Girls' Night!

Hurrah!

Another Girls' Night

A Chick Chat with some of Grandma Ison's posterity

The Wilson Girl cousins came up from Utah

Some stayed at Grandma's home

They made sure she got some dinner

as they waited for local girls to arrive

Lexie and Tyrel made a quickie, early appearance and got to meet some Utah cousins

Shegay is checking in with Grandma

The love these granddaughters show their grandma touches my heart

Jana, Shegay, Kevin (honorary chick, special invite!)

plus Grandma, back for another snack

I see Grandpa, looking on, from the wall

At one point in the evening, Grandma said to me, "Daddy's gone."

Yes he is, I replied.  What do you think he is doing right now?

"I have NO idea," she exclaimed.

Do you think he is watching us right now? I asked

"Too busy,"  she replied

That could be . . . because we never heard him fuss at us to get to bed!

And we were up til @2 am

I've missed getting the "chocolate toast" pictures downloaded

But you can be sure we toasted the rest of you....and we missed you!

Oh..there they are...the next two pics below

Some granddaughters helped prompt grandma's memory

by bringing pictures and notes on their family

She loved pouring over those sheets

Candice      Liz

We went around the circle of beautiful spirits

hearing a catch-up summary of whats been happening in each life

New pregnancy announcement, husband graduating, expanding insurance sales, brainstorming business ideas, busy mommas with their chicklets

Annette        Rachel

Such variety of interests, talents, strengths, contributions, challenges

All bringing their love to Grandma

Crazy busy printing campaign materials, art classes and interest in illustrating children's books

Megan

She was the springboard for the gathering:

With an exciting and wide eyed new move to North Carolina

she wanted to come see Grandma before the adventure

Well, if you are coming up......let's all gather!

To have ALL her sisters join and gather......

Oh my, it seems like a miracle to me

And I loved it!

And so did their Grandma

"I didn't know you were coming!" she exclaimed again and again

So pleased, she was

Tiffany

New missionary, new travel schedule, new horizons

Martha       Grandma Ison

 Getting kids into school and preschool, online Soul Restoration classes, plans for a Nauvoo trip

Candice             Alisha              Amber

Busy moms serving in Primary and RS

Creative parenting, serving, organizing, planning, gardening

Rachel          Shegay

New set of trail wheels, new dog, graduated from college

All six of Jocile's girls in one place.....yea!

Thank you for the sacrifices you made to create this cozy gathering

Give us a goofy moment, you girls!

Loving on Grandma!

Now show us your birth order.....do you see it, folks?

Shall we gather by the table?

Has it really been 6 years since we've seen Abbey?

Not sure

but we were SO glad she got to come

and share some chat time

Some close ups around the table

Me, Megan and Abbey

Martha and Rachel

Martha started it all by coming out from Ohio

So good to be with you

Rachel and Todd were amazing hosts

THANK YOU

Megan

Abbey

She told us she had an arrangement with her roommate

If our gathering got AWKWARD

she could call for a rescue  :o)

Smart girl to be prepared for every option

She stuck it out til 4 am with the rest of us

Jocile

Jana

Alisha

Again brought talking prompts

Loads of fun to share stories

Weekend Chicks

 Utah trip....Chick chat

Family portrait

Alisha and I are taking pictures

Pretty much filled the frame

Good job, LD

Then I decided to do my first experiment with the timer on my new camera

OK

Timer works

but I'm not in it

 Try that again

Press the button

Leap across the room

Woohoo

All 10 of us this time

I wasn't able to manage time delay and zoom

in the same learning curve

Sorry

A little goof ball scene

as the finale

or maybe this is what we look like

when we finished talking at 4 am!

Especially for Emma

Utah Visit

While searching the mall for a skirt for church, Martha got distracted

Look what she found for you, Emma...

the best 'staches of the evening

No sign of the guys who left them behind, sad to say

And, no we didn't actually buy them, double sad to say!

By the way, Emma . . . . should you ever get tired of the 'stache look

you'd better let us know

so we don't inundate you with bygone passions

We thought of you
and the other not-present girls in the family

Missed you guys

And toasted you with plenty of chocolate, of course

Skirt the issue

Utah trip 

Late Saturday night rush on the mall

Martha left her Sunday skirt at her mom's

so we HAD to go shopping

How many girls does that take?

