I'm a Grandma

It finally happened. I'm a Grandma!

My kids will tell you that I have been excited to have grandbabies long before any of them were even considering getting married and starting families so this is a big milestone in my life. It happened at 12:01 AM on August 21st, 2010.

Benjamin Ralph Pace entered the world at a whopping 9 lbs 5 oz and is 21 inches long. He has lots of gold blonde hair, long fingers and huge feet. He has Lisa's cowlick and chin, and Cameron's hair and eyes. So far he has been a great sleeper and eater and pooper and all the stuff you want a new baby to be able to do.

Isn't he so sweet?!!!

It is fun to watch Lisa and Cameron learn how to take care of him. Here, he is getting his hair washed.


He has been sucking on his fist for quite some time. He had blisters on his left hand when he was born.

After his first bath.

Paul and Liz were in the waiting room with me through the labor. It was really sweet to watch them with their new grandson. My parents also came down and visited for a little bit and that was special.
I can't wait till Dennis gets home from Colombia and can meet this little guy. We are going to enjoy every moment with him while we can before the Pace family become residents of Bloomington Indiana.

Lake Powell

For quite a few years now, I've been wanting to take the family to Lake Powell but since we aren't really a boating family it just never made it to the top of the vacation destination list. Last year, Lisa went with the Pace's and had such a great time and suggested we should do it. We figured if we had the Pace family expertise, we could do it.

Dennis and I spent two weeks in Europe and flew in on Sunday night. Jessica flew in from Virginia. Mindy and Jeran came in from North Carolina. We had a couple of days to get all the shopping done and loaded up. Most of us made it down to the lake on a Wednesday afternoon and we set up camp at Stanton Creek.

The water was great.

We had tubes,

an inflatable island

a boat and canoe, (Pace's)

a rubber raft, and two jet skis (rented for 24 hours)

Everyone got a chance to ride in the boat, wakeboard, and play on the PWC's.

One morning, almost everyone took a trip up to a slot canyon and did a little hiking, exploring, and cliff jumping.

Lisa had to work a little harder than the rest of us to stay cool but she never complained.
A little storm blew in while all the kids and dad's were out exploring. This is what camp looked like when they got back. Lisa and Cameron's tent and the shower tent rolled a bit. Most of the other tents had to be flattened so that they wouldn't blow away. Our pop-up shade got all bent out of shape on it's first tumble but the guys did some pretty sturdy tie downs and the two shades did fairly well except for during this little gust.

Our other mishap we won't show any pictures of (partly because I don't have one and partly because it would be to gross.) Jeran smashed his finger under a rock while building a hot tub.

It tore the fingernail mostly off, cut it up pretty bad and later we found out it was also broken. Cameron's mom,Liz, has been an EMT for 20 years so she was on top of things really quickly. Mindy and Jeran, Liz and Cameron spent several hours at the emergency clinic. It was wonderful to have their experience and skills during the trip.

We had a wonderful time and it was nice to be able to all have some fun and relax together. With all the directions that the kids are going, who knows when we will have a chance to all get together again.

Why I Love Europe

Aahhh......

Last week, I flew to Amsterdam. (Dennis had meetings in France first so he flew to Paris and then on to Lyon and Marsille and eventually to Holland.) I got to stay with our friends Armanda and Carlo, and I spent almost a week visiting other friends and seeing some sights that we had planned to see but never had time. This week, we traveled by trains and planes and made it to Valencia, Spain, where Dennis will be working at the European Cystic Fibrosis Conference.

As soon as I got off the plane at Schiphol last week, I felt excited to be back. The whole week I felt almost like a kid in a candy store. It has been so fun!

The Dutch don't let a little rain stop them. We went for a walk so we could see how excited the everyone was for the world cup. Whole streets were decorated.
There are beautiful gardens and landscapes everywhere. This one just happens to be at an old and rather "small" castle in de Steeg.

We went to a fair that was hosted at the castle. There was horse dressage and show jumping, a border collie - sheep roundup demonstration, a falconer show and lots of stalls selling everything from horse and pet supplies to very expensive clothing and boots.



