On The Rhoades Again

No. 9 & No. 10 Granddaughters Arrive

2011-10-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

So Kelsey delivered her twin girls on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 7:20 and 7:28.

All went well, except that the epidural did not work, and Kelsey and girls are doing great. In fact, they were all able to come home today. Not too often that twins are born 5 weeks early and get to come home in less than 48 hours:)

Kelsey looks great and little girls are adorable. Names.....Quinn Gracie and Rian Palmer. Quinn was 5 lbs 3 oz and 18.5 inches and Rian was 5 lbs 7 oz and 18.5 inches. Quinn is the oldest by 8 minutes. However, Kelsey said it was more like only 5 minutes.

Cliff and I are flying to Puerto Rico on October 18th and will stay there til December 1st. Well, we fly into Tampa on the 18th, spend a couple days with Linsey and family and then back to Florida on Nov. 29th for a couple more days with Branson family and then home.

We just returned a month ago from spending three weeks with Linsey in Florida and Kelsey in Puerto Rico. It was so fun being with all of them again. I miss my girls (all of them). We have 14 girls now....4 daughters and 1o granddaughters.

We also spent two weeks at Priest Lake this year with our other two daughters, Katie and Morgan and their families. So it has been a very fun filled summer.

Pictures to come when I have more time:)

Another Change in Our Lives

2011-04-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Cliff was released as the Bishop of the University 10th Ward. The church is making a lot of changes with the Young Single Adults and have dropped the name "University" or "Student" wards, and they dissolved all "Married Student" wards and sent the married students back to the family wards in which they live. All these changes took place last Sunday and in the process of these changes our 1oth Ward was dissolved and our kids were put into 5 different wards. So because our ward was dissolved and Cliff has been bishop almost three years now up there, he was released. So we will be returning to our home ward, Chubbuck 6th, this Sunday. It will be nice to return to the 6th Ward and I'm sure it will take a little adjustment, but we will dearly miss our kids of the University 10th Ward. We have grown to love them all....those there now, and those who have moved on. We have enjoyed so much being with them and learning from them. They will never know how my testimony has grown from being with them, serving with them, and having fun with them. They are great kids with great testimonies. I served as the Temple Prep Teacher up there and enjoyed so much teaching and preparing these young people to go to the temple. Cliff will be lost for a while without having the association of these young people through the ward or the Institute anymore, but we are looking forward, and making new plans. Priest Lake, Florida, and Puerto Rico.......here we come!!

30th Anniversary

2011-03-16T18:42:00.001-07:00

So Cliff and I went to Salt Lake to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary, which is March 14th. We had a great time. We went to Temple Square and out to eat at Iggy's. The picture below is taken because this is where Cliff gave me my engagement ring. Someone else was taking the picture for us and it is blurry, but who cares:)
The next day we went through an endowment session in the Salt Lake Temple. This is the first time that I have gone through the Salt Lake temple except for a wedding. Cliff has only gone once before he left on his mission. So it was wonderful. That temple is truly an amazing place. The inside is so beautiful. It amazes me that the pioneers could do all that with so little technology. Anyway, we had the blessing and opportunity of being asked to be the witness couple. It was awesome. Afterwards we ran into the man that asked us to be the witness couple and he showed us some places in the temple that not everybody gets to see. It was a wonderful day and a great experience. A perfect way to celebrate our anniversary.

Looking back on 30 years, we have so very much to be grateful for. Heavenly Father has truly blessed us. We have 4 beautiful, wonderful daughters, 4 great son-in-laws and 8 beautiful little granddaughters. Who could ask for more:) Linsey and Kelsey and their families are now living far away and that is hard for me, I am adjusting, but still miss them so very much.

I don't do very well keeping this blog up, but then I don't have a lot to put on here when alot of my family is not around. It was usually our family events that I posted on here. I will try and still put things, but Cliff and I are kinda boring if all you are reading about is us and the other girls all have their own blogs.

Need To Do Better

2011-02-20T08:33:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, I really need to do better in keeping my blog up. However, half of my family has moved far away now and so not sure I will have a lot to report here on the blog. Most of what I have always had dealt with my grandkids. I still have 3 of the 8 here, but that will probably not last long. Katie and Cameron will probably be leaving within the year for places unknown.

So......to bring you up to date.....Morgan and Norman got married on December 11, 2010 and it was a wonderful day. Everything was perfect and we had the entire family together for probably the last time in who knows how long. So it was wonderful having all our girls and their spouses in the temple together. We got a great family picture together.

Linsey and Jarom moved to Tampa, Florida the week after the wedding. That's when my tears first started. Kelsey and Dan left a week ago tomorrow (on Valentine's Day) for Puerto Rico for 3 or 4 years. That brought more tears. I have to say, the hardest thing for me as a grandma is to get close to my grandchildren and then to have to say good-bye to them and watch them move so very far away. But life brings changes, I just don't always like those changes.

Katie and Cameron are looking into career changes and may be leaving us soon. I will keep you posted on that. Morgan and Norman are presently planning on staying here while they get their education. So we should have them around for a few years anyway.

I guess since I won't have much to blog about right now that this blog will start to be my travel blog. Cliff is on disability from work now and so this is our time to do some things together. We have lots of places that we would like to go and this past summer was really fun. We traveled to Priest Lake for our annual family vacation. Then we went to Nebraska for a family reunion on Cliff's side. While there we decided to be spontaineous again and instead of heading for home....we headed for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of my goals or dreams or whatever you want to call it is to visit each state in the United States. However, I will probably not get Alaska. Anyway, so we went to Milwaukee and the saw the broadway musical "Wicked". I had already seen it twice (in Denver and in Omaha) but Cliff had not seen it. It was great....even the third time. We then drove from there to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We toured some of the places that our now new son-in-law (Norman) served his mission in. We even went to the mission home and visited the Sacrament Meeting of the ward he was attending when he left his mission for home. It was fun to meet the people and hear how much they loved Norman.

Then driving home we decided to take the back roads and not the Interstate. It was very fun and we enjoyed it alot.

Then in October we drove to Florida with our daughter, Linsey. She had to move to Florida ahead of the rest of the family to start her new job as a NICU nurse at the hospital there. We did not want her driving across the country alone, so Cliff and I drove with her and then flew home. We had a great time and enjoyed our time with Linsey.

So......I guess now we need to start planning our first trip to Florida (well that won't be our first, but first since Linsey's whole family has moved there) and Puerto Rico:)

I'm Still Alive!!

2010-09-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I am terrible at keeping up this blog. Last time I updated was on Cliff's birthday, which was the beginning of this year and the year is almost over. Wow! You would have better luck looking at my facebook page to find out what's happening in my life. Here is a very brief view of my year.
Cliff has been put on permanent medical disability from work, Linsey and her family are moving to Tampa, Florida. (Linsey next week, and the rest of the family in December). Cliff and I are driving out to Florida with Linsey and then flying home. That should be fun!! Katie just delivered twin girls a week ago. They were 13 weeks early and it was a pretty tramatic delivery. One at home and the other at the hospital, with an ambulance ride in the middle. Katie gets deathly sick for her entire pregnancies, so it has been pretty miserable for her, but she and little girls are doing good. Kelsey's husband got hired for a new job and they will be moving to who knows where. And Morgan is engaged to Norman Reece and will be getting married on December 11th.