As many as could fit in the van, of course

 Is this the one?

Nope

Not if she wants to match the shirt

Keep shopping, she says

When we discovered Forever XXI

it slowed down the skirt shopping

Mucho trying on of shiny things

I like substantial jewelry

Alisha found SUBSTANTIAL, all right

 I have never seen so many bracelets

in one panorama

My oh my

Rachel and Martha

checked them out

Jana and Arielle, too

After loosing one another a few times

we eventually congregated where Martha was trying on skirts

Yes, she found one she liked before they turned off the lights

And she was able to make a purchase decision in spite of a van load of opinions!

Swinging Cousins

Got to have some of the grandkids for an overnighter. We awoke to a gorgeous morning--perfect for playing in the park. Micaela was an amazing buddy for her younger cousins, helping them swing high. And if you look close at the first three pictures, you can see the game Jackson created: run as close as you can to the swinging feet (and faster than my new Nikon can snap!)

Zoom, zoom.....around he goes again.

Note: No humans were hurt in the making of this movie.....er life moment.

Sydney, a swinger wannabe.

She always looked like she really wanted to join in.

But everytime we asked, she turned us down.

Cousins. Part 5. Book Heaven

Last happening of our play day:

Book abundance

Often, my elementary school discards books that are not being checked out by the children

Staff members are welcome to any of those books

I love going through books

and I picked up some

that I thought someone in my family might like

Over time

I collected a big box full

We spread them out

all over the living room floor

Every kiddo got to skim, ponder and pick

"Take Home" books for their summer fun

Delicious anticipation . . . . . a lap full good reading!

Shoulder to shoulder

cousin buddies

checking out their choices

sometimes reading aloud

Katelyn discovered her own little reading nook

on the stairway

She was so pleased to have her own stack of books

While waiting for her mommy to arrive

she carried her books around

in a plastic grocery sack

til the bottom ripped out

Oh!

A look of distress on her face

No problem

She seemed relieved to know she could have another bag to keep her books safe

What a fun busy crazy day

I love my grandchildren

Cousins. Part 4. Zentangle

Recently

I've been fascinated with Zentangle

A fancy word for repetitive doodles

I've been looking at examples online

(check out Youtube)

and having fun experimenting

I made some Zentangle bracelets for myself (above)

and helped some kiddos at school relax and talk

as they made their own bracelets

I thought some of my grandkids might enjoy playing with Zentangles

so . . . . .

Micaela and Taylee begin making designs



Rylee begins her bracelet, too

Each unique

Just like the artist

Made into bracelets

Micaela was on her second one by now

Beauty from head to toe....and wrist to wrist

Cardstock (cut 1 1/2" wide and long enough to fit comfortably around the wrist with 1" overlap)

Create design

Cover front and back with 2" packing tape. Trim.

Add sticky back velcro squares to create attachment

Wear and be stylin' with your own personal Zentangle design!

Cousins. Part 3. Play Stations

Lizzie and Audrey

soothing themselves

by scooting that melting wax around

With the older three girls busy making Zentangle bracelets

the younger six divided into twos

for play zones

"Crayon Melt" is always an attractive option

(Micaela and Jackson gifted me

a bag of leftover crayons at the end of the school year

They were even peeled already

What a welcome addition to the

well-used stubs in the Crayon Melt can!)

Thank You!

"Can we play babies?" Abree wanted to know

Absolutely

She and Katelyn were deeply absorbed in their mommy-ness

Treyson and Jackson opted for "Dress up"

Uh . . . . Perhaps a Native American bunny sheriff?
Jackson, you crack me up


Once outfitted

Treyson reminded me to watch as each scene developed

He told me the name of the play was

"The Detective and the Bed Girl"


Don't ask . . . .

the plot was a little hard to follow




The timer buzzed

Time to change play areas

New bunnies appeared

Hi Audrey and Lizzie!



Lizzie tells me I need a basket and more purses in the dress up bag