Happy Birthday Emmett

Emmett Jonathan Grimm celebrated his second birthday on the sixth of this month. It is a very difficult thing to not be able to celebrate with Grandchildren because they live so far away. He did have a great day according to his mom and even celebrated a couple different days. Cyrena made him an Elmo cake. I would really like to see a picture of this cake. It was her first time in decorating and I know that she did a great job even though she doesn't think so. I know it was great because all that counted was, she pleased her son.

Emmett is a very strong willed little boy. He knows what he wants and tries to get it. He is learning to talk more and I love hearing him in the background as I talk to Cyrena. He loves to perform when we Skype. I don't know what I would ever do without Skpye. It makes things more bearable with them in Illinois. At least this way we can still talk to the kids and see how much they are changing and growing. Emmett is going to be a leader. He has a very strong personality and he can even get Bauer to do things. He doesn't like to eat much but I'm sure one of these days he is going to love food and then watch out. He loves his little brother very much. I know that they are going to be close when Reece becomes old enough to play with.

For Halloween Emmett was Cookie Monster. This fits his personality great because he does love to eat cookies, crackers, and well any junk food.
Again Happy Birthday Emmett. Grandma and Grandpa miss you dearly and we hope to see you some time this summer. I don't think I can let a whole year go by without seeing you and your brothers. I love you and I know that you had a great day.

Happy Birthday Emmett

Happy Birthday Lexie

Grandpa and Grandma's beautiful little princess turned five on Monday the 7th. She has been awaiting this special day for the past couple of months. She was excited on Monday when I gave her a call at daycare. She loved all the special attention that she recieved, especially the special delivery of balloons that her Dad and Brittany had sent.

Lexie is a very special little girl who is learning to become a mother. I know that she has several more years to go but she loves to take care of her brothers and cousins. She is a little mother hen. Even though she loves to help and is always the first one to help do whatever she has been asked to do, she still has a mischeious side. The other day her and Ashton decided to take a bath in the toy room by filling all the toy containers with water from the bathroom. Needless to say there was more water on the toy room floor than in the containers.

Lexie loves going to Pre-school. She loves to color and makes things to hang on my walls all the time. She is going to be more than ready for Kindergarten this fall.

When I asked Lexie about her cake she said she wanted a mermaid cake. This is what I came up with. She was able to help me finish it and made sure that I put the eyes on the fishes.

Danielle fixed Lexie's hair so she was beautiful for her special day. Again she is a little princess. Most of her presents were jewlry and she loved each and every present. She loves getting her picture taken, again a princess.

How we love her and love every minute we have with her.

We made Lemonade

When life gives you lemons then make lemonade or so the saying goes. I personally don't think that getting lemons is a bad thing and especially snow is never a bad thing but I know that several people don't feel the way I do. Needless to say with the kids all home for this past weekend and wonderful snow falling, what else is there to do than to play in it. Mike and Mark's boys have gone sledding this year but Paul and I haven't been able to witness just how much fun they have had. I have yet to find a child who doesn't like to go sledding, no matter the age. We really had fun on Saturday and I felt bad that we could only be out for a little while. The snow was a very wet snow and so we were wet before we really even began. At one point the snowflakes were bigger than two inches. I tried to get a picture of them but it didn't work. Also I thought about videos but I didn't want to get the camera to wet.

Paul was excited about the snow because in December he purchased a new plow for the four-wheeler and really hadn't been able to try it out. It works great but I think that next time he won't have the grandkids helping him. They would rather plow the road than my drive-way which still looks like we didn't do anything.

Bring on the snow if it means this much fun.
Lexie pulling Van to the top of the hill.
Lexie, Xander (Alex) and Josh. Josh tried several times to get the sled to tip over. Josh loves coming to grandma's for the clean air. He hates their dirty air that makes his asthma worse. Xander's boots kept falling off so he had to leave for a few minutes to get his other shoes on. They were to big. He shared his boots with Van.
Lexie, Van, and Ashton.
Ashton loves to eat snow and doesn't care what color it is.
These two little boys, Xander and Van couldn't get enough of zipping through the snow. Van has no fear with anything and I'm afraid he is so much like his Dad at this age. His dad is concerned about him but thank goodness his mom isn't going to hold him back.

I thought I had a picture of Kyler coming down the hill face first but I can't find it. Tara paid him a dollar if he would do it. After several attempts he finally became brave enough and loved it. He is growing up way to fast.

It was a great day and surprise, surprise I even remembered the camera to capture these moments for a lifetime.

