Catchy title isn't it! I haven't been very faithful in updating my blog. I need to think of it as more of a journal or diary and maybe I will do better. Oh wait!! That won't work either because I don't write in my journal very well either. Oh well. I promise that I will try.
Alot has happened since my last post. Lets see if I can do an update and not be boring. So much has happened!! We have had a few birthdays (karalynn - 8, Brianna - 20, AJ - 16, Jason - 25, and myself - 37) and all were fun! As you can see we had some major milestone birthdays in the group. Karalynn turning 8 was the first. She was actually baptized on AJ's birthday and that was special. She loves being 8 and loves attending activity days with her two older sisters, Sabrina and Laura. Brianna and Jason are both doing really well and have had some major changes happen in their lives as well. With the birth of Brinlee they have had the privilege of learning about the joys of parenthood. Towards the end of January they were able to find an apartment that they could afford and were excited to move. Now we are excited for them as they are starting new jobs and really enjoying being a family. With AJ turning 16 that brings a bunch of new experiences for him as well as for us. He is now able to start dating. He has had the honor of going on 3 dates now. The first two were double dates with Alan and I. I know that that may sound weird, but it really was fun and even the kids had a good time. Then came the Preference dance. He was really excited and yet nervous at the same time. He had never been to a school dance with a date before and it wasn't even at his own school. I will post a few pictures from that night as soon as I get them downloaded on my computer. I have to admit though that it was great to see his jaw hit the floor when she walked in the front door to pick him up! I had to remind him to tell her how pretty she looked. His date's name is Tawny Smith. They went to Junior High together, but because of High School boundries they attend different schools. Well that is all I have time for today. I will try and get pix on here either later today or tomorrow when the kids are at piano lessons.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, November 2, 2009
Baby Brinlee
The morning of Friday, October 30 couldn't come fast enough for a certain young married couple. They awoke that morning with much anticipation and even a little apprehension after all neither one of them had ever had this experience before. All they knew was all the stories that they had been told by those around them, and some were rather frightening! They arrived at the hospital at 6:30 that morning........(this is me skipping over a few minor details of this story)... At 1:00 the young woman was checked and informed that it was time! That's when things really got exciting!! At 1:23 a little cry could be heard from inside the room. Finally Brinlee Nicole Manning was born. She weighed 5lbs. 12oz and was 18 & 1/2 inches long. What a beautiful baby she is! The happy little family returned home Sunday while the rest of the family was at church. And so far things are looking pretty good for this little family.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Good News Corner
Hello to all my favorite people that enjoy reading my blog!! You will all be pleased to notice that I do remember how to do this, not just play games on facebook! However I do want you to know that I am an excellent farmer (thanks Caty) and a fantastic chef (thanks AJ)!! So on to the good stuff!! After much casting and bootlegging, Laura's leg is finally free of all artificial support! She is done with crutches as well! She only needs the boot occasionally if after school her leg is really hurting her or she has been very naughty and mommy needs to borrow it. She is still going to physical therapy and enjoys it. It helps that she thinks that her therapists are cute! (Oh great!! Now she is blushing and trying to hit me!! OW!!)
AJ's first band concert of the year was last night. It was a very joyous event! It was full of music. Hehe. They invited the West Point Junior High Advanced Band to join them and they got to go first. Then we were honored to hear the Syracuse High Jazz Band! Man are they good!!!! AJ played in the last two numbers. The very last one was combined with the junior high. I am including a video of the song that AJ played in that was just the high school. It was really good.
Today was the day of much fun and frivolity at Lakeside Elementary! The girls are getting to enjoy (along with all their classmates) Halloween parties and parades! Sabrina even gets to have a carnival and perform a dance to Thriller! I am going to try to record that as well and then I will post it as well. I will post Halloween pix when I get a chance and actually take some good ones. We are going to be parting Saturday night so that may be a good time to get some. Ya think?? My love to you all and may you enjoy this spooky weekend!!
AJ's first band concert of the year was last night. It was a very joyous event! It was full of music. Hehe. They invited the West Point Junior High Advanced Band to join them and they got to go first. Then we were honored to hear the Syracuse High Jazz Band! Man are they good!!!! AJ played in the last two numbers. The very last one was combined with the junior high. I am including a video of the song that AJ played in that was just the high school. It was really good.
