Laughing at Your Own Joke

A Text Message conversation between my mom and me the day we were setting up for the Utah Quilt Festival.

Me to Mom: At Walmart. Do you need anything?
Mom to me: New brain? Nothing other than that.
Me to Mom: Abby Normal? I'll get right on that ;)
Mom to me: Ok.

She didn't get it. I had to explain it was a Young Frankenstein reference. Somehow, it isn't as funny anymore when you have to explain it. I thought I was hilarious. Apparently, I was the only one.

Email Conversation with My Mom

Context: My maternal grandmother passed away shortly after I arrived in Paris, France at the start my LDS Mission. I did see her before I left, but I wasn't able to return Stateside for her funeral. My mother and her siblings all gathered for the funeral. When they started to disperse her things among each other, they noticed several items had a note attached to the back which read, "This is Mary's when I'm done with it." There are five children, and it was only my aunt Mary's name on things! They all had a good laugh about it, as if Mary really would try to take these things from her own mother. To this day, Mary is still perplexed as to why grandma did this.


This week, I had the following email conversation with my mom:

Mom to me: Did I loan you my French Braid quilt books?  I can't find them and can't remember who I loaned them to.

Mom to me: *second email sent 15 minutes after the first* Found my books!  Sorry. 

Me to Mom: Is this when you start labeling everything thing "This is Allison's when I'm done with it?" *grin* Glad you found it!

Mom to me: Smart Alec.

Rodeo

We went to the Rodeo this weekend. My mom and dad invited us to attend the "Pony Express Rodeo" with them. Mom was part of a presentation done before the rodeo--her local quilt guild made some charity quilts for cancer patients. Mom and a few of her guild members were part of a ceremony honoring those in the community who have had or currently have cancer.  Then, we stayed to enjoy the show.

S, C, and Boppi eating popcorn waiting for the Rodeo to start

Boppi and MK

It was SO windy! S, C, Boppi, Grandma, A, and MK

Our sunglasses kept the dirt out of our eyes. Even MK's wearing hers.

 

MK Goofing Around

C Watching the Rodeo

S kept running around us and poking us. Boppi finally caught him and held him down with the help of Grandma. We all tickled him.

 

We all had a good time. It's been quite a while since we've gone to the rodeo. 

Grandma Great

We are lucky to have R's grandma close to us. All my grandparents have already passed on, so I love having R's grandmother who I can call grandma, too. Because she is the kids' Great Grandmother we affectionately call her "Grandma Great." Well, she's also a GREAT grandma so it fits. 

She recently had a sever stroke. We all thought we were going to lose her. She's a fighter and pulled through. She's currently staying in a rehab care center where she can get the care she needs to relearn to walk and other things. 

R's sister had flowers delivered to our house for us to take to Grandma Great. Now that was a fun messenger to be--deliver flowers! MK and I drove up to spend some time visiting with her and deliver the flowers as well. 

I got this picture of MK and Grandma Great to send to R's sister

MK and Grandma Great

Love MK's cheesy smile and LOVE how Grandma Great is looking healthy and loved.

A Day Out with Grandma Great

Back in August, after the boys went back to school, MK and I spent the day out with R's grandmother whom we call "Grandma Great" as she's the kid's great grandma. We picked up Grandma Great and went to the Springville Museum of Art to see the Quilt Show for a Girls Day Out. Last year, I entered the quilt I made for C. It didn't win anything, but it was at least good enough to be accepted into the show.

Well, Grandma Great has a super cool walker: it's cherry red and has a seat. MK kept saying her legs were tired so she could sit in the walker and have Grandma Great push her around. The museum has old Spanish tile with deep grooves. With the added weight of MK, the walker kept getting stuck between the tiles. I was worried for Grandma Great, but Grandma Great just kept laughing and joking around with MK.

Springville Quilt Show

Can you see the plastic glove on MK's hand? At the door the volunteers were handing them out so if you wished to touch the quilt to see the back you could do so with a glove as to protect the quilt. MK took her job very seriously and had to inspect every back for the label and to show us what fabric choice was used for the back.

After the show, we went out for Mexican food. It was a very fun day.

