Dave & Kelly Webster

Easter 2011

2011-05-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yes...I did the Bear Lake and the Valentines Pictures...only to discover that I didn't have any pictures of Easter to post!! Amy and Michelle used their camera's and I haven't got any pictures to post!

OUR VALENTINES PARTY 2011

2011-05-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

David and I held our annual GRANDKIDS ONLY- VALENTINES PARTY...so that their momies and daddies could go and celebrate the night! I t was extremely crazy with all ten of the grandkids this year...especially since Cohen (18 months) had a really hard time with his parents gone....so while one of us held Cohen....then the other got all the kids pizza, breadsticks, pickles and olives and drinks....needless to say there were not enough hands for anypictures of the dinner or the craft making... I barely remembered to take a picture with each of the kids with their picture frames at the end! IT WAS CRAZY! The kids painted and decorated a picture frame and then those that wanted to made bead necklaces!

WE HAD A GREAT TIME WITH ALL THE KIDS!!

(And Cohen did stop crying and start smiling about the time his parents walked in the door!)

BEAR LAKE 2011

2011-05-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

I actually got on here to post Easter Pixs and realized that I haven't done Bear Lake or Valentines Day so....for your viewing enjoyment:

Here is our FUN FILLED BEAR LAKE TRIP 2011!!

Snow Fun!!

Pool Fun!

CONDO FUN!!

4 New Christmas Posts.....

2011-01-30T16:06:00.001-08:00

I have been such a slacker in getting the Christmas pictures posted.... but our family took a little long weekend vacation to Bear Lake this month, and I couldn't get the Bear Lake pictures on here until I got all the Christmas pictures posted.....

So watch out....more posts to come! That's what happens when you get behind!

MY FAVORITE LITTLE PEOPLE

2011-01-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

Our 10 grandchildren from the oldest to the youngest......Bailee almost 10! Sage- 8 1/2 years old

Kenadee- Baptized in November 2010- 8 yrs

Hunter almost 7 years old!

Curtis- 6 1/2 years old

Eliza Mae - 4 1/2 years old!

Jade- turned 4 the first week of January!

Jake- 3 1/2 years old!

Paxton who will turn two in April 2011

and our littliest Cohen who is 18 months old and loves his Daddy!

I love being a Grandma!

Our Family Party - Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

Our Ten Grandchildren....this is my favorite picture of our Christmas Party.....they all took their roles so seriously....even the two littliest shepherds on the front left corner! We started with a dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, and honey baked ham (so that it felt like Christmas..instead of a regular Sunday Dinner)

Grandma and Grandpa Webster ( David's parents) and Grandma Teeples ( my mom) joined in our party!

We then went downstairs for the little program....just a little bit of history...I hurt my back the week before Thanksgiving, and so I had been un-able to get very many Christmas decorations out from under the stairs and up in the house! The boys did carry the Christmas Tree out and placed it in the corner of the basement...but atlas....I never got it decorated! It really bothered me, and in Primary the Sunday before Christmas the Primary Presidency did the little story about "Teach the Children" where you teach them what the star means, lights on the tree, red bows etc...all of the true meanings of Christmas. Anyway...it hit me that Sunday.. that that is what I should do with my bare tree! Teach the Children and let them decorate it! The really amazing part is that I already had everything except little wreaths to decorate it with!

So, I taught them what each item meant and then gave each grandchild one of the items to hang on the tree! It really worked out well, and they all seemed to really enjoy decorating Grandma's naked tree!

Below is the finished product....and if I do say so myself...it is prettier than I would have done...

The Webster Family just might make this a new family tradition!

We then do our own little family Nativity! This is a really special part of our Christmas! I let each child take turns being the different parts....of course all the girls want to be Mary and Hunter has a hard time not being the shepherd, but they are all really good sports! This year little Jade and little Jake were our Mary and Joseph....

Below is picture of all the kids ready and waiting in the hallway to make their way to Bethlehem!

Jade and Jake (who are the best little friends and go to the same pre-school, played our Mary and Joseph! And for those of you who don't know Amy's little Jake...he very rarely, if ever stands still...but he took his part very seriously!

It's Present Time!

Below is Jason and Erin and Cohen and Eliza!

The Bangerter Family below...it was really hard to get all the faces!

Below is Amy and Jon's family opening presents!

And you ask....where is Stefanie and Rich????? Well, Stefanie, once again is the camera girl and she didn't get a picture of herself! Imagine that!! But, Thanks for the pictures, Stef!

Grandma Teeples gave all of the great-grandkids one of those popular little rat like things that run and spin all over the place....she had thought that she bought one extra for herself, but when she got to wrapping, she realized that she was one short!

Below, we gave her a little rat pet of her very own!

It was a Wonderful Christmas....it went too, too fast as usual...and with not one day off from work, it really didn't feel like much of a Christmas break....but I loved spending what time I did have with my family.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Christmas Eve at Grandma Teeples

2011-01-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

The Reason for The Season - Teeples Family Nativity 2010 Gracelyn as Mary, Dennison as Joseph, Sage and Jade were our angels, Hunter the Shepherd, and Cory was the Star!

Grandma Teeples did her traditional dinner of ham, smoked turkey, homemade meatballs, that Eric and Tyler count and make sure they get their fair share (& more), party potatoes, marinated mushrooms, jellos, green salad etc. etc. etc.

Every year we all make a new ornament to hang on Grandma Teeples tree! What alot of memories are hanging on that tree! We started the year that David and I were married and haven't missed a year since...so that was 1977....that is alot of ornaments for one little tree! We all love looking back at all the years! It is amazing that my sister Kathy can keep coming up with new ideas for ornaments, year after year!

Sage helped make their ornament and Jade wanted so badly to help, that I let her decorate David's and my ornament....I must say that it is the brightest, sparkliest ornament we have ever had!

My mother, Grandma Teeples got a new ride this year for Christmas! The look on her face was priceless! My brother thought she could take it south with her and ride it around the RV park. Scott got mom down to Yuma and got the trailer put up and put her on the bike...he sent me a picture on his phone one minute of mom on the bike...and just one minute later sent me another picture of her black and blue and road rash elbow of where she fell! She did get back on, but once Scott left...I really don't think she will get back on it!

Our family has made the very hard decision of breaking off from my Mom's Christmas Eve!! With twenty of us now it was just getting harder and harder for the David Webster family to find time to have our Christmas...so beginning 2011...we will do our own Christmas Eve! On the kids year off, David and I will continue to go over to Mom's and celebrate Christmas Eve!

Our Annual Teeples Family Cookie Night

2011-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

On December 23, 2010 we held our Annual Teeples Family Cookie Night! Over the years (we think it's been about 30!!) we have added Gingerbread Houses for the kids to do....but this year with 10 Grandkids and the cost of buying the gingerbread houses...we decided to try candy trains! The kids had a great time making their trains and loading the cars with all kinds of fun treats! We start off the night with dinner....Grandma Teeples pays for all the pizza and breadsticks...and once again the rule was...if you eat...then you frost! Although through the years, I think more and more of our family are breaking that rule, but not everyone gets into frosting cookies!

But...for those we are obedient....the frosting begins! Amy made all the cookies this year! Thank you Amy! I actually got proof that David frosted a cookie...it may have very well been his first! Just kidding...after 30 years, he frost just enough for him to eat!

Let the trains begin! This was a new experience but the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Each child built their own candy train and loaded it with candy. It took everyone helping to pull it off!

As the grandkids get older....some of them are really detailed!

Now that I know they liked making trains, I can stock up on the candy bars at Halloween!

Below Jason, Jon and Stefanie are breaking in the new air hockey table! (New to us anyway...good thing it didn't fit in Michelle and Ricky's basement....we really scored on this deal!

Thanks once again to Stefanie for taking pictures for me....it's hard to be Grandma and camera man at the same time!

HALLOWEEN 2010

2010-11-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2010 started with a dinner quite different then our usual WEBSTER sunday dinners of meat and potatoes!!! We had two different kinds of enchilladas and spanish rice and green salad! I enjoyed it, but a couple brought their own food!

Once we were done with dinner...the kids all put their costumes on and we started the real party! I had donuts hanging from strings and it was really quite funny watching the kids try to eat them without hands!

The kids never gave up---little Jake just kept at it until he finally won!

But the best part was watching David, Jason and Jon try it.....the kids thought that it was so funny! Rich and Ricky were holding the pole and they didn't make it easy for the men.

The weather had cleared off enough that we took our little costume down the street to visit Sister Reef! The kids had fun having their little "Parade"

Little Cohen the "Tiger" was leading the way!

Below are Kenadee, Sage and Bailee who were our resident witches this year!

Our "Super Heroes" came blasting in....Curtis the Wolverine and Hunter the Spiderman!

Eliza was our beautiful mermaid with pinked stripped hair!

Jade the Princess Fairy (notice the wings) flew in for the party!

Jake "transformed" just in time for the parade!

Paxton- left the ranch and galloped on over to join the fun!

And...little Cohen Tiger!

I had also made some games for the kids....Pin the apple on the witch and a pumpkin toss...but I didn't get any pictures...I was to busy playing the games...Thanks Stefanie for your help as well!

Park City - UEA Weekend 2010

2010-10-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

With the grandkids in school...I have to really plan ahead in order to get everyone together for a mini-vacation! This year we decided to stay alittle closer to home and we booked the Marriott Mountainside in Park City! We had two condo's with two bedrooms each...and we had a great time from Wed. after school until Sat. late afternoon, October 13-16th! The grandkids loved the heated outdoor pool! The weather up in Park City was absolutely beautiful! Sage (8), Kenadee (8 next week) and Bailee (9) had a blast throwing each other!

Hunter (in the goggles) and Curtis who are both 6...had fun playing sharks!

Jade and Jake...both 3 years old...are a very crazy pair when they get together!

Amy and Grandma Teeples enjoyed sitting by the pool in the great sunshine!

Little Paxton (18 months) was always napping when the kids were in the pool...but he had fun playing along the edge!

All the kids love Grandpa!!!

Little Paxton follows Grandpa around like a little shadow!

Michelle and Paxton watching the kids swim!

Back in the condo's we had fun playing games....the kids are getting big enough for card games...

Jade (3) and Eliza (4) love dancing and coloring.....I loved watching these two little girls having fun....every where we went they were holding hands!

Below, we are all walking down to the bus stop to head over to the cool city park!

Marriott has lots of kid activities in the play area....Friday all the kids went and did the Fuze beads and Jade and Eliza played on the horses in their matching shirts!

The little boys brought some small toys and played really well together!

Below is Little Cohen (1) having his breakfast I think!

Getting ready for the day!

Half the fun of going on vacation is doing nothing at all...and by the picture below, you can see that the men have perfected that activity!

Bailee, Paxton and Kenadee

Hunter the horse..of course! I loved the goggles on Hunter and Curtis!

Like I said above...we rode the free city bus to the Park....they have a great playground for the kids! Below, little Jake is holding on tight!

Kenadee and Sage are never far apart!

I didn't get alot of playground pictures.....because I was too, too lazy to follow the kids around! But, the monkey bars were right in front of where I was sitting....

Before leaving the park....I had all the kids that could...climb up on the spider web...from the top down is Bailee, Curtis, Sage, Kenadee, Jade, Jake and Eliza!

While waiting for the bus to pick us back up from the park....we had head stand contests, and cartwheel contests!