Today was the day of much fun and frivolity at Lakeside Elementary! The girls are getting to enjoy (along with all their classmates) Halloween parties and parades! Sabrina even gets to have a carnival and perform a dance to Thriller! I am going to try to record that as well and then I will post it as well. I will post Halloween pix when I get a chance and actually take some good ones. We are going to be parting Saturday night so that may be a good time to get some. Ya think?? My love to you all and may you enjoy this spooky weekend!!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Catching Up!
June ended up pretty good. We did get to celebrate Arianna's 14th birthday and that was wonderful! I still can't believe how fast these guys are growing up! I feel like I have to run to catch up and then hold my breath while they just keep moving forward.
We did manage to have a wonderful time camping for the 4th of July at Flaming Gorge! We were able to pick up a wonderful little motor home (20 feet isn't very big) that we were able to take with us. It did manage to rain everyday we were there, but we really had a great time. Alan took all of us out on Grandpa Crane's boat and that was really fun! Because we had the trolling motor hooked up we couldn't go as fast as the kids really wanted us to go. I will post pictures when I get them all assembled. We were able to attend church out there as well. It was amazing how many people they were able to squeeze into this tiny chapel. All the "locals" ended up sitting up on the stand for lack of seating. It was a wonderful experience!
We were able to go camping again for the 24th weekend. Alan was able to get almost that whole weekend off and that was great! We went camping in Alan's parents' orchard. It was fun. We were all given t-shirts (each family had their own color that they picked out) and the kids got to paint and decorate them. That was fun. Friday we had a fun "circus" set up and there were lots of activities to do. That is where the fun for some of us ended though. It was during this fun play time that Laura was hurt jumping on the trampoline. She ended up going to the hospital with Alan and I around 2:00ish. We spent about 6 hours at Ogden Regional Hospital where they discovered how broken her little leg was. The cat scan showed 8 separate breaks. It was down by her ankle and even broke her growth plate. We ended up taking her up to Primary Children's Hospital in SLC. We got there about 9:30 that same night. It wasn't until 2:40 in the morning, Saturday, when she finally went in for surgery. She ended up with 3 pins in her leg. We were able to leave at noon that day. I am pleased to say that she is doing much better and will be getting the pins out on the 3rd! She can't wait!!
We started off August with a real bang!! We were able to drive down to Arizona and spend time with my family down there. Jeff was back from Iraq for a 2 week vacation, so we were able to spend time with him and his family. It was great. We really missed Jere and Jen and there kids though. We had fun going to the park, swimming, playing games, hanging out, and just enjoying each other's company. But as with all good things, this was way too short a trip. Oh well! All good things do end up ending before you are ready for them too.
We finished up summer break with Aryus getting both of his feet casted. He has been dealing with a growth plate injury in both of his heels for about a year now. We tried taking care of them with out going to the extreme of casts, but obviously that didn't work. He only has to wear them for 3 weeks and so will be getting them off the day after Laura gets her leg taken care of. He will be using orthodics though.
Well, now that I have written a small book, I will end for now. Hope all is well with you all! May the Lord bless and keep you safe from harm. All my love!!
We did manage to have a wonderful time camping for the 4th of July at Flaming Gorge! We were able to pick up a wonderful little motor home (20 feet isn't very big) that we were able to take with us. It did manage to rain everyday we were there, but we really had a great time. Alan took all of us out on Grandpa Crane's boat and that was really fun! Because we had the trolling motor hooked up we couldn't go as fast as the kids really wanted us to go. I will post pictures when I get them all assembled. We were able to attend church out there as well. It was amazing how many people they were able to squeeze into this tiny chapel. All the "locals" ended up sitting up on the stand for lack of seating. It was a wonderful experience!
