Marion,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share Gracie's pictures with us. I avoid making remarks about who a child resembles because I always get it wrong and end up with mustard on my face.
I will say that having a child that likes black licorice in the family is great. Virginia always loved it and lately I have been going to Wall-Mart to buy the Aussie licorice which is bigger around and solid. It has a real kick. Might be awhile before Gracie can handle it.
Spencer and Brian looked great and very happy. We love you all and think of you often. Can't wait to see pictures of Abby and John.
Later Ed

Hey Marion - Great to see a couple pics of Gracie - boy, has she grown. I haven't seen pics of her since a couple months after she was born. To me, she looks like a true 'Norton' - the most like Delmar than any of the other kids! It's fun to hear her 'talking' in the background when I phone - and of course, there's always a little added 'to-do' by John - fun too! I know we all would enjoy pics of Abby and John too!! BRING'UM ON!!

Love you,
Cassy

Someone was going to get really mad at me if I didn't get some pictures of Grace up here. I tried to post some video (and I will try again) but I think the file may have been to big - it wasn't working. Anyway, the first picture is of Grace swinging in the backyard. She really loves swinging while the other kids are around and she can watch what they are doing. The other picture is obviously of Grace eating a piece of black licorice. Only with the fourth child! This child gets a lot of things Abby would not have had in a million years. She has that look on her face because Bryan was trying to take the licorice away and Grace was pretty intent that there was no way that was going to happen. I will try to get some more pictures up. I should post one of Abby. She is about six feet tall now and I am sure no one would believe it is her.

Looking good Cass. It is nice to have a break to just go and do something uplifting. We are glad you had such a good time.

I have the information about ordering Spencer's Google t-shirt.

The shirts are $16 payable by check to:

Graphic Sportswear
Attn: Google Doodles
1240 Minnesota StreetSan Francisco, CA 94107

Include Spencer's name and the size(s) of the shirt.

Sizes available:
Adult: S, M, L, XL, XXL
Youth: S, M, L

They also accept Mastercard or Visa. Price includes tax/shipping.

By the way, I forgot to comment on Cindi's new home. I was super impressed. I wish I could see it in person. So very European. It must be wonderful to have a place that is totally your own. I hope you and David have fun putting it all together just the way you want.

Love and best wishes to everyone. Have a WONDERFUL day.

Hi All!! Well, my kids think I’m difficult to buy presents for, especially for Christmas and my Birthday, and especially because they both live so far away, but a year or so ago, Jocelyn hit on a wonderful gift idea for me – she gets me tickets for the ‘Time Out For Women’ events sponsored by Deseret Books – And Christmas 2007 was no exception. The schedule for 2008 was in San Diego, February 2 but out of respect for President Hinckley’s funeral, it was rescheduled for May 10th. When Jocelyn bought the tickets, she never thought she would be getting a ‘2-holiday gifts for the price of one’ bargain – she originally bought them for my Christmas present but I was able to finally enjoy them the weekend of Mother’s Day – YEAH!! This year as a surprise, she emailed my friend, Christy Johnson (our Ward Choir Director) and invited her along too!! The event was on Saturday but so we could have more of a get-away weekend, Christy’s husband, Eric who travels a lot, used his points to get us a room at the Comfort Inn, downtown in the Gaslight District. It was a corner room, with great windows to watch all of the lights and excitement of the downtown on a Friday night.

After we settled in our room, we walked around downtown to check out some of the available restaurants and finally decided to eat dinner at Sammy’s Pizza. They have a selection of ‘exotic-types’ of pizzas and great desserts. We chose the ‘Thai’ creation pizza – it really had a great flavor and had peanuts on it – I would never think of eating pizza with peanuts, but we were up for something new and different. I want you all to know it was Christy’s idea to get the ‘humongous’ sundae for dessert!! After dinner we walked back to the hotel, it was getting dark and the ‘wilder-types’ were out on the streets, so thought it a good idea to get back to the room and in for the night. The hotel was only a couple of blocks from Qualcom Stadium (I think that’s what they call it now!), so we were able to actually watch the Padres play up on the big screens. At 9PM, we even got to enjoy the big fireworks display – such fun!!

The next morning, the hotel had a great breakfast buffet, so we ate hearty and then, started out for the short walk to the Convention Center. As we came close to the main entrance, you could see so many wonderful LDS women walking together, with a purpose, a singleness of mind, to enjoy a wonderful day of uplifting words and music. Some of the speakers were Emily Watts, Jason Wright and John Byetheway – The music was provided by Kenneth Cope and Cherie Call – they were all great! This event was on a more spiritual note than the previous one I had been to, which touched our hearts even more.

Jocelyn is a ‘Sweetheart Girl’ and always gets the ‘salad box lunch’ for me, and this time was no exception. The day had started out cloudy and over cast, so when it was lunchtime and the sun was shining outside, Christy wanted to head for the water. We ended up climbing 3 flights of stairs (boy, am I out of shape – my legs were like rubber when we got to the top) and at the top found an eating area with tables, chairs and umbrellas – what a find!! And to be able to look out over San Diego Harbor was an added pleasure. The sun was warm, the food was good and the company was the best! The program ended at 4pm, we got on the road and made it back home by 5:30PM. The ride home gave Christy and I some special, quiet time to talk about family and friends and to allow our friendship to grow. Just being around Christy makes me want to be a better ‘Daughter of God.’ Thank you Jocelyn for this wonderful Mother’s Day gift!!

