Grammy's News

Happy Birthday Lyle...I haven't forgotten you.

2009-11-10T20:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Lyle.

Today is your birthday.

You were born on Nov. 10, 1971

Unfortunately, that was also your death day.

I never got to hold you.

I never got to say goodbye.

Back then there was no "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep" organization where kind

people like my blog friend Jamie come and take pictures for the family to keep.

...

The hospital took you away and put you in the morgue before I even saw you.

They told me, John and my mom it would be too upsetting for us to see you.

I knew they were wrong but I was too sick to argue.

You were buried while I was still recovering from your difficult birth in the hospital.

You were gone from my life but not from my heart.

I agonized with grief.

Then one night I awoke with the following words racing through my mind.

I wrote them down in a poem.

The words gave me comfort.

They brought me peace.

I consider this poem a gift from God.

It still gives me comfort.

I wrote it for you.

I called it Only Son

At that time you were my only son.

...

Only Son

(Cruel words-Kind Answer)

"Your baby's dead!" How cruel the words.
How shocking to my soul.
It can not be. It must not be.
God would not take my son from me.
...
But it was true. My babe was gone
Taken from my arms and breast.
I wept. I cried in agony.
My torment knew no rest.
...
How could it be? How could it be
God took him in his infancy?
Before he walked or talked or cooed for joy
God took away my baby boy.
...
Then in His loving tenderness
God touched my heart that I might know
I'll have my son. I'll hold his hand.
I'll watch him grow into a man.
...
Though I wait to sing him songs of love
I'll sing them in our home above.
For now I'll prove my faith and worth
and thank God He let me give him birth.
...
...

And so Lyle I wait.

I am trying to live a good life.

I am trying to live as Jesus taught us to live.

I am trying to keep His commandments.

I want to be worthy to be with you in our eternal home one day.

...

You would be 38 years old today.

I imagine that you would be much like your younger brother, David.

I am sure that you would be a fine man with a lovely family.

I miss you. I have not forgotten you.

I can smile when I think of you today because I know families are forever.

Happy Birthday dear son.

Love, Mommy

Sunday Six Birthday and Sewing Smiles

2009-11-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

My sweet granddaughter, Emma turned 9 last Monday.

( 2 days after Claire turned 8

and 9 days after E.J. turned 10.)

We have had much to smile about with these dear grandchildren growing up

healthy and strong , learning right from wrong and making good choices.

Emma is a precious girl.

She loves her little brothers (which you can tell from this picture of her with Evan)

and her little sister, Grace.

She is a great example for them.
We love you dear Emma.
I could not be with you on your birthday
but I was smiling as we talked on the phone.
I smile when ever I think of Emma.

You might remember that several of our family gathered together
last year when Emma turned 8 and was baptised.
Emma was my 2nd granddaughter to be baptised and confirmed.
I was happy that I could make her a lovely confirmation dress....

...just as I had done for Lonica two years ago when she turned 8.

I made each of their dresses way in advance.
I had time to enter both of them in local fairs and sewing competitions.
Both won blue ribbons and one got the Best of Show award

which made me smile.
I had time to look at them....and refine them...and enjoy them before I gave them away.
BUT...
the third time was not the charm!
Somehow Claire's 8th birthday slipped up on me.
????
How did that happen????
Maybe it was because I got so sick in Sept. when I had kidney stones...
...or...
Maybe it was because I spent the first 2 weeks of Oct. in Utah for Cal's adoption...
...or...
Maybe I am just getting old...???
...but for what ever the reason I suddenly realized last week that
Claire's 8th birthday was here and she would soon be baptised
and
I hadn't even started on her confirmation dress!!!
I had to make one....after all... I had started a tradition with Loni and Emma.
I couldn't let my Claire Bear down.
So I got busy.

Monday, I was smiling when I finally got it all cut out.
(That is the only part of sewing that I don't like...I always dread the cutting out step. )

I was smiling Wednesday when I got most of it sewn together...including the ruffly petticoat you see in this picture.
(I left town Tues. and went to visit with my friends, Sil and Betsy

but I took the dress with me and got some hand work done while I visited with them. )

I got back Wed. from visiting my friends, which also made me smile...(Sorry I didn't get any pictures...What am I like???)

After returning home, I sewed the bodice and skirts together.

Then I settled down to sewing on sequins and pearls.
I even put pearls on the sleeves this time. If you look closely you can see them.

Do you like them there?

After sewing on over 2000 pearls on Mindy's wedding dress years ago

I said I would never sew on another pearl... but I was wrong.

However, after I finish making Grace's confirmation dress next year when she turns 8,

maybe I will never need to sew on another pearl.

That will make me smile.

Meanwhile I was smiling as I worked on Claire's dress.
I thought it was turning out nicely.

I burnt the midnight oil finishing it up but I was smiling.

This time I added something else new.

I put lace and pearls down by the hem in front. I liked the new touch.
That made me smile.

Seeing Claire's smile when I gave it to her

made me smile most of all.

I am so thankful for my precious granddaughters.

I am thankful that each of them have been raised to love the Lord.

I am glad that they want to be baptised

and confirmed a member of His church.

I can't wait until our family comes together in a couple of weeks
for Claire's baptism and confirmation.

You can bet that I will really be smiling at that special occasion.
I am thankful that I have been given the skill and ability
needed to make my grandgirls special dresses for their confirmations.

That also makes me smile.
...
I send hugs and best wishes to each of you.

I hope you have a week full of smiles.

Sunday Smiles Halloween Week

2009-11-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am sure that many of you have had a happy week filled with
all sorts of Halloween Fun.

We surely have.

I couldn't call this post my Sunday Six Smiles because I have had way more than six reasons to smile.

In fact my smiles were far bigger than those found on our Jack-o-Lanterns
(Speaking of Jack-o-Lanterns, my friend Kris has written a beautiful story about how making the Jack-o-Lantern is similar to the way God works with us. It is a lovely story. Go to her blog and read it for yourself.

Halloween is my Claire Bear's birthday.

It is always fun celebrating with my little Pumpkin.

(My nickname for Claire became Pumpkin when she made her

unexpected arrival on Halloween night 8 years ago.)

She always has lots of interesting friends show up to celebrate with her.

Here, her brother Mario, helps her blow out her candles.
Having a Halloween birthday is loads of fun....
but then I guess a birthday is always loads of fun

no matter what day it comes.

Last week my daughter Mindy and my grandson, E.J. also had birthdays.

E.J. had a lot fun playing guitar on his cousin Jalen's Guitar Hero game while we were in Utah.

All the way driving back home to California, he kept telling us that Guitar Hero is all he wanted for his birthday.
He got his wish and his house has been rocking every since.

My birthday girl, Mindy, Austin and Claire have also been rocking all week.

Any of you that read my blog know how much our family enjoys karaoke singing.

We never get together for very long before the karaoke starts....

...now it is even more fun with the guitar and drums accompaniment.
...
I liked Halloween and the fall season as a child....

...however, it is much more fun now that I have 1 daughter and 4 grandchildren that were born between October 1 and Nov. 2nd....
and they all are so darn cute!!! (Not that I am prejudice!)

Wait a minute....where is E.J?

Oh...there he is...

He decided to be spooky this year but he doesn't seem to scare Sailor girl or Mario.
...
Of course picture taking on Halloween is the first order of business.

