Our little grandchildren are growing so fast and it really shows at Halloween time.  These photos are in the order of when we saw them.

This year Avery went as Dorothy.  This little Dorothy
was like the tornado, always moving.

I had to include this shot to prove that she did have ruby slippers.

Jane was such a cute little chick, but not ready to smile about it.

 Riley and Addison did an amazing job of holding still while being made up.

Presley was done by the time we got there.

Quite the combination here with the skeleton of Jack Sparrow, Young Dracula and Princess Strawberry Shortcake. 

We were worried for a while, but the clown and the dead football player finally showed up.  I guess the big sisters were just to old for trick or treating.

Special Day, March 13, 2011

I thought it would be good to have a record of the family on the special day when Jeff was sustained and set apart as the 2d counselor in the new Bishopric in their ward so I took some photos. It will be interesting to see how he and they have changed by the time he is released.

While the camera was out I got one of the two sisters together.

Jane has been doing this new thing with her tongue lately that is so cute, but, of course, she wouldn't do it while the camera was there.  We did get this really cute expression though that I thought everyone might enjoy.

Christmas Memories 2010

Christmas has come and gone and we were blessed to have almost the whole family make it to our house this year.  Because for me the highlight of Christmas is family, to see them and visit with them, I thought it would be fun to have a photo of each of the grandchildren with my Santa hat that I like to wear as often as possible during the Christmas season.



















Darling little Jane is growing so fast.

Davis really enjoyed Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Avery thinks visiting with cousins and aunts and uncles is the best!

Presley loved the cousins but loved Missy even more.

Campbell likes to bring fun wherever he goes.

Addison is a national energy source with an ever present smile.

Megan keeps a close eye on the beauty of the world around her.

 Riley loves to make his parents happy and proud.

Colt loves football and everything about it.

Hallie was Missy's favorite baby sitter, but she loved it.

Taydon loves golf and baseball and always "brings it".

Cody loves the little ones and they love him.

Makenna is the fun loving serious Soccer player.

Skyelie is our woman of mystery as we wonder what's going on in that pretty little head.

Makenzie keeps so busy with the Young Women, school and work.

Tanesha was counting the hours until she made her mom and dad grandparents.

Though we were so happy to have so many grandchildren with us we were ever mindful of those who couldn't make it this year, and their parents too.

I'm so happy that we got photos of them also donning there very own Santa hats.

 I'm sure this is how they felt when they found out they wouldn't be with Grandma and Grandpa Law this Holiday season.

If any of you would like a copy in a higher quality file for printing or just for your keepsakes just let me know.

Who Are All These People

The other day a close relative wanted to know the identities of all the people in our family photo, so soon - probably after Christmas - I'll post a photo that identifies each person.  If that is of interest to you, check back in a couple weeks or so.

This will probably be my last post before Christmas on this blog, although I am posting Christmas photos and wishes daily on my photo blog.  I have a very special photo that I'm very excited about that I will post on Christmas Eve so stop by there.

Need Your Input

After about four or five (maybe more) years of being a total slacker I finally got Christmas cards out this year.  Here is what it looks like.

As you can see I put the URL to this blog on the card, so if anyone is interested they can take a look.

As my family knows I post almost daily to my photography blog but like I have been with Christmas cards, I have also been a total slacker with this blog.  Sooooooo, I figured I'd set a goal to post at least weekly here on this blog in 2011.  I believe this is the 12th post for 2010 so that means I've only averaged one per month this whole year.  Once a week would be about a four to five hundred percent improvement. 

This is why I "Need Your Input".  I would be happy to try to keep this blog much more up to date, but only if there is some real interest.  So please leave a comment or email me and let me know if you want me to increase my efforts to keep this blog up.  Puhleeeeeese don't respond based on what you think I want to hear.  If you don't have a yearning to see Jeanne and I work harder on keeping this blog up then don't respond that you do.  We fully understand and appreciate that lives are busy and complicated.  There is only so much time in a day or a week.  If you are happy with the way it is, or you get enough "Scott time", by viewing my photography blog, then just ignore this.  No response simply tells me that the status quo is working fine. 




This may be my last post on Empty Nesters for 2010, so have a wonderful Christmas and a great 2011.  




OBTW, I did post a photo of Jeanne and I in Zion National Park that I took last week while we were down there.  You can go to it by clicking here.

Finally 2

I said in yesterday's post that I finally had it, but if you read clear to the bottom you may have noticed that I also said there were still some problems and if I got new energy I'd give them a shot.  So. . . Another 3 hours with Photoshop and here you go.  Remember that by just clicking right on the photo you can see it much larger.

Do you see any changes?

Which do you like better?

Finally

I have procrastinated and procrastinated the finishing up of our family photo for numerous reasons, but finally decided it was time to tackle it.  First I had your mom select the one of the originals that was the best.  In case you don't know by now, when you get this many people together you will never get all of them looking good at the same time.  One of the biggest problems was that Hallie's face was hidden behind Megan in every single one that had the whole original group.  I have indicated some of the other problems on the images below.

