paper work

i just finished sorting through the pile of papers that were sitting on my desk, waiting for me to shred, throw away or organize. truthfully it is one of my least favorite jobs to do...but i sure am grateful when it is finished!

"singing in the rain!"

i love most of the movie "singing in the rain". i think gene kelly, debbie reynolds and donald o'connor are brilliant...along with the talent behind the scenes. while our children were growing up we wanted to instill in them a love for movies of the past...classics, if you will.

a few weeks ago we were skyping with craig, angie and lucas. lucas has fallen in love with the movie "singing in the rain." he especially enjoys the scene/song "make them laugh", so much so that he actually tries to perform by attempting to climb up walls at church, or to lay on the floor and spin himself around sideways (like donald o'connor does). he also dances around the room singing his version of the songs 'singing in the rain' and 'make them laugh'. seriously it is one of the cutest things i've ever witnessed!  mind you, he is two, yep, only two years old and he is already a ham like his daddy.

i am grateful for lucas' version of 'singing in the rain' - it warms a grandma's heart.

"funny"

our grandson, james, has discovered that life has funny moments in it. when he recognizes that he looks at you and says, "funny" and continues to say it until you acknowledge that indeed, it is "funny". so very cute.

yesterday, as mentioned previously, i was in sacramento with my mom. she truly does not get out often at all. in fact the last time she did was when i drove her to their new apartment the day they moved a few days before memorial day.

when i was there yesterday and we were leaving the restaurant an older couple were getting into their car as well (since we were all parked in the handicapped zone).  i got my mom situated in her seat, with her seat belt safely secured, then i proceeded to put her walker in the back seat. as i did so my hand inadvertently touched the back of my keyless entry, where there is a little red button that causes my horn to honk. of course my horn began honking. i quickly touched that little red button again, ceasing the sound of my honking horn thinking nothing of it.

i climbed into the drivers seat and my mom exclaimed, "those people were so rude!" i was taken aback and asked her why she thought so...she thought it was pretty rude of them to be honking their horn at us! i cheerfully explained that it wasn't them that were honking their horn, it was me!

wow, i hope they didn't think i was being rude...hadn't considered that until now. yikes!

i am grateful for all the 'funny' things that happen in life, and the little people who recognize those moments!

excursions

i was lucky enough to go to sacramento today and visit my mom. i knew she needed me to do a few things for her, one of which was to cut her hair. then with that little twinkle in her eye that only she can get she says, 'are you hungry?' in fact i was not, i had a bowl of cheerios about an hour and a half earlier...but that didn't matter, i knew she was and what's more that she wanted to get out of the apartment into the fresh air and sunshine.

i had planned on running an errand myself while i was there since she lives about a mile from deseret book now. i wanted to pick up some extra may ensigns so that we could each have our own to study and peruse. so i told her i would take her out to eat (she of course wanted breakfast food) after i ran my errand, in hopes of having some sort of appetite.

we went and picked up the ensigns, well, i did, while she waited in the car. then i drove around (since she recently moved i wasn't sure what restaurants were in the area other than red robin and fast foods) and managed to find a coco's where i knew they served breakfast foods. she enjoyed herself immensely as she ate her strawberry waffle and bacon. (she does love her bacon)

as we were eating she realized she needed me to run another errand for her. my sister is out of town, visiting friends in oregon (which no one informed me of until thursday; no, i am not bitter). she was out of tp and tissues - not a good thing. well, she had some tp but she didn't like the quality of it (i love my mom, i am certain i get all of my snobby tendencies from her, of which there are a few, but not too many; let's just say i don't skip quality in some areas of my life) as i talked with her about it she pulled out cash and asked if that was enough, i told her i didn't need her cash since i have an atm card for her bank account. THAT changed everything! suddenly i needed to get her vitamins also, and to go to her pharmacy and get the prescriptions she desperately needed.

so, i am grateful for all the excursions i could take my mom on for multiple reasons...1) i love helping her, 2) she really needed the items, and 3) she loved being out and about rather than stuck in her apartment.

besides, it's the least i could do...she is my mom and that is what i am really grateful for. :)

Stake Conference

Last night and today was our stake conference. It is always uplifting and motivating to be there. I am grateful for the spirit felt there and the members of our stake.