So as you can see, this has been and still is a very busy year for our family. Many of them are moving away, far away, and we will miss them terribly and Morgan is starting a new chapter in her life. She has chosen a wonderful young man to be her eternal companion and we are very pleased and excited for them both. Cliff is having to adjust to slowing his pace down and not working anymore. Physically he is ready, but mentally he is not ready to be done teaching and doing that which he loves. But it is giving him time to spend with his little granddaughters that will be moving away soon. I'm just trying to get through each day and each new hurdle:)

Cliff turns 55!!!!

2010-01-15T16:25:00.000-08:00

Cliff turned 55 today....January 14, 2010. We had all of our girls and their families here for the evening. We ordered in Chinese, then opened presents and had the cake. One of the girls in our Single's Ward that Cliff is Bishop of made the cake for him. It is a huge Insulin Syringe. With the words "Happy Birthday, Big Shot" on there. We thought it was pretty clever.

Grandpa and Rylie before he opens his presents.

All the granddaughters wanted to help with opening the gifts!

They had fun each getting a turn to help Grandpa open one of the gifts.

Here's the birthday boy with all 6 of his granddaughters.

The Cake

Same picture as above. I didn't know I already had it in here.

Here come's the first bite!!! Not really...he didn't do it.

Kelsey decides to use it on him. HaHA!
He'll need a big shot after tonights meal!!

Wow!! 55!! In all honesty, I don't think Cliff ever thought when he was younger that he would ever see this age. We are very blessed and glad that he has!!

It looks like he still has enough energy to blow out the candles.....that is with a little help. HAHA!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-07T10:35:00.001-08:00

UPDATE TO SLEEPOVER WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDPA

I said below that I didn't have any pictures of cookie making with granddaughters. I just found some on Kelsey's blog. so here they are. And if you want to see everything we did for the kids for the 12 days of Christmas go to Kelsey's blog. she posted about each day. It is http://www.rileyfun.blogspot.com/

We gave all the grandkids new Christmas jammies for one of the days and here they are wearing them for our sleepover.

This is after we made the cookies. everyone was hungry and we had pizza.

Getting ready to eat pizza after hard work of making christmas cookies.

Jenna rolling out her cookie dough to cut the cookies.

This was so fun to do with the girls.

It was fun to watch their creativity in frosting their cookies

Here is the end result.

We had a great Christmas this year with loved ones and family and friends. I love Christmas time and I'm always a little sad when it is over. Here is a recap of our Christmas festivities.

SLEEPOVER WITH GRANDPA AND GRANDMA

Cliff and I did the 12 days of Christmas for our kids and their families this year and one of the days was a sleepover for the older 4 granddaughters with us. I didn't get pictures on my camera of us making our Christmas cookies, which was very fun, but I think we got it on the movie camera or someone elses camera. I hope so. But here are a few pictures from the rest of the evening.
Here is Grandpa reading a christmas story to the girls. Amanda is at the right hiding or something.

They all wanted to sit on Grandpa's lap at the same time to watch a movie. It's ok. It didn't last too long.

We all slept out on the floor together in the family room. Of course, they wanted grandma in the middle. Mine is the blue bag in the middle. It was a lot of fun! We watched the movie "Frosty the Snowman"

Don't know why this picture came up sideways, but this is what we had for breakfast. The girls loved it!

Breakfast time!

Grandpa looks a little tired here don't ya think? He had to have eye surgery the day before. We had this planned with the girls before we knew they would do surgery that day. I was a little worried about it, but Grandpa wanted to do it anyway.

Every year our granddaughters love to lay under my christmas tree upstairs and play with the little ice skating pond. The skaters go around while "Away in a Manger" plays. They love it! They do pretty good at leaving the rest of the Christmas Village alone, but the real little ones still have a hard time with that.

DECEMBER 19TH - OUR SINGLE'S UNIVERSITY WARD GOES TO SALT LAKE CITY TO SEE THE TEMPLE SQUARE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

We rented a bus (school bus...wasn't too bad though) to all travel down together in. It wasn't too bad until it broke down. We could tell something was wrong and tried to make it to the Plymouth, UT exit (which is out in the middle of no where) and just as we were exiting the interstate, all power went out on the bus. We glided to a stop on the ramp and then had to hike all the kids over to the gas station. Luckily it wasn't too far.

We then had to camp out in the Subway that was attached to the gas station while we waited for another bus to come and get us. We were there about 1 1/2 hours. The kids bought cards and played while we waited. They were all really good sports about it and we didn't hear any complaining.

This is just Morgan and I chillin at Subway while waiting for the bus.

It was worth the wait. Temple square was beautiful, as always. We were going to go and see the Joseph Smith movie at the JS Memorial Building, but because of the bus breakdown that is what we had to cut out. I wish we could have because we had some who had never seen it before.

We all had a great time. I always enjoy walking around temple square, especially at christmas time. We were glad Morgan was home from BYU-I so that she could go with us.

This is Morgan and two of the girls from our ward, Kirsten and Abby.

The three of us again. We also took the kids to Chuck-a-rama for dinner. Our home stake, Chubbuck Stake, also brought their single's ward down the same day and would you believe that both of our buses showed up at Chuck-a-Rama at the very same time. So we had a pretty long wait for them to fit about 90 of us in there to eat. But we enjoyed visiting and having fun while waiting. It was a great trip. We love the young people of the University 10th Ward and so grateful that Cliff has the opportunity of being their bishop and being their with them.

CHRISTMAS FAMILY CANDLELIGHT DINNER AND FHE

It is a tradition of ours every Christmas to have a candlelight dinner and a Christmas FHE together. While our girls were growing up, we had a candlelight dinner for every holiday during the year and would decorate the table to that holiday. But since they are all married now and Morgan is away at school, we only continue to do the Christmas candlelight dinner and then we have our Christmas FHE lesson. This year Cliff had the lesson and he did a wonderful Christmas message and then gave each of our daughters and their family a large bronze statue of the Savior. (I didn't even know about that one.) I know it will be a treasure to all of them.

Dinner came first before the lesson. Here is Rylie, Jenna, and Savannah.

Here is most everybody. Amanda is over in the corner to the right. Morgan and Cliff were over getting their food and the two babies were there somewhere. And of course, I was taking the picture. We invited my Dad to come and spend the evening with us.

