Lots of time with the grand darlings...

Kelsey and I had Cannon over for a few days to give Jen some "real" bed rest.  She is due in September and has been on doctor's orders to take it easy.  Is he not the most handsomest little guy around?  He is so smart and a talker!!!

Mr. Cannon loves helping Nana by watering my plants! What a big helper he was and we had so much fun playing with him!!!

I got to Glendale on Thursday and was warmly (in more than one way...) welcomed!  This is their porch...Jamie is so creative! She inherited this cute dresser from a friend and painted it and added new adorable hand made knobs...love the chalkboard!

Here is little Miss Reesa-bug....in heaven as she is slurping chocolate milk with a licorice straw...life is good!

 Reese playing at the park in Scottsdale....what a fun city!
We took the trolley ride around town and saw all of the fun area's.

What is a trip to Scottsdale without going to Sugar Bowl?  The trolley driver told us about this fun restaurant that is a must eat at!  It started in 1958 and has been going strong ever since! We shared some sandwiches and then shared some ice cream. Jamie and I ordered the most amazing walnut/hot fudge sundae! I am still thinking about it....

 Kylie standing by one big cowboy boot on the streets of old town Scottsdale/little Mexico!

Kylie and Nana at Sugar Bowl snarfing down the ice cream and having some fun....always fun with Ky!

The Nana Dialogues...

Ok...so I am in Glendale, AZ  and I actually saw rain today! I also did laundry like a college student....filled the blue IkeA bag with dirty clothes, towels and what not, then swung an adorable eighteen month old onto my hip with the blue bag on the opposite shoulder, then grabbed the laundry card, laundry soap, keys and traipsed off to the laundry room that is by the pool.  The load was so heavy I had to use the industrial sized, double seater stroller to manuever everything to the laundry room. Reese was a champ and understands the drill...I'm sure she has seen her Mommy, Momma, Mom (as she keeps telling me all day) do this a few times. 
      
I started the official in charge of Reese a.k.a. ReesA, Reesa-bug and cutie pie...on Monday as Jamie (also known as Mommy...refer to the above paragraph) and Kylie headed to Orlando to hang out and be bored at Magic Kingdom with Conrad's family.

Conrad has been busy all week with finals at Midwestern. I have been busy all week with Reese...today I changed (don't read the next line if you don't want to hear about what come's out of a baby's bottom)   FiVe DiRtY or for a more accurate account..PooPy diapers!  She was really hungry this morning and kept on eating and eating everything I would place in front of her!

We also took a long walk to the library, post office and to the grocery store. It was extremely windy and the sky actually had dark clouds in them! I was secretly hoping for a lightening storm but had to settle for a little rain in the evening...

Now I know there are those of us who have had our babies and have moved onto the next stage of life...  I'm here to tell you that raising little one's is a busy life.  I have been reminded of this lifestyle the last few weeks.

Right before I left for Arizona we had Mr. Cannon stay with us from Monday to Wednesday and then on Thursday I was on a plane to Phoenix.  I must admit that I am a little sleep deprived, tired, dirty and extremely appreciative to my daughter and daughter in law for all that they are doing to keep our little grand darlings happy and healthy and in good working order.
They are both amazing Mom's and I'm blessed to be able to help.  But, I see the wisdom in having "young" women having babies and not those who are over....the hill so to speak!

I remember hearing Julie Beck at Women's Conference tell us how she had five of her grandchildren for a spell and had to pray for help and asked for a rememberance of her mothering skills.  I haven't had to do that .... yet!  But, I'm grateful for the advice and have tucked that into my little mind! (just in case!)

A few cute things about Reese....she will bring your shoe's to you and place them right by your feet.  Not that she is hinting at anything but it is super cute when she does that.

Whenever she see's a bird she calls out to them, "B"....very impressive that she knows the letter of what bird starts with!

It took her about three hours to figure out that Mom was not meeting us anytime soon.  All of the sudden she asked, "Where's Mom?", or "Where's Mommy?, or "Where's Momma?"  (just case I didn't know who she was asking about, I guess!)

She is a very messy eater...but, she cleans up beautifully!! (Jamie is a much more chill Mom than her Mommy was...hat's off to her!)

Reese is so loving and today after she woke up from her nap she leaned over and kissed me right on the smacker! I love this little one!

She has the cutest laugh and amazing smile....

