Crook Grandkids Visit

Backtracking a bit, the day after Christmas the Crook Grandkids came over & stayed with us for a couple of days while Lori & Jim celebrated their 20th Anniversary! Here's a few of the things we did on their visit to stay busy.
1. The kids picked grapefruit & oranges.
2. Megan & Caley went outdoors to practice their skills at photography, therefore a few
pictures of me posing for Megan. Good job Megan!!
3. We promised the kids we'd take them to see "Tangled" so we all loaded up in two
vehicles because we wouldn't all fit in one of our vehicles & were off to the movies!! They
said their favorite part was all the lanterns or lights in the sky at the end!!
Cute movie!! Then picked up pizza & pop on the way home.
4. We were planning a hike up Carver hill, but Annika came down sick & the older girls still had
had coughs after just being sick themselves, so we cancelled that.
5. The girls & I put together the puzzle I got for Christmas of a Hawiian beach scene, where
we'll wish we could be a little later this year or anyplace like it!!
6. We played several board games, & other: Banana Grahams, Scategories & Chicken Foot
with the Dominoes.
7. I taught them how to play "Anti-I-Over" that we use to play with my kids when they
were growing up at Lori's suggestion. You divide up in teams, one team on either side
of the house, one throws a small rubber ball over & the others have to fetch it then run
on either side of the house & try to tag members of the other team. Which can either
then be out or have to join their team, according to how you set the rules ahead of time.
Only we couldn't find a rubber ball so were trying to play with Ryans' new bat & wiffle
ball set & that wiffle ball had so many holes in it the wind made it hard to get over the
house. Megan was pretty good at it. I resorted to batting it over with Ryan's bat! Hit
the window several times, oops!! Ryan (age 3) was a great cheerleader, "hit it harder"
Grand-Vona!!
It can really get the blood flowing, keeping up with the grandkids is more than a trick!! I
broke Ryan's ball so Kelly gave him one of his harder pickle balls, and we played on!!
8. Watched some T.V. And the kids played with some of their Christmas gifts! Wha la!!
Happy 20th Anniversary Lori & Jim!! Hardly seems possible!

Crook Grandkids Visit

I liked this photo because right above my head on the Christmas

Tree is a picture of our favorite Temple in Mesa where we were

married. (A few older pictures)

I liked this picture with all the pretty poinsetias!!

I guess the tall Cactus-like structures are suppose to represent

the deserts of Arizona but made for quite an interesting picture

that captured my eye!! Unique!

This was Ashley's first big trip out after having little baby Evalyn!

They came over to have dinner with us.

The Fleming girls!! Won't those girls have a fun time playing

together in a few years!! Meanwhile enjoy cuddling them while

their little!! Ashley's looking great!!


All in all it was a pretty busy season starting with baby Evalyn's birth & Ashley's

re-coop time after having a surprize C-section. Then the busy Thanksgiving &

Christmas season & on top of that Alisa's bridal shower & Reception & Caitlin Dorn &

Chelsea Dorn, & Ibis Cluff baby showers, one right after the other. Kept us hopping.

The Cluff decendents are being blessed abundantly!!

January In A Nutshell

1. Under the weather for a couple of weeks.

2. Cleaned out a couple of closets & took clothes to D.I.

3. Jury duty watch on th 14th & 15th. Was released, whew!

4. Tri-ward Service Project making bracelets & earings for New Leaf, a women's organization
to help women in need get back into the workforce.
5. 14th, My Birthday. Kelly baked me a 2 layer round chocolate cake with large walnuts
covering the top. He knows I love nuts, wow! I was impressed and he splurged & took me
to Ruth's Chris Steak House on Camelback for a lovely candle-light dinner out where I
got to dress up! It was great, but we decided we're partial to Flemings where we
went on one of our Anniversaries in the past.
6. I Read: "Before My Heart Stops" a memoir by Paul Cardall. I was born with Half a
Heart, God made up the difference.
Wow! What a story! I had no idea. I looked up a couple of his recording's he did while
going through this life experience. I really like "Miracles" & my favorite is "Gone Home"
which are on my Blog playlist & I play it over & over lately.

I read: "Dinner At Mr. Jefferson's by Charles A Cerami. Three men, Five Great Wines, &
The Evening That Changed America. Great Read!

I read: "The General & The Jaguar" Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa. A True Story of
Revolution & Revenge, by Eileen Welsome. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Wow! Very educational & I learned alot about events that were alot bigger than I
thought they were & happened in alot of the areas I have traversed. I didn't realize
how huge General Pershings expedition into Mexico was or all the details. No idea they
used 5 airplanes in the expedition & the interesting tales of them & their experiences.
It was not to long after airplanes were newly invented & they were described more like
flying crates. My son-in-law Jon, would find this interesting & perhaps Becky's Steve
Dorn, who is training to be a pilot. What an adventure!!
Also a young George Patton was one of the generals accompaning Pershing & was frothing
at the bit to catch Pancho Villa & pursue him further into Mexico, when they weren't
allowed to go any further.

7. Worked 4 hrs. at Deseret Industries stocking shelves.

8. Went to the "Wildflower Bread Company" w/daughters & Lauren celebrating our
Birthdays. (Vona's. Michelle's & Lauren's.) Two hours flew by with all our chatting!!

9. Oh, & Kelly & I did an endowment session at the Temple taking two of our family names
through & Kelly afterwards, did the Baptism for his Dad's older brother Lloyd Richard
Vining, that we researched recently & finally found info after 15 yrs. of looking.
Kelly came out just a whistling, he was so pleased!
Also, an unknown cousin of Kelly's, James (Jim) Coates contacted us by E-mail through
my hotmail e-mail address that I had left when I submitted some names for Temple
work over 15 yrs. ago & I haven't changed it & he came across it. So he & Kelly have
been E-mailing back & forth & he also called & he & Kelly had a nice long visit catching up on
how they connect & the family's histories. It's been quite fun!!
It just so happen's that the 15 family names we have been working on this past year is
this Coates family line, & Kelly just went thru for James Coates Grandfather or G.G.
this last temple visit. And we're tickled to find out Jim (he goes by Jim) joined the church & is active & has
two children ages 7 & 9 & lives in San Jose California. We've discovered one other of the
decendents has joined the church & lives in Utah. Exciting stuff!

And that's a rap for now. Ohhhh P.S. Ask Michelle about her B-day ride present!
Would you believe an Airplane ride doing Aerobatic manuvers in the sky!! Yikes!!
She's always been thrilled by roller coaster rides, so she was game!!!
Pretty daring eh? Jon's into this lately. He always wanted to be an airline pilot or
fly planes. She said the flying strait was fun because you are seated inside the
plane (those kind that are open & with double wings) only about waist down but well haltered & belted in & you can feel the air in your
face & hair & can see great vistas & then stuff started getting pretty interesting! She
said she made it through about 7 manuvers, then started getting a little queasy. Okie
dokie done!! I'd say she earned some flying stripes!!

Well now this really is a rap!!