Ice skating for three

When we visited American Girl Place in Los Angeles, Heather and Ruby both picked out a pair of ice skates for their dolls. I decided this called for ice skating outfits, especially with the Winter Olympics coming soon to a TV screen near you. So I made three ( couldn't leave my Sadie out!)

Remember how our eyes get really big when we look at the price tags for American Girl doll outfits? I have decided that those price tags may be more than reasonable. After a trip to JoAnn's for slinky shiny fabric, elastic, "jewels", velcro, etc., I was out some $45. Add to that my time, broken needles (slinky shiny fabric is hard to sew), and a second run for more black thread; I saved some money, but not much.


The outfits were presented to the girls at Heather's family birthday party. She obligingly fetched her doll from upstairs so that grandma could see if it was a good fit. We all agreed it was a winner.

Bring on the Winter Olympics, we are ready!

Miss Julianna has her own soft baby to hug and kiss!


She really is the best little mommy to her Christmas baby.

Grandma is having fun with her girls and their dolls, round two (or three if we want to go back to the 1950's :)

Link to Kyle and Janae wedding photos

Check here for wedding photos from San Diego.

Birthday shout out to Ryan

Some things don't change much. This is a picture of Ryan taken just before leaving on his mission in January 1997. He just had to have that one last trip to the ski slopes before leaving.

Snow Bowl is where he is today. He just couldn't pass up "free birthday skiing."

Happy Birthday Ryan!
(Don't break a leg!)

New year's advice

Another January birthday

I first met Jordan Jensen just after Christmas 1974. I just did the math and he would have been 46, soon to be 47. Today would have been his 82nd birthday if he hadn't left us far too soon on January 14, 1991.

The Jensen family enjoyed a family outing to Universal Studio during their son's visit to California to introduce them to his new fiancee. Of course, Grandpa J is holding the current baby, Janene, daughter of Glen's older sister, Joyce. He was very gentle and patient with babies. He was also quiet and humble and unassuming even though he was one of the smartest men I have ever met.

I was inspired by Miriam's post today. I decided to share my first picture with Grandpa J.

Grandpa's birthday bash

Grandpa Glen celebrated his birthday a day late on Monday, a combination family dinner, FHE, and birthday party. I served one of his favorites; spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and garlic bread. The birthday dessert was a new one, apple pudding cake with caramel sauce. It is prepared much like the chocolate pudding cake that I make. Served with vanilla ice cream, everyone seemed to like it.

My sister Janis brought me the birthday candle display many years ago from Germany. The heart base has a candle holder and two holes for numbers. That means that you can use it until you are 99 OR have a "1" in your current age. They were all out of "1's" when she purchased my gift. That is why this holder stayed in the drawer during my children's teen years.

Grandpa started a new tradition this birthday. All his grandchildren joined him in a "birthday clap." They clapped 59 times before blowing out the candle!

Ruby and Heather clapped.

Toby clapped. It was a clapping good time. Great idea grandpa!

Then everyone blew as hard as they could from where they sat. I think that TJ probably had the most success.
They then grouped together to watch grandpa open his presents. He also received the best hand decorated birthday cards from his favorite little people.

After presents and dessert they were out the door to play in the leaf pile, another "grandpa birthday tradition."

Before dinner, they had taken turns raking them all into a pile.

Julianna decided to skip the leaf throwing madness and walked around with a jingle bell instead.

Wise move on her part, because it got pretty crazy.

They soon moved from throwing leaves to burying one another in leaves.


For those of you unfamiliar with seasons in Arizona, the leaves turn color in December, have fallen by Glen's birthday in early January, and will bud out again a month later. It's all a bit compressed so that we can have six months of summer!

Toby talked his dad into coming back the next day, just so he could play in the leaves.


Many thanks to Emilia for getting out her camera and taking these great pictures of my grandchildren's tongues!

Sadie loved being buried in leaves. Much more fun than watching the Fiesta Bowl inside!

Please excuse all the Christmas decor. We had just returned from our trip to California and nephew Kyle Bunker's marriage to Janae Schmidt in the San Diego Temple on Saturday. My camera was not working that day so I'm hoping that someone will soon share their photos. It was a beautiful day in La Jolla! Our goal is to banish Christmas by sunset this Saturday. Does anyone want to help?

The American Girl Adventure

Heather traveled to California with grandma and grandpa for a wedding BUT more important for a visit to The American Girl Store in Los Angeles. She brought her American Girl dolls with her. She was also excited that her cousins were going to join us for the big shopping trip.

She and her dolls turned in early at the motel in Temecula so that they would all be well rested for their big day.


The next morning we headed to Grandma Christy's house to connect up with cousins Ruby, Sadie, Kate, and their dolls, plus Grandma Christy, Amy, and Sally.

The conversation coming from the back during the drive north was delightful. Heather, older and a very competent reader, told the other doll owners the history of their dolls and stories written about them. And then I heard the following:

"You know, it is very interesting. I just noticed that we all have the friends of the main characters and not the main character dolls."

Two little kindergartners looked a bit puzzled as they wondered what "main characters" might be!

As we left the parking garage at "The Grove" in Los Angeles, excitement was in the air. There had been screams of delight as we passed the store windows on the way in.

Oh my, so much to see and so many things to choose from made things almost over whelming.

Sadie stuck to her stroller until she found a twins doll she liked with its own stroller. Then she was ready to do the stroller pushing.

Decisions were made, choices handed off to the grandmas for purchase, and poses made in front of the American Girl Christmas tree.

Grandpa met us in the entrance but did not venture far into the store. Kudos to him for he was the only male family member willing to drive two hours through LA traffic for this unique shopping experience. He told us about a family of four boys who were told by their father to follow their mother inside and to "be nice about it!" as he waited outside for us.

Next stop was the Farmer's Market next door for some lunch.

It was a very busy place (full of Ohio and Oregon fans) so we took turns going for food while holding down our tables.

The girls quickly tore into their shopping bags to try on new outfits.

Comments heard as the crowd swirled around them:

"That's one reason I'm glad that I never had girls."

"Look at those beautiful girls and dolls. I only have sons and grandsons so I feel like I've missed out. Where is that store? I think I would like to take a look."

It was an outing for the memory book and a delightful day with my "American Girls."