Happily Ever After

One of the living room walls in the oldest daughter's house is decorated with a "fairy tale" theme.  There is a family photo in the top corner and underneath that is a collage frame with some pictures taken outside the Mesa Arizona temple on the daughter and son-in-law's wedding day.  The top right space is filled with a Thomas Kincaid print of Cinderella and her prince standing on a bridge in front of their castle. Beneath the print, in large rub-on letters, is written, "And they lived happily ever after".

I have always liked this wall.  To me it speaks of love and commitment and lots of joy.

When we received word of the grandson's initial cancer diagnosis, for some reason a picture came into my mind of the oldest daughter returning to their home from the hospital, opening the door and being confronted by that wall.

I considered the impact it would have on her.

When she walked into her house and read those words what would she think?

Would she feel that they were a mockery? an unfulfilled wish?  a blatant lie? the end of a dream?

Would they fill her with more pain and sorrow?  My mother's heart broke at the very thought.

When we arrived in California and I took my first look at this wall, I will admit that many of those thoughts passed through my mind.

I can honestly say that I spent some time considering how difficult it would be to remove the writing from the wall before the daughter ever had to read it again.

Then we went to the hospital and I saw the grandson and the daughter and the son-in-law.

I saw the love and the commitment of two struggling, but faithful parents.

I saw the sweet little boy who has brought, and will always bring, a special joy to our family.

I still questioned the "happily ever after" ending to their story, but the urgency to permanently remove those words from their home lessened immensely.  I was willing to let them stay right where they were for the time being.

Each day, as I came down the stairs, or entered the house,  I looked at that wall and each day I tried to make peace with the thoughts the words evoked.

At times they spoke of hope and seemed to hold a promise that there would still be a fairy tale ending to this tale.

At other times they seemed to laugh in my face  and question my grasp on reality,

but more and more I knew that I wouldn't be the one to decide if they stayed or not.

The words would greet my daughter when she returned home.

Their fate would be her decision, not mine.

Today I went to the daughter's blog to see if she had updated and once again saw those words. This time emblazoned across the top of her post - Happily Ever After.  As I read what she had written, and then the talk by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf that she referred to,  I realized the decision had been made.

The peace came.

The words will stay, right where they have always belonged.

There are times in my life when I feel foolish.

When I realize that my children will teach me much more in my lifetime than I can ever hope to teach them.

When I remember what I already knew, but managed to forget for a short time.

The day the oldest daughter and the son-in-law became a family was not the end of the story, but an exciting and promising chapter in the book. What is taking place in their lives right now is also just another segment of that story, albeit a more heart wrenching and tear jerking section.  And most likely there will be a lot more happy and harrowing, sad and silly, tender and tedious chapters to follow.

Life is meant to be like that and the "happily ever after" ending comes right where it belongs - at the END,

which I wholeheartedly believe is where the next book will begin.

The sequel, filled with "happily ever after" moments and eternal life, the culmination of the trilogy.

"The Father's plan of happiness for His children includes not only a premortal and mortal life but also an eternal life as well, including a great and glorious reunion with those we have lost.  All wrongs will be righted, and we will see with perfect clarity and faultless perspective and understanding."

"From the limited perspective of those who do not have knowledge, understanding or faith in the Father's plan - who look at the world only through the lens of mortality with its wars, violence, disease, and evil - this life can seem depressing, chaotic, unfair, and meaningless.  Church leaders have compared this perspective with someone walking into the middle of a three-act play.  Those without knowledge of the Father's plan do not understand what happened in the first act, or the premortal existence, and the purposes established there; nor do they understand the clarification and resolution that come in the third act, which is the glorious fulfillment of the Father's plan."   Elder Quentin L. Cook, "The Songs They Could Not Sing".

"'And they all lived happily ever after' is never written into the second act.  That line belongs in the third act when the mysteries are solved and everything is put right." Elder Boyd K. Packer.

This mortal life, like any fairy tale, will be filled with its share of happy moments - feasts and balls, love and learning, singing and selfless service, but it will also include adversity, trials and temptations - wicked witches,  poisoned apples, thorns and thistles, debilitating "curses" and even death.

It has to be that way. That's how we learn.

It is all part of a loving author's plan for each of our lives and how we get to our "Happily Ever After" ending.

