Sunday, May 31, 2009

Success Garden Update


Grandpa's supervision must have worked wonders, because there's been some success in harvesting corn, tomatoes and peppers. The carrots were placed too close together, and didn't grow too big...the radishes were allowed to grow too long and were big, but really hot! The corn grew well and was good, but next time the plan is to get a different kind of corn...it was a little mushy. The peppers had a hard time in the heat, but those that grew were really good! The tomatoes were pretty prolific and tasted GREAT! Next time we won't plant so many cherry tomatoes and more regular tomatoes. For the first time, it was a terrific learning experience!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Tony & Kay Married May 30, 2009



Tony and Kay's planning paid off in a big way when we all enjoyed their beautiful wedding at St. Peter Chanel Church in Roswell, Georgia. All Kay's family and Tony's family were in attendance, and the flower girls (Tori, Jaye, Jocelyn, Brielle and Macie) and ring bearer (Daxton) were the cutest ever! Grandma made the flower girl dresses, and she was really proud of all the grandkids for doing such a good job in the wedding! The rehearsal dinner was fun, and the wedding was beautiful. The reception was fantastic, and we all had a great time. It goes without saying that we're pleased to welcome Kay and her great family to our rather hectic one!!! For more detailed information, see Kay and Tony's blog by clicking on their picture to the right.

Grandma Makes Flower Girl Dresses


Kay asked Grandma if she would like to make the Flower Girls' dresses for the wedding. She said she would try, so made a sample dress, bought the material and made a goal to finish one each week. She figured out that she would not like to do it for a living, but enjoyed visioning the girls each time she made a dress. It was a Grandmother's dream, and seeing the girls marching in with Daxton behind them as a Ring Bearer was indescribable. The girls did a great job in fittings and during the rehearsal and wedding!! All six children were born in the same year and were 5 or 4 at the wedding...really fun!

Family Picture from Wedding

Back Row: Olivia, Alex, Malia, Stacy, Jonathan, Lora, Amy (holding Will), J.J., Jim, Nancy, Kay, Tony, Jamie, Daniel, Bryan, Melissa (holding Wyatt), Alden, Alexis, Darryl, Dahra, Kylie, Doug, Kristi (holding Jett) Front Row: Ronan, Brielle, Zabe, Jayda, Tori, Macie, Taylor, Evan, Jaye, Jocelyn, Cordell, Daxton

Brielle Has Dance Recital

As things sometimes go, Brielle's dance recital was on the same day she was a flower girl in Tony and Kay's wedding. Her parents said that she did a great job on her dance, and she certainly looks beautiful! She did good in the wedding, so she must have had a good day!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Brielle and Malia Join the Club


Some more members of the seatbelt sleepers club! On the trip back from Miami in May Stacy was able to get these pictures. Guess Grandma started a trend!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Cordell Celebrates 7th Birthday


Grandma and Grandpa were able to celebrate Cordell's 7th Birthday with him and his family at Fuji's Restaurant in Lawrenceville. He's really enjoying his ice cream!!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Campos Family Visit on Mother's Day


The Campos family came in their matching clothes, to deliver flowers and a hummingbird feeder for Mother's Day. It was fun to see them, to visit with them, and to take pictures.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Jim Operated on for Left Hip


After three years of problems, and then three months of intense pain, Jim was finally operated on to replace his left hip. He was pretty stressed out, but things went well, and he got to come home and have home physical therapy. He found that his hip felt so much better, but because of the right hip, he couldn't walk too well, yet. At any rate, he's feeling much better!

"Success" Garden

Jim has been planning to plant a garden this year in order to help the grandchildren understand what is involved. He enlisted Alexis' help to plan what to plant, and she decided to use it as a Young Women's Project. We had the missionaries help us till the ground, and Mom and Alden raked, dug up grass, and leveled the ground. Alexis then planned a Tuesday evening to help us get the seeds and plant. Her family came along and helped us out. We planted three rows of corn, a row of carrots, a row of radishes, and two rows of peas. Later on we added tomato plants (that Dahra received from a member of her ward who had grown them from seeds), some jalepeno peppers and some green peppers. We took some pictures to document, and Alexis has been coming over on Tuesday evenings to weed, water, fertilize and help. We talked about the fact that people used to have "Victory" gardens, and discussed calling it a "Stimulus" garden, but Alexis decided that was negative, so we decided to call it a "Success" garden instead. It's been a good learning experience for all of us, and even though 90-year-old J.T. (who has a big garden behind us) has a bigger and better-growing garden, we've felt good about ours and are considering it a great learning experience. We'll give updates every once in a while.

Success Garden Pictures

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Jim Says "Goodbye" to Students


Because his hip operation was on May 6, Jim's last bus trip was on May 5, 2009. He told his students about the operation and that he would have the "Smiley" sign in the window, and then he took some pictures of some of the students. He said it was sad, but he was glad to be getting his hips fixed so that he would be ready for next year. He asked for the same routes, and one of the parents said they asked for him to be the bus driver next year. It was a good end to a first year of driving the bus!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Saturday, May 2, 2009

"Smiley Face" Party

When we found out that Jim was going into the hospital, Lora planned a "Smiley Face" party. She invited all the family from Atlanta to bring a picnic and bicycles for a party in the driveway at Stacy's house. She had everyone sign a yellow poster with a happy face on it. The invitation read that we wanted to wish him a "smiley face" instead of a "frowney face" for the operation. (One of the girls on the bus when he told him he would put a happy face in his window said, "If it's a 'frowney face' does that mean you died?") We had a great time and it was neat for the kids to be there and wish him a "smiley face"!

Smiley Face Party Pictures

Friday, May 1, 2009

Jim Has Blog!

Jim has developed a blog to keep his school bus students informed about his hip operation and to post some pictures of the students and the school bus. If you'd like to keep up with his progress, and see his blog, click on the picture of Jim and Nancy to the right.