Do you ever set up a nice productive routine for yourself and, one day, just rebel and decide to abandon it? Even though there is no reasonable reason to do so? That happens to me on a somewhat regular basis. I have been off blogging as a result of such such a rebellion. But, at least for now, I'm making myself return and will attempt to do a little catch up.
2022 has been a baby year for us. We welcomed our first great-grandbaby of the year in February with the birth of Thomas Galbraith. A month later Mercedes Adams-Hart arrived. In August our grandson Chase and his Morgan welcomed their third baby, a cute little boy they named Quin. There were some scary moments with this pregnancy; as it progressed there appeared to be some danger signs that the baby might have some issues. But then Quincy arrived as healthy and bright as can be. Such relief. And such a blessing! Shortly after Quin was born, I stopped by, on my way to visit my sister Maryanne. Gotta see this sweet new baby as soon as possible you know.
Here's Quin at one month.
Older sibs Hunter and Hazel are pretty excited about their new baby brother, as you can see here.
Early September Angelica began her freshman year at BYUI. Dorothy offered to drive her to school with me, so off we went, early in the morning. We got her all settled in and began the drive back and made it all in one day! That's about 10 hours of driving, but it seemed to go pretty smoothly. So, we are once again empty nesters! Here's Angelica and Dorothy, in the parking lot of Angelica's apartment complex. I think she is excited for this new adventure.
Just a week later I flew to California, to spend a little time with the Adams-Harts and attend a shower for Rayne, who was expecting our last great-grandbaby for the year, a little girl. It was so fun to spend time with them and catch their excitement. Rayne's hubby, Dominic, is so excited for this baby! From the looks of all those gifts, she will have plenty of supplies!
I often walk in the mornings with my neighbor, Laurie. She is a perky, high energy little gal! On one of our morning walks, we passed by our neighborhood pond/lake and, as we often do, took some pictures. Mornings are especially lovely I think. I took this picture of the pond and thought it turned out especially beautiful. What do you think?
It is so great to have some family here in Idaho now. Reed and Dorothy have been here for several years and we love it. Their son Scott and his Jessica (#3) have also settled here, in their first home. So it is fun to get together for family celebrations. Reed's birthday came in early September. What a gentle, fine son he is. This year he turned 50! It seems just a short time ago that I did the same. Wow. How could it be so?
Grandson Vincent returned from his mission in November, just after his brother Timothy left for his mission. They missed each other by just one week. Thank goodness for frequent facetimes. They connected that way! Timothy is so excited about his mission; he has been preparing for it for months. Here he is, just before he left for Texas.
Speaking of missionaries, Seth has now been in New York for over a year! He is a zone leader now and seems to have found his comfort zone in doing missionary work. He's a hard worker and loving it.
The holidays came into view very quickly. It feels like every year of my life passes quicker than the one before. With no kids at home, Halloween celebrations took on a low profile. I love the holidays, and decorate for them even if just Layne and I are home to enjoy them. Soon after Halloween Timothy was gone and Vincent was home. He seems to be the same easy-going guy he was before he left. He had a wonderful experience on his mission and has jumped right back into life at home, with two jobs and plans to start school at BYU Provo, winter semester.
This year we decided to spend each holiday with family. So we flew to California for Thanksgiving. It promised to be a special celebration, as Rayne delivered her little girl on November 11th. She and Dom named her Rose. So we had little Rosie for Thanksgiving. The Adams-Hart family has started a new tradition for Thanksgiving; they dress up in formal attire and serve dinner gradually, with lots of different courses. Each of us prepared one of them, and served them in proper order. It was very fun to eat fancy food on fancy dishes in fancy clothes. Even little Rosie was dressed up, as you can see. Here she is with mama Rayne.
Here is Rosie with Dominic. Do you think he might like her just a little bit?
The Ben and Jessica (#2) family were in Palo Alto for Thanksgiving, so we spent a couple of days with them and had such fun touring Chinatown in San Francisco and taking a train ride through the Redwoods. Jessica is a energy bunny and a party girl, so she organized these activities and made them so enjoyable for all of us. Here is Jacqueline, me, Layne and Alexis, in Chinatown.
It has been a cold, wet winter so far. There has been an unusual amount of storms and snow. I love it! Our singing group started up again for a winter concert, after two years of none, thanks to Covid. We performed at fewer places, and with fewer singers, but it was fun. Layne sang a solo and was so good! His bass voice is perfect with the right song. Here we are at our friends and family performance.
Angelica's semester at BYUI ended in mid December, just before her birthday. Layne and I picked her up and celebrated her 19th birthday the next day. The local family joined us in celebrating her.
Angelica is planning on a mission, and as the time has passed, she has become more and more excited about it. "I've got to shop for the mission," she often told me. So dresses, shoes and other such things prompted several shopping trips. I must mention that Angelica loves to shop! So this was an especially fun part of her preparations. She soon got her mission call to Arcadia, California, speaking Chinese. She is so excited! She leaves in March.
Christmas came so quickly. We decided to do something special for Christmas Eve. We invited the family, and some of our neighbors to our house for a Bethlehem dinner. It was so much fun! We filled the tables with all sorts of finger food, lowered the lights, dressed everyone in some biblical clothes and ate with our fingers. Afterward we went upstairs and read the Christmas story, watched the Church movie on the nativity and did a candle ceremony where we all shared our feelings of gratitude for the Savior and the blessings in our lives. We shared some Christmas Eve gifts and dessert afterwards. I think everyone really enjoyed it. It was my favorite part of Christmas this year. It seems to me that the activities that lead up to Christmas are the best part of Christmas!
One of our other activities involved seeing the Christmas lights in Caldwell. They put on a light show that is amazing. Christmas lights of all sorts fill the streets, especially around the local river. It is magnificent! This year it was really cold as well. Here is, left to right: Bruce, Reed, Dorothy holding Thomas, Scott, Jessica (#3), Angelica and Layne.
It wasn't long before Christmas was over and New Years was upcoming. We wanted to spend it with Chris and Jessica (#1), in Seattle but the weather was stormy. But after praying about it, we decided that we should go, so Layne got us last minute tickets to fly instead of drive and we were off. We had a lovely time with Chris, Jessica and the kids. Here's Vincent, Chris, Jessica and Miles, during a walk along one of the many lakes nearby Normandy Park, Seattle.
Ben and his Jessica (#2) rented a home on Mercer Island, Seattle area, for this school year to see if the schools would be better than Palo Alto for their kids. We got together with them the day after New Year's and had another happy, crazy celebration. We ate pizza, produced massive amounts of confetti, (here you see part of our gang: Vincent, Jacqueline, Jessica (#2), and Olivia) watched some kid performances and witnessed Jessica (#1) getting a makeover by granddaughter Olivia.
And so, before we know it, we are in another year. I have great hopes that I'll be more organized, fit, and productive this year. Hopes run high. We will see how it all turns out. I bet it will pass quicker than 2022 even. Happy 2023!