Grab on to a friend's hand and the Savior's hand and lets go live our story the best we can, so its culmination will bring the ending we are hoping for, the ending which our Heavenly Father has prepared for us - never ending happiness and eternal life.

Today I am thankful for

my knowledge of God's plan of happiness.

a visit to the skin and cancer center.  It is wonderful to, once a year, be praised for and congratulated on my perfect, pale, pasty white skin.

a visiting teaching companion that makes the appointments, prepares the lesson and brings the treat.

the odd junk items I have lying around the house. They entertain the cats and I don't have to waste my money on cat toys.

a daughter, who chose to fulfill her church calling despite her own trials, and learned something that she then decided to share so I could be reminded of something I needed to remember.  Amazing how that all works.

Moving Forward

The first 5 days of Shad's chemo are behind him.  He has done amazingly well and to quote one of the nurses, "handled it like a rock star."  He is still eating fairly well, drinking lots and acting like Shad.  We are all very pleased and extremely grateful.  He should now have a 2 week break and then start chemo again.

Today the big news was the possibility of everyone going home on Friday.  This is both exciting and frightening at the same time.  Shad's response to the announcement was, "No thank you. I will just stay here."    I think in some ways that would describe the oldest daughter's feelings as well.

While the hospital is not really where anyone wants to stay forever, it does come with it's perks.  It is a safe, isolated, somewhat predictable enviroment that is stocked with all the necessary supplies and conveniently located to all the doctors, medications and equipment that Shad might have need of.  It comes complete with trained professionals to handle any problems that may arise, consistent food delivery and a competent and entertaining cleaning lady to top it all off. Shad is enjoying the special order menu and almost unlimited movie watching time and the McDonalds in the basement is also a nice addition.

Performance expectations are pretty low for mom and Shad most of the time in the hospital. Mom has been handling her supporting role exceptionally well and has gotten used to the routine of just being the observer, cheerleader and hugger while the doctors and  nurses do their jobs. Going home thrusts mom into the driver's seat as primary caregiver and this job comes with a lot of unknowns and new responsibilities in addition to all of the usual household chores that will still need to be done.  It seems a little overwhelming even before you add in all the trips to the doctor that will be necessary.

CHANGE IS HARD (that's why the grandson has been wearing the same socks for 5 days now), but it's time to be moving forward and forward we will go.

Tomorrow I get to move forward all the way back to Arizona.  Leaving the hospital, ie. Shad and his family, is hard for me too.  Really hard.

Good news though while we are on the topic of moving forward.  We are proud of the son-in-law who found out this week that he passed the test to became an E5.  I'm not totally sure what all this entails, but it is a rank advancement that brings him more responsibility and more money and means he is moving forward in his chosen career.  Way to Go!

Today I am thankful

for a promised visit from Shad's friend Lily tonight.  It got him to do a lot of things he didn't want to do today.  I'm also thankful that he handled the disappointment well when Lily's mom and dad finally arrived, but without Lily. Apparently she got a runny nose and had to stay home.

for Kevin and Casey - I finally got to meet this infamous couple tonight and they are as wonderful as I had heard.  They came bearing gifts, a jar of pickles for Shad and a celebration cake for daddy complete with E (a backwards 3) 5 candles. They brought some needed frivolity and light into our evening and both of the treats were enjoyed immensely.

for insurance that pays for Shad's expensive medication and the equipment he will need to have in order to go home.

that Shad put his brace on and sat in a chair several times today.  Wearing the brace and becoming more mobile is the next big step for him and he was very brave even though it wasn't what he wanted to do.

P.S. While you are keeping your eyes peeled for an ambulance could you look for a moving van too?  They just might need one to get all the stuff home that they are accumulating.

Shadrach and the Fiery Furnace

The past few days have been very difficult for our family, especially for the oldest daughter, the son-in-law and the grandson.  The three year old "light of my life" is seriously ill.  For more on what he is going through you can go to my daughter's recent blog post.

My grandson's name is Shadrach.  His name comes from one of my favorite Old Testament stories found in the book of Daniel - chapter 3. The other day as my thoughts were drawn to him and his parents I felt inspired to re-read this scripture story. Here's a synopsis of it with a little background information.