On Saturday morning...everyone but Grandma (me) and Cohen and Paxton went on the Alpine Slide! This is Cohen and Paxton waiting patiently for the sliders to come down the hill!

Both pictures were so cute....I had to post them both!

Finally....they started coming down the slide....Bailee was brave enough to go by herself! I didn't get over to them in time to get my 77 year old mother coming down! The funniest part was watching her get out of the sled!

All the kids immediately wanted to go again...but the lines were forever long! So, we headed to Wendys for lunch and then over to the Olympic Park!

The kids had fun in the bobsleds and looking at all the different displays!

Eliza...below....trying her hand at the skeleton!

Sage and Kenadee trying their skills at the downhill!

Bailee, Kenadee and Sage playing a skiing game! Bailee must have won!

We all had a really great time....Erin and I must have really avoided the camera...we are nowhere to be seen! I tend to like it that way! Sorry Erin!

We had a great time, great food (and lot's of it) and really great company!

City of Rocks

2010-09-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

We had the great opportunity to travel to Almo, Idaho (way out in the middle of nowhere) with some of the great people in our Ward to visit a National Preserve called City of Rocks! We stayed in the cutest Western Lodge in Almo.....in a two bedroom suite that was just beautiful. I went expecting a best western type hotel and it was so nice! It was called Almo Outpost Inn. Above is a picture of David and I up on the rocks!

We got this great shot above of the group! Thanks Sandi for the amazing photos!

We were the last to arrive Friday night....we could have been their an hour earlier but we got royally lost....we were on some gravel road for almost 30 miles...but we made it!

Those that had got their earlier in the day, were able to go to the Dufree Hot Springs and then out to dinner at the Outpost Steakhouse.

Saturday Neil and Caroline made a delicious full course breakfast and Doug and Sandi fed us a great lunch in the park of sandwiches! And then to top off the day, we stopped at Maddox for dinner...which how can you ever go wrong with Maddox! It was a great trip....Thanks to the Briggs for putting it together.

My Hawaiian Adventure

2010-09-12T18:44:00.001-07:00

Our daughter Amy and her family had the wonderful opportunity to live in Hawaii for 7-8 weeks this summer! I didn't have much time off from work...but I decided to take two days off and turn it into a 5 day weekend and thanks to frequent flyer miles...I was able to go over and stay with them for 4 nights! It was a fast and furious trip (which I almost missed because of a summer storm in SLC and my plane was diverted to Twin Falls) but things worked out and I had a great time with the kids! I didn't get to their little rental house until late Wed. night and so we just went right to bed....but bright and early Thurs. morning we were up and took a walk along their little beach and then headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center...which we could have just walked right across the street but Amy drove me up around the temple and over to some cool beach point!

Amy lived right across the street from the PCC but she and the kids had never dared venture over by themselves...so I was glad that we got to go when I was there!

We spent Friday morning at their little beach...and minus the jelly fish stings that Kenadee and Curtis experienced...we had a great morning! The kids were amazing in the ocean....everyone of them had mastered the art of watching the waves and knowing when to jump. It was so fun to watch them....especially that little Jake.....he would get knocked down and then just get right back up and head right back into the waves!

Friday afternoon, we went to some little city North of Laie and had some amazing snow cones with Ice cream hidden in the center. They were really good and just the perfect thing on a hot Hawaii day! You can tell that the 4 hour difference in time is catching up on that poor grandma above!

Can you guess which beach this is??? If you said turtle beach...your right! Turtles were all over in the water along the shore and this guy (or gal) had crawled up for a little nap in the sun!

Sat. Jon took a much needed day off and we ventured to Sea Life Park which is a very, mini like Sea World! The kids loved the big aquarium and the dolphin show! After sea life park we spent the rest of the evening on the beach watching the Sun go down.

Sunset Beach truly lived up to its name.....it was so fun to watch Jon and the kids just loving the time together and enjoying the ocean waves! Below, you can just see them having fun with the sunset behind them!

Below are a couple of cute pictures I snapped of Amy's family........

The first one was at Sea Life Park waiting for the dolphin show and trying to keep Jake entertained!

The one below...was taken at some State Park above Wakiki..you can see Diamond Head in the background! This was on the way back to the airport!

I am so GLAD that I got to go and see what Amy and her family were experiencing in Hawaii....it was alot of fun!

4th of July Weekend

2010-09-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July weekend...we pulled the 5th wheel and the jeep up to Beaver Mountain and literally camped in the parking lot by the ski hill. While the camp ground wasn't all that great....the beautiful valley of Bear Lake....jeeping...and spending time together was awesome! This was the only camping trip that Kelly got to go on this summer (she works, David plays) and we went with Leon and Janet (David's brother). We had a great time... We hiked about a half mile or so into Bloomington Lake....which is fed by a glacier....it was beautiful!

We spent usually 1/2 day jeeping the beautiful hills of the valley!

Leon and Janet Webster (David's brother and wife)

Above...you can see the glacier feeding Lake Bloomington!

Both David and Leon had gotten 22 pistols for Father's Day and so we would stop along the trail while jeeping and set out some cans and fire away! I had no idea such little guns could make such a loud BANG!

We went up to Minnetonka Cave and had a great little tour! I didn't know that Bear Lake had so much to offer other than boating! It was a fun little cave...it took about an hour or so to hike back into it!

We took our lunch and had a picnic at the entrance to the cave.

Of course....it's never a trip unless something breaks down or someone gets stuck! In the pictures below it's alittle hard to see but Leon was royally stuck. He couldn't go forward or backward. Apparently we had gone up a trail marked for 4 wheelers only and the trail just kept getting narrowier and narrowier...until finally Leon was stuck.

With the trail so narrow....we couldn't get our jeep around to even help pull him out! They had to keep winching to different trees until they could finally push some of the big boulders out of the way...and then we backed down until we could turn around! Jeeping is always an adventure!

Bear Lake is really a beautiful little valley! We had milkshake at LaBeau's...twice! and had a really great weekend!

MARTIN'S COVE STAKE TREK

2010-06-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

David and I were asked to serve on the Martin's Cove Stake Trek Food Committee. The trek was held at Martin's Cove in Wyoming on June 10-12th. What a perfectly miserable, cold, wet, wonderful, spiritual, faith prompting adventure we had the opportunity to be a part of!

Below, is David and I standing by the monuments to the young rescuers who carried the frozen, sick, near dead pioneers over the Sweetwater River time and time again. The food committee headed up to Martin's Cove on Wed. night June 9th so that we could get the kitchen set-up and ready for when the kids would arrive the next day. Just outside of Rawlins Wyoming, about 20 minutes from Martin's Cove, David and I got caught in this amazing, scary summer storm. We watched it moving closer and closer.............

And then it hit with such fury, it was amazing.....hail so hard that I seriously thought that the truck windshield was going to break! I was screaming at David to stop, but the sound of the hail pounding on the truck and trailer was so loud, that he couldn't even hear me, and I was sitting right next to him!

We were able to take our 5th wheel up and park it in the Missionary Village Campground. We had a beautiful rainbow as we were getting the trailer set up...but once we got inside of the trailer, we realized that the hail storm had broken every single one of the trailer vents and also the big skylight over the shower!

You can tell from all these pictures, that the weather was less than perfect.....below we are trying to get lunch ready for the kids arrival on the first day! That is David on the left, stirring the pots of taco meat.

The food committee is ready to go...but the kids buses were a little behind schedule...which ended up working for the best, because we had did get our only sunshine of the weekend, long enough to serve them lunch! At each meal, the food committee prepared in the rain and cold and wind, and cleaned up in the wind, and rain and cold....but the rain always stopped just long enough to get the kids fed!

We were tasked with serving 500 people each meal! It was an amazing experience of small miracles of the mysteriously multiplying sack lunches, when after counting and counting we were 30 sacks short, but miraculously ended up with 2 to spare! Or the hot cocoa, which I had personally bought 4 servings for each person, but we just kept the hot water coming at every meal, due to the wet and cold conditions, and the hot cocoa never ran out...in fact we brought home several cases to spare! It truely was like feeding the 5000!

It is hard to imagine.....but the weather only got worse from here on.....

I kept thinking, "Oh, I will take more picture when the weather gets better!" Well, the weather never did, and sadly the camera didn't come out much after the first day!

This is our Stake youth, treking along the top of the ridge! I thought that this was a cool view!

EASTER 2010

2010-04-21T15:15:00.001-07:00

EASTER.......Our Family Party was a great success...or so the grandkids all said! Below is a picture of all the eggs waiting to be hid...for both the scavenger hunt.....where each grandchild had their own special clues to find and a present waiting at the end......... And below are all the stuffed Easter eggs waiting to be hid for the Easter Egg Hunt!

We started the party with a great dinner of BBQ Pork Spareribs and Baked Potatoes....and lots of yummy things to go with it!

After dinner the kids all sat in the upstairs family room singing primary songs while the adults hid the scavenger hunt eggs....I had to be a bit more creative this year, because the grandkids are awfully smart!

Below is Baby Cohen...the youngest grandchild... didn't get into all the eggs...but he is sure cute!

After the scavenger hunt...the kids listened to Grandpa Dave tell the Easter Story while the adults then hid the eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt!

Although....there wasn't alot of listening to the story, but David sure tried to tell them the true meaning of Easter!

Then.....Let The Hunt Begin!! The weather held out this year and we were able to have the egg hunt outside....the adults are getting pretty tricky about hiding the eggs! Although, two days later we found a forgotten egg out on the jeep trailer!

Below is Curtis and Hunter with all their loot!

Below is Eliza with her family....looking for eggs!

Below is Kenadee....she found an egg on top of Jason's truck!

For the scavenger hunt.....each child's last clue led them to a small present and they had to bring it back to the kitchen to all open together! Below, they are tearing into the presents!

Below is Sage, Bailee and Kenadee and Aunt Stef in the background...Thanks Stefanie for helping with the Scavenger Hunt and the picture taking again this year!

This year instead of hiding the 4 grand prize eggs....I tucked alittle note into a regular egg and then 4 lucky grandkids got to pick which egg they wanted!

There is also 2 GOLDEN EGGS hidden along with the regular eggs.....below we finally had to play warm or cold for them to find one of the golden eggs.....they were literally stepping all over it!

The GOLDEN EGGS are filled with Grandpa's coins...it is very heavy and had around $6-$7 dollars in each egg! Below everyone is looking for the golden egg hidden in the front yard!

Along with EASTER we celebrated our April Birthdays! Below is Grandpa Dave, whose birthday is April 2nd....Jake who turned three on April 9th and Paxton who turned 1 on April 17th! Happy Birthday!

We celebrated with brownies and ice cream!

HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!! ONCE AGAIN THE BEST PART IS JUST BEING WITH OUR FAMILY......WE LOVE YOU ALL!!

Easter To Come!

2010-04-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Reader Beware.....our EASTER pictures are coming soon.....it's going to take me awhile to get through the 200 some odd pictures that were taken between Stefanie and I!

It's St. Patty's Day!

2010-04-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

For our March birthday dinner.....I had this great idea to make it GREEN!! This bread from Winegars was AWESOME!

So.....one end of the table was decorated for St. Patricks Day and the other end for the March Birthdays!

The kids loved eating green beans, green potatoes and the green bread! Course' whenever they all get together they always have fun!

The three oldest finally got to set at the grown-up table! As you can tell....it didn't really help!

Hey...Look What I Found On My Camera!!

