Just a few thoughts from the past few days...

I've been going through some of the things I brought home from mum's last week.  We cleaned out her filing cabinet and each of us took a stack of folders home. Mom was really organized!  I hope to be this organized some day, but that would really take some doing!

Anyway, I had a folder that was neatly labeled "Letters".  It was full of old letters from friends and family.  I spent a lovely afternoon strolling through the past thirty or so years of mum and daddy's life....through the eyes of their friends and loved ones.

It was wonderful and humbling to read the many thank you notes and letters from friends, family, and people I had never heard of....thanking them for acts of kindness or service they had given to them.

They truly touched and influenced so many lives.

Been missing mum a lot lately. It feels like yesterday when she was here with us....it was January 10 when she came down here to live with us, so this time of year brings all those memories back to the surface. ( every time I turn on the tv and The price is right, or Jeopardy is on, I get a pang of lonliness for her)  That was a very special time for me. 

I've decided I really like the way the Japanese people take care of and honor their elderly family members.  I like how they keep their family together with the parents living with their married children. 

 I love the idea of them not having to be alone when their spouse dies, still feeling like they were needed and loved.  They could teach their grandchildren so much and influence their lives for good....not to mention all the joy having children around would bring to them.  I wish our culture was more like that. 

Don't worry Camille..I'm just sayin...

This was a picture Candice found from about a year and a half ago.  Camille and Candice had gone up there with me and we spent a good day with mom.  We sang some of the oldies mum had taught us.  The girls have learned a few of them and it sure is fun to hear them singing them.  Now I can see why mum always wanted us to sing for her. 

So glad they had her sweet influence in their lives.  Now when they sing, it's like they have a part of their grandma in their hearts that they can carry with them even though she is gone.

This was something we found in the cupboard downstairs...my wedding cake decorations!  Wow!  That brought back a ton of memories! 

I can still picture the cake. ..all done in yellow and peach.  Very pretty on our wedding day for the reception in our yard!  Then we tried to take it down to Salt Lake for our reception there...oh boy, that didn't work. It had lots of fragile loopy sugar work done on it and that did not survive the drive.

We  ( and when I say we, I don't know who did it...probably my mom...I was off in la la land) pieced it back together pretty good and it looked fine for the reception. 

 I finally got Sam's jammies done....this is what happens when I procrastinate sending them and leave them lying around...Hmmmmm they fit giant panda pretty good...hope they will be big enough for Sam!  and also I don't appreciate the needle through crochet kitty's head.

Candice came over Sunday and we finished the puzzle.  That was a fun one! 

I went to a stake choir practice later that night.  We are singing for Stake conference next week.  We are singing two really beautiful songs.  Our Savior's love and If we will seek the Lord.  They are the kind of songs that give you goose bumps when you get to sing them and hear them sung well.  Muriel is directing and I sure do love her.

How cute is my sweet Olivia...all ready for church!

 We took Candice's cedar chest over to her house and I got this classic shot of her...

She is pretty even when she just rolls out of bed.

Last night, my sweet friends took me out for a birthday dinner.  What a fun night! We talked and laughed till they were ready to shut the place down.  Sure do love these dear ladies.

I had the best day with my sisters yesterday.

We had planned on getting together cause Brenda and Leslie had work off for Martin Luther Kings' birthday. 

It hasn't snowed all winter, but wouldn't you know our luck...we were supposed to get a pretty good storm that day.  I called Brenda to see how the weather was up there and she said it wasn't bad at all.  Teina had a different story in Layton...that area always seems to get the worst of any storm.  We decided to give it a try ( We've definitely made it up there in worse conditions).

The roads were not too bad till I got to Bountiful...then they were covered with snow and ice.  I slowed way down and just crept along.  People were flying past me like I was standing still, but I didn't care.  There were so many wrecks along that road...and I was listening to the radio talking about how dangerous the roads were, so I just plugged along at about 40 mph.

Then I got to an area where it looked like the road was clear...just some blowing snow, so I sped up to about 50 mph. I was going along pretty good for a minute, then all the sudden, the car just goes sideways.  I was in the middle lane, and I slid across the fast lane and onto the shoulder of the road.  They had been saying on the radio to not hit your brakes when you start to slide, cause that makes it worse, so I just tried to steer out of it.  I had absolutely no control. 

Once I hit the far side of the shoulder, the wheels caught and I steered back onto the freeway.  I am so thankful there were no cars around me.  I would have crashed for sure. 

I was pretty freaked out, so I pulled over, calmed myself down and thanked Heavenly Father for not letting me die.

When I picked Teina up, I found out that she and Brad had both been in car accidents this past month. Brad totaled his car, and Teina's front end had been bashed in pretty bad.  Sure grateful neither of them were hurt!

My sisters gave me a great birthday party. 

They are so good to me, I'm sure lucky to have three wonderful sisters!

We went over to Firehouse pizza for lunch.  It was really yummy!  After lunch, we came back and cleaned out a few more places in the house.  The filing cabinet downstairs had lots of special things in it that grandma had saved...lots of sweet notes, valentines, birthday, and mother's day cards from all the grand kids. It was pretty sweet to look through them. 