Rylee kins!

I am so very grateful for our granddaughter Rylee.

She is five years old today!

She loves the color purple, anything sparkly, movies, and books.

She loves her mommy, daddy and sisters.

She also loves her cousins, aunts and uncles.

She really loves her grandmas and grandpas. ;)

She is a sweet girl, full of love, giggles, and fun.

I love you Rylee!

Happy Birthday!!!

Family

Tonight we were able to skype with Sam's family since it's Rylee's fifth birthday tomorrow. (they are going to her other grandma and grandpa's for a party in Montana) I love that we can skype with our grandkids frequently and that they can know us more than they would otherwise. Family is so very important to all of us. I love each member of our family and am so grateful for them.

my sweet husband

yesterday brad, amy and boys departed on their trip home. i think my sweet husband has become a)either more and more soft or b)more and more attached. i am finding that he gets 'upset' whenever the kids leave. yesterday i found him in the study taking apart the pack and play and being emotional. poor guy. he sure does love his family. i am grateful for him and his love for our family.

lengthy visits

brad, amy, james and gavin all left for Oregon this afternoon. i was with amy and the boys for 3 weeks + 1 day. wow and yay! it was a great blessing to have them visit us for that length of time. gavin knows us now, james knows us better than he did, and amy and brad continue to love us. :)

i am grateful for lengthy visits!

the ability to cook well

tonight we had shrimp tacos, refried beans, mexican style rice, chips, etc. as i sat there and quickly added up the amount it cost to make this delicious dinner for our family (of 7 until tomorrow) i realized it is a huge savings to cook at home rather than go out. though i absolutely love the taqueria down the street from us to purchase the dinner we had tonight for all of us would have cost somewhere around $50; instead it cost somewhere around $15.

i am grateful for the talent of cooking, and being able to eat at home with our family.

cool summer meals

tomorrow is the first legit day of summer...lovely. honestly, it is not my favorite season, due to the heat we have here in the central valley. blech.

and who wants to cook anything in this heat? not me! so, tonight we are having chicken salad sandwiches, jello and watermelon. i am so looking forward to a nice cool dinner!

i am grateful for nice cool summer meals - if you have any you are willing to share please do! i would be very grateful.

Fathers

I am grateful for all the fathers in my life...Heavenly Father, my dad, my husband and all of my boys. I love that they love their children, and most importantly that they love their wives since "one of the greatest gifts a father can give his children is to love their mother." That is so true.

I am grateful for you, and love you all.

Zoo Animals

Today we ventured to Sacramento and went to the zoo with Brad, Amy and boys. It was amazing because usually not a whole lot happens at the zoo, but today it was like the animals knew we were coming and they were mostly awake, roaming around, eating, sometimes playing and sometimes fighting! (those apes can be SO beastly!)

At any rate for James' "first" time (in memory) of being at the zoo it was pretty spectacular. Gavin enjoyed it too, seeing an occasional animal, but mostly just being happy to be out and about.

All in all it was fun to see the zoo animals, but mostly what I am grateful for today is the time spent with members of our family.

Sprinklers

Today is rather warm out, right now it's a sunny 90 degrees. While we have plenty of room in our backyard for a pool we will never have one. Pat is totally opposed to it, and truthfully we can spend our money on other things. We have actually never had a pool, though plenty of our neighbors and friends have. Our kids grew up playing in the sprinklers, and they were fine with that. Would they have loved having a pool? You bet!

As I write I can look out the window from my bedroom and see James running through the sprinklers with 'Sissy" (aka Rachel). He is having a fabulous time, as is she! Of course James has a stick in his hand, otherwise known as a sword, making it that much more enjoyable.

Oh to be two again, and be grateful with enormous excitement and enthusiasm for sprinklers!