2010-04-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm quessing that this must have been on New Year's Day.......It's not very often that we can get David to play a game...so this must have been a HOLIDAY! Rich was such a good sport to go in and watch a movie with Eliza!

And after the card games.......it was ROCKBAND!!!! Below the Women are a ROCKIN!!

LADIES ROCK...I don't remember if the guys ever played or not!!

BEAR LAKE 2010

2010-01-30T09:14:00.001-08:00

On our annual trip to Bear Lake.....we had lots of FOOD, FUN & FAMILY! We checked in Friday night Jan. 15th and didn't have to check out until Tues. Jan 19th at noon. We had a great time, despite the stomach flu hitting 6 different members of the family over the 5 day span.

Below is a picture of the Rockin' Pajama Jammers!

We played lots of games.....the kids really got into war this year! They played for hours!

Stefanie and Rich brought up their Rock Band set and we had a ball trying out the different instruments and singing along to the Beatles! Grandma rocked at the Beatle songs!

Everyone tried to play along.....Bailee ws excellent at the guitar, Kenadee got pretty good at the drums, Sage did a great job singing and playing the insturments, everyone loved the drums!

Below is little Jade singing along.....the microphone was not even plugged in, but she loved singing along.....Eliza could sing all the words to Yellow Submarine!

Jake was wild on the drums below....

Believe it or not!!!! We actually got David to try the quitar!!! SHOCKER!!!

THANKS STEF AND RICH FOR BEING THE BEST AUNT AND UNCLE EVER!!!!

It's pool time!!! Thank heavens for a heated indoor pool that everyone...even the babies could stay in for hours on end!

Baby Cohen and daddy Jason!

Our Eliza Mae!

Below is Jade, Bailee and Sage!

The Three Muskateers of the Webster family....Bailee, Sage and Kenadee!

And little Jake.....has no concept of whether he can swim or not....and he doesn't care.....you have to watch this one like a hawk when he's in the water!

We ate all of our lunches and dinners together! I love having to only fix one meal...it really makes it a vacation for everyone....

BOY DO WE EAT GREAT!

Stefanie and baby Cohen....

Eliza and Jade.....I have this exact same picture and pose in last year's pictures....these two are really starting to play well together!

The two girly girls, Kenadee and Jade, getting their fingernails and toenails painted by grandma!

Sometimes I think that Uncle Jon is just a big kid.....he loves getting on the floor and wrestling and playing with the kids.....they love it!

It was another great Bear Lake Trip......the best part is watching the grandkids and kids interacting together, enjoying each others company and sharing special memories together!

I DO LOVE BEING WITH MY FAMILY!

Teeples Family Christmas Eve Party 2009

2009-12-28T08:55:00.001-08:00

For some 30+ years the Teeples side of the family has been celebrating Christmas Eve with a yummy dinner of cold turkey and ham, hot funeral potatoes, Grandma Teeples' homemade meatballs, pickled mushrooms, and salads and rolls.....and lots of homemade goodies! We make a new Christmas ornament every year......yup count them up...that's over 30+ ornaments for everyone! Sometimes the ornaments are individual...sometimes by families...how does Kathy and Melissa come up with so many new ornaments each and every year?

This year our grandkids got into the art of making ornaments....they are really creative!

It is a great tradition....and I think that my mom has the most unique Christmas tree around....30 years of pictures of her family!

Eliza and Erin making the perfect ornament!

Stefanie showing off this year ornament.....the next picture is of her and Rich...this is the picture that will hang on this year's ornament!

For 30+ years we have been lighting the Birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!

My mom has 11 grandkids and they each light a candle!

Then it is on to presents.......

Paxton is getting the hang of it.....he just liked eating the paper!

Stefanie and Bailee Bug waiting for their turn to open a present! Kylee (Scott's daughter) is on the left and Brooke and Tyler are on the right!

Our Family Christmas Party 2009

2009-12-28T08:23:00.000-08:00

We held our Family Christmas Party on Dec. 24th at 2:00pm........we all met on our front porch for a new family picture...and started off our party with our little Nativity! Don't the eight oldest grandkids look great.....this is my favorite picture of the day! Below is Bailee and Eliza playing Christmas tic tac toe!

The grandkids lining up for their grand entrance in the Christmas Nativity....

The cutest part is that they take their specific roles so seriously!

This was Paxton's and Cohen's first Christmas....Paxton tried opening a present with big sister Sage to help him! Cohen at 4 1/2 months really could care less!

Stefanie, Rich and our Miss K...(Kenadee)!

Little Jade is our resident princess...I gave her a dress-up set of princess clothes and she immediately stripped and put this one on.....Stefanie gave her earrings and necklaces and she added those to the outfit! Jade loves to pose for the camera!

Jake was really cute this year....really into opening presents....although I didn't catch his face, here he is opening a present with his dad, Jon and little Paxton looking on.

Curtis, who should have wished for 4 new front teeth, was pretty excited with his remote control semi and race cars!

Sage and Kenadee, both 7 yrs old, are our family entertainers...so the perfect gift for them was microphones for all those singing performances!

This is such a cute picture of our bug...Bailee! She looks so grown-up....she is our family artist, so a 201 piece art kit....is just right for her!

Hunter....Hunter...Hunter....ever time he came to my house this past fall, he would go straight to my Penny's wish book and look at the hunting play sets.....how could I get him anything other than that!

Baby Cohen and Mom and Dad (Jason and Erin) enjoying his new rattle....Cohen is such a cute little rascal! I am so glad that his test at Primary Children's Hospital went well this week, and that everything is okay!

Below is David and I's new Christmas picture.....why is it that we look so old?

Eliza and her baby brother, Cohen...enjoying the Christmas fun!

The following pictures are just random pictures of the party....Jason seemed to be enjoying something here...

We took turns opening presents....and I can't tell who everyone is watching in the picture below!

Stefanie, David and Michelle also looking on from the other side of the room!

Merry Christmas Family....I love spending time with each of you...and love you all so much!

Cookie/Gingerbread Night

2009-12-22T17:55:00.001-08:00

We had our 100th annual Teeples Gingerbread/Cookie night on Monday night Dec. 21st! We had a great time eating pizza and breadsticks, frosting and eating lots of great sugar cookies, made by Amy and the kids, and the kids had a fun time decorating their gingerbread houses! Below are all the finished gingerbread houses and all the smiling happy children that made them!
Little Jake (2 yrs) wanted to sit on my lap....but he DID NOT want me to help him! He would push my hand away if I even tried to help him! The fun thing is he just had a tiny little cookie and he frosted that thing for at least 15 min.

I think that this might actually be Ricky's first stab at frosting a cookie! The rule is if you eat pizza, then you have to frost cookies....somehow all these years Ricky has gotten away without frosting cookies!

We didn't have as many cousins as usual...but those that were there enjoyed themselves!

Mom and I trying to see who could take the best (or is it worst) picture! We are both famous for closing our eyes!

My sister, Kathy's, kids came....she doesn't get here from Colorado until Wed. the 23rd....

The picture below is all of us eating pizza...thanks Grandma Teeples for the great food! I actually set up the kids tables in the laundry room....two reasons....if they spill on the linoleum, no problem...and when the noise level got out of control (which it always does) we could just shut the door! I did check my washer and dryer for leftover pizza tho'...Jake is famous for hiding his garbage in my washer!

It is really interesting watching the kids each year decorate their houses....when we first added Gingerbread houses to Cookie Night (which we have done forever) the grandkids would do just one side or two of the houses and call it good! Now they are being more creative, and adding people and chimneys and this year Bailee even added a clock to the front of her house, and Sage added shutters to the windows! They were all especially cute!

I made sugar cookies for David after our second date...way back in 1973 or 74...and sugar cookies have been a part of our Christmas since before we were married....I am pretty sure that I even sent some to Belgium while he was on his mission!

Below are all our grandkids...from oldest to youngest!

Bailee (9 in Feb)

Below is Sage 7-1/2

Below is Kenadee 7 yrs old

Hunter (below) will be 6 in Feb

***Curtis 5-1/2 yrs old somehow got deleted so I have added him

back at the top of this post*****

Miss Eliza Mae is 3 1/2 yrs old...and she was so precise in decorating her house

Jade will be 3 in January

Below is Jake, 2 1/2 yrs old

Paxton (below) who is almost 9 months old - even got to taste his first cookie!

And Baby Cohen 4 1/2 months old was just happy to be here!

It's What Christmas Is All About

2009-12-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

The decorations are all up, the presents are all wrapped, the snow is finally here and I just wanted to share my favorite decoration in my house with everyone, because after all................this is what Christmas is all about!

Have I Ever....

2009-12-03T13:34:00.000-08:00

I got this off of Stefanie's blog....and I thought I would copy it here....the object is to bold all the things you've done in your life!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Visited a castle
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Save a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Spent New Years Eve in Trafalga Square
75. Fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Have been published
81. Visited the Redwoods
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year's Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Testified in court
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

2009-11-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

MY FAVORITE LITTLE PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE WORLD:

OUR TEN GRANDCHILDREN AFTER OUR SUNDAY NIGHT DINNER! The three oldest girls in the back are:

Sage (7) Bailee (8) Kenadee (7)

The two babies are: Paxton (6mo) and Cohen (3mo)

Bottom Row: Curtis (5) Eliza (3) Hunter (5) Jade (2) Jake (2)

2009-11-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

WARNING: VERY LONG POST!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

ITALY CRUISE

OCTOBER

9th - 25th

2009

We flew out of SLC at 8am on Friday, Oct. 9th....which meant that we were up at 4am to get to the airport at the required two hours before.....of course I had to have my traditional going on vacation Cinnabon!

We were so excited for the trip...but not so excited for the 5 hour flight to NYC and then the 9 hour flight to Rome! The plan was to try and sleep as much as possible, but that only seemed to work for Stefanie...

When we arrived in Rome at 7am on Sat. the 10th it was pouring so hard that the roof of the airport collapsed! It was just midnight back in Utah, but morning in Rome and so we shuttled over to our Hotel by the Vatican...deposited our luggage and headed out to see Rome! Below is the Castel St. Angelo which was shown in the movie Angels and Demons...we are standing on the Castel bridge which is in front of the castle!

Below is the Fountain of Four Rivers, which is located in the Piazza Navona....this fountain was also in the movie Angels and Demons...the last cardinal was dropped in the water here! There was some kind of demonstration going on in this Piazza...so we didn't linger very long!

We just wandered the streets.....stopping for a bite of Pizza before heading

to the Vatican for our tour.

We walked along the River Tiber on our way back to the Vatican! Our tour was scheduled for 2pm......remember we have been up all night and another day...but

our spirits were still going strong.

Below we are standing in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City....they had most of the square blocked off for some kind of knighthood ceremony that was going on the next day on Sunday so we couldn't get very close to the Obelisk in the center of the square.

The tour of the Vatican was awesome, all the artwork and sculptures....I decided to spare everyone of all the pictures of the interior of the Vatican museums....by the time we actually got to bed that night in Rome we had been up 36 hours! No trouble going to sleep that night!

Below....Stefanie is getting a drink out of one of the many fountains that we saw all over Rome! We had read that the water was safe to drink and it was very cold and delicious! We had to watch the people in front of us to see how to drink it tho'.

Below we are standing on the top of the Castel St. Angelo...the view of Rome was incredible from up there....the angel statue above us is just one of the statues that lead Tom Hanks on his quest for the path of illumination in the movie Angels and Demons!

