New Year's Eve

This morning Bee's crib was delivered to our house. Her Aunty Shelly had purchased this vintage crib for Annie. It traveled from Aunty Shelly in the Bay Area to Cambria where Aunt Tammy brought it to Hanford. After cleaning and setup, it is ready for Bee on January 13th.

The room is about ready! The mobile plays Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven while the umbrella moves in a circle. I think Baby Bee will like her vacation resort room! Can't wait for you to get here! Just 14 Days!!!!!

Happy New Year....almost!

Merry Christmas!

Yeah!!! It's Christmas time again! It has been a wonderful time of celebration of Jesus' birth! I love to hear the children sing and sign Christmas songs! Attending the Christmas Eve Candlelight service and remembering why Jesus came to earth was a fabulous moving experience! It was nice that my mom could go with us to the 5:00 service.

On December 20th, The Paul Coleman Concert at our church was fun, entertaining, and a great chance to be entertained with tremendous Christmas songs...old and very new...not even recorded songs by Paul. His humor made the time pass too quickly! What a great testimony of God's love in his life!

And here we are on Christmas Eve with packages in hand. Mom is decked out in her Christmas wear and ready to open! Our gathering was small. Lyle, Mom, and me.

Ooh look! The bag I wanted! Nice job mom getting me just what I wanted! Love it!

Helping is caring....a Mixer, Jewelry Box, and black jacket rounded out Mom's gifts this year.

Here, Lyle got the black shirt from the Japanese Art and Cultural Center that he wanted. Some gift cards for OSH, money, and a Bose system completed his night.

I got Aloe socks! Not pictured was my best treasure....a license plate cover that says: "Heard the Buzz.....I'm Bee's Grandma!" It is already on the car! What a great and thoughtful gift from Lyle! He is the Best!

I have been to other gatherings that I did not picture, but at Georgina's party, I whipped out the camera! It is a small gathering of teacher friends. We laugh and have a great time getting together each year to trade interesting gifts.

So today we have another party to attend at Linda and Bob's house with "The Cousins." We have had a lot of fun this Christmas season already.

The group gathered to play "Family Feud." The girls won! But everyone got prizes...some for winning, some for playing, and some for not playing! It is amazing how that worked!

Well, the gang is almost all here for this Christmas picture. Bob and Kari were running an errand and I am taking the picture. As Clayton said when we were going home, "It sure was a young crowd this year!" I too remember when we were the "youngsters." Now there our kids are having kids and the 3 little ones were the ones to get the presents!
Addison with Princess Minnie Mouse....Josh with Giant Green Frog.Madison with Merry Christmas Minnie Mouse.It was a wonderful day and holiday season!

We hope your day is filled with precious moments for today and remembering the past!

Merry Christmas!

I Thought I'd Died and Gone To Sweden......

By now you are probably asking yourself what these two pictures have to do with anything. I'll explain...... I love grocery stores more than Marlene loves shoes. You want me to leave an NFL game on TV... invite me to a grocery store. Now Grocery Outlet is a particularly interesting store to go into because you never know what you'll find, Russian beets, Arab ketchup, French crackers, etc. While Marlene was wasting her time in a fabric store nearby, I wandered into the Clovis Grocery Outlet. I'm singing along to the music on the stores sound system when they announce that this is the ABBA music channel on satelite radio. ALL ABBA ALL THE TIME!!! Wow, I didn't know this existed. I'm tellin' you, this is the best grocery shopping experience you can have unless Whole Foods goes clothing optional. I hope this is the start of a trend. Yaa shuure.

Decorating for Christmas...

Wow, it is time to decorate for Christmas again! This year we are going "lite," "light." There are not going to be any kids here at Christmas this year. This year the family starts gathering January 13th when Cory, Annie, and Bee come from NYC. So, the more you put up in decorations, the more you have to put away.

This year we are displaying Cory's dumpster find from last year! Yes, you may recognize the giant Christmas balls from the Mervyn's displays from last year. After Christmas, Cory and Annie were hunting....wow...big find! We stored them all year in our attic.

I like them!

Yes, the decorated tree came decorated. All we had to do is bag it all year and uncover it. It really looks nice as you come up. The Santa has "The Bruce's" printed on it. It was a gift from Colleen, Lyle's mom, from around 1980. We put it out each year! It is a great memory of her!

Well, this is Bee's special place. Last year I found a sale on "Snow Babies." The music box and ornament were for my future grandkids. Boy are we surprised that we have a granddaughter for this Christmas! A true miracle! So, this arrangement is for Bee!
Well, the mantle would not be complete without the focus of Christmas...Jesus, the light of the world! We love the season and enjoy saying, "Merry Christmas!" We have Christmas with us everyday!

Oh, yes....Dottie's stocking is the only one out this year. Lyle thinks it's a little sad not to hang them all. But, I think she is our only child to be with us this year. It will be okay for this year.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas month! Share the Love!

Vacation Getaway!

I love a long weekend!
On Saturday, we escaped to San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay for the day.
Although we left in the fog, it was absolutely beautiful at the coast! We met our good friends, Dave and Debbie Fox at their campsite in the hills outside San Luis Obispo. After meeting and greeting all their camping buddies, we went to a wonderful nursery called, Ron's in Grover City. It was an upscale place with way overpriced novelties, but great ideas. We then traveled into downtown San Luis to eat at Flame Bay. The stirfry food was amazing and filling! We sat in the outdoor patio and listened to the live band play a variety of tunes. Very relaxing. After a little shopping and a frozen yogurt, we headed back to the campsite to leave Dave and Debbie.

We headed for Morro Bay where we snapped these pictures. The weather was just right. Not too hot, not too cold. The sound of the water lapping against the shore and birds flying over has a calming effect!

We snapped the picture of a lady with 2 little boys and she returned the favor. What a friendly place to visit.

I love seeing that powerful looking rock just plopped in the middle landscape. God's work often makes me marvel and smile! I love the man standing in front of the big rock! Another great idea of God!

A Nice day!

Actually, I had 4 other pictures I tried to download and lost when I had to refresh. They were of Lu Chi Fa's beautiful home...the author of Double Luck, Memoir of a Chinese Orphan...A must read! Also, the giant chess board with people playing the game. Maybe another time.