Grandma Tolman Turns 90!

On December 24th this year, Ty's maternal grandmother, Grandma Tolman, will turn 90 years old. Her children decided that this was a momentous occasion and deserved to be commemorated with a surprise birthday party. All 6 of her children came in to Lewisville for the event. Uncle Tom came with the excuse that he needed to use his sky miles and the others came quietly and stayed at local hotels. As many of the grandchildren that could, also came secretly. We all met at the church in Lewisville to await her arrival.
Tom and Annette claimed that Grandma's house was too small for all the local family to have dinner as a rouse to get her over to the church. Grandma was having none of it. She doesn't like to go out in the cold and ice and she was insisting that 26 people could fit in her home. Annette and Tom had to bully her to get her into her coat, all the while, Grandma was telling them how cruel they are to her. She even shed some tears about their cruelty. We were all waiting in the cultural hall as quietly as 40 some-odd people can. When she came around the corner into the room, we all shouted, "Surprise!" As Grandma took us all in, she was overcome with emotion and joy to see so many of her family together. She accepted hugs from many of us before she was led to the couch to sit down.






Everybody had brought different soups to share, so we had lots of yummy, warming food to enjoy. After dinner, each family stood to tell a memory about Grandma. From oldest to youngest, her children, then their children related their feelings about Grandma. The Spirit in her home, her testimony, and of course, rummy were mentioned, among many other thoughts and memories. there was much laughter and tears as well. The grand-kids who couldn't come even sent e-mails so as not to be left out of the celebration.
After the memories, the Great-grandchildren stood to sing a couple Primary songs to her. Then, the grandchildren sang a revised version of Jingle Bells, talking about how Grandma didn't want to come to the church, but now she was glad she did. Finally, her children sang "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks". Grandma was touched.
Finally, the cake was brought out. Everybody sang "Happy Birthday" and then she blew out the candles shaped like a 9 and a 0. We all clapped. But another surprise awaited. While the first cake was being cut for everybody to share, a second cake was brought out, this one with 90 candles all aflame! We all laughed and grandma was so tickled. We were just glad we didn't set the smoke detectors off!
It was a great birthday for Grandma and a great celebration for all her posterity. Happy Birthday Grandma Tolman. Here's to another 10!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend, cont.