As we were walking along, we ran across this palace....we don't really know what or who it belonged to, but the architecture was amazing! We think it must now be used for some kind of government offices....

Below is a picture of the wall that links the Vatican to Castel St. Angelo....it was used as an escape for the pope in times of trouble...can you picture Tom Hanks running across the top?

We boarded the Royal Caribbean ship, Legend of the Seas on Sun. Oct. 11th!

The journey across Italy officially begins!!

The picture below is of us eating our first Gelato in front of St. Peter's Square in Vatican City....somehow it got out of order!

Our first stop of the cruise was at the port of Portifino....Portofino is the new and exclusive area of the mega-wealthy in Italy....this small village had shops like, Georgio Armani, Gucci, Rolex etc.....needless to say, we didn't even dare go in them, and the only thing that we could afford to buy was a bottle of water and of course.......

GELATO!

Our second stop was the Port of Livorno, which is the stop for

Pisa and Florence! We got very brave and decided to try

riding the train from Livorno to Pisa, and then from Pisa

to Florence! At the train station we purchased our tickets

without any problem, but when it came to finding which

train it was that we were supposed to be on we had some trouble...

Once we learned that some of the platforms were reached by going underground...

we managed just fine! Riding through the countryside was fun!

Here we are waiting for our train!

We made it to Pisa and yes...there is the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the background!

Pisa was a fun little town with shop after shop...cars are not allowed in the

main city...but the bikes and scooters were everywhere! We seriously took our life

in our hands just walking through that city....those Italians don't stop their

bikes or scooters for anyone! Not even in the cross walks!

We did the traditional picture trying to hold up the tower...

but did you know that every city we went to in Italy had

their own version of the the leaning tower! The ground is so soft,

that most all towers are sinking into the ground and lean!

After Pisa, we walked back to the train station and caught the train to Florence!

Florence is mostly known for it's shopping district and the museums...

The most famous museum is the Uffizi Museum....it requires a reservation even to get in,

and although I tried, we were unable to get a reservation....but truthfully their was art and statues on almost every building and cathedral! We saw the Statue of David in the square and right by him, were statues of all the Roman Gods like Neptune!

Below we found a little bakery that had the best little sandwiches on Cibatta bread!

The second day in Livorno, we had a shore excursion to the Tuscany countryside to a Winery called Varramista...

this winery is owned now by the Owner of the Vespa scooter company! The villa was hugh and had 10 bedrooms and ten bathrooms, as well as all the other rooms!

We toured the wine making cellars...they have two cellars...the old cellar they still produce the wine the old fashioned way without electricity...

below is a picture in the old wine cellars!

The new cellars they produce the wine in these huge stainless steel vats!

After the tour they had a wine tasting....needless to say I didn't taste the wine...I did smell it and just about lost it! It smelled horrible...but my mom did her best in drinking all of our wine....but by the faces she was making, it must have been terrible....they had bottled water for us, and big platters of prosciutto (ham like) and big platters of various cheeses and a basket of bread!

Below is a picture of the Villa at the Winery...I was standing in front of the hugh gardens!

Below is a picture of the beautiful Tuscan countryside....the whole reason for going on this excursion was to get into Tuscany! Just wish there had been another way to do that without having to tour a winery...but it was beautiful!

Our next port was the city of Messina...Messina had been in the news just prior to our leaving on our trip....they had had 9 inches of rain in three hours and they were having really bad mudslides...we weren't even sure if we would be able to stop at Messina but everything seemed fine when we stopped on the 16th.

We decided to take a taxi to the hilltop town of Taromina. Taromina has an old Greek Theatre that is still used today for outdoor productions! The ride to Taromina was very eventful...first because the Italian taxi driver drove like a maniac the whole there....second alot of the freeway lanes were still closed due to the mudslides of the week before...and the whole 45 minute drive was pretty much through tunnel after tunnel....we tried to count the number of tunnels on our way back to Messina, but there was just too many of them!

Below we are standing in the Greek Theatre....the rain stopped for a minute while we were able to explore the old ruins!

The view from the top of Taromina was absolutely beautiful!

This street behind us is Italy's version of the crookedest street in town!

You have to look close but you can see that it goes back and forth for quite a while!

By the time we got back to Messina from Taromina it was really raining so we went back to the ship for lunch....after lunch it looked like the sun was out so we wondered out to the town of Messina....most of the city was shut down for their Respito (rest time) Most shops close down between 1-4pm.......

Below is the main Cathedral in Messina....the tower on the left has these gold mechanical figures that come alive at noon (which we missed) but the inside of the Cathedral was beautiful.

While walking around Messina we saw a Pommes Frites shop....David served his mission in Belgium where the french fry was invented and Europe calls fries Pommes Frites....We got a cup of frites in honor of David! Eating them by poking them with a stick was interesting!

Of course we found an open Gelato shop and tried Messina's version of Gelato...each time we had some it was alittle bit different...some were very creamy...some alittle more icey...but all of them were delicious! That is our cruise ship behind us! We were docked right on the main street in town!

That night back on the ship...my sister took a picture of our elephant towel that was left in our rooms....you can see just a few of the pictures that we had taken on the ship to that point!

Next stop: VENICE!!

We walked to the main Water Bus plaza and bought a 24 hr pass...here I am heading down the Grand Canal in Venice! The sun was finally shinning but it was freezing...hence the mittens came out of my pocket...and after this picture was taken my hat came up to cover the freezing ears!

Below we are standing in St. Mark's Square....the square has sunk below sea level...so a few times a year it is flooded with sea water and they set up all these raised walk ways for the tourists to get around on....between the people and the water, there was no room for the traditional pigeons. The water was probably 6-8 inches deep...I know because I walked around all day in the cold with sopping wet shoes and socks! The water was probably 10 to 15 feet inside of the cathedral...our guide said that in sometimes can be as deep as to their knees!

We hired a Gondola driver named Roberto to take us on a 40 min. ride on the smaller canals of Venice.....those little boats are so tippsy...in order to go under all the many bridges over the canals...we would have to lean way over to the right....it felt like we would go over board for sure...but that is the way that they get those metal tipped gondolo's under the bridges.

Venice had alot of fun little candy shops along the narrow alley ways...we found some old fashioned licorice....do you remember the licorice with the cream centers....I am hold black, my mom has the green apple and my sister Kathy had the strawberry...it was so good...I wish I had brought some home!

Below is another picture of us going under the bridges in our gondola ride...the picture got out of order! You can see how far we had to lean in order to get the boat under the bridge!

Our second day in Venice, we took a tour of the Doges Palace, and St. Marks Cathedral...the palace is for the ruling member of the government and it was totally done in frescos' and gold trimming...very , very fancy...

We got back on the water bus and just stayed on while it went down and back up the Grand Canal.....below is a picture of St. Marks Square from the water bus!

We headed back to the ship just as the sun was sinking in the sky...what a beautiful picture of Venice and the gondolas!

These pictures are all out of order..but oh well! Below is more gelato

standing by one of the many bridges and canals of Venice!

We were scheduled to depart Venice around 2pm...below is our last ride on the Grand canal!

The ship had a cruise away party on the top deck of the ship...we left Venice about 3pm and the following pictures were taken from the cruise ship as it sailed past the Grand Canal, and St. Mark's Square and on out to sea! It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful city!

After sailing from Venice we took advantage of the sunshine and played shuffleboard....which Stefanie and I won two games to one...by the time we were finished with the three games the wind was howling and we were frozen!

Oops! More pictures of Venice as we sailed away!

The rooftops were so beautiful...you cannot build a building more than 5 stories tall in Venice...so all of the taller buildings are the towers of all of Venice's more than 300 churches and cathedrals!

Our next stop was the only port outside of Italy....we stopped at Dubrovnik, Croatia! The old city has a big wall all around the city...it is a massive fortress...
It was alittle rainy so we decided to walk the whole wall before the rain got any worse! The wall is 6200 ft. long and has beautiful views of the Mediteraen sea....it was fun to walk it all...it would go up a ton of steps and then back down, and back up...our legs were very tired by the time we finished...I was glad that it was cooler while we walked and climbed!

Below is a picture of my mom standing on the wall, looking out over the sea...it was such a beautiful spot!

The rooftops of the old city were so beautiful surrounded by the castle walls! All the orange tiles!

More views from the wall...

A view of the mountain side of the wall...looking toward the newer part of the

city of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

After walking the wall we went looking for something to eat...and found a local bakery where we bought some delicious bread and pastries....we sat by the fountain in the city square and feed our remains to the pigeons!

The cruise had three days at sea and we passed the time by playing cards and reading....with the cold weather the whole pool deck was too cold, so it was hard to find a place to sit!

Here we are in the Anchor's Aweigh lounge waiting for the start of Bingo! We must be very tired...because there aren't many smiles! Grandma won $25 and Kathy won one of the games but she had to split it with two other winners so she only got 1/3 of the $300 prize!

Our last port was Naples.....we had booked a tour that would cruise the Amalfi coastline, and visit Pompeii...it included all the transportation and lunch! The day dawned rainy and so we headed to Pompeii first hoping that the weather would clear off for the Amalfi coast...

Pompeii is an old city that was covered by ash from the erruption of Mt. Vesuvious in the year 79ad....it is amazing what they have un-covered..the ruins were extensive...you could see the chariot marks in the stone streets, and we could clearly tell which houses were the wealthy lived becuase they had fresco painted wall, which we could still see....we could tell which buildings were the shops and stores and even the old Whorehouses (which there were 27 in the city of Pompeii)

This was in the main square of the city of Pompeii...we saw petrified bodies of animals and people who had died in the erruption!

The Romans really knew how to build cities that would stand up to time...even volcano's.

Just as we were getting ready to leave Pompeii the heavens opened and it poured and poured! The tour of the Amalfi Coast was cancelled and they bused us to the coastal town of Sorrento! Which was probably a very cool city, but it was raining so hard that we couldn't even walk around and see it! We huddled under an awning and tried to wait out the rain....but it didn't stop! We were very disappointed on our last day of the cruise!

Back in Rome!

This time in Rome we stayed on the opposite side of Rome from the Vatican....

We booked a little Bed and Breakfast near the Trevi Fountain...

The Trevi fountain was absolutely beautiful....and very crowded!

Below I am throwing my coin over my shoulder into the Trevi Fountain...fable has it that if you do...you will return to Rome again!

Below is the Piazza Poppolo...also in the movie Angels and Demons!

A beautiful big piazza with an Oblisk!

Below is the Spanish Steps...we never did find why these are so popular....they are a

meeting spot for tourists and locals alike! We had to sit down and rest

awhile from all our walking!

The Pantheon.... a vey old and very huge building! The workmanship was amazing...

Below is the incredible dome of the Pantheon! I can't believe how they built this without

modern equipment! Very impressive!

Below: This huge building behind us is actually a monument to the first president of Italy...

yes that is winged horses and chariot statues on the top of each side of the monument! They also have the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on this monument...it has two guards standing at attention and two eternal flames burning....we just happened to be there to see the changing of the guards....pretty impressive!

That evening we headed back to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night...it is all lite up and

it is even busier at night than in the day...it is a really beautiful fountain!

Our last day in Rome, we scheduled a tour of the Colisseum, Roman Forums, and Capitoline Hill.

I think that of all the impressive, huge, beautiful buildings and cathedrals and monuments that we saw.....the Colisseum was the very best!

