Thanksgiving Weekend

First of all, I don't know if anyone even looks at this blog. I never get any comments to know whether anyone is keeping up with us or not. So.....please leave a comment once in a while so that I know that I'm not posting these pictures for nothing.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. It was the year for the in-laws, so Morgan, Cliff and I were the only ones that went to my brother's house in Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was very nice and Ray (my sister-in-law) always does such a nice job. She is wonderful.

Then on Saturday evening we had all of our kids and grandkids together for dinner. I do a Christmas Candlelight Dinner and Family Home Evening every year at the beginning of December. It starts our month out great and gets us into the Christmas season.

Below are a few pictures from Thanksgiving Day and our Candlelight Dinner.

These two are our two newest granddaughters. London is on the left (Kelsey's) and Meg is on the right (Linsey's).

This is our three little ones, as we have always called them. Morgan, then Mekelle, and Tayva. We get harrassed because we always take a picture of the three of them at every family gathering. They think they are the special ones. Well......the other grandchildren think we think they are the special ones, but really.....we just like taking pictures of them. Haha!!

This is getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. My brother, Ken, is carving the turkey in the background.

Here's Morgan anxiously awaiting her turkey. Cheryl (my sister) and Jordan (my neice) are in the background.

Here's Cliff, Morgan and me. We were the only three of the Rhoades clan there this year.

This is our Christmas FHE Candlelight dinner.

Here are three of my six granddaughters. At the far end is Rylie, then Jenna and Savannah.




Katie, Cameron and Morgan getting ready to eat. If you look close you will see Amanda at the far end next to Katie.

Here is everyone at the table except me (I'm taking the picture), the new babies, (they were sleeping), and the three little girls that were at the bar. Grandpa Simpson joined us this year.

New Granddaughter Arrives

Our newest little granddaughter arrived this morning at 5:42 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20 inches long. Her mother is our 3rd daughter Kelsey and both mother and baby are doing great. We now have 6 granddaughters and 1 little grandson that we lost too soon back in June.
Wow! hard to believe that I have that many grandchildren already. But it is so fun to add them to our family. As I have said before, my granddaughters are the highlight of my life. They are so fun.
I will post some more pictures later when she is all cleaned up and in a cute outfit.
Congrats Kelsey and Dan!
She didn't like the flash and it woke her up.

Here's a good one with her eyes open.

Jenna with her new little sister London Mekelle

Grandma's Neighborhood Trunk or Treat Party

Our neighborhood always has a fun trunk or treat party at the park behind our house every year the Tuesday before Halloween. The kids like to come over and join us for that party. They have fun stuff for the kids to do at the park and we eat chili and hotdogs and then do the trunk or treat. It is really fun. This year we had all the grandkids there except for Amanda, cuz she was still a little sick with the flu. However, Katie and Cameron showed up with her for just a minute so that we could see her in her costume (since Cliff and I were not going to be home on Halloween).
Here are some pictures of the kids that night.

Here is everybody getting ready to go to Grandma's neighborhood trunk or treat party. We are missing Amanda because she was sick.

Here is Rylie, Savannah and Jenna in their costumes. Rylie and Savannah are Tinkerbell and Jenna is a flapper from the roaring 20's.

Katie brought Amanda over to the park to the party just to show us her costume. She was too sick to stay and have fun. Amanda is Yoda.

Here is our smallest Tinkerbell, little Meg, just 4 weeks old. She didn't have her wings on because they were too big for her, but she doesn't need them. She is already a little angel.

Rylie and Savannah, our two little Tinkerbells

Jenna in her flapper costume. Her grandma Riley made it for her. Isn't it cute.

Kelsey and Jenna at the party

After the party the girls came back to grandma's house for a slumber party. However, it didn't last long because they kept playin around and wouldn't go to sleep. Rylie decided she was tired and had enough and went upstairs to Morgan's room to sleep and Jenna decided that she wanted to go home with Mom when all the fun was done.

