Beautiful Minnesota! July 2016 visit

Was it ever a treat spending time with these Minnesota grandkids,  our oldest son Mark, and his lovely wife Courtney. An added bonus was the break from the Houston heat.

When we attended Colby's baseball game, we had to wear sweaters and jackets.

It was fun to watch Saige at her gymnastics class.

Luke, not wanting to be out done by the older kids, showed off his gymnastics skills!

We adore this little guy. Just a year and 10 months old, he thinks he is a "big"

Kid, and is so funny trying to be involved in everything.

By the end of the week. The weather warmed up enough to spend a lovely day on Lake Itasca.

After docking the boat, we got to walk across the Mississippi River. This is the place where the mighty river originates as a small stream.

Beauty abounds here, and there's plenty to do and see, even in Mark's small town of Bemidji. Besides attending a local art show, we had fun at a local science museum, after which we took the traditional photo by the Paul Bunyan statue.

Here we are hanging out by Lake Bemidji after seeing the art show.

Hanging out with snakes at the science museum

Paul Bunyan and his blue ox are landmarks on Lake Bemidji.

Mark's neighborhood and his home are lovely and relaxing places to be.

I especially enjoyed eating on Mark's

deck, overlooking their spacious backyard and the lovely field behind the house. The raspberries from Courtney's garden were delicious and plentiful.

The kids enjoy an after dinner bike ride around the neighborhood and back home.

Other fun activities in Mark and Courtney's back yard--

The last day there, we went to Colby's soccer game and visited the clinic where Mark enjoys being a dentist for American Indian Health Services.

This clinic serves members of the Ojibwa, or Chippewa tribe.

Parting is such sweet sorrow. We always come away with so many good memories and our hearts bursting with love for these grandchildren. Grandpa especially cherishes the goodbye hug Luke gave him as he came running into his arms (not pictured).

Heading off to Utah again

Before we take off to Utah for BYU Education Week, I need to record our last visit, in April 2016. We were so excited to

meet our newest grandbaby (#17), Addie Alyssa, who was born February 16.

She is a most remarkable baby girl, always smiling and very rarely crying or fussing.

Such an angel straight from heaven. 

The next morning, we had to leave Andy's sweet little family for a few days to attend a reunion with most of Carl's brothers and sisters at Beverly's (the oldest) home in Layton. It was so much fun hanging out together.

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Carl with his siblings, Billy, Sharon, Beverly, and Donna. Missing are Stuart and Pat and Jerry (deceased).

(left to right: Carol & Billy, Breeanna & her mom Sharon, Beverly, Nancy, Carl, Donna)

After the reunion, Carl and I had the opportunity to attend the new Provo

City Temple. We felt an extra special spirit in this historic pioneer era building which rose from the ashes of a devastating fire to become a beautiful temple.

The remainder of our trip, we just enjoyed the little ones.  Emmett is an energetic, very intelligent 2 year old, who sure enjoys going places. With Grandpa chasing after him, we enjoyed the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point.

The fish pond was Emmett's favorite.

The highlight of the week was Addie's blessing day. Addie looked like a little princess in her white gown!

We sure enjoy our Utah visits with our son Andy, his sweet wife KayLynn, and their beautiful children. Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Side note:: we came home to a bee invasion. Bees had entered a small opening where the siding meets the brick on the back of the house. Here is Carl in his homemade bee outfit.

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Celebrations & Challenges (Jan. - Feb. 2016)

 Life's journey can be a roller coaster ride, with its sharp turns and ups and downs. In spite of that, there is much to celebrate and be thankful for each and every day.

In December, we celebrated the graduation of our 2nd class of  Pathway students. The group started up larger than this, but several moved away or had to quit due to conflicts. Carl and I were officially released from our two year church service mission as Pathway missionaries in January. We were issued this mission call the same day we were released from our 23 months of service in the New York Rochester Mission. We were missionaries for the first Pathway group in the Southeast Houston Area, serving the 31+ age group. We loved doing this and associating with great people. We also served weekly in the Houston Temple, very early in the morning, the day after hosting the weekly Thursday night Pathway Gathering (no wonder we feel so tired now -- but it was all worth it!) Carl, especially, loved being able to wear that missionary name tag again.

