He's Moving Out

Today the oldest son loaded up his truck and moved to an apartment about a block and a half down the road.

He doesn't look too happy to see me show up on his doorstep later on this afternoon, but I know he really was.

His apartment has everything he needs.

A TV, a DVD player, a shelf full of DVD's and a remote. What more could a young man want?

Today I am grateful for a boy with his own truck and 2 siblings to help him move.
a ground floor apartment, because I did have to help move a few things.

Word of the Year

In my flitting around the web reading blogs I ran across a New Year idea that really appealed to me. I started with a post on one of my favorite escape blogs which led to some blogs that I had never visited before and some posts entitled Resolution Solution and One Little Word

Choose One Word to center my direction around for the coming year. What a wonderful way to focus on improvement in 2010 without making a huge list of resolutions. I love words and all the thoughts and ideas and inspiration that a single word can bring into my head. I have been bouncing around some ideas of words that resonate with me. What word will I choose to represent this New Year? Will it be...

Abundance
Celebrate
Gratitude
Remember
Enough
Happiness
Joy
Purpose
Peace
Hope
Optimism
Faith
Charity
Believe

Stay tuned for the final decision to be made soon.

Today I am grateful for

breaks from the routine.
the world wide web.
words.

My Good Friend Jo-Ann

Today the oldest daughter had to run out to her school to pick up a purchase order and she invited me to go along and do some shopping at the stores on the rez while we were out that direction. Her dad has been asking her to bring the grandbaby by his office so he can show him off to all his co-workers so we decided that we would meet him at the cafeteria there for lunch. The son-in-law was going to be gone flying with his mom most of the day, but the weather didn't cooperate, so he wanted to be included in this outing as well. The daughter warned him ahead of time that this adventure would involve some store visits, but he decided the free food was enticing enough to put up with the shopping.

We got the purchase order, ate lunch and appreciated all of the appropriate oohs and aahs that the baby received and then it was time for the real fun to begin. We told the driver that the first stop was Jo-Ann's. He said "You mean Jo-Ann." Apparently during the many visits to the fabric store that the son-in-law has made with the daughter since he joined the family he has determined that the official title of this business is Jo-Ann - singular and not Jo-Anns - plural or Jo-Ann's - possessive.


Well, I will be the first to admit that I call this store Jo-Ann's. Always have and probably always will. I will even go as far as to say that I thought perhaps the official name of the store was Jo-Ann's and I have a few canceled checks in my possession to prove it. Well, now I know that I have been mistaken all these years, but I doubt that will quickly change how I refer to this store. The son-in-law went on to expound "you don't say you are going to Wal-marts or Targets do you?" He is absolutely correct. I have never once in my life said I was going to Targets.

Of course, this conversation got me started thinking about why this is. Why do I call the JoAnn fabric store Jo-Anns but have no trouble calling Target Target or Wal-mart Wal-mart? Now, I have already said that I might have possibly just been confused about the name of the store, but I am pretty sure I would have still called it Jo-Anns regardless. Jo-Ann just sounds wrong to me.
After much musing on this topic I have finally come up with a logical explanation. It all goes back to the relationship that have with this store. Obviously, through my many frequent visits to this business I have developed a strong and lasting friendship. Just as I would not say I am going to Kim or Denise or Moana when I visit one of my good friends I don't say I am going to Jo-Ann. Actually I think this has something to do with the English language. When I say I am going to Kim's the word house is inferred even though it is not said and therefore the name becomes possessive as in Kim's house and the s is added. When I go to the fabric store I think of it as belonging to my good friend Jo-Ann. I can even envision this Jo-Ann person in my head. She is about my age and she is happy and friendly and funny and extremely talented, not unlike many of my other friends. Sometimes she employs grouchy, overworked individuals in her store, but that just shows how truly charitable she really is. Therefore when I head off to the fabric store to make a purchase I am going to my buddy Jo-Ann's store and the s makes perfect sense. I have no such vision of Target (the person) in my head and as far as Wal-mart goes, well I can conjure up Sam from the commercials that I have seen but he seems to reserve his friendships for people who belong to his club and since it costs money to join his club I just can't get too excited about pursuing that relationship.

