I finally put pictures up!!!!

Hi Everyone, Amy and Mike came over and we finally got this figured out. I will have Amy show me more when she comes back on Tuesday to make candy. I think I can do it, as I did the last one of Wendy. I haven't posted for awhile. Too busy! Christmas is just around the corner, and I still have a few things to do. Amy said she is all ready, I think I try to do too much, although I am not baking as much this year. I have lost 11 pounds in the past 2 weeks and I want it to keep going DOWN. I am hoping to get things mailed tomorrow and I have a couple of gift cards to buy and that's it except for a few cookies and some candy. Then I have to pack for Alan's house, Ed's and Sharon's after Christmas. Our dilemma is what to do about the kitty, as he is too small to let run outside. He would make a tasty morsel for a raccoon or possum so that's out. Although when the door opens now he runs like a bullet and goes outside. He hasn't learned to come when called yet. So we let him go for awhile in the shop and he is really glad to come back in as it is cold and he doesn't like that. I am tired tonight, so this is a short post. I went on Friday to the Temple with Sharon and it was wonderful. I am glad we took the time out of shopping and sewing to go. It is great to feed the spirit, and there is the most wonderful place to do it. I am so grateful to have the Temple close and a wonderful daughter to go with. I really enjoy your posts. Much Love to all

This is Wendy Alan's middle daughter. She is 15 now. I will take better pictures at Christmas.

Random Pictures

Left Grandpa and Trapper
Ema 13 years old.


Crystal's Bridal Shower

Pretty Gracie!!!! Andrew Cook almost 17 years.

Today Is Our 55th Anniversary

We went to church and I fixed us a steak dinner when we came home. Grandpa helped me as much as he could. Church was on families today, and all of the talks were good. We went to dinner on Friday for our anniversary at Marie Callenders. I was good and got a sugar free pie and I had a steak salad for my entree. I have had some higher blood sugars and so I am really trying to cut the carbs and sugar: ( not easy this time of year!!!! I have finally finished the decorating of the house and it looks good and I am happy now that it is finally done:) I still have sewing to catch up on and packages to wrap. I'm not going to bake as much as I have in past years. I say this every year, but this year I really mean to do it. I am the one I make some of these cookies for and I can't eat a lot of goodies this year. It's okay when I help the girls as they take it all away and it's not staring me in the face. It helps that I can't take goodies to Alan's as Brenda really can't eat any at all because of the allergies that she has. I don't think I will ever have sugar free pie again as it wasn't that good. I have made a few things with low sugar and splenda that taste really good so I know that it can be done. Tonight the silly cat climbed into the Christmas tree. We took a picture and then sprayed him with the water. I will post some pictures when Amy is well and comes to make caramels and shows me how. I hope to give a lot of things away anyway and when I do it for someone else I usually never touch that. It sounds like I am really whining and feeling sorry for myself and I want you all to know I feel so much better now that my blood sugar is in control, that I truly don't feel that I will go back there again. So I'm not really complain about it just explaining and letting each of you know that when I don't eat goodies at the gatherings I am okay just trying to stay in control. I love all of you and enjoy the blog so much. It has become the highlight of my day. Love To All And to All A Goodnight. Grandma

Christmas Decorations

I don't know why it is so important to do all of this decorating!!! I have been working at for two days, and I'm still not done. I truly wonder, as I don't have that much to do anymore, and I used to do the house at Walterville in a day. I was younger then and others always put up the tree. I decorate our tree by myself, as grandpa sets it up and then goes about his business. I want to sew and I have been doing some, but today I have been so tired I just couldn't get into it. We went to tithing settlement tonight and came home and watched the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I really think Johnny Depp is really a great actor, this was our second time to see it and I think once more and maybe I'll get it all. Dad thinks there will be another, I don't know for sure. I hope there is. I have been busy getting things done and I haven't written on the blog much. I wrote a really long one the other day and it got lost in cyberspace. I miss it when you guys don't write. It seems that my cold is better although last night I had a really stuffy nose and had to get up. I hope it isn't the cat. We have had a lot of fun watching him, he weighs about four pounds now. He is so grandpa's cat and hangs out with him a lot. He feeds him and mostly I am after him as I don't want him to scratch anything. Today he wanted to play with the Christmas tree, and the balls and other things on it. I squirted the water on a few times. You have to catch him at it though. He certainly is a busybody. I had an adventure at Jo Ann's fabrics the other day, and went head to head with their manager Louise. That woman really could use a few tools to work with people. I did get my fabric replaced, but it was against her better judgement. She said the store would just have to eat it, and not get refund from the factory, because the fabric was damaged, not my fault it had faded on itself. I figured it was better for her store to eat it than me!!! She had a lot of excuses, and things I should have done but I just stood my ground and finally she let me choose 4 and 7/8 yards of fabric, from materiel's that cost 3.98 a yard and was on sale for 1.49. I was really determined to have it replaced. I hate it when people say it is your fault and sell an inferior product. They need a sign up to tell the customers what they expect of them. It is late so I need to sign off love you all.