NOTE:  You can see either one of these photos significantly larger by just clicking on it.

This is what we started out with.

 And this is about 6 hours later with me and Photoshop.

Was it worth it?

Yes there are still things I'd like to have different and better and I may rest up and tackle a few more things tomorrow, but believe it or not I'm tired and have a headache from this.  The most important thing is that I'm so grateful to finally have a family photo with everyone included even if it was a lot of work for everyone.  Thank you so much for everybody's help in making this happen.

Don't try to use this one for printing, it is too low of resolution.  Everyone will be getting a CD with every photo on it, obviously including this one in the maximum resolution that we have.

Left Coast Trip

What do you think? Do you like my clever and creative title for this post? Okay, I guess I'm not in a clever or creative mood today. In the time I've spent up there I've figured out why they call it the "Left" Coast. The important thing is that we did have a nice trip to Washington and Oregon a couple weeks ago, and I thought I ought to post about it, if for nothing more than to let you see some of the cute grand kids. I didn't get any of Kathryn or Trevor because they were so busy getting the house and yard ready. I'd already slowed them enough by just being there.  Nor did I get any of Melissa, but that's okay, she didn't get any of me. LOL!

First we went to Kennewick,  Washington, to Kathryn and Trevor's new home, where we spent the night and talked them into letting Hallie and Megan go with us to Oregon the next day.  I was kind of surprised, but they did, and I'm sure glad.

When we got to Dustin and Tamra's we relaxed the first day and played some games and played with there toys, and even played some Wii, but I didn't get any photos of that.

I hope by now that you know that if you click on a photo you can see it larger.

Hallie helped Tamra with some of the cooking. We did eat really really well on this trip - notice I said "well", not right or healthy. But boy was it good.


The next day happened to be my birthday and we headed out fairly early for the coast around Newport. What a WONDERFUL day that turned out to be. If you're familiar with the Oregon coast you know that it's usually cold and damp and foggy and cloudy. Not that day it was P E R F E C T. The clouds were just right, the temperature warmed up a bit and the tide was out quite a way, allowing for lots of FUN exploring and seeing things some of us had never seen before in the wild.


For example both the girls are holding real live star fish in this photo. Of course we returned them to the ocean after the photo was taken. I'm sure Hallie was off finding some other cool stuff like crabs or anemones or something else fun.


Later on Jeanne and Anna had a chance to share a little private time.


Whether it was the sea or the surf or the exercise or Dustin and Tamra's cooking and preparing, I don't know but we shared one of the absolute best lunches that I have ever had in my whole life - no kidding.


I've kind of reserved this blog post for just pictures of the family, but I did get lots of other really great photos at the beach and if you want to see some of them just visit my other blog here. I do have to say that with the the beautiful coast, the weather and family it was the best birthday that I can remember in my adult life.

Friday we headed back to Washington with Dustin, Tamra and family in tow, and on Saturday we paid a visit to a local Kennewick park that is right on the shores of the Columbia river.

Davis really enjoyed himself just wandering around all the fun toys.



Avery had a great time in the swing as well as several other toys.


Among other things, the girls really enjoyed this tire swing, where they could be together as they played.


They finally cajoled grandpa (me) to get them swinging and twirling as fast as they could go. You would never guess that Anna has to take motion sickness pills to ride in the car, because she was on this thing for probably close to half an hour.


Seems like Campbell is still working on that correlation between dark jackets and hoodies and being hot. He does love a hat or his hoodies all the time. The rest of us were sweating with just short sleeves. The important thing is he did find some toys that thoroughly entertained him. He had a ball.


Sean was moving so fast around the toys I never caught him until he took a few minutes to repose by the side of the river.


THANK YOU Dustin and Tamra and Kathryn and Trevor for a wonderful trip. And thanks to the Oregon State Patrol welcoming committee for reminding me of my civic duties to obey the speed limit. LOL!!!

Empty Nesters

Have you heard about the new puppy?  If you'd like to see photos and read about the acquisition simply click here.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

Sometime last year I started a tradition of posting some photos of each of our children on their birthdays. I have not written anything other than the title wishing them a happy birthday
I have to make an exception now, because as special as each of these children is to me, they all have to take a back seat to today's birthday person.

When I look at these baby pictures I think of the old song about "You must have been a beautiful baby, cause, baby, look at you now." Jeanne has always been beautiful.

Jeanne was and is a wonderful mother to our children. The proper raising of each one of them, even into adulthood, has always been her primary concern. She knows the importance of how they are taught from birth and now even as she helps them be better parents of their own children.



As the blog title says, we're empty-nesters now and soon I'll leave the day to day grind of work so that we can spend our time together which will be the best thing of all while still on this earth.



I love you Jeanne! Have a WONDERFUL birthday, and together lets make this the best year of our lives so far.

Scott