Hi All! The 'short hair' craze must be catching because Ninha has joined the ranks of the 'easy care' life of a short hair wearer! Actually, because of some of the really strong kinds of medication Ninha has to take, she's had a difficult time keeping her hair long and beautiful, so this Saturday she went 'under' the scissors and had it cut. I'm a short-hair fanatic so I think it looks great! I think it takes 10 years off anyone and makes everyone look bouncier and happier! Probably not everyone thinks that way, but oh well.....

Love you all - Till' next time,

Sassy Cassy

Congrats to Bobby!

Bobby got a killer job today! He will be the executive Director of Utah Youth Soccer Association. I am rather jealous. I will not spoil much else as i believe he should be the one that shares with everyone all of the perks.

I finaly bought tickets for Utah. I fly in on Wednesday, May 23rd at 11:05pm MST and will return to Iowa on Tuesday, May 29th at 10:25 am MST.

I am very excited! it is going to be a great weekend of family and relaxing.


Life is soccer here, nothing too special...my 14 year old girls placed second in a tournament. They are good, could be great, but do not get what it means to be dedicated. Otherwise they are great!

Love y'all!

Hi All! Well Thursday morning before going to work, I got a phone call from a distressed Shawnna telling me that she was in the hospital. Of course, that's not what Grandma's like to hear. Those first moments of thinking what's happened, what's wrong are soooo upsetting - my heart was in my throat! Through her tears, she was able to tell me that she got a tick in her ear - that she had been climbing the tree and must have picked up a tick. It was sometime over the weekend, so the little 'Tic' guy had some time to really burrow deep. Shawnna said, 'Why is it that they always have to use needles to fix things?' Yes, I don't like needles either but sometimes it's the best way to help. I spent time on the phone comforting her, and of course, the medicine was beginning to take effect, so Shawnna was calmed down and let the nurse help. They weren't able to get the head all out, and it's the 'bad' kind of tic, so they are giving her antibotics and in a couple of days, she will have to go back and have minor surgery to cut the little guy out from behind her ear. What it's like to be a kid, and the jobs of being a mother - many of us can relate to both!
Til' next time, love you all,
Sassy Cassy

Easter 07

5yr old Stacia---becoming our active daughter. Here seen as a dance star, performing at the Lehi spring festival.

Stacia had swimming lessons this spring so everybody had fun!

Hi All! Here's some pics of Shawnna and Drew enjoying their visit to Grandma TaTa's over spring break. First - the airplane ride. Looks like they enjoyed the food; Ninha said they did good and I was sooo excited to see them all. The next day was spent resting up after the long trip. The kids spent time outside enjoying the warm weather and blowing bubbles! Ninha and the kids took a walk around the house, played up in the V-ditch. That's such a 'typical face' for Shawnna - so cute! There I am with the grandkids and Rod Hopkin, my neighbor and home teacher, the kids call him 'Grandpa Rod.' I took off that Friday and all of us enjoyed working in the 'garden' planting flowers in the back planter. Even my neighbor, Tina (Nona Tina to the kids) got in the act. Saying hello and give pointers on the best way to plant the flowers. It's so nice now, I look out my kitchen window and see all the pretty flowers and think of Ninha, Shawnna and Drew and all the fun and laughs we had working together. Great memories and pics too! Til' next time - Love you All! Grandma TaTa / Grandma Cass!

Yesterday was Sant Jordi. Which in Catalunya is like our Valentine´s day. Except here they give roses and books. So on all of the sidewalks of Barcelona there were thousands of stands selling books and real roses and fake roses and more books etc... So, tons of people came out to buy books and flowers. I have never seen so many people in Barcelona before. I wish I had had my camera to take pictures. You know those movies of New York (or big cities like that) and they show the mob of people on the sidewalk going to work or whatever? That´s what I felt like. I felt like I was in a movie...I was in a hurry and I had to go weaving in and out of people to get anywhere. David came to pick me up and like a good boy (that´s finally learned after a few years) had a rose for me. AAWWWWW......

Just an interesting experience. Love you all.
OH! Marion, do we know what it is yet? do we have a name?

Yea Marion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's so good to have you back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WELCOME The pitures were great. It looks like the bishop still has hair!
This is good. Im glad to hear that the pregnancy is going well. Still need the side shot
for proof.

And finally thank you to Nathan for finally taking the time to make it possible for everyone to be on the blog again.

So lets keep the stories and pictures rolling.........................Yessssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!
Love to all Ed

More pictures.
Our day at Disney Paris with the Duffort family was wonderful. The kids all got along great and we just had an all around fun time.