Mario poses for Mindy one last time before running off to the neighborhood block party.
...
Block Halloween pot lucks make me smile.
We enjoy gathering with Mindy's neighbors for a good dinner before passing out the candy.

Getting together with neighbors makes Halloween night even more fun.

After dinner we all sit together and visit while we pass out the candy.

It makes it more fun for the adults and the kids don't have to go door to door to

trick or treat.

Little spooks just come to the end of the cul-de-sac and collect their loot from each of us there.
...
We also had fun last Friday night at our church Trunk-or- Treat party.

We all enjoyed the defferent kinds of chili, hot dogs and salads...

But....most of all....

We enjoyed the association with good friends.
....
There are so many fun fall activities.
We started the fun stuff while we were in Utah for Calan's adoption

two weeks ago with all of our kids and grandkids.

Lynell was in charge of making caramel apples.

It was fun making them and even more fun eating them.

Erin and Patrick were in charge of carving the pumpkins.

Everyone helped out....we made quite a mess...but we were all having fun.

It was great that David and his family were there with us.
They live far away and we don't get to see them that often.

However, this is the second year in a row that we got to carve pumpkins together.

Last year we went to Kentucky to celebrate Emma's 8th birthday with her.
Emma's birthday is Nov. 2nd but we were there for Halloween too.

For both years we had more smiles than we could count.

Our Happy Halloween is over now.

October was a magical month for us.

We were all together as a family.

We celebrated 4 family birthdays.

We officially adopted little Calan and had him sealed to our family.

We were truly blessed.

We were all smiles...all month.

We are very thankful.

...
I hope that you all had a happy month too.

Tell me about your Halloween activities.

Have a great week ahead...

...and happy birthday #9 tomorrow sweet Emma.
Love, Grammy Lura

p.s. I'm thinking of you dear Marie. I am glad that we could visit on the phone for a little while after church today. I hope that you will find your sweet smiles again soon. XOXO

Sunday Smiles

2009-10-25T13:32:00.001-07:00

Hello Again dear blog friends.

This past week has really been a busy one for me.

Besides being in Utah, driving home (with 3 grandchildren), doing our church and temple callings,doing my Goldrush travel agency work and driving 100 miles to San Diego to attend a ship inspection, we celebrated two family birthdays.

I have been too busy to hardly sit down much less get on the computer.

I have missed checking in on your blogs but I have thought of you....

...and I've had so much to smile about that it will take a month of Sundays to tell you about it.

...

As you know from my last post, John and I and all 4 of our children and their families gathered together in Utah a week ago Fri. to go to court and to the temple with Erin and Patrick when they adopted, sealed and blessed little Calan. It was a wonderful day.

However, another special occasion was in store for us the next day.

...

Evan's blessing made me smile.

Saturday morning all of our family joined with Marla's family for David's little baby Evan's blessing.

We usually have our babies blessed when they are a month or so old.

In our church the baby is given the name he or she will be known by and then the baby is given a special blessing through the power of the priesthood that will help them through out their life.

This is a special and scared occasion to us.

The child is usually blessed by his father or another family member that holds the priesthood and assisted by additional family or close friends who are also priesthood holders.

Little Evan was blessed by his dad, our son David, and assisted by his grandfathers and uncles.

Evan is almost 4 months old.

David and Marla waited until they came to Utah for Calan's adoption to bless Evan so his family from both sides could be there to share this special time with them.
We are happy that they did that.
Since David and Marla live far away from us, across the states, we don't get to spend much time with them.
Being together with them for a whole week
and attending little Evan's blessing was a precious time for us.
We were all smiling.

Grampy with our David and his boys, Davey and Evan

This is Evan with his other grandpa.

I just threw it in because I thought it was cute how David got Evan to smile.
...
Watching Dancers made me smile.

Our daughter Lynell teaches preschool dance classes.

While David's girls, Grace and Emma were visiting in Utah, Lynell got them to go to her dance classes and be her assistant teachers.

Emma took her task seriously and carefully instructed the little dancers.

So did 7 year old Grace... who is so tiny that she looked like a preschooler too.

I was full of smiles as I watched.
...
Karaoke and more dancing made me smile.

Of course our family can't get together for too long without having a karaoke fest.
Almost every night we were smiling as we sang and danced to our hearts content.

What fun!
...
Hugs and kisses for Grammy made me smile.

I just couldn't get enough of my little ones.

My lap and arms were always full... and so was my heart.
...
Justin makes me smile.

It is not just my little grandchildren that make my heart smile...

My big grandsons do too.
My 18 year old grandson, Justin, graduated from Army basic trainging

this past week.

He did well and was one of 5 that were nominated
for outstanding soldier of the company.
Lynell and Dathan flew to Kentucky to attend the ceremony.
John and I could not go but our hearts were with Justin and we were smiling.

He is now in Texas starting his specialized training to be a medic.

How we love our Justin ...and wish him well.
...
My honey makes me smile.

Both kinds of honey...my John and the yellow sweet liquid, make me smile.

Most of you said that you thought John's home made honey extractor would work.

...

Well....it did ...but only for about 5 minutes...then it froze up and broke.

He had not put bearings in the bottom and when the contraption got to spinning really fast it got so hot that the plastic parts melted together and froze up.
We were sad...but John is back to the drawing boards to try again.

However, he took the beeswax frames and drained them into a tub.

He filtered them through layers of cheesecloth to strain them.

(This took place when I was really sick with kidney stones and couldn't get pictures for you)

We ended up getting 4 quarts, 6 pints and a bear full of honey.
and
IT IS DELICIOUS!!!

I am now happy that I let Queenie and her family stay in our yard.

...

I hope that you have been smiling too.

I have a lot more I would like to share...but this is enough for now.
Until next time I send you love and wish you well, Lura

Thankful Tuesday-Come share our joy

2009-10-20T20:10:00.001-07:00

It is Tuesday today. We just returned home from visiting with our whole family in Utah.

I am feeling very thankful which is appropriate since...

...Fall is the season of thanksgiving.

Our family has a lot to be thankful for.

We all joined together in Utah last week to celebrate with Erin, Patrick and little Calan

Last Friday, Oct. 16th, was a very special day for our family.

Early that morning we all went to court with Erin, Patrick and Calan.
We have waited for this day to come for 6 months since little Cal was born.

It was an emotional and special occasion.
Erin and Patrick were asked what this adoption meant to them.
They were asked why they wanted to adopt little Calan.
Their hearts were so full.... and their feelings so tender.... that they could hardly speak.
There was hardly a dry eye in the court room as they told the Judge of their love for little Cal and how thankful they were to his birth mother that she would allow them to be his parents.

Patrick's parents had come from Indiana. We had come from California.
All of Erin's siblings and their families also came.
John and I were thrilled that all of our children came to celebrate with Erin and Patrick.
It was quite a sacrafice for them to come.
Mindy and family came from California. David and family came from Ohio. Lynell and family drove down from Northern Utah.
We all got there early Friday morn and waited anxiously for court to begin.

The Judge said he was pleased to declare the adoption finalized.
He wished us well....and...at last...
Calan is legally ours!
...
What a blessing!
What an answer to all of our prayers.

The Judge invited us up to take this formal group picture.