Now, back to our shopping experience. The daughter and I had a wonderful time at JoAnn's and found some exciting after Christmas bargains. We enjoyed ourselves so much that perhaps we stayed longer than we had intended. At least that is probably what the men folk in the car were thinking.

Hey, it was a nice day for an afternoon nap in the parking lot of my friend Jo-Ann's store.

Today I am grateful for

a yummy chicken salad sandwich with pecans and dates.
a proud grandpa who loves his grandson and isn't afraid to let that love show.
a patient son-in-law.

Christmas Buddies

MERRY CHRISTMAS!Look what I can do with the new camera I got for Christmas.

Where did November go?

I can't believe that November is over. It seems like it was just Halloween and now, here it is December and the countdown to Christmas has truly begun. Tonight the oldest daughter and I attended my Relief Society craft night and enjoyed socializing and being "creative" (as creative as you can be when someone else prepares the entire project for you, which is my kind of crafting). We made these cute Christmas Countdown blocks.


Is anyone besides me feeling a little stressed?

Breakfast with Santa

This has been Eagle Scout project month for us. Last night I helped scrub cupboards for a friend's son's project. He cleaned and painted two two bedroom apartments and helped furnish them for the Save the Family Foundation which helps homeless families get off the streets and into a home. He is only 13 and we are all proud of him for getting his Eagle earned early.

Today I got invited to take behind the scenes pictures at another friend's son's project. This was a Breakfast with Santa to collect books, toys and cookies for the Phoenix Children's Hospital.


Can I just say, this was by far the most fun eagle project I have participated in. I am quite capable of eating and taking photographs. I am capable of cleaning, painting and shoveling dirt as well, but that's not quite as much fun.

The oldest daughter and I felt that this was a wonderful time for the grandson to get introduced to Santa so a few (more like half) of the behind the scenes photos I took included the grandbaby. Who can blame me though when he is so dog gone cute?

He happened to be one of the more content, small children sitting on Santa's lap.

I wasn't responsible for the photos with Santa, so hopefully the scout's mother, who was, got a picture that wasn't quite as blurry.

The grandson was actually a lot more interested in talking to the Christmas tree than in talking to Santa however. It's obvious he hasn't figured out where the presents come from yet.





To show that I wasn't just taking pictures of the grandson though, here is a wonderful shot of the scout doing exactly what an Eagle Scout candidate is suppose to do - Telling people what to do.

And this last picture of a very tired mother is proof positive that without moms very few young men would ever earn their Eagle Scout rank.

Did I Think to Pray?

Today we had 3 convert baptisms in our ward. A woman and her two grandsons, age 8 and 9, were baptized. I attended as the primary representative. The two boys were baptized first and then the grandma went into the water. She has some physical disabilities and wears a brace on one leg and has little use of that leg and the arm on that side. She walks with a cane. Both of the elders went into the font with her so they could both help her go under the water. She was very fearful that she was going to fall and after the baptismal prayer had been said she asked the elders to wait and try to figure out another way for her to be submersed. She had brought the chair that she uses in the shower and they decided she could sit on it and get dunked so the chair was lowered into the font but there was a back on the chair so she couldn't lean back and she got too scared when they tried to tip the whole chair. She tried bending forward, but the water wasn't deep enough. While they kept trying all sorts of different ideas and positions to accomplish her baptism I started brainstorming an alternative type chair that could go in the font for her to sit on that didn't have a back. I was thinking and thinking and then the bishop and I started discussing possible items that could be used. I was sitting next to a sister in the ward and when the bishop went to get the step stool from the drinking fountain to use she leaned over to me and said "I'm going to say a prayer." She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer to herself and as soon as she opened her eyes the two witnesses announced "she went all the way under" and the baptism was accomplished. She ended up sitting on the font steps and then having the missionaries help her turn sideways so she could go under.
As I sat listening to the special instrumental music while we waited for everyone to get dressed I began thinking about what had just taken place. Not so much the actual baptisms but the experience of trying to find a solution to the problem that presented itself. I was quick to try to solve the problem using my own knowledge and creativity. It didn't even occur to me to pray for help or inspiration. How easy it is for me to forget where to turn in times of need. I want to "lean on my own understanding". How grateful I am to be reminded in small, simple ways that my Heavenly Father is there waiting to help me if I will only ask Him for His help. Hopefully next time I will think to pray first.