About 600 years before Jesus Christ was born, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and took captive many of Israel's finest citizens. Among those deported to Babylon were four young men from the tribe of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

In captivity the youths were given new names. Daniel was called Belteshazzar, Hananiah was called Shadrach, Mishael was called Meshach, and Azariah was called Abed-nego.

These four Hebrews excelled in wisdom and knowledge and found favor in King Nebuchadnezzar's eyes. The king put them into service among his most trusted wise men and counselors. When Daniel proved to be the only man capable of interpreting one of Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dreams, the king placed him in a high position over the whole province of Babylon, including all of the wise men of the land. And at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego as administrators under Daniel.

As was common at the time, King Nebuchadnezzar built a huge golden image and commanded all the people to fall down and worship it whenever they heard the sound of his musical herald. Anyone who failed to bow and worship the image would be thrown into an immense, blazing furnace.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were determined to worship the one true God only, and thus were reported to the king. Courageously they stood before him as the king pressured the men to deny their God.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.  (Daniel 3:14-16 KJV)

Furious with pride and rage, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than normal. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bound and cast into the flames. The fiery blast was so hot it killed the soldiers who had escorted them.

But as King Nebuchadnezzar peered into the furnace, he marveled at what he saw: "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God." (Daniel 3:25 KJV)

Then the king called the men to come out of the furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego emerged unharmed, with not even a hair on their heads singed or the smell of smoke on their clothing.

I have always loved the imagery of this story - 3 faithful servants being accompanied and protected by the Son of God during their time in the fiery furnace. It is such an amazing picture and as I read from my scriptures, another beautiful picture appeared in my mind.  My grandson was on his hospital bed with his mom and dad on either side of him, their arms around his shoulders, and there standing behind them, embracing them all was the Savior.  I fervently wish I were an artist and could draw that marvelous scene that I beheld.   

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego courageously took their stand before Nebuchadnezzar, they didn't know with certainty that God would deliver them. They had no assurance they would survive the flames. But they stood firm anyway. 

And now, my daughter and son-in-law embrace their brave little man in their furnace of affliction and stand firm also, putting their trust in our Heavenly Father's love and his plan for their family. Their faith in their Savior, Jesus Christ, is strong and He will support them in their time of need.  

We do not know what the future holds for our family.  We know that the God we serve is able to deliver Shadrach from this burning, fiery furnace and we have faith and hope that he will,  but if not, we join with other faithful servants in whatever age, in vowing to worship the one true God, regardless of the outcome.  

It's the only way.  

Today I am grateful for 

the faith, love and prayers of family and friends. 

my testimony. 

modern medicine.

Fourth of July in San Diego

Many thanks to my friend, Lucy, who taught me how to make a collage and post it on my blog!

As the Fourth of July holiday approached, the temperature in Phoenix increased and the oldest daughter kept begging for someone to come and visit so she wouldn't have to celebrate "alone", my determination to just stay home and accomplish something for a while once again wained.  The oldest son and the daughter-in-law were happy to accompany me to the cooler climes for their celebration and the hubby encouraged me to go and have fun, promising he would find something fun to do on the 4th too.  (He said he was going to climb on the roof and watch the fireworks, which was almost worth sticking around to witness, but he actually went to a barbecue with the extended family and also enjoyed a break from the heat with a morning rain storm and temperatures in the 90s.)

Those of us in San Diego had a fun-filled day

which started with a 7:57 AM ward breakfast of pancakes, hash browns, bacon, sausage, orange juice and a stirring reading of the Declaration of Independence complete with signers' names and state of residence.  I am truly grateful for the founding fathers and the many sacrifices they made so I could live in this free country and agree that they should be recognized, especially on this day, but I felt bad for the boy scout who had to cook a ton of pancakes and then got recitation duty as well.

The oldest daughter, the grandson and I, along with the young women of the ward and their leaders, gathered last night to make decorations for the breakfast.  The daughter was in charge of pin wheel production and she did a fine job.

I was in charge of potty runs with the 2-year-old and he and I excelled at our responsibilities as well.  We were also excellent cookie and cupcake tasters.

After the breakfast we went home and focused on completing the daughter's patriotic wreath for her front door.  She glued,

while I pinned,

and the oldest son tried to keep the grandson entertained, with some wild chair spinning, so he wouldn't continually steal the spool of wire and unwind it all over the backyard.