Cliff did a little christmas lesson for the grandkids before we went on to the other lesson. He also bought each of the granddaughters a little crystal ornament of the nativity scene. They were beautiful and I'm sure their parents will keep those safe for them so they won't break. It will be a wonderful keepsake for them from their grandfather.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to get together with my side of the family for dinner and some kind of a christmas message. We rotate homes between our house and my brother's house. This year it was at my brother's in Idaho Falls. It has also been a tradition for the past 31 years to go out to the cemetery on Christmas Eve (we go a different night when christmas eve is at my house) and put a little Christmas tree on my brother's grave and sing a few Christmas carols. We love this tradition because it helps us remember those we love, who have passed on, at this special time of year. It is so quiet and peaceful out there and our voices in the night sound great. We now have my mother and a little grandson out their with my brother, David, as well. My mother loved this tradition and so I know that she still loves having us come and sing.

Everyone singing

My mother's grave is the one on the left and my brother's is the one with the lit Christmas tree. My sister-in-law bought some blinking lights this year to put on David's grave. They worked so well that Dad is going to get some next year for Mother's. We were surprised to find that when my sister-in-law went back out to pick up the tree and take it home for the year (which was about a week after Christmas) that the lights were still blinking. They had not run out of battery. That is awesome.

Here is Katie, Cameron, and Amanda in front of little Cameron Clifford's grave.

After the cemetery, we went back to Ken and Ray's home to eat dinner. After dinner, Ray had a very nice Christmas message for us about the light of the star and how we should let that light shine in our lives each and every day. It was a wonderful message.

These two pictures are actually out of place. This took place on Christmas Day when we were back at my brother's house for gift opening and a fun gift game. Another tradition that we have done since I was a little girl. During the game Ray had a competition of teams where you had to race to make deer antlers out of balloons and nylons. Then someone on the team had to put the antlers on their head before you could win. This is Morgan with her team's antlers on. A little droopy. She was suppose to tie the ribbon around the end of the antlers on each side and she has it tied around her neck. HAHA!

Here are the representatives from each team. By the way.....my team won. Michael, second from the right, was our team leader. So starting from the left....Cheryl (my sister), Cindy(my brother's sister-in-law), Morgan, Michael (who is my cousin on the Simpson side, but married my brother's neice from his wife, Ray's, side....figure that one out. haha) and then Cameron(my son-in-law). It was quite humorous.

After Ray gave her Christmas message about the light, we all went outside with lit candles and listened to a song about the star. It was great. My picture didn't turn out too great. This is Morgan and Mekelle (my sister's daughter)

I have Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in my front yard. My little granddaughter, Amanda, always runs over to it first thing every time she comes to the house. Well, this is Christmas Eve after we had arrived back home from Idaho Falls and she wanted to go say good night to baby Jesus before she went home. So cute

Here is Morgan with her Christmas Eve pajamas and a new DVD to watch. Another tradition of ours for years has been on Christmas Eve all the girls would sleep together in Mom and Dad's bed and watch a movie. So the tradition started with four sisters together in one bed. Now it is down to only Morgan. She has had the bed to herself for three years now. Then Cliff and I sleep downstairs in the hide-a-bed by the Christmas Tree.

The three of us before bedtime!

One by the Christmas tree!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

Had to actually wake her up this year.

This is Morgan's reaction to her gift from Santa. She was a little nervous about it this year because she usually gives us a list of things she would like and so kinda knows what she will probably get, but this year she didn't give us a list and had no idea. We had over heard her in passing during the year say that she would like a new mountain bike. The bike she had was a smaller frame that she got about 11 years ago and so she doesn't ride it anymore. She wants to try mountain biking a little. Anyway, she was very surprised and I don't think she was even expecting it a little bit.

She actually received gifts for three of the sports that she enjoys doing. Here she is with her new helmet for mountain biking. Got to have one of those if you are going to bike in the mountains.

Here she is with her new goggles for snowboarding

Here she is with her new life vest for waterskiing.

This picture snuck in before I put the last picture of Morgan. Cliff has wanted a cane to help him on days when his legs hurt and he needs help, but he wanted a cool cane and not an old man looking one. I found this one online and it is awesome. It has a double horse head on the handle.

Ok. Here is Morgan with all three. bike, helmet, goggles, and lifevest. She got a little spoiled this year. I commented to her that who knows, maybe she will have a different Santa in her life next year, and she said......"I kinda like the Santa I have now". We got a chuckle out of that.

IT WAS A GREAT CHRISTMAS AND A GOOD NEW YEAR!! We are eternally grateful to Heavenly Father for the many blessings that He gives us. Even amidst trials and challenges we still recognize the blessings.

Twelve Days of Christmas

2009-12-14T10:18:00.000-08:00

Cliff and I wanted to do something fun and different for our girls and their families this year, so we planned and prepared a 12 days of Christmas for them. We delivered all the gifts in a Christmas storage tub and they began their 12 days on Dec. 9th. They will finish on Dec. 20th and we will have our Christmas FHE Candlelight Dinner on the 21st when they will share their fun and experiences with us. Our theme for this 12 days of Christmas was "Family". Each gift is to be opened together as a family and most of the gifts require them to do something together as a family that day. The purpose of this is to help them draw closer together as a family and realize that the most important gift that the Christ Child gave us was his example of love and kindness, the fullness of the gospel and family. Cliff and I hope that they, especially the grandchildren, will enjoy this and remember it for years to come. That is why we asked the girls to take pictures since the grandchildren are still pretty young, maybe the pictures will help bring back the memories in future years.

When they are all done, they are going to put the pictures together for us. I will then post some of them.

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. We love you!!

Above is our family christmas picture for this year. It may be the last one we get for a while since most of our kids will probably be moving far away during this next year, and won't know when we may all be together again at the same time. Life brings change.....I just don't always like the change.....

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T11:17:00.001-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving Day at the Rhoades house this year! We had 21 of us. We were missing my brother, Ken, and his family. And we did miss having them here with us. So there was my Dad, my sister (Cheryl) and her family, and all of my family. After dinner we went over to the park behind our house and took a few family pictures and then we played the newlywed game with everyone. It was fun. Morgan and Mekelle are not married yet, so they were a couple for the game (they know each other pretty well). And also, since my mother has passed away, we still asked my dad the questions and learned a little more about grandma.

I don't have any of the family pictures we took on here right now because Kelsey took them with her camera, so I don't have any copies yet. I'm sure you can go onto Facebook though and see them. She has posted a few, I think.
Starting the food line. We are all hungry.

We had tons of food.

Here some of them sitting down eating. Others still in the kitchen.

The other table

My son-in-law, Jarom, and little Meg. such a cutie!!

Savannah, Jenna, and Rylie

Amanda enjoying her Thanksgiving meal

Here's the two little ones, Meg and London.

At the end of the day, Cameron had surprised Katie with a birthday cake. Her Birthday was a week ago, but such a busy day that she never got a birthday cake. However, we were all so full from the day, that we didn't even cut it. Just sang to her and put it back in the freezer, for hopefully another day. It looked good. It is filled with ice cream.

