Hyrum's Here

I had the great opportunity to go to Boise to welcome our new grandson to the world.  He was born on October 8.  He is so cute and has a head full of red hair. He is such a good baby and I enjoyed every minute with him.  He weighed 9 pounds 15 ounces and was 22 inches long. His name is Hyrum Wayne Owen.

I'm adorable

Punk rocker

Hyrum in his candy corn hat

Red curly top

Hyrum in his pumpkin hat

Can't believe he's a dad

Mom loves him

Proud Aunt Maci

Grandma's boy

Bored with Gramma

Maci's Free

I'm very slow at posting this and I couldn't find a picture of Maci before braces (she'll get one when she has her orthodontist appointment next month) but in the meantime, I will post a braces picture and an unbraced picture. Her teeth look so amazing. She actually got them off while I was away from home when Isaac was born so I didn't get pictures of the big event.

On the last week of school, Maci was invited to attend the honors assembly.  She got an award in almost every class she took. She is not only a beautiful girl, she's smart too. I'm very proud of her.

Fun with the Grandkids

Isaac Douglas Owen was born on May 14th and I got to go to stay with Logan and Rachelle and help with the kids. It was so much fun. Before Rachelle got home from the hospital, the girls had fun picking flowers in the back yard.

Then Lindsay had to go back to work the same day Rachelle was coming home from the hospital and her sister-in-law, who was going to watch Greysen had sick kids, so I got to watch Greysen for a few days along with the rest of the grandkids, so for the first time, I had all of my grandkids together.

Gwen, Greysen, Isaac, Phoebe

The 2 grandsons, Greysen & Isaac

Isaac

Greysen

I found a poem in a family history book we have called "Many More Martin Memories" that was a favorite of my Aunt Neva that I thought applied well here.

GRANDMOTHERS

They say that all Grandmothers
are inclined to brag a bit,
and that there is some truth in this,
I frankly must admit.

For since I've reached the Grandma stage, 

and all my friends have too,

I'm simply floored by all the bragging

These Grandmothers do.

To hear them rave, you'd think for sure

That this old human race

Was fast becoming super men

at a  tremendous pace!

Yet, when I see these boys and girls-

Their Grandma's pride and joy--

Each one seems to be

Quite an ordinary girl or boy.

Of course, I humor them along

and say I think they're fine-

But you can see the difference

If you've ever noticed mine.

My own are so much cuter, smarter, 

Handsomer than theirs,

I can afford to humor them

When they put on such airs!

I'm really glad that I don't brag

Like other Grandmas do

I've so much more to brag about

If I just wanted to!

I do love my grandkids and they are definitely the cutest, smartest, handsomest grandkids around. (Not bragging, of course).

Spring in Soda Springs

 This afternoon. I'm pretty sick of it. Nuff said!

Modesty Out The Window

This is Rhoda's favorite sleeping position. It's almost embarrassing.

The Last Leg

The last leg of our trip was to the Grand Canyon. We went to Williams and took the Grand Canyon Railway. That was a fun experience. Before we left Williams, they had a "Wild West Show".

Then we boarded the train. On board they had entertainment for the ride. On the way there, a guitar player performed and on the way back, there was a banjo player. They were both pretty good and we enjoyed them.

 I realize that we are the record holders for Arizona natives who had never visited the Grand Canyon, but we finally made it and it was really beautiful. We were pretty cautious about getting too close to the Canyon.

 Not like these people who were a little braver.

Here are a couple of shots I thought were particularly neat.

It is so vast a colorful and we just saw a very small portion of it. We were there for about 4 hours but we didn't want to stray too far because we didn't want to miss our train ride back.  There was a train robbery on the way back, which, quite honestly, was pretty lame. The robbers got on and collected tips.

That was actually the sheriff that was coming after the robbers. Hopefully they shared their tips with him because we didn't tip him. Anyway, I enjoyed the experience. We stayed in Flagstaff that night and to Salt Lake the next day. After spending the morning with Judy, we headed home. This is what we found on our door when we arrived.

We also came home to a smaller pile of snow and a clearer lawn. But compare the lawn of the Mesa Temple in the previous post with what our lawn looks like. Please spring, hurry up!

Arizona

From New Mexico, we dropped into Arizona and to Snowflake.  We lived in Heber for many years with no temple closer than Mesa. The Snowflake temple was built after we left and we have wanted to go to it since it was built. We were able to see a few people we knew and visit for a minute.

We were able to get a missionary to take our picture so we could actually both be in a photo. From Snowflake, we drove to Pima to see my mom. It had been almost two years since we had been there and mom has built a new room on her house and a nice new carport. She had new windows put in, a new layer of stucco and painted it tan.  It looks like a totally different house than I grew up in. She has a new laundry room in the new section and now she doesn't have to go outside to put clothes in the dryer as she has had to do all her life. It is so nice.

 Those of you who knew the house before will see a real difference. I got to meet my brother, Randy's new wife. They were married on the 5th of March. Her name is Mary and she is awesome. Randy has found someone he can spend the rest of his life with. I'm very happy for him.

We were all able to attend the Gila Valley temple, which was built on my Granny Elmer's old property. Randy, Mary and Mom all work in the temple and it is really a wonderful thing.

From the Gila Valley, we went to Mesa, where we were able to visit lots of family and friends. We saw Kathleen & Lo, Kris & Eliza and family, Chuck & Susan and Stephanie. We were also able to spend some time with our good friends, Roxanne and Dennis Karges. Then we stayed with my sister and bro-in-law, Gina and Buck for a couple of nights. We really had a blast and loved seeing everyone.

Gina took us for a great all-you-can-eat buffet of crab legs and prime rib, etc., which turned out to be FREE, which is more than we could even imagine. Anyway, it was a great time. From there we went to Prescott to see Doug's mom and sister, but by some glitch in our memory, we didn't get one picture while we were there. But it was great to see them.

We were also able to visit our 4th temple on our trip, the one where we were married, the Mesa Temple. It was so much bigger than I remember and I actually got lost in it, confusing it with the Idaho Falls temple, and ended up in the cafeteria.