Back together

It had been 2 years since my granddaughter Elora, and my brother 
Richard and Wendy's granddaughter, Hailey, had seen each other....



Come back and I'll show you how they spent their 3 days here together. 


Little Libraries

When reading hits, new worlds open!



When we asked Violet if she'd like to go to Costco with us, 
she asked, 
"Can I just sit in the cart and read my book?"


So she did.


But as our cart starting filling up she had less room 
to actually open her book.


The next morning we took her to TWO neighborhood libraries.
Have you ever seen these? 
We have three of them within a mile of our house, 
that I know about. So there may be even more. 


This one was so neat and tidy.
It runs on the honor system. Take a book and leave a book. 



The 2nd one was at the park 3 blocks from our house. 


It wasn't nearly as appealing with books all jammed in there.


But she still managed to find two she liked.




The next day after Violet went home, 
I checked in her room and saw this...

Strewardess Barbie all set with food. 


How thoughtful Violet put a bottle of water on Barbie's lap 
for her convenience.

None of her new books in the room to be found. 
She took them all home with her. Good!

And she told me before she left the next time she comes back she 
wants to go back to those "little libraries again".

You can go to:
to find one near you.

(But I have to say, the two we went to with Violet, are not even on their map...I guess all are not 
registered? So I'm thinking the best way to find one in your area may be to ask around. If you belong 
to the Nextdoor app you could ask your neighbors on that.)



The Accident


Just a few blocks from our house, 
my sister Robin had a horrible car accident 10 days ago.

She is fine...or she will be once she quits hurting...
but it could have been SO much worse
and I will show you why. 

A teenage girl ran a red light forcing Robin to run into her car.


And if that weren't enough, she then ran into a brick wall.

You can see (above) her skid marks in the street running right 
towards that wall, which finally stopped her car.


She also took out a few bushes.



We happened to be at that corner 2 days later 
while the city crew did their clean up.

Humbling to look at.
It could have been so so much worse. 



As my Mom use to say..."We never know what a day will bring."

Thank you to our special guest


Jessica, just off her mission 2 months, 
took time off her busy life to come see the grandparents!


We had lots of extended family time all crammed into 2 days...
I was too busy to remember to photo much of it.


Violet could not get enough of Jessica.


And Jess got to watch Grandpa in action teaching 
the 9 year olds at church on Sunday.



Den had always wanted to teach Primary.
And finally at age 69, he is SO happy he finally gets to do this!


Grandpa told her lots of stories.
Mostly about how he found the church 
and why it means so much to him.


And finally just hours before she was to go home on Monday
we actually got to take her out to eat.


Jessica is so sweet, and patient, and loving...
and she tries continually to do the right thing.

Do you know what this means?
It means she has a great future ahead. 
We just know it.

Thank you Jessica for coming!
We know the day before you arrived you had just returned from 
being girls camp director....a week of hardly any sleep!
Yet you still got on that plane just for us!

Family challenges

I love the way this mom describes family struggles... 
that perhaps the beauty in our lives comes because of the struggles, 
not in spite of them?

Just fast forward to 3:14 and see what you think...


My new penpal!

McKenna sent me these stamps from Massachusetts and asked if I'd like to be Scarlett's penpal....

I felt honored!

So I sent her a letter and waited (that's how being a penpal works)

Then just 2 days ago Den brought in the mail and said to me:
"You got something today that is going 
to make you SO happy!"

A letter from Scarlett!

He knows me too well. 

She drew me a picture of the fireworks at Disneyland

Bet you already knew that.


My favorite one was this:

We have only one arm and one hand, but they are together.
And Scarlett's little face is tilted towards mine! 


If any of our other grandchildren would like to be a 
penpal with me, please let me know!

I will be the most faithful pen pal they will ever know. 


Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...