Early on Saturday morning I went with the S Family to the beach for some family pictures. The rising sunlight was sublime as it streamed through the clouds.

Happy New Year!!

Because everything deserves a new start at the beginning of a new year - this is mine - with a post of our family's New Year letter.  Click on the photo to make it bigger, but since the message is much too small to read, please scroll down to read the message:

"We have had a great 2011 and are grateful for how much the Lord has blessed us. We wish the best for you and your family during the coming year. Here are some of our family's 2011 highlights:

 Picture 1 - Carina & Brady Jones - Peoria, Arizona. Brady got a new and better job with a law firm in Mesa so they are buying and remodeling a home in Mesa closer to both of their jobs. Carina, still seizure free since brain surgery in 2009, continues to work for the University of Phoenix as an academic advisor.

Picture 2 - Josh, Julane, Eden (9), Hunter (3) - Orem, Utah. Josh sells advertising for the Provo Daily Herald and sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Julane is a great mom and busy shuttling the kids to school and lessons and taking care of all things family.

Picture 3 - Rachel, Adam, Andrew (14), Colton (11), Cannon (10), Cali (9), Aidan (5) Barnard - Saint Cloud, Florida. Adam's job with Western Governor's University allows him to live anywhere is the US, so in mid-December they moved from Orem, Utah to just 8 miles from us!

Picture 4 - Jeremy, Jeni, Tyler (3), Jayce (1) - Eagle Mountain, Utah. Jeremy is HR director for G&K Services in North Salt Lake. Jeni is a wonderful mom who also teaches piano lessons and is expecting a new baby in mid-July.

Picture 5 - Alisha, Jason, Nya (8), Rex (3) Sabin- Duchesne, Utah. Jason graduated from police academy and is now employed as a corrections officer for the Duchesne County Police Department. Alisha quit her job teaching at Utah College of Massage Therapy and now works for La Spa Chateaux and the Spa at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah. She is expecting a baby the beginning of July.

Picture 6 - Melissa, Jason, Adam (7), Zaley (6 months) Gibbons - Orem, Utah. The Gibbons welcomed Alice Azalea (Zaley) on June 18th and a few weeks later Adam was officially adopted and went from Walker to Gibbons. Melissa teaches English at American Fork High School and is the cheer adviser. Jason is finishing his Bachelor's degree in English at UVU.

Picture 7 - Jeffrey - Rexburg, Idaho. Jeff returned from his LDS mission to Calgary, Canada (Spanish speaking) the end of June and started BYU-Idaho in the fall. His future plans are evolving.

Picture 8 - Jerrick - Rexburg, Idaho. Jerrick graduated from Harmony High in May and also started at BYU-Idaho in the fall. Wonderful life ahead!

Picture 9 - Jeff, Alice & Chris - Deseret Ranch, Florida. Jeff still works as the area controller over cattle at AgReserves. Alice fills every second with kids, grandkids, ranch kids, Nursery kids, sewing for kids, and photographing kids. Chris is a junior at Harmony High and loves filming and editing videos."

Baby Z

This morning at 10:51 mountain daylight savings time, little Alice Azalea Gibbons made her entrance into the world! She is 8 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches long. She now takes her place as our 4th granddaughter and 15th grandchild. I was very excited that I was invited to be at the birth. Melissa and Zaley both did their jobs well to get her here is perfect condition.  

Welcome, beautiful Zaley, our Baby Z. 

 

Jason will be a wonderful daddy to Zaley just as he is to Adam

Aunt Hannah, Grandpa and Marmee Gibbons

Mommy, Grammy and Zaley

Cheyenne & Dakota

I'm really behind on my 52 week project....like a month behind....so I'll have to catch up fast. But Cheyenne's wedding is one reason I've been so busy, because I have been making bridesmaid dresses - 6 of them plus 2 flower girl dresses. I LOVE to sew!  I was glad to make the dresses and I was especially grateful for the help that Sister Appel and Sister Kennedy offered,  but I was so nervous that, with only one fitting, that those dresses would fit the girls. On the appointed day I sent the dresses with a little bag of safety pins just in case. When I got to the wedding, the girls looked beautiful and hopefully only my critical eye discerned any fitting errors.

The wedding ceremony took place at Oak Hammock on the ranch, near the swimming hole. It was a beautiful location and Cheyenne looked absolutely radiant! 

Last Endeavour

This morning was the 134th space shuttle launch and the historic last launch of the shuttle Endeavour.  Because we live only about 45 miles from the Kennedy Space Center, we can see the launches from our driveway. There was some cloud cover this morning, so the shuttle disappeared into the clouds quite quickly and I wish it could have waited about 5 minutes to blast off because by then the clouds had blown out of the way...but I still got a shot of the lift-off before it went into the clouds and an after-lift-off shot of the rocket trail in the sky.

Not surprisingly, the cows grazing in the pasture didn't 

even notice the historic significance of the moment.

Within 5 minutes of lift-off the shuttle was 375 miles from Shuttle Pad A  

and all that remained was the rocket trail.

Children at Play

Having Melissa go out of town this past week to help her sister with their new baby was perfectly timed for me to be able to practice doing a photo shoot with her kids on the day I was scheduled to tend them.  They had so much fun digging into the Halloween costumes, showing me the ladder and swing on one of the big Oak trees in their back yard, jumping on the tramp, dancing, sword fighting, playing musical instruments and just being really cute kids.

 Origami hats and musical instruments!

 This is Lily. It was her birthday, so we made a birthday cake and later that day,

they had a birthday party for her :)

 We have 5 puppies at our house - puppies are always a hit with kids!

52 Week Project - Week 17

LOVE