Family History

I love this quote..."Knowing who our family WAS reveals part of who we ARE!"

This photo is of my Aunt Ina, we lived in her home with her from the time I was born, till she passed away when I was 10 years old. I loved Aunt Ina like a Mother and she loved me just as much. Aunt Ina never had children of her own, and was married later in her life ...to a man much older than her. After he passed away, she invited our family to move from our small apartment and live with her in her home
. She lived upstair,s and that is where I spent many, many wonderful hours and days with her. She was a fabulous cook, she shared her love of jewelry and hats with me... and always let me play and dress up with her. She taught me how important I was to her! That was probably the greatest gift she could have ever given me. I was LOVED! What a great gift to pass on to the next generation!

This photo below is a of my Grandma Johnny ( her last name was Johnson )

I had to laugh when I saw this photo of her, because it is quite out of her character. I don't remember her doing any snow mobiling, but the fact that she did at her age was inspiring to me. Grandma Johnny was the one who first taught me to crochet and sew! I spent countless hours in her home. Her home was a safe place for me. I loved my time with her! She loved cornbread and made the best around. She taught me how to cook, and told me that I could do anything that I set my mind to! Oh how eternally grateful I am for her in my life. She loved me and I felt it!

So how did these ladies effect my life? They taught me that I was important and loved. They told me it was ok to do what I loved...the arts!

So at the age of 12 I started selling my crafts in a craft shows.

 Here is a photo of me in 1974  ( age 15 )at a craft show. I was sharing a booth with a dear friend.  She was a painter,  and you can see her artwork behind me.

Then here I am 39 years later in Texas at a Quilt Show with my dear friend! Still loving the opportunity to do what I love and meet new people!

So as I look back at the photos of Aunt Ina and Grandma Johnny, I hope that they can see ( from Heaven ) where that Love and Encouragement they gave me all those years ago...has taken me. 

And how many lives it has effected. My marriage, my kids and my grandkids!

I love passing on to my kids and grandkids the love of CREATING!

Grateful that I have the time to be with them, that I get to tell them how loved they are! I love being able to hold them in my arms and tell them how proud their Aunt Ina and Grandma Johnny would be of them too! 

Yes, family roots are important!

Good Night dear friends!

What a weekend!

How grateful that we got to watch the girls for the weekend. Our big concern was how Miss Audrey would do, she has never done a Sleep Over yet! But Saturday when she woke up she yelled for us to come get her "Nana! Pappa!" as I went in, I said " who is in here?" her response "It's Audrey Nana, I did Sleep Over!" She was so excited, she had to come in the living room and tell her success to Jenny and Poppa! Yeah!                                                                                                        

Then we did chores! She loved doing the dishes!

Then we had to make some delicious pretend Christmas cookies!

Then since it was pouring and cold outside, we decided to do some Elf stuff! Of course we had to wash the table, set up some cute signs and then got making some fun Christmas gifts for their friends and cousins! Can't you just see us in our jammies all day and hear the Christmas music throughout the house? So much fun!!!

Then we watched a Christmas movie and got their clothes ready for church tomorrow! Church went ok...Audrey doesn't necessarily sit still too well, so I am glad that Jeff and I were there to tag team her. 

Then after we took the girls home, we got to do some face time with Kai, he wanted to show his cousins where his Christmas elf was when he woke up yesterday! Too cute!

After that we watched the First Presidency Christmas message, it is one of our favorite Christmas traditions.You can watch it HERE:

So grateful I remembered to to bring my new afghan that I am crocheting!

All in all...what a wonderful weekend it was!

7 years ago today!

