Baseball Hall of Fame - a dream come true

Russ had a very special 73rd birthday and I decided I wanted him to report it right here in first person.  So here's his report:

 

"Growing up, I loved playing baseball.  I often attended minor league games and then when we lived in the Bay Area for 14 years, we were able to watch both the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s play.  I loved watching Willie Mays and Willie McCovey play for the Giants.  After moving to Tennessee, we also watched a few of the Atlanta Braves games.  Many of the players I followed during those years are now in the Hall of Fame.  So it was a very special treat to go with my three sons Troy, Joel, and Brad to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown New York on September 13.  We had tried in years past to schedule the trip and thanks in large part to Joel’s persistence, we made it this year.  I would love to have had Sharlene with me as she also played baseball and softball in her youth and continues to enjoy it.

I flew from Tennessee to New York City where I joined up with Brad and Joel who flew in from Utah and with Troy who flew in from California and then we drove to Cooperstown that night.  We spent the whole next day inside the hall drinking in all the history and trivia about my favorite sport.  We saw several films, my favorite being highlights from past World Series games.  It brought back so many memories.  In addition to the actual plaques for each member of the hall, there were great displays and stories about Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and all the other great players.  There was memorabilia galore including pictures, original uniforms, spikes, bats, and many famous home run balls.  It was truly a dream come true to be there.

The next day happened to be my 73rd birthday and we celebrated by watching a couple of innings of baseball at the Cooperstown baseball field where the yearly old timers game is held.  I would have loved to go out and take a couple of swings.  We then drove back to New York City where my sons treated me to a great birthday dinner and gave me a commemorative baseball they had all signed.  It was truly a trip to remember.  Thanks boys for the memories."

Arriving at the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame - Joel, Russ, Troy, Brad



Inside the Hall of Fame with Babe Ruth

Giants fans through and through

 

Some of the first to make the Hall of Fame

Russ anticipates the old timers' game

Celebrating Russ's 73rd Birthday at Five Points Restaurant in NYC

 NEW YORK CITY

The subways of New York City

JumpJam -- jumping back-to-school

 

Every August we hold our annual “Back-to-School” party for the grandchildren who live in Knoxville. Trey is in Australia on his mission; Allie is out to BYU, so that left us with 11 wonderful grandkids.  We’ve had swimming parties, game-playing parties, bowling, eating out, sleeping over, etc. This year we couldn’t resist trying the news craze in Knoxville – JumpJam. The owners just happen to be Jeff and Lisanne Lee, who live in our ward.  They were most kind and gave us a great discount on our tickets.   

The kids worked up a sweat and an appetite, so what better way to end the party than with all-you-can-eat ice cream sundaes with many wonderful toppings back at our house and don't forget the back-to-school gift bags.

Try as I might, none of my pictures from JumpJam turned out very well.  Most are blurry or fussy or both, but I’m going to put some here anyway.  You'll get the idea. It was more fun than the pictures show.

 

Back-to-school gift bags with school supplies

All ready to "jump" at JumpJam

Connor, Josh, Tanner



    

Ben flies into the pit

Claire climbs out of the pit

Claire

Jared and Carter

Emma and Sydney are in there somewhere

That's Afton doing a flip (red and pink clothes)

Race to the top

Sweet Afton



Carter coming down from touching the ball

Jared coming down from touching the ball

Yes, it's blurry - but these are our youngest granddaughters

Finally ice cream and brownies with unlimited toppings

Best wishes to all our grandchildren for a fantastic 2013-2014 school year.  Thanks for celebrating with us.

The Great Northwest

It’s become a tradition.  We visit my sisters and their families in the great Northwest every other year, coaxing them to visit us in the beautiful Southeast on the off years.

We always say we’re going to Seattle, but my sisters actually live in Monroe and Federal Way.  They willingly drive us up and down the freeway between their homes. This year while in Monroe, we were able to see five of Kathy’s six children and some of their family members.  And while in Federal Way, we had lunch with Tamara and her daughter, Cindy.

We ordered up a week of PERFECT weather.  I kid you not.  The daytime temps were between 72 and 74.  It dipped to about 60 in the evenings.  Clear, blue skies and lots of sunshine. Very low humidity. Thank you Seattle, WA, for giving us perfect weather. 

Highlights of the trip include: tons of game playing at Kathy’s, delicious meals, spending time with her family, freshly-picked homemade raspberry pie at Kammy’s, shopping at Deseret Book, attending the beautiful Seattle Temple, going to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit with Kathy, eating at Salty’s with Tam and Cindy while looking out at beautiful Puget Sound, and of course, many walks with Kathy’s dog, Teddy.  Russ tried to be helpful to both my sisters and ended up spending a good part of two days on a deck project for Kathy. Just one reason I love him so much.  He is awesome at giving service and does so with a smile.

I wish we could squeeze the middle USA states together so that TN and WA were almost touching.  I would visit the Seattle area much more often.  But for now, I’ll just cling to the wonderful memories of this year’s visit.

 

Kathy and me at her home in Monroe



Playing "Slide Five" with Kathy and her son, Scott

Below: a few of the pictures I took at the Chihuly Exhibit





Kammy's homemade raspberry pie



Lunch at Salty's with Cindy and Tamara



Only pix we had with the Puget Sound showing

Inside Salty's with my sister Tamara
and her daughter Cindy

 





             

Space Needle at Seattle Center                                                         Seattle, WA Temple

 

Thanks for the memories, Seattle, Sisters, and Company.

Vying for #1 Son-in-law

I am so blessed to have fantastic sons-in-law and daughters-in-law.  No, really!!  I honestly love them all and am so happy they are part of our family. 

The sons-in-law here in Knoxville have some friendly banter about who is the #1 son-in-law.  And I must say it is neck-in-neck.  We had major problems with one of our computers in February/March, and our son-in-law, Scott, came to the rescue, spending more time than anyone could expect helping work out the bugs.  He certainly held the #1 son-in-law spot during those months.

But that all changed in April. I mean, does anyone have a son-in-law who would put their hands in their mother-in-law’s mouth to adjust her brand new retainer which he just made for her?!? Thanks, Allen, for helping get rid of  my teeth-crowding. For the past month, Allen’s been #1. 

 

I got to choose the color of my retainer

 

 

But yesterday, we got a call from David and he told us he was bringing us a pie from Old Mill Bread.  He called from the bakery and even let us choose our kind – we went with peach, and it is oh, so good!!!  Thank you David!!

 

Well, just gotta say: David is # 1 today. :)

David's peach pie puts  him in the the #1 spot for favorite son-in-law this week.

Photo Shoot

For years I've wanted to do a photo shoot with my six granddaughters.  It seemed the thing to do since all six of my granddaughters live right here in Knoxville. I have 13 grandsons, but they are scattered across the country.  So again, it just seemed natural to do a photo shoot with these sweet six granddaughters.  The oldest will  leave for BYU in a few short weeks, so we quickly squeezed in a photo shoot in between conference sessions on Saturday.  A big thank you to Brianna Fisher of Nu Image for doing a fantastic job.  There were so photos that I liked, it was hard to narrow it down to post some here.  But here are a few and when I say "few," I mean "quite a few."  The very first one is my most favorite of all of them. Thank you granddaughters for doing the photo shoot with me. (Click on Brianna's name to go to her website and see what else she's done--she's good!) 

 

Allie, Sydney, Afton, Lydia, Claire, and Emma surround me in the living room on the piano bench

What Grammy doesn't like kisses from her grandchildren?

I love the way Afton is tilting her head.

My girls!

Sweetness inside and out.

Six beauties!

 

Love these girls!!