Thank's to all those who made this Mother's Day a special day!! - Andy, Ninha and the kids for the lovely flowers, Jocelyn for the fun get-away, Ed and Marie for a wonderful 'Omaha Steak' dinner, Cindi for the special and unexpected message she left on my answer machine - I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Till next time,

Love,

Cassy

Since we´re all doing happy belated´s....Happy belated Anniversary to mom and dad.
41 years....and you still like each other...GOOD JOB!!

I got Marie a new bike. Only took us a month to pick it up. Hopefully she can get some exercise that doesn't hurt her hips and yet gives her lungs some deep breaths. She has had a bad time breathing lately

Something is wrong it is only letting me type in this small size type?
Anyway: Marion I want you to know that Marie reminded me that the 24th was your birthday and I completely forgot! OOOOHHHHPPPSSSS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!
The 24th was also the one year anniversary of broken hip It was also Saturday and I was sick in bed most of the day. Besides that Brian and Spencer look terrific and cool and so special so glad they had a good father and son outing. It will be a very special time for them for the rest of their lives.

The boys are back from their whirlwind San Francisco adventure. It is hard to do justice to the experience with just a few photos, but we understand that everything was pretty cool. Kind of cool to see Spencer's drawing up on the big screen. In addition to the balloon arches there were also massive balloon sculptures everywhere of everything from flowers to dinosaurs. The beanbags are part of Google life. They have them everywhere to sit on for meetings. Spencer really liked visiting San Francisco. Bryan said that they did as much in two days as some people would in a week. They came back with little goodies for all of us and lots of fun stories. You can catch some rather strange video of Spencer on YouTube by typing in doodle4google in the search box. More info to come on t-shirts and I will try to put up some more photos.

Happy belated 39th birthday Marion!

For once I get to be the first one to post a happy birthday wish on the blog! We hope you had a great day and that the kids did a little something special for you. Don't forget to post those exciting pictures of Bryan and Spencer's trip.
We love you.
Jocelyn and family

Thanks for the pictures dad. Sorry you´re not feeling well.
Hope to see some exciting pictures of Spencer and his trip soon!!

Some more Ut trip pictures.

I will focus on Lauren and Malena (Millie)

we stayed at Bobby and Gina's most of the weekend. They sure were good to us. here are some random pictures,

Happy Birthday Lou!!
70 years young

Several family members and friends traveled up Monroe Canyon for lunch and a surprise
party for Lou Cash. Christy and TJ did a great job of arranging it. David and his finance Robin
helped with deception and last minute set up. It was an enjoyable day May 17th 2008.here are some random pictures.
My candid pictures don't do the subjects justice but hope you get the idea that we were having a good time.

HOLY MACKEREL!

What a great family we have. You have all reached out to support Spencer and it appears to have paid off. Being named one of four national winners out of over 16,000 entries is quite an accomplishment. Spencer will be bringing home a haul that required his dad to go and buy an inexpensive suitcase to get it all home. Along with the loot will be memories that will last a lifetime. Some of you have asked about buying t-shirts with Spencer's doodle on it. When Bryan gets home we will post the information about how to order the shirts (I understand they are pretty cool). The head of music and video at YouTube told Spencer that she totally needed one because it fit her job so well. We will post pictures when the boys are home as well as more details about their trip. Today they are headed for the Winchester Mystery House and then on into San Francisco to the new museum of modern art (Nathan do you remember when we visited the Winchester Mystery House with your Dad and Grandpa when we were kids?). This stop was Spencer's idea. He told Bryan he read about it in a book, probably the Dangerous Book for Boys or something. Tomorrow the boys take the boat to Alcatraz and explore more of San Francisco. They arrive home early Saturday morning. Love and thanks again to everyone.

We are so very happy about Spencer's success. We are glad to have been a little part in helping him and we hope that the Norton family understands how much we love and appreciate them in good times and bad. Their input as well as the rest of the family in this blog helps us all to be closer and shrinks the distances between family members that are spread so far and wide. It is an important record of our family. Hopefully it will continue.......with your support.

Coming attractions include:
Lou Cash's 70th birthday party pictures
David Cash and his finance Robin
Random shots of the rest of last weekend
and
hopefully pictures of the Norton family/kids
Nate Ginn family/kids
Love Ed

HI ALL!! Well, I know it's been a couple of weeks since Mother's Day and with all the excitement about Spencer, I've been 'remiss' in not posting a BIG THANK YOU to Andy, Ninha, Shawnna and Drew for the beautiful bouquet of roses they sent me. They arrived at work on Friday morning before Mother's Day - what a great way to start the weekend!! There was so many roses and all in the colors I love, that I wanted to find a way to save them, so I checked online and found out how to save roses to make potpourri with them. Right now I have them bunched together by color with cotton string safely hanging in the garage. Soon, when they are all dried, I'm going to finish making potpourri with them and display them in a lovely bowl in the house. This way, as I pass by them I will be able to remember the lovely gift given and Thank Heavenly Father for the blessing of family.
Love, Grandma TaTa

So exciting!! Congratulations Spencer! Marion, you'll have to fill us in on all the details of the trip. Unfortunately none of the rest of us has anything anywhere near that exciting to share... unless one of you ladies is expecting?!! (no, not me)
Have a great day
Jocelyn

HI ALL!! Well the votes are in - I just got a call from Marion - SPENCER WON IN HIS AGE GROUP!!! YEAH!!!!!! So, he'll be coming home with his very own, new lap top and loads of fun memories. Marion said it was a challenge for Bryan to take pics - Google was so protective about having pics taken, but I'm sure he will post those when they get home. If you want to check out the Winning Doodle it was Grace Moon / Grades 4-6 / Region 10 / Canyon Middle School / CA.

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU, SPENCER!! WAY TO GO!!

LOVE, AUNT CASSY