His attempts worked a small portion of the time, but eventually the wreath was finished and placed in its official home.

Good job daughter!

After lunch some of us had rest time

and some of us went shopping at the Avenue "store closing sale" where we found lots of bargains.

We had a wonderful barbecue for dinner. The oldest son grilled the hamburgers to perfection and the corn on the cob tasted just like it should on the 4th of July, and then we each made our own personal patriotic fruit tarts

and gobbled them down. YUMMY!

This was followed by some quality time spent taking Fourth of July photos of the grandson.

Which he didn't think was nearly as fun as we did.  He did enjoy having his own opportunity to take pictures though

and pretend bull fighting with his uncle.

I'm glad he did cooperate for a while, because I like to have cute pictures of him to enjoy.

The daughter also made this cute quilt that you see in all of these pictures.  Didn't she do a good job?

We discussed going into San Diego to watch the fireworks over the bay, but decided we didn't feel like fighting the crowds and waiting for hours with the 2-year-old. We voted to stay home and take our chances that we could see the local display out the daughter's bedroom window.  

There were a couple of trees that got in the way of some of the blasts,

but over-all I really enjoyed reclining on the bed and watching the fireworks as the grandson danced around exclaiming with excitement.

It was a good thing we chose not to attend the big city show because they had a computer malfunction and the fireworks all shot off at the same time resulting in a huge display that  lasted approximately 9 seconds.

The son-in-law did his celebrating in Hawaii, the youngest son worked and then shot off fireworks at the park with his friends (and possibly the police), and the youngest daughter went to the rodeo and firework show in Idaho.  Hopefully they all had as much fun as I did!

Today I am thankful for

my American citizenship.
Freedom.
and the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Delaware George Read• Caesar Rodney• Thomas McKean Pennsylvania  George Clymer• Benjamin Franklin• Robert Morris• John Morton• Benjamin Rush• George Ross• James Smith• James Wilson• George Taylor  Massachusetts John Adams• Samuel Adams• John Hancock• Robert Treat Paine• Elbridge Gerry New Hampshire Josiah Bartlett• William Whipple• Matthew Thornton Rhode Island Stephen Hopkins• William Ellery New York Lewis Morris• Philip Livingston• Francis Lewis• William Floyd Georgia Button Gwinnett• Lyman Hall• George Walton Virginia Richard Henry Lee• Francis Lightfoot Lee• Carter Braxton• Benjamin Harrison• Thomas Jefferson• George Wythe• Thomas Nelson, Jr. North Carolina William Hooper• John Penn• Joseph Hewes South Carolina Edward Rutledge• Arthur Middleton• Thomas Lynch, Jr.• Thomas Heyward, Jr. New Jersey Abraham Clark• John Hart• Francis Hopkinson• Richard Stockton• John Witherspoon Connecticut Samuel Huntington• Roger Sherman• William Williams• Oliver Wolcott Maryland Charles Carroll• Samuel Chase• Thomas Stone• William Paca

Making Sugar Cookies

Today the oldest daughter and I decided we wanted to make some sugar cookies. The grandson thought it was a great idea.

First we had to make the dough.

We have a favorite sugar cookie recipe that came from our next door neighbor, Kate. Every year we would go to their house and make sugar cookies at Christmas time and this was the recipe that we used.

Holiday Sugar Roll Out Dough

1 ½ cups sifted powdered sugar

1 cup margarine

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp almond flavoring

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Cream sugar and margarine. Mix in egg and flavorings. Stir dry ingredients together; blend into sugar/margarine mixture. Refrigerate 2 – 3 hours. Heat oven to 375. Bake 7 to 8 minutes.

After the dough sits in the fridge for a couple of hours you need to put a lot of flour on the table where you are going to roll out the cookies.

This is more fun than making the dough.

A lot more fun.

Then you get to cut out the cookie shapes and put them on the pan and cook them.

You have to get really close to make sure the cookies are cool enough to frost and make sure you blow a little if they aren't.

Then you make the frosting.

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp vanilla

Water to make icing consistency.

Try to remember to not add too much water because then you have to add a lot more sugar :).

