Rock-N-Rollin' at Gramma's House

We just love it when one of our kids and their families come to visit.  This weekend we had Jim's 4th child - Josh and his wife Tringle with their kids- Kyriahna-12, Jolanna-11 (this month), Kaldon-9, Malaya-7, and Taron-6 (this month).   They were here to participate in a Karate tournament in Meridian on Friday and Saturday.  So after they were competing Friday, they came out here to sleep and to visit.  The first thing the youngest said to me was, "we haven't seen you in a long, long, time, Gramma"---  "I know," I said- "the last time was for Eliza's baptism in July.  And boy has Grampa & Gramma been missing you all,"  Then  Malaya said it takes "FOREVER" to get here... about an hour.  I laughed cause it is actually about 4 hours from their house.   We had a lot of fun!  Friday night the kids and I hung out playing and laughing.  Malaya and Taron found a toy guitar and toy rhythm player upstairs along with a big plastic microphone. So we spent about an hour playing like we were a rock-n-roll band.  Jolanna found my flickering reindeer headband and put it on and joined the band.  Grampa took pictures of us.  I tried to get a video of the kids playing, but Jolanna got a little shy and very quietly was singing... "bop"  "bop"   "bop"     We thought we were hilarious!

We also celebrated (just a bit early) Jolanna and Taron's October birthdays.  Jolanna cracked me up- she got frustrated trying to gently pull the tape off the box and when she couldn't get it, she resorted to biting it off... I'm all..."just rip it open!".. he he.   Taron ripped his open immediately!  

I have once again put together collages cause it's too hard to just pick a couple of pictures...even with the collages I only use a fraction of what I take....  so I try to put a variety together to capture the moment and the  atmosphere of each visit or event.    I have to say this time, my favorite collage has to be the rock-n-roll collage of pictures.  We were having a blast.  Kaldon and Kyriahna were NOT enjoying the noise..er...I mean the music we were making.  I had to chase them to try to get them to participate and all they did was cover their ears and duck away from us.  They wouldn't join us for all our pleading.  ha ha ha!

Here's the little video I was talking about!

I am so grateful that Josh and his family came to visit.  It means so much to Jim- to both of us-since Jim can't travel much at all. He worries all the time about his family.  I know that his prayers were answered this weekend indeed!  I haven't seen Jim so happy and excited for a long time.  

Posted once again with gratitude and joy.... by a rock-n-rollin' Gramma!  

My Life In Pictures- July - September 2011

I've had quite an eventful summer.  My next trip after River was born was the weekend of the 4th of July.  First I went camping at Indian Springs with Donnie & Katie & the boys.  We had a blast!  We swam (of course) we watched bugs, and fish, and fireworks.  We had yummy food prepared by Donnie & Katie.  The first night there, Heather and the kids were there to swim and picnic with us too. I FORGOT to take pictures while she was there!  But I did get a few fun ones the next couple of days.  Following is a collage of just a few of the pictures.   

After leaving Indian Springs, I spent a couple of days at Heather's.  It was a lot of fun... Brady and Jade and River came over for a barbecue, then we all loaded up and went to see fireworks.  It was marvelous!  I like to think I am seriously patriotic and on the 4th, every year the fireworks just fill my soul with joy and celebration.  The grand finale each year- with inspiring music in the background- always brings me to tears.  

Brady and Jade are so cute with their little River girl.  And they are so happy to bring her around so family can love on her too!  It was great to be able to get pictures of River with Jim (his first time seeing her) and with Jim's mom- Gramma Esther as the kids call her.  She just loves having all the kids come and visit her.  We are blessed to have her in our lives.  Once I married Jim, she just took us into her heart and her home like we'd been family from the first. She is a wonderful woman. 

When Jim came down, we had the privilege of going to our granddaughter Eliza's baptism.  My camera batteries were almost dead so I didn't get  many pictures from there, but I did get this beautiful one of Eliza. She is so precious and dear to my heart.  I had the honor to be present at her birth and when she and her family lived here in Boise we were so close.  I love the time I have with Eliza and her family.  It is amazing how much love swells in our hearts for children that are ours through marriage.  I have truly been blessed. As you can see, there are pictures of Tanner and Tyler in this collage also.  Tanner and I have some truly outrageously fun together!  

