The trip to Utah and other things...

I went to see Jennie, Dave, Sam and new little Joshua in February. My main job was to keep Sam busy and happy while Jennie took care of Josh. It was pure pleasure for me, and I hope it was for Sam, as I felt a real bonding between us, maybe for the first time. Having alone time with him for a few days was really wonderful. I was able to participate in helping Sam get potty-trained. Everyday we took a trip to the market so we could get out of the house. Sam was soooo well-behaved. He didn't quite know what to think of his new little brother, but I think he'll learn to love Josh before too long! We took Joshua to his 2-week doctor visit. I was apalled at the filthy office and tried to talk Jennie into changing doctors, if for no other reason than that! Keith and I have our plane reservations to go back in June, as Keith has not yet seen Josh. I can't wait!

In March we took a drive to Utah to see our other two new grandkids, Brigham Ottley Coltharp and Dinah Elizabeth Coltharp. As it worked out, they were blessed on the same day in the same ward. We enjoyed all our grandkids, except the Davenport ones, as everyone else came out to Provo, Utah. John and Micha had quite an experience with the birth of Dinah...totally different from what they had wanted it to be. Dinah was two weeks overdue, so they ended up taking Micha to the hospital, where, after over 24 hours of labor with no success of delivering the baby, they did a C-Section on Micha. Dinah ended up in NICU for 5 days, as she had some lung damage from being in the birth canal too long. Well, after all that, and everyone was home, they are enjoying their new sweet little girl and everyone seems to be fine. Micha and John sure do love that little girl. And so do we. She looked like an angel in her long white blessing dress.

Brigham looks like Brian, until you get to his mouth! He's definitely got the Ottley look as well! He's so much a boy and so darling! When we were at their house, I laid him on the couch next to me and we carried on this long conversation. He was "talking" and smiling and cooing so sweetly! But as soon as I took my camcorder out, he stopped. Leslie says he's a good nurser and a pleasant little guy. The girls, Ayla and Alexa are big helpers for their brother.

Ayla and Alexa played dress-up with some clothes we got them for Christmas. That was a riot, because they are soooo much little girls! At our hotel, both the girls pretended they were servers at a restaurant and had a little pad and pencil and took our orders and served our food. They are so much fun. I want to eat them up!

Aaron (Cindi's and Braxton's) little 9 month old was a pure delight. He is happy almost aways and he is such a cuddly happy, chunky cute little guy. He was almost crawling when we were there, and it seems that right after we left Utah he started crawling, and is continually getting into things! Poor Cindi is worn out from running after him!

Jonah enjoyed being with his cousins, and he was such a good playmate for them. He's the oldest and is very careful with them and loves helping them. Jonah is getting to be such a wonderful young man. He has a lot of misdirected energy at times, but he really loves his cousins. Everyone had such a good time at the hotel in the pool and visiting in the room. I'm glad we had a nice hotel where everyone could gather for fun. We also went out to eat a few times together and had a great time.

It was good to see Sharon, my sister, and my nephew, David and his wife Dulcie, their son, James and their new little girl, Chloe. They came to the blessing. Leslie's sister was good enough to invite us all to her home after the blessings for a brunch. It was nice to have someone with a home big enough for everyone! The weather was cold, rain, and snowy most of the time, and the trip there and home was scarey with blizzard conditions in some spots, but it was so enjoyable.