My cousin, my friend

Kitty is my dad's cousin but she is my age. Her dad is Francis, who is my Grandpa Clyde's little brother. We did not become close until our 9th grade year in high school. Due to the 'feud' between the Barton men, we did not really know each other. We had not spent any time together as children. As our friendship grew, we had to keep it confined to school. My mom knew we were friends because she was a teacher, and I think she was happy, because she had never wanted her children to continue the 'feud". So we had lots of good times together, cruising Main, doing plays and drama competitions together, FHA. But we never could go to each other's houses or even really speak of each other at home.

It was what it was, but looking back, I just think how sad it is, to deprive cousins of knowing each other. Over things that, in the end, don't matter. I'm so thankful that we became friends because she saved my high school years I think. Her and Krista, Antoinette and Andrea.

I had been an outsider of the popular girls' group for years, just a hanger-on. But by 8th grade they had moved on and no longer let me be part of them. I was so lonely. Then Antoinette moved to town. And Krista started coming to school here instead of in Colorado. Then in 9th grade, Kitty and I began our friendship during our Algebra class. And Life Was Good!

The four of us even did our own thing after graduation because we did NOT want to go to Lake Powell with the rest of the class. We drove to Durango instead and spent the night and had a tourist day there together. Kitty, Krista and I went on to BYU and Antoinette went to SUU. We drifted apart over the years but thankfully have reestablished contact through FB.

I'm thankful that not only was Kitty my friend, but she's my cousin. We still have that tie that binds us together even though we don't see each other for years. She actually came to my house one morning a year or two ago and knocked on the door. I was so surprised to see her and she was unsure of her welcome but did it anyway. We hugged and cried and talked and talked. It made my day! I hope we can stay in touch and see each other occasionally.

Kami turns 2!

As hard as it is to believe, Kami turned 2! I do not know how those two years went by so fast. 

Shaila's mom and her sister and family came down for a few days to help celebrate the event. We hosted a little party at our house, since it would be hard to have enough space at Ford and Shiala's. 

Shiala loves to think about, plan and put on parties. She likes to go all out and make it a shindig. 

It was very cute and had an Ice Cream theme. Kami got lots of gifts and had fun being the center of attention on her special day!

Opening her gifts. She understands the whole process now and was fun to watch as she ripped paper and pried open boxes to see what was inside.

Shiala had made these cute ice cream cones out of balloons and paper and put them up around the house for decor. We all enjoyed lots of ice cream with a variety of toppings and cake, of course.

Shiala really likes to bake and make cakes, trying new techniques. Her kids will hopefully realize how lucky they are to have a mom who LIKES to make their birthday cakes!

I thought this cake was awesome. It had a 'melted' ice cream cone on top which was actually chocolate ganache. It was so cute and everyone was very impressed with her cake making efforts.

Kami, we are so thankful for you and for the sweet little girl you are. You are a ray of light and life and make life fun and brighter every day. Happy Birthday, sweet girlie!!

Baby boy is 5!

Today was a day I've been thinking about for a long time. The day my baby turned 5. In all my married life, I've never gone so long without a new baby. And he will be going to Kindergarten in just a few short months and my life will never be the same again. It's rather momentuous, and kind of hard to wrap my head around. It's rather strange to realize that I've truly moved past the child-bearing part of my life.

Anyway, today was James' 5th birthday. Since he was born at 6:45 a.m. he was already 5 by the time he woke up today. After Stake Conference we had Ford, Shiala and Kami over for dinner and donuts. Per tradition, James chose our big meal for the day, tin foil dinners. Here he is enjoying his own creation.

yum!

