Sunday, August 30th

We hurried up to Berkeley this weekend to give Tim and Mel a chance to take a much-needed nap. Little Colton is soooo cute, but he has inherited his daddy's "gas issues" and was having trouble sleeping. So Gammie and Papi got to hang out with him for a little while, so mom and dad could rest. Papi was very proud that he was able to get him to sleep with his "signature" shake-the-baby's-bottom-and-walk-around-the-room strategy, so I thought I had to post this one on the blog. We also are really looking forward to having everyone together this coming weekend. Jason and Kristi and the kids (Braden, Lexi, Kennedy, Presley, and Gavin) will be here, and then we will all travel up to Berkeley for everyone to meet little Colton. It should be absolute chaos, but great fun!!!!

Home, Sweet, Home!

Gammie and the girls just having fun on the couch!

Gavin enjoying his bathtime!

Papi enjoying the beach in San Diego. He only got his toes wet.

A beautiful California sunset. Wow!

Papi having a heart-to-heart with Colton!

It is Monday, August 10th, and I'm finally back home again. I feel like I've been away for a very long time. It was 103 degrees here today and I was still really tired, but it actually still felt really good to be home. The only thing that would have made it better is if Colton, Tim, and Mel AND Jason, Kristi, Braden, Lexi, Kennedy, Presley, and Gavin lived here too. No ... change that. It would be great if we all lived in some wonderful place with great temperatures so we could get outside and enjoy ourselves. Anyway, for the time being, I'll just have to enjoy my pictures. Here's a few to bring you up to date. By the way, my new career goal is to work part-time only so I can spend the balance of my time with my grandkids!

Finishing Up In San Diego!

I have been at the AVID Conference in San Diego all week. It's Thursday afternoon and I'm exhausted! Dad will be here to get me at noon tomorrow, and we're going to stay over for one night. This is one of the first times I've been really excited that he doesn't talk very much because I've been with people who like to talk a lot all week. The silence will truly be golden!!! I have really been missing my grandchildren this week, so I decided to post a couple of pics to show you that I'm thinking about them. The beautiful girls in pink are Lexi and Kennedy, my granddaughters. Kristi (their mom) tells me they have spent a little too much time together this summer, but this pictures shows one of their better moments. Aren't they beautiful!!!

The cutie pie with long fingers is Colton, Tim and Mel's little guy. He is so cute!!! He is actually two weeks old today. I miss him. He smells sooooo good! I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that I'll get to see everybody one more time before school starts. I need a "Gammie Fix" before the stress level goes sky high again.

Colton David Swift is Here!

Colton David Swift joined us at 6:15 p.m. on July 23, 2009. His delivery was very difficult, but he is beautiful and healthy. Mama and daddy are exhausted ... in fact, they didn't really know you could be as tired as they are right now! We are all trying to help out as much as we can this week. Hopefully they can get a little rest and regain some strength.

Great Weekend!

This weekend was crazy busy, but so much fun! We left Friday around 4:00 in the afternoon and headed down to Riverside to Jason & Kristi's house. Dave and Jason (and Braden) worked hard all day Saturday to remodel the bedrooms and hallway. Kristi and I worked on my homework (yuck), but how nice to have kids that can tell you what you need to know! We also kept the kids as busy as possible so they wouldn't bother the workers too much. It was wonderful! Too short -- but boy did we need a family fix!

We left Riverside at about 8:00 p.m. to return home. Finally drove into our driveway at about 1:00 in the morning. Luckily, I got to sleep on the drive, so when I came in the house, I fired up the computer and posted the assignment Kristi helped me finish. Then I started working on the second assignment that was due the next day. At 5:30 in the morning, I finally said enough is enough, and I laid down to get a little sleep. It was very little sleep though because I had to get back up at 6:30 a.m. to get in the shower. We left for Tim and Mel's at about 7:30 and arrived in Berkeley three hours later. We got to spend the day with Tim and Mel. We had lunch at Chipotle, and then headed down to the stadium to see the game between the Angels and the A's. We got seats in the shade (yea!), and the Angels won the game 1-0 in the 10th inning. When the game was over, we went back to their house and Tim and dad helped me finish my homework. Once again, I feel blessed. Tim could see the stress in my face, so he took the opportunity to talk it all out with me. In about 30 minutes, we figured out exactly how I can complete the study I have to do for my masters thesis -- Yippie! I feel so much better!!!

To celebrate, we headed down to Barney's, one of our favorite local restaurants, and had some delicious dinner. Tim took his lovely bride, Mel, to drive down the "bumpy road" -- a strategy they hope will make Baby Colton decide to be born quickly. Dave and I hit the road and headed home to Clovis. We got home at about 11:00 p.m., and were in bed and asleep within minutes. It was so wonderful. I may not have riches, but I am so blessed with these kids! Hope you guys feel as blessed with yours as I do with mine.

Getting Started!

Wow! Do you think Gammie & Papi need a blog? Well, we thought it would be a fun way to keep connected with everyone in the family. I have so much fun looking at your blogs, now you will be able to look at ours. If we are doing something really interesting, you will know all about it. You will also be able to watch us age gracefully (or not)! All of our wonderful grandchildren will be able to peek at our page whenever they feel like it! So here we go...