I have GREAT news

I have wonderful news.

Introducing Elizabeth Mae (aka Ellie)

(Named after my mom... I am sure she is looking down from Heaven and smiling.)

I got the best birthday gift ever !

The best gift anyone could get... A NEW GRANDDAUGHTER!

This precious little bundle was born last Friday on my birthday.

She weighed in at 5 lbs and 13 oz and is 18 inches long.

(That is exactly the size that my first baby Lynell was.)

She was not due this soon but must have wanted to be my birthday gift.

So she surprised us all by coming early.

Erin and Patrick signed the adoption papers today and got to bring her home.
I can't believe that we just got home from their house and missed this event.

I am dying to be there but I since I had already bought my plane ticket

for the date we thought she would come, I'll have to wait several days to go.

Loni is staying with Erin and will be a great helper with Cal.

I will post more pictures as soon as I get them.

Words can not express the love and appreciation we have

for her sweet birth mom choosing us to be her family.

What a blessing!

I am back....with birthday love

Hello dear blog friends.

I am back..... I have missed you.

I can't wait to catch up on your blogs.

As you know both John's computer and my lap top died 2 weeks ago.

John got his back from the tech hospital yesterday....

but it had a relapse today and is back in intensive care tonight.

Poor John...

However, I got a new lap top before we left Utah.
John, Patrick and baby Cal helped me pick it out.

I just opened it up and find I have a lot to learn.
It is quite a lot different from my old one.
It was an early birthday gift.... so today it is officially mine.

...

Since we just got home from Utah and I already had my computer

I didn't think I had much to look forward to

for my birthday today.

But I was wrong.

Early this morning, I was awakened by someone walking down the hall.

John is not feeling well today and was asleep beside me.

No one else was staying with us.

Was it my dog, Heidi????

No!
It was my sweet daughter and granddaughter.

Mindy and Claire had gotten up bright and early,
gone to the grocery store
and got every thing to make me crepes. (yum yum.)

They drove 20 miles to our house.....slipped in and quietly made me
the best birthday breakfast ever!

What a surprise....and...
What a sweet act of service and love.
Thank you dear Mindy and Claire for all your work.
That really made me a wonderful start for my birthday!

...

My children and grandchildren called to wish me well.

Friends called... some from far away.

Kris called from Arizona...Luis called from Argentina.

I opened cook books and a cook book holder sent all the way from England

by Marie .... Thanks Marie.

Then my life long friend, Sil and her husband Ron
came from out of town.
This was another surprise because since they've had a house full

of company all week, we weren't planning to get together until next week.

When Silvija learned that John wasn't feeling well...
she and Ron decided to come to bring me presents
and help me celebrate.

They know I love scallops so they took me to The Red Lobster for dinner.
How nice of them to drive so far just to help me celebrate.
...
My heart is touched by the love that I have been shown today.
It was a simple day but it was full of love....
What can be better than that???
My heart is full tonight...
I am thankful for dear family and friends.
...
And....I got one gift I wasn't planning on.
The best gift of all.
It was a TOTAL SURPRISE.
I will tell you about it in my next blog.
I hope this day was a good one for you too.
Hugs, Lura

Thanks for the Advice

I am borrowing my daughter's computer

to send you a quick hello and thanks.

John's computer is still at the hospital.

Mine is dead but not buried yet.

...

Thank you Marlene, Grammee Linda,

Holly, Sybil,Christine, Krystyn

and Great Granny Grandma for your advice.

...

I have read your comments and I have decided to do as you suggested.

I am going to buy a new one rather than try to fix my old one.

John is tired of Dell and wants me to pick another brand.

The Geek squad at 2 Best Buy stores told us to get a Toshiba.

John is pretty sold on that brand.

Have any of you had a Toshiba lap top?

Do you like it?

Let me know what you think?

This computer has others waiting in line to use it

so I must sign off.

Hugs, Grammy Lura

Help....What should I do????

Dear Blog Readers,

Can you tell that I am posting this on a different computer?

Yep I am..... and not by choice.

Both my laptop and John's computer died this week.

We spent much of the day yesterday trying to get them fixed to no avail.

John's won't boot up.

They say it is the hard drive.

It is off to the repairman as we speak.

...

My computer has a different problem.

My laptop baby fell apart....literally.

The monitor screen broke off of the keyboard.

The geek squad can't fix her.

We could send her off the the hospital for repair...

which will take 2 weeks and around $200...

...or I can buy a new one from $600-$900.

(I could also take a cruise for that much money)

What should I do?

My broken laptop has all my programs, pictures and files...

but she is 5 years old...which is ancient in laptop life.

Should I invest money into fixing up my old gal???

Or should I bite the bullet and get a new one???

Or...since I am not teaching college classes anymore and don't

really have to have a laptop for power point...

...should I just wait until John's is repaired and use his?

Nah... I don't like that idea.

He is always on the computer and I would never get a turn.

So...

Should I repair my old gal... or get a new baby?

...

I will borrow someones computer to check in and see what you think.

..

Until then I am checking out of blogworld.

I will miss you.... but then I've only heard from a few of you lately...

I imagine that you are busy with summer and won't even notice I am gone.

So... until this gets resolved...bye bye

I am sending hugs,

Grammy L

PS... Welcome Home Marie... we all missed you!

Sunday six and birthday smiles

It has been a busy and fun week for us..... just crammed full of smiles.
#1 Today is my baby girl's birthday.

Erin may be a wonderful wife and a mother, but she will always be
my precious baby girl. We love you dear.... more than words can say.
Have a great day. I wish we were there with you.
...
#2 Cal is walking and loving it.
Doesn't this picture make you smile.
#3 We kept Mindy's kids last week while Mindy and Ernie took a little holiday.