Busy Busy Day

Today it rained on the I-5 in sheets, and water was standing in ruts and cars were hydroplaning and I was praying that I would get to Nicole's shop without any trouble. A big truck with 2 trailers came up beside me and almost ran me over!!! I called him something like stupid donkey and shook my fist at him. He must have seen the fist, heaven knows what he must have thought of an old lady driving a tank of a car and shouting at him. I made it to Bello and had a wonderful pedicure and now I have beautiful toenails for the Holidays. Vanity thy name is woman. It felt wonderful though. I had a cup of Herbal tea and a neck wrap plus a roller massage. I felt much better. I went to JoAnne's and took some things back that were the wrong kind. I got it for less at Wal-mart last night. Where would we go without the local WM although I have a new Bi-mart around the corner and I love it. They have no sewing notions. We will be going to Alan's on the 23rd and returning early on the 27th. Some of you have asked and that is it, we're leaving Portland late in the day on Sun. It will be a fast trip, and I think that Alan will be returning to LA to work by the first of the year. I am a little closer to getting the Christmas spirit. They are having the Nativity at the church of pres. st. I think I want to go so that I can feel the spirit there. Amy call me when you get a minute and we'll discuss Sun. I have a cold though it could be a lot better by then. I do have a digital camera, and somewhere I have the plug that goes to the computer so I can post pictures. Grandpa and I watched Hairspray tonight, and I thought it was great, I don't think grandpa thought much of it. I really think Travolta should get an award for his acting there. He was really funny. Well I need to get to bed. Love to you all God Bless Grandma PS the trucker was going over 70 miles an hour in the fog and rain. Stupid donkey

Christmas Is Coming

Well dear ones today I have thought of Christmas, notice I said thought. I haven't gotten into the swing of it yet. I think I am coming down with a cold!!! Bah and Humbug I really hate having a cold this time of year. I sewed a few things today and I hope to keep on working on that. Not for anyone just a few random small things. I wish I could work as fast as your mom does on the machine. I am going to the pool to walk 3 days a week to gain some stamina. I seem to be flagging in my 70th year. I can remember I used to think I would never reach that age. We will be flying to Alan's for the Christmas holiday. Going on the 23rd and returning on the 27th. Not so long this time, Dad-Grandpa is supposed to go 4-wheeling with Al and not spend his whole time working. That is what he did the last 2 times we went to Alan's. Pool for the summer and a play room for the kids at Christmas last year. He likes to keep busy, but I think he is getting a little of the need to slow down a bit. Not as energetic as he used to be. I need some ideas on what I should get for Christmas I am totally drawing a blank this year. I have none. I had hoped to spend Christmas at home or at least in Oregon this year but alas that is not to be. Andrew is taller than Grandpa now and still growing. He is a nice young man and Wendy is a beautiful young woman and little Ema is a sweet one as well as pretty. What a nice family they are. I truly enjoy reading about all of yours and seeing the pictures you post. I am truly blessed to have all of you to love and communicate with. God bless you one and all Love Grandma

Christmas Is Coming

Well dear ones today I have thought of Christmas, notice I said thought. I haven't gotten into the swing of it yet. I think I am coming down with a cold!!! Bah and Humbug I really hate having a cold this time of year. I sewed a few things today and I hope to keep on working on that. Not for anyone just a few random small things. I wish I could work as fast as your mom does on the machine. I am going to the pool to walk 3 days a week to gain some stamina. I seem to be flagging in my 70th year. I can remember I used to think I would never reach that age. We will be flying to Alan's for the Christmas holiday. Going on the 23rd and returning on the 27th. Not so long this time, Dad-Grandpa is supposed to go 4-wheeling with Al and not spend his whole time working. That is what he did the last 2 times we went to Alan's. Pool for the summer and a play room for the kids at Christmas last year. He likes to keep busy, but I think he is getting a little of the need to slow down a bit. Not as energetic as he used to be. I need some ideas on what I should get for Christmas I am totally drawing a blank this year. I have none. I had hoped to spend Christmas at home or at least in Oregon this year but alas that is not to be. Andrew is taller than Grandpa now and still growing. He is a nice young man and Wendy is a beautiful young woman and little Ema is a sweet one as well as pretty. What a nice family they are. I truly enjoy reading about all of yours and seeing the pictures you post. I am truly blessed to have all of you to love and communicate with. God bless you one and all Love Grandma

