Mini-Reunion in Houston

At the end of February, Tyler and Rachel's family moved from Alabama to El Paso, Texas. On their way, they stopped in Houston for a few days to visit with the Stinsons and the Lees.

Kent and I couldn't pass up the chance to see three of our children's family at the same time, so we flew down to Texas for a long weekend.

 Adrianne picked us up from the airport on Thursday morning, and then we drove to Grace's preschool to pick her up. It was rodeo day, which is why Grace is wearing her cowgirl outfit.

 The first picture is a better one of Grace, but I couldn't resist putting in this one of her smiling up at me!

We also met Sophia's bus after she got home from school. She's always so excited to see us!

 The rest of the pictures are just random ones taken throughout our time in Texas.

 Kent and I took as many turns as we could holding various grandchildren!

We also went to the park with the older grandchildren to have fun with them.

 Christian and Melody had changed even since we'd seen them in December.

 The three oldest girl cousins eating dinner together.

 Andrew and Sylvia took a spin in Kiera and Savannah's carriage.  Driving the motorized carriage is always a hit!

 Granddad playing legos with Andrew, Sophia and Grace.

I think this is a pretty awesome picture of the nine grandchildren who were there. No one is even crying or making a face!!

 Carson eating pizza when we went out to eat at CiCi's.

More pictures of the darling twins with their beautiful mommy!

 I love this picture of Christian and Melody because they're both smiling so adorably.

Of course, this picture of the Stinson girls cuddling their twin cousins is very sweet, too. 

 Here's a picture of Tyler with the moving van they were driving from Alabama to Texas.

 Here are all the Carson kids loaded up in the van and ready to start the drive to El Paso.

 Tyler drove the truck and Rachel drove the van with all the kids. They were going to stop over night in San Antonio.

 A fun picture of Granddad reading a bedtime story to Sophia and Grace.

Before Kent and I flew back to Virginia on Monday we stopped in at Sophia's school and ate lunch with her. She was excited to have us there. It was a whirlwind five days, but we're so glad we were able to spend time with our wonderful children and grandchildren!

Visit to the Kansas Carsons

I hadn't been to see the Kansas Carsons since August, so I flew out to visit them for five days at the end of January. While I was there Garrett and Krystal took the opportunity to go to the temple and I babysat the kids.

Fortunately the weather cooperated and I didn't have any trouble getting there or back.

 Lissa gave this indoor roller coaster to all of her siblings' kids, and it's been a hit with every family I've gone to visit. Garret and Krystal's house has a nice big play room, and the roller coaster fit in very well.

 Alexa with Indie. I hadn't met their puppy yet, but she was a good girl and great with the kids.

I brought some foam face stickers for the kids to make pictures, and these are the ones Makayla made.

 An adorable photo of Alexa playing the keyboard.

 Adam got in on the act. too. They were having a good time together.

 Makayla and Daniel climbing a tree after we picked them up from school.

 Adam tries to keep up with his big brother and sister, so he climbed the tree, too.

 The Carsons don't have church until 1:30pm, so we played some games together in the morning before church.

Daniel used his goldfish to make a church building.

 The night I was there the Primary was having a Baptism Preview for the children turning eight this year. It's hard to believe he's old enough already, but Daniel will be turning eight on December 30th! I stayed home with the younger kids so that Daniel could have his parents all to himself to go to the Baptism Preview.

 Adam chilling with Indie.

 Alexa is still very much a mamma's girl.

 Adam helped me mix up some cookies while the big kids were in school.

I flew home on Monday evening after Daniel and Makayla got home from school. I took this picture as I was loading up to have Garrett drive me to the airport. Everyone stood in the door and waved goodbye,which I thought was very sweet.

Starting the New Year with a Visit to Our Parents

Kent and I flew to Oregon to spend a long weekend with our parents.

 Adri flew up from Texas to join us, but mostly came to see her grandparents.

 Mom Carson had been in a rehab center over Christmas and Kent brought her home for the day.

The Christmas presents had been saved for her and she opened them while Kent was there.

Meanwhile, over in Oregon, my sister, Jill, also came from Boston to visit. Mom and Dad were happy to have so much company.

 Mom got it into her head that she wanted to make some teddy bears for the great grandchildren. 

She was the brains of the operation and Adri, Jill and I were her work crew.

Mom had part of the teddy bears cut out, so we worked together to get three finished.

I did the sewing and everyone else did the cutting, ironing, pinning, and stuffing.

 Mom was so pleased with our efforts that she took a teddy bear down to the dining room to show off our project.

Here we are with the mostly completed teddy bears. (they still needed some hand sewing.) There was a pink one for Sylvia Carson, another pink one for Alexa Carson, and the blue one was for Carson Lee.

 We had Sunday dinner over at Reed and Myra's house, and took a picture of the original Christensen family, minus Brett and Gates.

As we were driving through Portland on our way to Kent's mom's house, we had a spectacular view of Mount St. Helen's off in the distance.

Further down the road we had this awesome view of Mount Hood. I sure do love those mountains out in the West!! It was a quick visit, but we were glad to spend time with our parents, siblings, and Adrianne.