Back to Buffalo continued

Gramma and Charlotte on Blessing Day.


The Maid of the Mist was amazing. Adie says, "I not want to get wet, I not going" But she was okay as long as grandma held her.

Darling Baby Lottie

The Nielsen family on Blessing Day.

We went to Palmyra to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was pretty spectacular.

Bonnie, Back to Buffalo for a Blessing

We went to the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove. Adie was walking around with her arms folded. I asked her, "Why?" She said it was a special place.

Grandpa's first time holding Baby Charlotte. I need to get out my pictures. I think she looks like me.

Love in Oregon

We spent a few days at the coast when Sarah and the kids got here. It was a lot of fun. I love the beach.


Andy sporting his new buzz.




Ali and I found a huge star fish when we walked at Agate Beach.

Happy Boy! Laughing at Ali's attempt at magic.

Ali practising her Harry Potter Spells on a balloon. "Wingardium Leviosa"

More from Herriman

Gramma and the boys. Four boys. It's so fun. I had to take a picture of Lincon with one sock on because this is hereditary. Grandpa Mike does this also.

Off to Herriman (It's near West Jordan)

Levi Ezra had a tough time getting here but is here and it very loved.Georgia came and had a sleepover with us and she loved holding her cousin.

Ali enjoyed holding him. I didn't get a picture of Andy with him but he chatted with him a while and was very interested in him. Sarah had to remind him to be gentle. Maybe they hung out together in the pre-existance.

Grant was always snuggling his little bro. The minute he got home from school that was the first thing he wanted to do. This was my first time I had to fight for a chance to hold the baby.

Here's Theron hanging out with his brother after school.

Are these two brothers? Lincon was all over "Levi Ezra" . You have to use both names or Lincon corrected you.

Two Weeks of Free Play

I had so much fun with the kids and Melissa and Eric. We played outside when it wasn't raining. I brought some of Melissa's old dolls and doll clothes. Adie carried them with her everywhere.

It was fun to watch them play and see their personalities. Adie would ride the rocking horse like a crazy woman. That girl has no fear, and maybe no feeling. She get's hurt alot and seems to only cry when her feelings are hurt.

Porter is a little more careful about things except the slide. Apparently it's fun to go down head first upside down. Or maybe it's fun to see what Gramma's reaction is.

Adie doesn't like her hair fixed because she gets tangles. So I gave her "Punzel Braids". She loves Rapunzel and the movie Tangled. Porter likes to be Flynn Rider. Great, I was stuck with mother Gothel or Maximus the horse.

Porter loves to help. He always is figuring things out and wants to help with everything. Here he is putting the bouncey seat together for Baby Lottie.

New York, here I come

Baby Charlotte arrived before I did. We went from the airport straight to the hospital to see this new little one.

Porter and Adelaide are so excited that baby Shawat is here. Look at all that hair. When it's wet it's a bit curly. When dry it's straight as a rod.

All are excited to have mom and baby home.

I made scrubs for Porter and Adie. Porters are just like Dada's and he says he is going to wear them to school. (That's what dada does)

Adies are her favorite color, purple (although she told me in July that her favorite color is now pink)

Seeing Ashton

We went to the Beach with Kelly, Loren and Ashton. Ashton is really into instruments and one man bands. We were watching a one man band on the Huntington Pier. It was a beautiful sunny day.

Loren and Ashton made a big sandcastle and then squashed it.

Ashton trying out a stakeboard at a surf shop.

Twin's First Birthday

Happy first Birthday Babes.
Mandy put together two birthday parties so we could attend. I can't believe how adorable cute these two are. They are still a miracle to me.

The babes are happy playing the parents look very tired.

Babes eating breakfast. It was fun to get to know them again. I hadn't seen them since they were almost 4 months old. I sure wish we were closer. It was so fun to watch how they play together and interact with eachother.

Alicyn's Baptism Day

We went to Ali's baptism. Unfortunatly Andy was still in the hospital. Because of a large crash on the freeway some of the family that were coming from the south (or Primary Children's) were late. Also the kitchen sink was clogged and it took the plumber 4 hours to get it fixed. Here is a picture of Ali with her cousins after the Baptism.

Sarah is amazing and fixed Ali's hair so gorgeously. Ali only cried for 20 minutes. (life with curly, tangled hair)

Here is Ali all dressed and ready to go. Hoping her Dad will be home in time to baptize her.

It was a wonderfuly day. Because the sink was clogged and kitchen unusable we went to Granny Annie's for breakfast. You get a humongous scone with your meal. I thought the scone should be the meal. Afterward the baptism we went to Applebee's for dinner. I have learned not to trust the GPS on Mike's phone. It told us it was on the left when it was clearly on the right.

Our sweet Andy at Primary Children's Hospital. It was nice to see him covering his eyes and crossing his legs. These are his regular behaviors which is good to see even when he was sedated. This was after his first surgery and before the second. If you need more information about Andy see the link to his blog. Thanks to PC for taking care of him even if they are "Ute's".

Pile of bowling shoes after Ali's party.

Ali's birthday bash at Boondocks

We went to the speghetti factory in Salt Lake for Ali's birthday dinner. We got to sit in a trolley.

Emergency Trip to Utah

I took an emergency trip to Utah. March 22 thru March 30. Andy in the hospital and no sign of him coming home soon. I thought I better go help out and give Ali a little bit of consistency in her life instead of being bounced around from family to family. Although everybody loves her and wants her. It turned out to be spring break at home so I didn't have any YW responsibilties (that I knew of). I later found out we were in charge of making 250 cake balls for the church prom and they had forgotten to notify us. It also turns out I was there for Ali's Birthday. I got to go to Boondocks with her and 13 friends. It was fun to watch 14, seven and eight year olds bowl. She has a lot of fun, cute friends here already. We went to the Lemmons for dinner one night for Steve's birthday and got to eat a yummy oreo cake that Samuel and Hyrum made. They are the cake bosses. They did an amazing job.

Going home there was an amazing sunset for miles. What a beautiful sight. It reminded me of the scripture, "all things denote there is a God".

I'm home for 9 days and then we are going back for Ali's baptism and then to California for the twins first birthday. Hurray. We will be able to see all our grandkids in the next two weeks except our New York kids. But I already have my plane tickets to go see them in May. Hurray!

Mike/Grandpa's Birthday

Happy Birthday Grandpa.


Grandpa and Bubba having their naps together.

Grandpa got new goggles and a new baclava. Oh look Ali's other front tooth is coming in. For Grandpa's party we found some fun party prizes. They were a hit. Fart whistles. Ali loved them because she is 7 and that is her job. Andy thought they were hilarious. Everytime he heard it he cracked up even when he was unhappy.

Andy and the fart whistle