We love these guys! (L.-R.: Jeanette, Raven, Scott, Brooke. and Christine)

We continue to be challenged with Carl's re-occurrence  of cancer. Before going to New York, he had surgery to remove the cancer, and we thought all was OK. , but a microscopic piece of tissue remained, and in December, he finished radiation treatment to hopefully clear that up. He's not out of the woods, yet, so it is a roller coaster ride. Nothing is for sure.

So we just try to take life a day at a time, celebrating each day we have together. One thing we are sure of is God's love for us and that our lives are in his hands, and that we will be together forever. Our Savior is there for us during tough times and has our back.

A big thumbs up on the last day of radiation treatment!

We celebrate the life of 4 year old granddaughter Dahlia. Her life bears witness that our God is a God of miracles. At the end of January, the Ochoa and Ellis families celebrated the anniversary of Dahlia receiving the gift of a new heart ( January 28, 2012, a few days before she turned 4 months old).

A balloon launch honored the sweet angel whose heart gives life to Dahlia's body.

We made Valentine's cards for the sick children who are at Texas Children's Hospital, where Dahlia spent the first few months of her life and received her heart transplant.

So thankful each day for this sweet girl!

So I'll take the ups and the downs, knowing that life is all about that, and much, much more! We are just not randomly tossed about during the storms of life.  Hope and faith in our Savior and his great promises are the sure anchors of our souls.  I know of a surety of the reality of things we cannot see with our mortal eyes.  

Quick re-cap of the final months of 2015

Some fall events were:

an Astros game at Minute Maid Park with Jeremy, Nicole, and baby Rae

Rae loved clapping for the home team.

We celebrated grandkids' September and October birthdays.

Dahlia  turned 4 and had her party in the Ochoa family's new rec center.

Kyla turned 12 and is now in Young Women's.

And Lorelei also celebrated her 4th birthday. Lorelei and Dahlia are so close in age, and are great pals. It fills my heart with joy to see them playing together, something I prayed and hoped for during those dark days when Dahlia was awaiting a heart transplant.

On Halloween, all 16 grandkids were together, when Mark and  Courtney drove down from Minnesota, and Andy and Kay flew in from Utah. It was wild and crazy and grand.

Only Dahlia is missing here. I think she was having a wardrobe malfunction.

During the week, we hit the Houston Zoo and the beach. 

Saige was so sweet to her cousin Emmett.

Mark, Courtney and their sweet children enjoyed the warm weather.

The zoo train was a hit. Even the adults enjoyed it (Andy & Kay, Mark& Courtney in background)

Sweet Saige told me she likes the beach better than Snow.

The grandkids enjoyed covering Uncle Philip with beach sand.

The family then headed up to Austin for Jessica's big event. That night, we ate at a popular barbecue place .

It was fun all being together in this very nice vacation rental in Dripping Springs

 

The weather was chilly and a bit rainy, but we luckily escaped the bad flooding that the area experienced just a week prior. But that didn't dampen the fun of all being together.

Here we are with all 16 grandchildren.

Dad is here with all five of his sons.

What a tine we had! Unfortunately a bad tummy bug hit most of the grandkids at various times. But we all survived!

Another Christmas came around too quickly. We had a peaceful Christmas Eve   at Lauren and Dan's home and we were excited to wake up Christmas morning to see Rae open her presents. Emily and Brian's family came in from Vidor to join us later Christmas Day.

We made gingerbread houses for home evening the week of Christmas.

Our traditional candlelight Christmas Eve special soup and bread dinner at Lauren and Dan's.

The kids did the traditional Nativity play.

Rae loves unwrapping presents from Santa, even though it can be a bit challenging getting the tape off!

Sweet Dahlia loves baby Jesus!