The local Welch tribe

After dinner, we lit the candles on the donut 'cake' and then opened gifts. When we began this part of the party James immediately covered his ears. He does not like to be sung to. This year it also took quite a bit of coaxing for him to actually blow out the candles. I thought they would melt completely before he put his hands down and blew them out. But he finally decided to do it, thank heaven.

watching Nina light 'em up

Kami had no qualms about the singing, unlike James

debating whether to blow or not...

opening his card from Grandma and Grandpa Welch

Loving the 'gift' he found inside!

a fun light-up spinning candy/toy from Ford and Shiala.
He always wants one when we go to Maverik, but I never let him get one!

This shirt was perfect for him! and it came with a RC dinosaur. 

Lucky boy's goodies

After we ate goodies, Allie brought up a gift from Grandma B…some cool rocks from the Fort, $5 and a rubber band pistol...

"Take a picture of my dinosaur, Mom!"
I was really aiming for the cute face behind it!

James came as a surprise to our family, but what a gift he has been. He has kept us hopping and wondering how we'll survive him at our advanced ages. He is a very smart, capable boy and we look forward to watching his life unfold. James, we sure love you and are thankful that you came to our family!

Idaho Trip - Montana and Katie's Wedding Feb 2016

We left on Thursday, Feb 4 to head to Idaho for the wedding of Montana and Katie. We stayed in Price at Hugh's house with Mom and Hugh that first night, then drove on to Rexburg on Friday. We headed to the church to help set up the dinner. Katie had a plan and put us all to work, hanging streamers, backdrops, lights and setting tables and such. It was pretty much a trial run for the actual reception that would be held in Post Falls next week.
After everything was as set up as could be, the guys moved into the empty part of the gym for a friendly game of basketball. Montana had set it up, thinking it was a great way for the two families to mix and get to know each other.
Most of the other women left but I stayed around with the kids and watched…babies and basketball.

Clockwise from left-Montana, Katie's brother Logan, Ford, Jordan, Katie's brother McKay, and Curtis

Allie came with us and helped me entertain the little guys
Here she's drawing on the chalkboard with James

Emerson and Soren playing video games

Charlie…looks like he's doing a weird dance...

when he's really just kicking a basketball in a strange way.

not much to occupy the kids...

Allie finally got in and played with the guys. I was proud of her!

Emerson likes to take selfies :)

I have no idea who won, but they played for probably an hour...

Katie's dad, Scott is in the green shirt

good save, Montana!

After the basketball game we drove back to Idaho Falls to our hotel. For some reason it's about 1/2 the cost to stay in IF, so we usually get a hotel there when we go visit. This time we were at the Hampton Inn by the mall. We are becoming quite familiar with that area, since this is our third time staying there!

We had two rooms, one for all the girls and one for C and I and the boys. We found out upon arriving that one of the rooms was a handicap room and was huge. The girls had gone there first, but we made them switch with us since we had one more person than they did. And it was perfect because the little couch made out into a bed, so everyone had a spot and slept comfortably. So nice!!

James made himself right at home, comfy in the bed, watching a bit of TV

We love the breakfast options that hotels offer these days. So many choices of yummy stuff!
Juice is always a hit too, since we rarely have it at home.

Our large room!

On Saturday, we got ourselves ready and headed back to Rexburg. We didn't have to be at the temple until 1ish so it was nice not to have to rush. We went to Jordan and Lindsey's and I gave Emerson a haircut. He looks so much older now! Funny how that works. 

We headed to the temple and there we were able to be a part of a wonderful ceremony where Montana and Katie made sacred covenants and were sealed as a family for time and all eternity. I didn't take any pictures at the temple. It was cold and windy and we all just wanted to get to the church and warm up. (I will post some when I can get some from Katie.) 

There were many friends, family and loved ones who came to share this day with Montana and Katie. We are blessed to have large families who love and support each other. 

From our family, the following attended: Mom and Hugh, Kyle, Nicole and Allyson, Nate, Lori and Holly, Michele, Haley and Justin, Mom and Dad Welch. I hope that Montana and Katie felt loved!

