Annabella getaway

Grandpa and I spent a lovely few days with the Lee kids while their parents were
away celebrating their anniversary.
Everyone loves to read at this home and they love books early as you can see Becca
loving this book from all directions.



Max is into dinosaurs and was devouring this book and another like it.

Brianna talked Grandma into reading her this VERY LONG Barbie story.

Trav was busy with his studies.

Recess ! - Grandpa declared himself Principal of their school and was very keen
on recess and lunch time.

Travis was good to help Becca ride the purple dinosaur.

Max was going to surprise Alyssa as she came down the slide.

Hannah and Alyssa being silly.

This is the new kitchen clean up crew in training. They have a great kitchen training program at this home. Grandpa and Grandma were only invited to the kitchen to eat. Hannah cooked dinner the first night, Alyssa was our breakfast specialist
and Travis cooked our lunch and dinner the next day. Pretty amazing crew!

Grandma declared Friday as Photo Day! We tried re-enacting Jon's puppy photo but
it doesn't work with children. Here is our best effort of all the girls.

Then all the boys !

My personal favorite - (I took it myself) of Travis and his Grandpa Lee

Becca shouts for joy as her parents return home.

shoot quick

We've been here, there and everywhere the last few weeks. Some weeks we can say that we've seen all of our Utah grandchildren.
Just after Christmas we got together for a few days of peace and quiet and good food in Annabella.
Catching 19 grandkids and getting them to pose for a photo is a major challenge - but this time they were all very co-operative
This isn't all pretty and proper like Sarah's kids when they pose or all cute and lined up nicely like Jon's puppies pose - but these are 19 of our grandchildren and they make me smile.

Getting the four Cherry children to pose is quite a feat too. Here's our best effort from our visit at Thanksgiving.
Add these 4 to the other 19 and you have all of the current Lee Family grandchildren. THEY ARE THE GREATEST!

Grandma's circus

In our travels the last few weeks we have been visited by some cute kids. Jana and family came to find us in our hotel in Dallas. We took a ride on the train at got off at just the right spot - the KrispyKreme donut store. They were melt-in-your-mouth delicious and this cute face behind the donut belongs to Ally.

Trying to entertain guests in the hotel was tricky. I think their favorite was riding on the escalator. But we promised that we could go for a swim in the pool.
The kids jumped right in but Jana and I were very surprised by the cold water when we tried to join them. I think we were a little early for swimming this year.



Between trips we had a fun overnight visit from Max and Brianna and Jon. The weather was lovely - we had a fun time at the Town Square playing in the water. It was really warm enough in St. George even though they left lots of snow at home.

We had an assignment to find new pajamas for Bri and Max. They didn't want to wait for night time to try them on.



We made a quick unexpected bus trip to California with the Art guys. We saw every picture in every art museum. But we did stop for a short visit at the beach. That was the most heavenly part of the whole trip for me.

Making the rounds

You can squeeze a lot of fun into a weekend if you are willing to drive a little.

Here is Grandpa Lee meeting little Sarah Joy Simmons for the first time.


Isn't she precious!


We watched Sam eat a "lallow pop" and then borrowed Kade and took him with us on our adventure.


Our first activity included Cody Lee as he cheered on his brother Kayson.


Kayson was competing in a Karate tournament and came away with victory ribbons.


We relaxed in Jim's backyard and enjoyed loving this beauty - Miss Becca Lee


We watched these three clowns - Dallin, Josh and Cody try to fit in the same wagon and convince someone to pull them around the yard.


We had all the kids ready for bed and family prayers - but we were waiting for Grandpa to put his camera away.


The next morning we found ourselves helping Grandpa with a chore for Barbie.


Kade, Keanon, Kelsey, Alyssa and Hannah played games in one of the newly finished rooms in Jim's basement.


Sunday we stopped for a fun and fanciful visit with the Maestri family - note they are still decked out in their Sunday best.


We returned Kade to his home where he was sorely missed and royally welcomed.


And we needed one more love and look at little Miss Sarah in yet another lovely outfit- then we headed back home.
A long drive, a busy weekend, tired bodies, but smiling faces. We love our family!

a great find

Last week we had a fun time with the Maestri family at the cabin. While hiking around we tried to show Emma and Ellie the fossils imbeded in the rocks around the cabin.
Emma bent down, dug a little bit in the dirt and came up with this and asked, "is this a fossil?". We sputtered in surprise and said, "No, but it sure is a good find." A good looking arrowhead.

A beautiful day

There were so many beautiful days this week and we couldn't resist the chance to hike up on the red hills. Jim and family are good climbers and posed for this picture against the blue, blue sky.

Barb and little Cody hiked right along with the rest of them.

