July, the beach and family

What a wonderful vacation that Gramps and I had after a rocky start with his auto accident.
The beach was beautiful, ( even tho the condo -was not as clean as I would have liked in the beginning)

How wonderful it was to be with almost all our family! That was a gift within itself, but added to that was the wonderful picture that Lib gave us of all our family! Katie, Jacob, Jared and family, and Noah were missing but I have a plan to put them in when I have it framed! Every night was just a little bit of Heaven as we ate together and then as Gramps and I watched as the cousins and brothers and sisters got to have fun just being together!

I know that some of you came as a great sacrafice and for that I am grateful.(Like the hard sofa that Kim and Jerry and Laurel and Floyd endured)

There was news to share, with new babies on the way, and Lib and Pete getting a house, and welcoming Ellen to soon be our newest family member, congradulations on yours and Peter's engagement! We love her already and she and Peter make a perfect match! Honey, you saw all of us ; now you know what you are getting into!
I know Lib and Pete was so glad to have all of their family together for a few days! No greater joy than this!

Getting to spend time with our great grandchildren was an added bonus! It is so fun to watch Lib and Kim as grandparents! What fun it was to see them all.

Also Gramps and i got to spend a few special hours alone with Steven and LaNelle as we traveled that Sunday to the beach and then got to see them the Saturday after they left the beach!(They came by for lunch on their way back to Utah!) It was such fun to learn of all LaNelle's accomplishments as she embarks on her career in teaching! Those kids are sure lucky to have her! And she's lucky to have that precious Steven! And now Patti is going to pursue teaching, how exciting!!

We watched as Little sassy Sarah Beth became a world traveler, off to Utah with LaLa! And thank you Andrew for coming on our week, that meant so much to Gramps and me. Andrew, the accountant in the making! Seeing Will for more than a minute was a thrill, we have not gotton to be with him since his mission, his wonderful spirit has not changed but become more so! and my faithful Jacob makes me laugh! It was so good to have David with us (the soon to be tallest Edwards boy!) Connor is so good with Kalib, I love to watch them together!
Getting to be with the Bailey bunch for more than an hour was fun, how blest I am to have lived long enough to have a redhead! Seth is a little Rob and Carolyn is a little Beth and Katlyn is a little Kim and Natalie is a little mess!! What a ham!

Seeing Jean happy at the beach, seeing Jeff happy watching Jean be happy, and seeing their kids have fun with everyone was wonderful !

And we all need an Uncle Floyd and an Aunt Laurel! How dull life be like without them, what fun they bring to everything! Thank you for all you do, you bring joy to us all!

Now July is fading and with it comes a birthday for Michael and so today we enjoyed his birthday by eating 8 lbs. of french fries and Jeff's wonderful hamburgers and seeing lots of family again, my cup runneth over as I take it all in.

Close in my heart is a little boy with a little rainbow shirt and a big grin who constantly reminds me of how precious and fragile life is and how important each day is and how I want each one of you to know how much I love each you and how grateful I am for each memories we share together, even the silly string!! Thank you one and all. I love you. Momma