We had a nice family dinner/reception following the temple sealing. It was quite casual and relaxing. Which was good. I was worried about Katie the night before. She seemed really tired. I hope it went ok for her and she was happy with it. She is a very creative girl and had put together a very awesome vintage theme. We had a taco bar and it was yummy, as was the cake Katie's mom had made. It had real frosting, not nasty fondant!

Mr and Mrs Welch cutting their wedding cake!

Sadie and her buddy, Emerson. He really latched on to her.

some of the eligible girls waiting for the bouquet...

We went to Jordan and Lindsey's to say goodbye to them and found this cute sight. What sweet little faces!

Cute cousins in the tub!

 Then we drove to a U-Haul place to pick up a trailer because for some reason it just wouldn't be a trip to Idaho without some car trouble. :/ Thankfully, this time it wasn't us, but Nate. His car broke down on Saturday and he and Curtis had spent a lot of time between the sealing and the dinner arranging for a trailer, then finding that it was a belt and getting it changed and taking the trailer back…but as we cleaned up the dinner, we got a call saying it had broken down again and they were leaving it in Blackfoot and going home with Kyle and Nicole. So we had to get the trailer again and pick it up on Sunday morning on our way home. When we got to the gas station off the freeway in Blackfoot where it was we found that it was locked. Nate had left the fob under the seat and it had locked itself. So we had to call a locksmith to come open it up for us. That was a 1/2 hour wait. While we waited we wandered around, used the bathrooms in the gas station and skated on the ice in the parking lot. I think by now poor Allie was wondering why she had come with us. Such adventures.

enjoying the sunshine

Strike a pose

The craziness of traveling with the Welches

I do have some beautiful daughters….

We finally were able to load the car up and head down the freeway. But we could not go any faster than 50 miles an hour or the trailer would start to fishtail. So it was a very loooooooonnnnnngggg day, taking us 7-8 hours to get from Idaho Falls to Lindon where we dropped it off at the Mercedes dealership so he could have it repaired the next day. By this time we were all a bit stir-crazy and the thought of 4 more hours in the car was just too much, so we got another motel room for the night and stayed in Provo. Oh, good. Another hotel breakfast with waffles and plenty of bacon!

my baby boys…

After a stop at Sam's Club to reload on cheese and butter, we headed home. Oh how happy we were to see the Abajo Mountains come into view! Such a welcome sight.

(this car trouble thing is becoming a disturbing pattern. Perhaps we shouldn't go to Idaho anymore ;) )

Our first glimpse of the "Blues" (Abajo Mts)

Ford @ wk

watching Ford do his thing…

Ford has been working for Emery Telcom for almost 1.5 years now. For the first year he commuted to Moab every day to work there while they brought their services to San Juan county. Now that all the lines are installed clear to Blanding he now works mostly in Monticello and Blanding. He installed new internet service for us over the Christmas break. I snuck a photo of him working out at our pole. He talks about what he does and I have no idea what half the stuff he refers to is, but I'm so glad he has a good job and seems to enjoy it and be competent at it. He has to climb under houses and up poles and other fun things like drive and use a cherry-picker.

I never could picture this kid sitting at a desk for work. I always thought he would have some sort of hands-on trade. Kind of fun to watch your boys become capable, competent men. :)

Happy Birthday, Great-Grandma!

My mom's birthday is on Jan 5. It was a really busy day and I didn't get a chance to call her, but I took this funny picture of Kami and texted it to her along with all the lyrics of Happy Birthday.
I love how Kami looks like she is singing. Mom thought it was really cute!

Cute Kami

Mom and Hugh at the Jazz Game the week after Christmas. Aren't they cute?

I sure love my mom and I'm so happy she has found love and friendship again. I am thankful she chose to be a mom and to have me and my sisters and give us such an amazing childhood and raise us with the Gospel. As I look back, my childhood has such a golden glow to it. I know that's because I had great parents, sweet sisters, a wonderful extended family, the Gospel and grew up in a safe place. Thanks, Mom! Love you!!!!

A Welch Christmas Get-together.