 So grateful for the loving relationship all the kids had with mum and daddy.

Angie had made a special gift for each of us girls and for each of our kids.  It was a CD with some of our favorite songs that we sing together on it.  She had found some old tapes we had made years ago, and had them transferred to CD.  How cool is that?

I listened to it when I got home last night and it sure brought me a lot of pleasure to hear these sweet songs and think about these happy times. 

Mum sounded great playing the uke for us and the harmony in some of these songs is so pretty.

Thanks a million Angie... How did you know that's just what we all needed right now?  You are so sweet and thoughtful.  That's a gift I'll really enjoy and treasure!

I love how she put mum's beautiful begonias on the cover,  Perfect!

Yup...thats me.  I'm on a CD!

Just a few pictures of my sweet family.

Liv said she was decorating Sam. 

Princess sleeping....I love how she wears the eye covers...this girl likes her sleep!

Kate sent me some cute pictures she took when they were here at Christmas.

Oh my gosh, I'm going to eat him!

Lizzy has been very needy and clingy lately.  I'm not sure whats wrong with her.  When we were working on this puzzle, she wanted to climb right on my lap.  (She's kind of large and does not fit on my lap, so she had to settle on laying on our feet.)

The other night, I was awake ( as usual) about 2:00.  I came down stairs to get a drink and she was laying at the bottom of the stairs.  I reached down to pet her as I walked by, she didn't move.

So I went and got a drink and knocked a stack of pans I had washed off the counter into the sink.  It made a lot of noise!  I looked over there at Lizzy, she didn't even move.

So I went over to her and pet her and told her to wake up.  She just laid there really still.  Oh my gosh, I thought she was dead!  And I had killed her!  Earlier that day, I had cleaned out the fridge and had given her some meat.  It wasn't really old, probably about a week.

Ok, now I was freaking out.  I started shaking her and calling her name.  She finally opened one eye and looked at me.  She still didn't move. 

 I ran and got her some water and held it by her mouth.  She lifted her head and drank a little, then got up and drank the whole bowl of water.

She seemed ok after that...other than just being real clingy.

Oh man that scared me!  She can't ever die!  Then I wouldn't be grandma with Lizzy...just plain old grandma.

Lizzy has been about the best dog you could ever ask for.  She has kept me company, ( follows me where ever I go in the house, then plops down next to me  (will get up and come lick me every once in a while)....She's loved and tolerated Olivia and now Sam, ( she put up with Liv pulling her ears and pulling her feet out from under her when she was little and then riding on her and dressing her up when she got bigger...not to mention being taken for "walks" ( more like drags)  when they come to visit. It's funny though, she doesn't ever run away from them...just sits there and takes it.

 I can count on one hand the accidents she has had in the house and that was because she was sick. ( When she needs to go, she just comes and gives me this look...then when I say " do you need to go out?"  she will just make a bee line for the back door. 

When mum was here, she was so sweet with her...she would stay by her where ever she was...laying right on her feet.  It's cool how some dogs seem to kind of know what's going on... ( Wiggy, Waggles,  Mr. Wiggles, Wiggle waggle...I wish I could remember all the names she called him.) 

Lizzy is always there waiting for me when I walk in the back door and acts like she's just real happy to see me! I honestly don't know what I'd do without her.

Candice gave me a neat puzzle for Christmas.  It's a picture of Noah's ark...when you look at the picture on the front of the box, it looks normal, but when you put it together, all these weird additions show up.  I'll have to take a picture of it when it's done....it's a fun one!

 Plus a few projects I've been working on...

 Liv's Christmas jammies?

We went shopping together that week she was here and she picked out this ballerina fabric.  Hope she likes them!

Giant Panda

Liv was looking through my patterns and said she would really like this panda...or the kitty.   I tried to get the panda done while we were driving to Arizona, but it was just too giant.  I finished it up about the time we got home, so I'll be mailing him.  

I'll send kitty along for the ride.

We had such a nice time with Katie in California. 

The weather was beautiful so we went down to the beach as soon as we got there.

There were a ton of surfers over on the north side of the pier which was kind of unusual.  They had been having some huge waves the past few days so it was fun to watch them.

You can't see these very well...this guy caught a bunch of crabs.

KC wandered off and we found him talking to  this bunch of Russian guys.  They asked him how he knew Russian.  He told them he had served an LDS mission there.  They said they were baptist.  I love that KC tries where ever he is.

It amazes me how the flowers are always blooming...no matter when you go there!

Candice took care of Lizzy ( along with a little help from Faith) while we were gone.  I sure appreciate that!  I know it was a pain to drive over here every day!

 Wish she could have been with us too!

We went to the swap meet Saturday, which is always fun.  Got Kelley's dad a salsa chopper.

We were going to go hiking, but decided we could do that in Utah and went to the beach instead.

 It was another beautiful day...not as warm, but still comfortable.

Dinner was fun at PF Changs and then Bandara. 

Thanks so much for your hospitality Kate!  We had a wonderful time!