This next collage is a collection of pictures of River with her cousins (and Uncle Donnie and Gramma). As you can see, she is very very loved!  I think as a family we are all absolutely thrilled that Brady has found this happiness in his life. We just love Jade to pieces- how could we not?  She is a delightful person and she has given happiness to Brady that had eluded him for quite a while.  

One of the highlights of every summer for me is the Toomer Reunions.  The big one is every other year, so on the off year we have just our immediate family.  This year was the big family- and although there were many missing, we still had aunts, uncles, cousins, and family from several states there.  It seems like our family (my mom & dad and all o'us) always have the biggest showing. Every one of my siblings were there!  All seven of us!  Sadly, many of our children didn't make it, but each of us had at least part of our family there.  Following the reunion in the park, a bunch of our family always goes out to the lake (Bear Lake) and we do have a TON OF FUN!!!   Sand, water, water fights, games, kids, grownups, we all just LOVE it!

On Sept. 11th the Boise Philharmonic Master Chorale, the choir I sing with, performed in a concert to commemorate the tragedy of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on our country.  The concert didn't focus on the grief- rather on hope and growing and moving forward.  The music we performed was written and composed by a local man, Paul Aiken in 2005 in memory of that date.  It has been performed twice here and before I joined the choir, they even performed it at Carnegie Hall in New York.  It is amazing music,  The concert was free, but they collected donations for the Interfaith Sanctuary which provides food, clothing and shelter to the homeless and the donations came up to $4000.00!  Now they will be able to build some showers at the shelter.  I think that is just wonderful!  I love this choir and I love the challenge of singing classical music. 

Jim cannot do very much- he can hardly travel... but this year he has been slowly, steadily working on projects to improve our yard.  I am so proud of him,  (I have helped when I could, but my allergies are so bad I'm pretty useless on outdoor working).    So I've included a couple of collages of our yard.  It is not perfect, but it is a work in progress.... my favorite of course are the angels we have collected -feels like a bit of heaven.  This first collage is different shots of parts of the front yard.  Jim has almost finished the setting in the very front with the white rock, trees, and angels.   

This next one is different areas in the back.  There is actually a lot still to be done in the back, but again, Jim is working slowly but surely.  I think it helps him mentally and spiritually to get outside and work a little. He can only do about an hour at a time, then has to rest in bed for a while, but he is steadfast and things are looking better and better. 

Okay- when I first posted this blog, somehow the description of this collage was lost.  Very simply- amongst my pictures I downloaded I found these silly faces.... I thought it was funny that Donnie, Carter and I all had these goofy pictures along with the straight pictures.  Can't tell we're related can ya? 

Well- gonna call it a night for now... posted by a gramma who feels so loved and so very very blessed! 

Time- Gets Away From Us- And Is So Precious...

I have been such a lazy blogger this summer.  I got caught up in so much and yet so little and every week I tell myself  "I'm gonna post in my blog"- then I get sidetracked and don't get it done.  I do think I will start posting even when I don't necessarily have pictures or outstanding events or moments to post about. But to keep a running journal of my life at this time, have it printed each year, and perhaps someday my posterity will read it and gain some insight into where and who they came from and perhaps avoid some of the mistakes and hardships and at the same time share in the joy and triumphs.  I also want my children and posterity to know how very much I have loved and leaned on the Lord and my testimony.