When the Judge left we all burst with excitement.
Little cousins from around the country rushed to welcome baby Cal officially to the family.

After court the adults went directly to the temple.
We joined together in the same room that Erin and Patrick were married in and
little Calan was sealed to Erin and Patrick and our family for time and all eternity.
In our religion we believe that through the power of the priesthood families can be sealed (joined) together for all time.

Families can be together forever.
Now Calan is both legally and eternally ours.

What a joy it was to be in the Holy Temple with all of our children and their spouses.
Nothing could bring John and me more joy than this.

Later Friday afternoon, Cal was blessed by his father and assisted by his grandfathers and uncles ...who all hold the priesthood.

For us a baby blessing is similar to a baby christening in other churches.

It was the third special event of the day.

...

I was not able to get to a computer to do my Sunday Six Smiles but you can believe that I was certainly smiling.

I will tell you more about the wonderful time John and I had with all of our children and grandchildren (except Justin who is at Fort Knox in basic training) at another time.
...
As you can see.... thanksgiving has come early to our family... we feel very blessed and grateful.
Hugs, Grammy Lura

What is John up to now with his new Honey???

2009-10-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

I told you last week about how my John fell madly in love with his new Queen Bee.

He risk life and limb climbing up into a tall tree to capture her and 10,000 of her family when they came buzzing into our patio several months ago.

I was afraid that he would fall and break his neck....I was yelling

"John come down from there...she is not worth killing yourself over"

...but he would not listen to me.

He survived his "high" adventure

and built Queenie and her family a nice house at the back of our property.
...
At first I ignored them.

Then for a while, to make them feel welcome and like their new home, I made them sugar syrup ,which John took out for them to eat.
I was very understanding considering the love and attention John was giving his new Honey and her brood.

...

But....lately, I decided that enough was enough!

I told John that his new honey had been a freeloader long enough.

I said that it was time for her to pay some rent for her new home.

John agreed with me.

He went out and told her that she would have to share some of her

liquid gold with us.

Queenie agreed....and didn't seem disturbed that John demanded payment.
...

That is when John's new adventure began.

He found out that a honey extractor costs $700 or more.
$700!!!!!

So John being the thrifty, clever type (cheap), decided to build is own extractor.

He spent about a week drawing up the plans and making his extractor.

He bought a large trash can and fit PCP pipe inside.

He built wooden forms to fit inside the tub over the PCP pipe.

He made a fitting for his drill.

When he turned his drill on the wooden forms spun around and around really fast.

Next he went out to Queen Bee and took 4 of her wax honeycomb frames.

He scraped the tops off of the honeycomb cells and...

...placed the frames into his contraption.

He secured the frames with another wooden contraption that he made.

He turned on his drill....and around and around the honeycomb frames went.

...

We could hardly wait to get our liquid gold.

Around and around the frames spun faster and faster.

...

Do you think it worked?

Did we get our desired gold from his new Queen Bee honey?

...

Tell me what you think? Did John's extractor work?

You will have to wait and see.

Until then, I hope that you have an un-bee-lievably good week.

Love, Lura

My John found a new honey! part 1

2009-10-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

I thought I knew my husband well.

I have known him for 45 years ....

and been married to him for 44 years...

...

I never in a million years thought he would do something like this.

I thought I was his only Queen Bee....

...but I was wrong...

Now he has a new honey.

I should have recognized the signs.

I noticed that he had been showing a lot of interest in her kind lately.

A few months ago he even bought a hat at a garage sale just to wear when he was with her.

...but I never thought it was anything serious....

...Until early one morning a few months ago.

We were having a lovely breakfast in the patio with Claire...

when it happened!

Ms. Queen Bee and 10,000 of her family made an uninvited visit.

They came buzzing by... disrupting our meal...and made themselves right at home in our tree by the pool.

My husband left me....without even saying goodbye...and climbed up a tall tree to visit them.

I told him that he was too old to be running after a new honey.

I was yelling..."No, No John....please think about what you are doing."

I was worried that no good could come from this, wild inpectious love of his.

But, my pleas went unheeded.

He not only went up to visit....he brought them back with him.

...And told them they could stay.

He did all this right in front of our little grand-daughter Claire

That is when I put my foot down.

I said if they were going to stay he would have to build them a house way in the back of our property.

I certainly wasn't going to have them in the house!

So he did.
As I said that was some time ago.

...and...with the passage of time...I have gotten use to the idea.

I've forgiven John for scaring me to death.

I've come to realize that Ms. Queen Bee and her family are not all that bad.
In fact they are quite sweet....literally dripping with honey.

So, we are all living together now.

I let John go out and visit them from time to time.

I leave them alone and they ignore me.

I like it that way.

...

However, something happened last week that changed everything.

John started spending hours with them....leaving me in the house alone for days at a time.

I will have to tell you about that at another time.

I'm not up to it tonight.

You really won't believe what happened next.

Stay tuned for the next "true confessions" installment.

Meanwhile, please give me your advice.

What would you do if your husband Bee-haved this way?

Leave me a comment and tell me what I should do.

Thanks and hugs,

Lura

Sunday Six Smiles

2009-10-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

I feel so blessed today.

So full of smiles as I count my blessings

and thank my Heavenly Father for all that He has given me.

...
1. Modern technology makes me smile.

We have been uplifted by watching the 179th Semiannual General conference of our church.

It takes place in the conference center in Salt Lake City....

...but through modern technology conference is broadcast all over the world.

What a blessing to be able to sit in the comfort of my home and be a part

of these inspirational meetings.

I just finish watching the Sunday Morning Session.... and I am smiling.

2. The General Conference Messages make me smile.

During the 2 sessions yesterday and in this mornings session we got to hear from many of our leaders and all three of the first presidency of our church, Pres. Monson, Pres. Eyring andPres. Uchtdorf. (Pictured above)

My heart has been touch. My soul has been edified.

Our dear prophet, Pres. Monson, reminded us that when we are in the service of our fellowmen we are in the service of our God.

My resolve to love and serve my fellowman has been increased.
There is one more session we get to listen to this afternoon.

I am sad that it will soon be over. I eat up their words and counsel.

I can't get enough of it.

...

If you would like to watch it, I gave the link to broadcast information in my last post.

...

3. Talking to Angie and Marie makes me smile.
My dear blog friends, Marie and Angie in England are visiting each other today. They have know each other for several years but this is the first time they have met in person. I just love them both so when I learned they were together today I just had to call and be a small part of their party. It was so fun visiting with them. They are both delightful. How I wish I could hop over the pond and join them at Oak Cottage but since I can't ,I am smiling that I could have a nice phone visit.
...

4. Primary Sunday Programs make me smile.

For the past couple of weeks primary children all over the world have given their Sacrament Meeting Programs .
Every child gets a small speaking part and they sing several songs during the program.
...
To see these precious children, from ages 3 to 11, get up and speak on the microphone in front of the whole congregation.... and to hear their sweet voices singing songs of worship and praise, is so touching. It is amazing how even the little ones do their part... and sit reverently in the choir seats for over an hour during the program.
...
Last Sunday I got to go Mindy and Ernie's ward (congregation) and watch E.j., Claire and Austin take part in their primary program.
They did a wonderful job. They said their parts and sang the songs. Claire also sang a beautiful solo and a trio number.
I was proud of them and all of the children.
You can be sure that I was smiling.
...
5. Fall time and apples make me smile.

