We Meet Baby Elisabeth

We had plane tickets to fly to Wisconin through Denver on March 13th.  We had planned the trip for months.  Our temple would be closed for two weeks during March.  This would be the perfect time for us to go and help Kristen and her family and to meet our newest grandchild: Elisabeth Dawn.
We were completely packed on the afternoon of the 12th, had printed our tickets and were ready to leave the next morning, when we got a text from United Airlines saying that because of severe weather our tickets had been changed to Thursday, March 14th- same flights- same times.  So, again we prepared and printed our tickets, only to receive another text from United on the afternoon of the 13th informing us that our flights had been cancelled altogether.  So we spent Wednesday evening trying to get through to the swamped United desk to reschedule our flights.  Bomb Cyclone had hit the nation!!!  People were grounded and unable to get to their destinations all around the country.  So for a week our suitcases sat packed and ready to go:

We rescheduled our flights for Wednesday, March 20th, and this time all was well.  The weather was much better this week, and Kristen and Jared were able to reschedule Elisabeth's baby blessing for the next Sunday.

Kristen picked us up at the airport late Wednesday evening.  When we got to her home, she took Elisabeth out of the car seat, unwrapped our new granddaughter and we got to hold her for the first time.

The next morning two-year old Sammy greeted us.  

He has learned to cross his eyes.  This kid is a character and one of the most expressive children I have ever known.

I had to take a picture of Nathan's art project for school.  This is NATHAN drawn in ASL

We held baby Elisabeth as much as possible

And took way too many pictures!

Is there anything sweeter than cuddling a new baby?  She loved to sleep on my chest, and I loved it, too.

I love this picture!

These Wisconsin kids hadn't seen the sun much for months.  The first sunny day was while we were there.  Nathan took his magnifying glass out to burn a message to his younger brother.

We brought a suitcase full of gifts for Elisabeth and her siblings opened them for her.

On Saturday, we attended indoor soccer games for Audrey, Jacob, Brielle, and Nathan.

Skill drills

Grandpa elicits Elisabeth's newfound skill of smiling

We did a lot of cooking and cleaning while we were there.

We're making waffles, buttermilk syrup and bacon for dinner one night.  We also made stir fry, cookies, chicken divan, jello salad, etc. while we were there and left a couple of meals ready for after we left.  Ken kept the house and kitchen spotless.

Brielle is such a big help around the house.  She is a great help with her siblings, too, especially the baby and Sammy.  Wait til you see the cake she made for Sammy's 3rd birthday! (teaser for the next post!)

Sunday was Elisabeth Dawn's blessing day.

Beautiful mother and daughter

The family minus Jacob and Audrey who had already gone to Primary.  It was such a special day:  Elisabeth w s given a beautiful blessing, Nathan gave a fantastic talk, and Brielle played the violin with a group in the ward.  It was just a happy coincidence that all of that was scheduled on the day we were there.

During Come, Follow Me study time in their library of learning on Sunday.  Audrey held Elisabeth for a long time and was so cute with her.

Jared made us a delicious venison dinner on Sunday.  Jared always makes dinner on Sundays at their house.  He is a very good cook, as are all of our sons-in-law.

Kristen was so kind to put Elisabeth is our arms as much as possible while we were there.  Then she would take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

We loved being in Wisconsin with the Mackrory family.  In the next post, I will tell about Sammy's third birthday party.  It deserves a post of its own!