March Madness

                                                Here I am in Utah! 

That smile on my face is because I had such a nice time visiting Mother and seeing lots of my other relatives.  Mostly my brothers and their wives. 

I'm a lucky girl in so many ways  I got home from a two-week trip to Utah just in time for our Easter celebration. A fun time for me in Utah..   I got to spend two weeks with my mom working on her history.  Her memory is truly amazing.  Margo, my oldest brother's wife, and I stayed at youngest brother, Darryl's house for the two weeks and worked on the history a lot and played a little in between times.  Lucky me.  Margo and Kenny had just returned from New Zealand where they served a church mission and I hadn't seen them for two years.    Margo and I had splendid days working and playing and working and playing.  I could write forever about the histories because they are so interesting, but I won't.  Not now.  Needless to say, I feel like I have had a nice long visit with some of my relatives that have long since passed away.  No, not rattling their chains in the night.  Yes, I do feel lucky.

So this is what I have been looking through and pouring over.  Write your histories -- they will be fun for your descendants to read.

I have been trying to fact check items as sometimes there are differing dates, etc.  Lots of old papers and histories.  Margo copied notes from Grandpa H.L.Neider into the history.  Fun times.

Kenny and Margo
Here are Kenny and Margo.  I sure love these two and it was wonderful to be with them again.  They were in New Zealand for eighteen months as I already mentioned and I hadn't seen them for way too long.

At Darryl and Anna Marie's 

We woke up to this a couple of mornings.  Darryl and Anna Marie's home is up one of the canyons in SLC so I felt like I was staying at a ski lodge.

Darryl making chocolate chip cookies with his two adorable grandsons.  Anna Marie is also helping with damage control!.This fun couple are wonderful hosts.  Margo and I felt right at home.  Anna Marie is such a great cook -- Darryl too!.  And Natalie pitches in with her chef - ery too.  I don't think that is a word, but you know what I mean.  One morning Anna Marie made her Monster Pancake.  We loved it!

Natalie is in this picture.  She is the cute  mom to William and Jackson.  A beautiful family.

Mother's Assisted Living Home
                                Here is Mother in her apartment at the assisted living center. 

Here is Mother with her youngest sister, June.  Aunt June is 85 and Mother turns 90 this year.  This isn't the greatest picture of them, but they are amazing women. 

 Mother's assisted living home in Draper.  She is thriving so much better here.  She moved here in September of 2012.  There are only room for 10 residents so it is very personal care.

Lauren

I just happened to be in Utah when Lauren received an art award from the State of Utah.  Yes that is me on the front row proud as punch.

Here Lauren is with her painting hanging in the Art Museum of Springville. 

Here she is walking back to her seat.  That is Grandma Donna in the background.

Darryl was such a good sport and drove us all over.  We had a fun lunch at Kneaders to celebrate Lauren's great achievement.

Meeting Up with Lindsay 

This is Kenny, Margo  and Lindsay Witt.  (Kenny was Lindsay's former bishop at BYU-I)  We took Lindsay to dinner and had a fun visit.  Lindsay is also related.  She is Shelly's cousin from Fresno and that family (Jeremy's) in Fresno is very attached to Lindsay.  They all cried when she moved to Utah in January.  Funny thing.  She lives right across the street from Mother's assisted living home in Draper. 

We had a great dinner at Sweet Tomatoes -- one of Mother's favorites.

Maddox 

Well, we couldn't be in Utah and not go to Maddox in Brigham City.  My Neider grandparents first took me to Maddox when I was about six years old.  Our entire family still loves to go there to eat every chance we get..  Of course so does half the rest of the world.  It is always crowded. 

Here are the girls with Mother.

Margo, Andrea, Renee, and Anna Marie

 Here I am with Mother and three of my brothers.  Mike is in Las Vegas serving as the mission president for the Las Vegas East Mission.  He and Rosy have a little over a year left to be there.

Andrea, Mark, Darryl, Kenny with Mother

I was amazed as I looked around the table of eight.  Everyone of us had ordered a shrimp cocktail.  I thought -- these are my people.   I sure love my family.  They are so good to me!    I am thankful I have a forever family.  They are such special people and I am so proud to be related to them.  They are always fun to be with and we always have such good times.  Families are the best.  You can tell the same stories over and over and still laugh and laugh!

Easter

I got home just in time for Easter fun with the grand kids.  We celebrated the Saturday before Easter with dinner and an Easter egg hunt in the yard.  Nothing spectacular, but the kids were excited none the less. 

Here are the bunnies ready for the hunt! 

Let's identify those bunnies.  Audrey, Charlotte, Nathan and Jocelyn

 And here they are ready to race for the eggs their Daddy's are hiding!

 Okay these little darlings keep us all on our toes.  Grandpa Crowley filled all of the eggs by the way and it took them all of about 30 seconds to find them all.  They were fast.  That's about nine eggs each.  They were so darn cute!

So that was my March Madness.  I did win the family b-ball bracket by the way.  Okay so I entered three times.  Tyhee Hoopster won!  I am waiting for my prize.  Better luck next year husband, sons, nieces, brother! 

 

Here's one more picture I pinched from Jeremy's FB.

 

Look at those handsome and cute Washington Nats fans clear out in Fresno!

 

Tanner, Jeremy, Emery and Carsen