Thanksgiving

I spent a few minutes thinking of all my blessing, this Friday AM. I have so much to be thankful for and I sometimes don't stop to smell the roses enough. I really have a lot to be grateful for. My most wonderful blessing is my family. I think I got the best family a person could have. And though many are far away I can still talk with them and read e-mail and blogs. What a wonderful world we live in, we are so blessed to live with all of the conveniences we have now. Grandpa and I flew to Alaska over 50 years ago and the plane we flew was a goony bird and had a fat belly. It was a rough flight. Today we have the best ways to travel and communicate it sometimes boggles the mind of a person like me who used a dial phone and had no TV until I was 13 years old. Those were the days when a flush toilet was a great thing. The world moves faster than a bullet. It is so amazing to me. I am really happy that I was able to take part in this time and live now. I've really enjoyed watching the growth and development of my family. What a wonderful group of people you are I love you all. May God continue to bless and keep all of you and grant you, your needs and the righteous desires of your hearts. I love you all. Grandma

A Great Sunday

The lesson in SS was about Paul and his letters in Timothy. I don't always understand Paul and sometimes I think he is a Male Chauvinist, but never the less I do think he wrote some great things, and there is no doubt of his sincerity in his testimony of the Christ and the Church. I love that, and our teacher is really good and able to relate well with all of the class, wonderful, that is the best way to describe him. So we studied the letters to Timothy, and it was good and I feel my testimony grew. In RS we studied about Joseph Smith, and I know that you can get bored, as it is a subject we speak of often, however I love Joseph. I think we should all be grateful for what he did in restoring the Priesthood to the earth, and the Gospel. Think at the time he was only 14 and he knew something that all of the pastors and religious zealots at the time believed wasn't possible. They taught that the Heavens were closed and that revelation was a thing of the past and that our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost were one person. At the tender age of 14 he knew something no one else on earth knew that Heavenly Father and Christ were persons of flesh and bone. I marvel what went through his mind at the time and I have great wonder at the blessing of our God that he planned for Joseph to do this before he ever came to this earth. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony I have of this and the blessing of being a small part of this great Gospel here on the earth in the latter days. I will get to the small things now we had Greg and Megan for dinner and we had a wonderful time with them and I learned a little more about Greg and his wants for the future for them and their family. I really enjoy learning about the plans of my grandchildren. Grandpa and I studied the Scriptures a bit and he is out playing the piano and I am writing. I love all of you Hugs and Kisses Grandma

Jake's Band

I can't believe this, i have been trying to tell you all what a great time we had hearing Jake's band at the wow hall and for some reason I keep losing the blog. What a pain this is if I lose it again I will try again tomorrow. I feel like Scrooge at Christmas, bah and hambug!!! The band was fabulous and Ruby was so cute. She was all dressed up in her dress Sharon gave her for her birthday along with dancing shoes. She danced to all of the songs with so much energy I got tired watching her. Oh to be that happy and energetic again. Only for the very young. I told you about a lot of things but it is too late now for that so I will just say that we had a busy day and it is raining hard tonight. I am hoping for a little sun for Alan and family to fly up for the holiday. For those who want to know Tyson is going to the Las Vegas west mission. Hugs and Kisses Grandma

