Smoothies and Emergencies

Yesterday was a really nice day.  There was nothing terrible excited that happened, but it was a good day.  The kids were wonderful and cute all day long and Matthew took a 2 hour nap which was fabulous.  Daniel came home about 2:00 and it was nice to have some extra time to be with him.  It was fabulous.

Here are some funny things that happened yesterday:

Lately I have been making berry smoothies for breakfast.  I drink mine out of a very large cup, Emma drinks hers out of a small cup and I mix Matthew's with some baby cereal and feed it to him.

Yesterday, Emma dropped her smoothie.  It splattered all over the floor.  I still had a little bit left in my large cup, so I told her she could drink it.  She proceeded to drink it while I cleaned up the mess.  As I was finishing wiping the floor, I looked up at Emma and she had smoothie all over her face.  It was above her lip like a mustache as well as across her forehead where the top of the cup hit.  She looked so darling.  Matthew also had it all over his face like it always gets when he eats it.  I just had to take a couple of picture because they were just so darn cute!! 

Matthew's looking at her like, "You got stuff all over your face!"  They were so cute!

Then, later on, I put Matthew down for a nap.  I usually turn on a movie for Emma to watch while he naps and then I am able to get some things done for a little while.  Lately I have been going down stairs and exercising.  I told Emma that if there was an emergency she could come and get me and I went down to walk on the treadmill.  

About 15 minutes into my exercise, I heard Emma calling me as she was coming down the stairs.  I went to the bottom of the stairs to see what was wrong.  She said, "Mommy, you're not listening to me.  I'm havin a mergency cause daddy's home!"  I realized that Daniel had just come home and Emma had decided that must be what an emergency was.  I guess it's time to explain what an emergency is.  I chuckled about that one!

My Grandmother!

My grandmother Spendlove, the last of my living grandparents, is dying.  I found out yesterday morning and at the time, they thought she would not last long.  I was in the middle of breakfast, and was praying much of the time until I could get up there to see her, that she would still be there for me to say goodbye!  I did make it and was surprised at how emotional I was.  I would have been sobbing if I hadn't been trying to hold back with all of my strength.  As it was I was crying a lot.  I wasn't prepared to say goodbye so quickly. For the last couple of years I have known it would be a blessing for her to go, but somehow it was much harder than I thought it would be.  

Let me go back though.  I was never very close to my grandmother Spendlove while I was growing up.  I have vague memories of sleeping over at her house as a child, but they are just snippets and not really coherent memories.  I was quite shy as a child and so never formed a very close relationship with anyone that I did not see at least weekly.  This all began to change after I had my first little bundle of joy.  

Shortly after Emma was born, I started going with my mother to see my grandmother once a week.  At first I felt awkward as I did not know my grandmother very well.  She was someone that had always been in my life, but that I had never taken the time to really get to know.  I am often still shy, so it was a little hard for me when the conversation would lag.  However, I found that I enjoyed getting out.  But more important, I felt like grandma enjoyed having me come, so I continued to go.

Grandma could still get out a little at that time, and we got to visit a little at a shower for the bride-to-be of one of my cousins.  I was glad that I had taken a little time to know her a little more and that she had the opportunity to be getting to know Emma a little.

Out of necessity, grandma moved into a care center not too long after I started visiting her weekly.  Shortly thereafter, she got shingles which rendered her right hand useless.  This meant she could not feed herself because she was shaky and did not have very good control of her left hand.  I remember it was very hard for her to be there and to feel so helpless.  I was so impressed to see the change in her as time went on.  She learned to eat with her left hand.  She also grew to accept that she could no longer take care of herself, and that she had to live in the care center.  She was an example of faith and enduring to the end.  She never complained very much to begin with, but in time, she stopped even the little complaints that she had and resigned herself to her situation.  I was very impressed with her faith, as if she seemed to be saying that if that was Heavenly Father's plan for her, she would accept it.  

I remember that she loved to see Emma growing up week by week.  She seemed to like to hear the little stories of cute things Emma would do or say, and I began to feel more and more comfortable with her.  There were still times when the conversation would lag, but it was no longer a problem because I felt like I knew her better.  Some of my favorite times were when we could get her talking about her life.  She had a hard time remembering things and that frustrated her, so we didn't talk about her memories often, but I enjoyed the times that we did.

After a year or so, Matthew was born.  I felt so overwhelmed with having two children that I almost decided to stop taking the weekly visits with my mother to see her.  However, I decided to continue going.  I am so glad now that I made that decision as I have enjoyed the time so much.  The picture above is the first time we took Matthew to see grandma Spendlove.

At this point, Jenn was not working and was able to come with us for a time as well.  I am so glad that I had the opportunity to continue visiting my grandmother.  She loved little Matthew.  He is a pretty happy baby and as he got older we could usually get him to smile and laugh for her.  I loved to see the way her eyes would light up as she would smile and laugh back at him.  I really think having little kids around brought so much joy to her.

I was surprised at how well Emma did with my grandma.  She is an incredibly shy child and would not always give grandma a hug, but there were also many times that she did which is huge for her.  There was one day when we went in and Emma sat on Grandma's lap and hugged her for a good 3 minutes.  It was so precious and I couldn't believe it had happened.  Grandma really seemed to love that moment of tenderness, especially because she had seen Emma's shyness first hand.

The two pictures above were taken on Halloween when we went to visit grandma and go trick-or-treating around the care center.  She seemed to really enjoy seeing the kids in their costumes and Matthew even held still for a minute for a picture.  We had a lot of fun.

 

This is not the best picture, but it is the only on that I have of the four of us.  (Yes, Emma is about to sneeze.)  

