A Special Sunday Six

This has been super special smile maker week for me.

I would like to introduce you to my newest grandson...

Evan Levi

Evan was born May 26th..(He was due on May 25th which was Grampy's birthday)
8 lbs. 11 oz

21 inches long

Grace, Emma, and Davey adore their new little brother.

Mommy, Daddy and Grammy adore him too.

After he was born Tues. I just couldn't stand not being there to meet him and help out the family.

So I kissed John goodbye and grabbed a flight from LAX the next morning. The only problem was I had to fly across the USA to Charlotte, North Carolina, get a connecting flight and fly two more hours to my son's house. I was flying or waiting to fly from early morning until late night. I was so anxious to get to my son's that it seemed like the day would never end. However, I finally arrived and got to meet my darling little Evan.


Marla with her boys
Thur. Evan and Marla got to come home from the hospital.
Can you tell that my little Davey is thrilled to be a "big" brother now?

Can you tell that my big Dave is thrilled to have another boy in the family?
Now Marla has 3 men to take care of.


Evan slept through his first car ride.
We were all excited to get him home.

Mom is still in quite a bit of pain but recovering nicely.
I feel so blessed that I can be here to help.

Dad is also recovering from the delivery nicely...heehee

...

While we all can't get enough of holding Evan.... we are good at sharing him and taking turns.

Also I am having fun doing things with the "big" kids.
I keep pointing out to Davey how nice it is to be a big brother now...

...and...
how many things the "big" kids can do that baby Evan can't....

... Like going out for some nice exercise.

We waved bye to dad (Who was sitting on the front porch)
and took off for a lovely skate, scooter, bike ride, walk.
(Grammy was the one walking... they wanted me to ride a bike but I wanted to come back alive so I declined.)

... Swimming at the community pool...
We had a lot of fun yesterday playing at the pool and the playground.

It gave Marla some quiet time and made the kids feel special.

...Going to church together...

We left Marla and Evan home and I went to church with David and the "big" kids today.

I am always touched when I visit a new ward (congregation) to find that it is exactly the same as attending my home ward so I feel right at home.

No matter where you attend a LDS (Mormon) church throughout the world you will find the schedule, the format, the songs, the lessons, etc. exactly the same.... so no matter where you may be attending church you know what is going on.

The Sunday School lesson we had today in the adult class is the same lesson that my John heard at home in CA. I think that really is quite amazing....and comforting.

...Skyping with family...
Tonight we got on our web cams and skyped with Erin and Patrick. I love skyping. We got to show baby Calan (seen on the screen) his new cousin, Evan. The kids sang and danced for Aunt Erin and Uncle Patrick. We had a great time... and skyping is free.

All you have to do is buy an inexpensive web cam and you can have great Internet visits.

...

I am thankful that my John supported me in coming here.

I am so grateful to share this time with David and Marla and their precious children.

I hope that you are all OK.

Dear Holly, I know that this is a hard post for you to read. I am sorry that you miscarried for the 4th time. It is hard to understand why these things happen. It doesn't seem fair.... but I know that your faith will see you through this hard time. May God bless and comfort you.

Dear readers, if you haven't already done so, hop over to Holly's blog and give her some blog love.

I am sending love to Holly and all of you.

...

By the way, my blog friend Krystyn is having a give-away. Hop on over to Really are you Serious to enter.

...

I will stay busy playing Grammy here with my son's family this week.

It is hard to get computer time but I will try from time to time.

I can hardly stand the thought of leaving this sweet family. They live so far away that I don't get to see them very often. However, next Friday I will fly from here to Utah to attend my Grandson Justin's high school graduation.

I will be sad to leave here but happy to get to spend time with my Utah family.

Is being retired, foot loose and fancy free great or what!!!

Have a good week.

Love, Grammy Lura

I have another New Grandson

Our new grandbaby is here!!! He was born today.

No name yet but he is a darling boy.

Mom and babe are doing well.

Our prayers were answered.

We are so thankful.

Dear Hubby is letting me fly across USA to meet this new grandson and help the family out.

I leave in the morning.

I won't be in touch for a while but I will be thinking of you.

Wish me luck traveling all day tomorrow.

Wish John luck surviving at home without me...lol

Love to all.... Grammy Lura

Sunday Six Smiles

Hello again dear blog friends.

I am beaming from ear to ear as I look back over the past two weeks.

I have much to be thankful for...

...and much to smile about.

As you know John and I just returned from our cruise on the Carnival Splendor last Sunday.

#1

Everything about the trip made us smile.

The ship was beautiful...

The food was out of this world....

The service on board was outstanding...

Being with friends was wonderful..

The scenery was breathtaking..

Grandma B and Sheryl were right when they guessed that one of the places we went to was Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC, Canada

We had a great time there and in the next port which was Vancouver. I plan to do several posts on our cruise.... but for now suffice it to say that I never stopped smiling the whole time we were cruising.
...

Now you might think that I was sad to end our cruise and come back to the "real" world.

Usually I am... but not this time...

No, no, no....

in fact I was excited as we hurried home from the ship...

...because...

#2

I knew someone precious was waiting there for me.