Our weather has been cooler...in the 70's and 80's with only a few 90+'s days thrown in.
It feels like fall.
Our apple trees are loaded full of apples.
We have picked hundreds of them.
John gave away a whole wheelbarrow full of them that we picked just before I got too sick with kidney stones to can them. I was glad that we could share and not waste them.
Then this week, we picked a bunch more.
I canned 18 quarts of apples.

The aromas of canning apples, apple pies baking and apple muffins have filled our home.
That makes both my nose and my tummy smile....and John's too.
...
6. My grandson soldier, Justin makes me smile
Justin is a wonderful young man. As many of you know, he is now at Fort Knox, Ky going to basic training. This has been a very difficult experience but Justin has done well.
He says that his prayers and love from family and friends has supported him.
He will graduate from basic training on Oct. 22 and move on to specialized training to become a medic.
I miss my sweet Justin.
I cringe when I read of some of the experiences he has had to endure...
...but I am so proud of him and his desire to serve his country.
I love my Justin and pray for him every day... as I pray for all of our service men and women.
...
My face is sore from smiling.
I hope that you are smiling too.
Have a great week.
Hugs, Lura

This wonderful weekend is finally here! Join me

2009-10-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting 6 months....and this weekend is finally here!

It is time for the

179th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I will be listening to our leaders talk to us along with millions of members around the world.
I will be watching from home over our DirecTV .

It is also broadcast over cable channels, the Internet and at many of our church buildings.

The 179th Semiannual General Conference of the Mormon Church will be held in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on

Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4, 2009.

Join me in watching.

There will be beautiful music provided by the world famous
...

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

and...
There will be inspirational talks from leadership of the church.
...
No matter what your denomination or faith you will find these talks uplifting, motivational and inspirational.
I know that I do.
...

It is broadcast by direcTV and Dish Network on the following channels.

DirecTV: BYU-TV Channel 374
Dish Network: BYU-TV Channel 9403

The sessions will be broadcast at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
I have put links below where you can find the time it will be broadcast in your area.

...

For additional information about general conference, see General Conference

For information on worldwide broadcast times and options, see the broadcast options

and broadcast schedule.

There is a scripture that says
"By there fruits ye shall know them."
Some of you have heard misleading and untrue things about Mormon beliefs and philosophy.
Some of you may be curious about what we believe and are taught by our leaders.
I think that many of your questions will be answered by listening to these talks.

I invite you again to join me and tune in to conference.

...

The messages and music will touch your hearts and bear witness that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world.
...

I will be glued to the TV for all four sessions that will be aired Sat. and Sun.

They also have good programs in between the conference sessions.

Have a great weekend.

I know I will.

Hugs to all, Lura

Survivor's Sunday Six

2009-09-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

Has it only been a week since I did my last Sunday Six?

How can that be???

It seems like it was a month or more.

As you all know I have been very sick with Kidney stones.

I am better now.

That makes me smile!

I still have 2 stones happily residing in my kidneys but as long as they are contented and stay there I am told they will not cause havoc.
I was sad to find they are still there, but what is...is.

Hopefully they will stay put... and that will make me smile because passing their little crystal relatives was torture and I don't want to do that again.....ever!!!

My John makes me smile.

We were not told "For better or worse" when we got married
but if we had been I am sure that John would vote that this week was one of the worst.

I am sure that changing catheter bags , cleaning out the vomit pan and holding my hand while I moaned and groaned was not much fun.

I am thankful that I had John to help me get through this week.

The first few days since last Sunday just seem a blur of pain, nausea and dizziness.

Each day after that I got better.

I was happy when I was enough better to read and watch TV to help pass
the time. Each step toward wellness made me smile.

Thinking of the trips we have made and the good times we have shared also comforted me and made me smile while I was down in bed.

Good memories are a lot to smile about.

Getting a priesthood blessing from John and our home teachers made me smile.

Well wishes and love from my children made me smile.

Your comments, and Marie's post make me smile.

I could also feel your concern and prayers.

That gave me strength and made me smile.

Even in the midst of pain and suffering there is always much to smile about.

...and that makes me smile!

I am getting stronger each day.

I am going to try going to church today.

I am sure my week ahead will be a good one. I hope yours will too.

Love, Lura

I'm stoned

2009-09-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

Dear blog friends,
Thanks for your concern and prayers. I have needed them. After hours of agony (I thought I was in labor) and not being able to urinate,even with a cath, they did a cat scan and found I had kidney stones blocking the urethra. The codeine was useless so now I have graduated to morphine. I am really out of it but the pain is more tolerable. This is the first time I have sat up today....just to write you.... so you can see how important you all are to me. But I am too dizzy and nauseated to sit up long.... so I will visit your posts when I can. I must lie back down.... I am double stoned. Love to you all. Prayers are appreciated. Stoney Staffy

A sick Sunday Six...sorry

2009-09-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Blog Friends,

Today I am thankful for the following:

1.A husband that is concerned about my health.

2.Urgent Care available on Sunday

3.Good doctors.

4.Kind and gentle nurses

5. ciprofloxacin antibiotic

6. codeine for pain

Each of these things make me smile.

I am not well today but I'm sure that I will be soon. I started having problems Fri. night and John wanted me to go to the doctor yesterday but we had some dear friends getting married in the LA temple yesterday afternoon and I didn't want to miss it.....besides I was hoping I would get better on my own by drinking cranberry juice. We started out for church this morning but I felt like I was going to burst and the pain was more than I could stand so John made me go to urgent care at the hospital instead. I am getting good care. They are giving me cipro for infection, codeine for the pain (which hasn't helped much yet but they say it will) and have done other things to help me which are too unpleasant to mention.
I am sure that I will be better soon. However, I have learned a new lesson. I used to think it was a pain to have to take out time run to the restroom....I have now learned that it is a much bigger pain when you can't! I will never take tinkle time for granted again. I am sure that this is more info than you want to know....so I will say good bye and send my love to each of you.

Here is a pretty picture I took while we were at the Bushard Gardens in Victoria, Canada. I hope it leaves you with a prettier picture in you minds than this post does.

I hope that you have a good week. ...I will be back to visit your blogs soon....and each time you have to run to the restroom and your plumbing works....be thankful. lol Hugs, Lura

Please help my friend

2009-09-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

This dear lady is my blog friend Grandma B.

You can tell how good and kind she is just by looking at her sweet face.

She posts lovely poems, pictures and thoughts on her blog that uplift and encourage us bloggers.

Today she needs our help.

She is walking in the National Alliance of Mental Illness walk-a-thon (NAMI).

She has done this for several years.

She walks for her daughter who has schizophrenia.

Having a child with a mental illness has been challenging.

For this reason she calls her blog The Long Journey .

...

She is trying to raise money for NAMI though this walk which will be held on Sept. 26th.

Would you please click onto her blog The Long Journey link to read about this cause and donate... Or click HERE to go directly to the walk-a-thon donation page.

Every dollar helps.

Give what you can.

I did and it only takes a couple of minutes.

The money will go to a good cause and be appreciated.

Thanks, Lura

A pictureless Sunday Smiles

2009-09-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

Oh my Goodness....here it is 11:20 p.m. and this is the first time I could get to my blog today.

