Putnam Family Christmas Party

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we had our annual Putnam Christmas party. I always enjoy getting together with my Putnam family and this party has been a yearly tradition for as long as I can remember.

Thanksgiving weekend must really wipe Leah out because she falls asleep waiting for Santa to come every year at this Christmas party. So I had to make sure I got yet another picture of her asleep at the party. 

Here's a picture of Corbin getting an up close meeting with Santa when he came in. I think the look on his face is priceless.

And here's a picture of those in my immediate family who were able to be there. My brother, Clayton, and his family weren't able to make it. But the rest of us were there.

Leah is smiling in this picture, but in reality she was really nervous about talking to Santa. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to at least stand by him for a picture. I think she did as least tell him what she wanted. And Corbin wasn't interested in sitting on Santa's lap at all!

Here's a picture of my mom sitting on Santa's lap to show the kids that it is not scary at all.

Corbin was pretty excited about the little ball he got for a present.

And Leah loves puzzles, so she was pretty excited about her present too.

Here's a picture of my grandparents sitting with Santa. It is such a blessing to have both of them here for another year. However, they had both taken falls within a couple weeks before this picture was taken. If you were able to look close enough at them you'd probably see how bruised up they are. My grandma still had stitches in her head from her fall. But Grandpa was just bruised up quite a bit on his arm. They are both getting really unstable but they are still really independent. It makes me worry a lot about them. But I'm glad that they are both still with us. At 96 and 86 years old, that's pretty remarkable.

Here's a little family selfie just for fun!

After all the kids had a chance to sit on Santa's lap, they all came up with Grandpa and Grandma to sing a couple Christmas songs with Santa. Here's Leah singing with her cousins, Kaylynn and Cameron.

Having a pinata is another long-time tradition for this party. Corbin wasn't sure what to do at first, but it didn't take long for him to catch on to using a bat to hit something.

Leah was excited to take her turn. She had helped us fill the pinatas the night before, so she knew what kind of fun things were in there.

After all the little kids had a turn hitting the first pinata, it was still in tact. So my aunt had Ross put on a blindfold and take a turn whacking at it. It took him a few swings, but he finally got it busted open.

Overall, it was a fun party and of course was over too soon. The turn out for the party was impressive. Our family is up to over 160 members now and I think there were about 140 people there that day (some were visitors that other family members had brought to the party). But there were still a lot of us there, much more than usual. I'm so glad we have such a big fun family. It's just too bad that we don't get to see each other very often any more.

November 2014

Boy do I have a lot of catching up to do! November seems like it was so long ago. Overall it was pretty uneventful, but here's a few highlights of the month.

Toward the beginning of November, I took Leah of see Disney on Ice along with a few other family members. They showcased Cars, The Little Mermaid, Tinkerbell, and Toy Story 3. Leah has really been into Tinkerbell lately, so she really loved that part. And of course, seeing Mickey Mouse is always a favorite. During the intermission, her Aunt MoMo spoiled her and bought her a snow cone in a Tinkerbell cup.

Here's some of the other little "Princesses" that went with us. It looks like Makynlee and Kenzie got spoiled with snow cones too.

We got invited to join our neighbors' preschool group on their field trip to the BYU Bean Museum. The Bean Museum is a natural history museum that is full of stuffed animals (real ones, not toys). It was recently renovated and looks really cool. Our neighbor had signed up for a special class where they taught the kids about a few different animals and brought out some for them to get a closer look at. A few of them were alive and a couple of them were stuffed. Here's a picture of Leah touching a live lizard. I didn't think she would, but she did okay with it. She wasn't as interested in petting the live snake.

The stuffed penguin was a favorite with all the kids. Even I was willing to pet the penguin. It was pretty cool to see one up that close even if it wasn't alive anymore.

We got out our turkey from last year and all through the month we added feathers to him. Each night with our "scripture, song and prayer" we would each share something we were grateful for that happened that day. Then we would write it on a feather and add it to our turkey. By the end of the month, he looked nice and full of things we were grateful for. I really like this tradition because it helps us really think about how blessed we are. And it is fun to hear some of the simple and/or interesting things that Leah would share. Her feathers almost always had something to do with people in her life, like getting to play with a friend or cousin, going to Grandpa's house or making a new friend at school. She is definitely in a stage of life where she is very socially driven. For Corbin, we would just think of something that he seemed to really enjoy that day and write it down.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we had our usual Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday before with my family and then went to Ross's mom's for Thanksgiving day with our Leslie family. And as it worked out, we were able to stay the night at her house which was very helpful since my ultrasound was scheduled for the next day and we were able to leave the kids there while we went to the appointment. (I'll post more about that later.)

So there's our November in a nutshell. Time flies.

