Party Time

The girl's birthdays are just 8 days apart, which means we have an ongoing party for about a week an a half. End of July = Party Time! Our sweet Melanie turned 4 on July 20th. We had quite a few visitors on her special day. Both Grandmas, aunts, cousins, and friends all stopped by and spent time with us, even bringing cupcakes. (We were without our family vehicle and kind of stuck at home, so we really appreciate everyone coming to see us!) The cupcakes were good, but Melanie only wanted to eat the frosting off the top. A few days later, we had a party at my parent's house for all of our July birthdays. I think that we ended up singing "Happy Birthday" 5 times. But the girls each had their own cake. My Grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday on the 23rd, right between my 2 girls. My dad tells me that I had 2 chances to name my girls after her. But my Grandma agrees with me, no one would want the name Nelda. It may not be the most attractive name, be we really do love my Grandma so much and I'm glad that my girls have their birthdays by hers! And of course we couldn't forget Ms. Savannah. She coped a little better this year that she was last, since her birthday is the 28th. I can't believe that she's 6! The girls had a few presents to open that night. As you can see, their favorite gift was their own Book of Mormon with their name on it. They also got pink CTR rings, which they love and we are continually losing and finding. My youngest sister crocheted a scarf for the girls, she also gave them some sunglasses, a purse, wallet, and some money. She then posed the girls and took their pictures with all of the presents that she had given them. The pictures actually cracked me up. We didn't do too much on Savannah's actual birthday, but we had a big party for both girls the next day. Unfortunately, I left the camera at home and didn't get any pictures. But we had a bouncy water slide again. That thing is so huge that we had to hold the party at my parent's house. We had about 20 little kids come. My mom and I were seriously sweating setting things up for the party. And then right at 3:00, when the party was starting, a nice monsoon storm blew in. The wind was blowing nicely and the kids were all cold. We had to ditch the backyard and head inside after about 30 to 40 minutes, when it started raining. Luckily, my mom has a bunch of toys that all of the kids loved playing with because I didn't have any back-up games or anything to keep them all entertained. The party was still great despite the crazy weather. And since we had the slide for the rest of the evening, we had some old friends come over and BBQ with us and let their kids have a grand time on the slide. Of course the weather was nicer that evening. But we had a great birthday week! I love my little girls! Happy birthday sweeties!

Grandpa Bloomfield

My grandfather passed away back in January, about a week after Jon and I moved. My grandparents lived in New Mexico for all of my life and so I was thrilled when they moved down here a little over 2 years ago for my Grandfather's health. Grandpa was such a hard worker and insisted on helping move their stuff in. It was so wonderful to have them live just around the corner so I could go and visit them when ever I wanted. Melanie quickly became Grandpa's best buddy. Here he is trying to teach her to walk, insistent that she should be able to walk by 9 months. Grandpa was the only one that Melanie would just sit with. Here they are at a birthday party, just after we went swimming. Grandpa always shared whatever he had with Melanie, whether it was his ice cream or his glass of water. When he was in the hospital I told him that he had spoiled her and his response was: Nope, you did that yourself! Grandpa always wore suspenders - or spenders as we called them, and his flag ones were his favorite. And he always wore a Bolo tie to church. I don't think that I ever saw him in a regular tie, even at our wedding. All of the grandsons (even Jon) wore bolo ties at Grandpa's funeral to honor him. Here's the last picture that I got of him, enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner, sitting between his two girls. So it's been a little hard since he passed away; probably harder for me because I know how much the girls loved him and how much they have grown and changed since he's been gone. So, we drove up to New Mexico for the funeral when it was so cold and snowy everywhere. And I just couldn't believe that I forgot my camera. But now it has been 6 months and we took another quick trip back to New Mexico to set his headstone. It was a hot and sunny day and the kids all enjoyed running around and playing. Spencer really loved wandering around the cemetery. Grandpa really loved Spencer too. Even when Grandpa was in the hospital, all Grandpa had to do was look at Spencer and he would start laughing. Grandpa loved making him laugh!Here is a picture of my Mom, Aunt Raette (my mom's younger sister), Grandma, and Aunt Mae (my Grandpa's sister). It took forever (about 2 hours) to get the headstone in place, but it looked great when it was all finished. Grandma and Grandpa were sealed in the Mesa Temple when Grandma was 16 and Grandpa was 18. They rode in the back of a pick-up truck for 6-8 hours to get to the temple. They had just celebrated their 62nd anniversary right before Grandpa took a turn for the worse. Melanie was so glad to get to go and see where Grandpa Bloomfield was buried. I also got to find the headstones for both of my Mom's Grandparents while we were there. Here is Nina Maleta Bond & Alexander Finley Bloomfield. And here is Byron Nephi & Maud Cluff Farnsworth. The only one of my Great-Grandparents that I can remember was my Great-Grandma Farnsworth. She lived right next to the temple and my mom came down to live with her after high school. That is when she met my dad. I was 3 when Great-Grandma Farnsworth died and I can remember only a few things about her, so it makes me wonder what memories the girls will have of Grandpa Bloomfield. After setting the headstone we went over to my Grandparents' old home, the one that I remember them living in when I was little. My uncle and aunt live in it now, so we went there and had a BBQ for lunch. Savannah and Spencer both had a blast swinging in the tire swing out back. Grandpa made that swing a long time ago and we used to swing in it all the time when we visited them. Grandpa would push us so high in it! So that was really great to see Savannah having so much fun with something that I remember enjoying too. We headed out after lunch and we got an okay picture of Shiprock. This is the "rock" that we would always look for when we drove up to Grandma's house, then we knew that we were almost there. Seeing it always brings back memories of very long road trips! Grandpa, we miss you and can't wait to be with you again.

