Christmas Greetings

It's a family tradition to send out photo greeting cards each year. If you are interested in viewing cards from the past 30 plus years, I posted them in 2011. CLICK HERE

Just promise you don't laugh at the peach-colored outfits of 1988!

Let's get up to date!

2012

Four out of five of our children had babies in 2012 and the fifth was expecting!

 2013

Love this snowy view of the Salt Lake Temple. 

2014 Our 2014 card features a jumping Kylie on the front. Look at that hair fly!

And inside, our fourteen precious grand elves and one little rein dog (not in any particular order.) We never could get everyone together! We hauled the photo equipment,white background, and all the red and green outfits we could collect to Emily's home in Dillon, Montana and took half of the pictures there during our Thanksgiving holiday, then hauled it all back home again to take the other half. Each "elf" was photographed individually then masterfully combined by Potts.

I wish you could see this bigger. It is delightful!

Potts also made cards for each of our children's families. Now's a good time to tell you a little bit about them.

These are Jenni (and Mark's) children - Lucy 2, Sadie 6, and Payton 9. They live in Covington, WA where Mark works for Boeing and Jenni teaches violin and served as Concert Master for the Ensign Orchestra.

Here are David (and Katie's) five. Lily 8, Tate 4 months, Oakley 2, Kylie 6, and Paisley 4. They were so excited to welcome a little boy to the family this year. They live in Eagle Mountain. David teaches Math at American Fork High School and Katie teaches dance part time.

Michael (and Desiree) have three little ones, Evylee 6, Ethan 4, and Aiden 2. A baby boy, Quinton Randolph will join their family on Jan. 7, 2015, if not sooner. Michael and Dez also live in Eagle Mountain and Michael works for the glasses division of 1-800 Contacts as a programmer.

 

Here are Emily (and Joe's) boys, A.J. 3 and Andy 1 1/2. They just moved from Virginia to Montana this year where Joe is an attorney. Emily fits right in with her braids, plaid shirts, and cowboy boots. 

This is Audrey (and Matthew's) Adalynn 2, Addy for short. They live in Orem. Matthew has one more semester in his MPA program at BYU, then who knows where they will end up? I'm praying right here in Utah.

Fun Times in Covington, WA

Sunday, June 8

Dear Payton, Sadie, and Lucy,

I have been with you for 10 whole days while your mommy and daddy took a trip to Hawaii. We have had such a good time together. 

Potts and our new dog Dexter missed us so much, they drove all the way from Utah to visit. At first Dexter was a little shy with you, and you were a little nervous about him; but soon you became the best of friends. He took you for walks and loved it when you tickled his tummy. We missed them when they drove back to Utah. 

Then came reimforcements; Aunt Audrey and Addy joined us for the next week. Two babies made life pretty lively!  We watched movies, ate lots of snacks, made trips to the park, played in the sand, and picnicked together. 

Your Mommy and Daddy fly home tonight. I will miss you when I leave tomorrow. 

Lucy, you were such a happy little girl, even when you had a cold and weren’t feeling very good. Cuddling in the dark in the middle of the night was pretty special. I liked how you shared your squeaky shoes with Addy and how you two ran around the house making funny noises together.

Sadie, I am so excited about how you love to read. I don’t think I have ever heard a five- year-old read with such feeling and expression. You can read to me any time.  I also loved the time we spent together walking to school and back home from the bus stop. We had fun imagining “What if...”

Payton, you are becoming a fine cellist. I’m so glad I was able to hear you practice and listen to your lessons. It is easy to see that you love playing and that you are excited to share your music. 

Playing catch at the park, just the two of us, was pretty fun too! Remember we caught twelve in a row. Your Gammie loves to play ball! Next time I come we will practice batting too!.

And here are some additional events I won’t forget:

Sadie sculpting Lucy’s hair with her  Dad’s computer screen cleaner spray. Works well, I might add, but requires an immediate bath afterward.

Lucy dipping the shower curtain in toilet water then draping it on her head. Does not work well.

Maple Bars on the way to Payton’s cello lesson. Payton, yours was gone by the time we left the parking lot, so you ate Lucy’s too.

Praying my phone would keep it’s 1% power to enable the GPS to lead us safely home.

Finding an entire snake skin on our Sunday walk.

And dodging grape “land mines” on the kitchen floor -- Lucy is kind of a wild eater.

Thanks for having me, for loving me, and for being so good to me.

I will always treasure this time together.

Love You!

Gammie.