This 7 layered building could hold 70,000 people and they could load and un-load the theatre in 15 minutes! It was built in only 8 years time....imagine the number of slaves that took to

accomplish such a feat! It is incredible that this building is still standing almost 2000 years later! Most of the destruction was done by earthquakes and the beautiful adornments were confiscated by the church...but it is still impressive as it is today!

Above we are inside of the colisseum...you can still see the original stairs, and tiles floors and tiered balconies of the colisseum.

Below: The Roman Forums.....these are the palaces and homes of Rome's ruling class...each emperior would build his own grand palace....the ruins were huge and remarkably there is still much that you can see of the art work, and statues and ornate buildings!

After our tour of the colisseum...we still had a couple of hours and we had seen all the things on our list...so we just started to waunder back to the hotel and along the way we ran into a street fair and stood for quite awhile watching the artists at work and eventually ended up back at Trevi Fountain (by a different route) and had our most beautiful looking gelato of the trip!

After getting back to our hotel...we asked the desk clerk where we could get some authentic pizza and pasta and he told us of a spot near the colisseum....which was great because we wanted to go back and see the colisseum lite up at night! Stefanie and I snapped the picture below

with my camera phone and sent it to David at home!

The colisseum at night....with the Triumphal Arch to the right and

the moon shining in the middle!

On our last night in Rome, and the last night of the trip...

we had authentic Italian wood oven pizza and then after walking over to see the colisseum, we found a little cafe with the most delicious looking desserts......what a perfect ending to a

perfect trip!

Below: Waiting for our flight home! The flight was over an hour late taking off and it was the most pitiful airport I have ever been too....we couldn't even find much to eat!

With leaving Rome late, we barely made our connection in New Jersey...after going through customs and then back thru security, we literally ran to the gate and were the last

people on the plane....we made it but the luggage did not....it was delivered to my home

the day after landing!

We had a great trip! Thanks Stefanie for being our map girl and finding all the things

on our list! Thanks Mom and Kathy for sharing this adventure with us!

Yellowstone Fall 2009

2009-10-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

One interesting picture: What happens to a car that hits a 2000 lb buffalo??

David and Ricky came across this car just minutes after she hit a buffalo...she must have been driving way to fast because she didn't even have any skid marks...David and Ricky watched the buffalo roll off of the car and stumble into the woods. Later that same day, we all stopped at the spot and they walked over and found the buffalo groaning and unable to get up....this happened on Friday and Sunday as we were leaving the park we stopped again and walked about 300 yards away and that poor buffalo was dead, all four feet in the air...so sad! Last weekend we made our annual trip to Yellowstone.....

when we arrived in West Yellowstone on Thursday the 24th at 3:30pm it was 82 degrees...... absolutely beautiful weather for the picnic that we had below: Michelle and Holly laughing at the kids....
(Somehow the picture of Michelle and Holly was deleted and if I
add it back it will add it at the top...so sorry about that!)
Anybody know way to add a picture where you want it and not to the top of the post?

Ricky and little Paxton enjoying the weather and the picnic time!

Mark and Holly decided to go with us this trip and below is a cute picture I captured of them below:

Can you tell that little Jade was a bit tired??? When a rock looks like a good resting spot, you know she is tired....could have something to do with getting up at 5:30am that morning to try and see some animals!

I and Michelle and the kids decided to take a hike up to Mystic Falls....we had never done this hike before and it was really a beautiful waterfall.....David, Ricky and Holly decided to go up to the overlook and missed the waterfall all together but saw a beautiful overlook,

looking over the whole valley!

The park had some real challenges this year...the road was closed from Madison to Norris so we had to go all the way down and around to get back up to Mammoth Hot Springs.....plus there is a fire in the park down by Yellowstone Lake and it made it even more difficult to get around! Below is a picture of driving through the smoke from the fire....the picture was taken about 3pm in the afternoon and you can see how the smoke blocked out the sun and made it look like nighttime! That was Ricky's red truck in front of us and we could hardly see him!

We had gotten up at 5:30am to try and get over to Dunraven Pass by sunlight and then went on up to Mammoth for lunch! When we headed back down, the rangers said that the road was closed because of the fire and that we would have to go back to Mammoth and up to Bozeman Montana to get back to West Yellowstone where we were staying...that would be almost a 4 hour drive.....we turned around to head for Mammoth and then stopped to talk about it and decided to just go back toward the fire and take our chances that they might open the road.

When we got to the actual section of the park that was on fire....we had to wait for a pilot car to take us through the worst section....they only took 20 vehicles at a time-one way-so we waited in line almost an hour before we could get through! Below are the pictures of the cars in front of us and those behind us! Lots of people trying to get through.

Below is a picture of the smoke billowing up ahead of us......while we were waiting for our turn the kids would just play beside the road....we watched a helicopter with a big bucket come right over our heads and drop the bucket down in the lake beside the road and then take off again with that big huge bucket swinging down....it only took about 2-3 minutes for him to go and dump it and then come back for more water, so you can tell how close to the fire we were!

Once we got through the fire section....below is a picture of the fire from across the Lake!

It was a fun trip, but it is so sad to see the difference in the number of wildlife that we see each year....five years ago there were elk and buffalo everywhere, and now the wolves have almost killed everything off....those dang environmentalists....save the wolves and now who is going to save the elk and the buffalo? Plus the hot weather made the animals alittle harder to find.

It was a great trip and great fun!

Carl Webster Reunion-Hanna, UT

2009-08-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

August 13-15, 2009 we had the opportunity to go with David's family to a great little retreat called Warm Springs Retreat in Hanna, Utah. David's dad reserved the whole campground for the three days, which included trailer spots, small cabins, pavilion, amphitheater, fire pits, river rafting, a pond with kayaks and paddle boats, and a main lodge. We had a great time with the extended family!
This is David's siblings: Carolyn (Gregg), Wendy (Stephen)& Leon (Janet)

Below are just a few of the 286 pictures that I took over the three days....

The grandkids and the great-grandkids really enjoyed the paddle boats and the kayaks....we had kids try kayaking that were only 5 years old and they were really good!

We had planned lots of fun crafts for the great grand children.....above they are making bug catchers and in the picture below they are making either a sun visor or a princess crown visor!
We had other crafts planned as well, but the kids had so much fun riding their scooters and bikes all over that we didn't get to all of the crafts and games!

The reason for this family celebration and reunion was it was David's Mom's 76th Birthday and we surprised her with birthday decorations, and a birthday cake and ice cream and presents! She said that she never remembered having a birthday party just for her before! Below, the great grandchildren were helping her blow out her candles.....actually I don't think she even got a chance to try and blow them out because the kids beat her to it!

There was a couple of small ponds about a 5 min. walk from the campground and it was supplied with 7 kayak's and 2 paddle boats! Everyone had fun racing the kayaks and paddling around on the pond! Of course, the boys had to see who they could tip over and get soaked! We all had a great time, rather we were sitting under the little canopy while it rained, or being out on the water!

The best part was just getting to know the family members! It was fun seeing the cousins have fun together, and watching the great grand children getting to know each other!

Even Grandma and Grandpa Webster took a turn in the paddle boats......that is pretty brave for a couple of 76 year olds!

Both evenings we had a fire in the amphitheater and sang camp songs and primary songs.....both nights it was raining, but we put up canopies over the sitting area and enjoyed the fire regardless of the weather......Friday night Colonel Cluff (David's sister's husband) did a Patriotic presentation of retiring a flag and talking about his recent visit to the beaches of Normandy France....and then he related it all to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was all very touching....listening to the music "I'm proud to Be an American" while the flag was retired was really special....even the smallest child was so quiet!

Saturday morning we had a great big country breakfast of eggs, bacon, ham, potatoes, and pancakes! Below is all of the cooks in the open air kitchen!

For Grandma's birthday we gave her a Christus Statue and a scrapbook that will eventually hold all of the pictures of the three day event....and in the back of the scrapbook we each wrote a special memory of grandma for her to read! (and cry over, I'm sure) Below some of the cousins are writing their memories of Grandma Webster!

In the pavilion area, there were many, many little chipmunks......the minute we were finished eating (& sometimes before) they would move in and clean up the ground of all the crumbs....the first day we left out some cantaloupe's and bags of chex mix and when we got back from the pond they had burrowed a hole in the cantaloupe's and through the bag of chex mix....after that we made sure to leave nothing out! The kids got really good at setting traps for the chipmunk's...Daniel set a kind of snare and the picture below the kids have a chipmunk caught in the box! Of course, they all wanted to take him home!

We had fun as a group playing, Twister, Kick Ball, Charades....(who will ever forget Leon's rendition of Peanuts!) We were laughing so hard we were all crying!

Friday afternoon we headed to the river that flowed past camp and had fun floating the river and building dams! Below the guys were trying to build up the dam to make the water deeper I guess (it's a guy thing!) Kyle (on the very left-lost his wedding band trying to lift a heavy rock!) Thank heavens his new bride, Chelsea, is very forgiving!

Everyone enjoyed watching the kids having fun!! and the men making fools of themselves!

The adults made kind of a trail to catch the kids as they floated down the river.....they had some pretty cut up legs and feet from the rocks....but the kids had a grand time.....some of there little chins were shaking so bad from the cold, but they would not quit going again and again!

Below, is a picture of the trailer spots....their was 5 spots for trailers with hook-ups, and about 8 different little cabins, plus the main lodge.

Wendy's husband Steve, made a video of Grandma and Grandpa's life and we watched it and Grandpa told us about the various pictures! Grandma and Grandpa were quite a good-looking couple in their day! It was fun to hear the stories of their life!

Below is Grandpa Webster with two of his great grand children going for a walk! Cute Picture!

Jon, explaining the rules of the next great game....he told them all to take a knee! We had some shirts made for the reunion.....and they all really do look like a team!

Alot of the time was just spent visiting and watching the kids play! We had the most amazing food and fun...but best of all was the company!

The campground does not allow 4 wheelers, but Grandpa Webster got special permission to bring a 4 wheeler so that he could get Grandma back and forth to the pond and the river! They were sure cute driving around together!

After three days of fun it really was hard to leave and say good-bye....some great memories were made and family friendships renewed!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Webster for giving us the opportunity to realize why family is so important and how much our families mean to each of us! We had a great time!

Monroe Mountain in July 09'

2009-07-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

On July 11, we had a Taft family reunion at Fish Lake........David decided that we would take my mom and go down the day before and stay in Richfield, UT......we got to Richfield just after noon on Friday, July 10th and after lunch and checking into our hotel, we took the jeep and headed up on Monroe Mountain! We were planning a camping trip there for the 24th of July weekend and David wanted to see how the roads were for pulling up our fifth wheel trailer! We spent about 6 hours on the mountain......Mom made a great navigator and we saw alot of deer and elk!

As you can see, the scenery is absolutely beautiful!

The picture above was a elk nursery herd we ran into (literally, they crossed the road in front of us) there was about 30 cows and their babies!

July 24th Camping Trip

The following pictures are of our camping trip over the 24th of July!

We had a great camping spot, and great people to go camping with.....besides us and two of our daughters...Amy & Michelle and their families....we also had Ricky's parents, Ricky's sister Dixie and her husband Mckay, Matt & Monique Draper and their two boys, and a guide friend of Ricky's, Tyler and Brittany Watson and their two kids!

Jade and Jake (both 2) have really started to play so cute together....they both climbed up on the 4 wheeler and pretended to be driving and riding!

