...the rest of July

I got back from Mesa yesterday. I think I'm home for the rest of the summer - (except for a family reunion next weekend.) I thought I'd better get July caught up to date before August gets here!

Kody's 2nd birthday party with the Valentine's New sunglasses!

He wanted to "wear" all his presents at once! (new chair, pillow, 2 sunglasses, hat, crocs, clothes, etc., etc., He is so stinkin' cute!

Kody and Reese with their new shades

Swimming pool fun with Reese, Kody and Lucas (Lucas got sick that day and missed the party)

Daddy Jed and Ryker on his blessing day - so handsome!

Katie, Jed and Ryker

Such cute brothersMy dad's birthday is coming up soon and me and my girls wanted to give my mom something special for her to remember Dad. We gave her a silver pin with 3 leafs that has 5 little pearls on them. It is very pretty and I think she liked it. She opened it right before we went to the temple that day.

It's hard to see but it is very beautiful.

Allison opening her shower gifts - very cute apron.

Allison, Kaitlyn, Madelyn, Marsha, and Camilee

Cute little homemaker!

Everyone at the shower (except Shara)

Amy, Lynsee, Jeanie, and Mom ready for "WICKED" to begin.

Dax snoozing

Abby on the carousel - she had the whole thing to herself!

Goofy little girl! She has the mittens on her feet!

Dax right after his first "official" sink bath -

...and today is July 31st!

Little Dax

Is he adorable or what?!

"WICKED " Fun

Yep, I finally got to see the musical "Wicked!" I got permission to neglect my Grama duties for the evening. My sister Jeanie had two extra tickets so she invited me and my mom to go along last Thursday night. It was at the Gammage at ASU. We had a great time with the girls!
Saturday I attended the Mesa Temple with my mom and some of my family. My niece Allison went for the first time (wedding is Aug. 7th). It's always nice to go back to the Mesa Temple and remember my first time and my wedding day!
Allison had a bridal shower that evening at my Mom's. It was just family members that came so it was a lot of fun to visit. Nyla's girls are alot of fun to be around and always have a good time together. I'm glad I was able to be there for it!
Today I went with Abby to her nursery class. She's not too fond of nursery yet - as long as someone is in there with her that she knows she's okay.
Little Dax is growing like a weed and Abby keeps us on our toes! I must say my grandkids are adorable!
I'm on Dax duty tonight until he wakes up so I better get some sleep. He is such a good little guy.
(Pictures will come later - probably when I get home later this week!)

Big Sister/Baby Brother

Back in AZ

Wow alot has happened in a week's time! I had barely been home a week and I'm back in Mesa! We went to George Strait Friday night with Landon, Tawnya, Jed, Katie and Jessica. We had a fun time - not sure which was more fun - listening to George or watching everyone get drunk! People are nuts! We stayed at the Kesler's Friday and Saturday to celebrate Kody's birthday and to see Ryker get blessed on Sunday. He looked adorable - barely fit into his blessing outfit! I flew out Sunday afternoon and here I am at the Call's helping with Little Dax and keeping Abby away from him!! She loves him to pieces but can be a little rough! She reminds me of a little kitty ready to pounce! He is such a good baby and is so precious. He has dark hair except one little tuft of blonde right on top of his head. It is so cute. My mom and Jeanie came over this morning and we had a nice visit. Jeanie is recuperating from surgery so she needed a little change of scenery! Her summer has been a bummer!
I'll have Shara help me post some pics when she wakes up from her nap.

Another Special Delivery and Happy Birthday Kody

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KODY BOY! WE LOVE YOU!

This time it was Shara's turn! Daxton Aaron Call made his entrance about 9:15 a.m. this morning. I'm pretty sure his Great Grampa was having a hard time telling him goodbye and what to expect down here and he better be good! He weighed in at 7lbs. 6 oz. 19" in length. Little dark hair and practically perfect in every way! I can't wait to meet the little fella on Sunday when I fly back down there to do my Grama duties.

As soon as I get a picture I'll post it - we just skyped today and trust me - he's a cutie!

He'll share the same birthday with his cousin Kody that turned 2 today!

Special Delivery (not Shara's baby!)

