Just a little in-between stuff....

We've been pretty thrilled for Brandon, lately. He got to spend nearly four months in Washington, D.C. as an intern for one of our state senators there. It's a great experience and big opportunity for him, and goes right along with his major in political science. He would have loved to have brought Cecilia & Giselle with him, but housing prices there for a small family are pretty exorbitant. Cecilia decided to stay with her mom for the four months of the internship. It was pretty tough on both of them to be separated from one another, but they managed. 

Because of those plans, they moved out of their apartment the day after Giselle's blessing. We had helped them with packing and loading their storage unit. So, when Giselle's blessing was over, we headed out of town on our way back home. Brandon & Cecilia followed behind us the next day. Cameron and Darcie traveled also the next day. Just before leaving, I grabbed this picture of Emma with the huge tree that had been taken down next door. She'd rollerbladed underneath this thing at least a dozen times.

Not long after getting back to Lewiston, Alyssa and I hosted a bridal shower for one of her best friends. It was a lot of fun pulling this together in her red-and-gold ("Ironman") color scheme.

One of the really fun gifts she received was this from an older family member:

When she opened it, and showed it, her family all asked if that was The Recipe for The Bread. Like it was some food of the gods! Well, heck, if that many people are interested in it, it must be amazing! Wonder if I can zoom in on that photo and get the recipe? 

The beautiful bride with her sisters and my girls.

So the twist to this party -- was actually probably a rather dumb move, on my part.

(Disclaimer: These photos may be more than you'd like to see. I'll try to stop short of getting gross.)

This year, I finally decided to do it. I've been working most of my life to grow the most outstanding bunions around..... and I've done a pretty good job:

And I finally did it. I got the surgery done. Foot #1 (left) was done on the last day of Seminary last spring. It was healed up before we headed to Rexburg for Giselle's birth. I was even out of the fashionable footwear before that trip, too:

Can you see the huge different between the before (right) and after (left)?
Um, ..... yeah.

So,  after returning home from Rexburg, I had the surgery on my second (right) foot. And the bridal shower, was the SAME day.

WHAT was I thinking????

Final result after the bridal shower -- I was way more tired than I should have been, my wound bled more than it should have bled, but otherwise -- no real effect. I'm glad we threw the shower, and I'd do it again!

So, having my bunions removed was a really good decision. It has eliminated a lot of the foot pain I'd been experiencing. Shoes fit better .... and I'm really looking forward to doing some serious shoe-shopping now. One outcome that I wasn't anticipating: big scars. What's up with that?? My podiatrist told me that my scars were not typical. Apparently, I am a really talented scar-grower. Do I wish they weren't so obvious? Sure. But I'll take what I got.

Graduation and Blessing Day

Still catching up here. Please don't judge me!

So my [our] Rexburg trip concluded with two big events: Cecilia's graduation, and Blessing Day for our sweet little Giselle. Cecilia has worked hard to keep her grades up and get everything done and complete for her graduation. This is no small task when you consider that she was doing it while pregnant, and then also as the first-time mom of a newborn.

Commencement -- we couldn't even find her in the masses here:

Brandon was pretty proud of her, too.

It's not easy juggling a new baby and school, but she sure did it!

So proud of her!!

The family came down to Rexburg to join us for graduation and the blessing, and one evening we slipped down to the river at Idaho Falls for some pictures.

Oh, it was so beautiful there, and so, so peaceful.

The following Sunday, we went to church with Brandon and Cecilia, and Giselle was blessed. Cecilia's mom made a pretty blessing dress for her, and I made a little memory bouquet for her wrist.

Todd's aunt LaRee came, too -- it was so good to see her again. It's been a long time!

(Do we look old enough to be grandparents? Don't answer that!!)

My sweet niece, Lyndsey and her hubby Ross also came that day -- so fun to see them again and have them join us!

I'm such a sucker for baby-yawns.

At the end of the day, THIS is what it's all about.

Since it's so much later now that I'm recording this, I have a different perspective, perhaps. Or maybe it's just that I've had more time to think about it. Right now, this little angel is pretty far away, and we haven't gotten to see or hold her lately. I think I've got newborn withdrawals. (Even though she's not a newborn anymore!) Just sure am missing this little one.

But oh, what joy comes with a baby!!

Oh, Baby!!

So, this post is throwin' it back ... like to July.