Halloween Fun at Grandma's House

2009-11-02T08:26:00.001-08:00

Halloween at Grandma's House was fun again this year!! On Tuesday our home ward had their Halloween Party and Jenna and Amanda came over for that. Then on Halloween Linsey brought the girls down early for us to see them, and unfortunately Amanda did not get over to the house in time for pictures with the other girls before Linsey had to head back to Idaho Falls.

We had Sloppy Joes and then Jenna, London, and Amanda went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. It was a nice evening, so not too cold for the girls. When they got back Jenna had fun handing out the candy to those still coming to the house. We had a big turn out this year. In fact, I ran out of candy (which has never happened before) and I started giving out Cliff's diabetic reaction candy bar stache and a big box of fruit snacks that I had just bought. Glad I had the extra!!

It was a fun evening with the Grandkids!! Here are some pictures of all of them.
Here is Jenna and Amanda on Tuesday before the Ward party.

They make a great Cinderella and Umpouloompa!!

Jenna and Amanda

Here are my two little ladybugs!!! Meg and London One little bug didn't want to sit still!!

Meg and London

Meg

Here's the crew, except for Amanda. This is before they went trick or treating.

Cute little ladybug. London

The three oldest ones......Jenna, Rylie, and Savannah

Cinderella is trying to keep the ladybug in one place..... (sisters)

Off they go

The very first house of the evening.....the Matson's......our great friends!!

TRICK OR TREAT!!!!

Family Pictures of my Oldest Daughter

2009-10-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some really cute pictures of Linsey's family. My daughter, Kelsey, took these pictures. She did an amazing job.
She did this one in black and one also. I like them both.

This is a GREAT picture of Linsey and Jarom!!!

I love this one of Rylie and Savannah!!

Rylie

Savannah

Meg

The Before and After Shots!!

2009-10-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ok. My basement is finally finished. Well, finished for the most part. I still have to put some decor on walls (when i figure out what I want) and a few little things. I really like how it all turned out and it looks better in real life than in these pictures, but it gives an idea of how it looks.

This was my living room for several weeks with part of the furniture from the basement in it. It drove me crazy!!.

The stairwell. I figured if I had to replace the carpet in the basement, I might as well do the stairs too, especially when I already hated the carpet that was on the stairs in the first place.

This is the family room. We had to tear out the wall where the window is and replace it. Wish I would have taken a picture when it was all torn out.

This is Kelsey's former bedroom when she was at home. The wall with the window here was also torn out.

This is Katie's former bedroom. It had a partial wall torn out. I should have taken pictures of how the rooms looked before we started tearing everything apart, but I didn't think about it.

NOW THE FINISHED LOOK!!

Here is Katie's room. She and Kelsey want to move back now that their rooms are cute. I guess they didn't really like the plain white walls.....haha

Another view of Katie's room. Walls used to be white with green carpet.

Kelsey's room. Walls used to be white with blue carpet.

Another view of Kelsey's room

One more view of Kelsey's room.

Here is one end of the family room. It had green carpet and white walls before. I like it this way much, much better. It makes the room a lot more warm and homey. We still have to finish the window seal in this room. It is not done yet. We had the wrong size board and my son-in-law is doing it and he had to leave town.

The other end of the family room

Another view of family room.

One more view of the family room.

It was a long process and I am glad that it is finally done. I really like it. AND......as I speak, or type this.....my roof of my house is FINALLY being torn off and replaced!!!!

I should have taken before and after shots of our backyard as well. We had a cement patio that had to be torn out and we replaced it with a deck and the roof of the deck is being put on next week. So when that is done I will put up pictures of the finished project outside.

Waste of Time or Not?

2009-09-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Is posting on my blog a waste of time now that there is Facebook or Not? that is the question?!?!
Just wondering if I shouldn't bother putting things on here anymore if everyone just looks at facebook instead. Give me some feedback......

Summer Fun!

2009-08-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where did the summer go! It went so fast and I haven't posted anything on here for a while. So here goes.........................

On July 2nd, Cliff, Morgan, and myself took one of the most fun spontaneous trips I have ever done. What?.....it is the only spontaneous trip I have done. On the Thursday before the 4th of July, Cliff and I were out taking a walk in the morning before we had to leave for Twin Falls for a wedding. I asked Cliff what he wanted to do for the 4th of July. We usually go to Idaho Falls and see the fireworks at the river and spend time with the family. Well, to my surprise....Cliff said, "do you know what I really want to do?" and when I asked what, he said, "I want to go to the Redwood Forest" He said he has always wanted to see the Redwoods. And to my surprise, I said, "ok, lets go". So we woke Morgan up and told her we were going on a roadtrip and wanted to know if she wanted to go with us. She said yes, we showered and got ready for the wedding, packed a few things, and off to Twin Falls we went. After the wedding we headed for California. We caught up with Highway 101 in Arcarta, CA. We followed highway 101 up the coast into the Redwood Forest. Below are a few pictures and then I will continue the story of the roadtrip.....

Here we are somewhere in Nevada filling up with gas.

This is at the first beach and sign of the ocean that we came to in California.

Morgan and me. I was the only one that actually went down in the water. However, I didn't go very far in as you can see. My clothes are still dry.

We were driving along the road toward the Redwoods and came across Paul Bunyan and Babe. They were huge. As you can see Morgan and I are at the foot of Paul. There was someone inside him and he would talk to people and carry on a conversation with them as they walked by.

These trees are huge. As you drive through the scenic byway on Highway 101 you will see the really, really tall redwoods, but we had to ask at the information place where to go to see the big ones like the one Cliff and I are standing by. Those are in a place called, "Stout Grove" and you have to drive on a dirt road back in a ways and then they have a trail that you can walk through "stout grove" and see many huge trees. It was awesome.

Here's Morgan at the base of one.

Morgan and I climbed up into one of them. The climb up was ok, but the climb down was a little more tricky.

Just a fun picture in the middle of the Redwood Forest. HAHA!

Now for the rest of the story.......while driving through the Redwoods and looking at our Atlas, I found that Highway 101 goes right through Forks, WA for those of you who are "Twilight" fans. When I mentioned that to Morgan she got excited and said, "hey, lets go". Now realize that we are in California and Forks is at the very top of Washington in the pennisula part of the state, by the coast. Anyway, to our surprise, Cliff said, "ok, lets go" So we followed Highway 101 all the way up the coast through Oregon and Washington. We visited all the places of "Twilight". We went to Forks, LaPush beach, and Port Angeles. It was so, so fun. We were there on the 4th of July and it was way fun. Below are a few pictures.

This is Whale lookout. It was actually in California still and we hoped to see a whale, but didn't. We weren't patient enough to wait.

This is a huge, long bridge that takes you from Oregon into Washington. It crosses the Columbia River where the river flows into the ocean. You can't see it all from this picture. This is just the beginning of the bridge. If you want to see more of it you can go to my Facebook page and see more pictures of our trip.It was an amazing bridge.

Here are are in Forks. Morgan thought we were going to be the only tourists for Twilight in the town and much to her surprise, it was filled with twilight tourists and there were many twilight souvenir stores.