    Right now is a particularly challenging time for us.  Jim and his daughters are going through some difficulties and he is very hurt and depressed.  I write about this because I think it is important for families to know how easy it is to get into conflict and how very little good comes from contention and spite.
     It all started because we heard a rumor that our son in law, Jeff (Genevieve's husband) was telling people that we don't treat Genevieve very well because she reminds us of her mother.  Well, we thought that was just so ridiculous- but knowing the source, predictable. Jeff is in many ways a very good person, but in many ways he sits in judgement on the people around him- whether family or  not.  If someone does not meet his expectations of what he thinks they should be, then he judges them harshly and has a real gift for verbal harranguement.  He claims to be close to the spirit and to be looking out for his family's best, but in our opinion, much as we love him, we fear he is off track much of the time-at least in this instance.
      Anyway- in response to this rumor (Jim and I each heard it from different sources)- rather than confront him negatively- I made a really poor choice and posted what I thought to be this innocuous comment on facebook (knowing that a lot of our children read my facebook):  "Heard a funny story the other day about a man and a woman who mistreat the man's daughter because she reminds them of his ex.... obviously whoever thinks this doesn't understand the all encompassing and unconditional love a parent has for their child... silly, silly minds...."    I did not mention names or even infer it was my own family I was talking about.
    After that post, several people posted simple comments such as "my son is the spitting image of his dad, yet my husband treats him like his own and loves him like his own...."   "my son even has developed a lot of the same mannerisms as his father, yet his stepfather and I love him"...  to which I commented:  Jim and I have a blended family and we love all our kids and grandkids"
      Well then Jeff decided to jump into the commentary and blasted me for airing family business in public (which my facebook is private- only friends and family can see it)-  to make a long story short, I removed the post, Jeff  then started sending private messages, but each time we tried to answer and make things better he got more and more heated.  I'm not very articulate nor eloquent, and I asked him why he was being so vehement and vicious (which made him even more angry)  He was quite abusive in his verbage and really ripped into Jim and I on all levels...claimed all Jim's kids feel the same way as he...   when we quit answering on private FB messages, he started sending private e-mails.  Ultimately it ended when Jim sent a message to Jeff (copied to all his children) calling Jeff on his lies and his manipulation of the truth. 
      At this point, Jim has had words with his younger daughter also.  I do not want to go into all that his daughters are saying or feeling, that is too private- but suffice it to say that Jim is hurt to the core and I believe they are hurting also.   The older daughter and her kids have been completely cut off from us per Jeff and I'm not sure where we stand with the younger daughter. I pray they both know how very much we love them and their children.

(I need to insert here that a lot of how Jim is reacting and feeling has also to do with the fact that one of his meds (a very important one for his mental/emotional well-being) has gotten too expensive and he has been without it now for a little over a month. Hopefully we can get this addressed within the next few weeks and even if the family situation hasn't changed, perhaps Jim can get some rest and feel some peace. I also think there are a lot of issues held over from his divorce that he never has addressed or faced. He basically let his children's mother say and do whatever she felt she had to as far as what the kids knew and didn't know. Ultimately, there is a lot of mis-information, some very ugly stories/half-truths/exaggerations that have been let go. I think his exwife is not a terrible person- I think she too tries her best- but divorce sometimes brings out the worst in people- and in her effort to appear in the right, she needed to paint him as a really bad guy. He is not perfect as none of us are- but he is an honorable and wonderful man. He loves his children, he loves me and my children, and he is faithful and strong in the gospel with a tremendous testimony.)
    I am sick at heart.  I have prayed and prayed.  I have had several counsels with my Bishop and I am following his advice.  He advised me to just let things be for now... he said we could choose to believe what Jeff says or not... (I choose not to- I choose not to believe any of our children would think or feel the things he claims about us)... Bishop went on to say all we can do is live the best we know how and trust in the Lord to bring things right.  We read some scriptures together which outlined the promises and the hope Heavenly Father has given us in situations like this.  I feel hope- I will continue praying and loving those daughters and their families and trust in the Lord to bring things right at some time.

      To end this blog, I want to post a quote that was on our church program a couple of Sundays ago that is so appropriate here:     Elder Marvin J. Ashton taught: "When others disagree with our stand, we should not argue, retaliate in kind, or contend with them....Ours is to explain our position through reason, friendly persuasion, and accurate facts.  Ours is to stand firm and unyielding on the moral issues of the day and the eternal principles of the gospel, but to contend with no man or organization.  Contention builds walls and puts up barriers.  Love opens doors....Contention never was and never will be an ally of progress"  (conference report Apr. 1978 or May Ensign May, 1978)

I close now with a prayer for peaceful resolution in my family and for the safety, health and happiness of all our children and grandchildren as well as our extended family. 

