Welcome to the World, Grandchild #14!!

Garrett and Krystal's son was due the 1st of June, so in March I bought a plane ticket to fly out on

May 31st, which is a Thursday--so it's the beginning of my weekend.  My flight left early in the morning and arrived in Kansas City at 10:30am. On the evening of May 30th Garrett called to tell me that he and Krystal were heading to the hospital because Krystal was in labor. I had hoped to be in Kansas before their baby was born so that I could stay with the kids, but they ended up asking members of their ward to help them watch the older kids.

Long story short, Krystal hadn't had the baby before I landed, so I had to take an Uber to their house. The older kids were being babysat by a teenage girl, so her mother came to pick her up as soon as I arrived. The kids were very excited to see me. 

Shortly after I got to their house Garrett called to say that Matthew had been born.

Garrett came home, and after Krystal had some time to rest, we all went back to the hospital to meet Matthew!

After Alexa was born in Montana I was there to take the first family photo with the new baby, so I did the honors again with Matthew.

I couldn't decide which of these family photos I liked best so I put them both in.

The big brothers and sisters were all pretty excited about their new brother and wanted turns holding him.

The big brothers and sisters were all pretty excited about their new brother and wanted turns holding him.

Here's a picture of Mommy and Daddy bringing Matthew home from the hospital.

He was the star attraction for his older siblings!

I spent time with the big kids while Mommy and Daddy were at the hospital. Here are the girls being cute and silly.

Adam has decided he doesn't like getting his picture taken, so he's not very good at group photos.

I loved this tender moment on Sunday after church with Daniel touching his new little brother while Matthew slept on Garrett's chest.

A great shot of Matthew with his eyes open and looking very alert!

A picture of me with all the kids after church. Krystal stayed home with Matthew, of course.

Playing "hop on pop'!

It looked like everyone was having such a good time that Indie wanted to get  in on the action!

A sweet picture of Makayla with a very pleased smile as she holds her new brother.

Another tender moment of Adam hugging his new brother and his mommy.

Another sister looking very pleased to have a new baby brother!

Alexa turned two earlier in the month, so I brought her the name wall quilt that I'd made for her. She seems to be smiling more readily and was more willing to come to me now that she's a bit older.

Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery

As a senior staff member at Arlington Cemetery, Kent was invited to sit in the VIP box set aside for Arlington employees at the Memorial Day Ceremony. There was enough room for me to come along. The day started off with food and a reception at one of the two homes on the grounds of the cemetery. I didn't take pictures of that.

We were driven in vans to the amphitheater in vans and escorted to our seats in the box at the front of the amphitheater.

This was our view from our seats looking out over the rest of the audience.

When it was time for the wreath-laying ceremony, we were taken to a special reserved section to watch it.

Kent and I have never seen this part of the ceremony since in the past when we've attended we were usually holding on to the place where we were sitting in the amphitheater.

This is a view of the press area and the army band.

Above you can see members of all the branches of the military.

The representatives from the four branches of the military stood at attention when Pres. Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

After laying the wreath.

Pres. Trump walking back up the steps after laying the wreath. You can see we weren't very far away from him.

Listening to his speech. We had a side view.

I took this picture so you could see where we were sitting. Pres. Trump is in the background. He looks farther away than he was in this picture.

This was more of our actual view.

This fellow is the last surviving veteran of Pearl Harbor, and he was recognized by Pres. Trump.

   

Bob Dole was sitting in the VIP box next to us. I was disappointed that his wife, Elizabeth, wasn't with him.

After the ceremony I took this picture of Kent contemplating the cemetery where he has spent the past ten years of his life working.

Mother's Day Visit to Oregon

My sister, Jill, and I decided to fly out to Oregon for Mother's Day.

Mom liked to stop and take a rest on this bench as we walked down to the dining room.

I took this picture of Dad to show is spectacular collection of remote controls! He's always liked his gadgets!

This is a classic pose of Mom, and how she spends most of her days. Reclining in her chair under a warm, fuzzy blanket.

This picture was taken on Mother's day at the dining room at Mom and Dad's assisted living center. It's too bad our brother, Reed,wasn't in the picture with us.

Speaking of Reed, we helped him celebrate his 60th birthday a couple of weeks early while we were there. I'm not sure how we got to be so OLD!!

All About Kent

As we were driving through the countryside of Delaware we happened upon the nice little village of Kenton. So there's a town named Kent in Virginia, and a town named Kenton in Delaware. Not surprisingly, we've never found a town named Elaine!

Kent celebrated his 62nd birthday.

He had a angel food cake this year, so not one of my specialty four-layer cakes.

This year there was a bumper crop of azaleas in our yard. These were along the fence in the back yard,

and these were in the back corner of the back yard. Azaleas are one of my favorite flowers, so I especially loved our yard this year!

Here's the front view of the house.

A view from the right side,

and a close up of the azalea bushes in the front yard. You can't see them very well in the first picture because they're behind the clematis bush around the lamp post.

Besides keeping the yard looking so wonderful, Kent replaced the sliding glass door in the basement.

This is the entrance that the piano students use and the old door was pretty scratched up and grungy looking.

Of course it wasn't just a matter of taking out one door and putting in the new one. The size of the new door was a bit different so Kent and to do some adjustments to the sides of the doorway. He really does good work!