Silly Blogger wouldn't let me type after the pictures of the lights on Temple Square, so I decided to continue in another post. Take that Blogger!
On Saturday, we got up and drove up the street to McDonald's for breakfast. Then we decided that we were gonna go to Boondocks and have a little fun. We knew that it was further up the same street we were on, so we decided to just keep driving until we found it. Ty's parents were going to meet up with us later, after they had done a little car shopping. So, we drove and drove and drove not finding Boondocks. We were keeping our eyes open for a craft store as well, but we couldn't find one of those either! Finally, after I-don't-know-how-long, we saw a sign for a Michael's and we pulled over. Of course, we couldn't find the Michael's, but we did find a JoAnn's, so that did the trick. I just needed an embroidery hoop, for Heaven's sake! With my new hoop safe in my hand, we continued driving down the street. Then, it just dead ended. There was a huge apartment complex right where the road should be and it was gated, so we couldn't even try to drive through it. By then, we'd had it. While Ty was putting gas in the van, I called Ty's parents to let them know we weren't going after all. They suggested that since we were so close, we should drop a quick visit to Ty's cousin, whom he hadn't seen in several years. We had a nice little visit and we were pleased and surprised to find out that Ty's aunt and uncle were also visiting from North Carolina. While we were there, we mentioned that we couldn't find Boondocks. Well, her husband is an executive for Pepsi and Pepsi just happens to be a sponsor of Boondocks, so he had some passes that he gave us and told us where we could find it. The kids were so happy.
We had a 2 o' clock reservation at P.F. Changs (Yeah!!!!) so we headed back into Salt Lake. Ty's parents had never eaten there before, so it was fun to introduce them to lettuce wraps. Everybody enjoyed their meal, even Zach, who hates everything. After dinner, we ran back to the hotel to grab the camera and then it was back to Draper to play at Boondocks. First, they wanted to ride the go carts. Zachary and Samantha were too short to drive, so they were "riders" with Ty and Tristan as the drivers. They had a ton of fun and it was "cool"!
Then it was time to play some laser tag. I am proud to say that I dominated! I had the highest score on our team. 2,348. Zachary, however had the lowest. -1,023. We would have won, if it weren't for that negative. But, that didn't matter, cuz we had so much fun. And I learned that my make up glows under black lights. Good to know.
Then , we watched a 4D movie. It was like being on a roller coaster, complete with the bumpy, jerky corners and the wind in our faces. That was really interesting. We laughed a lot at Zachary and Samantha as they screamed whenever our "car" jumped the "track".
After the go carts, laser tag, and 4D movie, we still had some credit on our passes, so we changed that in for coins and turned the kids loose in the arcade. There were lots of fun games. Tristan and Zachary really enjoyed air hockey. I'm not even sure who won! They just had a good time. Samantha and I found a dance game to play. I thought that I would be really good at it, since I danced when I was younger. Boy was I wrong! Samantha did great, and by the end, I was even scoring some decent points. The kids (including Ty) played a lot more games and then it was time to go back to the hotel. We were so thankful for those passes that the Vanslooten's gave us because without them, we couldn't have done half the stuff we did!
We stopped at a market and picked up some donuts and orange juice for the next morning, and then went back to the hotel for some more swimming. This time, Ty and I stayed out of the pool and instead played cards with Pam at one of the tables poolside.
On Sunday morning, we got up nice and early, so we could make it back to Temple Square to watch a broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. Children have to be at least 8 to attend the show, so Pam stayed out with Zach while Richard, Ty, Tristan, Samantha, and I went into the Tabernacle to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the orchestra perform. They went though the entire program once as a dress rehearsal and then it was time for the broadcast. It was amazing! Ty and I were both in tears as those beautiful voices sang those carols and especially during "For Unto Us a Child is Born" from the "Messiah". As those powerful voices sang, "Wonderful! Counselor!" from the song, we couldn't stop the tears from flowing freely. It was so moving. Even remembering it now, I feel tears pricking my eyes. We were there for the 4,185th network broadcast. I would love to go again. After the broadcast, we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to have Sacrament meeting. It was a very stirring day for us and we truly felt moved by the Spirit that day.
When Sacrament meeting was over, we hopped in our cars for the 3 hour drive home. It was made shorter by listening to an audio book. Mayzee was so happy to see us when we picked her up. She kept doing these short little howls all the way home and jumping from lap to lap in her excitement to see us. We had a very nice weekend, but it was nice to get home. I'd like to do it again some time.

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year, Thanksgiving was at our house. So after a day filled with baking and smoking (the turkey), a day with 18 people in my house eating and playing cards, we needed a break. So, the day after Thanksgiving, we left Mayzee with a "pet resort", and went down to Salt Lake City where we met up with Ty's parents. We stayed at the Little America in downtown SLC. We had rooms just across the hall from Pam and Richard. It was a lot of fun, being able to spend some time together just having fun!
After getting settled in our room, we headed down to Temple Square so we could be there when they lit up the Christmas lights for the first time this season. While we were waiting for the sun to set, we did a little sight seeing. The my family had never been on the roof of the Conference Center, so we did that first. It was amazing up there. They have planted a huge garden and there are fountains and reflecting pools. It's beautiful. I would love to see it in the Summer, when the gardens are in bloom!





After walking around on the roof of the Conference Center, we went over to Temple Square proper. It was quite cold, so we decided to wait in the Visitor's Center. They have some really cool displays there. One of my favorites is a model of Jerusalem in the year 33 AD. There are buttons with short explanations about the life of Christ. When you push the button, a spotlight focuses on the part of the city where that event took place. Zachary and Samantha were entranced. Of course, we HAD to go up the ramp to the upper level to see the beautiful Christus. I love that statue of our Christ with His arms open to us, showing us where He has "engraved us on the palms of His hands."
By then, it was getting to be dusk outside, so we headed out to wait for the lights to come on. There were so many people! While we were waiting, stamping our feet and moving side to side to keep warm, I noticed a little girl holding a P.F. Changs bag and got so excited. The family luckily had their number programed in their phone from when they had to call for directions, so they gave me that number so we could make plans to eat there later. Soon, it was full dark and they turned on the lights. Because the economy is still down, there weren't as many lights as there have been in the past, but it was still breathtaking. I love the way the temple looks at night when it's all lit up, so I included a picture of that as well. When we had seen all that we wanted to see, we found a Cheesecake Factory and had dinner, followed by a slice of yummy Red Velvet Cheesecake. Then it was back to the hotel for some swimming in the indoor/outdoor pool. Then, back to the hotel room for some much needed rest.