Summertime & The Livin' Is Crazy!

It certainly has been crazy weather this year! Spring has sprung back and forth, snow/rain/sunshine- plants growing then freezing!   (((Whew!!!)))   But it seems we have finally got our warm weather- at least here in Nampa.  For the last couple of weeks I have had my annual "spring" cold- a little late this year, just like the sunshine and it has hung on and hung on. I even lost my voice for over a week! Can you imagine a world where I can't talk?  Me either...ha ha. 
Anyway- since my last post we have had some fun times and some interesting times.  Jim's youngest daughter and her family came and stayed from May 26th - May 30th and we had a grand time. 
On the 27th- Brooke had to go to St. Luke's hospital to have an EEG done. I was so nervous for her- last time we had to sedate her and hold her down and it was just traumatic for her.  This time however was a whole different experience. She was so calm and cooperative!  The nurse from the group home brought a big bag of treat/reinforcers, so we were able to get all the electrodes on her head and run the test with very little anxiety! She almost fell asleep during the testing.  She actually did fall asleep when the nurse was removing the electrodes and rubbing/scrubbing at her head! Go figure!  It was a great relief and I gave great thanks to my Heavenly Father.  It was so wonderful to see her this way.  And it made it much easier for me to come home to our company and just enjoy the time with them.

She was SO tired when she was done. What a good girl though- love her so so much!
Back to our visitors!  Tim & Amanda have 4 kids-  Eliza (turning 8 in July); Evie (just turned 5); Phoebe (turning 3 in July); Tommy (just turned 1).   Friday night the girls and gramma had a slumber party!  I LOVE having slumber parties with my grandkids....I'm sure some day they will outgrow them, but in the meantime I will enjoy every moment I can!   Saturday- Tim and Amanda took the kids to the Discovery Center and visiting old friends in Boise.  Gramma & Grampa stayed home and rested!  Then Sunday we went to church of course- and afterwards, celebrated Evie & Tommy's birthdays.  The girls wanted to have another slumber party Sunday night but mom and dad said no.....  (prob'ly good thing cuz this gramma was really tired out from all the fun and playing!)
One very lovely thing about this visit was sharing their evening routine.  They read the scriptures every night-taking turns. Eliza reads and the other kids "read" with Daddy's help.  Then they have personal prayers one by one and finally a family prayer.  What a delight- what a moving, tender privilege to share this with them.
It was really hard to pick pictures to post!  Between the girls, and I and Grampa we took TONS of pictures...so I once again made a few collages to share.  This is NOT all the pics, but a real good sampling of how the visit went.    Enjoy! 

Posted with love and gratitude!

And Life Goes On

So, it's been 51 days since my last post! ((Whew!!))  And so much has happened it is hard to put it all in words- but I will try. 

Things got really busy in April... after I got home from my visit with Donnie, Katie and the boys it was rehearsal rehearsal rehearsal time with the Boise Master Chorale.  We had two absolutely fabulous concert performances the 15th & 16th.  We did the music of Carmina Burana with the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra, the College of Idaho choir, and a children's choir from Opera Idaho, along with 3 professional soloists.  I can't think of any other time that I was involved in such an exciting, soul moving concert.  It was breathtaking!

A few nights before the concerts, however, I received news that my dear Grandma Clark was probably getting close to the end of her days.  My first thought was to forego participating in the concerts and rush to be by her side, but after assurances from my sister (Susan) who had been living with Grandma the last year and half, I decided to go early the morning of the 17th.  

I had a very interesting, spiritual experience with this concert- as my heart, prayers and thoughts were with my grandma, I felt her near me and decided to dedicate my own performance to her in gratitude for all she has done and been for me.  I was able to stand for each performance (in the last year I have had to sit for part of my concerts due to hip/back pain) and when I started to feel like I couldn't stand, I felt my Grandma's spirit there holding and supporting me. 

