To Colorado Springs & Back Home - Aug. 2008

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I am catching up on the summer. The day after Milo Hickman was born, I posted a few pictures.

This post picks up the rest of our visit.



What do you think Talia is so focused on?





You are right. . . It is one of her movies - Either "Ice Age" or "Spirit".
















On Friday - the 8th - we had a 1 day birth celebration.
Here are the exhausted parents and their little family - Milo ( 1 day) and Talia (17 Mo.). I think Talia is more interested in the yummy little chocolate cake or blowing out the candle.
















Our newest little grandson - Milo Hansen Hickman on his first day on this earth.
















I couldn't resist big sister and her two pacifiers.
"Fires" seem to be the solution to all her problems at this age.









Day 2- Don't this mom and her new baby look great!

















Garth and I spent several days working on refinishing this dresser so Talia would have a place for her clothes.

















Saturday morning - August 9th - Preston took us to see the Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs.

Talia is all ready to go in one of the little dresses I made for her, her back pack and her hat.














Here we are at the Garden of the Gods. The picture doesn't really do it justice. It is an amazing area of beautiful rock formations.








Sunday morning - August 10th -

Talia and Gavin are ready to go to church. Talia is wearing another one of the dresses I made for her. She loves pockets so all of the new clothes I took to her have pockets. Doesn't she look darling in this one?















Sunday evening - Shanda's and Milo's first excursion out of the house.

Preston's parents - Mike and Marsha Hickman - invited us to their house for a great dinner with a lot of things from their garden.





Here is the first family picture of the new family of five. Shanda holding Talia, Preston holding Milo and Gavin who is just enjoying being with his family.













I did a good job of spoiling Talia while we were there. When I was working in the kitchen she wanted to be in arms or up on the cabinets where she could be involved. From the cabinets , the sink just looked like too much fun.














We had to have a picture of Garth getting acquainted with his newest grandson.







Another project while we were visiting was to help Shanda complete her nursery. In as much as Milo will take over the drib and dresser. We helped sand and paint a dresser for Talia then Garth made a wooden headboard and Shanda and I covered it and combined with a new bed frame and the white bedspread I had made when Shanda was visiting with us in Utah, we were able to put together this lovely junior bed - just the right height for Talia.

























We arrived back home August 15th.
After having been gone from home for 12 days, this is what we found in our garden.

Goodbye to Rosenhans & Hello to Reynolds

All too soon it came time to say goodbye to Serena, Blair and Amanda and they picked up Stephanie in Logan and returned to Michigan.






Kendra and Barry Halterman had to leave for home the same time. Two little girls - Tessa and Taren - barely had a chance to get acquainted as they enjoyed our toys together.










For the 24th of July, 2008 - the families here in Utah came to our house for swimming, barbecue and fireworks.



The children were so interested in swimming that it wasn't hard for the adults to get their food.




We were pleased to have Brian's parents join us as well.


Trina, Sheila, Liz, Kerali, Deren and Marenda.









Blair, Diane & Bob Reynolds












Trysten, Sheila Reynolds, Liz, & Kerali











When it got dark Brian and Guy set off the fireworks in the street.














We were privileged to have the Reynolds family join us for breakfast for a combined birthday party for Kalen & Trysten. I surprised them by putting up all of their pictures as is tradition in our family for birthdays.

First Week in July & Sister's Retreat - July 7th & 8th, 2008

Cousins spent some fun time together upon our return to Northern Utah.


Drake had a great time in the big pool.


















Here is the "Line Up" of some of our grandchildren - Drake, Gavin, Talia, Marcus & Kira.







I thought this was a precious picture of Serena helping Talia find raspberries to eat.










Kasen, Marenda and Addie, watching the fireworks.

















Shanda had her birthday while here so we made her a chocolate cake. She also got to celebrate her birthday on our Sisters' Retreat.





It was a wonderful privilege for me to be able to meet with 5 of my 6 daughters and 1 of 2 daughters-in-law for our first - and I hope - not the last, Sisters' Retreat.











We first had a lovely meal at the BrazilianTucanos Restaurant.

Pictured are: Shanda, Trina, Kendra, Mom (Janice), Serena, Liz, & Marenda. Marenda had Kasen and Addie with her then Sam's parents took them for the night.




Trina has lovely friends who let us use their cabin up near Heber.


Here are two loving sisters - Shanda and Marenda.








We are having our evening meal - Serena, Marenda, Trina, Kendra and Shanda.











The next morning we had our breakfast on the deck.










Just before leaving for our homes, we took this picture -

Serena, Trina, Kendra with Tessa, Marenda and Shanda.


What a special time! We missed Kerali, Jenny and Liz.

Nielson Reunion - July 3,4 & 5, 2008 - Kolob Mountain

I hesitated to post anything from the reunion because I didn't get very many pictures. I am hoping to have access to those Kendra and Barry took, soon.

This first picture is mostly of the Hansen clan and the Eric Nielson's.






This group is part of the Lundin group














And this last one is the Corrin Nielson group.











I was especially impressed with the Flag raising ceremony on the morning of the 4th - presented by Corrin and his family. Here, Corrin gave a history of the flags of the U.S.A.








My mother, Ruth Nielson - 100 years old - came to the mountain for activities on the 4th and had a chance to visit with a lot of her posterity.

Serena is showing off Kendra's little girl, Tessa Ruth - to her name sake.






I almost forgot to get a picture of our camp until it was too late and everyone had taken down their tents and put the tent trailers down.

















As we were leaving, we had to stop at the reservoir for canoing. In the process, we went through tall grass that yanked the wiring to the trailer out of its socket. Blair spent most of his time there getting the wiring reconnected so we could take the trailer home with us.




Some of the grandchildren found this flock of ducks and were quite intrigued by them. That is Trina's youngest, Mitchell, wanting to go right out and get those ducks.

More of Shanda's & Talia's visit in June 2008

Take time to smell the roses. We had some lovely roses this year and Garth is helping Talia appreciate them.











Whenever I was working in the kitchen, my sweet little granddaughter, Talia, was right there to help me out.









Garth is great when it comes to designing and then building things. He decided he wanted better organization behind the pickup seat so he designed and built this lovely carrier and is showing it off to Shanda.









Talia loves to dance so I made her this pink skirt to dance in.





















Preston and Gavin arrived to go camping with the family at the Nielson Reunion. This was taken on Sunday because I thought they all looked so nice in red.
Shanda, Preston, Gavin and Talia.





Garth and I got talked into having our picture taken.

Father's Day & Shanda's Visit

This is a bit late but I decided I needed to catch up from some of the summer happenings. We enjoyed having the 4 families and Shanda here for Father's Day.

The proud fathers are: Garth, Deren, Guy Harding, and Sam Brown.






Our ward had a swimming party at Spanish Fork Swimming pool and Shanda and Talia enjoyed going with us. I got into a swimsuit but I wasn't about to let anyone take a picture of me.
















Talia thought she needed a "Back Pack" so I made this one for her.















We also got a kiddie pool so Talia could enjoy playing outside.




And, of course, she had to be my best helper with the cooking. There is nothing more fun than helping make bread - especially if you can snitch little pieces of bread dough.