Some Old Photos & Other Items

Here are some old photos and other items I've found as I'm going through some old photo albums

My older siblings, David, Jill and Larry Krause -- probably in 1956.

Hayley at around 10 months.

April, right around age 2.

John and me -- around 1980 or so.

The back of the printed program from my Grandmother, Margaret Gertrude Trager Krause's funeral.

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A Busy Weekend

My niece, Amy and her baby daughter, Aspen are visiting from Utah this week-- staying with Heidi and her family.

On Saturday a bunch of us hit the road and headed down the 15 for a day of fun in San Diego.

We started the day at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.

http://lds.org/placestovisit/eng/historical-sites/san-diego-mormon-battalion-historic-site

Ella was the biggest kid on the tour and, therefore, got to have the heavy gear loaded on her tiny shoulders.

After the tour, we all went outside to get a sampling of life in early California -- we got to do laundry, pretend to make bricks, and pan for gold.

Boppie pannin' for gold.

Prospector Ned lookin' to strike it rich.

April makin' her way thorugh that never ending laundry.

Amy and Aspen.

Heidi's got the right hat on, but she's makin' it look way to easy.

Ned and John took this pretty seriously!

Asher and Ella looking so cute at the brick making area.

For a beautiful Saturday in June, we were lucky to have the yard almost to ourselves.

Wes, Peyton and April

Asher always finds a way to make a unique statement.

After the tour, we set up a couple of blankets and had a picnic of croisants, cheeses, meats, fruits and chips.

John stayed and napped while the rest of us went for walk.

(He was lovingly awakened afterward as you can see.)

The Brobergs on our walk through the old houses of Old Town.

A found stage is never wasted with our family!

After old town, we drove over to one of the many beaches at Mission Bay Park.

Baby Aspen finding sea shells.

Ella the Mermaid

After the beach, it was on to Fillipi's Pizza Grotto in Little Italy.

The little ones love reenacting a scene from "Lady and the Tramp"...its a tradition for us.

Do you enjoy your spaghetti this much?!

On Sunday, it was on to a barbecue at Heidi and Ned's place.

Baby Aspen

Ella teaching me the finer points of eating pickled okra.

She says she loves it.

Me?

It's OK, but I won't be buying bottles of it.

All I can say about this pose...."scrumptious"...sorry, that's just an inside joke here..

Me and me girls -- Ella and Peyton.

Can you say "freckles"!?

The after dinner walk over to the dam at Lake Perris to throw rocks.

Ella and the Aleman Family

Picking up shells.

Wes at his secret stone skipping spot.

Its kind of pretty from here looking across the lake.

Ryan gave his tee shirt to a cold baby Peyton. With his mom's scarf we were callin' him Steven Tyler...little rocker boy.

The Best Easter Ever!

This picture pretty much sums it all up....creepy Easter Bunny (best sport ever, Son-in-Law Wes Aleman), cute kids in their Easter finery, babies screaming (Asher who won't even look at bunny-man, Claire who is covertly kicking him/it), and the bigger kids just loving the wacky fun!

The bunny suit actually belongs to our adopted fun Jewish friends the Yish Family. Three of the cute kids above are theirs -- this was their first Easter celebration and they helped make this one of our best Easters ever.

We had each of our four children over, The Yish Family, along with Scott and Karen Broberg (I love my in-laws), a couple of single sisters that I serve with in the Relief Society presidency, one of which has no family to speak of -- other than distant cousins and another who is from Peru and lives with her grown son who had to work on Easter.

I think I've figured out that sharing our fun, feast and family love just makes it all even better. I'm a firm believer that the more the merrier!

Only we get a 6'2" Easter bunny wearing a really cool vest -- wish you had one too don't ya?

Our Easter Bunny making his dancing debut at the egg hunt -- look at the body language of those petrified little boys. What kind of a twisted nana am I to get such a demented pleasure out of seeing these babies I love so much face such terror!?!

The Grandkids on Easter 2011, William, Asher, Claire, Ella, Carter, Ryan and Peyton. I am so thankful for these wonderful little people. I love telling people I have seven grandkids all 7 and under. So, who's going to give us #8?

Our Alaska Vacation

Whew, what a vacation -- Trains, taxi cabs, a ship, a floatplane, lots of buses, and then more trains and airplanes! This Alaska cruise and vacation is something John and I have been planning for a long time. It started on Thursday, September 2, 2010. We got up early and had Hayley drop us off at the Pedley Metrolink Station. We took the Metrolink into Los Angeles' Union Station. We got our Amtrak tickets and then walked across the street to have breakfast at Phillippe's.

Back on the train, everything was great. Because we upgraded our tickets to include a sleeper compartment, we were able to spend a lot of time in "The Parlor Car". As a part of our package,
we also got all three meals a day in the 1st Class Dining Car. Going to meals for the two days it took us to get from Los Angeles to Seattle was the highlights of our days.

The scenery was fantastic all along the way -- from the city to the seaside of Central California and then into the mountains and forests, we're both glad we took the train rather than flew to board our cruise. (Although from Seattle to Vancouver, BC, we had to take the Amtrak bus -- since the train doesn't go all the way up.)



Vancouver is a beautiful and fun city. We walked around the harbor area around our hotel and then took a bus tour through the entire city. We "Yelped" and found a great place, "The Twisted Fork" and we not at all disappointed in our absolutely delicious brunch (at 3 pm) on Saturday afternoon (we slept in).

Granville Island at Sunset


Where we ate breakfast near our hotel...crepes cooked by a the French owner.

More later.....of the rest of our trip....