I intended to do my Sunday Six right after I got Austin to bed tonight....

...but he took a long nap after church today...and he didn't fall asleep until 10:30 p.m.

but....I love having him...Austin makes me smile.

...

It is late and I am not going to post pictures tonight.

I want to but my computer is being troublesome .

Sorry about that.

I know post pictures are the best part of the blog...

However, my computer does not want to acknowledge my card reader tonight...

and I am too tired to argue with it.

...

I have lots to smile about though... even though I am not smiling at my computer right now.

...

1. I already mentioned that sweet Austin makes me smile.

As most of you know, we have taken care of him for the past two years every week from Sunday dinner until Tues afternoon. He is 4 now. He was 2 when we started so he considers our house his other home. Sometimes he wears me out.... but most of the time it is such a joy to have him. When I think of how much my dear friend Marie in England would love to be able to spend time with her grandchildren, it makes me even more grateful that I have this special Austin time each week.

...

2. John, Lynell and Dathan amaze me.

They are like the energizer bunnies. They just keep going and going. We are having to pull out of a business relationship and go out on our own.

We had not planned to do this....We did not want to do this.... but here we are in the middle of this difficult change.

Lynell, Dathan and John are working night and day...sometimes well into the night...and back again early in the morning.

day after day

There is little that I can do to help...so I just pray for them.

My heart is touched that John can be so positive and supportive.

I am touched that Dathan and Lynell are finding the strength to work so hard and keep going.

I am smiling that they are making this work.

I am grateful that our prayers are being heard and so many pieces are coming together.

It is a difficult situation but I am sure it will turn out for the best and that makes me smile.

...

3. I am smiling that my dear grandson, Justin is surviving boot camp.

It has not been easy.

In fact much of it has been awful.

But he is a great kid and he is making the best of it.

Go to GI Justin if you want to read about his experience.

...

4. I am smiling that the Mormon missionaries at Fort Knox provide us a way to send emails to Justin.

The missionaries at Fort Knox hold Sunday Services for the LDS soldiers at Fort Knox.

( I guess that LDS missionaries do this at all the military bases around the country.)

We can send Justin letters to the missionaries email address and then they print them out and give them to the soldiers.

They have 150 soldiers attending church there at Fort Knox so printing out email letters for all of them must be a lot of work.

I appreciate their efforts.

They make me smile.

...

5. My blog friends make me smile.

I have met so many wonderful people through my blog.

I have come to love so many of you and think of you as family.

You know who you are.

You comfort me when I am sad.

You celebrate with me when I am happy.

You set good examples for me.

You share your wit and your humor with me.

You show me faith and courage.

You make me smile.... and I thank you.

...

6. My good life makes me smile.

I have so much to be thankful for.

I have a wonderful family.

I have two eyes that see.

(I was blind in one eye for several months. It was awful. Surgery corrected the problem. What a blessing!)

I have two feet I can walk on.

(I injured both feet and was casts and a wheel chair for months. I had no idea that life in a wheel chair was so hard. I am grateful to be able to walk again.)

...

I have a nice home.

It is not new but it provides me a place of comfort and peace.

...

I have dear friends that care about me and cheer me on.

...

I am retired and can spend my hours doing what ever I need or want to do.

...

I know my Redeemer Lives.

I know that our Heavenly Father loves us...and answers our prayers.

...

With all of these good things to smile about I should be going around with a permenate grin on my face...

....so...if you see me walking around without a grin on...

...or if you hear me complaining about this or that...

...remind me of all I have to smile about.

...

Have a good week....and good luck finding all of your smiles.

p.s. Sorry again that there are no pictures.

I will try to do my next post earlier when my computer is not so tired and uncooperative.

Love, Grammy Lura

My Sunday Six birthday and anniversary smiles

2009-09-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

I am smiling today because it is my Johnny's birthday.

I am heads over heels in love with this boy.

He is a wonderful grandson.
He brings Grampy and me many smiles.
We love you Johnny!
Happy Birthday!!
...
I am also smiling as I think about our last anniversary.

I would like to share our anniversary story with you.

It is about time...in fact I am way overdue...but better late than never.

After all, our 44th anniversary was July 9th...well I am only two months late. I want to share our wonderful Canadian cruise with you too. That was in May...even longer ago.... but it will have to wait until another week. Our anniversary was full of smiles...here is why...
...

When I am with John I feel like I am on top of the world.

Actually, for our anniversary, I really was.

We took the tram from Palm Springs up the mountain to

Mount San Jacinto State Park.

It was beautiful there. ... a lovely place to spend the day...

and... ...it was even more fun for us because our dear friends
Silvija and Ron went with us.
Ron was away on a business trip during their anniversary ...
...so...
we girls decided it would be fun to get together and get our guys away from home
for a double celebration.
(How could they say no to the two of us???)
We took the revolving tram up the steep mountain side.

Up we went....

higher and higher

Until we really were on the top of the world.
...

While we were up there we had a good meal in their pretty sky high restaurant .
It was all very nice. We all hated to come back down to earth.

But, when we were back down to earth....we were staying in the beautiful Westin Resort.
This is a time share owned by Sil and Ron.

They invited us to use it too.

Boy, did John luck out on that one....it was nicer than any hotel we would have paid to stay in.

Silvija made us a wonderful anniversary breakfast.

Do any of you remember our Big Mac breakfast story from last year when we stayed at the Sheraton? Well, Sil made sure that didn't happen again.
She also was our personal photographer.
We had such a good time.
...
The 9th of July fell on a Thursday...which is the day John and I serve in the Temple.

Redlands is about an hour from Palm Springs which is about the same as the distance to the temple from our home.
It was an easy drive for us to get the temple Thurs. afternoon.
It was nice spending our anniversary in the House of the Lord.
We took time out from our work assignments to sit together

...and reflect on our lives together

...and

the sacred marriage covenant we had made in the temple 44 years earlier.
It was a special evening for us.

Back at the resort Sil and I enjoyed the beautiful pools....

Since we both have pools at home, our hubbies did not find the pools as inviting as we girls did....but they were happy for us to splash around...so we did....

... while they worked on their computers back in our rooms...

(the picture above is our rooms..they were really nice)

...or they napped???

Romantic huh!!!

Oh well, Sil and I both knew that if we let our "old men" rest a bit they couldn't complain about being too tired to take us out at night. (See you learn these things through the years of marriage.)
...

All too soon our Anniversary get-away came to an end.
Saturday was our last day because we all had to be back home early on Sunday for church.

...

It is not easy for us girls to get our hard working guys away from home to relax and play.
We knew that we needed to plan a final activity that they would really enjoy.
So, we took them to the Aircraft museum.

...

Ron is a retired Marine Colonel. He was a pilot during the Vietnam era.

We got to look at the plane he flew. (I forgot it's name...sorry...it is a one man fighter plane???)
He told us a lot about military aircraft that we did not know before.
It was very interesting.

We enjoyed looking at the old planes.

We got to go through this big one...is it a B17???

Our guide was very informative.

He told us all sorts of stories about this plane.
He seemed to really know what he was talking about.

And it is no wonder... He was it's pilot back in WWII..he flew it on 55 missions.

(Isn't he just the cutest thing! He was 23 in the picture below.)

