Christmas at Disneyland 12-4-09

This year for our December treat we went to Disneyland with

Kate, Ryan and their two boys, Tyler and Chase

Steve and Summer and their son, Ethan

(Bella was too little and it was felt that

she wouldn't have a good time

and if she didn't have

a good time we

wouldn't either!

Shell was also

able to come and

her friend, Melissa joined us

which made it alot more fun for Shell

otherwise she would have been riding alot

with her mom and dad....

Our first picture just coming into the park.  A lady was

taking pictures and offered to take one of Rob and I!

Had to get a picture of Shell at her

favorite spot on earth....

In front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland Park...

One of the first rides that the boys went on...Tyler went with

Grandpa Fink, Chase with his Dad, Ryan and...

Ethan went with his dad, Steve...

Steve, Summer and Ethan shooting aliens

at the Buzz Lightyear ride...

I took these pics while I was waiting in line for the

Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  Rob and I waited at the exit to get in

because I was in a wheelchair and so we waited in line at

New Orleans Square

The Christmas decorations were fabulous...

I really love Disneyland and at Christmastime

was when I always went to Disneyland and

it brought back so many memories of

the times I went with my family and

enjoyed the magic of Disneyland!

Here is Chase, Kate and Tyler waiting patiently for

the Christmas Parade.  Unfortunately for Chase, but he

fell asleep while we were waiting and missed the entire

parade...Probably needed a little shut eye before

running off to the next ride.

Part of the Disneyland Crew (Ryan was out tracking down

some food and Shell and Melissa were sitting off to the right of

the picture...

This was a fun ride for me...the Jungle Cruise...I don't think they

have changed much of what they say in the last 50 years...

The boat always seemed to "just" miss this waterfall...

It's amazing how that happens!

This was the treehouse that the crew walked through...

I think Ryan is in this pic and maybe Steve

It's a Small World After All ride all decked out

in Christmas decorations!

"A Small World Christmas Tree"

                Shelley at one of her favorite rides with Chase

The Peter Pan Ride

     Rob and Tyler at

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

 I think the funniest thing that was said

 was by Tyler. 

His Grandpa asked him what

his favorite ride was and he said he liked the mountains....

Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and the Matterhorn...

A much quicker way to say it!  "I like the mountains, too, Tyler!"

All in all I think we had a wonderful time at Disneyland.  The weather was good until

the sun went down and then I think we all got a little chilly!

Thanks to Jana and Kris for letting us (Rob, Shell and I) stay at their

place in Bakersfield....We had a nice visit with them as well!

Office Halloween Party Belated Post

Here are a few of pictures from our BFBA Office Halloween party that Jen took...

Tina, our Geisha...Our resident Vampire, Jen - check out her teeth....

What's for lunch? -- YOU!

3rd Place Winner for best costume - Noli as an LDS (Mormon Missionary)

2nd Place Winner - Kathy Gentry & 1st Place Winner - Karen Mayfield

(Two little old ladies) - great costumes!

And Finally the costume you've all been waiting for...

The Clown....Dave, one of the partners, said I shouldn't

let my grandchildren see me dressed up this way 'cause I would

probably scare them! And here I thought clowns were

happy and fun... -- well not any more sad to say

I think my favorite part of the costume was the shoes!

The hair was a little scary, but I couldn't find

the curly wig - just this wild one...When Tyler saw my wig and I put it on

he said that I looked like the Joker in the Batman movie...

Great, I look like Jack Nicholson -- well, that's a happy - not - thought!

More costumes - a bunch of witches
What scary costume will I come up with next year?

Only time will tell!

Separated, But Nothing Changes

My best friend, Judy, is always making me something. The last thing she made me and brought with her to my Big Bash Birthday were two ceramic pumpkin figurines that she had painted with love...I wanted to do something special for Judy and so when a friend from Church showed me some plates that she had done, I immediately asked her to do one for me to give to my friend. I took this picture on the ground at my office. On the outside edge it says:"True friendship isn't being inseparable,

It's being separated and nothing changes!"

