We decided to go to the Grand Canyon…since we have never been.  Hard to believe that neither Jason (since 1992) or I (since 1996) have never been.  We knew it was time to go.  So we got together a picnic.  Invited Emily, Brady, and Jaylee to come with us.  Then drove the three hours to the national park.  

It was so amazing.  I know it’s “just a big hole in the ground”, but unless you have ever gone it’s so hard to comprehend just how amazing it can be.  I definately want to go down to the bottom someday in the future.  

We had to keep reminding the girls to be careful of the edge, but they did pretty well.  I even got a couple nice pictures of Jason and I near the edge.  I will have to post those in another blog post.

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Originally uploaded by stephyc93

This is a picture I took in my living room of Grammy and Papa with 8 of their 10 grandkids. It was nice to get a pretty good picture of Mom and Dad with all their Arizona grandkids. Now we just need to get Keith and Mandy out here with Logan and Alyssa. Then we will need to get Mom and Dad here too. Then we can have a picture with all the grandkids. It’s so nice to have most of us here now.

Brady kissing Jaylee

Yesterday Brady got to fly in from Utah.  Brady is Emily’s husband.  He stayed in Utah to work while Emily searched for a job, but he was asked to interview for a job, so he flew in for the interview.  He arrived at the airport about the same time as Mom and Dad.  Brady thinks the job interview went well and should know if he got the job by Tuesday.  We all met at Kevin’s for dinner.  A delicious dinner prepared by a little of everyone.  Jason made scrumptious ribs, Kevin made tender chicken, and we had macaroni salad, potato salad, baked beans, cataloupe, and watermelon.  Everything was great!!!  It was good seeing Brady and we are hoping he gets to stay.

We sorted through the pens and pencils Mom brought home from EAA.  Her pile went quickly.  Nikki got the most pens and pencils of the grandkids.  Jaylee was the funniest to watch.  She wanted to help sort too.  We would give her one to look at, she would throw a fit for another one, and then do it all over again.  It was too cute.

Welcome Home Em and Jaylee

I waited all day long for Emily, Jaylee, and Kevin to arrive.  I spent the day keeping myself busy so I didn’t go stir crazy waiting.  We talked to Kevin when they arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona.  They were heading to Kevin’s house.  Flagstaff is an hour to an hour and a half from Kevin’s house.  We waited around for about 15 minutes and then headed over to Kevin’s.  He lives about 15-20 minutes from my house.

One of the things we did to pass time was to make a Welcome Home sign.  I told the girls it was for when Grammy and Papa came back.  I knew we needed to get there early so we could hang it up.  We got to Kevin’s and immediately Brian told Nikki that Auntie Em was coming.  I was so mad.  We had talked to him earlier in the day about not telling them, because they didn’t know she was coming.   Needless to say I was very unhappy that he spilled the beans.

Some of us played cards to pass the time.  Jason and I hung up the welcome home sign.  I got tired of waiting inside for them to come so I went outside to wait and watch the lightning storm.  I thought I heard the truck and told them to come out.  I didn’t realize it wasn’t them.  I was much more careful the next time I told them they were there.  I waited until I saw the truck.

We were all dancing around in the driveway.  We were so excited to see them all.  Nikki and Elizabeth were so excited they climbed up on the truck to see Auntie Em and Jaylee.  I had to get them out of the way to help Em get down.  She handed Jaylee over to me.  Jaylee immediately started screaming.  Kevin came and took her so she would stop crying.

We went inside the house and Em, Kev, and Jaylee had dinner.  We just visited with them while they ate.  To get Jaylee to like me I danced with her in the kitchen at Kevin’s.  Jaylee finally decided that Aunt Steph wasn’t so bad.  We had to go home so they could get some rest.  It was great seeing them.

On Sunday we went over to Prescott, Arizona.  Which is where Emily and Jaylee are staying.  They are staying with Eric and his family.  We went over to help them move their stuff out of the truck and to have a family dinner together.  It was a nice day.  I took Jaylee with me to the store so she would be out of the way while they were moving furniture.

When we got back I helped Em arrange the room.  We had to move things around a little to get it where she was happy with it.  We had dinner.  Jeff and Erin came for a little while with the baby.  She’s a cutie.  She wasn’t happy so they had to leave early.  When they were leaving Jason saw a rainbow over the mountain.  It was really cool because it looked like the suns rays were coming up from the mountain.  The day was very nice and it was good to get Emily and Jaylee a little more settled in.

Oct. to Nov. 2007

Originally uploaded by stephyc93

Bring them safely to us Uncle Kevin. I can’t wait to see you all!!!!

Nikki and Elizabeth still don’t know that their cousin Jaylee and Auntie Em are coming to live near us.  I can’t wait to see their faces.