MY SURPRISE VISITORS

This last week I had a surprise visit from Lacey, Chris and their 2 little boys. They drove to Utah from Oklahoma in 21 hours. They surprised Lance and I Sunday afternoon when we drove out to Kimberly's home for Kent's birthday BBQ. We walked into the family room and saw Kim in the corner with her video camera. I hate being video taped. Out from the kitchen walks Lacey and family. I FREAKED OUT. Coleman had the biggest smile on his face, clapping his hands, saying "Grandma Debbie." He was so excited to see me that it melted my heart. And Dominic had grown so round and adorable. It was exactly what I needed. All my grandkids together.

I have been so blessed this past week.

We crammed a lot of activities in for the 10 days. Lacey and I scrapbooked, all the family went to Roy Utah water park which was amazing, took Coleman to the Tree House Museum in Ogden, drove to the top of Bountiful's mountain and roasted hot dogs, watched a movie, played cards, and had the family over for dinner and some games of croquet.

My grandkids set me FREE. Free from the reality of work, tight finances and the stresses of life. Free from the proper mature adult that often causes me to feel smoothered and anxious.
I find myself being goofy, loud, and sometimes quite obnoxious. No matter how old and wrinkled my body gets, my mind will stay young. I will always be a giddy, sarcastic, goofy, and a fun social person. I love acting crazy with them. It makes them laugh and brings them and myself great joy.

When I have spent a day with my grandkids I can tell you that I'm as dirty as they are. Spit up, popcicle stains, crusted baby food, wiped noses on my jeans and grass stains.

My favorite time is bedtime. Lacey and Chris read scriptures, sing songs and have family prayer before bed. Coleman usually reads one verse with mom's help of course. Then he gets a sippy cup of milk and off to bed with Grandma, who sings him his favorite songs. The room is dark, he pats the pillow next to his pillow for me to lay by him. He always has his stuffed bear (which he calls Bea) laying on his belly as he rubs his fingers together over the silky tag sewed to the back, drinking his milk. He'll say to me"Sing pony song" then after that I sing Give said the little stream, You Are My Sunshine, Popcorn Popping and Book Of Mormon Stories. When his milk is gone he hands me the cup, pulls the blanket up over him, rolls over and is asleep.

This week was different. Coleman enjoyed singing with me. I was amazed how well he knew the words to the songs. He would pause from sipping his milk and sing , sooo cute!

Monday night was the last night and Coleman was especially cuddely with me during singing time. Instead of patting the pillow he layed out his arm on the pillow, I layed down and he wrapped his little arm around my neck. I could hardly sing I was so chocked up. It was such a tender moment that I will always cherish.

Grandma, I am tired of pictures!

How precious is this little guy . What a kissable face. Yes, I cropped out my nose the best I could.

My little buddy enjoying being way up in the mountains


Such a beautiful boy. Who can resist this chubby little neck?

Who Should We Mourn?

What has happened to us?
THIS WAS WRITTEN BY A SOLDIER IN IRAQ... Okay, I need to rant.I was just watching the news, and I caught part of a report on Michael Jackson . As we all know, Jackson died the other day. He was an entertainer who performed for decades. He made millions, he spent millions, and he did a lot of things that make him a villian to many people. I understand that his death would affect a lot of people, and I respect those people who mourn his death, but that isn't the point of my rant.Why is it that when ONE man dies, the whole of America loses their minds with grief. When a man dies whose only contribution to the country was to ENTERTAIN people, the Amercian people find the need to flock to a memorial in Hollywood , and even Congress sees the need to hold a "moment of silence" for his passing? Am I missing something here? ONE man dies, and all of a sudden he's a freaking martyr because he entertained us for a few decades?

What about all those SOLDIERS who have died to give us freedom? All those Soldiers who, knowing that they would be asked to fight in a war, still raised their hands and swore to defend the Constitution and the United States of America . Where is their moment of silence? Where are the people flocking to their graves or memorials and mourning over them because they made the ultimate sacrifice? Why is it when a Soldier dies, there are more people saying "good ridence," and "thank God for IEDs?" When did this country become so calloused to the sacrifice of GOOD MEN and WOMEN, that they can arbitrarily blow off thier deaths, and instead, throw themselves into mourning for a "Pop Icon?"I think that if they are going to hold a moment of silence IN CONGRESS for Michael Jackson, they need to hold a moment of silence for every service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan . They need to PUBLICLY recognize every life that has been lost so that the American people can live their callous little lives in the luxory and freedom that WE ,those that are living and those that have gone on, have provided for them.

But, wait, that would take too much time, because there have been so many willing to make that sacrifice. After all, we will never make millions of dollars. We will never star in movies, or write hit songs that the world will listen too. We only shed our blood, sweat and tears so that people can enjoy what they have. Sorry if I have offended, but I needed to say it. Feel free to pass this along if you want. Remember these five words the next time you think of someone who is serving in the military; "So that others may live..."
Isaac

Open Your Eyes Dominic

This is for you Lacey. You have not seen this since I recorded it. Sorry I took so long to post it. All my videos go in one folder and I forget to look in it. The day after he was born he tried soooo hard to open his eyes...precious.

