I just changed my favourite saying (above). Then I realized how well it fits with this blog post...all about my family - the best gift of life.

On New Years Eve I flew to North America for 5 weeks with our family. After 14 flights and 3 countries later (not counting starting and ending in Saudi, via Bahrain and London airports), here are a few memories.

We celebrated a late Christmas on New Years Day. Here is David with Mari opening his gift.

Mom bought a new camera - the 7th Cybershot like mine that I've recommended. I think I derserve a bonus from Sony. We enjoyed a walk in the snow to learn some settings.
From Calgary I headed to Utah for a week with Jennifer & Jared.

Jennifer is continuing the Ames tradition of making lasagne for special occassions - I guess my visit, their first house guest, was the special occassion.

From Utah it was on to Texas. Erin had changed a lot since we last saw her in May. She is now walking everywhere and talking a lot too. Notice the shoes - she loves shoes. I wonder where she gets that from?!

Elaina and I spent hours playing Candyland. Sometimes she won and sometimes I won, but she was just as excited either way.

Erin is also learning to share.

This is one of the best grandparenting moments. We read this same 'Spot' book over and over, even though they have a bookshelf full of books. Finally I insisted on different ones sometimes.

Several times we went for walks around the neighbourhood with the girls in their red wagon. Our kids had the same wagon - but in those days they didn't come equipped with pop-up seats and cup holders.

Here is Elaina on her tricycle. But since my visit, she's graduated to a bicycle with training wheels. Before I know it she'll be driving a car!

Yellow is Elaina's favourite colour. It was a great day at pre-school when the paint easle was set up with only yellow for each child to create a sun as part of the craft.

This is the Gallery Wall in the girls' playroom, mostly Elaina's pre-school creations. The yellow sun above was the latest addition, but Elaina told me that the pumpkin was her favourite craft. Erin loves dolls and here she is putting her babies to bed in the cradles Grandpa Derry made for each of them.

A backyard swingset...the universal, timeless, childhood toy. Bikes and swing sets - who needs anything more? It was cool out that afternoon and I don't know which we enjoyed more, the backyard play time, or the hot chocolate afterwards, with marshmellows of course.

What a good helper!

Trousdale family portrait. They didn't actually ride like this of course. But I did have a ride with Mike one evening - he took me home from a restaurant on the back of his bike.

After time in Texas, I headed even further south to spend a few days in our new home in Mexico. Dad & Deanna joined me there and stayed on for a few weeks. Now I have a clear image of retirement - breakfast on the patio. Sounds enticing!

From Mexico, it was back to Calgary. Heather & I drove to the temple in Cardston and had a good time together. If you've looked at the previous blog post you'll notice Heather's change in hair colour. Yup - blonde in January, Brunette in February - and I like them both!

This last photo is Mom & Eldon opening a gift. It's a calender that Allison made with photos of all the children and grandchildren. She learned digital scrapbooking and did a fantastic job.

It was a whirlwind trip...but a great time with everyone!