Cool Bird : Dances like no one is watching.

I love this. When good rock and roll comes on, I just want to dance my head off.

Grammy Katie's Fabulous Quilts

Greg's mom, Kathryn Romans, is a fabulous quilter. She is almost 83, has 5 children and 27 grandchildren, and at least 18 great grandchildren. She has been making many different kinds of quilts for years. She makes the quilts mostly for gifts but her latest venture is selling them at craft shows and on ETSY

( http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31730251 )

If you go there, you can see all of her great work. I have shown just a few of them below.

She has made one for all of her great-grandchildren and I think is making one for all the grandchildren to have as a keepsake.

The top pictures, show her having a sale with her daughter Cynthia ( who also makes quilts). She flew down to Arizona to help her at her neighborhood clubhouse sale. Cynthia has made a tied Christmas baby quilt for all of my grandchildren.

She has also many many cute aprons that she has given for Christmas the past few years.

Her mother, Lucy, also made quilts for many years. We even have one on Lindsay's bed and a few other ones including baby quilts. She did beautiful appliqué on many of them and hand quilted them. She died at 93, lived alone and was making quilts up until the end.

Kathryn has made many creative ones overs the years, especially when the kids were babies.

But in the last several years, she has been making these baby quilts using all her scraps up from all the years of sewing she has done. And let me tell you, it is alot. Sometimes she has to buy a few extra colors, to finish one off. She appliqué's all of them and then sends them to a lady in Utah to do the machine quilting. They are truly works of art with alot of detail and perfect handmandship.

Several years ago, she made an activity quilt for each of her children's family and one for a close relative. You can't imagine the work that was involved. I can't imagine having the patience and fortitude it takes to pull this off. Kathryn is one of the most industrious women I know.

. Kathryn helped Lindsay make a pink pieced quilt for one of her YW projects when she was 14 when we were there on vacation. It turned out beautiful and will be a wonderful memory for Lindsay.It is a wonderful heritage to pass on

The later pictures are samples of many of her quilts.

Thanks Grandma Katee for all your hard work.

Andrea Bocelli & the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

This video was truly inspirarional and brought me to tears. You need to turn down the music on my playlist. Watch and enjoy!

http://bit.ly/5awyVd

The Video That Won First Place At Cannes

Pappa's Grilling Rubs

Last year for Father;s day, Denton homemade a set of grilling rubs for Greg named after all the peopie in his family. It was such a creative and useful gift, I wanted to post it. They read:

Big Daddy's BBQ Rub
Moisha's Spicy Tex Mex
Leo's Summer Cool Rub
Fishy's Fish Seasoning
Rocky's Beefy Steak Spice
#4'd All Purpose Seasoning Spice ( which represent new baby Dodge)

They are a lot of fun to use for grilling. Thanks Denty....we all enjoy them.

Felix Wood Turns 7!

Felix is our first grandson. He turned 7 today. He had more energy than anybody I know. He is in constant motion. Mainly because he is always jumping rope. He is amazing for his age and will soon be old enough to join " SKIP IT's" at school. You have to be in the 3rd grade, By the time he is old enough,. he will blow them away. He is so good already. He is also obsessed with money. He counts his money everyday. When he went to the bank to deposit some, he knew every coin down to the last penny. He likes to cook breakfast and has been known to make a good one.....and a little mess to go with it. But he is learning and willing, so his mom is ok with that. He loves to jog with his mom and is like a speed ball. He had many other talents and is very very bright, Reminds me of his uncle Clayton in some ways when he was young. He is sandwiched between his 2 sisters so is really going to understand women when he grows up....we think and we hope. He loves to hang out with his dad and they do alot of really cool things. He is a great little boy and is fun to talk to. When he hits the pillow at night, he is asleep in a minute......but up again early with energy to spare.

Happy Birthday Felix....we love you. xoxoxo

Chloe does a Tribute to her classmate who died this week. She went to the funeral today and gave this picture and her thoughts to Kenya's parents.



These are her words about Kenya:

I miss my friend Kenya. I miss her smile. I loved to see her when she spotted her brothers in the hallway, right after lunch each day. They would hug and joke and laugh right outside the bathrooms. I loved to see her swish her hair around and hear the clicking and tinkling of her beads. We kind of look like opposites, but Kenya was like me, a little shy in class. We girls like to draw at recess sometimes, and Kenya drew the best bunnies.