A New Calling Came Our Way

Hey everybody. I just thought you might be interested to know that Cliff received a new calling and was sustained last Sunday as Bishop in one of the University Wards here at Idaho State University. We are very excited and have heard that it is a wonderful experience and that we will love it.
It is one of those bittersweet moments. "Bitter" because I will now need to be released from my current calling, which is Stake Young Womens President, and I have loved this calling so much and will miss it a lot. Also I will miss so much attending my home ward, Chubbuck 6th Ward, that I love so very much. But also "Sweet" because we will have a great opportunity to rub shoulders and serve with these wonderful young people at the university. It is a single's ward and we have heard that it is a great, strong and solid ward. We look forward to serving our Heavenly Father in this new calling.

Mother's Week at BYU-Idaho with Morgan

I spent Friday thru Saturday night with Morgan up at BYU-Idaho for Mother's Weekend. My sister, Cheryl came with me. Her daughter, Mekelle and Morgan are roommates. They are having a great time. The four of us had a good time together on Friday and Saturday. Then Saturday night we went to Idaho Falls and spent the evening with my father. We went to church with him on Sunday and then the rest of the family came and we had an 80th birthday dinner for him. It was a fun weekend.

We watched Morgan play her first volleyball match with her
BYU-I competitive team. Two of their players were out of town
and they only had 6 players. Morgan was the setter, which was her
first match EVER playing as setter. She is usually the Libero. She
did a great job.

Cheryl and I did a session in the Rexburg Temple on Friday morning
while Morgan and Mekelle went down and did baptisms for the dead
at the same time. It was very nice.

Enjoying our dinner at Craigo's

On Friday night we went to a picture display that was being displayed in

the Mesa AZ Temple Visitors Center and is now at BYU-I. It depicts the

life of the Savior in pictures. It was really cool. This is Morgan and Mekelle

looking at the last picture. Below is Morgan looking at the last picture of

the Savior.

Morgan and Mekelle thing they are pretty cool with their new

matching shirts and rain boots.

Here is Cliff and I with our four girls

My Dad's 80th birthday is today, Oct. 13th. We celebrated last night at my brothers home with

all the family that could be there. This is Dad and my sister, Cheryl, and brother, Ken.

Our Newest Granddaughter

Linsey, our oldest, had her third girl on Wednesday, Oct. 1st at 3:40 pm. It was an emergency C-Section and thankfully all went well. Her name is Meg Jaylene and she weighs 5 lbs. 10 oz. and is 18 inches long. She is currently in the NICU and in an incubator, but she is doing well. They were able to take off the oxygen and give her the medication to help her lungs. She fed well for the first time last night and we are very excited to have her join our family. We are glad that she is finally here safe. We hope that she will be able to come home in a few days. Linsey is doing well and looks good.

Our next little granddaughter is due November 18th and we hope that all goes well too. Kelsey and this will be her second daughter.

This is Meg Jaylene Branson

My Mother Passes Away

My mother passed away last week on Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. She was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, but she was doing pretty good. In fact, Morgan and I were with her on the Saturday before she died and she was doing good, sitting in her chair in the family room talking with us. By Saturday night Dad called and she was in a lot of pain. Up to that point, she hadn't had much pain, just something you would take tylenol for. I drove back to Idaho Falls and got up every two hours in the night to help Dad give Mom more morphine. By Sunday morning we decided to call Hospice (they hadn't had to come and do anything for her yet) and see if they could come give us an evaluation and what we should do. Hospice told us they thought she only had hours to days left and that kinda threw us because this type of cancer is usually long, drawn out, and ugly. We called my sister in Utah and all of the grandkids. They all came Sunday and were able to say goodbye and she was able to respond and say something to each one. But you could tell as the day went on that she was going downhill. Monday morning at 10:45 am with my dad, me, my brother and my sister, my sister-in-law and niece there mother passed away.

It is very sad for me. I don't think you are ever ready to lose your mother. I will miss her so very much, but we are thankful that the Lord blessed her and she didn't have to suffer long. She was able to do alot of last things with her family this past year and we are thankful for that. She is with my brother, David, now, who has been gone for 30 years. She has longed to see him again. My heart aches for my father who loved her so much and is so heartbroken without her.