Then you get to frost your cookie. You have to concentrate really hard and make sure you do a good job.

Then you get to eat your dog bone cookie.

That is the funnest part of all!

We like making sugar cookies!

The Passage of Time

So,

here it is.

2012.

Am I the only one that feels like the year 2000 DID NOT begin 12 years ago.

It seems like last year.

Or maybe 2 or 3 years ago,

but not 12.

Things have changed a lot since then though.

Now all the kids that were wild young 'uns then

are starting to have young 'uns of their own.


They think they are old enough to put OUR puzzle together


and don't leave us any room at the table.

It was actually kind of fun though,

to have our daughters want to do puzzles with us.

It meant they were close by

and not hundreds of miles away.

My mom used to always say

that the person who put the last piece in the puzzle

was going to have the next baby.

That is another good reason to start

including the daughters in the puzzling.

The last piece in this puzzle was missing.

The oldest daughter spent some time

under the table seriously searching for it.

At this point she is trying anything that might get her a new baby.

She did find it

so we're still holding out hope

for a new member of their family in 2012.

We missed our friend that got to welcome the arrival of 2012

in a hospital bed facing a new challenge along with a new year.

Here's praying that her cancer disappears

as quickly as the past 12 years have.

A Day at Disneyland

For a complete recap and lots of cute pictures of our day check out the oldest daughter's post.

Free Zoo Trip #2

Today the oldest daughter and I took the grandbaby on his second trip to the zoo. Perhaps you remember that his first zoo trip was rather boring, in his opinion, and he slept through the entire visit. The baby enjoyed this outing a lot more. He loved looking at everything. Here he is looking at all the cute kids looking at the elephant.

Now he is checking out the really nice fence surrounding the same elephant.

In this picture he is completely intrigued by the water bottle on the stroller.

He loved looking at everything - except the animals.

Try as we might, we couldn't get him to look at a single animal.

As we were heading for the exit, at the end of our visit, we paused in the back of an animal show for a few minutes. All of the sudden the grandbaby started squealing and throwing himself around with excitement. I momentarily thought he was impressed with the snake on the stage, but then I looked around. Nope, it definitely wasn't the snake. It was an entire stroller full of water bottles.

Now, that is something to get excited about.

It was a good thing that the daughter and I had decided right from the start that we were going to the zoo for our enjoyment, to get some exercise and to bask in the beautiful spring weather and not for the baby. The trip definitely met our criteria and was worth every penny we paid for it and a little bit more. Free is hard not to enjoy.

My Good Friend Jo-Ann

Today the oldest daughter had to run out to her school to pick up a purchase order and she invited me to go along and do some shopping at the stores on the rez while we were out that direction. Her dad has been asking her to bring the grandbaby by his office so he can show him off to all his co-workers so we decided that we would meet him at the cafeteria there for lunch. The son-in-law was going to be gone flying with his mom most of the day, but the weather didn't cooperate, so he wanted to be included in this outing as well. The daughter warned him ahead of time that this adventure would involve some store visits, but he decided the free food was enticing enough to put up with the shopping.

We got the purchase order, ate lunch and appreciated all of the appropriate oohs and aahs that the baby received and then it was time for the real fun to begin. We told the driver that the first stop was Jo-Ann's. He said "You mean Jo-Ann." Apparently during the many visits to the fabric store that the son-in-law has made with the daughter since he joined the family he has determined that the official title of this business is Jo-Ann - singular and not Jo-Anns - plural or Jo-Ann's - possessive.


Well, I will be the first to admit that I call this store Jo-Ann's. Always have and probably always will. I will even go as far as to say that I thought perhaps the official name of the store was Jo-Ann's and I have a few canceled checks in my possession to prove it. Well, now I know that I have been mistaken all these years, but I doubt that will quickly change how I refer to this store. The son-in-law went on to expound "you don't say you are going to Wal-marts or Targets do you?" He is absolutely correct. I have never once in my life said I was going to Targets.