Here we are in front of the high school. The parade had just ended when we got there.

Here's Morgan trying to sneak in and steal Bella's man.

So now we are on our way to the LaPush beach. It looked just like it did in the movie.

We say this print on the beach. It was awesome. You Twilight fans, figure it out for yourselves. HAHA!!

Morgan and I on LaPush Beach.

There was a board called, "Bella's Board" at the LaPush store. People have lefts their messages on the board. So Morgan is leaving her message. There were two Russians guys sitting just to Morgan's left and they kept laughing at her while she was trying to find a place to leave her message. It was funny.

So, this was just to fun to pass up a picture. We are leaving LaPush and Morgan sees this red house and barn with a Red truck in front. She says it looks just like Jacob's place with Bella's red truck in front. So she makes Cliff turn around so we can take a picture. We had to drive into their driveway to get the picture and while doing it.....a car that had stopped after us to take a picture in front of the LaPush sign, sees us taking a picture of this house. So when we are done and leave, we pass them as they have turned around and they came back and stopped to take a picture of this house. It was pretty funny.

Here we are in Port Angeles. This is the only picture we took. We are standing by the Ferry Dock where you would ferry across to the canadian island. Can't think of the name right now. It left me, but the island off British Columbia. But you know which one I am talking about. Morgan was ticked because they had their parade in the evening and it was going right down the main drag and we couldn't find a singe place to stop and eat and we were starving by now.. It took us all night to find a decent place to eat and we ended up not eating until we got to Olympia, WA. That was quite a ways and it was night and now the fireworks were getting ready to start. So we finally found a place to eat and a place to sleep.

It was then that I got a phone call from my friend, Sherri.....who has a key to my house.....telling me that my basement was flooded from a huge hail storm that hit Pocatello the evening of the 4th of July. I guess it was a freak storm and I am still getting my house back to normal. We ended up having to tear out walls in three rooms and repaint and recarpet all of those rooms. right now I am finally in the process of painting and then we can get the carpet in and get the furniture all back in the basement. It has been a mess. And...........everyone in the neighborhood has had to replace their roofs from the hail damage and we are STILL waiting on our insurance company for our roof. It has to be replaced as well. Its a long story, but we also ended up having to tear out our cement patio in the backyard and have an excuvator come in and build up the foundation around my whole house. We put in a deck instead of replacing the cement patio. It is very nice, but WHOW! what I project we have had all summer now. I will post pictures when I am all done. I should have taken before and after pictures.

Anyway, back to our trip. So we left Olympia the next morning and drove up to Seattle because Morgan had never been there. We took her to the Space Needle and then we headed home to our diaster.

The three of us in front of the Space Needle.

The three of us at the top of the Space Needle.

Well, our very, very, fun spontaneous trip is over and now it is home to see what damage our house has taken on in the hail storm!!!

OK....I don't know how I got this picture in here again, but oh well.

NOW ON TO OUR NEXT VACATION.......PRIEST LAKE!! We had a great time and here are just a few pictures.

Roasting hotdogs over the fire.

Here's my dad. This was his first year up to Priest Lake without mother. It was tough on him, but we are glad that he came with us.

Amanda having fun on a slide there.

Jenna and me cooling off in the water.

Having ice cream across the lake after a boat ride.

This is London. This is such a cute picture. It was her first boat ride. She was laying on a towel under the front dash so that the sun would not be on her.

The water was so nice. This is me. Just wanted you to know that I can still do it at the age of 52.

Here's Jenna and grandpa letting her drive the boat.

This is such a cute picture of London with my neice, Mekelle.

Well, summer is over and it's back to everyday life. It was a great summer, but also a stressful one with my house in shambles.

More Pictures of Granddaughters

2009-06-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ok. So Kelsey took these pictures at her sister-in-laws wedding reception. They are soooooo cute. I know that I am a proud grandma, but you have to admit these are very cute pictures. These are just a few that Kelsey had on her facebook. She is learning to take some pretty cool pictures. So I just wanted to share....
This is Jenna. She was so dang cute running around the reception in this dress.

Kelsey does so good at getting random shots.

Jenna and London

All of the little girls and baby girls at the reception were in these dresses.

She is such a doll! And always soooo happy!

Another cute one of the sisters.

"WICKED" Trip and Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

So......we had a great trip to Omaha to see Cliff's parents and go to the broadway musical, "WICKED". It was great.
We also had a great Memorial Day with family. We left for Omaha on Wednesday morning at 4:00 am (wow that was early) and we drove the entire way in one day. It took a little longer than normal because we backtracked 40 miles in Nebraska because Katie thought she had left her cell phone at Wendy's and then after backtracking found it in the side pocket of the car where she was sitting. Yeah, we know, we should have looked in the car before backtracking.

We spent Thursday and Friday with Cliff's parents. The girls and I went to the show on Friday night while Cliff visited with his parents. We were missing Linsey, she couldn't make it this time. We really missed her and wish she could have been with us. Then we left Saturday morning at 5:00 am and drove all the way home. It was a very long day. A quick trip, but a fun one.

Then Monday, Memorial Day, we went to Idaho Falls. This is our first Memorial Day with Mother gone. David has company up there at the cemetery now with Mother and our little grandson, Cameron Clifford. We lost him a year ago this upcoming Monday.

Below are a few of the many pictures that I took during the past few days.

This is everyone that was at the cemetery.

This is three of my granddaughters (Rylie, Jenna, and Savannah). In the center is Cole (my neice's little boy). We were having a BBQ at Great-Grandpa's (my dad) after the cemetery.

Here are all of my cute little granddaughters. Starting from the left--Amanda (who isn't very happy in this picture), Rylie holding Meg, Jenna holding London, and Savannah.

Here is Katie, Cameron and Amanda in front of little Cameron Clifford's grave.

Me, my dad, Ken and Cheryl. Mom's headstone turned out awesome.

Here are all of the cousins except for Luke, Mandy and Britney.

Linsey's new carrying gadget. Meg doesn't seem to mind it.

OK. My pictures of our Omaha trip are backwards, but oh well. This is on the way home. It was a long day.

After the show. It was so awesome. I have seen it twice, Morgan three times, and first for Katie and Kelsey. But we are determined to take our husbands in the future sometime.

Getting ready to go in the theater.

Actually, this is before the show when we were killing time in the Old Market in Omaha close to the theater. The girls were finding fun places to take pictures.

I kinda got my pictures mixed around here, but oh well.

On our way!

We thought our friends, the O'Connors, would like this one. Haha!

Just getting something cold to drink before going to the show.

More fun pictures in Old Market Place.

We thought this old train was pretty fun.

Morgan's coming back here to take engagement pictures. And NO she is not engaged. Just thinks this would be fun.

Cliff and I and his parents.

Grandma and Grandpa with the girls. It was a fun trip and fun to see them again.

