July Family Fun

Jeremy and Emery

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Grandma, Tanner and Carsen exercising...........

July was busy and fun. Grandma Neider came for three weeks. Shelly, Jeremy, Tanner, Carsen and Emery came for three weeks. And we were so excited to meet our new little Emery. We headed to the beach for a much needed week of relaxing and fun. We really missed Lauren, Gabe and Charlotte at our beach reunion. Those girls are fun.
The pictures really tell the whole story.

Tanner, Carsen at Madonna's Lake


Carly Z was our lifeguard at the lake. We had a fun lunch and Grandma came down to the lake after a long visit with her boyfriend, Cliff.


Andrea and Madonna

Cliff and Madonna live on about 300 acres in Unionville, Virginia where Cliff put in his own lake. It is about 25 minutes from Culpeper.


Grandpa Crowley, Tanner and Emery in the swing.


Granpa Crowley and Emery at the beach house.
Emery: No on told me how handsome my Uncle Matt was....


Our Little Audrey


Tanner is a good little babysitter for Audrey


Melanie and Audrey in Culpeper

Grandpa and Grandma with Audrey and Emery. Grandpa is doing a better job with his little granddaughter and than Grandma is..........


I have lots more beach pictures to add as soon as I can find what file I put them in.........I guess I'll start a new post.

One more.............Tanner in action in the little blow up pool at the house in Culpeper.

Lessons from Mom

It has been a whirlwind three weeks with Mom visiting from SLC. Let me just tell you all that this is one incredible woman. All 84 years and 100 pounds of my little mother. She is simply an amazing woman. We do get on each other's nerves.........yes we do...............but we quickly get over it. It is quite a contest to see which of us is really the boss when we are together. I think we are at a toss up. Actually she lets me win once in a while to preserve my self image.

We have had some really fun talks and laughs. We shopped until we could only drag our tired bodies home. As we wandered around Culpeper, we found a quaint cafe with homemade cherry pie and you can't beat that. There is no one who appreciates some of the finer possibilities of life more than my mom. She has taught me to appreciate and enjoy life too.

Here are some of the other lessons from MOM.

1. She always wanted me to put my best foot forward -- even if that foot hurt.

2. She gave me the courage and confidence to be and try anything and everything.

3. Mother taught me to enjoy even the mundane humors of life and to especially to learn to laugh at myself.

4. She taught us always to honor our grandparents and father. She engendered in our family a fierce family loyalty and pride.

5. She always told me that my brothers and sister would always be my best friends.
They are..........

6. Mom gave me a life long love of reading that started at a very young age. I loved going to literary club with her occasionally. What a great gift.

7. Mother also taught me to look for life lessons in all that I do. She believes you can learn something from everyone.

8. Mother taught me to be thrifty. She wanted us to stretch our dollars.

9. Mother always taught me the value of hard work and the value of a job well done.

10. I wish I had learned her ability to never procastinate. I'm still working on that one.

There are so many other lessons I've learned from my mom. She has always been a great example to me. I can see her in my minds eye kneeling at her bedside. I still catch her there.

My mom is the best. Growing old.........no problem. She still thinks I'm a kid. The rest of you should be so lucky.

I sure love my mom!

Scoffers Red Alert

This is my new adorable table and chairs for the grandkids. I am so excited about it too. I have been looking and looking to no avail, but yesterday, discovery.........right here in Culpeper at Goodwill. And......it is brand new -- not a blemish on it.

As many of you know my mom is here visiting for the month. We have had such fun together. She's fun. I wish we all had her energy. I was trying to decide whether or not to tell her about the Goodwill Thrift Shop in Culpeper and decided yes, but would have to take her when I had plenty time. She can poke around these places until she finds many treasures.

Well, anyway as I pulled into the grocery store near Goodwill, I thought what the heck -- I'll take her to Goodwill while I get groceries. You know the rest of the story. I popped into Goodwill to help get the lay of the land for Mom and here was the adorable table and chairs..............the kicker.............it was a whopping $8.00. Love it.

Just in time for the boys who will be here on Thursday. Yippee!

Grandpa and two of his Girls.

Grandpa Crowley loves his grandkids.................and they are crazy about him too. He has completely captured Tanner and Carsen and now Charlotte seems to like him more than Grammy. Well, I'm not going to put up with this, but here is a cute picture I will share. In the meantime, I am planning my strategy to win the kids back ............watch out Grandpa.

July 4th Celebration

What a great day to be alive. We had a fun celebration with the Virginia Crowleys. Culpeper was hoppin too. A 5K in the morning and the Bradleys from St George, Salt Lake and Fairfax came to run. Matt and James went to the old time car show with their daughters in tow.........Then there was the old time parade. We decided to miss. The Crowleys came with darling granddaughters. New little Audrey and busy little Charlotte. We didn't need parades with these two to gather our attention.

Gabe came with her famous potato salad and even more famous baked beans. As a bonus she slipped in a Texas Sheet Cake. It doesn't get much better. Matt and Andrew put our new grill together and cooked hot dogs, hamburgers and fruit kabobs. We even talked Grandma Neider into her famous German Chocolate Cake. Well, if you haven't had that recently...........give it a go when Grandma visits. We swooned from so much delicious food and good company.

Melanie's mother (from Salem, UT) was still here with Mel and the baby and it was a good opportunity to get to know her better. She has taken good care of Mel, Audrey and Andrew.

Right when the fireworks were set to go, it started raining. Oh well -- we just remembered last year when Tanner, Lauren, and Carsen were with us on the lawn. Love the 4th. It always is fun to fix a fun feast and relax the day away.

Granddaughters Galore!

We are so excited for our 4th granddaughter. Audrey Elise Crowley was born Friday, June 20th to Andrew and Melanie. She was 9lb 2oz and has lots of black hair. She is simply adorable and looks very much like her daddy. Girls Girls Girls. I love it.

Planets Aligned

It doesn't happen very often, but the planets aligned this month for me. Lauren wanted to be in Virginia for her 12th birthday. She flew in on the 31st be with her Virginia family for two weeks. What are the chances that my oldest granddaughter, Lauren, would turn 12 on the first Sunday in June and have her first day in Young Women in the ward with her parents and grandparents -- where her Grammy is the Laurel leader. Un----------real.

The girls were having a joint lesson and Lauren was welcomed to Young Women and I got to see it. Wow! My cup runneth over. Our YW Pres gives the girls a new packet of UNO cards with a beautiful card attached describing the YW motto -- U-know you are a divine daughter of God - through the whole motto -- It is very clever. She also got a birthday balloon. And I was there..............she answered questions the teacher asked and participated. (Matt's girl all the way)

I'm so bad with the pictures, but hope to get one........I am so lucky...........thank you planets for aligning.