How true that statement is, Judy, Judy, Judy!

I asked Jen to take a pic of me with the plate before I mailed it off to Judy 'cause I wanted to remember the pic of Betty (Judy) and Wilma (Chris). Thanks so much for being my forever friend, Judy!

A Resting Place for Birds

Rob paid for a man to come and top our tree in the front yard. The man climbed to the top of the tree and then cut the top off. While I was looking out my upstairs window, I noticed a bird perched on the top of the tree. It reminded me of the seagulls at the ocean perching on the wooden posts. Can you see the bird?...a close up of the little bird...

THE END

Bella's Blanket

I finally got around to making a blanket for Bella! I have had the material since Bella was a baby and just couldn't motivate myself to head to the sewing machine! Something finally clicked....maybe it was looking at Bella's worn out blanket or something else, but I finally began the attempt to create something special for little Bella. Here is Bella and Summer with the finished product. I also made a little blanket that Bella could carry around with her when she can't take her big blanket. ~~With Love to Bella from Grandma Fink ~~

Food for Fun

Grandma Fink had this great idea -- she was going to make fun food for her grandchildren....

What she realized was that she ended up not making it home in time to feed the grandchildren!

Here are a few treats I did make and they were alot of fun :)

A butterfly......an octupus and
two little piggies!

Surprise! I'm Still Back at 60th

I know this is so delinquent, and I apologize for blogging something that should have been blogged in August! It was such a special surprise birthday party and so many thanks have to be given to my family and friends for surprising me. Here I am walking into my back yard after Rob said he had been working on the back yard with some friends and wanted to show me what he had been doing....My friends and family yelled SURPRISE and then sang happy birthday to me...you can see the joy and tearsIt wasn't a garden or plants, but a beautiful, delightful birthday party with beautiful decorations and yummy food -- Loved the cake! Very vintage -- me :) The punch was yummy and I had friends asking me for the recipe...That's Jen's department not mine...
Kate took these beautiful pictures and I just loved this one of my hat cake and it tasted yummy, too!

A favorite of the grandkids and me -- a chocolate fountain with cake and fruit -- soooooo good!

Here's a pic of Bella having fun with her daddy and looking precious as always!

Some of my friends that came to celebrate my birthday with me. I'm so thankful for good friends and my family for making my 60th sooooo SPECIAL!!!!!

A picture of Denisa, my sweet sister-in-law that came down from Redding with her daughter, Marie.

A special presentation was when the grandkids gave me a beautiful framed picture of them spelling out the word "Grandma". I shall always cherish this gift --

and here's little Chase giving his Grandma a hug!Liked this picture 'cause I got to hug a grandchild plus you can see the pretty background of pillars and lovely flowers that my family worked so hard on to

create a lovely atmosphere for my party. I loved the decorations and since we only have one tree in our yard, they decorated the neighbor's redwood trees with little twinkly lights...Steve and Bella (who looks like she would like to get into something) and the twinkly lights...

A grateful mom, grandmother, wife and friend. Thanks to all of you for your part in making my 60th birthday so special. I feel blessed to know you and to be a part of your lives....

Judy & Chris Old Sacramento 8-10-09

On my birthday and the day that Judy had to fly back to Utah, we decided to go to Old Sacramento. As we were walking down the street, we saw a Photography Studio that took old style photos. I said to Judy "do you remember the photo that we had taken so many years earlier" and she said yes. I said I think it was at this same place here in Old Sacramento about 30 years earlier. We decided to take another picture while we were there. When I came home, I went through my old photos and found the 30 year old picture, scanned it and here it is.... Digital picture taking is so much better. The lady at the studio said that 30 years ago you only got one shot and you hoped it was a good one. With the digital camera she took at least 8 or 10 pictures and we got to select the poses we liked. Here's my favorite. BTW the name of the photography studio was O'Grady's and when I checked the old picture it had the same name on the back of the picture...

