Foto Story Friday #101--Em and Nana

Em loves her Nana.  Nana is suffering from dementia and often has no idea who people are.  It is sad and hard to watch someone you love go through this disease.  Several years ago, I cared for my grand Uncle who also suffered from dementia.  I attended a seminar with my mom on it hosted by Shelley Fabares who cared for her mother while she suffered with alzheimer's dementia. It was a very informative seminar and of course pretty cool to meet an actress.  Nana displays many of the signs and symptoms of this disease.  For those of us who remember her before, it is tough to see her this way. Tougher for her Daughter, Son-in-law and grandson who can remember how active and very busy with this craft or that one she always was.  The older 2 kids especially remember going to her house and playing while she excitedly told me about some new stamping set she had gotten or the Christmas ornaments she was working on for the grandkids and great grandkids.  When we lived in Vegas, I made it a point to stop by every week for a visit, because I felt it important for my kids to really know their great grandparents.  They would play and I would visit with Nana and Papa. But for the younger kids, this is the only Nana they know.  Scott is scared of her and will only, on occasion, give her a hug or talk to her. Em, on the other hand,  just loves her and often goes up and talks to her.  As was the case a few Sunday's back, when I looked over to see her patiently kneeling next to her turning the pages in a craft magazine.
 

The sad part is, because EmmaLece is the one who likes to sit and talk with her, she is the only one of the kids that Nana remembers and blames her for everything that she can't find or any noise that she hears.  Nana often says things like:  "that little girl...."  While it drives my mother-in-law batty when she blames Em for anything and everything, I just laugh and think how I hope Em will remember with fondness sitting with her and talking and enjoying her company.  She always runs over and says hi and usually gives her a hug before we leave.  She loves her Nana even if Nana blames her for her missing glasses!

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 44 -- time with my parents

My parents don't live close and so it is always a blessing when they come to visit.  As mentioned in my previous post, they have come to visit and to watch my kids while we take a vacation.

Since they got here, I've tried to make the most of this time with them.  The same day they arrived, I got my dad to join me on a the 4-wheelers....

We just went to our close riding spot for a few quick runs on the trails.  Saturday afternoon was beautiful, so I took my parents on the 4-wheelers up to Makoshika State Park.  Dad drove one and I took the other with mom on the back.  Today we took them out to the OHV park.  Since we don't have a trailer, we loaded the green one in the truck bed and I road tripped the red one out with Mom riding double.
Here's Dad preparing for a trail ride with Troy.  
Off they head....
Mom and I tended the kids.

Can you see them?
Here they are a little further down the trail.
Up the hill they went.  I was impressed with my Dad!
I backed the zoom off a bit to give a better idea of where they were.
They came down, a bit.
This is a backed-off shot of the area they are in, in the above photo.
Here they come down the side.  I was a tiny bit worried that Troy was going to convince my dad to go over the edge!  That is the way we usually descend this hill!  When we first arrived I had taken my parents on a much milder trail.  They both enjoyed the rides.  On the way back home Dad drove and I rode double behind him.  Now my job is to get my mom to drive!  :)

We have also played several games with them on the Wii ...
Here is Scott getting ready to bowl with his Grumpa!  Grammie, EmmaLece and I went for a lengthy walk!  
Saturday evening after dinner we played a few rounds of darts.  Grumpa was such a sport and let the twins take aim on his turn.
Of course we had to give the Wii Fit a try!  Here's my Dad hoola hooping!  So funny!  :D
EmmaLece and her Grammie doing a few torso twists!

I hope that my kids soak in all this time with their Grandparents.  I know I always loved going to visit my own grandparents.  Since they are Rv-ers, we get to have them visit us.  Time with parents and grandparents is such a blessing!

Life is busy

I want to thank all of you who have been coming regularly and I will do my best to get by and see you soon.  Life moves faster than I can catch sometimes.  My parents got here on Thursday and will be staying for about 2 weeks.  They get the opportunity of spending quality time with our kids as we run away .... on a cruise with my in laws!  I really wish they could be coming with us, but that was not to be and who would watch the kids?!  I'm very thankful that they agreed to this and hope they survive my kids! :)  

How about some highlights from Halloween?  We have a growing group that we travel with on Halloween... this year we had 6 adults and 10 kids.  In past years it has been 2 adults and 7 kids.

Cat in the Hat

Beware, The Cat has brought along Thing 1 and Thing 2!

We've been joined by a couple of gothic kids and the Grim Reaper.....

Our annual visit to Pirate Cove!