I guess we are the last ones to get back on the blog. Things have been pretty busy around here so this is really the first chance I have had to sit and make a post. Things are well here in New Jersey. School, Work, and Church are pretty much our lives. A member of our ward asked me last week when the baby was due. When I told him the first of August he said, "Wow, that soon." When I looked at him funny he reminded me that August is only three months away. Honestly, there is so much going on that I haven't really had time to think about when the baby is due or much about baby at all. We did manage to get our pictures loaded from our trip, so happy viewing.
The first picture is at Angelina's. Angelina's is a famous tea house in Paris not far from the Louvre. Their hot chocolate is served with a huge dish of real whipped cream and it is like drinking a melted chocolate bar. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
The next picture is of the kids on the Pont Neuf bridge.

Sorry Spencer how could I have messed up so bad. Maybe your mom will tell me how I did it?

¡¡¡GRACIAS!!!

Thanks to Nathan for helping the

rest of the clan get back to blogging!!

I love the pictures and stories and everything!

love you all.

keep smiling

Hope everyone had a nice Sunday and is ready for a new week. It was great to see posts from Cassy and Jocelyn. It look like the only one missing now is Marion. I know Nathan re-invited you Marion so give it another go and lets see some of those great pictures of Paris Disney and some comments on how the pregnancy is going (love a side view )and how wonderful and dedicated your husband is (love a graying or receding hairline)to his family, the ward and the firm. Most of all we want Abby! Stephen! and by all means John! pictures. Come on Abby show your mom how it is done!!! We want you all to be part of the growing Ginn Family Record which is now a binder and a half thick.
As of now with the help of Ron Holst we have 410 names in our family history and we are working to get temple ready 20 sealings for a sealing session to be held in the Manti temple
room 5 at 3pm Thursday the 24th of May. It is a large room and will hold 14 to 16 people. We are hoping for a strong spiritual experience as we seal these members of our family.
Love to all Ed

Bobby and Gina

Thank You Very Much

The invitation to our
40th wedding anniversary
is beautiful!

Oh, looking at the Easter group photo reminded me... other BIG news in the Duffort home. We finally installed a light fixture in the dining room. No more Italian lighting!! (We call the light bulb hanging down Italian lighting) Anyway, it took us awhile but we finally got it done! Light fixtures aren't our thing, we just don't really care. Luckily almost all the lights already had fixtures. Overall home decor is not my thing and I don't really care about it but Patrice tries and helps me. He has much more style than I do.
And looking at Patrice in the picture made me remember that he was REALLY sick that weekend, which is why he looks a little unkempt!
Well, that's all folks.
Jocelyn

These are pictures from Easter Monday at my in-law's house in Nancy. Do you celebrate Easter Monday in America? Don't know what religious event it relates to though. Anyway, the weather had been beautiful all week which is so rare that we were afraid it would turn and rain on Easter weekend. No, we lucked out and the weather was really warm. As a matter of fact it has not rained in over three weeks now which is very rare for Luxembourg. There will probably be MAJOR water rationing announced in the near future! As always, we got enough chocolate from Easter to last us all year long. Chocolate is not considered a candy here. It's its own food group! So apparently you can't have enough of it. Not being a real chocolate lover, I use it to bake with - I crush it up and make my own chocolate chips.
So that was Easter Monday here.
Jocelyn

This is the group that we had over for Easter Sunday after church. It's kind of a long story but here goes... Last year in January we had our American friends from Kaiserslautern come visit us for the weekend. Kurt and April Andreason and their 5 kids - they are the couple standing next to us in the picture. April and I were talking and come to find out that she grew up with Troy Bankhead who is in our ward. Nancy and Troy Bankhead are standing next to the Andreasons in the picture (with 3 kids). We thought it would be fun to have the Andreasons over one weekend and then invite the Bankheads to surprise Troy. But we never got around to it. This year April's brother Clark (next to Troy in picture) and family were planning a visit to Europe and he wanted to make sure to see Troy. It just worked out that in their trip, the day to get together was Easter Sunday. The Bankhead live in Belgium, about a half hour away, and the Andreasons live about 1.5 hours the other way in Germany. Everyone came to church and then our house was the meeting place in between. So we had 8 adults and 16 children (one of Clark's is missing in picture) and everything turned out great. Everyone got to 'catch up.'

It's a small world too because Troy Bankhead served in Marion and Bryan's mission around the same time as they did.

That was Easter Sunday at our house.

Jocelyn

Mom didn't post this picture, but this was the one that threw her off because she thought the braids were still connected. She said, oh Alienor looks like Pippy Longstocking! Then she saw the next picture with the braids farther away from her hair and she couldn't quite grasp it! It was funny. And yes mom, Alienor will need braces!

Yeah, glad to be able to post again!! Thanks Nathan for the invitation. Actually, could you tell me how to invite others to join the blog? I have a Duffort blog (no activity!) and now that we've 'discovered' the Duffort cousins I'd like to invite them to join. Of course I don't know how though! Anybody know where I can click?