24th Of July Parade

The 24th of July Parade is celebrated in the state of Utah which was setteled by Mormon Pioneers. It commemorates the entry of Brigham Young and the 1st group of Pioneers into the Salt Lake valley July 24th 1847, after being forced out of Navoo, Illinois. The first parade was held on July 24th,1849. It was called the Pioneer Days Parade.

This year the Parade committee took a 180 degree turn in what they allowed in the parade, is my opinion. 98.9 per cent ADVERTISING, 2 official floats and 2-3 small kinda sorta floats and a few High School bands. Very disappointed Mayor Johnson!

This year we watched the parade with my brother Brad and his wife Trudy who were up visiting from Mt.Vernon Washington. Riley also joined us. The parade lasted 2 hours which was entertaining the entire time only because of all the candy they threw out this year. Every entry over 150 threw candy. Kids were loading up their bags, Riley was one of them. I actually scored quit a bit for myself. If there was no candy the parade would have been a complete FLOP. I love parades especially the parades when my kids were little and in Primary. Nearly every ward in Bountiful, Woods Cross, West Bountiful and NSL would be in the parade with a different Pioneer theme. Several floats, many from the different Stakes and wards, and bands from every High School in several different counties in Utah participated. I feel sad that those days obviously are gone. So they feel the parades with advertising. I hate that. It will probably be my last 24th parade. Grrrrr

This is Riley guzzeling down a Coke in the 100 degree weather.

This is the Woods Cross Stake Float. Awesome

SOOOOO many hours and lots of help went into this float

This video was the first marching band to start the parade

The second video is a bag pipe band, Lance and my favorite.

Graphics

HAPPY 24TH OF JULY EVERYONE

BUFFALO CHIP COOKIES

I came across this recipe and they are so scrumptious and addictive. I wanted something different for the 24th of July Celebration BBQ with my brother who is here visiting. Try it and tell me how you like it in the comments. ENJOY

1 cup butter

1 cup solid Crisco

1 lb. brown sugar

2 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

4 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cup oatmeal

1 10oz. bag choc chips- milk or semi sweet which ever you like best

1 1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 1/2 cup Rice Krispie cereal

Mix all wet ingredients with beater, then add all dry ingredients, with the nuts

and cereal. Beat til blended.

preheat oven to 350. Place dough on cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Cool on rack for 3 minutes. Makes around 70-80 cookies depending on how big.

BEING A GRANDMA

When I was a young new mother learning how to be a great mom like we all want to be, I was a bit neurotic and quite Anal(as they say today) raising my first few kids. I wouldn't let them tear the house apart while playing, Why? because I had to have my home clean 24/7. So I monitored how my kids played and what they played with most of the time. I let them get dirty and have breakfast smeared on their face all of about 2 seconds then out came the wash cloth. Their hair was always fixed, clothes matched and pressed, and toys were picked up on the hour. Then the next set of kids came along. Toys weren't picked up til the end of the day. Hair was still fixed and clothes pressed but when they got spills on their clothes like kids often do, I wouldn't run for the spot remover and strands of hair could actually fall out of the girls french braids and the boys hair got buzzed so I didn't have to worry about it. Monitoring play time became a real hassle so their were more bloody lips from falls, marker on closet doors, toys in the toilet, buggers on the walls and "Where the heck are your shoes?"

That's why I love being a Grandma so much. I've had many years of taking my CHILL pills, lots of shattered expectations, disappointments, tears, and challenges. I've learned that as a mother, wife, and friend that life is too short to stress over spilled milk! I love my kids, love my spouse, love my friends unconditionaly, mistakes will be made, hearts will get broken and many of their lives will go in paths that we don't expect, or agree with, but that is not for me to judge. My grandkids will also have their ups and downs and being a mother has helped me to be a terrific grandma and earned me the right for a second chance. At my house things still get broken, plans get changed, the fridge gets empty, the water softener breaks, the car quits, kids argue and cuss, slam doors, break my things (on accident), kick the dogs, flood the toilet and so on and so forth. As a Grandma I know that more than likley my grand kids will do the same things, with the knowledge that Grandma will love them anyway, even let them unroll the toilet paper roll again another day. Grandma will slip them candy when mom's not looking, buy them things they don't need, let them stay up past their bedtime and jump on the bed with them.

I love being a Grandma.

Today I felt under the weather and stayed home from work. I watched Mya most of the day and had a great time. I worked on my scrapbooks while she kept busy doing things toddlers like to do. Pull everything out of the drawers, play in the bathroom, and pull all the clothes out of the laundry baskets.

Mya getting ready to see what mess she can make next.