This was the first year we let the 2 oldest spend Halloween with friends.  Shantel attended a Halloween sleepover and Cody was dropped off at his buddy's.  It was different not having all my kids with me.
It was strange to wonder where they were and worry about how they were.  Both were fine and both had a good time.... without the rest of us.

trick or treat Nana!

A little hill rolling to break up all the walking!

The loot!

Cody's haul
Shantel's take!

All in all it was a good night and everyone had fun! 

I hope all of you had wonderful Halloween festivities! 

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 33-- grandparents

I'm gonna cheat this week!  Did you read my last post on Grandparents?  Well, I would have to say that Grandparents are a great blessing!  For my week 33 blessing I choose Grandparents!  We spent a lot of time with my mom's parents.  Gramma drove and Grampa didn't.  He would get in a mood and they would hop in the car and come on over.  They lived 3 hours and 2 states away. {back then it was probably more like a 4 hour drive, but then again Gramma did tend to have a lead foot!}Here they are on their 50th wedding anniversary.
We didn't spend as much time with my dad's parents.  I actually never met my Grandpa Flynn here on earth.  He died a few years before I was born.  My Gramma Grace didn't drive.  I do remember spending a few weeks with her.  She had beautiful rose bushes and a back porch swing.Gramma Grace was always the last to eat when it was meal time, because she wanted to make sure everyone was cared for first.  Her house was always neat and tidy.  I think it was a generation thing, they waited hand and foot on their families.  They had 3 sons, of which my dad is the oldest.  Gramma Grace was very quiet and composed.  One summer Gramma took us for a visit to Gramma Grace's.  She dropped us off and came back a few days later.  I am grateful for that visit as it is one of only a few I had there.When Cody was a baby, we went down to visit Gramma Grace.  Pictured here are:  Me, Gramma Grace, Cody and my Dad. .. A 4 generation picture!
My Grandpa Flynn was a mechanic by trade, but a musician at heart.  He played the fiddle.

He was in many contests.  Here is an article about him around the time of his death in a fiddling newsletter for a group he was a member of.

On the few occasions that we went to Gramma Grace's, I remember sneaking into her room to look at the pictures on her dresser.  They were of her and grandpa.  Since we didn't know him, he was a major  curiosity.  I think the older kids spent more time with them than us younger ones.

I never met my great grandparents here on earth either.  I can't wait to know them on the other side.  I love this picture of my Gramma's parents: 

Isn't it just great?  Don't ya want to know what was SO funny?!  I do and one day I'm going to ask them.
My kids are getting the chance to spend time with their Nana {great grandma on dad's side}, since she recently transplanted up here.  I hope that they cherish this time with her.Savanna and Nana.
Scott and EmmaLece with Nana.
And of course, I think my kids have 2 setsof wonderful grandparents.  For more on my in-laws go here.  Troy parents:Grandma and Em.
Grandpa and Scott.

My parentsHere they are in 2000 when they came to see us in Vegas.  Here we are in Dec 07, everyone except Cody who had already left for young mens.
Go here for a post about my dad and here for a post about my parents.

foto-story Friday #11-- grandparents, mine

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

A few weeks back Ryanne posted this photo story Friday about our Grampa Sam.  Since then, I've been thinking about my grandparents.  I have this photo that I love of them, I didn't take it, but it makes me smile.  {don't mind the red ink, one of my children decided it needed a little more color!}I have a few items in my home that daily remind me of them.  I took some pictures for your viewing pleasure.  First we'll talk about my Gramma: 
She sewed, like she and her machine were one.  Gramma needed only measurements and she could make you clothes.  In fact, she made us clothes every year.  I remember she would call and mom {who didn't sew} would pull out her tape and we would line up for measuring.  It was always exciting wondering what we would get.  I nearly always wore the new dress for picture day.  She tried to teach me to sew one summer, but I wasn't as good a student as my sister and she gave up :(  One day, I said something  and hurt her feelings {what, I can't recall.  When told, I never remembered having said it...}.  The next Christmas, I didn't get a home made dress or anything.  I did get a gift and it was from "the grumpy old lady"  I nearly cry now thinking about that day.  It was several years later that I learned WHY I didn't get the usual home made gift. I felt terrible.
Not only did she make clothes, but she quilted.  Most often all by hand.  I have these two quilts that she made for me.  We each got a quilt when we were young and she made a special quilts for the grandkids as they got married.  When she passed on, Ryanne and I took it upon our selves to make the next quilt. We didn't know what we were doing, but it worked.  The first quilt is the one I got in Junior High school.  I slept with it on my bed for years, then it started to come apart.  I have repaired it and it has been put up.  The second quilt is the one she made for us when we got married.  I used to have it displayed, but I feared it would get ruined, so it too, has been put up. 
She was also talented in other ways.  She painted and was crafty.  One of the crafty things she did was take wedding announcements and turn them into framed art.  This is the one Gramma made for us.  She made one for my sister too.  If she were alive today she would be nearly 98, but she passed on in 1996.  My Grampa would have been 107 if he were still with us, but he passed on in 1990.

