Grandma

 

My grandma (my dad's mom) passed away in June.  It really was a blessing.  She was 95 years old and had had a declining quality of life for quite a while.  She was suffering from dementia and couldn't remember who people were or what her previous life had been like.  (She thought she used to own a store and that she made and sold many of the things around her house at the "store".)

So, even though those are of the realities of Grandma's life in 2013, I very grateful to have many, many memories of her living a full, blessed, happy life. 

Grandma was spunky and had a twinkle in her eye.  She used to sew and paint and make yummy, yummy meals. 

Some of my favorite memories of Grandma include:

Her yummy cooking.  I especially loved her strawberry pie, her potato salad, her cream-filled cupcakes and her yummy cookies (stored in Tupperware.)

Family reunions each year--camping, going to the Playmill, picnics at Howard Springs in Island Park.

Hearing her tell how she got in trouble for spelling the word "up" when she was in first grade.  She spelled it and then said the word. "U...P...Up"  which sounded like "You pee up."  She laughed and got in trouble so she was put in closet as punishment.  She found a wind-up phonograph in the closet and wound it up and got in even more trouble.

Grandma came to all my important events in life--baptism, high school graduation (all the way in South Dakota), college graduations, when I entered the MTC and my wedding.

One summer my cousin Marc and I spent a week with Grandma and Grandad.  She was such a good sport about refereeing  our preteen arguments.  And as far as we know, she never did find out we called a bunch of 1-800-numbers to prank call them.  But we were scared out of our minds whenever the phone rang because we were SURE the companies were calling back and boy, would we have been in trouble.

Traveling from Idaho to South Dakota one summer with her and Grandad listening to Kenny Rogers' greatest hits.

Once when I was 10 or so, Grandma commented on how much she loved the thank you card I had sent her for a birthday or Christmas gift she had given me.  She said she was SO impressed that every single word was spelled correctly.  That has always stood out in my mind that Grandma thought I was a good speller.

During my college years Grandma would sometimes catch a ride with Greg and me as we headed home to so she could stay with us during our brief break.  I always enjoyed hearing her talk about when she was young.  

Many times I would travel by myself to visit my parents.  Upon heading back home, I'd always call Grandma about 5 minutes from the town where she lived and see if I could stop by and see her. Of course she always said yes.  I loved those one-on-one visits with Grandma.

Grandma was a widow of almost 22 years.  I'm sure there was a joyous reunion in Heaven with Granddad.  Here is a picture of them at their 50th wedding anniversary celebration.




I'm so grateful Grandma got to meet Tyler, Emily and Megan. All of the great-grandkids call her Grandma Great, and my kids are no exception.  They still sometimes ask me questions about Grandma Great.

Here she is with Tyler at the family Christmas party, Dcember 2008.  He fell asleep in her arms--so sweet.




 

 Here is when Grandma met the girls in June 2010.  She kept asking me if they were twins over and over.  =)



 And here is the last time we saw her--last Christmas at her house.  She didn't know who we were, but she sure was happy to have visitors.




Grandma's funeral was really nice.  It's always great to see aunts, uncles and cousins.

The great grandkids sang "I am a Child of God." This is a picture of the great grandkids singing.  There was a little "drama" during the actual singing during the funeral.  Tyler thought it would be fun squish the girls.  I was leading the song from a nearby pew and had to snap my fingers to get his attention and thankfully he stopped.



We (the grandkids) sang Michael McLean's song "Together Forever Someday."  It is the same song we sang at my grandpa's funeral almost 22 years ago.  This isn't a picture of all of us, but I'm grateful to have it.  (Angela, me, Kimberly, Jennifer, Logan, Greg, Cole, Brock, Katelyn and Derek.)



The grandsons were the pallbearers.  (Greg, Derek, Marc, Brock, Nathan, Logan, Cole and Scott L.)
















I'm so grateful for a knowledge that family's are forever and that I'll get to see my grandma again.  I love her so much.

Random pictures from May and June

One morning Darrell felt the hankering to cook us up some scrambled eggs for breakfast on the Coleman stove.




Finger painting





Tyler and Megan dancing as Phillip and Sleeping Beauty.  (Tyler is in his Lightning McQueen Halloween costume from a couple years ago.)



Tyler doing his "work" in his Tigger Halloween costume from when he was one year old.  (Tyler and I sat down pretty regularly in the summer during the girls' naptime to do his work.  We worked through a Pre-K workbook.  He always wanted to do it--probably for the small piece of candy he got each time.)



More dressing up  Emily is James, Megan is Cinderella and Tyler is Tigger.



An early-summer attempt to re-train Emily (She did great for 2 months or so after we potty trained in January and then kept having accidents so I just put her back in diapers) and to try and potty train Megan.  Emily did pretty well picking it back up, but Megan didn't have a clue what was happening.



Jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath it.



I didn't realize the sprinkler under the trampoline was soaking our little turtle sandbox.  The sand turned to mud and Megan and Tyler had a grand ol' time "painting" themselves, as well as the inside of the playhouse.  (There are no pictures of that though.)



The girls spent their birthday money on new dress up clothes.  Megan chose a princess costume and Emily chose a fairy costume.  I find it funny that even though Megan  has this beautiful princess dress, she still prefers to dress up in the simpler princess dresses they got for Christmas a couple years ago. 





Playing with wood blocks.





Tyler finishing up with spring/summer soccer.  He got a medal on the last day.







Emily hanging out on the stairs.  I can't remember if she was asleep or not.



Megan with her little Noah's ark stash. 



Swimming.  Tyler used his water toy to "water" the corn.







Father's Day 2013.  I love this picture of Darrell with Megan, Tyler and Emily.

Happy 3rd Birthday Emily and Megan!

Megan and Emily turned 3 years old on June 4.  

They woke up to see streamers, balloons and lots of presents.

They were so excited to open their presents in their new crowns (which were soon replaced with Hello Kitty headbands.)

Megan





Emily





The last presents weren't wrapped--just brought in from the garage where they had been hiding.





Tyler was a great big brother and helped Emily ride around the house before we took the bikes outside.



Trying out their new watercolors.



Trying out the bikes outside.



They both wanted to eat dinner at "Old McDonald's."







Emily



Megan



I didn't give the girls many options for cakes.  I wanted them each to have their own cake, but I didn't want to make 2 full cakes.  I made 2 round cakes and they could choose a flower or a ladybug.

Emily chose to make a green flower (green is her favorite color), and Megan chose a ladybug.

Megan is a true girly girl.  She loves dressing up as a princess.  She loves to play with her little horses, ponies and dolls.  She loves pretending, and often times when I call her name, she'll say "I'm not Megan!  I'm __________.  (Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, a doggy, etc.  Last week she pretended she was a rolling pin and rolled around on the floor to get places.)  Megan is a tease, but is also a little cutie.  We love her so much!  Happy Birthday Sweet Megan!



Emily is very independent and loves doing things her way and by herself.  (I love that both Emily and Megan insist on dressing themselves, washing their hands, etc.  Yay for my "big girls!")  Emily has learned to ride her bike and is pretty much potty trained.  Emily is very loving and can give great hugs when she's overcome with happiness and excitement.  She has an amazing memory and amazes me with vocabulary she picks up by just by watching and observing.  She is one smart cookie and we love her so much.  Happy Birthday Sweet Emily!



We nearly forgot the party hats, but thankfully Megan remembered while we were dishing up the cake.

Tyler and Megan



Tyler and Emily



Happy Birthday Emily and Megan!  We love having you in our family!