Because that was when Todd and I became grandparents for the first time!

Hard to believe, right? That's what we keep thinking, too.

And after some thought, I finally figured out why I don't "feel" like a grandma. When I was a little kid, my grandparents were already elderly. They were in their seventies. Retired. Gray-haired. Moving slowly. Lots of wrinkles. In fact, three out of four of my grandparents had passed away by the time I was 13 years old. And the fourth grandparent passed away before I got married.

So in my mind's eye, a "grandparent" was a really, really old person. If I stop to compare, I am a quarter of a century YOUNGER than what I remember my grandparents being. It's a completely different place in life than they were.

Yeah. Now I feel a little better!!

So, this is Giselle -- the beginning of the Next Generation of Huffakers!! Isn't she a doll?? We ran down to Rexburg to hold this little sweetie, almost as soon as we got the news.

(She did undergo light therapy for jaundice for a couple of days, but we think she's pretty darn special.)

Her first outing --- to the Fourth of July parade.

While we were there together, we celebrated our anniversary -- 29 years together!!

Cecilia was a real trooper, and got right back into things right away. She and Brandon had three more weeks of school until the end of the semester, and Cecilia was heading for graduating with her bachelor's degree. As adorable as they are, a newborn baby isn't real conducive to classes, homework, projects, and finals.

Since Cecilia's mom was unable to come, we decided it might be best if I stayed in Rexburg until the semester's end, to help out with meals and baby care while her parents worked madly through the end of their school year. We had Emma stay with me, since the rest of the family was busy with work and Girl's Camp and activities that would limit what Em could do.

And Emma absolutely LOVES holding Giselle!!

And I can attest that our two lovely new parent-students ..... were more than just a LITTLE tired!

We had to come up with some ideas to keep busy while we were there, since we don't get to hold a baby ALL the time.

One day, we went to Cameron's apartment, and gave haircuts to him and two of his roommates. How about a before-and-after?

(Yes, he really needed a haircut!!!)

Here's a few other things that Emma and I did ....

Roller blading. And yes, I got up on rollerblades. And no, there are no photos of me here. I was lucky to fit my foot into the skate. (More on that in another post.)

 

There is a city park that has a carousel AND a free kids' splash pad. Score!!! We liked that a LOT!

We bought a cheap little frisbee at D.I., and played frisbee together after dinner at a pizza joint.

Emma likes helping out with food preparation -- but she really only wants to help make things that she already knows she likes. Like brownies. And meat loaf.

We went up on campus a lot and hung out and played games while Brandon and Cecilia were in classes. I think I read three of the "Work and the Glory" series while we were there.

And we took every opportunity to snuggle with this cute little bug! 

Cute little family!

Now, if I can only figure out what to be called ..... Nana, Gran, Gram, GG, ..........

but I'm thinkin' I will stick with the classic, "Grandma".

2014 Summer Blur. Not the photos, the life!

It's all just a blur, really.

If I didn't have the photos, I'd probably forget at least half of what's been going on for the last three months. Craziness -- that's what's been happening.

And, to complicate things, I had attempted to do a giant blog post that would catch up on everything. The whole summer. The works. Only problem was, it didn't work. While attempting to publish it, the whole thing locked up on me and I lost it. It was rather discouraging, and I didn't have much heart for trying to re-create it.

So, some of our summer happenings will have to go by the wayside. The takeaway lesson is, don't procrastinate. If I'd just kept up with things, it would have been a series of shorter blog posts. Oh, well. When I thought about some of our busy, busy happenings, this picture seemed appropriate:

I'm sure that's not what Darcie meant when she wrote it. That is one girl who would love to travel. And here I was thinking that my to-do list is endless!!

Well, before I start on catching-up [yet again], I want to share just a couple of photos with you from earlier this summer.  One morning, I slipped out of bed way early, grabbed Darcie, and off we went to the river's edge to grab some summer sunrise photos. It was a beautiful morning!

And it was WAY early!!

But I caught the sun and shadows of the hill....

If I could only take the peacefulness in this picture and infuse it into my heart, I'd be golden. No pun intended.

Sometimes I just feel like life is zooming by, and I'm only halfway "with it", but I'm being dragged along for the other half!!  And it's pretty easy to look at others, and think they're a whole lot more put-together than I am.  Maybe someday, right?

In the mean time, here's to playing catch-up!