Lorelle's Birthday

We celebrated Lorelle's birthday tonight at our house with dinner & our typical stick a candle in a carton of ice cream - birthdays, Ishii style. (I think I can count on one hand the times anyone has requested a cake). As per Lorelle's request, Ron made Sukiyaki - which was a big hit - even with the kids. We love having Denver & Lorelle so close. Any one else want to move to the area here?? We would love it.

New Babies!!!

Here is Kate and little Gabriel. Beautiful Mommy's - beautiful babies!

New Babies!!!

We have had such a wonderful September. Two new baby boys were born - Gabriel James Strongin to Kate & Brad and Elias Reed (Eli) Ishii to Ben and Merrilee. I was fortunate enough to spend a week with both new little boys and their mamas and papas. What a joy it is to be a grandparent. We are loving it. (Hang in there all of you who are in the throes of potty training.) I tried to put the picture of Kate and Gabriel up but I am still not too handy with this blog stuff.

Father's Day

We had such a fun time on Father's Day. Ron was given a candy lei by one of the ward members and Andy & Emily's eyes just lit up when they saw it. Of course they wanted to run over and sit on Grandpa's lap. They wanted to wear it but most of all they wanted to help Grandpa eat it!! Ben & Merrilee were here with us (it's been so great having them here for the summer) and Denver & Lorelle and the family joined us for dinner. We love having them only about 15 minutes away. Emily had the wonderful idea that we should watch the video Amy made of Luke dancing - we watched all the videos on the disc - The Christmas video when Austin, Brooke and Luke & Andy were little, Marks birth, Luke dancing and the 30th Anniversary video. It was so much fun - everyone was laughing and enjoying seeing all those great pictures of when the kids were so little. It was a great bonding experience. A perfect way to end a wonderful day. So please keep all those pictures coming so we can have more fun videos to laugh over as the years go by. By the end of this year, we will have 3 more sweet grandchildren to love. We can't wait!

Austin's Birthday

Sunday was Austin's 12th Birthday. Ron & I, Ben & Merrilee & Dave & Kendra and family were all there for Sacrament Meeting to hear Lorelle and Denver speak (farewell talks before moving to Rancho Cucamonga.) They gave excellent talks by the way. I know their ward is really going to miss them. During Priesthood we were all invited into the Bishop's office where Denver ordained Austin to the Aaronic Priesthood. There were a lot of people there - Brooke said she counted 39 boys and 9 girls - (that includes the adults). It was a wonderful experience to be there and share that special time with Austin.

Ishii Family Adult Reunion

It was so great getting together with all our family. Everyone loved hearing Seth sing in his award winning Jazz vocal group Singcopation. It was so much fun just being together. Everyone stayed up late talking, playing games and just having fun. Ron & I love our family!!!

Annie & Chad Kingsley - May 15th, 2009

They were just glowing when they came out of the Temple - can you tell?

Trip to Las Vegas for Annie & Chad's wedding

Here are the beautiful travelers, Emily, Lorelle, Brooke & Cody.

Luke's 9th Birthday

This is Luke the morning of his 9th Birthday just before he and Amy took off for a special day at Disneyland.

Kaitlyn & Derek helping to unpack the dishes

Family Pictures

I haven't posted for awhile but downloading some pictures from the camera inspired me to share these photos from some recent family events, Ron's birthday, my birthday and just some fun visits with the kids.

Valentine's Day

My honey is so creative! We decided to make Valentine Cards for each other this year. I just made a nice little card for Dad but when I got up in the morning I walked in the bathroom and saw my Valentine Card taped to the mirror. I loved it!

George of the Jungle

I was talking with Amy the other day about movies and I mentioned that I would like to get George of the Jungle in DVD because I remembered that back in the day both Austin & Luke loved it and never seemed to tire of it. ( Luke would get so excited he would jump up and down on the coffee table laughing so hard.) I wondered if the younger grandchildren would think it was fun as well. It arrived last week from Amazon. (Thanks, Amy!) So, when Austin, Brooke, Andy & Emily came over this weekend they watched the movie. Not only that, Ron came out of his office and sat with the kids laughing at all the silliness.
Our stake was planning something different for Valentine's Day this year - a Valentine's dance --------for families!! You know how much fun kids always have dancing at wedding receptions! Well, we thought the kids would like to go and Austin mentioned that he didn't know how to dance. We were kidding him about doing the George of the Jungle dance - you know the scene where George and Ursula are dancing around the fire? If George of the Jungle can dance, anyone can. So, when we get to the dance, Austin looked really sharp - blue shirt, nice tie but he's feeling a little hesitant about getting out on the dance floor. Denver said he'd pay him if he'd do the George of the Jungle dance. I asked how much and he held up his hand signifying $5. I told Austin I would match it. Austin's response-----no way! I don't think he would have even done it for $1000. Well, maybe.....
But Austin finally got out on the dance floor with Lorelle - we were all out there doing that dance that everyone does together you know - slide to the left, slide to the right, stomp your left foot, stomp your right foot, back up, jump up, cha cha, etc. Is there a name for that? Some of you who are more with it must know what it is!!! Anyway, we had a good time - Brooke was dancing with Grandpa, Emily with Denver, Andy with me, well we all got out there at least a little bit. And you should see Denver & Lorelle doing salsa dancing!!!