Today I am thankful for

brownies with walnuts.
worthy priesthood holders.
special events that help to unite my family.

Very Short Vacation

Last Sunday when the counselor in the Bishopric released the hubby and me from nursery he told us they were giving us a short vacation and we should enjoy it while we could. I reminded him that I wouldn't really have a vacation because I was still responsible for the ward bulletin and he said "You're going to get rid of that job soon too." Well, I've been hearing that story for about two years now (since we were put into nursery) so I said "I'll believe that when it happens".
Tuesday night the executive secretary called and said we needed to meet with the bishop on Wednesday. That was a very short vacation, at least for me.
I am now officially the 2nd Counselor in the Primary Presidency. I love the Primary and being with the children in the ward, but I was thinking just maybe I would get to go to Sunday School and Relief Society for just one Sunday. No such luck though, I jumped right into Primary today. Oh, and for the one minute that it took after I was released from being the ward bulletin specialist and then called to be in the Primary Presidency I did have a Very Short, No Official Calling Vacation. Hooray for vacations!

Free Zoo Trip

The first full weekend of every month in 2009 Bank of America customers can get into the Phoenix Zoo for free if they show their Bank of America Check Card and a photo ID. I found out about this deal at the end of September, but chose to watch conference in October rather than go to the zoo. This month I was anxious to take advantage of the free deal, because as you know, I Love Free and there's only one more month in 2009. The only drawback of this deal is that only one person can get in with each Bank of America card, but since every member of my family except the youngest son and the grandbaby have their own BofA card this wasn't a huge problem. When it came right down to it only the oldest daughter, the youngest son and the grandbaby were interested in going with me. It just so happened that the oldest daughter still had one day left on her year long zoo membership and so she and the youngest son used that to get in. I used my Bank of America card and the grandbaby was free just because he was free.

It's a good thing that we didn't pay a lot of money to get the baby in because he didn't even open his eyes the entire three hours we were there.
It's been a while since I have been to the zoo (because I am too cheap to pay to get in) and a few things have changed since the last time I was there. They have added a new path to the children's area.

This was a really dumb addition, in my opinion. You use to walk down a short hill. Now you switch back and forth on a path that has 5 or 6 turns. There is nothing to look at, just a concrete path with wood railings. We decided this is the zoo's attempt to increase the patron's physical exercise.

Here is my token picture of some animals at the zoo.


I liked these javelinas hairstyles. They all looked like punk rockers.

I kept wanting to get the baby out of the stroller to take his picture, but the youngest son didn't think he wanted to wake up. He decided he could pose for pictures in his place. Here he is pretending to be Ariel.

I thought this was a really cool Saguaro slide.


The son said it was a tight fit.

This is the picture I turned around to take while the stroller continued to move on down the hill. The daughter was screaming, but no babies were injured in the process.

Now the two of them like to look at this picture and laugh at how dumb I am.
The oldest daughter and I both agreed that we needed a picture so the baby would know he went to the zoo, so here it is.



I'm sure we'll come again when the grandbaby is a little more interested. Maybe the first full weekend in December, since it's free.

Today I am grateful for

kids that are willing to do things with me.
a daughter who likes puzzles as much as I do.

a husband who washes my van while I just play.

