Scenes from Johnny's Utah State Gymnatics Meet

John and I drove up to Utah again last week to support our 11 year old grandson, Johnny, in the State Gymnastics Meet. These pictures can not capture the event, but they will give you an idea of what we experienced. I was nervous as I watched Johnny go from apparatus to apparatus. I was awed as I saw him flip through the air and swing on the rings, parallel and high bars. I'm amazed that such a young boy can have such strength and control. I wonder what drives him to practice at the gym 3 hours almost every day....to push himself so hard.... to keep going when the going is rough? I don't know how he does it, but he does. This was not his best meet. He was not happy about coming in 5th when last month he only missed 1st place by 2/10 of a point. But, as for me, I couldn't be prouder. Even when he knew that he was not getting scores as high as he hoped he would, he kept going and giving it his all. Those judges may have only given you 8 1/2 to 9 1/2, Johnny, but you get a 10 from me. Grampy and I love you very much and we are glad that we could be there to support you and cheer on our favorite gymnast in the whole world!

AA, C or D??? I need some too.

As Austin was helping me make pancakes this morning,(We always make pancakes on the days he stays with us.) he asked me to sing "the happy song". I started singing "If Your Happy and You Know It" but he said that was not the right song. I told him that I was not sure what "the happy song" was. I asked him to sing it for me. He stopped what he was doing, thought carefully for a minute and said "I can't find the words.......I need new batteries." Well, sweet Austin, Grammy should have thought of that years ago. What size and where do we get them? I need them badly.

I love sewing for these cute grandkids!

I love sewing . When my girls were young I made most of their fancy dresses and then their prom and formal dresses as they got older. I don't have much artistic or musical talent (at least not compared to my super talented family)but being creative at the sewing machine comes easily for me. Some argue that with patterns, fabric and supplies being so expensive now it is more economical to buy clothes rather than go to the work of making them. I can not really disagree with that point of view but to me, sewing is an act of love. When I am making something beautiful for someone that I love, it fills me with joy. I hope they will feel my love knowing that I made it for them with my own hands because they are so special to me. I look forward to the day when my little granddaughters are old enough for me to teach them to sew. I hope that it will bring them the years of pleasure that it has brought to me.

I've had great fun making 4 Easter dresses (not the pink dresses you see in this picture) and 1 little vest for my darling grandchildren that you see at the top of this blog. With such cute kids can you blame me for loving to sew for them!

My love at work

As I cut out, sew and do the handwork on each piece, I think about the sweet child that will wear it. I pray that they will feel the love that has gone into it. Even though most of them live far away, I hope that when they put on their outfit they will feel my arms around them giving them a great big hug.

Finished at last

At last the 4 dresses and the vest were done. It brought me joy to look at them and imagine my sweet grandchildren wearing them.

Two down and three to go

Claire and Lonica got their dresses first.

Off go the last three in the mail and I'm paranoid!

Mailing off the finished products is both exciting and nerve racking for me. After putting so much time and effort into them, I am always paranoid that something will happen to the package (Like the time all of Lynell's Christmas ornaments I had collected for her since birth got run over by a truck and were delivered to her totally crushed.)...or that the dresses won't fit, etc. I am literally on pins and needles all week until I hear that they arrived in good shape and fit o.k. I've made friends with my mail lady at the P.O. She always wants to see what I have made before I mail it. She thought that maybe I would worry less if I certified the package so I could track it as it made its way across country. That did help but then after it was delivered I worried that it got buried under a foot of snow and ruined, or they left it at the wrong house, or someone took it..........Am I totally hopeless????? Should I be committed???...don't answer that! ... I love you all and I can't wait to see the kids in their Easter outfits. As soon as I get pictures in my email I will post them for you all to see.

Erin and Patrick...How Irish is that!!!

St. Patrick's Day is a lot more fun for our family since our Erin found her Patrick. We sure feel "lucky" to have him. She didn't find him at the end of the rainbow but he is a whole lot better than a pot of gold. Happy St. Pat's day to our "Irish" kids and all of you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I made our St. Patrick's day traditional green dinner one day early since it was our week to have Sunday dinner at our house. Everything I made for dinner was green except the corned beef and potatoes. I used to make green mashed potatoes and green milk. I thought it was great fun but the family said they didn't like eating green food that wasn't suppose to be green so I quit doing it. Now I serve green punch and regular potatoes. I don't think it is as much fun but at least the food gets eaten. We had green jello , green vegetables and green key lime pie for dessert. It was fun having Mindy's gang join us but we wished that we could be with all of you.