Cute Pictures of Grandkids

2009-05-13T14:35:00.001-07:00

These are the cutest pictures. If you look at my daughter, Kelsey's Photo blog, there are a few more. She is learning how to take pictures these are just a few.

This is Amanda. She belongs to Katie and Cameron. Isn't that cute.

These next three are Jenna. She belongs to Kelsey and Dan.

I love this one.

Kelsey has some pretty good little models.

Easter

2009-04-13T07:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the first Easter in 28 years since Cliff and i were married that we were alone. The three married girls were either with their own little family or with in-laws and Morgan is in California. Morgan finished her first year of college last week, moved home on Friday and left Saturday with 3 of her roommates (Savannah Roe, Lindsay Woodland, and Mekelle (her cousin)) for California. They are going to have a great time for a week and then its back home to work for the summer.
So Cliff and I had a nice day in church and then a nice Institute Choir Fireside that night. We missed our girls, but it's ok we enjoyed spending it together.

I need to get some more pictures on here. I haven't taken many lately. But we are all surviving and doing well.

Rylie turns 5!

2009-02-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

My oldest granddaughter turned 5 this week on the 9th. On Monday, her birthday, Linsey and the girls came to spend the day in Pocatello with us. We all went to McDonalds so the little girls could play on the toys. Katie and Kelsey came along and brought Amanda, Jenna, and London. I had all 6 granddaughters that day. It was fun. Then on Wendesday, Linsey had a little party for Rylie at Leo's in Idaho Falls. (Jarom had to work on Monday) The kids had a great time playing in the jungle gym (or whatever they call it). We had a good time.

This is the birthday girl!

This is little Meg. She is 4 1/2 months old now and such a cutie.

Here's another cutie. this is London. She is 3 months old now.

Here's the little threesome. Savannah, Jenna, and Rylie.

After McDonalds we went to grandma's for a little birthday song and cookies. They each wanted to blow out their own candle.

I know, I don't put a lot on here, but my life pretty much centers around my family and granddaughters, so that's usually what you will see on here. However, Amanda went home to take a nap, so I didn't get her in the picture this time. She's a little cutie also. But then.....they all are. haha

Not Much Happening

2009-02-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Just to let you know that we are all still alive. Not much has been happening and I guess that is good. The girls are all doing well, as well as their families. Cliff and I are enjoying our calling up at the University 10th Ward and really enjoy spending time with those young people.
However, I AM tired of the cold and ready for spring to come. I want to get out and go somewhere.

Family Christmas Pictures

2008-12-31T09:21:00.000-08:00

In my christmas blog I forgot to add our family picture. So below is a picture of our entire family now. We are growing quickly and it is fun. Then below that is a picture of the original six of us.

Now these following pictures are sooooo cute. Can you tell that I am a proud grandma? The first four are of Meg Jaylene.

The next few are of London and Jenna. Kelsey took all of the pictures and she did a great job. They are so cute.

The Holidays

2008-12-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

We have had some fun times during the holidays and below is just a few pictures of those times. I wish I could put them all on here.

First of all, my son in law, Jarom, graduated from the P.O.S.T. Police Academy over in Boise on December 12th. Cliff and I went over with Linsey for the graduation. It was very impressive. There were men from all over Idaho who went through the academy and they each were wearing their own uniforms from their county. It was impressive to see them all march in and to watch them take their oath. Jarom received the award for "Sharpshooter". He had the third highest score (99) out of 45 men. The two higher than him were very close to him at (99.5or6) He did awesome.

Here is Jarom receiving his graduation certificate and award.

Here is Jarom and Linsey after the graduation.

Every year for the past 30 years our family has gone out to the cemetery, where my brother is buried to remember him and to sing Christmas Carols. We put a little Christmas tree on his grave each time. I know it may sound odd to sing Carols in a cemetery, but honestly there is always such a special feeling and spirit there each time we go. Some years it is very cold and some years there is no snow. This year, there was alot of snow, but it was a very nice evening and not real cold and it is so quiet out there that our voices sound great in the quiet of the night.This year we didn't have as many of us there because Mother has joined David (so we were singing to her as well this year) and Cheryl, Doug, Jordan, and Mekelle were spending Christmas in the Cook Islands. That is where Doug served his mission. We hope they had a great time!

For the past 30 years we have just had David out there, but this year we have added two more. Mother and our first little grandson, Cameron Clifford (who didn't get the chance to experience this earthly life)

This is Katie and Cameron's little girl, Amanda. She is sitting in front of the little Christmas tree.

Here is those of us that made it this year. We didn't get mother's headstone in yet, or little Cameron's, but the wreath on the right is where Mother is and little Cameron is a little below that and to the right. I am taking the picture.

My granddaughters love to play with the little ice skating rink that is under my tree upstairs with my christmas village. This is Jenna and Amanda under the tree.

This is Christmas Eve at my home this year. We had dinner and then read the Christmas Story from Luke with music inbetween the verses.

Here is dinner time. I guess some times I should have someone else take the

picture. When I am gone, there will be no pictures of me, because I am always the

one behind the camera. Ha-ha!

This is Morgan. Everyone is gone home now, except Cliff, Morgan and me. The girls get pajamas every Christmas Eve and she is the only one left to get them. She doesn't like getting the tops, just the bottoms, so that makes it a little easier for me. She's a poser.

This is Christmas morning and as you can tell, this is one of her favorites. I have to admit....I have read the books and seen the movie and they are awesome.

Cliff just wonders and ponders about the whole thing.

Here is Morgan with all her Christmas stuff. I think she made out pretty well this year. I don't think she is too anxious to get married because then Santa might not be so generous for a while.

This is the front of our home with all the Christmas lights. You can't see the tree in the window very well from this angle. I love the Christmas lights and so I like to decorate my home every year. It is one of my favorite things. The bright light below the window at the left is Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. It's hard to see them. We all had a great Christmas and hope that each of you did as well.

Yesterday, December 28th, our little granddaughter Meg Jaylene was blessed by her father.

It was very nice and here are a couple of pictures of her.

If you want to see some really cute pictures of her, check out my daughter, Kelsey's new photo blog. She is starting to get into photography and these are some of her first pictures. She started a photo blog and I think it is http://www.krileyphotos.blogspot.com/ They are awesome.

Kelsey and Dan's new little girl, London Mekelle, is being blessed next Sunday, on Jan. 4th. so I will have to put up her pictures next week.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

First of all, I don't know if anyone even looks at this blog. I never get any comments to know whether anyone is keeping up with us or not. So.....please leave a comment once in a while so that I know that I'm not posting these pictures for nothing.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. It was the year for the in-laws, so Morgan, Cliff and I were the only ones that went to my brother's house in Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was very nice and Ray (my sister-in-law) always does such a nice job. She is wonderful.

Then on Saturday evening we had all of our kids and grandkids together for dinner. I do a Christmas Candlelight Dinner and Family Home Evening every year at the beginning of December. It starts our month out great and gets us into the Christmas season.

Below are a few pictures from Thanksgiving Day and our Candlelight Dinner.

