Conference Weekend

Last weekend it was conference, one of my favorite weekends of the year. 

How lucky we are to be able to stay at home and be instructed on how we can be happier, have more peace in our lives, and be a little better.  I always come away recharged but also feeling like I have so much to do...which is really not a bad thing.

 

The last several conference weekends we have spent in SLC, but this time we stayed at home and Heather, Nick, and Maylee were able to join us.  It made me realize how blessed we are and that no matter where we are, conference is wonderful...but it is even more wonderful when you spend it with family.  

 

Sometimes in the past we have a little trouble staying awake through all 8+ hours of talks.  Putting together a puzzle while we listened helped most of us stay alert.

 

Saturday morning we made some yummy cinnamon rolls and later we dipped caramel apples to have for a treat after the guys came home from priesthood. 

 

It really spoke to my heart when  Elder Hales reminded us that we gathered to hear the words of the Lord, now we are to return to our homes to live them.  That is what I intend to do.

Better Than Expected

After a seven year hiatus, we got around to planting a vegetable garden again.  We talked about doing it each year, then the spring would get away from us and before we knew it, it would be too late.  Not this year.

In early spring our neighbor brought us a load of sheep manure so we revved up our tiller and planted. 

And we are so glad that we did. 

Ray set up a drip system and we only had to weed the garden twice!

Our garden grew like crazy. 

We have eaten (and shared with our neighbors) lots and lots of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, melons, corn, carrots, and beans.

I found a recipe for ratatouille and made it with pretty much all of the ingredients coming from our garden!  It was yummy...although it didn't look so pretty.

Our garden is almost done producing and we 're pretty sad about it. Why can't summer/fall last just a little longer...

Doorbell Ditching

Gotta love little kids.  We have the cutest neighbor kids.  They love to play outside, unlike a lot of kids these days.  The older boys are always out playing football, basketball, catch, or something else.  The younger ones love to ride their scooters, pick flowers, etc.  Often times we will find a little "present" on our doorstep from one of the little girls.  Sometimes it's a flower, or a dandelion with roots/dirt and all, or a picture that she colored.

One evening, Ray was home alone.  He heard our doorbell ring and when he went to answer it there was no one there, but there was a little folded up scrap of colored paper on the porch and he could hear some little girls over on the side or our house.  This is the note they left...

He thought he would have a little fun with them so he stood close to the door so he could open it and catch them when they came out from their hiding place.  When they did he opened the door and said, "Hey, are you girls ringing my doorbell?"  They giggled and said, "Yes" and then he said, "I'm not sure what this note says", and they responded, "Yes you do... it says you've been warned".  He said, "I've been warned?  Warned about what?  What does that mean?"  They didn't know how to respond so said, "Just a minute.  We'll get you another one".  They looked through their plastic bag full of colored notes and then picked this one.  As they handed it to him they said, "Here's a nice one"

Those cute little girls have no idea the chuckle we got out of this.

September, Really?

August was a bit of a blur.  Actually, the whole summer was like that.  It went by quicker than any summer ever. 

The last two weeks I spent spoiling my grandbaby and daughter.  I was in Cedar helping Heather out while she returned to wrap things up at her job and finish their move.  They moved in phases, which was kind of nice and kind of not.  It was not as hectic as when you pick one day and move everything like most people do.  But dragging it out for a month or more meant several trips for Nick and being without some of their belongings at one place or the other.  Subsequently, by the last week most of their stuff had been moved and we were left to "camp out" with no couch, bed, television, internet, etc.  We did have a card table, 2 folding chairs, a cool rocking lawn chair, two mats to sleep on, Maylee's stroller and pack and play, and our clothes for the week.  We only kept what we thought we could fit in our vehicle. It was a miracle we made it all fit.

Luckily, we didn't have to leave anything hanging out the window like these guys we saw on the freeway!

I just fed, changed, held, rocked, sang to, strolled, and took pictures of the baby all day long.  I had nothing else to do or to distract me.  Maylee and I got to know each other really well.

She changed a lot over the two weeks.  Her cheeks (and whole body) chunked up, and she got cuter and smiled more everyday. 

It was an exhausting couple of weeks, but so enjoyable.  It's so much fun to be a grandma!

Sugar and Spice

My friends tried to tell me.  I listened and I thought I understood, but there is no possible way to comprehend how quickly you can fall in love with your own grandbaby.  It’s a little like the love I felt each time one of my own children were born, but different because someone I love so much just gave birth to another person for us to love.  It is like the love is magnified. There really is no way to explain.

This sweet baby girl has stolen our hearts.

We think she is darling and perfect in every way. She has the cutest little “kissy lips”, squishy little cheeks, and bright eyes. She has the sweetest face we’ve ever seen. We spent hours last week just staring at her and asking ourselves how a newborn could be so stinkin’ cute. 