Bailee (8 yrs old) got her first taste of driving the 4 wheeler all alone! She looked so tiny and cute driving up and down the road! Only problems, is now she wants to drive it all the time!

Above is a picture of our great camp by the quakies and pine trees! We took the jeep out everyday and explored some of the trails in the area.....the first night after dinner, we went out for a ride and we counted 26 deer! Mostly does, but a few bucks!

Above the kids are playing a new game invented by Jon called Monster Tag! The kids all hide their eyes and count to twenty while he goes and hides, and then they go looking for him and he jumps out of wherever he is and scares them and chases them back to the start! This game involves lots of screaming and running, but the kids love it! I thought this picture was so cute with all of the kids with their noses pushed against the ranger counting to 20!

Just some random pictures of the grandkids.....Curtis and Hunter playing cars in the dirt...

while Paxton (below) is having trouble opening his eyes in the bright sunshine!

After Bailee got to drive the 4 wheeler alone....Jon got really brave and let Sage and Kenadee give it a try...below is Sage driving all alone! (My picture of Kenadee didn't turn out so well!)

More pictures of our camp!

Saturday, we took the jeep, four wheelers and the ranger on a ride up to the top of Monroe Mountain.....elevation 11226 feet! The view was absolutely beautiful! We ate our picnic lunch up there at the top...and then the rain started on the ride back down the mountain!

The kids took their lunch over on this group of rocks to eat.....this picture doesn't do the scenery justice...but look two pictures down and see the view that they were eating by! The dark clouds and the rain all around us was so cool looking! The thunder started on the drive back down....that sound rolling across the mountains is so cool!

11226 foot elevation is alittle tough to breathe for David...but he enjoyed the view!

Below, is the battle of who got to ride in the front seat of the ranger on the trip back to our camp....I think the girls ended up winning, but just minutes after starting back, the rain started and those girls where wishing that they had fought for the back seat....there is no windshield on the ranger and they were soaked when we got back to camp! The good thing about it all was that Michelle and the baby usually sit in the front of the ranger and they got booted out to the back seat of our jeep, where it was nice and dry!

When we got back to camp...it was still raining and while everyone got started packing everything up and getting ready to head for home, these two-two year olds found that the rain water was pouring off Grandma and Grandpa's canopy and they were having so much fun standing under the shower! They were drenched....I think Jake stood under there so long that he had a brain freeze from the cold water! They both had to be bathed before we could even start for home!

4th of July 2009

2009-07-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July weekend, we headed up to the Soapstone Basin to do alittle jeeping, and camping with some of our family and friends....Thursday night we had tickets to the rodeo in Oakley! It is a great little rodeo....it moves fast and the arena is small and you can see everything really well. It was raining when we first got to Soapstone, and we had to set up camp in the rain....but just before the rodeo it cleared off and it was a great night! Jason and Erin came up for the first night and tried sleeping in their little tent, but the rain started again just after going to bed and they ended up in their truck! I couldn't believe they didn't come climb into our trailer, but they said that the three of them slept great! Hard to believe that at 8 months pregnant you can sleep great in a truck, but Erin managed!

Jason and Erin cooked a great looking breakfast the next morning!

The kids found this little swing, back in the trees by our camp....they had so much fun with it! Bailee stood there forever pushing all the kids in the swing! Bailee is so good with the little kids!

This is Jake....looking great on the 4 wheeler!

Ricky took us up to this beautiful lake.....beautiful except for the mass of mosquitos ready to eat us alive! With all the rain, the mosquitos are alive and well in the Uinta's!

The ranger riders! The kids usually fight to see who gets to ride in the ranger, but this trip they wanted to ride on the 4 wheelers or in grandpa's jeep.....it is so fun to have the kids going back and forth between the vehicles.....and I learned this weekend that the boys are much, much louder than the girls...who'd have thought!

Michelle with baby Paxton....he loves the ranger rides too!

Sage and Kenadee got all bundled up and ready for a ride in the jeep, and then it cleared off and we were sheading our jackets fast.

The two pictures below are of Jake and Jade after spending the afternoon painting the "fort"...the fort was the area around the swing! The kids all painted and painted.....I can't believe that I didn't get a picture of the final paint job! But, did Jake and Jade paint themselves or the fort? It's hard to tell from these pictures below!

Jade won the most colorful hands award!

There was even time for "some" to get in alittle nap between playing Kick the Can and Kick Ball!
I guess he needed his rest before standing the kids in Kick Ball!

The kids are all lined up for Kick the Ball....Jon (after his nap) played against all the kids...it was so fun to watch!

Jon stood all the kids....I'm not sure who won! Probably the kids, although Jon was pretty good at throwing the ball and getting them out!

Little Jade fell asleep on the ride home, and she slept for quite awhile here on the 4 wheeler while the kids were screaming right behind her playing Kick Ball! Don't you wish we could all sleep as deep as a kid!

We drove home late Saturday night and had a bird's eye view of all the fireworks in the area....from the mountain road we saw, Clearfield's, Kaysville's and Centerville's fireworks....and then while coming down Antelope Drive, we had a perfect view of the finale of Clearfield's fireworks, they were really good....and all of this while towing the fifth wheel and jeep home. It was a good weekend!

Memorial Day Camping Trip 2009

2009-05-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

These are some of Ricky's pictures of the flash flood that they encountered trying to leave Goblin Valley....this is the result of the hail storm that David and I and Jade got caught in earlier trying to flee the storm....

For Memorial Day Weekend we headed back down to the San Rafael Swell area outside of Green River, UT. We went with our oldest two kids and their families, plus a whole lot of their friends! It was certainly a memorable weekend! We had rain, and more rain, hail, some sun, cold and a whole ton of mud! This is a picture of our camping spot.

You can see how there was mud everywhere with all the rain!

But when the sun would come out, we would head for the jeep, ranger and four wheelers, and go out of some of the amazing trails in the area. The three oldest grandkids, Kenadee, Bailee and Sage road in the jeep with us. We had "Wicked" playing on the IPOD and we had 5 way stereo....the three girls singing at the top of their lungs, and they knew every word of every song!

On Friday while the weather was good, we went over the Devils Racetrack again.....you may remember that we did this same trail 2 weeks earlier and ended up towing Jon's four wheeler out! Well, today was no exception, just shortly after these pictures, we ended up towing this Ranger off the mountain in the pouring rain. We finally just went out on I-70 and towed them down the side of the freeway, because we had 8 freezing kids with us and we were all soaked!

I didn't get any pictures of Devils Racetrack last time, so here is a picture (below) of the hardest part, but of course, the camera does not even begin to do it justice!

Everyone gets out and walks down this part.....it is good that I took pictures this time, because after someone breaking down both times, we probably won't be doing this trail again.

Jake (2) and Hunter and Curtis (5)...above

and Jake and Jade (2) below. It was fun to have

the kids want to ride in the jeep with Grandma and Grandpa!

The jeep is a great place for that afternoon nap! (at least little Jake thought so!) It is amazing how kids can sleep through all the bumpy trails!

Below is the ranger being towed out of Devils Racetrack and up Eva Conover!

On Sunday, there was some sunshine until about 3pm and so we drove over to Goblin Valley State Park for the kids to play on the Goblins and to have a picnic! After all day Sat. cooped up in the trailers because of rain, they really needed the break and to be able to run and play!

Bailee caught a lizard, and named him "Larry" ....she had so much fun with that lizard. She made a little house for him in a water bottle and took him on her hike up the mountain back at camp. She put him on her shirt to climb up a rock, and sadly, Larry jump off and ran away!

Goblin Valley is really an amazing place...

Hunter and Curtis tried surfing on the top of one of the Goblins!

I wanted some new family pictures, so above is David & I

Jon & Amy and their children, Curtis, Kenadee, Bailee and Jake (above)
and, Ricky & Michelle and their children, Hunter, Bailee, Sage and baby Paxton hiding under the blanket!

After our picnic lunch in the Goblin Valley camp ground, the dark clouds started rolling in and David & I decided we had better head back to camp before it started raining again.....we took Jade (2) with us.....rather than out running the storm, we drove straight into it on Temple Mountain. I have never seen hail so fast and so furious. There was three to four inches of hail in less than 15 minutes.....you can see that the jeep only had a top, and I was sitting with Jade in the back seat trying to keep her covered and David finally had to pull over because we couldn't see anything! Thank heavens we had extra coats and jackets in the jeep to throw over us. It was freezing and we were completely covered in hail. You can see the hail piled up on the jeep!

Monday morning there was sun again, and we headed out....this cool arch is just below Swassey's Cabin on the Eagle Canyon trail.

Traveling home on Monday afternoon, Jon's truck blew something just south of Wellington, and we ended up putting 3 kids and Amy over in our truck, and Bailee and I traveled home in the 5th wheel....talk about a bouncy & noisy ride. Bailee thought it was great fun, we played Uno, tic tac toe, rush hour, hangman, and then once it was dark, we made up stories for each other. That will be one of my greatest memories......after getting home about 10pm, David and Ricky headed back to tow Jon's truck and trailer. All in all David was in the truck over 12 hours straight!

Mother's Day Party

2009-05-20T10:23:00.001-07:00

We had a late Mother's Day Dinner this past Sunday....and the one thing I wanted most was a new picture of our grandkids.....with Paxton's birth 4 weeks ago, my photo's were outdated. I always put Stefanie in charge of pictures and she does a great job! If you can over-look the red punch faces, here is our new picture of all 9 grandkids! We had a great dinner and had fun getting together! Grandpa David & I worked Saturday on getting a new sandbox for the kids....the old one could only hold 4 kids and it wasn't working any more.....we bought a new pool and loaded it with more sand for them to dump all over the yard.....it doesn't look like it is big enough, but it really is double the size of the old one! In fact there were 10 kids in it on Sunday!

Spring in Yellowstone

2009-05-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, May 7th we took David's parents and his sister Carolyn and her husband Gregg up to Yellowstone. David has been wanting to try Yellowstone in the spring .....we go every fall, but in the last five years we have only seen one or two bears total, and he wondered if in the Spring we could see more bear! It was a really quick trip, but just in the first day we saw 4 bears, 2 grizzlies and 2 black bear! But, we also had alot of fun driving around and seeing everything else as well! This is Gregg and Carolyn stuffed in the back of Michelle and Ricky's Yukon...it was fun to all ride together in one car, but it was alittle tight on space!

On the way up we stopped at Island Park.....the cabin above is where David's family spent two weeks every summer. This is where David learned to ski and their family has many fond memories of these summer vacations!

Of course, we have no idea who owns the cabin now, but that didn't stop us from peering in the windows to see what it looked like!

Both David and Carolyn remember spending many fun days on this floating dock, just steps away from the cabin!

David, his father, Carl and Carolyn and mom Lois!

We asked some kind stranger to take a picture of all of us on the steps of the visitor center in Mammoth, at the park headquarters.

Grandpa Webster was telling some joke about John Wayne coming to Yellowstone....he had Grandma and Carolyn laughing by Gibbons Falls.

Here is Carolyn by the falls just outside of Mammoth! I can't remember the name???

Gregg having a little alone time with the buffalo.....buffalo kiss???

The great thing about having condo's is starting each day off with a hot homemade breakfast.....Gregg is the king of omelets!

Grandma watching Old Faithful!

The gang at one of the monuments...

The girls at Old Faithful....there was still quite a bit of snow at Old Faithful, and pretty cold, but the sun was shining.... below are the boys waiting for Old Faithful!

