Photo Memories - What will the baby look like?

I partnered with JoAnn to create this photo memory. There are so many possibilities that we almost don't know where to begin. As of right now we officially have several hundred (if not thousands) photo memories.

Just a little teaser of what we could have shared.

However, as we were looking at our flickr photos we noticed we have a lot of baby photos of both the parent and their child(ren). At some point we will do a set showing "baby parent" and "baby child" and let you match the parent and the child.

For today, however, we have been wondering what David & Krissie's little bundle of joy will look like in February. Maybe this photo of Krissie might give us a clue as to what their baby could look like. Come back in 6 months and see if we are close.

Traveling Ruminations

Joshua in his favorite pose - running!

Since March 17 JoAnn and I have been on the road visiting family so much it feels almost as if that is all that we have done. And we are not done yet! But we are taking a short break before we travel to visit more family. Our travel since March has taken us to Utah, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. These have all been wonderful trips and were organized around vacations and family special events. You have already read about the Eagle Court of Honor and the Personal Progress Pursuit on this blog. You may yet read about graduation, a new baby, sister's weekend, and a marriage.

In between these trips families visited us from Idaho and Utah. Families from Colorado and Idaho have yet to make a visit this summer, but they are planned. So even when home, we seemed to keep awfully busy. The next two weeks we will be visiting San Diego and then Modesto, California.

Mother's Day in Iowa

We love our opportunities to visit family. Not only does it make us feel good about how well our family is doing, but it gives us a chance to see our children and grandchildren as they grow and face the joys and challenges of life. It is rewarding for us to see the personal and professional development of each of our children. We are always totally amazed by what they're doing, how much they are doing, and how their families seem to be blossoming.

At the end of our last trip we spent time with my Aunt Marge and her family in Missouri. We always look forward to this visit. We take time to catch up on the family, talk about travel, family history, and the like. It was a chance for me to spend a couple of days going through historical records of the Merriam family that my grandfather had collected and organized. I scanned almost 200 documents and photos. Some of those will appear in future posts of this blog. What I discovered was that I didn't have enough time to get all of the Merriam family information. That means another trip to the midwest next summer, but this time we will drive and not fly!

Our newest pride and joy - Nicholas!

I also have plenty of family pictures that I will be sharing along with stories about our recent and future trips on this blog. Of course the challenge is finding sufficient time to write all of these blogs. So bear with me and have patience.

Wordless Wednesday

Little Samuel (Sammy) 2 days old on 17 December in Boise, Idaho. All 10 pounds of him.

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday Calvin!

This Spot Reserved for Sally

It's been a busy week and Sally's birthday is tomorrow. I intend to honor her with several more photos, but like I said, it's been a busy week. Stay tuned, but as an appetizer, here is Sally, 2 days old in Ames, IA. Enjoy and watch for more...

Granddaughters as Sweethearts

I was going to title this blog "princesses" until I read the definition and decided I didn't want to subject my grandchildren to the potential abuse the word princess could bring upon them, even though one of them continually tells us she is a princess. In fact, under the definitions of royalty, I do consider her a princess. To me they are all princesses and sweethearts, but to a 60 plus grandpa we hold different perceptions of terms and meanings than other people do. Hence, my use of princess is always an endearing one, not one of derision.

I am speaking of two of my eight sweethearts today. One young and one a little older. Our 3rd daughter had a little girl last week - Hattie CeCe. I have waited for what felt like an eternity for a photo. I had finally come to the conclusion that she was either two-headed or 12 toed, or had 3 arms and they didn't want me to see her. The real problem was that I left town without leaving the cables to the camera so my beloved could download the photos. Naturally it's grandpa's fault. I have broad shoulders, I can handle the abuse.

Yesterday I received 8 emails, each with about 8 high resolution photos. I have photos of Hattie CeCe now and my favorite is below. And yes, she is a royal princess and a sweetheart.

My second sweetheart is an almost tweener (those who are almost teens, but not quite). In fact she is probably better classified as a precocious tweener - not quite there, but a wanna be. She has her own email account and I love getting emails from her. They are usually in large print and every word is a different color. Well, I was a little slow responding to her last email and while I was not reprimanded I got a "vacation note" or what we typically call and out of the office and not available. But her note was the classiest I have ever received. I share it below.

"Sorry if I didn't e-mail you I am probably grounded or gone, I'll e-mail you as soon as I can, bye"

Grounded or gone? That describes life from the perspective of a child. They have a simple perspective and it is focused on levels of independence. As a pre-tweener it has 2 primary levels. Those things I can do and those thing I can't do. Of course the intermediate level is those things I didn't do I should have and those things I did that I shouldn't have - hence I'm grounded.

Ya gotta love them.

Pretty in Pink

Labor Day weekend we went off to Idaho to visit family and to help bless our newest addition to the McLean clan - little Charlotte Ann Bradley. It was a great trip and we had lots of fun. We got to spend time with 7 grandchildren, 3 children, 2 son-in-laws, and a soon to be sister-in-law. It was also very busy. You know you can't get Mom and 2 daughters together without there being a shopping experience, and that started on Saturday at 8 am (that would be 7 am Las Vegas time and JoAnn is not a morning person). Each evening ended with an extended family get together, talking, laughing, keeping track of the kids, and on Saturday the BYU football game (Go BYU!).

Little Charlotte (above) has lots of pink, hence the title, and I could not resist a shot of her in her pink pajamas on top of her pink pillow. Of course she is a McLean/Bradley and has an attitude, but a good one. One of the great joys of a grandparent is holding new borns. You realize just what a miracle life is, and what a joy it is to bring little children into the world.

On Sunday afternoon we were off to Church (you can read Sally and Suzanne's blogs on this) to bless Charlotte. We took up almost 2 rows with all of the family present. It is exciting to see how many family members show up for special events.

Sally and Charlotte were beautiful in their preparation for Church and the blessing. Mom and Charlotte Ann are below, all dressed up for Church and Charlotte in her blessing dress. When she was blessed she was a perfect angel. It is always a great weekend when we can spend them with our family.

Charlotte Day 2

Suzanne sent this photo from her phone. We aren't sure but we think it might be Ellen holding her. JoAnn says, look how long those fingers are.

First Holds, or Close to First Holds

After writing about first time holding a new grandchild I went back into some of my photo archives to see if I had more. They are in this posting.

Grandma McLean holding Bonnie Jean

Great Grandma McLean holding Jeni with Donna watching. Great Grandma Merriam to the left.

Grandma McLean with Donna (I don't know who those 2 young people are)

Grandpa Merriam holding Pam

Holding Them For the First Time

One of the great pleasures of being a grandpa is holding your grandchild for the first time. I never, and I mean never, tire of that first contact. Come to think of it. I don't tire of the 2nd through the 2,000th contact either. But it's that first time when I get to hold them, regardless of how old they are, that is special. For a grandpa that is a bonding moment. That new little life creates special feelings about being a parent and grandparent. My/our children created that same feeling. It is a moment to be cherished forever. It's another miracle and a miracle of miracles. What a joy. It's the last time they will be new to me. They will still be special - in fact they will always be special - but it's that first moment when you get to hold them, look at the beautiful (at least beautiful to me) face. Grandpa's live for this first experience - just as Dad's do. The sense of wonder of life, of the blessings (and challenges) to come. But at this moment all is perfect, all is whole, all is eternal. I am thankful for grandchildren and the reminder of renewal they bring to our lives.