Oh, Grandma!

Well, I am going to try to update this now that grandma is back here in good ol' Colorado. She is doing pretty good! She always has a story or a song, wants to help, wants to make sure every one is comfortable, and has something to eat! Some things never change!
Sunday morning she woke up and was getting dressed for church when she told Jan that she was getting married. She was excited, and a little giddy. Jan asked her who she was marrying, and grandma told her, " Oh, the first guy to come along and ask me I suppose!" So cute.
A few weeks ago grandma was reading her new relief society manual, which was a little surprising because most days she doesn't see well enough to read, especially small print. Anyways, she was reading part of it and asked Jan if she had to give it back any time soon. Jan told her no and that the book was hers to keep. Grandma was so excited! She even got a little emotional saying she just couldn't believe that she could have her very own copy of this special book. Jan said she held the book to her chest and carried it around for quite awhile, showing every one what a special book it was. She was so exited that she got to keep it all for herself. =D
It really is amazing to me that as lost as grandma is sometimes, she NEVER loses sight of the gospel. It is a testimony to her testimony. Those things that she believes and knows to be true are never far from her mind, wherever that may be.

More Camping Pictures

Grandma's sometimes a little dramatic when you ask her to smile :)

Oh, you know...

One day we were cleaning out the garage and we came across a box of toys that was still packed from when we were getting our floors re-tiled. Kenyan and Aria went through the box of toys, pulling them out one by one and shrieking about how much they loved/missed/cherished that particular toy. Grandma got a kick out of it-- I've never seen her laugh so hard! She was practically crying as she told me how funny it was, and how it reminded her of her childhood.

This was actually a picture I took on our way to the campsite, but I had to put it up in honor of Grandma. Several times a day, as we're walking around the house she'll stand in your way, and not let you pass, saying "Sorry, no trespassing!" :)

We spend a lot of time at the park these days, as the weather's really beautiful this time of year. Grandma loves it, and is always in a better mood after we go!

Something popular in our house is to turn on music, whether we're cooking, cleaning, or just playing around. It's been through this that we've gotten Grandma to dance! This is her pirouette !

Orlando Temple!

We had the opporunity to take Grandma to the temple. It was a really cool experience! Well, except for when we were waiting to go into the lobby and she saw some Hispanics families walking in. Keep in mind that her whispers aren't very quiet...she turns to us and says "well isn't it nice that all the little Indian families can come too." Yikes!

She marveled at the sight of the building and the spirit we felt there. She's always a great reminder to us, that we should stop and be grateful for the things we have and recognize the blessings we have every day. We love having her here!

Grandma Deals...

The thing we've loved most about Grandma is that she doesn't mind it when the kids play with her-- she just dishes it right back. Kenyan came in and decided to throw pieces of paper at Grandma, who promptly stuffed them down her shirt.

Grandma Goes Camping :)

So the next couple stories is going to be out of order, but it's an attempt at a catch up =).We started off the year with one of our annual family traditions--- going camping! Usually we wait til April, but we triend going earlier this year to avoid getting rained out. It was freezing! Grandma had fun, but would sometimes throw out comments like "Okay, what do we need to bring home?" and "Should we start packing up now?" and even one time started singing "Off we go, into the wild blue yonder..." Needless to we got the hint.












The weather was freezing, for us Floridians, and apparently Grandma has acclimated to the warm weather as well. She always had a jacket with the hood on, was always by the fire, and loved her hot chocolate.




One of the most amusing parts of the trip was when we took off her hood and realized that after sleeping in it, she'd developed a mohawk! She wasn't to happy with it, but was delighted to see everyone giggling :).

Texas :)

Grandma went to Texas! We have some friends that live there, and we got to go visit for a few days!



















She got to meet friends, see the temple, go to football games, and go to a barn dance! She even had a guy who wanted her to dance! ;)

New York City

September...

Grandma got a package a while ago..She loved it! She said it was like Christmas! She's also gotten letters and pictures from family and she enjoys looking at them and reading them over again. Keep them coming!


Tuesday, September 30th, we celebrated the Jewish Holiday by going to New York for the day! We didn't tell Grandma that we were going until the night before and she started crying, overwhelmed with the idea that she'd actually be going there. She said it was a place she'd heard of, but she never dreamed she's be able to go to. She was too excited to sleep! Our technology team compiled an awesome video with some of the best pictures:

UPDATE!

Hey guys! Sorry for the lapse in updating....school has started =(. Grandma's been doing well! Here's the latest:

Last Sunday we went to the Fairchild Gardens in Miami. It's the largest botanical garden in the continental U.S., and Grandma loved it! We repeatedly heard "Well I've read about these, but

I never dreamed they actually existed!" or "Well I've heard about these, but I've sure never come close to seeing one!" She loved it! She was very inquisitive of what everything was, how it got there, etc. It was, overall, a thrilling experience! (We have an awesome video interview, but it's not uploading right now...it'll have to come later!)

