavens there was no raw fish!!!  Just a yummy cake with frosting and coconut!  I still can't believe he is 14!  Gavin is a handsome youngman who is also very smart. There isn't a character on Star Trek or in the Star Wars movies that he doesn't know...which is pretty amazing considering there are so many of them!  He has also followed in his mother's footsteps and is quite the artist!  Happy Birthday Gavin...Granny and grandpa love you!

Cutting Wood for Winter

With the kids being out of school for UEA, we decided to have Haylee and Taite stay over night and then take a little ride down to Gunnison to get some firewood.  The day started early with a stop at McDonalds for egg McMuffins and hashbrowns for breakfast and then off to Satter-White to cut wood.  The kids were a big help hauling the logs to the trailer while Randy cut more.  We should stay nice and warm this winter.

Haylee

Taite

Haylee and Taite on top of the trailer full of logs

Once we got the wood home, then it was time to split

it!  Thanks Wyatt and Wayne for all your help!!

Deer Hunt 2011

I love this time of year when the leaves are turning beautiful colors and all the hunters are running around town in their bright orange hats and vests.  But I also love our visitors that drop in for the deer hunt.  Randy, Wyatt, Amy and Daniel all get up early and head for the hills and I get to have fun with my grandkids!!  We also decided to light the "ring of fire" up one last time before it gets too cold.  We invited the Nunleys and the Hoopers over to join us for hot dog roasting and a dutch oven dessert...which I might add was NOT as good as the one Jason and Krysten made for us up on the mountain!  I guess I need to practice a little more :-)

Dominic, Wyatt, Taite, Tailar and Haylee

TaNeal, Haylee, Tailar and Amy

(I don't think Haylee liked the flash! Her eyes are closed in both pictures)

Holly, Gavin and Logan

Randy, Taite and Dominic

Head 'em up...mooooove 'em out

It's that time again to move the cows to another pasture...just one more move and they will be set for the winter!  Thanks Kenzie, Wyatt, Haylee and Taite for helping us round up the cows and move them...we couldn't do it without you!!



Happy Birthday Ian

I can't believe that Ian is 16!!!  That makes me....really OLD!!!!  Since I knew Ian had plans with his girlfriend...who was also born October 18th...and a big surprise party the day after his birthday, I traveled to Salt Lake to celebrate his birthday eve.  His resturant of choice was "The Pie" a pizza resturant up by the University of Utah.  It's an interesting place where they let you write messages on the walls with sharpie pens!!  Luckily I had one stashed in my purse.  Ian is a handsome young man who is also very smart and talented.  He excels at everything he does.  He's taking college classes in school, loves his computer and also loves hanging out with his friends.  Happy birthday Ian...Granny and grandpa love you!

Me, Ian, Damon and Jonas

Brandi, Ian, Morgan, Damon and Jonas

I sure do love this kid!!

And this is Ian's beautiful mother...who also happens

to be my daughter!  Love you Bea

Happy Birthday Tailar

Our Tailar also turned 6 this year.  This year Randy came with me. While we didn't make it in time to be there with the rest of the family for cake and ice cream, we had our own little celebration later that night.  Then Amy and I got so caught up in canning tomatoes, that I completely forgot about taking Tailars picture...so we snapped this a few weeks later when they came down from the hunt.  Amy said that Dominic came in early to wake Tailar up for her birthday and when she asked him to rub her back, he did just that.  Then he told her to get up and he would fix her breakfast.  He cheerfully got out her bowl and her favorite cereal and poured the milk in the bowl for her...now isn't that a sweet big brother!!  Tailar loves princesses, the colors pink and purple and loves to help her mom at Cold Stone.  Happy Birthday our little Princess...Granny and grandpa love you!