Nana and girls

Just the lil women

Liz and Tony

Mischief in the making

Helio and McKay and Sam (I got to see this new grand-baby)

Mark and Amber

Dave and Suz

Helio loving Sam

A night with just the adults. Did they discuss all the wonderful things we did...no, only all the crazy things they did.

We had 36 people here with 13 adults

Every adult helped or held a child.

It was 30 degrees outside so the children rather than circling the house circled us.

It was a wonderful few days of family and more family. I love my family.

This is our newest Christmas decoration

Deer jerky in the oven for Thanksgiving morning...new experience

Aurora Marguerite Galbraith

I drove to Maryville to see my 30th grandchild. Her middle name is the same as my mother's. She looks a lot like Hyrum.

The on going saga of that darn tree

Tony came over and removed the remaining part of the tree that had continued to threaten falling on the porch, the shed and the car whenever a storm came through. Liz helped move the ladder and remove all the small limbs to the burn pile. An additional bonus has been that the birds can no longer poop on the car. Oh, and by the way, I get better TV reception.

Brotherly Love

Jesh had us stay at his apartment and he enjoyed showing Wil all his guy toys.

Jeshua's Graduation

Wil and I were able to go to Colorado to watch as Jesh graduated from Redstone.

Friday the 13th in Hamilton. High winds and a lot of debris. It was completely unexpected to find the tree had come down blocking our street. We did have to move debris out of the driveway to pull in. There also were lines down up the street. Now to safely cut down the remaining half.

Wil's at his Hamilton High School graduation with his National Honor Society recognition.

This is notorious LIZ. She's pretty and pretty darn fast on skates. I watched her with a smile on her face take out an opponent and get points for her team.

Wil designed their team t-shirts. Several positive comments were overheard by other teams. On the back it says,"Back up I'm about to do SCIENCE! These were great students to spend an entire Saturday with.

This is Wil's "bridge to nowhere" This was one part of his participation in the Olympiad event. It was smashed at contest, so this is the only evidence I have of several days of cutting, sanding balsa wood and gluing. I do, however, still have lots of balsa sawdust floating around the dining room.

I went to Columbia to see Wil compete at the state competition of Science Olympiad

James and his derby car. Wil was called on to weigh in the cars and then run the races. James won one race with his car named dragon!

So There is this Place Called Epic, Where all the Geeks go to Play...

Wil would like to point out as often as possible how super he is...

Wilson hanging out with the Blues Brothers.

Liz with her dream man...

Overall, Epic was one crazy cool place. Johnathan really enjoys showing off how amazing Epic is. There was a player piano, there was an old fashioned record player, there was a mock up of the space station, all in all it was amazing!

We Went to Wisconsin for...Cheese? NO! For our Cheesy Family!

Liz, her new daughter Autumn, Amber, Wil, and I went to Wisconsin over the weekend to see the Balinski's new baby boy Asher blessed.

This is him in his blessing suit, and we got to go with Chelsea to help pick it out!

This is Miri looking her Sunday best in her brand new dress.

Talmadge, looking dapper and ready for church.

Ellie in her dress that matches her sister Miri.

We had a wonderful time (even with the 8 hour road trip each way), and were really glad to be able to see Chelsea and Johnathan and reconnect with them.

And the award for best travelling baby goes to ... AUTUMN MANLEY!!! She was such a doll, and was happy go lucky and charming the whole way (to the pleasure of all of her carmates).

Wil's Robotics Awesomeness

Elizabeth, her kids, and I went to Wil's robotics competition down in Kansas City at Kemper Arena.

This is him and his roommate (the one on the far right, Alex) trying to get the robot up and running.

They were so excited when they could finally pass inspection!

This is Wil's entire team (from top left to right down) Junseok Oh, Matt DeBlieck, Connor Douthat, BreAnna Jahn, Jason Wallace, Margret Steele, Michael (Jemimah) Maples, Nathan Harris, Alex Mannion, Wilson Pipkin, and Jacob Tuia. They placed 28th out of 58 teams at the Kansas City First Robotics Regionals.

Enough already

We have 9 inches of snow! Look at how nice Jacob did on my walks.

I was up early and cleaned the walks and the car. It was still snowing so I cleaned them again. Since church was cancelled, Jacob came over and he cleaned the walks a third time. Then he came again on Monday morning and said, "It doesn't even look like I shoveled yesterday. So he did it again and even took out the embankment left by the road grader. He doesn't just give me a single blade path. He cleans to the neighbor's and the drive way too! I love this young man. Whatever would I do without him.

Verity told me how to make chocolate mice for Valentines Day. So, Karen (my beloved and talented granddaughter) came over and helped me make 21 of them for our "Single Awareness Dinner." And they were a hit!

The first storms of winter produced beauty that I appreciated. Reminded me of winter in Utah.

After Anne's blessing there was an open house at the Stradley's. Uncle William and aunt Charlene were invited to the party. The Stradley's were excellent hosts! They provided accommodations for the Monteiro's and me. Thank you children for providing this opportunity for me!!! Well, now you know, the rest of the story...

~Susi Pipkin