I received these two beautiful plants Monday! Thanks to the Nicholas families.
The one on the left from Sheridan, Torrie and kids. The one on the right from Mark's siblings and parents.
Thank you so much - we love you! (I'll try really hard to keep them alive! )

AZ FUN

Abby having a popsicle (before all the cousins came)

Abby and Shara swimming at Call's

Tawnya and Lucas swimming at Brimhall

Swimming at Grama Great's

Swimming at Grama Jeanie's

Shara cooling off on the side (she made me swim that time)

Abby the little rag-a-muffin

Abby and Grama on the Merry Go Round at the mall

Lucas telling Grama Great something important I'm sure!

Kody and Lucas counting their pinecones

The girls making "onesies"

Tawnya and Kody on the toys at Burger King in Page

I finally finished my projects - blessing outfits!

Back Home

I made it back home this morning! I feel like I've been gone forever - and my yard looks like we've abandoned it! (We have pretty much!)
Katie, Tawnya, Lucas, Kody, Ryker and I left early Friday morning - which was extremely hard telling my Mom goodbye. I'm just so grateful I was able to spend those weeks down there without having to worry about work. (Such a blessing it was summer time.) She's been a trooper through this whole thing with broken ribs, a vey sore leg and a head cold. I'll be back down there in a couple of weeks when Shara has her baby. (This time a planned trip!)
We had a BBQ at AC and Shara's for the 4th - Mom and Melanie joined us for that - I think everyone was so tired we were all in bed by 9:00! I could HEAR fireworks going off outside.
Melanie left Sunday so I moved back over to Mom's house for the week.
We did some cleaning out and got a few things done.
All the kids came over to her house to swim one evening and have dinner. Lucas and Tawnya spent the night and Grama Great really enjoyed having Lucas entertain us!
We spent one evening at the Germaine's swimming in their pool and having a good time. (Shara made me swim that time).
I started sewing two blessing outfits for the new babies. They are almost finished - Ryker gets blessed the 19th so it has to be done! Mom wrote thank-you notes while I sewed. The girls had a sewing project going on at Shara's too. They did a lot of fun things together.
Mom and I played "Runs and Bunches" every night which was fun. That's a family favorite game (AC??). Tawnya and Lynsee joined us one time too.
Thursday night the Call's gave Shara a baby shower so that was alot of fun to get to go to that. She got so many cute things!
We stopped in Holden to drop Tawnya off - Reese was sure glad to see her mommy! (She was happy to see me too!)
We made it to Katie's about 6:00 p.m. Friday night and I stayed there - I was too tired to drive on home! The kids were such good travelers. Ryker was an angel baby. Katie would stop to feed him and he'd go right back to sleep.
I've been very tired and lazy today - I've got my stuff put away and the mail gone through but that's it.
I know this is probably boring but it's for my record! It's the only journal I keep!

July 2nd, 2009

Dad's funeral was just how he would have wanted it. Perfect in every way. There were so many family and friends that came to pay their respects and offer their condolences. Thank you so much for coming - those at the funeral and those at the graveside services.

I'll tell the story with pictures:

Charles McKay Clouse - August 15, 1928 - June 26, 2009

Display table of Dad's things that were important to him.

Dad's saddle, branding irons, and brand

Mom and her wonderful friend Jayne

John, Nyla, Mom and I watching Jeanie add one last touch of oil to Dad's hair.

AC, Shara and Tawnya

Logan, Lucas, Jed and Kody

Lifesavers or Certs were one of Dad's favorites to share with his grandkids

Shara, Tawnya, Landon, Jed and Jessica

Shara giving Grandma a love

Jeanie/Sharin and Kent/Karin (just like old times!)

All except 5 of the Clouse Grandkids
Mark and Carole Nicholas Family - July 2, 2009 (except Reese & Abby)

Marsha's cute little girls - Erin, Sadie and Brooke.

Me, Mom and Jessica arriving at the Virden Cemetery

Calie, Brooke, Karen, Emily and Shannon singing "The Old Virden Road". It was gorgeous.

Marvin Jones gave a wonderful tribute to Dad.

Mom and Me at the cemetery.

Beautiful pecan casket.

Max and Jeanie were privileged to bring Dad to the Virden Cemetery. They took him for one last ride around his barn and corrals as Jeanie lectured him about what a hard worker he had been all his life. He was a little late arriving for his own burial - but oh well - it wouldn't start without him!

What this life's all about - Eternal Families.