These two are our two newest granddaughters. London is on the left (Kelsey's) and Meg is on the right (Linsey's).

This is our three little ones, as we have always called them. Morgan, then Mekelle, and Tayva. We get harrassed because we always take a picture of the three of them at every family gathering. They think they are the special ones. Well......the other grandchildren think we think they are the special ones, but really.....we just like taking pictures of them. Haha!!

This is getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. My brother, Ken, is carving the turkey in the background.

Here's Morgan anxiously awaiting her turkey. Cheryl (my sister) and Jordan (my neice) are in the background.

Here's Cliff, Morgan and me. We were the only three of the Rhoades clan there this year.

This is our Christmas FHE Candlelight dinner.

Here are three of my six granddaughters. At the far end is Rylie, then Jenna and Savannah.

Katie, Cameron and Morgan getting ready to eat. If you look close you will see Amanda at the far end next to Katie.

Here is everyone at the table except me (I'm taking the picture), the new babies, (they were sleeping), and the three little girls that were at the bar. Grandpa Simpson joined us this year.

New Granddaughter Arrives

2008-11-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

Our newest little granddaughter arrived this morning at 5:42 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20 inches long. Her mother is our 3rd daughter Kelsey and both mother and baby are doing great. We now have 6 granddaughters and 1 little grandson that we lost too soon back in June.
Wow! hard to believe that I have that many grandchildren already. But it is so fun to add them to our family. As I have said before, my granddaughters are the highlight of my life. They are so fun.
I will post some more pictures later when she is all cleaned up and in a cute outfit.
Congrats Kelsey and Dan!
She didn't like the flash and it woke her up.

Here's a good one with her eyes open.

Jenna with her new little sister London Mekelle

Grandma's Neighborhood Trunk or Treat Party

2008-11-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

Our neighborhood always has a fun trunk or treat party at the park behind our house every year the Tuesday before Halloween. The kids like to come over and join us for that party. They have fun stuff for the kids to do at the park and we eat chili and hotdogs and then do the trunk or treat. It is really fun. This year we had all the grandkids there except for Amanda, cuz she was still a little sick with the flu. However, Katie and Cameron showed up with her for just a minute so that we could see her in her costume (since Cliff and I were not going to be home on Halloween).
Here are some pictures of the kids that night.

Here is everybody getting ready to go to Grandma's neighborhood trunk or treat party. We are missing Amanda because she was sick.

Here is Rylie, Savannah and Jenna in their costumes. Rylie and Savannah are Tinkerbell and Jenna is a flapper from the roaring 20's.

Katie brought Amanda over to the park to the party just to show us her costume. She was too sick to stay and have fun. Amanda is Yoda.

Here is our smallest Tinkerbell, little Meg, just 4 weeks old. She didn't have her wings on because they were too big for her, but she doesn't need them. She is already a little angel.

Rylie and Savannah, our two little Tinkerbells

Jenna in her flapper costume. Her grandma Riley made it for her. Isn't it cute.

Kelsey and Jenna at the party

After the party the girls came back to grandma's house for a slumber party. However, it didn't last long because they kept playin around and wouldn't go to sleep. Rylie decided she was tired and had enough and went upstairs to Morgan's room to sleep and Jenna decided that she wanted to go home with Mom when all the fun was done.

A New Calling Came Our Way

2008-10-21T12:04:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody. I just thought you might be interested to know that Cliff received a new calling and was sustained last Sunday as Bishop in one of the University Wards here at Idaho State University. We are very excited and have heard that it is a wonderful experience and that we will love it.
It is one of those bittersweet moments. "Bitter" because I will now need to be released from my current calling, which is Stake Young Womens President, and I have loved this calling so much and will miss it a lot. Also I will miss so much attending my home ward, Chubbuck 6th Ward, that I love so very much. But also "Sweet" because we will have a great opportunity to rub shoulders and serve with these wonderful young people at the university. It is a single's ward and we have heard that it is a great, strong and solid ward. We look forward to serving our Heavenly Father in this new calling.

Mother's Week at BYU-Idaho with Morgan

2008-10-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

I spent Friday thru Saturday night with Morgan up at BYU-Idaho for Mother's Weekend. My sister, Cheryl came with me. Her daughter, Mekelle and Morgan are roommates. They are having a great time. The four of us had a good time together on Friday and Saturday. Then Saturday night we went to Idaho Falls and spent the evening with my father. We went to church with him on Sunday and then the rest of the family came and we had an 80th birthday dinner for him. It was a fun weekend.

We watched Morgan play her first volleyball match with her
BYU-I competitive team. Two of their players were out of town
and they only had 6 players. Morgan was the setter, which was her
first match EVER playing as setter. She is usually the Libero. She
did a great job.

Cheryl and I did a session in the Rexburg Temple on Friday morning
while Morgan and Mekelle went down and did baptisms for the dead
at the same time. It was very nice.

Enjoying our dinner at Craigo's

On Friday night we went to a picture display that was being displayed in

the Mesa AZ Temple Visitors Center and is now at BYU-I. It depicts the

life of the Savior in pictures. It was really cool. This is Morgan and Mekelle

looking at the last picture. Below is Morgan looking at the last picture of

the Savior.

Morgan and Mekelle thing they are pretty cool with their new

matching shirts and rain boots.

Here is Cliff and I with our four girls

My Dad's 80th birthday is today, Oct. 13th. We celebrated last night at my brothers home with

all the family that could be there. This is Dad and my sister, Cheryl, and brother, Ken.

Our Newest Granddaughter

2008-10-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

Linsey, our oldest, had her third girl on Wednesday, Oct. 1st at 3:40 pm. It was an emergency C-Section and thankfully all went well. Her name is Meg Jaylene and she weighs 5 lbs. 10 oz. and is 18 inches long. She is currently in the NICU and in an incubator, but she is doing well. They were able to take off the oxygen and give her the medication to help her lungs. She fed well for the first time last night and we are very excited to have her join our family. We are glad that she is finally here safe. We hope that she will be able to come home in a few days. Linsey is doing well and looks good.

Our next little granddaughter is due November 18th and we hope that all goes well too. Kelsey and this will be her second daughter.

This is Meg Jaylene Branson

My Mother Passes Away

2008-09-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

My mother passed away last week on Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. She was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, but she was doing pretty good. In fact, Morgan and I were with her on the Saturday before she died and she was doing good, sitting in her chair in the family room talking with us. By Saturday night Dad called and she was in a lot of pain. Up to that point, she hadn't had much pain, just something you would take tylenol for. I drove back to Idaho Falls and got up every two hours in the night to help Dad give Mom more morphine. By Sunday morning we decided to call Hospice (they hadn't had to come and do anything for her yet) and see if they could come give us an evaluation and what we should do. Hospice told us they thought she only had hours to days left and that kinda threw us because this type of cancer is usually long, drawn out, and ugly. We called my sister in Utah and all of the grandkids. They all came Sunday and were able to say goodbye and she was able to respond and say something to each one. But you could tell as the day went on that she was going downhill. Monday morning at 10:45 am with my dad, me, my brother and my sister, my sister-in-law and niece there mother passed away.