 

I have no doubt that every grandparent feels this way.  Life just doesn’t get better than this.

Then and Now

Last week I got to spend a few days with my daughter, who is ready to deliver our first grand baby ANY DAY NOW!  It was so much fun to see her and try to figure out ways to spoil her.  While I was with her, I got to thinking about when I was pregnant and how different things are today. 

It wasn't really THAT long ago.  Okay, maybe it was...the 80's were kind of a long time ago.

First, maternity clothes are so much cuter now.  I seriously wore what looked like a tent.  I remember trying to hide that pregnancy as long as I could, so the bigger the clothes the better.  I actually wore some of Ray's clothes when I wasn't going out in public.  Not cute!

Me, back in the day, wearing Ray's clothes

 

Cute Heather a few weeks ago

Heather has a wardrobe of DARLING clothes and not one of them looks like a tent.  It seems the more form fitting the better.  She has the cutest beach ball belly to show off through her shirt right now.

Back then we didn't have ultrasounds unless something was suspected to be wrong.  Not the case today.  Pretty much everyone uses one now to find out the gender of their baby long before the birth.  The first thing people ask when they find out a couple is expecting is if they are having a boy or a girl (although I did hear a girl recently say that they decided to be "old fashioned" and chose not to know).  With two of my three kids we did not know, and I kind of liked the surprise.  On the one we knew, personally I felt it took a wee bit of the excitement out of it.  Although as a grandma it's been pretty exciting to know.

Until recently I'd never heard the words "birth plan".  When it was time to give birth it just happened.  Everyone seemed to do it the same-you started having contractions, you went to the hospital,  you had an epidural, and the baby was born.  There wasn't really a "plan".  No one ever discussed being induced.  And back then hardly anyone I knew chose to do it "natural".  At one of Heather's recent appointments they said it was time to discuss her "birth plan".  I don't even know what that means!  I guess she has multiple decisions to make.

And all these people in the delivery room today???  When I had my babies, my doctor advised only those who were there when the baby was conceived should be in the delivery room.  Today there don't seem to be any limits.  Sometimes the entire family (and a photographer) are there to witness firsthand the miracle of birth.  I don't know...

I could go on, but it's wearing me out just thinking about it, and makes me glad I did it my way.  One thing that hasn't changed though is the excitement we all feel.  I was excited back then and today we all can hardly wait.  Just like then, these last days seem to be dragging by.

It is kind of surreal to think about my baby girl having a baby girl.  I really can hardly contain myself.

Unwelcome Guest

Last Monday morning I was outside doing some yard work.  I worked my way around the front yard and went through the gate into the back when I came face to face with a very large bird.  I immediately turned around and went back out the gate.  I then walked all the way around the house where the fence is shorter and has slats so I could get a better look at what I had seen.  I couldn't see it from there and so began to question if I had really seen what I thought I had.  So I rushed into the house, grabbed my camera (so that I would have proof of what I saw), and quietly went out on the deck.  Sure enough down below me was a rather large peacock.  Upon further investigation I could see that it had left evidence that it had been there, if you know what I mean.  I immediately texted Ray a picture asking him what I should do.  He replied that I should open the gate and just scare it off.  I was a little afraid of what the peacock might try to do if I got too close, so I armed myself with a broom just in case I had to defend myself.    Of course I wanted to get a better picture, so with a broom in one hand and the camera ready I moved in.  This caused the bird to freak out and it ran back and forth along the edge of our fence and eventually jumped up onto the fence and over to the other side. 

At that point I thought my peacock encounter was kind of cool, because you just don't see big beautiful majestic birds in Roosevelt.  The coolness wore off quickly when the bird returned letting us know it hadn't given up on making our backyard its new home.  Each time we would go out back it would leave, but it was only a matter of hours and it would return.  And unless you saw it, you can't possibly imagine how much a peacock can poop!  There were droppings everywhere-on our deck, our fence, and piles covering the cement!  Just when I would get it cleaned up, it would come back and leave more.  Totally disgusting!

After about three days of this, I knew we were not going to be able to get it to leave, so decided to call animal control to see if they could trap it...or something.  An officer came, and of course the bird wasn't here when he showed up, but when the officer returned a few hours later the bird was  here and he told us it had been tormenting several nearby neighborhoods for some time and had been scratching up cars, digging up yards, squawking at night, etc.  He said something needed to be done and unfortunately it may need to be "put down".  That is not what I wanted to hear.  Can't you just catch a peacock with a net or something??? 

Well, apparently peacocks are hard to catch and hard to take down.  Somehow the peacock dodged what they were trying to do and hopefully it headed home.  We haven't seen it for a few days, but aren't totally convinced this is over.  One of the neighbors that it tormented before is out of town, and there is a good chance it moved back into their yard...