We Have a Kitty

Sometime ago we went to the coast to help Steve with their new beach house, when we returned, there was a little kitten under our house. We trapped him with a small box trap. He was very angry with us and wouldn't let us do anything with him. Grandpa put him in a big dog kennel we had for Brandy and gave him food and water, and left the door open. So he would come out and run behind the freezer and peek at us when we went in and out of the house. After a couple of days he let grandpa pick him up and he took him to the vet. He weighed 15 ozs not even a lb. The vet said he needed a name and of course all of his shots etc. We named him Trapper because we trapped him. He is very cute and is black and white with blue eyes. He goes to the litter box and so far has always managed to get there. Thank goodness. I'm not sure about him as he still bites and I don't like that. My friend says that is what kittens do they ate like babies and everything goes to his mouth. The last time he went to the vet he weighed l lb. and 13 ozs. He is older now and is growing and I think he has to get the last of his shots on Mon. I'm hoping by the time he is a few months older he will stop his biting. Our neighbor who set the trap for him, said that Brandy told Heavenly Father that grandpa needed a pet, but he couldn't have another dog so she sent this kitty to us. She is our dog and we know that she is with granny in heaven as she was always feeding her when she was here. So that is the story of how we got the kitty, and he is very cute. Grandpa really loves him and takes good care of him. Today I went to Costco and this part is for Danielle, that is where they sell the spiced cider that she wants. It is 6.59 for a box. They should have a Costco somewhere around there. I got a really beautiful decoration to put on top of my TV it is a snowman with a bunch of kids around. I'm way excited to put it up I haven't bought a new Christmas decoration for a long time. In fact I have spent the last few Christmases with Alan and family, I think that we will try to be here for the holidays and spend time with our family here. I miss not decorating the house and all the local things. I love all of the tree festivals, lights, plays , choirs and of course seeing Santa in the mall with all of the children. I love Christmas. Oh by the way Tyson was supposed to leave on the 12Th of Dec. for his mission and he has to have so surgery done on his ankle so he will be leaving as soon as he is able, probably sometime after Christmas. Also Abe got a wonderful job with a big company to sell for yellow pages. They are sending him to Philadelphia on Dec. 2nd for a training. Thats all for now folkes Love Grandma Got to go read Scriptures with granpa.

The Story of my New Glasses!!!!

Two months ago I got new glasses. Unfortunatly they didn't work too well and I kept trying to wear them. However after I would rather wear my old glasses instead of the new classy ones. Since they had cost a lot of money I decided to return them to the eye glass store. She said they were too small for the bridge of my nose, and she began to put nose pieces on the glasses. Guess what she BROKE them and when she did I told her it was a blessing because I didn't like them and now they would have to give me some different ones. She agreed to replace them with new ones and I picked some out. Today I got them and these are really great and I love them. Plus these cost about 140.00 less and you can't beat that. I really feel better about them and now I can read much better with these. What a real nightmare this has been though and I hate trying to break in new glasses. So since I was in town I decided to go to Michael's and get some things I needed and since I was right by Market of Choice I went there to get groceries, my goodness that store has changed. I don't think I have been in there for a few years and I couldn't believe it. You name it and they sell it if it is a food. I have never seen a deli that big. Wow!! If I wanted to buy anything prepared it would have been there. Truly amazing. I bought some turkey with rosemary and garlic, it smells wonderful, and some lite Jarlsberg cheese to go with it, I 'm looking forward to a sandwich tomorrow. Well my dears I don't need to ramble on about food so I'll just say my eyes have been opened and now I can SEE if you truly don't want or know how to cook you could just have a great meal and not work at all that is if you lived close to M of C. Love grandma

My Life is a Work In Progress

I would like to get these letters normal, and I don't know what I am doing. We had a fun week-end, Sharon and Steve came for dinner on Friday to celebrate her B-day and then the family came and we had a fun time with everyone singing and eating for Amy's and Sharon's birthdays. I think the really best part was when Ruby gave the presents, she told what each one was. What a hoot that girl is. She is really bright, of course her parents are that way, so what do you expect? It will be interesting to find out what Miles or little buddy as Ruby calls him will be like. I love watching all of my children grow, and develope into their individual selves. When they marry they then become even more fun to watch the growth. We had conference for Sunday, and Pres. Martin talked of reading the scriptures, and some of his favorite ones. I really enjoyed the talks and the music. What a joy it is to be able to do the things you want and to have the freedoms to do as we please. I was reading in my Woman's Day magazine and they had some thoughts on JOY, " Joy is the feeling of grinning inside." "When you follow your bliss, doors will open...where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else. A thing of beauty is a JOY forever. John Keats. " For every minute that you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I really like the last one bst because it is really a waste of life and time when you get angry whether at yourself or someone else. Oh well I went to Physical Thearpy and that is about all I did besides the wash and the check book for grandpa { which I HATE} Now I need to make some dinner. Another chore that I have lost my zest for. Love to you all

Grandma made a blog!

Hi this is Amy, I'm helping grandma make a blog!