Four Weeks Old

The grandson is 4 weeks old today. The oldest daughter and I were discussing how he doesn't look or act as much like a newborn anymore. He is definitely getting more curious and likes to try to stand on his head to find people when they walk away from him. He also seems to enjoy going places and checking out all the new things he can see. Today the community had a health fair for the employees and I wanted to attend and get a flu shot for free. The daughter had some insurance questions so she and the baby went along too. Grandpa was more than happy to show off his adorable grandson and even though we may think the boy is getting big, lots of people there commented on how new he still looked. The hubby even treated us to lunch at the Two Waters cafeteria (where he eats most days). We had turkey, sweet potatoes and green beans and it was all yummy.
The oldest daughter decided that while we were out she wanted to hit the after Halloween sales at Target. We found a few fun holiday things for 75% off and some new little boy clothes in the next size up that were marked way down. I love bargain shopping and apparently it has rubbed off on the girl.
We had such a good time that we picked the youngest son up from school and dragged him to another Target with us. He was impressed by the humongous bag of Starbursts and Skittles that he discovered. I think the little guy was impressed too. It looks like he's counting on his fingers how many pieces his uncle is going to share with him.

His uncle says that yellow is a girl color and we shouldn't make him wear yellow, but we were just happy to find this onesie in the bottom of the diaper bag when he leaked through his diaper. He still looks like a handsome little boy to me.

Today I am grateful for

free flu shots and hopefully no flu.
a daughter to go shopping with.
a son that chose to buy Skittles and Starbursts because those don't tempt me like chocolate does.

Service With a Smile

Today I spent the morning in the temple. The temple is such a happy place to be. From the time I walked in the front door until I walked out a few hours later I was greeted with smiles where ever I went. I just couldn't help but smile back.
I decided to go to the cafeteria for a bowl of soup after I finished my session. The cashier was so friendly and cheerful as she counted money and washed tables and tried to figure out how to get the trays to move on the conveyor belt that wasn't cooperating. I thought about the service that she was providing for each of us in that room - the physical service and the emotional one as well.
Then as I was walking to the front door I passed by the chapel where another volunteer was playing the organ to an empty room. Her music was being piped into the waiting room to help set a reverent mood for those individuals preparing to do a session. No one there could even see her, or acknowledge her, but she was doing her part to serve with a smile.
I started thinking about the hours of service that are given in each temple throughout the world each day. I thought of the temple workers who put there personal trials aside once or twice a week to get up before dawn and come to serve in the temple or give up their Friday or Saturday night fun to serve in the Lord's house. Then I thought of the many patrons who also give service in the temples 5 days a week. Hours and hours of service, by hundreds of individuals, all given with a smile.
When I was leaving the dressing room today I stopped at the drinking fountain for some water. As I started walking again it felt like something was brushing against my leg. I looked down and there on the ground was a man's black dress sock. Now, yesterday when I pulled my skirt out of the dryer it felt like there was a sock inside it, but I searched and searched and couldn't come up with one. I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed as I bent down and picked the sock up. One of the temple workers was watching me and said, "I was just getting ready to tell you you had dropped something." I went over to talk to her. She hadn't realized what it was that I had picked up and I told her my laundry story. Another worker was listening in and said, "One of the reasons we come to the temple - to find lost things."
As I walked out of the front doors of the temple today I once again thought of my experience there and what the temple worker had said. After a not so very good day yesterday I had lost my perspective and my smile. I could definitely say as I walked to my car that I had found both and one black sock to boot!

Today I am grateful for

smiles.
temple promises.
my Relief Society Sisters.

No More Nursery

No more snacks during the 3rd hour of the church block.
No more playing with toys.
No more sitting on the floor and wondering if I'll be able to get back up.
No more refereeing World Federation Wrestling, 2 year old style.
No more hand holding on the way to class.
No more two year old snuggles.
No more being called Mama in a sweet, toddler voice.
No more sluffing Sunday School for the youngest son.
No more two year old hugs.
No more practice making animal sounds.
No more laughing at church until my side hurts.
No more trying to figure out how to get 18 month olds to sit still for a 3 minute lesson.
No more bubbles to celebrate the end of church.
No more singing time where no one sings but everyone claps and cheers at the end of every song.
No more checking my fridge for fruit and cheese on Saturday night.
No more regurgitated food in my hand.
No more Noah's Ark puzzle.
No more soft, cushy chair for the Hubby's church enjoyment.
No more excuse for a Sunday afternoon nap.
No more worrying about which 2 year old is throwing a tantrum during sacrament meeting.
No more trying to track down snack bandits.
No more wiping tears.
Except for mine.