 

As I was traveling to be with Grandma, there was a bit of complication... My aunt and uncle (George & Ann Lane) who have been looking after her affairs for several years, were making things a little confusing... who should stay, who we should or should not talk to about her condition... it was rather upsetting, but I'm sure everyone was trying to do what they thought best.  After Grandma got sick with an infection, Aunt Ann decided she was too sick to have solids and because she was so unsteady, Ann also decided she should be kept in her bed.    The first few days were really hard-  Grandma kept asking for food and asking to get up- so Susan and I would give her a little bit of milk or juice (she could only handle a swallow or two).  We explained to Grandma that she was very weak and we were afraid she would fall again if she tried to get up.    Gradually, she weakened more and seemed content to be in bed with us taking turns sitting with her. 

We shared some very tender, spiritual moments with her.   She was seeing and talking with people from the other side of the veil, so we knew her time was very close.  She shared her love and appreciation for each of us- and we with her.  When I told her she was my lifelong angel and she saved me all my life, she smiled and remarked, "I think Grandpa had a lot to do with that.  He always knew you were special- from the time you were a baby and was determined to teach you that."  (And he did)-  At one point, she turned to me, holding my hand, and said, "I think I'm going on a journey aren't I?"-  I replied, "Yes you are Grandma, a wonderful, beautiful journey where you will be loved, you will be happy and you will be well."

I wept as I said this to her- because I selfishly wanted so bad for her to stay longer.  But I also know that she so deserved the rest and peace and joy she would find.     She passed on April 27th around 9:30 AM.   As I watched her take her last couple of breaths, through the sadness and tears, I felt a strong, peaceful spirit surrounding all of us in the room.
  It was definitely what one would describe as a "bittersweet" moment.  Oh, Grandma, how I love and how I am missing you!!!   

For the funeral Grandma and I had planned for years that I would sing- and I thought I would sing "The Wind Beneath My Wings"- but Uncle George asked me to sing the song I had sung years before at my Aunt Delsa's funeral  "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked"- at first I was disappointed, but when I got my music out, the first thing I noticed was the inscription across the top  "To Roxanne from Grandma Clark"-  Remembering that she loved to hear me sing this song- the first time I sang it in her ward was in th 70's when I was in high school- I felt an overwhelming sense of "this is the right song"..... I felt her spirit brush my heart again. 

A few days after Grandma passed my Uncle Jack passed away.  He had been ill and in a nursing home for some time, so although it was not a surprise, it was another heart wrenching experience for our family.  My dad will miss his brother, I know.   I was unable to go back for Uncle Jack's funeral as Jim needed me home for a while. 

I was home for 4 days, then on Monday (the day after Mother's Day), my son Brady called saying his Jade was in the hospital.  She was about 32-33 weeks pregnant and her water had broke.  So, into my car I hopped and drove back to Pocatello! 
Poor Jade- for the first couple of days, they kept her from going into labor- pumped her full of steroids to help the baby develop, and antibiotics to stave off infection....she had one bad reaction and had to start another med.... then finally, on Thursday evening, they decided to re-induce her labor.  Hoping the baby's lungs had developed with the aid of the steroids and to reduce the infection risks.   She labored all night and all day Friday.  I've never seen anyone so strong!  Most of Friday as she was having contractions, she was also violently ill and heaving.... Brady was by her side nonstop (as were her parents and I)- and finally, finally, Friday night they realized she was not progressing or dilating, the baby was not dropping and they needed to deliver her by C-Section!  So,  River Inara Lindsay, was born Friday the 13th at 10:30-  She was healthier and bigger than they hoped (4lb 10 oz; 18") and quite quickly was able to breath on her own.  To date, however, she is still in the NICU, waiting for her swallowing/eating to improve and to be able to maintain a healthy body temperature outside the warming beds. 
What a miracle though!  And what a testiment to the circle of life!   I'm sure that River and Grandma Clark had time to visit and I'm sure Grandma was able to give River her love and assurances.  

And me, well I saw my baby boy become a man right in front of my eyes!  It didn't surprise me that he was so loving and tender with Jade all through this, it didn't surprise me that he fell in love with his little daughter instantly-  it just surprised me that sometime without me really noticing, he walked into these really big "man" shoes!  Oh, he's still the same old Brady with the wry sense of humor and all- but he is indeed a man- and a daddy! 