My Dad

no, it's not father's day, well not just yet, but i still want to pay tribute to my dad today. he was an amazing man, a great man, who influenced my life in a tremendous way. he wasn't perfect and never claimed to be; he always understood that he was a work in progress.

my dad, stanley dwight breed, otherwise known as 'dwight', 'bumpa', 'daddy', and 'dad' passed away nineteen years ago today. though he had a triple bypass due to a seriously bad heart attack weeks earlier he was supposedly on the mend. he shouldn't have died, due to the errors of others and more than likely the Lord's 'timing' he did. i can say that his death was one of the most difficult things i experienced in my life. there was a void that has never been filled and will not be until i see him again on the other side of the veil.

i talked with my mom yesterday to see how she was handling the anniversary of his death, which she has always thought of as his 'new birthday'. she was fine. but she told me something that i don't remember her telling me before...when she said goodnight to him at the hospital, just hours before he unexpectedly passed away, he said to her, 'i've always loved the twinkle in your eye.' what a sweet sentiment, how nice to have the last words to your spouse be a compliment.

i love that sometimes i can see his face in our grandchildren, his smile, the shape of his face, his dimples (though they get those from pat as well). while i miss him and wish with all my heart that he could know our kids, their spouses and our grandkids i have to believe he isn't too far away, loving us all, rooting for our happiness and being grateful for us as we are for him.

I am a fan of AC

Yesterday and today have been the hottest of the year, thus far. Yesterday it topped somewhere near 98 degrees, I have no clue what today's high was, however I do know one thing for sure: it was HOT!

Hence my gratitude is for the blessing of having a great working AC and multiple fans to use around the house to keep things at a normal temp. I was especially grateful to grab a fan and bring it into the kitchen after cooking dinner.

Don't be surprised if I should post another similar thought later in the summer, for surely the temperature's rising!

Patriarchs

I was thinking about this very night and what took place nineteen years ago. My dad was going to the hospital in the morning for a procedure. He had had a heart attack six weeks prior, with a triple bypass, and was having some difficulty. It wasn't anything unusual, he was slowly recovering from his heart attack and surgery. He was going to be fine, it was just a simple procedure, nothing major.

That night Sam, Craig, Amy, Rachel and I were visiting.  We had just gotten home from a trip to Disneyland just days earlier, and I had talked with my dad and he sounded the best he had sounded since his surgery. My spirit soared with gratitude and joy, feeling that he would be fine in no time at all.

The following morning I received a phone call, dad was in the hospital, would I come to Paradise? That I did, and stayed the night. He came home, with a scheduled appointment for Tuesday morning at the hospital for a procedure to fix what was wrong. So, home I went. That was a Saturday.

Sunday morning there was yet another phone call, dad was going to go to the hospital now on Monday morning. I don't recall why, but that is what was going to happen. That Sunday I happened to be the only person available to conduct Relief Society, the only member of our Presidency there. So, I went and conducted, then changed my clothes (and the kids changed theirs) and off to Paradise we went once again, for the 2.5 hour drive.

Sunday evening my dad had us have a family prayer...his last act as Patriarch of our family. How grateful I am for my dad, for the honorable Priesthood holder he was, for the love he had/has for his family, and for his example to me that has contributed for me being me, especially as a member of the church and as a parent and grandparent.

I realize as I write that I am grateful for many things regarding my dad and the events surrounding his death, However I felt prompted to share this specific event, even though it was very simple.

Words cannot express my depth of gratitude for the wonderful men in my life...my patriarchs.

baby sitting

tonight we were able to babysit for amy and brad so they could go to five guys for dinner and just hang out without any kiddies around.

it was fun being with the boys; feeding them dinner, giving james a popsicle after he was outside with papa petting our neighbors cat, then bath time, stories and songs, and then attempting to put him to bed. (which was when he really realized they weren't here) they came home just in time to say nightie-nights to him and then he was off to slumber land.

as for mr. gavin - he loved his papa time and had a blast! he is now getting his bottle and going down for the night.

i am grateful for those rare occasions when we can babysit some of our grandchildren; sure wish it were more frequent.

sitting by my daughter

today i went to church with amy, brad, james, gavin and chris and jim, brad's parents. it is nice to sit with a family member as usually i sit with friends since pat is up on the stand. it is especially nice when i can sit with one of our kids, today it was amy, and i loved it.

i am so grateful for visits from our kids and sitting by them at church. for today's company - thanks amy!

