Audra's Baptism

We got to go to Audra's baptism, which was very special. Carly and Rich do a lot of planning ahead in order to make it a very special and memorable occasion for the children. 

Audra and her mom, in front of their house before we left for the church.

The happy grandparents with Audra.

Although Audra wasn't feeling real well that day, and got much sicker later that evening, she was well enough to enjoy the day. She was calm and peaceful.

 We got some good family pictures .

 We were quite surprised when the Gerards showed up! Carly hadn't mentioned that they were in invited to the baptism. Since we hadn't seen them in several years, it was great having a chance to catch up. Rich's mom, Yvonne, recognized Jerry from when he came to speak in their stake. Apparently, their bishop is his business partner and invited him to speak about the parenting book he's written. They should know quite a bit about parenting, with their nine children and three adopted children and nine grandchildren!

 We went to see the Mesa Temple lights Sunday evening with Rich's family, but he stayed home with Audra, who was too sick to go.

 It was very cold and felt Christmasy, and the lights and displays were beautiful.

 Carly and me with Yvonne, Rich's mom.

 We got to spend Carly's birthday with her, which was really nice. Rich made sure the day was special by helping the kids make cards and get gifts, decorating the kitchen, wrapping up several presents and leaving them on the table when he left for work, and making her breakfast and putting it in the oven before he left at 5:30 a.m.! We took her and Audra out for lunch while Bella and Evan were at school (where they go on Mondays) and Carly and I got pedicures before going to see the musical program at school. Rich took Carly out for dinner that night.

Carly made herself a healthy birthday carrot cake.

THANKSGIVING

 We had a small Thanksgiving gathering this year, since the Ellworths went on a trip, but we really enjoyed the time with Jake's family.

  Rich Men

 Jake wanted the kids to see where Dad works, so we stopped by David and Margaret on our way to the Metro Link. This is from the balcony outside Dad's office.

 This is a view of the apartments being built right behind the old white building at David and Margaret. It's a project Dad has been working on for many years- getting funding, getting the City of LaVerne on board, etc. It's for transitional youth, mainly, but will also have some apartments for affordable housing for families. There is also a new building for the store that will have a cafe as well. It will provide a place for the transitional youth to get some job skills. The project is supposed to be completed this spring.

 Lexi is trying out his desk.

 I took this picture so I could get an idea of what Dad needs in order to update his wall of pictures. Some are sadly outdated!

 The Pomona Metro Link Station is a little scary!

 Chinatown.

 I like this chicken, but the rest of the background isn't that great!

CONNECTICUT

We had a really good visit with Jesse, Sarita and Stella. The weather was great mostly, except for a little rain and cold. We made it for the tail end of the beautiful fall colors, and got to see the leaves start to fall in earnest.

Sarita found an interesting place for us to go on an outing while Jesse was at school. It was called the Gillette Castle State Park. It's a home that's built like a castle, overlooking a beautiful river. We took a ferry to cross the river.

William Gillette's "castle", called Seventh Sister, was built in 1919 ^[2] on a 184-acre (74 ha) tract at the top of the southernmost of a chain of hills known as the Seven Sisters. Gillette died having neither a wife nor children, and his will precluded the possession of his home by any "blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded". The State of Connecticut took over the property in 1943, renaming it Gillette Castle State Park. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.^[3]

There are a number of oddities personally designed by Gillette, such as unusual doorknobs and locks, and a system of hidden mirrors for surveillance of the public rooms from the master bedroom. One can see the Connecticut River from the castle's garden.

The grounds originally had a railroad that visitors could ride around the estate, complete with steam engine and an electric engine. The engines were later purchased by Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut and used to transport guests around the lake. The remaining track was pulled up and the roadbed converted into walking trails. The engines were donated to the park in 1992, and are now on display.

Stella loved being outside.

She liked the leaves the best, and could have played in them for hours.

We took Stella on walks, mostly to East Rock Park, which is just a few blocks from Jesse and Sarita's house. 

This happened to be on Halloween, but it's not a costume, although it looks like one! Stella and Jesse and Sarita were napping, when Stella woke up early, so we grabbed her up quickly while she was wearing her sleeping suit, put on a sweater and her hat, and this is what we got! People were starting to trick or treat with their kids, and I'm pretty sure that's what they thought we were doing too.

This is the river that runs through the park.

Stella learned how to do tricks!

And like all the grandchildren who watch me beautify, Stella wanted curlers in her hair too.

One of Stella's favorite things we did was going to Home Depot and riding in a cart!

And eating at Subway.

We went to Petco where she enjoyed looking at the fish. 

This is the Henry Whitfield House in Guilford, which is near New Haven. I wanted to see it because I have an old post card with a picture of this house, saying that our ancestor, John Hobson, was also one of Guilford's early settlers and owned an inn there. It was built in the 1600's.

Henry Whitfield.

View from the upstairs of the house.

The beach in Guilford had some rough water the day we were there, but we saw a windsurfer trying to navigate the waves and miss the rocks. Sorry, he's not in the picture.

We went to a pumpkin patch the day before Halloween to look around and choose a pumpkin and buy donuts. 

Stella found an apple under an apple tree and used her three teeth to eat almost all of it.

We went on several walks, but while Jesse and Sarita went to the New York temple Saturday morning, we took Stella out early and walked around the Yale campus and visited the old caretaker Stella and I met at the cemetery in June when he let us come in his office during a cloudburst. He was happy to see us again.

It was pretty cold, so she had to bundle up in her snowsuit.

Stella got to help carve her first pumpkin.

They waited to have a family birthday celebration for Stella until we got there. 

She liked it a lot. The beads are from the birthday party she shared with a friend, and she likes to wear them everywhere.

Opening presents.

We took Stella on another outing to an orchard and animal farm. This is what she did on the way there.

She was a little nervous around the animals.