I have enjoyed having the opportunity to become closer to my grandmother these last few years.  I am so grateful that my children got an opportunity to know her at least a little, even if they do not remember the visits later in life.  She is such a wonderful woman of faith, kindness and great love.  She was always worried about inconveniencing others and made it a point not to do it if there was any way that she could help it.  I wish I had known her better earlier in my life, but I am grateful that I was able to know her before she passed on.  I will miss her, and the time that I will no longer spend with her, but I am happy that she will be with my grandfather and other loved ones again.

I love you grandma, with all of my heart!

Hallelujah

I lost my camera at the beginning of last December and have not had one since.  Jenn just bought a new one because her old one doesn't work all of the time.  She was kind enough to give us her old one.  Sometimes the pictures don't turn out, but I am very grateful to have a camera.  At least it works most of the time.  Anyway, here are some pics we took tonight to celebrate having a camera.  Matthew had already gone to bed, so it's mostly Emma.  I love her eyes in the pictures, I think they look very pretty!

 Thanks Jenn!

My daddy can fix anything...

The kids, Tamara, Daniel and I were driving in the car last Saturday up to Preston, ID to see Daniel's grandparents.  Emma started bragging to grandma about daddy.  She said, "My daddy can fix ANYTHING that's not broken!"  It was hilarious.  What a sweetheart she is.

Mither!

 Here is another long post, proceed at your own risk!

Today is my dear mother's birthday.  While in high school I developed the habit of calling her Mither instead of mother and have continued doing so ever since.  So, Mither, this post is for you.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

While looking through pictures several years ago, I discovered that I looked somewhat like Mither as a child.  Thus I have compiled a side-by-side comparison above.  My pictures are on the left, Mither's are on the right.  I can definitely say that there is nobody I'd rather look like than her as she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever known.

I love this picture of Mither and Pappy's wedding.  She made her own wedding dress and has made several very beautiful blessing dresses for her grandchildren as well.  For years I thought that she had learned to sew by taking a lot of classes.  However, one day fairly recently we were discussing a sewing project and I said that I had no idea how to do something because the only thing I had ever done was taken a sewing class in high school.  She told me that was all she had done as well.  I was so surprised!  That really illustrated to me one of her qualities and that is that anything she decides that she wants to do, she will do.  She is one of the most stubborn people I know, (usually a good thing :) ) and she will accomplish anything she tries.  I love that she perseveres and builds her talents.

Here we are at my baptism.  I don't actually remember much about my baptism day except that we went to Winchells and got donuts afterwards.  :)  However, I do remember mither teaching us the gospel starting at a very young age.  I have fond memories of snuggling with her and singing primary songs together.  Some of our favorites were, "Love is Spoken Here," and "Families Can be Together Forever."  Along with teaching the gospel, she also helped to foster a love for music which I still have today.  Thank you mither for all of those precious times!

I have several memories of high school years.  Mither was on some serious medication during those years.  She would drive me to school sometimes and unfortunately the medicine had not worn off.  I remember one day we were coming to a stop sign and she wasn't stopping I kept thinking she was going to stop and finally she stopped at the very end, but it was too late.  We ended up in the first lane of oncoming traffic of a fairly busy road.  Fortunately for us, there were no cars coming in that particular lane and we did not crash.  I remember praying many times after mither would drop me off that she would get home safely.  I guess the prayers must have worked because she never crashed after dropping me off.  :)

One more of my high school memories was also in the car.  We used to play a game called "slug-bug."  It was before the new VW bugs were out and there weren't a lot of the old ones on the roads any more.  The goal of the game was to be the first person to spot a VW bug.  When you did, you would call out "slug-bug" and lightly slug the person sitting next to you.  Mom was always a little bugged because I always saw them first.  One day, shortly after acquiring my license,  I was driving with mither in the car.  Suddenly she stared screaming and hitting me.  I frantically looked around to see if I was going to crash in to someone or something.  When I didn't see what the problem was I looked at mither who finally blurted out "slug-bug!"  As it turns out, she had forgotten the word to say when playing the game but was so excited that she had finally seen a "bug" before me that she just started hitting me and screaming until she came up with the correct word.  I was just glad that I hadn't crippled a pedestrian.  We laughed pretty hard about that one.

Here we are posing for our 80's rock band picture!

Okay, not really, but Daniel thought it would be funny to put this photoshop one in as a joke.  Mither does have a great sense of humor, and is a bit of a practical joker.  One time early on in their marriage, she and pappy had played back and forth throwing cold water over the other person while they were in the shower.  They had decided not to do that any more, so Mither got a cold plate out of fridge and took it in and put it on dad's bare back while he was shaving.  I thought it was pretty funny, but I guess dad didn't think so.  :)

Mom and her criminal history!!  :)

Daniel especially likes to tease my mom because one day when she was driving over here, she got pulled over and got a speeding ticket right at the opening of our cul-de-sac.  Daniel ran out and took a picture to show her rebel side!

We used to tease Mither because she used to buy all kinds toys for her grandchildren.  However, at the time she did not have any grandchildren.  Well, now she has 19 grandchildren (and 1 on the way.  SURPRISE!!!)   At least she was prepared.  :)

This is my all time favorite picture of Mither.  I think she looks so beautiful and like such a good kind person in this picture.  What a blessing she has been in my life as well as the lives of our whole family.  I love you Mither!!   HAPPY LITTLE BIRTHDAY!!!!

P.S.  No, I am not pregnant.  Fooled you!  :)  Guess I got a little of Mither's love for joking!

Say a little prayer for ...

Me!  :)  

If any of you have a little extra time during your prayers, we'd appreciate a little prayer for us and our rental center as business is pretty slow.  We can use all the faith we can get right now, so if you wouldn't mind joining your faith with ours, we'd be very grateful!  There's nothing like prayer to help things work out!  :)

  LUBS!