Grandma Phyl

Grandma Phyl came to visit us immediately following Christmas and stayed with us through the New Year. What a wonderful visit! She is so much fun to be around. We played games and ate everything Sheila placed in front of us. We at some nice dinners out and did our best to not offend any chef who was serving us.

We enjoyed New Year's Eve in Seattle. Brunch at Salty's and then the Broadway show Cinderella at the 5th Avenue Theatre. We dragged her all over the place and she hardly seem to mind. At Salty's she profounded stated, "I need to squeeze some lemon juice in my Diet Coke to give it some nutritional value. Did anyone see a lemon at the buffet bar?" We were doing extreme damage to our health at that very moment. In retrospect, even she admitted that worrying about our nutrition while working on our 4th platters seemed a little odd. Following the show and a little shopping, we drove to Portland to visit Darcee and Brent. Darcee was at the hospital with Keith so we celebrated New Years with them by uncorking a couple of bottles of Martinellis and breaking some amazing sushi (for Darcee, of course).

Grandma Phyl never ceases to amaze us. She is wicked smart and will likely forget more than I will ever know. She was so sweet with Keith. She spent every moment that she could with him. In her words, "He's just an angel boy!" She is an inspiration for all of us. She never stops moving. I'm not making this up, as any who knows her can attest. I'm not sure how she out paces us at her age. She is truly a remarkable women at any age, and when you consider she is 80+ it's mindboggling.

She is so accommodating. She rode back to Salt Lake crammed in Shea's truck with several co-eds, without even a whisper of a complaint. What a trooper!




Lil D and Grandma Phyl.

Loving Keithy every chance she had.

Cinderella at the 5th Avenue Theatre.

She's a winner for sure! We couldn't be more blessed.

The hap, hap, happiest Christmas

Despite Keith's extreme challenges over the Holidays, we still managed to have just about the "hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny [bleeping] Kay." We enjoyed skiing and snowboarding (until I tore my MCL wrestling), shopping, Ju-jitsu kick boxing (until I tore my MCL), doing puzzles, games, eating everything in sight (unaffected by my MCL injury), hanging out with the coolest grandkids known to man, P90X workouts (until I injured my MCL), a Broadway play in Seattle, the Holiday Brunch at Salty's (West Seattle), a trip to Portland and very special visit from Grandma Phyl.

Chels and Ally.

A belated Christmas in Tigard.

New Year's Eve in the hospital with Keith.

Chels and Ally. Notice the cross toes.

Lil D and Ally.

Sibling love or torture?

Lil D and Keithy.

A very satisfying New Year's Eve at Salty's.

Grandma Phyl spent a lot of time hanging out with Keith. It was touching.

Probably the best present I've received in a long, long time--a customized Wolverine themed climbing helmet, painted with our most famous family motto: "Scratch and Claw."

Keith finally getting to open a present. Woohoo!

Sheila, me and Grandma Phyl at Cinderella.

Shea, Lil D and Chels at Cinderella.

Cole--a Super Hero for sure!

A Princess, and she knows it!

Lil D and Me at the Box Office of the 5th Avenue Theatre for Cinderella.

Grandma Phyl and Lil D at Salty's (probably the best buffet known to mankind).

Grandpa Smart got to spend tons of time with Evie (and she loved it, of course).

I am not sure where all the pics of Sydney and Nick are. When Nick is around, I don't shoot very many pictures because I am totally intimidated by Nick's Nikon camera. At any rate, we felt so blessed this Christmas. Seeing Keith suffer so much was difficult to be sure, but we nevertheless found so much good to celebrate and enjoy just being together.