And the reason for the trip, besides (of course) the company, was the animals....we saw everything except a moose (which we have never seen inside of Yellowstone) and we didn't see any wolves, which are really hard to spot anyway! (but we have seen these in the fall)
So below are just a few of the pictures I had of animals.....(David loves animal pictures, but I prefer pictures with people in them) so first we have a Bald Eagle...

A coyote

One of the two Black Bear that we saw! The grizzly bear that we actually saw twice on the same day....once in the morning around 10am and later in the afternoon around 3pm....we are certain he was the same bear because he had a hurt front paw and limped on his wrist!

Antelope or Pronghorn

We saw a ton of Elk, but this big boy below, we will have to watch for in the Fall. If his antlers are this big already, he is going to be huge come fall!

Below is some kind of mountain sheep!

Below is just one herd of Buffalo, of the thousands that we saw.....I just thought this was a cool picture because it shows them crossing the Firehole River.....This same herd we watched get caught in the hot pots and burned their feet trying to get across them, and then headed for the river to get cooled off!

Eliza's 3rd Birthday

2009-05-13T11:08:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, May 6th was Eliza's 3rd birthday.....grandpa and I were missing her birthday party on Saturday, so we took her to Olive Garden for lunch and to give her her present! She loves Olive Garden's "noodles" but she didn't love it when they came to sing to her!

The camera just missed her blowing out the candle on her ice cream sundae!

Grandpa with celebrating with Eliza.....we gave her a little camping set, and Erin tells us that the little doggie that came with it is now the new family pet, which she named "Filbert". Where did that name come from?

We love you Eliza....Happy 3rd Birthday!

2009-05-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went with Amy & Jon and the kids down to the San Rafael Swell area outside of Green River Utah. It was an awesome place to go 4-wheeling and jeeping! This is Jake (2) below....all he can say is Go Daddy! This is Curtis (5) and Jake (2) ready to go for a ride!

Bailee (8) and Kenadee (6) are excited to be headed out on the 4 wheelers!

This was close to where we stopped for our picnic lunch! It was really beautiful country!

Curtis came into the jeep for awhile and the rule was if you didn't put on the seat belt, you had to keep one hand on the strap at all times, in case Grandpa hit a bump....Curtis fell asleep but he didn't let go of the strap!

This next picture is alittle dark, but we are just below Swassey's Cabin!

David took this picture of Swassey's cabin to send to his horse packing partner, Phil Squires! They have been all over this country on horseback!

These two bridges are part of I-70...it was cool to ride under them!

There were sign markers all along the way....which was a very good thing so we didn't get lost!

Amy and the kids!

About 4pm on Sat. Jon's 4 wheeler lost a bolt to the suspension.....they tried for an hour to fix it but ended up towing it for another hour and then about 1/2 hour before sundown, we finally had to abandon it and pile everyone in the jeep for a very long slow ride back to camp. We got back to camp about 11pm Sat. night. David and I were suppossed to be home Sat. night for our Stake Conference, but unfortunately we didn't make it. Sunday morning we packed everything up and headed to the little town of Ferron, Utah and the men left us at the city park, while they tried to take the truck and find the 4 wheeler. 4hours later they came back and got us.....Thank heavens for playgrounds and city parks. I don't know what Amy and I would have done with the kids while we waited!

This is a cute picture of the kids in the trees around our camp! It was a great camp, at the base of a high cliff....with trees all around. And the best part was it was very easy to get to....only 6 miles off the highway and on really good dirt roads!

Easter Party 2009

2009-04-13T10:01:00.001-07:00

We held our annual Easter Party on Sat. April 11th.... The kids made some cute Easter Masks!

The two monsters above are Hunter and Curtis, with their Easter Masks!

Grandpa Webster & Curtis teamed up for the Easter Scavenger Hunt!

Stefanie and her Bailee Bug looking for eggs in the Scavenger Hunt!

Jake didn't really care too much about the eggs, but he loved riding on the lawn tractor!

Eliza took her mommy and daddy with her to look for eggs!

Kenadee and Rich having fun looking for eggs!

Grandpa Dave told the kids an Easter Story about Jesus and his last week! The grandkids really listen in primary because they knew all the answers!

David had a captive audience for his Easter Story!

The kids really enjoyed Grandpa's story time!

Then it was on to a delicious Easter meal!

The kids love sitting at the kid's tables!

With the weather not cooperating, I had to sit 27 inside! It was tight but it worked!

After the yummy dinner, we had the big Easter Egg hunt....I gave all the mommy's and daddy's a bag of eggs to go and hide while the kids waited in the upstairs family room. I have alot of eggs, and this year I added 4 extra big eggs to go along with the 2 golden eggs!

After the egg hunt, the kids love opening up the eggs and seeing the special stuff inside. I don't put alot of candy, but I try to find little toys and things for the kids!

Sage found one of the golden eggs and when they counted the money it was over $6.....obviously Grandma does not know how much she stuffs in those eggs!

Our little Easter Bunny Jade!

David's Surprise Birthday Party!

2009-04-13T09:27:00.001-07:00

On Thursday April 2, David celebrated his 53rd Birthday! I kinda tricked him with a surprise party! I told him that our family was all meeting at La Choi's in Clearfield at 5:30pm and then they were all coming back to our house for cake and ice cream afterwards. We had a great dinner, with our favorite waitress, my niece Melissa! When we got back to our house we had cake and ice cream! David started to wonder what was going on when friends and family started arriving to wish him a happy birthday!

The grandkids helping Grandpa blow out his candles!

We have so many great friends from Farmington and Syracuse!

And our family is the greatest! I knew that David hates all the attention, but I knew that he loves visiting with people! I decided that after the last heart attack, we needed to celebrate every year that we get to spend with him!

It was a great night of family and friends!

Moab Fun!

2009-03-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

We were able to head down to Moab for a quick trip over the weekend. Leon & Janet (David's brother) went down with us....we did some trails that we have never done before and we were able to see some more beautiful country!On Friday, Mar. 20th we found a very awesome canyon...which I can't remember the name of just now...senior moment!

It was a narrow winding road down into a beautiful canyon!

You can see below, how narrow the road was! That black speck is Leon's jeep!

On Sat. Mar. 21st, we tried a new trail that skirted the boundaries of Arches National Park! It was really beautiful country and we eventually ended up in the park, and then came out through Arches!

The trail wasn't always marked very well....here is David and Leon trying to find where we were on a map...half the fun of finding new trails is getting lost!

We tried a new trail called "Heh Joe Canyon" .....it pretty much just followed the Green River, down through the Tamarack trees, which means lots of new scratches on the jeeps....it ended up at an old Uranium mine, that had lots of old mining equipment scattered around!

Spring Fun

2009-03-23T11:07:00.001-07:00

Eliza got to spend the night with Grandma & Grandpa Webster while her parents went away for their anniversary.... Eliza loves Maggie...Don't tell her mom that she likes to give Maggie kisses on the mouth!

She helped us put up the trampoline for the new season!

And Eliza and Grandpa went for alittle horse ride...this was the first time Eliza has ridden the horse all my herself (with Grandpa leading of course!)

On Sunday, March 15th, I had the March Birthday dinner....and with the great Spring weather, the kids broke in the sand box....8 kids in one little sandbox!

I loved how little Jake (down front) was waving for the picture!

Sage and Jade came on Sat. before the party and helped me make the cheesecakes!

Jade loved licking the beaters!

Grandma's Valentines Party

2009-02-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

David & I hosted a Valentine's Party for our eight grandchildren on Saturday evening Feb. 14th! It gave each of their parents on opportunity to go out and celebrate while we had fun eating and playing with the grandkids!
We served the kids a dinner of pizza, breadsticks & vegies and dip.....there wasn't alot of eating going on, but there was a whole lot of fun!

The kids never get to sit at "the big table" when we have our family get togethers....so they thought this was fun to be served by Grandma and Grandpa!

I went all out decorating for the big party!

This is our Bailee bug, who will be 8 on the 23rd of Feb and is getting baptized on the 28th!

This is our Sage who is 6 1/2 yrs old, doing one of her famous poises! This is our Kenadee, also 6 1/2, with her toothless hugh smile!

This is Hunter who will be five on the 23rd of Feb!

This is our Curtis, 4 1/2 yrs old....he has the biggest and best smile of all!

Eliza has just started doing her "Smile" for the camera....she will be three in May!

Our little Jade, just turned 2 in January! What a sweetie!!

And our youngest grandson, Jake will be two in April...he wasn't feeling well for the party!

We tried taking a group shot of all the kids, but the balloons kept getting in the way, and everyone kept moving around!

After dinner and the games, we all settled in for a movie and my famous homemade popcorn!

I had bought a new movie just for the party...which was actually an older movie called "An American Tale #2"

Family Bear Lake Trip

2009-02-02T16:57:00.001-08:00

Our family weekend at our Bear Lake Condo was absolutely GREAT! The grandkids are getting where they play so well together and have so much fun together! Here are the oldest five in the indoor swimming pool! I love this picture of Eliza....it is so hard to get her to look at me and to smile!

Here is our handsome Curtis! He has the cutest smile!

The three oldest girls, Sage, Kenadee and Bailee and ganging up on Uncle Jason in the kiddie pool! He definitely deserved it!

Eliza and Jade are really starting to get along and enjoy coloring together!

Hunter, Jade and Eliza looked so cute on the floor coloring!

The adults had a great time, playing games, eating junk food and never having to get out of our PJ's! The new favorite game is Ticket to Ride

Doctor Jade is trying to fix Grandpa's heart...I wish it were that easy!

The kids loved the big pool, and kiddie pool and loved the foam off of the hot tub!

Grandpa Dave giving horsey rides in the pool....Bailee, Jake and Sage loved going on rides!

Cancun Mexico Jan 2009

2009-01-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

David & I had a great time in Mexico this last week.....Neil & Caroline Briggs, from our ward here in Syracuse, joined us on our trip! We had alot of fun, exploring the Cancun area...
The weather was not great for going to the beach or sitting by the beautiful pool...but it was absolutely perfect for hiking and climbing around ruins !

Below are some of our pictures from our Jungle Crossing Tour! Kayaking at one of Mexico's beautiful beaches!

4 Wheeling (or at least Mexico's version of 4x4) in a Unibog!

Actual proof that I did go underground, snorkeling in a cenote cave!

You can tell that I was alittle nervous, I am holding on to David for dear life.....this was actually the best snorkeling I ever did, I was so nervous about being underground in a cave, that I actually forgot to worry about breathing through a tube!

Our tour group!

Chichen Itza- Mayan Ruins

This was facinating for me to see the ruins of the Lamanite people....and be able to walk the lands of the Book of Mormon. The massive buildings, and intricate cravings were amazing....we had an LDS guide named Lemuel (yes Lemuel-a Mormon Bishop from Cancun)..he made the pages of the Book of Mormon just open up to us!

Our LDS group-all from Utah!

In front of the Temple of Chichen Itza!

Above is the Temple of Ek Balaam- we were actually able to climb up to the top of these massive steps....it was very, very steep! It was difficult to go up, but even scarrier to come down! Neil and Caroline and David are the three people on the right.

At the top of Ek Balaam!

This is our guide, Lemuel in front of Ek Balaam, which was one of the more ornate ruins.

Here we are over-looking the beach at the ruins of Tulum

The outer walls of Tulum were something like 12ft high and 18 ft deep for protection from invading armies....we had to walk through this wall to enter Tulum!