When I heard about the sad news, I felt so heartbroken and small. But then I learned we could make cards for her family and I felt a little better. My dad tried to help me draw her over and over, but it never looked quite right. So I painted a picture of Kenya the way I remember her before Christmas break. My favorite part is the beads that I put in her hair. It was difficult to get here eyes right because she had beautiful eyes and I'm just learning.

I love Kenya and I miss her.

Chloe Jane Wood

(friend from Mr. Copperwheat's class 2009-2010)

I think this is a great thing for a child to do to deal with their own grief and to show compassion to others. Chelsea took Chloe to the funeral and she said Kenya's parents were thrilled with the picture and Chole's thoughts given to them.

Leo's got talent!

This December my little granddaughter Leo played in her first piano recital and had a part in her school play. I went to the piano recital and grandpa went to the play. It is fun that she got to paticipate. She is a very smart, talented and fun little girl.......as are all of our grandchildren:)

She is even in a jogging club.

Winter at my House!

I always do a winter theme in January. It is especially perfect this year as it is freezing outside. It is unseasonably cold in Richmond this month....so my decor fits right in. It helps me to take these pictures and do these posts so I can remember for next year what I did. I love to change my home environment......makes me feel like I went on a trip or something. Traveling is a hassle now-a-days....so unpacking a few boxes is nothing ( as long it isn't Christmas boxes again for another year). I think I will make some soup to eat at my cool, winter table.

TWO AWESOME WORKERS!

We just got a new mattress for one of the guest rooms the day before Lindsay and Regan arrived after Chritmas....just in the nick of time so they will still come visit.

Dana, my son-in-law, is always so good to offer his help for anything. He went with Greg to get the new mattress. Then he and Greg were loading the old matress on the car after they brought the new one in. I snapped this picture of them tying it on and working together. I loved it. They are great friends and have a good time together.

The week before he was traveling through Richmond on business and stopped to stay. He helped carry in our new exercise bike and put it together for us.

It is a memory I have recorded in my mind and heart.....not just this job.... but many. But I love that I now have this picture to remind me.

Both of these guys are HARD WORKERS. How lucky we are.

Truly Inspiring!

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact
opposite backwards as forward. Not only does it read the opposite, the
meaning is the exact opposite. This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and
it is brilliant. Make sure you read as well as listen...forward and
backward.

This a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The
contest was titled "u @ 50" by AARP. This video won second place. When
they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into
spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant.Take a minute and
watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Friendship

A good friend sent this to me. I love it!

Christmas Memories

We had a fun Christmas..We had a fabulous Mexican dinner at Denton's on Christmas Eve. And then Chelsea and Dana and family came for over a week and arrived Christmas afternoon after Greg and I had breakfast and went to he movies all by ourselves. We had roast beef at our house on Christmas night.

When we all gather for dinner on Christmas night, it is a challenge to fit us all in the same area. So I bought a folding table and chairs I can put in my foyer by the dining room so the kids are near and not out in the kitchen alone :) One of my tactics ( bribes) is promising them a prize if they stay in their seats until we tell them they can get up. It is is hope their parents can enjoy Christmas dinner without having to get up. It is not perfect but works pretty good. This year grandpa made me some coupons to to give them......they could redeem at the dollar store with us. We went the next day and every got something ( some 2 for 1 if it was Christmas). They were all pretty thrilled. Who knew? This old grandma is full of tricks :)

The kids also put on a cute play that night with carols and all.

We went to see the tacky lights on Sunday night ..which is always fun....as we sing carols and go crazy in the van.

We kept Chelsea's kids overnight one night so she and Dana could have a night in the hotel...alone. We got tinker toys for our house and the kids had alot of fun with them. They also all stayed at the hotel 2 other nights and had Denton's kids come for swimming and a pizza dinner. We did lot of other fun things . Lindsay and Regan got here on the 30th in time for Maggianos, NY's eve, and Dodge's baby blessing on fast Sunday.

We are so lucky to have kids and grandkids live close or we would have a lonely celebration.

We always miss our Utah kids and grandkids but are glad they have family close to celebrate with. And we really missed Clayton but are glad he came down early to celebrate before his big trip.

It was a lovely week and we are thankful that most of us could all be together.