Fagundes

There is a meat shop in our town called Fagundes, among many other items they sell freshly bbq'd tri tip. If you have never had tri tip I suggest you do, for it is absolutely wonderful! We have come to love their tri tip, in fact we even have it for Christmas dinner now. (Rachel is not eating ham these days and that is our standard favorite; oh and the ham thing is because she got food poisoning from it at a BYU ward dinner, hence the abstinence of ham in her life.)

With Brad, Amy and boys visiting I figured it was a good time to get a family fave for dinner so tonight we shall be enjoying tri tip sandwiches. Along with that we have a busy night due to dance festival which  we will be attending, so it was a great option for not cooking!

Yummy and grateful at the same time... you can't beat that!

Red Robin

A few weeks ago Rachel went to one of her friend's birthday dinners at Red Robin. While there the server got their tabs all mixed up, which resulted in her getting a $25 gift card, plus the ability to get a free appetizer. So, today us ladies and little lads went to Red Robin for lunch. Oh my, their food is wonderful. The girls got the caprese chicken sandwich, while I ordered the crispy arctic cod sandwich - which was surprisingly really, really good. (i love the caprese, but the girls got that so i opted to try something new) We also love their never-ending fries, of which i ate too many. Oh well.

I am grateful for Red Robin and their generosity which i enjoyed thoroughly today!

egg salad sandwiches

today we made egg salad sandwiches; i cooked the eggs, amy put the ingredients together. delicious! all of us girls enjoyed our egg salad sandwiches. mr. james enjoyed mine right along with me! and some of his mom's too! i don't know why i love these little devils so much, but i do! :)

i am grateful for egg salad sandwiches, sometimes it is the simple things in life that bring me happiness.

Happy 9th to Sam and Linzi!

Nine years sure goes by fast! So much growth takes place during that time. I well remember being at the Billings, MT temple with Sam and Linzi for their sealing nine years ago today, then off we went to Three Forks for their reception. I had no idea Montana was so beautiful.

I am grateful for Sam and Linzi - for all the happiness and joy they have shared throughout the years, and for the three wonderful granddaughters they have brought to our family.

Happy Anniversary! We love you both.

Carters

Carters Children's Store is one of my favorite places to shop for our grandkids. We have an outlet store just 15 miles from our home, we frequent the store whenever our kids/grandkids are in town. Today we made the familiar journey once again, leaving with great deals for Amy's two boys...and a few for our soon to be granddaughter, Darci. :)

I am grateful for our Carters store - it has allowed us to help supply our grandchildren with much needed clothing and has been a great blessing in regards to our budget!

Sugar and spice...

and everything nice...that is what little girls are made of!

I am so grateful for our little girls...present and past!

They make life fun!

simple dinners

today was a busy day, even though it is the Sabbath. i planned on it being that way due to amy and the boys being here, what with our normal church meetings and then another stake one for me to attend at 5:15. so, an easy but delicious spaghetti dinner was on the agenda, and much appreciated; good thing too as i had just enough time to cook, eat and run.

i like Sunday's simple dinners and am grateful they are a possibility.

busy bodies

the last time amy visited with her family gavin wasn't yet mobile. well, he is now! it's fun to have two little guys running/crawling around our house again - the last time that happened was when james and lucas were here at the same time... i am so grateful for their busy little bodies and the fun they create when they are here.

the long and winding road

today i returned home...ah, home, the wonderful feeling of walking through that door, knowing it is the end of the road and entering your comfort zone. there is just nothing like it. and while i loved being with amy and her family in oregon i am even more excited to have them here with us.

truth be told of all the drives we take to visit our children this is the most scenic, most beautiful drive; we are fortunate to be able to make the drive in about nine hours also. it is truly a blessing.

i am grateful for the long and winding and beautifully scenic drive that leads me from my home to one of my children's homes.

Visits

Every once in a while I get to visit my children. At the present time I am in Oregon visiting with Amy, Brad, James and Gavin. It is nice for me to be in their home for awhile, to get a glimpse of their lives and how they function daily. I am grateful for all the times I get to visit our children and grandchildren, or they get to visit us. Either way works for me and makes me a happy mom and grandma. I love it!

My friend, Jolene

Today is my friend Jolene's birthday. We have been friends for many years. I am grateful for our friendship, it is a rather unique one. I am grateful for the experiences we have shared and for her support for me throughout the years. She is the best.