Gramma and Grampa Catching Up

Who says it's not an age of miracles?! We sold our home in Kansas (por fin!) and packed up our junk and headed off to Utah to seek our fortune--or rather to exhaust our meager savings. So there are many benefits of moving closer to family, like sharing Halloween . . .

 

. . . pretty scary for the rest of the inhabitants. Yes that is Hulk, Ariel the mermaid, Wolverine, and Nick Fury--and that other clown was invited to hand out candy at the Enniss home. 

 

 
Bethany and Lucy, Hailey and Ryan came out for Thanksgiving--and we got to celebrate Hailey's fifth before they headed back to California. We had an awesome visit from the Thanksgiving turkey . . . uh, no, that's Steve with  Lucy's turkey crown from school. And a good time was had by all, especially Steve!



It's been snowing a lot since Nancy and Pat got to Utah--we got about 6 inches at our house right after the movers dropped off all our stuff.




And then we got to head out to Spokane, WA, for Josh and Kelsie's wedding on 17 Dec. Josh's Grampa Tanner was able to officiate as the sealer which made for an especially amazing ceremony. As sealer, Bill Tanner mentioned missing Patty and Jim--and that he was confident Jim was there with us. And the Tanners and Barnes families put on some great parties for the rest of the day. Here are the Tanners able to attend--Brent and Janet, Gramma Elizabeth and Grampa Bill, and Troy.



And there were some of the Shaha reps at a table in the corner--where they belong.



It was cold and slushy and we got to the luncheon a little early so rather than stand around in the cold and get sloshed by passing buses we ducked into a nearby deli and had some hot soup--which was GREAT. And Grampa Pat even figured out how to do a selfie--no end to his talents.



The reception was held at a big home in the northwest hills above Spokane--a pretty precarious trip getting to it on some unplowed roads in the dark, but the place was very interesting. Had a whole bunch of baseballs and baseball bats collected over the years from major athletes--signed game bats from Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Frank Thomas, Pete Rose and others; and autographed baseballs from Ruth, Aaron, Mantle, Koufax, and a whole slew of others. Was pretty amazing. And there was this grizzly bear upstairs . . . .


 

 



Truth be told, the crew sort of descended into depths even lower than usual following the festivities--photo evidence follows. Nancy will have to fill in the story . . . .Nancy here. So upon arriving at the hotel in Spokane, we were all disappointed that we'd forgotten our swimsuits since there was a nice pool and hot tub. So of course Stacy  had a great idea that we needed to go to Wal-mart to find shorts and tank tops. The bargain rack provided Santa shorts and tank tops (Buffie's and Nancy's shirts say "meow" which explains the clawing gestures). The Tanners came back from the reception to see the Shaha reps acting like idiots in the hot tub in our Santa shorts...we all thought it was hilarious but are a bit concerned about our penchant for loud laughter and light-mindedness!



 

 

 

Once back in Utah we were able to check out the lights at Temple Square with Steve, Lucy and Hailey.

 

And today Lucy marshalled the forces available and staged an impressive Nativity--Natilie and Jack as Mary and Joseph, Hailey as the angel, and Ryan and Grampa as the wise men (casting was desperate). For some reason Ryan did not want to wear the wise man hat he chose--a Star Patrol helmet. It was an awesome production.

At Ryan's right hand are the gifts we brought as wise men--some paper props provided by Lucy. Not the spellings of 'Mr' (myrh) and 'Faksins' (frankincense).