About Alienor's hair. We've been planning on cutting it off for over 6 months. We planned on doing it at Christmas but that didn't work out. So we put it off til Easter vacation. The plan was to have it long enough (at least 10-12 inches) to be able to donate it to Locks of Love. It's a non-profit organization that makes wigs for children with cancer. So I have Alienor's braids in a bag ready to send out on Monday. I think we cut off about 14 inches. Hopefully some little girl will benefit from the hair. We're counting it also as a Faith in God 'activity' under service. Alienor really likes her short hair and it has added a bounce to her step. It's easier to take care of in a way, but needs more styling. She's happy to have short hair like Abby. She is planning on growing it out again to be able to donate it again. We'll see how long it takes.

Other news...? I attended my first youth dance as YW president. It was a half stake activity and there were about 20-25 youth there plus a few adults. It was just like any other church dance and it really took me back. It made me think about all the youth dances I attended in NJ and made me wonder where all the kids are from my ward. I'm in contact with a few, but there are only 2-3 that stayed active after all these years (almost 20!!!).

Well, now that I can post again, you might not be able to shut me up!

Oh, I found an old tape and listened to it. It was a tape that Jimmy made and sent to me, I think in the fall of 98. But no, it has to be from earlier because he says that he thinks Nathan is home from his mission but Bobby isn't. So when would that be? It was just before Thanksgiving because he talks about us all getting together for Thanksgiving. Plus he has just sent a box to Gramma with a cake mix in it - because she makes the best cakes. He sure is an interesting guy and listening to him reminded me a lot of Grampa. Any news from Jimmy lately?

I'll go now and dig up some recent pictures to post, just for fun.
Glad to be back on.

Jocelyn

HI EVERYONE!
THIS IS A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO NATHAN AND BRANDI
FOR SENDING ME AN INVITE TO GET BACK ON THE BLOG -
AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT WORKED!
HOPE I CAN KEEP IT UP!
IF ALL WORKS WELL,
I'LL MAKE MY NEXT POST SOME PICS OF NINHA, SHAWNNA AND DREW
ON THEIR VACATION HERE IN CALIFORNIA
LOVE YOU ALL!
CASSY

Well, as you all know from the few words from Ed, I have been very frustrated with the family blog. I am not able to get on and post any items myself, so I am FORCED to email Ed and have him post my news. It seems like a really ‘round about way of doing it. I probably wouldn’t be sending this post, except that Jocelyn isn’t able to get on the blog either and I promised her I would make the effort to get these new pics of Alienor posted, even if I had to go to Ed’s house and sit at his computer to do it. The next best thing was for me to email the info and pics and have Ed post it, which he was kind enough to do, so that’s the reason you are getting to see this post on the blog!

Jocelyn recently sent me these pics of Alienor, which I thought were really fun to get. As I was looking through them, I thought Jocelyn was sending them so I could see how really long Alienor’s hair has grown. As I flipped through them, I thought how nice her hair was in braids. Reminded me of how often I wore braids when I was little, mostly because Grandma Nana didn’t like my hair falling in my eyes or covering my face (was really tough during the ‘hippie’ days – heehee!). Anyway, suddenly I came to the pic with her hair short, and all I could think of was that she had pulled it back, away from her face (another way to keep it out of her eyes!). It took me forever and really looking HARD at the pic to realize that the pics were of the before and after of Alienor’s NEW AND STYLISH DO! I was so shocked and surprise – I really never thought she would ever cut her hair. I was really HAPPY TOO!! I think she looks ADORABLE and with so much STYLE, but of course I am such a SHORT HAIR-kinda gal, that it fits right in with my way of styling hair.

YEAH – ALIENOR
LONG HAIR OR SHORT HAIR – YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL!!
I LOVE YOU LOTS!!
GRANDMA CASS!!

Just so Jocy and Marion know-----I will be more than happy to post your email messages and pictures on this blog until we can get Nathan to figure out why you are having so much trouble. He is very busy so it may never happen but we can hope and pray and use this back door method to keep the Ginn family record current. And I love your short hair Alienor
Love to all Ed

HAPPY 18TH OF APRIL TO EVERYONE!

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more beach and random Chris. We had a great time Pizza and In and Out. Sorry no pictures of Julie and Chris holding Grace over the sink as she puked she was sick for the first two days. Lovely thing young children. Well they are for the most part it is just that other part that wears moms and sometimes dads out!

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The two pictures of chocolate Easter Bunnies. That mom got real cheap after Easter our just thrown in for effect. By the way one ear was eaten and the rest were left behind - I wonder why?

It was great having the Hillmans here for a few days. On Saturday morning we
went to the stables with 15 pounds of carrots and fed the horses. There were just enough carrots for each horse to have one, Emma and Abby were fearless because they had taken pony riding lessons before. So they did a lot of petting and patting the horses.
We came home and mom was home from work so packed up and went to north beach. The sun came out and the water temp was about 60 degrees so Emma and Abby played in the water and made sand castles. Grace and Liz just got a sun burn and chases pigeons