Announcing Grandchild #10

Weston Douglas Tanner was born on March 31, 2008. Weighing in at 7'14" and 21 inches.
His great Dad taking such wonderful care with his new son. He is spending a few days in the NICU but is due to come home soon, and he is doing great.
Papa Douglas Pitt getting to hold him for the first time and of course Mama requested to take out the pacifier. Isn't he cute, even when he is mad?
Doug and I got a call at 2:19 a.m. on Monday morning and started to head out, of course it was during a snow storm, seriously. But we manged to get there and then the wait started. He finally popped out into the world at 3:18 pm and boy were we glad to see him. In all the confusion I didn't get any pictures, but I am thrilled with these. We feel so blessed that he is doing well and grateful that he will be home soon.

Jaleen and I took Shelby shopping for a few new things, which I didn't get a picture of. But I did get a picture of Starlee's new shirt and her big smile.

Sweet's Candy Factory

We also took a tour of the Sweet's Candy Factory. They don't let you take pictures inside, but here is one of all of us with our very fashionable hats on for the tour. Of course they gave out free samples and we got to shop at the factory direct store. They make salt water taffy, chocolate cinnamon bears and a few other things. It was really fun and I don't think I will ever see that much candy in one place again.

Salt Lake City Cemetary

With the passing of our dear prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, I thought it would be good to take the grandkids and visit his gravesite. It was well worth the effort and good to see that so many others have had the same idea.
Ethan peeking over next to Joseph F. Smiths gravesite. There are 11 prophets buried in this cemetary and we did our best to locate all of them. They make it easier by having a map that you can pick up at the office on the southwest corner.
James E. Talmage was a cousin of Doug's grandma and his Dad remembered him dropping by the house when he was younger. We were unable to locate William Pitt, I suspect that his grave marker is gone. The area where it should be had well worn markers. I need to look into it.
Shelby and Jonas at Heber J Grants.
Janelle and Jenna at Spencer W. Kimball's, which of course is the prophet of their youth.

I saved the map and would like to go over it and make a plan and direction now that I am a little more familiar with the cemetary. It was a great trip and I highly recommend it. Great place for the kids, not to confined if you know what I mean.

Taking a WALK

There is quite a steep climb to get out from the pond, but everyone did great!
Ethan patiently waiting for his turn to walk the dog.

Ryden even made friends with Pink and the only problem we had was when he had to give up the leash for someone else to have a turn.
We made it, they were all real troopers.
Jonas being a great Uncle by coming and helping, not to say leading the way so we didn't get lost.
Janelle taking pictures of her wonderful children, and I of course took a picture of mine.
All the gang, Ready to head back home to Mama's! Back row, Jonas, Garin, Janelle, Ryden, and Trevon. Front, Starlee, Ethan, Shelby, and Jaren. This is at the side where the water comes into the pond.

Janelle and the kids stayed a couple of days extra and so one day we took a walk down the trail behind our house to the Farmington Pond. I probably should say more like a hike, it turned out to be a little farther than Jonas had led me to believe. But the weather was great and the kids really enjoyed the pond.

My darling girl, Starlee. She usually shines for the camera, but she was obviously not to happy about something. I really liked this picture though and so I still wanted to include it.

Egg hunt

Brady, got lots of help from his mom and dad.
Garin Isom, our oldest grandson.
Ryden Isom, enjoying the hunt.
Shelby and Trevon.

The kids enjoying hunting for Easter eggs. I am excited that we will be putting in a lawn as soon as the weather permits.

Easter morning

All the under twenties!
Shelby with her cousin, Brady.

Starlee finding her basket, which of course was yellow.

After everyone was fed and dressed for church, they got to look for their baskets. Have a quick treat and then we were off for church. It has been a long time since we have taken up more than one pew. It has also been awhile since the Easter bunny has done that many baskets. Whew! He was really tired from all that hopping around as Starlee would say.

A BIG Easter dinner!

This is the first time I have had the table full length since we have moved to Utah. We had six of our eight kids, Casey's cousin Malcolm, and Garth's brother Chad Isom, along with my parents. It was great! I was excited that their were tulips available for the table, what can I say it is one of my favorite things about spring in Utah. Of course I forgot the chocolate bunnies I had for it and the cute Robin's eggs. Oh well! It was a full table and we had lots of food. Jaleen made homemade rolls of course and she didn't even have to hide any for extras later on. A big thanks for the effort everyone made to come.

