We have another Birthday!!

Miss Mikayla turns 14 today. Is it possible?? She was the first grandchild for us and her other grandparents. We were all excited. (We have been excited for all 17 grandchildren!)

Miss Mikayla has always been a cutie and she has grown into a beautiful young woman.

Miss Mikayla is a good student, plays the piano, reads like crazy, plays volleyball, been in plays and musicals, is a great daughter and sister, and a wonderful granddaughter. Hope you have a fun birthday. Love, Grandma Mac

Sunflowers

Can you tell my sunflowers are about 10 ft. tall? The flowers are not very big, but the stems look like a small tree.

A repairman was here and he wanted to know what in the world we were growing. (There were no flowers then)

I know I am weird, but I have hung things to scare the birds away and then I plant sunflowers to give the birds something to do!!

Fun at Grandma Mac's House

Some of the grandchildren were here for their Spring Break. Miss Kate used to live near us, so she knows the ends and outs of Grandma Mac's playroom. She loves the scarves, hats, and all that jewelry.

Evidently she has taught Miss Ellie where to find the jewelry too.

Mr Read Alexander is 1

Mr Read Alexander was named after two of his great-grandparents. He had to come C -section and his mom was not sad to have him come early!! But, Grandma Mac was on her cruise to Hawaii and she had to wait a week or so to be able to meet Mr Read.

He was the best cuddle bug ever and Grandma Mac loved holding him. Since Mom couldn't pick up Miss Christina, she was a great cuddle bug too, especially after she woke up from her nap.

Her is Mr Read on the day of his big sister's baptism. What a happy boy!

It is great to have a daddy that is also a photographer. Daddy has taken some great pictures. Daddy was so excited when Mr Read was born. He wanted to take Mr Read to church to show him off to everyone, but Mom had to say not yet. (at least for a few weeks) Happy First Birthday Mr Read. We love you!!

Miss Jessica Jo is now 12

Her name is really isn't Jessica Jo but, Grandma Mac likes calling her that. She was the cutest baby. There were 5 generations in her mother's family when Jessica was born. That was amazing. I was happy to have another granddaughter.

It was exciting to be in Colorado for her baptism. She had lots of her family come to her baptism. We were grateful for her decision to be baptized.

Miss Jessica Jo loves to read and so does Grandma Mac. She is a good student and plays the piano and the violin. She is also a good volleyball player and she takes after her mom!!

Miss Jessica Jo how can you be 12 already? Where do the years go? You will love Young Womens and all of the activities they have. Keep doing well in school, listen to your parents, and remember to keep the commandments. Grandma and Papa love you very much and we know you are a special young woman.

Miss Cora is 4

If you can see pictures, it means our computer is finally fixed and I can post some pictures. Miss Cora is a beautiful blue-eyed blonde. Her birthday was May 19th. I was in Michigan watching her brothers when she was born.

Her Uncle David takes great pictures of this beautiful girl. She can be pretty funny and has a great laugh. She answers questions very seriously with a Yes (even if the answer should be no)

We love our Miss Cora and we wish her a Happy Birthday. Love, Grandma Mac and Papa Mac.

Mr Seth (It's a long one!)

Since the desktop computer is still dead, I can't get to any pictures to post of my good-looking son for his birthday. But, you know how it goes, a day-late-and-a-dollar-short.

My pregnancy with Seth was interesting. Shelley was only 7 months old when I got pregnant with him. I remember it was Dan's birthday and Shelley finally learned to crawl, and Dr Schneider said congratulations!!
I got sick one night in January and the doctor said the baby had my stomach in a funny position. I continued to have stomach problems for the rest of the time. ( I should say I had problems again when he was a month old - - so much for the baby causing my pain!! It turned out to be my gall bladder. In 1972 they said I was too young to have my gall bladder out. I guess when I had it out in 1994, I was finally old enough!! Of course since then, there have been tons of women have their gall bladders out after giving birth)

Okay back to Seth. I can remember teaching Primary before he was born. I taught the Sunbeams and one precocious little girl said, "Teacher you wear the same dress every week" It was true. Sometimes if you have noticed the heat records being set in Phoenix , in March and April the year is 1972. We lived in an apartment that had central air conditioning. What I mean by that is, we couldn't turn the air conditioning on until the complex was ready for everyone to have it on. And they were not ready to turn it on. The manager did bring me a fan to use. Mr Daniel was working out of town, actually he was working in Holbrook for 6 weeks. I was worried he would not make it home for the birth. I remember telling my visiting teachers I wanted to have the baby on Saturday, the 29th, because I knew he would be home then.

Of course in those days we never knew what the sex of the baby was going be. In Mr Daniel's family and even extended family you only got one girl and the rest were boys. Some even had to adopt to get their girl. I had it in my mind that I was going to have a house full of boys. I was excited to have Shelley, because I knew that was my only chance at a girl. (We all know how this story turned out!!!)
On Friday, the 28th, Shelley and I went swimming. The apartment was clean, the laundry was done, everything was ready. This was the only time I ever had long hair, and it was curled in big rollers. I was having contractions and pains from my still undiagnosed gall bladder on Friday night. I actually couldn't tell which was which. I woke up Saturday morning at 6 am with contractions. They were not regular at all and I didn't think I was in labor. I did call the doctor and they said to call back at 11:00 if I was still having them. Since it was a Saturday they closed at noon. They had me come in and be checked. The doctor said "Can't you tell those are good contractions?" My answer was classic, "All I know is they are going to get a lot harder." Well, I was dialated to a 6 and he said to get to the hospital. Mr Daniel gave me a blessing in the parking lot. We waltzted into the hospital - remember my long curled hair!! We were laughing and talking and having a good time (we really were). The nurse came in and said the doctor must have made a mistake. She said nope you are now an 8. The doctor came and broke my water and after a while the laughing stopped!! Seth finally made his appearance a couple of hours later. He was born at Doctor's Hospital at 20th St. and Thomas. There were only 3 babies in the hospital with him and the other 2 were twins, so they thought Seth was huge. (8lbs 11 3/4 oz. ) They wouldn't let children in so Shelley got to see me through the window,as a friend held her up. She was 16 months to the day and she had no idea what was going on.

Mr Daniel called his Aunt Helen on the phone. She said as soon as he said "Aunt Helen" she knew I had had the baby and the baby was a boy.
Seth was all boy. He has been good in sports his whole life. He hit a ball into the alley behind our house when he was two. He had a deadly aim, ask the figurine that lost it's head in the living room. He played soccer, baseball, basketball, and football. He did some track and field and was on the swim team. He became an Eagle Scout, he went to Boy's State, and fulfilled a mission in Leeds, England.

He and Melinda were married in the Denver Temple. They have 2 daughters and 2 sons. He likes to hunt and fish. They love taking their boat out on the lake and going wakeboarding. He works at being a good husband and good father.

When I was having 6 months of chemo, he called me everyday on his way home from work to see how I was doing. He has always been a good son and taken good care of his mother. As a parent, I am not sure you could ask for more than that.

Seth, we love you as our son, and love the man you have become. Happy Birthday Son!! Pictures will come later.