No more nursery.

Today I am grateful for

the Papago Ward - where life is a little less pretentious.
little children.
my own challenges. I don't really want some of the ones other people have.

Our Halloween

Most of my family did their own thing for Halloween this year.

The oldest son and the fiancee spent the morning tye dying a t-shirt with Kool-Aid for him to wear trick or treating with her "nieces and nephew" (children of close family friends). I didn't know that you could use Kool-Aid to tye dye. It was kind of cool. I thought the son would record this event for me, but he forgot to take his camera.

The youngest daughter was far away in Idaho and all we heard about her Halloween was that a really scary guy with a chain saw tried to accoust her and her roommates in their apartment, but they laughed and he ran away. Apparently there are no photos of this event either.

The youngest son had a date tonight to the school homecoming dance. It appears to be a lot less stressful to be the boy going to the dance than the girl. He spent most of the day on the couch watching football and movies while I'm sure his date was getting her hair done and worrying about looking beautiful. Sometimes life is just not fair! He did go to the church for awhile to set up for the trunk or treat and helped his friend wash the truck they were taking on their date, so he didn't get to just relax all day.

We did get the son and his date to swing by the trunk or treat at the church so we could see if they both ended up looking nice.


I'd say they looked a little silly, but nice. The son was thrilled that he got to wear a purple shirt and tie. He really was. He loves purple shirts. He also did a good job of choosing a date for the event. Not only is she cute and nice and fun to be around, she also got free tickets to the dance and free pictures (because she is on student council and helped set up). That's a smart boy I've got.

The oldest daughter, the son-in-law, the grandson, the hubby and I spent the evening at the church at the Halloween Trunk or Treat activity. The two wards that meet in our chapel have been doing this activity for about 10 years now. It is fun and a safe way for parents to take their kids trick or treating, but I kind of miss the neighbor activities. Our trunk or treat seems to be discovered by more and more neighborhood families each year and we pass out a lot of candy. Here is the grandson checking out the candy before we packed him and it up to take to the church.



I'm not sure that he was too impressed. I guess I wouldn't be thrilled about just laying in chocolate either. It's much more fun to get to eat it! His other grandma gave him this cute froggie costume. It was a great choice, don't you think?

Here are the hubby (dressed as farmer) and the oldest daughter (dressed as a mother) in our trunk or treat pumpkin patch.


I had a lot more pumpkins to hang up, but who would have guessed that our van has no hanging hooks attached? I had a difficult time finding something to hang our crop from before the hoards of trick or treaters decended upon us. I'll have to start decorating sooner next year now that I've figured out how I could make it work. I thought the frog was a nice pumpkin patch addition. Every pumpkin patch should have a frog. We did have several parents thank us for not having any scary decorations. The van two cars down from us was pretty scary apparently. There was a lot of screaming going on anyway.

The son-in-law is missing from the above photo because he was off making a bottle for the baby. The baby has been having some tummy trouble and seemed a little plugged up so his mom and dad decided to try a different formula. We're happy to say that the formula fixed the problem, but they went through a lot of diapers and ran out of wipes during the evening. Here the grandson is admiring himself after he is once again clean and fresh smelling.


Happy Halloween!
Today I am grateful for

a good friend who helped me (ie. did all the work) make a corsage for the youngest son's date.


chocolate!
my ward family.

One year ago today - Scary Halloween!

Halloween Sweetness

How My Boys Spent Their Fall Break

Last week was my boy's Fall break - one from school, one from work. The new addition to our family kind of put a kink in our plans to go and find some autumn leaves. It wasn't an adventurous week, but they managed to still enjoy themselves -

visiting the baby,




hanging out on the couch watching dvds,


feeding the baby,


sleeping,


baking,


and obviously, not taking out the trash.

The youngest son also went on an overnight camp out with the priests, but I didn't take a picture of that.
Now Fall break is over and it's back to the normal routine. It was fun while it lasted.