A Big Surprise - Trip to San Francisco with Judy and then...

First off, my 60th birthday was coming up and I thought nothing was going to happen for my birthday since one of my daughters was going to be out of town and not be coming back until Sunday, August 10th in the evening. Then my best friend, Judy, flew in from Utah on Friday, August 7th and came to my office and surprised me by sitting at my desk and when I came in from lunch there she was!!! What a joy to see my best friend again. We decided to head to San Francisco on Saturday morning and spend the day there -- little did I know, but this was a ruse to get me out of the house so the preparations for the big party for my 60th could begin. I must say that my friend and my family are really great sneaks as I had no idea that a party was in the works for me at all. Call me a blonde and all that goes with it, but I sincerely believed everything Judy said. She said she had talked to Rob and that since nothing big was happening for my birthday she wanted to spend the whole weekend doing fun things with me.

Judy and I arrived in San Francisco for a day of fun on August 8, 2009. The weather was really nice and I ended up getting a sun burn 'cause I didn't think to put on sunscreen. I had checked online to see what things we could do while we were there. Our plans were to go to Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street, The Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts & Exploratorium. Judy opted to ride behind a biker in a little cart for the Pier ride to Ghirardelli Square. We had our "driver", John take this picture of us at Ghirardelli Square... Judy and John...
Of course we had to get a picture of the two of us in front of a trolley car! Picture of Alcatraz --

The chief baker at Boudins. We watched him create this lobster out of dough...you could talk to him and we found out that he had worked at Boudins for 30 years. We had fun watching them make their dough creations...The fun thing about Judy is that she is so interested in others and is able to find out so much about them in a short while. She asks great questions and information flows out----I would have never asked and, therefore, I wouldn't have known all the cool stuff that Judy learns simply by --- asking --

Here we are at Ghirardelli Square to, of course, get some chocolate!

We then stopped at Fisherman's Wharf and had some clam chowder which was really good. Judy is a great person to go anywhere with because she is always introducing herself to new people and finding out a little about them, things that I would never find out, because I didn't think to ask...Here's a pic of me with a "Knight in Shining Silver Armor"

Judy feeding the "Knight"

We lined up in our car for the opportunity to go down the curvy Lombard Street. Judy took this pic out our window as we went down the hill. I thought she got a pretty good shot considering that you weren't supposed to stop along the way!

Our last stop was going to be the "Palace" and then the Golden Gate Bridge, but we couldn't locate the "Palace" and ended up heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We got off at the last S.F. exit. The Bridge was all fogged in and we couldn't get a great shot and so we tried to get back to S.F. going surface streets... and ended up at the Presidio Cemetery.

We finally reached the Palace of Fine Arts and took some pictures of this beautiful area and even had some people take some pictures of Judy and I -- the whole time Judy kept telling me that she was going to take me somewhere and we had to get back by 7:15pm because it would take about a half an hour to get there. Little did I know and I mean I didn't have a clue -- totally clueless and blonde!

We headed back home and to Judy's credit we arrived at 7:15pm. I saw all these cars parked on the street and said "Well, somebody must be having a party" never realizing somebody was having a party...and it was ME! Got to the house and Rob came out and said that he had been working in the back yard and wanted to show me what they had been doing....I walked to the back and WOW!!!! Surprise, surprise, surprise.....I was so surprised and appreciative...Friends and family had come to wish me a happy birthday and a lot of work had gone into making it a wonderful occasion. Thank you to all who came and thank you to my family for making this 60th birthday a wonderful, wonderful experience. -- Rob gave a slide presentation and I finally figured out a way to get it onto the blog as a slide show (see the little slide show at the top and side of my blog) ...for my next blog I hope to have some pics of the actual b-day celebration and Rob's tribute lines to me...made me cry 'cause it was so special.