The fourth city of ruin that we saw, was Coba....once again we were able to climb to the top of the temple...the stairs here were even scarier because they were so uneven, and crumbling! Some steps were 6 inches high, some as high as 18 inches, so it made climbing back down even more of a challenge.

I took this picture of David on our decent back down the steps of Coba....you can see how uneven and how steep the steps are!

The view from the top of Coba!

Coba was so spread out and sometimes miles between the ruins, that our guide rented these rickshaw like bikes for us! It was amazing to see young boys and old men alike riding the tourists around for miles in these things! I think it was like 65 pesos which was less than $5

I would have paid double that....it saved our legs for climbing the stairs!

Christmas Eve at Grandma Teeples!

2009-01-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

The kid table.....most of our grandchildren were at the other families this year, so the
kid table is rather small this year! Grandma's great food....as usual!

Sage helped me make our ornament this year...much to Grandpa Davids joy!

David was telling his traditional "Twas the Night Before Christmas on Sesame Street"

Mom's new leather coat!

Christmas Day 2008

2008-12-29T12:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day Dinner! Honey baked ham, famous dave's pork, rolls, scalloped potatoes, and salads.....and of course great friends and family!

The grandkids opening up their books from Grandma Kelly! Jade and Jake slept all through our Christmas celebration!

The Webster Nativity....Sage and Kenadee (both 6) were our angels, Eliza (2) was our Mary, Hunter (4) was Joseph, Curtis (4) was our shepherd, and Bailee (7) was our star....

The older girls opening up their dolls!

Girl power with their new dolls!

Stefanie was our fantastic photo taker this year!

Stefanie & Rich

Great Grandma Webster's Party

2008-12-29T12:29:00.001-08:00

Great Grandma & Grandpa Webster held the Webster Family Christmas Party on Sat. night Dec. 20th. Grandma cooked her famous, fabulous roast beef for dinner and after eating, we all went downstairs for games and singing.....this is the Webster version of Up on the House Top! We did a white elephant exchange, where Steve told a story and everytime the story said "Right" or "Left" you passed your present right or left....it got pretty crazy as you can see from the pictures below!

Grandpa Webster had trouble keeping up!

The kids played a game of Christmas Bingo!

Teeples Family Cookie/Gingerbread Night

2008-12-29T11:58:00.000-08:00

On Monday, December 22, 2008 we held our annual Teeples Family Cookie Gingerbread Night!
The kids brought gingerbread houses ready to decorate!

Amy made all the sugar cookies for us to frost and eat!

The rule is if you eat pizza, you have to frost a cookie!

This was Jade's (almost 2 yrs) first time decorating a gingerbread house!

Grandma Teeples bought everyone pizza and breadsticks for dinner!

The cousins enjoyed eating together in Grandma Kellys playroom!

Yardwork Saturday

2008-11-03T15:54:00.001-08:00

Thanks Rich for getting the boys together to put the barn doors back on before winter! A great big THANK-YOU goes to Jon, Jason, Grandpa Webster and Rich!

Eliza had fun playing with Maggie and Jumping on the trampoline while her Daddy was working on the barn doors!

Kelly was busy trying to get the leaves racked before the coming snow!

Webster Halloween Party 2008

2008-10-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

The 8 Webster Grandchildren dressed up for the Halloween Party!

Bailee as Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia
Sleeping Beauty Sage
Kenadee as Hannah Montana!
Cowboy Hunter!

Jedi Curtis from Star Wars
Eliza as Cinderella!
Butterfly Jade!
Sheriff Jake!

Great Grandma Webster watching Jade sing!
Cowboy and Jedi figthing it out on the tramp! Notice they exchanged weapons!
The whole group at the party held in Michelle's backyard! Minus Stefanie who is taking all these great pictures with her new digital camera!

Yellowstone 2008

2008-09-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

David and I took the trailer and headed to Yellowstone for a few days....mainly so that he would relax alittle bit and be able to recover! We went up on the 18th and then the kids joined us on the 24th for the weekend! We had a great time!

The best part of the trip was seeing all the kids having so much fun together!

Funny Stories: This picture taken at

the lower falls, all the kids were saying "Cheese"

but Eliza was mad and refused to look up!

This picture of the kids was taken at Old Faithful.....in fact she was erupting right as this was being taken, and several people we didn't even know, had to take the kids picture and forgot all about Old Faithful!

The kids loved the indoor swimming pool!

I love this picture of Hunter and Curtis...can you tell who is who?

Here are just some of the many animals that we saw........

These last two elk pictures were taken in Mammoth...we just happened by when these two

big boys were having alittle fight over their cows!

It was a great 10 days!

Webster Reunion-Seven Peaks Water Park

2008-09-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, August 16th, the whole Carl & Lois Webster family met up at Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo for a great family reunion. There was great food, great fun, and great company.
Thank-you Grandpa Webster for letting us have this opportunity to get to know all the wonderful members of the Webster Family!

David

2008-08-28T17:36:00.001-07:00

This last couple of weeks have been the absolutely best & worst, the most scary & most peaceful, the saddest & happiest, and some of the most blessed and spiritual of any of the 1612 weeks of our married life! Most of you know that David had his third heart attack on Sunday, August 17th at 12:28am. I had heard him get up and then I heard a thud....when I called out his name, there was no answer. I jumped out of bed and turned on the bedroom light and he was passed out on the bathroom floor with his head up against the tub and his feet against the counter....I seriously panicked because he really looked well, dead! I started slapping him and calling his name and he opened his eyes and said, "I'm okay, I just fell asleep" I don't think he was really with it because that didn't seem like the perfect spot for sleeping. He got back to bed and said he was fine, but by the time I headed back to bed, he said that I should probably call 911 (after getting him dressed) He was having trouble catching his breath and his chest was starting to feel like a horse was sitting on it. I called 911 and in-between getting dressed myself and checking up on him and talking to the 911 dispatch...it seemed like it took forever for them to get here....they immediately went right to work on David and promptly took me away, distracting me with all kinds of questions, about his medications and history and such! I was quite upset at their questions, because I was trying to be their for David, and yet I know now that they needed me out of the way because of the seriousness of the situation.
Paramedics must have some kind of code word or something for "get the wife out of the way", because even after all the questions about his history, the paramedic (or fireman) suggested that I drive myself to the hospital so that I would have my car...so as they were taking David out the front door, I was running to the garage and had backed my car half way out the driveway, when the paramedic/fireman knocked on my window and asked if we could go back into the house and check the bedroom and make sure that they had got all their equipment....I was screaming inside wondering what the heck they were doing, but I got out of the car and took him back in the house and then he noticed a quarter size spot of blood on the sheets from the IV and he said, "Ma'm do you have some hydrogen peroxide and we can clean up this blood?" I seriously just looked at him, thinking are you kidding me?...but I went in the laundry room and got the peroxide and handed it to him....I stayed over by the bedroom door because I wanted out of there...he proceeds to take a Q-tip and start swabing the blood, I about lost it then and finally said, "I don't care about the blood, that's the least of my worries" He then said, "Ma'm do you happen to have a towel I could use? I seriously was so upset by this point that I threw a towel at him...and headed back to the garage...he stopped me and said, that the ambulance was already at the hospital and that I was to drive the speed limit and be safe. (I now know that upon putting him in the ambulance, the paramedic immediately sat on David and started CPR...they did CPR for 17 minutes while in the ambulance...that is why they didn't want me in the ambulance or even following it because I would have seen what was going on and I would have really lost it.)
I jumped in the car, and speed dialed Jason because I knew that he was closer than I was to the hospital and I wanted someone there with David. When I got to the hospital, Jason met me in the parking lot and said that they wouldn't let him in....when I got in they said the same thing. I quess I should say that I knew that this one was much worse than the previous two heart attacks....David has never passed out before or lost consciousness. I knew one of the paramedics (he had lived in our ward) and I could tell by his voice that he was quite upset, they have always let me ride in the ambulance and always let me be by his side in the emergency room....and this waiting in the waiting room was torture. It was amazing to me how the spirit instantly kept me calm....almost numb I quess. It was like I could understand what was happening, but really couldn't feel anything. All of the kids and Leon (David's brother) had made it to the waiting room by the time a doctor came out to talk to us....the first thing he said was maybe we better go into the chapel! I think that at that point I was out of it...I hardly remember anything....the kids say that the doctor didn't give us much hope and when Michelle asked about a blessing, the doctor turned to me and said, "Do you want me to help your husband or do you want a blessing?" I just stood there with my mouth open because I wanted both....I wanted her to do all that she could do, and Heavenly Father to do all that he could do....finally she relented and said that only the two giving the blessing could go in and that they would not stop working! It seemed like Jason and Ricky barely left the chapel when they were back...how grateful I am for a son and son-in-laws with the priesthood....boy did David need Heavenly Fathers help! I didn't actual get to see David until they wheeled him down the hall right past us to go to the Cath Lab....it was awful, they had had to inti bate him with a tube down his throat and he was hooked up to so many different wires that you could hardly see his arms, he still looked unconscious to me and so pale....David wished that I would have taken a picture of him....I told him that that wasn't funny, what if it had ended differently and that is the last picture that I would have had of him! It is hard enough getting that picture out of my head. David's dad and I got to go into the cath lab after the surgery, and the doctor still didn't hold out much hope....it was really scary to see him like that....All day Sunday and until noon on Monday, it was so hard for me to even look at him, he looked so bad..and every time I held his hand or talked to him he would try to talk or respond and the ventilator would make him gag and he was throwing up so much. Monday at noon they were finally able to take out the tube in his throat and that really helped him to feel a bit better, although he was still so sick to his stomach. It was an awful two days....but by Wed. I could tell that he was doing so much better. They took him back to the Cath Lab on Wed. morning to put a defibrillator/pacemaker in his chest and by Thursday he was out of ICU and walking the halls. It is a miracle to me that he turned around so fast and was doing so well. He was home by Sat. less than a week after the heart attack....and I practically had to tie him down to keep him from going to church on Sunday. We both know what a blessing we have had and I know that Heavenly Father is in charge and that when he let David come back to us, he let him come back without any complications, or further problems. It is seriously like the heart attack never happened, other than for the new hardware in his chest. He is not supposed to lift anything or drive for six weeks and I have hardly been able to keep him down for the first three days that he has been home from the hospital...
I am so grateful for miracles, for the tender mercies of the Lord, so grateful for the Priesthood, and so grateful for my family and dear friends who have done so much for us....changed sheets, fed animals, brought meals, mowed the lawn, said prayers, put his name in the temple, called, sent get-well cards, and emails......I could not have made it through this again, without all of you!

My Obsessions!

2008-08-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I LOVE books!!!! If you were to ask David...reading is my first love and he is second (which isn't really true-unless I have a new book in my hands!) And of course, with the new twilight book, Breaking Dawn, just being released, I took a whole day off Friday to just sit and read...it was wonderful and has just been added to my list of favorites. But I have a new obsession with Broadway Music...I been listening to "Wicked" for months now, and with the premier of Mamma Mia on the big screen, I now have a "new" favorite musical to listen too! I love the movie Mamma Mia....the music is so upbeat and fun...I've seen the show 4 times (true) and I could probably see it 4 more times! It is totally my era of music and it makes me want to get up and dance....so if anybody out there needs someone to go to the movie with...just give me a call....what's number 5!