Seven years ago today I was in Evergreen Hospital having a Single Mastectomy, after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer for the 2nd time. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal but ....oh was I ever wrong! I don't remember much after coming out of surgery. I do remember my sweet friend Joan stayed the night with me at the hospital! That is a lot for someone to do for a friend, because no one sleeps when you stay the night at the hospital.
I remember well the next day when they came to pick me up and take me home...I finally saw for the first time just up by my collar bone, the dark and sunken spot when my breast muscles used to be. What I was most upset about was... that no one told me that they would take tissue that high up! I couldn't figure out why they don't explain that to us that before. It was quite devastating and I couldn't figure out I was going to hide that.
I have always struggled with how I look...and this surgery made that a whole lot harder! I remember hiding for the first few weeks, I didn't want anyone to see me. I wasn't sure how I was going to go on with life. I still had to look at my surgery site, my sister in law Shirley had me do that before she left to go home. She wanted to be there with me and oh how grateful I was for that!
I don't know how you ever get prepared for something big like that? I thought I was... but I wasn't!
I still didn't know what my future consisted of either? I had yet to make decisions on my treatment, that in and of itself was scary.
Now here I am 7 years later and soooooo blessed to be in a different place, a better palce, a happy place. I have 4 more grandchildren, a new daughter in law and a new son in law. Yes, I have much to be grateful for these past 7 years and have learned so much more about life.
I am just grateful for the smallest things and try to enjoy every minute of my life!
But I couldn't have done it without the help of my Savior, who truly understood every thing that I went through. And of course the help and love of an incredible ever amazing companion, Jeff has made me feel beautiful all the way through, how could I ever repay him for that? My kids and my grandkids have been there for me the whole way too! And sooo many of you have been an incredible support to me and my family, thank you so much for that!

What a great Sabbath!

Today Jeff and I headed out early to Sultan, to see our granddaughters do their Primary Program at church! I love the drive up there,

I love that it is Fall and that we are able to watch them share their testimony with others through talks, and songs!

One of my favorite parts of the program today, was when the children sang this song!

It really made me stop and think!

You can LISTEN TO IT HERE:

Watching Amy use her artitstic ability...even just writing down notes from class!

They did such a great job, tried to get some photos with them after church! Easier said than done! :)

 Look at this sweet face, would you try and take that Apple away from her for family photos? I wouldn't advice it! :)

She is pure MOTION, EMOTIONS and a little bit of sugar and spice and everything NICE! ( some times! )

Of course just a few hours later... here is where I found her! She put herself in Time Out!

When I asked her what was wrong, she said  "Nana, I'm  Mad!" 

After lunch the girls ask if we could Create something together!

We decided to make animals to go in their Altoid boxes.

 Teaching them how we need to draw out patterns first and make sure that they fit in the boxes.
Jenny and Audrey were all apart of it for the first little bit...but after an hour or so... they got bored. But Angie hung in there with me!

These sweet animals turned out pretty cute, a fox, a dragon, a snowman and a pig! Each have their 

own bed, blanket and pillow!  Amy is going to put them in their church bag...hopefully that will keep them quite for at least a minute or two! :)

What a great Sabbath!
Good Night dear friends!

Trying to spend every last minute with my kids!

We have been so busy that I really haven't stopped long enough to do my blogs. I will catch up more when I get home but for tonight...I would like to share a bit of what the Kai and Oakley and I have been doing!

Fun to see Kai playing with these Felt Monsters that I made years ago, this has gone through 3 grandkids and it is still going!

Kai and I made a new Horse/ Cowboy pillowcase for his Cowboy room! Now that he is sleeping in his own bed and his own room alnight, thought this would get a lot of use!

 Kai and I played restrauant for lunch today. See the cute towel on his arm as he served his Mom some delicious Chocolate dessert with heart strawberries ! He must have done pretty well because he even got a tip! :)

 He also made a bracelet for him and his Mom for Halloween. The orange beads are suppose to be the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.

I crocheted some headbands for Miss Oakley...think we picked a bad time to try them on her, she was suppose to be getting a burp out! But they fit!

Every day Kai would help me do my exercises by counting with me and then he will do the exercises himself! He is too cute!!!!

 We laid Oakley down on the play mat and she actually stopped and looked at them as she hit them! I couldn't believe she was watching them already! Oh I am afraid how much she will grow before I get back to see her and Kai!

It has been one week and I am already missing these kids! Oh how much I love my grandkids. I feel truly blessed!

My treasures!

My grandchildren constantly make me smile with the things they love to do, their big imaginations and never ending energy! Yes, it is a wild and crazy ride with them...and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Here is Captain Jenny getting ready for her Pirate Birthday Party this weekend! You go girl!

Here is sweet little Oakley who is keeping Mommy and Daddy up all night, but just look at that sweet face, who could be mad at her? Her Nana is coming to help out in must 8 more days!!!

They love water, they love Ice Cream!

They love each other ( most of the time )!

They love sports!

The love Nature! Kai checking out some cool looking animals!

They love to Dance!

They love being in a family! Being a big brother is the BEST!

So no matter what I am doing with these 5 kids, I know there is some type of Adventure waiting to happen...and I can hardly wait! They truly are my Treasures, that I have already found!!!