Bay Area Birthday trip-

The three birthday boys! Don 61st, Maddox 1 yr and Grandpa 87 yrs--Sarah made the Muno cake....one eye guy tasted ssssssoooooooooooo yummy!
Sarah & Karen doing all the work for a fun party! We had a great time seeing everyone!

Matthew & his favorite mom :)

Tim, Jordan, Jonah(spiderman) and Drew

Grandpa , Drew and Don....watching Jordan's game!

Jonah at his soccer game! He did great!

Molly, Mary and Maddox at I HOP

Don, Dave & Grandpa

The five grandson's.....they all love to play dog pile!

Outside of I HOP....our tummy's full and we're ready to go to two football games and one soccer game.....FAMILY....PRICLESS!

Dad's 61st Birthday

Marylynn, Tyler, Cricket & Buster celebrating with grandpa!

Buster makes me laugh! He's such a boy-boy! He loves it when grandpa chases him!

What can I say? This is NOT how I think we look!

A very normal shot of this silly couple!

Our good friends Diana & Dennis Larsen...Dennis turned 60 yrs old the day before Don's birthday! Cricket way liked the blower....it was way to loud for me!

Twain Harte vacation

39 happy years of going to Twain Harte! We went on our honeymoon...the vacation of NOTHING.....we go to the beach....eat....watch movies....then repeat the next day!
Sarah was such a fun beach bunny this year...even diving off the diving board at the rock with her dad and the kids!
With the help of auntie Marylynn...Graydon jumped!
Our favorite spot every afternoon...the snack shack.....yummy!
Auntie Marylynn and cute Maddox...he was enjoying looking at himself in her glasses...I think I took a pretty cool shot!

This is from our trip back east in April with John and I going to see the Yankees play the Orioles in Baltimore on just the 3rd game of the season. What was even more special was that John treated me and even though he had undergone shoulder surgery the day before, went with me even with the pain.

We had the best hot dogs outside the park at Boog Powell's BBQ. Time you get to spend with one of your sons is very special for every father and especially for me.

We are are at John's house just about to leave for the park. We left early so we could see batting practice and got there so early that they had not even opened up the park. One of us is pretty intense (well...maybe both of us). Sorry Jaime.

Here we are just outside the ballpark and I must say, it is a wonderful place to see a ball game.

This is before the game started and the fans just beginning to fill up some of the seats. As you can see this is a shot of left field from the 3rd base line. John got us great seats which included having ushers come fill our orders for food from our seats and not missing any of the game. We ate two hot dogs apiece, potato chips, a box of ding dongs, peanuts, plus drinks. I am not sure why John felt sick on the way home. Maybe a reaction to the medication.

This is a picture of center field and the score board. We had great weather and the only thing wrong was that the Yankees won.

Here we are looking at home place and gives you an idea of the beauty of this park.

Wednesday evening at Bounce U near Hershey

Katie and Gredtel are enjoying ice cream at Katie's after jumping and sliding at Bounce U. Gredel likes ice cream almost as much as her Mom.

After getting beat up, Tyler now has to fight Clayton for his ice cream. Tyler said he has to fight for his food at home too and this was nothing new.

This is Tyler and I at the Bounce U. I hope the authorities in Pennsylvania don't decide to come after me for child abuse. Not my finest momemt, but Tyler had fun (I hope).

Tyler and Gredtel on the slide at Bounce U. Tyler was great and gave Gredtel all the confidence she needed and she then started going down the slide by herself.

You are....Mary Barnum

Rarely will anyone be able to capture via the media the essence of life as seen through anothers eyes, or live, maybe just for a moment, as the other person lives. This artist captured her own experience of having trugged up the Hill Cumorah the dizzy feeling and thoughts that just rambled. Yes, now give it up for......Mary Barnum!

Easter Vacation...part 1...more to come

What a great trip we had visiting our family on the east coast. We took a trip to upstate New York with Marylynn and Tyler to visit a church history site in Palmyra, then down to Pennsylvania to visit John and Jaime along with Katie and Clayton. We made our trip to mecca at Hersheyworld, John and I went to Baltimore to see the the Orioles play the Yankees, a trip to Gettysburg, and much, much, more. We celebrated Gredtel's 3rd birthday and celebrated Easter at Katie's, but I think the kids favorite was visiting the bounce house while poor John was recuperating from shoulder surgery earlier that day. Enjoy the pictures...

This is Mary and an old woman (Mary is the one on the right) outside of the donut shop in Hershey.

Here we are with the kids ready to eat donuts. What pretty girls!

We had great weather at Palmyra and the the morning we left it got very cold and snowed.

This is the temple in Palymra and from here you can see the sacred grove.

This is inside the Grandin building where the Book of Mormon was published.

This is one of the original copies of the Book of Mormon on display at the Grandin Building.

Inside of the Peter Whitmer home where the Church was organized on April 6, 1830. This is the upstairs bedroom.

The room in which the first meeting took place on April 6, 1830 to organize the church. It just so happened that we the date we were here was April 6th.

Outside of the Peter Whitmer home. Cricket and Buster were great during our trip with all the traveling and the several sites we visited

What a great looking young man holding up this granite stone identifying the Whitmer home. You know, he looks a lot like me.

This is the top of the hill Cumorah with the angel Moroni. This is the dominate site in Palmyra which overlooks the town and farmlands below.

Mary and Marylynn made the trek together up the hill Cumorah and you can see they shed the coats they had been wearing.

This is a view half way up the hill.

The visitors center at the base of the hill.

Mary and I inside the Sacred Grove. This was about the time that Joseph Smith received the First Vision, and as you can see the trees are still without the beautiful green leaves, but you can see the beginning of spring growth all around, much like the beginning of the restoration which began with the First Vision.

Here is some of the spring growth within the Sacred Grove.

Inside the Sacred Grove. It was very peaceful and inspired one to reflect and meditate.

Cricket and Buster inside the Sacred Grove.

Mary and Don at the beginning of the path inside the Sacred Grove.

This is the bridge just outside the Smith Family home towards the Grove. What a great family!

This is the framed home that Alvin started prior to his death for his parents, Joseph Smith Sr. and his mother Lucy. It was 3/4 finished when he passed away and charged his brother Hyrum to finish it.

This is inside the framed home. It was quite an improvement from the log cabin that the family lived in previously which is only a few hundred yards from this site.

The is the black oak tree that the family planted right after the death of Alvin in his memory. This is just outside the framed home

This is between the log cabin and the framed home. You can see the Palymra temple in the background.

I think Tyler was envying the cute rabbit ears Cricket is wearing. I must say, she looks adorable!

Lucky grandma with Cricket. The trip would have been worth coming if just to be with the kids.

Beautiful girls patiently waiting for their orders to be served.

I am tracing Buster hand and he thought that was fun. This is the extent of my artistic ability, but it doesn't matter to Buster

.