New Card Club

I joined a new card club this last month and I am pretty excited. It was fun to go and visit and get some new ideas. Right now there is nine of us, so you come home with nine different cards. These are my two favorites from last month. It only meets once a month so it is really not to time consuming.

Spring in the Greenhouse

My first Calla lilies of 2008.
The geranium also decided to add a beautiful bloom.

I have been pampering my plants in the greenhouse all winter and now is the payoff. The room was built just for this Calla lily plant and it really seems to like the spot. I even have a tangerine plant that I am hoping will give a few pieces of fruit, it is looking promising. But, I have had fresh sage, oregano, rosemary and mint all winter which as been aromatic and enjoyable. My California plants are all doing well and I added Bird of Paradise this last trip down, so I am hoping that it will add a few blooms in the fall too. It has been a real bright spot through the winter and I am really glad that we decided to build that in.

Jenna's Shower

Cougar Blue for the new little one. Jenna had a silkie blanket and all the kids used it after her too! It lasted FOREVER! So she made a special request for one for their soon to be new bundle.
I was so excited to be able to be there and enjoy this special time with my daughter and her friends.
Doug sent a gift in honor of the middle name that they have chosen, which he is so excited about.
Casey came to pick up his adorable wife and she showed off a BYU blanket that her friend from work gave them knowing that Casey is the all time fan.

March 1st was the special day chosen to honor Jenna and the soon to be new arrival. Her friend did a super job on the food and a really adorable cake. It was really fun to see Casey's, Aunt Christi again and meet some of her friends.

Huge icicle

This year with so much snow and lots of very cold days, we actually got to see a few icicles on the house. I guess the gutters overflowed or iced over. Which ever, anyway I looked out the window and realized how huge this one was and waded out through about 18" of snow to get a good picture of it. Everyone is ready for spring that is for sure!

Keeping an eye on the deer

This was often one of the first things to do on the morning list.

This was as close as they came for camera advantage, although they run across our back bank quite often.


Doug and Jonas started noticing a herd of deer on the mountain behind us and started to track them from day to day. They moved the telescope to the kitchen nook window and their it has stayed so they can keep checking on them. They spotted several large bucks in the herd and got pretty excited. They even twice spotted a small herd of elk of about thirteen elk, with at least two bulls. The deer at times could gather to a total of about 50. It was really quite fun to find and watch them, it has been a hard winter for them and the state just reduced the deer tags for the season by 1000 fewer.

I know it took a long time for this update, but here is the last few months in a few minutes. I will note that it has taken me two hours to complete. Enjoy! We love you all and wanted to tell you all how grateful we are for each of you and hope that 2008 brings all the Lord's choicest blessings upon you.

Jaren turns 18

We drove down to Provo and had dinner with Jenna and Casey before we both left town for Christmas. We celebrated Jaren's 18th birthday!
Jaren was a little hesitant about the hat, but he was a good sport. I didn't know they did that when I asked to have them sing.

It is hard to believe Jaren is 18, he finished his high school courses that week also and has since started a BYU online course. He has also registered to vote and the selective service. It is just so unbelievable how fast time flies sometimes. We had the privelege of escorting him for his Eagle Board of Review and to present him to the board, what an honor, they said they had never seen such an extensive Eagle packet and could tell he was a great young man. He is a great young man and we are very proud of him. His Young Men's president is always telling us how faithful and dependable he is, we agree with him and more!

Wii

The Isom kids got a new Wii game for Christmas and everyone had to take a turn. I was so impressed that I bought one when we got home. I also found out that I can actually play it, which was just not happpening with the XBOX.

Starlee enjoying some more Christmas dinner. She said, "Mama I really like your sauce stuff." I had tried a new recipe for homemade cranberry sauce, I liked it, I have never liked the canned stuff. I am glad Starlee liked it too, of course she also had another one of Aunt Jaleen's rolls.

We went to Janelle and Garth's for Christmas dinner and had a wonderful time with lots of yummy food. Thanks for having us! (This post is a little out of order, as are a few others, but sometimes the pictures are so small that even with my glasses I forget which event they were attached to.) Oops!