Updates from Gramma Shaha (the younger) in Utah

 

Grandma comforting Macho before he undergoes dental surgery....he had to have four teeth extracted, the results, I'm sure of eating too many Fig Newtons.

 

 

Talking to Ben on my birthday during a lavish shopping spree.

 Our first home together in Orem...this is where we lived when we brought Ben home from the hospital.

 

 

 Williams gathering at our new house...left around the table are Uncle Pat, Uncle Jeff, Craig, Sarah, Steve, Katie, Shea, Chris, and Nick...it was wonderful to have all of these lovely people around my table! A forlorn looking Jack and Natalie are in the background. Linda was with Lauren and family in Colorado.

 

All of the birtdhay loot for the most recent Senior Citizen....thanks for all of the cards and gifts...you are all the best.

 

 I went to the Cougarettes' 70th anniversary celebration on my birthday and had a blast...Liz, Candace and I were the only ones there from the 70-73 "teams"...was great to see them.

 

A sure candidate for Awkward Family Photos...we were all freezing as Grandma was ordering Pat to get in the picture.

 

The Tanner men...L to R...Patrick looking very uncomfortable, Josh, Darien (Brittany's fiance), and Uncle Steve (still limping from getting hit by a car as he walked across the street in San Antonio with his bag of groceries. Kathy said the rottisserie chicken saved him from breaking his leg!

 

 

Jimmy's clones, er I mean daughters. Other than Kate (far left) who looks just like Erin, the other three look just like Jimmy.

 Beautiful Abby with Jake's boys, Alex and Ian.

 

 

Most of the Tanner/Stockton contingent....don't know where Buffie and Peng went!

 

Steve had to come straight from work so got there a bit later than the rest of us. 

 

 

 

 

They're not getting older; they're getting better! Grandma was ecstatic to have all of her beloved children together again. Love to all of our beloved children and their terrific families...xox

Christmas Catch Up from Gramma

The girls hanging around the fabulous spaceship Pat made out of moving boxes...my favorite part was the sign Lucy made outside the entrance, "Plese knok."

 

 

Christmas morning with the J&B contingent.

Note Ryan's concentration with the Shaha tongue tradition...he's addicted to dinosaurs.

 

Jack sharing his Avengers anthology with a charmed Ryan.

 

Movies on the big screen with Hailey and Lucy.

 

FHE games with Ryan...who do you think he resembles in this photo?

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).

 

Sunday Picture

Well, I will never be as good as Wendy about posting pictures or writing captions but here's my second for the year. Maybe the last...we'll see. This was taken on Sunday as we were leaving for church with the sword in hand. The sword only made it to the car and was not allowed to attend church much to Ryan's dismay. He folded his arms and refused to leave the car door without his sword. By the time we crossed the parking lot he changed his mind and I had to go back to get him.

The California Shaha's

Lucy and Ryan being silly.

Sweet Hailey Jo Jo

Aunt Danielle did her hair. She's enjoying her reflection.

Hailey's First day of school. She's in Pre-K at the school my mom teaches at. I have to get her up at 0630 and my mom picks her up at 0700.

Lucy's first day of school. She doesn't have to leave until 0800.

The Great Utah Visit by Grammy and Grampy

Greetings all. This is being typed by the Old Geek so will not be as witty as coming from Gramma. But we had another wonderful visit with Katie and Shea and Natalie and Jack, and got to spend time with Steve and GreatGramma Shaha.

 

Here are Natalie and Jack on their driveway. They had created a highway system for Natalie's new toy Smurf car to travel, being chased by the lion scooter driven by Natalie's stuffed beaver--his driving skills were very suspect.

And Natalie rode on her bike over to the park--Jack scooted over on his little self-propelled racer thing like Peter uses (only Jack doesn't use his feet to get propelled like Peter). Anyway, had a great time at the park playground--as you can see the beaver had no fear of the fireman's pole (although his landing was very flat and abrupt, fortunately Natalie was there to pick him up and brush off the sawdust).

Jack was very interested in going UP the slide--had a good view of the ongoing softball game from the top.

 

Well, pretty lame entry I know, but that's all the photos I took--can you . . . of course you can believe it. I got to meet Steve's date the night before I had to leave; Sarah was a very attractive, smart, articulate and fun; I hope Nancy gets to meet her when we go out for Thanksgiving.

 

Stay cool out there, and be excellent to each other. We hope to see you all again soon. Nancy and I are working up a proposal for a gathering of our family next summer, when Joe's back and the families of Dave and Ben are moving--hopefully in conjunction with the Shaha Reunion. We'll keep you all posted.

Love, Grampa and Gramma

Gramma & Grampa Visit Shaha Bragg and Belvoir Contingents

We just returned from a good news/bad news trip to North Carolina and Virginia. The good news is that we got to see Joe, Bethany, Lucy, Hailey, Ryan, Dave, Wendy, Oakley and Peter, and they are all well and wonderful. The bad news is that we said good-bye to Joe for awhile and that he has to be away from his family for the next 10 months.  Upon arriving at Joe's apartment in Fayetteville, we encountered this 6-legged ghost haunting the area....the last pair of legs reveals a suspicious diaper...must be a baby ghost!

 

 

Ryan assisting with janitorial duties while the girls create art.

Joe and family after returning all of the furniture to the loan closet.

The girls were awesome at miniature golf, and Ryan was great at throwing all of the extra balls into the water hazards...good times!

We stopped briefly at a Sonic playground before saying good-bye to Major Joe and his beautiful family; Dad and I left from there, and Bethany and the kids took him to the embarkation point....tough day.

 

 

Next stop was Dave and Wendy's at Ft. Belvoir...the extra family was one that Ben and Marinda knew well in Monterey (the Lewises). Oakley and Peter are good friends with Ian and Elsa who were good buddies with Emily and Caroline...there's also an extra neighborhood friend in the picture.

Grandpa probably urging Oakley to go look at the ants at the playground.

On the Metro coming back from a visit to the Smithsonian.

Grandma and Grandpa engaged in their favorite activity, hanging out with the grandkids!

Looking at my Dad's photo in the database at the WWII monument...can never go there without shedding some tears.

 

Wendy received permission to travel to Philadelphia and meet her missionary brother on his preparation day (he's returning home in a few days and Wendy will not be able to go home to greet him). Dad and I went along to help during the three-hour drive and got to taste our first authentic Philly cheese steak sandwich too...a good day!

Oakley checking out the butterflies in the Natural History Museum...she's fascinated by bugs.

We all loved the static electricity effects from the playground slides...check out Oakley's hair!