In other news, we've discovered Grandma loves being pampered. Every time we wash Grandma's hair, she tells us how it's such a luxury! W e recently put her hair in curlers,

and the kids put lotion on her feet, and she insisted she had better treatment than the King of England and the Queen of Sheba :)

More to come! Soon...I promise!

Shopping Trip!

Yesterday we went shopping for some school supplies (which turned out to be unnecessary, since school was canceled due to the hurricane!) Grandma thought it was quite an adventure.



It started out with us riding in the car with the music on and Grandma started dancing!

Needless to say, we got quite a kick out of it :)

She got a little upset when Jace started bouncing up and down, so she reached over and held him down!

The rest of the ride was mostly uneventful, but humorous. Leave it to Grandma to turn potentially boring adventures into fun ones! When we got to the store we were waiting for Jace to try on some shorts. He came out with one pair and Grandma said "Well, I guess if you like them those are nice. " And after he walked away she turned to us and quietly said "Well actually, they're pretty ugly!!". She was really good about making sure Jace's pants weren't too baggy -- she insisted that he wear them up to his belly button =). She was a better influence than most.




Jace took a pretty long time to try stuff on. Grandma was sitting on a cart type thing, but she was getting pretty impatient. We gave her a u shaped pillow, which she put on backwards, said she was choking, and started screaming! (Not very loudly, of course) She's such a character! Then my dad started a pillow fight with Kenyan. Grandma observed them from a distance, then said to Alyssa "They're embarrassing! Let's get outta here quick." Oh what fun. She thoroughly enjoyed having her hair washed in the sink last night, and kept insisting we were spoiling her. She was really helpful this morning as we were getting up for our church meetings that start at 8:30. She went in to wake up Jace, sympathized with him (because getting up was clearly so awful!), then laughed at him when he fell off the bed! When we got to church, our friend's little girl was sitting by us and she asked me to hide her dolls from her so she could find them. I did it a few times, and when I started losing at this game Grandma came to the rescue!! She'd caught onto our little game, and I guess she wanted to be a part of it! When the little girl wasn't looking Grandma got a really sly look on her face, reached over, snatched the dolls, and tucked them under her arm! The poor little girl had no idea what was coming! Oh Grandma.

When the kids found out there wasn't school tomorrow due to the potential Hurricane Fey they (well I guess I should say 'we'...I was just as excited =] ) ran around yelling, and cheering, and of course, telling Grandma! When they'd calmed down enough to explain to her what was going on, she made a confused expression and said "Oh my! I don't know whether to be terrified or excited!". When they assured her that she was indeed supposed to be excited, she started screaming along with them! She is so fun, and we're so glad she's here!! :)


P.S. Unless your username makes it REALLY obvious who you are, I'd appreciate if you guys signed your comments so we can tell Grandma who's keeping up with her!! Thanks!

Kick Hard, Swear Loud......

So I guess it didn't occur to me to explain the title of the blog. Generally kicking and swearing isn't something we condone. Yesterday Grandma and I were talking about a little boat we have and how we wanted to take her out on the lake in it. She refused, saying she didn't go near water because of what happened when she was a little girl. Aria and I kept up the conversation, trying to convince her to go in the boat or at least to the beach, she said "Boy I tell you, you're not gettin' me in. I kick hard and I swear loud!" Everybody thought this was hilarious, and it pretty much summed up her attitude with a lot of things, hence the title. =)

It was really great to get emails from everybody, even if it wasn't really saying anything! Feel free to add comments..Grandma wants to hear from you guys!

Sunshine State Welcomes Kathleen!

Hey guys! This is Bridian (Neals second child), and as I'm currently the most frequent computer user, I'll be doing the weekly updates! Hopefully this blog will help everybody keep tabs on Kathleen. I'll be referring to her as Grandma, though you guys may know her as mom, aunt, great-grandma, second cousin, whatever.

Grandma had a nice flight to Florida. She's only been here a few days, but her favorite things so far are listening to us play the piano, help around the house, and find ways to get out of eating her dinner. It's actually pretty amusing. She'll tell us she just ate, that she's full, that she's allergic, that the rest of us should eat it, her excuses are endless =). She's big into sneaking food off of her plate onto ours. But don't worry. We feed her good! We have a dry erase board in her room where we write out her daily schedule (including the date and the fact that she's in Ft. Lauderdale), which has been really helpful. When she tries to say she ate or she just woke up we just show her the schedule and she stops arguing! She has her own bedroom, and frequently asks how the heck all her stuff got here. She's sure got an attitude, but she is sure fun to have around. That about wraps it up for tonight...keep an eye out for the next post!