Curtis's parents were going to be in Orem the weekend after Christmas for Our nephew, Spencer's, mission farewell. We decided to head up on the 26th and spend the weekend with his side of the family. Turns out Michele and Erin, and their family, were also in town dropping Brandon off at BYU. So it was quite the party.

We stayed at the LaQuinta in Provo but spent most of our time with the fam. We went out to Chuck-a-Rama, which is always a crazy endeavor with a group that size. Nate and Lori hosted us all on Sunday after church. Spencer gave a very good talk in church, I think he'll be a good missionary. Then we gathered at Kyle and Nicole's for supper that night.

We were supposed to head home on Monday but we had nothing pressing so we stayed an extra day, moving up to the Hampton in Orem for Monday night. We shopped at the Provo mall then the boys and I went to visit the Holmsteads while Curtis and the girls + Isabelle went to the University Mall. Then we all gathered again at Nicole's for pizza and then headed to Blaster Tag.

It's a nerf gun tag place. The kids and lots of the adults had a blast playing the game. They have a ref who explains the games and does play-by-play. It was so fun to go with a large group and with so much family. Even James got to play! We did a bit more shopping on Tuesday then headed home. After spending so much time with family it's sure hard to leave, but we're grateful we could go.

that's a bedful of boys

James-didn't really play on a team, just randomly shot people

Nash, Charles and Soren getting ready for the next battle

Soren and Charles all set to go

they had large windows for spectators-I took pictures through them when my kids lined up against them

Battle's on….

Soren, Emma and Charles in the center of this picture

See the 'dead' people in the dugout? James didn't care about getting hit and just filled up his gun and shot people

James, Charles and Sadie in orange vests

Soren in the blue shirt with crazy orange vest

James in red shirt w/orange vest, Taylor with headband just behind him.

just an action shot. It was pandemonium in there when the battles were being fought.

Isabelle, the ref and Taylor...

Sadie kneeling in the center...

She's on the move

She had a HUGE gun that had a magazine that held so many darts. It took a long time to load, but she didn't have to stop and reload very often. She was often one of the last ones on her team still in action.

Soren and his fancy eyewear

Charles and his cool eye protection

Soren got an eyewear upgrade...

It was fun to stand in the dugout and watch and take photos

Every team had to line up on the back wall and touch it before the battle could begin. Nash found this little bumpout that put him closer to the other team to start.

Soren, Charles and Taylor here

Eli (green shirt), Spencer (white shirt w/blue sleeves), Sadie (behind Spencer) and Taylor (headband)

Sadie biding her time

Now she takes aim...
Eli and Emma also

Charles reloading

Sadie was much more into it than I would have imagined.
Hannah and Cambria weren't feeling well so they didn't play.

Oh, boy. Now the big boys are playing
Curtis in the darker orange shirt w/orange vest

after the previous group left, then the adults of our group got in on the fun...

in this game, if you got hit you stayed put and called for the "medic" to come heal you. Here is Curtis waiting for his 'medic'. Justin (Haley's husband) in next to him behind the box in  the green vest...

Here are Brandon, Allyson, Holly, and Michele. Maybe Haley?

Hannah decided she wanted to try it even though she felt crappy. Looks like James and Soren are giving her pointers

Curtis and Allyson

there was a game that required a sword. James just decided to use it instead of a nerf gun. He always does things the way he wants to, instead of how he's told to.

Curtis in the big box, Hannah in plaid, Holly holding up her arm for the 'medic', Eli back by the target on the wall

Soren in blue, James in red, Kyle in the dugout

Isabelle, Brandon, Nicole, Noah, Grandpa
We have such a great family and we love to spend time with them. Kyle and Nicole are always so good to let us all congregate at their house and visit and play. 

The sunset on the way home just south of Crescent Jct. It was much prettier than the picture shows. I'm so thankful for the ease of travel that allows us to go and visit family often. Heavenly Father has provided so much beauty for us.