I think I will help grandma scrapbook

Off to the toy bucket

Disappeared into the bathroom to unroll all the toilet paper

Then into grandmas room to pull out all the clean clothes

Taking a break from my busy day

Eating graham crackers and feeding them to the dogs...oops

We had a great day!

Mya visiting on Sunday. She is soooo precious in her Cute little dress.

FAMILY

When I was small I always dreamed of being a mommy and being married. I remember playing paper dolls and cutting out all the different outfits and picking out the perfect man paper doll for my husband, the cutest baby paper dolls for my children. I made their house with shoe boxes, spools of thread for the stools and jewelry boxes propped on nail polish bottles for a table
and anything else I could come up with to make the perfect home. Then I would play for hours and the house would stay up for days. The pieces of material cut out for the table cloth and the curtains for the bedroom changed about every week. My friends and I would spend hours on our dreams of a being a family and having the perfect home.

I remember playing cars with my brothers and their friends during the summer. We spent hours building roads and building our houses and garages out of sticks. The neighborhoods we made ran all through dads flower gardens along the driveway. Our neighborhood had it's own gas station and grocery store. We even had a city play ground. My brothers and I were creative geniuses. We would choose our favorite cars and trucks. My brothers always got the best ones and that was ok I just wanted to be part of their fun. Dad would come home from work and never griped or complained that we made a mess of his gardens. We always made sure that we cleaned up and put his gardens back to the perfect beauty they were.

I remember walking over to the new housing project going up a few blocks away. We would gather big pieces of broken sheet rock and haul them home. We then would draw roads all over the driveway and the street. We drew stop signs and a railroad track, a gas station and parking garage. We got on our bikes and proceeded to ride the roads. Sometimes we even had car accidents and the police would throw us in jail, or we would take our bike to the garage and fix it.
We would then take the hose and wash off the driveway before retiring for the day.

I remember in the summer my older brother would have us help him do a neighborhood carnival. We would sale lemonade, make popcorn to sale and put up a fish pond. We would gather little toys that we didn't want and have the neighbor kids fish for them. My older brother would make a sign and get on his bike and ride through the neighborhood yelling , "Carnival, we're having a carnival, come to the carnival". We always had lots of kids come.

I remember when we were a little older, Junior high maybe. Randy and I would decide to clean out dads storage room in the carport. We would drag everything out, tools, fishing, garden supplies, paint cans, camping gear etc. We washed out the floor with the hose which ended up going down the gutter to the neighbors. I'm sure they appreciated that. We would organize everything while putting things back in the storage room. My mom and dad were so pleased when they came home from work.

I remember when my brother Randy was old enough to recognize the rivalry between our ward and the 12th ward boys. He started playing church sports and did not like the boys in the 12th ward. They were cocky and of course the boys in the 22nd ward weren't. He wanted to start a CLUB now days known as a GANG. He took teeth off of some dead dog or something and drilled holes in the teeth and put one on a string for each one of the club members to wear around their necks. They carved swords out of pieces of wood and painted them. Their head quarters were in our storage room in our carport. He would have his meetings and then they would get on their bikes and ride over to the 12th ward neighborhood and seek revenge. This is one time he would not let me be a part. I remember looking out the front room window and watching him ride off with his club yelling and screaming. I never remember a bloody nose or black eye. At one of their meeting Randy put gasoline a a bucket of dirt and lit it so they could have a fire and ended up burning down the storage room!

I remember playing the game "PRISON" night after night in the summer with the neighborhood kids. We waited til it was dark. There were two prison guards with flashlights, and the rest of the kids were the prisoners. The guards went around yelling at the prisoners to get to work ( pretending to be pounding on rocks ) the prisoners would knock out the guards with their shovels and the guards would fall on the ground and close their eyes while they counted to 50. The prisoners would go hide only in the chosen yards. The guards would then go out and try to catch the prisoners in their hiding places. Meanwhile if the prisoner could make it back to the staring place before they were caught they wouldn't have to be the guard the next game. No one wanted to be the guard. It was much more fun to hide. We had a blast playing this game. We would play sometimes til 11:00. Mom and dad trusted us and knew what we were doing.

These are just a few things remember growing up. The thing that makes these memories so close to my heart is that they all took place with my brothers and myself. We did a lot of things as family. It bonded us. We have always been close. Even if we never see each other for months, and have our differences, the feelings of love and closeness remain and will forever in my heart.

I remember when we were in junior high/high school. We would play "Truth or Dare". It ended out being Dare most of the time. There were about 5 boys and two or three of us girls. That is where I learned to kiss. All the dares would be to kiss whoever. Think about it. Kissing all of my brothers friends night after night, Strange!

My hope and prayer today is that my kids will try to stay bonded with each other no matter what life brings or what circumstance's they may find themselves in. Hardships and challenges have come to all of them, some far worse than others. When we strive to keep the spirit with us daily and live the commandments to best we can and continue to serve others the comforter will keep our family bonded and will keep my children close. When we let our busy lives and the glamour of the world take priority it will destroy the family.