Now on to my Grampa Sam:  

Besides his family, Grampa loved his garden, his bottles, fishing, and a good game of Ole Sal. {solitaire} Pictured above is his garden in mid growth in 1979.  I didn't take this photo either, I have many memories of working in the garden with him in the summers and of sneaking into the strawberries and snitching a FEW.  They also had several fruit trees that ran along the fence.  In the field on the other side of the fence, was a herd of cattle.  These cows would get uncomfortably close to the garden and trees.  Grampa Sam had a nightly routine it involved the hose and a sling shot!  He would aim rocks at the cows and let the sling shot fly!  Also he was known to put the spray nossle on, ya know, the kind that can be directed into a tight stream and aim at those pesky cows.  We thought this was great fun and would ask to be his helper when we sleeping over.  Grampa loved to fish and kept a pole or two in the trunk of the car along with a sleeping bag and shovel.  One summer I was staying over and he and Uncle Ed took me out fishing in the boat.  I was so excited to get to go.  We fished all day and caught nothing!  When we got back home,he told Gramma that was the last time he was taking me fishing cause I was bad luck!  True to his word, I didn't go fishing again.  Ryanne was the Logger, Clancy was Mud and I was Bad Luck!This is a box of his bottles.  Before it was illegal to remove things from ghost towns, one of his favorite past times was to collect old bottles and such.  His windows were lined with them.  Grampa built shelves in front of the windows to display them just so the sun could turn them beautiful shades.  He could spend hours telling you about this bottle or that.  He researched them and sometimes wrote the time period and kind of bottle is was right on the it.  He gave my mom many bottles and we also had them lining our windows growing up.  When they came to visit, he would inspect them to see how the color had changed from the last visit.  In the above box is my small sampling of his vast collection.  I have not had a place to display them since we left Vegas.  This makes me sad.  It was like seeing old friends again as I unwrapped a few for this next photo.  Savanna was sitting there oohing and awing over them, wanting them all unwrapped.  It was like Grampa Sam was there smiling with us as we gently inspected and chose which to photograph.  Just before my Gramma passed away, I was visiting her and she kept telling me that if I wanted any of Grampa's bottles I should pick some out.  I only wish I had taken more.  
Another thing I wanted was this box.  It is Grampa's card box.  Every night before bed he would challenge Ole Sal to a few games.  Ole Sal is how Grampa referred to playing Solitaire.  I loved to watch him take on Sal and enjoyed asking him who was winning.  
I dealt up a game just for him last night with his broke-in deck.  Ole Sal was having a winning streak!  The box holds 2 decks, so I played another hand with his new deck..... sorry Grampa, he won again.  He was here last night handling bottles and playing cards with me.

52 Weeks of Blessings -- week 12-- Goodly Parents

For this week's blessing I have chosen "goodly parents" -- My parents! This month they both celebrated birthdays. My mother's was the 3rd and my father's was today! I have great parents who raised me {and my siblings- there are 8 of us kids!} in the gospel and taught us to think and decide for ourselves. They allowed us to make our own mistakes and to learn from them. That is not always an easy thing... I'm learning as my children grow, and I have the desire to protect and fix. I try hard to step back -hoping and praying that I've taught them right from wrong and that they have the good sense to choose the right. My dad was a long haul trucker for most of my life and my mom mostly just stayed home taking care of us. That was for sure a big job, as she was pretty much like a single parent! {She did some babysitting and later got a night job at the answering service} We sometimes went with my parents in the truck {as my Dad was an owner operator for many years}. My dad writes poems {yup I get my talent from him!} some of them from his self published book, are featured on my side bar. My mom dabbles in short stories. Through it all they have remained true and faithful to each other. This Aug they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! I found some fun pictures of my parents through the years, enjoy! :) The family when I was a baby- The 70's were not kind in a fashion sense.... and who isn't glad that glasses have become much more attractive?! Above: My parents and I --brand-new baby # 5! Below: Sledding with Dad, Brandon, Sean, Colleen and Martin... hold on tight!Below: Swimming with Dad and Brandon {the rest of the family were there too!}
Above: My mother, Clancy and I Christmas 1979. Below: My family at the time of my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary {mother's parents}. Below: my parents -early 90's.
Above: Dad, Mom, Colleen, and me {looking oh, so nice and pregnant} July1994. Below: My parents and I Dec. 2007.