#4. We started out our week with a trip to Knott's Berry Farm.
The weather was mild and we had a great day there.

In fact we were jumping for joy.
...
#5. The lines were short

and we could go on the roller coasters as many times as we wanted to.

Now wouldn't that make you smile???

Our only break from the rides was our stop for dinner

at the Old West Cafe where we all shared the big family bowl of soup

and family sized nachos. We do this every time we go to Knotts.

What a fun tradition.
...

The other days we spent hours in the pool, playing games, watching videos and

having fun.

When Lynell's family visit us from Utah we have a tradition

of having homemade ice cream and cinnamon toast for breakfast

on their last morning here with us.

E.J., Claire and Austin thought they should get the same treats
for breakfast on their last morning at Grammy and Grampy's house....
...so we did.
Smile...smile...smile
...
#6. Our Young Women at church make me smile.

These 5 girls shown with our YW president are our YCLs...
Our Youth Camp Leaders.
They have put in hours of work getting everything ready

for all of our girls to go to church camp this coming week.
I am thankful for these sweet girls and their adult leaders.
They make me smile.
...
These are my smiles for this week.
What are you smiling about?

I hope you have a great week.

I can't wait for Marie to get home and tell us about her trip.

Hugs, Lura

Slide show smiles and our anniversary

Make your own free slideshow design

You can see from our 4th of July slide show that we had lots to smile about.

Some of the following pictures were in the slide show but I am putting these pictures of our missionaries on the blog so their families
back home can get them.

When I was a missionary mom I missed my

kids most on the holidays. I want these elder's families to know we were taking

good care of their missionary sons while they are away from home for 2 years.

This is Elder Meehan from Houston ,Texas and

Elder Morrison from Moses Lake, Washington.

They are serving the Lord for 2 years at their own expense...The least we can do is help feed them.

Darrell and John finish the BBQ.

The Elders say thumbs up. They are hungry and ready to eat.

(Aren't 19 year old guys always ready to eat!)

Elder Morrison pours some of the fresh squeezed lemonade

While Elder Meeham joins our friends Sil and Bonnie at the buffet.

We had several desserts to choose from...

The Elders roasted marshmallows for their first dessert course.

Before going to their next appointment the Elders left us with a spiritual thought and a prayer.

Having the Elders in our home makes us smile.

...

We also celebrated our 45th anniversary this week.

Since we just got back from our 12 day cruise to Alaska we didn't want to go away for our anniversary.

We started the day with a nice breakfast on the patio.

That evening we went out to dinner.

John said it was okay to order ribs if he ate his broccoli.

I told him that I wasn't so sure???
...
After dinner we went to the Redland's Bowl to see a Glenn Miller
Orchestra concert.

When we got there we ran into our good friends Paul and Michelle.
That was a nice surprise.

We really enjoyed the concert.

It was a beautiful evening under the stars
listening to beautiful music.
...
You can see why were have been smiling this week.
We celebrated our countries 234th birthday with family and friends.
We had the Elders for dinner.
We celebrated our 45th anniversary.
What a great week.... full of smiles.
...
We will be smiling this coming week too because we have 3 grandkiddos
staying with us for 4 days while Mindy and Ernie take a little vacation.
I am sure that will be fun.
...
I hope that you have a great week too.
Tell me what you have been smiling about.
Hugs, Lura

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

I married my sweetheart 45 years ago today in the L.A. Temple.

John and I haven't changed a bit have we!

Erin and Patrick celebrated their # 4 yesterday.
Happy Anniversary !

When we are married in the temple we are sealed

for time and all eternity...not until death do us part.

Eternal love......Eternal families.
What a blessing.
To learn more about our beliefs click here

4th of July Smiles

Dear Blog Friends,

I hope that you are having a wonderful

4th of July.
I hope that where ever you are, you have much to smile about

even if this is not a national holiday for you.

John and I surely have lots to smile about.
We really enjoyed church today.

I love singing patriotic songs

and thanking God for this great country

we live in.

...

I always love seeing our flag flowing in the breeze.

Americans like to fly our flag that represents this county we love.
I am glad that I get to see it often as I drive around. It always makes me smile.

It also makes me thankful for the men and women that were

and are in our armed forces

I am thankful for the sacrifices they have made and are still making

by serving our country.

I pray for them daily.

It makes me especially happy on
this, our Independence day.

We live 3 miles from our church.
On the way home today I counted 105 flags
flying in people's yards.



Can you find 7 flags in this picture on the rt.?

There is 1 on each fence post & the garage.
(I think you will need a magnifying glass to see them)

105 flags is more than usual.
Some people put out flags just for the holiday,

but many of them fly our
star spangled banner every day.

In their yards....

their businesses...

...and on their vehicles.
...
I have our patios deck out with flags for the holiday.

Since it is Sunday we won't have a party today.
However, we celebrated yesterday and
will again tomorrow.
(Three days of celebrating the 4th.... you can't beat that.)
I'll tell you more about our "partying" on another post.

For today we are just counting our blessing
and looking forward to having a few friends come over tomorrow.
...
John fixed our broken BBQ yesterday.

We will fire it up tomorrow to BBQ and feast
on all our traditional favorites.
...
Why don't you come on over and join us?
Just stop at the mailbox with a bow and a flag.

Walk up to our front door...

...and come on in...
No need to knock.... you will find us in the
back patios or in the pool.
...
Thanks Marie for having me as a guest poster on your blog.
I hope your readers enjoy my little offering.
...
Marie has a wonderful blog.
She posts uplifting messages everyday.
I hope that my readers visit her blog because it is the best.
...
Well everyone, have a great day and a great week.
Happy 4th to all.
Hugs, Lura