We were really please that we got to meet him ... and we were in awe of the service he gave for our country.

We also enjoyed looking at the old cars that they had in the museum.

We stayed there for hours and hated to leave.
Sil and I enjoyed the day looking at all the exhibits but we had even more fun watching our hubbies enjoying themselves.

...
Well that is how we celebrated our anniversary this year.
It may not seem that exciting to you but it was perfect for us.
John and I are thankful for the 44 years of marriage we have shared

and for the family we are blessed to have.

We love being retired together.

We do not take these blessings or this time for granted.

You can see why memories of our anniversary fill me with smiles.

I hope that you are smiling too.

Have a good week.

Hugs, Lura

Oh no,Look what I just got!

2009-09-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm Sorry!!!
I have been a terrible blog friend!

I've awarded myself the Bummer Blogger Award.
This past week or so I have had so much going on that I have not even stopped by your blogs to say hello.
I have thought about you.
I have hoped you are doing well and sent mental hugs to you.
I just haven't had any blogging energy.
I appreciate those of you that have called and written expressing your concern.
I have been touched by your comments and emails and I loved talking to Luis and Marie today.

That has meant a lot to me.
My family has had to dissolve a business relationship and is working to set up a new one.

This has consumed my every waking thought.

I also have been really busy booking cruises. I've booked 24 cabins lately and that takes quite a lot of time.

And..I've been working for many hours trying to finish a on line scrapbook that I paid for some time ago but didn't get around to making until recently. The deadline is coming up shortly and I didn't want to loose my money.

Also, John and I were the speakers (We gave the sermon) in church last Sunday.

Since our Bishop and all our church leadership is voluntary, we take turns preparing talks to give to the congregation each week at our Sunday worship service.

I actually enjoy the speaking part..... it is the writing part that is hard for me.

Looking up the scriptures and writing a meaningful talk requires time, thought and prayer.

We were really lucky because we were asked to talk about FAMILY.

As all of you know family is my favorite subject and I had a lot of stories to draw on.

The tricky part was tying my stories to scriptures and making the talk something inspirational or meaningful to others. I did my best and I think it went well...for which I am thankful.

With all that going on....blogging has not been on my "to do" lists.

However, I do care about you.... I have missed dropping in on you.... I am sure that I will be back blogging soon.

Until then, I am sending you hugs.

Have a good week, Lura

Count your blessings and Smile

2009-08-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

This has been a hard week.

I have felt worried and concerned over a difficult situation.

Then I remembered a favorite hymn of mine written by J. Oatman Jr. which states..

...

When Upon Life's Billows you are tempest tossed.

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings; name them one by one,

and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

...

Count your blessings; Name them one by one.

Count your many blessings; See what God hath done.

We do indeed have many, many blessings....too many to count...we all love each other and have our health and strength...for which I am very thankful.

My sweet daughter sent me the following story in an email.

It's message is a perfect reminder for us. Take a minute to read it.
It has a message that we all need to remember...especially in times of stress.

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled a group in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of them offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed..

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?' He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Pass this on to someone who needs to know that God is watching over them.
And, whatever they're going through, they'll be a better person in the end.

...

This story gives us a great message.

It has been a hard week....and things may be difficult for a while....but we will be o.k. and hopefully come out even better in the end.

We know that God is watching over us... and all will be well... that knowledge makes us smile.

I am wishing you smiles this week too.

(((hugs))) Lura

Sunday Six

2009-08-16T13:17:00.001-07:00

Happy Sunday everyone.

I hope that you have had a good week.

I have continued to feel pretty rotten with a stomach ache again all this week...

...but in spite of that I have had lots to smile about.

I hope that you have too.

Tuesday was Ernie's birthday.

We love our Ernie and are thankful that he loves us too.

It gives John and me a lot of pleasure living close to them and being able to share in all of their special events. They only live about 22 miles away from us. We get together once a week or more. Their family brings us lots of smiles.

Grandkids in the pool makes me smile.

I just love summer when grandkids can have sleep-overs at our house.

We spend hours playing in the pool.

I swim with them for a while and then I just sit in the patio and read a good book while I watch them .

I just love hearing their laughter as they jump in the water and splash and play.

Having friends over makes me smile.

Wednesday I had a cruise reunion b-b-q.
Several couples that went on the cruise with us came over.

(Our friend Jon is a crack up. He directs films and commercials...so when he gets a chance to be in front of the camera he is a real "ham". Funny huh!

Sweet Mindy came over before the party and helped me wash off all of the chairs and patio tables. I insisted that she stay with the kids and eat with us. So she did. That made me smile because just love it when my kids are here.

I also just love setting up pretty tables filled with good food.

That makes me smile.

I really enjoy having people come over.

I enjoy their company...

... and it gets me to clean up all the places in the house that I've neglected.

It is always amazing to me how my house can seem nice and clean until I start looking at it through the eyes of visitors.
Then I see lots of areas that need improvement.

Having guests over is great motivation to get work done.
...both in the house....and...

...in the patios...

My place would stay in better order if I had a party every week.

Hummm..... maybe I should do that. What do you think????

...
Grampy makes me smile.

Here he is talking to our son-in-law while sitting under our walnut tree in the new swing he put up. (Grampy talks to our sons-in-law often....about BYU sports, business, cooper mine, family etc.

They are buddies. That makes me smile too.)

Here he is teaching E.J. the correct way to sand the ends of the stool

that he is helping him make.

Sometimes he can perturb me...but most of the time I think
Grampy is just so darn cute.

...
Having Mindy's kids over this week made me smile.

Mindy wanted to get to spend a special day with each of her children before school starts.

So, I took turns keeping 2 of them at our house on different days so she could have a special time with the one that was at home.

It was a lot of fun. We always ate breakfast on the patio.
...and played in the pool as I've already mentioned....
...but...
I got some good help as well.

Claire helped by picking huge bags full of tomatoes....

...and she helped me hang clothes...
(Yes, I prefer to hang my clothes instead of using my dryer... we have sun 360 days a year...they smell wonderful...and it saves energy...well not my energy...but the electricity and gas type of energy.)
...
E.J. helped take care of Austin. He was patient with him and shared.

Even though I had a tummy ache all week, these sweet kids made me smile.
...
Austin's obedience made me smile.
Yesterday, when we got out of the pool, Austin wanted to play wii.

...so...
I said that would be fine...

...but...

He would have to take off his wet bathing suit

before he could play.

So he did!!!
(Perhaps I should have remembered to tell him that he needed to put his clothes on after he took off his wet bathing suit! lol)

...

Well that about does it for me.

What were you smiling about last week?

I am sending (((hugs4u))) and wishing you lots of smiles.

Grammy Lura

Happy Belated Birthday Marie

2009-08-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

It is late Thursday night here in CA. on Marie's birthday.

I was so busy all day that I did not get a chance to get to my computer until now.

John and I just got home from working in the temple but I can't go to bed until I wish

Marie of Oak Cottage

a happy 54th birthday.

Of course it is no longer August 13th in England.

So I guess this will have to be

a Happy Belated Birthday Marie.

...

I Think that most of you who read my blog know and love Marie, but if you don't, hop on over to England and read her blog A year from Oak Cottage. She publishes a delightful post every day. I am sure that you will be glad that you took the time to visit her. While you are there please wish her a happy birthday. She will appreciate it.....belated or not.