We were able to go camping again for the 24th weekend. Alan was able to get almost that whole weekend off and that was great! We went camping in Alan's parents' orchard. It was fun. We were all given t-shirts (each family had their own color that they picked out) and the kids got to paint and decorate them. That was fun. Friday we had a fun "circus" set up and there were lots of activities to do. That is where the fun for some of us ended though. It was during this fun play time that Laura was hurt jumping on the trampoline. She ended up going to the hospital with Alan and I around 2:00ish. We spent about 6 hours at Ogden Regional Hospital where they discovered how broken her little leg was. The cat scan showed 8 separate breaks. It was down by her ankle and even broke her growth plate. We ended up taking her up to Primary Children's Hospital in SLC. We got there about 9:30 that same night. It wasn't until 2:40 in the morning, Saturday, when she finally went in for surgery. She ended up with 3 pins in her leg. We were able to leave at noon that day. I am pleased to say that she is doing much better and will be getting the pins out on the 3rd! She can't wait!!
We started off August with a real bang!! We were able to drive down to Arizona and spend time with my family down there. Jeff was back from Iraq for a 2 week vacation, so we were able to spend time with him and his family. It was great. We really missed Jere and Jen and there kids though. We had fun going to the park, swimming, playing games, hanging out, and just enjoying each other's company. But as with all good things, this was way too short a trip. Oh well! All good things do end up ending before you are ready for them too.
We finished up summer break with Aryus getting both of his feet casted. He has been dealing with a growth plate injury in both of his heels for about a year now. We tried taking care of them with out going to the extreme of casts, but obviously that didn't work. He only has to wear them for 3 weeks and so will be getting them off the day after Laura gets her leg taken care of. He will be using orthodics though.
Well, now that I have written a small book, I will end for now. Hope all is well with you all! May the Lord bless and keep you safe from harm. All my love!!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Ouchies!
I almost forgot to tell you about my girls ouchies! Karalynn and Laura had surgery friday morning. They both had to get their adnoids out and tubes in their ears. Laura also had to get her tonsils out. They are doing ok, but don't like to be without mommy. They can't wait to be able to go swimming and eat "normal" food. They also miss playing with friends. Hopefully this will do the trick for Karalynn. Her ear was really bad and she may need further surgery if the problem doesn't fix itself with the tubes. I am posting pictures of them. I hope that all is well with all of you!
England Trip
For those who haven't heard yet, Alan and I went to England!! It was so much fun!! We flew out of SLC (an hour late) and enjoyed a 6 hour delay (compliments of Delta) at the fabulous JFK airport! We arrived at the London Heathrow airport about lunch time monday the 8th. After picking up a really cute little chevy from Avis Car Rentals, we drove to Brighton! It took a little getting used to driving a stick from the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road. Once I got the hang of it though I had a really good time driving! Alan just kinda took a week off from all driving. It was great!
Monday night and Tuesday morning was spent in Brighton. We went to the Royal Pavillion and went to the Museum to see if we could find anything for family history. Unfortunatly the Parish Church there was closed so we weren't able to go in. Come lunch time Tuesday, we were back on the road trying to book it into South Wales before everything closed (at 5pm)! It was a long drive, but very pretty.
Tuesday evening we found the Parish Church (it was locked for the night) and enjoyed looking at the headstones trying to find relatives. Alan had forgotten all the paperwork that he was supposed to bring to help in the search for James Crane's family so we weren't able to find much. After a lot of driving around in Tenby, the town just down the road (almost literally) trying to find an inexpensive place to stay for the night, we ended up back in Penally at a wonderful little Bed and Breakfast. It was a home that had been converted over.
Wednesday we spent in the Tenby Library tring to find more and then ended up going to the Pembrokshire Records Office in Haverfordwest to find more. There we found gold! We found a little leaflet that was put out that talked about the work house where James Crane grew up! He was mentioned in it by name twice!! It's now a senior center and they were celebrating 150 years when the leaflet was published. We spent the night there in Haverfordwest at a nice little guest house. We also went to see Termantor while we were there.
Thursday morning we were off to Taunton, England! They have another castle there and we ate at a nice little pub called the Moat House. It sits where the moat used to flow. It's cool. The food was really yummy everywhere we went. Friday though we drove into Lydeard St. Lawerence and Tolland to visit some Wolcott Family sites. It was amazing to see these churches that our ancesters worshiped at all those years ago. In Penally it was in the 1800's, but in Lydeard and Tolland it goes all the way back to 1575 and 1600's!