Look who I found taking a dip in my bathroom sink.

Yep... It was my newest grandson, Calan.

Can you believe it???

Patrick had business in the area the same week we were on our cruise.

Erin and Cal came to CA with daddy.

They spent the first few days with Mindy and Ernie.

#3

Little Cal got to meet the rest of his CA family for the first time.

E.J. and Claire adore their new cousin.

Like the rest of us, they had been praying for a long time that Erin and Patrick could have a baby. They were delighted that our prayers were answered when we got our little Calan.

I don't think Cal got put down the whole time he was here.

Mindy even let the kids stay home from school one day to be with him.
(This was a really big deal since it was Claire's first day to miss school all year)

Of course they had to share him with Grammy once I got home from the cruise.
I love the beautiful bouquet of 18 roses he had sent me for Mother's Day...
..but having him here was far better than getting the flowers..
(and you know how much I love flowers!)

#4

I was also smiling that Sil and Ron could drive up from San Diego area to meet our little Cal.

Cal looks so cute in the cap Silvija knit him and Erin loves the Adoption baby books Sil gave them.
...

#5
Yesterday we were invited to a lovely B-B-Q house warming party given by our friends Ken and Jann who moved to the mountains a few months ago.

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get up to their mountain lake home.

The scenery is beautiful and the air crisp and clean at 7000 ft.
We enjoyed the visit and good food.
Jann is the breeder from whom we bought our dog Heidi .
It is her sister, Lonna and niece, Chelsea that babysit Heidi for us when we travel.
We feel like they are family.

After the feast the talented group put on a family show for us.
They are so good and entertaining.
We had a great time.

#6
We could have stayed all evening listening to them but we had to leave in time to attend the musical. "Savior of the World" which Claire was in last night.

Claire played the part of Nathan a shepherd boy.

It was a big part for a little 7 year old with lots of lines and 3 solos.
She did a outstanding job.
In fact she brought tears to her Grampy's and Grammy's eyes.
I want to tell you more about it on another post.
...
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will take time to say hello. I love hearing from you.
I wish you a great week ahead with many blessings coming your way.
Love, Grammy Lura
...

P.S. Tomorrow is my John's birthday. I think it is great that so many of you are off work tomorrow to celebrate his special day...heehee...LOL...

I hope my American friends have a good Memorial day tomorrow...

...and my English friends have a nice Banker's holiday.

I am back

Hello again dear blog friends.

We just got back from a lovely , spur of the moment, trip.

Because of the Swine Flu, cruise ships had to change their itineraries at the last moment and not go to the Mexican Riviera.

Many people were disappointed and cancelled their cruises....leaving many cabins on the ships empty.

To fill the ships the cruise lines are offering unbelievable deals....7 day cruises for less than $400 a person... and will be doing so until the middle of June.

The price goes up each week. John and I booked at $249 each...amazing last moment ...book and sail deal!!

If you are interested in booking one of these cheap cruises leave me a comment and give me your email and I will get back to you ASAP.

John and I became travel agents when we retired from teaching.

I booked 10 cabins for the cruise we were on... and we all had a great time on Carnival's brand new mega ship, Splendor.

We had a great trip. Can you tell from this picture where we went?

It was beautiful.

I am anxious to tell you ... and show you... all about it...

but I can't.... I just got notice that our electricity will be off all day starting in 1 minute.

Must run.

Thanks for your concern about me not posting for a while.

I am touched and appreciate all of your friendship.

Love, Lura

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mothers Day Means More

"Happy Mother's Day" means more

Than have a happy day.

Within those words lie lots of things

We never get to say.

It means I love you first of all,Then thanks for all you do.

It means you mean a lot to me,And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means

That I am thinking of

Your happiness on this, your day,

With pleasure and with love.

author unknown (at least unknown to me)

I was blessed with a wonderful mother.

I was adopted at birth and from that moment on, she made me feel special.

She told me that out of all the babies in the world she picked me out to be hers.

I have never met, but always loved my birth mom for giving me life... and giving me to my mother.

...
...God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers."

~ Jewish Proverb

She was a wonderful mother and grandmother.

She has been gone for 23 years.... but we think of her often... and remember her with love.
...

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty
...
I thank my children for making me a mother.

They have always brought me great joy.

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.

~Marion C. Garretty
...
It has been my privelige to be their mother.

Each one is a priceless jewel that makes me one of the richest women in the world.
They love me and honor me in spite of the mistakes I make and my faults.

I am indeed blessed.

I thank my Heavenly Father every day for them and for my dear husband.

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

Some of you reading this may not have had nurturing mothers.

You may not have children ... or have lost children...or you may have children that are giving you a hard time...or don't respect and honor you.

I know these things can give you heavy hearts.... especially on Mother's Day.

I am sorry....but I encourage you not to give up.

God knows you... and is aware of your situation.... He loves you.

God loves all of us.....He wants you to be happy.

Your story is not over yet... Be faithful...be loving.. reach out to others... there are many around us that we can mother even if they are not our own children.

In doing this you will overcome your pain and sorrow and find joy.