Let me tell you a little about what Marie stands for.

...

M -is for Merry. She works with a grin.

She sees the bright side, no matter what spot she's in.

...
A- is for Artistic. She paints all the while.

Her sweet little people make everyone smile.

...

R-is for Reliable. She serves with a smile.

She does all that's required ,then goes the next mile.

...

I-is for intelligent. Marie knows what to do.

She gives good advice and recipes too.

...

E-is for Exceptional. We all know it is true.

You're a rare treasure, Marie, and I 'm blessed to know you.

...

(O.K.... I know that is a corny poem...but give me a break ...it is after midnight now....

I can hardly keep my eyes open, much less think clearly

...but....

this poem was written with love...so that makes corny O.K....right???)

Sweet friend I am sorry that this greeting is belated for you.

I am sending you loads and loads of love and this birthday cake.

You can eat all you want of this cyber-cake because it is calorie free and won't spoil your diet.

You can even have some for Friday morning breakfast...I won't tell.

...

Thank you for being such a dear person...such a good example...and such a great friend.

I love you to bits.

Happy belated birthday.

Love, Lura

Sunday Six at Sixty Five

2009-08-09T22:31:00.001-07:00

Here it is Sunday Six time again.

I want to tell you more about our trip to Utah and Wyoming....

More about our 44th anniversary...

and

More about our wonderful cruise to Canada...

...

But those will have to wait

because I had a life changing event take place this past week..

I turned 65!!!!

I used to clean up nicely.....What happened to me???? How did I get so old???
...
I think it was for my 50th birthday that my kids took me to take the above picture.
I looked pretty good back then...considering my age ...and I didn't mind turning 50.

In fact through the years I never dreaded any of my decade birthdays--30, 40, 50, etc.

I didn't even mind turning 60 because I knew I could retire at 63 and I looked forward to that.
But around 60 I fell apart.

Literally

I tore tendons in both feet .
I had to stop exercising and walking and doing jazzercise.
I was in a wheel chair for 3 months and in casts for over a year.
I gained a ton of weight.
I started feeling and looking old and fat.

I try hard not to look in the mirror now except when it is absolutely necessary.
...
I did not look forward to turning 65.

I've dreaded it in fact.
Sixty five seems really old.
...
The government even gives you a Medicare card to prove you are officially old.
...
(I gave my mom a great big birthday party when she turned 65.
She seemed so old and I was afraid she might not get another chance for a big party..lol

...and now I am that age!)
...
A few month ago I started getting letters which added insult to injury.
...
My school district informed me that they would no longer cover me with insurance.
...
Social Security informed me that I would have to start paying $92 a month for a Medicare card.
...
Kaiser informed me that I would have to convert from their regular medical coverage to their Senior Advantage coverage.
(Senior advantage???? that is a joke..... It should be called pay more and get less coverage.)
...
However, no matter how I tried to deny it..... Aug. 6th came and went and...
...now I am 65!!!!! and I look it!!!! and I feel it!!!
Urrrg!
...

However, in spite of all that, I do have things that brought smiles to my face last week.

Before we left Utah, I got a pre-birthday breakfast.
Patrick even blew up balloons to add to the festivities.

Lonica stayed up late the night before making me this card.
She made each letter and glued them on the card.
It was a lot of work for her and the card is precious to me.

(Baby Cal likes it too.)

Erin made me a delicious breakfast with her famous, delicious syrup.

Cal couldn't figure out why I wouldn't share with him????
I really appreciated the pre-birthday breakfast I got at Erin and Patrick's home and the effort they went to to make it nice.
...
Then Thursday morning, John made me another nice birthday breakfast.

(Here I am with bed hair and no makeup. I wasn't going to put this picture in.... but then I realized that I look almost the same when my hair is combed and I have make up on... it is a lost cause...sigh..)

You really can't tell what this breakfast dish is by looking but John was really creative.
He cut a large zucchini from our garden and cut out the middle where he put an egg.
He fried the zucchini, egg and onion and then surrounded it with our garden tomatoes.

It was delicious...and his creativity made me smile.
...
Mindy took us out for a delicious seafood lunch before we left for the temple.
Ernie stayed home with the kids so we could have a quiet lunch with our daughter.

The food was wonderful and her thoughtfulness made me smile too.
...
We always work at the temple on Thursdays.
I took in a birthday cake to share with our fellow workers.

Several of us have birthdays this month.

So we all enjoyed a piece of my birthday cake...and their un-birthday cake...on our break.
All evening long fellow workers kept wishing me happy birthday.
That made me smile.
...
Erin and Patrick sent me these beautiful flowers.I just love them and smile each time I pass by them .
...
Family and friends called, sent cards and well wishes.

Grandma B even posted a Happy Birthday blog for me.

Marie from Oak Cottage made me this card and sent this lovely smelling perfume and candle.

...

Kris from Grandma's Journal came over to visit and brought these beautiful note cards.

(They look just like her don't they.)

...

How could I not smile when I got so much love from others!

...

So, in spite of officially being old now, I have much to smile about.

I know that I am blessed and I am very thankful.

I send my best wishes to all of you.

Have a good week.

Hugs, Lura

Roaming in Wyoming Part 2 the River

2009-08-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Wyoming Part 2..... the Snake River
I love the camping but the main attraction for most of the family is running the river rapids.

After setting up our camp and getting us fed, our next job is blowing up our raft.

The guys get it done first thing Monday morning.

Then we have to load it on the truck and tie it down.

Grampy and Patrick are ready to go.

I never go on the first run or two because I want to be sure that Dathan, our son-in-law, is familiar with the river. He is our guide.

The river changes from year to year depending on the level of the water.

This year the water was low which makes the rapids rougher.

After everyone comes back from the first runs O.K. I am ready to risk it.

This year I was a bit worried because 5 of our rafters were thrown out on the run before I went. That is scary.

For the past two years I have sat in the middle and didn't help row.
I think that being a Grammy deserves privileges.

I wave goodbye and hope I am still alive and in the raft when we dock 8 miles down river.

We are off.
The first half of the trip is quite calm with only occasional rapids that are not too big.

It is very pleasant except for being cold.

Then comes the last four miles.... and all HECK breaks out. I just hold on for dear life.

These pictures do not do justice to the experience.

The waves are a lot bigger than they look here.

It really is exciting and fun...

.. if you can call being covered in freezing water and scared to death fun...

Actually, I guess you just have to experience it to understand the thrill of it.

At the end of each run we are ready to go again.

?????

Don't ask me why.

Come and join us next year.

If this old Grammy and Grampy can do it so can you.

Hugs to all of you, Grammy Lura

Roaming in Wyoming part 1

2009-08-01T07:18:00.001-07:00

Hello again.

We just got back from our annual family reunion in Wyoming.

We drive 1000 miles each year to camp on the Snake River near Jackson Hole, Wyoming to enjoy being together, being in the mountains and going white water river rafting.

Our first job this year was making a fire pit.

Our camp site did not have a good fire pit so my grandsons, Justin and Jalen got busy making one. We had to have a good one because the camp fire is the heart of our camp and off the river activities

Justin leaves to go to boot camp in the Army in 2 weeks.