Of course, this conversation got me started thinking about why this is. Why do I call the JoAnn fabric store Jo-Anns but have no trouble calling Target Target or Wal-mart Wal-mart? Now, I have already said that I might have possibly just been confused about the name of the store, but I am pretty sure I would have still called it Jo-Anns regardless. Jo-Ann just sounds wrong to me.
After much musing on this topic I have finally come up with a logical explanation. It all goes back to the relationship that have with this store. Obviously, through my many frequent visits to this business I have developed a strong and lasting friendship. Just as I would not say I am going to Kim or Denise or Moana when I visit one of my good friends I don't say I am going to Jo-Ann. Actually I think this has something to do with the English language. When I say I am going to Kim's the word house is inferred even though it is not said and therefore the name becomes possessive as in Kim's house and the s is added. When I go to the fabric store I think of it as belonging to my good friend Jo-Ann. I can even envision this Jo-Ann person in my head. She is about my age and she is happy and friendly and funny and extremely talented, not unlike many of my other friends. Sometimes she employs grouchy, overworked individuals in her store, but that just shows how truly charitable she really is. Therefore when I head off to the fabric store to make a purchase I am going to my buddy Jo-Ann's store and the s makes perfect sense. I have no such vision of Target (the person) in my head and as far as Wal-mart goes, well I can conjure up Sam from the commercials that I have seen but he seems to reserve his friendships for people who belong to his club and since it costs money to join his club I just can't get too excited about pursuing that relationship.

Now, back to our shopping experience. The daughter and I had a wonderful time at JoAnn's and found some exciting after Christmas bargains. We enjoyed ourselves so much that perhaps we stayed longer than we had intended. At least that is probably what the men folk in the car were thinking.

Hey, it was a nice day for an afternoon nap in the parking lot of my friend Jo-Ann's store.

Today I am grateful for

a yummy chicken salad sandwich with pecans and dates.
a proud grandpa who loves his grandson and isn't afraid to let that love show.
a patient son-in-law.

Where did November go?

I can't believe that November is over. It seems like it was just Halloween and now, here it is December and the countdown to Christmas has truly begun. Tonight the oldest daughter and I attended my Relief Society craft night and enjoyed socializing and being "creative" (as creative as you can be when someone else prepares the entire project for you, which is my kind of crafting). We made these cute Christmas Countdown blocks.


Is anyone besides me feeling a little stressed?

Free Zoo Trip

The first full weekend of every month in 2009 Bank of America customers can get into the Phoenix Zoo for free if they show their Bank of America Check Card and a photo ID. I found out about this deal at the end of September, but chose to watch conference in October rather than go to the zoo. This month I was anxious to take advantage of the free deal, because as you know, I Love Free and there's only one more month in 2009. The only drawback of this deal is that only one person can get in with each Bank of America card, but since every member of my family except the youngest son and the grandbaby have their own BofA card this wasn't a huge problem. When it came right down to it only the oldest daughter, the youngest son and the grandbaby were interested in going with me. It just so happened that the oldest daughter still had one day left on her year long zoo membership and so she and the youngest son used that to get in. I used my Bank of America card and the grandbaby was free just because he was free.

It's a good thing that we didn't pay a lot of money to get the baby in because he didn't even open his eyes the entire three hours we were there.
It's been a while since I have been to the zoo (because I am too cheap to pay to get in) and a few things have changed since the last time I was there. They have added a new path to the children's area.

This was a really dumb addition, in my opinion. You use to walk down a short hill. Now you switch back and forth on a path that has 5 or 6 turns. There is nothing to look at, just a concrete path with wood railings. We decided this is the zoo's attempt to increase the patron's physical exercise.

Here is my token picture of some animals at the zoo.


I liked these javelinas hairstyles. They all looked like punk rockers.

I kept wanting to get the baby out of the stroller to take his picture, but the youngest son didn't think he wanted to wake up. He decided he could pose for pictures in his place. Here he is pretending to be Ariel.

I thought this was a really cool Saguaro slide.


The son said it was a tight fit.

This is the picture I turned around to take while the stroller continued to move on down the hill. The daughter was screaming, but no babies were injured in the process.

Now the two of them like to look at this picture and laugh at how dumb I am.
The oldest daughter and I both agreed that we needed a picture so the baby would know he went to the zoo, so here it is.



I'm sure we'll come again when the grandbaby is a little more interested. Maybe the first full weekend in December, since it's free.

Today I am grateful for

kids that are willing to do things with me.
a daughter who likes puzzles as much as I do.

a husband who washes my van while I just play.