It is very sad for me. I don't think you are ever ready to lose your mother. I will miss her so very much, but we are thankful that the Lord blessed her and she didn't have to suffer long. She was able to do alot of last things with her family this past year and we are thankful for that. She is with my brother, David, now, who has been gone for 30 years. She has longed to see him again. My heart aches for my father who loved her so much and is so heartbroken without her.

More Rhoades Reunion Pictures

2008-08-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

I figured out how to get more pictures on here. Last time it wouldn't download all that I wanted. Anyway, here are a few more pictures taken at our Rhoades Reunion.

We started out the week with Cameron's birthday.

We were just having fun playing games while waiting our turn for the 4 wheeler. We are up at Scout Mountain outside Pocatello.

This is the granddaughters trying to do what grandma is doing.

This is Mikayla, with her Uncle Cliff, driving the 4 wheeler up in the mountains for the first time. They don't have mountains like this in Iowa.

Cliff enjoying his lunch.

This is the gang. We are missing a few, however. Morgan had gone to work. And then we are missing Cliff's brother Mike, and his wife Donna. Along with Matt and Wendy and Emily. They weren't able to come this year.

This picture doesn't even begin to show how dirty their faces and the rest of them got by the end of the day. This is Rylie, Savannah and Jenna. Cliff and I are the only ones so far on his side of the family that have grandchildren.

Rhoades Reunion

2008-08-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

We just finished with the Rhoades Reunion. It was at our home this time and we had a great time. However, for some reason, of all the pictures I took (which were many) these are the only 4 pictures that would upload. I kept getting error on all the rest. Whats up with that? Sometimes I hate computers.

Anyway, if I figure it out I will post some more. We started the reunion out on Wednesday night and celebrated Cameron's birthday. Thursday we all went to Jenson Grove and spent the day on the water. Friday we went up Scout Mountain and enjoyed the day in the outdoors and did some 4 wheeling. We played games and visited as we took turns on the four wheelers. Saturday we drove over to Twin Falls for the new Temple Open House. It was very beautiful. Everyone left Sunday morning. We had a great time, but we missed Mike and Donna, and Matt and Wendy, who could not make it this time.

This is just a taste of what the little ones looked like by the end of the day up Scout Mountain

Here is Cliff with his mother

Granny went through her cedar chest before she came out from Nebraska and gave each of us an heirloom to have. It was wonderful. (I know, this picture is too dark)

Here is a picture of the front of the new Twin Falls Temple. However, I cut off angel Moroni on top. Didn't mean to do that. It was very beautiful inside.

Priest Lake 2008

2008-07-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back from Priest Lake. We had a great time and had everyone there except for Jarom. We missed him. Here are a few pictures, but I had a lot more I wish I could all fit on here.
Priest Lake is an annual vacation for us and we have been coming for 44 years. Ever since I was
8 years old.

All of us except for Jarom at Coolin Marina

Our campsite

Headed to the beach with all our gear

Sorry, same picture again. I told you I am just new at this

Same family picture

Jenna has a popsicle and decided to share with Rylie and Savannah

The two year old little tykes playing on the dock

Great Grandma and Grandpa Simpson with 5 of their great grandchildren

Fun with Grandpa on the four wheeler

Our beach site

Aunt Ray helping to make sand castles

Boy, this is the life, especially for Preston

Is this cute or what

4th of July

2008-07-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

It's the 4th of July and we had a little pool party for the kids at Linsey's house. They all had a great time, as did the big kids too. You will see in the pictures below. Then we went to the fireworks in the evening down at the river.

This is Amanda. She just learned to crawl.

Katie takes a turn on the slide with the kids.

Jenna and Savannah had a great time together in the little pool.

Kelsey's turn. How's that for a 5 month pregnant woman. She's braver than me.

Kelsey and Katie decide to cool off in the pool with Savannah and Jenna. However, Linsey

decides just to pose outside the pool. She is 6 months pregnant.

Rylie is enjoying the watermelon in between swims and the swings. We never could get her to go down the slide into the water. She didn't want to get her eyes wet.

They are all having fun, except for maybe Amanda. This was her first time in the water.

Yeah, not too thrilled. This is just the preview for Priest Lake coming up next week

Grandpa just being grandpa. He loves to just sit and hold his granddaughters

Now we are down at the river waiting for the fireworks to start. We had everyone there

except for Morgan, she was playing in West Yellowstone with friends, and Cameron (Katie's husband). He had to work

It's almost time. The best part of the fireworks is sometimes the playing and walking around at the river and seeing people you know.

The show has began. It was a great show too. It always is. This is the first time I have been able to be down here at the fireworks in 3 years.

We had a great day together.

Grandchildren

2008-07-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

I can't start a blog without showing my grandchildren. Wow, that ages me. I currently have 4 granddaughters and we have two more granddaughters on the way. I know, I know where are the boys. Well, we lost our first little grandson on June 1st. Katie's water broke too soon and his little organs and body weren't developed enough to survive in the outside world. I was able to hold him and Katie and Cameron named him, Cameron Clifford. It was a very sad day for us. He is buried in the Ammon Cemetery by my brother, David.

2008-07-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here are my four granddaughters. Starting at left, Savannah (not happy), Jenna, Rylie, and Amanda. Rylie and Savannah belong to my oldest, Linsey. Amanda belongs to Katie. And Jenna belongs to Kelsey.

I'm Just Learning

2008-07-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

If you notice, the postings below are backwards. You will see the pictures first and then the explanation. I don't know how all this blogging works yet. Be patient with me.

2008-07-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is Morgan's other best friend, Matti. They played 7 years of volleyball together and are great friends. They will miss playing that sport together.

2008-07-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

This is Morgan and three of her best friends....starting from the left....Jessica, Melissa, Hailey, and Morgan. They have had some good times together over the past 4 or 5 years.

2008-07-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

This is family that came to Morgan's high school graduation. We're missing Katie and Cameron, they were late. And we're missing Kelsey and Dan because they were at Pocatello Graduation first for Dan's brother, Colin.

2008-07-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is Morgan's Seminary Graduation with her Grandma and Grandpa Simpson. Morgan served as the Highland High School Seminary Council President this year. She did a great job.

Graduation

2008-07-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

I guess right now what is happening with our family is that last month Morgan, our baby, graduated from High School. That makes it our last. Wow, where did those years go by. Below are some pictures of Morgan at graduation.

Beginning my blog

2008-06-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody. I just thought for fun that I would start a blog, mainly so I can communicate back with those whose blogs I already look at.
But I thought it might be fun to share some of the Rhoades experiences with you. I don't know how often I will use it, but hey, who knows. I might get to like it.

I don't know what I am doing, so it might take me a while to figure it out. Or I might could get Kelsey and Linsey to help me.

Wish me luck!