Armanda and I sent to Tilberg to see the Textile Museum. That was a place we had planned to visit before we moved and never got a chance. It was very interesting.They demonstrated very old techniques as well as the new types of fabrics that they are working on.
Here I am peddling a loom that is making fabric. A constant and steady pace is needed in order to have a good weave.

These 150 spools of thread supply the warp threads for a wool blanket. So impressive!

On our way to Valencia, Dennis and I had a stop over in Majorca. We didn't get to leave the airport but we had a really good fly over the whole island.

Shopping is always a wonderful adventure. Here is the central food market.

Any one want half a ham?

You can buy all kinds of meats, fresh fruits vegetables, breads, spices, nuts, dried fruits & such.

And how about this for a place to sit and rest in the shade?

I believe this is the roof of an old monastery, or it could be the silk exchange, or...... we saw so much of the very old and untra modern today.



This tree is just blooming here and hasn't started to leaf out yet. I'm not sure what it is but it is really pretty.
I love all the alfresco dining places. When the weather is decent it is so nice to sit outside and eat, especially when you have things like old roman architecture to look at.

Alyna's High School Graduation

This has been a busy and exciting week in our house. It is graduation week! Alyna has been so ready for this event and is looking forward to the next phase of her life.
On Monday we went searching for a dress for graduation, and if necessary, some shoes to match. We looked at all the stores in the mall (which isn't a great selection) and didn't find a dress or shoes that we both agreed on. As we were walking out of the mall, we had to go through JC Penney. I noticed some really cute shoes. Alyna tried them on, and even though they are a half a size smaller than is ideal, they screamed her name. They we had to go back and see what we could find to wear with them. She already had a cute black dress that just needed the right accent. We found a little dress - truly little - but the right color. A quick stop at the fabric store and a couple of hours of remodeling and we came up with this cute outfit. Alyna loved it and she got lots of compliments on the outfit.
Seminary graduation was really nice. It was nice to have the grandparents there. ( Lola and Ralph had to split up since it was Zeke's graduation in the other stake.) Katie spoke and did a really great job.
Mountain Crest's Graduation was held at USU's Spectrum. There were 460 graduates this year (the most of the three major schools in the valley. I thought it was really nice but not everyone would agree.

Dad didn't sleep nearly as much as we thought he would. He didn't get any sleep the night before in order to get back from Washington DC in time for the graduation ceremony. He was awake at all the important parts.
Lisa had a hard time sitting for that long. Look at the faces of the people behind us. Andrew sat and played on his ipod and texted Alyna the whole time. Lindsay colored in a coloring book.

By the end of the evening, the kids had their diplomas, well, at least their holders. The diplomas will be mailed out at a later date. Then it was time for lots of photos!

The Cousins

Even though it seems to me that the kids have been partying for weeks now, the real fun began this week. Alyna has a group of 12 friends that do just about everything together. They are a very smart and talented group of kids and they are so good.

Sisters

A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves -

a special kind of double. ~Toni Morrison

Last week I was able to get together with all my sisters for lunch. Unfortunately, it is an event that only happens once every three or four years. Kara flew in to run a half marathon with a friend who has cancer. Shaynie and LeAnn were both able to make it down. It was an event that took several months of planning and reminding - thanks Kara for making it all happen.

Kara and I met earlier in Salt Lake for a little retail therapy at Nordstrom. We had lots of fun trying on clothes and swapping. Some of the things she tried on and didn't like for one reason or another, I liked. I wish I had taken pictures of some of the things we tried. We had some good laughs and a few groans and moans when we found something we liked but it didn't look good on or it just brought out all our faullts.

We met up with Shaynie and LeAnne in Park City for lunch at the red Rock Junction. Mailee was the only daughter that was able to join us. We spent most of lunch discussing medical histories of ourselves and our parents, aunts and uncles. It was rather interesting to find out some of the health issues my sisters were facing. It was just so nice to be together and catch up on how everyone is doing.

After lunch, the rest of the sisters headed to the outlets to shop but I needed to get home.
On the way home, I made a brief stop in to see Aunt Kathy. It has been many years since I've seen her so it was nice to visit, even if it was just for a few minutes.

I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go

out and buy new ones. ~Author unknown, attributed to a 4-year-old named Lauren