Cold pillows and clean sheets.....

These are the wonderful people who gave me life and raised me, Gramps and Nannaw (Doug and Yvonne), my cute mom and dad. It was almost like being an only child since my only brother is eight years older than me. My folks didn't have a lot of money, but I always seemed to get great gifts for my birthday and other occasions. One gift turned out to be one of my very favorites of all time and has led to another simple pleasure!!! Thanks mom and dad, I miss you both!

One year they gave me an awesome new sleeping bag for my birthday.....it was awesome because it did NOT have that heavy flannel on the inside, instead it was soft, slicky material. I was anxious to use it, so I took it into my bedroom, put it on my bed, unzipped it, pushed my window wide open, walked out and closed the door. It was a very cold fall night. When it was finally bedtime, whoa, was my room ever cold and was that slick material even colder!! I closed the window and snuggled down in my new sleeping bag......it was heaven!! My mom thought I was really weird, I think I slept like that for quite a few days!! Now I love to have a cold pillow to sleep with, I'll even turn mine over during the night!! That along with clean sheets, ahhh what a great night's sleep zzzzz! Simple pleasures anyone??

Thanksgiving Day with Family and Friends!!

I got up at 6 to stuff this huge bird and get it in the oven. I'm no Martha Stewart, but I think the finished product looks pretty good. My helpers look pretty good too!! Max was so excited to see the BIG turkey!!

I always seem to forget at least one item for the Thanksgiving feast and this year was no exception.......it was the yams! I realized this just as everyone was sitting down to eat. I was trying to sneak into the pantry to find a spare can when I was intercepted by Papa Randall. Well I was forgiven and we simply had a great meal without those pesky yams!! Here are a couple of our friends, Marshall holding Randy the Dog!! Randy loved all the turkey that I managed to get on the floor during the carving process!! Ya gotta love those ears, he even puts mine to shame!! What better thing to do on Thanksgiving but catch some fast action football, Papa Randall and Marshall enjoying the game!!

After the big meal, a little rest, some pie and more football, we headed to Bountiful Bowl for some fierce competition!! Teams were as follows: Papa Randall, Suni, Janetha and Jake against Nana Sue, Marshall, Mike and Max (we all took turns holding Luke). As you can see Max has fine form and is able to actually throw the ball a long way down the alley!!

Suni, Jake and Luke checking out the score. The first game was tied right down to the last ball Max rolled.........oops, he missed getting his spare, so we remained tied going into game 2!!

Here's Mike trying hard to figure out just what we need to inch our score even higher. He tried giving Luke to Suni, Papa Randall and Jake to hold so they would be too worn out to throw their bowling balls!!

Finally I found the bowling ball that worked (a little too late into game 2)!! I got a strike, and another and yes ANOTHER!! How's that, a turkey on Thanksgiving!! It wasn't enough to help us pull ahead, the games were close but Papa Randall's team won!!



It was a great day, however, we were missing a few very important people to make this an even greater day. We had to share Doug, Linds and Izzy with her family this year - we missed having them here and Doug complaining that he doesn't even like turkey! Eric, Marisa, Kaylee, Lucy and Sofi were missing from our table too, they stayed in Dublin, Ca and enjoyed dinner with a family in their neighborhood.

Oh how we love all of our family members!! This is such a wonderful time to think about what we are thankful for. My list could go on forever, wonderful kids, spectacular grand kids, terrific husband, great friends, good health, warm home and the gospel of Jesus Christ which keeps us together forever!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

A Glorious Day in San Francisco!!

We started out bright and early but needed to stop to feed our little "bird"! Sofi is such a character and always has a happy and/or unpredictable expression on her cute face!




Touring San Quentin Prison has always been at the top of my list of "things to do". Little did I know that today was going to be my lucky day (or so I thought)!!



Here is a bird's eye view of the prison where Eric is working with Hensel Phelps to build a new hospital. We started our tour with much anticipation.......



We were able to make a quick drive through the prison yard (sorry no photos inside the slammer). The fence and barbed wire looked like a terrific deterrent to me, very scary, pointy and sharp!! Enough prison life, on to see the beautiful Golden Great Bridge (Lucy was so excited to see the Golden Great bridge)!

Looks like the slide at Yerba Buena Gardens got the better of Bills- he tried it out first to make sure it was safe for the kids!!

The Bills' family photo op on the slide!

Ahh, a little shut eye after our big day in the city. I think Eric may have had a small doze around as he drove us all home!!

We're home safe and all awake! Nana Sue got hugs and loves after a fun day in San Francisco!!

Here I am!

Well I am officially out of the blog stalker closet-- wahoo! It took a push from my blogging girls and help from Marisa to actually get it going. I went through a lot of different blog titles, it was painful....wake me at 8, i know it's here someplace, now where did i put it? and i don't care which car we go in, just to name a few. I'm sure all of these discarded titles will become posts someday! I decided that simple is better thus Nana Sue's News was born!! You will note that I LOVE using !!. I'm pretty excited about almost everything!

Well let me introduce my family to you from the photo: Front left to right, Lindsay holding Isabella (18 months), Doug, Jake (11) Max (4), Lucy (4), Kaylee (6). Behind Doug is Luke (1), Mike, Janetha, Suni, Nana Sue, Marisa, Sofi (18 months), Eric and behind us all is Papa Randall!!

I think this is a terrific way to keep a journal and share our lives with friends and family. I look forward to hearing from all of you, so welcome to Nana Sue's News!!