Reesa makes dozen's of Midwestern students happy each day as we are walking around campus she waves and says "HI" to everyone!  It always put's a smile on their faces.  What a stress reliever to have a little child say Hi! when you are in the middle of finals. 
It is a good reminder that a smile and a friendly hello can help all of us have a good day!

By Small and Simple Things....

By Small and Simple things are Great things Brought to Pass...

This was the theme for this year's Women's Conference at BYU.  Elder David Bednar spoke to all of us at Friday afternoon closing session and gave a great analogy of how we can do this.  He used drip irrigation as the example.  When one uses this in their garden's it makes the root of the plant stronger as tiny drips of water soak the root of the plant and makes the plant strong. When we read the scriptures every day and pray every day we make our roots stronger, as well.  Add church attendance and attending the temple along with giving service, our root system is strengthened even more.  How blessed are we to have the priesthood on the earth?  To have Christ's apostles share with us what we need to do to make our lives more aligned with our Heavenly Father.

There were many talks that were so motivational and inspired me to be a better daughter of God.

One of the fun parts of being at Women's Conference was seeing friends and family...

Jeanie and her cousin, Annette who is from California.  They found each other at the Wilkinson Building.

Crystal Krogue and her Mom and sisters...they do this every year!

I hope that one day I can do this with my four girls!

Cathy, Crystal, Cindy and Jeanie at Women's Conference 2011.

Cathy and Caitlyn Clyde....love running into friends, especially college students!

Juli and her sister and Cathy

 Cathy, Cindy and Jeanie with the blossoms on campus, love the color and springyness!!!

Cathy and Melinda Clyde Johnson who was such a sweet friend to me when I started attending my third high school.  Brighton High in Sandy, Utah. She was the nicest girl to me when I moved in.

Jennie Hyde and Cathy at the Thursday afternoon session of conference.  What a treat to catch up with her.

Cathy, Cori and Cindy at the Marriott Center...getting ready to do some service projects...

Cathy, Cindy and Jeanie at the Hinckley Alumni Center.

Jeanie, Kaisa and Cathy at the service project area. All of us are from the Alpine 8th ward.

 Deena Sorenson, Cindy and Cathy....from the Enumclaw days.

Cathy and the little wand I made for kids who are in need of something to play with at shelters.

Obama's Birth Certificate....

I'm really not trying to make a political statement but President Obama has known for the last two plus years that his birth place has been questioned.   Why is he now giving us this document? He said today in his press conference that he would rather focus on the important things like the budget, economy, etc. and not where he was born. I totally agree... but, why has it taken him so long to put this behind him??? Maybe he did try but was not believed, I don't really know.  Let's get this country moving again and pray for our country's leaders.

Easter time...

 

 What is Easter time without coloring eggs? So glad Connor, Ella and Colson were able to do those for us this year!  Kelsey dropped in for a quick pic! Then off to help one of my neighbors!

 All done with the colorful eggs. Good job kids!!! Love them all.

 Kurt and Jen and Mr. Cannon came by for dinner a few days before the Easter holiday.  Mr. Cannon opening up a little Easter gift. WE are so blessed to have them close by.

Jeff and Andrea joined our Easter celebration.  She makes the "best" twice baked potatoes. We are all fans of them! Love being with these two...always lots of laughter and fun!  Happy second year anniversary...you love birds!!!

Martha (from Kalamazoo days) Kelsey (my third child) and Robby (my nephew...who once sang me a Cathy song...) These three were a blast to have for our special dinner. We love them all!

Had to get a picture of Robby and Uncle Rick. 

We have the same Easter dinner every year....with added side dishes...like Andrea's special twice baked potatoes!

Here is the menu that started with my Nani...

One must always start with a ham....

Then the Rice Casserole (a must)

Green Bean casserole

Homemade rolls along with homemade jam (this year's jam was the Straw-blue...which my new, old neighbor taught me how to make while we were in Michigan...thanks Candy)

We did fresh cut strawberries this year....other year's have been the Ambrosia salad from none other than my bff from high school, Lori Long Shum. 

I know that some of you did the ribbon layered salad...I'd love to hear how it turned out!

I saw from Cara posting some of our previous year's Easter pictures that we have made trifle...with fruit.

That is my personal favorite dessert.  My favorite recipe of that is from Miss Maggie...I'll have to post that one!

Hope you enjoyed your Easter...

Here are the two Arizona Grand-Darlings....Kylie & Reese. We were skyping with them last night and couldn't get over how both of them are growing up~way too quickly! Love you little Easter girlies...see you soon!