Austin likes our Holiday tree that is decorated for St. Pat's day. Now I must rush and take down all of the St. Patrick Day decor and put up Easter decorations. I don't like Easter in March. I vote that we change tradition and make Easter in April each year. That way I would only have to decorate once in March. Besides, how can the day Jesus was resurrected change each year? Oh well...Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day .

And a little child shall lead them.

In my last blog I told you about the book I just read call "A Heart Like His". It encourages us to open our hearts to others in friendship and love. Wouldn't it be nice if we adults could open our hearts to each other as easily as children do? A few weeks ago, John and I took our little Miranda grandchildren to Knott's Berry Farm. Shortly after getting there, Claire met a new friend, Lauren. They quickly became "best friends". They spent most of the day going on all of the rides together. By the end of the day they had formed a true bond. They were so sweet and tender that they made my heart smile.

New Best Friends

Fun Fun Fun Fun Fun Fun Fun --They were so cute. Claire and Lauren played together the rest of the day. When Lauren had to leave, Claire was so sad. She tearfully told us that it just wasn't as fun without her "best friend". By the way, Lauren is going to meet us at Knott's again in a couple of weeks. Claire can not wait to see her again.

Our little truck driver.

Our little Austin is definitely not on the bold and adventurous side. Up until this trip to Knott's the only rides that he would go on was the trains. (He loves the trains so much we can't resist taking him down to Knott's every week or two to ride them.) This day he not only rode up on top of the trucks with me but got inside and drove. However, on the way home he told us that the trucks went too fast and were scary. Well, what he lacks in bravery he makes up for in cuteness.

A fun day at Knott's

We all had so much fun. Can you find E.J. in this picture? You have to look close.

A Heart Like His

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I know that February, our Valentine month, is over. However, I just finished reading a great book entitled, "A Heart Like His" by Virginia H. Pearce. The message of the book is that as we open our hearts to others they feel God's love and we in turn feel it too. The book does not advocate us making bread and taking it to all our neighbors. It states that we can open our hearts to others by smiling, asking questions, showing interest, being friendly, etc. without adding any new jobs or burdens to our busy lives. In fact the book points out that opening our heart invigorates us and having a closed, withdrawn heart fatigues us. I recommend this book to all of you.

My mom, Elizabeth Gordon, had a "heart like his." She saw good in everyone and made friends as she stood in grocery lines, waited in doctor offices and even got prank telephone calls. While she was living with us the last year before she died some teenagers started making prank calls to her number. After the third call, she told the girls that she was an old lady with health problems and it was hard for her to get to the phone if she was not sitting near it. ( This was before the day of cordless phones.) She asked if the girls were home alone and bored. They told her that their parents worked and didn't get home until 6:30 or later. She told the girls that they could call her any time to visit when they were lonesome or if they had a question but asked them not to make any more prank calls. After that the girls called mom regularly to chat and they all became good friends. They visited mom when she was in the hospital and if I remember correctly, attended her funeral. My mom was a great example of opening her heart and loving others. Even though February is over, I hope that all of us will try a little harder to open our hearts and have "a heart like His."

Tomatoes in Feb.

Last Sept. when I was taking out all of the brown dead vines left over from my summer garden, I noticed one tiny green leaf coming from a brown stem. I decided to leave it and see what would happen. By the end of Oct. a green vine had grown but others told me that it would probably never bear fruit. In Nov. I started seeing some blossoms and tiny green tomatoes. I thought that our cold weather would kill it, but more and more little green tomatoes appeared. In Dec. I noticed that some of the tomatoes were starting to grow larger, but they stayed green all through Jan. I was afraid that they would not rippen in the cool weather. In Feb. I became intrigued with my little plant. I saw that some of the tomatoes were slowly starting to turn red. I started going out every day to watch and encourage them. Finally, yesterday, the last day of Feb, I picked a bag full of tomatoes. We had bacon and tomato sandwiches and sliced tomato salad for dinner.

Now there must be a parable or moral here somewhere. Maybe it is that we should never give up even when things look grim and it takes longer to get our wishes than we think it should....or...maybe it is that even the scroungy can produce good fruit if they are cared for and given time.....or....you fill in the blank.

However, my little plant makes me smile and count my blessings. Even though I am sad to live so far away from 3 of my 4 children, I am happy that I live in a place that I can pick fresh tomatoes off of my vine in Feb. I am also glad that we have email, digital cameras and blog spots to help us keep in touch. Life is full of nice little blessings. Tomatoes in Feb. is one of them. Love to all, Grammy