Happy Birthday Hunter

I know that it has been eleven days since Hunter's birthday, February 10, I still need to post about his birthday. Hunter is now a very energetic six year old. He loves to talk to anyone and everyone. He loves to play with Legos and is very talented in making things. On his birthday while I was visiting with him and Brittany he made his mom food, hamburgers, out of Legos. He even had the catsup and mustard on the burgers.

Hunter loves Transformers also and is very talented transforming himself. He moves his arms, legs, and head and if he had a car body around him, he would be a transformer. Hunter loves to play games on the Wii and is very good at it.He is doing very well in Kindergarten and loves school. Brittany made a cookie pizza for him to share with his classmates.

The day after his birthday he went to Hurricane to celebrate it with his grandparents. Hunter is so full of energy, I can become exhausted just being around him. Oh, to have that energy again. We love him and are happy to have him in our family. I just wish that we could see more of him. But we understand.
Again Happy Birthday Hunter.

Happy Birthday Xander

It always amazes me how quickly the years go by. It really hasn't been two years since this sweet spirit entered into our lives. Alexander's birthday was on February 8 and we celebrated his birth yesterday. You will need to forgive the quality of the pictures because like normal I forgot to take the camera. All I had was my phone and Xander doesn't slow down enough for the phone to get a great picture.

Xander is such a joy in our lives and especially me. He runs into my arms when he first sees me and doesn't like to leave my arms for anything or anyone. He did begin to play with Grandpa this weekend, which I was very happy to see. I will share him with his Grandpa.

Xander loves to play with his older brother Josh and will do everything that Josh does. He watches him very closely. As Xander is getting older him and Josh are going to be even better friends than they are now. Xander has moved into a big boys bed and is doing very well sleeping during the night. His nap time he gets out of bed and likes to lay down next to the door so it is difficult to get into his bedroom.

Xander is beginning to talk more, I just wish that we could understand him a little bit more but it is going to come. I love listening to him pray. I know that our Father understands him perfectly. He loves to have books read to him and I love every minute that I'm with him.
When it came time to blow out his candles his Dad had to cover his mouth because Xander is a pro at blowing out candles. Thank goodness his Dad let him do this a couple of times.
For his cake we selected a car because he loves to play with cars. He will drive them all over the house. The animals are there because last year Josh received dogs on his cake and Xander loves to play with them and Josh had a hard time sharing them. Now he has his own. Paul loved the fawn and even though it is in front of the car I'm sure the car stopped in plenty of time.

I wish that the days and years would slow down so these grandchildren could stay young and innocent for a little bit longer. How we love this special little boy. Again Happy Birthday Xander!

A project filled with love

It has been a very long time since I added anything to my blog and decided that this was a good way to come back.

Over forty years ago my mother purchased this blue and white silk at the Bishop's storehouse. This storehouse is where we purchased almost everything we ever needed. Items were cheaper there and it made it easier that it came out of my Dad's paycheck because he worked for the church. It wasn't very often that fabric of this quality came into the storehouse and when Mom see it she knew it would make a beautiful quilt. I don't think that Tami or I were even dating when the purchase was made. Before putting away in a drawer she pieced the white together and marked it with a pattern. It stayed in the drawer, forgotten until after both of our marriages as well as everyone else in our family. One day Mom was cleaning out the drawers and getting rid of fabric. She ran across it and asked if I would like it. Of course I jumped at the chance and brought it home.

It was placed into another drawer to remain hidden for several more years. The blue made it's appearance every once in a while when my boys would need "water" for their Lego ships. I thought about finishing it for weddings but for some reason I would forget about it.

Last spring I told myself that I was going to finish this quilt and then began to worry that I couldn't find both the while and the blue. Thank goodness they were just in different places. As I looked at the pattern Mom had chosen I thought it was ugly but I knew I couldn't do anything different. This past summer I put it on the frames and began. I had to remove it so I could make Reece's quilts and another temple quilt. One of the first things I did when I returned home from Illinois was to put this quilt back on. It was then I realized Mom's good judgement. The pattern was turning into something very beautiful.

I have a difficult time keeping anything I make for myself. I began pondering who I would give this special quilt to. The first person that came to mind was my niece Mandy. She always was so special to Mom and to all of us. I have given quilts to all of my nieces and nephews as they have married. Mandy will never have that chance. She was the perfect choice. When Mom died I think that she understood that Grandma had returned to heaven but the separation was very difficult for her.

As I delivered the quilt to Tami the other day I knew Mom was happy with my decision. It was very difficult giving something away that was a part of Mom but as I realized this is what Mom wanted my heart filled with happiness. My last words to Tami was to tell Mandy that this was from the Grandma she loved. I know Mandy will use the quilt well. She will feel the comfort and warmth for many years to come and she did with her Grandma's arms.