In between & during all this, we had Mother's day with Brooke Anne; and I was able to spend time with Heather & her kids;  and see Donnie & Katie at one of Carter's base ball games;  AND we had a couple of days with Jon and Katrina and their kids (the 14th & 15th after me "rushing" home after River's birth)-  Jon (Jim's oldest son)- was called to be a High Priest and wanted his father to ordain him and knowing how hard it is for Jim to travel, they came here to have it done.  It was a very nice visit.... we are so proud of Jon.  And I (of course) had a blast with the kids....

 

Posted by a Gramma who is completely, utterly exhausted but also completely, utterly happy and at peace! 

Boys Will Be Boys! And Oh How Fun!

So- went to spend the weekend with Donnie & Katie and the boys March 24-27.  We had so much fun. I was thoroughly entertained non-stop!  First of all, I got there after bedtime (I went to my niece's dance program in Pocatello first) and Katie had told the boys that they would have a surprise in the morning.  They had NO idea it was Gramma!

Blake was the first to get up- as he walked by the room where I was sleeping he did a double take- grinned from ear to ear and came right in with a good morning hug and we started jabbering away.  He said he thought the surprise was going to be something  like "shoe laces"...?!?!?  How funny, then Carter heard us and came bouncing in! Next was Nash- he jumped right in the middle of Gramma and we all started wrestling around.  Last was Haedon- and he was hilarious!  He glanced in as he sleepily started walking by the door- stopped dead in his tracks- chin dropped, mouth wide open- loudly said "WHAT!?!?" and then he jumped in the middle of Gramma too!  It was a superific way to start our weekend!

Since it was Friday, Blake and Carter had to go to school so I walked them out to the bus.  Then Katie's daycare kids came.  She had a houseful of preschool aged kiddos and one baby! Whew!! She works hard.  So of course Gramma had to play with all the kids.  I told them my name was Gramma Gertie! They were all calling me Gramma or Gramma Gertie instantly. 

When Blake and Carter came home, we had movie night in their basement.  After the movie the three youngest (Carter, Haedon & Nash) were entertaining us with some pretty crazy dancing moves....

As you can see........



Then, after mom and dad went to bed, the party was on... the slumber party that is.  I slept on the couch and the boys all slept all around me!  We giggled and played until we dropped off to sleep.  The next morning Blake and Haedon were the first awake.  I went upstairs for a minute and came down to find them watching cartoons or trying to anyway- looked at the clock and told them it wasn't even 5:00 yet!  We were kinda being silly about it and then Mom (Katie) came down and made us all go back to bed...he he he!

The funny thing is we all fell instantly back to sleep! 

Saturday morning we went to Blake's distrist Pinewood Derby!  I've never been to one where there were so many people (probably because it was district)-  The track was computerized and each boy got to race his car 8 times (2x in each lane)-    I got to see Blake's car twice and he won both times.... (I had to leave to go to Pocatello to get movie tickets from Uncle Brady)-  Blake ended up winning first place in the Webelos- which is really nice since it's his last year in Cub Scouts!  The thing I think I enjoyed most was watching what a good sport he was. He was encouraging to all the other boys and he was one of the best mannered and behaved boys there!    He looks so dang handsome in his uniform too! 

Overall, we had a terrific weekend and I am feeling well loved and well blessed!  I have made a promise to myself (and to my grandkids) to spend a lot more time with them.  I'll be taking turns with all the kids.  I also can't wait for them to come visit here so Grandpa can get in on some of the fun and action! 
One of the hilights of the weekend was sitting in Church- I drew a funny picture of Blake- cartoonish with big grin full of big teeth!  I wrote - "Hi, my name is Blake and my Gramma Wuvs me!"-  Blake grinned at it then wrote something on it (I thought it would be silly or sarcastic)- he wrote, "And I love her too"-  it was one of those moments so precious- made a deep mark in my heart!  He said he was going to save the picture... it will be fun to see if he does!