Mr. Cannon holding an Easter bunny. How did I get so blessed to have the most adorable, beautiful Grand-darlings in the planet? Mr. Cannon will be a big brother in September. 

 The count...two and two! 

Earth Day...

Today is EARTH DAY!!!  Did you do anything to help Planet Earth?  I planted some flowers.  It made me happy to work in the dirt!  What is it about the dirt that makes one feel connected to the earth?  My biggest problem for not wanting to plant things is the local deer population.  The other day I planted some of the pretty birthday flowers Rick gave me and the deer almost had them pulled out from the roots!  Every pansy flower had disappeared.  I'd rather donated vegetables to the deer but they don't ask for a menu.  Too bad....
I hear that the deer leave the daffodils alone but love eating the tulips.  What to do????

Here are some things we can do to help our earth:

1. Turn off the lights when leaving a room.
2. Plant a tree...one's that deer don't like!
3. Plan your trip's into town...gas is expensive!!!
4. Pick up trash when you see it!
5. Smile and be kind!  
6. Recycle.
7. Go to the library or borrow a book!
8. Re-use items and don't throw things away that can be re-purposed!
9. Drink water from the tap...
10. Walk to church on Easter Sunday!!!  This will be easier to do if you live in Utah...

PoPuLAR....LAR! LA....LA....LA

You see I have this daughter who is back home....she is a statistic!  There are growing numbers of college graduates who come home to live after they complete their college education!  She is one of those.  Not that I mind.... I love it!  But, she is killing me by all of the followers she has on her blog!  She is hoping to hit 50 by this weekend.  I have no doubt that will happen for her.


I look at the followers that I have and feel the need to increase my numbers.  I know it is all about being "popular" and knowing people who know how to follow your blog.  So if you need some help give me a call and let's see if I can get up to.....say 30 in a week's time.  Thanks for your help.


The title is one of my favorite songs from WicKed!  Love that show!

Weekend with the Kleinman cousins...

 While Craig and Kathleen were enjoying Paris, we got to have Connor, Colson & Ella stay with us for three and a half days!
Uncle Rick taught them a fun song on the guitar...and took the boys shooting.

 The kids got to use a rotary phone...remember when that is all we had in the sixties?  Ok....maybe you don't or are not that old!

 Colson and Ella loved turning the dial and calling our cells.

 Then on Friday and Saturday we fed some horses some apples...

 This is Misty our friend, Nancy's horse...

 

And this is Max the camel.  He is so friendly and loved apples too! He and Margaret are in our town's live Nativity at Christmas time.  I loved feeling their snouts...

 Yes, I think Max needs a tissue.... there are some pretty bad colds out there!  I have had mine for three weeks now!

 Colson and Ella feeding Max the camel.  It's pretty exciting to say we have pet, fed and talked to camels!

These kids are so wonderful!  We also played up on cemetery hill, saw all the old tombstones, they know all of the spring flowers, loved seeing all of the animals that are here in Alpine...alpaca's and chickens were experienced on Sunday after dinner with Grandma Kleinman.  I'm so lucky to be close to my family.  Ella wanted to know why I had so many picture's of Kylie, Cannon and Reese up in the "grandkid" room so  I told her to send me some!

Conference weekend and a visit...

 Cannon and Jen stayed with us for a few days this past week and we loved every minute of it! This was the day of my birthday and Jen brought home a special cookie for Cannon!

 Angi Earl came for a visit to Salt Lake and we first got together at the Conference Center to listen to the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference...what a treat!  Then she and Russ Duncan came over for dinner on Wednesday.  Here Angi is signing our "guest" book, a tradition that we have done for years...

 Have to do at least one silly pose!  Friends from Michigan days and friend forever...Miss Angi!

 Angi and Russ Duncan came to our home for dinner and what a delightful evening it was!  Fun getting to know Russ.

 Here are three of our four boys in the family (soon to have another boy in the fam!) This was Sunday morning with our yummy Seminary Breakfast casserole.  I'll have to post this recipe at a future date!  Aren't they all so handsome???

 Angi and Cathy at The Conference Center in Salt Lake.  So amazing to see and hear the prophet and apostles of our day.  Want to know and hear more???? go to lds.org and click on General Conference.

Another family from our Michigan days that just happened to be at The Conference Center watching General Conference.  The Smith's who now live in the Spokane area.