Christmas Bangles and Baubles at the Belnaps

Adam, Claudia and Claire drove from Portland to spend Christmas. We were so happy to see them!

This nativity was made by my mother many, many years ago and is a central piece in our Christmas decorations.

My snowman collection is growing! Not much snow this year, however.

Crystal Chandelier just for Christmas.

Fireplace mantle gets a holly and berry treatment.

The big tree in the great room was done in purple, burgandy and gold. We cut the trees down at McCoy Creek Campground outside of Alpine, WY. Trent helped haul them out for us.

Mirrored Reindeer and trees were added this year and look great on the glass table...not great placement for the toddlers, however.

The nutcrackers always find a home, somewhere.

The stairway garland went up first, before Thanksgiving, and made the house festive weeks before the actual decorating began.

Pine cones, pictured on lower shelf, were gathered on our California vacation this summer.

White frosted candles and ornaments were added to the lanterns to make them festive.

Hiding reindeer in my decorations became part of the fun this year.

This is my "Families are Forever" tree. It includes framed pictures of all family members, stars, musical instruments and birds...maybe that is what Heaven will be like. Christmas is commemorating our memories of loved ones throughout the year. Thanks for making such wonderful memories.

I expect this word will be included into the dictionary as new word of the year someday. It does require that we do our part and post with definition from time to time.

New word of the year!

Phompf: 1. Person who is so vain he thinks everyone in the room is watching his or her every move. 2. Person who is so cool that nobody can stand to be around them except other phompfs. 3. The couple who invited themselves into the white house "State Dinner" uninvited, definitely phompfs. 4. The cheerleader running for class president in the movie Napoleon Dynamite and boy friend and uncle - class "A" phompfs.

Adamo: Before this gets away from you, take out a copyright on your T-shirt, you may have a gold mine in phompf sales!

Review of a Sensational Summer and Fall

At times the best things in life are quite simple, like Great Grandma, Julia and Mason enjoying the simplicity of youthful play. Julia visited the first of August.





Looking and waiting can be forever. Tucked safely in the corner behind glass, Bryant felt like minutes were hours as he waited in the Idaho Falls Airport for Andrew to come home from Texas.
There were big smiles all around - how happy we were to be together again. Andrew arrived Sept 17th.
Doesn't he look handsome?

Andrew's homecoming report was a very special day for family members.

Unfortunately, Florida State was too much for BYU,

but dressing up in our game day attire for pictures was fun!

Go Claire.

The brothers had to get in on some good old fashioned wrestling. It had been too long since they were all together.

There aren't many brothers in this world that are so tall, so handsome, and so great.

Andrew and Glenda made a trip to Salt Lake City to visit with Julia and her boys. It was fun to explore the conference center and church museum with the boys. Andrew was surprised to see how much they had grown in the two years since he had seen them.

Andrew landed a job as a seasonal sales associate at Macy's. He looks the part..dashing, handsome and well dressed.

In November, Bryant, Glenda, and Trent met up with Adam, Claudia and Claire in Boise for a fun filled, yet very cold weekend. Claire is precious! She is truly a sleeping beauty!

At the Idaho History museum Claire tried out the comfort of a hollowed out canoe. Would she have enjoyed the Lewis and Clark trek?

We ran into Sherri Belnap Theurnagle in the mall in Boise. What a nice and suprising family reunion.






Claire especially loved the puppies in the pet store.

Grandma GoGo and Grandpa B couldn't be more pleased than when holding one of their cute grandchildren. Claire seemed to like her grandparents.

Rachel, Crew and Finley started the Thanksgiving holiday early this year and made a visit to our house. Finley had eyes for Trent! One highlight of their trip was a trip to the Movies to see Where the Wild Things are with Crew, Andrew, GoGo and Grandpa B.
Devin came in from California later in the week just in time for Thanksgiving.

Crew turned 3! We had the privilege of celebrating his birthday. It was so much fun you would have thought it was Christmas.

Thanks kids...for making our last few months so memorable. This is nothing we enjoy more than spending time with you and your darling children.

Happy Halloween to my Grandbabies....I want to see you in costumes, too.

The Tarantualla Witch attended the annual Witches Night this week. I decided to add huge spiders to my hat and necklace. It was a great night and we had lots of fun. Here are pictures of the "Ghouls Night Out."

Beware the witches of the "Ridge".

ARRRRR! Me said something to the witches and they cursed me with the queer eye. ARRRR!

GoGo and Bryant love to spoil grandkids

Devin and Rachel and children came to Idaho Falls for the 4th of July. Julia and her children drove over from Denver to be with us the first week of August. How fun it was to see these darling children.

Mason and Cooper enjoyed the Roaring Youth Art Jam down at the greenbelt and a visit to Blacktail on Grandpa's boat.

Visits to the Firestation were made by both Cooper and Mason and Crew during their stays. Fire stations always brings out the excitement boys including Grandpa.
As for the guys the movie clips say it all as to the fun factor. Crew was all over the firetruck and excitedly explaining everything to all of us.

Mason and Cooper would sneak up on grandpa and push him in the lake. They thought that was the most fun thing they had ever done! Thanks children, for taking the time to bring your children to visit! Nothing is better.

Entering the world of the giants

The only way to see the park is with the top down and the head way way way back.






How do you take pictures of people and trees? Lie on your back of course.






I love the forest and these trees.

Sequioa june 2009

Shortly after entering Sequioa National park we found the tunnel tree. There was so few people there that we parked in the tunnel for a photo op.





General Sherman in the largest tree in the world based on volume of the trunk not height. And he's still growing. I was impossible to photograph the whole tree and the people too.

The tree in the photo had fallen. The path we were on just passed under the tree with the cool little creek.








This tree had fallen decades ago. The early loggers use the hallow of the tree for a cook house. The hallow was over 100 feet long. Life as a hobbit.





General Grant tree is the national christmas tree. Don't ask me why. I didn't see even one decoration.