Holiday Happiness

Our holidays are just now drawing to a close as the Cherry's returned to Houston yesterday. We've had a month long celebration starting with Dutch Christmas on Dec 5

Spending time with our grandchildren is the best way to celebrate. Sometimes its just fun to watch them interact with each other.

Here is my challenge - to get a photo of all twenty grandchildren at one time.
We've already decided that it was impossible to get them to hold still so Roland tried taking a video. While they were posing for the video someone got this shot of
all of them.

Aren't all those babies adorable? What a houseful!
I especially wanted this picture at that time before all the upcoming birthdays change their ages. At that point in time they were ages 12-11-10-9-7-7-6-6-5-5-4-3-3-3-2-2-1-1-1 and 8 months.

We are a happy familee!

Laughing with the grandkids

Kayson got Cody laughing so hard using a "Whoopee Cushion" that we were all rolling on the floor.

Check out the video...you'll be laughing too!

Love One Another

These cuties love each other and put up with a lot from each other. Aren't they the cutest!

Four Eyes Two Teeth

I know Sam's had lots of blog time lately but he is so darn cute!
He loved trying on Grandpa's glasses and made us all giggle with his professor look.

Softer Side of Football

Jon must be softening up lately. He's let the girls come to the football games the last two weeks. Don't they add something beautiful to an otherwise rough and sweaty game?

up and down, back and forth, here and there

As we travel up and down the I-15 highway this summer we run into the nicest people.
Here we are enjoying a visit from Jodi and sons. Kade is trying his hand at watercolor in Grandpa's studio.

We stopped in Cedar and found Zach and Ellie enjoying a computer game

Sam and Josh enjoying the sandbox.

Josh, Emma and Ellie are watching Grandpa paint at Thanksgiving Point.
The next day (sorry no pictures) I got to attend Kelsey and Keanon's soccer games

Of course, Grandpa was in town for the BYU game and had Kayson, Alyssa, Christian
and Travis (not pictured) there with him. Alyssa brought a new dimension to their
game watching - she was interested in the cheerleaders.

We took a little side trip this weekend and got to see Jon's family. Here they are showing off their newest family member - Lizzie the Puppy.
We love our family and are glad we get to see them as we travel back and forth.

Emma Rides the Bus

It was fun to be there for Emma's first school days. She proudly and confidently strode right up and jumped on the bus, pausing only for a quick fashion shot with her new pink backpack. Ellie inherited Emma's old backpack and wore it to the bus stop too.

In trouble now

Grandma always wants to make everyone happy. That was the case this morning.
Joshua and I were up early and had cereal and toast for breakfast and we'd been playing outside for an hour or more before Emma and Ellie woke up. We all stayed outside for a while longer before they decided they were ready for their breakfast.
Jason and Jennie were busy preparing for a big singles festival and their living room
has been the storage point for all kinds of goodies including about 20 giant bags of popcorn.
Emma suggested that we have ice cream for breakfast and I thought that sounded like a great idea. So I scooped up big bowls of chocolate mint ice cream all around and added a bowlful of popcorn to round things out. Everyone ate with great enthusiasm.
When we talked about our not-so-healthy breakfast Ellie said "my mom's going to put you in time out!" Guess I'll be in trouble soon but it sure was fun.

Tonight the girls were demonstrating their tumbling moves and invited me to join them. My excuse for not doing summersaults and hand stands with them was "I'm out of shape" to which Emma replied "well, why don't you get in shape?" Yikes!

Getting an education

This week and next I am spending time with our grandchildren. It's great to get to spend one-on-one time with them.
Little Sam Simmons and I spent quality time trying to keep each other entertained in a hotel room. We both agree that it's more fun to be outside.
Serving dinner to Ellie Maestri last night - we put butter and parmesean cheese on our pasta - obviously I'm not the gourmet cook her parents are - she asked "only one kind of cheese?"
And then this morning visiting with Kelsey, she was practicing her ABC's in ASL and wasn't sure of the right sign for the letter "s". When I told her I didn't know either, she asked "Grandma, didn't you ever go to Pre-school?"
I'm learning a lot from these little ones - the most important thing I am learning is that I love being with them.

Blesssings

Brianna was irresistably sweet as she offered the blessing on our dinner last night.

Cabin Camp

We welcome this years' first-time cabin camp attendees - Little Cody and Big Dallin

Roland leads the little campers on a hike to explore the mountainside.



Aunt Barbara had time to create some festive and fabulous hairdos for Brianna,
Hannah, Kelsey, and Alyssa.

A salute to the cabin chores of the past - these strong young cousins are called
upon to fix the rock edging on the cabin driveway.


Tired but happy helpers have finished their chores and now can go swimming!