Later on Friday, after the churches, we drove on over to where Cadbury Castle once stood. The path up the hill was very muddy though, so we didn't make the climb. This is where Camelot once stood (or so we were told). All that is left up there are cows grazing. Then we headed on over to Stonehenge! That was amazing!! The feeling there is quite surreal. I can't explain it very well. We went on an audio guided tour and got to hear all kinds of interesting things and myths surrounding the place. We left there for Windsor. We were sad that it had already closed so decided to head back first thing in the morning. We ended up staying at the Shariton Hotel in Heathrow that night.
Saturday morning we returned our rental car and took the bus back to Windsor. Most of the cool stuff was closed at the castle, so we spent a lot of time getting there and back to London, but didn't feel we saw enough for it to have been worth it. Mostly cause it took a lot of time from London. It was nice to get to see it though. Alan was bummed that he didn't get to see a real suit of armor! Getting to London was fun though. We took the underground and got off near Picadilly Circus. We took a bus tour so that we could see all the fun stuff without having to walk and figure things out ourselves. It was the best! We could have gotten off and on the bus to really see more, but didn't have the time. We also could have taken a river cruise, but again were worried about not getting back to the hotel. All in all though, we had a fabulous time and would love to go back again sometime! I hope that you enjoy the pictures.
Monday night and Tuesday morning was spent in Brighton. We went to the Royal Pavillion and went to the Museum to see if we could find anything for family history. Unfortunatly the Parish Church there was closed so we weren't able to go in. Come lunch time Tuesday, we were back on the road trying to book it into South Wales before everything closed (at 5pm)! It was a long drive, but very pretty.
Tuesday evening we found the Parish Church (it was locked for the night) and enjoyed looking at the headstones trying to find relatives. Alan had forgotten all the paperwork that he was supposed to bring to help in the search for James Crane's family so we weren't able to find much. After a lot of driving around in Tenby, the town just down the road (almost literally) trying to find an inexpensive place to stay for the night, we ended up back in Penally at a wonderful little Bed and Breakfast. It was a home that had been converted over.
Wednesday we spent in the Tenby Library tring to find more and then ended up going to the Pembrokshire Records Office in Haverfordwest to find more. There we found gold! We found a little leaflet that was put out that talked about the work house where James Crane grew up! He was mentioned in it by name twice!! It's now a senior center and they were celebrating 150 years when the leaflet was published. We spent the night there in Haverfordwest at a nice little guest house. We also went to see Termantor while we were there.
Thursday morning we were off to Taunton, England! They have another castle there and we ate at a nice little pub called the Moat House. It sits where the moat used to flow. It's cool. The food was really yummy everywhere we went. Friday though we drove into Lydeard St. Lawerence and Tolland to visit some Wolcott Family sites. It was amazing to see these churches that our ancesters worshiped at all those years ago. In Penally it was in the 1800's, but in Lydeard and Tolland it goes all the way back to 1575 and 1600's!
Later on Friday, after the churches, we drove on over to where Cadbury Castle once stood. The path up the hill was very muddy though, so we didn't make the climb. This is where Camelot once stood (or so we were told). All that is left up there are cows grazing. Then we headed on over to Stonehenge! That was amazing!! The feeling there is quite surreal. I can't explain it very well. We went on an audio guided tour and got to hear all kinds of interesting things and myths surrounding the place. We left there for Windsor. We were sad that it had already closed so decided to head back first thing in the morning. We ended up staying at the Shariton Hotel in Heathrow that night.
Saturday morning we returned our rental car and took the bus back to Windsor. Most of the cool stuff was closed at the castle, so we spent a lot of time getting there and back to London, but didn't feel we saw enough for it to have been worth it. Mostly cause it took a lot of time from London. It was nice to get to see it though. Alan was bummed that he didn't get to see a real suit of armor! Getting to London was fun though. We took the underground and got off near Picadilly Circus. We took a bus tour so that we could see all the fun stuff without having to walk and figure things out ourselves. It was the best! We could have gotten off and on the bus to really see more, but didn't have the time. We also could have taken a river cruise, but again were worried about not getting back to the hotel. All in all though, we had a fabulous time and would love to go back again sometime! I hope that you enjoy the pictures.
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