Redding Birthdays

Rob and I headed up to Redding to celebrate three
birthdays for March. His father's birthday is the 3th, his mother's
birthday is the 6th and his Aunt Joan's birthday is the 12th. 

Rob's dad doing one of his favorite things - riding the tractor and...

feeding the goats!

Mom said that this flower was called a Thanksgiving plant because

it only blooms for Thanksgiving -- it's a little off schedule...

This is Joan's new residence. 

In case you miss a picture of me, here's one of me in

the window of Joan's new residence...

I got Joan to smile at me in this picture by

asking her to say cheese :)

Mom just smiled for me - just cause she is such

a happy, loving person...

We wish Mom, Dad and Joan a happy birthday and

love them so much and wish them many happy days!

The Three Amigos Sleepover & Valentine Bouquet

Steve set up a sleepover for the boys and it was so much fun.   I had planned to make some Valentine cookies and I had a little helper.  Can you guess who it was?

Yep!  It was Chase.  He helped me rolled the cookie dough in the sugar and

then place them on the cookie sheet!  Thanks, Chase, for being my little helper.

The boys played that evening and then headed for bed, but not to sleep.  Finally, it was all quiet on the home front, except for one little one.  Their beds were all arranged in a row, but this is how Tyler and Chase ended up.

Ethan was having trouble going to sleep so he ended up in another room and so I asked him to pretend that he was asleep for this picture!  I thought he pretended to be asleep very well!

In the morning Steve had planned to make a special breakfast of waffles for the boys.  They turned out yummy!

Here are some pictures of the boys as they played and spent time with one another "bonding"

Ethan with his favorite blanket

Ethan getting dressed...

Tyler playing with some toys in the bedroom/playroom upstairs...

Tyler playing in the "Tube"...

At the end of the sleepover and it was time to head to different homes, I asked the three amigos to gather together for a picture.  Here's the three amigos + 2 (Rob and Steve).  We really enjoyed having the boys over to our house and look forward to another sleepover in the future.  Thanks, Steve, for setting up this time so the Three Amigos could get together and spend time with one another.  Just an FYI one of the reasons Steve wanted to plan this was because he had such a great time with his two cousins, Josh and Gabe (they were the original Three Amigos of our family)!

After the boys left, I went upstairs and noticed the way they had set up the game Thunderball Island--

These last pictures are my Valentine bouquet.  Really loved the flowers that Rob got for me and so I had to share the beautiful bouquet on my blog...

Of course, I had to get a picture of my new cast - purple this time.  Hopefully, hopefully it will be coming off this week.  Keep your fingers crossed!

So What Did I Do?

Well, out of all the things I could have accomplished while Rob was gone,

it came down to.....taking pictures of my cast with the

back drop of my favorite hooded sweatshirt...

Tyler signed Chase's name for me on my cast...

Tyler's signature and Rob's signature...

"True Love, Robbie"

Love you, too!  Hopefully the cast will come off tomorrow!

Here's to Hope and Change :)

A Trip to Vermont in Winter - How Bizarre!

Well, the Rob Fink Family has begun a new adventure!  Rob is working

on becoming a snow angel!  -- Well, not exactly although looking at these two pictures

that might be the idea.  But the real picture is that Rob is

working on a MFA.  What's that?  Well, it's a Masters in Fine Arts.

He is taking a two-year low residency program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

This means that at the beginning of each semester he spends approximately ten days at

the college and the rest of the program is handled on-line.

College Hall where large meetings took place...

Noble Hall where the lectures took place...

and some of the Vermont snow scenes....

This is a picture of Rob's class taken at College Hall...

A workshop group...

Rob and one of the instructors at the College...

The picture was pretty blurry and I did the best I could to

sharpen it a little....

All my best to my favorite writer...

Christmas {Part 3}

The reason for the season - Christ born in the Manger,

The Savior of the World.. Shepherds watching with their flocks...

and Wisemen bringing gifts as Mary and Joseph look on...

Rob and I had all the children and almost all the grandchildren over for dinner and the Nativity program.

Didn't get any great pictures of the play, but the actors and actresses were as follows:

Mary and Joseph: Kate and Ryan

Baby Jesus:  Baby doll

Shepherds:  Jenna and Chase

Angels: Chris and Tyler

Narrator:  Rob

Audience:  Steve, Summer, Bella & Shell

Jen said her favorite part was when Mary (Kate) placed Baby Jesus

in the manager and he giggled.  One of the angels (up the stairs) placed her hands over her

eyes and shook her head) - and then smiled.

In the past I have had two trees, but this year decided

to just have one...hated the idea of not using my ornaments and

Jen suggested that I place my ornaments on the banister.

This picture is right at the bottom of the stairs.  The one ornament says

Wise men still seek Him, then Peace and a picture of Christ...

When Rob and I were first married we painted all these wooden

ornaments to be placed on our tree... Grandma Fink gave Rob the bicycle and

Shell gave us the star.  My mother did the crocheted santa claus in the background.

A little bear - to remind us to "bare our testimonies"

of Jesus Christ...

A Santa Claus I made out of dough - really a

heavy ornament!

Well, another Christmas past - may God bless us All.

Christmas 2009 {Part 2}

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree this year.

The nice thing about "fake" trees is that they last forever, so

when I finally got around to taking pictures it looked as

good as it did when I put it up in the first place.  What

we missed was the pine smell so I got a room freshener with

a pine scent - worked pretty well if I do say so

myself!

We didn't put a star on our tree this year - oversight, so

I had to put one on the tree via this photo.  It is the

star that Tyler made and it was hung in the doorway

to be used as the Star in our Nativity Play.  I

took the picture on the stairs and lined up

the star so it "looked" like it was on the tree :) hehehe

A few pictures of the tree - I liked this one because

the flash looked like a star in the ornament and there were

little "stars" all around the ornament, too.

Thought this one was funny because you could see

a picture of me in the ornament taking the picture :)

I just liked these last two pictures - just cause they

were beautiful reminders of Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Part 2! :)

Christmas 2009 {Part 1}

Rob and I had such a wonderful Christmas this year.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of family and so when it came down to pictures for my blog, I did the next best thing - a gift and photos of the tree and decorations.  I got some really fun gifts this year!  Shell gave me a hooded sweatshirt from Forks, Washington (any Twilighters here) - that's a hint!  Steve and Summer gave us pictures of Ethan and Bella to hang on the wall -- beautiful pics, of course! -- They are related to me :)  Kate and Ryan gave me a towel wrap so when I go to 24-hour fitness I have something to wrap myself in - hurray!!!

Lastly, Jen created this beautiful basket of goodies that she made, jams and jellies and salsa, too!!

(The corn can be popped into popcorn!)  Cool idea for her dad!  In the background are the Christmas stockings that my mother and I made for our family!  I treasure the many memories I have of Christmases Past and look forward to many more in the future.

Two nutcrackers from the mantle...

Hangers on the mantle for the Christmas stockings...

Had to have some family photos - even if I didn't take them.  These are Christmas cards from family.

Kate and Ryan Jackson's family, Chelsea Grimmius-Brunt family and Ashleigh and Chase and their little one, Haleigh...

Decorations for the outside were limited to two Chrstmas posts in the front yard...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you all a

Happy New Year!