Second Hernia During a Summer Storm

A couple months ago, R had to have hernia surgery--his second one just a short 13 months after the first. I had originally worked it out for the kids to go to our sitter for the day, but the night before the surgery we were informed by the hospital that we had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. Yikes! So, I called my parents and asked if the kids could have a sleepover at grandma and boppi's house. They said yes, so I quickly packed the kids an over night bag and hurried them over...and I do mean quickly. I had them packed and strapped into the car in under 10 minutes. That included potty breaks, too. Sometimes, I amaze myself.

And other times I don't.

It was mid-June. It was summer weather. I packed shorts, t-shirts, sandals, swimsuits, and underwear, of course. What I didn't count on was a summer storm to come. I didn't send with them any socks nor sweaters nor anything like that. But, my parents are of the resourceful kind. We used to watch a lot of "MacGyver" when I was younger. Here are some great pictures my parents emailed me while I was at the hospital with R.

First up is MK in the morning. She is a happy girl with her milk and banana. Look at her feet......those are my dad's socks on her feet and legs. They look like leg warmers, don't they?

MK

Next up are all three kids. C and S seem very happy with their sweaters. C is rocking some socks from Boppi. MK doesn't seem so sure. Can you even see her underneath all that?

C, MK, S 

And just because the situation was so funny, Boppi posed with the grandkids. I can hear the laughing. And yeah, MK's expression is pretty funny.

Staying warm

The kids ended up spending 2 nights with my parents. THANK YOU! It was so nice to not to have to worry about them while I tended to R.

As for R, his surgery went very well. He is now a bionic man....okay, not really. But they did a great job in patching him up. He had to spend one night in the hospital. His recovery was shorter than the first surgery. I was looking forward to his loopy state of mind while he came down from the anesthesia, but it didn't happen. He actually remembered things this time! No repeat conversations. No repeat questions. I was looking forward to the funny stories I could tell about him coming out of it, but sorry. I can't. Drat.

Happy Birthday Boppi!

A happy birthday shout out goes to my dad. Yup, on Halloween. I remember when I was young thinking it was the coolest birthday ever. And, I remember feeling so special that dad would spend his birthday taking us kids trick-or-treating. I loved telling people that my dad's birthday was Halloween. I remember the costume party mom threw dad one year on his birthday and the HUGE foam cowboy hats you two had. Do you still have those?

We sure miss having you close by, especially S. We love you very much and hope you have a great birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!

Grandma and Grandpa Great

Today, the kids and I drove up to Alpine to visit R's grandparents. I'm ashamed to admit that this was the first visit we've been able to make since MK was born--and she's already 2 months old! Between C's Kindergarten schedule and homework, S's Preschool schedule, caring for a newborn, and very little sleep, I don't have time for much. But, we had to squeeze in time for this. C and S didn't have school today because of the Fall Break, so we loaded up the car to spend the day running errands and visiting with Grandma Great and Grandpa Great.

We had a great time visiting, especially with Grandma Great. Grandpa Great was resting a bit while we were there, so we didn't get any pictures with him, but here are some great ones with Grandma Great.

Grandma Great and MK

S, Grandma Great, MK and C

On the drive to Grandma's, both S and C were complaining that they were SO tired. (It was around 2pm.) As soon as we got there, they were running around and talking a mile a minute to tell Grandma Great everything and anything they could think of. Then, R's cousin Micah came in and started to play with the boys. Micah also took them out back to see the horses and feed the horses apples (their favorite thing to do there.)

We had a great afternoon visiting and playing. We'll need to go back again soon.

(And yes, MK is getting BIG. Don't you just love those chubby cheeks?)

Sleepover at Grandma's

S

S playing at the park. He's been asking for days to go and play.

C

C coming down the slide

S

S being silly with my sunglasses. He was running in circles.
It took a while before Grandma could snap this picture of him.

the boys

Can you believe this town has survived since
Grandma made this for Taylor!?! The boys sure love it.

C

C being silly with my glasses.

The boys and I spent the night at Grandma's (aka Jamma) house on Wednesday while R was at school. We had a great time! We even got to talk to Boppi! It was 3 in the morning for him, but he called Grandma and we got to say hi. The boys were able to play out in the sprinkler and cool off. After dinner, we walked to the park and played in the cooler evening. They got to have a bubble bath in Grandma's BIG tub--always a highlight for them. Grandma and I did a little quilting. All in all it was a fun night. We always look forward to seeing Grandma and can't wait til Boppi is there, too.