GEORGE'S BLESSING

The day after the Tim McGraw we headed to Washington for George's blessing. It sort of looks like I am saying George Washington when you see that together. Walt, Scotty, and I drove to Medford and picked up Shauna and Blake and then headed straight up there. It was a long drive. Shauna read a book called "The Witches" to Scotty the entire way there. It actually was entertaining to listen to...not "sit on the edge of the seat" entertaining, but certainly better than some of the talk radio that Walt listens to. It was a long ride though and we were thrilled to get out of the car in Kennewick. Kaylee and Chris were all set up in the driveway with a great dinner for us and we got to meet Chris' family. That was a treat and we enjoyed our visit there and getting to get to know them for a short time. We met Chris' dad and sister, Jamie, and got re-acquainted with Deanna. We also got to meet Heather's family and that was good to meet these people who I only know on facebook. And here is the star of the show all dressed up on Sunday morning for his day. Kaylee picked his outfit....are you surprised???? I thought he either looked like a train engineer in white or the Pillsbury doughboy. Either way, he was adorable.

Daddy and George.

Chris' dad, facing the camera, and Heather's dad and Heather's brother. This table was the setting of many pinochle games....or penuckle, peenukle, penochal....there are a variety of spellings for that game!!!! The Smiths love that game and taught Sam and Walt and they spent a lot of time playing over the weekend. They actually really liked it ..... I am not sure if it will replace the Hancock cribbage game tradition but they enjoyed learning it and will probably play it a lot more. It reminded me of all of my summers as a kid watching my brothers play it literally day and night while drinking RC cola and eating Wampum chips.

Here we were waiting to leave for church. The kids are playing with someone's Ipad, and Shauna is texting Ben...I am sure. That is Heather's mom, Karen, leaning over the couch and Chris' sister sitting next to Olive. Both families have been such a support of Kaylee and Chris and so good to accept Olive as another grandchild/niece.

And here he is again. I love this look on his face.

Olive is a bit of a tomboy and had a lot of fun playing guns with anyone who would play with her.

This was the best family picture I could get. I am not a photographer and so I don't know anything about lighting but is all I know is that the sun was bright and right in their eyes. This was the only picture that I took where William was looking at the camera. I don't think he was too happy about the sun either. Olive looks adorable.

Sam came from Utah for the blessing. It was so nice of him and I know that Kaylee appreciated it. He also got harassed a lot over the weekend from his two sisters. They love to tease him and he gives it right back to them. Part of the teasing was in trying to get him to date Chris' sister Jamie, who is beautiful by the way.

The threesome.

Shauna and the Blakester. The funny thing about Blake over the weekend is that he is into everything and you have to watch him constantly. One evening there was a knock at the door and the neighbor came by with him and asked if he belonged at the house. He had gone out through the garage door and out in the neighborhood. Chris took him from the neighbor and was holding him and said that he stunk really badly. He set him down on the floor and it was then that we realized that it wasn't his diaper but that he had stepped in dog poop. If you could have heard Chris yell for Shauna....it was the funniest thing ever and I can still hear it in my mind. And the funny thing is, she could not stop laughing about it....the entire time she was cleaning it up.

Papa with the two munchkins.

Another munchkin. I am totally hating his hair but he wants it like Justin Bieber's hair and we fight about so many other things that I am trying to let him have his way on this one but I am having the hardest time with it. It has bugged me all summer and here we are all ready to go back to school with this ugly hair. He also wants the Bieb's hat and yellow shoes for school. The other day when Becca asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said, "A book about how to build guns and bombs." What eight year old asks for that? But at least he is asking for a book. She is trying to push him toward the Bieber's shoes, rather than terrorist accessories.

Aren't these two guys so cute?

Aunt and nephew. I love that my kids LOVE each other's kids. We babysat for Kaylee and Chris for two evenings so that they could have a few date nights. I love this baby.

Another aunt and nephew. Kaylee thinks that Blake is so funny and she is so good with him.

We went to the park along the Columbia river on Monday and just hung out for awhile. I just like this expression George makes. He cracks me up with his serious looks.

And there's a smile. He is the cutest thing ever. Kaylee keeps trying to get me to say that he is the cutest grandson, but how can you compare four really cute grandsons? I will say that I have the cutest grandsons anywhere in the world though.

We had a great time in Kennewick. We got to go out to eat once. We got to have Chris's ribs and corn on the cob on Sunday. We went to Hobby Lobby and spent a lot of money. I have never been to that store and even though I am not crafty, I loved it and spent way too much money. However, every time I look at my walls in my house, I just think, "Money well spent." As you can see the trip home was much more quiet than the trip up there. We were exhausted after a fun time at the Smiths. Thanks Chris and Kaylee for hosting us and for having that cute baby.