I took so many pictures - it was hard to pick just a few to blog so I made collages!  This last one is just a bunch of fun pictures..... notice how Blake is being mugged/ganged up on by his brothers! 

(If you look close at Nash's hand (finger) , you'll see what I meant by "very funny Donnie!)  I tell ya!  It's hard enough getting a good/serious picture of Donnie, now he's gonna get the kids in on it?!?!?  ho ho ho!

Anyway- Thanks kids for everything!  I love my family so much and am so grateful for all the joy and love we share.  My cup runneth over with blessings!

(if you click on the pictures, you can see them larger! I'm sure most of you know that- but I just figured it out!)

Posted by Gramma Gertie- with love and happiness!

Spring Has Sprung-Cleaning's Begun-Birthday & Grandkid Fun Fun Fun

Okay- so Spring has NOT really sprung- but I do have a few green leaves and buds in my flower beds and on my rose bushes. 

Last weekend (18th & 19th) Jim's son Justin, his wife Nikki and our two grandsons Tanner and Tyler came to visit.  For an "early birthday" gift to Jim, they helped us with a couple of long overdue projects in the house!

Justin started the decluttering/re-organizing of Jim's gun storage room and make him a built in reloading station.  He re-inforced the shelves so Jim can store whatever he needs or wants in there.  It is amazing how much "junk" you can cram into a space.  We threw away several bags of stuff, took down several plastic shelving units and there is still a lot to do!  But there is room to move around and I think Jim is really going to enjoy it!

Then Nikki decluttered and organized the "toy room"... we have this big bonus room over the garage that has been used  as a catch-all room, guest bedroom and as the play room for the kids.  Over the years we had collected quite a bit of toys in a bunch of rubbermaid type containers and boxes.   She went through the toys and got rid of the broken/destroyed/useless items and all the other stuff that had made it's way up there.  Y'know- that room is quite large and roomy.  We bought some drawer/storage units and separated the toys into the drawers so the kids can play with a drawer ful and hopefully put those toys away before getting out another drawer ful! 

I think my next project up there will be to get some of that "chalkboard paint" and paint a couple of huge squares on the walls for the kids to draw on with chalk.  Also- I've GOT to get some kind of decorations on the walls now... it looks so bare!

I also made a cake to surprise Jim and the boys had a lot of fun helping him with the candles.  I was a little disappointed- I bouth "sparkler" candles and they didn't work very well-  just a couple of splutters here and there!  But the kids loved it!  Especially Tanner- we wrote Happy Birthday Grampa in green - which is Tanner's favorite color.

We had a blast playing with the kids... or rather Tanner and I had a blast playing.  Ty is pretty mellow and he was pretty happy just hanging out with Grampa.  Tanner and I played ball, wrestled, built a castle, bowled, and played "Zombies"--  they have a computer game called Plants Vs. Zombies which Tanner loves, but I do think he loved role playing it with Gramma way more!  One of us would be a Zombie- coming after the other one saying "BRAINS--BRAINS!"-  we used balls as the peashooters to kill each other-- but Tanner was a good Zombie, he made it to Gramma several times and ate my brains...hee hee!

It really was a fabulous weekend and hopefully we can share more with them and with our other kids and grandkids.  It's really great when they come here as Jim can't travel much yet he SO loves to see them! 

I took so many pictures I couldn't decide what to post- so I made a few collages and here they are!  Wonderful, wonderful memories!



The boys hangin' out with Grampa & Gramma



Here are just a very few of the fun pictures of the boys playing.

I didn't realize how much bigger this room is now that it is organized!  Nikki did a super

job - she is superwoman when it comes to cleaning and organizing!  

I can't show you all of Jim's gun room (for security reasons at his request)-

 but here is the reloading station Justing set up.  

We feel so blessed by all our children and grandchildren.  We have a wonderful family- we share a wonderful life- if we could change anything it would be Jim's health and we can't wait for this crazy economy to pick back up so we can sell our house and move to Pocatello to be closer to everyone!

Posted by a tired out Gramma  (who's setting out tomorrow to see more grandkids!) with love.