I am wishing you all a very Happy Mother's Day

Love, Grammy Lura

PS. I am in a great rush today.... there are many fun plans and much to do. Please forgive me for not commenting on your blogs. I will be back to read your blogs and comment as soon as I can.

Wednesday Wisdom

As you know, I am at the beach with my dear friend of 53 years, Silvija.

We are staying at a lovely timeshare at the sea side.

It is just past midnight now so officially it her 64th birthday today.

I hope that I can add to her happiness.... two of her children, a granddaughter and her sister will join us for lunch.... we will have a good time..... I need to get to sleep so I won't be tired on her special day when we wake up in the morning... but I wanted to share some Wednesday Wisdom with you first.

This is it....

Choose the right when a choice is placed before you.

I have heard this advice from my mom and at church since I was a little girl.

I have always tried to follow that advice.... and I am surely glad we did today.

We wanted to go out for a nice meal at a restaurant overlooking the water at the beach.

We went to this place called Fisherman's at the pier.

The restaurant spans both sides of the pier.

Can you tell much difference from the left and right sides?
Neither could we....but we picked the right side.

...
We looked at the menu in the window of the left side and found that most of the meals started at about $15.00. That seemed about right since is a nice place over the water. We decided to go in. We wanted to eat outside where we could see and hear the waves and feel and smell the ocean breeze. We saw a table in a perfect spot on the right side and hurried in and asked the waitress if we could sit there.


After we sat down we got a menu.....
They said it was happy hour....
Guess what the price for a big....lovely....delicious dinner was...
Did you guess???? No you are not right...
It was $3.00!!!
Yes... that is correct....$3.00.
We could not believe it. We asked why we did not see that on the menu we had looked at on the left side of the restaurant. The waitress explained that the right side had a bar and served food and drinks at this low price during happy hour.... but the left side of the restaurant did not.
We do not drink alcohol but we ordered our sodas and had a wonderful $3.00 meal.
I was taking Sil out for an early birthday dinner.
The total bill came to $12.00....$15.00 with the tip...for both of us.
Am I a generous friend and a big spender or what!!!
...
But my mom's and my church's teaching proved once again to be valuable advice.

Choose the right when a choice is placed before you!
Have a great day.
Love, Lura

A fast Sunday Six

Dear Blog Friends,

I hope that you have had a good Sunday today.

Actually I hope that you have had a good week.

I know some of you have not felt well. I hope you are better.

I have had much to smile about this week but I only have a little time to tell you about it.

I am only putting pictures of my potted plants in this post.

My family makes me smile more.... but this is quicker... and my plants do make me smile.

I love going out in my patio.

I love looking at the sweet plants and flowers that are blooming there.

I especially love the sweet faces on my pansies.

I love hearing the chorus of bird songs that greet me.

Now that it is warm they start singing with the sunrise.
I sometimes wish that they would stay quiet a while longer....
but even though I ask them to sing a little softer early each morn
they ignore me and greet the sun singing at the top of their lungs.
How can I be upset at them?

What a good example they set.
We should all greet the day with a song in our hearts.

I love having breakfast out in the patio with my sweetheart.

Before we retired, I always ate a piece of toast on the way to school and called it breakfast.

Now I make a nice breakfast for John and me and we have a leisurely meal, looking at the flowers and listening to the birds sing.

Life doesn't get too much sweeter than that.

I love sharing our patio with friends.

I love it when we have company come and we can spend time outside together.
We have lived in the same home for 29 years.
We have made many dear friends at church and in the community.
They are such a blessing to me. They make me smile.

How thankful I am for them. I wish that we could get together more often.

I love playing in the patios with my grand children.
No matter when my grand children come, the patios and plants come alive with their laughter.
It doesn't matter whether we are splashing in the pool, cooking on the B-B-Q, roasting marshmallows in the fire pit or having Royal tea parties, we have a great time.
It doesn't matter if they are little tykes or my big boys, we all are smiling when we are together in the patios.
...
I am also smiling because I have the health and strength to work in the patios and keep them up.
I enjoy tending my flowers, veggies and plants.
I even enjoy sweeping up the leaves and keeping it looking nice.

There was a time that I was in a wheel chair and not able to walk and get around to clean up the patios. How thankful I am that I can walk just fine now.

It is a real blessing to be able to do my own work.

I have so many blessing.... No wonder that I am smiling.

...

Here is something else I am smiling about.

I am taking off tomorrow.

I am leaving my sweet hubby home with our dog Heidi.

I hope Heidi will take good care of him.

I am going with my dear friend.

We are taking off for a retreat at a

lovely seaside time share.

Sil and I have been dear friends since I was 12 and she was 11.

(that is almost 53 years....how can that be???)

We are soul mates.

Her hubby is off on an overseas business trip.

My hubby says he would go bonkers sitting on the beach or staying at the time share.

Wednesday is her birthday.... so the two of us are off...

to sit on the beach, watch the sunset, watch girly videos to our hearts content,

read...read...read.... and....eat..eat...eat.

I don't know if they have Internet accesss there.... so don't worry if you don't hear from me for a while.

I am sending my love to all of you.

I hope that you have a great week ahead.

Love, Grammy Lura