One more quick story: This past Easter I was trying to explain to the girls that we celebrate Easter to remember that Jesus died for us and was then resurrected. And because he was resurrected, we will be too. I told the girls that we would be resurrected when Jesus comes to the Earth again. Savannah then got really excited about Easter because she thought that Grandpa Bloomfield would be resurrected on Easter. It was so sweet of her to think that and a little difficult to try and explain that that was not quite what I meant.

Love my Aunt

My mom's sister came into town last weekend. Savannah just loves her! Of course she had to bring presents for the girls. She owns a Southwest Indian store, hence the presents that she brought. She gave each of them a pair of pink moccasins, a turquoise necklace, and little beaded bracelets. They loved the gifts! Melanie loves her little moccasins and has wore them everyday since they were given to her. I think that the only other pair of shoes that I've been able to put on her is her Sunday shoes! And Savannah goes through necklace fazes. She'll wear one for 2 or 3 days and then won't for a month. So thanks for the gifts!

The Airport

I've been trying to play catch-up with all of my pictures ever since our move, so sorry that these are a little late.

About 1 1/2 weeks ago I took my girls and my grandma to the airport to pick up my cousin. The girls got a kick out of looking at the airplanes, just from the parking structure. Savannah was so upset that our trip to the airport was so fast and that she didn't get to ride any airplanes.

Grandma's Birthday

We went over to my grandparent's house on Monday night for my Grandma Bloomfield's 77th birthday. My girls love going over there! Of course, Melanie sat and snuggled with Great Grandpa. She loves sitting with him and it was making Jon a little jealous. She especially liked Great Grandpa's homeade strawberry ice cream! I must admit, that it was really good! Grandma's favorite cake is Mississippi Mud Cake, so I made one for the little celebration! It was really good too! Grandma didn't think that it had enough chocolate on it and had to add a spoonful or two of hot fudge to hers; which I followed suit! You just can't go wrong with more chocolate!

4 Wheeling

Last Thursday, while we were at my family reunion, we had the opportunity to go 4 wheeling. I must say that we saw lots of pretty scenery. However, the 4 wheeling that we did was not our cup of tea! I think that we would have been able to handle the bumpiness of off roading, but we didn't really enjoy the climbing of steep rocks. Unfortunately, I don't think that any of the pictures that I post can convey to you how steep some of the climbs were that we did.
Jon and Savannah on our way out to the trails.

One of the few times they were smiling.

My cousin, Paul, letting his son Logan drive their jeep, with my sister, Stacy, in the passenger's seat!

Jon starting down his first trial hill. Notice the look of concern on his face!

My Uncle Dave, the pro, showing us how it's done!

My Dad coming down what I thought was a steep hill at the time.

The start up "Hell's Revenge," which I thought was true to it's name!

The never-ending trail! It seemed like the tire marks were never going to end.

The beautiful scenery!

My Dad stuck in a precarious situation, which took him about 30 minutes to get out of.

We had 8 Jeeps out on the trails, and were out there for 5 1/2 hours! Savannah cried for the first half of it, and wanted me to hold her hand most of the time. Like Jon says, "We'll try anything once." But we definitely did not go back out on the trail with everyone else on the second day!

Family Reunion

Last weekend we went up to Moab, Utah for my Bloomfield Family Reunion. We had fun hanging out with everyone. It was still quite hot up there, but we enjoyed ourselves. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Grandpa and Savannah on the top bunk in our cabin.

Grandma Bloomfield and Savannah watching Daddy play my cousin's PSP.

Melanie with a Do-Rag on!

Stacy keeping Melanie happy!

Natalie fishing! ____________________ Tyler being himself!

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We also went 4 wheeling. I'll add those pictures laters!