Grandpa's Honor Flight

This wonderful WWII Veteran is my beloved Grandpa Putnam. At the end of October, he got to participate in the Utah Honor Flight. This is an organization that flies WWII Veterans back to Washington DC where they can see the WWII memorial and participate in various ceremonies to honor them. My Aunt Kris helped organize this for him and went as his guardian. And in order for my Grandma to go and experience that with him, my mom went as my Grandma's "guardian." They had to arrange for their own flight and transportation, but they were able to go to all of the activities and stay with them in their hotel room.

I think he was a little apprehensive about going. If you had asked him before he left, he probably would have told you that he would rather just stay home. But after going, I'm sure he is very glad that he went.

There was a ceremony for them at a National Guard building before they left. And at the SLC airport, they held another special ceremony and escorted them through the airport parade style. On the flight out there, they had letters written by family members and others thanking them for their service.

While in Washington DC, they took them to several sites and to the Arlington Cemetery. They had a nice dinner where they gave each veteran a replica of the medal they should have got when the war was over. They even used WWII surplus ribbon to attach the medal to the neckband.

One of the nights, the four of them used the rental car and drove to see the Washington DC temple. They were not able to go in because it was so late, but they were really glad they got to see it.

When they got home, we got to go to the National Guard Base for a grand welcome home party. Here's my Grandpa and Aunt exiting the bus and entering the airplane hanger we were all waiting in.

Being there as all these Veterans came in was very moving and patriotic. I'm so glad my Grandpa was able to participate and that we were able to be there to welcome him home with a hero's welcome that these wonderful men deserve.

This is my Grandpa's military picture from back when he was in the Army for WWII.

And here is an article that my Aunt Bev wrote about his service. It was published in the Star Valley Independent (the newspaper from his home town). 

"Erlon Searight Putnam was born Sept. 15, 1918, in Auburn. He is the oldest of 12 children born to Ruth Alice Searight and Euvern Frank Putnam. Erlon grew up working on his family farm, and had to quit school in the eighth grade in order to work to help support the family. He herded sheep and cattle, milked cows, and developed a deep love and knowledge of horses, which he passed on to his children.

Another thing he learned from within his family, was a great talent, love and knowledge of music. He, his parents, brothers and sisters, were all blessed with beautiful singing voices, learned to harmonize, and performed together at many gatherings throughout their lifetimes. His love of music and harmony is another important lesson he passed on to his children, and they also have sung and performed together throughout the years.

On Sept. 24, 1948, Erlon married the beautiful love of his life, Mary Harmon, from Fairview. They had seven children, Mary Beth, Karla, Erlon Charles (Chuck), Kristine, Lynda Ruth, Leron Harmon, and Beverly Kay. They have been married for 66 years, and currently have a posterity of 165. Erlon continued to work on farms in Wyoming, Idaho and Utah, until they bought their current home in Hunter (West Valley City), Utah, in December of 1969. He worked for a short time as a custodian for Granite School District, started working part-time for ZCMI, in Valley Fair Mall in 1971, and then went full-time for ZCMI in September of 1973. He continued to work for ZCMI (later Myer and Frank), until he retired, at the age of 82, in April 2001. 

At the age of 22, Erlon was drafted into the Army, during World War II. He was inducted on Aug. 27, 1941. He drove the trucks transporting the horses and supplies for the Cavalry. Later, the Army changed from Cavalry to Mechanical, and he continued to transport supplies. When he first shipped out, he was sent to Europe by way of France. At that time, he found out the hard way, that he did not enjoy traveling on the ocean, and suffered from severe seasickness.

When the surrender of Germany was declared, on May 8, 1945, Erlon was serving in Austria. A short time later, on Sept. 2, 1945, Japan also surrendered, and World War II was declared over. Erlon was sent back to the United States, and was discharged from the Army on Dec. 5, 1945, at Camp Beale, California.

Because of his service for our country, Erlon is being included in the “Honor Flight”, leaving Oct. 30, and returning Nov. 1, 2014. Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all of their sacrifices. They transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at “their” memorials.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 640 WWII veterans die each day. Our time to express our thanks to these brave men and women is running out.

On behalf of Erlon’s family, we are extremely proud of him for his service to our country, and honored to carry on his legacy of love, hard work and determination."

I think this is nice tribute to my Grandpa. I'm so glad to be part of his posterity. I love this amazing man very, very much. Thank you again Grandpa for your service!

Family Pictures 2014

Towards the end of October, my cousin, Britta, was willing to take our family pictures again. I always think she does such a great job, even though it can get pretty hard to get all four of us looking good for a picture. It was especially hard to get Corbin to smile since he doesn't know her very well. But we still got some good ones that will work just fine. Here are my favorites from this year's batch of family pictures. 

Thank you again, Britta! You're great!!!