Today I am thankful for

the normal routine.
my vacuum cleaner.
a husband and son that cook.

Hootie Hider

A couple of months ago when the oldest daughter and I were on our baby sewing kick we were discussing making a breast feeding cover, more commonly known as a hootie hider. The youngest son thought this name was pretty entertaining and wanted to know what it was and what purpose it served. A few days later he found a burp cloth that we were working on and decided it must be a hootie hider. Here he is modeling it for us. Umm, not quite.

The daughter found a great hootie hider tutorial online and I decided I was smart enough to make one. The girl and I went in search of some material we liked for the project, but didn't really find anything she loved. There was one fabric that she thought might work at the first store we visited. It was cream, green and orange and had birds on it. Of course, we couldn't purchase it without checking out our other choices though and then when we decided we liked it best we didn't want to drive back to the first store. A couple of days later (while the daughter was "lounging" in the hospital) I went and bought the fabric. However, somewhere between the car and the front door of my house it disappeared. I think those birds just up and flew away because I have no idea where it ended up. I searched and searched for it and then after several days I decided the best way to make it reappear was to go buy more fabric. I went back to the store to buy another yard and while I was there I found this really cute retro astronaut baby material. I felt this theme was quite appropriate since the son-in-law grew up wanting to be an astronaut and so I bought it instead.
I held on tightly to the bag all the way from the car until I was in the house and then I quickly sewed it into an adorable hootie hider. The hubby thought it was quite entertaining that I kept walking back and forth from the instructions on the computer to the sewing machine. That was definitely the most challenging part of the project. I did have a little bit of trouble threading the boning into the casing but only because I sewed the casing a little to small. This was a really quick, easy project.
Here is the daughter and the grandson trying it out.
I wish I could say that it worked wonders and that the baby now is completely converted to the idea of nursing, but unfortunately that's not the case. He drank too many bottles in the hospital and knows that he shouldn't have to work that hard to get his meals. He can be pretty stubborn when he doesn't get what he wants as quickly as he wants it.

Oh well, the hootie hider still turned out great!

One Week Old

The grandson has been a part of our family for a whole week now.

He is pretty, darn good at making messes in his diaper, but I don't think there is anything stinky about him.

He is the sweetest little boy in the whole world!

Today I am grateful for

a great report card!

a baby to cuddle.

a son who bakes cake for me.

Straight A Student!

We knew he could do it!
The boy got all A's on his report card this quarter.

I did an amazing happy dance.
Too bad no one recorded it for posterity.

Keep up the good work, my son!

Hard Jobs Grandmas Have To Do

The oldest daughter called me this morning and asked if I could visit Deseret Industries and see if they had any newborn or 3 month clothes. Everything they tried to put on the baby was too big for him. Since I have determined to be an amazing grandma, I agreed to this difficult task. Actually, anyone who knows me very well knows I am always looking for an excuse to make a DI run. I LOVE that store!

Then, of course, I had to deliver the cute outfits that I found. The baby was sleeping, but I talked loud enough to wake him up so I could chat with him for a few minutes. Then I cuddled him back to sleep. There's nothing like holding a sweet, sleeping baby.

The pile in the background of this picture are just a few of my thrift store finds. I got a lot of good stuff for less than $20.

Welcome Home Baby!

The grandson has finally received a clean bill of health and got to go home today. We are all excited! Now the real fun can begin. Tonight might be a long night with no nursery visits.

The 5 minute car ride home really tired him out. He ate and then conked out.

I have tried and tried to psych myself up to bind this minky blanket that the daughter and I made. It really intimidated me. Finally yesterday I decided I just had to "bite the bullet" and do it. It turned out OK, if you don't look too close.

Grandma got to pick out the outfit for him to come home in. Apparently he isn't as big as I thought he was. He kept losing his feet in the legs of his pants. He looked pretty cute anyway.

Once he woke up he decided home was a pretty nice place.

Welcome Home Little Boy!

Today I am grateful for

No more hospital visits for awhile.
Relief Society sisters who provide meals for new parents.
A finished project!

One year ago today - Tongue-ectomy