He should be in good shape after carrying these heavy rocks quite a distance

to make our fire pit.

Next we worked to set up our camp.

We had 3 camp sites this year.... not as many could come as usually do, so we were there with our 3 girls, Lynell, Erin and Mindy, and their families and a couple of friends .... we missed the rest of the family

but we still had fun.

Grampy with his grandsons

In spite of being on vacation, Calan still had his "school time".

Here he is learning his ABC's.

Erin sings the ABC song and signs the alphabet to him several times a day.

He is a serious, almost 4 month old student, and watches intently and tries to sign right along with his mother. (See his little right hand.)

Our first night we just made a simple hot dog dinner because we were tired from setting up camp......The rest of the time we made great camp meals.....
...but that first night the hot dogs tasted great....

...and the s'mores were wonderful.

Our friends Jan and Jon joined us this year.

Jon brought his guitar and made sheet music for us all.

We loved singing around the campfire each night before we said our family prayer and tucked ourselves in for the night.

Our days were filled with exploring the paths....

....throwing rocks into the river...

...and of course running the rapids on the river.

...

The river was low this year.... so it was rougher than usual.

Low water makes the rapids bigger.

I was scared.

On one run, 5 people got thrown out of our raft at one rapid.

I wasn't sure if this almost 65 year old Grammy should go down the rough river.

Do you think I got brave enough to do it?

????

Well you will just have to stay tuned and see in a future post.

Hugs to all,

Grammy

Let's Cruise Together

2009-07-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog Friends

Let's go on an After Holiday Cruise Together to start out the new year.

I have reserved 10 cabins on two different cruises to Mexico in January.

January is the perfect time to travel to Mexico. The weather is usually beautiful then.

...

I got great rates for us if I can fill the 10 cabins....and we will get cash back for on board credit.

If you are interested in either cruise leave me a message with your email ...

...or send me an email at...

...staffansonl at charter dot net...

(Of course use the @ sign and the . not the words)

Call Gold Rush Get Aways at 1-800-377-6765

Ask for Beatriz and tell her that you want to go on one of Lura's cruises.

...

First Cruise

January 10-17

7 days Mexican Riviera on the new Carnival Splendor

Long Beach, CA-Puerto Vallarta-Mazatlan-Cabo San Lucas-Long Beach

...

Inside-4b is $260.00*pp................... Outside-6b is $360.00*pp

...

(The outside cabins on Splendor are very nice. They have a large window and king size bed, a sofa and a chair. It is a big 220 sq. ft. cabin which is the largest of any ship I have ever been on.)

cruise only

+ port charges and taxes $229.57

*price based on double occupancy

(If a deposit is put down by 8/12/09 you will get $100 per cabin back for on board credit.)

...

Second Cruise

January18

A 4 day Baja Mexico get away on Carnival Paradise

Long Beach, CA- Catalina Island-Ensenada-Long Beach, CA

...

Inside-4b is $80*pp ................Outside -6b is $120*pp

...

+port charges and taxes $141.70

*prices based on double occupancy

(If a deposit is made on this cruise by 8/20/09 you will get back $75 per cabin for on board credit.)

...

As you can see these are great prices on both of these cruises.

Both cruises include free meals (great food and lots of it!) and on board activities and entertainment. This is a great value even if all you did was stay on the ship.

Let me know if you are interested.

I can arrange air flight, hotel and transfers for you if needed.

We don't have much time to decide on this if we want these prices so hurry and book with me.

The first deposits are due in Aug. and the final payments this fall.

...

Email me or Call Beatriz at 1-800-377-6765

We will have a great Lura blogger cruise reunion.

Sunday Six smiles for this week

2009-07-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Dear blog friends,

We have had a lot to smile about this week.

Let me show you a few things that made us smile and for which we are thankful.

Thursday July 9th was our 44th anniversary.

As I told you last week, we went away for a couple of days and had a great time.

(I will tell you all about in another post)

I took lots of pictures and then found the new 4GB SD memory card I'd bought would not upload the pictures to my computer....or any other computer.....and my card reader could not read it either...Even Sam's Club photo machine could not read it......BUMMER...I was not smiling....

...but....

I was able to get the pictures off of the card after all by taking them directly from the camera to the computer and not using a card reader....what a relief....that made me smile.

(Thanks to all of you that sent me blog concern about this last week.)

...

Mindy and Ernie went on a little get-away last weekend and we got to keep their 3 children and their dog for 4 days.

We had so much fun.

We played in the pool from morning 'til night

Monday 10 year old Lonica flew in from Utah to join us.
We were all smiling and happy to have Loni-Lou with us.
Then we played in the pool even more.
(If that was possible)

We made homemade ice cream
...

Loni and Grampy had their traditional buttermilk toast.

They think it is yummy even though the rest of us say "Yuck!"

They make me smile.

We made cookies.... twice!

Did I mention that we played in the pool?

I had 20 wet towels a day to prove it.

We roasted marshmallows at the fire pit.

The kids kept wanting some more s'mores
...
We played wii for hours

(If we weren't at the fire pit or in the pool we were playing wii)

This picture cracks me up.

Do you think Austin played wii a little too long???
...
I took the girls to the movies to see "Up"
The boys had already seen it and wanted to stay home with Grampy, so we girls had a gal's afternoon out.
(The popcorn and the soda cost as much as the tickets to the movie...That didn't make me happy but the smile on the girl's faces did.)

It turned out that we were the only people in the theater.

I let the girls sit on the front row and goof off.

We had fun.
...
What a blessing to be able to spend this past week with 4 of our grandchildren.

I am thankful for the fun we had and the memories we made.

I am thankful that John and I have the health and strength to do this.

I was worn out by the time Mindy and Ernie got home....but at the same time I hated to see them go.

I am blessed with a wonderful family.

I thank my Heavenly Father for each of them every day.

...

That is what I've been smiling about....how about you?

Have a great week.

Love, Grammy Lura

Happy Birthday Erin

2009-07-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

Erin is my youngest daughter.

Today is her birthday.

She was a precious child.

She was an exemplary teenager

As a young adult she went to Ghana, Africa all on her own to teach the deaf children in sign language. She saw that there was great need because the teachers there did not know sign language or how to teach deaf children.
She encouraged the teachers to attend sign language classes which she taught.
She wrote curriculum for the children.
She founded Signs of Hope International.
She has returned to Africa year after year taking interns to teach at the deaf schools and supplies with her.
The children at the deaf school love her. They have passed on the story of how she first came there on her own and lived in a shack with no running water...and loved them...and taught them.
Now that she is a new mom she can't be going back and forth to Africa.
Others have taken over the leadership of the organization she founded....
...but the children and I will always be amazed at the courage and love it took for my Erin to travel to a far away land because she learned there was a need and she felt prompted to go
there and do what she could to make things better.

Now she is a devoted wife and mother

After years of waiting for a child , our prayers were answered when Erin and Patrick adopted little Calan.
They make wonderful parents for this little boy.
Erin has always wanted to be a mom....and she loves every minute of it.
...
Happy Birthday dear daughter

We all love you dearly

I wish that we were there with you today, like we were last year, to help you blow out your candles.

You are very dear to us....as you always have been...Dad and I wish you a very happy birthday and a great year ahead.

Thank you for being our precious daughter.

Love, Mom